Archive for February, 2009

Playing Craps At Your Favorite Casino

Friday, February 20th, 2009

The first game I ever learned how to deal in a Casino was Blackjack. In the corner of the training room was this Craps table where new dealers were learning to deal the game of Craps. I was amazed how intense these new dealers were and how difficult they claimed it was to learn the game of Craps. It was then that I decided I needed to find out what this was all about.

In a casino the craps table always seems to be the loudest and busiest. People are always cheering, laughing, screaming and joking with each other. So when this happens squeeze right in and secure your spot for this fast action filled table game. Dice is where the action is. All good dealers love to deal this game.

Like every bet that happens in the casino, craps is designed for the house to win and the player to lose. I have noticed that over time the player almost always loses. The best that you should hope for when playing craps is to minimize your loses and have the most fun you could ever imagine.

The secret to craps is to find a mix of numbers that allows you to walk away from the craps table with a smile on your face, even if you lost. The secret to having fun is to play longer, to walk away with some left in your pocket, or maybe even as a winner for the trip.

So if what I say is true, that players rarely are winners at the craps table, then why do people just flock to this game? Well like I mentioned earlier, it is where the action is. It is the game where people are truly having a great time, they are loud and happy at the craps table.

In summary, if you want to play where the noise is, where the experienced gamblers usually play, then when you walk into the casino with the lights flashing, the slot machines chiming, walk straight to the craps table. Get in there beside that hot shooter and have the fun you went there for.

Good Luck!

I am sharing with the world observations I have made while spending many hours working at the casino. You can find more tips by getting your FREE report at http://www.beacrapspro.com

How To Make Money – Part III Risk And Expectations

Thursday, February 19th, 2009

What should you expect from your stock? Well, a good rule of thumb is to look for stock with a better yield than Treasury Bonds, otherwise you should just invest your money in National Debt where it will be safe as houses. But since profit is very closely related to risk, you should be very careful and do your homework thoroughly before investing your hard-earned money in stock with a very high return – odds are it will also have very high risk indexes. This is a principle in finance (and dare we say, in life): the greater the potential return, the greater the amount of risk that an investor must be willing to take. This is so that investors feel compensated for taking on additional risk, and this is why Treasury Bonds have such a low return rate – they are among the safest investments around.

However, if you like risk and are not above a little gamble every now and then, let us tell you about the main risk measures, Alpha and Beta, using Party Poker’s stock PRTY as an example.

At the time of writing, these are PRTY’s risk measures:

Alpha: 0.0265 Beta: 1.2942

The Alpha measures risk relative to the stock itself: if the analysts say that a stock should earn 10%, but it actually earns 15%, the Alpha would be 5%, or 0.05. In the case of Party Poker, in this particular quarter the stock performed 2.65% lower than was expected buy the market, hence the negative before the index. This on its own doesn’t mean it performed badly – you have to know what the expectations and the historical performance of a stock are to make an educated decision.

The Beta coefficient is a little more difficult to explain, but it is roughly a measure of the tendency of a stock to move with the market (for instance if the market as a whole went up or down.) A Beta of 1 means the stock’s price will move hand-in-hand with the market, less than 1 means it will move less than the market, and in the case of Party Poker it means that in theory it is 29.42% more volatile than the market, so in case of a market rise it should (again, in theory) go higher and in case of a market low it should drop further than the average. The Beta index is more widely reported, and can be found easily in most stock summaries.

[We'll say it again - we are not trading experts, and this is only an overview of how stock works. Before investing, look for professional advice!]

Our next part will start dealing in some detail with the stock for major gaming concerns, from Harrah’s and the World Poker Tour to Cryptologic and Party Gaming.

This article was published courtesy of ThisIsTheNuts.com.
This Is The Nuts (http://www.thisisthenuts.com) is a rakeback site devoted to giving online poker players the most competitive financial rewards for their play and referrals, as well as monthly promotions and freerolls. We are proud to offer 24/7 online support. TITN is available in English, Spanish, French, German, Portuguese, Swedish and Russian.

