Briefly

This is why I love HU SNGs on Full Tilt.

Full Tilt Poker Game #2705422933: $11 + $0.50 Heads Up Sit & Go (20629860), Table 1 - 15/30 - No Limit Hold'em - 22:35:48 ET - 2007/06/18
The button is in seat #2
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Table_Max [6s 8s]
Table_Max calls 15
Opponent raises to 90
Table_Max calls 60
*** FLOP *** [3d Jd Ts]
Opponent bets 90
Table_Max calls 90
*** TURN *** [3d Jd Ts] [3h]
Opponent bets 90
Table_Max raises to 270
Opponent calls 180
*** RIVER *** [3d Jd Ts 3h] [Jh]
Opponent checks
Table_Max bets 750
Opponent folds
Uncalled bet of 750 returned to Table_Max
Table_Max mucks
Table_Max wins the pot (900)
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 900 | Rake 0
Board: [3d Jd Ts 3h Jh]
Seat 1: Opponent (big blind) folded on the River
Seat 2: Table_Max (small blind) collected (900), mucked



Full Tilt Poker Game #2705430713: $11 + $0.50 Heads Up Sit & Go (20629860), Table 1 - 15/30 - No Limit Hold'em - 22:36:30 ET - 2007/06/18
Seat 1: Opponent (1,050)
Seat 2: Table_Max (1,950)
Opponent posts the small blind of 15
Table_Max posts the big blind of 30
The button is in seat #1
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Table_Max [Td 4h]
Opponent calls 15
Table_Max checks
*** FLOP *** [7s 8h 6c]
Table_Max bets 30
Opponent calls 30
*** TURN *** [7s 8h 6c] [2c]
Table_Max bets 60
Opponent calls 60
*** RIVER *** [7s 8h 6c 2c] [9h]
Table_Max bets 240
Opponent raises to 480
Table_Max raises to 1,830, and is all in
Opponent has 15 seconds left to act
Opponent calls 450, and is all in
Uncalled bet of 900 returned to Table_Max
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Table_Max shows [Td 4h] a straight, Ten high
Opponent mucks
Table_Max wins the pot (2,100) with a straight, Ten high
Table_Max: gg
Opponent stands up
Table_Max stands up
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 2,100 | Rake 0
Board: [7s 8h 6c 2c 9h]
Seat 1: Opponent (small blind) mucked [5d Ah] - a straight, Nine high
Seat 2: Table_Max (big blind) showed [Td 4h] and won (2,100) with a straight, Ten high

Yep, two hands. This happens a lot more than you would think....

Trifecta Therapy

Insomnia has made an unwelcome return to my life this week. It has been creeping up on me for a few weeks, making a surprise appearance here and there, but this week is the longest bout I’ve had to deal with in quite a while.

Years ago I battled it long and hard, after living with it for several months. Actually at that point in my life it wasn’t so bad. I was still in school, working full time, and had a more than full time girlfriend. Time was at a premium then, and walking around like a zombie for days on end was probably very good for my relationship at the time.

When school settled down a bit and my work schedule was cut I figured the insomnia would die down. After a couple weeks I realized it wasn’t going anywhere and looked for answers. It seems there are a ton of “experts” who have foolproof ways to fight insomnia, or maybe it was a ton of fools with expertproof ways. Either way, I tried most of them. Some seemed very plausible, eating or drinking certain things at certain times of the day made a lot of sense to me Give your body what it needs when it needs it, and this should help restore your circadian rhythm. Others seemed ridiculous, like taping a coin to each of my temples and covering them by wrapping a tube sock around my head, but it seemed I should try them just in case. No luck with the dozens of “cures” I tried.

After many months I found that a balanced diet, lots of time in the gym, and a very active sex life combined to be the best way for me to treat my problem. Even with other issues stressing me out at the time, these three things kept me sleeping well night after night.

In the last few months I have been more active, and have been eating a healthier diet than I had been for quite a while. My stress levels have been low, and I am very happy in my personal life. This week has been somewhat of a break from that. My stress levels have risen and I haven’t been as active as usual, partially due to the weather, which should change this weekend. And now not only is my sleep affected, but I also have this amazing bouncing knee that won’t stop anytime I am sitting in a chair. I’m a zombie with restless leg syndrome.

I know that I need to continue to pursue my insomnia treatment trifecta, and I really hope this weekend will do a lot to get me back on track. Maybe by Sunday night I’ll be in bed at a normal hour getting some much needed rest. Or maybe I’ll just play in the blogger Big Game and/or the FTOPS ME which has more than a quarter million dollar payout for the winner. That would definitely help me sleep better at night.

Speaking of poker, I think I need to find the time to enter a live tourney or at least get a home poker night together with some friends soon. I’ve been playing exclusively online all this year. I haven’t played a serious hand of live poker all year. I like playing on Full Tilt and all, but I am mostly playing limit right now to grind the bankroll to a respectable level and, like I always said about dealing black jack when I was at MGM, I could teach a drunk monkey to do that. It’s not always fun to be on auto-pilot when I am on the digital felt, and with the problems involved with reloading online right now, I need to have a little more padding to account for variance. Smart and responsible poker isn’t always fun and entertaining poker.

Western Conference

My ramble on gene got the best of me yesterday and I didn’t have enough time to get out my thoughts on the Western Conference Finals which begin tonight when the Ducks come to Hockeytown to take on the Red Wings. The puck drops in less than 11 hours, and there are still many good seats available. It’s amazing what can happen to a team with a great fan base when ownership keeps raising ticket prices. Wasn’t there a lockout recently that led to a salary cap to help the owners from going broke? Didn’t the Wings payroll decrease by 40-50% after said lockout? How is it that I got two tickets for game 1 of the Pistons/Bulls series for 60% of what it would cost me to take my mom to a Wings game for mother’s day? Especially considering I sat only 6 rows behind Pistons owner Bill Davidson for game one, and the Wings tickets for Sunday were 18 rows from the glass in the corner. Did I mention the Pistons have sold out 181 consecutive games?

OK, enough of the anti-Illitch rant. He’s done some great things for the city of Detroit so I can’t get on him too much, but I think he needs to learn a little more about the basic rules of supply and demand. The Wings used to be the only game in town this time of the year, but with the great success of the Pistons over the last few years and the recent revival of the Tigers, there are other options for sports fans right now that cost a fraction of the price.

Looks like my ramble gene is still in high gear. Sorry, it’s hereditary. But now, on to the series breakdown.

Western Conference:

#1 Detroit vs #2 Anaheim

While I think the Eastern Conference Finals will be the most entertaining series for casual fans of the NHL to watch, I’m pretty sure the hockey snobs purists will like watching this series a lot more. Both of these teams play great defense (all three Norris Trophy finalists are playing in this series) and have good goalies with playoff experience. Giguere has won the Conn Smythe Trophy, but not a Stanley Cup, while Dominik Hasek has won six consecutive playoff series wearing the winged wheel (including our most recent Stanley Cup victory) and is playing as good at 42 as he did while winning the cup 5 years ago.

One of the first things you will notice about this year’s Red Wings team when you watch them play is that while they are still a great puck possession team they also have a lot of grit and can play a more physical game when needed. That was important in the first two series this year, and should play a major role in this series as well. The Wings are a very balanced team, and may be the most versatile in the league. At times they look unbeatable offensively and defensively, but this versatility also has its drawbacks as the Wings can look like a team without an identity from time to time and actually look a little lost in their offensive zone or on the power play.

This is not the case for Anaheim. The Ducks know how to play D as well as anyone in the league and have two of the three Norris Trophy finalists on their blue line in Chris Pronger and Scott Niedermayer, as well as a Selke Award (best defensive forward) finalist in Samuel Pahlsson. And if you happen to work the puck through these tough defensemen and forwards, you still have Giguere to deal with. It’s because of this defense first philosophy and outstanding defensive talent that the Ducks have only had one game during the playoffs where they have given up more than 2 goals, and have only lost two games out of the ten they have played.

I really think this series can go either way, but the longer the series goes the better it is for the Ducks. In my opinion the Wings will have to get on Anaheim’s D pretty quickly in each game and shove a couple goals down Giguere’s throat right away to be successful. The longer the game goes, the more the Ducks D will get a feel for the Detroit game plan and adjust to it. The Ducks are probably the best in the NHL at dissecting an offense and reacting to it, which in turn leads to scoring chances off of turnovers from frustrated foes. While the Wings are less likely to get frustrated with a defense, it does happen and some players will try to force a play or make an ill-advised pass that could work against most other teams, but not usually against the Ducks.

