Casino War Rules

This is a really simple and straightforward card game and makes one think back to the basic card game most of us played as children.

All cards are ranked according to their poker value and Aces are the highest. The player and the dealer each get one card and the aim is to draw a higher card than the dealer. If the resulting draw is a tie then the player can go to “War” . . .

This is played in a casino with cards usually being drawn form a 6-deck shoe. The player chooses an amount to wager and this is then matched by the dealer (note: The player has also the option of a 10:1 side bet that the two initial cards will tie). The player and dealer each get one card and if the player's card is then better than the dealer's, the player wins even money. If the dealer's card is better than the player's card, the player loses.

If both cards are of EQUAL value, then the player may either lose half his bet (surrender) or elect to go to 'war' against the dealer. If the player decides to go to war, he/she must make another bet equal to their initial wager to exercise the war option. The dealer also matches the player's initial wager and places it next to the player's wager.

The dealer then burns, face down the next three (3) cards and deals the next card to the player, then burns three (3) more cards face down and then deals the following card to himself. If the player's card has a higher rank than the dealer's card then the player wins the "War". If the player's card has a lower rank than the dealer's card then the player loses.

Either way, the winner of the war collects all the money in front of that player and the dealer starts a new game. If the dealer and the player cards are of equal rank after the player has exercised his/her option to go to war, the player automatically wins the war and is paid a bonus equal to their original war wager.

Very simple and will little strategy involved this game can nonetheless appeal to those players who feel lucky and can’t be bothered with too much thought and number-crunching. You may be asking, “what’s in it for the casino?” Well, below we’ve listed the small house advantage inherent in this game (really not much)

House advantage: