Getting killer comps in a casino can be done a few ways. If you’re a high roller you just need to ask, the casino will provide you with anything you may want. But if you’re not, you’ll need to make sue that you keep track of every dollar you gamble. Don’t play unless you have your comps card with you because everything adds up over time.

Another way to get good comps that may people don’t know about is to simply ask for them while you’re playing. Wait for a situation where no other gamblers are present at the game you’re playing. Then ask the pit boss if he or she has any comps they can give you. Ask in a nice way, because it’s completely his or her discretion whether or not to hand them out. Most pit bosses are given a number of comps to give to patrons.

Just jumping onto a casino and “giving it a try” is not the recommended way to gamble. Even the casino would rather that you learned the games and had a fun and exciting experience. If you don’t learn to optimize your gaming experience, you’re likely to just lose your money quickly and you won’t be interested in gaming anymore.

Most casinos, both online and traditional, have tutorials that will teach you how to play properly. There are so many free casino games available online these days; there’s no excuse not to play them for a while before you put up your cash. You can download casinos and play their free games, or find a flash game somewhere that requires no download to play.

Only once you get things down pat – and have read up on any strategy secrets that the game may have – should you try your luck in a real casino environment.

If you like to gamble more than a couple of times a year you should be looking to organize your play. You organize so you can always be in the game. You can’t win if you don’t play, and with a little structure you’ll be able to play at the right times for the right stakes.

First figure out how much you can afford to play with. Do a budget and be honest. Then once you know how much you have to play with, you need to schedule playing sessions into your life. Play only when you should; don’t ignore your life to play. Then divide the amount of playing cash over the number of playing sessions you have scheduled. That’s your playing bankroll for that session; don’t exceed it.

Then you play at stakes where your session bankroll will last you for the entire session, and you won’t ever go broke.

Gambling is popular in free societies. So is the idea of making a lot of money. And yet so much of it is in the hands of so few.

These are the cold, hard facts. Gambling is a zero-sum game. There are winners and losers. It’s competitive. The best handicappers walk away with the most money. Unless you’re incredibly lucky, you won’t get rich gambling online unless you develop your craft until you’re razor-sharp. How many hours in a day are you willing to work at it?

Then there’s the whole genetics thing. Please excuse me for being blunt, but… how smart are you? Good with numbers? How about sports? Did you play anything as a kid? Were you the alpha male/female? It’s the top minds that command top dollar. Those minds are scarce.

The good news is, no matter what you’ve got under the hood, you can always get better at this if you want to. Just like the real world.

If you’re serious about gambling you need to learn that smart play is essential to success. If you don’t plan your play and maintain a history of it, you have no way to know if you’re a success or not. Smart players plan their bankrolls and session so they don’t go broke, and they can always stay in the game.

Playing drunk or when you’re tired are things that new gamers do. Smart players treat the games as their profession, work diligently to gain an edge and act accordingly when they have it. Smart play won’t make you rich right away, but it’s the best way gaming has to get there.

Smart play means that you choose bets that provide better odds to win. You should know which bets you need to stay away from, and the same goes for games that give the house too big an edge.