There are a lot of card games to play, and I mean a lot, just like solitaire, poker has an ever growing number of variations, after a while some players can get bored of playing Texas Holdem and fancy a change. There are loads of games like Omaha, 5 card, razz and stud games to pick from. You could play all day infact just learning the new games, with the amount of free sites that are offering games today it’s all made to easy. Perhaps one of the many variations of poker have taken your interest and that’s why you want a change, why you are reading this article? Well Badugi is certainly a change from your normal game.

Poker, a game using playing cards which has previously attracted the interest of world through tournaments has many variations to pick from. Badugi is one of the newest variants to be found in a couple of casino sites and the game is slowly growing as people are taking interest. The game is thought to have originated somewhere in Asia where it is still widely played today. The game is only going to grow as more people gain internet access and find the enjoyment in multi player online games.

The game is completely different to Texas Holdem so you can forget all those pairs and flushes as they just won’t help you, for starters it is a four card game and secondly it is whats known as a “low ball” game where the object is to collect the lowest cards. Another important difference between this and the more common poker games is that pairs and flushes etc don’t count, in fact the best hand ,which is also called a badugi, would be an Ace, Two, Three and Four of all different suits. Sometimes this has been called rainbow hands due to each card been different suits. Because the cards are different suits badugi hands are sometimes called rainbows. Badugi is also a draw game where players can swap cards with cards from the deck. The drawing of the cards is done in between the rounds of betting.

Once the players agree to start the game play involves rounds of betting with draws separating them, players don’t have to draw new cards – this is optional, players still try to out bluff each other by betting more than they the hand is worth, this is part of the excitement and all games have newbies and sharks so play for a while and practice makes perfect.

As with any card game you read about the best way to actually learn for yourself is to play the game and experience it first hand for yourself. You may have to wait for a game because it’s not very popular yet but it is a change and you might enjoy playing a new card game. There is only a few sites with the game but I’m sure you can find a one and practice for free. The important part is remember, no pairs, different suits and low cards, you can always read the tutorials provided on the site your playing at.

As with any card game you read about the best way to actually learn badugi for yourself is to play the game and experience it first hand for yourself. You may have to wait for a game because it’s not very popular yet but it is a change and you might enjoy playing a new card game. The important part is remember, no pairs, different suits and low cards, you can always read the tutorials provided on the site your playing at.

There is an ever-growing market in sport memorabilia, and sports-related keepsakes include signed commemorative photos, baseballs, footballs, basketballs, pucks and jerseys. A Google listing of corporations hawking these items produces almost five million business sites! A few of the items on offer cost thousands of dollars.

Where there are so many eager and gullible customers, con artists are sure to show up. A San Diego federal judge who recently sentenced many sports autograph forgers to prison said, “Life, liberty and the pursuit of the national pastime, has been undone”. The prosecution stemmed from an FBI investigation called Operation Bullpen, which closed down a professional criminal organization that forged and sold sports goods enhanced with bogus autographs. Sixty search warrants were served, more than two dozen forgers arrested, and a warehouse with ten million dollars worth of fake merchandise was seized. The ring leaders received three years in prison and loss of assets to the IRS. Both current and faux “antique” items were involved.

Any sports fan who has a signed souvenir would be wise to question its authenticity. Phil Halpren, the assistant federal attorney who worked to prosecute the forgers, stated that fraud is so pervasive in the sports memorabilia market that unless you personally watch as an athlete signs an item, odds are greater than 50 % that it’s forged. Athletes most popular with the public are a hit with forgers, too. Halpren said, “If you see a Mark McGuire signature, it’s almost a guarantee, 99.9%, it’s a forgery.” Certificates of authenticity can be fabricated with as much ease as the collectible item they supposedly validate, so this is no protection.

Vendors are fighting back in an effort to maintain the integrity of the market. Disney, which owns ESPN, will commence next year to auction signed sports memorabilia online. Disney says it will authenticate the signatures with holograms encrypted with the item’s identifying information and tamper-proof package seals, videotaping the entire process.

Sophisticated forgers can even develop holographic seals which appear real to the untrained eye. Even so, the great majority of forgers are amateurs, and usually even a basic anti-forgery system is likely to deter them.

Baseball and football are the most popular sports in America, however some famous hockey players like Wayne Gretzky and Bobby Orr are popular targets for forgery as well.

