Following is the ranking of general poker hands from highest to lowest.
1. Royal Straight Flush - 10-J-Q-K-A, all of the same suit.
2. Straight Flush - five cards, of the same suit, in order, such as 2-3-4-5-6 all of diamonds.
3. Four of a Kind - four of the same card, such as K-A-A-A-A.
4. Full House - a set of three of a kind plus a pair, such as 8-8-Q-Q-Q.
5. Flush - five cards of the same suit
6. Straight - five running cards not necessarily of the same suit, such as 6-7-8-9-10
7. Three of a Kind - three cards of the same value, such as 10-10-10
8. Two Pair – four cards with two of the same value and the other two of the same value, such as 8-8 and A-A
9. One Pair – two cards of the same value, such as 2-2
10. High Card – any one card with the highest value
Slang for specific hands:
A-A – American Airlines, bullets, pocket rockets
A-K – Big Slick, “Walking back to Houston”
A-J -- Ajax
K-K – Cowboys
K-Q – Marriage
K-J – Kojak
K-9 -- Canine
Q-Q – Dames, divas, ladies, the Hilton sisters
Q-J – Maverick, Oedipus Rex
Q-7 -- Computer Hand
J-J – Jokers, hooks
J-5 – Jackson Five, Motown
10-5 – Five and dime
10-2 –Doyle Brunson
8-8 – Snowmen, Octopuses
7-7 – Hockey Sticks, walking Sticks
7-2 – The Hammer
5-5 – Nickels, presto
5-4 – Jesse James (for his Colt .45)
4-4 - Sailboats
2-2 – Ducks
Monday, March 25, 2013
3.HISTORY OF ONLINE POKER - Online Poker
Other types of online gambling sites were launched before the first online poker room. Online sports books were introduced in the mid 1990’s which was also the time of online casinos sprouting up around the web.
It wasn’t until 1998 that the first online poker forum was launched. Planet Poker, which has since become a relatively small poker room, enjoyed the status as the sole online poker forum for a short period of time. Other online sites entered the fray soon after.
Paradise Poker was launched in 1999 and would soon become the industry leader. Today, there are many, many sites to choose from. A search for the most popular sites for online poker show over 1,000 matches, and a Google search gives over 50 million matches for references to online poker sites. The major sites include Poker Stars, Party Poker, Full Tilt Poker, Pacific Poker, and Bodog Poker. Many offer the chance to play with “fake money” or real money.
You can accumulate points at some sites that can be redeemed for merchandise bearing the site’s name. Another feature with most sites includes the offer of bonus cash with a real money deposit. Often, you can receive a code that matches the amount of your deposit up to a certain amount.
For example, make a $50 real money deposit into your Party Poker account and you will receive $50 free making your total bankroll $100. It’s a matter of personal preference as to which site is best. We will remain objective in this book and will not be able to tell you which site to go to.
Each one has its distinct features that appeal to the everyday player. Online venues may be more vulnerable to certain types of fraud, especially collusion between players. However, they also have collusion detection abilities that do not exist in brick and mortar casinos.
For example, online poker room security employees can look at the "hand history" of the cards previously played by any player on the site, making patterns of behavior easier to detect than in a casino where colluding players can simply fold their hands without anyone ever knowing the strength of their holding.
Online poker rooms also sometimes check player's IP addresses in order to prevent players at the same household or at known open proxy servers from playing on the same tables
The biggest challenge with online poker is you don’t have the advantage of trying to “read” your fellow players. A basic knowledge of the game, of course, is the first step to good play.
While we would like to assume you already know the basics, you might not, so our next section looks at general terms used in poker as well as hand rankings. It’s always good to have this information at hand!
It wasn’t until 1998 that the first online poker forum was launched. Planet Poker, which has since become a relatively small poker room, enjoyed the status as the sole online poker forum for a short period of time. Other online sites entered the fray soon after.
Paradise Poker was launched in 1999 and would soon become the industry leader. Today, there are many, many sites to choose from. A search for the most popular sites for online poker show over 1,000 matches, and a Google search gives over 50 million matches for references to online poker sites. The major sites include Poker Stars, Party Poker, Full Tilt Poker, Pacific Poker, and Bodog Poker. Many offer the chance to play with “fake money” or real money.
