Category: Gambling and Casinos

Texas Holdem is a variety of Poker, a card game which originated in the 19th century. The origins of Poker are still disputed to this day, with a number of conflicting accounts about where it came from, and who first played it; similar games exist back to the Renaissance period. The word ‘Poker’ actually comes from the German word ‘pochen’, which means “to knock”.

However, most accounts generally agree that it was French settlers who first played Poker in New Orleans around 1830. It may have been introduced to them by Persian traders, as it bears strong similarities with the 16th century Persian card game As Nas. The popularity of Poker meant that it quickly spread throughout the USA, along the transport routes of rivers and railroads. It became especially popular when played amongst cowboys in the Old West.

Texas Holdem, or Hold’em as it is also known, is today one of the most popular versions of Poker in the world. Although nobody is really sure where this version was first played, it seems clear that Texas was the state of origin! Some reports say that the first ever game was played in Robstown in the 1900s and it spread to Dallas in 1925. Texas Holdem has enjoyed widespread recognition ever since.

The popularity of Texas Holdem was widely increased in 1970. In this year, the Horseshoe Hotel and Casino was opened in Las Vegas by Benny Binion. Binion decided to take over a small invitational Poker tournament from Riverside Casino’s Tom Morehead. What as the name of the tournament? The World Series of Poker and the game of choice was Texas Holdem.

Binion focused on the gambling element of the game by devising the idea of rapidly increasing antes and blinds, so that a winner could be produced within a relatively short space of time. In 1972, 8 players took part in the World Series of Poker tournament; thirty years later, the 8 had increased to 800! This annual tournament is now recognised as the most important in the world. In the last five years, the increasing popularity of televised tournaments means that Texas Holdem has become a part of mainstream television.

Additionally, through modern innovations in technology, Texas Holdem Poker has branched off in new directions. Games can now be played directly through the internet, or even on a cell phone! The game’s simplicity and huge entertainment value have contributed to its popularity, which shows no sign of decrease. Texas Holdem is clearly the most famous Poker game in the world.

The history of Sic Bo dates back to the game’s origins in ancient China, the term Sic Bo meaning literally “dice pair”, although to add an element of oriental intrigue into the equation the game is actually played with three dice! Sic Bo is, in essence, a simple dice game; historically it is thought that the game was played with bricks, tumbled between two plates and an overturned bowl, which over time was adapted to the dice and cage shaker variant common in today’s casino versions.

The ancient game of Sic Bo is also as Tai Sai, “Lucky Dice” and as “Hi Lo” in the Philippines. In Macau the game is widely played under the name “Dai Siu”, meaning “Big Small”, referring to the most popular betting option. The game is also similar in concept to an English game called “Grand Hazard.” Throughout the history of Sic Bo the game has been throughout Southeast Asia, Korea, China and increasingly, due in part to the movement of populations from those countries to the west during the nineteenth century, it has gained popularity in the West and is now played in many Western casinos.

The object is to bet on the outcome of a role of the three dice, to include combinations of any two or three of the dice, single numbers, two of a kind or three of a kind. Sic Bo payouts can be very large as the maximum odds are 180:1 for a specific triple (this requires all three of the dice to show the selected triple e.g. 3 x 2). At the lower end of the spectrum payouts of 1:1 are for betting on the value of just one dice. Similarly paying out 1:1 are “Small bets”, a wager that the total of the three dice will be between 4 and 10 (although this does not payout for triple 1, 2 or 3), and “Big Bets”, which require the total of the three dice to be between 11 and 17 (excluding triple 4 and 5).

The game is played on a table that illustrates the 50 permissible bets in pictorial form, with their associated payout. Players place their bets on the appropriate section of the gaming table, much like in roulette. The dice are usually tumbled in a basket by the dealer, who will enter the results on the table, and the winning combinations are then lit up. Finally, the dealer will pay-out the lucky winners and remove the unsuccessful bets.

As it is with most popular card games, the origins of Poker and the history of 7 Card Stud Poker are shrouded in mystery. No one is entirely sure how or where the game began. Further, when considering the history of 7 Card Stud Poker, you should first know how Poker is thought to have come about.

