So I came up with a little trick… I made a ringtone that is merely one second long of silence. You can download it [ here ].

Uncompresses it and drop the .m4r file into iTunes, and sync your iPhone. Then, in your iPhone, set this ringtone to each individual contact whom you never want to “hear” from again. I, for one, use it for ALL businesses. Obviously you will need to have these numbers saved in your phone for this to work.

This leads me to another tip: save business numbers in your phone as: 0.[business name] . This makes it appear at the bottom of your phone list– in effect separating your business contacts from your friends & family. You can even use a different number to start with if you want to further categorize them (e.g.: 1.[business name] , 2.[business name] , etc.)

Hope you all enjoy this tip! Leave any comments or questions below. Pass this link on to your friends and family who are lucky enough to have iPhones ;.)

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It’s completely free and fairly easy to setup… especially if you already have a Gmail account that you never use (I think I have 5 or 6). The tool is called “Gmail Drive”, and can be found at: http://www.viksoe.dk/code/gmail.htm . It basically functions [almost] like a normal drive in Windows, except for a few things (e.g. the amount of time it takes to transfer files). On the backend, files you upload become email attachments in your Gmail account. At the time of this article, Gmail allots you about 7.5 GB of space (per email address).

Some of the filetypes you could backup:

• Pictures: great option, as filesizes and filenames are relatively small (more about this later).
• Music: decent, but unsure of the legality.
• Video: okay, if you have smaller videos. File attachments are limited in size (currently 25mb I believe).
• Executables: impossible- Google will not allow .exe as file attachments (which is how this extension operates).
• Documents: slightly sketchy- security is limited to your Gmail account security, and how much you trust Google ;.) . In my opinion, you’re better off using a thumb drive and putting it in an actual firesafe.

A couple notes:

1. In the Gmail account you use, it helps to create a filter so that you wont even notice anything has changed. For all subjects containing the word “GMAILFS”, set the filter to: Skip Inbox, Mark as read, Apply label “GmailFS”.Also, might be good to enable the option “Never send to Spam”.
2. Gmail limits filenames to 64 characters long (this includes folder + subfolders + filename length). So plan your folder structure on your gmail drive accordingly. Its best to have a flat folder structure if you can get away with it.
3. There was some mention that Google Buzz would interfere with this tool. Disable it in the settings.
4. You cant change the name of folders or files once they are uploaded.
5. Too much activity in one session may cause gmail to trigger a spam protection. You will have to login in a browser and verify an image to continue. Avoid this by backing up your files in increments.
6. Gmail Drive may not work with accounts that are enabled with Google Apps.

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Very often, however, you’ll run across solo articles on random sites. ReadItLater is great for this. I previously did a quick comparison with it’s major competitor, Instapaper. In summary, I concluded that ReadItLater is far more along in terms of integration and UI than Instapaper is at this time. Instapaper in no frills, no thrills. It may be good for grandma, but not for a nerd like me.

Here’s a couple not-so-obvious things I’ve found useful to activate with ReadItLater:

1. Install the Firefox add-on (or whatever browser you use- they also have plugins for IE, Chrome, and Safari) . This makes it real quick to add a URL to your reading list from your
   desktop / laptop.



2. Install the “plugin” for Safari on the iPhone (they support other smartphones as well). This accomplishes the same thing as #1, but for mobile use. In order to do this, go to the iPhone app’s home screen (pictured: right) and click the ‘Add’ link at the bottom left, then follow the instructions. It’s a bit quirky to setup / use, but it’ll do.
3. Add the ReadItLater unread RSS feed back to your normal RSS Reader (I use Google Reader). This will get you back to having one place for all the articles you want to read. It also then allows you to share / star / etc the articles using the old familiar format you’re used to. If you want to do this, it’s a bit difficult to find the RSS link, so I’ll just post it. It’s http://readitlaterlist.com/users/[username]/feed/unread . Replace [username] with your username and you should be all set.

If there’s anything else you find useful with ReadItLater, post it in the comments!

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…And so I began my search through the array of Amazon-related Wordpress plugins. They all seemed to do something different, and the descriptions of each were lengthy and scattered. I’ll start by identifying exactly what functionality it is that I’m looking for.

There are 3 main things that I’d like to have plugin(s) accomplish:

• Automatic page crawler. Finds amazon related wording or ASINs & converts to a link with a popup
• Sidebar widget with related products and amazon search
• Footer widget with top recommended and best selling products

I installed, configured, and tested almost every Amazon related plugin I could find. Most were located in the wordpress.org database, but some I found elsewhere on the web. Since each plugin did something slightly different, I identified the basic functionality for each, and grouped them into categories.

