What is a ‘bad beat’?

In poker, specifically Texas Hold’em poker, a ‘bad beat’ occurs when the player who is the overwhelming favourite, statistically, to win a hand, loses to an opponent who, initially, holds an inferior hand but, more by luck than judgement, draws one or more cards required to snatch victory.

One example of a bad beat would be a player who holds a pair of tens, or ‘pocket tens’, going ‘all in’ against, and losing to, an opponent who holds a pair of fives, or ‘pocket fives’; mathematically, the player holding pocket tens should win four out of five, or 80%, of such hands. Another example is the so-called ‘runner runner’ bad beat, whereby a player who is, statistically, unlikely to win a hand after the flop draws the right card on both the turn and river cards to complete a winning hand. A frequent example of this type occurs when a player draws running cards to complete an inside, or gutshot, straight; a gutshot draw on the flop offers an 8.5% of making a straight on the turn card and a 16.5% chance of making a straight on the river card.

A bad beat may be a damaging experience, financially and psychologically, but worse still is an extraordinary and, thankfully, rare bad beat known as a ‘cooler’. A cooler occurs when an extraordinarily strong hand, such as four of a kind, or ‘quads’, played correctly, loses to an even stronger hand, such as a straight flush. Bad beats, including coolers, are a painful, but nonetheless unavoidable, part of poker. From the point of view of the person suffering a bad beat, an unexpected loss, or a series of such losses, may cause a loss of confidence, but should really be treated as a temporary downswing, rather than a reflection of the ability, or strategy, of the player.

Gladiator Jackpot Winner

The biggest jackpot ever won by Slots Heaven is currently being celebrated. Only four days after signing up to the online casino, David from Kent won over £1,371,621.61 from winning the jackpot during his play on the Gladiator jackpot, a popular progressive slot at Slots Heaven.

Having won such a huge amount of money, Slots Heaven sent one of their VIP accounts managers to meet/present David with a giant cheque and see what he plans to do next. Awestruck, David said, “It’s a dream come true to win that much money. The first thing I’m going to do is give my kids a bit of money each.” David is a family man who only in his dreams had ever imagined winning a jackpot like this.

David and his family toured some of the local restaurants after the presentation of the cheque and meeting the account manager from Slots heaven. He had also decided to enjoy some celebratory drinks at a pub that he liked the look of afterwards. David had mentioned that his winnings at that particular moment had not been earmarked for anything long-term, but he doesn’t plan to spend them recklessly. He wants to look after this life-changing jackpot win properly and mainly use it to look after his family.

According to David, he has dealt with many online casinos in the past as he enjoys the entertainment aspect of online casinos, some of the casinos he has dealt with had not treated customers very well. Considering he had only been playing at Slots Heaven for about six weeks, he had found them to have friendly staff, they were always considerate, and above all, helpful .

The feeling of winning such a large amount of money is truly beyond his belief and he is extremely grateful for the life changing win.

Why do online casinos offer bonuses and free spins?

A short and concise answer why online casinos offer bonuses and free spins is quickly found: It’s all about attracting customers as well and as effectively as possible. This concerns both new customers and the retention of existing clients. Especially spins without the requirement of a deposit, so-called free spins on a game that you can trial, are a good marketing tool here. This provides new customers with the opportunity to first look around the casino without any risk and should of course whet their appetite for more. After the free spins, the customer then can decide whether he wants to stay and invest real money, or not. So these are really ingenious trial offers.

The variety of bonuses and free spins

There are still free spins that are granted by online casinos without having to make a deposit. That means then, that you can play several rounds on a slot machine completely free of charge. In fact, there is no need to wager money if you have been granted free spins.

Other ways to get free spins are by granting them on top in addition to a deposit bonus. Also, as part of a small birthday present, online casinos occasionally credit you with free spins. In very rare cases, winnings from granted free spins can be paid out immediately, but usually free spins are bound to certain turnover conditions. Then you have to wager the winnings several times to realize a profit.

The various types of free spins

The way in which free spins are credited varies. If you receive a larger number of free spins as part of a welcome bonus, these are then usually activated in stages. For example, if you receive 200 free spins in addition to the deposit bonus, 50 are often activated directly after the deposit, and the other 150 are then activated on five consecutive days at 30 each. This way, the new customer is naturally tempted to visit the casino every day and then make a deposit and continue playing after the free spins have been played.

These free spins are then mostly tied to a 30-fold (or more, rarely less) turnover before the winnings resulting from the games may be paid out.

The different bonus types

In the meantime, the number of online casinos has grown by leaps and bounds. The result is a correspondingly large competition. For this reason, it is not surprising that the casinos outdo each other in terms of bonus offers. Of course, everyone wants to draw attention to themselves.

However, the bonuses are not only aimed at attracting new customers, but they are also constantly trying to keep existing clients happy with really attractive bonus offers.

