One of the most common questions newcomers often ask when playing the classics for the very first time is whether they should try poker or blackjack first.
If you are considering playing on a trustworthy site with hundreds of computer-generated and cutting-edge live dealer classic table & card variants and have asked yourself the same question as I did when I first started playing, you’ve come to the right place.
If you’re looking for something easy to play, then you should try blackjack first. However, that doesn’t mean that it’s difficult to learn how to play poker.
With that in mind, let’s dive straight in and take a closer look at why I believe that newcomers should start with blackjack before trying poker, and explain which has better odds – poker or blackjack.
I will also be revealing which of my top five favourite legally permitted websites that currently have hundreds of popular blackjack and poker variants from various market-leading software providers, which you can play today in the real money mode using any decent PC or mobile device, provided you are of legal age in your country to play on sites like this.
Which Is Better For Beginners, Blackjack Or Poker?
Based on my personal experience of playing on countless fully licensed and regulated blackjack and poker sites over the past twenty years and trying more variants than I can remember, I would say to any inexperienced person who hasn’t ever played blackjack or poker before to consider perhaps starting with blackjack, just because there are far fewer rules and odds to learn.
It doesn’t take very long to learn standard blackjack rules, plus you should also find, like I did, that basic blackjack strategy is quite easy to get to grips with.
Basic blackjack strategy essentially tells you which moves to make based on your current hand and the dealer’s face-up card. In poker, there are far more strategies you need to learn, which can easily be applied in certain situations to influence the outcome of the game.
Does Poker Or Blackjack Have Better Odds?
When I first learned about the odds in both poker and blackjack to determine, I visited this Casino Meister Blog page, which explains in much greater detail how the odds in both card variants differ and why poker can be far more profitable, especially when playing tournament/sit ’n go or cash game poker, instead of traditional casino poker formats, such as:
- Hold’em
- Pai gow poker
- Let ‘em ride (aka let it ride)
- Caribbean stud poker
- Video poker
In most of these games, just like blackjack, the aim is to beat the dealer only. You don’t have to beat any other players. In video poker, you don’t even need to try and beat the dealer.
The aim of most video poker formats is to try and get the highest-valued winning poker hand to receive the biggest payout, so make sure you learn the different poker wins and the odds of these hands actually occurring.
The odds vary slightly from one blackjack and poker variant to the next, which also means the house edge varies slightly. Each game has different payouts for different hands, and there are far more ways to win in poker. In blackjack, there’s only really one or two different payouts.
For example, in most blackjack variants, achieving blackjack (finishing the hand with 21 points or as close to 21 as possible, without exceeding this number, while beating the dealer at the same time) pays 3:2 (1.5x times your total stake).
In comparison, you will most likely find in a typical hold ’em variant that a straight or less (e.g., high card, one pair, two pair, or three of a kind) pays 1:1 (so your initial stake back, plus the same amount in winnings).
A flush pays 2:1 (or 5:1), a full house pays 3:1 (or 7:1), four-of-a-kind pays 10:1, a straight flush pays 20:1 (or 50:1), and a royal flush pays 100:1.
Each variant is different, so I advise anyone looking to try poker to find out what the odds are before playing in real money mode.
Most computer-generated online blackjack and poker variants out there today are playable from as little as $/€/£0.10, $/€/£0.20, or $/€/£0.50 per hand/round and can be accessed in the real money and free-play demo modes.
Unfortunately, cutting-edge live dealer blackjack and poker variants are usually never available to play in the free-play demo mode, and most live dealer variants are playable for just $/€/£0.50 per hand/round. However, I have found a few that allow you to play from as little as $/€/£0.10 or $/€/£0.20 per hand.
Final Thoughts
To sum up, if you are new to playing poker and blackjack and want to play cards, it doesn’t really matter which one you try first. They are both equally entertaining and are two of the most profitable card games.
However, blackjack is the slightly easier of the two to learn how to play, so I would say that this one is more suitable for beginners. I tried both around the same time and picked them up relatively quickly, and I think that most other people who play blackjack and poker also pick them up fast.
My five favorite sites where I enjoy playing were all recommended to me by the experts on the official CasinoMeister review site.
Their top 5 brands at the time of writing include Pub, All British, bet365, Lottomart, and Videoslots, which I can also recommend after joining all five and having had decent blackjack and poker experiences on all of them.
You can find secure links to each site inside the expert reviews. All five of these sites are free to join. They welcome numerous secure online payment methods and can be accessed in most web browsers using any modern Wi-Fi/internet-connected mobile device or PC.
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