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UFC: Tito Ortiz a no-show for exhibition match with White

Due to the absence of Tito Ortiz for his weigh-in Friday, the much-awaited battle between the UFC fighter and Dana White, President of the Ultimate Fighting Championship has been cancelled, at least for now.

White was scheduled to make his professional boxing launch on March 24, 2007, against his former client Tito Ortiz. This was also an attempt to work out their feud, supposedly contending in a three-round boxing exhibition. In fact, Ortiz previously sent daring messages to White asserting his determination, as well as the authenticity of the fight. However, Ortiz left a message indicating his decision to let White “off the hook.” The decision of Ortiz actually left many people puzzled and surprised, especially the Nevada State Athletic Commission which previously lauded Ortiz for his

professionalism in these types of events. Given this, it’s hard to

imagine what instigated Ortiz’s failure to show up.

Ortiz, a 32-year old American-Mexican mixed martial arts fighter from Huntington Beach, California, began his martial arts career as a wrestler in his sophomore year in high school. After a series of successful competitions, he headed for more prestigious competitions worldwide.

Previously, he headlined many pay per view championship cards and graced the covers of several magazines. Also known as “The Huntington Beach Bad Boy,”

his awards and accomplishments includes the UFC Light Heavyweight Champion with 5 title defenses, a 2006 Golden Gloves, a 2006 Fight of the Year, and a

2006 Feud of the Year among others. At present, he has 15 wins, 5 losses and 0 draws.

Others speculate that Ortiz’s nonappearance is due to his desire to acquire more money since Spike TV intended to broadcast segments of the their fight as a promotional tool for the highly anticipated UFC 69. Meanwhile, others perceive his move as an avoidance of the possibility of his defeat in the hands of White.

Read more: UFC: Tito Ortiz a no-show for exhibition match with White

Sharks of gambling industry. Part 2.

Steve Wynn
The third serious player on the market of gambling entertainments in Las Vegas and Macao. Steve was born in 1942 in Connecticut. Unlike Kirk and Sheldon, Steve received very good education, according to American standards – he graduated from Pennsylvania university. Steve had to engage in private business straight after graduation. His father, the owner of the network of bingo clubs in the west of the U.S., died when Steve was still a student. The son continues his business. Steve’s career in “big” business starts in 1967. Having saved some money, he buys a small share of the casino-hotel “Frontier” in Las Vegas, where he moved for permanent residence together with his wife. Having no funds to build his own casino, Steve gets acquainted with the owners of the already existing casinos and offers them his services in renewal of their business. His first project was reconstruction of the casino «Golden Nugget». Steve transformed the absolutely ordinary casino into a luxurious institution, which immediately became a great success with the players. Having showed himself and earned a pretty penny, Steve decided to invest money into buying shares of other Vegas casinos, in order to reconstruct them as well. The following major project is renovation of the casino «The Mirage». According to Steve’s conception, it was to become the most outstanding, rich, elite casino of Las Vegas. He intends to found there a big park and an artificial volcano, and make the best rooms and hotel service in Vegas. Steve bets on luxury. Despite apprehensions of the partners (the project was very expensive), he managed to embody his ideas. «The Mirage» became and for a long period remained the most prestigious casino of Las Vegas, bringing huge profits to its owners.

After this project Steve’s name enters the history of the world capital of gambling. However, Steve does not rest on his laurels. Conversely, he becomes thoroughly engrossed in a new reckless venture. Developing his conception of a “luxurious casino”, he totally changes the casino-hotel «Bellagio»: an artificial lake, an internal greenhouse, an art gallery with canvases of great painters, expensive boutiques and restaurants. Enormous diligence, multiplied by talent, made Steve one of the richest people in Vegas, the owner of casinos. In 2000 he sells «The Mirage» to the company «MGM Grand», which after this purchase changes its name to «MGM Mirage».

Wynn spends most of his money on building a new institution, which opens in April 2005 on the site of «Desert Inn». The new brainchild of Steve is called «Wynn Las Vegas».
Apart from interests in Vegas, Steve invests funds into conquering the Asian market. In the short-term perspective it is planned to open the casino «Wynn Macau». Steve’s activity has brought him 2.1 billion dollars, which allowed him to occupy the 365th position in «Forbes» world rating.

Stanley Ho
The wealthiest representative of gambling industry in Asia who for more than 30 years was the single ruler of this industry in Macao. Stanley was born in 1921 in Hong Kong. His great-grandfather was a Dutch Jew who married a local woman. The Ho family was one of the most renowned and influential in Hong Kong. But Stanley was not able to make use of the wealth of this family. His father went bankrupt, when Stanley was a student. Due to financial break-down his two brothers committed a suicide, and his father renounced his family and left Stanley with two sisters and mother. Despite all hardships, he successfully graduated from Hong Kong university and mastered three languages. Stanley started his career in a trade company, located in Macao. Outstanding business skills and proficiency in several languages allow him to become a shareholder of the company at the age of 21. Ho received his first fortune as a result of a very unpleasant accident. Stanley was responsible for sea trade. During one of the voyages the ship with Stanley, who carried a great amount of money, aboard was subject to an armed attack. Stanley, practically on his own (many of his fellow employees were killed) stands against the gang and returns both the money and the ship. The company duly appreciated the courage of their employee and rewarded him a bonus of one million! In 1943 Ho invested his million into construction industry, his new company is located in Hong Kong. At this time the city undergoes a real construction boom, and Stanley receives very decent dividends from his business. But his ambitions are not limited to construction business, together with his partners he wins the tender for the monopolistic right to open gambling institutions in Macao. Stanley won the tender with the sum of only 410 thousand dollars. For many years Ho’s company becomes the monopolist of Macao gambling market. Stanley invests all his money and skills in this company. By 1972 he owns 9 casinos, including casino-hotel «Lisboa», one of the most beautiful casinos of the world.

In the 90-ies Ho extends beyond the borders of Macao and opens 9 casinos on the Philippines, however, as a result of a conflict with the president of this country, he had to renounce his Philippine business. Apart from the casino, Ho owns many betting operators and totalizators. In 2003 the budget of Macao by 30% consisted of revenues from the activities of the companies that belonged to Stanley. His business provides work to more than 10 thousand people. In 1998 Ho becomes one of the first living inhabitants of Macao, in whose honour the local street was named. But earlier or later everything comes to an end. Ho’s idyll ends in 2000, when Macao authorities decide to cancel monopoly for gambling industry. Since 2002 Ho has to share gambling industry with American “sharks” – Wynn and Adelson, who immediately used the chance to become familiar with Asian market. Presently Stanley Ho’s fortune is 6.5 billion dollars, he has the 84th position in the «Forbes» world rating.

Read more: Sharks of gambling industry. Part 2.

Simple Wedding Favors

Choosing wedding favors can be the one part of the wedding planning that is easy and stress free. Even though it is simple to choose wedding favors, it is best not to leave shopping for them to the last minute. When you realize that the wedding day is fast approaching and the wedding favors have not been purchased, it is then that a simple task will add on to the already stressful time. Avoid this at all cost. In this article you will find several simple ideas that will help make shopping for wedding favors fun and easy.

One of the easiest wedding favor options is the use of flowers. The only thing that needs to be calculated is the number of guests you will have at the wedding and there is really no preparation time needed. You do not have to order your flowers too far in advance. You might consider giving your guests a single red rose as a favor.This is extremely fitting because a rose is a represents love. It is also very easy because it does not have to be wrapped. Have the roses delivered to the location for the celebration. Once the tables have been set for the wedding, request a staff member, a friend or family member to place a single rose across the place setting for each guest. You can also choose your favorite flower or a flower that is part of your centerpiece. You can request your florist to place your chosen flower at each place setting.

Another creative idea for a wedding favor is using candy. Small boxes, tins and baskets are some of the more traditional ways of using candy as wedding favors. But a unique idea and one that will help with reducing cost for centerpieces is to place a large bowl filled with candy in the middle of each table. Notes can be used to encourage the guests to enjoy the candy and bags can be provided to allow guests to take additional candy home. Here again is a favor that does not need wrapping and the candy centerpiece can be as simple or elaborate as you desire.

