If you are like most gamblers, you play many different casino games. Sure, you probably have your favorite, but you most likely sample other games. Knowing how to play a casino game is only the first step in the winning equation. To have a shot at hitting it big or winning over time, you need to know some tricks to the game. In this article, you will learn some solid tips for various casino games—Blackjack, Craps, Roulette and Texas Hold’em Poker.

Blackjack Tips

Tip One: Doubling Down on 11

You’ve probably heard it before, “Always double down on 11.” If the total of your first two cards is 11, you should “consider” doubling down. However, it should not be an automatic move. If the dealer’s up card is a ten, you might want to reconsider that move. It’s usually best to simply hit when the dealer has a ten or face card showing.

Tip Two: Taking Insurance

If there’s only one thing you remember from this article, let it be this; never ever take insurance. Insurance is a sucker’s bet. Some “very conservative” players will take out insurance if they have a twenty. However, if you are this tight with your money, the casino is the last place you should be at. Don’t take insurance—period.

Craps Tips

Tip One: Don’t place prop bets

The area in the center of the Craps table is the proposition area and that’s where the casino makes it money from Craps. All proposition wagers are sucker’s bets. Sure, it can be fun to hit them, just understand that you are being cheated out of value and the probability of hitting these bets is very low.

Tip Two: The Field is not your friend

When you walk up to a craps table, the field bet might be one of the first areas on the layout you notice. It is very large and has all sorts of lovely numbers in it. The field is a one-roll wager and you lose when on a roll of 5,6,7 or 8. Conveniently, these are the numbers with the most combinations. The house has a huge advantage on the field, and only pays you even-money when you win—some house pay extra on the 2 and 12.

Roulette Tips

Tip One: Play European Roulette

The game of Roulette has two main versions: European and American. The European version of Roulette is far superior, because the house advantage is only 2.70%. The American version added an extra zero spot to the wheel—00. The result is the house advantage growing by almost 100%. If you are stuck with the American version, that’s fine, but if the European version is available, play it instead.

Texas Hold’Em Poker Tips

Tip One: Always Raise with Top hands

There’s almost no point in playing passive—especially if you are a newer player. When you are dealt AA, KK or AK, you need to raise the pot. If another player has raised already, re-raise the pot. Your raise should be at least three times the blind. As you grow up in the poker world, you will figure out your own raise amounts, but three times the blind is a good guide for initial raises.

The next time you play one of these games, keep these tips in mind. Remember, anyone can play a casino game, but not everyone can win. Increase your chances of going home a winner by following these tips and playing well.

Playing slot machines with only one penny seems awfully cheap. Actually, it is cheap but it is exactly what the casinos want you to think.

Gone are the days of the simple 3 reel slot machine, today’s machines are gigantic multiline slot machines who have been developed to include any money making trick known in the book. In the comfort department, today’s slot machines have improved to accept dollar bills instead of only coins and can give prizes in the form of redeemable tickets, all in order to make the player as comfortable as possible.

The biggest change in modern slot machines is the addition of many more pay lines (a modern slot machine will have at least 20 pay lines and some reach a lot higher) which of course requires many more coins in order to activate all of them. With machine that costs 50c per spin but offers 20 pay lines, the cost per spin can easily reach 10$, and suddenly the old “pay less win more” slot machine has become a financial burden on the average gambler. For those who say “play only the minimum lines”, we will remind that in order to win the biggest prizes (and the jackpot, of course if available) you must play the maximum number of lines or your profits will be very slim.

In order to make the players less aware of the cost of playing these slot machines the casinos have come up with 1 penny slot machines. That’s right, 1c per spin. This has become the hottest trend in the casino’s slot machine floor and the low denomination has attracted numerous gamblers who now think that playing slot machines has become much cheaper. The focus though has turned into the multiple pay lines which require multiple points in order to maximize profits. Machines exist which will require more than 1500 coin per spin! This makes the average spin cost almost the same as the regular 50c machine.

Are Penny slot machines a sucker’s bet? Not necessarily. These machines are perfect for a player who came to the casino with the intention of spending a few hours of fun without committing too much money to the casino. On the other hand, those who like to suck every ounce of edge out of the machine and will never settle for anything than less the maximum payout will find better options elsewhere.

By the way you might have noticed some famous jackpots being offered in the penny slot machines, be assure that all in all playing the jackpot in a 1 penny machine and 1 dollar machine has no difference as the total amount required to gamble to be eligible for the jackpot is the same.

A sad and little know part of online poker is cheating.

Collusion:  Think of 2 people chatting via aim or on the phone telling each other what cards they have.  Then betting or raising to map larger pots.  The player with a good hand  now has a chance to win a much larger pot and the player with the bad hand just folds.  Sure that could lose to a better hand, but if done right they could walk away with alot of your money.

Poker Bots:  Here are some of the bot programs I have found. I do not recomend that you use a bot, infact  I implore you not to, but you should know that they are being used and what they can do.

WinHoldem, Holdem Memory, PokerBot plus, and PokerBot Pro.

Here is some info on WinHoldEm, one of the most popular bots.

WinHoldEm
The WinHoldEm site does warn potential users that a stealth mode should be and must be used at many of the most popular Online Poker rooms. They also gove detailed instructions on how to do this.

You should also know, that just because someone is using a bot, even the same bot program you’ve played against before, it does not mean that this bot will play the same. The WinHoldEm bot forum has a section devodted to tweaking the formula used by the bot.

Imagine one bot playing at four Poker rakeback tables.  A bot that knows all the odds, and never makes a mistake.  Sure, a live player could trick the bot, but he’d have to know it was a bot he was playing.  The poker rooms do not want these bots used and do all they can to keep them off their tables, but bot users just keep changing the way the bots work.

Another type of cheating is the tracker.  Poker trackers track your play as well as the play of everyone at the table.  Is this cheating?  Well….Not if you go by the poker rooms.  many of the poker rooms allow this type of program.  So maybe its not cheating, but it does give a huge advantage to the players using the prgrom.

These program show the user how often each player sees the flop.  How agrressive they are.  How often the go to a showdown and how often they win.  In the end the player using a tracker still has to decide to bet, bet, raise, call, or fold, but the program gives them a lot of information to base their decission on.

Cheat is a part of online poker that I wish did not exist, but I wated everyone to know what they are up against when they do decide to play.