Better Concerts and Music

The recent TV show Spartacus: Blood and Sand is the latest of many works focusing on the career of the historical Roman slave and gladiator of that name. Although not much is really known about Spartacus beyond the role he played in the “Third Servile War”, a major slave rebellion against the Romans, his struggle has been inspirational to oppressed peoples and to literary writers since ancient times.

The television series appeals primarily to teenagers and young adults, especially men and teenage boys. You should be forewarned that this program is far more violent than another program that appeals to the same demographics, the science fiction show Caprica.

Spartacus lived from about 109BC to 71BC. Historians agree that he was a Thracian. (Thrace is nowadays in North Eastern Greece, but at the time Thracians were a different people to the Hellenic Greeks). As a slave, with military experience, and great strength and skill, Spartacus was chosen to fight as a gladiator, and was sent to the gladiatorial school at Capua, under Lentulus Batiatus.

In 73 BC Spartacus organized an escape attempt from the school. The escape was betrayed, but Spartacus and his companions were able to arm themselves with kitchen implements, and fight their way out. During their escape they captured a great deal of weaponry and armor intended for the use of the gladiators. Spartacus and his force then defeated a small detachment of Roman troops, and retreated to the slopes of Mount Vesuvius where they set up defensive positions.

During the next two years Spartacus defeated every attempt by the Roman Republic to crush the slave revolt. Over this time his forces built up to almost 70,000 men.

Eventually the Roman Senate had to bring in their big guns to end the revolt, and they ordered Marcus Licinius Crassus, who was the richest man in Rome, to crush the rebels. Crassus had a force of eight legions, about 40,000 fully trained soldiers. Eventually, and with great brutality, Crassus was able to crush the rebellion. It is thought that Spartacus was killed in one of the final battles.

The story of Spartacus has been the subject of many novels, poems and films, as well as being an inspiration to slaves and revolutionaries in later eras.

In culture the best known portrayal of Spartacus was by Kirk Douglas in the 1960 Stanley Kubrick film, Spartacus. English actors Peter Ustinov and Laurence Olivier played the Romans. Ustinov was the gladiator school owner, Lentulus Batiatus, and Olivier was the high ranking, and brutal Crassus.

Most recently the Spartacus story is retold in the TV show Spartacus: Blood and Sand. This was first shown in January 2010. The first series covers the events up to the start of the revolt. Andy Whitfield plays Spartacus. The start of the second series has unfortunately been delayed due to Whitfield’s serious illness, but is now provisionally scheduled for September 2011. The 2010 series of Spartucus is a DVD now.

There is no argument about it – a Holdem poker tournament is the most exciting event in the world of card-games. If you are a poker fanatic, you are probably imagining about being in one – and with the Internet help, you can! However, to earn money in the tournaments, one must become familiar with some tournament poker tips. Which is why we composed this tutorial for a successful tournament stratagem.
Also keep in mind that it rarely does any harm to rely on a valuable set of internet poker sites or take in a few useful poker tips!

Poker Tournament Tips

• Being a persistent survivor is the most basic among tournament poker tips. The competitions are poles apart from the regular cash games – you start with the same stack as everyone else and you lose once your stack is exhausted. You cannot afford too many errors, otherwise you’re history. Every single one of your decisions must be successful, including folding when you sense that your hand is beat.

• One of the most significant poker tournament tips is playing only with a strong hand. The tournament’s contenders are bent on eliminating each other. If you are going to face them, make sure you’re carrying the big guns, so to speak. If your cards are too low, get rid of them, try to study other players while you are waiting for the next hand.

• Steal the blinds whenever possible. Amidst all the tournament poker tips, this is the one that many players take no notice of. If you are at the late position with winning stakes, raise 3-4 times the size of the blind, so that small blind and big blind will fold. In a Holdem tournament, you need every benefit that you can get, even if it’s just a blind and a half.

• While other tournament poker techniques stress on you being a survivor, the current one focuses on other players’ elimination. The main charm of Holdem tournaments, other than winning them, comes from the all-in situation. If you hold a large number of chips and your hand is strong, move all-in against a weaker opponent. Make him sweat while he makes the most crucial and important decision of the night.

• Regardless of all the tournament poker tips, a risk of being a short stack always exists. Your strategy, then, should be going all-in once you get lucky with nice cards – and then praying that you double or triple your stack, or at least steal the blinds. Don’t make the mistake of simply calling or waiting too long. Your chips will be knocked down by the increasing blinds, unless you act efficiently.

• The Above mentioned poker competition strategies relate to any stage of the tournament, but the following one refers to a specific period of time. Most people start playing more timidly when they approach the bubble. They are afraid of being ousted before they reach the paying places. You can gain from this and perform frequent pot steal.

• Lastly, keep in mind that a lot of card-game players out there compete according to poor tournament poker tips they got. For example, many tournament contestants try to get hold of more chips by constantly going all-in with almost every hand. This is not the kind of style you should adopt – just follow the tournament poker tips we’ve stated and avoid those loose fellows. May these tournament poker tips bring you the tournament recognition and wealth that you deserve.

To obtain a unique version of the above or one of my other online poker articles check out Online-Gambling-Articles.com.