Gambling

Here are some poker tournament tips (for flop games) that should help your game and results; In the early stages of a tournament plan on being on the table for awhile, you might not get moved at all if it is the “final” table. Get comfortable with your cushions, drinks or whatever you need. I get cold when I play, even on a hot day, so I always bring a jacket so that I can concentrate on the game instead of my teeth chattering. Now pay extra close attention to the players at your table, you’ll be here longer than at any other table. Take it easy when you move your chips, have a hand in other words. Try to steal the blinds if you can once a round. An old saying is if you can get the blinds once every round for the whole tourney, you’ll win the event. Think about it.

In the middle of a tournament you want to pace yourself, this is a long time from about when ¼ of the players are gone to the money tables. Watch the chip stacks and get to know what an average chip stack is, if your stacks lower than that you will have to move some chips, but only if your significantly lower, don’t sweat it if your just a little below average, wait for a hand until you have to pounce on them because you don’t want to just blind off. The most important part of the middle section of a tournament is to make the money. “No kidding!” you say? Some people think that a low cash (winning a small amount, your buy in returned for instance) is bad; it’s all or nothing, baby. These people go broke. If you get your entry fees back you are now in a freeroll for the big score. That is a good place to be. Pace yourself during the middle, watch all stacks and really move those chips if you’re at the 3-6 or 4-8 chip blind levels. Many players are afraid to get involved for such large pots and sit back here; this is the wrong thing to do. This is your chance to accumulate those chips you need to reach the final table in comfort. In fact, it will practically assure you a 5th place finish or better no matter how bad you run once you make the money.

Now you’re in the money and you’re watching the players. Some can play, some got lucky to be here, and because you’re a player you know which is which. The lucky ones are the guys to go after. They will hope that their luck holds up. It seldom does because the wheat has been separated from the chaff. They are now facing a difficult group. People who can play, are lucky today and usually have more experience than they do. This is truly formidable to the luck boxes who make it this far. Respect them but don’t fear them, you have great cards, great position and can play, they will soon be respecting you or they will be going home themselves. If you make the final table I like to mess with them here, I might show a bluff after playing tight all this time. You’ll get paid off on all your real hands now. Some of these guys have been watching you all night and never saw you bluff so here you just blow their minds and they wonder if you have been bluffing them all night. This makes for a really interesting final table. You will have to judge for yourself if this is a good strategy at your particular table. Good luck, I hope this helps.

Here we will look at playing blackjack to win by using 2 simple card counting strategies that can be used by anyone and are quick to learn. In fact the second one here can be learned in under 5 minutes and is the perfect novice’s introduction to card counting!

The basics of how and why card counting works are covered in part 1, so lets look at some systems straight away.

1. Hi-Low System

One of the most popular methods of card counting systems in use is the point count - Hi-Low system. This system is based on assigning a point value of +1, 0, or -1 to cards dealt to all players on the table, including the dealer.

Aces and 10-point cards are assigned a value of -1. Cards 7, 8, 9 each count as 0. Cards 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 each count as +1.

Logic Of The Method

As the cards are dealt, the player keeps a running count of the cards coming out, and makes bets based on the current count total.

The higher the plus count i.e. the higher percentage of ten-point cards and aces remaining to be dealt from the deck indicates the advantage is with the player and bet size should be increased.

If the running count is around zero, the deck is neutral and neither the player nor the dealer are in an advantageous position.

The higher the minus count, the greater the disadvantage to the player, as a higher than normal number of ’stiff cards remain. In this case a player should only be making bets of minimum size.

The More Cards Dealt the Higher the Probability

As the dealing of the cards progresses, the credibility of the count becomes more accurate as there are fewer cards and more past data available to study.

The size of bets can be increased or decreased with the probability of winning when the deck is rich in face cards and aces, and size of bet decreased when the deck is rich in ’stiff’ cards.

It is important to note that a players decision process, when to hit, stand, double down, etc. is still based on basic strategy, however, alterations in basic strategy play is sometimes recommended based on the current card count.

For example, if the running count is +2 or greater and you have a hard 16 against a dealers up card of ten, you stand, which is the direct opposite of what basic strategy will tell you to do.

However if you consider that the deck is rich in face cards you are more likely to bust in this situation, therefore you should override basic strategy.

Therefore, if the point count is +2 or greater in a single deck game you should increase your initial bet.

Hi/Low & Multiple Decks

In multiple deck games your bet should be increased when the ‘TRUE COUNT’ is +2 or more. What’s the difference between a running count in a single deck game versus the true count with a multiple deck?

The true count in a multiple deck game is based on the actual number of decks left play.

