The Winning Room
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If you are a gambler, and you enjoy sports, chances are you’ve bet on football at some time in your life. If you love football, and you have never played fantasy football, you’ll want to check into this fun and unique way to gamble on your favorite sport that doesn’t involve a bookie.

The popularity of fantasy football has exploded in the past five years. Over 15 million Americans play this amazing game today. Newsstands are littered with magazines about the game, and if you search “fantasy football” on the Internet, hundreds of pages will pop up, with thousands of web sites, dedicated to providing information on how to play and statistics that will arm you with the tools for success.

The fun really begins, though, when you join a league, and you play against others week to week. Now, to get your gambling fix, you can play a variety of ways. First, most leagues have an entry fee to cover running the league (a few parties are always in order) and to create a prize fund. There is one Internet league called the Fantasy Football World Series that offers the winner $250,000. But you don’t need the Internet to feed your hunger for football or gambling.

Just find ten or eleven other gamblers, start your own league, and toss in fifty to one hundred dollars toward the prize fund. Voila, you’ve got $500 to $1,000 dollars to compete for. Now, if this isn’t enough, simply add a weekly pool into the mix. Get others in the league to throw in an extra ten to twenty dollars, and give the money to the team that scores the most points each week. If you’re creative, you can come up with many ways to bet on your fantasy football team.

Now, if you’re a real gambler, imagine paying one million dollars to join a fantasy football league. Your league has 16 teams, and it has added to the prize fund, through some investments over a ten-year span. Your league commissioner tells you that this season you are playing for a winner-take-all, lottery-sized prize of $30 million. All you have to do is select the best players in the NFL and win your fantasy football league. Are you trying to figure out the best way to increase your team’s advantage? Are dollar signs dancing through your head? What might someone, desperate to win, do to assure himself victory each week?

Want to find out how millionaire gamblers play fantasy football? Read The League — the only work of fiction every published about fantasy football. Learn more today at www.sportsnovels.com. Then, quench your own gambling thirst by joining a fantasy football league of your own. Unlike the members of The League, you don’t have to play for millions to have fun.

Mark Barnes is the author of the new novel, The League, the first work of fiction, based on fantasy football. Learn more about this suspense thriller and Mark’s other work at http://www.sportsnovels.com

The first time I was asked to play poker, I had to confess I didn’t have a clue about it. Then after my poker-savvy friend who extended the invitation explained the rules to me, I thought, “Ah-ha! I now know that I will never, ever learn to play poker, and all of my friends just want me to lose my money.” However, I eventually discovered that poker is not impossible to learn, and furthermore, online poker and Internet casinos are fun!

Wondering what the rules are? Fortunately, Internet casinos have the same rules for online poker as you would play around your kitchen table. The two most popular poker games are Seven-Card Stud and Texas Hold ‘Em. In both varieties you choose the five cards that represent your hand, and the highest ranking hand wins. Sounds simple, right? Well, before you head off to those Internet casinos, let’s discuss the ranks.

Basically, there are ten possible hands. Here they are from highest to lowest:

1. Royal Flush: Five cards of the same suit in order from ten to ace (10, J, Q, K, A). If you have a royal flush, bet the House!

2. Straight Flush: Five cards of the same suit in order, but not necessarily the highest. A straight flush can be 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6; as long as it’s five in a row.

3. Four of a Kind: Four of the same value cards in any suit (four sevens, four queens, etc).

4. Full House: Three of one value card and two of another, any suit.

5. Flush: Five cards of the same suit, order doesn’t matter.

6. Straight: Five cards in ranking order, regardless of suit.

7. Three of a Kind: Three matching value cards, any suit (three fives, three aces).

8. Two Pair: Just like it sounds: two of one card, two of another, any suit.

9. Pair: Two matching cards.

10. High Card: If no one else in the game has any of the above combinations, the person with the highest card in their hand (Ace being the best) wins.

In Seven-Card Stud online poker, each player is dealt seven cards and chooses the best five to make their betting hand. With Texas Hold ‘Em, the Internet casino holds two cards in the “center” of the game, which each player can use in conjunction with their five dealt cards to make the best possible five-card combination. It can be a lot of fun to construct your poker hand once you learn the ranking orderand like me, you will find out that poker isn’t as hard as you think! Here’s a hint: keep a printed list of the rank of hands beside you while you visit the Internet casino. Nobody else can see you using it!

Adel Awwad is the webmaster of Online Casinos – Copyright © 2005 www.casinoguide.ws 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.

Video poker is a combination of slot machines and the poker game. Though the game uses the help of technology, it remains the original poker game in essence. The game is a man versus machine battle. Here, the poker player is playing against the terminal rather than opposing players. However, the ultimate goal remains the same.

An easy and agreeable game, video poker is very popular among people of every age. The number of video poker games in casinos has grown at a significant rate. The number of game varieties also has grown remarkably. Multiple-game casinos even have different video poker on a single machine. Theses machines can accommodate more than five players at a time. The tremendous growth of online video poker games provides the player with endless choices. In fact, many people prefer playing against machines rather than against the unpredictable man. The tremendous growth of video poker games can be accounted to these factors.

In comparison to other slot games, video poker is a little different. The player needs to hit the other high-paying hand to cash out as a winner. Ninety-five to 100% return of the money played is assured to the player in most of the video poker games. However, there is a 5% chance of losing the money, which can be decisive in many cases. This is because people are inclined not to play just one hand.

A player cannot expect all his/her winning chances to be converted into money. Apart from a proper understanding of the game, one needs to develop his/her own way to succeed. Although it does not take long to learn the game, selection of the game and position are very important.