Mission WSOP

Poker kept me up late tonight as I went deep in a $2 MTT on Full Tilt.  I finished 5th and won $24 despite some rough beats throughout.  It was a fun tournament though as I was up and down more than a $2 hooker.

With one Sit & Go pending this morning, I am sitting at $1380… a late night Sit & Go win could push me over the $1400 threshold… I’ll update such a thing if I’m still writing this entry.

I got my final check mark for October earlier and I’m curious to see if that gets me qualified for an additional freeroll on Full Tilt, in addition to the Silver Iron Man.  I guess I won’t know until Thursday.

I bought the new Britney Spears CD today also.  I’ve never been that uncomfortable buying a CD before… but the CD is good.

On Howard Stern today, they were discussing a documentary called "Animal Passions".  It’s a BBC doc about zoophilia.  Zoophilia is the love of animals.  You can find the documentary on You Tube… it’s sooooooooooooooo disturbing!  The MOST disturbing clip was the one guy talking about the first time he started desiring animal sex.  He was brushing a pony and the pony lifted it’s tail.  He saw the pony’s private parts and the rest was history.  The same man told a tale of the first time he told his first horse love, Cherry, that he loved her.  During his story, the man broke down into tears… I couldn’t believe what I was listening to. 

Google Trends HotList - 10/31/07 @ 5:45 AM

• San Jose earthquake
  A moderate earthquake struck the bay area tonight.  The Google population was all abuzz as evidenced by the rest of the Hot List.
• bay area earthquake
  Edged out by San Jose, the Bay area held a press conference announcing they would actively be pursuing hurricanes and tsunamis.
• USGS earthquake
  The US Geological Survey made the list as they reported the earthquake at a 5.6.  That equates to being as unnerving as watching Ashlee Simpson lip sync.
• California earthquake
  Yadda, yadda, yadda…
• san francisco news
  Even without Ron Burgundy, the northern California earthquake made searches hungry for San Francisco news.  Talking about San Francisco made me hungry for Rice-A-Roni.
• us geological survey
  Anyone sensing a "Google Trend" trend here?
• recent earthquake
  Did you hear?  There was an earthquake tonight!
• earthquake map
  For the visual searcher, it was an earthquake map some Googlers wanted to see.
• Alum Rock
  The Alum Rock area in San Jose was a big hit thanks to the quake.  It also made me think of another disaster, Reunion Rock… see the YouTube clip of a recent mishap on the Van Halen Reunion tour.  I swear this stuff writes itself.

Time hasn’t been on my side this week but my game has stepped it up.  The bankroll broke $1300 and is ever so close to hitting the $1400 mark at $1390.  In addition, I was able to qualify for the Silver Iron Man Freeroll on Full Tilt.  The Freeroll will be in a few weeks and gives me a shot at a share of $15k with the top prize most likely being around $3k.  Hopefully, I won’t have the bad beat bug like last time. 

I had some minor tournament success this week but nailed the cash games and sit & gos this week.  I’m finally on the threshold of recovering from last year’s Sit & Go debacle and close to being on the positive side of things on SharkScope, a site that tracks your Sit & Go play online.

I watched a few movies this weekend.  I caught "Shaun Of The Dead" on Comedy Central and was surprised at how much I liked it.  Also, I watched "Knocked Up" tonight and was somewhat disappointed in it, although it wasn’t bad.

Lisa’s dad took a turn this weekend and I spent a lot of time with her at the hospital.  He’s at a hospital about an hour from home and it looked pretty bad on Saturday morning.  We had to go up there at about 4 am and stayed there for about 5 hours.  I caught some sleep in the lobby of the building, once again proving that I can sleep practically anywhere.  Luckily, he made a turn for the better on Saturday and is slowly recovering in the ICU although he’s back on a vent.  The only good thing out of going up there was some opportunities to get some good food.  I had Filet Mignon on Sunday from J.B. Dawson’s.  The wait staff there declared that they used "team service" which is apparently French for "we can all ignore you and assume someone else is helping you".  Anyway, good steak… bad service!

