It seems clear that casino video poker is a great bet right now, with millions of players having placed bets inside bars and restaurants across the state since gambling went live last year, and there are now a total of more than five thousand video poker terminals in Illinois. The state takes a twenty five per cent cut of revenue in taxes, while local towns take a further five per cent – an arrangement which leaves everyone in profit at the end of the day. More than half a million dollars was gambling in the six locations with video poker in Kankakee, with wins of $383,000 outweighing losses of $200,000. This meant that the town itself received $8,000 in tax with $39,000 going to the state!

Those who own the venues which have video poker available are benefitting hugely: either they strike it rich with the machines, or they see extra footfall that would not have been possible without them. Those who win tend to celebrate by ordering another round of drinks, and both large metro areas and smaller suburbs are certainly doing well out of the game. Three bars which offer video poker in Hoopeston, which has a population of just over five thousand people, made almost $20,000 in the last month alone from their video poker machines. It seems as though the gamble that the state legislators took in allowing video poker a year ago was a good bet, and it is now paying off for everyone who is getting involved – including the players, who get to enjoy a great game and the prospect of walking away with some great wins at the end of the night to top it all off.

“People have been coming in that I have never seen before,” says bartender Diane Cech. “They have been coming in, having lunch and playing a little poker.” The establishment now has five video poker machines, the most that any one place is allowed to have by law, and each machine has a range of games which actually includes blackjack as well, rather than just the one kind of video poker. Video gaming became legal in Illinois on October 9^th, and it is clear that local businesses are keen to take advantage of this new source of revenue as soon as they can – especially now that it is proving to be so popular with guests. The Illinois Gaming Board initially approved more than sixty licenses, and it says that it is now processing over two thousand more in addition to that figure.

It can be refreshing for some players to be able to try out casino video poker without actually having to be in a casino, as this environment is less serious and can allow them to relax a little bit more. It also means that you can play a few games while out drinking with friends rather than having to go into a casino and pay the entrance fee, and you can spend only half an hour there if you prefer rather than having to stay for ages because otherwise it would feel like a waste.

This will certainly be a welcome boost to small businesses, which always have to worry about competing with the giant casino resorts that include retail chains and restaurants and can therefore cut them out where gamblers are concerned.

The tough new smoking laws come on the heels of similar bans across Europe and the United Kingdom, and are aimed towards a healthier Australia with a nicer public environment for all. Their first step was to remove all smoking packets from advertisements and displays, and next there will follow bans on smoking in children’s playgrounds, public sporting areas, swimming pools, bus stops and train stations, outdoor dining areas, and the entrances to public buildings. Eventually a complete ban on smoking in public area will come into place – but this will leave high roller VIP rooms outside of the ban, despite the demands to the contrary of parties such as the Greens.

There had been much concern over the staff who were forced to work in these areas, but the Star has attempted to allay these fears by allowing only volunteers to work in these areas. According to them, there is a large waiting list of staff who wish to work in them – no doubt due to the high stakes games taking place and the tips that servers might be able to earn in these rooms. Because of the fact that the VIP rooms contribute greatly to the tax revenue in the growing Australian economy, it was felt that a ban for the Star would leave it vulnerable to competitors in other states, and so New South Wales government members have voted to allow smoking in those rooms and those rooms only.

So, if you do not enjoy the whiff of cancer laden tar while you play your casino video poker or try a few high stakes rounds with the boys, perhaps it is a good idea to stay away from those special high roller rooms for a while. You may find that, being the only rooms in which you can smoke, they started to get a little foggy rather quickly!

It will be played at the Ricoh Arena’s Grosvenor G Casino, and this year they are aiming to make it the biggest in Europe. That sounds like a big goal, but they only need to bring in two thousand four hundred players to make a new record – and they are going all out to make sure that that is what happens. The prize pool is set at £100,000, something that will surely draw in the pros and amateurs alike – and registrations have already been made. Players from all over the world are permitted to enter so long as you can make it down to Coventry for the day – and that day is this Wednesday, the 22^nd of August. This will be a five day competition in all, and it looks set to beat last year’s turn out already.

Playing the video poker games proved to be a great windfall for local amateur Mark Broomhall at the 2011 event, as he ended up coming second, doing it for the amateur players everywhere. It was Lee Rawson from Doncaster who walked away with the winnings of £32,000 however, and with the prize money a little higher this time they are certainly expecting a fiercer level of competition.

The tournament, called Goliath, already broke records last year by becoming Europe’s biggest land based poker event, when one thousand, seven hundred, and sixty five entrants arrived to put down their stake and take a place at a table. Now though they are gunning down the overall record, and it will be real kudos to them if they achieve it – as well as perhaps pushing the prizes a little higher! The great news is that twenty five per cent of the registration fee from every single entrant will be going to the Marie Curie Cancer Care charity, meaning that there will be certain and measurable benefits from this tournament in the community. Last year they managed to raise more than £8,000 on their behalf, so let’s hope that this year is an even better result.

If you are perhaps just starting out as an ace at poker and feel that you might even be ready to challenge the big boys (or just chalk up a few games to really get the feel of a tournament), then there is actually still a chance to compete in this year’s events. Although the games started as far back as the 27^th of May, they continue right the way on until the grand finale on the 7^th to the 18^th of July, with the No-Limit Hold’em Main Event. You have not missed your chance to register, either – the online registration form is still open for nine separate events, including No Limit Hold’em with a lower buy-in, Pot-Limit Omaha Hi-Low Split-8 or Better, 2-7 Draw Lowball (No Limit), and No Limit Hold’em/Six Handed. This could be your chance to move from Las Vegas Video Poker to the real, physical thing!

