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Konami Gaming announces two senior level appointments
Saturday, March 31, 2018
Konami Gaming announces two senior level appointments
Ways to Stay Healthy and Avoid the Dreaded WSOP Flu
GamblingSites.com
Ways to Stay Healthy and Avoid the Dreaded WSOP Flu
Every year, thousands of players flock to the Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada, to take part in a true American tradition – the World Series of Poker (WSOP).
Tournaments are held, big pots are dragged, gold bracelets are won, and millions upon millions of dollars change hands. Wash, rinse, and repeat.
The problem is, though, many players don’t take that advice. With limited time on breaks and potentially life-changing money at stake, folks can be forgiven for forgetting to wash their hands after a quick sprint to the bathroom.
Or can they?
When massive crowds containing strangers from all corners of the globe – last year’s WSOP attracted entrants from 111 nations – the Rio becomes a proverbial petri dish of germs and bacteria.
That’s not to say poker players are dirty or less healthy than most; it’s simply a fact of human interaction. Take a few thousand people, pack them into a confined environment, and even a single carrier can get quite a few people sick before the night is up.
Just take a look at this Twitter search page for the terms “Rio flu” – the term players, media, and staff coined when referring to the WSOP’s signature sickness – to see just how prevalent this phenomenon can be.
Seemingly every year, folks who show up to the Rio for WSOP season find their immune system succumbing to this mysterious illness. For most, the ailment is your common cold, the flu, or plain old fatigue combined with malnourishment. For others, the problem can bloom into something more serious like a staph infection.
In either case, however, the root cause is easy to understand. Players who grind the WSOP every summer must contend with grueling 14- and 15-hour days. For the skilled combatants who manage to run deep with regularity, the WSOP can become a gauntlet to endure. Throw in a steady diet of Red Bull and junk food, long walks to and from the tournament area and the main hotel, and dramatic temperature changes between the outdoors and inside – and you’ve got the perfect recipe for feeling under the weather.
I try and do the WSOP every year, mostly as a fan with a few preliminary tournaments thrown in for fun. And while I invariably went down with a bout of the Rio flu during my first few trips there, I seem to have figured things out recently. Knock on wood, of course, but I’ve managed to dodge the contagion in each of my last four visits.
That’s a pretty nice streak, if you ask me, and I don’t think it’s an accident, either. Ever since I learned about the Rio flu and first felt its sickly grip grab ahold, I’ve thought about ways to prevent myself from coming down with common viruses and other threats. I’m not a germaphobe by any means, so this won’t be some sort of Howard Hughes-style approach to warding off illness, but I do believe in basic prevention.
With that in mind, check out my guide to staying healthy and avoiding the Rio flu at the upcoming 2018 WSOP.
Bundle Up
I’ll never forget the 2013 WSOP, which was memorably dubbed the “Coldest Poker Event in History” by industry insider Robbie Strazynski on his Cardplayer Lifestyle blog.
That year, for whatever reason, the WSOP head honchos or Rio’s maintenance staff just couldn’t settle on the proper thermostat setting. With a few thousand people crammed into just three main convention halls – and temperatures outside soaring to 110 and above during the summer months – the head honchos obviously wanted to keep things cool and mild inside.
But somehow the dial gets pushed back to 65 degrees, and even lower on some days, for most of the series. This led to some pretty funny posts in the PokerNews Live Updates about big-name pros forced to wear scarves, mittens, and beanies at the table. Daniel Negreanu even hopped on Twitter to lambaste the WSOP for failing to take care of players, going so far as to post a photo of a handheld thermometer as proof of the frigid conditions.
Things have improved somewhat in the five years since, but the same central issue remains – with blistering triple-digit heat outside, the Rio’s rooms need to be nice and cool to compensate.
Folks often walk in from the streets dripping with sweat, especially if they’re not accustomed to the desert weather. Then, within a matter of seconds, their body is blasted with high-powered air conditioning that drops the internal temperature in the Rio to the mid-60s. Going from hot to cold like that, combined with the moisture added by a sweat slick, puts even the healthiest immune system at risk of catching a cold.
And yes, I’m aware that the cold itself doesn’t cause the viral infection of the same name. But exposure to chilly temperatures while wet is a surefire way to weaken your defenses just enough to allow germs to get through.
On that note, you should always have a nice warm hoodie or sweatshirt at the ready.
Bring one along in your poker backpack, or carry it with you while you walk, but long-sleeves are a must once you enter the tournament area.
You’ll invariably encounter unprepared players who didn’t think to bring warmer clothes. These are almost always first-timers and Europeans who mistakenly believe Sin City stays scorching indoors. The sight of them shivering and blowing into the hands while wearing a tank-top and shorts is admittedly pretty funny – but it’s also a major contributing factor to the Rio Flu epidemic.
Steer Clear of the Smoking Section
At one point in time, and not that long ago, really, poker players were forced to endure secondhand cigarette smoke just to enjoy their hobby or profession.
Even before the WSOP relocated to the Rio over a decade ago, the previous venue was plagued by a similar mystery illness. As it turns out, pros of the era believe exposure to secondhand smoke throughout the old Binion’s Horseshoe casino in Downtown Vegas was the true culprit.
Here’s what Tom McEvoy – World Champion of the WSOP Main Event in 1983 – had to say on the matter in a 2017 interview with PokerNews:
“The WSOP would be so bad with the smoking that players were getting bronchitis and coughing all the time. They used to call it the ‘Horseshoe Crud.’
Even the smokers preferred it to be non-smoking. In the first couple of years, they let supporters smoke on the rail, even here at the Rio. You needed a gas-mask to get outside. Even now, when you go outside, it’s pretty bad.” – Tom McEvoy, winner of the 1983 WSOP Main Event
Fortunately for the modern generation of poker players, a regulatory crackdown on secondhand smoke during the 1990s and beyond has practically eradicated the smoking scourge indoors. Most casinos limit smoking to their table gaming pits and bars only, and that’s the case at the Rio as well.
The WSOP itself bans smoking outright, consigning cigarette fiends to outdoor areas. But if you enter through the front or main entrance of the Rio, however, you’ll have to walk through the main casino area where smoke lingers in the air.
To avoid that route, be sure to park in the Masquerade Garage or the Trucker’s Lot in the back of the Rio. This provides direct access to the WSOP tournament area, so you’ll be smoke-free from start to finish. Just remember to hold your breath for those few seconds you’ll pass through the smoker’s patio, and you’ll be safe and sound when you get inside.
Wash Your Hands and Wash Them Often
I would assume this to be a no-brainer for most people, but assumptions don’t always work out when you’re dealing with such large crowds.
The cleanliness of poker chips, or lack thereof, has been well-documented. In 2007, biology professor Brian Hedlund and his team from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV), put poker chips from several Las Vegas casinos under the microscope.
Their goal was to identify pathogens, germs, bacteria, and other nasty stuff stowed away on the surface of an average chip. While some properties performed better than others, owing to different policies regarding cleaning and disinfection, the verdict was clear – poker chips are dirty beyond belief.
You can read all about the study in an ESPN Poker profile of the proceedings, but suffice it to say, Hedlund and his team found thousands of microorganisms clinging to a single chip. Everything from bacillus to Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) was identified, along with several unknown substances.
As a player who will be handling hundreds of chips (and hopefully more) day in and day out, it’s your responsibility to safeguard your system by regularly washing your hands. You can hit the bathrooms for some soap and hot water action, or carry a bottle of hand sanitizer like Purell with you on the go.
However you get the job done, though, make a habit of washing your hands – up to the elbows, like the old signs in school used to say – after any exposure to poker chips. That means on your short breaks, at dinner, and after bagging and tagging to end the night.
And I shouldn’t have to tell anybody this, but do the same when you use the facilities, too. Spend a minute near the Rio bathroom sinks, and you’ll start to get a sense of where all those germs Hedlund found really came from. Poker players have their priorities, and for some, that means rushing back to the table to avoid missing a hand – while forgetting to wash their own.
Do your part to cut down on the transfer of germs by washing your hands whenever the situation calls.