With the large selection available, both in stores and on web sites, fans can avoid a lot of fraud by applying common sense. For instance, a baseball autographed by Babe Ruth selling for $500 is obviously a fake, because such a cost is unbelievably low, too low for real market conditons. As well, it pays to know a little bit about the development of baseballs and pens. If you see baseballs supposedly signed in the ’20s and ’30s with Sharpie pens, these items are obviously fake, because these pens weren’t invented yet in that era. To quote Phil Halpren : “I have seen Babe Ruth balls signed on a Bobby Black American League President ball. So, you know, he was president in the early ’80s. That’s impossible to have been done. However someone did it.”

So, while it’s enjoyable to have a peice of sports history to call your own, the motto to follow is : buyer beware. Unless you are a professional trader who knows how to authenticate merchandise, do not acquire an item strictly for its potential resale value, because you can be disappointed by what you sooner or later get back for it. Purchase an item you personally like and intend to keep, and do not spend thousands of dollars. This ensures that you will be happy when you admire your acquisition, without the lingering doubt that you have lost a massive amount of money on something of dubious value.

Everyone that collects sports memorabilia would like to believe that they are sitting on a goldmine, but the truth of the matter is, a collection of memorabilia is only worth as much as someone will pay for it. This makes determining the worth of any kind of memorabilia rather tough to figure out, but with an understanding of what makes memorabilia valuable, you can begin to know a ballpark value of your collectables.

There are a few things to consider when you are trying to determine the worth of sports merchandise, but the most important factor tends to be whether or not the item is autographed. A Michael Jordan game jersey is certainly an important piece of sports history, and to a serious fan it would definitely be an interesting piece of memorabilia to own. However, if that same jersey were signed by Michael Jordan it could fetch an even higher price. If it were signed by the entire Bulls team, the price could skyrocket even more.

While autographs do increase the value of your memorabilia there are properties about autographs that make their worth even greater. These factors include who signed the item, if it can be authenticated, and what exact item was signed.

The most important thing to look at when determining the value of an autographed piece of sports memorabilia is who signed it. Was the player in the hall of fame or did they just make it to the pros for one season. Did the player achieve notoriety off the field or on the field or both? Is there a strong amount of interest in the athlete that signed the item. Is the athlete still alive or has he or she died, limiting the amount of signed memorabilia that this person produced? If the athlete is deceased, how long has it been since he or she died? The longer a person has been gone, the less memorabilia about their career seems to survive in good condition. Does the athlete that signed your collectable limit the amount of autographs they give? Does the athlete who’s signature you have charge a lot for autograph sessions, making their signature rare? Was the item signed by more than one person. Having a ball signed by the 1998 American League All Star Team is a very unique piece of sporting history and possibly worth much more than having the individual signatures of each athlete on the team. Each of these things factor into the value of the signature on your collection, but they aren’t the sole determining factor.

It is great to have an autographed program from the football game you attended last fall, but if you can’t prove that you really have Jerome Bettis’ signature on the program, the value of the piece is lessened. A great way to authenticate an autograph is to take a picture of the athlete as they sign it. There are also several authentication services that use a variety of methods to study your piece and determine if the autograph is real. They will then issue you a certificate of authentication that proves the piece was in deed autographed by the name that resides on it. If you buy autographed merchandise from a retailer or dealer, always buy pieces that come with a certificate of authentication so that you can be completely sure that you are getting what you pay for.

Another important factor in determining the worth of autographed sports memorabilia is the item itself that was autographed. An autographed seat from Three Rivers Stadium can be worth a lot more money than an autographed Steelers shirt, because the stadium no longer exists. When you own that signed seat, you not only own a valuable signature, but you own a piece of sporting history. If you are thinking of taking an item to a game or show to have it autographed think carefully to determine what type of item will hold the most value down the road.

The most important thing to remember when placing a value on sports memorabilia is to leave sentimentality behind. Just because a player is your absolute favorite, doesn’t mean that everyone else loves him causing his memorabilia to be valued high. While it is nice to know what your collection is worth and sports memorabilia is a fine investment, it is also important to only collect what you love. If you don’t love the things you collect, what is the point?

Website owners all around the world have been uncovering the potential goldmine that is the poker affiliate program. It may sound like a speculative venture, but with a multi-billion dollar industry such as that of online poker as a partner affiliates have a head start on most. The online poker industry is a thriving, even booming online industry, with hundreds of thousands of people having already signed up, it seems to have generated a ceaseless momentum. It is through the potential increase in revenues and clientele that the online poker industry is such a thriving market for the associated affiliate program. As with all affiliate programs, the affiliate members earn money as a result of the success of the industry that they represent. Therefore the poker affiliate program is becoming one of the largest and most popular schemes online, which in turn is aiding the progression of the poker rooms and increasing competition in both industries.