Like I said before I think this series can go either way, and as a Wings fan I’ll remain optimistic about our chances, but I really think I have to give Anaheim the edge in this series. Even though Detroit doesn’t make many mistakes in any game, when they do make them they are pretty severe and Anaheim is a lot more capable of capitalizing on those mistakes than the Flames or the Sharks were. Blue line fatigue will become a factor as our top defensemen will be forced into more ice time with the loss of Mathieu Schneider, who just happened to be the quarterback of the Wings power play. I just don’t think the Wings can overcome losing a player as important as Schneider, and the Ducks will go on to the Stanley Cup finals.

Pick: Anaheim in 7

More Hockey Stuff

Two rounds and twelve teams down, two rounds and four teams left. Generally speaking, the first two rounds of the NHL playoffs are usually easy money for anyone that knows anything about the game. Case in point; I have not paid nearly as much attention to the game since the lockout that I did before it and I have gone 11-1 picking the winners in each series so far. No matter how bad I do from here on out, the worst I can be is 11-4. And that might end up being the case because I am a lot less confident about these match ups than I was about the first two rounds, but seeing as I love sports and betting on playoff games and series I’ll stick it out for the rest of the Stanley Cup run.

So now that I got the bragging about my 11-1 record in the first two rounds out of the way, twice now, here are my picks for the Conference Finals.

Eastern Conference:

#1 Buffalo vs #4 Ottawa

I’ve felt all along that Buffalo was the team to beat in the playoffs, and even though they didn’t sweep the Rangers like I had thought I still feel the same. Ottawa did a great job in taking out the Devils last round (my only wrong pick so far), but I really think that New Jersey did more to lose that series than Ottawa did to win it. I really don't want to take anything away from Ottawa's win, as they are a very good team, but I feel that New Jersey would have taken them down if both teams were playing their respective A games throughout the series. That being said, I think Buffalo could take Ottawa even if the Sabres only bring their B+ game every night.

These games should be fast paced with both teams getting a lot of quality scoring chances. This could very well be the best series of the entire playoffs for the fans who aren’t hockey purists. I don’t know that the games will all be high scoring, it’s hard to tell how either goalie will handle the pressure of this series while facing a lot of tough shots. Both goalies have played very well so far, and I am really starting to respect Ray Emery’s (OTT) focus and mental toughness. That being said, I really think that Ryan Miller will be the deciding factor in this series. The kid is a puck magnet. I think he’s let up 2 rebounds so far in 11 playoff games. OK I am probably exaggerating a little here, but that’s what it seems like to me. As a shooter, you better get the puck past him on the first attempt because it’s very unlikely that puck is gonna bounce back your way.

Buffalo’s biggest challenge will be finding a way to contain Ottawa’s top line of Heatley, Alfredsson, and Spezza who have combined for 16 goals in 10 games. All of the other forwards for the Sens have combined for only 11 goals. Buffalo will try to keep Tallinder and Lydman out there whenever Ottawa has their top line on the ice. This defensive pairing did a good job against the Rangers top line last series, and should give Miller a decent look at most of the shots from Heatley and company.

I think this series will go six games and seem a lot tighter than it actually is. This series should be exactly what the NHL was hoping to get after tweaking the rules in recent years to open up the games a little, and therefore should be a lot more entertaining for a wider base of fans….if anyone watches that is. Two small market teams in America’s least favorite “major” sport who have avid fan bases in their respective markets, but no real broad appeal elsewhere. Sidney Crosby may be the player the NHL is counting on to bring more fans to the game, but I think this series could help do that sooner, if only the NHL could get it out there for more people to see,

Pick: Buffalo in 6 (and leaning toward taking the OVER in every game of the series)

Since I rambled on too long about the Eastern Conference match up, I don’t have any time left to do my Western Conference breakdown today. Look for it tomorrow.

Tonight’s picks:

Pistons +2.5

Buffalo -140

Buf/Ott OVER 5

End of the Month

Just played my last session of poker for the month of April. I have played 12 cash game sessions this month and have turned a profit in 11 of those. Most of those 11 were small wins seeing me walk away 4-10 BBs ahead from when I sat down, but all but one of those sessions lasted more than 90 minutes.

I am nowhere near being able to pay for a trip to Vegas solely with my poker winnings this year, but if I can keep my cash game tight throughout spring and into the summer I might just have to spend a week out there during the WSOP just to take advantage of the side action. With decent cards and/or luck I am pretty sure I can win more than enough to freeroll myself into one of the smaller buy-in events.

Hell, if I can book a few big wins in the coming month I might be able to move up to a limit where the money actually means something. I've still got a few leaks here and there, but my profit per hour keeps creeping up toward my hourly wage at work. Hopefully in the next couple months I'll be making more per hour with my "side job" than I am at my 9-5.

In other news, the Lions seemed to have another sub par draft this year. We really couldn't mess up the second pick as far as I am concerned, and I really like the idea of having Calvin Johnson on this team. But it seems that everyone in the war room was too busy giving each other congratulatory blowjobs the rest of the day to pay attention to who was out there that could actually help the team this year, instead of holding a clipboard as a third string QB or playing on kick coverage teams.

Other than that the weekend weather was great and it really looks like spring is finally here. I am looking forward to many a lazy afternoon on the porch watching the hilarity that is my neighborhood in the summer.

The Pistons looked good disposing of the Magic in 4 games, while Chicago did the same to the Heat. I can't wait to see what the crowd is like when the Bulls come to town for games one and two of our series.

The Red Wings looked pretty good against Calgary in the first round, but playing the Sharks is a whole different story. San Jose is a much better team than Calgary, and we suffered a couple injuries in round one that might really effect the next few games of round two. As I sit here game three in San Jose is tied 0-0 halfway through the first period, with the series tied at one game apiece.

Last but not least, my golf game still sucks....but it's not any worse than the guys I play with so I am ok. After spotting Mark and Mark three strokes on the first hole yesterday I only finished two strokes behind them for the nine holes we played. My short game failed me and I three putted on three different holes because I misread the cut and/or the speed on the green. After a few more days at the range and a couple more rounds I should be able to get a decent swing back and play well enough through the summer.

NHL Round One Results

So I was a little off on the number of games for most of the series, but I did manage to correctly pick who would move on to the next round and who was going to be hitting the golf course early. I am not as confident in my second round picks, but here they are anyway.

Detroit vs San Jose:
With my Wings a little banged up going into our matchup against San Jose I am a little worried. With all the pressure on this team to win a playoff series, I hope that they can focus on round two now that they have finally beaten a team they are supposed to in the first round of the playoffs. Hasek has been playing well enough to carry us to the finals, and if he gets some defensive support in this series we should advance in 6 or less. Normally I would bet the Wings on the money line for game one at home in any playoff series, but I think the Sharks may come in and steal this game.
Pick: Detroit in 6

Anaheim vs Vancouver:
I think the long Dallas series will really take it's toll on Vancouver. They will be fired up for the first couple games in Anaheim, which is good, and I'd look for them to seriously push the Ducks in those games but I just think Anaheim is gonna grind them down and take the series pretty handily.
Pick: Anaheim in 5

Buffalo vs NYR:
It's no fluke that Buffalo was the best team in the regular season. Usually in the NHL that doesn't mean much in the playoffs, but I really don't see the Rangers hanging with the Sabres this series. This could be painful for NY.
Pick: Buffalo in 4

NJ vs Ottawa:
I think this will be the best series of the second round and could go either way. I really think it will come down to goaltending, and for my money there hasn't been a better pressure goalie in the NHL the last decade or so than Martin Brodeur. He looked someone average in the first couple games against Tampa Bay, but the defense shored up in front of him after that and he played very well the rest of the series. NJ could ride his play to the finals, and if they do he will almost certainly be a lock for the Conn-Smythe no matter who wins the cup.
Pick: NJ in 6

Today's Picks

I wanted to get more of these in this week, but hey.

Detroit -240
Det/Cal under 5
Ottawa +115
Ott/Pit under 6.5

NHL playoff games are all about match-ups and adjustments to those match-ups. Game 2 between the Wings and Flames should be relatively low scoring. I see a 2-0 or 2-1 game.

After playing a high energy game just yesterday, Ottawa and Pittsburgh should play a little tired today. Both teams need to make quite a few adjustments. I believe the Senators will implement their adjustments a lot better than the Penguins, but coming home will mean a lot to Pittsburgh. Ottawa should get on the board early to take the crowd down a notch.

NHL First Round

I used to make brackets every year for the NHL playoffs to see how well I was really paying attention to the game throughout the year. This year I have paid little attention to the game itself and have relied more on stats to tell me about the games and match-ups. Here are my thoughts on round one.

