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General Comments: This casino has been an advertiser on GMO for quite a while now, but they buy ads from us, not good reviews. The rating they've received was earned by them, plain and simple. Let me re-emphasize my quote: If I owned a casino, I'd be scared to death after visiting this site. I'm not only very impressed by the look and 'feel' of this place, but the technology is incredible! I'm equally impressed with all the helpful information they offer the prospective player; their attitude seems to be geared toward making you comfortable and their software for playing the games is top-notch. Regardless of which game you play, it's as close as one can get to being in a 'live' casino and I enjoyed my time here very, very much. This is cutting-edge gambling technology and even if you never intend to play it for real $$$, you should download the software because it's a blast to play. While you have options regarding sounds and voices, etc., leave it all on and have some fun. This software is their own and it's upgraded and improved upon quite frequently. The latest addition to the casino is an amazing variety of Video Poker and you can read more about that in the games section of this review.

Among other features, Global Player offers you the ability to play at the table games with others. Chat is also included and yet, they say, the game proceeds quickly, since you may play your hand at Blackjack, for example, at any time; there's no need to play in 'order'. Should a player act too slowly in playing the hand, s/he is switched over to a separate table to play by himself, so that others aren't held up. You may, if you wish, play at a table by yourself at anytime. The slot machine is amazing. You can 'dial-in' a number of games, minimize the screen, go play Blackjack and the little rascal will just keep on playing. How many real casinos offer the opportunity to play a slot and Blackjack at the same time? No wonder the 'real' casinos are fighting Internet gambling so hard; I have seen the future and it isn't brick-and-mortar.

It should be noted that I played here only in the 'fun' mode, but the casino does hook you up to their server for that, so you can get a good idea of how things would work, should you choose to play for 'real' $$$. I have received reports that things can proceed slowly at times, but such complaints are few and far in between.

Recommendations: The only things left, it seems, is for them to consider having an audit done to show the percentage payouts of their games and to install a "slot club" or frequent users club. Perhaps something with a 0.25% cash-back option. (Hey, I can dream, can't I?)

Games Analysis (All this information was correct on the date listed above)

Blackjack A variety of games are offered and, to the best of my knowledge, all are available in either multi-player or single-player mode. If you're at a single-player table, you may spread to a total of 5 hands, if you wish. Since all the different Blackjack games offer limits of $1-$55 (some are $100) per spot, a spread of $1 to $275 is possible. Wow!! (Well, it's not exactly 1-275, because of what's called 'co-variance'. The hands are interrelated to some degree; for example, you'll lose all 5 if the dealer has a Blackjack and you don't and that relationship kind of trims the effect of the spread. Okay, so it's only 1-250; that's still HUGE!) Anyway, the games are styled after those found in many famous locations. Here's a rundown of the rules:

Vegas Strip:
4 decks, dealer stands on A-6, double on any first two cards, no double after split, and late surrender against a 10 or Ace is permitted. It appears early, but if you surrender and the dealer has a natural, you lose the entire bet. Though the dealer doesn't 'peek' (check to see if she, he...it?) has a Blackjack before you play your hand), I did split a pair of Aces against a 10 and the dealer had a natural. I lost only the original bet. Pairs may be resplit up to 4 hands, though Aces may not be resplit and receive only one card. Insurance is available. The casino's edge is approximately 0.42%.

Downtown Vegas:
Three decks, dealer hits A-6, double on any first two cards, may resplit up to 4 hands (including Aces), no double after split, late surrender and insurance is available. The casino's edge is approximately 0.56%.

Reno:
Three decks, dealer hits A-6, double only on 10 and 11, no double after split, late surrender is allowed and insurance is offered. You may split to a total of 4 hands. The casino's edge is approximately 0.67%.

Atlantic City:
6 decks, dealer stands on A-6, double on any first two cards, double after split and late surrender against 10 and Ace is available . Pairs may be split to 4 hands but split Aces receive only one card. Insurance is offered. The casino's edge is approximately 0.33%.

Baden-Baden:
2 decks, dealer stands on A-6, double only on 9, 10 and 11; split to only 2 hands; only 'like' cards may be split, no surrender and the dealer does not take a hole card, so if it gets a natural, all bets are lost. An unbusted hand consisting of 6 cards is an automatic winner. The casino's edge is approximately 0.45%

Spanish 21
The information on this game does not (surprisingly) list the number of decks used, so I'm assuming it's 6 for my calculations. Player's blackjack wins over dealer's blackjack and pays 3 to 2. Player wins 21 ties. Dealer hits on soft 17. Double down on any card count and any number of cards. A non-busted doubled hand can be surrendered, keeping the initial bet. Splits up to 4 hands, re-split Aces possible. Double down after split possible. There is a special bonus for some non-doubled 21-valued hands

A five-card 21 pays 32, a six-card 21 pays 21 and a seven-card 21 pays 31.
6-7-8 or 7-7-7 in mixed suits pays 32
6-7-8 or 7-7-7 in the same suit pays 21
6-7-8 or 7-7-7 in spades pays 31
Finally, if a player has three suited 7s and the dealer also shows a 7 of the same suit, the player wins a jackpot of $1,000.
The Catch? To balance all these advantages, all 10's are removed from the card decks. (Just the 10-spot cards, not the Jacks, Queens and Kings.)
The casino's edge is approximately 0.87%.

