Before heading out to a real live gambling casino, thirty-eight states in the U.S. now have casinos; there are hundreds of online sites where a player can sharpen his blackjack or roulette skills.

Although the online gaming sites are legal and do not pay-off, some of them are very competitive and a player can match his blackjack or roulette skills with other players before hitting the casino floor. It's a great way to sharpen skills.

In blackjack, multi-decks of cards are used, so it's difficult to count cards. And players are opposed by house dealers. The object of the game is to get a blackjack hand as close to 21 as possible. An ace is either a one or an eleven and if it is matched with a king, queen, jack or ten in one hand, it's twenty one or blackjack. If both the dealer and the player have blackjack because of rules and convention, the dealer wins.

In American roulette, the game is completely different and is played with a wheel containing 38 numbered and colored slots, 1 to 36, a 0 and a 00, and a ball. On the table, many players can make bets on odd and even numbers, on the colors red and black or they may place a bet on the table covering one number or a group or set of numbers. The ball is spun around the wheel and comes to rest in a numbered and a colored slot. If the ball lands on the number played by a player, or in a group of numbers played by the player, and is red or black, odd or even, then the number played by the player wins. Each bet, colors, odds and even, one number or a group of numbers, pays off in differing amounts. For more info, feel free to visit 777.com.