Archive for September, 2006

5 Steps To Choose A Great Sports Gambling Service

Wednesday, September 20th, 2006

Have you ever wondered how the Sports Gambling “smart money” became the smart money? Do you wonder what the smart money does differently than the amateurs? One of the things the “smart money” does is invest in a gambling service that will give them an edge. Here are five steps to finding a top sports gambling service:

1. Shop Around If you want to subscribe to a sports gambling service, shop around. There are many handicappers out there. Take your time and look for somebody who is offering a good deal on their services.

2. Don’t Put Much Stock in Track Records I’ve subscribed to just about every service on the internet. It’s amazing that they can all go 9-0 every day! Seriously, I’ve been in this business for 30 years and I know from experience that sports gambling services “fudge” their results to get business. It’s not right, but it’s just the way it is.

3. Use Your Gut Instinct In all my years of sports gambling, it’s become pretty obvious when I see a charlatan claiming to be the next “Jimmy the Greek.” If you think somebody is trying to scam you, they probably are.

4. Try a Free Service First Anybody who is offering free services is always offering a paid service too. You’ll get a good feel for the person just by signing up for their free service. While their free picks are almost always not quite as good as their paid picks, you’ll still get a good idea of how the handicapper thinks.

5. Test the Waters Once you find a sports handicapper who you feel is good, and who begin to feel comfortable doing business with, try out their service. This means try the monthly membership instead of paying for a full year in advance. You can always add on the yearly membership later.

So there you have it, the 5 steps to take to find a great sports gambling service. Even the best players need a coach, so why wouldn’t you? If you follow these steps you’ll greatly increase your chances of finding a great sports gambling service that could help you win a lot of money!

Best Online Casinos - What Do We Mean & What Do We Want?

Tuesday, September 19th, 2006

“Best Online Casinos” can have many different meanings:

• The largest selection of different casino games

• The highest payout percentages

• The casino with the most number of “ring games” - games where different people from the internet are playing a single game together

• The casino with the best bonus offers

• The best “loyalty program” or VIP club

• Casinos with the easiest rules on money withdrawals

• Etc., etc.

WHAT DO WE NEED AS NEW PLAYERS?

The beginning online player has special needs, both for what is needed and what is not wanted at all. For example, a new player would be foolish to go to an online poker site with a reputation for “high rollers” - players with high betting habits. On the other hand, the same new player wants to find poker sites that have “Poker Schools” - online instruction on how to play the game, developing a personal game strategy, understanding advanced playing techniques, and knowing some of the tricks used by more advanced players to gain advantage.

It’s easy to find a site with just any poker school, but will it be what you need? Only you can be the judge. The same is true about many of the other features listed - you have to choose the features that fit you best.

DO THE BEST ONLINE CASINOS OFFER THE FEATURES WE ARE SEEKING?

Let’s take the features list, above, and try to personalize for you. Then, at the end, you will have a “map” of what you may be looking for.

Ask yourself these questions:

1.What games do you want to play?

2.Do you need a wide variety of games, or just a few?

3.How much experience do you have in these games?

4.Do you expect to play once in a while, every week, every day, etc?

5.Do you plan to play free, for small amounts of money, or for medium / large bets?

6.Do you want games against “the House” (most casino games), or “ring games” where you are betting against other players?

7.Are you in for the long run, or just a “taste” of online gaming? (The shorter the expectation, the more important is the signup bonus.)

8.Are you looking primarily for money winnings, for a fun way to spend time, or something in the middle?

9.Do you expect to take your money out of the online gaming site soon, or frequently?

SUMMARY: WHAT’S A “NEWBIE” TO DO?

So many gaming sites, so many questions. What we’re really trying to do, is to show you that you have a personality and so do the many gaming sites. You’ll probably be happiest with an online gaming site that best reflects who you are.

NEW PLAYER EXAMPLE: In all your life, you’ve never gambled except for weekly Bingo at your local church. You don’t know what the various casino games are all about, except maybe Blackjack. Craps is not your style, but you are interested in Baccarat since you watched so many James Bond movies. Where do you go?