Eastern Conference

#1 Buffalo vs #8. NY Islanders
I really don’t see the Sabres having too much of a problem with the Isles. NY may win game 3 or 4 at home, but I think that’s about it.
Pick: Buffalo in 5

#2 New Jersey vs #7 Tampa Bay
Another series where I think the lower seed is really overmatched. Martin Brodeur is a machine. 2.18 GAA this season (3rd in NHL, 1st in East) in 78 games (1st in NHL). Impressive stats for a goalie, but even more I think it’s a great indicator of how well this NJ team plays as a whole. Tampa might be able to take a game at home, but I doubt it.
Pick: NJ in 4

#3 Atlanta vs #6 NY Rangers
I really like the Rangers team this year and think that they will take this series if they get some good play in goal. I think they will steal a game in Atlanta and lock up the series in NY in game 6. If they don’t take it in six, I don’t think the win game 7 in Atlanta.
Pick: NYR in 6

#4 Ottawa vs #5 Pittsburgh
Nothing would please the NHL front office more than the Pens making it deep into the playoffs led by the great play of Sidney Crosby. I think Crosby will play well and could cause some match-up issues for the Senators, but I think Ottawa will prevail. I also think all seven games will be very close 1-2 goal difference games.
Pick: Ottawa in 7

Western Conference

#1 Detroit vs #8 Calgary
Being a Red Wing homer I always get a little too optimistic in the first round of the playoffs considering the Wings track record over the last few years. That being said, I think this team is ready for anything and barring any major injuries (keep and eye on Bertuzzi) we should take this series handily, with the possibility of a sweep. Look for Hasek to get 2 shutouts in this series.
Pick: Detroit in 5

#2 Anaheim vs #7 Minnesota
Another series that could be a sweep, but I think that Backstrom might just stand on his head in one or two games and really frustrate the Ducks. Even if he handles the playoffs as well as he handled the regular season, I don’t think he can keep his GAA under 2 in this series and it may actually end up being double that when all is said and done.
Pick: Anaheim in 5

#3 Vancouver vs #6 Dallas
I also think this series has the underdog really overmatched and Vancouver should win pretty easily.
Pick: Vancouver in 5

#4 Nashville vs #5 San Jose
This may be the most entertaining match-up in the entire first round. I think that the games will be close, could all be pretty high scoring, and it will go seven games.
Pick: San Jose in 7

St Patrick's Suckage

Well my 9-5 completely botched my plans for St Patrick’s Day. Instead of going out and celebrating with my friends all night and getting pretty well shit faced, I worked a 12 hour shift from 6p-6a. Boo!

After working five straight 12 or 13 hour afternoon/midnight shifts I got up early enough on Saturday to go out and hang with some friends at the bar before I went into work. I was tired, and only about 1/3 of our crew showed up before I had to leave for work, but I still had a good time. Although, it was very weird being the only completely sober person in the bar on St Patty’s Day. A feeling I hope I never experience again.

Driving to work I was already getting texts from my friends saying how much it sucked that I had to work and that they really wanted to hang out with me that night. My responses were pretty simple and short and agreeable, but the whole time I was thinking, “I already know this….I am the one on his way to work for the night.”

It was nice to know that my friends were looking forward to me being there, but of little solace to me as I faced my favorite bar night of the year all alone at work.

At first I thought it would be an ok night because I got two drunk dials from friends by 8 o’clock. Those ended up being the only two though and my night wasn’t as interesting as I would have thought with all of my friends out drinking. At one point I got a text saying that “everyone is crazy” but not much in the way of drunken mutterings after Rob called me and sang the song from Bodyguard to me. Ironically enough, about two hours after that call I was flipping through TV stations in one of the lounges at work and saw that Bodyguard was actually on.

I briefly talked to Sarah on her way from the Brand New concert to the going away house party she was attending that night. I was very glad to hear that she thought that concert was the best one she had seen yet, even though the opening band with the lame name sucked. After a couple minutes on the phone with me she noticed exactly how many drunk drivers were out and decided it would be best to drive without the phone distracting her.

Later on, after a few texts back and forth, I got one that told me to ignore her the rest of the night because she was drinking and gets stupid when she drinks. Seemed like I might get some interesting calls or texts after all, but that was the last I heard from her for the night. Guess she was too worried about her drunk skating form to think about drunk dialing or texting anyone.

The bright side to missing out on St Patty’s Day is that after doing some rough figuring about how much I am going to make from all this crazy OT, I have been looking at the WSOP schedule for this year and found a couple events that I could put this money toward. The last couple years I’ve thought that if I stayed on my game for a couple months leading up to the WSOP and got even a little bit of luck in an event, I could be a serious contender for a bracelet. Of course that’s not possible if you don’t enter any events, but this could very well be the year I put my money where my mouth is. A lot will depend on the traveling costs associated with a week in Vegas during the WSOP, but if it’s not so much that I’d have to borrow from my bankroll to fund it, I could easily see myself there in late June.

Museum Night, Family Day, and Opposite Week; An Update for the Last Week or So

The first full week of March was somewhat of a downer. It all started off with a Monday that saw me angry most of the day for no reason at all. By 1:00 on Friday I was singing the praises of my 9-5 to anyone that would listen because of a few conversations I was part of on Thursday and Friday. By 3:00 I was angry again.

I had plans to go out of town for St Patrick’s Day. I try to go to Chicago that weekend if possible every year to visit Cathy, and it’s been about a year since I have seen her since I wasn’t able to make it to her wedding in November. My 9-5 changed those plans for me.

It’s nice to know that my partner and I are almost irreplaceable at the 9-5, but when emergency situations arise it can be a real pain in the ass. One of these situations came up on Friday and we were required to cover the exec suite 24 hrs/day for the entire week leading up to St Patty’s Day, one of us working 6a-8p and the other working 6p-7a.

I don’t mind the long shifts, but I normally start my day at 6a, and I was tapped for the 6p shift which completely reversed my schedule for the week and got me out of work no earlier than midnight Friday night when I was supposed to be driving to Chicago that very morning. Chicago was scrapped, and other plans were soon made. I was bummed, but I was still going to spend national drinking day with a lot of my close friends.

My anger soon disappeared once I worked out our work schedule for opposite week and got to leave. I was out 30 minutes late, but happy to be gone for the weekend even though I had a ton of errands to run before my date with Sarah. Got the errands done-ish, just didn’t clean the house as much as I had hoped to before she came by.

The date was pretty awesome. We had a good dinner at Union Street where we played Stripper or EMO Slut? Never found out for sure, but I was leaning toward stripper. Normally I would have just asked the girl in question, but wasn’t so sure that would be the best way to start off our date and just let it go.

From there we hit the Detroit Institute of Arts to see the Ansel Adams exhibit. It was effing spectacular. I could have stayed and looked at many of the photos for hours on end, but we ended up leaving after an hour or so because the museum was closing. Or so they thought. We still had some time before the movie started, so I decided that we’d try and find the long way to the theatre and go through the museum. Security didn’t like that and re-routed us about halfway through our journey.

The movie we saw is called The Bridge. I had read a little about it beforehand, and knew that I would see a couple people jump to their death from the Golden Gate Bridge, but wasn’t quite expecting what I ended up seeing. I had no idea that there would be family interviews and a personalization of many of the suicides. Putting names and families to the jumpers made it a lot harder to watch.

From the depressing movie we headed back to my house and hooked up her Gamecube to play some Mario Kart. I haven’t had a Nintendo system since my NES, and had only played Mario Kart once before so I was told I was going to have my ass handed to me. But like I told her, if it’s a racing game she never really stood a chance against me.

I won the first 6 races, and then we split the next six. 12 was enough for us since we both had long days before our date, and we went to bed. Not much sleep to be had that night. We both had visions from the movie playing in our dreams. Add to that the slight, bittersweet discomfort of sharing your bed with someone else for the first time, and the both of us tossed and turned til the sun came up.

Saturday was a poker day as I played in the level two WSOP freeroll that afternoon and hit some cash games after playing many heads-up SNGs. After an astounding 8 game win streak, I ended up losing 3 out of 5 to BJ and decided that HU SNGs were BS and made a lot more money in a 2-4 limit game than I had lost to my eurodonk friend.

Sunday’s weather was awesome and made me look like a genius for scheduling a family BBQ that day more than a week beforehand when it was still snowing a lot around here. I think the real genius of it was getting my cousin and her husband to host and cook all the food that I brought.

Large family dinners are rare for me nowadays and it was a great feeling to have a bunch of us eating at the same table. Even with Denise’s dogs flipping out because they had been locked in the basement, and Guinness flipping over chairs once he saw/heard that I had discovered Denise had a cat. Guinness once went through a window at my house just to chase a cat, he doesn’t like them and I don’t like having to tackle a 115 lb Rottweiler that is hell bent on killing a cat just as we are all sitting down to eat.

