Being social in the online realm has never historically been part of the big picture. This has certainly changed over the last few years and the cyber realm has become a large part of who people are. The ability to interface with others across the globe has made the Internet so much more than simply a gaming platform. It has made it a place for people to meet, greet, and evolve with each other in a way that has never been seen before.

But in a casino? The answer is unequivocally yes. With today’s online casinos offering chat in many of their games people can get together and play their favorite games just as the inventors of the games intended. I can assure you that the people that developed Blackjack years and years ago never envisioned a time when their game would be played on a screen with little digital cards flipping up and down, or maybe they did, who knows? What they did know was that people were supposed to gather, and chat, and above all have a good time.

The ability for players to chat with each other in a real time environment while playing cards opens up a myriad of possibilities to the casual and professional online gambler. Sometimes just the possibility of the chat makes the game of cards a secondary interest in the room. Some people are obviously more social than others and some may simply enjoy the type of chat that they are able to experience in an online casino better than the type of chat that they might become involved in in a more traditional type of chat room.

Today’s online casinos now offer the option for players to use avatars. If you aren’t familiar with avatars they are simply a small picture, or image, that says a little something about the player’s personality. Some of the times these avatars are little cartoon like characters that the players customize themselves. Other times casinos allow players to use their own images further enabling the player to customize their image exactly and calculating what they want to say to the rest of the world.

While there are many options available to the tech savvy player that wants a little “face” time with the other players when they are playing, many people don’t know how to get started chatting in a casino environment. Unfortunately there are many casinos, including some of the premier casinos, that don’t offer chat room capability with their games. Either they haven’t seen the benefit and increased customer base that is capable with chat rooms, or the technology just isn’t as pervasive as I think that it is. I’m not sure which it is. What I am sure of is that chat is big enough that in the future only a handful of online casinos won’t have online chat capability for at least a portion of their games. And after that a whole new world will open up for everybody.

Even up to recently the night before any exam my dad would, without fail, tell me, “oh well, think positively and you’ll do fine”. I always wanted to scream back at him that positive thinking wasn’t going to tell me what dates the 3rd crusade were, or who built the Parthenon.

Imagine how shocked I was then when I recently read a blackjack tutorial that talked about positive mental attitude. Unlike my dad’s version of ‘think positively’ which equated to ‘chin up dear, it’ll be alright on the night’, the definition of positive mental attitude in blackjack applies to the serious card counting or strategy following player, and is compulsory for his success.

For the serious blackjack contender, the player must maintain a ‘positive mental attitude’ irrelevant of how he is doing on the tables. It is very important, or so this tutorial claimed, to maintain an entirely unemotional approach whilst playing at a casino. Apparently, if emotions are bought to the table you will get frustrated, excited, lose concentration, lose will power, or be affected by one of numerous other consequences that will ultimately result in your downfall and destitution. I think that this might be a little serious, but it does stand to reason that if you are affected by your results, whether good or bad, you can no longer play in the calculated mathematical manner in which you must to obtain an overall winning balance. In other words, for the table player, a positive mental attitude is advantageous because it is precisely this that will stop him from giving up when he’s down, or going on a spending binge when he’s up.

The man giving the tutorial claims that he actually looses 35% of the time, but because he is a card counter he is able to exact a 14% advantage over the casino meaning that he does in fact make money on each hand he plays; and it is from this that he takes solace during his 35% of the time loosing streak!

No practical advice was given in this tutorial on how to reach this Zen like state of indifference regarding an activity that you are choosing to partake in. Concentration is obviously important, as is steadfast determination; it might be an idea to start on smaller tables and free play games in order to develop the ability not to care or get involved emotionally in the activities of the table or indeed your funds.

Frankly, I’m not sure that I don’t prefer my dad’s version of positive thinking; this blackjack version seems more lobotomized mental attitude than positive mental attitude, but I guess if you’re in for the win and not for the fun, it’s a good general philosophy to adopt.

We’ve finally arrived at the final installment of our Blackjack terms series. We’re about to bring it all together. It’s been a fun ride. Once you finish this series, consider yourself a Blackjack terms expert. Let’s go.

Session - This term is used most when talking about money management. A session is a period of time spent gambling.

Shill - These guys are casino employees. To facilitate action, a shill will go up to a table-usually an empty one-and play. The idea is that if you’re walking around and see action, you’ll play. Shills are more likely to be used at a Craps table, because not many people like being the only player in Craps.

Soft Hand - This is any hand where an Ace is being used as an 11.

Stand - When you’re happy with your hand, you can stand, which ends your turn.

Surrender - Some casinos allow you to surrender. When you surrender, you throw in your hand and get half your wager back. A common surrender situation is when you have a hard 16 and the dealer has a face card showing.

Third Base - It’s the opposite of first base. Third base is the last seat to get cards. If the table is full, it will be the seat immediately to the dealer’s right hand.

Toke - Also called a tip. Dealers work for tips, so they love players who tip them. One common way to tip in Blackjack is to place a bet for the dealer. You do this by placing your tip bet above your wager on the layout. Let the dealer know it’s for him/her, so they can make sure the placement is right. This is a good way to get the dealer to root for you.