NEW PLAYER SOLUTION: First, you absolutely need a gaming site that has Bingo - and many do. If that’s a game you know and love, then find a site (or a list of sites) that have Bingo available. You’ll also find out that Bingo usually doesn’t fall into the group of “casino games” in most online casinos; instead, it’s considered worthy of its own gaming site. So you might have to select (a) a Bingo site, and (b) a casino site. And if you want to play poker, you might even choose a third site just for that game.

“BEST ONLINE CASINO” REQUIREMENTS:

Without going into detail on all your preferences, these are our recommendations for the fictitious “new player” described above:

• Needs a site, if available, with all 3 gamesets: Bingo, Poker, Casino

oIf all 3 not available, any 2 of the 3 as second choice.

• Needs to see payout percentages over the last 6 months, to compare with other sites

• Needs a site with “game previews” for familiarization, and some instructional resources to learn how to play new games

• Requires “Fun Play” option to practice at no cost or risk

• Would like wide betting range, to allow low-risk betting when in learning phase

• Wants a Loyalty Program or VIP Club, since expects to be playing a long time and wants to earn rewards

• Looking for gaming sites with comfortable rules for cashing out winning, and low rate of complaints from players

• Prefers playing against other people, not the House, and so is looking for “ring games” wherever possible

Finally, remember this: You don’t have to choose a single website - you could choose one, a few or many gamesites to play at.

So what is the “Best Online Casino”? It’s the casino that you choose, based upon your own personal preferences, and which satisfies those needs over time. Simple, huh?

Author: Richard Taymor, www.casinotropez.com

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Why You Can Win Casino Blackjack

Monday, September 18th, 2006

If you put a little bit of time into learning how to play it right, casino blackjack is a much smarter gambling choice than any other game on the floor. The reason why gamblers often lose money has to do with what is known as the house advantage. All casino games are designed so that, although a single player may walk away with big winnings, players lose money a high enough percentage of the time that the casino makes a big profit. However, blackjack is one of the few gambling games that actually offers players a statistical advantage over the house in some situations. In the right setting and with the right player, blackjack is a turuly unique casino game because statistics say that the casino will actually lose more money than the players.

One of the reasons why blackjack can be a winner’s game is very simple. Consistently applying basic strategy rules can give you a huge advantage over anyone who is not familiar with blackjack technique. This is great news, for you, and bad new for casinos. The majority of gamblers don’t know very much about how to really play smart blackjack, and casino must cater to these customers. So, in order to keep gamers interested in blackjack, casinos must offer a set of rules that allows even the least educated players to win occasionally so that they will continue to play. This leads to bonus rules like double after split, surrender, and insurance that are favorable to players. By entering into this kind of situation with more knowledge than the average player, you will be able to turn the odds in your favor.

Casinos that use a single deck instead of a double deck, the classic Las Vegas downtown dealing rules, and a few player friendly enticements like surrender are games where you can win blackjack and consistently make money. Because these houses are set up in such a way where they make money every time a player makes a strategic mistake, if you are familiar enough with playing technique to play a good game, you can reduce the house advantage so dramatically that you acutally come out statistically likely to make money. To win a lot of money at casino blackjack, all you need to do is learn a little bit about how to exploit the situation to your advantage.

Blackjack strategy can be a powerful weapon on the casino floor. When you learn how to play the best possible game of blackjack by polishing your blackjack technique, you are making it possible for fortune to smile upon you and send you home with your pockets full of cash. To consistently win blackjack, it helps to have a little bit of good luck but it is more important to have strong technique. With a solid strategic foundation and the right single deck scenario, you can use blackjack to trat a casino like your own personal bank account.

Useful Gambling Tips, Tricks & Secrets

Sunday, September 17th, 2006

The general idea of both land-based gambling as well as online casino gambling is, naturally, to make a profit, as would any profit-seeking business. The trick casinos play, however, is to give odds and games that at the very least seem fair so as to entice the player to come back time and time again.

This may sound as though the scales are tipped unbelievably in favour of the casino, but this is untrue. Contrary to popular consensus, reputable casinos do offer fair odds, but what most good players know is that if you discover a few secrets, you can beat the casino at its own game!