Blackjack playing tips: This is one of the few casinos on the Internet that does not shuffle the cards after every 'round' in their multi-deck games. The single-deck games are shuffled after every round, but the multi-deck games are shuffled "randomly, beginning at the 50-70% level", except that the double-decker is shuffled a bit earlier. So, the choice is clear: if you're a counter, go with one of the multi-deck games and, if you're not, go with one of the single-deck games. A nice feature here is what I call the Oops! screen. Ever been at a game, tired, bored and sleepy, when you tried to double on a 20? The dealer would say, "Are you sure?" Well, they have this here, as well. If you ask to hit a soft or hard hand with more than 18 points, or stand with a hard hand with less than 12 points, or double on a soft or hard hand with less than 6, or more than 18 points, a screen pops up to question your move. You may still do it, if you wish, but that's a big help and the first I've ever seen. Also, this is the first Spanish 21 'emulator' that I've seen. If you like to play this crazy game, here's a wonderful way to learn the very complex Basic Strategy needed to keep the casino's edge below 1%.

* The theoretical return is the long-term payback a player who is using the correct playing strategy may expect. The return for 1-coin play is usually lower because the Royal Flush pays proportionately less than when 5 coins are played.

Non-progressive game comments: The Jacks game is 9/6 with a 4500-coin Royal, the All American's straight flush pay has been changed to 500 for 5 and the Deuces Deluxe Royal is 3000 for 5. What they call "Quick Pick" is Pick 'em Poker and this is the first time it's been available on the 'Net. The Double Bonus is 10/7, but pays 750 for 5 on the Aces. I'll venture to say that there is no other casino on the Internet and few 'real' casinos with such a variety of games and such generous pay schedules. What you see here, dear reader, is Video Poker Heaven.

* The theoretical return is the long-term payback a player who is using the correct playing strategy may expect when the jackpot is at its starting or 'reset' level. As the value increases, so does the overall return.

Progressive games comments: The Jacks game is 9/6 with a 2400-coin reset on the Royal. It's at 100% when the Royal is at 5000 coins. The "Quick Pick" game is Pick 'em Poker with a progressive Royal and a reduced payout on 4K and the SF. Since a Royal in that games is very rare (a 1 in 352,000 probability), the progressive could get very big before it's hit. The very popular Double Double Bonus game is at a 100% return when the Royal's at 6000 coins. The progressive on the Deuces & Joker game is for 5 wild cards. Its reset level is 8000 coins and the game is at 100% when that's at 16,000 coins. The 5 Joker game's jackpot is for 5 Jokers and that's another rare hand: 1 in 175,000. This game is at 100% when the jackpot's at 15,000 coins.

Roulette: In Europe, Roulette is, by far, the # 1 casino table game and it's because the house edge there is much, much lower than the typical game offered in the U.S. Global Player Casino offers two versions of Roulette, but one is a much better deal than the other. Here's a look at them:

American Roulette: This is a standard wheel with a zero and double-zero, so the casino's edge is 5.26%. There is no reason to play this game. The betting limits are $1-$2000, $5-$4000 or $10-$6000.

French Roulette:If you are a Roulette player, you've just arrived in heaven. This is simply one of the best Roulette games available anywhere, Internet or otherwise. No other game has a lower casino edge and, at least here, you don't need to speak French in order to understand what's going on, plus, the automation aspects of the software make it a lot easier to play than the 'real' game, if not as glamorous. The bottom line is that this is a single-zero wheel which sets the casino's basic edge at 2.70%, but the casino uses the "la partage" rule which basically causes the player to lose only half the bet on the 'outside' should the zero come up. The 'outside' bets are high, low; red, black; odd and even. By losing only half the bet (also called the 'en prison' rule), the casino's edge on those bets (only) is cut to 1.35%, which is actually a bit less than a pass line bet at craps. You can see that this is roughly a quarter of the casino's edge on the double-zero wheel. Now you know why Roulette is so popular in Europe.

Global Player Casino gives you the entire "European experience" with their Roulette game, because they also allow what are called 'announces' bets. That's roughly translated to 'call' bets, because they are bets for which there is no place on the game layout; the player 'announces' it and the croupier is supposed to remember it. But disputes often occur and that has put many an American tourist off the game forever, as they watched two Frenchmen gesticulating and arguing with one another. Here, that's no problem, because this croupier doesn't forget; it's a computer. And, while it does speak French, it also has an English translator. Just go to the Roulette game and click on the button 'announces'. A handy-dandy little window opens and all the possible bets are explained. You can click on the ones you'd like to make (some require up to 9 chips) and the bets will be placed automatically. There are bets like "neighbors to zero" which are the slots on the wheel surrounding zero and a bunch of others that put a nice element of surprise in playing the game. That makes Roulette a lot of fun and this is an extremely well-done game. I'm totally blown away by it. But, please remember that those 'inside' bets carry a 2.70% edge. The betting limits are $1-$2000, $5-$4000 or $10-$6000.

Slot Machine: Three machines are available, a single-line, 3-coin maximum game; a single-line, 3-coin maximum game with a progressive jackpot and a "premium" game which is also a single-line, 3-coin maximum game with a much larger progressive. Denominations available are $.25, $.50, $1 or $5.

Summary and Rating of Global Player Casino: I fully realize that you might want to view this rating with some skepticism because Global Player Casino is a big advertiser here, but the numbers speak for themselves. Where else, in one location, can games like this be found? This casino obviously has a goal of being the best in the world and, from what I've seen so far, they are doing just that. Consequently, it deserves the best rating we have ever given: 95 points. I didn't make it 100 points because I think they'll do even more in the future, so stay tuned.

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