Rules of Blackjack

If you like a fast-paced card game, blackjack may be for you. It’s the fastest table game at the casino, so maintaining your bankroll is the most important part of blackjack. It’s a game of streaks so you must learn how to take the bad with the good. That’s what gambling is all about.

The dealer is your opponent in blackjack. Others at the table play against the dealer as well. The goal is to get a hand totaling as close as possible up to 21 without going over. Cards 2 through 10 count as face value. Face cards count as 10. An Ace can count as 1 or 11. You want an Ace, because the value can change from 11 to 1 if you go over 21. Hands with an Ace are called soft hands, while hands without an Ace are called hard hands.

Casinos will use six to eight decks to keep players and card counters guessing. Online casinos use a random number generator (RNG), but your odds are still better online than on land. A tie in blackjack is known as a push and you get your original bet back. A hand totaling 21 pays out 3 to 2. Dealers are usually required to stand on a hard 17, where they can’t take any more cards.

Always hit or double down for a soft hand with an Ace and a 2 through a 6. Splitting hands is tricky. Basic blackjack strategy tells you to split 5s or 10s rather than 8s. Blackjack has a house advantage of 5%, but you can get that down to 0.5% with basic strategy. So, blackjack is a game that you can win with a lot of practice. Just be patient because even the professional players only turn a 1-2% profit over the long term.

Rules of Slots

You may think you know everything there is to know about slots, but I bet I can surprise you. Did you know that the only time there isn’t a house advantage when playing slots is the double up bonus? Did you know that a 1-reel game has 243 ways to play? Some new slot games today have more than 100 reels.

Slots are the most popular online casino game because they are easy to play and you can win life-changing payouts. Each one has a different theme, a way for you to escape from your everyday life. After all, entertainment is the root purpose of gambling. Once you read up on strategy sites like this one, you can make money at it.

There is no definitive strategy to winning at slots. Just find the right type of slot, know how much to bet and check the payouts before you start. The most popular slots today are video slots with at least five reels and multiple lines to play with a bonus. This is different than the classic 3-reel, 1-payline slots where you play fixed lines. You can now play the entire position of the reel, giving you more ways to win, such as the scatter feature.

The best slots come from the biggest software providers like Microgaming, Vegas Technology and Playtech. The best video slots are the Real Series from Realtime Gaming (RTG) or i-Slots from Rival Gaming.

As I mentioned before, the double up bonus is the best bet for a slots player. You are eligible after a win and you can do it up to five times. Always do the maximum bet when playing slots. If you can’t afford it, find a cheaper slot because you want to get the full jackpot, not just a percentage. Check the payouts percentages before playing. When you see a $1 million jackpot or more, it’s likely a progressive jackpot, where multiple slots are linked together, even at other affiliate online casinos.

Rules of Roulette

Roulette began in Monte Carlo and the French Riviera long ago for the rich but it can be found anywhere today. It’s a social casino game based mostly on luck but there is some strategy in the betting.

The object of the game is to guess which numbered pocket the roulette ball will land on once the wheel stops spinning. A roulette wheel is bowl-shaped and about three feet in diameter. The two main types of the game are American Roulette, which has 38 pockets made up of the numbers 1-36, 0 and 00. European Roulette has 37 pockets made up of the numbers 1-36 and 0. So, European Roulette has a lower house advantage of 2.7%, compared to American Roulette’s 5.26%. Because of this, European Roulette is harder to find in American casinos but it is widespread online.

Half of the 1-36 numbers are red and the other half are black. The 0 and 00 are green. All have a corresponding box and are included in other bets on the roulette layout, where you place your chips. The dealer, or croupier, distributes payouts and collects chips once you have put your chips down and the wheel has spun. Players have their own color of chips. Each table has minimum bets and table limits. Remember to get your bets down before the wheel slows down.

The roulette layout is complicated but you just need to learn the different bets. It has 48 boxes for red, black or green bets. It has 11 boxes on the border for special bets like red/black, even/odd and high/low. Inside bets are on individual numbers and outside bets are those special bets mentioned.