Firstly, online Vegas Casinos have far less overhead costs and therefore they can afford to offer higher Jackpots and more frequent payouts. There are loads of online casinos these days, because virtual gambling sites are much cheaper to run then land-based casinos. This creates lots of competition amount online casinos which is very good for online gamblers. In an attempt to attract new players many online casinos will offer welcome bonuses and regular promotions. The odds at online casinos are always much better than those found at land based casinos.

The online casino games which offer the best winning odds can be found at the online video poker and online roulette tables.

The house edge on Video Poker is generally quite small, but where most players make the critical mistake is playing with a less-than-full understanding of the respective Video Poker variation and this is how your money is too easily flushed away.

In Jacks Or Better, it is normally advisable to keep a hand that pays out. There are, however, exceptions like Three Card Royal Flushes & Four Card Flushes. If there is nothing worth money in your hand, try to keep any two high suited cards and discard any high unsuited cards.

Secondly, in Jokers’ Wild it is highly important to remember that only a King and an Ace are high cards, because this is a Kings Or Better game. If you get a Joker, hold on to it, because you will probably not see one for too many rounds again. Lastly, just remember that a Straight Flush has a very good payout and it happens quite a lot more than in Jacks Or Better…Read More:Useful Gambling Tips, Tricks & Secrets

How to Qualify Online for the World Poker Tour

Saturday, September 16th, 2006

The World Poker Tour has quickly gained fame in the poker community by offering huge prize pools, usually in the millions of dollars. World Poker Tour events have a typical “buy-in” of $5,000 or $10,000. These hefty buy-ins can deter online poker players from trying their hand in such high-stakes, highly publicized land-based tournaments.

The good news is that you don’t have to show up to one of these events with $10,000 buy-in cash in your pocket. Many major tournaments offer “satellite” tournaments. These satellites are often single table events and have a buy-in that is usually about 1/10th of the buy-in to the main tournament. A player can win entry into the main tournament by paying the $1000 for a satellite event and winning it.

Following the lead of the World Series of Poker, many online poker rooms offer amateurs the chance to qualify for a WPT tournament by playing while playing online poker from home. Often times, these online satellites have a substantially smaller buy-in than live satellites (usually $10 or $25, but they can be as much as $100 or even $500). These larger multi-table satellites, give regular online players an inexpensive chance to qualify for a World Poker Tour.

If you want to qualify online for a WPT event, first determine the specific WPT event that you would like to qualify for. Then, look up which online poker sites offer qualifying tournaments for that specific WPT event. Several of the most reputable online poker rooms sponsor specific World Poker Tour events and it would be necessary to play at those online sites to qualify for a particular WPT event.

Ultimate Bet sponsors UltimateBet Aruba Classic. Poker Stars sponsors the PokerStars Caribbean Poker Adventure. Party Poker sponsors the Party Poker Million.

Other online poker rooms may not sponsor a tournament but still offer qualifying online satellites. Europoker offers qualifying slots for the World Poker Tour Paris event. Bodog has had qualifying tournaments for the LA Poker Classic at Commerce Casino in Los Angeles and the WPT Championship Event in Las Vegas. Paradise Poker has had qualifying satellites for the WPT Legends of Poker event held in Los Angeles.

After determining which online poker room offers the qualifying tournaments for the specific WPT event that you are interested in, register an account at that poker site. Usually the minimum deposit is $25-50. Online payment services can fund your account instantly. Your next step is to check the tournament schedule in order to see what times the WPT qualifying events are held. Find out when the tournament registration opens. Then, all you have to do is register for the tournament and you’ve taken your first step to becoming the next Chris Moneymaker or Greg “Fossilman” Raymer.

Mississippi Casinos

Friday, September 15th, 2006

There are many casinos located in Mississippi, and which differ from place to place. Let us look at some differentiations about these casinos in the state of Mississippi.

The casinos near the beach are heavily priced owing to their location. Casinos situated near the beach have many attractions, since many tourists visit beaches for relaxation and this relaxation is supplemented with playing games and gambling in the casinos. The most popular ones being on the gulf coast area. Many of these casinos have been destroyed by hurricane Katrina, but these casinos are going to be reopened soon. These casinos are in huge public demand because of the location.

