It has been touch and go for years for some of the best online casinos in the world; what with the American market looking so exciting to operators, and yet it not really being legal to offer these games. Operators argued that UIGEA contained too many grey areas and this is how they justified continuing to accept US players. Bodog is just such a site, but how they escaped US Department of Justice notice, since this authority closed down PokerStars, FullTilt and other gambling sites in the US; I really don’t?!

These sites were closed for business after their domains were seized by the DoJ on the 15th April. Gambling operators and fans alike, have dubbed this day ‘Black Friday’. So far it does not seem as though the best online casinos were affect, but the best poker sites certainly were and now one of the last men standing is getting out of the game. Bodog Europe is a very well-known online brand, and a modicum of their notoriety is garnered by the fact that they still accept US players. Up until now these real money gamblers have not been considered persona non grata. From the end of 2011 however this will change and no longer will any players from this country be allowed to use their accounts. At least they have been given time to close accounts and withdraw funds, unlike member of Full Tilt, Absolute Poker and Ultimate Bet. Bodog has also taken out a brand new license and been granted this by the UK Gambling Commission, and this is unusual in itself, as most operators choose to license offshore to escape the massive tax implications of running a gambling operation in the UK. But that is another story entirely.

Another implication for US players is – they will have to be extremely careful where they play, if they do. It could give rise to a spate of new charlatans coming online, in an attempt to part hard working Americans from their gambling money. Americans want to be able to gamble online, but the Government can’t see the woods for the trees and believe that they know better what residents should be allowed to partake of in the ‘land of the free’. Aaron Burr once said that freedom of speech in the USA was only as free as the politician they are allowed to repeat?!

Anyway – that all said and done, Bodog is on their way to concentrate completely on the UK and European market and US players are losing one of the last best online casinos – at least until these operations go legal, if this ever takes place.

In 2006, the United States Government passed a law we now call UIGEA. This is the Unlawful Internet Gambling Act, and short of actually making online gambling in this country clearly illegal, it totally confuses matters. The Act is tagged onto an obscure Wire Act – dated 1961? – which is relevant to the transfer of funds over the airwaves or something. It essentially makes things really difficult regarding credit card payments and also e-wallet transactions.

Financial institutions are penalized severely for allowing online gambling transactions to take place. Then a swoop on the four major US online poker sites took place on the 15th April 2011, this was the ultimate death knell for most online gambling in the US. There are very few site who wish to go to the trouble to offer games to US players any longer, and even BODOG has pulled out of the US industry as of the end of this year.

Any US online casinos still left operating are taking a very big chance – who knows when they might not also have their domains seized. It is drastically unfair, against World free trade principles, and completely paradoxical that the United States of America considers itself to be a government whose people are living in “the land of the free”. To all intents and purposes online gambling laws in this country are to protect people from themselves, or to be completely brutal – from their own stupidity. Honestly it is all just about money, and about this government wanting ‘total’ control.

Back in the 1930′s Ayn Rand said “We are fast approaching the stage of the ultimate inversion: the stage where the government is free to do anything it pleases, while the citizens may act only by permission; which is the stage of the darkest periods of human history, the stage of rule by brute force”, and UIGEA is only one example of this type of control.

While the rest of the civilized world has realized online gambling is here to stay, the US Government is being manipulated by money, or should I say – their lack of ability to manipulate this industry’s money. But let me get off my soap box.

Suffice it to say that US online casinos don’t have it good as far as free trade is concerned. Online payment processing companies are struggling to find more loop-holes and the DoJ is closing in on all big operators. Any US player wanting to gamble online is then also now taking a risk. When a mainstream industry is made illegal in this way, there are always bootleggers out there trying to make a fast buck. This means no regulation, and no recourse for any US online gamer who is willing to take even more of a risk. Sadly even online casino listings which promote US sites, are – in good conscience – dropping long-time clients as fast as hot-cakes. Essentially folks, if you gamble online in the US, you are taking a really big chance.

