Badugi

I was introduced to badugi over three years ago. Well, in the land of mahjong and sicbo, try bringing in a game immortalized by Doyle and Maverick. Poker is as less heard of and played in Asia as American football. Each Asian country prides itself in a favorite card or skill game. So in Japan the current rage is pachinko, in India there is teen patti (a variant of 3 card poker) and rummy, in China there is mahjong and in Korea there is Badugi or Baduki as some folks prefer to call it. Each game or skill game has its own variation and flavor. An average Asian – particularly Chinese – is said to gamble 27 times more on an average than his American or European counterpart; whether this is myth or fact can be actually seen on the tables in Macau. Like in the little gambling dens of Macau and everywhere else in Asia, these games rule and poker – the cache of the western world – takes a backseat.

Asia has always been unofficially the largest gaming market in the world. The amounts that are bet in small parlours or cyber cafes (called pc café’s here) are staggering to say the least. We’re talking about over a 100 billion dollar industry in Korea itself, for instance, where foremost are games like matgo, 7 card stud and badugi.

Badugi (also referred to as Asian Poker) is a variant of poker that has been gaining popularity among the card-playing enthusiasts in the past few years. It has been usually reported to have come from Korea but there are also accounts of its Chinese origin. In Badugi, players receive four down cards (hole cards), after which there is a round of betting. There will be a total of three drawing round in which there will be a round of betting after each one. Where player's discard to improve their hands. The object is simple, make the smallest hand by having a hand with every different suite and no pairs. The best possible hand being A-2-3-4 having one club, diamond, heart and spade. The blind structure of Badugi is quite similar to that of other poker games, with the two players to the left of the dealer paying the small and the big blind respectively.

In Badugi, at the beginning of the game, four cards are dealt to each player from the player sitting to the left of the Big Blind and the game continues in a clockwise motion. There are four betting rounds where the players can keep their cards or discard any number of cards in their hand if they are not confident of the cards that they hold, to be dealt new cards. The options are as other poker games too: to check, call, bet, raise or fold. After the fourth betting round, you have a final draw. This allows the final betting round as a prelude to the showdown. Remember, this is a low ball game and a rainbow A-2-3-4 is the best hand to win, this is the “lowest Badugi”.

In Badugi, drawing on the last round against an opponent who has not drawn is considered a mistake, unless special circumstances warrant this maneuver. Similar to other poker games, position can be an important component in Badugi strategy. Players who are last to act often have an opportunity to bluff since they are able to observe the actions of other players before they act. In addition, players in late position are able to determine the strength of their hand more accurately by observing the actions of other players. Badugi is an interesting variant of poker, and is proudly displayed as a main poker variant in our poker software portfolio.

Poker Network

Most online card rooms don't stand alone, they are rather part of a poker network. When an online poker site participates in a poker network it's called a "skin" or a white label of that poker network.

Poker networks are large and small depending on the software and time they have been operating. There are several advantages to both the “new poker site” and a player signing up on these sites of a partnership between an online poker site and an online poker or gaming site network.

To start with, huge amounts of time and money is spent in developing the cutting edge software required for poker and other gaming products – belonging to a stable poker network with great software enables the owners of individual poker sites (or anyone interested in making money partaking in the online gaming wave) use of the network’s fully developed, state-of-the-art, robust and scalable poker software applications, risk management systems, payment processors and marketing promotions. The players, too, benefit from the technology and security maximizing their poker experience.

Another fun gain for players on a poker network is that they can create separate player accounts for all the poker sites with a poker network, thus allowing them to take advantages of all the bonuses available on the various sites and also the treat of using a poker software application that they are familiar and comfortable with. The bonuses and promotions are also unique to each individual website (unless it is a network promotion) and that alone increases the options for maximizing profits. To top it, the geographical distribution of each skin would give players the unique opportunity to actively socialize and derive maximum fun.

I would consider this as the best reason to play on a poker site belonging to a poker network – as also to run your own online gaming site through a network – because ACTION and COMPETITION are GUARANTEED! Tables on networks are always FULL, so one has a larger pool of players to draw from. This is an important advantage to new sites that would have to put together a steady player base from nothing.

Fantasy Sports Software

Fantasy sports software is one of the challenging things that we decided to build last year. So the first question some would ask is what exactly are fantasy sports?

Ever heard of the “Vladiator”? - The guy who bid $50+ dollars for Guerrero on draft day? Or Giambitron - A big scoreboard with all Jason’s past highlights? “What on Earth?!?!”

For those of you who have never heard of fantasy sports or don’t know how they work, let me explain: It’s basically like World Of Warcraft for sports fanatics because you get a bunch of your friends together and draft players to play on your make-believe football, baseball and other teams.

There’s a reason why they call them fantasy sports... because once you get addicted to them, it’s fun and challenges all the way!

It took me some time to understand the concept, and Lenny (owner of a fantasy sports website) got me into the act. From that time on, there are days when I can’t even watch a sitcom without getting up and checking how my fantasy team’s doing during the commercials.

Now if the worth of a man was judged by his fantasy team, we’d be living in a pretty sad world but luckily it’s not, because most men who play fantasy baseball also have a real favorite baseball team that they cheer for. And then I still think the Minor League Hudson Valley would kick the Cubs’s ass, because in fantasy sports THAT is highly possible! Because, YOU are the boss, and I love to be in control.

