The Brazilian Keratin Hair Treatment - My Experience

When it comes to hair, I've pretty much done it all. I've permed it, straightened it, colored it, highlighted it, teased it, curled it, braided it, and styled it in just about every way imaginable (except I've never gone really short). So it's not shocking that I decided to do one of the latest fads in hair care - the Brazilian Keratin hair treatment.

What is the Brazilian Keratin treatment, you ask? Well, It is a smoothing and straightening process that you can get to help your hair be virtually maintenance free and frizz free. It's great for those with hair that tends to be frizzy and responds to humidity poorly, such as mine, and it also gives a lot of added shine to your hair, so it makes it look a lot healthier.

This treatment lasts anywhere from 3-5 months, depending on how often you shampoo your hair, since little by little the treatment does come out of the hair naturally, so if you are a person who doesn't shampoo very often, you may be in luck. The cost for this procedure, which takes about two to two and a half hours usually, depending on the length of your hair, runs an average of about $150 per hour.

This means your total bill will fall between $300 and $400 for the process, and you will also need to buy a special shampoo for it that usually runs about $35 for a large bottle, so when it's all said and done, with the tip and shampoo, you're probably looking at an almost $500 bill, give or take a little. My bill happened to be about $485, and I have long hair. The process took 2½ hours for me, and it wasn't bad at all.

I've had the thermal reconditioning done before too (also known as Japanese straightening), and that process took about five hours all together and cost a little more. It also is supposed to last longer though, and your hair is so Poker straight that it may not be in everyone's taste because it lacks body for a while.

It also has a pretty distinct smell during the process, while the Brazilian Keratin treatment I had, which was the Coppola brand (there are several on the market) did not smell at all during the process. I did notice a dull smell for the three days following the treatment, but it wasn't that bad.

Let's talk about the process and my experience now, and finally my review of what I think about it. I got to the salon at 3:30. The technician talked to me about what to expect, looked at my hair so she could gauge my hair's condition and it's texture, and told me that I would love my hair when she was done with it. She took me back to a shampoo chair where she washed my hair with an extremely clarifying shampoo, to make it more porous so the product can get into the hair more deeply.

When my hair was squeaky clean (literally squeaky, I thought what a nightmare it would be if I had to blow it dry right then and there, I'm sure it would look like a giant bale of hay on my head), she took me back to the styling chair where she blew it dry thoroughly. She went and mixed up the Brazilian concoction and came back, pinning my hair in sections and painting on the mixture with a brush until it was thoroughly saturated.

She then set a timer for twenty minutes, and I sat there and read a magazine (and almost fell asleep I might add). She came back after the twenty minutes was up and took me back to the shampoo chair, where she rinsed the product out. I'm not sure if there was any neutralizer or any other type of solution added to my hair at that time, I was too relaxed to notice much of anything since getting my hair done always makes me a zombie.

I noticed that I did not smell any strong chemicals during this whole time, which was refreshing to me after I've had so many treatments, the Japanese straightening, cold smoothing, and hair coloring, that has smelled very strongly. It did not make my scalp burn or itch at all either. I'm not sure if that's just because of the brand they used or what, but that gave me a good feeling about the safety or it. Now, we were down to the wire.

I was going to see the results of this miraculous treatment finally! She blew my hair out again, then separated it into sections and began to flat iron them one by one, from root to tip. She warned me that my hair would seem very flat over the next three days, almost like it was plastered to my head, but I was already used to that because the same thing had happened with the thermal reconditioning.

She also advised that it was very important that I not get my hair wet or wash it for the next 72 hours, which is three days. I also was not allowed to sweat, so there would be no working out or heavy cardio for the next three days either. I was advised against putting any kind of hair tie or clips in my hair, and not even tucking my hair behind my ears, since the hair shape would be very moldable while the product took hold over the next couple of days.

When she was done flat ironing, I couldn't believe how shiny my hair looked. Plus it was straight - really straight! Almost too straight, but I knew that this was not going to be exactly how straight it would look all the time. The hair itself looked great, but I admit I had a hard time seeing myself with absolutely zero body to my hair. The next three days were torture. As it happened, it rained for three days straight, much to my chagrin.

But I made sure I had my handy umbrella with me at all times and I used it quite a bit during those three days! The hardest part was not getting any moisture on it, as you don't realize how hard it is to do that when you're around water. You still have to shower, so I wore a shower cap and just hoped that it would keep every drop of water out. It worked pretty well except I know a few little droplets got on there when I took it off my head.

My hair really looked good when I left the salon, however, the flatness was really hard for me to deal with. And it looked a bit duller and even flatter the next day. However, I knew that as soon as I washed it, it would look much better. So, the third day FINALLY came, and I washed my hair with my special sodium laurel sulfate free shampoo. By the way, sodium is what takes the product out of the hair faster, so you cannot use any products with sodium based ingredients in them either.

I blew it dry. Wow, it did look pretty amazing. It was not totally Poker straight like when I got the thermal reconditioning done, but it was shiny, no frizz, and it had a really healthy look to it and felt silky smooth to the touch. I'd have to say I like the outcome better than the thermal reconditioning, just because I can still have a tiny bit of wave to it with this. I wish it lasted as long, but hey, you can't have everything I suppose!

So that's my review of the Brazilian Keratin hair treatment. I would recommend it to anyone who wants hair that is more manageable with less maintenance, and anyone who wants to tame frizz and eliminate some of the curl from the hair, especially during the treacherous summer months we have here in Ohio where humidity reaches ridiculous levels.

Retirement - How to Keep From Being Bored

When you retire you're excited for your new life ahead! But without any kind of schedule many end up feeling lost in retirement and have a hard time figuring out how to keep from being bored. There are some things you can do ahead of time, however, to get yourself excited about life and doing things again.

You used to have a daily routine that kept you very busy. You've lost that now and your life is lacking any kind of structure. This is supposed to be one of the benefits of not working anymore, but without ANY routine you can be unsure of what to do with yourself. This doesn't mean you need to plan out everyday, however, just get a few routines going for yourself!

For instance, set up a weekly card game with some friends or neighbors. Every Wednesday at 2pm you play Poker, scrabble, or watch favorite movies together. This is something inexpensive and social you can do.

Another thing to do is set up some kind of class. Were you always interested in learning calligraphy/painting/writing? Don't think that you're too old to learn new things now, this is your chance because now you have the time! Learning new things in a class will be social, give you something to be excited about, and give you some kind of routine. If the first class you take doesn't pan out, take another until you find a good one for you. There are tons available out there, many meant specifically for seniors if you feel more comfortable taking the class with people your age. If you're open to anything you can also look at your local community college. Check with your local parks service and your senior center for more classes.

Doing these things will still give you free time for spontaneity, but will also give you a sense of routine in retirement and help keep from being bored.

An Entire Novel With No Verbs

Can you believe that anybody can write a paragraph without any verbs? Here is something more.... an entire novel without any verbs!!

Believe it or not, French author Michel Thaler published a 233 page novel 'Le Train de Nulle Part' ('The Nowhere Train') which has no verbs.

While doing some research today, I fell upon some astounding article which I thought would be best if I shared it with my esteemed readers.

According to Language Log, Thaler describes verbs as "invaders, dictators, and usurpers of our literature", adding "the verb is like a weed in a field of flowers ... You have to get rid of it to allow the flowers to grow and flourish." He has banned infinitives as well as tensed verbs entirely from his writing, but he does exempt past participles from his linguistic Nuremberg Laws.

Sample extracts of the book from Wikipedia:

Quelle aubaine! Une place de libre, ou presque, dans ce compartiment. Une escale provisoire, pourquoi pas! Donc, ma nouvelle adresse dans ce train de nulle part: voiture 12, 3ème compartiment dans le sens de la marche. Encore une fois, pourquoi pas?

Which means - "Fool's luck! A vacant seat, almost, in that train. A provisional stop, why not? So, my new address in this nowhere train: car 12, 3rd compartment, forward. Once again, why not?"

Something fascinating for sure! One can in no way imagine life without verbs and an entire verbless novel is certainly astounding!

What do you think? Can you try to write a single page without using any verb?

Nostradamus Third Anti Christ Name Revealed by Peru Meteorite Crash

A wise woman once said, "He who knows everything knows nothing." 2 billion Christians, 1 billion Muslims and 18 million Jews believe that their Holy Bibles, including the books of the Prophets are the word of God of Mount Sinai, but if you told any one of them that you were a Prophet, they would put you into a mental institution. This is because the human mind thinks that time is linear and "How can an angel tell the future to a person if the event hasn't happened yet? It's impossible." In order for prophecy to exist the future must have already happened and any psychiatrist will tell you that this is impossible.

Apparently no one mentioned this to Nostradamus in the 1500's. So far Nostradamus has correctly predicted the first anti Christ Napoleon Bonaparte and the second anti Christ Adolf Hitler. According to Nostradamus the third and final anti Christ will be named something like "Mabus".

Open your mind. When the mind hears something which seems like absolute baloney it shuts off and doesn't listen. The way to open your mind is to say to yourself when the person is talking to you, "This is right, this is true", over and over. Because Nostradamus predicted in code the coming of "Napaulon Roy" and "Hister" hundreds of years after his death, time cannot be linear. The future must already have happened in order for a spirit to tell Nostradamus the future. One way to understand this is to picture time as an infinity symbol, or an hourglass or the number "8" laid on its side. It's like trying to find "Waldo" or "Nemo".

