I'M DONE WITH FOOTBALL FOR THIS SEASON

Pitchers & Catchers: Feb. 15

QUOTE FOR THE WEEK

We had everything... And now it's all over.

And that's the hardest part. Now everything is different; there's no action... have to wait around like everyone else. Can't even get decent food - right after I got here, I ordered some spaghetti with marinara sauce, and I got egg noodles and ketchup. I'm an average nobody... get to live the rest of my life like a schnook.

MESSAGE FROM GOVERNOR CORZINE

I received a message from the Governor's Office in my e-mail.

Below is the email.


I'm coming to Marlboro on Monday to talk directly to the people about my plan to fix our state's budget crisis. Here are the details:

Monday, February 4, 2008 7-9pm
Marlboro High School
95 North Main St. Marlboro, NJ 07746

My plan imposes three key spending rules on our state budget. We'll immediately freeze state spending at current levels. We'll require any new spending to be tied to new revenue. And we will return the state's credit card to the people, requiring any state borrowing to be approved by the voters.

Additionally my plan involves toll hikes. The cost of an average trip on the Turnpike would be $2.05 in five years. In 10 years, it will be $5.80. That's up from $1.21 today.

Believe me, I've run all the numbers. There is no better alternative to achieve the twin goals of paying down our state's debt and funding the Transportation Trust Fund for the next 75 years.I hope to see you at Monday's town hall meeting.

METS ACQUIRE SANTANA

Finally!

After weeks and months, and what feels like years the Twins have moved Santana and Omar and the Mets are the big winner.

The package didn't even include the Mets' top prospect Fernando Martinez or young stud Mike Pelfrey.

They now have a window of 48-72 hours to agree to a contract and as much as I don't want to say you have to agree to a contract with him under any circumstances, THE METS MUST AGREE TO A CONTRACT WITH HIM UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES.

I think the Omar Minaya did a wonderful job and played his cards very skillfully (or you can say he got very lucky and the Twins did a terrible job). No one knows how these prospects will turn out, but a Yankee offer of Phillip Hughes sure seems to be a better option than the Mets' package of Carlos Gomez, Deolis Guerra, Kevin Mulvey and Philip Humber.

Although I love young pitchers, and the Mets did give up 3 of them, this was a no brainer, and after the absolute embarrassment of September 2007 this had to be done.

16 days to pitchers and catchers!!!!

OBAMA - JFK - ANNA NICOLE???

Hillary seems to be looking to the heavens for some divine intervention after the whooping she took from Barack in South Carolina.

Obama had a hell of a weekend, destroying Clinton in South Carolina by a larger percentage than anyone expected, getting a nice mix of votes for all age groups and ethnicity, and garnishing the endorsement of the Kennedy clan when Teddy and Caroline came aboard and backed him.

Caroline even went as far as to say "I have never had a president who inspired me the way people tell me that my father inspired them. But for the first time, I believe I have found the man who could be that president — not just for me, but for a new generation of Americans."

Now by no means do I expect Caroline to have anything negative to say about her dear old dad, but the infatuation and warped perceptions this country has with our 35th president is amazing.

I wonder if in 20 years people will look back on Anna Nicole Smith with such reverence as they do to JFK and James Dean, two "wonderful Americans" who basically did very little.

JFK was in the midst of the civil rights movement, and basically did nothing but give a little encouragement and a lot of stonewalling and there was an entire generation of people that would define itself around the anti-war movement and all he did was escalate Vietnam.

JFK was as confused and over matched as any president as he flopped from one crisis to another, starting with the Bay of Pigs and proceeding through the Cuban Missile Crisis (where he gambled with the lives of most of the people on the planet).

JFK was a major disappointment as a president, but that was forgotten after he became America’s first celebrity causality.

What this country needs is some positive reinforcement, and pride, and a great communicator, we should be looking for the next Ronald Reagan, not the next John Kennedy.

BROOKTOWN WSOP NEXT EVENT FEB 8TH

We are less than 2 weeks away from our February event. NL Texas Hold ‘Em.

