Posts Tagged ‘casinos’

Addiction: When Gambling Becomes a Problem

Friday, April 8th, 2011

While most people enjoy casino gambling, sports betting, lottery and bingo playing for the fun and excitement it provides, others may experience gambling as an addictive and distractive habit. Statistics show that while 85 percent of the adult population in the US enjoys some type of gambling every year, between 2 and 3 percent of will develop a gambling problem and 1 percent of them are diagnosed as pathological gamblers.

Where can you draw the line between harmless gambling to problem gambling? How can you tell if you or your friend are compulsive gamblers? Here you can find answers to these questions and other questions regarding problem gambling and gambling addiction.

What is the Meaning of Problem Gambling?

Problem gambling or compulsive gambling is defined as an uncontrollable urge to gamble despite the destructive effect of gambling on the gamblers life and despite feelings of guilt and remorse. Problem gambling tends to have a negative effect on the gamblers financial state, relationships and daily life. Severe cases of problem gambling can be defined as pathological gambling.

Am I a Compulsive Gambler?

1) Do you gamble until your last penny runs out?

2) Do you gamble to win back your former losses or debts?

3) Did you ever had to borrow money to continue gamble?

4) Did your gambling habit ever made you lie to your friends or family?

5) Did you ever skip work or other obligation to gamble?

6) Do you tend to gamble to forget about your personal problems or to celebrate happy occasions?

7) Does gambling have a negative affect on your daily life or relationships?

If you have answered yes on at least one of the questions listed above, then you have a problem.

Can Anyone Become a Compulsive Gambler?

Theoretically, yes. Any gambler can develop gambling problem regardless to the type of gambling he is occupied with, the amount of money and time he is spending on gambling. Researches show that slot machines that can be found in bars and convenient stores are the most addictive type of gambling activity, while lottery draws and bingo games are located on the other end of the scale. Gambling addiction is an emotional problem; its symptoms, causes and treatments are similar to any other form of addiction.

How Can I treat Gambling Addiction?

1) Group Therapy:

Gamblers Anonymous offers a 12 step self help program similar to the one offered to alcohol addicts in Alcoholics Anonymous. Group therapy also offers gambling addicts advice and support from professional counselors and other gambling addicts in different phases of their recovery process. Gambler Anonymous centers are available in more than 1,200 locations statewide.

2) Individual Therapy:

Cognitive or behavior therapy can help gambling addicts to identify their unaware thinking and acting patterns, which led them to gamble compulsively, and to replace them with controllable and healthier ways of thinking.

3) Psychiatric Medication:

It has recently been proven that antidepressant medications from the family of SSRIs, selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors can be affective in treatment of gambling addicts.

How to get back in shape

Thursday, April 7th, 2011

Before starting to work out make sure you get a full physical from your doctor and a letter stating it is ok for you to do physical activity. Many gym and aerobic centers will require this before letting you start.

Depending on how long it has been since you last did regular exercise it is recommended that you start off slow and gradually build up your workout to harder levels.

It is generally recommended to start off at the gym with just the treadmill and the lifecycle for the first week or 2. This is to wake the muscles up and to slowly get you prepared for a harder workout.

You will generally want to find a speed on the treadmill that is a pace you can keep up with little discomfort and do it for 20 minutes. After this take a 5 minute break, stretch a little and have a drink of water, then go back and increase the speed just a bit then do another 20.

Remember that pushing yourself too far is taking a gamble that you may not be able to live with. In a casino you can put everything you have on the roulette table and maybe you win and maybe you lose, but in the gym if you push too hard you can die, so take things slowly.

Many people make the mistake of getting back into an exercise program and going all gung ho an trying to get back in shape in just one hour, well let me tell you this will not work. The only thing this will do is make you very sore the next day and you will not be able to workout that day, and it will make you lose interest fast in the gym. Discomfort in ok pain is not.

Depending on how long it has been since you last worked out, I recommend working out 4 or 5 days a week. This may seem like a lot but if you were trying to win a poker tournament you would go to a casino or an online casino and poker room to practice almost every day right? So you will have to do the same with the gym.

Working out 5 days a week does not necessarily mean you have to go to the gym every day. I recommend the gym 3 times a week and the other day or 2 you can just go for a long fast paced walk around your neighborhood. Try to vary the things you do so that you do not work out the same parts of your body 2 days in a row.