On May Day, May 1, 2007, the day of the celebration of the Virgin Mary, The Temple of Love - The World Peace Religion announced that Nostradamus' third anti Christ was the ultra hard line daily advisor and puppet master of the President of Iran, Iranian Ayatollah Mesbah (pronounced Maybah, like Nostradamus' Mabus, like Hister is to Hitler) Yazdi. Iranian Ayatollah Mesbah Yazdi's declared intention is to follow the word of God of Mount Sinai as told to the angel Gabriel and then to the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) outlined in the Koran and the Hadith and "Make War on the Christians, Jews and infidels and be rewarded with eternal paradise in Heaven with God of Mount Sinai, crystal clean lakes and springs, endless wine with no side effects, 72 virgins and 80,000 servants per martyr and believer." (Koran Sura Chapter 9:5, 29-30 and Chapter 56, "Mecca"). Could you throw in a dozen bagels mit cream cheese?

Imagine some Bedouin in the Arabian desert today telling his friends that an angel had just told him that if they converted to his new religion and killed all of the Albanians that God would give them all hot tubs. How many followers would he have, other than Tom Cruise and John Travolta?

Nostradamus' third anti Christ Ayatollah Mesbah Yazdi declared that using nuclear bombs is perfectly fine according to Muslim law in order to conquer the world for God of Mount Sinai aka Allah, God the Father, Jesus Christ, The Holy Spirit, Elohim, Yehovah, Adonai. He believes that by triggering the Apocalypse it will bring about the advent of the two Muslim messiahs Jesus Christ and the Mahdi, to conquer the world for Islam and bring everlasting world peace.

Every nuclear scientist knows that nuclear world war 3 and its aftermath nuclear winter then ultraviolet summer will have no survivors and Nostradmus' third anti Christ thinks that by triggering nuclear world war 3 the Muslims will survive and own the world. Thanks to George Bush's attempt to conquer the Middle East's oil, and conquer the world for Christianity, if the United States were to leave Iraq now, two thirds of the world's oil would fall into the hands of Nostradamus' Third Anti Christ. With this money, the Anti Christ would have no problem purchasing more nuclear reactors from Russia like the one in Bushehr, Iran, and shiploads of nuclear weapons from North Korea. He could pay every Shiite huge salaries to conquer Saudi Arabia and the Gulf States. An even worse scenario for the United States would be if all of the Muslim countries united and turned on the United States.

In his third anti Christ prophecy Michael Nostradamus said that the anti Christ Mabus and the Apocalypse would be heralded by a comet. Nostradmaus said in his book of prophecies:
"Mabus will soon die, then will come, a horrible undoing of people and animals, At once one will see vengeance, one hundred powers, thirst, famine, when the comet will pass." (Century 2, Quatrain 62) "The anti-Christ very soon annihilates the three, twenty-seven years his war will last. The unbelievers are dead, captive, exiled; with blood, human bodies, water and red hail covering the earth." (Century 8, Quatrain 77).

Do you feel like you are having flashbacks from a bad acid trip with threats of being bombarded by the media with years more of Bill and Hillary Clinton in the White House and O.J. Simpson dominating the news? George Bush is trying to trigger the Apocalypse and capture the world for Christianity so that he can meet Jesus Christ in Jerusalem - talk about social climbers. How could 3 billion people be so brainwashed that they believe that nuclear world war 3 is the road to everlasting peace on earth when every scientist knows that it's the road to the extinction of life on earth forever? The question is not "Did we evolve?" but "Will we evolve into a peaceful species to adapt to our change in circumstances, 50,000 100 megaton nuclear bombs on earth today?" The two at Hiroshima and Nagasaki were firecrackers, 50 kilotons. Think kilobytes versus megabytes. The world is about to blow up and everyone is frantic over their SERP.

On Saturday night a meteorite crashed into Peru next to Lake Titicaca with an orange streak and a loud bang. The hole filled with water and is giving off smelly noxious odours which are causing the villagers of Carancas, Peru to suffer from nausea and headaches. So far there has been no sighting of Superman.

WWI was triggered by one bullet in Yugoslovia, the shot heard round the world starring Paris Hilton and Tom Cruise. The new President of France is the new Tony Blair. This week his foreign minister, like every American presidential candidate spoke of nuking Iran, Nostradamus' third anti Christ. Russia, which has been speaking about aiming their nuclear missiles at Europe because of George Bush's nuclear tipped cruise missiles in the Czech Republic and Poland, today warned the United States not to attack Iran. China also warned George Bush not to attack Iran.

Iran is the backyard of Russia and China. We are all pawns in a high stakes Poker game with two thirds of the world's oil up for grabs. When the United States hits Iran, and all Hell breaks loose in the Middle East, Russia and China will unite as they did in beating the United States in Vietnam, and Russia and China will grab all of the Middle East's oil. In order to do this Russia will shoot thousands of their new zig zagging 100 megaton nuclear rockets, which separate into 8 nuclear missiles in midair over the North Pole and take out the United States of America.

Before the Apocalypse happens however, the Christian people of America and the Muslim world which also follows both the Old and the New Testament are entitled to know, as does every Bible Scholar on earth today, that the New Testament was first written in Greek by Greeks, the snake goat lion Beast, Devil, Anti Christ of Revelations is a plagiarism of the mythical Greek Chimera, and Jesus of Revelations flying down from Heaven on his flying horse to slay the anti Christ is a plagiarism of the Greek Myth of Prince Bellerophon on his flying horse Pegasus slaying the Chimera. Human beings are now triggering nuclear WWIII, the Apocalypse, to bring about the arrival of ancient Greek cartoon characters like Elmo to save the world for them. All human beings have to do to bring everlasting world peace to earth is for 200 people at the United Nations to agree today to permanently stop fighting. It's that simple. It's called evolution.

50th Birthday Ideas - The Top 5 Themes For a 50th Birthday Party

We only turn 50 once so why not celebrate it in memorable fashion with one of these fun 50th birthday ideas. Here are the top most popular 50th birthday party themes today. These will be presented in reverse order.

Mexican Fiesta
At number five is the Mexican Fiesta theme. This can be a really fun and colorful party with the right music, decorations and food. For decorations you will want to keep in mind the Mexican flag colors: red, blue and green. You can decorate with sombreros, maracas, dried chili peppers, table cloths in bright colors, small white Christmas lights strung about, ponchos, cactus, and any Mexican posters you can get your hands on. A creative idea for a game would have your guests involved in a timed nachos eating contest. Line up the contestants and load up the plates with nachos chips, and all of the fixings! Tie the contestant's hands behind their backs and have them dig in! A self serve taco bar is a fun idea for food. Your guests can create their own concoction if the nacho eating contest didn't fill them up!

Mardi Gras
At number 4 in popularity for 50th birthday ideas is a Mardi Gras party complete with beads, masks and Cajun food and decorations. Mardi Gras colors are blue, green and purple-use these colors in your decorating theme. Decorate with beads, pictures of New Orleans, jazz players, gold chocolate doubloons. Shrimp, crawfish and anything with Cajun spice make great food ideas. Be sure to offer up "hurricane" cocktails for a real authentic flavor. Mardi Gras wouldn't be Mardi Gras without lots of different beads. You can organize games fashioned around winning or using beads. Invite your guests to bring Mardi Gras masks and have a game involving the masks.

World Beer Party
Coming in at number three on our list might seem a surprise, but it is becoming more and more popular. An Around the World Beer Party can be very fun and creative if you're 50 year old is a connoisseur of beer. Obviously this party will involve varieties of beers from around the world-so you will have to find a good store that specializes in this area to help you with your selections. You can decorate in an international theme with flags from different countries. The store you buy the beer from may have samples of posters, coasters or even the cases the beer comes in to be used as decorations. Always fun at this type of party will be a time for a beer tasting-just as one might do at a wine tasting. Present some of the background and information on each beer so your guests will have fun tasting and learning at the same time. Food of the appetizer type would lend itself well for this type of 50th birthday party.

Luau Party
A tropical or Hawaiian Luau style themed party is extremely popular. People usually have tropical clothing so it is fun to dress the part for this theme. Keep the tropical theme in mind for decorations with tiki torches, shells, palm trees, lots of leis, surf boards, coconuts, pineapples, grass skirts, hula dancers, and citronella candles to ward off the bugs if outside. Pina coladas and mai tais make great drinks and if possible roasted pork for the meal. A tropical fruit salad with pineapple, mango, papaya served in a hollowed out watermelon works well and haupia, a traditional coconut pudding, for a desert idea. Games involving the limbo and hula hoops are fun for any age even at 50, especially if accompanied with music by Don Ho.

