silk thread through a loophole

Maman

2011-08-16T04:07:00.000+02:00

‎1 an : " Maman "
3 ans : " Maman je t'aime "
10 ans : " Maman n'importe quoi ! "
16 ans : " Oh mon Dieu, ma mère m'énerve "
18 ans : " Je veux partir de cette maison "
..................25 ans : " Maman tu avais raison! "
30 ans : " Je veux retourner chez ma mère "
50 ans : " Je ne veux pas perdre ma mère "
70 ans : " Je donnerais n'importe quoi pour que ma mère soit là "
ON A QU'UNE MÈRE et si tu l'aimes ♥, publie ça sur ton mur..

Orange

2011-07-29T05:03:00.001+02:00

En premier lieu arrive évidemment sa richesse en vitamine C, un indispensable stimulant des défenses immunitaires de l'organisme et un bon moyen de lutter contre la fatigue. Une seule orange en couvre presque les besoins quotidiens, sans fournir beaucoup de calories, ce qui est particulièrement important pour tous ceux et toutes celles qui surveillent leur ligne ou qui veulent maigrir. Des chercheurs vont même jusqu'à affirmer que la consommation régulière de fruits et de légumes riches en vitamine C protégerait de différentes causes de décès, telles que les maladies cardio-vasculaires. Mais ce bénéfice pourrait n'être en fait que la conséquence d'une alimentation équilibrée.

La vitamine C accroît l'absorption de fer, c'est pourquoi elle est particulièrement recommandée aux adolescents en pleine croissance, aux femmes ayant des règles abondantes et aux futures mères, qui sont souvent carencées en cet élément.

De plus, les agrumes sont riches en polyphénols. Ces antioxydants puissants agissent en synergie avec la vitamine C et d'autres composants pour protéger les vaisseaux sanguins. Ils ont également un effet protecteur vis-à-vis des maladies cardiovasculaires, retardent les effets du vieillissement et pourraient prévenir certains cancers.

Le calcium est à la fois abondant dans les oranges, bien assimilé et de bonne qualité (il peut être comparé à celui présent dans le lait).

Elle contient aussi des fibres de bonne qualité, qui facilitent le transit intestinal. De plus, la pectine freine la pénétration des sucres et réduit l'absorption du cholestérol qu'elle capte et entraîne avec les selles.

Learning is a lifelong process

2011-06-14T05:31:00.001+02:00

For US English keyboard users, the international keyboard (which is not a physical keyboard, but rather a simple Control Panel setting) is the easiest and most convenient method for typing French accents because it maintains the QWERTY layout, with just a few changes and additions:

To type accent grave (à, è, etc), type ` (to the left of 1) then the vowel.

Accent aigu (é), type ' (single quote) then e.

Cédille (ç), type ' then c.

Circonflexe (ê), type ^ (shift + 6) then e.

Tréma (ö), type " (shift + ') then o.

To type French quotation marks « » use ctrl + alt + [ and ], respectively.

Interesting

2011-06-13T11:58:00.001+02:00

La légende veut que chaque commentaire posté soit rémunéré 5 centimes, et ils ont donc été baptisés par les internautes chinois "le parti à cinq centimes"

Nouvelles

2011-06-13T11:52:00.001+02:00

"Je ne suis pas un héros. Dans un âge sans héros, je veux juste être un homme."

Plushenko is relieved from suspension and we may see him dancing again in JO.

Lazy Day

2010-09-25T08:41:00.002+02:00

I googled Perseus just to find out what Clashes of Titans shows is basically true about the life of the first Greek hero. Andromeda, Cetus, these are the names of constellations that I know since childhood, of course. And it is said that when Perseus was on his journey back with flying sandals, the falling drops of Medusa's blood created a race of toxic serpents on the lands of Libya.

There is no documents for me to translate today. So I am surfing lefigaro for the latest French news, in which I interestingly find out that Apple is hot on the market with 267 milliards de dollars, surpassing PetroChina to be No.2 enterprise in the world, on market value, of course.

And speaking of Apple, I need to mention that I had my first experience with iPad yesterday. It's cool but not suitable for me. In contrast, my new Acer notebook is more than an asset. After all, it's only RMB 4100.

Italy is out

2010-06-27T05:41:00.002+02:00

Trying not to be emotional, I suppose c'est une autre cicatrice pour my boring hot summer. Need to find a way out. Work, World Cup, French, English, game, et cet ordinateur super lent. Blue man, need to be more positive. Cheer me up. Maybe I should follow the Korean word: Fighting!

Google Reader

2009-11-03T10:35:00.000+01:00

Google Reader is a Web-based aggregator, capable of reading Atom and RSS feeds online or offline. It was released by Google on October 7, 2005 through Google Labs. Reader graduated from beta status on September 17, 2007

Badugi Poker Rocks

2009-04-09T04:54:00.001+02:00

Badugi is one part razz, one part draw poker, and a whole lot of fun—depending on who you talk to.

Enteratlantis is now offering this unique style of poker, which originated in Korea. The site is running both poker tournaments and sit-and-gos, although the latter is seldom attracting the higher-limits players.

The more frugal players are giving it a try, though, and they seem to be enjoying it.

At a $5.50 buy-in, nine-handed sit-and-go today, Enteratlantis player "Sesamo" was playing the game for the first time and was poker chip leader with four players left.

"It's nice to have something different," said Sesamo.

Both he and "aaa222xx," another first-timer to the game, said they would very likely play again. Of course, it helps that they both made the money.

Badugi is a draw poker game that is similar to lowball, where players try to get the four lowest cards possible, all of different suits. So, A-2-3-4, all of different suits, would be the best badugi hand a player could have.

There are three different drawing opportunities, where players can draw anywhere from zero to four cards, and a betting round occurs after each one.

Time will tell if the game will become popular online. DoylesRoom had offered badugi a couple of years ago but withdrew the game from its selection due to lack of customer interest.

Enteratlantis is clearly trying to spark and maintain interest, setting up small-stakes tourneys throughout the day. A $2.20 buy-in tournament on Sunday attracted 112 entrants.

In Las Vegas, players can find a fairly regular mixed-games format at Bellagio, which contains badugi, for as cheap as $2-$4 and as expensive as $4,000-$8,000. The Imperial Palace poker room features badugi as part of its mixed games, as well, every Sunday at 7 p.m. Treasure Island also offers a standalone $3-$6 badugi game, although there are rarely enough players to form a game.

Poker Data

2009-04-07T09:40:00.001+02:00

Data base is a very important tool. It helps you collect information in such an organized way that statistics can be analysed by the expert for good use, and for me, to crack down my boredom, I refer for public entertainment a copy of poker player X's Poker Tracker stats.

This data history is said to drawn from over 30,000 hands of play.

Most Dealt Poker Hand: J8o - 346 times
Least Dealt Hand: 94s - 82 times

Highest Winning % Hand - AA 86.67%
Lowest Winning % Hand - Q8s 0.82%

Most Tournament Money Won - ATo
Most Tournament Money Lost - 93o

Most Raised Hand Pre-Flop - JJ 79.70%
Least Raised Hand Pre-Flop - 21 Hands on 0%

Big Hands:

Straight Flush x 2
Four of a Kind x 13

Most Played Against Players:
Private information, no exposure here, LOL

This information inspires me a lot, and what's your feeling after seeing it? Can it compare with yours?

Poker Term Post-it

2009-04-02T10:42:00.003+02:00

In the world of internet poker, some people chat a lot, some people write a lot. And I prefer to read. Actually, some professionals are really good at writing poker articles with incisive analysis and humorous metaphors. To help you too suck juice from these pro-talk, I offer you introduction of some useful poker jargons.

1. Muck
As a noun! It refers to the area on the table where all of the dead cards are placed. Basically, there are folded cards.
As a verb! It means to fold.

2. UTG
Abbreviation for: Under the Gun. It is the position to the left of the big blind which acts first before board cards are dealt. Of course, you can't choose positions at the poker table. As an early position, somehow it is admitted to be a disadvantage.

3. Rock
It's a nickname for a type of player who will play only top hands. They are very good at folding most of their losers, but will not aggressively bet their winners, which in result not making much money. They are also easily bullied out of pots because of their tight nature.

Please stayed tuned for my upcoming articles on poker term and poker rules!

One Round of Omaha

2009-03-31T23:46:00.001+02:00

Omaha is played with blinds and dealer button which means that the positions are fixed throughout the whole hand. The dealer button is a white plate that marks the dealer position. The blinds are two mandatory bets made before the cards are dealt. The blinds are used to open play and force action. The first player to the left of the dealer posts the small blind and the second player posts the big blind. The small blind is the size of half a big blind.

The dealer gives the players four cards face down, the first betting round begins and turn goes clockwise starting with the poker player to the left of the dealer. The players may do one of the following actions depending on what is possible at the moment: check, bet, raise, call or fold.

When the first betting round is finished the dealer places three cards open on the poker table, these are the flop cards. Betting resumes and remaining players make their move.
When the second betting round is finished the dealer places one card face up on the table. Betting resumes as usual. This is the turn card.

When the third betting round is finished the dealer places the fifth and last card open on the table. This is the river card. Betting resumes but when the last person has acted it's a showdown of the cards. The person who bet or raised last shows the cards first. The other players may choose to show or fold their hands depending if they have a better hand. The player with the best poker hand wins the pot. (In Omaha high-low the pot is split into a high hand and a low hand pot if there is a low hand qualifier)

To determine the best poker hand a player has to use two of the four hole cards with three of the five community cards.

The dealer button is moved one step to the left and a new hand may begin.

Poker Odds Tutorial: Lesson 1

2009-03-30T05:21:00.004+02:00

If you hold two suited cards, what are the poker odds of flopping 2 of that same suit? How did you calculate this?

All unknown cards including burns are considered to be part of the deck. You calculate by using fractions, putting your outs on top (numerator) and the total cards remaining on bottom (denominator). For the 3 flop cards, the denominators are 50, 49, and 48.

Calculating something like flopping a set is simple addition … { 2/50 + 2/49 + 2/48 }. But with two of a suit, the numerator of the fraction changes when the suit hits. There are 11 of the suit left and you need to hit 2 of them. So, it's more complex than one single addition or multiplication problem.

Rather than write some massive nested expression, I'll try and explain this in a fun and interesting way. Let's say you're holding 2 clubs.

The first card of the flop is a club 11/50 times … 22% of the time, exactly. We go on from there.

22% of the time, you hit that first club. You will need only one of those other 2 cards to be a club … the odds of that are fairly high, { 10/49 + 10/48 }, about 42%.

The other 78% of the time, you'd need both the remaining cards to be clubs … the odds of that are fairly low, { 11/49 * 10/48 }, about 4.5%.

We multiply 22% by the first bracketed expression, which is how often it will happen.

We multiply 78% by the second bracketed expression, which is how often that will happen.

We add these two figures together and arrive at 12.7%, almost exactly 1 in 8 times.

If you also want to include situations where you flop all 3 of that suit, we add the odds of that, { 11/50 * 10/49 * 9/48 } which is very, very low, 0.8%, to the final mix.

Therefore we can say that the odds of flopping at least 2 of suit X, when you already hold 2 of suit X, is ever so slightly better than 1 in 7.5, almost identical to the odds of flopping a set.

Let's make a stand for internet poker. Start from a poker blog first …

Poker Poll

2009-03-27T08:21:00.007+01:00

It's a poll as well as a questionaire. How popular is the internet poker and casino gaming in your country? Take your pick. Or you can name the top three if they are not on the list.

Knowledge grows when shared—a very useful database is built through your fingertips.

What are the 3 most popular Poker/Casino games in your area?

Poker Article Directory + best of the best

2009-03-26T03:44:00.006+01:00

Blog Bible tells us: Choose your best articles and compile them to a list. Then post it!

Here we go!

Spring Cleaning for my Blog
This poker blog needs a face-lift, too

Things aren't the way they were before
Internet poker changes the way we look at the world

Play in Russian Style
Having a different perspective is always entertaining

Did You Know
The famous "they" said, the humble "I" quote

To Do List
Make a wish

Short History of Poker
As the name suggests

Search for the Unexpected
It's fun to read

30 Things About Me
Total portrait

She is Teresa
Now she prefers to be called Lolita

Gravity Counts
Half-blood short story. Pong ...

Poker News Review for March, 2009

2009-03-24T04:24:00.003+01:00

Pre-registration is open for the 2009 World Series of Poker, to be held once again at the Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. Players who are in Las Vegas can simply go to the Rio with cash or casino chips in hand and register in person. Those who are unable to make it to the casino until the WSOP starts can register from home, either by fax or mail. To do so, visit the WSOP's registration website and complete the appropriate form. Be sure to have your driver's license number and Harrah's Total Rewards number available, as they will be necessary to complete registration. Remote payment can be made with a cashier's check or wire transfer. Pre-registration closes two weeks prior to an event's start and keep in mind that the tournaments actually have maximum capacities, so if you are certain that you will play in a particular event, register early to make sure you get a seat.

Tel Aviv, Israel based CogniSafe announced the release of its new online gambling cheating protection software, PitBoss, last week. Using mathematical processes based on a massive gambling knowledge base, the software can supposedly root out cheaters automatically. It can detect bots, collusion, hackers, prohibited software tools, "superusers" who have information about the cards to be dealt, and disconnect protect abuse. The software can also be updated in order to detect new forms of cheating. If a cheater is detected, not only does the software provide the poker room operator with the appropriate information, but it can also prevent the suspected cheater from doing further damage, such as transferring money to a cohort. According to CogniSafe, while PitBoss obviously gathers information on the games being played, no personal information is collected. The only information sent to the online poker room operator is the username of the suspected cheater and what type of cheat is being perpetrated.

According to a New York Times article, the French government will open up its country to online gambling companies in 2010. In an effort to bring in more tax revenue and establish some control over online gambling, those companies wishing to do business in France will be able to submit applications for licenses starting next year. This would also likely alleviate some of the pressure put on France by the European Union, which has not liked France's attempts at establishing a government monopoly on online gambling. Sports and horse bets would be taxed 7.5 percent under the proposed licensing plan, while poker wagers would be taxed 2 percent.

Take Another Look at Pocket Aces in Omaha

2009-03-23T07:28:00.001+01:00

A player typically does a little leap in their head when a player stares down and sees pocket aces in Texas Holdem. In Pot Limit Omaha numerous players will have a tendency to do the same thing when they look down at pocket aces, but not all hands that contain aces are physically powerful.

A-A-K-K double suited as many people know, is the best starting hand in Pot Limit Omaha. This also considered is a powerful hand while Preflop, is the hand that is always ahead. A couple of coordinated cards are also very power Poker hands. So does hands that have aces in them.

When the players play aces that are not coordinated or suited, a lot of them get into a trap with aces. Players treat any starting hand with two aces in it like the nuts and sometimes get into a holdem poker mentality. When you are relying on only the aces to win the hand, the problem with playing a hand with aces that does not have any backup or else you need to be incredibly lucky.

A poker player that is known to be an aggressive and loose player raised from middle position in an Omaha Online Poker tournament about a year ago. Mean while a player on the button reraised the pot and the LAG player that reraised all-in and was called. The LAG player showed A-A-4-9 with no suits while the opponent showed Qh-Jd-10h-9s. The aces are only 58% to win if you run stats on this hand preflop and this is almost a coin flip situation. The aces all of a sudden went to an underdog because the flop fell 8s-10c-2d and the player with the wrap had a 57% chance to win at this point. The aces were busted the wrapped player actually hit his straight.

Settled, the need for a player to have backup with their aces are required the wrap to hit. Hand must hit in order to stay ahead although any chance hand with two aces in it is indeed a slight favorite before the flop. Uncoordinated aces will not hit the flop and then fall behind in many cases.

The question of how should a player play a hand with uncoordinated aces depends on several factors including position, the nature of poker players at the table, the restrictions, and certainly your stack. Seeing if you get lucky and limping into a pot with on the flop is the type of one hand that you may even want to consider. Omaha is a drawing game although limping with aces look as if counterintuitive. Players that pick up a draw on the flop actually are ahead against "naked aces". You recognize that a raise will knock some players out. You may want to put in a raise if you are on the button against only limpers. If you do not hit the flop that you may want to tread very lightly should keep in mind or else you may end up giving your chips away.

