The Casino Smoking Debate: Should There Be a Ban on Smoking?

We know the studies about second-hand smoke. We know that there have been numerous studies worldwide proving that secondhand smoke is much more dangerous to the health than most of us thought. Tons of illnesses are associated with it. But a lot of times it seems like casinos and cigarette smoking goes together (and a nice cigar as well). Players know second-hand smoking is a bad thing – but it usually seems like most players even though aware of the risks hardly care.

Wherever you go in most casinos in Las Vegas, Atlantic City, or any major casino around the world you’ll find cigarette bunnies walking around the casino area selling nicotine-based products. With all the tension around the tables (poker, blackjack and baccarat tables for example – especially high limits) grabbing a quick smoke can sometimes seem irresistible for players when they’ve had a couple drinks of alcohol and really enjoying themselves – or are really depressed from horrendous play. Well, this whole smoking debate is causing legislators to come up with laws pertaining to secondhand smoke in casinos. Anti-smoking laws are being pushed for implementation in some states and cities.

There’s been some major debate among top professional casino players whether regulations to stop smoking inside the casino gaming area should be implemented or not. You’ll find opinions on both sides of this matter. There’s awareness of players on the dangers of second-hand smoking. There’s also been wide-reaching information campaigns on smoking in casinos and helping to educate players on the risk that second hand smoke could give to other players. The main issue rests with legislators. Many interest groups advise the complete ban on smoking on different events and casino conferences.

There have been studies and research conducted that have concluded that casino workers on the casino floor where smokers are present have a higher rate of exposure to second-hand smoke than an average person. It’s also been proven that people exposed to second-hand smoke have a greatly increased risk of developing cancer and heart disease. On the other side of this debate, we have casino owners that, while stating their concern on the risk of casino second-hand smoke, have also stressed the potential loss of revenue that a smoking ban may result into the casino businesses. Although they would like to be a part of this no-smoking campaign, the fear of having a low business turn out is greatly feared.

What makes the issue even more complicated is that many casino workers are against a smoking ban! They are hesitant to agree on no-smoking policies and regulations because they know what might happen – less tipping from casino players who used to buy dozens of cigarettes and even possibly losing their jobs from less people frequenting their casinos and possibly going strictly to online casinos.

Those that smoke in casinos know the problems associated with heavy smoking but it’s just an accepted casino fact that smoking has always been a part of gambling – for better or worse. There’s so many casino players that couldn’t imagine themselves throwing down a game of blackjack or poker or slots without having a puff on their cigarette or cigar. A lot of players concentrate on their game by puffing on their favorite companion – a cigarette from their pack of smokes or a nice cuban cigar. Whether you agree or disagree with a casino smoking ban let’s have an open discussion on all possibilities on this topic. These discussions need to be properly heard by our legislators and discussed in an open forum.

Do you think smoking should be banned in brick-and-mortar casinos?

Insurance and Even Money: Bad Bets at the Blackjack Table

The truth is that consistently winning blackjack games deals with both luck and chance.  It’s always been a popular casino game – perhaps due to its reputation of being called one of the easiest card games in casino. But it’s not just a plain game of luck. Understanding the rules is a must and it entails that a player must have tight blackjack skills when playing.

One of the trickiest parts is the blackjack language and the various blackjack bets you can make. Beginners have trouble with this since the game in itself is a game of chance and the players are expected to be knowledge in tactics that improve your chances of winning the hand. In playing blackjack, you’re trying to get a good winning hand of cards – this means that you should have cards that total as close as possible to or matching twenty-one but never above it. Having a hand of cards with a total more than twenty-one means you just busted and you lost.

One of the hottest blackjack strategies making a comeback is card counting.  Beyond this though, even with this knowledge, it is still hard for some people to actually know when to bet and when not to. The tactic of blackjack card counting may not help you as much you might think since it can never be perfected.

Consequently, one of the hardest aspects of playing blackjack is the complex ideas laid out in the game – two different terms may mean the same thing or completely different things.

