Casino Tips

It’s 1:00 a.m., Las Vegas time, and you’ve been hammering at the casino all day and all night. Blackjacks drop as if you have control over the cards. Instantly seven-ing out at the craps table is something that happens to other people. You’re not controlling the dice but you may as well be.

Every game in a casino is one of probability. While certain bets you make and actions you take are under your control, the outcome is always dictated to some degree by chance.

Whether you gamble online for fun or as a profession, there’s no doubt that it’s an exciting way to pass the time and make money. However, there are a number of surprises that you’d never have expected before you started playing...

The glitz and the glamour of the red carpet returns to Hollywood this Sunday, as the 88th annual Academy Awards rolls into LA. Held at the Dolby Theatre in the heart of Tinseltown, the Oscars gives the film industry its opportunity to showcase its finest talents – from actors and actresses, to make-up artists and special effects experts.

There's just something so romantic about the underdog winning isn’t there? The history of sport has thrown up some almighty upsets over the years, crowning the most unsuspecting of champions and seeing the unfancied beating the odds-on favourites.

It’s not everybody who happily bets enormous sums of money in some of the ritziest casinos on earth – and gets asked to stop playing. This happened to Don Johnson and, along the way, he became a gambling-world legend.

Ocean’s Eleven was one of the biggest grossing movies of the 21st century, and while most patrons went to watch George Clooney, Matt Damon and Julia Roberts, it left plenty of others wondering what security is really like in large casinos.

Playing smarter in a casino does not necessarily require a lot of math knowledge and special skills. It is very helpful, of course, to study the games and learn about mathematical odds, but what if you don’t want to go to "gambler’s school".

Online gaming is not a new concept. Since the earliest days of the internet, players have been engaging opponents in a wide variety of titles, with the earliest examples being competitive matches of traditional games like chess and checkers.

You drop your coin in and pull the handle, the wheels spin and finally settle, and sadly you don’t win the jackpot. But instead of the game being over, an icon appears and says “click to win a prize”.

Are there good casino players and bad casino players? Or are all the games just dumb luck with no way to distinguish a hierarchy among those who plod the casino playing field and those who run through it? Is Jimbo (who plays loads of money on all the Crazy Crapper bets such as the Any Seven and the Hardways) as smart a player as Joe (who plays small on the Pass Line with maximum odds)?

Considering the Internet has been mainstream for around 20 years, US presidential races have been going on for 226 years and wagering has been commonplace since Eve hedged her bets on an apple in the Garden of Eden, it’s not surprising online political betting has exploded in popularity across the cyber universe in the last few years.

But not just any type of game. Game theory concerns only games of strategy between two or more competing players.

The drama of watching Game of Thrones is almost as exhilarating as the rush of trying your hand on the casino floor.

Gambling and casinos have been a mainstay in the film industry nearly as long as the medium itself has been around. The drama and tension that naturally occurs in a gaming environment translates well to the silver screen and filmmakers have enjoyed taking advantage of these settings, even though it doesn’t always work out for the studio or viewers in the end.