There you have it – a simple beginners’ guide to simple beginners’ gambling in Las Vegas casinos! Follow these easy steps to get the most out of your first Las Vegas casino experience. Don’t be Afraid! Learn about the games before you play. Read up online before you even start your vacation or venture into a casino. To play any casino card game, such as poker, blackjack or Texas hold-em, you will need a deck of cards. You can either buy a deck to use or you can make your own. To make cards, use Adobe Illustrator or Photoshop to design each card on a blank document measuring 2.5 by 3.5 inches. Use the same template to create the backs of the cards.
If you’re like me, sometimes you want to put as little effort into your games as possible. You want to play a game that requires little-to-no skill and let everything be left purely to chance.
The best way to scratch that itch is to figuratively and literally roll the dice. Casinos offer a variety of simple dice games. You may be able to play these in your own home. So grab your kids, because we’re about to get simple. Actually, grab your dog, or even your neighbor’s dog, because these games are so simple, even they may be able to play.
Of course, when you think of gambling with dice, the first game that comes to mind will be real money craps. Craps can be a fun game, but we’re going to go even easier. Keep in mind that the dice games I’m about to mention are usually regional games. To broaden your dice gambling horizon and keep your night at the table nice and easy, here are 5 easy dice gambling games you should know about.
1 – Chuck-a-luck
Chuck-a-luck is played in many smaller casinos. It’s simple and entertaining because of how flashy the game can be. The game is played using a giant spinning hourglass that holds the dice.
Players at the table place bets, and then the dealer will start cranking and spinning the hourglass. Three large dice tumble inside the cage as it spins. There are 5 types of bets that you can place.
The game table is divided into different betting areas. You can place a numbers bet, where you place chips on any of the 6 numbers on the dice that you think will be rolled.
A high bet is when you place chips on the area indicating that the total of the 3 dice will be over 10.
A low bet is when you place chips on the area indicating that the total of the 3 dice will be under 10.
A field bet is when you place a bet that the total number on the dice will equal 1 of the numbers in the field area.
And then there’s the jackpot bet, where you bet that all numbers rolled will be the same.
Easy right? You can easily play this at home.
2 – Klondike
Klondike is a game that’s played with 5 dice.
It’s simple—the dealer rolls his or her dice first, then the player rolls in an attempt to roll a higher combination.
There are 6 possible combinations. From highest to lowest, they are: 5 of a kind, 4 of a kind, full house (3 of a kind and a pair), 2 pairs, 1 pair.
In real money casinos, you can bet to roll a combination higher than the dealer, lower than the dealer, or you can place a bet to “beat 2 aces,” where you must roll 2 pairs.
Easy Gambling Games Online
Keep in mind that all ties in this game count as a win for the house, so it can be harder than you think to continuously come out on top. The main takeaway from this is that there is definitely a house edge for Klondike, and because the dealer wins on ties, you end up with a house edge somewhere around 5%.
Now that edge can also change depending on the rules of the casino. If you’re not familiar with house edges, I’ll say that a 5% house edge is bad—it’s not the worst (Keno is around 20% for example, and some games are even higher than that), but when you compare it to blackjack, it’s bad.
Blackjack might have a house edge of around 2% for players who know what they’re doing, and it can go down to half of a percent or even lower for players who are implementing a strategy.
So yes, this game can be easy and fun, but there’s a price to pay when you’re playing this at a casino.
3 – Hazard
The casino game craps supposedly evolved from hazard, so if you want a simplified version of craps, this is definitely the game you want to try. A fun fact about the origins of this game is that supposedly it was invented much earlier than many gambling games.
Many gambling games can trace their roots all the way back to ancient China or Egypt—I’m talking thousands of years here. But not hazard. Hazard is believed to have been invented by European crusaders back during the 12th century. Sure that’s not yesterday, but it’s not thousands of years either!
Historians believe that the game was invented to pass the time while the European knights were laying siege to a castle that was called “Hazart,” and that it slowly grew in popularity over time, exploding into even more popularity in the 17th and 18th centuries when people began to have more leisure time to play games.
The game is played with 2 dice and only has a few rules you need to follow.
First, you’ll need to decide who rolls first among the group of players. This person is known as the caster.
The caster chooses a number 5 through 9. This number is called the caster’s “main.”
The caster can also roll for this number.
If you’re the caster, and you have the option to choose your main, you’ll probably want to choose 7. Rolling 7 on dice is statistically easier than rolling any other number.
The other players will place bets on whether the caster will win or lose, then the caster rolls.
After the main number is chosen, the caster rolls the dice for or chooses a chance number, which is 4 through 10. If the same number is rolled twice in a row, it’s a win. If the main is rolled after a chance, it’s a loss.
Other numbers to remember are:
- Main of 5 or 9, then a roll of 11 or 12 loses.
- Main of 6 or 8, then a roll of 11 loses, but a roll of 12 wins.
- Main of 7, then a roll of 11 wins, but a roll of 12 loses.
- Rolling a 2 or a 3 is always a loss.
4 – Sic Bo
Sic Bo originated in China, and it made its way to the West in the late 1900s. Sic Bo is an easy game to play, but if you see this game table at a casino, it could look a little intimidating.
