roulette table

The objective of playing roulette is to pick the winning numbers

2008-11-10T01:49:00.000-08:00

Playing roulette is a very interesting games if you take it as a game then a gambler. The objective of playing roulette is to pick the winning numbers that will shown on the roulette wheel. The coupler will throw the dice into the moving wheel until the ball stop on the winning numbers,the coupler will place a stand on the winning number. The roulette table has 37 numbers and the numbers is range from 0-36. There are three colors. 0 is green colors and 1-36 is of red and black.

The roulette table numbers are arranged in 12 rows and its rows has three numbers. The row are break into three parts such as 1-12, 13 to 24 and 25 to 36. If you put your bet on such rows the banker will pay you 1 to 2. 0 will be on top of the 36 numbers. The payment is if you bet on one numbers the payment is 1 to 35, 2 numbers 1 to 17, straight bet that is three numbers is 1 to 11, 4 numbers 1 to 8, 6 numbers 1 to 5. Others kinds of bets are red or black, big and small that is 1 to 18 or 19 to 36 and odds or even. The payment is 1 to 1.

You are allowed to put your bet on the roulette table when all the early payment is paid. The dealer will allowed the wheel to spin while you are betting. They will call no betting when the ball is running slow. In a game of roulette there is no much skill all depends on luck. Move to other tables if you find that your luck in this table was not good.

Enjoying a game of roulette at a casino

2008-07-03T02:51:00.000-07:00

More and more people are enjoying a game of roulette at a casino. Age people mostly enjoy the game as it takes more minutes to finish a game. All you have to do is to money the color chips from the bankers and place the chips on the roulette table the number you want or expected to come out. With the color chips you will not be confused when payment is made or avoid disputed with others player. There are eight colors in a one roulette table and after the eight colors are out the rest can plays it with cash chips.

Before the bankers throw the dice you can put your bets or when the dice is still in running, you can still place your bets until the bankers call, no more bet. When the ball stop or fall at the hole of the number is the winners. A kind of plastic stand is place on top of the winner number. The payment of the roulette table game, for a single numbers is 1-35, 2 numbers 1-17, 3 numbers or people called it street bet is 1-11 , 4 numbers or quad bets is 1-8, 6 numbers 1-5 for three numbers is 1-6. for bets that is twelve numbers the payment is 1-2. For even and odds numbers, black or red the payment is 1-1.

Roulette is the most enjoy game to play in a casino

2008-04-25T02:34:00.000-07:00

Roulette is the most enjoy game to play in a casino and its most enjoy by most men and women as a game of past time if your bets is not very heavy. Each game will take you from a fast ten minutes to half an hours for a game to start. As its takes the banker to pay and then throw the dice for the second game. Roulette is play by a maximum of eight person who change their cash or cash chips for color chips and the rest who wanted to play can play it with cash chips.

To start a game in a roulette table all you have to know is place the color chips on the number or numbers you desire to bets on the table. The banker will call no more bets and no chips must be bet. When the dice stop at the hole of the number is the winner. A glass stand will be place on top of the winner and all winner will be paid as according to the roulette payment.

Never stick to the same roulette table if you are losing

2008-03-06T00:19:00.000-08:00

Enjoying a game of roulette on a roulette table. Roulette is one of the best game to bet or play if you are in a casino because the percentage margin for the banker is only 2.6 edge. Play only where the roulette table has only one zero. Before you start a game on a roulette table, change your cash with colour chips or cash chips. Bet the chips on the numbers which you think, it will best called ups. If your numbers is called out, you will be the winner.

To start with the game there are basic things that we must knows. The payment of the game. If you are betting on a single numbers, The paying is 1-35, for double numbers is 1-17, for four numbers is 1-8, for six numbers is 1-5. Numbers which has odd or even, red and black, the payment is 1-1. The dealers will drops the balls on the wheels when spinning and called out no bets when the spin is aboult to stop. When the numbers drops on the numbers is called the winners numbers.

Never stick to the same roulette table if you are always on the losing times at that table, change your roulette table as every croupier throws will not be the same. It applied the same to the dealers as their will change their croupier if they are on the losing side. So good luck and enjoy the game of roulette.

Enjoy a game on roulette table

2007-11-05T20:44:00.000-08:00

The objective of playing roulette is to pick the winning numbers that appear at the roulette wheel when it stop. There are many options that you can place your bets on the roulette table. You can bet on a single numbers, double numbers, three numbers, four numbers, six numbers one to twelve numbers, high and low, red and black or even and odds numbers. The game of Roulette originated in France which has 37 numbers from 0 to 36 which the house has 2.63 edge. This 37 numbers are most plays in every casino outlet in the world. The American roulette which has 38 numbers an addition numbers of 00 (double zero), This extra numbers give the house an increases edge of 5.26 percent. This kind of roulett table are every seldom seen in all casino outlet in the world.

The payment of the game on the roulette table, for a sigle numbers is 1-35, 2 numbers 1-17, 3 numbers or people called it street bet is 1-11 , 4 numbers or quad bets is 1-8, 6 numbers 1-5 for three numbers is 1-6. for bets that is twelve numbers the payment is 1-2. For even and odds numbers, black or red the payment is 1-1. In roulette table the game has a mininum and maximum bet. In Genting Malaysia the minimum bet is 2,5 and 10 ringgit and the maximum bet is 1 thousand.

All you had to do when playing, is to exchange your cash with colour chips to avoid disputes between each players. if you want to stop playing the game just exchange it for cash chips. The dealers will spin the wheel from the numbers where it stop the previous game and later will call no more betting whereby all the players will stop betting. When the balls drops on the hole of the numbers, it is call the winners numbers where a crystal stands is place at the winner number. After the pay outs the betting will start again.

Beginning luck on roulette table

2007-08-27T02:31:00.000-07:00

Playing roulette is quite enjoyrable game if you take it as a past time instead of gambling and it quite fun if you readly don't quite understand the game. I remmember A day about Five years back when my friends teach me how to play roulette. At the roulette table I exchange a five hundred notes for colour chips. The game started when the croupier throws the ball into the spinning wheels. Before the throwing of the ball you can place your bets on the numbers until the croupiers said no more betting.

The numbers on the roulette table is colours of black and red from 1 to 36 and zero is green colour, all this number are paid 1 t0 35 as single numbers, Two numbers are paid 1 to 17, 4 numbers 1 to 8, 6 numbers 1 to 5. For even and odds and red and black, high and low are paid 1 to 1. When the balls stop on the numbers is called the winning numbers by the croupier where a plastic was place on top of the winner chips.

On that lucky day, I won nearly ten thousand which I readly don't understand how I won so much. I only bets three to four numbers and I only placed less then fifty dollars in a bet. I remmember every numbers calls out is my winner numbers. Now I know how to play roulette very well but luck was not like the beginning luck. I hardly won a thousand dollars on the roulette table but I lost most of the time.

Playing roulette at Genting Highlands

2007-07-16T02:09:00.000-07:00

Playing roulette on the roulette table is fun if you knows the rules and the game of playing. All you have to do is to have your money change it to colour chips to avoid misunderstanding when come to paying. Bet any numbers with the chips on the roulette table until the croupier announce no more bet. The paying of a single numbers is one to thirty five and two numbers is 1-17 and so on. The winning number will be called out by the croupier.

Most Asian people enjoy playing roulette but their take the game as gambling. I used to traval to Genting Highlands twice a month because of the love of roulette game and the cold breeze. Besides the casino my kids enjoy indoor and outdoor game and other facilities that the Genting Highlands provided. I enjoy the game of roulette as a past time, winning a few thousand of dollars I would be very happy. One round of game I will only bet about two hundred dollars but I saw many Asian people betting about ten to twenty thousand dollars per round, a big gambling, and will hear them shouting if their numbers is call up.

Playing roulette I called it luck so enjoy the game and stick to the roulette table if you are on the winning time. If luck is bad just leave the table for other table, You might be lucky with the other table and besides every croupier spin might not be the same.

You don't need skill to play roulette

2007-06-20T22:39:00.000-07:00

Playing roulette is fun if you are on the winning times and its very frustrated if you are lossing all the time. To play roulette you needs alot of luck and a bit of skill. In roulette, which we called French roulette there are 37 numbers from 1 to 36 and a 0 and in Americian roulette which has 38 numbers, from 1 to 36 and two numbers of 0 (0,00)which is not advisable to play as the bankers has a very high advantage of winning.

Playing roulette,on the roulette table all you have to do is to change your money into colour chips as to avoid from mixing with others when the playing chips has won on the number throw. Most people as I notice bet on their favourite number while some people play with a systems which they mark on a piece of paper. To win on roulette you has to cover at least one third of the numbers.

Roulette the oldest and famous casino games

2007-05-08T01:56:00.000-07:00

Roulette is one of the oldest and most famous casino games. This is game most like by the youngs and old alike. Every tables has its own set of chips about eight to ten colours for its players so that the winners can be identified by its colour. After you want to call it quit, you can exchange the colour chips for cash chips. Every French roulette whell has 37 numbers. The numbers are from 0 to 36. The winners is to guess or forecast correctly the direction of white ball is going to lands in which numbers.

The games started after each game when all bets are settle by the dealers. You can place your bets on the roulette table numbers even when the roulette wheel is spinning until the dealer annonce no more bets. When the ball comes to rest, the dealer calls out the winning number. The winner number will be place by a glass markers and all winner bets will be paid according to the bets paid.

Bets paid out, Betting on a single numbers, the paid out is 1 chip to 35. Two numbers the paid out is 1 chip to 17, Three numbers paid out 1 chip to 11, four numbers the paid out is 1 to 8, six numbers 1 to 5. for column and dozen the paid out is 1 to 2 and for odds and even, black and red, high and low the paid out is 1 to 1. When the balls falls on zero the dealer will eat all numbers except numbers bets on zero. The paid out is the same as you bet on 1 numbers, two, three and four numbers. Enjoy your game of roulette and best of luck.

Winning on roulette table depend most on luck

2007-04-01T23:01:00.000-07:00

Playing roulette is fun and enjoyable game provide you take it as a past time game rather then gambling. If you are on the winning time, the game is more fun and enjoy to play and you can stick to the roulette table alonger time. If luck was not on your side just leave the table for another table as every croupier spin might not be the same.

To win at roulette table all you needs is to predict where the ball will land after each spin as luck plays a very important role as skill was only a secondary. Most plays like to play their fancy numbers while others players will go with the winning numbers, some will count where the next ball will stop. Some players will covers about three quaters of the numbers to have more chances of winning at every spin and even the bet on each numbers will never even.

When you want to play the game all you have to do is excange your cash with the croupier for colour chips so that each players had their own colours to avoild mixed ups. When you decided to stop playing, you can exchange your colours chips with cash chips and then exchange for cash at the cashiers counters.

To play roulette, you can place your bet on any numbers you like including 0, Every bets had its paid. For example a single number bet will paid you 1-35, a double number bets will paid 1-17, a three numbers will paid 1-11, four numbers will paid 1-8, a six number will paid 1-5, numbers with the colours black or red, even or odds, high or low will paid 1-1.

What Do You Need to Know About

2007-02-12T00:18:00.000-08:00

In the world of gaming ‘Roulette’ has its own special place. The aura of the game has attracted players from all over the world. Roulette table has been a game cherished by everyone since long. Let’s take a look at some of the reasons that lure people towards this game of chance.

• Roulette, the all time source of entertainment and business for large number of people across the globe can now be largely enjoyed through the medium of Internet. The best part about it is that striking amount of money made via it even when the game is played online. Although the amazing roulette art and craft or its perceptual magnets are missing on the net but the range of betting choices still remain to be the same. In playing online any proficient gambler has knowledge of the fact that which company’s software is the eminent one and so is running the game at well-known online casinos. The French version of roulette is highly acclaimed online and is preferred to the American version of it.

• Roulette has great scientific value. The game is entirely based on principles of Physics and Math. This is precisely the reason that a lot many physicists, engineers and mathematicians are drawn towards the game. Roulette is not just like ordinary casino games that are based on style of shuffling the cards and throwing the dice but it involves laws of mechanics such as gravity, momentum and Newton’s laws of motion. Roulette is therefore a favorite game of the diligent who can grasp the active principles behind the game. All aspects of roulette can be traced back and grasped in relation to some or the other scientific formula.

How To Win $100 Each Day Playing Roulette

2007-02-04T20:55:00.000-08:00

I've tried and bought more gambling systems than I can poke a stick at! I haven't found one that actually does half the things it has promised. Looking at the roulette table, you can see that its almost impossible to beat the casinos. On the European roulette table, for example, there are a total of 37 numbers. However, if you bet on a correct winning number, you are only paid at the rate of 35 to 1. Every time you win any money, you are paid at a lower rate so that the casino earns some profits. In the long run, it is very hard to beat the casinos, however, it may not be that hard to beat them in the short term!

I'm going to tell you about a system that could potentially win you $100 per day, if you follow it correctly. This is how I have been winning $100 per day playing online roulette.

Atmosphere Of Roulette

2007-01-15T19:06:00.000-08:00

The ambience- the atmosphere roulette is breathtaking and mesmerizing. The large and beautiful wooden roulette table and the eye catching roulette wheel that is embellished with chrome are evergreen and exclusive temptations of this game. The roulette wheel is deemed to be a magnum opus that gives an impression of world’s treasured Swiss watch. The well-dressed, well-groomed and spruced croupier across the roulette table is also one amongst the numerous pulls.

Online Casino

2007-01-08T22:18:00.000-08:00

Do you like to gambling? earn more money? Want to hear about another money pit? When you visit a brick and mortar casino, you're hostage to their table limits. Maybe you want to play $5 single deck Blackjack, but all they have is $25 single deck Blackjack or $10 8-deck Blackjack. Would you drive all over the world looking for $5 single deck Blackjack?

Now, you need to say Thanks to online gambling. You can sit in the comfort of your own home, work or wherever and find the game and table limit you desire. You'll always find that 9/6 Jacks or Better machine, that low-limit single deck Blackjack game, or that low-limit Roulette table.

Anyway you slice it, online gambling is convenient and it can put more money in your pocket. If your goal is to simply win some money, online casinos are your ticket to riches.

2006-12-10T20:51:00.000-08:00

Rapid Roulette strikes a happy technological medium. It does not eliminate the need for a live dealer, nor does it take away a real spinning wheel with a ball. The table and the traditional color-coded roulette chips are replaced with video touch-screen player stations which surround the wheel. A dealer, stationed in the center of the playing area, spins the wheel and drops the ball.

No more arms and elbows reaching across the felt layout to place bets. With Rapid Roulette, you buy into the game with cash the dealer "loads" into your terminal. Then it's a matter of touching the computer-generated roulette table layout on your screen to make your bets. All wagers are settled on a centralized computer monitor as soon as the dealer confirms the winning number.

Casinos have embraced this 21st-century version of the gaming floor staple because it speeds up the action (as many as 50 to 60 games can be played per hour). Plus, as many as 12 people can play, whereas eight players at the traditional table version made for a very crowded, uncomfortable and tedious process.

Roulette basics

2006-11-26T20:55:00.000-08:00

James bond plays it and so does a large part of America. A table a wheel which has about 37-38 pockets many pockets where the ball must land after it is spun by the croupier. The scene is really common at the casino setups across America. The players with high adrenaline pumping and high risk bearing capacity are expected to be seen around the roulette table trying their luck with spinning dolly. The croupier, or the dealer representing the house, takes the wagers and pays out all bets at the table. The croupier has no personal stake in the roulette game. The game has seen its popularity grow due to the reason that as the wheel slows down the people are more and more betting on the numbers.

Beginners bet on up to 8 numbers with smaller stakes. The champions however take greater risks. The bets are allowed on the table till the croupier gives a signal to the players regarding the bets to be stopped. The people are allowed to take a pick of 8 numbers and any of the tem winning gets a share of the other stakes and thus he gets the chips to be converted into money at the counter. As the wheel is slowing down the accuracy of the number where the dolly stops increases. And thus the stakes sky rocket at the end of the wheel spin. The bigger bets include the betting on the number along with color of its base. If they are matched then the prize too is multiplied. Thus the players prefer to take different combinations of colors and numbers and thus increasing the probability of win.

What makes the game nerve wrecking is that there is no rule of winning it. So there is no trick or system of betting that maximizes your chances of a win. So if one fine morning if one feels lucky then he can try his hand at the roulette table that evening. It’s just as simple. All you need is a load of luck and some amount of experience to understand a particular roulette table. This fact also repels some people from the game as it attracts. Bu the game has not lost its charisma among the fortunate ones. The roulette tables are the ones with the most visitors lined up for the bet. The game is played with utmost etiquette and the winners are expected not to over react as there is no big trick or tact to win the game. The simple rule is that if you are winning it its sheer luck and if you are loosing it’s just the same.

People have been seen getting robbed off their whole money at the game of roulette and some times the person gets so crazy playing it that he just looses the track of his capabilities and there are examples where the player almost lost their homes at the roulette table.

A lot of attachments come with the thrill of the game. Allegations of rigging the wheel to tempering the dolly have been rampant across the 200 year old history of the game. But the game has not lost its following throughout the world. A casino without roulette tables is not imaginable at all. Roulette has seen people rise and fall and historians have seen it in the same manner. But for sure the game is here to stay in all its glory.

Godness!

2006-11-16T22:20:00.000-08:00

Thank goodness Colorado voters passed Amendment 41 last week, shielding this state from the insidious possibility that a lobbyist might ply a lawmaker with a latte. Some of those voters might actually believe they've toppled Big Money from its political throne - as if Gill, Stryker and their ilk were the purified essence of Colorado's grass roots.

Imagine that Gill decides next spring that he would like some face time with Gov. Bill Ritter, and dispatches a well-paid underling to request a meeting. Does anyone seriously doubt that Ritter would clear a spot on his calendar for this wealthy liberal activist who dispenses cash as freely as a Saudi sheik at a roulette table?

Do you suppose the governor would make as much time - any time - for, say, your middle-class brother-in-law or mother?

We are supposed to feel so much better now that lobbyists have been reined in - that lawmakers have been liberated from the blandishments of hired guns with their supposedly grubby expense accounts.

Here in Colorado, we don't like our monied class buying influence with anything so paltry as a lunch and a beer. But if they buy influence and access by dropping millions during an election cycle, then that's another story: They will be celebrated for their commitment by some of the very people who so firmly endorsed Amendment 41.

2006-11-06T17:48:00.000-08:00

Are you looking for some inside information on roulette table? Here's an up-to-date report from roulette table experts who should know.

Roulette tables are generally rectangular in shape and can range from three to five feet in length. Most of the commonly used tables are covered in green felt. Roulette tables are also labeled in individually marked boxes. Each box is color-coded in either black or red. Each box on the table is also numbered from 1 to 36, one zero and in the American version of the roulette table, one box with double-zeros. The table is usually large enough to seat between one and six players.

You can find tables for purchase at a variety of vendors both online and offline. One of the most reputable companies for gambling and casino equipment is Kardwell International. This company specializes in casino equipment and carries a large selection of Roulette tables. They offer both stationary and foldable tables. Stationary tables are ideal for casinos or other venues in which the table will remain a permanent fixture. Folding roulette tables, on the other hand, are not as sturdy as stationary tables but can be transported from location to location. These tables are ideal for event planners that travel with their equipment.

The information about roulette table presented here will do one of two things: either it will reinforce what you know about roulette table or it will teach you something new. Both are good outcomes.

Prices can vary on tables depending on the brand, quality and whether they are stationary or foldable. You can check out at least a few companies for price comparison and find out what their warranties are for the tables. Generally speaking, roulette tables can range anywhere from $300 up to $2,000 or more. You certainly want to buy a table that is high quality and very durable.

Those who only know one or two facts about roulette table can be confused by misleading information. The best way to help those who are misled is to gently correct them with the truths you're learning here.

Tecnique to play roulette table

2006-11-01T20:44:00.000-08:00

You should be able to find several indispensable facts about roulette table in the following paragraphs. If there's at least one fact you didn't know before, imagine the difference it might make.

Playwize can't be faulted for the way each of the games included plays. After all, the gameplay was already built - all that had to be done was getting it onto a disc without destroying it, and in that respect it's fine. It's been dressed up too - literally, as there's a boutique in each of the casinos waiting to take your hard-won readies in exchange for a stupid hat or a set of supremely camp glasses - but it seems pointless. Surely no one's going to master the rules of poker in return for some minging clothes.

Think about what you've read so far. Does it reinforce what you already know about roulette table? Or was there something completely new? What about the remaining paragraphs?

There's also a grading system that rewards you with stars for intelligent betting or a run of good luck, which you can then use to unlock more casinos to play in. It's a nice thought, but the game is so cheap in appearance that you'll probably end up selecting a game through the menu,rather than trying to walk your character round to the Roulette table or slot machines (which itself is painfully difficult).

Little touches like letting your gambler flip chips from hand to hand or blow on dice try to make the game feel more real, while computercontrolled opponents provide enough competition to make this a decent practice tool for the real thing. But the lack of any multiplayer means this is going to be a real bore for all but the most passionate of friendless card players. At least there's no risk of you losing your leg to an angry loan shark if you hit a run of bad luck.

So now you know a little bit about roulette table. Even if you don't know everything, you've done something worthwhile: you've expanded your knowledge.

2006-10-29T23:39:00.000-08:00

Do you ever feel like you know just enough about roulette table to be dangerous? Let's see if we can fill in some of the gaps with the latest info from roulette table experts.

In the world of gaming ‘Roulette’ has its own special place. The aura of the game has attracted players from all over the world. Roulette has been a game cherished by everyone since long. Let’s take a look at some of the reasons that lure people towards this game of chance.

• Historical Richness- Roulette has a long rich history that roots it profoundly in tradition. Unlike several other games roulette has a 300-year-old background. It is deemed to be the oldest of casino games that gained unparalleled recognition in Europe especially in France. However, the game did not receive equal applause in America because of the rival 00 slots that magnetized people to it with higher returns. The 00 slots doubles the house advantage of roulette from 2.63 percent to approximately 26 percent. The roulette played nowadays belongs to 18th century.

• The ambience- the atmosphere roulette is breathtaking and mesmerizing. The large and beautiful wooden roulette table and the eye catching roulette wheel that is embellished with chrome are evergreen and exclusive temptations of this game. The roulette wheel is deemed to be a magnum opus that gives an impression of world’s treasured Swiss watch. The well-dressed, well-groomed and spruced croupier across the roulette table is also one amongst the numerous pulls.

Once you begin to move beyond basic background information, you begin to realize that there's more to roulette table than you may have first thought.

• The handsome gains- the most exciting part about this game is its hefty returns. Actually roulette allows the players to have a variety of options to bet. There can be innumerable betting combos anywhere from 38-to-one odds. The bets can be placed via the Internet too. So more and more number of people can relish the roulette gaming by sitting at home. Skilled and experienced players usually conjoin the bets enjoying the high risk as well as the least risk bets on single spin of the wheel.

• Roulette, the all time source of entertainment and business for large number of people across the globe can now be largely enjoyed through the medium of Internet. The best part about it is that striking amount of money made via it even when the game is played online. Although the amazing roulette art and craft or its perceptual magnets are missing on the net but the range of betting choices still remain to be the same. In playing online any proficient gambler has knowledge of the fact that which company’s software is the eminent one and so is running the game at well-known online casinos. The French version of roulette is highly acclaimed online and is preferred to the American version of it.

• Roulette has great scientific value. The game is entirely based on principles of Physics and Math. This is precisely the reason that a lot many physicists, engineers and mathematicians are drawn towards the game. Roulette is not just like ordinary casino games that are based on style of shuffling the cards and throwing the dice but it involves laws of mechanics such as gravity, momentum and Newton’s laws of motion. Roulette is therefore a favorite game of the diligent who can grasp the active principles behind the game. All aspects of roulette can be traced back and grasped in relation to some or the other scientific formula.

Of course, it's impossible to put everything about roulette table into just one article. But you can't deny that you've just added to your understanding about roulette table, and that's time well spent.

articles about roulette table

2006-10-13T01:12:00.000-07:00

When you're learning about something new, it's easy to feel overwhelmed by the sheer amount of relevant information available. This informative article should help you focus on the central points.

Roulette tables are generally rectangular in shape and can range from three to five feet in length. Most of the commonly used tables are covered in green felt. Roulette tables are also labeled in individually marked boxes. Each box is color-coded in either black or red. Each box on the table is also numbered from 1 to 36, one zero and in the American version of the roulette table, one box with double-zeros. The table is usually large enough to seat between one and six players.

You can find tables for purchase at a variety of vendors both online and offline. One of the most reputable companies for gambling and casino equipment is Kardwell International. This company specializes in casino equipment and carries a large selection of Roulette tables. They offer both stationary and foldable tables. Stationary tables are ideal for casinos or other venues in which the table will remain a permanent fixture. Folding roulette tables, on the other hand, are not as sturdy as stationary tables but can be transported from location to location. These tables are ideal for event planners that travel with their equipment.

Those of you not familiar with the latest on roulette table now have at least a basic understanding. But there's more to come.

Prices can vary on tables depending on the brand, quality and whether they are stationary or foldable. You can check out at least a few companies for price comparison and find out what their warranties are for the tables. Generally speaking, roulette tables can range anywhere from $300 up to $2,000 or more. You certainly want to buy a table that is high quality and very durable.

The day will come when you can use something you read about here to have a beneficial impact. Then you'll be glad you took the time to learn more about roulette table.

roulette basic

2006-10-09T20:56:00.000-07:00

Beginners bet on up to 8 numbers with smaller stakes. The champions however take greater risks. The bets are allowed on the table till the croupier gives a signal to the players regarding the bets to be stopped. The people are allowed to take a pick of 8 numbers and any of the tem winning gets a share of the other stakes and thus he gets the chips to be converted into money at the counter. As the wheel is slowing down the accuracy of the number where the dolly stops increases. And thus the stakes sky rocket at the end of the wheel spin. The bigger bets include the betting on the number along with color of its base. If they are matched then the prize too is multiplied. Thus the players prefer to take different combinations of colors and numbers and thus increasing the probability of win.

What makes the game nerve wrecking is that there is no rule of winning it. So there is no trick or system of betting that maximizes your chances of a win. So if one fine morning if one feels lucky then he can try his hand at the roulette table that evening. It’s just as simple. All you need is a load of luck and some amount of experience to understand a particular roulette table. This fact also repels some people from the game as it attracts. Bu the game has not lost its charisma among the fortunate ones. The roulette tables are the ones with the most visitors lined up for the bet. The game is played with utmost etiquette and the winners are expected not to over react as there is no big trick or tact to win the game. The simple rule is that if you are winning it its sheer luck and if you are loosing it’s just the same.

People have been seen getting robbed off their whole money at the game of roulette and some times the person gets so crazy playing it that he just looses the track of his capabilities and there are examples where the player almost lost their homes at the roulette table.

how long time takes to learn roulette table

2006-10-03T22:34:00.000-07:00

You should be able to find several indispensable facts about roulette table in the following paragraphs. If there's at least one fact you didn't know before, imagine the difference it might make.

The new $15 million hutch, which opens Oct. 6 with 80-year-old Playboy icon Hugh Hefner in tow, has nine blackjack tables and a roulette table and greets visitors with a Playboy sign made of 10,000 diamond-shaped crystals.

The dealers, all buxom women, will wear traditional bunny costumes, their male pit bosses will be draped in Hefner-style smoking jackets, and cocktail servers will don Roberto Cavalli-designed bunny outfits.

A dance club with a retractable roof is above and an Italian restaurant is below, and all three floors are connected by escalators. And they all offer sensational skyline views.

The appeal? To Palms owner George Maloof, it's obvious: "Playing blackjack surrounded by incredibly hot girls is fun."

Unlike the Playboy Clubs of yore, no membership "key" will be required; a $20 to $50 cover charge gains admittance. At its height, there were 22 clubs around the world and 1 million keyholders, but changing tastes and economic hardships led the last club to close in 1988.

See how much you can learn about roulette table when you take a little time to read a well-researched article? Don't miss out on the rest of this great information.

The Playboy brand is enjoying a resurgence with its Internet and cable offerings, particularly the E! reality show The Girls Next Door, about life at Hefner's Playboy Mansion.

Playboy Enterprises CEO Christie Hefner vows she'll be cautious about multiplying these bunnies. Two possible future sites: Macao, China, where major Vegas companies are building lavish resorts; and London, site of one of the old club's most successful ventures.

"This is the beginning of an effort to find five or 10 locations to do these multifaceted entertainment venues," says Hefner, Hugh's daughter.

Las Vegas Adviser newsletter publisher Anthony Curtis says The Palms, which made its mark by hosting a season of MTV's The Real World, "gives Playboy currency to today's trendsetters, and Playboy will draw older, moneyed guys" to the hotel who "remember the older mystique."

If you've picked some pointers about roulette table that you can put into action, then by all means, do so. You won't really be able to gain any benefits from your new knowledge if you don't use it.

Betting on the roulette wheel

2006-10-01T21:32:00.000-07:00

Imagine the next time you join a discussion about roulette table. When you start sharing the fascinating roulette table facts below, your friends will be absolutely amazed.

Roulette is one of the most popular casino games today. According to most historians, roulette was developed in the 17th century by a French mathematician. The game has a traditional charm and elegance; we are accustomed to seeing high-rolling gamblers dressed in tuxedos spinning the night away. The roulette wheel is an interesting device and knowing the components is certainly the first step in learning the game.

The actual wheel is the part of the device that is moveable and spins. The table is additionally divided into sections: black and red with alternatively numbered spaces from 1 to 36. The compartments also have one zero and in the American version of the game, a double-zero space. Also included in the Roulette wheel is the small plastic ball that bobbles around as the wheel is spun.

How can you put a limit on learning more? The next section may contain that one little bit of wisdom that changes everything.

As you begin betting on the roulette wheel, you will be given the option to either place an inside or an outside bet. An inside bet is a wager on a number or numbers ranging from 1 to 36 or zero or double-zero. An outside bet is a wager on segments of one third of the possible numbers to come up, excluding 0 and 00. Because the odds ratio is much higher with an outside bet, the payouts are also higher.

Typically, winning an outside bet or wager results in a payout of 2-to-1. For example, if you were to bet one dollar on an outside bet and win, you would win two dollars from the spin of the Roulette wheel.

Now that wasn't hard at all, was it? And you've earned a wealth of knowledge, just from taking some time to study an expert's word on roulette table.

roulette is a game

2006-09-27T22:10:00.000-07:00

The following paragraphs summarize the work of roulette table experts who are completely familiar with all the aspects of roulette table . Heed their advice to avoid any roulette table surprises.

The outcome of every spin of the roulette wheel is independent of any other and is not influenced by prior spins.

Even if you have ten black numbers after ten spins, the chance of getting red in the next spin is the same as to get black.

As roulette is a game of pure chance, you need to know the odds of the bets and place the ones with the best chance of success.

Many players try to beat roulette by buying a “sure fire” roulette system for money. These systems promise consistent gains and to make the buyer rich and beat roulette consistently. Of course, the reality does not match the hype and these systems are ALL doomed to failure.

Think about what you've read so far. Does it reinforce what you already know about roulette table ? Or was there something completely new? What about the remaining paragraphs?

You can beat roulette, but it does not involve buying a system, more of that later. For now, lets look at why a mathematical roulette system cannot work.

The above simple guidelines will help you beat roulette and will outperform any mathematical system.

Keep in mind, that roulette is a game of chance and the most you can do is put the odds in your favour as much as possible and enjoy the game and maybe some healthy profits.

That's how things stand right now. Keep in mind that any subject can change over time, so be sure you keep up with the latest news.

learn how to play roulette table

2006-09-25T20:04:00.000-07:00

The more you understand about any subject, the more interesting it becomes. As you read this article you'll find that the subject of roulette table is certainly no exception.

Basically, you use chips to place your bets on a variety of number and colors on the roulette table. The Croupier (dealer) spins the wheel and a number and color is chosen. As the wheel spins, a small ball rolls around the wheel and lands on a destination. This is just an example of the basics of roulette gambling. Roulette gambling can be as simple as placing a bet and watching the wheel spin. Winning in roulette gambling is a combination of strategy, odds and luck. You will not win every round; knowing the odds of the game can greatly influence your success in roulette gambling. Practice does not necessarily make perfect in roulette, although the more you play and the more experienced you become, the better you will be at gauging the odds.

Truthfully, the only difference between you and roulette table experts is time. If you'll invest a little more time in reading, you'll be that much nearer to expert status when it comes to roulette table .

It would be great if they did work, players pay a couple of hundred dollars and make a couple of hundred thousand, but the reality does not match the hype. Roulette systems sold are based on mathematical formulas, but that is a complete contradiction in terms in a game of chance when you have no data to work with – the roulette ball unfortunately does not have a memory! They are based on the assumption that past data can be used to predict future spins.If black comes up 30 times in a row or 300 times, this does not change the odds of the next spin, which is always a 50 – 50 chance for either red or black. Every spin of the wheel is a separate event from all other spins, so there is no data that can be used for the next one. Now we have dispelled this myth about beating roulette, lets look at how we can win.

The day will come when you can use something you read about here to have a beneficial impact. Then you'll be glad you took the time to learn more about roulette table .

Love just like roulette table.

2006-09-21T22:46:00.000-07:00

The following article covers a topic that has recently moved to center stage--at least it seems that way. If you've been thinking you need to know more about it, here's your opportunity.

‘The rose coloured glasses’ phase, is extremely dangerous and not usually approached with caution by either candidate. Depending on the impact of stage one, bombs warning ‘relationship doom’ could be dropped right in front of ones eyes, yet getting let go un-noticed. Everything appears and is, invariably, utterly workable. Despite my cynicism, this stage is defiantly more exciting than the terminator phase, albeit being laced with the fear of it all ending. The premature ‘I love you’ could escape ones mouth, falling like a ball onto a roulette table.

This is not carte blanche to go on a wild stock-picking adventure with your retirement money while you are young. You should leave that to the pros. There are people who dedicate their lives to learning the art of investing. These people study The Intelligent Investor like it was a bible. They pore over annual reports and study where Warren Buffet went to lunch that day in an attempt to glean a precious new piece of information. If this profile does not sound like you, stay away from stock-picking. Even the pros have a hard time beating the market and they have advantages that you can never hope to have on your side.

Sure you can gamble a little bit of money on that hot stock your cousin told you about, but think of it the same way as putting a pile of money on red at the roulette table: odds are you are going to lose your money, but, hell, you might get lucky and win.

Sometimes the most important aspects of a subject are not immediately obvious. Keep reading to get the complete picture.

For proper long term planning, concentrate on finding a mutual fund that has a nice track record, low fees and a good rating from a reputable publication like Morningstar. If you want to make a bet on the growth of America, buy an S&P 500 index fund. For a little extra diversity, maybe research an international or emerging markets fund and put some money there. As long as you stay away from French companies, you should be fine.

People claim at this point that they have ‘fallen out of love’. My argument is that they were never in love in the first place. One of my favourite movies, ‘Moulin Rouge’, melodically states, “The greatest thing you will ever learn, is just to love, and be loved in return”. I believe this is what we think being in love is all about. Yet being loved in return implies that there is a condition to your giving love. So romantic love is conditional love. If romantic love only goes one-way, it is termed unrequited love or even ‘desperate’.

