The bingo online Challenge!
On December 1st, 2005, I wrote this: I haven’t discussed this with Otis or G-Rob, but that’s okay. They’re just going to have to deal with my bravado whether they like it or not. Up For Poker is issuing a challenge to any other threesome in a last-longer for the WPBT Winter Classic. Here’s how I figure it will work: 1) Final results of the three entrants will be added together, lowest total wins. 2) Each member of each team will throw in $5 and the winning team will split the last-longer prize pool. (All teams are playing against all teams and the winning team will win the total prize pool.) So find your team, and leave it in the comments. I’ll bring a list to Vegas and you all can hand over your money. After all, you think anyone can beat the combination of Otis’ skill, G-Rob’s agression and my luck? Well, guess what? I still haven’t discussed this with Otis or G-Rob, but it’s on again. The Up For Poker crew is challenging you. Same rules. Same prizes. (FYI: Comments currently require approval while I work out some spam issues, so you won’t see your comment right away.)

Why Bill Belichick Was Wrong
I can’t believe there’s even a discussion about jeux de casino. Everyone knows that Belichick was wrong. He made an arrogant decision that cost his team a victory. Yet rocket scientists and amateur online casino poker players everywhere are breaking out their protractors to justify this game-losing decision. Well, I spent about 10 minutes doing my own research. I present: Other numbers. Over the last 6 weeks of the 2009 NFL football season, teams have attempted to go for it on 4th and 2 on 14 different occasions (including Belichick’s dumb decision). Any idea how many times those 14 attempts have been successful? I’ll give you a minute to guess. Yep, it’s zero. That’s right. A big 0%. Eight incomplete passes, two failed runs, two interceptions, one sack and Belichick’s pass that came up inches short. I wonder if Belichick knew how difficult it is to convert 4th and 2 when he made his bone-headed decision? Anyone who understands football understands the difficulty in converting 4th and 2. It’s a little too far to run meaning teams can play for the pass. In fact, Belichick made it even easier on the Colts by emptying the backfield eliminating any threat of a run at all. Of course, many argue that had New England punted that Manning (because he’s so super-awesome) would have lead a TD drive anyway. I wonder what the numbers say? Over the last 6 weeks of the season, Indianapolis has had 37 drives starting from the 30 or behind and they’ve converted TDs in 10 of them. That’s 27%. Over the last 6 weeks of the season, New England’s opponents have had 44 drives starting from the 30 or behind and they’ve convered TDs in 5 of them. That’s 11%. What about when New England and Indianapolis play each other? Here are some more numbers. In this year’s game, Indianapolis had 12 drives starting from the 30 or behind and they converted TDs in 3 of them. That’s 25%. Since 2006 against New England, Indianapolis had 29 drives starting from the 30 or behind and they converted TDs in 6 of them. That’s 21%. Of course, Indianapolis got the ball from the 40 yard line or closer twice against New England since 2006 and, predictably, both resulted in TDs, including the game-winner a week ago. So what do the numbers tell me? 4th and 2 conversion rate last 6 weeks: 0% Indianapolis’ TD rate from 70+ yards vs. NFL last 6 weeks: 27% New England’s opponents’ TD rate from 70+ yards last 6 weeks: 11% Indianapolis’ TD rate from 70+ yards vs. NE last week: 25% Indianapolis’ TD rate from 70+ yards vs. NE since 2006: 21% I don’t know about you… but those numbers certainly don’t support going for it on 4th and 2. Looks like NE had a chance somewhere between 75% and 85% of stopping Indianapolis on a long TD drive but very little chance of either converting the 4th down or stopping the Colts if they failed on the 4th down conversion. And that doesn’t even include the fact that the Colts would have been attempting this drive with just 1 timeout and just 2 minutes left in the game which likely lowers the Colts’ percentages. Of course, lots of people will say I’m cherry-picking. Guess what? That’s what statisticians do. They cherry-pick numbers to support their case. This was a bad decision by Belichick. It’s clear that the decision was last-second which only compounded the mistake. Had New England really intended to go for it on 4th down no matter what, there’s little chance they throw the ball on 3rd down. Not only would a run have been a surprise on 3rd (giving it a better chance of succeeding) it also would have forced the Colts to burn their final timeout and it would likely have gotten them closer for their 4th down attempt (which, given the spot, would have made all the difference). When New England failed on 3rd down, most of the offense was running off the field and New England was then forced to burn their last timeout which prevented them from challenging the spot on 4th down (although I’m not sure a challenge would have worked). If the plan was to go for it on 4th all along, wouldn’t the offense have known that? After all, they had already burned a timeout in that same drive! Not to mention, going for it in this situation brings all kinds of factors into play, including crowd noise and the potential of the home crowd to influence any close spot in favor of the Colts. Of course, context doesn’t matter to the people with their fancy equations. Context is irrelevant, right?