Using picture frames as place card holders is another easy wedding favor idea. Many people use picture frames as wedding favors but they spend so much time wrapping each frame individually to ensure that they look perfect for their guests. But this is only one of the ways that picture frames can be used as wedding favors. It may not be the best use of time especially at a time when every moment is precious and any additional work can add to the stress. But if the place cards are placed in individual picture frames, they are not only a great gift; they are very useful and appropriate.

One final thought for a very easy wedding favor is to give each guest a digital photo of themselves at the wedding. You can accomplish this by hiring a photographer to take a picture of each couple as they arrive at the wedding reception. With the use of a high speed printer the photographer should be able to provide prints to the guests soon after their arrival. Before your guests leave the reception they will have their photos. This is a great idea for a wedding favor because your guests will likely be dressed up and will appreciate the chance to pose for a professional photo. It may be possible for the photographer to make a quick slide show of all the photos which could be viewed once all the pictures have been taken. This way the guests not only get a personal souvenir of the wedding but they also get the opportunity to see how the photos turned out for all of the other guests as well.

Read more: Simple Wedding Favors

Sharks of gambling industry. Part 3.

Donald Trump
Successful businessmen rarely limit themselves only to one type of entrepreneurship. He is the CEO of Trump Organization, an American-based real estate developer in the premium real estate market and the founder of Trump Entertainment, which operates gambling casinos. Gambling industry often serves as a good support for main business. This is how the famous American billionaire and politician Donald Trump uses the gambling industry. Trump began his career at his father’s company, the Trump Organization, and initially concentrated on his father’s preferred field of middle class rental housing.

The range of Trump’s interests is very wide, first of all, it is real estate, mass media, restaurants. It is not surprising that such a multifaceted entrepreneur became also interested in gambling industry. Understanding that practically all niches in Las Vegas are occupied, Trump paid his attention to the developing Atlantic City. It is there that he founded three casinos. Now Trump owns «Trump Taj Mahal», «Trump Plaza» and «Trump Marina» in Atlantic City. The fortune of Donald Trump is 2.6 billion dollars, he occupies the 278th position in «Forbes» world rating.

Calvin Ayre
Swift development of IT technologies influences practically all spheres of human activities. Gambling business is not an exception. Now one can play club poker, make bets on the results of sporting events via the internet without leaving home. The pioneer of online gambling was Calvin Ayre. Calvin was born in 1961 in Canada. In student years he worked up selling fruit. Having thus earned 10 thousand dollars, he organizes a company that specializes in IT technologies.

Perhaps, now he would also be engaged in developing, for instance, software, if once upon a time he came across an article that described business that accepted bets via telephone. After reading it Calvn decides to change the profile of his enterprise. In 1994 he creates «Bodog Entertainment Group». Believing in the potential of the computer network Internet, he starts to develop his business specifically in this area. With the help of web portal bodog.com for the first time people were able to bet online, and then play in casino and club poker. In March 2006 Calvin’s photo appears on the cover of «Forbes», he becomes the first online casino games businessman who made his way into this prestigious magazine. According to “Forbes», Calvin managed to earn 44 million dollars, with this sum he occupies the 746th place in «Forbes» world rating.

©Copyright 2006-2007 www.bonus-map.com

Read more: Sharks of gambling industry. Part 3.

Gambling and the 20th century Rulers Part1

The history of the 20th century is inseparably connected with wars, revolutions, forcible change of governments and other political cataclysms in which the leading role was often played by bright, extraordinary personalities – leaders, chiefs. Impetuous was also the history of legislative regulation of gambling games and bets. They were allowed, then prohibited, then allowed again…

A lot of these bans and legalizations were directly connected with the principle political acting personalities of the 20th century. How venturesome were the most famous totalitarian rulers of the previous century and what was their role in regulation of activities on organizing and playing games and bets?

Vladimir Lenin
(1870-1924)
When in a small town of Simbirsk little Volodya Ulyanov was born nobody of the people around, including his parents, could ever guess that one of the main heroes of the 20th century came into the world. After many years it is already difficult to unambiguously evaluate the activities of Vladimir Lenin in the office of the chairman of the Soviet of National Commissars, but there is no doubt that he has gone down in history as the main ideologist of the bright ideas of communism which the Russian poor strived for so much and never achieved despite the long 70-year way.

It is not known for sure whether Vladimir Lenin was fond of gambling, in his public speeches he never mentioned the words “gambling-house” and “casino”. However, in his boyhood the future Ilyich played chess and russian bowling (gorodki) with passion. Having grown up, he played cards as well, alas, the history does not give a single answer as to the games the chief of revolutionists played and whether the bets were made

It is interesting to know that even when Vladimir Ilyich was still alive there were anecdotes and tales concerning his love of card games. But still the most favourite game of Ilyich was politics. But with regard to regulation of gambling industry, of course, Vladimir Ulyanov succeeded in the way so typical of him.

Having become the statesman, firstly, he started to fight against bourgeois heritage, established censorship. And he decided to establish order in gambling in addition to this. In provisions of the Petrograd (St. Petersburg) military-revolutionary committee as of the 24th of November of 1917 the task was set to “close all the clubs and gambling-dens where card games were played”. Despite this, in spring of 1918 the commissar of municipal economy of Petrograd the future “all-union head” M.I.Kalinin taking into account the interests of reimbursement of state treasury proposed legalization of gambling. This proposal was rejected though “on revolutionary grounds” and all the gambling establishments were found illegal.

In 1921 Vladimir Lenin introduced NEP – so to say new economic politics of the state at which the priority was no longer general equality and fraternity but earning money by the young Soviet state for its own budget for realization of revolutionary ideas. It was at that time that gambling business was founded in the Republic of Soviets. On the 9th of November, 1921, The Soviet of labour and defence of the RSFSR issued a decree according to which sale of playing cards was allowed on the territory of the country. Also in 1921 when there happened to be the worst drought in Russia, the first All-Russian lottery to help the starving people took place.

In the course of two years local authorities allowed activities of gambling-houses, following financial principles and collecting rather large amounts of taxes from organizers of gambling games. In spite of this fact, at the end of 1923 there was created a commission on struggle against “moonshine, cocaine and gambling” in the USSR.

Struggle against gambling started to follow its regular soviet course, however, Vladimir Lenin could not witness its end. On the 21st of January, 1924, Lenin died. It happened just at the time of flourishing of soviet gambling industry, but after half a year after his death CEC of the USSR and SNC of the USSR issued a Decree dated the 1st of August, 1924, “about state monopoly on production of playing cards”. And afterwards still four years later gambling industry was finally prohibited in the USSR as a remnant of the old times which was to be done away with.

Iosif Stalin
(1879-1953)
Iosif Stalin (Djugashvili) was born on the 21st of December 1879 in a small Georgian town of Gori. A friend and adviser of Vladimir Ilyich Lenin, his great successor, he took the reins of government in his hands after Lenin and kept them till his death. The time of Iosif Stalin’s rule is still reflected with joy and pain in the hearts of those Soviet citizens living at the time of his being in power. Industrialization, the victory in the war and continuation of communistic construction, on the one hand, and concentration camps and mass repressions – on the other hand. Without taking into account personal characteristics of the second chief of proletariat and without estimating the deeds of his in the course of almost 30 years of his being in power, we’ll point out only one thing – Iosif Stalin was not a venturesome person and except for games in politics, where stakes were sometimes hundreds of thousands of human lives, he acknowledged only billiards and races on the race track.

Let’s point out that totalizator on the race track under Iosif Stalin the only legal pastime for venturesome Soviet citizens. The most famous race tracks were situated in Moscow, Tbilisi, Tallinn, Odessa, Gorky (Nizhny Novgorod) and other cities. The son of Iosif Vissarionovich – Vasiliy was also a great admirer of race tracks.

The death of Iosif Stalin did not have any impact on the existence of legal gambling in the Soviet country. They did not exist when Stalin came to power and did not appear after his death. The exclusion were horse races and races on the race tracks which attracted rather large cash means with the help of the totalizator for development of the Soviet horse breeding.

