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The first time I ever made a bet I was sixteen years old. I looked a lot older than my age and I had no trouble placing the bet. I had saved up $500 I had earned at the Dairy Queen that summer. As my father was a gambler I knew all about the ponies. By the time I was 12 I knew how to handicap a racing form. My father had taught me. Those were the things that we talked about over dinner.

There was a horse that I had been following that summer. The horse’s name was ‘Don’t Tell Helen’. The horse rarely won but always seemed to place or show. For some reason I took a liking to this horse. Maybe it was because I liked the name? Or maybe because the horse was always an underdog and I sympathized with it?

It was a Tuesday in September when I decided to place my first bet. I cut school in the afternoon to go to the race track. ‘Don’t Tell Helen’ was running in the third race. The odds were stacked tremendously against the horse. It had been moved up in its class for this race. And everything my father had taught me told me that I should not bet on this horse in this race. But something inside me, call it a hunch, told me to take the chance.

So I bet my $500 on ‘Don’t Tell Helen’ to show.

I didn’t watch the race. I went inside to the bar and had a cup of coffee. When the race was over I checked the tote board. ‘Don’t Tell Helen’ had finished dead last. I ripped up my ticket and left the race track.

I wasn’t angry. My father was a gambler and he had taught me easy come - easy go. But I had learned my first valuable lesson in gambling.

Never go with your emotions. If it is a feeling or a hunch don’t follow it. If you are going to gamble be a professional. Follow a system and stick to it. And that is what I have done ever since.

Copyright 2005 Pamela Pompeii. All rights reserved.

Pamela Pompeii is the resident article writer for gambleonthis.com gambleonthis.com

Learn How to Speak English Freely Learning how to do something requires four key elements, which we’ll consider here. I also want to look briefly at the other elements of the subject: ‘speaking English’ and what doing it ‘freely’ might mean. Here are the elements of the learning process: The desire: let’s face it, unless the student WANTS to learn, learning isn’t going to happen. What is the motivation? For the businessman – are you doing this because the boss wants you to, or because you really want to? For the student – is the course just another course, or is this language something you really want? The teacher: there’s a series of advertisements on UK television which is aimed at recruiting more teachers for the state. The adverts focus in on the influence of good, charismatic teachers. A great teacher is the one who engages you, the student, and helps you to learn. The method: and there are several out there! Which one suits you and which one you can afford may be two key factors in your decision, but remember this – total immersion is the ideal, followed by as frequently as you can do / afford – sporadic classes might be fun, but there’s a lot of your time un-learning the lessons learned! I would also say that there is NO substitute for learning from a native speaker.The Practice! Without this (listening, speaking) the language won’t come to life in your mouth and mind. The student has to find a way of practicing, be that a local English speaker, watching the satellite TV or a DVD. Best of all, try and spend some time in an English speaking country! Speaking English – why? It’s the main International business language, for a start – so businessmen on the International stage need the language to ‘get on’. It’s the language of the skies and the seas and the PCs! Basically everyone approaching English as a second language has their own motivation, and each will be as different as the potential student! The good teacher will quickly understand the motivation (what makes the student ‘tick’) and home in on that for teaching direction: if you teach something relevant and fun, then learning happens! Finally the concept of speaking English ‘freely’. I guess that is the same as easily, fluently. Speaking any language freely implies a confidence as well as a competence with the words and phrases, vocabulary and grammar of the language. So open your mouth and try it out – with a good teacher, you will surprise yourself!!

Andrew is a qualified TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) teacher, with 15 years experience of the global Automotive Industry as a Sales manager with an International component and systems supplier. For more information about learning English with Andrew at his home in the UK, visit the lets-talk2.com/_wsn/page2.html Lets Talk 2 website. Another option for learning from a qualified native speaker via your computer is to click beltlive.com/mainIndex.php BELTLive

Love Irish music? Love cats? Curl up in your favorite chair - Irish Drinking Songs For Cat Lovers by Marc Gunn & The Dubliners’ Tabby Cats will tickle your feline fancy.

