It’s been said that “the best throw at dice is to throw them away.” That could or could not be true depending upon how you play the game. It’s quite true that there is little if any actual skill in shooting craps. It’s a game of pure chance. But there is something to be said for knowing the odds for various bets, and not betting when those odds are ridiculously against you.
Dice were probably evolved from knucklebones, and knucklebones from odd-shaped pebbles. The word “probably” is used because those small cubes of bone, ivory, wood or plastic have a contradictory, but romantic, history.
One thing seems certain, knucklebones or dice go back nearly to the creation of man. And wherever dice have been found, whether in the- tombs of ancient Egypt, of classic Greece, or of the far East, they differ in no material respect from those in use today. Of course, they were not always simple spotted cubes. Some were elongated or octagonal or with as many as fourteen flat surfaces. But all the surfaces had their different values and were counted, like dice.
It is almost impossible to trace clearly the development of dice as distinguished from knucklebones. In the beginning, dice had anywhere from six to twenty flat sides of different values, and knucklebones had only four. Ancient writers confused the two games, and rarely agreed on the origin of either. It is certain, however, that both were played in times before written records were kept.
Sophocles tells us that a Greek invented the game of dice, and taught it to his countrymen during the seige of Troy. Herodotus, the so-called “Father of History,” says the Lydians invented knucklebones, dice and all other games except chess. Then, too, dicing is credited with being an old Indian game.
EARLY EGYPTIAN AND ROMAN DICE
Early examples can be found in the Smithsonian Institute. Dice similar to those used today have been used from earliest times, being found among ancient relics in Egypt, the Mediterranean and the Far East. Dice were pretty crude in the beginning.
EVERYBODY’S GAME
No matter who started it, we know that dicing was a popular form of amusement even in ancient times. In Greece, the upper classes especially played the game as part of their drinking banquets. During the luxurious days of the empire, the Romans were passionate gamblers, casting their dice of crystal inlaid with gold from dice-beakers of carved ivory. Among the gamblers of the day were such big names as Augustus, Mark Antony and Nero.
Even then, there were those who wrote books on dicing, built special rooms in their palaces for it, sat up all night playing it, and those who cheated at it. Society soon took to the game, much as ours did with “Monopoly” and “Canasta” years back. Professional gamblers were common. Loaded dice came into being. Some are preserved in museums and private homes which became the resorts of gamblers. Special laws followed naturally, such as a person who allowed gambling in his home could not bring suit against another even if cheated.
Next the barbarians discovered the game of dice, possibly taught to them by their Roman conquerors. They loved it so much that, after losing their material possessions, they would gamble their personal freedom. During the Middle Ages, both knights and their ladies played dice. In France, dicing schools and clubs were formed, despite the legislation which tried to abolish the game. Soon India, the Far East, and a good part of the entire world held dicing in common.
Today dice are the crucial part of many games. An understanding of some of the history of dice just makes the games a lot more interesting!
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In poker, the term fish basically refers to poor players, and can describe those players who consistently lose money and have a poor overall grasp of the game, as well as those players who may simply be new to the game and are still learning the ropes.
In truth, we’ve all been a poker fish at some stage of our poker career, so it’s nothing to be ashamed of, particularly when you first start playing the game. Very few players pick up the game and start consistently winning money straight away, but the key is to come through the initial learning stage, learn from your mistakes, and develop your game over time as you gain more experience.
If, however, you have been playing for several years and still find yourself regularly losing money, then the harsh reality is that you’re probably a fish yourself, and the type of player who the poker pros love to come up against because you’re an easy target. The truth is you should probably consider either giving up the game, or reading various poker books, furthering your education, and trying to bring your game up to scratch.
Assuming you’re a decent player, how do you identify which of your opponents are fish, and therefore there for the taking?
Well firstly look at how often your opponents are playing their hands. If you find a player who loves to be involved in nearly every pot, and plays more hands than he should, then you should be able to win money off of them just by sitting tight and waiting for premium hands.
Another sign of a poker fish is if they have a tendency to show their hands to the rest of the table when not required to, and regularly make comments using the chat facility. The stronger players will generally just sit quietly and completely focus on the game, and not distract themselves or give players unnecessary information about their hands.
Also look out for players who get frustrated and use the chat facility to vent their anger or criticise other players. These players are more likely to go on tilt and again will be easy pickings if you sit tight and wait for good hands.
What else should you be looking out for?
Well if a player is seemingly taking forever to decide what to do when it’s their turn to act, then this is a tell-tale sign of a newbie, and therefore you should be able to use your greater experience to win money from them by playing a solid game.
Also, look at every single hand, even those you’re not a part of, and watch for weak moves and hopeful calls by your opponents, and make a note of this for future reference.
And finally, as the old saying goes, if you still can’t decide who the fish are at your table, then it’s probably you.
James Woolley is a regular poker player and the author of a poker blog which is a complete guide to internet poker, and contains the very latest poker tips and strategies to help you become a better poker player.
In the world of online sports betting, one of the regularly used features of a bookmaker is the “Free Bet” offer which is used as a sign-up bonus when new customers register with them.
If you’re new to the betting world, you may not know of this type of reward for joining a bookmaker online but as you become more familiar and comfortable with this pastime, you’ll come across more and more free bets in different forms from the major, established names in sports betting.
An example of this is when you fancy a flutter on an upcoming sporting event, say the Grand National Horse Race. So, you go online and find a bookmaker that gives you good odds on the horse of your choice. You register with the bookmaker, you create your account with them, and you then need to fund that account.