The greatest thing about the advent of the internet age is the fact that poker is now open to players from across the world. Previously, you had to have the money to travel to the nominated host casino to enter into a tournament, which took a lot of self-confidence and led to lower amounts of players. With the aid of the internet, people begin playing poker in online casinos to build up their skills, soon becoming pros even if they do not live near a land based casino or poker room. Then they hear about the World Series of Poker or other tournaments through online news vehicles, and can browse the website for more information. They can register online, and in the case of some tournaments where you need to pass a certain level of the tournament in order to get into the casino, you can play your pre-games online too in online casino video poker rooms. Then you play and win, and the news articles all over the internet feature your name! The fact that more players are getting involved thanks to online poker sites means that the jackpots are getting higher, and we can enjoy big jackpots at online tournaments now too.

In the past few years video poker games and other online gambling activities have been completely outlawed in the US, but experts are confident that the situation will change over the next 12 months or so. Many Major firms are already preparing themselves for changes. Two leading US gaming organizations that have already shown their interest in operations in Nevada are Beneficial Holdings and Fertitta Interactive.

The UK is also seeing some changes. For example the NEC in Birmingham is setting up a new casino facility that will launch in a few years. Genting UK has stated that the project will create more that 1,100 full time jobs, most of which will go to local people.

The gaming buttons can be found just below the main hand. On the right you will find a display that shows you how much you have bet and the display on the left shows you how much you have won. In the bottom there is a toolbar that indicates your balance. There is also a menu button on the right. The menu button takes you to the gaming history, options for game settings and the help file. You can view the paytable of the game by clicking the Pay Table button. The paytable shows you the payouts for one to five coins wagered.

To play the game you must first place your bet by selecting the coin size. The coin denominations are 0.01, 0.05, 0.10, 0.25 and 0.50. Now you must select how many coins you want to bet. There is a Bet Max option as well. Once you place your bet the amount is displayed in the BET cell on the right. Now you can press the Deal button and your cards will be dealt to you. Five cards will appear first and they form the main hand. You can click on the cards you want to hold and then press the button ‘hold’.

Now press the deal button and the remaining cards that were not selected will be replaced with new ones. The payout of each hand is independently calculated based on the payout table and the total amount displayed in the Won cell. In this delightful game of video poker the joker acts as the wild card. The lowest paying poker hand is kings or better.

The winner of the Pot-Limit Omaha World Championship in 2011 has additionally discovered that his achievements have forced him to the peak of the rankings for the entire event. Lamb was the winner of the World Series of Poker’s 42nd gold bracelet contest hosted in Sin City, and that is with sixteen events left on the roster.

Lamb has been compensated hugely for his victory, this being the biggest prize pool ever in the history of the WSOP event. Ben could very easily now be looking at making the overall World Series of Poker championship title, while he stands at the front end of the fifty thousand strong field which has taken part in a minimum of one of the fourty two tournaments to this day.

The Las Vegas based WSOP event is scheduled to keep on going until 7th July 2012, at which point the world famous No-Limit Hold’em Championship will play the entire event off in spectacular fashion.

Last week, a company of officers lead by a number of top Thai police officials raided an industrial park thought to be hiding the infamous secret strip-poker club, but sadly then the police made their entrance all that awaited them was a bank of CCTV cameras and a freezer full of soft drinks. Absolutely nothing relating to gambling in any way was discovered within the property. Data received previously by law enforcement officials included a number of recent photographs of the alleged poker den, which had been distributed on the internet in recent weeks.

The evidence on hand seemed to suggest that the location was being utilised as an illegal casino in which partially nude women served gamblers. Following the unsuccessful bust, detectives have theorized that the building may have been used exclusively during the festive period on a very temporary basis. While this dream could very well potentially still exist somewhere, it certainly isn’t in Thailand. Either way, surely it is much more convenient (and undoubtedly more legal) for poker fans engage in their passion via the internet? There are certainly no shortage of online casinos, all of which allow you to gamble to your hearts content worrying only about the video poker odds and not about police raids!

Contrary to the vast majority of other video poker games, in which players traditionally use online avatars or custom icons, Aces Hangout’s biggest goal is to feel a lot more like a genuine card game. You can view live video footage of your opponents using the visual capabilities of Google+’s Hangouts, similar to a webcam chat session. The key factor here is something which has until now been exclusive to the offline poker experience, and that is the ability to see who’s bluffing, and who has the best poker face.

Unfortunately, the project is still in a testing phase, but if you’re handy with using APIs and Developer Previews you can try out a multi-person poker session right now. If you’re interested in monkeying around with all that jazz then simply sign up here and experience the beta version for yourself.

“So is the application isn’t ready yet, why is this even considered news?” you may be thinking. Simply put, according to the developers Hettema&Bergsten the only thing preventing the product from being launched is Google+ Hangouts isn’t yet commercially available. Why are Google taking so long to get this off the ground? That is anybody’s guess, but certainly highlights a fundamental issue with Google in general; they rush their products to market before they’re ready. With the failure of previous products like Wave and Buzz, I suppose you can’t blame them for being hesitant.

Regardless of all that, the most important thing to note is that Aces Hangout is funded by Bwin.Party, a huge player in the sports betting and online casino industries. Don’t recognize the name? How about Party Poker? So at least we know this game should see the light of day… When Google get round to launching the damn thing already.