Poker Language

How has Poker influenced the way people speak? Poker jargon has shaped American slang so thoroughly and so widely, for so long, that most Americans are not even aware that they are using Poker terminology in their conversations everyday.

This is testimony to how important Poker was to the development of American culture.
A language is essentially, a world view. Our language affects our way of understanding interactions with other people, and it even affects our goals for those interactions.

Let's look at a few Poker terms glossary, and deconstruct the idioms:

To have an "ace up one's sleeve" means to have a secret advantage in a conflict or negotiation. The term originates with a method of cheating in Poker.

"Beats me" means I don't know. This comes from the idea that my Poker opponent has more information, or some other advantage that I don't, and therefore, I fold and s/he wins.

"Blue chip" means of high value, and refers to the color coding system of the chips used to represent money when placing a bet in Poker. The blue chips are worth the most in this system.

To "call one's bluff", is to challenge a person to prove that they are capable and willing to follow through on a threat. In Poker, if you think someone has wagered a bet that is worth more than the cards they are holding in an attempt to mislead their opponents, you "call", requiring that everyone reveal their cards.

To "cash in" means to exchange your credit or equity for tangible payment. This comes from the use of chips to represent money in Poker gambling. When you are finished playing, you "cash in" your chips, and you are given money in exchange. This idiom is sometimes used to mean end involvement in an enterprise, to finish, to sleep, or even to die, as it signifies the end of a game.

A "high roller" is someone who wagers lots of money and takes high risks in gambling. This usually refers to some one rich enough to have a bank roll with a high value.

To "pass the buck" means to pass responsibility for a problem to someone else. In Poker, when you can't do any more with your hand, your turn passes to the next player, and if you didn't play your hand well, your "buck" (meaning dollar) will also be in someone else's possession.

To have a "poker face" is to control the muscles in your face so completely, that no expression at all is discernable. Before the invention of online poker games, this was a technique used to confound your opponents when they were watching your face for psychological clues. In Poker, your opponents want to know which cards you're holding.

To "stack up" means to accumulate or "to amount to", and comes from the way in which Poker chips are gathered on the game table. They are often stacked vertically.

To "up the ante" is to add money to the Poker stakes pot by wagering a higher bet. This idiom often means to see how much I can get away with. If I am negotiating and I ask for more than what I've asked for previously, without even knowing if I'll receive the original amount, I am "upping the ante". It generally means to test someone's limits.

When "the chips are down" means when things are bad, difficult, or worrisome, and comes from having lost your Poker chips (representing your money) in the previous hand.

A "wild card", means an unknown element or variable that will have an unforeseen effect on a situation. In some Poker games, a person may assign any value to a "wild card" such as a Joker. This can change the direction of a game suddenly and unpredictably, necessitating a quick change of strategy.

Look at the Poker related terms that became common slang in American English, and look at what Poker objectives they reflect. What do they have in common? Take other people's resources by fooling them, make lots of money by taking risks (see poker strategy), avoid losing resources and getting fooled by others, don't take responsibility or allow transparency in negotiation, accumulate lots of money, and then withdraw and abscond with the money to a private existence.

The underlying paradigm of the game is that to win, others must lose, and that you must beat them by outsmarting them. Another unspoken assumption is that winning is a function of rank in a rigid hierarchy.

Societies invent games that reflect their values. Games serve the function of building and sharpening skills that are needed to survive in that society. If 19th century American society had been egalitarian, socialist, and based on a win-win paradigm, Poker as we know it would not have been invented.

Hollywood movies which are shown all over the world, essentially export American cultural values. Poker games are often depicted in these movies. The classic western genre and many modern urban films center on Poker players, or have Poker games going on in the background.

In this way, a world view, an approach to relationships, and an economic strategy are communicated to the rest of the world, and reinforced in America. Many of these movies accurately depict the dangers and detriments of gambling culture, but they don't challenge the Poker paradigm itself. Essentially, they miss the essential question: "Why are we playing a game where the objective to benefit from harming others?"

As people around the globe watch Hollywood movies, they pick up the Poker based idioms used in casual, spoken English. With the idioms, comes a world view that creeps into their cultures insidiously. Maybe these idioms have spread so far and wide because the paradigm was that widespread to begin with. America certainly didn't invent hierarchy or capitalism, and is by no means the first country to have a problem with the concept of win-win negotiation.

But what happens then when we teach English to a relatively egalitarian, essentially socialist, tribe of people whose survival depends on a very delicate balance in an ecosystem that's dependent on non-renewable resources?

Do they learn that to "win", one should betray their people, cut down all the trees, poison the water with mining and drilling, poison the air with refineries, kill the other species, and then run off and hide with a big pile of money? How long before they realize that they can not eat, drink, or breathe the Poker chips? How long before they realize that they can never "cash in".

English is the trade language of international commerce. Where English goes, Poker terms (terminology) follows, and therefore, so does the Poker paradigm. We might consider whether we'd like to change that. The first step is to become more conscious of the idioms we use, and the ways in which Poker shapes our world views.