There are many theories about the history of Poker and the history of 7 Card Stud Poker. The most commonly held belief is the name Poker came from the French card game Poque (from the German word pochen, which means “to knock). However, the game itself more closely resembles a Persian game called Nas, which was played with a five-suit deck. Likely the game of Poker as we know it resulted from some combination of Poque and as Nas. The concept of bluffing in Poker came from still another source: the English game brag (first spelled Bragg), which is very similar to Poker but played using only three cards.

The first recorded instance of Poker in the United States was an 1829 game in New Orleans, played with a 20-card deck consisting of all cards with values of 10 and higher (four tens, four jacks, four queens, four kings and four aces). The game was not named, but the object was to bet on whose five-card hand contained the highest cards. This game soon spread to Mississippi riverboats, where con artists used a 52-card variant to bilk unwary travelers and claim their “pokes,” or gambling money stashes. Author Jonathan H. Green described this “cheating card game” in one of his books, and some give Green credit for coining the final term of “Poker.”

Stud Poker emerged during the American Civil War. Some attribute the invention of stud, or stud-horse as it was sometimes called, to cowboys around Ohio, Indiana and Illinois. 5 Card Stud was the first version played, appearing in The American Hoyle as an “official” Poker variant in 1864. Still, draw Poker was the favored variation until someone–no one is certain exactly whom–introduced 7 Card Stud in the early 20th century. The game remained the most popular form of professional and casino Poker until the 1980’s, when a slight twist on 7 Card Stud called Texas Hold ‘Em overtook the traditional version to become the favorite among gamblers and casual players alike.

The majority of Poker tournaments are based on core games of 7 Card Stud or variations of it. Binions Casino, the founder of the largest professional Poker tournament in existence–the World Series of Poker–began a Poker Hall of Fame to commemorate the greatest Poker players in history. Among them are “Wild Bill” Hicock, who was shot and killed during a Poker game holding a two-pair hand of aces over eights (which is still known as a “dead man’s hand” among gamblers); and “Red” Hodges, considered the greatest 7 Card Stud Poker player to have ever lived. 7 Card Stud is still an immensely popular game in Vegas, home games and Internet casinos.

Roulette is a very common game of gambling that can be found in every casino, whether online or land based. The variety of betting opportunities and play in roulette has helped to make it one of the most popular and abundant forms of gaming available to players of chance.

Roulette is played by having gamblers bet their money on the odds of a ball in a large wheel landing in a pocket. There are 37 or 38 pockets, depending on the version of roulette the gambler is playing. Pockets are numbered 1 to 36 (with one zero or double zeroes constituting the final pockets) and are alternately colored red or black. Players who make a winning bet receive odds of 35 to win, and also recover their original bet. Bets can be placed in a variety of ways, on individual numbers, colors, or combinations, ranges, odds, or evens.

Blaise Pascal invented the first roulette wheel. Pascal was a mathematician, and the invention has been attributed to his fascination with perpetual motion devices. Originally, the roulette wheel did not include the number 0, but it was added by the Blanc brothers (Louis and Francois) in 1842 in order to increase the house odds. Roulette spread quickly throughout Europe and North America. In the United States, American Roulette was invented when the double zero was added to the wheel, sometimes substituted with the American Eagle. Roulette was among the first casino games, as it was Blanc himself who established the first casino in the famous Monte Carlo resort area. Roulette is also invariably tied in to the portrayal of gambling as evil, as the addition of all the numbers on the roulette wheel (1 to 36) the number is that of the Beast of Revelation story, 666.

Keep in mind while you are gambling that it was a mathematician who invented the roulette wheel, and that he knew that in order to gain a profit the house would have to take the majority of the money. Another, perhaps more famous, mathematician is known to have decried the game of roulette; Albert Einstein has been quoted as saying “You cannot beat a roulette table unless you steal money from it.”

Despite detractors, many gamblers continue to hope that they odds will favor them when it comes to the wheel. Many try variations on the Martingale Betting Strategy, wherein a losing bet is doubled in the next round in order that the original amount is recouped while the original bet is still gained. This strategy can potentially lead to a disastrous financial loss.

Regardless of the chances an individual has at winning in roulette, there are always at least a few payouts and the game has so many variations that it can be a fun experience. As in any game of chance, the key to roulette is knowing when to draw the line and get up from the table.