Wednesday, December 10, 2008 - Josh
Words create worlds. There’s no other way around. We are what we think of and what we think of is what we truly are. The most inherent trait of humankind is the ability to express inner vision through language. Speech, by itself, is the first step towards materialization.
Our society is the manifestation of those ideas ruminating in the back of our heads. It all starts there, as a subjective thought that becomes something tangible and objective… Think about it: is there anything in this world that didn’t start as a thought? Can you name one thing? From the computer you have in front of you to the book you read last night before going to sleep: everything began with a simple reflection. Any philosophy, action or venture you engage in initiates with an “eureka”. It all blooms from passion sown deep within.
So, how is that passion disseminated? The main way is through words. With them, masses are collectively set on fire and that is the engine that rears the motion.
Hence, whenever a concept is embraced by pop culture, we can then say it has been spread enough. We are passionate about poker and it’s amazing to see how more and more people cherish it and recognize it. We all know it’s not the same way for everybody (some have very ignorant views about our beloved game); however, I take a look around the world we live in and I have a small feeling this is about to completely change! Let’s just observe how poker culture has been inserted into everyday life. It’s now in songs heating up the charts, in comics, movies, just about everywhere. Here are a few examples that come to my mind
“Poker Face” by Lady GaGa: Smokin_aces blogged a few weeks ago about this tune. It is totally hot, I listened to it and I gotta admit I was hooked to it since first listen. What amazes me the most is how wittily poker jargon is used to make double entendres such as “I wanna hold ’em like they do in Texas plays, fold ‘em, let ‘em hit me”… I know, those are sexy lyrics and you definitely gotta take a look at her while she is singing this: the girl is sizzling hot!
“Joy Ride” by The Killers: This song just came out of the oven. It is part of this band’s new album, “Day & Age”, which recently jumped to 6th place on Billboard due to their first week sales. Even though the song is not exactly about poker, it’s a cheerful song that states that, no matter what, you can always embark in a joy ride… It’s all a shift of mind and it’s affirmed in its chorus “when your chips are down, when your highs are low: joy ride”.
“Call the shots” and “Black Jacks” by Girls Aloud: This Brit-pop girl group surely knows how to market their music. It isn’t a coincidence they introduce poker and card games’ terms in their lyrics. They have been chart-topping Europe for a while, ensuring many people have at least googled poker vocabulary. That’s a good start for those who haven’t been into poker.
X-Men’s Gambit: We all know this one. This ladies man from Louisiana will always be part of pop culture. Not only his kinetic powers are mind-blowing but, also, he has contributed to the creation of poker players’ stereotype –which, whether good or bad- it surely has raised talk about cards.
Poker celebrities: Athletes, singers, bands, writers and thinkers have icons throughout centuries. Now poker professionals do too. This definitely means that the world is embracing and respecting people who truly know how to play the game. It is no coincidence we see championships on TV, card magazines in the newsstands and thousands of sites about this topic.
I could go on and on and I would never stop. I can name movies (“Rounders”, “Maverick”, “Blackjack”, “Casino Royale”, Ocean’s eleven”), books, fashion; you name it!
Poker is part of our culture and admiration towards it only keeps growing. Poker has now been cultivated in the fertile soil of collective minds. The seed has been planted: it will only grow stronger. One day, poker will be just as admired as any other science, sport or art. At the end, everyone will understand that’s exactly what it is: science, since it can be studied with academic respect; a sport, for it needs skill, commitment and practice; and, art, since it requires creativity and raises emotions like any other masterpiece does.
Tags: Rai$e VIP Team
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Wednesday, December 3, 2008 - Vincent
“I remember as it was yesterday the first time I played poker with some of my friends, when we were at the Mall they often spoke on how they loved this game and that they started making tournaments at Arlenne’s house every Sunday, so I was like “Whatever. Let’s chill for a while at her house. How much do you have to pay in order to play? Ok.. Is cool..”.
When they started explaining to me the basics of the game I had absolutely no idea of what was going on exactly, since they were not really good at explaining it, so I just browsed the web with my PSP before the tournament started and used “Poker Rules” as my search tags. By my fortune I found the Ultimate Bet’s web site, I am not sure if it was destiny or coincidence, but the thing is that I find their tutorials really easy to understand and even found some tips from their pro players. After one hour of study before the game I learned what a bluff was, when to use it, when players show weakness, check – raise, etc. At that exact moment I understood that this game was even more complex and difficult than it looks like. I imagined it was just like calling with the best hand and win, but the fact is that I wouldn’t have ever imagined that this game was going to give a complete 900 grades turn around on my life.
