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What is the House Edge?

Introduction

What is the House Edge?

The house edge is defined as the ratio of the average loss to the initial bet. In some games the beginning wager is not necessarily the ending wager. For example in blackjack, let it ride, and Caribbean stud poker, the player may increase their bet when the odds favor doing so. In these cases the additional money wagered is not figured into the denominator for the purpose of determining the house edge, thus increasing the measure of risk. For games like Ultimate Texas Hold 'Em and Crazy 4 Poker, where there are two required initial wagers, the house edge is based on one of them only. House edge figures are based on optimal or near-optimal player strategy.

The table below shows the house edge of most popular casino games and bets.

Casino Game House Edge

Game Bet/Rules House Edge Standard
Deviation
Baccarat Banker 1.06% 0.93
Player 1.24% 0.95
Tie 14.36% 2.64
Big Six $1 11.11% 0.99
$2 16.67% 1.34
$5 22.22% 2.02
$10 18.52% 2.88
$20 22.22% 3.97
Joker/Logo 24.07% 5.35
Bonus Six No insurance 10.42% 5.79
With insurance 23.83% 6.51
Blackjacka Liberal Vegas rules 0.28% 1.15
Caribbean Stud Poker   5.22% 2.24
Casino War Go to war on ties 2.88% 1.05
Surrender on ties 3.70% 0.94
Bet on tie 18.65% 8.32
Catch a Wave   0.50% d
Craps Pass/Come 1.41% 1.00
Don't pass/don't come 1.36% 0.99
Odds — 4 or 10 0.00% 1.41
Odds — 5 or 9 0.00% 1.22
Odds — 6 or 8 0.00% 1.10
Field (2:1 on 12) 5.56% 1.08
Field (3:1 on 12) 2.78% 1.14
Any craps 11.11% 2.51
Big 6,8 9.09% 1.00
Hard 4,10 11.11% 2.51
Hard 6,8 9.09% 2.87
Place 6,8 1.52% 1.08
Place 5,9 4.00% 1.18
Place 4,10 6.67% 1.32
Place (to lose) 4,10 3.03% 0.69
2, 12, & all hard hops 13.89% 5.09
3, 11, & all easy hops 11.11% 3.66
Any seven 16.67% 1.86
Crazy 4 Poker Ante 3.42%* 3.13*
Double Down Stud   2.67% 2.97
Heads Up Hold 'Em Blind pay table #1 (500-50-10-8-5) 2.36% 4.56
Keno   25%-29% 1.30-46.04
Let it Ride   3.51% 5.17
Pai Gowc   1.50% 0.75
Pai Gow Pokerc   1.46% 0.75
Pick ’em Poker   0% - 10% 3.87
Red Dog Six decks 2.80% 1.60
Roulette Single Zero 2.70% e
Double Zero 5.26% e
Sic-Bo   2.78%-33.33% e
Slot Machines   2%-15%f 8.74g
Spanish 21 Dealer hits soft 17 0.76% d
Dealer stands on soft 17 0.40% d
Super Fun 21   0.94% d
Three Card Poker Pairplus 7.28% 2.85
Ante & play 3.37% 1.64
Ultimate Texas Hold 'Em Ante 2.19% 4.94
Video Poker Jacks or Better (Full Pay) 0.46% 4.42
Wild Hold ’em Fold ’em   6.86% d

Notes

  1. Liberal Vegas Strip rules: Dealer stands on soft 17, player may double on any two cards, player may double after splitting, resplit aces, late surrender.
  2. Las Vegas single deck rules are dealer hits on soft 17, player may double on any two cards, player may not double after splitting, one card to split aces, no surrender.
  3. Assuming player plays the house way, playing one on one against dealer, and half of bets made are as banker.
  4. Yet to be determined.
  5. Standard deviation depends on bet made.
  6. Slot machine range is based on available returns from a major manufacturer
  7. Slot machine standard deviation based on just one machine. While this can vary, the standard deviation on slot machines are very high.

Guide to House Edge

The reason that the house edge is relative to the original wager, not the average wager, is that it makes it easier for the player to estimate how much they will lose. For example if a player knows the house edge in blackjack is 0.6% he can assume that for every $10 wager original wager he makes he will lose 6 cents on the average. Most players are not going to know how much their average wager will be in games like blackjack relative to the original wager, thus any statistic based on the average wager would be difficult to apply to real life questions.

The conventional definition can be helpful for players determine how much it will cost them to play, given the information they already know. However the statistic is very biased as a measure of risk. In Caribbean stud poker, for example, the house edge is 5.22%, which is close to that of double zero roulette at 5.26%. However the ratio of average money lost to average money wagered in Caribbean stud is only 2.56%. The player only looking at the house edge may be indifferent between roulette and Caribbean stud poker, based only the house edge. If one wants to compare one game against another I believe it is better to look at the ratio of money lost to money wagered, which would show Caribbean stud poker to be a much better gamble than roulette.

