The Importance of Hot and Cold Tables in Casino Gambling

hot and cold tables in the casino

Don’t Just Jump Into the Game

Even with table games where skill doesn’t play a role, people are advised to first observe a table before joining in. Even with something like Roulette where winning or losing is purely based on where the ball stops, we still are advised to not jump into placing bets but to observe and see if we can predict the inherent biases, the patterns and look around and see if people are enjoying and winning. 

This is even more true to the online casino games which are currently popular. Resources advice people to bet on machines where the winnings are frequent. Stay away from machines that have just resulted in a win and even bet on machines that haven’t registered a win for a long time because you might be the lucky one. All this has resulted in something called hot and cold tables in casino games.

Understanding the Concept of Hot and Cold Casino Tables

The basic concept here is that when you sit and observe a table before joining in you should be able to recognise if it is running hot. One of the ways to recognise a hot casino table is to look at the players. A table is hot when players are winning and this translates to a more relaxed atmosphere, more smiling faces, a taller stack of winnings and an overall warm and happy atmosphere. 

Opposite of this scenario is when there isn’t much winning at the table and the mood is cool. Such a table is termed as the cold table. So, now that we have understood the concepts of hot and cold casino tables, the next step is to determine what your strategy is going to be. Are you going to join a hot table or a cold one? What will be more lucrative? These are the questions you have to ask yourself while coming to a decision.

Devising a Winning Strategy

Given that the whole concept of a casino runs on the unpredictable nature of the games, there is no strategy that works in every situation. Players need to take decisions and device strategies on their feet, taking into consideration the current situation and drawing from their experience. And this is the same when it comes to analyzing hot and cold casino tables too. 

Let us say that you did manage to recognise the hottest table in the casino; people are enjoying and the winning stakes are high. So, what should be your next step? Should you join the table? If you do join the table the expectation is that the winning streak will continue. But can we know for how long it will continue, since ultimately in any game the house advantage has to creep in? Also, understanding that the winning streak has to end at some point in time, should we avoid the hot table rather than joining it? These are some questions you have to answer to decide whether or not to join a hot table.

Now let us say you have encountered a cold table. The people are clearly not winning but they aren’t leaving either. The main reason for this is the assumption that people cannot keep losing at a table and at some point in time people have to start winning. This is why people generally don’t leave a cold table because of the expectation that it might get into a winning streak anytime now. So, does that mean that we will have more advantage if we join a cold table?

Coming to the Right Decision

Thus, it is obvious that the concept of cold and hot casino tables can be an important consideration when deciding when to start and where to play. But it is also obvious that there is no concrete strategy on how to play this concept to your advantage. Players should take the right decision by considering the situation carefully and decide depending on their assessment of the situation and their experience!