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“When we put 50 machines in, I consider them 50 more mousetraps. You have to have a mousetrap to catch a mouse.” – Bob Stupak, former Las Vegas casino owner

The Internet is literally awash with golden opportunities for as the number of online casinos increase so does the competition to find and keep customers. This has meant bigger and more attractive offers are available to players both to try out a casino and then to remain loyal to it. So with all this going on how do casinos win the battle for customers? How are they able to attract the attention of curious visitor and then make sure that he/she remains a regular player?

Sprats to Catch Mackerel
There are several different types of offers that casinos use to attract custom. These vary in size from one casino to another but the basic ones are;

Free No-Obligation Deposit,
Welcome Bonus
Payment Bonus
Recurring Bonus.
Periodical Bonuses
Rewards Schemes

They can be a little complicated to understand so let us now take a closer look at these incentives and how they work.

1 – The Free No-Obligation Deposit
Many good online casinos offers a new player a no-obligation deposit. This is a free deposit made to your account when you first sign up. You generally don’t even have to make an initial deposit yourself. The amount on offer varies from one casino to another but usually they are somewhere between $10 and $25. This is enough to guarantee a few games and to get you to experience the thrills and spills of online gambling. An example of a good casino offering a no-deposit bonus is www.mummysgold.com. Note: It would seem tempting just to go around signing up to casinos, taking their free deposits and moving on. Of course, it does not work like this. Instead there are terms and conditions attached to any payout. Sometimes these relate to the amount of play you have to give before cashing in whilst many casino now limit the amount of winnings that you withdraw. However these restrictions do not limit us unduly.
The free bonus incentive gives anyone a great opportunity to get started with no money whatsoever! Using the offer you can begin to build a sizeable betting pot through three strategies.

Option 1: Take the whole of your free bonus and put it down as one bet on the first hand of Blackjack Remember on your first visit to the table you will have an almost equal 50/50 chance of winning – which are pretty favorable odds. Later on you will learn how to increase that 50% chance dramatically by introducing you to the best play for any given situation.

Option 2: A slight modification on this all-or-nothing approach is to split your bonus into two or even three parts. This reduces the chances of crashing out on game one and gives you a little room for maneuver should you find a hand winning opportunity that you want to double up on.

Option 3: This method takes a little more time, effort and patience but will invariably bring you the right result.

First of all search out a casino with a good introductory bonus but which also offers a low minimum bet amount. This ought to be 50c and $1. (Two of the best I could find at the time of writing were www.piggspeak.com and www.captaincookscasino.com)

Now play a very careful game using only the minimum betting stakes and avoiding any risky moves. Your bonus payment should give you somewhere between 20 and 40 hands of Blackjack depending upon your playing style and gradually you should be able to build this up to a decent pot. I do recommend that when you reach a level of about three times your free bonus that you check that you have fulfilled your playing requirements and then cash in. Do not risk your winnings – just take them and cash-in. With your winnings you can then move on to take advantage of any casino’s second sign-up incentive – that being the Welcome Bonus!
Tip: If you lose your initial opening free bonus then just move onto another casino. You will find a list of Casino Free Bonuses directories in Appendix 2 of this manual. It is also worth signing up for a newsletter service such as the Mayer Club, so you are updated when offers become available.

2 – Welcome Bonus
Once you have established your account at a casino and are ready for your first serious game then always look for the casino’s `Welcome Bonus’. This is an amount offered by the casino to compliment your first deposit. Usually it is given in percentage terms and usually amounts to 1, 2 or 3 times your deposit. This means that with even a small initial deposit, and it could be your winnings from the Free No-Obligation Bonus, you can create a decent playing purse.
However like the earlier bonus system that we looked at there are advantages and disadvantages to playing with this incentive.

Advantages
The major plus to using a welcome bonus is that you are effectively playing with the casino’s money as a way of safeguarding your own. For example, imagine that you deposit $100 and then receive another $100 as a bonus. You can play with a stop-loss system of $100, which means that you will not come out of the game as a loser. You are in effect playing with safe money.
There is a strategy amongst some Blackjack players to visit a casino, make use of the free money and then move on. This means that even if you lose 20% of the hands (which is very unlikely) you will still emerge with a profit of 80$ … and your deposit intact! You only need visit a few before you have generated a very sizeable financial advantage!
However I should warn you that some casinos are getting wise to these players and are blacklisting them. Personally I do not use the Welcome Bonus very often but for another completely different reason – namely, the play-through limitations, which brings me to the disadvantages of this system.

