Most Controversial Players In Poker

While most poker games will go off without an issue, there are occasions when you're playing with a highly controversial character, someone who likes to cause a scene when the cards don't go their way.

When these players feature in televised tournaments, it provides great entertainment for those watching at home, but it can annoy other players at the table. If you're looking to develop your own poker skills to ensure you're always in with a chance of winning then check out https://poker.paddypower.com/poker-school/texas-holdem/.

We've taken a look at some of the most controversial poker players who could do with returning to poker school.

Ivan Freitez
He is certainly the least well-known name on this list, but Ivan Freitez has been involved in some of the most controversial moments in poker. One of the worst came in the EPT Grand Final 2011, where Freitez is dealt 6-5 and the board results in him getting a full house. His opponent, Eugene Yanayt, had K-Q with a pair of kings and fives with his queen as the kicker and it's reasonable for him to believe he is in the strongest position.

Believing he is in a position of strength, Yanayt value-bets, and Freitez's next move is controversial, he announces he is raising, but tosses in a call. In an attempt to backtrack, he says that he meant to say call and that he "no speak English."

Tournament director Thomas Kremser comes over and informs Freitez that he needs to min-raise. But Kremser also informs Yanayt and the other players at the table that this is a move Freitez has previous for when he has a very strong hand. Everyone was rooting for Yanayt to fold to reduce his losses, but even though he was armed with new information regarding Freitez, he took a risk and called, but ultimately lost. Dirty behaviour that wasn't well received by those around the table.

Tony G
The Lithuanian Antanas Guoga, better known as Tony G, is one of the most controversial poker players on the circuit. He's known for being brash and not afraid to speak his mind at the table. He's had high profile clashes with David “Devilfish” Ulliott and Phil Hellmuth Jr..

He likes to use verbal barrages to unsettle his opponents, which has made him something of a marmite poker player – you either love him, or you hate him. For all of his success in poker, his style of poker makes him quite hard to like.

Phil Hellmuth Jr
With a nickname like "The Poker Brat" it shouldn't come as any surprise that Phil Hellmuth Jr. features on this list. He is the most successful player in the World Series of Poker with regards to bracelets won, with a staggering 15 WSOP bracelets to his name. Doyle Brunson, Johnny Chan and Phil Ivey are joint second with 10 bracelets, demonstrating just how good Hellmuth is in the WSOP.

But his success doesn't mean he's graceful, in fact, he's another who is a marmite player. He's someone who people enjoy watching losing, purely because he blows up. There are countless videos of Hellmuth reacting badly to a loss and plenty of people commenting saying they enjoy watching him lose.

Vanessa Selbst
Often referred to as the female Phil Hellmuth, Vanessa Selbst has developed something of a reputation for reacting badly to losing. Although she is very successful, winning three WSOP bracelets, that doesn't change the fact that she makes some basic overplays. With a reputation for playing so aggressively, it means her opponents can read her more easily and are more likely to risk a half-decent hand against her.

Her aggression works against players who are more conservative, but when she goes all-in with pocket fours, she shouldn't be surprised if someone calls her with ace nine. While great entertainment for everyone watching at home, it does mean people aren't overly keen on her as a player.

Bingo in Pop Culture

Bingo is a huge business and without even realising, it's literally everywhere. A simple search online will bring up a multitude of websites, or details about land-based venues; and you're bound to see ads pop up on social media or during ad breaks on TV. But it actually appears in pop culture a fair bit too. Whether it's radio, TV or film, bingo is all around us and is as popular as ever. Here, we will take a look at how bingo has appeared in pop culture over the years. But if you fancy a game in the meantime, check out: https://bingo.paddypower.com/.

Radio
Fans of BBC Radio 1 will know that presenter Scott Mills runs his own radio game show, Innuendo Bingo. The game involves the DJ playing clips from other radio or TV shows where the content can be misconstrued (hence the name). The game is played with a celebrity guest who has a mouthful of water and the aim of the game is to hit the opponent with the water which spurts out through laughter. The game recently returned after a hiatus and although it's not really anything like the bingo we know and love, we'll count it.

