One casino game that feels heads-up is roulette. I cannot tell you how many times I have played the game with the though that my real opponent was not the casino, or fate, but that damn roulette dealer. I could be hanging with my party poker crew at a given casino, whooping it up, but park me in front of the roulette table, even with my buds, and its just me and that damn roulette dealer.

It seems that it doesn't matter which roulette strategie I choose. In the end, my fun really depends on how I interact with the casino staff at the game. Whether I'm sticking to my usual numbers or using a different roulette system, like doubling my Black bet until it finally hits, if the staff is giving me the eye or is not willing to play along with the tomfoolery, the game can grind to a halt.

Get me a good dealer, though, and any outcome can be met with joy. I guess it just goes to show you that its not just the game, but the people in the game that help make it fun.

Man, I know nothing about cars. I mean, nothing. I can drive well, and I can pump gas, but if you want me to do any significant work on an actual vehicle, well, you are out of luck.

I stumbled upon a website recently, though, that might solve that problem. Let's say you are out of town and have some car problems. How the hell are you supposed to find a reputable auto shop? That's where Repair Pal comes in.

If your check engine light turns on while you are driving cross-country, there's Repair Pal. If your Ford F-150 breaks down out of town, there's Repair Pal. If you are driving the California coast and need a San Diego auto repair shop, there's Repair Pal.

It doesn't get much easier than that.

Brought to you by your friends at Repair Pal.

If there was ever a reason for a Heads-Up Challenge, it has always come down to one thing: the social aspect. Sure, the point of the game is to compete and win against, in our case, fellow poker bloggers, but the money is just one aspect of the game. I have always felt that among the online poker playing world, bloggers are generally better than your average mouth-breather. Even if bloggers as a whole are not rocking the highest buy-ins, at our buy-ins, we are better than the rest because we think about the game and process it whenever we write.

So, for me, the purpose of a HU Challenge is to mix with your fellow bloggers. With the extension of social networking programs out there, a new HU could incorporate some fun ideas, like Twitter updates alerting the rest of the competitors that one of the HU matches was about to take place, in case they want to watch. Or facebook contacts so that we can all easily share updates amongst the group.

Even beyond the HUCs, though, social networking and poker seem to go hand in hand. Probably 75% of the Twitter feeds that I follow are for poker players or poker sites like my most recent addition, 888 Twitter.

Even face-to-face social networking seems to be largely poker-based for me. Just this last week, I met up with Toronto blogger Astin and CardRunner employee and blogger LJ for dinner in town. Just speaking to the crew helped me process more about the game. When I first got into poker, I would talk about it at work, but when I realized no one knew a thing about poker (or cared) I started my poker blog as a way to socialize and network around poker. So, even if you can't find like-minded people in your 'hood, you can always go online and find a poker community, like the poker bloggers or websites like the 888 poker community.

Amazingly, poker benefits from socialization, and at least for me, socialization benefits from poker. It's no surprise, then, that social networking and poker go hand-in-hand.

Hey ho, folks. It's been a while since the Heads Up Challenge has been active. The huge staff here at Heads Up Challenge central have been fairly dormant, returned to their deprivation chambers until needed, but with the recent flurry of pokery activity out there, it is no surprise that the crew is growing restless.

If we were to start a 7th Heads Up Challenge, there are a lot of different variables to consider. The upcoming Battle of the Bloggers Tournament 5 is a huge hurtle, which will likely require that any HUC be either rushed before BBT5 starts (not an appealing idea) or postponed until it is complete (also not appealing, but the better option of the two). But I suppose we need the BBT5 announcement before we can figure that information out.

The other question is which format to use for the Heads Up Challenge 7. In the past, we had arranged for players to be set up in brackets, after which the brackets would find their own time to complete the games. This worked fairly well, except for the few slowpokes and the natural issues that come with timing out entry into a Heads Up tournament. Lo, I miss the days of Ultimate Bet when I could challenge someone specifically to a Heads Up match. I haven't been to UB since the scandal, but I'd consider going back if enough people were interested.

The other possibility is a simple one-time HU tournament. It would certainly be easier, but there is something about the slow burn of a bracket done over a week or more.

In the meanwhile, if there is any interest, feel free to drop a comment here, send me an email or leave a comment at HighOnPoker. And have fun with your online casino play in the meanwhile.

Until next time, make mine poker!p

Playing poker cash games can be intimidating at first, but you’ll get into the swing of things.

These poker tips will help you to improve your cash game performance:

1.Play tight – in poker tournaments, you can’t wait forever for the right hand, the increasing blinds will eventually kill you. In a cash game, the blinds are always the same and you have the option to re-buy, so why take risks?

2.Don’t sit down short stacked – make sure your buy-in is at least 100x the big blind. You want some room to manoeuvre, otherwise you’ll end up with just two choices – all-in, or fold, and that’s not what you want.

3.Learn the odds – you need to know how to calculate the pot odds, and you need to understand implied odds. If you don’t understand these things, you’re missing out on the information you need to make good decisions. Spend some time learning those skills now.

4.Betting to manipulate – betting is more than just changing the size of the pot. The size of your bet alters how the other players at the table think. Think about what you’re aiming for with your bets. Are you trying to make another player fold? Narrow the field? Build the pot? You can force players to make bad decisions simply by changing how you bet.

5.Observe the field – when you sit down at the table, don’t post your big blind right away. Take a little while to watch the other players. Identify their styles and plan your poker strategy before you start playing.

6.Be picky – if you have a choice of where to sit, use it. Ideally you want aggressive players to your right and passive to your left. If you have the chance to choose, take it.

Emptyman takes down RecessRampage, 3 games to 1 and is crowned the most recent Heads Up Challenge Champion. Thank you all for participating and I hope you all had fun playing in these matches. Please go congratulate Emptyman on his victory.

Who's gonna be the commish for HUC 7? Not it!

Finally... After over a month of all the fine bloggers slugging it out, we have come to the HUC6 Finals. RecessRampage and Emptyman will be battling it out for the HUC6 champion glory.