Poker bonus

Most online casino gambling aficionados play hard and they play to win. But there’s an alternate strategy (no, not to lose – that would be silly!): a strategy more conservative, more demanding of discipline, as well as of considerable more questionable merit than straightforward online casino gambling, but with significantly higher odds of a player walking away from the (computer) tables with more dough than he or she started with. It’s called “bonus hunting” and it’s the closest thing in online casino gambling to a sure thing.

For signing up and making your first deposit (or “purchasing” your first stack of chips), the online casino gambling site will give you some percentage of that amount in bonus chips. As soon as you make the deposit, the full amount of the bonus is added to your player account. But, of course, there’s a catch – you must wager an amount equal to some multiple of the dollar amount of either your bonus or your initial deposit (depending on the online casino gambling site or poker room) before you can withdraw any of it. As you can probably guess, in the process of meeting your wagering requirement, two things are likely to occur:

1. You lose some or all of the bonus amount and some or all of your initial deposit too
2. You enjoy the online casino gambling experience at that site so much (or have lost so much money you just can’t let yourself walk away) that you deposit more and more money and just keep on playing

What Bonus Hunters have discovered, however, is that by only playing at the lowest stake tables (ie. 1 cent video poker), they can severely minimize the percentage of their bonus that’s eaten away in the process of fulfilling the wagering requirements. It is unlikely that a bonus hunter will come out ahead. It is even highly unlikely that the bonus hunter will walk away with most of the bonus. But they’ll probably walk away with some of it and get their initial deposit back. So what are the drawbacks? What bonus hunters happily lose in risk, they gain in time commitment. Playing not to win but to “not lose” takes a ton of time, and you’ll probably find the reward not worth the absence of risk at all.

Online casino gambling sites don’t like bonus hunters – is it any wonder – and as such, if you’re ever tagged as one, you may be permanently locked out of the casino, forced to give up any winnings, and find yourself blacklisted not only from that casino but from its affiliates and sister sites too. Try it at your own risk.

Bluffing is used to deceive other player’s into thinking you have a better hand when you really don’t. In order to make the bluff work, you need the other players to think you actually have a better hand by betting or raising.
Bluffing should be done at the right time and done sparingly. Remember, everyone is looking for their own opportunity to bluff. Here are some reason why you shouldn’t bluff.When Not to Bluff
Player’s Expect You to Bluff: You were caught bluffing and now labeled as apoor bluffer. Don’t stick you hand in the cookie jar until you rebuild your reputation as an honest player, then try to bluff later.
Against Too Many Players: The chances are that someone has a made hand and they’ll stick with it.
Against Bad Players: Bad players have no idea what’s going on. They’ll call you regardless, because they aren’t concerned with what you have. They want to improve their own hand, so they’ll call just about anything.
You lost a Series of Hands: Players will expect you to make some crazy moves to make your money back (playing on tilt). They’ll be ready to call you down.

Again, bluffing should be used sparingly. Here are some scenarios where a typical bluff should be taken into consideration:

The RIGHT Time to Bluff
Against Weak or Tight Players: Once you have a general idea of how your opponents play, your biggest targets would be pounding the weak and tight players who tend to fold easily. However, bluffing too early won’t make them budge; they may not believe you have a better hand or maybe holding a strong hand of their own. (Refer to the table image section)
Few Players in the Pot: It’s easier to trick a few individuals (1-3) rather than a small group. Fewer hand out there, the chances of someone making a reasonable hand are slim.
Everyone has checked and you’re last to act: Betting will force a few players out of the pot, but not all (also known as squeezing). It’s pretty common to see someone bluff and bet on the button, so most of the time players will call because they won’t believe you have the better hand. It’s also a good strategy to see where you stand.
You Bet Preflop and Missed: You’re holding an A Q and bet preflop, and the flop comes down K -8 -5 . Other player’s may still think your hand is strong because of your bet preflop. So a bet on the flop would make your opponents thinking you’ve hit nicely on the flop.
Player’s Fear You: If you won a hand through a good play, and see your opponent a bit aggravated or show respect by commenting on your hand, then trick them in the future by running the same play that beat them. They will more likely fold to your bluff if you play it right.

Semi-Bluffing
A semi-bluff is a partial bluff with some truth in that play. With a semi bluff, you can either win by them folding right then, by improving to the best hand, or by catching a scare card and betting out on the following round. You should have general knowledge of calculating odds before attempting a semi-bluff. Here are a few examples of when to semi-bluff. So betting at the pot might make them fold or give you an idea of where you stand.

