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Gamblesurf Safe, secure and fair gambling online. Where to go and how to do it.
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Many in the gaming industry will be joining me with a slightly sore head and overall tiredness after a huge week in Barcelona. Highlight party-wise would have to be the blackjack.com party on thursday night – huge doesnt begin to describe it! There are loads of photos floating around Facebook, but I thought I would pop a few up here too.
Tags: Blackjack.com Party
Mansion Poker has moved to the iPoker network. iPoker is one of the top 3 networks now, operated by Playtech. I have been a Mansion player for some time (even in the old days when they had their own room) and have always enjoyed good support and games although the level of play is quite high.
Their tournaments over the past year have been phenomenal, with huge overlays. I hope they continue that on the new network. I will certainly be giving it a go!
Tags: Poker
No doubt there will be a press release sometime soon but I just thought I would mention that I see a new site on Blackjack.com. Looks pretty darn good too! Check it out.
Tags: Blackjack.com
Yet again the Americans are being subjected to illogical emotional reporting in an effort to overturn Senator Frank’s latest attempt to sort out the mess caused by UIGEA.
Reporting such as this …
“Every citizen should care about this issue because it will bring Las Vegas into every home in America, 24 hours a day, seven days a week,” Les Bernal, executive director of Stop Predatory Gambling, told CitizenLink. “Its target audience is teenagers.”
According to estimates, Bernal said, problem gamblers between ages 18-25 lose about $30,000 a year. Unleashing Internet gambling would only make the problem worse.
Bernal is heading up a conference at the end of this month to “awaken America’s conscience about predatory gambling, what it means for our democracy and the impact it has on the families and businesses in our communities.”
… just simply misses the point. UIGEA is an unworkable bill tacked onto a completely unrelated anti-terrorist bill (Safe Ports Act) and urgently requires clarification. Innocent citizens of the USA are far more at risk now with this undefined and murky legal state of affairs than they would be with an appropriate regulatory regime. As long as this “head in the sand” attitude prevails the situation will not improve – there is only one sensible path forward: regulation and control.
Tags: UIGEA, US Gaming Law
Time marches on and we are rapidly approaching the busiest week in the year for the gaming industry. One week of conferences, serious meetings in the largest suites of the Hilton, and crazy parties mark the week of EIG, CAPEURO and for the first time this year – the GPWA affiliatezone in EIG.
So – what are these letters about???
EIG – the European Internet Gambling Congress and Expo is the new “most popular” meeting place for iGaming execs since the USA became unfriendly with UIGEA and the industry became serious with Europe and Asia. For more information please visit EIG Expo.
Nestled within EIG is the GPWA Affiliate Zone – a conference track and exhibition for affiliates from the Gambling Portal Webmastes Association (GPWA) – an industry body set up for affiliates and webmasters in the gambing industry.
CAP Euro is Casino Affiliate Programs (Europe) conference. Quite simply the biggest and most fun gathering of all the folk who bring traffic to online casinos, sportsbooks and poker rooms. For more information please browse over to the CAP Euro website. Kicking off this Friday/Saturday conference and expo is a party like no other – the 5 day Blackjack.com party.
Here is the advert for the party. I do know the guys over at Blackjack.com, so if you want an invite you know where to come 
Not much more to say really – except – See you there!!!
Tags: Blackjack.com, EIG, Internet Gambling
On Thursday, major news rippled across the internet gambling industry. House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank (D-MA) introduced HR 6870, the Payments System Protection Act. The bill ensures “that implementation of proposed regulations under subchapter IV of chapter 53 of title 31, United States Code, does not cause harm to the payments system, and for other purposes.” The new bill instructs the U.S. Treasury and Federal Reserve to work together with the Attorney General’s office to establish what is acceptable under the provisions of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA). The bill is expected to be marked up on Tuesday and is already on the schedule posted on the House Financial Services Committee website.
HR 6870 states, “The Secretary of the Treasury and Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System may not propose, prescribe, or implement any regulation [of the UIGEA]… except to the extent as any such regulation pertains to wagering of the type that is prohibited under [the Wire Act] (relating to professional and amateur sports protection).” The UIGEA regulations that have been developed would immediately be suspended, except those related to online sports betting under the Wire Act of 1961.
