Aussie Millions Satellite Review

NOTE: Poker content blog...could get boring! Comments will be after each hand, and hands are seperated by *****************

*********** # 3 **************
PokerStars Game #14036964711: Tournament #70311069, $500+$30 Hold'em No Limit - Level I (10/20) - 2007/12/22 - 22:01:13 (ET)
Table '70311069 10' 9-max Seat #6 is the button
Seat 4: billig (3000 in chips)
Seat 5: malone77 (2950 in chips)
Seat 6: gloierm (3070 in chips)
Seat 7: THESHARK222 (2980 in chips)
Seat 8: wesleyw (3000 in chips)
Seat 9: Bake 'n Rake (3000 in chips) is sitting out
THESHARK222: posts small blind 10
wesleyw: posts big blind 20
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to wesleyw [Ad Qd]
Bake 'n Rake: folds
billig: raises 80 to 100
malone77: folds
gloierm: folds
THESHARK222: folds
wesleyw: calls 80
*** FLOP *** [Jc Qh 8h]
wesleyw: checks
billig: bets 175
wesleyw: raises 375 to 550
billig: folds
wesleyw collected 560 from pot
wesleyw: doesn't show hand

First hand I played, pretty standard against an unknown player.

*********** # 4 **************
PokerStars Game #14036980188: Tournament #70311069, $500+$30 Hold'em No Limit - Level I (10/20) - 2007/12/22 - 22:02:04 (ET)
Table '70311069 10' 9-max Seat #7 is the button
Seat 4: billig (2725 in chips)
Seat 5: malone77 (2950 in chips)
Seat 6: gloierm (3070 in chips)
Seat 7: THESHARK222 (2970 in chips)
Seat 8: wesleyw (3285 in chips)
Seat 9: Bake 'n Rake (3000 in chips) is sitting out
wesleyw: posts small blind 10
Bake 'n Rake: posts big blind 20
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to wesleyw [Ks Qc]
billig: folds
malone77: folds
gloierm: raises 40 to 60
THESHARK222: calls 60
wesleyw: calls 50
Bake 'n Rake: folds
*** FLOP *** [9c Kh Ad]
wesleyw: checks
gloierm: checks
THESHARK222: checks
*** TURN *** [9c Kh Ad] [Th]
wesleyw: bets 120
gloierm: folds
THESHARK222: calls 120
*** RIVER *** [9c Kh Ad Th] [9s]
wesleyw: checks
THESHARK222: bets 200
wesleyw: calls 200
*** SHOW DOWN ***
THESHARK222: shows [Kd 9h] (a full house, Nines full of Kings)
wesleyw: mucks hand
THESHARK222 collected 840 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 840 | Rake 0
Board [9c Kh Ad Th 9s]
Seat 4: billig folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 5: malone77 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 6: gloierm folded on the Turn
Seat 7: THESHARK222 (button) showed [Kd 9h] and won (840) with a full house, Nines full of Kings
Seat 8: wesleyw (small blind) mucked [Ks Qc]
Seat 9: Bake 'n Rake (big blind) folded before Flop

I think this is the first mistake I made. If I wanted to play, I should've re-raised preflop. No sense of playing a marginal hand out of position. As it turns out I probably lost the minimum here.

*********** # 22 **************
PokerStars Game #14037212047: Tournament #70311069, $500+$30 Hold'em No Limit - Level I (10/20) - 2007/12/22 - 22:15:09 (ET)
Table '70311069 10' 9-max Seat #2 is the button
Seat 1: knight1688 (2710 in chips)
Seat 2: Zeppo72 (2300 in chips)
Seat 4: billig (1775 in chips)
Seat 5: malone77 (5020 in chips)
Seat 6: gloierm (4330 in chips)
Seat 7: THESHARK222 (2120 in chips)
Seat 8: wesleyw (2785 in chips)
Seat 9: Bake 'n Rake (2910 in chips) is sitting out
billig: posts small blind 10
malone77: posts big blind 20
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to wesleyw [5s 5c]
gloierm: folds
THESHARK222: folds
wesleyw: raises 40 to 60
Bake 'n Rake: folds
knight1688: calls 60
Zeppo72: folds
billig: folds
malone77: folds
*** FLOP *** [Ah 5d 4c]
wesleyw: bets 100
knight1688: calls 100
*** TURN *** [Ah 5d 4c] [3h]
wesleyw: bets 200
knight1688: raises 200 to 400
wesleyw: calls 200
*** RIVER *** [Ah 5d 4c 3h] [Qc]
wesleyw: checks
knight1688: checks
*** SHOW DOWN ***
wesleyw: shows [5s 5c] (three of a kind, Fives)
knight1688: mucks hand
wesleyw collected 1150 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 1150 | Rake 0
Board [Ah 5d 4c 3h Qc]
Seat 1: knight1688 mucked [Ts Ac]
Seat 2: Zeppo72 (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 4: billig (small blind) folded before Flop
Seat 5: malone77 (big blind) folded before Flop
Seat 6: gloierm folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 7: THESHARK222 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 8: wesleyw showed [5s 5c] and won (1150) with three of a kind, Fives
Seat 9: Bake 'n Rake folded before Flop (didn't bet)

Nothing really happens for awhile. I basically just folded up until this hand. So I'm in middle position here and decides to raise with presto (aka 55). Gets a caller from knight1688 who hasn't played a hand this whole tournament. Flopping a set helped alot, especially with the A as well. knight1688 here will have an ace with a pretty good kicker for the most part. A9+ (meaning A9, A10, AJ, AQ, AK) is my guess. My mistake came on the turn. The min-raise by knight threw me off. Based on the way this hand played out so far, I can't imagine him having A2 (or a hand with any 2 in it) or 67. It turns out to be a block raise so he can see the showdown for free. But I should have just shoved over his raise on the turn, and will probably be called half the time, and I'm good almost 99% of the time. A bet on the river probably wouldn't be too bad either if for some reason he was playing AQ or something, but basically I won the minimum this hand.

*********** # 28 **************
PokerStars Game #14037313099: Tournament #70311069, $500+$30 Hold'em No Limit - Level II (15/30) - 2007/12/22 - 22:20:55 (ET)
Table '70311069 10' 9-max Seat #9 is the button
Seat 1: knight1688 (2060 in chips)
Seat 2: Zeppo72 (2300 in chips)
Seat 4: billig (1585 in chips)
Seat 5: malone77 (5410 in chips)
Seat 6: gloierm (4590 in chips)
Seat 7: THESHARK222 (1820 in chips)
Seat 8: wesleyw (3305 in chips)
Seat 9: Bake 'n Rake (2880 in chips) is sitting out
knight1688: posts small blind 15
Zeppo72: posts big blind 30
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to wesleyw [6h 6s]
billig: raises 90 to 120
malone77: folds
gloierm: folds
THESHARK222: folds
wesleyw: calls 120
Bake 'n Rake: folds
knight1688: folds
Zeppo72: folds
*** FLOP *** [3h Tc Jc]
billig: bets 150
wesleyw: raises 250 to 400
billig: calls 250
*** TURN *** [3h Tc Jc] [7h]
billig: checks
wesleyw: checks
*** RIVER *** [3h Tc Jc 7h] [4d]
billig: bets 450
wesleyw: calls 450
*** SHOW DOWN ***
billig: shows [Qs Js] (a pair of Jacks)
wesleyw: mucks hand
billig collected 1985 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 1985 | Rake 0
Board [3h Tc Jc 7h 4d]
Seat 1: knight1688 (small blind) folded before Flop
Seat 2: Zeppo72 (big blind) folded before Flop
Seat 4: billig showed [Qs Js] and won (1985) with a pair of Jacks
Seat 5: malone77 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 6: gloierm folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 7: THESHARK222 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 8: wesleyw mucked [6h 6s]
Seat 9: Bake 'n Rake (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)

A few hands later this came up. I should've just foled on the flop without hitting a set, but monkey brain just decided to raise there to see if this player had a hand. After getting called on the flop I should have just gone to check-fold, so I don't know why I called the river bet. Bad play and lost more chips than necessary

*********** # 32 **************
PokerStars Game #14037381293: Tournament #70311069, $500+$30 Hold'em No Limit - Level II (15/30) - 2007/12/22 - 22:24:51 (ET)
Table '70311069 10' 9-max Seat #5 is the button
Seat 1: knight1688 (2015 in chips)
Seat 2: Zeppo72 (2255 in chips)
Seat 3: avi23 (3910 in chips)
Seat 4: billig (2740 in chips)
Seat 5: malone77 (4890 in chips)
Seat 6: gloierm (4970 in chips)
Seat 7: THESHARK222 (1865 in chips)
Seat 8: wesleyw (2335 in chips)
Seat 9: Bake 'n Rake (2880 in chips) is sitting out
gloierm: posts small blind 15
THESHARK222: posts big blind 30
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to wesleyw [6h 6c]
wesleyw: calls 30
Bake 'n Rake: folds
knight1688: calls 30
Zeppo72: folds
avi23: calls 30
billig: raises 130 to 160
malone77: folds
gloierm: folds
THESHARK222: folds
wesleyw: calls 130
knight1688: folds
avi23: folds
*** FLOP *** [Ac Jc 7h]
wesleyw: checks
billig: bets 350
wesleyw: folds
billig collected 425 from pot
billig: doesn't show hand

66 again, against the same guy. Not sure if I like limping in from UTG, and also cold-calling with 2 players to act behind me. Could've easily been squeezed but this time I smartly check-folded without flopping a set.