The event will be held in Jackson, and as usual we’d like to start by 8pm. Please let me know who will be attending. Below is the blind structure and starting chip counts.

Event Overview – NO LIMIT TEXAS HOLD ‘EM

THE GAME

The game is No-Limit Texas Hold ‘Em.

GENERAL INFORMATION

Maximum number of players - 16.
Minimum number of players - 3.
Chip Value:
White 25
Red 50
Green 100
Blue 250
Black 500

BUYIN/REBUY/ADD-ON

The initial buy-in is $40. This will purchase 3,500 in tournament chips. These chips have no monetary value.
A player may add-on at any point in the tournament prior to the first hand of round 5. Each player is allowed up to 1 (one) add-on in this tournament.
Add-on are $20 and will purchase 1,750 in tournament chips.



SEATING

Table assignment and seating will be determined prior to the start of the tournament by random drawing. (However, the tournament director reserves the right to redraw the tables).
Button position will be determined by the random assignment of seat #1. Seat #1 will be the first to deal.
If we have in excess of 10 players at the start of this event we will use two tables.
If the tournament began with two tables, as soon as the remaining players equal 8, we will combine the two tables and have one table of 8 players.
When the difference in the number of players at the two tables is greater than 1 then a player must move from the bigger table to the smaller table. When a player is eliminated and a move must be made, the player ‘playing a hand’ in the same position (seat), relative to the left of the button (on the subsequent hand at each table) at the highest populated table must move to the eliminated player’s seat. The move must occur before the next hand is dealt at any table. For the purposes of this rule, a player is ‘playing a hand’ once all the blinds/antes have been posted and the dealer has begun shuffling (riffles the deck).A moved player will be dealt a hand at the start of the next deal and assume any obligation of the new seat including the posting of a blind or dealing.


BLINDS

The two players to the left of the dealer are required to post “blind” bets before seeing their cards. The 1st is the SB and the 2nd is the BB.
If the SB is knocked out, the button essentially goes into his empty seat.
If the BB is knocked out, then the BB moves on to the player who would have had it next and there isn’t a SB on this hand (SB moves into the empty seat). On the following hand, the button would wind up in the empty seat. The player who just had the BB would have SB, and the BB moves on normally to the next player.
When play is down to two players, figure out who would get the BB next if nothing had happened. He will be the BB on the next hand. The SB is always on the button and the other player is the BB.

TIMER USE AND BREAKS

A timer will be used to time the blind progression. When the timer expires, it should be immediately restarted. The next hand will be dealt at the new blind level. For the purposes of this rule, a hand is considered currently in play once the all blinds are posted AND the dealer has begun shuffling (riffles the deck).
The timer is stopped during breaks. No additional hands at any table should be started during such a break although hands already in progress should be completed.


THE DEAL

The player to the right of the dealer may be given the right to cut the deck before the cards are dealt.
The dealer is responsible for making sure that all bets have been called before dealing each round of card(s).
Order of the deal:

Dealer deals two cards (one at a time) face down to each player.
Betting round 1 occurs.
Dealer burns one card and deals 3 cards (flop) in the middle of the table face up.
Betting round 2 occurs.
Dealer burns one card and deals one card (turn/4th Street) in the middle.
Betting round 3 occurs.
Dealer burns one card and deals the final card (river/5th Street).
Betting round 4 occurs.


BETTING

Check and raise is allowed.
The minimum bet is equal to the size of the BB.
The raise must always be at least the size of the previous bet or raise.
Any player can bet all of their chips at anytime (ALL-IN).
Betting round 1 begins with the player to the left of the BB.
Betting rounds 2-4 begin with the player to the left of the button.
When only two players are left sitting at the table, the BB is dealt to first, the button acts first before the flop, and the BB acts first after the flop.
Do not splash the pot. Stack your bets in front of you the dealer will rake the bets into the pot after the betting round is complete.
Do not bet, check, call, fold, or raise out of turn.


