Gambling

The John Deere Classic Birdies for Charity program will attempt to raise $2.3 million on behalf of its participating charities in 2006.

“Our goal for 2006 is for the Birdies for Charity program to raise $2.3 million for some 500 participating charities that are affiliated with the program,” said Kristy Ketcham, director of the Birdies for Charity program.

“In addition to the money collected from individual and corporate donors, it is our goal to provide a 10 per cent bonus to all of our participating organizations, as we have for many years,” Ketcham said. “That way, if an organization raises $10,000 in donations, we will donate an extra $1,000 to the charity.”

In another attempt to make history, Michelle Wie will return to the Midwest to tee it up against the best players in the world at this year’s John Deere Classic, tournament.

The 16-year-old Hawaiian will come back to the Tournament Players Club at Deere Run, July 10-16, where last year she nearly became the first woman in 60 years to make the cut in a PGA Tour event. “Michelle Wie is one of the biggest stars in golf today and we are thrilled that she has accepted our invitation to play in the 2006 John Deere Classic,” said John Deere Classic tournament director Clair Peterson. “Michelle’s performance here last year electrified our fans and helped us increase our charity donations by a million dollars. She played well against the best players in the world and handled herself with a grace and maturity beyond her years.”

If anyone ever deserved the victory for last year’s tournament, it was Sean O’Hair. He shot a 6-under-par 65, holding off J.L. Lewis and Hank Kuehne to win the John Deere Classic for his first career victory. The rookie was making his 18th career start, and he finished with a 16-under 268. Sports betting fans were glad for him.

So steady all day, O’Hair made things interesting at the end. After a birdie on 17, he had to scramble on 18 after nearly putting his ball in the water. With the ball on the hazard line, O’Hair chipped within 10 feet to make par.

“(On) 18, especially a guy in my situation who never won before, you’re definitely almost puking,” he said, laughing. “My hands were so sweaty; I was more concerned about keeping my hands dry than anything.”

http://www.wagerweb.com/sportsbook

The growth of online poker rooms has been phenomenal over the past few years and the popularity of poker doesn’t look like it’ll subside anytime soon. What’s behind the explosion of online poker?

Well for starters, televised poker tournaments have created an expanded fan base. Every day it seems, there are at least three poker tournaments to watch on multiple cable networks. The World Series of Poker has generated serious interest in the game. People who would not normally visit a casino are now trying to get in on the poker action. The last three WSOP Main Event winners were amateurs that beat out large fields of professional poker players.

In 2003, Chris Moneymaker created a serious splash in the world poker scene. The accountant from Tennessee spent $39 to enter a satellite tournament at PokerStars.com and after winning this online tournament, Moneymaker won a seat at the main event of the 2003 WSOP. Moneymaker made it past the 839 entrants and after a critical bluff forced Sam Farha to fold a pair of nines, Moneymaker spot at number one was solidified. He managed to turn his $39 investment into a $2.5 million payday.

After Moneymaker’s 2003 performance, every amateur player in the world began to think that they were one satellite victory away from making millions of dollars. In just one year, from 2003 to 2004, the number of entrants for the WSOP main event more than tripled (from 839 to 2,576). The number of entrants also increased the amount of prize money that the winner would take home. To the shock of many poker analysts, another amateur player, Greg “Fossilman” Raymer, ended up winning the entire tournament. Raymer took home $5 million and amateur players everywhere again began to salivate.

In 2005, Joseph Hachem finished ahead of 5,619 entrants and became the third consecutive amateur player to win the the main event at the WSOP. Unlike Moneymaker and Raymer, Hashem didn’t qualify for the event online. Hashem had to pay the full $10,000 buy-in, but his investment paid off. Because of the swelling number of entrants, Hashem first place finish earned him $7.5 million.

Aside from the WSOP, there are plenty of other televised poker tournaments that feature big money. The Bravo network has its celebrity poker tournaments, the Travel Channel features the world poker tour and the Fox Sports network televises a new tournament almost every week. Televised poker tournaments have converted even the casual player into a WSOP hopeful. People want to learn how to play this game, because every night they see someone on the television earning serious money.

