Archive for the ‘Gambling’ Category

I used a winning Parlay roulette system last night

Friday, February 26th, 2010

I hit up the local casino again to try out some roulette strategies and systems. Basically it was a winning night for me this time. I also got around to playing some Baccarat, a few slot machines of course and a few hands of blackjack. The system I tried out was a positive progression system, which is very conservative and safe. It also doesn’t require a huge bankroll and doesn’t take on as much risk as the Martingale system I talked about yesterday.

This system is known as the Parlay betting system. Basically it’s the exact opposite of the Martingale and requires some of the same properties which rely on long streaks. Basically I started off by wagering $5 on black. Then if I lose, then I continue betting $5. If I win on this bet, my next bet is $10. If I win again, the next bet would go to $20, $40, $80 and so on.

Well, I didn’t play this roulette game very long and I walked out with a profit. The ball landed on black 4 times in a row giving me a profit of $80. Luckily I decided to stop doubling-down after 4 wins and start the cycle over with a $5 bet. I lost at this point and then lost a few more times before getting another streak that lasted 4 in a row, giving me a profit of about $150.

I was happy about how this strategy worked, but the key is to end the cycle at some point. It is imperative that you cut the cycle at some point because you will always lose in the long run and end up with a net $5 lose after every possible loss. I will write a little bit about this strategy some more later. Other than that, it was quite an exciting night!

How to become a VIP casino player online

Thursday, February 25th, 2010

This is an interesting topic for those who are into gambling. Many people believe the term VIP (Very Important Person) is synonymous with “high roller”, and it is in most cases. Basically a high roller is someone who brings in a lot of money to a casino and makes major bets and gets a lot of attention, especially from the people in charge of the casino. These players automatically become VIPs because their money is important to the casino.

The other type of VIPs are those that play at the casino on a regular basis and not necessarily bringing in much money. In the long term, these players are regulars to the casinos and they bring in a steady income, so the casinos will classify them appropriately. The more money they bring in, the better treatment they will get from the casinos in terms of bonuses and goodies.

So how do you become a VIP player if you are playing online? I found that this is not that hard to do and many casinos will gladly be interested in giving you this title, which you can brag about to all your friends if you would like. Basically all you need to do is email them or chat with someone online at the casino and request VIP membership.

This membership really is exclusive and many casinos require some conditions before giving out membership. VIP status is not something worthless that can be given to everyone that walks in the door! Usually the requirement is to have played at a casino for some specific amount of time or on a regular basis. Other standards require that the customer deposits money or a lot of money into their casino account regularly, or apply for the high roller bonuses often.

The benefits of being a VIP player at an online casino are quite generous. These players can build up their comp points more quickly than the average player. In some cases, players can actually build their own custom games in their account or ask that the table limits be increased just for them. They get larger sized bonus offers and more opportunities to get exclusive bonuses. The ultra high level VIP players can actually get gifts like vacation packages, X-boxes, free checks and even a brand new car! They get all the best treatment like one would get in Las Vegas, only they obviously couldn’t get free hotel and resort time like at land based casinos. Though, online casinos make up for it in different ways over the internet with equally generous advantages.

One online brand, Jackpot Factory, has their very own VIP lounge casino where you can sign up and request information about it. There are some deposit requirements that should be met, but I know some players who were great fans of this casino brand and they let them become VIP players anyways, so it’s not all about the money. Check them out if you are interested, they are nearly the most reputable online casino in existence today and some of the best service and game play that I know of. They accept all kinds of currencies and languages as well. Unfortunately they do not accept US players at the moment.

If you are located in the US, you are not out of luck because Rushmore and Cherry Red both have sweet VIP programs and these casinos are my second selected favorites. Both of them are offering massive $37,500 bonuses along with other various benefits for VIP players.

The Martingale betting system used when playing roulette

Wednesday, February 24th, 2010

One of the most famous betting systems used in all casino games is the Martingale system. The Martingale betting system is actually most popular with roulette because of the high table limits since roulette usually has a larger maximum than the other table games. This system is very popular but it also requires players to have deep pockets and to take on enormous risks.

The basics of the Martingale are simple. It is a negative progression form of betting where players make larger whenever they lose and keep the bet the same whenever they win. This system works best when customers bet on red or black colors, odd or even numbers and high or low numbers. Basically the outside bets are perfect to use here. The key here is you want to bet on something with the best odds, or nearly 50/50 odds with these outside bets.

