Gambling strategy Blog

You read it, as great as they claim the NBA is, Team USA can’t seem to win in these international basketball tournaments.
And with the 2007 FIBA Americas tournament ready to kick off by August 22, it sure looks like we’ll see more of the same as far as the fabled Team USA is concerned. THAT being coming up with good starts to the tournament only to lose BIG TIME in the end.
Why? Get this, Team USA probably lost three key guys who might probably carry the United States off what has been an era of disappointing international runs.
After already losing the overall No.1 draft pick Greg Oden and Houston Rockets forward Shane Battier from playing with the team for the FIBA Americas tournament in late August, the United States lost Kirk Hinrich after the fiery Chicago Bulls guard pulled out for personal reasons.
Kirk Hinrich played in all nine games for the United States in last year’s world championships, starting three of them. He is probably the most consistent ”true point guard” to play for the team then and with his withdrawal from the FIBA Americas tournament, Team USA could very well be in a whole lot of trouble.
Well, they do still have triple-double monster point guard Jason Kidd and of course…

Yep, New York Yankees slugger Jason Giambi is a SNITCH.
For all ya’ll who don’t know, Jason Giambi was one of many who used steroids in hopes of someday, becoming the next Barry Bonds and have all sorts of home run records on that diamond.
Well, the New York Yankees star confessed to all them steroids use, hell, he even helped the league in tracking down all the other MLB baseball players who use the illegal performance-enhancing drug.
And because of his somewhat insincere assistance to the league, (probably to save his own ass…) MLB commissioner Bud Selig won’t be slapping Giambi any disciplinary action whatsoever in this 2007 MLB baseball season for his steroids use.
”It’s over and done with. I’m thrilled with it. He did what he needed to do, now I can go forward,” Jason Giambi said. ”I can go forward and not hurt the ballclub with a suspension.”
Commissioner Bud Selig said, ”he’s doing a lot of public-service work, and I think that’s terribly important. I think it’s more important for…”

So, what about Boston’s Daisuke Matsuzaka? Do they consider him white too?
He he… Yep, there’s now a study that reveals MLB baseball umpires call strikes more for Caucasian pitchers than they do African. This is a study conducted by a team of one Daniel Harmermesh, a professor of economics at the University of Texas. (Who probably doesn’t know squat about baseball…)
Hamermesh’s team analyzed the calls on about a whopping 2.1 million pitches thrown in the Major League between the 2004 and 2006 MLB baseball seasons.
Controlling for all other outside factors, such as the pitcher’s tendency to throw strikes, the umpires’ tendency to call strikes and the batter’s ability to attract balls, researchers found evidence of same-race bias, and the data revealed that the bias benefits mostly white pitchers.
After all, 71 percent of MLB baseball pitchers are white while a whopping 87 percent of the umpires are… yep, white too.
The highest percentage of strikes were called when both the home-plate umpire and pitcher were white, and the lowest percentage were called between a white ump and a black pitcher.
Also according to the study, minority umpires judged…

Whether you admit it or not, you know you’re just waiting for new Madden cover boy Vince Young to fuck up this season.
In case you don’t know it yet, Madden cover boys ALWAYS fuck up in the same year they decided to become the cover athlete of the somewhat cursed video game franchise, Madden NFL Football. And with Vince Young gracing this year’s Madden game, that probably means he’ll fuck up this coming 2007-08 NFL football season.
With that said, check this out. Tennessee Titans quarterback Vince Young was BENCHED for the very first time in his career since making his first start with the team as a rookie last Saturday when they lost to the Washington Redskins, 14-6, in their preseason opener.
For some reason, Tennessee Titans head coach Jeff Fisher decided not to play the explosive second-year quarterback despite the clamor for him by the fans who paid tickets just to see the young phenom.
Last Saturday was suppose to be the first time they’ll be seeing Vince Young play on the football field again since leading the Tennessee Titans to an 8-8 record in his rookie year last season. Yep, they were anxious to see how much did the Longhorn legend improved in the offseason. Thanks to Fisher, all they saw was…

We have all watched poker tournament television and seen some players make reads on their opponents that might have some of us wondering if they were indeed psychic. Two players will bet down to the river card and one will muck his hand with a comment that his opponent must be holding two specific cards and sure enough those are the exact two cards that the other player has. To many viewers it may almost seem supernatural but in essence it is one of the skills that separate the great players from their competition. Reading your opponents hand is one of the key skills that must be developed in order for a player to succeed in the higher limit games and tournaments.

Continue reading »

Yep, a fat Asian psychologist from Cali is the new 2007 WSOP champion.

Only started playing poker a couple of years ago, Jerry Yang, a psychologist from California, became the new Cinderella man of the WSOP after winning the 2007 World Series of Poker main event. He jumped from eight to first at the final table to win this year’s latest competition of poker greats. Well… sort of anyway… Heck, the guy has only been playing for two fucking years.

Jerry Yang took home a $8.25 million payday, beating the other seven players who were fortunate enough to get their asses planted on the final table. Of course, he got the coveted 2007 WSOP bracelet too.