*********** # 36 **************
PokerStars Game #14037448658: Tournament #70311069, $500+$30 Hold'em No Limit - Level II (15/30) - 2007/12/22 - 22:28:46 (ET)
Table '70311069 10' 9-max Seat #9 is the button
Seat 1: knight1688 (1595 in chips)
Seat 2: Zeppo72 (2255 in chips)
Seat 3: avi23 (4315 in chips)
Seat 4: billig (3020 in chips)
Seat 5: malone77 (3670 in chips)
Seat 6: gloierm (6220 in chips)
Seat 7: THESHARK222 (1820 in chips)
Seat 8: wesleyw (2130 in chips)
Seat 9: Bake 'n Rake (2835 in chips) is sitting out
knight1688: posts small blind 15
Zeppo72: posts big blind 30
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to wesleyw [8c Tc]
avi23: folds
billig: folds
malone77: raises 60 to 90
gloierm: calls 90
THESHARK222: folds
wesleyw: raises 230 to 320
Bake 'n Rake: folds
knight1688: folds
Zeppo72: folds
malone77: calls 230
gloierm: folds
*** FLOP *** [Kh 6c 8d]
malone77: checks
wesleyw: bets 420
malone77: calls 420
*** TURN *** [Kh 6c 8d] [9s]
malone77: checks
wesleyw: checks
*** RIVER *** [Kh 6c 8d 9s] [7c]
malone77: bets 990
wesleyw: raises 400 to 1390 and is all-in
malone77: calls 400
*** SHOW DOWN ***
wesleyw: shows [8c Tc] (a straight, Six to Ten)
malone77: shows [Th 9h] (a straight, Six to Ten)
malone77 collected 2198 from pot
wesleyw collected 2197 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 4395 | Rake 0
Board [Kh 6c 8d 9s 7c]
Seat 1: knight1688 (small blind) folded before Flop
Seat 2: Zeppo72 (big blind) folded before Flop
Seat 3: avi23 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 4: billig folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 5: malone77 showed [Th 9h] and won (2198) with a straight, Six to Ten
Seat 6: gloierm folded before Flop
Seat 7: THESHARK222 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 8: wesleyw showed [8c Tc] and won (2197) with a straight, Six to Ten
Seat 9: Bake 'n Rake (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)

malone77 has been opening about 60% of the hands up to this point. Alot of the times raising behind limpers and in position. I randomly decide to 3-bet him light with 10-8 of clubs, just figured that this would be a hand thats pretty disguised and more importantly I would have position on him. Flop wasn't a bad flop, but his call on the flop did shut me down for the turn card as he could easily be playing some hands that would've hit. The river put a 4 card straight and I was sure that I had the best hand since I don't see him calling the flop bet with a J10 there unless he was floating which would've been really ugly. Just thought it was an interesting hand...

*********** # 51 **************
PokerStars Game #14037647266: Tournament #70311069, $500+$30 Hold'em No Limit - Level II (15/30) - 2007/12/22 - 22:39:48 (ET)
Table '70311069 10' 9-max Seat #6 is the button
Seat 1: knight1688 (2285 in chips)
Seat 2: Zeppo72 (2480 in chips)
Seat 3: avi23 (4675 in chips)
Seat 4: billig (2930 in chips)
Seat 5: malone77 (3288 in chips)
Seat 6: gloierm (5950 in chips)
Seat 7: THESHARK222 (1115 in chips)
Seat 8: wesleyw (2347 in chips)
THESHARK222: posts small blind 15
wesleyw: posts big blind 30
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to wesleyw [6d 6h]
knight1688: folds
Zeppo72: folds
avi23: folds
billig: folds
malone77: raises 60 to 90
gloierm: folds
THESHARK222: folds
wesleyw: calls 60
*** FLOP *** [3c 6s Ts]
wesleyw: checks
malone77: checks
*** TURN *** [3c 6s Ts] [5c]
wesleyw: bets 120
malone77: folds
wesleyw collected 195 from pot
wesleyw: doesn't show hand

I fold some more, and malone77 again raises like he has been for like 50%+ of the hands. I find 66..again, and decides to play for set value. Flops a set and it goes check check, and was hoping he was trapping with an overpair or something but got no action...

*********** # 53 **************
PokerStars Game #14037678492: Tournament #70311069, $500+$30 Hold'em No Limit - Level III (25/50) - 2007/12/22 - 22:41:30 (ET)
Table '70311069 10' 9-max Seat #8 is the button
Seat 1: knight1688 (2085 in chips)
Seat 2: Zeppo72 (2480 in chips)
Seat 3: avi23 (4475 in chips)
Seat 4: billig (2730 in chips)
Seat 5: malone77 (3823 in chips)
Seat 6: gloierm (5950 in chips)
Seat 7: THESHARK222 (1100 in chips)
Seat 8: wesleyw (2427 in chips)
knight1688: posts small blind 25
Zeppo72: posts big blind 50
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to wesleyw [8h 8s]
avi23: folds
billig: folds
malone77: folds
gloierm: folds
THESHARK222: folds
wesleyw: raises 100 to 150
knight1688: folds
Zeppo72: calls 100
*** FLOP *** [Jh 2d 9h]
Zeppo72: checks
wesleyw: checks
*** TURN *** [Jh 2d 9h] [7d]
Zeppo72: checks
wesleyw: checks
*** RIVER *** [Jh 2d 9h 7d] [2s]
Zeppo72: checks
wesleyw: checks
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Zeppo72: shows [5s 5h] (two pair, Fives and Deuces)
wesleyw: shows [8h 8s] (two pair, Eights and Deuces)
wesleyw collected 325 from pot

Nothing really interesting. In a sense I didn't want to get raised off the best hand, and I did want to show this hand down to show I'm not stealing even though the blinds are still small. Maybe I could've put out a value bet on the turn or the river.

*********** # 64 **************
PokerStars Game #14037786577: Tournament #70311069, $500+$30 Hold'em No Limit - Level III (25/50) - 2007/12/22 - 22:47:35 (ET)
Table '70311069 10' 9-max Seat #3 is the button
Seat 1: knight1688 (2060 in chips)
Seat 2: Zeppo72 (2180 in chips)
Seat 3: avi23 (4400 in chips)
Seat 5: malone77 (3573 in chips)
Seat 6: gloierm (9230 in chips)
Seat 7: THESHARK222 (1125 in chips)
Seat 8: wesleyw (2502 in chips)
malone77: posts small blind 25
gloierm: posts big blind 50
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to wesleyw [Th Ac]
THESHARK222: calls 50
wesleyw: raises 150 to 200
knight1688: folds
Zeppo72: calls 200
avi23: folds
malone77: folds
gloierm: folds
THESHARK222: folds
*** FLOP *** [As 7c 6s]
MfrigginL is connected
wesleyw: bets 300
Zeppo72: calls 300
*** TURN *** [As 7c 6s] [Js]
wesleyw: checks
Zeppo72: bets 550
wesleyw: calls 550
*** RIVER *** [As 7c 6s Js] [7h]
wesleyw: checks
Zeppo72: checks
*** SHOW DOWN ***
wesleyw: shows [Th Ac] (two pair, Aces and Sevens)
Zeppo72: shows [Kh Ad] (two pair, Aces and Sevens - King kicker)
Zeppo72 collected 2225 from pot

This was another hand where I lost more chips. Shark has been playing pretty nitty and was shortstacked. In retrospect I probably could've folded to the turn bet, but I was check-folding to any river bet.

*********** # 66 **************
PokerStars Game #14037813885: Tournament #70311069, $500+$30 Hold'em No Limit - Level III (25/50) - 2007/12/22 - 22:49:07 (ET)
Table '70311069 10' 9-max Seat #6 is the button
Seat 1: knight1688 (2210 in chips)
Seat 2: Zeppo72 (3355 in chips)
Seat 3: avi23 (4400 in chips)
Seat 4: MfrigginL (3575 in chips) is sitting out
Seat 5: malone77 (3498 in chips)
Seat 6: gloierm (9130 in chips)
Seat 7: THESHARK222 (1025 in chips)
Seat 8: wesleyw (1452 in chips)
THESHARK222: posts small blind 25
wesleyw: posts big blind 50
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to wesleyw [Qh Qs]
knight1688: folds
Zeppo72: folds
avi23: raises 200 to 250
MfrigginL: folds
malone77: folds
gloierm: folds
THESHARK222: folds
wesleyw: raises 400 to 650
avi23: raises 3750 to 4400 and is all-in
wesleyw: calls 802 and is all-in
*** FLOP *** [5s 6h 9d]
*** TURN *** [5s 6h 9d] [9c]
*** RIVER *** [5s 6h 9d 9c] [Js]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
wesleyw: shows [Qh Qs] (two pair, Queens and Nines)
avi23: shows [As Kd] (a pair of Nines)
wesleyw collected 2929 from pot

Got short-stacked after the last hand so pretty standard, good to win a race for once thats for sure.

*********** # 71 **************
PokerStars Game #14037892722: Tournament #70311069, $500+$30 Hold'em No Limit - Level III (25/50) - 2007/12/22 - 22:53:26 (ET)
Table '70311069 10' 9-max Seat #3 is the button
Seat 1: knight1688 (1885 in chips)
Seat 2: Zeppo72 (2980 in chips)
Seat 3: avi23 (2848 in chips)
Seat 4: MfrigginL (3525 in chips) is sitting out
Seat 5: malone77 (4668 in chips)
Seat 6: gloierm (8810 in chips)
Seat 7: THESHARK222 (1075 in chips)
Seat 8: wesleyw (2854 in chips)
MfrigginL: posts small blind 25
malone77: posts big blind 50
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to wesleyw [Qd As]
gloierm: folds
THESHARK222: folds
wesleyw: raises 100 to 150
knight1688: calls 150
Zeppo72: raises 300 to 450
avi23: folds
MfrigginL: folds
malone77: folds
wesleyw: folds
knight1688: folds
Zeppo72 collected 525 from pot
Zeppo72: doesn't show hand
*** SUMMARY ***

I was probably squeezed here and probably should've at least called to see a flop, but I don't hate the fold.

*********** # 85 **************
PokerStars Game #14038150657: Tournament #70311069, $500+$30 Hold'em No Limit - Level IV (50/100) - 2007/12/22 - 23:07:53 (ET)
Table '70311069 10' 9-max Seat #8 is the button
Seat 1: knight1688 (2535 in chips)
Seat 2: Zeppo72 (3480 in chips)
Seat 3: avi23 (2123 in chips)
Seat 4: MfrigginL (3425 in chips) is sitting out
Seat 5: malone77 (4918 in chips)
Seat 6: gloierm (8510 in chips)
Seat 7: THESHARK222 (1125 in chips)
Seat 8: wesleyw (2704 in chips)
Seat 9: RomfordRobot (2450 in chips) is sitting out
RomfordRobot: posts small blind 50
knight1688: posts big blind 100
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to wesleyw [As 9s]
Zeppo72: folds
avi23: folds
MfrigginL: folds
malone77: raises 200 to 300
gloierm has timed out
gloierm: folds
gloierm is sitting out
THESHARK222: folds
wesleyw: calls 300
RomfordRobot: folds
gloierm has returned
knight1688: folds
*** FLOP *** [3c 9h 2d]
malone77: checks
wesleyw: bets 500
malone77: folds
wesleyw collected 750 from pot
wesleyw: doesn't show hand

Pretty standard bet after malone checked.