So in this age of telecommunications, multimedia outlets and instant entertainment, the Internet provides the perfect outlet for those who want to get in on the poker madness. Deposit bonuses drive players to join various online poker rooms. Some people play to learn the game. Others play to pass the time. Then there are players whose primary motivation is money. The exposure of televised poker tournaments and big paydays that accompany them will continue to drive players of all stripes to online poker rooms. The explosion of online poker is not likely to end any time soon.

Here’s my guide on what you should do to lose all your money playing poker - im sure it will help some people who want to increase the monthly bonus of any poker company staff they know!!!

First off we look at the rockets

The Rockets

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Situation

Your at the button (ie late position) in a 11 player no limit ring game. 5 people call with no raises. Your sitting with

:Ah :As

Now you could raise but you want to be sneaky and catch everyone off guard and raise them all in

Blinds call it as well and then you see the flop

:Kh :Kd :10c

A player in early position makes a raise of about 7 times the big blind - 3 players call to you on the button

You have about 11 times the big blind in chips at this time

What do you do?

You should call the raise and re-raise 4xBB by going all in. Theres no way theyre gonna call an all in raise. Plus youve got the aces - you cant be beat.

Rest easy knowing that youve done the right thing and if for some weird reason you get beat, know that you caught a bad beat and you were robbed!!!

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Major mistakes with doing this

First mistake made was not raising pre flop.

* This is a hand that you are favourite to win - you need to remember that one of the basics of playing poker is to maximise the pot when you think your gonna win or are favourite and to try and lose as little as possible in the hands you lose.

* When it gets to you 5 players have called with the players in blinds still to decide whether to fold, call or raise. You need to get rid of the players with trash hands by raising at this stage - players can be limping in with absolutely anything. If a player wants to see the flop with bad cards then make sure you make them pay for it

* You have position. Your on the button and are in the right place to either knock out some players so theres not too many players seeing the flop and of course, to maximise the pot.

Then the flop comes

:Kh :Kd :10c

This is a bad flop for you. If you were heads up against someone it wouldnt be too bad a flop but with 8 players in total seeing that flop you have to assume the worst that one of them has a king. With someone making such a high raise the chances are one or even two players have hit trips. Your looking for a reason to fold this hand.

Mistakes after the raise is made

* Anything other than folding with 3 people calling such a high raise is a wrong move.

Why is the re-raise is the wrong move?

* The main mistake was thinking that the words ‘all in’ will scare players out.

The pot is huge at this point. The players who are still in the game are gonna call a 4xBB raise after calling a 7xBB raise. If their hands are good enough to call the initial raise then they are getting the correct pots to call your all in 4xBB raise regardless of if they just have a 10 or whatever. The players are comitted to the pot

* If you were silly enough to want to stay involved in this hand then calling the raise would have been a less idiotic move. Youd basically be calling hoping that an ace drops and if it does youd raise all in and again, the players involved would be correct in calling such a small raise in relation to the pot

* You cannot raise people out of pots if you dont have enough chips to scare them away

Summary

* Aces can be beat just like any other hand in poker

* Like any other hand, get ready to fold if there are a lot of raises and players involved in the hand.

* Watch out for straights, flushes and full houses.

* Most players bet two pair and trips in the same way (roughly in my experience anyways) but some agressive players (tight agressive or just plain loose) will raise highly with top pair and a good kicker. Do your best to read players while you play as if no other ace drops your still sitting with only one pair

* Pay attention to the number of players in the game and the number of players who saw the flop.

* Pay attention to who raised - think about why they raised ie. if you were in their shoes would you be raising to get more money in the pot or just simply to reduce the number of players involved (or both)

** You can comment on this article at http://www.texasholdemforums.com/showthread.php?p=25494

Spring practices are in the books and fall camps will be here before you know it so that means getting an early jump on the 2006 NCAA football season. Knowing the teams now will save you time in August and Matt Fargo is here to help you get a grasp of what to expect this upcoming year. We go from worst to first in this 2006 College Football Preview.

