European Roulette is one of the oldest forms of gambling, which appeared in Europe in the XVII century. In spite of such considerable age, European roulette is still in demand: it is played in online casinos as well as in real gambling houses. Any association with the casino is usually connected with European roulette table covered with green cloth and spinning roulette wheel. Continue reading
Every gambler is trying to use certain winning strategies (especially when playing at roulette), tricks or secrets to get a positive result and to win in the casino.
Basic Strategy Blackjack was counted more than once and is the only mathematically correct decision in the blackjack card game. This strategy is indisputable. Do not try to play Blackjack without using any blackjack betting strategy. Only strict adherence to the basic strategy blackjack will lower the house edge to a minimum.
The inventors of the strategy for BlackJack card game (“Monte Carlo strategy”) were Baldwin with his colleagues, who figured out the optimal actions at blackjack play and published their works in one of the American journals.
But the real revolution in the basic strategy blackjack made Edward O. Thorp, who with the help of the computer calculated millions combinations of Blackjack card game, and conducted a thorough analysis of situations when a player is likely to win, and when he or she will lose.
In this blackjack betting strategy, Thorpe came to the conclusion that, each card that came out of the deck changes the chances to get one or another combination.
Main principles of basic strategy blackjack:
- Hard totals:
| Dealer’s up card | Hit to… |
| 2 or 3 | 13 |
| 4, 5, 6 | 12 |
| 7, 8, 9, 10, Ace | 17 |
- Soft totals:
| Dealer’s up card | Hit to… |
| 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 | soft 18 |
| 9, 10, Ace | soft 19 |
- Split, if:
| Your hand | Dealer’s up card |
| 2 and 2 | 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 |
| 3 and 3 | 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 |
| 4 and 4 | 5 or 6 |
| 5 and 5 | Don’t split! |
| 6 and 6 | 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 |
| 7 and 7 | 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 |
| 8 and 8 | Any card |
| 9 and 9 | 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9 |
| 10 and 10 | Don’t split! |
| Ace and Ace | Any card |
- Double, if:
а) Double is permitted only at 11, 10 and 9 points:
| The sum of your two cards | Dealer’s up card |
| 9 | 3, 4, 5, 6 |
| 10 | 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 |
| 11 | Any card, except an Ace |
б) Double is permitted only at any two cards:
| The sum of your two cards | Dealer’s up card |
| soft 13 or 14 (Ace, 2 or Ace, 3) | 5 or 6 |
| soft 15 or 16 (Ace,4 or Ace,5) | 4, 5, 6 |
| soft 17 or 18 (Ace,6 or Ace,7) | 3, 4, 5, 6 |
- Surrender:
| The sum of your two cards | Dealer’s up card |
| 5, 6, 7, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17 | Ace |
| 14, 15, 16 | 10 |
| 16 (except 8 and 8 ) | 9 |
But before playing for real money, you’d better train yourself at online free blackjack. Almost all online casinos offer their guests to play for fun at online free blackjack. You don’t need to download any soft or to sign up, just enter the site of online casino, chose your favorite game and enjoy blackjack play.
Baccarat is one of the most popular games in casinos. It also gets more and more fans in online casinos. Baccarat online is a game that is loved by everyone who are ready to make high bets.
The History of Baccarat
This old card game has its own history. «Baccarat» in French means “zero”. There are several theories about the origins of this game. According to the most famous of them baccarat game was invented in the Middle Ages by Felix Falguere. And at the end of the 15th century it already was the favorite game of French aristocrats.
Baccarat card counting
Table for Baccarat is large enough, so the game takes place in a special part of the casino. At one table three dealers and 14 players can play at the same time. Baccarat is played with 8 or 6 decks. Each deck has 52 cards. The purpose of the game is to score 9 points. This game is played between player and dealer.
The most advantageous combination of two cards is 9 points. This combination is called “natural”. Cards from “2″ to “9″ keep their values. Cards as “King”, “Queen,” “Jack” and “10″ are equivalent to 0 points. And “Ace” is 1point.
If a player has the combination of more than 9 points, he or she is taken away 10 points to have not more than 9 points. For example, a player has a combination of 7 and 9, which gives 16 points. 10 points are taken away and it is 6 points.
In baccarat players make three types of bets.
