An Overview of Home Cured Modeling Clays

Written by Eileen Bergen


Continued from page 1

Cornstarch Base Clays There are many variations of cornstarch base clays. Some ofrepparttar most popular are cold porcelain clay, Victorian salt clay, and "pasta francesa".

I likerepparttar 116170 porcelain designation because cornstarch clays are pure white and, if sealed after drying, they actually resemble fine porcelain. They require cooking to prepare.

Cornstarch clays containing salt tend to be more porous thanrepparttar 116171 others. Cornstarch clays air dry; but drying can be accelerated in a warm oven. The shelf life varies from one week to one month depending onrepparttar 116172 ingredients, storage temperature and humidity. Expect up to 30% shrinkage.

Bread Base Clays Bread base clays do not require cooking; they air dry; and will keep up to three weeks inrepparttar 116173 refrigerator. Shrinkage can be up to 50%. The “no cooking or baking required” aspect makes bread claysrepparttar 116174 perfect choice for projects to do with your kids.

As far as shrinkage goes, you can sometimes compensate by making your project x% larger than you wantrepparttar 116175 finished product. Keep in mind that if you are making molds from which you will recreate a design over and over,repparttar 116176 amount of shrinkage to expect almost doubles.

If you make a clay cast of a medallion that is 10mm in diameter, a cornstarch base impression could dry as small as 7mm andrepparttar 116177 medallions you make could be 4.9mm. If you use bread base clay,repparttar 116178 mold could measure 5mm and your clay medallions may be as small as 2.5mm. That’s a big difference!

Visit http://www.theartfulcrafter.com/craft-ideas.html. I have posted recipes and tips for bread and cornstarch clays, as well as more articles and tips about polymer clays, such as Sculpey.

Eileen Bergen The Artful Crafter http://www.theartfulcrafter.com



Ms. Bergen has had a varied career, first as a special education teacher and than, after getting an MBA degree, as a vice president of a major insurance company. For the last eight years she has been creating and selling her crafts.


Beginners Strategy Guide to Online Micro Limit Hold 'Em

Written by Mike Hellmer


Continued from page 1

7. Don't fall in love with small pocket pairs. You will seerepparttar pros on TV betting their small pairs as strong hands. But, you have to keep in mind that small pairs are really only strong in heads up (1 on 1) play, which is oftenrepparttar 116169 case when you observerepparttar 116170 high stakes games. A 22 vs. AK is sometimes referred to as a coin toss, meaning thatrepparttar 116171 odds are about even as to which hand will win. But if you have 5 players who are going to seerepparttar 116172 flop then pocket 2s is not so strong because ofrepparttar 116173 odds that one ofrepparttar 116174 other 4 players will draw a pair onrepparttar 116175 flop, turn, or river. Go ahead and call to seerepparttar 116176 flop, but if you don't get a set, don't be shy about folding. Lee Jones in his excellent book "Winning Low Limit Texas Hold Em" says that you should look for a reason to fold. I interpret this to mean, in this case, that if you have 44 andrepparttar 116177 flop is T82, you might want to considerrepparttar 116178 possibility that one ofrepparttar 116179 other 4 players withrepparttar 116180 8 cards between them paired up withrepparttar 116181 T or 8, eclipsing your 44.

8. Don't assume that just becauserepparttar 116182 table checks around that no one has anything. Many players are timid about betting out whenrepparttar 116183 have a middle pair. For example, a player has K7o andrepparttar 116184 flop is A74. He may be scared to bet on his middle pair of sevens because he's afraid of someone pairing up with aces. Typically this player will check/call throughrepparttar 116185 river in hopes that his pair hold. Also, some unskilled players are so afraid of telling their hand that they will check when they pair onrepparttar 116186 flop or turn. For example, a player has AK andrepparttar 116187 flop is K75. He checks and calls, if necessary, because he's afraid that if he gets aggressive he will be telling everyone he paired kings.

9. Be aggressive when you have a hand that may get outdrawn. Continuing withrepparttar 116188 example above, suppose you hadrepparttar 116189 AK withrepparttar 116190 flop of K75. The problem is, even though a pair of kings with an ace kicker is a strong hand, if you let 4 or 5 other players stay in by checking there is a good chance that you will get outdrawn. What if one ofrepparttar 116191 unskilled players called preflop with Q2o, even though this is a weak hand? Now, if everyone checks around afterrepparttar 116192 flop, then Q2o with that K75 flop has absolutely nothing, but gets to seerepparttar 116193 turn because no one bet. Nowrepparttar 116194 turn is a Q and suddenly Q2o likes her hand. You still have her beat, now she's probably going to pay to seerepparttar 116195 river, especially since no one bet onrepparttar 116196 flop's king. Nowrepparttar 116197 river is a 2 and your pair of kings is beat by two pair. With this kind of hand you want to scare as many players off as possible.

