TripJax in Action

In my defense it was dark in there and hard to focus...but this is the best shot I got of TripJax playing at the HorseShoe in Tunica:

The Whole World Has Gone Stupid

Stories like this "Diet Soda linked to Diabetes, Heart Disease/Does Diet Soda Make You Sick?" are all over the news and internets today.

And if you look deeper into ANY of them you'll realize that the entire world of journalism must be full of total morons.

Here is the HIGHLY SCIENTIFIC content of all these stories in a nutshell. The rates of diabetes and heart disease is higher in those that drink soda, and NOT LOWER IN THOSE THAT DRINK DIET SODA.

There isn't one single shred of proof that diet sodas are bad for you IN ANY WAY. Not a single bit of research. Just that people who drink them tend to be less healthy.

Think about it. Who drinks diet soda? Skinny people? Not usually. Most people switch to diet soda because they are FAT. And what risk do fat people have in common? Higher incidences of diabetes and heart disease.

Basically the story they're telling is that DIET SODA DOESN'T CURE DIABETES AND HEART DISEASE.

Well no shit Sherlock. Yet the news all over the place has all these scare stories out about how "Diet Sodas will make you sick."

The bullshit is getting to me.

WTF?

Goddamn Rednecks

I found it difficult to believe that the CBS affiliate would show a 30-minute infomercial for Time Life 50's music albums instead of whatever the network wanted them to show in the 7:30pm (the HEART of prime time, 8:30 Eastern) time slot.

I had to check a national listing on the internet to find out which show I was being denied access. Apparently an episode of "The New Adventures of Old Christine" had a show with a "Tolerating Homosexuality" theme that is objectionable to the viewers in this area, or at least to the people who think they know what the viewers in this area can tolerate.

The number one movie in America this week is "I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry." I haven't seen the film (and I won't because the previews look GODAWFUL and Rotten Tomatoes gives it a REMARKABLY low 14%) but I'm thinking that movie preaches some kind of homosexual tolerance, dispersed among a bunch of eighth-grade homo jokes. In fact, since all the jokes in the movie were approved by organizations representing "the gay community," I'm positive that it's full of moral lessons of tolerance.

I wonder how that movie's box office results skewed in the south?

Tunica Trip Report

I left for Tunica just before 8am and pulled into town around noon. I checked out the Gold Strike and the Horseshoe Casinos. Apparently at one time they were together but split apart, probably right around the time that Binion's was bought by Harrah's Entertainment.

When Trip and I had to get a Harrah's Total Rewards card to play in the 7pm tournament, they asked if I had a Harrah's card already and I said yes, I used to play in Kansas City. The woman told me that I had also gotten one at the Rio, but SHE DIDN'T KNOW HOW TO PRONOUNCE THE NAME "RIO." I told her it was a really nice place, she might think about visiting it sometime. She could also try the city in Brazil. Or any river.

Before Trip and surf arrived I played at the Gold Strike poker room. A decent small room that had a NL game going with a list, a O8b limit game going with a full table, and a couple of people trying to get the $3/$6 limit holdem game going. I sat at the table and a few minutes later we got the game started. One guy said he had been waiting for TWO HOURS for the game to start. Then he busted (ok, it was vs. me) in about 20 minutes and left.

Eventually the table filled up and I got what I had been waiting for. I pretty much only play live poker anymore to hear something that I haven't heard before at the table, and it seems like I am always rewarded for my efforts. A guy sitting to my right lost a pretty big pot to a little old lady who made her boat on the river to beat his straight. He let out a very frustrated "Nice catch, mom." You gotta love it when relatives (called "kin" down here) sit at the same poker table. With his tone, he might have said "Nice catch, donkey" if his mother hadn't been the opponent. I might have thought they were colluding if they didn't get heads up a lot, with him trying to bluff her every time, and her calling him down EVERY TIME. I think she finally busted him when her queen high was good.

I putzed around playing crap cards and frustrating the table when they connected until Trip and surf showed up around 4pm. I cashed out and met them downstairs. I had bought in for $100 and added a buck from my pocket to cash out that same $100. After four hours of poker I was down $1. All the dealer's tokes flashed through my head...there went my profit.

After a nice dinner of taco soup, prime rib, potatoes and cheesecake (ask for the special - it's not on the menu) the three of us made it to the 7pm Bounty Tournament at the Horseshoe. $130 buy in gets you T2000 and pays for your $25 bounty. Blinds began at 25/25 and were 30 minutes long until the first break after round three, then 20 minute rounds. The structure seemed fine, you could fold to the first break and be in okay shape. 52 or so players started.

I managed to win a decent pot (and a $25 bounty) when I called a shorty's all in with 55 when his AJ failed to connect, but gave it right back in the next hand when my set of threes lost to 77 which was all-in on the 8-high flop and made a runner-runner straight.

I made it to round 5 when my all in with AQ failed to improve against a caller's TT. Jax went out soon after me, I didn't see the hand. He outlasted me but I won a bounty and he didn't.

Surflexus, however, made it to the final table which started paying at 10 players ($100 for a net loss even if you won a bounty.) Surf made it down to 4 players left when the chip leader offered an even chop if he got the bounties ($75.) Surf was in fourth chip position and got second place money, he definitely got the best of the deal.

Your Winner

Winner (4-way chop) of the July 18 2007 Bounty Tournament at the Horseshoe Casino in Tunica Mississippi:



That's our buddy surflexus, playing the donkeys perfectly.

Back From Tunica

I made it back from Tunica in fine shape. Tripjax and surflexus stayed long enough to clean up at a poker tournament at the Horseshoe and then blew out of town headed for Okie-Vegas. I stayed the night, blew the rest of my money on -EV games and drove back to Tennessee with my tail between my legs. Craps be a harsh mistress.