#85 – Miami Ohio RedHawks 7-4 SU; 6-5 ATS

Fargo’s Take Similar to many other MAC teams, the RedHawks main priority is to replace a star quarterback, this one being Josh Betts. Miami has been fortunate over the last six years by having a stud as the signal caller (Ben Roethlisberger four years prior to Betts) so this will be something new in Oxford. The one thing backers can count on is that the running game will be heavily used because of the quarterback situation but a concern there is the inexperienced offensive line to run behind. Making matters even worse is that the defense needs to replace nine starters from the 39th ranked defense from a season ago. The defense has been solid over the last three seasons, allowing 21.8 ppg over that span but that is sure to increase this year. All of this adds up to something Miami hasn’t seen in 13 years and that is a losing season. The schedule is not easy as more than half of the RedHawks games are on the road and there are no breaks to be able to get a run going.

Returning Starters on Offense – 5 Replacing Betts is obviously the biggest task at hand but replacing four veteran offensive linemen cannot be taken lightly. The offense is going to revolve around running back Brandon Murphy, who finished last season with 1,070 yards and nine touchdowns. While Murphy’s numbers are expected to increase even more this year, it won’t be as easy as it seems since he was running behind one of the best lines in the MAC and had a solid signal caller to take pressure off. The most exciting player on offense is receiver Ryne Robinson, who had 1,119 yards and eight touchdowns and if likely starter Mike Kokal can get him the ball, he can make big things happen. Robinson is also a master of the punt return as he needs just 259 yards to break the all-time NCAA record in return yardage. The offense has averaged at least 31.3 ppg in each of the last four seasons but that looks to be an unattainable number in 2006.

Returning Starters on Defense – 2 Returning just two starters from the MAC’s third ranked defense spells trouble for the RedHawks. It isn’t like there is a lot of experience either as Miami has only four seniors on the entire two-deep chart compared to nine sophomores and four freshmen. The strength of the unit is in the secondary where free safety Joey Card is one of those retuning starters while cornerback Frank Wiwo did have a handful of starts back in 2004. The front seven is a huge concern with defensive end Craig Mester being the only returnee. The rushing defense finished 44th in the country last season but it did allow a rather lofty 4.1 ypc, the most in three years and that average will likely go up even more this year. But there is some history on their side. This is the least amount of returning starters since 1995 and Miami allowed only 15 ppg and 165 ypg that year.

Schedule Seven of Miami’s 12 games are on the road this season including games at Purdue, Syracuse and Cincinnati, the last two against teams ranked lower than the RedHawks heading into this season. They start the season against Northwestern at home which will be a very emotional game for the Wildcats. The first two conference games are at home against Kent St. and Northern Illinois and following the game against the Huskies, Miami travels for four of its next five. That includes a game at frontrunner Akron and an improved Western Michigan team. The season finale is at home against Ohio and while the RedHawks miss Toledo, they also miss Central Michigan and Eastern Michigan, the two bottom teams in the MAC West.

You can bet on… Miami is the least experienced team in the MAC and it’s going to show at least early on. The first six games make for a tough stretch even though there are no true powerhouses involved in the mix. The RedHawks should jell together by the second half of the season but by then it could be too late. Miami is 1-5 ATS in its last six games as an underdog and it will be in that role many times this season. It’s worth keeping an eye on, especially on the road where the RedHawks have dropped four straight when getting points. It’s going to be an uphill battle but this is the MAC and we have seen some strange things from this conference in years past. It’s just something that shouldn’t be counted on.

The 2006 Texas Longhorns football team has some big shoes to fill after last year’s team won the national title. The team does return a lot of talent from last year’s team but losing Vince Young to the NFL draft will leave a huge gap under center. The team had trouble recruiting since Young could have had so much time left in Austin, so early in the year we anticipate troubles.

Offensively the 2006 Texas Longhorns are going to have to win with a quarterback who hasn’t seen the field. There are two strong candidates to be the signal caller, with red shirt freshman Colt McCoy and true freshman Jevan Snead both capable. The team’s ground attack should be in capable hands with the return of sophomore Jamaal Charles, sophomore Henry Melton, and senior Selvin Young. All three of these guys are a threat to put up a hefty amount of yards and get the ball into the end zone. The team does have two strong wide receivers to throw to in juniors Limas Sweed and Billy Pittman.