TV
Never mind actually recreating a bingo game to a TV show – reality TV programmes work best for that, by the way – bingo has appeared on our screens in a number of ways.

Bob's Full House was televised between 1984 and 1990 on BBC1 and actually went international with Finland, Germany, Greece, Portugal and USA all transmitting their own versions. The premise of the quiz show was taken from bingo – with four players given separate cards and they had to answer questions correctly to light up their numbers. Round one saw players looking to light up all four corners; in round two, they needed to light up the middle line; while round three was of course the full house. There were prizes after each round and any players who hadn't yet received something, went home with a consolation hamper.

Lucky Numbers was another bingo-based show, televised on ITV between 1995 and 1997 and presented by former-bingo caller, Shane Richie. Like Bob's Full House, the contestants had bingo cards with numbers on and every correct answer in the quiz, saw them light up a number. Again, the rounds were the same (four corners; middle row; full house) and the final round saw a cash dash, whereby the winner gambled as much of their cash as they wished and had to get five-in-a-row on a 25-square game board.

Eyes Down was a two-series comedy show starring Paul O'Grady as Ray Temple, the manager of a bingo hall in – you guessed it – Liverpool. But Ray hated his job, his staff, the players, in fact, everyone and everything. The programme centred around the staff, including Christine the cook, Martin the number checker, Bobby the repair man and Mary the cleaner.

Film
We could honestly be here for hours listing films about bingo, or ones with bingo-specific scenes – it's a popular pastime that seems to feature on the big screen frequently, maybe because it's so easy to portray, as well as play? Here are just a few examples:

Films about bingo
King of the Bingo Game (1999) – tells the story of bingo fan, Sonny, who plays with the hopes of winning big to look after his impoverished family during The Great Depression in New York.

House (2000) – a small bingo hall is threatened by the opening of the country's largest bingo hall nearby.

Bingo (2003) – a short film set in an old people's home, during a game of bingo. But told from the point of view of one of the workers.

Films with bingo scenes
Big Momma's House 2 (2006)

Rampage (2009)

Hotel Transylvania (2012)

Bad Grandpa (2013)

The Top Online Guitar Lessons that You Should Check

If you want to have a great music career, a good place to start is to learn the basics of a guitar. If you want to know the chords and play actual music, you can consider getting a guitar teacher. Read more about guitar chords in this link here.

A great guitar teacher has a lot of ways in helping a student become better. You could learn the basics in just a few hours when you have a teacher compared to doing it on your own. Your progress will be rapid, and you will play the guitar in the right way.

If you are considering getting guitar lessons, then here are some of the best options that you can consider:

Top Online Guitar Lessons in 2019

1. GuitarTricks
GuitarTricks is a fast, fun, and easy way to learn the guitar. They boast a Core Learning System where their students can make music even from the very first day. You can follow a step-by-step system that is organized and has interconnected lessons. Some of the lessons have a lot of guitar tabs, camera angles, jam tracks and a lot of other tools that can help jumpstart your guitar playing.

You can also benefit from the 60-day trial window, accomplished instructors, downloadable videos, and apps for mobiles. You can read more about GuitarTricks in sites such as https://www.bestonlineguitarlessonswizard.com/. These sites can provide a more comprehensive guide about these lessons as well as their pros and cons.

2. TrueFire
TrueFire boasts a lot of guitar styles such as jazz, rock, blues, classical, acoustic and country among others. They have learning paths, courses, lessons, jams, educators and classrooms available for each style.

You can choose an instructor for a private lesson and each of them is well-equipped to teach you with techniques and methods. You can interact with your instructor through a lot of tools that are available as iOS applications such as charts, lesson plans, discussion threads, video messaging, tabs, notations, and jam tracks.

