Well, it’s Friday again already and that means it’s time for the CasinoFYI weekly bonus roundup. As usual, we have several online casinos offering special bonuses and promos to celebrate the weekend. There are three casinos offering bonuses beginning today.

The weekend bonuses this time around include a mix of reload bonuses, low rollover bonuses, special blackjack payouts and free spins on progressive jackpot games. Some of these bonuses require a deposit, while others are available to everyone.

Here’s what we have in store today:

1. Lucky Red Reload Bonuses

You can always count on Lucky Red Casino to offer something special for the weekend. This weekend is no different with three different reload bonuses available to all players.

$1,000 Low Rollover Bonus for Slots and Keno

Slots and keno players will like this one. Use the bonus code RPLS65SLOTS to get a 65% bonus worth up to $1,000. The wagering requirements for the bonus are set at 15 times the deposit + bonus amount. Most slot bonuses have 20x or 25x rollover requirements, so this one is a little easier to clear.

You can use this bonus code up to three times this weekend. This bonus will be available all day today, tomorrow, Sunday and Monday.

65% All Games Bonus

Your second option at Lucky Red Casino this weekend is a 65% bonus that works with every game in the casino. The wagering requirements for this one are 25 times the deposit + bonus amount. However, all wagers that you place on craps, roulette, baccarat, sic bo, blackjack and video poker only count 60% towards the rollover.

This is similar to the all games bonus that Lucky Red Casino offered last weekend. It’s a pretty good bonus but it still doesn’t compare to the “zero wagering requirement” bonuses that Lucky Red offers occasionally.

If you do want this bonus, use the code RPLA65AG when you make a deposit this weekend.

High Roller Slots Bonus

Lucky Red calls this one a “high roller” bonus because the minimum deposit to qualify is $100. Make a deposit of $100 or more with the bonus code RPLS80SLOTS and you’ll get an extra 80%. This one has a 20x rollover and it can only be cleared with slots, keno and scratch cards.

www.luckyredcasino.com

2. Buzzluck Weekend Promos

Buzzluck Casino is also pretty reliable when it comes to weekend bonuses. Buzzluck has one bonus and one free spins promo running from today through Monday.

Free Spins if You Lose

If you deposit $250 or more this weekend and LOSE money, you’ll get 50 free spins worth $25. You can look at this one as a consolation prize. If you’re down at the end of Monday, send an e-mail to promotions@buzzluck.com and they’ll credit you with 50 free spins.

I’d recommend combining this promotion with the weekend deposit bonus described below. That way you can get a bonus, play all weekend and then get 50 free spins if things don’t go well. If you win money, well that’s even better. No bonus code is necessary to participate.

70% All Games Bonus

You can also get a 70% deposit bonus worth up to $1,000 this weekend. The bonus works with all games and has a rollover of 25 times the deposit + bonus. As usual, blackjack, video poker and baccarat only count 60% towards meeting the rollover.

Get the bonus code RPLA70WNK when you make any deposit this weekend. You can use this bonus code up to five times.

www.buzzluck.com

3. Bovada Promos

The promos I’m about to list at Bovada aren’t restricted to this weekend only. They just happen to be active this weekend and will be running for at least 10 days. One of these promos is designed for blackjack; the other is designed for slots.

Blackjack Sundays

Play blackjack on Sundays at Bovada and you’ll get an extra $21 on your first blackjack of the day. That’s right, all you have to do is hit a blackjack and the extra cash is yours. You’ll also be entered into a drawing to win $2100 every time you hit a blackjack on Sundays.

The terms and conditions of this bonus have a couple of catches, though. First, you’ll need to bet at least $5 a hand to qualify for the $21 payout and to receive entries in the drawing. Second, the bonus cash comes with a 20x rollover, but blackjack, baccarat, sic bo, craps and roulette do not count. And third, this promo does not apply to single deck or double deck blackjack.

