Quick guide to Live Casino Games

Live Casinos experience

Live casinos are where technology has hit its peak in online gambling. This game genre allows you the best of both gambling worlds, combining both the convenience of gambling from the comfort of your own home and the interaction you can have at land-based casinos with other patrons and friendly dealers.

The leader in this type of online gambling is without a doubt, Evolution Gaming. They provide live casino coverage from the floors of their two state-of-the-art television studios in both Malta and Canada. The experience they provide is similar to that of a live stream, but with advanced camera angles and a user interface that makes you feel that you are right there on the casino floor.

We know that playing at live casinos online could be a daunting task, so we have put together this guide to make you feel a little more at ease when playing in this way.

Advantages of Live Online Casino gambling

• You are able to interact with real people without leaving your house. That means you don’t have to dress up, or even get out of bed.
• It suits the interactive social gambler as you can communicate with both the dealer and other players.
• You are able to play up to 4 games at once via a split-screen technology.
• There is a decent array of base games available, as well as multiple variations of each game to suit your fancy.
  
  

Live games

The scope of this guide aims to familiarise you with the main forms of table games played at the live casino, as well an overview of each category.

Unfortunately, we cannot include all of the details and game rules in this guide but invite you to learn more about each game in our Casino Game Guide section. Although the games dealt with under this guide section are primarily standard online variations, the game rules and betting procedures remain the same.

For the sake of this guide, we have opted to introduce you to all of the most popular titles played in this segment, providing some decent information and an overview of each. These live casino games include: Live Blackjack, Live Casino Hold’em Poker, Live Baccarat, and Live Roulette.

Live Blackjack

The traditional game of 21 comes to the ‘silver screen’, where it feels like you are pulling up a real seat around an authentic half-circle table.

Overview and basic rules

Blackjack is not a difficult game to get into. The success of the game revolves around your ability to calculate values on the face of the cards. This is vital, as you will need to get as close to a value of 21 as possible without going over that limit and ‘busting’. At the same time, you need to try and get the dealer to ‘bust’ his hand.

The dealer has more restricted movements than you do, because he has to ‘stand’ (stop drawing cards) on a hand valued between 17 and 21 yet is forced to draw on a hand value less than 17. Because of this, it is not very difficult for the dealer to ‘bust’. If this happens, you automatically win.

Card values are as follows:

• Cards with a face value of 2-10 maintain those values in the game.
• All picture cards (Jacks, Queens, and Kings) are valued at 10.
• The Ace has two values, which often proves very handy. These values are 1 and 11.
• The highest hand in the game is called a ‘Blackjack’. This is formulated by receiving an Ace and a card with a value of 10. A dealer cannot beat this hand, only tie with it.
  
  

The gameplay follows the following steps:

• At the start of the game, you will need to place a wager of your choice. Note that minimum and maximum wagers are generally demarcated on the tables. If not, ask the friendly and helpful dealer.
• After matching your bet, the Live Dealer will deal cards to the table’s players, face-up, starting from the dealers left. He will then deal his own hand which will consist of one card showing, and one card in the ‘hole’ (facing down).
• If you are dealt a Blackjack, and the dealer has no way of matching it (evident by his ‘hole card’), then he/she will grant you an automatic win and will match your bet plus an additional 50% of the bet. A normal win only pays you 1:1.
• Should you not have a ‘blackjack’ and it is your turn to play, you will be able to instruct the dealer to ‘hit’ you (give additional card), or you can opt to ‘stay’ (if your hand is suitably high enough). There are other options and side bets that can be brought into play here.
  
  We suggest that you familiarise yourself with the Online Blackjack basics to learn all of the gameplays and rules.
• If both you and the dealer survive ‘busting’, then the winner will be decided on the higher value hand played.
  
  

Live Hold’em Poker

Of all the Poker Games available on the Live Play, ‘Casino Hold’em’ is the most popular. It is very similar to the ever-popular ‘Texas Hold’em’ but differs in the fact that you play directly against the house, not against other players. This means that an unlimited number of players can occupy a table.