Depending on the season in which these casinos operate, the prices can vary. These casinos charge heavily during peak times, and the charge is reduced during off peak times. With many of the casinos being situated in Biloxi, this city is also called “the casino city of Mississippi state” because of its double aspects — one being the location and the other being the price.

The other prominent locations for casinos in Mississippi State are Gulfport, Bay St. Louis-Waveland, Lula, Natchez, Robinsonville, Vicksburg, Philadelphia, and Greenville. One major center for casinos in Mississippi State is in Tunica. Tunica in the northern part of Mississippi State has the most exquisite and grand casinos.

There are a lot of services for which the casinos charge depending upon the style and maintenance of the game and the kind of selection being made by the customer. The amount of games being played, the kind of rooms being maintained, the kind of services provided, and the grades being awarded as 4 diamonds or lesser then that. Quality standards are to be maintained to lure in more and more customers as per policies.

Mississippi casinos are state of the art, well maintained and conform to high quality standards. They are great places for people to gamble and enjoy the services provided for leisure, along with good costs.

Why Are Online Casino Directories Important?

Thursday, September 14th, 2006

Online casino directories form an integral part of online casino promotion in today’s growing gambling marketplace. But why is it important that players visit these directories rather than visiting the online casinos directly? There are so many online casinos out there and with so much ambiguity surrounding the industry, it is important that players make the right choice.

Online casinos began around 1996, although the exact date remains a mystery. It is also difficult to put a name to the first online casino, but a lot of the major brands out there today will all have some claim on that all important “we did it first” slogan. Because of the meticulous regulations involving online gambling in the United Sates particularly online casino promotion has been fraught with problems and obstacles.

One of the main problems surrounding online casino promotion is that, technically it is actually illegal for a player to deposit any money at an online gambling establishment, rendering the worlds largest online gambling marketplace illegal. This has not stopped major establishments such as cassava and party gaming generating $millions, if not $billions in revenue. But how do they acquire players and grow their business?

The answer lies in affiliate marketing. Online casinos pay web marketers a fee for every player that they acquire for them. The result is lots and lots of online casino portals all pushing the online gambling brands in return for a healthy payout. The advantage that the average player has of going through a casino directory rather than going to the casino itself is that often the player will be more informed of any offers and competitors offers before making a decision.

Online casino directories often provide strategies and reviews of the sites that they promote. This is a good thing because it allows players to fully understand the rules of any games before they deposit and play, thus decreasing the house edge because the player will not make silly mistakes whilst playing.

Reviews are also beneficial to the player because it enables the player to gain an overview of how reliable and honest an online casino is before they deposit. If you can try to find an online casino directory that provides customer reviews rather than just webmaster reviews, as they are quite often more objective and honest than those of webmasters. A good site for looking at customer reviews is Bewisebets.co.uk.

Overall it is important that players use casino directories and good ones at that. Things to look out for are player reviews, active searches and a good range of content and strategies. If you find this then bookmark it and return as often as you need to.

Earning a Living Through Casino Affiliate

Wednesday, September 13th, 2006

Almost every person out there is searching for different ways to make money. There are thousand of options out there that can help you find a perfect job. There are many people who work day in and day out but yet are not able to earn a good income. The development of the Internet has seen many people indulging in affiliate programs. Affiliate Programs are a good option if you are looking to make that extra income.

If you too are interested in making money online you can join an affiliate program on any related topic. Considering the demand for gambling activities on the web many people are considering becoming casino affiliate. Casino is a popular game that accommodates certain types of gambling activities. The game of casino has become popular with time and is combined with hotels, restaurants, retail shopping, cruise ships and other vacation attractions.

Becoming a Casino Affiliate

Becoming a casino affiliate is simple. All you need is a portal website to start with. If you know how to design a website then there is no problem. However if you have no idea it would be advisable that you consult a professional expert for the same. You could also try downloading a free template from the Internet, which can be used as a startup.

