Become a decent blackjack player

It is relatively easy to learn how to play blackjack well enough to make money in both land based and online casinos. There are many books on how to become a professional blackjack player and they get pretty complicated. If you want to be a professional player it will take many years of practice and a real understanding of the game. Anyone can become a decent player and have a good shot at making money at a casino if you follow a few simple rules.

There are techniques, such as card counting, that can actually give you a slight advantage over the casino in blackjack. The problem is that you will have to spend many hours learning and perfecting these techniques and then you will have to play many hours a week in order to realize any real profit. In other words you can make it a career if you have the dedication and the bank roll.

First you need to know the basic game play. In blackjack tens and face cards count as 10, Aces count as your choice of either 10 or 11, and all other cards have a count equal to their face value. Players play against the dealer not each another. Each player bets before the hand starts and then the dealer deals two cards to each player and two cards to himself. His second card is dealt up so the players can see it. If the dealer has an ace and a face card or 10 this is blackjack and he will turn it over and wins all bets except against another blackjack. In that case it is a tie or push.

Going clockwise from the dealers left each player has the choice of standing or being dealt additional cards. Play continues with that player until the player stands or gets a card count that totals more than 21. After all players have gone, the dealer draws additional cards to either reach a total of 17 or bust. If the dealer doesn't bust, any player with a higher total count than the dealer without going over wins. Remember your goal is to beat the dealer not to get 21. Therefore your decisions need to be based on beating the dealer.

After the first two cards are dealt there are three special bets you can make. Doubling down means you can double your bet after you receive your first two cards. You then receive one, and only one more card. Splitting pairs is another special bet. If you receive a pair on your first two cards you can split them into two separate hands and play each hand separately. You do need to match your original bet in order to do this. The final special bet is insurance. This means that when the dealers up card is an ace you can wager an addition half of your original bet as insurance that the dealer does not have blackjack. This bet pays 2 to 1, which means you get your money back if the dealer has blackjack.

The basic blackjack strategy card simply tells you when to hit or stand using mathematical probabilities. It does take some time to memorize so here is an abridged version that will work almost as well. If the dealers up card is seven or higher continue to hit until you have 17 or better. If the dealers up card is 6 or lower, hit until you have at least a 12 and then stop. Double down when your first 2 cards total 10 or 11, and always split aces and eights. All of these strategies assume that the next card drawn will always be a ten. If you follow these 4 rules will always be making good bets and you will not be the sucker at the table.

Online Casino bonus offers

Online casinos use bonuses to help bring in new customers. They do this in the hope that once a new player gets a taste of their casino they will keep playing. Experienced players look for these bonuses. There are differences between no deposit bonuses, sign up bonuses, reload bonuses and referral bonuses and each player should know the differences and how each bonus works.

Online casino sign up bonuses are offered to new players when they sign up and make their initial deposit. The amount of the bonus varies from casino to casino. No deposit bonuses are small bonuses that are given for creating an account. These bonuses are usually $5 or $10. You cannot withdraw these bonuses but you can use them in the casino. Once you have made an actual deposit you will be able make a withdrawal. Most sites match a percentage of your first deposit. This match will range from 10% to 100% and have a cap. The most common first deposit bonus right now is 100% up to $100. So, if you deposit $100 you will have $200 in casino credit. These bonuses are not always automatic so you will need to pay attention to the fine print.

Sign up bonuses are not just free money. The bonuses are entered into your account as bonus points; you will need to gamble a certain amount to turn these points into cash. It is actually pretty simple and these are just safeguards against people trying to sign up and just taking the bonus without risking their own money. Information about how much a new player needs to wager prior to withdrawing the sign up bonus can be found on the online casinos website. If you look under wagering requirements there will be a detailed explanation of how to make a withdrawal of bonus money. It will also tell you how many times the money needs to be rolled over. If the bonus is $25 and it must be rolled over 10 times before it turns to real money, the player must make at least $250 in bets before it becomes cash.

Reload bonuses are sometimes offered by online casinos to players as an incentive to make a deposit into an already active real money account. These bonuses are also the most diverse in how they are administered. These bonuses can be either immediately available or may be offered as bonus points. Reload bonuses are typically smaller than sign up bonuses. They may also be available only at certain times and days. It is very important that you understand exactly how the reload bonus works at each online casino.

Refer a friend bonuses are the easiest to follow. When you refer a friend to play at an online casino they will credit you a pre determined amount of money. They only stipulation is usually that they deposit and gamble a certain amount of money. The only things that you need to do are make sure that the player that you refer adds the provided code to their application and make sure that it is registered by the online casino.

The most important point with any of these bonuses is to understand the fine print. Not all sites are the same. Once you do this you can stretch your online gambling budget considerably.

Online Casino Slots

Understanding online slot machines and online casinos in general is the first step to winning. Online casinos have been around for over a decade now and are here to stay.

The first step to winning in online casinos is to identify the correct type of slot machine. Not all players are the same and not all slot machines are the same. Beginners do not always understand the differences between the different slot machines and they also do not know the correct bets to maximize their winnings.

