BY TED KOOSER, U.S. POET LAUREATE, 2004-2006
Linda Pastan, who lives in Maryland, is a master of the kind of water-clear writing that enables us to see into the depths. This is a poem about migrating birds, but also about how it feels to witness the passing of another year.
The Birds
are heading south, pulled
by a compass in the genes.
They are not fooled
by this odd November summer,
though we stand in our doorways
wearing cotton dresses.
We are watching them
as they swoop and gather--
the shadow of wings
falls over the heart.
When they rustle among
the empty branches, the trees
must think their lost leaves
have come back.
The birds are heading south,
instinct is the oldest story.
They fly over their doubles,
the mute weathervanes,
teaching all of us
with their tailfeathers
the true north.
Reprinted from "The Imperfect Paradise," by Linda Pastan. Copyright (c) 1988 by Linda Pastan. With permission of the publisher, W.W. Norton & Company, Inc. Ms. Pastan's most recent book is "Queen of a Rainy Country," W.W. Norton & Company, Inc., 2006. This weekly column is supported by The Poetry Foundation, The Library of Congress, and the Department of English at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. For information on permissions and usage, or to download a PDF version of the column, visit www.americanlifeinpoetry.org.
Wednesday, November 22, 2006
American Life in Poetry: Column 086
Monday, November 20, 2006
Iggy Reborn
Just when you thought the Blog Father was going to lay down his pen, and people were writing of his demise and eulogizing his epitaph, and speculation was running wild in blogdom about the man that ruined work place productivity for the last three years, the dwarf/housewife/mystery writer of Guinness and Poker has given up his future writings on blogspot and has moved over to join the PokerWorks blogging team
Thursday, November 16, 2006
Footloose in America
On June 22, 2001 Bud and Patricia Kenny with their mule Della left Hot Springs, Arkansas to tour the world on foot. They figure it will take them 15 to 20 years to complete this journey. Bud and Patricia were both 53 when they embarked on this adventure. Della was seven... They're somewhere between Newburyport and Boston today, planning on staying with a friend in Cambridge overnight.
"Old" is only a state of mind.
More about the Kennys, Della, and their travels here. I hope to get to read Bud's book - Footloose in America - Dixie to New England - someday. (Photo by Bob Wallace)
Tuesday, November 14, 2006
R.I.P. Iggy
Personally, I think this is a pathetic attempt to gain attention, and soon we'll seen BONUS CODE IGGY sponsored by Pamela Anderson, but in memoriam anyway...
A dwarf with a lisp goes to a stud farm to buy a horse.
"I'd like to buy a horth" he says to the owner of the farm.
"What sort of horse ?" asks the owner.
"A female horth", the dwarf replies and so the owner takes him to his finest mare.
"Nithe horth", says the dwarf, "Can I thee her eyth?".
The owner patiently picks up the dwarf and shows him the horse's eyes.
"Nithe eyth" says the dwarf, "Can I thee her teeth?".
Again, the owner picks up the dwarf to show him the horse's teeth. "Nithe teeth, can I see her eerth?"
By now the owner is getting a little fed up but again, picks up the dwarf and shows him the horse's ears.
"Nithe eerth", says the dwarf, "Can I see her twat?"
With this, the owner picks up the dwarf and shoves his head deep inside the horse's vagina and holds him there for a few seconds before pulling him out and putting him down.
The dwarf shakes his head and says,
"Perhaps I should weefwaze that, can I see her wun awound?"
_________________
And of course this happened in Florida
A rare stamp worth as much as $200,000 (£105,000) may be on an envelope sealed in a ballot box after the US mid-term elections, poll officials say.Officials in Broward County, Florida, say they saw a famous "Inverted Jenny" stamp while reviewing postal ballots.
About 700 of the stamps were mistakenly printed in 1918 with an upside down illustration. Just 100 went on sale.
But it will be 22 months before laws will permit the box with the envelope to be reopened and the stamp checked.
The original stamps bear a picture of a Curtiss JN-4 plane, known as a Jenny, which was used for training pilots in World War I and later became an airmail plane.
'Oh my God'
Broward County Commissioner John Rodstrom told reporters he spotted the red and blue Inverted Jenny on a large envelope with two stamps from the 1930s and another dating from World War II.
"I thought: 'Oh my God, I know that stamp, I've seen that stamp before,'" said Mr Rodstrom, 54, who collected stamps as a boy.
"I'd forgotten the name. I just remembered there was a stamp with an upside-down biplane on it, and that it was a very rare, rare stamp," he told Reuters news agency.
The official said the envelope had no return address, and the ballot was disqualified because it gave no clue as to the identity of the voter.
The box containing the envelope was sealed before the stamp could be authenticated, and election laws do not allow the box to be reopened for 22 months.
In October 2005, a block of four Inverted Jenny stamps sold for $2.7m (£1.52m) at auction.
Maynard Guss, president of the Sunrise Stamp Club, told the Associated Press news agency that a cancelled [postmarked] Jenny would likely sell for $20,000 (£15,547) to $100,000 (£77,736).
Thursday, November 09, 2006
There ain't nuthin' about that woman I don't like
Your Host's audio quality isn't of the best in episode 20 of Dreamtime, but maybe Maria Muldaur's stunning live redition of "Heart of Mine" will make up for the audio engineering problems.
Also, some information on Woodsongs Old Time Radio Hour and an excerpt from Kitty Wells 1952 hit, "It Wasn't God Who Made Honky-Tonk Angels."
American Life in Poetry: Column 085
BY TED KOOSER, U.S. POET LAUREATE, 2004-2006
The Illinois poet, Lisel Mueller, is one of our country's finest writers, and the following lines, with their grace and humility, are representative of her poems of quiet celebration.
In November
Outside the house the wind is howling
and the trees are creaking horribly.
This is an old story
with its old beginning,
as I lay me down to sleep.
But when I wake up, sunlight
has taken over the room.
You have already made the coffee
and the radio brings us music
from a confident age. In the paper
bad news is set in distant places.
Whatever was bound to happen
in my story did not happen.
But I know there are rules that cannot be broken.
Perhaps a name was changed.
A small mistake. Perhaps
a woman I do not know
is facing the day with the heavy heart
that, by all rights, should have been mine.
Reprinted from "Alive Together: New and Selected Poems," Louisiana State University Press, 1996, by permission of the author. Poem copyright (c) 1996 by Lisel Mueller. This weekly column is supported by The Poetry Foundation, The Library of Congress, and the Department of English at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. For information on permissions and usage, or to download a PDF version of the column, visit www.americanlifeinpoetry.org.
Wednesday, November 08, 2006
And in last night's Wheaties
... humming Oingo Boingo's Dead Man's Party for no particular reason, Mr. Rico sat down at his table, part of a tiny field of 33, at 8:30 ET last night. At 11:07, he stood up, finishing in 2nd place and $79.20 richer.
I think it's my 3rd WWdN 2nd. Lately I've been hooked on micro-limit H.O.R.S.E. and I wasn't sure how that was going to affect my NL Hold `Em game. I'm still not sure. Last night was one of those rare nights where the ol' engine was firing sweetly on all cylinders, the cruise control was on, and I didn't need to do much more than strap myself in and enjoy the ride. I saw the flop 39 out of 258 hands, won 85 percent of the hands that I played out to the River, and took 46 pots without ever seeing a flop.
Notable notables... Apparently in sympathy to my lousy finishes in the past couple of weeks, Iggy rigged the game so his set of 3s ran into a set of Js early on, and he appropriately finished in 33rd place. The Travelin' Pokester was around, but left in the 20th spot before we could sit at a table together. ISS Spock looked for awhile as if he were going to take his namesake tournament, making me fear a rip in the space-time continuum, but he finally went out in 3rd place, giving Blinders a commanding stack over lil' Rico. Never played with Blinders before, but he was a good sport as my railbirds - led by fellow New Hamsterite xkm1245 and including BrainMc and Kyhunny78 - tried to cheer me into 1st.
