Born in 1956, Thomas Hyland, aka Tommy Hyland, was raised in New Jersey, USA.
Blackjack card counting has made him famous, as has managing the longest-running Blackjack team since it started in 1979.
The Early Years
He spent most of his teenage years in New Jersey, where he developed an interest in gambling.
During his childhood, he used to throw pennies at a wall with his friends, and they would make bets based on which penny landed closest to the wall. At first, the bets were just pennies, but then they became quarters. Tommy then began betting on other things like whether he’d win a cricket match or a golf match.
As he got older, he stopped placing bets himself and started collecting them instead. When he got his calculations wrong and lost $400, he stopped taking bets and focused on getting a scholarship to Wittenberg University in Ohio.
The Beginning of Blackjack Gambling
He played poker with numerous friends in dormitories during his college years until he read “Playing Blackjack as a Business” by Lawrence Revere.
Tommy and his friend practised the methods from the book and then went to casinos to test out their skills. They weren’t very successful until Tommy read another Stanford Wong book about card-counting. The book stated that to be successful, you must work as a team, and that’s exactly what Tommy did. He formed a Blackjack card-counting team.
Occasionally, the teams made millions in one night, while they lost a small fortune at other times.
They then created Blackjack computers, a form of cheating, which led to Tommy and his team being arrested many times when casinos caught them.
Where is he today?
Tommy no longer manages a Blackjack team but can still be found playing Blackjack in casinos today, although at a lower level than before.
Introduction
Wild Link Frenzy is a fishing-themed slot from SpinPlay Games. Set in Alaska’s iconic mountains, the fisherman can trigger the catching Wild Link feature and expand reels, increase paylines, and catch instant cash prizes.
Bonus Features
In Wild Link Frenzy, the Free Spins feature takes fishing to new heights with the Wild Link Feature. The reels expand up to 9 rows high, providing more chances for big wins.
An accumulation trail is also added, where Fishermen symbols are collected. if 4, 8, or 12 Fishermen have been collected, players can receive an extra 10 Free Spins with the multiplier increasing up to a max of 10x, applied to all wins. The Buy Feature allows players to instantly trigger the Free Spins feature, with accumulated Fishermen bringing them closer to the 10x multiplier.
Jumping Fish could trigger the Pick feature bonus, where players choose a pool to cast their line and reel in a Mini, Minor, Major, or Mega jackpot fish. Matching 3 symbols wins the corresponding jackpot, with the 5000x Mega being the biggest catch of them all.
The Wild Link Feature is triggered when a Wild symbol lands on reel 1 and expands to fill the entire reel. In the main game, a max of 3 rows can be added above reels 2-5 and during Free Spins, a max of 6 rows could be added.
Prize symbols on adjacent reels beginning from reel 2 award the prize displayed, and Wild symbols can substitute as Prize symbols. Players’ total wins can randomly be doubled or tripled. Wild symbols appear on all reels and substitute for all symbols except Bonus.
The Fish Frenzy Prize symbols award multiple random prize values when the Wild Link Feature is triggered.
Verdict
This is an exciting new release from SpinPlay games that features many entertaining bonus features to take advantage of. We found this slot to be highly entertaining.
Introduction
Online Keno has often been compared to lottery games as it’s often a game offered by some state lotteries. It’s a rapid draw game in which a set of numbers get drawn through a Random Number Generator from a pool of numbers.
Keno has origins dating back to the Han Dynasty in China, and the word Keno comes from Latin and French roughly translated. It means five winning numbers. The Chinese derivative of the word in the 19th Century was “white dove ticket”, and that’s because white doves used to carry the results from the city to smaller villages when hosting the game.
There is also an epic legend surrounding Keno. The story states that this game was responsible for saving a city from falling during the war. Further to this, Keno also got credited with raising funds to build the great wall of China.
