When humans first began to communicate about 50,000 years ago, some used pictures, some tapped on trees or bones, and other produced sounds. Those sounds became universal in all tribal groups and evolved into communication and music which became a fundamental component of humanity.
The earliest tribes communicated by sounds, which eventually had a rhythm to it that evolved into tunes and melodies and enhanced communication. It was greatly influenced by everything in the village from emotions to social status, from the weather to the celebration of a successful hunt for food. People began to remember the songs and sing them again and again to their children; some songs which have no recorded origins have been passed down through the ages.
It’s thought that prehistoric music began long before humans became literate, their history, travels, and stories being taught to their children through the ages via song. Put a beat to the worlds and it’s much more easily remembered. Music evolved throughout the ages and became known as indigenous, folk, or traditional melodies. It’s much more related to sounds that occur in nature as well as rhythms of patterns and tone, as well as repetition. In fact, many believe that the first instrument was actually the human voice when they began clicking, humming, or even whistling, which eventually led to singing.
As these patterns and tones were passed through the ages, during the Biblical times, it is said that Jubal was actually the first person to invent a musical instrument, and music was rich throughout Hebrew history. From the story of Moses parting the Red Sea to the Songs of Solomon and the Psalms of David, music has been an important aspect of the Abrahamic faiths.
From there, leading into the medieval times, music compositions, instruments, and songs flourished and even led to be a mainstay of the early Roman Catholic Church with their Gregorian chants and liturgies. Stories of historical events and military feats are composed into songs and portrayed in numerous plays and stories throughout the ages.
From this time on, music became far more diverse in that it encompassed a far broader geographic region and by the 1500s and the Renaissance, musicians became more and more prevalent throughout Europe and the Oriental music of the times had a great impact on the composers. The invention of printing presses had an enormous influence on the musicians and composers because now the music could be copied and dispersed in a much quicker fashion to the far reaches of the globe. Classical composers such as Mozart, Bach, and Beethoven became even more in demand than ever and their music of the time is still popular 400 years later.
Music from around the globe has become a mainstay of human existence. People listen to music as they travel to work and back home. Just as many people are awakened to music as there are those who cannot fall asleep without the notes bouncing off the walls. Music through the ages continues to lift spirits, bring about emotions, calm frustrations, and it continues to tell the stories of humanity.
Most people don’t typically stop and think about music and the instruments that it takes to create the sounds, much less the different types of instruments that are found around the world. Musical instruments date back thousands of years ago, and it’s believed that the oldest instrument that has ever been discovered dates back at least 67,000 years ago; however, it’s disputed as to whether it was an actual instrument for music or not. One that seems to be in little dispute was discovered in Slovenia in 1995 and is a flute from approximately 37,000 years ago that features four holes carved in the bone from the wing of a bird, and it’s been named the Divje Babe flute.
There is no one definitive answer on exactly how many instruments there are throughout the various countries across the globe. There are musical instruments that can be identified as woodwinds, brasses, percussions, strings, and drums; and generally must instruments fall into one of the categories. Some inventive composers have even crafted combinations of these categories to become a sort of “one man band”.
Some of the more common instruments are well known from the light and airy sounds of the flute and piccolo to the deep mournful sounds of the bass cello and the tuba. From all the instruments in the orchestra that includes the clarinets and harps, the drums and the trumpets and the bassoons, they all come together to make music that stirs the soul and lifts the spirits.
Millions of people across the globe have taken piano or guitar lesson in their youth, or played some instrument in the school band, but there are many more exotic instruments that are played in different areas of the planet that produce striking sounds of melodious notes that have never been heard outside that region.
For anyone who has ever been to the regions around India, the Sitar and Santoor produce beautiful stirring music that makes feel uplifted and lighthearted. Travel further to the west and the Turkish Oud provides sounds that make one think of oasis and dancers around a table full of wonderful foods; add a Greek Bouzouki to the mix and the table is surely overflowing.
