Choosing An Online Casino
Source : Max Drayman (www.winneronline.com)

You'd think that picking a casino site would be a pretty simple affair: where do I win the most? Or maybe: who's got the highest stakes? These are certainly relevant questions and do keep them in mind when surfing around to make your choice. But there are other things to consider, not all of which may be immediately obviousBiggest Payouts This is pretty difficult to determine because everyone wants to be in the list of "top 10" or whatever. The best thing to do is visit player resource sites, like this one for example, and read reviews.Another helpful source, though by no means fool-proof, is to check out the winner lists at your favourite casino site. All the better sites have these lists. If they're an IGC (Interactive Gaming Council) member then they're supposed to be truthful in their advertising, which gives you a little more confidence in their reported payouts.Look First, Download Later Nobody wants to spend 30-120 minutes downloading software without having some idea of what you're going to get. Better casino sites have a "Preview" section that shows you snapshots of what their games look like, maybe even provide you with a description of how to play. The software you download can get pretty annoying if you don't like its appearance or play action, so look for the "Preview" section and take a few minutes to check it out.How quickly can you receive your winnings? Believe it or not, there are sites that only make their payouts on the last Friday of the month, for example. Or they may require that you send them email expressly requesting your winnings. Or maybe your withdrawal transactions have to be pre-approved and the site advises that that can take up to two weeks. These are examples of actual casino sites! The last Friday of the month?! Are they for real?Support All the better online casinos have a support page at their website. They'll list the ways that you can reach them. Almost everybody offers an email address that you can mail to for assistance. Is that good enough? Not for my money it isn't. I want service numbers I can call, hopefully 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. And toll-free too, please and thank you. Better yet, give me two toll free numbers, just in case. Can you assume that your casino provides this? Certainly not! Go look, check the details. Hell, I'd even call the toll free number just to make sure it's not an answering machine that's got so many messages on it that it can't accept yours. Sound outlandish? Not a chance! Been there, seen that. It's your money, so you decide how much this matters.Licensing Etc This is a pretty slippery issue but it boils down to this: online casino regulation is a "voluntary compliance" issue. In other words, the casino plays fair if it wants to play fair. A license in Antigua costs a site $100,000, for example, and then they can say they are "licensed". There is no follow-up required and no compliance issues to obey. If they advertise that they are audited, that's nice, but they don't have to do this.

Two hands are dealt in which you have to bet whether one will win, or whether they will come out at a tie. A tie bet usually pays 8 to 1. It is somewhat like betting on Red and black in roulette. The only difference between betting on the Bank and a Player is that when you bet on the bank you are taxed 5%. This is because statistically it has been established that the bank will win three to four more hands than the player. The actual game play goes something as follows.The person dealing deals out two cards, face down, and then deals the person with the larger Player bet another two cards. This person then looks at the cards, and then returns them to the player who is dealing. The dealer then turns both hands over, and one of the casino dealers will then announce the results and the winner. A third card may be dealt in some instances, following strict rules of the casinos. But the baccarat rules doesn't allow dealing more than three cards.These are the basic baccarat rules. Of course there is more to it, such as when to deal a third card, but these decision are not important for actually playing the game, since they are enforced decisions. You cannot affect the game's course since it is dictated by the rules of baccarat, which leaves players with little to do but to place the right bet.