Category: Gambling and Casinos

Gamblers who fall in love with the excitement and “action” of gambling may, at first, be quite successful. They have fantasies of further success and of gambling becoming their personal path to wealth and power. Those who are headed for problems think they are smarter than the average bettor. They know that gambling is going to work for them because they, unlike less clever people, really understand how to beat the system.

As they become more involved in gambling, they derive an increasing portion of their self-esteem from seeing themselves as smart or lucky. Because of this, two things happen when they do incur the inevitable losses. First, they suffer monetary loss. Second, and often more important, they suffer a deflated ego.

To salvage their self-esteem, they rationalize losses by blaming other people, such as the jockey or the pitcher, or by blaming “bad luck” in cards, craps or lotteries. Or they reflect on their handicapping abilities and tell themselves they will not make the same “mistake” the next time.

The monetary loss is another matter, however, and this is dealt with differently. In order to recoup the loss, many gamblers “chase.” That is, they continue their betting and increase the amount of their bets in order to get even. Instead of saying, “It’s lost,” the chaser says, “I’ll get even tomorrow.” Chasing losses leads the gambler to gamble with more than he or she can afford to lose, and often to borrowing money in an effort to get even.

Many gamblers may chase for short periods, until they learn from bitter experience that this is counterproductive. The long-term preoccupation with chasing losses is the defining characteristic of the pathological gambler.

Chasing seems logical to many gamblers, as it means giving oneself a chance to get even.

If a gambler stops chasing, both money and self-esteem are lost. If the gambler continues chasing and wins, both can be regained. There is, therefore, the impetus to borrow in order to recoup losses. When continued gambling leads to still more losses, the compulsive gambler continues to borrow. The more money borrowed, the greater the commitment to more gambling as the only possible means of gaining enough money to pay off the debt.

This spiraling commitment to increased gambling often depletes family resources. Many compulsive gamblers cash in joint savings bonds, empty checking accounts, pawn joint property, and take out loans without the spouse’s knowledge. In order to preserve or regain respectability in the eyes of parents, spouse and others — and because their paychecks are insufficient — desperate gamblers see more gambling as the only alternative.

Fearing loss of respectability, the gambler hides loans. When gamblers default on the loans, fear that the bank or loan company will tell their spouse may drive them to more gambling as a possible quick way out. The behavior that caused the problem is increasingly seen by the gambler as the only solution, as there is no other way to get the needed money quickly.

As loans come due and pressures to pay become more insistent, sometimes involving threats of exposure or of physical harm from loan sharks or bookies, desperate gamblers weigh the risks of “borrowing” (embezzling) money from their employer, making fraudulent loan applications or insurance claims, or stealing the money.

Once they succumb to this temptation, the threshold to an even greater commitment to gambling has been crossed. This is especially true if they obtain money by loan fraud or embezzlement. These kinds of crimes enable gamblers to rationalize that they are not really criminals. The money is only “borrowed” so no one is being hurt. But there is constant pressure to repay the money, and counting on a big gambling win is seen as the only hope for doing so. This extends the spiral of involvement from more gambling to more and more illegal activities — until the gambler is caught, seeks professional help, or really does hit the big win.

Falling in love with the “action” and then chasing losses is the starting point for most men who become compulsive gamblers, but many women take a different route. While women also enjoy the “action” and chase losses, their initial motivation is often escape — escape from memories of unhappy childhood or parental abuse, escape from troubled husbands, and escape from loneliness. Once they became hooked on gambling, however, women follow the same spiral of increasing involvement as men, often leading to criminal activity.

Omaha poker is starting to become almost as popular as Texas Holdem poker in casino poker rooms, online poker sites and live poker tournaments. Omaha poker rules are similar to Texas Holdem rules. In both poker variations the dealers deals community cards, which can be shared by all the players.

However, Omaha poker and Texas Holdem poker are different games and they certainly require using different strategy. Omaha poker can be played as fixed limit, no limit or pot limit. In addition, Omaha poker can be played as high or high low split. Here you can find introduction to both Omaha high and Omaha high low rules.

Omaha High Rules

The play begins with the player to the dealers immediate left who posts the small blind, usually the amount of half of the minimum bet. For example, in a 4/8 dollars limit game, the small blind will be 2 dollars. Then, the player to the left of the small blind posts the big blind, which is the size of the minimum bet, 4 dollars according to this example.