• Punto – a bet on the player, with 1:1 payment.
• Banco – a bet on the dealer with payoffs 19:20.
• Tie – a bet on a tie, with 8:1 or 9:1 payment (depending on the casino).
The optimal baccarat strategy
To minimize the house edge, it is best to bet on the dealer, because statistically it is much more winning bet. But a bet on a tie should be avoided because the casino edge here can reach 14%.
Baccarat free
You can play baccarat not only for money but also for free. This is especially necessary for beginners. Playing free baccarat, you have the opportunity to learn the rules and train yourself.
There are many different variations of video poker. For each of them there is its own winning poker strategy to get the maximum possible prize (or, rather, a minimal loss). Here we will give basic information about video poker and its advanced poker strategy by the example of such its variation as Jacks or Better.
Video poker strategy for Jacks or Better
So, as we have already said, there are many variants of video poker, and for each of them there is a specific table of payoffs, showing different probabilities of winning and, therefore, a different poker strategy. Let’s start with the most popular and interesting version of video poker – Jacks or Better (JoB). The table below shows the variants of payoffs and the corresponding mathematical expectation for this game:
Royal flush 940 800 800 800 800 800
Straight flush 50 50 50 40 50 50
4 of a kind 25 25 80 20 80 25
Full house 9 9 8 9 8 8
Flush 6 6 6 6 5 5
Straight 4 4 4 4 4 4
3 of a kind 3 3 3 3 3 3
2 pair 2 2 1 2 1 2
Pair of Jacks or higher 1 1 1 1 1 1
ME 99.9% 99.54% 98.49% 98.25% 97.4% 97.3%
Royal flush 800 800 1000 1000 800
Straight flush 50 50 50 50 50
4 of a kind 80 25 25 20 25
Full house 7 7 6 7 6
Flush 5 5 5 5 5
Straight 4 4 4 4 4
3 of a kind 3 3 3 3 3
2 pair 1 2 2 2 2
Pair of Jacks or higher 1 1 1 1 1
ME 96.25% 96.15% 95.51% 95.48% 95.00%
And as for the video poker strategy, it was created for full pay JoB (also known as 9 / 6 JoB VP – the second column in our table). We would like to offer you an advanced poker strategy with house edge of 0.54%. You should continue the game if you have such hands as:
1. Full House and higher
2. 4 cards of a Royal Flush
3. Street, Three of a Kind or Flash
4. 4 cards of Straight Flush
5. Two pairs
6. Pair of high cards (Jacks or higher)
7. 3 cards of a Royal Flush
8. 4 cards of a Flush
9. The pair of lower cards (Tens and lower)
10. 4 cards of an outside Street
11. Two high cards of the same suit
12. 3 cards of Straight Flush
13. Two high cards of different suits (if more than two high cards are dealt, then save the lower ones)
14. 10/Jack, 10/Queen, 10/King of the same suit
15. One high card
16. Flop
High cards – from Jack to Ace;
Outside Street – four cards in sequence (for ex., 5,6,7,8) as opposed to an inside straight (for ex., 5,6,8,9).
If you don’t want to spend your time to learn the video poker strategy, you can use a free program Casino Adviser, which will automatically make recommendations for optimal play at video poker.
But if you have a good memory, you’d better to remember this winning poker strategy.
The whole process of playing in the tournament can be divided into four stages:
- Early Stage
- Middle stage
- Late Stage
- Final Table
Early stage
In the early stage of a tournament you have usually quite a lot of chips in relation to the stakes (stake – blinds and / or antes). So, you can afford to wait for good hands and then join the fight for the pot. The winning poker strategy at this stage is to play quietly, with careful consideration, and try to “catch” bad players with weak hands. You do not need to risk, especially if the risk can throw you out of the game.
Middle stage
For this stage the poker strategy is following. As the stakes will continue to grow, you cannot always fold, waiting for a very strong hand. Blinds and Antes are now quite noticeable, so you have to more often fight for the pot. Be more aggressive and take risks. Remember that your opponents will play very cautiously at this stage because of the risk to drop out of the game. At this point you should take a closer look at your competitors. Understanding against whom you can bluff, and who constantly calls bets from opponents can significantly increase your chances.
