ISFMA the Blog

The first thing that you want to consider when choosing a skateboard deck is style. This needs to be on the top of your list because skateboarding is a lot about style. Who is your favorite skater? What is your favorite team or company? What kind of graphics do you like. You need to consider all these things because you want to be proud of the way your skateboard looks.

Now that you have the style part down, you need to decide what kind of skating you are going to use your new skateboarding deck for. The type of skating you will be doing determines the size your skateboard should be.

If you are going to be doing a lot of skating on vert ramps or pools, you are going to want to have a wider board that is a little more stable. This means you will probably want a skateboard that is 8.25 to 8.5 inches.

If you are going to use the skateboard for a lot of street skating or doing a lot of technical tricks, you probably want to get a narrower skateboard that will allow you to do flip tricks easier than if you are using a wider board. Skateboards that are 7.5, 7.75, or 8.0 inches are commonly used for this type of skating.

If you want to get a skateboard deck that will work well for all types of skating, you could choose a skateboard deck that is 8.0 inches wide and have a nice all purpose skateboard.

If you are just looking for a skateboarding deck to cruise around on and not really do any tough tricks, you could consider old school deck or a longboard.

Whatever type of skateboarding you plan to do, thinking about it a little before you buy the first cool skateboard deck you see will make sure your new skateboarding deck gives you years of service in addition to just looking cool! Good luck on your quest for the perfect skateboard deck.

Check out extreme sports gear at www.skateboardplanet.net to find great deals on skateboard decks and all your skateboarding equipment needs.

Poker News November 15th, 2008

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Winner of 623.000 Euro at Grand Final of Master Classics of Poker

Jan Sorensen Wins Grand Final at Master Classics of Poker

Jan Sorensen won the grand final of the main event at the Master Classics of Poker in Holland Casino Amsterdam. He won 623.000 euro. In the exciting final Gustav Ekerot came in second. The Master Classics of Poker is one of the biggest and best-known international poker tournaments in Europe.

This year poker players from a.o. America, Canada, Russia, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, France, Italy, Spain, Slovakia, England, Ireland, Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Netherlands, Belgium, etc. attended the Master Classics of Poker.
About Master Classics of Poker
The main tournament in the Holland Casino Master Classics of Poker is the Lido Poker Tournament. This tournament takes place from Tuesday 11th to Friday 14th November inclusive and has a buy-in of 6,000 Euros plus 200 Euros entry fee. The Master Classics of Poker comprises seven different tournaments where the types of poker played are Texas Hold’em and Omaha. The buy-in plus entry fee for each tournament varies between 330 and 6,200 Euros. The level of the prize pot for these tournaments is, of course, dependent on the number of participants. Each day the tournaments start at 2 pm except for the Lido Tournament that starts at 3 pm. More information on the MCOP and the full tournament schedule is available at www.masterclassicsofpoker.com.

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‘Poker Wizards’ Reap More than $4,000,000 in Tournament Earnings in 08

‘Poker Wizards’ book contributors: Chris Ferguson, Daniel Negreanu, T.J. Cloutier, Kathy Liebert, Marcel Luske, Dan Harrington and Mike Sexton unable able to defeat the overwhelming odds in 2008 to make the recently televised WSOP final table, but as a group, they have been paid in excess of $4,000,000 for tournament winnings in 2008 even without cracking the Main Event.

In one of the years best new books, ‘Poker Wizards’, the best known names in poker explain how they make large sums of money year after year. An exclusive compilation of strategies, insights and winning tactics from some of the worlds best poker players combined in one book. Well known No-limit Hold’em champions Daniel Negreanu, Chris Ferguson, Dan Harrington, T.J Cloutier, Marcel Luske, Mel Judah, Mike Sexton and Kathy Liebert, reveal the tactics and attitudes that have enabled them to make millions of dollars playing poker. The book also contains a bonus chapter on body language by world renowned body language expert Marc Salem.

Poke Wizards author available for media interviews.

Author Warwick Dunnett
Cardoza Publishing
Distributed by Simon & Schuster and available at:
www.pokerwizards.net

Century Casinos Announces Polish Open 2008 Poker Tournament

Century Casinos, Inc. announced today that its subsidiary Casinos Poland Ltd. will present the grand Polish Open 2008, a four-day Texas Hold’em No Limit tournament, hosted as part of the fifth EPT European Poker Tour Season at its casino in the Hyatt Hotel in Warsaw from November 15 to November 19, 2008.