Once you are done with the casino website you are almost 50% done. Now comes the main part i.e. Signing up for affiliate programs with related casino websites on the web. Once an agreement has been reached, money can be made from every referral that is brought in. All you have to do is just place a banner or text ad of the respective casino website on your website. The moment any visitor of your website happens to register with the casino affiliate you will be getting a certain percentage of the profit. For instance say the visitor of your website happens to purchase a service of $100 through your affiliate. You will be getting a certain percentage of $100 depending upon the affiliate website you signed up with.

One of the best things about affiliate programs is that you do not have to shell in any money from your pocket. All you need is a good traffic to your website just to get in more referrals for your casino affiliate.

So what are you waiting for signup with the best casino websites on the web and start making money now.

True Casino Stories

Tuesday, September 12th, 2006

It is the business of all casinos to take your money, and generally, they do it very well.

The big casinos supply free drinks, reduced (or free) room rates, show tickets, etc., to entice the player to go on gambling. The obvious reason they win is the house edge, which varies greatly from game to game. The house edge is the reason Steve Wynn can build another casino; why The Bellagio can change their carpet every year; and why Indians learn the casino business so quickly. Casinos make money.

Yet in this universe of “We ‘gotcha.” there lies a precious few methods in which the player can turn the cards to his advantage. In Blackjack, the method is called card counting. It is well documented that a good counter can win lots money. Through a complex system of counting and remembering cards, a counter can achieve a slight advantage over the house. For brief periods, the counter bets and wins. And he wins enough to make the casinos sit up and take notice.

Casinos hire surveillance employees that do nothing but monitor play at their casinos. If you are winning big, say over $5,000., you can safely bet that your play is being watched very carefully for counting. But casinos have a counter-weapon at their disposal… Nevada law allows casinos to prohibit play for any (or no) reason at all. If a player is winning too much, they can ask them to leave the casino.

They cannot, as many casinos have found out, rough-up players. In the old days casino personnel could (and sometimes would) take a player out of guest range, and “discourage” his behavior. There are many instances of players being beat-up and threatened. Towards this end, he would also be placed into a blacklist. One of the main blacklists for casinos all over America was formally the blacklist book kept by Griffin Investigations.

But, we are a litigious society. Back in 2000, Gamblers Michael Russo and James Grosjean were publically called “cheaters,” and were improperly “detained” at a major strip casino. They were also placed into Griffins’ book of undesirables. This was business as usual for casinos.

Only Russo and Grosjean sued.

They were not found with any cheating “devices.” They did not steal casino chips, either from the players or the casino. They simply used their minds well enough to beat the casino with their style of play (counting cards). And they successfully argued that the casinos and Griffin Investigations had no right to improperly detain them or blacklist them.

In September, 2005, Griffin Investigations filled for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, citing the large financial awards against them by Russo and Grosjean. And you can also bet the casino lawsuits have changed their policies towards counters. Not that they will allow counters to win huge sums of money… They just can’t take them into a back room anymore. “Gentlemen, we do not want your play.” will be about the toughest thing a casino can say or do to card counters.

Huge lawsuits have a way of changing behavior; even in Vegas.

How About a Free Sportsbook?

Monday, September 11th, 2006

How nice would it be as a gambler to get a free sportsbook? A sportsbook is the ultimate aid when it comes to gambling. Gambling can be a very tricky and daunting task, especially for beginners. Without some sort of aid, the entire process and situation may seem difficult to navigate, difficult to understand, and far from possible to win at. With all those numbers, how do you know what you are looking at? Or worse, without those numbers in front of you, how do you know what is worth betting on and how each team compares to the others in a lineup?

Sometimes gamblers and players can get a free sportsbook, and when that happens it is a very momentous occasion. It is this way because a free sportsbook is like getting free detailed and important information about a specific event or list of events that would help gamblers out tremendously. A free sportsbook is an amazing thing, this means access to free betting lines, free odds, and free displays of specific and need information.

Gamblers should always be aware of what they are gambling on and how the situation looks to them. One of the easiest ways to go about this is to have a very easily comprised list of all the pertinent information laid out before the person who needs to see it. This is what a free sportsbook would offer the reader – all of this free information, which is so desperately needed for any gambler to make a well informed bet.