Mattazuma's Revenge

I'm the King of PLO (not)

I don't play much pot limit Omaha, but that's what Columbo decided the February WPBT tournament was going to be so I had to give it a try. I got lucky early when a rainbow 3-4-5 flopped when I had 6-7, another person who was down some chips raised into me with 6-2 and he was out.

I pretty much got hit with the deck all night.  At one point I had AA on back to back hands and took out a player each time.  Columbo had a bit of bad luck at the end, he went from being the chip leader to out in 3rd in I think four hands.  Schaubs & I played heads up for a while, I was ahead of him 3-1 at one point but couldn't close the deal & we were pretty much even for 10 minutes.  In the final hand I flopped top two pair and Schaubs had bottom 2 pair plus AK suited.  His hand didn't improve, and I pulled down the win.  I'd talk about more hands, but I can't make screenshots on the fly like Hoyazo.

Much to my embarrassment, this is the second biggest win I've had playing online.  It seems like most of the other bloggers win tournaments like this all the time.  The good news is I can now keep playing the blogger tournaments (and giving back the money) for the next few months.  I may have to try the PLO SnG's a little too.

Thanks to Columbo for setting up the tournament and thanks to Biggestron for doing all the math for the standings.

Mc Jalapeño

I don't normally eat at McDonald's.  McDonald's restaurants in downtown Chicago generally aren't very nice, and there are many many better choices.  But today, I was in the northern suburbs & running behind schedule, so I settled for Mickey D's.

On the menu board, there was a new item, "add a jalapeño for 25 cents".  I figured a jalapeño on my quarter pounder would be great, so I got it.  After I pulled away in my car, I realized the pepper wasn't on my sandwich.  Check it out:

Yeah, a pickled pepper in a baggie.  In the end, I didn't eat it, it wasn't really something to eat while driving.  I was afraid the juice would end up all over me.

Another Reason To Not Park On The Street

I was standing at the bus stop this evening, and I saw a police car pull in and park across the street from where I was standing. The cop got out of the and went and did something, I wasn't paying attention.

Around five minutes later (the bus can take a while) I hear a crunching noise from across the street.  It was loud, because I could hear it despite having my Ety earphones in.  I look over and the limo that was behind the police car was shaking.  The police officer had backed into the limo and then driven off.

It didn't look like he damaged the limo too much, but it was dark & the limo was black.

I don't like parking on the street downtown, now I have another reason to head for the relative safety of the parking garage.

Poker Player's Alliance - Shady?

First, go read this post at 2+2.

When I attended the poker blogger meetup last summer we heard alot about the Poker Player's Alliance.  Howard Lederer really pushed how important it was to keeping online poker legal.  Well, they couldn't stop Bill Frist and I don't see how they can do much now, even if they are legitimate.  It is a really bad sign if they really haven't been filing required paperwork with the federal government.

I wonder how much money they received from Party and the other big sites during the PPA's big sign up drive last summer.

Hat tip: Iggy.

Picking Ponies

I'm weaning my way off online poker.  My latest hobby is picking harness races.  I made $60 playing Yonkers last week.  Tonight I'm trying Cal Expo.  Not really sure where Cal Expo is, other than the fact it is in California.  It's not a high level track, the purses are only 1/4 of what Yonkers had last week.  In case you were wondering, to the best of my knowledge, the Meadowlands in New Jersey is the best harness track in the country.  I used to go there with my friend Rob.  I remember the night in the late 80's when they gave away a car (Hyundais i think) after ever race.

Picking thoroughbreds is easier, it is far too easy for harness horses to get blocked so they have no chance of winning.

Hopefully I'll have something interesting to post in the next few days.

In the mean time, this is a funny post I ran across today.  It would help to be an electrical engineer.

Here's another one, have you ever seen a lobster without a shell?  Hat tip, Boing Boing.

Ok, one more, this guy is very funny.  On his original site you can waste lots of time looking at his cartoons.

My Name in Print

So, I wrote a post about the Coke Rewards program 8 months ago.  It's pretty much the only way random people end up on my site is through Google searches related to the program.

I got an E-Mail from someone at the Wall Street Journal last week.  His name is Carl Bialik has a column on the website and was doing a story about the Coke program and wanted to talk with me.

I ended up talking with him for 10 minutes about the program.  His boss pushed him to write about the program, apparently.  The story came out last week, and I was named in the column.  Go check it out.

Studio 60 Second Take

So, I was a big fan of Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip when it first came on the air.  The pilot was great, the second episode was even better, and it sure looked like a big hit.

Well, for the most part, I've been disappointed with the show since then.  For some reason, Aaron Sorkin & his writers decided what the show needed was a bunch of love story plots.   I'm not sure why, the plots about the show were compelling for the most part and the funny parts were funny.

The two parter with John Goodman was great.  And for the most part everything else has been blah.  There is no chemistry between the couples-to-be.

The show needs more funny interplay and less of the love stories.  Or at least have a serious subplot not about a love story.  By my count they are up to three couples.  That's at least two too many.

I'll keep watching through the end of February.  If it doesn't get better, I'm done with it.