Disadvantages
Payout on winnings made using a casino’s Welcome Bonus are dependent upon the player fulfilling a complex set of terms and conditions. These are usually revealed in either the General Playing Terms and Conditions or the Introductory Bonus Terms and Conditions. A link to these is usually included on the casinos home page.
Now these Bonus Conditions usually require some skill to interpret. Typically they reveal the games that you can and cannot play using the bonus (thankfully Blackjack is usually included in their list of acceptable games) and the amount of play (measured in $) that you are required to play before you can cash-in. This play-through amount can be between 7 and 30 times the deposit plus bonus. This means that if you deposit $40, then receive another $40 in bonuses at 10 times play-through you have to wager $800 in bets.
As I mentioned earlier I do not like the limitations that the Welcome Bonus places upon a game. I find it cramps my playing decisions and restricts my choice of when to judge the optimum time to cash-in. However if you are prepared to see a game through many hands with the risk of total failure then even a complete novice can win a decent amount of money if he/she chooses the right casino and playing tactics.
The best joining bonuses tend to be at the best-known casinos, such as www.888.com or www.casinocraze.com

3 – Payment Bonus
Really good bonuses that many casinos offer are `Payment Bonuses’. This generally amounts to some 10 – 15% extra for all deposits that are made with specific third-party processors. If you take the advice that I offered earlier then you would undoubtedly be using one of these anyway. This is a decent offer and one that is particularly attractive if you are depositing several hundred dollars at a time.

4 – Recurring Bonus
Although much smaller than the Welcome Bonus, the Monthly, or recurring bonus, is sometimes a much more attractive offer. In many regards it is a cross between the Free and Welcome Bonuses – it is a set amount (perhaps $30 – $40) with a low play through that the casino offers you – usually on a monthly basis. UK-based players are the lucky ones here as they have access to Intercasino, who kindly top up your account with £50 each and evry month. Lets hope they soon accept US players!

5 – Periodical Bonus
Once you have joined a casino they will email you regularly with time-limited bonuses. Some of these can be pretty spectacular amounting to as much as the first-time bonus itself. Some Casinos are now starting to offer their regular players guaranteed cash back on their lost deposits. It really is a player’s playing field out there!

6 – Reward Schemes
Quite often a casino will offer a player a wide range of other rewards programs. The most useful is the points system in which you are credited with a number of points per $ deposited. The player can generally convert these back to Dollars.
Whilst this type of bonuses are not worth playing a specific casino for they can add a little added bonus to the serious Blackjack player who wagers large amounts over a period of time. There are others such as Rewards Incentives and bonuses for VIP players but these only become available after you have been playing at the casino for a while.

And So…
That brings us to the end of this chapter and of looking the various casino payment and incentive systems. With a little imagination you can see how with careful use of them they can add significantly to your overall profits.

In the next chapter I want to take a look at the actual playing strategy that will strip the house-edge down to virtually nothing

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“When a gambler picks up a pack of cards or a pair of dice, he feels as though he has reduced an unmanageable world to a finite, visible and comprehensive size.”
Source: Annabel Davis-Goff, The Literary Companion to Gambling

The actual experience of playing online casinos is quite different from that of playing at their land based equivalents. The first, and most notable difference is that the Internet playing environment does not have the hectic and vibrant atmosphere of the offline casinos (though the software does try to recreate this to a degree with added music and audience applause). This difference can be an asset, or liability, depending upon your own playing preferences for whilst you are less likely to be disturbed by other players, free alcoholic drinks or any other of the usual casino perks to be had the general excitement and playing adrenaline is not to be enjoyed.
However as a serious gambling investor you may well prefer the lack of distractions as a chance to concentrate more fully upon your game. I certainly do. To start with you will need an un-pressurized environment to get to learn the system and to make un-rushed playing decisions.

