This is a guest post by Alan Bryan.

It’s no surprise that Nevada is leading the wave in the legalization of online gambling. Player Verify has joined the long list of companies seeking an online gambling license in Nevada including Caesars Entertainment Corp and MGM Resorts International. Extending its licensing privileges can potentially open the United States to the legalization of online gambling sites like the Facebook Friendzy Apps or online poker rooms like best 10 USA online casinos.

Since casinos are heavily monitored facilities equipped with security personnel, gamblers are identified, their moves watched, earnings documented and revenues taxed. The problem with legalizing online gambling is creating a system online that parallels the tight watch of players and money virtually.

The Business of Online Gambling

“When the unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act was signed almost five years ago, it was believed that the online gambling industry was destined to quickly fade out in the United States,” according to a broad definition of gambling, this assumption didn’t hold true, as the industry continues to grow rapidly. Americans are spending an estimated $4 billion a year gambling online and that in 2011 Internet gambling accounted for $32.8 billion in revenue, according to a comprehensive report on this population released this month by Marketwire.

Online gambling is a venture risk. Starry-eyed by the large potential gains suggested from a successful online gambling company, entrepreneurs are flocking to the industry. Although, smaller industry operators dislike the potential for a strict mandated verification process, as software is expensive, to expensive for some to stay in business.

The Importance of Online Verification

The biggest concern with online gambling is making sure people are logging on from regulated areas and of legal age (18-years of age or older). Verification tools are increasingly becoming more important for interactive sites. As more important data is stored online more hackers try to reach it. Player Verify instantly checks identities scanning through “a nationwide database of government and public information. A player is verified only if the information submitted lines up with the databases, easily screening out potential problems,” says Chris Sieroty in his recent article regarding the subject in the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

The Future of Online Gambling in the United States

New laws suggested in DC would open online gambling permissions to sports betting, wagering on horse races, events and gambling through mobile apps. Although online gambling is said to have a 58 percent disapproval rate among Americans according to an article by WYNC, New Jersey lawmakers stand behind it. Gambling playing a large role in total revenue for the Garden State, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christy was quoted by WYNC as telling “reporters in January that he believes New Jersey should be “the epicenter” of the industry. It’s safe to assume that other states earning major percentages of revenue from gambling will follow suit. Pennsylvania is the second-highest grossing gambling destination in the nation behind Nevada.

Born and raised near Silicon Valley, Alan Bryan’s parent’s had high hopes for him. Those hopes did not include gaming. Fortunately, Alan was able to channel his love of gaming into a career as a journalist…focusing on gaming. Both Alan and his parents have accepted this compromise.

Post from: John's Jottings

Nevada Implements New Player Verification for Online Poker

This is a guest post by Harrison James.

There is more than one type of poker tournament. Whether playing in an online poker room such as http://poker.paddypower.com/online-poker or in a gambling den or casino, if you want to get in on the real money tournament scene, you need to learn the different poker tournament types.

Learning the Ropes of the Poker Tournament Types

Once you have mastered the game of poker and have become familiar with one or more variations of the game, you might consider moving up from a single poker table to a poker tournament. Poker tournaments can be fun and exciting. They can also be overwhelming. Oftentimes a poker tournament is not as straightforward as it may seem. New players are often confused when it comes to the size of the tournament, the tournament events and even the types of poker tournaments that are available to them.

Multi-Table Tournaments

Multi-table tournaments are the most common type of poker tournament that is played today.

In a multi-table tournament, players start playing at a designated time. They are assigned to a specific poker table. Each table in the tournament has the same number of players. As players are eliminated from the tournament, poker tables are broken down. If a table plays down to only two or three tables, the table is broken up and the players are moved to other tables within the tournament. This process continues until there is only one table left in the tournament. Welcome to the Final Table, baby!

Sit and Go

Smaller tournaments tend to be sit and go tournaments. These tournaments feature fewer tables – often only one or two tables. Players sign up for the tournament and take a seat at either of the tables. When the seats are full, the tournament starts. Players participate at their table continuously until only the top players remain. Rewards are often given to the top two or three players. Sit and Go tournaments are often used to satellite into large, multi-table tournaments.

Shootout Tournament

A shootout tournament encompasses features of both multi-table tournaments and sit and go tournaments. Players begin by playing at one particular table. Once the winner of the table is crowned, the winning players move on to play against the winning players of the other tables until a tournament champion is determined.

As you can see, there are a variety of poker tournament types to select from. If you are new to tournament poker, I suggest you find a tournament featuring your best and favorite game, find an entry level that you are comfortable with, and give it a shot!

See you on the felt.

—
About the author – Harrison is a 40ish semi-pro poker player just trying to stay ahead of the young bucks of the game. His speciality is short-handed no-limit poker.

Post from: John's Jottings

Understanding the Different Poker Tournament Types

Users of Internet Explorer 9 have encountered multiple problems printing from the application. There are some serious glitches that Microsoft attempts to explain away as merely the users’ mistaken decision to print from a 64-bit function with 32-bit software. This fails to explain the myriad problems users have encountered across the spectrum. Even if user-error is responsible for some of the problems, it seems that Microsoft, as the acknowledged expert in software solutions, should have designed software that could at least diagnose the malfunction adequately and suggest corrective steps that a typical user can understand.

Most users say they have no problems printing from other software applications, only Microsoft IE 9. An old saying goes something like this: if you have frequent problems in relationships and always end up breaking up with a partner, Occam’s razor suggests it is you who are the problem, not the many partners with whom young have found fault. Microsoft is continually trying to say they are not at fault, that the problems with IE 9 are caused by a vast number of ignorant misinformed users.

