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THINK! slothoki

 

I have a new tool for the tables, something I put together recently that I hope will help me more than some random good-luck charm or card protector. It’s a white disk, about the size of an air-hockey puck or dealer’s button, with “THINK” slothoki printed on it in big red letters.

It’s a bit silly and I’ve already gotten a few comments, but I’m hoping it’ll buy me those extra seconds that can mean saving or not missing a bet, seconds that remind me that poker is a game of the eyes and the brain, not the hands and heart.

Two quick examples:

In middle position with King-Jack suited, take the flop five-handed. The flop comes KT5 rainbow, checked around to me, I bet. There’s a fold and then the rock on the button raises. It’s folded around to me and I immediately call the bet.

Had I taken five seconds to think about the situation I would have thought: this guy is a rock’s rock, one that makes other rocks change tables, the kind of guy who last tried a bluff during the Carter administration, it didn’t work out, and hasn’t tried since. What did I think he was in the hand with, forget throwing in a raise? K9? K8? About the only worse King I could even imagine him having is KT, giving him two-pair. The only conceivable draw would be QJ, and if that, why raise? If he had AA, AK, or KK he would have raised preflop, so the most likely hand is…KQ, which I proceeded to pay two large bets in order to see after the river.

Now, I suppose even knowing all this I might have still called his raise (even though the odds weren’t really there) to see the turn, but the point is that I was on poker-autopilot and none of this entered my mind until I reverse-engineered it on the showdown. My failure to take five seconds to think cost me at least two big bets.

Here’s a happier example. I raise pre-flop in early position with two red aces, get two dangerous loose-aggressive callers who have been part of about 90% of the hands, plus the big blind. The flop comes down AT9 with two clubs, great but still dangerous — one of these guys could easily have two clubs, QJ…hell, they could have 87. I bet out only to see it raised and then, after a quick look, reraised! What the? The big blind folds and then with my best Olivier pained expression I call, as does the middle player.

There’s a lot of cards I don’t want to see, but the turn is a beautiful, board-pairing ten. Checked to the three-better; bet, call, call. The river is a complete non-flush, non-straight blank (unfortunately), the four of diamonds. I figure that drama class is over and I don’t want to risk losing a bet through a check-raise attempt, so I bet out. The middle guy, obviously drawing, folds, leaving my heads-up opponent to raise me. I immediately reraise him, but before the words have left my mouth he has his own reraise on the felt.

Now, what I should have done right there is stopped for a second. Maybe two. Thought about the situation.

Instead, I panicked, while the alarm in my head started screaming QUADS! QUADS! QUADS! Instead of assessing the situation I threw in my call, said “I can’t beat quads” and turned over my hand (which he, as the aggressor, should have done first, had I given him the opportunity). He did not have the quads (he mucked his hand, but said that he had T9), and I both missed at least one big bet and instantly erased the strong image I had been trying to build.

Now, had I taken five seconds at the right moment, I would have asked the following: if he had pocket tens, would he have three-bet pre-flop to thin the field, as he had been doing all night with big, and even not-so-big hands? Probably. If he hit his set on the flop, would he have three-bet, possibly knocking my, say, AJ out? Probably not. Then, if he miraculously hit quads on the turn, would he have bet, indicating at least trip tens and possibly scaring away the flush/straight draw? Again, probably not. So given all of this, did he have quads…almost certainly not

All of this only came to me midway through the next hand, though, since I let my hands and mouth take over my play, not giving my brain a chance to work. It’s easy to get caught up in a big hand, with a mixture of excitement, anxiety, fear, and adrenaline fogging even the most analytical brain. It’s too easy to forget that most important word at the table: THINK.

What Qualifies as a Pre-Existing Health Condition?

When you obtain health insurance coverage, you may not be covered for pre-existing conditions, at least at first. Many health insurance companies have a six- to eighteen-month exclusion period for coverage of pre-existing conditions. This means that although you are paying your monthly health insurance premiums, issues for which you have sought medical attention in the past are not covered during that time frame. Some health insurance companies will not cover an individual with a history of pre-existing conditions, while others will raise the premiums.

