Archive for April, 2008

Indoor Fun to Beat the Desert Heat

Saturday, April 26th, 2008

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Vegas has become so famous for its casinos and its nightlife that we often forget that there is a thriving city full of people who call this city home. There are businessmen and women, doctors, lawyers, and average Joe citizens who live in this city and have little or nothing to do with the casinos at all. There are entertainers and artists that live far beyond the world of the famous Strip that Vegas more often than not brings to mind.

Vegas is a city that has a cultural center, a religious community, families, and family activities. It is a city in the desert that sees more than its share of sunshine while being particularly vulnerable to rain. It’s a city that is famous for it’s neon brightness while there are corners of this city that are far removed from that world that is almost as foreign to its citizens as it is to its visitors.

Don’t overlook the cultural treasure trove that can be found in Vegas by limiting your experience to the Vegas Strip and the offerings of the many casinos. So there is much more to this wonderful city to see and do and enjoy.

If you are looking for some great ideas to enjoy during your stay, perhaps you will find some here or at least find inspiration for your own ideas. One thing to remember about Vegas is that you are in the desert and it is sunny most of year. Even if it isn’t necessarily warm outside it’s a good idea to avoid being outdoors whenever possible or to be sure you are liberally applying sunscreen and using other means to protect your skin from the ravages of a desert sun.

Here are some of things you can experience during your time in Vegas if you are willing to seek them out: King Tut’s Tomb, the car collection at the Imperial Palace, Chaos at Circus Circus, Gameworks by Steven Spielberg, The Imax theatre at the Luxor, In Search of the Obelisk at the Luxor, Las Vegas Sportspark, Lied Discover Children’s Museum, Madame Tussauds Las Vegas, Merlin’s Magic Motion Machines, Pioneer Saloon, Pirates 4D, Star Trek the Experience, and the Sunset Stampede just to name a few. The best news of all however is that there are constantly more and more activities and adventures being added to the offerings. This means that there is never a shortage of things to see and do while visiting Las Vegas so there’s never a valid reason not to come back.

This list is a short list of only indoor activities; you can find a much larger list of things to enjoy if you consider the many things that can be experienced outside under the desert sun. There are other attractions that will also keep you indoors as well. There are actually quite a few museums in Las Vegas; there is M&Ms World, The Lion Habitat at MGM and the White Tiger Habitat at the Mirage. There’s also the canal at the Venetian, which is also home to “Streetmosphere,” where live actors delight and entertain you with songs and other revelry.

You will find many rides and adventure parks indoors in Las Vegas as well. People find that the desert heat can be a real joy killer for a day out in the sun and indoor adventure parks fair much better while delivering entertainment that is far superior to many of its outdoor counterparts.
If you’re looking for a great way to spend a day indoors, there’s no shortage of wonderful things to do and see in Vegas so there’s really no excuse. In addition to all the things I’ve mentioned above, Vegas is home to some of the most splendid shopping in America so be sure to pack your two best friends Visa and Master Card and bring them along for the ride. Also keep in mind that there is plenty to do in the great big world outside these walls and consider the great fun you can have exploring the desert climate of Nevada.

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PokerStars room review

Thursday, April 10th, 2008

Being the largest online poker room in the world, PokerStars has to offer very generous and attractive promotions. As a part of their WSOP program, PokerStars guarantees an extra $1,000,000 to any poker player that qualifies for the World Series of Poker main event and wins the tournament. Second and third winners qualified through poker stars satellite tournaments will also get outstanding cash prizes – $250,000 and $100,000 accordingly. You can’t get more than this playing Texas Holdem anywhere else!

Besides of this, PokerStars runs a unique Sunday Million tournament starting every Sunday at 4:30PM ET. This $1,000,000 guaranteed tournament is the longest running weekly tournament in the industry.

And if you can’t wait for the Sunday Million, PokerStars offers to start your Sunday with the great Sunday Warm-Up with a guaranteed $500,000 prize-pool at 12:45PM ET.

Still looking for the opportunities? PokerStars runs satellites for the European Poker Tour Season 4, where you can win a seat in most prestigious poker tournament of the Europe.

PokerStars Bonuses

From now and until the end of 2008, PokerStars offers a generous 100% first deposit bonus up to $50. Use the “ First2008 ” bonus code to get your extra cash! In order to earn this bonus, you will need to earn 10 times the bonus amount of Base FPPs within six months since your first deposit. This promotion ends on December 31, 2008. This is one of most valuable promotions available for Texas Holdem players across the web.

Besides of this, PokerStars frequently offer various reload bonuses that attract even more cash to your account!