Irish Drinking Songs For Cat Lovers is the pet project by Marc Gunn, singer-songwriter and one-half of the award-winning duo, the Brobdingnagian Bards. Full of funny feline folk music, Irish Drinking Songs For Cat Lovers gathers popular drinking tunes and retrofits them with cat-worthy lyrics. The result is a warm and wonderful CD that sees songs such as “Lord of the Dance” redone as “Lord of the Pounce.”

Why take Irish drinking songs and rewrite them with lyrics about cats? “Well, I was a big fan of Weird Al growing up,” confesses Gunn, himself owned by two cats named Tiziano and Torre plus visiting rights with the tabby Jasper, from a previous relationship. “When I listen to a song too often, I typically will change the lyrics. I did that with ‘Wild Rover,’ changing the claps to meows. It was all downhill from there.”

“The CD is also not just Irish drinking songs,” Gunn points out. “It’s more like a traditional Irish CD with a combination of drinking songs and Irish tunes, except the chief instrument is an autoharp and I sing about cats.”

That is the beauty of Irish Drinking Songs For Cat Lovers - the songs are part of the patchwork of American music, a culture with deep Irish roots. Marc Gunn has extensive experience as not only a recording musician but as a veteran performer in renaissance fairs and fantasy festivals. The result is a clever collection of music that appeals to not only Irish and cat lovers, but anyone who appreciates a lyrical laugh.

Japan’s Ari Koinuma, also a cat lover, produced Irish Drinking Songs For Cat Lovers. Participating musicians include Hannah Gunn and Cedric the Fiddler of the Bedlam Bards. Additional musicians include Chris Buckley, Sarah Dinan, Hamby, April Porter, Blake McCaig, and Franco Bordoni. Marc Gunn wrote all the lyrics to the classic songs.

Marc Gunn is an Irish and Scottish folk singer with a strange affinity for Celtic ballads, drinking songs and catdrinkingsongs.com/ cats. He is the lead singer for the thebards.net/ Brobdingnagian Bards. He is also celticmusicpodcast.com/ Celtic music podcaster and Irish music magazine publisher and promoter. Last but not least, he is poet, photographer and music business educator.

We all know the Overlaughers. We encounter them in everyday life. You may even be an Overlaugher. Typically the Overlaughers have no idea they are one. Typically, Overlaughers also annoy the hell out of the rest of us. I’m five sentences in and you’re all still thinking, “What the hell is an overlaugher ? Get to it already would you!” If this was your thought, you are probably not an Overlaugher.

An Overlaugher is a person whose laughter is often disproportionate to the stimulus that provoked it. On the one side of this, it is nice that these people are enjoying life so much that they find even the most modestly amusing things bring them unmitigated joy. The other side of this coin is that the rest of us have to listen to them guffaw loudly during meetings, in casual conversations and during movies or television shows. Don’t get me wrong, I love to laugh and I love hearing others laugh at my jokes, but even if it is my joke, I still get the urge to slap an overlaugher right out of their fit of hysteria if it is unwarranted. There are three types of Overlaughers. I’m not sure which is more irritating.

The first type is the Self Overlaugher, or an Overlaugher Type I. For most of this week I was at a conference through my work. Eight hours a day for three straight days I sat in a conference room being lectured at. This first day presenter was a very attractive 28-30 year old woman who had just gotten her PhD the day before yesterday and couldn′t wait to enthusiastically share all the brand spankin′ new information they had taught her in college, but which has no useful application in the real world. In an effort to spice up her presentation she interspersed jokes and amusing personal anecdotes. Early in the day I was very pleased with this approach. Then I noticed she was an Overlaugher Type I. She found herself hysterically funny. So funny in fact that she often began laughing at her jokes before the audience had a chance to. Sometimes the audience chose not to laugh since she had already done it for them. It is fine to tell jokes; in fact I do it all day long. Sometimes it is even Ok to smirk or chuckle a bit when you say something amusing. A Self-Overlaugher laughs loudly and profusely at their own jokes as if someone else had just said something side-splittingly funny.