© Copyright 2006-2007 www.bonus-map.com

Read more: Gambling and the 20th century Rulers Part1

How To Go About Selling Your Digital Photos

The explosive growth of the Internet has spawned many new markets. One such market is the digital photo market. The growth of online stock photography sites (also known as microstock photography sites) where photographers can submit their digital photos so that others may view and download them for a fee, has created an unprecedented demand for digital photographs.

This of course has created a wonderful opportunity for amateur photographers to sell their digital photos in a market that was previously only open to professionals.

The opportunity immediately throws up two questions: who do I go about selling my digital photos and what types of images do people buy. This article will answer the first question.

When it comes to selling your photos there is only one basic law that has to be obeyed: Find out where your clients are currently buying their photos and make yourself visible there!

Two of the most immediate avenues available to you are:

1. To sell your digital photos are to sell directly to a stock image warehouse or list your photos with them for public sale and have royalties paid to you on a per sale basis and

2. Use eBay or other auction methods

Both of these are in effect large market places that buyers looking for digital images already swarm to. You simply need to be one of the sellers presenting your wares at the market place.

Auction sites such as eBay host a multitude of photographs that are for sale. Go there and see what types of images are selling and this will give you a good indicator as to what types of shots you should be takin. Certainly the best selling images on eBay are antique shots These are not necessarily easy to create but you will find that unique celebrity shots, unique photos of sporting events, nature shots and weird photos are all hot sellers on eBay

Other approaches you can take, although a little more specialised are to:

3. Sell to clients or the public directly on a contract basis called an assignment and

4. Sell unsolicited shots to magazines and other publishers

There is also the opportunity to sell your images yourself either online using software designed specifically for the task or by creating your own custom site and html code to protect your images.

It is important to note that you can really carve out a solid niche for yourself by selling photos in areas that other photographers shy away from because they do not consider the work to be artistic enough.

Some examples of people who are willing to pay to have simple click and shoot shots taken may include:

Real Estate Agencies

Insurance Firms

Car Lots

Auction Sites

Government and Police Agencies

Individual with items to sell online

Website designers

Travel Agents

Most of the images required by these types of organisations are quite basic (real point and click stuff) and are therefore ideally suited to the beginner photographer.

Read more: How To Go About Selling Your Digital Photos

Why Method acting is the most successful acting technique

The Method approach to acting became famous when Marlon Brando and James Dean started to appear on the silver screen, changing the perception of what the acting profession was capable of. Their acting seemed so real you forgot they were acting. Since then, there has been a list of outstanding acting talent that has been enabled by the Method. Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, Sean Penn, Paul Newman, Daniel Day Lewis, Meryl Streep and this year ‘Best Actor’ Academy Award winner, Forest Whitaker, all use the Method.

But why has it been so successful?

The Method creates a reality beyond the conventional reality. This means that instead of the actor adhering merely to the conventional thought of the character and situation, they are able to stimulate themselves, and indeed the audience, on a much deeper level.

Christopher Walken was asked what he was thinking about when he shot the scene at the end of the film, ‘Deer Hunter’, where he plays Russian roulette and kills himself. He said that when he was younger, he went to summer camp and his parents made him go – he hated going, and the experience filled him with a sense of abandonment, loss and anger. He said that he felt his character was experiencing similar feelings, so he thought about that event during the scene. He understood that events from his own experience could expose the experiences of the character on a much deeper level.

He was using an important tool within the Method called ‘affective memory’. This is when an actor recalls an event from his own life using his senses. The rationale behind this is that we all experience the world through our senses – we see, we hear, we touch, we smell and we taste. If the actor trains and uses these senses in conjunction with their own memories, they can have a powerful effect on the actors’ instrument – the human body.

The Method also allows the actor to create a completely different physicality and psychology from their own, using the animal exercise. Marlon Brando famously used the animal exercise in the ‘Godfather’ when he played a bulldog. He stuffed his cheeks full of tissue paper in his audition to recreate the jowls of the dog; he started to move around slower and heavier with the underlying menace of a bulldog. In ‘A Streetcar Named Desire’ he played an ape, scratching his chest and moving objects around with his knuckles and eating like an animal. The animal exercises allowed him to create the life of another human being in a deeper more complete fashion.

Using the Method, actors can go beyond the conventional and effective way to act, and make the work more human, more alive, more exciting, more amused and entertained – not on a light level, but on the utmost level which acting is capable of.

Read more: Why Method acting is the most successful acting technique

Gambling and the 20th century Rulers Part2

Adolph Hitler
(1889-1945)
Adolph Hitler (Schicklgruber) was born on the 20th of April, 1889, in a small town of Braunau on the border of Austria and Germany. The phenomenon of Hitler is still under study by historians and politicians but there are still a lot more questions than answers to them.

Really, political feeling, iron will, rare talent of an orator-demagogue, finally, need on the part of the hosts of Germany – all this helped him make himself a breath-taking career. Starting with a might-have-been artist and resigned soldier of the First World War to Fuhrer of the Third Reich and organizer of Holocaust. The history testifies that the bloodiest tyrant of the 20th century was an extremely venturesome gambler, but like Lenin, only in politics. Though Hitler was more loyal to gambling industry than a lot more of his other companions-in-arms.
In Fascist Germany officer casinos were very popular. However, a few people know that in those casinos people did not play but simply had a rest from everyday military fuss. There was a bar, billiards, music in casinos – a close club for officers in a way. Access to such establishments for outsiders was forbidden, and if officers played cards, then only for each other’s money – it was forbidden to organize games and gain profit for them.

Hitler was a frequent visitor of such casinos, moreover, during the war on the occupied territories, it was he who allowed arranging casinos for a rest, in which officers of the German army usually played different card games. In such entertainment establishments the most beautiful girls of the captured towns and villages “worked”.

When Adolph came to power in 1933 there were already no gambling-houses in the country. All of them were closed down still in 1872 under the Kaiser Wilhelm I. One of the first decrees in addition to the law about special authority entrusting Adolph Hitler with unrestricted power in the country, was the decree about permission, as exclusion, of operation on the territory of Germany of the most famous casino in Baden-Baden. It happened in many aspects due to the fact that the country urgently needed money, and Hitler marked for himself that Germans had better lost their money in Germany than in neutral Switzerland. A little later, in particular in 1938, when Germany captured Austria and German legislation started to be legal on its territory prohibiting activities on organization of games and bets, casinos were closed there as well. However, there was an exclusion made for one gambling-house situated in the town of Baden, 26 kilometers from Vienna.

On the 30th of April Hitler committed suicide like a real “keen player” of boulevard novels, having lost all his wealth, and at night, on the 9th of May, 1945, in Berlin complete and unconditional surrender of Fascist Germany was signed. Where do you think it took place? In the capital district of Karlshorst in the building of the previous officer casino…

Benito Mussolini
(1883-1945)
Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini was born on the 29th of July, 1883, in a small Italian town of Dovia. The most well-known Italian statesman of the 20th century, chief (duche) of the Fascist party of Italy. Having realized “a crusade to Rome” on the 28th of October, 1922, Mussolini captured power in the country and on the 1st of November, 1922, headed the government of Italy.

Mussolini was a rather venturesome person, but preferred political games and wanted to play them only in accordance with the rules invented by him personally. These rules were quite cruel, and those who refused to follow them, Mussolini threw away as not wanted from his life. Similarly to Adolph Hitler, his main virtue which helped him to achieve self-actualization on the arena of politics, were his oratorical abilities, charisma and skills to show himself to the audience. Alas, unfortunately for Italians of those years, great Duche produced his endorphins not at the card table, but in constant unrestrained desire to possess absolute power over everything and everybody.
Having come to power, the first thing of Mussolini to do was to take under control, exile and subject to repressions leaders of the opposition.

The founder of Italian fascism had a rather negative attitude towards gambling industry. On the 16th of July, 1923, Mussolini banned gambling games in Italy except for lotteries.
In 1926 Mussolini destroyed the remnants of opposition: there were laws adopted according to which all the political parties, except for the fascist one, were banned and dissolved.

