iPad Apps for Learning Gambling

Online gambling is one of the most exciting things that you can do on your iPad (excluding you things you do when your wife’s not looking) but there is a generation of people that want to gamble but are worried about taking that first step. Some view it like a shot of heroin, with the media and stories of addiction scaring them into believing that if they make that first bet then they’ll be sucked into a world from which there will be no return. Others are just worried that they’ll make a mistake and either lose a lot of money, or look like an idiot.

These worries are unfounded though. If you can navigate your way around any game or app then you should be okay. Still, it’s best to take precautions and to advance slowly into this exciting world. In this article we will take a look at the best apps on the iPad for “teaching” you how to gamble — although you’ll have to teach yourself how to use many of them.

BetFair App

Although it seems counterintuitive, one of the best ways to learn to gamble is to jump in at the deep end. The BetFair Betting Exchange is not ideal if you need to learn how to place bets and lays, not if you don’t want to lose any money. This is also not ideal if you have a small budget, as there are minimum bets of $3, but as far as the casino and slot machine side of things goes, the BetFair App is perfect.

All of the slot machine games have “Fun” options available. This means that no money will be lost and no money will be won, but you can play like this for as long as you want, getting used to the specific slot machines, and to the gambling process in general, without risking any money.

Pokerstars

When it comes to poker, you can’t get much bigger than Pokerstars. This is the biggest poker site on the planet and although it is not available to players in the United States and other countries where online gambling is rightly restricted, it is available in most countries. The beauty of Pokerstars is that it has a huge number of free-rolls and “fun games”. In the “Fun games” you will be given some “fake” money that you can use to bet with as if it were real, playing cash games, sit-n-go’s and tournaments. You can build up your fake balance by winning, but once it’s gone it’s gone and you will need to spend money to get some more.

However, you don’t need to spend any money to play the many free-rolls that are available on the Pokerstars app, and these deal in real money. The winnings are never huge, but they are respectable considering that you don’t pay anything to enter and some of the bigger free-rolls — those with more than 6,000 players — can pay as much as several hundred dollars to the winner.

There is also a Poker School available on the Pokerstars websites, You need to join-up online, but once you do then you will be given free entry into some competitions, whilst also receiving a lot of education materials and benefits.

Blackjack by TapTapBoom

Blackjack is one of the best games that you can play in the casino, whether it be offline or online. Not only does this have the best house odds of any other game, but with some simple strategy known as “Basic Blackjack Strategy” you can increase your chances without breaking the rules. Blackjack is also a great game to learn for those that want the James Bond casino experience, as there are few things that can beat saddling up to a blackjack table in a tuxedo.

Roulette Multiplayer by App Street

As with blackjack, roulette is also a great game to learn, as this is one of the most popular in both online and offline casinos. This doesn’t involve any skill, unlike blackjack, and the house odds are also higher, but whilst Blackjack rarely pays out higher than two or three times your bet for a single hand, roulette can pay significantly more than that if your number comes up.

Whilst many slot machine games can be played for free on apps like BetFair, and all sorts of poker games can be played for free on apps like Pokerstars, you will struggle to find such sites that offer free games of roulette or blackjack, which is why these little apps are ideal to introduce you to the games.

Apps to Avoid

Just as there are apps you should focus on, there are ones that you should avoid. Whether it is because they are overly complicated, or because they are not suited towards beginners, these are best left alone.

William Hill is one of them, and it makes the cut for many reasons. One of the main reasons is the fact that their online casino has caused a lot of controversy in recent months, with several users reporting some shocking streaks that stretch beyond the realms of luck and possibility. When using a bonus that offered three payouts and a promise of an equal chance of hitting each, one user recorded a run where he hit over 80 of the lowest ones, a number that only stopped because he gave up. The odds of this happening and being legit are millions to one, the odds of it happening because of dodgy software are odds-on.

Ladbrokes have been William Hill’s rivals in gambling for many years, and these two are often mentioned as the two biggest bookmakers on the high street. As far as we are concerned though, the high street is where they should stay. Whilst Ladbrokes hasn’t had as many reports of foul play as their rivals, their software is very slow. There are few things as annoying to a gambler than a slot machines with lag, especially in the age of advanced graphics, bonus rounds, etc,.

888 apps should also be avoided, as there have been a lot of niggling issues with these. 888 run everything from a poker room to a sports book and an online casino, with iPad apps for most of them. There are problems with logins not registering, bets not showing and more, and although the customer support staff can be reached via the phone where they are very helpful (we can vouch for this) they take days to reply to emails and there is no live chat, which doesn’t suit those that are new to this environment.