WINNING THE TOURNAMENT

The final player remaining, in the championship round, with all the chips will be the first prize winner. The last player eliminated will be the second prize winner; the second last player eliminated will be the third prize winner, etc... If two players get eliminated in the same hand, the person who started the hand with the most chips gets the higher finish and awarded the corresponding prize pool for that placement.

OBAMA DOMINATES THE "RACE" IN SC

It was a rout.

Obama destroyed Hillary in SC by a larger margin that anyone expected. The Dems move on to super Tuesday now where we will see if the Clinton strategy to get people out of their homes and to the polls by making sure the people aware that there is a divide in this country and going with the old "us vs. them" standard, will pay off. Usually it's palyed out the other way, so it's interesting to see the white candidate play the underdog for once.

I tend to think that next Tuesday will be a fascinating day for anyone watching this with a high level of interest, like I said earlier, I think we are watching one of the best politicians of our generation (Bill Clinton) show you how to win an election, and get people out to vote. Don't fool yourself, running for office is NEVER going to be about policy, about changes a person is going to make (and by the way, Obama's proposals scare the hell out of me, good thing they are only election promises and not things he will ever institute if by some chance he does win), or about the promises a candidate makes. Winning an election is about charisma, charm, looks and words...all which Obama has a huge advantage over Hillary...but the Clintons know what to say, and how to act to make people get involved. Hillary has large lead in a number of the states (specially the big ones) that will be decided on SUPER TUESDAY.

The Republicans have an important battle coming up this Tuesday where Rudy looks to make or break his campaign in Florida. Rudy has been in Florida for weeks while Mitt the Mormon and everyone's favorite grandpa John McCain have been winning states in NH, Iowa and SC. The polls are showing Rudy trailing and in 3rd place, but Florida has some weird rules (shocking) about absentee balloting, and early voting, and Rudy and his people have been getting people to vote and fill out the proper paperwork for him for weeks. Rudy has been working the crowds and for the last 3 weeks Rudy has been getting votes siged sealed and delivered.

To say it nicely, polls blow...lets see what Rudy can do this week, it may be the last chance we have to get the candidate I want into this battle. McCain has the endorsement of just about every major poictician, newspaper and public figure in Florida, yet he still is no lock to win this state. That tells me something about McCain's chances overall. If Rudy can just get a solid showing in Florida, and Romney keeps it tight with McCain Tuesday, Feburary 5ths battle may be more exciting than Superbowl Sunday!!!

snuffys a sk8er boi he said raise ya later boi then he lost to triple 5s now j invited keith & the shari got really peaved now both of them have hives

IT COULD BE ALL OVER IN THE SOUTH

This is a must win for Barack.

All the polls have him comfortably ahead, but Hillary has shown us before that the polls mean nothing.

Clinton was in South Carolina begging for votes on Friday at a "black college" (Benedict College) where her supporters made sure to state that the state’s presidential nominating primary on Saturday is not about race.

Bernice Scott, a local county council member, who introduced Clinton at Benedict College by saying: “We’ve got to pull everybody together. This is not going to be about gender. This is not going to be about race.”

Not to be silly or skeptical, but um.....yea right. What percentage of people know anything about these candidates except one is black and is a hell of a dancer on Ellen, and one is the wife of a former kinda cool president. Most South Carolinaians are going to wake up, go to the polls and vote only based on gender and race.

David Dinkins, New York’s first black mayor, (and the worst in my lifetime) also was there and said he backs Clinton out of friendship, loyalty and respect for her qualifications.

“Lofty rhetoric is nice but ultimately, you’ve got to govern,” Dinkins said. “We need someone with the capacity to govern, someone who has proven that she has the capacity.”

All he knew about governing was how not to...makes sense he would support Hillary (yea, that's right I said it!!!)

I predict Obama by 5 points in the last good moment of his candidacy, before Hillary takes charge of this race going forward.

FIRST OUT

Someone has to be the first out in every tournament, and if you play enough times sooner of later it's going to be you. But you when you put in that $6 for pizza, going home at 9:40 is the last thing on your mind.