Rules of Craps

Craps can be confusing with all the different bets and the table layout, but the rules are simple and you just need a little practice to get the hang of it. It’s one of the most popular and social of table games so it’s a good one to learn at the casino or online for Internet gambling.

There are two roles for craps: a shooter or not the shooter. The person rolling the dice is the shooter. When you are the shooter, you want your first roll, also known as a come-out roll, to be a 7 or 11. Those are automatic wins. A 2, 3 or 12 lose automatically, also known as crapping out. Any other number like 4, 5, 6, 8, 9 or 10 is a point and you keep rolling until you hit that number again. It’s called a pass-line point and you want to avoid rolling a 7 before hitting that point again. A 7 in this scenario is a loss and you pass the dice. A matched pass-line point is a win.

Those players that aren’t the shooter bet on the outcome of the roll, such as matching the pass-line point or not. One piece of advice is to not bet against a shooter on a hot streak. You can pass and skip your roll at any time.

A craps table can have up to four staff persons. The boxman rules the game resolves problems. Two dealers stand at either end of the table to take bets. And, the stickman delivers the dice and calls out wagering options. A puck keeps track of the roll with black side labeled off for a come-out roll and a white side labeled on for a point. When a point is established, the puck is put on the corresponding number on the table layout.

Craps is a steal as far as table games go with only a 1.5% advantage for the house. Each number has odds of 1 in 36. The odds of a 7 or 11 is 22%. The odds for a crap out is 11%.

Rules of Keno

Keno is a lot like bingo, but there are a few differences. They are both lottery-style casino games that are easy on your bankroll and based entirely on luck. But keno generally has bigger jackpots and a higher house advantage.

Keno originated in China. You choose one or more numbers from the field of 1-80. The randomly drawn numbers are matched on your card just like in bingo. However, each keno game is called a race. The payout depends on how many numbers matched, how much wagered and if it was at a special rate. Just like bingo, there is no real strategy to the game.

You get to choose between one and 15 numbers for each race. Twenty numbers are drawn, so you only have to match 15 of 20 numbers to get the jackpot. The jackpot can be life-changing, upwards of thousands to millions of dollars. After all, a keno jackpot is what saved the Griswold’s family vacation in “National Lampoon’s Vegas Vacation.” The average keno jackpot is $10,000.

When you match numbers, you mark your ticket with an “X” over the numbers. Payouts start at six matches when playing 15 numbers. The house edge can range from 22-50%, depending on how many numbers you bet.

There are two ways to play: a straight bet or a way bet. You pick individual numbers, up to 15, for a straight bet. The numbers are grouped into sets for way bets, which gives you more ways to win. Six selected numbers can be grouped into three groups of two numbers. It gives you four ways to win: a straight bet and three groups. It’s like playing four different tickets. Just remember to keep track by circling your numbers.

Rules of Bingo

You may think you know all there is to know about bingo. It is one of easiest casino games and can be played to fill up some time. Other games like blackjack and roulette clean you out in just a few minutes if you’re not careful. Bingo is a good game if you are gambling for entertainment. If you’re digging yourself a hole and gambling stops being fun, that’s when you need to stop.

In bingo, you match randomly drawn numbers called out to those on your card. If you miss some numbers, there should be a board of recently called out numbers so you can catch up. The numbers must be matched in a certain pattern on your card. It could be a horizontal, vertical or diagonal line. Other game options include four corners (of the card) or a pattern that resembles a butterfly.

This game isn’t limited to the bingo room of casinos anymore. You can find it easily online with different varieties or play electronic bingo at any station in the casino. Some still have the old-fashioned kind where you use a dabber, or highlighter, to make the corresponding number with a colored circle. Bingo has a field of 1-75. You have 25 spaces on a card: 24 random numbers and a free space in the center. The numbers 1-15 fall in the “B” column, 16-30 in the “I” column, 31-45 in the “N” column, etc. Just be the first to yell out “Bingo!” and you win after verification.

