Author: horse-racing-free-tips

Combine two of man’s greatest interests and you’ve got something called “sports gambling.” What could be more ingenious? Imagine a group of men cheering over their favorite team, and almost always, bets are placed along with the racket. Think about it. With every sport there are always certain highlighted games everyone’s talking about; something that, according to sports buffs, will “Change the course of history.” In order to get some of the action, spectators usually attempt to guess who will win in the upcoming games. This all turns into a friendly little “game” called sports gambling.

It might sound addicting, but sports gambling is really just for fun and a way to bond with your friends. You can bet a little amount of money and still have a good time. Sports gambling makes the outcome of a game more meaningful and the whole duration of the game more thrilling and exciting. Here are some basics to get you started on sports gambling.

To place a bet, all you have to do is go to a sportsbook, which is a place that accepts sports bets. In the United States, there are four states where you can do sports gambling legally, but illegally, you can do it anywhere so long as you can find a bookie AND you are of legal age (over 21). Many of the sports you can bet on are professional and college football and basketball, professional baseball, professional hockey, and horse and dog racing. You can bet on anything that involves sports, really, after all, it is sports gambling. You can bet on the overall combined score of a game, on what round will the opponent be knocked out, and even whether a coin toss in a game lands heads or tails. All you have to do is place your bet depending on the statistical odds (chances of winning/losing).

In sports gambling, bookies rely on statistics to help you decide which team you think will win. There is such a thing called a “spread,” which is a point advantage given to a weaker team that is expected to lose
by X number of points. This is the odds maker’s way of making even bets possible for a Sports Book. For example, if a person may bet on a team that is expected to lose, and still win the bet so long as the team loses by a given number of points.

You might be asked to bet a few notches higher than the money you may actually win. This is really just the bookie’s way of making money.

In sports gambling, there are different kinds of bets. There are straight bets, parlays, teasers, and over/unders. In sports gambling the most common type of bet is the straight bet, where all you have to do is to pick the team which you think will lose or win. Over/under bets are wagers on the combined number of points scored in the game by both teams. Parlays are combined bets on several games. Teasers are similar to parlays, but you can add or subtract points from the spread to make your bets stronger. This is just to show you that sports gambling can be made more interesting and challenging by the bets that you place.

There you go – the basics of sports gambling. Why don’t you give it a try, and have a lot of fun in the process. Just remember not to get too carried away and spend your entire 401K plan on a whim. You just might end up regretting it for life.

When you start playing Caribbean Hold’em, or any other poker game, you will hear some weird and wonderful phrases that may make you feel like you just stepped into an alternate universe. We already learnt some of the terms used in Caribbean Hold’em in part one, but now I want to expand on that knowledge giving you a more comprehensive understanding of some of the terms you’ll hear specifically relating to betting.

All In: When you put in all of the chips you have you are going All In.
Bankroll: The amount of money that a player has to play with.
Bet the Pot: To make a bet being that is equal to the value of the pot.
Buy The Pot: If someone makes such a large bet that all the other players fold, this is called Buying the Pot. In this event, the winner does not have to show his cards.
Call: Equaling the previous bet.
Check: If no one has bet yet you can call Check, this keeps you in the game without a bet.
Check Raise: If in one round of betting you checked and someone after you raised, and then you raise it again this is called a Check Raise.
Early Position: The first person who acts in a betting round has the Early Position.
Family Pot: When all players call before the flop.
Fast Play: Means that someone is playing assertively.
Full Boat: Nickname for a full house.
Heads Up: When there are just two players left playing.
Hole Cards: The two cards in your hand.
Kicker: When two players have the same hands the winner is determined by who has the next highest card, this is the kicker.
Limp In: Calling before the flop.
Limit Game: When the table has limited the amount of bets and raises allowed.
Low Limit Game: When the table’s bets are restricted to low amounts.
Muck: Another word for folding.
No Limit Game: A game where you can bet however many of your chips you want.
Over the Top: see Re-raise.
Pot Limit: When the bets are limited to the amount there is in the pot.
Re-buy: Some tables will allow you to re-purchase chips after you’ve been knocked out of a tournament or game.
Re-raise: When a raised bet comes to you, and you raise it further.
Short Stacked: refers to a player with less money that the others.
Side Pot: when one player has run out of money, two players with money may start a side pot enabling them to keep betting.
Splash the Pot: When the chips are placed into the middle rather than kept in front of the player.
Split Pot: When players have the same hands the pot is split between them.
Straddle: An optional third blind, to the left of the big blind, which is twice the size of the big blind.

You will soon pick up all the lingo and realize that it’s not as weird or scary as you thought – I Promise. Good Luck and Enjoy!

When I first started playing poker it wasn’t the rules that freaked me out; I’m pretty smart, how hard can they be, I figured. Neither was it the strategy; I reckoned that I’d loose a bit, and before I knew it I’d be up to speed and on the ball. No, it was the terminology that got me; I had images of coming to the table and everyone immediately knowing that I didn’t have a clue what I was doing, and feeling like an absolute idiot. For that reason, I want to briefly explain some of the most common terminology used in the game; so that no-one else will have to feel the way I did and won’t be held back by it.

Antes: An ante is used in all table games and is the money that each player must put into the pot in order to buy into the game. The ante is a set amount for the table and this will not change. The money is paid before the first cards are dealt; anyone who does not pay the ante will not be dealt in.

Big blinds and little blinds: Tournaments don’t have antes per se because everyone has already bought into the hand, so to speak, by buying into the tournament. The buy in of a tournament negates the need for an ante as the pot is already set. The big blind and little blind therefore is an alternative to the ante and involves one player on the table paying a sum equal to the minimum bet and another paying a smaller sum equal to half the minimum bet. The big blind is paid by the person in the second seats to the left of the dealer and the little blind is paid by the person sat directly to the left of the dealer. When there are 2 players left the dealer is the little blind.

Board: This refers to the community cards, the cards that all can see and use. There will not be a board in all games, only in Hold’em games such as

Flop: This is the name given to the first three community cards. These cards are turned all at one go.

Turn: This is the fourth community card. The Turn is flipped by itself and is followed by a betting round. This card is sometimes also referred to as the ‘fourth street’.

River: The River is the fifth, and final of the community cards to be flipped over. Once the River is flipped there is only one more betting round.

Showdown: This is the show and tell of the Caribbean Hold’em game. Following the final betting round after the River, all active players must show their hands; the best hand out of the 5 community cards and the 2 personal cards takes the pot.

These are just the very basics of Caribbean Hold’em terminology; you will find that once you are familiar with a few terms you will see them cropping up in other games too. One step at a time and you will be speaking the lingo before you know it.