A Legendary Poker Player Profile

2009-03-20T03:50:00.006+01:00

Johnny Chan has become one of the best players in World Series of Poker history. Born in China, he sits second all time with 10 WSOP bracelets just one behind Phil Hellmuth. Chan's first World Series of Poker cash was in 1983 and he plays a full program to this day with 3 cashes in 2008. Johnny is widely considered one of the top 5 players in World Series of Poker history and is popular on Poker television. Chan came to the United States in 1968. He is married with six children. He won first bracelet in 1985 and his tenth in 2005.

Chan had already had one bracelet to his name, heading in to the 1987 World Series of Poker Main Event, however the Main Event would be where his career really started. Poker greats like Howard Lederer, Dan Harrington and Mickey Appleman Littered the Main Event final table in 1987. Johnny proved that he was a player to consider with and beat all those top pros and took home the title at the final table. Chan won $650 000 and beat Frank Henderson heads up. In 1988 Chan made the final table of the Main Event and once more a lot of names you will recognize were at the table with him. Guys like Erik Seidel, TJ Cloutier and Humberto Brenes. Johnny showed that he was one of the top pros in the world besting Seidel heads up to take home the bracelet and $700 000 once again. Johnny was now the man to observe with back to back wins and three career bracelets The 1989 Main Event where legends are born. Chan once again was there in the end. He battled his way to again being heads up for the title, and what happened was two upcoming poker legends would take clash. Maybe poker fans didn't realize it at the time, but it was legend vs legend. Phil Hellmuth vs Johnny Chan. Chan would still take home more then $300 000 although Hellmuth would take home the title. We will in no way see another player make three main event final tables in a row, pass up win 2 and finish second once. Johnny had made his name in the poker world. Making another Main Event final table in 1992he would win more bracelets and even.

While he won a 7 card stud tournament Chan wouldn't win his fourth bracelet until 1994. When he outlasted Barry Greenstein, Steve Zolotow and Lyle Berman in winning the deuce to seven lowball bracelet His fifth came in 1997. Chan won his sixth bracelet in 2000 and in 2002 he convene with an old friend in the no limit holdem heads up tournament, Phil Hellmuth and now Johnny took home the title and his seventh bracelet. In event 15 and event 24 his eighth and ninth bracelet both came in 2003. Chan won his then record 10th bracelet in a pot limit holdem tournament in 2005. He had to beat Phil Laak heads up to win that 10th title, which earned him over $300 000. After that Johnny has cashed eight times and most lately finished 4th in an Omaha event in 2008.

Overall Johnny has cashed 41 times and 10 bracelets in his career. Johnny has made more then $4 million at the World Series of Poker alone over his 25 year career. Chan is one of the most consistent poker players in poker history with 25 years and 27 final tables made. He has had triumphed playing Holdem of all limits and styles, Omaha and seven card poker games.

He commonly appears on Poker After Dark on NBC. Johnny is more then just the World Series. He has career tournament earnings of more then $6.5 million and also won Poker Superstars. Play Poker like Johnny Chan and Million Dollar Holdem are the two books he had written. He runs his personal online poker site, owns fast food franchises and desires to eventually open his own casino. Chan is a great poker player and a business man who will strive for success in all his endeavors.

Ultimate Poker Tournament: WSOP

2009-03-19T06:06:00.005+01:00

The World Series of Poker is without a doubt the biggest and most prestigious poker tournament in the world. The WSOP, as it is known, gathers the best poker players in the world each year to battle each other until only one is declared champion and winner of millions of dollars—the biggest prize, and honor, in the poker world.

Poker tournament is a series of structured competitions where players compete against each other to accumulate all the poker chips in play. In "normal" casino games, each hand is unrelated to any other. Players can quit whenever they want. In tournaments, players can not quit and cash out their chips. Play continues until there is a winner.

There are different types of poker tournaments: "Elimination" or "freeze out" tournaments are the most common type. In this structure all players begin with the same amount of poker chips, and play continues until one player has accumulated all the chips. As players are eliminated, the active players are re-seated at fewer and fewer tables. While the winner of the tournament is the poker player who accumulates all the chips, the payout structure rewards several players. For example, if ninety-five players start a tournament, commonly the "final table" of nine players would receive prize money—with eighth getting a larger prize than ninth, seventh getting more than eighth, etc.

Spring Cleaning for my Blog

2009-03-18T03:24:00.010+01:00

The sun is shining with selflessness on this cozy spring morning. I just strung out six pairs of socks along the washing line. Maybe the mattress needs to be aired too. And the timing is perfect to start my blog renovation project.

Colors and fonts are changed. I add some purple this time, maybe brown next time.

Abundant widgets are deleted so they won't scare off new visitors. It's a hard choice but I think it hurts more to have a turtle-speed website. Though I try to follow some example to conceal some useful but not so nice widgets, the code part is just beyond me so I give it up.

Underlines of hyperlinks are removed to make text layout more smooth. Besides, I think these lines are really urrrrrgly. I went to numerous professional sites for the magical tip. Finally, I add the code "text-decoration: none" in the Edit HTML section. And Bingo!

The sidebar part needs to be better organized. And I should look for a nice background picture …

Anyway, I will keep trying to post articles of updates I'm doing and add a bit more non poker stuff to give my blog a bit more variety.

Internet Poker at Your Service

2009-03-17T03:05:00.005+01:00

The following is for the advantages I think of internet poker—though I'm sure someone with a creative mind could think of others. I would be glad to meet fellow poker "punks", so don't hesitate to inspire me with your great perspectives.

Ability to "Multi-table"

Online poker has spawned something that never existed before in poker—the ability to literally play more than one game at the same time. This has a huge potential upside for the player who is a consistent winner with a well-defined style of play. Though he may give up some profit in each game he plays by limiting his ability to "play the players", he can greatly multiply his hourly win rate by playing many games at once. This can be an enormous example. Imagine, for example, that you are a winner of two big bets an hour in your live games. Now imagine that you can play eight games at once—winning only one big bet an hour—having to give up your full advantage because you can't tailor your play to each individual player. That still leaves you with the ability to earn eight big bets an hour—four times your live play rate. Is it any wonder that so many of the hottest poker players these days make their money chiefly on line?

Ability to Instantly Take Notes on Opponents

A good poker player often notices tendencies of his opponents that help reveal what cards they are likely to hold. In a live casino it is very difficult or impossible to record those impressions immediately. But in an online room this is simply a matter of typing in some brief notes on a pull down screen. These notes can be retained for as long as an opponent plays under the same screen name. This advantage is itself augmented because of the ease of locating these players in the future. Most online poker sites have a "find a player" feature that allows you to type in their screen name and locate, immediately, where they are playing. So if you've noticed that a player is a loose passive opponent, you can look for him again in a future game and adjust your play accordingly. If only "fishing" were always so easy in real life.

Inability of Opponents to Read Your Poker Tells

Many players reveal a lot about their hands by their unconscious but observable traits at the poker table. These "tells", such as how you physically bet, breath, talk, hold your cards, or otherwise react to situations as they develop during the play of the hand, give experienced players extra information from you that they can use to exploit. When you play on line, these traits become invisible, eliminating a disadvantage you may have had in a live game.

Baccarat Tips

2009-03-16T03:35:00.003+01:00

(1) There are normally eight decks of cards in a game of Baccarat. You have a better advantage of winning through the banker's hand if the game is with lesser number of card decks.

(2) Baccarat offers three options for betting-Banker's hand, player's hand, and tie. Banker's and player's hand offer almost similar house edge and betting on either can bring similar winnings.

(3) Occurrence of a tie in a game of baccarat is very remote. However, you get back your initial bet amounts in case of a tie. However, if any poker player bets on a tie, you cannot get back your bet amount.

(4) Betting on a tie as the outcome of a baccarat game is very rare as house odds for a tie are as high as 14%. Hence, if you bet on a tie as the result, and if it is so, you have to pay 14% of your winnings to the casino.

(5) House edge for the banker's hand is 1.09% and casinos charge an extra 5% as taxes or commissions for winnings on this hand. Even then, you stand to gain by betting on the banker's hand as the outcome of this casino game.

(6) House edge for the player's hand is 1.24%. Hence, you pay the equivalent percentage of your winnings from the player's hand to the casino.

(7) There is no set pattern for the outcomes of any baccarat game. Baccarat is a game of chance and you cannot bet on any eventuality as the sure outcome of the next round of play.

(8) Have a clear and through understanding and knowledge of the game rules of Baccarat to be aware of any mistakes by any player or dealer in a game.

(9) Dealer burns that many cards as the number that appears on the face up card on the baccarat poker table.

(10) Player receives the first and third dealt cards while banker receives the second and fourth dealt cards.

(11) You take only the last of the two-digit card totals. If total of your cards is 12, it is only two.

(12) If the total of the initially dealt cards is eight or nine, the player or the banker automatically wins and it is a natural hand. This becomes a tie situation only if two hands have the similar occurrence.

(13) Only a natural nine can beat a natural eight hand.

(14) You need to draw if your card total is less than six or seven.

(15) Bank always draws on a total from zero to two. Card total of three makes the bank draw only if the player draws a third card of eight. If the player's third card is an eight, nine or an Ace, Banker can draw on card total of four.

(16) A third card between four and seven with the player can help the bank draw on a total of five. Bank stands on a total of six if player has a third card of either six or seven only.

(17) Bank always stands on a total of seven.

Play Blackjack Step by Step

2009-03-12T09:15:00.004+01:00

Starting out: If you are new to blackjack, play online, casinos offer a practice mode with autoplay to assist you. Play until you have the hang of it so that you don't lose money foolishly.

Bankroll: Always predetermine your Bankroll prior to playing so that you are not spending money you shouldn't be in the heat of the moment when you just feel like the next hand could be "lucky".

Choosing a Table: Choose a poker table where the maximum bet is not higher than 5% of your bankroll, that way you will lose less and be able to enjoy a great deal more game time, rather than playing one or two hands and being done.

Basic Strategy: Memorise it, apply it and stick to it no matter what … This is probably the most important blackjack tip we can give you, and if you will only pay attention to one of these, this is it!

Think 21: The aim of blackjack is to get as close to 21 as possible, don't try to copy or beat the dealer, you will bust more often than you win.

Insurance is for cars and card counters: You can't card count online, so just forget that the option of insurance even exists.

Split: pairs of Aces and 8's, but DO NOT do this on any face cards or 10's.

Know when to hit and stand: Hit hard until you reach 17 or more, stand on 17 or more and hit soft 18 if the dealer has 10.

Watch the values: If the dealer holds 7 or higher, play up until 17 or higher. Against dealers, 4, 5 or 6 double with 9 and play soft hands of 13-17. Double your 10 against dealer's 9 or lower and double with any hand of 11.

Variation is key: Vary your betting amounts according to your results, increase them if you are winning and decrease them if you are losing. This is common sense that is often forgotten in the excitement of this casino game.

France Endorses Internet Poker

2009-03-09T02:58:00.013+01:00

French government just proposes to its congress a law amendement concerning the openning up of gambling market. If approved, this reform will come into force from Jan. 1st, 2010. Only those internet sites with a licence will be authorised.

During the last several decades, there are only two national companies that take legal control of online gaming industry in France, La Française des jeux and PMU. Things are changing. The government is forced to break up the monopoly for the head-on competition from Internet gaming.

The minister of Budget, Éric Woerth, explains that 5% of French frequent those "underground" gaming sites which are illegal according to current law, and it's potentially dangerous. These sites' number has passed 25,000 among which 20% are in French language. And the total revenu can reach 2 billion euro per year. While three quarters of this sum evades tax.

The opening of this market to free competition will concern horse gambling, sports gambling. While La Française des jeux will keep its monopoly in lottery. In terms of casino gaming, only internet poker are allowed. Meanwhile Blackjack, Roulette, and slot machines are still contraband.

Licences will be awarded to those qualified internet sites. And taxes are paid according to their revenue. Rate for sports gambling is set to be 8.5%. For horse gambling it's as high as 15.5%. While the tax rate for poker sites will be 2%, part of which will be used to finance cultural heritage programmes.

Little Genius: Madin

2009-03-06T04:13:00.003+01:00

Madin, a seven-year-old French boy.
He is pretty good at playing football.
Check the video out.

Play Baccarat at Online Casino

2009-03-03T04:29:00.013+01:00

It's a pearl in European casinos. Yep, it's Baccarat. And I'd like to guide you to the crystal-clear Baccarat rules. Check it out.

The aim of Baccarat is to assemble your hand to contain two or three cards with a total value of nine, or secondly eight. The absolutely perfect hand is one that contains two cards and their value totals nine, this is known as a "Natural Nine" or a "Natural Eight". If any of the players, including the banker, has a "Natual Nine" or a "Natural Eight" then the other players may not draw a third card - that poker player is the winner unless there is a tie between two players in which case the game is void. If there are no "Naturals" then players decide whether to bet or fold.

Card Scoring:

If the total of a poker hand is greater than ten then the initial figure is ignored, e.g. if a card hand total was 14 then the actual total is 4.

Hand Totals (certain examples are listed):

The way to bet is to bet on whether the "Banker" will win, or the "Player" will win, or there will be a "Tie". It's a little bit complicated for it has to do with "third-card-rules". I'll write about it in later articles.

Brief introduction may never suffice. The best way to learn and understand Baccarat is to play at an online casino. If you are totally new, you can try a "play money" room. It's simple, and simple is the best.

Top 10 Interesting Blackjack Facts

2009-03-02T03:50:00.006+01:00

1. There is great dispute amongst the Italians and French as to who first invented the game of blackjack, although most think it to be the French.

2. The game was originally called vingt-et-un (French meaning 21).

3. It is well documented fact that Napoleon loved the game of 21 and played it when he had time to kill on his exile in Elba.

4. The name Blackjack came about due to a variation in the rules of the original game where payouts were given if a player held the black Jack of Spades.

5. Blackjack was banned in the US at the turn of the 19th century and went "underground" until 1939 when the state of Nevada removed its bans as it gave birth to Las Vegas.

6. In the early 60's Edward O. Thorp wrote a book entitled "Beat the dealer" detailing the mathematical workings of this casino game and is known as the father of card counting.

7. The publishing of Thorp's book lead to increased player attendance and winnings at casinos. The casinos then altered some of the standard rules, bringing about new variations of standard games.

8. Al Franesco was the inventor of blackjack team play, earning him and his team millions of dollars and resulting in the formation of many famous card counting teams over the years including the famous MIT card counting team document in the movie "21".

9. The seats positioned around a dealer at the poker table in blackjack are called "bases", and referred to as "first, second or third base", however these are the only baseball terms that appear in the game.

10. There is a Blackjack Hall of fame. It was launched in 2002 and honours blackjack experts, authors, and professional poker players who have made significant contributions to the game.

Play Baccarat with Maths

2009-02-27T06:27:00.013+01:00

Baccarat is one of the simplest games in casino. And what matters most in this casino game is the betting method.

I am not saying that they are the lucrative way or the right way to play, but players use these 2 kinds of betting systems the most—progressive betting system and Fibonacci betting system. Today I'd like to elaborate on the former one.

Here being progressive means throwing out poker chips with a predefined formula, an ever-increasing upper slope. Because, common sense says: if you want to win big, you need to bet big. Meanwhile, you just can't bet big in a random way. Right? Anyway, that's the reason why progressive betting system is applied in a large scale.

And here is a sequence often used in the system. For instance, you have in your pocket $10, the whirl goes this way: 10 20 40 80 160 320 640 1280 2560, so on and so forth.

Attention! Take this for a note: the basic principle behind the winning poker strategy is try to lose as little as possible while win big. While people usually just focus on how to avoid losing money when they sit at the poker table. They are probally right about keeping their butt on the chair but they may not enjoy the true essence of gaming.

Well, back to the game and take a good look at the number sequence. Let's say, if the luck is against you, with a straight loss, you just can't turn back, for all you need to do is throw your chips out again and win the next round. Just win once, and you can gain all your previous losses back. While you stop at that moment and calculate your "jackpot" You can win? Only 10 dollars. In retrospect, it just isn't worth the effort and sometimes if you can't throw the bad-luck monkey off your back, it may drag you too deep to a dangerous marsh…

For a novice of Baccarat who doesn't have a large bankroll, you may probably be using this system right now. Though I recommend you adopt the famous Fibonacci betting system, which I may explain in my later articles. Hay, don't get mad or something. I am not judging. After all, for some people, not losing equals winning! Haha …

Roulette—the most charming casino game

2009-02-26T06:36:00.006+01:00

It's the "chef-d'oeuvre" in the casino hall. Fortunes are lost and won at the spin of a wheel and the game's reputation is sealed. Since the total of all numbers on the wheel is 666, Roulette is jokingly coined as the game of the devil. And it undeniably has a hold on people who are eager to experience the real thrill of the casino game.

