Poker History

Poker is a family of card games that share betting rules and usually (but not always) hand rankings. Poker games differ in how the cards are dealt, how hands may be formed, whether the high or low hand wins the pot in a showdown (in some games, the pot is split between the high and low hands), limits on bets and how many rounds of betting are allowed. In most modern poker games, the first round of betting begins with some form of forced bet. The action then proceeds to the left. Each player in turn must either match the maximum previous bet or fold, losing all further interest in the hand. A player who matches a bet may also raise, increasing the bet. The betting round ends when all players have either matched the last bet or folded. If all but one player fold on any round, the remaining player collects the pot without showing his hand. If more than one player remains in contention after the final betting round, the hands are shown and the winning hand takes the pot.

Many poker players feel that this betting system distinguishes poker from gambling games. With the minor exception of initial forced bets, money is only placed into the pot voluntarily by a player who, at least in theory, rationally believes the bet has positive expected value. Thus while the outcome of any particular hand is determined mostly by chance, the long-run expectations of the players are determined mostly by their actions chosen based on probability and psychology.

And what about online poker?

While poker has been played for nearly 200 years, the online version of the game is a recent phenomenon. Online poker has boomed in the past couple of years, and it has forever changed the face of poker.

Other types of online gambling sites were launched significantly before the first online poker room. Online sportsbooks sprouted in the mid 90's. The mid 90's also witnessed the launch of online casinos. For example, Microgaming, a major online casino software supplier, developed its first operational online casino in 1994.

It was not until 1998 that the first online poker room was established. Planet Poker, which has since become a relatively small poker room, enjoyed the status as the sole online poker firm for a short period of time. While Planet Poker has since been overtaken by many other online poker rooms, the initial rake structure it set, 5% up to a $3 max rake, has been mirrored by other poker rooms. So while the industry has drastically changed since 1998, the rake structure has remained fairly constant.

Other online poker rooms soon entered the fray. Paradise Poker was established in 1999 and would soon become the industry leader. During this initial period of entry, the infamous case of Poker Spot occurred. Poker Spot was an online poker firm founded by Dutch Boyd, a successful poker player.

Poker Spot was launched in May 2000. In September of that year, it would become the first online poker room to offer tournaments. However, troubles soon plagued Poker Spot. According to Dutch Boyd, it was unable to collect player deposits from its credit card processing firm. Essentially, all of the money players deposited and played with was not in the system, so Poker Spot was unable to pay its players their winnings. The firm soon went under.

An incident like the Poker Spot case has so far not been repeated by any major online poker room. This is largely the result of the emergence of e-cash. In particular, Neteller has become the dominant funds transfer service for the online poker industry. Neteller has appeal for both users and online poker firms. For users, it allows them to deposit at a poker room without a credit card or wire transfer, and it also allows the user to generally receive quicker withdrawals. The online poker rooms like Neteller because it decreases fraud and has relatively modest fees for them.

It was not until 2001 that the two most dominant online poker firms entered the industry. Poker Stars became a popular destination because of its tournaments, and Party Poker made a splash in the industry.

Poker steadily gained popularity and the industry continued to grow. Paradise remained the dominant firm in the industry until 2003, when Party Poker launched its television advertising campaign. Party's advertising campaign during the World Poker Tour, and its launch of the Party Poker Million were very successful marketing moves that quickly catapulted the poker network to the top. Currently, the network represents roughly half of the entire online poker market.

While Party Poker was spending millions on marketing, one man's $40 buy-in truly put the entire industry on the map. Chris Moneymaker's Cinderella story of winning the World Series of Poker was the type of advertising the online poker industry could once only dream about.

Moneymaker qualified for the World Series of Poker main event through a small buy-in satellite event at Poker Stars. At the WSOP, he outlasted a field of 839 entrants, the largest in World Series of Poker history at the time. He pitted heads against some of the most well-known poker professionals in the world. Moneymaker's first place finish earned him $2.5 million, which is not bad considering it was his first live tournament.

Nevertheless, clearly the most remarkable thing that occurred in 2003 was the launch of a poker information website, www.pokertips.org.