Late stage
At late stage use the following poker strategy. If you have a big stack (stack – the number of chips) at this stage, you have a huge advantage, which must be converted into capital. Even if you have a considerable stack, you’re still in good situation, because players are usually afraid to drop out of the game at this stage. We recommend a very aggressive game. Make sure that you are an aggressor, and not a “caller.” Avoid confrontation with big stacks and try to fight small ones.
If you have a small stack, you should try to increase it before it becomes so small that you will not be able to impose your game. In this situation, you should take a risk.
The final table
If you have a large or considerable stack, you can play your normal poker strategy. Just remember to avoid confrontations with big stacks. Remember that your goal is to finish in the top three, because in this only case you’ll receive a big prize. If you have a small stack, try to find a strong hand and earn as much as possible. Do not forget that you are an aggressor, and not a “caller.” But do not wait too long because you can get the shot stack (when the player has very few chips). As long as other players are eliminated, you have to play more aggressively and use advanced poker strategy, especially when there are 4 or 5 people at the table. If you usually play passively, you can win a game by suddenly becoming active. It is very important to think about your image at the table. If the other players are involved in showdowns with each other, you can “steal” some blinds, showing aggression when it is not expected from you.
Online poker gives you the unique opportunity to take part in a tournament game. Here you can play all kinds of tournaments: Single Tables, Multi tables, Rebuy and Freeze out, Freerolls and others. The buy-in (minimum amount to enter the tournament) in online tournaments is ranging from 0 (for Freerolls) up to several hundred dollars. Using this poker tournament strategy you’ll easily win.
Roulette game brings more joy if you win, it is indisputable. A classic roulette – is a game of chance and there is no guarantee of winning, there are, however, several roulette machine tips, which can increase your chances to win.
And it is not about commonplace superstitions, such as “at your birthday place bet on this number” or “when the moon is full bet on “black”. We will offer you traditional and tried-and-true roulette tips and tricks.
One of the most important roulette wheel tips is AVOID DOUBLE ZERO.
The American roulette wheel has 0 and 00, but the European roulette (as well as French roulette) has only 0 (single zero). Since the payments depend on the roulette odds, single zero on the roulette wheel is better than double one.
You can always find European roulette with single zero in online casinos. Almost all virtual casinos offer the European version of one of the oldest games of chance.
The one more important rule among roulette machine tips is DO NOT STAKE ON «BASKETBET»
The players at American roulette can stake on “basket bet”, covering 0, 00, 1, 2 and 3. Outwardly, this area really looks like a basket, that’s why it received the name «Basket Bet».
However, this is the worst bet at the table for the player and the house edge is nearly 8%.
And that is the most evident of roulette tips to win: BEWARE OF WINNING SYSTEMS.
Betting systems, such as the Martingale system or the strategy when you double your bet every time you lose, – are a very risky way to play. Such systems are changing the nature of wins and losses by creating such a situation when you often win small sums but as a result you lose much more. However, these systems were not created for nothing and with some luck you can quickly win a large sum of money.
In theory, these systems work, but with a huge bankroll. The bets are raising rapidly, and soon you may find yourself in a situation where you risk a whole bankroll for only one bet.
Winning systems should be used for fun and for using a small part of your bankroll. It’s imprudent to risk a large part of your bankroll for a low possibility to win.
It’s important to notice, that all that concern all variants of roulette game. For 10p roulette, as well as for 20p roulette tips are the same.
Poker is a game loved by many people. It is played in special entertainment establishments, with friends and at home. From year to year more and more new people wish to learn to play poker. It can be played both for fun or for real money. All the players, beginners and pros have one thing in common – no one would miss the opportunity to try their hand at playing poker for beginners. Tips and techniques, advice and the entire complex systems accompany this game since its inception. Each player has in store the special techniques and strategic plans, which he thinks he is the only one to know.
If you are just starting to get acquainted with a popular card game, start to learn the most basic poker tips that can be easily found in literature or in the Internet. The first thing you need is to determine which poker you want to learn to play, what is more interesting for you. There are a lot of types of poker: some succeed at the stud poker (seven – card), the other in Omaha. Also you need to be careful in choosing opponents. You can learn from strong ones, but if the opponent is much more skilful than you, such game would hardly satisfy both parties.
