Cultural Interlude

A little class injection into our game is no bad thing right now, so I warmly commend to you the following:

This nice-looking coffee table book has its own website here and the publishers have sportingly provided a page of reviews here, from which some pertinent extracts are -

"...a gift for that poker fan who has everything."

"...this tribute to the game, the tournament and...the players who have made it so, is truly a labor of love."

"...a fantastic read, great for any coffee table, and fascinating to boot. It is presented in a well written, thoughtful format."

For certain limitations on the book's content, read Nick Christenson's review at Poker Player. He, too, is nevertheless warm towards the book overall and compared to some of the celebrity tat that might otherwise take its place on your coffee table, who can blame him?

A mention also for High Stakes Art, featured on the 52 Greatest Moments website. Not everything on the site tickles my own artistic palate but as shown alongside, there are more items that do than don't.

Wait-and-see for D'Amato's new dawn

On the plus side, life isn't going to be dull should Alfonse D'Amato indeed be the Poker Player Alliance's new chairman.

A Senator for 18 years and now head of his own lobbying firm, D'Amato's ability to get what he wants is legendary and the manner in which he goes about it is rarely dull. Just a few factoids to whet your appetite for the PPA's new era:

• D'Amato became a published author with his book of recollections, Power, Pasta and Politics
• He’s been referred to as the 'Austin Powers of Island Park'
• "Congressman Eliot L. Engel, Bronx Democrat: “If people only sent him $500, he’d call back and say, ‘Why didn’t you send a thousand?’ If they sent a thousand, he’d call and say, ‘What’s wrong with your wife? Why can’t she send a thousand, too?’ You gotta love that. It’s so New York.”
• As chairman of the Senate Whitewater hearings in 1995 and '96, D'Amato said he wanted "every child in America to know how to spell subpoena." - CNN
• "D'Amato is like a roach," says a Clinton adviser. "He's hard to kill. You keep stomping on him, but he just scuttles away." - ibid.
• Another nickname - "Senator Pothole"
• "He's the King of Stealth," said Blair Horner, legislative director of the New York Public Interest Research Group. "...he's got a treasure-trove of political chits, he knows how the system works and he probably has the hottest contacts of any Republican lobbyist." - New York Daily News
• During the Don Imus radio program in 1995, he used a mock Japanese accent to impersonate Lance Ito, the Japanese-American judge overseeing the OJ Simpson trial
• In 1994, he insulted Betsy McCaughey Ross, the Republican candidate for New York Lieutenant Governor, joking that to get an endorsement for her running mate, George Pataki, she should have sex with New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who had endorsed Mario Cuomo
• D'Amato had a brief cameo as himself in the 1997 movie The Devil's Advocate
• "In a private meeting Tuesday with about 40 Jewish supporters, [D'Amato] called Schumer a ''putzhead'' and referred to the heavyset Nadler as ''Congressman Waddler.'' He also did a physical imitation of Nadler, D-N.Y., waddling like a duck." - USA Today
• "In 1986, a filibuster he conducted against a military bill lasted 23 hours, 30 minutes and he was known for reading the District of Columbia phonebook during a filibuster. On another occasion he once filibustered a bill that would have caused the loss of 750 jobs in upstate New York by singing "South of the Border (Down Mexico Way)" - Wikipedia
• Made $500,000 with one phone call when persuading New York's Metropolitan Transportation Authority to lease a developer's Manhattan building. The lease was accompanied by a $230 million bank loan in the developer's favour. D'Amato got $100,000 up front, as a retainer, and $400,000 commission if his call was successful.

A word of warning, however. So desperate is the plight of on-line American players becoming, that it is easy to seize upon this appointment as the point at which the tide begins to turn.

We British onlookers, however, will keep the champagne on ice just for now, for we remember a man called Robert Kilroy-Silk.

He it was who seemed to be a similar knight in shining armour when the fledgling UK Independence Party - pledged to stop the UK surrendering its autonomy to a federalist European Union - sought a high-profile heavyweight to push it into mainstream politics.

Kilroy-Silk, however, repeatedly gives the impression of a man deeply in love with himself and it was hard to avoid the suspicion that his rapid fall-out with his new party was not so much a matter of how it had failed its aims as how it had failed his ambitions.

