Archive for the 'Fun Links' Category

Are the Poker Pros Boring?

Tuesday, February 9th, 2010

It may seem borderline heretical to cast stones at our online poker gods, but I find that they are just not exciting to watch. It may be that they are now all so sanitized due to endorsement deals and casino backups that they are afraid to do anything that could call their overgrown paychecks into question. It may be a matter of the fact that online poker was always a game of quiet introspection so these professional players see no reason to break a trend. Or, maybe, just maybe, it’s because perfect strategy is just boring.

The feature of perfect strategy that makes it so very predictable is that it is simply following a set of rules The players only do what they are expected to do, when they are expected to do it. They act according to what the books and guidelines tell them to do. On top of that, professional players fold a lot. I am sure it is not just me who can think of many far more riveting things to do than watch professional poker players fold their hands on national television for an hour. So here is a message for all you poker professionals out there. Shake things up every once in a while. I guarantee that you will get more fans if you break out of the rut.

When You Encounter a Calling Station

Thursday, January 28th, 2010

A poker online player who almost always calls every bet and often forces a showdown at the river is known as a “calling station.” These are players simultaneously reviled and sought after by seasoned casino players. When there is a calling station at the poker table, especially at lower limit games where they are most often found, bad beats invariably take place. For every bad call the calling station makes, one of them will finally give a miracle card on the river that trounces what was best until that moment. Calling stations rarely raise and seldom fold if they have any kind of poker hand at all. If a pocket 2 pairs the board, a calling station stays in the for the action until the end, even when it’s obvious the 2s are beat. It’s impossible to bluff against calling stations, and in the low limit games they frequent, bluffing is generally not a viable strategy anyway. When you run into a calling station, play tight aggressive poker. When you hit a good hand, make value bets. You want to keep the calling station contributing to the pot rather than chased away. Even the dumbest calling station is going to hesitate when raised. If you hand is counterfeited on the turn or river, then check as most calling stations will simply check behind you. You don’t to put more chips in the pot with a weak hand when you know the calling station is not going to fold and will sometimes get lucky.

Omaha Poker

Wednesday, December 30th, 2009

Another poker online game to consider is the aforementioned Omaha eight or better, or Omaha Hi/Lo. The game is similar to regular Omaha except that in Omaha Hi/Lo the pot is split 50/50 between the best high hand and the worst qualifying low hand.

In order to qualify as a low hand the poker online player’s hand cannot have any card higher than an eight. Straights and flushes are not considered when judging a low hand, therefore best possible low hand is A-2-3-4-5 as Aces are counted as both a high and a low card. The straight Ace to five gives the player the unique possibility to win both the high and low pot.

In order for anyone to qualify low, there must be at least three cards of differing ranks 8 or below on the board. Low hands often tie, and high straights occasionally tie as well, as do, even more rarely, full houses. It is possible to win as little as a 14th of a pot.

Hands to avoid tend to contain mainly middle ranked cards, which are of little use for any low splits and which tend to generate lower pairs and sets, weaker flushes and lower straights and can be very expensive. Remember this when you play online poker.

Party Theme and Location

Tuesday, November 3rd, 2009

Planning a party can be a big, complicated job that can seem overwhelming, but it doesn’t have to be! This article and the several that follow, will help break things down into a series of manageable tasks. These checklists and timelines will assist you in planning your event and will give you the tools you need to make your party great!

The best time to begin planning for a party is approximately 6-8 weeks before the planned date of event. Keep in mind, at this time, you should be finalizing your decisions on party theme and location time as well.

The party theme can just about be anything you want from luau parties to disco parties to mardi gras. As far as your party’s location, some places to consider outside of your home are your local churchs, community centers, parks, fraternal organizations like the American Legion, or other party halls.

Party Supplies

Of course, you’ll want to acquire all of the party basics such as plates, cups, napkins, utensils, streamers, balloons, and more, but you should also consider the following party items to add a nice touch:

* Party props (maybe an inflatable pumpkin for Halloween)
* Party decorations (perhaps a door sign or yard sign)
* Disposable cameras for capturing some fun memories
* Outdoor items like chairs or sunscreen

Of course, other party supplies will probably be needed depending on your party’s theme.

Next up, we’ll discuss party invitations and party favors for your fun event!

To read these articles and much more visit Discount Party Supplies, your online retailer of party supplies, advice, tips, and tricks!

