In a brand new partnership deal, between ITV, Syco TV, Gamesys and Social TV specialists Monterosa; an agreement has been inked to produce a live online play-along experience for the new Simon Cowell TV game show – Red or Black? This is a massively exclusive deal, which should also produce massive revenue, and producers could not have chosen a better online gaming software partner. Gamesys has a reputation for not only rolling out some of the best games in the online bingo industry, they are also an extremely ‘exclusive’ software company. There are very few sites on the Gamesys software platform – The Sun Bingo, Jackpot Joy Bingo and Caesars Bingo to name but three. But there aren’t many more than this!

We are not really sure what keeps Gamesys so exclusive; it could be the price of the product; or perhaps just the fact that they are incredibly choosy about their brand partners.

A far as developing the new Simon Cowell game goes, again this is an elite partnership, Red or Black was only launched on TV for the first time this weekend. It is being aired by ITV, and together with this television studio, Syco TV and Gamesys, they have developed four versions of the new game to be launched (again exclusively) on Jackpot Joy Bingo. The launch will also be supported by an on-air promotion.

The Queen of Bingo is already dressed in red and black at the site, as are Jack and Joy; there are brand new promotions up for grabs and the new games have been launched. To celebrate this BIG happening they are giving away a million Joy Point while you play along with the TV show, and have a whole host of other promotions lined up, including one for roulette. Roulette is obviously also really appropriate, being a red and black game. There is even a Domino’ pizza promotion thrown in – we all know nothing goes better with online bingo than a discounted pizza from Domino’s.

The Red or Black concept has offered tons of scope for not only the new game, but also to give the principle characters and even the site itself, a brand new look. They look fabulous in their red and black outfits, and we don’t doubt for a moment that a whole new fan-base will be attracted to play. An audience which interacts with the live TV show and online in real-time, is getting a very exciting product. It has been proven time and again that online bingo supported by a symbiotic TV product really works well in this business.

The brand new games are Red or Black Slots – with a fortune cookie which could uncover a massive progressive prize, Red or Black Hi Lo like the Casino Bet game, the Red or Black Instant scratchie, and Red or Black Stacks which is a keno variant. The TV game-show will be aired live (it started this Saturday the 3^rd September) over 7 consecutive nights, and, you many be interested to know there is a £1m prize up for grabs.

There has been a lot in the news about the fate of certain poker sites in the US and the one thing this will have also done, is actually attract more players to this game. It isn’t unusually to find that negative publicity does more good than harm. If you are thinking about playing poker online it probably wouldn’t be a good idea to join Poker Stars, Absolute Poker, Ultimate Bet or Full Tilt, but there are many more European facing sites, that are happily picking up the slack for these sites right now; just make sure you know all the basics first.

Not all poker-sounding games are actually true poker, for example – video poker, Caribbean Stud, Let It Ride and Pai Gow. These forms of poker are played against the house and are called casino poker. The true mark of poker is playing against other players for the prize pot and not against the house. There are various games of poker however and one of the most popular games is one you must have heard of, it is called Texas Hold ‘em.

Texas hold ‘em is a community poker game, this means the dealer gives each player two pocket or hole cards, and the five card poker hand is made up of a stack of five cards in the centre of the table. The game is often shortened to just “Holdem” and just about anyone can learn to play in only a few minutes. This game can be played in different ways too with a No-limit, Pot-limit and Limit game format. Each format has a special strategy to play, so master one way first before you get too confused. The player who stays in this game till the end, might be the last man standing, but they are also the winner.

Omaha Hold ‘em is a similar game, it also makes use of community cards and each player is dealt four personal cards while five are in the centre for communal use. This particular type of poker is most often played on a high low split or as eight-or-better. It may also be played in a Limit, Pot Limit or (rarely) No Limit format.

Pineapple Holdem or Crazy Pineapple is a hybrid of Texas Hold ‘em and Omaha stands Pineapple. Each player is dealt three cards and these are also combined with the community cards to make up a poker hand. The big difference in this game is that one player card must be discarded, and this takes place after the flop for Crazy Pineapple and before the flop in a Pineapple game. Why is it called pineapple? We have no idea – but Pineapple is also sometimes called “Watermelon”…go figure!?

