Irish online and land-based gambling companies; often seem to have more spunk than sense when it comes to their advertising campaigns. Paddy Power is a prime example, and they have been in hot water with the ASA (Advertising Standards Authority) on more than one nail-biting occasion. Boylesport looks as though they might be next in line with their online bingo brand. While the demographic of online bingo players is certainly changing – and this game is no longer a blue-rinse-brigade following – not by a long shot. Players are becoming younger, and many winners we see are even as young as the 18 – 24 age group, this also does not mean to say – there is nary a prude amongst them.

According to eGaming Review, The Boylesports’ bingo site – Boylebingo.com is about to launch it’s first ever TV ad, which features a naked man. This operator claims it is the ‘sexiest ever’ online bingo commercial. It sees a nude male model – dressed only in a cue card advertising ‘no lose bingo’. In the ad he covers his…hmm…bingo balls with the cue card, and the slogan for this site is ‘We’ve got the biggest balls in bingo’. Make what you want of that!

Quite frankly we can’t wait to see the ad, and we are really terribly curious about what the response from the public will be. Either it will go down very well, or land crashing like a ton of bricks. What is actually more interesting however is, when a contentious advert crashes and receives a ban from the ASA, it can often do the gambling website more good than harm. In fact there are big benefits to an online gambling ad being banned; so much so, that if we didn’t pretend to know better, we might think that ‘banning’ was the actual intention. As we used to say about children back in the day; ‘bad attention is better than no attention at all’.

Generally there are two rules to follow for advertising agencies – 1. Don’t destroy the brand and 2. Make us stand out in the crowd. Often, one rule is just so tempting to break, that it actually cancels out considerations on the other. Paddy Power has worked on this advertising premise for as far back as we can remember, and 1. It has not destroyed their brand – quite the contrary in fact, and 2. It has certainly made them stand out from the crowd!

Boylesbingo is also interestingly enough an Irish brand. Do they have more spunk than sense, well this remains to be seen? We don’t for a moment think that adverse publicity will only work for paddy Power. But we also have to remember that a lot depends on the actual nature of the advert and whether it is truly offensive, or merely tongue-in-cheek. Quite honestly some ads attributed to Paddy Power have been in the ‘truly offensive’ category. Also when the ASA bans an ad for a totally stupid reason, then adverse publicity is great, because there is usually a public outcry about how stupid the ASA is.

Macau is become more famous by the day; this Chinese Island City is the only legal jurisdiction for gambling for the whole of mainland China. As the Asian race loves a flutter traditionally, Macau sees millions of visitors, who come just for the gambling, but not only from Mainland China. The growth of the gambling industry on this previous Portuguese colony is so huge that both the Macau and Chinese Governments have had to put measures in place to create a position of negative growth. They have done this by no longer selling land to gambling concerns, this has to be put out to Government Tender, and they have restricted visa applications from mainland China. This has not stopped growth however, and Macau has also become famous for local nosebleed poker games. The spend in this remarkable gambling game Mecca is $4 to every $1 spent in Las Vegas.

Needless to say Macau attracts many poker players and it is a stop on the PokerStars Tournament schedule. The schedule has been announced for this year and it gets underway on February 21^st, 2011. The tournament made its debut five years ago at the Grand Lisboa Casino Bet and took the form of a no-limit Texas Hold ‘em. This made the Grand Lisboa Casino a World-leader in poker provision and they are home to the largest poker room in the whole of Continental Asia.

The first event to get underway will be the Macau Poker Cup which is played in Hong Kong Dollars, with buy-in of HKD $1,000. This is a charity event so the buy-in is pretty low if you compare it to the main even – the Red Dragon Main Event and a buy-in which has been increased to HKD $11,000. The fact that there is a guaranteed prize pot of HKD $3 million justifies the huge size of the buy-in. Thereafter the Macau Millions kicks off in April, with the Macau Poker Cup Finale taking place during October. The last poker event held this year in Macau is the November scheduled, Asia Pacific Poker Tour Macau which returns for its 5th installment.

John Juanda, Tom “Durrr” Dwan and Phil Ivey are some of the poker pros expected to appear in these tournaments and they are in fact responsible to a degree for the state of high stakes games in Macau – their high stakes gambling drives up the price. However when it comes to the true nosebleed poker games, these are generally requested and organized by local and visiting businessmen; poker pros actually have a hard time getting into these games.

