Online Casino Gambling

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Pontoon is a new blackjack variant that involves the dealer’s pocket cards being dealt face down. Of course this is a considerable disadvantage to the player. However, the player is given a few benefits balance the game. Realtime Gaming is one software development company that offers this game at its casinos.

The benefits the player is given for not being able to view the dealer’s cards includes:

• A five card hand that has not busted pays 2 to 1
• A five card hand that has not busted is the second highest hand (next to pontoon)
• Pontoon (blackjack) pays 2 to 1
• The player has the option to double down at any time in the game
• The player can hit any number of times after a double

There are several rules that have changed to further balance the game (in the casino’s favor) including:

• Dealer wins all ties
• Player can only split twice
• Dealer hits on soft 17
• Player hits on a total of 14 or less

After all adjustments have been made the house edge of the game is only 0.38 percent assuming optimum play. This is close to the house edge of playing blackjack so players should engage in this competition if given the chance.

Pontoon strategy has been confirmed through many hands of computer simulation. However, since one face card is unavailable, the simulation indexes the hand value versus the number of cards dealt to him. Therefore, the adjustment of this is 2, 3 or 4 cards are the most relevant since a player cannot have less than two cards and cannot improve their hand anymore after 5 cards.

For a total of 18 or more, the player must stand regardless of the number of cards dealt. If the player’s hand equals 15, 16 or 17 with only three total cards dealt, it is proper to stay. Additionally, the player should stand if their first two cards contain an ace and an 8, 9 or 10. Furthermore, it is proper for a player to double (with four cards dealt) on soft totals of 14 to 21 and hard totals of 8 to 16.

If dealt three cards, the player should double on hard 9 to 11 and soft 19 to 21. Additionally, the player should double on hard 10 and 11 with only two cards dealt. Finally, it is correct for the player to split on a pair of eights and aces only. There are strategy cards available at most casinos for Pontoon.

The newly-built Cosmopolitan resort hotel recently released a six part mini-documentary to give viewers additional incite into the soon-to-open property. This is an excellent way to advertise the establishment even before the soft opening. Viewers will have the opportunity to experience the hotel-resort in a virtual fashion. This certainly should help drive additional traffic to the Cosmopolitan.

The First of Six

The first of six video is entitled “Stay” and features architect David Rockwell. The video will air on the Independent Film Channel and the Sundance Channel during November and December.

Each video is two minutes and provides an overview of the people involved in the design, development and creation of the Cosmopolitan. Rockwell guides the viewer though the vision he had for the design of each hotel room. This walkthrough highlights some of the most interesting features of the rooms. For instance, Piero Fornasetti wall covers in each of the room’s closets.

Hotel Room Design

Rockwell feels hotel rooms have developed a certain trend of looking they came out of a design catalog. Furthermore, he designed the rooms to feel like they were created at different times in the same location with the same motif. Therefore, his vision was to give each room an individualistic feel. That way it offers the guest a different experience each time they stay at the Cosmopolitan.

The Cosmopolitan Numbers

The Cosmopolitan hotel-casino has a soft opening date of December 15^th, 2010 with a full opening planned for New Year’s Eve weekend. The hotel area features 2,995 hotel rooms and cost $3.9 billion to build.

Ideas to Acquire New Guests

There have been a few excellent ideas presented by potential customers as to the best method of attracting guests. First, by building a free mini-monorail from the street to the main (or back) entrance to the casino, visitors from the Strip may stop in to experience the hotel. Since there is quite a distance from the Strip through CityCenter, many may be turned off to the walk.

Also, a free bus service from the Fashion Show Mall or other Strip locations to the main entrance will help drive additional customers. Unfortunately most visitors will see Aria and only go that far off the Strip. The Cosmopolitan is gearing up to be an excellent casino with many offerings for the rich and average person. By creating this video series, any potential customer will have the opportunity to view all the hotel-casino has to offer.

The Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act or (UIGEA) was passed by Congress in 2006 much to the chagrin of the online gambling industry. Many online casino executives took the act so seriously it restricted players from the United States without even reading the statute so as to abide by the law. The history of the law is tremendously short due to the fairly new concept of internet gambling.

Since 1998, Congress has attempted to pass anti-online gambling legislation. These efforts continued to fail due to the hurdles surrounding the law making process in the United States. Each year the bill was presented it was held up because of lobby groups each having their hand out. The result of this interference was Congress running out of time before the bill could be presented.

In 2006 the Republican Congress was fighting to segregate themselves from connections to online gambling lobbyist Jack Abramhoff who was surrounded by corruption and scandal. As a result, the party created the American Values Agenda which prohibited online gaming. The Agenda was led by Representatives Bob Goodlatte and Jim Leach.

They believed online gambling was removing billions of dollars from the American economy. Also, they stated online gaming was highly prone to fraud, national security, money laundering and various forms of theft. These angles attempted to deter Americans from participating in the activity.

Despite their claims, polls revealed American’s felt online gaming was a personal choice. In 2006, the Conservative Congress flipped to a Democratic Government. Despite this defeat, Republicans cleverly attached the UIGEA bill to a Homeland Security bill just before the power shift. Therefore, the bill was passed and online gambling was no longer legal in the United States.

The entire political environment in 2006 favored anti-gaming legislation in both Houses. In the summer of 2006 two bills were introduced by the House:

• The Leach Bill
• Goodlatte Bill

The Leach Bill attempted to halt electronic fund transfers to online casinos. The Goodlatte Bill expanded the scope of the Wire Act to include online casinos and poker rooms. This came about through a change in the terminology of the business of betting. The House eventually collaborated on a single bill that combined aspects from both bills.

The UIGEA is a tremendously important piece of legislation for the United States. Although the potential for reversal is always on the mind of gaming enthusiasts, this may never become a reality due to the strict guidelines set forth by this act.

Cryptologic-powered casinos offer a number of variants of blackjack. One of the most popular is Atlantic City Blackjack. Within the game is a settings button that allows players to configure the game to their liking. Important actions and warning messages are two of the options that can be configured after clicking the settings button.

There are a few tips to using this button that will improve the experience at any Cryptologic casino. The settings button is divided into two sections:

• Insurance
• Player warnings

In the Atlantic City Blackjack variant an insurance bet is available when the player’s face up card is an Ace. If the player feels the dealer will draw blackjack, he can place a side bet equal to half the original wager as an insurance measure. If the dealer has blackjack the insurance bet pays two to one so the player does not completely lose. However, if the dealer does not have blackjack the player losses the insurance bet and the original wager is played out.

In the Insurance category the player has three options:

• Always offer insurance
• Always buy insurance
• Always decline insurance

Keep in mind the insurance bet is not a profitable move in the long run. Therefore buying insurance on a regular basis is a losing proposition. Ideally it is best to always decline insurance. Therefore, by selecting one of the three aforementioned options, you can auto play this aspect of the game. Typically it is best for new players to always decline insurance until they are comfortable with the game.

In the Player warnings section, which are always defaulted to enabled, warnings are issued when a player hits on a hand of hard 17 or higher, stands on 11 or less and doubles on hard 12 or more. These are moves that should never be made by the player. Therefore, these warnings are issued to protect the player against an accidental clicking error and do not indicate correct or incorrect play.

The warnings can be disabled through the Settings option but is an unwise move. Although the warnings can become irritating, they always cause the player to rethink that specific move. Those that are confident in their moves and not making errors are taking a risk by disabling the warning messages.

These settings are important to consider when playing any variant of Cryptologic Blackjack as they can help you remain focused and eliminate errors. Since there are no checks in a live game, these settings make it much easier to play blackjack online than in person.