Don’t Drink the Water
On a final note, while most casino resorts do their very best to ensure guests remain healthy, the Rio has had its ups and downs on that front.
Just last year, the venue made mainstream media headlines when an outbreak of Legionnaires’ disease was discovered.
Legionnaires’ disease is a pretty serious form of pneumonia, one caused by the Legionella strain of bacteria. The germs are transmitted largely through water droplets, as a report from the Southern Nevada Health District (SNHD) made clear at the time:
“Legionnaires’ disease is contracted by inhaling aerosol droplets of water contaminated with the bacteria. Sources of the aerosol can include showers, hot tubs, faucets, cooling towers, misters, and decorative fountains.
Most people exposed to Legionella will not get sick; however, it can cause severe illness and sometimes result in death.”
Given the severity of the illness, the Rio took immediate steps to rid its entire property of legionella bacteria:
“In response to the initial illness report, the property arranged for environmental testing of its water system. Facility testing results did indicate a presence of the Legionella bacteria, and the property initiated the appropriate remediation response of chlorine disinfection.
Following reports of the additional case, the Health District conducted sampling of the water system and identified Legionella bacteria throughout the system.
The Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino and the Health District are working together to conduct remediation and follow up sampling to ensure remediation efforts are effective.”
I’m not out to spark a panic or anything, but a post about staying healthy while staying at the Rio just wouldn’t be right without presenting this information.
I haven’t let this issue impact my WSOP visits, and last summer’s edition of the series set a new record for overall attendance, so clearly, players are willing to take the risk.
Risk is all about management though, right? Be sure to bring water bottles with you during tournament time, and avoid long showers that steam up the room. Common sense measures like this may not be a cure-all, but they can surely give you better odds of dodging any bugs that happen to be floating through the water supply.
Conclusion
Rio flu is definitely out there, and players fall prey each and every year at the WSOP. But using the tips and tricks listed above, you can easily protect yourself from germs and viruses during your stay.
The post Ways to Stay Healthy and Avoid the Dreaded WSOP Flu appeared first on GamblingSites.com.
Oliver Meerkamp Claims Chip Lead at GPT Easter Edition Main Event Day 1b
CasinoGamesPro.com
Oliver Meerkamp Claims Chip Lead at GPT Easter Edition Main Event Day 1b
Poker action in the King’s Casino is in full swing and the venue located in Rozvadov is currently experiencing the riveting poker game called German Poker Tour Easter Edition Main Event which brings out big cashes to its players. The Easter Edition poker festival has been in progress for the past couple of days and […]
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Golden Nugget casino launches $100,000 nationwide giveaway
Casino City Times
Golden Nugget casino launches $100,000 nationwide giveaway
Atlantic City players can win comp dollars at over 600 of the nation's top restaurants.
Friday, March 30, 2018
2018 Final Four: Can Loyola Chicago Pull off the Upset?
GamblingSites.com
2018 Final Four: Can Loyola Chicago Pull off the Upset?
The 2018 NCAA Tournament was expected to be one of the more unpredictable tourneys in recent memory. In most years, it seems as though one of the “blue blood” schools is a heavy favorite and winds up winning it all.
Just looking at this year’s top seeds would tell you that the potential for chaos was there. You could argue that we’ve never seen a March with more madness than the one we just witnessed. For the first time ever, we saw the top-4 seeds in the same region (South) ousted before the Sweet 16. Virginia became the first 1 seed to ever lose to a 16, while Arizona, Cincinnati and Tennessee also faltered.
In the end, 11th-seeded Loyola Chicago was the last team standing. Loyola won the South Region by rolling through the likes of Miami, Tennessee, Nevada and Kansas State on their way to a berth in the Final Four.
The road to a championship certainly won’t be easy, as the Ramblers are the lowest seed left on the board. Loyola will take on Michigan in the Final Four. If they’re able to get past the Wolverines, the Ramblers will face either Villanova or Kansas in the National Championship Game.
Can they win it all? Or will Loyola’s Cinderella story end in tragic fashion? If you’re looking to place a bet on Loyola or any other team in the Final Four, we suggest checking out one of these sites:
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Michigan Looms
As of this writing, the Ramblers are listed as 5.5-point underdogs against Michigan. While the Wolverines are understandably favored, they’ll have their hands full with what has been an incredibly hot-shooting Loyola outfit thus far. The Ramblers have been the best shooting team in the tourney thus far, having nailed 50.9 percent of their shots through the first 4 games.
Three-point shooting isn’t at all consistent in the college game, but Loyola have been an exception. Porter Moser’s squad has connected on an astounding 40 percent of their looks from long range so far in the tournament. 3 different players on the roster have hit a big shot in crunch time already this month, so the spotlight doesn’t appear to be too bright for this team.
We could actually have a low-scoring affair on our hands here, as these are also 2 of the nation’s premier defensive outfits. Per KenPom’s defensive efficiency number, Michigan is 4th in the nation in defense, while Loyola is 19th. Loyola has allowed 68 or fewer points to their opponents in 10 consecutive games, while Michigan surrenders just 63.1 points per game on the season. Wolverines opponents have shot just 42 percent from the field, as well.
Michigan’s Moe Wagner may provide additional matchup problems for Loyola, as the Ramblers haven’t had to deal with a player with his skill set to this point. Wagner is 6’11” and a legitimate threat to bomb from the outside. On the season, the German native has averaged better than 14 points and nearly 7 rebounds per game while connecting on nearly 40 percent of his looks from beyond the arc. Wagner has been one of the breakout stars of the tournament.
Michigan is certainly more battle-tested, especially on the bench. This is John Beilein’s second trip to the Final Four in the last 5 seasons. Moser, meanwhile, is the head coach of a team in the NCAA Tournament for the first time ever.
If you’re betting on the game, the Ramblers make for a very tempting play both against the spread and on the moneyline (+215). I also think the under on 130 points is fairly safe in a game featuring a pair of defensive-minded squads.
What About Villanova or Kansas?
If Loyola is able to keep the momentum going and get past Michigan, then they’ll square off against one of the best programs in the country regardless of who wins the Villanova-Kansas matchup.
One could make the argument that Villanova has been the best program in the country for the last half-decade. Over the last 5 seasons, Jay Wright’s squad has reached at least the second round of the tourney every year. That includes this year’s Final Four appearance as well as their 2016 national title.
Kansas, meanwhile, hasn’t missed the tournament since way back in 2004, which was Bill Self’s first season in Lawrence. The Jayhawks won the national title in 2008, and this marks the third straight year in which they have reached the Elite Eight. It’s also their first Final Four trip since losing in the National Championship Game in 2012.
Beating Villanova starts with containing Jalen Brunson, who has arguably been the best player in college basketball this season. Brunson is unique in that he’s a guard that isn’t afraid to take his man down and bully him on the block. Most college guards have raw post defending skills, and Brunson has a habit of using that to his advantage in most matchups.
Much like Loyola, Villanova is able to run 5 guys out there capable of killing you from long range. The Wildcats are also versatile enough defensively to switch seamlessly on all ball screens, which makes it tough for opponents to get clean looks in the pick-and-roll. That could prove problematic for a team like Loyola that generates so much offense from outside the arc.
Kansas also has 4 starters capable of hitting threes. The Jayhawks can also kill you with athleticism with the likes of Lagerald Vick, Sviatoslav Mykhailiuk and Udoka Azubuike having looked stellar throughout the tourney thus far. Udoka’s combination of size and athleticism may prove too much for Loyola’s relatively inexperienced bigs to defend.
The best way to attack Kansas offensively is to get Udoka out into space. He’s not particularly comfortable defending outside the paint, and Kansas isn’t as quick to switch in PnR situations as Villanova is. If you can get Udoka switched onto a guard in the open floor, that effectively removes any and all rim protection from the Jayhawks defensively.
Can Loyola Pull it Off?
Considering Loyola has lost a grand total of 1 game since January 3, it’s safe to say they’re on a bit of a roll. They did get a bit of fortune when teams like Virginia and Arizona bowed out early, but there’s no denying the fact that the Ramblers absolutely deserve to be in San Antonio. Loyola has been quick to adopt the positionless type of basketball that has swept the NBA in recent years, which has been a difficult adjustment for college opponents playing a more traditional style.