The good news is that the $2100 grand prize is NOT a bonus. You’ll get straight cash deposited right into your account. It has no rollover requirements at all. They’ll be giving away $2100 every week until the end of the promo.

Jackpot Risk-Free Shot

The other promotion running from now until May 26^th applies to the progressive jackpot games Mid-Life Crisis and Shopping Spree. The progressive jackpot for those games is currently sitting at more than $1.5 million, so Bovada wants to encourage players to give it a shot.

In this promo, all you have to do is play Mid-Life Crisis or Shopping Spree. If you’re down money at those games overall on the 26^th, Bovada will reimburse you with up to $10 of bonus cash. The bonus has a 20x rollover as well. Wagers on single/double deck blackjack, baccarat, sic bo, craps and roulette do not count towards the rollover.

www.bovada.lv

Casino News

There have been numerous people arriving at CasinoFYI.com looking for a free keno download. I don’t think I have a keno download anywhere on the site, but I do know of a couple of other places where you can go to download and play keno for free.

There are two ways to go about it. First, you can simply download the software at any online casino. For example, I know that Lucky Red Casino has keno that you can play for free. They will ask you to create an account, but that’s free. You don’t have to make a deposit to play on their practice games.

It’s a little annoying signing up for an account at a casino, but it doesn’t take long. Once you have an account, you can just log in any time and click the “practice play” option on the login screen. The play-money version works just like the real money version.

The other option is to visit the Bovada Casino website and play keno there without downloading the software. Bovada has a couple dozen games that you can play right in your browser. Even better, you don’t have to sign up for an account. The games are listed right there on the website.

This second option is my favorite because no account is necessary. It takes literally 5 seconds to visit the website and try out their keno game. It doesn’t get much easier than that.

Other Keno Stuff

If you ever play real money Keno, I recommend using a keno calculator to figure out the house advantage of each bet. The house advantage varies drastically sometimes just by making more or fewer selections.

The Wizard of Odds has a free calculator here that you can use to figure out the return on any bet. All you have to do is select the number of picks and then fill out the payouts below that. Hit the “calculate” button and you’ll see what the house advantage is on any wager.

It’s a good idea to keep a Keno calculator handy when you play for real money. I have seen some cases in which one bet will have a house advantage of 25%, but adding just a single pick drops the house advantage to something like 15%. That makes a big difference over the long run.

Keno isn’t the best game from a strategic perspective, but it can be quite a bit of fun. I’ve always noticed that I go on significant streaks between winning and losing. Sometimes it feels like I can’t hit anything; other times it feels like I’m on fire.

The one issue with Keno is that the house advantage is quite high on most bets. According to the tables on this page over at GamblingForReal.com, Golden Cherry Casino has some of the lowest-advantage keno bets on the internet.

Speaking of which, look at the house advantage difference between making 1 pick and making 2 picks on the keno table linked-to above. A single number pick comes with a sickening house advantage of 25%. Bump it up a notch and pick two numbers and that advantage drops all the way down to 8%.

At every online casino I’ve ever closely looked at, the Pick 1 option is the worst keno bet. Every single time, the other wagers have lower advantages than the Pick 1 option. So avoid that one at all times and pick at least 2 numbers every time.

Casino Blog

Online poker is a great way to make a little extra beer and gas money. Most people lose, but that’s because they approach the game with the wrong mindset. If you follow the steps I present in today’s blog post, you’ll find that it’s actually not all that difficult to earn your first $100 in online poker.

Right up front, I’ll tell you that you do need to know a little poker strategy. You don’t need to be a poker mastermind, but you do need to know enough to at least break even at the tables. If you know the very basics of poker strategy, you can make $100 with *fairly* little risk.

There are a few ways to earn $100 in online poker. The first method is the fastest but it requires more startup capital. The second method is quite a bit slower, but it doesn’t require nearly as much money up front. Both methods use deposit bonuses to speed you along, but bonuses aren’t totally necessary.

