Opening Day

It's always a big drunken mess in Detroit for Opening Day.  The last few years, I have been fortunate to have it off and avoid the mess, or attend at my leisure.  This year, however, they moved our Opening Day to a Monday, and I was forced to drive into the city around the same time the game was starting.  The drive was a little slower than normal, but nothing outrageous until I hit the exit.  Long story short, it was so busy downtown, it took more than 45 minutes just to get off the freeway.  In that time, where 99% of us were being patient and waiting our turn for the light, one of the less than patient people tried to shoehorn his way into my lane between my car and the one behind me, misjudged where his front end was, and rubbed my back panel.  Ugh. The scraping sound of car on car contact made me look into my mirror, and I was pretty shocked to see my car was part of that noise.

The only good thing about being completely stuck in traffic at that time was that I was able to get out, check the damage, confront the guy who hit me, and snap a picture of his license plate with my phone.  After a long, drawn out argument about pulling over to trade info (he wouldn't admit there was any contact between our cars) I got him to pull over and trade info.  After looking at the matching damage on our cars, he admitted he was in the wrong and would pay for the damage without reporting it to the police.  I let my skepticism be known, and reminded him I have all his info and his insurance company would know right away if I had any issues getting him to pony up the cash.  During all this, a nice woman approached me in my car and handed me a piece of paper with two names and a phone number on it, saying they would act as witnesses for me if there were any problems.  Hopefully there won't be any issues, but only time will tell.

Aside from that, Opening Day was a mixed bag for me.  The Tigers got the win, which is always nice....but of my three picks for the day, that was the one that would pay the worst, and is the only one I won for sure.  Atlanta was blanked, and Cincinnati is currently in the 9th down 1-0.  I wouldn't be surprised if it ends that way too.  It would be fitting for the 4 teams I picked to score a total of 5 runs.  Oh well, no matter how poorly I do, I am going to stick with the picks.

Update:
Games I picked are now all complete.  1-2 on the day for -1.65 units

Totals to date:
1-3, -2.75 units

Update #2:
This might be throwing good money after bad, but I'm on the Mariners tonight vs the Angels.  1.5 units at +114.  Win or lose, I think this is the right side of this line.  I think the early season lines on Seattle will be exploitable, especially in their own division.

Update #3:
Got down on Rangers -140 for 2.8 units and Brewers -114 for 1.14 units on Tuesday.  Rangers win (+2), Brewers lose (-1.14) and the Mariners won on Monday (+1.5).  Those three bets total +2.57 units, bringing me almost back to even for the year.

Totals to date:
3-4, -0.18 units

Slow Start

So, with a late rally last night, the Padres came back to beat the Dodgers, and sink my opening night bet.  Today, I have three picks to put in before fighting the opening day traffic on my way to work.  While betting on the Tigers with JV on the mound is an expensive proposition, I gotta do it just because it's opening day.  But -150 against a solid team like KC who always seems to give the Tigers a game anyway, definitely feels like I'm getting the worst of it.

Tigers -150 for 1.5 units
Braves -115 for 1.15 units
Reds +115 for 1.5 units

0-1, -1.1 units so far this season.  Hopefully I'll get back above zero with these picks today.

Opening Night

Yes, I realize this pic is from last year....but since this blog has been stuck in 2013 for a while, I figured it was rather appropriate when I saw it in my image search.  In an attempt to revive this old blog, I'm going back to my roots.  Gambling.

When I started this blog, it was fueled by my love of poker, poker blogs, and the poker blogging community.  All of which revolved around gambling.  The debate on whether poker is more of a skill game or a gamble could potentially go on forever, depending on your personal definition of what a gamble actually is, but poker isn't the only form of gambling in the poker world.  Most people who have the nerve to sit down at a poker table occasionally, much less on a regular basis, have some other form of gambling in their life.  Pros often refer to these as leaks.  Taking your hard earned money from the poker table to the craps or blackjack table, where the house always has an edge and will eventually win, is a leak in your virtual bucket of money.  Casino gaming is a very popular leak for poker players, but definitely not the only one.  Sports betting is a big one too.  I don't know a single person who plays poker and doesn't also fancy themselves as a handicapper.  This definitely includes me.

Now, while I haven't played live poker in at least a couple years, and even longer since I've played online, I still have my poker wits about me.  Almost every day of the week, I find myself less than a block away from a casino that has a poker room.  At this moment, there are three within walking distance for me.  Four if you count the one across the river in Windsor....but I think they frown upon foot traffic on the Ambassador Bridge or in the tunnel.  While I rarely step foot into any of these casinos, and never into the poker room anymore, I am pretty confident that I could at least hold my own in most of the games in there still....assuming I had a bankroll to do so.

Since I no longer exercise my poker muscles, I have been working out the handicapping ones a little more of late.  It used to be just NFL football and NHL hockey, the sports I know and watch the most, but I've been paying a little more attention to other sports the last few years, and trying to design my own handicapping strategies in each.  So, as a way to help revive this old, lifeless blog, I am going to start up an old bit I did a couple years ago on the D Sports Weekly website, and pick a bunch of MLB games against the spread throughout the season and see how I do.  Last time I tried I started out pretty well, waned a little in the middle of the season, and then the podcast/website lost some steam and I don't believe I finished out the season.  Hopefully I can make it all the way through the World Series this year and get a decent gauge of my MLB handicapping prowess.  At the very least, it will give me something to waste a little time the next few weeks....

Only one game on tonight, and I'm not as familiar with NL teams as I am with AL teams, but I'm picking the Dodgers (-110) over San Diego for 1.1 units.  I'll try and post all my picks before the games get started, but I have a log on my phone that will keep track of my picks, the stakes, and what line I got in at just in case I have to add them after the fact.  I'll also update my W-L numbers and units +/- as often as possible.  Last time I did this, it was 10 per week.  This time around, I'm going to go with whatever I WANT to play.  This should give me a more accurate assessment.

I think I've covered all of the....bases....for this bit here, so I only have one more thing to say tonight.  Go Dodgers!