By Jerry Whittaker

As an entirely different entity to playing poker, which experts say is fun to play, but should not be played for fun; the free casino game is designed purely for fun. Even casino games which are for real money play, should be played for their fun and entertainment value; most involve very little skill and this means they are “random” games. No random game should ever be played for a living, and professional craps, roulette, baccarat, and slots players are very few and far between. However, there is some element of skill involved in playing blackjack and you will find many more professional blackjack players; in fact many professional poker players will also take part in major blackjack tournaments.

But we are talking about the free casino game!

The free casino game can be found in any genre and theme you choose; any or all of the games we mentioned above may be played free plus plenty more – even poker can be found online for free. Now, while a gambler may not enjoy playing a slot for example, for free and only winning credits, a non-gambling player will love these games and find them to be great fun. In the case of slots games; these games are becoming exceptionally sophisticated, in particular in terms of video slots. We find some games with as many as 50 or even 100 pay-lines and intricate bonus features which actually equate to skill games. Playing the free casino game version of these slots allows the player to get a feel of what is expected of them. Be warned – it is lousy to get a big win when you are only playing for credits and planning to play for real; prepare yourself for this disappointment.

Most online casinos offer tons of free casino games; not always their entire portfolio, just examples of some of the best. Other casinos allow players unlimited access to free games, while another will allow real money free play as an incentive to register. This could be presented in the form of non-withdrawable cash, casino credits, a specific amount of time playing as many games as possible, or simply a limited amount of free spins. Which ever way you look at these offers; they are in essence a free casino game, so whatever it is, you have nothing to lose – take what they are offering!

Slots games with a great many pay-lines can be incredibly expensive to play, there is a set coin range, a number of coins per line, amount of lines to play; and it is always best to play over all pay-lines. So, playing these games free first enables the gambler to emulate how they would like to set the machine to their own budget, and see if they will be happy with the payout from the results. You will never walk into a live casino and have this small advantage over a random game like a slot – provided you can even get a seat at the game that you wish to play. Take this small advantage and try a free casino game, what have you got to lose?

By Jerry Whittaker

Just as the Prince – this poker players “alias” namesake; had to pay the piper for grabbing the gold ring and refusing to sling it back into the fires of Mount Doom, so too may the Prince of Online Poker games –”Isildur1″, have to pay the piper. What a poker story this is, and boy have there been some purlers?! But Isildur1 hit the news back in 2009 by taking on big online poker pros and beating them at their own game. What really got this player in the news however, was his seemingly coy refusal to reveal his identity, as well as his massive online losses. It seemed as though losing or winning didn’t matter to him as long as he was playing in high stakes – high profile online poker games.

As recently as just a few months ago the Isildur1 “Ninja Avtar” was seen regularly at Full Tilt Poker; time was of the essence for someone to snatch this phenom up to play on their team. Why Full Tilt was pipped to the post by Poker Stars we don’t know; but in December 2010, Prince Isildur1 – the online poker phenom was signed to the Poker Stars Team.

Amid much hue and cry, his right royal highness was due to have his identity revealed at the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure this January. Speculation was rife, was this player Viktor Blom; we already knew he was Swedish and the odds were on that he was Viktor Blom? In a heads-up dinner break exhibition game against PokerStars teammate Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier, his identity was revealed as 20 year old Viktor Blom. No big surprises here!

I tend to believe that the boy was undercover because he started out as an underage player; nothing can be done about that now. However now that this Justin Bieber look-alike has come out of the online poker games closet, he has also wizened up a bit and realized that he has been living in Sweden where gambling earnings are taxed, so he relocates to London. But, what is actually so interesting about this almost-Tolkein tale, is, while Isildur1 was gaily flinging about millions of dollars, which he may not have realized in his youth; was actually real money wins and losses. In Sweden if you play on non-European poker sites, they tax both your wins and your losses!!

If this is the case, this lovely looking young man could be in for double bad-beat as well as a very large $149 million tax bill?! Swedish tax authorities have said, yes, they know this online poker player, but are not saying if a case has been opened to retrieve any tax. I also believe he took to the felt at the PCA Main Event Day1b with Chris Moneymaker. Chris has a Masters Degree in accounting, so, I sure hope Isildur1 got some sound tax advice. Apparently he doesn’t take any poker advice; he learns all his lessons by losing! I can’t help it, I am getting a “Stu Unger” feeling about this boy – might he be a re-incarnation?