For example, in a single deck game if the first six cards dealt are small cards you have a running count total of +6, which is an advantage to the player.

If the first six cards dealt in a multiple deck game are all small cards you also have a running count of +6.

This does not give the player the same advantage because several decks are left to be dealt and therefore more cards to come out of the deck.

The Player must therefore use a true count as your reason to increase bet size.

If you’re at a six-deck game, and the first six cards are low ones, the count per remaining deck (the true count) is still just a little over 1, as there is just a bit less than 6 decks remaining to be played.

True Count & Running Count

To determine the true count, you need to do the following:

Divide the ‘running’ count by the number of decks remaining i.e. the number of decks left, whether they’ll actually played or not.

In a six-deck game for example, a deck or more may be cut off by the dealer after the shuffle, but this is not taken into account when calculating the true count.

Figuring out the actual number of decks remaining isn’t as hard as it first appears.

Simply look at how many cards are in the discard tray.

This system takes a bit of practice but is not as difficult as it first appears and if you are playing blackjack to win its a great method.

Lazy Card Counting

Want a simpler system to win at blackjack that still works?

It requires no complex calculations and demands little of your memory.

You already know that a deck rich in face cards is an advantage to the player so you wait for your opportunity.

All you need to do this is observe the cards coming out of a deck.

For example, if you are playing and after a few hands you observe that very few face cards or aces were played you have a situation where the next hand could be good for you and you can increase your bet accordingly.

The key to success with this method is to ONLY look for extremes.

The absence or predominance of dealt high cards is easy to spot by any player regardless of experience.

It is an easy method and is a good place to start in card counting.

If you are new to card counting and want to play blackjack to win quickly, then these two methods are an ideal introduction and if applied correctly will help you win some big pots.

Playing poker online can be very fun and exciting and if you enjoy playing poker online you may also be interested in playing in poker tournaments that are offered online as well. Many poker websites offer poker tournaments for you to play in and they can be a great amount of fun while also winning you a good bit of money. Usually you will find that these tournaments have big pots that you can win if you play.

Playing in poker tournaments is a bit different from regular poker play. Usually you will find that tournaments take quite a bit longer than a regular poker game. Sometimes these tournaments will be small and only have one or two tables involved, while other tournaments may include many tables that are playing. If you are going to play in poker tournaments be sure that you are prepared for the long haul. There probably will not be any time for you to go running around, so be sure you are ready and comfortable so you can play quickly.

Another thing to be aware of when playing a poker tournament is how you act. It is important that you follow the rules of the poker tournaments or you may find yourself being kicked out. Be sure that you are kind and polite to the other players involved in the tournament. A poker tournament is no place for a bad attitude. Treat everyone else playing the way you would like to be treated and the game will be more fun for everyone.

Hi, my name is Joseph Pigliatti. I am also known as Joey the Pig, Second Story Joey, Blackjack Joey and Joey Ice Cream Cone. If you don’t mind, I prefer Joey the Pig.

Anyhow, the good people at gambleonthis.com have asked me to write an article about the funniest gambling moment I can think of. There are so many but I will try.

The funniest one happened at a Friday night poker game. There was me, Patty the Irish Pint, Tony Two Times, and Johnny Good Bones. You see, we had got together for a night of 7 card stud.

Now the funny thing was that the Bosses had set up a hit on Patty the Irish Pint earlier in the day. Patty had been skimming off the top from the numbers racket and the Bosses wanted to set an example. Patty was to be whacked during our poker game. Tony Two Times had the contract on him.

Anyhow, here we all are at the poker game and me, Tony and Johnny can’t stop smiling. There is something very funny about being in a room with a guy that is suppose to get whacked and he don’t know it but all the other guys do. Every time I look at Tony Two Times I start to giggle and Tony can’t keep a straight face either and then Johnny Good Bones would look at us giggling and he would break up too. You had to be there.

Anyhow, Patty the Irish Pint has got no idea what is going on. He thinks we’re a bit goofy for carrying on like we are but he is winning big at the poker table so he don’t care. Which makes it seem even funnier to us because here is this guy that is going to get whacked momentarily and he is winning big.

So here is the climatic part of the story. There is a pot worth about 20 grand and the only two players left are Patty and Tony. Patty calls Tony and Tony lays down a full house. But get this, this is the real kicker, Patty lays down his cards and he has 4 aces!

At that point I fell on the floor laughing. I was laughing so hard I had to slap the floor and gasp for air. When Tony Two Times sees me laughing like this of course he falls to the floor laughing also. He is laughing so hard he is literally pissing himself. And Johnny Good Bones is also on the floor laughing so hard he can’t breath.

