World Series Of casino gamblux Poker Takes A Break From Main Event Gambling
The World Series of casino Poker Main Event gambling had been fast paced for all of the Day 1’s and Day 2’s. On Thursday, the remaining play bingo players took a break and had a chance to meet with the media.

World Series Of play poker Main Event Update: Grospellier Takes Lead
Bertrand Grospellier has seized the lead at the Main Event of the World Series of Poker as the online casino players started dropping like flies. There are now less than 600 players remaining.

World Series Of casino de Poker Main Event Has Begun
The World Series of Poker Main Event is what all of the world has been waiting for since last year’s Main Event ended in November, and on Friday. the tournament had once again begun.

Dead Again
(Posters Warning : CJ told me this blog now has a more diverse focus. I still plan to stick to gambling in some sense. Because I am a problem gambler, this still leaves an immense range of topics about which I can, and will, post. I just felt like writing again.) I saw a wookie bounce off the hoods of three cars. He streaked past me, with clumped hair flapping and woozy knees wobbling, presumably running FROM something that only he could see. With wookies there’s an equal probability that he’s running from : A) The Law. B) His Past. C) His Imagination D) Soap. He’d just run down our aisle when he darted between cars, bouncing off one, into another fender, then off a hood. I thought he got away. I later heard he was slammed down by three cops. For those of you playing at home, that’s “A”. Now, generally I like to get all settled in before wookie watching, but since this is the first Dead tour in years I was prepared for anything. My wife, brother and I got to Greensboro at least 3.5 hours before showtime. Presumably enough time to either drink a dozen beers or wait once in the porta-potty line. The good news is that most of the salesmen were pretty savvy. That’s unusual for a wook. The two most active undercover cops were a big burly guy in a yellow shirt that said “Dead” and another guy, also burly, but at least 6 foot 6 with a crew cut and a blue ‘do rag. I saw douche-rag guy hit up one pipe vendor near our car. Pipe vendor was holding his glass in a black case and strolling down our lane when douche grabs a random pipe and whips out a wad of cash. My car was blasting tunes at the time and I couldn’t hear everything said but I saw douche-rag point several times to the “bowl” portion of this young wooks glass. Wook, again, was savvy. The only part of the conversation I actually heard was wook telling cop, “These are for tobacco man. I could hook you up with THAT if you want.” Cop grabbed his money back from the wook, put the glass back, and stormed away without a word. That’s the gamble that is the Dead lot these days. I remember back in the day, we’d see more of everything than you can imagine ( I mean wow, really, everything) and the cops did nothing. It used to kinda freak me out the way cops would just ignore all the obvious, illegal activity at a GRATEFUL DEAD show. Maybe Jerry was responsible for greasing the locals, but the cops ain’t cool these days and they haven’t been for quite some time. Granted, like the wookies themselves, some people deserve what they get. One kid, a girl who I’d say was about 17, came by our car holding a ticket in her hand. She showed it to me….busted for drinking in the lot. Now, here’s where she got super-extra-mega-dumb. Her girlfriend was in the process of getting busted by yellowshirt guy (who again, could have just worn the uniform for all the subtlety he brought to undercover work) and our kid goes up to give her friend a hug. During the bust. While holding an open beer. Sigh. These are tomorrow’s leaders. So once inside we take totally excellent floor seats just to by the soundboard (Philside) and I continue the now standing bet I have with Pauly. We each pick 3 songs for 1st set opener. 3 more for second set. 3 more for encore. I took $20 off him when Phish opened with Fluffhead at Hampton. We pushed all three for the dead. Here’s the setlist for those who care : Set 1 Music Never Stopped Jack Straw> Estimated Prophet > He’s Gone > Touch of Gray I Need a Miracle > Truckin’> Miracle Set 2 Shakedown Street All Aong The Watchtower Caution Jam Drums Space Cosmic Charlie New Potato Caboose Help on the Way > Slipknot! > Franklin’s Tower Donor Rap Encore: Samson and Delilah Some notes : I love Music Never Stopped but am unable to NOT hear Donna scream OHHHH YEAH at crucial parts of the song. I’m not sure what that means. I’ve never actually SEEN Donna but that’s what years of bootleg cassettes will do for a man. My brother and I really, really, really, really, really, wanted to see Estimated Prophet simply because we like screaming AH NA NA NA NA along with Bobby Weir. We’re amused by simple things. He’s Gone was written long before Jerry died but when you’re touring without him you do know the audience assumes it’s ABOUT him now….right? Miracle was the highlight of the first set. I got stuck in the beer line during Touch of Grey and missed part. In fact, I missed so much that I missed Truckin’. I was so oblivious to it that I PICKED Truckin’ as one of my 3 second set openers with Pauly. It was a dumb bet. I enjoy the song Shakedown Street very much. I also Enjoy All Along the Watchtower and Warren Haynes really shredded it up on this one. Caution was awesome and this is the best thing about having Warren play with the band. He can actually sing the blues. Not the douchey Bobby Red Rooster blues but the good ol’ Pigpen brand. If you get to see the Dead this year, hope that they play this song. During Cosmic Charlie my wife said, “you know the DEAD never played this but all the after-bands (Phil, Ratdog, the Dead) play it all the time. I wonder why.” Then they played New Potato Caboose. Wow. I don’t even own a bootleg version of this soon. I couldn’t remember the name until it was half-over. I do remember that “touching makes the flesh cry out loud.” That counts for something. The band started the Help>Slip>Frank at 11:30. That’s 4 hours in. My brother and I assumed all day, it being Easter and all, that we’d see either Promised Land (my guess) or Greatest Story Ever Told (his). Samson and Delilah is what we got. C’est la vie. This is the kind of crap I blog about now. It did contain some gambling. That counts.

