Recap of Game 3 (Mon, July 7)
Despite the teasing of new people coming to the game, there were still the same 10 people in attendance at the Daffy residence. However, the tournament started with two tables due to this uncertainty (and the fact that the Daffy living room was too crowded for one table).
The group decided to have the blind clock move faster and to eliminate the smallest level of blinds to make things move a little bit more quickly. This, coupled with the fact that the blinds came around more quickly with two tables, changed the dynamic of the tournament.
Teen Wolf shaved his scraggly beard and will now be called Pads for the purpose of this blog.
At one table sat Pads, Daffy, Karma, Zeus, and .com. At the other table sat Donkey, True, Chick, and My Choice. Lady Luck joined that table a few minutes late. Having lost a little bit of money already, he quickly proceeded to lose the rest of it and finish in 10th place. Donkey breathed a sigh of relief for not finishing in 10th place again.
The group decided to combine tables once 8 people remained.
Karma then slowplayed her A-10 when the flop came A-2-8. Everybody checked to the turn which was a 9. Betting ensued. The river came K. Daffy bet agressively and Karma went all-in and was quickly called by Daffy's K-9 two pair. Slowplaying unfortunately backfired on Karma who finished in 9th. With a bunch of chips, Daffy's table now merged with the other table for the final 8.
Blinds escalated quickly and many people who had not built chip leads only had a handful of big blinds left, leaving people few options but to go all-in. In this manner, Zeus went out in 8th and My Choice went out in 7th place. Donkey, who played much better poker this evening, eventually went out in 6th place.
Pads, who won last week and was the current points leader, was now the short stack. Everybody folded to Daffy, who called from the small blind with 4-4 and Pads checked his 7-2 in the big blind. The flop came 2-4-J. Daffy checked to Pads, who paired up and saw a chance to win $4 in the prop bet. Pads went all in and was quickly called and eliminated in 5th place, earning Daffy 2 extra points. Daffy also had a huge chip stack.
The four remaining players, .com, True, Chick and Daffy, battled for a while. .com eventually went out in 4th place and earned three points. Daffy did not see many playable hands for a while, and saw his huge chip stack start to dwindle and stacks became more even. Eventually Chick became short stacked and went out in 3rd place. Daffy recovered from his dwindling stack to beat True heads up to finish first. True earned 7 points and finished 2nd.
It was a big night for Daffy who perhaps earned some vindication after Pads and My Choice imitated his distinguished voice all evening and Daffy perhaps made a statement, refuting the claim made by this author after Game 2 that My Choice had played the best poker so far. The rivalries can only heat up as we go into Game 4!
Points (Total):
True - 7 (17)
Daffy - 12 (15)
Pads (Teen Wolf) - 1 (12)
Chick - 5 (10)
.com - 3 (10)
Karma - 0 (7)
My Choice - 0 (5)
Lady Luck - 0 (3)
Zeus - 0 (3)
Donkey - 0 (0)
The most amazing hand, though, took place in the cash games after the tournament. Playing dealer's choice 10 cent ante, no limit cash games, Pads called for 5-card draw, deuces wild. Chick folded but everybody else stayed in with some small betting. Daffy, in first position, asked for one card and drew a wild to give him 10-J-Q-K-2 for an ace-high straight. .com replaced cards next and wound up with two natural pair. Zeus asked for two cards and in final position, Pads replaced all five cards and drew Q-8-Q-8-2 for a full house. Not bothering to hide his excitement, Pads giddily waited to bet. Watching the way he was acting, Daffy and .com wisely checked their otherwise strong hands. Zeus surprisingly bet $5. Pads quickly raised all-in, Daffy and .com folded, and Zeus called immediately. Pads turned his full house. Zeus dramatically paused and showed his 4-4-2-2 for four of a kind! .com marveled at the fact that his two pair was the worst hand on the table. Pads took a pounding (ouch).
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
Monday, July 7, 2008
New Things That Are Dope
Since I just mentioned WALL-E as being dope, here are some things that are new and dope as well that I've been enjoying recently...
