Category: Gambling and Casinos

There is still speculation as to where the roulette game originates from. Some declare that it is derived from China and was brought by traders and Dominican monks from the Far East to the Americas. Others claim that the roulette game comes from France, the word being French word for “small wheel”, and was created by an unruly French mathematician, Blaise Pascal in the 17th century.

Monaco still remains a strong convert to the roulette game because in the 18th century Prince Charles thought that it would be a convenient way to keep the economy of the small principality afloat. When the game came to the Americas in the middle of the 19th Century the invention of the single “O” was introduced by Frenchmen, Louis and Francois Blanc. However the American game now plays the double “O” game while the European game still constitutes the single “0” game. The double O game enables the house to make a higher profit. The roulette game proved to have something of a milestone in the California Gold Rush obviously attracted to the large amounts of money to be made.

There are two different ways of playing roulette, there are two different wheels that are played and these are the American wheel and the European wheel. The difference is minimal in that the American wheel has 38 numbers including 0, 00 and 1 to 36. The European wheel contains 37 numbers including 0 and the numbers 1 to 36. Other differences between the two varying forms of roulette are that in American casinos, the dealers will use their hands to draw in the bets while the European croupiers use a long stick called the Rake to collect the chips. Also in America the roulette players are given different color chips and in Europe they are given the same color chips. Roulette continues to be a very popular game especially in Europe.

The game of Blackjack was introduced to the United States in the 19th century but the origin of the game is still much in dispute. Blackjack can be traced back to several European card games including the French ‘Vingt-Un’ (21), ‘Trente et Quarente’, and ‘Chemin de Fer’ (Railroad), as well as the Spanish ‘One and Thirty’, Italian ‘Baccara’ and ‘Seven and a half’ which all have similarities to modern Blackjack.

When gambling was legalized in Nevada in 1934, Blackjack screamed into popularity and was most commonly played with one or two decks of cards. Roger Baldwin published a paper in 1956 which explained hot to reduce the house advantage based on probability and statistics which was quite confusing for those who were not mathematicians.

In 1962, Dr. Edward O. Thorp used an IBM 704 computer to refine the mathematical strategy in Baldwin’s paper and also developed the first card counting techniques. Dr. Thorp wrote a book called “Beat the Dealer” which outlined card counting techniques and the strategies for reducing the house advantage.

This spawned a huge increase in Blackjack players at the US casinos who were trying to implement Dr. Thorp’s strategies, much to the consternation of the casinos. The system was difficult to understand and hard to implement and thusly increased the profits for the casinos as more and more people took to playing Blackjack.

Blackjack is the most popular table card game in the United States today which was transformed from the one table game that used to be stuck in the corner of most casinos. The term Blackjack comes from the ‘natural hand winner’ of the earlier versions of the game when a player was dealt the Jack and Ace of Spades in his initial two card hand. The player was declared an automatic winner and was paid a bonus. In today’s version of Blackjack, any ace combined with any ten point value card-10, jack, queen and king, counts as a natural Blackjack, except after a split.

Blackjack is a widely popular game around the world and has only seen an increase in players as the years progress. What once was a game that was not popular and seemingly too difficult to play with ‘strategies’ and ‘counting cards’ it is now the most popular card game to play at a casino in most of the world.

We have the fact that the MVP Award is announced and decided before the NBA playoffs are over. It is decided on before the first round is even over! What’s the result? It was announced Wednesday that Steve Nash will win his second straight MVP Award.

Now I am not arguing that Nash is not worthy of his second MVP. Actually Nash supporters are going to say that he had a better statistical year this season than last season, when he was the clear choice for MVP. Sure, Nash upped his points from 15.5 per game last year to 18.8 per this year, but last year was last year. More importantly, Kobe Bryant and Lebron James were not in the playoffs last year and did not come even close to the caliber of seasons they each had this year. What I am arguing is that other players are just more deserving of the award.

On Wednesday night, Nash got posterized like no one has ever seen before. Who was the player that abused Nash so horribly, you ask? Oh it was Kobe Bryant, another top candidate for MVP and someone more worthy of the honor than Nash. More than just making Nash look like a fool on national television, Bryant’s dunk in the fourth quarter sealed the victory for the Lakers over the Suns. This now leads us back to our issue at hand.

The Suns might not make it out of the first round of the playoffs. After the Lakers’ 93-90 victory Wednesday night, the series is even at one game a piece. Now, the Lakers are heading back to Los Angeles with home-court advantage and control of the series. By the way the Lakers are 27-14 at home this year and we all know Kobe is going to turn it up a notch for the home crowd. If this round is the last stop for the Suns, where does that leave Nash? At home with his MVP trophy, even after he couldn’t beat the seventh-seeded Lakers in the opening round. Remember way back when Charles Barkley was actually one of the first MVPs not to win the NBA Championship? That was in 1993 and seems like ages ago now. Back then the MVP committee got things right, and even more ironic is that Barkley won the award while playing for the Suns, Nash’s current team.