Grading the South Carolina poker legalization hearing
I showed up early for Monday’s South Carolina Senate subcommittee hearing. Up for debate and public input were two bills that would effectively make legal home poker games and charitable raffles. South Carolina is one of two states in the country that bars raffles (thanks to Utah for making us seem less antiquated and ridiculous). The Palmetto State also makes any game with cards or dice illegal (read: poker, Monopoly, bridge) etc. With that in mind, you might expect the decriminalization hearing on the 200 year old law to be ridiculous. You would be right, you just don’t know how right you are. By the end of it, I was so frustrated I couldn’t even speak clearly. So, after the jump, I grade the major players’ effectiveness (Note: this is for more than South Carolina poker players, as the national Poker Players Alliance had big role in the hearing). Poker Players Alliance: The PPA, the most legitimate of all the poker advocacy groups in America, has spent a great deal of time and effort in South Carolina recently. It supported the Mt. Pleasant Five in a February trial (see your April issue of Bluff Magazine for my article on the subject) and has been exceptionally vocal about legislative efforts here. The PPA surprised me by pulling on board one the state’s most respected legal minds. Billy Wilkins, former chief judge of the U.S. 4th Circuit Court of Appeals, spoke on behalf of the PPA. While Wilkins could’ve been briefed a little better on the subject matter, he was expectedly well-spoken. It was was a coup for poker players to have Wilkins on their side. I would never have guessed the poker industry could’ve pulled such a big name from the local pool. The PPA also did a great job of rallying the troops to the meeting. Its online outreach was hard to miss. All of that said, the PPA still has some issues it need to address if it wants to be a serious force. It could have done a much better job lining up and briefing people who planned to testify. One of the better parts of organizing grass roots efforts like this is making sure your people are all on the same page and are well-educated on the subject matter. The PPA needs people who know how to do more than send out e-mails. It needs to be pushing hard in the media, rallying larger groups of people, and educating the masses. A media campaign couldn’t hurt either. Finally, the PPA’s social media strategy was either badly conceived or badly executed. Here are a few examples of the Twitter messages sent out to more than 1,200 Twitter followers during the meeting. “at the Greenville NC poker hearing which just started.” “Greenville, opposition just said that no one has every been arrested for playn poker n SC! Read the paper much?” “Greenville, opposition sweating bullets right now.” “opposition doesn’t support charities that save lives w/ funds received from raffles.” “opposition does not support the burn center thats supported by charity events.” “Franky’s Fun Park is full of games of skill not chance! LOL” “opposition doesn’t support personal responsibility. ” “opp doesn’t support Sheriners.” “looks like were rapping up.” There were a ton more like that. From misstating where we were geopgraphically, to rampant spelling mistakes, to out-of-context immaturity, the Twitter feed was embarrassing. I couldn’t figure out who was sending the messages. He might be a really good guy, but he needs a better understanding of both social media and reasonable, mature ways to win hearts and minds. If the Twitter feed was the PPA’s only voice, I would not associate myself with the group. Said B.J. Nemeth, top poker writer, “These tweets sound absurd. You’re making it sound like anti-poker people hate children, charities, and puppies. Clearly untrue.” The PPA has come a long way recently and I still wholeheartedly support the group’s mission. It’s clearly on the right track. It just needs some good counsel on how to handle some of its outeach efforts. Grade: B- A few poker and raffle proponents, including your humble correspondent in the background and on the edge of a mental breakdown The legislators: Several legislators from around South Carolina came to Greenville. It started about as badly as you might expect. Committee Chairman Robert Ford is from the Low Country. He likes to party and is a laid back guy. He’s