Casino Party
At number one for 50th birthday ideas, in terms of popularity today, is the Casino party theme. This is where you turn your house into an exciting Casino for the evening. For this party you will want to decorate as much as possible so that you resemble a casino. Lots of bright and colored lights, music by Las Vegas headliners playing in the background, take different size boxes and paint to look like dice and place around the room, decorate with playing cards strung out or on tables. This is a theme where you will probably be best served by calling a company that rents the gaming tables. You can just rent the tables or many companies also include the people to run the tables. Blackjack, craps and roulette are very popular games at these types of parties. You can also have a table for Poker playing Texas Hold-em. Have a no limit game that is timed, last for 30-45 minutes so everything moves fast. For those guests not into gaming, karaoke can be a lot of fun. A buffet with lots of varieties of salads and finger foods work well-just like a traditional Las Vegas buffet. A martini bar would be perfect for this theme. At the end of the evening you can auction off prizes with the money your guests have won.

Birthday Party Games for Boys

Boys are rambunctious and like to play hard. Some favorite party games that we have found our boys like. You can modify the rules of the games if you want, just have lots of fun!

Water gun fights

This is like the classic cowboys and Indians game. Boys are split up into teams and armed with squirt guns. The object is to drench the opposing team. No Hostages, just full on war. You may want to make sure that they bring extra clothes or only play this game on hot summer games. There are all sorts of water guns available, even the dollar stores have several shapes and sizes available.

Three Legged Race

With this game it is important the boys are close to the same size or one could drag and injure the other. Little boys may want to accompany an adult. Pair up the boys into teams of two. Tie the right leg to the left leg of your teams. The goal is to run together, as a unit, and finish the race first. You can make this interesting by making it an obstacle course or you can have a straightforward race from point A to point B.

War

The boys all have a gun and holster, or a sword and holster, and they play war. I encourage the children not to point their weapons at each other but to pretend to shoot at the feet of their victims and make them dance for you. Imagination usually takes control of the boys and they find a way of becoming super heroes, cowboys, bad guys, whatever their group seems to need and they act out what they can imagine.

Pirate

Boys can dress up in pirate costumes and reenact their favorite pirate movie. From treasure hunts to dueling the games are only limited by your imagination...or the imagination of the children.

Spoon race

It takes a spoon and either an orange, an apple, a tomato, a small ball, or an egg to play this game. The players all have a spoon held in their teeth and they pass the item from one another touching nothing with your hands. The item is supposed to make it to the end without falling but with younger children this may prove to be difficult.

A twist on this game is the players can place the item on the spoon then place their hands behind their backs and run to the finish line without dropping the item.

Poker ROI - What is Poker ROI and How is it Calculated

ROI Stands for 'Return on Investment' and is a commonly used way of calculating your profits in Poker. The exact method of calculating ROI will vary depending on which form of the game is played. A more useful figure for Poker players may be 'hourly rate' which takes into account the time spent playing.

1) Calculating Poker ROI for Tournaments / Sit and Goes

ROI for tournaments is expressed as a percentage of your original buy-in. It is standard in poker to remove 100% (buy-in) from the calculation at the end. For example:

You play 100 tournaments each with a buy in of $10 + $1 fee and end up with a total bankroll of $1600.

ROI = (1600)/(1100) or 145% - remove the 100% (standard format) and you have a ROI of 45% for those tournaments.

2) Calculating ROI for Cash Games

ROI for cash games becomes a little more difficult. This is because you need a time frame over which to calculate your return. The standard poker format for this is to use 100 hands. For example.

You play 1000 hands of poker over a single session and make $500 profit. Your buy-in for the game st the start was $200. ROI is thus 50% per 100 hands. It is also common in poker cash games to calculate profit as the number of big blinds won per 100 hands. In this example with blinds at $2/$1 you could note your profits as 25 Big Blinds per 100 hands.

3) Hourly Rates - A More Useful Number?

ROI in both of the above examples does not factor in the time you spent playing the game. To get a truely useful number you need to divide your total profit by the time at the tables. This figure can then be used to compare different formats of the game, buy-in levels or different poker sites to see which is the most profitable.

5 Reasons For the Popularity of Facebook

Internet users are fond of using Facebook and other social network sites. Ever since Facebook was launched in 2004, it has become extremely popular especially among young adults. Millions of people are already members of Facebook and the number is continuously increasing. Have you ever wondered why Facebook is very popular?

1. You can share your photos to the whole world.

There is no limit as to the number of photos you can upload in your Facebook profile. You can even create photo albums so that you can easily locate the picture that you're looking for. You can create albums for your family pictures, pictures with friends, and many others. According to stats, 14M pictures are uploaded everyday. The uploading facility of Facebook is terrific and you can even put comments under the photos.

2. Status

You can post your status on your profile. You don't have to log in on GTalk or Yahoo just to determine your friend's status. When you open your Facebook profile, you can already see the status of your friends. You can also post your own status to let others know what you're doing or how you're feeling.

3. Real-time Notifications

Through Facebook, you can now send real-time notifications to your friends automatically. Now you can receive notifications about social gatherings, events, and upcoming parties. If you want to invite your friends, you can also send out mass invitations.

4. Friend Interaction through Applications and Games

The site serves as an innovative platform where users can have fun as they interact with other users. Applications are real-time, as well as the games. You can even play Poker virtually if you like. There are various applications and games that you can choose from. In no time at all, you will be able to choose the best application or game in order to have fun while you're online.

5. Groups and Online Communities

Facebook offers various communities and groups where users can choose to become a member. It all depends on your personal preference. Make sure that you choose a group or community that you're interested so that you can interact easily.

Many users of Facebook love the various applications, features, and games offered by the site. Birthday alerts are also sent so that you can send a virtual gift to your friend on time. It is truly an interesting and fun site, both for the young and old individuals. Hurry and experience the 'feel' of being a member of Facebook.

Free Poker

Millions of people enjoy playing Poker, but few can afford to risk a lot of money in order to learn the finer points of the game. Poker requires practice and the best way to get the practice you need is to play free poker. You can play free poker by going to a good poker room and signing up. There is no charge and you can play as often as you want for as long as you want. You can get instructions on how to play any game you want from Omaha and Seven Card Stud to Texas Hold'em and Balugi.

When you play free poker you'll learn from the professionals. They'll teach you how to read the cards and how to read your opponents. You'll know when to bet and how much to bet. You'll also learn when to bluff and when to walk away from a hand. In a free poker room you can always find a game and when you get tired of individual table action you can try your hand at tournament play. There are single table and multi-table tournaments that will challenge your skills and test what you've learned.

Whether you're a beginner or a veteran player looking for an opportunity to improve your skills, a free poker room is the place to be. You'll enjoy the fun and make new friends online while taking your game to a higher level. Register now and you can begin playing immediately. You have nothing to lose and everything to gain. So place your bets and good luck.

Satellite Internet and Online Gaming: Does It Work?

Online gaming is one of the fastest growing trends in the world right now. With games such as Runescape boasting subscriber numbers of around a million and World of Warcraft exceeding 7 million active members, the total number of MMOG subscriptions is verging on the absurd, quickly approaching the 14 million mark worldwide[6/06, mmogchart.com]. This tremendous growth in the popularity of the online gaming industry has, in part, been fueled by the accessibility of high-speed broadband internet. A high-speed connection allows for a much more enjoyable game-play experience. Everyone knows that online games work exceptionally well on DSL and Cable internet connections, but what about the newer high-speed service satellite internet? As satellite internet is becoming more readily available and cost effective more and more rural dial-up customers are making the switch to cash in on the faster speeds and always on access. But, when it comes to online gaming many are concerned that their game-play experience will be less satisfactory, if they can even connect to play at all.

The reason for this concern is the issue of latency. Latency is an expression of how much time it takes for a packet of data to get from one designated point to another. This is direly important when it come to on-line gaming in that latency translates into the time that it takes from the moment that a button is pushed to when the action is performed in the game. Often this can mean the difference between life and death. With DSL and Cable the response time is almost immediate, being between 50milliseconds-150milliseconds. The latency for satellite internet is between 600milliseconds-800milliseconds. This may sound like the end of online gaming for someone who has just made the switch to satellite internet but it is not. Although this degree of latency does all but rule out first-person shooters there are a good number of MMOGs that operate well over a satellite internet connection. And, although the effects of latency can never be completely eliminated, there are ways in which to improve upon them. The simplest way to do this is by speeding up the way that one's computer handles and responds to information being transferred through the connection and by increasing the total amount of available bandwidth. Some operating systems have built in reserves on bandwidth that are non-essential to the functionality of most web applications, see link for a tweak http://www.wildblue.cc/wbforums/showthread.php?t=3323 .

By eliminating non-essential services i.e. bandwidth hogs that the average user never utilizes and dedicating more physical resources to the most used application can help tremendously. Minimizing the effects of latency down to the bare minimum allowed by the laws of physics enables one to play more online gaming that was before not workable and also speeds up the responses of other games that already do work. So, although there are limitations to on-line gaming over satellite internet there are also ways to improve upon game-play responsiveness and many games that will play well without operating system tweaks. Below is a list of online games for both console and PC that, according to subscribers that have tested and played them, do and do not work over satellite internet. This is not a definitive list of games guaranteed to work, so be cautious as results may vary.

