Live dealers

A table on a camera

The dealer stands at a table in a studio, or sometimes on a casino floor, with cameras on the cards or the wheel. Software reads each card or the winning number from the camera feed and settles the bets automatically. You see the dealer, a betting window opens on your screen, you place your bets, the window closes, the hand is dealt.

That makes it different from the computer versions of the same games, where a random number generator deals the cards and nobody is shuffling anything. Some players trust a person with a shoe more than a program. I understand the feeling. The fairness of either one comes from the same place, though: the regulator that licenses the operator and the testing behind it, not from whether there's a human on the screen.

Whether you can play these games for real money at all depends on where you live. In the United States that is decided state by state, and I won't guess at your state here.

Same games, same math, if the rules match

A live blackjack table is blackjack. The edge is set by the rules, and those vary from one table to the next exactly as they do on a casino floor. The rule I'd check first is the blackjack payout. At 3 to 2, a $10 bet that's dealt a blackjack pays $15. At 6 to 5, it pays $12. Same cards, same dealer, $3 less every time you get the best hand in the game. I'd leave a 6 to 5 table on a screen just as quickly as one in a building. The rest of the rules are on the blackjack page.

Roulette is the same story. A single-zero wheel has 37 pockets and pays 35 to 1 on a single number, so the house keeps 1 in 37, or 2.70 percent. A double-zero wheel has 38 pockets and the same payout, so it keeps 2 in 38, or 5.26 percent. Both versions get streamed. The wheel on your screen is the price, and you can count the zeros. Roulette and baccarat each have their own page.

Card counting is the one thing people ask about that I'd forget. Whether the shoe is shuffled early, how deep it's dealt and how many decks are in it are the operator's choices, and you can't see most of them. Assume it's no use and you won't be disappointed.

The game-show tables

Next to the plain tables you'll find versions with a twist: roulette where a few numbers get a random multiplier each spin, wheels with bonus rounds, a host and lights. These are built to be watched, and they're good at it.

The multipliers aren't free. To pay a big multiplier now and then, these games pay less on the ordinary wins. Where a multiplier roulette game pays less than 35 to 1 on a straight-up number that doesn't get struck, that difference is what funds the multipliers. The game's help screen gives the payouts and, usually, the return for each bet. Read it before you play, because the return can differ from bet to bet in the same game, and the bet that looks most exciting isn't always the one that's priced best.

I'd treat these like a progressive slot. You're paying a bit more on every bet for a small chance at something large. Fine for entertainment. Not where I'd go looking for the best price.

Pace

A live game is slower than its computer version. The dealer has to deal, the betting window has to open and close, the wheel has to stop. That's not a flaw. Your cost over an evening is the edge multiplied by how much you bet, and fewer hands an hour means less money put through the edge for the same stake.

Where people get hurt is the side bets. Live tables are full of them (perfect pairs, 21+3, bonus bets on the banker hand), and they pay big for rare results. Most of them carry a much higher edge than the main game. If the main bet is the reason you sat down, I'd leave the side bets alone, the same way I'd leave the center of a craps table alone.

Before you sit down

The dealer is real, but you're still trusting the operator with your money: the deposit, the settlement of each hand and the withdrawal at the end. A dispute about a hand on a stream is harder to argue than one at a table where you can call a supervisor over, so I'd check how an operator handles complaints before I trusted it with a balance. The dispute handling and withdrawals pages say what to look for.

A live game can also feel more like a night out than a computer game does, and that's partly the point. The dealer chats, the table has regulars, there's always another hand a moment later. Decide what the evening can cost before you log in. The responsible gambling page has how I'd set it, and the house edge page compares the games you'll find at a live table side by side.