A Review of the Palace Station Hotel and Casino

Wednesday, February 18th, 2009

Many visitors to the world famous city of Las Vegas have praised the wonderful service they have experienced at the Palace Station Hotel and Casino. Even the residents of Las Vegas often stay at this hotel, which certainly attests to the excellent quality of this establishment. Who knows more above having a good time in Las Vegas than the people who live there? If the residents choose to have a good time at this amazing establishment, then you will surely have a similar experience.

The magnificent Palace Station Hotel and Casino has been refurbished and the new accommodations are simply jaw-dropping. This hotel allows you to play your favorite casino games right on the property. There are also excellent entertainment and dining options available.

The location is one of the key elements that any tourist should consider when booking a reservation. The Palace Station Hotel and Casino is strategically located near the famous Las Vegas strip. The location is perfect because the tourist will be far enough removed to avoid the crowds, but they are still close enough to enjoy all the attractions.

The over 1000 guestrooms in the Palace Station Hotel and Casino are truly breathtaking. Each of the rooms have been renovated with the most recent, and attractive decor making them appealing and very comfortable. These guestrooms also offer many fantastic amenities. Wide screen television, climate control, high speed Internet, and Pay-Per-View options are all available in these terrific rooms. Guests often find it difficult to leave their elegant accomodations.

The Palace Station Hotel and Casino also caters to guests who have special needs. People simply have to call in advance with their instructions and the employees will do the rest. The management of this establishment takes special care to follow the specifications of the Americans with Disabilities Act outline.

Other hotel amenities also include daily maid services that ensure that the rooms are fresh and clean when the guests arrive. Small children are also welcome in this establishment. Tourists can request a crib for their room to accommodate an infant that may be coming along for the trip.

The guest rooms are not the only spots at the location that offer wonderful amenities. The Palace Station Hotel and Casino provides all of the amenities that each of its guests needs to feel comfortable. The guests who visit this establishment will surely find themselves treated like royalty.

Morgan Hamilton offers expert advice and great tips regarding all aspects concerning Palace Station Hotel and Casino. Visit our site for more helpful information about Palace Station Hotel and Casino and other similar topics.

How to Play Texas Holdem – Understanding the Game

Tuesday, February 17th, 2009

Before you start playing at the real money poker tables or playing Sit-N-Go’s for REAL money you need to understand the texas holdem odds and texas holdem hands.

Understand that in Texas Holdem, there are no high or low suits. All suits are treated equally. In the event of a most ties, the winning hand is determined by the order of highest to lowest cards. If the cards are entirely equal, then a tie is declared.

1. Royal Flush: An Ace, King, Queen, Jack and Ten in the same suit.

2. Straight Flush: Five cards in sequence, of the same suit.

In the event of a tie: Highest rank at the top of the sequence wins.

3. Four of a Kind: Four cards of the same rank, and one side card.

In the event of a tie: Highest four of a kind wins. In community card games where players have the same four of a kind, the highest fifth side card wins.

4. Full House: Three cards of the same rank, and two cards of a different, matching rank.

In the event of a tie: Highest three matching cards wins the pot. In community card games where players have the same three matching cards, the highest value of the two matching cards wins.

5. Flush: Five cards of the same suit.

In the event of a tie: The player holding the highest ranked card wins. If necessary, the second-highest, third-highest, fourth-highest, and fifth-highest cards can be used to break the tie.

6. Straight: Five cards in sequence.

In the event of a tie: Highest ranking card at the top of the sequence wins. Note: The Ace may be used at the top or bottom of the sequence, and is the only card which can act in this manner.

7. Three of a kind: Three cards of the same rank, and two unrelated side cards.

In the event of a tie: Highest ranking three of a kind wins. In community card games where players have the same three of a kind, the highest side card, and if necessary, the second-highest side card wins. Poker Sets!!

8. Two pair: Two cards of a matching rank another two cards of a different matching rank, and one side card.

In the event of a tie: Highest pair wins. If players have the same highest pair, highest second pair wins. If both players have identical pairs, highest side card wins. Players think that two pair is the NUTS when you play free online poker texas (which is a name Texans refer to Texas Holdem as).