Let’s say you make a first deposit of 25 pounds. This bookmaker had advertised on their home page that they offer a 25 pounds free bet to new customers, which means that they will now match the deposit you have made, giving you a total of 50 pounds in your sports betting account.
Offers like this can come in different forms to help you with your budget. There is a free bet that is given over consecutive weeks, i.e. if you deposit 25 pounds the first week, you get that matched, and then the second week the same, and so on, maybe for four weeks, totalling 100 pounds.
One good feature of the internet nowadays is that of free bets directories. These bring all the major sports betting bookmakers’ free bet deals together in one place.
This allows customers to choose a wager that suits their budget from as low as 10 pounds to 200 pounds and above. A good site will also give more background on the bookmakers themselves and break down the finer detail of the free bets offer by any particular bookie.
Don’t be put off by the fact that a bookmaker offers a 200 pounds free bet and you only want to stake a tenner! The free bets are usually a matched free bet to a maximum amount.
This again means that although this bookmaker may offer this high free bet value, you can still register and deposit your 10 pounds and get that matched. You are still doubling your sports betting budget to 20 pounds just for registering and creating your account!
Most good betting directory web sites list the Free Bets in an easy to follow fashion, by their value in one area of the home page or by the individual bookmakers in another area.
Shaun Parker has been at the forefront of Free Bets for several years. For more information, please visit his site at http://www.freebettingonline.co.uk
Bingo is one of the winding up game in humankind. This can be considered as game for all ages. Rules and mechanics are easy to conform. So, lets play bingo thinking those steering below.
Beginning Bingo
Bingo is credibly one of the most easygoing games on the planet; all you need are bingo cards, bingo chips, the ability to distinguish numbers, fast eyes and a prize, even youngsters can do it.
Objective of the game:
The objective of the game is to fill in the pattern called for in a certain game with the lowest number of calls. Patterns are decided before the game begins, it can either be a full horizontal, or vertical, a diagonal, an X, a box, or what they call block out, in which you will have to occupy your complete card.
Bingo Cards
Bingo cards have the letters B, I, N, G and O over the top of five columns. Each column hast a set of numbers running from 1 to 75.
The B column has numbers from 1-15, the I column has numbers, 16-30, the N column has numbers from 31 to 45, the G column has numbers from 46 to 60, and the O column has numbers from 61 to 75. Each column may only have 5 numbers from their various ranges.
The card forms a reference grid in which the center grid, the third row of the N column is marked free, this cell does not have to be filled.
Game Play
First you need at least one Bingo card, you may have more than one bingo card at one time, depending upon your marking agility.
The game begins once the host tells everybody the pattern to be made.
Listen for the first ball, the host will shout a letter, either B, I, N, G or O, for the column then a number, e.g. O-70. Search for this number on your card and mark it at once.
The host keeps on calling out letters and numbers until somebody finishes the pattern called for.
The individual with a completed pattern should at once shout out bingo! To inform everybody that he has completed the pattern and has won the game.
The host will then affirm all the numbers and their location on your card, either by taking your card, or by having someone shout out the numbers that made you make the pattern.
Another bingo game may start subsequently, either with the same or another pattern, or same or different prize.
The prize should be right away given after a Bingo.
Tips
Never yell BINGO if you have not completed a pattern as this stops the game and can be very annoying for other players.
Garland Choate (GR) is a retired Airline Captain who now publishes articles from the USVI. Find many great articles about Bingo at http://www.bingo.wahwarriors.com
I play a lot of no-limit cash games online and one of the hands I most like to see is a small pocket pair (ie 8’s or under). This is because if you’re lucky enough to subsequently hit trips (or better), and you play the hand well, you can earn yourself a big payout.
As with all hands though, there is a right way and a wrong way of playing these hands. You have to remember that a small pair by itself isn’t that great a hand (unless you’re heads up against someone), but it’s more of a speculative hand.
Your aim is to hit your card on the flop and make three of a kind or better. Statistically, you will find that on most occasions you will miss, and in most cases no longer be in front, so you ideally want to see a cheap flop and take it from there.
If someone puts in a big raise pre-flop, or two or more players are raising, a small pair is not a hand worth persevering with as there’s every chance you’ll be up against a higher pair, and therefore be a big underdog.
So assuming you’ve seen a cheap flop, how do you play the hand from here?
Well if you’ve missed, then your small pair will probably now look slightly pathetic, unless there’s two or three undercards on the board, so it’s usually best to check and hope you see another free card, or fold to any raise.
If, however, you hit your three of a kind, the fun now begins. There’s every chance you’re now well in front, so you have to work out how to extract as much cash as possible from your opponents.
This is often position dependent, but a good way of playing it is to check in early position or put in a small feeler bet and hope you get a raiser or two. Slow playing can pay off big time, particularly if your opponent thinks they have a big hand, for instance if an Ace is on the board and they think they have top pair.
You have to be careful though, and look for the danger signs. If there’s a possibility of a straight or a flush being made, then slow playing is generally not the best option. Instead you should either bet strongly after the flop, or wait for an opponent to bet and then re-raise strongly, to try and take the pot there and then and eliminate these possibilities.
So if you can, try and get away with slow playing this hand and earning a big payout, as it’s virtually impossible for your opponents to put you on three of a kind, but avoid doing this if there’s any possible straight or flush draws. Never underestimate a small pocket pair, because if you can see a cheap flop and make three of a kind after the flop, you suddenly have a monster hand.
James Woolley is a regular poker player and the author of a poker blog which is a complete guide to internet poker, and contains the very latest tips and advice to help you become a better poker player.