After the blinds are posted, the dealer deals each player four face down cards, starting from the small blind and continuing clockwise. The first round of betting begins with the player to the big blind left who can choose between calling, raising or folding. If he chooses to call, he has to place a bet equal to the size of the minimum bet, if he raises, he places a bet double the amount of the minimum bet, and if he chooses to fold, he forfeits his hand.

The first round of betting continues until it gets to the player who posted the small blind. If he chooses to call, he can place only half of the minimum bet, which together with the small blind will complete the amount of the minimum bet. Afterwards, the round of betting gets to the big blind who can either raise or check.

After the first round of betting is complete, the dealer places three face up cards in the center of the table. These are known as community cards and this stage of the game is called the flop. After the flop, the second round of betting begins with the player to the dealers left. The minimum bet remains 4 dollars.

When the second round of betting is done, the dealer places a fourth community card in the center of the casino table, known as the turn. Then, begins another round of betting in which the minimum bet raises to 8 dollars. This round of betting starts with the player to the dealers left. After this betting round, the dealer will place the last community card in the center of the table, which is called the river. The river is followed by the final round of betting with a minimum bet of 8 dollars.

After the last round of betting, all the remaining players are exposing their hands, known as the showdown. Each player has to use two cards of his four cards and three of the five community cards to form the highest possible five cards hand. In an Omaha high game, the player whose five card hand is the highest wins the pot.

Omaha High Low Rules

Omaha high low is played exactly like Omaha high until the showdown. In Omaha high low, the pot is split between two winners: the player who had formed the highest hand and the player who has the best low hand. If none of the players has a qualifying low hand, the player who holds the highest hand wins the entire pot.

Omaha high low is also referred to as Omaha 8 or better. It means that in order to qualify as low hand, the hand cannot contain any 8s or cards of higher value. The best possible low hand is called the wheel. A, 2, 3, 4, 5. Ace value can be either high or low and flushes and straights are disregarded.

It sometimes occurs in Omaha high low poker game that the pot splits between more than two players. It can also happen that one player, who holds both high and low hands at the same five card poker hand, wins the entire pot.

Although gambling addiction affects less than 1 percent of all people, it is an issue taken very seriously by online casinos around the world.

A problem gambler is someone who feels this compulsive need to keep gambling despite the affects it is having on his/her life.

There are certain criteria that define a problem gambler, including, but not limited to, gambling until every dollar is gone, gambling a longer period of time than planned, thinking about gambling causes you to lose sleep, you have tried to and can’t stop gambling and you leave bills unpaid and spend all your money on gambling.

Addiction gamblers don’t always necessarily gamble in regular methods, at casinos or lotteries, for example. People with this problem will bet and gamble on anything, even meaningless bets with friends or coworkers. This contradicts the idea that land-based and online casinos encourage and create problem gamblers. If there isn’t a casino online or nearby, a problem gamble will bet in other ways.

If a person is having trouble determining if they, or someone they know, has a gambling problem there are many tests online from various problem gambling institutes that they can accurately determine if they are affected.

Casinos and online casinos have also taken steps to identify and help problem gamblers, although they acknowledge the fact that most problem gamblers identify themselves first and seek help. If you think that you or a loved one may have a gambling disorder, there are also support groups like Gamblers Anonymous (http://gamblersanonymous.org/).

This article was written on behalf of Online-Casino (http://www.online-casino.com). At Online Casino we are dedicated to helping problem gamblers and completely advocate responsible gaming.

Games are considered to be fair games when each player has the same opportunity to win, all other things considered equal. Games players everywhere are concerned with fair games. If the games aren’t fair, the players are being cheated so this is why they are always so concerned with the issue of fair games.

There is no way to know for sure if the games are fair. The software manufacturers have a stake in making sure that the games are fair since they have their own names to protect in the marketplace. They don’t want to be associated with any shoddy or fly-by-night operations. Many software manufactures have built-in procedures for testing the game software for fairness as well as protecting the consumer against other shoddy practices, but there is no way to guarantee that these are working.

Many online watchdog entities are concerned with the issue of game fairness and have requirements which must be met before the site receives its seal. The site usually has to submit to some form of software testing to ensure the integrity of the games in order to be awarded a seal. Finding a seal on a site is one way of being made to feel more secure about dealing with that site. Again, there are no positive guarantees, especially in the online environment. Fair games will always be a concern to players of gambling games because it is the player’s money that is at stake so most players will be concerned with fair games.