Online Casinos

Online casinos, also known as virtual casinos or Internet casinos are online versions of traditional brick and mortar casinos. Online casinos enable gamblers to play and wager on casino games through the Internet.

Online casinos generally offer odds and payback percentages that are comparable to land-based casinos. Some online casinos claim higher payback percentages for slot machine games, and some publish payout percentage audits on their websites. Assuming that the online casino is using an appropriately programmed random number generator, table games like blackjack have an established house edge. The payout percentage for these games is established by the rules of the game.

Online casinos can be divided into two groups based on their interface: web-based and download-only casinos. Some casinos offer both interfaces.

Some casinos offer 'Live gaming', either exclusively, or as part of a wider online casino offering. In live online casinos, popular casino games such as roulette and blackjack are dealt by real dealers in casino studios, in an attempt to convey more of the atmosphere of a physical casino. Player actions including chat such as 'hit' in the game of blackjack may be transmitted to the dealer; in some online casinos more than one player may 'sit' at a particular 'seat' on the table, and in this case there is no interactivity between player and dealer. The question of which player s requested the extra card that the dealer dealt and which chose to 'stand' will be handled by the software. It is usual for players to be able to observe a video feed of the action, and equally common for players to opt to turn it off, if they lack the bandwidth - as the cards are read by OCR and other technology, the video feed is only ever a visual cue.

Web-based online casinos

Web-based online casinos are websites where users may play casino games without downloading software to the local computer. Games are mainly represented in the browser plug-ins Macromedia Flash, Macromedia Shockwave, or Java and require browser support for these plug-in. In addition, bandwidth is needed since all graphics, sounds and animations are loaded through the web via the plug-in. Some online casinos also allow game play through a plain HTML interface. Apple devices such as IPod, IPad and IPhone cannot play Flash games as the technology is not supported.

Download-based online casinos

Download-based online casinos require the download of the software client in order to play and wager on the casino games offered. The online casino software connects to the casino service provider and handles contact without browser support. Download-based online casinos generally run faster than web-based online casinos since the graphics and sound programs are located within the software client, rather than having to be loaded from the Internet. On the other hand, the initial download and installation of a download-based online casino client does take time. As with any download from the Internet, the risk of the program containing malware does exist. Still the graphics and sounds at download-based online casinos are most of the time much better than those at web-based online casinos.

Dead Mans Hand

The dead man's hand is a two-pair poker hand, namely aces and eights. This card combination gets its name from a legend that it was the five-card-draw hand held by Wild Bill Hickok, when he was murdered on August 2, 1876, in Saloon No. 10 at Deadwood, South Dakota.

According to the popular version, Hickok's final hand included the aces and eights of both black suits. As Hickok's biographer, Joseph Rosa puts it: the accepted version is that the cards were the ace of spades, the ace of clubs, two black eights clubs and spades, and the queen of clubs as the kicker. However, Rosa says no contemporary source for this exact hand can be found. The earliest detailed reference to the dead man's hand is 1886, where it was described as a full house consisting of three jacks and a pair of tens.

In accounts that mention two aces and eights, there are various claims regarding the identity of Hickok's fifth card, suggestions that he had discarded one card and/or that the draw was curtailed by the shooting and Hickok therefore never received his fifth card.

In the HBO television historical drama series Deadwood, a nine of diamonds is depicted, although the show posits that another player concocted the hand, to further his own newsworthiness. An episode of Ripley's Believe it or Not shows Hickok holding a queen of clubs. An episode of Quantum Leap also shows Sam's love interest holding a Dead Man's Hand.

Historical displays in the town of Deadwood, including one in a reconstruction of the original Saloon No. 10, also show the nine of diamonds as the fifth card. The Lucky Nugget Gambling Hall, which holds the historic site of Saloon No. 10, instead displays a jack of diamonds. The Adams Museum in Deadwood has a display that claims to be the actual squeezer cards held by Hickok. The hand is: ace of diamonds, ace of clubs, eight of hearts, eight of spades, and the queen of hearts. The Stardust on the Las Vegas Strip has used a five of diamonds in related displays and the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department Homicide Division uses the dead man's hand in its insignia, as does the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System.

A casino is a facility that houses and accommodates certain types of gambling activities. Casinos are for fun. Casinos commonly built near or combined with hotels, restaurants, retail shopping, cruise ships and other tourist attractions. Some casinos host live entertainment events, such as stand-up comedy, concerts, and sporting events. All Casino Information Portal with news, free email, web directory, freeware downloads, user's forum, greeting cards, online games and content articles on business, home, family, All Free Resources Poker room information for the best poker rooms are here. Live poker located in Alpine, California Alpine Poker Use our poker odds calculator to get an edge over your opponents - Get free poker odds for all major poker variations Always Poker The Directory of the top rated poker sites and online poker rooms for the best live, multi-player poker are here. Best Rated Poker California Casino Guide reviews and ratings of California Indian Casinos Ca Casinos California casinos, cruise ships, Horsetracks and dog tracks- The complete gambling landscape of California California Casino City Interactive map showing the 167 casinos in the state of California. In addition, you will find weather data for the region. California Casinos Map Casino 49 lists the facilities that houses and accommodates certain types of gambling activities. Some casinos host live entertainment events, such as stand-up comedy, concerts, and sporting events. Casino 49 California Casino Guide reviews and ratings of California Indian Casinos. The source for information about slots, video poker, keno, and table games, maps, jackpots, progressives, gambling and more is online. Casino Calif Golf and Casino Package, vacation packages, course information, accommodations and more are here. Casino Golf This page offers an overview of the topics discussed on this website, for example different online casinos and casino games. Casino Hunt Players Club members can earn valuable rewards based on slot and table games play, such as cash, complimentary rooms and show Casino Players Club

Table Stakes Rules

All casinos and many home games play poker by what are called table stakes rules, which state that each player starts each deal with a certain stake, and plays that deal with that stake. A player may not remove money from the table or add money from his or her pocket during the play of a hand. In essence, table stakes rules creates a maximum and a minimum buy-in amount for cash game poker as well as rules for adding and removing the stake from play. A player also may not take a portion of their money or stake off the table, unless they opt to leave the game and remove their entire stake from play. Players are not allowed to hide or misrepresent the amount of their stake from other players and must truthfully disclose the amount when asked.

Common among inexperienced players is the act of "going south" after winning a big pot, which is to take a portion of your stake out of play, often as an attempt to hedge one's risk after a win. This is also known as "ratholing" or "reducing" and, while totally permissible in most other casino games, is not permitted in poker.

Table stakes are the rule in most cash poker games because it allows players with vastly different bankrolls a reasonable amount of protection when playing with one another. They are usually set in relation to the blinds. For example, in a $1/2 No Limit cash game, the minimum stake is often set at $40 while maximum stake is often set at $200, or 20 and 100 big blinds respectively.

This also requires some special rules to handle the case when a player is faced with a bet that he cannot call with his available stake.