What Works

Xbox/Xbox360/PS2/Handheld Games:

GHost Recon: Advanced Warfighter

Battlefield 2: Modern Combat(for me anyway doesn't for some others)

Perfect Dark Zero

All Tony Hawk games

Mario Kart DS

Call of Duty 2

Medal of Honor: Rising Sun

Socom 3(mixed results)

Socom 2(so-so)

Nascar 06 total team control(works kinda)

Rainbow Six Series(Host boots for high ping usually, But CO-OP and 2 V 2 work well)

Splinter Cell: Double Agent

PC Games:

Runescape

Asheron's Call

Everquest

Everquest 2

World of Warcraft

Star Wars Galaxies

Dark Age of Camelot

Roma Victor

Eve Online

Star Wars: Empire at War

Dungeon and Dragons online

Warcraft3

GuildWars

City of Heroes(very difficult to connect to the patch server..other than that it works fine)

Final Fantasy XI

Contract Jack

Auto Assault

Aces High Online flight sim

Trackmania

WarRock Beta

Star Wars Jedi Knight: Jedi Outcast

StarPeace

America's Army

Red Orchestra

Diablo 2

Titan Quest

F.E.A.R.

Postal 2

What doesn't work or is not enjoyable

Xbox/Xbox360/PS2/Handheld Games:

Far Cry Instincts Predator

Halo 2

NBA Live 2006

Quake 4

Prey Demo

Ratchet and Clank: Deadlocked

PC Games:

Star Craft

BattleField 2 Demo

Call of Duty 1&2

Battelfield2

Band of Brothers

C&C Generals

UT2004(playable..not enjoyable)

Ragnarok

Prey Demo

Civ 4

Battlefield 2142

Play Cluedo Game - How to Play Cluedo Game and Where to Play Clue Online Free

If you are a fan of the classic board game but have forgotten how to play Cluedo game I have written a brief summary of the game rules. Cluedo also known as Clue is a mystery detective game normally for 2 to 6 people to play. It is suitable for 8 year olds and up. The rules are simple and it only takes about 5 minutes to set up. This is a turn based dice game. But this doesn't mean this is a game of luck, as it does require skills of deduction and elimination plus a certain amount of deception like Poker. This makes it enjoyable for both children and adults.

How to Play Cluedo

Classic Clue starts with the murder of a Mr. Boddy at his Tudor Mansion. The aim of the game is to work out which room, with which weapon and by who the murder was committed. The variables involved in the investigation are the 9 rooms of the Tudor mansion, the 6 occupants of the house at the time the crime occurred and 6 possible weapons found around the house. To set up the Cluedo board game the cards are separated into the variables i.e. rooms, suspects and weapons. The cards are shuffled and without looking at them, one card from each of these 3 piles is selected at random and placed in the envelope. The aim is now for everyone to be the first to work out by elimination exactly what those 3 cards are. The rest of the cards are shuffled together and dealt out between the players. You also each get a detective notebook which is a checklist of all the cards. You have to tick off the cards you have in your hand. Next place the 6 weapons in the following places:

Dagger in the lounge Rope in the ballroom Lead Piping in the conservatory Candlestick in the dining room Revolver in the study Spanner/Wrench in the kitchen The other 3 of the 9 rooms of the board are: Hall, Billiard Room and Library. Then place the colored pieces to represent the 6 suspects on their corresponding color spots on the board. You play which ever character piece is nearest to you. The 6 characters or suspects and colors are normally:

Red for Miss Scarlet
White for Mrs White
Yellow for Colonel Mustard
Green for Reverend Green
Purple for Professor Plum
And Blue for Mrs Peacock

Now to play Cluedo game all the players roll the dice and the person with the highest roll of the dice starts first. Everyone then takes it in turns going round clockwise, to roll the dice and move the corresponding number of spaces on the board. The aim is to get into a room. When you are in a room you can make your suggestion, for example "I think it was Professor Plum in the Kitchen with the Rope". When you make your suggestion you must move the relevant pieces into the room you are suggesting. You put this theory to the person on your left. They then have to disprove it by showing you (only) one of the cards in you have suggested, so that you may tick it off your checklist. If he/she doesn't have any of the 3 cards in your theory you move onto the next person along. If he/she has any of them he/she must show you only one. If a person puts a theory to you, you must always show a card if you have it, but you only have to show them one. You can make a suggestion including cards you have in your hand, in order to eliminate other cards. This is also a good way of bluffing the other players as to your line of inquiry! Eventually, you will be able to make a definite suggestion as to what the 3 cards in the envelope are. But the aim is to be the first to do it. As you can see the Clue game rules are very simple and so you can pick up how to play Cluedo game very quickly. You'll find that it is an enjoyable game with many hours of fun.

How to Win the Take 5 Lottery

Take 5 is one of the New York lottery games where you can easily win big bucks with just a few investments. It has the best odds of all the lottery draw games. All you have to do is bet on five numbers from 1 to 39. You can bet on your own combination by filling in the corresponding squares on the play card or you can let the QuickPick machine do the selection for you. You can play for a minimum of $1 per game or up to $5 on the 5-game play card.

The winning combination is drawn via live telecast every 11:21 PM on WABC channel 7. Half of the total sales for the day are allocated to the prize money, so the jackpot accumulates until someone hits it. The largest Take 5 jackpot so far was $825,960.00.

Being a game of chance that it is, increasing your chances in winning the Take 5 lottery is pure logic. Avoid selecting all even or odd numbers because they are less likely to get drawn. Mixture of odd and even numbers has approximately 66% chances of occurring. Also mix the high and low numbers, the low being the numbers 1 to 20 and the high, 21 to 39. Having at 3 highs and 2 lows or 3 lows and 2 highs are 64% more likely to be drawn.

It is also not logical to bet on numbers from one number group. It is very unlikely that a draw would have all single digits, teens, 20's or 30's. The same goes with multiples like 2 4 6 8 10 or 3 6 9 12 15 and consecutive numbers like 35 36 37 38 39 or 1 2 3 4 5. A combination having the same last digits like 2 12 22 32 has less than 1% of being drawn.

Winning this lottery game would also entail a little research on its history. Knowing the past winning combinations will give you a hint on the best numbers to bet on. It is proven that numbers that appeared on the last 10 games will have 79% of appearing on the next draw. And numbers that rarely appeared within the last 70 games are worth chasing.

To have a higher likelihood of winning, you may also need to do a simple math. Add up your combination, and make sure that the sum is between 70 and 130. 70% of the time, the total for the winning combination is within that range.

The New York Take 5 is just like any lottery. It is a game of chance. And just like any other game, you can always have that chance on your side if you are diligent enough to analyze how it is played. The odd in winning in this game is 1 in 575,757. It may be a tremendous odd for you. But if you were to think about it, it is best odd in any of the other New York lottery games.

Oil and Gas Royalties - Leasing Mineral Rights

Royalties vs Mineral Rights

Oil and gas royalties are not as complex as most people think. They are actually fairly simple, and I'll explain clearly what they are and how they generate cash.

If you own a farm, then you own the land also known as the surface rights. Often, when you bought the farm, your deed conveyed the mineral rights under the farm along with the surface rights. Owning the mineral rights means you legally have the right to explore, extract, and sell any oil, gas, coal, uranium, helium or other mineral that rests beneath your land.

Most landowners, however, don't have the geological knowledge or training to understand the potential minerals under their land. In fact, many landowners forget they own the mineral rights under their land. Further, the average landowner does not have the multi-million dollar budgets to explore for hydrocarbons, or the social networking skills to raise a multi-million dollar exploration fund.

Energy companies do have the knowledge and funding to explore for oil and gas. So when they identify a region that likely contains hydrocarbons, they negotiate with the landowners to lease their mineral rights for exploration. This lease gives the energy companies permission to explore for petroleum and to produce and sell it if they find petroleum in economic quantities.

The Bonus and the Royalty

The mineral owner receives two forms of compensation for leasing his mineral rights. The first is called a 'Bonus Payment' which is a signing bonus that is paid on a per acre basis. Typically $200-$500 per acre. The bonus will be paid once at the time of the signing of the lease, and it may be the only money the owner will get.

The second is the royalty which is the percent of the money generated by the oil and gas from his property. Traditionally 12.5%, but more recently around 18% - 25%. The percentage varies upon how well the mineral owner negotiated and how expensive the oil company expects the extraction of oil and gas to be.

However, if the oil company finds no oil or gas, or not any in economic quantities, then they abandon the prospect, and the lease expires which reverts the mineral rights back to the mineral owner. In this case, the Bonus was the only money the owner received.

In the event hydrocarbons are found and the wells produce, then the royalties kick in. So if the well produces 100 barrels a day, and the price of oil is $80 per barrel that month, then the cash flow is 100x$80 = $8,000/day The royalty owner, who agreed to 15% royalty, would receive $8,000 x 0.15 = $1,200/day. Over a month, that brings in $36,000 per month to the mineral owner, who in this case, is the landowner. Now you see why oil is a big business!

Royalties Dwindle Over Time

Royalties paid to the mineral rights owner will often last for decades. The wells will deplete, however, so over time the money received from royalties will drop considerably. The average well is thought to last 35 years. Eventually, the royalty dies, and all the owner has is the mineral rights. Which may get leased again in the future.

Finding Mineral Rights to Buy is Hard

Because of the reliable cash flow stream, oil and gas royalties make for a good investment. Finding mineral right owners who want to sell their royalties is the tough part. The only available data on royalty owners currently is Blackbeard Data Services, and they have all the owners in Texas and Kansas.

