American and International Info Resources

A basic strategy for just about all poker tournament play is to play tight early and open up later when the blinds are higher. This has never been truer for single table sit-n-go games. Here’s the logic. You’re going to get a lot of limpers early on, that limp with garbage since the blinds aren’t so valuable. Well, if they’re not valuable, why limp? Why not wait and catch a premium online poker hand and raise. The next tip you’ll get is that you’re going to want to limp your pocket pairs lower than TT, especially if you’re in position. You do this for set value. Since when you hit your set 1.) it’s a disguised poker online hand and 2.) it’s bound to pay off about 70% of the time unless your facing set over set or set vs. straight or flush. Both of which are highly unlikely on the flop. Finally, you get to the late game. SnGs are easy at the late game, your decisions, they become so simple. If you’re high stacked, you bully. If you’re low stacked, you have only two moves, push fold. If you’re calling 200 with a stack of 1000, then you’re just wasting your time. It’s push/fold all the way. Again, because all-in scares people, and two, you can’t be bluffed off an all-in. Use these simple sit-n-go strategies and you’ll start to see your winnings jump exponentially.

More good news on the legal front for us online poker players. The Poker Players Alliance (PPA), a poker grassroots advocacy group with more than one million members, today said it expressed “cautious optimism” with a ruling in a South Carolina, U.S. poker case and applauded the Court’s findings that poker is a game of skill, not chance. Though disappointed with the Court’s initial conclusion that the defendants had committed a crime, the PPA expects to prevail on further review. “We are humbled by Judge Duffy’s thoughtful decision and applaud the effort put forth by the legal team defending these casino online players,” said John Pappas, executive director of the PPA in a statement. “The positive language in this ruling comes on heels of other key legal victories for the rights of poker players in Kentucky, Colorado, and Pennsylvania. It’s becoming quite clear the legal community agrees that this great American pastime is a game of predominant skill, not luck, and should not be considered gambling under the law.” The defendants were charged with playing cards in a “house used as a place of gaming” and under South Carolina law, the term “gaming” means “gambling.” The PPA argued that the Court should adopt the rulings of other courts that gambling refers to a game in which the outcome is determined predominantly by chance, not by skill. The PPA provided for expert testimony, making the compelling case that poker is a game of skill involving the making of correct decisions rather that mere chance, and therefore not illegal gambling. The South Carolina Court found that testimony persuasive and found that poker is a game of skill. Hooray!

Staging for live wedding music is just one of about a hundredprojects facing couples and wedding planners. Between flowers, photographers, locales, dresses, showers, rings, video, and more, even a little and subdued wedding needs a fantastic amount of planning. It can be a nerve-wracking time because if even one of these areas falls through the cracks, your big day can end up being a huge letdown.

Here are five secrets to hiring live wedding music players for your service and reception:

1. you rent a musician with a verified track record of professionalism. Does the handler return your calls promptly? Does the band have a website? Business cards? Other marketing materials? Or do you get the sense you’re talking to a guy practicing in his garage with his pals? The way the band presents itself as you begin speaking with them is a good indicator of how they’ll show up (or not!) on your special day.

2. Promptness is important. When you set an date to connect face to face or on the telephone, it’s like a mini-contract. If the band director is late to meet with you, it’s a cautionary sign that they don’t take their agreements earnestly. If they can’t arrive on time in the planning phase, what other agreements will they fail with you on your wedding day? This carries on to you, too - being punctual is just one way you can live a life that displays that you honor your commitments.

3. Make certain the dance band is easy-going rather than being a bunch of divas. By now you’ve likely heard a million Bridezilla stories, even if you’re not hard to please or excessive. Imagine renting the equal in craziness for your wedding dance band. The last thing you want on your wedding day is to have to wait on your musicians hand and foot, fetching them food and beverage, having the thermostat adjusted for them, or tending to other hard to please wants. The greatest band for you is one that can take care of itself, one that’s easy to get along with, and one that does all it can to make sure your day is fabulous and fun for you.

5. Engage a wedding band that’s fun. Getting married is one of the heaviest choices you’ll ever make. It’s important business. The music on your wedding day should be enjoyable and fun. You don’t want to see your guests yawning, dazed, and wishing the party was all over. You want them up, dancing, singing, and glad. If you select a live wedding music band well, your choice will do a lot to make your wedding day memorable in a great way. This is the big day you’ve been waiting for, and music is such a critical part of it. Make sure you engage a musician that makes the day perfect - pleasurable for you and your guests.

