Generally when I fly home after a long trip I spend most of my time catching up on Tivo’d shows that I missed. On the slate I had several good shows from Amazing Race, Survivor, 60 Minutes, 20/20, HBO Real Sports, Mad TV (a great first episode), and several poker shows. Let’s get right to Survivor:
I just loved the concept of dividing the tribes my race. I thought it would make for an interesting social experiment, and done right, could actually bring people from different cultures together.
When I saw the cast, though, I was very disappointed. I realize that CBS had to be really careful not to make the cast too stereotypical, but my goodness, they went so far out of their way to avoid stereotypes that they ended up with a cast that hardly represents their “people.”
I’m mostly referring to the Asian team and the Hispanic team. Aside from one elder Vietnamese guy named Cai Bo, the rest of the Asian team all seemed to be born in the U.S. and have virtually no connection to their heritage. In fact, they mock and ridicule Cai Bo, the one guy who happily refers to himself as a “boat person.”
They look at him with such disdain. At one point, he uses an old Vietnamese massage technique to relieve one of his tribe mates headache. When he’s done, the guy has a red mark on his forehead that looks a little silly… but you know what? The headache was gone! They laughed about the red dot, hurt Cai Bo’s feelings, and seem to neglect the fact that his knowledge of ancient medicine and traditions will be a huge asset to the team. Frankly, I get the strangest feeling that the other Asians in the group are ashamed of who they are. That bothered me.
The Hispanic team could have been the white team for all I knew. If there was ever a stereotype in your head about what a Hispanic person acted like or looked like, none of the cast members display any of those traits.
I dunno, I just think they played it way too safe and that’s a shame. MadTV? Now that’s a show that didn’t play it safe! They did a few skits mocking the show and had names for each tribe: Burrito, White Bread, Soy Sauce, and I forget the last one.
In the beginning, each tribe is given a chore: make fire. To the Hispanic team, they game them Flint. To the Asian team, they game them one match. To the African-American team (I hate the term African-American, but don’t get me started on that), they game them a bottle of water. The white team was given a generator, a lighter with extra lighter fluid, as well as a how to DVD on how to make a fire, lol.
On second thought, do get me started on that whole African-American thing. Are they not just American? Do we say Greek-American or Polish-American? No, they just become Americans. What do you call a black person that lives in Italy? Is he African-American? Or no, maybe African-Italian? No, he’s a black dude, plain and simple. I actually think African-American is pretty insulting.
Anyway, back to MadTV. The Jeff Probst character announces a challenge. Swim across the lake, get something from under water, this, that, etc. A very complex challenge. Then, he announces the pirze… a bucket of Fried Chicken. Within seconds, one of the black contestants who is dripping wet says, “Here you go, here is the flag.” Winning the challenge in like, six seconds.
Wait, there’s more. Later in the challenge the teams are down to three each. Except the Hispanic team that’s now at 18…. oh, wait, make that 19 as baby Maria just joined us.
Each group is given some wood to build a shelter. The black tribe builds… a porch. Then Probst checks out the Hispanic tribe and it’s literally, a hotel room. He’s like, “Wow, great job guys you did well with your shelter.”
“Oh, this is not ours,” replied one of the Hispanic tribesman, “We built this one for the white people in exchange for three coconuts.”
All jokes. All stupid, silly, jokes. If they are offensive to some I honestly feel bad. Otherwise, I think they are just funny and we need to be able to poke fun at ourselves. Comedy and laughter is one way in which we, as a society will stop taking ourselves so seriously and celebrate our differences.
MadTV was way better.
Next, was 60 Minutes. I watched several episodes, but the one that was most intriguing to me was the one where Mike Wallace interviewed Iran’s president Ahmadinejad.
Frankly, the guy kind of blew me away. He came off as extremely intelligent and friendly. It was easy to understand why the people of Iran seem to be so supportive of him as a leader.