These categories are:

• widgets (those plugins that place content in the sidebar)
• link-converters (plugins which alter links to include your amazon associate ID)
• link-inserter (plugins which provide functionality to more easily build and insert links while writing a post)
• xml-link-converter (plugins which use xml-like structure to insert links into posts)

Over the next few articles, I will identify the best plugin for each category, and show how they did (or did not) help accomplish the functionality I desired.

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Wouldn’t it be nice to be able to update your phone number in Facebook, and have it “automagically” update in all your friends’ phones? Someday we might get there. For now, Facebook has no built-in way to export those phone numbers, and so the numbers we list on Facebook are disjointed from our actual phones. Kind of ridiculous, since your phone is where you’ll need them most. But I’m not about to sit there and copy all the numbers from Facebook into my phone manually.

So I did a little research and exercised my inner-nerd, and found a way to get around the limitations of Facebook, and get those numbers onto on my iPhone. Its a bit of a complex process, but it doesn’t take too long. Here’s how to do it, step by step:

What you’ll need:

• Firefox (web browser)
• Greasemonkey (browser add-on)
• Facebook (if you’re about to keep reading further without a Facebook account, you’re an idiot.)
• Gmail (if you dont have a google account with gmail, get it already… this is 2009 people.)
• iTunes / iPhone (or similar software which can interface gmail with your phone)

What to do:

• If you dont already have the Firefox addon “Greasemonkey” installed, go here & click the “Add to Firefox” button. Click the “Install Now” button. You may have to restart Firefox at this point.
• Step #1:
  In Firefox, browse to: bradfitz.com/greasemonkey/facebook_phonebook_export.user.js

  

  If you have Greasemonkey properly installed, it will ask if you’d like to install the script. Do so (click “Install”). (If you don’t have greasemonkey installed (and enabled), you’ll just get a page that looks like this).

• Step #2:
  Browse to your Facebook Phonebook
• Step #3:
  In the main Firefox toolbar, navigate to: [[ Tools > GreaseMonkey > User Script Commands… > Export Facebook Phonebook ]] & click it. Then click “OK”. You should then see a page that looks like this:

  

  Now click the “Export as vCard” link. Save the file to a place you’ll remember. *Note: you cant try the “Merge into your gmail contacts” link if you’d (and skip step #4), but that method didn’t work for me.

• Step #4:
  At this point we have the information we need, we just have to get it into a format that gmail can make use of. Browse to this page.

  

  Click the “Browse” button & open the file you just saved (addressbooker.vcf). Select the Format as “Gmail (CSV)”. Click the “Convert” button at the bottom. Save the new file.

• Step #5:
  Go to your gmail contacts page. Click “Import” (on the top/right side). Select the file you most recently saved (addressbooker.csv). Now all your Facebook phone numbers will be in your gmail account.
• Step #6:

  This last step is done at your own risk. I say that because it involves syncing. Its been my experience that whenever stuff gets synced, stuff gets screwed. At the very least, it could have some unexpected results. The result for me was that EVERY contact from gmail (whether I had a phone number for them or not) was imported into my iPhone. I then had to go in and delete a lot of the names in my iPhone that I didn’t want there. This being said, it might be a good idea for you to also “clean up” your Gmail contacts a little bit before you go syncing with it. There is an upside… as long as you keep gmail synched in itunes, it won’t add back entries you’ve previously deleted.

  

  Open iTunes & plug in your iPhone. Click on the iPhone (under Devices). Click the “Info” tab. Under the “Contacts” section, select the box that says “Sync contacts with:”, and select “Google Contacts” from the dropdown box. You’ll then enter your gmail account info, and click OK. Sync, and…. You’re Done!

Notes:

Let me know in the comments if this worked for you, or any other method you might have used to get this done!

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1. Case / Skin
   The iPod scratches very easily, especially the screen (I didn’t even take my iPod out of the box before I got something to protect it); you’ll want to get something to protect your investment. There’s a TON of cases out there, all that suit a different purpose… you may want to just buy locally so that you can browse through them… the Apple store, Best Buy, etc will all have various cases. The skin i got was just a simple clear film, but it’s been really nice to have. Over a year’s time, it gathered many scratches. I recently replaced it, and it felt like I had a brand new iPod.
   iPod Video/5G Enhanced Crystal Shield [~$5 from DecalGirl]
2. Earbuds
   The earphones that come with the iPod will end up hurting your ears after awhile… they’re too hard and inflexible. I’ve been overly-satisfied with the earbuds I got. They were inexpensive, very comfortable, and sound great. I’ve bought 6+ pairs of these (2 for myself, and others as gifts).
   Griffin EarThump Earphones [~$14 from Amazon]
   (a couple Sony ones are also popular, though I didn’t care for them):
   Sony MDR-EX81LP Bud-Style Stereo Earphones [~$34 from Amazon]
   Sony MDR-EX51LP Fontopia Headphones [~$26 from Amazon]
3. Car Cradle & Charger
   
