Gambling

I bet you didn’t know that this technique is probably one of the most misused and abused of all strategies.

When done correctly we define Slow Play as: The art of representing weakness with a passive betting style in order to throw off or deceive your opponent to achieve a greater pay off. Often it turns out to be the art of representing weakness with a passive betting style in order to encourage marginal hands to stick around to outdraw you so that you can lose the hand.

Lets get started with you on the button and you get dealt pocket rockets.

A couple of players limp in and you decide to call-SLOW PLAY IT!. This is a huge mistake. First of all, to raise from the button is a fairly standard play and is commonly referred to as a position raise.

Most people that know anything about the game don’t head for the hills because the button raised. In fact, there is more bluffing from the button than any other position.

This means that you aren’t necessarily giving up information, particularly from that position. The second mistake is that you let the big blind in for free and the small blind in for half a bet.

Sit and watch the $100/200 limit game and keep note of how long you have to sit there before you observe an instance where the Big blind plays for free.

I make it down to Foxwoods twice a month. If geographically feasible I suggest you do the same. The 4/8 and 5/10 limit games are pretty soft and so far have been very beatable.

This is what happened my last visit to Conneticut. I had just won two decent hands in a row(always nice) and am now in the Big blind. I get dealt real junk, 6/8 unsuited. To my surprise everyone limps and I am going to see a flop. Well, the flop comes 10c, 8c, 8s. I just flopped a set. I have not put anyone on a big pocket pair, never mind Aces. I am sure you can appreciate that I have no business being in this hand. Yet, I’m 99% sure I am in the lead.

The irony here is that I now slow play my trip 8’s and check. The player to my left bets and there are three other callers including me. The turn produces a miracle 6c. I’ve got a full house and am praying that someone hit the club flush just as long as he is not holding the 79c.

I bet the eight and the player to my left makes it 16, the button pushes it to 24, I cap it at 32, the two raisers call and we have a very nice pot in the making. The river produces a rag and I lead out and everyone calls, I win a nice pot. The player to my left had limped with AQc and the button limped with AA.

What happened here happens quite a bit. The AQc player should have raised in early position trying to get as many out of the pot as possible. AQs are nice cards but has problems particularly in an early seat. The button’s AA should have also raised as the button often raises due to position as discussed earlier.

The point being that both players did everything possible to throw away the hand. The funny thing is that the slow player(s) got slowplayed.

When I’m dealt AQ, particularly in early position, I come out flying. You do this because you want to play this hand heads up, or better still, win it right there. For what ever reason this player assigned greater value to AQ than he should have.

AA is consistently over valued and as a result is played incorrectly. I’m always fascinated by people’s reaction when their aces get cracked. It’s as if they’ve lost track of the fact that there are still 5 cards to come. Not to mention that these same five cards are shared by the opposition.

When people play draw or stud there isn’t anywhere near the disapointment when their aces don’t hold up.

Always try to focus on the fact that 71.4% of your cards are community cards. To state the obvious the button should have raised his bullets and only got fancy if the third ace is produced on the flop.

He had two problems with that flop; the board paired and the clubs potentially offered the flush draw for someone. The value of his aces took a big hit and he clearly was oblivious to this shift evidenced by his raise on the turn, making it three bets. When the third club came on the turn and he faced a raise from early position it should have sent off an alarm that his aces were beat.

Unless I’m playing heads up or with two other players I never slow play the early betting rounds with AA or KK. It makes no sense to let the BB in free with rags for the shot at outdrawing you.

Effective slow play takes place after the flop and to a greater extent at the turn when there is high % of certainty that you not only have the best hand, but that any improvement on the part of your opposition will not beat you. When your opponent hits his hand on a dead draw is the optimum outcome for you to get paid off. Try it this way. Your win/loss relationship will vastly improve!

Blackjack is the one casino game where you can play with a positive edge against the casino and win money over the longer term.

Winning at blackjack can be done by those players willing to put in the time and effort to do so.

The only trait you need to get started for winning at blackjack and expanding your bankroll is a desire to learn.

So here are your 9 tips to win at blackjack

1. Basic Strategy

Statistically, there is only one play a player can make, for the hands they are dealt, against each up card the dealer holds.