The following are something you may not know about Roulette.

1, essentially there are two versions of Roulette, with different wheel layout. In European Roulette the wheel has 37 slots, comprising of numbers 1-36 and zero. American Roulette has 38 slots, an extra slot, for the double-zero.

2, a minimum of one player is required, with a maximum of eight being accepted at each table. Every player is allocated one colour of chips (to avoid bets being confused).

3, be careful about late betting and misplaced chips. If you bet after the point the dealer has said he is no longer taking bets, your bet will be void. With so many chips on the table, it is inevitable that some will be knocked and end up moving to numbers they are never intended for. While misplaced bets tend to be the biggest source of disputes, by playing online casino you don't need to worry about that any more.

Speed Hold'em—Fast Game

2009-02-25T04:29:00.006+01:00

What's it like? Let me put it this way. It's Ferrari in F1; It's running back of NFL; It's 100-m sprint on the Olympic track …

We call it Speed Hold'em. You know what? The gaming software engineers have instilled the essence of fascination into the game. That is, Quick, Fun and Convenience.

First of all, quick gaming is what we promote and honor at the poker table. The time limit for every move of every player is largely reduced—30 seconds compulsory. You don't have to wait endlessly before the monitor for one of your components is involved in his templation or in worse case, he is stuck in a time-consuming non-poker-related business. So, Speed Hold'em saves us time and energy.

"Have fun" is the ultimate priority of all human entertainment activities. For Speed Hold'em, it's no exception. You don't have to doubt any change in the poker rule itself. Speed Hold'em is nothing but Texas Hold'em. But quicker, and that's what we throw in for your interest!

Last but not the least, Speed Hold'em is devoted to convenient user experience. HINT signs pop up 3 times to warn it's your TURN now. "Pre-select" button is set at your service so you can decide your action before other poker players even act. when emergency comes, it won't bother you anymore.

Join me in this game, cowboys. Speed has no limit.

Useful Game Tips in BlackJack

2009-02-24T03:44:00.004+01:00

Blackjack is a simple game—the closest to 21 without going over wins. In reflection, there are four steps to improving your online gaming experiences. They are based on the value of the dealer's up card.

1, if the dealer's up card is 7 or higher, continue to draw cards until you have a hard count of at least 17 or higher, or a soft count of 18 or higher. (A "soft" hand is one that has an Ace that is counted as 11. A poker hand that either contains no Aces or the Ace is counted as a 1 is called a "hard" hand.

2, if the dealer's up card is 6 or lower, draw cards until you have at least 12. Stop when you have 12 or higher.

3, double down when your first two cards total 10 or 11, If the dealer has a 9 or lower. To double down simply means you can double your original bet after you receive your first two cards. If you decide to double down you will then receive only one more card.

4, always split aces and eights. Do not split any other pairs. To split a pair simply means that when you receive any pair on your first two cards, you can split them into two separate hands. You can then play each hand as individual hands.

Let's start practicing what you've learned today at those online poker rooms.

Position Q&A

2009-02-23T04:01:00.002+01:00

I've always wondered why the big blind is in 2nd position instead of first, where it would seem to make sense to put the poker player with the largest forced bet in the poker hand (and it would follow that the poker player with the 2nd worst position places the half blind).

Why the blinds are placed how they are?

Big blind before small blind would get funky because the amount of money put into the pot preflop would no longer be ascending (or nondescending). If the small blind acts before the big blind, he has to put in the proper amount or fold; if the big blind acted first, what would he do, check or raise every time?

In short, small blind before big blind can be interpreted as a forced bet of 0.5 big blind, followed by a forced mini raise to 1 big blind.

Poker Talk

2009-02-19T07:49:00.005+01:00

Your best chance to get a Royal Flush in a casino is in the bathroom.
~V.P. Pappy

I must complain the cards are ill shuffled till I have a good hand.
~Jonathan Swift

There are times when I don't care if I'm dressed to impress. One of those times is when I'm playing online poker.
~Doyle Brunson

I guess if there weren't luck involved, I'd win every time.
~Phil Hellmuth

Luck never gives; it only lends.
~Anonymous

In the game, I can put other poker players' souls in my pocket.
~Anonymous

People come and go, while the game continues.
~me

4 Cons

2009-02-16T04:20:00.006+01:00

In Texas Hold'em, there are 4 kinds of trouble you should avoid:

Loose Start Hand Selection
I recommend simply avoiding specific poker hands you feel uncomfortable playing.

Failing To Release After Start Raising
I start to play super tight pre flop, and as I play so few hands to begin with, I start pushing my hands too hard after the flop. Playing too tight and too aggressive can therefore be a recipe for disaster.

Failing To Respect Raises
Passive poker players seldom raise after the flop with less then two pair. If the pot is small when the raise occurs, you should dump unless you have a monster yourself. You know that even if you have pocket aces your poker odds are slim. Whether you should call it down or muck it right there depend on the size of the pot. If the pot is huge, you should probably call it down.

Failing To Make Timely Decisions With Unpleasant Outcomes
It almost always pays to play tight, and it's on the flop more then prior to the flop that you should evaluate your degree of tightness. Fold those losers, and rest assured that much better opportunities will arise later on. They always do.

Two Things

2009-02-13T04:14:00.003+01:00

Texas Hold'em is no mystery nowadays—people all over the world play it with enthusiasm. And it may seem silly to be reminded of the following fundamental facts, but it's surprising how often players get immersed in the excitement of the game and forget the basics.

So, always remember these two things:

1. The two cards you hold are the only cards that set you apart from the other poker players and give you the chance to win.

2. All of the face-up cards are community cards, shared by you and every other player. It's vital that you focus on what those cards could mean to someone else at least as much as you focus on what they mean to you. In particular, keep your eyes open for your opponents' straight and flush possibilities.

For me, the above count for the basic poker strategy and it's just these little ideas that keep my head up in my daily poker experiences.

Screen Name Matters

2009-02-12T07:42:00.006+01:00

If you're thinking that intelligent people won't usually be fooled by a screen name, you're right. But, despite people's conscientious attempts to keep from being swayed, they might occasionally be more inclined to call a poker player who presents himself with the screen name "Loose Tom" than if the name were "Tight Jerry".

Although many intelligent players won't be fooled, enough players will be occasionally influenced by a playful or reckless sounding nickname so that you'll get more calls and earn more money—if calls are your primary goal. If you believe you'll make the most money by bluffing rather than applying sensible poker strategy, then I'd recommend you choose a neutral-sounding screen name or even a conservative one, such as "Frugal Leo".

In online poker, where every extra edge helps, you should decide on a screen name that is most likely to influence your opponents the way you want, even if it only amounts to winning a few extra dollars now and then. By the way, it's been suggested to me that you might get dual advantage by choosing a loose-looking icon and a tight-sounding nickname or vice-versa. I'm sure that might confuse the opposition, but I am not convinced that would be effective, because you don't know yourself what online image you were trying to convey.

My Choice

2009-02-11T06:19:00.007+01:00

Games are so diverse and numerous nowadays that it's hard to pick up "the one" that topples everything else for us. I choose Texas Hold'em for various reasons.

First, it's a poker game. Poker cards are available all over the world and a kind of household game device.

Second, the game takes roots in America. It's becoming very popular in the English-speaking countries and those under heavy influence of western culture. I won't exaggerate its status in poker game industry, but you can imagine that when globalization is on the way and modernization keeps head up, what's popular in the developed country surely would find its followers in other countries.

Third, my own situation guides to the game. I am fairly good at English. I make my choices when concerning different products or services on the basis whether it's "in" in the western world. I won't deny it's kind of vanity style. However, that's a style I can live with, and I live with it happily. HOHO.

Journey Back Home

2009-02-10T06:47:00.006+01:00

It's a long journey home. On the train, we are bored with sleeping and eating. There is little privacy for chatting for total strangers are around within inches in this crowded place at this festival season. So we play poker.

Just between the 2 of us, we play the game "24". It's about showing 4 cards on the poker table, excluding the jokers. And the person who calculate by addition, subtraction, multiplication, or division to get 24 with least time wins the game (note: all 4 numbers indicated by the cards must be involved).

Basically, we play it only on special occasions like this one. We don't have notebook computer so no movie; my MP3's battery is dead before we get our butt on our compartment seats. Even not, it can't last for a 50-hour trip; no other entertainment can come up in my mind to kill the time. I try to inspire my GF to experience the magic of Texas Hold'em. But the game loses its attractiveness when there is no money or punishment involved. So I quit myself before she gets bored too.

Playing Against a Weak Player

2009-02-01T06:11:00.004+01:00

Supposed that you are in the tournament and there is a particular player who enters a poker tournament for the first time and it becomes obvious that he is a weak player. In that station, it won’t take us very long to recognize the type of player he was.

If you are an experienced poker player, you can quickly decide that if you are in the pot with him and to show him a hand. If he gets lucky enough to beat you, he is going to beat a hand.

Meanwhile, there are other very good players in this tournament who tries to run over him and force him out of a pot. They will bluff at him constantly and be rarely successful…

What they should not have done is try to bluff him because you simply can’t bluff a bad player as a bad player will call when he’s got any kind of a hand and pass when he doesn’t.

When playing with a weak poker player, show him a hand and you do very fundamental, even obvious things against him---no tricks, no strategic play, nothing fancy…

Play straightforward poker against a weak poker player!

Hiding Your Poker Tells

2009-01-27T06:24:00.003+01:00

As everybody knows, poker is a combination of skills and strategies, which means when we play poker, we should not only pay much attention to skills but also we should also know psychological factors.
A professional poker player could know what you have in your hand by observing your facial expression, some unconscious movements or whatever. So what we should do is to hide your poker tells as much as possible.
Following video would let you know how to hide your poker tells.

Hooray

2009-01-13T06:18:00.005+01:00

"Luck is the residue of design."
-- Branch Rickey

The harder we work, the luckier we get.

Outside poker, good luck is often the result of deliberate planning and hard work. It works this way in poker too, to a large degree. But, luck in poker is somehow also different.

We all appreciate luck in poker, and wish we could bottle it and save it for future days, but in many ways luck is the enemy of a good poker player. First let's look at luck from the perspective of the bad player. At least half the time when a bad player wins a pot, he will have gotten lucky to do it. The bad player comes from behind, sucks out when not getting pot odds, makes miracle perfect-perfect catches, spears a kicker on the river card, fills up bottom two pair against an opponent with top two pair. The bad player has a million ways to get lucky. And, like Branch Rickey said, this is by design. Bad players try to get lucky. So, it's no surprise that bad players are generally luckier than good players.

On the other hand, good players are playing with the best of it. Sure, they still get "lucky" sometimes, like making a flush draw on the river card, but they will have been getting pot odds on that draw and will have built the pot correctly too. Good players habitually do the mathematically correct action in any given situation. It's not "lucky" for AA to beat J9. The good player actually tries to avoid being lucky, except to the extent that it would be lucky if the flop came AJ9.

One way that I often get accused of being "lucky" is when an opponent says: "You are so lucky I threw away my hand." Well, duh, that's why I raised, to get you out. My luck here was again the residue of design. This is the sort of luck that good players manufacture all the time. But it's not at all the same kind of luck that happens to the bad player. The bad poker player makes his own luck happen to him; the good player often makes other players give him good luck.

Alpha→Omega

2009-01-12T07:09:00.003+01:00

My online poker experience has a really interesting trajectory. Enjoy!

1, Learn poker rules
So far, I still remember my exclamation the first time when I combined a Full House

2, Practice poker with play money
At that time, I had to restrain myself from the impulsion of throwing all in. My mentor told me seriously that the play money is not for play.

3, Learn basic poker strategy
I finally learned I should better be a tight poker player than a calling station.

4, Play low stakes with real money
$0.02/$0.04 Limit is my sweet home.

5, Join No-Limit Tourney
For me, this would be Final Fantasy & Mission Accomplished (my first thought is Mission Impossible).

6, Try other poker games other than Texas Holdem
Following the same cycle in Omaha, or whatever it is, is essential.

Take Your Position

2009-01-12T02:58:00.004+01:00

Manipulating position is a skill that Texas Holdem players need to focus on developing more deeply when moving to other games.

In Texas Holdem poker, the value of position is generally self-evident. You want opponents to make their decisions before you do, and then you want the final say, the last word. On top of that, Holdem is a game where it is common that nobody has much of anything. You are making decisions based on whose "nothing" will outplay the others to win the pot. While superior position doesn't automatically win hands, it does make it more likely you will make better bets—in the same way that a general who positions his troops on terrain he is familiar with will have an edge.

But position in Texas Holdem is simplistic. Last is basically best, particularly when only two players are in a pot. First position, or second position behind a maniac, or position in front of a maniac … sometimes these will offer positional advantages too, but for the most part, just being last to act is such a significant edge that all good players will tend to play more hands when they are in late position and less hands when they are in early position.

But the greatest difference in positional complexity comes in comparing Omaha Hi/Lo to Texas Holdem. Last position continues to have some general advantages, but it comes with disadvantages too. For example, bluffing from last position is suicide against good players. The bluffing arrow is almost removed from your quiver when you are last. In Texas Holdem having middle position seldom offers any advantages but middle position is the prime bluffing position in Omaha.

Monkey Tilt

2009-01-08T06:51:00.002+01:00

Poker terms can be very interesting and vivid, like this monkey tilt.

It's an extreme form of tilt, often caused by a series of bad beats, excessive table banter from donkeys, or otherwise pure luck in a poker game. The poker player experiencing monkey tilt may experience one or more of the following symptoms:

1) complete and utter disregard for money (in fact, other players may even claim that the player in question "hates money")

2) frequent bluffs and all-in moves before the flop in a no-limit Texas Hold'em game

3) calling bets with complete disregard for the cards or the odds being offered

4) calling jumping up and down screaming "oooh oooh aah ahh" while shoving a banana down your own throat

Pop Up

2009-01-06T03:50:00.004+01:00

You may have never noticed it before, but there are kind of bubble situations involved in major poker events.

Typically, players refer to the cash bubble and the final-table bubble. These are the two most distinct "bubbles" in a tournament. Most players want to cash, especially when getting close to the money. There is also a certain amount of distinction and accomplishment that comes with making a final table, so players often refer to the final-table bubble. The World Poker Tour has a distinct TV bubble, since it shows only the final six players on its broadcast.

The World Series of Poker has another bubble that most players don't recognize. You would sit at a table of unknowns. Probably, you would have an amazing early run, busting out many players, and be claimed as the chip leader after a few hours of play. But keep in mind, your upmost priority there should be "to survive until day two." It's the day-one bubble. The day-one bubble is simply the result of so many players who are playing the main event whose primary goal is to survive day one (note that players typically don't make the money until day three of the main event). It is a unique bubble situation, probably unlike any other tournament, as there is no cash on the line.

Donkey or Novice?

2009-01-04T07:35:00.003+01:00

It just happened.

My hole cards are Ah3h. I see the flop with 3 other poker players. The flop comes Ad3c7c. So I flop 2 pairs and I go all in. 2 players fold, the 3rd player calls. He has nothing but Jc7h. He should have folded with hope for 2 running clubs so dim. Then the turn & river are clubs. I lose.

Personally, I think he is a novice, but I don't know he is also a donkey. I wouldn't call him a weak player, but a bad player who makes blatantly bad plays.

In retrospect, I bet he would call himself lucky. And I have no remorse. After all, I was beat by a runner runner—A situation where both the fourth and fifth community cards are needed to make a hand.

Recently I have been playing Speed Holdem. With 30 seconds countdown at every move, it's hard for loose people to play wisely. What happened to me is a rare thing and I was honored to be involved.

Learning is Winning

2008-12-29T08:43:00.012+01:00

The other day, I was caught by a friend who asked me about the ABCs about Texas Hold'em. I was eloquent in explaining to him about poker glossaries, poker hand rankings, so on and so forth. But the cat got my tongue when it turned to bet structure.

The thing is, I can play comfortably in the game, but I took it for granted that I should have known therefore the poker rules and other "small" things.