A Complex Definition

Pre-existing conditions are defined differently by health insurance providers and employers. Some insurance companies define a pre-existing condition as something for which you have sought medical attention in the past six months. Some states have regulations that determine how long ago the medical issue must have occurred to be defined as a pre-existing condition. Others allow insurance companies to look at a patient’s entire medical history.  Some insurance companies and products define a pre-existing condition as a medical condition that existed before seeking coverage, regardless of whether or not the individual sought medical attention for it.

Examples of Pre-Existing Conditions

Pregnancy: If a woman applies for health insurance after the date her child was conceived, the insurance company may not cover the cost of delivering her baby.

Mental illness: If you have received medical treatment for depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, or other mental illnesses, you may be denied coverage. To learn more about your interest on “cool springs plastic surgery reviews“, check here

Chronic conditions: Medical conditions such as fibromyalgia, arthritis, high blood pressure, asthma, and diabetes are considered chronic conditions. Whether or not they count as pre-existing health conditions depends on the insurer. Some insurance companies only look at whether an individual has been to a doctor within the past six months. If you have asthma but have not used medication or seen a doctor for the condition in the past six months, your asthma may be covered.

Cancer: Whether you have a history of cancer or are currently undergoing treatment, you may be denied coverage or have to pay higher premiums.

Heart disease: Patients with serious heart disease or those who have undergone heart surgery may be considered as having a pre-existing condition.

Your Medical Records

Even if you don’t disclose a particular medical condition when you apply for health insurance coverage, the insurance company may find out about previous illnesses from the Medical Information Bureau. Similar to credit reporting agencies, the Medical Information Bureau provides information about patients’ medical history to insurance companies. Medical information is kept on file for seven years, and individuals can access their Medical Information Bureau report once a year for free. This can help them determine whether now is a good time to apply for health insurance (or health-related insurance, such as life insurance).

Affordable Care Act

The Affordable Care Act, which was passed in 2010, protects individuals with pre-existing conditions. The Act provides Pre-Existing Condition Insurance Plans (PCIPs) to patients who have been denied health insurance for a pre-existing condition. By the year 2014, discrimination against patients with pre-existing conditions will be forbidden.

When you apply for health insurance, don’t lie about your medical history. If you do have a pre-existing condition, it is likely that the insurance company will uncover it anyway. Instead, make sure you are aware of what qualifies as a pre-existing condition and what the guidelines are for the specific insurance you are applying for. Since different companies have different specifications, you may be covered if you wait a few months before applying or if you get your condition under control before seeking a new health insurance policy.

 

Idea behind Custodian Startup Pundit

Over the last few years, I seeked advice and mentorship from various senior and kind leaders in the capital markets and technology industry. We were lucky that many super successful leaders were keen to help us in our Brassica Custodian startup journey. In the last couple of years, we noticed that several younger students who were trying to be entrepeneurs reached out to us looking for feedback and mentorship in their ventures. There issues varied from person to person and business to business, but we noticed many common themes,

Is my idea good enough to become a successful business?

Should I quit my job to start my own company? Can I do it part time?

What if I fail?

My parents and family tell me that I should continue with the safe large company’s job. How do I convince them otherwise?

How to write a business plan?

How do I get funding for my idea?

How do I hire a team?

How do I take my startup from an idea to a product to breakeven to scaled up business?

Which technology stack should I use for my idea?

What lifestyle I may expect once I become an entrepreneur?

While we don’t pretend we have all the answers. We have some experience in going through similar challenges ourself and have luckily come out of the tough first few years of a startup to a small tech business which can and is scaling. We believe we can help the entrepreneurs in making more informed deceisions, or at least focussing on the right issues.