What if I said that true love can only be unconditional? And inside of that, true love can only mean 100% acceptance of the subject, just the way they are and just the way they’re not. What if love, real love, is just loving?

Knowing enough about roulette table to make solid, informed choices cuts down on the fear factor. If you apply what you've just learned about roulette table , you should have nothing to worry about.

how to play roulette table

2006-09-20T02:25:00.000-07:00

Imagine the next time you join a discussion about roulette table . When you start sharing the fascinating roulette table facts below, your friends will be absolutely amazed.

Roulette tables are generally rectangular in shape and can range from three to five feet in length. Most of the commonly used tables are covered in green felt. Roulette tables are also labeled in individually marked boxes. Each box is color-coded in either black or red. Each box on the table is also numbered from 1 to 36, one zero and in the American version of the roulette table, one box with double-zeros. The table is usually large enough to seat between one and six players.

Why would that number or any other come up more often? The short answer: Who Cares! The longer explanation has to do with the nature of the wheels. The pockets could be manufactured imperfectly, with one or more slightly larger than the others, therefore catching the ball more often. One or more of the dividers between the pockets could be loose, absorbing the force of the ball instead of bouncing it away, so the ball might drop into that pocket more often.

There are other reasons, including more temporary ones, like a drop of sticky pop in one of the pockets, or a build-up of dust. The important point isn't what causes a "biased" wheel, though. The important point is that biased wheels exist, and can be taken advantage of.

Truthfully, the only difference between you and roulette table experts is time. If you'll invest a little more time in reading, you'll be that much nearer to expert status when it comes to roulette table .

You can find tables for purchase at a variety of vendors both online and offline. One of the most reputable companies for gambling and casino equipment is Kardwell International. This company specializes in casino equipment and carries a large selection of Roulette tables. They offer both stationary and foldable tables. Stationary tables are ideal for casinos or other venues in which the table will remain a permanent fixture. Folding roulette tables, on the other hand, are not as sturdy as stationary tables but can be transported from location to location. These tables are ideal for event planners that travel with their equipment.

Why would a casino let this happen? Roulette wheels are expensive, and so they are not often replaced, unlike cards and dice, which casinos replace daily. This means that if there is a bias, it sometimes remains for months. I know for a fact that managers where I worked were aware of the problem, but as long as the table made money overall, they were too lazy to worry about one guy making money on it.

Prices can vary on tables depending on the brand, quality and whether they are stationary or foldable. You can check out at least a few companies for price comparison and find out what their warranties are for the tables. Generally speaking, roulette tables can range anywhere from $300 up to $2,000 or more. You certainly want to buy a table that is high quality and very durable.

There's no doubt that the topic of roulette table can be fascinating. If you still have unanswered questions about roulette table , you may find what you're looking for in the next article.

The Best Bet on the table

2006-09-19T01:23:00.000-07:00

Current info about roulette table is not always the easiest thing to locate. Fortunately, this report includes the latest roulette table info available.

You can beat roulette, but it does not involve buying a system, more of that later. For now, lets look at why a mathematical roulette system cannot work.

In roulette, each spin of the roulette wheel is totally random. Let’s say that the colour red has come up twice in succession. The odds of this number coming up on the next spin are no greater or worse than if the number had not come up in 100, 500 or 1,000 spins previous spins, the odds still remain 50% - 50%.

All spins of the roulette wheel are independent of each other and totally unrelated to the previous spin history. As the outcome of the spin is unrelated to any other, roulette is a game of pure chance. A mathematical system in roulette that promises consistent gains is a contradiction in terms, because if you have no reliable historical data, mathematical formulas are useless.

In mathematics, you know what is definitely going to happen, in roulette you have the exact opposite you never know what is going to happen! You can play these bets a long time with a small bankroll. With these bets you'll find your odds of winning are just under 50%, making this a very good way to bet.

Truthfully, the only difference between you and roulette table experts is time. If you'll invest a little more time in reading, you'll be that much nearer to expert status when it comes to roulette table. The bet with the best odds is even money bet where your bet can be imprisoned 'en prison.' (also called surrender ) is available on European tables.

If you make an even money bet and the ball lands on zero, the croupier doesn't take in your wager. Your bet is 'imprisoned' i.e held hostage, and you go to the next spin.If your bet wins, you can remove it from the table.This bet cuts the house edge on even money bets in half, down to 1.35%. This makes it the best bet on a roulette table to play.

Roulette is a simple, fun game if you just want to play for fun you can bet on some of the long shots, but if you want to play roulette to win - Focus on the best bets outlined and your chances of winning are enhanced. Good Luck!

Now that wasn't hard at all, was it? And you've earned a wealth of knowledge, just from taking some time to study an expert's word on roulette table.

history of roulette table

2006-09-17T23:36:00.000-07:00

The following article covers a topic that has recently moved to center stage--at least it seems that way. If you've been thinking you need to know more about it, here's your opportunity.

Historical Richness- Roulette has a long rich history that roots it profoundly in tradition. Unlike several other games roulette has a 300-year-old background. It is deemed to be the oldest of casino games that gained unparalleled recognition in Europe especially in France. However, the game did not receive equal applause in America because of the rival 00 slots that magnetized people to it with higher returns. The 00 slots doubles the house advantage of roulette from 2.63 percent to approximately 26 percent. The roulette played nowadays belongs to 18th century.

Roulette is a casino chance game. It is a fairly simple game and almost always gathers a large crowd around the table depending upon the stake. A few years ago, Ashley Revell sold all his possessions to get $135,300. He bet all of his money on a spin and returned home with twice the amount he had risked. However, in many cases these chances are not always profitable.

If you find yourself confused by what you've read to this point, don't despair. Everything should be crystal clear by the time you finish.

Roulette, the all time source of entertainment and business for large number of people across the globe can now be largely enjoyed through the medium of Internet. The best part about it is that striking amount of money made via it even when the game is played online. Although the amazing roulette art and craft or its perceptual magnets are missing on the net but the range of betting choices still remain to be the same. In playing online any proficient gambler has knowledge of the fact that which company’s software is the eminent one and so is running the game at well-known online casinos. The French version of roulette is highly acclaimed online and is preferred to the American version of it.

European roulette uses casino chips of varying values per bet. This is also known to be more confusing for the players and the croupier. A European roulette table is usually larger than an American roulette table. In 1891, Fred Gilbert wrote a song called "The Man Who Broke the Bank at Monte Carlo" about Joseph Jaggers. He is known to have studied the roulette tables at the Beaux-Arts Casino in Monte Carlo. Subsequently, he amassed large sums of money as a result of a continuous winning streak.

Now might be a good time to write down the main points covered above. The act of putting it down on paper will help you remember what's important about roulette table.

Roulette is Still people interest.

2006-09-14T20:19:00.000-07:00

Have you ever wondered what exactly is up with roulette table? This informative report can give you an insight into everything you've ever wanted to know about roulette table.

The game of roulette goes as far back as Roman soldiers spinning their shields and asking the gods of chance what the chances were of victory. Sometimes the soldiers were only playing a game for money or jewelry or who could pillage the village they had just conquered, and sometimes the soldiers had much bigger questions, such as, "Which casino offers the best roulette games?"

Roulette became the staple "casino" game of Europe many centuries ago and many a nobleman lost his lands and his good name by attempting to defeat "that damnable wheel." Roulette is the third most favorite casino table game today, behind blackjack and craps - in fact, it has been third for quite a long time now, since the late 1940s.

There are approximately one million to 1.3 million roulette players in America out of approximately 52 million casino gamblers. While roulette keeps its main patrons, we don't see the game picking up steam any time soon. Indeed, some casino prognosticators believe that some of the newer table games such as Let It Ride, Caribbean Stud, Three-Card and Four-Card Poker might just surpass roulette in the next 10 years.

Is everything making sense so far? If not, I'm sure that with just a little more reading, all the facts will fall into place.

In a recent interview with Time magazine (8/14/2006) – which is owned and operated by the same Likudnik cultists who broadcast CNN – Condi Rice gave us a peak of the kind of gibberish that passes for policy deliberations behind White House walls. “We are in transition to a different kind of Middle East. And it is very turbulent. It is even violent. But it has a chance, at least, in which there is a democratic, multiethnic Iraq where people solve their differences by politics, not by repression.” Here’s a short translation. “This is a game of chance. You make a few ‘shock and awe’ bets in Iraq. If you lose, you try doubling up the violence in Lebanon. Of course, you never bet against the House of Saud. In the end, we might get something that better suits American and Israeli interests. Let’s roll the dice and let the violence begin. Our violence is better than Saddam’s violence.”

Next time they play Middle Eastern roulette, maybe Bush and his crew should consider a safer bet. They can bet the house that overwhelming majorities of the people in the region want a new Middle East completely free of American intervention. Another sure bet is that an emerging Americans majority would be more than happy to pack up and cut their losses. Sooner rather than later, both Americans and Arabs will realize that the time has come to permanently toss Bush and his neo-con losers out of the Middle Eastern casino.

Now might be a good time to write down the main points covered above. The act of putting it down on paper will help you remember what's important about roulette table.

Roulette Table: Roulette basics

2006-09-13T02:34:00.000-07:00

Roulette Table: Interview with Roy Houghton – Part 1

2006-09-10T22:10:00.000-07:00

September 11, 2006
Tony Bromham

UK Poker News was pleased to sit down this week with one of the UK's legendary names in poker, someone who has been around the scene since the 1960's and isn't finished yet! Roy Houghton has been involved in the running of casinos and card rooms in London and Brighton and been at the heart of an awful lot more including the conception of some of poker's great ideas that we take for granted today. Now, he is on the verge of opening a brand new private members club, "Loose Cannon Sports Bar & The VC Player's Lounge", in the City of London, under the classical Victorian railway arches of Cannon Street station (For contact details, click on the News tab above for our article dated Saturday 9th September).

Those who know Roy know a Londoner in the classic mould, a man with plenty to say and a cockney wit to tell it with. In this, the first of a two part feature, Roy talks in his own inimitable style about the early days of his career in the gaming industry.

In part two, Roy brings us up to date including his time spent pioneering big poker tournaments in the UK and having a key role in the conception of the Ladbrokes Poker Million and the Gutshot Club, plus the long road to open his new club.

The Early Days

Well, basically, how old was I? About 25 and I wanted to emigrate to Canada. I'd had an unhappy marriage, I was divorced and ****ed off with people generally so I thought I'd emigrate. I was a sales rep at the time but when you're 25, you like going out a lot, don't you, so I didn't save any money! So, I was going to emigrate with a friend of mine and he went "How are we going to save the money to get to Canada? We'll have to get a part-time night job". Hence the casino business!

I went down to the Golden Nugget for an interview, got chosen and was trained as a dice dealer. I went over to the Grable Club in Streatham – long since closed now – and became a dice dealer there. I was only there three or four months when the manager came up and said "Look, there's a group of people here who want to play poker; does anyone deal poker?"; "No"; "Anyone want to deal poker?"; "Yeah, I'll give it a go!"

So, they sent a Chinese lad from the Golden Nugget; I think there was about five of us put our names down, and he started training the five of us up. I didn't find it particularly hard but the others couldn't get on with it, couldn't grasp it. To cut a long story short, I ended up becoming the resident poker dealer.

Brighton Rocks

I then went down to Brighton one weekend, took a young lady down with me. In those days there was what was called the Clubman's Club. It was a club you belonged to and you were automatically a member of about 300 clubs, you know, and it told you whether it had a casino. So, I took this young lady down to Brighton, looked in the Clubman's Club and thought, "Oh yeah, here's a club with a casino, we'll go in there."

Absolutely dead it was; got about three people in there; great big bar. So, it was the governor behind the bar and I said "it's a bit quiet in here". He said "Well, I've only just taken it over." I said, "have you got a casino?" He said, "yeah, it's on the first floor." I went up there and it was another massive room with one French roulette table stuck in the corner! I had a little punt, then came down – chat, chat, chat! – I said "Look, you've got all that room upstairs all going to waste; if I put a dice table upstairs, how much would you charge me?"

"Tenner a week" he says. "Leave it out, leave it out! Ten pound a week, that's a fortune." Anyway, tenner a week it was; I bought a dice table and had it shipped down to Brighton. The guy rang me up and says "You were serious weren't you? I've just had a dice table delivered!". I said, "Yeah, I know". "I thought it was general talk.".

Basically, what had happened was that we had saved the money to go to Canada but my friend, bless him – and he's still a very dear friend now – had had cancer, testicular cancer, and they wouldn't give him a clean bill of health and couldn't get a permit to go. I had got one and I thought, well I don't really fancy going out there on my own so it all sort of died a death.

So, the guy in Brighton said to me, if you are going to have a dice table, can you get some more gear, you know like American roulette tables, blackjack and so on, and make a proper casino out of it? I got a few staff in, bought the tables. We opened up and we just went from there to there (points upward!). It took off, this place, it was fantastic.

Now Dickie, the owner, he then built a disco in the basement, Tinkerbell's, and soon the money was pouring in, so after about nine months, he came up to me and said, "Do you want to take over the whole casino?" I said "No, I haven't got any money." He said "Well, I'm too busy now with the disco, and this and that; £500 a week and you can take over the whole casino." I bought two friends in and we all had a third each in the casino. This went on until 1970.

Time Out

Just to give you an idea of how bad things were, we lost our gaming licence in 1970 because the residents had drummed up an Act that the Prince Regent had passed! They drummed up this bleeding law that was hundreds of years old that said that no business could be carried on in Brunswick Square! The Judge upheld it but said he had a lot of sympathy with us. We said, there's a load of hotels here too but he said they were not objecting to the hotels, they're objecting to your club! It's still on the statute book and still an Act of Parliament today. The Judge said he couldn't give us the licence.

When we lost the licence, my French partner had a villa out in Majorca with its own swimming pool. Australian George owned five houses in Brighton that he sub-let to Sussex University. That's how much money they made out of it. What did I have? £700 worth of debts! I gambled, I played a lot of poker; not well I might add, as you no doubt gathered!

Vic Calling

So, we lost the licence and I went out of the business. Then in 1974, I thought I would go back into it. The Vic (Victoria Casino) were advertising for poker dealers so I went there, had a table test, got the job. I was there from 1974 to 1982 as a dealer. They closed the card room in '82. They lost a lot of money in the Claremont and the company panicked. They closed the card room down and made us all redundant. I took the club to the industrial tribunal and won my case so I thought they were never going to ring me up again!

Would you believe it, sixteen months later, the manager rung me up; "Roy, will you come and reopen the card room?" "Why?" "Well, we're losing a lot of money." So, we were back and now I was card room manager. I was the first person to run a poker tournament in the UK; that was 1982. Then, as is always the case, managers get moved around. One person might come along, 100% in favour of poker. Then another person takes over as manager, can't stand poker, doesn't know the game, doesn't want it; a disaster. So, you've got a card room always alternating between empty and very busy depending on the manager's whim and it used to drive me mad! So that's exactly what happened at the Vic. We reopened the club in 1984.

Bookmark this site to catch Part 2 of this fascinating tour of Roy Houghton's poker career in his own words, and how he ended up opening The Loose Cannon!

Roulette Table: Cracked crab and high stakes: Life in the VIP

2006-09-08T00:34:00.000-07:00

MASHANTUCKET, Conn. -- Perhaps you've noticed them strolling toward the elevator with their butlers while you wait in the check-in line. Maybe you've seen them, from the 25-cent slots, as they stepped into the VIP room with enough chips to buy a Porsche, a house, or both.

Most patrons will never be ushered to ringside seats or have extravagant dinners laid before them in opulent suites. Such luxuries are reserved for high rollers, the gamblers who represent as much as 50 percent of a casino's revenue and are treated accordingly.

But just for tonight, nod knowingly to the security guard and step past the velvet rope. Come along for a night at one of the world's largest casinos as the guest of one of its most important customers.

The limousine is arriving.

First things first, however. Boston restaurant owner Nick Varano peels off a $100 bill and presses it into his busboy's palm. Two boxes of cannoli from the bakery up the street, he instructs, for the Foxwoods butlers who can't get pastry like this in eastern Connecticut.

Just before stepping into the limousine, Varano, 35, takes the boxes and motions for the boy to keep the $70 or so in change. The driver puts the pastry in the trunk.

Foxwoods sends a limo to Varano's restaurant three, maybe four times a month. Tonight, a Thursday, he's joined by a few friends: Frank DePasquale, 54, a fellow restaurant and nightclub owner, and Ralph Ventola, 38, who runs a fleet of cars for funerals.

There are two types of high rollers: whales and premium players.

The highest of high rollers, whales might bet $5 million per night. While glamorized in movies, whales are increasingly too risky for many casinos who fear huge losses with a few spins of the roulette wheel.

Premium players don't reach whale status and don't get the biggest casino perks -- free Lamborghinis, discounts on gambling losses or shopping money for their wives. But many casinos consider them their most desirable customers.

Varano and his friends are premium players.

"I like to have a minimum of at least $1,000 to $10,000. If I feel that the day's going my way, you know, I don't mind betting $10,000 a hand or more," DePasquale says. "If the day's not going my way, I'll stay as low as $100 a hand. Everything's about rhythm."

Any ultra-rich businessman can drop millions of dollars a few times a year, but DePasquale says the true high roller returns every week, living the high life and playing for high stakes.

Tonight, Varano's plan is to eat like a king, win $25,000 and come back next week.

They're greeted at the casino by Frank Playo, their host. Top players don't call the reservations line. They call their casino host.

Want to see a title fight? Catch a sold-out show? Tee off on a private course? Call the host, whose job is keeping the best customers returning.

Like any good salesman, a host knows his clients' tastes and makes sure they're met without being asked. Casinos spend millions collecting this data and, thanks to corporate consolidation, a regular at the MGM Grand can visit the Bellagio and his favorite champagne will be waiting.

Playo ushers them to the elevator, swipes his card for access to the VIP floors, and shows them to their suite, a palatial flat set in marble. The Red Sox game is on the big screen. The butlers pour the drinks -- the usuals -- from the in-room bar.

A butler is like a personal concierge. He secures tables at the finest restaurants and has the limo waiting downstairs. He's also quick to meet an odd request. One Foxwoods butler arranged the baptism of a player's baby.

Varano and his friends enjoy a selection of imported Italian meats and cheeses, cracked crab, shrimp and -- because the butlers knew DePasquale was coming -- a tray of caviar. Then it's upstairs to the gourmet restaurant where chef Scott Mickelson greets them.

"Some appetizers," Varano says. "What do you suggest?"

"I'll have three of each brought out," Mickelson replies.

Mickelson wears a pager on his shoulder in case of a high-roller emergency. If a seafood lover suddenly announces he's coming, Mickelson can have a wahoo fish head-speared in Hawaii that day and shipped overnight.

The appetizers arrive in stages: oysters and crab on silver tiers, lobster risotto, shrimp, beef and more. It's all complimentary, a small price for their business.

"I can't imagine the way everybody else lives," Varano says.

Ventola is getting antsy. The invite-only casino is calling.

"Frank, wanna come?" Ventola asks eagerly. "Five minutes. Five minutes."

Ventola dreams about gambling. That morning, he blindly bet on soccer just to make the World Cup interesting. Now, he's craving blackjack. Five minutes.

"Well, maybe just to check and see if it's the same," DePasquale replies, smiling, "if they changed the colors."

DePasquale can't resist. He'd take an unbeatable night gambling over a night with a beautiful woman anytime. There are plenty of beautiful women.

"There's nothing more exciting than making a score," he says. "It's when you're popping champagne and you're laughing and you're joking and everybody's slapping each other five. And everything seems like the perfect world."

The casino staff greets them by name. Ventola lays $3,000 on the table. As he wins, he rolls the money into the next bet. It's called progressive betting and, if he catches a run of good cards, it's the fastest way to turn huge profits. Within minutes, he's up thousands of dollars, playing $4,000 a hand.

It's gone just as quickly and when Ventola returns to the dinner table -- loaded now with chateaubriand, Kobe beef and Hawaiian tuna -- he has only his original $3,000.

After dinner, Varano smiles and announces: "Now I want to gamble."

No roulette dealer is upstairs so the boss calls to have someone sent up. In the meantime, Varano plays a few hands of blackjack and DePasquale takes $10,000 from his credit line.

Twice in five minutes, Varano loses when the dealer catches a six to make 21. They're terrible losses and are a bad omen for DePasquale, who abruptly slides all his chips to his friend. They'll settle up later but those sixes spooked DePasquale out of betting tonight.

Down a few thousand dollars and sick of blackjack, Varano gets his private roulette table just before midnight. He always plays the same 10 numbers, hoping for a 35-to-1 payoff.

He begins at $500 a spin, betting progressively. Because of the house advantage, he says betting conservatively for hours is a losing venture. With these odds and betting strategy, four or five good spins can get him his $25,000 in minutes.

He coaxes the wheel with sudden outbursts:

"We're movin' on up, just like the Jeffersons."

"C'mon now! C'mon!"

"I've got more comebacks than Judy Garland."

Not tonight. He burns through DePasquale's $10,000 and his own. DePasquale reminds him of the sixes and suggests they return next week.

This is a bad night but it barely registers on the losing story scale. It's not like when they had to mail the limousine driver a tip, or when, in Las Vegas, Varano lost a massive, potentially break-even blackjack hand, hurled his Rolex at a slot machine and tossed his last pocket change off a balcony.

"You always remember the losses more than wins because the losing stories are so much better," he says.

Varano wants to play another $20,000 but DePasquale urges restraint. It starts like this, he says, then it'll take another $80,000 to break even. Varano ponders it.

"I wish I ordered the bread pudding for dessert," he says. He'll play a while longer.

It's no better the second time and by about 2 a.m., Varano is down more than $25,500. He's tired and they retreat to the suite to watch TV, sleep a bit, maybe take another shot around dawn before heading back.

DePasquale has a busy day tomorrow and, as he selects a bottle of wine from the bar, they call him a limousine.

"You wake up in the morning and start going crazy gambling, call me," DePasquale says on his way out. "I'll wire you some money."

DePasquale knows the routine. He'll call.

(Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

Roulette Table: The Miracle of Media to Come

2006-09-06T02:31:00.000-07:00

Mark Hollands

05/09/2006 09:00:00

Part 1 of 2 pages
"If I need your opinion, I'll give it to you," the legendary movie mogul Sam Goldwyn once boomed in a simple articulation of his autocratic genius.

What the late Tinseltown tycoon would think of the swath of new technologies and media business models currently exploding on the silver screen of innovation is anyone's guess. But there is no doubt this canny icon of the movie business would not only have an opinion but his own strategy to ensure he did not have merely a bit-part - or be written out of the script - by stubbornly repeating the lines of a bygone era.

The next transformation of the media has already started and will be widely recognized as truly historic before we are finished with it. Today, it is the best evolving case study of what happens to an industry when technical innovation and generational change combine to become an unstoppable social and business force.

If you work in an industry that has experienced such dramatic dynamics, like those in financial services, then you'll be familiar with the oddly contradictory emotions of uncertainty and excitement that many media executives are experiencing right now.

For those of you whose industries have not really been affected beyond technology enablement for efficiency and improved business processes, then it should be as valuable as it is entertaining to follow what will be high drama; more dramatic even than TV high-flyer Eddie McGuire telling the world he wants to "bone" a breakfast show host.

Next-Gen Media
This script for media revolution is much more than the excruciatingly dull debate about Australian government regulation of media. That's a sideshow; not even. This storyline stretches far beyond the parochial concerns of how media moguls, holed up in their Toorak and Double Bay bunkers, will plunder the open mines of digital gems.

And there is little more than a supporting role for the so-called "triple play" strategies of telecommunications companies, which are trying to keep customers with bundled combinations of voice-mobile-Internet offerings.

So, what is really going on, what or who will take the starring roles in next-gen media? It must be Google, right? Fantastically, nobody knows; especially those who say they do. There is no more exciting place to be in technology right now. The companies now claiming a stake in this game are little more than blindfolded players throwing darts at the board, hoping and dreaming they will spear the bulls-eye. Google darts are the closest, that's for sure.

Moderate winners will be the traditional tech companies. Increasing demands will be made for networking technologies, hardware and software for storage. So the likes of IBM, Cisco, Dell, HP - all the usual suspects, in fact - will make money if they are even half-smart. However, they will no longer be our economic icons as they have been since the 90s. For them, their role will be little more than pipes and infrastructure. Increasingly, no one much cares about them.

Microsoft is different. Of course. It has had its chips on pretty much every number on the roulette table for a long time. Also different, Apple has produced it own little miracle with the iPod - a classic transformational business model, not just a gadget. However, Microsoft's upcoming Zune strategy and hardware, plus handset-music plays from the likes of Nokia and Motorola, will surely squeeze Apple's pips in the next five years.

But this is commentary only about traditional tech companies. The most significant contributions are coming from the content kings and companies, such as Google, MySpace and YouTube, which were not even on the radar until very recently.

Beyond many of these new and largely unproven companies emerging, a number of social characteristics are the true force shaking and stirring today's media cocktail.

These, perhaps not surprisingly, also mimic the behaviours of the "Y" and "Millennium" generations of adolescents and young adults who now enter the workforce with values and attitudes that mystify old farts who grew up thinking you were lucky to have a job.

Equally mystifying is the style of content these kids invent and want, including:

» Social networking - services such as MySpace, Facebook and Bebo provide this;

» Opportunities to collaborate and share ideas - wikis, blogs and the like which have already become old news despite a slowish uptake in Australia;

» Unified communications - that always-on, anywhere, anytime story. (And off when they want it off.)

» Entertainment on demand - music, TV, audio that is global and unfettered; (and screw all that local regulation crap, just give it to me when I want it).

Providing all these various services, and many more besides, is seen as multi-billion-dollar opportunities. For example, News Corp paid $US528 million for MySpace - an incredible amount of money for what it is now, but perhaps not for what it might become. Others are following this path. MTV, which changed the face of music in the 80s, has launched MTV Flux (nothing to do with indigestion they tell me) to compete. The theme here is the belief that there is money to be made in user-produced content - a concept we oldies and media types have long scoffed at.

IP-TV: No Walled Garden
Perhaps the biggest bucks for biggest impact are being invested in IP-TV - a technology that threatens traditional TV and advertising business models. There is plenty of innovation to come in this space, but there is no doubt a major part of the media we consume in the future will be through IP-TV, which will one day be known as (shockingly) TV!

Telecommunications companies are putting the most wood behind this arrow. While it has dominated press debate, there is no profitable model to emerge from the numerous trials. Indeed, in a world of 2.5 billion TV sets, plus 250 million cable subscribers, there are only 2 million people tuning into IP-TV.

The best trials are, predictably, in Asia, which continues to demonstrate its people are the earliest of adopters - Japanese schoolgirls being the world's first SMS'ers, of course. There are 600,000 subscribers in Hong Kong, tuning their TVs into either PCCW or HK Broadband. Another 90,000 watch IP-TV in China and 80,000 in Japan through KDDI. In Europe, Free and France Telecom leads the way with 900,000 customers. There are numerous trials in the US, though none with more than 100,000 subscribers. The Aussies are, metaphorically, still brewing the tea.

IP-TV will offer channels from all over the world, never mind what Helen Coonan thinks the rules should be. The idea of SMS'ing to keep Michael Slater on that ice-skating show will be too ridiculous to contemplate - just send an e-mail from the TV. And when the phone rings, the caller ID will come on screen. You might even do a videoconference there and then. Calls will be IP-based; farewell those outrageous ISD charges. Viral marketing, not ads, will permeate our lives. Content will be subscription-driven but much cheaper because of volume. Governments, let's hope, will try to secure some free stuff for everyone, as our lot do with mainstream sport now.

Today, the telcos see IP-TV as some sort of walled garden. It won't stay like that. It can't. Our kids won't let it. We are about to behold a miracle of media driven by innovation and the generation that will inherit this planet from us.

You should tune into this saga. It is hard to imagine anything being more exciting. So long as he could make a buck, Sam Goldwyn would agree.

Mark Hollands is an Asia-Pacific vice-president at Gartner. His views are independent and not necessarily those of Gartner.

Roulette Table: Staying married: Therapists offer survival guide for first year

2006-09-04T20:09:00.000-07:00

by Christine Rook, GANNETT NEWS SERVICE
published September 4, 2006 12:15 am

The wedding gifts are open, the thank you notes mailed, the honeymoon bills due. Now begins the marriage in an era where divorce is common. There were 1,218 divorces filed in Buncombe County in 2005, 74 of which are still pending, according to the county’s court records. The Buncombe court administrator’s office has granted 994 divorce actions so far this year, with 480 still pending.

That’s about as promising as betting red at the roulette table.

Couples can increase their odds of survival, though, by devoting their first year of wedded bliss to establishing the rules and habits that will get you past arguments about money and who gets to drive the new car.

Rule 1: Because your parents reared you with one set of expectations and your spouse’s parents used another, don’t assume your spouse will behave as you wish.

Rule 2: Discuss your differences.

“Marriage is difficult,” says Rebecca Fuller Ward, author of “How to Stay Married Without Going Crazy” (Rainbow, $12.95).

“Don’t ever think it isn’t.”

By about the fifth year of marriage, 10 percent of couples divorce, according to a 2002 Census Bureau study. Five years later, another 10 percent have given up.

Marriages that go bad do so quickly.

First marriages ending in divorce dissolve in an average of eight years. A subsequent marriage that goes sour lasts an average of about seven years.

Census experts don’t track how many marriages dissolve in that first year, but experts have seen misunderstandings and wrong assumptions from year one return to haunt couples a decade later.

“Our experience teaches us something, and we look for that to be the rule,” says psychologist and pastoral counselor Ross Lucas. “It’s not.”

Lucas tells a story about a couple he counseled. The husband grew up in a home where the mother and father didn’t exchange Christmas gifts. The wife’s parents, however, made a big deal out of presents.

On the couple’s first Christmas together, the wife handed a gift to her husband and hid her hurt feelings when she didn’t get one in return.

How did the couple resolve the issue?

“Unfortunately, they didn’t,” Lucas says.

About nine years later, they landed in his office. The wife dredged up her frustration at giving her husband a Christmas present each year and getting nothing in return. Her husband was baffled. He couldn’t figure out why his wife kept giving him gifts.

The lesson: talk.

Then there’s money

Money is perhaps the biggest argument-inducing topic.

It doesn’t matter whether a husband and wife maintain separate accounts or merge their finances, says tax accountant Tom Johnson. “They just have to agree.”

At tax time, Johnson becomes privy to a lot of domestic disputes — mostly about who will pay the taxes.

He advises newlyweds to discuss their financial goals, look at their income and expenses and work out a budget.

Couples who don’t discuss money may end up with him boiling at her shop-till-she-drops habits and her resentful over his high-priced toys.

Individuality is underrated in a wedding that is hyped as a time for two to become one. Ignoring the self, however, leads to problems, says Ward, a psychotherapist.

Everyone has heard the phrase: “If Mama ain’t happy, ain’t nobody happy.”

Ward calls that enmeshment — where a person focuses so much on the needs of another that he becomes unable to express himself.

Don’t expect a spouse to accept responsibility for your happiness or to mimic your bad mood, she says. Be responsible for your own emotions. Say something when your feelings get hurt.

Do not avoid conflict.

That’s right. Don’t avoid it. Learn how to handle it.

Running off to pout is a child’s way of disagreeing. Instead, tell how your feelings were hurt. Don’t accuse. Don’t attack. Focus on you.

“When you’re talking about yourself, you’re on safe ground,” Ward says.

After you say what you don’t like, tell your husband or wife what you do like.

“I feel loved when you sit by me,” Ward offers as an example.

“It doesn’t usually work to argue,” Lucas said.

Roulette Table: Faire sauter la banque

2006-08-14T21:07:00.000-07:00

By Mark Pilarski
11 August 2006

Dear Mark,
I once heard that "breaking the bank" had something to do with a misbehaving roulette wheel that paid off vast sums of money to the person who figured out that it was malfunctioning. Is that where the term "breaking the bank" came from in relation to casino gambling? Mel G.

While bedside reading this past week, Mel, I happened to uncover the answer to your question in the just-released, revised version of Kevin Blackwood's Casino Gambling for Dummies. On page 160, he writes that in Monte Carlo in 1873, an Englishman named Joseph Jagger identified a biased roulette wheel where nine numbers were appearing more often than randomness would allow. "Jagger pounced, and before the casino bosses figured out what was going on, he walked away winning with $350,000, an enormous sum in his day," Blackwood wrote, regarding the man who broke the bank at Monte Carlo.

I'm with the Casino Gambling for Dummies author in that Joseph Jagger was the first famous gambler to get some publicity in 1873 for breaking the bank, but, Mel, it was a con artist, a public relations-thirsty casino owner, a song, and a music hall star that made the term "Break the Bank" most memorable.

In French, if a gambler wins more than the chips that exist on the table, he was said to have "faire sauter la banque," which actually means "blown up the bank", but is usually translated to our milder "broke the bank." If that were ever to happen, a black shroud would be placed over the table until reserve chips were brought to the game. The only time I ever saw a roulette table come to a complete halt was when a Super Big Gulp Slurpee tipped over on Red and Odd.

Although no gambler had come close to winning the whole reserves of the casino, the PR-savvy owner of the Monte Carlo casino, François Blanc, was always looking for ways to get greed-awakening publicity from stories of winning gamblers.

He found his poster-boy gambler in one Charles Wells, who in July of 1891 'broke the bank' twelve times in less than 11 hours, winning over one million francs. During one run, his number had come up in 23 of 30 successive spins of the wheel. In November of the same year, Wells returned and made another million francs in three days, including successful bets on the number five for five successive turns.

Despite hiring a slew of private detectives, Blanc could never figure out the Wells system. Wells always maintained that it was just pure luck, and the system he used was the Martingale, where you double your next bet after a loss, to make up for it. (Stupid system; don't trust it.)

What eventually was uncovered was how Wells got his bankroll in the first place. He conned wealthy investors into bankrolling bogus inventions like a musical jump rope and a fuel-saving invention for steamships. Although Wells broke the bank six more times, his luck went south, and he lost not only his own money, but also that of his investors.

Charged with bilking money from investors by fraud, he was extradited to England, found guilty at the Old Bailey and spent eight years in the slammer. Wells served another three-year stay for yet another fraud before eventually immigrating to France, where still another financial scam earned him five more years. Are you counting?

In 1892, Fred Gilbert wrote the popular song, The Man Who Broke the Bank at Monte Carlo, that was popularized by the music hall star, Charles Coborn, but the gambler was not Blackwood's Jagger, but flimflammer Charles Wells, who was the inspiration for the song.

By the way, Mel, as most gambling stories go, Wells died penniless in Paris in 1926.

Gambling Wisdom of the Week: "Lady Luck is like a politician. She has such few favors to give, and too many friends to give them to." -- John Gollehon, A Gambler's Little Instruction Book

Roulette Table: Not your mother's Niagara Falls

2006-08-09T19:34:00.000-07:00

DEIRDRE KELLY

From Wednesday's Globe and Mail

Niagara Falls, Ont. — When the Toronto-based Kontent Group went looking for a cool locale in which to launch Sir, its new Canadian men's fashion magazine, CEO and creative director Michael King focused on Niagara Falls as the venue for a lavish party for 40 style-savvy guests.