The Red Sox proved they were the hotter team and swept the Rockies.  I wish I could say I was right but I overestimated the Rockies coming into the World Series hot and underestimated the Red Sox winning the last three games of the ALCS.

Google Trends Hot List - 10/29/07 @ 5:15 AM

• Red Sox Parade
  Bean Town is looking to find out where the block party is at.  Meanwhile, the Rockies bittersweet end is good news for the football town of Denver.
• ophiuchus
  The 13th zodiac sign.  If you are born between Nov. 30th and Dec. 12th, you have been lied to all these years thanks to precession, the wobble of the Earth (the things we learn when reading Google Trends).  Welcome to all of you ophiuchans!
• Mike Lowell
  Lowell is the MVP of the ‘07 World Series… now quick, tell me the last 3 MVPs of the World Series.  OK, I’ll wait… hmm…
• Lonestar
  I can’t quite figure out where this one has come from unless Lonestar opened Game 4 of the World Series or something.  Also, the current Lonestar singer is leaving the band and some new guy is coming in.  The best news is that Cracker Barrel is sponsoring Lonestar’s next tour… guess singin’ country wasn’t country enough for these guys.
• Abby McGrew
  Eli Manning is engaged!  Oh wait… who cares?  The web surfing public does or so it seems.  No pressure, Abby… hope those genes can produce the next great NFL QB.  Too bad, you are working with the inferior side of the Manning gene pool.
• Daylight Savings Time
  Does you calendar make the grade?  If so, then it didn’t tell you to erroneously give yourself an extra hour this week.  It’s next week, everyone.
• Soda club
  Based on the searches that went along with this, I’m guessing that the Soda-Club was advertised on Sunday Night Football.  Soon enough, tens of thousands of people will be picking up the Soda-Club for some unsuspecting relative.  The unsuspecting relative will then feign excitement and then be forced to use it whenever said relative comes to visit.  To not further support this occurence, I will not be providing a link to this wonderful product… find it yourself!
• Guitar Hero 3 cheats
  For every big video game that hits the shelves, there is a line a mile long of people who want to know how to get through it as quickly as possible.  Then they can shelve it and move on to the next $50 game that hits the shelves.  This one is even better because you have to buy the gigantic guitar that you use as a controller.  Fun, fun, fun!!!
• world series MVP
  See Mike Lowell.
• Edgar Casey
  Somehow this psychic guy (actually spelled ‘Edgar Cayce’) edged out A-Rod’s news that he was opting out of his Yankees contract.  Maybe if Cayce was still alive he could predict which team A-Rod will fail to deliver for in the playoffs next.

The bankroll is stuck at right around $1200.  It’s getting really grinding at this point, too!  I really can’t seem to make any ground towards the $2000 goal in almost two or three weeks.  I did qualify for the Iron Man Challenge again, though, and have a shot at moving up to the Silver Iron Man Challenge, also.  I blanked in the WSOSP, sleeping through the HORSE event today.

On Saturday, I won my first LAPT tournament in 25 tries and cashed for the 5th consecutive time.  The 5th consecutive cash is a record there and I’m the first player to bust the $2500+ plateau.  I’m also points leader for Season III… the first time in three seasons that I’ve actually held the points lead (this despite finishing top 5 in Season I and second in Season II).  It felt really good to finally win after so many opportunities.  I got completely smacked with the deck at the end and finished off the last 5 opponents.  The amazing part was 5th, 4th, 3rd and 2nd place were wiped out pretty quickly by me with Danny Doops going out in 5th at 2:33AM, Rob A. out in 4th at 2:43AM, Josh out in 3rd at 2:47AM and Kevin out in 2nd at 3:01AM.  It took me less than 30 minutes to finish off the last 4 players.