So I logged into my poker room account, observed every step during the round, and took notes of what I was missing before.

Note 1

First of all, on the table there is a position called "Button". Basically it's the reference subject in the poker game. And this button rotates clockwise after each round of game.

The first player next to the button clockwise chooses to bet the small blind. Small blind is half of the big blind. Don't blame me if I am a little off the subject... For example, Room XYZ 3/6NL: No limit for bets, with 3 as small blind, and 6 as the big blind and minimum bet.

The second player next to the button clockwise chooses the big blind. As soon as he bets the big blind, which equals the minimum bet at one time, the 2 hole cards are dealt.

From the next player to the button, they have the privilege to see their hole cards before they decide to call the bet, raise or fold. So the button always is the last person to act. And he/she can see all other players' moves before making his own decision. So the button has an utmost advantage.

Then the ball rolls to the small blind. He can choose to call the blind, raise or fold, which in his position, would mean the loss of small blind.

Remember it's always the first person next to the button who has the first speak.
I am into my game once again... My hands are hot right now. I'll be inspired to do the teaching another day, I think.

Recommendation for those who know little about side pot

2008-12-26T03:58:00.004+01:00

Scenario:

Player 1 goes all in $50
Player 2 calls with $50
Payer 3 sees the $50 and raises player 2 $50
Player 2 calls the raise and this money is put into the side pot
Player 1 has the best hand and wins the pot

Question:

Do player 2 and 3 still compete for the side pot with their hands or since player 1 had the best poker hand does the side pot money just go back to player 2 and 3 evenly.

Answer:

It is a very interesting part of poker rules. The purpose of the side pot is to allow the remaining players in the hand who have money to wager it. This wagering is considered outside of the all-in person's hand. What happens when there is a side pot is that whoever has money invest in that particular pot has a right to win it if their hand is the best. So let's go over some options with the example you gave above.
Player 1 has the best hand - he only gets the main pot since he doesn't have any money in the side pot. Who wins the side pot depends on Player 2 and Player 3 (since it's their money).
Player 2 has the bet hand - he takes everything. Notice he had money in both pots so he was competing in both.
Player 3 has the best hand - same as above, he takes everything.

So the bottom line is that if you have money in a pot you have a chance to win it. If you have three side pots, you could have three different winners. There has to be a winner for each pot, no one gets their money back unless they have the same hand.

Who Moved My Chips

2008-12-24T04:31:00.006+01:00

I am not saying that I am reckless. But sometimes I just didn't know where my money has gone.

If there is someone I have to blame on, some of these flashy poker rooms are on my list. Quality of graphics is always these online card rooms' selling point, which however leads to the negligence of clear indication. At the end of a round, I even don't know who the winner is. I don't know if the server is unstable or something and I have to admit internet bandwidth is one of the elements involved. What I can see is the "montage" of poker hand actions in the twinkling of an eye. And then, a new round begins!

The story doesn't stop there! I don't know how much money I am offering to the poker room—the rake.

As luck would have it, I had the honor to chat with Robert Border, a WPT champion. He is obviously one of the best. "Professional poker player", that's the only title I can find for people like him. "Usually casinos don't put that (the information about rake) where most people can find it, it's buried in back pages…" Now I learned another inside rule! But not the exact percentage, still searching!

I wonder some guy in another corner of the world may meet the same problem. After all, these things are not registered in official poker rules.

Just now, news told me the French people pay 6,000 euro a kilo for a black mushroom—truffle. It really takes my thoughts away, and my breath, too.

Retrospect

2008-12-22T06:44:00.003+01:00

I always try more luck than my knowledge when sitting at the poker table. As soon as my butt touches the chair, I forget those golden rules and calculation theories. Everyone did that, the consolation thought told me time and again. This time, after-thought urges me to write about my experiences and lessons.

Pot odds mean little to me when I was holding a 6c9c, with a board containing Kc3c4c4dTh. At that moment, my priority is the application of slow play, rounding in more players with more money. Flush is so big a hand, at least for me, so rare—my "professional" experience of Texas Holdem is no more than 300 hours!

Oh my! I just wish I was as clear-minded as when I mucked my hand and saw the playing as an on-looker. I bet right that a flush defeated a straight once. That hand made me once proud of my know-how of this game: not novice any more; I can type out my pundit-like opinion with "lol"s following my talk without the feeling of self-mockery.

My story: Last Friday, I spent the whole afternoon in one poker room, with my 8 other long-time "comrades". That round, my gut feeling told me to all in with 260 bucks. At that moment, I temporarily put my money's fate in the hand of luck, and luck just let me down …

Hall of Fame

2008-12-19T04:37:00.001+01:00

Who are the best poker players in the world?

Here below offered by certain experts are a few of individual selections in a handful of categories.

Best all-around players - the late Chip Reese.

He is widely regarded to have been the greatest cash game poker player that ever lived.

Reese collaborated on the seven-card stud section for Doyle Brunson's Super System, the best-selling poker book of all time. In it, Brunson describes Reese as "one of the two finest young ... poker players in the world" and the best seven-card stud player he had ever played. Reese would later become the card manager at the old Dunes Casino in Vegas.

As a tribute, from 2008 onwards the H.O.R.S.E. event winner at the World Series of Poker will receive a trophy named the "David 'Chip' Reese Award".

Honorable mentions are also given to Daniel Negreanu, Phil Ivey and Doyle Brunson.
Best poker tournament player - some pundits claim it's Stu Ungar.

He is the only person to have won World Series of Poker Main Event three times and to win Amarillo Slim's Super Bowl of Poker three times, the world's second most prestigious poker title during its time.

Laureate candidacy does go out to Phil Hellmuth and Mike "The Grinder" Mizrachi. Negreanu is also named again.

"Best cash game players - David Benyamine, Patrik Antonius, Jen Harmon, there are just so many great players you could argue until the cows come home," Some net professional says.

Small Macau—Big Fortune

2008-12-17T03:50:00.004+01:00

Texas Hold 'em poker is coming to Macau.

Officials in the booming southern China gambling enclave have authorized local casinos to offer the popular card game for the first time, and the territory's leading gaming operator said Friday that it's rolling out the game at its main property.

Grand Lisboa, the flagship of casino mogul Stanley Ho's Sociedade de Jogos de Macau or SJM, has inaugurated four new tables dedicated to Texas Hold 'em, a company spokeswoman said.

Interest in poker, particularly Texas Hold 'em, has exploded in the United States in the past few years with the advent of televised tournaments such as the World Series of Poker. It has also gained popularity in mainland China, a major source of punters for Macau.

"We are confident that Texas Hold 'em will become very popular here. It is popular in Europe and in the U.S. and there are international Texas Hold 'em Poker tournaments every year," Louis Ng, SJM's director and chief operating officer, said in a statement.

Macau's government issued the rules approving Texas Hold 'em earlier this week.

The new rules allow the house to collect a commission of 3 percent to 5 percent of the betting pool for each game.

Ho held a monopoly on casinos in Macau until 2002. Since then, the government has handed out other gaming licenses, which attracted top Las Vegas operators to open luxury resorts in Macau targeting China's newly wealthy.

Las Vegas casino operators Wynn, Las Vegas Sands and MGM Grand did not immediately respond to requests seeking comment on whether they will offer Texas Hold 'em at their Macau properties.

Macau, a former Portuguese colony about 60 kilometers (40 miles) west of Hong Kong, returned to Chinese rule in 1999. In 2006 it raked in more gaming revenue than the Las Vegas Strip, according to regulators in the two locations.

Welcome to PLO

2008-11-07T14:29:00.008+01:00

Pot-Limit Omaha is a unique game. It is one of the few poker games that is much more widely played in Europe than in North America. Pot-Limit Omaha also is a game that tends to have huge swings. Even a poor player can be lucky one night and win almost all of the chips at the table in a game of Pot-Limit Omaha. It is also one of the few games that tends to be associated with higher stakes.

Pot-Limit Omaha centers on two things: building the nut hand, and position. The first point is obvious. The hands are strong in Pot-Limit Omaha, so you want to be able to hold the best hand. Most Pot-Limit Omaha games do not go to a showdown. When they do, more than likely one player has the nuts or was drawing to the nuts. When two players have strong made hands against each other, generally one has the nut hand or second-nut and the other player also has a near nut hand. An example would be a board with AQ554. One player could have AAxx and the other player might have QQxx. If a poker player called a huge bet on this board with 23xx, they would be a fool. While this straight would be a strong hand in Texas Hold'em, it would be a very weak hand for this board in Omaha.

Another central concept to Pot-Limit Omaha is position. Omaha is all about position. There are several reasons for this. First, free cards are death in Omaha. If you are in early position, you will almost always have to bet your hand, even if you hold the nuts. For example, if the board is 567 and you hold 899A, you definitely have to bet. Someone could too easily draw to a full house, flush, or perhaps even a higher straight. Because of this, people in early positions tend to give away their hands. People in late position can much more easily bluff at pots because they can be fairly certain that people in early posiitons do not have a hand, and people in late position can sometimes earn themselves extremely valuable free cards.

The following are some poker tips when evaluating preflop in Omaha:

• High pocket pairs are good. This is because they have the chance at building a big full house. If you do not hit a set with a big pair, the pair is essentially worthless.

• Connecting cards are helpful. A hand like JT98 is a very good Pot-Limit Omaha hand because it affords the player with so many straight opportunities. Holding JT98 is far superior to holding QJ56 because you can build many multi-way straight possibilities with JT98. However, you cannot with QJ56.

• Suited cards should be treated with caution. One can call and draw to an ace high flush. However, drawing to any non-nut flush can be very foolish. Having non-ace high suited cards is only helpful for redraws, multiple draws (i.e. also having a straight draw), or back-door flush draws. One should never draw to just a flush that is not a nut flush.

• Low and mid pocket pairs are close to worthless. A hand like 5588 belongs in the muck. Even if you hit a set, you can easily lose to a higher set, straight, or flush.

P.S. Kobe was definitely playing Speed Hold'em in the photo.

Today in the History

2008-11-05T22:49:00.004+01:00

Frankly, my dear, I don"t give a damn
November 5, 1913
Vivien Leigh was born in Darjeeling, India. The actress was impeccable in the film "Gone with the Wind", and was rewarded with Academy Awards for Best Actress (Oscar). She was always the favorite actress of Winston Churchill, who was quoted as saying of Vivien, “By Jove, she's a clinker”.

Change has come
November 5, 2008
Barack Hussein Obama was elected the 44th president of the United States. The Democratic candidate defeated Republican candidate John McCain by a large margin. He has now become the first black president of the nation.

Virtual broadcaster
November 5, 2008
CNN launched the first edition of video reports with "hologram". The media giant covered the U.S. Election Day with this top imaging technology. Over 40 cameras and computers are set in each remote location to capture 360-degree imaging data of the person being interviewed live on site. Images of the reporter are processed and projected in the broadcasting lobby.

Turn Over Your Shoulder

2008-11-04T15:27:00.004+01:00

A stranger walks into a saloon and gets a drink. He sees a poker game and asks if he can play. He's told to take a seat. It's a no limit 5-card draw game and he's a pretty good poker player. After about an hour of so-so hands, he draws Aces full and makes a sizable bet. The old guy across from him raises all-in and the stranger calls. The old guy lays down 23457o and reaches for the chips.

"Whoa, there. I've got Aces-full."

"Yeah, but I've got a wild cat.", says the old guy.

"A wild cat? What the hell is a wild cat?"

"A wild cat is 23457 off-suit." Like this, "Says the old man."

The stranger starts to burn and says, "I've played a lot of poker, but I've never heard of a wild cat."

"Well, if you've played a lot of poker, you oughta know that you should learn the house rules before you play. And this here's a house rule."

At that, the old guy points to a sign just over the stranger's right shoulder. The sign says,

"House Rule - Wild Cat is a 23457 off-suit and it beats everything"

Being a gentleman and an honorable gambler, the stranger takes his lumps and settles back for more poker.

Several hours later, the stranger is dealt 23457o. He bets and the same old guy raises him the pot. Without the slightest hint of a tell, the stranger raises all-in. The old guy calls and lays down an ace high flush, and reaches for the poker chips.

"Whoa there! I've got a wild cat.", says the stranger as he lays down his cards.

"Nice hand.", says the old guy as he scoops up the pot. "What did I tell you about house rules?", as he points to a sign over the stranger's left shoulder.

"House Rule -Wild Cat - Only Good Once a Night"

Cruel and Delicious

2008-11-03T16:30:00.000+01:00

It is one of the most popular and well-known delicacies in French cuisine and its flavor is described as rich, buttery, and delicate. It's called Foie Gras, "the liver of a duck or a goose that has been specially fattened by gavage".

The physiological basis of foie gras production is migratory birds' capacity for weight gain, particularly in the liver, in preparation for migration. The technique of gavage dates as far back as 2500 BC, when the ancient Egyptians began keeping birds for food and deliberately fattened the birds through force-feeding. Typical foie gras production involves force-feeding birds more food than they would eat in the wild, and much more than they would voluntarily eat domestically. The feed, usually corn boiled with fat (to facilitate ingestion), deposits large amounts of fat in the liver, thereby producing the buttery consistency sought by the gastronome.

The geese or ducks used in foie gras production are usually kept in a building on straw for the first four weeks, then kept outside for some weeks, feeding on grasses that toughen the esophagus. The birds are then brought inside for gradually longer periods while introduced to a high starch diet. The next feeding phase, which the French call gavage or finition d'engraissement, or "completion of fattening", involves forced daily ingestion of controlled amounts of feed for 12 to 15 days with ducks and for 15 to 18 days with geese. During this phase ducks are usually fed twice daily while geese are fed up to 4 times daily. Modern systems usually use a tube fed by a pneumatic pump; with such a system the operation time per duck takes about 2 to 3 seconds. During feeding, efforts are made to avoid damaging the bird's esophagus, which could cause injury or death.

France is the leading producer and consumer of duck and goose foie gras. In 2005, the country produced 18,450 tons of foie gras (78.5% of the world's estimated total production of 23,500 tons) of which 96% was duck liver and the rest goose liver.

Poker Championship Final Results

2008-11-03T15:01:00.005+01:00

A Canadian not named Gavin Smith wins the 2008 North American Poker Championship in Niagra Falls, Ontario.

Gavin Smith's effort to win his first major poker title on his home Canadian soil came up one spot shy of the target. He found himself head's up with Glen Witmer for the title but facing an uphill battle with a near 3 to 1 chip deficit. Down to two players, the HU battle went nearly as many hands as the entire final table of the 2008 Borgata Poker Open. Smith eventually lost a coin flip (55 versus AK) which would have switched the poker chip stack into his favor but the small pair did not hold up.

When it was three handed, Witmer found himself with a nice stack but going up against Smith and Kathy Liebert, the all time leading women's poker tournament money winner. Even with the big stack, poker odds seemed against him but he held out and took down the top prize of $1,254,152 CAD.

Final table results (in Canadian dollars):
1. Glen Witmer - $1,254,152
2. Gavin Smith - $612,427
3. Kathy Liebert - $319,337
4. Ryan Fisler - $262,469
5. Marc Karam - $196,851
6. James Trenholm - $153,107

Short History of Poker

2008-10-31T21:13:00.008+01:00

Poker has become a world wide phenomenon over the recent years—everyone seems to play the game. Most people give internet poker all credit for the explosion in popularity, but we must not forget that Poker, in one form or another has been traced through over more than ten centuries back to around 900 A.D.

A game alike to poker was first invented by the Chinese sometime before 969 A.D, and Egyptians in the 12th & 13th centuries are known to have used a form of playing cards. In 16th century Persia "Ganjifa" or "Treasure Cards" were believed to have been used for a variety of betting games. A Ganjifa deck consisted of 96 elaborate cards, made of paper thin slices of ivory or precious wood. "As Nas" was played by The Persians which utilized 25 cards, rounds of betting and hierarchical hand rankings.

"Primero" dates back to 1526 and is often referred to as "poker's mother" as it is the first confirmed version of a game directly related to modern day poker. "Primero" was a 16th century Spanish game which involved three cards being dealt to each player. Bluffing, or betting high stakes whilst holding poor cards to deceive opponents, was an integral part of the game. In the 17th and 18th centuries a French game named "Poque" and a German game named "Pochen" became very popular, believed to have been developed from "Primero".