Five Winning Poker Strategies

Now that you know the rules of community poker games like Texas Hold’em and Five Card Draw, you need to nail down the basic strategies to read and beat your opponents. Poker is a skill game and these five strategies will help you gain an advantage over the competition.

Aggressive play: you start the wagering with an opening bet or you raise your opponent’s bet. This establishes dominance in the hand. Do it with a strong hand because if you overuse it, the other players will label you as a loose player and use it against you.

Bluff: tricking other players by betting with a poor hand. The goal is to get other players out of the hand. You do this by betting big to scare them off, even if they have a better hand. The odds of high cards in the hand dwindle as players exit the hand and your odds of winning it get better.

Check-raise: risky but lucrative strategy where you check with a strong hand. By passing to the next player, someone else will have to start the opening bet and then you can raise them when the action comes back to you. It’s like a slow play or a bluff where you deceive your opponents.

Protection play: opposite move of a check-raise. You wager a lot early to protect your hand and scare off others. It’s best done with a strong yet vulnerable hand like a pair of Jacks when there is a possible straight on the board. It protects your hand.

Slow play: opposite move of bluffing but also protects your hand. In this strategy, you are trying to keep other players in the hand by staring with a small bet. It’s best done if you have a high pocket pair for your hole cards in Texas Hold’em Poker. Other players will stay in just to see the flop. Then, you keep reeling them in with small bets until they are pot committed. Once they have put in enough chips to be pot committed, you hit them with a big bet and the hand is yours.

Rules of Texas Hold'em Poker

Now that you know the rules of Five Card Draw, Let It Ride and Pai Gow, it’s time to learn the most popular community poker game: Texas Hold’em. It has grown exponentially with tournaments like the World Series of Poker and World Poker Tour. It has grown even more online with young people.

Texas Hold’em uses a standard 52-card deck with no Jokers. You form the best five-card poker hand from seven total cards. You bet chips into a pot and standard hand rankings apply. This poker game has four rounds of betting and you start with two hole cards dealt face down. A series of five community cards are dealt face up in the center of the table with a round of betting in between each deal. Hold’em has different varieties like limit, no-limit, Omaha and antes. Hold’em using blinds is the most popular.

With blinds, you have a small blind (person to the left of the dealer) and a big blind (person to the left of the small blind). As you might expect, the big blind is double the size of the small blind. The blinds are thrown in before the hole cards are dealt. The player to the left of the big blind starts each round of betting. They can call the big blind, raise or fold. No Limit Hold’em has no maximum on the amount of raises. Limit has a maximum of twice the big blind.

The first three community cards are known as the flop. This is followed by a round of betting, then the turn (fourth community card), another round of betting, then the river (final community card), and another round of betting. The river decides the outcome of those left in the hand. If there are only two players left, it’s called going heads-up. The pot gets bigger as play progresses, so it’s important to practice proper poker strategy. I will go over more on that in my next post.

Video Poker Games to Know

There are a lot of different types of video poker games. Each have different rules and wild cards but most are based on standard poker hand rankings. These are the eight most common types of video poker games.

Aces & Faces – the most played single-line video poker game. For hand rankings, a four of kind of Aces or face cards is better than a Straight Flush. The lowest payout is a pair of Jacks.

Joker – Joker and a standard deck give a total of 53 cards. The best payouts are Natural Royal
Flush (no Joker), Five of Kind (with the Joker) and a Joker Royal Flush.

Double Joker – same rules as the Joker game, however, two Jokers the wild cards.

Deuces Wild – 2’s are wild cards. Since your odds of winning are better, the payouts start at three of a kind instead of a pair.

Deuces & Joker – similar to Deuces Wild but brings a Joker into the concept. The 2’s and the Joker make up five wild cards. Payouts begin at three of a kind with the best payout at four deuces and the Joker. Four deuces is a better hand than a Wild Royal Flush with the Joker.

Jacks or Better – favorable player odds for a single or multi-line game. The lowest payout is a pair of face cards, where you break even. Bets range from $0.05 to $100 per hand on the multi-line games.

