PokerStars continued on largely unfazed (and is still the world’s largest online poker site by a wide margin according to PokerJunkie) but Full Tilt would ultimately implode and shutter its online doors. The passage of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) in 2006 paved the way for Black Friday, with the UIGEA making it illegal for US banks to knowingly do business with online gambling sites. Some sites exited the US market and obeyed it but others stayed, suffering no real consequences until the Department of Justice made its move on Black Friday.

While it’s not illegal for US citizens to play poker or video poker online, the laws attempted to cut off the games at their funding source. Facing difficulties in processing deposits to their sites, Full Tilt and PokerStars resorted to a variety of creative methods to process transactions, including investing in US banks and coding credit card transactions as mainstream purchases of goods and services. Various executives and shareholders of Full Tilt are also being pursued in civil cases, with the US government publicly accusing them of running a Ponzi scheme.

The net result has been that poker fans ended up with far fewer choices of online sites to play at (http://www.pokerjunkie.com/poker-sites.php) while Full Tilt customers are still waiting for refunds of the money they had on deposit, with an estimated $150 million in total owed to US players. Attendance at the 2011 World Series of Poker was strong despite the absence of online qualifiers from many sites but some analysts feel the real impact of Black Friday will be felt in 2012, with the poker economy suffering without the usual steady influx of money entering it as in years past.

Always play maximum coins! The reason is that the jackpot will only be played when maximum coins are played. Play a slot machine with smaller amounts per bet and play maximum coins rather than playing slots with higher amounts per bet and not play maximum coins.

Progressive Slots pay much more when hitting the jackpot, while non-progressive pay more on lower winnings! Therefore, non-progressive slots are also a nice option to play, especially if you just want to have some fun and want to spend a small amount of money on it. With the bigger win amounts for the non-jackpot winnings, you will be able to play longer.

Set yourself a stop-loss limit! When playing slots, the casino always has an edge over you. Therefore, set yourself a maximum amount you are willing to lose before you play and stop when you hit that amount.

Before playing slot machines online, make sure to read the Terms & Conditions of the casino you plan to gamble at, especially with wagering requirements for any bonuses you might receive.

Always play with maximum coins! This is the most important thing when playing Video Poker. The reason therefore is very simple: The payout for the royal flush is much higher in terms of units payout (amount you get for $1 bet) when you play maximum coins, instead of just 1 coin. If you can’t afford maximum coins at a certain Video Poker computer, go to a Video Poker machine that has a lower coin value (instead of playing at $1 machines, play at $.25 machines).

Know the paytables! Knowing the paytables is very important because it will help you find the best video poker machines. When playing Jacks or Better Video Poker, for example, make sure that you play on a 9/6 machine, which means that you should only play on Jacks or Better computers that pays you 9 units for a Full House and 6 units for a flush. There are many Jacks or Better Video Poker machines available, that pay only 8 or 6 units for a Full House and only 5 units for a flush. Avoid these machines!

When holding a pair, don’t keep a single “money card”! When you are holding a pair and also have a single money card (like Jack, Queen, King or Ace in Jacks or Better), don’t keep this money card, as keeping the card greatly reduces your chances of hitting 3 or 4 of a kind, which would pay more than simply hitting a “money” pair.

Keep winning hands dealt to you, unless you need only 1 card to Royal Flush! When you are dealt a winning hand, always hold this hand, instead of attempting to get a better-paying hand. The only exception should be when you have a made hand, but also only need 1 more card to get a Royal Flush. In that case, go for the Royal Flush!

Don’t go for the flush, when holding nothing! Should you have only 3 cards of the same suit and nothing else, don’t go for the flush, but instead either hold a money card you might have, or throw the entire out, should you not even have a money card. The payout of the flush is too low to draw to it when only holding 3 cards of the same suit.

When nothing on initial hand, hold “money cards” or throw out entire hand! Should you be dealt a hand with no initial pair or draw to anything, keep only your money card and throw the other 4 cards out. Should you not even be holding a money card, throw the entire hand out and hope to catch a paying hand when the cards are exchanged.

These basic tips should help you decrease the edge of the casino. Eventhough this strategy is not perfect, it is easy to remember, easy to implement and already minimizes the edge of the casino significantly. Perfect strategy is much more complex and varies with the game of Video Poker you are playing, as well as with the payout tables.