In general the largest payout is only paid when the maximum number of coins has been bet. What this means is that if a slot machine accepts different coin denominations, it is always better to play the maximum number of small coins instead of a lesser number of larger coins. In a machine that accepts up to five coins you are better off playing five nickels than a single quarter. This is especially true in the case of progressive machines. Progressive slot machines pay out at a lower rate for all hits accept the jackpot. The jackpot is only paid if the maximum coins are played. Next you need to know the different types of machines.

If you were only going to play with one coin or you wanted the same payout percentage no matter how many coins you played then you would want to play a multiplier slot machine. Multiplier machines pay out a certain amount of coins for certain symbols. This amount is then multiplied by the number of coins bet. So, if three cherries pay 10 coins for a one coin bet, it will pay 50 coins for a 5 coin bet. This type of machine does not penalize the player for not playing the maximum number of coins allowed. There are no big jackpots in this type of machine. If you are looking to get the most playing time out of your money then this is the machine for you.


The bonus multiplier is very similar to the multiplier machine except when it comes to the largest payout. On the bonus multiplier machine when the jackpot is hit with the maximum number of coins played it pays a jackpot. So, the machine may pay out 1000 coins when the top symbols come out for one coin, 2000 for two coins and 10,000 for three coins when three coins is the maximum.


Another type of slot machine is the multiple pay line machines. Most slot machines only pay out when the symbols are on the center line. Multiple pay line machines pay out on many different lines. These machines are very popular as nickel and penny machines. The most popular configurations include nine pay lines, but there are machines with as many as 96 pay lines. You can play more than one line on these machines. The more coins you add the more lines that will be activated up to the machine maximum number of lines.

The highest paying slot machine is the progressive. Progressive slot machines take a small percentage of each play and put it into a pool or jackpot. The lucky player who plays the maximum coins and hits the jackpot wins the whole pool. Progressive pools typically can get to be over $1 million. Many times several casinos will group machines together in order to increase the jackpot.

Online Casinos

Many people who have only played in traditional, land based, casinos do not believe that they can get the same experience at an online casino . Many people have tried buying slot machines for their homes. These machines can be found online without much difficulty. Many of the slot machines that you will find are old ones that were actually used in casinos. They will cost you a few hundred dollars and will work with either slugs or real coins. It seems like a good, inexpensive way to satisfy a craving. Although these home machines are a great novelty when guests come over, they do little more than collect dust on a daily basis. The problem is that there is no dream of instant fortune when playing your own slot machine.

If you are looking for the same excitement as a live casino from your own home then you will want to try an online casino. All you will need is a computer or mobile device and an internet connection. Broadband connections work much better with online casino software than dial up connections. Many online casinos will give you the option of using less sophisticated software when using dial up. By using the internet you do not need to travel to the casino. The casino will come to you. You will still experience the same excitement from the comfort of your own home.


Land based casinos are very expensive to build and maintain. Online casinos can be run out of small offices with very few employees. The major expense is licensing the casino software for a few hundred thousand dollars a year. When you compare this to the expense of building a lavish Las Vegas casino you can understand why online casinos are able to offer better odds and bonus programs.

Online casinos are easy to access and have all of the same games as traditional casinos. Slot machines, roulette, black jack, craps, Caribbean Stud Poker, Pai Gow Poker, slot tournaments, blackjack tournaments, etc. Any game that you can find at a land based casino you can now find online and these casinos offer better than Vegas odds. Slot machines are the most popular game in traditional casinos because they are easy to play and offer large payouts. They are also the most popular game at online casinos for the same reason.

When choosing an online casino you want to look for a reputable, licensed online casino. Licensed online casinos are audited by third party accounting firms. The internet also tends to keep them honest as failure to pay a player quickly becomes known in the online gambling community.

Most online casinos also offer deposit bonuses. These are matches on your deposits designed to get you to try their casino. These bonuses are generally 100 percent on your initial deposit and can go out as many as twenty deposits. There is also usually a limit as to how much the bonus will be. An example would be a 25 dollar deposit with a 100 percent match. You would then have $50 to play with. Once you have played for a predetermined amount of time, you will be able to cash in and collect all of the money.

$410,000 Guaranteed Free Roll Tournament

A fourth of July to remember at
Online Vegas. To celebrate the 4th of July, Online Vegas will have a Week-Long $44,444 Guaranteed Freeroll that starts on Friday, July 2nd at 7PM (ET) and runs until Friday, July 9th. The featured slot game is Independence Day which is a 4th of July themed, 5-Reel, 9 Pay-line Slot Machine with a Bonus Round where you select American historical figures and landmarks to earn various prizes. There is also a free-spin feature.

First Place prize is an explosive $14,444, and there are prizes paid all the way to 1000th Place.

You don’t have to pay a cent to enter this Tournament, and you can Win Real Cash! All you need is a real money account (No deposit required). Should you play your starting Tournament balance down to $20, you can always re-buy for only $7.44, which will give you $225 Tournament dollars.

In July, there will be over 110 Tournaments to choose from (113 to be exact), including Pot Percentage, Blackjack, Video Poker and Slot Tournaments. There is always a Tournament running and certainly something for everyone. For more information about online casinos.