World Series of Poker Tournament Circuit
On October 25, 2004 Harrah’s announced the creation of the World Series of Poker Tournament Circuit that marked the beginning of the 36th annual World Series of Poker season. And with it began their efforts to evolve the World Series of Poker from a month long frenzied rush into a year long sport. The Tournament Circuit is a set of poker tournament stops at different casinos that will host all-comer events for players seeking high-level top quality poker action. It also allows players based on their performance at the tournament circuit events and the World Series of Poker, to qualify them for entry into the Tournament of Champions event. The Tournament of Champions is a freeroll event meaning that no player who will participate has to put up any of his or her own funds to play. Harrah's determines the number of players from each of the tournament circuit events who will qualify.
With the popularity of poker on the rise, Harrah’s sought to capitalize on this movement by having 5 legs of the circuit that would be open to anyone who wanted to play regardless of skill level. In 2005 events were held in Atlantic City, NJ during January, San Diego, CA in February, Las Vegas, NV in March, Lake Tahoe, NV in April and New Orleans, LA in May. Each of the events were taped and will be aired on ESPN. All champions who won their events received a WSOP championship gold ring and a sizable amount of cash, which easily reached the six-figure level in the Main Events. The buy-ins for the tournaments ranged from a few hundred dollars to $10,000 per person for participation in the Championship Main Event held at each circuit leg. The game for each of the Main Events was Texas No-Limit Hold’Em poker.
The response from the poker playing public was well received drawing noted professionals like Erick Lindgren, Mimi Tran, Chris Ferguson, Chad Brown, Dewey Tomko, Robert Williamson III, Andy Bloch, J.C. Tran, Jennifer Harman Traniello, Tony Ma, Phil Ivey, John Cernuto, David Pham, Joe Awada, Antonio Esfandiari and others to the tables. It also brought out many superior regional poker players who are well known and respected in their areas of the country.
Since the acquisition of the World Series of Poker name and brand in 2004, Harrah’s has been on a mission to expand the name into their properties and new areas of which the tournament circuit is one, so you can trust that this will be around for a number of years. Now the amount of ″rake″ the company earns from event prize pools is 6%, and this money is used to pay dealers and other expenses. Given the magnitude of tournament operations, that can’t leave that much for profit. So why do they do it? A company spokesperson stated that the international exposure, newspaper and media coverage they are receiving on these events is priceless to them. It is helping to lay the groundwork for the corporation to expand greater than what they already are. So you can count on Harrah’s to continue the effort to make the World Series of Poker bigger and better than it presently is.
Online Poker Games
Online poker games are becoming popular among poker lovers since they are relatively cheap and at the same time offer state of the art features and technology. Through online poker games, one can participate in a spectrum of games such as Seven Card Stud Poker, Texas Holdem Poker, Five Card Stud, Omaha Poker, the Hi/Lo version and Five Card Draw.
In order to play online poker games, all that is required is a computer with dial up connection and Windows installed in it. With this minimal requirement, you can easily download your favorite game from a poker website. A number of websites are now available, exclusively providing facilities to play poker games. Mostly, these sites provide free download facilities. But, in certain cases, some websites charge a small amount as entrance fee to play. Video poker machines are recent additions in online poker games.
Online poker games are convenient in that they can be played easily without going to a casino. In contrast to real poker casino games, online poker games are fast. Since operating costs involved in online poker games are extremely low, the operators have increased chances to gain special discounts as well as promotions. Besides, many of them grant special bonus to the players when they reach up to a particular amount. There are also websites offering bonus amount to their players for just signing up. Another prime benefit of online poker games is that players can leave or change the table any time they want to.
However, when playing online poker games, the etiquette associated with them must be strictly followed. Further, as players have no live cards and cannot see the expression or behavior of opponents, there are chances to lose considerable money. Hence, a bit of skill and psychology is necessary on the part of the payers to win the game. Besides, one must be familiar with the online poker software before starting the game.
Video Poker - How To Calculate Optimal Strategy
Video Poker is one of the most popular slot versions of playing poker. In video poker you are playing against the machine, not other players, like in traditional poker. Your goal in this game is to get the highest ranking five card hand possible.
How to play
First you place a bet and receive five cards. Then you decide which cards to hold and which to discard. You may draw up to five new cards to improve your hand. Finally you obtain replacement cards in exchange for the cards you have discarded. All cards are dealt randomly from one card deck.