I say if it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, it is probably due to user error. In all seriousness, operators have had trouble printing from the application across the board. In some cases, they have even lost the ability to print from other applications. Some have purged their system and restored it to a condition pre-dating installation of the IE 9 drivers and find their system working perfectly which points to 64 bit printing from IE 9 is the main issue.

Dealing with these kinds of problems can be very time-consuming and should never be necessary when installing upgrades that are supposed to make operations more efficient and convenient. Software updates for established functions should integrate seamlessly into the old system. If they fail to do so, then the new software is to blame for the problem since the responsibility for adaptation rests squarely in the provenance of the software. Customers should not need to download new drivers and jump through hoops to get their systems to function at the level they already enjoyed.

Customers have demonstrated problems from multiple printers and functions after installing IE 9 and no common troubleshooting problems seem capable of fixing the problem. Microsoft should scrap the offending software and iron out the problems before continuing to offer it as an upgrade for loyal customers who deserve better treatment.

Post from: John's Jottings

64-Bit Printing From IE 9

This is a guest post by Bruce Hyland.

It used to be that buying a home was simple. You would take out your 30-year, fixed rate mortgage and that would be that. 30 years of the same payment later, and the house was yours. These days things are much more complicated. You’ve got FHA loans, VA loans, Jumbo mortgages, Adjustable Rate mortgages, and many more. You can get dizzy just thinking about all of your options.

In this article I will be writing about 4 types of mortgages that are a little unique and that you may not be aware of.

First, let’s make sure we’ve got the basics down pat. What is a mortgage? According to Wikipedia, a mortgage is:

A mortgage loan is a loan secured by real property through the use of a mortgage note which evidences the existence of the loan and the encumbrance of that realty through the granting of a mortgage which secures the loan. However, the word mortgage alone, in everyday usage, is most often used to mean mortgage loan.
A home buyer or builder can obtain financing (a loan) either to purchase or secure against the property from a financial institution, such as a bank, either directly or indirectly through intermediaries. Features of mortgage loans such as the size of the loan, maturity of the loan, interest rate, method of paying off the loan, and other characteristics can vary considerably.

Here are 4 unique types of mortgages:

Streamlined 203(k) Limited Repair Program
FHA’s Streamlined 203(k) program permits homebuyers to finance up to an additional $35,000 into their mortgage to improve or upgrade their home before move-in. With this new product, homebuyers can quickly and easily tap into cash to pay for property repairs or improvements, such as those identified by a home inspector or FHA appraiser.

Bridge / Swing Loans
Bridge loans are also called swing loans. They are used when you have a home for sale and need the proceeds from the sale to purchase a new home.

If your current home doesn’t sell in time, you can get a bridge loan, which uses that home as collateral and allows you to close on the new house.

A bridge loan pays off the old mortgage and goes toward the down payment on the new home. When the old home does sell, you pay off the bridge loan and continue paying the traditional mortgage on the new home.

Equity Mortgage Loan Types
Home equity loans are typically junior loans and should not be confused with a basic refinance, which means paying off an existing mortgage and replacing it with another loan. Refinances can take 30 days or more to process. Home equity loans fund fairly quickly and are subordinate to an existing first mortgage. In other words, an equity loan falls into second position.

The lender’s security for the loan is your home, meaning if you go into default and do not make your mortgage payments or otherwise abide by the terms of the loan, the lender has the right to foreclose.

Reverse Mortgages
Reverse mortgage are available to any person over the age of 62 who has enough equity. Instead of making monthly payments to the lender, the lender makes monthly payments to the borrower for as long as the borrower resides in the home. The interest rate can be fixed or adjustable. Wondering if a reverse mortgage is for you? There are a variety of reverse mortgage calculators available to help you decide.

These are just 4 types of mortgages, there are probably hundreds more. What kind of mortgage do you have?

Post from: John's Jottings

4 Types of Mortgages You May Not Know About

This is a guest post by Lisa Rollins.

Looking for a new place to holiday this winter? Sick of the same old destinations you and your family have traveled to over the last few years? Break out of your rut and explore something new! Here are some travel destination ideas for your next get away.

Crete
Crete is the biggest island of Greece and the second biggest (after Cyprus) of the East Mediterranean. It separates the Aegean from the Libyan sea and marks the boundary between Europe and Africa. Crete covers an area of 8.336 km2. The length of the island is 260 km, while the shore-length is 1.046 km. Majestic mountains rise in its centre – the White mountains, Psiloritis, Dikti. Its plateaus are split by deep gorges and end up in fertile valleys.

Here are the top 3 things to do on Crete holidays:

1. Visit Aquaworld Aquarium, Hersonissos
2. Enjoy Elafonissi Beach, Elafonissi
3. Take Cooking Lessons In Vamos, Vamos

Las Vegas
Las Vegas is the most populous city in Nevada, United States and the seat of Clark County. Las Vegas is an internationally renowned major resort city for gambling, shopping, and fine dining. The city bills itself as The Entertainment Capital of the World, and is famous for its casino resorts and associated entertainment.

Here are the top 3 things to do on Las Vegas holidays:

1. Gamble, of course!
2. See a show (I recommend a Cirque du Soleil show)
3. Visit the Fremont Street Experience

Turkey
Turkey, known officially as the Republic of Turkey, is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia (mostly in the Anatolian peninsula) and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe.