However, Mussolini was a far-sighted politician and understood rather well that Italians could not do without gambling games, they would surely get to them – they would go to France, Monaco or Switzerland. He was aware that prohibition of games had a negative impact not only on his personal popularity, as well as on the well-being of the “weak” national economy.

Mussolini made a significant for gambling industry decision. Henceforth casinos were to “cover” the borders of the Italian state hindering from export of monetary resources abroad. In 1927 gamble was officially allowed in in San-Remo. Casino was made the property of municipality of San-Remo, and its management was only carried out by the most loyal to the dictator people.

Italian authorities behaved very consistently and decisively, having allowed organizing of only one casino, they refused to any other requests about a possibility of organization of gambling-houses.

Mussolini declared that gambling industry in Italy was prohibited, existence of a casino in San-Remo was an exclusion which was presupposed by serious political and economic factors, however, the given exclusion only confirmed the general rule. The intention of the dictator was to turn the town of San-Remo into another Monte Carlo, but the dream never came true.

Despite his declaration on prohibition of opening of new casinos, Mussolini changed his decision to some extent as the time went by. During his rule two more casinos appeared. In 1933 there was opened a gambling-house in the Italian enclave Campion created still in 1917. And in 1937 gambling was allowed in Venice. All the casinos belonged to the municipalities of the corresponding towns. Games were only stopped there during the Second World War.

In 1943 previous associates foreseeing the military collapse of Italy, “put” Mussolini on the retired list. However, he didn’t give in, and as a most venturesome gambler tried to win back with Hitler’s help, still being the head of the fascist puppet government in the town of Salo for some time. However, the system he had been building for 20 years, fell apart within a few months. Cliché of a gambler let him down at that moment. Mussolini didn’t bring himself to put a pistol to head. In 1945 he was captured by Italian partisans and executed, and after a year, in 1946, gambling industry returned to Italy again, and casinos opened their doors which Mussolini was no longer able to enter.

© Copyright 2006-2007 www.bonus-map.com

Read more: Gambling and the 20th century Rulers Part2

Gambling and the 20th century Rulers Part3

Mao Zedong
(1893-1976)
Mao Zedong was born on the 26th of December, 1893, in the village of Shaoshan of Hunan Province situated in the south of the country. Great helmsman, revolutionary – Marxist came to power in 1949 when gambling was already forbidden in the country. The creator of communistic China did rather a lot for getting into the list of the sternest rulers of the 20th century; however, as a fighter against gambling industry Mao did not distinguish himself in any way, simply leaving the ban in force. Frankly speaking, Mao had more important matters in the country.

Kim Ir Sen
(1912-1994)
The creator of North-Korean communism was born on the 15th of April, 1912, near Pyongyang. The author of Korean doctrine about Juche and supporter of Marxism-Leninism was not an admirer of gambling. During the rule of Kim Ir Sen operation of gambling-houses was out of the question, however, the son of the great North-Korean chief Kim Chen Ir after his father’s death still opened a casino. Famous Chinese millionaire Stanly Ho helped him with opening of the first gambling-house in 1999. Although, it was not allowed for aborigines to play in North-Korean casinos, but there are a lot of Chinese players there.

Fidel Castro
(1926)
Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz was born on the 13th of August, 1926 in a Cuban settlement of Biran. Since childhood Fidel was a purposeful young man, seeing his destination in the fight for liberation of the Cuban people.

Before the victory of the revolution during the rule of Batista all Cuban casinos belonged to Americans. A consultant of the acting president on gambling industry was none other than Meyer Lansky, a notorious American gangster.

Castro came to power on the 1st of January, 1959, when under attack of the revolutionary army under his command the dictatorship of Batista was over.

Having become firmly established in power, firstly, in 1959 Fidel Castro banned gambling industry – and he had his own reasons for that: struggle against Americanism. From the end of February till May of 1959 casinos were opened for some time, but finished their accounting periods with negative results and were ultimately and definitely closed down.

Until now in one of the most beautiful countries of the world attracting large tourist flows there are no casinos. Why is it so? This question should be, evidently, addressed to the Cuban president.

Saddam Hussein
(1937-2006)
Saddam Hussein was born on the 28th of April, 1937, in the Iraqi village al-Awja in the south of Tikrit region. He came to power in 1968 and changed the life of the country beyond recognition. While he was in power Iraqi became the noticeable power in the Near East, but Hussein “become famous” not for this. Genocide concerning Kurds, war against Iran, occupation of Kuwait, maximal possible totalitarianism placed the name of the born in poverty boy on the first page of the book about bloody crimes of the 20th century.

At the beginning of Saddam’s rule there was opened a race track in the country, as well as a casino the existence of which is so difficult to believe in now as well as in the fact that Hussein was once the best friend of the Soviet government.

Gambling and the 20th century Rulers Part4

Robert Mugabe
(1924)
Robert Gabriel Mugabe was born on the 21st of February, 1924 in the town of Kutama on the territory of current Zimbabwe. Before coming to power in 1987 he had spent 11 years in prison for participation in the national liberation movement. Robert Mugabe is famous, firstly, for his anti-American claims, as well as for the fact that in 2005 he the inflation reached the record 502% in the new 21st century.

Interestingly, but at the peak of inflation growth speaking in front of the journalists the president of Zimbabwe declared that the population of his country was “very happy”. What it meant to be “very happy” the president knew not through hearsay. A few years ago Mugabe won the state lottery’s main prize in the amount of 2 639 dollars. Curiously, but only those citizens took part in this lottery who had accounts in the National Bank of Zimbabwe, at this for every 135 dollars there was only one lottery ticket. Naturally, under the name of the current president there was registered the record number of tickets, that is why the prize did not keep him waiting for a long time. They say, the results of the lottery upset the citizens of Zimbabwe very much.

Robert Mugabe is a very temperamental person and a typical gambler by nature. A lot of his statements are made in a burst of passion and excitement. By the way, the attitude of the president towards gambling industry is not in the least bad: there are several casinos opened in the country, as well as race tracks with the totalizator, left to the Zimbabwean from English colonizers.

Augusto Pinochet
(1915-2006)
Augusto Pinochet was born on the 25th of November, 1915, in a Chile resort town of Valparaiso. In September 1973 he organized a putsch against the president of Chile Allende and after his murder took the post of the head of the state. Like many other “heroes” of the 20th century, he was distinguished by mass terror in relation to the “otherwise-minded”.

General Pinochet was quite a cruel and ruthless person, but under his rule hyperinflation was stopped and economic growth began.

The Chilean dictator had a negative attitude towards gambling industry, and there were no gambling-houses in the country during his rule. However, he had rather a loyal attitude to holding a state lottery. Maybe it was because the control over profits from lotteries was entrusted to his daughter Lucia Pinochet Hiriart?

Only after a few years upon retirement of Pinochet under the president Eduardo Free a new casino was opened in the country in 1997.
At present Augusto Pinochet is in Chile under house arrest and is awaiting the trial for evasion from tax payment. The trial, by the way, perhaps, will not even take place because of his age and extremely bad heath.

We can continue mentioning great dictators and rulers of the 20th century and argue about their attitude to gambling industry. Iosip Broz Tito, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, Idi Amin, Joseph Desire Mobutu, Muammar Gaddafi, Suharto, Thieu, Somoza, Marcos, Pol Pot, Ceausescu, Bokassa, Hissene Habre, Chombe, Franco, Duvalier, Mengistu Haile Mariam, Batista, Salazar and many others had different attitude to gambling. Some, like Marcos and Batista, liked it a lot, while others, like Gaddafi and Ceausescu, didn’t give it even a chance for existence.

While in Spain all power was in the hands of the general Franco Bahamonde Francisco, people were even afraid of talking about gambling-houses, but as soon as he died and the royal throne was occupied by Juan Carlos I, there were at once opened a number of casinos in the country. While Batista favoured gambling games, Fidel Castro, who substituted him, banned them at once. And it is clear. Batista was an American protégé, and Fidel was the one who fought against American imperialism. That is why casinos simply lost favour.