Perfect Play
Video Poker is a game where skill is important. With enough practice, you can learn how to play video poker like a professional. Video Poker can be one of the few potentially profitable casino games. Some video poker games are positive expectation games. It means that if you play properly, some Video Poker machines actually offer over 100% payback for perfect play over the long run.
You have the best chance of winning (losing less money) at video poker over the long run if select the holding with the highest Expected Value. Expected Value (mathematical expectation) is the statistically projected average of all possible outcomes for a particular play or game. In other words, EV is the amount one would expect to win or lose if this decision were to be repeated millions of times.
There are 32 ways to hold cards for any dealt five-card hand. For each of these holdings you have to calculate the expected value (EV) of the result and draw to the combination which has the highest EV.
The math used to calculate the Expected Value is not very complicated at all. To compute the EV for the particular draw, you have to multiply the probability of each possible outcome by its value and sum up the results.
The following example explains the above definition.
The dealt hand is 8c 9d 4h 9s 8s in the Jacks or Better (8/5) video poker machine. In this simple example the holding with the highest EV is 89_98. There are 47 cards remaining in the deck. 4 cards would make Full House and 43 others would make Two Pairs. We have a payoff value of 8 for a full house and 2 for a Two Pairs.
EV= 4*8/47+43*2/47=2.51064
Calculating EV is straightforward. But it is a tedious task for a human. Luckily, there are several computer programs designed to evaluate the optimal strategy for each hand as it is encountered. They can catch your mistakes and warn you about them, showing you the difference in EV between your play and the best play. You can use your computer to master your video poker skills at no cost.
World Wide Online Gambling
Games are always essential for the people for enjoyment and relaxation. Gambling is very popular among the crowd as it combines the enthusiasm of a game as well as the thrill of risk. Casinos are present in every nook and corner of the world. However, they were not sufficient to satisfy the gambling quest of the gambling fanatics. With development of communication technology the gambling lovers had a find a room for them in the internet.
Online gambling has become very popular through the online casino with in a very short of time. In the beginning, the success of the online casino was suspected because of the fear that whether gambling lovers could feel the same pleasure of original gambling. However, the fear was in vain since the online casino retain the enthusiasm of the original gambling in online gambling without loosing its thrill. Online casino actually enabled the gambling lovers to satisfy the quest for gambling irrespective of their location. If a computer with internet connection is available, anyone can play online gambling from the online casino sites. Moreover, the convenience of playing online gambling attracted many new players to the online casinos. In the conventional society, gambling was restricted to some class of people or it was difficult for everyone to approach a casino. But online casinos opened the avenue of gambling to everyone. To add on, now the possibility of online casino has reached to a state that online gambling is a home business more than a pastime.
Online casino offer most of the gambling games such as Baccarat, French Roulette, Craps, European Roulette, Red Dog, American Roulette, Casino War, Keno, Blackjack, Sic Bo, Blackjack Surrender, Baccarat online, Blackjack Switch. The online poker games include Texas Hold’em, Omaha Hi-Lo, Poker Omaha, and Tournaments. The online slot has progressed far beyond the traditional games into graphical games such as Triple Profits, Dinosaur Slots, Diamond Valley, Ocean Princess, Crazy 7, Chinese Kitchen, Alien Alert, Party Line, Happy Fruits, Garden of eden, Speed’o'meter, Goblin’s Cave, and many more.
Online casino play can be performed mainly in two ways. The earlier introduced online casino play was to download your favorite game into the computer and whenever you want play the game; you have to run the game. Some casinos have introduced download games in local languages as it will make the person more comfortable to play. However 'download and play' online gambling has several drawbacks such as every time you have to resort to a same computer and freedom of mobility will be restricted. Moreover you require more time to download the game if your internet speed is very low. Flash casino games are a better option of online casino games as there is no requirement for the download of the games. You can simply enter the online casino website and start playing. It gives more attraction to the online casino play as people can now enter to casino from any computer and start gambling.
Online casino attained this much recognition from the people with its flexibility in the online gambling payment. Primarily, you have to start an account in the online casino website. The procedure of the account opening is very easy and you can avail the assistance from the website, if you find any difficulty. The money can be transferred using any of the credit cards and online funds transfer services. The money transaction will be safe, secure and you will get promo bonuses occasionally. If lucky enough, you can withdraw your earnings and jackpot through the same account. However the main attraction of online casinos is the free games. You can play whatever you want using the free casino games without opening a money transaction account in the online casino. The free online gambling will also help you to become masters in the online gambling, through repeated playing without the tension of loosing money.
