Posts Tagged ‘BlackJack’

Your Guide On How To Play Roulette

Wednesday, December 16th, 2009

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Roulette is one of the oldest and the most famous game played in any of the casinos of the world. In playing the Roulette game, your objective is to pick the winning number that will appear on the Roulette wheel. Other than the individual numbers, you can also bet on the combination of numbers or choose the color, odd or even. For many newbie, it is not as easy as it seems. Hence, let go back to the basic to learn how to play Roulette and understand what your chances to win in Roulette game are.

Two Types of Wheels

If you have been to casino before or visited an online casino, you may notice that there are actually two types of Roulette wheels, one has 37 slots, numbered from 0 to 36 and another type has 38 numbers, range from 0 to 36 with added extra number "00".

The 37 slot’s wheel is the original wheel since the game invented; the 37 slot’s wheel is known as "European Wheel". The house edge / casino advantage for this 37 slot’s wheel is 2.63%. The 38 slot’s wheel is known as "American Wheel", it has an added double zero ("00") which has increase the house edge from 2.63% to 5.26%. In other word, you chances to win in "American Wheel" are less than the "European Wheel.

Roulette Table Layout

Roulette layouts have two betting areas: the inside betting area and outside betting area. The inside betting area contains the individual numbers on the layout; the outside betting area has boxes for the columns, red/black and odd/even and different groups of numbers.

The individual numbers at the inside betting area are arranged in 3 columns times 12 rows and the zero and double zero (if it is American Wheel) are arrange at the top of the columns. There are 18 numbers colored with "Black"/"Yellow" and the other 18 numbers are colored with "Red"; you can making the betting based on these two colors at the outside betting area. Beside the colors, there are three other types of betting at outside betting area: 1-18 (small), 19-36 (big); Old or Even; column bets: 1 to 12, 13 to 24, and 25 to 36.

Buying In

In order to avoid disputes, each player will receives a different color chip and these color chips can only be used for that table only; you much cash them in once you are done playing to exchange these chip with the cash chips where you can cash them at the cashier cage later.

You can make several types of betting at inside betting area; you can bet a number straight up or straddle the line between numbers to select a combination of numbers. The payouts for each type of betting are as follow:

  • a. Single Number : Pays 35 to 1
  • b. Split bet between two numbers: Pays 17 to 1
  • c. Quad bet between 4 numbers (place your chip at the center of 4 adjacent numbers): Pays 8 to 1.
  • d. Line bet / street bet (you bet on 1 row with 3 numbers): Pays 11 to 1.
  • e. Double street bet (you bet on 2 rows with 6 numbers): Pays 5 to 1.

At outside betting area, the payouts for any winning are as follow:

  • a. Even/odd, big/small and color black/red are all pay 1 to 1.
  • b. Column bets (1 to 12, 13 t o24, 25 to 36) are paying 2 to 1.

After the roulette ball drop into the wheel’s slot, the dealer will mark the winning number with a marker. He/she will pick up all the losing chips first before paying out the winning chips. You are not allowed to place your bet until the dealer removes the marker.

In summary

This article is giving you some basics on how to play the famous Roulette casino game. Roulette has a high house edge and you cannot overcome this edge in the long run. But if you put some strategies in place, you can increase you chance to win in this game. I will discuss a few roulette strategies in my next few articles. Good luck!

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New Online Casino Games. Who Needs New Casino Games?

Friday, November 27th, 2009

A variety of offered products and/or services is one of main conditions to attract customers. In gambling business it is games first of all. Different places offer different games, but the leading ones are poker, blackjack, and roulette. Less popular and therefore rare in gaming houses are game of craps and baccarat. There are also about 10 special games in the world. However there are far more games in casino. Where do they come from? They appear due to different things:

1. Inventions
Every year about 2-3 new author games appear on international exhibitions. In the beginning they attract casino operators by their uncommonness very much, who examine them, read incomprehensible rules carefully and try to play these now-how. But their interest gradually disappears. In fact these games are not interesting and sometimes can be difficult to understand not just for an ordinary player, but casino representative as well. Also many games require special equipment. Even if the owner places a table for such game, the customers of casino will be disappointed by it: “Too difficult, boring, not interesting”. And frequently: “No chance”.