In Turkey every visitor can find something for themselves. The world class cuisine, vibrant cities, warm hospitality, recreational facilities, historical attractions, cultural heritage, over 8000 km’s coastline & an unparallel natural beauty make Turkey an irresistible holiday destination for independent or group travelers.

Here are the top 3 things to do on Turkey holidays:

1. Tour the Hagia Sophia Museum / Church in Ayasofya, Istanbul
2. Check out Aqua Fantasy Land, Kusadasi
3. Be amazed by The Great Mosque, Ulu Camii

I hope this article has given you some ideas for where you may spend your next vacation or holiday. Remember to enjoy yourself and go off the beaten path – it is always more fun to explore out on your own.

Good luck and have fun!

Post from: John's Jottings

3 Top Vacation Spots

This is a guest post by Sarah Tipton.

If you are a broke college student like me that still likes to travel and see this great country of ours (or some other country perhaps!) then you know how challenging it can be to do so on a limited budget. I have found a number of methods that have worked for me and I’d like to share them with you in the hopes that you too can benefit from these cost-saving ideas.

Of course depending on your destination and travel plans you may not need all of these tips, but hopefully they will each be useful to you at some point in time.

In this guide I will be sharing my favorite options for getting the best prices on airfare, rental cars and hotels.

Airfare

My favorite site for getting the best deals on airfare is Kayak.com. The site is very easy to use because it was founded by tech executive cofounders of Expedia, Travelocity and Orbitz. The way I use their site is I enter my start and ending destination and then I use the calendar to view when the best deals are.

One of the really neat things on Kayak is their trends page, which is a really fun way to get some travel destination ideas. As I am writing this the number one trending destination is Belize City. Cool! Too rich for my blood but a neat idea nonetheless.

Rental Cars

My favorite new option for a discount car rental is U-Save. Unlike the big company names like Enterprise, National and Avis these guys believe that cheap car rental can be accompanied with excellent service. While this broke student needs the cheap rates she also appreciates good service.

My favorite feature on their site is their stripped down mobile site that works great on my mobile phone. Hopefully they will have an iPhone app soon!

Hotels

For cheap hotel options I have had the best luck with Priceline.com. You probably know them from the “Priceline Negotiator” television ads featuring William Shatner from Star Trek fame. By far the best feature of the their site is their name your own price option. All you have to do is select where you want to stay, how many stars you want your hotel to be and what price you are willing to pay. They will then match you up with a hotel meeting your price and specifications. Sweet! Cheap travel at it’s best. Of course, don’t expect to be matched up to any hotel if you choose $1. You need to be realistic.

I hope these tips were helpful to you and I wish you bon voyage on your next low-cost travel adventure!

Post from: John's Jottings

A Student’s Guide to Cheap Travel

This is a guest post by Bill Graves.

If you run a warehouse, freight company, or any other type of industrial business, reliable floor scales are essential tools in helping you keep accurate records of your loads and providing reliable services to your customers.

There are a variety of uses for floor scales in an industrial setting. In this post I will be outlining some different options for industrial floor scales.

Warehouse shipping & receiving platform scales

If you manage the warehouse shipping & receiving function then you know the importance of technology in keeping your job area running in perfect condition. You use a number of pieces of equipment to do so including barcode scanners, rfid tags, label printers and of course, platform scales. A solid, reliable platform scale is of the utmost importance is you verify the weights of the products coming into and out of your warehouse.

Pallet weighing products

While it is important to be able to weigh your incoming and outgoing pallets it is even more important to do so quickly. Time is of the essence in manufacturing. That’s why the best investment you can make is in a pallet weighing product such as a forklift scale. This allows you to use your forklift as you normally would to move pallets but to also be able to get a weighing at the same time, without having to set the pallet down on a floor scale. Very efficient time savings!

Drum weighing products

If your goods are stored in 55-gallnon drums then there are a number of scales that are designed just for that task. Features you may want to look for include a diamond plate top deck, self-leveling, shock absorbing feet and a scale capacity of 2,500 pounds. I suggest you get one that is outdoor rated and don’t forget a digital indicator and all required cables and cords.

I hope this article helped make clear the options in industrial floor scales. If you are looking for floor scales for sale you will find online a number of different vendors offering solid pieces of equipment. Do your due diligence and find the best vendor for your floor scale needs.

Post from: John's Jottings

Industrial Floor Scale Options

A couple of months ago I noticed that someone in my family (certainly not me!) had broken one of the tines off of the coupler on our KitchenAid blender. It seemed like no big deal since the blender still worked and to be honest we don’t use it all that much.

Yesterday I was making a watermelon & mint smoothie (didn’t work out as well as I had hoped) and I noticed that I broke a couple more of the tines off. Now I had a problem.

Having recently purchased a Breville Juicer I decided I’d look to see what a new Breville blender would cost. Too expensive! Then after doing some searching for a replacement KitchenAid blender I found this remarkable page which is the 50 cent part I need to replace to get my expensive blender working again. Less than $6 with shipping.

Here are the simple steps you need to perform to remove, and eventually replace, your KitchAid blender coupler:

1. Use a thin bladed screwdriver to stop the motor from turning my turning the blender on it’s side and gently probing with the blade until it stops the flywheel in the motor casing from moving.
2. To remove the coupler once the motor is frozen, turn it to the right, the opposite direction you would normally turn something to loosen it. It should easily spin off.
3. Once you receive your replacement coupler, simply repeat these steps to put it on, but turn it to the left to tighten it. (remember, opposite from “righty-tighty, lefty-loosey”)

And that is it – you now have a working KitchenAid blender!

