Organized gambling on horse races has returned to mainland China for the first time since the ruling Communist Party seized power in 1949, state media reported.

In poker, the nut hand, or just the nuts, is the strongest hand possible in any particular situation. The term applies mostly to community card poker games to mean the individual holding that makes the strongest hand possible with the given board of community cards. By extension, the term is used more loosely to refer to any very strong hand.For example in Texas hold ‘em, if the board is ♠ 6♠ A♣ 9♠ 5♥, a player holding

♠ 8♠ has the nuts (a -high straight flush in spades), and cannot lose. Sometimes it is useful to know that your hand is the second or third best possible. On this same board, the hand ♣ 5♦ would be the second-nut hand, four fives; and the third-nut hand would be any pair of the remaining three aces, making a full house A-A-A-5-5.

In high-low split games one often speaks of “nut low” and “nut high” hands separately. With an Omaha board identical to the one above, any hand with

Finally, one also hears terms such as “nut flush” or “nut full house” to mean the highest hand possible in that particular category in the circumstances, even though that may not be strictly the nut hand. For example, a pair of aces with the above board could be called the “nut full house”, even though there are two higher (but very unlikely) hands possible.

The phrase originates from the historical poker games in the colonial west of America. If one bet to the sum of everything he possessed, he would place the “nuts” of his wagon wheels on the table. Most likely, this was to ensure that, should the wagerer lose the hand, he would be unable to flee and would have to make good on the bet. Obviously, to make such a bet one would need to be sure that he has the best possible hand.

There is also a possibility of having a nut losing hand (a hand that will lose to anything). For example, this occurs when the board has four of a kind and a deuce. In this situation, if you hold pocket 2′s, there is no possibility of this hand winning a showdown with any other hand, as any opponent must have a better kicker than you.

This guide is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia.

Video: Hand Two – Individual Hand Tutorials

Bidding systems and conventions

Much complexity in bridge arises from the difficulty of successfully arriving at a good final contract in the auction. This is a fundamentally difficult problem: the two players in a partnership must try to communicate enough information about their hands to ultimately arrive at a makeable contract, but the information they can exchange is restricted in two ways:

• Information may only be passed by the calls made and later by the cards played, and not by any other means.
• The agreed-upon meaning of all information passed must be available to the opponents.

A bidding system is the typical solution to this problem: each player evaluates his or her own hand and makes bids to give or request information from their partner, with the goal of eventually arriving at an ideal contract. Bids, doubles, redoubles, and even passes can be either natural or conventional. A natural bid is a proposal to reach a contract in the named suit. A conventional bid is an attempt to communicate, offering and/or asking for information about the partnerships’ hands, that is not intended to be a proposal for the final contract. A wide variety of bidding systems have been developed over the course of the 20th century. However, most modern systems have well-established common ground.

First of all, a fairly universal system of high card points is used to give a basic evaluation of the strength of a hand. Aces are counted as 4 points, kings as 3, queens as 2, and jacks as 1 point; therefore, the deck contains 40 points. 26 points shared between partners is considered sufficient for a partnership to bid, and make, game in a major or in no trump. In addition, the distribution of the cards in a hand into suits may also contribute to the strength of a hand and be counted as distribution points. Because 26 points is usually considered sufficient to make game, 13 points in one hand is considered sufficient to open the bidding (that is, make the first bid in the auction), by bidding 1 of a suit.

A one no trump opening bid usually reflects a hand that has relatively balanced suits and high cards, and usually refers to a hand with 15-17 high card points. In some systems the number of points expected from a 1NT opening bid changes, but it almost always refers to a relatively narrow range of points.