In the Middle

Friday, October 30th, 2009

Being the middle position is better than playing under the gun, but online poker players in this position should proceed with caution. In the middle position, you get an idea of what some of your opponents will do, but you still have to account for the opponents who will be acting after you. There will be fewer players who will be acting after you, so you can consider them on a more individual basis and alter your play accordingly.

Take what you know about the players who are acting after you-say there are four acting after you. Are any of them aggressive? If you’ve got an aggressive player acting after you, then it’s very likely that he’s going to make a big bet before the flop, so you’re going to want to fold all but the most premium when you play poker online.

If you know that the poker players acting after you are pretty tight, then a raise from the middle position might be a good idea. Raising from the middle position is a risky proposition, but it can serve several purposes-it can scare out any of your passive opponents, and it can make your more aggressive opponents nervous enough about your hand to either call your bet rather than raise it or fold to you.

LAG Poker

Tuesday, September 15th, 2009

Once you start playing a lot of poker, you’ll start to see that you’ll feel more comfortable playing a wider range of poker hands. Where you were at one time just playing strong hands, now you’re opening up your range depending on position to include suited connectors, opening with lower pocket pairs in earlier position, And you’re limping more in position near the cut off with nearly any two cards just because the price is right. This style of online poker is called LAG poker, Loose Aggressive. The play style is the same as TAG (Tight Aggressive), but you’ll be seeing more flops and out playing your opponents more post flop rather than out betting them preflop. One key difference you’ll notice here is that you’ll be impossible to put on a hand. You’ll still be taking down pots by 4 betting into a 3 bet with your really strong cards or folding to the 3 bet with your marginal hands. But you’ll start to see that a lot of TAG opponents will fold to you since you can exploit their tactics. Loose aggressive does not mean stupid. Those players are called loose passive. Calling with any two cards and hoping to hit or suck out. You’re living by your aggression. Of course you’re not going to reraise with 2-7 off, but you’ll get your money in on the button with it if you’re pretty confident you’re not going to get raised by the SB or BB. One other thing you’ll notice about the LAG play is that you’ll be involved in many more big pots. Since you’re playing a wider range of hands, you’ll be hitting a wider range of flops. The key here is to remember your TAG roots. Remember your tools. The continuation bet, the float, the squeeze, the semi-bluff, they’re all still things you’ll be using religiously, only you’ll be doing it with a wider range of hands, and you’ll be folding to reraises a lot more since you’re coming in with more marginal hands. Essentially, what you’re going to be playing is TAG poker with a bigger variance factor. While you were only playing about 25% of your hands and only playing hands you raise on, you’ll be playing about 35-40% of your hands now calling more than you would if you were playing TAG poker, but betting more flops since you’re getting in with a wider range.

Don’t Washout, Bowl like You Mean it with Tailored Bowling Shoes

Saturday, July 25th, 2009

I always run into a part-time bowler looking to play your neighborhood bowling league with new respect. If that’s the case, this is major time in your development as a real student of the game. Our introduction to bowling perfection may take your game to new levels. Professionals from your city’s bowling pro shop are there to assist you develop bowling potential. Just like a lot of sports, aim the balls at the pins and let them roll. That’s a joke. I admit, bowling is a simple game with not-so simple details. No worry, with a little guidance we’ll make sure you’re bowling the bowling ball like it was meant to be bowled.

You’ll definitely want to invest a little in custom fit at any number of bowling pro shops in your city. Fit is important. I promise, get your favorite ball drilled, and you’ll never go back. A brand name fitted bowling ball can make a substantial improvement in your game. It’s also important you’re sliding out your final step in well-made bowling shoes which provide solid footing on the approach.

If you went ahead and purchased the right bowling ball and shoes, here’s the number two piece of bowling advice: aim how the pros aim. While you face the pins, don’t necessarily roll the ball at the back of the lane. Line up using the notches on the lane like a gunsight. Ever noticed them? You’ll find it more effective to roll through a mark much closer. To get the most out of your aim, include it as part of your routine to line-up at the same position on the wood every approach. Roll from the same place, in the same way and you can adjust your aim using the arrows in the lane.

Do we have any tips for curves, for ball handling and velocity? Indeed, this is our bowling tip #3. It’s all in the their expensive reactive resin balls. Most us who were bown to bowl regularly roll at least two bowling balls to pull off aggressive hooks, depending on the type of game and lane. But intermediates should work with just one, and avoid a ball that is too heavy for you. Some avid bowlers invest heavily in bowling balls made for special resin materials. Avoid the temptation, because these special-made balls might make even some well known pros appear like beginners. And that does it for our first three bowling tips. I’ll be back with another 3 in the August edition.

