Gmail

Google has been beta testing their new gmail and it looks awesome; yahoo mail and hotmail might be shaking in their boots! Here are some sneak peaks:

https://gmail.google.com/
http://gmail.google.com/gmail/help/screen2.html
http://gmail.google.com/gmail/help/screen1.html

If you want in on the beta, signup at the botom of this page.

Going Native by Motu Eagle
Sidney found this great article at the motu eagle, and it caught her eye because it had our teepee! Check out Going Native!

CEO Tom Goes To China
I just read a little on CEO Tom and it looks like he is headed to China! Perhaps he will be heading up a high tech firm there. China is growing like wildfire right now in terms of tech. Found a few pics of ceo tom on the net.

How about Online Poker?
Do you love playing spades in There? Many of us grew up playing cards and enjoy games like cribbage, Euchre, Bridge and more. The most popular card game online is "poker" and namely "Hold'em". Hold'em is short for Texas Hold'em and this is the game that they play at the world series of poker. This game is very eary to learn, and very complex to master. :)

Legal Disclaiming Bla Bla. It is illegal to gamble online. If you are a gambling addict, it's probably best that you don't play games for money. If you choose to play poker online, don't bet the farm. LOL

Poker is huge online and all the card houses are in places like the caymen islands and other tax havens where there are giant US accounting firms, but no US laws. It is a little hard to fun poker accounts these days since you can't use visa or mc or even paypal anymore...instead you have to use a check or other funky accounts for little competitors of paypal. That being said, online poker is massive. There are thousands of players playing right now, and every hour of every day. Let me give you a quick screen capture. I play at the third biggest place and here is a status right now, see the bottom left. On that one site, over 4,000 people are playing and 1,000 are in tournaments...right now! if you have never played Hold'em, here are some basics:

You only get two cards
What could be simpler. :) Two stinking cards! You don't have to memorize a thing. Now the rest of the cards are all shares. Five more cards will hit the table and you all share them. The person with the best hand wins.

Betting Is The Key
At least half the skill of the game is "betting". Yes you have to know what two cards are good, but betting is critical to hold'em. You generally have to toss away your cards, or be very aggressive. You will be sent home crying to your mom if you try to play passively.

Bluffing Is Over-rated
In the movies they bluff all the time. In real poker, you just don't bluff that much; especially online! Online, no one is scared of anyone and so a bet means less. Bluffing should be avoided.

You can practive hold'em free on many sites like Yahoo Games. You can learn the game quickly there, but you won't learn how to play since it's fake money and people just don't care about fake money. LOL

Now there are many variations of hold'em online. It's all the same game, just different formats. First there are limit games. These are the most common in casinos in real life. This means that betting is limited. The low limits are like $2 and $4. Each bet can only be that. This let's people know they are playing at a level they can stomach. The limits go from that all the way to $20/$40. You pick the limit you feel good about. There are also No Limit games. These are what the world championships are. There is still a limit...like you can only sit down with say $1000...so the limit is what you sit down with. Then with the betting, there is no limit. This is where bluffing is much more of a factor and this is when you see the peeps on TV say "I'm all in". These are regular games but there is also "tournament" games. I personally prefer the tournament games. Tournaments have a start and a finish and are much more exciting. The other games tend to be a grind...like a job where tournament is much more like a competition or sport.

That's my primer on hold'em poker. If you like cards, you might consider trying it online. All the poker sites have free tables to let you try for free. :) Many give you money when you join and fund your account. Here are like the 4 biggest sites.

Party Poker
http://www.partypoker.com

Poker Stars
http://www.pokerstars.com

Paradise Poker
http://www.paradisepoker.com

Ultimate Bet
http://www.paradisepoker.com