Unlike many of the commercial programs, poker sites and affiliate programs offer their affiliates a percentage of a players money generated, rather than a simple small one off payment. From the affiliates point of view this is potentially a hugely lucrative revenue, spread over the entire life span of a player. The average life of a player on an individual poker site is estimated to be as short as 3 or 6 months. Many people will join for a short period to take advantage of the enormous offers, whilst others who enjoy the site are more liable to remain for many months even years. These longer serving players can provide the affiliates with a good regular income for a n extended period, which makes them liable to be far more profitable customers. With percentages ranging from 15 to 35%, these customers can soon add up to a significant revenue even for the smallest of online affiliates.

So through lucrative rewards and an industry of almost unparalleled growth potential and popularity, the poker affiliate marketing program is a competitive and desirable online business opportunity. Whether it is for inexperienced Internet users looking to earn a little bit of cash or for large established sites looking to earn increased revenue to subsidise the site, the affiliate program is open to everybody and remains equally successful throughout. The major success of the poker affiliate scheme can be found through its sheer breadth of representatives and the diverse lucrative nature of the bonuses they offer. With sites encouraged to advertise the poker industry in order to earn an income, the poker industry is profiting from huge capital gains. But as the poker industry grows so does that of it’s affiliate marketing branch of advertising. Both industries feed each other with new custom and clientele, leading to increased revenue and popularity making it one of the most successful dual industries.

Ah, online casino selection. Now there’s a potential pain in the butt. It was one thing to select an online casino back in the late 90s, but today there are loads of online casinos and more seem to pop up daily. I’ve got three solid tips to help you stay safe and have fun by selecting that perfect online casino for you. Following these few quick tips can save you a world of hurt. Ready? Okay, let’s jump right into it.

Selection Tip One

It starts with credibility. We want to find trustworthy online casinos. After all, if they are not trustworthy, then nothing else matters. This can be a bit tricky. I mean no online casino is going to tell you they aren’t trustworthy on the front page. But, we can simplify this task. My favorite thing to do is visit Google-and I’ll follow this up with MSN and Yahoo too. If you use the plus sign, you can single out pages that contain all of your search words. So, if we pair the online casinos name (or domain name) with hot words, such as scam, illegal, arrested, rip off and so forth. Here’s a search example: Casino+name+scam Domain.com+scam

Selection Tip Two

So, we’ve done the searching and didn’t find anything too alarming. It’s now time to progress to step two-bonuses. There is absolutely no reason to play at an online casino that doesn’t offer generous bonuses. That would be like going to a grocery store that just sold canned peas. Why? Going back to the search engines, we can type in things like “casino+name+bonus.” It’s rare, but sometimes affiliates offer bonus items for joining through them-poker comes to mind. Once you’ve found a potentially trustworthy online casino with great deposit bonuses, contests and so forth, it’s time to complete the process.

Selection Tip Three

Take a look at the deposit methods for the online casino you’re interested in. Do they offer tons of choices? If all they offer is Western Union and checking account deposits, run away. Any solid online casino will offer multiple options and they should include 3rd party deposits too. I recommend using a 3rd party system if you plan on playing at multiple online casinos, because you want to limit how much of your financial data is out there. In the end, spending minutes to an hour of research can save you heartache and money loss. When in doubt, look for the biggest names. Sometimes they don’t offer the best bonuses, but at least you know that your money is safe and that you’ll be paid.

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We will initiate our discussion with the brief introduction to the betting exchanges. To begin with, we can define ‘Betting Exchanges’ as a tool that aims to bring all the punters together so that they can easily bet against each other. In fact, we can say that the sole aim of the game is to bring the two persons together, so that they can place or exchange contradicting bets. To know detailed description about the fundamentals of the betting exchanges, you are just required to pay a visit on my online e-book ‘Bookie Bonus Buster’.

My e-book will let you know about various strategies mostly followed by the punters, thus placing a bet against the winning team instead of placing a bet that assists them in winning. As far as the exchange offers are concerned, it usually offers the punters with enormous benefits. One such benefit is that it tends to offer the punter with huge price money thus allowing him to place much enhanced amount as compared to the offered price for the bet.

The effective betting exchanges allow the punters to go ahead and easily make significant alterations in their betting positions, especially if the betting exchanges are associated with the long tenure events. Besides all this, there are certain times when winning betting exchange players make an effective use of exchanges. If you are betting exchanges on the part of a bookmaker there is high probability of either your account getting closed or alternatively you are allowed to place limited stakes. In contrast, if you prefer to opt for an online betting exchange, then all these limitations are not at all visible. In fact, an online betting exchange allows you to place as much of stakes as you can. Doesn’t it sound great?

