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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 dollar picked up in the road is more satisfaction to us than the 99 which we had to work for, and the money won at Faro or in the stock market snuggles into our hearts in the same way.” – Mark Twain

Blackjack originally emerged in French casino houses around 1700 when it was called by its more common name of “vingt-et-un” or twenty-and-one. The game rapidly spread in popularity throughout Europe and was introduced at American casinos in the 1800’s where it quickly proved equally popular with visitors. However despite its popularity with gamblers it has over the years enjoyed a very chequered career with the casinos themselves. It has fallen in and then out of favor time and again with casino bosses who have continually tried to adapt and modify the game’s rules to increase the house edge. In response players have come up with equally ingenious playing techniques to offset them – tricks that have included everything from card counting to the use of weird devices hidden in the players hand.

Online Blackjack
As offline casinos made the transition into hyperspace they brought with them all the traditional games of chance including Roulette, Slots and Craps as well as the regular favorite – Blackjack.
Off all the games available at an online casino Blackjack is different from most on offer because it is
practically the only one in which you can dramatically change the odds of winning whilst the game is actually taking place. Talking technically for a moment those games such as Craps and Roulette are termed by mathematicians as ‘Independent Trials Processes’ – which basically means that one has no control over events once the dice have been cast, the wheel or reels have been spun. Further more the results of any one play will have no knock-on effect upon any subsequent game. This means that it is practically impossible to develop any accurate and reliable playing strategy. You just put down your cash and keep your fingers crossed!
The game of Blackjack is different. It is one of the few examples where the odds in a game are subject to ‘Conditional Probabilities’. This means that as the game progresses the chances of you winning a hand vary as it is played out. In addition the outcome of one hand affects subsequent hands (this statement is more true in online casinos where a deck is played through prior to a shuffle than at most online casinos where each hand is cut from a freshly shuffled deck.)

Playing Blackjack
Blackjack (single or multi-player) is a game that is played against a selected bank and/or the dealer. As a player you have the goal of creating a hand of cards (which can be two or more in number) with an accumulated pip value of 21. All cards the cards in a deck are credited with their face value except the court cards, which are considered to be worth 10 points each. Aces are treated a little differently and are deemed to be worth either 1 or 11 depending on your playing preference. If, through bad-luck or poor math, your hand total adds up to greater than 21 you are deemed to have ‘Bust’ and so you lose the hand and your initial bet is forfeited. The game is literally as simple as that – at least the basics of playing are! After you have received your first two cards you just keep on asking the dealer for another card until such time that you decide you either obtain the magic 21 pip total or are as close to it as you think are going to get. At this point you `Stand’.
Then the dealer peels off one card after another onto his pile until he reaches 17 when he has either beaten you or has gone `Bust’. If at this stage his total is the same as the players a stalemate arises and both hands are forfeited. This is called a `Push’ and the bet is returned to the player.
Now that you know the basics let’s take a look at a very simple game.

Game Example 1
Every hand of Blackjack starts with the player offering his or her bet. Lets make this $2.00 for the sake of argument (typically most online Casinos play in US Dollars but don’t let this put you off if you live outside America – I’ll explain about currencies later on). For this bet the dealer will then place down in front of you your first card (face up), then deal them one card (also face up). He or she will then deal you, the player, a second card (also face up) and then finally themselves a second card (face down this time). You are now looking at four cards on the table – three faced up and one faced down.
Now the player will count the pip values of their two cards. Say they had a 2 and an 8 they would have a pip total of 10 – a long way from the targeted 21 but as we shall see a good hand nevertheless. At this point the player has two options. The first is to decide whether to `Twist’ – to ask for a third card and hope that they will get nearer the 21 total, or to `Stick’ – refuse the offer of any more cards for that particular round.
In this case the total of 10 is pretty low and one would normally ask for a second card. Remember the
highest value card that you can have is 11 (Ace) so the player cannot bust at this point.
So the dealer hands over a third card to the player. In this particular game it turns out to be a King that means that the player’s hand totals 20. Most sensible players would hold at this point – the odds of an Ace (in its role as a value 1) coming up next are just too remote to make the risk acceptable. So the player suspends his play at this point and allows the dealers to respond. The dealers’ job now is to reach that magical 21 value themselves. However the job is made considerably difficult because they have to beat the player’s 20. Thus only a total of 21 will do to win the game. A hand of
value 19 or less will mean a loss whilst 20 will at least nullify the hand and result in a draw.
So off they go. The dealers exposed card is a 6, they then reveal that a second facedown card as an 8 which leaves them a total of 14. Obviously a third card is needed so they turn one over. This is a 2, which brings the total to 16 – still not enough so they try for a fourth card. This happens to be a 10 and the dealer is `Bust’ with the mammoth total of 26. The player wins the hand, has his or her original $2 bet returned to them along with the same amount again making $4 in total! Most winnings are paid on a 2:1 ratio – though there are a few exceptions, as we shall see later on. So that is it – simplicity itself!