There’s two blackjack definitions that we all need to know: Even Money and Insurance bet. Can you imagine playing a game like basketball and just ignoring the three point line the whole game just because you don’t know what it’s for? That’s just like how it is when you play blackjack without knowing what these two terms stand for. It could affect your bankroll in a big way.

In our examples here, we’ll be playing Classic Blackjack Gold Series at Casino Classic (1 Regular Deck; Blackjack 3:2; Insurance 2:1; Other win 1:1; Dealer stands on Soft 17).

Insurance Bet

Let’s say the dealer reveals his card, and it’s an Ace. You’ll now get the option of making an insurance bet before the hole card gets checked by the dealer. In an insurance bet, you bet an amount up to half your original bet. There’s a separate special area of the table usually carrying the words “Insurance Pays 2:1″ – this is where the insurance bet gets placed. By you taking insurance you’re betting that the dealer gets a “natural” which is a two-card 21, a blackjack. If you win this insurance bet, you get 2:1 on your bet. It’s insurance because the point of it is to protect the original bet you made if the dealer has a blackjack. If you decide to bet the full half of what your original bet was, then you win the same amount back in the insurance bet. Let’s say you don’t have blackjack, the dealer does, and you took the insurance bet. In this case, you’ve lost no money. Worst case scenario is that you take the insurance bet, the dealer doesn’t have  blackjack and you lose. Then you just lost BIG.

Even Money

Now let’s say you have a natural 21 (an ace and a ten or face-card). The dealer has revealed his upcard and it’s an Ace. You have the option of taking even money. If you take even money, you’re going to get paid 1:1 right away for your natural 21, whether or not the dealer gets a blackjack. This means that if you accept even money, you’re getting the same payout as if you were getting insurance. Think about it this way, if the dealer doesn’t get a blackjack, you forfeit the insurance bet and win 3:2 on the natural 21 – this is payout equal to your original bet. If the dealer did have a blackjack, you push on the natural 21 and win 2:1 on insurance, getting a payout which is the same as the original bet.

The Value of Insurance Bets and Even Money

Unless you’re card-counting, stay away from both insurance bets and even money. These bets have a house edge of 2% to 15% – depending on how many decks the casino is using and the number of 10-cards visible. If you are card-counting, only bet on these if you know that more than a full third of the deck is 10-value cards.

Playing basic blackjack might be easy and the rules are generally easy to understand. But by understanding new tactics and casino techniques you have the chance to tilt in many ways possible the odds to your favor.

Blackjack Switch: The Blackjack Spinoff Casino Game

This one goes out to you blackjack-heads out there. Have you heard of the blackjack switch? This game is another variant of the blackjack game – the differences being that you are allowed to switch cards and you are dealt two hands.

Now, to the blackjack purists this might sound like cheating but for the people that play this blackjack spin-off casino game on a regular basis, it really isn’t. Blackjack switch also has a more conservative style of play as compared to the original blackjack. A classic example of playing blackjack switch would be this: if one player has been dealt his cards which form his two hands, that are 6-10 and 10-5, he can immediately swap the top two cards so that he would have a hand of 6-5 and 10-10.

A blackjack switch game starts when the player makes two equal-sized bets. Then the player is dealt two hands. Here’s where it gets interesting: the blackjack switch player now has the option to change the second card he is dealt with. For example, if you are dealt cards 5 and K, and T and 6, you are able to switch the cards around so that you can form 5 and 6, and K and T. After all, in this game, it is better to have 2 hands that total 11 and 20 respectively, than having hands that total 15 and 16.

Blackjack Switch Changes Overview

This blackjack creation has undergone a lot of changes, with the game’s main intention to help players win easily. First of all, blackjack switch evens the playing field with a ratio of 1:1, rather than the standard 3:2 ratio. This is because it’s easier to win blackjack (forming a total of 21) when you have the ability to have your cards switched around.