*********** # 92 **************
PokerStars Game #14038247071: Tournament #70311069, $500+$30 Hold'em No Limit - Level IV (50/100) - 2007/12/22 - 23:13:23 (ET)
Table '70311069 10' 9-max Seat #6 is the button
Seat 1: knight1688 (2135 in chips)
Seat 2: Zeppo72 (3330 in chips)
Seat 3: avi23 (1373 in chips)
Seat 4: MfrigginL (3275 in chips) is sitting out
Seat 5: malone77 (4668 in chips)
Seat 6: gloierm (9210 in chips)
Seat 7: THESHARK222 (1075 in chips)
Seat 8: wesleyw (3804 in chips)
Seat 9: RomfordRobot (2400 in chips) is sitting out
THESHARK222: posts small blind 50
wesleyw: posts big blind 100
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to wesleyw [Th Kh]
RomfordRobot: folds
knight1688: folds
Zeppo72: raises 200 to 300
avi23: calls 300
MfrigginL: folds
malone77: calls 300
gloierm: folds
THESHARK222: folds
wesleyw: calls 200
*** FLOP *** [6c 3h Ah]
wesleyw: checks
Zeppo72: bets 1000
avi23: folds
malone77: folds
wesleyw: raises 2504 to 3504 and is all-in
Zeppo72: folds
wesleyw collected 3250 from pot
wesleyw: doesn't show hand
*** SUMMARY ***

Only reason I decided to see a flop with this hand is that I close the action from the BB. Decent flop for me as I do flop a flush draw. Zeppo has been making continuation bets on almost all of his raises, and with a 5/6 bet, it feels like he just wants to bet players out hence I went with the check-raise semi-bluff. Even if called I would have some outs in the hand with the flush draw in this spot.


*********** # 106 **************
PokerStars Game #14038417905: Tournament #70311069, $500+$30 Hold'em No Limit - Level IV (50/100) - 2007/12/22 - 23:23:20 (ET)
Table '70311069 10' 9-max Seat #2 is the button
Seat 1: knight1688 (1885 in chips)
Seat 2: Zeppo72 (1105 in chips)
Seat 3: avi23 (873 in chips)
Seat 4: Sydney St@r (1510 in chips)
Seat 5: malone77 (5618 in chips)
Seat 6: gloierm (9810 in chips)
Seat 7: THESHARK222 (2250 in chips)
Seat 8: wesleyw (5304 in chips)
Seat 9: RomfordRobot (2100 in chips) is sitting out
avi23: posts small blind 50
Sydney St@r: posts big blind 100
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to wesleyw [Ah Tc]
malone77: folds
gloierm: folds
THESHARK222: folds
wesleyw: raises 200 to 300
RomfordRobot: folds
knight1688: folds
Zeppo72: folds
avi23: calls 250
Sydney St@r: folds
*** FLOP *** [Jc 5c 8c]
avi23: bets 573 and is all-in
wesleyw: calls 573
*** TURN *** [Jc 5c 8c] [Qd]
*** RIVER *** [Jc 5c 8c Qd] [As]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
avi23: shows [7d 7h] (a pair of Sevens)
wesleyw: shows [Ah Tc] (a pair of Aces)
wesleyw collected 1846 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***

This played felt exactly like a stop and go to me, and getting 2.4 to 1 or so, with any club and an ace being probably good, and maybe even my 10, I was willing to get chips in there to gamble. It worked out in the end but glad that my read is so far so good.

*********** # 110 **************
PokerStars Game #14038459578: Tournament #70311069, $500+$30 Hold'em No Limit - Level IV (50/100) - 2007/12/22 - 23:25:48 (ET)
Table '70311069 10' 9-max Seat #8 is the button
Seat 1: knight1688 (1785 in chips)
Seat 2: Zeppo72 (1105 in chips)
Seat 3: floes (4550 in chips)
Seat 4: Sydney St@r (1810 in chips)
Seat 5: malone77 (7868 in chips)
Seat 6: gloierm (9660 in chips)
Seat 8: wesleyw (6227 in chips)
Seat 9: RomfordRobot (2000 in chips) is sitting out
RomfordRobot: posts small blind 50
knight1688: posts big blind 100
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to wesleyw [9s 9c]
Zeppo72: folds
floes: folds
Sydney St@r: folds
malone77: folds
gloierm: raises 200 to 300
wesleyw: raises 800 to 1100
RomfordRobot: folds
knight1688: folds
gloierm: folds
wesleyw collected 750 from pot
wesleyw: doesn't show hand
*** SUMMARY ***

gloeirm has been taking advantage of his position on the sitting out player and opening alot when its folded to him, so I took a stand with 99 here preflop.

*********** # 119 **************
PokerStars Game #14038530669: Tournament #70311069, $500+$30 Hold'em No Limit - Level V (75/150) - 2007/12/22 - 23:30:02 (ET)
Table '70311069 11' 9-max Seat #6 is the button
Seat 1: malone77 (10503 in chips)
Seat 2: Electronutz (6025 in chips)
Seat 3: Bake 'n Rake (2115 in chips) is sitting out
Seat 4: wesleyw (6677 in chips)
Seat 5: noam (10170 in chips)
Seat 6: latinogrek (6420 in chips)
Seat 7: Diamond<>T (4200 in chips)
Seat 8: shaka 1234 (4115 in chips)
Seat 9: vouna (3905 in chips)
Diamond<>T: posts small blind 75
shaka 1234: posts big blind 150
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to wesleyw [As Qs]
vouna: folds
malone77: raises 300 to 450
Electronutz: folds
Bake 'n Rake: folds
wesleyw: calls 450
noam: calls 450
latinogrek: folds
Diamond<>T: folds
shaka 1234: calls 300
*** FLOP *** [Kd 7c 9d]
shaka 1234: checks
malone77: bets 900
wesleyw: folds
noam: folds
shaka 1234: folds
malone77 collected 1875 from pot

Not sure if I like my play here with AQ. Probably marginal both ways calling/folding/re-raising. Check-fold to a flop that missed...I guess its standard with malone's tendency.

*********** # 127 **************
PokerStars Game #14038622286: Tournament #70311069, $500+$30 Hold'em No Limit - Level V (75/150) - 2007/12/22 - 23:35:33 (ET)
Table '70311069 11' 9-max Seat #5 is the button
Seat 1: malone77 (11703 in chips)
Seat 2: Electronutz (5350 in chips)
Seat 3: Bake 'n Rake (1890 in chips) is sitting out
Seat 4: wesleyw (6227 in chips)
Seat 5: noam (14070 in chips)
Seat 6: latinogrek (6270 in chips)
Seat 8: shaka 1234 (2690 in chips)
Seat 9: vouna (5930 in chips)
latinogrek: posts small blind 75
shaka 1234: posts big blind 150
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to wesleyw [8d As]
vouna: folds
malone77: folds
Electronutz: folds
Bake 'n Rake: folds
wesleyw: raises 300 to 450
noam: folds
latinogrek: calls 375
shaka 1234: folds
*** FLOP *** [6c 7c 4c]
latinogrek: checks
wesleyw: checks
*** TURN *** [6c 7c 4c] [Qs]
latinogrek: checks
wesleyw: checks
*** RIVER *** [6c 7c 4c Qs] [3c]
latinogrek: bets 600
wesleyw: raises 900 to 1500
latinogrek: folds
wesleyw collected 2250 from pot
wesleyw: doesn't show hand
*** SUMMARY ***

River bet looked too much like a "you raised but not following through so I will take a stab at this pot" bet. So I decided to represent the Ac which worked.

*********** # 140 **************
PokerStars Game #14038742922: Tournament #70311069, $500+$30 Hold'em No Limit - Level V (75/150) - 2007/12/22 - 23:42:50 (ET)
Table '70311069 11' 9-max Seat #2 is the button
Seat 1: malone77 (12003 in chips)
Seat 2: Electronutz (5800 in chips)
Seat 3: Bake 'n Rake (1515 in chips) is sitting out
Seat 4: wesleyw (4277 in chips)
Seat 5: noam (17370 in chips)
Seat 6: latinogrek (6570 in chips)
Seat 8: shaka 1234 (2240 in chips)
Seat 9: vouna (4355 in chips)
Bake 'n Rake: posts small blind 75
wesleyw: posts big blind 150
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to wesleyw [Qc Ad]
noam: folds
latinogrek: raises 300 to 450
shaka 1234: folds
vouna: folds
malone77: calls 450
Electronutz: folds
Bake 'n Rake: folds
wesleyw: raises 1350 to 1800
latinogrek: folds
malone77: calls 1350
*** FLOP *** [2h 5c 9h]
wesleyw: bets 2477 and is all-in
malone77: calls 2477
*** TURN *** [2h 5c 9h] [9c]
*** RIVER *** [2h 5c 9h 9c] [8s]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
wesleyw: shows [Qc Ad] (a pair of Nines)
malone77: shows [6d 6h] (two pair, Nines and Sixes)
malone77 collected 9079 from pot

The hand that I played horribly. I have been 3-betting malone77 pretty light, and with my stack, the re-raise basically commited me to the pot, so I should've just shoved preflop. I won't analyzed malone's play, but it was probably a light call on his part, but my mistake was only re-raising and not shoving preflop.

So thats that. I was hoping for a Christmas gift to the Aussie Millions, but I guess I now have to wait until the WSOP.

Looking back, I did make a few glaring errors, in which one cost me my tournament life. Not sure if he would've folded to a shove preflop, but I think that would've been the right/better play. This analysis really shows me that there is still alot of holes in my tournament game even though I've been getting into the money on a regular basis lately, but really haven't had any significant scores except for a second place finish in a $33 HORSE tournament a couple of weeks ago. I really felt like I had a good shot winning a seat at this satellite because there wasn't any players I recognized who are MTT experts (multi-table tournament), and from checking a database with records, most players that are playing haven't had any major success from tournaments, so relatively speaking, it was a pretty easy field. Obviously I'm a bit disappointed from not qualifying, but there are many more opportunities in the future.

