But, what about those casinos that do not have an ANN on the forum? For those in my opinion it is better to avoid reviews on third party websites. It can be always helpful to monitor the live if that casino has one or you can give it a try by playing with small amount.
Not all reviews on
third party websites are fake or written by paid shills. There are many good and reliable review websites you can check when needed and some of them have active representative on this forum.
In any case, don't rely on a single or few reviews posted on the Internet, instead read as many as you can from different sources than make your own mind. It's usually easy to figure out who is shilling and who is honest.
Testing the casino with your own money is not a bad idea if you don't mind losing that money but I wouldn't recommend it for newbies who might be lured into depositing more and more.