Online Casino Games

Counting cards at Black Jack is a learned skill and frowned upon by casinos. In fact if they think you are doing this and winning they may bar you from playing Black Jack in their facility. What is card counting and why are the casinos leery of players who can count cards? There is no way this could be considered cheating, but a player who is good at this method is treated like a cheater.
The reason the player is feared who can do this with skill and discipline is simple. It puts the odds in the player’s favor. The house edge in the game is destroyed when the deck is rich in face cards. The odds for the rest of the shoe will remain with the player to win more bets than the dealer due to the fact that he can wave off hitting a card on a break hand. The dealer must hit any hand lower than soft 17(ace and a six). A rich shoe in face cards means the dealer has a higher chance of busting their hand.

There are several good books on this method of play, which are easily found on the Internet or in any bookstore for gamblers. The idea is to count the shoe down by keeping track of the cards as the dealer shows them. You know how many face cards are in a six-deck shoe and how many cards are under six not counting the aces. When the low cards are at minimum and the high cards have a numerical advantage the shoe favors the player. How out of line the shoe is in high versus low cards will determine how much the shoe favors the player. When this situation is present, the player raises the size of the bets. One of the ways the card counters have defeated detection is to have another player on their team actually make weird bets, but always increasing them when the shoe is favorable. One team even used a team member with the alias of the mad bomber to show up at an advantaged table, make a few bets and leave. This team used this ploy for a long time before they got caught.

Card counting was terrific, when the casinos dealt a lot of single deck games. The shoe dealing has made card counting much harder to do effectively. If you are willing to take the time to learn this method of play, be advised that if you are good at it you will be caught eventually, but up until that time it is possible to win consistently.

By Adel Awwad

Filed under: Online Casino Info by admin on December 6, 2010
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The history of backgammon, the oldest known board game, is an interesting one that began almost 5,000 years ago in Mesopotamia. Numerous variations of the game were adopted by other cultures throughout the history of backgammon. Archaeologists continue to discover many similar games in the ruins of ancient civilizations as they explore the intriguing history of backgammon.
The actual name for backgammon comes from a Welsh term meaning “wee battle.” However, the history of backgammon reflects many different names and versions. The aristocracy and slave population of Egypt and Greece played a similar game called, “senat.” The Romans changed the number of dice from two to three and called it “bac gamen” or “back game.” From the Roman civilization, backgammon moved to Persia, where it was again played with two dice in a game called “Takhteh Nard” or “Battle on Wood.” During the time of the Crusades, the Anglo Saxon soldiers and traders played yet another version called “Tables” or “Tabula.”

Throughout the history of backgammon, the Church attempted several times to ban the game, but always failed. Cardinal Woolsey, in the 16th century, ordered all the boards burned, calling the game “the devil’s folly.” Burning the boards was useless, however, since any type of board could be drawn in dirt or sand and played with small pebbles. Dice were often handmade and were small enough to be easily concealed on a person or hidden in someone’s home. Furthermore, the English were very clever and decided to disguise the backgammon board as a folding book. Their innovative craftsmanship is still evident in the board we use today.

Edmund Hoyle, the famous writer and gamesman, documented the rules and the history of backgammon in the mid 1700’s. Colonists from England brought backgammon to their homes in America, along with chess and other board games of the times. Although the game of backgammon lost some popularity in the Victorian era, it quickly reappeared and gained strength in the 20th century. At this time, an unknown inventor devised the doubling cube, which offers players the opportunity to multiply their initial wager by the amount on the doubling cube. Of course, some strategy and experience is needed before using the doubling cube.

Tournaments, books, magazines, and clubs are now a part of the history of backgammon. The introduction of the game on the Internet has increased its popularity to an even greater extent. Backgammon is a fast-paced, challenging, and entertaining game of skill and luck.

By Adel Awwad

Filed under: Online Casino Info by admin on December 5, 2010
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