The history of Poker - part 3

In order to read the full article please read the first article of the history of poker and the second part of poker history.

In the 1990’s Poker spread east. Fueled by the continuously emerging Native American sovereignty movement’s struggle to win the legal right from states and the federal government, to be self determining on their own lands, a new wave of casino construction on Native American reservations brought the Poker trend to the eastern seaboard.

Most Europeans still hadn’t been exposed to the game of Poker until 1999, when Poker was popularized in Europe by a British television show called “Late Night Poker”.

Television and the introduction of the “hole card camera” made watching poker games a popular spectator sport, and a lucrative business for cable and satellite TV companies.

Broadcasts of Poker tournaments like the World Series of Poker and the World Poker Tour turned top players into celebrities. People began entering expensive tournaments just for the chance to play a particular Poker celebrity. Poker champions also had to adjust to having their every move watched by millions of people. Their trade secrets might be revealed as they play.

The 21st century revolutionized the game of Poker with the invention of online gaming games.

One can now play poker online with people all over the globe simultaneously.

To qualify for big tournaments, one may compete in satellite poker tournaments online, allowing players to participate in these tournaments from remote locations. The winners then travel to the championship tournament games, where their entry fees are waved. This new structure has helped the major Poker tournament fields to grow dramatically since 2003.

The passage of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act in October 2006, initially reduced attendance at live tournaments, and reduced participation in live and online cash games. However, participation in these types of Poker games is still growing, and much more popular today than it was prior to 2003.

Online Poker games may eventually be dominated by the Chinese, and the internet may make most casinos obsolete relics of the past, but the history of Poker will always conjure up images of Mississippi riverboats and the saloons of the American “Wild West”. Poker rules (such as: Texas holdem poker rules, omaha poker rules, 7 Stud Poker Rules or 5 card draw poker rules) may change, and access vectors will continue to evolve with modern technology, but neither the public’s fascination with the game, nor the temptation to play Poker, are at all diminished.

Poker History - part 2

The history of Poker is widely debated. Disagreement over the origins of Poker can largely be explained by the differences in people’s definitions of the term “Poker”.

In order to read the full article please read the first article of the history of poker.

According to this retrospective , the evolution of poker is linked to the same historical movement that gave birth to commercial online gambling games.

Gambling culture from New Orleans spread north along the Mississippi River trade routs by way of slow river boats, where bored passengers needed a pastime. After poker migrated in this way, it spread to the West by way of the California Gold Rush, and the corresponding railroad construction.

Poker became a part of the ethos of the pioneers on the frontier. The concept of “making your own luck” by way of your intelligence, diligence, fortitude under pressure, and ambitious risk taking, were Poker gambling values that mirrored the aspirations of American western expansion and frontier economics.

The Poker concept of the winner taking all, was also mirrored in the beliefs held by the participants in the expansionist movement: “If you are capable of taking another’s resources, you should do so”, was the underlying ethic that drove the genocide of Native Americans and drove the capitalist culture that replaced the more socialist indigenous cultures.

From there, it was a natural step to the development of commercial gambling, including commercial Poker.

Soon after Poker spread west, the full 52-card English deck came into use, and the introduction of the “Flush” (poker hands) spiced up the game.

The “Draw” was introduced prior to 1850, the year it was first recorded in a gaming handbook.

Many additions were made during the American Civil War, including the five card variant of Stud Poker, and the “Straight”.

The concept of a “Wild Card” was introduced in about 1875.

“Lowball” and “Split-pot Poker” developed at the turn of the 20th century, and then Community Card Poker games arrived on the scene in approximately 1925.

A series of developments that began in 1970 greatly increased Poker’s popularity.

In 1970 the World Series of Poker began, popularizing modern tournament play in American Casinos. Later in that decade the first robust Poker strategy books were published.

In 1987 Community Card Poker games were introduced to the world’s largest Poker casinos. Patrons of these casinos in California were more excited by this game then they had been by the variants of 5 Card Draw Poker, which they had become bored with by that time.

The history of Poker

The history of Poker is widely debated. Disagreement over the origins of Poker can largely be explained by the differences in people’s definitions of the term “Poker”.

Some folks define a game as “Poker” if, and only if, the rules follow the general Poker structure of play. The other camp tends to identify a game as “Poker” if the betting practices correspond to those of Poker’s betting structure. The later group feels that the specific rules of the game are relatively trivial, and that the gambling framework is the definitive Poker attribute, which forms the class of games.

If your view is that Poker should be defined by the play structure and rules, then you might consider the game of Pochspiel to be the earliest known ancestor of Poker. Pochspiel hails from Germany in the 15th century, and incorporates hand rankings, bluffing, and betting.

The earliest American poker games were played with a 20 card pack, and a five card hand. This structure is very similar to that of a Persian game called “As Nas”. The earliest references to As Nas are in 1890, although the game may be much older.