"It was very clear to us 12 months ago that Niagara was on the cusp of cool," King says. "It's why we wanted to be there."

He says he was drawn to the town's "new energy," embodied by the spate of upscale development, including the swank billion-dollar Fallsview Casino Resort where the Sir party took place last fall.

"Niagara isn't the shy little country girl your mom and dad knew," says King, who with Geoffrey Dawe publishes the trend-conscious magazines Inside and FQ, as well as Sir. "She's all grown up, wearing a Dolce & Gabbana dress, and ready to party."

Culture and coolness are the new buzzwords around the Falls. They ring particularly loud at Avaia, a spectacular $10-million equestrian-based act created by the newly formed Cirque Niagara in association with Russia's famed Kantemirov circus family, who specialize in Cossack trick riding. It runs until Oct. 8 under the new $1.3-million Celestial Palace tent built to hold 1,500 people at a time at Rapidsview Park, opposite Marineland.

And the buzz will get louder still when Fuego!, Carmen Mota's flamenco show, arrives direct from Spain on Aug. 2.

While it may not be on every hipsters' to-do list, this summer's lineup at the Fallsview's Avalon Ballroom is a who's who of crooners and rockers: Elvis Costello, George Thorogood, Julio Iglesias, and Mr. Vegas himself, Wayne Newton.

Ottawa native Paul Anka was the first to play the Avalon when it opened in 2004, and he has since been spreading the word that the venue is state-of-the-art. "I love it because it is unique," he says. "I love the people, and mostly I love being back in Canada."

Tony Bennett, who played the Avalon in June at the beginning of the season, concurs that the new Niagara has a certain cachet. "The Avalon is one of the best new rooms," Bennett says. "Everyone seems to care about it. A very relaxing and very cool place."

Swank hotels, restaurants, boutiques and entertainment are turning the Falls into an overnight destination as much as a day trip, Tourism Niagara spokeswoman Carrie Kormos says. "It's about extending people's stay, making them want to come for more than the waters but for the food, the shopping, the entertainment," Kormos explains. "Now, there's a more adult experience to the Falls than there was before. It's a lot more sophisticated."

At present, four million people visit the Falls each year. By 2016, if development keeps pace with demand, the projection is for 30 million annual visitors.

According to Fallsview spokesman Greg Medulun, "The new Niagara Falls is now a guys' getaway, it's now a girls' getaway. It's a special-occasion town at a level that is more than just 'Honeymoon Capital of the World.'" These views run contrary to those recently voiced by local historian Paul Gromosiak in the PBS special Niagara Falls, aired on June 21. He called the Canadian border town "a 21st-century sideshow," in reference, no doubt, to the gaudy attractions lining gadget- and gewgaw-crazed Clifton Hill, home of the House of Frankenstein, Dracula Castle and, well, you may have been there, seen that, bought the T-shirt.

Clifton Hill is still going strong, but, Medulun says, "that's a stereotype the new Niagara Falls is trying to move away from."

Eclipsing the theme-park aspect of the town are pleasure domes of glass and marble that are part of a $2-billion redevelopment project aimed at increasing tourism expenditure to $2.7-billion next year, up from $1.8-billion in 2001.

The catalyst for change has been Casino Niagara. Since its opening in 1996, overnight stays jumped from an estimated 2.9 million to 3.8 million in 2001. That number is expected to top 4.3 million next year.

Tony businesses were quick to follow Casino Niagara's lead. Chip wagons made room for a Wolfgang Puck restaurant franchise. Then there's the recently opened Dragonfly, a 12,000-square-foot Asian-themed nightclub with dragon and terra-cotta warrior statuary and a 1,250-square-foot ceiling that lights up and pulses to the music.

Toronto club impresario Charles Khabouth, who created Dragonfly from custom-made bars, flooring and fabrics imported from China, says it's the first real nightclub in Niagara Falls, and "the most beautiful in North America, by far."

Even Khabouth is surprised to see something this vibrant in a town he once left for dead. "The last thing I ever wanted to do was go to Niagara Falls," he says. "But I think the new casino has potential, and I think Niagara Falls in the next two years will change quite a bit. It'll be where everyone wants to go."

The "new casino" is the Fallsview resort and gaming complex. Dragonfly is situated inside its glass-and-chrome-domed complex, modelled on the belle-époque Galleria in Milan, and next to the resort's five-star restaurant 17 Noir, whose interior is as black as the roulette table that inspired its design.

Against this inky backdrop, the Sir party unfolded, as did the magazine's fall fashion shoot. Through the windows was a dramatic view of the Falls, mist rising high over the thundering roar of the water. It's an awesome sight that never fails to impress (despite Oscar Wilde's declaration that it is the second-most-disappointing thing a woman experiences on her wedding night).

Which brings us back to the honeymoon capital. The Falls are said to emit an "ionic force" that serves as a natural aphrodisiac. (For once, it's true what they say: There's something in the water.)

But in the newfangled Niagara, is there room for an old-fashioned honeymoon? Niagara Tourism's Kormos says on-site nuptials are actually being encouraged by means of a new "upscale" wedding chapel launched last Valentine's Day. At least one bride was serenaded by blues giant B.B. King, playing the Avalon, when he found out she was a fan. "It's us putting a unique spin on the honeymoon capital idea," Kormos says.

Roulette Table: To become George Best airport is a humiliation worthy of North Korea

2006-08-08T23:43:00.000-07:00

The proliferating habit of changing placenames is a reflection of insecure societies unable to embrace their past

Simon Jenkins
Friday July 14, 2006
The Guardian

Sombre news from Ulan Bator. In honour of Mongolia's 800th anniversary, its airport has been renamed after Genghis Khan. This reflects the newly assertive stature of the former communist state. Its president, the Leeds-educated Nambaryn Enkhbayar, has announced that the spirit of the great khan would once again "lead the Mongolian people to prosperity".

Genghis (or Chingis) Khan is revered as one of the world's great leaders, indeed as the 29th greatest according to an American website's league table. He created an empire from the Caspian to the Pacific, defeating Chinese, Persian, Russian, even European armies. He is credited with a belief in meritocracy, decimalisation, female emancipation, freedom of religion and flat taxes (after a fashion). He also specialised in mass slaughter, razing cities to the ground (saving only the engineers and artists), and pouring molten silver into the ears of insurgent leaders or, if they preferred, suffocating them under his table while he ate dinner. Neoconservatives still often declare themselves "well to the right" of him.

How all this will play with tourists landing at Ulan Bator airport is not clear. Genghis Khan told his generals to treat foreign foes by "robbing them of their wealth, bathing their loved ones in tears, riding their horses and clasping to your bosom their wives and daughters". This brings to mind a number of airlines of my acquaintance. Genghis was the Ruler of All Those Who Live in Felt Tents, which is ominous given the name of the local currency, the tugrug. As for recent DNA estimates that, in the course of his conquests, he became a blood ancestor of some 16 million Asiatics, or 0.25% of the world's population, the new terminal must qualify as a monument to Asian family values. This may or may not be part of the latest Ulan Bator adventure offer: "Train as a Mongol warrior".

I am more concerned by the proliferating habit of changing placenames. This week Liverpool had a bad attack of Genghis Khan syndrome in proposing to rename Penny Lane because it recalls a slave trader, James Penny. The fact was previously unknown to millions familiar with the song of the same name, not to mention the Beatles themselves. If political correctness is to rule Merseyside, what about Liverpool itself? The name must have struck terror into every slave's heart? Why not rechristen it Mandelaville?

There is no reason for this to stop. Colchester has a Stalin Road, running next to Churchill and Roosevelt roads, and Stanley in Durham has a Lenin Terrace. These commemorate a time when Britons regarded Russia as an ally, as it was, in the war against Hitler. I sympathise with estate agents, but history is history. I am sure dozens of Mafekings, Lucknows, Waterloos and Maidas might upset someone somewhere.

Changing placenames is what banana republics do. Cities are creations of centuries of strife and settlement. Only insecure societies dare not recall their past, however chequered. We ridicule Latin American capitals for naming streets after revolutionary dates, and communist states for naming boulevards after "blessed" or "serene" dictators. Even America, normally robust in these matters, demeans itself by naming the airports in its capital after recent Republican leaders, Dulles and Reagan, thereby inviting Democrats to retaliate. In New York, the beautifully named Idlewild was degraded to JFK. Are we now to have a splurge of Nine-Eleven Avenues and War-on-Terror Freeways?

When Robert Mugabe became president of Zimbabwe (Rhodesia) he set about renaming the streets in Harare (Salisbury). Rumour had it that he wanted to name the grandest after his good friend Samora Machel, so he could relegate his disliked neighbour, Kenneth Kaunda, to an alleyway next to the goods yard. I am sure wars have been fought for less.

It was much to Nelson Mandela's credit that after 1993 he refused to change South Africa's name or the names of cities and provinces. He wanted to reassure the whites that this was a constitutional evolution, not a revolution. He saw South Africa's history as a shared one, in which the past, however troubled, was part of the present. It could not be obliterated at the stroke of a geographer's pen. Mandela's successors have sadly proved less loyal to this maturity. Southern Transvaal has become Gauteng, and even the capital, Pretoria, is in the throes of transformation to Tshwane.

This may not be the week to deplore the loss of India's Bombay, along with Calcutta, Madras and Bangalore, to the recent upsurge in regional chauvanism. As in Africa, the British empire did its fair bit of name-changing in honour of that ubiquitous nomenclature imperialist Queen Victoria. But Indians speak a hundred languages and mostly acknowledge English as their shared one. Did they feel humiliated until they could address their letters to Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai and Bengaluru? Many of the new names were already in use anyway, leading one Bangalore newspaper to announce that the city of Bengaluru would in future be known as Bengaluru. Europe somehow manages with different global and local names for Moscow, Naples, Munich and Florence.

Britain long played host to invading names, be they Brithonic, Celtic, Roman, Saxon, Viking or Norman. Each wave left its linguistic imprint on the landscape, but the earlier usually won. Nothing is so essentially old as the name of a geographical feature. As Colin Renfrew pointed out in Archaeology and Language, placenames were the local words most commonly adopted by invaders. The reason was that early travellers needed to know where they were and dared not rename geography, especially rivers (hence the science of hydronomy). Thus survived the oldest trace elements of past tongues. I am told that Scotland's lost language of Pictish must be studied largely through names.

The Romans imposed names only on their camps, often embracing a Celtic predecessor. Lincoln combines the Latin colonia and the Celtic llyn or lake. Lancaster is a camp, castra, by the River Lune. Adrian Room's admirable Penguin dictionary of placenames gives Pontefract as a rare all-Latin example, meaning broken bridge. Celtic lives on in Devon, Kent, York, Avon and Severn. The Anglo-Saxon invasion brought -tons, -burys and -hams, while the Vikings brought -by and -kirk. Across much of eastern England the tapestry of mixed settlement can be charted through placenames.

The recent emergence of name-change syndrome in Britain is regrettable. An early sign of the tackiness of Blair's court was its 1997 debate over whether to rename Heathrow as Diana international airport (not to mention the Diana Dome). Mercifully, this iron-age camp and medieval settlement survived such threats to its identity. But what harm did lovely Speke Hall do to Liverpool that it should be wiped off the airport map in favour of John Lennon? As for Belfast City Airport, being renamed after George Best is a humiliation worthy of North Korea.

Is London City airport now to become the Anschutz Memorial Gateway, with roulette-table runways, and Stansted to become Posh-and-Becks international? Is Euston Road to be renamed the Avenue of the 7th of July and Downing Street renamed Blair Close? Have we come to that? It rather makes me long for Genghis Khan.

simon.jenkins@guardian.co.uk

Roulette Table: Gambling for gasoline

2006-08-07T21:53:00.000-07:00

A new high stakes game
Charles Walsh

Now let's get this straight.All you have to do to get free — that's free as in F-R-E-E — gasoline is to hop on I-95 north and drive the 78-point-something miles from Bridgeport to Ledyard and risk a lot of money. (Note: mileage may differ depending on where your bank is.)
Ledyard is the tiny town in eastern Connecticut with a big city called Foxwoods Resort Casino inside it. (If you have ever eaten an entire roast turkey, bones and all, at one sitting, you know how poor Ledyard feels.)

The attraction of Foxwoods is, of course, not the resort, but the many games of chance offered in its acres of casinos.

Foxwoods management announced the free gasoline offer earlier this week as an incentive for gamblers who may be starting to think the drive to the casinos at $3.24 or so per gallon of gas might not be worth the thrill of risking one's life savings to an outfit that cannot lose.

The way it works is this: Gamblers earn a "Wampum" point for every $90 they gamble at the casino. Each point can be exchanged for $1 worth of gas. at Exxon and Mobil stations. True, at current rates a dollar buys you slightly more than a teacup of gas. Still, it adds up.

A mere $300 in wagering gives you a bit more than gallon of gas. A motorcyclist might make it home on that much. A Humvee driver won't get out of the garage.

Once at Foxwoods you park the car, truck, minivan, SUV, motorcycle or what ever mode of personal transportation you have chosen in the spacious parking garage supplied for your convenience. Or, you may choose the convenient and status-conferring valet parking that tends to make people think you are a high roller, the ultimate compliment for casino-goers.

Once in the casino, proceed straight to the gaming area of your choice. We suggest choosing the highest-stakes game that the management and your bank account will allow. Good choices are a $100-minimum-bet blackjack or craps table or a no-limit roulette table. Immediately, even before being seated, start throwing bets down like there is no tomorrow — considering the current state of the world, that's entirely possible.

Conceivably, a really reckless gambler might lose enough money in a half-hour to earn a fill-'er-up, please.

The best bet for amassing gas credits would be to buy into a high-stakes poker game for, say, $100,000. Go all-in for another hundred thou and you've earned Wampum points worth 2,222-plus gallons of engine juice.

One small hitch.

The casino, killjoys that they are, put a $500 limit on how much a customer can put on the gas card.

So forget the big-time wagering.

Such is the lure of free gasoline, however, that on Tuesday and Wednesday long lines formed at window where the gas cards were dispensed. Gamblers were willing to wait three hours to get their bonuses.

Now that the casino has begun trading gambling points for more than merchandise sold in their own shops, there is no telling where it will stop.

? The Problem Package: For every $5,000 wagered, customers get two Wampum points good for one minute of time at selected financial or psychological counselors. Card may not be used to pay for psychoactive drugs.

? The Altruistic Package: Every $200 wagered entitles the gambler to a Wampum card that can be given to a homeless person who can, in turn, exchange it for one-third of a home-cooked meal.

? The Real Estate Package: Ten Wampum points are awarded each time a gambler takes out a second mortgage on a home or business in order to continue playing the dollar slots. The points can be exchanged for free valet parking.

Charles Walsh's column appears Tuesday and Friday. You can reach him by phone at 330-6217 or bye-mail at cwalsh@ctpost.com.

Roulette Table: Poker player prepares for tournament

2006-08-06T21:45:00.000-07:00

By Timothy O'Connor
Summer Reporter

When he sits down at a poker table, David Wood gets aggressive.

"The way I play in casinos is a dangerous way to play," said the junior in the School of Management. "I'm the asshole. I'm the bad guy at the table that no one wants to mess with the first round, and the second round everyone wants a piece of me."

Wood is a finalist in AbsolutePoker.com's Win Your Tuition poker tournament. He has spent the past month preparing for the event, which takes place Aug. 8 in New York City, by figuring out how to win with bad hands.

"I'll just deal out some hands when I'm bored and just kind of look at what comes up and what wins," he said. "In order to take it further, I figured knowing some not-so-good hands that tend to win a good amount of times helps."

Wood's strategy for winning is to read the other players as the cards are dealt.

"I watch people look at their cards." He pulled out a pair of sunglasses and said, "I got my secret weapons. When I'm playing I put my sunglasses on. No one has any clue where my eyes are. I'm always watching every time they look at their cards."

Though the tournament is for an online poker site, the final will be played in person among the six contestants. Wood said playing in person was different than playing online.

"Some people like to play a lot different online and I guess I would have to say I'm one of those people," he said. "I don't focus as much on tells, I don't focus as much on anything except for statistics and just numbers."

When playing online, Wood said you have to pay more attention to bet sizes. In person, a player may throw in a lot of lower valued chips to make the pot seem larger and intimidate players. This is not possible in an online game.

"Poker is a mind game, period. But online, you have to be good, a lot better with numbers," he said. "I know some really good poker players that play in person that can't play online. They (have) great reads, but they can't read anyone online so they can't win."

Wood is currently unemployed and uses poker as a means of earning money.

"That's the best way to play for me because I know I got my balls on the line," he said.

Despite his success, he doesn't always win. A few years ago he had a bad experience at a Bahaman casino.

"I went to the roulette table and I was like, �Check this out,' (and bet) $100, $100, $100, $100 all on red. Black, black, black, black. It was $575 (that I bet) and I lost all of it in three minutes," he said.

But casinos aren't the only thing that gives Wood trouble. His friend, John Tyson, regularly beats him in poker.

"We know each other so well," said Wood, "but he knows how to play me."

That doesn't discourage Wood, however, because Tyson, a student at Ball State University, is on his way toward beginning his professional poker career by completing a tour in European circuits this fall.

"Dave's the better bluffer because he does it more often," said Tyson. "I'm better at calling his bets."

Tyson agreed that Wood tries to irritate other players.

"He's really, really aggressive all the time," he said. "It's really hard to play with him because he frustrates (everyone)."

Roulette Table: Don't rewrite the rules of online romance

2006-08-03T19:04:00.000-07:00

They are widows and married millionaires and Yalies. They are Christian nonsmokers and truckers and Republicans. And they all want to date you. Well, maybe not you. But someone you could pretend to be, with a little imagination and a working laptop.

Everybody is blond and skinny in cyberspace. And that can be a problem. Just consider the number of marriages ending because one of the parties just met their one true love through Yahoo Personals. As one divorce lawyer recently told Lawyers USA: "A client will come in -- man or woman -- and say there's someone across the country I want to marry. When I ask them, 'Have you met at all?' the answer is, 'No, I just know this is my soul mate.' "

With online romance epidemic, some legislators and lawyers have started to clamor for something to be done about the great abundance of fraud and heartbreak in the world of cyberlove. But really, how would that differ from trying to regulate what happened on "The Love Boat"?

The biggest problem with Internet dating is the snake oil. There is, for starters, the guy in Atlantic City who pleaded guilty to 10 counts of wire fraud for scamming women around the country with fake Internet profiles. He'd tell women he met online that he needed money to move to their area, then spend it at the roulette table.

Lawsuits against Internet dating sites for the false statements of other customers have mostly gone nowhere, in part because Congress basically immunized such Web sites with the Communications Decency Act of 1996, which says providers can't be held liable for the lies of third parties.

That makes some sense. Why shoot the messenger?

Still, even in the wake of all the alleged fraud and abuse, efforts to regulate Web dating have been limited.

So why, in a field so fraught with possibilities for crime and fraud and theft, has the Internet dating industry met with so little regulation? Partly because it works. According to a survey by the Pew Internet and American Life Project, a nonprofit research organization, 17 percent of online personals users said their efforts resulted in a long-term relationship or marriage. And 15 percent of American adults now say they know someone who has married or been in a long-term relationship with someone met online. Serious criminal complaints, on the other hand, are fairly rare.

As with all things Internet, the policy tension here comes down to a clash of privacy interests. People really like dating in cyberspace in part because they can do it in the privacy of their home offices.

In return, they forgo some privacy when they post photos of their lower-back tattoos on MySpace.com. Heavy regulation would mean that the blurry lines between reality and fantasy and wishful thinking would be patrolled and enforced by cyberlove cops.

Most online dating services agree that most of their consumers are savvy enough to understand the rules, which aren't really all that different from the rules you'd have used at Studio 54 in 1975: Don't give out your last name or phone number, and assume that anyone who mentions their trust fund or diamond mine is a liar.

The reason we aren't really regulating Internet dating sites seems to be that the courts and Congress, the sites and their clients pretty much all agree that for love to blossom on the Web, there must be ample space for fantasy and hope.

Dahlia Lithwick covers legal affairs for Slate, the online magazine. Distributed by the Washington Post.

Roulette Table: Going cheap

2006-07-30T21:52:00.000-07:00

By Guy Rundle

FOR decades, the budget traveller in Europe accepted that the necessary but painful core of the experience was covering the distance between the glittering capitals either wedged in the seat of a bus designed for tiny people, crawling through the industrial district of some hell-hole at 3am, or sharing a Kombi with a Dutch hippie named Wim with a theory about Frank Zappa and the moon landings.

But that's all changed in the past 10 years. The cheap-flight revolution began in the late 1990s and now the continent is crisscrossed with every conceivable route, from the big capitals to disused military airports put back into service. With proper planning you can save hundreds of dollars on a holiday, but it takes a bit of work and lateral thinking.
1. Set aside a few hours for research: There are about a dozen notable cheap airlines and a range of more obscure ones, and the best way to get a good deal (if you are a little flexible about destination and date) is to compare as many as possible and try a few route combinations with different airlines. This is best done manually, website by website. There are several websites that purport to find the cheapest available flights but they're rarely completely up to date (prices can change within a day), and they often don't include the smaller airlines.

The largest of the cheap airlines is Irish carrier Ryanair, with a network centred on London, Dublin, Barcelona and Berlin. It is aggressively trying to cement its leading position, building customer loyalty by offering free flights – that is, for one €cent, plus about €10 ($17) in taxes.

Second largest is Easyjet, the company that really kick-started the low-cost flight revolution, but it certainly isn't the cheapest player on the market. Other carriers have their specialties – Skyeurope, for example, is centred on Bratislava, the otherwise dispensable capital of Slovakia, and great for southeastern Europe. Wizzair specialises in Poland and surrounds. BMI Baby flies from regional British cities to Europe and has no flights out of London except for a few British Airways services.

2. Be thorough: There are many valid reasons why a really cheap flight could be lurking amid a range of more expensive ones. A carrier may be offering a destination at, say, €60 including taxes for 12 or 13 days and, right in the middle, there's one for €5. Why? Who knows? Maybe there was a one-way charter booked. Maybe it's a plane that has to be rerouted to get the schedule back in kilter. Keep various websites open in multiple windows, and jump from site to site. It's worthwhile keeping notes as you go to avoid getting lost in a variety of options.

Two carriers that save research time by having an automatic lowest-fare search function are Jet2 and Thomsonfly. Unfortunately, most of their flights leave from Leeds or Sheffield, respectively. The others make you trawl, presumably in the hope you'll tire and book a mid-price fare.

3. Be flexible with dates and cities: The cheapest flights are at least a couple of weeks out and usually, but not always, in the early morning. Be flexible about destinations, too: many such flights are cheap because they are going to underused airports, and it's worth looking at the cities close to where you want to go and considering nearby alternatives.

If you can find a cheap flight from London to Madrid, for example, well, congratulations, you don't need to read any further, but otherwise you might try flying into Santander (in the north of Spain) or Valladolid. Never heard of either? No matter: they are a two-hour or three-hour train ride or drive from Madrid, and flights there from Britain should be at rock-bottom prices.

The alternative gateway strategy is particularly useful in countries with multiple destinations and cheap local transport, such as Portugal and Poland.

You can even fly into one country to get to another – for instance, the best way into Andalusia in Spain might be to take a flight to the Portuguese city of Faro, where a bus ticket or car rental to Seville will be much cheaper than flying direct.

But beware the idiosyncrasies of local transport networks. It's easy to be too clever by half and arrive in Szczecin just after the departure of the twice-weekly train to Warsaw.

4. Make careful note of where the airports actually are: Many airports are only nominally in the city listed as their destination. Flying to Grenoble gets you to Lyons and a shuttle bus. The classic is Frankfurt, as what you're actually flying into is an airport called Frankfurt (Hahn), a couple of hundred kilometres from the city, with a half-dozen cities closer to it than the one after which it is named. Factoring in the cost of getting to the airport is crucial: it may well be more expensive than the actual flight.

5. Be careful booking multiple-leg journeys: The low-cost airlines are point-to-point, which means that even if you're connecting via the same airline, it won't automatically rebook a flight you missed because an earlier one was late. This is particularly important in winter when fog in Europe's north can delay takeoff by hours. Most airlines will rebook at a cost – as much as pound £40 ($100) – that could be more than the actual ticket.

Ideally, aim to arrive in the early morning and leave late afternoon from the same airport (landing in Stansted and taking off from Gatwick is to be avoided at all costs), thus saving the cost of a hotel.

6. Book return flights well ahead: It's easy to grab a cheap outward flight, forget to book a return and suddenly realise the only flights available have skyrocketed to full commercial prices. One solution, if your return date isn't all that definite, is to book multiple return flights. It may seem crazy but it's cheaper to book flights costing €15 out on, say, three consecutive Tuesday mornings six weeks ahead, rather than waiting until two days before you go and then paying €150. (Of course, you won't be refunded for unused seats.)

Once you get over the weirdness of booking flights as if you were betting on a roulette table, you'll see it makes sense.

7. Be lateral: It might be cheaper and quicker to fly in a V-shape than to take a train between two destinations. It may well be easier to get from Esbjerg in Denmark to Gothenburg in Sweden – and who among us hasn't needed to – by flying into and out of Geneva (on different carriers) than it would be to take the two trains necessary to get there.

8. Be open-minded: One of the best things about the cheap-flight era is that it has opened up cities we might otherwise never have considered. Be willing to take pot luck and go where the cheap fares lead you. Who knew that the Pyrenees city of Pau would be such a mysterious border town? Or how about Lubeck in Germany, the city that invented marzipan and seems to run on it still? But don't feel too much like a carefree jetsetter: Ryanair has introduced a policy of charging extra for non-cabin luggage and other carriers are likely to follow.

Copyright 2006 News Limited. All times AEST (GMT + 10).

Roulette Table:Excerpt: The End of Medicine, "The Med Conference"

2006-07-25T00:52:00.000-07:00

Per today's DealBreaker Interview, below is an excerpt from Andy Kessler's new book, The End of Medicine

I was back in New York again. The American Airlines shuttle across the U.S. – another 3 mrems of radiation.

The Grand Hyatt hadn’t changed much. Same crowded sidewalk next to Grand Central Terminal. Same bustling lobby. Same set of four or five escalators up and over and up and over until you reach the ballroom level. As with every investor conference, it is filled with scurrying mice in tailored suits, all looking for the next greatest thing. And for days, every thirty minutes in six different tracks, companies endlessly pitch their golden prospects. Every damn one of them sounds like the next greatest thing, so the mice scurry some more, discuss amongst themselves and probe and prod CEOs with insightful questions until the mice are so confused, they just ask someone else what they should buy.

I’ve been to so many tech conferences, I could tell you where the bathroom and best cellular reception is in the leading hotels of the world. But this was a healthcare conference. I pulled some strings at Bear Stearns and wangled an invite. I figured it would be a great forum to get instantly up to speed on the healthcare industry. So I put on a suit, slogged to NY, sweated in 95 degree heat, and pretended to be interested in Phase 2 trials of monoclonal antibodies. What I learned was that healthcare investing was a bigger crap shoot then technology.

“What do you think of these guys?”

“Curagen?”

“Yeah.”

“Too early.”

“But they’re in Phase 2 on their cancer thing – PXD101 I think. I thought you like Phase 2?”

“I do, but it’s not theirs.”

“Sure it is.”

“Nope, they licensed it, not enough upside. No one is going to care.”

I was eavesdropping on two guys I recognized from the past. One guy used to run some tech money, I think I remember him getting blown out in 2000 for being long and wrong. But he’s obviously still in the business. I strained to read his name tag, without luck. The other guy was a classic popcorn hedgie. Always showing up where the action in, figuring out some angle and trading rapid fire looking for returns.

“For me, it’s just one thing.”

“Market size?”

“Nope, these are all billion dollar markets.”

“Management?”

“Nope, they’re all trying to hit fish with a baseball bat.”

“True. So what is it? Balance sheet? Partners? Their logo?”

“You just play the trials. I don’t give a shit what drug it is, it almost always works the same way.”

“Get out of here.”

“No, check it out. Preclinical is bullshit, you could get gum off the sidewalk to reduce tumor size in rats. So what? Even Phase 1 is a load. They are mostly bent around to get decent enough results so you can get to Phase 2. I’ve tried to time Phase 1 announcements, but no dice. You always wait until you are about a third of the way into Phase 2, then you buy the shit out the stock."

“C’mon.”
“It works. The first few press releases are almost guaranteed to be positive. Companies will do anything to get their stock up before the final results hit. Phase 3 is just so damn expensive, they want to sell stock or converts or something so they don’t have to give the damn drug away to big pharma.”

“OK.”

“Look, the stock almost always pops. I usually sell into it, unless the press release is blow-away efficacy numbers, then you can stick around. But not forever.”

“No?”

“Hell no, you almost always sell right before the Phase 2 trial is over. Everyone figures it’s gonna work, so the stock goes up until the day of the announcement. It almost always gets whacked when they announce the real results, people already know. The doctors have been trading the stock ahead of you and dump it on the news.”

“That’s it?”

“I sometimes do Phase 3, but that’s harder. Even if something works, the costs kill you. The stocks going
down.”

“But it pops on the news at the end of Phase 3.”

“Sometimes. Not always. You can get killed if the trial fails.”

“Can’t you play that?”

“Nah. I don’t like to gamble. Not even in Vegas.”

* * *

I spent several days walking the halls, popping into presentations, seeing if I could hear about some sea change in healthcare. Investors always hear about things first. Instead I heard about drugs that might or might not treat bone metastases, myelogenous leukemia, multiple myeloma, kidney inflammation, and on and on.

I didn’t hear about innovation – more like regimentation.

I don’t know how many times I heard the expression fully randomized, double blind, placebo trial. Every biotech and pharma company pitched some set of compounds in trials. They were rooting away, but had absolutely no idea if the damn thing really worked. Even big companies with billions in sales of some drug pitched their replacements when they went off patent. It seemed like a giant roulette table. If 17 black comes up, you win 35 to 1, else, zippo.

Even the popcorn hedgie didn’t like those odds, settling for smaller returns with a bet based on knowing how fast the wheel spins. Jeez.

Posted by Elizabeth Spiers on July 24, 2006 01:03 PM

Roulette Table: Nightlife Agenda

2006-07-23T20:03:00.000-07:00

Thursday, July 20

Sometimes we fancy ourselves as budding James Bonds, cleaning up at baccarat in some glamorous Monaco casino, or as the next three members of Ocean's 11 -- er, 16. Who doesn't want to be a high roller? (Though as Atlantic City-loving David reminds us, when you go to Vegas, "There's a reason you only take as much money as you can afford to lose.") For now, we're sticking closer to home. The worthy local charity Bread for the City is sponsoring a casino night fundraiser at the 18th Amendment tonight, and the $25 donation at the door gets all would-be Sam Harmons a stack of chips, drink specials, free appetizers and a raffle ticket. Then you can let loose at the blackjack, roulette and craps tables. (Remember what Albert Einstein reputedly said about roulette: "You cannot beat a roulette table unless you steal money from it.") The gaming runs from 7 to 10, and the overall winners receive prizes. Advance tickets are available from Bread and the City's Andrea Messina on 202-587-0539.

Nightlife Agenda Podcast

Chopteeth Brings the Afrofunk
In the latest installment of our Nightlife Agenda Podcast, washingtonpost.com Music Editor David Malitz talks to Michael Shereikis of the local Afrofunk group Chopteeth and plays two exclusive tracks.

Friday, July 21
On hot summer nights when the city is bursting at the seams with music, mingling and mirth, it can be a drag to have to pack it in when your last destination of the night brings the house lights up. A lot of people move towards late-night dining spots, but it's rare to find something that won't sit like a rock in your gut the next day, let alone a place that allows you to wind down slowly from your night or continue to chat up that nice new friend you made. Thankfully, vocalist Bilal Salaam is making just such a space available at Bohemian Caverns tonight after his gig sharing the stage with India.Arie. His Bohemian Tea Party is a free after-hours jam session fueled by a tea and juice bar and featuring some of his soulful and jazzy peers from the local scene.

Longevity is a rare commodity in the rap world -- it's a cutthroat young man's game -- but Busta Rhymes continues to lead and dominate. The iconic madness in the two or three club bangers that end up smashing the charts on each of his releases is only one element in this master MC's toolbox. Between albums, Busta still floods the streets with full mixtapes just to show how nice he is. No one else with almost 20 years in the game can do that. He made a power move linking up with Dr. Dre's Aftermath, and the resulting album "The Big Bang" shows the wisdom in that decision, even though it's missing that amazing cut with Eminem that was floating around the Net before the official release. He's the best he's ever been now, and he'll be bringing his manic stage energy and club-rending party jams to Love tonight.

When Congolese dance/trance/rock band Konono No. 1 first came stateside last fall, the price was right, but not much else was. Millennium Stage is great, but it didn't prove to be the best setting for the pulsating, distorted rhythms that this sprawling, multigenerational group creates. The music is as hot as the land it comes from, highlighted by perhaps the most unique of instruments, the likembe, an electrified thumb piano. So the somewhat sterile Kennedy Center, complete with confused ushers, didn't showcase the group to the best effect -- especially for those fans hoping to get down. Hopefully the Black Cat will prove to be a more conducive atmosphere for the band to let loose with its extended jams, which are heavy on call-and-response vocals, whistles and a variety of percussion. Opening at the Black Cat is Chopteeth, a local Afrofunk group with upward of a dozen members itself. The band was featured on the most recent edition of the Nightlife Agenda podcast, as David talked to guitarist Michael Shereikis and played exclusive clips of some of the group's songs.

Benefit shows always have a way of bringing together acts that you'd never expect to share a bill, and tonight's event at Jin is no different. You have DJ Fresh spinning bhangra and hip-hop, local indie rock stalwarts Metropolitan and coffeehouse folkie Jared Rehberg. The goal is to raise money, so drawing people with different tastes makes sense. The proceeds from the show will benefit the Children's Home Society and Family Services, an organization that runs humanitarian aid programs for education, health care, and other basic needs of children, teens and families in India, Vietnam, Korea, Guatemala and China. The $20 admission may seem steep, but if you get there at 8, you can enjoy free Tsingtao beer for two hours.

Electronic music is hyper-fragmented, and it's rare for practitioners, DJs and fans to step outside of their demarcated zones once they get well entrenched in them. For example, progressive house is like garlic to a vampire for soulful house heads, whose favored Afro-Latin percussion and soaring vocals would fail with a breakbeat crowd. This silo culture doesn't apply to super producer King Britt, who is able to toggle back and forth between brain hemispheres when he does opposing electronic styles. He's known for his deep soulful remixes and Afrobeat excursions as well as the funk revivalism of his outfit Sylk 130, but he also has techno roots. His new "Nova Dream Sequence" album is a trance-like exploration of dream interpretation through spare techno rhythms. He'll be tapping that sector of his muse with a late-night shift on the wheels at Five tonight.