Tens or Better – pretty much the same as Jacks or Better but the lowest payout is a pair of 10’s.

Progressive –progressive jackpot increases each hand just like a slot machine. The pot increases since each player gambles on the same virtual machine. The pot resets after every jackpot. These games use 52 cards and several Jokers.

Rules of Video Poker

Now that you know all about the different forms of poker like Pai Gow and Let It Ride, you should learn about video poker, which is basically an electronic version of Five Card Draw with variations.

Video poker is played against the dealer and has better than other electronic games like slots. Since it is just you and the dealer, you have plenty of time to make a decision. There isn’t the pressure of the action falling on you like in poker. Though there are many different video poker games, they all stem from standard hand rankings. The value of some cards change with each video poker game so read up before you start playing. Begin your video poker conquest for free with fun money at an online casino.

With some hands, you may have to discard everything if you have no high cards or possible straights. Avoid inside straight draws like 2, 3, 5, 6. There are only four possible winning cards, plus the wild cards if there are any. You have better odds with an outside straight draw like 3, 4, 5, 6. This gives you eight possible cards for a win in addition to the wild cards.

Always keep a pair over a single high card because you have a chance at a bigger payout like three of a kind. Always keep a winning hand unless you’re going after a Royal Flush, which is the best hand in video poker. Don’t fall for the bonus games. They are just like slot bonus games and based entirely on luck. Video poker is a strategy game so you don’t need to risk your win on luck.

Rules of Baccarat

Baccarat is one of those casino games that you may have heard of or thought that it looked easy in passing but don’t really know that much about it. It’s a card game unlike any other that originated in France and can bring in high stakes.

Baccarat has a simple goal: get a total value of 9, or as close to it as possible. You get dealt up to three cards to do this. Cards 2 through 9 are face value. Aces are worth 1, and 10’s and face cards are worth 0. It’s a game of addition and subtraction. If the value of your hand exceeds 9, 10 is subtracted. Let’s say you get dealt a 3 and a 9. That has a value of 2 because 12-10=2. It’s best not to go over 9.

You stop at three cards in baccarat. If your first two cards have a combined value of 6 or higher, you can’t take a third card. A two-card hand with a value of 8 or 9 is called a natural hand. In this scenario, a player can’t draw a third card.

Up to 14 players can play a baccarat game. The dealer shuffles and puts the card in a shoe for players to take turns dealing from. A table may have up to three dealers. The middle one is the caller, announcing totals and determining who gets a third card. The two dealers on the ends of the table oversee wins and losses and how much the banker gets on losses.

The tricky part is that you have three options for betting. You can bet that your hand will win, that the banker’s hand will win, or that the hands will tie. There are rows for each bet on the table. Baccarat has a great house edge for players at only 1.4%.

Rules of Let It Ride Poker

Let It Ride is like Pai Gow Poker in that it is a different and popular form of poker, but that’s about all the two have in common. You play the dealer in Let It Ride Poker and the betting is quite different than Five Card Draw Poker.

The Let It Ride Poker table is shaped like a blackjack table and the rules are simple. It’s the betting that is tricky. Five cards are dealt face down with two going to the dealer and three to the player. The goal of Let It Ride is still to form the best five-card poker hand. You just have more rounds of betting before you can see all five cards. That doesn’t mean that Let It Ride is an expensive game though, as the rounds of betting can be minimal. Each player has three spots labeled 1, 2 and $.

So, after looking at your three cards, you can take away bet 1 to fold or you can stay in the hand, hence letting it ride. The dealer then turns over their first card to be added as the fourth card in your hand. Then, you can remove bet 2 or let it ride again. Next, the dealer turns of the second and last card to complete your hand. Now, all players left in the hand must turn their cards over to determine a winner, which is based on standard poker hand rankings. Let It Ride Poker is sort of like a combination of blackjack and poker in that it is fast-paced and requires strategy in addition to luck.

Rules of Pai Gow Poker

Pai Gow Poker is pretty different than your standard Five Card Draw Poker. It’s quite a different take but it's a pretty popular casino game. It originated in China and you play only the dealer and not other players.

