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Teaching Poker in School
It seems a little unconventional, but one high school –George Mason High School– has added a poker club to its extracurricular activities. The club began in September and is now one of the most popular after-school activities. It comes as no surprise that many are already protesting the game, fearing that it will teach kids bad habits and that they will form gambling addictions. However, co-founder Daniel Fletcher says his aim is to apply card concepts to math, logic, and reasoning. Each meeting begins with arithmetic and game strategies. One student says, “I don’t know whether math class is helping me with poker, or poker is helping me in math class.”
The club is divided into beginners and experienced players. Although the beginners seem to only care about winning, advanced players are here to concentrate on probability and statistics. Poker being taught in schools is nothing new. Many college universities, such as Harvard, have had poker clubs for years hoping to teach students about human reasoning and behavior. However, poker lessons are still relativity new to high school students.
Many fear that these adolescents will be more drawn to gambling and are worried about the risks involved. The school is aware of this and it’s a gamble they’re willing to take –pun intended.
If your school is considering a poker club, send them over to the Poker Shop to pick up poker table supplies and a few poker books to aid their teaching.
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New Jersey Seeking to Legalize Online Poker
The declining economy has had quite an effect on the gambling industry, especially in Atlantic City where revenue has declined for 26 consecutive months. In order to boost revenue, New Jersey is looking to become the first state to legalize online gambling, meaning it will regulate and tax the industry. The brains behind this operation? Senator Ray Lesniak who believes the online gaming industry can bring in millions of dollars to pick up the slack for race tracks and casinos.
The s490 bill has already been approved by the Senate Budget Committee. The bill still has to pass the State Senate, the Assembly, and Governor Christie. New Jersey would receive 20% of online gambling companies’ revenue, estimated to be around $50 million annually. However, some believe that estimate is way too high and won’t do much to make up for dwindling casino money.
Although this could be very good for New Jersey, it could completely backfire and other states could follow suit, severely decreasing their market. The bill is expected to pass around the first quarter of 2011.
We’ll keep you updated on this story but in the meantime, check out our website for the best custom poker chip sets and poker table supplies.
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Brad Pitt Staring in New Poker Movie
A new poker movie is in the works titled Cogan’s Trade. The movie will be directed by Andre Dominik, making this Brad Pitt’s second time working with Dominik. He previously worked with him on The Assassination of Jessie James by the Coward Robert Ford. Other cast members from that film are also being considered for various roles.
The movie is a comedic crime story about a professional enforcer, Pitt, who investigates a heist that takes place during a high stakes game of poker. To make things a little more interesting, the poker game is under the protection of the Mob so it’s Pitt’s job to find out who has the guts to steal from the Mob. The movie is based on the poker book, of the same name, by George V. Higgins.
Mob story plus poker plus Pitt equals Box Office hit. Lets pray that all poker scenes are actually realistic because we all know how much Hollywood loves to embellish things. Brad Pitt was actually supposed to be starring in another movie called Lost City of Z but decided to pull out of the project to work on this new mafia movie instead. We’ll be able to add Cogan’s Trade to our growing list of poker DVDs sometime in 2012.
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Movie Stars Always Get the Best Poker Hands
We all know movies are not the number one source for realism. We watch movies because they’re unrealistic and more interesting than our every day lives. Many movies that deal with sports and games are so far fetched it’s unbelievable. There are quite a few poker movies that fall to such fate. The first is the movie Maverick. It’s a great movie. I absolutely enjoy watching it and it was long before Mel Gibson went crazy. However, the odds that everyone happens to have rare hands is astounding. One player has four eights, the other has a low straight flush, and our leading man ends up with a royal straight flush. Now of course it’s possible for people to be dealt these hands, but for all three players at the same time? I don’t think so. I guess the movie wouldn’t be very interesting if the others had a simple pair.
Another infamous movie with a similar scene is Casino Royale. First, everyone has to go all-in to make it more exciting. Bad guy Le Chiffre has a full house but Bond beats him with a straight flush. If only watching poker on ESPN were this exciting. I guess the rest of us will just have to settle for a custom poker chip set, some cheap poker table supplies, and good friends for our daily dose of suspenseful thrills.
Read MorePosted by EricM | Comments Off
Game Room Decor Tips
One of the most important parts of a poker game is the locale. Your game is going to be a lot less raucous if it’s in your formal dining room, or around the kitchen table. You need a game room if you really want your poker match to feel like the real deal. But just having a game room isn’t enough–you also need to have some pretty bangin’ game room decor. Game room decor is what really give the room its ambience, its aura. If you’re ready to take the plunge and decorate your game room, here are a few tips:
Tip 1: Paint. A bland white poker game room does nothing for the aura of the room. Instead go with a rich dark color like a red or deep blue. Poker games aren’t really known for being bright, so the wall color being dark will add to the mood.
Tip 2: Lighting, as stated above, poker games shouldn’t be illuminated by glaring florescent lights. Choose warm lighting that makes the room glow, without burning your retinas.
Tip3: Have a mini-fridge. You can’t play poker with food and refreshments. So that’s where the mini-fridge comes in. It allows you to have easy access to snacks, without leaving the room.
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Poker Table Supplies Doubling As Super Mario Characters
We’ve talked a lot on this blog about any unique poker chip set, as well as given a plethora of different game room décor ideas. This time we’re going to combine the two subjects into one.
We’re going to discuss Super Mario Bros Characters made out of poker chips.
In the opinion of this writer, it’s the best use of poker table supplies we’ve ever seen. Whoever compelted these PRICELESS works of art, depicted the classic 2-dimensional Mario, the scary-ghost chasing guy that only came after you when your back was turned, the mean mushroom guys you had to jump on top of, and the weird flying guys who use to throw flames at you. It’s a frightening cast, undoubtedly.
And while these images seem to show the poker-chip-characters on the floor, we have little doubt that they could be set up and arranged in such a manner that they could become working pieces of art that add a hilarious, personal touch to any game room. And seriously, besides Super Mario and classic games of Poker… what else is there?
It’s about time someone finally combined the two. Our only complaint is a lack of Luigi, Yoshi, and the beautiful Princess Peach. Make it happen, nerds!
To view all the photos, CLICK HERE
Read MorePosted by EricM | Comments Off
Poker Table Supplies Or Baseballs Top Pitchers??
I found a great article in The Washington Post last week that could be enjoyed by fans of both baseball and poker.
In the article, The Post goes through each of the four remaining MLB teams starting pitching staff and compares them each to a single card in a deck. For example, New York Yankee Ace-Pitcher C.C. Sabathia was compared to the King of Spades, because he is “one of the game’s most durable (and) dependable starters…. (but) he has a history of being ordinary in the postseason.”
The article is saying that Sabathia, like the King of Spades, is an exciting card to have in your hand that more than likely will have positive results… but he’s not the best. That distinction was saved for Texas Rangers Ace-Pitcher Cliff Lee, who beat CC Sabathia last year in Game 1 of the World Series as a member of the Philadelphia Phillies.
According to The Post, Cliffe Lee is the Ace of Hearts, “the premier October pitcher of his time.”
Can the King of Spades beat the Ace of Hearts? Certainly, with the right stack of cards around him (and if the manager has been reading enough baseball… er, poker books) than sure, anything can happen.
But we’ll put our money on the Ace.
Whether your passion is poker table supplies or a dirty leather mitt, the article makes for a great read.
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