Most professionals will tell you that if you work out your arms and chest on a Monday do not exercise those muscles again for at least 48 hours. This is to give the muscles time to heal and grow. It is this straining and resting of the muscle that makes it grow not just the working it out. If all you did every day was work the same muscle group in a few days the muscle would be more likely to tear in a painful experience and the only thing you will be able to do for several months will be playing in an online casino from your laptop in bed.

How to Play Texas Holdem, For Beginners

Monday, April 4th, 2011

Texas Holdem is by far the most common for of poker played today due to is popularity there are even several TV shows of the game. Besides being popular texas Holdem is also the best game for a beginner to learn, the game can be learned after a few minutes and afte just a few hours of practice you can be playing fairly well against other beginners, but to really get good you must play often.

Texas Holdem is played the same way in the casino, online casinos and in your home with your pals.

Texas Holdem is played in the following manner:

1. Betting structures can vary. In Texas Holdem rarely are antes used. Most Texas Holdem games start with first two players on the dealers left placing predetermined bets. These players are called the small and large blind, and their bets are called posting the blinds.

2. Each player receives 2 cards face down. These cards are called you pocket cards and they are the only cards that are unique to you.

3. After each player is dealt their hole cards a round of betting takes place starting with the player to the left of the 2 blinds this round of betting is called the pre-flop. Just like in any other poker game a player can call raise of fold during their turn.

4. After the Pre-Flop round is over the dealer will remove the top card from the deck and discard it, this is called the Burn Card. This is done to make sure that no cheating is done. The dealer will then turn over 3 cards in the center of the table. This round is called the Flop. Any player may use any of these cards to make the best 5 card hand possible, but you are not allowed to actually touch the cards, each player can use the same cards if it help them, this is why your hole cards are so important.

5. As with the pre-flop there is now another round of betting, it is at this point you will start to see players folding.

6. After the betting is over, the dealer will burn another card, then deal the fourth of the communal cards. This card is called the Turn card

7. Again another round of betting begins and now is when you will start to see the size of the pot really grow.

8. One last time the dealer burns the top card before turning over the last card of the game, called the River card. Players now have all 5 of the communal cards and their own hole card to make the best 5 card hand.

9. One last chance is given to raise the bets or get out of the game. After this each player still in the game will show their cards. This is called the Showdown. The player with the best hand is declared the winner and wins the pot.

Now that you know the basic order of the game you are ready to start playing Texas Holdem. Holdem is a simple game to learn but if hard to master. This is the part that will take you many hand and many dollars, but if you put in the time you will be rewarded for it.

Conoce a la Realeza y Aristocracia Europea

Wednesday, February 23rd, 2011

Una de las maneras m

How to become a Vegas Showgirl

Monday, February 21st, 2011

All of the big Las Vegas casinos put on shows to attract crowds to the casino, and instead of hiring new dancers every time the change the show, they hire full time dancers and these girls are called Showgirls.

If you have ever thought about putting elaborate costumes and dancing in front of crowds every night, then becoming a Vegas Showgirl may be the job for you.

Being a Vegas Showgirl is not an easy job. You must be in top physical condition if you expect to be a professional dancer, and it is important to remember that not everyone will make it, becoming a professional dancer is a roll of the dice, you have better odds of winning an

Online Craps game then making it as a dancer.

There are several things you can do to help improve your chances of getting your carrier as a Las Vegas Casino dancer started:

Dance lessons, if you want to be a professional dancer you have to learn several different styles of dance, and dance them all well. This may be the hardest part to becoming a dancer. This part will take many years and require you to spend several hours a day every day taking dancing lessons.

Physical Conditioning, dancing requires lots of endurance and stamina. Besides the workouts you will get from all the dancing lessons you will take you will also need to work out on your own regularly. These workouts should include aerobic and some weight training.

Weight training should not be done to build muscle mass only for building strength and muscle toning. The best way to do this is by doing high repetition counts of low weights. This method will make the existing muscles stronger but will not bulk you up.

To pursue a carrier in dancing in a Vegas Casinos it is important to target the leg, stomach and back muscle groups. It is from these muscle groups that a dancer moves.

Diet, Dancers are required to be tossed around and lifted into the air, not to mention the fact that most dancers are skin tight and for these reasons dancers must always watch their weight.

Many Las Vegas Showgirls have to get on the scale every week and if they gain weight they could get thrown out of the show. Always remember there are many people that dream of dancing professionally, and the casinos will not hesitate to throw a girl out and replace her for the slightest reason.

