Casino

The original game that blackjack evolved from was known as vingt-et-un and was played in France in the 1700’s. The game was not popular when it first came to the U.S. after the French Revolution, so local casinos started offering bonus payouts for certain hands in an attempt to draw more players to the game. One bet that paid 10:1 was getting dealt a natural 21 with the ace of spades and a black jack. Thus the new name for the game we know today. When the game first came to the States there were no laws prohibiting it. Professional gamers discovered the advantages the game can offer and an optimum playing strategy for the game was soon developed. ...

Lots of people play blackjack but have no idea how insurance works. Periodically the dealer will ask you if you want make an insurance bet, and most people just say “no” without knowing what the bet offers. The concept is simple enough to understand once you see the numbers. When the dealer’s up-card is an ace, players have the opportunity of taking insurance before the other card is revealed. In most blackjack games the insurance bet can be as much as half your original bet, and pays 2:1. This bet is made to try and recover the bet you will lose if the dealer has been dealt a natural (two card 21). If the dealer has the natural you ...

It’s a sad day in the poker world. David “Chip” Reese, one of the pioneers of the game, and, really, part of the reason that sites like inspin.com are around, has died at age 56. Reese as the youngest player ever inducted into the Hall of Fame, in 1991. That honor is usually a lifetime achievement award, showing how dominant he was. Reese was born on March 28, 1951, and learned to play poker as a small child when he was home from school, suffering from rheumatic fever. After graduating from Dartmouth College, Reese headed for Las Vegas with plans to attend Stanford Business School in the fall. But during that summer, Reese won a tournament for ...

The chairmen of two powerful U.S. House of Representatives committees said Monday that the Bush administration should explore legislation to roll back a U.S. ban on Internet gambling instead of paying compensation to the European Union and other trading partners. House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank, House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers and six other lawmakers criticized the Bush administration's handling of the issue in a letter to U.S. Trade Representative Susan Schwab. "Your agency has chosen not to consult with Congress, but instead to take what we view as a drastic step which could have significant consequences for the whole WTO (World Trade Organization) system," the lawmakers said. Rather than comply with a negative WTO ...

A top European Union trade official says the U.S. Internet gambling law discriminates against European companies by preventing them from offering services in the American market, and he is demanding compensation from the U.S. or a repeal of the bill. Allow Internet gambling companies overseas, such as WagerWeb.com, to operate here, or compensate for lost revenues of as much $100 billion, said EU trade commissioner Peter Mandelson during a visit to Capitol Hill last week. "What we need to see is a change in U.S. legislation that removes that discrimination against EU operators," Mandelson told reporters. "It's not in the interest of American consumers to have good responsible competitors in this market excluded by regulatory mechanisms." Mandelson ...

The Poker Players Alliance, which counts 800,000 members, organized a "D.C. Fly-In"lobby campaign in Washington, D.C. in late October. The mission: to rescue online poker from a year-old federal crackdown on Internet gaming. Nearly 100 Poker Players' Alliance members, many of them celebrities on the international poker circuit, converged on Capitol Hill to talk with legislators about online gaming and hopefully get some media coverage to follow. Did it work? "By all accounts the Washington Fly-In and policy conference was a huge success, and we made a significant impression on Congress and the media,"said John Pappas, PPA's executive director. In one way, he is right. The members did ...

When I was a young kid I made a list of the most important tasks I needed to do before I turned 21. The list counted the normal adolescent staples like having sex, getting drunk in a bar, and going to a professional football game, traveling to another country, and lastly playing craps at a casino. By the time I was 19 I was able to cross off most of these "important"tasks except one. Craps. Like most players I was intimidated by the oh-yeah’s, and high fives I could hear clear across the casino. The tables were full of guys my dad’s age acting like crazy kids off their meds. Sadly, I was afraid to ...

The game of blackjack offers players the best chance of beating the casino. The house starts with an advantage of roughly 0.5% vs. someone using basic strategy. However, while the online casinos take that one-half percent, they usually supply you with generous bonuses to play, giving you the mathematical advantage. The casinos hope that players will make frequent strategy errors or that they will play a different game with worst odds. The rules of the game often vary one casino to another and depending on the software used. So, the actual house odds vary depending on the rules and the number of cards. That said, the basic blackjack strategy stands. One important advantage to online blackjack is ...

In this day and age, you can play poker 24 hours a day on your computer or cell phone. And there is also a proliferation of legalized casinos, mainly Seminole Hard Rock, in many of America's big cities- and growing. So, how do you choose between playing online in the comfort of your own home, or getting in the car and living the experience in person? One benefit to playing online is you won't be rushed: you can take as long as you want. Have a question on a hand? Call someone, refer to a blackjack statistical card, shoot, you can run a simulation on a split screen. Unlike in a live casino, you won't be bothered ...

Casino Poker betting odds at Inspin Contrary to what most rookies might think, beating Texas Holdem online is not an easy feat to accomplish. Being a game of small edges and of high luck-induced variance, it's not easy to beat even if someone is playing at a table full off fish. On top of the fact that in Texas Holdem a rookie will stand a 40-60 chance against a seasoned player, a phenomenon called "schooling" also comes into play. Schooling's basically about the weaker players ganging up on better ones to make their lives miserable. If you're looking for a game where rookies don't really stand a chance against good players, Omaha might be ...