Annual Tradition

No, its not going shopping, nor doing anything festive really. For the past 7 or 8 years, I've spent the parts of the Christmas holidays watching the World Junior Hockey Championship. It is one of my favourite hockey tournaments to watch, and it helps that I have some game used memorabilia - but thats another subject altogether. The reason why I like to watch it so much, besides the fact that Canada tends to dominate the tournament, is the quality of hockey offered. The players playing might not have the skills set of NHL players, for some this tournament might even be their last chance to play on national television, but all of the players who participates give 110% every single shift (as much as that is a cliche). These players play because they love the game, they are proud of putting on the maple leaf sweater, and more important they want to showcase their skills to advance to the next level. As much as players in the NHL are more skilled, there are games where it is simply boring to watch. I don't think I've experienced a single boring game yet from the WJHC. It is simply the best tournament there is, maybe besides the Olympics, but that only happens once every 4 years.

While I'm on that topic, here is a funny story from the WJHC courtesy of Gord Miller from TSN.

Thousands of Canadian fans from Manitoba and Saskatchewan drove down for the games, but one night the highway was closed due to a snowstorm, meaning the fans could not return home. Local officials opened the domed football stadium, and nearly 5,000 fans spent the night there.

The officials later reported two things: that the Canadians pitched in and cleaned up the next morning, leaving the stadium in immaculate condition, and that they sold more beer that night than they sold in an entire season of North Dakota football.

I wish I lived in Manchester

Sir Bobby book signing

Always wanted to get Sir Bobby Charlton's autograph? Well, here's your chance.

United's all-time highest appearance maker will be at the Old Trafford megastore on Friday 30 November to sign copies of his new autobiography, 'Sir Bobby Charlton: My Manchester United Years'.

The legendary Red will be at the megastore between 12:00-13:00 GMT.

You are advised to arrive in good time. As the signing session is limited to one hour, it will be operated on a first come, first serve basis.

Taking the bus

The last couple of nights, I've gone to bed, with my mind racing at like 100 miles per hour. Its those times where I'm just lying on my bed, and things just running through my mind. Its not anything in particular, but just things, alot of things, running through my head at the same time. And it just feels like I haven't had much down time this term. It is a big convenience to have a car here in Waterloo this term, it saves alot of time from waiting for the bus, and also makes it alot easier to go grocery shopping and what not. However, it also feels like I'm constantly on the go. I no longer have those time to myself, where I spend time with God, talking to him, and I guess in a way it was like prayer. Last year, I had to wait for the bus, and the trip to school from the bus took 15-20 minutes. It was those times when I felt I really was able to spend time alone and really become "deep in tought". I would be listening to my music, and just tune myself out from the world. I've never really been a person that does my daily devos. I feel it is very forced when I try to do it daily. I am more of a person who enjoys listening to sermons, and looking up passages that I come across, etc. I have never been a person who sits in front of a desk and follows a devo track or something. I don't know, I have done it before, but I found myself learning more the way I do it now, versus the past where I have to force myself to do it. But this year, without those times, I find myself constantly on the move, rarely having that "alone" time. I find that there are periods of time where I stop growing spiritually. It feels more like I'm on a standstill, not moving forward. I need to find a way to go back to what I did, at least replicate what I did.

Yes, I know, this post probably didn't make much sense, but its my blog, what can you do about it?! =þ

Random Thoughts

Sweet! Found another way to procrastinate. Just going to post some random thoughts on random topics...

- 2 words to describe the Leafs this year - mediocrity and inconsistency. After a tremendous effort against the best team in the East on Saturday, they come back and lose an absolute stinker to the Bruins. A team starting your team's former prospect against you was clearly rubbing salt in your wounds, yet the team still manage to blow a 2 - 0 lead. Is it the players? coach? GM?

- Sundin is playing his heart out this year. Hate to say it, but the Leafs have to trade him. I would LOVE to see Sundin win a Stanley Cup, unfortunately it will not be will the Leafs, but it would be great to see him go out the way Ray Bourque did.

- Between Maurice and JFJ, unfortunately it will be Maurice that goes first unless they bot last until the end of the season, and then JFJ will be gone

- It seems the more respected GMs in any league has an easier time making any type of deals...case and point - Brian Burke with now the Anaheim Ducks, and Brian Colangelo with the Raptors

- Moon has been awesome...I was skeptical at first, but he has been growing on me. He reminds me of a more athletic version of JYD.

- Had a chance to meet Anthony Parker, Jose Calderon and Jason Kapono the other day. They were great and funny guys...

- Still deciding whether or not to go Black Friday shopping or not. I was quite excited for awhile, but the excitement kinda died the last few days...it'll either be Grove City or staying home...need to make a decision soon.

- Sad to see the Argos losing on Sunday. The defence did its job, the Bishop just couldn't muster any offence. Would've been nice to have the home team in the Grey Cup. With Glenn out, I don't think Winnipeg can win this game. Their defence will keep it close and their offence will score some points, but I think this is finally the year for Riders to win it again.

Time to wrap this up...time to go write the exam...

Reason Why I Hate School

#...2000 something?

I cannot attend the Hockey Hall of Fame induction ceremony, in which probably the best class of inductees in the past 20 years will be inducted, as a result of conflict with classes.

Stupid Runner Runners...

With midterms/assignments over for 2 weeks, I randomly decided to play some donkeys on Solar Poker. Over the past couple of weeks I ran my free money from them up to $1000. With the lack of game selection, there was only a 0.01/0.02, 0.05/0.10, and 1/2 game going. I decide to go donk around the 1/2 game just because its free money and because I can. That site is always full of short-stack donkeys who never buys in for the max. It was the ugliest run I have had...for a couple of months.

It was running well until I decided to flop 2 pair with 42o and gets it in against nothing but a back-door straight draw with Ace high and he just somehow makes the wheel.

And then I decides to get all my chips in with TPTK against a bluffing station and he decides to make running two pair.

Last straw came with a tilty donk decides to way over-raise my raise and we get everything in the middle with AK vs. A6. Yes..same story. I flop TPTK and he decides to hit running 6s.

Thats why I love online poker so much

The Future of AJ with the BJs

Here I am, 4 hours before my stats midterm, and I'm going to blog about Mr. AJ Burnett. Rumours has it that JP Ricciardi was on the trading block, a rumour that JP quickly denied. Here is my take. JP should ACTIVELY seek a team, whom would be interested in AJ's services, and in return can offer a couple of young arms, or player(s) that can fill out our holes (catcher, another starter, etc). Here are the reasons why:

1. This year's free agent class is pretty lame to say the least. Guys that would've been FA (Beckett, Buehrle, Zambrano) were all locked up to long term deals by their respective team during the year. With the exception of aging pitchers like Andy Pettitte (who said its either Yankees or retirement), David Wells, Tom Glavine and Kenny Rogers, this year's class of FA starting pitchers lacks depth, or impact player. In that case, teams seeking pitching help will find help via trade. AJ's $12 million per year, is a bargain for any team that picks him up, seeing how a guy like Gil Meche is going to make the same amount as Burnett will, but Burnett will definitely pick up better stats.

2. JP will be smart to deal AJ based on the opt-out clause (same clause A-Rod just exercised) at the end of the upcoming 2008 season. If AJ can put up the numbers he is capable of (16-8 isn't all that unlikely with his stuff - assuming he goes injury free), you can be sure AJ will opt-out so fast that it makes his fastball look slow. With the current market, you can be sure that AJ will definitely get a raise from his current 5 year, $55 million contract.

3. If AJ doesn't perform like he is capable of, and continues on to his .500 ways, starting less than 25 games per year, then the Blue Jays will be stuck with him for 2 more seasons. Do you really want to deal with a guy, who gets the ball every 5 days, earning $12 this season, and not knowing whether or not he can go 5 innings? Even Ted Lilly, who left Toronto, and is earning $10 million a season, put up better numbers than Burnett.

Signing out..

Rock Paper Scisssors Championship

You know its sad when an all-sports station is showing Rock Paper Scissors Championship...

Yes..they have a championship for Rock Paper Scissors...not only that, during the show, the talk of preparing oneself mentally and physically for the competition....

Check it out for yourself

http://www.usarps.com/news/articles/view/rock-paper-scissors-hits-big-time/14/

A new home

I was bored the other day...so just went around the house and took some pictures. So here it is...a little intro to the house I call home in Waterloo. Welcome to...476 Laurel Gate

















The scene that I encounter daily upon entering the house...shoes...

The living room and kitchen at the level above.

View of the living room from the kitchen.

And the entrance to my liar


My "work station". Fully equipped with a laptop, a 20.1" widescreen monitor, a 19" HDTV, and Xbox 360 Elite..

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

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

Registration code: 1868519

Sitting in class

Here I am sitting in class, listening to the prof discuss a group's mid-life crisis...yeah...enough said. So its been 4 weeks since I've moved back here. I don't know, it feels alot like a vacation in some way. Yeah..I did skip quite a few classes in the first 2 weeks, but I've slowly gotten into a routine of waking up quite early and starting to workout on a regular basis. Sleeping in is, and will always be, a waste of time. Those hour or two I spent sleeping in is now spent on doing something productive...or even if its unproductive, I'm still doing something and gaining a couple of hours a day really addes up at the end of a week/month/year. Having a car with me in school certainly adds ALOT of convenience to my daily life..I guess in the end it just comes down to whether or not I want to make this an enjoyable few months. Still not doing the best in school, but will definitely back to pick it up, or else...I don't even want to think about the consequences. I've never been, and will never be, someone who can just down and study for hours on hand. I'm a very hands on, practical person. Sitting in class, listening to various theories, just doesn't cut it for me. Sometimes I wish exams were case studies instead of questions that surrounds nothing but theory. Don't really have much choice but to grind this last couple of years out.

I should probably get back to paying attention in class...hopefully will get a pictorial tour of where I'm living up sometime soon.