You can accumulate points at some sites that can be redeemed for merchandise bearing the site’s name. Another feature with most sites includes the offer of bonus cash with a real money deposit. Often, you can receive a code that matches the amount of your deposit up to a certain amount.
For example, make a $50 real money deposit into your Party Poker account and you will receive $50 free making your total bankroll $100. It’s a matter of personal preference as to which site is best. We will remain objective in this book and will not be able to tell you which site to go to.
Each one has its distinct features that appeal to the everyday player. Online venues may be more vulnerable to certain types of fraud, especially collusion between players. However, they also have collusion detection abilities that do not exist in brick and mortar casinos.
For example, online poker room security employees can look at the "hand history" of the cards previously played by any player on the site, making patterns of behavior easier to detect than in a casino where colluding players can simply fold their hands without anyone ever knowing the strength of their holding.
Online poker rooms also sometimes check player's IP addresses in order to prevent players at the same household or at known open proxy servers from playing on the same tables
The biggest challenge with online poker is you don’t have the advantage of trying to “read” your fellow players. A basic knowledge of the game, of course, is the first step to good play.
While we would like to assume you already know the basics, you might not, so our next section looks at general terms used in poker as well as hand rankings. It’s always good to have this information at hand!
2.HISTORY OF POKER - Online Poker
The history of poker is a matter of some debate. The name of the game likely descended from the French word poque, which descended from the German word pochen ('to knock'), but it is not clear whether the origins of poker itself lie with the games bearing those names.
It closely resembles the Persian game of as nas, and may have been taught to French settlers in New Orleans by Persian sailors. Poker is commonly regarded as sharing ancestry with the Renaissance game of primero and the French brelan.
The English game brag (earlier bragg) clearly descended from brelan and incorporated bluffing (though the concept was known in other games by that time).
It is quite possible that all of these earlier games influenced the development of poker as it exists now. English actor Joseph Crowell reported that the game was played in New Orleans in 1829, with a deck of 20 cards, four players betting on which player's hand was the most valuable. Jonathan H. Green's book, An Exposure of the Arts and Miseries of Gambling published in 1843 described the spread of the game from there to the rest of the country by Mississippi riverboats, on which gambling was a common pastime.
As it spread up the Mississippi and West during the gold rush it is thought to have become a part of the frontier, pioneering ethos. Poker initially was played with one round of betting. Players were dealt five cards face down and there was no draw of cards. Professional gamblers later modified the rules to increase the profitability of the game to them.
After 1850, wild cards and bluffing became common practices and drawing cards was introduced as well. The addition of the draw was especially helpful to professionals because it included another round of betting and thus another chance to cheat their opponents. It also introduced the necessity for more skill in playing the game. Soon after this spread the full 52-card English deck was used, and the flush was introduced. During the American Civil War, many additions were made, including draw poker, stud poker (the five-card variant), and the straight.
Further American developments followed, such as the wild card (around 1875), lowball and split-pot poker (around 1900), and community card poker games (around 1925). Spread of the game to other countries, particularly in Asia, is often attributed to the U.S. military.
As we’ve already pointed out, the game and jargon of poker have become important parts of American culture and English culture. Such phrases as ace in the hole, ace up one's sleeve, beats me, blue chip, call one's bluff, cash in, high roller, pass the buck, poker face, stack up, up the ante, when the chips are down, wild card, and others are used in everyday conversation even by those unaware of their origins at the poker table.
Modern tournament play became popular in American casinos after the World Series of Poker began in 1970. It was also during that decade that the first serious strategy books appeared, notably The Theory of Poker by David Sklansky, Super System by Doyle Brunson, and The Book of Tells by Mike Caro.
Poker’s popularity has experienced an unprecedented spike in recent years, largely due to the introduction of online poker and the invention of the hole-card camera which finally turned the game into a spectator sport.
Viewers can now follow the action and drama of the game, and broadcasts of poker tournaments such as the World Series of Poker and the World Poker Tour have brought in huge audiences for cable and satellite TV distributors. Of course, we’re exploring the phenomenon of online poker, so let’s look at the history of that.
