Are you looking for a live casino that lets you play against a live dealer mimicking the brick-and-mortar casino experience? Try Casino Hold’Em. It’s a poker game with a lower house edge, leaving the game’s outcome dependent on players’ decisions more than just luck; unlike slots, where you fly blind.
Casino Hold’Em main bet offers a decent RTP over time. If you have played poker before, you know a 2.16% house edge on the Ante is competitive with most games in a UK casino lobby.
But Casino Hold’Em isn’t for everyone.
You shouldn’t try this: a) if you are okay with high stakes for lesser grinding; b) or you are trying your luck for a life-changing payout.
Ideally, you are not chasing a jackpot here. But what you will find is frequent smaller wins, with low volatility, and the occasional big paytable hit if the cards fall right.
By the mid-2000s, Casino Hold’Em was a live table game in land-based casinos throughout Europe.
Evolution has since released a live version of Casino Hold’Em, which can be played at MonsterCasino.
The game also uses a real shuffle machine and a real dealer who is streamed from the Evolution studio․ The game features additional cameras from the studio that change views throughout a hand to improve realism․
How to play Casino Hold’Em?
Casino Hold’Em gameplay is quite similar to the Texas Hold’Em game. The only difference is that here you play with the live dealer instead of other players. Check out our step-by-step guide!
- Register and create an account at MonsterCasino to get started․
- Make your first deposit to start betting through your real money account․
- Where to find Casino Hold’Em in Live Casino
- When the game UI loads‚ the live dealer‚ a poker table, and an automated card shuffling machine display․
- The round begins with the Ante of a minimum bet amount of at least £0․50 per hand․
- Then the dealer deals two hole cards face-up to you‚ two face-down cards to himself‚ and three community cards face-up in the middle of the table․
- Afterward‚ the community cards are spread face-up on the table as the flop‚ and after viewing your hand and the flop‚ you must either fold or call․ If you fold‚ your Ante bet is surrendered, and you are out of the round․
- After you call or fold‚ the dealer shows two hole cards․ After the dealer takes their turn‚ the existing 5 community cards are compared to the 2 hole cards in either the dealer’s or your possession to evaluate the winner․
The player with the best five-card poker hand (using the five shared cards) wins the round․ If confident in the hand‚ a second bet (Call bet) 2X the Ante can be made to win additional money․
The act of folding means leaving the hand and losing your Ante.
If the dealer has a pair of 4s or higher, the hand is ‘qualified’; otherwise your Ante wins according to the paytable and your Call bet is returned to you as a push․
If the dealer qualifies and you beat the dealer’s hand‚ both bets win․ If your hand’s rank equals that of the dealer’s‚ your Ante and Call bets are each pushed․
The game plays quickly‚ you can play multiple hands in quick succession‚ with betting only lasting 17 seconds and the turn after the flop only giving the player 14 seconds to call or fold․
Theme, animation, and soundtrack
The idea here is to support fast decision-making, so there are no flashy animations or cinematic camera cuts in the game. The playgrid has a digital felt board at the center with designated betting spots for the Ante and AA Bonus bets.
The card graphics have high-contrast text and oversized suits so that players can scan the whole card real quick and flop in a split second.
The chip values appear at the bottom of the screen‚ and on-screen controls allow for calling‚ folding‚ or doubling your stakes․
Card and community cards are simply revealed in-browser‚ as opposed to being graphically rendered‚ so there is no lag․
Sounds of card snaps‚ and chips are realistic in the game․ Background noise can be turned off in the settings‚ although it does not turn off hand alerts․
Features and bonuses
Casino Hold’Em offers three side bets. You can place your money on these mini-games even before the cards are dealt.
The AA Bonus
AA bonus is your safety net in case you lose your bet. So, how does it work?
It looks at the first 5 cards on the table: the first 3 community cards on the flop + your 2 hole cards.
The winning is simple here. If you have a Pair of Aces or any better hand, you win.
Let’s say you got a Pair of Aces, but the dealer has a Full House; even though you lose the main game, you get the AA bonus payout.
Paytable:
| Hand (hole cards + flop) | Pays |
| Royal Flush | 100:1 |
| Straight Flush | 50:1 |
| Four of a Kind | 40:1 |
| Full House | 30:1 |
| Flush | 20:1 |
| Straight | 7:1 |
| Three of a Kind | 7:1 |
| Two Pair | 7:1 |
| Pair of Aces | 7:1 |
Casino Razz
An inverse to poker is Casino Razz‚ in which instead of building the best hand possible‚ the player bets on getting the worst hand․
As with the AA bonus‚ the Casino Razz is also based on the first 5 cards․
To win here, you need the most unconnected or lowest value cards‚ where Aces have the lowest point total, and Jacks have the highest․ If all 5 cards are low numbers that do not form a poker hand‚ you win․
If you have a King‚ or Queen‚ or any pair‚ you lose the bet․
Jumbo 7 Jackpot
It is the ‘Lottery Ticket’ of poker players‚ being 7 a progressive jackpot․ An increase to the prize pool occurs every time someone does something on the casino network․
This bet looks at all 7 cards on the table‚ the 5 community cards and the 2 hole cards you have․ If the 7 cards form a ‘Straight Flush’, then the players win the large jackpot payout․
This means that if it goes on to hit the jackpot‚ every player making a Jumbo 7 bet will share the jackpot evenly with each other․
Mathematically‚ this is not a good bet with an RTP of 81․64%․ This is likely to be played by high rollers looking to play this for fun when the progressive has hit a huge number․
RTP, volatility and max win
| Type | RTP | House edge |
| Ante bet | 97.84% | 2.16% |
| AA Bonus side bet | 93.74% | 6.26% |
| Jumbo 7 Jackpot | 81.64% | 18.36% |
That 97․84% RTP on the Ante bet should be accurate in the long run if the optimal calling strategy is used․ But folding too much can leave you with less Ante to spend․
The main game tends to be lower volatility than side bets‚ offering smaller‚ more frequent payouts in comparison․
On the Ante paytable‚ a Royal Flush pays 100:1․ Most of the winning hands pay 1:1 on the Call bet․ That said‚ the Ante multiplier is still more of a constant strategy play than an incredible hit․
The AA Bonus has a wider range‚ and it is possible to be dealt a Royal Flush at odds of 100:1 across multiple hands․ It won’t happen often‚ but when it does‚ it completely changes your max win․
Where to play?
You can now play Casino Hold’Em at MonsterCasino․ We are licensed and regulated by the UK Gambling Commission․ The game algorithms are audited for fair odds and responsible gambling․ Payment methods are accepted for both depositing funds for real-money gambling and for withdrawing funds made available by the same method․
At MonsterCasino‚ register your details and confirm your identity․
To withdraw‚ you will need to pass the standard UKGC verification checks to verify your identity․
Casino Hold’Em is available both on mobile and desktop versions and can be played in full screen mode‚ with in-game chat and live dealer services with no delay․
Final thoughts
With the RTP on the Ante bet higher than average‚ and only one binary decision per hand‚ the strategy is relatively simple․ The main game and the AA Bonus trigger separately‚ so you won’t win more often with this game if high variance slot wins are what you’re after․ Not only does the AA side bet lower the RTP of the main game‚ but players shouldn’t chase it every hand․ Making the correct read on whether to call it or fold the hand is really what the game is all about. Try it now.
