Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category

A Story About How Atlantic City became top gambling destination

Thursday, September 25th, 2008

Resorts International opened in Atlantic City, the first legal East Coast casino in the twentieth century. This rule gave basic strategy players a small edge over the house right off the top, without any card counting whatsoever! And the advantage to card counters was even greater. Their six-deck blackjack games offered a new form of surrender, dubbed by card counters as “early surrender,” since the casino allowed players to surrender half a bet even when the dealer showed an ace or 10 up, and before the dealer checked for a blackjack.

A team of professional blackjack players whose founders were from Czechoslovakia that had been playing in Las Vegas flew all of their members to Atlantic City to take advantage of this new surrender rule. This team, which later became known in the casino industry as simply the Czech Team, found the Resorts’ game to their liking and stayed for months.

In fact, it was a combination of that easy-to-beat early surrender game and Ken Uston’s The Big Player that had just been published in 1977 that worked together to create an environment where new teams of smart young kids could make millions playing blackjack.

A New Jersey college student named Tommy Hyland, who had just turned twenty-one, started going to Atlantic City in 1978 when he heard about the favorable black-jack game at Resorts. Within a year, he had organized about twenty of his college and golfing buddies into a team of blackjack players.

A slots tournament? What’s that all about?

Friday, September 19th, 2008

When you walk up to a slot machine in a casino or log into an online casino and play the slots, it’s an ultimate battle between you and the slot machine to see who comes out the winner. Actually, even if you’re a really very good player, the machine will almost always come out ahead over the long term. That’s the way casinos make profits. But for fun, you can sign up for a slots tournament where you’re playing against the other players. In the real world, one of the current tournaments is running at Cache Creek Casino in Brooks, for the next six weeks.

Like most real-world tournaments, the casino has corralled a number of machines and members of the local slots club are rotated in every fifteen minutes to play for three minutes. The player who racks up the biggest score in those three minutes will be the winner. The total prize money fund is $200,000 with everyone in the top fifty winning at least $1,000.

You can apply the same principles to the online tournaments. Whoever enters the tournament is given a preset number of credits and a fixed time. The winner is the one who has the biggest total at the end of the allocated time. The others have an entry fee. It is customary to return most of the stake money as prizes. This differs from the real world where the players may get other comps like drinks, meals or subsidised rooms in the hotel to offset any reduction in the prize money.

Obviously, if you have never tried a slots tournament, the best way to find out whether you enjoy one is to enter one that is free. The fact that you pay nothing up front and may still win a prize makes this format the most attractive for a beginner. The commercial rationale for the casino is that playing even a free tournament gets you playing in that casino. Once you are logged in, you are likely to play for real on either side of your allotted time, so the casino makes its money out of your other online time.

Have no reservations about that Indian machine

Friday, September 12th, 2008

Indian casinos (i mean casinos, managed by native american indians) are getting a lot more common so it’s worth a word about their video poker machines. In the Indian Gaming Act of 1988, the Federal Government classified three types of game: a) social gambling that’s not for profit; and b) the traditional casino style of gambling games including slots and casino video games. To get around the legislation, they devised electronic bingo games that look and feel like slots and video poker machines. You have no chance to know what kind of game do you play before someone tells you. This is rather discouraging. The headline news is that these machines don’t have a fixed hold percentage. All the machines are linked to a central piece of software that plays bingo games among all you players. Whether you win or lose is decided by the virtual ball the software “picks”. Each kind of game ends when one of a sides gets the combination that is needed. It’s all very ingenious and, using this technology, the manufacturers of the games claim that the payouts are identical to the third class of game. Just one ending thought: if the class two and three games are identical in the way they play, how come this is not illegal?

Learn how Playing Online Casino Games like Slots can improve your Smile!

Friday, September 5th, 2008

Being busy shouldn’t stop you from enjoying your life. But what about the days when we were kids saying, “I’m bored. I need something to do.” No more of that, eh? But you can find that “something to do” easily when you begin to play casino games. Stop playing boring card games with your friends! An hour later, everyone leaves and you’ve got nothing to talk about on Monday at work! Invest in your happiness! You’ve deserved it. Play online casino games and watch as your personality shines in the glow of victory. Watch as you are able to say, “Dinner is on me tonight!” How can you do this? By joining the millions of people who have already developed a keen sense of casino online games, is how! You can soon find yourself winning at game that you could have never imagined yourself playing. Slots is just naming one. There are progressive slots, jackpot bonuses, themes galore, and so much more to the seemingly easy game of Slots. Slots online will lead you into the casino online world quickly and safely. So go there now!

Little Old Ladies with Blue Hair Fool Youth into Staying Away from Their Slots Games!

