Thierry Liger

Dear Visitors,

I started to become interested in the world of casinos and gambling when I was 20 years old around the late 80s. I travelled around the most luxurious resorts in the US, worked as a journalist in Las Vegas Sun and lived in a town called Sin City! Like any self-respecting casino player, I often went joyriding to Reno, a smaller city than Las Vegas located in the state of Nevada. I regularly visited Atlantic City and New Jersey; I actually slept better in casino hotels than in my own home.
Strip clubs, i.e. bars with go-go dancers not be confused with prostitution places which are widespread in Nevada, have soon become my second home.
I got married 4 times in 5 years, each time in one of the numerous wedding Chapels of Las Vegas and never far from an Elvis impersonator.

At that time, my favourite gambling games were among table games. In general, table games are considered a more sophisticated way of gambling. Blackjack and Roulette are right at the top, Craps is preferred by Americans and Baccarat by Asians - especially in the casinos of Macau like the famous Grand Lisboa.
I mastered my winning twenty-one strategy in Blackjack. I only had to count the cards already distributed by the dealer and apply the rules of probability tables which I knew very well.
I was not as famous as the students of MIT immortalized by the film Las Vegas 21 but I enjoyed a bit of fame.
In Roulette martingales, a game where you can lose your mind and fortune, I managed to limit my losses during bad days and increase my winnings during lucky days. Piquemouche or Alembert, ascending or descending, with or without Paroli, I knew them all.
If the dealer's famous words are "place your bets", "the bets have been placed" and "no more bets" the lucky player's words have to be "keep a cool head and do not bet more than you had planned" otherwise you are at risk of developing addiction problems.   Read more >>

Later on, I discovered slot machines with progressive jackpots such as video pokers with Royal Straight Flushes.

In the late 90s, anxiously waiting for the 2000 bug which never came and driven by the millennium hype, the first American online casinos were launched. Golden Palace, Bodog, Casino on Net (888.com) and a few French online casinos like Casino 770 (Groupe Partouche) and Yachting Casino catapulted online gambling but also raised questions regarding legalization of online casinos and gambling sites.
At the same time, good old mechanical slot machines were replaced by innovative video slots with tactile screens. Charles Fey's invented them in the cellar of his home in 1897. They were first launched on Liberty Bell starting a revolution in the history of casino.

These two inventions gave birth to free slots in demo mode or real mode.

When I started playing their new variant of 5 reels and multi-lines, I was quickly convinced by the numerous features they presented such as Wilds, Progressive Jackpot, Bonus Game and Free Spins. I spent most of my free time playing a range of games on online casino sites including Blackjack and Roulette tables, slot machines and video pokers.

Purists will tell you that these new technology games will earn you less money than a good table game.
It is often true but like in Bingo or its variant Keno, it is not only the payment rate that makes the game interesting.
Slot machines have a major advantage due to their variance, i.e. the frequency of their payouts.
In fact, a slot with low variance means that you'll often win small money but never a huge amount, while a slot with high variance gives you the chance to win some serious money. All you have to do stay calm and patient: when the machine is inactive the time may seem long but when you win, you get the jackpot!
This is undoubtedly one of the most risky gambling bets. All players should find the type of slot machine that suits their needs whether they aspire to be "small players", a "high rollers", or middle-weight champions.

Please remember that I'm only expressing my personal opinion. If you ask my two friends, Francis Debruge and Antoine Agato, what they think, the former will answer something like "Roulette is the undisputed queen of Casinos" and the latter will insist "that they have never made a film about Roulette or Slot Machines" referring to the film Las Vegas 21 which tells the very romanticized (this is actually an adaptation of the book - Bringing Down the House - Ben Mezrich) adventures of a group of MIT students, including Micky Rosa (his real name is John Chang) who wiped out the largest casinos in Las Vegas by developing a strategy of counting cards.
Since then, decks of Blackjack tables contain 5 or 6 sets of cards in order to prevent such tricks. In some extreme cases we have even seen up to 21 card games!

Finally, we would like to announce the arrival of a new member to our team.
He is a racecourse specialist (a quasi-year resident!) of the Monte Carlo Resort of SBM (Société des Bains de Mer) in Monaco, not to be confused with the one in Las Vegas.
He'll provide us with his expertise in the fields of horse racing and other sport bets.

The above mentioned variety of approaches to online gambling makes Sonalia stand out from commercial mainstream casino websites.
We sincerely hope you will enjoy reading this guide as much as we enjoyed writing it ... in all humility.

Before ending this editorial, I would like to pay tribute to those whom I consider my most prestigious peers in the field of gaming.
Many thanks to Bryan Bailey, the creator of the excellent Casinomeister forum, Michael Shackleford aka The Wizard of Odds and the three "Gaming Gurus" at Casino City Times: John Grochowski, Frank Scoblete and Mark Pilarski,

Finally, if I had to recommend only one online casino, considering the quality and reliability of games as well as excellent customer service, Sonalia would be my number one choice.
No hableis español?
It doesn't matter because by the time you read this, Casino Sonalia will be available in English.
So what are you waiting for?
May Luck be with you.