Stud Poker has many ways to play – there is the Seven Card Stud variety however and this is the most popular version. When playing in a tournament, Seven Card Stud High-Low is the most popular version and this is the version of poker you will find is played in most home games. There are many other varieties of stud and other poker games – enjoy exploring them all.

Poker is a card game that is very difficult to track down its origin; it has no direct traceable history and is therefore assumed to have been created from a combination of many different card games that date back many centuries ago.

The earliest record of a game being played closely resembling poker is by a man named Jonathan Green who encountered a 20 card game being played in 1834 that he came across on a Mississippi steamboat whose destination was bound for New Orleans. Many other prominent people at that time noted a 20 card game being played on steamboats including Sol Smith who documented it in 1835.

The 20 card game was played by evenly distributing the cards out amongst four players and creating a winning combination from the cards dealt. No draw would take place and bets were limited to different combinations either through a pair, two pair, triplet or full house which used all five cards up. Nothing was stronger than having four aces or by having four kings and an ace unlike modern poker where a royal flush would win the round against such a hand.

The 20 card game progressively transformed into the current 52 card deck that is played nowadays due to more players wanting to play in the same round and by only having 20 card decks you could only play with a maximum of 4 players.

As poker became more popular during the 19^th century, new rules were being invented to turn poker from a game of chance into a game of skill and as more cards were added the number of winning combinations changed as draws were finally introduced which allowed for cards to be changed if a player was unhappy with the cards he had been dealt. This created more possibilities and changed the perception of the game for many people as it was no longer down to luck but rather to skill.

The invention of the jackpot came soon after the introduction of the draw to allow more cautious players to be more aggressive as they would have to put money into the pot in order to play which made the game more fluid and interesting to play.

The name poker is thought to have derived from a French card game that was played during the 19^th century although many people dispute this and say that is actually originated from a German card game that was played during the same époque.

In the following years during the 19^th and 20^th century various rules evolved such as which combination should score higher between a royal flush and four aces and how many rounds of bets should take place which today make our up our current version of poker.

We have seen two things happen in the US during 2010 which will likely have a huge impact on playing online poker for US fans. The weird thing about these events is that they are completely contradictory – totally at odds with one another. It is also a typical indication of what happens when politics get involved with something which should have never been made illegal in the first place, because political and legal interference and repercussions tend to have a domino effect which haunts protagonists and opposers both, for many years to come.

Poker and in particular online poker has become a huge political and legal battle in the US. Can you believe the mentality of this – the game of poker online?! It runs fine in the UK, no-one gives it a second thought, the government is happy, poker players are happy, operators are happy and these adults worry about bigger issues than a game of online poker!

The US promulgated UIGEA virtually overnight with no warning in 2006, which came into effect in 2010. This effectively made playing online poker illegal, but not in as much as playing the game, in as much as transacting finances online for playing poker. In September this year the Washington State Supreme Court upheld UIGEA – overturned appeals and other court rulings to officially make Washington State the first to specifically criminalize the playing of online poker. This also officially made the major online poker sites such as Full Tilt and Poker Stars, officially withdraw from this state.

What makes this such a comedy of errors is the fact that New Jersey, just got online poker legalized, and Nevada is trying to do the same. This is a situation that big gambling industry has only them-selves to thank for. They lobbied for the promulgation of UIGEA without thinking this through. It was piggy-backed on to the tail end of an obscure Wire Act of 1961, regarding financial transacting.

Now, the big gambling brands are suffering because of a global recession, so people no longer have the money to spend big bucks in casinos – but they are spending money in budget gaming at online casinos. Massive US casinos have no areas for expansion into new markets to earn more revenue, because they cannot operate online. Meanwhile operators in the UK, Europe and other countries are earning billions of dollars and employing a ton of people in hugely specialized jobs – thereby stimulating the economy by offering online poker and more specifically online gambling!

Harry Reid who was all for UIGEA when gambling houses wanted this in 2006, has now turned tables. While Las Vegas casinos were worried that online poker would cannibalize their existing business, he lobbied for UIGEA. Now he is lobbying to get this act changed! But in the meantime, who knows how many states in the US will get the ball rolling like Washington and officially criminalize the playing of online poker? A situation such as this will take decades to unravel and I don’t envy them one tiny little bit! Now I am off to play some poker, on my favourite UK site!