Unlike in “regular” poker, when playing video poker, you are not playing against an opponent, but you are trying to get the best hand possible given the cards you are dealt.

At the beginning of each hand, you will be dealt 5 cards. Then, you have to make a decision as to what cards to keep, and which cards to change, so you can make a hand that pays. Then, the cards you want to have changed, will be exchanged and should you have made a hand now, you will be paid according to the payout schedule. Should you not have hit anything that pays, you don’t win and will have to try again in the next hand.

Depending on the game, you will usually get at least 2 pairs to get paid, but will get paid for anything that is 2 pairs or better. In some games, like Jacks or Better, you will be paid for a pair of Jacks or better, meaning pairs of Jacks, Queens, Kings or Aces pays, as well as 2 pairs, 3 of a kind, streets, flushes, 4 of a kind, etc.

There are also a few special rules that depend on the game of video poker you are playing. For example, when playing Joker Wild, there will also be a joker in the deck of cards, which counts for whatever card you need it to count for. In Deuces Wild, deuces are wild, which means that they can replace any card that you need them to replace in order to make the best hand possible.

As you can see, the game itself is pretty easy. The only thing that is somewhat more difficult is the proper strategy, especially with regard to which cards to replace, and which to hold. For more information about this, read our Video Poker strategy article, in which we give you more tips with regard to playing Video Poker.

Because of this significant difference between the house edges of European and American Roulette, we highly recommend only playing on European Roulette tables to minimize the edge the casino has over you. Most online casinos now offer both versions, so there should be no reason to play American Roulette.

Playing the European Roulette tables is also the only thing you can do to reduce the edge of the casino. Some people also try to play by a “system” which tells them to double their bet everytime they lose, so they can make back the loses. While this strategy might work in the short term, in will not work in the long term. There are 2 reasons for that: First of all, the casinos all have a maximum limit for a bet, which means that once you reach a certain point with the amount you have to bet to double the previous bet, you won’t be allowed to do it anymore. The second reason that this “system” does not work is because the chances of something happening are always the same, no matter what happened before. If the last 10 spins all felt on a red number, the chances of this happening again are about 50% (slightly below because of the 0), but the chances of a black number coming are still exactly the same. Unlike in Blackjack, the past has no effect on the future in the game of Roulette.

Because that is the case, I recommend you don’t even try this “system”, as it might eventually become incredibly costly. It will work in the short term, but not in the long term. Trust me, I tried it (we all were young and stupid once; lol).

Therefore, when playing roulette, set yourself a amount you are willing to lose and stop when you hit this amount. If you are running well, increase your bets, when running bad and losing, decrease your bets, so you can enjoy your roulette experience for a longer period of time.

Before explaining the rules, you should download an internet casino, so you can play roulette online for free, while reading through the explanation of the rules. This should help you learn the rules faster, compared to simply reading through them without really seeing what I’m refering to.

Roulette is played with a small white ball and a wheel that has 37 small pockets (38 in American Roulette). When playing the game, the wheel is spun and the ball is thrown into the wheel, at which point you will be able to make your bets with regard to what pocket the ball will land in (each pocket has a number assigned to it). Then, after a short time, the ball will find one of the pockets and whatever number the pocket has where the ball falls in wins.

The different betting options you have are explained below:

You can bet on the exact number on which the ball will land. In european roulette, there are a total of 37 numbers (0 to 36) and the payout when betting on the correct number is 35 to 1 (you bet $10, you will win $350 and get your original $10 back).

The pockets are also always colored in either red or black. Each color has 18 pockets, with the 0 being green. Therefore, you can also bet on the color (red or black) of the pocket the ball lands. The payout of this type of bet is 1 to 1 (you bet $10 and win, you will get $10 in winnings and your original $10 back).

Other options of bets paying out 1 to 1 are betting on Odd or Even, or betting if the number coming is between 1 and 18, or 19 and 36.

You can also bet on the thirds the ball lands in (1 to 12, 13 to 24 and 25 to 36) or in which horizontal line the number lies on the roulette table. These bets pay 2 to 1.

There are also some other bets possible. These are bets where you can bet on 2 numbers being located right next to each other on the field. This bets pays 17 to 1.

You can also bet on 4 numbers being located right next to each other (the 4 fields of the numbers have one common center). This bets pays 8 to 1.

You can also bet on a row of numbers (three numbers being located next to each other on the field). This bet pays out 11 to 1.