The highlight of the evening though was definitely getting to hang out with my nephew Desmond. The kid is so effing cute that it’s hard not to just pick him up and hug him, but making sure that he was cool with Guinness being around kept me occupied enough.

To Blog, Or Not To Blog

One of the reasons I became a member at Suicide Girls was Wil Wheaton. When I heard he was writing over there I decided to sign up so I didn't miss any of his content, and he seemed a perfect fit for the job. What's that? You don't need to be a member to read his stuff? Only if you want to look at the naked women? OK, not important. In my mind he has always been one of the top bloggers out there on the internets. He’s in my top three along with Iggy and Pauly, and unfortunately I’ve been failing to read any of them with regularity recently.

About the time Iggy started his gig over at Poker Works is when I started to read a lot more new (to me) poker blogs. With Poker Works blocked at my 9-5 I could no longer lose my productivity to the Iggy ubers, and the Tao was blocked well before that. In my search for new weekday content, I lost track of my favorite pokerbloggeractor.

The last couple weeks I have been hitting Wil’s blog here and there when I had the time, then yesterday I saw this great post that he put up about not being motivated to post anything for about a week even though he knew he could easily come up with some great stuff.

For the past few months I’ve felt pretty much the same way. I had fully intended to post on a regular basis follwing my most recent Vegas trip, because that right there would undoubtedly give me a ton of stuff to write about. That trip was in December. This is only my 10th post since I returned from Vegas. Almost three full months. Definitely not often enough.

In this time I’ve struggled with myself about this a little bit. Justifying the lack of posts on one hand, while reasoning out why I should post more on the other hand. But why? Why should I feel any pressure at all to post on my blog at any time unless I truly feel like it. When I really want to get something up there, the excuses will fall to the wayside and I will.

And since I mentioned Iggy’s Poker Works gig, I should also mention that he is back home now at Guinness and Poker. No ubers up last I checked, but I’m assuming that will change real soon.

My Morning of Anger

Have you ever woken up angry? On the proverbial wrong side of the bed? This isn't something that happens to me all that much, but when it does there there is a discernible reason for it. Like I went to bed angry about something, or have been under a lot of stress about something for a few days. But today was not one of those cases. Today was a complete mystery to me.

I had a very good weekend. Actually got a good amount of sleep for once. Wasn't steaming from any poker games. Was properly tucked in before bed. Hell, if anything I should have been happy when I woke up. This was not the case.

This general sense of aggressive anger coursed through my body the whole time I was getting ready for work, and increased exponentially on my ride in. All 12 minutes of my commute.

First I was cursing the dumb ass in the Escalade who got right in front of me from the middle lane while I was speeding up and merging into the right lane. Of course the right lane was no longer of any use to him as soon as I signaled to pass him on the left, so he cut me off again.

A couple other drivers pissed me off a little more after that, but as I pulled into the structure at work I started to calm down a little. But not nearly enough. On my way in I made sure to have my iPod on and visible to all so I could avoid any contact before I got to my desk to scarf down a big breakfast, since food always comforts me. A couple people tried saying good morning, but I just kinda grunted back and brought my head up slightly and quickly in a universal "what's up"gesture.

When I get to work, I have two options for breakfast. There's the smart healthy choice, which I generally choose every day except for Wednesday when my greasy, unhealthy, wonderfully delicious choice is one of the breakfast specials at the restaurant in my building. Today I went for the grease. Then followed that with the healthy breakfast....and followed that with a granola bar and a buttload of water.

Still not happy.

I leer and nod my way through the morning, and the anger doesn't subside....but it doesn't get any worse either. As I'm sitting at my desk wondering what in the hell is wrong with me, I get a few text messages from my sheet midget about what's going on at her job. Twice I end up laughing out loud, one of those times some water found it's way out of my nose and onto my keyboard. Not a pretty sight, or a great feeling immediately, but it ended up turning my attitude around for the morning. From there I slowly rose from the depths of my anger and ended the day on a good note when I got some more food at work. For free no less.

Since then it's been pretty smooth sailing as I am about to chow down on my free work food for dinner, and I just set the ground work for a website that I've discussed with a few friends a couple times over the last couple months. Nothing big for me, but it could really help out a few of my friends in the long run.

At least my day will end on a high note. Hopefully I can avoid a repeat of my pissed off morning come tomorrow.

We Were on a Break

The last few days I have played a total of 37 hands. One heads up SNG. I actually won after getting my money in ahead. That was quite a change from Tuesday. Varience toyed with me all afternoon. I take pride in being someone who doesn't go on tilt while playing poker, but Tuesday was an exception to the rule.

Normally if I think I am going to tilt I can get up from the table or computer and just stop playing, but the other day the play was so bad and the suckouts so crazy that I knew I could still win even if I was tilting a little. Or so I thought.

I just got angrier and angrier as I got my money in good and lost time after time, but I continued to play because the games were juicy. I knew I was in trouble when I went off on someone for a play. I never do that. It's usually only 'nh' or something similar because I want the players who are playing badly to feel comfortable and stick around. I usually go out of my way to defend people who play like shit when others call them out because I don't want the guy handing me money to be chased away.

Once I tore up the donkey who told said I was a terrible player and he left, I realized how bad I was tilting....but continued to play. I don't know why now. But I pressed on.

Had I dropped my buy in, I would have left but because I was basically breaking even I stuck around. I lost a total of $12 the whole afternoon while I saw the sickest single day of cards in my entire poker life. In that regard I was lucky.

So enough of my bad beat day story. Last night I went to my first Flogging Molly concert. I've tried to see them a couple of times in the past, but ended up being out of town just about every time they came to Detroit. Awesome. That's about all I can say. We had a great time, spent a lot of money on beer, and had a drink with Dave and Bridget after the show when they strolled into the Town Pump and hung out at the table next to us.

I'm normally not the "Hey, take a picture with me" type, but I had to get one with them. I even made sure to post it on myspace before I passed out last night. I'm such a dork.

Not sure yet where tonight is going to take me, but I can guarantee I won't be drinking after all the beer I had last night.

How Not to Talk Your Way Out of a Ticket (A poker player's analysis)

Me: Afternoon Trooper, how are you today? (Always start out with a pleasant question, like a probe bet it will tell you where you are in the hand)

Douchebag Trooper: Do you know why I pulled you over? (Trying to convey strength, he's obviously concerned about the strength of his hand)

Me: Truthfully I have no idea sir. (Smooth call the reraise to make him think he's taken control of the hand)

DT: Do you know how fast you were going? (Too strong of a continuation bet, he's still worried about his hand)

Me: Yes sir, 74 mph. (Another smooth call to make him wonder exactly what you have)

DT: So you admit that you were speeding? (Reading me as weak, he checks and tries to trap me here)

Me: I admit that I was driving 4 over, that's what I always set my cruise at. (Small bet hoping for a reraise)

DT: And why is that? (Min raise)

Me: Cause I come from a family of cops, went to school to be a cop, and that's what we all do since it's too much trouble to pull someone over and write them up for only four over. I've actually never heard of anyone doing it. (Min reraise, lets see where he stands)

DT: You went to school to be a cop but you aren't now....and why is that? (Another min reraise, what is this donkey doing?)

Me: When I graduated I decided there were too many douchebag cops in the area so I went into the private sector. (Enough of this bullshit, I'm all in)

DT: Excuse me? (In the tank, and on the verge of tilt)

Me: Well, Detroit is a death sentence, being a Wayne County deputy is a life sentence, and the suburbs are full of douchebags....since Michigan State Police wasn't hiring at the time I decided to get paid protecting Corporate America. (Table chatter giving off false tells of strength because even though I may not have a hand, I know he's uncomfortable with his)

DT: Alright, well do me a favor and watch your speed. It's rush hour, and even 4 over can be dangerous at this time of day. (Folding his hand without showing, even though he says he's got pocket kings)

Me: Will do sir. Have a good day, and stay safe the rest of your shift. (Telling him it was a good fold because I had the nuts)

Disclaimer: Do not try this at home, I am a professional asshole.

Tags; Not Just for Decoration

This one is to be filed under "Too Embarrassing to Elaborate".

So I procrastinate. A lot. I've got a date tonight and need to get a few things ready beforehand. Do I make sure everything is taken care of before I leave for work this morning? No. I've got time after work.

Had I not procrastinated, I would have seen the little tag that says DRY CLEAN ONLY and I just might have listened to it. But being pressed for time I think, "What's the worst that could happen?" and put it in the washing machine on the perm press cycle. That will do it just fine.

Fast forward a couple hours and here I am, sitting in track pants and a hoodie, one delicate item lighter, silently hoping that my washing machine isn't damaged by this debacle. To make matters worse, my date just texted me and said she probably won't be able to make out it now.