Anyway, he brought up some solid points condemning president Bush. The whole interview was very powerful. In the end, he even spoke directly to Bush, telling him that he needs to change the way in which he talks to the people of other countries. Stuff like, “Bring it On,” in reference to the terrorists a while back, aren’t the words of a man who knows how to make peace.
He also shared his theory as to why President Bush is so reluctant to allow other countries to have nuclear power. If you still have it on your Tivo, it’s definitely worth the watch.
Whether you are a Republican, a Democrat, or just vote for the best candidate, I can’t imagine anyone feeling good about what the current administration has done since being re-elected. In my opinion, Bush has made some of the biggest and most damaging mistakes a leader could make. He’s absolutely hated by those outside the U.S., but even worse, based on his dropping approval rating, most Americans don’t like him either.
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Today, me and Boston Rob headed over to E-DOG’s house to sweat the football games. His pad is perfectly set up for it, with six plasmas on one wall, a big screen, and a projector screen over the pool table and air hockey table. His house is like a sports bar, frankly, with a basketball in the back to boot.
The early games annoyed me. I’ve been a Bills fan for many years, and they just needed to beat the Jets today. The whole AFC East sucks now, and there defense and running game is so good that I feel like they have a shot at the division.
The Dolphins annoy me too. Not the Dolphins, actually, more so Daunte “You stink so bad” Culpepper. He is getting worse, and worse each week it seems.
In the end, I had a solid fantasy day and despite playing a team that also scored a ton was able to pull out a win to go 1-2 thanks to Brian Westbrook and Anquin Boldin.
After the New England game, I came home and quickly pounded out a column for Card Player as well as a column for my syndicated newspaper column… and a blog! Boo ya.
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Tomorrow, I’ll actually be playing some poker and I’m excited. Tomorrow, we’ll be filming a poker show for ABC called the Equalizer Pro-Am, or something like that. Basically, it will pit 24 pros versus 24 celebrity players.
Each heat will consist of four pros and two celebs. The catch, is that the celebs will start with 300,000 while the pros will only get 200,000. My heat is absolutely ridiculous. Insane actually. Now, this was a random draw, but you wouldn’t believe who I drew in my heat:
Phil Ivey
John Juanda
Erick Lindgren
Daniel Negreanu
Jose Canseco
Cheryl Hines (I love Cheryl Hines!)
Talk about a tough group, wow. The winner of this heat will go directly to the final heat.
I’ve always said that I love a challenge, well, this crew of pro players is the same crew as my Monopoly crew! Creepy, weird, and bizarre. Needless to say, I think I drew the toughest group.
We’ll be playing at the Southcoast early tomorrow morning, but unfortunately, I will not be able to share the results with you all until the show airs. On a bright note, the structure appears to give us a little more play than some of the other made for TV tables:
25 minute levels
3000-6000
4000-8000
6000-12000
8000-16000
12000-24000
15000-30000
20000-40000
30000-60000
50000-100000
It’s still a fast structure, mind you, but it will allow for some good poker for sure. On that note… time for bed.]]>
Daniel’s Blog forum after writing my last blog. I hit my tee shot about 230 yards towards the right side of the fairway. On my next shot, I went up the right side with my rescue club and had an approach shot of about 128 yards. It’s over junk and a bunker, so I figured it would be better to be long than short, and hit a full 7-iron to the back of the green. Two putt from there, and voila, a par! The front went pretty good considering my putter wasn’t on at all. I shot a 48 on the front. On the back 9, my grip and mechanics fell apart on a few holes. Actually, every hole! I didn’t even make one bogey or better on the back. 48-58=106. After golf, we headed to Bella Luna for some Italian. After dinner, we headed over to Ted’s for more gambling fun. First, Sam and I played three games of Mille. If you don’t play this game your life will never be complete. It is without a doubt, the most fun gambling game I’ve ever played that combines skill and luck. It
www.fullcontactpoker.com?
Well, I’m back after not writing a blog for who knows how long. Frankly, there just hasn’t been too much to write about and I have been behind on several projects already. That, and I’ve been spending every minute of everyday either playing golf, thinking about golf, or playing Tiger Woods golf on my PSP.
