Category: News

Guts Casino is celebrating its two-year anniversary since it was born to the public, by giving away loads of cash prizes over the course of four massive weeks.

Already two weeks in, Guts will hand out a total of around $50,000 AUD to its loyal customers via weekly lottery draws. Over 170 players will get their hands on cash prizes ranging from anywhere between $100 to $5,000, with thousands of others eligible for random prizes and goodies, such as free spins, t-shirts, hoodies and polo shirts.

How do you register to partake in the draws?

Four weekly draws will be taking place over the course of the month, along with a final draw which guarantees one player a massive $5,000 in cash. For each and every $20 deposit you make at Guts.com over the course of the promotional period, you will gain one entry in to the weekly draw. The more deposits you make, the more chance you have on claiming a cash prize for that weekly draw.

The four weekly draws have and will be held on the following dates: 25/05, 01/06, 08/06 and 15/06. So get in while you still can for the two draws still yet to take place.

The final draw will combine all player tickets given away, and one lucky person will walk away with $5,000 in cash.

And what about the additional prizes and goodies?

Head to the Guts Casino birthday bash promotion page and you can pop in your Guts username, hit next and select the desired prize you’d like to receive. Make sure your residential address is up to date so the Guts Casino team can send your preferred prizes to the correct address. Prize winners are chosen completely at random.

Check out the terms and conditions which are displayed on the promotion page, too.

What else is on offer at Guts Casino?

Aside from this current promotion and other daily, weekly and monthly comps, bonuses and prize giveaways, Guts Casino offers some of the highest quality games for online and mobile play, including:

• A staggering range of graphically-advanced and 3D pokies
• A great variety of blackjack and roulette titles
• Baccarat, video poker, poker against the dealer, bingo and keno
• A live dealer casino interface, craps, sic bo and virtual racing games
• Instant scratch cards and other unique chance titles like Marbles and Triple Wins

All games are audited on a regular basis to ensure they comply with the high levels of gaming fairness standards laid out by independent testing agencies. Payments to fund your casino account are protected using SSL digital encryption technology, and all deposit and withdrawal options are trustworthy methods which support AUD currency, such as credit and debit cards, e-wallets, pre-paid cards and vouchers and direct bank/wire transfers.

Play poker at Full Tilt in the coming weeks for your chance to win a VIP trip to Vegas including tickets to the UFC.

Regardless if you can afford low limit or high limit buy ins, players can participate in Full Tilt’s new promotion which kicks off Monday, June 1 and runs until Monday, June 8, for Aussies (Sunday, May 31 – Sunday, June 7 Eastern Time, Full Tilt’s timezone).

With 16 stack No Limit Hold’em tournaments featuring a range of varying limits, there are plenty of prizes up for grabs. But more importantly there is a $13,000 VIP prize to Vegas to see the Aldo vs McGregor UFC 189 fight for the player who comes first.

$13,000 VIP Vegas prize

We will get into the promotion details in a minute, but first we want to tell you all about the Vegas prize on offer. A lucky (or skilled) Full Tilt player who wins first place in the main event Tournament will receive two floor tickets (between rows three and six) to the José Aldo vs. Conor McGregor featherweight fight, which is the headliner for the UFC 189 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena.

Along with these impeccable reserved seats, the winner will have access to an open bar, gourmet buffets and be given the full VIP treatment. Additionally, the winner has reserved seats to the Q&A and weigh-in which takes place on Friday, July 10.

On Saturday, July 11, the winner will be able to enjoy a UFC Octagon tour and will be able to get a picture with the Championship Belt.

Players will be put up in the Aria Resort and Casino for four nights and they will be given $3000 to cover flights and any expenses. Accommodation is booked in from Friday, July 10, 2015.

So how can you win this awesome prize?

Full Tilt Stack promotion

There are 16 deep stack tournaments, with various low limit (from $2.50 to $25) buy-in events and an array of high limit ($50 or more) buy-in events taking place every from Monday, June 1, to Monday, June 8 (for Aussies).

Each tournament takes place at various times, with the schedule listed on the Full Tilt website, but it is important for Aussies to figure out what time in accordance to their timezone each event takes place. For example, the first tournament takes place on Sunday, May 31 at 11:30 AM ET which is 1:30 AM the following day in Australian Eastern Standard Time. You can easily Google time differences so you won’t miss the tournaments.