I got some (illegal) pictures of Trip and Surf in the tournament, if they give permission I'll post one of each of them so you can see how formidable they really are at the table. I got plenty of shots in before the Tournament Director (a very nice guy actually) threatened to have security confiscate my camera.

Poker Comic #151

Poker Comic presented by Free Poker Money. Some places offer $25 Free Money. Some offer $50 or $75 Free Money. Here you get $100, with No Deposit Required and No Credit Card Required. (New Players Only, Must be 21 or older.) Now featuring free money at ULTIMATE BET. U.S. Players Welcome!

Click HERE to view the Comics Archive

Do Me A Favor

Go to surflexus and TripJax's sites and leave a comment for them that driving across Arkansas and Eastern Oklahoma in the middle of the night after playing poker in Tunica is a BAD BAD idea!

Instead they should crash for a few hours of sleep in Tunica and take off early in the morning, all bright eyed and bushy tailed. I figure if they leave Tunica by 6-7am they can still get to OKC by 2-3pm.

My room can be the designated crash site, and I'd rather have folks crash there than on the road at 3am in Arkansas...

Tunica Tomorrow

The last time I went to Tunica Mississippi was 10 years ago, 1997.

It was January and I wanted to spend a weekend with an ex-girlfriend I hadn't seen for 3 years. She had moved away to graduate school and was back in town visiting her parents during a break. I didn't want to deal with the hassle of roommates and whatnot, so I proposed a trip away from Birmingham Alabama to Memphis Tennessee, one of my favorite cities to visit. All the Beale St. blues, good food and fun times seemed like a great getaway only a few hours drive away.

We drove through Tupelo Mississippi in my flashy sports car and I noticed that I was passing cars like they were standing still, yet I was barely exceeding the speed limit. "Why are these pansies driving so slow?" I wondered to myself. The answer, obviously because it was January, was that the roads were just a sheet of black ice. I adjusted my speed a few MPH and we still made Memphis in record time.

We checked into the hotel and went to Beale St. to find some food and music. It was FREEZING. Actually it was well BELOW FREEZING. Very unusual weather for the south in winter, the temperature was well below zero, and stayed that way even when the sun came out the next day. We didn't want to spend much time outdoors in the frigid air so I found another solution. We headed to the warmed air of the casinos of Tunica!

I was giddy at being back together with the love of my life, the woman who was to become Mrs. Bogey. She had never set foot in a casino before and was interested in what all the excitement was about. I showed her a few table games, she thrilled at hitting some moderate jackpots at the slot machines. Before long we had the whole weekend paid for. Overall it ended up being one of the best weekends of my life, even though it didn't even go nearly the way I'd planned it.

I've always wanted to go back to Tunica, but never had the right opportunity. Tomorrow I'll be heading that way to meet surflexus and TripJax. I can hardly wait.

Good Flop?

Just in case you've forgotten what a good flop looks like (I had):



In position, with two people betting into me even.

Guy to my left flopped a set which became a boat on the river, guy to my right made his J high flush.

Ching.

The BBT Scoring: FAR from Perfect

A lot of opinions have been heard from people about the BBT scoring, even one very questionable position that the scoring was "perfect."

First of all, a "perfect" system is impossible, because a perfect system would make everyone who might play in the series happy, and OBVIOUSLY everyone wasn't happy. If your definition of "perfect" is INCREDIBLY low, for example "A few more people played in a few more blogger tournaments," then I guess you could call the system "perfect."

This is ABSOLUTELY NOT a dig at the people that did A TON of HARD WORK for NO BENEFIT to themselves by putting this series together. This is merely my feelings about the system and how that system could be made so that more people might enjoy it if the series were to continue.

I DID NOT ACTIVELY PARTICIPATE in the BBT Tournament Series. I didn't exactly avoid the tournaments, but knowing they were going on made me not want to play in them.

Why didn't I want to play in the series? Because I knew I wouldn't be able to play in more than 30 of them. It would be impossible for me to play in 30 tournaments in a 60 day span. And if you didn't play in at least 30 tournaments, there's almost no way you could compete for the prizes. Let me say that again, because it's the point I'm trying to make. If you weren't willing to play a tournament at least half the days in a two month time span, you would not have a reasonable chance to win one of the prizes. One of the tournaments even required you to travel to Las Vegas to play!

Now this isn't as bad as it sounds, because there was no extra fee for the additional prizes, so there was no penalty for playing a few of them once or twice for fun. The vast majority of the players in the series played so few events that they obviously weren't interested in competing for the main prizes. But if you were making a commitment to try and win, YOU WERE MAKING A SERIOUS COMMITMENT OF TIME, and just for a chance of a final prize and a free $33 tournament entry.

How many people played in the BBT series? Overall there were 316 different contestants. How many played enough to seriously contend for the prizes? Well, that depends on how many you needed to play to win. Only 15 people played in 30 or more events which is the absolute bare minimum you could play to have a dream of scoring enough points to compete. Only 7 players played 33 or more, enough for serious contention. About 3% of the people who played the series played enough events to give themselves a good chance to win.

There is a way to improve the scoring system so that you don't have to give up half the nights in a two month span to have a chance. Lots of people played in lots of events, certainly enough that they should have had a chance to compete. 45 people played 20 or more events. 57 people played 15 or more. 75 played in 10 or more.

If you took the top 20 scores for each player and threw out the results of any below their top 20, not only would more people have had a chance to compete, more people would have had incentive to play more events. Those that played between 10 and 20 events (30 people!) might have been more willing to play in 1-9 more events to have a chance at the prizes.

There would still be plenty of incentive to play more than 20 events, to try and improve your overall score by moving a lower result out of your top 20. But it wouldn't penalize those people who were only able to play 20-25 events. The person who played in all 39 events would still have given himself the best chance to win the top prize, but it wouldn't have made it THE ONLY WAY TO WIN IT.