Another vital aspect of betting exchanges is that they allow a punter to go ahead and place a price for the bet instead of backing it. For instance, if the Leeds to win the bet is 3/1, but however you feel that it can be enhanced to some extent, thus depreciating the chances of their (opposing team’s) winning. In that case, the most optimal Leeds is 7/2.

It has been observed that a lot of new players find it rather complicated as to how to make an exchange. So, don’t forget that if you are sure that higher exchange price increases your prospect of winning, then you can simply adjust your offered price while backing.

Will all these fundamentals of betting exchanges, you can really make a fortune.

It’s a conundrum that many ATS fortune hunters face. Sports gambling can be a great leisurely activity for all, but for the well-versed sports prophesier, it can be a lucrative enterprise.

Having twice Chaired international searches for elite sports handicappers, once as GM of Freescoreboard, the first toll-free coast-to-coast scorephone network and than at OffshoreInsiders.com, widely accepted as the foremost handicapping site, I can tell you the quality sports handicappers are few and far between.

There are sharpies and wise guys who do make a lot of money sports gambling, but it takes the ability to both line-shop and forebode the outcome of games to make it profitable.

While my clients’ line-tracking skills are their own, the most important doomsday machine that an odds protégée can harbor is knowing the right sides and totals to monitor. As the musician was told on the way to Carnegie Hall, the only solution is practice, practice, and practice.

Let there be no doubt that there are a limited number of qualified professional handicapping experts and we have several of the elite few on OffshoreInsiders.com. Unfortunately the consumer is forced to ferret through the much more commonplace coin flippers with a grandiloquent sales pitch before unearthing the maestro confidants.

Too often desperate gamblers are clay pigeons for a windbag who talks the talk, but cannot walk the walk. Sometimes the other extreme happens. Ironically so many clients thinking they are suave patrons fall prey to the wolves in sheep’s clothing.

They are bamboozled into thinking virtuous means a virtuoso. It befuddles me how these people are the most easily hoodwinked considering how they present themselves as the more discriminating shoppers of sports investment advisors.

I have seen on Internet posting boards for example gamblers assign credibility to handicappers using the bottom rung criterion of merely admitting to losing days. Any huckster can merely come clean on heads covering when he picked tails. Professional gamblers can only sneer at such easily mislead gamblers who keep the bookmakers in business for the rest of us.

The polished magnate is much more concerned with handicappers who have few losers to proclaim than those who think sportsbooks are merely confessional booths. “Bookmaker forgive me for I have lost, it has been three weeks since my last winner.” If you can find a bookmaker who accepts “”ail Marys” and “Our Fathers” as payment, more power to you. The rest of you, I would implore you to set the bar much higher when purchasing advice.

In Advertising 101, they teach to “Sell the sizzle and not the steak.” But there really is no correlation between hard-sell/soft-peddle and legitimate/illegitimate in this field.
Let me elaborate though. This is not to say that one should give merit to the notorious snake oil salesmen. Rest assured anyone who claims “inside information” or implies that a game is a sure thing; the only forgone conclusion is that you better hope the shyster that you paid used the lucky paper clip.

A sharp player never merely gives the squeakiest wheel the oil, but also does not fall for the façade of legitimacy that uninformed consumers effortlessly acquiesce to the soft-peddlers.

Some brag because they can do it, others ballyhoo because a sales pitch is all they have got.

Quite often I get an email from someone saying that they want me to give them my premium picks for a few weeks and than if they are satisfied they will purchase a long-term package.

Even though gambling by its mere definition involves, well a “gamble” I wish all the worldly endeavors that by their nature involve less risk than gambling could come with such guarantee and free lunches as requested by the likes that I just mentioned.

Well speaking of free lunches, my only other obsession besides triumphant prognostication is dining. Could you imagine if I went in a restaurant and told them they should give me a few free meals before I determined if I wanted to consent to buying a meal?

Do not misconstrue what I assert, restaurants and many other businesses give free samples. Oh, I am so enlightened on that. My wife saw on television one day about how easy it is to acquire free samples via the Internet. Our life and mailbox has never been the same since. But I digress.

Car dealers certainly allow test drives. Likewise, reputable handicappers allow you to not only get free selections, but also even more importantly enable you to experience, savor and partake in their expertise. Well-informed and experienced handicappers should have no problem proving their proficiency before a game even starts with the profoundness of their accompanied analysis.

