Jan 02, 2020 What Forms of Gambling Are Legal in Texas? Poker players are naturally curious about whether or not playing poker for real money online is legal under Texas law. Offering legal advice is not a function of this website (nor of anyone beyond legal professionals), but we can help you sort through the fundamentals of poker laws in Texas.
Online casinos are legal in most parts of the world. Many world governments have written laws specifically addressing the legalities of online gambling; others like the United States depend heavily on state law and an existing legal vacuum to keep online gambling in check. The legality of an online casino has something to do with that casino’s proper operations and something to do with the legality of online gambling where you live. Finding legal online casinos isn’t hard, you just have to know what you’re looking for and shop around a little.
Comparing legal online casinos is a matter of first finding out if casino gambling online is legal where you live, then doing a little bit of work browsing online casino sites and comparing their features.
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How to Find Legal Online Casinos
If you’re shopping around for a legal online casino, a place to play online slots or casino table games, there are a few things to consider. Your first concern should be finding a legitimate casino that operates legally and pays out winnings fairly. Once you’ve found a few legal online casinos, other factors become important. Here are two questions that should help you find a good legal online casino.
Does this casino have a good reputation?
You don’t have to ask yourself this question with some of the bigger names in the online gaming industry. A big casino gambling site like Bet365 or Betsson that has been accepting wagers since long before they launched a website, is obviously a legitimate business, sometimes even a household name.
If an online casino is operated by a publicly-traded company, displays valid gaming licenses prominently on their website, and does not bring up a ton of red flags when you Google the name, it is probably a site with a good reputation.
Not all casino sites have the same experience in the casino business, and you’ll need to test their reputation on your own. Again, browsing around the website and reading online reviews should tell you enough to know if the site is legit or not. You want to see gaming licenses and auditing certificates posted prominently on the site along with an active customer service department. Online casino gambling forums are also good sources for information about fraudulent or illegal online casinos.
Does this casino accept wagers from citizens of my country?
Remember that online gaming laws vary from country to country and region to region. The result is that not every online casino is able to do business with people from all over the planet. Depending on the gambling laws in the country where you live, you may find a number of sites that simply don’t offer gambling to people from your country.
The best example of this comes to us from North America; people living in the USA and Canada have had the doors of many online casinos shut in their faces, thanks to tighter regulation of online gambling and rumors of future legislation against online casinos operating in the US or Canada. To find out if players from your country are restricted, check the site’s FAQ page or contact customer service.
Are All Online Casinos Legal?
Unfortunately, there’s no easy answer to this question. Federal and local laws exist all over the world that restrict online casino gambling, while other governments explicitly state that online casino gambling is legal; some even tax and regulate online casino play to raise revenue. The worldwide legal status of online gambling is too much to take all at once, so concentrate instead on gambling laws where you live.
To figure out if there are laws against online gambling in your country, state, or region, you’ll need to spend a little time researching. It doesn’t matter where you get information about the legality of gambling online, just that the information is accurate. A few websites have popped up directly addressing the legality of online gambling in different parts of the world, and the best of these provide sources for their information.
Sometimes you’ll luck out and find out about the legal status of gambling where you live through a gambling website. Try to access an online casino site from a restricted country and you’re likely to see a pop-up explaining that citizens of your country aren’t allowed to gamble for real money at that particular site. Restricted access to online casinos is not always due to laws against online gambling; American gamblers are shut out of many online casinos because the casino chose to avoid future legal problems, fearing new laws in America to make online gambling illegal. It’s confusing, but any industry that does business with hundreds of different countries and legal traditions is bound to be confusing. If you live in the United States, you might be interested in our laws section, which reviews the current legal status of gambling within each state. This includes Colorado, Hawaii, New Jersey, Delaware, Nebraska, and New Hampshire – among others.
If all else fails and you’re still not sure if online casino gambling is legal in your area, your best bet is to consult a legal professional. If you can’t figure out from other sources if there are laws against playing at online casino sites, it’s best to avoid potential legal troubles by talking to a lawyer.
A final tip when hunting down legal online casinos: contact a casino’s customer service department and ask them all your legal questions. Online casinos make customer service available for a reason: they want to answer your questions about the casino’s website site, help you with banking or gameplay problems, and assist potential customers in figuring out if their casino is a good fit. Any decent online casino site will post contact information clearly, usually under a tab like “Contact Us.”