So whatever Alfonse D'Amato has done or not done in the past, the deal here and now is simple: if his sense of vocation is bigger than his ego, then these could be good times for the PPA. If not, well some of us at least will know not to be too surprised.

Hollywood Casino - I love las vegas

Hollywood is a district in Los Angeles, California at USA. The word ‘Hollywood’ is generally used as a metonymy for the television and film industry. There are various Hollywood casinos located in various countries and a great source for the enjoyment of the people. Mostly new las Vegas casino hotel stages which was used on new James bond film CASINO ROYALE were made by this place. These casinos also provide a fascinating environment to the players and the other visitors.

Different Hollywood Casinos

Hollywood Casino Aurora
This is one of the largest and the topmost casino complexes in the Chicago. This casino is situated about 38 miles to the west of Chicago and contains some features such as 24 hot table games, 1,150 loose slots and live poker and covers a 53,000 square foot of area. The popular games which are played in this casino involve roulette, three card poker, blackjack, Caribbean stud poker and craps. If any player is looking for entertainment and wish to play the best games, then one can visit Hollywood Casino Aurora.

Hollywood Casino San Felipe
This Hollywood casino is situated in New Mexico and lie between the banks of the picturesque Black Mesa and the Rio Grande River. This casino provides the hottest and newest gaming alternatives in this city in which the visitors are considered like a celebrity. One can enjoy various features at Hollywood ballys Casino such as good food, convenient, friendly and safe atmosphere, sufficient parking and a great entertainment. This casino is open from 8 AM to 4 PM from Monday to Thursday and is open for 24 hours on Friday to Sunday.

Hollywood Casino Bay St. Louis
John Jagunich is the president and CEO of this casino. This casino can also enjoy the features of the Hollywood hotel which provides 900 new slot machines, 291 guest rooms, new 6 table poker room and 20 exclusive table games. This is a land based casino located over a 17,000 square feet of area and contains 3 private meeting rooms.

Hollywood Casino Tunica
This casino along with a hotel is located in the Tinsel city of Mississippi. It contains a stunning environment appears as a movie memorabilia and provides the excitement and magic to the players and the visitors. It is situated over a 54,000 square feet of area and contains features such as a fascinating 494 room luxury hotel, an actual Hollywood sound stage, indoor swimming, wonderful dining, 24 hour room service, a sun deck and 2, 5 and 8-story Hollywood casino hotel towers.

Planet Hollywood Hotel and Casino
Planet Hollywood Hotel and Casino is located at Las Vegas hotel casino. This casino is possessed by ObBiz which is a joint venture of Bay Harbour Management, Robert Earl and Starwood Resorts and Hotels. This casino involves a new restaurant, retail space, prolonged casino and a nightclub.

Player-of-Year chase just another load of Bowls

See how far you can get through this report on whether the right guy won 2006 Player of the Year honours, before the phrase Bowl Championship Series crosses your mind.

I got as far as "Let's begin again by differentiating between rankings and polls..." before my blood really started running cold.

We need to get a grip here, people: the gloss is peeling away from our game fast. The UIGEA is making us outlaws and now those who would invest poker with a little more 'cred' in popular culture by labelling it 'sport', are being sawn off at the knees.

The game needs a fog around its PoY title like it needs Pete Doherty as its global ambassador.

Let's say God is merciful and no more than 10 of these wretched 'polls' and 'rankings' ever materialises. Can we please have it set in stone NOW that the No. 1 player from each gets round the same table in December each year and plays to the last man standing?

Pleeease...?

Online Casino Free Cash Bonus Means Sometimes No Money At All

Giving away online casino bonuses by casino operators looks to be the easiest manner to pull gamblers. There are many types of bonuses out there - fit bonuses (or mark up bonuses), deposit bonuses (when you shift finances via Neteller or Paysparks) and free cash bonuses (also known as no-deposit bonus). In this article I will explicate you how this free cash casino bonus plant and how to avoid getting tricked by these bonuses.

No deposit online casino bonus is not a unusual generous enactment by an online casino operator - it's just another manner to ask for you being their steady client. Actually you may name it a trick, because even though casino claims that it "gives away free money", it only have to add some Numbers to your gaming account. Casino have to give away money only when you win with this bonus money and wan't to withdraw, but knowing the players and the routine of gambling and slot machines, this almost never happens. I will explicate why.

