Category: Gambling and Casinos

I love to play a good round of Poker or Roulette and generally try to squeeze in a few games a day if at all possible. But at other times I like to spice up my game play a bit and try something different. I used to play the game of War when I was a kid because it was a simple game to learn and extremely fun. At the time I never envisioned that it could be more fun, but by playing it in an online casino it is.

War is a game of getting the higher card. If the player gets a higher card than the dealer, they win. There’s not too much to it. The game really gets exciting when both the dealer and the player get the same value of card, that’s when the battle starts. If both the dealer and the player both get the same value card the dealer will deal each of them three cards face down and one card face up. The person that has the higher card at this point wins. The player has the choice to not got to war, of course, and can fold if they get the same value of the card as the dealer before the battle begins.

While the game of War doesn’t enjoy the immense popularity that the game of Poker it does it is still an enjoyable game to pass the time. In fact, it might be one of the best choices for beginners because it gives a beginner the opportunity to learn the values of the cards before they get involved in more sophisticated games like Poker and Blackjack. Because War uses Poker cards this is a great place for people that aren’t sure of what the cards mean what to learn before they walk uneducated into a Poker room where the stakes will inevitably be much higher. War uses the same fifty two card deck of Poker cards that many of the other table games use. Because of this it is very easy for most people to transition to a game of War even if they have never played before.

While Poker and Blackjack remain the standard fare for most online casinos it is great that there are those online casinos that offer players more choices than just the same run of the mill games that everyone else does. For me variety is what life is all about and by offering several alternatives to the standard games, games that I love I might add, it makes the day a little better. Everyone gets a little tired of the same old thing from time to time and War is a breath of fresh air.

Casino vacations are some of the more popular choices for fun and entertainment. It is not surprising then that casinos average more than 50 million visitors a year in the United States.

While most casino vacations take place in well know gambling destinations such as Las Vegas, Atlantic City, Lake Tahoe and the Bahamas, others prefer to take a slow, leisurely and relaxing casino cruise on the open sea.

There are casino vacations for everyone from the leisure traveler to the serious gambler, from singles and couples, to entire families. Many airlines and hotels offer all-inclusive casino vacations, which range in price, depending upon the type of accommodations, number of people, length of stay, and destination. You can select the one that fits your budget and interests.

The highlight of a casino vacation is the casino itself, which offers a variety of table games, including poker, blackjack, baccarat, roulette, craps, pai gow, sic bo, video poker and rows and rows of slot machines. In addition, the casino usually has separate keno, horse races, and high stakes gambling areas. The sounds of people laughing, the clink of coins in the slot bins, the lights and bells, and the anticipation of a winning hand or a jackpot payout are exhilarating and exciting. You can gamble what you can afford, enjoy the free beverages, dine at reasonable prices, or take a chance on the giant wheel of fortune for cash and prizes.

Casino vacations may include tickets to a nightly show or evening entertainment, as well. Arcades and amusements for families with children are often available as a part of the vacation package. Whether you choose to gamble in the casino, take in a show, or do a little shopping, casino vacations are an excellent choice for unlimited fun and excitement. Why not book a casino vacation to Las Vegas today and see what the buzz is all about?

Casino resort room and food deals can be found using the Internet and also tourist services located in the resort you want to visit. When talking to a specific hotel or motel ask them if they offer any deals for more than one night or during the week when they are not so busy. Large resorts like Vegas often have super specials listed on the Internet for those that are willing to make a reservation well in advance of the arrival date.

If you are willing to set through a pitch for a vacation club, you can get your room and some shows for free. These vacation clubs use these incentives to gain access to prospective clients.

Casinos with large room occupancy offer specials for those visiting during the week and at what are considered off times. If there is no offer ask if there is one coming up or is there one you might qualify for in the near future. Maybe you could shift your visit in order to save a great deal on this necessary expense.

Holiday seasons and weekends are difficult times to locate deals if you wait until these dates are just around the corner. The only way to get a deal for these dates is to make your reservation well in advance.

