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Wednesday, January 13, 2021

The History Of Bingo

In Italy during the 1530s a lottery was invented that is still played in Italy every Saturday. This is where the game of Bingo originated. The game travelled to France in the 1770s and was initially played amongst wealthy Frenchmen. The game then travelled deeper into Europe reaching Germany, where they chose to use it as a tool to help their children learn history, spelling and math.

Finally, the game reached Atlanta, Georgia in 1929 where it became known as 'beano'. It was played at fairs and carnivals around the country. Each player had some dried beans and a card containing numbered squares - this was divided into three rows and nine columns. There was a caller who drew random discs numbered from 1 to 90 from a cigar box or a bag. The designated number drawn out was then shouted to waiting players. The players used their beans to cover up the matching number on the card. The winner would be the first person to cover up an entire row of numbers. When this happened the player yelled 'beano' to alert everyone that they had won.

A New York toy salesman, Edwin S. Lowe, was visiting a country fair one day when he witnessed a woman shout 'Bingo!' In her eagerness to tell everyone that she had covered all her numbers, she became tongue-tied and shouted 'Bingo' instead of 'beano'. This error ultimately inspired Lowe and he rushed back to New York to develop and market a new game - Bingo!

Lowe's first commercial version of the game retailed at $1 for a 12 card set and $2 for 24 cards. A priest from Pennsylvania realized that he could raise some much needed funds for his church by running Bingo games, but he soon discovered a problem. There were often too many winners! When he brought this to Lowe's attention Lowe hired a math professor, Carl Leffer, to help him increase the amount of Bingo combinations. By 1930 they had invented over 6,000 Bingo cards - reputedly at the cost of Leffer's sanity.

Word soon spread that Bingo was an easy and enjoyable way to raise money. By 1934 it was estimated that over 10,000 games a week were being played. Having been unable to patent his invention, Lowe generously allowed his competitors to pay him a dollar a year and for that he happily let them call their games 'Bingo' too.

Texas Hold Em Poker: Free Online Strategy For Winning Hands At The Tables

The most popular and probably the best type of poker game for a novice to try his hand at is texas hold em poker. In a matter of minutes, anyone can learn the rules, which usually begins with the two players to the left of the dealer placing blind bets. Two face down cards are then dealt to each player. A round of betting ensues, this time beginning with the person to the left of the first two people who placed the blinds in the beginning. Players can choose to check, raise, or fold when the turn to bet comes to them.

Afterwards, the dealer places three cards face up on the table. Called a flop, players can use these cards with the two that they already have to form their hands. Following this is another round of betting, after which the dealer places another card, known as the turn card, face up on the table. This card can be used to create a five card hand, if it improves the hand they already hold. The players place their bets, and the dealer places a final card on the table. Known as the river card, players can now use this as well as the other four on the table and the two that they have to create their final poker hands.

After one last round of betting, the players still in the game reveal their cards this is called the showdown. With a few rounds of practice, anyone can master the rules. However, mastering the game of poker itself is another story. Not merely an exercise in luck, texas hold em, despite its simplicity involves both brains and practice, thereby, continually challenging those who play it.

Texas hold em poker has become increasingly popular as a growing number of online sites attract people to play from the comfort of their homes. More and more people are starting to play the game competitively, brushing up on their skills and strategies, often in the hopes of earning some extra money. Many also participate in online texas hold em tournaments where the cash prizes can be very high.

Numerous sites and other resources have also sprung up to help people perfect their game, offering winning tips and proven strategies, as well as directing them towards the top sites at which to play. Organizations that bring together players are also gaining prominence. Television shows, such as “Celebrity Poker” on the Bravo network, where celebrities compete with each other playing texas hold em has proven to be a ratings success. This too has helped to raise the profile of a game once relegated to the casinos or to weekly male bonding activities. A broader, more diverse range of people are getting involved, from Ivy League college students to stay at home moms, many from the comfort of their homes as they log into the thousands of online sites. Sales of poker paraphernalia have seen a rise as well, as people are either taking the game much more seriously than they once used to or they are discovering it for the first time. Nonetheless, it remains to be seen whether this resurgence of texas hold em is merely a passing fad or one that will prove to have strong staying power.