Once you feel you are good enough you can start sending in resumes. A resume should include each different style of dance that you know and how long you have been doing it, and it should also include all prior dance experience.

A good way to get experience is to get yourself in as many different things you can. Local theater groups are a great way to gain experience. Getting a job as a dance instructor Is also a good way to gain experience and practice at the same time.

By sending your resume to all the different casinos you can greatly increase your chances of getting at least one audition. Do not expect to get hired at the more popular casinos on your first audition. The bigger Las Vegas casinos usually like to hire girls with more experience, so you will probably have to work as a showgirl at a smaller casino first.

Las Supersticiones en los Casinos

Saturday, February 12th, 2011

La mayor

Games: Which are the Easiest to Play

Tuesday, February 8th, 2011

Here is a guide to the best online games. Find yourself winning, or at least not necessary losing in the long run. The best casino games are games that have a low house edge or games where by practicing your skill you can have an advantage over the casino. Those with the lowest house edge are blackjack and video poker. By improving the skill with which you play poker and blackjack, you gain an advantage over the other player or over the casino.

House Edge:

First, here is an explanation about the term house edge. The house edge is the way the casinos create an artificial advantage over the player to ensure their profits. The advantage is created by not paying the true odds. The house edge is the gap between the true odds and the odds the casino actually pays out for a winning.

Here is an example for clarification. The true odds in an American roulette game are 37:1. However, if you place a one dollar bet, you would be paid 35 dollars instead of 37 dollars, which are the true odds. The two dollars gap between the true odds and the actual payout is the casino house edge. You can calculate American roulette house edge by dividing 2 dollars by 38. The result is 5.26 percent.

Poker:

This is an exceptional casino game. It is the only casino game where you play against the other players instead of competing against the casino. There is not a house edge in poker. Instead, most casinos ensure their profits by collecting a rake, which is a certain percentage of the pot used to cover expenses. Other casinos charge each player by the hour.

Poker is the best casino game to play if you are a skilled player. A skilled player with experience, excellent knowledge in certain game rules, smart strategy and an ability to read facial expressions would have an advantage over the less skilled poker players, especially those who rely on their good fortune.

Blackjack:

This is the only casino game where the advantage can be shifted from the player to the dealer. When you are playing blackjack and using an optimal strategy, the house edge can be lower than 0.5 percent. You can increase your odds of winning and lower the house edge by learning the strategy based on the mathematics of the game.

Another way to lower the casino advantage in blackjack is by card counting. A skilled card counter can adjust his bets and his strategy according to the proportion between high cards and low cards. Mastering card counting requires skill and practice. In addition, since casinos are not especially welcoming card counters to their blackjack tables, you should also practice your hiding skills.

Video Poker:

The resemblance between video poker and slot machine sometimes causes confusion. Nevertheless, contrasting to slot machine, video poker is a game of skill. Playing video poker using an optimal strategy can lower its house edge to less than half percent. As opposed to slot machines, in video poker machine the pay table on the front of the machine enables you to determine the expected return of the game.

For example:

1) In a 9/6 Jacks or Better video poker machine, the expected return percentage can be as high as 99.5 percent.

2) In a 8/5 Jacks or Better machine the return percentage can be 97.3 percent and 95 percent in a 6/5 Jacks or Better video poker machine.

3) In a full paying Deuces Wild machine, the expected return percentage can be 100.17 percent.

Como Ganar en el Bacara

Tuesday, February 8th, 2011

El cl

How I spent my Vacation in Amsterdam

Friday, January 7th, 2011

During the vacation I got to see many of the wonders that Amsterdam has to offer. One of the first things I went to see was the Van Gogh Museum. Having just gotten off the plane I was tired, but some of his art is just amazing to see, and I did not want to wait to see them.

After going to the museum I headed into the city center to look around, maybe do some shopping and get some food.

I had herd many things about Amsterdam and just thought that many of them were blow out of proportion, well I am here to tell you that they are all true. The first thing that hits you is the strong smell of Marijuana, and then you start to see the almost completely naked girls in the windows.

As if the prostitutes in the windows were not enough there are live sex shows and sex shops selling every imaginable sex toy known to man on every street, but this was not what interested me.

Then as I continued walking around I started to notice something besides pot, and naked females, I saw casinos.