But 2nd is good. 2nd keeps the Bear fed. Until next week.
Tuesday, November 07, 2006
Dylan boxes in Madison
via The Wisconsin State Journal:
When Bob Dylan was in town Tuesday, he spent some time sparring at Ford's Gym on East Wash.
"He came in to do some boxing training before the concert," confirms owner Ford Sheridan. "Him and two of his workout partners, one of them was in his band. They did a little sparring and a little work on the bags. We left him alone to do his thing. I totally respect anybody who wants to get a workout in." Sheridan shook hands with Dylan, whose band mate said they found the gym by looking on the Internet. "He said when they travel around, they look for places like this."
Friday, November 03, 2006
Email exchange with Jeb Bradley offices
| Reply-To: p<> To: Fred Bals | ||
| ||
American Life in Poetry: Column 084
an editorial comment. If we had had twin daughters, Peggy always threatened to name one Amaryllis and the other Forsythia, not least because it's near-impossible for me to pronounce either without bystanders bursting into laughter - fhb
BY TED KOOSER, U.S. POET LAUREATE, 2004-2006
Many of this column's readers have watched an amaryllis emerge from its hard bulb to flower. To me they seem unworldly, perhaps a little dangerous, like a wild bird you don't want to get too close to. Here Connie Wanek of Duluth, Minnesota, takes a close and playful look at an amaryllis that looks right back at her.
Amaryllis
A flower needs to be this size
to conceal the winter window,
and this color, the red
of a Fiat with the top down,
to impress us, dull as we've grown.
Months ago the gigantic onion of a bulb
half above the soil
stuck out its green tongue
and slowly, day by day,
the flower itself entered our world,
closed, like hands that captured a moth,
then open, as eyes open,
and the amaryllis, seeing us,
was somehow undiscouraged.
It stands before us now
as we eat our soup;
you pour a little of your drinking water
into its saucer, and a few crumbs
of fragrant earth fall
onto the tabletop.
Reprinted from "Bonfire," New Rivers Press, 1997, by permission of the author. Copyright (c) 1997 by Connie Wanek. Her most recent book is "Hartley Field," from Holy Cow! Press, 2002. This weekly column is supported by The Poetry Foundation, The Library of Congress, and the Department of English at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. For information on permissions and usage, or to download a PDF version of the column, visit www.americanlifeinpoetry.org.
Tuesday, October 31, 2006
Halloween Hands... and an addendum
busted hand after hand until the bitter end, Mr. Rico's pair of 10s were laughable against a pair of Kings and resulted in a dead-last finish.
Dead indeed. Until next week.
But an addendum: As I found myself at loose ends a lot sooner than expected, I signed up for a $5.50 18-person SnG, ended up placing second, and covered my losses for last night as well as several weeks back in time. And proved to myself I can still play poker.
I got a letter yesterday
yes, I did, from the Hon. John E. Sununu, United States Senator of New Hampshire, in reply to my letter protesting his affirmative vote of H.R. 4411, aka the "Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2005."
I won't quote the entire letter here. Suffice to say that Senator Sununu recapped the history of the bill: Merger of Goodlatte's H.R. 4777 and Leach's 4411. On July 11, 2006, House passed 4411 by a vote of 317 to 93. During joint House/Senate session, proponents of 4411 inserted text from the bill into the so-called "SAFE Port Act "(H.R. 4954).
Sununu used the overwhelming need to pass the SAFE Port Act as the reason behind his support of the bill, and finished his letter with the notation that, "I will keep your concerns in mind should Congress consider any pertinent legislation during the remainder of the 109th Congress" and thanked me for sharing my views.
sigh. Not that I expected much more, but the letter is a typical example of noncommittal political rhetoric. I'd almost prefer to hear, "by God, somebody needed to protect you from yourself, you degenerate, you." But no, I'm left no wiser - except my suspicions of course - about whether Sununu is for or agin Internet gambling.
Monday, October 30, 2006
Dreamtime Episode 19 - That Ol' Black Magic
Happy Halloween!
Saturday, October 28, 2006
Friday, October 27, 2006
Flatt & Scruggs Seranade Granny with a little Bob Dylan
... about as many of my favorites in one clip as I'm ever likely to see. Flatt & Scruggs, The Beverly Hillibillies, a Dylan song, and Granny and Jed cutting a buck-and-wing.
Who could ask for more?
Fund free mammograms
My friend Patti tells me that The Breast Cancer Site is having trouble getting enough people to click on the "Fund Free Mammograms" button on their site so they can meet their quota of donating at least one free mammogram a day to underprivileged women.
It doesn't cost you a thing, and 100% of collected revenue from the sponsors goes to pay for the mammograms.
Go visit today and once a day thereafter, and click on the "Fund Free Mammograms" button.
American Life in Poetry: Column 083
BY TED KOOSER, U.S. POET LAUREATE, 2004-2006
Poems of simple pleasure, poems of quiet celebration, well, they aren't anything like those poems we were asked to wrestle with in high school, our teachers insisting that we get a headlock on THE MEANING. This one by Dale Ritterbusch of Wisconsin is more my cup of tea.
Green Tea
There is this tea
I have sometimes,
Pan Long Ying Hao,
so tightly curled
it looks like tiny roots
gnarled, a greenish-gray.
When it steeps, it opens
the way you woke this morning,
stretching, your hands behind
your head, back arched,
toes pointing, a smile steeped
in ceremony, a celebration,
the reaching of your arms.
Reprinted from "Far From the Temple of Heaven," Black Moss Press, April 2006, by permission of the author. Copyright (c) 2005 by Dale Ritterbusch. This weekly column is supported by The Poetry Foundation, The Library of Congress, and the Department of English at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
American Life in Poetry: Column 082
BY TED KOOSER, U.S. POET LAUREATE, 2004-2006
Many poems celebrate the joys of having children. Michigan poet Jeff Vande Zande reminds us that adults make mistakes, even with children they love, and that parenting is about fear as well as joy.
Clean
Her small body shines
with water and light.
Giggling, she squeals "daddy,"
splashes until his pants darken.
Five more minutes, he thinks,
stepping out quickly,
pouring himself a drink,
not expecting to return
to find her slipped under,
her tiny face staring up
through the undulating surface.
Before he can move,
or drop his scotch,
she raises her dripping head,
her mouth a perfect O.
The sound of her gulped breath
takes the wind out of him.
Her face,
pale and awed,
understands the other side
of water and air.
His wife didn't see,
doesn't know.
Her feet pulse and fade
in the upstairs joists.
His daughter cries,
slips from him, not giggling.
She wants out.
He tries to keep her
in the tub, in the light.
He's on his knees.
Reprinted from "Rattle," Winter, 2005, by permission of the poet, whose most recent book is "Into the Desperate Country," March Street Press, 2006. This weekly column is supported by The Poetry Foundation, The Library of Congress, and the Department of English at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. For information on permissions and usage, or to download a PDF version of the column, visit www.americanlifeinpoetry.org.
Wednesday, October 25, 2006
Everything was going so well until I was hit by that truck
In last night's Wheaties, that truck was the always-tough HighOnPokr, who submitted the proposition that pairing a board-high 10 backed by a pocket Ace doesn't necessarily mean Rico's winning the hand... certainly not when your opponent is holding a pair of Aces. And I was out in 14th. HighonPokr would finish in 3rd of a very small field of 41 where only five places paid out.
Some mantras to hum to oneself in future games....
- An opponent who continues to bet, (or calls your big bet) when you've paired the board and are holding an Ace kicker is very likely to have you beat.
- Going all-in when you have your opponent covered is a powerful weapon. Going all-in when your opponent has you covered is seldom a good idea unless all signs point to your winning.