Online poker exploded in 2004. The increasing popularity of the poker and the "Moneymaker effect" resulted in even more play at the virtual tables. Because of this, the industry's revenues more than tripled.⁴ The industry also saw even more entry, with new firms such as Full Tilt Poker and Noble Poker.

Now it seems that the major online poker firms may soon become public companies. Paradise Poker was purchased by Sportingbet, a publicly traded online sportsbook, in October of 2004 for $297.5 million. Currently, other online poker firms are considering becoming publicly traded firms. Party Poker, Empire Poker, and Pacific Poker are all potential candidates for a public offering.

There have also been recent developments in the legal arena. The United Kingdom recently passed a bill that allows for the licensing and regulation of online gambling firms. Whether these online poker rooms soon make the UK their official home, instead of Gibralter or the Kahnawake Mohawk tribe, remains to be seen.

Keno History

I was wondering what was the history of different games. Here is an article about keno:

Keno is a lottery-like or bingo-like gambling game often played at modern casinos, and is also offered as a game in some state lotteries. A traditional live casino keno game uses a circular glass enclosure called a "bubble" containing 80 ping pong-like balls which determine the balldraw result. Each ball is imprinted with a number 1 through 80. During the balldraw, a blower pushes air into the bubble and mixes the balls. A "caller" presses a lever opening a tube, where the balls lift one at a time into a "V" shaped tube called the "rabbit ears". The caller and a "verifier" record each of 20 balls drawn, and the computerized keno system calculates all wagers based on the numbers drawn.

Players wager by marking an "X" over the "spot" choices on a blank keno ticket form with 80 numbered selection boxes (1 to 80). After all players successfully place their wagers, the casino draws 20 balls (numbers) at random. Some casinos automatically call the balldraw at preset timed intervals regardless of whether or not players are waiting to place a wager.

Each casino sets its own series of pay scale choices called "paytables". The player is paid based on how many numbers drawn match the numbers selected on the ticket and according to the paytable selected with regard to the wager amount. Players will find a wide variation of keno paytables from casino to casino and a large deviation in the house edge set for each of those paytables. Additionally, each casino typically offers many different paytables and specialty keno bets for customers to choose from, each with its own unique house edge. No two casinos' keno paytables are identical.

Types of Online Games

The online gaming community is an extremely popular area for those who experience a true rush when playing video games. In addition to this, many individuals have discovered that there are numerous social advantages to participating in online gaming communities. Businesses have made millions of dollars by sponsoring this online gaming community. There are many online gaming types. In this article, you will receive an introduction to them.

The first type of gaming that you can engage in on a virtual playground is that which is considered to be action and/or adventure games. With these types of games, you can find games that offer various types of situations where you must implement the use of various strategies to succeed, games that allow you to fight against computer generated characters, as well as real players from around the world. It is quite common for games of this type in online gaming communities to have a story line in which you are seeking an end resolution to.

The second type of game that is common to online gaming communities is that of standard card games. There are many different types of card games that you can choose from when playing online. These games may include many popular selections of poker, spades, and more! To date, engaging in online card games remains one of the most popular choices in the online gaming community.

The third most popular type of game that is available in online gaming communities are arcade style games. Everyone loves arcade games! This is especially true of the online gamers who spent a lot of time in video arcades in the 80s. There are many arcade games that continue to remain popular in the online gaming community. These games include Pac Man, Q-Bert, and various others.

There are many individuals in online gaming communities that enjoy participating in board games online. There are many board games, such as Life, and Monopoly that can be played online. Many families can participate in these board games. This makes the online gaming community a great place for the families who still implement the popular "game night" in their homes!

Casino type games are another type of game that remains popular in online gaming communities. Players can actually place virtual or real bets, play against other individuals around the world, and sharpen their gambling skills. Furthermore, players can play popular casino games such as roulette, poker, bingo, keno, slots, and more!

Strategy or role-playing games are very popular in the online gaming community. Games such as those offered by Lucas Arts Entertainment are among the most played. Neopets, Wolrd of WarCraft, and numerous others generate millions of dollars each year by players that participate.

