Category: Gambling and Casinos

I have been participating in online casino gambling since its inception. It began right around the time that the Internet became a household fixture. Like all gamblers, I’ve had some great sessions that I’ll remember for a long time. You know what I mean, the dealer is busting left and right, I’m drawing five-card 21s, and the stack of chips in front of me gets bigger and bigger.

But I’ve also had horrible sessions where the opposite happened and nothing went my way. It’s all part of the game. It’s a roller coaster ride that you better be prepared for mentally. The key to long-term success in online casino gambling is to try to smooth out the peaks and valleys in order to gain some consistency. Sometimes a betting system can really help out. Now a lot of know what all gamblers might say that he thinks systems are for amateurs. But you’d be doing yourself a huge disservice by engaging in online casino gambling without going in with some sort of game plan first. You see, online casino gambling differs from traditional gaming establishments in a very important way, many times they offer better odds or give you financial incentives just to draw you in as a player. As a gambler, you know that even the slightest variation in odds will affect basic playing strategies for games such as blackjack and Jacks or Better video poker.

Because so many of these gambling sites offer incentives you don’t really need to put as much to come out ahead. Taking these factors into consideration means that for online casino gambling, you can chuck everything you thought you knew about blackjack, slots, roulette, poker, and craps out the window and adapt an entirely different game plan.

To develop a sound betting strategy you will need to consult credible reference materials. You can find excellent books and on the Internet that will benefit you greatly. The good news is there are enough math and computer wizards interested in blackjack and other games that we’re in no danger of running out of strategy guides tailored to online casino gambling.

He sure to make sure whatever system you are looking at that they author, or creator of that system, it is an experienced gambler himself and has shown the system to be credible. What I’ve discovered is that many of these guys are making money from selling their systems rather than using their own advice to win at online casino gambling. That should give you some idea of how “valuable” their systems really are! Some people make all the money writing about things as opposed to actually doing them. These are the types of people you want to avoid.

But if you dig in and do some checking, you’ll find that there are a few choice strategy guides out there that are quite effective at helping people earn a fairly steady income from online casino gambling. A great place to look for advice and resources are Internet forums where gamblers gather. Usually, at least one member of the forum has tested a particular strategy guide and would be more than happy to give you an honest review of the system. Once you find a winner, you will no doubt you much better about your chances for success in online casino gambling.

From it’s inception in 2003, the Blackjack Hall of Fame has inducted a total of 11 members for their outstanding accomplishments, both at the tables and away from them.

Edward O. Thorp, one of the original Blackjack Hall of Fame members, was a mathematician and scholar, known as the Father of Card Counting by professional players and the general populous alike. His Ten Count system was first introduced to the world in his 1962 book, “Beat the Dealer”, which was the very first winning blackjack system ever published, not to mention that it was also the first mathematician publication to beat any casino-style gambling game. Every card counting system available today is a derivative of Thorp’s Ten Count system.

Ken Uston, an original inductee, passed away in 1987, years before the Blackjack Hall of Fame was even a thought. Uston brought the secrets of the big card counting teams mainstream with his book, “The Big Player”, creating a commotion throughout the gaming industry. After his landmark publication, card counting teams began to generate across the globe.

The inventor of blackjacks’ “team play” is one of the original members of the Hall of Fame- Al Francesca. Francesca was the driving force and mastermind behind Ken Uston and his book, “The Big Player”.

Blackjack researchers have been using the mathematical methods of Peter Griffin, as he was the first to break down any card counting system into two points-the Betting Correlation (BC) and the Playing Efficiency (PE). His book, “The Theory of Blackjack”, along with his many other mathematical papers made him an easy pick for the original Blackjack Hall of Fame lineup.

Stanford Wong, often referred to as the “Godfather of Blackjack”, was an original inductee into the Hall of Fame. The term “wonging” is related to his proven techniques of card counting across the globe. Wong was one of the first to beat the continuous shuffle machines of Las Vegas before they were removed and updated.

Yet another original member of the Blackjack Hall of Fame, Arnold Snyder, was inducted for first to publish what is now common knowledge amongst professional blackjack players; the importance of penetration. Although he has written many publications on the topic of blackjack, Snyder refrains from publishing much of what he has learned to allow current players the opportunities to play and win.

While still in college, Tommy Hyland began playing professional blackjack, and has been for over 25 years. He is the leading man in the longest running and most successful blackjack team in the entire world. Adored by his peers and despised by casino owners, Tommy has made his mark in the blackjack world and is an original inductee into the Hall of Fame.

2004 and the Blackjack Ball brought Keith Taft to the Hall of Fame, complete with a photo album featuring a variety of gadgets and such that he invented to aid in the casino beating process, with his primary focus always on blackjack. Taft credits his son, Marty, for the two were an unbeatable team since Marty was a teenager.

