Word: numberers
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...hopes of setting down roots in Asia's Las Vegas. Since the Macau government approved Texas Hold'em cash games and tournaments in January 2008, three casinos have opened designated poker rooms. In its first year in Macau, Texas Hold'em brought in less than $7 million, but that number is set to rise: in the first quarter of 2009 alone, the game took in more than $4 million. "Poker has exploded in Macau," says Celina Lin, 26, an Australian poker player who competes in Macau. "The skill level of the players here has increased dramatically just in the last...
...since June 2008) was necessitated by a grim truth. The war in Afghanistan is not going well. The Taliban, funded in large measure by the opium trade, which is centered in Helmand, now controls wide swaths of Afghanistan. Over the past four months, a recent U.N. report says, the number of "assassinations, abductions, incidents of intimidation and the direct targeting of aid workers" has been higher than last year. Increasing numbers of foreign fighters - "most likely affiliated with al-Qaeda" - are fighting alongside the Taliban. "There is no question but that the situation has deteriorated over the course...
That said, without the military doing its bit, there will be no success to measure. So part of the Obama Administration's strategy is to increase the number of U.S. troops in Afghanistan, from 57,000 now to 68,000 by the fall. The extra troops should help bring security to parts of Afghanistan that lack it, but McChrystal is clear that security alone is but a means to an end. "The point of security," he says, "is to enable governance ... My metric is not the enemy killed, not ground taken: it's how much governance we've got." Decent...
...means assured. McChrystal's order to keep Afghan civilian casualties low, for example, may be politically savvy, but in the short term it can be militarily fraught. Before the Helmand offensive began, U.S. troops called in an air strike on a compound after coming under fire from it. A number of civilians died, and McChrystal was not pleased. "I want you all to stop dropping compounds," he quietly told the 100 members of his staff gathered inside his command center and others linked via video. "Yes, sir," responded the commander involved. Three days later, when troops in Helmand came under...
From the towering, pineapple-shaped Grand Lisboa to the vast campus of the Venetian, there's no shortage of casinos to choose from in Macau. The only place in China where casinos are legal, Macau opened up its gambling industry in 2004, spurring the number of casinos to jump from 11 to 32. While there may be a question of where this city's gamblers like to play, there's no debating which game is king. Baccarat, a 15th century Italian table game, contributed 86% of Macau's $14.1 billion in gambling revenue last year...