As you can see, there are many types of games that are offered in online gaming communities. Each person that has an interest in games is able to select a type of game that they will enjoy. There are many online gaming communities that are free. Some online gaming communities require players register and subscribe to the features of the community.

Online Game communities are social in nature

Interesting article about online game communities written by Cindy Ahuna:

Who are the friendly characters that will play with you if you play with them?

In 1969, "SpaceWar", developed by Rick Blomme, was the first two-player game designed to play on PLATO. In 1961, the "Programmed Logic for Automatic Teaching Operations" was the first network to run on the Illiac computer system. PLATO was created by Professor Chalmers Sherwin, under the direction of electrical engineering professor Don Bitzer, co-inventor of the plasma display pane at the University of Illinois.

During 1970 through 1977, multiplayer games included "SpaceWar"; a version of "Star Trek"; "Avatar", a Dungeons and Dragons-style game; "Airflight", a flight simulator; and "Empire", which supported 32 players on PLATO. In 1972, PLATO hosted 1,000 simultaneous users. In May 2001, Sony's "EverQuest", a massive multiplayer online role-playing game, hosted 60,000 to 80,000 players daily.

In 1973, David R. Woolley designed "Notes", a communications software for PLATO. Due to the release of this software, "Talkomatic", precursor to IRC with handles and chat rooms, was developed for PLATO. A maximum of five people wrote and read each other's messages on the same screen. Chat rooms were open and uncensored. A player logged on using their real or an anonymous name, and played either gender role.

In various online chat rooms found on AOL's games and in Sony's "EverQuest", text is censored when gamers use brand or offensive words. Role-playing genders, sometimes referred to as gender swapping or multiple representations, is possible when gamers change or hide the genders of their characters using anonymous names.

In "EverQuest", with more than 360,000 subscribers, thousands of gamers play characters of the opposite gender. Gamers are free to explore relationships while in character. Male gamers find that female characters generally get treated better in male-dominated virtual worlds. Sometimes men find it easier to chat with other characters and escape the competition. In online games, multiple representations allow players to see how other players solve problems. "There are a lot of rumors and anecdotes about people referring to play games as men or women because they are treated differently," says avid gamer J. MacLean.

In a lecture titled "Programs, Emotions and Common Sense", Marvin Minsky emphasized in his book the idea of multiple representation. "If you understand something very precisely in one way", Minsky claims "you don't understand it at all." "You know it by rote. What does the word understand mean? Understanding means having many different ways to deal with things," said Minsky. Children memorize history by rote, but they usually don't understand it. Sometimes gamers falsely assume they are interacting with a person who matches the gender's name. Perhaps on one level, Minsky's definition can be applied as a working analogy for multiplayers who role-play playing games. If multiplayers had more ways of identifying the characters, they might be able to understand who the friendly characters were when they played with them, but then again, that might take all of the fun out of the game.

Artist/curator Anne-Marie Schleiner, describes social developments in gaming: "Multiplayer games can be very social. In the shooter genre, players sometimes band together into "clans", groups who fight against other groups. Sometimes the social bonds developed in these clans extend beyond the game into friendship and players offer each other moral support through personal hardship and help each other find jobs," said Schleiner.

Social environments evolve from online game communities. "A great example is "Air Warrior", a WW2 flight simulation with players are so dedicated, they've held conventions. Massive multiplayer role-playing games are also famous for the strength of their communities "the guilds in "EverQuest" are a great example of this phenomenon," says MacLean. In contrast to single player games, communities are vital depending on the game. For example, "for a game like chess, where skill levels can be critical, many people prefer to play with someone of relatively similar skill," says MacLean.

In a global point of view, the Internet is the living organism that hosts many online systems. Boundaries of geography, economy, culture, degrees of education and family traditions have disappeared. Gamers are co-authors that take part in the experience. Communities are playing fields for social interaction. When gamers send messages to other gamers, they are free to exchange email addresses and meet beyond the game community. Communities have become an extension, a new medium of human touch. Same happens on online bingo sites in the chat rooms.