Most of these bonuses have got burdensome wagering requirements. You may not be able to retreat your money until you have got staked an amount of existent money 5-8 times greater than the bonus value. Some online casinos also take a firm stand depositing in the very end. This mightiness end up amusing when you've received your free cash bonus, won large with it and when trying to cash out, you simply are not allowed to make it only because you don't have got a recognition card. It's rare to go on nowadays because most of the operators have got hard-and-fast measurings against underaged gamblers, but was still quite common 6-7 old age ago.

When online casino offerings no deposit bonuses, don't bury to check up on their payouts and happen some background information about them. Sometimes there's a ground why they offer large bonuses - why not give some candy to the players, when you cognize it will be yours in the end of the twenty-four hours anyway? If they seek to conceal the payouts information or they utilize fly-by-night auditing, run as fast as you can. Online Players Association and PriceWaterHouseCoopers are reputable.

Also don't bury to read about the footing and end-user agreements and do certain you fully understand this. After accepting your bonus detect the casino and the games as if you were their steady client - would you like you play there more than than this 1 time?; is it any better than your last casino?; are the slots paying well? If you like what you see, why not fall in them for real, so you could start enjoying in progress bonuses and loyalty points from them.

Poker truce as much about Mammon as God

It started as a piece of theoretical musing at church last Sunday. If I had to give something up for Lent that really hurt, what would it be?

Poker.

Yeah right.

Then I re-assessed my form post-Christmas on the profit and loss graph at Pokercharts. Let's just say that if my bankroll decline was a ski run, it would be black. The more I mulled it over, the more a break from the game seemed as much a matter of common sense as a religious gesture.

While playing has become akin to banging my head off a wall, without any immediately obvious leaks on which to blame my form, I continue to accumlate poker magazines, books and website links without ever actually sitting down to read them. Not to bang on with the Biblical theme but I suppose there's an hypocrisy about that that's pure Pharisee - all ornament and no substance.

So the tables fall silent; the lights fade to black and I embark upon a much-needed overhaul of my game between now and Easter Sunday.

Cold turkey updates will no doubt follow in abundance.

Royale History of Casino

The term Royale Casino in ancient history was known as a small summerhouse, villa or a pavilion which was established for enjoyment generally on the grounds of a bigger Italian palazzo or villa. In the 19th century, casino was considered as a public hall for dancing and music and after that, a grouping of gambling or gaming rooms. The best and popularly known casino was established in the year 1861 when many hotels started Casino hotel. The casino has been treated as a foremost resource of revenue for the sovereignty of Monaco.

In the 20th century, casino was known as a gaming, gambling, club or a house that is a place where players placing a bet threaten their money against another player placing the bet known as the house or the banker. Casinos have nearly a consistent quality all over the world. Casinos were also allowed at various holiday resorts in South America and Europe. Administered and certified casinos, where gambling was done mainly in the London, UK since the year 1960. The membership of the club was needed and easily accessible. The government in France that claims the greater part of European casinos also controls casinos.

In the US, authorized casinos were controlled only in other regions of Nevada and Las Vegas where different types of commercialized gambling were allowed. In 1940, the financial system of Las Vegas was completely reliant on the huge and lavish casinos. The gambling was also established in the Atlantic City in New Jersey in the year 1978 and from the year 1980; casino also commenced emerging on different American Indian doubts that are not focus to state anti gambling decrees. Other authorized casinos were situated on the riverboats in Deadwood. A common development of gambling in the casino was in progress in the US in the 20th century. Various casinos were developed in other parts of the World like California Indian Casinos , Colombia, Argentina and Ecuador in South America. In 1959, the casino which was located at Havana in Cuba was closed after the revolt.

The casino normally admits all the stakes created by its customers within a limit introduced so that a customer cannot win more amounts which the casino cannot afford to pay. Each game played in the casino provided the casino a statistical anticipation of winning ( but now you can play casino online on your pc ) . Due to the effective guarantee of gross profit, casinos frequently provide huge players spendthrift incentives in the form of free fabulous amusement, graceful living lodgings and transportation. Roulette casino game was popularly played at various casinos which was a basic game played in France. After that, various other games were introduced in the casinos like crap shooting, slot and video poker machines, baccarat and many more games were established in various regions of America and other countries.