However, online casinos have small differences from the real casinos. While playing online gambling, you have to keep in mind about the differences. The lack of knowledge about the opponents has to be tackled using effective strategies in online casinos to assure your winning in the online gambling. Hence playing online casino can be as interesting as real casinos, if you are conscious enough and it can be more convenient as you become used to it.
Online Casinos: A New Playing Field
The catapulting popularity of online gambling has created a relative global demand for ground-breaking and progressive advances. This has led the industry to evolve in the areas of game releases, promotions and new legislation.
A great variety of entertainment-rich games are released monthly to feed the sophisticated market’s appetite for themed games which cater for different consumer trends and tastes. In recent times, online casinos have added skilled gaming, such as backgammon, as well as multi-player slots and sports or topic-specific betting to their websites. For the player it means a much greater choice than those offered at traditional land-based casinos, such as slots, table games and video poker and the convenience of managing several activities from a single account.
To entice new enthusiasts, promotions are growing larger with ever-increasing fortunes to be won. The world’s first International Casino Games, a six-month event with a 1.5 million US dollars total prize pool, is making online gambling even more tangible. This event, like other casino and poker cruises, integrates the online and offline worlds by holding its grand final on a Caribbean Cruise. Even though cruises are almost synonymous with gambling, the event also addresses the need for players to compete internationally in their favorite games.
Apart from only targeting the huge high-rollers and the senior market, the casinos also allow business savvy entrepreneurs to take advantage of the industry growth through the highly competitive range of affiliate programs. Commission structures of the best choices available include life-long earning potential from acquisitions which are set at approximately forty percent or higher.
Another positive development, following concerns about the difficulty in identifying underage gamblers and monitoring the online gambling environment, is new legislation recently released by the self-regulatory body eCommerce and Online Gaming, Regulation and Assurance (eCOGRA). With the new regulations in place, online casinos are to start a massive clampdown on underage and excessive gamblers in an effort to promote more responsible gambling. In the event that there are no home jurisdictions in states where online gambling is acceptable, gamblers will now have to abide by the minimum gambling age rule of eighteen years.
The fifty-six online casinos and poker rooms bearing the eCOGRA Seal of Approval will put into practise in-house policies and a comprehensive range of independently enforced requirements that are designed in collaboration with the G4 responsible gambling consortium.
″This initiative is one of the most comprehensive and widespread responsible gambling efforts yet seen in the online gaming industry″, says eCOGRA’s CEO Andrew Beveridge. The regulations effectively bar players who are not eligible to gamble online because of compulsive and excessive behaviour that could be financially damaging to their lives, and this includes players who are too young to gamble.
In this new playing field, it is encouraging to see online casinos taking the lead in protecting and enhancing the enjoyment of responsible players by reinventing themselves and, by so doing, setting credibility and legitimacy as the new industry benchmarks.
Dangers of Stress While Playing UK Bingo
There are various reasons why people begin playing UK bingo, such as for money, for company, for experiencing that rush of adrenaline, or simply to have a good time. Peaks and pitfalls, highs and lows, thrill and kills, you name it – online bingo provides all these and more. Just as in any other game where stakes are high, this heightened excitement has its own fair share of positive and negative impact on the players.
Over the years, the popularity of bingo has traversed all over the world. Since the time the online bingo version was introduced, enthusiasts of the game have been able to play from within the confines of their homes. However, there are many players who still prefer soaking in the excitement of the game by playing it at the local town hall or the casino.
Bingo- The Stress Magnet
The excitement involved in a game of bingo can also drive a person to the other side of the spectrum. Getting too engrossed in the game, one's excitement level could fluctuate; this could have a negative effect on those who have high blood pressure or heart problems. According to some studies, people who play bingo are prone to get easily worked up and consequently have high-stress, high-powered careers. It has been observed that work related stress is far less than the stress generated while playing bingo. There have been several instances of people having lost their jobs because of bingo-related stress impacting their performance at work.
Violence
Other than the health related drawbacks, bingo is also known to ignite passions and can cause players to get involved in violent fights. At bingo halls and public bingo games, it has been noticed that people who are by nature, short-tempered tend to be easily drawn into fights. This could have disastrous consequences, if someone is hurt.