The second day we had a different presenter who was a bit more low key. Unfortunately for the rest of us an Overlaugher Type II had taken up residence in the front row. As a performer or public speaker it is wonderful to have several Type II Overlaughers in your audience. Type II Overlaughers seem to have an over-reactive funny bone. They find everything hysterically funny and usually have very little self-awareness regarding the volume at which their laughter emanates from their body. The problem for public speakers and audiences alike is when there is just one Type II Overlaugher in the audience. When there is just one Type II Overlaugher in the audience their laughter, which is either too loud, occurs alone, or outlasts the group response, tends to make a joke seems less funny because of their singularly exaggerated response, which usually causes everyone in the room to look at them and think, “What the hell is wrong with him?”

The Type III Overlaugher is known as the Combo type. A Combo Overlaugher laughs loudly and frequently at both their own jokes and everyone else’s. The Combo Overlaughers are exhausting to be around and give most of us a headache. These people must collapse exhausted at the end of each day from the sheer energy required to maintain this laughter all day. The Combo Overlaughers strike me as very sad though because you know damn well that no one is that happy 24/7 and if they behave as if they are, they′re probably hiding something. Like seeing a clown at a bar drinking and smoking at the end of a long day of making balloon animals, I imagine that the Type III Overlaughers go home and drink themselves to sleep every night.

Half Moon And Chant of the Ghoul

Half Moon

The teeth of the shadows, and ghouls could be seen in the dried-up sea-cliffs of the moon; had some one taken time to examine them that is. The shadows and shapes had hoofs and were tasting blood they had brought from earth, and stomping their hoofs about the airless plateau, into the crumbling sod, and dust: drunken wits with desires came over them, as they continued dancing, wildly dancing on the edge of the moon.

The Serpent Ghoul,

A Dancing Ghoul on the Moon

There was tides, ripples, drowned around the moon, and a shadow with a husky voice, called the Chanting Ghoul, sluggishly, cast his eyes down to earth, to the windows of the renowned Castle Eliz, his abode, in the Mosel Valley.

And the spirits ears heard the request, wish (Ronda the seer, transported, via, telepathy; ah yes, crushing to the ghoul’s lustful ears, icy fingers and all; the waves and currents of the message read:

“A young woman called Eva, wished to visit the land of the dead—to see her lover, who was also her brother, once more; begging the spirit, please!”

Thought the spirit, ‘How does she know he is here? —for he is not!’ But nonetheless, he’d play the best, show he could. He was indeed an actor, not reactor. And like fish with no bones, the Ghouls of the moon, left their abode—for the Mosel.

And with him went the power, the Chanting Ghoul took with him the power to transpose the ripples of the five moons, an everlasting repetition of framework and trance.

Then chanting spirit, walked along the Mosel River, dabbling with sea worms, and dead bones, along its banks, “We are glad you came,” said the hundred or so Imps, devils and demons, waiting for the women (who had according to them: given her rights away: wishing to enter their abode, alone!).

The Chanting Ghoul groaned, moaned, chanted in a low voice: “We shall crack her bones, like old timbers, mark her soul: vacant: for wickedness has no eyes for love.”

And all his fellowship followed him to the courtyard of the Castle.

The voice said, to his comrades (boastfully): “I shall put this young life into a little box, and inside the box she will find out, this is where hell-dwells.” The followers answered nothing: just thoughts hidden in desires, and waiting.

“Lo,” he shouted, “I shall choke out the candle inside her soul.” And the horde of demonic creatures yelled, shouted, and had merriment for the moment: anything to make their boring lives spark.

(And that is how it was, the morning of the half-moon.)

And Chant of the Ghoul

The Chanting Ghoul

The Chanting Ghoul thought of what he would do now full of lust, desire, with this woman seeking to enter the harsh cracked walls of the underworld: thus, planting seeds in the corner of his mind:

“Come cat to this rat, I shall perch on your spine—; pull out your claws, plunge them into my eyes, while I fondle your neck, back and thighs—stroke your fur; mistress of my mind, darling touch my cold deep stare, while I smell the fragrance of your flesh delight in it. From toe, to head, I shall touch my hands upon your flesh!…

The shroud of the morning mist was now lifted, faintly lit, “Let the feast begin,” cried the ghoul, “let lust light your gaze, be what you will, O Beelzebub, will be pleased.”