To begin…

• Before a hand is dealt with you, you will need to place an ante bet (or blind bet) in order to qualify for the round.
• You will then be dealt 2 cards that you will need to keep to yourself. These must be used in conjunction with the ‘flop’ (first 3 cards dealt on the table) to produce the highest Poker hand. You can place an additional wager at this time to raise the stakes.
• Hereafter, two more cards (turn and river) will be added to the table cards, after which you place a final bet and then evaluate your hand versus the dealer’s to determine the winner. You can choose to ‘fold’ (give up) at any time, but you will then forfeit any bets placed.
• You will need a working knowledge of the standard poker hands before you can have any success at this table. Please see our poker guides to learn the different combinational hands.

Live Baccarat

The goal in this card game is to get as close to the value of 9 as possible. It is purely a game of luck, but an overview of the Baccarat game is needed in order for you to be moderately successful.

Prior to playing the game, you will need to familiarise yourself with the card values:

• Cards 2-9 maintain their face value.
• The Ace is Worth ’1’.
• Cards that are worth '0' are - Jack, 10, Queen, and King.
• When adding the value of your cards, and it extends into double digits, the first digit will fall away, and the value of the hand will be the value of the second digit. For example, if you draw a value of 15, your hand value will only be 5.
  
  

Overview

Baccarat is only played between 2 parties in the live casino environment. This form of Baccarat that only involves the dealer as the bank is commonly known as ‘Punto Banco’.

You are dealt 2 cards. These two cards will determine whether a further 3rd card must be dealt. If the player's hand consists of a value of 8 or 9, it is called a “natural” and he/she will not be dealt with any further cards.

More cards will be dealt if need be, but the number dealt will be determined by the variation of Baccarat being played at the specific table, as well as what side bets are permitted at the table.

Betting

The way in which you wager your bet in this game differs quite a bit from other card games, in the fact that you can bet against yourself. Yes, you read correctly, in fact, there are three primary ways you can bet:

• In favour of your landing closer to 9.
• In favour of the dealer landing closer to 9.
• In favour of a tie, commonly known as a ‘stand-off’.

There are a number of traditional side bets available from game to game. You can familiarise yourself with these by reading the Online Baccarat basics.

Live Roulette

Perhaps one of the most famous casino games of all time, Roulette involves a game of betting which is controlled by the spin of a wheel. Live casinos offer an abundance of Roulette variations for play, but the most common forms are:

• French Roulette
• European Roulette
• American Roulette

Though the rules change slightly between these games, the Roulette basics remain the same.

Overview

The game encompasses a wheel notched with black and red positions around the circumference. These are numbered 0-36. The game is decided by where the white ball lands on the wheel after the croupier has introduced it, while it is spinning.

Alongside the wheel is a table with a grid demarcated on it. This grid mimics the positions and possibilities that can be spun by the wheel. You can place your bets on this grid before the wheel rolls, simply by placing your chips in the desired positions.

Your bets can be spread over a number of positions to spread the risk and increase the odds of winning something. The two main types of bets in Roulette are:

• Inside Bets: These are the individually numbered positions. A win on one of these positions can reward you with up to 35x your stake.
• Outside Bets: These are further betting options that can be made. These combos include: Betting on red/black, or odd/even, or betting on the 1st 12, 2nd12, or 3rd 12 digits. The odds of winning here are much higher, therefore the payouts are far less than inside bets.

To enjoy these types of live casino games, we've selected four of each to help you experience the best of the live gaming online! See them below:

Blackjack Live

We have all heard about Blackjack from popular movies or shows and there is a reason behind this. This game is magic, get to know more about it here.

See Game Review

Live Texas Hold’em Bonus Poker

Live Texas Hold’em Bonus Poker is an A-game mix of old and new. It will offer you the highest quality poker fun with a ton of extra features in this game.

See Game Review

Peek Baccarat

Are you looking for a more simple yet entertaining game? Peek Baccarat will give you this feeling, along with more features to heighten the intrigue.

See Game Review

Live Lightning Roulette

Live Lightning Roulette takes standard roulette to a whole new level. It gives excitement from the very first bet!

See Game Review

Results

In the end, we truly hope that you enjoy your time on the Live Casino platforms. Should you want to play your favourite game now, follow our link to the Best Live Casinos and start exploring your time online!