Common Sports Betting Futures Mistakes To Avoid

• Author: Ross Everett
• Filed under: Casinos
• Date: Aug 24,2009

Betting on sports ‘futures’ is an enjoyable and potentially profitable way to wager, but there are several potential risks that can lead to losses. Here’s a rundown of things to avoid:

You gotta shop around: More specifically, you have to ’shop points’ just as you would with a straight bet. This is crucial in all forms of sports betting but particularly key with futures wagers. There are often greater variances in the prices from book to book on future plays than any other type of wagering proposition. The reason for this is simple–most books are less concern with what the ‘other guys’ are doing as they are with keeping their own position ‘in balance’. All in all, the sports betting marketplace just doesn’t react as quickly to changing futures prices as it does to individual game lines.

Don’t try to pick the winner in a competitive marketplace: This may sound sort of counter intuitive since the general idea of betting on futures is to determine the actual winner but it’s really not. Like everything else, its essential to always be mindful of the value you’re getting. In a futures market with several legitimate contenders at the top the price offered is seldom high enough to properly compensate for the risk you’re assuming. Here’s an example: in a hypothetical NCAA hoops tournament Duke is +200 to win the national championship. They’ve certainly got a shot, but at a payback of only 2/1 its hard to justify a wager at this point with the potential for so many interceding events that can make a championship more problematic. Such events as injuries, a tough tournament draw or even just going into a slump at the wrong time can happen to any team but when you bet a higher priced team–a ‘dark horse mid major at 15/1 for example–you’re getting “compensation” for assuming the “risks” of betting on a proposition with so many unknown variables.

To put this in more theoretical terms, the “true odds” of Duke winning the NCAA Championship are almost certainly higher than the price we’re getting. Obviously, determining the “true odds”, or actual probability of a future event is an inexact science but think of it this way: if the NCAA tournament was played 100 times would Duke wind up winning 50 of those? Given the number of other good teams and the propensity for upsets along the way, its doubtful. For the sake of argument, lets say that Duke has a 33% chance to win the tournament. That means that I wouldn’t consider a bet on Duke to be a good value unless I was getting a price that a) accurately reflected the true probability of their winning and b) gave me some compensation for assuming the “risk of the unknown” inherent in taking the position so far in advance. At +500 I might be interested, but at +200 the value just isn’t there.

In a less competitive field, there can be instances where even a big favorite is a good value. For example, lets say a book was to take action on a bikini contest between a Victoria’s Secret supermodel and three members of the Pittsburgh Penguins. The model would essentially be a 100% probability to win the contest, meaning that even a high chalk price would be a good value. Risking a lot of money to win a little is a tough thing to justify, however, even if the math makes sense.

Don’t go for the big killing: Sports wagering is not a good arena in which to make a ‘big killing’. It may happen from time to time, but it is extremely rare. A perennial doormat can come out of nowhere to win a championship at a big price, but the fact that it happens from time to time doesn’t make it a good value. If you’re a recreational player and want to throw a few dollars at a big long shot, no real harm. If you aspire to any degree of seriousness as a sports better, however, you need to maintain your discipline and commitment to value at all times. If you want to hit a big jackpot play the lottery or the slot machines, but don’t try to do it in a sports betting paradigm.

Wagering value is just as important at the bottom of the barrel as it is at the top. Just because you’re getting a huge potential payback on a big dog doesn’t make it a good value. Make sure that the payback you’re getting presents an overlay situation–even on a huge underdog.

Don’t bet one sided props: Sometimes sports books will offer silly bets just to get publicity or in some cases just to be funny. While there may be life on other planets, the ‘true odds’ of a Martian being named to President Obama’s cabinet wouldn’t justify a +5000 line that it would occur.

The Best Poker Training Software Programs Will Help You Become A Better Player

• Author: Jason Kalpinion
• Filed under: Casinos
• Date: Aug 23,2009

The best poker training software programs can and will help you become whatever level of poker player you want to be. Whatever you put into the training and actually apply it to real situations will constitute what you get out of it. Basically, the more actual work you put into getting better, the more you will get out of it.

You are badly mistaken if you even assume that the training program will make you an instant professional success. On the bright side, you can shorten the learning process by taking advantage of poker training programs. Just work hard and learn as much as you can from the professionals, and you will become better in no time.

Internet poker training has really advanced throughout the years. Before, it was only done through books or audio programs. With the current improvement in video sharing software and sites, video has now become the chief training medium of many of poker training sites.