I grew up in New Jersey, just about 2 hours from Atlantic City, and after my 18th birthday I spend a good amount of time in the casinos. So I decided to go in and check some of them out.

Well I wound up spending most of the rest of my time in those casinos. The first one I went to was Video Gaming machines only, but they had video poker, video blackjack and Video Slot machines as well, I did not really do well her in this place so I only spent about an hour, and about 100 Euro, then left.

The next place I found was a nicer place. Unlike in New Jersey, in these casinos people are dressed up in their nice clothes instead of jeans, sneakers and T-Shirts. This casino had actual table games so I tried to play some Blackjack, but there was a player at the table that either had no idea on how to play or he was somehow involved in cheating with another player, but I am inclined to think he just did not know how to play blackjack.

So I started playing at the Roulette table, and I was doing really well, at one point I was up about 400 Euro before I started losing. So I decided to leave this casino and go walking around for a while.

The next day I found myself in another casino, and I decided to see if my luck was back, I went to a slot machine and put in some money and on the third spin I won another 200 Euro, so feeling lucky I decided to enter the poker room, and that is when things got really interesting. I got into a game and boy were these guys good, but I was winning just as much as I was losing, and in the end I may have even walked away with a few Euros more then when I walked in.

After playing for about 5 hours I decided to go outside and walk around a bit to stretch my legs. I would up deciding to sit down and have a cup of coffee, but I did not know the difference between a coffee shop and a caf?.

In Amsterdam a caf? is a place to sit and have a coffee, but a coffee shop is a place to purchase and smoke Marijuana. So as I was sitting there drinking my coffee I noticed several people rolling joints. Now I have herd about this and I hade smelled plenty of pot while I was there, but I did not realize it was sold out in the open like this. So I decided to buy some pot and try it.

I went to the counter where I saw others buying their weed and the guy behind the counter was very nice and showed me a menu of what they had for sale. I wound up buying a joint of white widow. The man behind the counter told me his was very strong stuff, but I was not prepared for this.

I managed to smoke about half of the joint, before I was hit with this feeling. I have been a drinker for many years, but even in my college days I was never out of my head like this.

Eventually I managed to get out of there and get some fresh air, and some waffles. I decided, this was the time to back into the casino and win my money back, and in the end I lost another 600 Euro, and wound up falling off my chair in the casino and needed to be helped out.

So if you are going to be going to Amsterdam, be careful the grass is really strong.

How to throw a poker run

Tuesday, January 4th, 2011

My first motorcycle was a 1957 Harley Davidson. When I found the bike for sale I had no money, but I knew I needed to have this motorcycle. So I came up with a way to raise the money and throw a great party at the same time. I threw a Poker Run. The concept of the game is easy. Each person tries to make the best 5 card poker hand.

The way it is played is, each bike has to ride along a planed rout, every few miles there are checkpoints at each checkpoint along the way each bike must stop and receive a card. Along the rout there are 7 checkpoints, and at the end the rider with the best 5 card poker hand wins the prize

Over the years the poker run has been adopted to lovers of many different hobbies.

The poker run was originally an event bikers played on their Harley’s, but over the years it has been borrowed by boaters and even runners.

Throwing a poker run is fairly simple but takes time and some not to hard work. The first thing you need to do is get approval from the towns that your poker run will go thru. There may be some paperwork and fees.

You will also need to make sure that at the end of the run is at a park or event hall. Depending on where you live you may also need a permit for the park.

Next you will need riders. By figuring out how much you want to have for the prize money and how much the part after the poker ride will cost you can figure out how many riders you will need and how much the entrance fee will be, but it should be no more then $100 per bike.

The next thing you will need to do is register riders. The best way to do this is to make a website, go to biker bars and biker events in your area. If you live in New York don’t go to Daytona Bike week to sign up riders, most people will not travel that far for a poker run. Try to get locals.

After you have registered the riders you now have to plan for the party. Along with registering riders for your poker run you should also sell tickets so friends and family can join in the party after the ride is over and the poker winner is declared.

The best way to advertise the party is on a local radio station and with posters around town. The more people you can get the more money you will have for a prize and for whatever cause you are trying to raise money for.

You can either, buy your own food and get some friends to help cook or you can look in the phonebook for a caterer and you should be able to find a caterer who will throw you a great BBQ.

Then all you need to do is wait for the big day and enjoy all the bikes, poker, beef and beer.