Rocks at the Poker Table

This article will focus on how to spot and defeat any rock at the poker table. First, I will define a “rock” as a poker player who plays very few starting hands, yet plays aggressive when he/she decides to play a pot. I was recently playing in a NL 5 – 10 poker game at a local club. After about an hour, I had a pretty decent read on everybody at the table. There was one player who really stood out to me. It was a young guy and he hardly played a hand. He sat there and as this article was created in my mind that night, so was an ultimate strategy against rock players. He was not only going to be my victim that night he was also going to be my guinea pig, my study guide for how the mind of a “rock” poker player works.

I noticed many things about this guy that were sure signs for anyone who was paying attention, that this guy was a TIGHT PLAYER. The first thing you obviously notice is that they do not play a lot of starting hands. They usually fold, in fact almost always fold unless they are in the blinds or have a strong hand. The second thing I noticed is that this guy kept counting and rearranging his chips every 2 seconds like he was losing them or something. Like seriously man, you haven’t played a pot in half an hour why in the world are you still counting your chips – they haven’t moved! A third thing I found while studying this guy was that he slouched every hand… except for when he had a strong hand! In fact this guy was such a rock that I would call him a robot because he perked up everytime he found 10 10 or up. Now I have to admit, this was a pretty strong NL table and there were also a couple of drunks donating. With that being said, I had to laugh when even the drunk guys folded every time this rock tried to come in with a raise. That leads me into the next section of this article, how to easily handle any rock poker player once you have identified them.

Now that you know what to look for in a rock we can proceed on how to handle them. Like I just mentioned, I could barely help myself from laughing at this guy every time he entered a pot. I knew he had something strong it was written all over his face. The fact is – when these rocks enter the pot, they have the goods. If you see high cards on the flop, you can be pretty sure they have got a piece of it or already have a high pocket pair. Just fold pre-flop. Yes I said it and since it is the drop dead only way to play against rocks I’ll say it again – Just fold pre-flop. Unless you have AA, AK-AQs, KK, or QQ you are most definitely beat. So just fold. The funniest thing about this particular guy was, that everyone knew it and folded pre-flop when ever he entered with a raise. It was truly amusing as this guy got peeved and started playing crap hands. But this is where I noticed a new tell of our friend the guinea pig, he would still erect his posture when holding strong hands but when he tried to limp in with crap to throw us off he remained hunched over the table and his drink. At this point you just play off of the rock’s tells. You’ve got to remember that tight poker players are usually tight because they don’t like losing money and they like poker to be a mechanical grind slowly increasing their bankroll. Throw them off one or two hands and a rock turns into something their not – a loose or just frustrated poker player – one that you can take advantage of the rest of the session.

To sum up this strategy guide against rock poker players, firstly you have to identify the tight rocks at your table. This can be done by their appearance, the number of hands they play, how they play them, and even how they stack their chips or hold themselves. Once you have identified them and what kind of strong hands they play, you get out of their way unless you have a premium hand yourself. Proceed to play them like a puppet until they get off their game and take advantage of them the rest of the night.

Play Internet Poker Online: Game History

The game of internet poker may appear to be taking over the Internet and, frankly, it just may be! Try running the term “internet poker” through a search engine and you find over 16-million entries. It is not surprising, internet poker is fun, challenging and can, of course be profitable. However, don't be misled, internet poker, just like any other 'game of chance' can be devastating to the finances of someone who doesn't know how to play or doesn't know when to stop.

The best advice is also the most obvious: 1) Learn how to play internet poker; 2) Find an Internet site that is reliable and comfortable for you (everyone's taste is different) -- a site that offers many different versions of internet poker is best; 3) Try several different poker games; 4) Enjoy the game but don't gamble more than you can afford to loose and, most importantly, 5) Don't get addicted to internet poker or to any other game of chance.