Basic strategy outlines the moves you should make and you should know it off by heart. If you don’t there are plenty of free basic strategy cards you can get form the net to jog your memory

2. Money management

Losing periods can and do occur so you need to be prepared and keep an eye on your bankroll.

A money management rule that should be utilized is bet with only 1% of your bankroll.

For example, if you have a bankroll of $1000, your betting size is 1%, or $10.

If you are playing with a 1.5% advantage over the house, (with a card counting strategy), the chances of losing your entire bankroll are only 5% and there pretty good odds.

It’s a certainty that you will hit a losing run as you cannot predict in blackjack winning blackjack is all about staying power and looking at the bigger picture, so make sure you have adequate resources.

3. Learn to Count Cards

It has been proven mathematically that by counting cards, you can actually get and maintain a positive advantage over the casino, if used with basic strategy.

There are lots of different counting systems and you need to pick one that’s right for you.

There are many card counting systems that can be learned in just 15 minutes but will give you a significant advantage in winning at blackjack.

4. Estimate the True Count

Once you know the running count, you are then able to calculate the true count.

The true count is the running count divided by the number of decks of undealt cards and it is vital you know it.

The true count gives a more accurate indication of how favorable the remaining cards are than does the running count, and only needs to be calculated when you want to bet.

5. Alter Bet Size Based on the True Count

As the true count goes up, bet size needs to be increased.

As the true count goes down, the bet size should be decreased.

You will always lose more hands then you win.

In order to make money, a player needs to increase bet size when the odds are favorable to compensate for the times he loses

6. Play with Favorable House Rules

You need to look for favorable house rules to give you an extra edge and the differences between different casino rules can be the difference between winning at blackjack and losing, so make sure you do your homework.

7. Mindset

If you are seriously playing for money, make sure that you are mentally concentrating as errors can and do cost money, especially when your card counting.

The margin between success and failure is thin, and you need to keep the odds on your side, so concentrate!

8. Discipline

If you have a plan, you need discipline to implement it rigorously.

Stick with your plan even in losing periods.

You know that if you use basic strategy and card count the odds will be in your favor longer term, so ignore short term losses.

9. Take it seriously

If you want to win at blackjack you need to take it seriously. Learn all the above have adequate bankroll and play and stick with your plan.

If you do, you can and will end up winning at blackjack.

Good luck!

It is in one’s best interest to know all your options before making a bet. The straight bet is more of a long haul type of bet. You are not going to rack up the big dough right away but over time, it will add up. The parlay bet is more of hope for bigger payouts quicker. These are more of a weekly bet. The teaser bet can be used in several ways. You won’t make a ton on teasers because the payouts are lower but they are a good way of “hedging” your bet. “Hedging” will be explained in more detail later. Finally, the round robin bet is a mix of straight bet payouts and parlay payouts. They can keep you in it for the long haul or can be a real quick payout. The following explanations should help you make the right choice and hopefully you will find a betting option you really enjoy.

The first and easiest football betting option is the straight bet. Let me rephrase that, making the bet is simple, picking which bet you like is even simpler if you have the right picks or knowledge. The straight bet is exactly like it sounds…straight. You find a team or an over/under you like and you just bet that. It’s a one-team bet.

For example, you like the Bengals -5 over the Texans. You would go down to the casino or make an Internet bet and tell the Sports book you would like 50 units on the Bengals. If they cover, you will receive you original bet back plus another 45.5 units. Same thing goes if you like an over/under. Say you like the over in the Chief’s game, which is 50. You would make the same bet as you would have with the Bengal’s game and the payout is the exact same. The straight bet is a betting option where you are in it for the whole season.

This isn’t the biggest moneymaker bet books have to offer. This is a bet where if you stay in it for the long haul, the profit will eventually start to show. Most handicappers choose this betting option.

The money line betting option is a lot like the straight bet with just a little twist. When you bet a football game on the money line, this involves a simple bet on the true winner of the game without a point spread. Lets go back to the example we used in the straight bet. In the straight bet, we liked the Bengals –5 over the Texans. With the money line bet, we could make two choices. We could bet that the Bengals are going win the game or the Texans are going to win the game. No point spreads, just win the game!