I know that the World Series of Poker counts points from every single event in its player of the year standings, and that's probably what the BBT creators were trying to emulate. but the WSOP POY is for Professional Poker Players. If they were trying to attract only professional online players to the BBT, this would be a good system. If they were trying to get as many bloggers (who might have outside lives and jobs) as they could to play and compete, they could have done better.

Deadline Days

Two major deadlines for poker players occurred recently.

The technical provisions for enforcement of the UIGEA deadline passed recently. In typical government fashion, NOTHING HAPPENED. Either this law is not going to be enforced AT ALL, or the government is going to drag it out forever. My wager is that while the stupid legislature passed this law, they didn't do anything to fund it. Sounds like the amateur government we have in this country, doesn't it? If nothing ever happens, I wonder if the geniuses at Party Poker will ever stop kicking themselves for the amount of money they SURRENDERED by abandoning the US market before they really needed to?

The second deadline is actually today, the day the Justice Department was supposed to reach a settlement with Neteller. For those of us who have money stuck in that site, this was a pretty big deadline. The Justice Department is a part of the government however, so I wouldn't hold my breath if I were you. I haven't heard anything yet today (I was hoping to awaken to a wonderful email that said "come get your money!") but I will keep checking.

Edit: PokerNews is reporting that the Neteller delay is official. What a shock. Blame falls on the United States Attorneys Office, who blame it on "recent developments" aka "bullshit."

Poker Comic #150

Poker Comic presented by Free Poker Money. Some places offer $25 Free Money. Some offer $50 or $75 Free Money. Here you get $100, with No Deposit Required and No Credit Card Required. (New Players Only, Must be 21 or older.) Now featuring free money at ULTIMATE BET. U.S. Players Welcome!

Click HERE to view the Comics Archive

No Comic

Sorry no comic today...

I spent the day down in Birmingham with my mother, hopping from doctor's office to doctor's office. She was supposed to have Chemo today but the catheter tube that they administer the chems through was leaking. So she had to have an x-ray to check it, which verified it was leaking. We had to drive to another doctor to get an appointment with a surgeon to remove it. The surgeon(Oddly, the only surgeon available was one that does lap-band [that stomach shrinking deal] and laser hair removal surgery.) was back in the original medical complex where the x-rays were taken. That only took 10 minutes after an hour of waiting in a room full of....well...morbidly obese people. The guy must do amazing business, because the room was PACKED...and not just because the people were big, there were A LOT of them. Then we had to make an appointment replace it on Friday and yet another waiting room to pre-register for the surgery. That's five waiting rooms in one day, and that doesn't include the little "interior" waiting rooms they make you wait in.

I think it's good that she missed Chemo for this week though, because it sure seems like the treatments are killing her. She was in perfect health until the chemo started, now she looks very frail and is dropping weight like crazy. She can't even keep water down. They had to admit her to the hospital for IV feeding because she couldn't eat. I've never seen her so miserable.

While in the obesity doctor's waiting room I did get a chuckle reading a magazine called "American Hunter" which is really just a vehicle for the NRA to espouse political rhetoric. Pretty typical hilarious stuff like stories about 90-year old ladies that blew away teenagers who broke into her garage. Two ads close to the back had me giggling though. The first was for hearing aids (Get it? In a gun magazine?) and the second was for medicine for Erectile Dysfunction. I did show that last one to my mom and she did get a laugh out of it, so I may have managed to brighten her miserable day the tiniest bit.

Apparel Crisis

I wore a UAB shirt to work the other day, but when I got home Mrs. Bogey pointed out a small paint stain on it. I was disappointed that all my UAB apparel has gotten too old and worn out, and I wished I had some to wear. So on my way home from the hospital I stopped in a bookstore on the campus of my Alma Mater, UAB. I tried a department store in the area first but they didn't carry any UAB clothing. Hell, they didn't even have Auburn stuff, only Crimson as far as the sporting apparel section stretched.

I got to the campus bookstore at 5:40pm and the place closed at 6:00, but that didn't stop me from dropping $177 on UAB apparel. I basically ran through the store and picked one of everything in either Mrs. Bogey's or my size that wasn't too outrageously priced.

Apparel problem solved.

Quitting Anything, Including Poker

Katitude posted about "Falling out of love" with poker. It's bullshit of course. The reason she claims to be losing that loving feeling is that she can't handle the beats. And that's the worst reason to quit playing poker.

You can't quit something if you still care about it. If the beats bother you, then you have feelings. You care. You will always come back, trying to overcome the beats, until you either don't care anymore, or you are broke.

Here's what I left in her comments:

If you get upset about suckouts, you still care enough about poker to play the game.

The secret that NOBODY tells you about poker is that the ONLY way to keep from tilting when you take a beat ISN'T to be able to control your feelings. The secret is to NOT HAVE THEM. You have to ACTUALLY NOT CARE about the outcome. And when you don't care, then you can play perfect tilt-free poker.

But ask yourself...Who wants to play a game when they don't care about the outcome?

When you realize that, then you can quit.

Non-vacation Vacation

Day one of my non-vacation Vacation was almost entirely unsuccessful.

My attempts to improve the performance of the computer I use to play World of Warcraft were a near total failure. The only success part was that I got it put back together and (eventually) got it working again, as much as it was working when I started.

On the bright side, I learned what one short beep followed by two long beeps means.

See the CMOS of your computer has a method of communicating when all other means (your monitor) fail. It beeps. You need to speak this miniature version of morse code for this to be any help at all. A bit of internet research discovered that one short beep followed by two long beeps means "There's a video problem."

Well duh.

