Now professional football players are supposed to be just that; professional, however they are also human and emotions can affect their performance as can the threat of injury that may have a bearing on their future contracts. A few years back I read The Dark Side of the Game by former NFL player Tim Green. In his 1996 book he admitted that like it or not there were quite a few players on losing teams that did not give their all on Sundays after their teams were eliminated from playoff contention. It is just one more factor to consider when making your picks this time of year.

The hardest part about shopping is trying to find the right gift for the people on my list. Luckily many of them share my interest in casino gambling and there is a wide variety of products on the market including books and tutorial software that will help make them better players. If you have someone on your shopping list who enjoys gambling why not give them a gift of that will help them win the next time they visit the casino. Gambling related books, tutorial software an instructional DVDs make great gifts.

A few weeks ago I reviewed the Poker Cruncher application for the IPhone and IPod Touch. In my original review I wrote that the only negative was not being able to display the results as odds such as 3:1. I sent a copy of my review to the developer and he agreed that this would be a handy feature and he planned to put it in the next update. That update has been released and you can now switch back and forth to see the results displayed as either odds or percentages. This feature has made the Poker Cruncher even stronger and although the price has increased a dollar to $4.99, it is still a bargain and well worth the price of the application

This was by far the best results I have had playing match play coupons. I usually come out a little ahead when I do these coupon rues but to win nine out of ten was phenomenal.

The slot makers have concluded that even though many players like the new games, there are also many who are attracted to something they are familiar with. Basing a game on a popular movie, television show, or pop icon makes the game something that a player can relate to. Jaws, Dirty Harry, Star Trek and the Time Machine are just a few of the games I have seen of the floor of the G2E this year. Perhaps, a true sign of a cultural shift in our society is that there is now a slot game with an EBAY theme. I guess that shows hoe much the Internet has become a part of our life

All of the major slot makers are there including: Aristrocrat, Ballys, IGT, WMS and a few of the smaller slot manufacturers. Each company has an area on the convention floor displaying their games. You can play the machines to get see how they look and check out the different features of each game. Most of the slot games have already been approved by the regulatory boards in many of the gaming jurisdictions and are ready for the casino floor. The majority of the games are the "penny" slot machines with 20 or more pay lines that allow the player to wager several dollars per spin. One game I saw had 250 pay lines. I asked the slot maker when they would stop adding lines and he told me it would only happen when the players stopped playing them.

The primary focus of the new games is entertainment and more pay lines means a higher hit frequency for the game. It does not matter that a "winning spin" can pay less than your initial wager. I think it is amazing that many players have accepted the fact that a spin that pays back less is a winning spin. Call me cynical but if I wager

Last year the hot topic was a concept called Guaranteed Play where the players had the option to purchase a set number or hands of Video Poker. For $20 you would be guaranteed to play 80 hands of video poker even if you ran out of credits. The problem was that if you were even after playing out your 80 hands you were actually out you initial $20 that you paid up front. This idea made it to the casino floor at several casinos but it died a fairly quick death after players realized that it was not a good deal.

The G2E runs from Tuesday to Thursday this week and I will be attending to check out the latest in games and see what looks promising for next year and what might just be another guaranteed bad idea.