Finally, despite missing the Eagles pick in the NFL today, I did nail both LCS’s in baseball and am now looking at the tough task of picking the final series.  I think I have to ride the hot hand and take the Rockies.  How can you pick a team that is 21-1 in their last 22 games?  I can’t.

Google Trends HotList - 10/22/07 @ 6:45 AM

• Kiari Malformation
  Figures that the misspelling would be searched more often than the actual correct term.
• Chiari Malformation
  The family chosen for this week’s tear-fest on Extreme Makeover: Home Edition was stricken with this disease.  And in Montana, I’m sure the makeover crew had plenty of room to build a sizable monstrosity of a house with lots of bells and whistles.
• Kevin Millar
  An Oriole threw out the first pitch in Boston before the Red Sox pulled off that amazing series comeback.  Sure, he used to be a Red Sox player… and sure he helped them win in ‘04 over the Yankees but allow me to call it a little bit tacky.
• Plumpynut
  Mmmm… peanut paste, dry milk and vegetable fat.  This 500-calorie concoction is supposedly the #1 weapon against malnutrition in hungry countries.  It apparently looks like mashed potatos and tastes like sweetened peanut butter. 
• Orange County fire
  It seems like every year there is some part of California burning down.  Acres and acres of wooded areas have burned down in California… Smokey the Bear will be busy after this.
• 1986 ALCS
  It’s a Red Sox tradition to fall behind in the ALCS and then come back.  It started 11 years ago here.  Rockies fans are hoping that their World Series performance will lead Google’s finest to be searching for “Buckner World Series” in a few days and not ”2004 World Series”.
• San Diego fire
  More searches on Cali’s latest fires.  This one apparently killed 1.  No, not the search!
• Chiari Syndrome
  More searches thanks to Extreme Makeover: Home Edition.
• Resistance Records
  The music label of the violent skinhead set.  This wholesome company has also made a video game called “Ethnic Cleansing” where you get to choose to be a Nazi skinhead or a Klansman and run through the ghetto killing blacks and Latinos.  If you make it through that level, you get to enter the subway and take on the Jews.  The final level is the “Jewish Control Center” where you must stop the evil Ariel Sharon who is hellbent on World Domination.  Surprisingly, this game never really caught on.
• Kiari disease
  This search in its many forms just dominated Google Trends tonight.  Here’s a link to learn more.

Let me start by saying I have a habit of playing in tournaments that contain pro players.  On Full Tilt, this is frequent.  Nightly, the "red" poker pros are highlighted and play a myriad of cash games and tournaments.  Usually, I stay away from the larger tournaments as I’m using the Chris Ferguson guidelines for bankroll management as much as possible.  Actually, at this point with the bankroll around $1180 at the beginning of the day, I am very cautiously playing under the guidelines.

But, when I see the pros playing in tournaments close to my allowable price range, I jump in… especially sit & gos under $30 and cash games less than $2/$4.  Tonight, Lee Watkinson was playing in a $22+$2 PL Omaha Hi Sit & Go… so I played.  Early on, I hit a full house on the river and Lee himself paid me off and was crippled.  The rest of the tournament, I increased my stack gradually and finally took it down.  $70+ profit in about 40 minutes to put the bankroll at $1240 or so.  I have yet to eclipse the $1300 threshold but I’m hoping to do that soon!

In addition, I’ve been on vacation all week and attending the civil trial of my girlfriend’s mother and father against a local hospital for neglect and failure to meet the standard of care.  It’s been very interesting to watch and while it is not as entertaining as the TV version of trials… it does hold its own.  The sad part is that it involves a very, very sick man (my girlfriend’s father) who has really been destroyed by the hospital stay in question and his number of other health issues.