There are many expression in the Blackjack lingo, but knowing them all improves your status, as you will feel like a winner before being one.

Comps - This is the main reason for playing for many people. A Comp is basically anything you get for free from the casino. It could be food, rooms, cash, travel, drinks and so forth. Here’s a tip. Most casinos comp players based on the data from a player’s card. Whenever you walk into a new casino, ask about their player’s card and get one-they are free

Cut Card - When you cut the deck in Blackjack-at real live tables-you use a cut card. This card is the same size as a regular card in the deck and it’s usually red. It’s also plastic. Slide that baby in the right place and let’s win some hands!

Discards – These are the cards that have already been played. In a real live game, you’ll see the discards off to the side of the table.

Double Deck - A Blackjack game typically uses 1-8 decks of cards. A Double Deck game of Blackjack uses two decks of cards. In a real live game, this game is hand shuffled and dealt from hand. Shoe games start with four or more decks.

Double Down – You’re so money! Even non-gamblers know this phrase. When you double down, you double up your original bet and take one final card. You can double down on your first two cards only. While online casinos typically make you double your bet on a double down, live casinos will allow you to “double for less,” which means you can put any additional amount down-up to the amount of your original wager

Double Exposure – This is a variant of Blackjack. You’ll find that there are various Blackjack rules that a casino may or may not use-like surrendering. In this variant, both dealer cards are dealt face up. Sounds like easy money right? Not so fast. These games also have additional rules-usually something like dealer wins all ties. You may like this type of game though, so check it out. Make sure you ask about the rules differences before playing.

Draw – Most everyone says, “hit,” but draw is the same thing. When you draw a card, you’re not getting out a pencil and sketch paper to make an art masterpiece; you’re taking one additional card for you hand

Edge – Do you have an edge? The edge just means who has the best ability to make money over the long haul. As a gambler, you take steps to reduce the house’s edge and increase your chances of winning. A Blackjack example of this would be card counting. Another example would be playing only certain types of Blackjack games, such as single deck.

The last thing you want to see when you’re dealt a Blackjack is the dealer having an Ace. Here are the most commonly used expression during as Blackjack game and their meaning.

Even Money – When the dealer has a potential Blackjack-and you were dealt a Blackjack-you can ask for even money. If you take even money, your Blackjack is paid 1:1 instead of 1.5:1. So, a $15 wager is paid $15. If you don’t take even money and the dealer has Blackjack, you just push.

Expectation – I won’t get too technical with this one. Basically, it means the amount of money you can expect to win or lose over a period of time

Face Cards – Real simple here. Face cards are the Jack, Queen and King. They are all worth 10 point in Blackjack. There’s no real difference in these cards unless you’re playing a side game like Royal Match.

First Base - This is the seat that gets the cards first. The dealer deals clockwise, so first base is the first seat on the dealer’s left

Flat Betting – When you flat bet, you’re just betting the same amount on every hand. This really isn’t idea. Unless you’re just playing for a little fun and free drinks, you want to alter your bets some now and then.

Heads Up – This happens usually in online play. It’s when you’re the only one at the table. You’re playing with the dealer only. In real casinos, some players like this and they’ll move around looking for empty tables. When someone else sits down, they get up and find another empty table. You’ll see some big-time players request an empty table. If they are playing enough, the casino will rope off a table for them

High Roller – We just talked about one in our Heads Up description. A high roller is someone who bets a lot. The real high rollers will walk into a casino with millions to wager if they so choose. They are also called whales

Hit – Take a hit to get another card for your hand. It’s also called a draw.

Hole Card – This is the magical card that the dealer gets that you can’t see-unless you’re playing a double face up game of Blackjack.

Hot Deck – It’s just the opposite of a cold deck. A hot deck is in your favor and hopefully you’re betting big.

House Edge – We talked about this in our Edge description. All casino games have a house edge. The casino always has the advantage over you. Some games are better than others. For instance, Blackjack has a much lower house edge than Roulette.

Insurance - Many call insurance a sucker’s bet. When the dealer shows an Ace, you can take insurance. It costs half your wager and if you take it, you want the dealer to have a Blackjack. If not, you lose your insurance bet and now if you win, you only win a profit of 50%, which isn’t fun.

Let’s go over a bunch of Blackjack and casino terms in part one of our Blackjack terms. I’ve spent some time coming up with a listing of fun terms I think you’ll want to know. They’re listed in alphabetical order, so scroll around if you want.

