The Clever Apprentice

Sky lanterns (also knows as a sky candle or Chinese lantern) are airborne paper lanterns traditionally seen in East Asian cultures. They are made from oiled rice paper on a bamboo chassis, and contain a little candle or fuel cell compiled of a waxy burnable material. When lit, the flame heats up the air inside the lantern, hence bringing down its concentration causing the lantern to lift into the atmosphere. The Sky Lantern is just airborne for as long as the fire stays lit, after which the lantern drifts back to the ground. They can achieve quite a elevation and unveiling them in powerful currents of air is not advocated.Sky lanterns are also referred to as sky candles or fire balloons, still this term is also applied to refer to balloon munitions used during World War II.According to common lore, the Kongming Lantern was the 1st hot air balloon, said to be invented by the sage and military strategian Zhuge Liang, whose reverent term of address (i.e. Chinese style name) was Kongming. They were first deployed at the turn over of the 3rd century as a type of signalling balloon or, it is claimed, as a type of spy blimp in warfare. Alternately the name may come from the lantern’s resemblance to the hat Kongming is traditionally shown to be wearing.

Omaha Hold ‘Em, 8-or-Better High-Low Split Poker, is also known as Omaha/8. In Omaha/8, each poker player is dealt four cards face down, followed by a round of betting. Three casinocards are then placed face up on the table as common cards with another round of betting. Then another common card is placed face up, another round of betting, and then a final common card is placed face up with one last round of betting. Each player can use only two of their hole cards and three of the common cards to make the best or worst five card hand.

That’s right-I said best OR worst. Omaha/8 has two winning hands in each round-the highest and the lowest. It seems a little odd to the online poker player who’s used to vying for the best hand, but if you think you’ve got the worst as well, you’ve got a shot at half the pot. With two winners in each round, the pots in Omaha/8 can get pretty sizeable, which keeps things interesting. Things start to get even more interesting if you think that you can make the best hand AND the worst hand with your four hole cards. Since you can try to make the best hand with two of your pocket cards and the worst with your other two, the potential for winning a mega pot is present every time the cards are dealt.

The World Series of Poker has evolved continuously since launched in 1970, with more poker online games added, prizes increased and protocols established. This year introduces some new poker online games, and one unusual rule: Zero tolerance for obscene language at the tables.

It may sound contrary to the image of poker - typically portrayed as a game played by tough guys who drink and curse non-stop at the table. But, there will be no cursing without incurring penalties at the 2009 WSOP. Until this year, there was some tolerance for obscene remarks made by players. The catch was that a player who let loose with a tirade of obscenity could not direct it at any other player. If the player stood up cursing at no one in particular, but just spewing vulgar language to express frustration, it was tolerated. Angry outbursts that were not intended to insult or harm another player were typically ignored, except in extreme cases.

However, based on some distasteful and insulting behavior by a few 2008 participants - in some cases by well-known players at featured televised tables - tournament organizers decided to impose a blanket ban on all obscene language, and players will be penalized if they utter the f-bomb or other crude expressions.

Harrah’s Casino has made the rule quite clear by stating, “Harrah’s prohibits the use of obscene or foul language in any public area of the casino at any time.” No cursing at the 2009 WSOP.

Poker may seem to be becoming a more acceptable hobby and even an honorable profession through the eyes of society, but when we look at who’s backing the poker game, it seems only suitable for adults.

When was the last time you turned on the TV and saw some poker? The player’s are sometimes lathered with patches akin to NASCAR drivesr. Online poker sites and other advertisers buy space on players in hopes of attracting some attention to their product.

But there is more advertising than just on the player. When was the last time you saw a final table with Pepsi emblems on it? When was the official drink a PowerAde? Will there ever be a poker player on a box of Wheaties?

The truth is, these big corporate family-forward products are not one that are trying to associate themselves with the game of poker. Coca-Cola, a syrupy carbonated drink, sponsors athletes in the Olympics. Olympians don’t drink loads of soda, they have to keep in shape. But the fans drink soda, and lots of it. Coca-Cola is getting it’s brand out there and associating itself with a very positive image, one of hard work, determination, and physical and mental strength.