This team can space the floor like crazy, and all 5 starters grade out as above-average passers. They’re never in a rush to jack a shot up there. They’ll work the shot clock to find the open guy, and that typically results in an open look for a dangerous shooter. The Ramblers also don’t crash the glass looking to get offensive rebounds. As a result, they’re typically able to set their 5-man defense before the opponent is able to capitalize in transition. Limiting fast break opportunities is hugely important, especially for a team that may not have as much on-paper talent as a powerhouse like Nova or Kansas.
Those teams are physically gifted enough to give Loyola some problems, so it will be interesting to see what kinds of defensive adjustments Moser will make, if necessary. The Ramblers play a little small at every position, which makes it easier to switch on ball screens.
Despite the run, Loyola is still a massive underdog to win the title. The Ramblers are way down at +1000 to be the last team standing, which obviously makes them an elite value. They’ve defied the odds in every matchup to this point, so who’s to say they can’t keep it going for 2 more games? If you’re a risk-tolerant bettor, you have very little to lose and a ton to gain by hopping on the bandwagon here at +1000.
Unlike other Cinderellas before them, this Loyola team is a legitimate threat to the established powers they’ll be going up against. I think this squad is entirely capable of shocking the world twice more. As mentioned previously, this tournament has been as wide open as any in recent memory. Ride the wave with the Ramblers.
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Casino Developer Genting Hong Kong Reports Annual Loss Surge in 2017
CasinoGamesPro.com
Casino Developer Genting Hong Kong Reports Annual Loss Surge in 2017
Genting Hong Kong Ltd is a widely-known casino operator which is also famous for its cruise ships operation dedicating special efforts to the entertainment factor. As it was recently announced by the company in its revenue report, the annual loss of Genting has seen a significant decrease, which is always good news for a gambling […]
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Rí Rá announces April dining and entertainment listings
Casino City Times
Rí Rá announces April dining and entertainment listings
The Irish pub in Mandalay Bay will provide a plethora of Hibernian-influenced specials throughout the month.
German Poker Tour Easter Edition Gives Start to €200,000 GTD Main Event
CasinoGamesPro.com
German Poker Tour Easter Edition Gives Start to €200,000 GTD Main Event
When we talk about poker festivals and the amount of thrill they are able to provide, two words usually come to mind – Main Event. This is the event which guarantees a high level of action as well as generous cashes. The German Poker Tour Easter Edition which is currently in progress in King’s Casino […]
The post German Poker Tour Easter Edition Gives Start to €200,000 GTD Main Event appeared first on CasinoGamesPro.com.
Thursday, March 29, 2018
Penn National shareholders approve Pinnacle acquisition
Casino City Times
Penn National shareholders approve Pinnacle acquisition
The company's shareholders voted to approve its proposal to issue shares of Penn common stock to stockholders of Pinnacle Entertainment.
Fair Go player lands massive win
Casino City Times
Fair Go player lands massive win
Ljubica struck gold while playing Triple Twister from Realtime Gaming, taking home $109,964.
Cambodia’s Siem Reap Enters Foreign Trade Partnership with Gambling Hub Macau
CasinoGamesPro.com
Cambodia’s Siem Reap Enters Foreign Trade Partnership with Gambling Hub Macau
Cambodia is a country which is taking its gambling field seriously and putting a lot of effort into developing it. With the help of attracting new players and visitors to its gambling facilities, the country is striving to boost the local economy. In a recent statement, it was confirmed that the ancient province of Siem […]
The post Cambodia’s Siem Reap Enters Foreign Trade Partnership with Gambling Hub Macau appeared first on CasinoGamesPro.com.
Paddy Power Betfair appoints new CFO
World Casino News
Paddy Power Betfair appoints new CFO
Wednesday, March 28, 2018
Esports Arena Las Vegas -- LUXOR HOTEL AND CASINO
eGaming
Esports Arena Las Vegas -- LUXOR HOTEL AND CASINO
Esports Arena Las Vegas, the first permanent esports venue on The Strip, is now open at Luxor Hotel and Casino.
Esports Arena Las Vegas officially opens at Luxor
Casino City Times
Esports Arena Las Vegas officially opens at Luxor
The Strip's first permanent esports venue is designed to host every form of competitive gaming, with 30,000 square feet of space, a 50-foot LED video wall and a TV-quality production studio.
Indian Gaming Tradeshow & Convention April 17-20
World Casino News
Indian Gaming Tradeshow & Convention April 17-20
5 Poker Bluffing Mistakes That Are Costing You Money
GamblingSites.com
5 Poker Bluffing Mistakes That Are Costing You Money
There are not a lot of better feelings in the game of poker than the feeling you get when you see your opponent’s cards fly into the muck as you’re attempting to pull off a massive bluff. There’s just this feeling of excitement, success, and a total ego boost that is indescribable. Because of this, it’s no secret that Texas hold’em players love to bluff.
The problem, though, is that the majority of recreational and semi-serious players make some massive mistakes when it comes to bluffing. As a successful professional poker player for the past 12 years, I’ve seen a lot. The biggest thing that I see people screw up is bluffing.
What I’d like to do today is go over the top five bluffing mistakes that I see from people time and time again at the tables. You would think that after some time these mistakes would slowly go away, but that’s just not the case. I see the same players make the same mistakes over and over again. What’s nuts is that a lot of these players are serious players with strong aspirations of playing for a living. Some of them even label themselves professionals. Whether I agree with their label or not is another discussion for another day.
If you’re new to the game of poker or you feel like you might be getting in trouble when it comes to bluffing, pay attention to this article. Here are the top five bluffing mistakes that I see and advice on how to prevent yourself from making them.
#1 You’re Bluffing WAY Too Much
We can probably blame ESPN and televised poker for this one. You see, when poker was first being televised, they didn’t show you every single hand. Instead, they would show you the most exciting hands of the day. From thousands and thousands of hands, they would pick five or six that they would choose to showcase.
As you might have already guessed, they weren’t showing you the boring hands. They were showing you the wild, over the top hands where people were typically running major bluffs. Every hand they showed was a monster pot. This led new poker fans to think that was how the game worked. You were required to run monster bluffs every hand and try and win the tournament in one hand.
This is simply not an optimal strategy. Realistically, you should be flat-out bluffing very little. You will be semi-bluffing occasionally, but flat out bluffs are rare. How much should you be bluffing? Well, a lot of that is going to be dependent on the table conditions and the flow of the game. The rest of the mistakes and tips in this article should start to give you a better idea of how often you should be bluffing.
The point here is that you should not be bluffing every single hand. Poker is not a sprint; it’s a marathon.
#2 You’re Bluffing Just for the Sake of Bluffing
Here’s a phrase that I love to hear from my opponents and hate to hear from any student I’m coaching. “So, I realized I hadn’t played a hand in a while, so I decided to run a bluff.” Ahhhh! My ears are bleeding right now just thinking about it. If you are ever bluffing just for the sake of bluffing, you are destroying your chances of being successful. If you’re ever just randomly picking a hand and saying “Yup, I’m going to bluff this hand,” then you are setting yourself up for disaster.
Bluffs should not be things that you randomly toss into your game for no reason whatsoever. There needs to be a rhyme and a reason for everything you do in poker including bluffing. If you are just bluffing because you’re bored or you think it’s randomly the right time, you’re setting yourself up for failure, and you need to stop. Well, you need to stop if you like winning. If you prefer losing at poker, then bombs away!
#3 Your Bluffs Don’t Tell a Logical Story
What is the purpose of a bluff? If you say the purpose of a bluff is to get your opponent to fold, you are only half right, and therefore in my class, you are wrong. The purpose of a bluff is to tell your opponent a convincing story about what you are holding and get them to fold because they think they are beaten. You see, a lot of people think that bluffing comes down to shoving a ton of chips in the middle as quickly and recklessly as possible in hopes that their opponent will get scared and fold.
This is not what you want to be doing. Read this quote from a student (paraphrased) and let me know if this sounds like you.