Action – It means almost what you think. When a bet is “live” it has action. This term is commonly used when someone puts actual cash in the betting area.

Back Counting – A back counter is someone who isn’t sitting at the table and who is counting the cards. An example would be two friends that walk up to play. One sits down and the other stands around the table.

Bankroll – Ah, this one is a classic. A bankroll is the amount of money you have to gamble with. It’s the key ingredient in money management and the better you are at managing a bankroll, the better off you are. A bankroll can be for a session of gambling, a calendar month, a season in sports or whatever other time term you want.

Bar – No, not the kind that serves you drinks. If you get barred, you’re out of luck. A barred player is one who gets removed from the casino for good. It’s also called “being 86ed.”

Basic Strategy - In Blackjack, this is your garden-variety strategy that’s designed to help you have a good time and stay in the game.

Blackjack - This is the game we’re talking about. If you don’t know how to play, check out the quick-start Blackjack guide on this site.

Burn Card – After the deck is shuffled and cut, the first card is “burned,” which means it is discarded. This is an old anti-cheat mechanism and it’s still used today in brick and mortar casinos.

Bust - When your card count in Blackjack goes over 21, you’ve busted. When you bust, you lose. Ideally, you hope this happens to the dealer often and not you.

Card Counting – It’s a strategy to try and figure out what type of cards are left in the deck. Players who employ this strategy will bet bigger when the remaining cards in the deck are larger and bet less when the remaining cards in the deck are smaller. There are many card counting techniques and we talk about card counting in Blackjack more on this site.

Cold Deck – Cold deck is the same thing as a cold table in Craps. It just means that the deck sucks for players. If you’re counting, you know when the deck is cold, because it’s overloaded with smaller cards.

Color Up - When you’re ready to leave the table, you can color up. Let’s say that you have 20 red chips ($100), you could color up for one black chip. Casinos try to color up players because it keeps them from having to constantly fill tables with extra chips. As a player, it’s easier to walk around with fewer chips.

Here is a small Blackjack terms glossary. Once you finish this series, consider yourself a Blackjack terms expert. Let’s go.

Session – This term is used most when talking about money management. A session is a period of time spent gambling

Shill – These guys are casino employees. To facilitate action, a shill will go up to a table-usually an empty one-and play. The idea is that if you’re walking around and see action, you’ll play. Shills are more likely to be used at a Craps table, because not many people like being the only player in Craps.

Soft Hand – This is any hand where an Ace is being used as an 11.

Stand - When you’re happy with your hand, you can stand, which ends your turn.

Surrender – Some casinos allow you to surrender. When you surrender, you throw in your hand and get half your wager back. A common surrender situation is when you have a hard 16 and the dealer has a face card showing.

Third Base – It’s the opposite of first base. Third base is the last seat to get cards. If the table is full, it will be the seat immediately to the dealer’s right hand.

Toke – Also called a tip. Dealers work for tips, so they love players who tip them. One common way to tip in Blackjack is to place a bet for the dealer. You do this by placing your tip bet above your wager on the layout. Let the dealer know it’s for him/her, so they can make sure the placement is right. This is a good way to get the dealer to root for you.

True Count - It’s another card counting term. When there are multiple decks, you take the running count and divide it by the number of decks being used. This gives you a more accurate picture.

Up Card – The dealer gets two cards in Blackjack to start with. The Up Card is the card that you can see. The bottom one you can’t see is called a hole card.

Unit – A measurement of betting. For instance, a unit could be $5, $10, $1 or whatever.

Vig – This is the money that goes to the house. A popular vig in sports betting, for example, is 10%.

Whale – This is the big-time player-the high roller. Casinos-and dealers-love to see a whale coming. It usually means there’s a chance for a nice payday.

And there you have it. Good luck at the tables!

Blackjack has a colorful history. In the 1800s, America was anti-gambling in its stance. Gambling was an underground activity. That began to change in the 1900s and in 1931 gambling was legalized in Nevada. Almost five decades later, Atlantic City followed.

The late 1950s is really were it all started. The man was Roger Baldwin and is 1956 publication “The Optimum Strategy in Blackjack” paved the way for the marriage between man and math in gambling. It’s as if the light went on. Blackjack can be beat. Six years later a man by the name of Edward O. Thorp released a book that quickly became a towering hit and it’s the book that’s known by many Blackjack players. The book was called “Beat the Dealer.”

