Back in the mid-1990s, when the first online casinos appeared, the games offered barely went beyond the electromechanical versions available in real life. Shortly, game developers started to go beyond the limitations of real-life gaming machines, putting more imagination and interactions into simple, casual casino games. Still, traditional games like blackjack and baccarat never went out of style. But they, too, have continued evolving, leading to the emergence of the first live casino games online.
Today, there are several developers providing live dealer gaming services to their partners, ranging from industry veteran Evolution Gaming to online casino GPI or Gameplay Interactive, a provider of solutions popular in Asia.
Live dealer games add a personal touch to online casino games – playing with a real person is, after all, more fun than playing with a faceless random number generator. But even among live dealer games, there are some that are more fun to play than others.
Baccarat
The origin of baccarat is uncertain – some say it was invented in 19th century France, while others think it first emerged in the 17th century, in Asia, and was brought to Europe by sailors. Whichever the case, baccarat remains one of the most played games of chance in casinos both online and in real life.
The fun part of baccarat is most likely its speed. The game can be incredibly fast-paced, never allowing the players to get bored – the hands follow each other in very rapid succession. Then again, there is a version called “Squeeze” where the hands are revealed slowly, replacing speed with the growing anticipation of finding out whether a hand is a winner or not.
Casino Hold’em
Once again, here’s a game that charms with its speed. Based on Texas Hold’em, the most popular poker variant out there, Casino Hold’em takes the lengthy (and sometimes boring) betting rounds out of the equation, turning the game into a fast-paced and way more casual activity.
Casino Hold’em games retain more than enough of the elements that make the original a popular game, like the community cards and the fact that you need to beat the dealer’s hand to win. The number of possible bets is much smaller than in the original, though – there’s only an ante bet, a call bet, and a bonus bet that you can place – which makes casino poker games, especially Casino Hold’em, a fun game to play at casinos.
Blackjack
Finally, here’s the game that’s the most fun to play at a live casino (but it’s equally entertaining to be played in a “traditional” RNG format): blackjack. Based on a Spanish game invented centuries ago, blackjack is almost as prolific as roulette in casinos around the world. It is, in turn, unique – players don’t have to rely on luck alone to win but they can use a bit of strategy as well.
Based on the card shown by the dealer, blackjack players can decide how to proceed with their hands. And they don’t need mad skills like card counting to do so, just some common sense – and this can make the game more entertaining than most other casino games out there.