Casino Gambling

Online Casino

Best Online Casinos

Online Casino Gambling

Casino Gambling Guide

Home

Online Casino

Online Casino Reviews

Services

Gambling Bonuses

CASINO GAMBLING GUIDE

Playtech Casino Software Review

Playtech offers downloadable casino software. The graphics are very good and the interface is easy to understand. Both multi-player and single player are supported. Separate accounts are available for both real and play money. The multi-player feature is available in fun money mode.

There is a comp point system equivalent to 0.1% cash back.

Following are the games available with specific rules and comments.

New York

Casino

Baccarat

The standard rules are followed. I do not know the number of decks.

Blackjack

The blackjack rules are as follows:

6 decks
Dealer stands on soft 17
Player may double on any first two cards
Player may double after splitting
Player may only split once
There is a mixture of U.S. and European rules on what happens if the dealer gets a blackjack. Here is what happens if the dealer gets a blackjack according to the situation.
- Dealer has ace up, player doubles and/or splits: entire bet lost.
- Dealer has 10 up, player splits: entire bet lost.
- Dealer has 10 up, player doubles: only original bet lost.
- Dealer has 10 up, player splits and doubles: additional bets from splitting lost but doubling returned.
No surrender
Otherwise standard rules

The house edge under these rules is 0.52%. Following is the correct basic strategy under these rules.

Blackjack Switch

House edge is only 0.05%!

Caribbean Poker

The standard rules and pay table are used for a house edge of 5.22%. When I checked on May 12, 2002 at Casino Mapau, the progressive meter for the side bet was at $10,286 for a house edge of 60.75%. For the side bet to have no house edge the meter would need to reach $218,047.37. For any given meter the house edge on the side bet is 63.76% less 2.92% for each $10,000 in the meter.

Casino War

The correct rules are followed with six decks. The player should always go to war, as opposed to surrender. The house edge is 2.88%.

Craps

The player may take 3 times odds on the pass and come bets. The multiple allowed on the don't pass and don't come is also 3 times and relative to the amount bet, not the amount the player can win. The combined house edge is 0.47% on the pass and come and 0.46% on the don't pass and don't come. Buy and lay bets are allowed and the 5% commission is charged on the winnings. The house edge on the buy and lay bets are as follows.

House edge on buy and lay bets
Point	Buy	Lay
4,10	3.33%	1.67%
5,9	3.00%	2.00%
6,8	2.73%	2.27%

Keno

The following table shows the expected return and hit frequency according to the number of picks. The highest return is the pick-8 at 92.75%.

Keno
Pick	Expected Return	Hit Frequency
2	92.09%	43.99%
3	92.96%	15.26%
4	92.03%	25.89%
5	92.58%	9.67%
6	92.67%	16.16%
7	92.44%	23.66%
8	92.75%	10.23%
9	92.00%	15.31%
10	92.55%	6.47%

Let Them Ride

The same thing as Let it Ride. The conventional rules are followed. The side bet follows the same pay table as the Lady Luck in downtown Las Vegas. I've seen lots of pay tables for the side bet in Let it Ride and this one has the lowest house edge at 13.77%.

Pai Gow Poker

The dealer is always the banker, resulting in a house edge of 2.85%. There is a house way button but if the player clicks it the hand will immediately be scored, not giving the player the option to accept or reject the house way.

Poker Three

This is the same thing as Three Card Poker. Full pay rules are followed. I believe Playtech is the only software brand to feature the original and most generous pay table. The house edge is 2.32% on the Pairplus bet and 3.37% on the Ante bet.

Red Dog

The conventional rules are followed. I do not know the number of decks

Roulette

The wheel is single zero for a house edge of 2.70% on all bets.

Sic Bo

Sic Bo payoffs are better than some and worse than others. See my Sic Bo online section for a comparison to other software brands. Of special note is that the single number bet pays 12-1 on a 3 of a kind, better than the usual 3-1 payoff. The following table shows the payoff and house edge for all bets.

Playtech Sic Bo
Bet	Pays	Prob. Win	House Edge
Small, Big	1-1	48.61%	2.78%
4, 17	60-1	1.39%	15.28%
5, 16	30-1	2.78%	13.89%
6, 15	17-1	4.63%	16.67%
7, 14	12-1	6.94%	9.72%
8, 13	8-1	9.72%	12.5%
9, 12	6-1	11.57%	18.98%
10, 11	6-1	12.5%	12.5%
Triple	180-1	0.46%	16.2%
Any triple	30-1	2.78%	13.89%
Double	10-1	7.41%	18.52%
Two die combination	5-1	13.89%	16.67%
Any number	(1/2/3)-1	42.13%	7.87%

The lowest house edge bets are on big and small bets at 2.78%.