The Red Sox are still hanging on in the ALCS and the Rockies are through… plus I went 1-1-1 last week in the NFL.  I hope I get the Sox right and have a better NFL week.  I don’t know if I am going to get any picks in this week but I am kind of liking the Eagles -6 1/2 against the Bears.  It just seems too easy to pick the Bears in this case… so that’s why I think going the other way makes sense.  For similar reasons, I like the Jags +3 1/2 against Indy.  Once again, I rarely put $$$ on the NFL and this is not a week where anything is leaping off the page.

Finally, let’s take a look at GoogleTrends.

Google Trends Hot List #3 - 10/19/2007 @ 3:15 AM

• Joey Bishop
  89-year-old comic Joey Bishop died.  He was the last surviving member of the Rat Pack.  Anyone wanna guess who the first member of the Brat Pack of the 80s films that dies will be?  Judd Nelson, maybe?
• Deborah Kerr
  The theory is that things come in threes and here is the 2nd death in the entertainment world.  Kerr was the female in the famous beach scene in "From Here To Eternity".
• Danielle Peck
  Conspiracy theorists unite!  Danielle Peck was Cleveland’s last minute replacement to sing "God Bless America" when super hot Taylor Swift pulled out.  The conspiracy???  Peck was also the former girlfriend of Boston’s pitcher, Josh Beckett.
• Colbert 08
  Isn’t Colbert’s 15 minutes up yet?  Am I the only one who doesn’t quite get it?
• Cyberhome
  I know I bought a DVD player that was like $20 once that was made by Cyberhome… is this why the searches for this are so hot?
• Viva Laughlin
  Hugh Jackman and some washed up stars have put their talents to "great" use: a show like Las Vegas only where they sing popular songs in musical type fashion.  ‘Cop Rock" anyone?
• Donna Rosetta
  Former lawmaker Randy "Duke" Cunningham has been sold out by a prostitute!  Good… I hate Dook!  Oh wait… he’s not that Duke!
• viva la cure
  Could it be viva week?  First, Viva Laughlin and now this.  A NY charity event… ho hum. (Oh wait, ho hum might have fit better under the Rosetta heading)
• 1997 alcs
  Looks like the Indians last appearance in the post season has really sparked some interest amongst the web population.  If they blow their 3-1 lead, I’d expect to see "Cleveland Indians choke" in the search engine.
• Pete Stark
  Stark is the latest to comment on the war in the political world.  Republicans are appalled by the comment. "Under the Republican plan, by 2017, we probably will have killed 20,000 soldiers in Iraq, spending $200 billion."  Funny how Stark’s comment was appalling to Republicans but the fact that it might be closer to reality than anyone wants it to be is perfectly fine???  Hmmm…

An up-and-down day at the tables.  It started with the $10k Bronze Freeroll and the WSOSP Heads Up Tournament.  In the HU Tournament, I faced off with Kevin Thorn.  Kevin & I had the longest Round 1 match and he took me out in the end. 

As for the $10k Bronze Freeroll, I was able to go fairly deep.  I had made the top 180 to guarantee a cash of $25 and it looked like I was going to go deeper… until a bad beat eliminated me in 118th place.  I had K-K and raised the Big Blind from the Small Blind.  He called.  I bet on a flop of 6-6-T and he pushed.  I called and he turned over T-7.  It looked good as I was a huge favorite to win the hand… until a 3rd Ten came on the turn.  Out in 118th, I won $25 for my troubles.

On mega-tilt, I played a $0.10 Rebuy on Full Tilt and a .01/.02 NL cash game on Poker Stars.  Both worked out swimmingly, sort of.  The cash game on Stars was mostly Surfers and DF_Newb was there pushing all-in every hand for $5 a pop.  I was able to catch him a few times and despite giving a little back, I walked away up $27 at a .01/.02 table which is ridiculous. 

The Rebuy took forever but I only added on as I got off to a quick start.  So, on just a 0.60 investment, I was able to outlast over 3400 other players to cash.  Then down to 89 players, I pushed with 66… a risky move.  I was called by A5 of all hands and was ecstatic to find myself a 2 to 1 favorite.  Unfortunately, my opponent flopped a flush draw and spiked his flush on the turn… and I was out again, making just $2.98 for the tournament.

