Reason #2 why the Wizard likes Bovada:

No-hassle practice games

Most online casinos spend more effort trying to separate you from your money than they do trying to give you a good experience. They have all kinds of popup windows, they usually make you download their software, and if they do offer play-in-browser games then you have to register an account before you can play. And if you register they start sending you emails trying to get you to deposit real money.

But Bovada is different. They have no popup windows at all, and their practice games play right in your browser, with no download, and no registration required. You don’t even have to give up your email address. It couldn’t be simpler: just one click and you’re playing the game.

I wish all online casinos showed this much respect for their players. Other casinos practically ask for your first born child to play for free. Meanwhile Bovada is patient and does not twist anybody’s arm to play for real money. You can play as long as you like for free with no obligation. The real-money games are available if that’s your preference, but if not, you can play the free practice games for as long as you like without hassle.

Visit Bovada

Derby Horse Racing Game

Last Update: Sep 03, 2005

Introduction

When a friend made a trip to Sydney, Australia, I asked him to report on the casino scene down under. What I got were several pamphlets from the Star City casino, mostly on the same games in the U.S., but one on a game called Two Up. The game is based on the toss of coins, with four bets to choose from.

Rules

Players take turns tossing two coins at the same time into a circular playing field. The player places one coin heads up and one tails up on something called a "kip" and tosses them "a reasonable height above his/her head." Bets are in rounds, which can last up to five tosses. Following are the betting options.

Heads

The heads bet will win if two heads are tossed before two tails. However if one of each are tossed, known as "odds", five times in a row all bets lose. The following table shows the possible outcomes. The lower right cell shows a house edge of 3.125%.

Heads Bet
Event	Combinations	Probability	Pays	Return
Win	31	0.484375	1	0.484375
Loss	33	0.515625	-1	-0.515625
Total	64	1		-0.03125

Tails

The opposite of the heads bet. Player must get two tails before two heads or five odds.

Spinner's Bet - Heads

The Spinner's Bet on Heads is like a three round parlay bet on heads. In other words the player is betting that heads will win three rounds in a row. The payoff odds are 7.5 to 1, which is better than the 7 to 1 you would get with manually parlaying winnings. The following table shows the possible outcomes. The lower right cell shows a house edge of 3.40%.

Event	Combinations	Probability	Pays	Return
Spinner's Bet - Heads
Win	29791	0.113644	7.5	0.852327
Loss	232353	0.886356	-1	-0.886356
Total	262144	1		-0.034029

Spinner's Bet - Tails

The opposite of the Spinner's Bet on Heads. Tails must win three consecutive rounds and a win pays 7.5 to 1.