Every winner of the daily low limit tournaments will land a seat in the Low Stakes Tournament of Champions main event at Full Tilt, while the daily winners of the high limit tournaments will win a seat in the High Stakes Tournament of Champions main event.

These winners will receive their tickets by Saturday, June 13, 1:59 PM AEST which they will need to use to register for the main event tournaments.

The Low Stakes Tournament will take place on Sunday, June 14 at 5:00 AM AEST, while the High Stakes Tournament will take place on Monday, June 15 at 5:00 AM AEST.

Winners of the Low Tournament will receive an entry into the High Stakes Tournament, as well as a $1,000 FTOPS ticket and a two month Black card status at Full Tilt. Winners of the High Stakes Tournament will receive the $13,000 prize to Vegas, a two month Black Card status, and a $1,000 Full Tilt Online Poker Series ticket.

The Stack Flip Freeroll

If you lucked out during the daily tournaments but still want another chance at winning the Vegas prize then enter the The Stack Flip Freeroll on Sunday, June 15 at 4:00 AM AEST. The winner will gain a seat into the Low Stake Tournament of Champions main event.

To gain entry to the Flip Freeroll event just play in any of the daily tournaments to get a ticket. The more events you enter in the list of daily tournaments, the more tickets you get.

This month, All Slots online casino is giving their players the chance to win a share of $150,000.

The ‘Scratch and Win’ promotion kicked off at the beginning of May, but doesn’t conclude until Tuesday, June 2 at 23:59 GMT (check your local timezone, for example it will be Wednesday, June 3 AT 9:39 AM for Aussies operating on Australian Eastern Time).

While there is just under two weeks left of this promotion, there are two opportunities every week for players to win free spins, as well as bonus cash, which is what we want to use for roulette.

Players will get the chance to scratch a unique card twice a week. The first scratch card gives players the chance to win a prize if they match three symbols. Prizes include free spins on the infamous pokies Avalon II – The Quest for the Grail, or the original Avalon slot if playing on your smartphone or tablet, as well as a bonus of two to 50 casino credits, and entries to the Year of Freeplay Giveaway promotion which we will detail below.

Once this first card is scratched players then are required to make a deposit within the required time period to receive a golden scratch ticket which has a guaranteed prize, such as free spins or $50 bonus cash.

While there were nine rounds, there are only three remaining which include the following promotion time periods:

• May 24 at 8:01 GMT to May 26 at 23:59 GMT
• May 27 at 8:01 GMT to May 30 at 23:59 GMT
• May 31 at 8:01 GMT to June 2 at 23:59 GMT

You will need to meet the wagering requirements after you have made your deposit to receive your second scratch card, which is wagering the amount of your deposit x10.

All Slots Facebook promotion

To coincide with the above promotion, All Slots have a social media promotion available on their Facebook page where players can win yet another card to scratch and win prizes.

Just go their Facebook page, find their Scratch and Win post, and then write a comment on that post with your username. It is a good idea to ‘Like’ the page so you can see who has won. Plus you will be able to keep an eye on future social media promotions.

All Slots Year of Freeplay Giveaway promotion

All Slots is also doing a year long promotion right up until May 2016 where 10 players can win $100 every month to play with for free at All Slots. There are three ways for players to earn tickets into the Year of Freeplay draw.

1. Players will receive one ticket for every $10 they deposit at All Slots up until June 2

2. Players can win tickets into the draw in the Scratch and Win promotion mentioned above

3. Tickets will be given away at random up until June 3

The more tickets you earn, the more chances you have at winning free play for a year which you can use on your favourite roulette titles.

We all want to make a living off playing poker and in the coming weeks we have a chance to kick start our career with up to $140,000 up for grabs at Full Tilt Poker.

Full Tilt has three major Freeroll tournaments this month where you can win some serious cash. You will need to ‘opt in’ but we will explain how to do so below.

Full Tilt $5000 Freeroll Mayhem Flip

Try your luck at winning $5 grand every day this week at Full Tilt’s Flip Tournaments, which are tournaments that only require players to be registered for the tournament and not logged in to win. This is perfect for Aussies since we are on a different time zone as we will explain below.

