Online Fun and Business

Before the last decade or two, beginners and novices who were interested in the game of poker had a hard time to pursue their dream and improve their skills. Why? Because they had to be ready to shell out large amounts of cash money to be able to play. Moreover, there was not enough opposition. One has to play hundreds or thousands of games to get professional level poker skills and it was simply impossible to do this in any but the worlds largest cities.

Luckily, with the information era of the late twentieth century, online poker came into the scene. Through the years, online poker has become so significant that the World Series of Poker accept entries from players of purely Internet based poker background. Today, playing poker online is the best way to improve, since one can always find an opponent in the Internet - regardless of whether it is day or night where you live.

There are also literally hundreds of online poker rooms to choose from. They each have their strengths and their weaknesses and most also their loyal players. The new wave of online poker has made the game readily available to each and everyone who is interested.

The consequence is that there are players to be found in every level of skill. By playing ones way through the low bet tables into the professional level high stakes tables, a new poker player can take his skills to the maximum. The professional poker scene is much richer today that it was just decades ago.

It is important to find information on different online poker rooms, because they have different levels of opposition. Depending on whether your goal is simply to win pennies or to become a better player, you should choose a completely different poker room to play in.

If you stop and think about it, just about everybody – no, make that everybody – wants to know how to win at poker. Most everyone firmly believes in his or her own particular theories concerning poker, and most importantly, they also believe in their own particular methods of how to win at poker. Just not everybody wins.

After all, for one person to win, another person (or indeed the entire table of poker players) needs to lose. What this really translates into is that no matter how good you think your theory on how to win at poker is, someone will have a better theory – it just depends on a number of factors to see who will come out the better, you or the other player with a better theory.

In case that wasn’t clear enough, there really is no particular method that you can use to win at poker. There are a number of combinations and factors, and there a number of circumstances which will go into making someone win at poker, but none of these will tell you exactly how to win at poker.

For instance, if someone won a pot with a starting hand of 9-7 spades, this does not mean that they will win the pot if they again get the same starting pair.

Besides having to rely on other factors such as the remaining three cards that person will get (or the table, in the case of Texas Holdem), he/ she will also have to factor in the number of players at the table, the strength and the weaknesses of the other players, and more crucially, whether or not someone else might have a better hand then he/ she does.

And that’s just for starters. Then there’s the element of luck involved in all gambling games, not only poker. Some people might argue over this thing called luck and say that it has no place when you’re trying to learn how to win at poker, but the truth of the matter is that there is always a small element of luck whenever you’re playing poker.

However, if we put aside luck for the moment and go with other factors which can help you to learn how to win at poker, the largest going concern we should take would be that of skill. This is practically the one and only way that you can be assured of winning the pot.

Without any skill you can be assured that you will lose the majority of your hands, and that for lack of anything resembling knowledge or experience of the game. What you really need to do is to practice as much as you can, learning your strengths and trying to deal with or eliminate entirely, your weaknesses.

It is only when you have mastered these skills that you will know how to win at poker, consistently, and also how to take defeat in your stride and make it into an eventual win by learning from it.

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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.

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Arizona Cardinals at Detroit Lions

Both squads try to stop a two week losing snide. The Lions’ Jeff Garcia and Joey Harrington are banged up. Coach Mariucci isn’t sure which QB will start on Sunday. The injuries are mounting for the Cardinals as well. Last year’s sac leader, DE Betrand Berry, has a torn pectoral muscle and could be out for the season. Kurt Warner returned under center last week. He was intercepted 3 times and sacked four times.

Houston Texans at Indianapolis Colts

The Colts are coming off a big win over their AFC nemesis New England Patriots. Manning and the Colts appear to finally be over the hump as Manning won for the first time at Foxboro last Monday night. The 1-7 Texans will have their work cut out for them but showed signs of improvement last Sunday in a 7 point loss to Jacksonville in which they held the Jaguars to just 88 yards on the ground.

Minnesota Vikings at New York Giants

Manning, who has made great strides since last season, will try to keep the Giants unbeaten at home where they are currently 4-0. Their defense has only allowed 6 points and a total of 288 yards in their past two games. The Vikings are coming off a big win over the Detroit Lions led by Brad Johnson who is filling in for the injured Culpepper. Brad Johnson always plays well at Giants Stadium where in two starts he has completed 70% of his passes for 520yards with 5 TDs and no INTs.

San Francisco 49ers at Chicago Bears

The Bears are riding a 4-game winning streak and boast one of the top defenses in the league. They have shown glimpses on the ’85 Monsters of the Midway. Rookie QB, Kyle Orton, continues to get better each week and is the current favorite for rookie of the year. The 49ers are on their fourth QB of the season, 2004 second round draft pick Cody Pickett, as Tim Rattay, #1 draft pick Alex Smith, and Ken Dorsey, are all injured.

Baltimore Ravens at Jacksonville Jaguars

Kyle Boller will return under center for the Ravens to try to put to rest a 3-game losing skid. Safety, Ed Reed, and Linebacker Ray Lewis, winners of 3 of the last 5 defensive player of the year awards, will miss another game this week. The Jaguars have won 3 of their last 4. Byron Leftwich continues to play well. He directed two scoring drives of 80+ yards in the fourth quarter last week to beat Houston.