The bill continues, stating that the Treasury and Federal Reserve “shall jointly develop and implement regulations (which the Secretary and the Board jointly determine to be appropriate), on the record after opportunity for an agency hearing involving an administrative law judge or similar official.” HR 6870 calls for a formal definition of “unlawful internet gambling” as well as a full economic impact study of the proposed regulations. It was proposed with just several weeks remaining in the 2008 Congressional session.
During a mark-up hearing of HR 5767 in the House Financial Services Committee in June, Congressman Peter King (R-NY) introduced an amendment that required the Treasury and Federal Reserve to work hand in hand with the U.S. Department of Justice to establish what is legal under the UIGEA. A vote was split 32-32, mainly along party lines, leading to the amendment’s defeat. That vote was followed up by an oral vote on HR 5767, without the amendment. The “Ayes” were outnumbered by the “Nays” and the bill was ultimately defeated. HR 5767 would have also suspended the regulations of the UIGEA.
Upon introduction, HR 6870 has one original co-sponsor, Congressman King. Frank has been adamant about passing legislation which absolves the financial services industry from becoming the de facto police of the internet gambling industry. At a hearing in April entitled “Proposed UIGEA Regulations: Burden without Benefit,” representatives from the Federal Reserve, U.S. Treasury, Wells Fargo, and the American Bankers Association stated that enforcing the UIGEA was all but impossible. No indication of which activities were permitted was given in the UIGEA’s text, forcing each financial institution either to examine each transaction scrupulously or forbid transactions that remotely look like internet gambling.
Blackjack tournaments are similar to “normal” blackjack in that players all play against a dealer, but that is where the similarity ends. In tournament play the real money is not the chips that are bet, it is the remaining size of each players stack at the end of each round.
Typically tournaments take place over a number of “rounds”. A round is a set number of hands (from as few as 10 to as many as 30), and players begin each round with an equal number of chips. At the end of each round the player(s) with the highest stacks win and advance to the next round. Some tournaments may be quick single table tournaments – in these the player with the most chips simply wins the tournament.
Taking the single table tournament as an example, a player is able to wager the tournament entry fee (say $100) and play against typically 5 other players to win the total pot ($600) if he ends up with the most chips. Because the game is not played against the house it pays out 100% (less any tournament entry fees) and could be perceived to be a fairer game than blackjack against the house.
Because the first player to act is at a disadvantage, there is a dealer “button” which is a chip indicating the first player to act that is passed around the table. That way each player takes turns to go first. In most tournaments the dealer positioning on the first hand is decided randomly. One way is by either dealing each player 5 cards and then the highest poker hand being the “dealer”. Another method is to deal players one card at a time until a player gets an Ace and becomes “dealer”.
These tournament types are only found online.
Continuous (or Instant) Tournaments start immediately as long as there are sufficient players. They have a brief pause after the final hand and then begin again with whatever players are seated.
Sit and Go Tournaments are similar to Continuous Tournaments except that they wait for a table to completely fill before beginning, and only last for one round. Sit and Go Tournaments may involve one or more tables, although usually not more than 4.
Knock Out tournaments are similar to Poker Heads Up Tournaments. Players are pitted one to one against other players in an elimination ladder. From each 2-way bout the winner progresses to the next round.
Elimination Tournaments are more like conventional Poker Tournaments, where players are seated at 6 player tables for rounds of up to 30 hands, with the top 1 or 2 players from each table progressing to the next round until the winners are found.
The goal for tournament Blackjack is quite different to that for Blackjack against the house. It’s possible to win a tournament round without even winning a single hand! By making the minimum bet for each round when the house is “hot” you will beat all players who are risking higher amounts on the hands.
The fundamental concept in tournament play is to watch the other players, and vary your play accordingly. Your single goal in the game is to be the player who ends the final hand with the most chips. It is thus critical to pay close attention to other player’s chip stacks, and vary your play accordingly.
Bear in mind that the outcome of a hand is to a large degree dependent on the dealer’s result. So in a way all players are exposed to the same opponent. Given that you are playing basic strategy on your bets (typically), and assuming that the other players are as well, the winner will be the player who manages the balance between risk and reward most carefully. The outcome of a hand will be to a large degree the same for all players.