9. One pair: Two cards of a matching rank, and three unrelated side cards.

In the event of a tie: Highest pair wins. If players have the same pair, the highest side card wins, and if necessary, the second-highest and third-highest side card can be used to break the tie. One pair is extremely common in live online poker.

10. High card: Any hand that does not qualify under a category listed above.

In the event of a tie: Highest card wins, and if necessary, the second-highest, third-highest, fourth-highest and smallest card can be used to break the tie.

Please use this information for free online poker games or at the next online poker room you join. Before you think of your next online poker strategy, please learn poker and the basics first! Once you learn, the money will start flowing in.

Sean Moronse is a professional poker player. Visit his website and subscribe to his free ecourse on how to play texas holdem and texas holdem strategy at http://www.SitNGoGenius.com

How Slot Machines Got Developed Over The Years

Monday, February 16th, 2009

Anyone who visited a casino twenty years ago knows that the biggest change brought about by modern technology has been to the slot machine. Earlier it was a very simple device. You put a coin in the slot and pulled the handle to activate the three reels. The pay table was on the front glass and if you lined up three winning symbols you won. The modern video slot machine is highly developed than used in those days.

The new slot machines are truly modern day wonders and they have many technical advantages than the machines used in the past. The new machines are run by microprocessors that make it possible to have virtual reels and many stops making it possible to offer life changing jackpots. Unlike the old ones, the new video slot machines have five, nine or even more paylines. You can also bet multiple coins on each line that you select. The winning paylines can be vertical, horizontal, diagonal or zigzag. There can be scatter pay or bonus pay symbols on the reels

Although the new slots do not come with a manual, there is a help screen to explain you how the game is played. If you are playing a game you never played before, you must spend a minute looking at the help screen and understand the game. The first screen of the help menu shows the pay lines for the game. This screen also explains how the symbols must line up for a winning spin. Many of the new video slots require that the winning symbols must start on the left reel and go to the right. The screen will also tell you how many coins you can bet on each payline.

Importance of pay table in the slot machines

The next screen you want to look at is the pay table that shows how much each symbol pays. Slot makers try to make the hierarchy of winning symbols easy to understand. Some of the games have themes that make the value of the symbols easy to understand. But there are some which are confusing and so it is always best to check the pay table, before the start.

Each machine has a table that lists the number of credits the player will receive if the symbols listed on the pay table line up on the pay line of the machine. Some symbols are wild and will pay if they are visible in any position, even if they are not on the pay line. On the older machines, it was found that the pay table is listed on the face of the machine, usually above and below the area containing the wheels. Most video machines display the pay table when the player presses a “pay table” button or touches “pay table” on the screen. Some of the machines have the pay table listed on the cabinet as well.

It is up to you to determine if you want to play a machine that affords you many smaller wins or are you the type that wants to go for a big one? By looking at the pay table you can get a general idea. Although payback percentages are set to return a set amount over the long run, anything can happen in the short run.

Stephen Crawford is a successful publisher and webmaster of SlotFan.com. He provides more information on slot machines, online slots, slot winning strategies, loose slots at casinos, that you can research on his web site at http://www.slotfan.com/

What Are the Odds – Big Slick Suited

Monday, February 16th, 2009

Every list of texas holdem starting hands has Big Slick suited (AKs in poker shorthand) near the top. It is a very powerful starting hand, and one that shows a profit over time if played well. But, it is not a made hand by itself, and cannot be treated like one.

Lets look at some of the odds involving AKs before the flop.

Against any pair, even a lowly pair of twos, Big Slick at best a coin flip. Sometimes it is a slight underdog because if you do not create a hand with the board cards, Ace high will lose to a pair.

Against hands like AQ or KQ where you have the higher of the cards in the opposing hand “covered”, AKs is roughly a 7 to 3 favorite. That’s about as good as it gets pre-flop with this hand. It’s as good as taking AKs up against 72 offsuit.