Just a warning, this is a pretty basic post. I don’t think you’ll find this useful if you’re already experienced with online poker. This post is geared towards people with little or no experience.

The Fast Way

Starting bankroll: $100+

It is always easier to make money if you already have money. If you can spare at least $100 (preferably more), then you can make a deposit at any online poker site, get a bonus and grind it out. Here’s what I recommend.

Step 1: Get a bonus

First, visit Bovada Poker and sign up for an account. At the time of this writing, Bovada is the best option for US players. There, you will get a 100% bonus added to your deposit. So if you deposit $100, you will get an extra $100.

Things will move much more quickly if you can afford to make a much larger deposit, though. If you can make a $500 deposit, you’ll get an extra $500 on top of that and have a much larger bankroll to work with. However, I don’t recommend making a large deposit if you are still learning the basics of poker strategy.

Step 2: Clear the bonus

The catch is that you don’t get the bonus money up front. You need to play at the real money cash games or tournaments to slowly release the bonus. Whenever you play in real money games, you earn VIP points that are used for other promotions. The rate at which VIP points are issued is based on the amount of rake taken out of the games.

Now, here’s where you have to decide how quickly you want the money. If you play in higher stakes games, you will clear the bonus quite a bit faster. But if you play too high up, you’ll go broke before you clear the bonus. Playing poker on a short bankroll is always a risky proposition. I recommend taking your time and doing it the right way.

I also think you should clear the bonus with ring games as opposed to tournaments. Ring games run at a faster rate in collecting rake, which means you earn VIP points faster, which means you get your bonus faster. At Bovada Poker, you’ll have to earn a little less than 750 poker points to release the first $100 of your bonus.

Other Notes

You have to play real money poker with real opponents to clear a bonus. This means you at least need to be skilled enough to break even. If you can manage to break even, the bonus money will provide you with your first $100.

This first method for earning $100 is a pretty standard way that poker players build bankrolls. This is nothing groundbreaking I admit, but this topic is geared towards beginners anyways. If you can play well enough to keep your head above water, it’s a pretty safe way to make your first $100 at poker.

The Slower Way

Starting bankroll: $20 to $100

This is the method for people who have less than $100 to deposit. Most poker sites have a minimum deposit of around $20, but that can change. In any case, this is the route to take if you are only willing to make a small deposit.

Step 1: Get a Bonus

Once again, the first step is to get a bonus. Sign up at a poker site and make a deposit. Every single poker site on the internet adds money to your first deposit as a “thank you” for playing. In most cases, you’ll get a 100% bonus added to your deposit.

So let’s say you deposit $20. You’ll get an extra $20 to go along with that, giving you a total bankroll of $40. You will still have to clear the bonus like I mentioned above, but it will take a little longer because you’ll be limited to playing in lower stakes games.

Step 2: Play in Small Tournaments

If you can play well enough to clear the bonus without losing money, you’ll end up with roughly $40 in your bankroll. This is a small bankroll so we can’t play in any cash games yet. Your best bet is to start out with micro-stake tournaments.

There are lots of low stakes tournaments that you can play in online. I see little $0.05 and $0.10 tourneys all the time. The prizes aren’t all that big of course, but don’t let that deter you. Your goal is only to build up your bankroll slowly, move up to slightly more expensive tournaments and keep at it. You would be surprised at how quickly you can move up through the ranks with skillful play.

Starting with $0

Starting bankroll: $0.00

Yes, you can earn $100 without making a deposit. This is the slowest way to get to $100, but it’s the best for players who have absolutely nothing to spare or players who are looking for a challenge.

The basic process is pretty simple, but it is very challenging because you’ll be working from a short bankroll during most of the early phase. All you have to do is sign up for a free account at any online poker site and play in the freeroll tournaments at that site.