True Count - It’s another card counting term. When there are multiple decks, you take the running count and divide it by the number of decks being used. This gives you a more accurate picture.

Up Card - The dealer gets two cards in Blackjack to start with. The Up Card is the card that you can see. The bottom one you can’t see is called a hole card.

Unit - A measurement of betting. For instance, a unit could be $5, $10, $1 or whatever.

Vig - This is the money that goes to the house. A popular vig in sports betting, for example, is 10%.

Whale - This is the big-time player-the high roller. Casinos-and dealers-love to see a whale coming. It usually means there’s a chance for a nice payday.

And there you have it. We’ve come to the end of our Blackjack terms series. Do you feel like a Blackjack terms expert now? We’ve covered a lot of ground in this series.

Good luck at the tables!

We’re nearing completion in our Blackjack terms series. In our next to last series installment, we’ll go over some terms, such as “Money management,” “Paint” and “Push.” We start out with an important term, because it highlights how the Blackjack rules can be different from casino to casino.

Las Vegas Strip Rules - Las Vegas is split into two main gambling regions-Downtown and the Strip. The Strip has different Blackjack rules than Downtown. A major rule to check on before you play is whether the dealer must hit or stand on a soft 17.

Money Management - It’s no secret. Losing players rarely have any money management skills. Money management goes beyond just knowing how much money you have to play with. It involves knowing how much to bet and when. There are many money management systems out there.

Money Plays - A command barked out by a dealer when a player puts actual cash in the betting area.

Natural - When you’re dealt a Blackjack.

Paint - Want to see paint? If so, you’re asking for a face card. It’s called this, because face cards are graphical in nature.

Pat Hand - No, it’s not the hand of someone named Pat. When you have a pat hand, you want to stay. An example of a pat hand is a hard 17. A hard hand is one in which there isn’t an Ace counting for 11 points.

Point Count - If you’re counting cards, you always know what the count of a deck is.

Push - This is another name for a tie. When you have a bet that pushes, you don’t win or lose. Your money is returned. If you’re playing a double face up game, it’s possible that there aren’t any pushes, because the dealer wins all ties.

Resplit - When you get two cards of the same rank, like two 7’s, you can split them. If your first card on a split is also the same rank, you can resplit then hand. Some casinos only allow one split and others may allow up to four. Check with the casino to be certain. While you always want to split Aces, some casinos don’t allow you to play split Aces like a regular hand. Instead, they’ll just give you one card per hand.

Running Count - It’s the same thing as a Point Count. At any given hand, a card counter knows the count of the deck and bets accordingly. If the count is favorable to the casino, the bet is reduced. If the count is favorable to players, the bet is increased.

That does it for this installment of Blackjack terms. We’ve got one installment in our series left. We’ll go over terms, such as Shill, Shoe, Third Base, Toke, Vig and Whale.

Welcome to the third part in our Blackjack terms series. Last time we left off talking about the house’s edge. Today, we’ll start out with “Even Money,” which happens to be a sad moment for me. The last thing you want to see when you’re dealt a Blackjack is the dealer having an Ace.

Even Money - When the dealer has a potential Blackjack-and you were dealt a Blackjack-you can ask for even money. If you take even money, your Blackjack is paid 1:1 instead of 1.5:1. So, a $15 wager is paid $15. If you don’t take even money and the dealer has Blackjack, you just push.

Expectation - I won’t get too technical with this one. Basically, it means the amount of money you can expect to win or lose over a period of time.

Face Cards - Real simple here. Face cards are the Jack, Queen and King. They are all worth 10 point in Blackjack. There’s no real difference in these cards unless you’re playing a side game like Royal Match.

First Base - This is the seat that gets the cards first. The dealer deals clockwise, so first base is the first seat on the dealer’s left.

Flat Betting - When you flat bet, you’re just betting the same amount on every hand. This really isn’t idea. Unless you’re just playing for a little fun and free drinks, you want to alter your bets some now and then.

Heads Up - This happens usually in online play. It’s when you’re the only one at the table. You’re playing with the dealer only. In real casinos, some players like this and they’ll move around looking for empty tables. When someone else sits down, they get up and find another empty table. You’ll see some big-time players request an empty table. If they are playing enough, the casino will rope off a table for them.

High Roller - We just talked about one in our Heads Up description. A high roller is someone who bets a lot. The real high rollers will walk into a casino with millions to wager if they so choose. They are also called whales.

Hit - Take a hit to get another card for your hand. It’s also called a draw.

Hole Card - This is the magical card that the dealer gets that you can’t see-unless you’re playing a double face up game of Blackjack.

Hot Deck - It’s just the opposite of a cold deck. A hot deck is in your favor and hopefully you’re betting big.

House Edge - We talked about this in our Edge description. All casino games have a house edge. The casino always has the advantage over you. Some games are better than others. For instance, Blackjack has a much lower house edge than Roulette.

Insurance - Many call insurance a sucker’s bet. When the dealer shows an Ace, you can take insurance. It costs half your wager and if you take it, you want the dealer to have a Blackjack. If not, you lose your insurance bet and now if you win, you only win a profit of 50%, which isn’t fun.

See you next time when we go into the fourth part of our Blackjack terms series.