The game table has every dice combination and payout odds. You can place your bets on the table, and in most cases, the dealer will use an electronic dice shaker to throw the dice.
The table is divided into the 3 betting sections. You can place a bet on what number shows up on 1, 2, or all 3 dice. There is even an area on the table for combination bets, but the combinations are specific.
Odds of a payout are less likely here. You can also place a bet on the total number rolled. Since the table shows you exactly every possible number you can bet on and the odds of winning, you barely have to do any thinking.
Just make sure you’re keeping track of your real money.
5 – Banca Francesca
Banca Francesca is similar to Baccarat, but this version of the game is mostly played in Europe, particularly Portugal, and of course it’s played with dice instead of cards. The name literally translates to “French Bank” in English. Don’t worry, you don’t need to speak Portuguese to play this game.
The rules are simple. Players place their chips on 1 of 3 betting areas on the game table. The betting areas are “big,” which is 14-16; “small,” which is 5-6; and “aces,” which means that all 3 dice have rolled a 1.
There are pretty slim odds of rolling aces.
Big and small bets pay out 1 to 1, and aces bets pay out 61 to 1.
How To Play Gambling Games
Luckily, players are allowed to change bets before the dice are rolled, so if you bet aces and you’re not feeling lucky, go ahead and remove those chips.
The house edge here is actually pretty good, around 1.5%, so compared to some of the other games I’ve listed here, this one is worth playing.
Conclusion
Real money gambling is supposed to be fun, or at the very least, isn’t supposed to be work. These easy dice games can get your blood pumping or be a source of relaxation.
But, either way, there isn’t a steep learning curve associated with any of them. In fact, most of the dice games mentioned here are 100% chance. If that’s what you’re looking for, be sure to try them.
Have you played any of these dice games before, or do you know of any other easy dice games that you think are worth mentioning? Leave a comment to share your thoughts and experiences with playing easy dice games.
Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus.After scouring the web to identify the best format ideas for a Masters office pool I realized there was a need for a consolidated list of the best options. Listed below are the four simplest yet entertaining Masters pool formats for 2020, sorted by simplest first.
These are the four best that I could find, but if you have better Masters pool ideas, please share the format details in the comments section at the bottom of this page. We supply online setup and scoring for most Masters Golf Pool formats and other office golf pools.
2020 Masters Pool Setup
Easy Gambling Games
* Excel tools and online tools are included to help manage different formats. For you Excel wizards out there, I’m sure there’s a way to automate these spreadsheets a bit more. Please comment below or email easyofficepools@gmail.com if you have a great Excel solution that would be beneficial for this and I can post it.
Here are the 4 options:
| #1 – Random Selection | Tools |
| This is the simplest option. Put names of all the golfers in the field into a hat (or into an Excel Spreadsheet, like the one to the right with the field for 2020). Each person draws a golfer until all golfers have been picked. Whoever has the winning golfer wins the pool. | Tab 1 |
#2 – 6 Tiers, Use 4 (recommended option) | |
| This is my favorite option because it involves some strategy but is still simple. Each person selects one golfer from each of the 6 tiers. Tiers are organized based on the world rankings. Once the tournament is completed you take the best four of your six scores and add them together to get your final score. Whoever has the lowest total wins. Any golfer that doesn’t make the cut gets an 80 for rounds 3 and 4, respectively. Choose the winning score as a tiebreaker (for example, if the winner posts -12, whoever guessed closest wins the tiebreaker). | Tab 2 Manage this format online |
#3 – Snake Draft, Choose 5 Use 4 | |
| This one involves a bit more effort because you have to organize a draft. Start by drawing from a hat to determine the order of the draft. Once determined, conduct your draft with the snake format (for example, if you have 3 people, the draft order is 1,2,3,3,2,1,1,2,3,3,2,1,1,2,3). Each player chooses the best golfer still available when it’s their turn to draft. Once the tournament is completed you take the best four of your five scores and add them together to get your final score. Whoever has the lowest total wins. Any golfer that doesn’t make the cut gets assigned a score of 80 for rounds 3 and 4. Choose the winning score as a tiebreaker (for example, if the winner posts -12, whoever guessed closest wins the tiebreaker). | Tab 3 |
#4 – Handicapped, Choose 5 Use 4 | |
| This once gets a little trickier because it penalizes players according to their ability (or odds of winning). Each person chooses any 5 golfers from the field. The golfers handicap as subtracted from their final score (for example, if you select Tiger in 2013 you have to add 10 strokes to his score). Once the tournament is completed you take the best four of your five scores and add them together to get your final score. Whoever has the lowest total wins. Any golfer that doesn’t make the cut gets assigned the highest scores from rounds 3 and 4, respectively. Choose the winning score as a tiebreaker (for example, if the winner posts -12, whoever guessed closest wins the tiebreaker). | Tab 4 |
Odds for the Masters can be pulled from vegasinsider.com at a point in time. Normally the field is not set until the Sunday prior to the tournament.
Each format listed above can be used to run an office golf pool for any of the major golf tournaments. In addition to the Masters, hosting office pools for the British Open, US Open, and the PGA Championship can help bolster office camaraderie friendly banter. For more information on how our golf pools work visit the PGA Fantasy Page.
Enjoy the Masters!! Please leave a comment below or share this with friends if you found it helpful.