Miranda Lambert, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend: I wanted to hear some good country music and came across this album. If you either enjoy or are curious about country music this is a modern, fun country album.
Radiohead, In Rainbows: This was originally available through Radiohead's somewhat gimmicky "pay what you want" download thing, but now it is available on CD. It is a fantastic sounding album, if you're into the electronic-yet-musical Radiohead sound. One song, "Nude", especially stands out for me.
(Also, Gnarls Barkley briefly covered a Radiohead song in concert. It's only worth mentioning because I am into both of them. Click here to watch.
Nintendo Wii: My wife and I broke down and bought a Wii last week, after playing other places and enjoying it immensely. Yes, we're 31 and don't have kids yet. However, it is truly for all ages. It's neat how the feel (so far, at least) seems intuitive and how people who are not experienced video gamers can compete on the Wii. So far we are very impressed with the ingenuity and design of it. We have the Sports package that comes with the system, and Guitar Hero III. I now understand why South Park poked fun at the Guitar Hero craze. A local South Jersey bar has Guitar Hero nights. This is not uncommon apparently.
Anyway, Wii is dope so far.
Miranda Lambert, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend: I wanted to hear some good country music and came across this album. If you either enjoy or are curious about country music this is a modern, fun country album.
Radiohead, In Rainbows: This was originally available through Radiohead's somewhat gimmicky "pay what you want" download thing, but now it is available on CD. It is a fantastic sounding album, if you're into the electronic-yet-musical Radiohead sound. One song, "Nude", especially stands out for me.(Also, Gnarls Barkley briefly covered a Radiohead song in concert. It's only worth mentioning because I am into both of them. Click here to watch.
Nintendo Wii: My wife and I broke down and bought a Wii last week, after playing other places and enjoying it immensely. Yes, we're 31 and don't have kids yet. However, it is truly for all ages. It's neat how the feel (so far, at least) seems intuitive and how people who are not experienced video gamers can compete on the Wii. So far we are very impressed with the ingenuity and design of it. We have the Sports package that comes with the system, and Guitar Hero III. I now understand why South Park poked fun at the Guitar Hero craze. A local South Jersey bar has Guitar Hero nights. This is not uncommon apparently.Anyway, Wii is dope so far.
Sunday, July 6, 2008
WALL-E!
My wife and I saw WALL-E this weekend in the theaters. Animated films keeping raising the bar. From Toy Story to Shrek to Finding Nemo, they just keep getting more mindblowing. Despite it being a kids movie... when we first walked into the theater, there were hardly any kids there (and this was not that late - 7 pm show). I thought we were in the wrong theater. In any case, it was a movie that I'd recommend that, if these kinds of movies are your thing, you see in the theater. The visuals are a-mazing.
If one was nitpicky, one could argue that it was manipulative in how cute it was (like E.T.) and the social commentary might be construed as a bit over the top. However, if you can suspend that disbelief and if you are not a cynical bastard, it is an adorable movie - again, if this is your kind of thing.
A robotic looking E.T.... just as cute as E.T., no?
If one was nitpicky, one could argue that it was manipulative in how cute it was (like E.T.) and the social commentary might be construed as a bit over the top. However, if you can suspend that disbelief and if you are not a cynical bastard, it is an adorable movie - again, if this is your kind of thing.
A robotic looking E.T.... just as cute as E.T., no?
Saturday, July 5, 2008
July Poker League - Game #2
Recap of Game 2 (Thursday, July 3)
The same ten people from Game 1 were in attendance for Game 2, which was held at My Choice's condo in Hackensack. .com hit a little traffic but once he arrived, the game started smoothly. The initial debate was whether to have all ten people fit into one table and be cramped and hot, or split into two tables of 5. All ten started at the same table and play was underway.
Donkey got off to another rocky start. He lost a large number of chips to Daffy's three aces, and then was slowplayed by My Choice when My Choice had the nut flush and coerced Donkey to go all in. Donkey had another 10th place finish.
Daffy then almost became the first person to win the 7-2 prop bet, where anybody who wins a hand and has 7-2 as their hold cards immediately gets paid $1 from everybody who is in the game. However, he did not push hard enough but he did get accolades from the table for trying.
