There are many online casino games that require a degree of skill. Most notable is blackjack in which players have to decide whether or not they want another card to be dealt. Similarly in video poker variants players have to decide which cards to hold from those dealt upfront. Casino poker variants are to a lesser extent dependent on skill, where the decisions mainly involve whether to fold or play. Acquiring the skill and making the correct decisions based on optimum strategy is essential for achieving the high average returns that these games offer.

In a sense the skill factor is the unique selling proposition for these games. Players who wager on these games consider themselves in a class apart because they are not banking purely on luck. But the number of such players is relatively smaller. Learning the optimum strategy is an onerous task and not all players are up to it. Making mistakes while playing can be costly. Blackjack played with optimum strategy offers an average return of 99%. Online slots offer an average return of about 95%. But blackjack played with incorrect moves can see the return fall to 90% or less. Therefore most players are comfortable with online slots and not comfortable with blackjack. After all they are wagering with hard earned funds and money does not grow on trees. In order to bring more players into wagering on skill based games software providers incorporate mechanisms by which the dependence on skill can be eliminated. Pai Gow Poker is a popular casino poker variant. Players are dealt seven cards and are asked to divide those cards into a five card hand and a two card hand. There is an element of skill involved in this activity because these hands are ultimately compared with the dealer’s hands. Most software providers have a “house way” button that automatically divides the cards in the optimum manner. In video poker the cards that should be retained by the player according to the optimum strategy are automatically marked on hold.

A more recent innovation is in blackjack, where the optimum strategy is most difficult to master. The blackjack optimum strategy is generally presented in a tabular form on a “strategy card”. Players have to either memorize this card or refer to it while playing. The strategy card is different for each blackjack variant and therefore memorizing cards can be a problem for players who like to wager on a large number of variants. Referring to the card before each move is inconvenient, even though the leading software providers today include strategy cards within the games. Therefore software providers allow for blackjack games to be put on auto play with all the moves made in accordance with the strategy card.

It is important to note that these facilities are not imposed on the players. They are optional. Players who want to wager without using these facilities, facing the challenge of depending on their skill, need not activate or use these features. But these features allow players to wager using optimum strategy without having to learn the strategy. This has increased the traffic on these games so much that in the end both the players and the online casinos are benefitting. It is a win-win situation for both.