The lessons comprise of 10 modules and they are arranged in chronological order. There's also a feature called “In the Jam” where guitar novices can get into jamming sessions with some of their preferred artists.

Some of the benefits that you can get with TrueFire include affordable membership rates, money-back guarantee, over 140 certified instructors available, and interactive experience through videos.

3. JamPlay
With JamPlay, you can learn beginner, advanced, acoustic, country, blues and a lot of other guitar lessons. There are a lot of guitar lessons published every 30 days and daily lessons are available for every student who wants to learn.

You can join the JamPlay's community where thousands of members can give you encouragement and tips. There's a comprehensive chord library that contains over 950,000 chords. There's a scale library where you can view a comprehensive collection of guitar scales, famous solos, interactive videos, and more. All the lessons are filmed by professionals and all videos are in high resolutions.

You can benefit from live classes, live video chats with your instructors, and the courses which are suitable to all levels of guitar players.

4. Jamorama
This is considered as the social network of guitar novices regardless of their location around the world. You can make collaborations with other expert guitarists, share tips with newfound friends, watch video lessons at your own pace, and a lot more.

Jamorama can show you how learning the guitar doesn't have to be a lonely experience. The social feature can help you get motivated. On top of these, the courses that they are offering are all tested and proven to work for a lot of people. You can enroll in courses such as beginners, fingerstyle, speed picking, learning about chords, and a lot more. Read more about fingerstyle guitar here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fingerstyle_guitar.

You can print a lot of guitar lessons from your course which you can practice at your own convenience. Jamorama can give you a lifetime membership in less than a hundred dollars. You can have a dynamic learning experience with Jamorama compared to other sites.

5. ArtistWorks
ArtistWorks is dedicated to providing every student with interactive and affordable access to guitar lessons all over the world. It can be considered as a one-stop shop where you can play electric guitars, bass, piano, and a lot more. There are specific instructors who can provide you with what you need.

There are schools that focus on a single genre of the type of lesson that you want to learn. You can also gain access to a wide variety of eBooks and gain support from a lot of social media platforms. You can also record your own videos and send it to your instructor for review.

A Lot of Guitar Lessons to Choose From



The sites mentioned above are some of the best ones that offer affordable courses to their students. You have to pick the ones that have a lot of experience teaching beginner students. You can check each website's "About Us" section and courses in order to know more about them.

The Five Best Casino Movies of the Eighties

For most of us, the 80s didn't exactly feel like a period of huge excess. We were kids then, doing the stuff kids did. Adults though? Well, if you managed to get a peak of their movies, it seemed like they were truly living the high-life.

Outrageously luxurious outfits, cool-as-anything haircuts and money, money, money was the order of the day. It's why we'll always have a soft spot for eighties movies, but there's no genre which quite encapsulates those elements quite as completely as the casino movie.



Today, land casinos tend to be few and far between, thanks in part to the rise of the online casino, which, through their free spins on roulette wheels, deposit matches up to £100 and instant, play-anywhere nature have made the real-life casino less relevant than ever.

The casino as a symbol of wealth and power, though? Well, that lives on in movies both past and present. So, join us as we celebrate a few of our very favourite eighties casino movies.

