infrared contact lenses

Blue Lenses

I am frequently asked if it would be possible to develop a luminous system with blue glasses for blue-backed cards. The answer is, yes and no! Or better say, no and yes! No, the system would not function like a blue version of the red luminous readers, but yes, it is possible to make a luminous system with blue lenses.infrared marked cards

The blue luminous system would not function exactly like the red system. In other words, one could not hope to place large letters and numbers across the backs of the cards and use the blue lenses to cancel-out blue back designs, like red backs are cancelled-out with red glasses so that all that's left to see would be the luminous marks. In theory, to accomplish that, one would need such dark blue lenses that the whole image would become too dark under normal lighting conditions. In effect, one could hardly see anything through such dark blue lenses without lighting up the card table like a Hollywood film set. Hardly a common practice when the boys get together to play cards.

However, a blue system can be made to work and it is hardly a new invention. I was able to find the first mention of a blue system dating back to 1909, but for some reason it is less known than the red system and almost not talked about. First of all, a blue-lens system may work best with white-border cards. The luminous marks can be painted right on the white edges of the cards either as lines, dots, shaded corners, etc. In theory one could paint over the entire width of the white borders, but a more subtle code would just use thin lines right on the extreme edges of the cards, or on the edges of the printed areas. The rest is self explanatory. Once again, to get desired results one must use a specific blue and a specific luminous ink and even then one should not expect the work to light up like "neon signs". In fact, the work will look much fainter than the marks for the red system.

The system with blue lenses does not actually require the use of blue-backed cards. Once again, the function of the blue filters is not to cancel out the blue-colored back design in order to to reveal hidden marks. In this case the blue lenses are only used to enhance the luminous ink over the white areas. In fact, someone with a sharp eye could use red Bee cards and paint the luminous marks inside some of the white diamonds, instead of painting the borders of white-border cards. If you saw a guy with blue glasses while red cards were in use, would you ever suspect luminous readers?

The marking code described above for the blue system would also work with a red-lens system and blue cards. That may be a better option altogether because the marks would be more subtle and people would be less likely to suspect luminous marks if blue cards were in use. In this case the red glasses would no longer serve as filters to cancel out the red backs, but rather just to enhance the luminous marks; also the ink could be put-on much lighter because the luminous marks would not be overshadowed by a back design. Would a luminous system then work with other colors? Possibly, yes. But any luminous system would probably always have to be limited to over saturated vibrant primary colors.

Black Predators

The most advanced luminous system to date consists of a pair of lenses that appear black to the casual observer. This system is sold under the brand name Black Predators™, which is a name I had come up with myself.

The ink is different from the ink used in the conventional red-lens system, and the technology that makes this system work is also different. Even the most advanced conventional red-lens system works on the principle of color blocking. This is not the case with this system. infrared contact lenses

If you try wearing the Black Predators™ on a sunny day you will discover that some colors look totally different, and some of the colors even fluoresce, when viewed through the lenses, almost as if they were illuminated with a black light at a nightclub. This phenomenon is the exact principle behind the technology that makes this system work. The lenses are capable of shifting the wavelength of light, and when the wavelength shifts, the amplitude of the waves also changes, to compensate for the shift. This is why some of the colors fluoresce under certain illuminations.

In a nutshell, the ink produces marks that are invisible to the human eye. Under proper illumination this ink can be seen through these glasses. The lenses in fact shift the wavelength of the light reflected from the ink marks to fall within the visible range that humans can see.

It should also be noted that this system cannot produce marks that are as strong as the marks produced by the best red-lens system. Although some may see this as a flaw, it is actually a desirable feature. Should anyone grab these glasses and look at the cards, chances are, they would not be able to notice the marks (at least not immediately). This should be considered a security feature, rather than a flaw.

It should also be noted that there is a percentage of people that are unable to use this luminous system. The reason is simply because some people actually suffer from some forms of color blindness. The percentage of people that suffer from one or another form of color blindness is actually higher than most people are aware of. According to various statistics, color blindness is affecting 12% to 20% of male population, and also a tiny fraction of female population. Most people don't even realize that they suffer from some form of color blindness until they take a color vision test.

Playing Cards

In my earlier post, Early 20th Century French Playing Cards, I spoke about some of the characteristics of French playing cards, from the early 20th century. In this post, I would like to describe some of the characteristics of 19th century French cards. The purpose of this post is to share some of the information that I know, to help collectors. Here are a couple of 19th century French decks, from my own collection. marked cards

The basic designs of the cards are the same as the early 20th century decks, known as Portrait Officiel. The most noticeable difference between late 19th century and early 20th century French playing cards is the absence of corner indices, from the decks that were made before the 1890s. The corner indices were actually an American invention that first appeared in the 1870s, but European makers did not start copying the idea right away. So, if you ever see an antique French deck of cards that has corner indices, you can be pretty sure that it does not predate the last decade of the 19th century.luminosu contact lenses

The other important detail is the tax stamp.

The two decks shown in the photograph both have a tax stamp on the ace of clubs. That indicates that these decks were produced in the late 19th century. Earlier French decks had no tax stamps because the cards were printed on watermark paper, which had to be purchased from the government. It should be noted that French decks continued to be printed on watermarked paper even after the introduction of the tax stamp on the ace of clubs.