When French colonials arrived in Canada they imported the game to the new world. From the beginning of the 18th century "Poque" was the national card game of France and when a hardy group of French-Canadian settlers founded New Orleans, its popularity spread from the state of Louisiana throughout the whole country. One of the earliest references of poker was written in 1834 by Jonathan H. In his writing he mentions rules to the "cheating game."

During the Wild West period of United States history, a saloon with a poker table could be found in just about every town from coast to coast. It was extremely popular during the Civil War when the soldiers of both armies played. European influence of poker ended when the joker was introduced as a wild card in 1875.

In just over two centuries, poker has never looked back. Since its humble beginning on the banks of the Mississippi, the popularity of this widely played game has grown in leaps and bounds to evolve numerous variations and sub-variations.

There have been three games that have, in turn, dominated the modern poker scene:

• 5 Card Draw rose from relative obscurity during the American Civil War to the most popular game for almost a century.
• 7 Card Stud then took over the throne shortly before WWII and maintained its position for about 40 years with the help of the new and thriving Las Vegas casino industry.
• Texas Hold 'em, christened the "Cadillac of poker" rose to prominence in the 1970's when it was featured as the title game in the World Series of Poker. Today, Texas Hold 'em is indisputably the most frequently played and most popular poker game in the world.

Top Ads

2008-10-30T08:37:00.003+01:00

One-sentence line:

Ma maman m'a dit je peux. (My mom said that I could)

Search for the Unexpected

2008-10-28T22:54:00.007+01:00

A group of unicorns is called a blessing.

A group of kangaroos is called a mob.

A group of owls is called a parliament.

A group of ravens is called a murder.

Mozambique has an AK-47 assault rifle on its flag.

Camels have a straight spine despite their hump.

One in 10 Europeans is allegedly conceived in an Ikea bed.

A surfer once sued another surfer for "stealing his wave." The case was thrown out because the court was unable to put a price on "pain and suffering" endured by the surfer watching someone else ride "his" wave.

The = sign was invented by 16th Century Welsh mathematician Robert Recorde, who was fed up with writing "is equal to" in his equations. He chose the two lines because "noe 2 thynges can be moare equalle".

NASA boss Michael Griffin has seven university degrees: a bachelor's degree, a PhD, and five masters degrees.

27% of female lottery winners hid their winning ticket in their bras.

In eighteenth century English gambling dens, there was an employee whose only job was to swallow the dice if there was a police raid.

In ancient Egypt, killing a cat was a crime punishable by death.

In ancient Greece, where the mouse was sacred to Apollo, mice were sometimes devoured by temple priests.

In a deck of poker cards, the King of Hearts appears to be sticking his sword through his head.

In Calama, a town in the Atacama Desert of Chile, it has never rained.

88 is used as a symbol. The 8th letter of the alphabet being H, Neo-Nazis take 88 as salute code (HH as "Heil Hitler").

In China, due to sound resemblance, 88 is used as a shorthand for "goodbye" in IM chats.

If you sneeze too hard, you can fracture a rib. If you try to suppress a sneeze, you can rupture a blood vessel in your head or neck and die.

On the door to Tutankhamen's tomb, so goes the legend, was inscribed a curse: "Death shall come on swift wings to him who disturbs the peace of the king..."

When Columbus landed on U.S. shores in 1492, his men plucked wide leaves from trees, marked them with images, and played the first round of poker game on New Continent.

In the country of Turkey, in the 16th and 17th centuries, anyone caught drinking coffee was put to death.

Cat Got Your Tongue

2008-10-27T11:59:00.005+01:00

Count to three; tell me what's on your mind.
Blackberry, you think of business mobile phone.
Blueberry, maybe it's your favorite savor of ice cream.
Strawberry, you would probably think of chewing gum.
…
Don't get me wrong, I am not into any "rainbow berry". I am talking about instinct and direct association. Next, I would try my experiment deeper and ask a guy, who is totally unaware of my subject. H stands for hint; G stands for guess.

H: Badugi, it's very popular and famous in Korea.
G: Spicy vegetable? Spicy sauce? …
(Click the link to see the right answer yourself, if you choose to skip the following part.)

H: Spade, it's a black spade.
G: Dirty miners underground dig for coal?

H: Heart.
G: Love, a romantic couple in the moonlight.

H: Diamond.
G: Crystal-clear little ring with shining light reflecting in… It hurts eyes.

H: Club.
G: VIP cards, red carpet, massage … Wait a minute. You are talking about the suits of poker cards, aren't you?

Badugi is a kind of poker game which originated from Korea. Poker players draw cards to form their respective hands. It's totally an alien among poker games in respect of poker rules, for the winning laureate goes to the one who has the lowest poker hand.

Korea is also famous for gimchi (spicy cabbages).

About the picture that I copied from a website—I always have a weird thought and uncontrolled fear that the images don't look like they are popping out in 3D but instead sinking into the graphic. In fact, I just can't see through it. Let me know what you see in the comments section.

Here Comes the Great White

2008-10-23T11:06:00.011+02:00

It has more than 10 layers of teeth;
It has stream line body with cartilage skeleton, enabling it to swim rapidly, plus in an agile manner;
It is a super-aggressive carnivore, merciless to its prey;
It is at the top level of food chain in the sea.

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you … the SHARK.

And, there is such a group of people in the poker world that hold the same title with the same charactestics …

They wear the golden bracelet of World Series of Poker;
They top high on player ranking lists;
They eat on poker chips;
They are anything but ordinary.

We usually refer a super-good player as "shark". The poker shark knows what they are doing. From the basics like the ranking of all the poker hands, the mathematical and statistical likelihood that they can play the cards they have been dealt into a winning hand, to the top know-how: tell the opponent by the body language, command the poker strategy as well as little tips.

Things being said, all is not lost if you aren't a good poker player. You lose, you learn, and you grow. Just like a common little game shows, when you reach the final level, you turn into a big monster fish, too.

Begin with !
End with …

Crabs Walk Sideways

2008-10-22T07:10:00.005+02:00

Everyone is a speck of dust in the universe, and uses his/her whole lifetime to show the shiniest sparkle … We may not strive to be the most perfect man in the world, like Che Guevara. Deep inside, a little voice moans: behave yourself, play by the rule. That makes me in confrontation with Sattre. Back to gaming business. Poker etiquette are not official poker rules that would affect the results of a poker hand necessarily. They are set of "gentlemen rule" set by the house to keep the game friendly, polite, and in general to keep everyone happy.

It is a great practice for those who run house poker games to add some of the following poker etiquette rules to their house poker rules sheet, print it before the game, and make sure all players are aware of them.

Poker Etiquette During Play

Act in turn.
Keep your cards on the poker table at all times.
Act in a timely manner. Don't take too long to make your move.
If you are not in the hand, don't comment: Don't give advice or information to players who are playing. They are supposed to pay attention themselves.
One hand one player: Don't give advice to anyone. Don't pursue them to make any actions. Everyone is grown up enough to make their own decisions.
Keep your large denomination poker chips in front of your stack.
Don't talk on the phone while playing.

Betting

Don't splash the pot.
Don't string raise.

Showdown

Don't expose your cards until the hand is over.
At showdown flip both cards at the same time.
Don't slow roll: Slow rolling is to pretend your hand is not good enough and take a long time to reveal your cards at the end while your hand is really the winner. Do not do it - it is very frustrating.
Don't check down hands: This is a very non-friendly practice, so unless you are in a very large poker tournament stay away from it.

Aware or not, you are helping make a stand for online poker right here, right now. Thanks for the contribution.

Tilting in Poker

2008-10-20T08:50:00.004+02:00

Poker tilt is when we do things we normally wouldn't because we are upset or irritated or disappointed for one reason or another. Although we know so many things, having the discipline to apply them every time we play is another matter. We know we shouldn't tilt while playing at a poker table; we know that we should stay focused at the table, but it is not what we know, it is what we do that separates us from the average poker player.

Emotional control is absolutely necessary to succeed in poker. Tilting is bad. Tilting costs us money. We all know this in our heads, but sometimes it is difficult to control. Learning how to control your emotions is probably the most difficult task in poker to master. The main thing to remember when playing online poker is … it is poker. It is a game of skill, but also a game of luck. Sometimes our opponents are going to go into a hand with the worst of it and come out of it with the best of it. If we understand that it is part of the poker game, then it is less likely to bother us. The thing that occasionally puts me on tilt is when I think I played a poker hand incorrectly. Normally when I do this, I have to get up and walk away from the table to clear my head. If that doesn't work, then I have to get up from the game entirely and call it a day.

Under The Hole Card

2008-10-16T11:09:00.006+02:00

An Australian poker player has uncovered a $US 10 million cheating scandal at two poker sites and triggered a $US75 million legal claim.

In two separate cases, Michael Josem found that certain player accounts won money at a rate too fast to be legitimate. His findings led to an internal investigation by the parent company that owns both sites. It found rogue employees had defrauded players over three years via a security hole that allowed the cheats to see other player's hole cards.
Now the owners of the sites have filed a $US 75 million claim against the makers of the software that powers them, claiming they were unaware of the security holes when they purchased the sites in 2006.

Suspicions were raised late last year. Josem plotted the cheating accounts played every poker hand as if they knew every card that the other players had and folded hands at just the right time. In fact, the cheats won money at a rate that was 100 times faster than a good poker player could reasonably win. It's totally against poker odds, equal to winning a one-in-a-million lottery on consecutive occasions.

What we know so far is that, as a result of his detective work, Josem has been employed by the leading online poker site, PokerStars, to work on its security team.

She is Teresa

2008-10-15T12:02:00.007+02:00

1, she loves juicy fruits.

2, she likes to whistle.

3, she has 3 piggy banks, with over 2,000 coins.

4, she is not a big fan of fluffy pets.

5, she keeps a safe distance from dogs.

6, she has ticklish areas all over.

7, she likes watching Korean entertainment TV shows after coming back home from work.

8, she is pretty upset when losing lots of fake poker chips.

9, she panics, usually with screams when heroes in TV are in danger.

10, she holds my arms and squeezes them if I happen to be there at that moment.

11, she screams at sight of cockroaches, too.

12, She would only eat dumplings if there is no option.

13, she jumps and hops a lot when she is happy.

14, she teases and speaks to babies and hopes them would talk back.

15, she brandishes her arms in a robot-like move in front of the computer.

16, she calls it aerobics.

17, she has a mark on the inside skin of both her ears.

18, she needs snacks to be around while I am responsible to eat most of them.

19, she knows little about poker rules so far.

20, she puts her efforts into remembering poker hand rankings.

30 Things About Me

2008-10-14T11:38:00.010+02:00

1, I have a birthmark on my left shoulder blade.

2, I have an incontrollable fear for rats.

3, I like big cities, for it makes me invisible.

4, I am sensitive and nostalgic.

5, I am lack of the itching sense.

6, My favorite precious stone is sapphire.

7, I am odorless, but also a fan of garlic.

8, I am not able to shout in a high voice.

9, I have never been abroad.

10, I learn poker terms not to win, but to enlarge my bank of ideas.

11, I would avoid all the fish dishes in general.

12, I admire the elephant not only because it's cute. I have a short memory .

13, I am an optimistic poker player. It kills me wishing the next lucky card.

14, I tend to please the people I like.

15, I want to do bizarre things and think of original ideas.

16, I once drank grapefruit juice with coffee; it's a really powerful combination.

17, I can tell the Mahjong tile by my fingers; 80 per cent of the estimates are correct.

18, I am afraid of losing my job.

19, There is no reason for me to lose my job.

20, I panic when I am in high places.

21, I shudder when smelling liquor; after-effect of an overdrinking in a high-school reunion.

22, I snore like a mini tractor.

23, I am left-handed; since 5 years old, I write with my right hand.

24, I visit online poker rooms frequently.

25, I used to pack up and tried to leave home at 9 years old.

26, I believe in afterlife.

27, I fall into sleep within 2 minutes after my back touches the bed.

28, I am a sponge to useless information.

29, I think in English though my mother tongue is another one.

30, I have a collection of autographs from a bunch of poker stars.

ABC of Poker Odds

2008-10-09T07:12:00.009+02:00

There are 3 types of odds in poker strategy: hand odds, pot odds, and implied odds.

Hand odds
Hand odds can be defined, in the simplest poker terms, as the odds of making your hand in the remaining cards to come. A simple way to calculate it is to count the number of outs that you have to make your hand. Outs are the number of cards left in the deck that will make or improve the cards that you already have. To work out the odds just subtract the number of outs from the unseen cards to come and the answer will tell you what the odds are for that particular situation.

For example, in Texas Hold'em, where you hold 2 cards to a flush and the flop brings 2 more, so that you have 4 cards to the flush. There are 9 more cards that can complete your hand and there are 47 unseen cards left. If you subtract 9 from 47 this gives you 38. So your odds are 38 to nine, or roughly 4to 1, against making your hand.

You will be most concerned with the odds when you are drawing to a straight or a flush. The easiest way to remember this is that a straight is a 5 to1 underdog when only 1 card is needed to make it, if it is an open ended straight. A flush is a 4 to 1 underdog when only 1 card is needed to complete it.

Pot Odds
You must also compare the odds of making desired poker hand with the odds the pot is offering (pot odds) for the bet that has to be made. If the odds of making your hand are xx/1, is the pot offering those or better odds? If it is then this is a good bet, if not then it is a bad bet.

Another consideration to think about is the chances that you will be beaten even if you make the hand you are drawing for. If this is a possibility then the pot odds have to be greater than the odds of just making your hand to make up for those times you are beaten.

Implied Odds
An important consideration, that you need to look at, is the implied odds that the poker table is giving you. Implied odds are the additional bets that you will collect on later betting rounds if you make your hand. This is mostly a judgment call based on what you know about your competition and how they have been playing the hand so far.

With practice and experience you will be able to estimate what the odds of winning the most from each of your hands are.

Good Luck on your poker journey!

My Big Plan

2008-10-08T08:00:00.009+02:00

I am planning writing a book on poker and gambling!

The idea is simple.

First step is to look through some in-depth reviews about best-sellers. Keep the essence, and go the dregs.

I would make up a beautiful name for my works. For example, Zen and the Art of Poker would be a good choice, though it has been registered one step earlier by an anonymous poker player.

Anything you can imagine in the gaming world, you can find it in this to-be encyclopedia. Special sessions will be dedicated to poker strategy and tips. Ever-changing poker rules will take up little space due to their stubbornness?! And an extra chapter is for calculus—poker odds are always the pus-filled heel of we Achilles.

To make it attractive to both professionals and fishes, entertaining elements will score high here. Dumb Q&As will be tolerated. Amateur-type articles such as the list of differences between Baccarat and Blackjack will abound.

As for the catch, I will throw in pros and cons of cheating, the know-how of stacking poker chips (I can only offer links on Youtube due to paper's 2D limit). To be thrilled, my collections of freak poker news/stories will be the trump card.

Finally, I will contact with those slick print-on-demand publishers, like iUniverse or AuthorHouse. Of course I won't publish it, at least not with an ISBN. Current copyright law is lagging way behind in the trend of internationalization. For the time being, I will let it printed in limited edition, circulated first among my pals and relatives. It would be a superb birthday gift.

I won't tag price on it—money would be an insult to the art. To be honest, it won't surprise me it is worshiped as the bible of poker 2,000 years later.

Gravity Counts

2008-10-07T07:02:00.009+02:00

On the 6th floor of an apartment building, John Doe falls off the window. It's no doubt an accident. What surprises is that during the less-than-one-second dive, the man's mind goes through a ton of things with high pressures to the extent of collapse. Besides, due to some unknown reasons, his five senses becomes blurred and hallucination sets in. Holly Molly, it's going on in slow-motion!

John passes through 5th floor: the window is open; a couple of people are playing Texas Hold'em. He sees himself among them. He is sporting his usual-casual move: stacking the poker chips on and off. Entertainment is fun.

The 4th floor: it's a kitchen scene. Seems nobody is not at home while the water tap is kept on. John can't hear the sizzling sound for it's being overlapped by the Beethoven Symphony IV from the living room next-door. Coffee cups are in the sink, toaster is still warm. A nice morning to be remembered.

It appears to be a casino lobby on the 3rd floor. John stands beside the Roulette wheel, his eyes rolling tightly with the little gold ball. It's a 2-grand bet. The roaring voices around evaporates into thin air the moment it stops at slot 26, his pregnant wife's birthday.