Play slowed for a while, and at the first break, Daffy was the chip leader. He then came back to the table wearing an Ipod with a serious look on his face. The first two songs he listened to were "Shoot, Pass, Slam" by S. O'Neal, and "I Kissed a Girl" by Katie Perry to give him extra inspiration.
A big hand occurred between Teen Wolf and My Choice. Teen Wolf held 10-8 while My Choice held J-K. The flop came J-8-J and both players checked. The turn came 9. Shortstacked, Teen Wolf went all-in and was called. Almost a 6-1 underdog, Teen Wolf got the 7 on the river for the lucky straight to stay alive and damage My Choice.
True, last game's winner, then went out when he went all-in with pocket kings. Daffy called him and got runner-runner to make a flush. Daffy received 2 bonus points for knocking out the point leader and True finished in 9th.
Chick then dealt another serious blow to My Choice. My Choice had K-K while Chick had A-3. My Choice went all in, but the board came 9-6-5-4-2 to give Chick an unlikely straight. Once again a serious favorite in a hand only to take a tough beat, My Choice was dealt another slap in the face by the poker gods and finished in 8th place.
(Side note: My Choice has played the best poker of any of us for both of the first two games. After the game, he noted, "I always tell you guys that I do everything right and only lose due to bad luck. Everybody just laughs when I say that. I'm glad you're blogging about these games, because now there's a record of this." So far, after two games, his claim is definitely accurate.)
The blinds started to climb and play started moving more quickly. Chick then got hot, taking out .com in 7th place and Lady Luck in 6th place.
Daffy, the one time chip leader, started to get short stacked and made a strange decision of not saving 15 chips and not going all-in to a 150 chip pot. It turns out his 9-3 in the small blind would've lost to the 9-2 of the big blind - a wise fold. However, now short stacked, Daffy eventually went out in 5th place earning another point. The game was now down to four people - Zeus, Teen Wolf, and the two women of the game, Karma and Chick.
Zeus had quietly regained his poker form throughout the night, but eventually a big hand occurred where Teen Wolf took out his father Zeus catching a river flush. Zeus finished in 4th place, regaining much respectability.
As it often happens, leads swung quickly once there were three players left. Chick, who had been hot earlier, eventually cooled off and went out in third place.
Teen Wolf and Karma then went heads up. Much trash talking ensued. The crowd was pulling for Karma to win, but Teen Wolf eventually prevailed to finish in first place. Next Monday promises to be even that much more exciting! With a couple of players due to join the fray potentially on Monday, we could see our first two-table action of the season. Play will move back to the Daffy residence on Monday. Mrs. Daffy is out of town with Daffy's three kids...
Points (Total):
Teen Wolf - 10 (11)
True - 0 (10)
Karma - 7 (7)
.com - 0 (7)
Chick - 5 (5)
My Choice - 0 (5)
Zeus - 3 (3)
Daffy - 3 (3)
Lady Luck - 0 (3)
The same ten people from Game 1 were in attendance for Game 2, which was held at My Choice's condo in Hackensack. .com hit a little traffic but once he arrived, the game started smoothly. The initial debate was whether to have all ten people fit into one table and be cramped and hot, or split into two tables of 5. All ten started at the same table and play was underway.
Donkey got off to another rocky start. He lost a large number of chips to Daffy's three aces, and then was slowplayed by My Choice when My Choice had the nut flush and coerced Donkey to go all in. Donkey had another 10th place finish.
Daffy then almost became the first person to win the 7-2 prop bet, where anybody who wins a hand and has 7-2 as their hold cards immediately gets paid $1 from everybody who is in the game. However, he did not push hard enough but he did get accolades from the table for trying.
Play slowed for a while, and at the first break, Daffy was the chip leader. He then came back to the table wearing an Ipod with a serious look on his face. The first two songs he listened to were "Shoot, Pass, Slam" by S. O'Neal, and "I Kissed a Girl" by Katie Perry to give him extra inspiration.
