Underneath "How do video poker machines work?" lies a single number: the share of each stake a game keeps on average, known as the house edge. At table games it follows directly from the rules. A change in one payout or one dealer rule moves it, sometimes by more than the gap between two whole games. Knowing which rules matter lets a player compare tables in seconds and see what an hour of play is likely to cost.
Video poker is unusual because its edge can be read straight from the pay table on the screen. Two machines with identical cards and rules can differ only in what a full house and a flush pay, and that difference alone can move the return by two or three points. A full pay table, played with the correct holds, returns close to everything staked over time. Machines with trimmed payouts look the same from a distance, so the numbers in the table are what separates them.
Baccarat offers three main bets, and their edges are far apart. The banker bet keeps a little over one percent after its commission, the player bet slightly more, and the tie bet, despite its generous payout, keeps around fourteen percent. Side bets at every table game work the same way: big payouts on unusual hands, funded by an edge that dwarfs the one on the main wager. Staying with the main bets is the simplest way to keep the cost of a session down.
Multiply the average stake by the number of rounds per hour and then by the house edge; the result is a fair estimate of the expected loss for that hour.
Machines with the same cards and rules can differ only in what a full house and a flush pay, and that gap alone can shift the return by two or three points.
Side bets pay big amounts on unusual hands, and those payouts are funded by an edge that dwarfs the one on the main wager at the same table.
A natural paid six to five instead of three to two adds more than a full point, while fewer decks, doubling after splitting and surrender each trim the edge a little.
The banker bet keeps a little over one percent after its commission, the player bet slightly more, and the tie keeps around fourteen percent despite its generous payout.