The defense may be even more talented this year than the team that ranked in the top 10 in both scoring and yards against last year. The front three is going to be strong with Brian Robinson, Roy Miller, and pass rushing expert Frank Okam. The linebackers are led by returning starters Robert Killebrew and Rashad Bobino who are looking to help shore up the Texas run defense. The secondary has a lot of talent but not a lot of depth, so it’s going to be important that Tarell Brown and Michael Griffin stay healthy.

The schedule this year is going to be tough for the Longhorns. They get started at home against Ohio State on September 9th, and we expect the Buckeyes to get revenge for Texas’s win in Columbus last season. The next big game is October 7th against Oklahoma, a game that the Sooners should be favored in. Texas will then have a couple of tough road games at Nebraska and Texas Tech to end the month of October and with these four difficult matchups it is going to be tough for the team to reach 10 wins.

Poker mania has practically swept over the nation. Our neighbors love to play cards and we get together often to have a few drinks and snacks and to play cards. My neighbor’s wife has an attitude similar to mine when it comes to playing cards. A card game provides a convenient excuse to meet up. I do not mind whether we play 3 card poker or crazy 8’s, I am there for the drinks, good food and gossip.

It seems every time my neighbor starts losing at a particular game we have to start learning another one. The latest game that he persuaded us to try is 3 card pokers. I have encountered difficulty in learning how to place bets with other poker games, but he kept telling me that this is one of the easiest pokers ever. The neighbor said all the equipment we needed to play 3 card pokers was a standard deck of fifty two playing cards. He said that 3 card pokers involve two different games that are played simultaneously. I thought this sounded pretty complex, but he assured me that one of the games requires no particular skill at all, the dealers hand is immaterial and there is no discarding. It was like child’s play, he said.

Well, considering that losers merely give up potato chips and not money I was thrilled to try something new. I was not alone. My husband had never played 3 card pokers before either. We teased my neighbor that he only wanted to play 3 card pokers to increase his own chances of winning in a game with three other people who had never heard of it before. He said the game had been around forever and was also called tri-card poker. Now, none of us had heard of tri-card poker either but it did not matter.

We started playing and at first it seemed that something must be amiss because it was extremely easy to learn. By the third round we all had mastered the 3 card poker and my neighbor’s wife was accumulating almost a mountain of chips. After playing for 45 minutes our neighbor decided that we should switch games again. His reason was that he thought it was too simple of a game to be playing. The real reason, we suggested, was that his wife had most of the chips while he did not have any! We decided to return to one of our other favorite games, but I am sure that some time in the near future we will try 3 card poker again because playing it was really fun and easy. Don’t you want to try?

The game of poker is a relatively new card game; the best guess about its origins runs to somewhere between 1800 and 1820. The game made its first appearance in New Orleans, a territory ceded to the United States by the French government in 1803. Somewhat predictably, poker was born somewhere in the seedy gambling saloons along the mud-banks of the Mississippi River.

The first dated reference to poker appears in the account of Dragoon Campaigns in the Rocky Mountains by John Hildreth, published in 1836; Hilderth describes a late-night game of poker in the soldiers’ barracks. Apparently the game was already very popular in the South and West of the country. It was hardly know in the Eastern United States at the time.

In 1843 and 1844, the game was also referred to in the respective words of Jonathan Green, Exposure of the Arts and Miseries of Gambling, and Joe Cowell’s Thirty Years Passed Among the Players in England and America.

