When it comes to gaming, many people like to try poker because they can potentially gain a long-term advantage. The reason why is because they’re not dealing with a house edge, but rather competing against other players. So the most skilled poker players will win out in the end and make profits.
Casino games, on the other hand, have a built-in house edge which prevents most people from realizing profits. Considering this, it would automatically seem like poker is the better choice. But there are other considerations to take into account before you ignore casino games in favor of poker, which we’ll cover below.
Rake is a Bigger Factor that you think
As most poker players know, rake is the amount of money that poker rooms take out of every cash game pot and tournament buy-in as a fee for hosting games. The rake for cash games is normally 5% of each pot, and 10% for each tournament buy-in. So if you paid an $11 tourney buy-in, $1 of this amount would go to rake.
Now this may not seem like a huge deal, but let’s say that you are a break-even poker player. You would then lose nothing to other players, but be paying 10% rake for tournaments, which equates to a 10% house edge. Comparing this to blackjack (0.5% house advantage), baccarat (1.06% edge) and French roulette (1.35% edge), poker isn’t that good of a bet to the average player.
You have to be Really Good to win
It’s not okay to simply be better than the average player if you want to win in poker. You have to be better than the vast majority of your opponents to pull a profit. The reason why is because you have to beat both other players and the rake to win.
Now for a small and elite percentage, this is easily possible. However, you also have to consider that these same players have poured hours into learning poker strategy and improving their game. Assuming you’re not interested in dedicating a large portion of time towards strategy, casino games might be an easier route. Using blackjack as an example, you can simply grab a strategy chart, which shows all of the correct decisions, and use this to lower the casino edge to 0.5%.
Learning the Game can get Expensive
If you are interested in continually improving at poker, note that it probably won’t be cheap. The reason why is because you’ll likely take some lumps on the table while you put poker strategy into practice. And those who opt to buy books, get poker training and/or hire a coach will be directly paying money to improve.
So not only do you have to factor in the amount of time that it takes to study poker tips, but you might also be dumping some cash into the matter as well.
Now the purpose of this article isn’t to crush your dreams and get you to solely play casino games. After all, some poker players have become millionaires through hard work and grinding. But it’s important to know that just because skilled players win in poker doesn’t mean you should totally ignore casino games. This is especially true when considering that the average person has a better opportunity to win money in casino games than poker.