Here’s another twist to blackjack switch: if the dealer gets 22 then all bets are immediately pushed and if dealer gets blackjack then they pay even money. Currently, the blackjack switch house edge is 0.16% with six decks and 0.18% with eight decks. After you have done the whole switching of your cards deals, the regular play of the blackjack game then follows suit. One of the options that makes blackjack switch interesting is its use of a “Super Match” bet, which is a side option. The Super Match bet still involves the four cards that you are dealt with. First off, if you own a pair, then you instantly win it. Here is the following table when dealt the “Super Match” bet: Pair (1-1); 2 Pair (8-1); 3 of a Kind (5-1); 4 of a Kind (40-1).

For those of you who like a little change in their online betting life, then blackjack switch is the perfect game for you. The fact that you are allowed to keep on switching cards is already interesting enough – this increases your rate of winning and just makes it damn fun. Try playing this game now and see how exciting it gets!

Blackjack Switch Rules and Regulations

• 6-8 decks are used
• You must make two equal-sized bets
• You may switch the second card dealt to each of your two hands – even to form a blackjack
• You may double on any 2 cards you receive
• You may double after a split
• You may resplit up to 4 hands
• Cards are dealt face up
• Dealer hits soft 17
• Dealer 22 will push against your total of 21 or less
• Dealer peeks for blackjack with a ten or ace up
• Blackjacks for the dealer means all player hands will lose, however a player blackjack will push
• Blackjacks for the player will beat a dealer’s 22
• Blackjacks for the player pay even money

Blackjack switch is now being played in online casinos and casinos in Las Vegas (Casino Royale, Harrah’s, and Tropicana) and Russia. Internet casinos that currently offer blackjack switch include Playtech casinos Golden Palace, Bet365, Slots.com, and Hard Rock Casino.

Inside Casino Promotions & Bonuses: Sportsbook.com

We all know the craziness we can find on the internet.

Besides watching a little James Bond and finding out that casino cruise ships save people’s lives, there’s some great savings and bonuses for those that keep their open – especially for online casino gamers.

The main way you’re going to get special treatment at online casinos is the same way you get special treatment in standard brick-and-mortar casinos – being loyal to the same casino websites over and over again. Most of the big dog online casino sites give out bonuses to its users. But before you just jump into the first “bonus” you see offered,you gotta get yourself acquainted with the details in the bonuses offered. In some of the less reputable casinos, they don’t offer a real bonus, but instead they just offer some deals that really just benefit the casino and not the users. Of course, most of the big names in the casino world take care of their users well, but it pays to pay attention.

Inside the world of casino bonuses and promotions

Today we’re going to be getting deep into the promotions offered by Sportsbook.com – looking at all the bonuses and promotions and seeing which really are the ones to take advantage of. Licensed since 1997 by the Government of Netherlands Antilles in the Curacao Island (and completely open to all United States players) they’ve been featured in tons of television programs and newspapers in the United States like CBS 60 Minutes, SNN, ESPN, Wall Street Journal, Barrons, Financial Times, and USA Today. They’ve got a nice interface, a nice amount of players at any one time and they’ve been twice labeled as the “Best United States Sports Book” by eGaming Review.

The reason why we’re taking a look at Sportsbook.com is because they have a crazy amount of bonuses and promotions going on at all times – you gotta keep yourself locked to the website so you know what promotions are going on. They offer casino, poker, horse racing (racebook), and sportsbook, so we’ll cover each section and the promotions offered.

Sportsbook.com Deposit Bonus

They have a standard instant 10% sign-up bonus to any initial deposit you make. This means whatever you deposit into Sportsbook.com, they hook you up with an extra 10% of whatever you deposited (e.g. you deposit $1000, they give you an extra $100 for you to play with).

If you’re going to playing poker, they hook you up with a 100% bonus up to $650 of your deposit. This means you deposit $650, they give you an extra $650 – total of $1300. To get the bonus, log-in to Sportsbook.com, make a real money purchase, click on the Rewards tab, then the Deposit Bonus tab in the poker lobby and then enter the code FIRST100 into the bonus code box. Check out how it looks in the image below:

You’ll also get a free seat into the Sportsbook.com weekly $500 “Welcome Freeroll” poker tournament – with a $500 prize pool. This freeroll is free to all brand new Sportsbook.com members that have made a real money purchase – running every Wednesday at 10:30 EST. To get into the freeroll poker tournament, hit the Private tab before the tournament start time, double-click on “Welcome Freeroll” and register for it.

