Blackjack Games

Blackjack’s a great game, however, from time to time any game can benefit from being spiced up a little. Just look at all the poker variations that are out there, invented pretty much by typical home players looking for a different way to lose next week’s alcohol money to their scheming friends. And while you might not find these available for play at your local neighborhood casino, blackjack online offers it’s fair share of “variations”, as well. Some are a different way to play, and some simply piggyback on the standard rules of play, elaborating with opportunities to bet on something outside your cards alone. Let’s take a look at some, call them what you like.

- Here’s a side bet option. The player gains the ability to wager the first two cards in his hand will be of the same suit. Odds are 3:1 on the payout. If the lucky player makes this wager and the King and Queen, or Queen and Jack come up of the same suit, the odds are 10:1 and 8:1 on the payouts.

- Staying with the suit bets, instead of waging on your cards, this one allows you to gamble online as to whether the dealers’ up card will be red or black…you can put your bet in the corresponding R or B area. Odds are just a one to one return, and the dealer takes an automatic win if his up card is a deuce.

- Spanish 21 (This one does have an official name) - Up to eight decks used, but no fewer than six. The strategy requires adjusting because 10’s are eliminated from the deck (increasing the difficulty for the player). Other basic changes (ones that actually do benefit the player): Getting 21 is a guaranteed winner (no ties with dealer), and blackjack is a guaranteed winner. Other general rules apply regarding doubling, splitting, surrendering, hitting, etc… Now for the extras: Suited bet odds pay two to one. If that suit is spades, the payout is three to one, and, get this, if you have three sevens against the dealer’s seven up card, you’re cashing in a cool grand.

- Lastly (for now), a straight switch game from golden casino. We used to do this playing home games of Caribbean Stud, but it definitely works well for blackjack. Each player gets two hands to work with, same bet for each. Everything remains separated except the second dealt card, which you can switch between hands. However, the dealer won’t give up this advantage without implementing one of his own. So, if you think the dealer’s busted on this one, be careful. A dealer 22 is actually going to push, no matter what you end up with.

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Posted in Blackjack Online

MLB Spring Training Bets

With MLB Spring Training kicking into full gear and no steroids visibly in sight, let’s keep the early season assessments and predictions going with a trip over to the NL West…or as many might see it, Manny Ramirez, Brandon Webb and then some other players, and I think a couple other teams, as well.

All joking aside, you have to lean toward the Dodgers here when thinking about your baseball betting plans. As unfortunate as it is to see them as the team to beat in this division before the season even starts, it’s the smart pick. Current MLB baseball odds put them fourth at 5/1 to win the National League pennant, behind the Cubs, Phillies and Mets. Those are fair odds, but given that the Cubs are the Cubs, the Phillies were a fluke (trust me) and the Mets always seem to be one bout of tendonitis away from not making the playoffs, I strongly recommend the Dodgers as a consideration when placing your bets. No doubt Manny will be Manny, but he never seems to be Manny during the playoffs, he always just seems to be a hitting machine…which is the good part of Manny.

The one area where I’ll concede bears close attention is starting pitching. With Chad Billingsley, Hiroki Kuroda, Clayton Kershaw, Randy Wolf and Jason Schmidt penciled in as the 1-5, my eyebrows are significantly raised, and for the Dodgers’ sake, I hope they consider adding at least one more name to the mix if they’re still fighting for positioning after the all-star break. In fact, I much prefer the D-Backs rotation, anchored by Webb, Haren and an always sporadic Jon Garland.

Speaking of the Diamondback, they aren’t far behind, with mlb baseball odds sitting at 13/2 to win the NL, only one spot lower on the chart than Los Angeles. I think in the end it’ll be a close race, could go either way and one of these teams could land the wild card spot. I think the Dodgers have the clutch play and veteran talent, while I prefer the Diamondbacks balance and starting pitching.

Of course, it’ll be nice when the World Baseball Classic is just over with already, so we can all get back to assessing the talent on these teams as a whole before the start of the season. The games might not count for the pro’s, but as far as our nascar betting bankrolls, we need to see these guys play. They’re trying out for us just as much as they’re trying out for shortstop.

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Posted in Baseball

Phil Hellmuth Biography

Phil Hellmuth is the most recognized poker player around the world and has seen more television time over the years then any other poker player as well. The reason the camera always seems to be glued on Phil Hellmuth is because of his crazy and unexpected antics at the table which entertain everyone. You either love or hate Phil Hellmuth, but one thing that is clear is that most of us can’t get enough of how Phil acts at the poker table.

Phil wasn’t always playing poker online and in fact he was attending the University of Wisconsin for three years before dropping out to become a professional poker player. His father wasn’t impressed with this decision as his father is very well educated and thought that Phil could amount to much more then a lowly poker player. At the time this was probably smart because when Phil left university to play poker it was nothing like it is today and the prize pools we’re much smaller.

Phil was born in 1964 in Madison, Wisconsin, but has since moved away from there and now calls Palo Alto, California home. I guess the cold winters in Wisconsin got to Phil as a child as he now lives in one of the warmest cities in the world. Phil has amassed quite the stat sheet over his poker career and he holds the record for the most WSOP gold bracelets at 11. Phil has won almost $5 million through WSOP events which puts him near the top of the leaderboard, but not at the top due to the recent years where the main event has paid more then Phil’s careers earnings.

Phil doesn’t limit himself to WSOP Poker Tournament events though and he has won money in many of the other poker events as well as online where he plays on Ultimate Bet. Phil is also very business minded and has moved into many other sectors of business because of his poker popularity. He is known as the Poker Brat and he’s taking his fame and started his own clothing company which sells Poker Brat clothing. Phil also hosts televised events and plays in many televised events as well. He also has written books, appeared on videos and has his own cell phone games and video games.

There isn’t any other poker player that has taken there poker fame to the next level like Phil Hellmuth has and he is just getting started if you ask me. His goal is to become the best poker player of all-time and although he probably already is he’s going to need to win some more main events in his career if he wants to remain the best player in the world. With young players starting to play poker at an exceptional rate I can only imagine how good some of these young players are becoming.

Phil also has a wife and two kids to worry about though and this has taken some of his time away from the online pocker tables. I praise Phil for spending time with his family though and would never want to see poker become more important to him then his family is.

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Posted in Poker