A lot of rulers of the 20th century were quite venturesome personalities having revealed their excitable skills in politics, and not on the cloth of the gambling table in the gambling-house. Who knows, if their passion had been connected with visiting of gambling establishments, perhaps, our planet would be quieter.

Total struggle against gambling in the 20th century was under way only in one, at this “the most democratic” country – the USA. And after repressions, which failed, gambling industry there not only continued to exist, but started to flourish. The ideas of Marxism-Leninism did not give the right of existence of gambling establishments in the countries that chose the way of rise to radiant future in the form of communism, since the norms of the given ideology prescribed earning money by way of labour, and not in the hours of entertaining pastime. Countries practising traditional Islam do not allow gambling industry on their territory in accordance with their religious dogma. Despite this, Muslim Egypt, Tunis, Morocco and Lebanon have opened gambling-houses. The same was done by the Korean Republic, having demonstrated that ideology is ideology but if the country needs to earn money for the budget, gambling industry won’t hinder it.

Totalitarianism and gambling are not connected with each other in the least. The basis of struggle against gambling industry in 99 cases out of 100 is not the desire to protect the rights and interests of the citizens and the society, but the most trivial desire to win votes of people which any party, striving to come to power, pursues. Politics is rather a subtle thing.

© Copyright 2006-2007 www.bonus-map.com

Read more: Gambling and the 20th century Rulers Part4

Play Gambling and Other Games in the Caribbean and Vegas

Gambling is popular in both Vegas and Caribbean. Many visitors flock to these places to mingle the sun with luck. Gambling makes holidays special as cash seems to flow in and this is perhaps joy in itself. Gambling includes dice games, card games, slot machines, electronic devices for gambling, cashless slot machines and other international games that have originated in Asia and Europe.

Betting In Las Vegas

The holiday resorts of Las Vegas offer a huge array of electronic games. There is virtually any type of casino games imaginable available. The slot machines are linked to a huge statewide network and these in turn pay out jackpots amounting to a few million dollars. The money grows in chains whenever a coin is dropped in the slot machines. This network chain makes the jackpot grow. You will be surprised to know that there are more than 700 linked machines throughout Vegas. This slot machine throughout the state is known as “Megabucks” and it has the highest payout record, once giving a staggering $39.7 million dollars to a bachelor from South California.

Investment together in Time and Money

Clarke County’s casinos are the most well known casinos. Clarke County includes Laughlin, Mesquite, Primm, Las Vegas and Jean. The gross gaming revenue of Clarke County was $7.8 billion and in this the casinos of Las Vegas accounted for $6.1 billion. Gambling is very popular in Las Vegas. This is proven by the fact that the average gambling budget is about $480 per visitor and time spent gambling is about 3.9 hours per day.

The Sun and the Casinos Attraction

It is the sun and the casinos that attract visitors to the Caribbean every year. The Bahamas, Aruba, Puerto Rico, Sint Maarteen and Divi Carina Bay are the best places for gambling. The Atlantis Paradise Island Resort in the Bahamas provides one of the best gaming services in the world. There are enough facilities to keep visitors busy for the entire day. Gambling offered includes 46 blackack tables, 10 craps tables, two baccarat tables, 10 roulette wheels and almost 1,000 slot machines. Bets range from $25 to $100. Then there is the purple and pink casino known as the Wyndham Nassau Resort and Crystal on the Cable Beach. It is able to draw players with Baccarat, Big Six, Derby tables, Blackjack and Craps.

Adding excitement to Life

Visitors to the Caribbean and Las Vegas will surely find activities to suit their interests, especially for those who dream of the glamour and the glitz and the bright dazzling lights of Las Vegas. All these can be found when one is gambling in Vegas and the Caribbean. Gambling in the casinos of Las Vegas and the Caribbean adds a little spice to any holiday, even for the most casual of visitors. What needs to be kept in mind is that both of these places have distinct gambling laws.

Total leisure

Holidays in Vegas and the Caribbean does not just include casino games only. It has a lot of fun, frolic and the taste of good food along with it. Las Vegas and the Caribbean also have many restaurants with merengue music playing in the background. Casinos are often quite flashy, but there are others that are done in the old French style. There are also casinos where there are fixed dress codes, as in the casinos of Puerto Rico. Here you have to dress in formalwear as most of the islanders intend to make the evening a memorable one. Many casinos stay open for 24 hours.

Spent Holiday in Las Vegas or the Caribbean

Make the most of your holiday in Las Vegas or the Caribbean by mixing in some gambling. Who knows – you just might hit the jackpot!

Play Gambling or Online Gaming

The basis of all casino online games is the brick and mortar ones. Unlike the offline, casinos the casinos online have tremendous flexibility and are in a constant phase of evolution. The game play software both online and downloadable will go a sea change in time to come as programmers work their minds and come up with greater permutations and combinations to make gaming more alluring and exciting. The Internet has become the most popular medium for people to play bingo game and online casino game on the net. The game played in an online gaming or gambling sites (as it is also known) in United Kingdom is known as UK bingo or UK casino. Playing from within the comfort of your own home is certainly more fun as compared to playing in crowded parlors and parties. Not only does the Internet enable you to play various exciting versions of bingo, roulette, slot, and crap but also facilitates interaction across the cyber world. The chat rooms offer great medium to transfer information and enhance the expertise of the players. Internet casino sites allow you to play casino games or gambling on the web.

The sites have downloadable the software to play games or you can play games online from the software that is installed there on the site itself. The online casino sites offer many online gambling games like online bingo, keno, craps, blackjack, roulette, poker, and online slot. These are very popular games on the Internet and are played fro jackpot, bonus and cash rewards. You can win big cash money from deposits at some online bingo portals on Net.

Take help from gambling resources like article on strategies, tip, advice, rules, news reviews, and offers to keep you informed on latest updates and promotions in casino gambling in UK and worldwide. There are various types of portals on www to play casino online that offer free gaming or gambling, free game, cash bonus, rewards, jackpot, fortune and no deposit gaming. Many portals on gambling online offer list or directory of online casino sites and online casino halls that offers online roulette, online bingo, craps online, online blackjack game, online slot, and video slot.

Free gamble on Net is fun to play, and you can win fortune get cash rewards, bonus, and a big jackpot. Free gaming site is the best for betting on Internet. Learn about gambling strategy, rules from experts and old hands. Cyber chatting is an added attraction for online bingo players as it helps them meet new friends. It is truly an exhilarating feeling to hit the jackpot in an online bingo game and have someone interesting from the chat room congratulate you on a great gaming fortune.

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Host Jeff Probst considers quitting Survivor

Despite the success of Survivor, Jeff Probst is now contemplating on leaving the hit adventure reality show that has escalated him to fame and popularity. He rationalizes his departure as something that he has to do for himself, possibly pursuing other interests.

He has been part of the show since its initial launch in May 2000. And although he has significantly contributed to the sensation of Survivor, he is confident that the show can continue without him. With his exit on the show, he expects Survivor to still come out as a topnotch program since he is positive that it will still consistently bring forth the same level of adventure impact and intensity even with a different host.

Probst, a 44-year old Emmy Award-nominated television personality, is popularly known for hosting the reality show Survivor. This native of Wichita, Kansas graduated from Newport High School and also studied at Seattle Pacific University. Prior to his inclusion on Survivor, he worked as a host on the show Backchat and Rock & Roll Jeopardy! He also served as a correspondent for Access Hollywood and even wrote and directed the movie Finder’s Fee. In addition, he also formerly worked as a producer at Boeing Motion Picture.

On the other hand, he admits that he is a bit hesitant to quit the show that has done so much for his career. He asserts that he has learned so many things from doing the show. In fact, it has become an aid for his improvement and development as a person. He also values his work and takes pleasure in being part of an infamous program.

Probst’s contract with Survivor extends until the sixteenth season of the program. Given this, avid fans can still catch the brilliant host for two more seasons before he exits the show.

Read more: Host Jeff Probst considers quitting Survivor

Smallville’s Tom Welling to Star in Teen Wolf Remake

Tom Welling, lead actor on the series Smallville, is bound to star in a remake of the movie Teen Wolf. This is actually his way of productively spending his time off from Smallville.

