Sport online

First of all, let’s explain the fundamental differences between Limit and No-Limit. In Limit Hold ‘em, you can only raise the amount of the big blind and most cardrooms and online poker rooms will cap the betting at 3 raises. In No-Limit Hold ‘em, the only betting rule is that the minimum be at least the size of the big blind. You can bet your whole stack if you want to.

Sure, it takes more knowledge, experience, and courage to play No-Limit (NL) well, but it will pay off for you if you play it right.

To get you started, the standard raise in NL is 3-4 times the big blind. After the flop, a good bet to make when you have a strong hand is about the size of the pot. If you’re looking for information on the flop, you might consider a bet of 1/3 to 1/2 the size of the pot. You also might consider making only a small bet if you’re holding a monster hand and want to get called. Or you could always check-raise in that situation. Also be aware that the value of drawing hands that play well in limit games like K-J suited goes way down in NL play. Better hands to have are big pocket pairs or suited connectors.

So, why is it better to play NL? Simple: It’s much easier to make a lot more money. Playing NL, you can afford to play only your strong hands. For example, in a two hour poker session you can play only one good hand and still make good money. You can more than double your stack on any given hand. In Limit poker, you have to constantly be winning pots to come out ahead. The blinds come around too quickly to sit on your hands. You have to work hard, play for a long time, and play your best game at all times to make good money at Limit poker.

Think about this: Most good poker authors will tell you that a good Limit player can expect to make about one big blind per hour. So, in other words, you can expect to make $10 an hour at a Limit $5/10 game if you play it right. On the other hand, if you buy-in for $500 at a $5/10 NL
game, go all-in on your first hand with pocket Aces, get called by one opponent with pocket Kings and he doesn’t improve, you’ve just won another $500 without breaking a sweat. That’s an average of 50 hours of Limit gameplay.

Also, you can make your drawing opponents always go against the odds. In NL, you control the pot odds that your opponent is getting. If you see two suited or connecting cards on the board, betting the size of the pot into one opponent will make them go against the odds to draw. Sure, they’re still going to hit their draws occasionally, but at least you made it a bad play for them to do so.

It takes the right personality to play at NL games. You can’t be timid, and you have to know how much to bet at the right times. If you can’t do that, then stick to Limit poker for now and come back to try NL if and when the time is right.

As a Limit player who converted to NL, I can tell you that it isn’t too difficult to adapt your game. I can also tell you that after I learned to play NL, I never sat down at another Limit table. You can also tell you that after I learned to play NL, I never sat down at another Limit table.]]>

Poker is great to watch on TV, it is about psychology and people more than it’s about the cards and so it attracts a large percentage of non-players. People love watching other people in real situations and poker is the latest reality TV craze.

The apparent simplicity of Texas Holdem draws the TV audience and holds them, like all great games and sports it is incredibly simple to understand but extremely difficult to master. Everyone from teenagers to grannies can work out the basics - three of something beats two of them! It is only a short step to fill in the other hands on the ranking table.

TV Texas Holdem also has a very powerful addictiveness about it. Very quickly you will start to like some players more than others, in some cases people will become fans of certain players and follow their progress. If you start watching early on in a tournament, poker has the ability to hold the attention in such a way that you need to stick with it until the end to see who wins.

OK you’re asking, but how will that make me wealthy?

Well, remember all of these non-players who start watching poker on the TV and get hooked by it’s sheer entertainment value? Very soon some of them will be saying the four little magic words to themselves, the four words that will make you money.

‘I can do that!’

Yes of course they want to join in. After all it looks so easy when the professionals raise all-in with a Jack high and steal the pot on a complete bluff against two pairs. What they don’t realise is that it takes years of practise to develop the instinct to know when they can bluff like that. The other point they miss is that TV will edit out the majority of hands and will give a distorted view of the play, it will look like these big bluffs can be pulled off every two or three hands!

Position is of course the other great unknown to the new player. Again to create a more exciting spectacle for the viewer, there is a disproportionate amount of heads up play shown on TV. The non-player absorbs this and takes two false impressions from it, one that you should see the flop almost every hand, and secondly that a good heads up hand is a good hand in any circumstance.

So along come these rookies to the internet tables, full of hope and expectation. They have watched Phil Hellmuth take a big heads up pot with pocket Queen Seven and think it is OK to call with it when first to play in a 10 player tournament.

This is very good news for you if you have played internet Texas Holdem poker for any length of time at all. All these novices entering the arena on a daily basis eager to try out the new found skills that they have learned from the TV means rich pickings for you.