2. Casino inventions
From time to time the owner or employees of gaming houses invent quite interesting games. However, they have no future as well because of the above mentioned reasons: “I don’t want to spend money to learn new games”.

3. Innovations, based on the change of existing games
In this case, to think of a new game, it is enough to change the rules of already existing one.
So what makes gaming houses to introduce new games in a casino? Are modern players bored with original version of roulette, blackjack and poker? Not at all. Except some kinds of poker, that are popular nowadays due to really interesting innovations, all new games are only small marketing help in promotion actions of casino. They do not have any playing effect.

If a game is too complicated and casino wins a lot, players leave it at once. It is not interesting for the customers to play too simple and ineffective games. Far more attractive for them are games with the history, such as roulette, queen of the games; poker, having many combinations; intellectual blackjack, having as many or even more combinations as poker games. Besides, if an online casino offers bonuses in a form of free cash, these bonuses turn the house edge that normally exists in these casino games into a player edge over the house. That’s why online casinos started disallowing some games form qualifying for the wagering requirements on their bonus offers. Online casinos that disallow blackjack from their bonus offers lose a lot of good customers. There are still many casinos that disallow blackjack from the wagering requirement qualifying play, but a player should always look at which games these casinos do allow, and play only if the house edge will be small enough on the allowed casino games to provide good money value for the bonus.

There is an opinion, that for the majority of players it is not so important what to play. The main thing for them is an atmosphere of a game. For example, roulette – people are trying to get to the bottom of this game for ages. Naturally it is easy to join them and try your luck.

As a result it appears that the same games such as roulette, blackjack, poker are popular in casino, and all the rest ones keep manager happy that there is “a variety of games” there. That is not bad at all; the main thing is that both players and employees of casino are satisfied.

Blackjack -ญ Decks and Player Positions

Tuesday, November 17th, 2009








Today, we’re going to take a look at a couple key components to the game of Blackjack in the casino-decks and player positions.

Decks

Blackjack can be played with any number of decks. As the number of decks increase, the game becomes better for the house (casino). In the old days, the game was single-deck Blackjack. Eventually, casinos figured out that they could improve their odds by adding one more deck.

Today, single-deck Blackjack in the real world can be hard to find-unless you want to play $25+ per hand. Usually, the lower limit tables (under $25 per hand) are multi-deck games. Most of those use 4,6 or 8 decks.

Don’t be fooled by online casinos. Yes, they may use a single deck, but the deck is shuffled after each hand (unless specified). This isn’t the same as a single-deck game in the real world, because those games aren’t shuffled after each hand. It makes a difference. Real world single deck games are better for you.

That’s not to say that you shouldn’t play Blackjack online. Just be aware of the differences. For instance, since the online casinos shuffle after each hand, counting cards is of no use to you.

Player Positioning

If you’re playing Blackjack by yourself, this section won’t matter. But, if you’re playing with others, it pays to know the order of play.

The order of play starts with the player position to the left of the dealer. This position is known as first base. The order of play continues in a clockwise direction. The last player position to play is to the immediate right of the deal. This position is known as third base and it’s a coveted position to be in.

If you’re walking up to a table and you’re newer to Blackjack, don’t sit in the third base position. If you make a playing mistake, the rest of the table might suffer and they’ll be mad at you. However, if you’re an experienced Blackjack player, the third base position is one that you’ll most likely want.

Some players are superstitious and will only sit in certain spots. In reality, it’s all luck of the draw. The only true constant is that a poor player sitting at third base can wreck a table. For instance, the dealer might have a 6 showing and the poor player hits on 15, gets a face card and busts. The dealer then turns over a face card, gets a 3 and stands on 19-perhaps wiping everyone out.

If you’re that player and that situation happens, you’ll cease to have fun. Players will be staring you down and you won’t enjoy your “fun” time. Newer players might want to sit at first base if possible. This is the first position to act each hand and it’s right next to the dealer. It’s a great spot if you think you’ll need some playing assistance.








