Online Gambling

I recently completed an analysis of 14 popular varieties of online video poker, inlcuding Jacks or Better, Deuces Wild, Joker Poker, and more. The analysis covers over 200 online gambling sites that run 16 popular versions of online gambling software from vendors like Microgaming, Realtime Gaming, Rival, Bodog, and others.

I’ve published the paytables and house edge (calculated using this excellent analyzer at Wizard of Odds) for each variety of online video poker. You can use this information to determine the best online gambling site to play your favorite variety of online video poker.Some interesting tidbits that I discovered in conducting this analysis:

• Of all the online video poker games analyzed, Bodog had the lowest house edge of any game from any vendor — they deal Joker Poker with a 0.03 house edge.
• Aces and Faces video poker appears to be the same no matter where you play it — the paytables from all 6 vendors that deal Aces and Faces video poker are identical.
• For some games, there is a huge difference in the house edge. For example, there is a more than 7% difference between the best and worst Deuces Wild video poker games that you can find at online gambling sites. (For the record, Rival Gaming casinos like BetUS offers the best Deuces Wild video poker with a 0.63 house edge.)

I just discovered a really neat feature of the Royale Blackjack dealt at US-Blackjack.com — an in-game basic strategy card! This basic strategy card can be called up at any time by clicking the Basic Strategy button in the lower right corner of the table. If you’re not sure how to play a blackjack hand, just use the strategy card.

If you like to bet totals in MLB baseball, be sure to bookmark my page about MLB umpires and their impact on totals betting. The referenced page provides a current analysis of the umpires that show a bias toward calling games that are under/over more often than not.

I recently upgraded my mobile handset from a Motorola Razor camera phone to a Blackberry Curve personal digital assistant (PDA).

Wow. What a difference.

One of things that I tried was placing a wager at Intertops using their PDA-optimized site.

• Overall, it worked and I was able to place a wager.
• The default value for a wager is 1. The first time that I tried to make a wager, I inadvertently hit the wrong key on my Blackberry, and the bet was submitted and accepted. I expected an intermediate page to review and confirm the bet, as on the main Intertops site.
• OK. So now I had a wager of 1 on the event. To get the wager to the correct amount, I placed an additional wager on the same event. To my pleasant surprise, I was told that I already had a wager on the event, and was asked to confirm the additional wager on the same event. Good design — this should be done on the main Intertops site, too.
• As on the normal browser-based Intertops site, I was able to review my past and pending wagers. However, the formatting on the PDA was nonexistent; the data should be properly formatted.
• Not all bet types are offered; for example, it did not appear that I could tease an NFL game. I would expect to see additional types of wagers available on the PDA over time.

Overall, Intertops has done a decent job with the basics. A little fit-and-finish work, a few more features…. and they’ll have a very good PDA-optimized site.

(Note: The information present on this blog is intended for entertainment purposes only. Please check your local, state and provincial laws before you gamble online. If your local laws prohibit online gambling then we recommend you consider an alternative form of entertainment.)

I’ve just completed an analysis of the online keno paytables from 19 styles of keno from 16 online gaming software vendors. Click this keno link to view the complete analysis, summarized below:

1. Casinos that run VueTec software offer the best keno payout, with an overall payout percentage of 96.22%.

Recommended site: DublinBet.com : Get a 100% bonus on initial deposits between ‚¬50 and ‚¬200! (U.S. players barred.)

2. The keno games at online bingo halls that run Parlay software are a good choice as well. Their Classic Keno game has an overall payout of 94.20%, while their Kenoland game has an overall payout percentage of 94.00%.

Recommended site: Free Bee Bingo : Get $50 FREE + a 200% bonus on initial deposits between $25 and $9999! (U.S. players OK.)

3. The best online keno game is the 10-spot from online casinos that run B3W software, with a payout percentage of 98.72%.

Recommended site: Yachting Casino : Get $10 FREE + a 100% bonus on initial deposits between $20 and $200! (U.S. players OK.)

4. Keno should not be played at online sites that run software from RTG, Grand Virtual, Bingo Entertainment Network, Wagerlogic, or Boss.