The tournament will be capped at 400 players who will play for a total prize pool of up to PLN 8,000,000 or approx. $2,700,000. The buy-in for the tournament amounts to PLN 21,000 or approx. $7,000. According to the official website of the EPT a lot of stars are heading to Warsaw for the next stop on the Pokerstars.com European Poker Tour. Among the top players set to compete at the four-day event are Team PokerStars Pros Gavin Griffin, the EPT Grand Final winner in Season 4, EPT Player of the Year Luca Pagano, PCA Champion Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier, William Thorson, Season 3 Warsaw finalist Katja Thater, EPT London finalist Marcin Horecki, Dario Minieri, Alex Kravchenko and Isabelle Mercier.

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Majestic MLB replica jerseys and MLB fitted caps are arguably two of the most popular MLB merchandise. Almost every has at least one replica jersey in his popular sports memorabilia collection. People buy replica uniforms for two main reasons. Some purchase jerseys for investment reasons but quite a number buy them to wear to the game or to play some ball with the guys. It matters not if they are NHL hockey jerseys or jerseys from other leagues, they need to be handled with care so that they can remain in good condition for many years to come.

For reasons still unknown to mankind, men do not do two things. The first is asking for directions. The second is looking for care labels before throwing their jerseys into the machine. This is a fundamental mistake.

The first thing you must do is look for care labels before washing your replica jerseys. The care labels are normally found on the inside of the jersey’s neck seam or collar. Others can be found at the apparels side seams. However, the are some care labels which are printed on hand tags that are not stitched to the jerseys so keep in mind to check the contents of the package your jersey came in before you discard it.

Obviously merchandise like NFL replica jerseys are more easily damaged than say mini NFL helmets or logo ceramic mugs. So additional care should be considered when cleaning them. As pointed out before, always look for care labels. It would include instructions on wash methods, water temperature, detergent use, drying methods and other instructions. The next thing to do is follow the instructions to the letter.

But what if your favorite Majestic MLB replica jerseys did not come with care instructions? Fret not. Here are some simple tips you can try.

Wash jerseys as soon as you reach home. Leaving them till the next morning will cause wet and soiled jerseys to stink and develop stains.

Before washing them, locate stains and pretreat them. If you are out of stain removers then try using some baking soda.

Turn jerseys inside out and seek out any loose threads. Cut or burn the threads to prevent them unraveling even further in the wash.

Then, soak for a while in cold water to to avoid stains from setting.

Remember not to wash white jerseys with colored apparels and vice versa just in case the colors run.

It is highly recommended that you hand wash your apparels so they last longer.

After the washing process is done with, properly hang or line dry. Most replica jerseys are no longer made of cotton so they should not wrinkle or go out of shape and they are designed to dry quickly.

Dry them inside out so the colors last longer.

One final suggestion, if you decide to iron your jerseys, try to avoid ironing the logos and numbers.

Investing in affordable sports memorabilia such as mini NFL helmets is a rewarding hobby. But just as every other item in a popular sports memorabilia collection they usually tend to collect dust and look jaded after a while. Here are a few pointers to keep them looking new.

For Display Purposes Only
They say prevention is better than cure. Truer words have never been spoken in this case. Keeping your collection of mini NFL helmets away from sweaty hands can save you a lot of effort from cleaning countless fingerprints off of them later. It is not just the fingerprints you have to keep in mind but also the other chemicals that come a long with it.

Human hands come into contact with hundreds, if not thousands of different chemicals every day. Many of these elements might not seem dangerous in low quantities but may be quite corrosive over the years. These chemicals can spoil the finishing as well as the paint job, devaluing your NFL merchandise.

It would be great if the sports collectibles could be kept away from sun light and florescent lighting too. Exposure to ultra violet rays might lead to the colors looking faded. So always keep your important popular sports memorabilia collection in an acrylic or glass display which has a UV limiting tint. The will help prevent your sports merchandise from coming into contact with chemically polluted hands and also prevent the paint job from premature fading.