Outside of playing relatively better - albeit still out of the money, which is the only measurement that counts in tournament games - I had the pleasure of being one slice of bread in a Maudie sandwich for most of the game last night, the lil' dwarf being the other. That conjures pictures beyond the pale, I know, but what the hell. It was fun, and I owe Maudie and Iggy the story of my Dad's adventures as a seaplane charter pilot in Miama during the `30s at some point... but only if BONUS CODE: IGGY on FullTilt becomes a Dreamtime sponsor.
Until next week.
Tuesday, October 24, 2006
Saint Misbehavin'
Although he probably doesn't remember me, I briefly knew Wavy Gravy, nee Hugh Romney, in the early `70s. Professional clown turned "hippie," (as if there were ever any difference) and now back to professional clown again, Gravy now has a well-deserved documentary produced about his life.
Another reason to go to Woodstock.
Thursday, October 19, 2006
Go read this op-ed article...
"Thus society is weakened every time a law is passed that large numbers of reasonable, responsible citizens think is stupid. Such laws invite good citizens to choose knowingly to break the law, confident that they are doing nothing morally wrong."Hear, hear.
Wednesday, October 18, 2006
Lighting a $10 bill on fire...
... would have been just as economical as my play in last night Wheaties, where Mr. Rico placed a shameful 47th out of 48 eight minutes into the tournament.
Placing dead last has a certain frisson to it - you can always claim bad beats, recklessness or a devil-may-care 'tude.
Placing second to dead last is just embarasking, as Popeye would say.
Wha' happened? I think louddwnunder - who ended up finishing 4th - hypnotized me or something, as my finger refused to move the cursor from the "Raise" and "Call" buttons even though all I was holding a sooooooooooooted A9. But did I have a flush draw at the flop? No, I did not. I did now have a pair of Aces, but the emphasis should have been on the pair, rather than the A. And did loud continue to bet hard at me, and had she had already raised me pre-flop and then re-raised my raise? Yes, she did. And did I continue to ignore the information that was being telegraphed to me? Yes I did.
And when I went all-in with my raggedy-ass'd pair of Aces, did loud flip over a pair of Kings with one more already flopped on the board? Yes she did. And was I thoroughly beaten and now drawing all but dead? Yes I was.
And why did I do this? Well, you could say that I know loud is an aggressive player and thought she had made a bluff raise pre-flop to steal my blind, which was all of $20. And once that misread started me down the slippery slope I continued to compound the error rather than rethink and cut my losses. You could say that.
Or you could say that like Our Host noted about himself in this week's tournament notes, sometimes I suck at poker.
Until next week.
Monday, October 16, 2006
American Life in Poetry: Column 081
BY TED KOOSER, U.S. POET LAUREATE, 2004-2006
Readers of this column during the past year have by now learned how enthusiastic I am about poems describing everyday life. I've tried to show how the ordinary can be made extraordinary through close and transforming observation. Here Tess Gallagher goes to the mailbox to post a letter. We've all done that, haven't we? But notice how closely she pays attention to this simple experience, and how she fits this one moment into the meaning of her life.
Under Stars
The sleep of this night deepens
because I have walked coatless from the house
carrying the white envelope.
All night it will say one name
in its little tin house by the roadside.
I have raised the metal flag
so its shadow under the roadlamp
leaves an imprint on the rain-heavy bushes.
Now I will walk back
thinking of the few lights still on
in the town a mile away.
In the yellowed light of a kitchen
the millworker has finished his coffee,
his wife has laid out the white slices of bread
on the counter. Now while the bed they have left
is still warm, I will think of you, you
who are so far away
you have caused me to look up at the stars.
Tonight they have not moved
from childhood, those games played after dark.
Again I walk into the wet grass
toward the starry voices. Again, I
am the found one, intimate, returned
by all I touch on the way.
"Under Stars" copyright (c) 1987 by Tess Gallagher. Reprinted from "Amplitude: New & Selected Poems" with the permission of Graywolf Press, Saint Paul, Minnesota. Gallagher's most recent book of poetry is "Dear Ghosts: Poems," Graywolf Press, 2006. This weekly column is supported by The Poetry Foundation, The Library of Congress, and the Department of English at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. For information on permissions and usage, or to download a PDF version of the column, visit www.americanlifeinpoetry.org.
Saturday, October 14, 2006
NBC announces late-night poker show
... seems like the worse of all possible timing, but what the hell, anything that keeps poker in the news right now is a Good Thing. And it includes the return of hubba hubba Shana Hiatt:
EW YORK - Oct. 11, 2006 - NBC invites viewers into the exclusive Las Vegas poker scene with its new late night show, "Poker After Dark," debuting Jan. 2 at 2:05 a.m. ET/PT, it was announced today by Marc Graboff, President, NBC Universal Television, West Coast. The nightly hour-long show, hosted by Shana Hiatt, one of poker's most recognizable faces, will air Monday - Saturday and features six poker professionals vying for a winner-take-all $120,000 first place prize.
Hosted by former World Poker Tour host Hiatt - dubbed one of Maxim magazine's "Hot 100 of 2005" - each night of original programming will feature an intimate look at one table as it develops over the week, culminating with a winner on Friday night. Saturday night's show - the "director's cut" - will recap the week's events with Hiatt and that week's winner offering commentary and insight into their winning strategy (airing from 1-2 a.m. ET/PT following "Saturday Night Live" check local listings).
Set in the back room of various casinos on the Vegas strip, "Poker After Dark" gives viewers an intimate look inside a poker game usually reserved for the eyes of the professional poker players themselves. "Poker After Dark" will feature the world's top pros, all miked during the weekly battles for the $120,000 pot - including Phil Ivey, Daniel Negreanu, Doyle Brunson, Howard Lederer, Chris Ferguson, Erick Lindgren, Jennifer Harman and Gus Hansen - fighting it out for poker supremacy.
"There's a vibrant late night audience looking for original programming," said Graboff. "We felt this inside look at the professional poker scene is perfect for late night television and those viewers seeking an unique and original broadcast."
Hiatt, an East Coast native, hosted the World Poker Tour from 2003 to 2005. A former model, Hiatt has also appeared in the films "Must Love Dogs" and "Grandma's Boy."
"Poker After Dark" is produced in conjunction with Poker Productions, the only television production company owned and operated by top professional poker players. Producers Mori Eskandani and Eric Drache bring 63 years of combined poker experience to their company and both have played a key role in producing some of television's best poker shows, including both seasons of NBC's "Heads Up Championship," two seasons of GSN's "High Stakes Poker," three seasons of Fox Sports Net and NBC's "Poker Superstars" and CBS' "Intercontinental Poker Championship."
Friday, October 13, 2006
The balloon goes up
Bush Signs Ports Bill With Poker Provision
Port Security Bill Includes Unrelated Section Tightening Ban On Most Online Gambling
(a separate report has it that Party Poker was down for "scheduled maintenance'," with the implication that the "scheduled maintenance" is to make Party's real money games unavailable to US players, as they've already announced.
I just logged into UltimateBet, which has a link to the following press release...
UltimateBet believes players deserve the best gaming experience on the net! That’s why we continue to be available for play by all members of the online community worldwide, including US players.
The new US legislation, expected to be signed on Friday, October 13, does not prohibit the online community playing online poker. At UltimateBet, it’s business as usual. All players’ deposits are held safely in a segregated account at a Tier 1 legal institution.
Business as usual at PokerStars too. The next 270 days will be a lot like the Chinese curse, "may you live in interesting times.")
CBS/AP) President Bush signed into law a bill Friday to help prevent terrorists from sneaking a nuclear, chemical or germ weapon into the United States inside one of the 11 million shipping containers that enter the U.S. each year — many without inspection.
The bill also includes an unrelated provision that seeks to strengthen laws that forbid most online gambling.
Mr. Bush used the bill-signing ceremony to assert that Republicans are tough on terror, a key issue in congressional elections just less than four weeks away.
"We're going to protect our ports. We're going to defend this homeland, and we're going to win this war on terror," Mr. Bush said.