2nd floor turns to be his gaming specialty store. He dedicates a whole shelf for equipments like Mahjong tiles and poker cards. Another one is piled up with books on poker strategy and poker rules. On the wall, posters of celebrity poker players and their autographs are everywhere.

Ground floor is the bank VIP room. The bank manager brandishes a roll of documents in front of John's face, looking helpless. The Financial newspaper on the table typed in capital letters: 1929 in 21th Century.

Pong …

The clues are not clear. The detective before the monitor rethinks his judgment.

Top 10 Worst Starting Hands in Texas Hold'em

2008-10-06T08:06:00.001+02:00

1. 2-7
7-2 off suit is considered the worst hand in Texas Hold'em. They are the lowest two cards you can have that cannot make a straight (there's 4 cards between 2 and 7). Even if they are suited, they will make you a very low flush, and if either pairs, it's an awfully low poker hand.
Because it is the worst, some players will play it for fun and in online games, it is known as "the hammer."

2. 2-8
This is the same basic problem as above, only you've got an 8 instead of a 7. Still pretty bad for a high card. Suited or not, this is a fold'em hold'em hand.

3. Tie: 3-8 & 3-7
The 3 makes this hand able to beat the two above it, but with the 3-8 you still can't make a straight and the 3-7 still, well, just sucks.

4. 2-6
While if the board gives you a miracle flop of 3-4-5, you will have a straight, someone with a 6-7 will have a higher straight. If you get a flush, someone will probably have a higher flush. Against even 4 poker players, this hand will lose about 90% of the time. Not good odds.

5. Tie: 2-9, 3-9, & 4-9
The only thing these three hands have going for them over the hands above is the 9. If the 9 pairs, you'll have a middle pair that could still be beat by anyone holding pocket 10s, jacks, queens, kings, or aces, yet you might be fooled by a board filled with low cards into thinking you have the best hand and losing a lot of money. No straights can fill the gap between these cards, either. Beware.

6. 2-10
This hand has a legendary quality because Doyle Brunson captured two World Series of Poker Bracelets with it. But it's not a good hand -- Doyle Brunson is one of the all-time best in the game and unless you're a Texas road gambler who's logged thousands of hours at the poker table, you shouldn't try and win with the Doyle Brunson.

7. 5-9
Another hand people play because it's fun is the old 9 to 5, the "Dolly Parton." If you're playing to win, it's not a good idea to play hands because they have a funny name. That may be how you pick the winning horse in a race, but poker's a marathon, not a sprint, and over the long term there's no doubt this hand is a statistical loser.

8. Tie: 4-7, 4-8, 5-8, 3-6...
All these hands will rarely win, especially unsuited. Toss 'em. Just toss'em. Yes, even in the little blind. If you see two low cards in the hole, unless you're in the big blind and you can see the flop for free, fold.

9. Face card + low card, unsuited
One of the most common mistakes I see beginners make is that when they see any paint in their hand, they play it. J-2, Q-3, K-4 whatever -- and most of these hands are losers. They're junk that may win a few pots, but more often will lose you huge cash when you find the other poker player has a higher kicker and the winning hand.

10. Ace + low card, unsuited
This is another common beginner mistake, playing any ace. Again, it may win occasionally, and heads-up it's a fine hand, but at a table of 4 or more, this hand shouldn't be played if there's a raise in front of you. You're going to be outkicked a lot with Ace-little, and it's going to feel like a kick in the junk when the other player shows their higher ace.

Things aren't the way they were before

2008-09-30T08:49:00.005+02:00

"Excuse me, what do you do for a living?"
"I'm a professional poker player."
"Pardon me?"
"Well, basically what I am doing is play poker games in poker rooms or join poker tournaments at casinos. In fact, as time moves on, I barely leave my home nowadays for that online poker makes lives of people like me much easier."
… Faint …

The above scene may occur if you happen to move in a new city and invite your neighbors to your house-warming party and start a conversation with one of them. In fact, to cater to the ever-increasing and diversifying need of today's job-seekers, here is a list of 5 kinds of cool jobs that you may have never heard before and maybe worth a try.

1. Odor Tester
This one is pretty odd, but some chemist has to make sure that all of those deodorants and anti-perspirants are operating properly to keep their users free of funk.

2. Snake Milker
If you ever get bitten by a poisonous snake you'll be grateful these people know how to work with animals. They are responsible for getting the venom out of snakes to make the anti-venom. Be honest, which one of you thought that snakes had actual milk glands?

3. Dice Inspector
With one false move of a single die a person can lose quite a bit of money on those craps tables. The dice inspector checks for proportionality, specific angles, and blemishes. I guess if dice are not perfect they can't be the reason for you going broke in the casino.

4. Braille Translator
Someone has to modify all sorts of texts and convert them to Braille for the blind. This can include novels, music, textbooks, and brochures. There is nothing wrong with making things more accessible for the blind and this one sounds like it's a quite useful job, but it does sound tedious.

5. Citrus Fruit Dyer
Have you ever passed by the lemons at the supermarket and though to yourself, damn that's some good looking citrus! Well it might be because there commercial farmers out there who dye the fruit a more vibrant color to hide the ripeness of the fruit.

"Share our similarities, celebrate our differences." The quote says so. For me, I am happily reading rock-paper-scissors theory to build up my poker strategy pool—I have some unexplained reasons to believe that luck works and I will be good at this field. Because my nightmare is that when I face the final judgment and Saint Peter says this to me,"You have to run a poker game. And deal." LOL

Play in Russian Style

2008-09-29T04:45:00.007+02:00

The death of one man is a tragedy. The death of millions is a statistic.
—Joseph Stalin

This Georgian Soviet-Union leader had coined many similar stunning quotes which are known to be gallant while merciless. While I don't think he would never dream that two former states under his reign would confront each other more than half a century later, and that's all I can talk about the Russia-Georgia conflict lately.
In fact, as one of world powers, Russia easily catches world's attention in as many ways as you can imagine, intentionally or not.

Russia is "hoping" for global warming to allow for further exploration. They are already attempting to "claim" part of the arctic. To give its initiative some justification, Canada and Scandinavian countries make the same prayer.

Russia is the unparalleled leader in arms exports. And this will continue to be extremely lucrative for them financially and relations-wise with semi-rogues like Venezuela and Sudan.

Seeming to make this topic distracted away from the politics, I also find: in 2006, a gaming zoning bill was passed in Duma by a vote of 440-0. It aimed to control gambling by banishing it to four specific zones; two to be set in European Russia, one in Siberia and one in the Far East.
Fast-forward to 2007. Thanks to a convincing argument by Dmitry Lesnoy, president of the Sport Federation of Russia, on poker being an "intellectual game", and a decision by the Russian Federation's Federal Agency of Physical Culture and Sports, poker tournaments were finally classified as official sport competitions in the nation of Russia. But to some poker players, the sprouting poker rooms and highly publicized legislation could possibly just be a flash in the pan. They are always worried that a change in the leader's mind, and then of the law, could banish poker to the four gambling sectors, like a simple slot machine or Baccarat table.

So, if I am allowed to implant poker rules to make a comparison, Russia has way too many cards to play at this moment, and we hope it will play fair and "by the book".

It may seems I only focus on the negative side (pessimist's bad habit), but I don't deny there is always a silver lining in the cloud (lots of online poker sites are available in Russian). Anyway, I have no intention of messing with Russian people. So if any Russian hackers happen to be here, please don't piss off.

Top 10 Body Language of Poker

2008-09-26T07:47:00.004+02:00

1—the Eyes
Eyes rarely lie. This is why many pros wear sunglasses. For example, many players can't help but stare at big hole cards, so their length of time peeking is longer. Conversely, if a player is looking to steal the pot, he may look to his left to see if the remaining players, who haven't yet acted, have quickly glanced at their cards and are likely to fold.

2—Facial Expression

Again, many poker players try to disguise their entire face by wearing a cap and looking downward. Without knowing it, you may have obvious unhappiness in your face when your hand is weak, and conversely, you may show a contrasting show of confidence when your hand is strong.

3—Weak is Strong/Strong is Weak
Basically, players like to be actors. When they have a monster hand they tend to look disinterested. Alternatively, a player increasing the level of his voice while raising the pot, and trying to look intimidating, may be running a bluff.

4—Anxiety
Anxiety typically occurs in people when they are confronted, or anticipating confrontation. Physical changes include flexing of muscles, eye pupil dilation, palpitating heart rate, dry throat. Some of the top players in the game will stare at the vein on the top-side of your face for blood pressure changes.

5—Trembling Hands
Also, a byproduct of anxiety, beware of a player whose hands are shaking, this nervousness can represent a big hand.

6—Glance at Chips
It is common for players to quickly glance at their poker chips if they connect with the board after a Flop. This may be a subconscious reaction, but the tell is that the player is already planning his attack!

7—Peeking Hole Cards on Flop
Some players will take another look at their hole cards when, for example, the board is showing a potential 3 card flush draw. Typically, the player is looking to see if one of his cards is connecting, because he remembers only that the two cards are different suits.

8—Repetitive Betting Patterns
Usually the most revealing poker tells are based on the way a player habitually bets during particular situations. For example, maybe the player always checks when he has made the nuts, or a player may regularly fold after being re-raised.

9—Body Posture/Attitude
Some players show obvious changes in their posture based on their attitude/poker hand strength. For instance, you may notice their shoulders drop/slump when they are not confident (weak hand). Conversely, you may notice the player is very attentive and sitting in an erect position when he has strength. You may also notice that a player who bluffs a lot, leans forward in a confrontational way … remember Strong is Weak!

10—Chip Stacking
When you first sit down at a table, study the way the players stack their chips. Although it is a generalization, loose aggressive players typically maintain unorganized/sloppy stacks, while tight conservative players keep well organized/neat stacks.

P.S.the above tips apply not exclusively to Texas Hold'em.

Did You Know

2008-09-24T09:00:00.011+02:00

"If the bee disappears from the surface of the earth, man would have no more than four years to live."
This quote over the significant decline in the population of honeybees is attributed to Albert Einstein.

John Montague, Earl of Sandwich, was a man of doubtful integrity and a compulsive gambler who lived in the 1700s. He was so reluctant to leave a poker game even for a meal that he had a servant bring him a piece of meat between two slices of bread so he could eat with one hand and play cards with the other poker players. The new invention was dubbed … a sandwich.

"We don't like their sound, and guitar music is on the way out." Dick Rowe said of the Beatles. The former was the executive of Decca Records (UK), the very company who rejected the Beatles. It happens in 1962.

In France, Blackjack call this land hometown. In French decks, the four suits represent the four classes: Spades represent nobility, hearts stand for the clergy, diamonds represent merchants, and clubs are peasants. Maybe here poker rules are different, too.

"Music is well said to be the speech of angels".
Scottish essayist Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881) said this. But 100 years before his quote, across the English Channel (or La Manche according to French), a big name had the exact opposite feelings:
"Anything that is too stupid to be spoken is sung."
By Voltaire (1694-1778)

"All the evidence shows that God was actually quite a gambler, and the universe is a great casino, where dice are thrown, and roulette wheels spin on every occasion." Quoted from British scientist Stephen Hawking.

"Americans always try to do the right thing—after they've tried everything else."
—Winston Churchill

Host Your Poker Game At Home

2008-09-23T08:05:00.005+02:00

The first thing you should do before you consider hosting a poker game at home is check the local laws in your area. Once you're sure no laws are broken, skip down to the section you are interested in.

Getting People Together
Hopefully this is the easy part. Typically, you are going to need somebody to make phone calls and get people together. You'll also need somebody to supply the house, table, poker chips and food/beverages. These can be the same person or several people, whichever is easiest. Sometimes people will even bring felt table tops just for poker, so tasks can really be split up. If you work at a bar or restaurant, sometimes you can hold free poker tournaments at your business, but again check with your local laws.

Setting Up Poker Tables, Chips, Cards
Somebody in your group will need to aquire poker supplies. I suggest convenience store or just Walmart for poker chips, cards, tables and dealer buttons.

Blind Levels and Payout Structures
You should visibly post your tournament's blind levels, payout structures, and rules so that every player (old and new) fully understands the game they are getting into. This will avoid unnecessary conflict in the future. You should also decide how you will handle chipping up.

Game Types
Whether you're running a friendly home game, or a larger tournament, you'll need to make it clear what style of game you intend to play. Cash game or tournament, texas holdem or seven card stud, limit or no limit, whether to allow rebuys, addons or bounties, other variants, and how to handle buyins and fees.

Moving and Seating Poker Players
Moving and seating players can get hectic in a larger tournament, but with a few simple rules you should be able to keep it under control. In a smaller game the emphasis is on fairness by ensuring quick table balancing.

Dealing and Shuffling
Consistent dealing and shuffling procedures can effectively ensure fair and speedy play.

Poker "News"

2008-09-22T04:13:00.005+02:00

In the past few weeks, there is a big buzz about 14-time Olympic gold medalist Michael Phelps associated with online poker room. And it's a pleasure to join the hysteria by picking up some analysis and shed a piece of light on the fact.

The story began when the poker legend Doyle Brunson and his son Todd paid a visit to the poker-loving swimming phenomenon at the Palms Hotel and Casino. "Phelps and some of his friends wanted books so I took Super System 1 and 2 to them and they asked all kinds of poker questions. Michael said all he wanted to do in life, was to eat, swim and play poker." Bla-Bla … Doyle wrote in his blog.

The old man should have added that Phelps dreams about being the finalist of World Series of Poker. Anyway, all kinds of speculations are immediately printed in black-and-white by some poker news sites (they seldom promote official poker rules without "throw-ins", I believe). According to them, the winner of eight gold medals in the Beijing Olympics, Michael Phelps' next venture may be to become one of the celebrity players for Doyles Room.

Here is a common-sense thought. The fish boy is no doubt the hottest commercial commodity on the planet. Giant companies are queuing to be connected with him. There is little possibility that one of these online poker casinos can afford that kind of money—I have to say poker business is on the downswing, with such an economical recession we are living through as backdrop. Sure he might make take a lowball deal to be associated with Doyle, but I think his financial advisers are way too smart for that. Besides, Phelps knows clearly himself the merits of being away from the poker table in the spotlight.

To be summarized, poker odds knowledge helps me conclude that all of this is just truly hypothetical.

Against My Will

2008-09-19T07:03:00.009+02:00

You know the game called Omaha? Have no idea? It's OK. I can explain it in just a few easy steps (I am assuming you all know its big brother Texas Hold'em).
What you do is get four cards. Doesn't matter much what they are because nobody really looks at them anyway. Next, they put three cards on the board. It doesn't matter what they are because nobody really pays any attention to the flop either. Then one more card for the turn and another one for the river. Same betting scenario as before. Doesn't really matter much what they are, except, for a few of the poker players that may have "cheated" and looked at their hole cards. These players may now fold if they have absolutely no outs. (Mostly bad sports.) Now, at the showdown, everybody turns over their cards and helps the dealer figure out who has the best poker hand. You MUST play two cards out of your hand so this usually takes a while and the winning hand is usually found out after a little bit of searching by all of the players and a partially confused dealer. The dealer now pushes the pot to the wrong player and everybody yells at him and he smiles glibly and says, "Oh yeah, sorry" and then sends it in the right direction. Then, after all of that excitement dies down, everybody lets out a collective sigh of relief and gets ready to wind up and do it all over again.

That's it. Hell of a simple poker game, right? For me, I won't blame if you label it as lame due to my lame introduction.

P.S.
I was bluffed at an online poker room last night. Refused to go in there anymore, at least a week I swear. If there are some unpleasant words mentioned in my article about the poker rules, forgive me. I don't mean it.

To Do List

2008-09-18T06:29:00.004+02:00

1. Return my 3-year-old Mp3, try to get a refund.

2. Go to the theater. "Astérix et Obélix contre César" is on the show.

3. Play Texas Hold'em online.

4. Search and listen good foreign music clips, something like "Doar Cu Tine".

5. Find new hobbies.

6. Continue to listen to good music.

7. Hold poker tournaments at home. Beat WSOP.

8. Play football.

9. Eat more vegetables.

10. Avoid bad milk.

11. Follow on One Tree Hill. Hopefully Payton and Lucas could make it work.

12. Move into my new house.

13. Get this blog going.

14. Be smart.

15. Travel, see the real casino.

16. Think.

17. Learn to play Majhong.

18. Live life.

Poker—Presidential Talk

2008-09-18T05:27:00.006+02:00

"Americans have played poker throughout history. Playing poker on the internet is simply an example of an American tradition evolving into the 21st century …"

Poker legend Doyle Brunson, formerly a life-long Republican, has made it known that he supports Barack Obama and the Democratic Party in the upcoming U.S. presidential race. Quote:

"During this poker cash game lull, I am on this race for President like stupid is on Britney Spears. I have come to the conclusion that poker players have to support Obama. We can't possibly let McCain be our President because he supports most of George W. Bush's views. Hillary has lots of experience but I don't think she is ready to lead our nation. Imagine her trying to talk to the leaders of the Islamic world? I wish we could have her husband back, but we can't. Jennifer Harman and I have emailed Obama and asked what his position is on internet gaming. Hopefully we will get a response from his camp."

