Cripple Creek's Online Casino Guide

As with pretty much everything in life, there are a few things you should know about the online and real casino business before you decide to take up gambling either as a fun pastime or as a potentially regular source of income.

First of all, whether you’re looking for an online or a real brick and mortar casino to play at, you should know that it does matter which casino you end up choosing. Not all casinos have the same house edge on each and every game they offer, and not all casinos offer the same games either. While – if you intend to pay live – your options are somewhat limited in choosing a casino, ( the number of gambling establishments you can choose between is obviously limited unless you’re in Atlantic city or Vegas) the internet offers virtually limitless possibilities when it comes to online casino selection.

Unfortunately, with the increased number of casinos you can choose from, and the relative safety the internet offers for crooks, your choice will be everything but easy. There are a whole bunch of criteria you shall have to match the casino of your choice up against in order to make sure you won’t get swindled, and that you will indeed get a fair game. More on these criteria in another article, though.

What I’d like to present you in this article are a few things you should be aware of besides the casino selection, because there are all sorts of myths and misconceptions surrounding casino gambling.

First of all, you need to know that all casinos ( whether they’re live ones or online ones) work with a house edge. The house edge means that over the long-run the casino will make money on the game in question and the player will lose money on it. Again, this happens if you consider a player who settles down to play and never leaves. He will lose some bets, he’ll also win a whole bunch of them. At times he’ll be ahead, at times he’ll be behind, but in the long-run he’ll end up losing a small amount of money ( compared to the size of a bet that is) and the house will end up winning that money. The amount of this money expressed in percentages and broken down for each individual bet that is made in the casino in question is called “the house edge”.

The house edge is what honest casinos make their money off of and not the ripping off of their unsuspecting players.

The size of your bet WILL NOT influence the house edge. No matter how much you bet on roulette or blackjack ( or any other casino game for that matter) the set percentage will remain the same.  Of course you do realize that 5,26% of $5 is not the same as 5,26% of $5000. If you figured that it’d make sense for a casino to reduce the edge ( much like it happens with the rake in poker where the usual max is $3 and they don’t go over that sum no matter what) once the sheer amount the house edge means increases, think again. It just won’t happen.

If you heard that there were “smart wagers” you could make in gambling don’t dismiss the idea just yet. There are indeed bets that carry a lower house edge than others, and playing such bets is the best thing you can do to increase your chances. There are, however, no bets in which the house has a 0% edge. Forget that. Skilled blackjack card counters can indeed greatly reduce the house edge up to the point that it actually works for them rather than the house, but I’m assuming that if you’re reading this article you’re a beginner and as such, card counting is not something you’ll be able to take advantage of just yet.

Before I end this little (online) casino guide, just one more piece of advice: Please do not drink and gamble. In a real live casino it is a usual practice to provide free drinks for players according to which game they play and some other factors that are not really relevant here. What these drinks do is accelerate the process of losing. When you have alcohol in your system, your judgement will be impaired and on top of that you’ll have to tip the waitress every time she comes around.

Not a good package deal for your gambling effort…