Costume Jewelry

Costume jewelry is jewelry that is made of less valuable materials including base metals, glass, plastic, and synthetic stones, in place of more valuable materials such as precious metals and gems. Costume jewelry is usually inexpensive, and often flashy. Its main use is in fashion, as opposed to real (fine) jewelry, which regarded primarily as collectibles, keepsakes, or investments. Originally, costume or fashion jewelry was made of inexpensive simulated gemstones, such as rhinestones or Lucite, set in pewter, silver, nickel or brass. Modern costume jewelry incorporates a wide range of materials. High-end crystals and cubic zirconia simulated diamonds, and some semi-precious stones used in place of precious stones. Metals include gold- or silver-plated brass, and sometimes vermeil or sterling silver. Lower-priced jewelry may still use gold plating over pewter, nickel or other metals; items made in countries outside the United States may contain lead. Some pieces incorporate plastic, acrylic, leather, or wood.

Pathological Gambling

Pathological gambling is being unable to resist impulses to gamble, which can lead to severe personal or social consequences.
Causes

Pathological gambling usually begins in early adolescence in men, and between ages 20 and 40 in women.

Pathological gambling often involves repetitive behaviors. People with this problem have a hard time resisting or controlling the impulse to gamble. Although it shares features of obsessive compulsive disorder, pathological gambling is likely a different condition.

In people who develop pathological gambling, occasional gambling leads to a gambling habit. Stressful situations can worsen gambling problems.
Symptoms

People with pathological gambling often feel ashamed and try to avoid letting others know of their problem. The American Psychiatric Association defines pathological gambling as having five or more of the following symptoms:

Committing crimes to get money to gamble
Feeling restless or irritable when trying to cut back or quit gambling
Gambling to escape problems or feelings of sadness or anxiety
Gambling larger amounts of money to try to make back previous losses
Having had many unsuccessful attempts to cut back or quit gambling
Losing a job, relationship, or educational or career opportunity due to gambling
Lying about the amount of time or money spent gambling
Needing to borrow money due to gambling losses
Needing to gamble larger amounts of money in order to feel excitement
Spending a lot of time thinking about gambling, such as remembering past experiences or ways to get more money with which to gamble

A psychiatric evaluation and history can be used to diagnose pathological gambling. Screening tools such as the Gamblers Anonymous 20 Questions can help with the diagnosis.

Treatment

Treatment for people with pathological gambling begins with recognizing the problem. Pathological gambling is often associated with denial. People with the illness often refuse to accept that they have a problem or need treatment.

Most people with pathological gambling enter treatment under pressure from others, rather than voluntarily accepting the need for treatment.

Treatment options include:

    Cognitive behavioral therapy CBT has been found to be effective.
Self-help support groups, such as Gamblers Anonymous. Gamblers Anonymous is a 12-step program similar to Alcoholics Anonymous. Principles related to stopping the habit abstinence for other types of addiction, such as substance abuse and alcohol dependence, can also be helpful in the treatment of pathological gambling.
A few studies have been done on medications for the treatment of pathological gambling. Early results suggest that antidepressants and opioid antagonists naltrexone may help treat the symptoms of pathological gambling. However, it is not yet clear which people will respond to medications.

Like alcohol or drug addiction, pathological gambling is a chronic disorder that tends to get worse without treatment. Even with treatment, it's common to start gambling again relapse. However, people with pathological gambling can do very well with the right treatment.

Shuffling

Shuffling is a procedure used to randomize a deck of playing cards to provide an element of chance in card games. Shuffling is often followed by a cut, to help ensure that the shuffler has not manipulated the outcome. A common shuffling technique is called the riffle or dovetail shuffle, in which half of the deck is held in each hand with the thumbs inward, then cards are released by the thumbs so that they fall to the table interleaved. Many also lift the cards up after a riffle, forming what is called a bridge which puts the cards back into place. This can also be done by placing the halves flat on the table with their rear corners touching, then lifting the back edges with the thumbs while pushing the halves together. While this method is more difficult, it is often used in casinos because it minimizes the risk of exposing cards during the shuffle. There are two types of perfect riffle shuffles: if the top card moves to be 2nd from the top then it is an in shuffle, otherwise it is known as an out shuffle which preserves both the top and bottom cards.

Riffle shuffling does, however, carry a risk of damaging cards from excessive bending. Casinos often replace their playing cards to prevent cheating from players that detect deformations in the cards. However, collectible card game cards are considerably less replaceable than playing cards, and CCG cards can be damaged from riffle shuffling, even when protected with card sleeves.

Because standard shuffling techniques are seen as weak, and in order to avoid inside jobs where employees collaborate with gamblers by performing inadequate shuffles, many casinos employ automatic shuffling machines. They also save time that would otherwise be spent shuffling, allowing several more hands per hour to be played and increasing the profitability of the table. These machines are also used to lessen repetitive motion stress injuries to a dealer. Note that the shuffling machines have to be carefully designed, as they can generate biased shuffles otherwise: the most recent shuffling machines are computer-controlled, though they have not yet fully been integrated into gaming.

Pan

Pan is short for Panguingue

Playing Pan

Panguingue is a rummy-type game played with eight standard 52-card decks with the 8's, 9's, and 10's removed, for a total of 320 cards. No jokers are used. Cards in each suit rank king (high), queen, jack, seven, six, etc. with aces being low. The cards are dealt counterclockwise

Players strive to meld eleven cards in valid sets of three or more cards. There are two kinds of melds: a rope which must be string of cards of matching suits, squares consisting of the ranks 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, Jack or Queen. Squares must be either all cards of different suits or all the same suit. Squares consisting of Kings or Aces qualify regardless of suit. There are no betting rounds in the game.

Each player is dealt 10 cards to meld into sets and sequences with certain cards having special values. Each player, in turn, draws either a card from the top of the remaining deck or from the top of an adjacent discard pile. This sequence of play continues until one player goes out with a total meld of eleven cards, including the card(s) just drawn. Melds (or spread) must be at least three cards, and it may be as many as eleven. The melds are classified as ropes and squares. The rope is any three cards in sequence of the same suit. A square is a set of three cards in the same rank and of different suits or of the same suit. All 3s, 5s and 7s are valle cards (cards of value). Cards of other rank are non-valle. Any three aces or any three kings form a set, regardless of the suit.