We have mentioned “versions” of internet poker. There are many versions of poker available online but the most popular are: Texas Holdem, Omaha Poker, draw poker and stud poker. Texas Holdem is currently the most popular online poker game and is the most popular in many casinos; Omaha Poker, also known as Omaha Holdem is similar to Texas Holdem but is a slower paced game and is generally more popular among the high-stakes players. Of course, the games our daddies and granddaddies used to play, seven-card stud, draw poker and five-card stud are always popular games and are available in almost any online casino. There are many others and many variants of these games but in general, the ones we have named are the most popular at internet poker casinos.

Play for Free! One great thing about internet poker is that many online casinos give you the opportunity to play some or many hands for free. This allows you to get the hang of the game, choose a game that you will be most comfortable with and develop a strategy for playing when you decide to “go live” and place some real bets.

Some of the advantages of playing internet poker, over going to a casino or even sitting down with some acquaintances in a living room or 'back room' are: 1) You are generally more comfortable, more relaxed at home; 2) You don't have the constant conversation that is common at a 'live' game which allows you to focus better on your hand and your strategy; 3) You can take a break whenever YOU choose; 4) You can switch games when you choose or when you feel its to your advantage; and 5) Playing Internet Poker allows you to play for the stakes you choose with no outside, social pressure. Add up these advantages and you can easily see why playing poker online is as popular as it is, in one word it offers you a 'choice.'

Every internet casino wants your business and will provide many incentives and many options to gain that business -- that, of course is a good thing but perhaps the greatest thing about playing internet poker is, to get from one casino to another you do not need a taxicab -- just ride your mouse or track-ball.

Playing Poker Online - How To Have Fun Without Being Scammed

Playing poker online can be a scary experience for some people. There are a lot of scams that are being conducted everyday on the internet and you do not want to be involved in one. The best way to ensure that you won't be taken in by a scammer is to research where you will be playing poker online. This is a great first step in your research process; these sites are trusted by players all over the world, take a look and see if any are for you.

Party Poker is the world's largest online poker website with over 70,000 players online. Party Poker is fully licensed and regulated by the Government of Gibraltar and uses the PartyGaming system which as been independently tested for security, reliability, and fairness of play. The popular online poker room also takes extra steps to prevent fraud and collusion. When signing up for http://PartyPoker.com, use the bonus code DEPOSITMATCH to receive a 20% match on your initial deposit, up to $100 for free.

Paradise Poker is a premier online poker site. This is a site where there are always multi-player events happening and even a novice poker player will be able to find some sort of stakes game to enter. People have mentioned that this poker site has the most pleasing graphics mostly because it is not crowded with all sorts of unnecessary icons.

Poker Stars is known to never have a time where there is not a large tournament going on that anyone can enter. Popular with most of the free roll players, the site offers some enjoyable aspects to the programming. Although the site, itself can appear rather chaotic with the great graphics collections that people as player icons.

Poker Room has a variety of options. Of those include multi-table tournaments, as well as Texas Hold'em, 7 Card Stud and Omaha as well as a large number of assorted casino games. For those players worried about viruses, the Poker Room has taken care of this for you, there isn’t a download is needed to game on the site. They have included a good selection of links where poker players are allowed to play a free roll with play money, which includes tournaments.

Prima Poker is more of an association of poker sites rather than a single room and players rave about the minimal wait time before a game is available to play. With twenty-one sites from which they use to collect players for a game, it doesn’t matter where you connected to the site from, there will be a game started.

Full Tilt is another great site for playing poker online. Although the graphics may appear slightly childish, Full Tilt's interface can be a lot of fun, especially if the cards aren’t being dealt as you would hope. With Team Full Tilt, this site boasts some of the best players in the game, including Chris "Jesus" Ferguson and Phil Ivey, this site has earned its bragging rights.

A relatively site new to the online poker scene is Hollywood Poker. Unlike any other site, Hollywood Poker allows players to play a hand with some of their favorite actors including James Woods, the official spokesperson. The graphics aren’t anything special; however, they do offer options allowing players to maximize their experience.

Now that you know some online poker places to try, get out there and win!