All poker sites host freeroll tournaments that cost nothing to play in, but that offer real money prizes. The prizes are sickeningly small, but it costs absolutely nothing. I’d say this is the most difficult part of the challenge because you have to play in mind-numbingly long, boring tournaments with the prospect of winning $1.50 at the end.

However, people HAVE built massive bankrolls from scratch. It is difficult and frustrating, but definitely possible.

As soon as you win a little money in a freeroll tournament, take the money and play in the lowest real-money tournaments or cash games you can find. You will still have a short bankroll at this point, but there’s really no easy way around it. The only thing you can do is play your best and try to catch a modest win early.

Getting over the initial hump is tough because there will be times when you finally win a freeroll, go play in real money tournaments and fail to place, then be pushed back to playing in freerolls again. It gets old.

Here’s a brief summary of Chris Ferguson’s $0 bankroll challenge: Zero to Hero. That story tells about how one famous poker player started with $0 at Full Tilt Poker and turned it into a respectable bankroll. It took him a long time, but he finally did it.

Final Notes

I wrote this post from the perspective of a new player signing up to play poker without a whole lot of experience. Earning your first $100 takes time, but it’s very doable. Almost every successful poker player on the planet started with a small bankroll.

The hard part is just getting started. Once you have built up a respectable bankroll, you will find it easier and easier to earn one-hundred-dollar increments. For some people, $100 is nothing more than a big blind.

Patience will be your greatest virtue. I know you probably want to earn your first $100 as quickly as possible but rushing through the challenge will set you back. You have to stay within your bankroll as much as possible, study poker strategy and play a solid, patient game.

Good luck.

Casino Blog

The cheating scandal that rocked online poker back in 2008 just won’t roll over and die. On Friday, at least three hours of audio tapes related to the UB scandal were released.

These tapes catch Russ Hamilton, Greg Pierson (CEO and founder of UB), Daniel Friedberg (UB attorney) and Sanford Millar (UB attorney) openly discussing the god-mode software that allowed UB insiders to see their opponents’ hole cards and cheat players out of millions of dollars.

PokerNews.com reported yesterday that Hamilton and his UB buddies mentioned both Phil Hellmuth and Annie Duke during the audio recordings. According to the audio posted on PokerNews.com, Phil Hellmuth was never told about the cheating software, but Annie Duke was.

In what was perhaps the most stunning revelation, the men caught in the audio recording even say that Annie Duke herself used the god-mode software on a 15 minute delay. Annie Duke’s reputation as a high profile poker player has already been greatly diminished by the scandal, but this new information delivers a huge blow to her integrity.

In other parts of the audio recording, the men involved in the scandal openly discuss strategies for a cover up. They talk about blaming it on a 3^rd party “consultant” and finding ways to minimize refunds to players affected by the cheating. This is truly sickening stuff.

Audio Recording Highlights:

Casino Blog

You all may see me talk about avoiding scam software often, but I rarely show examples. I found just such an example today and it appears somewhat new. It’s a piece of software called the “Easy Money Bot.” This one targets online roulette and claims to be able to win money on autopilot.

The first clue that it is a scam is that it targets roulette. As any veteran gambler will tell you, roulette is a completely unbeatable casino game. Also known as a “fixed odds” game, roulette has odds that are fixed in place. There is no room for strategy in roulette whatsoever. No matter what strategy you employ, the odds of winning any bet in roulette are always the same.

Some games allow for at least some strategy that you can use to lower the house advantage a little, but roulette doesn’t even have that. I have nothing against roulette as a fun game, but it’s just wrong to tell people that they can beat roulette with any “super-secret” winning system.

The house advantage of roulette is built into the payouts offered by each wager. In a typical roulette wheel, there are 37 possible slots that a ball can land in. Winning bets are only paid as if there were 36 slots. This results in a small house advantage that cannot be overcome by any strategy, ever.

Even the most complicated betting systems in the world cannot beat roulette. Every single wager in roulette is a –EV wager based on the payouts. So no matter how you stagger or size your wagers, you always end up with a negative expected value on those wagers. No sum of –EV wagers combines to make a +EV wager.