A French game called “Poque”, which is similar to poker, was in evidence around Poker’s reported region of origin (Louisiana). The name “Poque” was probably derived from the Irish word “poca” meaning pocket, or the French word “poque”, which was in turn derived from the German word “pochen”, meaning 'to brag as a bluff'( literally 'to knock'). Despite the obvious correlation in concepts, it is not clear whether that game was the true origin of Poker.

The Renaissance game of Primero and the French game of Brelan are thought to share Poker’s ancestry. The English game brag (earlier spelled “bragg”) was clearly derived from Brelan, and incorporated bluffing. It should be noted that bluffing was already practiced in other games by that time. It is a common English practice to reduce the deck in card games when there are fewer players; an early American 20 card Poker game variant was played with two to four players, perhaps pointing to a connection with the English game of Brag.

One should consider the possibility that all of these earlier games influenced the evolution of Poker as we know and play it.

The opposing school of thought considers the unique features of poker to be characterized by the structure of the betting, which does not appear in any known older game.

In this view, Poker originated in the early or mid 18th century, and by way of the Mississippi River had spread throughout that region by the year 1800. It was played in a variety of forms even then. 52 card games included both Straight Poker and Stud Poker. When there were only two players, the deck was sometimes reduced to 20 cards.

please visit the home of online gambling games for more information about poker such as: recommended poker sites, poker glossary and so on

Kids and gambling - second part

When we teach children to live with the consequences of, and to learn from, their mistakes, and to anticipate the need to compensate for a run of bad luck, we prepare them for life’s hard knocks. When they see that they can methodically and carefully recover from set backs, we instill in them a sense of potency and self determination.

Does this mean we let them gamble their college fund while gaming? Emphatically, no!

They should make their mistakes using small amounts of money that they earned delivering newspapers or scooping ice-cream. They will, in this way, learn the value of the money they win or lose.

“This bet is worth two hours of scrubbing floors or trimming hedges” is much more tangible than an abstract bank account balance. “I can’t go to the movies with friends because I lost the cinema ticket money on a bet”, is good conditioning without risking their important life goals. In the long run, such previous conditioning may actually help young adults to reach their goals, as they may be better “immunized” against impulsive behavior.

Finally, gambling teaches kids that some other people lie. Learning to identify behaviors associated with lying is a lesson in psychology and sociology that will serve to protect our child throughout life. Gamblers become well attuned to body language, facial expressions, and the other subtle clues that warn them that they are dealing with a person who is either cheating, or legitimately bluffing.

When gambling online, there are ways to evaluate the integrity and security of the website. Learning when to push back the chair and walk away from the table is good preparation for the real world, because life isn’t always fair.

Gambling on-line insures that your child will stay in the wholesome environment of their own home, rather than being exposed to what ever illicit activities might be going on at a particular casino. Gambling at home also insures that you can supervise them closely.

Gambling can be used as a reward for having finished their schoolwork, thus instilling the notion that one does not neglect other duties to gamble. Gaming can be made into a fun ritual complete with healthy snacks, so that kids learn good nutritional habits they can apply to other social situations or to stressful situations where they must concentrate and focus well.

Gaming is an opportunity to bond with your children. You get to teach them important life lessons, and to develop their skills, while having fun with them and creating memories. Gambling online lets you teach your children a wide variety of games and basic computer literacy.

The ancient Romans actually made gambling part of their children’s mandatory curricula.

You would be wise to teach your children the art and science of gambling as well. Gambling teaches kids math, strategic thinking, responsibility, money management, and about human nature. When they master these subjects, they deserve a tasseled cap and a graduate’s gown.

Kids and gambling

Does it surprise you that many well educated and responsible parents teach their children to gamble? If you are shocked, you may not yet realize the beneficial lessons that gambling can teach a youngster. Learning to gamble provides valuable life experience and develops many skills needed to do well in society. You can teach your children to gamble on-line.

Why should you teach your child to gamble?

First of all, there is the math involved in most online gambling games (or offline). Small children need to practice counting, adding, and subtracting, making them ideal score keepers.

As they grow, games like baccarat help them to think abstractly by requiring them to identify the “last digit” of each integer, and to understand the concepts of “greater than or equal to” and “less than or equal to”.

Games like poker require them to identify consecutive integers, differentiate between suits, mentally substitute numerical values for pictures on face cards, and perhaps most importantly, to manage money when they place bets.

Managing money for gambling requires a bank roll (poker money management bankroll). Saving money to be used for only one specific purpose requires self control and the ability to envision the future, skills that children are not born with and must develop.

As a child’s brain develops, learning to delay gratification is one of the determining factors of how well they will succeed in life later on. This has been demonstrated with numerous studies. Developing the concept of self limiting behavior in order to reap benefits in the future is one of the most important things you can teach a child.

Betting only the amount you can afford to lose requires further math skills. You must be able to multiply and divide, as one should have a bankroll that is 500 times the amount of the highest bet one places.

Taking responsibility for one’s decisions is the ultimate life lesson that gambling provides. This skill is needed for a productive adult life.

Every thing we do in life involves gambling in some way. For instance, if I have two job offers, I gamble that the one I chose will be better for me than the other. I consider the benefits and risks of each job, evaluate the chances that either job will be lost due to changes in the market, the field, my own aptitude, or the employer’s solvency, and I make a decision that has consequences.