Travel further south of the equator and the sounds of the Australian Didgeridoo (which is considered to be the oldest wind instrument in the world) pulls one right into the outback country filled with Koalas, Kangaroos, and the Aborigine people. Add the beat of the Bodhrán from Scotland and the wailing sounds of the Bagpipes and the band is off and running across fields of imagination not yet explored.
The Chipendani from the areas of Zimbabwe and South Africa produces rich full sounds that are almost unimaginable when produced from one thin string tied from tip to tip on a bow with a smaller string dividing the sections to allow pitches to be tuned up to an octave apart. Add to that the sounds of the Siku from South America and the exotic sounds abound from this panpipe instrument.
From around the world throughout the ages, music has been a part of the lives of humanity, and mankind has been rich in creating instruments to produce a variety of sounds that fill the imagination and bring music to family and friends.
One certainty that mankind has known throughout the ages is that music is healing. It makes people feel energized or calmer, it is soothing and comforting, and it just plain helps people to feel better. Even researchers in the medical field have begun to do studies of how music and sound affects healing and health in general. Everyone acknowledges the old adage “music soothes the savage beast” and it has been found to soothe everything from stress to recovery from surgery. It doesn’t mean that music cures the individual, but it certainly improves both chronic and acute symptoms of many issues, helps with pain and increases quality of life.
A great breakthrough that has had huge success with music and healing is being used in the study of music and Alzheimer’s. In several studies it’s showing that music tends to help relieve the anxiety and frustration associated with Alzheimer’s patients, and helps calm and soothe them. It’s even been found that some with severe Alzheimer’s who have not spoken in many months began to hum or sing with the music; some even singing the words from a song played from their youth. When music can help lower blood pressure, reduce agitation, and relieve anxiety, it has great promise in the medical field for patients with Alzheimer’s and various forms of Dementia.
Music therapy has also been studied with autistic patients who have difficulties interacting with others. Oftentimes, they are agitated when their environment is changed, but researchers are finding that these autistic patients respond extremely well to music therapy to help relieve the stress, induce calmness, and help the younger ones become more socialized. One surprising aspect to the research is that many younger autistic patients are quite skilled in playing musical instruments.
With so many people diagnosed with cancer, one very promising study is being researched with music therapy and cancer patients. When the music is soothing and relaxing the patients seem to have improvement in mood, anxiety, quality of life, and a great way to manage pain. It tends to have an effect on their heart rate, respirations, blood pressure, but even more encouraging is the rate at which it helped ease pain.
Another fascinating study that is ongoing (and quite exciting in the field of music and medicine) is the use of music during surgery. Some studies show that patients who listen to comforting, calming, and relaxing types of music through headphones while the anesthesia is being administered prior to surgery, as well as during the surgery, require up to 50 percent less anesthesia. This is particularly encouraging when piano, harp, orchestra, and slow jazz music is played for surgical patients. It is primarily exciting because most patients have worse side effects from the anesthesia than they do from the actual surgery. This has been a great breakthrough for patients undergoing heart bypass surgery, back surgery, and surgery for broken bones, hysterectomies, and out-patient day surgeries. A great side note is that the surgeon benefits from a different type of music that is energized and uplifting to keep their energy going and help them focus.
Certainly, there are more studies to be done on the effects of music and healing, but maybe the ancient people understood how much music has an effect on life that today’s researchers have yet to rediscover.
Since ancient times, wise people have recognized music’s power to influence our morals. Plato, in his Republic, advocated musical training in the education of the young. This great thinker believed that such training would encourage gentleness and inner harmony.
However, what about the opposite tendency, the ability of (some) music to warp us for the worse?
In recent years, this conception of music has got a lot of attention from the media. Such attention tends to blend the influence of artist/musician’s image with that of his/her music.