That is called the money line bet. There is a difference between the two choices though. If you decide to bet on the favorite, you must bet more than you stand to win. The reason for this is you are taking away the point spread and making it easier to win the bet. If on the other hand, you decide to choose the underdog, you are saying the underdog is going to win the game not just cover the spread. In this case, you stand to win more than you bet.

The next betting option is the parlay. Easy to do, a little harder to win. The parlay is a way to bet multiple games with the hope of a big payout at the end if all of the games win. The point spreads for the games are just the same as the straight bets so nothing changes there. For example, say you like the Dolphins +2 against the Eagles and the over in the game at 37. You would go to the sports book and tell them parlay and the Dolphins and the over for 50 units. If both bets cover you will receive your 50 units back plus an additional 180 units. A much bigger payout than the standard straight bet but again, a little harder to win. If just one game doesn’t win or draw you lose the whole bet, that’s why it’s considered a little harder.

With a parlay, you can bet more than two bets. Two bets is the minimum and depending on the casino the maximum amount of bets will range from 5 to 8. Of course with the more teams you bet, the higher the payout. Here are a few of the payouts. For a three-team parlay, the payout is 6 to 1 plus you original bet.

That means if you put 50 units on three different teams or over/under you would get back 300 units plus your original 50. For a four-team parlay, the payout is 10-1 plus your original bet. For a five-team parlay, the payout is 20-1 plus your original bet. Of course, the more teams you add the harder it is to win. The parlay is a quick way to a big payout if you have the right knowledge and picks.

After the parlays, the next football betting option would be the teasers. Teasers are just like parlays since you choose multiple games and have to win them all. Teasers are bet the same way as parlays except you will get more points for your bet. There are a couple types of betting options for teasers with football. Usually, depending on the casino, there are 6-point teasers and 7-point teasers.

You may be thinking to yourself if these are any good. You will get two separate responses for this. For college football, people don’t believe they are any good because the games are usually blowouts and an extra 7 points won’t do me any good. For pro football, people seem to enjoy the teasers and the extra points they receive because pro games tend to be a bit closer.

ere is an example of a teaser bet: Say you like the Raiders to win this week over the Bills but you don’t think they would cover the spread of –7. So, you would like to do a 7 point teaser and now you have the Raiders as a Pick em’. Of course you would have to add at least two more teams to make the bet. Again, a teaser is bet the same way as a parlay, you need more than one team to make the bet. Another thing to remember with a teaser is you can bet both the favorite and the underdog of the same game.

Lets go back to the Raiders example: Raiders -7 over the Bills. On a 7 point teaser, you could take the Raiders as a Pick em’ and the Bills as a 14 point underdog. You could win both ways. People enjoy the teasers for other reasons as well such as “hedging a bet.” Lets say you have a 100 unit 5 team parlay going into the Monday night game. You have already hit 4 teams and if the fifth team hits you are looking at a 2000 unit payout. But you want to make sure you win something. If that fifth team doesn’t cover the spread, there will be no payout. So this is where you would “hedge your bet.” You could also “hedge” with a straight bet as well but a teaser is a better way to go. “Hedging” means betting on the opposite team than your original team on your original bet. This way, you are insured of winning something no matter what.

The only time you would want to “hedge” is when it is with a parlay. Some people may find it strange to bet against your original bet, but the only difference between you and them is you will be walking out with units in your pocket using this betting option. The only draw back to a teaser off the board is you cannot do the over/under. You can do over/under teasers off a card but we will get to those later on in the article. You may think this is a great bet receiving extra points but the player ends up paying for these points in the end in the form of lower payouts than on the parlay. This is not a betting option where you want to make bad picks with a lower payout.

The round robin is a form of the parlay betting option. With the round robin you would bet just like a parlay only now you are combing all your teams. This can be confusing to someone one at first, but once you do it, it is one of the best betting options out there.