How to play Keno
Players choose 1 to 10 numbers from the given table, much like Bingo, ranging from 1 to 80. Once a player selects their ten numbers and places their bets, 20 numbers get drawn randomly using the RNG. When playing Keno, players need to match at least three numbers to win; however, the more you match, the bigger the payout.
How to Win at Keno
Herewith are a few simple tips when playing Keno:
- Play at reliable sites
- Practice for Free
- Check the Payouts
- Take advantage of Bonuses
- Play Responsibly
Wrapping it Up
Keno is a fun, fast and easy to play online game, and the rules are straightforward. It works much like Bingo and other lottery-style games where you bet on various numbers. Although online casinos typically feature one or two variants of the game, it attracts millions of passionate players worldwide. Keno remains one of the most popular casino games and grows in popularity.
Introduction
Steve O’Dwyer is one of the biggest live tournament crushers in the history of Poker. Born on the 6th April 1982 in Colorado Springs, this online poker pro enjoys high buy-in events, and he is in the top 20 on Hendon’s all-time money list. His lifetime tournament earnings exceed $30.4 million, yet he has not won any WSOP gold bracelets to date. However, he does have an EPT title from 2013 and plays under the screen name Mr Tim Caum on PokerStars.
Key Career Dates
Before becoming a professional gambler, Steve O’ Dwyer attended East Carolina University, earning his BSc in Communications. He saw the renowned Chris Moneymaker win at the 2003 WSOP main event during his college years, leaving a lasting impression on O’Dwyer. A few months later, he bought into a private tournament for $5 and instantly fell in love with the game.
In 2004 Steve started playing online, starting with freeroll tournaments on Full Tilt and soon moved across to other sites where he took full advantage of their first deposit bonuses. After graduation, he decided to move to Las Vegas and pursue his dream of playing poker full time. In 2006 O’Dwyer started playing mid-high stake events on Full Tilt and, in 2015, won the $10000 NLHE Super High Roller at the PCA for $1.872 580, which is the single most significant live tournament cash to date. In 2018 he won the $25500 Powerfest Super High Roller event making it his most significant single online tournament cash.
Where is he now?
Steve O’Dwyer is yet to win a WSOP gold bracelet; however, he has cashed in 14 World Series Events totalling $222,570, and in WSOP Europe, he cashed in a total of $453147. This poker pro almost lost everything due to Black Friday, yet as one can see, he is resilient and managed to get things back on track and come out a winner.
About Slot Machines
An Online Slot machine is a gambling device with spinning reels and one of the most popular forms of entertainment online. These machines have over the years been referred to as Fruit Machines, Puggy, Pokies, Slots and Fruities. At online casinos, they get regulated by Random Number Generators (RNG)situated inside the machine, which cycles through millions of sequences to ensure fair gameplay. It’s a game of chance like all forms of gambling.
Different Types of Online Slots Machines
Online slots are available in multiple themes, and all come with some nifty bonus features. Moreover, players get to select their betting range, reels and paylines, slot games that come with Scatter and Wild Symbols, Free Spins and Bonus Games. There are also 3D Slots allowing for immersive gameplay as they bring the reels to life with advanced graphics, and BetSoft is famous for its 3D Slots. Another hugely popular type of slot machine is those based on blockbusters with animations from the movie and graphics to immerse you entirely as you spin the reels in the hope of some life-changing wins.
A hugely popular slot machine is the ones that offer Progressive Jackpots and Microgaming, NetEnt, and Playtech offer a plethora of Progressives built into their games with huge wins. Look at slot Machines with Progressives that include Mega Moolah, Divine Fortune, and the Age of the Gods series.
Slot Machine Strategy
The bad news is there is no slot machine strategy. It’s a negative expectation game. Players can, however, make some strategic decisions when selecting a slot machine-like its Return to Player, betting ranges, Jackpot, and variance, as that affects the frequency of payouts and how far your budget will stretch when playing online. Here’s to some reeling fun playing top slot machines, be it for free or in demo mode.