By Jerry Whittaker

Taking a look at the latest inductees to the WSOP Poker Hall of Fame, we see that poker games are for gentlemen and thinkers. For example, there are two inductees for 2010, one is Dan Harrington, who has more than a few WSOP bracelets to his name, in fact he has eight. He is also a world championship chess and backgammon player, a former managing partner in a bankruptcy law firm and the former co-founder of Anchor Loans. Mr. Harrington was voted into the hall of fame by a panel of his peers and these are not board members of Anchor loans, they are great poker players.

The other inductee is Erik Seidel also a WSOP bracelet holder, with many cashes under his belt and a success story quite like no other. He is the founder of Full Tilt Poker, which is one of the best, biggest and most well known brands for providing poker games online.

It takes a lot of brains, gumption and situational thinking skills to be a great poker player as these two gentlemen are. Who would have thought that poker was a “thinking” mans game with the bad rap it had, say a century ago in 1910?

This supposedly the game of drinkers and reprobates, although another posthumous inductee to the poker hall of fame not only had a reputation as a poker player, he also had a reputation as an American Frontier Marshall who practiced zero tolerance with outlaws, was a sharpshooter and toured East with Buffalo Bill. This was James Butler Hickok, or Wild Bill Hickok. These are men with pretty impressive resumes, and Mr. Hickock also happens to be one of the three Poker Hall of Fame inductees who died, while involved in a poker game.

Let’s take poker players a step further and look at Michael Konik, although not inducted to the Hall of Fame as yet, this man is a walking cornucopia of skills and successes. Not only does he play championship poker, he is a World Champion blackjack player, golfer, improvisational comedian, actor with a degree in drama from NYU, he is an author – not of poker books – proper books, notable Global Poker Tournament TV presenter, has appeared on Jeopardy where he finished in second place and has appeared on Who Wants to be a Millionaire, Greed and Quicksilver, so he enjoys thinking for game shows too. Where ever does Michael Konik find the time to play poker games? He just does! Oh, I forgot, he is also a jazz singer.

This is as talented as legendary poker player you will find, he also wrote the hysterically funny “The Man With the $100,000 Breasts and Other Gambling Stories” which is a must-read for anyone with a sense of humor. These are the gentlemen and thinkers who play poker games today and we have not even scratched the surface of talent as yet.

By Jerry Whittaker

What is it about the internet that has made it such a useful tool for charlatans? Is it because they know that the public can be gullible, and this is a non-confrontational tool, or should we say, in their hands – weapon? Just type online slots into Google search and not only will you come up with Wiki’s, sites where you can play, reviews and articles, you will also find sales letters galore, promising players sure fire methods to spin till they win, guaranteed?! .

Save your money, spend it on the slot machines rather; you will have a better chance with a random wager than you will have employing a strategy. There are no secrets to winning online slots games, this happens completely randomly. No matter how much someone assures you they have taken paper and pencil and worked it out over thousands of hours of play!!

Online casinos offer various percentage payouts on specific types of games. The percentage payouts are different to land casinos and generally online this is higher. Depending on the game this can vary from 75 – 98% and percentage payout often also depends on how much can be won in terms of prize money. To some extent the percentage payout also depends on the software platform from which the game is played.

The larger and better known developers not only offer more choices and better quality slots games, these are also the developers which offer the largest networked progressive jackpot prizes. If a site is hugely successful they may even have their own branded online slots developed. We have seen this at the Palace Group of casinos on Microgaming software and one such game is a huge amount of fun; it is aptly named “The Palace Groupie” a rock-concert themed slot.

It is not a difficult matter to find online slots and games with good payout percentages. But a strategy which tells you “Standard Deviation” works when playing slots games; firstly takes the fun out of playing and secondly rarely works. Standard deviation as an equation which works for the house in terms of the long-term projected income they may appreciate from a particular game, but as any casino game for the player is a short-term probability option, it does not work for the player in a long-term scenario. You simply play and if you win, then it is good luck on you!

The Mega Moolah is a prime example of random payout: the PJP has been won at $4 million, then immediately reset at $1million and been won again. Increased in size up to $1.2 million and been won again, then not won again until the PJP was over $5 million. There is no way to work out a standard deviation on random progressive jackpot drops such as this. The casino does not know when it will happen and neither does the player. The only way to rob a one armed bandit is win; then run with the money, never to play again, alternatively; nitro-glycerin?!