The reason this is a good football betting option is because you do not have to win all the games to win at least some of your money back. Of course you have to hit all the games to win a big payout but if you hit a few of the games, you could just win your money back or even a little profit. A round robin parlay consists of two to eight teams. When you pick the amount of teams you want to bet, they are broken down into two team parlays. Before all the confusion starts, let me explain: Lets say you want to bet a 3 team round robin. Your bet would consist of 3 teams. For this quick example, lets call the teams, team 1, team 2, and team 3. I’ll get into a better example when we start talking betting units. A 3 team round robin is team 1 and team 2 (two team parlay), team 1 and 3(two team parlay), and team 2 and 3 (two team parlay).

Each team is parlayed with each other only once. Realize that each parlay is a bet. The more teams you bet, the more parlays you have and the more it is going to cost you.

Now, here is your full 3 team round robin betting option example:

Let’s say you want to bet 100 units on a three-team parlay. That will come out to be 300 units because of the three different parlays.

Here are the teams you want to bet:

Panthers –1

Rams –10

Patriots –2

If all three teams hit this is how your payout would look:

Panthers and Rams 100 unit bet to win 260

Panthers and Patriots 100 unit bet to win 260

Rams and Patriots 100 unit bet to win 260

Your total bet was 300 units and if all three win, you would win 480 units plus your original 300 for a total of 780.

Now lets say only two of the teams covered their spread:

Panthers and Rams 100 unit bet to win 260

Panthers and Patriots 100 unit bet no win

Rams and Patriots 100 unit bet no win

Your total bet is still 300 units and you’ll cash out 260 total. So in actuality, you would only loose 40 units. That is the difference between a round robin and a regular parlay, that chance of hitting two out of three and just losing a little bit.

Now remember, the more teams you bet, the more parlays you will have. Another added feature of the round robin is you can do more than a two-team parlay. You could do two’s and three’s. What that means is you want to bet all two team parlays and three team parlays. Let’s use our easy example of a 3 team round robin: Team 1,2,and 3. All the two team parlay bets stay the same: 1 and 2, 1 and 3, and 2 and 3. Now you are adding another bet to the round robin with threes: 1 and 2 and 3. Now depending on how much wager, you bet has increased by that amount. You now have 4 bets instead of 3.

More of a wager but if they all hit, your cash out increases as well. The round robin is just another betting option sport books give you.

There are so many betting options you can choose when it comes to betting football. Let’s hope that these last few pages of information have helped you figure out what betting style fits you best or maybe you have found a new betting option you want to try. Whether you are in it for the long haul or a quick payoff, football betting is fun and exciting!

If you want to win at online gambling beat the casino, at games of chance all you need to do is place bets with the best odds.

Most people who play games of chance never win gambling online as they don’t know the odds. Don’t make the same mistake, get the odds in your favor.

Here we will look at how you can do just that.

The games we will look at are: Baccarat, Roulette, craps and slots.

Why you must only play the bets with the best odds

If you play without the odds in your favor, you will not win gambling online. If you know the odds in these games, you can beat the casino.

As these are games of chance, there is nothing you can do to influence the result of the game. Systems will not help you win when gambling online as they are based on the premise you can influence the result by studying past results.

There is something you can do however.

You can increase your odds of success and win when gambling online and this is done simply by picking the bet with the best odds.

The theory of probability.

Probability is an area of mathematics that is concerned with calculating the likelihood of an event’s occurrence.

To simplify the theory, the probability is further expressed as a number between 1 and 0. With a probability of 1 an event is considered a certainty:

A good example is a coin toss. the probability of a coin toss resulting in either “heads” or “tails” is 1, because there are no other possibilities, as it is assumed the coin will land flat.

Sometimes an event can have a probability of .5, and then it is considered to have equal odds of occurring or not occurring:

As in the example of the coin toss, the probability of a coin toss resulting in “tails” is .5; because the toss is equally as likely to result in “heads.”

To quantify uncertain measures of random events, probability theory applies sets of precise calculations. It is even part of a large part of math called non-linear dynamics (the Chaos Theory), and many studies have been conducted with games of chance as the subject.

The odds are what they are!

One of the basic errors many gamblers and the reason they never win when gambling online is their belief that the odds can get better if an event happens several times in succession.

