One of the things I do to get ready for a trip is to train and/or practice the games I plan on playing.  For games where skill is involved, it helps me fine tune my skills and serves as a refresher for some of the more intricate decisions. For less skilled games, it serves as a rules refresher and helps me get amped up for those games.

Here are a few of my favorite pre-trip training and practice options :

For games like roulette, you can test your betting strategies on sites like 888casino’s free online roulette game. You can play for free, and if you are in New Jersey or outside the US, you can play their real money site, too. In New Jersey they are part of the Caesars Interactive Entertainment license.

Videopoker.com has a website as well as downloadable apps for practicing video poker.  I spend at least a little time playing their Videopoker.com app on my iPad on almost every flight to Las Vegas. Sometimes I spend more time using the app than I do playing at the casino.

Wizard of Odds has free training pages and calculators for multiple table games. I used their Ultimate Texas Hold’Em practice page a lot when I started learning that game before going on a cruise where I knew that would be my main game (and it paid off).

When I am doing a poker focused trip, I hit the books. Some of my favorite poker books are  The Mental Game of Poker, Advanced Limit Hold’em Strategy and The Raiser’s Edge. I don’t limit my reading to just poker books. From time to time I’ll do a blackjack refresher with Knock Out Blackjack.

When preparing for slots … Well, I don’t really prepare or practice for that, but I may play the myVEGAS games a bit more as I get closer to a trip if there are particular Rewards I want to get.

Do you have any favorite practice/training methods? Feel free to add them in the comments.