Where to Play?
When you first take a look at the hugely diverse range of casinos available on the Internet today it is apparent that the first major obstacle is in deciding which is the right one to play. There are so many to choose from – not all of which are quite as kosher as the next!
A good way to find out what is available is to check out a casino directory site. There are many of them on the Internet and a quick submission to any popular search engine should reveal a whole list to get started with. You could begin at http://www.playhard.co.uk, which not only lists popular casino sites but also includes those with the best bonuses and payouts. In nearly every case these directories will have already evaluated a number of casinos. They will also have a great deal of feedback from their subscribers regarding their selections and so be uniquely placed to recommend those that they judge to be the best and most reliable.
By all means take a good look around at what casinos are on offer, however as I want you to get your playing career off to a good start I would initially recommend that you stick to the casinos that I personally recommend to you to begin with. These can be found in chapter 9 and have been found to be the best to use with the Goldhill Playing System. (I will also email you at regular intervals with other casinos that I feel to offer good playing opportunities).
Lets now take a deeper look at the online casinos and what they are about.
Tip: For more casino directory links visit Chapter 10 of this manual

More About Online Casinos
There are two main types of Blackjack games. The first is the Flash-based, on-site version which requires no downloads or installation to play. Quite frankly this type of game is not much thought of by serious Blackjack players.
The second type probably accounts for 98% of all Blackjack played and runs partly on your machine and partly on the casino’s server. In this manual I shall concentrate entirely upon this type of game, which are run by what are called `Software Engines’. Don’t worry too much about the term – it just means that behind the scenes there is some software that does all the calculating and number crunching work.

Software Engines
There are a half dozen or so popular software engines used at Internet casinos. At the moment Micro-
Gaming provides the most popular type of software but other major software development companies
include Real-Time Gaming, Boss Media and Cryptologic.
Whilst they all generate completely fair games they all generate their own particular style of casino
experience. It is very worthwhile to get to know them all and their little idiosyncrasies, playing operations and desktop layout.

Software Honesty
The first concern that most people have about playing any sort of software-based gambling game is the fairness of the software. After all it would be very easy for a clever computer programmer to create a program that could win consistently and you might never suspect it was a crooked game. On the question of honesty I have only ever been suspicious of a casinos’ software once and that was whilst trying out one of the lesser-known sites that was using it’s own software and of a type not referred to in this manual.
Other than that I have always been happy with the fairness of every casino’s software.
For a casino to use `bent’ software would be pointless – after all millions of people are queuing up to throw their hard-earned cash at them as it is – why jeopardize that by running the risk of getting a bad name for running a biased game. Further more any game with built-in bias would have a system and as the history of Blackjack shows somebody, somewhere always bends a system to their own ends. Once news of this got out onto the Internet the casino would end up bankrupt.
Fact: The software that drives online casinos are based upon a number crunching mechanism known as a `Random Number Generator’ – which really does all that it’s name describes. This is based upon a `root’ or `seed’ value that is changed according to purely spurious criteria.
In case you feel at all uneasy (and you have to accept that there will be times when the computer just seems to pre-empt your every move) most of the casino engines have been audited by independent assessors who monitor the results of millions of hands for any sort of bias or response patterns. As far as I know no software has yet to be revealed as crooked and so I believe that you can play any of the big casinos with complete confidence. Most operators including Microgaming and Boss have their random-number generator verified annually by PriceWaterhouseCoopers, which gives you a high degree of surety and fairness.
That being said the actual implementation of that software is a different matter though. I often come across casinos that have tweaked or adjusted the software to such a point that from a professional gambler’s point of view they are simply just not worth playing. Typically this includes rules as limited options on doubling down, splitting of aces and the revealing of dealer’s Blackjacks.

Casino Payment Systems
The actual depositing and withdrawal of money from online casinos is a mystical science unto itself. I’ll try and clarify it as best I can here.
Basically a casino needs to get hold of a money deposit from you before you can start playing for real at their games. To fund your playing pot you could send them cash, a personal check, arrange a bank transfer but all these methods have their drawbacks. As an alternative all casinos prefer fast electronic payments and the now firmly established MasterCard/Visa credit-card system is perfect for this. All you have to do is sign up with a casino, get a credit card registered with them, arrange for a transfer of funds and await the money to be credited to your account so that you can play. This is usually done immediately or within a couple of hours of registering.
This approach sounds OK is theory but there can be problems associated with it. Firstly your credit card provider may block payments to an online casino, you may have to wait a while before you can play your game or you may have problems withdrawing by this method unless you can provide documentary evidence that you are the cardholder – and so it goes on. So much for instant cash transfers!
Fortunately there is a much more satisfactory process of initially funding your casino account and that is by using a third party payment processor. Here is a list of the most common ones that are endorsed by the majority of online casinos. I have included their URLs at the end of this manual.