George Pollis is the handler and a instrumentalist with Reel Ting Steel Drum Band. For a professional, prompt, easy-going, gifted, and fun live wedding music band, check out Reel Ting at http://www.reelting.com.

I saw an article recently that was stating that AK suited was one of the best starting poker online hand, possibly 3rd behind AA and KK. Now, while I may agree to an extent that it’s quite a starting hand since it has so many possibilities. I continued to read and found some pretty bad advice, and it made me think that there’s a lot of bad poker online advice out there. I’m not saying that AKs is not a strong hand, no quite the contrary, but in any game of poker, it’s not about playing AK strong from any position, or about thinking that you’ll hit that monster flop and hit the nut flush or Top pair Top Kicker. Instead, you have to take each game as situational. If you get a poker online player who’s playing very conservatively and he raises under the gun, do you really think it’s wise to 3bet this guy with AKs? It may be, or it may not be. It depends on the reads you’ve picked up on him earlier. And as for the straight and flush draw potentials of AKs, sure it’s the best drawing hand, but hitting TPTK against a button limper who hit KQs on a KQ board is nearly always dangerous territory to be in. Again, I’d just like to remind all of you who take poker advice, even mine, that you should think about it yourself, mull over it in your mind and see if it makes sense to you and your own style of play. After all, if we all played the same, poker wouldn’t be profitable for anyone.

poker is a game consisting of many variables, only some of which tend to get properly considered, even by the more cognizant of casino online players. The idea of pot odds, wherein a player will see a flop with a marginal hand, using the odds of the small price they have to pay to win a bit pot, is one of the more tricky considerations, and one that often can get misused when a player does not also, in his calculations, consider what it is he has to gain, based on the chips he has in front of him.

The major thing it seems many players tend to miss when considering the value of pot odds, is the relation of the price of the bet in relation to their stack. Committing too much of your stack on ‘pot odds’ without the proper value behind it is just as worthless as paying too much without the poker online odds at all.

For instance, if you are playing $80 in a $1/$2 no limit game (which is a weak buy in, but one that many players do) and someone makes it $12 to go, you have to consider the percentage of the $12 bet to your $80 is a high amount for prospecting. Even when you are getting several other people in the pot, you are calling off nearly a sixth of your total chips to try and hit a flop that likely will not come. Two or three of these kinds of attempts later, you’ve turned your buy-in into a short stack without even playing a ‘real hand.’ Committing chips with a prospecting sort of hand is only a smart use of ‘pot odds’ when you have a stack behind you to back it up.

In limit hold ‘em online poker, things can get pretty dire for the casino player who is suffering through a dry run of pokercards. If you haven’t seen anything playable in your hole cards for a few rounds, it’s a lot harder to stay in the game than when you are playing no limit hold ‘em, because you can’t bluff as effectively.

In no limit, you can bet your whole stack before the flop and encourage your opponents to fold to you pretty effectively. In limit hold ‘em, however, you are given a strict betting limit. In 3/6 limit, for example, you can only raise $3 before the flop. It’s a lot harder to get someone to fold pre-flop with a measly $3 raise.

On the other hand, most times in limit poker you can see the flop relatively cheaply. The most that you’ll have to pay to see it in 3/6 is usually no more than $6 if someone raises. With bargain flops, you can afford to play a little more loosely than you could in no limit, where you can get raised your whole stack at any time, so feel a little more at ease in checking out the flop.

Men “The Master” Nguyen: A real-life rags to riches story, Men escaped from Vietnam in 1978 and made it to Los Angeles, where he worked odd jobs and learned poker. He became a full-time professional player in 1990, and in 1996 won two WSOP bracelets. He has since won four more, and was named “1997 Player of the Year.” Part of his winnings are donated to two schools he has built in his native country of Viet Nam.

Scotty Nguyen: Scotty arrived in the US when he was 14 years old. He was introduced to poker in California, and is one of the highest earning professionals in the game. He won the WSOP Main Event in 1998, and the HORSE event, considered one of the poker world’s most prestigious wins, in 2008. He frequently visits his family in Vietnam, and gives much of his earnings to his large extended family there.

Puggy Pearson: A player from the olden days, Pearson won the WSOP Main Event in 1973, and was the second living person inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame. He is credited, along with Benny Binion, with creating the poker tournament freeze-out concept and developing the World Series of Poker. He won four bracelets, and specialized in seven-card stud. Pearson passed away in April 2006.