Online Casinos

Online casinos offer a convenient alternative to the traditional land based casinos. They are perfect for the player who does not want to be distracted. What online casinos do not offer is the excitement of a live casino.

There are advantages to playing at both traditional brick and mortar casinos and online casinos. Some players prefer the traditional casino, some prefer online casinos and some players see the advantages of each. If all of your experience is with online casinos then you need to know what differences you will see when you visit a land based casino.

The first and most obvious difference is that there will be live people for you to interact with. This is a stark contrast to the online casino where you do not need to have any contact with other people. It used to be that casinos had dress codes and a code of conduct that needed to be followed. These days people can wear whatever they please and the code of conduct is almost completely gone. Most casinos have either non-smoking or smoking sections. There may also be non-smoking tables within sections. The tables at poker tournaments are generally non-smoking tables, but you can stand up and smoke next to the table. Players are allowed to be loud but not unruly. Offensive behavior is not tolerated and players who behave badly will be first asked to leave and then escorted out if necessary.

Online casinos are more convenient than land based casinos. If you are used to online casinos live casinos will seem a bit inconvenient. Switching games or tables is not instantaneous. A player must get up, pick up his chips and physically move to the next table. A seat at the game of your choice may not be available at peak hours. cannot play at whatever limit that you want and you will often have to wait for other players. You will receive free drinks while playing in a live casino. Waitresses come around and ask if anyone wants a drink. That do not specify alcohol, but it is available if you ask. The problem is if you want to switch tables while they are getting you your drink. Do you just walk away or do you wait for the woman to return with your drink?

When you enter a traditional casino you can feel the excitement in the air. Some people feel that this excitement is part of the experience of casino gambling. It is fun to be in a room with people who are winning. There is no other experience like a craps table when it is hot. The players are a group of complete strangers defeating a common opponent. When you play online at home, you do not really get the full casino experience. It is more cerebral. You can win and you can get excited about it, but there will probably not be a crowd of people standing behind you cheering you on. Players cannot get this kind of experience online.

In general it is just you against the dealer in most online casino games. In a live casino, you are at the table with other players and you are all playing against the dealer. There is an advantage in blackjack where seeing the other player’s cards will give you clues as to which cards are still left in the deck.

Online Blackjack

Blackjack, Twenty-one or Pontoon, is the most popular table game in casinos. This goes for both land based and online casinos. The game can be played with a single deck of 52 cards or, with several decks. In traditional casinos 8 decks are generally used. The more decks that are used the less chance of an accurate count. The object of the game is to add the value of the cards in your hand in hopes of getting twenty one. If the value of the cards in hand is less than twenty one the player may choose to receive individual cards that are added to the value of the hand. This may continue until they reach a value of twenty-one, the player is confident he has a winning hand or the cards reach a value that exceeds twenty one. The winner is the player or dealer that has a hand with a value nearest to twenty one without exceeding it. Twenty one is the best possible hand. There are many variations of blackjack in casinos with different table rules. Online casinos offer even more variations. The popularity of blackjack is due to the mix of chance and skill. This offers the player more control than games of complete chance.

Blackjack is derived from a game called twenty-one. Twenty-one was played in France and Spain since the 16th Century. Twenty-one introduced in the United States in the 1800’s. It was originally not popular so local casinos began offering bonus or progressive payouts to get players to try the game. One of these bonuses was a 10 to one payout if the ace of spades and a blackjack were dealt to the player. This became known as Blackjack. The name stuck although the bonus did not.

In casino blackjack there may be anywhere from one to seven players plus a dealer. The game is played at a horseshoe shaped table. Each player plays against the dealer and not each other. Before the hand is dealt, each player places a bet. They then receive their initial hand of two cards. The object of the game is to get a hand that totals more than the dealers hand without going over twenty-one. If a players hand does total more than twenty one they automatically lose no matter what the dealer does. Going over twenty one is called breaking or busting. In totaling the hand the jack, queen and king each have a value of 10. Cards with the numbers two through ten printed on them hold that same value. The ace can be either a one or eleven according to the player’s choice. The player to the dealers left goes first and can either hold pat with the cards that he has been dealt or he may take additional cards. If the additional cards bring his hands total to over twenty one, he busts and loses his initial bet. The deal goes around the table and each player has the same options as the first player had. The dealer then plays his hand. The dealer must hit on all hands under 16 and stand on all hands over 17. If the dealers hand totals more than 21, he busts and all remaining player hands that have not busted win. Ties count as a push or tie and the original bet is returned to the player.

Online Casinos Accepting US Players

Online gambling has been controversial since its inception over a decade ago. New laws are constantly being added and updated in an effort to thwart the growth of online gambling. Online casinos must adapt and find new ways of attracting new players. The battle rages on as today’s fight is over the banking regulations involved in making deposits and withdrawals.

US citizens who are looking for an online casino still have many options as long as they are willing to shop. There are many reputable online casinos that accept US players. Some of these casinos are the same casinos that have been around for years, but now they are operating under another name. Still others are new ventures from the creators of your favorite online casinos.

The US government has attempted to choke off the money supply to offshore casinos. This has made it more and more difficult to make deposits and withdrawals from online casinos. There are still online casinos that accept Visa, Mastercard, American Express and Discover cards from US players. Debit cards work more often than credit cards. Prepaid debit cards are anonymous and are the most reliable way of making deposits and withdrawals.

Online casinos that accept US players offer welcome bonuses and other incentives that cannot be found at land based casinos. The most common bonus is the initial deposit bonuses. This is usually a 100% on your first deposit. Online casinos offer this match in order to get you to try their casino. There is much greater competition between casino on the internet. This is because there are limited barriers to entry. There is not a great expense to open a full blown hotel and casino. All you need is a small office, a few employees and license fee for the casino software.

Some of the newer online casinos that accept US players have started offering sign up bonuses on the first ten or even twenty deposits. This is done in order to keep the players coming back. It should be obvious that owning an online casino can be very profitable and allowing US players can only increase profits.

Land based casinos have huge overheads and this cuts into their profits. This is pushed down to the player. Not only do US players have to travel to the casino, but they receive worse odds, no sign up bonuses and will have to pay tax if they win a substantial amount. The best bet is online casinos that accept US players.

While several of the well known brands of online casinos have withdrawn from the United States market, many have remained and new casinos are being developed. The new competition for US players has revived the bonus structure once reserved for other markets. The more online casinos available to US players the better it is for the player. American gamblers have traditionally spent more as a whole than any other market. This makes it appealing for online casino operators. In order to bring in more players, they offer higher bonuses and payout rates.

Although many of the better known online casinos have decided to pull out of the United States market, there are still places to play and bargains to be found. The size of the US market and the potential income will continue to force competition. This is the definition of the free market economy.