The blonde Online Casino

[Sheriff Fatman]

If folks go to a poker site it should have poker only.
This (for my mind) applies to sportsbooks too, having your bankroll one click away from the sickness that gambling can be to some folks is a sickness in itself.

I agree with this, and its a sad development that's occurred on most sites now.  I think Paradise were the first one I remember who put blackjack links on their poker software.  Party then went completely OTT with it and had all sorts of intrusive links appearing on the table (to the extent that I stopped playing there for a long time, particularly when the animated 'Monster' banners kept appearing all over the place).

Unfortunately, for the poker-only players, the financial results to the sites of doing this were huge, so its become the norm nowadays.  Consequently, we get an interface full of all these intrusive links as they generate a lot of money for the sites.

[byronkincaid]

Ah, that's what happened to all the fish, they lost their money playing blackjack!

[KingPoker]

The only way recording your numbers on that little bit of paper at the roulette tables would give you an advantage is if the wheel was slightly off level favouring one quarter, where it would be possible to recognise a slowly emerging pattern but it can be safely said that casinos check the level regularly so there is no way this is a long term winner. Plus online of course the numbers are completely randomly generated so there is no way to predict the outcome.
The same can be said with blackjack. As Sheriff said the only sysytem with blackjack that is known to work is card counting which without wishing to get caught you have to be extremely good at, (i believe the worlds best can memorise a deck in under 10 seconds) and also have to vary your bet amounts not so your just betting big when you think the aces/picture cards are coming otherwise it will be obvious to the floorstaff and security cameras what you are up to. But again this system is absolutely impossible to carry out online, whereas in most casino they will have 5 decks of cards in the shuffler, 3 if your lucky!, then it is possible to use the count system as they dont get shuffled until the 5 decks start getting depleted but online they shuffle the cards after every hand giving you no pattern and no system to follow.

If you really feel like donking off your money where you have no edge at all then more fool you i say!
I dont consider myself a gambler so have never seen the attaction with purposefull and willfully throwing money away at a game where you have no chance of winning over a lifetime.
Use the loix theroux (sp?) programme as an example!

[Claw75]

I see where some people are coming from with the 'if people are going to play these games, the money might as well go to blonde' arguments.  The thing is, that people that play these games through a site that they have joined with the sole intention of playing poker, wouldn't necessarily be playing elsewhere.  I wouldn't go as far as IFM in saying that poker sites should not offer casino games, what I don't like is the way the blackjack icon is right there on the table, ready for you to click on after going on tilt after a bad night at the tables. 

I did it once, got burned, learnt my lesson and won't go back again, so not too much damage done there.  I'm almost certain, however, that if going to play blackjack on the site had involved actually navagating through a menu or website to get there, rather than just clicking that little button, I'd be $300 to the good today.

[Claw75]

I'm only guessing here Claire, but considering you are mostly a low limit/small buy-in player, Blonde may well have earned more from you in those ten minutes than from the whole of the rest of your poker play. Powerful stuff.

very likely indeed.

[tikay]

Terrific responses, thank you, & keep them coming.

I'm much more comfy about where we are now, because it seems to me most of you think the same.

[Bongo]

I know of an ex-croupier..probably why he is an ex-croupier, that swears blind he could land the ball in a 5 number section!

To make a profit you'd only need to eliminate 2 numbers, wouldn't you?

[The Camel]

I've written about 10 different posts and deleted them all.

Trying to say what I think without sounding like a pompous arse is impossible.

So I best just keep my big mouth shut.

[AndrewT]

Terrific responses, thank you, & keep them coming.

I'm much more comfy about where we are now, because it seems to me most of you think the same.

Shame, as I've just thought of a great slogan for you.

"DO YOUR B*LL*CKS AT THE BLONDE CASINO"

[kinboshi]

Assuming the game isn't rigged in some way then no system in the world will let you beat a roulette wheel, but many people are convinced that they can...

I remember watching a documentary on Sky (probably on Challenge or similar channel) about a Spanish musician who managed to 'beat roulette' and won hundreds of thousands.  It was based on patterns and the fact that a roulette wheel over time will develop tendencies (as the wheel 'wears' over time), and these tendencies would manifest themselves in certain numbers coming up more than others.  He monitored the wheels for ages, and plugged the results into computers to give him an edge.

I've just done a quick search on Google for details, but couldn't find anything.  I'm sure someone on here will know more about it.  Unless I dreamt the whole thing...

[Wardonkey]

Croupiers cannot hit sections, those that claim they can are as deluded as the the punters that believe them. Think about it for a moment, the wheel rotates at 20-40 miles per hour and ball is propelled even faster in the opposite direction. Even if you drop a ball straight into a moving wheel it rarely ends up in the section that it intially lands. Any croupier with the skill required to hit sections would not be working night shifts for six and a half quid per hour.

Some roulette wheels may be slightly biased to wards a certain area but this bias only shows after many thousands if not millions of spins. I doubt that any bias would be enough to overcome the house edge. Casinos do check their wheels regularly with a spirit level to ensure that they are sitting level.

Out of the many thousands of roulette players that I have encountered I have known roulette players who have won very large amounts of money over extended periods. These players have done nothing special, they have just been very lucky.

[TightEnd]

I've written about 10 different posts and deleted them all.

Trying to say what I think without sounding like a pompous arse is impossible.

So I best just keep my big mouth shut.

PM me your thoughts please Keith

I'll then put them up for your anonymously!

seriously though, tikay and I would like to hear your point of view

[Irishdenis]

Hi all,

Just to give you my opinion. And before I do let me say that I am the one responsible for us using the Ipoker software.
We had no choice like many other sites when Playtech took over from Tribeca. As part of the new software the casino was one part. Blonde like all the other Ipoker skins have no choice in this matter. Their is no opt out of the software for casino.
The reason I Think Tikay has started the thread was to see if his opinion on this area of business was the same as all of yours. I might be wrong but I doubt it, his feeling is that their should be no promotion of the casino to the public. For the record neither do I or any of the other major shareholders.  As ever though Tikay likes to discuss this on the forum. I think this is a very healthy attitude and position to take.

You know how important your support of the poker room is to us. Our long term aim is to not promote any other site etc. We are not their yet.  I know they wont thank me for saying this but since the day that Blonde was started neither Dave or Tikay has received one penny in income from Blonde. In fact it has run at a loss for a long time with them putting in their own money.
 I have been involved in Blonde for some six months. Between Kev and myself we run the cardroom.  I became involved because I love the site. I could see the financial and mental strain it was putting on the guys and I felt I could help. The idea is for the cardroom to pay for the updates of the site. We want to be able to offer the live reports and results service. We intend to continue the open nature of the forum and allow debates such as this.

What we don't want is for their to be any spam or over promotion to you. If we are self sufficient then we will be saying no to anyone who asks us to advertise on the site. We know you all understand this and we thank you for your support. To this end I add my support to Tikay in not advertising the casino.

Any questions then fire away.

[Graham C]

It would just be nice if you could have an option to not offer casino games in the lobby (each persons option I mean)

I've clicked on the BJ link by accident before when I've been multitabling and before I know it, there's a blackjack board in front of me - should I have a quick go?

Just a tick box in the options menu would be great.

I don't have a problem with blonde making money, I can't see how you can survive without it and the cardroom/casino are obviously going to be the big and regular earners.   It would be good to have other things set up like the blonde shop though.  I know selling a few tops and hats here and there isn't going to generate that much, but every little helps.

[Irishdenis]

Are you a mind reader Silo....The shop is only days away. You are right that this is not done for commercial gain. We want folks to be able to get Blonde gear. I feel really proud when I see folks in the Blonde logo.