At the end of the World Poker Tour, Mike Sexton takes the final two players and toast them with bottles of Michelob Amber-Bock or Budweiser Select. The World Series of Poker is sponsored by Milwaukee’s Best Light beer. They know who the people sitting at home watching Poker on TV are, and it happens that the large majority are adults who drink alcohol.

The only places you do see Poker adds on TV seem to be on boxing and mixed-martial-arts matches. A Full Tilt Poker patch will be on the right leg of a fighter’s trunks while Condom depot will be stamped on his backside.

Poker is a game that is intended for adults. Casinos are adult arcades where salaries can get blown faster than a weekly allowance. And poker, though remarkably reaching a much wider audience than in years prior, is still associated with this seedy underworld of booze, tobacco and degenerates. Is this appropriate, or is it just unchangeable?

Pokertime, an online poker provider, has developed an innovative new marketing technique that has online poker players scrambling to get into as many tournaments as possible in order to qualify for a 25000 USD jackpot. The concept is simple: Play in as many sit-n-go tournaments as you can. Place either first or second in five consecutive tournaments and win a flash jackpot of 500 USD.

Do this five times, and the player wins 25000 “Full Monty” jackpot. That sounds simple enough right?

But there are other implications that may not be the best for serious players who are looking for a good poker game.

This quote, coming directly from the spokesman James Grand, marketing director of Pokertime, “…it doesn’t matter how good you are at the game of poker, just play as much as possible. Anyone can win!”

Now I’m all for supporting the growth of the online poker industry, but for the serious poker players out there, this turns a solid game, into a coin toss. It’s like tossing a steak into a pit of dogs that haven’t eaten in weeks. And without a doubt, we’ll see the all-in craze in full force in this type of swap-meet. Hopefully it turns out well.

When I first started getting really into poker, I spent a long time reading poker books in the book store, trying to figure out which one was most worth my time and money, which would make me the best player in the shortest amount of time. While there are a lot of legendary books out there, including ones by Phil Gordon, David Sklansky, Dan Harrington, and just about everyone else you’ve seen on High Stakes Poker, the one that I felt was the easiest introduction to the game, that did the clearest, cleanest job of introducing basics and intermediate ideas to winning at Texas Holdem, was Phil Hellmuth’s ‘Play Poker Like the Pros.’

Hellmuth’s book begin with the basics, the nuts and bolts of poker, such as positions and betting structure, as well as Hellmuth’s top ten hands and how to play them preflop and postflop. A lot of the information offered in the early sections is stuff most semi-experienced poker players have become well versed in, but it is laid out well and is a good thing to gloss over, and definitely a good map for the newbie.

More interesting across the board is Hellmuth’s breakdown of actually applying these hands to various situations. He breaks down each of his hands and how they should work with the flop and other player’s betting. He doesn’t get into a lot of position play or bluffing, but is more concerned with just the basics of playing good, back to basics old school poker.

While I wouldn’t recommend this book to players who have gotten a grasp on the intermediate play of poker, I do think it is one of the best beginner’s tools and an important primer in the heart of the game. Though if you are looking for advanced strategy and gambling theory, you’d do best to jump on ahead.

The World Series of Poker field of live and online poker qualifiers has ballooned to well over 8,000 people this year, leading many in the industry to question whether a legitimate poker pro can ever win again.

The argument goes like this: with so many people playing for the pot, the natural luck involved with every poker hand means it’s harder than ever for a person of any amount of skill to place in the money using skill alone. Someone is going to get through based on luck, and if there’s a huge pool of lucky players, like there will be this year, the legit pros are going to get crap hands and bumped early on.

Of course, the purists will say this is how the game has been played for hundreds of years, and eventually, as odds require, everything will balance out to as it once was. Like back when Moneymaker won in 2003, and the field was 800 or so players.

If you’re an amateur, however, I recommend you give it a go, especially if the number of entries stays high at the 6,000-8,000 mark. With those kind of odds, a ham sandwich has a chance at the final table and millions of dollars.