Another option would be to bet on two rows at the same time. These two rows have to be located next to each other. That bet pays out 5 to 1.

These are the basic rules, bets and payouts you should know when playing roulette. If you are ready to play roulette online, read our roulette strategy article for more info on how to minimize the edge of the casino in roulette.

The best bets available at the craps tables are the Pass/Don’t Pass and Come/Don’t Come bets. When betting on Pass or Come, the casino has an edge of 1.41%, while the edge of the casino for the Don’t Pass and Don’t Come bets is 1.40%, which basically means that the house edge for these 2 types of bets is almost the same, but still somewhat lower for the Don’t Pass and Don’t Come bets.

Another important thing to remember is that the Odds bets don’t give the house an edge at all, as they payout at true odds. This leads us then to the best strategy to playing craps:

To give the casino the lowest edge, you should always bet on Don’t Pass or Don’t Come and, after the point is established, you should always lay as much as possible for the Odds bet, as you can reduce the edge of the house with that bet, because it pays at true odds.

Some other tips that could be useful when you are at the tables:

The casinos usually only pay your winnings in whole dollars, which means that you should always bet in multiples of 6 on Don’t Come and Don’t Pass bets, and only in multiples of 5 or 10 on Come or Pass bets (depending on how much you are allowed to lay in Odds). When allowed to lay twice Odds, you can bet on Don’t Come and Don’t Pass in multipes of 5, but when only allowed to lay single Odds, you should bet in multiples of 10.

Because the casino always has an edge in Craps, we highly recommend quitting while ahead.

Should you be on a winning streak, increase your bets, when you are losing, bet less.

Before starting to play craps, set a maximum amount of money you are willing to lose, and quit when you have lost that amount.

When a new round begins, the players will make bets on “Pass” or “Don’t Pass“, as well as several other bet opportunities, which are always available, and which are explained below. But, in general, we recommend avoiding these other bets, as the house edge is much higher, compared to the “Pass” and “Don’t Pass” bet.

Should you bet on “Pass” and a 7 or 11 is rolled, you will win and get paid at 1 to 1 (when beating $10, you win $10 and get your original $10 back). Should a 2, 3, or 12 be rolled on the first throw, you lose should you have bet on “Pass”. Should any of the other numbers come (4, 5, 6, 8, 9 or 10), this number will be established as the point and your bet will continue to be on the table. If you bet on “Pass”, you now will win your bet, if the point comes again before a 7 is rolled. The payout when hitting the point before a 7 is also 1 to 1.

Betting on “Don’t Pass” is basically the complete opposite of betting on “Pass”. You will lose should a 7 or 11 be rolled, and you will win when a 2 or 3 will be rolled and get paid at a rate of 1 to 1. Should a 12 be rolled, you will get your original bet back. In order to win your “Don’t Pass” bet after the point is established, a 7 needs to be rolled before the point is rolled. When winning your bet, you will be paid at 1 to 1 ($10 bet, win $10, get original $10 back).

Once the point is established, you can also start making “Come” and “Don’t Come” bets, which are very similar to the “Pass” and “Don’t Pass” bets, but can only be made once the point is established. The payout for the “Come” and “Don’t Come” bets are also 1 to 1.

Should you bet on “Come”, you win when the next role is a 7 or 11 and lose when the next role is a 2, 3 or 12. Should none of these numbers come, you win when the number that was rolled on the first throw after you placed your “Come” bet is roled again before the 7 is roled.

If you decided to bet on “Don’t Come”, you will win when a 2 or 3 is roled on the next role after placing your bet and will lose when a 7 or 11 is roled. Should a 12 be roled, you will get your money back. Should none of these numbers be roled, you will win your bet if the 7 is roled before the number shown on the first role after placing your bet is roled again.

But, the best bet on the table is the “Odds Bet“, which is a backup bet of your original Pass/Don’t Pass or Come/Don’t Come bet. Once a point is established for your bet, you can lay an Odds Bet to add to your original bet. This additional bet pays at true odds, meaning that the house has no edge over you on this bet. For example, you bet on Pass and the point is 4. Now, you can backup your original Pass bet, by betting another unit on number 4, your odds bet. Should the 4 be roled before the 7 is roled, you will win and the payout for the Pass bet is 1 to 1, and for the Odds Bet, the payout will be 2 to 1, which represents the true odds of a 4 being roled before a 7 is roled. How much you can lay in an odds bet depends on the casino you play at. Online, the most we have found was at microgaming and playtech casinos, where you can lay 3 times your original bet as odds bet.