Here is an example of using the Martingale betting system while playing roulette. First a player can bet $10 on red. The croupier will then spin the wheel and drop the ball in. If the ball lands on the red slot, the player will win $10 and the next bet they will make is $10 again. Basically the bet will always be $10 after winning a bet and you will always make a $10 profit after every win.

If you lose though, then your next bet will be double the previous bet. For instance, if you lost on a $10 bet, you would then bet $20. If the ball lands on red, you would win $10, which would cover your previous loss of $10 plus a $10 profit. If you lose for a second time in a row, you would again have to make a wager that is double that of your previous bet, or $40. If you win here, you would cover your total loses and again make a profit.

The severe risk comes when you start getting a long streak of losses. Say you lose twice in a row, then your bet keeps doubling to $40, then $80, then $160, $360, $640 and then over a thousand dollars. You would need to lose six times in a row before you would start betting over $1000. This is nearly equivalent to flipping a coin and having it land on heads six times in a row. It is theoretically possible but highly unlikely. It becomes more and more unlikely that the ball will keep landing on red. Eventually it should land on black since the odds should even out over the long term.

As you can see, there are two major requirements to use the Martingale system effectively in roulette. You need deep pockets (large bankroll) and you need a roulette wheel with high table betting limits. In the example above, lets assume the table limit is $1000 and you need to double your $640 bet. You can only bet $1000, so this screws up the whole system. In fact, a player could theoretically never lose while using this system if there was no table limits and he had an infinite amount of money.

For practical purposes, a billionaire probably would never have to worry about losing all of their money if the started off with small bets. It is because of this system that casinos placed betting limits on roulette tables, so that the Martingale system would eventually fail after a long streak of losses, otherwise the casino could lose a lot of money like it has done in the past.

Try out the Martingale betting system on our free flash roulette game. There is a low betting limit in this flash version, but if you play for real money, the table limit is much higher. At least you will get a feel for this system and be able to practice it a little to see how it works.

What are casino bonuses and sign up bonuses?

Tuesday, February 23rd, 2010

You see advertising and banners about all the different bonuses that casinos are offering, but do you know what they are for? There are actually some really good ones out there and some bad ones. Some are just flat out highway robbery as I’ll explain what some of these bonuses are and what they are good for.

Percentage bonuses are basically known as match bonuses that apply to your deposits. For example, if you see a banner that says 100%, this means the casino itself will give you a bonus equal to your deposit. For example, if you deposit $500, the casino will give you an extra $500 for a grand total of $1000.

No deposit bonuses are those given to players even if they do not deposit any money. These are very attractive to many players because they can actually keep the winnings while playing and trying out the games offered at online casinos. Typically, these are very small bonuses ranging between $5 and $100.

Reload bonuses are offered to current players at any time after their first deposit. For example, if a player runs out of money, the casino might give them an extra 100% reload on additional deposits into the casino. These are commonly offered at any time to players and casinos tend to make these kinds of bonuses standard because they are popular with long standing customers.

These are typically the three major kinds of bonuses. Casinos do this because the industry is fiercely competitive online and the casinos are trying to attract new players and retain current ones. Plus these casinos know that they have all the odds and players should theoretically lose everything if they play through the long term. Though many players have won thousands and even millions of dollars from casinos.

Players need to be diligent and read the terms of these bonuses. There is a catch to free money being given away, otherwise players would just deposit and immediately withdrawal the bonuses and make money that way (which actually happened to casinos in the old days!). Usually the terms require that you make wagers equal to a few times your entire bankroll before withdrawing your funds. For example, if you deposited $100, the casino may require that you make wagers equal to 10 or 20 times your bankroll. This doesn’t mean making a single $1000 bet. It just means that you should play roulette or some other games and make a total number of bets, small or large, that equal $1000 or $2000 depending on the terms. This is usually the case with every type of bonus.

Things you need to watch out for in the terms is an outrageous requirement, such as making wagers equal to 100 or 1000 times your bankroll. This would not only keep your money trapped at the casino for a very long time, but it would nearly guarantee that you would lose all your money in the process of making bets. In some cases, it’s actually a better deal to forgo and not accept a bonus than to take one. Then you could deposit and withdraw your money at will without strings attached to it.

Here is a small list of good bonuses below. Read the requirements at their site if needed, and for players not located in the US, these casinos accept multiple currencies and support a wide array of native languages.