One notorious example is comprised of the accusations leveled at Marilyn Manson in the wake of the Columbine school shootings. We might say that Manson’s abrasive music and shocking, spectral appearance made him a natural target for negative attention, and accusations for being a bad influence on youth. However, once it was discovered that the young shooters were Manson fans, Manson suddenly had to deal with being considered an instigator of their crimes. For a less violent, more mainstream example, consider the widely held opinion that acts like Britney Spears or the Pussycat Dolls encourage the sexualization of very young girls. Go a little further back, and find the beginning of the controversy of Parental Advisory labels slapped onto supposedly “obscene” records.
However, if we go still further back into history, we will see how truly great music can sometimes end up linked to absolute evil. We speak here of Richard Wagner. Wagner’s music will, unfortunately, continue to be associated with Nazism. Wagner was Hitler’s favorite composer. Though Wagner actually died a few years before Hitler was even born, Wagner’s immediate descendants ended up being favorites of the Führer. Furthermore, some critics have pointed out to some intellectual common ground between Wagner and Hitler. Both were anti-Semitic, and hoping to restore the glory of Germany, for instance. Nietzsche, a philosopher considered one of the major forerunners of German fascism, considered Wagner to be one of the very few cultural figures of his day who understood his ideas about nationhood and the relations between them. Even if we cannot hold Wagner truly responsible for Nazi atrocities, it is hard for our enjoyment of his music not to be tainted by what some of his fans did.
Figures like Wagner and Nietzche inspired Nobel-winning author Thomas Mann when he wrote his novel Doktor Faustus, in which the music is literally diabolical. Here, Mann’s protagonist is an avant-garde composer who sells his soul to the devil in exchange for musical brilliance.
What is it, then, that makes some pieces of music morally or ideologically suspect? The most obvious criteria are, of course, the lyrics. Sexual explicitness, profanity, bigotry, and violence in lyrics have all been reasons to call songs bad, or a bad influence. However, not even instrumental and/or wordless pieces are safe from moral judgment. Certain types of musical forms or sounds can actually be thought to be oppressive, fascistic, etc. (Blame Theodor Adorno, the famous neo-Marxist, if you must.)
For some of us, all this moral labeling of music seems nonsensical. Does it not make more sense to say that music can never really be good or evil? However, to insist that music is just a matter of beauty vs. ugliness is also to disrespect its power. If we say that music cannot be diabolical, we are also saying that it cannot be sublime.
Listening to music—on small personal devices, that is—has become a rapidly-spreading fad among poker players. At big tournaments, one can find many poker enthusiasts plugged into their iPods, mp3 players, etc.
Let us say that you want to give this fad a try. Of course, the main question becomes exactly what type of music you should listen to at the poker table. If you search on the Internet about this topic, you will succeed in finding some (almost painfully) specific information and recommendations. Some poker bloggers actually set out their own lengthy playlists for your perusal. These lists are often very personal and eclectic. Do not be surprised to see 1960’s jangle pop alongside the latest rap music on the same person’s list.
This article does not have such specific (or perhaps narrow) aims in mind. After all, what inspires another player to greatness might just be annoying or distracting to you. Rather, this article will set out some general rules and tips, which you can then tweak to your own tastes.
One major principle to keep in mind is that eclecticism is important. If you play very long poker games, you are likely to pass through different mental and emotional states before the chips are finally cashed. Be ready with songs that have different effects on you. Cue bouncy, energetic songs for the beginning of the game or for late-night final rounds when you are worn out and sleepy. Balance these with some relaxing ear candy for very tense moments, such as the approach of the “bubble” stage.
Secondly, you must remember to be considerate to your fellow players. Listening to very loud music can be discourteous if it distracts you from game play. If other players have to call your attention and tell you it is your turn, you will be slowing down the game. You may also fail to hear when other players call bets, which can cause errors and misunderstandings.
Also, be aware of any “eccentricities’ you might display while listening to music. If you are the type who likes to sing along (perhaps unawares), you might be better off sticking to instrumental music. Be aware of any poker tells you might be giving away through your listening habits. For all you know, you are the sort of person who hums a tune or bops his/her head when nervous. Try to be conscious of your body language, so that your music does not end up offering your opponents new ways to get inside your head.