Then, I staked PokerAces for two tournaments which turned me a $0.02 profit (LOL!).

I followed that with a cash game on Full Tilt which kicked my ass for the first time in a while.  I dropped $45 which made the day barely profitable.  Closing the night out, I cashed in a few Sit & Gos but also failed to cash for a minimal net profit.  The bankroll is at $1210.

Later today, I’ll be in the Bloggers Championship and it would be awesome for Mission WSOP to move to Poker Stars… we’ll see!

In football on Sunday, I like Tennessee +3 over Tampa Bay, San Diego -9 1/2 over Oakland and St. Louis +9 over Baltimore (can Baltimore beat anyone by 9???).  I don’t like any of them enough to put $$$ on them though.

The GoogleTrends Hot List for 10/14/07 @ 5:30 AM

• Andy Kaufman
  Kinda lost here as I can’t find any new news about Kaufman.  Maybe there was a Taxi marathon on… but then again, wouldn’t that put Tony Danza in the top searches, too?  That guy always played a character named Tony… odd, isn’t it?
• Legally Blonde: The Musical
  Totally wrecked because you never made it to Broadway for this classic?  Never fear!  MTV has taken care of you by putting this on their network this weekend.  Two guarantees based on this occurrence… (1) it’ll be shown more than once… and when I say once, I mean 10 times and (2) remember that supporting this will lead to Clueless: The Musical and American Pie: The Musical.
• Everett Event Center
  The Everett Silvertips were victorious over the Portland Winter Hawks in Western Hockey League action last night.  The NHL proved last year by its’ Stanley Cup ratings that hockey was the least popular sport in the US.  This proves that the NHL isn’t even the most popular hockey league!
• Brian Williams
  On Saturday Night Live tonight, it was announced that Brian Williams will host the next live SNL (on November 3rd).  I’m shocked… apparently, people are watching SNL still.
• The Replacements
  Later this week, I expect to see Johnny Mnemonic in the GoogleTrends Hot List… bad Keanu Reeves movies get people running to their keyboards and search engines.  My guess is to check and see if Reeves is still alive or is it just his career that is dead.
• Wraiths Of Roanoke
  A sure-fire search engine heat-seeking missile… original programming on Sci-Fi.  After reading the synopsis of the movie, now even I want to see it.
• Dutch angle
  I would guess this is my "learn something new every day" thing.  I’ll be looking for these the next time I watch a movie.
• Daniel Tosh
  A comedian I never heard of.  He must not have cashed in his obligatory "One Free Sitcom Pilot" ticket that all stand-up comedians receive.
• LSU Kentucky
  A STUNNING UPSET!  No! Not Kentucky toppling #1 ranked LSU.  The stunner is I was able to hold onto the remote long enough to watch all three overtimes despite Lisa waking up at the end of regulation.
• JumpTV
  Don’t miss it!  JumpTV, an Internet-based TV channel, will be showing soccer… lots and lots of soccer!  I can’t stand the excitement!

An absolutely frustrating tournament experience tonight.  I did poorly in a PStars $5.25 Heads Up Sit & Go in preparation for the WSOSP later today.  I also played a stake for Surfer xxPOGOxx tonight on Full Tilt.  For a Surfer stake, it was a pretty big one.  A $5.50 entry into the 1 AM NL Hold’em tournament with top 45 cashing.  I played well all tournament and it was tough switching to the cash game when my tournament ended abruptly as my all-in with Jacks were called by Tens and a 10 came on the flop.  If you want to see the highlights of the tournament as I just missed the money in 53rd place, take a look here.

Onto the cash game to pick up my Iron Man Points.  I had another winning session, picking up $10.75 in about 2 hours of play and my stats looked somewhat similar to the night before but with not as lucrative results.