And he spoke to his demonic colleagues:

“I feel sorry for anyone who has to live with my disposition, any human that is for I shall snatch her up like a tornado and slug her and slam her right back down where she started from (he was boasting again; it’s what demons do for fun); that be the benefit of my pleasure, having watched her take the trip.”

Several ghouls were around the Chanting One, listening, “What was it I said yesterday,” Amrita said.

“You said a lot yesterday,” and the Chanting One, added, “and a lot of what it was, was ‘a fellow will trip himself foolishly the someway, in the same day, over a woman; I think you mean me?” And Amrita said not a word.

See Dennis’ web site: dennissiluk.tripod.com dennissiluk.tripod.com

I often become bewildered when I hear of people bragging, because they have high strike rates and/or high profit-on-turnover figures (POT). You know the ‘my strike rate on the Soccer is 73%’ or ‘my POT on the gallops is 90%’.

Yes, OK, congratulations. Give yourself a pat on the back; you are making money. Well, actually, if your strike rate on the Soccer was 73%, this certainly does not guarantee that you are showing a profit. After all, the goal is to back plenty of winners, isn′t it? Well, yes and no.

Is the goal to simply make money, or is it to make as much money as we can, given our current resources (time, starting bank, knowledge, etc.)? I realize that it sounds like I am being a little greedy, but come on, admit it, we all want great, big, fat, consistent profits from our betting, don′t we?

I truly believe, that many punters think, that this punting game is a competition, where plaques, certificates and smiley faces are awarded to those with the best win strike rates and profit on turnover figures.

Yes, before you wipe your writing pad out to type me a letter of disgust at my arrogance, I admit that I am being a little hard-lined on this one.

I mean, really, WHO CARES if you have a POT of 30%, 60% or even more?

WHO CARES how many winning teams you backed, or how many horses you backed, which were first past the post?

It seems to me, that many punters seem to turn a blind eye to one and only real measure of how well you performed . . .

How Much Money Did You Make?

Maybe I am the odd one out, but every time I hear somebody spruiking, that they make an excessive POT of say 20% or more, the first thought that pops into my head is certainly not, ‘Gee, that bloke really must know what he is doing, what a legend!’, but more along the lines of;

How Much Money COULD He Have Made?

If you achieve high POT figures, you are telling me three things:

1. You have had, maybe, a couple of dozen bets at most,

2. You are way too selective with your selections, but most importantly,

3. You are not making as much money as you could be.

Whenever I try to explain this to a punter down at the pub, they think I am totally insane.

“What Do You Bloody Mean That I Could Be Doing Better? You Tell Me How Many Other Punters Can Achieve 90% POT?”

Generally, that is what I hear, when I open my mouth about this subject. Look, missing a good bet is as bad as making a bad bet. There is little excuse for either. We all do both, but hopefully we don’t make that same mistakes twice.

For those who disagree, I ask the following:

Tell me why I should turn my back on a positive expectation bet, regardless of the return? Maybe I should not make the bet, because I may damage my strike rate, or may lower my POT, and as a result, won’t sound as good when I brag to my mates. RUBBISH! There is no such thing as the gambling Olympics; you are not going to get an award for having the best POT figures or strike rates. I shall repeat this once more.

The Aim Of The Game Is To MAKE MONEY.

If you are achieving an average return on each bet of more than 20% or 30%, I believe you need to rework your approach, and do a little work to get that POT back down a little by making the smaller positive expectation bets. Yes, bring your POT down! How many good bets do you think you are missing, if you wait all year, and make only 12 bets, but you have 80% POT? You are making money on those 12 bets only. OK, fair enough, you may make those bets quite large in relation to your bankroll, but bear in mind, you may be able to make two, three, ten or even more times the amount you are making now by taking those smaller edges.

The article . . .’The difference between your edge and your expectation′at www.puntingace.com follows on from this concept. Reading this one article may make $1,000’s of dollars of difference to your bottom line over the course of a year.

Remember, it is not how many winners you back, but how much money you make. Leave the bragging and high turnover figures to the ‘heroes′.