To begin with, we will conduct offline workshops (on Saturdays) for entrepreneurs with som experienced speakers guiding the audience. We will also conduct one o one sessions for your specific business too. This is a no profit initiative., funded by uTrade Solutions team.

We welcome all mentors and mentees to participate and help grow the entrepreneurship awareness. We cant make successful entrepreneurs, but we can try to make them more aware and informed for sure.

Please like the page, promote it, suggest how we can improve it and join in our events.

1 Million Dollars! A Heads Up Story.

Towards the end of last week, a challenge was laid down on Full Tilt Poker, it was for $1,000,000. The two players? Patrik Antonius, and Rui Cao.

Most of you will have heard of Patrik, he was a member of the Full Tilt stable of pros before Black Friday, is a former tennis player, a regular on poker TV shows and has been involved in some of the biggest online poker hands in history.

Patrik recently came 3rd at the Aussie Millions for a cool $600k, but has had a swingy time of it online. Before today’s action he was currently down about$143k

Rui Cao may be a little more of a mystery to you. He’s a high stakes cash reg, and a former “Team Limpers” instructor at Full Tilt. He was born in 먹튀검증 China, before moving to France in his childhood. He is currently playing from the UK, and has been having a neutral start to 2013. Before this challenge he was down about $82k, but was climbing out of a much deeper downswing.

They were playing on Full Tilt last Wednesday, when Rui offered the challenge to Patrik in the Chat Box:

“Patrik Antonius: ok

Rui Cao: by the way

Rui Cao: wanna play a challenge?*

Rui Cao: lets say 1M freeezeout NL PLO and deuce?*

Patrik Antonius: it depents what kind of

Patrik Antonius: this would be online?

Rui Cao: yes

Patrik Antonius: i would do that

Rui Cao: ok lets say next tuesday?

Rui Cao: so i can wire the money

Rui Cao: ok

Rui Cao: lets do 300 deuce

Rui Cao: 100 BB

Rui Cao: 400 plo

Rui Cao: 10 buy ins

Rui Cao: 200 400

Patrik Antonius: i dont know the day so far i can play but we can agee to do the challenge

Rui Cao: 300 holdem

Rui Cao: can u be sure u can do it?

Rui Cao: so i wire the money

Patrik Antonius: yes i can give you my word on it

Rui Cao: ok 300 at 200 400 nl

Rui Cao: 400 plo

Rui Cao: 300 deuce

Rui Cao: ok?

Patrik Antonius: how about 400 in holdem 300 in deuce and 300 in plo?

Rui Cao: 350 holdem 350 plo

Rui Cao: 300 DEUCE

Rui Cao: its fair i think

Patrik Antonius: ok thats fair

Rui Cao: do you have

Rui Cao: skype

Rui Cao: or whatever so we can discuss

Rui Cao: some things

Patrik Antonius: yes can you get my phone number from someone so i can give you my skype then?”

So, with the action planned over 3 different games, and with each player putting up a million dollars, this isn’t the kind of event that tends to happen every day.

This isn’t the 1st time these two have battled over large sums of money. the battled back in May 2011 on Full Tilt Poker at the $500/$1000 PLO tables. Rui lost $800k to Antonius in a single session.

The 1st session in this heads up battle happened last night, at the £1.5k/$3k 2-7 TD tables on Full Tilt. It didn’t last long, and the 1st hand set the tone for the action. Rui Cao won the $15k pot, and then continued to bleed Patrik over the next 350 hands and about 3 hours.

With the first $330k part of Antonius’ $1 million already in Rui’s account, we are eagerly anticipating the PLO and NLHE rounds.

With both players being of such a high quality, we can’t say with any certainty what’s going to happen in the next rounds. Both players are among the elite, but we’d probably give the NLHE edge to Patrik, while the PLO really is going to be a coin flip in our estimation.

We are hoping we can grab some of the hands from these sessions, and if we do, we’ll bring them to you on FTR.