PokerStars Games

PokerStars offers wide variety of poker games including Texas Holdem, Seven Card Stud, Seven Card Stud Hi/Lo, Omaha, Omaha Hi/Lo, 5 Card Draw, 2-7 Ttiple Draw, H.O.S.E. and H.O.R.S.E. That means that they have a great range of poker games and what is more important – you can always find a lot of opponents of all skill levels to play against, regardless of your favorite game. Of course, the major slice of the auditory is represented by Texas Holdem players, but there are plenty of Omaha, Stud and Draw fans as well. At the time of this review there were from 25,000 and up to 75,000 players during peak hours.

PokerStars Software

As a standalone online poker room, PokerStars is the only brand to offer their downloadable poker software. PokerStars software is known as most stable and scalable product in the industry.

PokerStars software offers wide variety of useful features and outstanding eye-friendly interface, which is very important during long Texas Holdem tournaments and tense ring games, when you need to concentrate on screen for hours. Basic options offer a set of table themes, avatars, player notes, hand histories, window focus options, table layout schemes, plenty of tournament and ring game structures, resizable tables and much more. Regardless of such a diversity of features, all options and menus are easy and comprehensive, so you won’t experience any difficulties adjusting your PokerStars software.

Unfortunately PokerStars do not offer an Apple Mac version of their software.

PokerStars Players

As the largest online poker room on web, PokerStars is a home for the biggest poker auditory on web, so you won’t have any trouble finding lots of opponents playing all poker games available at PokerStars. The players range in ability is remarkable too – from World Champions and down to amateurs enjoying play money games.

At the WSOP and other live poker tournaments, the room is represented by the PokerStars team, playing on the behalf of the site. The most famous members of the team are the World Series of Poker champions – Chris Moneymaker, Greg Raymer and Joe Hachem. All these players won their WSOP seats through PokerStars satellites. They often play at PokerStars helping new players to learn the secrets of the game and publishing Texas Holdem tips and strategy articles.

PokerStars Tournaments

The highlight of the PokerStars tournament schedule is an outstanding weekly Sunday Million, a $1 million guaranteed tournament starting at 4:30PM ET, every Sunday. Sunday Million is $215 to buy-in, or you can win a seat through one of cheaper daily Texas Holdem tournaments running at PokerStars.

Besides of this, poker stars runs satellites to all large live tournaments including World Series of Poker, European Poker Tour, World Poker Tour, World Cup of Poker, World Championship of Online Poker and Aussie Millions.

To be brief, PokerStars has the best tournament offerings in the industry.

PokerStars Community and Rewards

PokerStars runs a unique VIP club program for loyal fans of their online poker room. The VIP club program rewards the players as they progress though levels of membership. Earning FPPs you can become a bronze, silver, gold and platinum star member and then reach the Supernova and finally the Supernova Elite levels.

Each FPP (Frequent Player Point) makes you eligible for greater VIP rewards including freerolls and variety of other giveaways available for VIP club members. You can also use your FPPs to enter various satellite tournaments.

Unlike many sites, PokerStars will pay for your accommodation if you win a seat in one of the live poker tournaments through PokerStars satellites and agree to wear their logo in the event, whilst many other rooms simply insist players to wear their gear.

PokerStars Cashout and Deposit Options

PokerStars accepts major e-currencies including NETeller, ePassporte, as well as all traditional payment systems: Visa, MasterCard, Diners Club, wire transfer, PaySafeCard, Western Union, online bank transfer, Solo, Delta, Visa Electron, money order and checks and Instant eChecks.

Cashouts usually take up to 48 hours to process.

PokerStars Customer Support

PokerStars provides quality 24/7 customer support via e-mail. The support team is very friendly and responsive. Unlike many other sites, PokerStars offers multi-language customer support available in many locations across the world.

PokerStars Integrity and Management

PokerStars is licensed by the Canadian Kahnawake Gaming Comission, one of the leading gaming regulatory authorities in the world. Both PokerStars random number generator and shuffling algorithm were fully tested as a part of the licensing process. They go into great detail about the security policies on the PokerStars website.

PokerStars Deficits

I’d like to list some things which, in my opinion, can be improved:

- more payment options

- faster cashouts

- Apple Mac version of PokerStars software

PokerStars Overall Resume

PokerStars is obviously the leading online poker room in the industry. They have outstanding range of poker games including Texas Holdem, Omaha, Seven Card Stud and draw games, offer great bonuses and promotions, provide unrivalled services and customer support. To be brief – PokerStars is a must for all fans of Texas Holdem poker and other poker games, especially if you plan to qualify for one of live poker events.

This PokerStars room review provided by Roomreview.net – online Texas Holdem poker Guide.

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