And it’s not going to stop anytime soon. TV poker coverage is getting bigger all the time, and every time Texas Holdem is shown, another new ‘expert’ is born!]]>

Fire Making

Imagine slipping into a stream and soaking everything with you, when you are more than a day from the nearest road and it’s below freezing out. What would you do? Start a fire, of course, but can you?

Always carry waterproof matches, and practice starting a fire in the cold BEFORE you go winter backpacking. Learn which tinders work even when wet. Birch bark, for example, will burn when wet, and so will sap from pines and spruces. You may have only minutes before your fingers get too cold to function, so speed is of the essence.

Winter Backpacking - Survival Shelters

You’ll probably have a tent with you, but you still may want to learn shelter building using snow blocks. Sometimes you can stomp out blocks without tools, using your feet, and then liff them from beneath. Just play around in your backyard until you get the hang of it. In an emergency, or if the weather turns extremely cold, you may want to put your tent behind a wall of snow blocks, to stop the wind.

If it isn’t raining, a quick survival shelter for warmth is a pile of dry leaves, grass, braken ferns or other plants. I once collected enough dried grass from a frozen swamp in thirty minutes to make a pile several feet thick. I slept warmly in the middle of it (half the insulating grass above, half below) with just a jacket, despite below freezing temperatures.

Staying Dry

You can be wet and warm when it far below freezing, as long as you are active. The moment you stop moving, however, you start to lose your body heat. Once you get chilled through, it is difficult to get warm again. Hypothermia (a lowered body temperature) kills many people every year.

If you get wet, try to get dry before you go to sleep. Put dry clothes on if you have them, and use a fire to dry any wet clothes. Earlier in the day, you may be able to hang damp clothes on your pack to dry in the sun. Often when it is coldest, the air is dryer.

Try not to sweat. Adjust your layers, removing and adding shirts, sweaters and jackets as necessary to keep from getting too hot or too cold. Sweat, and clothes damp with sweat, will cause you to lose body heat fast once you stop moving. Stay dry to stay warm.

There are many other cold weather survival skills that you may want to learn. (You can generate heat by eating fatty foods, for example.) You don’t need to know hundreds of skills and techniques, but why not learn a few basics, like the ones above, before your next winter backpacking trip?]]>

Successful fishing requires knowledge of various types of fishing gear, tackle, and an understanding of the quarry. Fish have a variety of feeding habits, behavioral patterns, etc. and these characteristics influence how to go about fishing for them.

Traditionally, men learned how to fish when they were boys from fathers and grandfathers. Even if this training was lacking, it’s no big deal for a guy to hang out with other guys who enjoy fishing and learn the ropes from them.

For a woman, though, the process is apt to be somewhat more difficult. In my family of all girls, we learned the thrill of fishing as children from our father. Fortunately for us, our dad was an “equal-opportunity” fisherman…and he was a very patient man.

We learned to bait our own hooks, remove fish from the line, and clean the fish as well. We were rewarded with many an enjoyable Sunday on the lake competing for top family fishing honors of who caught the most and the biggest fish.

For women who weren’t brought up fishing as I was, all is certainly not lost. Although learning from a boyfriend or spouse is not out of the question, a significant other may not be the best place to get your first fishing pointers.

Your honey may not have the patience that you will need to learn proper fishing technique and he may be a bit condescending as well…not exactly conducive to an enjoyable learning experience.

Try instead local women’s fishing clubs. Check online for groups in your area that are specifically organized by and for women. Many groups are primarily centered on fly-fishing but not all are.

Also see if your community college or local university offers any fishing courses. Often fishing classes are offered in the adult education, physical education or recreation departments.

Of course, you can also start at your local library, checking out books on fishing and learning a few basic techniques that way.

Your local fishing outfitter or marina may have more information as well and would also be a good place for information and to network with other fishing women.

Another option is to go online and search for websites catering to women and the outdoors or, more specifically, women and fishing. One such website is www.ladiesletsgofishing.com.

Founded by Betty Bauman of Ft. Lauderdale, FL in 1997, LLGF “promotes networking among women anglers and emphasizes mentorship between novice and experienced members.”

Other groups, both national and state, promote fishing for women. There are seminars, fishing adventures and special fishing events scheduled year-round in many areas of the country which are organized especially for women anglers.