Full-Tilt-Poker-FTOPS-8-Event-15

 

FTOP VIII Event 15 featured HA (half PL Hold’em, half PL Omaha), which pulled in a nice 932 players into the competition.  With a buy-in of $200+$16 and a guarantee of $150,000, the prize pool was sure to surpass the guarantee.  The prize pool busted the guarantee by about $36,400 more, making it a nice $186,400!  This FTOPS VIII event was hosted by German Full Tilt Pro, Eddy Scharf.  Scharf is a Lufthansa pilot and has the honor of carrying two WSOP bracelets in Limit Omaha.  Despite his obvious success, it wasn’t enough to land him in the money this time around.

It wasn’t only Eddy Scharf facing rough waters in this  꽁머니사이트 tournament though, as it turned out to be a rather unfriendly forum for all the professionals!  In fact, the only Full Tilt Professional to make it in the money was Stuart Paterson.  Paterson finished 62nd overall for a measly $447, doubling his initial investment.

Siggen, the event’s 1st place winner, scored a cool $42,872.  Siggen has enjoyed a lot of success in online poker.  Some of his recent scores are this event, $27,863 in the WCOOP-12 on PokerStars, and $6,084 in a $109 rebuy tournament on Stars.  Other notable online players include Alan Nissim (hamazriya, Jared Okun (Smokinokun) and Matt Smith (SamENole.)

Schildy1984 wins PokerStars WCOOP Event 28

This year’s World Championship of Online Poker is in full swing at PokerStars, with players from around the globe competing for awesome prize pools in exciting tournaments. We’re fast-approaching the halfway mark of the series, so a huge amount of cash has already been won but, more importantly, there’s also a lot of it up for grabs. Event 28 wrapped up earlier this week, and the lucky winner to walk away with the number one spot was Schildy1984 of Austria, who received $206,280 for a job well done.

The World Championship of Online Poker is pretty much exactly what the name suggests. It can be seen as the internet’s answer to the World Series of Poker, and the PokerStars hosted series is by far and away the largest such online series around. This 2011 series boasts a massive combined guaranteed prize pool of $30,000,000, which is much larger than many were expecting given the withdrawal of PokerStars from the US market. The combined prize pool is spread over 62 events this year, which offer a great variety so players of any game should be able to find a tournament they’ll love.

Event 28 was one of the more standard formats, a simple No Limit Holdem tournament with no surprises. The buy-in was respectable at $1,000, and 1146 players decided to register and take their shot at the money. This many contestants lead to an almost doubling of the prizepool from its guaranteed $600,000 to the final figure of $1,146,000, to be divided among the top 135 players, with the winner allocated over $200,000. The event dragged on over two days before finally finishing less than an hour into September 15th.

After nearly two days of grueling button clicking and close decisions, the tournament got down to just three entrants, two players from Austria and one from neighboring Australia. The Australian player, delaney_kid, was Schildy1984′s first casualty, and was sent to the rail in third place. This gave Schildy1984 a slightly more than 3:2 chip lead against fellow countryman TheFan83 as Heads Up play commenced. While the chip edge was small, it was more than enough for Schildy who dispensed his opponent within a dozen hands when his flopped overpair turned a set to beat TheFan83′s two pair when the money went all-in on the river. Runner-up TheFan83 received just under $150,000 for his efforts, and the winner on the day Schildy1984 walked away with the pride, the title, and $206,280.00 in tournament winnings.

Weekly Strategy Compilation – Making your opponent uncomfortable

 

Often in HU matches, I’ll come across a player who doesn’t seem to have many leaks. He’ll raise a solid range from the BU, not play too loose OOP, and have a good mix of cbets and two barrels, as well as balanced ranges in other areas. Many when playing, whether it’s six max or HU, will play “their game.” By this I mean that they will always use the same preflop bet size, same flop bet size, same turn bet size, same lines, etc. This is fine versus mindless fish, but versus good players you’re allowing them to get comfortable and to easily balance their ranges. So instead of playing a “standard” game, to beat solid regulars you have to get them uncomfortable. You win at poker when you play against unbalanced play.