~Frank Chase

I play for Team “Pindemonium” comprised of the operation at our marketing business here in Plano, Texas. I provide advice to aspiring bowlers on the web and at the lanes. Also, I should wave hello at my team at the center. Knock ‘em dead.

Snapping Photos in the Land of Smiles

Sunday, May 31st, 2009

Thailand is one of the best places to take your camera. Why? Because there’s so much going on in everyday life in Thailand First off, street life lends itself to photography with a real social assemblage on the streets : foodstalls, children playing, mobile “kitchens” attached to motorbikes (Thai version of fast food?), and even elephants idly plodding the streets. That’s not all, the weather can be quite amazing, with thunderstorms coming along and vanishing in moments. You are not in short supply of photo opportunities in Thailand.

Thailand is a “what you see is what you get” type of country – full of amicable people, hazardous drivers, food stalls on every street corner, and dogs all over the place. However, guesthouses give you a fantastic service. In point of fact, no matter where you are, anticipate an amiable and professional service.

So you want some examples of such photos of Thailand to give you an idea of what I’m rambling about here? Then check our photo gallery on thailandimpression.com. Our website features pictures from all different types of scenes in Thailand : from countryside photos, beach photos of Thailand, to sunset photos, photos in Bangkok and other urban photos, as well as more traditional photos of Thai temples. On this website we show you our view of Thailand, not only through the lens of a photographic camera, but in manipulation of the resulting photo via photographic software – to twist the reality into sometimes subtle, sometimes radical new views of what the camera caught. We hope our site can give you some inspiration to take a brave step and journey over to Thailand with your camera as witness to your own experiences. Even if for some incomprehensible reason you felt you’d exhausted all the possibilities “The Land of Smiles” has to offer you, there are the neighboring countries of Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos and Malaysia to discover too!

The American Election’s Effect on Poker

Thursday, March 26th, 2009

No matter where you live, you likely have heard of the commotion surrounding the American election. Even if you don’t follow politics in your own country, it is good to know of the potential changes pertaining to gaming and poker that could come following the election of a new American president. Millions of players of various casino games were removed from the poker online player pool following the passage of a law prohibiting online gaming in America. The American government placed the burden of enforcement on the banks, making it their responsibility to prevent deposits from reaching online gaming sites. Some sites complied by blocking American players and discontinuing their service to America, but others sought ways to allow Americans on their sites. It has been a game of cat and mouse as online gaming sites add new ways to deposit, and then American banks learn of their existence and stop funding accounts associated with them. How this effects online poker is obviously a decrease in the amount of players in the game, namely the recreational players who fear legal repercussions by breaking the law to play online. These are the most sought after players, and now most American players will be tougher, as they had to struggle to find a way to get money online, something a passive player looking for a little fun wouldn’t bother with. One of the candidates, Barack Obama, is a known card player, and would likely sympathize with the poker players looking to play online. However, he is a shrewd politician, and his love for poker alone won’t warrant him simply revoking the law. It will likely involve a top-down regulation of online gaming so that tax money can be extracted. It is certainly a subject of discussion is to whether this would ultimately be a better situation for an American player, but more players back in the pool is certainly good for the global poker community as a whole.

Is Poker a Man’s Game?

Wednesday, December 31st, 2008

According to most of the traditional notions about poker, poker is a game to be played on guy’s night. In the most cliché example of poker, men sit around the table smoking cigars and playing poker while their wives are off doing a typically gender defined activity, like knitting or baking. Of course, in the modern world where gender roles are no where nearly as sharply defined as they were in the 1950’s, many people wonder if poker is still a masculine game.

According to a major 2006 survey, approximately 73.8% of poker players are still male. This may be an extremely discouraging statistic for any woman who is looking to join the poker world? How can a woman succeed in such a man dominated field? The answer to this easy, women can succeed in poker the same way that they can succeed in any other area of life. And while the bulk of poker players are male, that doesn’t’ mean that there are not a few sharp female players giving them a run for their money.

Gender should never be the defining factor at the poker table. It should come down to how you play, the pots you win, and your overall skill. Poker is one of the few areas can meet on entirely equal terms, so while poker may be a man’s game at the moment, it won’t be in the future.