Hands Played: 152
FLOP SEEN - 64 (42%) <– A little loose
TURN SEEN - 35 (23%)
RIVER SEEN - 21 (14%)
SHOWDOWN - 17 (11%)

Hands Won (26)
Pre-Flop - 4 (3%)
Flop - 3 (5%)
Turn - 4 (11%)
River - 2 (10%)
Showdown - 13 (76%)

Here was my favorite hand from the cash game:

Full Tilt Poker Game #3840417418: Table Geneive (6 max) - $0.25/$0.50 - $15 Cap No Limit Hold’em - 5:06:41 ET - 2007/10/13
Seat 1: Tmoney626 ($0), is sitting out
Seat 2: JDJ76 ($34.40)
Seat 3: jlucdebruges ($42.80)
Seat 4: MexicoMigi ($45.85)
Seat 5: Raze3BB ($56.40)
Seat 6: BJ316 ($27.60)

MexicoMigi posts the small blind of $0.25
Raze3BB posts the big blind of $0.50

The button is in seat #3

*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to BJ316 [2s 7s]
BJ316 calls $0.50
JDJ76 has 15 seconds left to act
JDJ76 folds
jlucdebruges calls $0.50
MexicoMigi calls $0.25
Raze3BB checks

*** FLOP *** [Jd 4s 6s]

MexicoMigi bets $1.50
Raze3BB folds
BJ316 calls $1.50
jlucdebruges calls $1.50

*** TURN *** [Jd 4s 6s] [3c]

Tmoney626 stands up
MexicoMigi bets $5
BJ316 calls $5
jlucdebruges folds

*** RIVER *** [Jd 4s 6s 3c] [5d]

MexicoMigi checks
BJ316 bets $5
MexicoMigi calls $5

*** SHOW DOWN ***

BJ316 shows [2s 7s] a straight, Seven high
MexicoMigi mucks
BJ316 wins the pot ($25.20) with a straight, Seven high

*** SUMMARY ***

Total pot $26.50 | Rake $1.30
Board: [Jd 4s 6s 3c 5d]

Seat 1: Tmoney626 is sitting out
Seat 2: JDJ76 didn’t bet (folded)
Seat 3: jlucdebruges (button) folded on the Turn
Seat 4: MexicoMigi (small blind) mucked [Js Kd] - a pair of Jacks
Seat 5: Raze3BB (big blind) folded on the Flop
Seat 6: BJ316 showed [2s 7s] and won ($25.20) with a straight, Seven high

So, I thought of a great way to drive traffic to my blog cheaply.  Since my blog is picked up by many Search Engines, I thought I’d start ending some of my blogs by recapping and commenting on the latest GoogleTrends searches.

The GoogleTrends Hot List For 10/13 @ 5:30 AM

• Michael Guilford
  Guilford, a walk-on at Florida, died in a motorcycle crash tonight and is now the most searched person on the Web.  This is the first sign of how difficult it will be to balance humor and decency.
• Nicole Jaracz
  Drew Carey’s new Power Of 10… ask a girl to marry him and she hits the top 10 in GoogleTrends.  Anyone else not surprised that Carey is marrying a cook.
• Odyssey 5
  The Sci-Fi Channel’s new show that started Friday.  Peter Weller stars and uber-geeks have something new to schedule their raids on World Of Warcraft around.
• Ashley Slonina
  The passenger in the Guilford motorcycle crash.  I do have to admit that I searched her on MySpace and Facebook… and she’s on both.  Let’s just hope there aren’t a bunch of other degenerates out there going one step further and poking her on Facebook.
• Joe Hill
  The guy gets mentioned during the Red Sox game and now his cover is blown.  Joe Hill is actually the name he writes under… his last name is King and his dad is that Stephen King guy they always show at all of the Red Sox games.  I don’t know who the Stephen fellow is but apparently Joe Hill is a pretty good writer.
• Women’s Murder Club
  Another new TV season, another show starring Angie Harmon.  Only this time it isn’t "Law & Order".  It’s her 9th show she’s appeared on since 1995.  Meanwhile, her co-star from "Baywatch Nights", David Hasselhoff, is making his 9th stint in detox since 1995.
• IVAW
  Apparently hate crimes are funny. Ask this group who wants everyone to lighten up about their recent "HATE MUSLIMS" poster campaign.  The groups November rib, "Watch Out For Jews" poster has been cancelled.  No word on the "Santa Is A Fraud" poster for December.
• Nobel Peace Prize Winners
  Al Gore has brought this award to the forefront of the news.  I’d still rather have a WSOP bracelet.  It’s so tough to really say where Gore’s accomplishment of "making a movie" falls within the realm of the history of this award.
• Anita Thompson
  Hunter S. Thompson’s assistant turned wife turned author.  "The Gonzo Way" is apparently a celebration of Hunter S. Thompson’s life and not a lurid tale of crime and passion starring famous Muppet Gonzo.
• Lead In Lipstick
  Oh no!  There is lead in lipstick.  At least this is something with lead in it not made by Mattel.