If you are going to have an extended stay, look into renting a furnished condo for the month or longer. If you and another couple are making a similar vacation time, this can save a great deal of money over renting from a hotel or motel. Also you will probably save on the room tax as these rentals are considered in a different class than hotel and motel rooms.

Private residences are also open for longer stays as the people who own them are trying to use their property to make a little extra money.

If you are an RV person or a travel trailer owner, the places that rent to these owners are wiling to make deals for stays longer than a day or so. It never hurts to ask what they have to offer or are they wiling to negotiate an arrangement.

All of this information is readily found on the Internet using any good search engine. These searches are worthwhile as you can get a handle on what is being offered and at what price. Most of these sites will have a special for longer stays.

Many gambling chats and news groups devoted to poker more and more frequently anxiously mention the so-called card-playing robots, known as “bots” in the nomenclature of the Web, that are being used on commercial gambling sites. Many players are sure that a number of gambling portals prospers due to the use of the special programs, able to beat an above-average player, not mentioning a beginner. In a traditional casino you can always guess the weak sides of your competitor, figure out his strategy and etc, in a virtual gaming house there is no telling your competitor is a human, but not specially created program, “substituted” for a real player.

If it is true, then widespread of poker bots capable of beating an average player would pose a significant problem for poker sector. Without creation of a special system verifying the identity and “humanity” of cards players in on-line casinos, the business could be significantly undercut. This is an opinion of players themselves, and gambling figures, interested in further development of on-line game industry.

Some skeptics say that, considering the complexity of the game and constantly changing strategies, creation of the program that can read opponents’ cards using special techniques of screen scanning and respond in real time is many decades away at best. The supporters of this point of view point to the variety of commercial programs that purport to help players, but with no actual effect. However there is a ready answer for all of these objections – in Canadian University of Alberta a computer poker research group has developed an artificially intelligent automaton known as “Vex Bot”. This robot is capable of playing poker at master level in a game with two players. The new system has already been used to test the frontiers of artificial intelligence, as it will be the basis for commercial poker tutorial program. As soon as the news about robot creation was published in media, the creators began to receive letters mentioning the danger of system use for the purposes of illegal gambling business.

Darse Billings who is lead designer of “Vex Bot” considers that probability of the use of bots on commercial sites is approximately 50:50, but he is also sure that all of the modern programs can unlikely match his creation, which is a result of a 10 years research work of a team of specialists.

“The strategy of the game is difficult and to sit down and write a program that can beat a table of experienced human players is no trivial task,” Billings said. According to his the opinion, the biggest obstacles lie in the amount of information unavailable to the player and the need for the program to be able to employ a variety of strategies at different times, such as bluffing and laying traps for opponents, etc Exactly for this purpose artificial intelligence was added to the system, capable not only calculate probabilities but also line up logic of game, model it’s opponents behavior, etc.

In the opinion of creators of “Vex Bot”, its main advantage is that, as well as any other robot; they have no emotions, no fear and no shame and can not be nervous. He will remain indifferent even before the most aggressive player.

Journalists, studying the problem of poker boats, note that it is very difficult to get the real picture because of the unwillingness of many gambling operators to answer upon requests on this issue. There are no high-quality programs, able to watch suspicious poker sites with the unusual patterns of game.

Representative of CryptoLogic Company, commenting this problem, mentioned that some players, suspected to use of boats, have been banned from the member sites. Sometimes it is just impossible to be sure who plays is a human or robot, but a company, exposing all unusual strategies, prefers to be reinsured and protect itself from the possible socializing with a bot.

Professional players, speaking about the popularity of poker bots, mention how advantageous it can be: if you have the program, able to play 25 casinos simultaneously, two tables apiece and even if you are playing a minimum $10-20 on a game, you earn $1000 an hour. The participants of many gambling chats are distressed that the computer programs have already took the place of interactive poker. Skeptics are sure that poker will continue to become more popular, in spite of all of threats from the side of programmers. In their opinion, it’s only a matter of time before more people want to create their own bots to be remembered, but all of these attempts are doomed to failure.