If my strategic thinking was good, I have a higher chance of success. But even the “well laid plans of mice and men” can be undone by bad luck. An unexpected natural disaster or a car accident could change everything. Learning to accept responsibility for the outcome of one’s decisions, whether the outcome was based on skill or luck, is a vital skill for living in society, and for recovering from setbacks.

Poker Hall of Fame

Do you know who belongs in the Poker Hall of Fame? “Billy the Kid”, to name one of Poker’s historical figures. But, if you rate them by Poker earnings, the top five are:

Number 1) Daniel Negreanu at $12,483,065
Number 2) Phil Ivey at $12,296,862
Number 3) Jamie Gold at $12,187,054
Number 4) Peter Eastgate at $11,032,523
Number 5) Joe Hachem at $10,670,474

If you adjust the value of 19th century American dollars to reflect their current value, a woman nick-named Poker Alice who was born in England and lived in Colorado, USA during the late 1800’s would still rank about 7th on the list for top Poker earnings of all time. By 21st century standards, she earned the equivalent of over $ 9,185,000.

The World Series of Poker was the start of world class commercial Poker tournaments (read about Free Poker Tournaments Online). As the nascent tournament popularized the game in the 1970’s, the Champions included: Puggy Pearson, Jonny Moss, Bobby Baldwin, Amarillo Slim, and Doyle Brunson.

Champions went on to write best selling books on Poker strategy(read about Stud poker strategy and Texas holdem poker strategy), such as: Super/System by Doyle Brunson; Caro's Book of Poker Tells by Mike Caro; and The Theory of Poker by David Sklansky.

By the start of the 21st century, the internet was bringing us a new breed of champion. Contestants who had won entrance to the WSOP by winning online satellite tournaments included champions Chris Moneymaker in 2003, and Greg Raymer in 2004.

In 2002, Kathleen H. Liebert became the first person to win the “Party Poker Million” event, the limit poker tournament with a million dollar prize. Winning more open field tournaments than any other women in history, she went on to win a WSOP bracelet. Not only has she won more than 5 million, six hundred thousand dollars in live tournaments, she’s still playing! No wonder she’s been nick named Poker Kat.

Other 21st century female poker champions include Van Nyugen, Cyndy Violette, and Annie Duke. They have either been finalists or won events on the World Poker Tour (WPT).

Annie Duke wrote a best selling book on Poker strategy ( after becoming widely
considered the best female poker player of our age. She has won the WSOP bracelet, had 37 WSOP cashes, and won the $2 million dollar single event (topped only by Annette Obrestad in 2007 at the WSOP main event). Annie Duke was a cognitive psychology major, and has used her insight into human behavior to help her to win over $3,600,000, and counting.

Will your name be added to the Poker Hall of Fame? Practice your poker gambling game online.

Gambling for the Elderly - familiarize yourself with the technology

Did you ever wonder why gaming is so popular among seniors? Gambling is good for your grey matter. Elderly people who want to stay sharp mentally, can use on-line gambling to preserve mental acuity. Now that on-line gambling is so convenient and easy, senior citizens can enjoy gaming without the need to arrange transportation.

Using a computer to gamble is a fun way to familiarize yourself with the technology. Once you lose your fear of gadgets, you can confidently function in our quickly changing society. Remember when automatic teller machines at the bank were new and baffling? Now they are second nature to you, and you appreciate the convenience, right? Learning to gamble on-line is as easy as using an ATM, and you’ll love the independence it allows you.

Online gambling also allows you to meet people from all over the world. A virtual table can have players from every continent. You’ll enjoy the variety of games and playing styles from across the globe. You’ll be an armchair traveler!

Best of all, on-line gambling allows you privacy. If you suffer from a medical condition, no one will know. You can spend time with your gaming pals, without worrying about an embarrassing episode of incontinence or the need to hide tubing. It will remain your secret.

With so many advantages to gambling on-line (visit the link to find recommended roulette gambling sites), it’s hard to imagine why anyone would want to go to a casino .

Casinos have so much background noise; your hearing aids become useless. People walk by wearing cheap cologne that sets off your allergies. The food in casinos is not healthful or even particularly fresh. The restrooms are uncomfortable to use. Surfaces in casinos are full of germs that assault the weakened immune systems of the elderly.

Your home is stocked with your dietary supplies, has fresh air, clean surfaces, handrails next to the toilet, and is blissfully quiet. You’ll enjoy gaming so much more in your own digs, with the convenience of on-line gambling. (visit the link in order to learn poker glossary of terms)

Do you live in a center for assisted living? You can gamble on-line from anyplace with an internet connection. If your room lacks one, you can use the computer in the common room, or get your own laptop computer. Laptop computers are easy for you to carry in a wheel chair or on a walker with a basket. You can bring it to the nearest jack with an internet connection and hook up to the World Wide Web.