Being me rocks.

Token Post

Saturdays have been spent on Full Tilt lately. I had planned to shovel my snow and get some other things done that I have been neglecting, but the weather got a little warmer last night and I didn't have any snow to worry about when I rolled my ass out of bed this morning....er, afternoon....so I eventually made my way to the computer. Held off on the poker until I decided to get a few hands in while Cousin Mark was showering before we went to lunch. Oh look, a juicy 2-4 limit speed table has an opening. That's just what I need for a quick hit and run.

Not so much. It was very juicy, and donkerific and it also ate up half a buy-in by the time Cousin Mark got out of the shower. So much for earning my lunch money.

Lunch was great, but I was still stinging from my limit loss so I was eager to get back onto FT and find another weak table. So far so good. Found a 1-2 limit table that suited me well and I am working on tripling up my buy-in. I love LHE because of the return I see but it's very boring, so I decided to try one of those token tourneys I've heard so much about. 8 bucks, 18 players, top 5 get tokens and 6th gets $10. Sounds simple enough. Even though I'm not a fan of the turbos on FT, I decide that that's the best format of the bunch for me today and jump in.

I know that one tournament doesn't really qualify as a random sample, but if all these token sats are like this I really need to toss my hat in the ring more often. The amount of scared money in this $8 sat was amazing. Very easy to chip up early after sitting out an orbit to get my "tight" image, and once I became the chip leader at my table I only had opponents play back at me two or three times. Long story short I pounded the money and token bubbles and was the big stack when we got down to 5. As a result, I am now registered for the first WPBT event this year for just under 1/3 of the buy-in.



Hopefully I can stay awake long enough to do some damage tomorrow night, and I really hope that I can play in more events this year than I did last year. I think I made it into three last year before life got in the way of my poker again. One of my poker goals for the year is to be more involved with the blogger games again, so this should be one step toward that. And hopefully Don will keep the Big Game going on a monthly basis. I am always up for the bigger buy-ins.

We had a good time at the Pistons game last night, but the game ended badly as the Wizards pulled out a two point victory. The last five minutes of the game were pretty exciting as the Pistons looked out of it until then. When Sheed hit a fade away to tie it up after trailing for more than half of the game, the crowd went nuts.

Wings/Avs tomorrow as a replacement for football. The rivalry doesn't have the punch that it used to, neither does hockey for that matter, but it's still always a good game to watch. I just hope that it's on CBC and not just carried by NBC.

You don't say....

Warning, this could be misconstrued as poker content. Read on.

This weekend was up and down at the tables for me. I ended doing rather well over all, but the swings within each session were horrible. Glad I am a super donk and chase my losses.

I won more than enough in cash games to justify entering Don's Big Game on Sunday night. Last time I played in it I ended up chopping with Don, and this time around he won it outright after a chop that left about $100 in the mix for the first place finisher. Blogger Big Games are so rigged.

For me the Big Game started off well enough. I chipped up early by mixing it up in a few pots and getting paid on my nut flush. Things were going well, and I was the early chip leader when I looked down at pocket aces. I thought I had played enough to get somewhat of a LAG tag for the game thus far, even though it was early, so I was pretty confident I could pull in a decent sized pot here. I make a standard 3x raise and get one caller, our tourney host. Innocuous jack high flop with two clubs and Don bets out at me, 200 into a 225 pot. I think about pushing here but elect to just call. Seven of spades on the turn can't help him at all, yet he bets out 500 into a 625 pot. I put him on AJ clubs, but would expect a little bigger of a bet if he wanted to bet the turn. I loudly proclaim, to no one cause I am alone in the room, that I am no doubt ahead and reraise all in. Insta call. Don flips over pocket 4s and a flopped set. DOH!

Maybe a better player doesn't double Don up there, but that's just not me. My m.o. in the blogger tourneys is get the chip lead as soon as possible and use all that rope to hang myself in some elaborate manner. I'm getting rather good at it, I just need to play more of the blogger games.

A couple hands later I drop another 400 to Don when I 3x raise from MP with AK and he repops me from 120 to 400 from the big blind. Flop comes rags and Don bets out about 1/2 of my stack and I am forced to throw it away cursing my luck. I am now 18th in chips out of 18 remaining players....at least I didn't bust out 1st as we only had 19 runners.

Not too long after that I double up when I flop a flush and someone pushes with top pair and a draw at a better flush. Thankfully the river was kind for once and I didn't exit earlier than Iak who wasn't even playing. As a matter of fact, after building my stack up quit nicely into the top 5 of chips once again I ended up going out in 8th, just two spots ahead of the m.i.a Iak, when I ran my AQ into Hoy's AK. Oddly enough, that was the second consecutive hand that AQ got all in preflop against AK. Rigged.

After I busted out I did a couple quick things around the house and sat back down in a limit game, not ready to be parted of my $75. Unfortunately I didn't downshift from the tourney quick enough and found myself in a hole pretty quick. As I battled back I decided to take a shot playing with the bloggers at the 1/2 NL table. At one point I had a Rounders moment as it very much seemed we were all targeting a couple of the non-bloggers at the table and pretty much staying away from each other. "You don't see Pirahna eating each other do you?"

Glad I did it. It was only about an hour or so, but I had a good time and walked away from the table up $74.75. I figured that only paying a quarter to play that much with the bloggers was quite the value and it was time for bed.

Hopefully sooner or later my work schedule or sleep schedule will permit me to play a few more blogger games this year. Everyone has a few poker resolutions, and this is one of mine. I have always enjoyed the blogger games, but hated getting up for work an hour or two after they were finished. I need to make adjustments and see that I get into a few more games each month.

Side note: My links are all effed up cause I got so sick of my last blog template and discarded it with haste. I will build my blogroll up soon and get my linkage back on track.

Re: I suck

What the hell do I know about football anyway? It's not like I spent the majority of my formative years training and practicing for the next game, breaking down film from my first year of high school on. All those years spent at the Silverdome while the Lions were still there....OK, bad example. I could go on, but why? It's obvious I know nothing about this game anymore. January has been total suck sausage for my picks. My heater from Vegas is now a cooler. The NFL playoffs used to be my wheelhouse....now I am just under the bus. I hate this game!

Week 2

Here are the picks for week 2 of the 3M Playoff Challenge.

Mike (18 units):

NE/SD under 46.5 ~~ 6 units
Phi/NO under 49 ~~ 3 units
SD -5 ~~ 3 units
Phi +5.5 ~~ 3 units
Ind +4 ~~ 3 units

Max (16 units):

Bal-4 ~~ 8 units
NO-5.5 ~~ 4 units
Phi/NO under 49 ~~ 4 units

Mark (10 units):

Bal-4 ~~ 10 units

Playoffs

This week's picks for the 3M Playoff Challenge:

Max:
Sea -3 for 3 units
KC +7 for 2 units
NE -8.5 for 1 unit
NYG +7 for 2 units
Dal/Sea Over 46.5 for 1 unit
KC/Ind Over 50.5 for 1 unit

Mark:
Phi -7 for 5 units
KC +7 for 5 units

Mike:
KC/Ind Over 50.5 for 3 units
NYG +7 for 4 units
NYJ +8.5 for 3 units

Right now it's halftime of the Indy/KC game and Indy is up 9-0. Not looking good for any of our picks so far.

Oh yeah....

And Bob Costas is a shit head.

Disappointment

Another kick in the nuts for Detroit sports fans. I'm sure it's common knowledge by now that OSU will play Florida in the championship game this season. A little over a month ago we had to deal with our pitchers not named Kenny Rogers throwing the World Series away with their terrible fielding. Earlier this year the Pistons and Red Wings both took the best regular season record in their respective sports into the playoffs and came out with nothing. Adding insult to injury the Lions continue to be the doormat of the NFL while GM/President Matt Millen gets a contract extension. Although this bothers me very little as I grew callous to the Lions during my years as a season ticket holder. Thank God I woke up three years ago and decided not to buy the tickets anymore.

Those disappointments were tough on the fans, but those teams all played poorly to bring it upon themselves. UM getting sodomized in favor of Florida is tough for the fans, but it's got to be much worse for the players who did all they could to prove they were one of the top two teams in the country, losing just one game. By just three points. To unanimous number one team in the nation. Oh yeah, that #1 team had home field advantage. In one of the toughest places to play as a road team.

I may be a little biased here because I have seen every UM game this year except for the one that ESPN put on their college channel that no one subscribes to....btw, I hate what ABC has done to ESPN....and I have seen how freaking good of a team they are. That being said, I wonder how many people out there who have had a chance to see a lot from both teams think that Florida would have any shot at beating Michigan in a game. I've talked to a few people who have said that Florida should go over Michigan, but most of them also didn't think that Florida would beat Michigan if they played.

