Last Updated on 16 January 2022 by Nicholas Lim
Practicing in Online Casinos before you play for real money
Online casinos have brought the casino gaming excitement and thrill to our homes. With mobile casino versions on the rise, you can now access numerous casino games on the go, without the hustle and bustle of driving up to a land-based casino. This growth in online gaming in Singapore has opened the doors for casino operators to be more creative and with casino designs, games, and payouts. With modern online casinos, you will find hundreds of different games, with different designs and playing options. This brings on board the idea of practicing before committing to a particular game.
In comparison to land-based casinos, online casinos will provide you practice mode for various games. Other than the obvious reason of familiarizing with the casino games, the practice play mode has numerous advantages that can give you an edge when playing in the casino. In this review, we will highlight some of these benefits, the type of practice play modes available and how to take advantage of the free play options at an online casino.
Benefits of Practice Play at an online casino
Just like with many aspects in life, practice makes perfect. Similarly, with online casinos, the more you practice, the better you will become. As any avid gamer will tell you, playing at a casino is meant to be not only fun, but also a great way of making some quick cash. As such, if you intend to make some good money at a casino, you need to invest some time in learning the ropes and perfecting your casino gaming skills. Here are some of the benefits you will get for practicing at an online casino before committing to play with real cash.
Understand the gameplay features
One of the main benefits of practicing before playing for real money is to have a better understanding of the game. Online casinos have opened the doors to thousands of casino games. While most of these games might look similar in layout, they tend to differ in many other aspects. By practicing, you will get to understand how to control the slots machine, for instance. You will also get a better understanding of the game’s rules.
Some online casino games will differ on small details that turn out to have a huge impact. For example, through practice, you will get to understand the extra zero in American Roulette drastically changes the odds in comparison to European Roulette, which has one zero.
Such details would be hard to understand by reading in theory, unless you put them into practice. Since you are still new to the game, it is unreasonably risky to stake your real money in a game you are yet to understand, and therefore you can result to playing in demo or practice mode.
Sharpen your playing skills
Like with any other aspect in life, repeating something in regular intervals will help harness your skills. The same logic applies to online casino gaming. The more you practice at a particular game, the better you become at the game. This is especially so for strategy games such as card and table games. For example, when playing blackjack, you need to be fast in mental calculations of the points on the table. At first, these calculations might seem daunting. But with regular practice, you will become better at reading the dealer’s hand and even learn the strategies of beating the dealer.
Practicing will give you the chance to sharpen your skills, before committing your money at a certain game.
Familiarize with the casino layout
As you will notice, Singaporean online casinos come in all type of themes. Ranging from the Caribbean islands to ancient civilizations, nowadays you will find online casinos with virtually any kind of theme you could think of. In some instances, you will find the online casino lobby is easy to navigate, regardless of the outlandish theme used. This is especially so if you are playing at a casino running on the software you are familiar with such as NetEnt, RTG or Microgaming. In other instances, however, the casino design will be so far from what you are used to.
It is therefore advisable you take time to navigate through the casino lobby and try out the various features. With many online casinos, you can register an account and begin playing in a free trial without making any deposit. This will give you a chance to familiarize with the casino’s lobby and know how to quickly switch from one section to the other. Eventually, you will find this knowledge will save you time when for instance, you need to visit the cashier mid gameplay.
Understand the house rules
Similar to getting a grasp with the casino layout design, practicing at an online casino will help you get a better understanding of the casino’s rules. Reading through the terms and conditions page filled with legal jargon can sometimes be quite a drudgery. You can better understand the online casino’s terms and conditions by trying out the games offered in free play mode. However, this does not take away the importance of reading the details on the casino’s policy, unless you are ready to throw your money down a dark hole.
By regularly practicing at a casino, you can be switching to the terms and conditions page mid gameplay to do a quick search on the rules about the game you are playing.
Save Money
Other than the sheer fun, playing online casino games can be a source of some good money. However, to make this money, you need to sharpen your skills, or else you risk losing even more money. Playing in practice mode gives you a good chance to enjoy realistic casino games without spending any money. With most online casino games, you will have full access to the game’s feature even in the demo or free play mode. Such games can give you the daily dose of casino thrill for free.
In some games, however, you need to play in real money mode for the full features to be unlocked. We will explain more about these types of free play games in the next section.
Enjoy great bonuses
Practicing at an online casino can be a great source of bonuses. Depending on the type of free play mode you get, you can scale up your overall wins using the free play money. We will explain more on this strategy in the next section.