52 Free Things to Do with Your Partner on Date Night

One of the things that works to keep relationships alive is spending quality time with each other. In this day of the information age, it is becoming increasingly difficult to carve out the necessary time to nurture our relationships. What with long work hours, helping kids with their homework, transporting them around to their extracurricular activities, getting dinner, cleaning up and going through the bedtime routine, what time is left?

Unless you orchestrate the time for your relationship, other less important things will crowd in and take what precious little time you do have. Pick a night that will be "date night" with your partner and make a game out of being as creative as you can be. Try to see how many things you can do without spending money.

To get you started, I've come up with some suggestions to help you for the next year. What follows are 52 ideas for how to spend creative time together without spending money. Feel free to add or modify any of the items on the list to suit your particular relationship and circumstances.

WINTER

1. Take a drive to look at the Christmas decorations.

2. Play cards---perhaps strip poker.

3. Watch a movie together.

4. Go outside and have a snowball fight.

5. Get some finger paints and create your own body art with each other as your canvass.

6. Go sleigh riding.

7. Go ice skating.

8. Work out or exercise together.

9. Stage your own improvisation show.

10. Sing to each other.

11. Review or create a photo album or scrapbook of your memories together.

12. Play a board game---perhaps chess, Scrabble or Twister.

13. Go to a book store, get coffee and read for hours.

SPRING

14. Work on a remodeling project together.

15. Plan and complete a yard work project together.

16. Do the spring cleaning together---room by room. When done, reward yourself by making love in the room you've cleaned.

17. Put on old clothes and mud wrestle after some drenching rain.

18. Give each other a massage.

19. Play catch---football, baseball, softball or Frisbee.

20. Go to a car dealer and test drive the car of your dreams.

21. Shoot basketball together.

22. Dance together.

23. Take a shower together and wash each other---everywhere.

24. Take a free adult education class together.

25. Go to a mall and have a contest to see which one of you can get the most free samples.

26. Go rollerblading or bike riding.

SUMMER

27. Build a campfire and roast marshmallows.

28. Go swimming or skinny dipping.

29. Give each other a manicure or pedicure.

30. Go somewhere crowded to people watch.

31. Go to a free outdoor event, perhaps a concert.

32. Lie on a blanket outside and watch the clouds or stars.

33. Go on a picnic.

34. Watch a fireworks display.

35. Be creative and engage in sexual role plays. Be anyone you'd like to be for the night who is also exciting for your partner.

36. Sit by the water somewhere.

37. Do a prolonged strip tease for each other.

38. Have a water balloon fight.

39. Sit outside and read poetry to each other.

FALL

40. Go for a drive together.

41. Go window shopping.

42. Incorporate food into your love making---chocolate syrup, whipped cream, fondue, strawberries---anything you and your partner enjoy.

43. Call or write to someone you haven't had contact with in a while.

44. Cook something together.

45. Spend an evening just talking with each other. Talk about the things you have done, plans you have for the future, important people in your lives or current events.

46. Take a bubble bath together.

47. Go to a free movie or museum.

48. Take a drive and find the potential in old houses and their properties.

49. Create an imaginary story together---either orally or in written form.

50. Take turns being each other's genie in a bottle by fulfilling your partner's every wish and fantasy.

51. Play in the fallen leaves.

52. Create an exciting scavenger hunt that ends in your bed.

Now you have 52 suggestions for things to do with your partner for every week of the year divided by season. Certainly you don't have to follow my suggestions. Feel free to add your own or to repeat your favorites as often as you'd like.

The main point is not to see how kinky you can get. The idea is to keep your relationship alive by making time together a priority. It is important that you find things to do as a couple that you can both enjoy. If you have vastly different interests then you can enter this with the spirit of taking turns and each agree to happily participate in the activity chosen by the one whose turn it is that week.

As long as you make a habit of making your relationship a priority and allocating time each week for rejuvenation of the feelings that attracted you in the first place, then you stand a good chance of staying together for the long haul.

Please don't let insidious boredom enter into your relationship through the back door. This is what frequently happens when we are busy placing other things ahead of our time for each other. You know what I mean---the job, the kids, our friend in crisis, etc. There will always be a competing interest for the time you've set aside for each other.

Other than natural disasters, threat of death or major crises, do not allow your time together to be invaded by any outside forces. Make sure to create opportunities for you to do things together without outside influence. With more than 50% of today's marriages ending in divorce, make this small investment in the longevity of your relationship. You have nothing to lose and everything to gain. What's stopping you? Start today.

Ghana Casinos

The list of Ghana's Casinos is quite short: not a surprise for a poor African country. Actually, by the standards of Africa, Ghana isn't actually all that poor. It was the first African country to shake off colonialism in 1957, led by Kwame Nkrumah. The next 30 or so years were the usual struggle against the economic incompetence of the various rulers, including the almost traditional military coup. Things finally got sorted out in the 1990's, and the economy is now growing again, giving the inhabitants roughly twice the income per head that is usual in Africa.

Still, that level of income does not support a thriving gaming industry, so as we say, the list of Ghana's Casinos is still quite short.

In fact, there are four in the entire country.

List of Ghana's Casinos:

Accra: Golden Tulip Hotel & Royal Casino

La Palm: Atlantic Casino and Royal Beach Hotel

Kumasi: City Hotel & Ashanti Casino

Tema: Merdian Hotel & Club Vegas

All these casinos have both slot machines and gaming tables. For the latter two, the provincial ones, blackjack and roulette, while the ones in the capital, Accra, also have Poker tables.

While there are both gold mining and timber sales as industries in Ghana, most of the population and most of the economy is based on subsistence (or peasant) agriculture. This is one reason why the list of Ghana's casinos is so short. Another is that while there is a tourist industry, it is aimed at African-Americans coming to see their roots, looking at the slave forts, and so on along the coast. This really isn't a market that is known to gamble very much.

In fact, for much of the area's history there have really only been two exports: slaves (The Ashanti Kingdom was a prime source for the Arab slavers long before whites reached the area), and gold: indeed, the country still boasts one of the largest mines and gold companies in the world, again named after the ancient kingdom, Ashanti.

Gambling and casinos have traditionally done very well in mining areas, but this is changing as the business becomes more capital intensive: no longer are there armies of well-paid miners tearing at a hillside. Now it is very few people and large numbers of very expensive machines. Machines, as you may have noted, do not gamble.

So, there are the reasons why the list of Ghana's casinos is so short. A poor country, based on agriculture, the tourist industry is not oriented to a market that is likely to gamble, and there are very few local workers who make enough to gamble.

What Are Your Salary Expectations?

A question about salary could be one of the most difficult ones during a job interview. The employer always has a set maximum budget for a certain position but they still want to hire the best people for the least amount of money so it is almost certain they will ask you this question. Below please find some tips on how to handle this question.

Firstly you have to decide how much money you really want for this position and what is the minimum salary you would accept. Those numbers may differ. Of course everyone would like to make more than they made in their previous job and they have some expectations towards their future salary. At the same time, everyone has certain minimum compensation in mind.

When thinking about a new job, take into account not only the job description and the set of responsibilities but also the location, how long it'd take you to commute, and last but not least - the whole package offered by your potential employer including health insurance, paid holidays and other benefits. Time is money - if your new position is closer to your home, you will be able to spend more time with your family or on your studies. You will also save yourself a stress of a long commute. If the salary package includes many extras , you may consider taking a bit of a pay cut, if you really like the job.

Furthermore, on the internet you can find information regarding typical salaries in different companies, sectors and locations. This should give you an idea on the salary that might be offered for the position you are interviewing for. One you have calculated the minimum compensation you'd accept for your perfect job, and your desired salary, you are ready to tackle the "what are your salary expectations" question.

What you have to remember is that you do not have to disclose your exact previous salary. Neither this information can be released by any of your past employers. It is up to you whether you want to share your past compensation details with your potential employer. You can give them the real number or exaggerate your past salary just a little in order to justify your present expectations - just don't go too far with this! A couple of £k isn't a big deal.

You might consider saying something along the lines of:

"I would expect that salary for this position corresponds with the level of responsibilities and duties - what starting salary do you offer for this job?" - this answer does not give any details and it moves the negotiations back to them, just what you would like to see.

As mentioned above - the budget for the position is already set; all you can do now is agree on the exact number.

Your potential employer may respond to your question in several ways:

o The money offered is lower than your expectations and a minimum number you have set for yourself - this job is probably not the best fit for you.
o The money offered is lower than your desired salary but in line with your minimum compensation - you should think of some convincing arguments for a higher starting salary.
o The money offered meets your expectations - take the offer.

The second response of your potential employer calls for a bit of haggling. Before your lie down your financial expectations and bluntly ask for more, re-consider your situation. The budget for your position is set but the managers might not have offered you a maximum and there is still room for negotiations. If so, you may try to win a slight increase on your starting salary. You may use an argument that your last salary was higher or that you would have expected higher starting salary to go with the increased set of responsibilities for this position.

You may also inquire as to salary details - mentioned in the third paragraph of this article. Ask about extras included in your salary package: days of paid holidays, insurance, family benefits. Your potential employer may also offer some travel allowance or financial help in obtaining professional certifications. You should also ask about the terms and date of the salary evaluation.