He did not mention the gambling provision. Instead, Mr. Bush focused on the multiple ways the legislation tightens security and closes a loophole in anti-terror defenses, especially at ports.
Thursday, October 12, 2006
And from the people that brought you the IGP...
as the saying goes, the definition of an honest politician is one who stays bought...
again, via Iggy
PokerStars says business as usual
PokerStars.com - Our business continues as beforeWell, that's all well and good PS, and it's one less thing for me to worry about. Now if my bank and ISP would say that, I'd be reassured. Actually, I'm not all that worried about my bank. I have a feeling that as far as they're concerned, a transfer to Neteller falls under compliance... it's not the bank's responsibility to monitor where the money goes from there. But, I can easly envision a scenario where pressure is brought on Adelphia - soon to be Comcast - to block my access to online poker sites. And that does worry me.
Dear PokerStars Player -
As you are probably aware, the United States Congress recently enacted the Safe Port Act which contains provisions relating to Internet gambling.
PokerStars has received extensive expert advice from within and outside the U.S. which concluded that these provisions do not alter the U.S. legal situation with respect to online poker. Furthermore it is important to emphasize that the Act does not in any way prohibit you from playing online poker.
Therefore, our business continues as before - open to players worldwide including the US. You may play on our site as you did prior to the Act.
PokerStars believes that poker is a game of skill enjoyed by millions of players and we remain committed to providing you a safe and fun environment in which to play. We value your loyalty to PokerStars, and look forward to continuing to serve you with the best online poker experience, as we have for the past five years, six billion hands, and 40 million tournaments.
PokerStars Management
Tuesday, October 10, 2006
and in the Weeekly Wheaties...
... Mr Rico finished almost in mid-field, 27th out of 52, trapped and beaten all but to a pulp when his pocket Queens met a perfectly slow-played AA.
Even then the indefatigable Rico brought his remaining 90 chips up to $400 something until blinds ate him back down to $260. A pair of 5s seemed worth the move, but an AJ hand matched both on the flop and that's all she wrote for me.
I was going to beat up on the ballless poker blogging community, which seems to have bailed en masse from online poker, apparently worried that they might be the last fool getting their money out, but 52 is a helluva lot better than the 20 who were signed up when I arrived at 8:00, although nowhere near last week's 72. Kudos to those who played. And to those who didn't, I hope you have a better excuse than cashing out. Me, I've developed the `tude that I'm playing until PokerStars throws me out... I'll take my chances, thank you.
On October 9th, 1940...
... John Lennon was born. He would have been 66 yesterday.
It would have been nice to have a 66-year-old Lennon around. I suspect he would have been much like the 65-year-old Dylan, constantly reinventing himself, constantly surprising us.
Monday, October 09, 2006
American Life in Poetry: Column 080
BY TED KOOSER, U.S. POET LAUREATE, 2004-2006
One of poetry's traditional public services is the presentation of elegies in honor of the dead. Here James McKean remembers a colorful friend and neighbor.
Elegy for an Old Boxer
From my window
I watch the roots of a willow
push your house crooked,
women rummage through boxes,
your sons cart away the TV, its cord
trailing like your useless arms.
Only weeks ago we watched the heavyweights,
and between rounds you pummeled the air,
drank whiskey, admonished "Know your competition!"
You did, Kansas, the '20s
when you measured the town champ
as he danced the same dance over and over:
left foot, right lead, head down,
the move you'd dreamt about for days.
Then right on cue your hay-bale uppercut
compressed his spine. You know. That was that.
Now your mail piles up, RESIDENT circled
"not here." Your lawn goes to seed. Dandelions
burst in the wind. From my window
I see you flat on your back on some canvas,
above you a wrinkled face, its clippy bow tie
bobbing toward ten. There's someone behind you,
resting easy against the ropes,
a last minute substitute on the card you knew
so well, vaguely familiar, taken for granted,
with a sucker punch you don't remember
ever having seen.
Reprinted from "Headlong," University of Utah Press, 1987, by permission of the author. First published in "Prairie Schooner," Vol. 53, No. 3, (Fall 1979). Copyright (c) 1979 by James McKean, whose latest book is nonfiction, "Home Stand: Growing up in Sports", Michigan State University Press, 2005. This weekly column is supported by The Poetry Foundation, The Library of Congress, and the Department of English at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. For information on permissions and usage, or to download a PDF version of the column, visit www.americanlifeinpoetry.org.
Uncertainty driving cashouts
Gracie from sheverb and "ScurvyDog" from Sound of a Suckout get interviewed by the AP on the impact - both current and future - of the Internet Gambling Bill. Highlights...
Internet poker players and other gamblers in the U.S. have withdrawn thousands of dollars from their Web-based accounts while some gaming sites have raced to block U.S. residents' access to online poker, casinos and sports-betting just a week after Congress approved a ban on banks doing business with the sites....I'm one of those people who cashed out, although nothing near the "thousands" enjoyed by Gracie and Seth (reminding me of what small beer I am in the online poker community), and like Gracie won't be reloading until the dust settles. Titan Poker has apparently closed US players accounts, now too. FullTilt is claiming that business is as usual with them - although we'll see what happens when the bill is signed by Bush. Still no word from either of my two favorite sites, UltimateBet and PokerStars.Gracie Logan, 40, of Gainesville, Fla., was one of the poker boom's early players, who started playing after seeing Moneymaker win on TV. Between Monday and Wednesday, she withdrew "a few thousand dollars" from her online poker accounts after hearing about the bill's passage and will instead likely play live poker with friends or on casino boats along the East Coast.
"I'm not a professional poker player, but I have enough (in the accounts) that I was concerned about pulling it off-line," Logan said. "I won't be reloading until the climate settles down. ... There are so many alternatives for live games here. There's a thriving poker community in my town."
The changes in the online poker industry were even harder for Seth Shafer, 32, of Lockhart, Texas, who said he stands to lose up to $40,000 a year in revenue from gambling, blog advertising and signing up new players on gambling Web sites. He said he also has pulled out thousands of dollars from gambling sites.
"The primary reason for me was uncertainty," Shafer said. "The worst-case scenario was what I was imagining - everyone withdrawing simultaneously and not enough money to go out and PartyPoker declaring bankruptcy and going insolvent - you would be at the very bottom of a long list of people asking them for money.
Lots of money at stake here, folks, and just not betting money. Take a look at ScurvyDog's post here for elaboration on why he is looking at losing between $30-40k a year thanks to the law.
Thursday, October 05, 2006
How the IGP was passed...
a pretty good article from CBS News here. Some excerpts:
All of this came to a screeching halt last weekend, when an unexpected confluence of political events led Congress to stick a provision into a port security bill at the 11th hour — one that's designed to shut down Internet gaming in the United States.I hope the writer, Ken Adams, is right, with that last opinion. But it's a helluva lot harder to get a law changed than to get it enacted...
There were no hearings and no debate in the Senate, originally created by the Constitutional framers to be the "world's greatest deliberative body," where the potential passions of the mob as expressed by the larger, more populist House of Representatives, would be slowed down and moderated by the careful consideration intended by the rules of the Senate.
Not this time.
House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., concerned that his involvement with the discredited Jack Abramoff (lobbyist for Indian gaming interests) might jeopardize his re-election prospects in November, instructed the House leadership to pass a bill restricting Internet gaming in the United States — no matter what it took. The House did just that.
Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., who would love to run for President in 2008, was eager to do the same in the Senate to show the vocal Christian right wing of his party that he shares their aversion to gambling. (Remember the Reagan days, when the conservative wing of the Republican Party won elections by railing against big government meddling in people’s lives? I guess those folks will have to vote Democratic now.)
But Frist could not move a bill through committee and onto the floor prior to the November elections. So he found a way to slide a provision into an unrelated bill designed to increase security at America’s ports, without any hearings or debate. At the last moment, just before Congress recessed so Hastert and Frist and their colleagues could go home to campaign for re-election, the Senate passed the port security bill, including the Internet gaming provisions.,,
...Technically, the new law does not make it illegal to play poker on the Internet. Instead, it makes it illegal for any bank, credit card company or other financial intermediary to process transfers to or from an Internet gaming site.