The February launch of the Macau Poker Cup will be introducing a few subtle changes, although it is still a no-limit Texas Hold ‘em event. Macau, being what it is, these changes will see even richer events taking place in order to cater for the large stacks of many Asian Players. They are looking at a starting stack of something like HKD $15,000, Asian poker players have increasingly sophisticated tastes in the nosebleed poker genre.

Mary is a woman who was living in the North of England and she was married to a charming husband. She had 3 kids with him. At her wedding, his parents in law offered her a beautiful house for her and her husband and probably for the future grand children.

And, one day, the mother in law of Mary died. His father in law couldn’t accept it as he couldn’t accept when one of his sons died in a car accident. Someone has to take care of this man. She was the only person able to take of him and she was living close to his place. She accepted the deal and received his father in law at home in the spare room. The father of his husband was a rich man. He saves a lot of money from his job and his different activities such as cider production and rabbit breeding. The family couldn’t afford for him because the husband of Mary was the only person who was working in the family. Mary was a housewife. So, the grand father gave his procuration of his bank account to her to afford for himself because he started to be unable to take a decision or sign a cheque. But, something that no one knew about her it was the fact that she was addicted to gambling game or for sure she liked them a lot.

Then she started to take money from the account of his father in law and playing money with it at the casino. She played a lot of blackjack, roulette parties with this money. Her husband was also playing at the casino with her. She was a woman with a lot of character and she could convince him quickly. And of course one day, the grand pa died. The bank stopped the procuration but it was too late. She spent all of it and the account was already negative. Through that, the children of his brother in law didn’t receive any money from their grandfather and she went to jail with his husband for 6 months for abusing of a sick person.

Today, she is divorced and her children don’t talk anymore to her. She lost everything and probably is a good lesson for her but she destroyed a family as well. Maybe she merited it but I don’t think that the rest of the family merited that. So, if you know someone addicted like her to gambling game, denounce them and you will probably save a family. An addict person can lose everything when they are addict and they can also lose their saving money. It is an illness and, some doctors can treat them. So don’t hesitate and tell us if you know someone with the same problem.

The main difference between Superstack Tournaments and normal poker tournaments is the amount of chips the player is allowed to start with. For example they may allow you 5000 – 7500 starting chips as apposed to a normal amount of 1500 – 3000 and the thing about this is it allows players to practice with much higher buy-in tournaments. They may be referred to at a poker site by the symbols “SS”in the poker lobby and often have very high guaranteed prizes.

In the majority, these are also multi-table tournaments and the general consensus is that 1500 – 3000 chips is the maximum. By allowing more starting chips in the Super Stack, players see more hands, and this makes for a longer tournament. So be prepared to play for a long period of time. The biggest benefit is that players are able to wait for better starting hands and this sees some pretty dynamic poker play.

Aggressive players are able to take advantage of tight tables players and blinds start at 10/20 or possibly 15/30. These increase on average every twelve to fifteen minutes and tight poker players love this kind of game. It creates a win-win situation for them ,and with doing very little damage to their stack they are able to virtually fold every hand for a whole hour if they so choose.
If the blind increase approximately every 15 minutes, by the time an hour is up they will be at about 50/100, and with a stack of 5 000 this means the player still has about 40+ big blinds left.

This is still plenty of chips to work with to get some quality starting hands. In the case of a Turbo Sit ‘n Go this certainly wouldn’t be the case. Tight players like to wait for a good starting hand, before their game really gets going. If waiting on a strong hand is the kind of poker you play, this kind of tournament will be ideal, but beware the aggressive player.

Playing tight early has a specific strategy because the player can take some small prize pots by playing various hands, while they wait on Aces or Kings to fall. When this happens the game changes for them. Unfortunately they do also become a target for the aggressive player who plays every hand they can, they will also generally know when the tight player is sitting on Aces or Kings. With a Super Stack the tight player will not go broke as easily with Aces and Kings as they would with a Sit ‘n Go tournament.

Finding the right tournament fit is very important and obviously the style of poker you play is relevant. Consider your options in a Super Stack, will you play tight or will you play aggressively, whichever makes you most comfortable. At least with a Super Stack tournament you have the choice to play tight if you like. Don’t be surprised however if you do land up calling an aggressive opponent a “donkey” or some other suitable insult, if they snatch the pot from under your nose.

So many different variants of poker are available these days that the demand for different games to improve skill and increase experience is also high. This has lead to a new trend in poker tournaments and these are called mixed games.