Casinos are some controversial place to have. Some of them hate them of the other one love them. Everyone has their own opinion about it. Nevertheless it is important to see the different points of view of each of them. Because casinos offer some gambling games, they are the enemy of a lot of people. What I want to do, it is to propose you the opportunity to see the advantage to have a casino close to your place.

Positive advantages

Casinos create a multitude of job. Indeed, all of them offer a high quality of services and for that, they just need a lot of people qualified for the job. The legislation obliges them also to have a restaurant, a discotheque and a hotel. The casino needs a lot of waitresses, receptionists, technicians, manager, croupiers, administration job, DJ, barmen, accountant… And also since casino can propose gaming game online, most of them have a website and through that they create a lot more job again, in marketing and online job.

Casino is the way to develop cities and bring some tourists to their region. Actually, when you have a casino in your town, you always get more tourists too. So, it means that it help the city to get more and more activities. For example, in Russia, the government of Poutine decided to stop the activities of the casino close to big cities but it could be possible close to small cities far from the capital. Through this, some town could get power and gas for their houses, something impossible before that arrival of a casino.

It is a big part of the revenue for any town that accepts a casino in its place. Actually, for example in France, a casino has to give 15% of its benefit to the city. Through that the city can improve its roads and schools. Also, the casino has to pay another tax to the government. It is quite a lot for a casino but huge revenue for the government. And since the casino is online, the government takes also a part of the fees. A lot of government project depends of this kind of taxes.

It is also a place where it is possible to eat and drink for cheaper than another place. In New Zealand for example, the meal of a Super casino is cheaper than in a pub. You also get the quality of the casino and its advantages with a price really attractive.

A friendliness place where e you can meet a lot of people and where the employees are happy to see you. It is the possibility to have fun among a lot of players and nice people.

Casino offers different activities such as a restaurant, a discotheque, a hotel, a casino of course where you can play poker, roulette, slot machine and so much. But they also propose a number of events such as concert and art exposition. It is a cultural place to go and enjoy the atmosphere of culture and luxury.

It is very important to exercise discipline for any game you play. Whether this is poker online or football on the football field! The desired end result of any game is to win, or to have at least learned something if you don’t win, so disciplining yourself is tantamount to success.  

Serious poker players, or should I say players that take poker seriously, always have a game plan, the same way as the coach has a game plan for all the footballers on his team. The difference is that you are one man against the rest in poker and unless you are stinking rich from playing already, you probably don’t have a coach. So there is more than one role you have to fill; the coach, the banker and the player, all of these aspects of poker takes a good amount of discipline. 

It is the wise poker player who focuses on patience, perhaps even does some poker meditation. Don’t raise, take a moment and meditate! Online poker plays really quickly, in fact the speed of this game can be phenomenal, remember it is a computer driving the game, not a patient interactive live dealer and pit boss in a casino.  

Your poker software deals the cards, and it will fold your hand for you too if you are not careful and need to take a pee break, so you need to be on the ball all the time. It is fast-paced action from the word go, with the software calculating the stakes, counting the chips, posting the blinds and doing everything short of pouring the players drinks. Pity that! 

Discipline is essential for playing online poker because of the speed at which this game runs. It is so simple to tilt and actually lose your cool. You know the chips you play with? They may not seem real, but you had to pay real money to get them and if you win, you can redeem real money for them. So take care! Online, all it takes is a heartbeat for your entire bankroll to disappear.  

Take care of your money and it will take care of you, if you start to tilt in play, fold and log-off. Don’t keep playing for the sake of it! People have bad days all the time, so what if you had a bad day playing poker, don’t make things worse by not having the discipline to switch the poker game off, this is the only power in the game you have. That poker game will keep on playing whether you are in it or not.  

Just keep your cool and this will make playing online poker so much more exciting. The next day you won’t wake up with an empty bankroll and bettors remorse. Remember that the same works both ways and you will have days when you have a rush, but if you clean out your bankroll because of a lack of discipline, you won’t get the buzz of winning with no bucks to play with.

