‘Commonwealth Games 2010 preprations on track'

Commonwealth Games 2010 preparations are on the right track and are going smoothly. The arrangements for the XIXth Commonwealth Games about to happen in New Delhi this October are in shape, said Jiji Thomson, the Special Director-General of the Organising Committee in Kochi on Monday.

“A soft opening ceremony is scheduled for September 15 and all arrangements will be completed before that,” Thomson said addressing the media on the second day of the National Awareness Campaign. “Work is in full steam and the stadiums are expected to be ready in June.” Admitting that work on two prime venues - the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, slated to host the opening and closing ceremonies apart from the athletics events, and the Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Aquatic Complex -- had lagged, he stressed that work had picked up pace in the last six months.

Seventy-one Commonwealth Games Associations from 53 countries are expected to present 8000 athletes and officials for the 12-day event in 17 disciplines.

Gaming breaks gender barrier; women gamers account for 20%

Gaming may have been a male bastion, but women are making swift inroads. Gaming companies claim women gamers have evolved as a thriving segment in India, accounting for nearly 20% of the total market and could potentially double in the next three years.

Women are initially getting glued to internet games in social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace, which, in turn, is triggering growth of console and mobile gaming. Small wonder, biggies like Microsoft, Sony and ADAG’s Zapak are finetuning their business strategies to tap the growing base of women gamers in India.

“Technology has truly transgressed the gender,” says Microsoft India’s director marketing (entertainment and devices division) Ashim Mathur.

Rummy Tricks and Tips | Rummy Strategies to win Rummy Game

Rummy is a game of skill and to improve your chances of winning rummy game, you need to develop smart rummy tricks. One of the most popular types of rummy game is Indian Rummy which is also known as 13 cards rummy. Indian Rummy differs slightly from original rummy as it is played with 13 cards and also with a Joker (wildcard).

To finish a typical rummy game, you need to arrange your cards in sequences and sets wherein you must have at least 2 sequences; at least one of them should be pure sequence.

Let me reveal how to play Indian Rummy and a couple of tricks and tips that would be useful in playing rummy.

Rummy Trick 1: Arrange your cards by sequence and by suit

• Arrange Rummy cards by Sequence: Try to arrange your cards in a sequence as in 4-5-6 and not 5-6-4. This rummy trick reduces confusion as you are sure about the sequences that you have already made and the card that you require to complete your rummy.

• Arrange Rummy cards by Suit: Arrange all diamonds at one side and then spades near it i.e. try to arrange black cards besides red cards. The best combination could be something like Spade-Hearts-Clubs-Diamonds or Hearts-Spades-Clubs-Diamonds. Arranging cards in a red-black-red or black-red-black color combination helps you easily identify the cards and minimize the chances of discarding a card that you didn’t wanted to.

Rummy Trick 2: Track the interest of your opponent
Keep a track of the cards that your opponent is picking and not picking. In online rummy there is no chance that you can see the discard pile opposite to what you may be able to do when playing with friends. This way you at least won’t discard the card/s that your opponent is looking for you will think twice about the card that you want to discard.

Example: If the card you want to discard is 5 of hearts, has your opponent picked a nearby card i.e. 3 or 7 of hearts? Chances are that your opponent will pick it and if your opponent has discarded a card near to 5 of hearts than the chances that your opponent will pick 5 of hearts discarded by you are quite less.

Rummy Trick 3: Reduce the points
Rummy is a game of points and even if you lose, you should ensure that you are penalized with least number of points. Having said that, the trick is to discard the cards with higher points first and reduce the point burden on you. To add further, you should not discard a card just because it is a high point card but you should also check if this card could be required by your opponent as mentioned in Rummy Trick number 2 above.

Last but not the least, besides keeping an eye on the competitor and doing quick calculations, I also believe a lot in gut feeling. Following these 3 Rummy tricks or tips, I have been able to perform really well and won a lot of rummy games too.

Rummy Tricks and Tips from Gamesnomy