It's estimated by the Fantasy Sports Trade Association that 29.9 million people age 12 and above in the U.S. and Canada played fantasy sports in 2007. The numbers are on the rise, and the internet boom has contributed to a real upswing. Being legal and falling under the category of skill games has contributed to the increase in popularity and fun!

For the legal eagles, The Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006, which was an amendment to the larger and unrelated Safe Port Act, included "carve out" language that clarified the legality of fantasy sports. It was signed into law on October 13, 2006 by then President George W. Bush. The Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act makes transactions from banks or similar institutions to online gambling sites illegal, with the notable exceptions of fantasy sports, online lotteries and horse/harness racing.

The bill specifically exempts fantasy sports games, educational games, or any online contest that "has an outcome that reflects the relative knowledge of the participants, or their skill at physical reaction or physical manipulation (but not chance), and, in the case of a fantasy or simulation sports game, has an outcome that is determined predominantly by accumulated statistical results of sporting events, including any non-participant's individual performances in such sporting events..."

So we see fantasy sports activities today not just in baseball, but also football, soccer, tennis, golf, basketball, professional wrestling, basketball and also believe it or not – stock market simulations. With the growth of the industry, fantasy gaming has now branched out to include non-sports related games focused on politics, celebrity gossip, movies, and reality TV. Once we get all these into the right perspective, it’s a no-brainer that fantasy sports software is one interesting software to check out.

Sports Betting Software – Baseball Betting

As part of development of sports betting software, I had the opportunity to meet a few good experts in the field of betting and sportsbooks. Some of these guys, like Eric from Costa Rica are considered whiz kids in their field and it is sometimes overwhelming to absorb the knowledge they have ready at their fingertips!
If you know nothing about sports and sports betting and you still feel the urge to wager, baseball is the easiest sport to wager on, as per my expert buddies. As opposed to football and basketball, where you are mixed up with the point spreads and other confusing calculations, in baseball betting you simply put your money on the outcome of the game. In addition, the baseball season lasts longer, which means more matches and bigger chances to go home with the winning money.
The main difference between baseball betting and other team sports betting such as football and basketball is that while the latter sports betting uses “point spreads”, the former uses what is called as the “money line”.

What is a Point Spread?

Point spread is the most common betting type offered in football and basketball betting. The online sportsbook spreads the odd of a certain match by subtracting points from the favourite team, which is the team most likely to win and adding points to the underdog, which is the team that will raise a lot of eyebrows, if it wins.

What is a Money Line?

In baseball betting, the sportsbook sets the odds strictly on the outcome of the match. In order to even the action, bettors would have to risk more money on the favourite and risk less on the underdog. This is called the money line. For example, if the money line is minus 170 on the favourite and plus 150 on the underdog, then you would have to bet 170 dollars on the favourite in order to earn 100 dollars. On the other hand, if you bet 100 dollars on the underdog, you would win 150 dollars if they would eventually win the match. The difference between the minus 170 on the favourite and the plus 150 on the underdog is known as the twenty cent line. If the money line was minus on the favourite and plus 150 on the underdog, it is called the ten cent line or dime line. The fifteen cent line is also common in baseball betting.

Online Sports betting software also offer total bets and run lines in baseball betting.

1) Total Bets:

These wagers are based on the sum of the runs scored by both of the teams. For example, if the sportsbook sets the over under total of a match as 7, the over wins if the sum of the runs scored by both teams exceeds 7 and the under wins if it sums up to less than 7.

2) The Run Line:

This wager is the baseball variation of point spread. When you are betting on the run line, you are betting on whether one of the teams wins by more than one run, which is marked as minus 1.5 or stays within one run, marked as plus 1.5.

Conclusion:

Although the money line makes baseball betting simpler than football and basketball betting, it causes the payoffs calculation to be more complicated:

1) In order to calculate the payoff when wagering on the favourite you should add 1 to the favourite price and divide it with the favourite price.

2) In order to calculate the payoff when wagering on the underdog you should add 1 to the underdog price.

What is the Best Poker Site For You?

What is the best poker site for you?

Today, when the poker craze is spreading globally it has led to different types of online poker sites making their presence felt online besides the regular card room sites. I am going to cover four typical categories of best online poker site types that I can think of.

Poker forums are the first type of sites that I can think of. Some of the best online poker site types to have a lot of people socializing are pokerforums. These forums have poker players talking about anything and everything related to poker and beyond. Poker forums allow newbies to learn about poker by following various forum discussions that transpire on these forums.

The second on the list of best online poker site types are the celebrity and poker news sites which have video clips, poker movies, poker celebrity interviews and recaps of TV series as well as everything that you may want to know about poker celebrities and poker news in general. Check out the latest in poker celebrities news and you will know what I mean.

The next on the list of best online poker site types are the tutorial .net sites which are targeted for beginners with various articles and tips about the rules of poker, poker hand rankings as well as basic and advanced poker strategies.

Poker is widely presumed to be "a man's game." The next on my list of best online poker site types are the “poker babe” sites which are out there to prove this notion wrong. These profile champion women tournament poker players.

Do comment below and let me know what is the best poker site for you?