   Other than using my headphones at my computer, my car is certainly the place where I listen to my ipod the most. I feel sorry for those people who dont have an ipod car solution. When I began the search for a car solution, I was looking for a few qualities: ease of plugging / unplugging the ipod, sound quality, nice looking, and flexible configurations. I put a lot of time into this search, and after returning three unsuccessful products, I’m not in the least bit disappointed with what I ended up with. It’s called the FlexibleDock, and it’s a pretty difficult to get a hold of. It plugs into a car’s 12 volt outlet, and a flexible-yet-strong gooseneck arm extends up from there. The iPod easily clicks in and out of the top. There is a 3.5mm jack at the bottom, in which a cassette adapter, fm transmitter, or a straight line-to-line cord can be plugged into.
   Ten Technology FlexibleDock [~$50 from ???]  (seems to now only be available used)
4. Cassette Tape Adapter / FM transmitter
   
   In order to listen to the ipod in your car, you’ll need to choose 1 of 3 possible methods (there are other solutions, but they are custom & expensive). The first and best method would be to plug the ipod directly intot the stereo through a line-in cord. If you have a 3.5mm hole somewhere on your car stereo, you’ll be able to do this (in which case you would just need a stereo line-to-line cable). Most people don’t have this. The 2nd best solution is a cassette tape adapter, although the quality can vary greatly among brands. I tried about 4 brands, this one was head and shoulders above the rest.
   [~$11 from Amazon]
   For those people without a tape deck or a line-in jack, a method that has limited success is to use a FM transmitter. I bought one of these and it worked ok in rural areas:
   [~$13 from Monoprice]
5. Loud Portable Stereo
   
   For parties & trips, for charging / docking the iPod at home, for outputting the audio / video to another system. The one I got is really popular. It comes with a remote controller, and it can reach very high volumes.
   [~$183 from Amazon]

For more accessories, iLounge’s “iPod & iPhone buyer’s guide” is a very well laid out guide for anything iPod or iPhone related. iLounge.com is the best site I’ve found for all things iPod related: how to guides, articles, reviews, product descriptions, etc.

Good luck finding the best accessories, and let me know what you’ve found & if this article has helped you! …and stay tuned for part 2 of this article.

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Call Of Duty 4 was a very highly anticipated game for me, being that Call Of Duty 2 was the only game I’ve played much at all since Mario Cart. I was really looking forward to the game, and in many ways I was not let down. There’s a lot of areas in the game I haven’t played much (xbox live, campaign, etc). In fact, I’ll only comment on the mutliplayer split screen, for that’s all I’ve played much of. For someone who works in the industry (QA department at THQ), and someone who loved playing Call Of Duty 2 multiplayer SS, I can give a lot of feedback. And because I own part of Activision, I’d like to see the game succeed as much as possible ;.) Here’s some of my initial thoughts (I’ve played it maybe 6 hours total).

I’ll only comment on where the game fell short of perfection for me. There’s just so many positive things I could say about the game, it would take forever. There were only a few things that were frustrating about the game for me. Here’s a (short) list (again only referring to local multiplayer split screen):

1. No option for “random” map selection: not that big of a deal, but seriously, how hard would this have been to program in? I like not having to decide on a new map every time. When there’s a “random” option, no one has to agree on which map to play. Better yet, no one can disagree. It also allows the next game to get on quicker.
2. Respawn points: seriously flawed. Especially in multiplayer teams, you’ll respawn in the same location often, sometimes completely trapped by your enemy. The respawn points should be a good distance from the enemy. This might be one of the only major flaws in gameplay, but it’s a big one.
3. The number of maps: Only, what, 9? Really? COD2 had somethin like 20. According to multiple pre-release articles, Call Of Duty 4 was supposed to ship with 16. Is there something I need to unlock to get to the others?
4. Perk selection: In the beta, you were able to select each perk individually, but in multiplayer, you have to choose one of the pre-configured packages.
5. No guest accounts allowed with Xbox Live: It would be really nice (as it is in Halo 3) to allow multiplayer local split screen while being on xbox live.
6. Search and Destroy bomb locations: Too easy to ambush. Its also too hard to get the bomb back if you are shot when you have it (especially if it right near the target). I guess that is realistic, but doesn’t make for great game play.