Yesterday and the day before I played 36 holes a piece while practicing as well. I’d like to get better and I’m starting to feel much better about my game. I just need to practice being more consistent in every aspect of the game and then I feel like I’ll be able to break 90. I know I have the tools, but it’s usually one or two blow up holes that will balloon my score.
Hole #3 at TPC Summerlin has been my nemesis on most rounds. Making a 6 is a GREAT score for me on that hole. I usually hit a drive about 240 yards out and then have a decision on my next shot. Choice A) is to go over the “junk” to the left for a much better approach shot into the green. Choice B) is to play a much safer shot up the right side and then go over the junk on my next shot. That approach shot is also more difficult because their are bunkers below the hole and behind it.
One bad shot on that hole causes others to ensue. If I chunk a shot when going over the hazard that costs me a couple of strokes. If I hit it into the back bunker, the green slopes downhill from there for a very, very, difficult shot to hold on the green without rolling off the back and possibly even into the other bunker.
The last two times I hit three great shots and was in the back bunker. Then I hit a terrible shot, barely getting out of the bunker. Then, I totally blew a really tough put where you have to amount about 15 left of the hole. I ended up three putting for a 7, which as I said, is a lot better than the 8 or 9 I often get on the hole. Pretty frustrating hole for me.
I fixed my grip issues that I was having and as a result, I’m also hitting everything 20, or even 30 yards longer in some cases. I used to hit a 7-iron about 125-130 yards, but now, when I get a hold of it, it’s sailing well past the hole, probably 145-150 yards away. A good problem to have, I just need to make the adjustment and trust it more.
I could probably write a 5000 word blog about golf, but you guys don’t want to hear all about that so I will bore you no more.
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I haven’t played any poker at all and don’t really care to. I probably won’t play any poker until the Borgata event later this month. My schedule is going to start getting hectic again with travel. It’s been a pretty nice stretch during the WSOP of staying home, but pretty soon I’ll be all over the place again.
In fact, on the night of the 6th I’ll be flying to Florida to play in Vincent Lecavalier’s Charity Golf & Poker event. I plan on coming back home on the 8th. Then on the 12th I think I have something to do for STACKED, and I also have a few other commitments before then.
On the night of the 13th I fly to Toronto for a UMM party on the 14th. Then, on the morning of the 14th I’ll be flying to Atlantic City to play in the Borgata event that day.
I plan on doing my best in the event, but if I happen to get knocked out before the 18th, I have a flight booked back to Toronto for Ian Legget’s Celebrity Golf tournament on the 18th and 19th. I’ll plan on being in Toronto for a couple of days I guess, and then heading home. I’ll probably be back in Toronto again, though, around the 28th to 1st I think, I’m not totally sure.
October, November, and December just gets way more busy with trips to Barcelona, Bahamas, Foxwoods, Toronto, and who knows where else. In the meantime, I need to really get my act together. Golf is fun and all, but it is really cutting in to my writing time and I have a deadline to meet. Actually, I have several deadlines to meet, some are weekly, some bi-weekly, and some are for bigger projects.
The biggest problem I’m facing right now is the lack of desire to play poker. I just don’t feel like playing right now. I stay sharp by watching loads of poker on TV, but I don’t feel all that great about where my head is right now. My play at the Legends was lackluster at best. I had a few coolers come my way, but man, I didn’t have to lose as many chips as I did with some of those hands.
Sometimes I really think that we get gypped with only 24 hours in a day. If we had 32 to 36 hours in each day I could get so much more stuff done. Since that’s not a reality, it looks like I’m going to need to ease up on the fun stuff, and starting getting back to work.
On that note, I have a column to write…
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Poker News.
None of it surprises me at all and I don’t think this is doing the poker world any good and I fully blame the seven plaintiffs for going about this in the completely wrong way.
I hope Barry Greenstein is ok with me repeating this, but he said something to the effect of, “They are simply going about all of this in the wrong way. If they wanted the release changed, rather than shouting and screaming about it, there was a much more practical way to handle it.”