Yet another reason fishing is a great hobby for women is because beginning your fishing experiences need not be prohibitively expensive. Especially when compared to other hobbies, start-up costs for spin or bait-casting fishing equipment are not tremendously high. Generally speaking, $200 or less can buy more than enough basic quality fishing gear for a beginner to get started. To start up a fly-fishing hobby will cost a bit more as the gear tends to be more expensive.

This, of course, doesn’t include a boat! But, many fishing locations can be reached without a boat. Again, do your research to find areas accessible by car.

More women should consider fishing for an enjoyable and challenging hobby. Learning the basics of fishing is easy but perfecting those angling skills can take many hours of sometimes peaceful and sometimes extremely exciting time at the other end of a line.]]>

Ok – first of all, no one is that great of a fantasy football player. We all have strokes of luck and strokes of flub. That is just the way the game works. Some of the best players can get injured at any given time and a player that went undrafted in most leagues can end up being a top-tier player at the end of the season. The key to winning fantasy football is to keep current with all the news, injuries, updates, etc. and to use the damn waiver wire!…oh yeah, and having a whole lot of luck doesn’t hurt either.
Now that I have that out of the way, I guess it is safe to say at this point it is quite certain that men and women both have an equal chance of winning their respective leagues as long as they know what they are doing. But, who knows how to do it better and why? That’s the key question.
We all know that there are significant differences between men and women, right? Of course! So, I began to think: maybe it is these key differences that give women the edge when it comes to fantasy football.
Maybe I should explain myself….
1. Details, details, details! Any women can tell you just about anything about their children. I mean come on, she knows the date and times of doctors appointments that are six weeks away, last years romances, best friends, favorite foods, secret fears and hopes and dreams. This is what we are good at fellas! Now, on the other hand, a man is vaguely aware of some short people living in their house. Because of this astute attention to detail, we remember such minute things as this being the same day three years ago Joe Blow’s mother passed away and we should take that fact into consideration when picking our starting line-up as he will probably be in a sullen mood.
Still with me? Here’s another example.
2. Shop ‘til we drop! There probably isn’t a woman in the world that doesn’t like to shop. To shop (and shop well) requires patience, time-management and a whole lot of stamina. Women can go an entire day forgoing food and water when shopping is involved. This attribute can help us in everything from preparing our cheat sheets for the draft to waking up at dawn on Sunday mornings to check the injury reports.
3. Outlook on Marriage. We have all read the popular saying: “A woman marries a man expecting he will change, but he doesn’t. A man marries a woman expecting that she won’t change and she does.” Guys! Wake up! This is how you view your fantasy players as well. You hope and pray that they won’t change but, inevitably, they do. All I hear from men is “Never bench a stud!” I’m calling the BS flag on that one. Has Peyton Manning really been that much of a stud this year? I can think of a couple times that I would have benched him for his brother. But, maybe that’s just my womanly instinct talking.
4. Strive for a bargain! I have memories of sitting with my mom cutting out measly little thirty cent coupons from the Sunday paper. Anything to save a few bucks, right? Well, in fantasy football trading the same concept applies. Trading can be one of the most lucrative opportunities that a fantasy football owner has. One trade can make or break your team. No one can argue with that. Because of this innate need to conserve, women will take the stamina we learned from shopping and our immeasurable attention to detail to work out the best trade possible.
And the most undisputed reason that gives women an edge at fantasy football:
5. Sex is a weapon. Like it or not, boys, the mere fact that I am a sexy woman who loves football drives you crazy. I have received countless Instant Messages and emails from men that have NOTHING to do with football. And all these men have been members of the same forums as I. It must be in your jeans, err, I mean genes. I am not telling you this because I do not like it. I mean, come on, what woman doesn’t like attention? What I am saying though is - BEWARE - I will use this against you to work out trades, to find out your next strategy and anything else I might deem useful. Sorry to break it to you like that but, I am a woman and we are all conniving to some degree.
There are countless other attributes that we women have that I could include in this list. But, I think you all have suffered enough.]]>

Women’s golf has been become extremely popular over the past few years and there are currently as many professional women golfers as there are men. Golf equipment companies have also recognized the amount of women interested in the sport and have customized many pieces of golf equipment including golf clubs, drivers and golf bags to be more comfortable for women. You can also have your own golf equipment custom-made; making golfing more comfortable and efficient for women since men’s clubs were often to big. These are just a few of the steps which have been taken to welcome women into the world of golf and ensure that they are comfortable and treated as equally as possible.

Women’s golf associations such as the LPGA have also contributed to the popularity of women’s golf and given women the respect they deserve. Women golfers are now featured in Golf Digest magazine, Golf for Women and a number of other magazines dedicated strictly to women’s golf. Videos and TV shows are also contributing to the popularity of this sport and giving women the “drive” they need to pursue careers in this field.

