So, I’m having another cup of coffee and processing the latest gambling news.  I haven’t found it on Fox News yet, so perhaps this is a scoop.  But it’ll be of interest to gamblers.  We all remember the Black Friday Poker Shutdown of last year. That shut down forced PokerStars out of the US market and crashed Full Tilt, Absolute Poker and UB.com.  About that same time, Maryland was involved in an investigation of Bodog.com because of the poker room’s relationship with two men who were charged with money laundering in 2008. The men charged had been processing payments for Bodog.  Well, Bodog seems to have had a sniff of problems in the wind.  They changed their URL from Bodog.com to Bodog.eu and pulled out of the US market.  Morris Mohawk Gaming took over the US clients on the Bodog side under a new site Bovada.lv.  So, essentially, the state of Maryland has seized a defunct site.  But this could be causing some problems for players at Bovada who may be used to typing in Bodog and being redirected to the new site.  Now they’ll just see a splash screen that the site has been seized.  It is only Bodog.com that has been seized. Bovada.lv is still operating.

Keep in mind that the events surrounding Bodog and the other sites took place before the Department of Justice changed its view on the Wire Act of 1961 and determined that it only applied to sports betting.  At this point, multiple states have set legislation in place for online poker in their state and the Tribal Gaming Network has even launched an intranet site for online poker that lets players at any of their casinos join in games with players at other tribal casinos.  So, we are seeing a new era of online poker in the United States.

I’m reading that Baccarat is booming and thinking - hmm, there’s a game I don’t play very often. Now there’s good reason that many of us avoid the baccarat table. It’s not because the game is complicated. It really isn’t once you learn how to place a bet. It’s because in a land based casino the baccarat table is treated like sacred ground. It’s often roped off from the “masses” like the people who play nickel slot machines (been there, done that). And the minimum bet alone can be enough to keep the “nickel players” away.  But online baccarat has the same limits you’ll find in online blackjack and many casinos offer “mini-baccarat” games with, once again, stakes similar to those you’ll find in blackjack.

And baccarat is easier to play and more fun than you may realize if you’ve never played the game. In a land based casino, you want to find the table with other players so you can join in the social fun. Baccarat is one of those games designed so the dealer does most of the work, leaving the players free to socialize and bet.

The basics concept behind baccarat is to bet which hand will come closest to 9. Card values are calculated at face value with face cards counting as a zero and aces as a 1. Resulting values are added until you get something between 1 and 9.  The math sounds complicated when you first hear about it. But here’s the thing - this isn’t blackjack. You don’t have to bet on your hand and decide to stand or hit. In Baccarat you can bet on the dealer hand, player hand or a tie. And then the dealer deals according to house rules, does the math and either takes your money or gives you money.  The big bet is for the tie because that pays out 9 to 1. I love betting the tie because I get lots of money if I win.

If you’ve never played baccarat before, head over to your favorite online casino and give the game a try. Like me, you might find it addicting. But remember, you can play for free if you just want to experience the fun without the risk.