Also, if you share a room with another resident, you can use earphones, or turn off the sound on your computer and gamble at anytime you wish, without disturbing anyone. (learn about free poker tournaments)

It is not recommended that you gamble while using a shared wireless internet connection, as your credit card would be more vulnerable to snoopers. However, internet connections that require you to be wired to a modem are safe enough to enjoy on-line gambling at reputable websites.

Enjoy your golden years with a mind that’s as sharp as a tack. Gamble on-line for mental exercise, fun, and companionship, in the best environment for you—your own home. Senior citizens enjoy more independence and self determination with online gambling games.

Gambling for the Elderly

Did you ever wonder why gaming is so popular among seniors? Gambling is good for your grey matter. Elderly people who want to stay sharp mentally, can use online gambling to preserve mental acuity. Now that online gambling is so convenient and easy, senior citizens can enjoy gaming without the need to arrange transportation.

Studies show that activities requiring multilateral brain function and critical thinking, like crossword puzzles and conline card games, slow the deterioration of the brain’s neocortex. Exercising the brain with card games like Rummy has been shown to help prevent Alzheimer’s disease.

Strategy exercises several parts of the brain. Poker, black jack, and baccarat all require strategizing. Score keeping, accounting, and money management exercise other parts of the brain, so when you gamble, you add benefits to your gaming experience.

Are you suffering from “senior moments”? As we age, the first thing to go is our short term memory, but it doesn’t have to be that way. The slogan is “use it or lose it”.
When you play card games, you exercise your short term memory. That will help you to remember where you put your keys and whether or not you took your medicine already.
You may even start calling each grandchild by his or her correct name, rather than that of their siblings or cousins.

Has accessing the game been a problem for you? It’s now easier than ever. Online gambling brings the game to you in the comfort of your own home.

Let’s face it, driving itself is a bother. There are rude road hogs, irresponsible young drivers who cut you off without signaling, and pedestrians that appear out of nowhere, requiring you to have very quick reflexes. It’s easy to become disoriented and to forget the rout to the casino, not to mention how confusing modern intersections have become.

Even if you are driven by a relative or friend, getting to and from the casino can be problematic. Aging often presents challenges to mobility. Why try to negotiate a crowded parking lot and risk a fall and a fractured hip, when you can enjoy gaming on-line? Getting in and out of a vehicle can be painful and tiring when joints are stiff. Why not save that energy for the game?

When you gamble online, you can sit in your most comfy chair, with all the back support you need, and with your feet elevated for better circulation. You can switch games as often as you like because the table comes to you. You needn’t get up to buy more chips, as your credit card does the work for you.

Is it getting harder to pull the lever on a one armed bandit? It’s so easy to push a button on a keyboard, anyone can do it.

Better at Home

Are you really going to drive to a casino in this cold rainy weather? Why not stay home and gamble online? Online gambling games save you the trip on the wet slippery roads with all the other drivers who can barely see through their windshields. Do every one a favor, and stay off the roads. Modern technology makes it convenient and safe to enjoy gaming from the comfort of home.

You can concentrate so much better on playing our hand without the noisy slot machines in the background to distract you. You can put on a CD of your most inspirational music, something that helps you to focus your mind, and really concentrate on winning.

Hang a do not disturb sign on your door, and you’ll be in your own gaming world. No one will be walking around behind your back making you nervous, as they would be in a casino.

At home you have access to all of your reference books, to help you improve your game. If you don’t remember the best strategy for a particular hand, just look it up. Not only will you play better this time, you’ll also be learning effectively so as to improve your game for the next time.

Can we talk about refreshments? Why pay for expensive casino drinks and snacks when you can stock your fridge at the cheapest discount supermarket? You’ll have more money to gamble with if you pop your own corn and pour your own lemonade. You’ll also have your favorite food and beverages, as opposed to what ever was on the menu at the casino.

Are you tired of coming home smelling like the casino’s carpet and upholstery? Do you know what they had to clean off of those surfaces the night before? Do you really want to share germs with the characters who frequent casinos? You don’t need a vaccine to stay home and gamble on line.

At home, you can take breaks and naps. You can go do other things, and then return to online gaming when you are refreshed, without making an extra trip. In a casino you’d feel pressured to keep playing when you’re overtired and your brain is saturated, because you’d have nowhere comfortable and private to rest, and you wouldn’t want to make two trips on the same day.

On line gaming helps you to save gas, prevent road accidents, concentrate better, learn more, eat better for less, prevent infection, and stay well rested. You’ll not only save money, you’ll win more money. Switch to online gambling, you’ll love the difference.

Please visit these links, for recommended poker sites, recommended Blackjack sites or generally recommended gambling games online.

The Advantages of Online Gambling

The advantage to online gambling is that it allows you to play with people all over the world, simultaneously.

Like the Ancient Egyptians, we now have a vast trade network that allows us to collect and compile gambling games from distant lands. The difference is that we are now all united by one modern tool: the computer internet. The scale of this network boggles the mind. Never in human history has there been such an opportunity to exchange gambling lessons, techniques, cultural games, wagering traditions, and gambling lore, with such a great variety of people. Online gambling has revolutionized gaming, making it accessible to many more people than ever before.

