Games
The Fair Go Table Room
Blackjack played with basic strategy carries roughly a 0.5% house edge, the lowest of anything in the lobby. Every table runs at your own pace.
- Blackjack edge
- About 0.5%
- Roulette
- Take single zero
- Live dealer
- None
- Bonus weighting
- Reduced or nil
House edge across the site
What the casino keeps from every dollar wagered, over the long run. This is the only comparison that matters between game types.
| Game | House edge | Cost per AU$100 wagered |
|---|---|---|
| Blackjack, basic strategy | About 0.5% | About AU$0.50 |
| Video poker, good paytable | 0.5% to 3% | AU$0.50 to AU$3 |
| Blackjack, casual play | 2% to 3% | AU$2 to AU$3 |
| European roulette | 2.7% | AU$2.70 |
| Typical pokie | 3% to 6% | AU$3 to AU$6 |
| American roulette | 5.26% | AU$5.26 |
Wagered, not deposited. AU$100 cycled ten times through a game is AU$1,000 wagered, and the edge applies to the full turnover.
Blackjack, if you learn the chart
Played with correct basic strategy, blackjack is the best value on the site by a wide margin. Played on instinct, it is roughly as expensive as a pokie.
Basic strategy is a single page: the mathematically correct decision for every combination of your hand and the dealer’s upcard. It is freely available, it takes about an hour to learn, and it moves the house edge from around 3% to around 0.5%.
Because these are software tables rather than live dealers, you can keep the chart open beside you and take as long as you like on every hand. That is a real advantage of software over a streamed table, and almost nobody uses it.
Roulette: one decision, made once
European roulette has a single zero and a 2.7% house edge. American roulette has two zeros and 5.26%. The gameplay is identical.
That is the same bet costing you nearly twice as much. If both are in the lobby, there is never a reason to play the double-zero version.
Beyond that choice there is nothing to optimise. Betting systems change the distribution of your wins and losses without touching the expected value, and every one of them fails at the same place: the table limit, or your balance.
Video poker is the sleeper
On the right paytable and with correct play, video poker returns more than almost anything else here. The catch is that the machine name tells you very little; the paytable tells you everything.
Two machines both called Jacks or Better can pay differently for a full house and a flush, and that single difference moves the return by more than a percentage point. Open the paytable before you play and check what the middle-ranking hands pay.
One rule specific to this game: bet maximum coins. The royal flush payout usually jumps disproportionately at max bet, and short-betting cuts the return. If max coins is more than you want to stake, drop to a lower denomination rather than fewer coins.
Getting the value
- Learn basic strategy before playing blackjack for money. it is the difference between the best and a middling bet on the site.
- Practise in demo with the chart open. software tables let you take as long as you want per hand.
- Always choose single-zero roulette. no exceptions.
- Read the video poker paytable before the first hand. ten seconds, and it decides the return.
- Decline insurance. it is a side bet with a worse edge than the hand you are already playing.
- Check the bonus weighting first. playing tables with an active bonus can be close to pointless.
Frequently asked questions
- Which game has the best odds at Fair Go?
Blackjack played with correct basic strategy, at roughly a 0.5% house edge. Video poker on a good paytable is close behind.
- Are there live dealer tables?
No. All table games here are software versions running against a random number generator.
- Can I clear a bonus playing blackjack?
Usually not effectively. Table games are weighted at a fraction of pokies or excluded, precisely because their house edge is so low.
- European or American roulette?
European, always. One zero rather than two halves the house edge for identical gameplay.
- What does 9/6 mean in video poker?
The coins paid for a full house and a flush. A 9/6 machine returns meaningfully more than an 8/5 one with the same rules.
- Should I bet max coins on video poker?
Yes on most machines, because the royal flush payout jumps at maximum coins. If that is too much money, lower the denomination instead of the coins.