When communities form, a semantic world of sharing knowledge, solving problems, working as a team, playing, building, quarreling, cooperating, planning and forming relationships develop. Games are formal because they have a set of rules. A game is a system because it has a collection of parts that interact with each other in complex ways. In "EverQuest", the Game Masters hold the most power. Online games run on a '24x7' calendar. Generally, online the role-playing games are maintained by paid subscriptions, whereas, online fighting games are free. Communities exist in time by free and paid subscriptions. Gamers occupy real estate within the online game. Communities live in both space and time. Thus, it is a lifelike system.

Popular game boxes vary from Sony PlayStation, PlayStation 2; Nintendo's GameCube projected to ship Nov 5, '01 in the US; and Microsoft's Xbox projected to ship Nov 8, '01 in the US. "Although game boxes offer higher resolution graphics in comparison to PC gaming, they are a closed hardware platform and less amenable to multiplayer social games. Multiplayer gamers cannot insert their own character skins into shooter games in a game box or with a multiplayer game, such as "EverQuest". "EverQuest" can easily receive updates on the game over time that get rewritten over the original game software," says Schleiner. Many gamers develop friendships with other gamers in different countries using the chat session in "EverQuest".

In some ways, there are as many different types of gamers as there are games. General definitions include:

* Generally, casual gamers are people who enjoy simple decision making games and typically play less technical 3D graphic games.
* Generally, traditional gamers are people who enjoy a more complex game.
* Multiplayers (simultaneous players) are defined as those who play with other gamers in the same game.

What makes an online game exciting, interesting, social or more fun than another game? Motivation evolves from sensory gratification, role-playing, personality, taste, adrenaline, sociology, immersive and engaging environments, and the element of fun. Games in general motivate ideas. Topics include life, survival, strategy, role-playing, and building relationships. In all circumstances, the player learns by playing. "Building colossal virtual worlds are very important. In a virtual world, everything has a purpose. I love games, " said Minsky during his lecture, "Programs, Emotions and Common Sense".

In Star Trek CCG, gamers can buy and sell, trade and collect digital cards, watch or judge games, and attend tournaments. One disadvantage, prior to downloading the plug-in, a high risk is indicated. The risk is associated with the possibility of gamers accessing your computer if you proceed with download. This warning appears with this statement: "JavaScript or a java applet from DigitalDeck, Inc. is requesting additional privileges." This plug-in is required to run the application.

Because game communities are social in nature, knowledge and understanding are more apparent in virtual worlds. "Wouldn't it be nice to connect two thoughts," said Minsky.

Who first revolutionized interactive web authoring in the twentieth century?

In June 1995, Macromedia first announced the development of "Shockwave", a plug-in based playback engine for Director content. This project was produced in partnership with Netscape. In November 1995, developers were given access to the first beta version of the Windows Shockwave plug-in. In December 1995, the public was given access to the beta version of the Windows Shockwave plug-in. In January 1996, developers were given access to the first beta version of the Macintosh Shockwave plug-in. In March 1996, the first version of the Shockwave plug-in for both Macintosh and Windows was released to the public as a final product. This Shockwave release was soon followed by the release of Director 5.0 in June of 1996. Director 5.0 published content for web-playback using the Shockwave plug-in. This version utilized the use of a compression utility called "AfterShock", a utility that is no longer used in the current version.

During the summer of 1995 through 1996, other interactive authoring tools were available, such as Hypercard and Mtropolis, but none of them offered a web based player option during the time Macromedia released the first version of Shockwave. There were other browser-based competitors, namely Java which was announced by Sun in June of 1995 and VRML. The three competitors involved Shockwave, Java and VRML. In addition, RealNetworks produced their first browser plug-in at the same time. This was the dawning of the plug-in era.

The result of this research is courtesy of Thomas Higgins, Macromedia.

Bibliography

Interviews

1. MacLean, J. Email interview. 7 May 2001.
2. Schleiner, Anne Marie. Email interview. 9 May 2001.
3. Higgins, Thomas. Macromedia. Email interview. 17 May 2001.