Finally, sometimes the best thing to have playing on your iPod is nothing at all. That’s right: cue your playlist, but turn the volume way down. Other players at the table are then more likely to assume you are in your own bubble, unable to hear them. They may then be less cautious about their poker tells, particularly the verbal ones. However, you will actually be able to hear them perfectly well. As such, your iPod helps you fool your opponents into underestimating you and exposing their weak spots.
Ah! So, you’ve got poker on the brain now and can’t seem to get enough of it? Well, we don’t blame you – its kind of addictive and unforgettable – much like how you felt way back about your high school heartthrob!
Plus, with so many new and interesting variations to the game and a host of dedicated online poker websites such as FullTiltPoker each with their own individual player benefits right from poker bonus codes, attractive freerolls, real money wins and great tournament entry chances besides free downloads and even Mac platforms, the scope of enhancing your poker gaming experience is so much more!
These are just some of the reasons why party poker games on the net have become increasingly popular with a wide cross-section of people, age, experience and sex notwithstanding. However, the most effective way to actually enhancing your virtual poker gaming scope in the long run is by learning about official poker rules and memorizing these according to the favorite poker room you most frequent, based on user-friendliness, best cash bonuses, valuable software resources and great frequent player point advantages. But, these are only some of the basic attractions of picking the perfect online poker room. What is required afterward is actually skills and continued application of proven strategies for improving poker play, an area in which knowing and quickly applying official poker rules can help you win or lose out on potentially getting closer to the final table.
Of course, as mentioned earlier, the official poker rules may vary according to the individual poker rooms and websites that determine their house rules based on the version of the game brining in most traffic to their site, so players are advised to check with the preferred online casino of their choice before starting play in order to avoid forfeits and disqualification from instant cashable bonuses – or the lack of such, too.
That’s because some absolute poker download casinos may not offer instant redeemable bonuses in cash; they simply state they will only transfer the same privilege in kind, like in the form of additional gaming scope or an entry into a higher grade tournament or something similar. So, if you are expecting to convert your Texas hold’em poker wins into instant ready real money but the online poker room of your choice does not seem to offer this privilege, you could end up disheartened about your next game strategy and this would adversely affect your play; in order to avoid such disappointment, reading up the official rules regarding the version of poker you most enjoy – be it 7 card stud, Omaha or Texas Hold’em – is the recommended way to start playing poker online and benefiting from the game decisions as well as house rules too.
Each card room may have several recommended procedures like basic poker etiquette or rules about clearance of bonus codes based on number of plays you rake, so knowing about these beforehand can help you know the basics of finer nuances of playing the game as well as how to play in a particular room.
Every time each player on a PokerStar table plays a hand at 7 card stud they will post an ante that goes into the middle. The ante is paid in stud regardless of whether they call or fold their hand pre-flop. In stud, players try to steal the antes when they raise preflop with the intention to force the other players out of the hand.
The Math
When a 7 card stud table is full, a player is getting 4 to 3 odds on his ante steal. Translated this means that if an ante steal is going to be immediately profitable, the 7 card stud player should win the pot and take down the antes around 40% of the time. This in fact is untrue since if a player calls they are still able to take down pots later on in the hand. Therefore, the real profitable percentage is below 40%.
For instance, if a 7 card stud player raises with a king, is called, and then catches a king on fourth street – which lets them take the pot down after the steal attempt. This happens 6% of the time and it allows the ante-stealing player to take down an additional bet for their troubles.
The above is an example where a stud player at PokerStars can gain equity on their ante steals by having a strong hand. So if a player had an ace and a king in his hand that is not on show, his chance of catching one on fourth street rises to 12%. Given the poker player’s hand if he catches an ace or a king on fourth street, it would be a mistake for his opponent to call a bet if the opponent does not improve. This of course is the advantage a player gets from having his cards hidden and allows him to extract value out of the information that his opponent does not know.