In spite of the above-mentioned risks, bingo can still be an enjoyable stress-buster if players accept that it is only a game, take care of their health and control their behavior.
Simple Jacks or Better Strategy Tutorial
Statistical Arbitrage strategy applied to Video Poker
Introduction
Jacks or Better is a popular video poker game available at many online casinos. When collecting casino matched deposit bonuses, it counts towards wagering requirements for most online casinos, has a high payout, and a large jackpot.
This article will show readers how to calculate and maximise their expected return when using Jacks or Better to clear Casino bonuses. In effect, this is a statistical arbitrage strategy similar to that used by Casinos to maintain a house edge against players.
Readers who do not already know how to play Jacks or Better are advised to read this tutorial covering the basics.
Simple Optimal Strategy
CSBS favours a simple Jacks or Better strategy as it allows a faster rate of play with minimal expected loss. 5 coins should be played per hand as this maximises the payout from a Royal Flush.
This simple strategy has a 99.46% payout. To use the it, find all the ways to play a possible hand from the list below, and select the one that is highest. A high card is one that is a Jack or better (i.e. Jack, Queen, King or Ace).
To execute the strategy, players simply play the initial hand that is highest in this list:
- Full house or better
- 4 to a royal flush
- Straight, three of a kind, or flush
- 4 to a straight flush
- Two pair
- High pair (i.e. pair of Jacks, Queens, Kings or Aces)
- 3 to a royal flush
- 4 to a flush
- Low pair (i.e. pair of Tens or lower)
- 4 to an outside straight
- 2 suited high cards
- 3 to a straight flush
- 2 unsuited high cards (if more than 2 pick then pick lowest 2)
- Suited 10/J, 10/Q, or 10/K
- One high card
- Discard everything
Expected Returns - Intercasino US Example
Before claiming any casino deposit bonuses, it is important to understand the terms and conditions, and any wagering requirements. As an example, we shall consider claiming the Intercasino US $90 monthly deposit bonus, and demonstrate how to calculate the expected return.
At time of writing, Intercasino US offer a $90 monthly deposit bonus. This means that playerss depositing $90 will receive a $90 bonus into their account. (Intercasino US credits this immediately upon deposit, but other casinos may act differently).
The terms and conditions state that players must wager an aggregate total of 25 times the bonus in the casino before they can withdraw the bonus money. For example, a player who deposits $90 and receives a $90 bonus must then wager an aggregate total of $2,250 before they can cash out.
A player using the Simple Strategy would expect a payout of 99.46% which is equivalent to a loss of 0.0054%. Therefore, if they wager the full $2,250 wager requirement they would expect a loss of $2,250 * 0.0054 = $12.15.
Since the player received a $90 deposit bonus, their expected profit is therefore - $90.00-$12.15 = $77.85.
Problems to consider
There are some additional considerations that players may want to consider before taking advantage of these bonuses. A few are listed here:
- Neteller users must pay $1.00 to withdraw. This is an additional cost reducing the expected return to $76.85.
- The expected return is only an estimate. Players are not guaranteed to win every month, though if they hit a Royal Flush then they could make a lot more than $77.85.
- Some casinos will allow players to withdraw their deposits before they have even started working through the wager requirements. CSBS does not recommend this as it can lead to players being banned for abusing the promotions.
Winning at Slots, The Best Strategies
Casino gambling is often played with a gambling strategy in mind. This is however not normally the case with slot machines. Many players simply pump in their credits, pull on the arm – or in the case of a virtual casino, hit the spin button and hope to hit the jackpot.
But actually there’s much more to winning at slots than simply hitting spin.
Firstly, you need to realize that it’s not all about the slots jackpot. Putting your hopes on hitting the jackpot will be costly and not to mention disappointing. Although it’s true that the jackpot will hit soon or later, don’t expect to hit it in the first couple of rounds you play. This would be extremely lucky!
Secondly, know when to stop. This means knowing when to stop whether you’re winning or losing. There is no use beating a dead horse. Therefore if your machine is as cold as ice, it’s time to move on to another machine J
Thirdly, try to mix up you bets – max betting will ensure that you get the biggest possible payout for every winning combination but it will only drain your funds quickly if you don’t win in the early rounds of your game. So try placing a few smaller bets and when you feel the machine is about to hit a winning combination, bet big…
Read more: Winning at Slots
Roulette Systems - Do They Work?