Earlier at this year’s WSOP, Andy Bloch went ballistic during the $50,000 HORSE event when the cards we were playing with were all marked. He freaked out like a crazy person, something he has done on several occasions when he is upset, and started yelling at the top of his lungs.
Barry mentioned to me, that if Andy would have simply talked to the other players at the table, voice his concerns to them, and then calmly take that to the floor people, that the issue would have been addressed.
It’s pretty much the same deal with this stupid lawsuit. If they really wanted changes made, they should have come to the players first, and approach the WPT with numbers. Not 7, but 500! If 500 players had issue with something, the WPT would have no choice but to take those concerns seriously since, without a core group of 500 players… there is no show.
Anyway, here are a few excerpts from the WPT’s response which you can read in full by clicking here:
“Poker is more popular than ever before, which has led to more poker tournaments, more poker players entering tournaments, more poker programming being broadcast on television and more prize money for players. The poker industry is a model of a competitive marketplace, with more and greater opportunities and choices for casinos, broadcasters, publishers, and players alike. For Plaintiffs to suggest in the face of the recent poker explosion in the poker industry sparked by the World Poker Tour, that WPTE has restricted the output of poker tournaments or otherwise restrained competition in the poker industry is disingenuous and without foundation.”
In other words, “How dare these people sue us for helping them become what they are today. How dare they claim that we are monopolizing the poker world when there is more poker on more networks now than ever before. None of which could have happened without the WPT. How silly of them to believe that the exclusive contracts the WPTE signs with certain casinos holds them back from running tournaments of their own.”
Here is another doozie:
“The irony of Plaintiffs claims is that the “notoriety” that these seven Plaintiffs claim forms the basis of their considerable income is due in no small part to their participation in the World Poker Tour in its early years, at a time when the public had never heard of them, and which would not have been possible without the reasonable releases about which the Plaintiffs complain.”
And yes, the WPT IS responsible for both Greg Raymer and Joe Hachem’s notoriety as well. It was due to the WPT that ESPN started broadcasting the WSOP. Before the WPT, ESPN completely lost interest in the event, and in 2000, WPT’s own Steve Lipscomb started filming the event in a documentary style.
Once the WPT became an instant hit, ESPN took notice. From there, FSN, NBC, CBS, GSN, Bravo, and countless other networks have followed the path that the WPT created.
Here is where things start getting ugly, and not because anything may come of it, but because of the negative attention and notice it puts players with online poker affiliations under:
“Full Tilt Poker, a website started by Plaintiffs Chris Ferguson and Howard Lederer, and with which at least two other plaintiffs are affiliated, already competes unfairly against WPTE by using the tremendous revenues it obtains from promoting online gambling in the United States and accepting online bets from persons located in the United States- activities declared by the U.S. Department of Justice as illegal under existing law- to subsidize the poker programming it offers television networks.
WPTE on the other hand, complies with the letter and spirit of the law as currently interpreted by the Department of Justice and employs numerous safeguards to ensure no one in the United States can place a bet on it’s online poker website, leaving websites like Full Tilt Poker (and it’s owners Chris Ferguson and Howard Lederer) to reap these illicit profits.”
Hmm… well, that doesn’t sound all that great. Remind why these people are suing the WPT again? What is it they are hoping to gain? Is it money? Does it bother them that much that the Bellagio only runs WPT events? Is this lawsuit really worth winning? What is the goal?
I really like this next part, because it paints the picture that I personally see:
“In sum, this baseless antitrust lawsuit is not about promoting competition or freeing players from restrictive bonds imposed by a cartel of league owners, as Plaintiffs disingenuously claim. Rather, this is a case brought as a competitive tactic by seven multimillionaires who WPTE shepherded from unknowns to wealthy poker personalities with interests in competing enterprises in an ever-increasingly competitive poker entertainment marketplace.”
Let’s face it, do you really think this lawsuit is about not being able to hold tournaments at Bellagio? Come on.