It was not until earlier this year, that women’s golf took a leaping step in the right direction when professional golfer and top LPGA player, Annika Sorenstam was told she could play against the men in a PGA tournament. Many people predicted how they thought Sorenstam would do when she teed-off against some of the best male golfers in the world. Some people had positive encouragement to contribute while others were chauvinistic and down-right rude.

Phil Mickelson, 2nd in the overall moneymaking standings last year, had no problem playing against a woman and claimed that he thought Sorenstam would end up 20th overall, when she predicted herself to be 28th. Other golf professionals were not so eager to give Sorenstam the benefit of the doubt. Vijah Singh actually resigned from the tournament because he felt he could not play with a women. He claimed that Sorenstam simply “did not belong” in a men’s tournament.

Nonetheless, having a woman play in the PGA, even for a short while, was a huge accomplishment which could potentially pave the road for future development in women’s golf.]]>

The World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) is the major powerhouse of professional wrestling where athletes aim for the ultimate stardom as they compete in the sport’s largest organization. In America, there are number of wrestling schools that train athletes to perfect and excel in the art of the wrestling sport, its maneuvers and also they even may help in providing placements for their most talented performers. The aspiring wannabe wrestlers that are interested in getting trained for professional wrestling usually call up the organization that they eventually hope to work for, such as WWE or any other top notch organization, and ask for a list of wrestling schools endorsed by the wrestling major, and athletes may benefit from attending the recommended wrestling school so that they improve their chances of reaching stardom of being a wrestling superstar. The wrestling superstars are nothing but a combination of gymnastic moves, extensive training and dedication bundled with muscular structure and poise. On every occasion, it is the responsibility of the performing athletes to provide a quality performance that reminisces as “one” in the minds of their diehard fans who will enjoy until the last minute. To garner even more excitement, the best part of the wrestling industry, the annual super bowl of wrestling as it is known, also known as the Wrestle mania, is held as a live pay-per-view event each year. It is undeniably a visual treat for fans and a test of skill to the wrestling superstars. Wrestle mania offers some of the wildest, most exciting events of the year.

It is a pricey affair to get trained at wrestling training centers, and time being inversely proportional to the training tutored the skill level, the more you are skilled the lesser training and vice versa. It will be an amateur wrestler that would be spending more on wrestling training when compared to an intermediate or advanced athlete. In training sessions, the series exercises or programs include basic and advanced classes of weight training; workout regimens, diet regimens and actual ring practices that make these training sessions simulate the real-time wrestling environment. The schedules are demanding and the tasks exhausting, but training centers offer the best look at what a wrestling lifestyle is all about.

For other avid individuals that prefer just to watch and not be a part of wrestling, love to enjoy but not willing to be part of the action, the best seat are in the house sidelines. Televised tapings are held throughout the country with visits to stadiums and venues in almost every state. In addition, autograph events are frequently held in order to allow fans to meet their favorite-wrestling superstars in person.]]>

The next WWE wrestling tryout/training session will be held in Hidalgo, Texas. In order to be considered, interested parties must submit an application online. This brief questionnaire requires the entrant to provide his/her general information such as name, address and telephone number. In addition, a date of birth, height, years of wrestling experience and a brief explanation of why he/she should be the next WWE superstar must be provided. Along with the application, the entrant will be asked to upload two images of themselves, which must be in a JPG format and may not exceed 200kb per photo.

Along with the online application, wrestling hopefuls must provide a DVD/VHS compatible audition tape to be viewed by WWE’s talent department. However, each entrant must also print and sign a ‘Submission Release Letter,’ which is provided at wwe.com. This letter must be signed and submitted along with the audition video in order to it to be accepted.

For additional information on WWE Tryouts and new wrestling superstars, individuals are urged to visit http://www.wwe.com and click on the ‘Tryouts’ link, which is located in the far left column. Many new WWE talents will appear for live and televised events on an occasional basis while others will become instant superstars. A rigorous workout regimen, travel schedule and exhausting competitions are all a part of the wrestling lifestyle. In addition to that, cheering fans, impressive merchandising and tons of autograph requests are among the upside to the media attention that comes with professional wrestling.

