This casino is based on a concept that you will never see in Las Vegas, Atlantic City or any other gambling center on this earth. None of them are ever going to give you, a player, the opportunity to be the "house". Yes, not only can you be the dealer here, but you get to keep the money you win! Of course, you're wondering why any casino would want to do that and the answer is simple: because they can. The technology is available, there are no regulations against it (as there probably are in Tunica, Mississippi, for example) and the casino gets paid a reasonable fee for allowing it. So, the casino shares its risk and some of its reward in return for a predictable "cut" of the action, players who have been bucking the house edge since the beginning of time get to see what life is like on the other side of the fence and nobody is wasting any time talking about "rigged" or "fixed" games, because it's in no one's interest for that to happen. This is very exciting, folks.

Remember Napster? Sadly it's gone now (although for good reasons), but it was based upon what's called "peer-to-peer" (P2P) technology. That's just a fancy way of saying that you and I could hook-up with each other at some server-type of computer somewhere (exactly where doesn't really matter) and then we could do things together, through our computers. In the case of Napster, we could swap audio files (usually music - copyrighted music), but the whole peer-to-peer technology allows a lot more than that. If you've ever used an instant message device, you've experienced a type of P2P technology. Well, if people can swap music and "talk" to each other, could gambling be far behind?

It really began with poker - table poker as some of us call it - - games like 7-card stud, Hold 'Em and so on. With this technology, people from all over the world could get together by way of their computers and have a friendly game of poker. From a "gee-whiz" point of view, it's all pretty fantastic, but from a poker point of view, it leaves a lot to be desired, because poker is as much a "people" game as it is a game of cards. Because you can't look your opponent in the eye, there's a lot missing, but it has become very successful, nonetheless.

The other popular casino games, like Blackjack, Baccarat, Roulette and so forth do not have that "people factor" involved, because the rules are set by the casino and whether or not you and the dealer can see each other or even if you like or don't like each other, doesn't make a difference because you're not playing against the dealer, but against the "house". At least up until now.

First of all, Be The Dealer Casino is a "regular" casino, in that you may go in and play your favorite games just like you would at any other Internet casino. You'll find a complete description of all their games here, so you can just go there, download the software, sign up, play and have yourself a good ol' time. You may, if you wish, choose to play against someone who is acting as a dealer or you may play against the "system", which is what they call the casino server.

But if you'd like to see what it's like to be a casino (for a little while, anyway) and reap the rewards thereof, you also have the chance to do that. Being the dealer is a very simple process and you don't have to know how to shuffle the cards or memorize the rules of Baccarat should you decide to do so. The software will choose a player for you, or you can invite a player from the list you'll see in the "lobby" of the casino. However, unlike the player, you may not choose the "system" as your opponent. If there are no players for the game of your choice, you have to either wait or switch games. The software handles all of the dealer's responsibilities very well, so once you are at a table with an opponent, all you have to do is "fade" the player's bet and pray for him or her to lose! When they do lose, your account is credited with their bet, minus a 1.5% to 2% commission that is charged by the casino for letting you do this.

So, if you're the dealer at Blackjack, say, and the player bets $5, you stand to make $4.925 if the player loses and lose $5 if the player wins. "Wait a minute, GM", I hear you saying, "I pay out more when I lose than I make when I win." Yes, that's true, but I'll explain the exact mathematics of this in my description of the Blackjack game so that we can deal with the general information here, first.

Needless to say, you might be willing to risk $50 or $100 at something like this, but there's just no way you're going to go head-to-head with some high roller who has a $10,000 bankroll and a hankering to make $300 bets. Well, "no worries, mate", as my Australian friends say, because the betting limits and the bankroll you need to act as the dealer are clearly defined for each game and I guarantee you'll find one to suit you. An extra "safety valve" is that you have to approve the bet prior to each hand or round or spin when you're acting as the dealer, anyway. Be The Dealer Casino is going to be there to make sure that each party to the bet can meet their obligations, but the requirements for being the dealer are not all that large, considering, and you may give up your role as dealer at anytime (after the hand is completed, of course). However, if you'd like to be the dealer at a $300 per hand Blackjack game, that's available, too. Just bring money. And something called "Credit Points".

It's probably fair to say that most of us would rather be the dealer than the player, but what kind of fun is a casino with nothing but dealers? The solution to that is the Credit Point system they have at Be The Dealer Casino. It's fair, but it also recognizes that not everyone can be the dealer all the time. So, when you're in the player mode, you are automatically awarded Credit Points for each bet you make, win or lose. When you act as the dealer, Credit Points are deducted for each bet you accept, win or lose and you must have a certain number of Credit Points in order to be the dealer at any game. Those are very clearly defined at each games "entrance", so you'll always know where you stand. This is a good place to talk about the games that are available for your amusement and, hopefully, your profit.

But before we do that, let me say that the software here is their very own and it requires a download, but it shouldn't take much longer than 15 minutes or so on a 56k modem, once you've received their "downloader" program, which is quite small. On my DSL connection, it took me only 4 minutes to get all the software, but it's amazing what it can do, like allow you to set an "auto-approve" button and literally walk away from your computer! So long as you have enough $$$ and enough Credit Points, you can be the dealer until you run out of players. That's about as close as you can come to owning a casino that I can think of.

Okay, the games:

This means you'll likely be the player to someone else who is the dealer, but because of the Royal, things get a little lop-sided in your favor. That's because you can win the Royal as a player, but don't have to pay it as the dealer! Consequently, the player has a minimum long-term return of 97.3% (and that gets bigger as the Royal increases in value), assuming you play the game properly. If you do, your long-term expectation is to lose 2.7% as a player and win at least 2.7% as the dealer (net after commission). But remember, these are long-term figures because a lot can happen in just a few hundred hands of Video Poker. The games here are available in three denominations: $.25, $1 and $5 and all have proportional progressives on the Royals.

I lightly touched on the mathematics of being the dealer for this game earlier and we left that discussion at the point where you'd get $4.925 if your opponent lost a $5 bet, but you'd lose $5 if your opponent won and that may sound like being the dealer isn't all that great. But, in that infinity known as "the long run", the average Blackjack player will win about 43% of the hands, lose 49% of the hands and push on 8% (no commissions are charged on pushes). And that's if the player uses the proper playing strategy for the game, which few people truly do. Oh sure, most people think they know how to play the game, but most actually play at a disadvantage of two percent or more. With the casino's rules, you as the dealer have a 0.73% minimum edge over the player, but you have to pay a 1.5% commission on each winning bet, so it's really a matter of how skillful your opponent is that will determine just how well you'll do at this in the long-term. You have to also factor in that you must accumulate Credit Points as a player and this will require you to go against the casino's edge of 0.73% (You do play perfect Basic Strategy, don't you?) for at least half your play here. But, if you get a player like some I've seen recently that won't double an 11 against a dealer's 10, nor hit a soft 17 and you could do pretty well. Feeling lucky?

As always, if you have any questions about what's here, please e-mail me at aceten1@mindspring.com.

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