Besides those few things, like I said, the game is awesome. The graphics are insane, especially when it comes to the shadowing. I love the ability to run (press down on the left joystick). The different types of grenades are outstanding (I especially like the flash grenades). The weapons are (mostly) balanced. The perks (and even the idea of perks) is genius. Overall, this game gets a 9/10 for me, with Call Of Duty 2 still outranking it slightly (it’s hard to duplicate perfection).

P.S. If I’m wrong about any of these details (which in some cases, I really hope I am), please let me know in the comments. Maybe we can get Activision to release a patch and change a couple things ;.)

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There’s 3 subgraphs, showing the different home games I play in on a regular basis. The Tom’s tourneys subgraph is a $10 buy-in no limit Texas Hold-Em tourney I play in regularly on Thursday nights. The Tom’s live subgraph is a $5 to $10 buy-in no limit Texas Hold-Em game, but rebuys & cash outs are allowed at any time (i.e. not a tournament). We usually only play that if we don’t have enough people to play a tourney on Thursday nights, or we might play it after the tourney is over. The “Grandpa’s” subgraph is a dealer’s choice (usually some variation of 7 card stud) split pot game, which usually happens every few weeks or so.

Other than that, I’ll play in other home games from time to time, and in the casino whenever I’m on vacation. The sharp spike in early September is from playing at Circus Circus in Reno this year on a family vacation. I’m still recovering from staying up so late (or early depending on how you look at it… I played 13 hours straight from 11pm Saturday night till 12 noon on Sunday). Anyways, if any of you are statistical nerds like I, you should enjoy this ;.) I’ll put some up for previous years as soon as I get Quicken reinstalled. Click the graph for a higher quality version.

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How To Play

    The Object: In Let It Ride, you aren’t playing against the dealer or the other players. You are simply trying to make the best poker hand using the three cards dealt to you and the two cards the dealer turns up.

    How It Works: You begin by placing equal-sized bets on each of the three circles on the table (see picture below). Don’t worry, you aren’t committed to betting all of them. After you are dealt three cards, you have the option of taking back your first bet (indicated by a sweeping back motion of the cards toward you). The dealer then turns over a card, and you have the option of taking back your second bet. You must then place your cards face down near the last bet, and the dealer proceeds to turn over the last card. Out of the five total cards (your three plus the two in front of the dealer), you must have at least a pair of 10s or better in order to win.

    Summary: You must place three initial bets, but you are actually only risking one of them (since you can take back the other two during the course of play). You have the option to let either of the other two bets “ride”, and you will want to sometimes, as I’ll explain in the strategy. The payout schedule is as follows: a single pair (of 10s or higher… Jacks, Queens, Kings, or Aces) pays 1-to-1, two pair pays 2 times your bet, Three of a kind 3x, and up from there. The rest of the payout schedule may vary based on casino, but the most standard one pays: a straight 5x, a flush 8x, a full house 11x, four of a kind 50x, a straight flush 200x, and a royal flush 1000 times your bet.

Strategy

    Basic: The basic strategy can be used on any table, regardless of the number of players at the table. It doesn’t matter whether there is a full table, or its just you and the dealer… your odds are the same (this, as we will see later, is not quite true if you are using the advanced strategy). But first, the basics. After you look at your first three cards, pull back your first bet, provided you don’t have a pair of tens or better, or three cards to a Royal Flush (meaning three cards above a 10, all of the same suit). If you have a pair of 10s or better initially, you can place your cards face down alongside your bets and sit tight waiting to collect on your winnings. Its such a nice feeling

After you see the fourth card, it gets a little trickier, but still isn’t too hard to remember. If you make a qualifying hand (two pair or three of a kind) on the fourth card, obviously “let it ride”. If not, pull back the second bet… unless… you have four cards to a flush (all four cards are the same suit) *or* an open-ended straight draw (meaning you have four cards in a row, one of which is NOT an ace).

That’s it. There’s no more decisions. Lay your cards face down and accept your victory or defeat.

    Reasons: All these decisions are based on probability. The first decision is too mathematical to get into, but the second decision (riding on a straight or a flush) is fairly simple to explain. The odds of catching a flush are about 1 in 5. A flush pays 8 to 1 by the casino, so your payoff is far bigger then your risk… meaning LET IT RIDE! An open-ended straight is similar. Your odds of making the straight are slightly less, but on the whole (including getting high pairs), it pays about even money. Your call here… if you don’t feel lucky, pull back any straight draw.