Absolutely rigged

This link contains the extraordinary accusation that a bunch of players on Absolute poker could see their opponents' hole cards. (Edit: There is an updated thread here ). Accusations such as this, and online poker being 'rigged' are widespread, always untrue, and just used by losing players to justify their results. But this one is true. There is 0% chance that the players in questions don't have the ability to see all the cards at the table.

Basically, there are 3 or 4 accounts who play a beyond awful style of poker, yet never ever call down with a losing hand while at the same time never ever folding to bluffs. This includes making a call of a massive bet with Ten hi no draw on the turn, only to find that, surprise surprise, their opponent has 9 hi! This is imo probably the biggest scandal in online poker history, certainly since Planet Poker's RNG got hacked in 1999.

Some thoughts:

i) If stuff like this gets in the press, it's gonna really scare away fish from playing online poker. Selfishly, Id want it kept hush hush, but I think it's really important to have freedom of information and this chicanery should be exposed.

ii) It's going to be catastrophic for AP to admit this happened, even though the evidence is indisputable. I suspect that the accounts will be closed and AP will try to brush it under the carpet. Right now the only people that know about this are the High Stakes winners, whose business they don't really want that much. Further, they know that if they continue to have great games, people are just gonna make the assumption that the loophole has been closed, and play anyway.

iii) AP should compensate all the players who had their money stolen, whether they still have access to the cheaters' stolen funds or not.

iv) The cheater(s) is a total moron. He basically played 'perfectly' every single hand, NEVER calling down with a loser, NEVER failing to bluff an opponent who was weak, NEVER bluffing an opponent who was strong. Seriously, how dumb do you have to be to do that? This makes me think that we aren't dealing with a sophisticated computer hacker -- someone smart enough to do that (and I bet plenty of real smart folk have tried - and failed), would surely not be so dumb as to play so obviously. I would guess it's an inside job and that someone at AP who has access to the User Account settings is in on the swindle. Of course, AP will never admit this.

v) It's pretty fun to think about how you would play against these guys now. i.e. if you were playing someone who could see your hole cards and played like these thiefs, and you knew this, but they didn't know you knew this, what is optimal strategy? Could you actually be +EV?? Probably not, but it's fun to think about some of the scenarios that could come up. If you were given this omnivision, how would you play and how much money would you make? As these guys only got caught cos they were so goddamn retarded, who are we to guarantee that there aren't other people will similar superpowers, but smarter who have taken the online economy for a bunch of money?

vi) What should AP do? No one is going to trust them to come out with the full truth, seeing as that likely isn't in their best financial interests, and it seems like an inside job. Further, their support/investigations staff are a total and utter joke, people with limited smarts, knowledge of poker etc. They need to open their books up *completely* to an internationally respected auditors. Let them see *all* available evidence, work out who was involved, what the loophole is, how to close it etc. Make their report public. Invest serious time/money in making sure this doesn't happen again. Chances of this happening - 0.1% :(

-courtesy of Dean

Strategy Post - Sort of

So this is going to be a short strategy post. One hand I played recently that a couple people who was watching me play at the time asked how I could possibly make that play at that time. So I'm just going to go through my thought process and reveal a bit about online tells.

I'm going to go through this hand step-by-step, street-by-street. Names are deleted just for privacy purposes.

PokerStars Game #12141526209: Tournament #6-6, $25+$2 Hold'em No Limit - Level V (75/150) - 2007/09/19 - 01:25:43 (ET)
Table '61613026 1' 9-max Seat #9 is the button
Seat 1: Villain (2445 in chips)
Seat 2: Hero - ME (3465 in chips)
Seat 6: - (2825 in chips)
Seat 7: - (3295 in chips)
Seat 9: -(1470 in chips)
Villain: posts small blind 75
ME: posts big blind 150
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to ME [8h 6h]
-: folds
-: folds
-: folds
Villain: calls 75
Me: checks

So this is a Turbo Sit-and-Go, blinds goes up every 5 minutes. Hero is sitting in decent shape with a M of 17, and villain is not in bad shape sitting with M of 11.

Folded around to the blinds where hero gets a free look with 6-8 of hearts. A hand that I'm probably behind with, but could make a hand with.

*** FLOP *** [Qd 7h Ad]
Villain: checks
Me: bets 250
Villain: calls 250

So hero leads out for 5/6 of the pot. For anyone familiar with PokerStars, the bet amount scroll bar goes up by multiple of the big blind, going up by 1 big blind each time the bar is clicked (unless the scroll bar is actually scrolled). 250 represents a bet that is entered manually (this is important - will explain why later).

Players usually pair their hole cards 1/3 of the time, so hero took a stab at the pot hoping he can pick up some dead money. Villain calls. So he can either be on a flush draw, or he hit the board. If he hit the board, hero is drawing very thin, even if he is on a flush draw, hero is still drawing thin.

*** TURN *** [Qd 7h Ad] [6c]
Villain: checks
Me: checks

Easy check. Hero makes bottom pair, but with villain's call on the flop, bottom pair might not be good.

*** RIVER *** [Qd 7h Ad 6c] [7c]
Villain: bets 650
Me: calls 650

The board pairs, and flush doesn't come, and villain leads for 3/4 of the pot. Notice how the bet is again not a multiple of a big blind? So that means it was manually entered (DING DING DING). Remember my bet on the flop that was manually entered to try to represent something when I really have nothing, I called his bet based on what I tried to use on him. Trying to make the bet seem strong by entering an abnormal number. In poker, strong means weak, weak means strong. Whenever playing live, if someone looks very strong, the chances are they're weak, where as if they look timid and weak, they might be strong. So with that information available to us, I make the call...and the result is

*** SHOW DOWN ***
Villain: shows [5d Td] (a pair of Sevens)
Me: shows [8h 6h] (two pair, Sevens and Sixes)
Me collected 2100 from pot

And I was correct. Now, there are times when I could look foolish calling here and having villain show a hand that beats me, so don't always a hand the same way and evaluate your opponent the same way. This bettering pattern is similar to a tell Phil Gordon alluded to in his "Little Green Book". Whenever someone makes a bet, if he chooses a small number of large denomination chip, he is attempting to not intimidate his opponent since its only a small number of chip (so he is actually strong since he tries to look weak). Versus another opponent which chooses a large number of small denomination chips, that player is attempting to look strong and intimidating by betting with a large number of chips (strong means weak) when in reality he's bluffing.

Now, that was para-phrased, but its the same idea. Keep in mind though, no matter what type of tells you pick up, there is rarely a tell (if there is one at all) that is universal. Use the various information provided to you and process them altogether and make your decision.

APPT Seoul - Wasn't meant to be

Was actually pretty excited for this satellite, one in ten shot in getting a seat in the APPT tourney in Seoul in a couple of weeks. It seemed like I had a pretty tough table draw seeing how I recognized a couple of names and thats never a good thing. Was totally card-dead early on, combining with the fact that I misplayed a hand, I was down to 1500 from 3000 starting stack by first break. There were at least a couple of donks at the table, but I just couldn't get a hand to play against them. Won two consecutive double-up hands after coming back from break to get back to average stack. Finally picked up a hand vs. one of the donks, when I raised with AK UTG+1 and he literally pushes all in and I insta-call. He shows 77, which isn't all the surprising. Was hoping for a hand like Ax or Kx where I am in better shape, but I wasn't laying the hand down to him in that spot. He flops a set, turn gave me an additional 8 outs for a chop but the river blank and it just wasn't meant to be.

In retrospect, I could've gotten away from the AK but his range was to wide and I was a favorite against most of the hands, and definitely could've had him dominated, I don't think it made sense to fold. If it was from a couple of the other players at the table, then an argument could be made for folding, but against this one player, I think I got it in good.

So I guess my next goal is one of the EPTs as the finale in Australia conflicts with exams...

A Decent Run

I guess not being able to fall asleep could be a blessing in disguise? Got home from Destiny's at about 2am, but just couldn't seem to be able to fall asleep. So I decided to load up Stars and donk in a few tournaments and satellites. Turned into a pretty profitable evening. Took down a couple of the double shootout satellites into Sunday Million, and also finally winning some races to close out the $27 turbo SnGs. I feel like taking the past couple of months away really cleared my head in some of the decisions I am making. In a way it helped me focused more as it was getting to a point where it was a bit too much of a grind at times. Still hoping to qualify for the APPT in Seoul, Korea, and hopefully try to score a seat in one of the EPT, probably the one thats going to be in Dublin the last weekend of October. Other than that, nothing really special going on in that regards...

Perhaps...

...it just wasn't the right position
...this is just not for me
...the environment was not suited
...it was over my head
...it was a mistake from the start

...it could've went in a different direction
...more could've be done
...expectations were higher than it should've been

...it was just another lesson
...it was a challenge that needed to be overcome

Another one "down"

With the season over, and playoffs right around the corner, it feels like a repeat of 03-04. Thrust into a position where a challenge like no other presents itself. The similarities between no returning members, along with a team led by a rookie, and leading a team with youth with great potential, is not too different from gray and off-white. Stepping into a position of great responsibility, a position of great expectation, and more importantly, a position of greatness from the past, the expectation was high. While many assured this challenge would be met with great confidence, reality beg to differ. Many obstacles seemed impossible to climb, many holes seemed tto deep to climb out.

Like they say, a great beginning equates to winning half the battle. But it appeared as the battle was already lost before it even started. Never had so many challenges, obstacles and detours presented itself all at once, not even the experience of taking on all 3 positions on a new team prepared oneself for something like this.

It felt like the same battle all over again. Many times the feeling of inadequacy appeared, while regrets and questions of "what ifs" surfaces left and right after-the-fact. While rest assured the many positives to this project, one is left to wonder if more can be desired. Was it simply the bar of expectation being set too high? Or was it a wrong decision to begin with?

Certainly the blame cannot be placed on one shoulder, but is the responsibility not placed on a mature individual to lead the group? Whether by example, by action, or by words, is it not the responsibility to assist and provide guidance? Why did it feel like the efforts fell onto disabled bodies, words falling into death's ear? Improvements were clear in many aspects, but left much to be desired. Disappointments came as often as controversies in the sporting world.

Is expectation of oneself too high for those he was commanded to guide and assist? Was it simply a case of expectation too high? Stepping back into their shoes, at times, it became clear reason of disappointment was the immaturity of the others. Should immaturity solely be blamed? One could argue it could simply be a case of placing too much responsibility, or having too much expectation, for those who are simply not ready, or unwilling, to accept such.