A big hand occurred between Teen Wolf and My Choice. Teen Wolf held 10-8 while My Choice held J-K. The flop came J-8-J and both players checked. The turn came 9. Shortstacked, Teen Wolf went all-in and was called. Almost a 6-1 underdog, Teen Wolf got the 7 on the river for the lucky straight to stay alive and damage My Choice.
True, last game's winner, then went out when he went all-in with pocket kings. Daffy called him and got runner-runner to make a flush. Daffy received 2 bonus points for knocking out the point leader and True finished in 9th.
Chick then dealt another serious blow to My Choice. My Choice had K-K while Chick had A-3. My Choice went all in, but the board came 9-6-5-4-2 to give Chick an unlikely straight. Once again a serious favorite in a hand only to take a tough beat, My Choice was dealt another slap in the face by the poker gods and finished in 8th place.
(Side note: My Choice has played the best poker of any of us for both of the first two games. After the game, he noted, "I always tell you guys that I do everything right and only lose due to bad luck. Everybody just laughs when I say that. I'm glad you're blogging about these games, because now there's a record of this." So far, after two games, his claim is definitely accurate.)
The blinds started to climb and play started moving more quickly. Chick then got hot, taking out .com in 7th place and Lady Luck in 6th place.
Daffy, the one time chip leader, started to get short stacked and made a strange decision of not saving 15 chips and not going all-in to a 150 chip pot. It turns out his 9-3 in the small blind would've lost to the 9-2 of the big blind - a wise fold. However, now short stacked, Daffy eventually went out in 5th place earning another point. The game was now down to four people - Zeus, Teen Wolf, and the two women of the game, Karma and Chick.
Zeus had quietly regained his poker form throughout the night, but eventually a big hand occurred where Teen Wolf took out his father Zeus catching a river flush. Zeus finished in 4th place, regaining much respectability.
As it often happens, leads swung quickly once there were three players left. Chick, who had been hot earlier, eventually cooled off and went out in third place.
Teen Wolf and Karma then went heads up. Much trash talking ensued. The crowd was pulling for Karma to win, but Teen Wolf eventually prevailed to finish in first place. Next Monday promises to be even that much more exciting! With a couple of players due to join the fray potentially on Monday, we could see our first two-table action of the season. Play will move back to the Daffy residence on Monday. Mrs. Daffy is out of town with Daffy's three kids...
Points (Total):
Teen Wolf - 10 (11)
True - 0 (10)
Karma - 7 (7)
.com - 0 (7)
Chick - 5 (5)
My Choice - 0 (5)
Zeus - 3 (3)
Daffy - 3 (3)
Lady Luck - 0 (3)
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
TJC Basketball
"You've come a long way, baby."
The Teaneck Jewish Center's Adult Men's Basketball league has certainly come a long way since... well, since my day.
When I was 18 and still around my hometown of Teaneck, I played in the 5-team men's basketball league at the Jewish Center. There were a handful of other younger guys and some older guys. The league was such where each team only had a couple of pretty good players. I even won a MVP trophy of the league one year - this illustrates the quality of the league. I also played pick-up ball down there often.
Now, at age 31, I wouldn't come close to sniffing the ass of an MVP trophy these days. The league has grown in stature considerably. Last night I watched my brother play on a team that includes two former Teaneck High School basketball players, and two guys who are as good as those former basketball players. They played against a team that included a similar level of players, including two former THS players as well and a couple of guys who, again, are as good as them. (Now, granted, many of these guys aren't Jewish. One regular in the league is named Christian Hernandez - as Adam Sandler sang, "Not a Jew.")
Anyway, the good guys remained undefeated and won in overtime. What inspired me to write this post is that the league actually keeps stats, and has a website! (Not a great site, but one nonetheless.) You can see it here.
The Teaneck Jewish Center's Adult Men's Basketball league has certainly come a long way since... well, since my day.
When I was 18 and still around my hometown of Teaneck, I played in the 5-team men's basketball league at the Jewish Center. There were a handful of other younger guys and some older guys. The league was such where each team only had a couple of pretty good players. I even won a MVP trophy of the league one year - this illustrates the quality of the league. I also played pick-up ball down there often.