Regardless of the approach you take, you should always end it with a question. You do not want to put forward an argument with no scope of discussion - you need to keep the discussion moving in your favour by always giving your interview an opportunity to respond (rather than leaving the conversation wide open which could result in them changing the subject). Your goal is to reach the agreement in your favour with your interviewers.

Tom 'Durrrr Dwan' Poker Player Biography

Born in Edison NJ is 1986 Tom Dwan has taken the world of online Poker by storm. In just a few short years he has risen from obscurity through the stakes - and is now playing with the best in the world at the highest available levels, regularly winning pots which are measured in the $100,000+ range.

Starting with a $50 deposit and playing $5 1-table tournaments, Dwan was actually down to his last 2 buy-ins before the cards started to fall his way. A different result in those two games could have seen Tom Dwan complete his engineering course at Boston University and be leading a far quieter life.

Instead, Dwan switched to Poker Stars and then Full Tilt Poker - two of the largest online poker sites - and began to rapidly move from the lower to middle stakes cash games. At this point the screen-name 'Durrrr' was created, Tom stating in a recent interview that he was looking for a name that would make people 'Tilt' (play badly due to anger or frustration) when they lost a big pot.

Equally proficient in the poker variations of No-Limit Holdem and Pot-Limit Omaha, Tom Dwan currently plays in games where blinds are $200 / $400 - ensuring the pots are big enough to make an average players eyes water.

In addition to success in cash game poker, Dwan has shown he is a force to be feared in poker tournaments too. Despite only turning 21 recently he already has some major successes on the live tournament circuit including 3 WPT (World Poker Tour) final tables with cashes totalling over $700,000 in these events alone.

In January 2009 Tom issued what has become known as the 'Durrrr Challenge' to all who would take it. This offered $1.5 million for anyone who could beat Dwan over 50,000 hands heads-up, as long as the challenger offered $500,000 in return. These odds of 3/1 show how confident Tom has become about his abilities. At the time of writing the first challenge is underway with Finnish poker professional Patrik Antonius. Challengers lined up for the rest of the year include legend Phil Ivey and high-stakes pro David Betyamine. You can watch the challenge as it happens live at specially designated tables at Full Tilt Poker.

Any biography of Tom 'Durrrr' Dwan would be incomplete without mentioning that he is currently only 22 years old - and with the huge amount of talent in the game he could be making poker history for many decades to come.

Online Poker Bonuses

When you sign up at an online Poker site chances are you are eligible for an online Poker bonus. Almost every site offers an initial deposit bonus of some sort. The type of online poker bonus you're eligible for depends on the site. Each poker site has its own specific online poker bonus. With a little research you can see which bonus is the most beneficial to you.

Always read the fine print and details about the bonus. If you have any questions email the support staff. There are usually certain requirements before you can receive the poker bonus. At most poker sites, you must generate a minimum amount of rake or play a minimum amount of hands.

Some poker sites deliver the bonus in increment while others deliver the full amount once the requirements are fulfilled. Most sites are pretty fair with their poker bonus policies, but some are not. Please be very careful that you read the requirements before deciding to play at any poker site.

Playing for poker bonuses can be very lucrative. I usually recommend depositing the maximum amount. For example, if the bonus is 100% up to $200. I will deposit $200. I will then play the required amount of hands and usually end up with at least double my deposit. In fact, there are very few times that I didn't at least break even.

After you have fulfilled the requirements and have cashed out, it's best to simply deposit at another site and repeat the process. Poker players who play strictly play for bonuses are generally called "bonus whores". It's a great way to experience many different sites. I suggest taking notes and documenting your winnings so that you can always come back to play at your favorite poker sites that you won the most money at when they offer a reload bonus.

Texas Holdem Poker Tournament Strategy - Starting Hands

Welcome to the fifth in my Texas Holdem Poker Strategy Series, focusing on no limit Texas Holdem Poker tournament play and associated strategies. In this article, we'll examine starting hand decisions.

It may seem obvious, but deciding which starting hands to play, and which ones to skip playing, is one of the most important Texas Holdem poker decisions you'll make. Deciding which starting hands to play begins by accounting for several factors:

* Starting Hand "groups" (Sklansky made some good suggestions in his classic "Theory of Poker" book by David Sklansky)

* Your table position

* Number of players at the table

* Chip position

Sklansky originally proposed some Texas Holdem poker starting hand groups, which turned out to be very useful as general guidelines. Below you'll find a "modified" (enhanced) version of the Sklansky starting hands table. I adapted the original Sklansky tables, which were "too tight" and rigid for my liking, into a more playable approach that are used in the Poker Sidekick poker odds calculator. Here's the key to these starting hands:

Groups 1 to 8: These are essentially the same scale as Sklansky originally proposed, although some hands have been shifted around to improve playability and there is no group 9.

Group 30: These are now "questionable" hands, hands that should be played rarely, but can be reasonably played occasionally in order to mix things up and keep your opponents off balance. Loose players will play these a bit more often, tight players will rarely play them, experienced players will open with them only occasionally and randomly.

The table below is the exact set of starting hands that Poker Sidekick uses when it calculates starting poker hands. If you use Poker Sidekick, it will tell you which group each starting hand is in (if you can't remember them), along with estimating the "relative strength" of each starting hand. You can just print this article and use it as a starting hand reference.

Group 1: AA, KK, AKs

Group 2: QQ, JJ, AK, AQs, AJs, KQs

Group 3: TT, AQ, ATs, KJs, QJs, JTs

Group 4: 99, 88, AJ, AT, KQ, KTs, QTs, J9s, T9s, 98s

Group 5: 77, 66, A9s, A5s-A2s, K9s, KJ, KT, QJ, QT, Q9s, JT, QJ, T8s, 97s, 87s, 76s, 65s

Group 6: 55, 44, 33, 22, K9, J9, 86s

Group 7: T9, 98, 85s

Group 8: Q9, J8, T8, 87, 76, 65

Group 30: A9s-A6s, A8-A2, K8-K2, K8-K2s, J8s, J7s, T7, 96s, 75s, 74s, 64s, 54s, 53s, 43s, 42s, 32s, 32

All other hands not shown (virtually unplayable).

So, those are the enhanced Sklasky Texas Holdem poker starting hand tables.

The later your position at the table (dealer is latest position, small blind is earliest), the more starting hands you should play. If you're on the dealer button, with a full table, play groups 1 thru 6. If you're in middle position, reduce play to groups 1 thru 3 (tight) and 4 (loose). In early position, reduce play to groups 1 (tight) or 1 thru 2 (loose). Of course, in the big blind, you get what you get.

As the number of players drops into the 5 to 7 range, I recommend tightening up overall and playing far fewer, premium hands from the better positions (groups 1 - 2). This is a great time to forget about chasing flush and straight draws, which puts you at risk and wastes chips.

As the number of players drops to 4, it's time to open up and play far more hands (groups 1 - 5), but carefully. At this stage, you're close to being in the money in a Texas Holdem poker tournament, so be extra careful. I'll often just protect my blinds, steal occasionally, and try to let the smaller stacks get blinded or knocked out (putting me into the money). If I'm one of the small stacks, well, then I'm forced to pick the best hand I can get and go all-in and hope to double-up.

When the play is down to 3, it's time to avoid engaging with big stacks and hang on to see if we can land 2nd place, heads-up. I tend to tighten up a bit here, playing very similar to when there's just 3 players (avoiding confrontation unless I'm holding a pair or an Ace or a King, if possible).

Once you're heads-up, well, that's a topic for a completely different article, but in general, it's time to become extraordinarily aggressive, raise a lot, and become "pushy".

In tournaments, it's always important to keep track of your chips stack size relative to the blinds and everyone else's stacks. If you're short on chips, then play far fewer hands (tigher), and when you do get a good hand, extract as many chips as you can with it. If you're the big stack, well, you should avoid unnecessary confrontation, but use your big stack position to push everyone around and steal blinds occasionally as well - without risking too many chips in the process (the other players will be trying to use you to double-up, so be careful).

Well, that's a quick overview of an improved set of starting hands and some general rules for adjusting starting hand play based upon game conditions throughout the tournament.

Until next time, best of luck to you at the Texas Holdem poker tables!

Rick

Poker Stars - Learn How to Win Real Money

Ever since you learned to play Poker you've been playing for fun. Even when you logged in to the PokerStars site, you played for the enjoyment of it, with no money at stake. But now you feel you're ready to win big money by playing on the main site. What strategies should you keep in mind in order to win?

Well, you should understand the different types of play and when to use them. These are tight or loose play and aggressive or passive play. Tight players play fewer hands because they tend to fold when they have weaker hands; on the other hand, loose players play relatively more hands and continue with weak hands rather than folding. Aggressive players bet and raise (increase the previous bet) often while passive players check (take no action) and call (match the past bet). Deciding which style of play to use is crucial in any winning poker strategy.

In general it is better to play aggressively than passively. When you bet or raise with strong hands you allow your opponent the opportunity to fold rather than get additional cards that might allow him to form a winning hand. It is also better to play a tight game since you will win more in the long run. But you should not stick to one playing style, since it would make you predictable, a habit which your opponents will surely use against you.