The said film, which was originally led by actor Michael J. Fox, showcases a high school student who discovers that his family has an odd heritage and eventually finds himself transforming into a werewolf. Released in 1985, the movie was directed by Rod Daniel, and was co-written by Jeph Loeb and Matthew Weisman. As for Welling’s upcoming movie, his version will be featuring a teenage girl as the werewolf. Given this, many speculate that Welling’s role would just be secondary.

Welling, a 29-year old native of New York graduated from Okemos High School.

He is popularly known for his role as Clark Kent on the sci-fi series Smallville. This male fashion model turned actor also appeared in a number of commercials and music videos.

The last time Welling graced the silver screen was in the film The Fog where he played Nick Castle, which was released in 2005, which is coincidentally a remake as well. His attempt to make it big in his last film was shattered since The Fog was significantly fell short of the original creation of John Carpenter. In addition, it raved many poor reviews from critics and movie fans, citing predictable plot, poor acting and lack of horror. Apart from The Fog, he also worked in the movie Cheaper by the Dozen and Cheaper by the Dozen 2 as Charlie Baker. This, on the other hand, garnered better reviewers compared to his most recent.

For sure, avid fans of Tom Welling look forward to a more fruitful and successful blockbuster. Hopefully, there might be one in the future. But for now, let’s just hope that his second remake would surpass his first.

Read more: Smallville’s Tom Welling to Star in Teen Wolf Remake

Oil Paintings : Paintingsgifts4u

Oil Paintings is one of the most important branch of fine arts. The oil paintings are invaluable and of historic importance. The Oil paintings are the mirror of arts and culture of a particular nation in a particular period of times. These truly represent an age. There are thousands of galleries where the highly skilled artists are busy in creating and reproducing the high quality Oil paintings of wide range of styles.

Oil painting is done on surfaces with pigments that are ground and mixed into a medium of oil. Painters often use different oils in the same painting depending on specific pigments and effects desired. The paints themselves also develop a particular feel depending on the mediums.

Painting is the practice of applying color to a surface (support) such as paper, canvas, wood, glass, or other. However, artistically, term “painting” means the use of this activity in combination with drawing, composition and other aesthetic considerations in order to manifest the expressive and conceptual intention of the practitioner. Painting is used as a mode of representing, documenting and expressing all the varied intents and subjects that are as numerous as there are practitioners of the craft.

The process of oil painting varies from artist to artist. However,It involves certain important steps. First, the artist prepares the surface. The most popular surface used is canvas. The other surfaces are linoleum, wooden panel, pressed wood, and cardboard. Many famous paintings were painted on panel (for instance Da Vinci’s Mona Lisa). Large paintings are usually done on canvas as panels are heavy.

The traditional artists have used the canvas made from linen. But the less expensive cotton fabric has gained popularity. First of all, a wooden frame called a stretcher” or “strainer” is prepared by the artist. The canvas is then pulled across the wooden frame and tacked or stapled tightly to the back edge. Then the artist applies a “size” to isolate the canvas from the acidic qualities of the paint. Traditionally, the canvas was coated with a layer of animal glue and primed with lead white paint, sometimes with added chalk.

Next the artist might sketch an outline of their subject prior to applying pigment to the surface. The pigment is mixed with oil. With the availability of Oil Paints in tubes, Artists have been able to mix colors quickly and easily without having to grind their own pigments.

To apply the paint, the artist most often uses a brush. These brushes are made from a variety of fibers to create different effects. For example, brushes made with hog?s bristle might be used for bolder strokes. Brushes made from miniver, might be used for finer details. Sizes of brushes also create different effects. For example, a “round” is a pointed brush used for detail work. “Bright” brushes are used to apply broad swaths of color. The artist might also apply paint with a palette knife, which is a flat, metal blade. A palette knife may also be used to remove paint from the canvas when necessary. A variety of unconventional tools, such as rags, sponges, and cotton swabs, may be used. Some artists even paint with their fingers.

Oil paintings are probably developed for decorative or functional purposes. Oil Paintings can be naturalistic and representational (as in a still life or landscape painting), photographic, abstract, be loaded with narrative content, symbolism, emotion or be political in nature.

Different Styles of Oil Paintings like Floral, Landscape, Still life, Rural and Cultural, Street scenes are very popular among the people. They use to decorate their homes and offices with these lovely looking and high quality oil Paintings. They also like to send the gifts of these Oil Paintings to their friends, relatives and colleagues. Oil Paintings Portraits are always been in high demand. However, there is a trend of Oil Painting portraits of pets and even the non living things like sports cars.

Now M/s.PaintingsGifts4u (www.paintingsgifts4u.com) has been serving to make Your imagination, the reality. You can get Oil Paintings of your choice just by selecting the Model number of the Painting or by sending the Photo of the image. Just visit our website an contact us at : info@paintingsgifts4u.com

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Abstract Paintings

Abstract paintings are unique and the most creative style of the paintings. Abstract Oil paintings have been the privilege of the people with high artistic sense. Abstract art paintings can be defined as an art that uses color and form in a non-representational way and it does not depict objects in the natural world. Abstract paintings were often claimed to capture something of the depicted objects’ immutable intrinsic qualities rather than its external appearance.

Abstract painters have the highest artistic sense.There have been many famous abstract painters. Their abstract art work has been greatly appreciated. Most of these abstract painters have produced their Abstract oil paintings on canvas. Picass is one of the most famous abstract painter. His abstract paintings are amongst the most popular abstract art paintings.Picass abstract paintings have earned him worldwide recognition.

Abstract art has deep roots in history. Non-objective art is not an invention of the twentieth century. As the depiction of human beings is not allowed in the Islamic religion, consequently the Islamic culture developed a high standard of decorative arts. Calligraphy is also a form of non-figurative art. Abstract designs have also existed in western culture in many contexts. However, Abstract art is distinct from pattern-making in design, since it draws on the distinction between decorative art and fine art, in which a painting is an object of thoughtful contemplation in its own right. There are also many large abstract paintings.

Contemporary abstract paintings also represent true form of the abstract art. Modern abstract paintings have successfully attracted the art lovers. Modern abstract oil Paintings are of various wonderful styles. These include abstract expressionist paintings, abstract landscape paintings, abstract still life painting and abstract flower paintings etc. The abstract acrylic art is also getting very popular. The abstract art artists are also reproducing colourful abstract art. Callum Innes, Sean Scully, and Yuko Shiraishi are among the contemporary abstract painters whose works can be seen today.

The abstract art lovers decorate their homes and offices with these wonderful abstract oil paintings. Cheap abstract art is also available from the abstract art galleries. People can buy the cheap abstract paintings from the abstract art galleries. They can also buy the reproductions of the famous abstract paintings from these abstract art galleries.

Good News for the abstract paintings lovers.! Get Abstract Paintings of your choice just by selecting the Model number of the Abstract Oil Painting on our website or by sending us the Photo of your required image. For more details and special discounts in the prices, Please contact us at : info@paintingsgifts4u.com .

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Casino games Mastering Software.

Casino online. How can computer programs help a player?

In real casinos the use of computers and different electronic facilities is forbidden (though some casinos allow to use, for example notebook PCs while playing the roulette). In on-line casinos the situation is quite different – the very game is played by using a computer, and it is very difficult to forbid the use the support programs here. A question arises whether a player is capable to get the advantage over casinos using computer programs.

Training programs: One of the most wide spread types of casino programs are training programs. A novice acquires an opportunity to practice the casino game, familiarize with rules, controls and possibilities of the game. Video-poker and BlackJack programs are devised to teach the basic strategy of the game. They give prompts if the player makes decisions different from optional decisions. If players wants they can find programs helping train the card counting. Therefore training programs will be of use both for on-line and off-line players.