Learning to play poker is not so difficult if you strictly follow the rules and simple guidelines for a successful game. If the game takes place in reality you should control the emotions as much as possible. Your facial expressions and gestures can show the excitement or joy, and thus give the opponent a chance to predict the course of the game and your thoughts. So before you sit down at the table you should relax, tune in to positive mood and by any means act calmly and naturally. Those who want to learn to play poker should study the basics of behavioural psychology. Once you learn to control your emotions and ambitions, try to guess the behaviour of your opponent. The main thing is not to be afraid; learning to play poker is only half of the battle. What is important is the game itself. If you feel that the level of your skill is far from perfect, do not play for money. To train and build experience there are many online versions, for example, a simple game of poker for beginners, where anyone can try their hand for free!
Caribbean poker is a very easy 5 card stud poker with a house edge – 5.4%. It’s a high per cent in comparison with other gambling. The game is leading against you, and you will never be sure that you win. As long time ago, the players of Caribbean stud poker are dealt five cards and they play against the dealer. You shouldn’t change cards. There is also no possibility to bluff.
Stud poker rules.
The player in this game is only one and he or she plays against the dealer. There are 6 boxes on the table. Each box has 2 fields for bets. One of them is called Ante (the initial bet), the other – Bet (the main bet).
Before each dealing, the player makes the initial bet and places one or several chips on the field Ante. The dealer distributes 5 cards to each gambler. The cards are dealing by turns and are put face down. But the dealer’s last card is up.
The player looks into the cards and determines the value of the hand. First or last the player should compare his hand with the dealer’s one. The person, whose cards are higher, is a winner. One dealer’s card is up and that is the whole information that the player can dispose.
Caribbean stud poker hands ranking.
• The Royal Flush – the highest poker hand – five high cards of the same suit (A, K, Q, J, 10).
• The Straight Flush – five sequential cards of the same suit.
• 4 of a kind – four cards of the same rank, for example four Queens or four Fives plus one additional card.
• Full House – 3 of a Kind and a Pair, for example 6-6-6-K-K.
• Flush – five cards of the same suit.
• Straight – five sequential cards as for example 9-8-7-6-5. The suit of the cards doesn’t matter. The ace can be either the highest (A-K-Q-J-10) or lowest card (5-4-3-2-A). The sequence with the ace within (3-2-A-K-Q) isn’t Straight.
• 3 of a Kind – three cards of the same rank, for example 9-9-9-Q-4.
• 2 Pairs – two cards of one rank and two of another rank, for example A-A-5-5-10
• Pair – two cards of the same rank, for example 8-8-K-Q-4.
• Ace/King – one Ace and one King of any suit, for example A-K-8-7-3.
• Any Pair – there isn’t any combination listed above, for example J-10-7-5-2.
The higher the stud poker combination, the more valuable the hand is. If the dealer’s hand and the player’s hand have the same combinations, their values are determined, as in every poker game, by the high card.
Stud poker strategy.
The optimal strategy to play stud poker is very difficult. There are few people who know it to perfection. However we can infer several general rules, which do practically for all poker hands.
- Always raise when you have Pair or higher hand.
- Always fold if your hand is lower than that one the dealer needs to be qualified (Ace/King).
If you have Ace/King the situation is rather complicated. It generally plays if other three cards are high or if the dealer’s up card is Jack or lower and matches one of the player’s card (it reduces the dealer’s possibility to make Pair).
There is a strategy which makes house edge 5.2% that is little lower than the house edge when using the optimal strategy.
- Raise when the dealer’s up card is from 2 to Queen and matches one of yours cards.
- Raise if the dealer’s up card is Ace or King and you have Queen or Jack.
- Raise if the dealer’s up card doesn’t match any of yours but you have Queen and the dealer’s up card is lower than your fourth high card.
We’ll try to offer there some easy and reasonable advice how to choose optimal online baccarat strategy.
The right game strategy is half the battle.
Unfortunately, there are no mathematically grounded baccarat strategies, because the player’s influence on the course of game is minimal. The player can only choose the amount of the bet and the hand to bet and then hope for the Fortune.
However, the absence of strict baccarat strategy doesn’t mean that the player can not make an optimal choose in the game.
Baccarat systems.
Baccarat system is a body of rules that the player use while choosing some necessary solutions, and which can considerably influence the course of game and increase player’s chances to win.