For example, if heads tails comes up 10 or 50 times in a row, the odds do not change for tails coming up on the next toss. There will always be a 50 – 50% or .5.

Casino Advantage and Best Odd Bets

Casino’s hold an edge in any game of chance you can tilt the odds in your favor but you can get them close enough to win when gambling online Here are “YOUR” best odds

Baccarat

Bet on the ‘banker’ to get the best odds and casino’s edge is just 1.06%

Roulette

Bet on the “en prison” rule with European tables. The casino’s edge is just 1.35%.

Craps Your best bet is the ‘odds’ bet at (0%). Most players pick the field bets with casino edges of 10 or more against them.

Slots

Slots is slightly more complicated to give you the best bet, because their isn’t one, but there are specific ways of playing to put the odds a bit more in your favor and there is plenty of info on the internet on the best way to play

A game YOU can Win At!

Lets face most players who win at gambling online don’t play games of chance they play games such as blackjack and poker where they can gain an edge.

Most people play games of chance because their pure entertainment, exciting and fun! However if you want a simple game that bridges the gap between games of chance and more serious games consider video poker.

Video poker fun its exciting, its simple but if you play with strategy you can put the odds in your favor.

By all means play games of chance for fun and the above bets will help you win at online gambling, but if you want to get a game you can consistently win when gambling online discover video poker.

As Bob Dylan sang, the times they are a-changin’ — especially in the NFL’s American Football Conference.

“Parity,” said Chuck Esposito, the book boss at Caesars Palace, wrapping the NFL’s current situation in a single word.

Highly-touted Indianapolis, which failed to make last season’s Super Bowl in the wake of the unexpected death of Coach Tony Dungy’s son, still began 2006 as a big favorite to represent the AFC in February’s mid-winter extravaganza, though the Colts lost three of four exhibition games.

But something happened on the way to Miami.

Indy stumbled in three of its last five games and allowed electrifying LaDainian Tomlinson and his San Diego teammates to knock the Colts off their pedastal and put quarterback leader Peyton Manning in his, uh, place, though run defense appears to be the biggest culprit.

Las Vegas bet shops this week boosted Super Bowl futures on Indy and New England, while lowering them on the Chargers and Ravens.

“San Diego is the best team in football right now, but we’ll see what happens down the road,” said John Avello, the veteran bookmaker who runs sports betting operations at Wynn Las Vegas.

Avello dropped the Chargers into the same 7/2 to 3/1 neighborhood where Chicago resides, while raising the Colts to 5/1.

“I’m trying to draw money on Indianapolis,” Avello explained.

Eric St. Clair, book boss at The Cannery in North Las Vegas and Rampart Casino in Summerlin, dropped San Diego to 2/1 and the Ravens to 5/1.

He upped Indianapolis to 6/1 and New England to 8/1.

“The thing with the Chargers is they haven’t been tested for a long time.”

San Diego last lost to Kansas City on Oct. 22; the Chargers also were beaten by Baltimore three weeks earlier.

They close out against Seattle and Arizona.

As the AFC stands now, San Diego, New England, Baltimore and Indy will win division titles, with Cincinnati and Jacksonville, having the best chance to get wild card slots and the Jets, Broncos and Chiefs considered long shots.

“Baltimore is our one liability with a legitimate shot to get there,” said Jeff Sherman, a Hilton oddsmaker and bet shop supervisor.

Sherman has admired the Chargers, Tomlinson, quarterback Phillip Rivers and linebacker Shawne Merriman right along — even more so with those major players healthy and all back in the lineup.

“I’m not sold on Indianapolis at all,” Sherman said.

“I don’t have much faith in its run defense.

“It’s going to be tough on the Colts, no doubt.

“It looks like they’d have to play San Diego in San Diego for the AFC title, if they get that far.

“No Colts’ home dome.”

Based substantially on Sherman’s opinion, the Hilton has adjusted its Super Bowl futures considerably.

The Chargers are 6/5, Indy and Baltimore 3/1 and New England 5/1.

Chicago, which has sewn up the NFC North Division title, grabbed home field advantage throughout the playoffs with a Week 15 victory over Tampa Bay.