People are always trying to find new ways to beat roulette, but the game is unbeatable. Roulette is 400 years old and people have been trying to find a way to beat the game for centuries. And in all that time, nobody has found a proven way to beat the game.

Well, actually there is one well-noted example of a man beating roulette many years ago after discovering that the casinos in his hometown were using faulty roulette wheels. He was able to win a substantial sum of money, but eventually the casino caught on and replaced the faulty wheels. And mind you, this was an actual physical roulette wheel, not some online casino.

But back to the Easy Money Bot scam. This piece of gambling software has not found some crack in the casino’s software. Online casinos receive real-time information on all wins and losses. If a roulette game was to be beaten for any substantial sum of money, the casino would investigate and promptly fix the leak.

And think about it like this… if someone was capable enough to hack into casino software, alter the payouts and get away clean, would that person really sell the system online to the public? Of course not.

Taking that point further, the Easy Money Bot does not even claim to hack the casino software. The software only claims to use “advanced mathematical formulas” to win money every time. As explained above, there is no such thing as math-based system that can beat roulette. This is a scam.

I’m not willing to download the software to my computer, but the FAQ page on the Easy Money Bot website claims that it can win 9 times out of 10. This is indicative that it is based on some variant of the Martingale System. The Martingale System is a well-known and thoroughly debunked betting system that simply does not work.

Scammers and Enablers

There will always be unethical people who will do anything to make a quick buck. These scammers will always be there trying to take your hard-earned money. They have no qualms with packaging turds in gold wrappers and selling them to anyone who falls for their lies.

Just as bad as the scammers are the enablers. In fact, it is the enablers who annoy me the most. For example, the gambling website CasinoCheers.com recommended this system in a recent blog post. These people are worse in my opinion because they provide a platform for scammers to spread their misinformation to the general public.

Without the enablers, the scammers would have a much harder time selling their crap to unsuspecting gamblers. People who run websites such as CasinoCheers.com give the rest of us a bad name. Here we are trying to maintain the legitimacy of the industry while people who run CasinoCheers.com do everything they can to tarnish the gambling industry.

The only thing I can tell you is to avoid these people and question everything you read on the internet. Any time someone tells you they have the newest secret method for beating the casino, it’s time to put on your Skeptical Hat.

But hey, you don’t have to take my word for it. Go download the software yourself and pay €69 to unlock the software. When you realize it was a rip-off, don’t say I didn’t warn you.

Casino Blog

Today is Friday and that means it’s time for the weekly update of weekend casino bonuses. There is a group of casinos that I like that offer reload bonuses every weekend. The bonuses change every week, but most of them involve free money, free spins and cashback rewards.

Let’s see what we have in store this week.

1. Buzzluck Bonuses

Buzzluck has three deposit bonuses on offer this weekend and extending through the end of the day Monday. There are two different slot/keno bonuses and one all-games bonus.

65% Slots and Keno Bonus – Low Rollover

Up first, there’s a 65% slots and keno bonus that is good for up to $1,000 extra. This one is advertised as a “low wagering” bonus because it has a rollover of 15x instead of the usual 20x rollover. It is not a cashable bonus, but the lower wagering requirements do help. Remember, you can only clear this one with slots and keno.

If slots are your thing, this is a pretty good bonus. I wouldn’t call it a jackpot by any means, but it’s better than your average online slots bonus. If you run well while clearing this bonus, you’ll end up with a bunch of extra money that you can use to play more slots and hopefully win a big payout.

Bonus code: RPLS65BLZ

65% All Games Bonus

The second option at Buzzluck this weekend is a 65% bonus that can be cleared with every game in the casino. This is the one to get if you don’t plan on sticking to slots and keno all weekend. The bonus comes with a 20x rollover.