It closely resembles the Persian game of as nas, and may have been taught to French settlers in New Orleans by Persian sailors. Poker is commonly regarded as sharing ancestry with the Renaissance game of primero and the French brelan.
The English game brag (earlier bragg) clearly descended from brelan and incorporated bluffing (though the concept was known in other games by that time).
It is quite possible that all of these earlier games influenced the development of poker as it exists now. English actor Joseph Crowell reported that the game was played in New Orleans in 1829, with a deck of 20 cards, four players betting on which player's hand was the most valuable. Jonathan H. Green's book, An Exposure of the Arts and Miseries of Gambling published in 1843 described the spread of the game from there to the rest of the country by Mississippi riverboats, on which gambling was a common pastime.
As it spread up the Mississippi and West during the gold rush it is thought to have become a part of the frontier, pioneering ethos. Poker initially was played with one round of betting. Players were dealt five cards face down and there was no draw of cards. Professional gamblers later modified the rules to increase the profitability of the game to them.
After 1850, wild cards and bluffing became common practices and drawing cards was introduced as well. The addition of the draw was especially helpful to professionals because it included another round of betting and thus another chance to cheat their opponents. It also introduced the necessity for more skill in playing the game. Soon after this spread the full 52-card English deck was used, and the flush was introduced. During the American Civil War, many additions were made, including draw poker, stud poker (the five-card variant), and the straight.
Further American developments followed, such as the wild card (around 1875), lowball and split-pot poker (around 1900), and community card poker games (around 1925). Spread of the game to other countries, particularly in Asia, is often attributed to the U.S. military.
As we’ve already pointed out, the game and jargon of poker have become important parts of American culture and English culture. Such phrases as ace in the hole, ace up one's sleeve, beats me, blue chip, call one's bluff, cash in, high roller, pass the buck, poker face, stack up, up the ante, when the chips are down, wild card, and others are used in everyday conversation even by those unaware of their origins at the poker table.
Modern tournament play became popular in American casinos after the World Series of Poker began in 1970. It was also during that decade that the first serious strategy books appeared, notably The Theory of Poker by David Sklansky, Super System by Doyle Brunson, and The Book of Tells by Mike Caro.
Poker’s popularity has experienced an unprecedented spike in recent years, largely due to the introduction of online poker and the invention of the hole-card camera which finally turned the game into a spectator sport.
Viewers can now follow the action and drama of the game, and broadcasts of poker tournaments such as the World Series of Poker and the World Poker Tour have brought in huge audiences for cable and satellite TV distributors. Of course, we’re exploring the phenomenon of online poker, so let’s look at the history of that.
1.PLAYING ONLINE TEXAS HOLD ‘EM
It’s becoming almost as big as baseball, football, hockey, and other sporting events. Television has increased its popularity. With the Internet, it’s coming into our homes at a lightning fast rate. The rage that’s sweeping the nation – poker!
Although the game has been around for years played in family recreation rooms, smoky bars, casinos, and even retirement homes, these days, poker has become the game of choice for hundreds of thousands of people.
Family game night used to mean getting out the Monopoly board and battling over Park Place and Broadway. Now, family game night is more likely to be characterized by breaking out the poker chips and battling each other for the best hands.
More and more people are talking about their bad beats, their great hands, and their prowess for play. Popular on college campuses, fraternal clubs, and even retirement homes, poker has become our new game of chance, and our new game of choice.
What has led to the rise of this game? Most likely, it has been television and the media. On any given evening, the average person can flip on the TV set and find a poker game being aired. The World Series of Poker, Celebrity Poker Showdown, and Ultimate Poker Showdown are rising in the ratings as we tune in to see professionals battle it out and compare our play to theirs.
Nearly every home these days has at least one computer. The Internet has become our lifeline, in ways, for information, contact with the outside world, and – yes – our portal to the world of poker beyond our kitchen table. Now ordinary people can log on and play poker with people other than our parents, kids, and friends.
Many professional players sponsor online website where they are required to play allowing Average Joe to match his poker skills with the likes of Howard Lederer and Chris Ferguson.
Perhaps the biggest rise in poker popularity – specifically online poker – stems from one man’s $40 online buy-in leading to the Cinderella story of the industry. Chris Moneymaker qualified for The World Series of Poker main event through a small buy-in satellite event at Poker Stars.
At the Series, he outlasted a field of 839 entrants – the largest in World Series of Poker history at the time. He pitted heads against some of the most well-known poker professionals in the world – and won! Moneymaker’s first-place finish netted him $2.5 million dollars, which wasn’t bad considering it was his first live tournament.
Many people looked at Moneymaker’s win as monumental. After all, he was just an average guy. He could be anyone’s next door neighbor or co-worker, and he went up against the pros and won. Chris Moneymaker opened the door for everyday people to dream about being the next professional poker player.
In fact, the 2004 World Series featured triple the number of players over the 2003 turnout. At least four players in the WSOP final table won their entry through an online card room. Like Moneymaker, 2004 winner Greg “Fossil man” Raymer also won his entry at the Poker Stars online card room.
There are a myriad of tips and tricks for playing the game of poker. Everyone seems to have an opinion on the best way to play the game. True, poker is a game of chance, and many would argue that there really is no secret to winning the game. However, there is a best way to play. As Kenny Rogers sang in “The Gambler”, you’ve got to know
when to hold ‘em and know when to fold ‘em. Know when to walk away, and know when to run.
There are many variations on the game of poker, but the one most popular today has got to be Texas Hold ‘Em. It’s a relatively simple game, but like all poker, it can change with the deal of every card. In this book, we’ll explore different ways to play the game online to maximize on your buy-in. We’ll touch on tournaments as well.
Online poker can be fun and even profitable when you play smart and follow the advice of those in the know. Whether you’re playing for fun or for money, the game can easily become an obsession, so we’ve also given you information about getting help with a gambling problem.
We won’t make you a professional – that’s up to you! But we will try to give you some food for thought when the cards are dealt and it’s time to bet.
Although the game has been around for years played in family recreation rooms, smoky bars, casinos, and even retirement homes, these days, poker has become the game of choice for hundreds of thousands of people.
Family game night used to mean getting out the Monopoly board and battling over Park Place and Broadway. Now, family game night is more likely to be characterized by breaking out the poker chips and battling each other for the best hands.
More and more people are talking about their bad beats, their great hands, and their prowess for play. Popular on college campuses, fraternal clubs, and even retirement homes, poker has become our new game of chance, and our new game of choice.
What has led to the rise of this game? Most likely, it has been television and the media. On any given evening, the average person can flip on the TV set and find a poker game being aired. The World Series of Poker, Celebrity Poker Showdown, and Ultimate Poker Showdown are rising in the ratings as we tune in to see professionals battle it out and compare our play to theirs.
Nearly every home these days has at least one computer. The Internet has become our lifeline, in ways, for information, contact with the outside world, and – yes – our portal to the world of poker beyond our kitchen table. Now ordinary people can log on and play poker with people other than our parents, kids, and friends.
Many professional players sponsor online website where they are required to play allowing Average Joe to match his poker skills with the likes of Howard Lederer and Chris Ferguson.
Perhaps the biggest rise in poker popularity – specifically online poker – stems from one man’s $40 online buy-in leading to the Cinderella story of the industry. Chris Moneymaker qualified for The World Series of Poker main event through a small buy-in satellite event at Poker Stars.
At the Series, he outlasted a field of 839 entrants – the largest in World Series of Poker history at the time. He pitted heads against some of the most well-known poker professionals in the world – and won! Moneymaker’s first-place finish netted him $2.5 million dollars, which wasn’t bad considering it was his first live tournament.
Many people looked at Moneymaker’s win as monumental. After all, he was just an average guy. He could be anyone’s next door neighbor or co-worker, and he went up against the pros and won. Chris Moneymaker opened the door for everyday people to dream about being the next professional poker player.
In fact, the 2004 World Series featured triple the number of players over the 2003 turnout. At least four players in the WSOP final table won their entry through an online card room. Like Moneymaker, 2004 winner Greg “Fossil man” Raymer also won his entry at the Poker Stars online card room.
There are a myriad of tips and tricks for playing the game of poker. Everyone seems to have an opinion on the best way to play the game. True, poker is a game of chance, and many would argue that there really is no secret to winning the game. However, there is a best way to play. As Kenny Rogers sang in “The Gambler”, you’ve got to know
when to hold ‘em and know when to fold ‘em. Know when to walk away, and know when to run.
There are many variations on the game of poker, but the one most popular today has got to be Texas Hold ‘Em. It’s a relatively simple game, but like all poker, it can change with the deal of every card. In this book, we’ll explore different ways to play the game online to maximize on your buy-in. We’ll touch on tournaments as well.
Online poker can be fun and even profitable when you play smart and follow the advice of those in the know. Whether you’re playing for fun or for money, the game can easily become an obsession, so we’ve also given you information about getting help with a gambling problem.
We won’t make you a professional – that’s up to you! But we will try to give you some food for thought when the cards are dealt and it’s time to bet.
Friday, March 22, 2013
33.Conclusion – Bodybuilding
Over the years, bodybuilding has acquired something of a ‘mixed’ reputation due to the undoubted fact that far too many bodybuilders have gone about sculpting their physique in completely the wrong way.
There is equally little doubt that while bodybuilding is cleaning up its act, there are still many people who are far too quick to turn to artificial drugs and other substances to help them build the physique and shape that they want without having to put in the work and effort that might otherwise be necessary if they did everything naturally.
This in no way condones or justifies using artificial drugs and substances as part of your body building efforts. As with everything in life, drugs and other such substances do have adverse side-effects, many of which take years to become apparent, and many of these side-effects are potentially highly dangerous as well.
Nowadays, the overwhelming majority of serious bodybuilders treat those that are discovered to have used artificial substances as part of their body building efforts with disdain and contempt. It is not necessary to do anything other than what is entirely natural to become a superb physical example of a successful bodybuilder, and there is no justification for doing anything that is not 100% natural.
However, there can be no denying that becoming a successful bodybuilder is not a walk in the park, and that there is a degree of effort and dedication involved in acquiring a physique that is the envy of all other non-bodybuilders.
Nevertheless, by adopting a diet that will enable you to build muscle mass and reduce unnecessary body fat while also putting in regular shifts on the weights in the gym, you can build yourself a superb bodybuilder’s physique without any artificial stimulants or substances.
In other words, becoming a bodybuilding success story entirely naturally is well within the compass of any average person, and therefore, if having a physique that is the envy of all your friends has always been an ambition, there has never been a better time to get started than now!
There is equally little doubt that while bodybuilding is cleaning up its act, there are still many people who are far too quick to turn to artificial drugs and other substances to help them build the physique and shape that they want without having to put in the work and effort that might otherwise be necessary if they did everything naturally.
This in no way condones or justifies using artificial drugs and substances as part of your body building efforts. As with everything in life, drugs and other such substances do have adverse side-effects, many of which take years to become apparent, and many of these side-effects are potentially highly dangerous as well.
Nowadays, the overwhelming majority of serious bodybuilders treat those that are discovered to have used artificial substances as part of their body building efforts with disdain and contempt. It is not necessary to do anything other than what is entirely natural to become a superb physical example of a successful bodybuilder, and there is no justification for doing anything that is not 100% natural.
However, there can be no denying that becoming a successful bodybuilder is not a walk in the park, and that there is a degree of effort and dedication involved in acquiring a physique that is the envy of all other non-bodybuilders.
Nevertheless, by adopting a diet that will enable you to build muscle mass and reduce unnecessary body fat while also putting in regular shifts on the weights in the gym, you can build yourself a superb bodybuilder’s physique without any artificial stimulants or substances.
In other words, becoming a bodybuilding success story entirely naturally is well within the compass of any average person, and therefore, if having a physique that is the envy of all your friends has always been an ambition, there has never been a better time to get started than now!
32.Weight training for bodybuilding 2 – Bodybuilding
The basic idea of weight training for bodybuilding is that you need to focus on developing the muscle groups that need most development for you to acquire the shape that you want to acquire.
Going back to an earlier example to highlight this point, you may remember that Larry Scott spent a great deal of time working on developing his deltoid and pectoral muscles to gain the shape that he wanted, because these were the muscles that he needed to develop to create a ‘fake’ V-shape that is (or was) the classic bodybuilding shape.
You need to do the same thing by designing a weight training program that focuses on the muscles you most want to develop.
While for many bodybuilders this will mean focusing on the muscles of the upper torso and waist area, it does not follow that this will always be the case. For example, there have been competition bodybuilders who have had to spend a great deal of time on developing muscles in their legs, because they were people who had great muscle development in the upper half of the body, but very skinny legs!
There is also the question of why you are body building in the first place. If you are developing a physique for your own satisfaction and fitness, then your objectives may well differ from those of a competition bodybuilder who has to attain a body shape that satisfies objective judges, rather than themselves.
In short, your weight training program should be designed to achieve what you want to achieve, but even a quick online survey of the instructional materials available should enable you to find weight training exercises that will satisfy your own requirements extremely effectively.
Going back to an earlier example to highlight this point, you may remember that Larry Scott spent a great deal of time working on developing his deltoid and pectoral muscles to gain the shape that he wanted, because these were the muscles that he needed to develop to create a ‘fake’ V-shape that is (or was) the classic bodybuilding shape.
You need to do the same thing by designing a weight training program that focuses on the muscles you most want to develop.
While for many bodybuilders this will mean focusing on the muscles of the upper torso and waist area, it does not follow that this will always be the case. For example, there have been competition bodybuilders who have had to spend a great deal of time on developing muscles in their legs, because they were people who had great muscle development in the upper half of the body, but very skinny legs!
There is also the question of why you are body building in the first place. If you are developing a physique for your own satisfaction and fitness, then your objectives may well differ from those of a competition bodybuilder who has to attain a body shape that satisfies objective judges, rather than themselves.
In short, your weight training program should be designed to achieve what you want to achieve, but even a quick online survey of the instructional materials available should enable you to find weight training exercises that will satisfy your own requirements extremely effectively.
31.Weight training for bodybuilding – Bodybuilding
One of the great things about using the internet for ‘learning’ is that there are some subjects where the net happens to be the perfect medium to pick up all of the information you could ever need.
Weight training for bodybuilding is one terrific example of this, because by the very nature of body building, it is a ‘sport’ that is focused on looking good.
Consequently, there are hundreds of bodybuilding enthusiasts on the net who are more than happy to show off exactly how they got to where they are today, which presents you with an ‘open window’ through which you can learn from other people who have already ‘been there and done that’.
Run any kind of net search for weight training for bodybuilding information, and there is a ton of stuff available for free.
Even more importantly, because many of the weight training educational materials are available on video, it is not just a question of reading about what people do, you can watch them as they train.
Most people find that watching is far more educational than reading about something, so this is a major bodybuilding advantage that was not available to our forebears.
For instance, run a standard search of YouTube.com for ‘weight training’ information, and there are over 62,000 videos available, with many of these being focused on weight training for bodybuilding:
[caption id="attachment_803" align="alignnone" width="500"]
bodybuilding2[/caption]
Weight training for bodybuilding is one terrific example of this, because by the very nature of body building, it is a ‘sport’ that is focused on looking good.
Consequently, there are hundreds of bodybuilding enthusiasts on the net who are more than happy to show off exactly how they got to where they are today, which presents you with an ‘open window’ through which you can learn from other people who have already ‘been there and done that’.
Run any kind of net search for weight training for bodybuilding information, and there is a ton of stuff available for free.
Even more importantly, because many of the weight training educational materials are available on video, it is not just a question of reading about what people do, you can watch them as they train.
Most people find that watching is far more educational than reading about something, so this is a major bodybuilding advantage that was not available to our forebears.
For instance, run a standard search of YouTube.com for ‘weight training’ information, and there are over 62,000 videos available, with many of these being focused on weight training for bodybuilding:
[caption id="attachment_803" align="alignnone" width="500"]
bodybuilding2[/caption]
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