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Could Online Gambling Mean “Native American Indian Wars?”

9 September 2011, 5:20 pm

Despite federal laws which ban the online gambling business in the USA, State Sen. Lou Correa, D-Santa Ana, California, wants laws to be put in place to regulate this industry in his state. There are however some problems that come with this territory, and the Unlawful Internet Gambling Act is not necessarily the biggest hurdle to overcome. Initially a bill was proposed that would allow online poker and as Native American Indian tribes control this industry, the bill (SB40) is perceived to have been designed to accommodate COPA – the California Online Poker Association, which is a coalition of 29 tribes which manage 30 live card rooms.

However Native American Indian tribes who are not part of the COPA coalition, believe SB40 discriminates against them, and no preferential treatment should be allowed to any one group. The California Tribal Business Alliance (CTBA) that consists of tribes which did not ante up the $50 million in up-front fees required to become licensees; say SB 40 has been tailor-made to suite the COPA coalition only, and they are not wishing to have any part of it – although they do want online gambling; so, CTBA are not supporting the bill. The $50 million was due to be paid into Californian coffers no later than July 1, 2011.

As far as Correa is concerned, he has said that he has an open door, and is willing to listen to any proposed amendments, although he wants the bill to advance very soon. His words were ~ “Come talk to me, if we sit down and talk we can come up with a win-win solution.”

As far as the California Tribal Business Alliance is concerned they are game to compete in the online gambling market – at this point in time with poker, but only if the process is open and fair. If introduced in December – which is the plan – the bill only allows for a handful of licensed sites and these will be intrastate. Correa’s amendments are for $250 million (at least five licenses) to be paid into state pockets in order for the bill to pass. This has sweetened the deal as far as the state is concerned. But it also means that no more online gambling licenses will be granted until 2016. This is to give the initial operators a breathing space to recover their investment. This wins a vital few years of monopoly for a fledgling industry, but also allows room for tribal dissention as COPA is now being accused of seeking out such a monopoly.

The feeling from COPA is that every tribe in California was afforded the option to become part their group for a nominal fee of only $1. According to supporters of the bill, this means that no tribes were locked out of the process, and by pooling resources, even tribes with very little ability to generate wealth would be able to share in the wealth generated from online gambling. CTBA is also not buying this argument; they apparently are not keen to share profits with smaller, less fortunate tribes.

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Poker psychology

19 August 2011, 1:05 pm

In theory anyone with basic math skills could become a good poker player. Poker is in fact quite simple, it’s the players who make it complicated. Therefore it is very important to not only know you own brain, but  you should also be able to ‘read’ your opponents. Psychology in poker is mainly about pressure – you need to be able to withstand high pressure while putting your opponent under pressure.

Many people think that psychology is all about driving your opponent up the wall. That is party true, but you can only to that when you are able to control yourself. Your mental and emotional state has a major impact on your results. All your hard work can be made useless with one faulty decision. If you don’t feel comfortable in your skin then your might best avoid the poker tables for the day. It might also happen that you get frustrated after losing a couple of hands in a row. Therefore it is very important that you know when to stop. Quitting is definitely no sign of weakness.

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2011 EPT to be aired throughout the year

16 February 2011, 12:46 pm

The 2011 EPT will get an exquisite TV coverage – all included events will be aired on Channel 4 throughout the year. Along with EPT, also The UK and Ireland Poker Tour plus the PCA will be covered and the poker audience can look forward to about 70 hours of games on TV during this year. The games will be commented on by Liv Boeree who won 2010 EPT San Remo and the show’s host will be Nick Wealthall. Players who manage to get to the Play the Pro competition will have a chance to play a top poker professional or a sporting celebrity.

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Texas Holdem Tournaments: The Gauge of Poker Players

20 December 2009, 6:49 pm

Tournaments have become the spice of man’s life. Ever since the world began, this had been the basis of the overall gauge of man in the society. Nowadays, to gauge the mastery and the mathematical skills of poker players there are lots of Texas Holdem Tournaments.

The most well-known of all poker tournaments is the World Series of Poker Tournament. It is a huge tournament played by the use of satellites or minor tournaments. This is offered by different online poker websites. In the year 2003-2004, World Series No Limit Holdem Main Event winners were eligible to play in the World Series of Poker due to continuous practice. You may be the next! So, the finest thing for you to do is to practice every day your poker play.

Prove the world what you’ve got! Show them that you will be the next poker superstar to watch out for!

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Calculating the Odds of Poker

6 December 2009, 8:41 pm

What are poker odds in the first place? And why are these poker odds important anyway. It is always said that a poker player must carry with him two very important mental skills, to be witty and to be a fast thinker. These two skills are also very important for a player to take the strategy of calculating the odds of poker to his/her advantage. Calculating the odds of poker after all requires intelligence, keen observation and quick decision and thinking of what poker action to throw. Poker odds deals with the ratio of your chance of winning dealing with the pot money and the cards you have at your hand. If you believe that poker is a game of luck, then you are guilty of this incorrect assumption with the fact that your chance of winning can actually be calculated through the odds you have.