Saturday, July 22
When it comes to can't-miss local music events, the annual Run for Cover show at the Black Cat is pretty high on our list. It's a pretty simple premise: Local musicians break off from their bands for one night to create tribute groups that honor (and mock) their heroes. It's always a night of fun and surprises. Last year, for example, we had bewigged rockers Just Oates covering Hall and Oates, the Queen is Dead sending up the operatic bluster of Queen (complete with a guest appearance by "David Bowie") and an all-female Clash cover band called the Sandinistas. This time around, the 10 bands on the bill include Phony Mony (which we think will be skewering Billy Idol), Dead Babies (Alice Cooper, perhaps?), the Violent Feminists and the Rockers, which Fritz thinks could be targeting either Judas Priest, who recorded "I'm A Rocker," or AC/DC, whose "Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap" included a song called "Rocker." Either way, you're going to laugh your head off, and the $10 cover goes to the Alkem Foundation, which provides free Web hosting for local arts groups and bands.

Washington's felt a lot like Rio this week, though we have more humidity and our Brazilian friends have better beaches, better soccer players and more women in bikinis. You can try to catch a bit of the Ipanema vibe tonight at Dupont's Heritage India, where Euronet International and promoters Brazilian Night Entertainment are hosting a Brazilian T-Shirt Party. (Hint: They're giving away T-shirts.) Forget the clothes, though, and focus on DJ Marcelo's mix of Brazilian dance tunes and the raffle prizes, which include a round-trip ticket to Brazil. Doors open at 10:30, and admission is $10 in advance. (More information about purchasing tickets is at www.braziliannight.com.)

The Caribbean's primary influence on electronic music is the proto-drum 'n' bass known as jungle, which features chopped up breaks melded with dancehall vocals. There's a new wave coming, though. Out in California, DJ Rob Paine has been developing a reputation for fusing Jamaican dub with house music. Anchoring an intriguing stylistic mash-up of an evening, he'll be taking the turntables at Five tonight after an early set by Sister Nancy, a dominating female voice for over two decades on a scene where such an achievement is rare. Of her many releases, her tune "Bam Bam" over the classic "stalag riddim" is known the world over -- even by party people who can't name a dancehall artist other than Sean Paul. Also featured on tonight's diverse bill is the funky house of Implicit and Suneel.

Unlimited crabs, unlimited beer, plenty of hot jazz and Dixieland, plenty of dancing. The Potomac River Jazz Club's annual Jazz and Crab Feast has just about everything we'd need. Performing again this year is the Buck Creek Jazz Band, which plays a hotter sound of '20s and '30s jazz -- read: tuba and banjo instead of string bass -- that's perfect for the Charleston. When you're not dancing, there are unlimited crabs, hot dogs, snacks, beers and sodas, all of which are included in the $35 admission price. Let's run down that again: Jazz, beer, crabs, $35. The fun begins at 1 and tickets can be purchased from www.prjc.org. Note that no tickets will be available at the door.

Monday, July 24
When He'Brew beer first appeared in area stores and bars a few years ago, it was easy to dismiss the microbrew as a novelty act on par with that bluegrass cover of Snoop's "Gin and Juice." A kosher beer that draped its Messiah Bold ale in the slogan "It's the beer you've been waiting for" and billed its products as "Perfect for weddings, bar mitzvahs and circumcisions"? Clever. But here's the thing: Once we actually tried Messiah, it was pretty good. Founder Jeremy Cohen's been building a bigger reputation among beer lovers in recent years with quirky seasonal releases, and he's bringing all four of the company's draft beers to the Brickskeller tonight for a tasting, including the new Bittersweet Lenny's R.I.P.A., a rye-based India Pale Ale that honors the 40th anniversary of Lenny Bruce's death. (This tribute to the boundary-pushing comic contains "an obscene amount of rye and hops," nyuk nyuk nyuk.) The $10 admission covers tastes of all the beers and a chat with Cohen, so move quickly and reserve your spot by calling the bar.

Between all of the rain early on in the schedule and the heat of late, perhaps you haven't made it out to Fort Reno as much as you would have liked. Make sure you get out there tonight, though, no matter how bad a case of the Mondays you may have. First up will be Eyeball Skeleton, easily the best lo-fi elementary school-aged rock group around. Brothers Charlie and JJ -- with some help from Dad -- write simple, funny and very catchy songs about animals, zombies and other subjects of interest to people who probably still have bedtimes. It might sound shticky, but if you think kids having fun is shticky, then lightening up doesn't even begin to describe what you need to do. Finishing the evening will be the Mayor of D.C. Hip-Hop, Head-Roc, bringing his War Machine back to Fort Reno for the second consecutive year. Don't be frightened -- be excited. Head-Roc has passed the point where he is simply "one of the top hip-hop acts in the area," and you can throw him in the discussion when it comes to top hip-hop acts, period. His conscious rhymes, exquisite flow and spot-on beats never fail to impress.

Roulette Table: We Fight Why?

2006-07-18T01:06:00.000-07:00

Israel's raid on common sense
Posted on Monday, July 17, 2006. By Ken Silverstein.
SourcesA column published Sunday in the Israeli newspaper Ha'aretz by Gideon Levy, former spokesman for Shimon Peres, compared the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) to a neighborhood bully. “A soldier was abducted in Gaza? All of Gaza will pay,” wrote Levy. “Eight soldiers are killed and two abducted to Lebanon? All of Lebanon will pay. One and only one language is spoken by Israel, the language of force.”

Now contrast that with the Washington Post's lead editorial from last Friday: “[T]here can be no doubt that Iran and Syria, Hezbollah's chief sponsors, bear responsibility for what has instantly become the most lethal and dangerous eruption of cross-border fighting in the Middle East in recent years.” Aside from the dubious assertion that Hezbollah acted on the orders of Iran and Syria, the editorial reflects the general thrust of most American coverage of the latest fighting between Israel and its neighbors—namely that the history of the Middle East conflict can be traced to the recent capture of Israeli soldiers.

The Post's approach is fairly standard. Consider this line from a CNN story: “Israeli warplanes were blasting the southern suburbs of Beirut in an attempt to destroy Hezbollah strongholds.” Yes, the southern suburbs are a Hezbollah “stronghold” in the sense that many of its roughly half-million Shiite residents support or sympathize with the group—and in that sense Israel's bombing runs will only make it more of a stronghold. But does that mean it's just fine for Israel to pummel the neighborhood, as CNN seems to suggest?

I spoke to Bob Baer—a former CIA officer who spent most of his career in the Middle East and the author of the new book Blow the House Down—about Israel's attacks on Beirut's civilian infrastructure. “Hezbollah gets power from the power grid,” he said sarcastically. “I guess that makes the power grid a fair military target.”

And what will all this collective punishment in Lebanon buy Israel? Not much, wrote Henry Siegman, the former president of the American Jewish Congress and Senior Fellow and Director for the U.S./Middle East Project at the Council on Foreign Relations, in an interesting op-ed on the conflict published in the U.K.'s the Guardian. Siegman wrote that Israel's military campaigns in Gaza and Lebanon will not provide protection to its citizens but “may well further undermine their security by destabilizing the wider region,” and that the country's “political and military leaders remain addicted to the notion that, whatever they have a right to do, they have a right to overdo.” Siegman also takes a longer view of history than most of the American media, saying, “No matter how one judges the rights and wrongs of the recent Hamas assaults and Israeli reprisals, in Gaza the fundamental casus belli is Israel's occupation that has now lasted for nearly 40 years.”

In his column, Gideon Levy called Israel's military campaign “unequivocally a war of choice” and asked, “Are we at war in Lebanon? With Hezbollah? Nobody knows for sure. If the goal is to remove Hezbollah from the border, did we try hard enough over the last two years through diplomatic channels? And what's the connection between destroying half of Lebanon and that goal?”

As to Gaza, he wrote, “[A] soldier is abducted from the army of a state that frequently abducts civilians from their homes and locks them up for years with or without a trial—but only we're allowed to do that. And only we're allowed to bomb civilian population centers . . . The concept that we have totally forgotten is proportionality. While we're in no hurry to get to the negotiating table, we're eager to get to the battlefield and the killing without delay.”

Levy and Siegman are hardly radicals, and viewpoints like theirs are commonly expressed in the media abroad. But I'd bet there are few major American newspapers that would have published their articles, and I'd be even more surprised to see either (especially Levy) appear on the wasteland of cable news.

And what of the Bush Administration's laissez-faire attitude toward Israel's military campaign? Ex-CIA officer Baer believes that Israel would never have embarked on its current course of action without first running it by the Bush Administration. “They have a green light from Rumsfeld and Cheney to flatten their enemies,” he said. “They're taking advantage of that now because they don't know what's coming after Bush. They might have to deal with a responsible secretary of state who doesn't think chaos in the Middle East is such a great idea.”

“Bush has basically mortgaged your house,” Baer said regarding the administration's general Middle East policy, “and now he's gone to the roulette table.”

Both Israel and Hezbollah should be condemned for the deaths of civilians, but the toll is far higher in Lebanon than in Israel, which you'd never know based on the photographs being run in U.S. newspapers. The Angry Arab website ran a series photos of victims in southern Lebanon, which were taken by the AP, according to the website, but which I have not seen thus far in U.S. newspapers.

Roulette Table: How to Avoid Intellectual Property Theft

2006-07-11T00:00:00.000-07:00

Jul 10, 2006
By Christopher Burgess and Richard Power

Today, the U.S. economy faces many threats, including spiraling energy costs, corporate governance abuses, huge federal deficits, foreign ownership of the national debt, the loss of jobs to offshore outsourcing and the impact of disasters (whether terrorist related or environmental). And of course, there is the looming possibility of a bird flu pandemic or other global health emergency that could result in the closing of borders, the interruption of business, the cessation of travel and the deaths of many thousands.

But there is another threat, difficult to quantify or even detect, one that has not yet grabbed the headlines or captured the imagination, and yet is relentlessly and efficiently looting, pillaging and plundering the U.S. and global economies of precious resources—vulnerable trade secrets.

Economic espionage is as real a threat as terrorism or global warming. But it is subtle, insidious and stealthy. Even if the United States finds the will to come to grips with the many threats it faces, this silent, invisible hemorrhaging of intellectual know-how and trade secrets could deliver the death blow to our pre-eminent place in the global economic world before we even wake up to the magnitude of the danger.

According to the U.S. Commerce Department, intellectual property theft is estimated to top $250 billion annually (equivalent to the impact of another four Katrinas), and also costs the United States approximately 750,000 jobs, while the International Chamber of Commerce puts the global fiscal loss at more than $600 billion a year. But both estimates appear to be woefully underestimated; by some other estimates, there was over $251 billion worth of intellectual property lost or illegal property seized in August 2005 alone.

The United States, like other great nations, stands on three legs: military power, political power and economic power. Arguably, economic power is the most vital of the three. Without economic power, its political elite would be bereft of the consultants and lawyers who insulate it; it would have nothing to bargain with at the geopolitical roulette table; and it would lack the bureaucratic muscle to impose its will domestically. Without economic power, the military would be unable to deploy advanced weapons systems, spy on its enemies from space, span the globe with bases or even raise an army.

Secrets are the magic ingredient of power. When state secrets—i.e., political and military secrets—are stolen, governments fall and wars are lost, people are disgraced and people die. When trade secrets—e.g., scientific or engineering secrets—are stolen, corporations lose their competitive edge, small entities cease to exist, and whole sectors of the economy weaken and fall behind in the global marketplace. People lose their livelihood and their children’s futures.

In other words, the United States could win the war on terrorism, overcome the challenges of global warming, balance the federal budget, strengthen the United Nations, end global armed conflict and restore our edge in science and engineering, and still end up behind China, India, Japan, Russia or Brazil in several vital sectors of the economy, and at a serious, if not fatal, disadvantage within the global marketplace.

The threats of economic espionage, intellectual property theft, counterfeiting and piracy are global, dangerous and increasingly common.

It is within your power to decide for yourself if your enterprise is going to be a hard target or soft target. The time for action is now. You can be prepared. Remember, it is important to invest in protective measures commensurate to the value of the asset being protected. Here are some recommendations for a comprehensive program.

Organization
Where security reports within an organization is perhaps the most vital issue of all. Consider appointing a chief security officer, who reports to either the chief executive office or the chief financial officer. This person should hold the reins of personnel security, physical security and information security, and should not be a stranger to the board room.

Awareness and Education
Educate your workforce on an ongoing basis about the threats of economic espionage, intellectual property theft, counterfeiting and piracy. Help them understand your expectation that they will protect the enterprise’s intellectual property and, by extension, their own livelihood. Provide general education for the entire workforce, and specialized education for executives, managers, technical personnel, etc.

Personnel Security Implement a “Personnel Security” program that includes both background investigations and termination procedures. You need policies that establish checks and balances, and you need to enforce them. Know the people you are going to hire. Don’t lose touch with them while they work for you. Consciously manage the termination process if and when they leave the enterprise.

Information Security Recruit certified information security professionals (e.g., CISSP, CISM, etc.). Adopt best practices, and establish a baseline. Utilize appropriate information security technologies, such as firewalls, intrusion detection, encryption, strong authentication devices, etc. Pay attention to data retention and data destruction as well as data access.

Physical Security
Do not overlook the “Duh” factor. It is pointless to invest in information security, or commit to background investigations, if agents of an unscrupulous competitor or a foreign government can simply walk away with what they covet.

Intelligence
You need both business and security intelligence. Know your competition, your partners and your customers. Research the market environment. Keep abreast of the latest trends in hacking, organized crime, financial fraud and state-sponsored economic espionage. You can outsource this expertise. But someone must be looking at both streams of intelligence, with the particulars of your enterprise in mind.

Industry Outreach
Actively participate in industry working groups appropriate to your sector and environment. Talk with your peers about the types of attacks or threats they are encountering.

Government Liaison
Leverage your tax dollars. Avail yourself of threat information from law enforcement, foreign ministries, elected officials, regulatory and trade organizations in your enterprise’s country, and in other countries where you conduct business.

Legal Strategies Realize that even when right is on your side, a market may be lost to you, and protecting a portion of the global market is sometimes a viable survival strategy. Litigation is not the solution; it is confirmation that intellectual property theft has occurred. Work to protect your intellectual property and avoid the costs associated with litigation. Don’t let a small legal mind make decisions about big legal issues. Get expert legal advice on intellectual property issues.

In sum, your security is in your hands. Employees tend to apply effort and intellect to the issue in portions commensurate with management attention to the topic of intellectual property protection. Employees line up smartly behind the leader providing direction, guidance and support. Providing that leadership is essential to your own continued economic viability in the global economy of the 21st century.

Christopher Burgess has recently retired as an officer of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency, with 30 years of experience in the clandestine services. He can be reached via e-mail: cburgess@att.net. Richard Power (www.wordsofpower.net) is an internationally recognized authority on cybercrime, information age espionage and other threats. He can be reached via e-mail: richardpower@wordsofpower.net.

NOTE: Portions of this study were reviewed, and cleared without objection, by the Publication Review Board of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency. A longer version of this article, with numerous real-life examples of IP threats, can be found at sister site CSOonline.com.

Roulette Table: Tony Sirico files suit against casino

2006-07-07T02:05:00.000-07:00

NEW YORK, July 6 (UPI) -- "The Sopranos'" Tony "Paulie Walnuts" Sirico is suing the Atlantic City Hilton for using a picture of him on a billboard advertisement.

The billboard shows Sirico in a sharp blue suit with white-winged tresses, throwing chips down at a roulette table. The billboard said "Where else can you gamble with the family?," the New York Post reported Thursday.

Sirico claims he never gave the hotel permission to use the picture.

"It's an invasion of privacy," Sirico lawyer Richard Emery said, adding the hotel's move was "blatant opportunism."

Sirico and a crew of five of his castmates agreed to show up at a meet-and-greet event at the hotel for $260,000, the suit said.

Once he had finished with his obligation to the hotel, Sirico felt like playing some roulette.

"He was playing with his own money, on his own time and his presence in the gaming area had nothing to do with his contractual obligations to the Hilton, which by that point were fulfilled," the suit said.

The suit said a hotel photographer came up and took a few pictures of Sirico while he was playing without his permission.

The lawsuit seeks unspecified damages for invasion of privacy, breach of contract and consumer fraud for making people believe Sirico endorsed the hotel.

© Copyright 2006 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved

Roulette Table: Free Roulette System That Wins

2006-07-04T20:30:00.000-07:00

Many roulette systems have been tried out over the years, most failing miserably - a classic example would be the 'Martingale' system, which expects you to continue 'doubling up' on losing bets with ...

by R Russell

Many roulette systems have been tried out over the years, most failing miserably - a classic example would be the 'Martingale' system, which expects you to continue 'doubling up' on losing bets with the only certainty being that at some point it will clean you out.

The 'Supabets' (TM) method though, relies on 2 things for its success. First, the existance of online casinos, where there are no pit staff to notice what you are doing and throw you out, and second, the fact that the standard roulette table has an inbuilt flaw that is easy to exploit.

Groundwork - aside from the 0 or 00, each roulette number is either black or red, and if you bet on black or red, you win evens. The house edge in this case is the gree 0 or 00. So far so good. The roulette table, however, is split into 3 columns, each of which holds 12 numbers (i.e. a third of all numbers, ignoring the 0 and 00).

Now this is where it gets interesting - the first column has 6 red and 6 black numbers, while the second column has only 4 red and 8 black. The third column, of course, has 4 black and 8 red numbers. You can probably already see where this is going, can't you! If we ignore the zeros, then red and black have a roughly equal chance of turning up. It's like the toss of a coin, half the time it will be heads, half the time tails.

To use the 'Supabets' (TM) system, choose red or black as your target in this session. If you choose to bet on red, you bet $X on the color red, and THE SAME AMOUNT on the second 'column'. If you bet black, bet $X on the color black and an equal amount on 'column 3'. Whatever color you chose, you are now covering 26 numbers out of a possible 38, for only 2 x $X. If your chosen color comes up, you get back even money - i.e. the spin didn't cost you anything. If you only win on your column selection, you will make half of what you bet in pure profit. If both the color and the column come up you will win 1.5 times your initial bet.

Of course, in a real world casino, the pit staff will spot this pretty quick, and ask you to leave, because they aren't charities! Online, it's not a problem, and you can bet away to your hearts content. To summarise - bet equally on (a) red and the 2nd column or (b) black and the 3rd column. Make sure that you set a limit for the day beyond which you won't go, and stick to it. NEVER get tempted to 'double up' or try to recoup losses - remember that losses are your 'business expenses', and should be expected from time to time. When you get ahead, either take your money off the table, or raise your bets (because you are now effectively playing with someone elses money!). That's all there is to it - good luck!

About The Author

R Russell writes articles for www.supabets.com - the net's bets roulette tips site.

Copyright R Russell - http://www.supabets.com

Roulette Table: How other half live it up!

2006-07-03T00:35:00.000-07:00

Jul 2 2006

Wales on Sunday

Sloanes in gowns and toffs in DJs are de rigeur at the Cambridge University Summer Ball. But Welsh student Josh Farrington reveals it's not so far away from a drunken night out back home...

"How's it going everyone?" shouts Alan from the stage, who's performing with The Rakes.

"How's the champagne?"

The crowd roars back happily. The champagne is very good indeed.

When we're young, we're happy with a bouncy castle and some ice cream. As we get older, a night out trawling the happy hours in Cardiff are good enough.

So it comes as something of a surprise to find myself in the rarefied setting of Trinity College, Cambridge, on the night of the First and Third Trinity Boat Club May Ball. Yes, it takes place in June nowadays, but it's still the May Ball - it's just one of those Cambridge things, like Magdalene being pronounced 'maudlin'.

The most famous of all the post-exam May Week events, the Trinity May Ball is reputedly one of the greatest parties on earth - according to those in the know, only bettered by the Rio De Janeiro Carnival and the Oscars in terms of opulence, extravagance, and sheer fun.

Even a year spent living and studying here, amidst the 16th century courts and portraits of Henry VIII haven't quite prepared me for quite how special this will be.

For starters, there are few parties where you feel underdressed in black tie. However, the spiffing gents who have turned out in white tie and tails put the rest of us to shame, not to mention the ladies and their stunning ball gowns.

Feeling sartorially inadequate is not the only worry as we join the security-tight two-hour queue down Trinity Street and through Great Court - there is also the looming threat of rain, which, whilst worrying the girls and their immaculate hairstyles, does give the whole thing a pleasantly Welsh atmosphere.

Inside the ball though, another sort of liquid overcomes worries of rain.

A college punt has been dragged into the beautiful cloisters of Nevile's Court and filled with ice and champagne. And, like a good Welsh storm, the champagne is never-ending, and the perfect accompaniment to the oysters that have been provided for the masses of people who wander slightly dizzily trying to take it all in.

The starry-roofed jazz tent, the raucous cabaret stage, the fountains, the fun fair, the ice rink. And, somewhere at the back, a bouncy castle - proof that parties don't change all that much. Ladies are warned to check the strength of the straps on their ball-gowns, before going for a bounce.

The queues for all the different food stalls - stuffed with Thai, pizza, chocolate fountains, hog roast and burgers, it's like Chippy Alley - are all disappointingly long, but the bars scattered liberally around the Ball are quick to serve, satisfying most of the guests.

The place practically empties though when crowds assemble on the Scholar's Lawn to watch one of the highlights of the night - the firework display. So popular that other balls held on the same night have gaps in their schedule just to gawp at Trinity.

The fireworks are designed by the same company that did the fireworks for the hand-over of Hong Kong to the Chinese, which might give you some idea of the scale of events.

People who failed to get tickets have filled the river with hundreds of punts to get a front row seat, effectively covering the River Cam in a wooden floor, so densely packed that you couldn't fall in between them if you tried.

It is an unbelievable sight.

The Ball continues in an amazing, dream-like haze of dance, drink, and indulgence.

The jazz tent has people jiving from the word go, whilst those needing a respite for their feet find solace watching brilliant improvised comedy acts on the cabaret stage. After getting drunk on this fast-paced atmosphere as much as the champers, we race to another highlight of the night, headlining band The Rakes, who provide us with their brilliant high-energy indie-punk pop tales of nine-to-five jobs and Friday nights spent in Wetherspoon pubs.

On a complete euphoric high, I somewhat unwisely head to the casino to see if my luck can last. I put up a brave front at the ruthless blackjack table, before moving on to the ill-fated roulette table of doom.

Though I feel like James Bond in my dinner jacket, I don't seem to have his winning streak, and my dreams of winning a fortune and swapping South Wales for the South Pacific go unfulfilled, for one more year at least.

After all this excitement, it's a shock to realise just how late or early it is, depending on how you see it, but those still feeling the party buzz know where to head next - Trinity's magnificent Great Hall, for a climactic ceilidh.

Jackets are thrown off with abandon, champagne flutes are recklessly knocked over, and partners are swapped without a second thought, and a good sweaty time is had by all. It's almost as though we're in a club in St Mary Street.

It doesn't matter that we don't know each other and have never done this before; we're still swinging each other round and making very loud, quite worrying whooping noises.

Drenched in sweat, blinking into the dawn light, I grab my final glass of bubbly and a salmon and cream-cheese bagel, and head back to the Scholar's Lawn for the customary Survivor's Photograph, a proud memento of our sterling services to decadence and debauchery.

After this, the dream is over, and we make our way through the quiet and pretty sleeping streets of Cambridge, pausing only to pick up our complimentary copies of the Financial Times (just to check the markets of course), before finally, crashing into bed the way we should have done hours ago.

Roulette Table: Stubbs creator talks business, culinary art

2006-06-30T00:22:00.000-07:00

Posted Jun 26th 2006 3:55PM by Ross Miller
Filed under: First Person Shooters, Business

Alex Seropian has a resume no one can scoff at. As the co-found of Bungie studios, and co-creator of Halo (we all know how well that game turned out), Seropian branched off in 2003 to form Wideload Games. The studio went on to make the humorous and underrated Stubbs the Zombie.

In an interview with Gamasutra, Seropian discusses the business model of his company, noting that many development houses have difficult times getting proper funding, and those who focus on only one project at a time are taking big risks for their company's future. Seropian likens perpetually it to gambling at the roulette table -- "and the minimum bet goes up each time." Wideload Games, he explains, is a small team of full-time employees that constantly come up with gaming ideas, and later hire independent contractors when development gets underway on a project. Seropian notes that what sets Wideload apart is its insistence on bringing humor back into games.

The interview if a fascinating read, particularily Seropian's love for food (a discussion that spawned from a piece in Wired). Hypothetically, if someone were to offer Seropian a cooking show on G4, "with guests like Keita Takahashi rolling meatballs, or CliffyB microwaving Hot Pockets," he would "do that in a second." Might we also suggest other food-loving industry veterans like Kojima, Kutaragi, and Iwata.

Online Roulette: Play American Roulette On The Internet

2006-06-27T21:27:00.000-07:00

The game of Roulette has a long and elegant history. Created over 300 years ago, Roulette remains one of the most popular casino games the world over. Roulette is also one of the simplest games to play for the novice gamer. American Roulette is the modern game of Roulette found in most casinos ...

by J Finney

The game of Roulette has a long and elegant history. Created over 300 years ago, Roulette remains one of the most popular casino games the world over. Roulette is also one of the simplest games to play for the novice gamer. American Roulette is the modern game of Roulette found in most casinos, especially those in Las Vegas. The game of American Roulette consists of a wheel with 38 stops, and a ball that can land with equal chance in any of those stops. The American version differs from European Roulette due to the addition of the 38th stop, the double zero. Players make wagers by placing chips in the betting areas of the Roulette table. After all bets are placed, the ball is spun and eventually lands on a number. Wagers placed on the winning number or on groups that include the winning number are paid a multiple of the bet. The house collects all other wagers.

To play the game of Roulette, place your bets by placing chips on the Roulette table. Click the casino chip icons to add chips to your hand. Click the chips in your hand to remove them. To place a bet, click on the region of the table for the type of bet you wish to place. The chips in your hand will be placed on the table. To remove a bet from the table, right click on the bet. The amount of chips in your hand will be removed from the stack on the table. When you have finished placing bets on the table, click the Spin button or click the wheel to start the ball spinning. After the ball lands on a number, losing bets are removed from the table, and winning bets are paid. If you wish to bet on the same numbers again for the next spin, press the Repeat Bet button and all of your previous bets will be placed again.

There are 16 types of bets in American Roulette. By placing the chips differently, you can bet on 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 12 or 18 numbers.

The following is a list of the types of bets and the corresponding payouts for a winning bet.

Even 1:1
Odd 1:1
Red 1:1
Black 1:1
1-18 1:1
19-36 1:1
1-12 2:1
13-24 2:1
25-36 2:1
Any Column 2:1
Any Number 35:1
Two-number combination 17:1
Three-number combination 11:1
Four-number combination 8:1
Five-number combination 6:1
Six-number combination 5:1

About The Author:
To learn more about online roulette games and strategy, please visit http://www.online-gambling-system.com and http://www.online-gambling-system.com/roulette.html

Copyright J Finney - http://www.online-gambling-system.com

Roulette Table: DON'T LOOK, FEEL THE CHIPS

2006-06-21T23:43:00.000-07:00

S'poreans will be eyeing jobs in our first casino, the Marina Bay Sands. What does it take to be a croupier? ESTHER AU YONG finds out

June 19, 2006

IF you think you have what it takes to roll the dice or deal the cards at a gaming table just because you watch TV shows like Las Vegas and The Unbeatables, think again.

Picking up casino skills is no walk in the park.
The job isn't as glamorous as the TV dramas make it out to be.

Indeed, it's hard work training to be a croupier who manages a game at a table and collects and pays out bets.

Just ask Mr Ramachandar Siva, the operations director of the International Club Games Training Centre (ICGTC) at Bukit Timah's Turf City.

Before you can be a certified croupier, or a card dealer at a casino table, you have to go through hours of training in just handling the cards alone, he told The New Paper on Sunday.

ICGTC was launched earlier this month to teach specialised casino skills such as baccarat dealing. It claims to be the first such hands-on institution in the region.

Built like a real casino, the school has three roulette tables and 19 tables for card games like baccarat, blackjack and poker.

NOT EASY

Mr Ramachandar, the former vice-president of casino training at Star Cruises, said: 'We simulate a real casino environment so that students will be better prepared for their jobs in the future.'

The centre's Certificate in Dealing Casino Games programme will start next month, and it is expecting about 300 students for the first cohort. As of Tuesday, 30 students have signed up for the $4,500 course.

Mr Ramachandar said: 'Many people think card-dealing easy, but it's not.

'Our course is a full-time six-month course. So you can imagine the time and amount of practice you need in order to become a skilled croupier.

'Even then, you start out as a junior croupier or an apprentice.

'The first skill any student must learn is to pick chips and stack them up neatly,' Mr Ramachandar said.

Sounds simple? Wait until you try your hand at it.

I did. Mr Ramachandar invited me to take part in a one-hour basic introduction to the course.

First, he messed up a few stacks of chips on the roulette table and said to me: 'Okay, you try.'

I had to make 11 stacks of 20 chips a minute. I failed miserably, managing only five stacks a minute.

Next, Mr Ramachandar asked me to cut a stack of 20 chips into a few smaller stacks of four or five chips.

Croupiers do this so that it is easier to count and distribute winnings to players.

Mr Ramachandar said: 'You must do it by feeling with your hands. When there are customers around, it's important to do it fast and accurately. You cannot keep on looking and counting the chips as if you're counting coins.'

I fared a little better in this task as it did not involve too many hand movements. Just cut the stack and use the previous stack as an estimate for the next cut.

But the chips sure are slippery.

'Everything in the casino is slippery,' Mr Ramachandar said with a laugh.

Like the cards at the baccarat table.

'Okay, before the game starts, the croupier would display the cards so that players can see that they are legitimate cards and are presented as a full set,' Mr Ramachandar explained, as he skilfully fans out the cards in an evenly-spaced row.

'Your turn,' he beckoned to me.

I was clumsy. The cards first bunched up in batches. Then, some flew off the table. But after several tries, I finally nailed it and the cards fanned out perfectly.

Still, I needed more practice, Mr Ramachandar said.

I also tried to present the cards on a spatula-like device at the high-stakes baccarat table as skilfully as I could manage.

Here, players usually play for a minimum of $10,000 per bet and a maximum of $250,000 per bet.

As I picked up a few chips, I gasped when I saw that each had a marking of '$100,000'. Noticing my expression, he laughed and said: 'Yes, this is no ordinary game.

'You've got to be someone who's worth a lot of money to play at this table.'

The player is likely to be the casino's 'whale'.

'Whale' is casino lingo for high-rollers who think nothing of splurging a few million dollars in one night.

So, while everything about the croupier's job sounds simple, in reality, I felt awkward and incompetent.

Even getting the little ball to turn properly on the roulette wheel took me some time.

A good croupier has to master all the tasks I attempted, and more, Mr Ramachandar said.

'He will also have to do everything with style, and customer satisfaction must be taken into consideration,' he added.

'Not easy, especially when you've got to stand and do all these for eight hours every day.

'Usually, croupiers get a 20-minute break for every 80 minutes of work.'

PAYS QUITE WELL
But the job pays fairly well. Croupiers in the Singapore integrated resorts (IRs) can look forward to earning up to $2,500 a month, Mr Ramachandar said.

He feels that casino jobs will be a new challenge for many Singaporeans.

Besides ICGTC, other educational institutions have also been introducing new courses in tourism and hospitality management, in anticipation of the estimated 30,000 or more new jobs to be generated from the IRs.

Mr Ramachandar said: 'If you are gunning for a job in the IR, it's best to start preparing yourself now.

'Since it's a new concept to many people here, those with some knowledge will be in a better position.'

Roulette Table: Roulette - How to Bet

2006-06-19T20:28:00.000-07:00

Betting is very simple in roulette if you follow these simple rules.
Be sure to ask about the minimum bet amounts. If you're playing at a $5 minimum table,
this means you must bet at least $5 on the outside bets (odd, even, black, red, etc). O...

by Tom McBroom

Betting is very simple in roulette if you follow these simple rules.

Be sure to ask about the minimum bet amounts. If you're playing at a $5 minimum table,
this means you must bet at least $5 on the outside bets (odd, even, black, red, etc). On
the inside (number) bets, you can satisfy the minimum by betting $5 on one number, or
$1 each on 5 different numbers.

You'll notice that roulette chips are different from those used at other table games. In
American roulette, each player is given a specific colored chip, so that the dealer can tell
the different player's chips apart.

Also, you will have to tell the dealer the value that you want your chips to have. If
you're at a $5 minimum table, you should use $1 as your chip value so that you can place
several $1 number bets if you wish. These chips can only be used at that roulette table
and must be exchanged for normal chips when you leave the table.

To make a bet, simply place however many chips you wish on that number, or on the
outside bets. If someone else already has a bet on your number, simply place your chip
on top. You can place bets even while the wheel is spinning, up until the time the dealer
calls "no more bets" or waves his hand over the table.

Once the ball has landed in a slot, the dealer calls out the number and color, places a
marker on that number on the betting table, and pays off the winners. Be sure to take
your winning chips off the table if you don't want to let them ride on the next spin.

That's all there is to it! There is no thinking required, other than deciding which bet you
want to make, and you can place your bets with your eyes closed and still have the same
odds of winning.

Good Luck!

About the Author

Tom is the webmaster at BlackjackForEveryone.com,
which is a website dedicated to turning beginning Blackjack
players into serious recreational players.

Copyright Tom McBroom - http://www.blackjack-for-everyone.com

Roulette Table: Roulette Basics

2006-06-19T20:26:00.000-07:00

James bond plays it and so does a large part of America. A table a wheel which has about 37-38 pockets many pockets where the ball must land after it is spun by the croupier. The scene is really comm...

by Mansi Gupta

James bond plays it and so does a large part of America. A table a wheel which has about 37-38 pockets many pockets where the ball must land after it is spun by the croupier. The scene is really common at the casino setups across America. The players with high adrenaline pumping and high risk bearing capacity are expected to be seen around the roulette table trying their luck with spinning dolly. The croupier, or the dealer representing the house, takes the wagers and pays out all bets at the table. The croupier has no personal stake in the roulette game. The game has seen its popularity grow due to the reason that as the wheel slows down the people are more and more betting on the numbers.

Beginners bet on up to 8 numbers with smaller stakes. The champions however take greater risks. The bets are allowed on the table till the croupier gives a signal to the players regarding the bets to be stopped. The people are allowed to take a pick of 8 numbers and any of the tem winning gets a share of the other stakes and thus he gets the chips to be converted into money at the counter. As the wheel is slowing down the accuracy of the number where the dolly stops increases. And thus the stakes sky rocket at the end of the wheel spin. The bigger bets include the betting on the number along with color of its base. If they are matched then the prize too is multiplied. Thus the players prefer to take different combinations of colors and numbers and thus increasing the probability of win.

What makes the game nerve wrecking is that there is no rule of winning it. So there is no trick or system of betting that maximizes your chances of a win. So if one fine morning if one feels lucky then he can try his hand at the roulette table that evening. It's just as simple. All you need is a load of luck and some amount of experience to understand a particular roulette table. This fact also repels some people from the game as it attracts. Bu the game has not lost its charisma among the fortunate ones. The roulette tables are the ones with the most visitors lined up for the bet. The game is played with utmost etiquette and the winners are expected not to over react as there is no big trick or tact to win the game. The simple rule is that if you are winning it its sheer luck and if you are loosing it's just the same.