Would it be simply a case of eating more than you can chew? Was it simply taking on a task too great, assuming responsibilities that one is not yet prepared for?

Food for Thought

"The nature of poker is for bad play to sometimes be rewarded and good play sometimes be punished. It's what keeps the fish coming back for more and ultimately pads my bankroll."

-Eric "Rizen" Lynch

NHL Awards Prediction

I hate work!!!! As a result of work, I have to turn down an offer to attend the 2007 NHL Awards Ceremony held at the Elgin Theatre on June 14th.

Onwards with the prediction.

Hart Memorial Trophy - Team MVP

Sidney Crosby - Winner
Martin Brodeur
Roberto Luongo

Sid the kid came back from his rookie season to put up even better numbers to lead his team to the playoffs. Even better is that he did it as a 19 year-old.

Vezina Trophy - Best Goalkeeper

Martin Brodeur
Miikka Kiprusoff
Henrik Lundqvist
Roberto Luongo - Winner

Pretty disgusting that Brodeur will be shut out with awards in a season where he put up career best (and league record) in wins, and led the NHL in shutouts. But Luongo turned the Canucks around single-handedly, and I believe the sports-writers who voted on this award will probably give the award to Luongo based on the fact that Canucks would not have the record they have without Luongo.

Calder Memorial Trophy - Best Rookie

Evgeni Malkin - Winner
Jordan Staal
Paul Stastny

Nothing again Stastny, but like Crosby, just bad timing. Malkin lived up to the pre-season hype much like Crosby did just a year ago. Malkin is pretty much the run-away winner for this award. Jordan Staal was simply amazing doing what he did as a 18 year-old this season, but he is a distant third IMO.

James Norris Memorial Trophy - Best Defenceman

Nicklas Lidstrom - Winner
Scott Niedermayer
Chris Pronger

Probably the hardest award to pick a winner for this year. Nick Lidstrom was simply amazing in leading the Wings to win their division the year after Yzerman and Shanahan left the team. It just seems like every year the same 3-4 players are nominated for this award. With the voting taking place before the playoffs, I think its down to Pronger and Lidstrom. Pronger and Lidstrom had similar stats, but Pronger played 10 or so less games. I am going to lean towards Lidstrom, simply because he inherited the C from Yzerman, and carried it to a division champion. Pronger is going to be a very close second, but the overall voting will be VERY close between all 3 finalists.

Jack Adams Trophy - Best Coach

Lindy Ruff
Michel Therrien - Winner
Alain Vigneault


Like the Vezina, the coach with the best stats will not win this award. Lindy Ruff won this award last year simply because no one expected the Sabres to achieve the level that they did. And this year, Michel Therrien will win the award simply because Pittsburgh over-achieved, or performed beyond expectation. While Therrien will win the trophy, Ruff will be a runner-up despite leading the Sabres to a President Cup winning year.

Lester B. Pearson - Best player as voted by players

Sidney Crosby - Winner
Vincent Lecavalier
Roberto Luongo

Hard to go against Crosby for everything he did this year, both personal stats and team wise. But for some reason I have this gut feeling that it might go to Lacavalier or Luongo.

NBA Finals Prediction

Spurs in 5. Another playoff MVP for Duncan. Lebron carries his team but falls short.

NBA Conference Finals, Stanley Cup Finals + Random Rants

Ok, so I'm behind...oh wellz.

Here it goes: Did not expect Ottawa to beat Buffalo, let alone in 5 games. Also did not foresee Gary Bettman putting in 6 off-days between the end of the conference finals and the Stanley Cup finals. Way to let all the excitement from the past series slowly dies. If this was like a Toronto/Calgary, or some sort of bigger matchup, then sure, you can make the argument of letting the excitement build. But its Anaheim for crying out loud! I love their team, but the interest there is no where close to what it would be had it been Calgary, or even Detroit. Be that as it may, prediction.

Anaheim 4 - 3 Ottawa

Both teams have been playing well throughout the playoffs, but Ottawa definitely have been more dominant. You can even argue that Anaheim got lucky to make it this far. I STILL don't think Ray Emery is the real deal, and I think the top 3 defencemen for Anaheim will shutdown the big 3 offencesive threat for Ottawa, with the secondary scorers being the difference in the series. I would say Anaheim in 6, but I think Ottawa has played so well that they will make this an interesting series.

NBA Conference Finals:
I know I'm behind, with Detroit already winning 2-0 in the series, but like I have stated in the past, Detroit is head and shoulders above every other team in the East. Especially a team like the Cavs, where the team's success really depends on one player. To a certain degree, I thought the Nets would put up a better fight against the Cavs, and definitely thought they would be able to contain Lebron, maybe not to a degree which they shut down Bosh, but definitely make him less of an impact in the series.

I have no clue how Detroit let Chicago almost made a series out of that series. Felt like they just let their foot off the pedal and it almost went the distance. I don't see the same mistake from the very experienced Detroit ball-club. Taking Detroit in 5.

The suspensions in the Spurs/Suns series totally became the vocal point of a series that could've been better than any potential NBA Finals. And then you get David Stern sticking his nose in and disrupting the series. With that said, Spurs in 6. No team have been able to find an answer for Tim Duncan so far this playoff, and I don't see any of the Utah defenders being able to either. Utah will win a couple of games by simply out-scoring the Spurs, but experience and excellent coaching will lead the Spurs to the finals.

Other random thoughts:
Is it just me, or does anyone else think Bud Selig is...for a lack of a better word...a moron? He sets up a commission to investigate into the whole steriod issue without success, and suddenly Jason Giambi steps-up and admits to taking "stuff". Bud Selig, could've easily put his foot down, and applaud Giambi for "being-a-man" and admitting what he did, and then turn around and offer anyone and everyone who is willing to come clean to the commission a pardon. One, the commission will actually have something and someone to work with, and two, Bud Selig could potentially be THE guy to clean up baseball from performance enhancing drugs.

But no, Bud Selig wanted to sit back and react based on how the public reacts. He wanted to make sure his decision and statement follows the way the public feel. He takes his time, saying he will have a meeting with Giambi, and nothing more. All that does, and will do, is simply to assure those who have taken "stuff", to not come clean, in order to avoid a meeting with the boss which could potentially lead to another issue. So what happens is that the commission, will simply sit on their butts while they could've easily had more people testify then they can handle, simply based on Bud Selig's stupidity.

With Barry Bonds getting closer and closer to the record, I could careless whether or not he beats Hank Aaron's record or not. Now Bud Selig has another brain-fart moment, and decide to state publicly that he will not be in attendance for if/when Bonds break the record. Now I will admit that I have not been a Bonds fan, and probably will never be, but being the commissioner of a league where one of the most prestigious record is being broken, it simply does not make sense for you to have excuses and not attend. It doesn't matter whether or not his personal opinion of Bonds is regarding the usage of performance enhancing drugs. The fact of the matter is, one of the players, probably one of the best in the history of the league, is about to break one of the most prestigious record in your league. You (and many other people) believe he might be breaking the record "with help", but you have yet to prove that Bonds is guilty, and you should be there, like you would if Albert Pujols breaks Bonds' single season home-run record. Until you are able to prove that Bonds used performance enhancing drugs to break the record, the event should be treated with the respect it deserves.

Ok...now that these issues are off my chest...a couple more

-Man Utd. in HK in August will a full team...=(
-And I need a vacation...

ttow! (yes, its back!)

NHL Playoff Round 3

Round 2 Predictions (results)
Sabres 4 - 2 Rangers (4 - 2)
Devils 4 - 3 Senators (1 - 4)

Red Wings 3 - 4 Sharks (4 - 2)
Ducks 4 - 2 Canucks (4 - 1)

Certainly didn't think Senators could finish off the Devils in 5. Alfredsson has done his share this year to downplay his performance in previous playoffs. I still don't think Ray Emery is the real deal, and Buffalo is certainly the best in the East IMO.

As far as the West, Canucks, like predicted, did not generate enough offence to push them beyond the first round. I did not expect the Sharks to melt down the way they did after game 3. I think Detroit's age will catch up to them in this series.

Sabres 4 - 2 Senators

Ducks 4 - 2 Red Wings

NBA Round 2 Predictions

Round 1 Results in ( )

Detroit 4 - 0 Orlando (4 - 0)
Cleveland 4 - 0 Washington (4 - 0)
Toronto 4 - 2 New Jersey (2 - 4)
Miami 4 - 3 Chicago (0 - 4)

Dallas 4 - 2 Golden State (2 - 4)
Phoenix 4 - 1 LA Lakers (4 - 1)
San Antonio 4 - 2 Denver (4 - 1)
Houston 4 - 3 Utah (3 - 4)

So...4 out of 8, nothing to brag about thats for sure. Certainly didn't expect Chicago to sweep Miami, and no doubt the Warriors over the Mavericks is another surprise. Houston and Utah was a coinflip, but I thought with Yao and McGrady, they can pull off a big game in game 7 but guess it didn't happen.

So...round 2. I know it isn't fair how Detroit played Chicago today, but the score didn't change my mind.

Detroit 4 - 1 Chicago
Cleveland 2 - 4 New Jersey

Suns 4 - 3 Spurs
Utah 4 - 2 Warriors.

NHL Playoff Round 2

Round 1 Predictions (Results):
East:
Sabres in 5 (Sabres in 5)
Devils in 6 (Devils in 6)
Rangers in 6 (Rangers in 4)
Penguins in 7 (Senators in 5)

West:
Red Wings in 7 (Red Wings in 6)
Ducks in 6 (Ducks in 5)
Canucks in 6 (Canucks in 7)
Predators in 7 (Sharks in 5)

Not bad...6/8, with 2 of them getting exact games.