Sportsbook.com Sportsbook Promotions

Here’s a limited time sportsbook promotion going on with an odd little twist. They call it Lucky 7 Seventh Heaven. If your BET ID ends with 7, 77, 777 or 7777 (this means if any of these are the last digit(s) of your BET ID) you get hooked up with more money if your bet wins.

For example, if you do a Straight, Parlay or Teaser bet of $25 or more that wins and ends in a 7, 77, 777, or 7777 you win the Lucky 7 promotion bonus. If your Bet ID ends in 7 you receive a 25% win bonus, if it ends in 77 you receive a 50% win bonus, if it ends in 777 you receive $100.00 cash, and if it ends in 7777 you receive $500.00 cash.

If you’re betting on baseball, they hook you up with their MLB Bad Beat Bonuses with one of the top ones being called Extra Inn-sults. If you bet the under on a Major League Baseball game and your bet loses because the game went into extra innings they give a 25% cash back bonus. Another one is the Complete Shutout bonus – if you bet the money line or run line and the baseball team you bet on got shutout by the opposing pitcher they’ll hook you up with a 25% cash back bonus. Another bonus is the Walk-off Loser – if you bet the money line and your team is ahead but ends up losing because of a walk-off home run, Sportsbook.com will hook you up with a 25% cash back bonus.

A nice one is the Fall Classic promotion. In this one, every $20+ bet on MLB will give one extra entry into this drawing. If you win, you get a $5000 prize pack which is two tickets to watch the Major League Baseball World Series along with airfare and hotel accommodations.

Another baseball promotion on Sportsbook.com is the $40k MLB Handicapping Challenge. In this one, when the baseball regular season is over, the casino player with the most points gets $6000 points. If you finish from 2nd to 5th overall you get $1100 cash. Even if you finish in the top 2000 of the overall leader-board gives you an automatic entry into the $10,000 MLB poker tournament that Sportsbook.com will be doing in the near future. The monthly prizes vary depending on where you place: 1st gets $500 Cash (+10% Reload Bonus on your next deposit), 2nd-10th gets $200 Cash (+10% Reload Bonus on your next deposit), 11th-20th gets $50 Cash (+10% Reload Bonus on your next deposit), 21st-50th gets you a 10% Reload Bonus on your next deposit, and 51st-onwards gets you a 5% Reload Bonus on your next deposit. You earn points on this promotion first on wagers of $20 or more with at least 10 qualifying MLB wagers in the month. Each month, the Sportsbook.com player with the most points accumulated wins. ML wagers get you 1 point, run line wagers get you 1 point, total wagers get you 1 point, 2-4 team parlays get you 3 points, 5-7 team parlays get you 6 points, 8-10 team parlays get you 12 points, and 11-12 team parlays get you 24 points.

Sportsbook.com Casino Promotions

24 blackjack winners get rewarded every 24 hours with various prizes, with the prize pot hitting $24,000. The games you can hit the bonus on are Blackjack 52, Blackjack, Blackjack Switch, Spanish Blackjack, and Blackjack 7s. So far, there’s been 244 winners on this one.

If you like slots, Sportsbook.com has the $24 free to play slots promotion offer you get with as well. This means that you get $24 free when you transfer at least $24 to play with some hot slots. Enter coupon code 24FORFREE at the Redeem Coupon tab in the Cashier to get hooked up with this promotion. (NOTE: Do not put this coupon code in the join form area if you’re a new customer, do this once you’re a member)

Sportsbook.com Racebook Horse Racing Promotions

The big one that Sportsbook.com offers for racebook fans is the 3% rebate program. Every day, whatever you bet on the previous day with horse wagers, they give you a 3% deposit on that right into your account. Whether you win or lose on the racebook, you’ll know you’re going to get something the next day.