Friday, September 5th, 2008

Slots is played by and loved by so many people. From the professional blackjack player to the granny at home who knits, slots are your best bet to a great time. Win cash bonuses, win huge payouts, enjoy communities of players, and relax from the comfort of your home. Soon, you’ll want to start winning. How could you not? Once you’ve decided that you’d like to collect bonuses and that you’d like to see how your lady luck is treating you, you will be able to move on and play real slots for real money. No problem! There are literally millions of slots games out there and you can be one of the many people who have fallen in love with how they choose to play slots. Don’t be fooled, though. Slots are not a game that is solely for the beginner’s to gaming casinos. With new technology, you can even try your hand at luck when you play slots online. Start winning now!

Let’s talk about the culture of slots.

Tuesday, September 2nd, 2008

Slots Culture

When people go into clubs, it is usually for the shared interests, enthusiasm and passion that everyone in the group shares. Book clubs, movie groups, knitting circles… they all have terms and ideologies about their group’s topics that can be, well, predictable.

Playing slots can be a different life experience, though. When you initially sign up with a casino online you find that you may be new to the terms and phrases. Things like “video slots” may go right over your head.

After you begin to play slots online several times and you learn more about the lingo that slots players use, you will find that you are not alone. There is a community of slots players who choose slots over any online casino or traditional casino game out there. They do this for many reasons; one is of course the ease of online slots. With this, they take to the community of online slots always, forsaking all other games in the casino. There are levels of the slots community. Soon, you can build your way up to the professional level, that’s how easy it is to learn slots and develop a passion for winning money at the game.

In the beginning of the levels of slots online, you will see that there is always a willingness to help from more advance players. When you are playing in a regular online casino, you will see other players look over when they see you struggling. They will always help you out if you have a question. The culture of slots in traditional settings is a pretty uniform in comparison to online slots. While the majority of slots players in land based casinos are more inclined to drink or smoke given the social circumstances, online casino players will come in various shapes and sizes. Always keep in your head that other players play from their home computers as well. This means that anyone from Joe Law Student to The Mailman or your local Elementary teacher may be playing a fun stress relieving game of slots online.

How to Play Casino Poker in 5 strings

Monday, September 1st, 2008

There is at least one thing to remember when you’re playing online casino poker. No matter your experience level, everyone needs help sometimes. There are five main rules that can be followed to improve the game of all players, regardless of how well they play.

Showing other players that you are new to the game can sometimes help in giving you a better advantage. If a person sees an inexperienced player, some will tend to be lenient towards you. This is the key to having fun, and of course winning the money.

The second rule to follow when playing Casino poker is to pay attention to the turns in the game. While not specifically concentrating intently on other players, it is wise to take care of how your game is played. Following small rules is beneficial to the playing of the game, as it is often difficult to forget when it is your turn, or when to make a bet, or play the cards. Simply paying attention to the way the other people are playing can help improve your timing immensely. It has been noted that in a group of players, people taking too long to place a bet can irritate some of them.

Similarly, people taking their turn too quickly can also mean that a player cannot be thinking of their game in a way that is fair to all. It is quite common in a game of poker to wait a few seconds, but no more than a minute or two before you place a bet. This is to build up suspense while still maintaining the speed of the game, and also to determine that the game is played correctly. Before you take your turn, think about the players who went before you to ensure that you are playing correctly, and the game should be pleasant, fun and entertaining, as well as highly competitive.

The third rule that is stressed to those playing poker is to gain information about the room you’re entering. So many players sit down to play a game without taking anything in. There are often deals that are offered by the poker room, from point redemption when buying items, to free games being offered as a taster. The staff in the poker room are there to help all players, so if there are any queries you might have, these are the people to help you. They can inform you on the types of games that are offered, the rewards and incentives that come with the games, and they can also tell you other things such as how long the games typically last.

It isn’t a requirement that you enter a poker room and start playing, and it is possible to watch others playing a game to determine the experience level of each player before deciding whether or not to play. There are helpful players out there, and most will happily tell you about the game they play, or the reasons behind going in that particular room. Helpful hints are always good to have when deciding on different rooms of casino poker.

The penultimate rule in playing poker is to limit yourself. If you’re new to the game, then it’s advisable to start small, and work your way up to the extremely fast, highly experienced games. The same rule applies for collecting prizes or cash values. Entering a game with a lower limit will give you a chance to ease into the playing, thus increasing your chances of securing a win. Placing a small bet means that if you do happen to lose, the money lost should be an insignificant value.

Remember that it is possible that other players are in the same, all thinking about their own balance and wagers, and so you won’t be alone in going at a slower pace. Playing poker in this manner will also add to the advantages you can gain at the table. It is advisable to start with a slower paced game before you work up to the faster paced ones. This is so that the newer or more inexperienced players can have the opportunity to obtain refreshments as and when needed without disturbing others. Not only that, taking a break will enable you to walk around the room, and obtain any other information about the players that might help you improve your game.

Even if you do know how to play the game, it might also be beneficial to act as though you don’t so that players will help you where they can, thus enabling you to take control of the situation.

In truth however, most players are only looking at what they are doing, and will tend to ignore any others that are in the room. Therefore, there is no need to concentrate on any other player during a game other than your own hands. This way, the game will run smoothly, and you’ll be guaranteed to have fun.