Post from: John's Jottings

How to Replace a KitchenAid Blender Coupler

A couple of years ago I started taking my photography a little more seriously – I stepped up to a DSLR. I’m only just now figuring out how to use the darn thing, but it’s turned into a hobby of sorts and like most hobbies it can be dangerously expensive if you don’t watch yourself. I thought I’d take the time to document here my Canon camera gear, even keeping it up to date as I invest in future lenses and other photographic technology. Perhaps seeing this all in one place will cause me to rethink whether the enjoyment I get from being more “professional” is worth the at times minor improvement in photo quality. In fact since I am usually trying things out in manual mode my pictures are often of a poorer quality than someone with a point and shoot. But I’m leaning how to control the thing and one day I’ll have the confidence and knowledge I need.

Here is my current kit:

Other random accessories include 3 Joby BH1 Ball Heads, a Wireless Remote Shutter Release, a Canon BG-E2N Battery Grip, a Canon Monopod 100 and a Canon Deluxe Photo Backpack in which I try to stuff all of this stuff.

My next purchase will probably be a good tripod, the one I have now predates my DSLR by many years and it’s starting to show some wear.

As you can see, I am absolutely nuts. Don’t be like me – keep your tiny little point and shoot that costs a few hundred bucks and fits into your pocket. You’ll be happier and richer.

Unless you are like me, in which case I say go for it.

Post from: John's Jottings

My Camera Gear

This is a guest post by Matt McGuire.

One of the things people are always asking is if it is better to play poker in online poker rooms, or should they play in a real casino. The answer is mixed. Some people prefer online, while others lean towards the real casinos.

The reality is that there are pros and cons to both types of poker rooms.

Virtual Poker Rooms

The biggest advantage to playing poker in online room such as Full Tilt is convenience. You don’t have to worry about getting all dressed up, or if your car is going to make it to and from the casino, or if you should plan on spending the night. Since you don’t leave the house, none of these questions are relevant. If you have ten or twenty minutes to kill, all you have to do is log onto your account and you can start to play. Another perk is that you are the only person who knows that you are gambling.

Since online casinos are now offering tournaments; many of which can be used to qualify for larger, real world tournaments like the World Series of Poker. This gives more people a chance to qualify, but it also means that they are not learning how to read people, making it much more difficult for them to be able to read body language and know how to bluff when they get to the actual tournament.

Real Poker Rooms

The biggest problem with real world casinos is that they are not always located close to someone’s house, they are usually a destination. This means that the person has to plan when they are going to play, how they are going to get there, what they are going to wear, and how much money they are going to spend. On the other hand there are lots of advantages to the real poker rooms.

When you play poker in a real casino as opposed to PokerStars, you get to socialize while you are playing. You are meeting people; this means that even if you have lost all of your money playing cards, you have at least gotten something out of the night. When a person goes to a real casino they usually spend less. They know exactly how much money they have in their pocket and when that is gone, they quit playing. When a person is playing online, it is very easy to use credit cards to pad a dwindling bank roll and then promptly lose track of how much money you have post.

Most of the professional poker players, who regularly win big, are playing online at PokerStars.net, but they also make an effort to play several games each month at a real casino as well. The reason for this is simple. They have to be able to read body language. This is a skill that can only be developed by watching actual people and not staring at a computer screen.

The best thing you can do is try playing in both situations and then deciding which is going to best suit you.

Post from: John's Jottings

Real vs. Virtual Poker Rooms

This is a guest post by Matt McGuire.

There are lots of amateur poker player who dream of playing in a tournament. At least that is the smaller dream they have. The big dream is to play in the World Series of Poker, but for many that is nothing more than a pipe dream. However, it is possible to play in a real tournament and possibly even find yourself in competition with a professional.

The sheer number of online poker rooms, such as FullTiltPoker is forcing each one to be more competitive. One of the things the casinos have recently discovered is that their members love tournaments. As a result, the casinos are offering more and more of them. Some of the tournaments provide an opportunity to play in a real world tournament that is help in an actual casino. Other tournaments are just played for a big pot of money and bragging rights. Some of the online tournaments are actually qualifying events, winning them means that you would earn a seat at a bigger tournament like the World Series of Poker.

The decision to participate in an online poker tournament should not be one that you make lightly. It requires a great deal of thought, preparation, and honesty.

Before you sign up for the tournament, you need to read the rules carefully. Things that you will want to pay careful attention to include the dates and times that the tournament will be played, how much the buy-in is, and what the winnings are.

Once you have processed all this information you need to take a long hard look at your life and decide if you can realistically participate. The first issue that needs to be dealt with is if you can afford the buy in, if you can play on a free tournament at FullTiltPoker.net, or if it would mean that you would have to sacrifice something else that your family needs. If the answer is no, you should wait until another, more affordable tournament rolls around.

Next you have to consider the timing of the event. Tournaments go on for a long time. Some online casinos run them straight through, never stopping, until someone has won. Other poker rooms simply set up a time (i.e. every Sunday night at 4:30pm) when participants are expected to show up and play or forfeit. Can you realistically commit yourself to logging onto the game until the end?

Before you commit yourself to playing in a tournament, you need to be realistic about your abilities. Tournaments attract good players, who are committed to winning. If you are not consistently winning the Full Tilt Poker games that you play in, than you probably are not going to be ready for the tournament. To help you access the type of player you will be playing against, you should log onto the casino forums and ask, or check out the casino records, where they should have information about the previous winners. There is no point getting in over your head. Instead work on honing your poker skills so that when the next tournament rolls around you will be ready to compete.