You should also master guidelines for strong starting hands. The best hands are those involving pairs of aces, kings and queens. If you have these cards you already have a strong starting hand no matter what your position on the table. Pairs from jacks to eights are nearly as desirable. The least desirable hands are those involving an ace and small card (twos through sevens) of the same suit, and so-called junk hands, which could involve, for instance, unpaired small cards.

Determining which starting hand to play is also determined by your table position. If you are first or one of the early players then you need to play only strong hands since you don't know how many players will raise (increase their bets) or re-raise. If you are last, on the other hand, then how the other players have acted will help decide your starting hand. If several players have already folded then you can play with weaker hands since it is unlikely someone will re-raise their bets. But if some players have raised then you need to have a strong hand.

Apart from mastering starting hands, winning poker players also need to work on their middle and end game. For this, the player must master how to calculate pot odds (the ratio of the current pot versus the cost of a possible call) and compare them to card odds (how likely you are to draw a particular card that will give you a winning hand). If the card odds are higher than the pot odds then you should call; if the reverse then you should fold.

Apart from the above essential skills, you also need to master others such as bluffing and recognizing opponents' betting patterns. All this sounds daunting but it is only by mastering these skill sets that you can consistently win money playing poker at the Pokerstars site.

Poker Calculator Research - Self Analysis Software

More and more online Poker players of the amateur status are really getting into using self analysis tools to take a deeper look into their game and identify potential flaws in their overall strategy. To go deeper into their game, players may turn perennial losing "game" situations they have struggled with into break even or even profitable scenarios.

Flaws in your game are often referred to as "leaks" in Poker, because you are essentially spilling money on to the table and in to someone else's bankroll. This can be a huge factor on a player's bankroll progression and has been the downfall of the majority of poker players online.

With the growing choice of self-analysis software, some players are taking time away from the game and pouring through their own hand history data to uncover leaks and attack the problem head-on. A player using self-analysis software may not even know what he is looking for, but may after a single session of hand history study may find in his game a golden nugget.

Self analysis software or SAS has long been the studious players' backdrop to sound strategy and growth, but what exactly can SAS tell you of any value? Well do you think it would be valuable to know you have lost $3,150 playing KQos from early position this year alone? Do you think it would valuable if you knew your win rate at $5/$10 limit hold'em on Stars tables was 3 times more profitable per hour than your $1/$2 No Limit game at Full Tilt? And do you think it would help you to know that against player with a high VPIP and high aggression factor that you lose on average, 1 ½ big blinds per hour?

Of course all these would be interesting facts and programs like Poker Tracker, Poker Office, Poker Sharpener and Poker Prospector are the type of SAS programs you need to be spending more quality time with, especially if you play the cash and ring games as your dominant online game. The reason for that is because they can be measured more accurately with consistent blinds and game structures.

It all comes down to how dedicated you are to improving and how you want to respect and grow your bankroll. If your bankroll could be bigger than it is now, or if it is trending down, than a self-analysis session is surely required. Don't let your judgment, ego, or for heaven's sake, anger stand in the way of you becoming a better player.

How to Start a Poker Room

This is a basic guide on how to start your own Poker room. Many of the details change from state to state. This guide is being written mostly by what is required by the state of Montana for a Poker game.

Assuming that it is legal to play Poker in your state these are the basics to get started.

A location

Employees

Supplies

Complying with laws/regulations

Building & maintaining a player base

The first thing that is required is that you find a suitable location for your new poker room. This will need to be an establishment that has or can acquire licensing for a live poker game. In searching for a location there are a few things you should consider. If you would like a location with a lot of traffic you are most likely going to have to pay a premium price for the location, on the other hand if you are not worried about how much traffic a location has then it is likely that you will get a location for your card room at a much lower price.

One of the easiest parts of starting a poker room is getting the supplies. The basic supplies you are going to need are a poker table, poker chips and playing cards. You should probably think about investing in some other equipment such as a television since many times being able to watch a sporting event can make or break a poker game at times. If you are wondering where to purchase these items many online stores provide everything you will need at some very reasonable prices.

After you've found your location and acquired the supplies you will need it's time to find some help to run your poker game. You are most likely going to need at least one poker dealer. This is also a major part of your poker game since the quality of a dealer can severely impact the amount of money you make from the rake. Another quality of an experienced dealer is that they can sometimes effect your player base. If a dealer has been dealing in the area for a long period of time it's likely that they have developed a relationship with other poker players in the area as well and by simply employing certain dealers can bring poker players into your game.

Another type of card room employee that is many times over looked is house players. Almost every successful poker room in the world employs house players of one type or another. The reason for house players is to be able to start a poker game as soon as you get a customer and also to keep your poker game going when it becomes short handed. Many card rooms simply offer to put them into the game for free and split any winnings they may have or pay them an hourly wage. When looking for a good house player the general rule is that you want them to play tight and not to break any poker players. Their overall purpose is not to win money but to help keep your game going.

Before you open your doors and start running out to get poker players to play in your new poker room you need to make sure that you are complying with all of the regulations. Make sure that you and the location have all of the licensing in order and that all of your employees have the licensing they require to work for you without breaking any laws.

Now that everything is in order you need to start getting poker players to play in your new card room. This can be the most difficult part. One of the easiest things you can do is tell every single person you know that you are operating a poker room and let them know where it is. It's very important to get the word out because if you have family, friends & associates that enjoy playing poker it's very likely that they are going to come play in your poker game if they know about it, if they don't know then they will most likely go to wherever they went to play poker before. It's not a bad idea to spend some money on other marketing as well such as the newspaper, radio and television advertising.

Once yous start building your clientele it's important to keep them happy and playing in your poker game. This is the downfall of many card rooms. When the players are in your establishment you need to make sure that they are getting great service at whatever it is they need. If they are hungry you should buy them food, if they want a drink get them a drink, if they want to know what movies are playing call the movie theater and find out for them etc. They should also be waited on in a timely manner to ensure they are happy. When you are in a service industry such as the poker business it's very important to make sure you provide a better service than the competition.

Another great way to keep your clientele and also help your business is to start a mailing list. Once you have created a good mailing list you will find that it will most likely become your #1 and most effective marketing tool. Even if you need to add incentives to get people to sign up for your mailing list to get it going it should be worth it in the long run. It's also important not to abuse players contact information as this will most likely annoy them and could even result in them not playing in your poker room.

Overall the poker industry is very competitive and if you do not enjoy the game or other poker players it is probably not the business for you to get into. Although if you enjoy poker, poker players and competing it can be a very enjoyable and lucrative business if you are successful.

Poker Cheat Sheet - Know Which Hands to Play

It does not really take a rocket scientist to understand the rules of play when it comes to Poker. You just have to understand the basic rules of play, and know which hands to actually set down during the game. This Poker cheat sheet is designed to help you understand some of the most basic principles of the poker in general, and to help you develop your strategies. After all, a card player is not defined by the amount he or she plunks at the table, but rather by the strategies he or she uses to win round after round.

Poker Cheat Sheet # 1: Learn The Game First And You Will Know The Lingo

It's not enough these days to say that you are going to play poker. There are so many variations now to this card game that it is quite simple to get lost in "poker speech." So, for clarification purposes, poker is poker is poker ... except when people say video poker (which is really a computer game / slot machine); and Red Dog Poker (which is more similar to the game of Blackjack than anything else.) All other variations like Five Card Draw, Omaha, Primero, Seven Card Stud, Texas Hold'em and Three-Card Brag have the same winning principle: you need 5 cards to lay out a (hopefully!) winning hand.

Poker Cheat Sheet # 2: Know When To Fold And When To Go With Gut Instinct

Some of the most "notorious" card players believe in 2 things: luck and their gut instincts. Although these seem innocuous enough, you as a beginner should remember that poker is a betting game; and luck may turn sour oh-so-quickly; and your gut instinct may just be a gas build-up over the taco you had for dinner. Conservative playing is one way of learning from other players' triumphs and mistakes. After all, you cannot expect to win all the time, and you certainly do not want to lose all the time. Bet conservatively at the start of the game. If you find your cards less than desirable, fold immediately.

Poker Cheat Sheet # 3: Stop Trying To Figure Out If Your Opponent Is Bluffing!

If you think that your hand has a fighting chance, then you can slowly build up your bets. The other card players on the table are heaping too much money on the table, and you keep wondering whether or not he or she is bluffing. Instead of wasting your energy figuring out the truth behind those hideous poker faces, concentrate on this one fact: your opponent may not be bluffing at all! And stop bluffing yourself. This risky move (according to stats) has only 1% chance of ever winning.

Poker is all or nothing. If you think your hand will win, then keep it. If not, it would be better to fold while you are ahead.

Poker Cheat Sheet # 4: Know Which Hands To Keep

Indubitably, face cards are the greatest things to get, since there is all likelihood of putting out a winning hand when you have a set. However, one or two or three cards mean absolutely nothing in a game of poker. You need five... always five. So instead of focusing you attention to just the face cards, (which many beginners are prone to do,) think of the 5 cards - the hand, and how it will fare in the game. A straight flush can win over a full house. A straight can win over a three-of-a-kind. And never discount the power of a high-card hand; that may also be the only thing your opponent has against you.