1. Rain Man (1988) – It's a classic of the eighties, picking up the Best Picture award at the Academy Awards in the year of its release, but Rain Man isn't often remembered for its casino plot line. Blame that on its two outrageously charismatic lead actors (Tom Cruise and Dustin Hoffman), but Rain Man still goes down as one of the great casino movies of the decade.
2. Lost in America (1985) – Albert Brooks is a treasure and he shines in this hilarious casino movie about a man who convinces his wife to up sticks, cash in their savings and travel the world – until they lose it all on a single spin. Oops.
3. Casino Raiders (1989) – Hong Kong's contribution to action cinema has been reconsidered in recent years, with directors championing the incredible, visceral and compelling work that has come out of the nation. Casino Raiders from the tail end of the eighties is a fantastic example, following two best-friends-come-professional-gamblers who are sent to Lake Tahoe to help a man named Lung. High-tension action follows in this classic of the genre.
4. The Big Town (1987) – Matt Dillon offers a star turn as J. C. Cullen, an Iowa farm boy turned pro craps player in Chicago who falls for the wrong women – don't they always? Suzy Amis, played by Diane Lane, is the wife of Tommy Lee Jones' character, a gangster by the name of George Cole. The Big Town's all-star cast alone makes it, but it really is essential eighties casino viewing.
5. Atlantic City (1980) – Overshadowed by some pretty gigantic movies upon release (Empire Strikes Back, anyone?) Atlantic City is absolutely worth your time. Starring Burt Lancaster as Lou, a washed-up mob hit-man (or, so he claims) beside a young Susan Sarandon, a woman who dreams of being the first female croupier in Monte Carlo, it's a casino-coloured love affair that's far darker, deeper and better written than it has any right to be.

So, there we have it, our list of the finest casino movies of the eighties. Some funny, some tragic, some doomed, some uplifting – all from the greatest decade of all.

The Damned Announce Fall 2018 US Tour

The band will be hitting the States for a two-week run beginning in mid October in Boston and wrapping up on November 2nd in Los Angeles. Meet & greets are available for most of the dates. Tickets are available here.

October 17 - Boston, Paradise
October 18 - New York, Irving Plaza
October 19 - Asbury Park, Stone Pony
October 20 - Washington D.C., Black Cat
October 21 - Philadelphia, Theatre Of Living Arts
October 25 - Denver, Gothic Theatre
October 26 - Salt Lake City, The Depot
October 27 - Las Vegas, House Of Blues
October 28 - Tempe, Marquee Theater
October 31 - San Francisco, Regency Ballroom
November 1 - Santa Cruz, The Catalyst
November 2 - Los Angeles, Henry Fonda Theatre

The Best Apps Based on Video Games

With 2018 seeing the release of some of the most high-budget, innovative games in history, and the entire industry kicking it up a notch by seamlessly integrating top-of-the-line AI and 3D graphics into mainstream titles, it can be all too easy to forget where this all started. The video game industry kicked off in earnest back in the 1970s, and since then, there have been countless storylines and characters which have gone on to help define and exemplify mainstream culture. Luckily, these cultural icons haven't disappeared, and in the newest frontier for gaming - mobile gaming - some of video gaming's biggest heavy hitters are reappearing on our iPhone screens in creative and quirky ways. Here's a round-up of some of the best apps based on popular video games.

Pokemon Go!

Probably one of the most popular and talked-about app releases of the past decade, Pokemon Go completely changed how we play on our phones, integrating the gameplay into every aspect of our daily lives by allowing users to hunt for Pokemon in different real-life locations. Who can forget the endless newsreel footage of Pokemon hunters listlessly roaming around shopping centre car parks trying to catch themselves a Charizard? Pokemon and the bright yellow mascot Pikachu are undeniably some of the most iconic cultural developments of all time, with the original Pikachu from the 1998 Gameboy release being just as instantly recognisable today as ever.

Sonic Runners Adventure

Sonic, the speedy blue hedgehog that has spawned over 50 video game titles over the past few years, has finally made his mark on the mobile world with this hugely popular app. Over the course of the evolution of gaming, Sonic appears at pretty much every level, starting at the coin-operated arcades on the 80s, and continuing today in high-budget releases for the latest consoles. Sonic Runners Adventure is classic Sonic distilled into a mobile-friendly platform, allow you to tilt your smartphone as you collect those precious rings, hunt for chaos emeralds, and fight off Dr Eggman.

Super Mario Run

There are few game characters more well-known than Mr Mario himself and, unsurprisingly, fans of the franchise had been begging Nintendo for an app release for years. Their relentless demands were finally met when they recently brought out Super Mario Run, which allows players to re-live that classic Mario nostalgia-fest of childhood, playing through iconic levels such as Mushroom Forrest and Bowser's Castle. This is Mario in its purest form, and with rumours swirling of a Mario Kart app on the way, we should expect to see a lot more if this moustached legend in the future.