At this point Patty the Irish Pint is beginning to suspect something. Maybe it’s because he sees three fat wiseguys rolling around on the floor laughing like kids. Anyhow, Tony Two Times takes his gun out and points it at Patty. But just as he does this he looks me in the eye and we both start laughing again! Tony is laughing so hard he can’t even aim his gun.

Patty then takes his gun out and points it at Tony. But before he fires the gun he drops dead! We found out later he had a heart attack. All the excitement or something.

Anyhow, I hope the good people at gambleonthis.com enjoy my funny gambling story. It brings tears to my eyes every time I think of it.

© 2006 by Joseph “Joey the Pig” Pigliatti.

Football gambling can be very lucrative for gamblers. This can depend on how well informed the gambler is and how much information the gambler has about football and the propensity to make good and well informed decisions. If the gambler is smart and capable of making smart decisions, football gambling can be a very profitable activity. However, as with any type of gambling, the gambler must be very careful not to let this gambling get the better of their senses. This type of gambling revolves around the game of football and can be based on national football league games, as well as college football games. It encompasses all types of football games, and gambling can work with all of these, and other sports, games.

There are very many ways to go about exploring the world of football gambling. It can be performed online or through a traditional “real world” bookie. And if, through knowledge and smart money management, bookies or the gamblers are able to make a profit, football gambling can very easily make a comfortable lifestyle for the gambler, or exist as a fun, challenging and lucrative hobby.

Any type of gambling is easy to access, and if responsibility and precautions are taken, then there is nothing wrong with activities such as football gambling. This pass time can be very fun, challenging and it can also be lucrative in ways what would all benefit the gambler. One has to be careful and responsible, but gambling can still be something entertaining while it will still teach valuable things, or things worth learning. These gambling activities are easy to access online on websites and in internet rooms as well as offline in real world settings.

The majority of Holdem poker rooms today include a chat feature allowing players to communicate with one another by typing text into a corner or along the bottom of the screen. This feature can add fun to the game and let players become friends.

There are some very positive aspects of chat in poker rooms, but there are some very negative aspects as well. Let’s look at the pros and cons of the chat feature.:

First, we will look at the favorable facts about chat. The benefits are attributes which add to the fun of the overall gaming experience when playing Holdem or any other poker variation.

Meeting new people, making new friends: Communicating with other people who have interests similar to yours is one reason to chat in Holdem rooms. After all, you already know the people playing enjoy Holdem, otherwise they wouldn’t be involved in the game. You may learn you have many other things in common and become friends outside the Holdem poker rooms. You may begin a long-term friendship whether it remains virtually-based or becomes face–to-face.

Asking questions: When are you unclear about a rule, chat is a great way to ask other players for assistance about the way to place a bet, what a term means, or get another question answered without a long search through the help section of the website.

References to other great websites with Holdem poker online: Other players know about other poker rooms with great Holdem games and good bonus programs; they are usually very happy to refer you to rooms they have enjoyed just for the asking.

These are the main benefits of chat; besides the fact that chatting can be lots of fun.

Some of the main reasons to avoid chat, or at least seriously limit your participation in the chat feature are:

Distractions: It is easy to become caught up in the conversations in the chat room and place a poorly thought out wager or miss a crucial piece of information about the play and lose your wager as a result. The main reason to play Holdem is to concentrate on the play first and chat only in truly spare time.

Chatterboxes: Some people just continue to send message, seemingly on an endless basis. These chatterboxes don’t send one message and await a response; they tend to send you their whole life story in repeat messages that can be boring and unwelcome. Getting these chatterboxes to stop messaging you is difficult and often they are insulted by the suggestion that they are sending too many messages. But you have to concentrate on your game and the cards others are betting as well as the community cars in order to have any hopes of winning the pot. A simple message of congratulations upon winning a pot or a “too bad” upon losing a pot is the sort of chat you can expect and welcome.

Too many people chatting: If too many people are chatting with you at one time, you will not only be distracted from your game, you will be confused about who is saying what to you. This is detrimental to your play. Limit your chat to only one, never more than two people with whom you chat with in any single game. Never rush your responses resulting in inattention to the game play.

Beware of these pros and cons o chatting while playing Holdem and you will see your result improve. Do not allow other players to make you feel obligated to chat with them. A simple statement of “I’m sorry, I am too busy to chat” should sufficient to stop the distraction.

One of the most challenging betting opportunities for sports’ bettors is gambling NCAA final four games. The final four is made up of teams that have been through a tough tournament and made it to the elite. However, it is often not the teams favored at the beginning of the tournament who have made it. Sometimes a big underdog will make its way into the elite and this and other factors can make it tough when gambling NCAA final four games. It’s important to get all of the information you can if you’re planning to place bets on final four games.