I remedied that problem with a different video card (not compatible with WoW) and tried to add some memory (fails parity check.) So I ended up right where I started. At least I didn't pay for the parts, they were salvage stuff I had laying around. No wonder they didn't work.

At least I have Mrs. Bogey afraid of what I will be tearing apart next.

Casual Week

Things are very casual at work this week because the company is usually shut down for the first two weeks every July. We still have things to take care of so we have to work (or take vacation time) but things are much more relaxed than normal. So yesterday I took the opportunity to wear my favorite Tee....the Snailtrax shirt!

This prompted several questions from those co-workers who actually decided to show up this week. The most popular question:

What the hell does that mean?

I didn't tell anyone the truth, but I did point one person to a certain online issue of "Truckin'."

Independence Day

Happy Birthday to you,
Happy Birthday to you,
Happy Birthday dear America,
Happy Birthday to you.

Poker Comic #149

Poker Comic presented by Free Poker Money. Some places offer $25 Free Money. Some offer $50 or $75 Free Money. Here you get $100, with No Deposit Required and No Credit Card Required. (New Players Only, Must be 21 or older.) Now featuring free money at ULTIMATE BET.

Click HERE to view the Comics Archive

What The Fuck?

Scooter Libby gets his prison sentence commuted for preventing a federal investigator from being able to identify a INTELLIGENCE DEPARTMENT LEAK IN THE WHITE HOUSE, yet these guys are in prison for EIGHT YEARS because THREE PERCENT of the FISH THEY CAUGHT WERE TOO SMALL!

Robert Blandford, Diane Huang, David McNab, and Abner Schoenwetter

Three American seafood dealers and one Honduran lobster-fleet owner are currently doing hard time for importing lobster tails that were the wrong size and that were packaged in clear plastic bags rather than in cardboard boxes. They ran afoul of the Lacey Act, a federal statute that makes it a crime to import fish or wildlife taken "in violation of any foreign law."

The U.S. government argued that they had broken Honduran law because some of the lobster tails—3 percent, to be exact—were less than five and a half inches long, and because a Honduran regulation required that the lobster tails be packed in boxes. Yet Honduran officials testified that no laws had been violated.

Nonetheless, Blandford, McNab (the Honduran national), and Schoenwetter, three small-business men with no previous criminal records, were sentenced in 2001 to eight-year terms. Their "partner in crime," Huang, got off easy: two years' incarceration for the mother of two young children.

To quote the president:

But I have concluded that the prison sentence given to Mr. Libby is excessive.

Take a look around retard, there's a lot of that going on.

The BBT is Over

The final tournament of the "Battle of the Bloggers" aka "The BBT" came to a wheezing finish last night with "The Blogger Big Game."

There wasn't a lot of drama at the end as Bayne_s demolished the field. Amazingly jeciimd came in third and won a total of $118.32 after playing in 32 events ranging in buy-ins from $10 to $75. Even with the added prize for third place in the BBT of $372.20, there's no way he didn't lose money in this thing. At $20 avg entry fee, he probably shelled out around $640 to win $490 total.

Only two people played in all 39 events, not surprisingly Bayne_s and surprisingly oossuuu754 who finished out of the money in seventh (top three paid, fourth and fifth got video game prizes.) They both shelled out $786 in fees and came out well ahead after prizes for individual tournaments. Bayne_s cleared $886 + $930.

I personally finished in 114th place, but profited around $160 overall. I only played in one event and didn't finish in the top 50, so I will not get to participate in the freeroll for the remaining $1850 in rake collected by Full Tilt that was returned 100% in the form of prize money for the winners and the freeroll prize pot.

Congrats to Tripjax for winning the final event and over $1200 in prize money for that single event, the "Blogger Big Game." I can honestly say I never thought they'd get more than 30 or so people for that $75 buy in event, so I'm amazed at the turn out. Before the BBT started there were about a dozen people playing in it. It's amazing how you add some points contest to the action and all kinds of dead money joins in. The prize money in that event skews the money results for the entire tournament.

Kind of weird that the overall money winner Tripjax finished in 16th place. The fifth overall money winner finished in 89th place and doesn't even qualify for the freeroll. 79 people won more money than the third place finisher, including me.

Someday someone will come up with a good scoring systems for these things. I've looked at a few, but they get so complicated people think you are rigging the results.

I hope people had fun with the BBT. I don't think interest dropped off too much towards the end as tends to happen when people fall out of contention in these contests. And I hope Iggy enjoys his Nintendo DS.


PS. I need Tripjax or surflexus to email me at the address in the right column, it's just my name at gmail. If anyone has a suggestion for an overnight stay in Tunica, I'd love some opinions. I can get a room at the Grand pretty cheap, and Sam's Town is another good deal.

Free Poker Money At Ultimate Bet!

Click HERE for Free Poker Money AT ULTIMATE BET! (New Players Only!)

Poker Comic #148

Poker Comic presented by Free Poker Money. Some places offer $25 Free Money. Some offer $50 or $75 Free Money. Here you get $100, with No Deposit Required and No Credit Card Required. (New Players Only, Must be 21 or older.)

Click HERE to view the Comics Archive

Quandary

It's a good problem to have, but the amounts in my poker accounts has risen to a level that I'm not comfortable with leaving in online accounts.

I haven't really worried about this problem before, as I trusted poker rooms too much with the responsibility of protecting my money. I'm trying not to make that mistake again, but things are just not as easy as they once were.

If anyone out there has requested a payment by paper check from PokerStars or Full Tilt Poker, could they please leave a comment telling me how long the process took from beginning to end. Please bear in mind that the original deposits were made via Neteller some time ago and I will have to begin from square one. I expect to be especially difficult since I have moved to a new home address since I opened both accounts.