Opening bids of 2 or higher are reserved for two types of bids: unusually strong bids and preemptive bids. Unusually strong bids communicate an especially high number of points; the availability of unusually strong bids allows a player with a weak hand to safely pass when their partner opens the bidding at one of a suit. Preemptive bids are often made with weak hands that especially favor a particular suit. For instance, with a hand of ♠ AK98742 ♥ 73 ♦ 42 ♣ 76, an opening bid of 3♠ is a very reasonable sacrificial bid, designed to make it difficult for the opposing team to determine a contract for themselves (which is good here, since they are likely to have the bulk of the points).

Most systems include the weak two bid convention, in which opening bids of 2♥, 2♦, or 2♠ are reserved for preemptive bids, while 2♣ is used for very strong hands. This is a first example of a conventional bid: an opening bid of 2♣ in no way suggests 2♣ as a final contract: indeed, in these systems 2♣ may be bid without any clubs.

Another common convention is the 5-card major convention, in which an opening bid of 1♥ or 1♠ promises at least 5 cards in that suit. This leads to some awkward bids, for instance, when a player has four cards in each major, and is forced to open the bidding with 1 of a 3-card minor suit.

Doubles are sometimes used in bidding conventions. A natural, or penalty double, is one used to try to gain extra points when the defenders are confident of setting (defeating) the contract. The most common example of a conventional double is the takeout double of a low-level bid, implying support for the unbid suits and asking partner to choose one of them.

There are many other conventions. Some of the most famous are Stayman, Jacoby transfers and Blackwood.

Bidding systems depart from these basic ideas in varying degrees. Standard American, for instance, is a collection of conventions designed to bolster the accuracy and power of these basic ideas, while Precision Club is a highly conventional system that uses the 1♣ opening bid for strong hands (but sets the threshold rather lower than most other systems) and requires many other changes in order to handle other situations. Many experts today use a system called 2/1 game forcing. In the UK, Acol is the standard system. There are even a variety of techniques used for hand evaluation. The most basic is the Milton Work point count, but this is sometimes augmented by other guidelines such as losing trick count, law of total tricks or Zar Points.

This guide is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia.

November was another downward slide for gambling stocks. Read comments

Online casinos, also known as virtual casinos or internet casinos, are online versions of traditional (“brick and mortar”) casinos. Online casinos enable gamblers to play and wager on casino games through the Internet.Online casinos generally offer odds and payback percentages that are comparable to land-based casinos. Some online casinos claim higher payback percentages for slot machine games, and some publish payout percentage audits on their websites. Assuming that the online casino is using an appropriately programmed random number generator, table games like blackjack have an established house edge. The payout percentage for these games are established by the rules of the game.

Reliability and trust issues are commonplace and often questioned. Many online casinos lease or purchase their software from well-known companies like Wager Works, Microgaming, Realtime Gaming, Playtech and Cryptologic in an attempt to “piggyback” their reputation on the software manufacturer’s credibility. These software companies either use or claim to use random number generators to ensure that the numbers, cards or dice appear randomly.

This guide is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia.

Video: Poker Room Review and Online Casinos to Avoid

Koronadal City — Waay nakapalag ang duha ka ginasuspetsahan nga mga “usher” sang last two sang pangdakpon ini sila sang mga polis sa ginpatigayon nga ronda nila kontra sa illegal gambling dire sa siyudad.

Nov. 28 (Bloomberg) — For at least five years the gambling industry has touted mobile gambling as the next big thing. Revenue from people playing poker, roulette, blackjack or betting on sports on their cell phones would be huge within 12 months, industry analysts claimed.

A♦ K♦ Q♦ 10♦ 8♦

Non-standard poker hands are hands which are not recognized by official poker rules but are created by house rules. Non-standard hands usually appear in games using wild cards or bugs. Other terms for nonstandard hands are special hands or freak hands. Because the hands are defined by house rules, the composition and ranking of these hands is subject to variation. Any player participating in a game with non-standard hands should be sure to determine the exact rules of the game before play begins.The usual hierarchy of poker hands from highest to lowest runs as follows (standard poker hands are in italics):