Bluff Ante Stealing
This asymmetric information can be used to a PokerStars.it player’s advantage. Even if a seven-card stud player does not hold an ace of a king in his hand, he can represent it if he catches one on fourth street. Catching a scare card on fourth street will most likely scare opponents off holding a low pair, which means that a player can take the pot down a good percentage of the time on fourth street if they catch an ace, king or queen and their opponent has a small pair.
The general rule when stealing antes on PartyPoker should be that a player should raise with any sort of hand that has over a 30% chance of stealing the antes on third street in a tight game. These types of hands are usually any high card showing with two decent cards behind. If the game is loose though, the stealing hand range needs to be better in order to be profitable, as the dynamics of an ante steal change.
Poker, particularly poker on the web, is fast becoming a veritable craze nowadays. Because of the widespread popularity and accessibility of Internet poker rooms, poker has managed to find a new avenue of growth and development as well as new customers. On that note, one of the things that separate poker from many of the other games, sports, and pastimes out there from the fact that good luck outside of poker is more often than not the result of hard work and deliberate planning.
Lucky Poker means Bad Poker
When it comes to games that aren’t on pokerstar.net, people tend to be lucky because they intentionally attempt to get lucky. That’s not to say that the same end cannot be achieve in poker; to be true, this credo also works to a large degree in poker too. However, there’s a bit of difference between luck in, say, baseball than luck in poker. More to the point, the luckier you are at poker, the worse you play. Yes, that’s an obvious oversimplification, but at the very least it gets the message across in regards to the truth behind poker luck.
Everyone appreciates being lucky in poker, and there’s no player who doesn’t wish that they could somehow bottle and save this luck for future use. Nevertheless, the truth of the matter is that being lucky is the worst thing to happen to a good poker player, because instead of relying on his own strength, he’ll instead start depending on the luck of the draw, which in the long run will only bite him on the derriere once his luck runs out. In the point of view of a bad poker player, he’ll win the pot half of the time through luck instead of skill.
Bad Poker Players have all the Luck?
Through luck, a bad poker star player will somehow fill up bottom two pair against an opponent with top two pair, spear a kicker on the river card, make miraculous perfect-perfect catches, and suck out when not getting pot odds. The bad player gets to win from time to time despite his lack of talent and foresight because poker was designed to do just that. Actually, bad players tend to be luckier than good players merely because of their lack of control of the flow of the game. The thing about having a good, solid poker game is that there are two ways for you to win—good decision-making and pure luck. With bad players, they can only rely on one thing, as though they’re one-trick ponies that get exposed once their trick has been defeated.
With that said, it’s much better to be able to dictate the pace of a poker game rather than to let luck or your opponents dictate it for you. After all, poker isn’t a lottery game; it’s as much of a game of skill as a game of chance. If you want to improve your poker skills, then you will instead study the opportunities you can take, the luck that your opponents present to you like a gift on a silver platter, and the mathematical statistics behind each decision than rely on something as random as bad beats, and beginner’s luck. You should get luck by compelling your opponent to place five bets while drawing to a double bellybuster; you shouldn’t try such idiotic, luck-dependent tactics yourself.
Badugi Poker is at present taking the poker world by storm – A triple draw, near to the ground hand over, four card game, it’s the whole thing that “Texas holdem” isn’t. It is a game with enormous poker variations. Learn how to play Badugi Poker at CarbonPoker – US welcoming Badugi have betting themes. Limit Badugi – Betting is incomplete in each game and each round of betting. There is a maximum of four bets, which includes one bet, and three raises are for each round of betting per player in boundary games. Half Pot boundary Badugi bets up to portion of what is in the pot. Pot bound Badugi bets up to what is in the pot. Badugi hand over rankings, the lowest hand in Badui wins the poker game. A hand is made up of up to 4 cards, none of them identical in suit or rank. Aces count as low.