Kansas City Chiefs at Buffalo Bills

With Priest Holmes out for the season Larry Johnson will be getting even more carries as we saw against Oakland last week when he looked like a Pro Bowl back, rushing for 107 yards and two TDs, including the game winner when he jumped over the pile with seconds remaining. Buffalo is coming off of a bye week, and despite being two games under 500, they are sitting at second in the division behind New England.

New England Patriots at Miami Dolphins

The Patriots fell to 4-4 on the season after going down to the Colts last Monday night, and they look to avoid losing consecutive games for the first time since December 2002. Their 4 losses total the number they’ve had in the previous 2 seasons. The Dolphins have lost 3 of their last 5 but with a win Sunday can overtake New England in the AFC East. Miami’s two pronged running attack of Ronnie Brown and Ricky Williams is averaging over 5 yards per carry for 133 yards the past three games, compensating for Gus Ferotte’s 29th ranking among NFL QBs.

Denver Broncos at Oakland Raiders

The first place Broncos take on the last place Raiders for the 90th time during the regular season. Despite these teams being at opposite ends of the AFC West, expect a close game. Kerry Collins is having a phenomenal season and Lamont Jordan is finally looking like a feature back as he ran all over the Chiefs in the first half last week. Denver’s running attack of Mike Anderson and Tatum Bell is the second best in the NFL, combining for 1,366 yards on the season, and it has taken some of the pressure off of Jake Plummer who is having an excellent year, limiting the costly INTs which have plagued his career.

New York Jets at Carolina Panthers

Despite a slow, 1-2 start the Panthers have turned it around and are now one of the NFC favorites for the Super Bowl. Despite one of the best back fields in the NFC with Jake Delhomme and Stephen Davis, the Panthers Defense has made them a Super Bowl contender. They have 15 sacks in their last three games and 17 during their winning streak. Brooks Bollinger will be making his 2nd career NFL start for the Jets for injured vet Vinny Testaverde. Bollinger came in last week in the third quarter, throwing for 2 TDs in a comeback attempt that just fell short against the Chargers.

Green Bay Packers at Atlanta Falcons

Atlanta is coming off a 17-10 victory over Miami in which Michael Vick put up his best passing numbers of the year. The Falcons also boast the league’s top ground game led by Warrick Dunn. The Green Bay Packers are having a dismal season at just 1-7—too bad for Favre who strongly contemplated retirement after last season. Favre has never lost more than 8 games in his previous 13 seasons at Green Bay, but it looks as if that mark will be surpasses this year.

Washington Redskins at Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Washington is coming off a big win against last year’s NFC Champion Eagles which moved them into 2nd place in the division along side idle Dallas. Mark Brunell looks like the QB he was in Jacksonville, scrambling outside the pocket and making throws on the run, while Clinton Portis mounts a solid ground attack. After starting the season 4-0, the Bucs have been sliding. They suffered a 34-14 defeat to Carolina last Sunday, and Brian Griese’s replacement Chris Sims continues to struggle, throwing 2 INTs and losing a fumble while being sacked five times last week.

St. Louis Rams at Seattle Seahawks

The Seahawks are 17-3 in their last 20 regular season games at home under Holmgren. Shaun Alexander is the NFL’s leading rusher with 949 yards on the season. He rushed for over 170 yards last week with two TDs. The Rams’ skill players have been out hurt but are expected back this Sunday. With Bulger, Holt, and Bruce back the Rams will bring a much improved offense to the table.

Cleveland Browns at Pittsburgh Steelers

A rusty Charlie Batch took over the quarterbacking duties for Ben Roethlisberger last week as Roethlisberger endured knee surgery. It was Batch’s first start in four years. The Steelers’ leading rushers Jerome Bettis and Willie Parker are also banged up and listed as questionable. The Browns are coming off of a victory against Tennessee last week after losing their three previous games. Reuben Droughns is coming off a stellar performance in which he had a season best 116 yards on the ground and added another 73 yards receiving.

Dallas Cowboys at Philadelphia Eagles

Owens will not be in uniform again this week as the Eagles take on the Cowboys Monday night. It seems as though Owens’ apology was too little too late. Philadelphia, at 4-4, is just a glimpse of the NFC powerhouse they were a season ago. They are the leagues worst rushing team, but Westbrook figures to get more carries in TO’s absence. Dallas is coming off of a bye week which will allow running back Julius Jones to return to the lineup. Drew Bledsoe has risen from the dead and is having a very solid season throwing the football.

Jimmy Boyd is a documented member of the Professional Handicappers League.
Read all of his articles at http://www.procappers.com/Jimmy_Boyd.htm

This is part 3 of a multipart series of articles regarding proposed anti-gambling legislation. In this article, I continue the discussion of the reasons claimed to make this legislation necessary, and the facts that exist in the real world, including the Jack Abramoff connection and the addictive nature of online gambling.