There are many roulette systems for sale. Do they work, and can you win? The truth is, save your money, no system works for roulette. Simply follow the advice here and you will make more moey than any roulette system.
Why not? Because roulette is a complete game of chance, and each roll of the ball is unique to every other roll. That is why tracking results and systems are completely invalid.
So is it impossible to win at roulette then? No; you can win, and to win you need the odds as much as possible in your favor.
Save your money dont buy a roulette system
We repeat, do not be fooled into believing you can make thousands of dollars by spending a few hundred of dollars on a miracle system.
All these systems are based on mathematical formulas. These formulas are all based on the assumption that past data and presumes that this data can be used to predict a future event.
However in any game of chance you never know what will occur next, so mathematical systems cannot be applied. This is simple logic.
For example, if red comes up 20 times in a row or 50 times, the odds of the next roll will always be just a 50 - 50 chance.
The best Roulette game to Play
There are two roulette games, American and European. Of the two, only the European lets you bring the house odds down to just 1.24%. In any game of chance, those odds are considered good.
European Roulette has a wheel with 37 slots with a single 0. In comparison, the American wheel has an extra slot, a double 0; making 38 slots. The casino advantage on the American wheel is 5.26%. The European wheel is only 2.7%.
The best odds are at European Roulette. There is also a way to reduce those odds ever further. This is by betting with good odds as well. That means, play bets whose odds are near to their payouts (1:1) So, play European roulette and follow these two tips. You can win here’s how:
Tip 1. Playing European roulette, bet correctly
Your best bets are the ″even money″ ones. Even money means those bets of Odd, Even, Low, (numbers 1 through 18), High, (numbers 19 through 36), Red, or Black.
These all pay out odds of 1: 1. Furthermore, you have about a 45% chance of winning each time. The odds start to look good in your favor.
Tip 2. Use the ″rule″ and place a bet called ″en prison″ (in prison)
En prison works like this. You first make an even money bet ,but have also ordered an additional en prison bet. Should the ball come out 0, you don’t lose your bet. Your bet remains on the table and is ‘imprisoned’, waiting for the next spin.
Now in case your even money bet wins, you can pick up your bet and winnings. Mathematically, the house edge has been cut in half and is just 1.35%. You have achieved the best odds in this game of winning for the player.
Use any of the even money bets, all with the same technique, to avoid a boring game, but make sure its an even money bet.
Remember, that roulette systems don’t work and all the other bets on the roulette table are against you. Follow the tips above, and you bring the odds in your favor.
European Roulette can be fun and exciting, and also give you that extra chanceif you place the best bet and will make you more money than any roulette system.
Play it in the above way have fun and remember you can also make some good money!
Where To Play Holdem Online
Where To Play Holdem Online
When deciding where to play holdem online begin your illustrious poker career, there are some basic questions you should ask yourself:
A) Do you want to play primarily for money or fun?
B) How much money?
C) Are you a shy person who's easily embarrassed, or an assertive loudmouth?
D) Is face-to-face contact a large part of poker's allure for you?
E) Is the speed of the game important to you?
The answers to these questions will largely determine whether you should primarily play holdem online, in friendly games, or in casinos and tournaments.
Texas Hold’em
Play Holdem Online
The steps involved in playing holdem online are usually well-described by the website you choose. Commonly this involves downloading the site's poker interface, depositing some money via a credit card or third-party provider, and then taking your digital bankroll into the game of your choice.
Online poker sites including hold em poker sites will often have hundreds, even thousands, of games to play holdem online going at once.
An average site would have perhaps 5-40 different "tables" of $10/$20 hold'em games going at once. You often have a choice of how many people you want to play holdem online with–4-player to 10-player tables are typically available.
The site will usually have a neatly designed interface that allows you to browse through the various games going on until you find the limit, number of players, so on, that suits you.
You will also be told the screen names of the players playing holdem online at the table (before entering it) and the amount of their stack. Very often you will get stats telling you how fast the hands go at a particular table, how many are played in an hour, on average, and what the average pot is. These should all factor into your decision of where to "sit."
Once you click on a particular game to play holdem online, the table interface will open up. The graphics usually include a table, chips, cards, and avatars representing the holdem poker players at the table. Often you'll click on an empty seat, taking the form of whatever avatar you or the interface chooses, and then buy in. The buyin is generally a range, such as $100-$1000 to play holdem online.