Zero house edge, or Zero House Edge in jargon, is probably a term you don’t hear very often, but one that every player certainly dreams of – casino games with a house edge of 0%. Most players look around the games of baccarat or blackjack with the assumption that there is no house edge in these games – but they don’t.
The bank’s hand of cards in baccarat has a house edge of 1.17% and the house edge in blackjack, if you include the player’s perfect game and strategy, is around 0.5%.
In skill games like blackjack or video poker, a shrewd and experienced player can very well reduce the casino’s house edge, but still not bring it down to zero. In pure games of chance, which is the case with most casino games, even the best player can only place his bets or place bets on the games that have the lowest house edge.
A rare exception is found on certain video poker machines that have a 100% payout rate; however, this number is based on the perfect basic strategy (so it depends on the skill of the player) and the achievement of a royal flush (which in this case requires good luck and a lot of wagering).
A two exception can be found in blackjack if you have mastered the art of card counting. In this case you can make very good predictions about the composition of the card hands that will be played in the future if you can remember all of the card hands that have already been played. Here, too, a shrewd player has the chance to minimize the house edge of the bank.
The third exception is found at certain online casinos where a small number of casino games actually (according to the theory) do not have a house edge; but only if you play them with special rules (mostly high basic stakes are required for this).
There are a variety of money management systems that claim to give the player an advantage over the online casino when using them. The truth is, however, that even these money management systems do not affect the house edge of the casino at all and cannot guarantee that the player will win. If the bank has a house edge before using any of the money management systems, the bank always has the same house edge. There is no getting around it.
However, there are two things that a good money management system can offer – the ability to minimize losses and protect the profits already made. As with a dream or a soap bubble that bursts, it is also with the house advantage, which is zero. So we’ll have to keep dreaming.