In other words, there is no practical, safe way to legally deposit money into your PokerStars account to play in a tournament or take money out if you win.
The word on the street is that three of the largest Internet poker sites — PokerStars, Party Poker (note from Fred: already happened with Party) and Pacific Poker — will shortly announce that they are withdrawing from the U.S. market. The last of the major sites, Full Tilt Poker, is on the fence about what to do....
...I predict things will not stay this way for long. Once the election is over, those with an economic interest in the poker industry (including the banks and credit-card companies) will prevail on Congress to replace this hastily contrived political fix with a more sensible legislation that legalizes, regulates and taxes online gaming....
PartyGaming shares continue to collapse, PokerStars IPO cancelled
... and the fallout continues...
PartyGambling continues to unravel Wednesday following a serious of negative announcements while number two facing online poker brand, PokerStars, declared it will not be seeking a previously-planned IPO any time soon. Shares in beleaguered PartyGaming took a further battering today following a newspaper report which said it would have to negotiate a new loan facility with its banks within 30 days of anti-gaming legislation being approved.
Internet gambling stocks crashed on Monday after strict new laws to crackdown on online betting in the United States were unexpectedly approved by Congress at the weekend.
The value of the sector was halved and billions of pounds were lost as shares in the London-listed companies tumbled to their lowest ever levels.
Party Poker owner PartyGaming saw its stock slide 58% on Monday and a further 9% on Tuesday as it generates three-quarters of its business in the US.
Wednesday, October 04, 2006
And a note from your station manager...
Blogger is finally stumbling into Web 2.0, allowing some things (like labels, drag and drop rearranging of page elements, etc.) that other blog creation tools have been offering for years. I've been holding off, as I knew that "upgrading" would break my highly customized template. But, as it was breaking with today's posts for some reason anyway, I decided to bite the bullet.
fhb will slowly but surely return what we laughingly refer to as "normal," but I'd place more emphasis on the "slowly" part for the near future.
Katie Melua enters record books - world's deepest underwater concert
via Peggy, who has been feeding the blog of late. We're both big fans of Katie Melua:
via the BBC News
Singer Katie Melua has entered the record books by playing the world's deepest underwater concert.
Melua and her band performed for workers 303 metres below sea level on the Statoil Troll A gas rig in the North Sea.
"This was definitely the most surreal gig I have ever done," Melua said.
The 22-year-old singer underwent extensive medical tests and survival training in Norway before flying by helicopter to the rig.
"It took nine minutes to go from the main part of the gas platform down to the bottom of the shaft in a lift," said Melua.
"Giving a concert to the workers there was something really extraordinary and an occasion that I will remember all my life."
Deep sea set-list
The songs Melua performed included Closest Thing To Crazy and Nine Million Bicycles.
Guinness World Records has confirmed the gig sets a new record.
The concert was held to celebrate the 10th anniversary of gas production on Troll A and was filmed for Norwegian TV channel NRK.
Melua is currently the UK's biggest-selling female artist.In this week's (and we hope isn't the last) Wheaties
Possibly distracted by all the bad news, moaning, and gnashing of teeth about the cloudy future of online poker for U.S. players, Mr. Rico placed an indifferent 46th in the largest field we've seen in awhile, 75 players (and yes, I know, a counter-argument to my "Fred does better in larger fields" proposition). I would imagine that many people were there in case it actually was the last Wheaties. No word on that, though the rumor mill is rife about more sites banning of U.S. players in the wake of Party Poker's announcement on the 2nd.
To my readers who don't follow poker news: the Internet Gambling Prohibition (IGP) Act was passed by Congress last week - as an attachment to the "Safe Port" Act. I'm ashamed to say that both New Hampshire representatives voted in favor of the bill. So much for Live Free or Die. The IGP amendment is expected to be signed into law by Bush... possibly as early as today.
1) The IGP amendment will require financial institutions to monitor and block funding of poker accounts, whether Credit Cards, ACH, Stored Value Cards, electronic checks (debits), electronic funds transfers or physical checks. Within 270 days the Federal Reserve Board and the Attorney General will proscribe policies and procedures with which banks and other financial institutions will enforce this act to monitor and block financial transactions.
2) The IGP amendment requires that “Interactive Computer Services”, essentially Internet
Service Providers (ISPs), remove or disable access to internet links and hyperlinks “that reside” on the ISPs servers to “Internet Gambling” upon written notice from a State Attorney General, or the Attorney General of the United States. The exemptions included in the “Prohibition” are for wagering on Horseracing, Intrastate Lotteries, Intrastate Gaming (where legal), Indian Reservations, and playing Fantasy Sports, but not poker.
According to the Poker Players Alliance, more than 70 million Americans play poker, representing almost a quarter of the U.S. population. Roughly one-third of poker-playing Americans play over the Internet. In addition, the game is played legally in public card rooms in Nevada, New Jersey, Florida, Connecticut ,California, Washington, Missouri, Mississippi, Iowa, Indiana, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Michigan, South Dakota, Michigan, and many other states. Strangly, the new law -- upon its signing by President Bush -- protects state-run lotteries and horse racing from the new law, but lumps poker in with games of chance such as craps and roulette.
I don't know what's going to happen, of course, and I've been surprised by the precipitous action already taken by Party Poker and other sites. Part of this is apparently because the opinion stated by Nolan Dalla, former Director of Communications for PokerStars.com, seems to be shared by many. Dalla apparently resigned his position on the advice of his lawyer as a direct outcome of the imminent passage of the law. In an open letter to the poker community he writes...
Once this bill is signed into law (possibly as early as Wednesday, Oct. 4), it becomes effective immediately. This is why 888, PartyGaming, and others are suspending US operations, effective immediately...
I expect this to have a ripple affect across the entire industry. Most of the larger poker sites, and likely offshore sportsbooks as well, will be forced to block wagers from US residents. Otherwise, all operators/employees are subject to arrest and prosecution if they enter US territory. Those here and elsewhere who have stated this new law “only applies to financial transactions” have a narrow and tragically misguided view of the legislation. It essentially makes any employee or agent of the offshore site a criminal under US law — UNLESS they block transactions from US residents...
You can read Dalla's full article here. I'm not sure I buy everything he's saying. But on the other hand, his conclusion, a nod to the old bumper sticker that reads If you're not outraged, you're not paying attention is right on.
Until next week... I hope.
Tuesday, October 03, 2006
What I'm not getting for Christmas this year...
...via Peggy.
This year's Neiman Marcus holiday catalog offers gift seekers a slew of ideas ranging from a $25 crystal desk bell to the $1.76 million space charter for six passengers including medical assessments, training, a ride on the Virgin Galactic spaceship and an after-party at Virgin boss Sir Richard Branson's private-island retreat in the Caribbean.But honey, it's only $1.76 million and includes a four-night stay on Necker Island in the British Virgin Islands!
Monday, October 02, 2006
American Life in Poetry: Column 079
BY TED KOOSER, U.S. POET LAUREATE, 2004-2006
The news coverage of Hurricane Katrina gave America a vivid look at our poor and powerless neighbors. Here Alex Phillips of Massachusetts condenses his observations of our country's underclass into a wise, tough little poem.
Work Shy
To be poor and raise skinny children.
To own nothing but skinny clothing.
Skinny food falls in between cracks.
Friends cannot visit your skinny home.
They cannot fit through the door.
Your skinny thoughts evaporate into
the day or the night that you cannot
see with your tiny eyes.
God sticks you with the smallest pins
and your blood, the red is diluted.
Imagine a tiny hole, the other side
of which is a fat world and how
lost you would feel. Of course,
I'm speaking to myself.
How lost I would feel, and how dangerous.
