The Impact of Personal Control: Why We Prefer Skill-Based Games

Gambling can induce a wide range of emotions, from hope and anticipation to relief, joy, and even remorse or sadness. The risk of the game compels us, and players keep coming back to test lady luck. There are lots of casino games in which money must be staked, and the rest relies on fortune. Those games are out of your hands, and you are just hoping that by some fortuitous turn of events, the stars will align and the money will come rolling your way.

Then, there are casino games that have an element of personal control. You have to make decisions that will influence the outcome of each round. This gives us the feeling that these games can be controlled, and a skilled player can make more money than one playing on blind luck. But is it true?

On a mathematical level, definitely. With an optimal strategy, you will certainly reduce the house edge and enhance your chances of winning. However, this is no guarantee that you will make any profit on your gaming. Luck still plays a great part in whether you will make money or not.

The Appeal of Control in Casino Games

Games with an element of control can be more fun to play over longer periods. They have an added appeal to players, enhancing the thrill of risk by giving us the chance to shape the outcome of each round. It speaks to human nature and desire to influence our environment or solve problems. We want to be able to use our resources to force a win. But the games are not designed for talented players to always win.

There are varying degrees to which we have control in these skill based games. For example, in video poker, you are dealt 5 cards and must pick the ones that you want to hold onto or discard. This is more control than what you would have in a game of slots or roulette. As you can decide which hand to aim for, and hope that the following drawn cards will complete your hand. After being drawn 4 cards to an open-ended straight and 1 pair, you can decide whether to hold onto the pair or go for the straight.

How Much Control You Have in the Games

Video poker certainly has a degree of control, but games such as blackjack or poker have greater levels of control. In blackjack, there are mathematically optimized solutions proven to reduce house edge. It is quite easy to find these blackjack basic strategy charts, and then you can either learn them by heart or keep them open while you play. They will inform you when to hit, stay, double down, and even split.

In poker, the level of control is increased drastically, as you have far more weapons in your arsenal. In each turn, you can call, raise or fold, but when you are playing against other players, this opens the doors to all kinds of strategies. Bluffing and anticipating how your opponents use their cards is crucial to making money off them.

The Influence of House Edge vs Control

However well you learn to master your chosen skill based game, you should always bear in mind, that there is a house edge. This does not apply for poker, as you are playing to win your opponent's money. The house will only take its cut through the rake, a scaled commission on each pot.

Even skill based games carry house edge, they are designed to ensure the casino a profit. Even if the most talented player graces one of their tables. Your skill will determine how high the house edge is, and beginners can even increase the house edge by making poor choices.

The blackjack house edge varies from 2-4%, depending on the variant you choose to play. Look out for games where the Blackjack pays out 3:2 – these have the best RTP where conventional blackjack is concerned. When the Blackjack pays out 1:1 the house edge increases by around +2.3% and 6:5 increases 1.4%.

Returning to the point, if you apply a basic blackjack strategy, you can reduce these odds to as low as 0.5%. Should you be playing at a live table with a real deck of cards, then you can use a card counting strategy. This can further reduce the house edge, and even give you the advantage. But be warned, that once the deck is reshuffled, you will need to start card counting from scratch.

Understanding the Odds and House Edge

House edge is what keeps the casinos in business. If their games had no edge, they would soon lose all their money and be forced to close. Therefore, we always have to accept the fact that the odds are not in our favor. This does not mean the house is targeting you specifically though. Quite the contrary, casinos just want to ensure that over the course of hundreds of thousands of bets, they will get their cut.

Factoring in the house edge, you need to win slightly more times than the odds imply. For example, if you were flipping a coin and the house has an edge of 2%, you would need to win 13 coin tosses out of 25. The danger of control based games is that we often think that our chances of winning are better. That we can win over 50% of the time, and that a truly talented player will always turn a profit.

The Emotional and Social Aspect

Skill based games appear more glamorous in social gambling. You aren't just spinning the reels on a slot machine and hoping to strike gold. Instead, you could be a skilled player who can reduce the house edge by applying advanced game strategies. It has a better ring to it, and there is more social pressure on players to try out skill based games. Even in popular culture, figures such as James Bond, Raymond Babbitt (Rain Man), and similar characters have emphasized the importance of skill in casino games. They seem to always win, whether through mastering the art of bluffing or genius card counting techniques.

While entertaining, these portrayals of gambling are completely wrong and give the impression that skill can win you money. This unlocks all kinds of gambler's fallacies and dangerous ideas regarding gambling.

Concluding Skill Based Casino Games

Players love the thrill of risk, and gambling becomes even more appealing when you can learn strategies to increase your chances of winning. Using betting systems and strategies can indeed influence how your bankroll will grow in the long run, but wins are not a given. You have to be prepared for defeat. Create a bankroll that will sustain you through those losses so you don't go bust.

Playing for longer periods of time is one way to reduce the number of anomalies and random turn of events. Over the course of numerous hands, the results should be closer to what the actual odds imply. It decreases the influence of any kind of streak (winning or losing). One skill that seems painfully obvious, is the art of quitting while you are ahead. This becomes crucial at points such as when you start losing money after winning a great sum or are close to depleting your bankroll entirely.

Don't chase extraordinary wins or assume that you can make your money back through hard work and talent. The house will always have the upper hand, so it is better to leave early with what you have than to pump it all into the games. Live to play another day, and be patient, making a profit is all about having realistic expectations and building slowly.