The Brink of casino games History
I’m not sure how it’s happened, but it has. Otis, G-Rob and The william hill (that’s me) are all above .500 ten weeks into the fantasy football season and all have a legitimate shot to make the playoffs. Doesn’t sound like a big deal? Well, let’s take a look back at history. In the past 5 seasons, our three teams have a collective 4 playoff appearances and no Super Bowl crowns. We have a collective record of 89-104-3. We have a total of 5 winning seasons among us. Of course, Otis does a lot to bring that total down. All I’ll say about his career fantasy football record is that his only winning season is the year we played XFL Fantasy virtual casino Football. I’m serious. He won the Super Bowl. But this year, the three of us are bunched at the top of the Carolina Division. I’m at 8-2 and Otis and G-Rob are both at 6-4. If the playoffs started this week, G-Rob and I would both be in the playoffs. Otis trails G-Rob by just two points for the final playoff spot and both of them trail the 3rd place team by a game. Of course, there’s still 4 regular season weeks left for something to go wrong. The only thing guaranteed is that at least one of us will be in the playoffs this year. Which sure beats last year when we were a combined 15-26-1!

Play poker at the best online poker rooms on the internet.

Get more from your online gambling by playing at an online casino. Win big at blackjack or take a spin with Roulette.

Firstly though, let’s define data mining for those who may not be sure what it is exactly. Data mining is the exchange of shared profiling information amongst a community of other players. As a player on most any online poker sites, it’s quite likely you have been tracked through banned programs like Poker Sherlock or Poker Edge or had your information handed over via hand histories in another program called Poker Tracker. Although Poker Stars and Party Poker make this much more difficult (scanning your hard drive for such software) there are round-about tricks that enable them to work but you wouldn’t want to describe them as smooth by any means.

Now the advantage of having access to a shared database of information about opponents is that if you happened to join an online table using this software, one or some of your opponents may be displayed via HUD some valuable statistics that may help your decision making during hand. Let’s say for example that you are in a hand with a player named WrecklessJoe55. You are holding Th9h and the board shows Jc8cQc Ac and 2d. There is a big river bet put to you for the remainder of your stack to call. We will ignore the odds situation here for now, because either way, it’s not the easiest call in the world.

Now let’s say that through a purchased exchange of 100,000 hand histories via Poker Tracker you actually have some historical information on WrecklessJoe55 which clearly makes him a maniacal LAG player. Well that information would be leading towards a call. Just the opposite, if WrecklessJoe55 had a VPIP of 11% and PFR% of 7% along with a WSDW% of 72%, then these TAG statistics would be leading toward a fold - in fact I’d be almost sure of it.

The disdain poker sites have for these types of software is that you have never played with WrecklessJoe55 and you shouldn’t know that information until YOU have ascertained it, not someone else. Yes, just like a regular live poker room. The Poker Stars security staff basically once told me that that is the guideline with which they want to emulate and all security policy emanates from that thinking.

Now we get to Cake Poker, an upstart network that is actually accepting USA player online! They came up with a policy that would essentially crush the inherent value in any data-mining program. It’s rather simple too, as stated on the Cake Poker website:

“CakePoker players will be granted the option of changing their Poker Nickname every 7 Days. By allowing players to change their Poker Nickname often, CakePoker thus negates the effectiveness of shared or prolonged poker data tracking.”

I wonder how much time and resources Poker Stars and Party Poker would save in their overall security budget if they adopted the same policy? Allow the players to change their name! It’s simple! Big kudos to CakePoker for allowing this defence, in the name of protecting its players. Now although it no longer emulates a real live poker room, it definitely makes for a level playing field, and that’s something to think about for the major players to be sure.

Poker Winning Strategy #1: Learn to read the flop

Online poker moves at a much faster pace, and you need to be able to quickly scan the flop and determine the best possible hand. Learning to determine what are the possible combinations, and who may have hit or miss the flop altogether is a good poker strategy to have. It is highly recommended that you sit out a few rounds at a new table session to try and get a feel for the style of playing at the table.