The first step to getting your opponent uncomfortable is identifying where his game is strong. I remember in one match I had versus a regular. This certain reg was normally tight/passive, which with patience can be very easy to beat. However, when I threebet him and he called in position, he would always raise my flop cbets with a balanced bitcoin roulette range: Any draws, top pair or better, some air. If I were to continue threebetting him light, general poker knowledge would tell me that I would lose: I have a weak range facing a balanced range OOP.  Many others will have balanced ranges in other areas of their game. Preflop and flop cbetting is usually balanced, as well as double barreling frequency.

So the second thing you have to do is stop playing against these players in spots where there game is solid. If someone is double barreling a solid frequency, DON’T c/c the flop with weakish hands likely to get double barreled off. If someone is shoving a solid range to your cbets in threebet pots, DON’T threebet light.

 

But this is about as far as many go, they make the “I’ll play tighter” adjustment. Yet, there is another important step is to make your opponent uncomfortable; take him out of his game. How do you do this? Play your ranges in such a way that forces him to make thin calls or make big bluffs.

So lets go back to the opponent who is shoving over my cbets in threebet pots with a balanced range. Well what if instead of cbetting 3/4ths to pot when I threebet, I start betting 1/4th pot or check? Let’s put ourselves in our opponents shoes. We are getting threebet light by ISF, and he checks the flop on a J74 board. With midpair, I’m afraid that he is going for a possible c/r, which I can’t call, so I check behind. Maybe I’ll even check behind top pair weak kicker. I don’t want to get blown off my draw, so I’ll check behind that. But I’ll bet my sets, overpairs, and AJ/KJ hands because maybe he’ll c/r with air and I’ll scoop a nice pot! Maybe I’ll bet air sometimes too to steal the pot.

I don’t think this is an unreasonable assessment of what our opponent may be thinking, but look at what just happened! We successfully unbalanced his range. While his betting range is balanced (He’s betting his good hands, but his checking range only contains medium strength and weak hands. So now lets say our opponent does check behind, if we bet the turn and river with a semi balanced range of air and solid hands, he is going to have to make a huge call with either mid pair or bottom pair, which much of the time is going to be incorrect!

Yet this is only one way to go about it. There are many ways so make sure to experiment.

So in summary

  1.    Find where your opponent’s play is strong.
  2.    Stop putting yourself in spots where his play is strong.
  3.    Take different/odd lines to unbalance his range.
  4.    Play super aggressive with semi balanced ranges in those spots.

Eventually, a good opponent will have to start adjusting where he checks behind some strong hands. But that’s what poker is all about! All we have to do is make another adjustment, and we have him on his heels yet again.

I know this week is complicated, but if you really get it, it’ll improve your game ten fold! If you have any questions make sure to visit my comment thread in the FTR Blogs and Operations forum.

Title: Full-Tilt-Poker toto hk – Current Leaders September 7th

Time for another look at the Full Tilt Leaderboards. Its early in the month, so we’ll look to see who is off to a good start.

If you’d like to follow the FTP Leaderboard results, FlopTurnRiver archives the results daily on the Full Tilt network page. You can find it here: Leaderboard-Calendar by scrolling down to the leaderboard section and choosing a day to view. Also, for today’s complete standings (top 250 in all three categories) click here:

September 7th toto hk Results.

Current September 7th Top Ten MTT Leaders

1    The Yid    3082.70

2    DimJarnaby35    2319.60

3    sprstoner    2189.10

4    isuckatcards11    2044.60

5    Rounder63    1899.90

6    truesyalose    1879.30

7    bethwolf22    1839.90

8    ThatsTheGame    1801.60

9    kjh8448    1779.70

10    sketchy1    1652.20

 

Familiar names occupy the top spots on the MTT Top Ten this week. Last month’s winner, The Yid, jumps out to an early lead this month on the strength of solid results in the 45-man multitable SNGs. He also turned in three 4-figure scores.