Post from: John's Jottings

Are You Ready to Play in Online Poker Tournaments?

This is a guest post by Simon Barnett.

Poker seems to be in the news more right now than it has ever been before. There’s complete television coverage of many leading events and the top poker players are becoming household names.

There’s something particularly appealing about the game. We may be attracted by the thought of making big money and having the option to replicate the lifestyles of those leading players. Becoming a professional poker player and being able to travel the world can certainly seem very appealing.

Making money from poker

But can poker be seen as a serious means of generating income? Sure, we can see that people who have been playing the game for years can become good at it and make some money as a result. But is it only a select few who are truly successful?

What about the chances for those of us who have never played poker before? Is there a chance for us to make money within a reasonable time period?

Given that I take a keen interest in all aspects of personal finance, I’ve become interested in the possibility of seeing poker as an investment opportunity. Can we really compare the game to other investments, such as buying stocks and shares?

In order to find out, the first step would be to learn how to play the game.

Learning the game

I started my quest by checking out a few poker websites that explained the basics. The first thing that becomes clear is that poker is full of terminology. This can be incredibly confusing for a beginner.

I spent an entire weekend reading up on the terminology and trying to get some basic hints and tips. I was interested to know about the most common mistakes that amateur players make. That was because I was keen to avoid them.

By the end of the weekend, I could talk with limited confidence about small blinds, flops and top pairs. I was becoming more familiar with some key concepts, but I was also aware that I had absolutely no experience of playing the game. Everything that I had learnt to this point had been purely theoretical.

It was now time to put things into practice!

Playing for the first time

The rise of online poker websites means that the game has become incredibly accessible. If you have a credit card and internet access then you can pretty much find opponents at any hour of the day.

I signed up to one such site. It’s worth pointing out that most of the main poker websites offer a sign-up bonus for new players. You can compare the offers that are available.

In my case, I decided that I’d start out by playing some free games. This had the advantage of allowing me to check out the basics, without risking any money at this point.

I was soon glad that I’d taken this approach. Playing the game for the first time made me realise that it would really take some getting used to.

For starters, you have to get to grips with the interface of your chosen website. This is particularly important when you come to place your bets. You also realise that the game is very fast moving. You’re required to think extremely quickly.

In truth, this all came as something of a shock to me. Since I was working full-time during the days, my poker playing opportunities were largely limited to evenings. I spent the whole of my first week playing free games. I was determined that I should become reasonably good before moving on to play for real money.

By the end of that first week, I was winning more free chips than I was losing. I thought that I had become pretty good. I was confident that I’d now be able to start winning real money. I was wrong!

Playing for real

Although I was winning these free games, it soon become obvious that playing for real money was completely different. The entire style of play was transformed. Opponents simply didn’t risk their chips in the same way. As a result, everything seemed completely unpredictable.

It was also clear that I was now facing players with a far greater degree of experience. I was facing some stiff competition. I was soon losing consistently.

After 10 days of consistently losing money in this way, I realised that I needed to go back to the drawing board. My approach wasn’t working. This wasn’t an investment opportunity. It was a way of handing over my money!

I decided to start looking more closely at poker strategies and I opted to purchase a couple of books.

There are numerous books out there and they all proposed different systems of play.

I’d generally been playing a version of the game called Texas Hold’em. Since I understood the basics of this version of the game, I concentrated my efforts of learning more detailed strategies.

I took that decision one month ago and I’ve been trying to put some new strategies in place. Has it worked? I would say that I’m now breaking even. That’s better than I was doing at the outset, but it’s not going to make me rich any time soon.

It’s clear to me that becoming good and profitable at poker will take many months.

Getting better

With hindsight, I wish that I’d read the strategy books sooner. They might have saved me some money, although it would have been difficult to follow the concepts without any experience of playing the game.

I also think that it would help to play the game in a real life situation. Playing online does mean that you can play a lot of poker. But I think that it would be helpful to learn from an experienced player.

I’m sure that it is possible to make money playing poker. But I’m not sure that I have enough time to become successful!

Simon Barnett writes about consumer and personal finance issues. He had no previous experience of playing poker and carried out his experiment earlier this year.

Post from: John's Jottings

How quickly can you learn poker?

A RIVER CRUISE IS TODAY’S BEST CRUISE TRAVEL VALUE!

• River cruise vacations are almost all inclusive!
• Don’t buy a river cruises based solely on the price
• Premier has been selling cruises since 1984
• Premier River Cruises only sells river cruise vacations

O.k. you’ve decided that you are ready to buy an exciting Eastern Europe river cruise or  looking at Holland river cruises and you’re looking around for the best deal.  You’ve never taken a river cruise before and the folks you are talking to at the “Wal-Mart” style travel agency don’t know much about river cruises, but tell you they are all very much alike.  You can’t find much on river cruises and you think you’d get a better deal if you go to the river cruise company directly – right?

With respect to the first comment, every ship in the world is different, river cruise ships and the companies that operate them are no different.  You need to be very careful about the product you buy and you should NEVER buy on price alone. That’s where a great river cruise specialist, like the professionals at Premier River Cruises comes into play.  They know the ships, the destinations and the river cruise companies.  What does that mean to you?  Say you were shopping at the “Wal-Mart” style agency and they told you they could save you $1500 on the cruise – you say great!  Only problem is that your style is like the Range Rover buyer and they sold you a nice clean Volkswagen – oops!
And now you return and it’s not about the $1500 you thought you were saving, it’s about the $7000 you wasted – won’t happen, can’t happen when you book with Premier River Cruises, we guarantee it!
As for the second myth that centers on the belief that many people have, which suggests that you get a “better deal” when you deal directly with a cruise line.  That is 100% false!  Folks, in my 25+ years of owning and operating one of the most successful upscale agencies in North America (CruiseMasters) I have NEVER seen that occur, never, no never!

