The table games guide

Know the game. Own the night.

Roulette, blackjack, baccarat, craps, poker and slots — how they work, what they pay, and how much of an edge the house keeps. Not a strategy for winning: a guide to playing with your eyes open.

Start with roulette Compare house edges

01 · Roulette

The wheel.

Place chips on the layout, the croupier spins the wheel one way and the ball the other, then calls “no more bets”. Inside bets (single numbers and small groups) pay big; outside bets (red/black, odd/even, dozens) hit more often and pay less.

Vegas tables are mostly American, with 0 and 00, which gives the house 5.26%. A single-zero European wheel cuts that to 2.70%. One bet to avoid: the five-number “top line” (0, 00, 1, 2, 3), which carries a 7.89% edge.

Each player gets their own colour of chips at the table.
The dolly marker on the layout shows the last winning number — don’t touch chips while it’s down.

Blackjack

02 · Blackjack

Twenty-one.

Get closer to 21 than the dealer without going over. Face cards count as 10, aces as 1 or 11. You can hit, stand, double down, split pairs and sometimes surrender. The dealer follows fixed rules — usually standing on all 17s.

Basic strategy — a chart of mathematically correct decisions — brings the house edge down to roughly 0.5% at a good table. Tables paying 6:5 on a natural blackjack instead of 3:2 add well over a full percentage point to the house.

Look for 3:2 payouts and dealers standing on soft 17.
Skip insurance: it’s a side bet that favours the house.
Signal with hands, not just words — the cameras need to see it.

Baccarat

03 · Baccarat

The quiet game.

Bet on the Player hand, the Banker hand, or a Tie. Cards are dealt by fixed rules and the hand closest to nine wins. You make one decision — where to bet — and the rest is ritual.

Banker wins slightly more often, so winning Banker bets pay even money minus a 5% commission, for a 1.06% house edge. Player sits at 1.24%. The Tie looks tempting at 8:1 but carries an edge above 14%.

Mini-baccarat on the main floor has low minimums and faster play.
Big-table baccarat in high-limit salons lets players squeeze the cards.

Craps

04 · Craps

The roar across the room.

One player — the shooter — throws two dice; everyone bets on the outcome. On the come-out roll a 7 or 11 wins for the Pass Line, while 2, 3 or 12 loses. Any other number becomes the point, and the shooter tries to roll it again before a 7.

The Pass Line carries a 1.41% edge, and taking “odds” behind it is one of the only bets on the floor with no house edge at all. The flashy one-roll bets in the middle of the table are the opposite: “Any Seven” costs 16.67%.

Throw both dice with one hand, hard enough to hit the far wall.
Never say “seven” at the table while a point is on.

Ace and king next to chip stacks on green felt

Poker

05 · Poker

Play the people.

In the poker room you play against other guests, not the casino. The house takes a small rake from each pot or charges time at higher limits. Texas Hold’em dominates, with tournaments running daily across the Strip.

On the main floor you’ll also find house-banked poker variants — Three Card Poker, Ultimate Texas Hold’em, Pai Gow — where you play against the dealer and the casino keeps an edge.

Put your name on the list at the podium; seats open fast late at night.
Protect your cards with a chip and act in turn.

Slots

06 · Slots

The machines.

Every spin is decided by a certified random number generator the instant you press the button. Machines aren’t hot or cold, and none is ever “due”. Payback varies by machine and denomination — in general, higher-denomination games return more over time than penny slots.

Progressive jackpots pool a slice of every bet across linked machines. That’s how Megabucks reached its record $39.7 million at Excalibur in 2003 — and why the odds of hitting one are astronomically long.

Read the pay table: some jackpots require the maximum bet.
Use your players’ card — slot play earns comps too.

The honest numbers

The house edge.

The house edge is the share of each bet the casino keeps on average over time. It’s why the lights stay on. Lower is better for you — but no number here is zero, except the odds bet in craps.

Blackjack (basic strategy)~0.5%

Baccarat — Banker1.06%

Baccarat — Player1.24%

Craps — Pass Line1.41%

Roulette — single zero2.70%

Roulette — double zero5.26%

Roulette — top line bet7.89%

Baccarat — Tie (8:1)14.36%

Craps — Any Seven16.67%

Figures are long-run mathematical averages under standard rules. Short sessions vary wildly in both directions.

A hand releasing red dice over a dark table

Speak the language.

A pocket glossary for the casino floor.

Comp

A complimentary perk — drinks, meals, rooms or show tickets — earned through rated play on your players’ card.

Marker

A line of casino credit, essentially a cheque drawn against your bank account. Only for players with established credit at the casino.

Shoe

The box that holds multiple decks of cards for blackjack and baccarat.

Eye in the sky

The surveillance cameras above every table and machine.

Whale

Casino slang for a very high-stakes player — the guests the high-limit salons are built for.

Color up

Exchanging many small chips for fewer large ones before you leave a table.

The best night is one you planned.

Set a budget before you sit down and treat it as the price of the evening, not an investment. Every game on the floor carries a house edge. If the fun stops, stop — and if it’s more than that, the National Problem Gambling Helpline is free and confidential on 1-800-GAMBLER.

Play responsibly