A hand or two while the kettle boils
These are the games with no long haul in them. A hand of Blackjack or Video Poker is over in half a minute, and a game of Go Fish in a few. Stop whenever you like and the table will be as you left it.
You against the dealer
Blackjack is the casino game of getting closer to 21 than the dealer without going over. You can hit, stand, double and split, and the dealer has no choices at all: the dealer draws to 17 and stops. That makes it a game with a right answer for every hand, and the Hint button knows it. The full strategy chart is on the page.
Five cards and one draw
Video Poker is draw poker for one. You are dealt five cards, hold the ones you like and swap the rest once, and a pair of jacks or better pays. The game here is Jacks or Better with the classic 9/6 pay table. The only decision is which cards to hold, and the Hint works out the best hold exactly, by playing every possible draw.
The one the whole family knows
Go Fish is the asking game: “Have you any sevens?” You collect books of four of a kind, and when you ask for a card nobody has, you fish one from the pond. Play against Otto alone or against Mabel, Otto and June together. It is the gentlest game on the site and a good one to play with a child beside you.
At a glance
| Game | You play | You decide | Played for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Blackjack | The dealer | Hit, stand, double or split | Play chips |
| Video Poker | The pay table | Which cards to hold | Play chips |
| Go Fish | One computer player, or three | Who to ask, and for what | Books of four |
Play chips, not money
Blackjack and Video Poker each start you with 1,000 chips. They are play chips: there is nothing to buy, nothing to cash in and no sign-up. If they run out, New game gives you another 1,000. The chips are kept on your device with the rest of your game.
The rules and the odds are the real ones, though, so both games are a fair place to learn. Blackjack is dealt from six packs with the usual casino rules, and Video Poker pays by the same table as the machines players look for.
How much does skill matter?
- Blackjack: a great deal. Played by the strategy chart, the house keeps about 40 chips of every 10,000 you bet. Played the way the dealer plays, hitting up to 17 and never doubling or splitting, it keeps more than 500.
- Video Poker: even more. With the best hold every time the game returns 99.54% of what you bet. Hold cards at random and it returns about a third.
- Go Fish: with two players it is mostly luck. With four, remembering who asked for what makes a real difference.
In both chip games the house still has a small edge however well you play, so over a long session the chips drift down. That is how the real games work too.
What every game here has
- Hint, which tells you the best play and why.
- Game numbers. Each game has a number, shown under the table.
- Your game is kept. Close the page and your chips, your cards and your books are still there when you come back, on the same device.