Recent articles:Calling the Clock in Texas Hold’emFriday, December 21. 2007
Online Texas hold’em tournament players have a built-in clock spurring them to action. If you wait too long before acting, most poker sites will activate a time bank of a minute or two. Once that bank is expired, your hand is declared dead. In a live Texas hold’em poker tournament situation, there are no built-in timers at each seat, thus, the clock comes into play. Chess - improving your playFriday, December 14. 2007
Back in the days, if someone set his/her mind on becoming a reasonable chess player (or turning their offspring into one), there wasn’t a whole lot they could do about it, other then sign up to a chess club, where they could only hope they’d stumble upon a master who would not spare the effort to aid their development properly.
Nowadays, thanks to technological advancements, learning tools have become much more accessible for those truly willing to improve. The computer, being the wonderful good-for-everything tool that it is, can be a superb aid for beginners. There are many chess programs out there (some of which come as cheap as 40-50 bucks) which will pit players against the pre-programmed skills of a virtual brain. Like it or not, these programs are likely to give players an exceptionally sturdy challenge in the beginning. Unlike playing online poker, learning to play chess against human opponents can often be intimidating. Playing against a computer eliminates that aspect and makes sure the rookie stays fully focused on the game. The computer won’t taunt junior, and won’t go into a rage when it finally loses a game. The downsides of learning to play chess on a computer program are diverse too, though. Therefore, it is seldom recommended as an advanced learning tool. It’s more like a fast and accessible way to get started in the sport. The social aspect lacking, the chess program will not teach players any people skills, and believe it or not, playing chess has a lot to do with knowing how to handle people. Even though the “professional” chess engines feature a plethora of individual settings which can be used to fine-tune their play, a computer program will never be able to even approximate the behavior of a human opponent, and thus it is not going to prepare someone for the battle against natural intelligence. Bottom line is, an offline chess program, beyond the advantages it provides, has some pretty obvious limitations. One can basically use it for putting strategies to the test, training, analyzing games and solving chess problems. Make no mistake, all of these factors are useful, but in order to take his/her play to the next level, a player needs to measure up against human opposition. Fortunately, the computer still doesn’t fall out of the equation here. Online training and learning can be much more valuable than what any good chess program can provide. Nowadays, playing chess online doesn’t involve more fuss than preparing yourself a cup of coffee. As one specialist puts it: it has never been easier to find a human opponent, no matter what time of the day you feel the urge to give the grey matter in your skull a little bit of workout. There are chess servers online 24/7, some of which are free, while others are paid. Depending on the level of expertise you’re looking for, and the conditions in which you like to play, you can choose any of those. Player traffic is certainly very important when playing chess (or some other board game) online, because you definitely do not want to spend half an hour waiting for some potential opponent to drop in. In this respect, large and popular servers provide much better services, whether they’re free or paid. The power of the internet will impact one’s chess education on several levels though. Chess websites do much more than just provide a safe and stable platform where opponents can hack away at each-other. They bring the social aspect of the game back into the fold via specialized forums, where public wisdom comes for free, and socialization is right at home, too. Before the internet, many of the people who joined chess clubs did so for the social benefits involved. Those same social benefits are conveyed through community message boards and forums these days. It is kind of scary if one stops to think about the fact that one doesn’t even have to leave the house to become an excellent chess player anymore. The articles and in-depth analysis on certain aspects of the game come in extremely handy as well, whether the discussion is about the King’s Indian Attack or the Marshall Attack. Online chess sites, portals and servers play host to a wealth of information about this game, adding to it the benefit of the “wisdom of the crowd”. As soon as it appeared, the internet looked like something that could potentially revolutionize all boards games as well as card-games, and in the case of chess, we can safely state that the transformation has come full circle indeed. Online poker rakeback can single handedly turn you into a winner. Do not neglect this edge. Learning Math Through PokerWednesday, December 12. 2007
Most people who start playing poker don’t start out by thinking too much about the math of the game. They know a flush beats a straight and it’s hard to see how math figures into that. Sure, there are numbers on the cards, but it’s not like you have to add them up or anything, right? The reality is that poker is all about math, and you can learn a lot about math through poker. In fact, if you don’t understand the math behind poker, you may struggle to be a long-term winner. The Mathematics of Gambling: Getting an EdgePoker, like any other game that involves gambling, or a randomized outcome, is about odds. If you can get an edge, you will come out ahead. An edge means a way to tilt the odds in your favor that is not reflected by the conditions of the bet. For example, if you are betting on the flip of a coin with a friend, where every time it comes up heads, you win $5 and every time it comes up tails, he wins $5, there is no edge. This is a 50-50 or 1-to-1 proposition and you are both wagering the same amount. Eventually, you should break even. However, what if you convince your friend that tails comes up more often? If you convince him that tails will come up twice as often as heads, then he should give you 2-to-1 odds, since he’ll win $5 two out of every three times, you should win $10 the one time out of three you win to make it even. Of course, the reality is that this really is a 1-to-1 chance, so you will win $10 for every time he wins $5 over the long run and you will come out ahead. The Mathematics of Poker I: Pot OddsIn poker, this idea is reflected through the concept of pot odds. Pot odds represent how much you can win versus how much you have to put into the pot. If there is $20 in the pot and you have to put in $5 to see the showdown, you are getting 20-to-5, or 4-to-1 odds. Why is this important? If you know that you are 3-to-1 to win the pot, meaning you will win the pot once for every three times you lose it, it is correct to play for 4-to-1 pot odds. You will come out ahead just as you would if you got odds on the coin. The Mathematics of Poker II: Counting OutsTo determine your odds to win the pot, you will have to rely somewhat on your read, but you will also have to learn to count “outs.” An out is a card that you believe will win you the pot. For example, if you have the Kh Qh and the board is 8s 9h Th As, you may consider all the remaining hearts as outs (although you may be wrong as someone could be drawing to the ace high flush). You also may consider the jacks as outs to a straight, although you might discount the Js since this may give an opponent a flush. As you play poker, you will become more skilled at counting outs, calculating pot odds and learning to appreciate percentages and ratios. Not only are these math skills good for poker, you may be surprised that they translate to other walks of life as well.
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Comments
Thu, 18.01.2007 17:07
Jasne
Thu, 18.01.2007 17:06
Tue, 19.12.2006 10:08
Anyone want to play anti-check ers?Comments ()
Tue, 19.12.2006 10:07
HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!!
Sat, 16.12.2006 16:54
Guess everyone gave up writing these neat articles, they wer e very helpful in games I have never played--thanks ev [...]Comments ()
Sat, 16.12.2006 16:39
Fri, 08.12.2006 15:45
tried this again-I am definetl y doing something wrong:(Comments ()
Tue, 05.12.2006 13:25
guess everyone is through writ ing articles--could have reall y used someone's expertise in some!Comments ()
Sat, 25.11.2006 15:09
what would be the best opening move?Comments ()
Fri, 24.11.2006 14:24
Anyone have any ideas/thoughts on jungle and lines of action ?Comments ()
Fri, 24.11.2006 13:53
Alot of ppl still are confused about this!Comments ()
Wed, 22.11.2006 13:44
played this and it was actuall y fun! thanksComments ()
Tue, 21.11.2006 07:54
Nice article!~Comments ()
Sun, 19.11.2006 21:00
ugh, didn't work for me #1Comments ()
Sun, 19.11.2006 13:41
Strange game! Maybe if the wh ites used the long castling...Comments ()