Reprinted from "Open City," Winter 2005-2006, No. 21, by permission of the poet. Copyright (c) 2005 by Alex Phillips, whose chapbook "Under a Paper Trellis" is forthcoming from Factory Hollow Press. This weekly column is supported by The Poetry Foundation, The Library of Congress, and the Department of English at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. For information on permissions and usage, or to download a PDF version of the column, visit www.americanlifeinpoetry.org.
American Life in Poetry: Column 078
BY TED KOOSER, U.S. POET LAUREATE, 2004-2006
Mothers and fathers grow accustomed to being asked by young children, "What's that?" Thus parents relearn the world by having to explain things they haven't thought about in years. In this poem the Illinois poet Bruce Guernsey looks closely at common, everyday moss and tries to explain its nature for us. I admire the way the poem deepens as the moss moves from being a slipcover to wet dust on a gravestone.
Moss
How must it be
to be moss,
that slipcover of rocks?--
imagine,
greening in the dark,
longing for north,
the silence
of birds gone south.
How does moss do it,
all day
in a dank place
and never a cough?--
a wet dust
where light fails,
where the chisel
cut the name.
Reprinted from "Peripheral Vision," published by Small Poetry Press, Pleasant Hill, CA. Copyright (c) 1997 by Bruce Guernsey and reprinted by permission of the author, whose latest book is "The Lost Brigade," Water Press and Media, 2005. This weekly column is supported by The Poetry Foundation, The Library of Congress, and the Department of English at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. For information on permissions and usage, or to download a PDF version of the column, visit www.americanlifeinpoetry.org.
Wednesday, September 27, 2006
In the midnight hour
Podcast boy is taking off soon to Podcast Expo, so last night's Wheaties isn't going to get the attention it deserves. But, in brief...
Placement: Mr. Rico placed 2nd in last night's field of 64, lending further weight to my superstition that I place higher the more players are in any given WWdN. This is my second WWDN 2nd.
Notable players: Lots, including my buddy, Lydia the non-tattooed lady who got her short stack into the final table and 8th place and probably would have placed even higher if she hadn't been recovering from whatever the hell she was doing at that Boathouse; Dugglebogey, who between the cards and his play probably should have been 2nd last night - if not 1st - rather than me. And of course, the Kenosha Kid, Budohorseman, who neither Duggs nor yours truly could ah, unhorse and who deservedly won.
Lots of other friends and acquaintances last night, too. Apple-polly-woggies for giving you short shrift, but it was as always, a pleasure.
Notable hand: I'm holding $8,000 in chips, and am actually short-stacked at my table, as well as hovering in the money (9th place up paid) bubble. 200/400 blinds $25 ante.
I get dealt 4s 4d, limp in with two folds ahead of me. SB calls. BB checks. Flop is 5d 7d 8d giving me, let's see, a possible straight, a possible flush, and oh my, a possible straight flush. Everybody checks to Mr. Rico, who checks too. Turn is 4c, now giving me a set of 4s, as well as those other three draws. SB checks. BB bets $2000. I raise another $2k.
SB now goes all-in with a $15k raise, giving me pause and I figure him for either the straight, or more likely, the nutz flush. BB calls and now I know he's got one or the other too, and with that much money in the pot and all those outs, plus less likely things like Quads and full houses and with only $3k left in my stack, I naturally call too.
SB flips the nutz flush, natch and BB flips the straight, double-natch, and Mr. Rico's three 4s ain't looking all too good... until the River, where the beautiful 6 od Diamonds falls, giving me the straight Flush and about $25k in one hand.
As Dugglebogey would say, "Fred goes from bubble to leader with one river stars card," and that card would be enough to take me to the final table and eventually to 2nd, although I still had to fight and wait my way there.
As I said, a short hiatus as I go to confer, converse, and otherwise hob-nob with my brother wizards.
Until next week.
Monday, September 25, 2006
Dylan at the Grammy Awards - 1991
One of my favorite surrealistic Dylan moments, as Dylan, backed by a band of gangsters, sings an incomprehensible version of "Masters of War" a few days into the first Gulf War as pop stars and industry figures look on.
Things to watch for...
1) A `90s Dylan under an iconic `70s Dylan banner
2) Cuts to reaction shots of the B-52s and Diana Ross
3) Jack Nicholson beaming at Dylan as if he were the prodigal returned
4) Dylan's Chaplinesque play with his hat before accepting the award
5) And of course, the "Exceptance Speech," which goes:
"Well," he said, "my daddy, he didn't leave me much, you know he was a very simple man, but what he did tell me was this, he did say, son,Critics would claim Dylan was drunk that night. Dylan would say years later he had the flu and was running a 104-degree fever. Me, I think he did and said exactly what he wanted.
"He said so many things, yknow?"
"He said, you know it's possible to become so defiled in this world that your own father and mother will abandon you and if that happens, God will always believe in own your ability to mend your own ways."
Saturday, September 23, 2006
And, in this week's Dreamtime podcast
Thursday, September 21, 2006
How Random Is the iPod's Shuffle?
Earlier this week, Mads Haahr ordered a customized iPod with "God Plays Dice" engraved on its back. Mr. Haahr -- a random-number enthusiast, lecturer in computer science at Trinity College in Dublin and keeper of the Web site Random.org, a popular source of random numbers -- intends to answer a question that has long bedeviled users of Apple's popular music player: Does the shuffle function really play users' songs in random order?Link
All you need to use this is nerves, a good front and consistency
Shades of The Eudaemonic Pie!
via The Guardian Unlimited
For sale for £1,000: gadget that means you'll never lose at roulette again
Paul Lewis
Saturday September 16, 2006
Professional gamblers are rushing to buy £1,000 devices that they believe will enable them to win millions of pounds in casinos when the gambling industry is deregulated next year.
Hundreds of the roulette-cheating machines - which consist of a small digital time recorder, a concealed computer and a hidden earpiece - were tested at a government laboratory in 2004 after a gang suspected of using them won £1.3m at the Ritz casino in London.
After the research, which was never made public but has been seen by the Guardian, the government's gambling watchdog admitted to industry insiders that the technology can offer punters an edge when playing roulette in a casino, and the advantage can be "considerable".
But rather than ban the devices, which are outlawed in many jurisdictions across the world, the Gambling Commission will require casinos to police themselves. Phill Brear, the commission's director of operations, admits predictive softwares can work but suggested it might be possible to prosecute someone using them under a new Gambling Act offence of cheating.
However Mark Griffiths, Europe's only professor of gambling, said using computer devices would not constitute cheating."If someone's got a piece of equipment that calculates where a ball will land, then that is akin to card counting in blackjack. It's not cheating - it's using science to give yourself a better advantage."
Amid the confusion, the commission confirmed that it is advising casinos to refuse to pay people caught using predictive devices, requiring the gamblers to take legal action in order to obtain their winnings. Roulette cheaters say that is unlikely to deter them. The supreme court in Spain recently ruled against a casino that was attempting to ban a father and son, both of whom claimed to have won millions by forecasting roulette.
The most high-profile roulette scam in Britain was executed by a woman and two men who, in 2003, won £1.3m at the Ritz using a device concealed inside a mobile phone. They were arrested but later released and their winnings were returned.
The government's national weights and measures laboratory investigated the technique. It is thought the cheats first identify a "biased" wheel, where the ball appears to commonly drop in roughly the same zone. They also look for signs on the wheel of a "manageable scatter", which means that when the ball strikes a certain number, it will usually fall into a neighbouring pocket. The unpublished report concluded: "On a wheel with a definite bias and a manageable scatter, a prediction device of this nature, when operated by a 'skilled' roulette player, could obtain an advantage when used in a casino."
Mark Howe, who sells the devices for £1,000 from a workshop in Sheffield, claims his software will also work on level wheels. Surrounded by the soldering irons and laser sensors he uses to make his devices, he gave the Guardian an apparently successful demonstration of the software he said earned him a substantial sum before he was banned from British casinos in the 1990s.