If you don’t have all of the facts, you’re gambling NCAA final four games in the dark. You can get the information you need easier than you think and it’s not going to come from your local television sports broadcaster. You can get it from the expert handicappers who work for a top rated internet sportsbook. These handicappers have kept up with the final four teams all year long and know everything about the teams and the players. They know if there are any unreported injuries, even minor ones that might affect a player’s performance. They also know how the teams and individual players match up against each other. All of this can affect your decisions when gambling NCAA final four games.

The experts will make solid recommendations that can help you decide which team to bet on and how much to bet. When you’re gambling NCAA final four games, you can consider what these experts have said and then place your bets with the sportsbook. What could be better?

Lull, lull, lull.

The North American sports landscape has the post-Super-Bowl blues, which is kind of funny considering how many sports there are on TV just now. Tune to any NBC-owned station and you’re bound to see people who call themselves athletes who engage in what other people call sports. But pardon me if I don’t get all that stoked about half-pipe snowboarding.

“Today on NBC! Half-pipe snowboarding! All the annoying arbitrariness of figure skating, without the sequins! Or the possibility of some woman cracking her skull wide open!”

Any sport that requires judges to determine the outcome isn’t a sport. It’s vaudeville. As for curling, well, yeah, I’ve played shufflepuck in American bars. I guess it’s kinda cool. But I don’t recall the matches taking three hours. However, if U.S. captain Cassie Johnson happens to be reading (a likely event): Cassie, I would be honored to marry you.

As for NBA All-Star weekend…yawn. They might really have something if the superstars would dunk. But they won’t, presumably because they are wusses. The game is dreadful. The “skills” competition has all the drama of biathlon. March Madness cannot come soon enough. Oh, and the Daytona 500 is this weekend. If you’re into the whole fossil-fuel-guzzling, metaphor-for-everything-that’s-wrong-with-America kind of thing.

Now that our attention is shifting to March Madness, did UConn’s loss last Monday at Villanova shake your confidence in them? Do the Wildcats now deserve consideration as the nation’s #1 team?

Greg Jorssen, BoDog.com: If the Wildcats can do the same thing in Hartford in a couple of weeks, then I would say unequivocally that Nova deserves consideration as the #1 ranked team in the nation. They should be 12-1 in the Big East and UConn should be 11-2 when these two teams face each other again, and that game should be the decider as to who will be not only the Big East champion heading into the tournament, but also may determine who is the top in the nation. But let’s not count out the Blue Devils. They are sitting pretty right now with a 23-1 record and they really do not face a tough opponent until the final week of the season when they take on the Tar Heels. Unless they are upset over the next couple of weeks, it’s doubtful that any team can knock them off the top spot heading into March Madness. As for UConn, I believe this is a minor setback. They will have an opportunity to redeem themselves on Saturday when they take on #11 West Virginia, and with such a deep front line and with Rudy Gay the talent that he is, UConn will be a power to be reckoned with in March. The Wildcats in my opinion are undersized, and if the guards are not firing on all cylinders, they may suffer.

Which perennial powerhouse in college hoops do you think is most at risk of missing the Tournament: Kentucky, Louisville, Maryland or Stanford?

GJ, BoDog.com: I think Kentucky will make it despite their disappointing season, though they won’t be seeded as highly as they’re used to. Stanford is coming together, winning 8 of their last 11, and are only 1 ½ games back in the Pac-10. It’s doubtful that Maryland will make the tourney unless they pull some miracles down the stretch. They face three of the top six ACC teams to close out their season. As for Louisville, they are the biggest disappointment thus far. I rode them to a Bracket Buster championship last year (I picked them to make the finals and they came up just short of that), thus I had high expectations for them this year. They had a great start, winning 13 of their first 15 games, but they’ve lost six of their past nine games and sit at 4-7 in the tough Big East conference. They first need to qualify for the Big East tourney, as only the top 12 qualify (Louisville is tied with Rutgers for the final spot right now), and then impress enough during the tournament to perhaps be a bubble team. In a conference that boasts Villanova, UConn, West Virginia, Pittsburgh and Georgetown, the chances of Louisville impressing anyone and getting in is incredibly slim.

Do you expect that Duke will get the most action once the Tournament begins? Do you think that action will be well-placed for a team that’s so young and not deep at all?