• Five of a kind: Five cards of the same rank, only possible using one or more wild cards.
• Skeet flush: The same cards as a skeet and all in the same suit.
• Straight flush: The highest straight flush, A-K-Q-J-10 suited, is also called a royal flush.
• Four of a kind: Between two equal sets of four of a kind (possible in wild card and community card poker games), the kicker determines the winner.
• Big bobtail: A four card straight flush (four cards of the same suit in consecutive order).
• Full house
• Flush: When wild cards are used, a wild card contained in a flush is considered to be of the highest rank not already present in the hand. For example, in the hand (Wild) 10♥ 8♥ 5♥ 4♥, the wild card plays as the A♥, but in the hand A♣ K♣ (Wild) 9♣ 6♣, it plays as the Q♣. A variation is the double-ace flush rule, in which a wild card in a flush always plays as an ace, even if one is already present. In such a game, the hand A♠ (Wild) 9♠ 5♠ 2♠ would defeat A♦ K♦ Q♦ 10♦ 8♦ (the wild card playing as an imaginary second A♠), whereas by the standard rules it would lose (because even with the wild card playing as a K♠, the latter hand’s Q♦ outranks the former’s ♠).
• Big cat: See cats and dogs below.
• Little cat: See cats and dogs below.
• Big dog: See cats and dogs below.
• Little dog: See cats and dogs below.
• Straight: When wild cards are used, the wild card becomes whichever rank is necessary to complete the straight. If two different ranks would complete a straight, it becomes the higher. For example, in the hand J♦ 10♠ 9♣ (Wild) 7♠, the wild card plays as an (of any suit; it doesn’t matter). In the hand (Wild) 6♥ 5♦ 4♥ 3♦, it plays as a
• (even though a would also make a straight).
• Wheel: The sequence 5-4-3-2-A. This could technically be considered a round-the-corner straight, but is frequently played even if other round-the-corner straights are not allowed, particularly in pai gow poker. When wheels are recognized as distinct from round-the-corner straights, they are ranked as straights: in most games they are considered five-high, and thus the lowest possible straights, but in pai gow poker they rank between king-high and ace-high straights.
• Wrap-around straight: Also called round-the-corner straight. Consecutive cards including an ace which counts as both the high and low card. (Example Q-K-A-2-3).
• Skip straight: Also called alternate straight, Dutch straight, or skipper. Cards are in consecutive order, skipping every other card. (Example 3-5-7-9-J).
• Five and dime: All cards are fives, sixes, sevens, eights, nines, or tens with no pair.
• Skeet: Also called pelter or bracket. A hand with a deuce; a three or a four; a five; a six, a seven, or an eight; and a nine.
• Three of a kind
• Little bobtail: A three card straight flush (three cards of the same suit in consecutive order).
• Flash: One card of each suit plus a joker.
• Blaze: Also called blazer. All cards are jacks, queens, or kings.
• Two pair
• Russ: Five cards of the same color.
• Bobtail flush: Also called four flush. Four cards of the same suit.
• Flush house: Three cards of one suit and two cards of another.
• Bobtail straight: Also called four straight. Four cards in consecutive order.
• One pair
• High card

Some poker games are played with a deck that has been stripped of certain cards, usually low-ranking ones. For example, the Australian game of Manila uses a 32-card deck in which all cards below the rank of 7 are removed, and Mexican stud removes the s, s, and s. In both of these games, a flush ranks above a full house, because having fewer cards of each suit available makes full houses more common.

Cats and dogs

“Cats” (or “tigers”) and “dogs” are types of no-pair hands defined by their highest and lowest cards. The remaining three cards are kickers. Dogs and cats rank above straights and below flushes. Usually, when cats and dogs are played, they are the only unconventional hands allowed.

• Little dog: Seven high, two low (for example, 7-6-4-3-2). It ranks just above a straight, and below a flush or any other cat or dog.
• Big dog: Ace high, nine low (for example, A-K-J-10-9). Ranks above a straight or little dog, and below a flush or cat.
• Little cat (or little tiger): Eight high, three low. Ranks above a straight or any dog, but below a flush or big cat.
• Big cat (or big tiger): King high, eight low. It ranks just below a flush, and above a straight or any other cat or dog.

