Category: Gambling and Casinos

So you want to play Craps huh? Well, you better know some terminology. In today’s article, I’ll show you some key Craps terms. There are countless Craps terms out there, but we’ll go over just the main and fun ones.

Aces: This is a roll of two. When a two is rolled, both dice show one dot, hence the term.

2-Way Eleven: Dealers love this one. When you bet a 2-way eleven, you’re making a bet on eleven for you and the dealers. It’s a good move to tip the dealers when playing if you’re doing well.

Any Seven: This is a one-roll wager. Make this bet and if the next roll is a seven, you win. A seven can be rolled: 1-6, 2-5, 3-4, 4-3, 5-1, and 6-1. The bet pays 4:1. The house edge is high on this one since it’s a one-roll wager. Of course, you’d think it was a pot of gold when you’re standing at an ice-cold table.

Big 6: This bet is located in the lower section of the layout. It’s called the big 6, because the wager space is a huge 6. It’s a gimmick wager though, because it only pays even money. If you were to place the 6, you’d get odds on your payout. This bet stays up until it loses or you take it down.

Big 8: It’s the same as the Big 6, except it’s an 8. You’ll win every time an 8 is rolled and lose when a 7 is rolled. It pays even money. Unless you’re very lazy, place the 8 instead.

Big Red: No, it’s not a stick of gum. This is a codeword for making a wager on Any Seven.

Bones: Throw them bones. The bones are the dice.

Black: This is slang for a $100 cheque-also called a chip by the layman. “Give me a stack of black,” would be saying that you want a stack of $100 cheques, which is $2,000-there are 20 cheques/chips in a stack.

Boxcars: Keep making this wager and you might be living in a boxcar. This is slang for the number 12-6-6 on the dice.

Boxman: This is the guy who is in the suit and sitting down in-between the two dealers on the inside of the Craps table. He’s the boss of the table. It’s his job to make sure payouts are okay and to watch the game. You’ll also see him tracking players for rewards.

The Boys: Perhaps a bit sexist in these days since there are more and more female Craps dealers, but this is slang for the dealers at the table. “Here’s $20 for the boys,” means that you’re giving $20 as a tip to the dealers. In the old days, you’d only find male Craps dealers.

And that concludes today’s Craps terms lesson. I’ll be back with plenty more.

The historian may have a little trouble clearly defining the history of Craps. In some circles, Craps has a debatable history. I found it fairly challenging to trace the game of Craps back to one single origin.

If popularity is to rule the day, then we should go with a widely accepted origin. It’s largely accepted that Craps evolved from an old game called Hazard, which was allegedly created by Bernard de Mandeville.

While his name might sound French, Hazard didn’t come into being in France or even Europe. Nope. Hazard was forged right in the USA. The time was 1813 and the place was none other than party town New Orleans-figures right? As the legend goes, Hazard grew in popularity.

And here’s something to completely throw you. Many found Hazard to be too complicated, so they simplified it. The new name? Craps. Many people today think Craps is extremely complicated. Can you imagine what Hazard must be like? The tables in Vegas would be barren-only a couple rocket scientists here and there. Come on baby, daddy needs a new pocket protector.

In the glory years, Craps was part of American culture. It was played in casinos and on many American streets. It was a game that was at least known about by most of society. And then the fall came. Some believe that gamblers just don’t want to think much. They want to put their money down and have a set path with limited choices. The popularity decline of Craps over the past 20 years would seem to support this theory.

Craps’ decline helped give rise to other games-like Blackjack. In the early 1990s, Las Vegas casinos experimented with a simpler version of Craps. Many of the decisions were taken out and it was more of a carnival came. There was one dealer-think Blackjack table here. You’d make a bet and throw the dice. It failed.

Real Craps players weren’t interested in the novelty game and non-Craps players just didn’t give a, well, crap. The casinos saw that there wasn’t any real money in the game and ditched it.

I think the game failed, because of one critical issue-community. Most real world Craps players play the game, because of the atmosphere. They want to be where the action is. Also, they want others to throw the dice to mix things up. There’s nothing better than a full table of happy Craps players. No matter where you are in the casino, you’ll hear the shouts.

Craps also has an interesting twist. An empty table is hard to fill. Craps players go where other Craps players are. Take a look at any other game, like Blackjack. An empty table can be a welcomed sight. There’s no other game as passionate as Craps.

Blackjack is a game that is geared to the house or dealer in a variety of ways. A player must go first and if they go bust their stake goes to the dealer even if he or she subsequently goes bust. Players have always tried to find a way to beat the system and card counting in blackjack is one of the most common strategies used.

Card counting is a system or strategy used mostly in blackjack games, it takes a lot of practice to do however it can be used in other card games. The principal of card counting has been around since live blackjack started, and as soon as the game moved online as soon so did the card counters. Card counters try to memorise the cards that have come out so they can lower the casino edge by having a good clue which card will come out next, hoping to eventually memorise the order of each card in the deck. For example knowing if all of the high cards already been dealt out would logically lead you to believe the remaining cards are of lower values.

Card counting was often easier during an online game as no one was watching you as long as you are quick to memorize the card or write it down – games give a limited amount of time to respond with hit or hold. Many have used this to their advantage and learned online before taking their skills into real casinos.

This is a risky strategy to use in a land based casino as unlike virtual casinos staff will be on the look out for card counters and though not illegal the casinos owners may ask you to leave.

So how has the latest gambling craze live webcam games responded to prevent players counting cards. Common methods include using multiple packs of cards, splitting the deck into 2 and shuffling them far sooner than it would happen during a game in a real casino. Casinos can often deliberately hide the remaining decks to put off card counters.

It must be noted that card counting takes effort but is it rarely worth it; firstly you have to have a fantastic memory, and statistically it gives a 1% advantage to an experienced player under the best circumstances. Yet this is still not enough or only just enough to cancel out the house advantage in most cases.

Thousands of websites are giving their opinions on what the best poker rooms are. Almost every poker or gambling related website includes a poker room reviews section. But can these reviews actually be trusted?

The answer is no, most of the reviews aren’t genuine. Where there’s money there’s corruption, and there’s a lot of money in the online poker industry. Even the largest poker sites ranking high in search engines will adjust their reviews based on how much a particular poker room is paying them

Online poker sites pay their affiliates a fixed amount of money to sign up players through their site. The problem is that instead of writing reviews on the poker sites, they make up the reviews based on how much money they’re getting paid. I’ve seen poker rooms that are notorious for having the worst quality software and no traffic ranking #1 on many popular poker room reviews sites, just because those rooms offer more money for sign ups.

The poker rooms don’t want you giving them negative ratings. If you read an affiliate terms and conditions policy it will explain that you’re obligated to promote them, “As widely and aggressively as possible so as to maximize the financial benefit to affiliate and to company.” So this means that poker rooms won’t even let you give them any negative reviews or else they’ll ban you from their program.

What ends up happening is many poker room review sites recommend EVERY poker room. All of the poker rooms they rate get a 5/5 or very close to it. Bad aspects of the room are ignored because the ‘job’ as an affiliate isn’t to give honest advice; it’s to sell the room to the readers.

But don’t worry; online poker isn’t filled with only cheats and liars. My site, for one, has detailed and honest poker room reviews. If you can sift through those review sites giving obvious false reviews you’ll find a bunch giving valuable information. Just be aware that many exist only to make money from you.