Poker on TVWritten by Tom Howze
Poker on TV has been catalyst that allows millions of people to view real poker being played by today's young guns and poker legends. A day does not go by without advertising for another Texas Hold'Em TV poker scheduled event for cable or television. It is becoming basis for corporate investment in a growing industry and a motivation for players to enter numerous tournaments that offer millions of dollars. Software is being developed for hand held devices and cell phones to play poker. Deals are being made to broadcast live tournaments over Internet from land based casinos. And if that's not enough, then there are a growing number of television shows based on poker. Even charity events are bringing in money for those who need it behind affection started by televised tournament events. Plus women are coming to tables in droves, along with magazines on different versions of game like Texas Hold'Em marketed especially to women. And end is not in sight for this trend as more people learn to enjoy and watch game of poker.With an estimated 50,000,000 people in United States alone who play game, corporations began scrambling to capitalize for all money that could be made when tournament event ratings showed reflection of public's appetite. ESPN's poker audience went from 408,000 viewers in 2003 to 1,300,000 per broadcast in 2004. The 2005 World Series of Poker broadcasts will have over 2,000,000 people watching each televised episode when ESPN starts showing them in June. World Poker Tour episodes will be shown in 60 countries and if Steve Lipscomb has his way this will increase to 200 countries. And others are close behind with programs like Celebrity Poker and Poker at Plaza which are pulling in big ratings. Online poker rooms are now becoming a billion dollar industry. They provide many satellite tournaments that anyone can play in to get a chance to be a television star competing for big bucks. Even states within America such as North Dakota, Illinois and Georgia are competing to pass legislation to legalize poker over Internet for a piece of revenue pie, despite direction of federal government. Outside of U.S., England is at threshold of permitting its land-based casinos to take bets online from U.S. citizens.
| | Home Entertainment At Its Best--Your Private Home TheaterWritten by Larry Denton
You LOVE watching movies, but don't always have time to roundup family and journey to local theater, or can afford to shell out money for cost of tickets and criminally priced greasy popcorn. So, you often resort to renting videos from your local store, but watching them on your 27" TV just doesn't quite have same impact. Not only is picture quality awful, sound is even worse through those 4" speakers in your TV set. You've been hearing a lot about "Home Theater", and both your neighbor and your brother-in-law have huge, new, big screen TVs, powerful surround receivers, and gargantuan speakers to shake entire house. The kids are begging for a similar system, but your spouse is saying "no" to remodeling front room for a wall full of techno gadgets. So, how do you keep everyone happy? Perhaps answer lies in a home theater system. Whether you are considering a home theater-in-a-box for $200, or are adding a entire room to house your $25,000 state-of-the-art equipment, there are hundreds of options and choices in design and construction of your ultimate home cinema. Home theater design has reached record levels of stylishness and complexity. Having a private theater used to mean you were either a wealthy celebrity, CEO of Paramount Pictures, or president of United States. Today, however, with advanced audio-visual technology (think DVD players, powerful new speakers, and digital high-definition projectors) nearly everyone can afford a stylish home entertainment environment that can rival your local movie theater. The term "home theater" refers to any combination of audio and visual equipment in your home that attempts to duplicate or surpass sights and sounds of movie theater experience. This definition can vary widely, however. On high end, you can have a custom designed (and built) home theater that costs thousands of dollars--complete with high end video projector, state-of-the-art DVD player(s), separate amplifiers for each channel, dozens of in-ceiling speakers and some subwoofers that can shake paint off your neighbor's garage. In reality, home theater in most households does not consist of major room re-modeling, expensive custom installations, or a lot of money. It can be as simple as a 27 inch TV, a basic DVD player, inexpensive stereo receiver and a set of modest speakers. You can have a home theater in just about any room of house, a small apartment, office or even a dorm room. The options are nearly endless and choices are yours!
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