$5000 total welcome bonus at All Slots Casino

$3000 match bonus at Wild Jack Casino

$7777 total welcome bonus at Cherry Red Casino – Accepts US players

$888 match on deposit bonus at Rushmore Casino – Accepts US players

Note that the bonuses are constantly changing at these casinos. For instance, I just now realized that Cherry Red was offering an astounding $7,777 bonus when it used to be only $777. These casinos also offer special bonuses for particular games like roulette along with VIP and high roller bonuses. Essentially, it’s up to you to browse through their catalog and look for something you like.

How gambling and casinos are dealing with the recession

Monday, February 22nd, 2010

As we all know, the current recession has been particularly severe among industries throughout the world. It has also taken a hard hit to the people as well. Because unemployment is so high and everyone is in debt, you would think that players and gambling customers would be conserving their money and staying out of the casinos.

Surprisingly, gambling usually ends up immune to recessions and is one of the few industries that never seem to get hit that hard during down turns. In the past, more people would be heading out to the casinos or playing online when times get tough instead of normal times. This is because they become desperate to make money. Plus there always seemed to be plenty of people out there that had the money to go out and gamble at the casinos.

Unfortunately, this recession has been so severe that there are just not that many people with actual money that they can afford to lose, especially with no jobs and income coming in. This is very rare and only happens when the economy tanks extremely deep. Another factor that is different this time is the fact that the government has tried to ban online gambling in the US, making it much harder for Americans to find casinos online to play at.

For many people, it is cheaper and more convenient to play at home online rather than spending a fortune to book a trip to Las Vegas, Atlantic City, Reno or other casino cities. They just don’t have the time to do that and revenues have fallen in both land based casinos and online ones. So just when you thought that gambling and casinos were immune to the recession, we clearly see just how bad this one actually is.

Mobile casinos and portable roulette games

Saturday, February 20th, 2010

You may have heard of mobile casinos at one time or another. These are casinos that can be played on cell phones, iphones and other portable devices. In the past, the games used to be free forms of entertainment used to cut down on boredom so people could pass the time. Players would not be allowed to play and win real money even though many loved the idea that it could be possible to gamble with real money on a portable device.

This technology isn’t that new and it’s been around for awhile now where players could gamble for real money on mobile devices. Though the number of games is still limited and you can only get so much quality graphics on a small screen on the phone. Currently, there are about 20 to 30 mobile casino games that do include roulette. In fact, roulette is the most popular game to play other than the multiple slot machine games that offer million dollar jackpots.

There are two well known mobile casino services out there and they are both owned by the same company. There is Wild Jack Mobile and All Slots Mobile, both of extremely high quality and known throughout the world for their great reputation and services. They offer support and compatibility for over 8000 cellular and mobile devices. The huge benefit is that you can play in any location you want just about. So you are not stuck at your computer or having to drive out to the casino. Meaning you can play anywhere in your home, waiting around at work or out on the go somewhere. These are truly convenient services that are destined to become extremely popular in the coming years as more people learn that they can now play casino games with real money.

Took my comps card to the casino for bonuses

Friday, February 19th, 2010

I wrote an article yesterday that got me thinking about my own comps card. I realized that I was neglecting to bring it to the casino myself because I always forget! My new plan was to put my card in the glove compartment rather than bringing it into the house. That way I’ll remember the card once I get to the casino and see the empty comps slot in the machine and immediately remember that I forgot it at home. Now I can just walk out to the car and get it.

Basically, I brought this in to the casino and checked out my balance on the slot machines. It told me I had about 27,000, which I was able to exchange for $270. I decided not to convert the points to dollars and to just keep saving them. Still, this is a ton of unused money at my disposal. Also, They gave me a $20 bonus because my hometown is in odd numbered zip code and an extra $20 because it was Thursday night and they tend to give out money on certain days of the week. I did not qualify for an extra $20 for being born on an even year. Still, this just shows how much money casinos give out every day, but you must register for a club or comps card in order to take advantage of these offers!

Complimentary points earned by playing games at casinos

Thursday, February 18th, 2010

Many people don’t think much of comps but they can actually be a boon when saving money or playing longer. For the average person, comps can be earned electronically through a card at the casino. Usually you can earn these by sticking this plastic credit card sized account card into a slot built into slot machines, video poker and other electronic gambling machines. You will earn points every time you make a bet and usually after about 100 points, you can exchange it for $1. This isn’t much unless you play at casinos for a long time. Some players can easily earn 100,000 points and exchange it for $1000 to play at the machine.

