Casino War: A Fighting Chance

I still have vivid recollections of Saturday morning card playing sessions on our living room floor – my two brothers and I sprawled out on our stomachs, playing hand after hand of War and other simple card games.  I’ve had my fair share of card gaming sessions since then, but nothing quite beats the thrill of winning over one of my brothers’ staff of matchsticks or M&M’s, or whatever else we were playing for back then.

Now and then, I like to re trigger those memories again by playing a game that is as familiar to the original game of ‘war’ than most other games – casino war. Not only is this a fun, simple, memory-making game, but it also gives a fighting chance to beat the dealer a lot of the time.

Casino war is usually played at online casinos with a standard deck of 52 cards and these are ranked in very much the same way as in a game of poker.  The only difference is that that Aces are always high cards in casino war.

Playing casino war is extremely easy.  Essentially, one card is dealt to the player and the other to the dealer.  If the dealer’s card is higher, the player loses the bet, however, if the player’s card is higher, he wins back twice his own wager.  In the case of a tie, the player can either surrender (and forfeit half his bet) or he can ‘go to war’, ie. both need to place a wager the same size as the first.  Game theory tips suggest that players never surrender to increase their odds of winning over a period of time.

If the player opts to ‘go to war’ and wins the round, he wins three bets – the original bet, the ‘declaration of war’ bet and a third amount put up by the dealer.  However, if the player loses, he loses the ‘declaration of war’ bet and the original bet.

There is also the option of taking advantage of a bonus bet on ties. Should the player bet on the tie and the card matches the dealer’s card, the player wins the original bet at a rate of 10:1.