Some play that dog or cat flushes beat a straight flush, under the reasoning that a plain dog or cat beats a plain straight. This makes the big cat flush the highest hand in the game.

Kilters

A Kilter, also called Kelter, is a generic term for a number of different non-standard hands. Depending on house rules, a Kilter may be a Skeet, a Little Cat, a Skip Straight, or some variation of one of these hands.

This guide is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia.

Video: Poker Hands – Initial Guide

Mr. Grevemberg, a former state police superintendent, led a sledgehammer-swinging crackdown against illegal gambling in Louisiana in the 1950s.

At its core, bridge is a game of skill played with randomly dealt cards, which makes each deal a game of chance. Despite this, chance can be largely eliminated by comparing pairs’ results in identical situations. This is achievable when there are eight or more players, sitting at several tables, and the deals from each table are preserved and passed to the next table, thereby duplicating them for another 4 (or more) participants to play. At the end of a competition, the scores for each deal are compared against each other, and most points are awarded to the players doing the best with each particular deal. This measures skill despite the initial chance of the deal.

This form of the game is referred to as duplicate bridge and is played in tournaments, which can gather as many as several hundred players. Duplicate bridge is a mind sport, and its popularity gradually became comparable to that of chess, which it is often compared with for its complexity and mental skills required for high-level competition.

The basic premise of duplicate bridge was occasionally used for whist matches, as early as 1857. For some reason, duplicate was not thought to be suitable for bridge, and so it wasn’t until the 1920s that (auction) bridge tournaments became popular.

In 1925 when contract bridge first evolved, bridge tournaments were becoming popular, but the rules were somewhat in flux, and several different organizing bodies were involved in tournament sponsorship: the American Bridge League (formerly the American Auction Bridge League, which changed its name in 1929), the American Whist League, and the United States Bridge Federation. In 1935, the first officially recognized world championship was held. By 1937, however, the American Contract Bridge League had come to power (a union of the ABL and the USBF), and it remains the principal organizing body for bridge tournaments in North America. In 1958, the World Bridge Federation was founded, as bridge had become an international activity.

Today, the ACBL has over 160,000 members and runs 1100 tournaments per year with 3200 officially-associated bridge clubs.

Bidding boxes and bidding screens

In tournaments, “bidding boxes” are frequently used. A bidding box is a box of cards, each bearing the name of one of the legal calls in bridge. A player wishing to make a call displays the appropriate card from the box, rather than making a verbal declaration. This prevents unauthorized information from being conveyed via voice inflection. In top national and international events, “bidding screens” are used. These are diagonal screens which are placed across the table, preventing a player from seeing his partner during the game.

Important Bridge Players

Giorgio Belladonna 
Easley Blackwood Sr. 
Norberto Bocchi 
Ely Culbertson 
Giorgio Duboin 
Benito Garozzo 
Charles Goren 
Bob Hamman 
Oswald Jacoby 
Jeff Meckstroth 
Terence Reese 
Eric Rodwell 
Omar Sharif 
Helen Sobel Smith 
Samuel Stayman

This guide is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia.

Video: Junior Nationals 2008 Mumbai

INDIANAPOLIS, Nov. 26 (UPI) — An Indiana appellate court has rejected the attempt of a former gambling boat worker to win compensation under federal maritime law for flea bites.

Charleston Sen. Robert Ford says making video gambling legal again in South Carolina and other forms of gambling could ease the state’s budget problems. The Post and Courier of Charleston reported Tuesday that Ford said video poker and other gambling could raise $700 million for the state. South Carolina banned video gambling in July 2000. The state operates a lottery that provides money for …

Fan-Tan, or fantan (Simplified Chinese: 番摊; Traditional Chinese: 番攤; pinyin: fāntān) is a form of gambling long played in China and among Chinese immigrants to America and other countries.

