Max Drayman here, back on the hunt for useful, free gambling information sites. Here are three cool sites I stumbled upon recently.

I know there's not a lot of people that will agree with me but I think Craps is a great game! Every time I play I think of how it's really just a street game, something meat packers did on their smoke break long before anyone ever heard of a computer. I guess it comes down to a dice thing: if you like dice you like Craps and if you don't, you won't. Tough thing about Craps though is that it has got so many betting options that it's intimidating to the novice player. Ask Mr. Craps (http://www.askmrcraps.com/) seems dedicated to solving that problem. All the bets are explained with snapshots of the Craps table and details on the odds. Add a good section on Craps Etiquette --a very important part of the game if you're heading for the brick-and-mortar casinos-- and a Craps Superstitions and you've easily got one of the best Craps info sites that I've ever seen on the web. Don't go looking for much else at the site though: Craps is what you see and Craps is all you get! Similar sites worth checking out are Fat Tony's Craps (http://www.fattonys-craps.com/) and the minimalist All Craps (http://www.allcraps.com/).

In the spirit of "small is beautiful" I found I rather liked Online Casino Tips (http://www.online-casino-tips.com/). There's nothing revolutionary about this site but it is has good, basic information, well presented and very down to earth. I suppose the best way to think of the site is to imagine you met a guy at the bar and he seemed to know about the gambling scene so you order another round and settle in for a good discussion on the guy's favourite subject. And that's how this site is organized, by subject. Under Blackjack, for instance, you have an Introduction, a nice little History, some basic Strategy, a wee guide to Money Management, some stories and the basic Rules. A nice neat little introduction to the subject and off you go. Definitely best suited to the beginners in the crowd but that's not a bad thing.

Every once in a while I get to wondering wether this gambling thing is just something I got hung up on somewhere along the way. The Gambling PhD (http://www.gamblingphd.com/) is a good place to be if you find yourself preoccupied with such navel-gazing preoccupations. Although the site bills itself as "The Comprehensive Source for Gambling Information" there's not much about this or that game here. There are however excellent informal sections on the History of Gambling, Psychology of Gambling, and the International Gambling scene. I think I like this stuff because it's a glimpse at the bigger picture which can be nice for a change. Well written and easy to read the Gambling PhD is well worth a visit.