As the game progressed I was eliminating players one by one, caught some bluffers, others just lost because they tried to chase a flush or “open” straights (these ones are really famous in here.. Don’t know why).. The thing is that I made my way to the final 2, with the one who was supposed to be the “Champion” of the house and the one that never losses on Sundays, so everyone was like really intrigued and excited since the rookie made its way to the final. I remember how everyone started making bets and arguing on who the game was going to end.. Unfortunately, not on my favor.. So that kinda awaken something inside of me, changed the vibe of the environment and I was completely determined to win that game.. YEAH!
As the game started to end on a horrible non-favorable way for me, I realized and noticed very good plays on his part, he often check-raised, or waited for me to catch something and then based on what he measured I probably got, he re-raised and sometimes forced me to go all in; however, I was very patience and based on his previous play I started playing the same way as his, of course, with a little less of aggressiveness on my part in order to get more chips. Since he knew I was a rookie then he never realized or even crossed his mind the thought that I might have started bluffing on him. Actually, I did it too many times on that game because I knew that on his world I was very tight player.
Before the game ended, I was holding the 82% of the total chips and the blinds were huge, so he started doing desperate moves in order to steal the blinds, which worked for him at the beginning but then I started raising a lot pre-flop and based on my position he just folded and folded, hand after hand, so when he was really short stacked by the time he went all in, I was holding J-9 off suit and the amount to call was only like 20 times the big blind, which was like a really low amount based on the total amount of chips I had at that moment.. When I called “He turned pocket Aces”, one of them was the “Ace of Spades”, so he just started singing “the song” of this card (-I am sure you know the song-) and telling everyone that it was his favorite card, so after all the noises and waves of arrogance, everyone just hold their breath tight, closed their mouths and said to him “LOOK!”. The flop came J-J-9.. He was like no way, this is unreal and after all the complaints then the turn dropped an Ace of hearts, which gave him the highest full house at the moment.
I was really pissed off when that card hit the table that I just walked away and then I was like “Wait! We still got the river, right?” and when the river came gathering rocks and thunders it hit the table with a beautiful and flawless Jack of Spades! From that moment this became my first favorite and higher hand ever attained, of course, for that moment and since it was my first game. It felt so good that I am even unable to describe it with words right now.. I was so completed and a lot of emotions were running at the same time that I did not bother at all about the money I just won. My only thoughts were that I wanted to do this every day and that someday I will master it somehow, Texas Hold’em became the best poker game ever created!
Poker did changed my life and for good! I have met many cool people during the last few years because of this. I even met my co-workers before even becoming an agent on Ultimate Bet by simply playing a Poker Tournament on a random place. Right now that I am a VIP Host I am very glad that I can be near the best VIP Players and have really cool conversations about poker and get tips from them, it is totally amazing and I would love to be one day just as cool and successful in poker as them.
I have learned so much from each one of you, I realized all about hand rankings, checking, betting (which is full of strategic “gambits”, designed to make money with good hands and save money with weaker ones), calling, folding, raising, bluffing and many more high level knowledge.
I wouldn’t have ever tough that being on the VIP Department was going to give me all these satisfactions, fun and even improve my game to upper levels. All this allowed me to understand Poker in a way I would have never imagined it would be. Poker is ART, MATH, MUSIC, RHYTHM, PRECISION and a total LIVE STYLE.
By the way, to all the VIP Players that shared their time and provided me with many useful hints and cool strategies.. Thank you very much! You guys are awesome and this is why your are the best players at our site.. And guess what? It’s working.. I have been visiting for the last months the best casinos in Costa Rica in order to play poker and use everything I learned from you guys and it worked for me as magic. I am having so much fun playing poker right now that I see it as my favorite and best hobby.
I hope you all continue enjoying Poker as much as we do and if you need anything feel free to contact us any time and will strive to do everything possible in order to ensure that you have a great time with us!”
Tags: Poker Poker Poker, Rai$e VIP Team, VIP
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