“So this guy was raising every single time it folded to him, so I decided to try and bluff him out of the pot. He opened before the flop to 500 (the blinds were 100/200), and I decided to make it 2500 to put a lot of pressure on him and make him think I had aces or kings. He ended up calling, and the flop came out 2-8-9. He checked to me, and I bet the entire size of the pot! I bet 11,000 chips, and he called again. The turn was another 2, and he checked to me again. I shoved my remaining 50,000 chips in the middle, and he started thinking. He finally called me with 10-9! How can he call there? I was showing so much strength! I flipped over my pair of 3s and lost the pot.”
The stream of questions I always ask people here go like this. First, I ask them what they were trying to represent. If they say strength and don’t give me a real hand, I usually reach over and smack them in the face. I’m kidding, but I am tempted to. Most people, thankfully, will tell me what hand or range of hands they were attempting to represent. In this situation, the student told me they were trying to represent pocket aces or pocket kings.
I usually say okay and start breaking the hand down. In this situation, I asked them if they would have raised pre-flop to five times their opponents bet with pocket aces or kings? They responded, “Well, no. I probably would have only raised to about three times with pocket aces or kings, maybe more like 1500. I just wanted to show them a lot of strength to get them to fold.”
This is where I usually hope the wheels start to turn in their mind. If you are not doing what you would normally do with the hand you are trying to represent, then you’re doing a terrible job of representing that hand. In this situation, all they were showing was a big bet which is different from showing strength. Their opponent probably saw this bet as a fearful bet that was just trying to get a fold. Would aces or kings try their hardest to get a fold pre-flop? Probably not.
As you can imagine, I continued through the hand with them, and all of the questions went the same. Basically, they tried to do what they thought looked scariest and not what they would have done had they been holding the hand they were representing. By the time we get done with the analysis, they realized that their opponent actually made a pretty good call given the fact that their bets made no sense.
You need to play your bluffs exactly as you would if you were really holding the hand you are representing. The best way to do this is to pretend you are really holding that hand. Imagine that you’re holding two red aces or two black kings. Make your moves accordingly. Your goal should not initially be to get your opponent to fold. Your goal should be to convince them that they are beaten, and then they will fold on their own…as long as you aren’t making the next mistake.
#4 You’re Trying to Bluff the Wrong Person
The absolute worst thing that you can do when it comes to bluffing is trying to bluff the wrong person. You can run the most masterful of bluffs that tells the most believable story and can still fall flat on your face if you try it on the wrong opponent.
First, you should never be bluffing opponents who don’t like to fold. If someone has a problem with calling too often, then there is no logical reason to try and get them to fold. Instead, why don’t you just wait until you have a real hand and they will continue their pattern of never folding and pay you off? The same approach will never work on two different types of opponents.
Second, you should never be bluffing opponents who are not good enough to read hands properly. Remember, our goal with bluffing is to make our opponent fold by telling a believable story. If our opponent is incapable of understanding our story, they’re never going to be able to make the fold. It’s a bit of a weird situation because you basically don’t want to bluff opponents that are really bad, but you also then don’t want to be bluffing the best players in the world because they are masters at sniffing out deception.
The ideal candidate for a bluff is a player that is good enough to read hands but is not so good at it that you’re going to get caught. I’m not saying that you shouldn’t try and bluff the best in the world. I’m just saying that they’re not going to be the easiest to fool or the most ideal of targets.
#5 You’re Never Getting Caught Bluffing
Wait, what? Isn’t the whole point of bluffing not to get caught?
Yes, it is. However, you should be trying to steal pots as actively as you can. This means that you should be pushing things to the edge of getting caught. The idea is that if you’re never getting caught, then you aren’t pushing hard enough.
Think of it like this. Let’s say that you’re running a race that requires you to run as fast as you can with a glass of water that is full to the brim. The object of the race is to get to the finish line as fast as you can with as much water still in the glass as possible. The speed at which you finish the race is slightly more important than the amount of water you still have in your glass.
If you get to the end of the race and you still have all of your water in your glass, and you haven’t spilled a drop, you probably weren’t running fast enough. If you get to the end of the race and your glass is empty, then you were probably trying to run too quickly. But, if you get to the end of the race and you’ve lost a little bit of water but not a lot, you probably were pushing yourself to the fastest “safe” speed that you could run.
This is what you’re trying to achieve with bluffing. You want to be stealing as many pots as you possibly can. This means that if you’re never getting caught, you’re probably not pushing the envelope enough and you’re missing opportunities. If you’re getting caught all the time, you probably need to read back through all of these tips because you’re either bluffing too often or doing it poorly.
Additionally, if you never show down a bluff, it’s going to be hard to get paid when you have a real hand. If the other players never see you bluff, they’ll start to assume that you always have a hand when you’re betting. If they see you taking shots with nothing, though, they’re going to be guessing more often and will end up mistakenly calling you down when you have the goods. Bluffing is not just about winning the current hand. It’s about setting up an image that can get you paid down the road.
The Conclusion
Hopefully, if you’re making any or all of these mistakes right now, you’re at least aware of them. Now that you’re aware of them, it’s time to put the changes in place that will help you correct them. Bluffing should be a part of your game, but it should never be the centerpiece. Here is a quick recap of the changes you need to make to your poker game today.
Don’t bluff too often. Don’t bluff just because you’re bored or haven’t played a hand in a while. Tell a believable story with your bluffs. Don’t bluff players who don’t fold or aren’t good enough to know when to fold. Make sure you’re stealing every pot that you can. You should be getting caught occasionally.The post 5 Poker Bluffing Mistakes That Are Costing You Money appeared first on GamblingSites.com.
Tuesday, March 27, 2018
Yggdrasil inks content deal with Stanleybet
World Casino News
Yggdrasil inks content deal with Stanleybet
Boyd Gaming welcomes Easter with property specials
Casino City Times
Boyd Gaming welcomes Easter with property specials
At properties across southern Nevada, guests can enjoy a selection of Easter brunch specials on 1 April.
Top 10 reasons to visit The Hippodrome Casino in London
Casino City Times
Top 10 reasons to visit The Hippodrome Casino in London
Besides being a cozy, atmospheric casino, The Hippodrome offers neat features such as a smoking terrace and stellar bar selection in addition to its impressive casino floor.
Monday, March 26, 2018
MLB Betting – 5 Value Bets for the 2018 Cy Young Awards
GamblingSites.com
MLB Betting – 5 Value Bets for the 2018 Cy Young Awards
The 2018 MLB regular season is upon us. America’s pastime finally gets underway later this week with all 30 clubs kicking off the season on the same day.
We like to think we have a general idea of what will happen, but a lot can change over the course of the lengthy 162-game schedule. It’s a marathon, not a sprint. Just because a guy gets off to a hot start in April doesn’t mean he’ll be a lock to win an MVP award once October rolls around.
MLB’s top starting pitchers can be pretty easily divided into tiers. At the top, we have the likes of Clayton Kershaw, Chris Sale, Corey Kluber and Max Scherzer. The next tier likely includes guys like Stephen Strasburg, Luis Severino, Dallas Keuchel, James Paxton and Chris Archer.
All of those guys have the chance to win a Cy Young Award this season. If they did, nobody would be surprised. They’re the odds-on favorites for a reason. That said, we’ve seen guys come out of nowhere to win the award before. Just look at Rick Porcello, who took home AL honors back in 2016. Prior to the season, nobody would’ve picked Porcello to take home the hardware.
There’s plenty of young pitching talent out there. Might one or two of them rise up and win Cy Young this season? Let’s break down a few potential sleepers.
Garrett Richards, Los Angeles Angels (+5000 to win AL Cy Young)
Frankly, it’s easy to forget how good Garrett Richards is. The lanky right-hander emerged as the ace of the Angels’ staff back in 2014, but injuries have decimated his production over the last 2 years. In 2016 and 2017 combined, Richards was healthy enough to make a total of just 12 starts.
It’s a small sample size, but Richards was unsurprisingly excellent in his limited outings over the last couple of years. Richards had a 2.34 ERA across his 6 starts in 2016, and he lowered it to 2.28 in his 6 outings last season.