TODAY’S BEST VACATION VALUE IS A RIVER CRUISE!
Today’s modern river cruise ships have everything: incredible cuisine, wonderful staterooms and sumptuous suites.  All have wireless internet and most of the river cruise ships have a gym, spa and even a hair dresser – best of all they are casual so you can leave all the “formal” attire at home.

Almost everything’s included from “early riser” coffee, delectable breakfast, lunches and gourmet dinners – all included as are your English only sightseeing tours, regional wines and beers and entertainment.

Beyond traditional Europe river cruises, you could enjoy a Russian river cruise that includes St. Petersburg and Moscow, a fabulous trip to ancient Egypt and a  Nile River Cruise or even explore the incredible villages and cities of Vietnam, the Mekong Delta, or even China aboard a Yangtze River Cruise.

Check it all out at www.premierrivercruises.com North America’s most knowledgeable river cruise specialists.

Post from: John's Jottings

Premier’s river cruise specialists get the best values!

I was listening to Mike & Mike in the Morning this morning on the radio coming into work and the topic was MLB post-season pitching performances and which was the best of all time. Of course the discussion started because of Roy Halladay’s no hitter on Wednesday, the first day of the playoffs. Halladay’s gem was only the second in the post season since 1956, when Don Larsen threw a perfect game in the 5th game of a 7 game series that his New York Yankees would go on to win over their rival the Los Angeles Dodgers. By the time I started listening to the show I think they had already concluded that Larsen’s perfect game was a better pitching performance than Halladay’s, and given that one was perfect and one was not that seemed a reasonable conclusion to reach.

But then Mike Greenberg opined that Jack Morris’ 10-inning victory in Game 7 of the 1991 World Series was the all-time best post-season pitching performance, and that was a position that Mike Golic, an ex-football player mind you, was just not willing to take. In his simplistic way of looking at it Larsen’s was a better performance because he gave up no hits, and since Morris gave up 7, clearly Morris’ performance was subpar.

They argued back and forth quite a bit on this and I wasn’t satisfied with Greenberg’s argument of “Morris put up 10 0s and Larsen only put up 9″ (meaning Jack Morris pitched 10 innings compared to Don Larsen’s 9), which I think was as overly-simplistic as Golic’s.

For me the argument hinges on the context of the moment.

All other things being equal, would a no-hitter in the first game of the season compare to a no-hitter in the 163rd game of season (with this game being a one game “winner goes to the playoffs” extra game, such as the Twins had to play in a couple of times recently)? I don’t think so – I think it clear that because of the context of the moment, the “win or you go home” pressure of the moment, that, all other things being equal, the 163rd game no-hitter would be a better pitching performance. In fact I would argue that context is so important that even if the first game no-hitter was a perfect game that it wouldn’t stand up to the final game no-hitter.

How about two similar no-hitters in the post season, one the 6th game in the World Series where the pitcher’s team holds a 3-2 lead in the series and the other a 7th game where the series is knotted 3-3? Again, the context of the second example, where if you lose the season is done, makes me weigh that performance over the first, where the pitcher knows that even if he loses there will be a game 7.

What about a game where the other pitcher is throwing equally as well? If someone threw a no-hitter in a game where his team won 12-0 would that pitching performance be as impressive as one in which the opposing pitcher gave up only a single run? I don’t think so. The pressure in the second example, the context of that situation, elevates that performance to a higher level.

So the question becomes how important is context when comparing two pitching performances where the results were not equal, such as when comparing Don Larsen’s 5th game perfect game which gave his team a 3-2 series lead and Jack Morris’ 7th game 10-inning 1-0 gem that gave his team the World Series? Larsen had a 1-0 lead when he took to the mound in the 5th and a 2-0 lead when he took to the mound in the 7th. For Morris the game was tied 0-0 the entire game, including the 10th inning when he simply refused to be pulled out of the game. In the 7th game of the World Series.

The answer for me is that context is supremely important. No question Jack Morris’ pitching performance in the 7th game of the 1991 World Series is the best pitching performance of all time, and I will throw the regular season in there too. Talk to me all you want about perfect games, no-hitters, 20 strikeouts, or whatever other metric you want to use. Best all time.

And I’m not just saying that because I’m a Twins fan who watched every minute of the game.

Morris is the man.

Post from: John's Jottings

Best MLB Post-Season Pitching Performance

I’m a bit sad today to read about the passing of Bloglines, which at one time was my RSS reader of choice.

From the owners:

Today, Ask.com let our users know that we will shut down Bloglines on October 1. Not an easy decision, especially considering our loyal and supportive (not to mention patient) user base, but, ultimately, the right one given business reasons simply too hard to ignore. 



I’ve been reading articles for awhile now pointing out the decline of Bloglines both in terms of quality and traffic, and although I’ve also read that Google Reader traffic is down I believe that to be more the impact of social media rather than any feed reader competitor winning loyalty from Google.

I switched away from Bloglines to Google Reader almost four years ago, where I wrote:

I think I switched because I’m not ready to bet against Google in anything. And I’d rather switch when I want to rather than when I am forced to.

It lasted longer than I thought but in the end I’m glad I’m not one of the users now forced to switch.