GJ, BoDog.com: Bettors love the favorite and love high-profile teams, ones that are on national television, ones that are getting the hype, which Duke is right now. Duke games traditionally are the ones that receive the most handle, which is surprising considering that their ATS record is below .500 at 10-11-1. Duke has a high-powered offense, and is second in the nation in FG%, thus those that like betting the Over on their games are doing quite well right now, considering that their defense is sketchy and the fact that my grandmother could snatch a rebound away from them. (They are near the bottom of the ACC in rebounding, with only 32 per game.) As talented as they are, I think their lack of focus on the boards and their weak defense may cost them in the tournament. That said, J.J. Redick is as good as they come and Shelden Williams is a hell of a shot blocker and is holding his own under the boards (he’s about the only one on the team that is). These two players account for almost 60% of Duke’s offense, which says a lot for their lack of depth.

If I were to name a single team currently outside the Top 25 who I think could come out of nowhere and make a run at the Sweet 16, at this point I’d pick Wichita State. How about you?

GJ, BoDog.com: After this week’s huge win over West Virginia, I would say right now the team that could do some damage in the tournament and possibly make the Sweet 16 would be Seton Hall. The Pirates should be around a #7 or #8 seed in the tournament, and have enough talent to knock off some of the big names in their bracket. After being crushed by UConn a few days ago by 42 points, to then turn around and defeat the #11 ranked team in the nation says a lot for the Hall. They have already knocked off other Top-25 teams this season, including Syracuse and NC State, and are peaking at the right time, winning seven of their last eight games. They should go into the Big East tournament and the March Madness tournament on a positive note.

The game of Blackjack was introduced to the United States in the 19th century but the origin of the game is still much in dispute. Blackjack can be traced back to several European card games including the French ‘Vingt-Un’ (21), ‘Trente et Quarente’, and ‘Chemin de Fer’ (Railroad), as well as the Spanish ‘One and Thirty’, Italian ‘Baccara’ and ‘Seven and a half’ which all have similarities to modern Blackjack.

When gambling was legalized in Nevada in 1934, Blackjack screamed into popularity and was most commonly played with one or two decks of cards. Roger Baldwin published a paper in 1956 which explained hot to reduce the house advantage based on probability and statistics which was quite confusing for those who were not mathematicians.

In 1962, Dr. Edward O. Thorp used an IBM 704 computer to refine the mathematical strategy in Baldwin’s paper and also developed the first card counting techniques. Dr. Thorp wrote a book called “Beat the Dealer” which outlined card counting techniques and the strategies for reducing the house advantage.

This spawned a huge increase in Blackjack players at the US casinos who were trying to implement Dr. Thorp’s strategies, much to the consternation of the casinos. The system was difficult to understand and hard to implement and thusly increased the profits for the casinos as more and more people took to playing Blackjack.

Blackjack is the most popular table card game in the United States today which was transformed from the one table game that used to be stuck in the corner of most casinos. The term Blackjack comes from the ‘natural hand winner’ of the earlier versions of the game when a player was dealt the Jack and Ace of Spades in his initial two card hand. The player was declared an automatic winner and was paid a bonus. In today’s version of Blackjack, any ace combined with any ten point value card-10, jack, queen and king, counts as a natural Blackjack, except after a split.

Blackjack is a widely popular game around the world and has only seen an increase in players as the years progress. What once was a game that was not popular and seemingly too difficult to play with ‘strategies’ and ‘counting cards’ it is now the most popular card game to play at a casino in most of the world.

When you compare the experience at a real casino to that of an online casino, you come up with a considerable list of benefits. However, the following are five of the largest benefits you will find by using online gambling instead of going to a casino.

The first benefit is the offers available from online casinos. Since gambling, in particular online gambling, is a competitive business many gambling sites will provide good offers to get potential gamblers to use their site and stay with them. The biggest offer gambling sites make is to provide bonuses. Some even offer up to a fifty percent bonus on your initial deposit. Other sites offer random deposits of various amounts of money into customer accounts. A few sites will even give away vacations and prizes based on the level of money you are betting on their site.

Another benefit to online gambling is the rules. Often times the rules and restrictions are better online than they are in a physical casino. Due to the security of online sites, you can be sure you are safe as long as you are on a licensed and regulated gambling site.

Online gambling allows you to play from the comfort of your own home. This relaxed atmosphere can often make it easier to play and you can have more fun without the added stress of traveling to the casino and having a lot of noise and people around you while you play.

Along these lines, another benefit is the lack of annoyances from people around you. You do not have to deal with people who are drunk or those who smoke. You also don’t have to worry about thieves out to steal your winnings.

The last benefit to online gambling is the fact that you don’t have the obligation to tip the casino employees. At a real casino, you would be obligated to tip the waiters, dealers and other employees.