Resident Evil

Resident Evil, the heart-stopping zombie shooter, finally has an app. Although not in the same vein as the classic console and arcade games, this unique app allows users to compare their stats across all of the Resident Evil titles, as well as access resources about the fictional universe of the Umbrella Corporation and Racoon City. Definitely one for the die-hard fans only.

If you have any video game apps you think deserve a shout-out, let us know in the comments!

Metal Remains as Relevant as Ever in 2018, and Here's the Proof

IMG SRC: Dowload Festival

One of the great joys about music is that it offers something for everyone and fans also have an opportunity to discuss and debate the merits of various bands or genres, as well as why they are less keen on others. However, if one genre seems to get caught up in such debates more than any other it is probably heavy metal.

Seemingly loved and loathed in equal measure, the genre has had to endure its fair share of battles down the years and the Smashing Pumpkins frontman Billy Corgan recently offered his views on why that may have been. In an interview with Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich on Beats 1, Corgan discussed how he felt that despite being a popular form of music metal remains "disrespected" in some quarters. He talked from personal experience about how he felt the music was looked down on by a certain type of music fan and even hinted that those from better backgrounds particularly tended to dismiss it. He added how it offered solace to him in his youth and something that was "more closely aligned" to his own experiences.

A top seller

There probably is something in Corgan's comments about how metal has never been fully accepted by certain music fans. However, this has still not stopped the genre from enduring and remaining a fundamental part of popular culture. In fact, there remains plenty of evidence that metal of all sub-genres is as relevant as ever in 2018.

If you are going to look at the popularity of a genre then record sales are of course an important barometer of how things lie. While a look back at last year's top-selling albums may unsurprisingly have the likes of Taylor Swift, Ed Sheeran, Kendrick Lamar and Bruno Mars at the top, it is notable to see another name stick out like a sore thumb. The creators of one of our all-time favourite metal songs, Metallica made the list with their Hardwired… To Self-Destruct LP being the ninth biggest selling album of 2017. To make matters even more bizarre, the position has the metal legends sandwiched between the '70s soft rock of the Guardians Of The Galaxy: Vol. 2 soundtrack and the Justin Timberlake-infused cartoon pop of Trolls.

IMG SRC: Metallica

It is not just albums that metal – and Metallica in particularly – continues to shift though. The annual Download festival in the UK welcomes in the region of 80,000 fans every year, while Metallica made Billboard's Hot Tours rankings at one point last year when the first ten dates of their US stadium tour helped them achieve a combined gross of $49.5 million from an incredible 464,988 sold seats.

Breaking out

Another real test of how strong a genre is performing is its ability to take a step outside of its usual comfort zone and be embraced in other parts of pop culture – something that metal has managed in a number of surprising ways in recent years. Apparently, Metal has developed a close and fond relationship with the ever-growing craft beer. The individual areas both have a strong and devoted following so it is probably not a huge surprise that efforts have been made to bring the two together. Many metal bands have been involved in the creation of beers, with 3 Floyds Brewing in Indiana working with the likes of Mastodon, Skeletonwitch and Pelican to create new brews. Furthermore, as Revolver outlines, the company even hosts its own metal event to celebrate the one-day-only release of one of its signature beverages. Going even further, as Betway Casino outlines, it is not uncommon for online slot games to take their cues from popular culture like film, TV and music, including Elvis and Sex and the City. Yet, even with that in mind the fact that Swedish doom metal merchants Candlemass worked with slots developer Play N Go on the House of Doom slot is a real turn up for the books. In fact, Candlemass even released a new song as the slot's official soundtrack (see video below). Metal has also broken into video gaming with Avenged Sevenfold reportedly set to contribute a song to the forthcoming Call of Duty: Black Ops 4.

