12sky 2 Philippines

Finally! 12sky 2 is now launched in the Philippines!!!

Ive been waiting for this for ages! I have heard a lot of cool things about this game and I just cant

wait to get my hands on it. I'm currently downloading the client and if you are interested on playing

this game as well, here is the link for the official site

http://12sky2.gameclub.com/main/index.asp

It's a really cool game, a combination of the mmorpg games that we played before...

Hopefully there aren't any hacks or bugs to ruin this game like, comeon its already 2009! I hope

developers would be able to restrict all the types of bugs and hacks on their games before the

end of the world :p lewl

kthnxbai!!!

Teaching poker at schools

Teaching poker at schools

Teaching poker at schools may be a very weird concept, mainly because it promotes gambling. It is very unlikely to find a school that teaches or supports gambling (many might think). You'll have poker101 at your freshman year and bluff tactics for your sophomore.

Students of course, are not allowed to gamble inside school premises but how cool would it be if you belong to an institution that allows students or even requires the subject "Poker" to be taught. 

Primarily poker is for gambling, on some occasions played for leisure time. Playing at a poker table and stacking cards under school premises are just two different things.

I did a little research of my own and found that there is a university that supports gambling. Actually a professor from that university thinks that playing poker helps students succeed in life. Charles Nesson, one the known professors at Harvard University said that students play online poker to help their financial status and such.

Having poker as a subject or part of the curriculum is nowhere near the lines of possibility the way the world is shaping up right now. Well, in most cases.

As a matter of fact, because of this vast success of Poker and how it helped the youth in terms of monetary and their discipline, Poker is now being promoted to be a sport.

Compared to you normal gambling game, there is so much to learn than to earn in poker. A lot of popular players stated that the primary reason of them playing poker is the thrill of competing with others mind. It’s not something that you roll a dice and the player who gets the higher number wins. It’s simple yet very complex.

The tactics you use in this game can be compared on how you live your life. How you take risks and when should you slow down, how you control your emotions and avoid being impulsive, how you discipline yourself for every decision that you make and how to keep your composure in a very ill situation.

Should this be promoted in schools? What I can say is that, it will be a very big help to students. Schools would be able to tell them the consequence of being addicted to this game and how it would help you if you can control that addiction.

It started to be a gambling game but its status right now is more of a tactical board game, like chess which schools educate their students with. Students can play this without bets and it would be the responsibility of the school to make sure that they are playing this game primarily to learn and secondarily to earn.

Poker’s status is just magnified as a gambling game since it is played in casinos and such but if we would consider the skills, the strategies and the discipline that it offers, then we can consider this game as big help not just for students but for the whole community.

How to play Poker

How to Play Poker

Introduction to Poker

            Poker is one of the fast rising card games of our generation. It’s enjoyed by all ages as long as you understand how the game goes (The rules are pretty simple but there’s a whole lot more than adhering to the rules). The reason of its popularity is its unpredictability and exciting pace.

            In order to keep up with professionals of this game, let’s start by going through the basics.

Requirements

Ø      A deck of playing cards, it doesn’t need to be a special deck of cards, which contains 52-cards of four suits.

Ø      Poker Chips. Used as “money” mostly in professional games. (However in casual games, as long as it’s discussed by the players, anything that you can gamble with would do.

Ø      Dealer Button. Used in professional tournaments to dictate the “dealers” for each round. It rotates around the table moving from player to player. (Optional if played casually)

Ø      Poker Table. A must in a professional game for it adds security for the players to avoid other players to have a peek on your card.

Ø      Dealer. A person who distributes the cards and organize bets. A dealer cannot deal and play at the same time.

Now we have all the requirements needed to play the game, let’s now proceed on how the game is played.

Mechanics

Ø      Suggested number of players : 2-10

Ø      The objective of the game is to win the “pot” which is the combination of all the players bet in each round. Eliminate all your opponents by getting all their poker chips.

Ø      The game starts with the two players on the left of the dealer (not the distributor but the one who have the dealer button) to place the small blind and the big blind. (small blind and big blind are initial bets to guarantee that someone will get a winning for every round and someone will lose some as well, the amount of the big blind and small blind differs depending on the tournament and is increasing gradually on the course of the game)

Ø      Each player would then acquire 2 cards each from the deck (distributed by the dealer).

Ø      The player on the left of the big blind will get to play first and will decide on how he/she will react or bet. (Betting will be discussed later on)

Ø      Each player will have their turn right after the other in a clockwise rotation.

Ø      After every player made their bet, The dealer (distributor of cards) will then show them three cards from the deck which is called “the flop”.

Ø      After seeing and comparing their cards to “the flop”, the players will start betting again on the same rotation that they started with.

Ø      After betting on the flop, the dealer (distributor) will show them another card which is called “the turn” and players will do the betting again on the same rotation they had after the flop was shown.

Ø      After the turn, the river will then be drawn and the players will do the same procedure they had with the flop and the turn.

Ø      The players will then show their cards and compare it with the 5 cards on the table and the player who has the strongest card wins the pot. (Strength of cards or hands will be discussed later)

Ø      The players will continue playing until a player collects all the chips of his/her opponent and will be declared the winner.