Now, at age 31, I wouldn't come close to sniffing the ass of an MVP trophy these days. The league has grown in stature considerably. Last night I watched my brother play on a team that includes two former Teaneck High School basketball players, and two guys who are as good as those former basketball players. They played against a team that included a similar level of players, including two former THS players as well and a couple of guys who, again, are as good as them. (Now, granted, many of these guys aren't Jewish. One regular in the league is named Christian Hernandez - as Adam Sandler sang, "Not a Jew.")
Anyway, the good guys remained undefeated and won in overtime. What inspired me to write this post is that the league actually keeps stats, and has a website! (Not a great site, but one nonetheless.) You can see it here.
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
July Poker League - Game #1
I'm working in North Jersey for the month of July. Daffy, who looks good with a razor thin beard and who recently started blogging again, organized a July Poker League. We will be playing bi-weekly games for the month of July, and after 5 weeks somebody will accumulate the most points and win a side pool.
I will attempt to recap each game rather quickly, the day after it occurs. Players will be referred to by nickname only.
Recap of Game 1 (Monday, June 30):
Ten people were in attendance at the Daffy residence for Game 1. Play started slow with Donkey throwing chips about rather recklessly and eventually going out in 10th place. Donkey lost a big pot to Lady Luck through a rather bad beat, who certainly had Lady Luck on his side this evening.
Zeus went out unceremoniously and surprisingly in 9th place, and noted, "Well, I had to shake the rust off." Before Zeus left early, he surreptitiously predicted that Teen Wolf, who had built an early chip lead, would finish first, with .com finishing 2nd and My Choice finishing third. He got two out of three right.
Soon after, Daffy, Chick, and Karma went out in 8th, 7th and 6th places, a large amount of their chips going to True.
Teen Wolf, who had built the early lead and then stalled somewhat, went out in 5th, losing a large amount of chips to his brother My Choice.
Lady Luck then was shortstacked but somehow watched his chip stack fluctuate through an incredible run of winning "all-in" plays to stay in the game. The crowd estimated that he survived about 8 all-ins. However, his luck eventually ran out and he finished in 4th place.
My Choice, who had quietly played solid poker all night, lost a tough hand to .com then. My Choice slowplayed pocket kings, and let .com hit top pair on the flop. .com went all-in and My Choice happily showed his kings to .com's J-7. However, a 7 came on the turn and .com won the unlikely hand with his two pair. My Choice eventually went out in third place, victim of a tough beat.
True and .com battled heads up, blinds high and leads swaying wildly from player to player. Eventually True finally got the victory to finish 1st in what is sure to be a poker season filled with highs, lows, and exciting poker action.
Points (Total):
True - 10 (10)
.com - 7 (7)
My Choice - 5 (5)
Lady Luck - 3 (3)
Teen Wolf - 1 (1)
I will attempt to recap each game rather quickly, the day after it occurs. Players will be referred to by nickname only.
Recap of Game 1 (Monday, June 30):
Ten people were in attendance at the Daffy residence for Game 1. Play started slow with Donkey throwing chips about rather recklessly and eventually going out in 10th place. Donkey lost a big pot to Lady Luck through a rather bad beat, who certainly had Lady Luck on his side this evening.
Zeus went out unceremoniously and surprisingly in 9th place, and noted, "Well, I had to shake the rust off." Before Zeus left early, he surreptitiously predicted that Teen Wolf, who had built an early chip lead, would finish first, with .com finishing 2nd and My Choice finishing third. He got two out of three right.
Soon after, Daffy, Chick, and Karma went out in 8th, 7th and 6th places, a large amount of their chips going to True.
Teen Wolf, who had built the early lead and then stalled somewhat, went out in 5th, losing a large amount of chips to his brother My Choice.
Lady Luck then was shortstacked but somehow watched his chip stack fluctuate through an incredible run of winning "all-in" plays to stay in the game. The crowd estimated that he survived about 8 all-ins. However, his luck eventually ran out and he finished in 4th place.