Of course, there are more bets available at the craps tables than just the ones listed above. They are xplained below, but you should know that they all have higher house edges than the bets explained above.

“Field” Bets: Can be placed on any role and the player wins when the roll is 2, 3, 4, 9, 10, 11 or 12. Should the roll be 5, 6, 7 or 8, the player loses. For more information about the payouts of this bet, please look on the craps table, where it should be noted. Usually, the payouts are 1 to 1, except for 2 and 12, where they are higher.

“Big 6” and “Big 8” bets: Can be placed at any time. When using the Big 6 bet, the player wins when a 6 is rolled before a 7. When using the Big 8 bet, the player wins when the roll is a 8, before it is a 7. This bet pays 1 to 1, and unresolved bets may be removed!

“Place Win” Bets: This bet can be placed at any time, but are inactive for the coming out roll. You will win when the number you bet on (4, 5, 6, 8, 9 or 10) is rolled before a 7 is rolled. The payout of this kind of bet depends on what number you chose: for numbers 6 and 8, the payout is 7 to 6, for numbers 5 and 9, payout is 7 to 5 for numbers 4 and 10, the payout is 9 to 5. Unresolved Place Win bets may be removed!

“Place Lose” Bets: May be placed at any time, but are inactive for coming out roll. They are the exact opposite of the Place Win bets. You will win when a 7 comes before the number you placed your Place Lose bet on. For numbers 6 and 8, payouts are 4 to 5, for numbers 5 and 9, payouts are 5 to 8 and for numbers 4 and 10, payouts are 5 to 11.

“Any 7” Bets: May be placed at any time and is a bet on the next roll. Should the roll following your bet be a 7, you get paid at 4 to 1 (it might state on the craps table that the payout is 5 for 1, which is another way of saying that it’s 4 to 1; 5 for 1 means that you will get back 5 times your original bet, while 4 to 1 states that you get back 4 times your original bet, plus your original bet).

“Any 11” Bets: May be placed at any time and is a bet on the next roll. Should the roll following your bet be a 11, you will win and get paid at 15 to 1 (or 16 for 1).

“Any Craps” Bets: May be placed at any time and is a bet on the next roll. The player will win when the roll following the bet is either a 2, 3 or 12. The payout is 7 to 1.

“Horn” Bets: May be placed at any time and is bet on the next roll. The player will win when the roll following the bet is a 2, 3, 11 or 12. When placing your horn bet, the amount you wager is divided by four. Should you be correct, you will get paid back 1/4 of your original bet with the payouts of 15 to 1 on numbers 3 and 11 and 30 to 1 when the number of the roll is 2 or 12. So, if you wager $10 on the Horn bet, and a 2 comes, you will get $77.50 (0.25 x $10 x 30 + 0.25 x $10) back.

“Hardway” Bets: Hardway bets are inactive during the come out bet. The player wins when the number bet on (4, 6, 8 or 10) is rolled the hard way before a 7 is rolled. Rolling a number the hard way means that the number must be rolled with the identical number on each of the dice. For example, a 4 rolled the hard way is simply a roll of 2+2. An easy roll would be for example a roll of 3+1 to get 4 total. The payout is 7 to 1 on numbers 4 and 10 and 9 to 1 on numbers 6 and 8. Unresolved bets may be taken off the table.

These are all the bets available at the craps tables. If you want to learn more about craps strategy, including odds and how to minimize the edge of the casino, read our craps strategy article.

Hitting / Standing:
Dealer shows: 2 or 3. You should stand when having 13 or more.
Dealer shows: 4, 5 or 6. You should stand when having 12 or more.
Dealer shows: 7, 8, 9, 10 or Ace. You should hit until 17 or more.
You have: Ace & 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 on 2nd card. Dealer has: 7, 8, 9, 10 or Ace. You should hit.
You have: Ace & 7. Dealer shows: 9, 10 or Ace. You should hit.

