Online Blackjack
Blackjack meets the Internet; chaos ensues in Vegas. Can you imagine
the first time a Vegas casino executive was shown a real-money online
blackjack game? Boy would I have loved to be a fly on the wall.
So it's true, online blackjack for money is a reality. Credit cards,
online banking services, western union wires, 900 numbers, these are just
some of the ways you can fund an online casino account. So is this new
reality all it's cracked up to be? Well, you can sit down in your pajamas
and play a game of blackjack in your bedroom, so for all intents and purposes,
yes it is. You can win too. Seriously. Being paid isn't quite as cool
because you're not just handed a bunch of chips. Usually you have to wait
for a check in the mail, or a western union wire, but it's still money,
and it's still coming to you.
Playing online blackjack has some bonuses you wont find in Vegas too.
Online casinos comp people for signing up, not just for playing a lot
(most do both really) like in Vegas. This means that when you sign up
at a new casino, you are often given a bonus on your initial bankroll.
A bigger bankroll means more chances to win, and a longer session for
your strategy to take shape.
All of this is well and good, but what's the real deal with online blackjack.
Is it actually better, is it actually worse? From what I've seen, and
I've been looking at this very closely for about three years now, things
are starting to even up. Vegas has recently started shuffling very often,
and using larger and larger numbers of decks at its table. Online casinos
shuffle after every hand, and often have a six-deck game. This means card
counting is right out online, and you have to be very lucky to find a
place worth trying it in Vegas. So from that essential point of view things
are good. Are the online blackjack games fair? At a real casino you can
at least see the cards in front of you, lending some confidence to the
fact that you're not being blatantly ripped off. But what about online?
For the most part online blackjack games (for real money) are as fair
as you'll find in Vegas. How do I know this? There would be more complaints
if it weren't true. For example, recently a mathematician found an online
blackjack game that appeared to be 'dealing seconds', which is blatantly
cheating. The mathematician published his findings, and took careful measures
to ensure proof of his experience existed. The end result was a very well
publicized (online anyway) account of the experience, the online casino's
reaction (yikes!), the exchange of e-mails, the bringing in of math experts
from around the globe. In the end, a lot less people play blackjack at
that particular casino.
To read exactly what I'm talking about, its somewhere on The
Wizard of Odds. And if you're interested in other casino card games, like baccarat, you should definitely check out BettorsBaccarat.com for all the latest baccarat information!
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