My Choice, who had quietly played solid poker all night, lost a tough hand to .com then. My Choice slowplayed pocket kings, and let .com hit top pair on the flop. .com went all-in and My Choice happily showed his kings to .com's J-7. However, a 7 came on the turn and .com won the unlikely hand with his two pair. My Choice eventually went out in third place, victim of a tough beat.
True and .com battled heads up, blinds high and leads swaying wildly from player to player. Eventually True finally got the victory to finish 1st in what is sure to be a poker season filled with highs, lows, and exciting poker action.
Points (Total):
True - 10 (10)
.com - 7 (7)
My Choice - 5 (5)
Lady Luck - 3 (3)
Teen Wolf - 1 (1)
Old School Photo
It's hard to know where to start commenting on this one... Thanks to Shilamida, who forwarded this to me. This was at a New Year's Party at Columbia in the dorm room of "Lucky"... we were not 21 yet.
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Spelling Mistakes Make Me Want to Screme
From my school DISTRICT'S WEBSITE... (our district is having early dismissal today, as are many other local school districts)
"Weather Alert / Due to the extream heat..."
ExtrEAM? What gie or gurl is responsible for spelling? Seriously, are people freakin illiterate these days? Or do people not proofread their own writing? Despite being good in math, I was an average English student (ok, I did take AP English, but I certainy didn't excel at it) and these blunders stand out to me. Any good writers must cringe at stuff like this.
If I make a spelling mistake on this blog... fine, less than 10 people will read it. But how can you mess up that bad on such simple spelling mistakes on a public document? The PLAQUE to the boys bathroom in my school building reads "BOY'S BATHROOM". Does it only belong to one boy? Some of the English teachers here bring their classes to the plaque to point out how common these mistakes are (or, maybe, the idiocy of the school).
"Weather Alert / Due to the extream heat..."
ExtrEAM? What gie or gurl is responsible for spelling? Seriously, are people freakin illiterate these days? Or do people not proofread their own writing? Despite being good in math, I was an average English student (ok, I did take AP English, but I certainy didn't excel at it) and these blunders stand out to me. Any good writers must cringe at stuff like this.
If I make a spelling mistake on this blog... fine, less than 10 people will read it. But how can you mess up that bad on such simple spelling mistakes on a public document? The PLAQUE to the boys bathroom in my school building reads "BOY'S BATHROOM". Does it only belong to one boy? Some of the English teachers here bring their classes to the plaque to point out how common these mistakes are (or, maybe, the idiocy of the school).
Saturday, June 7, 2008
Prostitution Part II
A couple of months back I posted about prostitution and the farce of the "illegality" of this activity. To further reinforce my point, I picked up the free Atlantic City newspaper the last time I was down there. Here's a sampling of the classified ads:
Anyway, this is nothing. Anybody who picks up the free / cheap city papers in NYC, Philadelphia, or I'm sure any other major American city will see the same or worse. I'm sure you could purchase sex fairly easy with a couple of points and clicks as well.
I don't know, it just seems like with the way prostitution (and drug use) is "illegal" in this country the door is wide open for selective and ineffective enforcement and consequences. It also completely opens the door for the market for sex slaves and unsafe working conditions for women, doesn't it? What's wrong with making it legal? Am I just too liberal...?
Anyway, this is nothing. Anybody who picks up the free / cheap city papers in NYC, Philadelphia, or I'm sure any other major American city will see the same or worse. I'm sure you could purchase sex fairly easy with a couple of points and clicks as well.
I don't know, it just seems like with the way prostitution (and drug use) is "illegal" in this country the door is wide open for selective and ineffective enforcement and consequences. It also completely opens the door for the market for sex slaves and unsafe working conditions for women, doesn't it? What's wrong with making it legal? Am I just too liberal...?
Friday, June 6, 2008
199Teaneck#2
The boys over at Where's Luke went Will Shortz on us.
Click here for Round 2.
Click on "Printable HTML" after going to the link for best results.
Click here for Round 2.
Click on "Printable HTML" after going to the link for best results.
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