You can use all games in the casino to clear this bonus, but wagers on blackjack, baccarat and video poker only count 60% towards the rollover. In other words, the rollover is higher for those games. This is a pretty standard table games bonus.

Bonus code: RPLA65BLZ

80% High Roller Slots Bonus

And the third option at Buzzluck is an 80% high roller bonus for slots and keno. It’s called a high-roller bonus because the minimum deposit for the bonus is $100. Get this one if you plan on depositing $100 or more, and get the 65% low-rollover bonus if you plan on depositing less.

The rollover for this bonus is 20 times the deposit and bonus amount. Again, this bonus is only for slots and keno games.

Bonus code: RPLS80BLZ

Visit Buzzluck Casino Here

2. Lucky Red Bonuses

You can count on Lucky Red to have new bonuses every weekend. This weekend, Lucky Red has a free spins deposit bonus and a 70% all-games bonus. Both bonuses are available starting today and lasting until the end of Monday.

Free Spins Bonus

The free spins bonus this weekend  is for the game Caesar’s Empire. All you have to do is make a deposit and use the bonus code listed below and you’ll get either 20 or 30 free spins depending on the size of your deposit.

If you deposit anywhere from $20 to $100, you’ll get 20 free spins worth $8. Deposit $101 or more and you’ll get 30 free spins worth $12. Any money that you win with the free spins will go straight to your real-money cash balance. There is no win-cap or rollover associated with these free spins.

Bonus code: ROLA20CE

70% All Games Bonus

If you’d rather get bonus money, this is the promotion to get. The bonus code listed below will get you a 70% bonus worth up to $1,000. You can use all games to clear the bonus, which has a 25x rollover. However, wagers on blackjack, video poker, baccarat, craps, sic bo and roulette only count 60% towards the rollover.

Bonus code: RPLA70COOL

Visit Lucky Red Casino Here

Casino News

Of course, this involves giving them your name, e-mail address, physical address, phone number and so on. It’s one thing to sign up at one or two casinos, but it gets old doing this over and over again. Sure, you can always just give them fake information, but then you have to set up an e-mail account and memorize even more passwords and usernames.

The one casino that doesn’t force you to sign up to play the free games is Bovada Casino. I visit Bovada quite regularly to refresh my memory on certain games before writing new articles. It’s the easiest gambling site to play casino games for free because you don’t have to sign up or download anything.

All you have to do is visit the Bovada website and then scroll down a ways. You should see a list of the most popular “instant play games” near the center of the website. A few games are listed right there and there’s a link below that for a full list of no-download games at the website.

Click on the “practice” link next to any game and you can give it a shot right away. There are no signups, downloads or passwords required. Just wait for the game to load and you’re in.

Bovada is designed for players in the United Sates so don’t be surprised if you live somewhere else, click on the link and are redirected to Bodog. Both companies are related, but Bovada caters to the US audience while Bodog caters to everyone else. In either case, you will find free, no-download, no-signup games on the website.

If you want to play for real money, you’ll have to sign up for a real account and make a deposit. But if you just want to try the games with no fuss and free money, Bovada is the place to do it. It’s fast and free.

A few games are missing from the instant play option, but most of the big games are there. If there is a specific game that isn’t listed, you will have to download the full software to play that game.

Good luck.

Casino News

It’s time for another update on the state of online poker in the United States. Things are ugly out there so read everything carefully. I’m close to just giving up on online poker completely, and I think many other people feel the same.

If you’re not totally up to date on things in the world of online poker, proceed with caution. Be wary of websites that direct you to poker rooms with claims that everything is great. Everything is not great. Read on for all the details.

Note: I am going to be quite critical of some sites on this page. I’m willing to change my opinion if these poker sites get things together and start processing withdrawals quickly. I am not favoring or trashing any poker site on this page for personal reasons. I’m only giving you the latest information that’s out there. You can check any of the discussion forum links below to confirm what I say.

