Thursday, July 30, 2009

Bluffing is twice as tricky in online poker gambling

Bluff: verb: a: to deter or frighten by pretense or a mere show of strength b: deceive c: feign. That is more of the formal definition of bluff. But if you talk about bluff in online poker gambling, to bluff is to bet or raise with a hand that will fold enough better hands to be profitable.

A player bluffs in online poker to make the other players believe the he has a dominant hand over them, thus they would be forced to fold giving the player a greater chance of winning. Bluff is one of the key strategies in playing poker in general, also applicable in online poker gambling. Although bluff is one of the poker strategies, it doesn’t necessarily have a rule to follow. Nobody can teach anyone ‘how’ to bluff. Probably, the strategy is more on ‘when’ to bluff.

Bluffing is no science – it is an art but it gets more difficult to bluff and read a bluff in online poker gambling. Online, you can’t read the eyes and hear the conversation of your opponent to give you a hint if the player is indeed bluffing or not. There is even a greater chance that your opponents would not notice your bluff if they’re distracted with lots of things. Plus online poker rooms change players from time to time, you won’t even get the chance to feel the other players. Players would also probably easily makes reckless calls on your bluff when you are playing online than playing in real casinos.

Don’t be discouraged though, if only you get the hang of bluffing on online poker gambling, it would possibly make you win it. Just remember that bluffing is about timing, position, and who you are playing with.

Friday, July 24, 2009

Government vs. People: Their say on Online Poker Gambling

The fight for the legalization of online poker gambling is all over the place. Government says no, people says go. In this game of tug-of-war, both parties have been pulling the ropes hard, but who’s arguments can “out pull” the other?

The government says no to online poker gambling. Laws have been implemented to clamp down online poker playing – laws like the Security and Accountability For Every (SAFE) Port Act, an act covering port security and to which an online gambling measure was added to the last moment, and the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act, an act prohibiting on acceptance of any payment instrumental for unlawful internet gambling.

But how could the government stop online poker gaming when it could help the country’s economy? That’s the online poker community talking.

The Poker Players Alliance, on the other hand, keeps on pushing for the bill to legalize online poker gambling with the help of some state representatives. Rep. Barney Frank introduced a bill that would legalize online poker gambling. The legalization of online poker playing would, as they propose, help the country’s economy through the revenues they would earn from online poker playing. The online poker population has grown enormously the past years and could still possibly grow in the years to come. More poker players who would want to put up an amount of money for online poker gaming would mean more revenue. Still, the bills introduced still remain as bills.

The government isn’t riding in this proposal, but the online poker gambling community wouldn’t back off without putting up a fight. Would the government only agree to the people when the country’s economy would drastically go down? Only time could really tell which argument would finally out pull the other in the game of online poker gambling legalization tug-of-war.

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Online poker gambling could probably save economy

Rebuttals have been thrown back and forth in opposing parties as the debate on online poker gambling in the US continues. The Poker Players Alliance (PPA) has been seeking political support to help push the bill to legalize playing of online poker games.

As US government bans people from playing online poker games, PPA says the government should regulate online poker gambling instead. Whereas to ban is to prohibit, to regulate speaks of a different case. Banning online gambling would mean stopping people from gambling online, making laws and their respective sanctions if caught playing, operating, and processing online transactions (referring to banks and other financial institutions). This would be quite an impossible case since they can’t totally barge in to someone’s internet activities. Banning would cause a long debate with online poker enthusiasts too.

But if the government would agree in regulating online poker gambling, that would be another case - probably leading to a win-win situation. Regulation would be advantageous to both the government and the online poker community. Online poker gamers need not fuss about laws and whatnots anymore if ever online poker gambling would be legalized. And if gamers enjoy the freedom of being able to play online poker, the government should also be twice as delighted since regulating online poker gambling would lead to bigger revenues. In the current economic situation of the United States, the revenues they would earn from online gambling would be much help to lift the economic crisis.

The danger now would lie on online poker scams and obsessive gambling that has a chain effect. The regulation of online poker gambling could somehow save players from scams by subjecting taxes. Also, regulating can help track players who are gambling beyond their limits and could possibly help them seek help from professionals.

Thursday, July 16, 2009

The Dangers of Online Poker Software Development

Recently, online gambling has come to its peak challenging software companies to meet the demands of the online gambling community. Let’s take online poker software development for example.

There have been developments and redevelopments of online poker software and the process continues as technology forwards and as people demand for more.

Online poker have been widely known and used by online gamers throughout the globe making online poker software development more challenging. Various companies attempted to increase the quality of their online poker game to meet certain needs of the players.

However, there are dangers that gaming developers fear in developing online poker games. Developing companies are challenged to make a script that no other companies could copy. There have been previous incidents of pre-copyright pirating, which means that a copy of the developed software has been released by another company before it has been released by the original company. Aside from these, the usual pirating and distribution of online gambling software would be the most difficult to get rid of.

These cases are inevitable in online poker software development since their software are for public consumption. Also, competing companies could easily take notes of the development of other company’s released game. Game developers, in general, have made measures to minimize gaming software piracy like enforcing IP protection, seeking help from the government for strong implementation of intellectual right laws, and the basic use of registration keys. Measures are not totally piracy-free, but online games development companies are seeking for more effective ways to counter piracy.

Undeniably, online poker games have built a strong foundation of online gaming. Yet piracy could kill the online poker software development industry. Fighting piracy is not only the responsibility of online gaming companies, but it’s also the responsibility of every consumer of such software.

Wednesday, July 8, 2009

Betstopper Aims to Make the Web Kid Friendly

Pretty soon parents can prevent their kids from gaining access to online gambling sites even if they are not there watching. This software is predicted to be so successful that an agreement is already in place between the software development company and the Nova Scotia Gaming Corporation.

BetStopper, is the first of its kind to completely block online gambling and pretty soon porn, other adult web content, as well as other social networking sites. The application aims to monitor and moderate the children's online activity since BetStopper also enables parents to schedule days and times that kids can gain access to the internet. The best thing about it is that its FREE.

With Betstopper soon to be out and about in every child's computer, some would say that the UIGEA Bill is now outdated. The main arguement used by the supporters of this bill is that children are able to potentially gamble using their parent's account - and BetStopper eliminates this problem.

Currently, the software is only available for download in Nova Scotia, Canada. This region served as the pilot testing grounds for the software since they have alarming rates of underage gamblers. If and when BetStopper proves to be a big success in Nova Scotia, it is hope that it will then be extended to rest of the world.

So far the results of the test were extremely positive:
  • 80% found the software easy to use
  • 88% say they are more aware of the risks of online youth gambling
  • 78% were motivated to talk to their children about the risks of online gambling
  • 92% think BetStopper is an effective youth gambling prevention tool
  • 99% believe it is important that NSGC make the software available to Nova Scotian families
CEO of Internetsafety.com said, “In ten years of specializing in helping parents shield their children from the unsavory side of the Internet, this is the first time we have been asked to create a project specifically to address underage gambling.”

For more information, visit their website at http://www.betstopper.ca/