Sometimes you get poor starting hands or don't get any action when you do, and your stack is simply whittled away until you are forced to go all in with a mediocre hand and you're done. Other times you get to much action, and to many "second best" hands and the elimination is a bit more painful. You may even be dominating the hand, make a strong all in move and someone sucks out a 2 outer on the river and you never knew what hit you, that's the worst of all.

There is only so much you can control, if you make a move that you have conviction in, and you make a read that you believe in, sometimes it will work out and sometimes you'll be driving home at 10:30 all annoyed because the Stern show is playing the same part of the show you had on during the drive to poker.

Some people go home, put some food in the microwave, turn on Leno, get a good night's sleep, and never think twice about...other people go home, kick the dog, throw their keys, pace, put on Letterman, pace, toss, turn, curse, text, get out of bed, email, drink water, put on VH1, toss, turn, pee, text. Everyone handles it differently. Me, I was never a big Leno fan.

A few posts ago we talked about skill vs luck, and although we all agree there is some level of skill to No Limit Poker, on any single occasion, any player can lose to any player, and go home early. Was I unlucky to run into trip 5's (for the second time in a week by the way) last night and commit all my chips with top pair? Maybe...or was I just less skilled by making the wrong read and the wrong bet? I don't think we'll ever know..but to steal a line from the best No Limit Hold 'Em tournament player of all time, "I guess if luck wasn't involved I'd finish 2nd every time".

Oh yea, by the way Chacko won the event.

LETTER FROM RUDY

Dear Tom,
From day one, the liberal media has criticized my strategy of focusing on delegate rich states like Florida. An unprecedented primary calendar called for an unconventional strategy. And it has paid off in a big way.

We are tied at the top in Florida polls, but ultimately this race is about more than rhetoric and flashy campaign ads. I'm running for President because I believe I have the best ideas and boldest vision to lead this country forward. I will get this economy growing again and put people back to work and I will keep us on offense in the Terrorists' War on Us.

With the volatility in the stock markets leaving millions of Americans uncertain about the future, it's important that our next President have experience in turning around an economy in peril and putting people back to work. In New York, I was chief executive of the 17th largest economy in the world, cut taxes 23 times and cut a 10% unemployment rate in half.

I am the strongest fiscal conservative in the Republican field with a proven record of getting results - and I can't wait to transform Washington.

On day one as President, I will send Congress the largest tax cut in American history to revitalize our economy. I will cut the corporate tax rate from 35% to 25% to jumpstart economic growth and get people back to work. I have the most comprehensive plan to get our country back on track. But don't just take my word for it; see what groups like the Club for Growth & Americans for Tax Reform are saying:

- Americans For Tax Reform President Grover Norquist: Giuliani's Tax Cut Is “The Largest In History.” Americans For Tax Reform, “Rudy Giuliani Tax Cut Plan,” Press Release, 1/9/08.

- “According To One Economic Expert I Talked To: ‘[Giuliani's] Plan Would Be Huge. It Would Be 4% Of GDP. By Comparison, GWB Tax Cut Was 1.3% Of GDP. Reagan's Was 1.9% Of GDP.'” - Matt Lewis, Townhall.com.

- Giuliani's Tax Plan “Would Be The Largest Tax Cut In The History Of The American Republic. Actually, Of Any Republic--Ours, Rome's, Greece's. Just Huge...” James Pethokoukis, “Giuliani's Shock-and-Awe Tax Plan,” U.S. News & World Report's

To read more about my comprehensive plan to turn around the economy, please click here.

Six days from today, the first real delegate prize of the primary season will be awarded in

Florida. The polls show a three-way dead heat and that means I need your help to finish strong. Please forward this email on to your friends and neighbors and get them involved in my Drive2Five.

If you want a President with a bold vision to turn around this economy and keep us safe, and someone with the proven record to get things done, I'm asking for your support.
On To Victory!
Rudy Giuliani

P.S. Today I came out with my new web ad, "Some" about my commitment to fight for a National Catastophe Fund that will insure the American people against natural disasters.