People have been seen getting robbed off their whole money at the game of roulette and some times the person gets so crazy playing it that he just looses the track of his capabilities and there are examples where the player almost lost their homes at the roulette table.

A lot of attachments come with the thrill of the game. Allegations of rigging the wheel to tempering the dolly have been rampant across the 200 year old history of the game. But the game has not lost its following throughout the world. A casino without roulette tables is not imaginable at all. Roulette has seen people rise and fall and historians have seen it in the same manner. But for sure the game is here to stay in all its glory.

About The Author

Mansi Gupta writes about roulette topics. Learn more at http://www.guidetoroulette.com.

mansigup@gmail.com

Copyright Mansi Gupta - http://www.guidetoroulette.com

Roulette Table: Correction or bear market?

2006-06-13T02:23:00.000-07:00

Analysts try to divine stock market's slide

By BROOKE A. MASTERS
Washington Post
6/11/2006

NEW YORK - Now that the Dow Jones industrial average has shed 6.3 percent since May 10, it's time to ask the question: How do you distinguish a short-term stock market correction from a full-blown bear market?
You wait awhile, of course. But already there are clues in technical market data, such as who is doing the buying and selling, the price of stocks relative to corporate earnings, inflation data, and the length of time since the last recession.

Corrections, defined as a drop of 5 percent over a few weeks or a month or two, are pretty common. Since 1900, the Dow has fallen at least that much more than 300 times, or an average of more than three times a year, according to Ned Davis Research Inc.

But nine out of 10 such slides bottom out and start rising again. It's the other 10 percent that scare the pants off investors. They turn into bear markets, in which the broad market indicators lose 20 percent or more and take their own sweet time coming back.

Even the professionals have trouble telling the two apart.

In 2005, the Dow dropped more than 800 points - 8 percent - in March and April before rallying, then dropped an additional 400 points in September and October before climbing some more. In both cases, investors who jumped out prematurely would have suffered losses and missed another good rise.

On the other hand, analysts were full of rosy predictions in 2000 and 2001 that the market was simply resting briefly and would soon resume its dizzying climb. None of the major indicators have ever returned to their early 2000 highs.

"Picking the short-term movement of the stock market is like standing at the roulette table and saying, "I think red is coming up next' and then congratulating yourself when you are right," said Andrew Smithers, a British economic consultant. Though he published a book in March 2000 that correctly predicted that stocks were overvalued and about to tank, he called the timing "pure luck."

Now, consider today's investing environment.

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke spooked the equity markets last week with comments that suggested the central bank is concerned about inflation and is likely to continue to raise interest rates. That prospect in turn raises fears that a significantly tighter money supply could push the already slowing economy into recession.

"There's some panic in the street," said Al Goldman, chief equity strategist for brokerage firm A.G. Edwards & Sons, "but I don't feel it's justified. . . . We don't have any signs that a recession is at hand, and inflation, although it's up, is still pretty well contained."

George Feiger, who runs Contango Capital Advisors, a wealth-management business, looks at the same signals and sees trouble. "All the technical indicators are showing that we must be getting near the end. The economy is slowing down, the dollar is tanking, people are pulling their money out of equities and putting them in cash, huge amounts of debt have been issued by below-grade (high-risk) issuers," he said. "Where else can it go? The real question is not where will it go but how far."

Interviews with nearly a dozen economists and market analysts turned up widely varying views on whether this particular market correction will develop fur and claws. That's partly because each one looks at different signals to determine where the equity markets are going:

Charles Biderman, chief executive of TrimTabs Investment Research, argues that the real answers lie in mutual fund flows and in whether companies are spending money to buy their own stock or that of other companies as part of a merger.

He noted that at the market peak in early 2000, individual investors were piling into equity funds but that companies were net sellers of stock. By contrast, at the bottom of the last bear market from June 2002 to February 2003, individuals pulled $100 billion out of equity funds, while companies were net buyers by $30 billion.

"Typically, individual investors are always wrong," Biderman said, "and ever since the mid-1990s, for every year when companies were net buyers of their own shares, the market has gone up."

Right now, Biderman notes, companies are again net buyers - he calculated that in May, 135 companies announced a total of $63 billion in stock buybacks and $40 billion more in stock purchases as part of takeovers. Meanwhile, individuals pulled money out of equity funds in May. His conclusion: "The economy is doing very well, and the market is underperforming."

James W. Paulsen, chief investment strategist for Wells Capital Management, also predicts good times ahead for stock buyers. He argues that corporate profits and consumer spending are still relatively strong and notes that even though the Federal Reserve has repeatedly raised the benchmark short-term interest rate over the past two years, the current level of 5 percent is still low by historical standards.

"I think the odds favor us getting over this and going back up to where we were," Paulsen said. "My bet is that we have not shut down the speed of world growth yet."

Some analysts are far less sanguine. Many of them rely on the relationship between a company's share price and its earnings to determine whether it is over- or undervalued, and they say that rapidly rising corporate earnings were the crucial engine behind the stock market's long rise from late 2002 through the first part of this year. S&P 500 companies are trading around 15 times operating earnings, well below where they were at the last market peak in 2000.

But some analysts are worried that high energy prices and the possibility - also mentioned by Bernanke last week - of a cooling economy could combine to make it harder for companies to post strong earnings growth.

"Earnings are going to be a little harder from now on," said Peter Jankovskis, director of research for OakBrook Investments LLC. Though he thinks the current drop is a correction rather than a bear market, he said small investors with extra money in their pockets might do well to put it in a money market fund or high-interest bank account until the current trend becomes clearer.

"The market definitely has cycles: Sell in May, stay away. Markets are generally weak in the summer," he said. "It won't hurt you to stay on the sidelines for a while."

On the other hand, investors who are already invested in equities shouldn't run for the exits, market watchers said.

"The worst thing that can happen is that people panic at the bottom, and it takes them a year or two to get over that panic. By that time, you've missed most of the next bull market," said Ken Tower, chief market strategist for CyberTrader, a Charles Schwab Co. subsidiary that focuses on active traders.

Roulette Table: Bentley's plan to wear '00' gets 86'd by Raiders' Otto

2006-06-13T02:21:00.000-07:00

Uniform No. 00, made sacred by Raiders legend Jim Otto, is staying safe on the shelf for another season. That's just the way Otto wants it. No, it's the way he demands it.

Cleveland Browns center LeCharles Bentley petitioned the NFL to change its strict policy on uniform numbers so he could bring "00" out of hibernation and pay homage to Otto. The NFL said no last month, opting not to alter its number system and consequently denying the fellow request of New Orleans Saints running back Reggie Bush to suit up in his USC No. 5.

Otto called Bentley's "00" pursuit "ridiculous." Then came stronger words from the Hall of Fame center, whose "00" became ingrained in Raiders lore via his 1960-74 playing career.

"To let him wear my number, that I built into a legacy, all it takes is one ounce of coke up his nose and that legacy is gone," Otto said last week in Livermore at a Raiders' golf tournament benefiting Special Olympics.

"I don't know who he is. I played 15 years with the Raiders. He's played, what, three or four years in New Orleans? What kind of legacy would he give double zero? I don't think he should wear it and I don't think anyone in the NFL should wear it."

Otto didn't seem to be implying that Bentley is a drug user, rather Otto was pointing out how a foolish act could damage the "00" image he worked so hard to build. Otto holds the franchise record with 210 consecutive starts and played in 308 games if you count preseason, playoff and all-star games.

Bentley is no slouch, though. He's made the Pro Bowl in two of his four seasons, all of which were with the Saints. A second-round draft pick out of Ohio State, Bentley played two seasons at right guard before returning to his natural spot at center.

"In terms of who LeCharles is, you can make a strong argument he's the best center in the NFL. I don't think he'd tarnish the image (of "00")," Bentley's agent, Neil Schwartz said. "He'd enhance the image and explain the story of 'OO' to kids. Kids today might not know who Jim Otto is. If anything, Charles would know the responsibility of what it would mean to wear 'OO.'"

Bentley, a Cleveland native, wore a "00" Browns jersey at his introductory press conference in March after signing a six-year, $36 million deal, touted as the richest ever for a center. He's also had "00" over his locker this offseason, even though he's No. 57 on the team's Web site.

Bentley turned down an interview request, as he's done with Cleveland-area reporters regarding the jersey issue.

An NFL spokesman said Bentley would not even be allowed to wear "00" in exhibition games because of the league's jersey-numbering system, which began in 1973. The system forbids anyone from wearing "00" or "0," so if you want those numbers, hit the roulette table. The last player to wear "00" was wide receiver Kenny Burrough, who played from 1970-81 and was grandfathered to wear the goose eggs since he had that number prior to 1973.

The NFL's competition committee recommended against number changes for this season but might look into it again in October, committee co-chair Rich McKay said at last month's owners' meeting in Denver.

"There's no real sentiment yet on the committee that there will ever be a change of the system or that there's any need to have a change," McKay said.

Offensive linemen are assigned numbers 50 to 79.

While Bush's quest -- or that of his marketers -- drew most of the attention regarding the jersey-number policy, the decision to keep "OO" out of reach shouldn't be forgotten, nor should Otto's legacy.

Otto, whose No. 00 reflected his palindromic name, relayed his strong feelings about his jersey number to Schwartz and declined to speak with Bentley about it.

Schwartz makes a strong case that Bentley has only the best intentions to wear "00," something Bentley conveyed before free agency.

Schwartz said Bentley told him: "One thing to negotiate is I want to wear '00' and I need management to support me on it. When I was younger, I was a huge Cleveland Browns fan. But I grew up watching NFL Films, and me being an offensive lineman, Jim Otto is who I wanted to represent."

Schwartz said the Browns backed Bentley, and he still holds out hope that Bentley someday will wear "00" so that another generation of fans can recognize Otto's body of work.

It's Otto's war-torn body, however, that gives him the right to fight for his number -- his "00" -- and defend it the way a Hall of Fame lineman protects a quarterback.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Contact Cam Inman at cinman@cctimes.com

roulette table: The Guide to American and European Roulette

2006-06-09T05:30:00.000-07:00

One of the most popular gambling games in casinos –whether in online casinos or brick and mortar casinos – is roulette; and free roulette! From the looks of it, a game of roulette is quite simple. Even a person who has never gambled his whole life will be able to determine the rules of the game by j ...

by Steve Pavis

One of the most popular gambling games in casinos –whether in online casinos or brick and mortar casinos – is roulette; and free roulette! From the looks of it, a game of roulette is quite simple. Even a person who has never gambled his whole life will be able to determine the rules of the game by just watching the proceedings of a game for a few minutes. What could be simpler than a roulette wheel spinning and betting on a number (or numbers) or a color where you think the ball will land?

Of course, the center of the whole game of roulette revolves around the roulette wheel. The wheel measures about three feet in diameter and weighs almost 100 pounds.

Not very many people know this but there are actually two types of roulette – American roulette and European roulette.

First of all, the wheels used in American and European roulette are quite different. Let's look at the similarities first. The wheel is divided into numbered compartments or "pockets". These pockets are colored either red, black or green. Each pocket is numbered from 1 to 36 and is split among red and black.

There are also green pockets in the roulette wheel and this is where the first difference between American and European roulette is first seen. In American roulette, there are two green pockets that signify 0 and 00 (zero and double-zero). European roulette, on the other hand, only has one zero. The green pockets are considered the house advantage. American roulette has a house advantage of 5.3 per cent while European roulette has an advantage of 2.7 per cent.

The numbers in the wheel are not arranged randomly but in an order that tries to establish a good balance between black and red, the odds and evens and the highs and lows. If you will look closely at the wheel, you will immediately notice that every odd number is partnered with the next highest even number right opposite it. The black and red numbers also alternate, as well as pairs of even numbers alternating with pairs of odd numbers.

The two roulette types also use chips in different ways. In American roulette the player uses chips that have the same value determined when it is purchased. European roulette players are free to use standard casino chips that have different values, which makes it a bit more confusing to both the player and croupier. Of course, in online roulette, the online gambling site will indicate how the betting will be done.

Knowing the "geography" of the roulette wheel may not be an important aspect of playing roulette but the more knowledge you have about the game the more you will feel a free kinship to the action that happens at the roulette table. This will make the game more fun to play. This knowledge is also something that you can use when you play online roulette or even free roulette.

Steve Pavis is the owner of the http://www.roulette-1.com website, the premier website to find out the latest in the world of online roulette. Betting systems, analysis of the latest strategies, reviews, updates on which online casinos to avoid and a host of other free information for the interested roulette player. You can also subscribe to his cutting edge newsletter at
http://visitor.constantcontact.com/optin.jsp?m=1101229656523&ea= to catch the latest wheels and deals!

Copyright Steve Pavis - http://www.roulette-1.com

roulette table: The History Of Roulette

2006-06-09T05:29:00.000-07:00

The term "Roulette" is derived from a French word meaning small wheel. The origin of Roulette is not very clear. while some sources state that Blaise Pascal, a 17th Century French mathematician invented the roulette wheel ...

by Adel Awwad

The term "Roulette" is derived from a French word meaning small wheel. The origin of Roulette is not very clear. while some sources state that Blaise Pascal, a 17th Century French mathematician invented the roulette wheel, other sources state that the game originated in China and was brought to Europe by Dominican monks who were trading with the Chinese.

During the late 18th century the Roulette wheel became very popular when Prince Charles (ruler of Monaco at the time introduced gambling to Monacco as a way of alleviating the financial problems of the region.

However, the modern version of the Roulette wheel did not appear until 1842 when Frenchmen Francois and Louis Blanc invented the single "0" roulette game. The game was eventually brought to America in the early 1800s.

However, the single "0" modification was rejected in America and the two zeros "00" where returned to the Roulette wheel. The Roulette wheel gained a great deal of popularity in America during the California Gold Rush.

There are two types of Roulette Games.

American Roulette Wheel

The American Roulette Wheel contains 38 numbers including 0, 00 and 1 to 36. Having two zeros (0, 00) gives the house a 5.26% advantage. In other words, for every $100 a gambler bets, the house will make $5.26 in profit.

European Roulette Wheel

The European Roulette Wheel contains 37 numbers including 0 and 1 to 36. Having one zero (0) gives the house a 2.70% advantage. In other words, for every $100 a gambler bets, the house will make $2.70 in profit.

Other differences between the two Roulette Games

One major difference pertains to the color of the gambling chips. While American casinos will give the players different colored chips which will allow the players to differentiate their chips/bets from other players, the European casinos will give the players the same coloured chips. Thus unlike the players at American casinos, gamblers at European casinos need to rely on memory to distinguish their chips/bets from those of other players.

Another difference between the two games includes the fact that in European casinos, croupiers use a long stick known as the Rake to sweep in all chips, while the American casino dealers will use their hands and arms to sweep the chips off the table.

The last major difference between the two types of Roulette games is that if the ball lands on the zero (0) in a European casino, then the gambler is offered the option of utilising the en prison rule, whereby he may choose to either surrender one half of his/her outside wagers or to leave them for the next game.

After purchasing the chips from the dealer, the player places them on the desired positions on the table in an attempt to predict where the ball will land after the wheel is spun and the ball comes to a stop.

Once the chips are placed on the table and the bets are made, the dealer spins the Roulette wheel while spinning the ball in the opposite direction inside the Roulette wheel. Players are allowed to continue placng their bets during the spin until the dealer says "No more bets".

When the wheel slows down and the ball drops into one of the numbered slots, the dealer places a marker on the winning number on the Roulette table. The players who bet on the winning number or color are rewarded while the players who bet on the losing number(s) lose their chips to the casino.

Today, Roulette continues to be one of the most popular classic casino games, especially in Europe. This is due to the fact that European Roulette has only one zero and as a result offers a more appealing house edge.

About The Author:
Adel Awwad is the webmaster of Free Casino Cash Guide Copyright © 2005 http://www.casinoguide.ws - Free Casino Cash Guide, All Rights Reserved. This document may be freely redistributed in its unedited form and on the condition that all copyright references are kept intact along with the hyperlinked URLs.

Copyright Adel Awwad - http://www.casinoguide.ws

roulette table: The History Of Roulette and How To Play The Game

2006-06-07T06:18:00.000-07:00

The term "Roulette" is derived from a French word meaning small wheel. The origin of Roulette is not very clear. while some sources state that Blaise Pascal, a 17th Century French mathematician inven...

by Adel Awwad

The term "Roulette" is derived from a French word meaning small wheel. The origin of Roulette is not very clear. while some sources state that Blaise Pascal, a 17th Century French mathematician invented the roulette wheel, other sources state that the game originated in China and was brought to Europe by Dominican monks who were trading with the Chinese.

During the late 18th century the Roulette wheel became very popular when Prince Charles (ruler of Monaco at the time) introduced gambling to Monacco as a way of alleviating the financial problems of the region.

However, the modern version of the Roulette wheel did not appear until 1842 when Frenchmen Francois and Louis Blanc invented the single "0" roulette game. The game was eventually brought to America in the early 1800s.

However, the single "0" modification was rejected in America and the two zeros "00" where returned to the Roulette wheel. The Roulette wheel gained a great deal of popularity in America during the California Gold Rush.

There are two types of Roulette Games.

American Roulette Wheel: The American Roulette Wheel contains 38 numbers including 0, 00 and 1 to 36. Having two zeros (0, 00) gives the house a 5.26% advantage. In other words, for every $100 a gambler bets, the house will make $5.26 in profit.

European Roulette Wheel: The European Roulette Wheel contains 37 numbers including 0 and 1 to 36. Having one zero (0) gives the house a 2.70% advantage. In other words, for every $100 a gambler bets, the house will make $2.70 in profit.

Other differences between the two Roulette Games

One major difference pertains to the color of the gambling chips. While American casinos will give the players different colored chips which will allow the players to differentiate their chips/bets from other players, the European casinos will give the players the same coloured chips. Thus unlike the players at American casinos, gamblers at European casinos need to rely on memory to distinguish their chips/bets from those of other players.

Another difference between the two games includes the fact that in European casinos, croupiers use a long stick known as the Rake to sweep in all chips, while the American casino dealers will use their hands and arms to sweep the chips off the table.

The last major difference between the two types of Roulette games is that if the ball lands on the zero (0) in a European casino, then the gambler is offered the option of utilising the en prison rule, whereby he may choose to either surrender one half of his/her outside wagers or to leave them for the next game.

How to play the game

After purchasing the chips from the dealer, the player places them on the desired positions on the table in an attempt to predict where the ball will land after the wheel is spun and the ball comes to a stop.

Once the chips are placed on the table and the bets are made, the dealer spins the Roulette wheel while spinning the ball in the opposite direction inside the Roulette wheel. Players are allowed to continue placng their bets during the spin until the dealer says "No more bets".

When the wheel slows down and the ball drops into one of the numbered slots, the dealer places a marker on the winning number on the Roulette table. The players who bet on the winning number or color are rewarded while the players who bet on the losing number(s) lose their chips to the casino.

Today, Roulette continues to be one of the most popular classic casino games, especially in Europe. This is due to the fact that European Roulette has only one zero and as a result offers a more appealing house edge.

About The Author

Adel Awwad is the webmaster of http://www.casinoguide.ws

Copyright © 2005 www.casinoguide.ws - Free Casino Cash Guide, All Rights Reserved. This document may be freely redistributed in its unedited form and on the condition that all copyright references are kept intact along with the hyperlinked URLs.

Roulette Table: Free American Roulette Game Glossary

2006-06-04T20:31:00.000-07:00

Learning the "lingo" used in American Roulette will help make you familiar with the game and therefore give you a more comfortable level of play. Here is a basic glossary for terms used in American Roulette ...

by J Finney

Learning the "lingo" used in American Roulette will help make you familiar with the game and therefore give you a more comfortable level of play. Here is a basic glossary for terms used in American Roulette:

Black: An even-money bet on the ball to land on any black number.

Block bet: A type of bet where you place your chips on the intersection of four different numbers, therefore betting on all four numbers at once.

Column bet: A type of bet in roulette where you are betting on one of the bets within a particular column to win. The payout varies according to which bet won.

Double zero: Bet placed on the green 00 number. It is quite hard to win, but pays 35:1 if you do hit on it.

Dozens bet: Bet where you predict that the ball will fall on one of a dozen numbers in a sequential column- 1 to 12, 13 to 24 or 25 to 36. The odds are 2:1 if you win.

Evens: An even-money bet on the ball to land on any one of the even numbers on the table.

Green: Refers to one of two numbers on the wheel that are green- either the 0 or 00.

High: A bet on one of the 'high' numbers on the table to win. High numbers are 19-36.

Inside bet: Name for a particular set of bets. All inside bets are located on the inside of the table that include the boxes for the number bets. The odds vary according to which bet ultimately wins.

Line bet: A 5:1 odds bet that the ball will land on any set of six neighboring numbers on the table.

Low: A roulette bet on all of the 'low' numbers on the table. The word 'low' refers to the numbers 1-28 on the table.

Odd: Name for a bet that the ball will land on any one of the odd numbers on the wheel.

Outside bet: Opposite of the inside bet, this means that you predict that one of the bets on the outside of the table will win. The bets vary and therefore so do the payouts.

Red: A bet that the ball will land on any one of the numbers in red on the wheel.

Six-line bet: A bet for a set of six particular numbers on the table all at once.

Special line bet: A bet on either zero, one two or three to win. It involves putting your chips on the intersecting line of these numbers so that you can bet on all of them at once.

Split bet: A bet on two neighboring numbers on the table. You put your chips on the line between the two so that you can bet on both at once.

Wheel checks: The chips that are used specifically for roulette tables only. There is a different color for each player at the table. They have a value according to what the player wants, and must be bough and cashed out right at the table.

About The Author:
To learn more about online roulette strategy, please visit http://www.online-gambling-system.com and http://www.online-gambling-system.com/roulette.html

Copyright J Finney - http://www.online-gambling-system.com

Roulette Table: Bet with the streak or not at all

2006-06-04T20:28:00.000-07:00

Have you ever been drawn to a roulette table because of the display board? The one that says black has come up 6 times in a row? Ever have the urge to put your money on the table in that situation? I...

by Shawn Tinling

Have you ever been drawn to a roulette table because of the display board? The one that says black has come up 6 times in a row? Ever have the urge to put your money on the table in that situation? If so, what do you do?

"Bet red, because it's due to hit this time!"

That answer, while it is a very popular one, is absolutely wrong! You should always bet with the streak, or not at all.

Betting red in this situation is wrong for two reasons. The first reason's mathematical: no matter how many times a color comes up in roulette, there's still (roughly) a 50/50 chance that red or black will come up on the next spin. It doesn't matter if black came up 5 times in a row, 500 times in a row or 5 million times in a row. Every spin in roulette is an independent event; what happened before or after the spin doesn't change the probability of a certain outcome. The idea that an event can become 'due' over time is known as 'the gambler's fallacy', and has contributed to the demise of many a player's bankroll.

The second reason's psychological. What happens if you bet red, and black comes up again? Do you increase your bet on red? After all, it's even more due now, right? Sure, you may luck out and red comes up on that next spin, but if black comes up once more, how would you deal with it? If you bet against the streak and lose, and get in the trap of pressing up your bet hoping the streak stops, the casino's got you right where they want you! If the streak keeps going you'll be broke, wondering to yourself "what're the odds of THAT happening?"

If you bet with the streak, worst case is you lose your base bet as the streak comes to an end, universal balance and order is restored and you can play your game as normal.

Until next time, take care and best of luck in the casino.

About The Author

Shawn Tinling runs 21 Nights Entertainment (www.21nights.com), a casino entertainment and events company in New York City. (c) 2004-2005 Shawn Tinling

casinostories@21nights.com

Copyright Shawn Tinling - http://www.21nights.com

roulette table: Searching for a modern utopia

2006-06-01T22:36:00.000-07:00

When the anti-capitalist movement began to emblazon its banners with the slogan “Another World is Possible”, it signalled the revival of a utopianism that had been furled up and forgotten for at least a couple of decades.

Utopianism – the attempt to envisage a different, better world – was one victim of the right wing onslaught led by Margaret Thatcher in Britain and Ronald Reagan in the US. From 1979, when Thatcher took office, utopianism seemed unacceptable. “There is no alternative” was the slogan associated with the neo-liberal ideology she helped engineer.

It took the mass protests that shut down the World Trade Organisation summit in the US city of Seattle in 1999 to begin to tear apart this consensus.

Before then, according to many of the “postmodernist” thinkers who passed for radical intellectuals, anti-capitalist politics of any kind were tainted by their association with outdated totalitarian fantasies hatched in the 19th century.

Michel Foucault, one of the patron saints of postmodernism, mused that “to imagine another system is to extend our participation in the present system”. Many of the postmodernists still suffered from the hangover that they had acquired when the euphoria of the late 1960s dissipated in the succeeding decades of reaction and retrenchment.

Cold War ideologues

Propagandists for Western capitalism could point to Russia, which they argued was the nightmarish and inevitable outcome of the left’s dreams of a socialist society. “We told you so!” the Cold War ideologues of the 1950s and 1960s taunted in infantile tones. For them, Stalinism confirmed that there could be no viable alternative to free market capitalism.

A number of liberal and left wing thinkers felt chastened by these taunts, not least because the dominance of the Communist parties in the European labour movement made it so difficult to maintain a Marxist critique of the Russian model. Even those Marxist intellectuals who remained independent of Stalinism submitted to the gloomy climate that prevailed.

In 1948 one such intellectual, Theodor Adorno, lamented that “the mere idea of humanity, or of a better world, no longer has any sway over mankind”. Instead he glimpsed a damaged, fragmentary image of utopia in works of art, literature and music that offered a fleeting escape from the tyranny of market capitalism.

The idea that the free market is the only game in town, and that everybody has to sit it out at the roulette table rigged by the capitalist companies that own the casino, is central to the logic of capitalism.

As Karl Marx and Frederick Engels wrote in their 1848 Communist Manifesto, the capitalists “create a world after their own image”. Pro-capitalist thinkers deny the possibility of fundamental historical change, presenting their system as eternal. The future will supposedly be the same as the present – but a little better.

The capitalists have obliterated the traces of their system’s origin in the messy and often bloody abolition of feudalism. To admit that capitalism might have a historical origin at all, let alone a violent one, is to concede that this system might, one day, face an equally violent demise.

The collapse of the Soviet Union in 1989 appeared to reinforce the assumption that free market capitalism is the “end of history”, as one postmodernist thinker dubbed it.

Some disillusioned leftists seemed to agree, though naturally they were more reluctant to admit that socialism had been comprehensively defeated by its ancient antagonist.

But there was an alternative to pro-capitalist triumphalism and left wing pessimism. A minority of those on the left, including those in Trotskyist organisations such as the Socialist Workers Party, had sought to rigorously dissociate Marxism and communism from its Stalinist deformations.

They argued the regimes of Eastern Europe and Russia functioned not as the opposite of Western capitalism, but its mirror image. For these socialists, the onset of the 1990s represented a unique historical opportunity to reclaim a revolutionary vision of an alternative to capitalism.

The rise of the anti-capitalist movement meant that debates about this vision were not simply theoretical possibilities – the argument was played out in the realm of practice.

Principle of hope

Utopianism is almost by definition poised awkwardly between theory and practice. According to the narrowest definition, utopias are those political schemes that remain as blueprints that are practically impossible to implement.

But according to a broader definition, utopianism is a “principle of hope” that, as the Marxist philosopher Ernst Bloch insisted, is woven into everyday activities as mundane as day dreaming in the classroom. Such activities represent semi-conscious attempts to undermine the demeaning alienation of life in a capitalist society.

The more compelling utopias have tended to be presented not through abstract philosophy or concrete political practice, but through novels. However, there are not many exceptional examples of this, because the visions that are politically convincing often fail to inspire the reader’s imagination and those that are imaginatively inspiring often seem politically unconvincing.

The most compelling vision, in my opinion, is that presented by William Morris in News from Nowhere, written in the 1890s. This is an attempt by an active Marxist to articulate his dream of a society that has superseded capitalism.

This utopia was written at a time when hundreds of utopian fictions were published. Most of these however make mind numbingly dull reading because their politics are dogmatic and they are imaginatively impoverished.

The sheer volume of such publications in the late 19th century, the last period in which utopia was the dominant expression of the Western political imagination, is nonetheless instructive. The form was popular because of people’s political uncertainty.

It was a time when capitalism seemed to be on its deathbed, but the adolescent socialist movement ultimately lacked coordination and the sense of direction needed to pose a coherent alternative. Books and pamphlets about the future were a vital forum for debating the present.

More than a century later, the historical situation is of course quite different. But there is once more a pervasive sense that capitalism is undergoing a prolonged crisis, the environmental and social consequences of which might be little short of apocalyptic. And there is, in addition, an emerging conviction that another world is possible.

Post-capitalist future

In this climate, the question of the future has forced itself back into political consciousness. It necessarily remains a question, though the hypothetical answers to this question need not be as hopelessly vague as the banner on a May Day demonstration in London a few years ago which urged that we “overthrow capitalism and replace it with something nicer”.

It is imperative that Marxists debate the post-capitalist future. They must do so both in practical terms – in relation to the mechanics of a planned economy for example – and in frankly impractical terms – in relation for instance to the ordinary details of lives distorted by capitalism.

The mission of Morris’s utopia, as the socialist historian EP Thompson argued, was to “educate desire”. This is once more an urgent task for socialists.

The Mexican poet Octavio Paz once complained that in the 20th century humanity had made the mistake of dreaming with its eyes open. He insisted that we “begin to dream once more with our eyes closed”. Both kinds of dreaming need to be integrated into our attempts as socialists to negotiate the space between political theory and political practice.

Matthew Beaumont is the author of Utopia Ltd – Ideologies of Social Dreaming in England 1870-1900. To order copies contact Bookmarks, the socialist bookshop. Phone 020 7637 1848.

© Copyright Socialist Worker (unless otherwise stated). You may republish if you include an active link to the original and leave this notice in place.

roulette table: Gayle King wants Star role,

2006-06-01T22:35:00.000-07:00

Gayle King is definitely angling for a spot on "The View" despite her claims to the contrary, our spies swear.
"Gayle really wants the job in a big way," says one source. "It's her absolute dream situation. She thinks it's perfect, because there are others to share the spotlight with and she wouldn't have to deal as much with the 'Oprah's Best Friend' label that follows her everywhere. She just wants to be 'Gayle King, television personality.'"

King is already at ABC as a correspondent on Oprah Winfrey's show, she's girlie-stylish, has years of experience and a reputation for good ethics. So what's the trouble?

"The problem for her," a cognoscento confides, "is that she's friends with [current 'View' co-host] Star [Jones].

"She can't publicly lobby for the job in any way. Star would certainly get upset about her friend trying to get a job she's not technically done with yet."

Still, an insider adds, "You can bet Gayle has every back-channel entity she can get working to lock up the position for her. The last thing she'd want is to make it look like she lobbied for the job and that Oprah's influence had anything to do with her getting it."

A spokesman for "The View" would only say, "We are not auditioning right now."

Surveillance...

The "Entourage" crew wasn't getting any high-roller freebies the other night at Las Vegas' Bellagio. Jeremy Piven, Adrian Grenier, Kevin Dillon, Jerry Ferrara, Kevin Connolly and Seth Green looked startled when a bill for $1,650 arrived at their table at Fix. Hoping to come up with some fast bucks, the crew hit the roulette table. "They bet on black, but the wheel hit green," says a spy. They still managed to pool enough cash to pay up...

Top NFL draft choice Mario (40 Million) Williams and pals popping Perrier Jouet corks at Home on W. 27th over his pick by the Houston Texans, as Trudie Styler and gal pals sipped appropriately pink Moet Rosé nearby ...

David Schwimmer, celebrating his new life on Broadway in "The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial" at Bond 45, the oak-and-mosaic former men's clothier (and '80s disco) on W. 45th that has its own new life as a restaurant...

"Jersey Boys" cast members, having such a good time at the Drama Desk nominations party at Arte Cafe on Columbus Ave. that they missed their 7 p.m. curtain. It's okay: the audience gave them big love with a standing ovation anyway.

Side Dish

Julia Roberts' odds of getting a Best Actress Tony nod for "Three Days of Rain" just went up: The Antoinette Perry Awards committee just decided that the great stage actress Cherry Jones, if nominated, will be in the Supporting Actress category for "Faith Healer"...

Josh Lucas gave Entertainment Weekly a bit too much info on shooting "Poseidon": "Anytime you put a lot of grips and special-effects people in water, there's going to be urine ... And you got comfortable to the point where you were drinking it"...

Charlie Rose is back in New York and looking great after undergoing emergency heart surgery in Europe. He hopes to be back on the air next month...

ABC News star Cynthia McFadden arrived at the Waldorf to host the Crohn's and Colitis Foundation of America benefit - and realized she'd left her speech in a cab. A frantic call to the Taxi and Limousine Commission summoned her driver in time for McFadden to salute Martha Stewart, Vera Wang and Madeline Boyd...

Fertility specialist Dr. Niels Lauersen, who helped Celine Dion and Liv Ullmann have babies, is optimistic after doing a hard 5 years for insurance irregularities: "It's a new beginning. And, I can now press 250 pounds"...

Just in time for sweeps, Dennis Rivera's 250,000 members of Local 1199 members will tune in to "60 Minutes" to hear the union's international prez Andy Stern talk honestly about labor's current power...

Seven-year-old Memorial Sloan Kettering cancer patient Dylan Hartung has had visits from Nicole Kidman and Angelina Jolie, but he misses Grandma, who lives in Australia. Thanks to the Select Comfort company, which supplies beds to Ronald McDonald House, where Dylan's family stays during his treatments, Dylan's grandmother flew in last night and will be at his surprise birthday party today at the House.

13th Precinct bounty: Hunter

At least one New York cop wanted to put his cuffs on Rachel Hunter Wednesday night.

The cantilevered Kiwi and her divorce lawyer Mike Heller were headed to Bungalow 8 when Heller, who recently won Hunter a whopping settlement from Rod Stewart, got a call. It was from a client who'd been rounded up in a major raid on a poker hall.

Just back from Washington on a serious criminal case, Heller politely offered Hunter the option of continuing on to Bungalow 8 alone, but the supermodel wanted to go with him to the 13th Precinct on E. 21st.

The 5-foot-11 pinup poured it on for the police, purring that she finds men in uniform sexy, saying she wants to be a bounty hunter and signing autographs. One officer offered the actress his number; another, his cuffs. Thankfully, nobody was robbing anyone near Gramercy Park at the time. Then it was on to Bungalow, where Heller and his sexy sidekick hooked up with owner Amy Sacco and Victoria's Secret models Ana Beatriz Barros and Alessandra Ambrosia.

With Jo Piazza and Chris Rovzar

Originally published on May 12, 2006

Roulette Table: English company to supply casino props for new Bond film

2006-05-29T21:31:00.000-07:00

A Potteries roulette wheel and casino table manufacturer has landed a blockbuster role to supply props for the latest James Bond film, Casino Royale. Workers at TCS John Huxley, which employs around 40 people at Festival Park, say the firm has been contracted to produce goods for the film starring blond Bond Daniel Craig.

