BetUS Online Casino Review
- Download: betus.com/casino
- Download size: Flash Casino
- Current Bonus: 100%
- Review on: July, 2008
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Special Features
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up to $500 FREE for new players Play for Free or Real money 35 Las Vegas-style games Blackjack tournaments Flash casino, no download required |
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Country Restrictions
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No Canadian |
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Location
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Costa Rica |
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Email
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newaccount@BetUS.com |
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Phone
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1-888-51-BETUS |
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Live Chat
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No |
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Deposit Methods:
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Credit Card, Direct Bank Wire, Money Transfer, Check |
About BetUS Online Casino
BetUS Casino brings all the thrill of Las Vegas gaming right into your living room. It is part of one of the most instantly recognizable sporting bet networks in the United States, with a 14-year history, and this casino is an extension of this popular and experienced online gaming source. It’s speedy and trouble-free to sign up and start playing right away, and you get to play with a casino that has paid out record-breaking weekly amounts in winnings close on $1 million to lucky gamers. There are constant special promotions to keep you interested and winning, with nearly every type of casino game featured.
Most of the time all you have to do is have fun, there are prizes for the most roulette spins, the most hands played and insurance rewards that will give you up to 30% of your losses directly back into your BetUS Casino account. You can also use this account to play poker, and to place sporting bets. It’s all so convenient and such good entertaining.
BetUS Casino uses just the best in online casino software, in this case Realtime Gaming, which is one of the unquestionable leaders in the field. From the attractive graphics, to the seamless functionality, this is the high-quality. You`ll totally enjoy the great game selection and the user-friendly interface, whether you`re a complete novice, or a veteran online gambling expert.
There is profusion of games to keep everyone happy. In addition the software is entirely audited and certified for fairness and the casino is licensed by the renowned Kahnawake Gaming Commission. And the cherry on the top is that you get superior house odds here than at any land-based casino. You couldn’t ask for more incentive to sign up and enjoy the entertaining with BetUS Casino.
How to play blackjack
The hand with the highest total wins as long as it doesn't exceed 21; a hand with a higher total than 21 is said to bust or too many. Cards 2 through 10 are worth their face value, and face cards (jack, queen, king) are all worth 10. An ace's value is 11 unless this would cause the player to bust, in which case it is worth 1. A hand in which an ace's value is counted as 11 is called a soft hand, because it cannot be busted if the player draws another card.
Each player's goal is to beat the dealer by having the higher, unbusted hand. Note that if the player busts he loses, even if the dealer also busts. If both the player and the dealer have the same point value, it is called a "push", and neither player nor dealer wins the hand. Each player has an independent game with the dealer, so it is possible for the dealer to lose to some players but still beat the other players in the same round.
The minimum/maximum bet is printed on a sign on the table and varies from casino to casino and table to table. Very rarely do casinos offer minimum bets less than $5 (except during promotions). After initial bets are placed, the dealer deals the cards, either from one or two hand-held decks of cards, known as a "pitch" game, or more commonly from a shoe containing four or more decks. The dealer gives two cards to each player including himself. One of the dealer's two cards is face-up so all the players can see it, and the other is face down. (The face-down card is known as the "hole card". In European blackjack, the hole card is not actually dealt until the players all play their hands.) The cards are dealt face up from a shoe, or face down if it is a pitch game.
In American blackjack, if the dealer's face-up card is an ace or a ten-value, the dealer checks his hole card to see if he has blackjack. This check occurs before any of the players play, but after they have been offered insurance (if the face-up card is an ace). If the dealer has blackjack, all players lose their initial bets, except players who also have blackjack, who push. (In some American casinos, the dealer does not actually check the hole card until after the players have all played. At that time, if the dealer turns out to have blackjack, all players who did not have blackjack lose their bets, and players who increased their bets by doubling or splitting lose only the original bet, and have the additional bets returned to them; thus, the end result is precisely as if the dealer had checked the hole card before playing.)
A two-card hand of 21 (an ace plus a ten-value card) is called a "blackjack" or a "natural", and is an automatic winner (unless the dealer has blackjack as well, in which case the hand is a push). A player with a natural is usually paid 3:2 on his bet. Some casinos pay only 6:5 on blackjacks; although this reduced payout has generally been restricted to single-deck games (Current Blackjack News, Pi Yee Press).This reduced payout for a natural increases the house advantage over a player by as much as 1000 percent. The move was decried by longtime blackjack players.