    Advanced: There are several other things that can increase your chance at winning, but they take a bit more concentration. These include:

• Looking at other players cards, and adjusting statistical decisions accordingly (especially play on the fourth card). For example, if you drawing to a flush and you notice that the other people at the table also have a few of the suit you are trying to get, it may be wiser to pull the second bet back.
• Table selection (finding a table where all the high cards are grouped together, and raising your bets when this occurs)
• Decisions on four cards to a straight flush

Details

    Odds: There are a few pages dedicated to showing odds for this game. For more details, check out: the wizard of odds

    Rules:

• You have to place your cards face down in front of you after your decision on the last bet
• Don’t take the cards off the table, and hold them with one hand
• Don’t be obvious about looking at other players cards

    Nuances:

• Play with your hand open / face-up (don’t hide your cards from anyone)
• The dealer will usually help guide you along
• If the casino asks you to not look at other players cards, leave the table. Tell them that the casino already has a large advantage on you, one that you couldn’t be made up by seeing other players cards. For this reason, they usually wont make a big deal about it, but technically it is against the “rules”.
• The $1 bonus bet is a side bet that should be avoided at all costs. the house has a minimum 15% advantage in the best paying casino. It is among the worst bets in the entire place.
• Same goes for the 3-card-poker side bet. The casino enjoys a 7% advantage on you there.

Comments

Playing the strategy above will give the casino about a 3.5% advantage. Playing the advanced strategy might reduce that by a percentage point. While it may not be your best odds in the casino, it is a fun game to play and gives an opportunity to hit a real jackpot that you can tell your grandkids about someday. Overall, its fun, simple, decent odds, and sometimes very exciting.

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Secondly, if you plan to gamble, make sure you know what you’re doing. You’ll almost never have the advantage in the long run (with exception of blackjack (if counting cards) & poker (because you’re playing against other people instead of the casino)). But there are things you can do to have the advantage in the short run. This series of articles will give you a quick guide to playing various casino games, and the best basic strategies to use in order to maximize your potential for winning.

In each article, I’ll go over how to play the game (the rules, object, and summary), as well as the strategy for the game (basics, tips, reasons, odds, and advanced play). I’ll also reference charts that you can print out and take with you, and provide videos to help you learn. Within 5 minutes, you’ll become familiar enough with the games to play them, and with a little luck, win & win big!

Last, but not least, learn how to set a bankroll and a limit for yourself. This way you’ll know what games / limits you can play. A very basic guide for setting a bankroll is this: you’ll need 20 times the minimum bet per game per night. For example, if you plan on playing $10-per-bet-minimum blackjack for a night, you should have a $200 bankroll to risk (20 x $10). Even a $5 minimum bet can get large if you plan on playing the correct strategies for some games. For instance, placing an “odds bet behind the pass-line” in craps, or “doubling down” in blackjack.

For smaller bankrolls, stick to the games that take a while to play, or those in which the casino has a smaller advantage on you. A few of the games that take longer to play are: Poker, Pai Gow, and Slots / Video Poker & Electronic Games. A few of the best games percentage-wise include: Blackjack, Craps, and Poker.

I cant guarantee you’ll win, but I can guarantee that reading these articles will make you more comfortable playing the games, allowing you to have more fun. And I can also promise that you’ll have a better chance at winning using these basic strategies (as opposed to no strategy at all). Have fun & good luck!

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I will, however, begin with the site that already boasts the most traffic, Kaboodle. I don’t want to announce a winner from the start, but I have to say, if I wasn’t doing a survey, I would stop here. Although some functions were a little difficult to find, it provided almost everything I was looking for.

As it seems many of the other sites do as well, Kaboodle focuses on community / social shopping. Although I really don’t care too much for this in a wishlist site, I suppose it doesn’t hurt. Kaboodle allows you to have personal tags (labels which describe the individual), as well as a profile picture, and a short “about me” section. You can also enter your birthday and location. There is a “style compatibility test”, which is based on your ratings of product types. This seems to me to be more of a marketing ploy than anything else. There’s also friends, groups, email, and comments, as any social networking site should have. I liked that they give the ability to set up surveys, so that people can recommend products to you. Enough on the social aspect.

The Wishlist

After a cluttered initial interface (with all the social / shopping stuff), I was surprised to find that the wishlist itself had most of the features I was looking for. You can create multiple different types of lists (screenshot below), along with privacy settings for each one (desired features a & b). You can either make lists public or private, and you give access to the private lists by way of email.