The speed at which one can move from table to table and from game to game is also unprecedented, but with such freedom comes great responsibility. One must be that much more careful to manage one’s money and time wisely. One should also be sure to stick with reputable gaming websites, as they are more secure.

Online gaming has a number of advantages. It is more ecologically friendly, convenient, and safer to gamble online than it is in many casinos.

Casinos tend to use enormous amounts of electricity. Think of all the lights and bells in a room full of slot machines. Think of the extravagant decorative lighting both inside and outside of the casinos. Think of the air-conditioning or heating necessary in such a big facility. The water and electricity used to clean the building regularly is already enough create ecological problems. Add the burning of fossil fuels to drive to the casino and back, and you can see why it is better for the ecology to gamble online.

When you gamble online, you need not waste time, energy, and money traveling to a casino. You can gamble in your pajamas and fuzzy slippers. You can play a hand when ever you are in between other tasks and chores at home. You can teach your kids to play instead of leaving them with a babysitter. Your tutelage will strengthen your child’s math skills and their strategic thinking.

Online gambling reduces violence associated with belligerent losers and unpaid debts, and disconnects gambling from other illegal activities. Gambling websites are crime-free casinos that don’t ruin your neighborhood. Since driving is one of the most statistically dangerous activities there is, by staying home and gambling online, you are greatly reducing your risk of serious injury.

Do the environment a favor, and enjoy gambling from the comfort and safety of your own home. When you look at all of the advantages of gambling online, it becomes clear that online gaming is your “best bet”.

Gambling and Cheating

Has online gambling games ended cheating, or just changed the way we do it? Is it safer to gamble online than it is around a real table? How do we make cyber space a safer place to wager bets?

Trying to control the outcome of the bet by employing skills outside the rules of the game, is an impulse so fundamental that we see it in other species as well. Even Neanderthals cheated. Archeologists found 230, 000 year old loaded dice made from sheep bone in a Neanderthal cave.

The American frontier culture is full of gambling lore. Hollywood movies depicted the wild west as a series of tiny towns where cultural life revolved around a saloon in which someone always got shot for cheating at a game of cards.

How has the invention of online gambling affected cheating in betting games?
The skill required to hack an online game and cheat at it, relegates that type of cheating to cyber experts, and such experts are usually hired to protect the website from tampering.

But there are low-tech ways to cheat online.

Online cheaters used to team up with their computers in the same room somewhere, showing each other their cards and taking advantage of the one guy at the virtual table who was located somewhere else, and didn’t realize he was being ganged up on. A proper gambling website must monitor the IP addresses of the players to ensure that this does not happen.

Are there ways around that sentinel? Of course there are. They could all be on the phone with each other, or using an e-mail to show each other their cards, but cheating that way requires more coordination and organization, and the time lags might be noticeable. Using Skype with real-time video would reduce the lag time, but these internet and phone connections are all traceable if “Big Brother” invests enough money in the effort to stop cheaters.

In the old days, players used signals to inform each other of their hand or their intentions.
A good card player had to be an acute observer of the gestures and ticks of his opponents, ever on guard against the secret message exchange that could alter the fate of a hapless stooge. Even stretching and yawning or the way in which one ate a snack could be a code.

Old-time gamblers became experts at reading expressions and body language. Today, technology experts are always finding new ways to foil the schemes of cyber cheaters.
While not yet fool-proof, reputable websites may still be your best bet (pun intended) for picking up a fair game with strangers. Gambling online does prevent most cheating.

Gambling and the Class System

How does online gaming fit into the dynamic of social economic class and gambling? Are we all equal online since there is anonymity and no dress code? Or does social economic class continue to permeate modern gambling, as it has throughout history, despite the new technology?

Gambling not only spans world cultures, it spans the class system as well. Rich and poor both wager bets, but they do so in very different circumstances. While the upper-class can play for higher stakes, the lower-class often have more at stake, both when they gamble, and when their “betters” do.

The Gambling practices of the British nobility and aristocracy have been well documented since the eleventh century, and by the seventeenth century both Queen Anne and Charles II legislated to stop the wealthy from loosing their land (and surfs) through high stakes gambling debts and the cheating that was rampant among wealthy gamers at the time. The gaming of the rich and famous continued to thrive, despite the Royal efforts to stop it.

In the 18th century, the first high class casino was established in Bath and patronized by gentry from Brittan and Europe. In Gregorian times, London had upper class gambling in coffee houses, private clubs, and casinos. These gaming establishments were illegal, but since the royals themselves patronized them, the laws were not enforced.

However, the class of property owners took a dim view of gambling among the working class, and parliament members who represented the upper class campaigned against the gambling habits of the poor. Never the less, it wasn’t until the middle class of the Victorian era joined the morality crusade, that the state began a policy of intervention.

Penalties were enacted against anyone running a gaming hose for profit, but not against individual gamblers. This is because the British perspective was different than the European one. The freedom to gamble was seen as a personal right, but the arbitrary commercial exploitation of gamblers was condemned.