For those who maintain a lifelong dedication to wrestling, there may be a hall of fame induction in their future. As is the case with WWE Superstar Brett Hart, many of the industry’s legends will be forever celebrated in the hall of fame. While there is no guarantee as to any career or how long it will last, many are taking their chance at becoming the next wrestling superstar and the first step is to audition.]]>

NEW YORK — After several months of uncertainty, Alex Rodriguez has decided that he will participate in the World Baseball Classic, and that he will do so wearing a Team USA uniform.

The WBC saga of the reigning American League MVP came to a somewhat surprising conclusion on Tuesday night, as Rodriguez announced on his Web site that he would represent the U.S. in the inaugural tournament. “Following discussion with my family and agent, the Commissioner, and the Major League Baseball Players Association, I have decided to participate in the World Baseball Classic,” Rodriguez said in a statement on AROD.com. “In recent weeks, following dialogue with caring friends and players, both Dominican and American, I reached the conclusion that if I played in the Classic, I would play for the United States and honor my American citizenship.

“I appreciate the support and understanding of my fellow Dominican players and friends who aided me in making this decision,” he added. “The World Baseball Classic offers baseball and its fans an exciting new forum and I look forward, if selected, to representing the United States in what will be baseball’s greatest international competition.” In mid-December, Rodriguez said that he was leaning toward representing the Dominican Republic, which would have been his right because of his parents’ citizenship in that country. Just days later, he changed his mind, saying that he would skip the event altogether as not to offend either the Dominican Republic or the U.S. MLB and union officials lobbied the Yankees’ third baseman over the past few weeks, trying to convince him to play in the event.

Earlier in the day on Tuesday, it appeared that Rodriguez would stand by his plan to sit out the tournament, even though the Dominican Republic had placed him on its provisional roster on Monday. USA Baseball was prepared to leave A-Rod off its roster, as union officials informed the U.S. that Rodriguez planned to skip the WBC. But as the day went on, Rodriguez changed his mind, ultimately deciding to represent his home country along with teammates Derek Jeter, Johnny Damon and Al Leiter.

Rodriguez is one of 52 players on Team USA’s provisional roster, a list that includes four other third basemen: Eric Chavez, Morgan Ensberg, Chipper Jones and David Wright.

“He’s one of the best players in the game,” said Paul Seiler, USA Baseball’s executive director and chief executive, of Rodriguez. “We’ll be thrilled to have him on our team.”]]>

copyright 2004 AlphaHorse

In the dating world many men and women put their potential partners to a “dog test,” whereby they introduce their date to their dog and see how the dog reacts to the stranger. If the dog reacts badly towards their date then a red flag is waved, whereas if the dog accepts the stranger instantly the opposite holds true. While many people look upon this test in a tongue-in-cheek manner, many dog owners actually do take it seriously. As they probably should!

Many animals, including horses, possess an uncanny ability to detect emotion as well as the inner nature of an individual. Whereas you may be able to slap a forced smile on your face and hide powerful negative emotions such as stress or anger from fellow humans, you won’t find it as easy to fool a horse! In fact I consider horses to be natural truth detectors due to their ability to read a person’s emotional state as well as their sincerity when it comes to a love for equines.

If one of my naturally friendly horses takes an instant dislike to someone out of the blue, 9 times out of 10 I’m going to respect my equine partner’s instincts. Horses generally do not possess vendettas or have reason to target anyone for no real reason – they tend to call them as they see them. If a horse usually takes a liking to visitors but holds a sudden aversion to one in particular, clearly the horse sees or detects something that I may not have initially caught.

When a horse enjoys your company, you’ll know it. When a horse trusts you, you’ll know it. And when a horse actually dislikes you, he will make sure you know it. I often state that the world would be a much better place if people were as brutally honest as horses. But I digress…

A proficient horseman at work should be cool, calm and collected, three essential qualities to maximize the productivity of a training session as well as create an all-around positive aura over human-horse interactions. Keep in mind that you are the horse’s leader, and as such the horse will take his cues from you. If you are agitated the horse will recognize something is wrong and either feel you are angry with him or you are annoyed with something else he cannot detect but probably should be also be concerned about. The horse will not be able to focus on the lesson or your requests well at all, nor will he be able to draw strength from you when he becomes concerned about a foreign object or behavioral request.

It is essential that you try not to visit or work with your horse when you are in a negative frame of mind since these undesirable emotions will disturb your equine partner. Try to take a few minutes, or even hours if necessary, to collect your emotions and clear your mind of life’s daily irritants.

When we see a loved one is feeling down, it often puts a damper on our day too since negativity tends to breed negativity. The same will happen with your horse, so do not underestimate your horse’s ability to detect your feelings.]]>