There are not a great many mistakes we can make when playing blackjack, the same applies to playing online blackjack, however, the ‘no mistake’ rule only applies when playing by Basic Strategy, or Basic Strategy Plus. Stick to the strategy plan, and everything turns out OK, but just in case you have decided to break all the rules, there are a few mistakes to avoid and we take a brief look at some of these.

Don’t play because it “Feels Right” – There is no such thing as feels right when playing online blackjack, this is a very straightforward game, and unless you are John Edwards, we don’t even contemplate feel. Losses due to bad luck don’t cut the mustard, there is only bad play. If you have got a feeling ignore it and stick precisely to basic strategy.

Forget about insurance – Insurance is not the only sure bet in blackjack, no matter what the dealer says. The dealer has always been wrong on this wager and he does not want you to win anyway. It is a complete waste of a bet, and you never make more money in the long run by taking out insurance – unless of course you are a card counter, then it’s a different story.

Double down more regularly – sometimes the timing is right to double your bet, sometimes its not. Not enough players double down and there are specific situations when doubling down should take place. Statistically speaking when the edge is yours to win the hand, you should always take the plunge. Don’t see this as a leap of faith, see it as good strategy. If you are too afraid to take the risk, you shouldn’t be playing online blackjack – go back to the penny slots. Tip: memorize as many double down combinations as you can.

Never think you are due – you are not! No online blackjack or any card player ever is. If you are on a losing streak, you can and will lose again; the same applies to winning. Hand histories carry no influence on the outcome of what the next hand will be, and odds remain unchanged. Tip: card counters use advanced statistical techniques to calculate winning odds, it is not only about counting cards.

There is no bad table position – in poker this applies, in blackjack there is absolutely no bad position at the table – get over it.

Cut your losses and surrender – there is a reason why some games of blackjack allow the player to surrender, take advantage of this when need be. Again, revert back to blackjack strategy.

Speaking of strategy – always have your strategy card up to date and at your right hand, even in a live casino; it’s allowed! Play by strategy, strategy, strategy and blackjack is one of the few casino games, where you can almost beat the house edge, but only when using strategy!

Play poker and undoubtedly you will find this is a head game, experts talk about poker psychology all of the time. Some players don’t get this and they believe poker psychology is all about the bluff; nothing could be further from the truth. According to Anthony Holden ~
“Whether he likes it or not, a man’s character is stripped at the poker table; if the other players read him better than he does, he has only himself to blame. Unless he is both able and prepared to see himself as others do, flaws and all, he will be a loser in cards, as in life”.
And this describes poker psychology to the very last chip on the table.

Like any other sport you partake off; just because you win an Olympic Gold at age 18, does not mean you have reached the pinnacle of your success. If you think you are the best at this stage; whether you are swimming a relay or potting a polo puck (is it called a puck?), then your ego will never allow you to improve. Four years later when you return to the Olympics, if you have not improved, you will be at the bottom of the pile. When you play poker exactly the same applies. In order to understand you game better, you have to strip yourself bare, be true to yourself and never cow-tow to an ego

The major difference when you play poker; is you generally don’t have a coach to help you identify holes in your game. Anyone in the whole world can walk up to a WSOP Main Event, as long as they have their $10 000 buy-in! Plunk the money down at the registration table on the day the event starts and participate, so it is every man’s or woman’s game! You have to be 18 to play, but you don’t have to be 70 to stop and this is also what gives people who play poker a psychological edge right away. They know there is no limit of possibility to this game. Age, sex, color, creed, level of disability or ability, does not matter, all you need to be concerned about is – can you play poker?

No Fairy Godmother is going to wave their magic wand and improve a hole in your game – they are all too busy at Disney. This is relative to psychology not skill. If you think you are a really great player and cannot look inside yourself sufficiently to see that you play poker and stink, then you would be better off playing bingo. Play poker and the learning never stops, there is always possibility to improve your game and be realistic about it.

In a nutshell, anyone can play poker and anyone can play successfully, but only the player with the ability to strip down his own character and understand it well, will be a truly winning player.

