Online casino games are the reason for the existence of online casinos. The earliest online casino games were based on land casino with improvement in software technology these games have today established their independent identity. Online casinos offer anywhere from 60 to over 300 casino games for players to play from all over the world. They usually categorize the games into groups for easier access within the online casino. Though the categorization varies from casino to casino, the most common categories are card and table games, video poker and online slots. Continue reading our beginners guide to online casino games for more information.
Card And Table Games
Card and table games include games like craps, roulette, online blackjack, baccarat, and more, which form the backbone of land casinos. Originally these games in their online avatars exhibited the same variety as the land based counterparts. Therefore online blackjack could be played as per European rules or Nevada rules or Atlantic City rules. Like wise roulette could be played in the American style with a ‘0’ and a ‘00’ or in the European style with only a ‘0’. These games were played with all the seriousness of hard-core enthusiasts. Later on, keeping in mind the penchant for novelty of online casino players, innovative variations were introduced in these games, which included side bets and progressive jackpots. Microgaming’s Gold Series has these games with excellent novel variations. Also included in card and table games are variations of casino poker such as Caribbean Stud Poker, Let ‘Em Ride and Sic Bo. These games are based on poker hand rankings but are played between the player and the dealer.
Video Poker
The next category of games is video poker. These were originally introduced in slots malls and land casinos as a form of slots games. Players draw random cards and are paid out according to the poker hand hierarchy as specified in the payout table. There are a number of variations of video poker games, the most common being Jacks or Better, Deuces Wild and Aces and Faces. One of the first innovations in these games was the feature that allowed players to replace cards as in draw poker. Then multi hand video poker was introduced. Though the most common multi hand format plays 4 hands at a time online casinos offer games with 100 hands being played simultaneously.
Online Slots
Online slots are by far the most popular of the online casino games. Over 70% of the online casino games are online slots games. The slots games too have evolved over time. The version currently in vogue is the 5 reel multi line video bonus slots game. These games usually have 5 reels and a number of paylines that zigzag across the screen. They feature excellent graphics, sound effects and animation. They have one or two bonus games that award additional prizes. They also feature wild symbols that can substitute for other symbols in order to complete winning paylines, scatter symbols that activate the bonus games and multipliers that multiply the payouts given. Each software provider has created a niche market in online slots. Rival casinos have interactive slots, RTG casinos have random jackpots and Microgaming casinos have gamble games. Progressive jackpot slots are the most popular because the jackpot keeps on increasing until hit. Progressive jackpot slots regularly payout in millions of dollars.
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