Jerry Yang said, ‘’I study my opponents very carefully, and when I sensed something, when I sensed some weakness, I took a chance. Even if I had nothing, I decided to raise, re-raise, push all-in or make a call.’’

For a guy who’s already 39 years old, this Jerry guy sure talks like he’s Spider-Man, using that spider sense to win in poker. Did I mention he’s 39? The only thing he can sense accurately is probably the time to take a dump.

Yang, an ethnic Hmong immigrant from Laos (of all places…) had nearly the shortest stack of chips as the final nine poker players began playing at noon last Tuesday. It was ironic too, as he was literally the SHORTEST guy on the final table of the 2007 WSOP, standing at 5′3.’’

But just like a typical Jacky Chan movie, the Asian persevered against the towering foreigners who were probably THAT close from asking Yang for some sushi or something.

There are TWO ways to win in poker, one is to improve your game which will definitely take time and a whole lot of practice. Yep, it takes a lot of time, experience learning, introspection and the obvious, HARD WORK.

The other one is MUCH MUCH SIMPLER. The secret to winning in poker? Find bad players. Yep, find players who are worse than you are (if that’s STILL possible) and win their money.

If you are the 10th best player in your neighborhood but have the poor decision of always playing against the nine other players that are better than you, chances are, YOU WILL LOSE. Jeez… You don’t need a rocket scientist to figure that one out right?

Your profit at the poker table is the difference in playing ability between the other players at the table and you.

Of course, looking for bad players shouldn’t be too hard. Look for any poker table. Are there a lot of checkers? Are there a lot of callers? Are there a few raisers? Does the pot always include many players? Do few players fold on the first round of betting?

Yep, these are GOOD poker games with BAD PLAYERS. Or better yet, these are games just waiting for you to win all that cash from the morons playing on the poker table.

Oh yeah, it also helps if the morons sitting there are drinking.

There you go, just some of the tips for you to find BAD PLAYERS and win butt-loads of cash. Oh yeah, I encountered this particular online poker table at PokerStars where the players simply make one terrible mistake after another.

Poker is a game of thought, deception, and strategy, so even before I sit down for a tournament, I like to be prepared for anything. There are times when the cards aren’t going to agree with you, and you’ve just got to play through it, but there are also times when you know you’ve got a monster hand and you need to know how to take as much advantage as possible.

One of the first orders of business to attend to when you’re dealt a monster hand is making it known to the rest of the table that you’re holding something worth playing. There are theories that “slow-playing” a monster hand will increase the number of players that will play against you, but in the long run you might not win as much and in Texas Holdem especially, winning one big pot can take you a long way. Also, the cards that are shown off the flop and beyond can hurt you.

Even though monster hands are a great asset, in tournament play folding one in the beginning isn’t such a bad idea. This lets you watch the rest of the table giving you the knowledge of being able to read the other players. By using this technique early enough, you can almost anticipate who your opponents will be later in the game and how they will play against you. Continue reading »

In order to really understand the competitive beauty of poker, you need to accept the fact that a good liar can make a great poker player. Acting like you’ve got something - or pretending like you don’t - can take you a long way in a poker tournament, so becoming an expert in bluffing can almost guarantee at least mild success. Personally I love to bluff; it stirs the pot and keeps people from getting a pinpoint idea of the cards you are playing. If you win a hand or two with a solid bluff and your opponent knows this, you’re letting your opponent know that you are not afraid of losing and that “you won’t be pushed around”.

So what is a bluff? Bluffing is representing what you don’t have, hoping to win a pot you have no business winning. But remember, your bluffs have to make sense. I like to think of bluffing as telling a nice fictional story. As a kid, I’m sure most of you told a little lie or two to avoid a bad situation, and poker essentially works the same way. But also like as a kid, if you bluff too much, you can get yourself in some serious trouble, so be careful. Continue reading »

Texas Hold’em: Set-Up and Play (short version)

Introduction

Texas Hold’em Poker is a community card game with four betting rounds.

Game Play

1. One player acts as dealer. This position is called the button and it rotates clockwise after every hand.
2. The two players to the left of the dealer are the small blind and the big blind, respectively. They are the only players who have money in the pot before the cards are dealt.
3. Every player receives two cards face down. These are hole cards.
4. The first betting round begins with the player sitting immediately to the left of the big blind, and continues clockwise.
5. When the first betting round is completed, three community cards are flipped face up on the table. This is called the flop.
6. The second round of betting begins with the first remaining player seated to the left of the button. The betting resumes, clockwise.
7. When the second round of betting is finished, a fourth community card is flipped face up on the table. This is called the turn.
8. The third round of betting commences with the first remaining player sitting to the left of the button. The betting moves clockwise, with the bets doubling on the turn.
9. When the third round of betting is over, a fifth community card is flipped face up on the table. This is called the river.
10. The fourth round of betting starts with the first remaining player seated to the left of the button. The betting continues to move clockwise.

How to make a hand

Continue reading »