History

Fan-tan is no longer as popular as it once was, having been replaced by modern casino games, and other traditional Chinese games such as Mah Jong and Pai Gow. However, it was once a favorite pastime of the Chinese in America. Jacob Riis, in his famous book about the underbelly of New York, How the Other Half Lives (1890), wrote of entering a Chinatown fan-tan parlor: “At the first foot-fall of leather soles on the steps the hum of talk ceases, and the group of celestials, crouching over their game of fan tan, stop playing and watch the comer with ugly looks. Fan tan is their ruling passion.”

San Francisco’s large Chinatown was also home to dozens of fan-tan houses in the 19th century. The city’s former police commissioner Jesse B. Cook wrote that in 1889 Chinatown had 50 fan-tan games, and that “in the 50 fan tan gambling houses the tables numbered from one to 24, according to the size of the room.”

Fan-tan is still played at Macau casinos, where play goes on day and night, every day of the week, and bets can be made from 5 cents to 500 dollars.

The game

The game is simple. A square is marked in the centre of an ordinary table, or a square piece of metal is laid on it, the sides being marked 1, 2, 3 and 4. The banker puts on the table a double handful of small buttons, beads, coins, dried beans, or similar articles, which he covers with a metal bowl, or “tan koi”.

The players then bet on the numbers, setting their stakes on the side of the square which bears the number selected. (Players can also bet on the corners, for example between No. 2 and No. 3). When all bets are placed, the bowl is removed, and the “tan kun” or croupier uses a small bamboo stick to remove the buttons from the heap, four at a time, until the final batch is reached. If it contains four buttons, the backer of No. 4 wins; if three, the backer of No. 3 wins, and so on.

A 25% commission is deducted from the stake by the banker, and the winner receives five times the amount of his stake thus reduced.

The Card Game Fantan

Fantan is also the name of a card game, played with an ordinary pack, by any number of players up to eight. The, deal decided, the cards are dealt singly, any that are left over forming a stock, and being placed face downwards on the table. Each player contributes a fixed stake or ante. The first player can enter if he has an ace; if he has not he pays an ante and takes a card from the stock; the second player is then called upon and acts similarly till an ace is played. This (and the other aces when played) is put face upwards on the table, and the piles are built up from the ace to the king. The pool goes to the player who first gets rid of all his cards. If a player fails to play, having a playable card, he is fined the amount of the ante for every card in the other players hands.

The card game Sevens is also sometimes called ‘Fan Tan’

Links

• Fan-Tan history
• Picture of a Fan-Tan set

References

• This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.

This guide is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia.

Published: Tuesday, November 25, 2008 at 9:35 a.m. Last Modified: Tuesday, November 25, 2008 at 9:36 a.m. CHARLESTON — Charleston Sen. Robert Ford says making video gambling legal again in South Carolina and other forms of gambling could ease the state’s budget problems.

PORTLAND — A Portland man who pleaded guilty to two counts of promoting professional gambling avoided felony convictions but was fined $10,000.

There are good and bad aspects of gambling. Compulsive gambling can have dire consequences.

CINCINNATI, Nov. 23 (UPI) — There is a growing national trend of women turning to crime to finance their gambling habit, U.S. experts say.

VANCOUVER — If Las Vegas is any kind of barometer, B.C. gambling operators should brace themselves for slower growth.

 In poker, a made hand is one that does not need improvement to win, in contrast to a drawing hand. For example in Draw poker, if you have two pair, and your opponent is drawing for a straight or flush, you are said to have a made hand because even though you will be drawing a card just as he will, you can win even if you don’t draw a card that improves your hand, while he cannot win unless he improves

This guide is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia.

Detectives from Pittsburgh’s Vice Squad say they have seized 10 illegal gambling machines from three city bars.