10. Look forrepparttar 116198 obvious tell fromrepparttar 116199 check-caller. Many times in these micro limit games you will seerepparttar 116200 table check around pastrepparttar 116201 players in early position and some player in late position bets out, thenrepparttar 116202 early position player(s) callrepparttar 116203 bet; they check-call afterrepparttar 116204 flop. Then onrepparttar 116205 turn one ofrepparttar 116206 early checkers bets out. Why? Afterrepparttar 116207 flop this player checked then called a bet by a player in later position. More often than notrepparttar 116208 player who bet out inrepparttar 116209 previous round will bet out inrepparttar 116210 next round. Whenrepparttar 116211 earlier player bets out afterrepparttar 116212 turn when he checkedrepparttar 116213 afterrepparttar 116214 flop is usually a tell that he made his hand. Look atrepparttar 116215 board. Many times this player has just made a straight or flush. The player gets excited and wants to get a bet out, not thinking thatrepparttar 116216 player who bet out afterrepparttar 116217 flop will probably bet out again givingrepparttar 116218 player who just made his handrepparttar 116219 opportunity to check-raise.

11. Don't be afraid to lay down a hand. So many unskilled players will play out two pair, trips, or even a straight when they should lay it down. Suppose you have a straight but there are four clubs onrepparttar 116220 board and none in your hand. Is it possible that another player has a flush? Is there someone atrepparttar 116221 table who is betting out with 4 clubs onrepparttar 116222 board? You should probably lay down your straight when someone is betting like they made their flush. I know it's tough to do, especially if you haverepparttar 116223 nut straight, but more often than not,repparttar 116224 flush was made.

Bluffing 12. Bluffing rarely works in micro limit. Many times you will see a player call allrepparttar 116225 way throughrepparttar 116226 river and all they have is a low pair. It's very difficult to get these players to lay down their weak hands. The other reason is there may be players who want to keep you honest. Maybe they've called allrepparttar 116227 way torepparttar 116228 river on a draw, did not make their draw, but decide that since they came this far, it's only one more bet to keep you honest. Bluff sparingly and do it right.

13. Don't berepparttar 116229 one who calls just to keeprepparttar 116230 other player honest.

14. Know when to bluff. Sometimes it's unavoidable. Suppose you have been fast playing a drawing hand to try to drive others out. You have AKo and you correctly raised preflop. The flop is 754. Most ofrepparttar 116231 time players are going to remember your preflop raise and check around to you. You can check to get a free turn card, letting allrepparttar 116232 preflop callers seerepparttar 116233 turn also, or you could bet because you have two very strong overcards. You should bet out with that flop because you are likely to get a couple players to fold beforerepparttar 116234 turn. Now onrepparttar 116235 turn you still don't pair up and everyone checks to you and now you haverepparttar 116236 same decision, check for a free river card or bet to show strength. You should bet out in most cases. This is a semi-bluff because you don't have a hand except ace high and if someone has paired up then you are dead, but you could still make your ace or king onrepparttar 116237 river, which may very well end out beingrepparttar 116238 winning hand. Many times your show of strength up to this point may drive everyone else out or maybe one or two players follow you torepparttar 116239 river. Nowrepparttar 116240 river comes and you still don't pair up your ace or king. As a beginner your instincts may be to check because you didn't make your hand, but that would be a mistake if one ofrepparttar 116241 other players were sitting on a low pair. Your only chance of winning may be to bluff atrepparttar 116242 pot, and since you've shown strength all alongrepparttar 116243 weak pair may put you on a stronger hand and fold, giving yourepparttar 116244 pot. You will probably lose as many pots as you win when this happens, but if there were several callers alongrepparttar 116245 way,repparttar 116246 pots you do win will normally exceed your loses onrepparttar 116247 others. It's worth it at this point to put in one more bet to try to stealrepparttar 116248 pot, because if you don't you will probably loserepparttar 116249 pot for sure.

General 15. Observerepparttar 116250 other players. Pay attention to their style of play.

Your next step should be to learn about pot odds and playing situations. I believe you can win atrepparttar 116251 micro limit tables withrepparttar 116252 tips I have outlined here, but to go beyond micro limit you will need additional skill, so if you're anxious to play, pull up a seat at a micro limit table and have some fun. Inrepparttar 116253 mean time pick up one of these books.

"Winning Low Limit Hold 'Em" by Lee Jones "Hold 'Em Excellence" by Lou Krieger "The Complete Book of Hold ‘Em Poker" by Gary Carson

© 2004 by Michael Hellmer http://www.mollyspoker.com

Permission is granted to distribute and publish this article. This notice and the link below must be included.

Mike Hellmer is the webmaster of Molly's Poker and Gambling Portal (http://www.mollyspoker.com)


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