ACH
Neteller
PaySpark
Citadel
Western Union

Each of these third-party processors work in different ways and the funding options that they offer varies according to your country of origin. As you get to know how all of these systems work you will soon work out the best way to get money into, and out of, your accounts
Tip: I recommend that you sign up with Neteller at https://www.neteller.com/ to begin with. This is the most universally accepted method of payments at casinos whilst offering the best range of funding and currency options. It also has it’s own ATM Debit card. This is invaluable for it means that you can get your winnings out of any one of many thousands of cash machines found anywhere in the world.

A Summary
And that is basically a run down of what you can expect to experience with online casinos. Space limits me from going to deeply into some of the technical aspects to them but so long as you stick to the `famous names’ casinos you can be assured a safe and painless game.
As well as email support most casinos offer good telephone 24/7 support so if you have any problems at all just contact the help line. The friendliness or helpfulness of the call center reveals a great deal about the nature of the casino itself and how keen it is on paying out!

Now let us move on to the free money that all online casinos offer as an inducement to join them.

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A blackjack dealer and a player with a thirteen count in his hand were arguing about whether or not it was appropriate to tip the dealer. The player said, “When I get bad cards, it’s not the dealer’s fault. Accordingly, when I get good cards, the dealer obviously had nothing to do with it so, why should I tip him?”
The dealer said, “When you eat out do you tip the waiter?” … “Yes.” “Well then, he serves you food; I’m serving you cards, so you should tip me.” “Okay, but, the waiter gives me what I ask for. I’ll take an eight!”

We shall take a look at the different playing skills that are needed later on but for the moment I want to concentrate upon setting up with the physical equipment to get started. To this end the following is a list of the practical tools that you will need. In most cases you should find that you already own, or have access to, most of the items so that little or no extra expense will be needed.

1) A Computer
First of all – and most obviously, you will need a computer. It does not have to be the latest state of the art PC – a normal Pentium PC will do with any average (color) monitor. The machine does not have to be fast as the casino server does most of the number-crunching work.
You will need a fairly decent sized hard disk in the machine though – one that has a useful amount of free space (30Gb+). This will be needed in order to install an average of about 20 different casinos software, which you will come to play on a regular basis in time. Even a small number of casinos take up a great amount of space – especially if you download versions of the casino’s software that has more than just the standard Blackjack options.

2) Internet Connection
It also stands to reason that you will also need an Internet connection. This is so that you are in continual connection with the casino’s server throughout a game. Your method of dial-up does not have to be a super fast Broadband/ADSL connection, as any normal 56K modem will suffice.
I do recommend that you sign up to an ISP that allows you prolonged periods of connection time for a small monthly payment. If you play the casinos regularly you are likely to spend extended periods on the Internet – you do not want your profits eaten up with large connection charges!

3) Credit Card or Debit Card
A Credit Card is also pretty indispensable – in fact in the early days it was the only way that you could be assured of getting a game. However today you can get by without one but as casinos utilize the services of credit card merchants (Visa/MasterCard etc.) to verify your age and later on your identity and personal details for payouts it will make your life much easier with one.
Don’t worry if you do not have a credit card – or are worried about using one on the Internet. In addition to accepting credit cards all casino sites accept direct payments via Debit Cards (UK and US), Bank Transfers and many other methods. Others even allow cash deposits via EvoCash or Western Union. There is a huge range of payment options on offer so there is no reason why you should be left out.
Most credit card companies are increasingly developing an anti-casino policy lately. Some will even refuse payments made through their credit system to any sort of betting sites. The reasons for this are obscure – though any credit card company if questioned about their policy will probably mumble something about security. I suspect that the real reason for their lack of support is due to the administration of charge backs as casinos return winnings to their players.
To get around all of these this problems all casinos use third-party payment gateways for both depositing and withdrawing cash from their casinos. There is no extra charge to you using their services – but there are a whole raft of advantages – which we will explore later on.