(Please note: Wherever you live, please check your local, state and provincial laws before you gamble online.)

Three card poker is an increasingly popular casino table game. At online casinos, you may see the game referred to as Poker Three. Whatever its name, the basic idea of the game is to make a high-ranking poker hand with three cards; beating the dealer’s qualifying hand is also profitable.

Players post an inital Ante bet and an optional Pair Plus bet. After receiveing three cards, players decide to make a final Play bet, or else forfeit their Ante and Pair Plus bets. The decision to make the final Play bet or not is a simple one:

• If your hand is a Q-6-x or better, make the Play bet.
• Otherwise, fold.

Complete rules of three card poker are available, as well as 100s of sites where you can play three card poker.

Some games have a pretty easy-to-remember rule of thumb for playing a nearly-optimal strategy. In this blog post, and in posts to come, I’ll be highlighting some of those games.

Caribbean Stud poker online is one of the most popular online casino games. The rules are similar to regular poker, but in Caribbean Stud you play against the casino, not other players. Like in regular poker, you try to make the best possible poker hand, and get paid when you beat the dealer’s qualifying (AK or better) hand.

• A simple strategy is to Call when you have a pair or better, regardless of the dealer’s up card.
• The house edge is about 5.5% with this strategy. This is better than the so-called ‘dealer’ strategy — Calling when you have an Ace-King or better, regardless of the dealer’s up card — which has a house edge of about 5.7%.

You can play caribbean stud poker online (also called Cyberstud Poker) at many online casinos, many of which allow you to meet bonus playthrough requirents by playing this interesting game.

(Wherever you live, please check your local, state and provincial laws before you gamble online.)

Well, this is a first! No good MLB totals wagers today. I am leaning toward MIN @ CHW u9.5 and MIL @ COL u10.5, but the terms would have to move 5 points in my favor before this bet would have a positive expected value (EV). If the MIN @ CHW game moves from u9.5 -110 to -115, then I’d take that bet. Also, if the MIL @ COL game moves from u10.5 -115 to -110, I’d take that bet as well.

One of the reasons that my model did not generate any totals bets is due to the weather. As a rule of thumb, add 1/2 run when the game time temperature approaches 90F, and subtract 1/2 run when the game time temperature approaches 55F. There are six games today that are being played where it is pretty hot today, and adding the 1/2 run to these games’ totals resulted in a “no bet” for several of these games.

I read this rule of thumb regarding game time temperature in an excellent book Betting Baseball 2008 by Michael Murray. I also get MLB weather from VegasInsider.com.

Here are today’s picks, made moments ago at Intertops.

I’ve continued to post my MLB totals picks each day. Overall, I am 75-70 (51.72% winning percentage), for a net loss of $31.28 (-0.97% return on investment).

This briings to mind a point to consider if you read on the internet about a guy whose sports handicapping system is “9-3 in his last 12 SOLID LOCK PICKS” (or some similar claim). The point is this: Your record is irrelvant. What is relevant is your return on investment — how much money these picks made relative to the size of the bets that one had to make to win the money.

Here’s an illustration of my point: Suppose a handicapper claims to have a 9-3 record in his last 12. This could easily have resulted in a net loss if each of his picks was a heavy favorite, say -300 or worse. In fact, if each of his picks were at an average of -300, a 9-3 record is break even, and actually will have cost you money once you factor in the price of making deposits and withdrawals at some online sportsbooks.

I’d really love to see handicappers post their return on investment, rather than their win-loss record, when touting a sports betting system.

As I have said in the past, one way to increase your chances of getting a fair shake when gambling online is to play at accredited sites. eCOGRA is one such accrediting body.

eCOGRA oversees the online gambling activities of some 120 tier one online casinos and poker rooms owned by some of the biggest and most established operators on the Internet, and makes available a dispute resolution service to players at those sites which have been awarded eCOGRA’s “Safe and Fair” seal.

Recently, eCOGRA released their report on complaints received in 2007  which showed that 68% of complaints were decided in favor of the player.

You may also be interested to know that eCOGRA also accredits online gambling portal sites like The Online Casino Gambling Directory. I am proud to say that I am one of fewer than 100 such sites, and have been since October 2006.