Poker Table Supplies

In Casinos, Poker is played on specially designed tables called Poker tables. These tables look like billiards tables in structure. Such tables come in all the basic shapes: rectangular, oval, and pentagonal. Poker table supplies are available in shops in United States for playing poker at home. But one should be careful when selecting a table. Cheap tables generally turn out to be of low quality. Such tables do not last very long. Even in the rare occasions in which such tables last, there will be irritating patchworks that keep appearing on the table over time. So if one wants to enjoy a good game of poker at home, it is better to spend a bit more money and buy a good quality table.

Poker tables are available in many varieties. Some come with multiple stands, while some kind of tables will only have the tabletops. One has to mount the tops on top of some other structure such as a dining table. For playing poker at home, such tables are a must. There are plenty of poker fans who conduct what they call a "home season" of poker, which are entirely played at homes. People of such serious interest in poker often find that poker table is something very hard to live without. Another way of having a "home season" of poker is constructing a table at the home itself using poker table supplies.

Making an ordinary, basic poker table is said to be as easy (but not that easy when actually tries it) as any other carpentry work like making a normal table. Many shops provide poker table supplies such as a detailed plan and other materials needed for the construction of a table. The designs for constructing these tables are available on the internet for free. These free designs are generally rectangular, oval, and pentagonal structures. There are some other websites, which provide fancier designs of these tables at a reasonable price.

For constructing a table using these designs one needs carpentry tools like jigsaw, drill, and sand paper. It is almost impossible to construct a table single-handedly. One should arrange somebody as a helper before starting the construction. One needs raw material like wood, plywood, fabric, and rubber foam for making a good table that will be worth the effort. One can also make only the top of the table for home use. It is more than enough for occasional games. However, one should be warned that making a table at home is not an easy task, despite the claims to the contrary. People who do not have an interest in doing carpentry related mechanical work may find it extremely cumbersome. So if you are carpentry-challenged, it is better to head straight to a shop and bring home a ready made poker table.

How To Get Onto The World Poker Tour

In 2002 World Poker Tour made its debut with Texas Holdem. Poker is now even shown on ESPN. Its audience is increasing and so is Poker's popularity. Many of us may have had dreams of being a professional Poker player and being on the poker tour, however, the buy-ins is just way too expensive. The tournament buy-ins mainly ranges between $2,500 and $25,000 which is a lot of money for a player to buy in without a safety net joint with a risk of not being successful.

However, with the continuous growth in the poker world, taking part in these tournaments has become less expensive compared to the 2,500to 25,000 buy-in range. Online poker websites now put forward tournaments called "Satellites" whose buy-ins range for as little as $1 to up to $1000. There will be fewer players at the higher you buy-in and more seats are going to be awarded to a larger tournament. If you spend $5 playing at the poker tables an evening and is able to win yourself an entrance (paid) to a $2,500 buy-in tournament at Bellagio then, who knows with a buy-in for $500 Satellite you can even be at the World Series later on.

It may seem as an easy task to win a seat by jumping into these satellites but it must be noted that there is a lot of stiff competition in satellites. Everyone wants to immediately try and win a seat at a cheaper rate instead of buy-in for a full amount. Hence, it is very crucial to plan out a strategy to play multi-tables in front of pro opponent poker players.

Free Poker Guide to How to Specialize in Cash Poker Games Or Tournaments

You can't be good at everything. In the world of Poker from the entry levels of penny play free Poker or big stakes players become experts or specialists in their particular games. It is the same as in the "normal" world where in our professions and hobbies and business we aim to find our niche and focus our efforts on becoming as good as we can so that we get promoted and earn more money.

So how does this relate specifically to the world of Poker games?

Simply this, some people are great cash game players, while others are great tournament players. Of course, there are players that are great at both cash games and tournaments though they are few and far between.

Most players specialize because they are more successful at one than the other.

So how can you figure what type of Poker you are best at? It might not be that clear at first. You obviously need to try your hand at both, but here are a few suggestions that may help you to figure it out.

Cash Games?
If you're a patient player who looks to play only in clear +EV situations, then you may prefer cash games. Full-ring games are all about waiting for premium starting hands and extracting the most value from them in the most favorable situation possible. Thus, cash games are good for players who don't deal with variance very well.

The biggest mistake a beginning cash game player can make is playing too many hands. You don't want to commit too many chips in marginal situations.

The opposite can seem to be true in the late to middle stages of a tournament.

Poker Tournaments?
It is correct to play tight in the early stages of a tournament, but once the blinds start to escalate you'll need to loosen up your starting requirements. Once you're low on chips, you'll need to look to move all-in to survive. You may also need to put yourself in situations that may -EV in certain occasions.
If you're one of the big stacks, it's also correct to start playing looser to bully the other players. It's all about accumulating chips to either survive or thrive in tournaments. It's not for the faint of heart or those who can't deal with variance.

The biggest mistake a beginning tournament player can make is not pushing all-in enough when they get low on chips. Because the price of blinds increase as the tournament goes on, your chip stack can easily get whittled away. Tight players can't win tournaments.

Is Poker Stars Rigged or Is It Variance?

One of the best ways to deal with the online site Poker stars is to understand the concept of variance. People who play on Poker stars often will see an enormous amount of bad beats. Bad beats are hands that are a statistical favorite which lose. This will lead the player to think that the site is rigged. Is Poker Stars rigged? That is a good question and one that needs to be considered.

The concept of variance is one that is used to explain why good players lose to bad players. When a poor play wins out over a good play, say aces get cracked multiple times, a person is likely to think Poker Stars is rigged.

The fact is, say those who are mathematically inclined, this is normal variance. If you are able to understand this concept then it will go a long way in reassuring you when you are experiencing a downswing. As long as the downswing is due to getting bad beats and not playing poorly.

There are tools that you can use to determine if your plays are winning or losing over time. Using a tool such as Poker Stove will help you in finding out if the hands you are playing are the right move in the long term. If they are then you are most likely simply getting bad beats or what is otherwise know as suffering through variance. As long as you spend the correct amount of time analyzing your own game and making sure that you making the correct decisions then you can hope to have a long term positive expectation.

The common understanding that poker stars is rigged is not completely justified. There are many people who are making consistent money on the site. Not all of who are employed by them. What you are dealing with is variance.

Understand the concept and then look and see that many other winning players are going through the same thing. Spend the appropriate amount of time studying poker and poker strategy and then you will become a more successful player.

Rush Poker Strategy - Profitable Tactics For Rush Poker

Rush Poker is an exciting new game format exclusive to Full Tilt Poker. It's been designed to make online poker faster paced and more fun, with loads of action which of course attracts recreational players and gamblers.

So far the game is available only as small stakes (up to $0.50/$1.00) no limit holdem. You can choose to play either 9 seated or 6 seated, and the game plays as normal except for a very important change. Once you're out of a hand (either at showdown, or if you fold) you're "rushed" off to another table and immediately dealt a fresh hand. You don't even have to wait for the action to come to you, you can simply hit the quick fold button, and even if it isn't your turn to cat you'll be reseated and dealt new cards.

This makes for an incredibly fast paced game. No longer will you have to wait 20 minutes for a good hand, if you don't like what you're dealt then fold and see a new hand right away. In fact, most players see an average of 300 hands per hour playing this game, and some players see over500 per hour!

Rush poker strategy differs quite a bit from normal ring games. Because it's so easy to fold you know that most players will be playing only premium hands, so after the flop you'll have a reasonable idea that they hold either 2 high cards, a pocket pair, or Ax. Be careful of the player in the big blind though, if you allow them to enter the hand by limping in you'll have no idea what they hold. Always raise pre-flop if you're going to play a hand, that will stop the big blind seeing the flop for free.

You should also be re-raising a lot. Players in rush poker love to fold with anything other than a premium hand, since they know they'll be dealt another good hand soon, so take advantage of that. Raise, and re-raise often and you'll find you can steal the pot more often than not.

Finally, you'll find that low cards can be your friend. Since most players will only be playing big cards, if you come in with low cards and hit trips on the flop you'll trap them and earn a big pot!

Rush poker strategy will certainly be refined over time as more and more top players study the game and figure out the best tactics, but by following the basic strategy outlined here you should be profitable in most games.

The History of Poker Chips

Gaming chips have been made from a wide range of materials in an almost infinite variety of styles since the birth of gambling and the need to keep track of winnings. The most common material types used today in the manufacture of modern Poker chips are plastic, clay composite, and acrylic composite. Clay chips, the oldest of the bunch, have been manufactured in America since the late 1800s.

Back in the 1800s, Poker players seemed to use any small valuable object imaginable. Early Poker players sometimes used jagged gold pieces as well as chips - primarily made of wood and clay. By the 20th century, Poker chip designs began to play a greater prominence, and the smooth edges of older chips gave way to chips with engraved slits to keep them neatly stacked together. Most recently, affordable plastic poker chips appeared in the 1940s.

There is no doubt that poker has grown steadily in popularity ever since its origin in the 1800s. With the explosive growth of online gaming and specialty TV shows, public interest in poker has accelerated faster than ever before. Many people are first introduced to poker by TV shows such as Bravo's "Celebrity Poker Showdown" or the Travel Channel's "World Poker Tour," and many will play their first hands online. Despite online poker's rise, nothing replaces the feeling of shuffling heavy clay poker chips in your hand, throwing chips into the center of a Casino table, or stacking tall piles of chips after showing a victorious hand.