The nicest thing about Kaboodle’s wishlist is importing items into it. You can either enter an item manually, or insert a URL and let Kaboodle gather all the related info it can. This allows you to enter items that you might not have a link for, or items that you want but may not even be aware exist yet (feature c). I was very impressed with Kaboodle’s import feature (screenshot below). It gathers a good amount of information (including pictures, title, descriptions, highlights) for a variety of different URLs I entered. The only thing missing here was a couple more well-defined fields, such as “approximate price” (however, you can use the general fields for whatever you’d like)(d). There’s also browser integration in the form of a cool little button that’ll grab whatever URL you’re on, and start the import function. At first, I didn’t notice the link that allows you to import an Amazon wishlist (i), but it’s there as well.

Kaboodle’s integration with other sites is better than average, although it still leaves me wanting more (f/j). You can create widgets (screenshot below), by way of flash slideshows of your lists or javascript “badges”. You can get RSS updates of recent activity, but not a straight XML export of the lists themselves. Integration with Facebook would be a definite plus.

The last feature I want to touch on is the ability to pull current prices for each item (h). While it wouldn’t grab the lowest prices for every item with one click (something that would be awesome, but that I’d imagine may put too much of a strain on the server), it did allow a query through shopping.com (screenshot below) of each item on an individual basis. Very cool.

Downsides

- Community / shopping aspect clutters interface a bit
- Multiple ads per page are also distracting… too focused on selling products.
- Printable version of wishlist is too large (no compact view, must print with images) (e)
- No true raw export of lists (j)
- I didn’t see a gift calendar (g), but I’m assuming that since you put your birthday in, it’ll remind you of friend’s birthdays. Still, a custom calendar would be nice.

Conclusion

Since Kaboodle has just about everything I wanted, save a few interface items, I’ve decided to use it as the base model, to which I will compare the rest of the wishlist sites. I know that is saying something in itself, but hey, Kaboodle deserves it. A-

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I came across various blogs referencing one or another, and I’ve compiled a list from those. I plan on trying each of these out, and then blog on my evaluation of each site. If you’d like to be part of this wishlist site survey, don’t hesitate to chime in with your pros and cons for the sites! Here’s a list of the sites I’ve found (if you know of others, please let me know in the comments):

1. Kaboodle
2. This Next
3. Things I Want
4. Wish Pot
5. Gift Tagging
6. Wish Listr
7. Gift That
8. List Ideas
9. Meta Wishlist
10. Wish Roll
11. Wish Radar
12. Wishlist Complete
13. Hint Dropper

Features I’d Like

• different types of lists (gift list, shopping list, grocery list, etc)
• private and public lists, as well as lists shared only with specific individuals
• add items from local stores as well as online stores, or even items you’re looking for that you haven’t found at any store yet
• tag items with labels / metadata (categories, subcategories, special instructions, notes, etc)
• printable version(s) of wishlists (for local shopping, or to give to someone)
• integration with multiple other sites (facebook, myspace, etc)(provide an rss feed of my wishlist items)
• gift calendar with reminders (for birthdays, anniversarys, holidays, etc)
• pull current prices for the items (from multiple stores, like pricegrabber does)
• import from other wishlists (amazon)
• export wishlist to a spreadsheet (e.g. excel)

Taking Amazon as the base model, and looking for these features, I’ll soon write about the pros and cons of the sites I look at. I’m looking forward to my shopping life becoming much more easier… hopefully one of these sites can provide me that. Till then, it’s Amazon, paper, and shortcuts.

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The Argument

An error is found in the dealing of the cards, and player(s) want a misdeal to be declared.

The Rule

If a mistake has been found in the deal, the hand may be declared a misdeal– so long as 2 or more players have not acted in the hand. Once there is “action”, no misdeal can be declared. One or more player’s hands might be declared dead, however. For example: say a player discovers that they actually have been dealt 3 cards; and they discover this after the river, after they have put money into the pot. It is an unfortunate and seemingly unjust circumstance, but this player’s hand can no longer win, and furthermore they wont get their chips back either.

Reference

section 3.1.4.2: In button games, action is considered to occur when two players after the blinds have acted on their hands. Once action occurs, a misdeal can no longer be declared. The hand will be played to conclusion and no money will be returned to any player whose hand is fouled.

Reasons

Declaring a misdeal would be unfair to the player who may have already won the hand. Not to mention the complicated task of dividing the chips back up (if thats even possible without a video recording). It’s each player’s responsibility to ensure they have a valid hand, and speak up immediately if they notice they dont.

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The Argument

Only the person that was “called” must show his cards (and the person with the winning hand).

The Rule

All players that call to the showdown must show their cards if asked.