Outside of possibly Phil Gordon, I doubt that any of the other Plaintiffs were even millionaires before the poker boom. Before money was being thrown at them from ESPN for free roll tournaments, or endorsement opportunities, or inflated prize pools with weak players.
This whole thing makes me so sick to my stomach. It stinks of greed, vanity, arrogance, and a lack of gratitude for the poker world we live in today. This fight isn’t a fight for the poker world’s well being, not at all. This is a fight being initiated by a group of people who seemed to have forgotten where they came from.
If only this group of seven would have done the right thing. If they had a beef, rather than have a totally bizarre press conference to announce the lawsuit (I mean, who does that???), they would have come to the poker community first.
Their decision to move ahead with this without the support of some of the more influential people in the poker world was a decision that shows a lack of respect to the game, and to the other professional touring players. Almost a “who cares what the poker world thinks, I’ll get mines.”
I’d be shocked if they defended their decision to go ahead with this lawsuit without the support of the poker community first. If they were to defend it… well, wow, I wouldn’t even know where to begin?
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Ok, all done with yet another WPT lawsuit rant. No promises that this will be the last one however.
Anyway, I “tried” playing golf this week, but couldn’t play. I’ve become so frustrated recently that it simply hasn’t been fun. I planned on playing a round with Mike Sexton, Phil Ivey, and Erick Lindgren, but when I got to the course I headed straight to the range and realized that the only club I could even hit was a driver off the tee. I could not hit a 3-wood in the air, and I was coming over the top of even my 7-iron and hooking it as well.
Rather than play in a spot where I was certain to dump off a chunk of money, I decided to practice and get a lesson from one of the pros there.
I’ve developed what’s called a reverse pivot or something like that. My left shoulder dips when I take the club back, and then when I come back to the ball my body has to try and get out of the way quickly which forces me to come over the top of the ball.
That was just one of the problems I’ve developed. I bring the club back too flat (never buy a Medicus, trust me), and my lower body is moving way too much. Oh, not to mention that my feet are too far apart at address.
Basically, I need to start from scratch it seems. Unfortunately, after close to an hour with the pro I wasn’t able to get it down. It may have just been one of those days, but I won’t be golfing for money at all until I feel like I can actually hit the ball.
On that note, I heard a hilarious rumor today. I must have had 20 people call me today asking, “Is it true that you lost 13 million to Chip and Doyle on the golf course?”
The number shrunk as the story went around the room today, and eventually the number was dwarfed to just “6 or 7 million.” LOL, are you people nuts? The most I EVER played for on the golf course was a $50,000 Nassau. To lose that much money I’d have to, like, never win a hole… ever!
The real number, since I’ve started golfing for money is closer to $600,000 in the hole. How people got 7 million I have no idea. The rumor had legs apparently, though, because I had close friends call me to ask if it was true.
Even Doyle called Chip and said something like, “Have you been golfing with Daniel?” It was pretty funny, I got a good kick out of it.
One more thing, some white rich country club lookin’ guy was seated next to me and Lori at the club. One of the workers there recognized me and was apparently a big fan. The white, snotty, rich looking guy kind of looked at me a little like those women in Pretty Woman looked at Julia Roberts on Rodeo Drive. He looked at me like I smelled or something.
Anyway, as I walked over to get some carrots and celery I overheard the food server say something like, “I love that guy. He is like my hero.” When the really white dude heard that he said this, “You should set your sights a little higher.”
I overheard the comment and said, “I agree,” with a smile. I mean, the guy has a point and he is right, but still. Why say something like that in front of me? Have you no manners at all? It’s not like this was a buddy of mine or something who could totally get away with that, this was a stranger?
I wouldn’t even care if the guy said it with a smile or was making light of it, in fact, I tried to make a joke out of it. He was just being a rich, snooty, rude, dude.
I’m amazed, frankly, at how there is so much to the stereotype of rich, white, country club members. They generally talk about any of the following things:
1) Money
2) Luxury Cars
I over hear the following conversation almost every time I’m there:
RICH WHITE LOSER #1: I just bought a new Ferrari. I figured what the heck you know, I closed that last stock up big so I figured I’d pick up a new toy.