I have been very lazy in my duties to open a new online money transfer option for myself, but I think my procrastination has been in hopes of some "Knight in Shining Armor" coming to my rescue with a perfect solution. None have arrived.

In the meantime, please check out this full tilt poker review, this titan poker review and this party poker bonus. Thanks.

How to Shoot Craps

Ahhhh....summer reruns:

Craps is a fun game, as evidenced by all the screaming and hollering you hear from an active Craps table in a Casino. Because of odds multipliers, you can really win money fast on a hot table. But you can also lose money fast on a choppy table.

Undoubtedly you have heard that Craps offers some of the best odds in the Casino. While this is true, there's a catch. (There's ALWAYS a catch.) There are good odds on the Craps table, and there are some HORRENDOUS odds. In fact you can make the exact same bet two different ways on a Craps table, and get different odds.

Here's the basic way the game goes. The shooter places a bet on either the pass line or don't pass line and rolls the dice. Everyone else also bets on this roll. The first roll is called the come out. If he rolls a 7 (natural) or an 11 (yo) anyone who placed a bet on the pass line wins even money. Anyone on the don't pass line loses. If he rolls a 2, 3 or 12 (craps) anyone on the pass line loses, and anyone on the don't pass line wins even money (except if it is 12, the don't pass player just pushes.)

If the roll is 4,5,6,8,9 or 10, that becomes the point. The shooter continues to roll until he either rolls the point again, or rolls a 7. If he rolls the number again, the pass line wins and the don't pass loses. If he rolls a 7 first, the don't pass wins and the pass line loses.

Sounds pretty simple, and it is. What complicates things is odds bets. Odds bets are complicated, but they are what makes Craps one of the best values in the Casino.

Once the point is established, the bettor can place odds on his bet. These odds are payed out exactly even with the chance that the number will occur. So if the point is 10, and you have $5 on the pass line, you can place odds bets behind your $5 that pay true odds.

True Odds means that the chance that a 10 will come before a 7 is the multiplier on your bet. Since there are six different ways a 7 can occur, and only three ways a 10 can occur, you get double your money on an odds bet on the 10. If you put $10 odds behind your $5 pass line bet, you will collect $20 for your odds bet, $5 for your pass line bet, plus get your pass and odds bets back.

The same odds can be played on Don't Pass bets, these are called Lay Odds and they pay 1 to 2 on a 10. If you have $5 on the Don't Pass and back it with $10 Lay odds and a 7 is rolled before a 10 occurs, you win $5 for your Lay Odds bet, $5 for your Don't Pass bet and you get your don't pass and odds bets back.

To figured the odds on other numbers, figure the number of times it can occur on two six-sided dice and divide six by that number. On Pass bets, for 6 or 8, you get 1.4 times your bet. For 5 or 9 you get 1.5 times your bet. Don't pass bets are just the opposite.

To make matters more complicated, you can make a bet EXACTLY like a pass line bet AFTER the point has been established, by placing a Come bet. If you put money into the come area, it works exactly like a Pass Line bet, winning on a 7 or 11, losing on 2,3 or 12. Otherwise, the shooter must hit the number again before he rolls a 7. You can make odds bets on these Come bets, just like a pass line bet.

Don't Come bets are exactly the opposite. You are betting the shooter will roll a seven before he hits the come number again. Odds work the same as Don't Come odds.

The amount of odds you can take on a pass line or come bet is determined by the Casino, and is displayed on every Craps table on a placard that says "Max Odds = x" Some limit it to 2 or 3x odds, many allow up to 10x, and I have seen some that allow up to 100x odds. Since these bets have NO house advantage, it is recommended to bet as much on odds as you can afford.

There are many other bets on the Craps table, and almost all of them are bad bets.

One that isn't too bad is the place bet on the 6 or 8. While true odds pay 1.4 to 1 on 6 or 8, place bets pay less(1.166 to 1). So instead of getting paid $7 on a $5 odds bet, you will have to bet $6 to win $7 on the place bet. That difference is the house edge.

You can also BUY true odds on a number bet, which is recommended for the 4 or 10. For $1 per $20 bet, you can buy true odds. That $1 fee is the house edge.

Other bets, such as the Field, the big 6 or big 8, the hardways and the hop bets, are sucker bets. All bets placed in the middle are sucker bets, especially the Any Craps, Any Seven or Eleven bets. The house edge is huge, and these bets should be avoided.

The Big 6 and Big 8 are examples of bets that can be played different ways that pay different amounts. If you put $6 on the Big 8 and it hits, you win $6. But if you place the exact same $6 on the 8 and it hits, you win $7. Same bet, different payout.

Poker Comic #147

Poker Comic presented by Free Poker Money. Some places offer $25 Free Money. Some offer $50 or $75 Free Money. Here you get $100, with No Deposit Required and No Credit Card Required. (New Players Only, Must be 21 or older.)

Click HERE to view the Comics Archive

Overheard at an Airport

While walking through the George Bush Houston Intercontinental Airport, (seriously, that's the name) I overheard parts of two conversations that both made me laugh.

Woman who was obviously tired of waiting for her husband to catch up:

"I know I thought I would like being married to a man more laid back, but CLEARLY I was mistaken."

Early 20's girl whose mother grabs her blouse by the shoulder and adjusts it so that it shows a bit less cleavage:

"Why not, I paid for them...well, actually my ex-husband did."

$25NL at Pstars

I'm aware that there are folks out there that laugh at me for playing within my bankroll, but "taking shots" can also be interpreted as "pulling a Waffles." Besides, those people are judgmental assholes and we don't want to be friends with them anyway, do we?

Anyway, my roll allows me to play comfortably at the $25NL tables at PokerStars, and I have to recommend the 6-max games if you like players who wait until you've made your hand before they go all-in.