Names, or acronyms such as HORSE, HEROS, HOSE and HOE, is the way in which these tournaments are described. It is this name which tells us what games will be played in a specific tournament, and in what order. Once you know what game each letter stands for it is simple to know what game to expect. It’s simple, like playing connect the dots!

Poker Stars and Full Tilt Poker regularly offer these mixed poker variants and in 2010, 7 new mixed poker variations were added to these sites. The year is yet young and we can only assume that even more variants will be added over time.

H.O.R.S.E is the most popularly played by far and this is a series of games which commences with Texas Hold’em (H), Omaha Hi Lo (O), Razz Poker (R), Seven Card stud (S) and Seven Card stud Hi Lo (E). Why Seven Card stud Hi Lo is referred to as “E” we have no idea, it must be to differentiate between Seven Card stud.

From this we gather that HEROS, it Holdem, Seven Card stud Hi Lo, Razz, Omaha and Seven Card stud, you should be able to decipher yourself what HOSE and HOE mixed games are composed of.

8 Game Mix Poker is also a new combination of every popular variant of poker played widely today and was first introduced some time in 2009. Its popularity has become pretty phenomenal and it is about the number two or three most widely played mixed poker variant. Poker Stars hosts one of these tournament every Sunday and this is a $5000 GTD. Apparently this is also the most difficult mix to master or play and one of the featured games is “27 Triple Draw”

27 Triple Draw stands out from the crowd, but have you heard of this game? Probably not unless you are a WSOP follower! Very few players know how to play either. In the 8 Game Mix Poker at Poker Stars the games are played for 6 hands each and blinds are adjusted for a consistent game. The game rotation is:

T – FL 2-7 Triple Draw
H – FL Hold’em
O – FL Omaha H/L
R – FL Razz
S – FL 7 Card Stud
E – 7 Card Stud H/L
H – NL Hold’em
A – PL Omaha

It sure looks complicated enough to me, what about you?
Mixed games also include 7 Game Poker and these are popular as sit ‘n goes. There is HA Poker, which is a pretty common mix, “Rush Poker” for action junkies, Mixed Hold ‘em, Mixed Omaha Hi Lo, HOSE, HOE,  O, PLH/PLO, OE, OA and SE Poker as well as others. Sites are continually developing new variations and new games so keep up to date with these if you intend becoming a winning poker player.

Way before Omaha and Texas Hold ‘em became the most popular poker games played, 7 Card Stud was the name of the game. It was the biggest game in Vegas in fact, until Doyle and his friends decided to shake things up out there and storm the dessert with Hold ‘em.

Playing this game as a beginner means there are going to be some typical mistakes which will be made. Learning to avoid these mistakes before you make them, or recognize them once you have, puts you one step ahead of the pack. 7 Card Stud Poker is still popularly played as a game in casinos, in online casinos and is often one of the many game played as part of a tournament. So it is necessary to know how to play the game with some skill.

Remember whenever we make mistakes we are supposed to learn from them. Failure is not one cataclysmic event it is when you make the same mistakes over, and over and over again.

It is a very valuable skill to be selective about your starting hands when you play 7 Card Stud. Playing too many starting hands can compound mistakes in later betting rounds. All experts agree that the fewer hands you play, or if you like, the more selective you are about starting hands, the better your game will be.

Starting out with nothing and continuing to play generally leads you to a hand you should never have had anything to do with in any case, so fold ‘em if they are not worthwhile. Every chip you put in the pile is costing you money, and in the long term this can prove to be costly.

Its is deciding which hands to play which is the most difficult decision but there are a number of factors which may be taken into account to guide you:

1.Is the table tight or loose?
2.Which cards are out?
3.How many other players have paid into the pot when your turn comes?
4.How many players at the table?
5.Has there been a raise and from what position and player?
6.What your position in relation to the raiser is?

Points two and three (I) are the most important considerations. This is what will help you make the best decision to fold. If all the cards out are small this may not justify either a raise or a call so it is simply best to throw away the cards on third street – even if you hold a J-J-7. However this hand can be played in a short handed ante-steal position.

Your starting hand has to be live, and if this is the case even weak pairs, straights and flushes can be strong. Your hand is live if Jacks and sevens are in, but if these cards are out, your hand is generally as dead as a doornail. Good starting hands includes three of a kind, big pairs – in particular when a pair is hidden, big suited connectors, big suited semi connectors, medium pairs and even medium suited connectors.