Casino Game Guide: Casino War

What’s the first card game you remember learning as a kid? For some, it was 5-card draw. For others, it was blackjack. If it wasn’t any of those, then we’d bet it was war. And the funny thing about this?

You can play all these games online for money. Yes, that includes war, which is called Casino War online. We’re going to tell you all about this variation including how it differs from the version you played as a kid. But first things first – where can you play Casino War online?

Below you will find our Casino War guide. We’ll show you how to play both the traditional and casino version. You will also learn about variations and side bets, strategy, and what you should expect when you play Casino War online. You can use these links to jump to a specific section.

Let’s start with the traditional card game. You can also find the rules here.

Here’s what you do:

You split a regular 52-card deck evenly between two players. Each player keeps their stack of cards in front of them in a pile, face down.

Then – at the same time – each player flips over their top card face up in front of them. Whoever has the highest card – per regular poker hand rankings – in order from best to worst – like so:

…wins that round. The winner collects both cards and places them at the bottom of their pile of cards, face down.

If both players turn up a card of the same rank – for example, K-K – then they go to war. The next step is to deal a second card face down (for each player) and then a third card face up (for each player).

Then both players flip over their second card. Whoever has the highest hand wins.

If both players share the same 3-card hand, they go to war again. You deal another card (the fourth) face down and then a fifth face up. Then they flip over the 4^th card and compare hands.

Then rinse and repeat.

They continue the game like this until one of them collects all 52 cards in the deck. That person wins.

That’s how you play the traditional card game. Now let’s look at the casino version.

Here’s how you play Casino War.

The first step is to make the mandatory ante bet. This is the only time you can make the optional ‘tie’ side bet. This pays 10:1 if you and the dealer have the same cards.

Once you make your bet, one card is dealt face up to both you and the dealer.

If your card’s value is higher, you win. You’re paid 1:1 on your ante bet. If it’s lower, you lose your ante bet.

If you made the tie bet, but you didn’t tie the dealer, you lose the bet. But if you tie you’ll receive a payout equal to 10x your ante bet.

When you tie, you’ll also have the option to go to war. Similar to the card game.

The key difference here is you have a choice. You can go to war or you can surrender.

But, if you surrender you’ll get only half your ante bet back. But if you decide to go to war you’ll have to make an additional bet equal to your ante bet.

Let’s say you do that. You decide to go to war.

Next, the dealer will give you one more card face down. Then he’ll burn 3 cards, followed by giving himself one more card. Then both your cards are flipped face up and compared.

Whoever has the highest hand wins. If you win you’ll receive even money on the war bet, but you’ll push on the ante bet (which is where the casino’s primary edge comes from). And if you lose, you lose both your bets.

That’s all there is to it.

There aren’t many variants or side bets. Which isn’t surprising given how simple a game war is. Here are the few variations and side bets we managed to find.

Sort of. It’s almost too simple to believe.

You see, both you and the dealer have a 46.3% chance of winning on the first card. Because of this, you’d think Casino War is a fair game.

But that’s not the case. There are two reasons why:

The more decks the casino uses, the more the house edge increases. The house edge also increases if you choose to surrender.

The house edge is 2.8% when you choose war. But it’s 3.7% when you surrender. So the best strategy should be obvious to you…

Beyond that, the best (and easiest) thing you can do is find a casino that uses the smallest number of decks.

The next best thing you can do is to avoid the tie bet. The house edge for this bet is a whopping 18% when 5 decks are used.

That’s it. So to summarize, your strategy should be to:

Here’s a table from the Wizard of Odds which shows the house edge for Casino War based on the number of decks in play, if they pay bonuses, and if you choose to surrender or play the tie bet.

Your goal should be to get as close to the 2.06% house edge as possible.

At first glance it may look like no online casino offers Casino War.

They do. But because of trademark rights (Shuffle Master owns Casino War), casinos who want to offer Casino War without permission need to call it something else.

Rival calls their version casino battle. BetSoft calls their version top card trumps. Other names include war and beat me.

The point is, you don’t want to discard an online casino too quickly because you don’t see ‘Casino War’. You’ll want to look for one of the other potential names first.

Another thing you want to be on the lookout for is the casinos’ terms about playing Casino War for earning any of their perks or offers. Many casinos outright prohibit war from being played to earn any kind of benefits.