The Saints, bolstered by the presence of Heisman Trophy running back Reggie Bush and former Chargers quarterback Drew Brees, have compiled the NFC’s second-best ledger behind the Bears’ 12-2.

New Orleans has a two-game South Division advantage over Atlanta, which is among NFC teams clinging to playoff hopes.

Dallas leads Philadelphia by one game in the East, while reigning NFC titlist Seattle has clear sailing in the West.

Despite their consistency and apparent mission, not to mention easy cover against St. Louis last Monday night, bookmakers still have questions about how good the Bears really are.

Doubts still center on quarterback Rex Grossman, who enjoyed one of his better outings against the Rams.

“I’m not sure he could be a second-stringer on most teams,” Avello said.

“He’s their biggest danger,” added Sherman, who has Chicago at 6/5 to win its second Super Bowl.

“You wonder what the Bears could do with a confident quarterback.”

Bookmakers appear skeptical about the NFC in general, though.

“There’s not much in the conference from what I see,” Avello said.

St. Clair has been impressed with New Orleans, to say the least.

“We all know how good Bush and Brees are and the Saints have been playing great ball,” he said.

“I guess the Bears are the best in the NFC and Grossman is halfway decent.

“It should be an interesting Super Bowl.”

The Hilton lists the AFC as a 4 1/2-point Super Bowl favorite and the total at 46 1/2.

No one can deny the amazing benefits of teamwork for achieving all types of success in this world. Well then the game of gambling and lottery systems definitely should not be left alone. With the flourishing e-lottery syndicate systems in the web world the power of many has been established again.

There are various benefits that come along with the membership of e-lottery syndicate system. Among the benefits of joining the e-lottery system is an entitlement to get your own website and manage it. You receive a commission of 20% of the £5 subscription fee paid by every member joining for a week. This calculates to receiving one free chance to play either at he UK National Lottery or Euro Millions for every 5 individuals who join through your website.

Playing in syndicate increases your chances of winning and ensures a steady return on your investments into lotteries. Patrons playing lottery in-groups are very positive about this system. Since although your personal winnings (which happens rarely) is being distributed among the members you also stand a privilege to receive a part of other person’s winning. Receiving some prize money even when not being lucky is a great satisfying feeling which can compensate for all the efforts your make to join a e-lottery syndicate.

Having a successful affiliate website entitles you to win several competitions, which offer serious top brand automobiles as prizes. Once you reach a target of 500+ members for both, UK National Lottery and Euro Millions, you are entitled to receive an infinity bonus of 1% on every member that join your website. Playing through a syndicate also manifolds your chances of winning to 700% times more at UK National Lottery and 3600% times for Euro Lotteries.

Statistics always favors people in groups and past experiences have shown that every two out of three wins- that is around 66%, have been claimed by syndicate members. Increasing number of individuals joining the syndicate prove that playing in teams is a preferred and more profitable way of venturing into the lottery world. This stands true for both the novice and experts at the lottery game since it offers a safer and more secure platform for lottery gambling.

Although winnings in a syndicate is low as compared to individual winning amounts but over a period of time the accumulated total sum from the winnings can be quite handsome and attractive. An affiliate program is frequently a major deciding factor when new members are contemplating to join a lottery syndicate. Among the various attractions presented by syndicates are chances to win jackpot prizes and many performance initiatives. In other words an affiliate website can well be your private business venture with minimum capital investment. The growth of online lottery business has also prompted many regulatory bodies to come into action to ensure that there is fair play in the game. Recognized regulatory bodies such as the lotteries council in England maintains a database of genuine syndicates, which can be referred to find a right syndicate to keep away from falling into wrong hands.

So you want to live the dream of every man who’s ever gambled huh? You want to be a professional gambler and make all of your income solely from gambling. Well like any other job, it takes a lot of knowledge, time and dedication. MoreThanFans has consulted with several professional sports bettors and we’ve put together a list of the most important things to being a professional bettor.

First before we get into specifics, a bettor must be able to pick winners at least 54% of the time. If you are only hitting 40% consistently, following the guidelines here will not help you. You must be able to pick winners to be a professional bettor.