Player decisions
The player's options for playing his or her hand are:
- Hit: Take another card.
signal: (handheld) scrape cards against table; (face up) touch finger to table
- Stand: Take no more cards, also "stick" or "stay".
signal: (handheld) slide cards under bet; (face up) move hand horizontally
- Double down: Increase the wager to a maximum of double the original bet and take exactly one more card. For example, if the player's original bet was $25, the player could increase the bet by up to an additional $25, for a new total bet of up to $50. Increasing the wager to less than twice the original bet is called "double down for less".
signal: place additional chips next to (not on top of) original bet, make "one finger" sign
- Split: Double the wager and have each card be the first card in a new hand. This option is available only when both cards have the same rank or, depending on the locality, value.
signal: place additional chips next to (not on top of) original bet, make "two fingers" sign
- Surrender: Forfeit half the bet and give up the hand.
signal: make 'chopping' motion over bet (signal is rare, usually just done verbally)
Hand signals are required in most casinos, so that in case of a dispute, a video record exists of the player's decisions.
The player's turn is over after deciding to stand, doubling down to take a single card, or busting. If the player busts, he or she loses the bet even if the dealer goes on to bust.
After all the players have finished making their decisions, the dealer then reveals his or her hidden hole card and plays the hand. House rules say that the dealer must hit until he or she has at least 17, regardless of what the players have. In some casinos a dealer must also hit a soft 17 (a combination of cards adding up to either 7 or 17, such as an ace and a 6).
If the dealer busts then all remaining players win. Bets are normally paid out at the odds of 1:1. Players who push (tie) with the dealer receive their original bet back.
HISTORY OF BLACKJACK
It is commonly believed that Blackjack, as we know it today, originated in France. The first recorded citation of the game is found as "vingt-et-un" (twenty and one) in the seventeenth century. Similar to most other games, the precise historical origin of Blackjack is unknown and only speculation remains as to what and where marks the true beginning of this famous game. Blackjack is thought to have descended from other similar French card games but as the gambling games are built upon precise and well balanced calculations, this is very unlikely. Casino games seldom mutate one into another all on their own accord.
However, according to some gaming scholars, it is widely held that Blackjack was derived from a family of games that includes Baccarat, Seven-And-A-Half and Vingt-et-Un (known in North America as "21" and in Australia as Pontoon).
Certainly the names of some of these games will be known to you but what is it exactly that they all have in common? Actually, they are all games that claim or are credited to be the origin of today's Blackjack. Of course there is always a considerable deal of contention when trying to prove the origins of such games. But we know that standardized decks of cards first appeared in 1440 when Johann Guttenberg printed the 50 card deck. Within a few years, his cards were being used to play a variety of exciting and popular games.
Skipping ahead a few hundred years marks the moment when Blackjack really began to dominate gaming circles. Soon after the French Revolution (1789), Blackjack hit the United States and rapidly became popular because of its flexibility and freedom. Professional gamblers soon realized that Blackjack was a wonderful playing field for manipulating the odds and bets. Without any government regulation, gambling was flourishing and provided fertile soil for this unique game to grow and evolve until almost the beginning of the nineteenth century, when the government of United States realized that the unregulated and uncontrolled gambling industry was leading to major forms of internal and external corruption and blatantly encouraged, or at least provided the atmosphere for, organized crime. The State of Nevada legislated gambling as a severely punishable crime in 1910, and the situation was rapidly deteriorating for both casual and not-so-casual players and the industry was forced underground and became essentially criminalized. Some say this decision by the US government, and other similar legislative crackdowns, had the effect of providing the basis for the very core of gangsters as we know them today. Eventually things became so horribly rotten that the Nevada authorities were finally forced to remedy the situation, and gambling was once again legalized, not to mention the implementation of laws that would protect the players and overseeing governing bodies. As Las Vegas was reborn, the popularity of Blackjack spread quickly throughout the casinos, momentarily winning the hearts and the minds of the players. As all other US states were comparatively conservative and did not seek to reintegrate casino gambling, Las Vegas quickly became the gambling center of the United States. Although other states are extremely reluctant to legalize casino gambling, the fear of illegal and underground casinos springing up is generally not regarded as a likely threat.
When the game was first introduced in America, it wasn't very popular so the gambling houses tried various bonus payouts to encourage the players to try the game. One such bonus was a 10-to-1 payout if the player's hand consisted of the Ace of Spades and a black Jack (either the Jack of Clubs of the Jack of Spades). This hand was labeled a "blackjack" for obvious reasons, and the name stuck even though the bonus payout was soon abolished.
So, by 1919 special green-felted Blackjack tables were being made and by 1931 Blackjack was the third most popular Nevada casino game after Roulette and Craps. By 1948 it was second only to Craps. In 1958 the first numerically proven Blackjack basic strategies appeared and Blackjack was well on its way to being number one.
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