Loyal members who have been around for awhile or high rollers can sometimes get a special deal where they can earn 2, 3, or more points for each bet, allowing for their comps to add up quicker. Many casinos will even give out $10 or even $100 for birthdays at larger and more luxurious casinos. Seniors can get specials as well and certain days of the week can offer special benefits. The key is to always bring your comp card when you go to the casino.

Luckily, at online casinos, you do not need to worry about remembering your comps card. Your comps add up automatically in your account as you play, making it very convenient. The good casinos offer the same specials as land based casinos, such as birthday bonuses, membership loyalty levels where you earn more points per wager and the VIP comps.

VIP and high roller comps are usually given to players who bet a lot of money and these can range from a free nights stay at their hotel and resort, free dinners, vacations and special gives. Casinos know that if people bring in big money, they can make a LOT more from casino games than they could from a hotel room, so they can throw these extra gifts in to appeal to the customer. This even applied to online casinos, except for the hotel rooms and dinners of course. Though, some online casinos were known for sending out $100 valued boxes of steaks to their valuable customers! If you are looking for some good casinos with comps points, check out Wild Jack and Cherry Red. Remember, Cherry Red casino allows US located players to gamble online.

Roulette – The casino gambling game of the high rollers

Wednesday, February 17th, 2010

You may have noticed when you walk around the casino or if you’ve played online that each game has a maximum betting limit. High rollers are generally the kind of people that have deep pockets and can easily afford to lose a lot of money. Though in order to satisfy them, they need high limits in order to give them a rush. Imagine how boring roulette might be if you could only wager one cent bets up to 5 pennys maximum. This is how many high rollers feel about one dollar bets.

The big games like blackjack, craps and even slots can have table and betting limits up to $500 or more. Usually the big casinos have limits up to $50000 like those found in Nevada, New Jersey and Europe. If you play online, the limits are usually greatly reduced unless you sign up at one of the VIP casinos offered on the internet. Note that even though the VIP casino is based online, they still offer special comps like free vacations and gifts that would be offered to exclusive members in Las Vegas.

Roulette tends to be the game that offers the highest betting limits for players and one of the most frequented by VIP players. Even in Las Vegas, limits can go as high as $10,000, $50,000 and even $100,000 or more. Just read about Ashley Revell and his widely publized $135,300 single wager on roulette. Not many games other than roulette will allow for the massive table limits. Even online at the VIP casino I mentioned, the casino will let players customize their own tables and betting limits depending on how valuable and how money money the bring in. It was told that these private online casino members could bet as high as $25,000 per spin when playing roulette.

In my previous article, I talked about mini roulette, which actually allows an unlimited betting limit. This one is ideal for the high rollers but the house odds are much higher and the player odds are much worse. The casino knows that it’s more likely that players will lose so they allow these high roller limits. Your best bet is to review the Jackpot Factory VIP lounge casino if you are seriously considering to play with big money and be offered the great odds of the European roulette wheel.

Mini Roulette – What is it and How do you Play?

Tuesday, February 16th, 2010

Some people may have heard of mini roulette at one point or another. This is actually a relatively a new variation of roulette found both at land based casinos and on the internet. Basically it uses many of the same rules of regular roulette, except there are one third less numbers in play. The numbers range from the single zero in the green slot along with 1 through 12 alternating between red and black.

Players can still do the same outside bets such as betting on black or red and they can still bet on a single number. Many people think this game will improve your odds but it’s mostly an illusion. Even though a number will come up more often, you will not be paid as much. Also, the green zero takes up a much larger percentage of the actual wheel because there are fewer numbers. Which means the house has a much larger edge on a mini roulette wheel.

The game is still fun to play and it is a change from the usual, but the odds are not as high. There is an extreme advantage to playing this game over any other game though and this depends on the casino you are playing at. Some casinos will have an unlimited table limit with this game, meaning you can effectively implement the Martingale betting system without having to worry about being capped by the table limit if you lose too many times in a row. Also, VIPs can bet massive amounts of money and literally go “all in” and bet everything. This benefit is extremely convenient for those who can afford it.

Remember though, the house edge is a very large 7.70% because of the fewer numbers in play, even with a single zero. In fact, this game has a house edge nearly 3 times as large as the European roulette and about 50% larger than American roulette. This is actually a pretty bad game in terms of odds, even though it is fun. It depends on the player though, if they find that an unlimited table betting limit has greater benefits than the poor odds, then this would be the game for them since not many casino games have no table limits.