The 2nd spot is held down by last month’s runner up, DimJarnaby35. He also turned in good results in the mutitable SNGs, in addition to winning a couple satellites into last week’s $1K Monday.

Another familiar name from last month, sprstoner, had a nice MTT score to start off in 3rd this week. He finished 3rd in the $33K Guarantee (a $109 1 rebuy, 1 addon tournament) for $7,613.

A couple other notables in this week’s Top Ten are truesyalose and sketchy1. Both are well known MTT regulars and turned in some solid MTT results. Truesyalose took 3rd place in a 6-max $109 rebuy tournament for a very respectable $17,050. He also turned in four other 4-figure scores this week, good enough for 6th on the Top Ten. Sketchy1 also recorded four 4-figure scores, including a win in the Turbo Hundo good for $5,980 round out the Top Ten this week.

Current September 7th Top Ten SNG Leaders – High Limit

 

1    PokerToronto    8347.20

2    Mement_mori    7844.90

3    phatchoy888    6685.20

4    Whitesnake1    5964.90

5    wildjoker321    4925.20

6    culaopho    4414.30

7    adb235    4037.30

8    KVD79    3860.80

9    moneyinthebank1    3827.30

10    beanmo    3593.20

 

The High Limit SNG Leaderboard also has some familiar names to start off the month. PokerToronto, who finished 3rd last month, takes the top spot with a strong start this week.

Mement_mori is a new name for me. He takes the 2nd this week, despite not finishing in the top 250 for last month. A new month often brings new resolve, so we’ll see if he can continue his run this month.

A few other players that finished in the Top Ten last month also show promising starts this week, including Whitesnake1 (4th last month), culaopho (6th last month), moneyinthebank1 (2nd last month), and beanmo (5th last month).

Current September 7th Top Ten SNG Leaders – Low Limit

 

1    Drinking Buddy    3136.40

2    J2ThaP    2998.10

3    kjh8448    2859.70

4    pokerinsidecokr    2750.20

5    Durden86    2599.90

6    jnye34    2350.20

7    ecued    2320.80

8    WPTfuji    2279.70

9    Odin187    2161.80

10    ys0vsky    2125.80

 

The Low Limit SNG Leaderboard looks like its starting out as a fairly tight race, with the top 5 spots separated by only 536 points. Drinking Buddy takes the early lead, off to a nice start after finishing 245th last month. J2ThaP also shows up in last month’s Top 250, finishing 141st.

Kjy8448 is our first name from last month’s Top Ten. He holds down the #3 spot this week, having finished 5th last month. Look for him to make a solid run for the top this month. Ecued, holding down the 7th spot, is also a familiar name. He finished 10th last month and should be in play for the title this month.

There are a couple other names on the Top Ten this week that had decent results in August. Pokerinsidecokr finished 48th last month and starts out the week in the #4 spot, and WPTfuji lands the 8 spot, having finished 66th last month.

 

 

 

Nevada Gaming Control Board continues to amend online poker draft

The Nevada Gaming Control Board continues to amend the regulatory draft for allowing Nevada-based online poker, aiming to provide a solid framework for the development of legal online gaming in the state.

An important part of the draft includes strong measures for ensuring that player funds remain accessible and “reasonably protected.” Specifically, 25 percent of the total player funds must remain in cash, which will be held in a federally insured financial institution. This would be a great boon to players, as issues of slow and non-payment should be eradicated under these regulations.

In a recent hearing on Thursday, November 4th, one proposal stated that player to player transfers should not be allowed by licensed operators. The concern is that players may use their poker account as a bank account, to settle debts or use for other payments. Currently, proposed online poker legislation and regulatory drafts have not laid out any specific clauses which would allow player to player transfers.