Cleaning And Touch Ups
If your selection of affordable sports memorabilia, be it logo coffee mugs or novelty lanyards, is exposed to potentially damaging substances then its is most likely that you should consider cleaning it once a while. Before beginning the cleaning process, remember to check if the item has a tag with cleaning instructions. Sports items such as MLB uniforms usually come with washing instructions. If it does not then just follow these simple procedures.

First of all inspect the NFL mini helmet for any traces of dirt or scratches. Remove dirt with a soft brush or lint-free cloth. Do not brush or wipe too hard or you will risk damaging the product. If there is a scratch but the damage is not too serious, you could use light polish to polish off the scratch. If the damage is too serious then you may have to consider sending the merchandise in for a professional detailing job.

If there are no visible scratches, proceed to clean the item with a mild detergent. Refrain from using strong solvents or powerful cleaning chemicals. Using such products could be detrimental to the paint job. Be extra careful around the logo areas as some logos are stuck on and not sprayed on. Next, rinse the item and towel dry. Lastly, use a buffer cloth to finish the job. You can use the same technique to maintain regular NFL football helmets and other similar sports head gear as well.

Skateboarding has become an extremely popular sport. More people than ever are looking for places to get skateboarding equipment at great prices. Before you run down to Walmart or K-Mart, you should do a little research because there are a lot of places where you can get great deals on skateboarding equipment. You can get top of the line skateboarding equipment on shoe string budget. There are a bunch of things you may be looking for. Some are required, some are optional. Really, everything other than the skateboard is optional so you should probably start there.

When purchasing your first skateboard, you will most likely want to purchase a complete skateboard. If you check out one of the online skateboard equipment websites we recommend you should be able to save a bunch of money and get a professional quality board for the price of a K-Mart special.

Skateboard shoes are the next thing most skaters buy. Heck, many non skaters buy them just because they look cool. While many non-skaters choose to wear skate shoes, the design of the skate shoe includes many features designed for use in skating. These features almost invariably include a flat sole made of rubber or polyurethane, a suede or leather composition, and double or triple stitching.

Many features of the Skate Shoe are designed to increase its durability. The Skate Shoe is subjected to the abrasiveness of a skateboard’s grip tape on a regular basis when worn by skaters. This is why skaters tend to go through shoes quickly. Super Suede, Action Leather, and plastic underlying the toe cap help to increase the durability of a skate shoe. Lace loops and protectors are designed to prevent laces from shredding by shielding the most common areas that contact with grip tape.

While you might not think it is cool, most skaters really need to have pads and a helmet. Unless you are just skating around in your driveway, I can’t really think of a good reason to not wear pads and a helmet. The better a skater gets, the harder the tricks are that they will try. As you try harder moves, you will crash and burn. Hitting the concrete without pads can have you laid up inside nursing your wounds instead of skating so don’t cut your skateboarding time short just because you think it is cool not to wear safety equipment.

One last piece of skateboarding equipment you may want to invest in is grip tape. Grip tape is an adhesive backed friction-surfaced material usually attached to the deck of a skateboard or longboard to give the rider more friction to control the board. It is sometimes used decoratively, since it can come in many different styles and colors. Grip tape comes as rough sheets similar to adhesive-backed sandpaper. The grade and size of grit varies by company and manufacture method.

Now that you have a list of some of the key skateboarding equipment, check out some of the great online resources for skateboarding equipment like www.SkateboardPlanet.net to save a bunch of money.

Lately I have been thinking about going camping with some of the kids from my church to this new place that my father told me was very western. He told me that when you arrive at this camp site the first impression that you get is that you’re in a western movie because of all of the western saddles and horses all over the place. I told some of the kids, but they still have to get back to me because it is pretty far away and the church is only going to pay for half of the trip so we would need to do some kind of fundraising to make the rest.

I received the first of my ridiculously large collection of NFL football helmets when I was merely 8 years of age. Way back then mini NFL helmets were not so easily available so I did not have much choice but to stuff the one I had with a face towel in order to get it to fit my tiny little 8 year old head. I recall it being the holidays and being the son of an avid sports fan meant that my brothers and sisters and I often received some sort of sports product for birthdays and other occasions which would be customary for gifts to be handed out.

