Online Casinos Blog

Today I want to take a little look at online casino strategies. Now, I’m not talking those mysterious “systems” and other things that people want to see you because you’re guaranteed to win.  Those don’t work. Trust me on this. After all, why would someone sell you a strategy that would guarantee a win at the tables when they could just use that strategy to clean up at the tables. (hint: the answer is because selling strategies to gullible players has a higher payout rate than the strategy itself.)

So, first strategy – don’t believe anyone who guarantees you a win.  And don’t give them money.  Next strategy – set your bankroll before you even start to play. Now this is an important factor for any gambler and I want to discuss how online bankrolls are different from live casinos bankrolls.  If you visit a live casino, you probably had to drive and schedule time to go. You have limited time to spend at the casino location before you return home. So, you may walk onto that casino floor with two or three months worth of gambling bankroll to spend during a weekend, because you may not be back for six more months.

Now, let’s look at an online casino. You went through the effort of logging onto the casino. You can log off and return at any time. So, there’s no need to play out a month’s worth of a gambling bankroll in one sitting. But if you do, you need to be firm with yourself about not spending the next month’s bankroll right now.  Online casinos mean you can take a break and come back at anytime. So you have to manage your bankroll around that. One easy strategy to follow is to actually stop when you’re winning. Or if you don’t want to do that, stop when the first downturn starts rather than trying to build back up right away. This doesn’t guarantee a win. It just means that you’ll still have a bit of a bankroll left to come back and play with later.

Also, don’t overlook the possibilities that online casinos offer for you to practice high strategy games like blackjack before you play for money or even just to boost your skill level. Take advantage of the practice play option and try out new games before you play for real. Find out which ones you really enjoy and focus your bankroll on them. It’ll mean a more enjoyable time at the casino. And if you’re interested in checking out more online gambling strategies visit http://play-onlinecasino.net/casino-strategies/.

For a long time those involved in live gambling, the type you have to drive to a casino to do, wanted nothing to do with online gambling, which they viewed as the evil force that would take gambling down. But times have changed and many businesses with a foot in the gambling world are beginning to recognize that online initiatives may be the answer to some of their problems. At the very least, it may be the answer to recruiting new players and reaching out to younger players, who aren’t flocking to land based casinos these days.

International Game Technology, a long time provider of gaming technology to the live casino floor, is now looking to join the online gambling revolution. The company has acquired the social gaming company Double Down Interactive to help build an online platform based on the popular social media site Facebook.

While Facebook has long been the home of the popular Zynga Poker game, the company has not been able to introduce real money gambling into the United States. This didn’t stop Las Vegas casinos from adding business focused pages to the site or from introducing games that could be played for virtual coins. Fans of slot games will even recognize some popular online slots repackaged as Facebook games that encourage you to share coins with friends.  These online presences have always been designed as a marketing initiative—players who play the games on Facebook and become familiar with them are more likely to play them for real. The Golden Nugget Casino even developed a game that allows players to run an entire virtual casino in hopes of making people more familiar with casinos before they visited them.

With the change in the view of the Wire Act of 1961, many companies are now preparing for legal online gambling in the US. It looks like IGT is getting ready for potential online gambling through Facebook. Come on in guys, the more the merrier.

If you’re checking out an online casinos, you’ll find plenty of sites offering reviews of the casinos that you might want to visit. But what do those reviews mean and what sort of criteria do reviewers look at?  Now, there’s one little problem with answering this question – there’s no actual set of reviewer rules, so really one place could review based just on what the games look like “hey, this is a cool place to play” and another might look at licensing and other information but never play the games for a “this is a safe casino” type review. But I’m going to go over some of the details you should look for in a good casino review like you’ll find on http://online-casinoreview.net

First, yes, the reviewer should have information on where the casino is licensed, who tests it for fairness, and what software it runs on. This information is seldom hard to find since most casinos include it at the bottom of their splash page, but a good review will know if those licensing and testing sites are reputable and if that casino software is considered a good choice in the gambling community. Oh, and support. Do they offer good support? I always think of this as the boring but necessary part of the review. It doesn’t tell you if the games are fun, but it can determine that the casino is a good one.