What, there was no reasoning and justification given with their free play? Purchase at your own risk. Caveat emptor. If a selection looks like a shot in the dark, it probably is. If a sports stockbroker is well informed, he has no reason not to flaunt it. But if a robber baron is trying to simply pawn off a guess, it is tough to present scrutiny and research when it consists of a wink and a smile.

But again, those who happily make payment for blind faith underwrite the bookmakers so they can painlessly benefact those of us who live and breathe sports betting.

A learned foreteller should have articulate widely published articles on gaming theory and strategy. Any handicapper who wants your patronage would be happy to showcase gaming scholarly doctrine. It is his best sales tool.

An educated buyer is good for both the gambler and top shelf handicapper. But those who want to judge all professional speculators by the actions of the most notorious are doing themselves and the true pros an injustice. Prejudice against members of any profession may be more politically correct than preconceived notions against someone because of their race, color or creed, but it is narrow-minded bigotry nonetheless.

Neither blind faith nor McCarthyism towards professional handicappers will do you fairness. But investing money in the proper middleman is most conducive to making coach potatoism a bull market.

Poker to me has always been a little bit of luck and a whole lot of information. An Online Poker Tournament has been proven achievable but the first disadvantage I see is my “whole lot of information” is going to be next to nil.

I’m only going to see other players and myself as caricatures on my screen. Facial expressions, hand gestures, body motions will all be absent, as well as eye squinting, blinking or twitching – those ‘giveaways’ on TV and why many use sunglasses. Add to this the screen names: how do I know that Tiny Tina isn’t some card shark from Vegas alluding to be female and harmless?

I’m going to have to compensate for this not-so-small handicap. Basically anybody’s poker actions are six — whether you play online or off… betting, folding, calling, raising, re-raising, or check-raising. So that’s a given. My observations are going to fall in the realm of a good site selection, a game selection (there are many tables), careful note-taking and money management.

And while all players are indeed in caricature-form, they still have behavior that can be noted. I can put their screen names under one of two lists: “tight players” or “loose players”. It will help to observe a few hands and label them before I decide to sit in. Too many tight players and I might look at another table.

Tight players are strong opponents. Even as a novice they will fold a poor deal and play a good one. When they raise, more often than not they have the cards to back it up with. I think it would benefit me to keep them to my right – that way, I get to act after they do. Loose players are often called ‘maniacs’ because they love to bet and raise with very little in hand to back it up.

As I see it, they are best if kept to my left in playing online poker. Advantages are: I get to see how the other players react to his/her betting before it’s my turn. And, at times if I check to the maniac who bets of course, this allows everyone else to call before I raise the bet and collect the additional monies. Get it?

Of course a table can also be tight or loose. Ideally I believe a loose table is better and the first sign of this would be how many players see the flop; the more the better – if many are playing to the flop, the pots are healthier. I read where 30% of the table playing all the way to the flop is a good measure. Anything less is not worthwhile sitting in.

So, it’s time now to choose a fictitious name and sign up for the best poker school where I can (as they say) become a professional in a matter of months rather than years by playing the game with “fun” money until I declare I am ready for a real investment.

Are you aiming for a poker tournament? If so, why not follow me as I write future Articles on this issue. Also share what you have learned, I’d be happy to hear from you and include your observations.

2006 Esther Smith

Casino slot machines easily account for nearly 70% of yearly casino income. Beginning and expert gamblers alike enjoy the fun and excitement of pulling the lever at a casino slot machine. Casino slot machines require no special skills, nor are there any strategies for winning. Winning at a casino slot machine depends entirely upon luck. We have all heard stories of people striking it rich after depositing only a few coins. Those of us who have played casino slot machines also know how easy it is to keep feeding the machine because playing is so much fun.

You can play casino slot machines at various casinos across the country. For those in the Southeastern United States, Tunica, MS is a grand hotspot for casino slot machines. Every year, thousands of people from surrounding, non-gambling states pile onto charter buses to spend a night or weekend gambling their time away. Casino slot machines are one of the primary attractions. Other gamblers will agree that Las Vegas casinos are the best place to play slot machines. You will certainly find no shortage of casino slot machines in Vegas.

Casino slot machines were first thought to be a very effective means of occupying the bored wives of the high-rolling gamblers of Vegas. The first casino owners who came up with this brilliant plan certainly had no real idea of what was in store for casino slot machines. Little did they know that those menial machines would eventually account for millions of dollars in revenue each year. Slot machines are now a big business and appeal to people from all walks of life. Young people who are experiencing their first time in a casino to the seasoned gambler, everyone is certain to find a casino slot machine that is invigorating.