If the online casino you’re researching has a live chat program, where you use something similar to an instant messenger service to talk to customer support staff, you’re in luck. Talking to customer service about the legality of the site for people in your country using live chat is the fastest and easiest way to get an answer to your question. Talking to a casino site’s customer service team gives you the chance to find out if your country is restricted and to ask any other questions you have. Use this opportunity to test the services offered, including how long you have to wait for an answer and the amount of knowledge the support staff has. A good customer service staff at your online casino is invaluable.
Poker is basically a game where the best five card hand wins, no matter which variant you play. The cards are divided into four suits, Hearts, Diamonds, Clubs and Spades, all of which have an equal ranking, with the Ace being the highest card and the 2 the lowest. The most popular poker variant that has attracted players for years is Texas Holdem. Here we have compiled a basic guide to Texas Holdem to assist newcomers and beginners in understanding the game.
Best Texas Hold-em Sites for 2020
Texas Hold’em Basics
Texas Holdem is a community card game, as such, cards are dealt face up in the middle of the table and are shared by all the players at the table. A couple of things that make Hold’em unique are its use of a dealer button and blinds.
The Dealer Button
Whether you’re playing Hold’em at home, a casino, or online there the action rotates around the dealer. In a home game it’s easy to keep up with the dealer since the deal usually rotates around the table to the left anyway. Since casinos and online poker rooms deal for you, there is a white dealer button that rotates around the table clockwise after each hand. The dealer acts last on every round (except preflop) and has the best strategic advantage throughout the hand. It also determines who will post the blinds.
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Blinds
You may already be familiar with antes – a fixed amount that everyone puts into the pot before the cards are dealt. Blinds are like that. The only difference is that only the two players to the left of the dealer have to post them. Blinds consist of a small blind and big blind. The small blind, which is half the minimum bet, is placed by the first player to the left of the dealer while the following player, who is second on the left, places the big blind, which is equal to the minimum bet amount. For example in live casino $1/$2 No Limit Hold’em game, the small blind is $1 and the big blind is $2, which is the minimum you can bet on any round.
How to Play Hold’em
The game begins with each of the players being dealt two cards face down, which are theirs. These cards are called ‘hole cards’ or ‘pocket cards’. Once the cards have been dealt, betting begins in a clockwise manner, with the player next to the big blind making the first move and play continuing round the table until the last player has acted. Each of the players is free to call, raise or fold in this first round of betting. A player can ‘call’ by placing a bet of the same amount as the previous bet placed. To ‘raise’, a player must place a higher amount than the preceding bet and all players will have to call. If a player wishes to ‘fold’, then there is no betting required and the player sits out the hand.
The Flop
With the end of the first round of betting, three cards are dealt out that are placed face up in the center of the table. These are the community cards that players may combine with their hole cards to make the best possible five-card hand. The three cards are known as the ‘flop’. Following this begins the next round of betting, starting with the first player to the left of the dealer. Players may check, call, raise or fold as desired. By checking, a player chooses to move on with the hand without placing a bet. Players may call, raise or fold if there is any betting in the round. However, if all players choose to check, there will be no addition to the pot in the round.
The Turn
Once this betting round is over, the fourth community card is dealt face up on the table. This card is the turn card. A third round of betting takes place in the same manner as the second round.
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The River
Next, the fifth and final community card is dealt. This is the river card. A last round of betting takes place, concluding which each of the players remaining at the table must reveal their hole cards in the order that the betting took place, so they may stake a claim on the pot. The player having the highest five-card hand is the winner. The hand could be a combination of your hole cards and community cards or just the community cards.
In case two players have exactly the same hand, then the next highest card called the ‘kicker’ will determine the best hand. If the two hands are yet the same, the pot will be ‘split’ equally between the two players. Another way of winning a hand besides the one discussed above, is when all the players at the table have folded, leaving you as the sole contestant of the pot. You can claim the pot without revealing your cards, so that the rest of the players will never know whether you did actually have a winning hand or you were just bluffing.
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This is the basic structure of holdem, which will help you get started. However, there is a lot more that you need to learn, before you can become an expert in the game. Moreover, regular practice and sensible use of your bankroll will help you go a long way.
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