Richards is healthy entering 2018, so here’s hoping he can stay that way. The Angels haven’t made the official announcement as of this writing, but he’s on track to take the mound for the Halos on opening day in Oakland later this week. Richards was the opening day starter in Oakland last year, too, but he was forced to leave the game in the fifth inning due to biceps cramping. The injury wound up keeping him sidelined until September, but he was fortunately able to avoid Tommy John surgery.
Richards is still only 29, so there’s reason to believe he can still get back to being the pitcher we saw stay healthy throughout the 2014 and 2015 seasons. The Angels are expected by many to be one of baseball’s most improved squads this season, and they’ll be able to live up to those expectations if their rotation is able to stay intact.
Richards is one of the keys that can unlock this team’s potential. The Angels will be rolling with a 6-man starting rotation, which should help keep those starters fairly fresh throughout the campaign. Richards looked tremendous during the spring, consistently sitting in the upper-90s with his fastball and racking up plenty of strikeouts.
Richards has the stuff to be one of the league’s filthiest starters. Let’s hope he can stay healthy to prove it.
Richards makes for a tremendous value here at +5000 to win Cy.
Lance McCullers Jr, Houston Astros (+6600)
Speaking of health, let’s not forget that Lance McCullers Jr. was an All-Star last season for the Astros. He got off to a very strong start through the season’s first 3 months before the injury bug bit him. He dealt with a lingering back problem for much of the middle and end of the season before being healthy enough to contribute to the team’s World Series run.
When he’s been healthy, McCullers has shown that he can be torture on hitters. He owns arguably the league’s nastiest curveball, and he can consistently reach the upper-90s with his heater. McCullers has dealt with some control issues, but that’s fairly standard for a young pitcher. LMJ is still only 24.
McCullers has yet to make 22 starts in any of his 3 big league campaigns. Obviously, that’s a red flag. If he can stay relatively healthy, though, there’s no questioning his potential. Some have suggested that McCullers would project best in the long-term as a reliever, but he’s shown that he’s got ace stuff.
The Astros are one of the handful of World Series favorites again in 2018, so we can expect healthy representation from Houston once again at the All-Star Game and come awards season.
Despite being arguably the most talented hurler on the staff, McCullers actually has the fourth-best Cy Young odds on his own team. Justin Verlander (+800), Dallas Keuchel (+2000) and Gerrit Cole (+2000) are more likely to win AL Cy Young, per the odds.
That qualifies McCullers as a sleeper, my friends. He’s got what it takes, it’s just a matter of whether he can stay upright for the better part of the next 6 months.
Alex Wood, Los Angeles Dodgers (+5000)
Like the Astros, the Dodgers have quite a few high-upside pitchers capable of winning the Cy Young Award if everything goes right. Kershaw obviously tops the list, but Wood, Kenta Maeda and Rich Hill are all very solid veteran arms.
Wood is the one that has the most potential. He’s been around awhile, but he’s still just 27. He was something of a project with the Braves, but last season he turned in easily his finest big league campaign to date. Wood, who made the All-Star team, went 16-3 with a tidy 2.72 ERA during the regular season.
One concern with Wood is his longevity. He got off to a blazing start last season before he saw his velocity gradually begin to dip as the year went on. He didn’t see the same kind of positive results in August and September as he did in May and June.
Wood did find something in the playoffs though, as he pitched 7.2 innings while allowing just a single run across 2 outings against the Astros in the World Series. One of those was a perfect 2-inning relief outing in Game 7.
The Dodgers will be right back at the top of the NL West again this season barring some sort of injury catastrophe. The best part about being a guy like Wood is that the public’s expectations are more focused on the performance of a guy like Kershaw. Wood flew under the radar for most of last season despite being dominant for several months. He started the season 11-0 before anyone really noticed.
Wood is an elite groundball pitcher with tremendous strikeout potential, too. That’s a lethal combination, especially in a division that features a massive hitter’s parks like Coors Field.
I expect Wood to rebound from the sluggish end to his 2017 season and get right back into the mix this year.
Sean Manaea, Oakland Athletics (+15000)
Sean Manaea is not a household name, but he may be before too long. The A’s don’t have many players that would be familiar to the casual fan, and with good reason. It’s been years since this franchise has been relevant. Oakland hasn’t won more than 75 games in a season since 2014.
They unfortunately play in a division that looks stacked, but there’s reason for optimism with the 2018 bunch. This team is going to hit a ton of homers again in ‘18, and they have a few interesting young starting pitchers. Chief among those is Manaea, who made strong strides as last season went on.
The big lefty went 12-10 with a 4.37 ERA last year. Obviously, those numbers don’t really jump off the page. That said, the ERA is a bit skewed by a few brutal starts. He had a 5.18 ERA in the month of April, though a single start in which he was blasted by the Rangers is the primary reason the number is so high. Ditto for his unsightly 9.17 mark in August, which includes a start in which he lasted just ⅓ of an inning and surrendered 6 runs against the Orioles.
For the most part, he was a very serviceable arm for Oakland last year. He’s shown an ability to pitch deep into games, and he’s got decent strikeout numbers to this point. Walks have been an issue for him historically, which is obviously problematic. Again, though, he still just turned 26 in February.
This is more of an off-the-board play than anything else.
There’s massive profit potential on Manaea at +15000 if he figures it out this season.
The talent is there.
Taijuan Walker, Arizona Diamondbacks (+10000)
Manaea was our off-the-board pick to win the AL Cy Young, and we’ll roll with Taijuan Walker as our biggest sleeper on the National League side. Walker is a name we’ve known for years, as he was once one of the highest-rated prospects in the Mariners’ system.
He struggled with consistency during his time in Seattle, so the Ms decided to cut bait and traded him to Arizona prior to last season in the deal that sent Jean Segura to the Pacific Northwest. He didn’t exactly break out during his first year in the desert, but Walker still finished with a 9-9 record alongside a respectable 3.49 ERA.
Walker had some of the more drastic home/road splits in the majors last season. The big right-hander went 3-4 at Chase Field with a 4.18 ERA. On the road, he went 6-5 with a much more palatable 2.92 mark. Chase Field was one of baseball’s best hitting parks last season, so it’s not a surprise to see those numbers.
That may change this year. The Diamondbacks have decided to install a humidor at Chase Field this season. They’ll store the baseballs in the humidor, which is expected to have a dramatic impact on the way the ball flies. What was once a home run haven may now play like a more neutral yard.
While that’s bad news for a slugger like Paul Goldschmidt, it’s gotta be music to the ears of a pitcher like Walker. He has shown a quality mid-90s fastball, but the lack of a consistent secondary pitch has capped his upside to this point.
The humidor may actually help with that. According to Fangraphs, Walker’s slider and curveball each had far more success on the road last season. The two pitches combined to limit opposing hitters to an OPS of just .527 with a 25% K-BB ratio. At home, those pitches conceded an OPS of .928 with a K-BB ratio of just 9%. Those numbers are wild, but the humidor is designed to help pitchers get a better grip on the ball.
If Walker can harness those secondary pitches consistently, he’s going to be dangerous. Zack Greinke and Robbie Ray are the big-name pitchers on this staff, but don’t be surprised if Walker works his way into that conversation with a big 2018.
He is a very strong value to win the NL Cy Young at +10000.
The post MLB Betting – 5 Value Bets for the 2018 Cy Young Awards appeared first on GamblingSites.com.
Unibet Open announces two new partnerships
World Casino News
Unibet Open announces two new partnerships
Poker Night in America app updates ahead of new season launch
World Casino News
Poker Night in America app updates ahead of new season launch
Sunday, March 25, 2018
Prague Gaming Summit Second Edition to Commence on 29th March
CasinoGamesPro.com
Prague Gaming Summit Second Edition to Commence on 29th March
The last days of March are going to give the official start of Prague Gaming Summit 2018 which is one of the pivotal events in the gaming industry and on the radar of more and more businesses in the field. For the second consecutive year, this summit will take place in Prague, the Czech Republic […]
The post Prague Gaming Summit Second Edition to Commence on 29th March appeared first on CasinoGamesPro.com.