It has been proved that in baccarat the casino has some house edge on each of three bets. Let’s see the house edge on each of these bets.
While betting on the Player – the house edge is 1.29%.
While betting on the Banker – the house edge is 1.01%.
While betting on the Tie – the house edge is 15.75%.
It means that when, for example, playing with one deck, if you sequently bet on the Player, you will lose about 1.29$ of each parlayed 100$.
Hence it appears one of the important baccarat rules: the bets on the Banker are more preferable for the player.
What about bets on the Tie, besides the high payments (from 8 : 1, till 9 : 1), the possibility of the tie is very low, the house edge of this bet is till 15%.
Hence the other of the important rules of baccarat: Don’t bet on the Tie!
But this advice is absolutely not for the “gentlemen of Fortune”. Take chances!
It’s not a wide choice. But you can be consoled by the fact that baccarat (along with blackjack), however, is one of the games with the most favourable distribution of the chances for the player.
The number of decks.
There is one more possibility to lead the right game. You need to find the casino, which offers baccarat with minimal number of decks and minimal commission for the bets on the Banker.
The best choice is the game with 6 decks and with not more than 4% commission for the bets on the Banker.
How to manage your money?
The skill to choose the right bet in baccarat is half of battle. Then, you should determine how much to bet. It’s no secret, that many players risk more than they can afford. This inevitably leads to the crash.
There some general baccarat rules that will help you to avoid money losses and will prolong your enjoyment of the game.
- don’t play on borrowed or somebody else’s money
- before taking the baccarat table, decide which amount you can afford to lose
- decide, how much time you will play today
- divide your money on bets, which you will made on the each round of the game and control the charges.
- it would be better to put aside a part of the winning or all the winning.
- in the online casino use the possibility to get off the game after getting a big winning – nobody will comment this anyway.
This simple baccarat strategy will give you a chance to get more adrenaline and more enjoyment of the game for the same money but without risking losing everything.
And we would like to warn you one more time – don’t believe any baccarat systems, everything must be doubted.
Some sites offer blackjack strategy chart, but we present you the description of the main blackjack strategies.
Progressive blackjack strategy #1.
Progressive betting is a risky strategy, which, however, is often justified. Besides, it does not involve a long bet raising, and therefore can be used without any restrictions.
This strategy consists in the following: before starting the game, the player sets highest and lowest bets, that he would like to make. Firstly he makes a minimal bet to the first batch, and all following bets depend on the result of the preceding batch. If the preceding batch is lost, the player makes a minimal bet on the next batch, but if the batch is won, the player makes a maximal bet.
So, this strategy minimizes the loss if there are series of losses, and maximizes the winning, if there are series of winnings.
Progressive blackjack strategy #2.
This strategy is a modified variant of the previous online blackjack strategy. Supposing that series of winnings won’t be very long, it would be better to use this strategy.
It also consists in the fact that you chose maximal and minimal bets and, besides it, also determine a medium bet between them. As in the previous strategy, you make a minimal bet to the next batch after losing. But as for winning, there is some complication: after the first winning, you make a maximal bet, after the second one – a medium bet, after the third one – a minimal bet, because the probability of the fourth winning is very low. If you win at the fourth time, you make again a minimal bet and so on till the next series of winnings. The peculiarity of this strategy consists in this sequence of bets after series of winnings.
The next strategy also explains how to win at blackjack.
Doubling blackjack strategy.
This basic strategy blackjack reminds a classic martingale at roulette and is 100 per cent justified, provided that the player has a considerable amount of money and a possibility to make big bets. When the bets are limited, it’s more difficult to win at blackjack using this strategy, but however you can increase your chances to win.
For the first time the player makes a minimal bet that is set at the table. In case of losing, the player doubles his initial bet to the next batch. In case of repeated loss, the bet for the third batch is doubled one more time. And the doubling continues until the player win. If the bets are not limited, you win for sure at one of the stages, but otherwise you can find yourself in the situation when the further doubling isn’t possible because of restrictions set at the table.
Let see an example: you are playing on the table with bets 1-10$. Your first bet (if you follow doubling blackjack strategy) is 1$. In case of loss, the next bet is – 2$. When you lose again- make the bet 4$. If you win, the total will be +1$ in your favor. On every stage of this strategy your winning will be equal to your initial bet.