Starting A Playing Cards Collection Can Be Enjoyable

• Author: Adam Ghilli
• Filed under: Poker
• Date: Jan 31,2011

Studies show that roughly over one million people that reside in the world today, have some sort of collection that they choose to keep. Some individuals are interested in collecting beautiful items such as art pieces, while other people may be interested in collecting stamps, coins or even playing cards. The individuals that elect to collect game cards, generally pick up this habit because they appreciate the craftsmanship that goes into creating these cardboard pieces.

There are a lot of people that own these types of items, however not all people that have a few of these items in their possession are avid collectors. The good news is if you decide to collect these products, it is not a difficult task to complete.

Now, before you can begin purchasing different types of items to add to your present collection it is important that you consider the types of cards that you want your collection to consist of. There are a lot of collectors that will choose to implement a theme with some of the items that they collect. Some common themes include items that are connected to a particular movie, television show, or items that show a particular picture on their external surface.

Although most people will begin collecting items that are based around a particular theme, you are not restricted to the theme that you select. There are a lot of people that begin their collecting tasks by only accumulating items that fit into their theme. Most of these people, will later branch out to other themes that interest them. It is important to have a theme for your collection, so it can make your collection tasks seem worthwhile.

Most people believe that in order to collect a certain item or product that they have to invest all of their money into this one simple task. Contrary to popular belief, you do not have to be a self proclaimed millionaire in order to have a product of large magnitude.

When it comes to starting your collection it is crucial that you identify a theme and an item that interests you. If you decide one day that you want to start collection something, but are unsure of what you will soon find out that your collection tasks will go in vain. There are a lot of people that decide to begin collecting certain items on a whim and then quickly grow tired of the items that they decided to purchase.

Aside from deciding upon the types of items to collect, if you are going to elect to collect playing cards it is important that you can gauge the condition that your items are in. There are five different categories that your items can fall into.

These categories are used to describe the actual condition of the item that you have on hand. Some people may describe the items that they have in their possession as something that if of mint condition, poor condition, excellent condition or good condition. Obviously, the condition of the item that you collect will add to the face value of the item in question.

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Interesting Hand Names In Holdem Poker

• Author: Clementine Gaillou
• Filed under: Poker
• Date: Sep 14,2010

Texas Holdem Poker has a colourful history. Billions of hands have been played and many a jovial situation has occurred at the poker table. Most of the hands in poker have acquired a nickname or two over the years, some are colourful and ugly, otherwise are humourous and witty.

The most powerful hand before the flop in Texas Holdem Poker is two Aces. Subsequently they generate the most excitement and colourful names. The most common names for two Aces are Rockets, Pocket Rockets, and Bullets (for obvious reasons). They are named after several famous people and organisations with initials starting with the letter “A” including Alan Alda, Albert Anastasia, and American Airlines. They are also known as numerous pointy and sharp objects including Rocky Mountains, Sticks, Teepees and Two Pips. A few obscure references include Squirrel (the nuts) and Batteries (Double A). Individual names for a single Ace include Bull, Bullet, Death Card (spades), Mastercard, One Spot, Puppy Foot (clubs), Seed, Sharp Top, Spike and Tax Card (spades).

Two kings are another strong hand preflop in holdem and are commonly known as Cowboys. Another name is Butchers of Baghdad (so named in reference to Saddam Hussein on the Iraqi most wanted playing cards). Alliterations of KK include Krispy Kreme and King Kong (and also Gorillas, Gorillas in the Mist). Ace Magnets is common because an Ace always comes on the flop. A King is also known as David (spades), Julius Caesar or One eyed king (diamonds), K-Boy, Monarch, Sergeant, Alexander (clubs), Charlemagne or Charles (hearts). Another fitting term for this hand is The Elvis Presley (The King of Rock n Roll).

Queens often have nasty nicknames, partly because of the number of times they are beaten by Aces and Kings, but also through reference to homosexuality. Some nicer terms include Lovely Ladies, Ladies, Calamity Jane (likely extensive of Cowboys for KK) and Snowshoes (resemblance to the original shape of snowshoes). Crude nicknames include Siegfried and Roy and B***hes.