What an Asshole

Miami Donk said:

For instance, the hammer is, what I like to say so 2004. It's outdated, its a bad joke, and it's just not funny anymore. Do those of you who play it still get a kick out of turning over the hammer and showing everyone how smooth you are? Are those of you at the table impressed by someone else doing it, thinking wow he or she is smooth for playing the worst possible starting hand. I think what a jackass, I can't wait until all those chips get spewed across the table and I sure hope I get my share.

PokerNews reported:

Dr. Pauly Drops The Hammer at the WSOP

Paul McGuire raised to 700 from the button and the big blind called. The flop was . The big blind checked, McGuire bet 1,500 and the big blind called. The turn was the . McGuire fired out another 2,000 and the big blind folded.

McGuire showed , a.k.a. "The Hammer" and dragged the pot with his bluff. He was up to 10,500 after the hand.

____________________________________________________________________

Fuck you, Donk, and everything you stand for.

Hasta La Vista

It's 5:45 am and I'm in San Luis Potosí México waiting for my flight through Houston back to Nashville. The only flights out of this place are ungodly early, and the tiny airport is packed full of people trying to get home for the weekend.

I only took three pictures while I was here.

The first one was the scary small plane that flew here from Dallas:



The second was the plant construction in the rain from the trailer where the planning meetings took place:



And the third was from my hotel room window this morning at 4am when I had to get up and check out of the hotel in order to make it to the airport on time:



As you can see all these pictures suck...my only excuse is that it rained pretty much the entire time I was here. One local coworker had to head home because he got a call that said his house was floating away. I'm not sure if that description was literal or not...I've seen some houses here that could possibly become buoyant.

It looks like I can do most of the work that needs to be done back in Tennessee, and I won't have to return to Mexico until August 1st, but at that point I will probably stay through the end of September, two weeks at a time.

Poker Comic #146

Poker Comic presented by Free Poker Money. Some places offer $25 Free Money. Some offer $50 or $75 Free Money. Here you get $100, with No Deposit Required and No Credit Card Required. (New Players Only, Must be 21 or older.)

Click HERE to view the Comics Archive

I lika da pichers

As many of you readers know, I love to use pictures in my blog. It breaks up the text, gives an overall better looking blog, and damnit, looks great with the black background.

I lot of bloggers really know how to use pictures to make their blogs look really great, but Scott Adams over at his Dilbert Blog went way over the top today.



Read today's post if you want to see a day in the life of an absurdly successful cartoonist.

Poker Comic #145

Poker Comic presented by Free Poker Money. Some places offer $25 Free Money. Some offer $50 or $75 Free Money. Here you get $100, with No Deposit Required and No Credit Card Required. (New Players Only, Must be 21 or older.)

Click HERE to view the Comics Archive

Trading SoCo for Tequila

Well Wilmington Delaware isn't going to happen. So I am off to central Mexico on Wednesday afternoon. Sorry Al, it would have been a blast to spend some time with you. As soon as I saw how close Atlantic City was I should have known that destination wasn't in the cards. (Get it?)

At least I'm only heading down there for a one day meeting to begin with. Hopefully I will be able to grab as much work as I can and bring it back here to get done. International travel is so tedious. I feel like I spend most of the time in airports waiting in line to wait in line to wait in line.

The hotel advertises high speed internet so hopefully I can send a post or two from there.

Sailing

I missed the Mookie last night (part of my plan to maintain my high average finish numbers) because I went sailing on Percy Preist Lake in Nashville with a friend of mine.

It was really beautiful. Even though it was around 90 degrees out there was a nice cooling breeze (as long as we weren't sailing directly with the wind) that made it pretty comfortable.

Sailing just seems a lot classier (and more complicated) than power boating. Very relaxing, although there are small bits of hard work. I enjoyed it very much. Hopefully next time we go out I will bring a camera and have some evidence of how beautiful and peaceful it is.

Poker Comic #144

Poker Comic presented by Free Poker Money. Some places offer $25 Free Money. Some offer $50 or $75 Free Money. Here you get $100, with No Deposit Required and No Credit Card Required. (New Players Only, Must be 21 or older.)

Click HERE to view the Comics Archive

Outrage

Have you noticed that all the people who are upset about the Sopranos finale have a high correlation with those people who are obsessed with Paris Hilton?

There's a reason for that.

Those people are fucking MORONS.




The Series Finale of the Sopranos was absolutely brilliant. I wasn't able to watch it Sunday night so I had to DVR it and watch it on Monday, which was challenging because I had to dodge everyone who wanted to talk about it or blog about it. So I avoided all media until I could see the show for myself.

I couldn't have been more pleased with the ending. Because it wasn't an ending. Everything wasn't tied up in a neat little package for everyone to KNOW WHAT HAPPENS. The show has always striven to be true-to-life, and coming to a solid conclusion is not how life works. If this upsets you, then you probably have control issues with YOUR life and you need to work on letting go.

Then there was the little "fuck you" at the end where they went to black for 11 seconds, so all those "I have to know how everything works out" people can have a heart attack, imagining that they have somehow missed something.

Maybe they can use those eleven seconds to switch over to CNN (!) and get the latest on Paris Hilton.

Radley Balko testified before the House Financial Services Committee on June 8, 2007 on the issue of Internet gambling. The following is the transcript of his prepared testimony.

Mr. Chairman, distinguished members of the committee: My name is Radley Balko. I’m a senior editor with Reason magazine and a former policy analyst for the Cato Institute. I’ve spent a good deal of my time writing on civil liberties issues, including the problems associated with the prohibition of victimless crimes. I want to commend Chairman Frank for his work defending individual freedom, and I thank the committee for inviting me to testify today.

The Unlawful Internet Gaming Act was passed under rather dubious circumstances. It passed the U.S. Senate on the last day of Congress, late at night, with no floor debate, after being attached to an unrelated port security bill.