The doors were now opened and many started looking at casinos as a way to get rich. In fact, Lawrence Revere believed this very thing. He took the simple concept of winning at Blackjack one step further by releasing a book called “Playing Blackjack as a Business.” The wheels were turning and the 1970s marked the next huge revolution. Computers were now brought into the mix. Enthusiasts all over were using computers to create and run simulations-trying to find the ultimate winning strategy. And it was in this era that casinos really got worried. It was one thing for a handful of people to try and come up with systems while losing real money. It was another for a wider audience to be able to develop and test perfected systems. The public was now developing a hunger for Blackjack knowledge. Casino operators realized that single-deck Blackjack was vulnerable. That’s when they devised the “shoe.” The “shoe” held multiple decks of cards. When multiple decks are added to the game, the percentages change. It’s also easier to protect against card counters.

Given all this, one man-Ken Uston-made a living beating Blackjack in casinos. He’s a legend. He was so successful at destroying the game that seven Las Vegas casinos banned him for life. Uston thought he might have a legal battle, so he sued. The final judgment came down in 1987. Uston was found dead in Paris. Did the casino owners kill him? Was it a deal gone bad? Was it just the wrong place at the wrong time?

Today, Blackjack books and software programs are all over. Each year many people go online or visit a casino in hopes of claiming riches at the Blackjack table. It still remains a game that can be beat.

Sure, you could sit down to play Blackjack and just throw your money around. Before playing Blackjack, it’s best to come up with a battle plan. You’ve got to attack the game. The progressive (or ladder) system that changes your wager just about every hand. This is not a plan that increases your wager when you lose, because that’s the wrong way to do things. Rather, we’ll increase the wager with each winning hand.

You need to decide on the numbers and how many progressions to use. I’ll give you a guide to start from. Let’s imagine that you have $100 to play with. You should play $2-$5 hands normally. So, we’ll base our start at $5. The plan is simple. When you lose, your next hand is $5. You never increase your wager after a losing hand. Instead, you start over again. When you win, you’ll be increasing your hand as follows:

5 – 10 – 20 – 40 – 80

I’ve set up five levels. If you win five hands in a row, rather than having $25, you’ll end up with $160 or more-blackjacks. However, if you were to lose say five in a row, you’ve only lost $25. If you’re a very conservative player, step it down to 3 or 4 levels. Even at 3 levels, you can still pocket $40 instead of $15. As to double downs, that’s a call you’ll have to make based on your bankroll. Let’s imagine that you’ve won your first four hands. You have $80 on the table and receive an 11. If you double down, it’s a bad move. Why? Adding $80 would mean your entire bankroll is on this one hand. Lose it and you go home. Not smart.

However, let’s say it’s later in the game and your bankroll is now $500 or so. Adding the $80, which is profits at this point, might be a good gamble. It’s a moment-by-moment decision. No matter how you play it, never risk most or all of your bankroll on any single hand. Also, should you get up by 2-3 times your original bankroll, put that original amount back in your pocket and make sure you leave the casino with it.

Blair Hull was a successful blackjack player, and he turned $25,000 into $500,000 – but he didn’t do it playing blackjack. He used his blackjack skills in a game with far higher stakes and made a fortune. Blair Hull actually became a trader, trading in the financial markets – and many of the worlds top financial traders are blackjack players. Why? Because blackjack gives you the skills to succeed in financial trading. If you are able to play blackjack successfully, you can make money by trading as well – as you already have all the skills needed to succeed.

Blackjack Success is down to the Following:
1. Playing when the odds are in your favor
2. Adjusting the bet size
3. Using a system, and rigidly applying it with discipline
4. Playing non emotionally, and with focus

Just as most players in the casinos lose, so do most traders in the financial markets – and the reason is all down to not having a plan, and executing it with discipline. In 1984, Richard Dennis conducted an experiment that taught 14 people with no previous experience to trade in 2 weeks. The Result? – They all went on to make millions in profits and earn 80% annual returns! To learn a trading system (the system only had a few rules, and could be learned by anyone of average intelligence) is not hard, as Richard Dennis’s experiment showed.

Interestingly, Dennis put the success of the group not down to the system he gave them, but on the discipline, and money management skills he taught them. Blackjack and trading are “games” where you need to deal with odds and probability – and get them on your side. You then need to apply your method coolly, and non-emotionally, to make big profits – and you already have the discipline to succeed – you just need to learn the basics.