obviously from the coast. The problem is that his brand of humor doesn’t play here. He knew coming into the Upstate that he was going to be facing a very conservative crowd. Rather than respect it, Ford started the meeting by saying, “I guess since we’re in Greenville, we need to start with a short prayer. We didn’t do that in Charleston.” There is no greater way to tick off a group of praying people than saying, “I guess we’ll do it since we’re in your house, but we wouldn’t do it we were home.” Ford is a fun guy, but he is not one to sway hearts and minds. He seemed more intent on debating that convincing. Bad play, sir. Senator Jake Knotts, a retired cop from Lexington County (around the state capital), is no better. While obviously being in favor of the bill, he spent more than half his time arguing on tangential subjects such as whether the stock market was gambling and whether a local arcade contains games of chance or skill. He also left before the hearing was over (I know, because I left two and half hours into it and he was ahead of me in the parking lot). Knotts is a fierce advocate for whatever he believes in. Sadly, most of the time he throws a punch, he misses his target and hits the referee. Senator Brad Hutto is yet another Democrat from the coast. He is seemingly a smart guy. He also listens very well. Unfortunately, he stayed too quiet through most of the meeting. He could’ve used what seemed to be his openmindedness to convince the opposition. Instead, he sat and looked annoyed. I don’t blame him. I looked annoyed, too. Senator Phillip Shoopman is actually from the Greenville area. Despite apparently being opposed to the law change, he was also level headed. He seemed to imply he could handle a poker home game decriminalization measure as long as it didn’t involve opening up the state to new raffles. Of all the opponents in the room, he was the most reasonable. I appreciated his ability to disagree with me without resorting to name calling and being judgmental. Senator Mick Mulvaney from York County won the day. If there was an eye-on-the-ball legislator Monday night, it was Senator Mulvaney. Erudite, polite, and mature, Mulvaney was exactly what the conversation needed. If the entire legislature was made up of people like the York Co. senator, there might be a little more confidence in the intelligence of the body. Mulvaney is a Republican and we disagree on many subjects. That said, I can respect his style and his ability to allow me to disagree with him without resorting to tired and childish forms of debate. I’m quite pleased the lawmakers are taking the time to deal with this thorny issue. I’m less impressed with their way of handling their detractors. I covered lawmakers from 1996 to 2005. I’d forgotten how disenchanted I was with the people and the politics. I got a quick reminder Monday night. Grade: C- The Anti-Gambling lobby: Wow. I mean, wow. I know I live in the conservative part of a state that is one of the most conservative of the nation. I’ve seen the huge anti-gambling forces fill gymnasiums to fight against video poker. I know there are people who don’t like gambling around here. I get that part. That said, the folks who came out of the woodwork to fight the possibility of raffles and legalized poker home games were just…impressive. Chief among the detractors was Tony Beam, a conservative radio host and bigwig at a Southern Baptist university in the north part of Greenville County. Well-spoken and persuasive, Beam is a debater of the first order and has all the charisma of Rush Limbaugh. He is also the king of the straw man. He and Bob Jones University professor Dr. Bob Taylor (a doctor of math, if you can believe it) both rallied the troops by stating that allowing raffles and home games would open the door to casino gambling in South Carolina. They state this despite the fact the bills clearly state that such gambling would be strictly forbidden. They state it because the only way to really rally the anti-gambling crew is to offend their sense of morality. They would get nowhere if they said, “Fight against people’s rights to play cards in their own home! People playing poker in their home could turn your children into sinners. Charitable raffles in churches are the agents of Satan.” Even the most fervent of gambling haters would have a hard time getting a rise