And he has a reason.

Obama has stated that he prefers to regulate online poker and Internet gambling, rather than criminalize it.

Obama is following in a long tradition of poker playing presidents, from Andrew Jackson, Ulysses S. Grant, Teddy Roosevelt and Warren Harding to Harry Truman.

Little gossip:

Warren Harding, 29th U.S. president, played poker at least twice a week, and once gambled away an entire set of White House china. His advisors were nicknamed the "Poker Cabinet" because they joined the president in his poker games.

Chip off your shoulder

2008-09-16T04:41:00.007+02:00

Here is the lesson. You don't know how to flip or stack your poker chips, so what? Having a handful of thumbs doesn't hinder you to be a good poker player. Learn the lesson below:

So you have a pair of Ts. The guy opposite you is wearing a cowboy hat, shades and a month of stubble. You can't see his eyes but you know he's staring into your head. You start to think that inside he's laughing because he knows what you've got, but on the out side he is cold and calculating. You raise and he re-raises, without hesitation. While he watches you sweat he starts to shuffle his chips with one hand, split the single stack into two and reshuffle them again with one hand. He seems to do it so easily and almost without thinking. How does he do that? It's really cool, but intimidating at the same time. I wish I could do that. But the chinking of the chips is getting louder in your ears and you start to question your poker hand. He must be good. Look at the way he shuffles those chips. You fold. He laughs at your weakness with contempt as he starts to take your chips and shows you his 3 8 off suit.

Try to think it another way: Look how quick Chinese people build up their Mahjong piles and his opponents would be more careful when meeting such a guy. Although you may find it doesn't apply to online poker … Anyway, never let this happen to you/again … Try to learn some tricks on Youtube if you like.

Evolution: things vs. thoughts

2008-09-16T03:43:00.005+02:00

My piggy bank is full of poker chips; and as luck would have it, I really love using a set of chips as a birthday present—my knowledge on poker odds won't help me figure out the probability here. Yes, you see? Poker players have hobbies, some of which are really hilarious.

Today, a wide variety of chips are available. For me, I usually buy these cheap plastics at 7-Eleven. Sometimes I go to novelty shops for decent ones. And if you're planning to play at least once a week, I can't overemphasize how much better the 11.5 gram chips are. They shuffle better, don't knock over as easily and feel more like money.
In previous years Walmart had a whole half isle devoted to chip sets. The sign on the walk ways are so big that the department manager feared that his toy department would be taken for as a casino supply store. It's surely not the case now. Maybe due to the uprising of online poker rooms or maybe the downswing of poker is on the way? I don't know. But the day before yesterday, I tried to upgrade my swimming suit and gadgets for a weekend beach walk, but the Carrefour service lady told me the swimming goods were off the shelf days before. Come on, it's just mid September!

Anyway, things change fast nowadays, it's somehow like a mental chewing gum for us.

Double-edged sword—Dangerous Starting poker hands

2008-09-10T06:22:00.005+02:00

What is the most dangerously deceiving starting hand for an amateur player in Texas Hold'em?

Many poker stars would argue that A-Q suited is among the top 10 best poker hands. The first thing to accept is that A-Q suited is not a top 10 hand, but does make it into the top 20. If you played ABC poker by following a chart of hands, A-Q suited (A-Qs) is one you would never play in early position, and would only play in an unraised or unopened pot in middle to late. That explains why it is called as the worst best hand a player can start with.

Personally, I follow the straight-forward poker strategy: Call with a draw hand only when you have the pot odds to justify it. And I learned my lesson from some resources that a tie such as AQ, KQ, and QJ. Those are death hands to be avoided at all costs, especially if your opponent has made any aggressive move pre-flop.

At this point in poker's life, many top players believed that J-T suited was the best starting hand in poker. It was the highest suited connector possible with full straight potential. It doesn't "dead end" on the top end as Q-J would.

After all, every person has his own criteria on how to judge a hand as good or bad. Either you follow the golden poker rules, which is how people do at the table most of times, or you can do things your own way. Nothing is impossible and nothing has extremes. Just be yourself.

Top gun—Blackjack

2008-09-10T04:06:00.004+02:00

Sometimes I love being in the crowd, enjoying the feeling of thinking while others are yelling. That's when I play in the pit, that's the charm of casino game, among which Blackjack is my favorite. The following is a simple-version of know-how about it.

Blackjack is partly based on luck, so don't expect to win every time. Compared with poker games (Texas Hold'em, Omaha, etc.), the way to play Blackjack is easy. All you need is a dealer (you can do that if it's played at home), some people, a deck of cards, and some poker chips (really optional and unnecessary when you play at online casinos). First of all, the dealer serves TWO cards to each person, face down. When people say HIT ME, you give them a card. If they pass the number 21, they lose. If you win with a black jack (it consist of an ace, a jack, queen, king, or the 10 card), you beat everyone, and the house wins. If you pass the 21 limit, you lose, and the players may win. If you play with poker chips, when you win, you take the chips (or if someone else won, they take the chips).

Quiz: I do not recall what it is called if two people have the same number (like you have 19, and someone else has 19).

P.S. My mind is like an open high way. Every thought can lead very far or nowhere.

Keep your head clear and up

2008-09-09T06:42:00.005+02:00

Being on tilt means letting your emotions disrupt your ability to play. All poker players go on tilt at least once during their career, but limiting these episodes is essential to winning at poker. Poker is a game that requires reason and first thing you should be aware of is poker strategy. If you have Qs 10s , and the flop comes Kh Qh Jh, and there is a lot of betting action, you need to know to fold. If you were on tilt, you would let your emotions take control and make you do whatever it took to take down the pot. You would keep chasing, hoping to catch an ace and hoping that no one had a flush.

In general, people who get upset and don't stay focused and reasonable will lose all the money they brought to the table. Poker is almost anti-human in the way it triggers emotions but rewards people who are made of stone. I don't mean to scare you or act as if all poker players are unemotional rocks, but it is imperative to stay focused and rational while at the poker table.

Generally, most players tilt due to a bad beat or if they just can't seem to win a poker hand. Some players have a slight tilt after they win a big hand or two, but those episodes generally are much shorter than tilts caused by losing.

Trivial findings in poker

2008-09-09T05:06:00.004+02:00

There is a Rock-Paper-Scissors strategy for poker. It is said to be extremely advanced. You can check it out and share with us later.

Rumors say that dilated pupils tell. So was coined a poker phrase like this: "sunglasses is to poker as steroids is to baseball". I doubt one day in the 22nd century human beings will wear masks while gambling. Thanks to online casinos, this nuisance is kept away.

Phil Hellmuth said, I quote, "pot odds …" "for suckers …"
He is a spoiled brat. Never disrespect the math.

Daniel Negreanu has a reputation as poker's nice guy.

Add fish to your Buddy List. First, you need to have the ability to select them out: read people. Knowing where this guy is from, his poker background, how long he's been playing, who he voted for …With the top 10 poker players in the world, it's 95 percent about the ability to read people and the psychological warfare.

Have you ever been labeled as a calling station, or do you even know that? Use the measure below and see if you qualify as one.
Calling station is a poker term used to negatively describe someone who consistently calls bets and rarely raises, regardless of the strength of his poker hand. Many calling stations can be found on low stakes tables in online poker rooms.

Funny joker—introduction of wild card

2008-09-08T11:10:00.004+02:00

Due to personal hobbies, I always look for weird things and exceptions to satisfy my curiosity. Anyway, we are all geeks in some way. And here is what I find in poker game: some card that can be designated as any card you wish. Yes, it’s the "magic" wild card.

In most cases, wild cards are jokers, or they can be any cards agreed upon by the participating players. Poker rules make it clear that there are two kinds of functions for wild cards: "fully wild" cards and the "bug". A card that is fully wild can be designated by its holder as any cards he chooses with no restrictions. Under this rule, for example, a poker hand with a natural pair and a wild card becomes three of a kind. With wild cards in play, the best possible poker hand is a five of a kind. While the more common application of the wild card in casinos is that it plays as a bug, which is given the rank of ace unless designating it as a different card would complete a straight, flush, or straight flush. Under this rule, a hand such as T-T-Joker-7-3 is just a pair of tens (with an ace kicker), but any four same-suit cards with a bug make a flush, and a poker hand such as 8-Joker-6-5-4 makes a straight.

In particular, five-card draw is traditionally played with a joker in California (which plays as a bug), and also plays well with deuces fully wild. Seven-card stud plays well with one or two bugs, especially when played high-low split. Other games such as Texas Hold 'em and Omaha do not play well with wild cards.

Learning in poker

2008-09-08T08:51:00.007+02:00

Once at the poker table, you face a lot of choices and have a lot of decisions to make. Believe it or not, my motto of life seems to apply here: live and learn. For your record, selective thinking and learning can help you avoid being sniffed at as a bystander or a follower.

Texas hold'em case study: hole cards are 6s, Ts; flops are 2h, 9s, Jc.

No doubt it's a good start. It leaves us with a great space for imagination (though based on calculation). Listed below are the possibilities (from the best hand to the worst):

1 - Straight flush. You pick up 7s, 8s in the turn and river, Bang!
2 - Flush. Two more spades will suffice.
3 - Straight. From K-straight to J-straight. 7, 8, 9, T, J, Q, K of rainbow, we need the last two cards to be blessed.
4 - Sets, two pairs, one pair, high cards. There is no math involved.

The above is utterly obvious. I can imagine you would use your online poker calculator to figure out the pot odds of catching such hands. Then you are not seeing the whole picture. Remember: diamonds cut diamonds. After you find out at what odds you can form your desired hand and how many poker chips you could throw in the pot accordingly, don't forget to glimpse over to see your opponents' moves. You have your odds and they have theirs. If you don't count them in, then it's a natural thing that a black horse comes out from nowhere, with a poker hand just better than yours. And you can't afford that happens. Of course, if everyone is playing according to the book, you would estimate out what hands they have by calculating on their bet, on the condition you are the last one to call. Since you can't control the game, you must take everything into consideration.

I am always quick to summarize. Skill-wise speaking, I am focusing on POP (pot, odds, and position) here. Maybe I'm not that good at picking up the right words, but my idea is basically there. Now, put out a deck of cards, play your case while thinking a little bit, and you can be a self-made mentor quite soon.

Man vs. machine? Man wins!

2008-09-04T11:19:00.004+02:00

In late July, 2007, a much-awaited poker match started between two poker players and one poker computer program. Ali Estami and Phil Laak (the Unabomber) vs. Polaris (the machine). Poker fans were excited to see the results: the machine folded after four rounds.

Although it may remind you that Garry Kasparov was beaten by Deep Blue in the "Millennium War" of chess world, poker pros proved that man is still the best. Artificial intelligence can't and won't rein in every field. You would call a poker champion in WSOP an intimidating opponent, but not a video poker console. Poker is a combination of psychological strategy, personal judgment, and above all, it's a human-to-human interactive game. Where is the happiness if we are playing these emotionless robots at online casinos everyday?

Anyway, in respect of which is better at poker: man or machine, as long as we have fun, who cares?

What I learned about Omaha Poker game

2008-09-04T11:13:00.005+02:00

Omaha is not an easy game to master which is why you should keep these things in mind. I'd like to share with you newbie some of my thoughts about how to start with this game.

First of all, be sure what the best hand is. It's one of the basics of any online poker strategy. Many people get into trouble because the nuts they think turn out to be a totally different hand.

Second, always bear in mind that the five-card hand has to be made up from three from the board and two from your hole cards.

Third, when you have made a monsters hand, strategically get the most out of it. Try to trap as many people as possible in the pot for the most bets.

Last but not the least, gain your experience from practice and learn by asking and reading pros' insights.

Play it now. With Omaha poker strategy on your side, hopefully you could start to win very soon. LOL.

Need a cute alias?

2008-09-02T10:05:00.004+02:00

I have been hanging around online poker rooms for a while. The other day, while I was logging into one of my favorite sites, a thought came to mind. Why stick to your boring alias, like "happyguy1799", bla-bla? Why don't you change your "gender" online? It must be a real experience.

So, I followed my gut feeling, created a new account at an online casino, with a charming username "gigi". I took extreme caution when filling personal profile, leaving as few hints as possible that I was the opposite sex. I wrote: my favorite celebrity is the combination of Brad Pitt and Chris Ferguson; my dream is shopping on the Fifth Avenue after winning large at Bellagio Casino and Resort.

I doubt if I am the only guy who pretends to be a woman online. Men in the room would comment "gigi, give me a hug", something like that to distract me. Before using this female ID, I have no idea that players use chat rooms to read, bluff, intimidate and annoy our neighbors at the poker table. Now! I realize women are looking forward to socializing when playing poker. In my opinion, they will be much easier to be affected with all the clutter of people shooting arrogant comments!

After two days enduring fuzzy conversations and forgoing some hands that would confuse even myself, I terminated this "gigi" account.

For those who need a break from the poker table!

2008-09-02T08:45:00.006+02:00

Internet poker has a lot of advantages. For example, you can enjoy some funny talks.

AK = Anna Kournikova. Always looks great. Never wins.

Q: Why didn't the elephant like to play cards in the jungle?
A: Because there were too many cheetahs. (Cheaters always avoid official poker rooms)

Q: Where does a professional poker player meet all his opponents?
A: The aquarium. (We are all fish, LOL)

Q: What poker hand did Doyle Brunson win two World Series of Poker events with?
A: !0-2

Q: What does American Airlines stand for in poker?
A: A-A

Laugh it out. However, remember: you must be serious with poker rules...

Grapes that are still green

2008-08-20T03:51:00.013+02:00

地理与扑克

2008-08-20T02:34:00.003+02:00

1、扑克有五十二张正牌，是因为一年有五十二个星期；

2、扑克设计为方块、红桃、黑桃、梅花四种花色，是因为一年可以分为春夏秋冬四季；

3、扑克牌的每种花色都是十三张，是因为每个季节都包括十三个星期；

4、如果计算一下每种花色的点数(把“J”作为十一点，“Q”作为十二点，“K”作为十三点)，正好是九十一点，因为每个季节平均为九十一天；

5、把四种花色的点数相加，再加上大小王各占半点，总点数为三百六十五，和一年的总天数相同(闰年时就把大小王各作为一点)；

6、扑克牌中的J、Q、K共十二张，表示一年有十二个月，这是因为太阳在一年要经过十二个星座；

7、至于扑克牌分为红黑两种颜色，则分别表示白昼与黑夜。

四大名著另类评

2008-08-18T04:09:00.002+02:00

三国写了一个大时代，水浒写了一帮大英雄，红楼写了一个大家族，西游写了一伙大妖怪。

三国玩的是心计，水浒玩的是义气，红楼玩的是感情，西游玩的是感性。

三国在国，治国，兴国，安国，丧国。水浒在气，勇气，义气，豪气，霸气。红楼在情，亲情，爱情，宦情，民情。西游在趣，情趣，游趣，野趣，妖趣。

三国是正史，水浒是野史，红楼是家史，西游是妖史。

三国写官，水浒写盗，红楼写民，西游写怪。

三国写了一次变革，水浒写了一次冲动，红楼写了一场恋爱，西游写了一次旅游。

四大名著，各取一端，各有特色，各呈风采。

老外眼中的功夫世界

2008-08-16T09:00:00.003+02:00

冲灵剑法 GG and MM's souls word (GG和MM的灵魂之剑，听起来好象很熟悉)

九阴白骨爪 nine woman catch a white bone (九个女人抓着一个白骨，老外看了还以为会出现召唤兽呢)

两仪剑法 1/2 sword (二分之一的剑，请问是左右二分之一还是上下二分之一啊)

一阳指 one finger just like a penis (一只手指像xx一样??还真不是盖的)

易筋经 change your bone (换你的骨?老兄算你狠)

梯云纵心法 elevator jump (电梯跳跃????在天雷的打击下，电梯产生异变，于是电梯有了生命)

太玄经 all fool's diary (全是胡言乱语的日记，还真是玄哪)

五毒秘传 the experience of eat drink****bet and**e (吃喝嫖赌抽的经验，这也太毒了吧)

七伤拳 7 hurted organ (被伤害的七个器官，有点道理)

吸星大法 suck star over china (吸取全中国的星星，好神啊)

黯然销魂掌 Deep blue press (深深忧郁的掌法，对对对，有忧郁症的都使的出来)

回风落雁剑法 come back sword (喝了再上剑，在拍广告吗?)