On a side note, I just added Techmeme.com to my Google Reader. It was on their site that I was pointed to the news about BlogLines via articles from The Ask.com Blog, TechCrunch and PaidContent.org. I read it all the time but for some reason that is a site I would use a shortcut periodically to get to rather than consuming content in a feed reader as I do for most other sites. We’ll see if it changes my interaction with a site I enjoy.

Post from: John's Jottings

Bye Bye to Bloglines

American psychologist Abraham Harold Maslow proposed in 1954 that man’s needs, in order, are physiological needs such as food, water, and sleep; safety and security; love and belongingness; esteem; and self-actualization (a state of realizing man’s own greatest potential). This theory, called the “hierarchy of needs,” is still being used today in psychology and health studies. Safety is second in the list so it is a legitimate need.

If you think about it, car insurance really is all about safety. The business of selling car insurance policies—or any other insurance policy, for that matter—profits off the need of people to feel safe about their own lives, the lives of their family, and their vehicles. But that’s not to say car insurance quotes from companies are only taking advantage of us and robbing us of cash. You might be the most careful and law-abiding driver in the world, but the rest of the world’s populace aren’t. So even though there’s little chance that you’ll get into an accident while taking a drive, a risk, albeit a very low one, still exists, and you want to be prepared for when that risk becomes a reality.

So what kind of safety are you getting from your car insurance policy exactly? Your policy promises coverage for car repairs and even legal representation for when charges are filed against you. In cases of car or car part theft, the same coverage applies. Your insurer experiences the headache you should be experiencing while handling all that, only they do it better because of years of experience in the industry of taking care of vehicles. You only have to pay your insurer a monthly premium and maybe a few additional charges in certain cases of accidents.

So again, it all goes back to the issue of safety. Car insurance is all about making you, as a car owner safe. It comes with a price, yes, but if you’re that very careful, law-abiding driver cited earlier as an example, you can actually get discounts. The lower your risk of getting into accidents or your car getting stolen—all pertaining to how good a driver you are and the completeness of your car’s safety and security features—the lower your premium. But whether it’s cheap or not, it does you good to purchase a policy…and quite frankly, you might really have to get one because most states require it.

Post from: John's Jottings

Safety and Car Insurance

You’ve undoubtedly heard the story from yesterday about the air traffic controller at JFK who is in hot water for letting his child direct some planes last month. It’s amazing to me to see such a big stink being raised about this because I’ve seen a group of professional air traffic controllers bringing children into the control tower to do just that – and at no time were they ever not in complete control.

These photos are from a Cub Scout outing from a few years ago when my son was 10, the same age as the boy in these stories: Wall Street Journal – Air Controller Accused of Letting Kids Talk With Jets, CBS News – Air Traffic Controller Hands Reins to Kids, Chicago Tribune – Child air traffic controller and The Washington Post – Child in control tower just to name a few.

Every kid who wanted to got a chance to give instructions to a plane, but only after the air traffic controllers working with the kids found some appropriate situations where I am sure appropriate meant they had time to calmly write easily understood instructions to the kids. Here is a closeup of the one my son got to call:

It reads “5614 cleared to push A10″ if I am reading it right. A few of the kids got to talk to pilots who weren’t already on the ground like this one was. Some of the kids were matched with pilots who didn’t skip a beat when being instructed by a child and some made witty observations about it. At no time did anyone remotely think anyone was in danger. And they weren’t.

I can’t say the same for the people on the recieving end of this de-icer spraygun that they also got to shoot.

Post from: John's Jottings

Child in Control Tower Story Is Old News

I have registered to play in the PokerStars World Blogger Championship of Online Poker! The WBCOOP is a free online Poker tournament open to all Bloggers, so register on WBCOOP to play.

Registration code: 270070

I had a real nice run in this poker tournament last year (actually it was in December 2008) and am hoping to run good (or better!) this year too. Last time I won one of the 6 prelims which awarded me $1,186 in prizes. The official PokerStars blog wrote this about my win:

Event #2 took more than five hours to play out and saw tons of familiar names from the blogging community. Notable poker bloggers Easycure, Rakewell1, NumbBono, gadzooks64, and Loretta8 all made it to the top 72 and earned their seats in the Main Event. Top honors, however, went to the United States’ malice51 who not only made it to the final, but also picked up three $215 tournament tickets, one $530 tournament ticket and a $11 tournament ticket (aka, Sunday Majors Platinum Package).

The really fun part was that I took one of those Sunday Million tickets and turned it into a 166th place finish (out of 16,260 people) that was worth $3,577.20 in cash money. Despite that nice score, however, I was bitter about how I got knocked out for some time. Top prize was $333,000 and while it is doubtful I could have gone that far I sure was planning on doing better than 166th. Read my tourney recap to see the most brutal beat I have ever taken, given the circumstances.

No bad beats for me this year. Please!

Post from: John's Jottings

2010 World Blogger Championship of Online Poker

If you sell any sort of product or service these days and you are not actively monitoring the Internets (invented by Al Gore) for mentions of your product then you are going to go the way of the Dodo bird or at least not do as well as you could be doing. There is no excuse not to do this as it is so easy to setup Google alerts and other monitoring vehicles to keep tabs on what is being said about you on social media.

Here are a couple of recent examples for me.