The one thing about playing slots which can be dangerous, is that these type of games are so much fun they can become addictive. If you are playing for money every time and you don’t take care what you do, you may end up with a gambling problem, or possibly very rich! The beauty of playing freeslots online is you can slot until you drop and never have to worry about even spending a penny. These games are available to play at most good casinos online and you don’t even have to register as a member to play; but this is not the case with all online casinos – you first have to register and login to play and you still can’t play all of the games.

Playing free slots games can prepare you, help you get used to it and find out the best way to play. Slots are completely random games, therefore strategizing is a waste of time, there is no way to change a winning outcome. But you could call it strategy to trial freeslots to see what coin range will fit into your budget and how to spread out your bankroll. Let’s call it an exercise in quantifying random adventure, rather than strategy!

Freeslots come in all shapes and sizes and all types of themes, but the easiest way to find a theme you enjoy is to first find a site that you like which allows unlimited play for free. As an exercise, I chose Victor Chandler Casino, because I like Net Entertainment games and I k now they allow free play. Simply click on the slots tab, and the first video slots game which caught my eye, was Jeff Wayne’s “War of the Worlds”.

This game can be played through Flash in “Enhanced 3D Animation mode, with rich audio and in a reduced version. I chose the recommended (rich) version and this is currently loading as we speak. Please note, I have not registered at this site (although I am seriously thinking about it!), and it is allowing me to play this brilliant sots game in “demo” mode. Let’s just say that this is an “entertainment experience” the music is completely fabulous and you get to play slots while you listen. This is a massive 100 pay line game, and playing for the minimum maximum wager, if that is what you call it; costs £€$5.00.

This site features some unbelievable slots; titles such as Arabian Nights, Spellcast, Blood Suckers, Boom Brothers, Beetle Frenzy – there are so many, and all can be played for free. There are also a huge amount of casino table and other games to choose from; it really is a superb site. They are not the only online casino where you will find freeslots obviously, but I have certainly found it to be, one of the fastest and least troublesome for free fun.

“Man against the machine” was once a far fetched Asimovian ideal, this is no longer true, we have reached the age of superior technology and playing video poker online could be said to be a matter of man against the poker machine. In Asimovian ideology, this would have been a war of attrition with the machine winning virtually every time, but there is one thing some gamblers still don’t understand regarding playing real money games online for real prizes, and this is the Random Number Generator. While Asimov ideas were once a progenitor of the fictional future, many of these ideas have actually come to pass and been relegated to the past.

What the RNG does is make it fair to play at online casino games, by consistently and fairly emulating, the same conditions as would appear in a live casino, when playing the same games. A random number generator has to be certified by specific licensing and testing authorities and needs to offer measurable results regarding fairness as well as have results regularly and independently audited.

With online video poker, an RNG is a series of software algorithms, in a physical video poker game on a real casino floor, there is – or was a microchip which controls these algorithms. Algorithms are problems solving procedures, or a means to an end if you prefer. RNG’s cannot be manipulated – just like every slot game on the casino floor at the Mirage in Las Vegas; every game from Microgaming (which also designs games for the land casino), has to conform to technical standards. This is why it is so important for the US to pull their finger out of their ass and get regulation and legislation in place for online gambling in this country. The UK has it in place so there is recourse for both players and operators. If an operator is found to be wanting there are arbitration procedures in place and renegades can get their license revoked by the pre-requisite jurisdiction.

Every online gambler knows, or should know, that playing at most UK sites, with a good Gibraltar, Malta, Alderney or at a push Cyprus, licensed site; their interest will be protected, if that online casino wishes to continue operating. There are also online casino watchdogs out in full-force; ready to black list any site for even the smallest of infraction.

But back to video poker; there are various algorithms used, in the old days these were the Knuth or Fisher-Yates shuffle; today the more superior Mersenne twister is used, as this is actually more stable. In a 52 card deck, playing video poker, there are 8.065817517 x 1067 possible unique sequences and this – expressed mathematically, is what the RNG algorithms makes sure takes place. So when you play Video Poker online, this is man against machine, made fair!