"So Michigan should be ranked higher than Florida?"

"No, they already had a chance to play Ohio State. There shouldn't be a rematch."

"So Florida deserves to go to the #1 vs #2 game as the #3 team in the nation?"

"What do you mean?"

I may be a little bitter.

Thankful

Having a good amount of Native American blood in my veins I'm not really that fond of Thanksgiving, but I do appreciate what the spirit of the day is supposed to be. As a lazy, spoiled American I often take for granted so many of the great things that surround me. I'll never take my family or my friends for granted, but there are so many things that I don't appreciate on a daily basis. I have a house. I have job. I'm not rich, but I have a better lifestyle than a lot of people.

Day in and day out I seem to want more. More hours in the day, more money from my 9-5, more poker....but I rarely look around and truly take in all that I have in my life. The fact that I am sitting here writing this now while I two-table on Full Tilt and Guinness sleeps at my feet is testament to how good I have it.

Earlier this month I turned 30. It didn't bother me as much as I thought it would, because as I get older I gain perspective at an exponential rate and I realize that I am lucky to have made it this far. Especially when I look back at all the crazy shit I've done, and the four times in my life that I really should have died, but somehow made it through relatively unscathed.

New Year's Eve is just around the corner. Every year I make some sort of resolution and each year they seem to have a common theme, boiling down to motivation. I figure why wait til the end of December to resolve to be more motivated in my life, why I can just start today? After dinner of course.

Oh yeah, and after the bullshit I dealt with last night....I pretty much done with women for a while. This isn't so much of a resolution, more like "enough is enough". I am no longer dealing with the crazy women in my life, and the stupid shit that goes along with it. I can't blame anyone but myself since I am the one who chooses to surround myself with crazy chicks, but I can change it....for now at least.

On that note, Happy Thanksgiving to all.

Bo

He retired before I was even in high school so I never had the opportunity to be recruited by Bo, but during my Junior year in HS a few teammates and I drove to Ann Arbor to hear him speak at a conference to help high school kids prepare to be recruited. Some of what he said I'll never forget, like when he pitched the three things to look for in a college 1. Academics, 2. Academics, and 3. Academics. His words about integrity hit home with me and showed me that a man can be great without compromising his beliefs. To this day, I can feel the hair on the back of my neck stand up when I hear his voice.

Coach Schembechler, you will be missed.

Marktoberfest 2006

So it looks like my reasons I miss Vegas have fallen to the wayside....that being said, Marktoberfest 2006 was a ton of fun. We had a decent crowd this year, but the cold weather kept us inside all night, except for smokey time, and no one was brave enough to use the hot tub.

Here are some random pics.

Wilkie loves Marktoberfest.

He also loves the jello-shots.

Rita shows off her technique without dropping her chip.

Scot really loves the camera, but tries to play it cool.

Mike and Mark laughing...this is before their "talk".

Us. You can tell I am drunk because I am so red....and have that stupid drunk smile.

Marktoberfest's namesake hiding behind his beer.

Not sure if he's reppin the D or TPA....either way, he's obviously cool.

The ladies love Guinness the party dog.

Scot with the twins. Why is it that Jen is the only person at the party without a drink?

More "beer as camo" from Mark.

The bright side: Unlike yesterday, that's not puke on his shirt.

I'm not sure, but Mark may be drunk.

Dos Miguels: For some reason, Mike feels the need to shower

Michael with money like he's his personal Congressional page...

This is what I found when I tried to go to bed....what a Gyp!

Busy, but not too busy for this....

First off, WTG Tigers! I can't wait to go to the game tomorrow!

Second, I'll be back to blogging soon.

Third, here's what Full Tilt has to say:

Dear Max,

Full Tilt Poker is here to stay!

As an online poker player, you have probably heard about the new legislation passed by the U.S. Congress earlier this week that attempts to prevent you from being able to transfer money to online gaming sites.

While this new law has prompted some sites to announce plans to abandon the U.S. market in coming days, we assure you that Full Tilt Poker will continue to provide all of its players - both inside and outside of the United States - with a full complement of real money ring games and tournaments for their enjoyment.

After consultation with numerous legal experts in this field, we want to make you aware of the following:

* Legal
The new U.S. legislation does not in any way attempt to criminalize the act of you playing online poker. By playing online at Full Tilt Poker, you are not breaking any U.S. Federal laws.

* Full Access
The passage of the new Internet Gaming law will not have any impact on your day-to-day experience at Full Tilt Poker. We will provide all of our players, everywhere in the world, with full access to all of our games and tournaments.

* Easy Deposits and Withdrawals
We will continue to provide our players with all of the safe, secure and convenient methods for transferring money to and from the site. In fact, in recent discussions with our payment processors, we have been assured that this new law will have no immediate impact on their day-to-day business. And as always, any monies that you have on deposit with Full Tilt Poker remain completely safe and secure.

Furthermore, we firmly believe that online poker is not encompassed by this new legislation. In any event, we will continue to lobby for an express carve-out for online poker and for your right to play a truly American game from the privacy of your own home and computer.

We are excited about the future here at Full Tilt Poker and in the coming weeks and months, we plan to roll out many new features designed to enhance your online poker experience.

We appreciate your loyalty to our site and, in turn, want you to know that we will remain loyal to our valued players in the United States and throughout the world.

We look forward to seeing you at the table.

Sincerely,
Full Tilt Poker

Number 9

Reason number nine is very important to me right now.

9. Yearlong dry air = no sinus problems- Every year I get two sinus infections, one in the spring when the weather breaks and another in the fall when the weather changes again. So it's that time of year in Michigan, and I've been suffering all week. Were I in Vegas right now, I wouldn't be sick....I'd probably be drunk and broke, but I wouldn't be sick.

I'm probably going to take this week off with my college picks since I haven't had any time to look at the match-ups. Hopefully I'll make the time to look at the NFL match-ups and post some picks tomorrow.

Playing Catch Up

Under the weather and busy at work....not conducive to good blogging, but here I am with more reason I love/miss Vegas. I owe three reasons, and I am going to add tomorrow's early. I will try my best to tie all four together.

5. Playing 25 cent video blackjack at 6. O'Shea's while drinking comp beer to get a buzz on before hitting a club via a 7. Crazy cab ride where we will take our last comp 8. Beer in the cab with us.

The bar inside O'Shea's has been a favorite hangout of mine since one of my first trips to Vegas. I love the club scene out there, but sitting at that bar (which has a surprising good selection of beers) drinking for free, assuming you put $10 in one of the games, can be a great way to spend an evening of pre-drinking. The bartenders are every bit as good as you'll find at the bigger strip properties, and great at chatting it up with anyone.

While they will refill you quickly when you are empty, the management seems pretty strict in enforcing the one drink per person rule. I completely understand, and don't mind since shots count as your one free drink at a time. Tip the bartenders pretty well, and you'll go through a bottle of your favorite drink in no time at all, at a fraction of the price you'd pay anywhere else.

Last time we were there, I noticed that the multi-games at the bar offered blackjack for as little as 25 cents per hand....your $10 will can go a long way playing a pretty break even game with 40 credits. If you want to conserve your bankroll play slow. Play a couple hands, drink some beer, repeat as desired. Or if you are up for shots, one shot for every 5-10 hands seems pretty good. Even if you run bad you'll still get about 10 shots out of that 10 bucks. Just remember to tip. If there are 3 or 4 of us at the bar, we'll usually all take turns giving the bartender $5 for a round.

Taking open drinks in a car in Nevada is actually a no-no, but most cabbies won't call you out on it if you don't ask them if it's ok as you get in. If they do, the people behind you can always take that cab and you can try the next one.

If you've never been in a Vegas cab, you may very well be in for the ride of your life. I always think of Crazy Taxi when I think of the Vegas cabbies. I'm sure some other big cities compare, but I've never gotten more entertainment out of my cab rides than I have in Vegas. Buckle up, and enjoy.

On to football....I had a pretty decent weekend where college was concerned, even though PSU fucked me by throwing not one, but two fricking INTs for TDs in the last two minutes. Just one and that pick would have covered. ND was a winning pick even though it looked rough for them right away. Michigan was a loser for me by 1/2 of a point. I don't remember who won the Bama/Ark game (and I am too lazy to look it up right now), but Bama was getting 1.5 and it was a one point game.

So I finished 2-2 in my big school picks. My small school picks continue to rock and I was 2-0 this week as Central Michigan covered in OT and Southern Methodist put a 55-9 hurt on Arkansas State. A while back I was awakened to the fact that by keeping your eye on a few select small schools throughout the year and researching the opponents of those teams each week, you could make a pretty good profit.