4) Decent Email Address
What on earth is a decent email address I hear you say! Well, all Internet casinos are very security conscious. Often their over-enthusiasm to protect themselves from fraud can be a little inconvenient at times. This is one of them for some casinos will object to members who sign up with them using email addresses such as Hotmail, MSN, Yahoo etc. due to their temporary and rather transitory nature. A primary problem presented to the casinos by such accounts is their extremely strict anti-spamming (unsolicited email) filters, which would easily remove any emails containing wording typically used by casino promotional material (e.g. free, casino etc.)
Therefore to avoid any problems later on it is worth starting off with a good address such as mail@properdomainname.com. If you intend upon becoming a serious or professional casino gambler then I recommend that you start out by purchasing your own domain name e.g. something like
www.yoursurname.com. These can be obtained in a variety of suffix types. Name and are very cheap just now. In addition the supplier of your domain name will offer you a control panel, which will enable you to set up multiple mailboxes without having to pay to have your domain hosted. I always use this method and have my emails diverted to my current ISP’s mail account. This way if I change ISPs I can still hold onto the mail original mail account.

5) Software
The casino will supply you with all the playing software that you need. This is easily downloaded from their website either as a total package (which tends to be a huge file) or in single game options. Thankfully Blackjack is generally included in the smaller versions which in most cases is around 5-6Mb and takes approximately 20-30 minutes to download depending upon your connection speed. Once it is installed on your computer you do not have to worry about having the latest release or version to play with as the software as this is updated automatically by the casino when you first log on.
The only other extra piece of software that I do recommend is a good program to keep track of the results of your games. I personally use Microsoft’s Excel and throughout this manual I will offer you the opportunity to download various Excel templates free of charge from my website to help you.
Why are spreadsheets necessary? Well, I want you to treat your casino playing exactly as you would if you were running any sort of business. You need to keep records in order to evaluate your progress and success over the coming weeks and months. In addition there are certain playing strategies that we will reveal later on that make keeping a record of your wins imperative. Failing to do this will cost you dearly in financial terms – and nobody wants their hard earned winnings returned to the house because they failed to keep adequate track of their play.

6) Personal Characteristics
Those are most of the practical requirements taken care of but there are a few essential personal criteria to be fulfilled.
Tip: Do not start playing the casinos if you are broke, of a nervous disposition or just plainly bored!
These are all recipies for automatic disaster. accepting credit cards all casino sites accept direct payments via Debit Cards (UK and US), Bank Transfers
and many other methods. Others even allow cash deposits via EvoCash or Western Union. There is a huge range of payment options on offer so there is no reason why you should be left out.
Most credit card companies are increasingly developing an anti-casino policy lately. Some will even refuse payments made through their credit system to any sort of betting sites. The reasons for this are obscure – though any credit card company if questioned about their policy will probably mumble something about security. I suspect that the real reason for their lack of support is due to the administration of charge backs as casinos return winnings to their players.
To get around all of these this problems all casinos use third-party payment gateways for both depositing and withdrawing cash from their casinos. There is no extra charge to you using their services – but there are a whole raft of advantages – which we will explore later on.

The Process of Playing
And there we are – that’s about all your basic needs catered for. To get an immediate idea of how the tools are used the following is a typical sequence of play from installation to winnings collection.
Stage 1) Select a suitable casino
Either choose one recommended by myself one or select one from a search engine or online directory.
Stage 2) Sign up at the Casino Web Site
Once you have visited the casino’s web site look for the `Download’ – it will be somewhere on the front page. Supply the casino with your email address (so they can email you later on with their promotions etc) and then follow the online instructions on how to download the casino software onto your PC.
Stage 3) Install software on your machine
Sometime the software that you have downloaded automatically installs itself for you. On other occasions you will be prompted to supply your choice of installation location and other user-friendly options.
Stage 4) Register your account
The next stage is to open your Internet connection and start up the Blackjack software on your PC. Once it loads you will be offered the option of signing up in either Guest Mode (where you play with casino credits) or in Real Mode (playing with your own Dollars/Pounds/Euros). I recommend that you select Guest Mode first of all in order to get an idea of their Blackjack game at no cost.
Stage 5) Sign up in Real Mode
Then when you feel confident with the casino sign up for a real account, deposit some money and play the game.
Stage 6) Withdraw winnings
When ever you feel that you have won enough money then cash in. Whilst crediting your account with money is immediate you will have to wait a few days before you receive your winnings.
And that is basically how it all works. Between stages there will be lots of fun, a little sweat and probably even a few cups of nerve-calming coffee but I leave the appropriate amounts up to your own personal preference!

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