There is only one kind of casino and that is a gambling casino, there is no other reason why any person would pay a visit to a casino if it did not offer gambling. Imagine walking into your local bingo hall or gambling casino and them telling you, you can play the games of chance on offer for fun, but there is no way you can win. This is why it is rare to see adults, unless they are geeks, playing games in amusement arcades. Although, even amusement arcades offer incentives to play!

I remember playing in arcades with the kiddies but since my kids have grown up, I don’t know if things have may have changed. We used to take them there for treats – birthdays and such; find all the games which offered the most tickets and were the easiest to win, then take reams of tickets up to the cashier so the kids could choose prizes. If we found a game that was messed up and paying out more ticket than it should, we played it again and again, no matter how bored the poor child was. Our gambling spirit was telling us – win more, no matter what the child thought!
“But mummy I want to play another game, I am tired of this one”
“Look it is giving us so many tickets, let’s play it some more and you can choose bigger prizes”
“I don’t care about prizes!”
“What?”
It is this avarice which compels us to play games at gambling casinos, and why we find them to be so much fun. But there is something a little more insidious than just fun and do you know why gambling casinos may be so addictive for certain people? Also why we adults love it so much? – Dopamine!

In biological research, and I’m not into vivisection – I hate the bitch; but when a monkey is given a task and rewarded for it, the release of dopamine to the brain is stronger during the anticipatory time between completing the task and receiving the reward. This may be why problem gamblers sometimes lose all their money, as the strongest release of dopamine to the brain comes from the anticipation of winning – not from actually winning, the greater the uncertainty, the larger the dose of dopamine is delivered to the brain and the higher the gambler gets.

Poker players sometime bluff far more often than they should to feel this high and this is bad for their game. Crystal Meth, stimulates dopamine production in the brain and this is why it is so addictive. Ok, so we have gone from kiddies arcade games to crystal meth with barely taking a breath; the point being made here is, the gambling casino is fun, but should also be treated with respect and self discipline.

Your guess is as good as anybody’s where the ball falls, when you are roulette gambling at a casino – this is a completely random number game. It is not a simple task to predict which number pocket that ball will fall into, and this is what makes the game so exciting. This and the multitude of bets which can be placed, black, red, individual numbers, splits and divides of numbers, below certain sets of number, above certain sets of numbers, inside, outside, odds, evens and so on.

It is the amount of bets on roulette gambling which makes players believe a strategy will work to make profits, and while this may be true and skill counts. It is luck which is the deciding factor when playing this game. The best players are those with intuitive instinct while others really complicate matters with mathematical calculations and trying to beat the house odds.

What this game is all about however is having fun and as winning means you have more fun it is important to understand that following certain rules and procedures can contribute to winning.

Roulette gambling is a modern casino game, with the oldest history. The word roulette means “little wheel” in French and although wheel based games date back to Ancient Rome and China, this particular games was invented in 17th Century France by mathematician, scientist and philosopher Blaise Pascal. It is a romantic game with a romantic and colorful history. It is said that he sold his soul to the Devil for the secret of roulette. However I prefer to believe he was clever enough to invent it without interference or help.

Roulette gambling flourished in Europe and was eventually introduced to Monaco where it became a smash hit. The Monte Carlo gambling Mecca was created with roulette as its foundation, and brothers’ Francois and Louis Blanc are credited with writing roulette into the history books with their modern version of the game. They built a wheel for King Charles III of Monaco and added a single “0″ for the house edge. The rest as they say is history.

Thanks to technology, the same game that was played by Charles III and his court is still played today and roulette gambling can be brought into anyone’s home, thanks to online casinos.

The adding of that single “0″ to the wheel created a house edge which made this game a winning proposition for any casino. This is still the case and any strategy which says you can beat the house edge is wrong. You quite simply can’t and to beat the house edge in American Roulette is even more difficult as this wheel has two “house” pockets the “0″ and the “00″.