During that era, French playing card makers didn't print their names on any of the cards. The names of the makers were only printed on the wrappers. Most wrappers got lost, so identifying the makers takes a bit more knowledge. I once stumbled across a French site that described the colors that various makers would use on the court cards, at certain times. The court cards were printed and then colored by hand. A good source of information would be any unused deck of cards that has survived to this day, with its wrapper intact. I happen to own two such decks and will be making a blog post about them at some later time.

In this post, I've described just some of the main characteristics of 19th century French playing cards. Of course, there are a lot more details that I did not mention and I wish to save them for another post. I also happen to own a counterfeit 19th century French deck, that I purchased knowing it was a fake. I will do a separate post about it and describe some additional characteristics of 19th century French cards.

Does Winning Facebook Poker Chips in Facebook Texas Holdem Translate Into Success in Real Poker?

So you've been playing Facebook Texas Holdem poker for a while now and you've managed to rack up millions or even billions of Facebook poker chips. You don't use cheats or hacks for Facebook poker, you never downloaded any bots that play the game for you, you never bummed Facebook chips from friends, and you've never stolen any poker chips from family members. If poker skill was measured in Facebook poker chips, by all measures you'd be top of the game, but does this necessarily translate into real world success in poker? Would you have the success in, for example, a real money game at your house, a live tournament game in Las Vegas, or another online game that uses real money instead of Facebook chips?  marked cards

There are some marked differences between real money and play money games that range from the obvious to the more subtle. It's obvious that the biggest difference is the currency used in the games. One uses Facebook poker chips and the other is real world currency with real world value. But is this enough to alter how people play in the corresponding Texas Holdem games? Do players who bet with Facebook chips bet more carelessly or frequently than they would with real money?

It's fair to say that players would play more freely, less carefully, and be willing to lose play poker chips than they would real money. Facebook poker chips have no real world value - they can't pay the rent or buy food, you can't deposit them in a bank, and they won't send your kid to college, but they do have another kind of value - social value. Players who frequent social networks and the games they host value the prestige and recognition they get from their friends when they win a lot of chips in Facebook poker. And so maybe this prestige gives these chips enough value to force the player into assigning a perceived value to them, whether real or not. They want to win more poker chips so that their Facebook friends will see them climb the ranks of Texas Holdem and earn a spot on the top players list. They will never be able to cash out these chips, but they'll have the honor of being among the best players in the world.  card cheating

To most players this is quite a valuable thing, and so this may be enough to make them play more carefully with their Facebook poker chips. So much so that their playing style maybe be reflective of someone who is playing with real money. This probably isn't the case in some of the beginner tables where new players start out. Only having a few thousand Facebook pokerchips isn't much motivation to play seriously, as reaching the top players list is such a far possibility, but players with billions of chips who frequent the highroller tables in Facebook poker seem to play much more disciplined as they gain more and more chips and rank. They treat their virtual chips as though they were real money, because the prestige of reaching the top players list is as much of a motivator as making real money. So it would seem that while beginners with a few chips may treat Facebook pokerchips as just another virtual play currency, the top players in the highest rooms value these chips quite highly and play accordingly.

Effective Training Tips For Using Freerolls in SNG Poker Games

The first step in an effective SNG poker training strategy is for you to know the basics of SNG poker tournament games. These online poker games starts as soon as the required volume of SNG poker players are in the table. Most SNG poker tournaments start with 9 players, while 10 players are needed in other SNG poker rooms. Freerolls are offered to those who want to train themselves and get a good feel of the SNG poker game. Some use these freerolls to observe their opponents and learn from their strategies and techniques. There are also SNG online poker games with large startup chips yet slow blind increases. marked cards

The second step is to pinpoint the online SNG poker tournament room offering the most beneficial freeroll options for beginners like you. This means signup bonus credits or freeroll options that can provide you with enough experience to get a good feel of the game should be the right online SNG poker tournament room for you. More so: Their freeroll options and bonus signup credits should be enough for you to observe the main strategies, techniques and other tactics used by your opponents during the game.

The third step is to steer clear from Sit And Go tournament games that start out with lots of chips but offer slow blind increases. These are for seasoned online SNG poker tournament players. As a beginner, you should join freeroll games that start with a few chips and quick blind increases. In such games, luck begins to play a larger role than tactical experience and strategic techniques.

The fourth step is for you to start setting a reasonable bankroll after you have the proper training with your freerolls and start to play real money in these online SNG poker tournament games. A reasonable bankroll is a fixed amount of funds set as the only real money you'll be spending for your SNG poker ventures. Having a high bankroll can negatively affect your game. You'll feel nervous and uneasy when you've start losing most of your bankroll. This affects your game decisions, strategies and techniques. You could also feel distracted in observing your opponents along with their betting strategies and bluffing tactics.infrared contact lenses

The final step is for you to play multiple single table games simultaneously during the first few days of your SNG poker training with freerolls. This will maintain your desire to play the game. This is because some SNG poker tournament games start out pretty slow, slow enough to be boring for you. With multiple games to keep you busy: You'll most likely enjoy playing this game.