The equipment consists of a clicker that records the deceleration speed of the rotor and ball, a remote computer device concealed inside a mobile phone or MP3 player, and an earpiece that instructs a player which zone the ball will land in.
Mr Howe says a gambler with the equipment can gain an edge of between 20% and 100% over the casino, overturning the casino's normal 2.7% edge over customers. "Next year is free hunting for anyone interested in making money from casinos," he said. "All you need to use this is nerves, a good front and consistency."
Keith Tayler, an ex-croupier and gaming inspector, says regulators are unwilling to ban predicting devices because it would amount to an admission that wheels can be biased. "The commission would be opening themselves to litigation or disputes at the table," he said. "The last thing a casino wants is punters arguing about why their numbers have been missed all evening."
The Gaming Commission wrote to Mr Tayler last year stating: "We now agree that roulette wheels can develop a bias of the type you describe and that, particularly with the use of electronic equipment, players can use the bias to predict with some accuracy the segment of the wheel in which the ball will come to rest, thereby giving them an advantage."
No one from the world's leading manufacturer of roulette wheels, TCS John Huxley, was available for comment.
How it works
Clicker Used to record the speed of the rotor and ball, the data acquisition clicker can be concealed in a pen, a watchstrap, a shoe or even clipped to a molar tooth. The device is clicked as the two entities pass reference points to gauge the deceleration speeds. The data is sent to a remote computer
Computer Uses the timings to calculate which number the ball will strike based on an algorithm from data gathered and transmits the information to the earpiece. It is small enough to be hidden in a mobile phone, MP3 player, handbag or cigarette lighter.
Earpiece Placed inside the ear canal, where it cannot be detected, the earpiece relays instructions to the player about where to place bets. It can be worn by many players to place simultaneous bets or one can be swapped between them to confuse casino management
Wednesday, September 20, 2006
And in this week's Wheaties...
... Mr. Rico again played the "Survival" game and finished #20 in an, ah, larger field than in the past several weeks of 69 players. I'm not quite sure why I tend to place higher the more people there are in any given WWdN, but I do. Maybe it's got something to do with my style of play.
Not much to comment on in last night's game as, again, it was mostly either fold, fold, fold, or taking a small pot, usually pre-flop. I had pocket As three times last night, and wasn't able to maximize the pot in any of the three hands. A 3 x BB the 1st time while in mid... and everyone folds. A minimum raise while in mid-position the 2nd time around... and everyone folds. A limp while UTG on #3, and I get one caller, who calls on my flop bet with an obvious flush draw on the board which hits on the Turn, and I fold in the face of his all-in.
And so it went. Most of my game was spent at one table with little chatter except for some chit-chat about the WSOP, which apparently was playing on several TVs last night, and some back-and-forth about another game that several players were evidently involved in.
If there's anything less interesting than playing at a table where people are talking about the action at another table, I don't know what it is.
Anyway, I'd eventually get moved and get whacked by EasyCure who had called my big pre-flop raise with a J9o. You'd say that was a loose call, but you'd be wrong, as Easy easily had me covered with his $11k stack against my $2,300 or so, and luck walked in the door for him. J9 something on the flop, and me with a short stack, pot-committed and holding A9, I go all-in. His two pair hold up, and that's it for me.
EasyCure would finish in 6th place, the game would be won by weak_player who had been running rampant through the night, and I was pleased to find my buddy and fellow New Hamsterite, xkm1245 finishing in the money too, last night.
Until next week
Tuesday, September 19, 2006
The 25 most controversial films of all time...
... of course they're really not, it's just a list put together to sell copies of Entertainment Weekly and to provide water cooler conversation, but that's why we like these sort of lists, right? Some highlights:
#25 ALADDIN - "The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee balked at a lyric describing the film's Arabian setting as a land ''where they cut off your ear if they don't like your face.'' Result? The studio dubbed out the lyric for subsequent releases."
#20 CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST - "...After its 1980 Milan premiere, the film's print was confiscated by the city's magistrate. Later, Deodato faced life in prison when Italian authorities believed the stars of his film were really killed. The actors finally appeared on TV to prove otherwise."
Friday, September 15, 2006
Return of podcast boy
It's not easy being a professional musician. Bad food, a bad lifestyle where bottles, pills and needles are all too available. And there's too much travel, and nights staring out at a sea of faces that you can barely see through the lights. And the next day is the next town, and you have to get there somehow.
American Life in Poetry: Column 077
BY TED KOOSER, U.S. POET LAUREATE, 2004-2006
Li-Young Lee, who lives in Chicago, evokes by the use of carefully chosen images a culture, a time of day, and the understanding of love through the quiet observation of gesture.
Early in the Morning
While the long grain is softening
in the water, gurgling
over a low stove flame, before
the salted Winter Vegetable is sliced
for breakfast, before the birds,
my mother glides an ivory comb
through her hair, heavy
and black as calligrapher's ink.
She sits at the foot of the bed.
My father watches, listens for
the music of comb
against hair.
My mother combs,
pulls her hair back
tight, rolls it
around two fingers, pins it
in a bun to the back of her head.
For half a hundred years she has done this.
My father likes to see it like this.
He says it is kempt.
But I know
it is because of the way
my mother's hair falls
when he pulls the pins out.
Easily, like the curtains
when they untie them in the evening.
Reprinted from "Rose," BOA Editions, Ltd., 1986, by permission of the publisher. Copyright (c) 1986 by Li-Young Lee, whose most recent book of poetry is "Book of My Nights," BOA Editions, Ltd., 2001. This weekly column is supported by The Poetry Foundation, The Library of Congress, and the Department of English at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. For information on permissions and usage, or to download a PDF version of the column, visit www.americanlifeinpoetry.org.
Wednesday, September 13, 2006
ricoM showed [Ah As] and lost with a pair of Aces
ricoM: raises 600 to 800
Wil Wheaton: folds
Maudie: raises 848 to 1648 and is all-in
heffmike: folds
VTepes: folds
ricoM: calls 680 and is all-in
*** FLOP *** [6d 4d 2c]
Up4Poker [observer] said, "6"
R-Gee said, "oy"
*** TURN *** [6d 4d 2c] [9h]
ricoM said, "Jesus"
*** RIVER *** [6d 4d 2c 9h] [3d]
yestbay1 [observer] said, "Maudie does it again!"
*** SHOW DOWN ***
ricoM: shows [Ah As] (a pair of Aces)
Maudie: shows [6h 6s] (three of a kind, Sixes)
Wil Wheaton said, "oi"
hacker59 is connected
Ursus Aureus is connected
Maudie collected 3260 from pot
Maudie said, "3 times tonight"
R-Gee said, "its like she's been touched"
ricoM finished in 27th place (eliminated at hand #6265823527).
And then there are the good ones. The fun games. The social ones. A couple weeks back was a good one, a WWdN that I would have paid the $11 just for one hand... going all-in after Iggy made a mega-raise, waiting him out as he went into the tank, and then laughing out loud as he typed into the chat box, "Eff you, podcast boy" and folded.
Such moments are priceless, as the commercial says.
And last night was one of the good ones, too. I've played in enough WWdNs aka "The Wheaties" on PokerStars that now I expect to "know" and usually have played against one or two people at any table I'm at. Last evening's WWdN tables included my buddy, BrainMc, who I think thinks I'm a better poker player than I think I am, the (evil) ISS Spock, AAjoshmanAA, who I believe took me out the night he won the Wheaties, and a host of others. Notable among that host was MsJoanne, whose play I've noted and admired before last night. I've watched MsJoanne at several previous WWdN tables - seldom having the opportunity to tangle with her those nights - but noting she had a tough, aggressive style, forcing other players to fight for every hand they were in with her. She tends to either build up a large chip stack early, or go out early... sometimes both in the same tournament.