RICH WHITE LOSER #2: Ferrari’s are nice and all, but you know, that’s not for me. I traded in my Bentley and bought a couple Aston Martin’s. I’ll never use them, but they look nice in the garage, you know what I mean. Yup, I’m gonna take the old lady out for a vacation this week. You know, put in the time with the wife. On the road I’m such a pig. I had three of the most beautiful broads you ever seen on my last trip to L.A. Just freakin’ beautiful, and man, this one had lips like a ….
RICH WHITE LOSER #!; No kidding (not to be undone), you know what I really like to do is get me a couple of black broads. For $20 they’ll suck your toes. Black broads are the way to go my man. You should see this last one I was with, Jeliqua, Jelissa, I don’t know what her freakin’ name was, but man, cans like you’ve never seen before. I’m talking huge. And a booty, man, black chicks have the best butts am I right Charles?
RICH WHITE LOSER #2: Yeah, black hookers are the way to go. The white chicks expect too much, but the black broads, you can do whatever you want with them.
You might think this is a joke. No. It’s not. I hear this same kind of talk virtually every time I’m around rich, white, suits. Maybe that’s why I’m such a racist? Lol.
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Yesterday, I had an exciting day. I can’t tell you too much about it, but I had a full day meeting with some other players going over a very exciting project that the poker world will know about very soon. How is that for vague, huh?
Seriously, though, I simply can’t talk about this just yet, but as soon as I get the ok to talk about it you will all be the first to know. This project could potentially take poker to an entirely new level. There are a few kinks that need to be worked out first, but once all that gets ironed out (it will), then you guys are going to be in for a real treat.
After the meeting, I thought I’d take Lori to the Comedy Stop at the Trop to see the show. She wasn’t up to it, though, so instead I went with my good buddy Tyson.
I knew the first guy, a veteran comic named Mitchell Walters. He used to write for Laverne & Shirley and also toured with Sam Kinnison back in the day.
He started off things with the best set I’d ever seen him do. His timing was great, and he had some good new material.
Next up was Mike Green, and it freaked me out when he came on stage. He sounded just like my buddy Matt (FCP Info 2) who’s from Grand Rapids, MI. It was creepy how much they sounded alike.
Anyway, the laughs just kept rolling, he even told one Hold’em joke that I won’t ruin for you in case you are in Atlantic City for the WPT Borgata event. The same crew will be at the Trop there that week.
The headliner was a guy named Mitch Farrell. who’s appeared on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno countless times as well as being a regular on Howard Stern. He will also be filming a comedy special coming up soon, on the 1st I believe.
His act was one I thought I wasn’t going to like. He had a slow delivery, but then he started rolling and was freakin’ hilarious. I won’t spoil any of it for you since you’ll get a chance to see it on Comedy Central pretty soon. Who knows, I may fly up for that.
Anyway, after the show was over me and Tyson hung out with the comics at the bar. I told them all about my little skit on the cruise a few years back, and they shared some bad beats with me.
Since they opened the floor I decided it was safe to tell them one of my favorite jokes:
Guy gets home to his wife and says, “Honey, I have some really bad news.”
“Oh no,” she replies, “what’s the matter?”
“Well, I just came from the hospital and the doctors told me I only have 24 hours to live.”
His wife was obviously upset at this point, and so he followed up with, “Honey, since I only have 24 hours to live you think we could… you know, fool around?”
“Of course, of course honey, anything you want.”
Another 6 hours go by and he only has 18 hours left to live. “Honey, since I only have 18 to live, you think we could fool around again?”
She says of course, and they get their groove on. With 12 hours to live, the same thing happens. Then they both head to bed but he just can’t sleep. He is fiddling with his thumbs, obviously very nervous. He nudges his wife and says, “Honey since I only have 6 more hours to live…”
She interrupts him quickly and says, “Look, I have to get up in the morning, you don’t!” LOL, I like that one.
