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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Basic Strategy for Panamanian Blackjack — charts

Last Update: Feb 24, 2011

Panama City, Panama, has very consistent and liberal blackjack rules at all casinos, as follows:

Six decks.
Dealer hits soft 17.
Dealer does not take a hole card.
If player doubles or splits, and dealer gets a blackjack, then the player loses the original bet only.
Early surrender allowed, except against an ace.
Player may double on any first two cards.
Player may double on three-card totals of 9 to 11.
Player may double after a split.
Player may split any pair, including aces, up to four hands.

The only rule that varies is most games use a continuous shuffler, but some are dealt from a shoe.

The following is the basic strategy for Panamanian blackjack rules.

Under these rules and strategy I get a house edge of 0.12% with a continuous shuffler, and 0.14% in a shoe.

When I was in Panama City in February, 2011, two casinos were running blackjack promotions. The Veneto paid 2-1 on a blackjack in spades at certain times. The Fiesta had a six-card Charlie rule.

Here are some pictures of the larger casinos in Panama City.