Most small school games will have small spreads because the average gambler doesn't bet enough to be confident taking or laying double-digit spreads in those games. Example: School A is playing at School B. Records are similar, spread is less than a TD. School A rates about 6.5 out of 10 and School B rates 5 or less out of ten. Home field isn't much of an issue here, so take School A and make your money. One caveat is to try and find spreads of 5.5 or less as a 6 point spread can easily lead to a push because many mistakes are made in PAT attempts in these games.

Pro Football: T.O., WTF?

Poker: None to speak of since my last frustrated post. Thankfully no one has found me at work to collect their money.

Vegas: 78 days away.

2 More Reasons

3. Free drinks & 4. The wonderful girls who bring them to you- Here in Michigan, the gaming control board decided that comp drinks are a no-no if they contain any alcohol. Truthfully I can't say that I blame them, because the Detroit casino crowd would be ten times worse than it is now, which is saying a lot. It's nice to be able to order a Newcastle in Vegas and only worry about the tip.

Now any of the other dealers I worked with at MGM could tell you that I am a sucker for the cocktail waitresses in the casino. Unfortunately, the waitresses soon realized this too....but that's an entirely different post. Of course I am not talking about the girls at Caesar's who have been there since the place originally opened. Every time I go back there I see fewer of the AARP waitresses at Caesar's, probably cause they are dying off, but there are still a few there that have got to be pushing 70. Although they are great to talk to if you catch them on a slow night cause they all have great stories about Frank, Dean and the rest of the pack.

Is there honestly anything better than having a smoking hot girl bring you free alcohol, and only have to worry about giving her a couple bucks for the effort? If you had your girlfriend or wife do that for you at home that would cost you hundreds, maybe thousands in jewelry and other gifts....on top of what you originally paid for the beer anyway. Then again, how many guys out there would really try and have their girl "serve" them like that at home?

Frustration

I'm not one to be frustrated easily, my personal life is a great example of that....but for another time maybe, but busting out pretty deep in a tournament after being top 20 or so in chips for most of it is really getting old fast. My MTT game is tight right now. Not perfect, but I am playing better than I have at any time since my great run late last year that was capped off with my 5th place finish in the WPBT Winter Classic. Right now I am just playing to get ready for Vegas, but doing so well for so long only to be struck down and out in a matter of 10-20 hands is beginning to annoy me.

I can take solace in the fact that about 90% of the hands that lead to my demise I actually play right, but get unlucky or sucked out on. The other 10% I can look over to help me improve my play, so it's not all bad. I just can't help feeling a little upset about being out in front of hundreds or even thousands of other players for so long, then crashing or burning with nothing to show for the effort.

Hopefully soon enough I will get a rush of cards when I need it and at the very least final table somewhere....if only for the sake of my confidence.

Sorry for the venting. Technically this isn't a bad beat post, but if you want your dollar for listening anyway just find me. I'll even double it if you find me at my 9-5....

Why I miss Vegas part 2 of 84.

2. Sports Books- Is there a better place to watch a game, or multiple games, than Bellagio's book? Comfortable chairs, free alcohol brought right to you, every game or horse race you could ever hope to want to watch, losing money on sports legally....it's hard to pull myself away from here on Saturday or Sunday when I visit late in the year.

One of the great things about the book is it's proximity to the poker room. What could make me feel better as I watch Iowa getting thumped by underdog Iowa State when I laid? Hitting the bathroom at the half and talking to Scotty Nguyen about getting screwed on Iowa/ISU pretty much every time they play. Gamblers are a sick and sorry bunch, and we always feel better knowing someone else is taking the same beating we are.

Speaking of losing money on games, I haven't had any time to breakdown this week's games....but at first glance I don't like much. I picked my games pretty well last week, but never got my anything on Minnesota before the spread swung hard. That game was my 7 star pick this year. It's all downhill after that.

Off the top of my head I'd have to say I like betting against Michigan -13.5 this weekend. We are a notoriously bad double-digit home favorite. If you bet against the Wolverines at home every time the spread gets to two scores or more, you will make money in the long run.

Other CFB picks include:
Penn State +16.5 @ OSU
CMU -4.5 @ EMU
Bama +1.5 @ Ark
ND -2.5 @ MSU
and in my "You are a complete degenerate if you bet this game pick" I like Southern Methodist to cover the 5.5 against Arkansas State.

84 Reasons I Miss Vegas

Since I am only 84 days from being back in Sin City, I figured the best way to countdown to my trip would be to say a little something each day about what draws me back there year after year after year. It may be a place I make sure to visit whenever I am there, it might be a place that I would visit but has closed or changed, and I will make sure to add a few of our better stories from the last 8+ years that we've been going out there. Now with that out of the way, here's my first post.

1. Cafe Gelato- This has to be the first mentioned because this is the first place we go after checking in at our hotel. The one Vegas tradition that we've never broken is visiting this little cafe across the hall from the pool entrance at Bellagio. I don't remember if this was the first place I ever heard of gelato or even the first place I tried it, but to this day it remains the best gelato I've ever had. By far.

If you are not familiar with gelato, it's basically ice cream. What makes it special is the thick cream they use to make it. It's richer and a lot more flavorful than regular ice cream. I once heard someone describe Cold Stone as "an orgasm for your mouth" (FOR your mouth, not in it), but I personally don't think Cold Stone comes close to the level of gelato at Cafe Gelato.

So in 84 days, at about noon on December 14th I will be sitting in Cafe Gelato (hopefully in my favorite booth on the right side of the cafe) enjoying a scoop of Oreo on top of a scoop of Chocolate, nestled nicely inside of a waffle cone. Mmmm. If you happen to run into me there at that time, mention this post and your first round of gelato is on me. Restrictions do apply.

More Guinness Wisdom

Guinness says:

"It ain't easy living with an AT&T employee"

You may have heard about the possible TB outbreak at the AT&T building downtown (if not, there's a possible outbreak of TB at the AT&T building downtown). It just so happens that Guinness and I have a room mate who works in that building. Guinness is a proponent of hedging your bets.

That's my Boy

Guinness says:

"I may have an Irish name, but I effing hate Notre Dame!"

Call to Action

Please read this post from Iggy.

Football Rants

So Ohio State looked pretty good on Saturday. As did Notre Dame. Michigan, not so much. The win over Central Michigan was so impressive that they fell out of the top ten. I really hope we can get things going for the game against Notre Dame this week. I am sure the Irish will be ready.

The Lions played alright. We even had a chance to win late in the game until Shawn Bryson decided to take a stroll all by himself down the sideline on 3rd down, never looking back for the football until it nearly hit him in the head. Then of course Nick Harris did his best John Jett impersonation and booted the ball to the back of the end zone instead of pinning the Seahawks deep.

Big Baby controlled the line of scrimmage all day long, becoming Ernie Sims' best friend in a hurry as Sims became Boss Bailey's best friend in a hurry. Most people seem to think Boss played well even though he had zero tackles and 4 assists. At least he's shown he can take down someone who has already stopped moving because they have been wrapped up by someone else.

So is Roy WIlliams a prophet or an idiot? Guess we'll have to file this under 'wait and see'. I am certainly tempted to bet Chicago this week, but the 8 points won't let me do it. Chicago's offense might not score 8.

My beloved Redskins really jobbed themselves last night. With such a tough division schedule, every game in September will have a huge impact on January. That being said, they tanked it yesterday against Minnesota and their hokey offense. Run, run, run, launch it deep. Rinse, repeat.

Is it just me, or are the refs way too flag happy so far? There were at least a dozen cheap calls on crucial plays during week one. Many extending drives that would have ended with a punt on the next play. I also noticed that the refs are acting like appellate judges. Don't like the fact that you didn't catch the ball? Yell at the ref....50/50 chance he'll penalize the defense.

My personal pet peeve with the officiating this year is not the refs themselves, but what they are instructed to call as spearing, or use of the helmet as a weapon on normal, textbook tackles. This year the NFL has decided that the facemask is to be included in the spearing rule. You can no longer lead with your helmet or face mask when coming in for a tackle. If you do, and it makes contact with someone....that's illegal. Essentially you can't lead with your head at all, which is what is completely natural when you are running forward. So if you want to make a legal tackle, you have to make sure that you get your head completely out of the way just before impact. Doing that will leave defenders wide open for severe neck injuries.

If this rule is strictly enforced, I believe it will lead to a huge increase in serious neck injuries. And I'm not even talking about the NFL so much as I am talking about High Schoolers and younger. If this becomes an issue in the NFL it will trickle down to the lower levels of play because they will all want to protect their players as much as they can, like the NFL. This means different coaching when it comes to tackling, with an emphasis on turning your head away from the play. I'd be a little uneasy about having my son(s) taught to tackle that way.