Basic Strategy For Blackjack

Monday, October 19th, 2009

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The basic strategy for Blackjack is to compare your hand to that of the dealer’s showing card. The basic card values are straightforward enough, but when you pull a soft-hand or can double down you are in a position to make a strong play if you know what you are doing.

A soft-hand is an ace and any other card below the value of ten. This hand gets its name because the ace can be either one or eleven as necessary. The big advantage to a soft hand is that you can take hits with less risk of busing. But that doesn’t mean you can be carefree about how you play your hand. Take a look at the dealers’ showing card and play your cards as follows:

If you have an ace with an 8 or higher then hold your hand and don’t take a hit. By playing the ace as 11 you have 19, which is a hand you should always stand on.

If you have an ace with 7 take a hit if the dealer’s showing card is 9 or better.

If you have an ace with six or less then you should always take a bit. Even though this means you are taking a risky hit on 17 you can always bail yourself out if you bust by using the ace as a 1.

Doubling down is another situation you need to master if you want to win at Blackjack. Doubling down allows you to double you initial bet in certain circumstances. If played correctly you can offset the house advantage and that is an opportunity not to be missed! Bear in mind though that casinos have different rules as to when you can double down.

You should double down according to following rules:

If your have card values of 9 to 11 then double down. Statistically you have great chance to win because there are so many cards with a value of 10 to draw.
However, if you have a 9 then only double down if the dealer is showing a weak card of 3 to 6. This is because the dealer as likely to bust if he/she is showing any other card.
When holding a soft hand you should double down only when you can exploit a weak dealer card. The way to play an soft hand for doubling down is as follows;

If you have an ace with 8-9, just stand. This is a strong hand so don’t double down.
If you have an ace with 6.-7 then double down and take a hit if the dealer is showing a weak 3-6, and especially 4.-6.
If you have an ace with 4.-5 only double down if the dealer is holding a weak 4.-6.
If you have an ace with 2-3 then only double down if the dealer is showing a 5-6.

By knowing how to play these strategies you can take advantage of favorable hands when they come you way.

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Always Split Aces and Eights

Saturday, September 5th, 2009

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There are some basics in blackjack. Splitting aces and eights only makes senses since a hand equaling 2 or 12 compared to having two hands of 11 is a no brainer. Even though you only receive one card to your ace, the chances of getting 21 or a relatively decent hand are good.

Splitting eights all the time is a bit riskier. Some blackjack studs say not to split eights if the dealer is showing a nine or a ten. For me, it depends on how the cards are flowing that day whether I will split the eights all the time or just when it feels right against that dealer nine or ten.

Probably the most important strategy for wining blackjack is to always play the dealer for a ten in the hole. This will be the basis of your winning strategy. If the dealer is showing a ten, you play him as if he has twenty and hit or stay accordingly. The same rule applies if the dealer is showing a six or any other bust combination (12, 13, 14, or 15). You always have to play as if you had x-ray vision and could see the dealer’s hole card.

Playing hunches will kill you. You have to have a plan and stick to it. And your plan should follow the basic rules. Granted there will plenty of times that the dealer doesn’t have that ten in the hole, but you have to stick to your guns and play it that way.

One mistake that I see a lot of novices make is splitting tens or face cards. They will do this mostly when the dealer is showing a bust card. They think they will be able to double their money hitting each one of their tens. This is ridiculous. Who splits the second best hand in blackjack? Definitely not me.

Besides doubling down on tens and elevens, if the house allows it, I love to double on soft 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, and 18 if the dealer is showing a 3, 4, 5 or 6. There is a good chance the dealer will bust, and also a good chance you will improve your hand, or get a ten and it remains the same.

I have always held if I had twelve and the dealer showed a bust card. But, recently I read that you should hit a 12 against the dealer when he shows a 2. I was a bit hesitant to do this since there was a chance that I would bust. But, playing this way, I have found out that I have won more than I have lost. This strategy you will have to decide for yourself if it right for you.

These are some of the basic blackjack strategies that you can apply. The key is to remain consistent even when the cards are against you. If you hit a bad run, get up from the table and take a break. Don’t keep throwing your money away when a dealer is hot.

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