Against a better hand, say JT suited, your odds are roughly 6 to 4 in your favor. Better than a coin flip, but perhaps not as much of a favorite as you would think.

When the flop lands, the value of your hand will probably be made clear. If you land the top pair on the board, you have a major advantage with a top pair/top kicker situation. You will often win bets put in by players with the same pair, but a lesser kicker.

You will also beat good starting hands like QQ, and JJ if they do not flop their three-of-a-kind. Not to mention that if you flop a flush or a flush draw, you will be drawing to the nut, or best possible flush. These are all things that make AKs such a nice starting hand to have.

But what if the flop comes, and misses you. You will still have two overcards (cards higher than any of those on the board). What are your odds now for catching an Ace or a King on the turn or the river and salvaging your hand? Of course this only works if a pair is able to salvage the hand and will be good enough to win the pot.

If the Ace or King you’d like to see land on the board doesn’t also fill in someone else’s straight or flush draw, you would have six cards (three remaining Kings and three remaining Aces) that can give you the top pair.

With those six outs, the odds of landing your card on the turn are roughly one in eight, so if you’re planning on putting money into the pot to chase it, look for at least seven dollars in there for every one dollar you’re willing to bet to keep the pot odds even. Those odds do not change much on the river.

While playing poker by the odds does not guarantee that you’ll win every hand, or even every session, not knowing the odds is a dangerous situation for anyone at the poker table that is thinking of risking their money in a pot.

Mongoose is responsible for the Poker Calculator programs at TurningRiver.com, and encourages everyone to review the Drawing Hand Odds chart before chasing too hard after a straight or flush.

Do You Lose At Poker – Why – You Can Learn To Be Better

Sunday, February 15th, 2009

The game of Poker isn’t really that hard to learn. So, when you lose at Poker, why you lose means being honest with yourself. If you’re stupid, you won’t be reading this article anyway, so don’t worry about that. If you’re just new to the game, don’t worry about that either. If you’ve learned some bad habits that interfere with your game, don’t worry – replace them with good habits. If your emotions get in the way of you winning, worry about that a lot!

Emotional control and discipline are the hardest part of being a winning Poker player. Most people who’ve played the game of Poker for a while and still lose don’t want to know why. It means facing their own weaknesses. Learn from their mistakes. Decide now to give up being “outcome dependent”. People who are outcome dependent get upset when they don’t win. It’s okay to feel bad, but it’s NOT okay to let it ruin your attitude.

There’s only one thing in life you have 100%, complete control over: your attitude. The sooner you accept that and take control of it, the faster you’ll improve, not only at Poker, but at Life. You can decide to look forward to the next hand, rather than look back and dwell on the last one (good or bad). Yes, even a winning hand can ruin your attitude about the NEXT hand, if you let it!

Lose Poker? Why? Your attitude makes you a winner, no matter the outcome!

If you’re in the USA, you can’t gamble online. However, in many US states, you can play games of skill and WIN PRIZES LEGALLY! Go NOW to Poker Strategy, Tells and Tips for inside information about online poker, games of skill and automation!

The Downfalls of Poker Starting Hands – KJ, K10, AJ, and A10

Saturday, February 14th, 2009

Many amateur poker players will sit at a table, fold their hands over and over and wait for high cards to come. They rarely play any cards unless they are high. Now this tight strategy is not that bad, however many of new players will fall into the trap of playing mediocre hands with KJ, K10, AJ, and A10, calling raises and playing it out of position.

The problem is that often with KJ and K10 you will be up against either AK or KQ in which both cases you are totally dominated by a better kicker, the ace and the queen. Now surely sometimes you will get lucky and hit two pair on the river or a straight with these hands sometimes but in the long run you will lose too much when you flop top pair kings and lose to a better kicker. The same goes for AJ and A10 offsuit. They are easily dominated by hands like AK and AQ. The same principle stands here, the amount of money you stand to lose with these hands is much greater than what you stand to gain – therefore it is correct to fold most of the time. It is especially important to fold these hands pre-flop to lots of raising, you are almost surely beat even if you hit a pair.

