I’m checking out an article on the New York Times about scientists who are working on vaccines that could eventually be used to treat addictions.  So, my first thought was — hey, could this be used to treat gambling addiction so that we can convince congress that online gambling doesn’t mean everyone is going to lose their house playing online videopoker and slots. (Crashing the economy already accomplished that.)  But no, it seems that the vaccines being explored will work by blocking the effects of substances like nicotine or cocaine so that the partaking in the substances won’t result in the person feeling any noticeable effect.  I don’t think gambling addiction works the same way, but there is good news on the gambling addiction front.

The big argument about online gambling has been that by making gambling easily accessible, it will turn everyone into gambling addicts. This is the reason many people fight so strongly against it. Never mind that online gambling is legal in the UK and EU and as far as we know, they haven’t all turned into gambling addicts.  And new studies may show us why.  The idea that easy access to gambling makes people spend more time gambling may actually be wrong. It turns out that easy access may make some of us spend less time gambling.  Studies show that after the initial exploratory period when a person is introduced to online gambling, the time they spend on gambling sites decreases.  So, for a couple of weeks, they may seem to spend a lot of time playing on online gambling sites, but soon, they drift off to do other things. 

Now, this doesn’t mean that those truly addicted to gambling are safe to use online gambling sites. Gambling addiction still exists and needs to be treated. It just means that the vast majority of the population who aren’t addicted to gambling aren’t in danger of becoming addicted to gambling. In fact, for me, it creates the opposite effect.  If I can only gamble at a land-based casino, then when I visit those casinos, I need to make use of every minute I have playing video poker. Because it’s costing me money to get there and I need to make that travel money pay off.  But if I play video poker online and I’m having a bad run, I can log off and go do something else knowing that the game will still be there when I’m ready to go back to it. 

Sometimes people ask me why I play video poker. Now I’ve found that there are two different reasons people ask this question.  One group means it as — why do you play a game found at a casino, isn’t that gambling and won’t you lose all your money.  The second group consists of people who play at casinos who mean - hey, is this a game I should start playing.  There’s a third group, but all their doing is complaining about the new Facebook.  All groups require different answers and I really am willing to answer the questions.

Video Poker is gambling and gambling is risky. True. Scientists will tell you that taking risks can result in an adrenaline rush to the brain, which is why many people enjoy gambling … and roller coasters. I don’t get sea sick when playing video poker (except when I’m on a ship), the same can’t be said for roller coasters.  Okay, to be slightly serious, yes, video poker is a game of risk and I can lose money. I’m also an adult who manages money and expenses very well and I can manage my gambling expenses. Despite all the rumors, you really can’t lose money gambling unless you put it into the machines. It doesn’t magically disappear from your pockets.

If you already enjoy gambling, should you start playing video poker? I certainly think you should check it out. Video Poker is a game where you really can use a good strategy to help put money into your pocket.  If you play slots, you’ll find that video poker offers you a chance to finally use some strategy. If you play blackjack, you might find it a break from the tables.  And if you play poker, as in Texas Hold’em, you might find like one poker player that video poker makes a change of pace when you can’t find a poker room.

Oh, the new Facebook? Still trying to figure out how they think they know which stories I find interesting.

Since I’m an avid video poker player, I often search the internet to see what other players are saying about the game.  Now video poker isn’t as subjective as games like Texas Hold’em poker so I’m often surprised when I come across different recommendations or opinions.  But those are the fun days because when someone tells me something different from what I believe or understand about video poker, it makes me stop and think through my experiences and the advice I give players.  Today I came across the site http://onlinecasinovp.com/free-video-poker.html discussing the reason to play video poker for free.  Now, according to this site, free video poker is a great way to kill some time.  So, what do I think?

Well, I can’t disagree entirely. In fact, yes, there have been times when I have played a few free video poker games to pass the time when I’m in between a couple of important things and don’t want to get too involved in a gambling game. Oh, say when I’m getting ready to leave the house for an appointment and don’t need to leave for another 15 minutes. But “killing time” isn’t the reason I advise people to play free video poker because there really is a more important reason - Practice. Oh, my friend on the casino site, eventually gets to that reason, but I’m surprised that it wasn’t the first or most prominent reason. 

Video poker players know that it takes a strong strategy to turn the odds in the game in their direction and that there are even levels of strategy available to them.  Basic strategy is for those new to the game and will improve on the odds over no strategy, but as players improve, they refine that basic strategy and improve the odds even more.  The reason we play video poker for free is to practice our strategy and to move from a simple level of strategy to a more complex level.  Sure we can get in a little practice while killing time, but a good strategy practice session is often more intense and focused.  The goal here is to get better so we can play video poker and win real money.