Playing online poker, international poker tournaments, televised poker is at an all time high. The public gets to see the game being played and it has become such a popular spectator sport because of the agony and ecstasy – in other words, the drama. Part of the drama in poker is losing, but like most professional sports there is only really one winner. The guy/girl at the top of his/her game – in movies this is the glamour puss! 

Losing hurts badly for most players but winning is intoxicating; it is something the player wants to experience time and again. Unfortunately one of the facts of life is that you can’t always be a winner, there will always be someone better than you and tantamount to being a good player is being a good loser. 

To put this in a more positive light “being able to not win well”. Some players simply cannot handle losing and it is inevitable that a pile of broken bodies shores up the mountain of successful poker players. These successful players standing at the top of the pile are the players who have been able to handle losing well.  

Texas Hold ‘em in particular provides for a massive pool of players whose skills are getting better all the time. They are making names for themselves and have huge skills levels. They haven’t seen glory days yet, while other top players are trading on old reputations. Recognition and differentiation between poker playing states of being is critical.   

Believing you are bulletproof particularly after winning in No Limit Hold ‘em is not a good place to be. This game in particular combines great skill with massive amounts of completely random luck, and it is all part and parcel of this game. Most of the people sitting round that last table had to get lucky to get there, while this may not be true of most other poker games. As a poker player you have to know this! 

No one wants to downplay the skill it takes to get to the end of a No Limit Hold ‘em Tournament; there is simply an aspect to this game which makes it different from others. The point is that every player should get this, and it is the players that don’t get the idea who will be the dead bodies shoring up the mountain. 

Poker skill lasts a lifetime while luck is fleeting, it comes and goes. Understanding this helps the player to weather losses better and be cool about losing too. These players understand that the laws of the universe, chaos, mathematics and quantum theory apply to them and their game too.    

Skill and knowledge will always be around to help you be a winning poker player, even if you lose the game. It’s all about being real, keeping your feet on the ground, your head out of the clouds and getting down to the business of playing poker for as long as you want to. Not just for the glory of, and intoxication of winning!   
 

We know that the roots of poker date back many centuries, but it is often hard to say when and where variations of the game spring from. Sometimes these are clouded in mystery and sometimes we know exactly how a particular game of poker evolved.

Texas Hold ‘em for example, we know exactly how this game got started and that it is the most popular version of poker being played world-wide. However Omaha poker is another kettle of fish and seems to be shrouded somewhat in mystery. It also just happens to be the most widely played version of poker after Texas Hold ‘em, so it is an interesting exercise to try and uncover its roots.

Some poker historians are of the consensus that Omaha was a rogue version of Texas Hold’em which was invented in a local poker club in Omaha, Nebraska – while others guarantee this is not the case. We are just grateful that the game was not invented in Intercourse, Pennsylvania. If it had, it might be called “Intercourse Poker” and may not have risen to the heights of popularity it enjoys today, although I do believe strip poker is pretty popular!

Most people refer to the game as simply Omaha and it is highly regarded and regularly played in the biggest poker tournaments in the world.

What makes it a better deal than Texas Hold’em is players get to choose from nine cards to make up their poker hand and this allows them more options. It also involves more decision making, so a choice of nine cards balances the good with the bad, and it is often played in the form of a Hi-Lo split.

Less than thirty years ago, definitive books written by professional poker players such as Doyle Brunson and David Sklansky, make no mention of Omaha at all, so we surmise that back then the game had not yet arrived. Not even a “blip” on the poker radar screen!
Things have however changed dramatically in the poker world, and they have changed quickly. What were home played staple poker diets may not have come to the attention of the big boys, but they were being played and the world was fast becoming a smaller place. So Omaha was introduced to Las Vegas casinos around 1982, and became an overnight success.

It was called the “poker game of the future” and this is has certainly proven to be the case if you look at Omaha’s wide-spread popularity. It is a tournament staple, and its popularity grew so quickly because of the fact that it is an attention grabber. Omaha always promises plenty of action and because of the popularity of playing online poker, and televising games, Omaha has spread and become popular all over the world.

Seeing the evolution of a game such as this becoming so popular so quickly, it stands to reason that many more incarnations of poker will follow. We may never find out what their exact roots are, but as long as they are being play for pleasure, that is all that really counts.