There are players, a dealer and a banker for a total of seven spots at the Pai Gow table. The players each get dealt seven cards and must form two separate hands in an effort to beat the banker. The banker’s role switches to another player every hand. The banker can also be the dealer. The dealer plays the hand like any other player when not the banker. Each player bets and the whole deck is dealt as each player gets seven cards.

The two hands each player makes is composed of five cards and two cards. The tricky part is the two-card hand must be lower in value than the five-card hand. It’s harder than it sounds because your first intention based on the standard rules of poker is to use the top pair but you can’t do this in Pai Gow.

The two hands of the player must beat that of the banker’s. The banker wins if the hands are equal. If one hand wins and one loses, it’s a push and you get your money back. The winning players get paid by the dealer from the banker’s funds. Thus, there can be more than one winning player. Losing player bets are paid to the banker. In general, the house takes a 5% commission on winning bets in Pai Gow Poker.

Rules of Five Card Draw Poker

Five Card Draw is the standard and most basic form of poker. There are tons of other variations out there like the popular Texas Hold’em and different forms of Stud Poker like Five Card Stud and Caribbean Stud. But before understanding any of those other games, you need to know the basics.

For Five Card Draw, each player must ante up, or put in a small wager to play the hand. Then, five cards are dealt to each player. Five Card Draw is similar to the betting of Texas Hold’em but doesn’t have community cards. Once the cards are dealt, the first round of betting proceeds. You must form the best poker hand and can discard however many you want from you hand. But there is only one round of discarding. The dealer collects the discards and issues new cards to those players. A second round of betting occurs. Players can raise and re-raise each other until everyone has called or folded. Then, there’s a showdown and the cards are revealed to determine the winner.

Sounds easy, right? Well, poker is a game of strategy. The best players know the odds of each hand winning in any scenario. Playing poker online is much easier than at a land-based casino where you must enter your name and wait for a table. At online casinos, you just click on a table to join and play with however much your deposited into your account. The tables will have different stakes. If you’re just starting out, play online first to learn the game since poker is a game of etiquette. You will learn when to place your bets and have lots of time to make decisions. Another benefit of online casinos is that you can move a lot faster. Once the hand is over, you can change seat or tables.

Are Online Casinos Out to Steal my Money?

Any new online gambler is weary of online casinos stealing their money. You put a lot of your private information online and hope they are trustworthy. There are steps to insure that your information is safe. First, you should make sure the casino is certified by an auditor like eCOGRA (eCommerce and Online Gaming Regulation and Assurance) or TST (Technical Systems Testing). They exist to protect you. Once you find a casino you like, research some reviews on it. If you skip these steps, you may encounter a fake online casino. As the online gambling industry has evolved, these sites are being weeded out with new regulatory agencies but some are still around. This is how to spot them and avoid them.

Doing a quick Internet search can save you a lot of problems. There are quality sites that just review online casinos. Look up who owns the casino. Do they own other reputable online casinos? There are a lot of groups so you will probably run into plenty. If they use one of the big software operators, that is a good start. These software providers include Microgaming, Rival Gaming, Playtech, Vegas Technology and Wagerlogic. Realtime Gaming has run into a few problems but they are overall trustworthy.

A lot of fake online casinos share content. The easiest way to check this is to copy a paragraph or block of text from the site and paste it into a search engine. If the same content comes up on a few different sites, you could be in for trouble. While groups share the same types of bonuses, these rogue online casinos share everything so you should be able to spot them. As always, look for hidden wagering requirements. If they seem more unfair than usual, it could be a precursor to bigger problems. The same goes for payout procedures. Fair online casinos pay out on a weekly or daily basis. Monthly payouts are not a good sign.

Taking Advantage of Timed Welcome Bonuses

Some online casinos are drawing in new gamblers with timed welcome bonuses. Online gambling is a competitive industry and whoever finds the most creative way to draw people can come out the winner for their business. Most online casinos use a match bonus after joining that applies to your first deposit or first few deposits. They have hidden wagering requirements where you must play through to a certain amount and only apply to certain games. Timed welcome bonuses are easier.