Round 2 Predictions:
Sabres 4 - 2 Rangers
Devils 4 - 3 Senators

Red Wings 3 - 4 Sharks
Ducks 4 - 2 Canucks

NBA Predictions

Detroit 4 - 0 Orlando
Cleveland 4 - 0 Washington
Toronto 4 - 2 New Jersey
Miami 4 - 3 Chicago

Dallas 4 - 2 Golden State
Phoenix 4 - 1 LA Lakers
San Antonio 4 - 2 Denver
Houston 4 - 3 Utah

What I do when I'm bored and not studying

1. go to www.google.ca
2. click on "maps"
3. click on "get directions"
4. type "New York" in the first box (the "from" box)
5. type "London" in the second box (the "to" box)
6. click on "get directions"
7. and start reading...take note of step #23

Long time no blog

I have been telling myself I need to blog, but I just haven't had a chance to. I haven't pulled an all-nighter @ SLC this term until last Sunday/Monday when I had to finish a couple of essays.

So I finished 2 exams today, talk about a great way to spend Easter Monday. Had my first one at 9am in the morning, and second at 4pm. Both went quite well I think, definitely think I did better on the first one, not really because of the subject, but I guess the question (and only question) suited me more than the questions on the second exam.

A couple more exams and I'm done on the 19th...yippee!

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Softball season is definitely right around the corner. Leadership has been formed and registration is taking place. This year will definitely be a challenging year, and a transition year. But this year will also be a very encouraging year, with new (and past) people stepping up into various leadership roles. I am already encouraged to see a few people in particular stepping up, and taking the initiative to take charge of various initiatives. This is going to be an exciting year to see everyone "growing up".

Also will be a challenge on the field, but definitely a welcoming challenge. With quite a number of new players, this is certainly going to be the year where struggles will occur, there will be times when strands of hair will mysteriously go from the head to the palm of the hand, but I'm sure the fruit that is sowed at the end of the year will be one of joy and satisfaction, seeing the growth experienced on and off the field.

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Sad to see the Leafs not making the playoffs, and continue to their roller coaster ride of mediocrity. I really feel that the Leafs, out of Montreal, Toronto, and New York Islanders, had the best shot of taking Buffalo down from the #1 seed. With DiPietro out, I don't see the Islanders taking the Sabres beyond 5 games. Montreal have no depth on their defensively line beyond their top 2, and certainly will not be able to contain the balanced attack of the Sabres. The Leafs had the size up front and on the blue line to really wear down the Sabres offense. As witnessed int he last two games between the teams, the Leafs can be a handful if they want to be to the Sabres. Too bad it won't be happening this year.

In a way, I'm glad the Leafs didn't make the playoffs. It will allow the spotlight to shine brightly on the much improved Raptors team. Would love to see the Raptors go beyond the first round (not just because I have tickets), but I definitely think this team could make a legit run at the conference title. While some critics are citing the lack of overall NBA playoff experience as the Rpators downfall, the Raptors team do have several players with "big game" experience. Both Bargnani and Anthony Parker have played at the highest level of the Euro league for a few years, with Calderon and Garbejosa (even though he is out) bringing the World Championship experience, and Rasho bringing his NBA championship experience from the Spurs. This is definitely exciting time to be a Raptors fan.

The Jays started their season last week, and have played pretty well, with just 2 major bumps on the road thus far with BJ blowing a 3 run lead, and AJ giving up 6 runs in his first outing. This is possibly the year to make the run, with the Yankees potentially slipping to third. Boston have a really solid lineup, with the exception of an iffy bullpen, but I see Boston taking the East with the Jays coming in second and the Bronx Bombers in third. Dice-K was very impressive in his debut, but I'm leaning towards a 14 win season, with an ERA of just above 4.0. I see the potential for him to struggle towards the end of the season/into the playoffs, but he is the AL RoY until proven otherwise.

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So I was close in predicting Buffalo and Anaheim to be the conference point leaders. Buffalo is definitely the team to beat in the East, with the West being more complicated in terms of the team to beat. I expect the Sabres, Devils, Rangers, and Penguins to advance to the second round. In the West, it is a much tighter conference. However, I think all the higher seeds will advance, with Red Wings, Ducks, Canucks, and Predators advancing.

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Here is a hand I've been thinking about recently. According to Harrington, you should NEVER, EVER fold a set in tournament play. But in a limped pot, with a raiser, a caller, a check-raise all-in, and a check-raiser behind 3 players, is it the right move to fold bottom set?

PokerStars Tournament, Big Blind is t150 (9 handed) Converter on pregopoker.com

UTG (t9505)
UTG+1 (t15330)
MP1 (t16540)
MP2 (t6600)
MP3 (t8910)
CO (t4915)
Hero (t7265)
SB (t7435)
BB (t5955)

Preflop: Hero is in Button with 5 5
UTG folds, UTG+1 calls t150, MP1 calls t150, MP2 calls t150, MP3 calls t150, CO calls t150, Hero calls t150, SB folds, BB checks

Flop: (t1125) 6 7 5 (7 players)
BB checks, UTG+1 checks, MP1 checks, MP2 checks, MP3 bets t1050, CO folds, Hero calls t1050, BB raises to t5805 (All-in), UTG+1 folds, MP1 raises to t10560, MP2 folds, MP3 calls t7710 (All-in), Hero calls t6065 (All-in)

Board: 5h 6d 7c
Dead:

equity win tie pots won pots tied
Hand 0: 19.299% 19.02% 00.27% 156 2.25 { 5c5s }
Hand 1: 70.152% 69.88% 00.27% 573 2.25 { 9s8d }
Hand 2: 10.274% 10.00% 00.27% 82 2.25 { 7s5d }
Hand 3: 00.274% 00.00% 00.27% 0 2.25 { 4s3c }

So according to calculations, with the assumption that two players flopped a straight, with one player having the nut straight, and the other having a "dummy end" of the straight, with the last player flopping two pair (note: I discounted the possibility of set over set), I have a 19% chance to win the hand. Ignoring CEV and $EV, after calling the initial bet of 1050, I have 6065 back with all the action. With Sklansky's fundamental theorem, I need to win at least 19% of the time to be making "the right play". So by calculation, the pot needs to be at least:

(6065/19)*100 = 31921

in order for me to call and making it "the right play". Judging by the action, before my call of 6065, the pot is 24010. With the call of 6065, the pot will be 30075, making my 6065 not the right call at 20%. However, that is with the assumption the hands are what I think they are (which is the best case scenario). If two players flopped the nut straight, and the other player flopped top two pair, I will need even more chips in the pot to make the call "right".

Text results appended to pokerstove.txt

820 games 0.005 secs 164,000 games/sec

Board: 5c 6h 7d
Dead:

equity win tie pots won pots tied
Hand 0: 11.098% 10.98% 00.12% 90 1.00 { 5d5s }
Hand 1: 35.244% 00.00% 35.24% 0 289.00 { 9d8c }
Hand 2: 35.244% 00.00% 35.24% 0 289.00 { 9c8d }
Hand 3: 18.415% 18.29% 00.12% 150 1.00 { 7s6d }


---

So with that said, I should've folded since it was -EV for me to be calling with bottom set.

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Congrats to Mike, for having won 3 seats thus far into the WSOP ME. I see a few more coming before its all said and done.

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Finally, Man Utd. will need to come out with a better effort against Roma tomorrow. Down 2-1, they will need to win in order to advance to the semi-finals of the UEFA Champions League. Scary to think, within a week, Man Utd. could be out of the Champions League AND Chelsea being back in the Premier League race...*shudders*

Dilemma

(this is a content post, but with sports involvement...)

So I had 3 intramural playoff games today, indoor soccer, volleyball, and basketball. Won 2, and lost in volleyball.

Indoor soccer we went into the game as the #1 seed, and we played a team that were pretty well-balanced. They played well on defense and we struggled to mount any offense against them early on. The referees called a very tight game, but we did end up winning 3-1 and moved on to the semi-finals.

Next up is volleyball, we were ranked 8th from the regular season so we had to match up against the #1 seed. Team played the best game all season and we were tied 1 set a piece going into the 3rd set. The other team put in their 2 bigger/better players for the 3rd set, and we just couldn't hit through their blocks or block any of their attacks, so ended up losing the game.

Right after volleyball I had the basketball game. 11 players showed up and I really do not remember seeing at least 2-3 of them being on the team. Either way, we played a team that only had 4 players, and we tried to outrun them. It worked, but not as well as we had hoped, but we ended up squeezing out a win. A tight one, and an ugly one, but a win nevertheless.

With that said, here is the real reason for my post.

In the basketball game, there were 3-4 players that probably played 1 maybe 2 regular season games (out of 6), and potentially this is the first time they ever showed up to any games/practices. With that said, I haven't been the best "team guy" either, sine I have missed 2 games. However, this is the situation. With a 11 to 4 player advantage, no doubt we will try to pressure them at each possession to take advantage of our situation, and no doubt our offense will play like the Suns. But with some players on the team never showing up to any previous games/practices, do you play them, and if you do, how much playing them should they get? I felt that those players should get limited playing time (myself included), and those who have been there every game should be rewarded with more. On the flip side, my captain disagrees and I respect his decision (we talked after the game), not that I have a problem with his decision, but it was just me expressing my opinion. He believes everyone should get close to equal playing time, because this is a campus recreation league which encourages participation, but also because we were at school, and sometimes when you're busy and can't make it out, thats the way it goes.

So after all that, I can't say I totally agree with him, but I respect his decision, and I can live with it, but I am just not sure if I would've done the same thing if I was captaining a team.

Moving on to the second point, which in a way relates to the first point. As I mentioned, the other team started with 4 players, and all of them were hackers (well, one was a pretty good defender - think John Stockton choice of attire though), so naturally they got in foul trouble. By the mid-way point of the second half, 2 guys had 4 fouls. Obviously, one guy ended up fouling out with around 5 minutes to play in a relatively tight game. Again, we could've played with 4 players against their 3, and personally, I felt it was part of the game. We chose to not play 5 on 4 (I would've done the same), but they fouled out and its all part of the game. However, my captain believes otherwise. He tells the team "we will play them 3 on 3", and sure enough, we played 3 players against their 3 guys and got the win. Afterwards, he mentioned that he decided to go 3v3 due to the fact that we already outnumber them, and he felt that it was only fair to go 3v3 despite the game being a close one. I guess the team agreed with him, since we did win the game, but I'm wondering what would've happened had they come back and defeated us?

Been really busy that last couple of weeks, and it doesn't look like it will get any better until the end of lectures in 2 weeks. Will make more posts soon I hope. Spring is around the corner, and that means the MLB season is about to begin.