out of that. So, the detractors create the king of the straw men: home poker games and church raffles will mean MGM and Harrah’s will set up shop in Mauldin next week. It doesn’t follow, it’s silly, and it’s just wrong. Here’s the best part. The most vocal of the opponents at the hearing were from Bob Jones University and North Greenville University. Both are privately funded schools and take no state money. Fair enough. That said, their student body is made up of students who are there on scholarships. Many of those scholarships are funded by…wait for it…the South Carolina lottery. Later Monday night (yes, at a poker game) a graduate of Bob Jones University (who financed his way through school gambling on backgammon) asked why I thought his alma mater was so fervently against home poker games and raffles. Without understanding the motivation fully, I answered. First, they want to impose their morality on as many people as possible. Second, it’s an opportunity to be heard. They are an interest group and an interest group is nothing without an issue to fight for or against. And so, the stickers that say “No new gambling” on their chests. And so the tear-filled speeches about lost families. And so the wavering voice of a radio host who talks about the people he has brought back from the brink of video poker addiction. This is all because the American Legion wants to run a raffle to support its charities. This is all because I want to check-raise my friends in a cheap game of poker. Right. In short, the opposition is a lot like the proponents of the bill. They are so morally offended by the other side, they can’t bring themselves to make a legitimate argument. They are exceptionally devoted and charismatic, but they need to read a book by Dale Carnegie. Grade: C- Poker players: Despite a massive turnout in favor of the bill, a good portion of the people in the audience were there in support of charitable raffles. The local poker community is huge. Not enough of the players cared enough to show up. I knew going in that my presence wasn’t going to make much difference. I was going anyway, but felt better about it when G-Rob said, “Nothing ever got changed by people doing nothing.” I was disappointed by how few of my fellow poker players showed up. Grade: D It’s clear I’m frustrated. I’d hoped to write something a little more positive about the hearing. Sadly, nothing positive came from the hearing. The people on my side were unfocused, tangential, and irrational. The people on the other side were unfocused, tangential, and irrational. It was an act of legislative and advocacy masturbation and I am sad that I wasted nearly three hours of my life in the middle of it. Because I’ve converted to Optimism, I look forward to what’s to come. Because I still have latent fatalist tendencies, things don’t look too good–for other side. Photo courtesy GreenvilleOnline.com
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First someone who is not well rounded to play online poker game, should understand that despite the similarity of rules with the traditional brick and mortar casino poker, the art of playing is unlikely the same because for one, you will not be allowed to watch your opponents every move or you are not expected to keep the infamous poker face to avoid providing your opponent the combination of cards you have in your hand. And for another not being provided with visuals is somewhat encouraging a player to rise bets thereby leading the pot higher amounts than that in a visual room, where an opponent’s gesture either make or break your own bet. As a starter, you must begin by signing up for sites that allows you to play online poker on trial basis as this will likely give you a peek on what happens inside the virtual poker rooms. This way also, you will be able to experience what it is like to play poker online, minus the need to shell out money. Once you’re about ready to win realistically, you may now start depositing funds to your online poker bank roll. There is a limit set as to how much a player can deposit which thereby means that your limit depends as to how much you have on your bankroll regardless if you have more funds outside your bankroll. But for those who intend to play online poker big time, they may talk to the staff of the online poker game provider to relieve deposit restrictions.