Analyzing programs: The next type of programs are analyzing programs. Normally, such programs are developed for casino games with wide range of rules and basic strategy (for example for video-poker and Black Jack). The main aim of such programs is the calculation of mathematic expectation, dispersion and basic strategy of the game. Black Jack programs can provide coefficients for popular counting systems. Such programs infrequently have a training module or the represent a package together with a training program. Casinos analyzing programs also include analyzing programs of roulette strategies. In a sense, the program is that you set a supposed strategy of the game and the program generates several millions of spins and shows how much you lose- a useful thing for those who like “never lose” roulette strategies. As you can see analyzing programs are not less and probably even more useful for real casino players.

On-line Casino Game Helpers: The third type of programs which can be called “On-line Casino Game Helpers” is required only for Internet casinos. Within this type of statistics gathering programs were popular reading off data from the screen and providing these data to the player for analysis, however nowadays almost all on-line casinos provide statistics therefore there is no any necessity for such programs. Now programs still exist which provide recommendations in respect of game optimization. Simple programs have the basic strategy, more complex programs immediately recalculate an optimal strategy of Black Jack depending on the card out of the game, that is they automate the process of card counting. But in on-line casinos their use is limited, because the casinos usually shuffle cards after each deal.

On-line Casino “Bots”: Finally, the fourth type of programs, again on-line programs, which includes “Bots” (a contracted form of “robots”). Bots are designed to fully automate the process of playing, for that purpose they read off the information from the screen, make decisions in accordance with set program (usually based on the basic strategy) and emulate movements and pressing of the mouse button. On-line casinos are quite tolerant towards the programs of the first three types, however, the use of bots in all on-line casinos is forbidden. The problem is not that the program can outgame casinos- it might be possible only in casino games beneficial for the player which can be hardly found on-line. On-line casinos are rather afraid of bonus hunters because using a bot you can easily “wash for” bonuses flat bet day after day.

However, judging by unproved rumours the biggest gain of $1.2 mln in on-line casinos was acquired using a bot (the game on $10000 in Caribbean 21).

Programs of first three types are freely sold. On-line Casino “Bots” programmers usually write for their own purpose. There are people using their written robots for simple “washing for” bonuses following the basic strategy, although they do not intend to sell them- they are afraid of toughening measures on the part of casinos in case of frequent use of the bots.

As a matter of fact, one more type of programs exist which can be characterized in short as “DECEPTION OF BUYERS”. If you see a program promising “never lose” roulette game (exact calculation of a falling number and manual control of a falling number) or cracking the casino server with accruing lots of money for you, pass by. At least will get nothing for your money and at most you will get the Trojan horse or lose relying on empty promises.

On-line Poker Programs: On-line poker programs are worth particular consideration. They include the programs of the four above mentioned types. Trainers exist enabling you to try to take on artificial intelligence (AI) of the program. At the same time some programs will advise you on the game optimization (at the extend as it is understood by the creators of the program). Analyzing programs exist calculating your chance for improving up to different combinations and running various simulations, for example they can compare the force of two aces and two twos. On-line casino helpers usually work with statistics. If earlier programs tried to gather statistics from the screen, now they import standard logs of poker rooms. Based on these logs information is provided in respect of the player and opponents. Your statistics can be analyzed when you have spare time finding negative points and the statistics on your opponents can be displayed on the screen while playing to optimise game decision making. Moreover programs exist gathering and providing information on players you have never played with and which are not included into your statistics, however, poker rooms started on cracking down on these programs. Quite often you can see the warning on poker room web sites:

Q. Can you give me a list of acceptable programs?

Poker room. This is a list of programs that we are aware of and permit:

1. GameTime+
2. Holdem Inspector
3. PokerAce Heads Up
4. PokerOffice
5. PokerTracker
6. PokerWeapon
7. Texas Calculatem

Q. Can you give me a list of programs which are prohibited?

Poker room. This is a list of programs that we are aware of and prohibit:

1. PokerEdge
2. PokerProphecy
3. StarSpy
4. WinHoldem
5. PokerSherlock

Poker bots exist and you can buy them but without an interface which will press buttons instead of you, however, experts make them quite easily. A bot championship with the prize fund of $100000 took place simultaneously with a recently ended WSOP tournament.

Although poker room bots are not desirable clients, poker rooms trying to crack down on them as well, and while improving poker bots fight against them will be tougher. The fact is that bots make the game less interesting for most players, sway of bots will result in giving up playing poker in Internet.

In general casino programs enable to minimize losses (in off-line even to pass to a beneficial game) and poker programs if used properly may considerably improve the game quality and make you a good plus player.

© Copyright 2006-2007 www.bonus-map.com

Read more: Casino games Mastering Software.

Modern tendencies in the area of bonus hunting.

Cracking down on bonus hunters is getting tougher! A wide range of devices and new fighting measures are taken:

“Sticky” bonuses become more and more popular ( a casino player cannot get the amount of a bonus), last year a new variety appeared – “phantom” bonuses – a variant of a sticky bonus, but the amount of a bonus while taking money is not left on the account, but is removed. At present most casinos with PlayTech, Microgaming, RTG softwares offer “sticky” bonuses.

Other casinos expand the list of games forbidden for bonus wagering. BlackJack or Video Poker are either forbidden or wager requirements increased by 2-4 times. Some popular on-line casinos introduce bonuses which can be wagered in Slots only.

Wager requirements continue to grow. A year ago you could find on-line casinos offering decent bonuses with 10-20 times wager requirements. Nowadays 25-30 times are the summit of a hunter’s ambition (for Slots bonuses wager may be a bit lower).

But not everything is so bad. Casino bonus hunters have new interesting perspective in a related area – on-line Poker rooms. The Poker industry is growing now incredibly rapidly (the number of players and bets for the last year have grown by more than 5 times!). New Poker rooms are constantly appearing which try to attract new players offering bonuses, money for playing and free rolls, and large Poker sites keep up with young competitors.

At present among Poker rooms are more popular interest bonuses on the first deposit – 20-25% bonus up to $100. Fixed bonuses exist (about $50) and in Poker rooms with Cryptologic software monthly bonuses for the time of playing are $5 per hour. The wager requirement is expressed by the number of played deals or the amount of bet money.

New Poker rooms need players strongly, nobody will come into an empty room, therefore they are ready to propose money to players not for sitting and playing (so-called proposition players or props – the player should play at the table appointed by casinos and he gets for that a bonus or some tens of dollars per hour).

The third variant of earning money is tournaments with free entrance designed to attract new players and keep old ones. It can be a tournament on one table with a prize fund of $10 or it can be a tournament for $30000 with the first bonus of $6000 (at present the highest fund of free roll is $100000!

A question arises: is it too risky to hunter in Poker. Will not you lose more? Will not rake swallow all profits? Here of course much depends on the level of the player. However, at low limits up to $1/$2 (it is no use to trying higher for a hunter and the bank does not allow to risk in this way) the level of the players is not too high, therefore anybody who will spend a couple of hours on studying the chance concept and basic principles of the game and print the table of the start hands, has good chance to become a plus player. Of course some negative losses are possible but in on-line casinos the situation is the same therefore Poker rooms is more kindly soil for the hunting. And while acquiring playing experience a bonus hunter may well transfer to the class of professional players and start earning tens and even hundreds of dollars per hour WITHOUT BONUSES.

Therefore, hunting in on-line casinos is gradually declining and its place is going to take on-line Poker hunting. The king is died, long live to the king.

© Copyright 2006-2007 www.Bonus-Map.com

Read more: Modern tendencies in the area of bonus hunting.

Casino games history or how people have learnt to count cards Part1.

The dream of capoting a casino is as old as the notion “casino” itself. Every gambler wants to win. Every other invents his own “system”. Every hundredth attempts to carefully analyze the game. And only the few of millions succeed.

The most famous achievement in the sphere of “system” game against the casino was the so called “card counting” at blackjack – mathematically based methods of game allowing to get some advantage over the casino. The casinos, surely, knows about the existence of “counters” and are trying to oppose them – from changing the rules to banning the game. Sometimes even exceeding the limits of reason and legality. In fact, all the history of the blackjack is the struggle between the gamblers and the casino which is more clever.

More than half a century passed since the first attempts of beating the casinos in blackjack, based not on the marked cards and intuition. There has been a peck of salt eaten since then, but the struggle is still going on….

Mammoth.