Australians Matt Elliott and Jess Kirley of puntingace.com puntingace.com , have been investing together professionally on sports for over 3 years now. They take a very mathematical approach to their betting, and liken it more trading a commosity like stocks than actual gambling. They continue to lead the industry with innovative approaches to sports betting and their reputation among their peers is a testinmony to that. Visit puntingace.com puntingace.com to discover how you too can turn your hobby of betting into a profitable endeavour.

Kwan Yin is venerated by most Asian religions as a savior and the Goddess of Mercy. For thousands of years, in one way or another,

Eastern cultures have been worshipping Kwan Yin, Kuan Yin, Quan Yin, Kannon, and Guan Yin, as the Most Compassionate Goddess of Mercy.

She was immediately connected to the worship of Virgin Mary (when Christianity was introduced into Asia), as she is the embodiment of Compassion, a motherly figure said to bestow children on the faithful, protect those at sea, protect all children and be there for anyone in need of her compassion and love.

Kwan Yin is said to hear all prayers. The name Kuan Shih Yin literally means “The one who observes, watches and hears the cries of the world”.

Legend says Kuan Yin was originally a princess who forsook marriage, and lived her saintly life in a convent, against her father (the King’s) will.

She became a Buddhist Bodhisattva (a mortal who has achieved enlightenment and earned the right to enter Heaven or Nirvana).

It is said that as she approached the gates of Heaven, she heard a cry for help, turned immediately back, and vowed that she would stay on Earth to do all she could to ease our suffering.

She vowed she would not enter Heaven until everyone all could go with her.

In sheer numbers of humanity, Kwan Yin is the most venerated Goddess of all. She is revered by all Chinese (over 2 billion people), most Japanese, and all Buddhists everywhere, due to her unconditional love, compassion and mercy.

She is generally regarded by many as the protector of women and children. By this association she is also seen as a fertility goddess capable of granting children. She is also seen as the champion of the unfortunate, the sick, the disabled, the poor, and those in trouble.

The maritime people of China regard her as the protector of fisherman, sailors and generally people who are out at sea. Recently she has been called a sort of Asian St. Christopher, as the protector of air travellers.
Chinese business people and traders venerate her as a Goddess of Luck and Fortune, as well as anyone who believes in her.
Centuries ago, enlightened Buddhist monks wrote 100 verses that they attribute to their meditations on Kwan Yin, and believe these actually came from her by inspiration.

These form the basis of an oracle that is consulted with great regularity in Asian culture. In a bamboo cup, 100 numbered slivers of bamboo are shaken until one falls out. This number corresponds to one of the 100 poems of Kwan Yin, and reveals wise counsel and advice on your problems and necessary action you should take.
A Buddhist priest can interpret them for you, or as the poems are so exact, you can interpret them for yourself. The experience is quite calming and reassuring.
One does not have to be a Buddhist to consult Kwan Yin and her Oracle, and if you believe in the Tarot, Astrology or other forms of divination, you will find the Oracle of Kwan Yin very helpful and enlightening.

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My wife and I decided to attend an “open-mic” night at a café that often provides evening entertainment, generally in a “folkie” venue. We invited two other couples to join us.

I dropped Peg off at the door and parked the car. As I drove into the slot I recognized an old friend and called to her as I got out of the car. We hugged. Inside the Antique Sandwich Company we sat together at a round dinning table. When full, the room held about a hundred people, with some sitting on the carpeted stairs that led to upstairs offices and bathrooms.

Our friend Karen and her husband John were there as drivers for a group of Columbian teenagers from Bogota. The group was there with their headmistress, John’s sister, a nun. They were on a three-week tour of the Pacific Northwest. They were in Tacoma for a week and had just come from the city council chambers. I had just seen them an hour before on community TV. Just catching a few seconds of them dancing with a graphic overlay of “proclamation” I had no idea who are what they were.

We were joined by the two couples originally invited and we all squeezed in and around the table for a nice folksy evening. During open-mic anyone can perform that wants to. There is no judgment.