This doesn’t mean to say that people don’t win when they play roulette, what it means to say is that the casino is assured of their percentage of the profit, and that’s just the way the ball falls!

The beauty of playing gambling games online is that new players are able to take advantage of all kinds of free offers and the ability to play for free too, until they have mastered a particular game. If you enjoy these kinds of games and let’s face it who doesn’t like games of chance, then you have to try gambling craps.

Walk into a land based casino and sit at a craps table, try to watch and learn, but the best way to learn is to play! The croupier and other players will be helpful, I have always found this, but when you are new to a game such as craps, there is always more of a risk involved with losing your money, than if you have experience.

Play gambling craps online for free and you will soon be wagering like a pro; then you can really join in the fun. There is generally no limit to how much you can play free and some online casinos or casino portals even specialize in craps. You may be lucky enough to find a craps school with a game simulator.

Learn how to play and polish your skills and you will soon be joining in the fun at the craps tables. These are always the noisiest and most exciting tables in the casino, with players and spectators cheering on the shooter to throw the dice and win for everyone – it is a high-speed, non-stop action game!! All the players in this game want to be on the same side – the winning side!

Gambling craps has been a popularly played game in casinos for many years. However its popularity has increased even more since it is now available in millions of players’ homes. All you need is an internet connection to turn your living room into your very own craps room! While Las Vegas may seem like a million miles away, today it is as simple as a click of a button to bring it into your very own home.

There are a few basic rules you need to know even though gambling craps is quite intricate. It is easy to learn the core game and once these fundamentals are entrenched, the complex betting odds can be mastered. Just put these complexities aside for a moment and concentrate on the concept of the game which is driven by the roll of the dice.

When the shooter gets control of the dice and shoots, there are a few things which can happen. They can win or lose the game right off, or they neither win nor lose and the game continues.

The shooter places his bet first and the rest of the players place side bet on the outcome of his shooting. Online, the roll of the dice is controlled by a random number generator which mimics the possible actions of the dice. From here on in, good luck and have fun!

Slot machines have always been great fun, I remember playing one armed bandits when I was a little kid, before these machines became part of adult entertainment centres. They were always the penny machines and the typical traditional machines with cherries, bars, lemons and watermelons, but I loved them. We still love these games and slot machines have come a long way since the days I am speaking of, but now they are even more fun.

Nowadays, you don’t even have to leave the comfort of your own home to enjoy these games; they are available at online casinos, bingo sites and even dedicated slot machines sites. They come in the classic traditional one arm bandit format as well as video slots and multi-player, multi-line versions. Many games are themed and one of my favourite times of year to play slots is Halloween because this is when the new ghoulie games come out. But it doesn’t have to be Halloween to play the Adams Family slots games and this is a stunning game to play.

The Adams Family slots is a PJP game of the nickel variety, if you are playing from the UK you will more than likely find it in a pounds and pence version. But quite literally you may be able to lay your hands on a huge progressive jackpot prize, with just a handful of coins.

This game is one of the many truly interactive slots machines which are available online today. It features videos and audios while the morbidly amusing Gomez Adams eggs you on to play, he also teases players when they cash out, and this is all part of the fun of playing the game. There are three variations of bonus on this machine and these bonus rounds which will keep you spellbound for hours. One bonus round even features a type of Deal or No Deal bonus game with Gomez acting as banker!

The game obviously also features many of the characters from the Addams family including Uncle Fester, Morticia and the children as well as “Thing”, graveyards, tombstones etcetera. If you have a morbidly funny sense of humour this game will really appeal to the creature of the night in you!

The “Fry Fester” bonus round is a scream, surely something Wednesday Pugsly and Pubert came up with, where the player is required to fry Uncle Fester in an electric chair. The fry Fester icons are what gets you into this bonus round and if you successfully manage to fry him, you can win up to a 10 x multiplier on your wager.

Slot machines like this are what really adds to the thrill of playing these games online. The variety is enormous, and if you are of a slightly less dark bent, you can play farm-yard, under the sea, ancient Egypt, treasure hunting and even Marvel Comic and TV game show themed games.