By the time I was 15, I had a selection of Majestic MLB replica jerseys from various teams. My room looked more like a sports shrine. My desk and shelves were covered with my popular sports memorabilia collection. My wardrobe was full of NFL replica jerseys. Even my lamp shades were sports logo items.

People who had been to my bedroom had commented that I had more NBA merchandise than a sports merchandise shop. With all that merchandise, the main concern I had was the shortage of space. It was not the fabled ultimate frontier, so the movie line goes, but it was still a challenge. The ironic thing was although my siblings and I had accumulated enough sports memorabilia to fill the USS Nimitz, my dad had a relatively sparse collection.

I have been a fan of sports since the first time I played ball with my dad in the back yard. And I am fortunate enough to have never received a sports related gift I did not like. I was given everything from logo door mats to books on MLB trivia. But my favorite sports collectables are still my sets of NFL football helmets. Most of which are signed. Those are the ones I keep in the attic. Painstakingly kept to ensure the signatures do not get accidentally erased. And away from bothersome friends and children who insist on trying every single one of them on every time they visit. I am not being selfish but those helmets are worth quite a little fortune. Particularly the autographed ones in a complete set. Those of you who posses valuable sports collectibles like these should put in extra effort in making sure they are maintained in excellent condition. You would not believe how much they might be worth in the future.

My collection of collectibles has evolved to include mini NFL helmets as well as the ones on keyrings. Suffice to say, it is almost impossible to get the keyring helmets signed so I thought of getting them thumb printed. But sadly I was told that, that would just cause a lot of legal complications. So I will stick to commonly sized goods from now on.

Garnering sports collectibles is an excellent hobby and can be quite fun and educative. Maintaining a popular sports memorabilia collection is not generally considered as an costly past time as there are quite a number of affordable sports memorabilia around. The great thing about collecting items such as MLB fitted caps or NBA merchandise as a hobby is that you can do it at your own leisure. But to make it more interesting, a number of collectors are collecting collectables in sets, for example, the most popular MLB merchandise - MLB uniforms.

Collecting sports paraphernalia in this habit adds to the excitement level of the hobby. It involves patience, perseverance and a lot of space to display the valued memorabilia. The set could contain popular products such as New York Yankees merchandise or NFL replica jerseys.

These products usually come in sets of around 30 depending on the number of teams there are in the group. Unique items like mini NFL helmets may sometimes be found in complete sets but most items are sold separately and therefore it can usually consume quite a bit of effort and time to gather the whole set. Some collectors of sports paraphernalia only collect classic paraphernalia. These merchandise are considered more valuable and the hunt for these products are more challenging since they are no longer in production or are sold in complete sets.

Just to garner a full set of team logo coffee mugs or a set of throwback NFL football helmets might take years to finish the set. Here is where it gets interesting - the research and then the tracking down of the memorabilia itself. It is a sometimes slow process, to say the least, but is fulfilling all the same. It affords the collector the to assume the character of a private detective, so to speak, in order to pin point the location of the target. Of course the target could sometimes come in the form of a tiny logo keyring. But a great number of serious collectors are ever willing to journey to all 50 states to acquire that particular product that is lacking from their collection. To these individuals distance is not a hindrance. Just as the old saying goes, its not the destination that counts, its the journey.

And what a journey it may turn out to be. Just imagine the networking involved. New friendships just waiting to be established. New adventures waiting to be experienced. New tales to share at family gatherings. But most importantly, the long awaited missing item to complete the collection.

What is rakeback Deals?

The ‘rake’ is the amount the poker room removes from each pot, as a fee, for hosting/offering the poker game. The amount taken from each pot varies by limits, but is generally anywhere from $1-$3 on average per hand.
What is rakeback?

When you sign up with a poker room through Community Gaming News , you will receive a refund for every $1.00 that you pay in rake. This refund is known as rakeback. No matter what limits you play, whether you are a professional or just play poker for fun, receiving rakeback will greatly increase your win-rate, and allow you to make more money.
What is “Total Rake” or “Net Revenue”?

Each Cash Poker room may have a different term for “Total Rake” or “Net Revenue”, but it is essentially the total rake paid by you as calculated by the poker room. When Community Gaming News pays your rakeback, it is always a percentage of your Net Revenue.
What is a Rakeback Provider?