Lock Poker Withdrawals as of May 2013

It’s pretty clear by now that Lock Poker is in serious trouble. Players are still not being paid and there are numerous reports on 2+2 of people having five- and six-figure bankrolls tied up at Lock Poker and not withdraw-able.

People have resorted to selling their Lock Poker account balances for as little as $0.30 on the dollar to speculators. See this post for more background information on what’s going on at Lock Poker.

Poker players are reporting that they still have pending cashouts dating back to February with no word on how much longer they will have to wait to see their money. One player reported receiving a Western Union withdrawal in April after just two weeks. That’s good news, but most people are still sitting around waiting for their money.

The most frightening information coming out of Lock Poker is that even non-US withdrawals are experiencing significant delays. It is one thing to have problems sending money to players in the United States where online poker is under significant legal pressure, but it’s even worse when Lock can’t process withdrawals for players in poker-friendly countries.

Lock Poker representatives are still giving runaround answers and refusing to answer difficult questions. I would stay well away from this poker site. If you have a large balance at Lock Poker, it’s time to cash it out. Good luck if you do.

Relevant threads from 2+2:

Lock WU Withdrawal Thread

Withdrawal Cancelled by Lock Poker

Lock Shady Practices Thread (great summary of everything going on at Lock Poker right now)

Carbon Poker Withdrawals as of May 2013

Things aren’t nearly as dire at Carbon Poker as they are at Lock. Players from the United States are starting to get a little frustrated, as cashouts are taking anywhere from 6 to 12 weeks to be processed. Carbon Poker was doing great for a while, but some of these 3 or 4 month cashouts are simply unacceptable.

Players from the rest of the world are still being paid quickly. This is a good sign as it shows that Carbon Poker does have the money on hand to pay everyone else. There are no excuses for slow payouts to non-US players because the rest of the world does not have the same challenging legal situation as the United States.

So even though cashouts are taking weeks and weeks for US players, Carbon Poker appears to be in better shape than Lock Poker. But still, I’m seeing multiple reports of players with pending withdrawals that date back to late February.

If you need to make a large withdrawal from Carbon Poker, you can request multiple withdrawal requests all at once. The first check will take anywhere from 6-12 weeks, and then you will receive a check every 10 days after that initial wait. At least that’s how it has been for the past few months. Things can change any time.

Some players are starting to worry about the solvency of Carbon Poker, but things aren’t quite that drastic yet. The rest of the world is still being paid at least. That isn’t exactly iron-clad evidence that everything is fine, but it’s definitely better than what we’re seeing at Lock Poker.

Relevant thread from 2+2:

Carbon Poker Withdrawal Thread

Bovada Withdrawals as of May 2013

Bovada is by far the fastest poker site for processing withdrawals right now. Lots of players are withdrawing via cash transfers and receiving their money within days. The longest wait I’ve seen for a cash transfer withdrawal is six days.

People who request paper checks are being approved that same day. It is taking about 10-ish days to receive confirmation e-mails from customer support that checks have been sent. These emails also include the tracking number of the envelope. Players are receiving their checks in hand days later.

There have been a few reports of checks from Bovada bouncing, but Bovada has responded by quickly issuing new checks. That will happen with online poker in the US and it doesn’t appear to be an actual liquidity problem. It’s something to keep in mind, but it’s not particularly concerning. It has been a while since I’ve seen any new reports of bounced checks.

I saw one player state that he had been waiting 30 days for a cash transfer withdrawal but he appeared to be a lone case. Overall, things look pretty good at Bovada for now.

Relevant threads from 2+2:

Bovada Poker Withdrawal thread

Unofficial Bovada Poker General Thread

Is it safe to play online poker in the US?

It’s a risky proposition. Players are being paid pretty quickly at Bovada, but things are looking a little iffier at Carbon and downright grim at Lock Poker. If you do decide to play online right now, I would stick with Bovada and not keep a whole lot of money online at one time.