Details of the contract have remained under wraps, although the company is responsible for making equipment for casinos including Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas and the Belaggio - where heist film Ocean's Eleven was set - reports The Sentinel

A worker, who did not wish to be identified, said: "We are the world leader in the manufacture and supply of casino equipment. We have been commissioned to manufacture the equipment for the new James Bond film, Casino Royale."

The worker said the staff at Festival Park were responsible for making equipment used in casinos worldwide.

Last May the company provided equipment for the Wynn gaming resort in Las Vegas.

It also supplied all gaming tables, including poker, craps, baccarat and illuminated roulette tables for the IP Hotel and Casino, the first casino to reopen in New Orleans after the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina last year.

Reports have said the Bond film will also feature the new Aston Martin DBS, bulldozers made by New Holland, and Bond will be filmed playing poker using cards made by Belgian-based Carte Mundi.

However, spokesman for TCS John Huxley declined to comment on either any contract or about the latest film.

In December 2003, The Sentinel reported how the company relocated its distribution and manufacturing operations to Festival Trade Park and planned to take on an extra 40 people.

At the time, the company said the Festival Park operations were geared up to produce about 600 roulette wheels a year as well as a portfolio of other gaming-related products.

Anne Bennett, marketing director of London-based Eon Production, which has overseen the production of every James Bond film, also remained tight-lipped.

Speaking from Prague where production is taking place, she said: "We will not comment until after the launch of the film."

Casino Royale is due for release in November.

Graham Bowen, co-founder of Shelton-based film-production company Bomark Films, said the James Bond franchise was one of the most powerful platforms on which to promote products.

Mr Bowen said: "Not as many people had really heard about Aston Martin cars until James Bond drove one; the same happened with the Lotus.

"If you can get a film association with Bond then it can be massively beneficial. It's one of those deals where companies are willing to pay to get their products on board."

Richard Grisdale, creative director of Stoke advertising agency Grisdale Lesniak Swann, said: "There's a lot of cynicism about product placement, but it is great news if the company has been approached to supply products to the film. The only difficulty is that a roulette table is not as immediately recognisable as an Aston Martin. They would need some expert advice to capitalise on the profile."

Thanks to `David` for the alert.

Roulette Table: 'MUDDY GRAS' AT LIM CHU KANG

2006-05-29T21:24:00.000-07:00

FOLK music drifts through the smoky night air.
Huddled around several gambling tables, groups of men flirt with Lady Luck.

In another corner, some men are with ladies of the night, and they are clearly up to a lot more than flirting.

Want a drink?

There's cheap alcohol.

Want a cheap smoke?

There are contraband cigarettes on sale.

All this happens in the middle of an open field in Lim Chu Kang.

The New Paper on Sunday staked out the spot for a week after a tip off.

It wasn't easy finding the illegal vice den, which is 30 metres from the main road.

To get there, one needs to drive on Neo Tiew Road before turning into a narrow dirt road.

The den is set up near a makeshift market located behind several blocks of hostels that house foreign construction workers.

The market opens at 7pm. Sellers display vegetables, fruits and fish on the ground.

A man who drives a pickup and his woman assistants appear to operate the market.

Foreign workers returning to their hostels usually stop there to buy their groceries.

With the market attracting customers, the sex and gambling followed, according to foreign workers we spoke to.

CAREFUL

But the workers weren't the only ones lured to the vice activity.

On the nights when we observed the den, there were Singapore-registered vehicles parked along a gravel road near the field.

This is what we saw on one particular night:

At 7.30pm, the operators of the vice den - consisting of six men and four women - arrived.

They were careful. First, they looked around for signs of the authorities.

Four men were deployed in different areas.

About 15 minutes later, all four men reported to one man at the centre of the field, before getting a thumbs-up to start work.

Once it was established that the coast was clear, some headed to the bushes where tables and chairs had been stashed, while the others started small fires to smoke out the mosquitoes.

Soon, foreign workers were lingering at the tables and chatting with the operators.

At the gambling tables, the 'banker' refused to start the game until more players joined in.

At 8.30pm, more gamblers trickled in, kicking off the night of illicit fun and entertainment.

At the gambling corner, up to five tables were set up for 'high-low' (a Thai dice game). It was the only game available.

'High-low' is played on top of a special plastic mat with markings similar to a roulette table.

The 'banker' would place the dice on a saucer covered with a small basket. Punters have to guess the outcome - whether it is high or low.

Using candles as their only source of light, seven bare-bodied punters placed bets of between $2 and $10 at one table.

As the 'banker' was about to lift the basket, the punters shouted 'xiao' and 'da' (small and big in Mandarin).

The winning group cheered the loudest.

Around 8pm, eight scantily-clad women arrived on motorcycles.

They were greeted by wolf whistles from the men waiting in the shadows.

They made their way to the edge of the field where bushes became bedrooms.

Plastic sheets were placed on the flattened vegetation. This is where the women would have sex with the men.

The eight women were providing sexual services to the men at about $20 a go.

There didn't seem to be enough women to go around.

Men squatted less than 5m from the bushes where the women were apparently having sex with their clients, drinking and joking with one another while awaiting their turn.

The queue was not orderly. At any time, 15 to 20 men would be waiting.

Some swatted mosquitoes, looking impatient.

Sometimes faint giggles could be heard from the women or the head of a customer would emerge from the bushes.

There was also a makeshift drinks stall - with cans of beer and soft drinks placed in a big styrofoam box filled with ice.

A can of beer cost $4. Contraband cigarettes from Malaysia also went for the same price per pack.

We spotted about 100 men visiting the vice den.

What makes the Lim Chu Kang vice den different from those highlighted in previous media reports is this is situated less than 10m from the workers' hostels.

Said a 26-year-old worker living in one of the hostels, who gave his name only as Raja: 'They used to gamble on pay day at the end of the month. But now you can see them gambling almost every day.

'It's not fair to the majority of us who only want to shop for vegetables. What if there's a police raid? We would probably be arrested for just being in the area.'

True enough, the cops, who had already got wind of the illegal activities, gatecrashed the party last Friday night.

The sight of a police patrol car in the area sent about 40 men in the field scurrying for cover.

Some fell while trying to escape, while others ran helter-skelter into the bushes. Some even left behind their bags and shoes.

In 30 seconds, the field was deserted.

The police said they have been monitoring the area.

Since March 2004, they have conducted several raids in the vicinity. As many as 70 people have been arrested for trespassing and immigration offences.

CIGARETTES SEIZED

But, during last Friday's surprise check, no arrests were made. The police confiscated a bag containing contraband cigarettes.

We overheard police officers questioning people in the area, but they denied any knowledge of the illegal activities.

When contacted, a spokesman for one of the hostels, who did not want to be identified, said: 'About half a year ago, some of our workers were caught by the police in a raid. One or two of our employees admitted to gambling.

'I had no choice but to send them back home to show the rest that we were serious.'

Roulette Table: May The Odds Be With You

2006-05-25T01:18:00.000-07:00

by AnteUp - GamblingLinks.com/GamblingLinks.com Staff © 2006, Reproduction without permission strictly prohibited. All company and product names in this document are the property of their respective copyright and/or trademark holders.

As far as the people who write dictionaries are concerned, the thing is simplicity itself: Rou·lette (roo-let') n. A gambling game in which the players bet on which slot of a rotating disk a small ball will come to rest in. For players, however, the game is infinitely complex, an intricate mathematical puzzle daring you to devote substantial amounts of your money and life to solving it. The intense battle of wills waged against the merciless wheel, the challenge of a lone person trying to surmount a sheer cliff against all odds, are probably why roulette is just as popular now, if not more so, than it was when the canvas cover was pulled off the first layout almost three hundred years ago.

Around the world, in online casinos and offline casinos, the spinning roulette wheel is played, studied, enjoyed and even, occasionally, beaten by scientific gamers, long-shot plungers, casual players and every other type of gambler. It is so popular that two expressions directly related to roulette have become so deeply embedded in our language and culture that few people have the slightest idea where they came from. The first is "broken on the wheel," which originally was used to describe wealthy playboys who, having lost their fortunes at the roulette tables in Monte Carlo, went for a stroll in the nearby ocean and never returned. The second "roulettism" -- breaking the bank -- is more cheerful. It referred to playboys who, having beaten the Monte Carlo wheel, sailed out to sea on a yacht instead of their wingtips. One additional bit of lore: Since the sum of a roulette layout's numbers - today as always - is 666, the same as the biblical "number of the beast," a persistent legend holds that Francois Blanc, the godfather of the Monte Carlo casino industry, once traded the game's secret to the devil for a better soul with which to enter eternity.

As you've probably guessed from the name, roulette - which means "small wheel" in its native tongue -- is a French invention, reaching America via New Orleans in about 1800. Though the game was first played in Paris in the mid-1700s, the center of the roulette world moved to Monaco after France criminalized gambling in the early 1770s.

European roulette wheels, often called French wheels in deference to their country of origin, contain 36 numbered slots plus a zero slot. American wheels also have a double zero slot, thus increasing the odds favoring the house from a bit over 2.5 percent to a little over 5 percent. This makes playing at an online or offline casino's European roulette wheel a better deal than playing on an American wheel. You can also improve your odds by wagering on a game where an en prison, surrender, La Partage or similar rule is in place These rules, common in European roulette, allow players to re-wager some of their losing bets if the ball lands on zero.

Bets can be placed on individual numbers, 0 (and in American roulette 00), groups of numbers, odds or evens and blacks and reds with winnings proportional to the odds against each proposition. For example, the simplest possible roulette wager, a straight bet on red, black, odds or evens, normally pays two to one. The house edge consists of the "0" and - if present - the "00," which are neither red nor black (they're green, actually) or odd or even.

For whatever reason, perhaps the mathematical purity of the game's odds or the fact that it's been around a long time, more systems for beating those odds have been devised than for any other form of casino gambling. Unsurprisingly, none of them work for degenerate gamblers or hardcore roulette addicts. Unlike, say, poker or blackjack, you can't improve your odds at roulette by increasing your knowledge of the game and skill at playing it. On the more positive side, however, some of the roulette systems do work in the short term if the gaming gods happen to be with you and you have the brains and moral fortitude to pick up your chips and quit while you're ahead.

The most common, oldest, easiest and most dangerous-to-your-bankroll roulette betting scheme is the Martindale, which is so seductive and easy to understand that it is now commonly used by crap shooters, slot players and even golfers who wager on a per-hole basis. The Martindale, beloved by millions of gamblers who have no idea that they're even using a system, is the original "double or nothing" bet. It calls for doubling your bet every time you lose and dropping down to your original bet and starting the sequence over when you win. The idea - cover all your losses and maybe even make a profit on a single wager -- is as logical as it is asinine. Even if you print your own money and there is no maximum betting limit at your favorite roulette table, the Martindale system is unlikely to make you a long-term winner - the odds on each spin of the wheel favor the house. The most the Martindale can do - long term - is theoretically limit your losses to the house percentage. In the real world, however, the Martindale cannot do even that. For one thing, it does suppose you have infinite money with which to keep doubling your bet. Do you? And even if you are richer than Bill Gates and the head of the Russian Mafia combined, you'll eventually - inevitably - run into a string of losses that would require a "Martindale" bet higher than the table limit to continue with the system. The Martindale can, however, make you a winner in the short run if you happen to employ it on a particularly luck day. For example, you bet a dollar on the number 3 and lose. So you bet two bucks on three and lose again. Next you bet four dollars on three, etc. Let's say the wee ball plops into three when you're at the ten-dollar level. Your winnings? $350. Your total wagers? $55.

Though the origin of the Martindale system is shrouded by history, the d'Alembert betting scheme for roulette was named after the French mathematician who first postulated the Law of Equilibrium, which states - in its simplest form - that if you flip a coin 60 times and it comes up heads the first 20 times, it will come up tails 30 out of the next 40 flips. Using the d'Alembert system you start with, say, ten dollars. If you lose, you increase your bet by one unit - in other words, you bet 11 dollars. If you win, you decrease by one unit and bet nine. In theory, according to d'Alembert's law, you will win as many times as you lose, giving you a net profit of one dollar for each win.

Please, please remember that I am only reporting on these systems, not devising or recommending them. In fact, when it comes to the d'Alembert method, I've never even been able to understand it, so don't bother e-mailing me for further elucidation. For it to work, in my puzzled opinion, something on that lovely green, black and red layout would have to offer a 50/50 betting proposition and nothing does. Now that that's out of the way, let's move right along to the third most popular roulette betting scheme: The Labouchere, aka Cancellation, System.

Like the d'Alembert system, this one is based on the laws of probability, but it also takes into consideration the fact that the odds favor the house and that the chances of the same things happening an equal amount of times in a fixed and limited time period are unlikely. Here goes. Visualize, type, or write a sequence of consecutive numbers … let's use 5,6,7,8,9,10. Add the first and last number together and bet the total -- $15 - as your first wager on one of the 2/1 propositions on the layout, let's use "red" for this example. If red wins, discard the 5 and 10, and bet another $15 (6+9) on red. If that wins, bet another $15 (7+8) on red. If that wins, you've run out of numbers, you've won $45 and it's time to quit. It gets a bit more complicated when you lose. In this scenario, if your first bet is $15 (5+10) and black comes up, you delete the 5 and add the $15 you lost to the end of the list, making your next bet $21 (6+15). If you lose that one, you drop the six and add the $21 making bet number three $28 (7+21). If you win that one, drop the 7 and the 21 and bet $23 (8+15). As you can see, the idea is that eventually the laws of probability will catch up to you and you'll be left with no numbers and a profit equal to the total of your bets - if you don't run out of money first.

The Labouchere system is better than the Martindale in the sense that increasing the bets incrementally rather than doubling them up burns through a gambler's stake more slowly and makes it less likely that the whole scheme will be undone by a player running up against the table limit (unless, of course, his or her initial bet is overly large.) Labouchere also has an advantage over the d'Alembert in that it is possible to leave the table a winner even when your proposition (in our example "red") comes up less than 50 percent of the time. All that said, over 250 years worth of experience seems to indicate that system players at the roulette table have no better odds of winning (or losing) than someone who just walks up and bets their heart. However you wager, you've got roughly the same chance to "break the bank," get "broken on the wheel" or, if you're like the vast majority of us, have a lot of fun while either winning or losing a few bucks.

roulette table: State's odd slots moves play into tribes' pockets

2006-05-25T01:08:00.000-07:00

Published May 25, 2006

The Seminoles have been so successful with their Hard Rock Casinos in Hollywood and Tampa, they want to void their profit-sharing contract with the developer. Who knew they'd make so much they'd have to pay $310 million the first two years, let alone a potential $2 billion over the life of the contract?

Meanwhile, Dan Adkins says he hears the same question every day from callers and customers at the dog track he runs in Hallandale Beach: "When are the slots coming?"

With so many people gambling and itching to gamble, you'd think the state would move a little quicker. Especially since the machines at four Broward pari-mutuels, unlike the ones at the tribal casinos, would be producing tax revenue for Florida.

No such luck.

Consider this: It took the state 14 months to get the lottery running after Florida voters approved it in November 1986. The first ticket was sold in January 1988.

It's been almost 19 months since Florida voters paved the way for slot machines in November 2004, almost 15 months since Broward voters gave final approval last March.

The latest ETA is Labor Day. If all goes well, if no more roadblocks or devious plans appear, the first taxed slot machines should be spinning in South Florida by late summer.

How is it that slot machines at Mardi Gras Racetrack and Gaming Center, Gulfstream Park, Dania Jai-Alai and Pompano Park could take longer to set up than a statewide lottery?

Under the illogical leadership of Gov. Jeb "I hate gambling except for the lottery I keep growing" Bush, the state has been happy to drag its heels.

First the Legislature blew off a July 2005 deadline and didn't write laws until last December. Then Bush gave state regulators six months to formulate rules. Soon, they'll get another three months to issue licenses.

The state's deliberate pace would be understandable in a gambling vacuum. But with crowds jamming the Indian casinos every day, Adkins called the delays "absurd."

"The most frustrating thing to me is to sit here and still not have what people voted for, still not be producing revenue for education," said Adkins, vice president of Mardi Gras, formerly known as Hollywood Greyhound track.

It's not all about altruism, because he's also frustrated that his company hasn't been raking in the dough. But at least his company's profits would be taxed 50 percent.

Bottom line: If the Legislature did its job on time and regulators worked with any urgency, Adkins said, there'd already be a couple of hundred million in the state's till.

No rush, fellas. The Seminoles and Miccosukees surely thank you.

Just as the Indian tribes must be thankful that Bush has broken off talks over the future of gambling at their sites. The tribes want to upgrade from the current Class 2 bingo-style slots to the Class 3 slots coming to the pari-mutuels. The tribes also want table games such as blackjack, roulette and craps.

Bush could negotiate a deal allowing these games on tribal land in return for a piece of the action and state oversight.

By breaking off talks, Bush is taking a huge gamble. If federal authorities rule the state negotiated in bad faith, the tribes could win the right to offer true slots or table games without giving the state anything.

Even if they're stuck with Class 2 slots, in which gamblers play each other and not against the house, the tribes will have advantages over the pari-mutuels.

Tribal casinos are open 24/7. The slots at pari-mutuels can run only 16 hours a day, and track poker rooms are open only 12 hours on days with live races or jai-alai matches.

Tribal poker rooms offer jackpots and high-stakes tournaments with entry fees up to $1,100. The entry fees for pari-mutuel poker tournaments are capped at $45, and the state is fighting to get rid of them.

The gambling age at Indian casinos is 18. The state has set a minimum age of 21 for slots at tracks, which is curious when you consider the legal age for racetrack betting, poker and the lottery is 18. (Imagine if the state had a drinking age of 18 for beer, 21 for liquor.)

Adkins knows the tribes have plenty of competitive edges. After all this time, he simply wants to join the fight.

Michael Mayo can be reached at mmayo@sun-sentinel.com or 954-356-4508.

roulette table: Gaming Partners International to Supply RFID Plaques to Galaxy Starworld Casino in Macau

2006-05-19T00:02:00.000-07:00

Gaming Partners International Corporation, a leading manufacturer and supplier of casino table game equipment under the Paulson, Bud Jones and B&G brands, announced that Macau Galaxy Group renewed its confidence in GPI with the confirmation of an order for over 285,000 RFID plaques to be supplied to the flagship casino of the group, Starworld Casino.

This is another major deal for GPI's international group that supplied all the chips and plaques to Galaxy's other operations including: Waldo, Rio, President and Grand Waldo. The plaques are to be embedded with 13.56 MHz RFID microchips supplied by Magellan in Australia and securely embedded inside the plaques by GPI.

Galaxy Starworld Vice President of Casino Operations Mick Caban said, "I have been using the B&G plaques for many years and this is a unique product perfectly suited for the Macau market. The addition of the RFID technology to this high quality and high security product represents a major advantage for Starworld. We are pleased to pursue our collaboration with GPI, whose service has been outstanding with great flexibility and reliability."

The B&G plaques have been extremely popular with Macau casino players over decades with their unparalleled aesthetics, styles and finishes. They remain a favorite choice for leading casino operators, particularly for "high-roller" operations, the company disclosed.

"This order confirms GPI as the undisputable world leader in RFID technology provider to the table gaming industry," declared Christophe Leparoux, manager international sales and marketing for GPI. "All of our products (value chips, jetons and plaques) are now available with both 125 KHz and 13.56 MHz RFID technologies. The choice is up to the customers, depending if their focus is on security or operational applications. The very demanding Macau market requires high tech innovative products that offer great protection against counterfeiting while maintaining the intrinsic specifications of the products both the players and the dealers have been used to. This quality is just what we will deliver to Starworld and we are very proud to be associated yet again with Galaxy on this project."

About the Company

GPIC manufactures and supplies gaming chips, table layouts, playing cards, dice, gaming furniture, table accessories and other products that are used with casino table games such as blackjack, poker, baccarat, craps and roulette. GPIC is headquartered in Las Vegas, Nevada, with offices in Beaune, France; San Luis, Mexico; and Atlantic City, New Jersey. GPIC sells its casino products directly to licensed casinos throughout the world. For additional information about GPIC, visit our web site at www.gpigaming.com.

roulette table: Are They All Bad?

2006-05-19T00:01:00.000-07:00

By Frank Scoblete
18 May 2006

The greatest single question I receive when I do a talk is, "Frank, are most casino bets as bad as you say they are?"

My answer is an emphatic, "Yes, they are; in fact, most casino bets are awful. Make them and you will lose money and find it very hard to even have winning nights - unless the gods of luck are really with you, which they rarely are, since the gods of luck are really fickle."

I then go on to explain how the casinos take the money from the players - either by beating them on more decisions or by taxing their winnings. When you play roulette, for example, you know that true odds payoff of a direct hit on a number should be 37 to 1. However, the casino can't make money on a true-odds payoff, it's a break-even situation. Casinos have to make money to stay in business, so they pay you 35 to 1 on a winning bet in roulette. That translates into a 5.26 percent house edge.

Understanding the house edge is not something that takes advanced degrees. At craps, the Pass Line has a 1.41 percent house edge because the casino wins 251 decisions to the player's wining 244 decisions. That means quite simply that for every $100 you bet on the Pass Line, you can expect to lose $1.41. Since that percent is rather low in the casino scheme of things, you'll find that as a Pass Line bettor, you will have many winning sessions.

Luck is more a product of knowledge than it is of chance - especially in the long run of casino play.

Now, compare the excellent Pass Line with some other bets in craps and you can get an idea of how the casino can really sock it to the player who makes foolish bets.

The single worst bet at the craps table is the Any Seven or Big Red wager. Here we are wagering that on the very next roll the number will be a 7. Yes, the 7 does come up more than any single number in the game of craps, six times for every 36 rolls in fact. The true odds of hitting the seven on the very next roll are therefore 5 to 1. So what does the house pay you if your psychic abilities are working and that 7 pops? Why they pay you 4 to 1 - which means the casino has a 16.67 percent edge on the Any Seven or, more appropriately, the Big Red, which will be the color of your bankroll if you keep making that bet.

I have seen players not only make the Big Red a favorite bet, but also include other horrendous bets in their repertoire. At craps, bets with great-sounding names will often have awful edges. Yes, the better the name, the worse the bet!

One roll bets (that is, bets that must be decided on the very next roll) such as boxcars (the 12) and snake eyes (the 2) come in with 13.89 percent edges; while the 3 and the yo-11 both come in with 11.11 percent edges.

Yes, there are some bets that come in with lower edges but these are also a waste of your hard-earned money. The hardways bets, the 4, 6, 8, 10, made in doubles (i.e., 2:2, 3:3; 4:4; 5:5) have house edges scratching the 10 percent range.

Some players love to put their money on the Field, figuring that they have all those numbers working for them. Unfortunately, all those numbers still come in with a bad house edge at 5.26 percent! Yuck! Do you really want to lose $5.26 cents per $100 on these bets? Answer yes only if you are looking to lose pretty fast!

The Place bet scenario is also pretty dreary. Place the 4 or 10 and the house takes a 6.67 percent rake on you. Place the 5 or 9 and the house has a 4 percent edge on you. The only good place bets are the 6 or 8, which come in at 1.5 percent house edge. The "don't" Place bets, while somewhat better than the "do" Place bets, are still not worth making.

Now, if you are lucky enough to play in venues that allow you to "buy" the 4 or 10, 5 or 9, and only pay the 5 percent commission on wins, these "buy" bets are actually good ones, bringing the house edge down to around 1 to 1.3 percent.

The other fancy-sounding bets (the whirl or world, the horn, the hop bets, etc.) are all awful as well.

So, at craps, what are we left with? Just the very best bets: the Pass Line, the Don't Pass line, the Come, the Don't Come. Once up on the numbers, it's smart to put up odds on these bets. The odds bet, which has no house edge, is a great way to reduce the overall house edge to around a half percent or less! Here's the rule to remember: bet the minimum on the Pass Line, Come, Don't Pass, and Don't Come, and place as much as you can afford in odds.

If you want to bet $15, make a $5 Pass Line bet, and back it with the $10. That house edge of 1.41 percent is only working on the Pass Line bet; it is not working on the odds.

If you play this way at craps, you will have a very good chance of having many winning sessions in your craps play and you will be a very tough opponent for the casinos. However, if you get caught up in the wild whirl of the craps table and begin to make those high house-edge bets, you'll find your money being depleted at a rapid rate.

Smart play in the casinos is always cautious play - that's a rule that should always be obeyed. That might sound boring but in this case, boring is good!

Roulette table: The Real Iraq

2006-05-18T23:55:00.000-07:00

Spending time in the United States after a tour of Iraq can be a disorienting experience these days. Within hours of arriving here, as I can attest from a recent visit, one is confronted with an image of Iraq that is unrecognizable. It is created in several overlapping ways: through television footage showing the charred remains of vehicles used in suicide attacks, surrounded by wailing women in black and grim-looking men carrying coffins; by armchair strategists and political gurus predicting further doom or pontificating about how the war should have been fought in the first place; by authors of instant-history books making their rounds to dissect the various fundamental mistakes committed by the Bush administration; and by reporters, cocooned in hotels in Baghdad, explaining the carnage and chaos in the streets as signs of the countrys impending or undeclared civil war. Add to all this the days alleged scandal or revelationan outed CIA operative, a reportedly doctored intelligence report, a leaked pessimistic assessmentand it is no wonder the American public registers disillusion with Iraq and everyone who embroiled the U.S. in its troubles.

It would be hard indeed for the average interested citizen to find out on his own just how grossly this image distorts the realities of present-day Iraq. Part of the problem, faced by even the most well-meaning news organizations, is the difficulty of covering so large and complex a subject; naturally, in such circumstances, sensational items rise to the top. But even ostensibly more objective efforts, like the Brookings Institutions much-cited Iraq Index with its constantly updated array of security, economic, and public-opinion indicators, tell us little about the actual feel of the country on the ground.

To make matters worse, many of the newsmen, pundits, and commentators on whom American viewers and readers rely to describe the situation have been contaminated by the increasing bitterness of American politics. Clearly there are those in the media and the think tanks who wish the Iraq enterprise to end in tragedy, as a just comeuppance for George W. Bush. Others, prompted by noble sentiment, so abhor the idea of war that they would banish it from human discourse before admitting that, in some circumstances, military power can be used in support of a good cause. But whatever the reason, the half-truths and outright misinformation that now function as conventional wisdom have gravely disserved the American people.

For someone like myself who has spent considerable time in Iraqa country I first visited in 1968current reality there is, nevertheless, very different from this conventional wisdom, and so are the prospects for Iraqs future. It helps to know where to look, what sources to trust, and how to evaluate the present moment against the background of Iraqi and Middle Eastern history.

Since my first encounter with Iraq almost 40 years ago, I have relied on several broad measures of social and economic health to assess the countrys condition. Through good times and bad, these signs have proved remarkably accurateas accurate, that is, as is possible in human affairs. For some time now, all have been pointing in an unequivocally positive direction.

The first sign is refugees. When things have been truly desperate in Iraqin 1959, 1969, 1971, 1973, 1980, 1988, and 1990long queues of Iraqis have formed at the Turkish and Iranian frontiers, hoping to escape. In 1973, for example, when Saddam Hussein decided to expel all those whose ancestors had not been Ottoman citizens before Iraqs creation as a state, some 1.2 million Iraqis left their homes in the space of just six weeks. This was not the temporary exile of a small group of middle-class professionals and intellectuals, which is a common enough phenomenon in most Arab countries. Rather, it was a departure en masse, affecting people both in small villages and in big cities, and it was a scene regularly repeated under Saddam Hussein.

Since the toppling of Saddam in 2003, this is one highly damaging image we have not seen on our television setsand we can be sure that we would be seeing it if it were there to be shown. To the contrary, Iraqis, far from fleeing, have been returning home. By the end of 2005, in the most conservative estimate, the number of returnees topped the 1.2-million mark. Many of the camps set up for fleeing Iraqis in Turkey, Iran, and Saudi Arabia since 1959 have now closed down. The oldest such center, at Ashrafiayh in southwest Iran, was formally shut when its last Iraqi guests returned home in 2004.

A second dependable sign likewise concerns human movement, but of a different kind. This is the flow of religious pilgrims to the Shiite shrines in Karbala and Najaf. Whenever things start to go badly in Iraq, this stream is reduced to a trickle and then it dries up completely. From 1991 (when Saddam Hussein massacred Shiites involved in a revolt against him) to 2003, there were scarcely any pilgrims to these cities. Since Saddams fall, they have been flooded with visitors. In 2005, the holy sites received an estimated 12 million pilgrims, making them the most visited spots in the entire Muslim world, ahead of both Mecca and Medina.

Over 3,000 Iraqi clerics have also returned from exile, and Shiite seminaries, which just a few years ago held no more than a few dozen pupils, now boast over 15,000 from 40 different countries. This is because Najaf, the oldest center of Shiite scholarship, is once again able to offer an alternative to Qom, the Iranian holy city where a radical and highly politicized version of Shiism is taught. Those wishing to pursue the study of more traditional and quietist forms of Shiism now go to Iraq where, unlike in Iran, the seminaries are not controlled by the government and its secret police.

A third sign, this one of the hard economic variety, is the value of the Iraqi dinar, especially as compared with the regions other major currencies. In the final years of Saddam Husseins rule, the Iraqi dinar was in free fall; after 1995, it was no longer even traded in Iran and Kuwait. By contrast, the new dinar, introduced early in 2004, is doing well against both the Kuwaiti dinar and the Iranian rial, having risen by 17 percent against the former and by 23 percent against the latter. Although it is still impossible to fix its value against a basket of international currencies, the new Iraqi dinar has done well against the U.S. dollar, increasing in value by almost 18 percent between August 2004 and August 2005. The overwhelming majority of Iraqis, and millions of Iranians and Kuwaitis, now treat it as a safe and solid medium of exchange

My fourth time-tested sign is the level of activity by small and medium-sized businesses. In the past, whenever things have gone downhill in Iraq, large numbers of such enterprises have simply closed down, with the countrys most capable entrepreneurs decamping to Jordan, Syria, Saudi Arabia, the Persian Gulf states, Turkey, Iran, and even Europe and North America. Since liberation, however, Iraq has witnessed a private-sector boom, especially among small and medium-sized businesses.

According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank, as well as numerous private studies, the Iraqi economy has been doing better than any other in the region. The countrys gross domestic product rose to almost $90 billion in 2004 (the latest year for which figures are available), more than double the output for 2003, and its real growth rate, as estimated by the IMF, was 52.3 per cent. In that same period, exports increased by more than $3 billion, while the inflation rate fell to 25.4 percent, down from 70 percent in 2002. The unemployment rate was halved, from 60 percent to 30 percent.

Related to this is the level of agricultural activity. Between 1991 and 2003, the countrys farm sector experienced unprecedented decline, in the end leaving almost the entire nation dependent on rations distributed by the United Nations under Oil-for-Food. In the past two years, by contrast, Iraqi agriculture has undergone an equally unprecedented revival. Iraq now exports foodstuffs to neighboring countries, something that has not happened since the 1950s. Much of the upturn is due to smallholders who, shaking off the collectivist system imposed by the Baathists, have retaken control of land that was confiscated decades ago by the state.

Finally, one of the surest indices of the health of Iraqi society has always been its readiness to talk to the outside world. Iraqis are a verbalizing people; when they fall silent, life is incontrovertibly becoming hard for them. There have been times, indeed, when one could find scarcely a single Iraqi, whether in Iraq or abroad, prepared to express an opinion on anything remotely political. This is what Kanan Makiya meant when he described Saddam Husseins regime as a republic of fear.

Today, again by way of dramatic contrast, Iraqis are voluble to a fault. Talk radio, television talk-shows, and Internet blogs are all the rage, while heated debate is the order of the day in shops, tea-houses, bazaars, mosques, offices, and private homes. A catharsis is how Luay Abdulilah, the Iraqi short-story writer and diarist, describes it. This is one way of taking revenge against decades of deadly silence. Moreover, a vast network of independent media has emerged in Iraq, including over 100 privately-owned newspapers and magazines and more than two dozen radio and television stations. To anyone familiar with the state of the media in the Arab world, it is a truism that Iraq today is the place where freedom of expression is most effectively exercised.

That an experienced observer of Iraq with a sense of history can point to so many positive factors in the countrys present condition will not do much, of course, to sway the more determined critics of the U.S. intervention there. They might even agree that the images fed to the American public show only part of the picture, and that the news from Iraq is not uniformly bad. But the root of their opposition runs deeper, to political fundamentals.

Their critique can be summarized in the aphorism that democracy cannot be imposed by force. It is a view that can be found among the more sophisticated elements on the Left and, increasingly, among dissenters on the Right, from Senator Chuck Hagel of Nebraska to the ex-neoconservative Francis Fukuyama. As Senator Hagel puts it, You cannot in my opinion just impose a democratic form of government on a country with no history and no culture and no tradition of democracy.

I would tend to agree. But is Iraq such a place? In point of fact, before the 1958 pro-Soviet military coup detat that established a leftist dictatorship, Iraq did have its modest but nevertheless significant share of democratic history, culture, and tradition. The country came into being through a popular referendum held in 1921. A constitutional monarchy modeled on the United Kingdom, it had a bicameral parliament, several political parties (including the Baath and the Communists), and periodic elections that led to changes of policy and government. At the time, Iraq also enjoyed the freest press in the Arab world, plus the widest space for debate and dissent in the Muslim Middle East.

To be sure, Baghdad in those days was no Westminster, and, as the 1958 coup proved, Iraqi democracy was fragile. But every serious student of contemporary Iraq knows that substantial segments of the population, from all ethnic and religious communities, had more than a taste of the modern worlds democratic aspirations. As evidence, one need only consult the immense literary and artistic production of Iraqis both before and after the 1958 coup. Under successor dictatorial regimes, it is true, the conviction took hold that democratic principles had no future in Iraqa conviction that was responsible in large part for driving almost five million Iraqis, a quarter of the population, into exile between 1958 and 2003, just as the opposite conviction is attracting so many of them and their children back to Iraq today.

A related argument used to condemn Iraqs democratic prospects is that it is an artificial country, one that can be held together only by a dictator. But did any nation-state fall from the heavens wholly made? All are to some extent artificial creations, and the U.S. is preeminently so. The truth is that Iraqone of the 53 founding countries of the United Nationsis older than a majority of that organizations current 198 member states. Within the Arab League, and setting aside Oman and Yemen, none of the 22 members is older. Two-thirds of the 122 countries regarded as democracies by Freedom House came into being after Iraqs appearance on the map.

Critics of the democratic project in Iraq also claim that, because it is a multi-ethnic and multi-confessional state, the country is doomed to despotism, civil war, or disintegration. But the same could be said of virtually all Middle Eastern states, most of which are neither multi-ethnic nor multi-confessional. More important, all Iraqis, regardless of their ethnic, linguistic, and sectarian differences, share a sense of national identityuruqa (Iraqi-ness)that has developed over the past eight decades. A unified, federal state may still come to grief in Iraqhistory is not written in advancebut even should a divorce become inevitable at some point, a democratic Iraq would be in a better position to manage it.