Last night we did tangle, and tangle repeatedly during the 1st Hour. Like Wil, whose play is quite similar to hers, MsJoanne bets hard initially and bets harder at any sign of opponent weakness. I decided early on when we repeatedly became the only two players fighting for a pot that the only way I was going to survive her was to match her aggressiveness. Passivity was just going to prolong an eventual loss. Happily, I had the hands to play, although there was more than one where I was on the edge of my seat praying for her to fold while she took her time in the tank deciding how to play.
MsJoanne would eventually semi-cripple me with a pair of 10s vs my pair of Kings. A 10 would hit at the River, giving her a set and busting out my pre-flop dominating pair. A sign of things to come.
Shortly after, with a greatly reduced stack, I'd get moved and find myself sandwiched between my buddy, the Okie Pokester, and Our Host Himself. Maudie and I have played in many WWdNs at the same time. A few times we've been at the same table... but the usual scenario is one of us shows up and the other busts out a few hands later. I don't remember all that many hands played against Maudie. The other scenario - which tends to happen a lot in games where the players know what they're up to, like the WWdN - is that one or the other of us would make a big pre-flop raise, and everyone else would wisely fold. So, I've watched her action, she probably has mine, too, I have a feel for her play, but I haven't really ah, engaged, with Maudie a whole lot.
Last night both of us were on the semi-short stacks with blinds moving up. At 100/200 Blinds, Maudie had $1648 in chips, and I had $1480. Given that the table chip leader had over $9500 at the time, neither of us were in particularly good shape and needed to double up soon. To rehash the play: I get AAs, which is about all you can ask when on the short stack, and raise to $800 in the hopes of getting a caller/re-raiser. And, that, that, Okie obliges. I go "Oh my," when I see Maudie's slim 6s are like super-dominated by the testosterone-infused Mr. Rico, and am already composing a suitable "gg" farewell to her.
Of course the flop drops a 6. My one-word reaction - which was not a call to Mr. Ferguson - is shown above. And that's all she wrote.
Except that I had a wonderful time, and if I have to lose to someone, let it be to a friend so I get to tell the story.
Until next week.
Tuesday, September 12, 2006
Achtung Hippie!
I first heard of Burning Man through some writer - I think I remember which one, but since I'm not positive, I'll leave him anonymous and avoid the potential litigation - who hauled his young child along on a reporting trip to"one of the hottest nastiest driest places on the planet." The resulting article would have been strong evidence in a child abuse case, in my opinion. Burning Man has never high on my things to do, and in this hilarious article, Patrick Mulroy details why it probably won't be on your hit parade either.
If being forced to view hundreds of hairy ass cracks as you gag down breakfast sounds fun, Burning Man is for you.
If you want to live in a trailer park with 40,000 people where insane drinking, drugging, public nudity and lawlessness are the norm, Burning Man is for you.
If you want catty advice on how to dress from a crowd of Rocky Horror Picture Show rejects, Burning Man is for you.
If you are white and prefer to party with whites only, Burning Man is for you.
If you love the Devil and the events he supports, Burning Man is for you.
Big Things appear to be happening on the iPod front
As of apprx. 8:30 am ET, this is what you'll see if you try to go to the iTunes Music Store.
Monday, September 11, 2006
American Life in Poetry: Column 076
BY TED KOOSER, U.S. POET LAUREATE, 2004-2006
I'd guess we've all had dreams like the one portrayed in this wistful poem by Tennessee poet Jeff Daniel Marion. And I'd guess that like me, you too have tried to nod off again just to capture a few more moments from the past.
Reunion
Last night in a dream
you came to me. We were young
again and you were smiling,
happy in the way a sparrow in spring
hops from branch to branch.
I took you in my arms
and swung you about, so carefree
was my youth.
What can I say?
That time wears away, draws its lines
on every feature? That we wake
to dark skies whose only answer
is rain, cold as the years
that stretch behind us, blurring
this window far from you.
Reprinted from "Lost & Found," The Sow's Ear Press, Abingdon, VA, 1994, by permission of the author. Poem copyright (c) 1994 by Jeff Daniel Marion, whose most recent book is "Ebbing & Flowing Springs: New and Selected Poems and Prose, 1976-2001," Celtic Cat Publishing, 2002. This weekly column is supported by The Poetry Foundation, The Library of Congress, and the Department of English at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. For information on permissions and usage, or to download a PDF version of the column, visit www.americanlifeinpoetry.org.
Podcasting and poker ruminations
Cincinnati Sean and Brent Stacks have folded up their virtual table and poker podcast at Card Club on Lord Admiral Radio with Episode 84. A shame to see them go, as they were the only other poker podcast I subscribe to. I sample a lot but find most of them are bad - often Very Bad, real stinkeroos, as Dan Ackroyd used to say on SNL.
If you haven't listened to CCoLAR before, and want to check them out, I wouldn't recommend the last show, which sounds like it was haphazardly cobbled together as quickly as possible, probably symptomatic of why Sean decided to shut the podcast down. The sound quality is so bad through most of the episode that I thought my iPod was broken. Kind of a shame that they'd go out that way, but there are any more - and much better - episodes in their archives that you can give a listen to. Sean also makes several claims in the last two shows that while he's done with a regular podcast - I suspect the Cincinnati Kid makes a regular schedule impossible - he expects to post occasional shows when time and tide allow. So, I'll keep subscribed to his feed, and CCoLAR will stay in the blogroll for awhile longer.
I liked Sean and Brent's conversations, but the highlight of CCoLAR for me was Columbo's One-Minute Mysteries, a sample poker hand offered to the reader for thought on how it should be played out... and then Columbo's explanation on how he played it out, sometimes rightly, sometimes wrongly. The Good News is the Columbo has moved the OMM to another podcast. The Bad News is that it's Ante Up, (warning: annoying QuickTime load at their site) one of those poker podcasts that (in my opinion, of course) falls into the latter category I noted in my opening paragraph. But it's been some time since I last listened to AU. Maybe it's improved, or maybe Columbo will be enough incentive for me to stay listening. But I dunno. And this isn't an encouraging sign about the longevity of AU either.
The other poker podcast I recommend is PokerDiagram, which I warn in advance, won't be to everyone's tastes. PD, as their intro states, are two Brits "playing online poker, and talking about it as they do so." I know that sounds as enticing as listening to a podcast about paint drying ("Do you think?" "Well, let's try!" "No, still tacky, I'm afraid.""Okay, and what color did we choose again?"), but I find it a perfect podcast to exercise by or mow the lawn.
Yesterday, while doing that very thing, I was listening to a PokerDiagram conversation about correctly reading another player's cards, realizing that you were behind... and still playing out the hand. "Ain't that the truth," I thought while later playing in a SnG, on the bubble with AA in my hand. I have a smallish-size stack of around $3k. Blinds are $100/200. I bet out $800, and get a call from the chip leader, who has like four times my stack. Flop is Q blank, blank. I bet the pot, and he calls me, which tells me he probably has the Queen, with the possibility of maybe he's holding a small pair that has tripped out for him. Turn is a Queen, so now he's tripped that if I'm right. I check, as does he, which I expect him to do if he's laying a trap. River is another blank, and he bets just enough to convince me that he does have the Queen... but I call him away. And, of course, he did have the Queen, as I knew from the Flop. But I still bet it, in a perfect example of the hand disregarding what the brain is telling it.
Why do we do that? Who knows, but we all do at one time or another. Bubbling out on that game, football on the TV and Peggy out, I'd go into another SnG and end up taking 1st place, a nice salve for my wounds.
Thursday, September 07, 2006
Dreamtime Episode 12 - Love, Theft, and Emails
Quote of the Day.
Creating your own blog is about as easy as creating your own urine, and you're about as likely to find someone else interested in it.via Wired News
Tuesday, September 05, 2006
The Return of this week's Wheaties...
... and Mr. Rico gets crushered early when his pair of Kings runs into a pair of Queens that trip out on the flop, and out in 43rd of 52.
Until next week.