Now we know the rules, we are ready to understand how betting are done. There are four options that you can choose from as a form of betting however, they may not be available at all times.

Betting

Ø      “Call”: This can be performed if you want to match the bet of the previous player/s.

Ø      “Fold”: If you think your hand is weak or you are having second thoughts to match or call the bet of the other players, you can perform this maneuver to instantly take you out of the round. You cannot take back what you already placed on the pot or the chips that you already bet; this can just avoid you putting more chips on the pot.

Ø      ‘Raise”: This is simply betting more than what the other players had placed on the pot.

Ø      And lastly “Check”: If other players started checking after a card is shown by the dealer then you can perform this move to let the play continue without betting any chip. There are cases where if you are the “big blind” and every player just called the blind then you can check as well.

Next would be on how to determine the strongest hand among the players.

Strength of Cards

            In poker, the two cards on your hand would be compared with the five cards on the board and there are ranks to be followed among the highest ranking cards on your hand and on the board.

Let us start with the ranks of cards individually and the four types of suit.

Ø      The highest ranking card is the Ace followed by King, Queen, Jack and 10 below.

Ø      The types of suits are: Diamond, Heart, Spade and Club. Suit doesn’t have their ranking and are all equal in poker unlike in other card games.

Now let’s start with the set of cards that you can have in the game and how powerful they are.

• The strongest hand in poker is the “Royal Flush”: when you have the five highest ranking cards in the game of the same suit.
• Next to this is a “Straight Flush”: consist of five sequential cards of the same suit.
• Third one is a “Four of a Kind”: consist of four cards of the same rank and a kicker (a fill in but sometimes the game is decided by who’s got the highest kicker).
• This is followed by a Full House: three cards of the same rank together with two cards of the same rank.
• After full house is the “Flush”: five cards of the same suit in any order.
• Next is a “Straight”: five cards of a different suit but is sequential in order or in rank.
• Seventh is a “Three of a Kind”: three cards of the same rank and two highest ranking cards on your hand or on the board of a different rank.
• Followed by a “Pair”: two cards of the same rank and three highest ranking cards on your hand or on the board of a different rank.
• And lastly is a “High Card”: if there is no pair or greater then the player with the highest ranking card wins.

Tips

Ø      Showing emotions and reading the emotions of your opponents is very important in this game. You could hide your emotion if you have a “Royal Flush” and act as if you only have a pair or lower so your opponent would keep on betting which will give you an opportunity to gain more.

Learning how to read you opponents emotion can save you from bluffs (Showing a different emotion by means of facial expressions, body movements and way of talking) so you can avoid folding for a lesser card.

Ø      Enjoy the game and show your skills to the world.

Now you are ready to face the pros, keep on practicing and continue to learn the game of Poker.

How to be an Online Poker Expert

How to be an Online Poker Expert

            Online poker is really spreading all over the internet. Kids, adults, teenagers, and even grandparents are playing online poker nowadays. But how can we be a master of this game if you cannot see your opponents physically? You cannot read their emotions, you cannot tell if they are smiling or sweating. In this article, let me give you some tips on how can you identify “the signs” in an online poker.

            In poker, one of the biggest factors are “the signs” commonly known as “tells” for this will give you hints on how your opponents are reacting based on the hands that they are getting. This separates expert poker players from novice or beginners. Let me show you some signs to consider on how players react throughout the game.

Signs to consider in online poker

1. Observe on how fast your opponent reacts on a good hand or on a bad hand.
   Players that are slow to react are often a sign of a very good hand and are slow to react because they’re planning a strategy about the bets that they’ll be making.
   Opposite of this one are the players which are really fast to react which often shows a weak hand trying to bluff a good hand.
   Yes the internet connection might be a hindrance but in online pokers there are buttons such as: Call any, Fold any, Check/Call any and etc which when used automatically performs your desired option right after the previous player’s turn.
   
   If this button is used by your opponent then we can consider that if he calls immediately, he might have a slightly good hand which needs some more cards to appear on the table or if you opponent checks immediately, this might be a sign of a weak hand. Try to observe the odds of your opponents about using this button.
   
   
2. The chat screen was not placed there for nothing; it is used by poker experts to bluff. This chat bluffing however is very tricky but try to observe your opponents chat frequency. A silent player who’ll say something on the chat box out in the blue after he made all in or raised a bet is most likely bluffing and a chatty player who turned quiet right after a raise or an all-in might be concentrating on a good card. Try to observe your opponents chat frequency.
   
   
3. Lastly, try to check your opponents’ frequency of folding and playing a bad hand.
   An opponent who often folds might be a very tight player who’s always waiting for a very good hand before betting and a player who is very aggressive is more to bluff than a very tight player. Always observe your opponents frequency of betting so you could have an idea on when to fold or when to play your cards based on how your opponent reacts.

These are the tips that can give you an edge to other online poker players. Mastering these techniques could definitely increase your winning percentage and you can be one of the online poker greats. Have fun playing!!