Slot machines

There is a wide variety of slot machines to choose from.

Video poker

Playtech offers several different video poker games to choose from. Many are offered in single play and 4-play. There is also a double up, and half double up, feature available. The player may keep redoubling up to bets of $1000. Doubling also counts towards required play to earn a bonus. The following table displays the expected return of each game, assuming optimal player strategy.

Playtech Video Poker - Expected Return
Game	Return
Jacks or better	0.995439
Aces and faces	0.992554
Tens or better	0.979598
Joker poker	0.985987
Deuces wild	0.989130

Following are the expected return tables for Playtech video poker.

Jacks or Better
Hand	Payoff	Number	Probability	Return
Royal flush	800	493512264	0.000025	0.019807
Straight flush	50	2178883296	0.000109	0.005465
4 of a kind	25	47093167764	0.002363	0.059064
Full house	9	229475482596	0.011512	0.103610
Flush	6	219554786160	0.011015	0.066087
Straight	4	223837565784	0.011229	0.044917
3 of a kind	3	1484003070324	0.074449	0.223346
Two pair	2	2576946164148	0.129279	0.258558
Jacks or better	1	4277372890968	0.214585	0.214585
Nothing	0	10872274993896	0.545435	0.000000
Total		19933230517200	1.000000	0.995439

In addition there is a 25 cent progressive "9/6" video poker game called Megajacks. On May 12, 2002, the meter at Casino Mapau was at $592.71. The meter needs to pass $1000 for the progressive game to be a better bet than the non-progressive jacks or better game. If the meter passes $1230.30 for the odds to switch to the player's advantage, assuming optimal 9/6 strategy with no adjustments for the higher pay on the royal flush (which video poker experts do make).

Deuces Wild
Hand	Payoff	Number	Probability	Return
Natural royal flush	800	459064368	0.000023	0.018424
4 deuces	200	3727565940	0.000187	0.037401
Wild royal flush	25	38119473696	0.001912	0.047809
5 of a kind	15	62203767960	0.003121	0.046809
Straight flush	9	98317296840	0.004932	0.044391
4 of a kind	4	1222017689652	0.061306	0.245222
Full house	4	522042221472	0.026190	0.104758
Flush	3	407440287408	0.020440	0.061321
Straight	2	1145680543080	0.057476	0.114952
3 of a kind	1	5342962086012	0.268043	0.268043
Nothing	0	11090260520772	0.556370	0.000000
Total		19933230517200	1.000000	0.989130

Tens or Better

Hand

Payoff

Probability

Return

Royal flush

800

0.000026

0.020530

Straight flush

50

0.000104

0.005180

Four of a Kind

20

0.002357

0.047145

Full house

6

0.011493

0.068955

Flush

5

0.010670

0.053350

Straight

4

0.012386

0.049544

Three of a Kind

3

0.074218

0.222653

Two Pair

2

0.128936

0.257872

Tens or Better

1

0.254368

0.254368

Nothing

0

0.505443

0.000000

Total

1.000000

0.979598

Aces and Faces

Hand

Payoff

Probability

Return

Royal Flush

4000

0.000025

0.019876

Straight Flush

250

0.000106

0.005300

Four aces

400

0.000196

0.015668

Four J-K

200

0.000587

0.023479

Four 2-10

125

0.001580

0.039507

Full House

40

0.011515

0.092120

Flush

25

0.010860

0.054301

Straight

20

0.011212

0.044847

3 of a Kind

15

0.074474

0.223422

Two Pair

10

0.129318

0.258636

Jacks or Better

5

0.215399

0.215399

Nothing

0

0.544728

0.000000

Total Return

1.000000

0.992554

Joker Poker

Hand

Payoff

Probability

Return

Natural Royal Flush

1000

0.000026

0.026063

5 of a kind

200

0.000093

0.018572

Wild Royal Flush

100

0.000107

0.010733

Straight Flush

50

0.000594

0.029694

4 of a Kind

17

0.008497

0.144445

Full House

7

0.015604

0.109228

Flush

5

0.015975

0.079873

Straight

3

0.016877

0.050630

3 of a Kind

2

0.133124

0.266249

2 Pair

1

0.110483

0.110483

Kings or Better

1

0.140017

0.140017

Nothing

0

0.558604

0.000000

Total Return

1.000000

0.985987