血刀经 blood strike (CS的场地都用上啦)

含沙射影 shoot you with a machine gun (用机关枪射你，这样对吗??)

葵花宝典 sunflower bible/from gentleman to a lady (太阳花的圣经，可让你从绅士变淑女，变性者的一大福音啊)

这些都是热爱功夫世界的老外们眼中对于功夫的解释哦，还有更多古怪技能的解释呢，想看就跑

趣味国家排名（班级职务版）

2008-08-16T06:09:00.008+02:00

国班级　搞笑排名～～～经典中的经典

美国——职务：班长。家里有钱，人长得也强壮，学习成绩很好但也爱打架，做事蛮横无理，班里同学敢怒不敢言，一般都不敢轻易顶撞他。

俄罗斯——职务：副班长。人长得全班最高大，以前经常顶撞美国和美国争班长职位。家里出事后。成绩落后了，做事也有些消沉，不过在班里还有一定影响力。

英国——职务：学习委员。学习成绩很好，班长的跟班，班长和人打架通常他都会自告奋勇去帮忙。

法国——职务：文艺委员。英国同桌，学习也很不错，性格比较浪漫，做事有主见，经常看不惯学习委员的所作所为。

德国——职务：劳动委员。学习勤奋又比较吃苦耐劳，成绩也很好。上学期打了两次架，结果还得罪了当时的班长（英国）。

奥地利——职务：音乐课代表。因为有音乐天赋，所以当音乐课代表。

西班牙——职务：地理课代表。成绩中上，因为资助过哥伦布发现新大陆，所以当地理课代表。

瑞士——职务无。班花，学习成绩也不错，不跟别人勾三搭四，很文静很内向。

阿根廷——体育课代表邻座，不久前和学习委员打架打输了，现在每次体育课就抱着学习委员毛整。

澳大利亚——职务无。学习中等偏上，管学习委员叫老大，做事没主见，学习委员说一他不敢说二。

中国——职务团支书。不爱说话，幼儿园的时候拿过多次全班第一，初小时身体不好，经常被欺负。进入本学期后，发育迅速，该出手时不含糊，上次班级混战中，和日本打得很激烈。对于日本的思想品德意见很大，估计在其通过补考前，不会同意其加入申请。正义感强烈，曾为了同桌朝鲜和班长大打过一场。

朝鲜——职务无。团支书同桌，学习成绩差，嘴却很硬，经常得罪班长，班长几次扬言要揍他，碍于同桌团支书才没动手，为了保护自己经常上课磨刀，耽误了学习。

印度——职务：计算机课代表。特点看似敦实却不厚道，经常和同桌巴基斯坦吵架。因为爱搞软件，所以当计算机课代表。

巴基斯坦——职务无。印度同桌，身材不高，成绩也不怎么样，跟团支书关系不错，所以经常和同桌印度顶着干。

以色列——职务无。成绩不错，班长的跟班，但就是看同桌巴勒斯坦不舒服，动不动就凑人家一顿。

巴勒斯坦——职务无。身材瘦弱，没家庭背景，经常被以色列揍得打落牙齿只能往肚里咽。

伊拉克——职务无。成绩一般也学会了班长的霸道，为数不多的和班长对着干的人，两个月前班长和学习委员冲到他家去把他凑个半身不遂，在家躺着50天，只能叫骂又得罪了班长，以上课携带凶器危害全班安全为名又被打了一顿。

科威特——职务无。伊拉克同桌，以前老被伊拉克欺负，只好拿钱赔笑脸请班长撑腰。

埃及——职务：历史课代表。成绩平平，家里有金字塔，所以当历史课代表。

阿富汗——职务无。成绩不好，家境贫寒，经常受人欺负。才开学的时候，被副班长打，结果班长帮他付医药费。自从副班长家里出事以后，又被班长欺负。上个月把班长家里最高的家具烧了，结果被K，下场同伊拉克。

巴西——职务：体育课代表。学习成绩差，家境也不好，老跟班长借钱，又经常欠着不还，因为爱踢足球，所以当体育课代表。

苏丹——职务无。来自贫民窟，家里很穷，学习也很差，内向封闭，做事野蛮暴力，疑似精神分裂，经常自残（达尔富尔）。

日本——职务无。以前一直寄居在团支书家生活学习，不过悟性不高，性格偏颇，文学和思想品德课经常不及格，其中思想品德至今补考不及格，并多次偷窃团支书家财务，和其以前的的难友德国形成鲜明对比(现在还念念不忘团支书家的鱼缸)。不过理科成绩优良，一直要求加入班委会。

上Facebook玩扑克

2008-08-13T04:07:00.003+02:00

在15年前，“在线扑克”的每个看法视乎都有些滑稽，但是现在它是扑克业的基础。我看起来在寻找下一章更新更令人兴奋的玩牌方法。你现在可以通过电视机的转换盒来玩扑克，通过移动电话玩扑克，在最近可以在社会网络的网站Facebook玩扑克.

就在很短的时间里，Facebook 把 Myspace 作为一个潜在的与朋友联络的工具，更新，了解你的校园现在变胖了还是结婚了。现在Facebook的强力扑克站已经建立起来，Ujogo. 新的扑克站在进行研究，发现3000万的成年人每周都会玩3小时的扑克，而Facebook 是做好这件事的完美平台。

他们面前最大的障碍当然是非法网络游戏执行法案(UIGEA), 然而Facebook在美国是非常流行的工具，但是他们显然会因提供免费的玩牌而被允许。没有真钱的下注，每个人开始都只有1000的点数，就像玩现金扑克一样。所不同的是大的奖金看起来会给那些有很多点数的领导牌桌。

尽管这只是基本的玩钱的实践，无疑会对扑克行业产生很大的影响。Facebook自己的免费德州hold'em 扑克游戏在安装达到540万次后成为第三活跃的游戏，每天有超过370,000的玩家。你推荐的玩家越多，你就能得到更多的免费筹码。这是在线版的“扑克酒店”的大多做法-免费，在社会扑克游戏中使用点数最终会为真钱游戏牌桌带来更多的新玩家。

在线扑克在2006年的一段时间里看起来要落魄和凋零了，我们很多人都在设想UIGEA会对行业产生很大的冲击。事实上，它比想象中更好的开花结果，最新的Facebook 更新一定回事未来扑克发展的动力。

迎奥运说历史：蒙特利尔奥运会

2008-08-07T02:37:00.003+02:00

第二十一届奥运会

时间：1976年7月17日～8月1日

地点：加拿大蒙特利尔

完全奖牌榜

加拿大蒙特利尔市曾先后五次申请主办奥运会。在争取1972年奥运会主办权时，几乎胜利在望，但最后以一票之差败于联邦德国慕尼黑。1970年在国际奥委会阿姆斯特丹年会上，蒙特利尔经过激烈的竞争，终于击败了对手美国洛杉矶、苏联莫斯科和意大利佛罗伦萨三市，赢得了第二十一届奥运会的主办权。

蒙特利尔为了本次奥运会付出了昂贵的代价，有人讽刺说，为了15天的奥运会，增加了纳税人20年的负担。

本届奥运会仍设21个大项。根据国际奥委会于慕尼黑运动会期间所作的决定，本届奥运会增设了女子篮球、女子手球等，其他项目如游泳等作了相应的调整和增删，单项数由上届的195增加到198。虽有许多非洲国家退出，但本届奥运会仍不失为一次高水平的赛会。田径、游泳、举重、射击、射箭共82次破奥运会纪录，其中34次为世界纪录。游泳成绩最为突出，共26项比赛，刷新了25项奥运会纪录，21项世界纪录。其他：田径22项奥运会纪录，8项世界纪录；举重29项奥运会纪录，2项世界纪录；射击4项奥运会纪录，3项世界纪录；射箭2项奥运会记录。

大会于7月17日正式开幕。本届奥运会圣火传递采取了与以往不同的作法。7月13日于奥林匹亚点燃，火种传到雅典后，不象以往用轮船、飞机或接力传递，而是利用卫星传到加拿大首都渥太华，随后进行火炬接力跑，7月17日传递到蒙特利尔。最后点燃主体育场火炬台的，是一对少年男女斯蒂凡-普雷方丹和桑德拉-亨德森。这是奥运会史上的第一次、也是唯一的一次由两人共同执行这一光荣的使命。英国女王伊丽莎白二世宣布了本届奥运会开幕。代表运动员宣誓的是东道主的举重运动员皮埃尔-圣-让，代表裁判员宣誓的是加拿大的田径裁判莫里斯-福热。

蒙特利尔奥运会的田径比赛可以说是一次群英荟萃的竞赛，涌现了不少对田径颇有影响的人物。如古巴的阿-胡安托雷纳、美国的埃-摩西、苏联的塔-卡赞金娜、民主德国的罗-阿克曼和鲁-福克斯等。老将也不乏其人，如芬兰的维伦、苏联的萨涅耶夫和波兰的谢文斯卡等。

25岁的古巴选手阿尔伯托-胡安托雷纳是这次田径赛的新闻人物。他先在800米比赛中取胜，并以1分43秒50的成绩破世界纪录，后又在400米赛中夺得金牌。他被评为当年世界最佳运动员。翌年，他又在世界杯田径赛中再次夺取了这两个项目的桂冠，并以1分43秒40刷新了他自己保持的800米世界纪录。

苏联优秀女子中长跑运动员塔-卡赞金娜也是这次引人注目的新星。她身高1.66米，体重51公斤，两腿修长，步频快而有力，在800米、1500米赛中接连夺冠。4年后在莫斯科奥运会上她蝉联了1500米冠军，并在之后不久又在苏黎世的一次国际比赛中以3分52秒47刷新了这个项目的世界纪录。1984年8月，在她快33岁的时候，还以8分22秒62创造了3000米世界纪录。

芬兰老将拉-维伦以在上届奥运会上两夺金牌而驰名于田坛。不过此后情况不佳，人们对他能否再次取胜持怀疑态度。蒙特利尔奥运会前他加强了训练，使竞技状态达到最佳，终于蝉联了5000米和10000米的冠军，以两枚金牌作为他27周岁稍稍迟到的生日礼物。

苏联的维-萨涅耶夫在三级跳远比赛中击败了曾在1975年创17.89米世界纪录的巴西选手约-德奥维利拉，成为奥运会史上三次获该项金牌的唯一选手。

田坛人士对美国的埃-摩西的13步栏间跑极为赞赏，他轻松地获得了男子400米栏冠军。

本届奥运会于8月1日闭幕。苏联成绩再次领先，共获49枚金牌。自1952年一直与苏联争夺王座的美国队，这次不仅落后于苏联，且败给了近几届成绩不断上升的民主德国队，退居第三，这是美国队在奥运会上一次最严重的失败。作为主办国的加拿大成绩也不理想，这在奥运史上也是没有先例的。人们对蒙特利尔的评价是：这是一届相对还算成功的奥运会。然而，组委会组织工作上的懈怠以及腐败问题使蒙特利尔最终为奥运会支付了令人咋舌的巨额帐单。

花絮

竹篮打水一场空为他人做嫁衣裳

为举办第二十一届奥运会，蒙特利尔市耗资巨大。除了对原有的体育场馆进行翻修改建外，又在距市中心3公里处的梅宗涅夫公园内，修建了奥林匹克中心体育场，高达19层的奥运村及其他10个场馆。还有能容纳7万观众的主体育场和占地1253平方米的赛车场。当时，加拿大正面临经济萧条，工人长期罢工，结果工程一再延期，出现了严重赤字。为此，蒙市为奥运会大伤元气。可惜的是，加国选手不争气，在奥运会上，一块金牌未得。

“沉重”的口香糖

美国摔跤运动员法里纳赛前称体重时，指示灯显示他的体重已超过级别标准。他赶紧脱去背心，指示灯没有灭，他又摘掉太阳镜，灯仍然不灭。气愤之余，法里纳赛低骂了一句，顺口吐掉了嘴里的口香糖，可就在这一刹那，指示灯灭了，他转忧为喜，这小小的口香糖差点误了大事。

用打火机点燃的奥运圣火

在离奥运会闭幕还有5天时，一场持续了20多分钟的大雨浇灭了圣火台上的圣火。按规定，火炬熄灭意味着大会闭幕。场地监督比-布歇尔见状，赶紧冒雨冲上圣火台，从口袋里拿出打火机，重新点燃了圣火。虽然都是火，但却有了本质的不同。当组委会的人听到此事后，立即报告了圣火委员会，经讨论，用打火机点燃的圣火无效。旋即用场中央的安全灯取来火种，重新点燃了圣火。比-布歇尔最后被确认为无知而免于被追究责任。

风云人物

科马内奇独得7个满分

生于罗马尼亚的娜迪亚-科马内奇是1976年蒙特利尔奥运会上的明星，她成为了奥运体操史上首个获得满分10.0分的运动员。美国的ABC电视台曾经使用在美国很流行的一段音乐剧旋律给科马内奇的表现配乐，最后这段旋律就被称为“娜迪亚主题”。

科马内奇第一个获得十分的项目是高低杠，在这届奥运会上，裁判共为她打出7次满分。在1975年的欧洲锦标赛中，科马内奇一人独得四枚金牌一鸣惊人。而在1976年蒙特利尔和1980年莫斯科两届奥运会中，她一共夺得了9枚奥运会奖牌。

但是在1980年后，收到身体因素的影响，她的表现一落千丈。在获得了1981年世界学生大赛的冠军后，科马内气选择了退役。1989年，她离开了自己的祖国罗马尼亚，然后定居于北美。她与美国体操运动员科内尔结为夫妇，两人在推广美国体操运动方面做出了巨大的成就。

金牌兄弟与冠军夫妻

拳坛兄弟兵迈克尔-斯宾克斯和莱昂-斯宾克斯在本届奥运会上双双获得拳击冠军。20岁的迈克尔在男子75公斤级拳击的比赛中仅仅打了两场比赛就夺得金牌(另两场比赛对手弃权)。而几分钟后，他的哥哥莱昂又在81公斤级的决赛中胜出。东德游泳名将科尼丽亚-安德尔在本届奥运会上夺得四枚金牌(女子100米和200米自由泳，100米蝶泳以及4×100米混合泳接力)。她的同胞罗兰-马特斯同样是一位奥运冠军(参加三届奥运会夺得8枚奖牌其中包括4枚金牌)，两人在蒙特利尔奥运会开幕前两个月喜结良缘。不过几年之后，这对冠军夫妻离婚了。

“东洋魔女”再创辉煌

在女子排球比赛中，号称“东洋魔女”的日本队势不可当，不仅以5战全胜夺取了冠军，而且每场比赛均以3-0的比分取胜。更有甚者，在这5场比赛的总共15局中，只有1局被对手得分达到两位数。

扑克中很重要但又很难掌握的术语

2008-08-05T11:18:00.003+02:00

Pot 底池 -- 每一个牌局里众人已押上的筹码总额，也即该局的奖金数目。

Hole cards 底牌 -- 每个人在牌局开始时发得的底牌，也称“口袋”牌。

Cap 封顶 -- 每一个押注圈只允许三次加注。加了三次，就到顶了。

Re-Raise 再加注 -- 再别人加注以后回过来再加注。

All-in 全押 -- 一次过把手上的筹码全押上。

Bank roll 资本 -- 游戏时身上的筹码数。

Rake 佣金 -- 扑克厅在常规游戏里向每一局的赢家抽取的场费。

Side-Pot 边池 -- 当某人全押的时候，一个边池就会形成。这个边池包含到这个时候为止众人所已经押上的筹码。全押的这个玩家若赢了这一局，只能赢走边池里的奖金，而不能应走在他全押以后其余人加上的注码。