Through video, people from all over the world make it possible to communicate more personally with each other. This has a remarkable influence on how we learn and associate with other people all over the world. Poker training is no different.

Today you don’t have to pay thousands of dollars to get training from a poker professional. The internet and video make it possible for you to get one on one personal help with anything and anyone, at anytime. This is a good time to join a poker training program so you can take advantage of the many players who don’t know what the professionals do.

There is so much to learn about the poker game, especially in the area of making money. So it becomes necessary that you shorten this learning process as much as you can. Poker books and audio recordings may not be so effective. Video is what you want to search in any excellent poker training site.

Books and audio recordings are limited as they are. You don’t get to see what the author is trying to convey like a video can. With video, you can have a glimpse on what a professional is thinking as the game unfolds. If you have ever seen poker on television you know exactly how significant the visual aspects are in poker.

So look for video in the best poker training software. That really is the bottom line. There is nothing wrong with books or recordings because they can come in handy when you are not at your computer. But a poker training site that incorporates video is the cream of the crop.

Don’t Play In Another Poker Game Unless The Poker Chips Are Secure

• Author: Sean Pratch
• Filed under: Casinos
• Date: Aug 22,2009

It is late into the night and the poker game has come to an end. The players with no chips left have gone home with their head hung low. The players with chips are counting their poker chips and exchanging them for cash from the bank. When the last player is ready to cash out it is discovered that the bank doesn’t have enough cash to cover the remaining poker chips! You know that you were very careful when taking cash for chips at the start of the game but somehow there are more poker chips than cash.

For any game this is a big problem. Even if a poker game is not being played for a monetary amount, having extra chips brought into the game ruins the integrity of the game. It is even worse if the chips are worth actual money.

The problem is that there are several standard designs of poker chips that are available in dozens of retail locations and online websites. Any poker player can purchase these chips and bring them to the next poker game. With custom poker chips this would not happen.

With custom poker chips, it will be very difficult or even impossible to slip extra chips into the game. Whether you are hosting a game or playing in a poker game, you can feel much more secure knowing that the chip count at the end of the night will not be more than what was started with. The worst feeling at the end of an enjoyable night of poker is realizing that the bank does not have enough money to cover the chips that players have.

Not all custom poker chips are the same, though. They range in security, style, composition and even the amount of customization possible. The least secure chips have labels, inlays, or stickers placed in the center of the poker chips. The chip beneath the label is not customizable at all. With these chips you can only select from a few colors and just a couple designs to pick from. These chips can be purchased blank by any poker player and it is possible that the labels could be printed at home or any print shop.

The most secure custom poker chips are either clay or ceramic. Besides being secure, they are also the same type of poker chips that poker rooms and casinos use. They do cost more initially, but you will not have the headaches and the expense of having extra chips brought into the poker game.

Clay poker chips are one of the original types of chips that were used in casinos. There have been some changes over the years, but the current clay chips are very similar to the chips used nearly 100 years ago. Real clay poker chips can be completely customizable. The chip colors and stripes can be customized to your liking. These chips also have an inlay in the center of the chip. This inlay is not only of your own custom design but is also embedded within the chip. It is not a sticker or label placed on top of the chip.

Ceramic poker chips are relatively new. Lately, these have become a low cost option for very secure custom chips that home game players can own. Ceramic chips start as a white ceramic disk that can be completely customized. There are no base colors or designs. The edge and both faces are customizable. Also, similar to the clay poker chips, the image is actually embedded within the chip material. The image cannot be removed unless the chip itself is damaged. Due to these features, ceramic poker chips are the most secure custom poker chips available for home poker players.

We all would like to have full trust in all of the poker players at our games. Unfortunately, the brutal truth is that not everyone can be trusted. The poker night when there is not enough cash in the bank to cover the chips on the table will be a truly horrible night. Luckily, this can be prevented with custom poker chips. Make sure this doesn’t happen to you.

If you host games, have a set of custom poker chips designed and printed for you. If you don’t host but play at games that use standard poker chips that can be purchased at any retail store, suggest to the host that custom poker chips should be used at the game.

Picking out the Best Folding Card Table and Accessories

• Author: Jeff West
• Filed under: Casinos
• Date: Aug 21,2009

If you are looking for a well-built folding card table and accessories, then the best place to begin browsing is online. Shopping for this sort of table involves a few steps actually.