Reference

Section 3.1.8.5 (in the USPA rulebook):

Any player who has been dealt in may request to see any hand that has been called, even if the opponent’s hand or the winning hand has been mucked. However, this is a privilege that may be revoked if abused. If a player other than the pot winner asks to see a hand that has been folded, that hand is dead. If the winning player asks to see a losing player’s hand, both hands are live, and the best hand wins.)

Reasons

There’s probably more reasons for this rule than I can think of. Here’s a few:

1. From a business standpoint, a casino wants to speed the game up as to make as much money as possible (the more hands they deal, the more rakes they take). If players were to refuse to show their hand, this would delay the game.
2. Position on the table should not influence who gets to see the cards. A player who bets from a constantly earlier position should not have to show his cards more often than the player to the left of him.
3. Style of play should not influence who gets to see the cards. An aggressive player who gets called often should not be the only one to have to show his cards.
4. To protect against collusion (such as on player consistently raising weak hands when his partner has great hands… in order to trap another player in the middle). Having to show all the cards at the end can reveal possible cheating trends.
5. Its just ridiculous. Like 8 year olds. Show me yours and I’ll show you mine. Dont be embarrased. Be proud of the way you play. Turn em over with a resounding “BAM!” (even if you were full of it).

Hope this article clears some things up, so you can get back to the fun of your home poker game!

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Rules are a good thing, meant for making games more enjoyable; and this can happen, so long as they are well defined and everyone knows & obeys them. The problem with most home poker games is that not everyone knows the rules, or possibly would want to believe they are well defined. Everyone has their own interpretation on what the rules are, usually stemming from all the other unorthodox home poker games they’ve been a part of in the past.

I cant stand arguing the rules with other players in our home poker game. Most of the rules I just let slide now, as to avoid an argument and/or to completely deprive the game of fun. Still, it would be nice if everyone knew and respected the rules. Rules are only depressing when you have to remind people of them; arguments are never fun.

Yet there are some rules that continue to be an issue (in proportion to the magnitude of the affect they have on the gameplay / outcome). So I decided to do some investigation and find out the actual rules (from the United States Poker Association rulebook).

With any game, there are some rules that can be adjusted (e.g. what value a single chip bet has), and others that are set in stone (e.g. a flush always beats a straight in 5-card poker). I prefer to adhere to as many rules as possible… after all, they were made for a reason.

Every home poker game has their way of running things, so I never recommend starting a fuss at someone’s house you’ve never played at. If you don’t like the way they do things, don’t play there again. But I believe explaining the reasons behind the rules will go a far way. In this series, I’ll do my best to not not only define the rule, but explain why the rule exists.

I’ll start the series off with an article on the “showdown of cards” (i.e. who has to show their cards after the final betting round is completed). I’ve seen this rule disputed more than any other. You may be surprised at what the actual rule is, and hopefully you’ll see why it is that way.

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• position on table
• position in tournament
• chip stack
• opponents’ chip stacks
• numbers of players left in tournament
• number of players in hand
• your cards
• your opponents’ current bets

The tough part about it is: all these things are related to each other, and often an analysis of a combination of them is necessary. These things should influence your decision making, but to what degree can change dramatically and instantly. This is part of the reason why you should never predetermine what you are going to do with a hand before the bet gets to you. I’m not saying twiddle your thumbs and look into space… just don’t make a decision until you need to.

The simple part is that when the betting comes around to you, the decision always come down to one of only three choices: fold, call / check, or raise. I’m not saying it’s easy: how much to raise, how often to call, times when you may want to set your opponent up for a check raise, knowing when you should fold… are difficult decisions based on many factors. This decision is always important, and sometimes critical… it may just come down to situational awareness factors.

Forget about statistics for a moment as well- sometimes they don’t matter either. There are situations where you should even go so far as to fold pocket aces preflop (albeit extremely rare). Let me say that again: there are situations where you should fold pocket aces preflop. “No way“! “Never“! You say? Let me show you one:

You are in the later stages of a tournament. 2 places pay out, 3 players are left (including you). The other 2 players (John & Mike) have huge chip stacks compared to you. I mean huge… they both have exactly 2000 chips, and you have 50. The blinds are 10 and 20. John, the dealer and first to act, decides (for some reason) to go all-in. Mike, the small blind, calls, putting himself all-in as well, with nothing to spare. You, the big blind, with nearly half your stack already committed to the pot, look down at pocket aces. You immediately call, overjoyed at the possibility of tripling your stack. But should you have?

Lets back it up for a second. Breathe (and gather your emotions). Think (always… never just react). Here’s the facts:

• Fact #1: There are no guaranteed victories preflop.
• Fact #2: If you lose the hand, you get paid nothing for 3rd place.
• Fact #3: If you win the hand, the chances you’ll get first place with a chip stack of 150 vs. one of nearly 4000 are near nill.
• Fact #4: If you fold, you are guaranteed 2nd place (because one of the huge chip stacks will take the other out, being that they have the exact same amount of chips).