First, last night I noticed my T-Mobile phone didn’t have service. Then I noticed that all four T-Mobile phones in our household didn’t have service. Rather than search on Google I went to Twitter and did a search to see if anyone was talking about a T-Mobile outage on Twitter. And boy were they ever:

On Wednesday, #T-Mobile was again a trending topic on Twitter, where customers expressed their frustration. “I talked to T-Mobile reps more than I did to anyone else,” joeldreamweaver said. “They overcharged me. I’ll never do business with them again.”

Wouldn’t surprise me if the person at T-Mobile monitoring the Internets for mentions of T-Mobile was notified of the outage before their engineers were.

Now given the size and scope of T-Mobile there isn’t much someone monitoring Twitter could have done here – pretty hard to respond to tens of thousands of Tweets – but it does go to show how quickly people will share their thoughts about your service, usually when there is a problem.

Another example is my recent review of Quicken 2010 – the same day I wrote the post I got a comment from Chelsea at Quicken who clearly has as part of her job to engage with bloggers who write about Quicken. Search Google for “Chelsea at Quicken” to see her at work.

Here was her comment to me:

Thanks for sharing your observations about Quicken 2010. I’m glad you’ve decided to stick with us after 16 years of commitment -that’s fabulous. If you’re still having any trouble, feel free to reach out – I am happy to get you some help so you can get going on our much easier-to-use Quicken 2010.

A very simple “welcome to the neighborhood” kind of a message – but welcoming nonetheless.

My final example is from my iPodMeister review. Now when I wrote my positive review nobody from the company stopped by but I did have a customer write about his disatisfaction in a couple of comments on that entry:

Attention: iPodMeister is easy to fool you when it comes to claiming your prize. “its to good to be true”. they claim some of my cds were damaged and covers missing and damaged cds do to shipping.. they irritate me when it come to communicating to them, i rather throw away the remainder of my cds then give them anything else.

Kris from iPodMeister left a comment in rebutal, less than a week later (why not same day Kris – come on!):

Kevin,
there is no reason why you should be angry. We stated clearly on our website (http://www.ipodmeister.com/eligiblecds.htm) and in the detailed e-mail you received that we do NOT accept CDs with incomplete cover art or radio edits, promos, or singles. We also stated clearly that we do NOT accept CDs that are severly scratched or boxsets that are incomplete. You sent over 100 (!) items that fell into these categories. Why are you surprised that we did accept CDs that were clearly described as unacceptable. Common sense tells you that these CDs couldn’t have any value for anybody. We don’t “fool” anybody. We made clear -both on our website and in the detailed e-mail sent to you- that damaged, incomplete, worthless CDs are … well, wortless and that we don’t accept them. Sorry, but there is absolutely no basis for your complaint.

Now the interesting thing in this case is that while I do side with Kris having been a happy customer, I do think you can get yourself into trouble by having such an argument with a customer out in public. So I am a little torn on this example – perhaps a better approach would be for Kris to ask me for the private contact information for the commenter so I could put the two together privately? Or maybe right out there in public is fine if you know you are right, I’m not sure. I do know that iPodMeister got a few more mentions and backlinks, and that isn’t a bad thing for them.

In any case, I thought these were interesting recent examples of the relationship between product and service companies and the Internets/Social media.

I suspect companies will respond quicker and quicker to what gets written about them. And I think that’s a good thing for everyone.

UPDATE: Interesting article on Social Media Monitoring that I found by looking at my referrer logs – somebody at Intuit uses SM2 for this very thing.

Post from: John's Jottings

Watch the Internets – Listen to Your Customers

I went on a technology bender this week and invested in a number of new gadgets and software. Here are some first impressions of my fifth purchase, the Apple iPod touch 32GB:

Apple iPod touch 32GB

A number of years ago I got my wife a new Palm Pilot m515 Color PDA, which she has used at work ever since as her “brain” to look up medical information while on the floor. For some reason this isn’t something the hospital pays for, although they certainly don’t complain when employees use them to improve their patient care. Up until recently it sounded as though my wife was the only pharmacist at her hospital to use such a device.

That is until last week. One of her peers came to work showing off her new iPod touch 16GB and how it could wirelessly get information my wife could only previously get while tethered to her computer. And of course it came in that sexy Apple wrapping. It wasn’t until I looked back at that old post that I realized my wife has been using her Palm Pilot for almost 7 years. Time to upgrade!

After determining that indeed the iPod touch was the way to go and that it works with her medical information service provider, I ran over to Best Buy to pick up a 3rd generation Apple iPod touch 32 GB. Sure 16GB probably would have been enough but I wanted my wife to be able to trump her peer (not that anyone would be able to tell). I also purchased a combination wall charger/car charger. I decided I’d leave the case up to her because that seems to be a more personal decision as there were many different options to choose from. She would eventually go with a leather flip-case model.

Apple packaging is so minimalistic and stylish. I had to struggle a little bit to get the device out of the piece of plastic that had it in a death grip but eventually it succumbed and I was able to get it charged up and hooked into iTunes (for the app store) in no time. That was the one part of the process I really didn’t like. You literally could do nothing with the device until it had been synced up with iTunes. Woe to the person who buys an iPod touch thinking it could be their only computer. Not going to happen from what I can tell. After that I punched in it’s MAC address into my wireless router and suddenly it could see the world.

We haven’t done much with it, not even installing her work software. But I am anticipating no problems.

Overall, fun little device. Just make sure you have a computer with iTunes available!

This week’s mini technology reviews:
Windows 7 Review
HP MediaSmart EX495 Review
Quicken Premier 2010 Review
Quicken Quickbooks Pro 2010
Apple iPod touch 32GB

Post from: John's Jottings

Mini Technology Review – Apple iPod touch 32GB