Then the reviewer really should look at the games and the gaming software. Does the casino focus mainly on slots or is it a great place for blackjack players? Do they have tournaments and for what games? How often are new games introduced?  And even, what’s it like to play on the casino. I’ve hit a few where I’d love to play but the video poker display was just hard on my eyes. Little things like that can make a difference if you play for any length of time.

And then comes the money aspects. It is easy to make a deposit and withdrawal? Are there any restrictions players need to be away of? What types of bonuses does the casino offer.  And even any stats on the payout rate for the casino (really, that comes more from slots so if you play blackjack, they may not matter.)

But all these details should be covered to some extent in a good review. Oh, the reviewer may want to talk more about the games or the bonuses, because those are more fun, but you should have a sense that they at least understood the boring stuff at the beginning of this blog post.

I love to play video poker. It’s a game that I can play without having to sit at a table with other players, so great when I’m not in a social mood. Unlike slots, it’s a game where a real strategy is involved. But like slots, it’s a game that offers a wide variety of wagering possibilities, generally starting at the quarter range. So it’s a game that’s great to play when I don’t have a big bankroll. Blackjack has great odds and strategy but usually I can’t find a table for under $5 a hand.  A fifty dollar bankroll doesn’t last long at that rate, but I can hit the video poker machines when I’m down to my last twenty bucks.

And of course we all know that when played with a great strategy, video poker odds can actually be swung in the player’s favor, depending on the game. Just go do a search on  http://www.yahoo.com/ and that’s the information you’ll find.  And it is true. But I want to delve a little deeper into what those odds mean and to demonstrate them by contrasting them with blackjack.

Blackjack is another strategy game played with cards.  The goal of blackjack is to come closer to twenty one than the dealer does, without going over and any decent player will have studied the strategy cards giving the best options for doing that with every possible hand. So, with blackjack the odds of winning are spread pretty evenly throughout the game.

Now take video poker. When calculating the odds in video poker, the massive jackpot win of the royal flush is always taken into account. The problem with this is that a player’s odds of hitting the royal are 1 in 40,000. So, there’s a hugely weighted win boosting the odds up even though your chances of hitting that win are slim.

The reality that every video poker experiences is that playing the game means a lot of small wins balanced against a slow dwindling of your bankroll as you wait to hit the royal flush.  You won’t walk away from the casino a winner every time.  But, despite understanding the real odds, this is still one of my favorite games. Because the strategy does work and while using a good strategy isn’t going to guarantee that I’ll hit a royal flush, it does allow me to play for a fair amount of time.

Sometimes stretching the playing time is what we want as a player.  If you’re in a live casino and down to your last few dollars and want to stretch out your playing time, check out the video poker machines. Even if you don’t win the jackpot promised by the royal flush, they can be a great way to spend some time while waiting for others to finishing their games. And if you want to check out some great video poker information visit onlinecasinovp.com

Do you know how to use your gambling smarts?  Now smart gambling isn’t just following good gambling strategy, though that can be a part of it.  Gambling smarts start before you walk into (or log onto) that casino and continue even after you stop playing.  They encompass everything from casino and game choice to personal safety.  No one can every guarantee that you will win during every visit to the casino, but you need to be smart during every visit.

Before the casino visit you need to determine your bankroll and budget. How much can you spend? If you’re visiting a live casino, like a Las Vegas casino, you’ll need to budget for accommodations, food and travel as well as gambling. Don’t leave any part of the budget up to chance and don’t depend on comps to pay for the room or food, even if you’ve been told they will. Long time gamblers know that if they don’t spend time in the casino, those comps can vanish.  If you’re gambling online or in a live casino, you need to decide what your bankroll is and stick to it! If you gamble online don’t be tempted by casino bonus offers to deposit more than you should. Take a smaller bonus if it keeps you on budget.