The welcome bonus

The name already reveals that this bonus is aimed exclusively at new customers. The new customers receive a welcome gift in the form of a bonus on their first deposited amount. A certain percentage is credited to the new customer on his first amount in the form of a bonus. With this type of bonus, the amount is often limited.

The Match Bonus

A match bonus can best be compared to a kind of refund amount. The casino will credit the player’s account with the same amount as he has previously deposited. This amount can then be used on certain slots according to the bonus rules.

No Deposit Bonus

This type of bonus is unfortunately extremely rare, but all the more popular. This bonus is indeed a very special bonus, because you can get it without any deposit. Basically, such a bonus that you get without any prior deposit has to be wagered many times over before any winnings are paid out.

Of course, there are good reasons why no deposit bonuses are very rare. For the providers, this always means a risk, because here they can indeed lose money if only players drop by here who simply want to play for free. For this reason, a no deposit bonus is also generally only offered once.

Bonus for existing clients

The bonus for existing customers is also known as reload bonus. When an existing client makes a deposit, the bonus is credited to his player account. The aim here is to reward existing customers for their loyalty and to encourage them to continue playing with real money.

Bonuses and the turnover conditions

The turnover conditions regulate how often a certain amount must be wagered. This applies to both the bonus amount itself and the deposited amount. To make this clear, here is a small example:

If a welcome bonus of 100 percent up to 100 euros is granted, then the player has in principle 200 euros available if he uses the bonus in full. Before possible winnings can be paid out, however, the casino’s turnover requirements must be fulfilled, the so-called wagering.

Why the mode is crucial for the amount of profit

Now there are different modes here. Some online casinos require a 20-fold turnover of only the bonus amount. In this case, the bonus amount of 100 euros would have to be converted 20 times, so with a total of 2000 euros. So it comes to the payout only when you have made 2000 euros to the casino in stakes.

As another common variant, online casinos require that not only the bonus amount, but also the deposit amount must be wagered x times. So in our example 100 deposit + 100 bonus = 200 x 20 = 4,000 euros. Here it must be mentioned that the only 20-fold turnover would be a super offer of a casino. There are also quite some providers who require 50 times the turnover of deposit and bonus amount. However, these are then turnover conditions, where you should deny yourself a deposit with bonus.

Additional winning conditions in online casinos

Casinos are as popular as never before and a lot of people are playing. Some of the providers may also have other regulations that state that not every game here applies equally in terms of conversion. Usually, the online slots in each casino apply 100%. However, some slots are excluded from the game when playing with bonus money. You have to pay close attention to this in the fine print. In relation to playing roulette and blackjack, the credit towards the required wagering can vary greatly.

There can also be differences in the bonus conditions in terms of time limits. The player is given a certain specification regarding the time frame in which the bonus must be released.

Eyes open when registering

So before you register, you should have a close look at the respective turnover conditions and the licensing so that you get the answers to your questions. You can only claim great bonuses if you have read and understood the conditions carefully. Especially bonus offers that seem particularly attractive at first can turn out to be a flop in retrospect.

Legend of Cleopatra Megaways Free Slots

Introduction

Legend of Cleopatra Megaways is a high variance Megaways slot developed by Playson. It is played on 6 reels where the winning ways vary from between 324 to 200,704 on every spin. You can accompany the Egyptian queen by placing wagers between 0.20 to 100.00 per spin and the game comes with both Autoplay and Turbo mode. It offers a max win of 6584x your stake and the highlighted bonus features include Collapsing Reel wins, Scarab Multipliers, and a Free Spins Bonus Round.

Legend of Cleopatra Bonus Features

There are ample opportunities to create winning combinations in this slot game based on the magnificent Egyptian queen Cleopatra. Each time a player lands a winning combination it brings the Collapsing Reels into play where the winning symbols get blasted off the reels and replaced by new symbols.

Above reels 2, 3, 4 and 5 there is an extra symbol and that is where you will find the Scarab Badges; each symbol can have up to 3 Scarab Badges. If there is a collapse on a reel that has a Scarab Badge, the Scarab Multiplier feature is triggered increasing each of the badges by 1.

The Free Spins feature triggers when you manage to collapse all 4 symbols on the Top Bonus Row. You then receive 12 Free Spins and the Scarab Multiplier from the triggering spin gets carried over to the base game. When you clear the top bonus row, you receive a further 5 Free Spins with no limits. In some countries, players get to buy the Free Spins for 100x their total stake.

Wrapping Up

Legend of Cleopatra is Playson’s first venture into the Megaways realm and it’s very nicely done. Moreover, they did not opt for the usual 117649 Megaways game which is refreshing. It’s a slot that delivers some fiery gameplay fueled by Cleopatra a legend in her own right.

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