Google Tips

Long time no blog, so I figure I would post something useful.
Here I present to you, 12 useful Google search tips:

Super useful Google search tips.

12 Quick Tips To Search Google Like An Expert

Explicit Phrase: Lets say you are looking for content about internet marketing. Instead of just typing internet marketing into the Google search box, you will likely be better off searching explicitly for the phrase. To do this, simply enclose the search phrase within double quotes.
Example: “internet marketing”

Exclude Words: Lets say you want to search for content about internet marketing, but you want to exclude any results that contain the term advertising. To do this, simply use the “-“ sign in front of the word you want to exclude.
Example Search: internet marketing -advertising

Site Specific Search: Often, you want to search a specific website for content that matches a certain phrase. Even if the site doesn’t support a built-in search feature, you can use Google to search the site for your term. Simply use the “site:somesite.com” modifier.
Example: “internet marketing” site:www.canadianpoker.com

Similar Words and Synonyms: Let’s say you are want to include a word in your search, but want to include results that contain similar words or synonyms. To do this, use the “~” in front of the word.
Example: “internet marketing” ~professional

Specific Document Types: If you’re looking to find results that are of a specific type, you can use the modifier “filetype:”. For example, you might want to find only PowerPoint presentations related to internet marketing.
Example: “internet marketing” filetype:ppt

This OR That: By default, when you do a search, Google will include all the terms specified in the search. If you are looking for any one of one or more terms to match, then you can use the OR operator. (Note: The OR has to be capitalized).
Example: internet marketing OR advertising

Phone Listing: Let’s say someone calls you on your mobile number and you don’t know how it is. If all you have is a phone number, you can look it up on Google using the phonebook feature.
Example: phonebook:617-555-1212 (note: the provided number does not work – you’ll have to use a real number to get any results).

Area Code Lookup: If all you need to do is to look-up the area code for a phone number, just enter the 3-digit area code and Google will tell you where it’s from.
Example: 617

Numeric Ranges: This is a rarely used, but highly useful tip. Let’s say you want to find results that contain any of a range of numbers. You can do this by using the X..Y modifier (in case this is hard to read, what’s between the X and Y are two periods. This type of search is useful for years (as shown below), prices or anywhere where you want to provide a series of numbers.
Example: president 1940..1950

Stock (Ticker Symbol): Just enter a valid ticker symbol as your search term and Google will give you the current financials and a quick thumb-nail chart for the stock.
Example: GOOG

Calculator: The next time you need to do a quick calculation, instead of bringing up the Calculator applet, you can just type your expression in to Google.
Example: 48512 * 1.02

Word Definitions: If you need to quickly look up the definition of a word or phrase, simply use the “define:” command.
Example: define:plethora


Source: Dave Scharf - www.CanadianPoker.com

"Reading" Week

"Time flies when you're having fun". Definitely true for this week. So "reading week" is over, but other than read two books that have nothing to do with school, I didn't do much "reading".

With that said, it was a nice relaxing week to unwind from the 2 weeks of craziness prior to this week. It was nice to drop by the high school and say hi to a few teachers and see some old faces again, but the highlight was definitely the Auto Show and Phantom of the Opera.

Auto Show:
Highlight of the autoshow was the opportunity to test drive various cars on a couple of different tracks. The chance to test drive 3 different Mercedes-Benz vehicle was worth the price of admission alone. Unlike the people I went with, I felt the Toyota 4x4 off road test drive was a pretty good experience. Maybe it have something to do with the fact that I got the 4Runner while the others were stuck with the FJ Cruiser and Tacoma. But it was something that you probably won't be able to do at any dealership, and unless you go offroading, you won't have a new 4x4 at the disposable going through various terrains. A few interesting concept vehicles and a few new designs from Audi and other manufacturers, but nothing really mind-blowing.

Phantom of the Opera:
Been looking forward to this show for awhile. It was definitely an awesome show. I did not watch the original version that was shown between 1989 and 1999, but it lived up to my expectation completely. I won't do a complete review, seeing as I'm no professional. However, the show itself was pretty much flawless. John Cudia (Phantom) and Marni Raab (Christine) were exceptional in their parts. The lighting effects were spectacular, along with the various sets and props. There were no major flaws or hiccups in the play. It felt like Kim Stengel (Carlotta) was a tad slow starting in terms of her voice, simply due to the high notes she had to hit at the opening scene, but it warmed up quickly and was beautiful throughout the performance. There were a couple of very minor tech issues that will probably be fixed that occured when the full cast was on stage, but they were probably issues that only a tech geek like me would notice. If you have never seen Phantom, it is definitely a show worth watching. According to the Star 90% of the tickets have already been sold, so hurry!

Best of the Rest:
Cafe Crepe was good and affordable. Great time spent catching up with a friend...
Great conversation at Starbucks, looking forward to the summer ahead...
Assisting with the ACCI bantam girls team...I miss playing on short nets!

Is there anyone that would be interested in going to hear the TSO perform the entire Holst's the Planet suite? $12 tickets through www.tsoundcheck.com! Its May 9-10. Also another concert is the TSO presenting the Magical Music of Disney, May 15-16!

Reading week is over soon, too soon...

TeeVee

And I thought the fall 06 season was crazy, this lineup is nuts right now.

24
Heroes
Prison Break
Amazing Race
Apprentice
Survivor (roommate got me on to it again)
Studio 60

Those are the 7 I am supposed to be watching weekly.
24, Amazing Race, Apprentice, and Survivor I have been keeping up.
Prison Break and Heroes, I haven't even finished the previous season yet. I was gonna do a Prison Break marathon over Christmas, it didn't happen, so probably will fall 30 eps or so behind when this season is over.
Studio 60 I haven't watched since Christmas, so I'm 4-5 eps behind I think.

There's also:

Poker After Dark
High Stakes Poker

Probably the two best poker shows on television. Poker After Dark shows 80-90% of the hands played, so you really learn alot. High Stakes Poker is just the best poker game on television. Forget WPT, EPT, WSOP, HSP is the show to watch.

The best of the rest:

Grey's Anatomy
House

The shows that are good but there is simply not enough time, or not enough room on the PVR machine to have them on as well.

And theres always:

Simpsons
Family Guy

Shows that I haven't watched as "new episodes" for ages, and I just hope to catch the new ones once in awhile...or until I finish the DVD collection. *note: If anyone see Season 4, 5, or 9 of the Simpsons on sale..let me know!

With that said...what else is new?
Autoshow tomorrow!
Phantom of the Opera on Thursday! + Cafe Crepe after!
Thats...it...
Oh! Hoping Campbell beat Mowat in girls volleyball tomorrow!

And signing off...

Sick + Random

I've been sick for a little under a week. Started last Friday after Winterlicious and has been on a roller coaster ride as of late. Now, I'm generally not a guy that gets sick very often. I mean I do have the occasional sore throat (I've had it for the past 2 Royal Cups), but I don't really get sick often *touch wood*. For some reason, this time around, it has gotten worse over time. I started with just a cough, and the the sniffing, back to just the cough, and now the sniffing again. Possibly the worse time to get sick with all the midterms and assignments all together this week and next. I guess it would be worse during finals..but at least you get time in between exams then, but either way, this is really weird.

On to other things. Exactly 2 weeks before Phantom! So excited!

Still thinking about what to do with my summer, deciding between a FT job, or PT job with courses.

Good times with the guys at gym night and the talks after. Definitely made me rethink the direction I was going to go. Still praying about it and see what develops.

Nice to see Raps and Leafs both having their own winning streak. This Raps team is definitely a fun team to watch.

Back to work...

Prop Bets Results

Time for National Anthem: Over 1m44s [Under]
Coin flip: Heads [Heads]
Coin flip winner: Chicago Bears (Chicago Bears)
First play after kickoff: Pass (if Indy gets first possession), Rush (if Chicago gets first possession) [Pass by Indy]
First team to score: Chicago Bears [Chicago Bears]
First scoring play: Field Goal [Kickoff Return Touchdown]
First coaches challenge: Indianapolis Colts [Indianapolis Colts]
Result of first challenge: Play Stands [Play Stands]
Total points in first half: 16 [30]
Team that scores last: Indianapolis Colts [Indianapolis Colts]
Total points at the end of regulation: 33 [46]
Final Score: Colts 20 - 13 Bears [Colts 29 - 17 Bears]

Final Result: 7/9 for non-score specific related predictions...not bad. Tops my 5/9 last season.

Onward!

Super Bowl Picks

Pure sports blog...

In the spirit of Super Bowl weekend, lets have some fun predictions. Super Bowl is probably the biggest event for sports betting. Every type of props you can imagine exists. Now, I am not encouraging gambling, but its fun to see what type of prop bets are around each year. Before the kickoff, millions of dollars are won and lost on the coin flip, with more money being won and lost within the first minute of the beginning of the game.

Example of some weird prop bets from last year's Super Bowl:
If Seattle Seahawks with the Super Bowl, who will Mike Holmgren first thank?
Matt Hasselback? Shaun Alexander? The 12th Man? Jake Delhomme?

If The Pittsburgh Steelers win the Super Bowl, who will Jerome Bettis thank first?
God? His parents? Bill Cowher? His sponsor?

This year's Super Bowl, prop bets such as:
The amount of time it takes Billy Joel to sing the national anthem.
Over/Under 1:44

Historical Match-ups: Who will have more passing yards? Peyton Manning, or Joe Montana in Super Bowl XVI?

Who will have more? (assuming Lebron James plays - which doesn't look likely right now) Lebron James' total points, or Colts total points?

Who will have more? Mary J Blige total Grammy wins, or Marvin Harrison total pass reception?

With that said, more props exist, but I will chime in on my own picks on a few just for fun.

Wesley's Props Pick for Super Bowl XLI:
Time for National Anthem: Over 1m44s
Coin flip: Heads
Coin flip winner: Chicago Bears
First play after kickoff: Pass (if Indy gets first possession), Rush (if Chicago gets first possession)
First team to score: Chicago Bears
First scoring play: Field Goal
First coaches challenge: Indianapolis Colts
Result of first challenge: Play Stands
Total points in first half: 16
Team that scores last: Indianapolis Colts
Total points at the end of regulation: 33
Final Score: Colts 20 - 13 Bears

Enjoy the game...and the half time show featuring Prince.