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Today is a “veg day” where I’ll try to get some work done online. Tomorrow morning, I’ll be headed to LA with Chip, Jenn, Eli, and a few other players. I’m not dreading the flight in at all since we’ll be borrowing Larry Flynt’s plane. Flying private is so much less of a hassle.
We’ll probably land in L.A. at around 1:00pm or so and get to the Bike in time for the 2:00pm start. Half the field is already playing as we speak. I just checked on CardPlayer and it looks like Tuan Le is back to dominating with over 100,000 already. Wow, nice stack!
So tonight, I’ll be hanging out with the wife- it’s her birthday tomorrow so we’ll have to celebrate it when I get back. On the agenda for this evening: Rocky II! She’s never seen it???
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One last thing I’d like to add. There have been two deaths recently that both came as a shocking surprise.
First, Paul Hannum, an absolutely great guy who has been a part of the World Poker Tour forever died at the age of 45. He has a fianc
Ok, I
I’m just about to leave the hotel right now to check out the San Diego Zoo for the first time. We’ll probably hit Sea World, the other Wild Life Park, Balboa Park, and a golf course over the next little bit. I’ll have a “proper” blog up soon…]]>
RB: Brian Westbrook, Phil. 19
RB: Willis Magahee, Buf. 15
WR: Anquin Boldin, Pho. 17
WR: Plaxico Burress, NYG. 14
W/T: Chris Chambers, Mia. 12
TE: Jeremy Shockey, NYG. 7
K: Josh Brown, Sea. 1
DEF: Tampa Bay 1
Res: QB Joey Harrington, Mia. 1
Res: RB Deshaun Foster, Car. 4
Res: WR Kevin Curtis, Stl. 1
Res: WR Carlos Rogers, Det. 1
Res: Kevin Barlow, SF. 1
Harrington was kind of a silly pick and I plan on dumping him in favor of another running back. Originally I just picked him up early as a backup for Culpepper, but I can get something way better on waivers for sure.
In this league, we also have my agent, Brian Balsbaugh, Erick Lindgren, Josh Arieh, Gavin Smith, and several of the “Keikwons.” I think it’s just two of them but there are so many I often lose track.
Thee entry fee is like $200, but I already have close to $100,000 in side bets on this season. My team looks a lot more like the 12-3 team I put on the field two years ago when the most I spent on any one player was 18, and that was Ahman Green, who had an awesome year.
This year, I’m depending pretty heavily on Miami to do well and I like their chances due to the weak schedule they’ll face. Also of note, in our league, receptions are worth a little more, so a back like Westbrook could be really solid.
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FCP Heads Up League: My Cheap Thieves got a bye in the first week, and in week two we face off against the HC Dukes with a 1-0 lead in a best of five series.
In game one, I basically bluffed off my chips to make it an even 1-1 series. I won game #3 quickly, when my set of fives held off the Ad 10h on a flop of 10d 5d 3d. In game #4, I was up 2500-500 and then it was just river city from there on in. I ended up losing game #4 and we were set to play the deciding game when we had a software issue. The private tables weren’t functioning properly so we’ll have to play game #5 sometime tomorrow when the problem is fixed.
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Online Poker: Been playing a lot at FCP recently, mostly in the $50-$100 NL game. Frankly, I’m enjoying it and the game is much better than I would have thought. There are tons of high limit games being played online these days, but so far, the “vultures” have stayed away from this game which works for me!
I’m probably up about $40,000 this week, but I’ll have to check my session browser to make sure.
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E-DOG’s Birthday: Lots of fun. Always a good time, especially when Saki is thrown into the mix. Saki has a way of making everybody laugh at the dumbest jokes ever.
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Video Blog Update: It’s not gone people, it’s just on a mini hiatus until we figure out a few things. The eventual plan is to offer both the written blog, as well as the video blog. If you missed any of the video blogs, or the written ones, all of the archives can be found at www.fullcontactpoker.com.
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