The first entertainer up was an African-American man who was mentally challenged. I don’t know what he was singing about, but he accompanied himself on the guitar. Then he did his second song, which sounded remarkably like the first. He was followed by a succession of singers who accompanied themselves on piano or guitar. The Columbians performed two numbers and were an absolute delight. They could sing and they moved rhythmically with the beat. They had people on guitar and drums.

We were entertained for about two hours straight. There were a number of angst filled young men who growled and howled. There was a baseball-capped young man with a huge patchwork leather jacket and jeans that hung down too far. He had a beard and sang a song about the Seattle Seahawks. He and a couple of others seemed to have brought along their own cheering section.

We ended up buying a CD from a duo. Waterbound, an over-sixty gentleman on viola and a banjo-looking instrument; and a middle-aged lady playing autoharp. They performed Scottish/Appalachian sounding fiddle tunes. There was also a middle-aged man with a red face in a black tee-shirt and black pants, who played well. Had he stayed around we would have talked to him about his music and bought a CD if he had one. He sang a song about being lucky. It spoke to me.

The evening was interesting and fun. As I sat back drinking a glass of apple-berry juice and eating a sprouts laden sandwich, I thought about how much the “open-mic” night resembled a modern day small business seminar. The disabled were represented, as was diversity and cross-culture Spanish-speaking individuals, young people, old people, and people in the middle. They were all speaking their minds. They had ideas and passion. They shared their joys and frustrations. Participating, being part of a greater whole, was just something they had to do.

Some would succeed. Some would fail. Some people left their audience wondering. Some met wild applause, some saw mild applause, and some just gave us things to think about.

Author Don Doman: Don is a published author of books for small business, corporate video producer, and owner of Ideas and Training ( ideasandtraining.com ideasandtraining.com), which provides business training products. Don also owns Human Resources Radio ( humanresourcesradio.com humanresourcesradio.com), which provides business training programs and previews 24-hours a day.

Spring practices are in the books and fall camps will be here before you know it so that means getting an early jump on the 2006 NCAA football season. Knowing the teams now will save you time in August and Matt Fargo is here to help you get a grasp of what to expect this upcoming year. We go from worst to first in this 2006 College Football Preview.

#85 – Miami Ohio RedHawks 7-4 SU; 6-5 ATS

Fargo’s Take Similar to many other MAC teams, the RedHawks main priority is to replace a star quarterback, this one being Josh Betts. Miami has been fortunate over the last six years by having a stud as the signal caller (Ben Roethlisberger four years prior to Betts) so this will be something new in Oxford. The one thing backers can count on is that the running game will be heavily used because of the quarterback situation but a concern there is the inexperienced offensive line to run behind. Making matters even worse is that the defense needs to replace nine starters from the 39th ranked defense from a season ago. The defense has been solid over the last three seasons, allowing 21.8 ppg over that span but that is sure to increase this year. All of this adds up to something Miami hasn’t seen in 13 years and that is a losing season. The schedule is not easy as more than half of the RedHawks games are on the road and there are no breaks to be able to get a run going.

Returning Starters on Offense – 5 Replacing Betts is obviously the biggest task at hand but replacing four veteran offensive linemen cannot be taken lightly. The offense is going to revolve around running back Brandon Murphy, who finished last season with 1,070 yards and nine touchdowns. While Murphy’s numbers are expected to increase even more this year, it won’t be as easy as it seems since he was running behind one of the best lines in the MAC and had a solid signal caller to take pressure off. The most exciting player on offense is receiver Ryne Robinson, who had 1,119 yards and eight touchdowns and if likely starter Mike Kokal can get him the ball, he can make big things happen. Robinson is also a master of the punt return as he needs just 259 yards to break the all-time NCAA record in return yardage. The offense has averaged at least 31.3 ppg in each of the last four seasons but that looks to be an unattainable number in 2006.

