The free play option is a popular feature of most online casinos

Even for those of us who have been lucky enough to be able to enjoy playing casino games at a real casino, the huge increase in the range of casino games we can now play following the introduction of online casinos has been quite staggering, so it must be even more astounding for those of you who did not have that opportunity. The idea of playing casino games online first came to our attention when the big bookmakers decided to add a few game to their fledgling online sports gambling sites to encourage their customers to spend longer on their sites. Not only did it prove very successful among their existing sports gambling clients however, it also began to attract a whole new group of online gambling enthusiasts to the idea of playing games online and the online casino was born. In the early days all the online casinos were operated by the leading bookmakers as part of their big sports gambling sites, but we now also have a whole new range of specialist online casinos offering an even wider range of casino games for us to enjoy. The term casino games however is now used to describe a much bigger range of games than were ever available in our real casinos, so even those of us who were familiar with traditional casino games such as roulette and blackjack are now faced with learning how to play a whole new range of different games. Fortunately almost all the online casino operators have decided to introduce what we refer to as the free online casino option to help us learn a new game without losing money in the process. The real casinos could not afford to let us play their casino games free of charge, but the overheads involved in running an online casino are far less than those associated with employing staff and maintaining a building, so the free online casino option is both affordable for the online casino operators and a great attraction for potential new online casino games players. The free play option is probably most useful for some of the more traditional casino games such as baccarat and backgammon which although common in casinos on the continent and in America were rarely if ever available in our own casinos here in Ireland. The ability to play these games in the free play mode has meant that we are now comfortable with a much wider range of games than ever before, and has even dispelled some of the myths associated with traditional casino games such as baccarat. For whatever reason the game of baccarat has built up a reputation for being an extremely complicated casino game almost exclusively played by high rollers. The truth is that although the rules of baccarat are a little complex, we do not actually need to know those rules to enjoy playing the game online because it is totally controlled by the dealer. In truth it is probably one of the easiest traditional casino games to play because only two hands are dealt in each game and all we have to do is choose which of those two hands will win. It is possible for a tie, but it is very unusual and rarely backed. Backgammon on the other hand is a traditional casino game where the free online casino option is extremely useful for new players. The skill in playing backgammon is knowing the best way to move the checkers around the board to get the most from each throw of the dice, and there is no doubt that experience counts when playing backgammon both online and particularly when playing against other players.

The other most obvious traditional casino game in which experience counts is of course the game of poker, particularly poker formats such as Texas Hold’em poker which make use of community cards. The game of poker has probably seen the greatest surge in popularity as a result of the introduction of online casinos than any other traditional casino game, and there are now even specialist online poker platforms where serious poker players can compete with other players from all over the world. Here at onlinecasino.ie we are very aware that a large number of new online casino games players are attracted to the idea of playing poker against other players, but we feel it is our duty to stress that casino games such as Texas Hold’em poker require both skill and experience to play successfully and new players should take their time learning the game before taking the plunge on an online poker platform. All the online casinos offer a wide range of poker games which can be played for fixed odds against the house, and of course most of these can be played in the free play mode until you understand both the ranking of the hands and the rules of the game. So far we have only considered the value of the free online casino option when playing the more traditional casino games, but the vast majority of the casino games we can now play online are of course slots games in various forms. Most of these slots games are however very different to the games we are used to playing on the slot machines in our pubs and clubs. There can be as many as five reels and multiple winning lines with every spin. There are even slots games which feature falling blocks instead of the traditional reels, so once again the option to play a few free spins before gambling with real money is very welcome. There is no doubt that the free online casino option has been an important element in the success of online casinos, and some of the newer specialist online casinos such as CasinoCasino, Casinoland and Instacasino even make the free play option the default mode on all their casino games. They are of course confident that we will quickly decide to opt in to playing with real money rather than continue to play for free.