Max Rubin is the author of “Comp City”, a publication aimed at beating the Blackjack tables of Las Vegas even without mastering the art of counting cards. Rubin is the other Hall of Fame’s inductee for 2004.

The 2005 Blackjack Ball brought with it two new inductees into the Blackjack Hall of Fame, one being Julian Brown, an IBM computer programmer became captivated with the mathematics involved in blackjack. In the 1960’s Brown wrote to Edward O. Thorp and requested a copy of the blackjack computer program. Since Brown had access to some of the fastest computers available, he worked diligently to produce an improved program, resulting in the creation of Hi-Opt blackjack and Hi-Lo strategies. Most of today’s blackjack experts have built upon the work of Julian Brown.

2005’s second inductee is none other that Lawrence Revere, a card shark and hustler who created a series of amazingly simple, color coded charts and such so that anyone could understand. Revere is considered to be the man who brought blackjack to the average player.

The professional hole-carder’s bible, “Beyond Counting”, was authored by none other than James Grosjean, thus sealing his fate as the 2006 Blackjack Hall of Fame inductee. Although every tactic used by Grosjean was legal at the time, he was ridiculed and arrested for his practices. In turn, he sued Caesars and Imperial Palace for wrongful arrest, as well as the Griffin Detective Agency, forcing them into bankruptcy, paving the way to stop libeling professional gamblers.

The four-day Cheltenham Festival dominates the March programme, but there’s also a busy programme of racing throughout the month including the ever-popular Imperial Cup day at Sandown plus the thrills and spills of the Midlands Grand National day at Uttoxeter. Flat fans, meanwhile, will need no reminding that the new turf season kicks off with the William Hill Lincoln at Redcar on March 25.

March begins with the newly-established Vodafone Gold Cup at Newbury on the 4th over two and a half miles. It’s something of a surprise to find such a valuable race staged so close to the Cheltenham Festival, and many trainers face the dilemma of deciding whether to run here or in either the Ryanair Chase or Racing Post Plate over similar distances at the Cheltenham Festival.

Twelve months ago a solid handicapper in the shape of Supreme Prince held on to land the valuable prize while in its inaugural year, the classy Isio was a well-backed winner. Absent since that season, Nicky Henderson’s gelding may well reappear in this race and would be an interesting contender.

On the same day Doncaster’s Grimthorpe Chase, a staying handicap over three and a quarter miles, has been transferred to Lingfield and may well be the chosen target of A Glass In Thyne, who won the Skybet Chase that had also been switched from Doncaster to Southwell in January. Maybe the changing fixture pattern will repeat itself again for Ben Pollock’s improving young chaser.

Champion trainer Martin Pipe has endured a stop-start season but plenty of punters will still be scouring the list of runners for the Imperial Cup at Sandown on March 11 in the hope of unearthing another Pipe hotpot for one of the season’s most keenly-contested handicap hurdles.

Pipe has won the race five times overall and has landed the prize three times in recent seasons. His mass of entries should be studied with the utmost care and may well include progressive sorts such as Buena Vista, Acambo and Desert Air.

The punishing combination of a fiercely-run race and a stamina-sapping finish up the demanding Sandown hill has often meant that lightly-weighted horses have held an advantage over their higher-weighted rivals, while waiting tactics have also proved successful for several of the recent winners. Making all in a race as competitive as this isn’t easy.

The Irish won this race with shock outsider Regency Rake, trained by Arthur Moore in 1999, and any runners from across the Irish Sea should be accorded the greatest respect. Jessica Harrington’s Studmaster, an easy winner of his last two races might take in this contest or wait for the County Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival.

On the same day at Sandown make a note also of the EBF Novices’ Hurdle Final, a race that often produces a star of the future. Plenty of classy young hurdlers will have this contest in their sights including the Lambourn-trained duo Mr Pointment, and Wogan while the NickGifford team intends to field Dusky Lord.

In recent years the Irish have held the Champion Hurdle on March 14, the opening day of the Cheltenham Festival, in a vice-like grip, winning five of the last seven renewals and looking at the somewhat weakened field for this year’s renewal it’s hard not to envisage the hurdling crown being whisked away once more across the Irish Sea.

Reigning title-holders boast a superb record in the Champion, but recent dual winner Hardy Eustace will have to banish a bout of the blues on his latest and disappointing effort in the AIG Europe Champion Hurdle at Leopradstown. At the age of nine many think his time may have passed.

Plenty of horses that have been placed in the race previously have put that beneficial experience to good use by returning again the next year to run well. Ireland’s formidable trio of Brave Inca, Macs Joy and Al Eile, who finished third, fifth and seventh respectively in last year’s race will all be fancying their chances of winning this race a second time around.

