Best Casino Card Games You Need to Try in 2024
7 minutes
Last Updated: December 19, 2022
With the pandemic officially behind us, we can once again be free to return to our favorite casinos for a dose of thrill and excitement; that is if you haven’t started playing on online platforms.
While most casino players don’t give much thought to the games they are going to play, it is important to know that different games suit different playstyles.
One of the universal casino products is casino card games. They suit almost every type of casino player, from those just trying to get lucky, to those who are more systematic in their approach.
To help you choose a suitable card game, we made a list of casino card games that are the most popular.
The Best Casino Card Games: Blackjack
We start our casino card game list with blackjack, one of if not the most popular casino card games on the planet.
This game is available at almost any reputable online or brick-and-mortar casino.
In blackjack, the player plays against the dealer (casino), and the goal of this card game is to get a hand that has a higher total than the dealer’s hand but doesn’t have a higher total than 21.
If the player’s hand has a total of 22 or more, the player automatically loses.
Apart from being fun to play, blackjack got its popularity thanks to the fact that it is one of the casino card games with the lowest house edge. Depending on the type, the return to player in blackjack can go up to 99.6%.
The most popular types of blackjack you can find in the casino include:
- Classic/American Blackjack
- European Blackjack
- Vegas Strip Blackjack
- Blackjack Switch
All of these versions have the same base rules with slight variations to accommodate players with different playstyles.
Baccarat
Baccarat is another table game that will make the top of any casino games list, including the one with the best casino card games.
Baccarat or punto banco (player banker in Spanish) as it is also called, has in the past had a reputation as the game for the high stakes gamblers.
However, nowadays, more and more mid to low-stakes players have started playing it.
The main reasons for the rise in popularity of baccarat among all types of players are the low house edge and its simplicity.
In baccarat, the goal of the game is to forecast who will have a higher two-card sum, the player or the banker, and players have only one decision to make and that is on who to bet.
They can choose between one of the three available options: Tie, Banker, or Player.
There are several versions of baccarat, with the most popular being:
- 3 Card Baccarat
- Baccarat Banque
- Chemin de Fer
- Mini Baccarat
- Punto Banco
In Mini Baccarat, all of the hands are dealt by the dealer, and players never touch the cards.
If you decide to try your luck with baccarat, you can expect a return of around 98.8%.
Video Poker
Although video poker is a much different game than all other card games on this list, it is still a card game in a way, and it is extremely popular, so we decided to put it on our list.
Video poker is one of the classic casino games. It has been around since the early 1980s, and retained its popularity even with the invention of more modern casino machines, thanks to the fact that is good for all levels of casino players.
The goal in video poker is to make the best possible poker hand (similar to 5-card draw poker) by swapping cards that can’t help you make a good hand and keeping cards that can.
Because video poker is played on machines, newbie casino players often confuse this game with slots.
However, it is very important to understand that these are two totally different casino games.
Video poker is a game of skill, where players of different skill levels can achieve different results, while slot games are games of luck, and all players have the same chances no matter their skill.
The most common types of video poker games available in online and brick-and-mortar casinos are:
- Jacks or Better
- Deuces Wild
- Bonus Poker
- Double Bonus Poker
- Double Double Bonus Poker
Depending on the version you are playing and the available promotions, video poker games can have an RTP that exceeds 100%.
One of the Best Casino Card Games: Oasis Poker
Oasis poker is another card game in which the player plays against the dealer. The rules of this card game are very similar to those of Caribbean Stud Poker.
The game starts with both the dealer and the player receiving five cards each with all of the player’s cards being face up, four of the dealer’s cards being face down, and one of the dealer’s cards turned face up.
In this game, the object is to make the best possible five-card hand. The players have the option of swapping the cards they don’t want, although this action comes with an additional cost.
After seeing, their final five-card combination, the players can choose to continue or forfeit the hand and start a new round.
What type of Oasis Poker will be available to players mostly depends on the country, some of the most famous variants include:
- The Belgium variant
- The Finish variant
- The Nicaraguan variant
All of these variants have slightly different rules. For example, in the Belgium variation, the player can swap a card, but by doing so he losses the option to fold.
With 98.9%, the classic version of Oasis Poker has one of the best RTPs of all card games.
Texas Hold’em (Against Other Player)
Texas Hold’em is the only game on our list of casino card games, in which the players play against each other and not against the casino.
This also makes it the only card game on our list whose outcome depends on the skill level of the player, becoming a viable source of income for the best out there.
In Texas Hold’em the dealer does not play. Instead, his job is to make sure that the rules of the game are followed and to deal cards.
The goal of the game is to make a better 5-card combination than your opponents or to make your opponents think you have a better hand and get them to fold.
At the beginning of each hand, players are dealt two cards face down after which a round of betting starts.
After the pre-flop betting round is done, the dealer starts dealing community cards that players can also use to make the best hand possible.
When it comes to the community cards, 3 community cards, called the flop, are dealt first, after which another round of betting starts,
After this another community card is dealt, called the turn then another round of betting commences. The same procedure is repeated for the last community card, called the river.
Two of the most popular Texas Hold’em variations are:
- No limit Texas Hold’em
- Limit Texas Hold’em
And the two most popular formats of this casino card game are:
- Texas Hold’em No Limit Cash Games
- Texas Hold’em No Limit Tournaments
Some of the other popular poker variants than can be found in casinos include Omaha, 7 Card Stud Poker, 5 Card Draw, and Short Deck.
Texas Hold’em (Against the Dealer)
Since Texas Hold’em is one of the most popular casino card games, many casinos offer players the option to play their favorite game against the poker dealer.
The only difference with this version is that:
- Players play against the dealer
- The dealer plays until the end of the hand which makes bluffing pointless
- The bet amounts for later streets are predetermined (for example, to make a call and see the flop the player needs to stake twice as much more as the ante is worth, Turn and River bets are always the same value as the ante)
The RTP in Texas Hold’em is around 98%, making this one of the best casino card games, return-wise.
The Best Casino Card Games for Poker Fans: Casino Hold’em
Last but not least, on our list of casino card games is Casino Hold’em. Casino Hold’em is a version of Texas Hold’em in which the player plays against the dealer.
This is another game that has become one of the more popular casino card games thanks to its simplicity.
In this version of Hold’em, the player’s goal is to collect a 5-card hand that will beat the dealer’s hand. However, unlike in Texas Hold’em, in Casino Hold’em the player has only two options: to place an ante and to call a bet.
Because it is a lot less complicated than Texas Hold’em, this is one of the casino card games that is perfect for players new to casino gambling..
Another popular version of this card game is Caribbean Poker. In practice, both games are the same in every way except for how the ante bets are paid when the dealer’s hand does not qualify.
The theoretical payout in Casino Hold’em (based on the total bet) can go up to 99.18%.