This one has already kicked off but lucky for us it goes until Sunday, May 17. It is on every day at 7PM Eastern Time (ET), but for us Aussies its at 9AM Australian Eastern Standard Time (AEST) the following day (depending on where you are located in Australia you might be ahead or behind a few hours). For these tournaments, however, we only need to be registered and don’t have to be logged in to win, but just to be clear the last daily Flip Tournament to win $5000 for Australian players is on Monday, May 18.

In order to qualify for this event you need to play the day before and earn Full Tilt points. You can do this by playing any of the games on offer, provided they are with real money.

Then you will need to register for the event which can be done with the Tournament Ticket you receive with your points via the desktop Full Tilt platform. If you play and earn points to qualify on your smartphone or tablet, you will gain registration automatically.

Full Tilt $10,000 Freeroll Mayhem

This one doesn’t have as much freedom as the daily Flip Tournaments do as it is a regular No Limit Texas Hold’em tournament and requires players to be logged in.

This $10,000 Tournament will take place on Sunday, May 17 at 13:30PM ET, which is Monday, May 18, at 3:30AM AEST for Aussies players.

In order to qualify for this tournament you will need to be eligible for two of more of the above $5000 Flip Tournaments this week. If you do qualify for these events, you will automatically receive a ticket into this tournament which you can use to register for the event.

Full Tilt $25,000 Freeroll Mayhem

While the timezone differences definitely makes it hard for Australian poker players, this tournament is worth getting up in the early hours of the morning for, due to the massive $25,000 on offer.

For a chance at the massive prize money, play the No Limit Texas Hold’em Freerolls Tournament on Sunday, May 17, at 15:30PM ET, which is Monday, May 18, at 5:30AM AEST for Australian players.

Qualifying is simple, all you have to do is make a deposit, though the more you fund your Full Tilt account with the bigger your stack will be in the $25 grand tournament.

• For a 1500 chip stack, deposit $10 to $24.99
• For a 3000 chip stack deposit $25 to $49.99
• For a 6000 chip stack deposit $50 or more

It is important to note that if you make a withdrawal at anytime before this tournament you will not be eligible for a ticket into the $25,000 Freeroll Mayhem event.

How to opt in at Full Tilt

In order to qualify for any of the above tournaments you need to opt in which can be done via the desktop Full Tilt platform or the mobile app, downloaded from your smartphone or tablet’s application store.

Simply go to the cashier via the lobby on the desktop version and then click on ‘My Promotions’. From here open the Freeroll Mayhem promotional page and there will be an option to ‘Opt In’ which you will need to click on.

You can now qualify for any of the above tournaments and have a chance at winning some serious poker cash.

Recent reports from the Wall Street Journal suggest card games improve math, self confidence and memory, but that there has also been a decline in family card games.

Mr. P.J. Katien, the vice president for the U.S. Playing Card Company and the owner of the Bicycle, Bee, Kem and Hoyle brands, said “a whole generation of consumers didn’t learn to play cards the way an entire prior generation did.”

We live in a digital age where children are increasingly engrossed by video games, mobile phone games and movies, and are missing out on some of the benefits associated with playing cards with the family unit.

Some of the benefits to social card games include:

• Memory skills
• Strategic thinking
• A sense of confidence
• Mathematical learnings
• Face-to-face play and conversation
• Adhering to rules
• Bonding with family and friends
• Counting and matching practice for smaller children
• Dexterity rom shuffling and dealing
• Bluffing and poker-face skills for mature players

This is why it is important to maintain a strong desire to play cards in a social environment among family and friends, and not just online.

But Katien said there does remain an interest from parents to teach and enjoy classic card games with their kids, and that we may be seeing a shift back to more face-to-face games being played, with the sales of playing cards having risen by two per cent industry-wide over the past two years.

Some of the family card games which are highly recommended to play with friends and family include:

• Crazy 8s
• Go Fish
• Gin Rummy
• Oh Hell (also known as Oh Shoot)
• 500
• Spoons
• I Doubt It
• Go Boom
• Bullshit

And some more advanced skill-based games include: Bridge, Spades, Hearts, Euchre, and Texas Hold’em Poker.

It is important to enjoy these types of games as a family unit when children are at a young and impressionable age in order to help built strong family ties and the desire to maintain a friendly yet competitive nature.