The home-based challenge looks poor and has been hit hard by a spate of cruel injuries as well as the loss of form of emerging contenders such as Faasel and Penzance. Maybe the best of the British will be Arcalis, whose chances will be much increased by quick ground at Cheltenham, and a return to form for his stable.

Wednesday sees the two-mile heavyweights clash in the stirring championship that is the Queen Mother Champion Chase. Predicting this year’s winner revolves around whether punters think dual winner and reigning champion Moscow Flyer is just a jaded member of the old guard ready to be swept away by young pretenders such as the classy Kauto Star and the improving Fota Island.

Disappointing on his two starts so far this season, the mighty Moscow Flyer is twelve years of age and you have to go back almost thirty years (1977) to find the last winner from that age group.

Kauto Star, by contrast, has youth on his side and hails from the Paul Nicholls stable that has the best recent record in this race with winners in 2004 and 1999, and four placed horses since 2000. Kauto Star is a worthy favourite to add to that auspicious tally.

Thursday’s championship race is the World Hurdle, formerly known as the Stayers’ Hurdle and rather like the Queen Mother Champion Chase, it features a past champion in Baracouda attempting to add a third title at the age of eleven in what must rank a one of the most open renewals in living memory.

But for the foot-and-mouth abandonment of 2001, Baracouda would already have three Stayers’ titles to his name but his task this year is made even harder by his advancing years and the presence of a strong domestic and Irish challenge from Mighty Man, No Refuge, Asian Maze and Golden Cross.

Friday March 17 is Cheltenham Gold Cup day and after the brilliant dominance of the chasing blue riband by three times victor Best Mate, this year’s renewal is one of the poorest and also most open in years and likely to produce a surprise result in this greatly-anticipated championship event.

The loss through injury of Kicking King, last year’s easy winner, has left the race wide-open but many backers will be looking to Monkerhostin, runner-up to the imperious Kicking King in the 2005 King George VI Chase, as a possible winner. Seven of the last ten Gold Cup winners ran in the King George, making it a key trial for future Gold Cup heroes.

Cheltenham week closes with the Midlands Grand National day on March 18 and Ossmoses, a course winner last year, will be a leading fancy for the four-mile one-and-a-half furlong prize given his preference for running over long-distances in the mud. On the same card backers should watch out for Sue Smith’s tough mare Viciana in the EBF Mares’ Novices’ Chase Final.

March closes with the William Hill Lincoln run for the first time at Redcar (due to building work at Doncaster) and the draw is sure to have a big say in the outcome of this one-mile handicap, and the first big prize of the new turf Flat season.

Twelve months ago Newmarket trainer Sir Michael Stoute won this contest for the first time with Stream of Gold and bids to do the same again with the progressive King’s Majesty while James Fanshawe will be looking for easy ground if he’s to run Cesare, another young and improving horse.

They say the first step to beating an addiction is to admit that you have a problem.

Dealing with someone who has a gambling addiction can be painful. They have a tendency to withdraw from family and loved ones, so what are you supposed to do when someone you care about has developed a gambling addiction.

There are several things you will need to do and some of them are very hard to do.

The first thing you have to do is to hide all your valuables, and if this person lives with you, then you need to keep them behind locked doors and if that is not possible then take them to a bank and lock them in a safety deposit box.

If this person is you child or your spouse then you need to limit there access to your money. In many circumstances people have spent their family’s savings and kid’s college funds. So if at all possible try to get that persons name of the accounts if it is not already too late, and cancel all their credit cards.

At some point you will have to confront them. When you do confront them it is important to not yell and do not get angry just tell them how what they are doing affects you. Make sure that all the persons close friends are there to help with this.

It is important that everyone take turns and tell the person how his gambling has affected their relationships, but in a non angry, caring manner. This will help the person realize that the people that care about him see something that maybe he does not and hopefully will take an honest look at his gambling.

Remember the goal of confronting someone is not to make them stop gambling, it is to help them recognize they have a gambling problem and to encourage them to seek professional help.

Some people recommend that you try to get your friend to go to a gamblers anonymous meeting, but I do not recommend this. Gamblers Anonymous is a great organization that truly helps those with gambling problems stay away from gambling, but before you are ready for this most people need one on one sessions with a psychologist or a counselor trained to deal with gambling addiction.

After all is said and done, you must be prepared because most of the time the gambler continues to gamble, maybe they will make a brief attempt to stop before starting again in secret.

With most addictions the person with the problem needs to hit what they call a “bottom”. This is when the gambler has lost everything that really meant anything to them, such as family and friends, and it is only at this point many will see the problem and seek help.

If you know someone who is unwilling to admit their gambling problem I recommend that after you have tried your best to get this person to seek help if they do not, you may have to be prepared to leave them, remember at some point you have to abandon a sinking ship before you go down as well.

To find more information on gambling addiction search gamblers Anonymous and

Codependence websites.