More over, if the Suns do in fact lose to the Lakers in the first round, the case grows even stronger that Kobe is the MVP. Do I have to read the laundry list of accomplishments to you? The man scored 35 points per game during the regular season, not to mention getting an overachieving Lakers team back into the playoffs with a record of 45-37. And now he might get them into the second round as a seventh seed. Without Kobe, this team would already be planning for the Draft Lottery.

And what about Lebron James? The Cleveland Cavs are the fourth seed in the East. Let me repeat, the Cleveland Cavs are the fourth seed in the East. Don’t forget that the Cavs also won 50 games this year. This is an achievement in itself. Let’s not forget Lebron’s playoff debut; he only scored a triple double against the Wizards. This is exactly why the playoffs have to count toward the MVP voting, because the playoffs are where legends are made.

Don’t get me wrong, Nash is a nice player who had a nice season. But aren’t MVPs supposed to be spectacular players who have spectacular seasons. Before you answer that question, answer this one. If you take Kobe away from the Lakers and Nash away from the Suns, which team suffers more? The answer to that is your 2006 MVP. I’ll give you a little hint. It’s not Steve Nash.

Bet the NBA Playoffs @ WagerWeb.com Sportsbook

Even if you are a seasoned veteran or an inexperienced poker player, online poker has a lot to offer you. Poker is so much fun and enjoyable. It allows you to use a strategic frame of mind with the combination of luck! In an online betting site you can pretend to be like Kenny Rogers in The Gambler and know when to hold them and know when to run. How do you become a part of the online poker experience? All you need is a little drive and Internet access.

Here is how the process starts. Get online and use your web browser to click on online betting sites that are about online poker and offer assorted games. If you have a particular poker game style, make sure the site you choose has that game available. If you do not have a style yet, it is not a problem. It would be a great idea to research the rules of playing poker and know how to play before actually starting a game. Research the types of games and find out what game is your favorite. You know the saying “it’s not over until the fat lady sings?” In poker that is not true. There may be a fat singing lady somewhere offline but online, you can always ask for help. Most poker sites that you may run into have help buttons or search boxes so you can key in any terms you don’t understand to get their meanings. Once you have gotten past finding and learning a game that suits you, review and memorize rules so that you look professional.

Now, let us talk about responsible gambling. Gambling can be enjoyable and entertaining. Even though it is competitive, respecting other players is important. Just because you are in an online betting site and can’t see the other players the “do unto others as you would want done to you” still applies. You can behave any way you like since you are at home, play in your underwear if you like, but in an online card room, remain respectful when playing your hand.

When you are wagering you must understand that you are responsible for account transactions so mum’s the word on any password that may be given to you. Most online betting sites keep the personal identity and account information confidential. Of course you are 18 or above and as an adult you should know that it is up to you to read up on website rules and regulations. Some regulations researched from some casino websites are available to give you an idea of what you are getting into:

* Players may play games for free or they can play for money; (how awesome is that!)
* You have to be the legal age for gambling, which is 18. Imagine an embarrassing call from authorities to your mother to report your underage hand in winning a game and collecting the money under false pretenses. Yes, this is possible from playing online games.

What is offered when we become official gamers? An online betting site may have a sign-on bonus that is either 20% or up to $100. That is a great incentive. You haven’t even started to play yet and already you are gaining some dough. This bonus is deposited into your own poker account within 24 hours. Here is the catch: you have to earn player points to clear your cash. The player point requirement is 14 times the bonus amount. That is not too bad since you are going to play anyway. And you probably will play more than 14 games, doesn’t sound too bad eh?

How would it feel like to win up to five million dollars in a tournament? Right now such a tournament is happening. Just use your web tool bar in order to locate which site you need to go to so you can enter. You can enter such a tournament with as little as a dollar!

Want to know some more about other tournaments online betting sites provide? Here are a few:

* Daily Freerolls: this is a multi table tournament where you can join for free. The great thing about this is you have the chance to win bonus cash. You should check your website’s tourney schedule to see more details. If it’s for free, take a chance!
* There are tournaments that suit both European and North American players.
* You can play in All Lucky Dollar tourneys where the buy-in is only one dollar and cash is added to a prize pool. The winner has a chance at winning the prize pool. Once again, checking out what websites offer in regards to these kinds of tourneys is important. For one buck you can win a few more bucks. What a great opportunity!!
* There are such things called satellite qualifiers in online poker. Satellites broadcast tournaments from specific destinations and combine them together to make large tourney events called qualifiers. Through satellite qualifiers, anyone can qualify for all main poker events. There are Single table tournament qualifiers and multi-table qualifiers. Which ever one you are more comfortable playing is the one that you should choose.
* You can play in big tourneys through qualifier satellites for chances to win big prizes. For a few dollars you can join the really high stake tournaments. In a qualifier tourney instead of winning cash you win tickets to another tournament. You can bump to bump tournaments and build up tickets that can amount to cash. Since all tickets have an expiry period, make sure to pick a tourney that will have a long expiration time. This can allow players to find the right tournaments that have not expired yet.

As you progress your poker playing skills, you have opportunities to join in different tournaments and games that will allow you to win actual money. Remember to pick an online betting site that is guaranteed to be safe, reliable, and most of all fun. Practice makes perfect. Educate yourself on new and even old poker hands so every time you are in a game you seem to play like a real pro.