Another thing about this rule is that offensive players can get a flag thrown on the defense by lowering their helmet into the defender's helmet just before impact on a play where the defender's helmet wouldn't have been a factor. Shouldn't the "you can't lead with your head if you are running forward (or any direction for that matter)" rule apply to both the offense and defense? I guess not since I've seen at least three plays like this result in a flag for the defense since the Hall of Fame game. This is a rule that could truly add insult to injury.

100 Days til Vegas

We are booked and ready to go. With all that's happened in the last few months, Michael and I needed a decadent weekend of debauchery to look forward to. Obviously we need a little Vegas. I found another sweet deal on airfare (less than $200 roundtrip) and the room rates at Aladdin are about the same as last time ($120/night incl taxes) so I don't feel guilty about taking a few days off work and throwing away my overtime for two weeks just before the holidays. Like I could ever feel guilty about going to Vegas....

Thursday Dec 14th-Monday Dec 18th. The same weekend as the Bellagio Five Diamond World Poker Classic. That tournament just happened to be in town the last time I was in Vegas to attend the WPBT Winter Classic. Yes, the same weekend I dominated a field of 100+ bloggers on my way to the final table only to get seated directly to Gracie's right as she proceeded to get hit over the head with the deck. But I am not bitter about my 5th place finish in such a deep, talented field. As a matter of fact I'm proud enough to still be bragging about it to this day.

So what else....oh yeah, Steve Irwin is dead. Killed when a sting ray barb penetrated his heart. I hate to sound cold about it because he has a family and all, but if you are going to play with fire.... I must give the guy credit though. His crazy dream was to play with large dangerous animals on a daily basis. He followed that whacked out dream for many years and made a name for himself at the same time. And, I have been told, he used that fame to help fight for the preservation of wildlife and their natural habitats, which is very admirable and something I really respect.

Running out of time now, so I'll have to save the details of my wager with Michael until tomorrow.

One Year

(Click on photos to enlarge)

Today I sit in the same chair as I did a year ago, at the same desk as a year ago, looking at many of the same images on the same computer screen as I did a year ago. So much is the same. So much is different.

I started this blog a month or so before Katrina to just basically complain about missing Vegas, and how I had no trips planned to Sin City in the near future. My yearly pilgrimage was being replaced by a cruise instead. I was excited for the cruise, which left from New Orleans, because 90% of my time on the ship was going to be dedicated to poker....but I still longed for the desert.

When Katrina crashed ashore a lot of things changed. The first way it affected me personally was my cruise being moved to Galveston. Later on Rita blew into town there and completely cancelled my cruise, which let me reschedule my vacation and play in the 05 Winter Classic in Vegas.

The biggest change for me though was a couple months later when I traveled down to Long Beach, MS (between Gulfport and Bay St Louis/Waveland) which was one of the areas hardest hit by the storm. My week of volunteer work down there is something that will stay with me forever. It was a very moving experience, but at the same time it's something I've found difficult to discuss unless I'm talking to someone else who was on our trip, or at least one similar to it.

Having seen a lot of coverage from the affected areas in the weeks leading up to my trip, I had some expectation of what we'd see down there, but for the most part I tried to keep my mind open because I truly did not know what to expect. The reality of it all set in about 100 miles from the coast when we began to see wind and tornado damage here and there as we drove down. If some areas this far inland were messed up, what was it going to look like when we got to the coast?

We had our answer soon enough. We rolled through mile after mile of wind and flood damage on our way into Long Beach. By the time we got to the church to unload and turn their storage area into our sleeping area, we had seen tons of damage. No one from our group got a usable photo of it, but the gas station on the corner down the road from the church had the overhead awning/roof for the pumps still sitting on one of the pumps....and people were using it.

After we converted our storage/sleeping area at Grace Lutheran, we took a ride to register for our work permits and passes to travel south of the tracks. This ended up taking less time to do than it took me to type up this paragraph, and we went right from the temporary police/fire office to Pastor Barb's house south of the tracks.

Long Beach has railroad tracks that travel east and west through the city about 1/2 mile north of the beach. South of these tracks is where the worst damage and contamination occurred and the national guard put up razor wire along the north side of the tracks to keep out anyone who didn't live or work in that area. The only way to get south of the tracks was through one of the National Guard checkpoints located at certain crossings.

What we saw when we crossed those tracks was amazing. We drove past cement slabs and piles of rubble that used to be houses. Not just 10 or 20, but hundreds upon hundreds....gone. Between the tracks and the beach you have about 3 blocks of housing. The block closest to the beach was gone. 1/2 of the second block from the beach was gone, then from there north most of the houses, or at least frames, were still standing. This is how it went for miles along the coast. The pastor's house was two houses below this debris line on the second block and when we pulled up in front of her house, this was all we saw.

Seeing this and knowing it used to be someone's home is tough enough. Imagine seeing 360 degrees of this. And that's not the half of it. When we stepped out of the van for the first time south of the tracks the reality hit all five of my senses. I'll never be able to describe the smell, but I'll always remember it. The virtual absence of sound, outside of the occasional Humvee, helicopter, or bulldozer. The heavy, gritty moisture in the air that I felt on the uncovered parts of my body. There was also a faint taste in the air that paralleled the distinct odor of the area.

For the most part, I've found it hard to talk or write about this trip. I took plenty of notes on the car rides down and back, as well as every day we were there....but it's not really a series of stories I can just tell. It was an experience that you really had to be there to know about, to feel it. This is the most I've ever written about this trip. Maybe I'm not as good of a writer as I believe, but I just find most of this trip difficult to convey.

I really did have a point for this post when I started....but I've imploded the foundation now, so I guess I will hold on to that one for another day.

Linkage

Mo' money, mo' problems for WSOP Main Event winner Jamie Gold. Change 100 has a great post on Gold's multimillion dollar problem.

Book It

"Hey, since you guys are going to be here for a while....I am heading to Barnes and Noble. To buy a poker book."

That's all I said before I left my buddy's house after busting out of our tournament. Finished 20th out of 20. I think I was in for 25 hands, playing only three of those....each time from a blind. That's power poker.

My biggest mistake wasn't getting my money in as a 4-1 dog....turns out that giving my room mate a ride to the tourney was as he was top three in chips when I busted out.

Hopefully Wednesday's tourney at Greektown goes better....if I play. 25% is an awful lot of juice for a tourney with a bad structure.

Evidence

The government has made evidence from the trial of Zacarias Moussaoui available to the public online. The exhibits can be found here.

Tragic

From CNN.com:

PRAGUE, Czech Republic -- A promising young British chess player taking part in a chess tournament in the Czech Republic has died after a mystery fall from her hotel room.

Jessie Gilbert, 19, fell Wednesday from the eighth floor of her hotel in the central city of Pardubice amid conflicting reports that she could had been sleepwalking and had suffered from depression. Her family Friday paid tribute to the "much loved" and "exceptionally talented" teenager.

In a statement, her family said: "She was a titled chess player and had been competing in the Czech Open Chess Championships.

"Fellow British players in the tournament abandoned matches as a mark of respect. She was much loved and was an exceptionally talented chess player."

Police were continuing to investigate the teenager's death amid reports that she had been taking medication for depression, the UK's Press Association said.

Gilbert had been living with her parents, Ian and Angela, and sister, Samantha, in the village of Woldingham, Surrey. But her parents had recently divorced, sold the house and moved to separate properties, PA said.

While there have been suggestions that the teenager may have been sleep-walking, organizers of the tournament believe she may have committed suicide, PA said.

John Saunders, editor of British Chess Magazine, said he had been approached independently by "a number" of chess players who had spoken of a possible problem with sleep-walking, PA reported.

But Jan Mazuch, director of the Czech Open, said he believed she had jumped from the eighth-floor room.

He told PA her 14-year-old room-mate, Amisha Parma, had first realized Miss Gilbert was missing when she woke to find her bed empty in the early hours of Wednesday morning.

Police were called and found the body of the teenager in a tree below her hotel window.

Mazuch said: "She wasn't in the room so they started to look for her and they realized she had jumped from the eighth floor."

Gilbert was taking a gap year to play chess while preparing to go to Oxford to University study medicine. She had been working towards becoming a Women's International Master.

Described as one of England's leading women players by the English Chess Federation Friday, she came to prominence at the age of 12 when she won the Women's World Amateur Championship, the youngest player ever to do so, the ECF told PA.

First taking up the game at the age of eight, Gilbert had been involved in coaching younger players at the newly formed Andrew Martin Chess Academy.

After representing England in the European Individual Women's Championships in Turkey in April, she was also part of the national women's team in the chess Olympiads in Turin in May and June of this year.

The ECF said: "Her friendly personality endeared her to all ages in the chess community and she will be much missed."