by Robert Tippett

Created on: November 14, 2008

There is not much difference between online gambling and real casino gambling, particularly the "table games" other than blackjack. Everything is controlled by computers, with the odds being heavily in the house's favor. It is no different than the computerized slot machines, which have always been rigged to payout - either a little or nothing at all. The "psychology" of online gambling has to be the same as with any gambling, which is: if you do it long enough, you will lose everything.

There is an axiom I heard, which was back when I regularly visited casinos, and said, "If you can afford to lose you are not gambling." It struck a chord with me because I certainly was in no position to lose. As a gambler, I would think I was smart enough to win by playing the odds. For hours I observed the odds beat me down and out of the casino, wondering where my money went. That was when I gave online gambling a shot.

You have to understand that online casinos are not regulated by any serious commission, which tells the casion a certain percentage of people must win ... just so it can be called gambling and not theft. There are no dealers to talk to, in some attempt to woo him or her with side bets for the dealer, so that maybe the camera overhead will drop a jackpot hand to your table position. In an online casino, the program knows all the odds hints taught in the books on how to beat the house at blackjack. Those would be always hit under 16 if the dealer has a 10 showing, or stay if the dealer has a low card showing. Throw all that strategy out the window. The computer program will beat you silly if you play by the rules it is programed to beat.

When I played online gambling, I first did it with their "play money," meaning nothing was for real. I could bet much higher than I normally would, and win thousands of dollars, then lose thousands of dollars. It was all for me to size up how the program worked. I sweated bullets when I set up PayPal to actually let some cyber entity have $100 of my real, hard-earned money. When I did let that money go, it was so I could also receive $50 of "first-time player" real dollars. That freebie was based on me actually betting $100. If I bet $100 and still had part of the free $50, I could cash in and be a winner.

I found the psychology of their program based on developing trust with the player. Playing a little here and a little there, over about three days (you can save you winnings in the casino bank each time you stop playing), I found

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