The middle class Victorians were capitalists engaged in speculation, and worried that their occupation , one they deemed respectable, might be confused with the low status gambling of the working class. In order to draw a distinction, they paternalistically legislated to protect the public from their own urges.

The enforcement rarely affected the working class gaming houses, but since the British nobles wouldn’t be seen there, they simply transferred their gambling activities to continental Europe, where the wealthy continued to patronize exclusive gaming establishments.

Attitudes towards gambling and class are often mirrored in the films of the era.

James Bond movies glamorize exclusive gambling games like high stakes baccarat, where formal dress is required, and participation is in and of itself a status symbol.

In movies, gambling can also represent lowbrow culture and “slumming”. Street corner craps games and smoke filled, dirty rooms lit by a single naked bulb, are familiar images from ghetto life as portrayed in popular culture. Ocean’s Eleven demonized the casino owners of Las Vegas, portraying them as organized crime barons to be relieved of their wealth by modern day teams of Robin-hood like outlaws from the working class.

Motivations for gambling differ across class lines.

Where as, the rich may gamble for entertainment, prestige, or to amass power; the poor tend to see gambling as a rescue strategy. Desperate attempts to raise the rent, or to generate money to pay doctors can cause people who would otherwise not participate in gaming to resort to gambling in the hopes of generating the necessary funds to solve a personal or family financial crisis.

In African countries where men must pay a bride price in order to marry, a poor working class man may despair that he’ll never be able to save up the money, when he can hardly feed himself on his wages. The lure of gambling to procure a windfall then becomes irresistible, especially if he is in love or sexually frustrated. The state run gambling venues in some Islamic African countries exploit this dynamic to raise funds for the state budget.

The price of failure differs across class lines as well.

In Roman times, when a Roman noble lost a bet, he confiscated the lands of his soldiers in order to pay the debt. Losers who couldn’t pay up were sold into slavery.

Gambling has always had an element of the class struggle with in it and it continues to be a venue for the display of status. The class struggle continues to play out behind the velvet ropes of the gaming halls of privilege and behind the bouncers guarding the doors of secret gambling clubs in the most dangerous inner-city neighborhoods.

Online gambling games hide much of this class dynamic, but it still manifests in the discrepancy between the credit limits of the rich and the poor, and in the sliding scale of disposable income that one can afford to lose. Every social economic class gambles, but not all were dealt the same hand.

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The Roots of Gambling and Divination

Archaeologists have discovered that Neanderthals made dice from sheep bone 230,000 years ago. The dice were weighted to fall on a particular side, evidence that Neanderthals not only gambled, but cheated as well.

Of course they could have believed in the divinatory properties of dice, much as many modern humans do.

Gambling is tied to the sacred. The concept that probability and chance are affected by divine intervention, either for the purpose of communicating with people, or for the purpose of helping an individual or a team to achieve a goal, is part of nearly every human culture in some way.

In cultures where these notions have gone out of fashion, behaviors meant to attract divine help in winning a game of chance are mocked as superstitious.

Three thousand years BCE (before the common era) the Chinese played Wei-qi, a gambling game that was held to strengthen one's character and mental faculties. The noble’s court astrologers used it as part of their divination technique.

Wei-qi's spread to Korea by 100AD, and from there it spread to Japan, where it was banned. A sentence of 100 days labor was imposed on anyone convicted of playing Wei-qi.

The Chinese may have invented the shuffling of cards and money in 900ACE (After the common era). At Chinese New Year, gambling games are still played in China and modern day Taiwan. The tradition of playing the game at New Year may point to its origins as a divinatory tool, as New Year is an auspicious time to implore divine help for the coming year.

In ancient civilizations such as that of Egypt, huge trade networks enabled the collection of gambling tools for many cultures. Later discovered as artifacts in burial sites, archaeologists found dice dated to 1500BCE, gambling boards, tiles, and sticks from India, China, Japan and Rome.

It is thought that Egyptians my have gambled to win a pleasant afterlife. It may be that they simply thought they’d enjoy the same occupations in the afterlife as those they had enjoyed in life.

Ancient Jews used gambling to disguise revolutionary activities. Congregating in public had been outlawed for fear that the Jews would organize to over-through the Greek and Assyrian occupation of the Jewish homeland, Israel. In order to do just that, Jews pretended to be playing a game similar to craps whenever the Greek and Assyrian soldiers paroling nearby noticed the congregation.

The game has been preserved as a part of the holiday celebrating the success of that sovereignty struggle. The Holiday is called Hanukah, and the gambling tool is called a “Dreidle” in Yiddish, or a “Sevivon” in Hebrew. This variation on the concept of dice is actually spun as a single top.

Romans played a game called Tabula, known today as backgammon game. If the loser went broke and could not pay his gambling debts, he was sold into slavery. Tabula was spread throughout their empire and became popular in Arabia. The Romans thought dice throwing was so important that it should be taught to children formally.