Paid for by the Rudy Giuliani Presidential Committee, Inc.
http://giuliani.lyris.net/t/20434/12084/25/0/ Privacy Policy

FA POKER LEAGUE STARTS JANUARY 24TH

I know this blog was started with the thought of talking everyday about Brooktown WSOP, but to no surprise, and to be quite honest, 2 weeks after an event, and 2 weeks before the next one, there isn't to much going on.

With that said, tomorrow evening begins event 1 of our sister league, which this year is loaded with 16 players, and easily could have gone to 24 if the powers that be (and if we had big enough homes and bathrooms) were willing to.

The stakes are a bit larger (it's not called the FA league for nothing), and the schedule a bit tighter, but it still has the excitement and competition that make it a night I really look forward to.

Here are the dates and events:

January 24th NL hold em Jackson, NJ
February 27th NL hold em
March 26th PL Omaha Jackson, NJ
May 15th NL hold em Scotch Plains, NJ
July 17th NL hold em Somerset, NJ
August 19th PL Omaha Middletown, NJ

Satellite September 18th NL hold em Jackson, NJ
Final Table October 16th NL hold em Jackson, NJ

With only 6 events, points are at a premium and as two of our top Brooktown players (Jay and JMAC) found out in 2007, even the best of players can end up in the satellite.

The roster of players for the FA league is as follows:


Brucato*
Busco*
Chachko*
Corrigan
Costello*
Denis
Faro
Fern*
Gilmartin
Hamlin
Lucash
Martucci
Schlenger
Southard*
Triola*
Turner*

(* returing from 2007 FA league)

As you can see there are 5 players who compete in both the Brooktown League and the FA league.

Rick Turner won the final event in 2007 as well as 2 of the other 5 events he competed in, with Rich Southard, John Busco and Mike Triola taking home the other 3 wins.

It's a league I'm very excited to be a part of and I'm looking forward to some very good poker playing. Tonight's event is No Limit Hold 'Em.

Testing out my new blogging feature. This is an entry sent directly from my cell phone.

NFL CHAMPIONSHIP WEEKEND

Giants vs Packers and the Pats vs. Chargers

Can anyone, will anyone, stop the miserable Patriots and their classless coach? I tend to doubt it, but that won't stop me from hoping.

The Chargers are poorly coached and banged up, their QB, all world TE and all world RB are not at full strength, and how can we have any faith in Norv. As much as I'll be looking for an upset, I think New England coasts in this one 40-17.

Tonight, the G-men take on the Pack. This should be a great game, mixed with the elements may make it a very, very memorable one. The Giants pass rush can cause a ton of trouble for Favre and Green Bay, but I don't alot of faith in Eli to "weather" the storm, so in a good game, I'm picking Green Bay 23-16.

OMAR

Don't get me wrong about my Son of Stienbrenner posts...needless to say there is no love here, nor will there ever be, for the Yankees. But by no means will Omar and the the Mets get a free ride.

This team collapsed as badly if not worse, than the 2004 Yankees, and as far as I'm concerned was a total embarrassment for the last 2 weeks of 2007. They have done nothing to change or add to the team, and the best spin I can put on it is they have learned from the pain of that experience, never to take something for granted and never assume you won or have something when you don't. But even I'm not sure how much I believe that.

I am the biggest optimist, and look at the Mets' team through the rosiest of rose colored glasses, but I've got to be a little worried about a starting rotation of Pedro, Maine, Ollie, El Duque and Joe Appio.

While I go to bed searching every news article I can find about Santanta rumors, and wake up scouring the internet for any hint of what the Twins are going to do, and the Mets are going to do, I'll hold off on bashing Omar and the Mets until that is finaly resolved.

Son of Steinbrenner article - better written than mine...