Types of practice play
Different online casinos will have a different type of bonuses and games. Similarly, there are different ways of practicing without using real money at different casinos. These type of free play modes can be based on the casino game you are playing, the casino software provider or even as a stand-alone offer by the online casino operators.
Here are some common examples of the online casino practice play modes you will encounter.
Demo mode
This is the most popular way of practicing at online casinos. A demo mode will offer you access to a particular casino game without making any deposits. In demo mode, your gaming account is credit with the virtual money. You can use this virtual money to wager in the game, just like you would with actual money. The odds and payouts at the game will remain the same. The only difference is that you cannot withdraw the money in demo mode because as we mentioned, it is virtual.
This is a great way to practice at your favorite online casino game as it helps you gauge your skills level and estimate your winning rate. Additionally, in demo mode, you can make some wild moves and stake large amounts of money since there are no actual losses.
In some casino games, the demo mode session is limited to a certain duration of time or amount of virtual money at your disposal. If you are playing at such a time-barred casino game, you can log out once your limited time is over then log in again to restart the session. Actually, in some casino games, you do not even need to log in to play in demo mode as you can simply click on the game you are interested in and start playing.
Free Spins
This type of practice play is common in slots machines. With the growth of online casinos, we have seen more than a thousand slots machines being introduced. These range from classic three reel machines to the modern 3D video slots machines. Each game brings about something new, be it in the symbols, design or gameplay. Since slots is not a strategy game and there is nothing much to learn from practicing, free spins are a great way to sample a slots game before committing with real money.
With free spins, the casino will offer you a limited number of spins at the game. Here you will be required to log in to your casino account, to enable the casino to track the number of spins you have had. Another advantage of free spins is that in most instances, the wins from the free spins can be withdrawn or used to play as real money, provided you meet certain casino requirements. In some casinos, you will find a playthrough limit that stipulates how much in real money spins you need to play to unlock the free spins money.
Generally, if you are not looking to get free money out of the slots machine, free spins can be a great way to practice and understand the game’s features before playing for real.
Deposit bonus
Some casinos will offer you a bonus for depositing a certain amount of money. These bonuses can be a matchup of the amount deposited by a certain percentage, such as 100%, 200% or even 300%. You can use these deposit bonuses to try out various games in the casino, without utilizing your actual deposited money. This, however, will depend on the casino’s terms and conditions.
With certain online casinos, the deposit bonus is offered as free spins that are locked to a particular game. It is important to check the casino’s bonus terms before making your deposit to chase the bonuses.
Games to Play for fun
With each type of practice play mode, there are some casino games that you can try out. The practice-play options available in a casino will depend on the games software provider and the casino operator.
Online Casino Slots
Generally, many online slots games will allow you to play the game in demo mode. These slots games also offer free spins and deposit matchup bonuses. Some of the most popular casino software providers such as Microgaming, RTG and NetEnt release new slots games on a regular basis. These new titles come loaded with multiple free spins that are not even tied to any deposit requirements.
The free spins in slots machines give you the chance to familiarize yourself with the paylines, symbols used, bonus games available or an extra feature that the game might have. You will also have a better feel of the game’s graphics quality so that you do not end up spending money at a lousy game.
Table and Card Games
For gamers who are more into strategy games, you will need the demo mode even more. You can practice playing at blackjack, roulette, video poker, and baccarat, among others. Many casinos will readily have their table and card games two modes; Play for Real and Play for Fun. It is advisable first you try out the game in the Play for Fun mode even when the title seems familiar. The reason for this is casino card, and table games tend to differ slightly in rules from one casino to another.
For instance, in one blackjack table, the dealer might be required to hit on a soft 17 hand, while in another he might be required to stand. The slight rules changes will affect your game’s outcome and strategy. It is therefore important you sample the game in demo mode and get to understand the specific version you are playing on.
It is important to note that most live dealer games do not offer such free play modes. This is for the obvious reason of the costs of running live dealer games. However, you can use table games that are similar to what is offered in the live casino to practice as well.
Conclusion
Many factors come into play when choosing a Singaporean online casino to use. In addition to factors such as payment methods and bonuses, the quality of games offered is of much importance. Practicing at an online casino before you begin playing will be a great way to gauge the casino’s quality. Also, you will be gaining crucial knowledge and developing your skills towards becoming a pro gamer. It is therefore advisable to take some time and practice before playing. Additionally, most online casinos are now available on mobile platforms. This means you can practice and sharpen your skill through your mobile device even when on the go.
Of importance is to understand your online casino’s terms and conditions regulating playing in demo or practice mode. If there is a way of making some money from the free play mode, you can jump right into the action and take advantage of the offers.