What all of this demonstrates is that, contrary to received opinion, Operation Iraqi Freedom was not an attempt to impose democracy by force. Rather, it was an effort to use force to remove impediments to democratization, primarily by deposing a tyrant who had utterly suppressed a well-established aspect of the countrys identity. It may take years before we know for certain whether or not post-liberation Iraq has definitely chosen democracy. But one thing is certain: without the use of force to remove the Baathist regime, the people of Iraq would not have had the opportunity even to contemplate a democratic future.

Assessing the progress of that democratic project is no simple matter. But, by any reasonable standard, Iraqis have made extraordinary strides. In a series of municipal polls and two general elections in the past three years, up to 70 percent of eligible Iraqis have voted. This new orientation is supported by more than 60 political parties and organizations, the first genuinely free-trade unions in the Arab world, a growing number of professional associations acting independently of the state, and more than 400 nongovernmental organizations representing diverse segments of civil society. A new constitution, written by Iraqis representing the full spectrum of political, ethnic, and religious sensibilities was overwhelmingly approved by the electorate in a referendum last October.

Iraqs new democratic reality is also reflected in the vocabulary of politics used at every level of society. Many new wordsaccountability, transparency, pluralism, dissenthave entered political discourse in Iraq for the first time. More remarkably, perhaps, all parties and personalities currently engaged in the democratic process have committed themselves to the principle that power should be sought, won, and lost only through free and fair elections.

These democratic achievements are especially impressive when set side by side with the declared aims of the enemies of the new Iraq, who have put up a determined fight against it. Since the countrys liberation, the jihadists and residual Baathists have killed an estimated 23,000 Iraqis, mostly civilians, in scores of random attacks and suicide operations. Indirectly, they have caused the death of thousands more, by sabotaging water and electricity services and by provoking sectarian revenge attacks.

But they have failed to translate their talent for mayhem and murder into political success. Their campaign has not succeeded in appreciably slowing down, let alone stopping, the countrys democratization. Indeed, at each step along the way, the jihadists and Baathists have seen their self-declared objectives thwarted.

After the invasion, they tried at first to prevent the formation of a Governing Council, the expression of Iraqs continued existence as a sovereign nation-state. They managed to murder several members of the council, including its president in 2003, but failed to prevent its formation or to keep it from performing its task in the interim period. The next aim of the insurgents was to stop municipal elections. Their message was simple: candidates and voters would be killed. But, once again, they failed: thousands of men and women came forward as candidates and more than 1.5 million Iraqis voted in the localities where elections were held.

The insurgency made similar threats in the lead-up to the first general election, and the result was the same. Despite killing 36 candidates and 148 voters, they failed to derail the balloting, in which the number of voters rose to more than 8 million. Nor could the insurgency prevent the writing of the new democratic constitution, despite a campaign of assassination against its drafters. The text was ready in time and was submitted to and approved by a referendum, exactly as planned. The number of voters rose yet again, to more than 9 million.

What of relations among the Shiites, Sunnis, and Kurdsthe focus of so much attention of late? For almost three years, the insurgency worked hard to keep the Arab Sunni community, which accounts for some 15 percent of the population, out of the political process. But that campaign collapsed when millions of Sunnis turned out to vote in the constitutional referendum and in the second general election, which saw almost 11 million Iraqis go to the polls. As I write, all political parties representing the Arab Sunni minority have joined the political process and have strong representation in the new parliament. With the convening of that parliament, and the nomination in April of a new prime minister and a three-man presidential council, the way is open for the formation of a broad-based government of national unity to lead Iraq over the next four years.

As for the insurgencys effort to foment sectarian violencea strategy first launched in earnest toward the end of 2005this too has run aground. The hope here was to provoke a full-scale war between the Arab Sunni minority and the Arab Shiites who account for some 60 percent of the population. The new strategy, like the ones previously tried, has certainly produced many deaths. But despite countless cases of sectarian killings by so-called militias, there is still no sign that the Shiites as a whole will acquiesce in the role assigned them by the insurgency and organize a concerted campaign of nationwide retaliation.

Finally, despite the impression created by relentlessly dire reporting in the West, the insurgency has proved unable to shut down essential government services. Hundreds of teachers and schoolchildren have been killed in incidents including the beheading of two teachers in their classrooms this April and horrific suicide attacks against school buses. But by September 2004, most schools across Iraq and virtually all universities were open and functioning. By September 2005, more than 8.5 million Iraqi children and young people were attending school or universityan all-time record in the nations history.

A similar story applies to Iraqs clinics and hospitals. Between October 2003 and January 2006, more than 80 medical doctors and over 400 nurses and medical auxiliaries were murdered by the insurgents. The jihadists also raided several hospitals, killing ordinary patients in their beds. But, once again, they failed in their objectives. By January 2006, all of Iraqs 600 state-owned hospitals and clinics were in full operation, along with dozens of new ones set up by the private sector since liberation.

Another of the insurgencys strategic goals was to bring the Iraqi oil industry to a halt and to disrupt the export of crude. Since July 2003, Iraqs oil infrastructure has been the target of more than 3,000 attacks and attempts at sabotage. But once more the insurgency has failed to achieve its goals. Iraq has resumed its membership in the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and has returned to world markets as a major oil exporter. According to projections, by the end of 2006 it will be producing its full OPEC quota of 2.8 million barrels a day.

The Baathist remnant and its jihadist allies resemble a gambler who wins a heap of chips at a roulette table only to discover that he cannot exchange them for real money at the front desk. The enemies of the new Iraq have succeeded in ruining the lives of tens of thousands of Iraqis, but over the past three years they have advanced their overarching goals, such as they are, very little. Instead, they have been militarily contained and politically defeated again and again, and the beneficiary has been Iraqi democracy.

None of this means that the new Iraq is out of the woods. Far from it. Democratic success still requires a great deal of patience, determination, and luck. The U.S.-led coalition, its allies, and partners have achieved most of their major political objectives, but that achievement remains under threat and could be endangered if the U.S., for whatever reason, should decide to snatch a defeat from the jaws of victory.

The current mandate of the U.S.-led coalition runs out at the end of this year, and it is unlikely that Washington and its allies will want to maintain their military presence at current levels. In the past few months, more than half of the 103 bases used by the coalition have been transferred to the new Iraqi army. The best guess is that the number of U.S. and coalition troops could be cut from 140,000 to 25,000 or 30,000 by the end of 2007.

One might wonder why, if the military mission has been so successful, the U.S. still needs to maintain a military presence in Iraq for at least another two years. There are three reasons for this.

The first is to discourage Iraqs predatory neighbors, notably Iran and Syria, which might wish to pursue their own agendas against the new government in Baghdad. Iran has already revived some claims under the Treaties of Erzerum (1846), according to which Tehran would enjoy a droit de regard over Shiite shrines in Iraq. In Syria, some in that countrys ruling circles have invoked the possibility of annexing the area known as Jazirah, the so-called Sunni triangle, in the name of Arab unity. For its part, Turkey is making noises about the Treaty of Lausanne (1923), which gave it a claim to the oilfields of northern Iraq. All of these pretensions need to be rebuffed.

The second reason for extending Americas military presence is political. The U.S. is acting as an arbiter among Iraqs various ethnic and religious communities and political factions. It is, in a sense, a traffic cop, giving Iraqis a green or red light when and if needed. It is important that the U.S. continue performing this role for the first year or two of the newly elected parliament and government.

Finally, the U.S. and its allies have a key role to play in training and testing Iraqs new army and police. Impressive success has already been achieved in that field. Nevertheless, the new Iraqi army needs at least another year or two before it will have developed adequate logistical capacities and learned to organize and conduct operations involving its various branches.

But will the U.S. stay the course? Many are betting against it. The Baathists and jihadists, their prior efforts to derail Iraqi democracy having come to naught, have now pinned their hopes on creating enough chaos and death to persuade Washington of the futility of its endeavors. In this, they have the tacit support not only of local Arab and Muslim despots rightly fearful of the democratic genie but of all those in the West whose own incessant theme has been the certainty of American failure. Among Bush-haters in the U.S., just as among anti-Americans around the world, predictions of civil war in Iraq, of spreading regional hostilities, and of a revived global terrorism are not about to cease any time soon.

But more sober observers should understand the real balance sheet in Iraq. Democracy is succeeding. Moreover, thanks to its success in Iraq, there are stirrings elsewhere in the region. Beyond the much-publicized electoral concessions wrung from authoritarian rulers in Egypt and Saudi Arabia, there is a new democratic discourse to be heard. Nationalism and pan-Arabism, yesterdays hollow rallying cries, have given way to a big idea of a very different kind. Debate and dissent are in the air where there was none beforea development owing, in significant measure, to the U.S. campaign in Iraq and the brilliant if still checkered Iraqi response.

The stakes, in short, could not be higher. This is all the more reason to celebrate, to build on, and to consolidate what has already been accomplished. Instead of railing against the Bush administration, Americas elites would do better, and incidentally display greater self-respect, to direct their wrath where it properly belongs: at those violent and unrestrained enemies of democracy in Iraq who are, in truth, the enemies of democracy in America as well, and of everything America has ever stood for.

Is Iraq a quagmire, a disaster, a failure? Certainly not; none of the above. Of all the adjectives used by skeptics and critics to describe todays Iraq, the only one that has a ring of truth is messy. Yes, the situation in Iraq today is messy. Births always are. Since when is that a reason to declare a baby unworthy of life?

Amir Taheri, formerly the executive editor of Kayhan, Irans largest daily newspaper, is the author of ten books and a frequent contributor to numerous publications in the Middle East and Europe. His work appears regularly in the New York Post.

roulette table: Chase the ace

2006-05-18T02:33:00.000-07:00

By Joel Porter
Opinion Editor

It is the most widely played gambling card game, according to Encyclopaedia Britannica.

So simple.

So potentially profitable.

At times, so heartbreaking.

All you have to do is get a 21 (or close enough to it without busting).

Blackjack is arguably the most popular game at any bar, lounge or casino.

Card players and frequent gamblers enjoy the game for its options. They always have choices.

Whether they’re hitting on 15, staying on 18, doubling-down on 11 or splitting a pair of aces, players can choose their fate.

There is more confidence when you have a choice. It’s different than leaving your money to chance with the pull of a clumsy slot machine handle or a random number on a roulette table.

Blackjack is popular because it’s easy to play. There’s not a lot of critical thinking involved because the game moves so quickly, you don’t have time to think about it. Poker is a more difficult process, since players are playing each other. In Blackjack, they’re trying to play the dealer.

Also, poker players are always trying to hide their emotions, not show their tells, and contemplating endlessly if their hand is good enough to win the pot.

Blackjack cards are all face up. This can be both good and bad. There are no secrets, since everybody knows what each other has, except for the dealer’s hand.

With the quick pace of blackjack, players can make a lot of money in a short time. They can also lose even more in less time.

There are some parts of the game that aren’t learned until you’ve played for a while.

You can’t lose what you don’t put in. But you can’t win very much, either.

It seems every time you double your bets, the cards turn cold and the dealer cleans up.

For those trying to count cards, it’s difficult but not impossible. Most tables deal in four-deck shoes, so it’s harder. Even so, I wouldn’t advise trying it. If dealers or security guards catch you, you’ll be thrown out of the game.

More players should know when to quit. If they’re willing to stick it out at the table for a few hours, they’ll see plenty of hands.

It’s normal to go on a run and double your money or to hit a dry spell.

Both can happen very quickly.

If you get to the point when you’re $50 up, call it a night. You’ll probably wonder how long you could’ve gone or how much you could’ve doubled it, but walking out $50 richer is better than going to the ATM to withdraw another $200.

Blackjack isn’t as televised or talked about as much as poker, but when it comes to a fun gambling time, you won’t find a better game.

Columnists' opinions do not necessarily reflect the views of The Spectrum

roulette table: On the Road: You've got to know when to fold 'em

2006-05-18T02:31:00.000-07:00

Roulette's all right in Vegas; but on a bicycle, it's a flat-out bad bet.

In the winter, I usually forget something on the way to the slopes - usually mittens, sometimes poles or goggles. Come spring, I've usually got it together when I head out on the bike.

But Thursday I rode from Aspen to Woody Creek before I realized I'd forgotten my pump.

I should've turned around right there. But it was so nice out, and I hadn't gotten a flat in about a year.

And in the warm sun the plan for a 40-miler from Aspen to Old Snowmass, up Snowmass Creek Road and back proved irresistible.

So I rolled the dice.

In a beeping and buzzing Mandalay Bay in Vegas a couple of weeks ago I won a few rounds betting red at the roulette table. But eventually the table won - it always does - and all the winnings vanished (OK, it was only 30 bucks).

With the birds chirping and bees buzzing around my bike Thursday, I got to Old Snowmass and nearly back to the Woody Creek Tavern without incident.

Then the front tire began hissing at me, and soon after I was on foot at the side of the road, walking to the tavern, where hopefully I'd call someone for a ride.

Now, the opinion page of The Aspen Times carried a column Saturday about how rude, nasty and mean road cyclists are. It was just a rude, nasty and mean generalization.

The first biker who passed me and my lame bike insisted I take his only CO2 cartridge, then basically changed my tire for me!

Hey, Vegas would be a lot more fun if there were people who just walk around the casinos and hand you back the money you lose.

Without another cartridge, my new friend then rode off to play his own game of flat-tire roulette. I hope he had better luck, and I hope I get a chance to return the favor. Thanks again.

Shortly after, while I was screaming down the hill to Slaughterhouse Bridge, two deer pranced into the road just in front of me, and I had to brake hard to avoid them.

What are the odds of that, I thought, getting a flat on the one day I forget a pump and then almost hitting a pair of deer.

I'd lost the gamble, sure, but I'd almost hit the big bucks.

roulette table: Casino Royale

2006-05-18T02:29:00.000-07:00

English company to supply casino props for new Bond film

A Potteries roulette wheel and casino table manufacturer has landed a blockbuster role to supply props for the latest James Bond film, Casino Royale. Workers at TCS John Huxley, which employs around 40 people at Festival Park, say the firm has been contracted to produce goods for the film starring blond Bond Daniel Craig.

Details of the contract have remained under wraps, although the company is responsible for making equipment for casinos including Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas and the Belaggio - where heist film Ocean's Eleven was set - reports The Sentinel

A worker, who did not wish to be identified, said: "We are the world leader in the manufacture and supply of casino equipment. We have been commissioned to manufacture the equipment for the new James Bond film, Casino Royale."

The worker said the staff at Festival Park were responsible for making equipment used in casinos worldwide.

Last May the company provided equipment for the Wynn gaming resort in Las Vegas.

It also supplied all gaming tables, including poker, craps, baccarat and illuminated roulette tables for the IP Hotel and Casino, the first casino to reopen in New Orleans after the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina last year.

Reports have said the Bond film will also feature the new Aston Martin DBS, bulldozers made by New Holland, and Bond will be filmed playing poker using cards made by Belgian-based Carte Mundi.

However, spokesman for TCS John Huxley declined to comment on either any contract or about the latest film.

In December 2003, The Sentinel reported how the company relocated its distribution and manufacturing operations to Festival Trade Park and planned to take on an extra 40 people.

At the time, the company said the Festival Park operations were geared up to produce about 600 roulette wheels a year as well as a portfolio of other gaming-related products.

Anne Bennett, marketing director of London-based Eon Production, which has overseen the production of every James Bond film, also remained tight-lipped.

Speaking from Prague where production is taking place, she said: "We will not comment until after the launch of the film."

Casino Royale is due for release in November.

Graham Bowen, co-founder of Shelton-based film-production company Bomark Films, said the James Bond franchise was one of the most powerful platforms on which to promote products.

Mr Bowen said: "Not as many people had really heard about Aston Martin cars until James Bond drove one; the same happened with the Lotus.

"If you can get a film association with Bond then it can be massively beneficial. It's one of those deals where companies are willing to pay to get their products on board."

Richard Grisdale, creative director of Stoke advertising agency Grisdale Lesniak Swann, said: "There's a lot of cynicism about product placement, but it is great news if the company has been approached to supply products to the film. The only difficulty is that a roulette table is not as immediately recognisable as an Aston Martin. They would need some expert advice to capitalise on the profile."

Thanks to `David` for the alert.

Northwoods Mushroom-Wild Rice Soup

2006-05-18T01:26:00.000-07:00

A rich and deeply flavored soup--straight out of the North American forests and with a distinctly French hand. The more wild mushrooms, the better--but it's wonderful with cultivated ones too. Serve hot as a robust first course or as lunch with a sandwich to 4-6 people.
½ cup uncooked wild rice
1½ cups water
2 Tablespoons butter
1 onion, finely chopped
1 pound mushrooms, preferably wild ones or a mixture of wild and cultivated, wiped and thickly sliced
3 Tablespoons flour
4 cups beef or vegetable stock
1 teaspoon paprika
salt and black pepper to taste
2 Tablespoons Armagnac or cognac
1 Tablespoon heavy cream
1 teaspoon Dijon-style mustard
Garnish: Finely minced green onions or parsley

Partially cook the wild rice in the water, bringing to a boil then reducing heat and simmering, covered, for 20 minutes.

Meantime, melt the butter in a Dutch oven over medium high heat, add the onion, and sauté until transparent. Add the mushrooms, with a bit more butter if needed, and cook over high heat until the mushroom juices have begun to evaporate. Turn down the heat and sprinkle in the flour, stirring, while there's still some liquid. Let cook until bubbly--to cook away the pasty taste. Then, gradually stir in the stock, then the paprika. Bring to a boil, stirring, and continue to stir at a full boil for one minute. Reduce the heat to low.

When the wild rice has partially cooked, stir it into the soup with its cooking liquid; cover and simmer for about 30 minutes.

When ready to serve, whisk the mustard, Armagnac, and cream together...and then into the soup. Ladle into bowls and top each with minced green onions or parsley.

from North American forests

OMNIFI WIRELESS HOME STEREO

2006-05-14T21:42:00.000-07:00

Rockford Corporation (Nasdaq: ROFO) and RealNetworks (Nasdaq: RNWK) today announced that the Omnifi home stereo/theater wireless digital media streamer is now interoperable with the award-winning Rhapsody Internet jukebox service, making Rhapsody the first digital music service to enable consumers to control and listen to the service in their living room. The Omnifi digital media streamer enables broadband-connected consumers to link their PC and high-fidelity home stereo and theater systems to enjoy Rhapsody's library of more than 30,000 CDs throughout their homes.

The Omnifi home audio/home theater product is a stand-alone receiver capable of streaming media from consumers' personal computers to their home stereo and home theater systems utilizing their existing wired and/or wireless 802.11B home networks. Omnifi gives consumers the ability to easily transmit entertainment content from the PC hard drive to consumers' home stereo/theater systems. In the past year, the Omnifi has won a number of prestigious awards, including the CEA "2003 Best of Innovations" award at CES 2003 and TechTV's "Best of CES" award. Priced at $299, the device began shipping in August and now supports Rhapsody.

"Pairing Rhapsody and Omnifi products changes the way consumers interact with and consume digital music," said Tim Bratton, general manager of wireless music delivery, RealNetworks. "Real and Omnifi are finally giving consumers the ability to select and listen to online music from anywhere in their home."

New Omnifi products will ship with updated firmware that enables consumers to access the playlists, albums, artists and radio stations in their Rhapsody library. Existing Omnifi customers must upgrade the firmware on their Omnifi device, which can be easily accomplished using the device's SimpleCenter software. Rockford provides easy-to-understand instructions on upgrading the Omnifi firmware via the Omnifi Web site at http://www.omnifimedia.com.

"Omnifi allows a user to easily stream the audio content held on their computer or straight from the Internet to a dedicated home theater system without the burden of rewiring the house," explains Tom O'Mara, Omnifi managing director. "Combining Omnifi products with Real's Rhapsody service gives music fans an instant collection of more than 30,000 high fidelity CDs they can enjoy in the same room or on the other side of the house with no degradation of sound quality."

RealNetworks, RealOne, and Rhapsody are trademarks or registered trademarks of RealNetworks, Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

Calling all arm-chair movie reviewers

2006-05-11T01:06:00.000-07:00

Being a Home Theater nut I see a lot of movies, when I say a lot I’m talking enough movies to make Roger Ebert’s head swim. I’ve always wanted to comment on movies here but I felt it would drag the main site off-topic.

I’ve decided to add a new section to Home Theater Blog that covers Movie & DVD reviews and any other movie related news that tickles my fancy. Even with this decision I felt like I was missing something, that something is you.

I want this new endeavor to be a community project rather than just my lone voice. So consider this my call-to-arms for anyone who’s ever wanted to voice their opinion about a movie or DVD, in front of a large audience. One area in particular I want to explore is the image & sound quality of recent DVD releases.

Posted by B.Greenway

Play online roulette

2006-05-11T00:39:00.000-07:00

Casino Tropez is the best place for roulette players to go online and win big. Play today and get up to £300 bonus.

There are many different ways to place roulette bets in European Roulette. Each bet covers a different set of numbers and has a different distribution. The payouts for all bets are listed in the "Winnings Table" below.

Straight Up
You can bet on any number, including 0, by placing the chip on the center of a number. The maximum bet for this wager is indicated on the Roulette table (see the Max sign).

Split Bet
You can bet on two numbers by placing a chip on the line that divides the two numbers. The maximum bet for this wager is the Straight Up bet maximum, multiplied by two.

Street Bet
To bet on a row of three numbers (a street), place a chip on the boundary line of the roulette table, at the end of the corresponding row. The maximum bet for this wager is the Straight Up bet maximum, multiplied by three.

Corner Bet
You can bet on four numbers by placing chips at the corner where the four numbers meet. The maximum bet for this wager is the Straight Up bet maximum, multiplied by four.

Four Bet

You can bet on the numbers 0, 1, 2, and 3 by placing your chip on the boundary line, where the line between 0 and the first row intersects it. The maximum bet for this wager is the Straight Up bet maximum, multiplied by four.

Line Bet
You can bet on two street bets (i.e., the six different numbers in two rows of three numbers), by placing your chip on the boundary line of the roulette table where the line dividing the two rows intersects it. The maximum bet for this wager is the Straight Up bet maximum, multiplied by six.

Column Bet
There are three boxes labelled "2 to 1" at the bottom of each column of numbers. You can place bets for all numbers in a column by placing chip(s) in one of these boxes. If any of the numbers in the selected column is hit you get paid 2:1; 0 is a losing number. The maximum bet for this wager is the Straight Up bet maximum, multiplied by ten.

Dozen Bet
You can bet on a group of twelve numbers by placing your chip in one of the three boxes marked "1st 12," "2nd 12," or "3rd 12." If one of your 12 numbers is hit, you are paid 2:1; 0 is a losing number. The maximum bet for this wager is the Straight Up bet maximum, multiplied by ten.

Red/Black, Even/Odd, Low/High Bets
You can place a bet in one of the boxes along the long side of the table that covers half of the numbers on the roulette table (excluding 0). Each box covers 18 numbers. You win even money (1 to 1) on all of these bets; 0 is a losing number. The maximum bet for this wager is the Straight Up bet maximum, multiplied by 20.

Minimum table bet
There is a minimum table bet, meaning that all your bets added together (your total bet), must equal at least the minimum value indicated on the table (see the Min sign).

Winning Number Display
The winning number display shows the results of the previous 13 spins.

Winnings Table
Chip Covers
Term
Pays

1 number
Straight Up
35 to 1

2 numbers
Split Bet
17 to 1

3 numbers
Street Bet
11 to 1

4 numbers
Corner Bet
8 to 1

4 numbers
Four Bet
8 to 1

6 numbers
Line Bet
5 to 1

12 numbers
Dozen Bet or Column Bet
2 to 1

18 numbers
Red/Black, Even/Odd or Low/High Bets
1 to 1

Note: You can place bets that involve two, three, or even four numbers. For example, using the zero, you can place bets on: 1+0, 1+2+0, 2+0, 3+0, or 1+2+3+0.

Copyright 1996-2006 JMT Ventures

Tulalip Casino gets bigger, better

2006-05-10T23:56:00.000-07:00

Things are getting even bigger and better at the Tulalip Casino near Marysville. The casino is now at the center of a regional entertainment destination.

Surrounded by more than 125 shops and outlet stores, and right next door to the area’s hottest new outdoor concert venue, it’s easy to spend an entire day there and never be without something fun to do.

The most exciting news on the horizon is the plan for a new hotel and casino expansion. They are tentatively scheduling a summer ’07 groundbreaking for the project.

Right now, the Tulalip Casino is a dazzling 227,000 square feet of Las Vegas-style gaming. Players can enjoy slots, table games, poker, keno and more. It’s said to have the largest variety of games in the Northwest. All of the most popular machines are featured. Machines range from one, two and three cents, nickels, dimes, quarters, half dollars and dollars. There are also special high limit machines.

Table game players can enjoy baccarat, black jack, craps, Pai Gow and roulette. Poker, of course, is always popular. The Tulalip Casino offers daily poker tournaments. Visit the Poker Room to get more details about special upcoming promotions.

While you’re at the Casino, don’t forget to join the Tulalip Rewards Club. Membership is free. You can earn points for cash back and be eligible for many special promotions. Your Rewards Club card also can be used for discounts and special offers at many businesses and events outside the casino. Brochures are available at the Club desk.

There are several excellent casino promotions coming up in May. Enter to win an Alaskan Cruise for two. The drawing is on May 31. Every Wednesday in May, five winners will be taking home $500 each. You can also enter to win a Marriott Newport Coast Villa timeshare. Winners can vacation there or at any other Marriott Club Resort or one of thousands of Interval Resorts worldwide.

While you’re at the casino, take the opportunity to enjoy one of its great dining opportunities.

For a special evening of first-class gourmet fare, Tulalip Bay is the best choice. Chef Dean Shinagawa’s open view kitchen allows diners to watch their meals being classically prepared. The menu features only the best steaks, seafood and other entrees. Tulalip Bay’s atmosphere is perfect for an intimate meal.

Guests can reserve the Wine Room, featuring a Dale Chihuly blown glass chandelier, for their private parties. For more casual but still fine dining, the Cedars Café is an excellent choice. It offers a selection of steakhouse style entrees, salads and breakfasts.

Perhaps the most popular restaurant at the casino is the Eagles Buffet, which offers international dishes, fresh seafood, traditional American favorites and more. The dessert buffet is reputed to be the best in the region. An onsite bakery ensures that the bread in the Tulalip Casino is always fresh.

After enjoying a great meal, it’s nice to enjoy some good entertainment. The Canoes Cabaret offers comedy and Rockstar Live on Wednesdays starting at 8 p.m. Thursdays are Ladies Nights featuring music by The Afrodisiacs starting at 9:30 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays have live dance music starting at 9:30 p.m. And don’t forget Asian Night on specified Sundays. For more nearby entertainment fun you can walk to the Tulalip Amphitheatre and make the Tulalip Casino your base before and after the show.

Copyright © 2006 The Daily Herald Co., Everett, Wash.

roulette table: Cash Quest Roulette

2006-05-09T23:48:00.000-07:00

Your fortune decided on the spin of a wheel in this detailed simulation of the glamorous casino game

Features
Millions flock to Vegas to try their luck at winning a fortune in one of its many casinos. It's a cool place, probably one of the most bizarre and fascinating on earth BUT you don't have to fly there to gamble! Just play Mforma roulette, place a bet on a number, colour, odds or a group of numbers and watch the ball spin. Go on, put a little excitement back into your life and pass yourself off as a high roller. Delve into the dramatic and murky underworld of the casino and play roulette - a highly seductive game for the most discerning palate. Gentlemen, when you are ready, place your bets! The roulette table is marked with the numbers 1 to 36, plus 0. The numbers are alternately coloured red and black, with 0 coloured green. You begin by clicking and dragging chips to the desired areas on the table. Once the "no more bets" announcement has been made, the wheel is spun and when the ball falls on a number, winnings are automatically added to your bankroll. The amount of the payoff depends on how the bet was placed. Come and and watch the money-go-round. As you enjoy extra special treatment at the front of the house. All you ever risk is your time!
Tips
Bet which number the ball will land on when the croupier spins the roulette wheel. Make your bets by placing chips directly onto the game table. Remember that you can only put one chip on each location - but you can choose denominations of 5, 10, 25, 50 or 100. You can place as many different bets as you like per spin of the wheel. As well as betting on individual numbers, red/black, or odd/even, you can bet on some more unusual combinations of numbers: Even-Money: the groups of numbers 1-18 or 19-36 Split: two numbers adjacent to each other on the table Corner: four numbers forming a square on the table Column: one of the 12-number vertical columns of the table Trio: one of the 3-number rows of the table Six: two adjacent 3-number rows of the table Dozen: one of the three 3 x 4 divisions of the table. Spin the wheel and find out what your winnings are! The payout for each type of bet is listed in the help text.

TOP

How to Play
Instructions
The Basics: A roulette game begins when the croupier spins the wheel in one direction, and then rolls a small ball along the inner edge of the wheel in the opposite direction. The ball eventually falls into one of the numbered slots. That number is the declared winner for that game. The roulette wheel is divided into 37 slots for the ball to land, and is numbered 1 through 36 and 0. You can bet on any single number (straight up), a combination of numbers, or red or black, odd or even. You can place a bet of 5, 10,20, 50, or 100. You begin the game with 5000. If you lose all your money, the casino will loan you more.

Copyright © 2006 Yahoo! Inc. All rights reserved

Roulette

2006-05-08T21:18:00.000-07:00

Introduction
Roulette is one of the easiest games to play and understand in the casino. As usual the easier a game is to understand the greater the house edge, and roulette is no exception. If you are looking for a easy to understand and slow paced table game, and are willing to sacrifice on the house edge, then you may like roulette. If you want something more stimulating or with a decent return I would suggest looking at other games.

One difference between roulette and all other table games is that roulette chips have no value denomination printed on them. This actually is the true definition of a chip, one which indicates its value is technically called a check. The roulette table comes with six to eight sets of different colored chips, each set consisting of 300 chips. When a player buys-in they get their own color and the value would be the buy-in divided by the number of chips received. The dealer will place a token on top of the dealer's stack of that color of chips to indicate the value.

United States Rules
A U.S. roulette wheel consists of 38 numbered slots: numbers 1 to 36, a zero, and a double zero. The betting layout consists of every individual number as well as a host of "outside" or combinations of numbers. After the players make their bets the dealer spins the wheel and a ball and after several seconds the ball will land in one of the numbered slots.

The following table displays the available bets, the payoff, and the probability of winning under U.S. rules. All casinos in the U.S. follow these rules except for in Atlantic City. The house edge on all bets is 1/19, or 5.26%, except for one bet. The exception is the 0-00-1-2-3 combination, which carries a house edge of 7.89%.

Single Zero Rules
A few places in the U.S. offer single zero roulette. This lowers the edge on every bet is 1/37, or 2.70%. The lists below shows some places that I have seen or heard have single zero roulette. The minimums at the single zero wheels are usually higher than the double zero wheels and are open fewer hours. Often the single zero wheels are found in the high roller rooms.

©1998-2006 Wizard Of Odds Consulting, Inc. All rights reserved.

Matching the Hot-Sour-Salty-Sweet Foods of Asia

2006-05-08T01:47:00.000-07:00

It always amazes me when people compare matching wine with Asian cuisines to matching wine with European cuisines. The obvious difference is that traditional wine styles evolved alongside European cuisines in indigenous settings, and so the match is considerably easier.

In Asian food settings, wine is not a natural or traditional match; nor is it an impossible one. What it takes is a little more imagination.

Asian style cooking, after all, is classic and traditional in its right, and in a different way from European cuisines. There are differences in ingredients, of course, and also differences in the sense of balance and harmony in the cooking style. Whereas, say, classic Italian cooking relies on a certain purity and freshness of ingredients, and French cooking on depth of flavor in sauces and natural stocks, in Asia the emphasis is on the constant balancing and contrasting of tastes and textures. A perfect introduction to this way of thinking can be found in Jeffrey Alford and Naomi Duguid's excellent (and gorgeously photographed) new book called Hot Sour Salty Sweet, a "Culinary Journey Through Southeast Asia."

According to Alford and Duguid, "The basic (Southeast Asian) palate is hot, sour, salty, sweet, and sometimes bitter. If you order a green papaya salad from a street vendor in Thailand, the last thing the vendor will do before serving the salad is to give you a small spoonful of the salad, asking for your opinion. If you'd like it hotter, more chiles will be added; if you want it saltier, more fish sauce; more sour, lime juice will be added; sweeter, more palm sugar... And while this balancing act takes place in an individual dish like a green papaya salad, it also shapes a meal, determining what dishes should be served alongside others..."

Not that this emphasis on contrast, balance, and varying textures is exclusive to Southeast Asian and Chinese cooking. In Germany, for instance, there is a lot of balancing of sweet, sour, salty, and fatty/meaty textures (sauerkraut, wurst, sauerbrauten, etc.); which is why the Germans are more apt to drink off-dry to medium sweet Rieslings, or else beer, with their foods, as opposed to the bone dry styles of wines predominant in France, Italy and Spain. Not surprisingly, many of today's food and wine consultants strongly recommend German Rieslings or beer with Southeast Asian and Chinese foods as well. The natural sugar/acid balance of Rieslings is quite compatible with the hot, sour, salty, sweet elements of Asian foods; and beer provides a slightly bitter undertone that adds further to the equation. It's a question of harmony and balance. If it works for German foods, it certainly works in Asian food settings.

The trick to matching wine with Asian style cooking is to start with the premise that we need wines that emphasize a balance, as opposed to sheer power, of taste sensations. This is why the classic "power" wines of the world - made from grapes like Cabernet Sauvignon and Chardonnay - are not an easy match for Asian foods. Although there is nothing wrong with intensity, the difficulty with these types of wines is that they tend to be high in alcohol, low in acid, and (in the case of Cabernet) excessively hard in tannin. The best wines for Asian foods are those with moderate levels of alcohol, softer tannin, crisper acidity, and sometimes (not always) a judicious amount of residual sugar. A question of harmony and balance with hot, sour, salty and sweet food sensations.

And these wines certainly exist in abundance. Here are a few good ones that I have recently enjoyed:

1999 Robert Weil, Riesling Kabinett ($14-$18) - German Rieslings are usually the first wines cited for Asian foods, and this bottling from the Rhine River is a quintessential German style wine - penetratingly scented, juicy rich, light as a feather, fine as silk, and with a light sweetness balanced perfectly by zesty acidity. Think of how you would make a healthy stir fry - balancing thin strips of meat with at least equal amounts of crisp vegetables, a trace of an oil balanced with soy, lemon or rice vinegar, salt and cracked pepper, a touch of a chili sauce or multi-spice seasonings, and served with fragrant jasmine rice. You can't go wrong when you figure in a fragrant, deftly balanced German Riesling. It's understandable why someone would say Asian cooking is not good for wine - it's only because that person does not apply principles of harmony and balance to both cooking and wine selection.