The following article is copied from New York Magazine and the writer does a much better job than I did a few day and points out that there's little reason to pay attention to what Hank Steinbrenner says when it comes to the Yankees trading for Johan Santana



Hank Steinbrenner Talks Himself, Twins Into a Tizzy

Anyone following the Yankees in the news for the past few months must be tired of hearing from Hank Steinbrenner about the possibility of a trade with the Minnesota Twins for young pitcher Johan Santana. It's been literally weeks and weeks of the same mantra: "I'm in charge!" "We're still open!" "Our offer was the best offer!" Even though way back on December 2, Steinbrenner set a one-week deadline for the Twins to accept his offer, it's been dragging on and on. Since today, just over a month later, papers are reporting Steinbrenner as saying actually "there were no offers on the table," we thought we'd take a little walk down memory lane of all of his bluster:

December 3, 2007: "I'm not going to be played against the Red Sox. That's not something I'll do. That's not something the Yankees should ever do, and that's I think what they're trying to do now," Yankees senior vice president Hank Steinbrenner said Sunday. "So if they want the best offer that has been offered to them, then they need to make up their minds." [Boston Globe]

December 8, 2007: "As far as the door being open, who knows? At this point, [Yankees pitchers who might be traded for Santana] Chamberlain, Hughes, Kennedy, Cabrera and Cano, they're as close to untouchable as you get… The only reason I made a point of a deadline on Santana was that I didn't want to get caught up in the circus of the winter meetings. The purpose of that deadline was trying to get something done before the winter meetings." [NYDN]

December 15, 2007: "For the near future, we're in a no-lose situation, to tell you the truth… It's up to Minnesota what they want to do and I assume they're still thinking about trading him… As far as what I'm going to do, I don't know. There's been a couple of brief calls. The door's not closed." [NYDN]

January 3, 2008: "I think the Twins realize our offer is the best one… I feel confident they're not going to trade him before checking with us one last time and I think they think we've already made the best offer." [NYDN]

January 5, 2008: "Nothing is really decided at this point… I'm still leaning towards doing it. There's others leaning not to do it. There are some others that are leaning to do it also. Disagreements within the organization. Nothing major, but just different opinions. I've changed my opinion a couple times… I always told [general manager Brian Cashman], 'I'm going to make the final decisions because when you're the owner, you should.'" [Newsday]

January 9, 2008: "There's definitely still a possibility… The bottom line is, it's my decision, but there's disagreement within the organization. I've got to keep everybody happy in the organization, including Brian… That includes my partner, which is my brother." [Newsday]

January 15, 2008: “It’s most likely that we’re going to stay with what we’ve got… That always can change — of course, that’s up to Minnesota — but there were no offers on the table." NYT]

So, let's get this straight. Reading through the above quotes, we see "offer, offer, no offer" and "I'm in charge, I'm in charge, I have to listen to everybody else." No wonder Hal Steinbrenner always keeps his mouth shut.

THE 25 GREATEST MOVIES OF ALL TIME

1 Goodfellas
2 The Godfather
3 The Godfather, part II

4 Swingers
5 The Shawshank Redemption
6 Casino
7 Midnight Run
8 Forrest Gump
9 Pulp Fiction
10 When Harry Met Sally...
11 Ocean's Eleven
12 Ferris Bueller's Day Off
13 Raging Bull
14 There's Something About Mary
15 A Bronx Tale
16 The Sixth Sense
17 The Usual Suspects
18 Moulin Rouge
19 Raiders of the Lost Ark
20 Big
21 Shrek
22 Chicago
23 Rocky
24 Rain Man
25 Toy Story

Felix Trinidad vs. Roy Jones Jr. Jan 19th at MSG

yawn.........

Is Luck Real?

Einstein once said "God does not play dice." Considering that he was an atheist I think he meant that every event is the direct result of a cause, not of chance. In essence, "cause and effect." Chance is the odds of cause and effect taking place in a certain sequence.

So the question is, do some people get the good luck result more often than the bad luck result, and vice-versa?

I'm a believer in the power of suggestion and positive thinking. If you believe you will have good results, then more times than not you will. Is this based on anything concrete? Of course not. What probably is happening is, as an optimist, my brain is taking the result (whether it is good or bad) and processing it with an optimistic spin, whereas the pessimist's brain takes the result and spins it negativity. The pessimist says "I have no luck, there was a 5% chance of that happening and it happens to me EVERY time." and dwells on the result...and the optimist says "I can't win every one of them, at least I know the next 95% of the times I'll win." and forgets it. Both the optimist and the pessimist are processing the exact same occurrences differently.