My problems with how the bill passed, however, are beside the point. Let’s get down to the crux of this issue, Mr. Chairman: What Americans do in their own homes with their own money on their own time is none of the federal government’s business. Take online poker, by far the most popular form of online gambling.

Poker has enjoyed a surge in popularity over the last several years. The game is about as mainstream and uniquely American as baseball. Poker evolved from similar card games in the early 1800s, then flourished in popularity on Mississippi’s riverboats, winning over such iconic American aficionados as Mark Twain.

Today, most daily newspapers have a poker column, including the New York Times. The game saturates cable television. Until recently, even several of the Supreme Court justices held a monthly poker game.

Online poker is merely a new evolution of the game, similar to the way Civil War poker games introduced the straight, and gave us variations like draw and stud poker. The Internet merely removes the geographic barrier preventing those who love the game from finding opponents of similar skill who are willing to wager similar amounts of money.

No one is hurt when two or more consenting adults sit down for a game of poker, be it online or in person. Why any of this should be of concern to the federal government is rather perplexing. I respect the fact that many Americans—and many members of Congress—may have moral objections to gambling, online or otherwise. To them, I’d say, simply, “don’t gamble, then.”

But in a nation where Las Vegas is one of our fastest growing cities and most popular tourist destinations, where Indian casinos are commonplace, where horse racing is a national past time, and where nearly every state in the union derives public funds from state lotteries, singling out Internet gambling for prohibition seems arbitrary and, frankly, hypocritical.

Yes, it’s possible a parent could bet away their family’s savings, or their child’s education fund in an online poker game. They could also fritter that money away on eBay. Or on booze. Or fancy cars and exotic travel.

These are all personal decisions, of course. And if a free society means anything, it means we should have the freedom to make bad choices, in addition to good ones. The ban on Internet gambling punishes the millions of Americans who were wagering online responsibly due to anecdotal evidence of a few who may do so irresponsibly. It’s an affront to personal responsibility, and symptomatic of a Nanny Statist government that treats its citizens like children. A government based on the principle of liberty doesn’t police the personal lives of its citizens for bad habits, at any level, much less at the federal level.

Supporters of a ban on Internet gambling say the industry is unregulated, that money wagered and lost leaves the United States, and that all of these offshore gaming sites are ripe for money laundering and similar criminal enterprises.

But these are all problems wrought not by consenting adults’ decision to gamble, but by the government’s decision to prohibit gambling.

Were Congress to give its blessing to legalized online gambling, I’d suggest you’d soon see brand names like Harrah’s, MGM, and Trump immediately enter the market.

Reputable offshore brands like FullTilt poker and PartyPoker would almost certainly incorporate in the U.S. and subject themselves to U.S. market regulation and government oversight.

These companies want to win the trust of their customers. And they want to operate in a business environment that respects the freedom of contract and adheres to the rule of law.

Customers want to know that they’re playing a fair game, that their bankrolls are secure, and that their privacy is protected. Companies that set up shop in the U.S. with the blessing and encouragement of the U.S. government will almost certainly dominate the market. Winnings could be taxed. Market forces and—if necessary—the federal government could regulate and monitor gaming sites for fairness and transparency.

Most importantly, if online gambling were decriminalized, the federal government could get out of the trivial business of breaking up online poker games, and federal law enforcement officials and federal prosecutors could expend scarce taxpayer-funded resources on more appropriate endeavors, like pursuing interstate fraud, theft, and protecting the country from terrorism.

In closing, the Unlawful Internet Gaming Act is a significant and disturbing encroachment on individual liberty. I’d urge the committee to correct this overreach, and let Americans do as they please within the privacy their own homes.

Radley Balko is a senior editor for reason.

TY

Since the third anniversary of Go Be Rude is this month, I thought it might be an appropriate time to thank some of those people that I've encountered since this ill conceived idea began.

I want to thank Iggy for making me feel like one of the group from the very start, impossible as that task may be. Iggy goes out of his way to make you feel special, and that's pretty special. He's a good friend who takes an interest in your opinions, even when he fervently disagrees with them.

I want to thank Pauly for treating me like one of the cool kids, lauging at my jokes and sharing a good time, even though I'm really a stick-in-the-mud. I'm not the party type, but Pauly went to great lengths to make me feel like I belonged even though I was very out of my element. I also want to thank Pauly for giving blog writers something to aspire to. Some people are one in a million, Pauly is one in a BILLION.

I want to thank Double As for making me feel like part of his book, by letting me do the cover art. I had no idea it was the cover I was working on, I just thought it was some goofy illustration. I'm glad it turned out so great and I loved reading the book. Thanks for the autographed copy and all the good information in it.

I want to thank GaryC for being a good guy. I don't know that I've met another poker player that's as deep down a good guy as Gary. Just being around Gary makes you feel like a good guy. He's a fantastic host who made me feel welcome even though I couldn't give him the time he deserved for doing such a great job with Okie-Vegas.


I want to thank Maudie for making Oklahoma seem more like my kind of place when I was there. I didn't know there were that kind of people in Oklahoma, and I felt a lot better about the place after meeting Maudie. Along with Gary, she made Oklahoma a much more bearable place for me.


I want to thank Life's A Grind for having a blast with me in my donkey games on the poker cruise. I know I dragged him into a few games that he didn't want to play in, but those games were certianly a lot more fun because he was in them. The cruise was a lot more fun because he was there.

I want to thank Steeler Josh and TripJax for the laughs at Okie-Vegas, putting up with me at the poker tables in Oklahoma even though I was being my usual donkey self. I'm sure I will run into Josh again (probably an airport) and hopefully I will see Jax again at Tunica in July.