Have a large bankroll

To become a professional bettor, having a large bankroll to start is crucial. If you only have $10,000 and you need to make $50,000 each year, you are going to be wagering way outside of your bankroll to try and make $50,000. Most professional bettors start with bankrolls of $100,000-$200,000. This way you can bet $2,000-$3,000 per unit and still stay within your bankroll.

Money Management

Managing your money is without a doubt the most important aspect besides being able to pick winners. Most sports bettors are able to hit 54%, but they manage their bankroll so poorly, that they end up losing money at the end of the season. Most professional bettors recommend betting 2% as your standard bet on each game, and sometimes doubling your bet on games you really like. Everyone who does this for a living realizes this is a long term process. Losing days are going to happen, and sometimes you will be so down on yourself after a horrible day, that you start to wonder why you put yourself through this.

Time

The amount of time you will spend handicapping games will be more than most people work at a regular 9-5 job. However, most people would also rather do something they love and work on their own schedule, so it is a give and take job.

Organization

Many pro bettors said that when they first started betting professionally, that there lives began to go down hill. They would have relationship problems, gain weight, get sick more often and generally just be in a bad mood more often than they used to be. All of them realized after a while that they needed to have a more strict schedule with their routines. If they handicapped for 4 hours in the morning and then worked out for an hour and then came back to handicapping, most of them did better. They also said leaving free time for essential items like family, eating and leisure activities was crucial to their success.

Internet Tools

Professional sports betting has changed a lot in the past five years. The majority of professional bettors now mainly bet online because of the simplicity, higher limits and reduced juice. When betting online, you also can use line services like Don Best and SportsInsights, which update the moving lines at offshore sportsbooks.

In addition to the things above, having a good Internet connection is also crucial. If you’re trying to watch lines update and surf for information all day, a 56k modem will get old very quickly. You will have problems getting bets in quickly and will end up spending 2x as much time on the computer due to the slowness.

Conclusion

Most of the bettors we talked to believed that good sports bettors could do this for a living, they just need to treat it more seriously and tighten up their routine.

No one can really tell the way their game is, if it is good or not. But the streak of wins and losses can give a pretty good idea on that. To determine whether a play is perfect or not or to find out just how the perfect player would play poker, you must first look at the player itself.

In a poker player’s evolution there are three important phases. First they are novices. Being a novice means you are fairly new and don’t know much about poker, no matter what you may think. The problem with novice players is that they can remain in this stage forever. Because evolving means some effort and they are just not ready to make that effort. Novice players play too many cards, they don’t know the strategy or worse, they know it but can’t decide when to apply it or wrongly apply it. Novice players lose most of the times. The next stage is called the booksmart player stage. A booksmart player is a player that read a lot about poker and he is currently discovering that he should play fewer hands, he should apply strategy and this way he is making some money. Then, after passing through this stage a player climbs up to the expert category or the situational expert stage. When in this stage, you can even play more hands than a booksmart player does without loosing.

Being in the final stage is ideal. Almost any player that takes the time to learn or read a thing or two about poker can easily get to be a booksmart player, but from that point to the final stage the road is long. Poker is a interesting game because the gap between how good you hand is in comparison with the hand of you opponent is inverse proportional to the money amount you will win from that hand .if your hand is just a little bit better than you opponent’s then the cases are that you will make a lot of money, much more than when winning over a hand much lower than yours. Or if you are just about to lose because of the little gap between you too, you will probably make a lot of money if you do win. Basically beating them barely makes the profits. So to make a lot of money, hands that aim just that are over-played by the situational experts. This in not a thing that can be learnt from books and it takes courage and perfect understanding of odds to pull it off.

Americans looking for another reason to hate the French are happy this morning. The Head-Butt Heard Round The World turns out to have been caused by a Yo’ Mama joke.

Well, actually, it was caused by a Yo’ Sista joke. Zinedine Zidane planted his sweat-drenched scalp in the chest of Italy’s Marco Materazzi because Materazzi said something kind-of-disparaging about Zidane’s sister. Except it wasn’t that disparaging.