Play the games you enjoy and a betting range that is comfortable for you.  Yes, blackjack has better odds the slots, but is it really smart to spend a short amount of time betting $5 a hand at the blackjack table when what you really want to do is play the nickel slots?  Gambling is a form of entertainment and you have the right to entertain yourself with the games that you enjoy. But keep an eye on the bankroll. You also have the responsibility not to visit the ATM and blow your mortgage payment so you can play some more.  I recommend taking breaks now and then, especially when you’re losing. At a casino, you can walk around and visit the shops or spend some time at the pool. At home, you can cook or get outside and play with the kids. The breaks will actually make gambling more enjoyable.

Afterwards, keep your personal safety in mind.  At a live casino this may mean tipping a security guard to escort you to your car. Always use valet parking so you aren’t alone in a parking garage. And it’s a good idea to use the restroom with friends. Guys, get over it. The men’s room is a popular spot for robberies because men don’t go in groups.  If you gamble online, don’t brag about your winnings on gambling forums. This may just be a red flag to a hacker that your account at a casino is worth hacking into.  Feel free to chat about your favorite games or favorite casinos, but keep the celebrations a bit more private.

See, those are all gambling smarts. They won’t guarantee a win, but they will let you have fun while playing safely.

Do you play at Bodog Poker? Well, if you do and you’re a US player, there’s bad news waiting for you. Actually, even if you don’t have an account, it’s bad news because the US is losing a casino that is considered by many to be a best online casino.

The news? The Bodog brand, including the online casino and the poker room, are leaving the US market. Perhaps not for good, but at least until we get our gambling act together. And we can blame it on the Brits.  It’s their fault for being so sensible. This time their stiff upper lip is getting all down on our business.

See, Bodog wanted a UK license so that they could focus expansion into two top markets  – the UK/EU market and the Asian market. Now, Asia wasn’t a problem as far as the US scene is concerned, but the UK Gambling Commission expressed a little concern about Bodog’s business in the US. The UIGEA (Unlawful Internet Gambling Act) has the UK a tad worried so they’d rather not see it violated. But Bodog’s contract with Morris Mohawk Gaming comes to an end this December. So they made the decision to pull out of the US if they got the UK license. They did. They will.

Now the folks at Morris Mohawk have come out with their own news. Since establishing their own gambling brand will no longer put them in unfair competition with a company they do business with, they’re going to launch their own gambling experience.  US players with Bodog will be invited to join the new Morris Mohawk brand and continue playing.  That or move to the UK to keep playing on Bodog. Changing casinos seems a bit less drastic than changing continents.

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It seems a week doesn’t go by without news from the online gambling front and I’m wondering of the face of online gambling is changing  in the US. Oh, we won’t see CNN News discussing the changes with the same enthusiasm they show to discussing the upcoming presidential elections, but the news is out there in other places.  Here’s some of what I’m seeing.

There’s the big news that bwin.party is teaming up with both MGM Resorts International and Boyd Gaming to form an even bigger online gambling company. This was a move that many suspect was designed to give them an in to the online gambling market in the US, if it ever opened up to legislating online gambling.

Not likely to happen, you say?  Well, Nevada has now announced that they’ll be issuing the first online poker licenses in February. Now they’ve also let it be known that casinos already established in the state of Nevada. So, wait – MGM International has casinos in Las Vegas. So, does this mean that bwin.party just negotiated a cool potential license to offer online poker in the US? Couple Party Poker be back folks?

Well, maybe. But don’t expect to start playing at home. See the government, any government, seems to have a difference concept of online gambling than people who understand what online means. It looks like Nevada’s licenses will allow existing Nevada casinos to offer online gambling at existing gambling establishments, like casinos. So, umm, you’ll be able to go to Nevada and gamble online in a casino! Umm….

Well, it’s nice to know the marriage / publicity stunt / TV episode or whatever those handful of days when Kim Kardashian was married to Kris Humphries are called is paying off for some folks.  It seems that Betonline.com was taking bets on the divorce before the 10 million dollar wedding event and television spectacular (marriage is a sacred and these days televised institution judged by the TV ratings) took place. One bet, which had almost even odds was whether the marriage would break up before the NBA regular season took off. A sarcastic seeming bet that apparently put more faith in the marriage than it should have.

