Many people dream of escaping their dreary day-to-day lives for one of luxury and opulence. For some, this means becoming a casino high roller and spending their time betting as much as they want on their favorite online casino games and hopefully walking away a winner.
Learn more about high rollers here, including what they are, some of the most instantly recognizable high rollers, and the games many high rollers like to play.
What Is a High Roller?
High roller has two meanings that people are familiar with. Firstly, it’s someone who has a lot of money to spend and does so. These are individuals who enjoy the high life. However, a high roller can also be someone who likes to make large, risky bets in a casino or other gambling environment.
A Few Famous High Rollers
There are many wealthy people, but not all of these rich individuals would be considered high rollers. Here are a few famous gambling high rollers.
Archie Karas
Archie Karas is a Greek gambler who started as a Los Angeles pool shark. He eventually turned his attention to casino games, including poker and craps. He made and lost millions of dollars several times throughout his gambling career, but his fearless high-roll bets made him famous in gambling circles.
Don Johnson
Don Johnson is an American corporate executive who worked as a corporate executive but took advantage of casinos during the 2008 financial crisis. He was a high roller who understood the ins and outs of blackjack, so casinos were very interested in having him play at their venues. Sensing their desperation, Johnson asked the casinos to make several seemingly small changes to the rules. Still, these changes gave him enough of an edge that he ended up winning millions of dollars.
Michael Jordan
Michael Jordan made hundreds of millions of dollars throughout his NBA career, which ushered him into the billionaire club. It’s thanks to his very deep pockets that he can also afford to gamble the way he does. Jordan is famous for loving a good wager and has bet on everything from golf to poker. He’s reported to have even made a six-figure bet on rock, paper, scissors.
Best High Roller Table Games
Any game that allows for bets that are out of the reach of most people could be considered a high-roller table game. Still, even when you take this into consideration, there are undoubtedly some games that stand above the rest for being popular amongst high rollers.
Here are three games where you’re very likely to find high rollers.
1. Blackjack
Blackjack is loved by high rollers and regular gamblers alike because of how easy it is to learn. It’s also adored by many gamblers because of its fast-paced gameplay, with blackjack hands being decided in just a couple of minutes and a very low house edge.
Tips for Blackjack:
If you’re passionate about winning, you can learn card counting to give yourself the edge when playing blackjack in person at a casino. This is a difficult skill to master but will give you the edge at any casino that only uses a single deck of cards in a blackjack game. However, casinos have also taken steps to reduce the effectiveness of card counting, including using multiple decks, automatic card shufflers, and more frequent card shuffling.
If card counting is too tricky, you can learn some basic blackjack strategies to improve your odds of winning. To win more often, you should:
- Always split a pair of 8s.
- Always split a pair of aces.
- Never split a pair of 10s.
- Always double down on 11s.
- Stand on any hand worth more than 17.
2. Poker
Anyone who’s seen a competitive Texas hold’em poker game will understand the excitement poker has to offer, especially regarding high-stakes games where there’s so much on the line. At the highest levels of the game, players will wager thousands of dollars on what looks like a sure win, only for the last community card to completely turn the game on its head.
This level of excitement draws in high rollers who enjoy taking chances but prefer to take calculated risks. This is because poker, like blackjack, has an element of skill, transforming it from a game of pure chance to one that delicately balances luck and technique.
Tips for Poker:
Poker is another game where you can use various strategies to your advantage. Here are some quick and easy tips that you can use during a game of poker that are just as effective in high-roller games:
- Play aggressively preflop if you have the nuts.
- Aim to be consistent by learning what hands have the best outs and which hands you should fold immediately.
- Don’t overcommit on a pair of aces postflop just because they are the nuts preflop.
- Don’t call on a mediocre hand; it will just waste your money (and time) in the long run.
- Remember to keep your cool and don’t get tilted.
3. Craps
Whether you’re spectating or rolling the dice, craps is a game that offers an incredible atmosphere. Gamblers who hit a hot streak can quickly find themselves surrounded by a large crowd who want to wager on their good fortunes and observe the action around the table. It’s this experience that often draws high rollers to the craps table.
Tips for Craps:
Unlike blackjack and poker, craps is a game of pure chance. No matter what you do when you roll the dice, it’s up to luck whether you win or lose. However, you can wager on pass and don’t pass bets to reduce the house edge to 1.41% and 1.36%, respectively. Both of these wagers offer payout odds of 1:1.
Find Casino Games to Suit All Bankrolls at BetMGM
Whether you’re a high roller or just a casual gambler, you can find the best games to play at a casino to suit your bankroll at BetMGM. From table games to slots to live dealer games, an exciting world of gambling is waiting for you.
Register at BetMGM to join in all the gambling thrills.