Taking all these facts into consideration, in this situation, the smartest thing to do is to fold (even pocket aces!!), and guarantee you get paid money. Maybe this is the only situation where it would makes sense to do something that drastic, and maybe that situation will never occur in your lifetime. This is obviously an extreme example of situational awareness, but you get the point… Being aware of your situation profits you.

I’ll write more about situational awareness factors later. Especially in tournaments, it’s a key element to good poker play.

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Most of these changes I was able to achieve without modifying much of the original theme’s code. I did this by using by using a technique created by Chris Pearson over at Pearsonified (if you haven’t checked out his site yet, you should). Basically, the idea is to link in another stylesheet to the original theme, which “overwrites” the original css by taking precedence over any defined element. This has the affect of (1) not requiring an edit of the original css file, and (2) keeping your modifications in a separate file (so you don’t have to go searching through the possibly very lengthy original css files to view/edit your changes). The custom css file that I created can be viewed here.

The other tool that helped me out tremendously is an extension to firefox called “Firebug“. The best feature of this addon is the ability to “inspect any element” of your page. This allows you to see AND Modify any part of the css or html, giving you an immediate preview of what changes would look like (should you decide to make them permanent). If you don’t have this add-on, you’re life could be so much easier :.). This feature may be available in full-fledged development environments as well, but most people don’t have these. And this one is free… so download / install it now!

The result of all of this: An easily modifiable css file which changes the look of my entire site; a virtually untouched and thus uncompromised code base; a happy programmer; and last but not least, a beautiful looking “new” theme:

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I’ve been a casual (and at times a serious) poker player for nearly as long as I can remember. I grew up watching my grandparents & family play cards, and I started playing for money somewhere around 14 years old. These games were obviously for nickels and dimes, and the luck factor ran high, but I was still able to win most of the time. Nearly 17 years later, I’ve never had a year where I lost more than I won (I know this because I keep a nearly-OCD budget, especially when it comes to gambling). But enough about me for now.

In this series of articles, I’m setting out to describe to others (especially those who feel the game is merely luck), the qualities which make someone a good poker player. There are many more factors going on in a poker game than most people are aware of. Becoming aware of these things, and aware of the elements that determine the outcome of the game– is the first step to becoming a good poker player. That’s what I’ll give you… developing each skill & character quality is up to you.

Stay tuned, and until you can survive without it, may luck be yours.

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The Visa Rules for Merchants (top of page 10) clearly states that merchants may not require a minimum purchase or charge a transaction fee, but that they may raise all of their prices and give a discount for cash.

The problem for the merchants is that the credit card companies charge them a transaction fee, which when weighed against a small purchase, cuts into their profit (or perhaps even negates it). This fee, however, should not be transferred to the customer. Most people may just decide to pay cash instead, and/or take their business elsewhere the next time. If you’d really like to able to make credit purchases at the store (note that they may raise their prices to compensate), or if the merchant just really pissed you off, here’s the process you can take to report the store:

1. Call the credit card service center (not the bank which issued the card)(for Visa, it is 800-VISA911)
2. Get a representative (press 0 rapidly), and state that you would like to “report a merchant for violation of visa terms”.
3. You will need to provide them the merchants information, as well as personal information (for visa, this includes: store address & name, your name/address/phone, and possibly your credit card number)
4. Maybe also mention that you’d like to continue using your visa card, but you are afraid that isn’t going to remain possible if the processing fees for smaller purchases aren’t lowered. Knowing that this issue could hurt business may cause the merchant and/or visa to reconsider their policies.

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I started this blog with the intention of writing ALL original content. Now that I’ve tried a blog like that already, I realize that it takes a long time to write articles! I’d like to get content posted more regularly, but not sure the best way to go about that. I figure I could approach it a few ways:

1. write all original content, posting less often (as I was previously doing)
2. write all original content but in parts, keeping the articles short, post more often
3. write mostly original content, with sections of other pages copied in
4. write often, whether its original content, or cut & pasted from another site
5. write every time I want to tell anyone about anything ;.)

Since I don’t have that much original content in my head, but still want to make this blog useful… I figure some combination of #2, 3 and 4 would be best. I’ll keep most of the articles short in order to get them out more often, write original content articles in parts (so that not too much time is spent on any one), and cut & paste in any relevant information (instead of making the user go to another site to get it).

Sound good?
Any suggestions?
Now all I have to do is actually do this!

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