I want to thank Felicia for making me feel like I'm only the second most hated poker blogger. No, seriously, I want to thank her for being understanding and actually asking for my opinion and treating me like I have something valuable to say.



I want to thank BG and THG for welcoming me to Michigan for the few weeks while I was there, and for making me feel like a friend. Thanks guys for a great day of poker and racing at the track, it really made Michigan seem like it would have been a better opportunity if I had ended up there.

I want to thank Al Can't Hang for being Al, and making me feel welcome if I ever go on the road to Philly. It's still not certain when I will go, it keeps getting delayed and delayed. But I really appreciate the invitation.



I want to thank Veneno for all the heads up action. Being schooled by the queen is worth every penny of the buy ins. Thanks for everything.

I want to thank Daddy for laughing at my jokes and making me feel like I was a funny guy, even though I was actually in the presence of comedy genius.

I want to thank Mike and Michelle Jackness for...well, way too many things to list here. It boggles the mind.

I want to thank DLK9s for the great fun in Vegas and for everything else he does, PSO and otherwise. Thanks Dan.

I want to thank everyone else that I've met through this blog. You've definitely made my life more interesting, if not better, by knowing you. Shame on me for not thanking you by name.

I want to thank everyone who reads this blog on a regular basis, for making me feel like it isn't a total waste of time putting this drivel out a few times a week, even though it really is.

Thanks!

Unintended Side Effects

Whenever a law is passed, there are unintentional side effects. Sometimes these side effects actually contradict the purpose of the law's intentions.

Take Child-Safety Caps for Prescription Drugs.

In 1972, the FDA passed a law that said all medications were required to have Child-Safety Caps. Obviously this law intended to protect children from taking medications accidentally. But after the law was passed, the incidences of children getting poisoned by medications went UP.

Why? An unintended side effect of the law was that people felt medications didn't need to be kept out of reach of children, because they had "Child Safe" caps. Caps that don't actually keep children out of the bottles. Also, some adults had a difficult time removing the caps, so they just left the bottles open.

There's a similar problem with the UIGEA. The UIGEA doesn't make it impossible or even illegal to play poker online. It just makes it more of a hassle. Those that have a problem gambling won't be stopped by a mere hassle. The only people that are stopped by the UIGEA are the casual players that just like to play some poker for fun and recreation.

Maybe that was their intent, to polarize the game so later they can point at it and say "look, only degenerates that gamble for absurd amounts of money play, so we should shut it down."

But if the intent was to stop people with gambling problems from ruining their lives, this law is nothing but one big unintended side effect.

Poker Comic #143

Poker Comic presented by Free Poker Money.. Some places offer $25 Free Money. Some offer $50 or $75 Free Money. Here you get $100, with No Deposit Required and No Credit Card Required. (New Players Only, Must be 21 or older.)

Click HERE to view the Comics Archive

Scumbags Surround Us

Posted on a poker forum I read:

I have an email list of 500,000+ email addresses of real money depositing poker players that I am selling. This list can be used for newsletters, advertising, recruiting new players/members, ect... This list is the perfect thing for you guys out there who own or operate a forum and are looking for new members. Just think if just 1 out of every 1000 people were to join right there you would have 500 new members. Thats 0.1%!!! If you are interested at all or have any questions email me at jonkoslop (at) hotmail dot c o m Thanks

The thing that irks me the most is the

jonkoslop (at) hotmail dot c o m

He's trying to keep his name off spam lists, WHILE HE'S TRYING TO SELL A SPAM LIST!

The nerve.

Here's a favor for ya Jon:

jonkoslop@hotmail.com

I hope you get spammed until you bleed.

Speaking of Fun Weekly Tournaments

Tonight is the last ever Weekly WWdN tournament at PokerStars. Wil has been unceremoniously excused from Team Pokerstars, so the Weekly Wheatie is ending.

It's time for the tournament to go, since every fucking retard online decides to go to Wil's table and give him shit throughout the tournament. It made the game unbearable if you had chat on, and chatting was the fun part of that tournament, or at least it used to be.

Still Wil has been a fantastic host and I know many of you have had a good time at this tournament.

Lets try to give it a sendoff that it really deserves. If you happen to be at Wil's table, do me a favor and NEVER stop giving the asshole railbirds shit. It's at 8:30PM Eastern Time, password is "monkey."

Stats are Funny

I'm back in the top 10 in the weekly Mookie, even though I've only played in four events this year. $277.50 - $44.00 in entries makes my total winnings $233.50. Even the guy in 2nd place has only won $266.10. If the leaderboard counted actual winnings and not total winnings, I'd be in 6th place just behind Bone_Daddy84 who's only ahead of me by $5.05 in net earnings, and MiamiDon who's only ahead of him by the same $5.05.

Had I not chopped with Zeem and won, I'd be in net second place with ~$311, but if I hadn't chopped and lost (more likely!), I'd be just behind pokerpeaker at 8th place.

Zeem would have nearly twice as much as second place with his $503.70 in actual earnings. The battle for second place between NumbBono and Bayne_s would be very tight with less than $3 separating them. Calculating the standings in this way might make it much more difficult to catch Zeem in the standings.

As for me, the best move would probably be to quit before my donkey luck gives out.

Free Poker Money

Free Poker Money. Some places offer $25 Free Money. Some offer $50 or $75 Free Money. Here you get $100, with No Deposit Required and No Credit Card Required. (New Players Only, Must be 21 or older.)

Whinefest '07

The 2007 WSOP has only been going on for one weekend and I'm already fed up with all the whining. What a pile of over-privileged assholes.

I'll quote The Poker Shrink:

It will mostly get worked out or semi-fixed but you know everyone is either playing poker or getting paid to work around poker or deal poker or heaven forbid! Write about poker.

Stop your whining. Stop complaining about every little bump in the road; it's a really nice road, enjoy the ride.