Reason #5 why the Wizard likes Bovada:

Intelligent Bonuses

Many online casinos offer huge signup bonuses, but there’s a catch. Buried in the fine print is that play on the most popular games doesn’t count towards earning the bonus. It’s common for play on blackjack, baccarat, roulette, craps, and video poker to be excluded. In many cases, only slots count.

And that’s if you can even find the terms and conditions. Many casinos put their 100% bonus in big flaming letters but make you hunt all over their site to find the rules.

Bovada allows play on all games to count towards the wagering requirement. It’s that simple. Just no opposite betting. All casinos ought to be as easy as Bovada about this. The bonus offer itself is simple too: on your first deposit, they’ll give you an extra 10%. If you deposit $100, you’ll wind up with $110 in chips or tokens.

Finally, in the unlikely event that Bovada feels you’ve been abusing their bonuses they won’t seize your winnings like most other casinos will. In the worst case scenario they will politely tell you that they will not be offering you any future bonuses, but you are welcome to keep playing and keep everything you have made already.

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Ask the Wizard #16

Edition Date: Jun 25, 2000

Congratulations on a great site. While I usually play blackjack in AC, basic strategy only, sometime I like to try my luck on Caribbean poker. I know about the odds in AC (from reading your articles in Casino Player magazine) but with different payoffs on some of the online casinos, are the odds any better or worse online?
— S from Silver Spring, Maryland

Good question. I checked out four casinos using Microgaming, Starnet, Cryptologic, and BossMedia software. Starnet uses the conventional rules. Cryptologic and BossMedia each pay 200 to 1 on a royal flush as opposed to 100 to 1. Microgaming has the following paytable.

Hand	Payoff
Royal flush	999 to 1
Straight flush	199 to 1
Four of a kind	99 to 1
Full house	14 to 1
Flush	9 to 1
Straight	5 to 1
Three of a kind	3 to 1
Two pair	1 to 1
Pair	1 to 1
Ace/King	1 to 1

Note that Microgaming only pays even money on a two pair but is more generous on everything higher. The following table displays the house edge for each kind of software assuming optimal strategy. Note that Starnet calls the game Cyberstud Poker and the rest call it Caribbean Poker.

Software	House edge
Microgaming	5.01%
Cryptologic	5.21%
BossMedia	5.21%
Starnet	5.22%

Great site. Do programs like Microgaming "learn" to defeat the player? I was under the assumption that the answer is no until I played "Don’t Pass" in craps. Out of 39 "hands" 28 were Pass, 10 were Don’t Pass and 1 was a 12 on the come out roll. I realize that this can happen, but it made me wonder. I had read elsewhere that the software can "learn". I didn’t really believe it. No, I didn’t lose a lot, my betting unit is $1. I’m "testing" onliine for myself.
— Rosalyn from South San Francisco, California

No, programs like Microgaming do not learn to defeat the players. Reputable companies like Microgaming do not need to play any dirty tricks to make money but realize that there is more money to be made long-term by offering a fair game. Even if they did want to cheat the players there would be much easier ways to do so. However there is a lot to be said about computer teaching themselves to play. I’m not an expert but I do know that computers can learn from past experience in games like backgammon and chess to improve their play. Finding the Edge (Edited by Olaf Vancura, Judy A. Collins, and William R. Eadington) has a paper titled ’A Computer Teaches Itself to Play Blackjack’ by Olaf Vancura if you are interested in learning more about the topic.

I have tried to look at your appendices for both Pai Gow and Carribean Stud Poker. Neither will appear on my browser (Netscape 4.5). Can you explain why this is?
— Gary from Clewiston, Florida

I’m sorry you can’t view these appendices. You are not the first to complain. Both of the files you mentioned have wide tables that sometimes make the screen scroll horiztonally. However some browswers simply won’t display anything at all. It may help to increase your resolution but I make no promises. To make a change in Windows go to control panel, then display, then settings, and increse the number of pixels under desktop area. I use 800 by 600 myself.

Considering that a slot machines random number generator is fixed to supply the selected numbers to the virtual reel stops and in turn are tied to the actual reel stops, is it not possible for the casino computers to swap non winning stops to win stops thus increasing the win percentage. This would maybe explain why all machines on some carosels seem to get hot at the same time, then all revert back after drawing a croud of players...just wondering...your site is a great information site...thanks
— Anonymous

No, this does not happen. How much the casino pays is determined by a microchip called an e-prom which is generally left alone. To change it the casino would have to get permission from the gaming authorities. Even without permission they would have to open up each machine and change them by hand. I speculate that the reason for what you observed about all the machiens on a carosel getting hot at the same time is due partially to chance and partially to a snowball effect where players will gravitate to an area where they hear a lot of winning and simply add to the number of wins because of more players.

Ask the Wizard #16

I have tried to look at your appendices for both Pai Gow and Carribean Stud Poker. Neither will appear on my browser (Netscape 4.5). Can you explain why this is? — Gary from Clewiston, Florida

I have tried to look at your appendices for both Pai Gow and Carribean Stud Poker. Neither will appear on my browser (Netscape 4.5). Can you explain why this is?
— Gary from Clewiston, Florida