The thing to remember with online poker is that things can change quickly. We were caught completely off guard when the Department of Justice took down the websites of Full Tilt and PokerStars. Those poker sites seemed unstoppable… until they were stopped.

Bovada is the safest bet right now, but again, things can change quickly. However, I have more faith in Bovada than anywhere else. Their sister-company, Bodog, served the US market for years without any issues. That is not a guarantee, but it’s the best we have right now. The main thing to remember is that NOTHING is guaranteed right now.

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In that sense, card counting is easy. Actually putting it to use is another story entirely. Card counting isn’t illegal if you use only the power of your mind (you cannot use devices to assist you). However, casinos can legally ask you to leave if they catch you card counting.

This is where it gets tricky. Casinos know all about card counting and they know how to spot it. If you’re the guy that suddenly places big bets when the deck is rich in Aces, the casino will likely notice and ask you to leave.

Being able to make money at the tables without drawing attention to yourself is difficult. Suddenly increasing your bets, jumping in when the count is right and playing every hand with perfect strategy will draw attention to you. Soon, you’ll find yourself escorted away from the blackjack table and/or the casino.

In some places, casinos can’t even ask you to leave. But even then, casinos have their methods. They can send security people down to give you dirty looks or talk to you and ruin your concentration. Casinos can also just shuffle the deck more often or limit when people can join the table. Casinos can change certain rules that make it more difficult for the advantage player to grind out a profit.

There are lots of little things casinos do to undermine card counters. There are stories abound of card counters even wearing disguises to avoid notice. But even then, there are difficulties. Some casinos can even count cards themselves and monitor betting patterns to detect likely card counters.

On the other hand, casinos have to watch how far they are willing to go to deter card counters. If a casino changes the rules and uses constant shuffling machines, it may deter regular gamblers from playing. Thus, casinos have to walk the line between deterring card counters and annoying everyone else.

If a casino opts to shuffle the deck more often, it slows the game down. Slower games result in less profit from the regular gamblers. Each casino must compare the money lost to card counters to the money lost by shuffling more often.

Even a decision as simple as hiring additional security personnel has to be weighed in terms of cost-benefit. If an extra security guy in the back room costs the casino $50,000 a year, is it really worth hiring him to look out for a few card counters?

This constant game of balance creates opportunities for the advantage player. For example, some small casino might offer single deck blackjack in order to drum up business. Even non-card-counting blackjack players know that single deck blackjack is better than 8 deck blackjack. This creates an opening for savvy card counters.

In the end, card counting is still a viable profession. However, it is not as easy as it was in the glory days of blackjack. It can be done, but very few people have the knowledge and discipline to make it happen.

Card counting is easy but hard.

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Naturally, people tend to wonder if TwinSpires is safe. I have good news: Yes it is. TwinSpires is fully licensed and regulated in the United States. Horse and greyhound racing received exemptions from anti-gambling legislation back in 2006, so horse betting fans don’t have to place wagers at offshore gambling sites.

TwinSpires.com is based out of Kentucky and it accepts real money wagers from players around the world. The website operates in the open and is subject to the applicable laws of the state and federal governments.

There are a few horse betting sites based in the United States and TwinSpires is one of the biggest. Another big player in the industry is BetAmerica. BetAmerica is also located in the US and subject to the same rules, regulations and laws.

TwinSpires actually has a pretty cool way of doing business. After you make an account and deposit a little money, you can choose races from tracks located all over the country plus a few international tracks. Then, you can place bets on specific races just like you would if you were actually there.

You can also watch many of the races live. TwinSpires shows the races live on their website via streaming video. You need to be logged in to your account, but you don’t have to deposit any money to watch the races. The video quality isn’t mind-blowing, but it’s still cool to watch it in real time.

But back to the main point, yes, TwinSpires is legit. It is located in the US and even has an actual mailing address in Kentucky. You don’t see that often when it comes to online betting.

Click here to learn more about TwinSpires.

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