Sportsbook.com Poker Promotions

There are TONS of poker bonuses going on at any time. One of the bigones is the $100,000 gold card giveaway. With a $100,000 prize pool and a minimum payday of $100 this is one to definitely get into. You win gold cards by playing in the real money poker ring games. The gold cards get chosen via a random number generator (RNG) when a certain rake has been collected (higher limits you play mean the faster that this amount gets reached). When the rake’s been collected, a gold card will be randomly selected and displayed to the players at the poker table at the end of the hand. If you match that gold card with one of your hole cards you get that gold card, even if you had folded your hand.

Another poker one is the Big Hands Win Big Bucks promotion. In this one, if you get 4 jacks or better in any of the Big Bucks cash game tables you get free entry into the Sportsbook.com $5000 private freeroll.

You’re also going to want to get acquainted with Frequent Player Points (FPP’s). The more you play, the more rake the casino is getting, so the more FPP points you’re going to be getting. The more FPP you have, the more gold chips you get. For every dollar dropped into rake (even fractional points), you’ll get 1 FPP – with a maximum of 3 FPP per hand. If you play in poker tournaments, you’ll get 7 FPP’s for every $1 in tournament entry fees.

21: Inside the World of Card-Counting

Blackjack has been always been one of the most popular games played in casino houses. It’s a popular game all over the world – the simplicity of blackjack has a lot to do with it. But mastering the game is a crazy hard thing to do. The main objective of the game is to beat the dealer which can be done if the total of the cards at hand is close to 21, but never above that number – if you do, it’s bust. Along with its popularity, one of the best things about the game is that it’s also easy to play for beginners, and it’s a pretty deep game below the surface.

The Blackjack Movie – 21

This growing popularity of blackjack has even reached the online community and at present day, many internet sites offer blackjack games (try BetUS and Casino Classic). Aside from the Internet, its also been a topic of tons of books and even movies. One of the movies that tackled blackjack recently is the movie 21 (available on DVD and Blu-Ray). Starring Jim Sturgess, Kevin Spacey, Kate Bosworth, Laurence Fishburne, and Aaron Yoo, the flick shows the different styles of playing the game especially the card-counting technique – which everyone associates with blackjack “cheating”. It’s entertaining – and even better is that at the same time you might be able to learn a thing or two from watching it. The movie is also based on a real story – so that makes it a little more engaging as well since it has that angle.

Learning About Card-Counting

All of us in the casino gaming world know about the technique known as card-counting – and it’s also acquired the interest of many people who love to gamble, even the casual casino gamer. But before believing every detail of the movie it’s first important to always remember that blackjack, like any other casino game, is a gamble. A person has both the chance to win or lose. You just gotta know how you’re gonna balance his skills and gut feelings.

The premise behind card-counting is that a player is going to keep a record of the cards that have been used in the game. This way, it’ll be easier for you to know if the cards will be in your favor or not, thus betting would be easier. Although this card-counting technique is easy to learn, it is still not easy to master without you going through some losing streaks along the way as you get a handle on the technique. If you just completely depend on card-counting, then winning lots of money in blackjack may not be that easy.

The Card-Counting Popularity Explosion

This technique has tapped the minds of many players – many think you can have the chance of winning millions by simply following the rules in card counting. The things is that there are gonna be instances that  using this technique may not work for you. Simply put, not all people are going to have luck on their side when using the card-counting technique. Blackjack is a gamble in its essence and casinos want to keep their customers coming back. These two facts should never be forgotten by aspiring blackjack card-counters. So, it’s important not to depend too much on the skills of card-counting – widen your blackjack technique game. Make sure that the money you’re dropping on each hand is budgeted and always keep a limit of the amount you can afford to lose in one night in mind when playing.

The easiest way to practice card counting is online through internet casinos. Of course, the mechanics of online blackjack compared to blackjack in brick-and-mortar casinos is always going to be different… but you can still get a feel and practice your card-counting game.

Instructional Video on Card-Counting: