Explanations For Online Poker Conspiracy Theories

 

Although playing casino games online is rising in popularity, plenty of interested players are still on the fence whether they should try it too or not. There are a variety of reasons for this and one of them is the fact that many online casino players are spreading the word that online games are rigged.

The reality though is that casinos are built with the odds stacked against the players but some online players have concocted some conspiracy theories and although there could be some truth to them, there are also logical explanations. That said let us look at the most common conspiracy theories being thrown around the internet.

It is believed by some that good players get bad beats. There are plenty of cases when a good player with a good hand is called by a bad player with a weak hand and sometimes, the bad player edges out the good one. The reasoning provided by conspiracy theorists is that casinos would make more money from bad players the longer they play so they tend to make them win early on.

A logical explanation for this is that online games are usually played loose and in that nature of a game, good hands hold up less. Also, the fast-paced nature of online gaming doubles the chance of a good hand being beaten. It is very possible that a good hand can be beaten through sheer luck and it is even more pronounced in the online world where more games are being played by the hour.

The cash-out course is another conspiracy theory that many people believe in. Basically, it involves someone cashing out some of their winnings and once they started playing again, they run into a string of bad lucks. The explanation by conspiracy theorist is that people cashing out are flagged by the casinos because they are taking out some of the money that could be made by the company. Thus, once they return to play, the money they have is distributed to other people who are more likely to lose it all.

Strictly speaking, the cash out curse is real. With less money for cushion you could bust sooner than later. Poker, although a game of skills is also dependent on luck which means you could have a string of bad luck, then a string of good ones. With more money in the bank, you can weather that string of bad luck without busting. The cash-out curse is therefore a statistical law and not something that online casinos are switching on and off.

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Common Mistakes in Texas Hold Em

 

Texas Hold Em is one of the most popular poker games in the world. Easy to learn yet extremely difficult to master, Hold Em poker has something to offer to players of all skill levels. Unfortunately, those who do not know the game well often find themselves losing on a regular basis early on in their careers. The fact is, Hold Em is deceiving in how easy it is to learn, as there are many common mistakes made by inexperienced players that can easily cost them the game.

Here are some of the most common mistakes in Texas Hold Em.

Going "All In"

For new players, the prospect of going "all-in" on a bet can be really exciting. After all, winning on a matched "all-in" bet can double or even triple one's winnings. That said, going "all-in" on a regular basis is not a wise playing strategy, and almost always results in a series of losses. One of the worst ideas one can make is to go "all-in" on a bluff, another common mistake made by newer players. While this does occasionally work, more often than not it ends in a huge loss, and should never be made common practice.

Betting on a Pair

It is common for people who are new to Hold Em to bet on pairs. The fact is, a pair is one of the weakest hands in the game, and won't hold a candle to any decent hand that it compared with. Throwing a pair down should be a last resort, and one should never go overboard betting on it. Chances are, the only hand a pair will beat is another, lower pair or a bunk hand. When betting on pairs, remember to go easy and not to overstep your boundaries.

Betting on an Ace

Another common mistake made by those who are new to the game of Hold Em is betting significantly just because they have an ace in their hand. Many people bet high and early on aces, simply because they feel as if they will get another ace at some point in the hand. This is not a safe way to play the game, as the statistics are not usually in one's favor, and chances are that at least one other person has an ace as well, rendering one's hand practically useless. While having an ace up your sleeve can be extremely useful, it is wise not to bet the bank at the beginning of a hand.

Bluffing

Without a doubt, bluffing is part of the game. However, many new players view bluffing as being perhaps too much a part of the game, and find themselves bluffing on a regular basis. Bluffing should be reserved for special scenarios, and should not be overdone, as it can lend one a reputation as a bluffer. One of the last things you want an opinion to know is that you like to cry wolf, which is why bluffing should only be used sporadically.

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Play it Safe - Online Games For Kids

Play it Safe - Online Games For Kids
Are your kids interested in online games? Are you interested in them playing online games in order to improve their computer skills? There are many free, high-quality websites for online games. This article explains ways of finding websites that provide free games for children.
First up, consider the standard of the games you would let children play. Are guns, violence, profanity, sexual innuendos, references to drugs, alcohol things you wouldn't mind your kid being exposed to through online games? You must be clear on what criteria to use to ensure age-appropriate references in online games. This is the primary and most important step towards finding and finalising an online game for your kid.
What you are required to do is use a search engine to find a list of websites and then manually go through them to find a perfect match. There is no easy way around this process as only you know what your customised criteria are. Make sure that you search the site and look for inappropriate references or possibly adulterous content.
Most sites online with games for kids also have alongside games for adults. These are viewable to all site visitors which could be cause for concern. You can limit the responses you receive on search engines by controlling the keywords and manipulating them. This initial weeding out process could help you to limit the number of total search results and also help you to get better quality content.
Like mentioned earlier, this is a rigorous and labour intensive approach to finding quality games online as only you can ascertain the standards you would like to set for you kids. Even after you choose sites for you kids, internet being a free and open medium and children being impressionable and curious, they should not be left alone without parental supervision when surfing the net.

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What Has Happened Since Black Friday - America's Darkest Day for Online Poker?

More than 12 months have passed since online poker's darkest day occurred in America. This section takes a brief look at what has happened since congress decided to make gambling online illegal and reveals what has actually happened since April of 2011.
Three of the founders of the world's leading online poker sites such as Full Tilt poker were indicted by the US Department of Justice (D.O.J) and the F.B.I froze billions of dollars' worth of player's money. This happened overnight and left most players and operators in a state of shock. It was no longer legal for players to play in the real cash mode, or for these operators to process transactions with online payment companies or other banking institutions.
The online gambling companies were officially charged with serious offences. These offences included money laundering, illegal gambling and even bank fraud. This new act was called the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act and meant that players basically had no legal US based gambling portals to play at anymore and many other major offshore operators also pulled out of the US market altogether.
Players were literally left with little choice but to visit unregulated online gambling sites and in extreme cases, some even left the US to continue gambling online from abroad. Most of the cash and assets that were actually frozen were never returned, even to this day.
Since this dark day for online poker, there has been some light at the end of the tunnel and various people (including some important figures) continue to lobby for the full legalisation of online gambling, especially poker.  Poker is a game of skill and is not classed as most other forms of gambling are. Some states, such as Nevada, now allow online poker (legally) and other states look set to follow.
It's going to be a long, drawn out process, but most people remain optimistic that within just a few years from now, online poker will once again be legal and widely available, while in a completely regulated and secure environment. It will inevitably be the government who will profit the most from this lucrative business, which is why they are still scratching their heads to figure out the best way to profit from the online poker industry.
For the time being, most player still have to log in an online poker site or other gambling portal that operates from an offshore location. Since poker's Black Friday, things are certainly looking up, but players shouldn't expect miracles overnight.
For many professional poker players who continue to wait for the day that real cash poker once again becomes fully legal in America, unfortunately it won't be in the immediate future, but it's always better to remain optimistic.
Also, since December of 2011 it was recognised that online poker does not come under the 1960s Wire Act, which prohibits gambling via the use of a communications device such as telephones etc. It was though that internet poker would come under threat by this law, but that wasn't the case, so this became one less thing for online poker to worry about.

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Online Gambling and Smartphones

The day is rapidly approaching when you could be sitting in a boring staff meeting or waiting on a train platform for your sweetheart to arrive, and win a few bucks in real money playing in an online casino on your iPhone or other "smartphone." The mobile gaming industry is pushing hard for the day to get here as soon as possible, and it is rapidly becoming reality.
A recent study by Juniper Research estimates that mobile online gambling will be a $48 billion industry by the year 2015, with players enjoying lotteries, parimutuel betting, and the standard casino games like slots and blackjack. The smartphone is the perfect device for online betting, though in the US, users must use various work-arounds to use them successfully while legislation clarifying the legality of online betting churns its way through Congress.
One possibly enormous player in the world of mobile web gaming could be state lotteries in the US. Selling lottery tickets over the counter is not always easy, and many people are embarrassed to buy them. But buying them online is a more private transaction that more people find appealing. Adding apps for buying lottery tickets to phones is likely to draw millions of customers. The technology already exists, and is in wide use in the UK and other countries. For example, China's VODone Lottery has nine million users, and these apps have proven extremely popular in countries in Africa and Latin America.
Some internet casinos are choosing to concentrate on smart phone users more than on other online gamblers. Surveys have shown that online bettors use their mobile phones in large numbers, and those numbers are only expected to rise over the next few years. If legal issues in the US are resolved, they will likely rise even more dramatically as people go online with their phones to play slots, poker, and other games. Adapting online gaming for mobile devices involves fitting the entire site onto the screen so that players can see the entire page at one time while they are playing.
Internet gambling is, as expected, the most popular on the best selling mobile devices, such as the iPhone, the iPad, and the iPhone Touch. Nokia has recently come out with four new models that make it easy for players to visit web casinos or place online sports wagers. These devices run on the Symbian operating system, which has a reputation for fast connections, making them potentially more appealing to online gamblers.
The worlds of smart mobile devices and web-based casinos are merging as more people choose to access the web with their smart phones when they don't have their computer or netbook handy (or don't have a WiFi signal). Web casinos are reaching out to these devices in hopes of making the experience as entertaining as possible for these users.

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The Crony Capitalism of American Corporations Never Ends

It's hard to say who started it all, but Adam Smith warned us about all this when he stated in "The Wealth of Nations," that free-market capitalism was a wonderful thing as long as there was not an incestuous relationship between big business and big government. No, that wasn't a direct quote but it was something along those lines of thinking, and he was right. Ayn Rand showed us exactly the same sorts of problems and how they played out in her famous work "Fountainhead" and so we shouldn't be surprised, I'm definitely not, but I'm a little disturbed about how fast it has moved in recent years, and how flagrantly out in the open it is.
It seems that no business or corporation is able to make a ton of money without changing the rules, bypassing the rules, cheating, or spending millions of dollars on lobbyists in Washington DC. If you've ever wanted to predict what will happen in an industry - just follow the money in advance - follow the funding by lobbyists to various congressional campaigns. The higher up on the totem pole the more money that that legislator will get. The more committees they are on, and the more involved they are, or the longer they've been there, the more money they get.
While some entrepreneurs and industrial capitalists are thrown in jail, others seem to skirt the rules or change them later getting them off the hook for anything they may have done in the past, while the other guy sits in jail rotting. I Have a case in point; recently, the FBI went and arrested folks engaged in offshore Internet gambling because it is illegal, plus, folks were using these things to launder money, and they were obviously hurting the legitimate gambling casinos made of brick and mortar.
In the future, it will be legal as long as you are a big corporation with lots of lobbying cash, spiff the right Congressman, and you can get rules and regulations passed in your favor to operate your business the way you wish. There was an interesting article in the Wall Street Journal recently on August 16, 2012 by John Letzing titled; "Zynga Puts Real Money and Gambling Lobby," and of course they are doing this for one reason, they hope to make a huge amount of money through online gambling once the laws changed. No, they aren't the only ones trying to get the law to change, as some of the legitimate casinos consider it a real good idea to make increased profits.
It could also booster Zynga's stock price which has seen better days, all at a time when Facebook has reported that it plans to do online gambling in the UK (where it is legal) as a way to eke out some revenue and prove that Facebook is actually a legitimate business that can make money and not just another "dot com" in the information age with lots of clicks but no profits.
So I ask; is that really the answer? I wonder if in the future large corporations will figure out that they'd like to get into the business of selling drugs, so they will lobby Congress to legalize drugs and change those laws too?
Of course, those are all rhetorical questions, but my job is to get you to think, and if businesses can't make a profit doing what it is they do, surely they will find other venues and strategies, but it seems unfortunate that the answer is to change the law, create barriers to entry, and give lots of money to politicians to serve your will, so you can make a profit. Is that the new business model, is that all the better we can do in America?
There's nothing wrong with free-market capitalism, the problem is we are practicing it, rather we've got a bunch of hanky-panky and nonsense going on, and it's time we got back to reality.
Indeed, if Zynga can find a way to allow governments to tax online gambling, and collect the revenue for the government for that tax, then the legislators just might let them do it, because the government at this point our government can't seem to balance its budget, or figure a way to stay in business either, talk about the collusion of the century? And back to Adam Smith, he was right wasn't he. Please consider all this and think on it, glad to have entertained you today and got you to expand your mind.

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How to Start Your Own Online Sportsbook?

Starting a sportsbook just got easier. Now many sportsbook resource providers are offering White Label and affiliate options to launch your own branded sportsbook site. If you are not very sure of what we are getting to, let me come out clear. A white label model is an online model for small and medium sized gaming operators which help them to launch their own branded sports betting site hosted by the resource provider. The owner or the operator of the online gaming brand does not worry about handling the operations. They only have to focus on the marketing while everything else is taken care of by the gaming resource provider. White Label options for sportsbook include betting options in football, basketball, hockey, autos, boxing and much more. You name the game that you want to include in your betting site and it is there.
There are much more exciting things that are possible on your site. You can offer participants round-bonus in case they have lost their bets on a number of rolls they had placed bets. Other exciting promotions can be a first deposit bonus. These are great promotional offers to attract players to your site. Others can be Moneybookers Cash Back offers and First Moneybookers deposit bonus. There are host of features that operators get when they opt for a White Label sportsbook. Some of the exceptional features are multi-currency and multi-language meaning that you can launch your site in non English speaking countries and have payment options in multiple currencies. This broadens the scope of your operations. Multiple Payment processors which allow players on your site to pay through various processors like Moneybookers, Paysafecard, Neteller, Ukash, etc. Other features include SMS alert feature for your users to get real time notification of their winnings/losses.
The turnkey affiliate model is a cheaper option to launch your sportsbook. You can be the operator of a sportsbook with as low as a 3500 US dollars investment. If you think it is too good to believe, you have got reasons to believe it. Affiliate sportsbook sites are hosted by a service provider but you can use your own brand name and launch your site. Minor tweaks in the look and feel and the options that you want for your very own sportsbook can be customized. Technically your site will be based on contemporary technologies. Gaming service providers develop their systems on scalable and secure frameworks like AJAX. You will have a fully template driven sportsbook, CSS based design and very user-friendly interface.
There is no better time to launch your own sportsbook than now. With a wide range of operational models you can now own a sports betting site at an investment which could not be imagined even a couple of years ago. So, move ahead and launch your own sportsbook. Be a part of an exciting industry and see your profits ringing in. It is an unconventional and exciting arena and you have all the options to enter it. Is it all legal to own and run a sportsbook? You will need to consider what jurisdiction you will operate from and the laws pertaining thereto.

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