For every poker variation, there is also a way to calculate its odds. Generally, figuring pot odds is easy with figuring the size of the winning pot to the amount you have to call in action. On the other hand, figuring out your odds of winning is more difficult since it involves unpredictable factor of not knowing exactly the strategy of your opponent and the value of the poker hand they have. Remember that the game of poker is a game of percentage and probability. Unless first, you know that you are in expectedly to lose and second, you know your opponent’s card.

To simplify, calculating poker odds can be best described in this simple analogy. Let’s say you and your friend are watching a game of boxing. There is a 1:1 odd that one of the two boxers will win and one will lose. But let’s also say that both boxers are convincingly to win the game and offers you a 2:1 odd that the game could be a draw, would you still accept the bet? Indeed, since the chance that there is always a decision of a winner and a loser. In comparison with the game of poker, for example you have two diamonds in hand and another two diamonds laid on the flop, our odds for gaining a flush is about in 2:1 ratio which means that you have approximately a chance to hit a flush for every three times you play.

Calculating your odds out is counting your outs approximately. If you have six good cards that will take you to win are inversely having six of the same cards to consider as your outs. Knowing your odds and your outs is important to give you a clear idea that you are already in a good or in a bad situation. You will know when you have the chance to win or that you have to concede that you have card that will bring you down. So if you want to test how good you are at calculating the odds of poker, try playing it online. You may want to play in online poker games offering no deposit poker bonuses to make the most of your poker money and bets.

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Texas Holdem Poker Online

25 October 2009, 6:56 pm

Since poker was created online there are also different types of poker that was developed. Some of these games follow the rules of the live poker while others were created exclusively for the online game. One of the most played poker in the internet as well as in the live game is the Texas Holdem.

Texas Holdem was invented in 1900s in a city known as the Robstown, which is located in Texas. After the game was introduced in Texas it became popular and was brought to Las Vegas in 1967 by some Texan gamblers and other card players. They describe the game as a more strategically game compared to Draw Poker. The first casino establishment that adopted the game was the Golden Nugget Casino located at Downtown Las Vegas. As the years passed by it continued its popularity and was known not only in United States but also all over the world.

The objective of the online game is similar to the live game. A dealer will shuffle first the 52 cards and distribute two cards, which are faced down known as the hole cards. When the cards are already deal out players must aim to gather the highest set of cards, such as full-house, flushes, and 8-high straight, in order to win the game. Once it begun the players can raise, call, or fold during the process. The betting in online game is much different compared to the live game because players are not playing against each other personally. Also, the paced of the game online is more rapid unlike the live game because of the limited time to play online. A single room online can accommodate hundreds of players.

The strategies used for Texas Holdem is also posted in internet that makes it more interesting to play. The first thing that a player must take note is to know the basics of the game as well as the rules that it s follows. Another is to search for a reliable site that are best recommended or those that has good reviews.

There are also different types of Texas Holdem online, which are the no-limit, limit, and the pot limit. If you are apt to a game with an unlimited raises or bets Texas Holdem poker is the game that you will surely enjoy. The game does not hold its player with the amount of money that they want to bet or even rise. In limit Texas Holdem poker there’s a certain amount of money that they can bet on, while the pot limit poker is similar to the no limit but in this game players bet are limited to the amount of pot that the game has.

Among the other online poker, Texas Holdem is the most played because the rules are easy to understand and follow. It also has fewer hassles compared to the live game. The approach of the game may be different because it is being played online but the enjoyment of it is still as good as the live game.

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The legitimacy of online poker

7 October 2009, 7:59 pm

The World Wide Web provides people all over the world with access to many great things in life, one of which is online poker. There are literally thousands of websites on the internet which promote their own online poker games today.

In the past

Back in the days of Bugsy Malone and other underworld figures there was alot of questionable plays being made in games of poker. The occurrence of cheating in poker at casinos is not so common in these more modern times but it does still happen from time to time. With the high tech technology available to and used in casinos today, it has become near, if not completely impossible to cheat. But what about online poker?

The argument

With all the advances in technology and the development of software these days, is online poker even safe or is it just a rigged permit for the companies who run the games to rake in your money? There are alot of people in the world who are sore losers, never wanting to admit that their defeat was due to how they played the cards and not because of an unfair game.

The requirement

Plenty of online poker sites are now required to submit their poker game software to undergo rigorous tests to verify if the software does in fact institute a fair game. Unfortunately this can’t always be 100% accurate.

How it’s done

Unlike in real life poker, online poker uses a program to “shuffle” the cards, this software is known as a random number generator but they can only do so much and there is neither proof nor any way in which to be certain that the cards truly are randomly dealt.

What about hackers?

Online poker websites are on the most part very secure and hackers would not be able to attack them unless they are very good and targeting a site which has a lapse in security measures. It is more likely your personal computer would be targeted by hackers more so than the website itself purely because of the amount of protection on the websites. When playing online poker it is always important to make sure your address bar is as it should be when entering your log in and personal details and never download anything you are not sure of, especially if the publisher is unknown and/ or their licences are out of date. Usually you will be notified if there are issues with its authenticity. These can be the signs of an illegitimate site and a hazardous download. Another good idea would be to do a simple search engine search about the website to see if there is any feedback available about the site.

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