Many other sources do not count ties in the house edge calculation, especially for the Don’t Pass bet in craps and the banker and player bets in baccarat. The rationale is that if a bet isn’t resolved then it should be ignored. I personally opt to include ties although I respect the other definition.

Element of Risk

For purposes of comparing one game to another I would like to propose a different measurement of risk, which I call the "element of risk." This measurement is defined as the average loss divided by total money bet. For bets in which the initial bet is always the final bet there would be no difference between this statistic and the house edge. Bets in which there is a difference are listed below.

Element of Risk

Game Bet House Edge Element
of Risk
Blackjack Atlantic City rules 0.43% 0.38%
Bonus 6 No insurance 10.42% 5.41%
Bonus 6 With insurance 23.83% 6.42%
Caribbean Stud Poker   5.22% 2.56%
Casino War Go to war on ties 2.88% 2.68%
Crazy 4 Poker Standard rules 3.42%* 1.09%
Heads Up Hold 'Em Pay Table #1 (500-50-10-8-5) 2.36% 0.64%
Double Down Stud   2.67% 2.13%
Let it Ride   3.51% 2.85%
Spanish 21 Dealer hits soft 17 0.76% 0.65%
Spanish 21 Dealer stands on soft 17 0.40% 0.30%
Three Card Poker Ante & play 3.37% 2.01%
Ultimate Texas Hold 'Em   2.19%* 0.53%
Wild Hold ’em Fold ’em   6.86% 3.23%

Standard Deviation

The standard deviation is a measure of how volatile your bankroll will be playing a given game. This statistic is commonly used to calculate the probability that the end result of a session of a defined number of bets will be within certain bounds.

The standard deviation of the final result over n bets is the product of the standard deviation for one bet (see table) and the square root of the number of initial bets made in the session. This assumes that all bets made are of equal size. The probability that the session outcome will be within one standard deviation is 68.26%. The probability that the session outcome will be within two standard deviations is 95.46%. The probability that the session outcome will be within three standard deviations is 99.74%. The following table shows the probability that a session outcome will come within various numbers of standard deviations.

I realize that this explanation may not make much sense to someone who is not well versed in the basics of statistics. If this is the case I would recommend enriching yourself with a good introductory statistics book.

Standard Deviation

Number Probability
0.25 0.1974
0.50 0.3830
0.75 0.5468
1.00 0.6826
1.25 0.7888
1.50 0.8664
1.75 0.9198
2.00 0.9546
2.25 0.9756
2.50 0.9876
2.75 0.9940
3.00 0.9974
3.25 0.9988
3.50 0.9996
3.75 0.9998

Hold

Although I do not mention hold percentages on my site the term is worth defining because it comes up a lot. The hold percentage is the ratio of chips the casino keeps to the total chips sold. This is generally measured over an entire shift. For example if blackjack table x takes in $1000 in the drop box and of the $1000 in chips sold the table keeps $300 of them (players walked away with the other $700) then the game's hold is 30%. If every player loses their entire purchase of chips then the hold will be 100%. It is possible for the hold to exceed 100% if players carry to the table chips purchased at another table. A mathematician alone can not determine the hold because it depends on how long the player will sit at the table and the same money circulates back and forth. There is a lot of confusion between the house edge and hold, especially among casino personnel.

Hands per Hour, House Edge for Comp Purposes

The following table shows the average hands per hour and the house edge for comp purposes various games. The house edge figures are higher than those above, because the above figures assume optimal strategy, and those below reflect player errors and average type of bet made. This table was given to me anonymously by an executive with a major Strip casino and is used for rating players.

Hands per Hour and Average House Edge

Games Hands/Hour House Edge
Baccarat 72 1.2%
Blackjack 70 0.75%
Big Six 10 15.53%
Craps 48 1.58%
Car. Stud 50 1.46%
Let It Ride 52 2.4%
Mini-Baccarat 72 1.2%
Midi-Baccarat 72 1.2%
Pai Gow 30 1.65%
Pai Pow Poker 34 1.96%
Roulette 38 5.26%
Single 0 Roulette 35 2.59%
Casino War 65 2.87%
Spanish 21 75 2.2%
Sic Bo 45 8%
3 Way Action 70 2.2%

Footnotes

* — House edge based on Ante bet only as opposed to all mandatory wagers (for example the Blind in Ultimate Texas Hold 'Em and the Super Bonus in Crazy 4 Poker.

Translation

A Spanish translation of this page is available at www.eldropbox.com.