I increased my bankroll by about $10 since my last blog, thanks to cash game success… and no thanks to tournament play.

Through my tournament play, I ended up dropping a decent amount of money over the past two days only to have to win it all back in the cash games.  The only real cash I had in a tournament was in tonight’s $1 Rebuy on Full Tilt for $6.16.  This cash occurred after re-buying 12 times and adding on for a total cost of $14.  I walked into Kings when trying to take down the blinds with AJ and failed to suck out to finish 42nd out of roughly 350 players.  It was a fun tournament though.

The cash game tonight was particularly spectacular as the table was perfect for me.  I played my typical $0.25/$0.50 CAP NLHE table and bought in for $30.  By the time I walked away, I was up $52 in just under 2 hours of play.  At a $0.25/$0.50 CAP NLHE (6-MAX) table that is a pretty good $26/hour clip.  Here’s a glimpse at my stats:

Hands Played: 158
FLOP SEEN - 50 (32%)
TURN SEEN - 23 (15%)
RIVER SEEN - 16 (10%)
SHOWDOWNS - 11 (7%)

Hands Won (30)
PRE-FLOP - 11 (7%)
FLOP - 7 (14%)
TURN - 1 (4%)
RIVER - 3 (19%)
SHOWDOWN - 8 (73%)

Very solid statistics and I was extremely happy with my play at the cash table. 

The Rockies won tonight… they are on fire!  The Phillies off-season has already kicked off quickly.  Charlie Manuel is back for 2 more years.  Barajas and Nunez won’t be coming back.  Abraham Nunez was the definition of irony.  An excellent fielding third baseman who couldn’t hit to save his life.  The irony in it all is that the guy couldn’t bunt.  The rule in baseball is if you can field but can’t hit, you probably are fast and definately can bunt… Nunez just couldn’t bunt.

Speaking of bunting, I would love to see Ryan Howard lay down a bunt out of nowhere next year.  Look at the defensive alignment out there when he is at the plate and the guy could shock everyone with a bunt that might make the other team think twice when setting their defense against Howard.  Maybe i’m just crazy.

I have been absolutely abysmal in tournament play lately.  I can’t seem to find a rythym and on the occassion that I do, I get unlucky.  My bankroll is right around $1180 which is slightly down over the last couple of days but really just about the same.  I have been this sick combination of card dead in NL Hold’em and have poorly played in my HORSE/Razz/Stud tournaments.  Plus, I haven’t cashed in a PL Omaha Sit & Go in 4 days… I was cashing in those about twice a day until recently.  It’s getting pretty frustrating.

On the flip side, I’ve been making it all back in cash games.  I would have had a killer night tonight if my two pair didn’t get cracked by runner-runner flush or I didn’t walk into Aces with Kings.  I did manage to suck out with 10s when a player flopped trip 7s but it was a small pot compared to the other two.  The problem is that I need a big tournament cash to sweeten the bankroll quickly and I just haven’t gotten that lately.

