Sometimes people think gambling is always a losing proposition, but in reality, it’s often a much closer match than it initially appears. And while some games stack the deck in favor of the house, others can be learned with such depth and comprehension that the odds turn dramatically in your favor.

One case in point would be playing blackjack, where there are many instances of people upping their odds so substantially by being able to predict whether a high or low card is coming out next, that they win most of the time. And that’s as good as it gets in the online casino games world, where the ratio of winning to losing can be much closer to 1:1. You win some, you lose some. Gaining the upper hand by using a system is challenging and forbidden, so leave your efforts to come up with 21 behind and scoot over to the virtual poker games table.

By trying to match up anything from a pair to a royal flush–five cards in a row of the same suit–you can do pretty well in Texas Hold ‘em style poker. That’s because unlike other games, you’re given 7 total cards, which ups your probability of getting some reasonable hand or other. The rest is up to your betting skill to pull off, by either pretending you’ve got more or less than you’ve actually got! Skill in this arena can lead to some pretty sizable winning hands.

For those less interested in trying to craftily beat the odds, try some good old fashioned luck. Play some roulette, but play it smart. Here is a game where selection of the wheel is important. Two wheel types exist, and one removes a “neutral” (or more correctly, “house wins”) color tab from the two colored wheel, leaving only one space above fifty-fifty in the house’s favor. By betting on colors rather than numbers, odds increase, even if the payout decreases.