While beer and heavy riffing may seem like a fairly solid fit, there are still plenty of other surprising places that metal has popped up in recent times. DO.OMYoga offers metal fans the opportunity to practice their various yoga moves along to doom metal, with the idea stemming from an experience that co-founder Kamellia Mckayed had while travelling in India. Speaking to LouderSound.com, she outlined how she visited Rishikesh and felt too ill to practice, but was then spurred into action when a friend was playing an Om album. She said: "Eventually, my friend Sanna – who helps run DO.OMYoga with me – approached me and suggested it would be cool to practice yoga to doom metal. I said, "I already have been – and it works!' The rest is history."

A core part of music's landscape

All of the above highlights that, whether it truly is "disrespected" or not, metal remains in incredibly rude health and is undoubtedly as important as it has ever been to popular culture in 2018. From the enduring, lucrative success of Metallica to the genre's ability to branch it into new and surprising areas like yoga, interest and appetite for metal and its culture remains high.

While the genre may now come in a number of different forms since its first inception back in the early 1970s, it is safe to say it remains a core part of music's incredibly rich and diverse landscape.

LISTEN NOW: Penny Mob, "21st Century Kids"

This new track from Penny Mob kicks major ass!

First Listen: Chvrches, "Get Out"

First single in two years is a hot one!

The Legendary Freddy Krueger in 2018

Have you heard the rumours about the new Freddy Krueger flick? There's said to be a new one coming in 2018. This is exciting news indeed...

OK OK, the last Nightmare on Elm Street remake was a flop: audiences didn't rate it and neither did the critics. In fact, to be brutal, even the trailer kind of sucks. (Way to butcher a classic!) But maybe 2010 just wasn't Freddy's year. We die-hard fans don't let that kind of thing get us down, right? Freddy is a legendary character, an absolute icon of the horror genre, and he deserves a decent remake. So maybe, just maybe, 2018 will be the year that Freddy once again makes it into audiences' nightmares.

And no, he's not a dated character. Definitely not, though some readers will think so. If anything he's one of the most timeless characters that horror has invented. Come on now- some freak who comes to get you in your dreams? That's one of the worst things imaginable as you just can't do anything about it. The more tired you get from trying to stay awake the more afraid you become- body and mind fatigued, stress levels through the roof and emotions at breaking point! Then when you finally drop off... BAM- that horrific hand and fedora are lurking.

The bed is supposed to be the safe place, remember? You dive under the covers and you're OK... protected from the bad things of this world. The Nightmare on Elm Street concept flips that on its head and makes it the worst place to be: the very epicentre of the horrors! Just picture yourself trying to get a good night's rest when all of a sudden a scarred menace materialises from your very own dream. There's no escaping it... except perhaps for those sleeping in plush velvet beds... Freddy doesn't like those!

So what would actually make this remake worth watching? What should the director be doing to ensure that Freddy doesn't come across as risible and naff as has happened in the past? Well the thing with all horror is that it's genre film, like genre fiction, and therefore is expected to contain certain generic features: haunting strings, stuff jumping out from nowhere, shaky cameras, abandoned buildings et cetera. The key is using them well.

For instance, we all know that whenever the camera turns its back (so to speak) on a room, that when it looks back again something horrible is highly likely to be there. Now a clever director plays on these kinds of audience expectations and keeps them on their toes.

A great example is in The Ring. Remember that scene at the beginning when the teenage girl opens the fridge door to get a snack and thereby fills the entire shot and blocks the background so we can't see what's coming? Everyone just assumes that there'll be a boogie man or something similarly shocking there when it shuts again, but when it actually happens... there's nothing but an empty hallway. This is the kind of intelligent approach to horror that's expected now and is definitely what's needed to make the new Nightmare on Elm Street movie a success.

So let's cross our fingers and hope that this time it all comes together and doesn't leave us just feeling annoyed and embarrassed at the poor handling and mistreatment of a truly great character.