Splitting Pairs:
Split 2 or 3, when Dealer shows 3, 4, 5, 6 or 7
Split 4, when Dealer shows 5 or 6
Never Split 5
Split 6, unless Dealer has 7, 8 ,9 ,10 or Ace
Split 7, unless Dealer shows 8, 9, 10 or Ace
Always split 8
Split 9, unless Dealer shows 7, 10 or Ace
Never Split 10
Always split Aces

Doubling Down:
Double 9, unless Dealer has 7, 8, 9, 10 or Ace
Double 10, unless Dealer shows 10 or Ace
Always double when you have 11
Double when you have Ace & 6 or 7 and Dealer shows 2, 3, 4, 5 or 6
Double when you have Ace & 4 or 5 and Dealer has 4, 5 or 6
Double when you show Ace & 2 or 3 and Dealer shows 5 or 6

Surrendering (not available at most casinos):
Surrender when 16, except when 8 – 8 or Ace – 5, should Dealer show 9, 10 or Ace
Surrender when 15 and Dealer shows 10 or Ace

These basic strategy tips should help you minimize the edge of the casino as much as possible without being too complicated. If you are now ready to play blackjack online, we highly recommend casinos powered by playtech or cryptologic casinos, eventhough microgaming casinos are also very popular for blackjack players.

When playing Blackjack, the player has to try to get closer to 21 than the dealer, without going over 21. This means that you are only playing against the dealer, not against other players on the table. To calculate the hand values, cards will have the following values in Blackjack: Aces count either 11 or 1; King, Queen, Jack and 10 all count 10 and the other cards all count at face value (9 as 9, 3 as 3, etc).

At the beginning of each hand, the players place their bets, after which the dealer gives everybody 2 cards. While the players show both cards face up, the dealer only shows 1 card face up. Then, the dealer will play with each player on the table, starting with the player on the right side, from your players point of view. Each player now should try to get as close to 21 as possible, without going over 21.

When drawing their hand, players can make the following choices:

Hitting / Standing: This is the most common choice you have to make, as you have to decide if you want another card to get closer to 21 than the dealer, in which case, you would hit, or if you think that your hand is good enough to beat the dealer, in which case you will stand.

Splitting Pairs: When your first 2 cards are a pair, you will be able to split that hand, which means that you will use each card to start a new hand, but which also means that you will have to add the same amount you bet on the first hand also to the second hand. For example, if you bet $10 on the hand and get 8 and 8. If you want to split this hand, you have to add an additional $10 to your bet (your total bet will then be $20, $10 for each hand) and will then split the hand and get an additional card to each 8. Then, you will be able to continue to play your hands the regular way.
Should you now get an additional pair, you might be able to split your hand again, but it depends on the casino rules. So, please check with the casino before playing.

Doubling Down: This allows you to double your bet when you think that you have a better than normal chance to win the hand. When doubling your bet, you will receive 1 more card from the dealer and then, your hands stands. You can only double down when having 2 cards on your hand, not after you already drew a third card. While some casinos only allow you to double down when you have a hand value of 9, 10 or 11, some casinos also let you double down on any 2. For more information, please check with the casino before playing.

Surrender: The surrender feature is only available at a few casinos because it’s not used very often. Basically, when you surrender, you will give up your hand and will get half your bet back. For example, if you bet $10 on the hand and you surrender, you will get $5 back. Remember that you need to win only 1 of 4 hands to make not surrendering as profitable as surrendering.

Insurance: When the dealer shows an Ace, you have the option of buying insurance. You can bet up to half the amount of your original bet on Insurance, to protect yourself from the dealer having a blackjack. Should you take insurance and the dealer has blackjack, you will lose your original bet, but win the insurance bet, which pays 2 to 1. This basically means that if you bet half the amount of your original bet on your insurance bet, you will get all the money back that you bet, without any loses or gains, should the dealer have blackjack.

Once every player finished their hand, the dealer will play their own hand, which will be played according to the casino rules, with no decision making involved for the dealer. Most casino rules state that dealer stands on all 17, which means that the dealer has to take an additional card when only having 16, but can’t draw another card when having 17. Some casinos also tell the dealer to stand on all hard 17, but hit on soft 17, which means that if the dealer has 17 using an ace valued at 11, the dealer needs to take another card. Should he have 17 with an ace valued at 1, the dealer will stand.

After the dealer finished his hand, the players who are closer to 21 than the dealer without going over 21 will get paid at a rate of 1 to 1. Should the dealer bust (go over 21), each player who did not bust before will get paid at 1 to 1. Should a player hit a blackjack (21 with only 2 cards), the player will usually get paid at 2 to 1, meaning for each $1, the player will get $2 in winnings and the original $1 back.

Now, you know the basic rules of blackjack