A rakeback provider is a company that advertises for a poker room or a group of poker rooms. Rakeback providers are paid a percentage of Total Rake for each one of their players. Community Gaming News then gives this payment from the poker room, in the form of rakeback, back to you, the poker player.
How can I get rakeback through Community Gaming News ?

The first step is creating an account with Community Gaming News . This carries absolutely no obligation and will allow you to view our members area as well. Once you have logged into your newly created account with Community Gaming News , from the left hand side of any page, select the poker room(s) you are interested in receiving rakeback from and follow the sign up instructions. Within 5 minutes you can begin playing poker and earning rakeback!
How often are my Rakeback stats updated on Community Gaming News ?

Almost all of your rakeback stats are updated daily. If a site does not update daily there will be a note of this. There can sometimes be delays with the rakeback stats updating, but these delays are usually out of our control and are usually not more than a couple of days.
Can I Still Get Bonuses at a Poker Room if I Receive rakeback Deals?

Yes! You will still be able to receive bonuses offered by the poker room and any other promotions offered by the poker room or Community Gaming News if you receive rakeback from Community Gaming News . Bonuses are deducted from your Total Rake, but it is much better to receive both bonuses and rakeback than either by themselves.
When are Rake Back Payments Made to Me?

The payments are made once a month, generally during the second week, for the previous month’s rake back that is currently due to you. For example, if you have accumulated $400 in rake back in December, this will be paid to you in January. Though we strive to make the rake back payments to you by the 15th of each month, certain poker rooms automatically make the rake back payment to your poker account. There are times when the rake back payment will be made even later than the 15th due to their poker rake back payment schedule.

Note: You must have a rake back balance of $50 or more from the previous month in order to receive your rake back payment. If you are owed less than that, it will be carried over to the following month and will paid once your total has reached $50.
What If I Still Have Other Questions

We suggest looking over the entire Community Gaming News site, particularly if you are new to rakeback or our site. We think it will not only answer your questions, but could possibly provide you with a deeper understanding of rakeback and the effect the rake has on poker. Our prompt customer service can answer almost all your questions as well. Click here to contact us!

Starting,Starting a popular sports memorabilia collection is a fantastic way of conserving the history, the memories and the folklore of a particular team or person from its title winning season or seasons. Collecting sports logo merchandise is not only a fascinating hobby but it could also prove to be a profitable one at that. In fact, there are a number of people and even businesses all over the world who make a respectable amount of money trading and selling sports logo collectables be it from the Chicago Bulls, the Portland Trailblazers or the Indianapolis Colts. And that figure is growing, thanks to the Internet, as the market for such goods has become borderless.

Many people set out collecting sports logo memorabilia as a manner of showing support for their favorite team or player. Many of us began with simply a simple poster of Kobe Bryant on the wall but end up with a room full of NBA merchandise.

Suffice to say, if a person is thinking of selling sports logo merchandise for a living, considerable research has to be carried out to make sure that right decisions are made. Majestic MLB replica jerseys of the more popular or ‘legendary’ teams are always on the wanted list but merchandise of higher value are the ones with the star player’s autograph on them. But precaution must be taken before investing in autographed memorabilia, due to the simple fact that there many unprincipled people and companies out there swamping the market with imitation goods and forgeries.

One method to remedy this hassle is by only purchasing autographed products from reputable suppliers. These items would be accompanied by a certificate of authenticity. This method is not full proof but is safer than just investing on a promise especially since such a transaction would necessitate a large sum of money.

They other way to go about it is to shop for affordable sports memorabilia of potentially successful teams or non-dominating teams who have, against all obstacles, succeeded the monopoly of the top teams and reached the pinnacle of their league, albeit for maybe merely a season. Products such as winning year jerseys of these teams are afforded great value due to its significance. Throwback or retro jerseys of well known teams are also favored among collectors. This is mainly due to their large fan base. On years that a popular or ‘big team’ wins a championship, demand of their collectibles can even outstrip supply.

Although collecting sports collectibles could be a potentially profitable past time both on a personal level as well as a financial level. Just make sure sufficient research is carried out to ensure you get the best value for your cash.