When reality and fantasy collide, something’s got to give

Thursday, August 21st, 2008

People are often seduced by the idea of something for nothing (or very little). That is why they often drop a coin or two into a slot machine as they walk into a real world casino.These myths and legends are often based on the fact that indeed there are many cases of astronomical jackpots.

One of the major companies in the online casino industry is Playtech. WinAJackpot has produced the first network to link online, mobile and real-world jackpots. The network has just made a jackpot payout of slightly less than US$2.5m. Over the last three months, this is the second payout exceeding $2m. The total amount paid out on this system since its launch now stands at more than $33m.

So, our congratulations go to Rens.S. who, on the 1st February, was just $23,750 shy of $2.5m for a single spin of the wheels. Now, you might think this is a single system all on its own. It may be making big payouts, but not every progressive is making big payouts.

Now we must all stay calm. These players are the exception that makes the rule that everyone who plays the slots ends up a loser.Klaus was the thirteenth player to become a millionaire on this particular online progressive (let no-one say that thirteen is always an unlucky number). But, by any standards, a win of more than $5m is fairly impressive. It brings the total winnings since the system came online to $27m.

That last sentence puts the win in its proper context. There were twelve previous winners of more than $1m plus the latest win. That makes $17.7 as a minimum or less than $10m paid out to all the other jackpot winners over the last few years. The win of $5.5m is one of the largest the online industry has seen. It took months for the progressive to build up to that level. It took millions of “pulls”. There were an uncountable number of players who did not win.

Well, meet Klaus E. from Finland. This April, he also became an instant millionaire. He risked an entire US$0.50 bet on the Mega-Moolah Progressive Slot Machine and managed to scoop $5.5m. That he was slightly surprised by his good fortune probably does not quite capture the moment. It is possible that he has resigned his job and is currently sitting on an island somewhere with a glass in one hand. What he has in his other hand is anyone’s guess.

If you start looking at the facts, online casino business is growing extremely fast, almost a million players a day join the internet community of the online gambling. You see that when your luck is in, you can suddenly find yourself rich for a small stake. You could go in and watch the cycle through as many times as you wanted. So this is where I came in when I started writing this article. People are fascinated by the prospect that, for a small outlay, they might hit it big. The trick is to keep the odds in perspective and never spend more than you can afford chasing the dream. Subject to that, it never hurts to drop a coin or two into one of the casino games in the USA. You never know, today might be your lucky day when fantasy does become reality and changes your life.

How Twenty-One Became Blackjack

Tuesday, August 19th, 2008

History tells us that blackjack became popular during World War I, and was called “black-jack” from the practice of paying a bonus to a player who held an ace of spades with a jack of spades or clubs. This curious rule first appeared at 1912, when twenty-one tables appeared in horse-betting parlors in Evanston, Illinois. According to Scarne, by 1919a Chicago gambling equipment distributor was selling felt table layouts embla-zoned with the announcement: “Blackjack Pays Odds of 3 to 2.” I believe Epstein’s information is taken from Scarne, and Scarne states that he discovered the origins of blackjack in America as a result of his private discussions with old-time gamblers, not from any published texts that can be looked up today.

I am skeptical of much of what Scarne has written about blackjack, so I’ll quote from Mickey MacDougall’s MacDougall on Dice and Cards (Coward-McCann, 1944, NY), which was published prior to any of Scarne’s books: “A lot of good players dress up the game by giving prizes for certain hands. A favorite stunt is to offer ten times the size of the wager to anyone holding a natural twenty-one with a black jack. This adds interest to the game and tempts a player to increase his stakes.”

That curious bonus payout that gave blackjack its name, however, has long since disappeared. There may be some casino somewhere that pays a small bonus if a player is dealt a natural 21 which includes a jack of spades or clubs, but that is no longer a normal rule of the game. Nowadays, blackjack is simply any two cards including an ace and any ten-valued card.

That’s when Ed Thorp dropped another bombshell. Under the auspices of their Vintage Paperback division, Random House published a revised and expanded edition of Beat the Dealer. And the most important addition was Hi-Lo counting system, which Thorp called the Complete Point Count, with a computer-optimized strategy devised by Julian Braun. To the casinos’ frustration, this was a system that could be applied to many multiple-deck games.

Thorp was keeping the casinos on the run.

Still, the casino’s fears were mostly unfounded. The Complete Point Count was easier to use than the ten-count, but it was not a lot easier. It required players to keep two separate counts. In addition to the running count of the cards’ point total, the player had to keep a count of the exact number of cards remaining to be played. And in order to play his hand, he had to memorize a chart of 158 different strategy changes to be made according to the count.

Thorp also included a Simple Point Count in this new edition of his book, but at the time that strategy seemed way too simple to most players to gain much of an edge, or to be taken seriously by players who wanted to beat the game. Later, the power of Thorp’s simpler method of adjusting the running count, without keeping a separate count of the exact number of cards played, would be shown.