NetEnt AB goes back in time with new Hotline video slot
World Casino News
NetEnt AB goes back in time with new Hotline video slot
3 Mistakes Bitcoin Investors Make and How to Avoid Them
GamblingSites.com
3 Mistakes Bitcoin Investors Make and How to Avoid Them
Bitcoin has gone from leading a small, niche market to gaining mainstream fame. It’s this fame that has drawn many new investors to the cryptocurrency market.
Of course, it also doesn’t hurt matters that Bitcoin (BTC) hit an all-time high last December, reaching almost $20,000 per coin. Some investors have been dreaming about quick riches and lambos ever since.
But the problem is that many of these same people have no prior investing experience, and they make a number of rookie mistakes.
In this post, I’m going to discuss the three biggest mistakes that I see investors making with Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. I’ll also cover good investing techniques along with pitfalls like pump and dump groups.
1 – Investing More Money Than You Can Afford to Lose
The absolute biggest problem that I see in the cryptocurrency world is people putting more money into the market than they can afford.
This is far from a new thing, because many people make the same mistake when buying stocks. But it’s especially prevalent with BTC, because of all the success stories that have surfaced.
Here just a few of the headline grabbing stories that encourage people to invest more money in Bitcoin than they can afford:
Erik Finman took a $1,000 gift from his grandmother in 2014, then invested it into BTC. At age 19, he’s now worth $1.5 million. 50 Cent accepted $400k worth of Bitcoin for his album “Animal Ambition” in 2014. The rapper actually forgot about his BTC, only to later discover that it was worth $9 million in January 2018. Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss (of Facebook fame) invested $11 million into Bitcoin in 2011. Their investment peaked at over $1 billion in late 2017. An anonymous man who goes by the name “Mr. Smith” bought into BTC in 2010, when it cost just $0.15 per coin. He invested $3,000 into Bitcoin and is now worth $25 million today.These are just a few of the big stores that have come out ever since Bitcoin’s explosion.
Unfortunately, this has also convinced wannabe millionaires that they too can experience quick riches. And they often overinvest to the point where they can’t even cover their current bills.
This is a huge problem when considering Bitcoin’s volatility. In fact, BTC had seen a number of high and lows before gaining nearly 100% in value last December.
I’ve seen multiple people on Reddit discussing how they’re in trouble every time the market takes a big dip.
Given that BTC is highly volatile, you never want to invest so much that you’re worried about making next month’s rent.
And if you think that a $2,000 or $3,000 investment will soon make you a millionaire, just remember that the Bitcoin headline makers got into a crypto currency much earlier.
This isn’t to say that you won’t be successful with cryptocurrencies, but take a reasonable approach to putting money into the market.
Dollar Cost Averaging
A major reason why people invest too much into cryptocurrencies is because they have a fear of missing out (a.k.a. FOMO). This leads to continually pouring money into Bitcoin, until they finally have no more to invest.
Those who have this problem should seriously consider a concept called dollar cost averaging (DCA).
This is a common investing method where one buys a fixed amount of stocks/cryptocurrencies on a set schedule. DCA calls on you to purchase more when prices are low and less when prices are high.
Here’s an example of how DCA works:
You have $2,000 to invest into Bitcoin. You spread this out into equal $400 investments over four months. BTC is at $15,000 when you buy in Month 1. BTC is at $10,000 when you buy in Month 2. BTC is at $8,000 when you buy in Month 3. BTC is at $12,000 when you buy in Month 4. BTC is at $15,000 when you buy in Month 5.$400 gets you different amounts of Bitcoin each time, because the price jumps up and down every month. But Bitcoin’s average cost over the five months is $12,000 (60,000/5).
Based on the $2,000 you’ve invested, you now have 0.167 deci Bitcoin.
One benefit to DCA is that you don’t have to watch charts or stress over when to buy into a particular cryptocurrency. Instead, you simply buy in at the same point every week/month.
Another advantage is that you prevent yourself from FOMO and instead spread out your investment.
The downside is that you could miss chances to buy low since you’re not watching charts. But I still recommend that new Bitcoin investors try DCA to better manage their money.
2 – Buying at the Top
Another byproduct of FOMO involves buying near or at the top of a cryptocurrency’s ascension. Let me describe how this scenario often happens:
Bitcoin starts a big surge one day. Investors see that the coin is experiencing a 50% increase. They worry that BTC will continue increasing and get FOMO. They quickly invest. The coin continues rising to a 55% increase. But at this point, BTC starts on its way back down. Many investors don’t sell until the coin is worth less than they originally bought in for.One of the best rules for Bitcoin investing is to never buy deep into a successful run. After all, cryptocurrencies almost always see a “correction” after a big run.
The reason why is because cryptocurrencies receive an artificial spike when they’re hot. With many people investing due to FOMO, the big increase doesn’t usually represent a coin’s actual value.
This isn’t to say that cryptocurrencies don’t ever spike and stay high afterward. But you’re almost always in the right when you avoid buying later during a big increase.
Don’t Overreact to News
An old investment saying is to buy the rumor and sell the news. The idea here is that you get in early based on a rumor, then sell when the masses react to a favorable story.
But too many people do the opposite by ignoring the rumor and buying the news. Here’s an example:
I read a story that the Dallas Mavericks will accept Bitcoin next season. Obviously this is good news because the Mavericks are helping further mainstream adoption. The news story came out one hour ago. I rush to an exchange site and see that Bitcoin has increased 10% in value. I quickly buy BTC on Coinbase. Almost as soon as I buy, the price begins to drop. Other people knew about this rumor in advance and were ready to sell immediately.Sometimes the price doesn’t even wait for the news before it starts dropping. This is common when a coin’s founders state that a big announcement is coming, then savvy holders begin selling 2 to 3 days before the announcement.
These same people then wait until after the news is released and the price drops before buying back in. The end result is that they end up gaining a larger position through swing trading (i.e. lasting multiple days or weeks).
Don’t Day Trade
One more thing I’d like to touch upon in this section includes day trading Bitcoin.
Many beginners feel like this is a good idea, because they can take advantage of short term price fluctuations and end up with more coins.
But this is another area where I’ve seen countless Redittors complain about losing hundreds of coins through day trading. In fact, for every one person who’s bragging about their day trading success story, I see five more saying they’ll never try this again.
What people must realize is that day trading requires extensive skill and a lack of emotions. This differs from swing training, where you’re planning a single move for days or even weeks.
If you lose when swing trading, you’ve only lost a single trade. But bad day trading losses accumulate much quicker.
Another issue to worry about here is that you need a large amount of money to get started and be successful long term. The reason why is because even professional traders have daily losses and need to cover them.
I’m not saying that you can’t take a small percentage of your funds and day trade for entertainment. But don’t make 3-10 trades per day and expect to accumulate lots of Bitcoin.
3 – Failing to Spot Value in Cryptocurrencies Before Investing
Bitcoin has brought many people to cryptocurrency trading. But once people get into the crypto industry, they often diversify into other coins too.
This is a good strategy, especially if you’re investing in projects that you think have long term value. But there’s another side that involves people pouring money into risky altcoins.
An altcoin is anything outside of the main cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin, Ethereum, Bitcoin Cash, and Litecoin.
Investing in altcoins is a good decision if you’ve done your research and think that your holdings will have long term success. But the problem comes in when people invest without considering the value.
Some crypto projects have very little utility (a.k.a. shitcoins) and are doomed to fail. And these coins typically only get action from traders who think they can swing profits.
In these cases, you’re gambling that there’s somebody who’ll buy the coins for more than you paid. If you can’t find these people, then you’re left holding the bags as the coin decreases in value.
You can use a number of ways to find good cryptocurrencies outside of Bitcoin, but here are my personal steps for spotting good investments:
Look at news sites (e.g. CoinDesk.com, CoinTelegraph.com) and Reddit’s crypto section for recommendations. Do your own research on each recommendation. Look at the project’s white paper and see what the group is trying to accomplish. Look at the team behind the coin. Check the coin market cap to see if there’s room for growth. Check to see if the foundation has legitimate partnerships in place. Scour the coin’s sub Reddit to gauge its popularity.