A 4 card hand by means of one card of every suit is known as a “Badugi tender”. The buck Badugi hand beats an advanced Badugi hand. So a 2h, 3c, 4s, 5d Badugi would strike 2c, 4h, 6d, 7s Badugi. In Badugi the suits do not have a value or rank greater than each other. Pairs in Badugi. If you hold a pair in Badugi one of the paired cards is not counted. So Ah, 5d, Js, Jc would turn out to be Ah, 5d, Js. This is a three card hand and ranks lower than any 4 card Badugi hand. Alternatively 5h, Js, Jc, Jd would turn out to be 5h, Js which is a two card hand compressed by any 3 card hand or full Badugi hand. Suitable cards in Badugi. If you hold two or more cards of an identical suit then the higher cards are not counted and are not used to make up your hand. So Ah, 3c, 6s, Ks would turn out to be Ah, 3c, 6s using the lowest of the suited cards to make the best 3 card hand on or after it. You will possibly be dealt with paired and suited hands together with pairs, in addition to suited cards which are very poor cards, and you would hope to enhance it by possibly showing your hand, for example, Qh, Qc, 8c, Js would be Qh, 8c, Js, a three card hand without the pair or the corresponding suited cards. Double suited hands are regarded as the worst starting hands possible.
The 72off of Badugi. The worst and very improbable preliminary hand would be quads. And the Texas Holdem 72 off corresponding in Badugi would be Kh, Kc, Ks, Kd which would exist as a one card hand of some of your 4 kings. Betting and representation rounds in Badugi are played in a similar way as “holdem” by means of a button and a minute and a big blind. Each player is dealt 4 cards for drawing and 1st round gambling, and then there is a first round of gambling based on these cards.
You can find more information about the Badugi rules here.
Every poker online player is always trying to become a better poker player so that they can make more money at the poker tables. If you’re a new poker player and you’re looking to become a better poker player then follow the simple tips below which have been proven to help new players. It can be very frustrating for poker players to lose money when they play and noone ever like losing, but if you learn from your mistakes then you’re taking the first step to becoming a better player. Now you just need to make sure you don’t allow yourself to make the same mistake again, because trust me the second time it happens is much worse. We’re now going to look at some more simple tips to help new poker players become better players.
* Always make sure you do your job to make sure you’re ready to play poker when you plan on playing. You should make sure you get lots of sleep the night before playing and then also make sure you eat a meal before playing. You won’t be able to think straight if you’re playing on an empty stomach so do yourself a favour and ensure your body is prepared to play poker.
* Always play at the right limits for the size of your bankroll. Too often I see Full Tilt Poker players who should be playing at a $1/$2 game up on the $5/$10 tables trying to make back money they lost or trying to make more money. Whenever you play stakes you aren’t comfortable with playing you’re not going to see the same results as when you’re comfortable. You also risk going broke a lot quicker on the higher limit tables without giving you much of a shot to make your money back if you encounter a bad beat or something.
* Play the different poker games that are available in casinos and online poker rooms such as PokerStars, and find out which game you excel at. Most players like playing Texas Holdem, but if you make more money at the Omaha tables or Five Card Draw tables then you should focus on playing those games. You never know how good or bad you’ll be at a game until you give it a shot so make sure as a new player you try out each of the different poker games to find your forte.
* Whenever you play poker make sure that you always watch your opponents and become familiar with the habits of poker players. The more you can read into the minds of other players the more money you’ll be able to make. On the same note you should keep in mind that other players are going to be watching you so don’t give them any information which could give them a lead on how you’re playing.
* When you’ve lost a hand you need to make sure you just fold your PokerStar hand before getting yourself into more trouble. Often players will try to bluff and steal the pot when they miss a draw or something and end up getting called. They then wonder why the other player called, but they shouldn’t have bluffed in the first place. Don’t get me wrong you need to bluff occasionally in poker, but don’t do it in the most predictable circumstances or you’re bound to have someone call you sooner or later.