By Cowell, the game, as it was evidently played in the 1840s, is described in considerable detail:

One night… close by us was a party playing poker. This was then exclusively a high-gambling Western game, founded on brag, invented, as it is said, by Henry Clay when a youth; and if so, very humanely, for either to win or lose, you are much sooner relieved of all anxiety than by the older operation. … I must endeavor to describe the game when played with twenty-five cards only and by four persons. The aces are the highest denomination: then the kings, queens, jacks and tens: the smaller cards are not used; those I have named are all dealt out, and carefully concealed from one another; old players pack them in their hands, and peep at them as if they were afraid to trust even themselves to look. The four aces, with any other card, cannot be beat. Four kings, with an ace cannot be beat because then no one can have four aces; and four queens, or jacks, or tens, with an ace, are all inferior hands to the kings when so attended. But holding the cards I have instanced seldom occurs when they are fairly dealt; and three aces for example, or three kings, with any two of the other cards, or four queens, or jacks or tens, is called a full, and with an ace, though not invincible, are considered very good bragging hands. The dealer makes the game, or value of the beginning bet and called the ante - in this instance it was a dollar - and then everybody stakes the same amount, and says, “I’m up”.’ Starting of as a 20-card game, it appears that the 52-card game we play today began to make its mark in the mid-1830s and was eventually adopted as the principle form of the game so that more people – more than the four players of 20-card poker – could join the table.

The first mention of draw poker features in the Bohn’s New Handbook of Games published in 1850. Other versions appeared along side it in the 1875 edition of The American Hoyle. This book mentions draw, stud, jack pots, and whiskey poker.

Based on the steady development of the game, it’s worth noting the history of winning hands. The 20-card game of poker featured the A-K-Q-J-10 being dealt between four players. Betting was limited to one pair, two pair, triplets, full, or four of a kind. The original top hands were four aces or four king and an ace. These two combinations were unbeatable.

The acceptance of the flush was relatively stilted and complicated. By 1864, the winning combination were one pair, two pairs, straight sequence or rotation, triplets, flush, full house, and fours, although there were still some so-called traditionalists who maintained that the sequences of cards, such as A-K-Q-J-10 or 10-9-8-7-6, should not accorded value.

The earliest versions of Texas Hold’em, the variation of poker that feature communal card, appeared a early as 1919, as wild Widow. A card was dealt face up before each player at the table was dealt their fifth card. The winning hand was the best five-card combination based on the individual hand and the turned-up communal card.

Poker has been a popular game for well over a hundred years, in one form or another, but its current popularity online is largely to do with the establishment of the World Series of Poker; the tournaments that have run since 1970 and received considerable media attention.

The bottom line since the establishment of poker tournaments is this: the game is intensely popular and is likely to remain so; a great American pastime and one that, combining luck and skill, can transform a beggar into a rich man.

Long before the online gambling revolution and even before the boost of tribal casinos, a casino cruise was the only legal way to gamble in the US besides Las Vegas and Atlantic City casinos. Nowadays, gambling on a riverboat casino is only one of the many options that the recreational gambler faces when he feels like shooting dice.

The history of casino cruises and riverboat casinos in the United States goes back to the beginning of the 19th century when the Mississippi River was a major trade center for farmers and merchants. The river towns became major attraction for professional gamblers, also known as cardsharps, who were hunting the travelers who used to carry large amounts of cash with them.

When five cardsharps were lynched in Mississippi in 1835, the professional gamblers drove away from the south. The fashion of riverboat gambling remained as an informal routine between travelers. The two decades before the Civil War saw the pick of luxurious riverboat casino gambling.

The public image of the average riverboat gambler has changed a lot in the last century. If during the 19th century riverboat gambling was part of the frontier lifestyle, nowadays, a casino cruise is something you would buy for your grandparents anniversary.

The first State to legalize casino riverboats was Iowa in 1989. Now, riverboat casinos are legalized in Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, South Carolina and Texas. In some states, the casino riverboats actually sail along the sea, while others are anchored permanently and never leave the dock. The second type of riverboat casinos enable recreational gamblers to simply hop on a nearby casino and play their favorite casino game for a few hours.

The types of casino games available in riverboat casinos vary from one state to another. You can usually play slot machines and classic table games such as blackjack, roulette, craps, baccarat, etc. Some of the riverboat casinos also have poker rooms where passengers can play Texas Holdem against each other. Most of the casino cruises are family oriented and offer other activities besides gambling such as live entertainment for children.