Avoid Pump & Dump Groups
Pump and dump groups are investors who meet online and agree to “pump” a certain coin. In almost every case, the targets are little known altcoins that have low trading volume.
Their goal is to quickly cause a spike in a coin and attract other investors, who fall victim to FOMO. The pump and dump group sets a target price to sell their coin at, which leaves non group members holding the bags when the price starts plummeting.
Forming an organized group to pump and dump coins is illegal in regulated stock markets. But since governments are only in the beginning stages of cryptocurrency regulation, people are getting away with this.
From a legal perspective, you’re fine to pump and dump in the crypto market right now. But even with this being the case, you should avoid doing so.
The reason why is because most pump and dump groups are led by scammers who want to take advantage of the group itself. Here’s how this happens:
You join a pump and dump Facebook group. The group founders announce that they’re going to pump a specific coin at 12:00pm ET. The coin name isn’t released until noon, so that no group member has an early head start. The sell target for this unnamed coin is set at $5. You don’t have time to research the coin’s price history when it’s released, because the pump starts so quickly. You buy in at $10. Little do you know, the group founders and their closest circle started buying the coin at $1 before the pump. The price tops out at $17, before quickly crashing down. You’re left either selling your coin at a huge discount, or leaving your sell order up in hopes that the price surges in the future.As you can see, many pump and dump groups have a close inner circle with another agenda. Essentially, the idea is to scam outsiders who join the group.
This is yet another reason why you should avoid quick fixes to getting rich and focus on cryptos that you deem to be the most viable projects.
Consider Value Investing
The crypto currency market is still attached to what Bitcoin does. This is because Bitcoin still has the biggest brand name in the industry.
But it’s very possible that another rising coin, such as Ethereum, could overtake BTC at some point the future. In this case, the market will become untethered to Bitcoin’s every movement.
This is when you’ll want to be holding the most valuable long-term investments. And this is where value investing comes into play.
Value investing involves seeking cryptocurrencies that you think are undervalued when compared to the market. It’s actually rather easy to do this now, given what I mentioned about the market following Bitcoin’s movements.
Market cap (price x circulating supply) can be a great tool in determining if a coin is under or overvalued. Here’s an example of a crypto market cap:
Bitcoin is trading at $9,000 Circulating supply is 16,840,937 9,000 x 16,840,937 = $151,568,843,300,000 market capOf course, most coins don’t even come close to meeting Bitcoin’s market cap. Therefore, you’ll often be trying to evaluate many market caps at between $300 million and $3 billion.
If you see the potential for growth based on what the foundation is doing and believe in their team, then you can measure this against the current market cap and decide if the coin will increase.
Another aspect to value investing is looking for cryptocurrencies that offer a big enough discount. The reason why is because you want to allow for margin of error, given that you’re only estimating value.
If I see a cryptocurrency that has the potential to double its market cap versus one that may only grow 10%, then I’m going with the first one as it gives me far more room for error.
Finding value in cryptocurrencies is highly speculative, because few foundations actually have a working product right now. But there are definitely some investments that have great potential out there.
Here are a few of my non-Bitcoin favorites at the time of this post:
Ethereum (ETH) ICON (ICX) Lisk (LSK) Monero (XMR) NEO (NEO) OmiseGO (OMG) Stellar (XLM) Walton Chain (WTC) VeChain (VEN/VET)
Conclusion
Investing in Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies is certainly risky due to the high volatility, but this is also what’s bringing many people to the market.
Another thing that Bitcoin investors like is the fact that they’re early adopters.
Sure, BTC has been around since 2009. But many of the altcoins are new and offer people the chance to get in on the ground floor.
What will be the next Bitcoin? This is what numerous investors are trying to figure out by putting money into projects early.
But you definitely want to avoid the three common mistakes that I discussed here when doing so. To recap:
Avoid investing more than you can reasonably afford. Don’t fall victim to FOMO. Look for long term value.Above all, don’t be convinced that you must buy right away or you’ll miss out. We’re still very early in the cryptocurrency game, meaning you have plenty of time to research projects and make the right investments.
The post 3 Mistakes Bitcoin Investors Make and How to Avoid Them appeared first on GamblingSites.com.
Saturday, March 24, 2018
Golden Entertainment Incorporated inks estate-wide Synkros deal
World Casino News
Golden Entertainment Incorporated inks estate-wide Synkros deal
Macau Witnesses Record Surge of Visitor Arrivals in February
CasinoGamesPro.com
Macau Witnesses Record Surge of Visitor Arrivals in February
This February brought a positive change to the region of Macau when it comes to the rates of visitors interest demonstrated, as it was recently confirmed by reports on the arrivals over the span of last month. According to the information issued by the Macau Statistics and Census Service on Friday the month of February […]
The post Macau Witnesses Record Surge of Visitor Arrivals in February appeared first on CasinoGamesPro.com.
Mobile Gambling Is Steadily on the Rise
GamblingSites.com
Mobile Gambling Is Steadily on the Rise
With 2.3 billion smartphone users around the world, you’d have to expect that to be an appealing number for an online casino, sportsbook, or any other web or app-based business. That’s a huge potential customer base to target.
Even though online casinos launched back in 1996, the mobile revolution didn’t start to fly until 2011 when Apple allowed for gambling apps for its iPhones and iPads in the Apple Store and iTunes. The Google Play store was even more of a latecomer to the party.
Google Play just started an approval process for gambling apps in August of 2017, and only in their initial test markets of the United Kingdom, Ireland, and France.
Now that doesn’t mean that mobile betting hasn’t still been in the game. Even now, more sites are mobile compatible and accessible through a mobile browser rather than providing dedicated apps. But, it wasn’t until recently that the mobile version was worthwhile. The previous platforms carried just a small sampling of the full website’s collection.
But, these days, 50% seems to be the benchmark. You’ll find at least half of what the regular websites carry available on your smartphone and tablet. In some cases, you’ll even have access to nearly every game regardless of how you’re accessing the casino or book.
The Appeal of Mobile Gambling
In 2017, Statistica did some polling of mobile users around the globe and compiled a list of the most popular activities on tablets and smartphones.
The email service was number one for smartphone users with 59% of the respondents saying that, aside from communication, they use their phone for email more than anything else. Tablets are a different story as most people, like me, use them for watching videos or movies.
Some of the other smartphone activities included online shopping at 43%, and 35% chose online banking. Non-casino online gaming came in at 28% followed by dating site users at 17%.
Online gambling and betting are next with 10% for smartphone users and 5% for tablets. Now, that may not seem like an impressive number to you. But, if that percentage holds true for most people, then you’re looking at 10% of 2.32 billion or 2,320,000.
Keep in mind, too, that those are regular users. These are respondents that are saying that their number one activity on their smartphone is online gambling. That figure doesn’t include the 90% of the other people that may not consider online betting to be their top activity, but some of them still participate anyway.
Why Do so Many People Prefer Mobile Gambling?
Convenience
Smartphone use has been continuously rising for one primary reason – it’s convenient. Think about how often you have your phone right by your side. Or, how many times have you forgotten your phone and quickly realized how inconvenient it was to be without it?
It’s your trusty sidekick that gives you directions, allows you take and store photos, and lets you pull up a coupon while you’re standing in a checkout line. And, yes, it also opens the door to casinos and sportsbooks even if you don’t have a brick-and-mortar one within 100 miles of your home.
Great Way to Pass the Time
Do you remember how boring it could be to stand in line to get your driver’s license renewed or be held up at your bus or train stop after you just missed the last one? How about the wait in a doctor’s office? I’ve hit the 2 or 3 hour mark a few times and, let me tell you, it wasn’t all that much fun.
For many people, “waiting” now converts to “betting.” You can now study the odds from wherever you are with a mobile sportsbook that provides you with big, bold lines and touchscreen bet slip submission. If you like slots, you can pull up your favorite casino and play a few games until your name is called or your ride appears.
Boredom is a word used less and less these days when you’re armed with your good ol’ phone.
One Account – Multiple Ways to Use It
While you have convenient access to your phone, you also have the same luxury with your betting account. You could have set it up on your PC or laptop, but you have access no matter where you go. One login is all you need.