People want to explain their bad beats, it must be all luck, right? Well, of course not. When you hit trips on the turn, and get all your chips in the pot and someone calls with a gut shot straight draw and hits, there's nothing you can do about that. Think of the math, you are a huge favorite (you should win that hand 92% of the time), and of course you did the right thing. but once in a while (1 out of 12.5 times) the trips will lose. Like we always say..."you might not remember the big winning hands you had, but you always remember the ones you took a beat on when you were ahead." Over time, if you play long enough and frequently enough, the odds will take over and turn out in your favor. It's a simple concept of probability and statistics.

People get lucky in poker all the time and we see it every month in Brooktown and every week on television. But I have to believe, if your thought processes are correct, make the correct reads, and use the correct odds to your favor, over time, you'll win more than you lose. even if you have what seems like endless runs of bad luck. It happens. Skill will rule out over luck every time.

If you ask people what the skill to luck ratio is, I bet you hear alot of answers around 70% - 30%, some may say 60% - 40%, but after thinking about this for the past few weeks, and having played over 40 tournaments the last 3 years I think the answer is tournament poker is 100% skillful.

What about bad beats? Or the times you're out-drawn on the river? Well that is all part of poker and like I said above, those things will occasionally happen, based the odds. Truthfully, these kinds of events should have less of an impact on your overall results the more you play. If you only play 5 or 6 Brooktown events a year, luck will play a bigger factor in your results than if you play all 11 events. Over 30 events, skill will overcome luck to a greater degree, and after 50 events I expect the skillful player to have an even greater edge over the less skillful one.

A solid, smart player's talent, again OVER TIME, will outweigh the effect of luck and they produce positive results over time. That's not to say this player won't run into the occasional rough patch or have losing sessions, and even be first out in some tournaments and get knocked out by a lucky player, but by sticking to their game plan, these occasional bad nights, will not affect their overall results.

Players win chips and pots for every good decision that they make and lose chips and pots for their bad ones. Sometimes we win pots even when we make the wrong decision, but a skillful player will make quality decisions over the course of a number of events, and they will have more good finishes than bad ones. The more events we play, the larger the gap between skillful and less skillful grows, and over the long haul, luck is not only insignificant when it comes to your results I believe it's non-existent.

Son of Steinbrenner Update

Thanks to the Daily Intelligencer they give some specific examples of the flip flopping I mentioned from Son of Steinbrenner:

On December 3, Steinbrenner set a deadline for the Twins to accept their best offer.

On December 8 and 15, Steinbrenner said the door is still open.

On January 3, he stated that the Yankees had the best offer, and the Twins know it, but two weeks later he said it was likely his team would “go with what they’ve got.”

On January 14 reports indicated that the Yankees were done talking to the Twins, unless Steinbrenner had a change of heart. So, naturally, the next day, Steinbrenner told the Associated Press that the Yankees are still discussing Santana, adding, “There’s still a little talk back and forth.

2008 Presidential Elections

What candidate agrees with you?

Click on this link http://www.vajoe.com/candidate_calculator.html and answer the questions to find the 2008 presidential candidate that best aligns with your beliefs.

Copy and past your top matches and let's see who the best candidate for the WSOP is.

My Top Match was Rudy Giulani (62.5%)
followed by

John Cox (who???) 56.25
Mike Gravel 55.21
Denis Kuninich 52.08

Other Noteables:
Huckabee was 50%
Obama was a 47.92% match
McCain was at 41.67%
Hillary was 37.50%
Romney was the lowest at 35.42

Son of Steinbrenner

Yesterday, there were a number of reports that the Yankees had pulled their trade offer for Johan Santana off the table. What seemed like less time than it takes Eddie P to drink 7 shots of pineapple vodka, Hank (or Hal, I'm not sure if I know the difference or if it matters) told the AP that the Yankees are still discussing Santana, and according to the daily news, “There’s still a little talk back and forth.