If you have completed the following steps, you are then just ready to win and play online poker game, in the comforts of your home, no efforts needed to keep a poker face which can possibly take the chance of winning away from you. What you are about to experience will probably have an impact on your previous definition of fun, playing and suspense, but most importantly, you must at all times, be ready to be the winner you want to be.

Have been losing a lot
I have been putting off talking about this on my blog for quite some time — but for honesty reasons I’ve decided to include you in on one of the most stressful months for me ever as a poker player. I’ll keep it brief, and I won’t elaborate on any useless details, but I just [...]

There are certain things that you should look for when you are seeking out CASINOS online. First of all, you wan to be sure that the online casino has the games that you like to play when you are gambling. Most of the online casinos have a variety of games and most of them have very updated software to give you the impression that you are playing in a real off line casino. There is even sound that makes it sound as if you are in a casino off line. You can enjoy CASINOS right from your own home in this way.

You also want to be sure that the online casino has software that is supported by your computer system. Your computer system may support several different types of software. Much of the software that is made for CASINOS is slated for PC computers, although you may be able to find some that can be used for the Macs as well as other systems. In some cases, you can play on flash and do not need software when you are playing at an online casino. Each is different, so you can check them out when it comes to software and how you can play the games to find one that is best for you. You usually download the software for the online casino right to your own computer for free that will give you limitless playing power.

Unlike other offline CASINOS that require you to travel and keep certain hours, when you play at an online casino, you can play any time of the day or night. This means that if you find a casino that you like, you can even play from your own home at two in the morning, if you feel like it. This way, you can work around your schedule when you are online gambling rather than work around a schedule that is set up by an off line casino. And there is no traveling involved when you do this, either. You can simply log into the CASINOS and start to play right away.

Be sure to look into the bonuses that the online casino may offer. Most of them are looking for new players to come join them and will give you free money just for playing at the casino. The bonuses that are given by any online casino are for betting with and are deposited into your account. You can get some CASINOS that will match your money that you put into your account while others will actually give you free money without you even putting in any of your own money. Check out what each online casino has to offer when it comes to bonuses by going to an online site that will provide you with this information.

WSOP Recap: Eric Buchman Breaks Through To Win Bracelet
Eric Buchman was another of those players who gained respect on the poker circuit, but never won a World Series of Poker bracelet. That changed in Event 18 at the 2010 WSOP, when Buchman took down the gold bracelet in a Limit Hold’em tourney.

The most important is to know a financial fact. The chances for getting the money, when one requests for the withdrawal, is very less. The bigger poker sites such as Ultimate Bet, Paradise Poker, Poker Stars, Paradise Poker and Party Poker will give what one wins. They are the best Internet Poker websites. The smaller online casinos are the ones, most likely to cheat. There are many stories of many people being cheated by the smaller online casinos. So it is very important to know the names of the bigger Internet sites before starting to play Internet poker.

So as to avoid circumstances like these, aim to play in more well-known and better Internet poker sites. This does not indicate that all minor and recent Internet poker rooms are not dependable. A few are but these sites may have very huge financial problems. So it is advisable not to play in these.

The second risk is shuffling. All the Internet poker players should be alert of the shuffler randomness, which is a very important factor. A basic algorithm is designed and is stored in the server but these could create many problems. Internet sites which want to guarantee the clients that the shuffle and the practices are reasonable generally do these following: circulate the shuffle algorithm which is also called as random number generators and have separate examination of these algorithm and then, acquire license given by the regulatory commission.

So as to show how fine the shufflers are, the Internet poker websites publish their algorithm of the shuffle in the sites, which is available for study or experimentation for people who are really interested. Apart from this, the Internet poker website have to go through independent auditing. Independent auditing companies are appointed by various commissions to inspect these source codes and all the servers of the Internet poker sites. These inspections come as a surprise. The next thing the websites have to do is to get a gambling license, this can be given to them only by the Kahnawake gaming agency which is a regulatory commission which requires the Internet poker websites to follow with regulations and rules in order to get the license and also maintain this in order to prevent it from getting stripped.

The next danger one has to consider while playing in the Internet poker website is security. This risk is not only confined to the external hazards from the Internet hackers, as they can easily get information from users who enter and play. They can manipulate the end of the game. The greater and real danger comes from the people in the business that they appoint to handle all the information and also money.

The employee working for the online poker site will get easy access to a player’s information and the credit card numbers and they can also use them to gain access and also sell them. They also can have great opportunities in spying on the actions of the players and could easily use or sell this information so that many players could cheat.

Another danger is obsession to Internet poker. More and more playing on the net can prove fatal to people, as Internet poker is extremely addictive. So one must take care not to get addicted.