Returning Starters on Defense – 2 Returning just two starters from the MAC’s third ranked defense spells trouble for the RedHawks. It isn’t like there is a lot of experience either as Miami has only four seniors on the entire two-deep chart compared to nine sophomores and four freshmen. The strength of the unit is in the secondary where free safety Joey Card is one of those retuning starters while cornerback Frank Wiwo did have a handful of starts back in 2004. The front seven is a huge concern with defensive end Craig Mester being the only returnee. The rushing defense finished 44th in the country last season but it did allow a rather lofty 4.1 ypc, the most in three years and that average will likely go up even more this year. But there is some history on their side. This is the least amount of returning starters since 1995 and Miami allowed only 15 ppg and 165 ypg that year.

Schedule Seven of Miami’s 12 games are on the road this season including games at Purdue, Syracuse and Cincinnati, the last two against teams ranked lower than the RedHawks heading into this season. They start the season against Northwestern at home which will be a very emotional game for the Wildcats. The first two conference games are at home against Kent St. and Northern Illinois and following the game against the Huskies, Miami travels for four of its next five. That includes a game at frontrunner Akron and an improved Western Michigan team. The season finale is at home against Ohio and while the RedHawks miss Toledo, they also miss Central Michigan and Eastern Michigan, the two bottom teams in the MAC West.

You can bet on… Miami is the least experienced team in the MAC and it’s going to show at least early on. The first six games make for a tough stretch even though there are no true powerhouses involved in the mix. The RedHawks should jell together by the second half of the season but by then it could be too late. Miami is 1-5 ATS in its last six games as an underdog and it will be in that role many times this season. It’s worth keeping an eye on, especially on the road where the RedHawks have dropped four straight when getting points. It’s going to be an uphill battle but this is the MAC and we have seen some strange things from this conference in years past. It’s just something that shouldn’t be counted on.

Matt Fargo is a documented member of the Professional Handicappers League.
Read all of his articles at procappers.com/Matt_Fargo.htm procappers.com/Matt_Fargo.htm

There are many free poker money offers on the internet, and people often wonder if they are really ‘free’. Internet surfers have gotten familiar with ‘free’ offers that turn out to be anything but free. So, what’s the deal with free poker money offers?

The truth is, some are real and some are not. Some free poker money offers mean that if you make a deposit of, let’s say, $100 then they will give you a bonus at a certain percentage of that amount. A 100% deposit bonus would mean a bonus cash amount of $100 in this case.

So, is that $100 in free money? You can’t just take the bonus money and cash it out – that would be really free! There will be wagering requirements associated with this bonus. You will be required to play a certain number of poker hands in the poker room before you are given the bonus money. Still, it is really something for nothing. Even more so if you were going to play in that poker room anyway.

There is another type of free money offer that is actually free. This is the no deposit poker bonus offer. They can be rare, but they are out there. They can be divided into two distinct types; The first type is where the poker room itself gives you the money, and the second type is where a third party arranges the money for you.

The first type, where the poker room gives out the money, is the more straight forward of the two. The new player signs up for a new account at the poker room and then gets the free money deposited straight into their account. These offers are usually for small amounts, around $10, though they can be smaller. The second type of offer where there is a third party involved is more usually called a free poker bankroll.

Free bankroll offers are a little more complicated but they can be for a lot more money, around $50 is normal. The complicated part is that you normally would have to sign up for two accounts; the first one with the free bankroll provider, and the second account, the actual poker account, through the bankroll providers site. It’s a little extra work, but then you do get the money for free. And yes, it is actually free, though there will of course be wagering requirements attached to it.

These bankroll providers can offer this service because they know that when you play the wagering requirements associated with the free money you will generate rake, and they will get a percentage of that rake. Overall, everyone should be happy – the bankroll provider gets their commission, the poker room gets the customer, and the player gets the free money.

As usual, there will be some checks to be carried out, and some hoops for the player to jump through. When you are giving away free money you have to be careful about fraud. Of course, the player should be careful too about these types of offers, and make some checks to verify that they are legitimate. All in all though, these offers can be good for everyone.

You can find lots of practicalgambling.com/no_deposit_poker.html practicalgambling.com/no_deposit_poker.html Free Internet Poker offers at PracticalGambling.com.

Check these other sites for freepokercanada.com/free-poker-money.html Free Poker Money and fbnpoker.com/no_deposit_poker_bonus.html Free Online Texas Holdem Poker.