Ah, the joy of pseudo-celebrity marriage.  The question now is will the Kardashian brand withstand any backlash from the divorce and I’ve even seen quotes that say things like “Kim has this knack for turning bad moment in her life into financial bonanzas.”  So, if you bet on the Kardashian’s breaking up, don’t feel too sorry for Kim because hey, her marriage may have ended but her fame will go on…  Or as Khloe Kardashian said “Love is everything…” You know, except when it needs to hold your marriage together for longer than the 90 employment trial period the average McDonald’s fry guy gets.

I’d love to bet on when the American public will finally tire of the Kardashians and other folks apparently famous for being famous. Hey, she didn’t make the NY Times today, which could be a good sign.  Hey, if someone fusses at you for spending time gambling online, ask them if they watch the Kardashian wedding. Then ask which they think is a bigger waste of time.

Can you believe what the media reports about gambling? Probably not. There are a couple of problems here. First some media like http://www.foxnews.com/   are supporting a conservative agenda that really just doesn’t fit in with the idea of gambling.  But really the bigger problem stems from the whole concept of “news.”  See, news isn’t something that happens when everything is going well.  That millions of people visit gambling sites every day and nothing terrible happens isn’t newsworthy. We wouldn’t all tune into the news if it was just a list of things that were going right in the world.  News only happens when something changes and usually when something goes wrong.

Which is why the news about online poker lately has been about the problems over at Full Tilt Poker. The irony of the situation is that most of the major news media didn’t even pick up on a problem the online poker world had been following for months until someone in Washington DC used the word Ponzi scheme in connection with the online poker room. It isn’t an entirely accurate accusation but it gave the news something to focus on — see online gambling is bad. This site was running a Ponzi scheme.

Now, in fairness, the problem wasn’t a Ponzi scheme but it really was the victim of terribly bad management.  The sort of money management normally reserved for Wall Street. The site had mingled player funds with operating funds, which worked fine as long as business was brisk. But when the US operations were unexpectedly shut down and the site left owing US players about 150 million dollars, the money just wasn’t there. And then they had trouble paying other players.  The end result was that they lost their license, which was the proper thing to happen. Players are still owed money and Full Tilt will need to pay that out to get their license back. Not a good day in the poker world for lots of people. Which is why it was news.

I want to talk about something I see on gaming sites a lot – strategy versus a system. Now, to me the difference is simple, but that’s because I have my own definitions for the two. For me a gambling strategy is one that helps me play better and may influence the odds in my favor. A gambling system is a load of bull crap that promises to tilt the universe in my favor and ensure that I can win thousands or even millions at a particular game.

The critical point here is determining the difference between the two. For example, blackjack has a playing strategy that’s based on the card deck and the mathematical probability of going over 21 based on what’s in front of you. Video Poker games have strategies based on trying to land the royal flush while keep winning hands in a 52 card deck. Following these strategies increase your odds of winning. But they don’t promise that you’ll break the bank and hit the news as the next gambling millionaire.

Systems usually promise that. Okay, they don’t promise you front page of the NYtimes, but they tend to guarantee that you can’t lose using their method. And that you’ll make a fortune.  And if you look at something like Roulette systems, you’ll find that the folks offering them usually want you to pay money for their fool proof system.

There’s a reason for this. The best way to make money using a gambling system is to get the fools to pay for it.  Think about it. If I had a sure-fire gambling system for roulette that guaranteed I’d win thousands whenever I visited the casino, know where I’d be? At the casino winning money!  I’m not going to kind-heartedly offer it to you for a small payment of $29.95. Heck no, I’m keeping that a secret and winning as much as I can.

So, just think of the old adage – if it sounds too good to be true, it probably isn’t. Systems always sound too good to be true. Strategy often just sounds like lots of work and memorization to better learn the game.