I feel like I don’t write about online casino bonus offers for this blog often enough. There’s a reason for that. Video poker is a game where the odds are already considered to be in the player’s favor, so casinos aren’t as eager to offer bonus money to video poker players. We stand a better chance of meeting the play through requirements and still coming out with money in the end.   But the online casino business is a competitive business, so now and then I do find a bonus offer geared for video poker players.  Today there’s one starting over at Lucky Red Casino.

Now, the offer starting today actually ties in with an ongoing bonus offer at Lucky Red Casino.  As a video poker player, you can use the code OTHERGAMES55 at any time to claim the standard 55% back on your deposit to play video poker (or blackjack and other table games).  But today, September 13^th through Thursday, September 15^th, Lucky Red Casin is sweetening the pot a little. 

Just use the OTHERGAMES55 coupon code five times between now and Thursday and you’ll be able to claim an extra $25 in free bonus money to play with.  All you have to do after you claim your regular offer 5 times is send an email to the Lucky Red Casino promotions department asking for your free $25 chip.

Now, as always, check the bonus terms and conditions for the offer before taking it.  The maximum cash out from this bonus offer is 10 times the bonus amount, so $250 it would seem.  If you play for heavy money and hit a Royal Flush, you could win more than that.  Just keep your personal playing strategy in mind when looking at the terms of a bonus offer.

The name Huck Seed should be familiar to poker players out there but now he’ll be familiar to video poker players too.  Huck was the 1996 World Series of Poker Main Event Champion so the man is a proven pro at Texas Hold’em Poker and has made over $7 million playing in poker tournaments. In fact Huck was one of the pros sponsored by Full Tilt Poker before Full Tilt went crash. 

But recently Huck was at the Aria Casino and noticed a massive progressive jackpot available on one of the Video Poker machines. So the poker pro did some research on the video poker odds and discovered that yes, if he played perfectly, he’d have an edge on the money.  So, he decided to give it a try. 

Now, normally, I wouldn’t recommend that a new video poker player sit down at start play the game at $500 a hand, but for Huck, who is used to the high stakes poker world, that wasn’t a deterrent.  Of course, the pro also had a bigger bankroll that I’m likely to play with since in a few hours he was $50,000 down.  Then he hit the jackpot and scored $670,000 in video poker winnings.

Now, if you’re wondering about the winning hand — it was a royal flush, all spades. Often the big jackpots require not just a royal flush but a specific suit, usually spades.  Huck was dealt a hand with a King and Jack of Spades, so two to a royal. He held them and hit for the 10, Queen and Ace. Part strategy, part luck and it added up to over a half million in winnings. 

With all due respect, I’m going to disagree, or perhaps partially disagree, with some of the top gambling minds out there when it comes to determining your bankroll.  See, I’m reading an article by Alan Krigman where he presents his new formula for determining your bankroll before you play video poker.  Now, I’m not going to disagree with his math or even the validity of his findings.  But let me get to the gist of it without going through the math. His recommendation is that for a 95% probability of surviving for 3 hours while betting $5 per spin (5 coins at $1 each for full payout) you need a bankroll of $1,200.  Mathematically, it looks like he’s right in his claim that his method is more accurate than the tried and true advice of having a video poker bankroll that is 100 times as large as the amount you bet per spin. According to that advice, you’d need $500 to cover playing video poker at $5 a spin.

So, where do I think these advice givers have both gone wrong?  I think they’ve taken the wrong starting point. See, they’ve started with the game and the odds of the game and then calculated how much money you need to bring with you to play the game.  Now, if you’re a professional poker player and playing for a living, you need to calculate your play this way.  But if you’re like me - a casual gambler who likes to play a little video poker for fun (and sometimes profit), I think you’ll be better off calculating your bankroll another way.

Here’s how I determine my bankroll. I look at my bank statement and my budget for the month. I subtract all the money I need to pay bill, invest in savings, by groceries and essentially live without going broke.  Then I look at what’s left and determine how much of that I can spend on gambling each month. No, it’s not the entire left over amount. And it’s not $1,200 or even $500. It’s more likely to be $50 for the month.  That’s my starting bankroll. All the math in the world doesn’t change that.  The next step is to determine what level I can afford to play at if I want to play for any length of time.  Nickel machines are fine and if I win enough money, maybe then I can move up to quarter games. 

Remember, it’s not the math that determines your bankroll — it’s the money in the bank account!

I want to address something today that might cause some confusion for new video poker players. Now in a land based casino, video poker machines tend to look a lot like slot machines in the sense that they are single player machines with lights and flashy parts. This sometimes causes people to attribute the same casino knowledge they have about slots to video poker.  Often these ideas are half fueled by rumor and aren’t true for either video poker or slots, but there are a few that just aren’t true for video poker even if they are true for slots.