1999 Freemark Abbey, "Carpy Ranch" Napa Valley Viognier ($18-$24) - White wines made from the Viognier are an unorthodox choice for Asian style foods for two reasons - they tend to be low in acid and full in alcohol, somewhat like Chardonnay. But unlike Chardonnay, Viogniers tend to be extremely fragrant - billowing with honeysuckle-ish perfumes, with suggestions of violet and white peppery aromas - and this version by Freemark Abbey is amplified by plush, mouthwatering, silken textured flavors. Chinese cooking in particular - such as duck in hoisin plum sauces, and chicken in gingery or citrusy syrups, often served with napa cabbage, choi sum, mustard greens, and other toothsome vegetables - can be tilted towards sweetness balanced by a mild bitterness. In Southeast Asia, fish is often coated with curries with coconut milk, strong pastes made from coriander root and peppercorns, or stuffed with things like scallions, fatty pork, garlic cloves and even mildly hot Serrano chilies. In such contexts, the aggressively full, hefty, peppery qualities of a Viognier are often preferable to the lighter, more acidic qualities of a Riesling. Viognier doesn't work, however, in cases where dishes are overly sweet, or numbingly hot (in other words, bad Asian cooking). But when full flavored Asian dishes are balanced, a good, balanced Viognier can contribute an exotic note of its own to the overall experience.

1999 Blockheadia Ringnosi, Napa Valley Zinfandel ($28-$24) - The jammy, lusciously raspberryish, black peppery spiced aromas and flavors of first rate California Zinfandel - such as this Blockheadia - are a sensible pick with barbecued pork or beef ribs coated in sweet/spicy marinades (especially when Szechuan chili spices are used). A proper Zinfandel has the red wine tannin to handle the fat and char, yet the roundness and fruitiness to enhance, rather than fight, the hot spices. But wines like the Blockheadia are also surprising with pure forms of Southeast Asian cooking, such as grilled coriander chicken served with sweet/salty/spicy dipping sauces (nam jeem), raw beef with pepper salt, beef stir fried with spicy ginger, and hot pot dishes such as eggplant (cooked with ground pork, coriander, dried shrimp, garlic, and shallots) served with fried beef jerky. Whenever there's a presence of peppercorns, some vinegary zest, or slightly hot garlic, chile and gingery sensations, a zesty, peppery, fruity Zinfandel finds another food element.

1997 Erich Russell, California "Piemontese" ($22-$28) - There are a number of unique and imaginative red wines produced in California today; this one by winemaker Erich Russell fashioned from the mildly acidic Barbera grape, the densely textured Nebbiolo grape, and the rich, elegant Cabernet Sauvignon. The result is a thick, yet not heavy, smoky edged red wine with a markedly zesty edge, and long, almost sticky rich, licorice and black fruit flavors. I can't think of a better wine with Chinese or Southeast Asian style hot pots of beef or pork; especially when punctuated by peppercorns, garlic, scallions, and especially the licoricey tastes of star anise, cilantro or coriander. The thinking is like this: if Asian cooking is untraditional with wine, the best wines for Asian foods may very well be the most untraditional. When you find such a wine, like this "Piemontese," don't be afraid to let your food and wine matching imagination go!

by Randal Caparoso

Roulette Table: Chase the ace

2006-05-07T20:31:00.000-07:00

Roulette Table: Three New Casino Games Raise the Stakes at Belle Rock Entertainment

2006-05-07T20:24:00.000-07:00

Games will include Advanced Roulette and 100 Play Power Poker

GIBRALTAR, May 1 /PRNewswire/ -- Belle Rock Entertainment has consistently stayed ahead of the curve when it comes to offering players the most entertaining and lucrative games in the industry. With three new additions to their already expansive gaming roster, Belle Rock Entertainment offers players on River Belle Online Casino, Lucky Nugget Online Casino, The Gaming Club Online Casino, and Jackpot City Online Casino, the chance to play the most dynamic and engaging games on the web. An all-star lineup of European Roulette Gold Series, Double Joker 100 Play Power Poker and Avalon Video Slot have just become available to players, so if you're looking to try something new, Belle Rock Entertainment's online casinos are the place to start.

* European Roulette Gold Series
This roulette game is far and away the best of its type on the Internet.
Player screens that offer razor sharp visual quality, crystal clear
ambient sounds that set the mood, and little details like Bet Timers and
easy to use control buttons, come together to give players the authentic
roulette table experience. European Roulette Gold Series is the
difference between trying to recreate the excitement of the casino, and
wondering why you ever bothered going to the casino in the first place.

* Double Joker 100 Play Power Poker
You could argue that multi-play Power Poker is the bread and butter of
online casinos in that everybody has to have it. Of course, if that's
the case, then Double Joker 100 Play Power Poker is the strawberry jam,
giving players the ability to play up to 100 hands of video poker at a
time. Sitting down to play Double Joker 100 is a test of your wits,
concentration, and endurance. For the person with the right mix of all
three, it could also be one of the most lucrative seats around.

* Avalon Video Slot
Avalon is a 5 reel, 20 Payline video slot that holds many secrets and
treasures for those bold enough to find them. With free spins, mystery
multipliers, Scatter and two Wild opportunities as well as a Gamble
feature where the intrepid can double of quadruple their wins, the
possible payout is $105,000. That's enough to make Avalon Video Slot an
epic in its own right.

"As established industry leaders we're in a position to push the envelope with our games, expanding and refining our core offerings so that our customers can experience the best possible gambling experience," said Tim Johnson, Chairman of Carmen Media Group, owner of Belle Rock Entertainment.

About Belle Rock Entertainment

Belle Rock Entertainment (http://www.bellerockentertainment.com) is a group of online casinos and poker rooms. It is owned by Carmen Media Group Limited, based in Gibraltar and is one of the most experienced and trusted online gaming operators in the world. Over the past 10 years, the various brands within Belle Rock Entertainment have become synonymous with exciting entertainment, the most advanced games and the biggest promotions. All of the Belle Rock Entertainment's online casinos carry the eCogra Players' Seal of Approval which testifies to fair play and responsible gaming, as well as secure and timely payouts. The group's major brands include River Belle (http://www.riverbelle.com), The Gaming Club (http://www.gamingclub.com), Jackpot City (http://www.jackpotcity.com) and Lucky Nugget (http://www.luckynugget.com).

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Source: Belle Rock Entertainment

Roulette Table: My hols: Tamzin Outhwaite

2006-05-07T20:18:00.000-07:00

The actress is right at home in five-star hotels — but adventure is vital, too

Tamzin Outhwaite, 35, was brought up in Essex and studied drama and dance at the London Studio Centre before achieving fame playing Melanie in EastEnders. She left the show in 2002, and has recently starred in the BBC's Hotel Babylon. Her latest role is as Rhoda Bradley in the new drama series Vital Signs, on ITV1 on Thursdays. She lives in London with her fiancé, the actor Tom Ellis

TRAVEL IS my favourite subject. I spend all my money on it. If I weren’t an actress, I’d like to be a travel writer. The only problem is, I can’t write. I’d have to bring somebody along to do that bit for me.

I started young. I can remember going to California when I was two, and again at four.

It sticks in my mind because my cousins were Minnie Mouse and Smee, from Peter Pan. Really. They lived in Orange County, Los Angeles, and that’s what they did for a living — went around Disneyland in Minnie Mouse and Smee suits. You’d think that would kill the magic of it, but it didn’t. On the one hand, they were our cousins, and we were staying at their house; on the other, they were our favourite cartoon characters, and meeting them was the most exciting thing in the world. When you’re that age, it’s easy to believe two contradictory things simultaneously.

These days, my holidays fall roughly into three different types: the luxurious ones, the experimental ones and the adventurous ones.

Luxury first. I do still love posh places, though Hotel Babylon has made me a bit more conscious of some of the things that go on. (Here’s a tip: never drink from the glass in a hotel bathroom.) My favourite places are Al Maha in Dubai — it’s so romantic, Bedouin tents right out in the desert — and the Maldives. I’ve been five times. The best resort there is Huvafen Fushi. It’s natural, raw, very simple, but beautifully done. You’re in a bungalow over the water, with your own plunge pool and steps into the sea: there’s a glass wall by the bath, so you can see the fish as you have a soak.

The experimental holidays are a recent thing. Tom and I made a decision that we’d go on breaks we’d never normally think of, things that just didn’t seem to be “us”. So, last year, we went to Center Parcs, and we loved it — riding, cycling, tennis and a great spa. And we went on a cruise, too. We ate an awful lot, and got ourselves a serious casino addiction. There were all these high rollers slapping thousands on the roulette table — we felt a bit sheepish with our $10 chips.

And then there’s the more “out there” stuff. I’m not just talking about distance, though. It’s a mistake to think a long journey means you’re going to end up somewhere exotic. Take Tasmania: it was the best part of two days’ flying and when I got there, I thought, “Oh God, I’ve travelled all this way to end up in Devon.” It’s really very ordinary.

No, I mean adventurous. Some of my favourite trips have been to places such as India, Thailand, Madagascar, and when you go somewhere like that, I think you have to experience both sides of life. You have to rough it a little, see how people really live: sometimes it’s not particularly pleasing on the eye, but that dose of reality is important.

So, I had a backpacking holiday in Thailand, staying in huts and all that — though I did have some luxury at the end, at the Banyan Tree on Phuket. That’s the sexiest hotel I’ve ever been to.

Madagascar was a bit tougher. I went the year that my character married Ian Beale in EastEnders: there was a big fuss about it and I just had to have a break. Back then, it wasn’t really ready for tourism. There were seven of us, and we didn’t see any other westerners for days. We trekked in the rainforest. It was beautiful, but life was very tough for the local people. We were in a village and this gorgeous two-year-old boy was taken ill. They rushed him to the nearest medical centre, but it was too far away and he died. It was heartbreaking.

India’s hard, too. There are some beautiful beaches in Goa, but the cities are something else — everybody beeping, cutting each other up, with little rickshaws weaving in and out, dogs running around. And, of course, the poverty. India’s tough on your heart, full stop.

In fact, I don’t go to India on holiday any more. That’s not “out of sight, out of mind”, it’s because you end up feeling that what you do for a living does nothing for society. That your life’s work isn’t worthwhile. And I don’t have an answer for that.

Tamzin Outhwaite talked to Stephen Bleach

roulette table: Upstate New York - Resorting - Vacation home - Brief Article

2006-05-05T21:20:00.000-07:00

The Follies House, a big yellow Victorian aimed at creative types, gamblers, and racetrack fans, is located in the historic district of Ballston Spa, just a throw of the dice from Saratoga Springs Race Track. Not a bed and breakfast, it offers three apartment suites (rented out on a weekly basis) with their own bathroom and kitchen. The one-bedroom Boomers Pad has a 1950s and '60s decor, with vinyl records, retro artwork, and a cool pink sofa. The two-bedroom Broadway Suite recalls vintage musicals and Hollywood classics, while the Empire Casino is a two-bedroom, two-story townhouse that features a roulette table and Victrola. Summer rates start at $900 per week.

Contact: The Follies House, 63 E. High St., Ballston Spa, NY 12020; (518) 885-6538; www.vrbo.com/4072/htm.

COPYRIGHT 2003 World Publishing, Co. (Illinois)
COPYRIGHT 2003 Gale Group

Roulette Table: London man's big gamble pays off at roulette table

2006-05-05T21:14:00.000-07:00

LAS VEGAS (AP) -- A man who put his life savings on the line took home $270,600 in a double-or-nothing roulette wheel gamble at the Plaza Hotel and Casino.

Ashley Revell, 32, a London man who said he liquidated all his possessions to fund his leap of faith, put $135,300 on red at the roulette table Sunday.

Wearing a rented tux, he reportedly brought cash to the casino. After trading the cash for chips and engaging in some low stakes gambling as a warm-up, Revell placed it all on red.

A crowd watched as the roulette wheel was spun. The ball bobbled into various slots before landing on Red 7.

Copyright C 2004 Deseret News Publishing Co.
Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights Reserved.

Roulette Systems

2006-05-04T22:51:00.000-07:00

How to play the system

* First of all obtain a copy of a European roulette wheel so you can see the arrangement of numbers around the wheel as in a casino. * Once you have selected and entered your choice of on-line casino you need to visit the cashier and deposit some playing money. I usually start with a balance of £100-£150. You then need to get yourself a seat at a European roulette table, I always play at a private table. * The purpose of your first bet is only to establish yourself a base number to bet on so place a bet of the minimum amount on anything you like be it red/black or odd/even. * The winning number is then your base number for the next few spins. Look at your copy of the roulette wheel and see what the two numbers either side of your base number are. * So if your base number is 0 the two numbers either side will be 3, 26, then 0, 32, 15. * Now you need to place a bet of £1 on each of these five numbers and spin the wheel. * If you do not win, repeat the bets for five spins. The fifth number up then becomes your new base number if you do not win within the first five spins. If this happens double your bet on these new numbers to £2. So if the fifth number up is 31, you will then be betting on 20, 14, 31, 9, 22. Again continue for a further five spins or until you win. * If you do win within your first five spins with the numbers 3, 26, 0, 32, 15. The number that is your winner then becomes your new base number. So if 3 is the winning number you will then be placing bets on 12, 35, 3, 26, 0. * Do not increase your bet after you have won. Continue this cycle until you are happy with your profit but realise that most casinos will stop generating a profitable series of numbers when you have reached a profit of anywhere between £150-£200.

Examples

1st spin number; 25. Bet £1 on 21, 2, 25, 17, 34. Total bet is £5 for the spin 2nd spin number; 8. Repeat bets on previous numbers. 3rd spin number; 25. Again 25 is the base number so the bets will remain on the same numbers and for the same amount beginning a new series of 5 spins and the next spin with these bets will be numbered 1.

1st spin number; 4. Bets remain the same. 2nd spin number; 9. Bets remain the same. 3rd spin number; 16. Bets remain the same. 4th spin number; 0. Bets remain the same. 5th spin number; 7. This fifth number becomes the new base number so you will now place bets on 18, 29, 7, 28, 12. Double your bets to £2 on each of the five numbers. A new series of five spins begin. Total bet is £10 for the spin.

1st spin number; 8. Bets remain the same. 2nd spin number; 12. Twelve now becomes your new base number so you will decrease your bet back to £1 per number and place a bet on 7, 28, 12, 35, 3 and spin the wheel of fortune!!!!!

If you have any problems or questions with how to play this system please feel free to email me at fatkimbers@hotmail.com.

Remember, Don't get greedy!!!!!!!!!!

Good luck and happy spinning.

method of betting (recommended)

Cover 24 numbers (8 streets) ( by streets, I mean that you will cover 3 numbers with one chip on the edge of the betting mat. i.e. 1,2,3 or 4,5,6 or 19,20,21 etc etc)

Get you chips and choose 8 streets on the table, I'll just use my example but choose what ever you like doesn't matter as each spin in random.

Using this strategy we will have a 64.86% chance off winning on each spin, or 63.16% chance of winning on the American table.On the first spin if you win keep the bets the same and spin again. Only if you win a 2nd time do you double your bet. This is because it will take you 2 wins to make an extra £8 to double up, and if you do loose it has only cost you £8 and then you can start the process again with your next £8 and so on until you have a run of good luck and come out in profit.

If you wanted to you could double up once you have won twice, so £2 on each street; then spin twice and if you win another 2 times double up again (£4 per street) and either spin and keep going in this fashion or count your winnings and start again using £1 on each street. "Simple but effective."

I have only used £1 chip as an example you may have enough money to start your betting with £5,£10, or £25 chips, the choice is yours but stick to the process and you will always improve your chances of winning overall.

pro player of roulette www.systems-roulette.com www.sistema-ruleta.com www.guerillaroulette.com

pro player of roulette www.systems-roulette.com and www.guerillaroulette.com

Roulette Tips

2006-05-04T22:43:00.000-07:00

Roulette casino game, like slot machines, is a game of plain luck where no skill or strategy is able to influence its outcome. Every spin of the casino roulette wheel is totally independent of all previous spins. No mathematical formula can be applied to explain and to predict the unpredictable behavior of the ball on the casino roulette wheel. Do not expect one of the numerous "roulette winning strategies" would work for you simply because there is none!

But there is one strong theory that a a roulette player can increase his chances by playing the single zero roulette. The European or French roulette casino game table has 37 numbers including zero, while the American roulette table has 38 numbers including zero and double zero. Casinos almost always have both types of roulette casino game tables. According to this theory, which some people claim has been mathematically proven, players should only play the French roulette gambling game with a single zero.

It should make their chances better by a few percent comparing to the American roulette casino game.

When you are going to play the French roulette casino game, ask if the casino uses the "En prison" rule which increases a player's odds. According to the rule, an even money bet (Red, Black, Odd, Even, 1-18, 19-36) that results in a spin of zero gets "imprisoned". If this imprisoned bet wins on the next spin, the original bet is released and returned to the player.

Casinos with the American roulette casino game sometimes use a version of the "En prison" rule called "Surrender". With this rule in use, player placing even bets only loses half of his bet on a spin of 0 or 00.

Try your luck, hope for the best and have fun!

We do not claim that these roulette tips will help you win money, this article is for information purpose only.

Bet Prize - read reviews of the best Internet gambling sites, play 100 free casino games. We share 25% of our monthly profits with customers.

My Online Casino: Love at First Sight

2006-05-04T22:34:00.000-07:00

I'm not ashamed to admit it: I love to gamble. Whether I'm strategically placing my chips on a roulette table in Las Vegas, mindlessly tapping the "Play Max Credits" button on a slot machine at a nearby Indian casino, or rolling the dice with my monthly bunco group, I am enchanted. I love the thrill of possibility - the possibility of walking away with more money that I had when I started. Granted, that happens less frequently than I'd like, but it does happen. And, over the years, playing casino games has entertained and delighted me. When I look at my array of platinum level players' cards, I fondly remember the bonus points I've accrued and the freebies they've allowed me to enjoy: hotel rooms, exceptional entertainment, wonderful meals, and an assortment of amenities.

When I first encountered an online casino, I was naturally suspicious. Who was running this Internet casino? How could I be sure they were honest? Were there strings attached to the bonus they were offering?

I started my online gaming experience with a free casino - or rather the free version of a casino that also takes real money. I'm pleased to report that my experience with that casino and other online casinos has been, on the whole, very positive. However, I'm not naive enough to think that there aren't some bad apples in the barrel. Here are some of the standards I use when I choose an Internet casino:

* A solid customer support system, with support offered 24-7-365 via live chat and/or a toll-free number

* The opportunity to play free casino games, either via a stand alone free casino or free chips to play in the real online casino

* Solid online gaming software, in both flash and java versions

* Evidence that the site has been awarded an quality online casino seal and that it is audited by a third party

* Reasonable payout rules, particularly regarding the timing of withdrawals and whether bonus money can be withdrawn

* A wide variety of available payment options

I also have standards when it comes to playability. I want to thoroughly enjoy my online gaming experience, so I look for sites that offer:

* A wide variety of games, such as blackjack, poker, slots, and roulette

* Live chat with other players

* Generous bonuses and other player rewards

* Progressive jackpots

Online casinos can be just as fun as Vegas casinos, with the added bonus that you don't have to travel or pay for a hotel room. I've become a convert, and if you like gambling as much as I do, you should try out an online casino. Good luck!

Chris Robertson is an author of Majon International, one of the worlds MOST popular internet marketing companies on the web. Visit this Gaming and Gambling Website and Majon's Gaming and Gambling directory.

How to build an effective routine: smart training don't gamble away your chance for more muscle. These strategies for creating a weight-training routi

2006-05-04T21:37:00.000-07:00

Ahhh, Las Vegas. The roll of the dice, the turn of the card, the anxious thrill as you await the verdict ... and the emotional swoon as you watch the dealer sweep your wager away. But hey, what's another hundred dollars when it's disguised as a colorful plastic chip?

A trip to the Vegas Strip may not seem like it has a lot in common with your training. But if your workouts are disorganized mix-and-match sessions devoid of reasoning or fore-planning, you have a better chance of leaving the roulette table a millionaire than ever leaving the gym with the muscle you want.

Instead of relying on blind chance for your killer body, increase your odds of muscle-building success by using these hot tips to design an effective routine. If you put in the effort, you're virtually guaranteed success. And if you fail, at least we won't be sending Vinny out to break your kneecaps. At least the first time.

The human body has a natural desire to maintain the status quo, which is why you may find it hard to gain significant amounts of muscle. To overcome that break-even inclination, you have to fight hard--actually, you have to fight smart--for every new ounce of muscle. That means short but intense sessions in which you continually challenge yourself to do more without substantially increasing the time you spend training, according to Patrick Hagerman, M.S., C.S.C.S., N.S.C.A.-C.P.T., owner of Quest Personal Training in Oklahoma City.

"For a muscle to grow, the training stimulus must be progressively increased," Hagerman explains. "You have to work out harder and harder, which may mean more weight, reps or sets. Reaching near failure, or training to the point your exercise technique begins to waver, is the goal."

You also need to constantly change up the workout. If you've been doing the same exercises, sets and reps week in and week out, with more predictability than a Boston Red Sox late-summer dive, your muscles will stop responding. "Try pyramiding the weight on successive sets, up or down, straight sets, supersets, drop sets or any other method you can think of," Hagerman says. "Don't get into one set routine. The more often you change your program, the more your body must respond to and overcome a new stimulus, which equals growth."

by Michael Berg

Roulette Table: French roulette table layout

2006-05-04T12:53:00.000-07:00

The table layout on the French version of roulette is different from both, European and American roulette. The main difference is in the position of the side bets (outside bets).

The side bets on the French table are split in two and run along both sides of the table layout. Each side bet is given its French name and sometimes also its English translation underneath.
http://www.ildado.com/roulette_table_layout.html

Roulette Table: Roulette Announced Bets or Call Bets

2006-05-04T12:51:00.000-07:00

Roulette Announced Bets or Call Bets (Used in French roulette tables and in some European casinos with single-zero wheel roulette tables. Common in most UK casinos with single-zero wheel American roulette tables.)

Number Neighbours bet/Neighbors bet (Voisin du Nombre): 5 chips bet on a number which covers the number itself and the two numbers on either side of it on the roulette wheel.

Zero Neighbours bet (Voisins du Zero): 9 chips bet covers Zero plus seven numbers on right, and nine numbers on left, 0/2/3 + 25/26/28/29, each with 2 chips, 4/7 + 12/15 + 18/21 + 19/22 + 32/35, each with 1 chip.

A Third section of the Wheel bet (Tiers du Cylindre): 6 chips split bets cover numbers from the 33 to the 27 on the roulette wheel, 5/8 + 10/11 + 13/16 + 23/24 + 27/30 + 33/36, each with 1 chip.

Full Orphans bet (Orphelin Plein): 8 chips bet covers 0 + 6 + 9 + 14 + 17 + 20 + 31 + 34, each with 1 chip.

Orphans Split bet (Orphelin Cheval): 5 chips bet covers numbers 6/9 + 14/17 + 17/20 + 31/34, each with 1 chip split bets, and number 1 with 1 chip bet.
http://www.ildado.com/roulette_table_layout.html

Roulette Table: Roulette table layout

2006-05-04T12:48:00.000-07:00

Roulette table layout.

Inside bets: (also called layout bets)

A - 1 number, Straight up 35:1

B - 2 numbers, Split 17:1

C - 3 numbers, 3 Line 11:1

D - 4 numbers, Corner 8:1

E - 5 numbers, 1st Five 6:1 (double zero roulette table)

* E - 4 numbers, 1st Four 8:1 (single zero roulette table - not shown)

F - 6 numbers, 6 Line 5:1

Outside bets:

G - 12 numbers, Column 2:1

H - 12 numbers, Dozen 2:1

J - 24 numbers, Split Columns 1:2
(Allowed in UK casinos. Some casinos may not allow it.)

K - 24 numbers, Split Dozens 1:2
(Allowed in UK casinos. Some casinos may not allow it.)

Even/Odd - Pays even money 1:1

Red/Black - Pays even money 1:1

1-18/19-36 (also called Low/High) - Pays even money 1:1
http://www.ildado.com/roulette_table_layout.html

Roulette Tips

2006-05-04T02:39:00.000-07:00

My Lucky Charm

2006-05-04T02:37:00.000-07:00

I use to have a lucky charm. It was a toe ring. I wore it on my baby toe. An old boyfriend of mine had given it to me. It was a cheap little thing. I don't know why I even wore it. Call me sentimental.

The first night I wore it to a casino I won at the roulette table. I was betting straight-up on 33. It hit 3 times out of the 10 times I played. I walked away after the third hit.

The next night I wore the toe ring to the casino I decided to play the slots. I'm not much for playing the slots. Too much exercise and not enough pay out. But for some reason I decided to play. An hour into playing I was a hundred dollars down. But then I hit the 3 cherries. And it was a Progressive Jackpot machine I was playing. I walked out of the casino after hitting that jackpot.

The third time I wore the toe ring was to a Poker Party my good friend Rachel was hosting. Just 5 girls getting together for a few drinks, a little gossip and a night of Texan Holdem. All of us were serious gamblers. By serious I mean - we played to win. And we were very competitive with each other. All 5 of us were very good players and when we did get together to play poker very rarely did anyone come away a big winner.

That night I couldn't do any wrong. The cards came my way and when they didn't my bluffing was impeccable. That evening I walked away with over 5 thousand dollars.

A short time after that my lucky charm broke. Like I said, it was a cheap little thing. I'm not sure why I think of it as a lucky charm. I had won at gambling many times before the charm and many times since. I guess I am like most gamblers - superstitious.

But the best lucky charm I have ever had has been my gambling systems and my brain. I would never give those up for a toe ring or a rabbit's foot or any other superstitious charm.

Copyright 2006 Pamela Pompeii. All rights reserved.

Pamela Pompeii is the resident article writer at http://www.gambleonthis.com

All About Love

2006-05-04T02:35:00.000-07:00

How do you know if you've ever been in love? Most people would argue that although being in love with someone is non-tangible, there is absolutely no doubt in their mind of it existing. In fact, if you are questioning whether or not you are in love, then you are most certainly not.

While I do not doubt for a second the existence of being in love (albeit being one of those sad individuals yet to experience it), I am somewhat perplexed over our perception of what constitutes humanities most sought after experience.

For me, falling in love with someone is a decision made based on the successful matching of ones own predetermined criteria or preferences.

I fondly refer to the preliminary stage of partner selection as the 'terminator glasses' phase, since it filters through a potential mate's attributes and matches them off against our own unique preferences.

On the New Years Eve just passed I went to meet friends at a bar where we would be celebrating the evening. There, waiting at the door with my friend, I saw HIM for the first time. I did a quick terminator scan: Height: Around 6 foot. MATCH. Build: Not too skinny, not too fat, not too buff. MATCH. Hair: Short dark brown. Not over the top alla David Beckham. MATCH. Complexion: Dark olive. MATCH. Lips: Plump. MATCH. Smile: Oh my God. MATCH. Eyes: Big, brown, expressive, with long thick lashes. MATCH! Stance: Gentle, not cocky. MATCH. Nationality: Clearly foreign, probably Brazilian. MATCH.

With the terminator glasses still firmly planted on my face, the confirmed Brazilian was permitted to move onto the second part of phase one: interaction. This is often the most fatal part of any potential relationship, since every sentence uttered, every look given, and every movement is put through the filter of the terminator glasses. Any miss-match could lead to premature relationship death. Very little is forgiven during this part, especially if one's program is set at 'long term mate'. In saying this, it is also my favorite part of the process as it is the most fun. I see it as a game we both know we're playing, but refuse to acknowledge as existing. One can withdraw from the game at anytime without repercussion (that is, of course, when both parties are working under the same set of rules. If this is not the case a few unwanted phone numbers are collected, followed by a few awkward conversations. And depending on how weak one is - unwanted dates followed by unwanted kisses, possibly ending in unwanted sex!).

Stage two, 'the rose coloured glasses' phase, is extremely dangerous and not usually approached with caution by either candidate. Depending on the impact of stage one, bombs warning 'relationship doom' could be dropped right in front of ones eyes, yet getting let go un-noticed. Everything appears and is, invariably, utterly workable. Despite my cynicism, this stage is defiantly more exciting than the terminator phase, albeit being laced with the fear of it all ending. The premature 'I love you' could escape ones mouth, falling like a ball onto a roulette table. The stakes are high, but it could also very well pay off and pass you onto stage three. Or not...

Declaring the title of stage three is difficult. And the truth is, I don't know what to call it because I'm usually making my way to the green exit sign above the fire escape before you can say 'marry me'.

My experience with stage three is that I usually realize Mr Perfect is human. I resist accepting him just the way he is, and try to point out where he is lacking (he is usually not so open to my constructive criticism. I wonder why?). This of course does not lead him to change his ways, but firmly ground himself in them (and resent me in the process). Love and commitment gets swapped with fear and dependence. Some stay to battle it out to the very end, most head straight for the green exit light.

People claim at this point that they have 'fallen out of love'. My argument is that they were never in love in the first place. One of my favourite movies, 'Moulin Rouge', melodically states, "The greatest thing you will ever learn, is just to love, and be loved in return". I believe this is what we think being in love is all about. Yet being loved in return implies that there is a condition to your giving love. So romantic love is conditional love. If romantic love only goes one-way, it is termed unrequited love or even 'desperate'.

What if I said that true love can only be unconditional? And inside of that, true love can only mean 100% acceptance of the subject, just the way they are and just the way they're not. What if love, real love, is just loving?

Davina deWitts runs a clothing accessories store, with stock from Australia's most talented designers. She also believes she's a social commentator, finding intriguing what most consider banal. If however you would like to indulge her, read Fashion Blog.

Bordering On Extremes

2006-05-02T23:13:00.000-07:00

Along our southern border, birds not seen elsewhere in the United States cope in a region that is growing drier

Dove song may be a beautiful sound, but last spring so many white- winged doves had staked out territory in San Antonio, Texas, that people began to complain. During mating season, the birds' nearly ceaseless renderings of hhhooo-hoooo-hoo-hooo dominated entire neighborhoods.

The complaints were new to the area, and so was the noise. Until about 30 years ago, white-winged doves were almost never seen in the United States outside the remote thorn forests of far-south Texas or the Sonoran Desert of Arizona. For years after that, only a few wanderers were spotted further north. But in the middle 1980s, white-winged doves moved in great numbers into cities and towns as far north as San Antonio, Austin and Albuquerque.

"A lot of people think there's been a population explosion among white- winged doves, but I'm suggesting that this is a redistribution based on loss of habitat," says Jeff Haskins, chief of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's migratory bird office for the Southwest.

White-winged doves are not alone. The fish- and insect-eating great kiskadee, the tiny Inca dove and even the shy, turkeylike plain chachalaca have all taken up residence in towns. And other birds-- including the green jay, red-crowned parrot and green parakeet--also have moved northward in recent years. Scientists don't know exactly why the birds are on the move, but they think that drier conditions, as well as an unprecedented loss of habitat, may be driving the birds out of their former territory along the U.S.-Mexico border and points south.

In the harsh climate of the border region--from the Texas Gulf Coast, through the mountains, deserts and plains of New Mexico and Arizona-- birds have developed strategies over the millennia allowing them to withstand heat and to draw moisture from available sources. Now dropping water tables, drying rivers, dying streamside forests and disappearing brushland are testing the limits of those abilities.

National Wildlife, June-July, 1999

Success Quotes

2006-04-27T23:54:00.000-07:00

Anthony Robbins is one the speakers that is responsible for
my success today. I’ve learned a lot from him and I would
like to share 21 success quotes by Anthony Robbins that
have shaped my life today.

#1 Success Quote By Anthony Robbins:

I've come to believe that all my past failure and
frustrations were actually laying the foundation for the
understandings that have created the new level of living I
now enjoy.

#2 Success Quote By Anthony Robbins:

The path to success is to take massive, determined action.

#3 Success Quote By Anthony Robbins:

It is not what we get. But who we become, what we
contribute... that gives meaning to our lives.

#4 Success Quote By Anthony Robbins:

Most people have no idea of the giant capacity we can
immediately command when we focus all of our resources on
mastering a single area of our lives.

#5 Success Quote By Anthony Robbins:

You see, in life, lots of people know what to do, but few
people actually do what they know. Knowing is not enough!
You must take action.

#6 Success Quote By Anthony Robbins:

It's not what's happening to you now or what has happened
in your past that determines who you become. Rather, it's
your decisions about what to focus on, what things mean to
you, and what you're going to do about them that will
determine your ultimate destiny.

#7 Success Quote By Anthony Robbins:

Put yourself in a state of mind where you say to yourself,
'Here is an opportunity for you to celebrate like never
before, my own power, my own ability to get myself to do
whatever is necessary.'

#8 Success Quote By Anthony Robbins:

Quality questions create a quality life. Successful people
ask better questions, and as a result, they get better
answers.

#9 Success Quote By Anthony Robbins:

Success in life is the result of good judgment. Good
judgment is usually the result of experience. Experience is
usually the result of bad judgement.

#10 Success Quote By Anthony Robbins:

What we can or cannot do, what we consider possible or
impossible, is rarely a function of our true capability. It
is more likely a function of our beliefs about who we are.

#11 Success Quote By Anthony Robbins:

We are the only beings on the planet who lead such rich
internal lives that it's not the events that matter most to
us, but rather, it's how we interpret those events that
will determine how we think about ourselves and how we will
act in the future.

#12 Success Quote By Anthony Robbins:

You see, it's never the environment; it's never the events
of our lives, but the meaning we attach to the events --
how we interpret them -- that shapes who we are today and
who we'll become tomorrow.

#13 Success Quote By Anthony Robbins:

It's not the events of our lives that shape us, but our
beliefs as to what those events mean.

#14 Success Quote By Anthony Robbins:

One reason so few of us achieve what we truly want is that
we never direct our focus; we never concentrate our power.
Most people dabble their way through life, never deciding
to master anything in particular.

#15 Success Quote By Anthony Robbins:

Take control of your consistent emotions and begin to
consciously and deliberately reshape your daily experience
of life.

#16 Success Quote By Anthony Robbins:

You are now at a crossroads. This is your opportunity to
make the most important decision you will ever make. Forget
your past. Who are you now? Who have you decided you really
are now? Don't think about who you have been. Who are you
now? Who have you decided to become? Make this decision
consciously. Make it carefully. Make it powerfully.

#17 Success Quote By Anthony Robbins:

It is in your moments of decision that your destiny is
shaped.

#18 Success Quote By Anthony Robbins:

It's not what's happening to you now or what has happened
in your past that determines who you become. Rather, it's
your decisions about what to focus on, what things mean to
you, and what you're going to do about them that will
determine your ultimate destiny.

#19 Success Quote By Anthony Robbins:

More than anything else, I believe it's our decisions, not
the conditions of our lives, that determine our destiny.

#20 Success Quote By Anthony Robbins:

The most important thing you can do to achieve your goals
is to make sure that as soon as you set them, you
immediately begin to create momentum. The most important
rules that I ever adopted to help me in achieving my goals
were those I learned from a very successful man who taught
me to first write down the goal, and then to never leave
the site of setting a goal without firs taking some form of
positive action toward its attainment.

#21 Success Quote By Anthony Robbins:

If you can't, you must. If you must, you can.

Take care and all the best.

Warmest regards,

Patric Chan

CEO, eSuccessMastery.com

P.S: For more of Anthony Robbins and success quotes
and other speakers success quotes, download it at
Success Quotes.

--motivation