Smaller pairs such as Jacks to Twos all have a few nicknames. Jacks are known as Hooks or Fish-hooks. Less known names include Kid Dyne-o-mite (TV show reference), Brothers, Jay Birds, John Juanda (Poker Player) and finally Colostomy Bag (Jack is slang for toilet). Two Tens are Two Dimes, TNT, Dynamite and Binary (In Binary 1010 is the equivalent of 10). Nines are known as Barbara Feldon (Get Smart- Agent 99), Phil Helmuth, Popeye and Wayne Gretzky (Hockey Player). Eights are snowmen, Piano Keys, Little Oldsmobile, Racetracks, Two Fat Ladies, Lacey, Pretzels, and Wurlitzer. A couple of Sevens are known as axes, mullets, hockey sticks or walking sticks. Two sixes are known as Boots, Cherries, or Kicks (On Route 66). A pair of Fives are Presto, Snakes or Speed Limit, while a pair of Fours are Canadian Presto, Dark Force, Darth Vader, Magnum and Sail boats. A Pair of three is either known as crabs (claw shaped like the number 3) or treys and a pair of Twos is usually Deuces, Ducks, or Quack Quack (shaped like a duck).

Other hands with nicknames include the powerful Ace and King combination known as Big Slick. Other names include backronyms such as Korean Airlines and King Arthur, as well as the aptly named Anna Kournikova (looks good but seldom wins). Another common reference is Kalashnikov (who designed the AK47). Ace-Queen is known as Big Chick or Mrs Slick. Other notable hands include Jack-Four (Flat Tire) and J6 (Rail Road). A Ten and a Deuce is a famous hand known as the Doyle Brunson after he successful won two World Series of Poker bracelets.

The complete list of starting hand nicknames is by far more extensive than this article. Additionally there are alot of names not appropriate for everyday reading. If you have an interest in other poker starting hand nicknames I recommended search Wikipedia for an extensive list of common names and some of the stories about how they came about.

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Online Poker Bankroll Basics: Strategies To Protect Your Bankroll

• Author: Maurice Plante
• Filed under: Poker
• Date: Sep 8,2010

Bankroll management is an often overlooked but extremely important aspects of poker. Bankroll management is fundamental to winning at poker, both live and online. It is an essential part of being a solid poker player and if not done correctly can have massive consequences on your actual game play and psychological well being. The article aims to provide a short guide to good bankroll management and give a few tips regarding trouble areas and common mistakes that you can avoid.

Variance is a common occurrence in poker and can be defined as the difference between your short term results and long term expectation. It includes both upswings and downswings. The upswings we don’t mind so much, but it’s the downswings that really hurt. Even when you get your money in with the best hand before the flop, you might only be a 80% favourite to win the hand. 20% of the time you will lose. In games such as Omaha, people go all in with hands that are often only 55% to 45% favourite and consequently, variance goes up. It is not unheard of for downswings of over 100 buy-ins below equity. This can have significant effects on your bankroll if you don’t have enough money to buffer these losses. As a rule, you should try and have at least 20 buy-ins if you are playing at one table of a standard game such as Texas Holdem. If you are multi-tabling, then this number needs to increase dramatically. If you follow this rule of including a buffer in your bankroll, you can avoid on the simplest and stupidest mistakes that adds unnecessary pressure and disadvantages in poker.

Keeping most of your bankroll at the table is suicide. The money starts to have more meaning and the biggest effect of this is that you may start making bad decisions in order to protect this dwindling bankroll. This often includes passing up on opportunities that have positive expected value, for example a situation where you are 60% to win the hand, you might fold and thus in doing so make a mistake. The opposite is sometimes true in that when you get down to your last few buy-ins, you make try to double up or go bust, and take unnecessary risks including getting your money in with the worst of it. You should always play with money you can afford to lose. If you play with money that is borrowed, or is in other ways required food or utilities then this is a disaster waiting to happen.

Another recommendation is to have your bankroll in a financial institution that is completely separate to the actual poker site that you are planning to play at. Keeping money in a poker site earns no interest for you, it runs the risk of being lost in a single drunken session and also if your account details are ever hacked or stolen. I recommend having only 20 buy-ins at the poker site you are playing, and the rest in a secure bank account, preferably with interest, that is easily accessible. One could also spread the money across several banks and poker websites so as never to keep your eggs all in one basket.

Having a pre-set amount such as a stop-loss is a useful idea. If you were to lose 3 buy-ins, then you quit the session and try again tomorrow. Similarly, if you win 5 buy-ins then you can also quit the session. Trying to maintain regular withdrawals are reasonable as well always trying to keep the same amount of 20 buy-ins at the poker website. Another method often used involves playing at the one level until you reach a set amount, for example 100 buy-ins, then move up to a higher stakes level, cash out all but 20 buy-ins and repeat. It is a clever technique for trying to move up in stakes. Alternatively the opposite is also true, if you are at a level and fall below 20 buy-ins, drop down to the lesser stakes and try and build your stack up again.

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