Poker Winning Strategy #2: Concentrate strong starting hands and table position

Many online poker players are very loose and get involved in too many pots and seeing too many flops with weak starting hands. One good poker strategy is to tighten up and wait for the right cards so that you can felt someone. You can possibly play marginal hands in a late position while there is no action in front of you.

Poker Winning Strategy #3: Adapt to the speed of online poker

Online poker is obviously faster than real-life poker, and it is a good strategy to learnt to adjust to the faster pace. If you wait too long while the action is on you, your hand will automatically be folded and play will continue.

Poker Winning Strategy #4: Avoid playing loosely online

Being a tighter and more disciplined player is a proven poker strategy that will make you a better player and take down more pots. Many super-loose players online try to see too many pots, and by tightening your play, you will take down those pots.

Poker Winning Strategy #5: Look for tells

The final poker strategy is to learn to look for tells. There is a lot of information you can take note of about online players, in order to make the more correct decisions against them. For example, if you flop a pair and the table checks all around quickly, the players might be using the auto-check button thus signifying weakness. When a player takes a while to think before bringing his hand for a raise, learn to take note of that hand at the showdown. That way you can predict what he might have when he thinks for while before coming in for a raise again. You should also try to behave as unpredictable as possible while playing online poker.

Sheffield Casino To Get New Poker Room
New poker facilities are on the way for Sheffield’s Napoleons Casino in the new year.

Location: 49 Hollywood Rd, 1/F, Central, Hong Kong.

Website: www.hkph.com.hk

Also check out:

www.hkpokerleague.com

The Hong Kong Poker League, formed in February of 2007, hosts Free Live Texas Hold’em Tournaments at your favorite locations throughout Hong Kong allowing you to learn the game, test your poker skills against others in your area, sharpen the skills you have already mastered, and enjoy the “Poker Night” food and drink specials at participating venues.

The HKPL was created by Poker Enthusiasts, who love to play tournament style poker, but without any risk. Players earn points just for playing and more points for winning. Player points can be accumulated for prizes including entries into worldwide known poker tournaments such as the WPT, APT, APPT and of course the WSOP.

Each season is comprised of up to 10 weeks of regular tournaments with a 1 week Poker League Championship. Venues can sign up at any point in the season and still qualify players for the Final Championship of the year. Each tournament is comprised of 10 to hundreds of players, where they are playing until there is one person left standing. In each tournament, the top 10 players will receive points based on where they finish and how many players competed in that tournament. We encourage players of all levels of ability to come and join our league and especially people who have never played before who may have watched it on the TV and would like to have a game without losing any money. We have experienced poker players who can teach newcomers the rules and how to play. Before long you could be earning league points, which could ultimately lead to you becoming the HK Poker League Champion and a chance to win a host of great prizes and poker related opportunities along the way.

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A hugely successful poker resource: plenty of media available for free, check it out for all the lastest in poker from around the world.

PartyGaming To Launch Online Poker Ops In Italy For Intralot - Wall Street Journal
stv.tv PartyGaming To Launch Online Poker Ops In Italy For IntralotWall Street JournalLN) said Monday it has signed an agreement to launch an online poker tournament service in Italy for Intralot SA (INLOT.AT) of Greece, and flagged similiar deals were likely. Intralot becomes the first member of PartyGaming’s poker network in Italy. …PartyGaming in Italy joint [...]Click here to play

Final Four Online Gambling Concludes With Tar Heels And Spartans - New Online Casinos
Casino watch dog, known as eCOGRA regulates online casinos and even flash casino site where no download and no deposit is required to play online casino. Los Angeles Times Final Four Online Gambling Concludes With Tar Heels And SpartansNew Online Casinos, CABy Ryan Blalock North Carolina Cheerleaders College basketball has become the second biggest gambling sport in the [...]Click here to play

Whats a Poker Rake?
The scaled commission fee taken by a card room is what is known as poker rake. The house does not bet against the gamers, since poker is a player-versus-player game, so this charge is the main instrument to create revenue. It is mostly levied by businesses that provide the required services for the game to occur. The player must beat not only rivals, but also the financial drain of the rake in order to make money when playing in poker games where the house takes a cut. read more

Pai Gow Strategy
I like the table games but I usually end up throwing my poker winnings out of the door by playing blackjack, roulette or Pai Gow. Everyone knows about blackjack and roulette — but apparently a lot of people don’t know anything about the Pai Gow Poker game… I can help though –found a nice guide on [...]