Now there are certain times where you will play hands like these. If it seems that nobody is strong ahead of you, and you are sitting in late position, you should limp in or come in with a raise, depending on how tight the game is. If you don’t think you will be good in a hand where you flop top pair because of your kicker trouble, do not play that hand. One other situation where you would play AJ and A10 is if it was suited. This gives you another chance to win with the flush, increasing your +EV and making it correct to call.

Famous actor James Woods once said on a poker television show that he keeps an elastic band around his wrist that he snaps every time he gets a “garbage hand like KJ”. Even the celebrities are catching on, why aren’t you? Maybe an elastic around your wrist is a good solution for you. Maybe you want to just mentally prepare yourself before every game by telling yourself you will only play these mediocre face card hands in certain situations. Stick by your plan. You will find that in both limit and no limit poker, you will certainly save a lot of money.

Kyle Healey is the Director of Marketing for a Myspace Poker Layouts website and a Free Poker Forum.

Learn The Rules Of Online Roulette

Friday, February 13th, 2009

Want to achieve mastery in online roulette, first learn all the rules. The rules of online roulette are same as that of casino roulette. It is called as a game of probability. Here people have to estimate where the small ball will halt on the helm. If it stops on the winning slot, the player becomes the winner.

Hence, this game is more of chance, as no one knows where the ball will stop on the helm. To start with, the online roulette layout comprises of various numbers as well as color.

In case of American roulette online, counts comprise of numerical such as 00, 0 and from 1 to 36. The layout table has two zero numerical, represented in green color. Other numbers in red and black correspond directly to helm.

Basic Rules Of Online Roulette:

People have to consider the layout table of online roulette before making any guess work. The layout table comprises of 49 sections. Out of these 49 sections, 38 of it are numbers. When a person bets on peculiar numbers, those numbers become interior (inside) bets.

Now, the remaining 11 numbers of the section are referred as outer (or outside) bets. Various types of outside bets are:

  • Straight

  • Column

  • Corner

  • Street

  • Split

  • Even money

  • Five numbers

  • Six numbers and

  • Dozens

In dozen type of betting, participants are actually placing chips on either all or few dozen sections. These sections are first twelve, second twelve or third twelve. This means a participant is betting on set of all twelve numbers in online roulette. First twelve comprises of numbers ranging from one to twelve.

Second twelve includes numbers from thirteen to twenty four. Third twelve comprises of numbers from twenty five to thirty six. Now, with even money type of strategy in online roulette, participants have to bet on only one slots such as high, low, red, black, odd, or even. For instance, if a person has chosen red slot, then his ball need to land only on red number on the roulette wheel.

If the ball lands on red number 50, gamblers will receive the same amount of prize money. This type of bet, offers people with payout of 1:2. Now, this payout means that, if players play bet of $10, they will receive double the amount, which is $20.

Straight Bets And Street Bets:

Likewise, players need to bet on different slots in online roulette. If the ball lands on chosen slot, they win. In case of column betting, players have to bet on either first column, second column, or third column. In online roulette, the column bet pays out 1:2.

Straight bets in comprise of betting only on sole number. It offers payout of 35:1. In case of street bet, players have to bet on three numbers that too consecutively. This will give a payout of 11:1. Therefore, these are the few basic rules that will help gamblers to get started with online roulette.

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The 5 Trickiest Poker Hands and How to Play Them

Thursday, February 12th, 2009

1. A-A: Pocket Aces are the best hand in poker but because of that simple fact they can be tricky to play. You could go the route of trying to limp in and trap players or you could simply make a raise. Either way, you need to do what needs to be done to isolate.

How to Play: Do whatever you have to do to get the pot down to 1-2 other players. Aces win against a random hand around 85% of the time but that number decreases ridiculously fast the more people are in the pot. The value of aces depreciates greatly in a multi-way pot so play accordingly. Raise them based on table position and not their strength, ex. raise more in later position.

2. A-K: Big slick is another hand that I see a lot of players have trouble playing and I see a lot of people busting out of tournaments because they overplay the hand.

