Posted by admin on September 30th, 2009 — Posted in Casinos + Gambling, Fun Places, Universe Of Games
Most poker online pundits say to play a tight game and be selectively aggressive. There are only a few personalities who can get away with a loose aggressive online poker style. But some players take the “tight” advice too much to heart, and this in turn makes them weak players. To profit consistently from poker online , you must be willing to assume some risk and expect to lose sometimes. You have to make proactive bets for pots to ever win. The prudent approach, when in doubt, is to use pot odds math to guide your decisions to fold, call or raise. Weak tight players become prey for aggressive players. These are the types who call the flop and turn bets, then bail out on the river bet instead of going to showdown. Most often, they never even know if they made the right decision. As in any sport, you can never make a good play unless you actually make the attempt. Whether it’s kicking a ball or swinging a bat, you sometimes have to risk missing in pursuit of achieving something great. Weak tight poker players back down from challenge and aggressive players recognize and exploit that tendency. To succeed in poker, you have to be able to call the shots and take charge of the table instead of being at the mercy of another player’s bet. Weak tight play is reactive and lets aggressive players dictate the action. You must be selectively aggressive and not let yourself be perceived as a weakling who is too tight to ever make a move. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++
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Posted by admin on July 31st, 2009 — Posted in Fun Places, Recreation Parlor, Universe Of Games
Maybe you are a recreational bowler eager to approach real bowling with improved precision and consistency. Since this is your situation, you’re in the midsts of a important cross-roads in your development as a serious bowling competitor. Listen up, because this introduction to the Top 5 Bowling Tips is for you. Pros from a nearby bowling pro shop want clients harness bowling zen mental toughness. There’s an old bowling adage, knock the pins down to win! Just kidding. Okay, bowling is a simple game with not-so simple details. Don’t fret, with a little guidance we’ll make sure you’re throwing your way.
It’s not a big purchase, get a knowledgeable friend to help you purchase custom fit necessities, especially good bowling shoes. It’s not a sales pitch, it actually matters. I promise, have your favorite ball fitted, and you can make more of your practice time. A correctly drilled bowling ball can make a substantial improvement in your game. The same goes for wearing comfortable bowling shoes which don’t stink like desanitizer
Now that you went ahead and bought comfortable bowling equipment, listen to another important bowling tip: aiming the ball. When you stand, don’t shoot for your actual target, the pins. Aim for the the points about 15 feet down the lane, like a gunsight. Why, you ask? It is easier to roll through a mark much nearer. For it to work right, double check to see aim from the precise location on the floor every approach. Roll from the same place, in the same way and you can make small adjustements on your aim using the arrows in the lane.
As for massive hooks on the ball, for specific action on the pins? That makes our bowling tip #3. It’s all in the specialized bowling ball. Might be surprising that professional bowlers pack at least two bowling balls to roll amazing hooks, according to many factors. However greenhorns might want to work with just one, and avoid a ball that weighs a ton. Some pro bowlers use bowling balls with advanced composite expert grip. But these pro bowling balls might make even decent talents appear like beginners. That about raps it up. A pro from our bowling shop will return shortly.
By: George Chase
We bowl with Team “Pindemonium” made up of the guys and gals at Bowling Pro Shop just outside Plano, Texas. I dispense advice to all bowlers at my blog and at the lanes. Also, I must plug my bowling buddies in the shop. Knock ‘em dead.
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Posted by admin on May 20th, 2009 — Posted in Casinos + Gambling, Fun Places, Universe Of Games
poker online is a stressful game, and players have different ways to deal with stress. There are however some very common physical reactions that most people have to certain stimuli. At the poker online table, a player who is in a bad spot, or who has made a big hand, often display subtle signs because the body has automatic stimulus responses
For instance, the nose is a good stress indicator. When people are stressed out or indecisive, they often rub their noses, and a poker player doing this may be in the midst of a tough decision - perhaps on a marginal hand. Another automatic nose response that is hard to control is to wrinkle the nose, even the slightest bit, when something seems distasteful. A quick nose wrinkle on a turn or river card may indicate a player is repelled. Another tell comes from the nostrils. The nose automatically flares open when engaging in strenuous activity, and a monster hand can cause a player’s breath to quicken, and the nostrils to open wider.
Fingers tell a story too. A player who continually shuffles chips, then suddenly stops post-flop, has probably hit a hand. Sometimes players cross their hands over their cards and intertwine their fingers. If so, look to see if the thumbs are firmly set and point up - a sign of confidence. When a player starts biting and picking at their fingers, they are probably nervous or bored or both.