So, what is in store this weekend? 

Saturday is the $10k Bronze Iron Man Freeroll on Full Tilt at 3:15 and WSOSP #5 (NL Heads Up) at 4.

Sunday is the PokerStars WBCOOP at 3 and WSOSP #6 (Pot Limit Omaha Hi/Lo) at 2:30.

I like my chances to at least cash in one of these with the exception of PL Omaha Hi/Lo which I find to be nauseating to play anymore.

Finally, I’m looking forward to week 2 of the Stake & Stock that I started on Surfers Poker.  I sucked in week one, only cashing in 1/5 of the satellites but at least I broke even.  I want another crack at it soon but have to wait until Monday.  Frustrating, indeed!

In other news, the WSOP schedule for 2008 should be out soon.  The dates were announced but that’s really a non-story other than it was expanded by 2 days.  The schedule should be available soon!

I’ll go out on a limb and make my baseball predictions:

Boston over Cleveland in the AL
Colorado over Arizona in the NL
A-Rod will opt to leave… and Joe Torre won’t be asked to come back.

From a sports betting standpoint, it was a good weekend:  UNC over Miami on Saturday, Atlanta with the points over Tennessee, Jacksonville over KC, San Diego over Denver and New England was a push.  I did take two losses with New Orleans and Green Bay but 4-2-1 is not bad. 

The poker bankroll is right around $1220 again.  I had a rough Saturday but played with a maniac who tripled me up at a cash game.  He’s a person I know from Surfers and decided to push all-in every hand for $30 and I picked him off a few times.  I missed once and that cost me $90 (the $30 I put in and the $30 the other two put in) when my AT failed to hold up against K8 and 74.  But I still managed to have a healthy recovery thanks to his action.

The Phillies are out?  In 3 games, the Phillies came up small and showed their playoff inexperience.  Only thing that could salvage this baseball postseason is an early Yankees exit.  Looking forward to the Phils in ‘08 though.. Hopefully, they get an answer to their pitching problems and not go as thin as ‘07 thanks to the injuries.

I have registered to play in the PokerStars World Blogger Championship of Online Poker!

This Online Poker Tournament is a No Limit Texas Holdem event exclusive to Bloggers.

 

Registration code: 9834686

Above is a link to the WBCOOP, the World Blogger Championship Of Online Poker, which I hope to earn entry into based on (A) I play poker and (B) I blog about poker and (C) I put that banner in my blog.  Prize pool is juicy and from what I have heard, it is a good event.

I came up short in the WSOSP events this weekend, an mid-exit in the Freeroll on Saturday and a disappointing 6th place in the 5-Card Draw event on Sunday. 

Another gap between blogs with not much going on in my poker play. I have had some success in the last week playing cash games on Full Tilt and eliminated poker pro Chip Jett in a tournament (which got me a $5 bounty and a T-Shirt). Overall my bankroll has barely moved but it has gone over the $1200 mark, sitting at roughly $1220.

This weekend is somewhat uneventful. Lisa is away doing her 3-Day, 60-mile cancer walk. On Surfers, there are the two WSOSP events this weekend with the NL Hold’em freeroll today and PL 5-Card Draw tomorrow.

Last night on Full Tilt was pro night for me, it seemed. I played $1/$2 HORSE with Jon “PearlJammed” Turner for about 30 minutes and nearly doubled my buy-in and I played in a $2 HORSE Sit & Go with Richard “Quiet Lion” Brodie and finished 3rd after QL sucked out on me in the Hold’em level, calling me with nothing on the flop and raising me and putting me all-in on the turn with a four card flush draw which he hit.

The Phillies are on life support heading to Colorado. You never want to draw the hottest team in baseball and that is exactly what the Phils did with the Rockies. Now they are down 2-0 and a game away from elimination. It doesn’t look good.