Introduction
Blackjack, formerly known as Black Jack and Vingt Un, is one of the most popular card games and the first choice for many punters when playing online and on the gambling floors. Blackjack gets referred to as “21” and uses a 52 deck of cards. This family of card games also includes Pontoon, a British and European card game Vingt -en-Un. It’s a card game in which players compete against the dealer and not against other players
Different Blackjack Variants
Below are three of the most popular Blackjack variants, and they are:
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Classic Blackjack- this blackjack variant remains the most popular form of the card game and it has a low house edge.
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European Blackjack- European Blackjack offers better odds to players than American Blackjack, and it’s typically played with two decks of cards, with the dealer standing on soft 17.
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Face Up 21- This variant puts a great deal of power in the player’s hands due to both the dealer’s cards dealt face up. It’s like European Blackjack as players get to double down on 9, 10 and 11.
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Things you should know about Blackjack.
When playing Blackjack, the rules change the house edge, and it’s imperative punters find rules that are favourable to them and not the casinos, like doubling of any two cards. Beware of Side bets as they get designed with a higher house edge. Never take Insurance. It’s important to note that Insurance has nothing to do with your hand. It’s simply a wager where you guess whether the dealer down card is a 10 or face card. If the dealer has a 10-value card, you win, and should they have another card, you lose, and insurance would have to pay 2.25 to 1 for a player to break even. Never play with a less than 3:2 payout, and more casinos offer games that pay 6:5 payouts increasing the houses edge by 1.39%
Introduction
Christopher Phillip Ferguson is an American Poker player born on 11 April 1963 in Los Angles, California. He is fondly referred to as Chris “Jesus” Ferguson and has won six World Series of Poker Events, including the 2000 WSOP Main Event and the 2008 NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship.
Fergusons Poker Career
Chris Ferguson earned his nickname “Jesus” because of his long dark brown hair, full beard and thin stature. Usually sporting a black cowboy hat, dark sunglasses and equally dark attire, he looks like a poker player from the Wild West saloon days.
He won 6 WSOP bracelets and more than $8 million in tournament prize money.
He was one of the main faces of Full Tilt, and one of his most significant achievements was a personal challenge to turn $0 to $10000 starting with freerolls and after reaching his goal, only concluded the challenge after reaching $20000.
Yet despite his success, when Full Tilt Poker abruptly closed, causing many poker players to lose their entire bankroll overnight, they believed that “Jesus” was partly responsible.
Ferguson soon disappeared from public life after playing his last event in Dec 2010, only to resurface in 2016, where he made a brief appearance at the 2016 WSOP. Many believed he would not return; however, he surprised everyone in 2017 when he came to Las Vegas for the WSOP 2017 and ended up winning the WSOP Player of the Year title. It added insult to injury, with many players in the poker community was enraged as they felt he shouldn’t have been allowed to play, let alone win such a prestigious honour.
Where is he now?
This Full Tilt honcho is not affected by the stern looks and table talk and refuses to apologize for his role in the Full Tilt scandal and got acquitted of any wrongdoing by the Department of Justice. He’s here to stay, and he certainly has not lost his touch when it comes to playing Poker.
Introduction
Pai Gow Poker is the Chinese Gambling game variant of a game played with 32 Chinese dominoes, also called Pai Gow, and it means to make nine. The difference is Pai Gow Poker gets played with playing cards instead of dominoes. If you’re bored with Texas Hold ’em, then Pai Gow Poker is the game for you as it dishes out cards as if they were going out of fashion.
About the game
Pai Gow Poker uses a 53-card deck with 52 cards plus the Joker that acts as the wild card in certain instances. The Joker gets used as an Ace or assists in finishing a straight, straight flush, flush or Royal Flush. Getting started is simple. All you need to do is place your bet, and you will receive seven cards. Your cards get dealt face up, and the dealers face down. You now need to make two hands; a 5-card hand and a 2-card hand; however, it’s essential the 5-card hand must be better than the 2-card hand. Once you have completed your hands, you may ask to see the dealer’s cards, which they play using what’s known as the House Way.
The software will compare your two hands and pay you out for your bet, and if you have tied, you’ll push where you get your stake back, and all tied hands are a win for the dealer
Wrapping It Up
Pai Gow has become a top-rated online table game, and before you sit down to play, Pai Gow ensures you understand the rules. The most important is the hand ranking system. The hands in Pai Gow get ranked in the same way as they are in Texas Hold ’em and Stud games with one difference, and that’s in Pai Gow Poker, you can hit five of a kind.
Introduction
Donald Schlesinger has various accolades to his name. Not only is he a professional Blackjack player and Blackjack Hall of Fame member, but he is also a gaming mathematician, lecturer and author. Schlesinger a born and bred New Yorker graduated from the City College of New York with a BSc Degree in mathematics, added to that, he also has a Masters an M Phil in French from the University of New York. Before changing his profession in 1984, Schlesinger taught maths and French in the New York City school system until he became Executive Director at a Wall Street Investment Bank. Once he retired, he started devoted more time to Blackjack by researching optimal betting, optimal back counting, risk analysis, camouflage and team play.
What is Don Schlesinger’s Legacy?
Don Schlesinger blackjack career spans over 30 years, and he is best known for studying and publishing information about Blackjack. His book Blackjack Attack: Playing the Pro’s Way is a blackjack bible amongst many blackjack enthusiasts, as is his set of card counting indices called “Illustrious 18.” The “Illustrious 18” identifies the 18 most important basic strategy changes players can make according to count, and Schlesinger’s theory proved that card counters don’t have to memorize over 100 different index numbers to be successful. Schlesinger also created the Desirability Index and the Standard Comparison of Risk and Expectation, which compare games in various situations.
Don Schlesinger is up there with many of the greats in Blackjack and is also a Blackjack Hall of Fame member contributing immensely to the Blackjack world. His book Blackjack Attack is one of the most accurate and informative writings published, adding to that are his popular concepts, including SCORE, Floating Advantage and Illustrious 18. A true legend and deserves his status in the Blackjack industry.
What is Baccarat?
The card game Baccarat or Baccara is a comparing card game played between two hands, the banker and the player. In Baccarat, each coup has three possible outcomes: the player, banker, or tie. To start playing, players need to decide whether they will be placing a bet on the “Player” or “Banker” and sit back as the dealer does the rest. This game aims to get closer to nine than the opposite hand. It’s a game of luck. No skill is needed to play this game with a low house edge and draws a ton of betting action, often more than other casino games. It’s a simple game and usually tucked away in high limit gaming areas.
The Game
Baccarat has been an icon of exquisite moments, creating unforgettable experiences seducing personalities such as Princess Grace, Duke, and Duchess of Windsor of Monaco, and Aristotle Onassis. It’s a card game where you have 2 to 3 cards, and the winning hand is the one with the highest score. It’s also traditionally a high roller game; however, recent additions cater to punters playing with lower stakes and are available at all online casinos.
To get started, players must purchase chips. The card receives played from an 8 deck, all with point values similar to Blackjack. Plyers then bet on one of two hands, banker or player. There is also the option of betting on a tie but advisable to refrain from this type of bet.
Each hand gets scored with a total of between 0 to 9, and the player closest to 9 is declared the winner. Baccarat gets more complicated when a third card gets dealt. Still, we will stick to the basics of this card game, famous among British spies, one of them the prominent character created by Ian Fleming James Bond, whose game of choice was the Baccarat variant Chemin de Fer.