The issue of poker bots/artificial intelligence continues to be an important topic for the Board. The goal being to ensure that poker games are played between human players only. This would suggest that hand history databases that generate heads up displays at the table, such as togel Singapore Manager and PokerTracker, would not be outlawed under the current version of the draft.

The Nevada Gaming Control Board has been working diligently towards the licensing of online gambling in the state, even before Black Friday happened. March 2011 saw the Board’s approval of the first relationship between an international online gaming company (888 Holdings) and a Nevada casino licensee (Caesars Entertainment). June 10th, 2011 saw Assembly Bill 258 (AB 258) signed into law, requiring that the Nevada Gaming Commission adopt regulations to license interactive gaming in Nevada by January 31, 2012.

Jackie Glazier Earns Full Tilt Red Status

In only a few years time, Australian native Jackie Glazier has gone from tennis to mathematics to poker, seemingly without missing a beat. As it turns out, her accomplishments have not gone unnoticed by the industry leaders.

Full Tilt Poker has recently announced Glazier as the latest addition to their Red Pro team. She will now represent the company, flying the Full Tilt flag at tournaments and events.

Glazier is, in fact, the first Australian woman to earn a place among the Full Tilt elite. It’s the latest chapter in a journey which began in 2008, when she discovered a love for poker during a series of home games. Venturing into the field as a part-time player for 2009, she earned nearly $15,000. In 2010, her profits rose all the way to $89,275, on the strength of several big wins.

One of the most profitable wins of her career came in the Main Event of the 2010 WSOP. After surviving for five days, Glazier was finally eliminated in 427th place. Though disappointed that the run was at an end, she welcomed a $31,647 infusion into her bankroll. Only a month later, she would finish first at the $1,000 buy-in ANZPT Melbourne event to snag another $36,390.

Since then, she’s managed to add even more money into her all-time profit column. Glazier is highly regarded for her aggressive style of play, paired with an intelligent and genuinely skilled approach to the mechanics of the game. Already known for her proficiency in live events, it will be interesting to see her under the spotlight of the big time online tables.

 

Crist Signs Seminole togel hongkong Deal

Well, it took a few more days than I expected, but Florida Governor Charlie Crist signed the $1 billion gambling bill into law this afternoon. Instead of calling a news conference like usual, Crist quietly signed the legislation with only Representative Bill togel hongkong and Senator Dennis Jones, the two main sponsors of the bill, as witnesses of his signature. The bill passed the House last Tuesday and has been awaiting Crist’s signature since then.

It is likely that Crist decided to sign the bill quietly because gambling is a divisive and controversial issue, especially among conservatives. The Republican Governor is already trailing badly in the polls to challenger Marco Rubio in the Republican primary for the U.S. Senate. It is thought that the only chance Crist has is to run as an Independent candidate. Another divisive issue is not exactly what Crist wants at this point.

The $1 billion gambling deal gives the Seminole tribe exclusive rights to offer blackjack in 5 of their 7 casinos in the state of Florida. In addition, the bill finally brings the state the $435 million that Crist had already put in the education budget, meaning that money he had already spent finally exists.

The main opponents of the gambling deal were the state pari-mutuels, who were already at a competitive disadvantage to the Seminole tribe’s casinos. Now that the Seminole have exclusive rights to blackjack, the pari-mutuels worry about a loss of business leading to job cuts and eventually closures. In an effort to offset that, the bill also increases the hours the pari-mutuels can remain open and lowers their tax rate.

Next week, Governor Crist plans to do a ceremonial bill signing on a Seminole reservation with their tribal members. Now that the bill has passed the Florida legislature and been signed by the governor, the only step that remains is for it to be approved by the federal Department of the Interior, who must approve all compacts involving Native American tribes.

Blackjack Variations: Reno Rules for Doubling

Blackjack is a game that, though rather simple in its basic form, has enough variations to make it complex and constantly evolving. All the time I am learning about new rules or side bets offered at certain blackjack tables. Each rule change carries different odds, though, and affects the house edge. Before playing any blackjack game, whether at an online casino or the brick and mortar variety, it is important to know what your odds are and how the game is played.

