Poker Ante

Poker Ante

An ante is a forced bet in which all players put an equal amount of money or chips into the pot before the deal begins. Often this is either a single unit a one-value or the smallest value in play or some other small amount; a proportion such as a half or a quarter of the minimum bet is also common. An ante paid by every player ensures that a player who folds every round will lose money though slowly, thus providing all players with an incentive, however small; to play the hand rather than toss it in when the opening bet reaches them.

Antes are the most common forced bet in draw poker and stud poker but are uncommon in games featuring blind bets see next section. However, some tournament formats of games featuring blinds impose an ante to discourage extremely tight play. Antes encourage players to play more loosely by lowering the cost of staying in the hand calling relative to the current pot size, offering better pot odds. With antes, more players stay in the hand, which increases pot size and makes for more interesting play. This is considered important to ensure good ratings for televised tournament final. Most televised high stakes cash games also use both blinds and antes. Televised cash games usually have one of the players pay for everyone, normally the dealer, to accelerate play. If there are six players for example, the dealer would toss six times the ante into the pot, paying for each person.

In live cash games where the acting dealer changes each turn, it is not uncommon for the players to agree that the dealer or some other position relative to the button provides the ante for each player. This simplifies betting, but causes minor inequities if other players come and go or miss their turn to deal. During such times, the player can be given a special button indicating the need to pay an ante to the pot known as "posting"; see below upon their return. Some card rooms eliminate these inequities by always dealing all players into every hand whether they are present or not. In such cases casino staff or neighboring players under staff supervision will be expected to post antes and fold hands on behalf of absent players as necessary.

Casino Keno

Playing Keno

Keno is usually played in Casino lounges specifically allocated for the game, but there are so called 'Keno runners' who will collect your ticket and deliver the winnings if the player wants to play from outside the lounge area. There are many television monitors spread all over the Casino halls to keep players informed of the winning numbers.
There is also the video version of Keno. These are slots-like coin operated machines. It plays using the same principle with similar rules of the regular Keno, but you get the results much faster.
To play Keno, you select a minimum of 4 but no more than 10 numbers between 1 and 80. Each selection is called a 'Spot', so if you select 10 numbers you are playing a 10 Spot game.
Keno tickets are located at tables throughout the Casino and in the Casino's Keno lounge. The Casino provides a 'Keno crayon' for this purpose.

Simply mark a blank Keno ticket with the numbers of your selection. Then present your ticket to the Keno desk with your wager and the clerk will give you a duplicate ticket. In a few minutes, twenty numbered Keno balls will be drawn at random from a barrel containing 80 numbered balls, and if enough of your selected numbers are drawn, you are a winner. The results are displayed on screens, called Keno boards, throughout the Casino.
Minimum bets can be as low as 5 cents, although some Casinos only accept bets of $1 or more. The house's Keno brochures give you information about payoffs and various tickets you can play.
The amount of money you win is dependent upon the type of ticket you play and the number of 'spots' caught. You may play as many tickets as you wish. You could win as much as $50,000 on a $1 wager in some Casinos.

The round of a Keno game is called a Keno race. In many Casinos, 'multi-race' Keno is featured, where you can play a number of consecutive Keno races at one time.
The house advantage on Keno varies according to the Keno game played. It is always around 30% or more.

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Online casinos, also known as virtual casinos or Internet casinos are online versions of traditional brick and mortar casinos. Online casinos enable gamblers to play and wager on casino games through the Internet.

Online casinos generally offer odds and payback percentages that are comparable to land-based casinos. Some online casinos claim higher payback percentages for slot machine games, and some publish payout percentage audits on their websites. Assuming that the online casino is using an appropriately programmed random number generator, table games like blackjack have an established house edge. The payout percentage for these games is established by the rules of the game.

Online casinos can be divided into two groups based on their interface: web-based and download-only casinos. Some casinos offer both interfaces.

Some casinos offer 'Live gaming', either exclusively, or as part of a wider online casino offering. In live online casinos, popular casino games such as roulette and blackjack are dealt by real dealers in casino studios, in an attempt to convey more of the atmosphere of a physical casino. Player actions including chat such as 'hit' in the game of blackjack may be transmitted to the dealer; in some online casinos more than one player may 'sit' at a particular 'seat' on the table, and in this case there is no interactivity between player and dealer. The question of which player s requested the extra card that the dealer dealt and which chose to 'stand' will be handled by the software. It is usual for players to be able to observe a video feed of the action, and equally common for players to opt to turn it off, if they lack the bandwidth - as the cards are read by OCR and other technology, the video feed is only ever a visual cue.

Web-based online casinos

Web-based online casinos are websites where users may play casino games without downloading software to the local computer. Games are mainly represented in the browser plug-ins Macromedia Flash, Macromedia Shockwave, or Java and require browser support for these plug-in. In addition, bandwidth is needed since all graphics, sounds and animations are loaded through the web via the plug-in. Some online casinos also allow game play through a plain HTML interface. Apple devices such as IPod, IPad and IPhone cannot play Flash games as the technology is not supported.

Download-based online casinos

Download-based online casinos require the download of the software client in order to play and wager on the casino games offered. The online casino software connects to the casino service provider and handles contact without browser support. Download-based online casinos generally run faster than web-based online casinos since the graphics and sound programs are located within the software client, rather than having to be loaded from the Internet. On the other hand, the initial download and installation of a download-based online casino client does take time. As with any download from the Internet, the risk of the program containing malware does exist. Still the graphics and sounds at download-based online casinos are most of the time much better than those at web-based online casinos.