Our guess is because war has such a low house edge, thus higher variance, that the casino doesn’t want to risk you running good on top of collecting bonus money or cash back.

We’ve seen two Real Time Casinos do this – they don’t allow you to play war to clear the rollover requirements.

In other cases – like at Drake Casino – they simply reduce the value of your wager (relative to clearing your bonus) by 10-90 percent. At Drake Casino it’s reduced to 35%. This means you’ll need to wager almost 3x the normal rollover to earn the same bonus slots or kenos players get.

Because many casinos don’t allow you to cash out your winnings until you fulfill their rollover requirements. So don’t take the bonus unless you’re prepared to do that.

One more thing – you won’t find many mobile Casino War games unless the casino has an HTML5 casino and all their games are a part of it. Otherwise, it’ll be hit or miss.

The best way to know for sure, of course, is to read our casino reviews.

These are top real money Casino War casinos available right now. You can find many sites that offer Casino War, but our recommendations offer the best all around experience.

Here are some good reasons why you should play at the casino sites we recommend:

Once you’re ready to sign up with one of our recommendations, you can be playing real money Casino War online within moments.

One thing to look out for when joining an online casino is any bonuses that might be available to new customers. Many gambling sites provide bonuses to players who sign up for a new account, and these can typically be used to play Casino War for real money.

Other bonuses are also offered to existing customers, but be advised that not ALL bonuses can be for used for playing Casino War. Some places might let you use bonus funds on Casino War and other table games, while others might be limited to slot play.

You might also have to play through your bonus funds many times over before you can withdraw anything, not to mention there might be a limit to how much you can win with those bonus funds. The casino will let you know the rules in its bonus terms and conditions, so be sure to check those out.

There are many good reasons why you should consider playing real money Casino War online instead of in a land-based casino. Here are a few of them:

You can play real money Casino War on your mobile device. Most of the top online casinos these days have the option to play games on a tablet or smartphone.

You may have to download an app for your Android or iOS device to play mobile Casino War. Some online casinos don’t have apps, but have mobile responsive sites instead. These mobile responsive sites are basically configured so they function properly on almost any device.

The modern-day mobile gambling experience is superb compared to what is used to be. Whether you’re playing Casino War or any other game, the games load fast and are easy to play.

While it is fun to play Casino War for real money online, it’s also good to mix things up. Most gambling sites offer a wide variety of casino games, and many of them are also worth taking a look at.

Here are a few games you can play online that are very similar to Casino War.

Baccarat is one of the most popular traditional games you’ll find on casino sites. The game also entails a comparison of cards between the player and the dealer or banker. Both sides get two cards, and whoever has a hand that comes the closest to nine points is the winner. The first digit is always dropped when the total is ten or higher.

Baccarat is different in that you can bet on either the player or the banker side. The point comes from the player and banker sides working with different rules for play. The banker has a greater chance of winning on average, but not by much.

Red Dog is another game similar to Casino War for how it focuses on cards that come within certain totals. A dealer will play two cards. You then have to predict if the third card the dealer plays is in between the two in value. The payout will be higher if the margin between those two cards is smaller. You’d have to look at the possible odds for something coming up before you make your bet on whatever might work.

Casino Hi-Lo is a straightforward game that you might find on sites that offer online Casino War for money. In Hi-Lo you are dealt a single card. You then pick whether the next card that appears is higher or lower than that total.

Hi-Lo is simple, but the totals you could win might change depending on the initial card. You might have greater odds if there’s a ten and you pick the next card to be higher, for example.

Some tables will also let you play with multiple cards going against whatever the dealer brings out. Prop bets may also be available with some of these games, although the rules for play will vary over the site you choose.

The bottom line is Casino War is one of the simplest casino table games you’ll ever play.

It’s also one of the fastest. Especially online.

And it’s because of that that you’ll want to keep an eye on your bankroll. It’s common to go long stretches of wins and losses due to variance.

Meaning, if you’re playing $1 per hand, you shouldn’t be surprised to win or lose $10 or $15 or even $20 in a row.

Now just multiply that by however much you plan to bet per hand. $100 turns into $1,000, $1,500 and even $2,000 swings.

Your money will come and go so fast that …it’ll sort of feel like you’re at war.

Here are some answers to commonly asked questions we receive about Casino War.

Have a question about Casino War? Send us an email and let us know!