For older children, once they acquire the face-to-face skills from games such as poker, they can take those abilities and trial them within the online poker community, where games include live and even visual interaction with other poker players from around the world at gaming sites such as 888 Poker.

Setting aside a night to enjoy a certain card game with the family, or for older children, getting together to play a social game of poker (with the added incentive of some cash up for grabs) is hugely beneficial and something we hope does not go missing in a time of advancing digital technologies.

The rules and regulations of the above games can be found on this website.

Single deck blackjack is often touted as the ‘Holy Grail’ of all blackjack games, because it gives the player the best chance to profit, with a house edge which can be as low as 0.15 per cent.

When looking for an game real money blackjack, players should make sure to seek out the title which offers the greatest value for money in order to maximise their odds of winning, while also sticking to basic blackjack strategy.

Typically, Australian land-based casinos go to great lengths to ensure low-limit blackjack tables hold significant odds favouring the house (such as Blackjack Plus, where all hands push on a dealer 22), reserving only the high-limit tables for more player-friendly games such as single-deck or classic blackjack.

This is tough on the average punter keen to enjoy some fair blackjack without blowing his or her budget in one or two hands. At Crown Casino in Melbourne, the minimum bet you’ll need to place per hand for a traditional game of blackjack (six decks and a blackjack payout of 3:2), is $25. For single deck games with a 3:2 payout, you’re looking at a minimum of $100 per hand.

This amount of cash per blackjack hand isn’t suited for many casual punters, who must therefor resort to games of Blackjack Plus to enjoy table minimums of $5 – $20 per hand.

International players can make the move to online blackjack as there is no need to be subject to such atrocities.

Players can find a host of blackjack games with favourable odds within the online gaming industry, including single deck blackjack and hole-card games such as Atlantic City and Downtown Vegas blackjack.

Some key rules which you should look for in your online blackjack games include:

• A low amount of decks used (the fewer the decks, the better the odds for the player).
• Blackjack hands pay out at 3:2
• Dealer stands on all 17s
• Allows surrender

Most important is the blackjack payout – any payouts for being dealt a true blackjack hand which are less than 3:2, should be avoided at all costs. Second to the blackjack payout, in terms of importance for best player value, are the number of decks used. At our recommended online casino sites, you’ll be able to find games which utilise one or two decks and which also maintain a 3:2 payout for hitting 21 with your first two cards, such as:

• Classic Blackjack
• Premier Blackjack
• Multihand European Blackjack Gold

These games have minimum wagers per hand of no more than $2, so are suitable for all types of players. Maximum wagers per hand are $200, but high-roller players can request higher limits if they desire.

Microgaming released a revolutionary new poker client at the recently held ICE convention at Excel in London.

The release is set to shake up the poker industry with websites now able to use the Microgaming software to offer their punters access to the Microgaming Poker Network via any means they wish, including smartphones, smart watches and smart TVs.

For poker players this is great news, it gives them another big competitor in the industry and importantly allows them access to the real money games available on the MPN.

Titled Babelfish, Microgaming is hopeful the software can allow it to compete with poker giants like PokerStars, and importantly give them a point of difference from providers like BetSoft and Net Entertainment.

Microgaming’s head of poker, Alex Scott, said Babelfish was an exciting time for poker and online casinos simply because it gave operators the opportunity to create their own platform.

“Babelfish is definitely a game changer for poker,” he said.

“Furthermore, it allows them to do this without having to worry about expensive hosting costs, random number generators, or any of the other complexities that come with developing server software.”

According to Scott, Babelfish offers many other benefits for operators who take up the Babelfish product, including being an extremely versatile product.

“For example, operators can build software for almost any conceivable device – from specific mobile devices, to games consoles, to smart TVs,” he said.

“If you were so inclined, you could even build poker software for a smartwatch, a connected fridge or an in-car entertainment system.”

The press release also revealed that a major online poker casino is said to be using the Babelfish technology and we will find out who in the next few weeks. They have apparently designed and built the poker software from scratch, using the new Microgaming software to customise it specifically to what they believe players want.

“With this new operator on board, our network will grow significantly,” said Scott.

However he also added that it wasn’t the only news MPN had.

“This year we want to be at the pinnacle of the poker industry – this is just the first step,” he said.