Probably the first person in history who applied mathematic analysis to the game blackjack was Jess Marcum (originally Marcovitch) was born on 30th December 1919.

It happened at the turn of 1949 and 1950, when Jess, being an excellent mathematician and physicist-theorist got to Las Vegas. Then his mathematic flair prompted him that most possibly not everything depends on intuition in blackjack.

Marcum started analyzing blackjack. First, the uniqueness of his attempt is that he performed absolutely all calculations with his pen on the paper, on principle without using any technologies whatever weak they might be at that time. Second he had found the solution!

Jess manually developed what is now called basic strategy and counting systems ten years before someone else has done that. He counted that theoretically he had an advantage over the casino of about 3% –under the conditions of that time it was quite real. Moreover, Markum had been playing blackjack in all known to him casinos- both in the USA and abroad. His name appeared on the pages of the newspapers as an example of “lucky man” who managed to hit the jackpot.

Jess Markum also went down to history as probably the first man thrown out from the casino because of cards. Though at that time casinos did not understand that such system existed. Jess lived in Las Vegas for about a year. The casino owners exchanged the information when they gathered at the general meeting. And they were terrified. After that Markum was not admitted at all Vegas casinos. He went to Reno. The same story- in half a year after unbelievable “luck” the casino owners started making inquiries about the incredible gambler. Then other states and cities. Then Cuba, the Bahamas. Nobody knows how much money he has won during that time. One thing is known for sure- in fact, Jess Markum started the war between the gamblers and casinos in blackjack, that is still going on and getting more and more strained.

He did not share his calculations with anyone, and completely gave up playing against casino after a wide public publication of blackjack methods by other authors.

Jess Markum died in 1992, at the age of 72.

The four of Neanderthals.

The next effort of great influence on the blackjack math was made in 1956 by the group of four mathematicians- Roger Baldwin, Wilbert E. Cantey, Herbert Maisel and James McDermott.

These people had never played in casino before, having spent a great number of m/hr, they created basic strategy of playing blackjack according to the most popular at that time rules and published it together with the calculation methods in the specialized math journal for statisticians – Journal of the American Statistical Association entitled “The Optimum Strategy In Blackjack”.

They made several slight mistakes in calculations which is nothing serious taking into account their enormous contribution. A year later they issued a small book Playing Blackjack to Win, which is now a bibliography rarity.

In fact their book and the article did not spark much furor, and remained almost without attention regardless of their innovative approach. However, the word almost turned out to be the key for all the gambling industry, as someone did paid close attention to the research of the excellent four.

© Copyright 2006-2007 www.bonus-map.com

Read more: Casino games history or how people have learnt to count cards Part1.

Casino games history or how people have learnt to count cards Part2.

Thorp’s Era.

If you don’t know, now we are living in 43th year of Thorp’s era. This person had such a great influence on the blackjack and all the gambling industry, that I seriously consider that he is worth of setting up a monument while alive, by the way at the casino’s expense.

Being a young scientist, Edward O. Thorp regularly read mathematic journals. When he was a student, he was pressed for money. The idea of outplaying the casino on the basis of calculations appealed to Thorp and he decided to check the results of the “excellent four” and see what will come out of it. The result of his activity was a phenomenal book Beat The Dealer, now its sales are approaching million of samples.

Thorp chose the other way – he did not make analytical calculations, but with powerful at that time computer IBM (they were also called mainframe) he wrote several programs on Fortran, creating quite original methods for 60s. By the way, Thorp together with his research instructor Claude Elwood Shannon, a great scientist, were also involved in solving the problem “how to outplay the roulette?”

From his calculations Thorp understood that dead cards had a considerable affect on the gambler’s chances this or that way. His main idea was about memorizing the dead cards in somewhat simplified way and when the situation is beneficial for the player, make high stakes. By the way, this system still remains the basis of any methods and counting systems of blackjack.

The counting system introduced by Thorp, was rather complicated for usage in real casinos, required great concentration and large amount of mentally arithmetic actions. However with good training there was nothing impossible in its application.

Thorp’s book immediately became a success and bestseller. Everyone understood that with quite simple actions you can get an advantage. Every reader dreamt of enormous prizes. However, the casinos also knew the score.

Panic seized them. And in 1962 after Thorp’s book, all Las Vegas Casinos without exception changed their rules being afraid of mass influx of “system players”. The quality of the rules worsened terribly and no counting system could ever help you to win. Though the effect for casino turned out to be quite unpredictable and reverse – people stopped playing blackjack. And during several months, all the casinos had to return to the former rules for their own survival.

Another interesting effect caused by Thorp’s book- incredible popularity of blackjack outrunning the favorite American craps. A lot of people, after reading the book considered themselves potential winners and rushed to the blackjack tables. However, most of them had a bad understanding of the mathematical principles of the game did not become winners but quite vice versa. Therefore, casino got more clients and moreover losing clients. Since then their number is only increasing.

The system presented in the first edition of Thorp’s book was quite difficult even for professionals and only the few could apply it under the conditions of a real game. Something should be simplified.

The power behind the throne.

Julian Braun is quite a unique personality. He had hardly ever played a deal in real blackjack. But he played millions and maybe even billions of deals on the computer. Braun was a good mathematician and programmer and he got interested in Thorp’s idea and offered him cooperation in the sphere of calculations and programming.

Braun became the person who first invented the counting system Hi-Lo. He was behind the development of all modern systems the authorship of which belongs to Revere, Humble, Wong and Uston. He wrote the only book How to Play Winning Blackjack, but what a book!

Braun upgraded Thorp’s system on FORTRAN and made considerable changes and the second edition of Thorp’s book also contained Hi-Lo system in its modern form. It was quite a revolution in gambling world. Braun worked in IBM corporation and had access to probably most powerful computers of that time. This fact helped to build simple and efficient tool in struggle with casino.

Using Braun’s calculations the gambler mostly known as Lawrence Revere developed his own counting system and presented his results in the form of convenient tables which are applied in most counters of the world. Lance Humble based his HiOpt systems on Braun’s experience.

Regardless the fact that Julian most probably had never been to the casino, he became a power behind the throne of the blackjack and all the mathematical modeling of the game fell on him.

© Copyright 2006-2007 www.bonus-map.com

Read more: Casino games history or how people have learnt to count cards Part2.

Grey’s Anatomy Spinoff Gets a Name, Sort of

After the bit-by-bit disclosure of the cast of the upcoming spin off of Grey’s Anatomy, a title finally surfaces for the much talked about series…at least for now. The show, which features the lead character Dr. Addision Montgomery, played by actress Kate Walsh, will be momentarily called “Private Practice.”

Grey’s Anatomy, an Emmy and Golden Globe award-winning drama series, features the world of medical drama through the eyes of Meredith Grey, played by Ellen Pompeo. The show also includes Sandra Oh, Katherine Heigl, Justin Chambers, T.R. Knight, Patrick Dempsey, Isaiah Washington and, of course, Kate Walsh.

A month ago, the buzz about a Grey’s Anatomy spin off surfaced various media outlets. Due to its attractiveness and popularity, the network has decided to come up with a by-product of the highly controversial medical drama that would center on Kate Walsh’s character. Weeks after the reports, the spin-off was confirmed however other details were left out including the other cast members, not to mention the title of the show.

The highly publicized Grey’s Anatomy spin off is creating buzz with its stand-alone and detached idea. In line with this, the said show is said to deviate from a sphere of medical emergencies and leap into a more profound drama viewers will hopefully be pleased about.

With the gradual uncovering of the details of the controversial show, the viewers are getting more curious and intrigued about the spin off. And with all the noise about the upcoming show, the ABC network highly expects the series to instantly land a niche on the top in the network’s fall line up.

Apart from Walsh, it is now confirmed that the Grey’s Anatomy spin off will also include Taye Diggs, Tim Daly, Paul Adelstein, Chris Lowell, Amy Brenneman and Merrin Dungey. The drama is set to launch on May 10, 2007 with a two-hour special debut. But as of this moment, there is still no word on the airtime.

Read more: Grey’s Anatomy Spinoff Gets a Name, Sort of