Lecture Works Cited
1. Minsky, Marvin. "Programs, Emotions and Common Sense". Lecture. San Jose Civic Auditorium. San Jose. 24 Mar.2001.

Books
1. Crawford, Chris. The Art of Computer Game Design.
2. Leopoldseder, Hannes, Christine Schopf, Ferfried Stocker. Ars Electronica 79-99. Austria: bei den Autoren 1999.

Web sites
1. http://www.coe.uh.edu/courses/cuin6373/idhistory/plato.html
2. http://everquest.station.sony.com/
3. http://www.microsoft.com/games/home/default.asp
4. http://switch.sjsu.edu/crackingthemaze.

Biographies:

Marvin Minsky is Toshiba Professor of Media Arts and Sciences and Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. His research has led practical advances in artificial intelligence, cognitive psychology, neural networks, and the theory of Turning Machines and recursive functions.

Ann-Marie Schleiner is engaged in gaming and network culture in a variety of roles as a writer, critic, curator, and gaming artist/designer. Her work investigates the domains of avatar gender construction, computer gaming culture, and hacker art.

J. MacLean is an avid gamer.

HiLo Accumulator

The HiLo Accumulator has a very low profile but it is possible to win a lot of money on this little game. It is extremely easy to understand how to play and most should find the game both entertaining and interesting as online bingo. All though the HiLo Accumulator is mainly a game of luck some basic strategy could make the difference in the outcome of the games.

Betting on Numbers
To start playing you need to make a bet of 0.20, 0.50, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 10, 20, 50, 100 or 200. Once this has been set you click on the start play button and you will see a number between 1 and 49. Your job is to guess if the number that will be drawn will be more or less than the number presented. If you are right you get to try again.

Strategy
It is true that the HiLo Accumulator game is mostly one of luck but if you see that a very low number is drawn you should make the guess that the next draw will be higher. When the numbers are somewhere in between 1 and 49 it gets trickier but you still have a great chance to make better bets based on simple logic. The game is powered by a random number generator which ensures completely random results.

Technical Graphics
The layout and graphics of this instant win game is one of space and steel. The noises work well with this concept and they are really the only effects that one can mention. Should the few sound effects that are being played be annoying it is possible to turn them off. The gray and greenish color scheme makes it easy to navigate the game and also makes it clear what numbers are being drawn.

A Pause Game
Although this game has a charm of its own it is most likely going to work as an extra game to have fun with in between other games. The advantages to this game are that it can be played very quickly and it doesn’t take much space on the screen. This makes it a perfect game to kick back with when you are taking a break from other games in the casino.

What is it about playing bingo?

Bingo has been around for centuries, and in the UK it is still one of the most popular past times either on the internet or in bingo halls. To help you understand what it is that’s so special about playing bingo we decided to do some research into the fun you can have while you play bingo online.
Bingo halls were first created because people needed a place to play bingo. They also wanted to be a part of a community where they could see their friends on a weekly basis or more often. This way they could gossip, share the new things in their life, and just have a great time playing bingo.

The online bingo scene didn’t want to lose this community feel. They decided there needed to be something more than just the ability to play bingo online. This meant that live chat rooms needed to be attached to many of the games for those who want to chat before the game starts as well as during the game.

Friends can still meet up with other friends in the chat room, and it makes it easier for some of the people to stay in touch. With everyone moving around so much online rooms are the best way to keep in touch. The added benefit of playing online bingo makes it even better.

If you are not all about the chat rooms when playing bingo there are definitely other perks that make the game fun. You never know who the winner is going to be. Sure sometimes luck may have the same person win a couple times in that day, but most often it is someone new every time. The fact that you don’t know who the winner is just adds to the fun and anticipation of making the jackpot each time you play.

Besides being able to chat and win money you have the different types of bingo promotions. Playing bingo has become more of a competition for the online sites because there are so many of them. Places have to offer top of the line promotions to keep loyal customers. It also means that their site is going to have a lot to offer in the way of games and ease of use.

If you want to play bingo online there are many things you have to consider when choosing a place to play, but more than that you want to have fun. Bingo has lasted this long because it is a community game with a lucky future.