The odds improve if you play higher denomination machines.  Now, this is sometimes true in casinos when it comes to slot games. Penny slots are said to have some of the worst odds on the floor. But it isn’t true when it comes to video poker. The reason is that slot machines are built to allow for variations in the odds. Now, even for slots, this isn’t a simple change that a casino can make on the fly.  So it won’t necessarily hold true based on slot placement because a casino may need to move slot machines around as they break or go out of service and that rotation would through off the placement based odds.  But video poker machines are based off of a 52 card deck (or 53 if a joker is used).  So for a video poker game to be considered fair, the deal must be based off the card deck, which means the odds can’t be changed based on denomination or placement.

So all video poker games are the same?  Well, no.  While casinos can’t control your odds of hitting a specific hand, they can and do change the payout table for the game and pay more or less for certain hands.  Also, they don’t pay out the big jackpot unless you place a full wager.  All of this is perfectly legal and legit. But you don’t have to study the machine placement or guess about the odds when it comes to video poker. Just look at the pay table displayed on the machine. All the info you need is right there.

Are you looking for an online casino to play video poker at?  Now, first I want to talk about why I love to play video poker online. I’ve played at top casinos, on 3 hour gambling cruises, and even on major cruise ships, and in all of those, there’s one thing that annoys me — it’s difficult to find the games I want with full payout tables. Sometimes I almost have to fight for the machine I want. People get there early and save the best machines.  So, part of the process of playing at a land based casino or a ship casino is scrambling to find the best machines and if I miss getting those, working through the machines available to find a video poker game with at least a decent payout.

That doesn’t happen at an online casino. When I play online I can find my favorite games and always with the best payout tables. So playing online not only saves me travel time to and from a casino but saves me time looking for my favorite games. When I play online, I can sit down and get right to enjoying a video poker game and winning money.  And winning is the best part of playing video poker.

But the challenging part of playing online for most of us is finding the top online casinos to play at. If you find the best online casinos, you’ll find the best selection of games and the best bonuses available for video poker players.  So, when I’m looking for online casinos to play at, I love to visit BestOnlineCasino.net to see which casinos they recommend.  They take care of all the hard work of reviewing and rating casinos and all I have to do is sit down and play.  I like that.

Are you looking for some bonuses for Video Poker?  I always have more trouble finding bonuses for those of us who play video poker. Everyone wants to give slots players bonus money. Of course they usually get that money back. We know how slots games are. That’s why we play video poker. Right?

So I’m looking over at Club World Casino where we can start getting bonus money today. Now, yes, they have slots bonuses. So, if you play slots too, you can take advantage of 75% match bonus up to $1000 to play your favorite slots games. You’ll need to make a minimum deposit of $100 and use the code CLUB75 to take advantage of this bonus today through Monday August 15^th.

But we play video poker. Which means we can take advantage of the bonus for blackjack, video poker and all other games. Just use the coupon code OTHERGAMES55 for a 55% bonus on your deposit and you can used this coupon as often as you like.

But if you’re a high roller, Club World Casino has the bonus you need starting on Monday, August 15^th and running through Thursday, August 18^th.  Here’s what’s going on.  You’ll need to deposit $100 or more to take advantage of this offer but it will earn you a 75% bonus up to $1000 to play video poker, blackjack, Caribbean games, table games, keno and of course slots.  But remember — video poker!  To take advantage of this bonus, just use the coupon code CHOOSE because you get to choose the game you want to play!

Where do you play video poker?  Because I’ve heard news of yet another casino group that will be closing its doors to American players. Rival Gaming, a very popular online gambling site particularly with slot players, will no longer be signing up players from the United States. Now the news so far is that the sites who are closing their doors to new players will still stay open to existing players, even if we are from the United States. And I have not been able to confirm that all the Rival gaming sites will be closing their doors to US players.  There are a lot of Rival sites out there to check with. And the aspect that set them aside was actually more their iSlots and 3D slots than their video poker games. Not that they don’t have great video poker, just that so far no one has introduced 3D video poker with dragons.  (Now that I’ve said it, someone will build it.)

Now, this is yet another surprising development in the battle for legal and accessible online gambling in the United States. But the news isn’t all bad. New Jersey and Massachusetts are both working toward potential online gambling within their borders and this puts a money challenge in front of Congress. If the US can’t provide for legal online gambling at the federal level, they are going to miss out on the potential tax money. But the states need tax money and once we see one state with legalized only gambling, I think we’ll see more.