Materazzi was clutching and grabbing in the World Cup final this July, which, if these soccer-ignoring eyes are any judge, is absolute standing operating procedure in the sport. Zidane turned to Materazzi and wittily proclaimed, “If you want, I’ll give you the jersey later.” Ha. Hilarious. You see, Zidane was pretending like the reason Materazzi was pulling his jersey was that he wanted it, not that he was trying to impede France’s superstar. It is to laugh.

Materazzi, like any good professional athlete, wasn’t having any of this lame-ass quip. He responded, “I prefer your sister.”

Now that, I have to admit, is a pretty good one.

But can it possibly have been the worst thing Zidane has ever heard on a soccer pitch? No way. Have you ever seen what this guy looked like when he had hair. I mean, we’re talking seriously embarrassing male-pattern baldness. You mean no one ever asked him if he rubbed in his bald spot getting tea-bagged by Jacques Chirac? I find that rather hard to believe.

Can you imagine if Michael Jordan had lost it every time someone asked about his affairs with porn stars, his massive gambling debts, his hair-plug problems? Jordan would still be in jail. What would Zidane do if Bill Romanowski spat in his face? Heck, hasn’t the man ever tuned in to Comedy Central on a Saturday afternoon and seen the millionth re-run of White Men Can’t Jump? “We goin’ to Sizzler! We goin’ to Sizzler!”

In some cultures, what Materazzi said doesn’t even qualify as an insult. Why, if you told me you’d rather have my sister, I’d probably reply, “See, here’s the problem, my sister really isn’t that interested in sweaty, hairy, half-literate monkey-men. But I do appreciate you asking first.”

Can you give us a sense of the frenzy that is gripping the handicapping community as the NFL regular season approaches? Is it just crazy?

BoDog Bookmakers, BoDog.ws: We’re not handicappers, but I would assume it’s crazy. It’s an exciting time of year!

Is there one NFL bet out there that really seems to be capturing the public’s fancy? One team people seem to be jumping all over, or one game that’s inspiring more action than others?

BDB, BoDog.ws: The action coming in on MiamiPitt is huge already. Everyone seems to like the Fins as Big Ben won’t be playing this week.

Boy, anyone picking California to beat Tennessee last weekend sure is an idiot, huh? (I did! I did!) Is Tennessee going to be for real, or was Cal simply that bad?

BDB, BoDog.ws: Tennessee looked real good last week; however, Cal’s defense was suspect at best and the QB concern is a reality.

How’s the interest in the U.S. Open been? Who does the betting public like to win on the men’s and women’s sides?

BDB, BoDog.ws: The action has been tremendous on the Open. The bettors love Blake and Serena; however, Serena lost yesterday. The past few days’ action has been balanced, so it looks like we’ll have a good Open

Texas holdem poker is both a game of skill and luck. However, it seems to be more a game of skill rather than a game of luck. How else can you explain the same people generally winning the top poker tournaments? In this article, we will explore some to the factors that contribute to success in the game of Texas holdem poker.

Successful poker strategies

1) Keep a poker face

If your opponents see you get excited, or upset, when you read your cards, you are as good as beaten. In order to trick your opponents, you must never show any emotions.

2) Only play solid hands

Don’t waste your time going all in, or placing large bets, if all you have to back you up is a pair of two’s. Sure, you may be able to bluff everyone once in a while, but what are you going to do when someone calls your bluff?

3) Be patient

Winning in poker is a marathon, its certainly not a sprint. If you want to win, you must be patient. Many players become impatient and immediately start losing. Impatience leads to careless betting and careless play.

4) Keep your emotions under control

We all lose big pots or big hands occasionally. When that happens, you must train yourself to recover as quickly as possible. Stand up and take a deep breath, or sit out a hand or two. Recover and get back into the game as quickly as possible.

5) Learn to read your opponents

Possibly the most crucial element of poker is the ability to read your opponents. When your opponents look at their cards for the first time, observe their body language, and look at their facial expressions. Do they look excited? Do they look shocked? If you can get a read on what your opponents are thinking, or feeling, you have gained a massive advantage.

If you can master these poker strategies, you will become a force to be reckoned with on any poker table. Failure to master one or more of the above strategies will result in failure every single time. If you are serious about becoming a better poker player, I have three words for you; practice, practice, and more practice.