Recognizing these subtle signs of stress and confidence can give you an extra edge at the table.
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Posted by admin on February 17th, 2009 — Posted in Casinos + Gambling, Fun Places, Universe Of Games
A ‘coin flip’ in poker is essentially a spot where the two hands pitted against one another have an equal chance to win the pot. A classic coin flip scenario features a small pair (such as sixes) against two overcards. Even these hands aren’t quite an exact 50/50 split (the small pair is maybe a 1-2% favorite), but on average they work out to about the same, hence the term.
Coin flips become important more often in tournament poker, where later in the rounds the blinds become large enough that people will push with any pair and call with hands like AK AQ, resulting in the 50/50 run for all the money.
Another name for the coin flip is a ‘race’ or ‘racing,’ as it is essentially the same as going to head through five community cards to see who will reach the finish line as the winner.
Tighter, wiser poker players don’t like to get into coin flip situations if they don’t have to, especially in earlier stages of a tournament, as they would rather involve themselves in hands where they are a more certain favorite to win the pot. But at some point, everybody will find themselves in the race spot: in poker it’s almost unavoidable.
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Posted by admin on January 14th, 2009 — Posted in Casinos + Gambling, Fun Places, Universe Of Games
No, I’m didn’t just say that Negreanu’s comments were insignificant. Quite to the contrary, Negreanu has been one of the most influential educators of the game and continually updates his webpage with sound updates. That said, let’s talk about one of his latest posts, titled “Don’t sweat the small stuff.”
Go browse any online poker forum. Go ahead, just pick one, any of them. It’s undoubtedly true that you’ll find somewhere, in some thread someone is debating one of the most arcane, complicated, probability based technicality that in real life has not a whole lot of bearing on anything. While the knowledge may be quite important to students of game theory, or variable probability theorists, as Negreanu said, “worrying about such insignificant details won’t have much of an effect on your bankroll at the end of the year.”
Instead of working with infinitesimally small probability statistics, it is suggested that you work on the big holes in the dam that is your poker game. For example, don’t call that all-in bet with a moderate pair just because it’s statistically probable that your opponent might be bluffing. Instead, use the common sense method and only call it if you have a strong hand that has a good chance of winning.
Stop bluffing all-in. You may get by with it everyonce it a while, but more often than not, you’re going to get bit back sooner or later.
Really, it’s just a waste of processing power. And this is all too common when poker players just learning the game become too obsessed with stats.
It comes down to balance. Reading the table instead of reading the raw card probability. Betting the strong hands instead of betting the projected strong hands. Playing with the flow of the table instead of whether or not a card has a 48 or 45 chance of hitting.
If you’re down to a situation on whether you should call based on a 48 vs. a 45 percent probability of hitting your card, you’re doing it wrong to begin with.
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Posted by admin on September 29th, 2008 — Posted in Casinos + Gambling, Fun Places, Universe Of Games
There are several sites in online poker that allow for freerolls with play money. The only investments in these games are ego and time. And from a business perspective this seems all fine and well. The company shows off its software, no one’s losing any money, and maybe the players will one day migrate into the pay to play realm, where they playing for real money, you know, real gambling.
All seems well right? Everybody wins. Well that essentially is the boon of the freeroll. That’s the good part. But there is in fact an ugly side.
Since it’s play money, there’s no social consequence. The players enter into what social psychologists and educators call “psychosocial moratorium.” This principle simply states, that people are more prone to act more recklessly, when there is no social or actual consequence. So what do we see all the time?
Rags called, mucks not mucked, 7-2 played religiously as if it were AA. All ins with nothing, or worse, less than nothing. What we see is this, what we see is bad play all the way around. And there’s nothing wrong with that in and of itself, it’s free and people are entitled to play the way they want. The problem we see is that many people first learn to play online poker in these rooms. And all too many times, where we learn and what we learn first, tends to translate over into habit. And habit, tends to follow us no matter where we are. So, what happens to these players after they transition into a live game or an online poker money game? Well, they carry over the loose, maniac play, the play for playing’s sake, style of recklessness that endangers their chipstacks from the outset.
And it’s sad, because, for many of them, they don’t know that they’re playing badly. And they come back to the free rolls, and they win some, and then they are reaffirmed that such loose play is how it’s done. After all, that’s how it’s done “on the internet.” So they get this ingrained, the second psychological principle of play, “positive reinforcement,” Only the positive should be replaced with poisnous. Thus, the vicisous cycle continues. Bad play for free translates to bad habits when playing for money, but it is reaffirmed after they catch a lucky break from winning. Wash. Rinse. Repeat.
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