Advertising Feature - Poker Source Online

"The best things in life are free
But you can give them to the birds and bees.
I want money, that’s what I want." - Barrett Strong

If Mr. Strong plays online poker, he might be surprised to find out that he can get both free things and money quite easily. All he would have to do is join Poker Source Online.

Poker Source Online (PSO) will actually pay you to play online poker. Sure, you can go directly to the online poker rooms’ sites and get their traditional deposit bonuses, but if you sign up through PSO, you will get those same bonuses (sometimes better ones), PLUS free gifts or free money. And all you have to do is play some poker.

PSO’s 100 percent, zero risk option is its free money promotion, where PSO will actually give you money to start playing. You will not need to deposit a single, solitary penny. The only money you stand to lose is PSO’s. Thousands upon thousands of players have taken advantage of this promotion already, receiving a total of well over a million dollars in free poker money.

But if you already have your poker bankroll ready to go, a better deal for you would be to sign up for one of PSO’s free gift promotions. Poker Source Online created the original poker promotion back in 2004 by giving away poker books and poker chip sets, and now there are even more gifts from which to choose. Poker table tops, Copag cards, Poker Tracker software, and a wide array of gift cards are yours for the choosing if you create an online poker account through PSO, make a minimum deposit, and complete the play-through requirements. And if you aren’t sure exactly what gift you want, just choose "PSO Points" as your gift and spend them later in PSO’s store.

And then, for those of you who are set with your bankroll and have all the poker gear you need, you can still get good, old money from PSO in the form of rakeback. Again, sign up for one of PSO’s rakeback rooms, and instead of paying the full portion of rake hand after hand after hand, you will get a chunk of that back at least once a month. Use it to build your bankroll or treat yourself to something special, it’s up to you. It’s your money.

The best things in life are really free. Get them all at Poker Source Online.

Yes, some things still ARE sacred

This kills me.

Law enforcement officers are tightening their stranglehold on Internet poker, Neteller are running scared, rumours of high-profile arrests abound and barely a day passes without news of some American cardroom being busted by the police.

Yet in one quiet corner of the USA, the game continues, loud, proud and unabashed.

Take a bow, Holy Rosary Parish Hall, Genesee, Michigan. Here's one Protestant who'll be raising a glass to the Catholic church this evening...
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Neteller, in fact, seem to be running so scared these days, that I'm glad my money's more or less out. And I'm British.

UPDATE - Oh dear, just read this, while searching for a relevant Neteller link. Seems my nationality may be soon be immaterial...
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Don't get your hopes up with the early reference to the dead man's hand in this New York Daily News report on the death of alleged Mob footsoldier Louis 'Louie Cigars' Mele. Reporter John Marzulli is clearly no poker player.

Every detail bar one is covered in his account of Mele's death from a heart attack during a poker game in Hicksville, Long Island.

No mention, alas, of the cards he held at the time.

In Marzulli's defence, his oppo at the New York Daily Post doesn't exactly cover herself in glory, either.

Sloppy journalism, people. This game needs its fables like the Mob needs its nicknames.

Free Dolly

Every other poker blogger under the sun seems to have touched on the subject, so it would be remiss of me not to.

No, Doyle Brunson has not been arrested.

But only because he outran the cops.

MyLot really pays

I received payment of $10.01 from myLot last February 9. It was for my first month of joining starting and responding to different discussions. I know I should have done more efforts but I became too busy in the later days of January. Wow! They do pay. They automatically send payment to your paypal account once your minimum payout is reached. You can either choose to set $10 or $25 minimum.

If you have not joined yet, join now. Registration is free. Click here to visit their website.

TV is dead, long live TV

Just found this great new addition to poker's online TV stable, courtesy of CardPlayer. In a world where consumer goods and customer service only ever seem to decline, I'm delighted to find that either browser video software is improving or else my Internet provider has upped my download rate, because the drag on video playback has become almost non-existent.

Factor in the similar televisual beauties on offer at Pokerzone and The Poker Channel and I swear to God if I was a single man, I would be cancelling my TV licence direct debit before you could say "kiss your captive audience goodbye, you BBC money-grabbers."