Arabs who conquered north Africa forced the conversion of African people to Islam, but they were very tolerant of gambling. For that reason, Islamic African countries have better preserved the heritage of African gambling traditions than those countries that were colonized by Christians and their missionaries who sought to eradicate gambling, and regarded it as a sinful vice.

The Vikings cast Runes before going into battle, and before making important decisions.

These divinatory stones are marked with letters symbolizing the powers of the divine manifested through natural wonders. Divination using Runes is, in a sense, a form of gambling, as the Runes are cast by chance and divine intervention is called upon to send messages through them.

The use of gambling through divination has been a part of both small and large scale government, statesmanship, and military strategic planning for as long as people have been afraid of the unknown, and sought to glimpse the outcome of their actions before they commit to them.

Certain theocracies have outlawed these practices at various times, but that only served to drive them underground. Tarot cards and betting games became the professions of marginalized populations, like the landless Gypsies (Romani,) under Catholic and Protestant rule in Europe.

These activities could get you burned at the stake, but people none the less persisted in practicing them. This is testimony to how deeply is ingrained the need to gamble and to gain perspective on one’s place in the cosmic unfolding of life’s chaos.

In Europe, some Pagan cultures used a lottery to choose sacrificial victims. By the Middle Ages, other forms of gambling were on the rise in Europe. By the 14th century, Henry VIII, had to outlaw gambling because it distracted his troops from duty. That didn’t stop the king himself from continuing to gamble though.

In 1569, the British held their first lottery under the reign of Elizabeth I. Then, during the American Revolutionary War, lotteries became a popular fund raising method.

In the United States, lotteries continued to grow throughout the 18th and 19th centuries,

until after the Civil War, when lotteries became taboo. In 1890 a scandal involving fraud in the National Louisiana Lottery created such an outrage that the practice of lotteries was outlawed.

Charles Fey invented the slot machine in 1895 in San Francisco. But in 1909, the city prohibited them, and the states of California followed the example. Early 20th century Prohibition drove the betting culture underground to the “Speakeasy”, as gambling was then associated with alcohol consumption and organized crime.

The 1930’s brought a relaxation of such attitudes and a repeal of strict prohibitory legislation. Nevada legalized gambling, including slot machines, and betting on horseracing. Betting on horses is also now legal in California. California is one of the states to have revived the lottery as a fundraiser to meet the needs of the state budget.

In acts of astonishingly blatant hypocrisy, the state of California continually tries to deny the sovereign rights of Californian Indian Nations to run casinos on their own lands.

Native Californian coastal cultures have a gambling heritage that stretches back before contact with Europeans to time immemorial. Revenues from tribally owned casinos fund infrastructure and services for impoverished Native people, yet the state continually tries to confiscate these revenues and, in some cases, to shut down casino operation on tribal lands altogether.

In the history of gambling, someone has always tried to load the dice. These days, it is the state governments who are doing the cheating. We may not have come such a long way from Neanderthals after all.

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Gambling by Women

The next time you go playing poker game Online, it would be very unwise to underestimate an opponent based on gender. History shows that women make excellent poker players. Take the cases of Poker Alice and Poker Kat for instance; both women became poker champions in male dominated gambling societies.

Alice was born in England and settled with her first husband in Colorado, USA. While her husband was alive, she watched hundreds of poker games. When he died, she blossomed into a professional poker player in order to make a living. In the 1880’s and 1890’s she became one of the most famous gamblers of the west , nicknamed “Poker Alice” for her expertise at stud poker.

Her skill was legendary, and it is estimated that she won over half a million dollars over her lifetime. In the 1880, a dollar was worth about 18.37 dollars in 2004, so, by today’s standards, she won about 9 million and one hundred and eighty five thousand dollars from playing poker professionally.

Poker Alice eventually opened her own gambling house, complete with prostitutes. The authorities shut the place down and put Alice in jail, but after a short while the governor pardoned her and she was released.

There must be something in the Colorado water that turns women into champion poker players.

Kathleen H. Liebert started her professional poker career in Colorado too. She was born in Tennessee in 1967, and grew up on Long Island New York. She earned her bachelor’s degree in business and finance from Marist College in Poughkeepsie and took a job with Dun and Bradstreet. She left her job because she was unhappy with corporate life, and because her successful stock investments allowed her the financial freedom to quit and travel. She started gambling as a prop player in Colorado.

She later entered tournaments, and in 2002 she won the first limit poker tournament with a million dollar prize, the “Party Poker Million” event. By 2009 she had won a World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet, and more open field tournaments than any other women in history. Nicknamed “Poker Kat”, she has won more than 5 million, six hundred thousand dollars in live tournaments, and she’s still playing. Liebert currently lives in Downey, California and in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Other female poker champs who are contemporaries of Poker Kat and have either been finalists or won events on the World Poker Tour (WPT) include Van Nyugen, Cyndy Violette, and Annie Duke.

From the frontier days in the wild west to the glittering neon lights of Sin City, women poker players have been formidable opponents at the table. Since 21st century gambling is online, with invisible opponents using monikers, you may never actually know how many women you’ve lost to.

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