Your big bets will be the determining ones for your tournament result. They are your biggest risk, and should be used wisely. One strategy would be to bet big when all other players are betting small, and vice versa. For this to work you would have to be well positioned – if you don’t get to see your opponent’s bets until after you have placed yours then clearly you cannot react to his bet. Whatever happens, it probably doesn’t make sense to simply bet an average bet each hand. You may as well go for the max on a hand or stick to the minimum and conserve your stack.
Size your bets to achieve your goal of the highest stack in the round. Lets take an example – you are 100 behind the leader with 800 to their 900. They act before you and bet 100. Assuming they win they will have 1000 after the hand. You need to win 200 to get even, so bet a bit more to end the hand ahead without risking all your stack. Your 300 bet will look just fine when the dealer busts and you have 1100 against your opponent’s 1000. Worst case you lose and are down to 500 rather than risking your entire stack for the same reward.
Position is important since your strategy will depend on what your opponents do more than on the cards themselves. This means that the player that is last to act has an advantage over the other players. In the last hand of a round this is the single most important factor, since as the last to act in the tournament you will have available the maximum information to plan your strategy at this final table.
Some players work out where the button will be at the final table (by assuming all players remain and then counting around the table for each hand) and vary their play accordingly, playing more conservatively when they know they will be last to act at the end. Needless to say, these players will need to recalculate their position if players are eliminated mid-round.
There may be times when you would not normally (using optimal strategy) double down, but it is warranted given your position in the tournament. Consider the situation where your opponent has twice as many chips in the final hand as you. Doubling down could be the only way to progress! Similarly, if you have a strong hand (say 20) but you see that a surrender would leave you with enough chips to take the round then go ahead and give up that hand.
Placing online sports bets is a legal way to enjoy gambling from your home state that generally doesn’t allow you to do this. There are many different websites that you will have to choose from and it’s a great way to win some good money. In order to find these online sports betting websites all that you need to do is begin searching online for one of them. You can use one of the major search engines to begin your search. Once you find one that you think is good all you will need to do is set up your account with them and in just a few short minutes you are going to be able to start placing your bets. This is one of the best inventions for people that don’t live in a gambling city like Las Vegas.
Blackjack is one of the best card games out there because of the amazing odds that you have of winning money. There are things that you can do that will increase your odds. Blackjack strategies are easy to learn because the game itself is easy to play. But keep in mind that you are going to need to learn the strategy and some of them will require you to memorize a few things. It’s easy so don’t worry. And remember, you can always practise on http://www.blackjack.com !
You can even easily develop your own blackjack strategies by learning what the other ones are and figuring out what works and what doesn’t from each of them. This works best if you already know the card game inside and out. And you probably already have a basic strategy in place, but it never hurts to try out new things that will only increase your chances of winning more money then you have been. Wouldn’t that be nice?
When you are learning a new strategy for any card game one of the most important things that you must do is to practice it. You can do this right online with an online casino because they let you play without betting real money. It’s easy to download the casino software and you will be using it in just minutes of downloading it and installing it. Go now to Blackjack.com
There are so many places online that you can find quickly that will help to improve your knowledge of the game and also develop a good blackjack strategy. Most of this information is free, but there are some that you will need to pay for. This is totally up to you. What you want to learn is what is the best hands to hit, stand, double or split on. You don’t want to split your hand on ever hand that you have doubles because sometimes it will actually decrease your chances of winning.
It’s important that you learn which hands are the worst hands to have, such as a hand that has a value of 16 is a hand that you will hope that you don’t get. There are different things that you can do that will help you to improve your chances of winning, such as if the value of 16 is from a having two 8’s in your hand. This is the hand that you will definitely split because it will increase your chances of winning due to the fact that you have a better chance of getting a card with a value of 10 which will give you a hand of 18. Having this hand offers you a much higher chance of beating the dealer. Another hand that you will definitely split is when you have two Aces, and the reason is the same as the two eights you have a high chance of getting a card with the value of 21, and in this case you will definitely win.
There are so many different strategies out there and I highly suggest that you begin learning what these different strategies are so that you can start putting back some of the money that the casino has taken from you back into your pockets. Begin searching online for the different ones that you can begin practicing with the online casino or out with your friends on poker night. This is your ticket to increasing your profits once and for all. It’s your turn to beat the dealer more often then he beats you.
Adriaan Smolensky - online gambling expert.