With these bonuses, players get free play on one or more casino games with no deposit for a certain amount of time. The general duration is 60 minutes for timed welcome bonuses. The bonus may apply to any combination of slots, poker, blackjack, roulette, video poker, etc. When the time is up, you pocket the winnings. Sometimes, the money earned is deemed as credits. You may have to reach a certain goal of credits within 24 hours. If you meet the goal, you get whatever bonus amount they are offering. If you don’t meet it, any credits or money is lost. It is a good way to keep you excited and check out the different games at the online casino.

Timed welcome bonuses are usually free and provide plenty of extra entertainment to your gambling experience. Certain terms and conditions may apply so read the fine print carefully to check for wagering requirements. But they won’t be as strict as what you would find at many match bonuses or no-deposit bonuses.

Bonus Codes are Worth the Effort

A lot of online casinos give you a welcome bonus just for joining with no problem. You sign up, make a deposit, gamble enough, and then get paid. But there are other bonuses that require you to put in a code. Some people view it as a hassle and just accept the easy bonuses. But, the truth is, finding online casino bonus codes are worth the extra effort.

Sometimes, they are available right there on the casino’s promotions page. For example, Go Casino has a few currently running. The code GO244 is good for a free entry into a tournament within 30 days of signing up with the online casino. Usually, the codes are cryptic like this, but they’re pretty easy to figure out. Not only do bonus codes give players more wagering power, but they help the online casino stay organized. When you input a code, it’s clear that you are signing up with that promotion. Sometimes, when you sign up with an online casino, it’s easy to agree to a bonus without reading the terms and conditions. Always read the fine print on any bonus to make sure it is worth your while, because the money isn’t as free as it first appears. Bonus codes make it clear that you want the bonus.

Codes that require a bonus are subject to wagering requirements as well. Bonus codes can be found on a variety of promotions but you will especially see them for slot tournaments, since those are the most popular form of online gambling.

You can search online for bonus codes for your favorite casino, but it’s always smart to sign up for the online casino’s mailing list. Join the player rewards or VIP program. They will likely send promotions with bonus codes to the preferred members who made an effort to join the e-mail list. Other than that, bonus codes can be found on their promotions page. Be sure to check it before you log in and play because you may be gambling on an eligible game without even knowing it.

Underneath Online Casino Bonuses

Now that I've covered the different types of online casino bonuses, I should expose them for what they really are. Sure, they can earn you plenty of money and are usually worth accepting. But, some have too strict of wagering requirements to be worth your time. Let’s say you love to play slots. The online casino has a great welcome bonus but it’s only eligible on table games. Obviously, if you only plan on playing slot games, it isn’t worth accepting. Keep in mind that you have the right to refuse any bonus.

There are other wagering requirements as well, usually in the form of play through. This means that you must play through to a certain amount before being allowed to withdraw the bonus. A $10,000 free welcome bonus over your first few deposits may look swell, but the truth lies underneath. If you want the maximum bonus from this, you may end up having to wager thousands of more dollars than you want to. If you don’t have a big bankroll, it may not be worth it.

You see, most online casinos employ a 15-30 multiplier (x) on a bonus. For example, if you agreed to a $10 match bonus on a 15x play through, you would have to wager at least $300 before a withdrawal. Here’s the formula: $10 deposit + $10 bonus x 15 = $300.
Other types of bonuses have even higher play through requirements. No-deposit bonuses, which offer free money with no deposit, generally have around a 30x play through. For a $10 no-deposit bonus, you would still have to wager $300 (30 x $10) before withdrawing any money. On top of that, no-deposit bonuses are usually limited to tables games and not allowed on progressive jackpots.

In summation, remember that you can refuse any bonus. It may sound crazy to deny free money but they will get you in the end if you can’t afford it. With that in mind, always gamble within your means. Stick to your bankroll and don’t chase your losses. That’s what leads to problem gambling.