Doubling rules are common variations for blackjack games. While the most beneficial rule is that the player can double down on any hand (as long as he hasn’t already doubled), sometimes only certain hands can be doubled. Any blackjack games that only allow certain hands to be doubled are said to use “Reno rules.”

The most common Reno rules are that you can only double on hands of nine through eleven or ten and eleven. At these blackjack games, you can only double down if your first two cards fall within that range. If you can only double a 9-11, that increases the house edge by anywhere from 0.09% with an 8-deck game to 0.15% fir a single-deck game. This rule is fairly common with online blackjack.

If you can only double down on a hand of 10 or 11, the odds are even worse. Those blackjack games increase the house edge by anywhere from 0.17% with an 8-deck game to 0.26% with a single-deck game.

Whether you are playing online blackjack or blackjack at a brick and mortar casino, it is important to know all of the rules ahead of time. It helps you to know which decisions to make and it can also help you decide whether you want to play at all. Believe me, there are some blackjack games where the rules are so bad I would never consider playing. For that reason, always make sure you know the rules ahead of time and if you have a variety of blackjack games to choose from, pick one with rules that are the most beneficial to the player.

 

 

 

How Slot Machines Work

How Slot Machines Work

Slot machines are pretty simple. A random number generator (RNG) picks three random numbers, each of which corresponds to a stop on each reel, then machine spins the reels so that they stop on the spots selected by the RNG. The principle is the same for five-line video slots: five random numbers, one for each wheel.

Note that by the time the reels are spinning, the game is already over. The RNG has already selected the reels, and the reels spin sort of as a courtesy to the player. Slot machines don’t even need reels — you could just put your money in and the machine could tell you whether you won or lost. The presence of the reels makes no difference in the game.

The reels are weighted so that some symbols are more likely to hit than others. For example, the slot may pick a random number from 1-127, which selects the symbols as follows:

Selected Number

Corresponding Symbol

1-69

Blank (positions between reels)

70-79

Single Bar

80-85

Double Bar

… (etc.)

… (etc.)

126-127

Jackpot Symbol

This is not the actual chart for any slot I know of, just an example of the concept. If there are 22 stops on the wheel (11 symbols and 11 blanks between the symbols), you don’t have a 1 in 22 chance of hitting the jackpot symbol on a given reel. It’s more like 1 in 64. Obviously, this is really deceptive. If they were honest, casinos would have a disclaimer on each machine saying “Odds of hitting any symbol are not proportional to the number of symbols on the reel,” or something like that.

By the way, each reel is typically weighted differently. That’s why you’re more likely to get jackpot symbols on the first and second reels (building the suspense) while failing to hit the symbol on the third reel.

The RNG is always working, even when you’re not playing, picking 168bet thousands of 3-number combinations per second. The moment you press the button or pull the lever, the RNG picks its 3 numbers. So if you someone hits a jackpot on a machine you were just playing, relax, you wouldn’t have gotten it had you kept playing.

The odds of hitting the jackpot on a typical slot are about 262,144 to 1. The odds are the same on every spin. It doesn’t matter if the machine has been played for months or years without hitting the jackpot, the odds of hitting the jackpot on the next spin are ALWAYS the same. No slot is ever “due” to hit a jackpot.

If you don’t believe me, try this experiment: Flip a coin until you’ve flipped three Heads in a row. At this point Tails should be “due”, right? It’s not. Flip again and write down the result. Repeat the whole process, flipping until you’ve had three Heads in a row, then flipping again and recording the result. Do this until you have 50-100 results. You’ll see that you’re no more likely to get Tails after three Heads than you are to get a fourth Head. Likewise, a machine that’s been played for a year without hitting a jackpot is no more likely to hit the jackpot soon than one that’s been played for a week without hitting it.