Game Example 2
Lets take a look at second game. In the first instance the player has a King (which is value 10 remember) and a 7. The suit type is of no consequence in Blackjack. This total of 17 is high enough for the player to `Stand’. However the dealer also has a court card – namely a Knave and on exposure of his second we see that it is a 10. Thus his total of 20 is higher than the players of 17 so he takes the bet and closes the hand.

Game Example 3
There is one two-card combination that radically changes the results of any game. This is referred to as a `Blackjack‘ and consists of the combination of any ten or court card and an Ace. Together they add up to 21. When a player gets a `Blackjack‘ he or she will automatically win the hand and likewise when the dealer gets this combination they win the hand. The fun part is that a BJ pays out higher odds to a player of 3:2 rather than the more normal 2:1.

Game Example 4
Occasionally you find in an initial deal that you are handed a pair – that is to say two cards of the same value (e.g., two 2s. two 5s, two Aces etc.). How you treat these depends very much on several playing factors. However in many cases you will decide that the best response is to `Split’ in which you take each card and use it to create two new hands. At the same time the software will automatically double your initial bet so you are risking a higher wager.
This can be an important consideration when deciding whether to split or not. Let’s create an example to illustrate my point. The dealer has dealt you two 8s and you decide to split them.
You now have two completely new hands on the table in front of you – each with an 8 to start from. The dealer will then deal another card face up onto one 8 and then a second card onto the second 8.
Now this is where things get a little complex. There seems to be no set rules on how the casino software will respond. Having placed a second card on top of each of your two split cards some will automatically complete your game at this stage and move onto the dealers move. Some casinos only do this on split Aces.
Some casinos allow you the regular `Hit or Stand’ options and some even allow you to split for a second time (thereby creating three hands of cards). You will just have to play the casino for a little while in order to get to grips with its subtleties.
It’s now the dealers turn. They complete their hands as usual but the total that they reach is compared against each of your split pairs individually. This means that you can either lose both your hands to a higher total, win one and lose one or win them both. It’s a risking business splitting pairs as you can see so only certain pairings are recommended for splitting.

A Summary
In those four game examples you have now experienced the very basics to playing Blackjack. The game rules governing certain aspects of play can differ from one online casino to another (as indeed they do at offline casinos). Indeed they can also vary from one continent to another with European Blackjack being quite different to the typical game found at US casinos. When playing Blackjack online it is crucial to find the best odds (more on that later). Some good sites are suggested in the Appendix.

In the next chapter we’ll take a look at what you need to get started in a Blackjack career

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Becoming familiar with the basic online Blackjack strategy is simply a must if you seek to win the games you play. Success in Blackjack typically depends on a mysterious combination of luck and skill. If you manage to create that particular combination in just the right way, your Blackjack winnings are sure to skyrocket. It’s this exceptional possibility of making an incredible profit probably what attracts casino goers from all parts of planet Earth to this amazing game.

Basic online Blackjack strategy is not a random term. Being a mathematical system of charts, it is actually a well-defined strategy based on certain mathematical rules. Charts are available that help players predict (and ultimately follow) the correct mathematical play in any given game scenario. You need to learn the basic strategy charts well to become familiar with every proper play. Seasoned Blackjack players are well aware of the fact that playing optimally usually helps them to reduce casino advantage to less than 1%.

Card-Counting System

While a chart will help its users find the best possible solution in any game situation, there is another recommended online Blackjack strategy we advise players to take a look at. It’s the popular card-counting system. Although a bit controversial, card-counting is a completely legitimate technique. Players who manage to keep track of the cards that have already been used, can establish when the unused cards are advantageous for them.

In general terms, card counting provides players with two priceless opportunities. First, the player can make richer bets when gaining an advantage over the house. This ultimately translates into more profitable winnings. Second, the player can use whatever info regarding the unused cards to optimize his game. For example, with many tens still unused, the player may double down in more situations because the chance of making a powerful hand is quite higher.

When done correctly, card-counting can give players an advantage of 0-2% over the house. To thwart card-counting attempts, many casino facilities switched from single deck games to multiple decks, with the cards dealt out of a box called a ’shoe.’ Despite this, many experienced card-counters make very nice profits using this particular Blackjack strategy!

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