How to Play: The hand should be a raising hand in most situations but occasionally you should limp in with this hand just to mix up your play. In early position you should obviously raise with it, same for middle position but in late position and the blinds this is a good spot to occasionally limp. Now if you raise with it and your hand misses the flop you should make a continuation bet (a bet around 1/2 the pot) to try to take the pot right there. If you get called or encounter raising or a lot of fighting back then get away from the hand. Remember, if you don’t hit a pair with A-K all you have is Ace-high, learn to fold the hand when it misses if you face resistance when you bluff with it.

3. K-Q: This is a hand that I place in a group of hands called “Trap Hands.” These types of hands get a lot of beginner and intermediate players in trouble because they treat these like premium hands when they really are just high suited connectors and should be played as such. The reason this hand gets players in trouble is because they often enter raised pots against true premium hands like high pocket pairs, A-K and A-Q and when you hit a pair you face kicker issues from facing A-Q or Big Slick. What you really want is to flop a straight or flush draw with this hand.

How to Play: In early position, you can call with this hand if you’d like, the suited variations of this hand are particularly strong and I consider them raising hands but offsuit variants should be either called or folded in early position, preferably folded if you’re at a loose table. In middle position K-Q is again a calling hand but if an early position player raises or calls than your fold percentage should increase meaning you will throw it away more. In late position I would call a standard raise or a call from middle position and sometimes early position players depending on the dynamics of the table.

4. A-10/A-J: These two hands are another two hands I consider “trap hands.” Most players treat them like premium hands and again they simply are overplayed and overvalued horribly by the average poker player. A-J suited is the only hand that I consider any real strength and A-Jo and A-10s and off-suit are just calling hands. Treat them like calling hands and you’ll be good, you don’t want to enter raised pots against premium hands, hit your ace only to loose all your chips because someone holding Big Slick had you outkicked.

How to Play: Unless you have A-Js these are simply calling hands. I wouldn’t advise entering raised pots with these hands very often. Once in a while you should raise with these just to mix up your play but you have to be very cautious with these hands if you get called. You are really looking to hit a straight or flop two pair so you don’t have to worry about kicker problems because if you’re in a raised pot and you hit your ace your ten kicker is very vulnerable.

5. K-K: Pocket Kings are pretty tricky especially if you play against weaker players. Phil Hellmuth describes this situation the best “I know i’m going to pick up kings and one of you idiots is going to call me with ace-deuce.” That just about sums it up, weaker players are going to call your raise with ace-rag and if the ace comes out you’re going to have a difficult decision.

How to Play: Raise aggressively pre-flop regardless of table position, your bets still should vary based on position however. The closer to the button the higher your raise should be, but don’t get ridiculous cap it off at 5-6x the big blind unless there’s a lot of limpers. If there’s no ace on the flop then bet hard unless its a very safe board (all low cards, no straights, no flushes) but do NOT under any circumstances give a free card for a player to outdraw you. The only way you give a free card is if you flop a set and are trying to trap. If an ace comes on the flop and you encounter resistance than be done with the hand as hard as it may be to throw away a sexy hand like K-K.

Honorable Mention: Low-Middle Pocket Pairs: These aren’t that tricky but I felt the need to mention them at the end here. These are tricky because a lot of players like to enter raised pots with these and they get in trouble a lot by overplaying them. I’ll try to give you some basic guidelines.

How to Play: I limp a lot with 8s and below often and follow a strategy called “set or die.” This means you check/fold unless you flop a set or the board is all unders with no flush possibilities. This is a surefire way to keep from losing a lot of chips. If you set than analyze the flop and slow play if its a favorable situation or make a bet and hopefully you’ll get paid off big time. For just about any pocket pair thats not paint (face cards) basically just lay it down if there’s overs on the board and you don’t set. You can raise with 7s and up in late position if you want, maybe even middle position but it is usually advised to limp in early with them.

Congratulations you now know how to play the top 5 trickiest hands in Poker.

Eager to learn more? Maybe one of these pages will provide more help.

- Starting Hand Requirements & Table Positional Play
Playing Trap Hands, Slow Playing & More