The online revolution was a wonderful thing for casino play. Online access and gameplay suited all the casino games which were easily transferred to an online format, and suddenly people were able to sit comfortably at home, on their couch, and play all he casino games they want to. Well, not all, because perhaps the greatest table game of all simply could not be transferred to online format. And this game was Texas Hold’em Poker.

In the late nineties, Stephen Au-Yeung developed a tool to assist in training players to play Texas Hold’em. This training tool has now been developed into an accepted casino game on its own by the name of Casino Hold’em. The difference between this and Texas Hold’em is simply to be able to smoothly compensate for the fact that it is a game between the dealer and the player only, and not a table of other players.

A Game that is here to Stay

Casino Hold’em is now played in some 1000 online casinos as a game on its own, and is licenced for use in the United Kingdom. Technically, the house edge for Casino Hold’em, although varying slightly due to slightly different rules and pay tables, is in the range of 1.9% to 2.4%.

Playing Casino Hold’em means players use the same poker hands as the basis of the game. The gmes are also based on the same 7 card system of game play, with 5 community cards. Casino Hold’em is somewhat more complex, and an additional side bet option, plus a pay table for rewarding the rarer hands.

Casino Hold’ems’ pay table pays out the ante bet according to the rank of the winning poker hand. The so-called ante winnings pays from a flush at 2 to 1 to a Royal flush at 100 to 1. A full house pays 3 to 1.

The Rules of the Game

Apart from that, the game of Casino Hold’em is played with one standard 52 card deck. Players wager using an ante bet, but have the option to play a side bet at the same time. Player and dealer are both dealt two cards face down and the flop, or three community cards are immediately dealt. Players get to select whether to fold or call. If the player calls, he doubles the ante bet and the final two community cards are dealt.

The player and dealers hands are compared under the conditions that the dealer has a minimum hand of a pair of 4’s. Should the dealer not qualify, then the player wins on his ante according to the pay table, and the call bet is a push. If the dealer qualifies but loses to the player, the players’ ante bet is paid according to the pay table and the call bet is paid 1 to 1. If the dealer wins, the player loses both bets.

Game Strategy is Loose

The optimal strategy for this game is subject largely to the players’ judgement of the quality of his two cards. There are no general rules like blackjack’s basic strategy which can be memorised, rather Casino Hold’em is played more on intuition and luck. Statistically, with seven cards to select from in constructing a online poker USA, players should only fold the worst 20%, and raise 80% of the time.