Unlike in-person gambling, betting sites don’t require you to cash out every time you leave. So, you can keep a credit balance running and then just pull up the casino or sportsbook and place your bets. You don’t have to worry about money transfers because you’re already pre-funded.
Wi-Fi Is Everywhere Now
Do you remember the “old” days when you would need to find a local Starbucks or other coffee shop to get a Wi-Fi signal, so you didn’t blow through your data? That’s certainly a thing of the past now, isn’t it?!
If you’re not on an unlimited data plan, you’re covered now anyway. Practically anywhere you go, you’re in range of a Wi-Fi signal. That includes grocery stores, airports, shopping centers, and even your local McDonald’s.
Without the worry of overusing your data, you’re more apt to give those reels a spin. The signals are also nowhere like they used to be, even a few years ago. You can get a strong signal through most free service areas, so you don’t have to stand on one foot and hold your phone in the air anymore.
Special Bonuses
Mobile player bonuses may not be all that common yet, but they are out there. I’ve seen more associated with mobile sports betting than with casino play. But, some sites just want their players to use their service on the go so they’ll entice them to give it a try.
When there is a dedicated mobile promotion, you can typically take advantage of it in addition to the standard rewards offered on the full site. It’s not an either/or situation so you can receive additional benefits from accepting them.
Free or Practice Play Is Available
I recognize that there are numerous apps out there today for casino gaming without any betting involved. There are social casinos, and they even allow 13-year-olds to get hooked on slots because there’s no real money betting.
These apps tend to feature pop-ups and other ads encouraging you to buy some extra spins along the way. You’re typically given an allotment each day and replenished every few hours. But, you’re not betting a few pennies or a few dollars, you’re staking hundreds of thousands of credits at a time. So, you can go through those freebies quickly and then be left without even a spin.
Many online casinos offer players a practice or demo play option. While you may still have to register an account, you aren’t required to bet any cash. You can try out the games without any financial commitment. It’s just like the social casinos, but you’re not typically cut off at a certain point. You can play longer and still not have to reach for your wallet.
Touchscreen
Instead of having to use your computer keyboard and mouse, mobile gambling allows you to use touchscreen play. In fact, many casino games are specially formatted for touchscreen use, so the user-interface is high quality and your chances of making a mistake are relatively low.
It can be a lot easier to play without a mouse, and it’s also gentler on your hands. I don’t know about you, but after a few hours, that mouse needs to go away for awhile.
Apps vs. Browser
I started out by saying that apps aren’t always available. I’m not even a fan of apps, but I know that many people are app-dedicated and don’t even like to go near their mobile browser.
Apple has already been in the gambling app game for more than 6 years now. Although Google Play didn’t allow gambling products in its store until 2017, that doesn’t mean that Android apps were entirely unavailable.
Some casinos have built their own versions, making them available through a download right from the website. So, while you won’t find every casino or sportsbook listed in the Apple or Google Play store, that doesn’t mean that a site doesn’t still provide an app.
The only real benefit to an app over the mobile browser version that I can identify anyway, is the quality of some. If a casino is taking the time to produce its own app and go through the extensive approval process, it’s more likely to add some bells and whistles that the mobile formatting lacks. You may find a better design or more straightforward navigation. The buttons may be larger, and the graphics could have enhanced resolution.
However, mobile formatting has also come a long way. Today’s mobile gambling sites are almost near identical replicas of the originals. If you only looked at the screen and not the equipment, you may not even be able to tell the difference in many cases.
As far as questioning whether to use an app versus a mobile site, it’s a matter of personal preference.
iOS vs. Android
Just as you may see a few minor variations between an app and a mobile formatted site, there are some differences between iOS and Android casinos and sportsbooks.
First of all, Android runs on an open-source platform, and Apple retains its source code. That means that depending on the Android device you use, your casino may not look like it would on another Android device. They’re not all the same.
iPhones and iPads may have a few subtle differences but, what you see on one iPhone will look the same on every other iPhone. The same goes for iPads. You get more consistency with Apple devices.
Also, you’ll most likely have a better experience through an iOS system as it has a higher rate of Frames per Second (FPS). That means your image quality will be sharper and loading may be a bit faster as well.
Just as it doesn’t matter if you use an app or a mobile browser, it’s not all that impactful if you choose an Android over an Apple or vice versa. Gambling providers are focusing on both of the “big guys” and are cranking out new apps and better mobile platforms for all users.
You see an increase in mobile gambling because casinos and sportsbooks are doing their best to accommodate all users regardless of their smartphone or tablet preference.
Sports vs. Casino
Are there more mobile sportsbooks or mobile casinos?
Today, nearly 100% of every online gambling operation converts over for mobile use.
It doesn’t matter if the site carries one or the other, or a combination of both, you should be able to find a quality mobile experience with at least half of the regular gaming options available to you on your smartphone or tablet.
Are there more mobile sports bettors or casino players?
When it comes to mobile versus online betting, the exact figures are still a bit fuzzy. Casino and sportsbook operators have just recently started doing more accurate tracking.
Based on an average of what’s being reported, though, 72% of online sports bettors use mobile books. Casino players run at 50-50.
So, even if the figures aren’t entirely accurate, you would have to assume that more sports bets are being made on the go.
It would make sense as sports punters don’t need to spend as much time placing their bets. They’re not sitting down at a table and buying virtual chips or hitting spin time and again to keep the reels in motion. They can submit a bet slip and call it a day as their next step is waiting for a result.
Because sports betting is becoming so mobile dominated, the big books, like William Hill, are doing more extensive research and putting a greater focus on their mobile services.
What Online Providers Are Doing to Up Their Game
While I did already mention that 2017’s figure suggested that there were 2.32 billion smartphone users in the world, I didn’t get into future projections, which show a steady rise. In 2018, 2.53 billion is the estimation with 2.71 billion in 2019.
Whenever a business is faced with an increase in use and popularity, its best move is to accommodate that trend. It’s apparent that online gambling providers are intent on doing just that.
There are three current focuses in the online gambling community:
Virtual reality gambling Live dealer games Mobile playMobile access to gambling services primarily relies on keeping up with technology. The site developers are taking advantage of innovations in mobile formatting as well as mobile payment options and app development.
The Software Giants
The services aren’t entirely in the hands of the individual sites, though. The gaming software developers like Microgaming, NetEnt, Playtech, Yggdrasil, and dozens of others also need to have a focus on mobile use, so their games transfer over flawlessly.
Remember, you’re dealing with a real money investment here so errors can’t be part of the equation. Every member of the online gambling team has to be on board with the mobile compatibility standards and offer as much of the regular casino or sportsbook as possible.
I would think that, within a few years, it won’t matter if you are sitting at your desktop computer or you’re standing in line with your phone in hand; you’ll probably soon have 100% of the betting options available regardless.
Other Mobile Considerations
In addition to providing more games, gambling operators are also looking at integrating more mobile payment options that can be used for easier funding of betting accounts.
Using services like Apple Pay makes it a lot easier as it’s a one-click process rather than inputting credit card numbers on a small screen.
Additionally, I’ve seen more information aside from the games being transferred over to mobile players.
Not all casinos or books have been providing all banking resources, promotional information, and terms and conditions for smartphone and tablet users. But, with the increase in popularity, the demand for a one-stop shop on a mobile device needs to be met.
Some players no longer want to use their PC or laptop. They’re looking for the entire service to be available regardless of their hardware choice.
Conclusion
Mobile gambling has huge growth potential.
In fact, there’s an 18.84% increase expected in mobile betting from now through 2021.
The reason that both online and mobile gambling has been proven to be so successful relies heavily on the younger population. The average age of a casino visitor is 48. But, online bettors are in the 35-year-old range, and mobile bettors are even younger at 32 years of age.
The younger the player is, the more likely he or she is to opt for a smartphone over a PC or laptop.
So, with smartphone use steadily climbing, a younger demographic to be targeted, and the incredible potential for casinos and sportsbooks to bring on more players, you can be sure that mobile gambling will continue its expansion and it may be even more significant than experts are anticipating.
The post Mobile Gambling Is Steadily on the Rise appeared first on GamblingSites.com.
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