Before you begin shopping for your folding card table and accessories, you first need to consider what you want. You also need to set your budget. So firstly, figure out if you want a wood, resin, or metal table. Then determine how much you wish to spend. Will your folding card table and accessories only be used for fun, or will it be a more serious outlay of money for a table you can use for a long time? Consider all these things before you begin shopping for your folding card table and accessories.

What material is it made from?

Although wood is the nicest material your folding card table and accessories can be built from, it is not cheap. Actually, the high-end models can cost up to $400 including the chairs. In comparison, if you do not want to invest that much money on a wooden table, you can go for great resins, or plastics, which are much sturdier because they are not susceptible to things like damaging from water exposure. Therefore, a cheaper, durable resin or plastic will do just fine.

Metal is a good choice, too, but again, it looks like what it is and it’s not as easy to “dress up” as some resins are, for example. So if you want a table that looks like wood but has the durability and ability to withstand wear and tear, you should go for “wood look” resin or something similar.

What you’ll pay

If you will treat your card table like well-made furniture, and not abuse it, and you are willing to spend some money, then a $400 wood table set with chairs included is a good choice.

However, you should know that you can go much cheaper and be just as sturdy (if not quite as attractive) if you go with metal or resin. Again, what you’ll pay will run you roughly $100 for a table and four chairs to $400 and better for a table and four chairs. So again, it depends on your budget, but don’t think that you have to spend a huge amount of money to get a good quality folding card table and accessories.

Buying your folding card table and accessories

Earlier, I said there were several parts to this. The first things you’ll need to do are to determine what you want to buy and what your budget is. Next, go online and do some comparison-shopping to get a good idea of what’s out there. With that information in hand, you can then go out and look at folding card tables and accessories firsthand.

One point to make here is that even though you may still want to buy online (because it’s usually cheaper to do it that way), you’ll still want to get a firsthand look. While you do that, take down model names, materials, etc., and then go back and do your final purchase online with the information you’ve gathered.

With a bit of thinking ahead, and some work, you should be able to find an excellent folding card table and accessories for a cost that is reasonable, and within your budget. It will give you much enjoyment when playing your future card games.

2nd Poker Player To Win The Triple Crown

• Author: Luis Scott-Vargas
• Filed under: Casinos
• Date: Aug 19,2009

The Triple Crown is garnered by a poker pro who won the three of the most important events in poker and that would be the European Poker Tour (EPT), World Poker Tour (WPT) and the World Series of Poker (WSOP). English professional poker player Roland De Wolfe is fortunate enough to become one of the two players who won the Triple Crown. He even dresses himself with a Union Jack track-suit during the $5,000 Pot Limit Omaha event where he won his first WSOP bracelet this year showing that his proud to be an Englishman.

The other poker pro who won the Triple Crown was Gavin Griffin. He is the first player who actually got this honor by winning the following events: winning the $3,000 Pot Limit Hold ‘Em at the WSOP in 2004, capturing the EPT Grand Final title in 2007 and succeeding in getting the title at the WPT Borgata classic in 2008.

Roland garnered the first crown of his Triple Crown in 2005 when he won the WPT Grand Prix de Paris. The second one in 2006 when he succeeded during the EPT Dublin Title and then he won his final crown during the $5,000 PLO8 at the 2009 WSOP succeeding against 197 players including Gavin Griffin himself.

De Wolfe has been a writer in a poker magazine called the Edge and he confess that he knew a little about the poker variant that gave him his first bracelet. He said, “I’ve played PLO; and I’ve played limit Omaha 8; so, I just combined what I know about the two!”

Since 2005, De Wolfe has been a permanent face in the European and American poker scene. This started when he won the $1,000 NLHE event gaining his first WSOP cash. For the record, Roland didn’t get his highest pay from the three wins; he got it from the $25,000 WPT Championship event where he finished third and he took home at least a million.

His win in the WSOP this year marks his first victory in the US territory even if he got good records from his preceding WSOP tournaments: 14 WSOP cashes and a total pay of $650,000 from the WSOP.

EPT is generating big numbers in the recent years and time is the only factor when the two member club will increase it numbers. The EPT tournaments happen to be popular today with a lot of top US players traveling to Europe to join its events.

Maybe poker enthusiast will consider adding the Aussie Millions and Asian Pacific Poker Tour in order to form a Grand Slam to augment with the EPT, WPT and WSOP.