The legislators are trying to protect us from something, or are they? The whole thing seems a little confusing to say the least.

As mentioned in previous articles, the House, and the Senate, are once again considering the issue of “Online Gambling”. Bills have been submitted by Congressmen Goodlatte and Leach, and also by Senator Kyl.

The bill being put forward by Rep. Goodlatte, The Internet Gambling Prohibition Act, has the stated intention of updating the Wire Act to outlaw all forms of online gambling, to make it illegal for a gambling business to accept credit and electronic transfers, and to force ISPs and Common Carriers to block access to gambling related sites at the request of law enforcement.

Just as does Rep. Goodlatte, Sen. Kyl, in his bill, Prohibition on Funding of Unlawful Internet Gambling, makes it illegal for gambling businesses to accept credit cards, electronic transfers, checks and other forms of payment for the purpose on placing illegal bets, but his bill does not address those that place bets.

The bill submitted by Rep. Leach, The Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act, is basically a copy of the bill submitted by Sen. Kyl. It focuses on preventing gambling businesses from accepting credit cards, electronic transfers, checks, and other payments, and like the Kyl bill makes no changes to what is currently legal, or illegal.

In a quote from Goodlatte we have “Jack Abramoff’s total disregard for the legislative process has allowed Internet gambling to continue thriving into what is now a twelve billion-dollar business which not only hurts individuals and their families but makes the economy suffer by draining billions of dollars from the United States and serves as a vehicle for money laundering.”

There are several interesting points here.

First of all, we have a little misdirection about Jack Abramoff and his disregard for the legislative process. This comment, and others that have been made, follow the logic that; 1) Jack Abramoff was opposed to these bills, 2) Jack Abramoff was corrupt, 3) to avoid being associated with corruption you should vote for these bills. This is of course absurd. If we followed this logic to the extreme, we should go back and void any bills that Abramoff supported, and enact any bills that he opposed, regardless of the content of the bill. Legislation should be passed, or not, based on the merits of the proposed legislation, not based on the reputation of one individual.

As well, when Jack Abramoff opposed previous bills, he did so on behalf of his client eLottery, attempting to get the sale of lottery tickets over the internet excluded from the legislation. Ironically, the protections he was seeking are included in this new bill, since state run lotteries would be excluded. Jack Abramoff therefore would probably support this legislation since it gives him what he was looking for. That does not stop Goodlatte and others from using Abramoff’s recent disgrace as a means to make their bill look better, thus making it not just an anti-gambling bill, but somehow an ant-corruption bill as well, while at the same time rewarding Abramoff and his client.

Next, is his statement that online gambling “hurts individuals and their families”. I presume that what he is referring to here is problem gambling. Let’s set the record straight. Only a small percentage of gamblers become problem gamblers, not a small percentage of the population, but only a small percentage of gamblers.

In addition, Goodlatte would have you believe that Internet gambling is more addictive than casino gambling. Sen. Kyl has gone so far as to call online gambling “the crack cocaine of gambling”, attributing the quote to some un-named researcher. To the contrary, researchers have shown that gambling on the Internet is no more addictive than gambling in a casino. As a matter of fact, electronic gambling machines, found in casinos and race tracks all over the country are more addictive than online gambling.

In research by N. Dowling, D. Smith and T. Thomas at the School of Health Sciences, RMIT University, Bundoora, Australia “There is a general view that electronic gaming is the most ‘addictive’ form of gambling, in that it contributes more to causing problem gambling than any other gambling activity. As such, electronic gaming machines have been referred to as the ‘crack-cocaine’ of gambling”.

As to Sen. Kyls claim about “crack cocaine”, quotes at http://www.alternet.org/drugreporter/20733/ include “Cultural busybodies have long known that in post this-is-your-brain-on-drugs America, the best way to win attention for a pet cause is to compare it to some scourge that already scares the bejesus out of America”. And “During the 1980s and ’90s, it was a little different. Then, a troubling new trend wasn’t officially on the public radar until someone dubbed it “the new crack cocaine.” And “On his Vice Squad weblog, University of Chicago Professor Jim Leitzel notes that a Google search finds experts declaring slot machines (The New York Times Magazine), video slots (the Canadian Press) and casinos (Madison Capital Times) the “crack cocaine of gambling,” respectively. Leitzel’s search also found that spam email is “the crack cocaine of advertising” (Sarasota, Fla. Herald Tribune), and that cybersex is a kind of sexual “spirtual crack cocaine” (Focus on the Family)”.

As we can see, calling something the “crack cocaine” has become a meaningless metaphor, showing only that the person making the statement feels it is important. But then we knew that Rep. Goodlatte, Rep. Leach and Sen. Kyl felt that the issue was important or they wouldn’t have brought the proposed legislation forward.

In the next article, I will continue coverage of the issues raised by politicians who are against online gambling, and provide a different perspective to their rhetoric, covering the “drain on the economy” caused by online gambling, and the notion of money laundering.

For more detail, and similar articles, contatct the author at http://A1-PokerInfo.com.