If you are planning to take part in a casino cruise, you do not have to worry about cardsharps or a tough competition around the poker table. Most of the people who join a casino cruise are recreational gamblers who appreciate a good game of craps in between fine dining and sun tanning on the dock. In addition, you would enjoy a much nicer and patient service from the casino dealers and employees than in an average Las Vegas casino.

If spending a weekend on a riverboat casino is too much for you, you can try some of Florida daily casino cruises. If you take Sterling Casino Lines cruise, for example, you can leave at 11 am and be back by 18 pm. Sterling Casino Lines cruises take place on a 75,000 square feet gambling area with more than 1,000 slot machines and 50 table games.

Sterling Casino Line cruise is only one example from numerous options available around the states for those of you who want to gamble at the country rivers, lakes and seas. The variety of casino cruises and dockside riverboat casinos includes the most luxurious Las Vegas styles casinos and simpler alternatives. If you enjoy gambling just for fun and you tend to get sea sick, joining a casino cruise can be an enjoyable distraction for one day or for a whole weekend.

Are the clouds rolling in on the New England Patriots? Despite a victory, if last week’s performance is any indication, the Pats time in the sun is done. Tom Brady threw for just 163 yards on 11 of 23 passing as the offense looked way out of sync. Fortunately for the Pats, the duo of rookie Lawrence Maroney and veteran Corey Dillon picked up the slack rushing for 183 yards.

Chad Pennington and the Jets on the other hand looked great as they got out to a fast 16-0 lead before having to score late to defeat the Tennessee Titans. Pennington was in Pro Bowl form throwing for 319 yards on 24 of 33 passing.

New England does have history on its side winning six straight meetings with the Jets and five in a row at Giants Stadium. If the Jets are going to end their losing streak they’ll have to put together a better ground game. Their running back duo of Kevin Barlow and Derrick Blaylock combined for just 71 yards last week.

If this game ends up close down the stretch, the Jets will have to be nervous as kicker Mike Nugent missed two chip shot field goals and an extra point last week.

What we can expect this week is a better outing by Tom Brady, but I also think Pennington will repeat with another solid performance. New England appears to have the edge on the ground, but the Jets will likely win the battle through the air.

Another factor is that New York’s coach Eric Mangini and Bill Belichick know each other well as Mangini was Belichick’s defensive coordinator just a season ago for New England. It is apparent that Mangini has the Jets defense whipped into a much tougher unit. Both Belichick and Mangini should benefit from knowing each other’s tendencies.

History may be on New England’s side, but New York’s offense definitely looked better in week one. The defense which performs better will be the deciding factor in this one.

I couldn’t be more confident in my winning side in this AFC East opener and that’s why I’m making this matchup my AFC East Game of the Year. I have weighed every factor in this matchup and I have uncovered the easiest winner you’ll find Sunday. Make sure you’re playing who I’m playing in Sunday’s AFC East Game of the Year.

The payout table of a slot machine lists the various combinations that the machine will pay out when they are hit. These payout tables are displayed in some form, usually graphically, on the face of the machine, either at the side of the display screen or on another section of the machine. Online slot machines display the payout tables next to the screen in which the slots spin. Alternatively the machine will provide a payout table button that you can press to display the payout table at any time.

Payout tables can look daunting when first encountered, but they essentially represent the various combinations of symbols and slots that will payout out at different rates. Given that you can do nothing to manipulate the spinning of the slots and reels, you do not have to memorize or even have a full understanding of the payout tables, as the machines will automatically pay out according to their payout tables. However it can’t hurt to have a basic understanding of how they work.

In their most basic form, slot machines will pay out if you hit certain combinations – for example, 5 bananas in a row. This is straightforward. However they also pay out for more complicated combinations, such as 3 bananas in the same row, plus a wild symbol in any row, combined with a cherry in a specified position, for example. The payout table will indicate by graphically showing this combination, along with the factor by which your bet will be multiplied if you hit the combination, which determines the payout on your wager.

When you hit this combination on the actual slot screen, as line will appear connecting the different symbols, indicating on the slot screen that you have hit the combination. You can then check the payout table to see what the payout factor is for that particular combination.