This guy really is priceless, and I'm sure Cashman loves to wake up every morning and read another statement from Son of Steinbrenner revealing his hand.

I mean obviously either you are involved in getting him or you are not. What is the insatiable desire to comment on it? It's great that he comes out every day and says we are still thinking about him, then changes his mind and says we're going to go with the kids, then flips back to say we can get him if we want him..etc....I mean unless I'm new to this, isn't it possible that the Dodgers could call the Twins up, offer their 5 best prospects and acquire Santana tomorrow? Would it not count since 3 weeks ago they said they weren't interested and didn't publicly come out and say "we are still interested?"

Seriously though, we all know the Yankees have the means to acquire Santana at any time, I tend to think if this was 20 years ago and George was aware of what was going on, they would have had him by now, and Phil Hughes would be getting ready to be a .500 pitcher with the Twinkies, but in this new era of Son of Steinbrenner all we get so far is talk, it's time to see some action.

What does this have to do with poker you ask? Well my original plan for this blog entry was that I was going to compare Son of Steinbrenner to a poker player who is always revealing his hand, and thus, never wins. But I couldn't get my thoughts together around that concept so I figured I'd just rant about Hal (or Hank) and chuckle at the insanity of it all. Speaking of insanity, I'm not exactly sure what Omar's plan in all of this is either, more than anyone he needs to make the move so as not to have Jose Lima as the Mets #3 starter next year.

Is Brooktown a "No Limit Hold 'Em League"

As most of you may remember, we considered a couple of possible rule changes to the structure and set up of BROOKTOWN Poker.

One of the suggestions up for consideration, was to have the over all points leader select the final championship game. The votes were a resounding 12-1 against (Stan being the only one that voted for it, with the proposer of the rule even voting against it.) I heard alot of chatter about how we are really a Hold 'Em league above all else.

While is it true that we do have almost half of our events, as well as the two play-off events as NL or PL Hold 'Em, I strongly will argue that this is an all around poker league first, with an emphasis on Hold 'Em. We are modeled after the official WSOP (http://www.worldseriesofpoker.com/) with respect to what events they play as well as taking the concept of points and a year end championship from the World Poker Tour (http://www.worldpokertour.com/index.php) but I think we have a much more diverse roster of games then both these formats. These two "leagues" are so over loaded with Hold Em events, it makes us look like a RAZZ league.

It stands to reason, at least to me however, that as long as these two entities have such an emphasis on NL Hold 'Em, so should we, both in number of events, as well as "play-off" events.

If anyone is interested in starting, or running, a league of all Hold 'Em, or all 7 card stud, or even Yahtzee, I would hope you would consider inviting me to join, and you can count on me to be there at every event and support the hell out of it.

First Event of 2008 is in the books

Well...we're off.

And the winner as I am sure you all know by now, is our newest member Bob.

H.O.R.S.E. what can I say....I think I'm a little confused as to how the "real big time" poker players in this world (not Rich and Jay, but Doyle Brunson, Negreanu et al) consider this event "the ultimate test of skill."

Now don't get me wrong, by no means am I disparaging this event, and I am looking forward to playing it again (do I hear requests for playing it twice in 2009?) with a revamped structure as to not have to sit there until 4 in the morning watching people play RAZZ, but until I can get a better feel for how to play RAZZ, Stud, and Stud Hi/Lo, with some better feel for the hands, the odds and the strategy, I'm going to be relegated to sitting there for 4 hours with the proverbial deer caught in the headlights look on my face.

Last night, or actually early this morning, we saw the pitfals (damn I miss Atari 2600 sometimes) of carpooling. Triola was first out and had to wait around for Jay who finished 3rd and Jim was 2nd out and had to sit there until the end as he rode in with 2nd place finisher Richie.

All in all though Brooktown is off to another sold start, I thank everyone for helping keep my house in order and allowing Bosco to drool on most of your legs for the better part of 8 eight hours.

Congrats to Bob on getting 2008 off a great start.

BROOKTOWN WSOP 2008 SET TO START TONIGHT

As we head into the 4th year of BROOKTOWN poker I never would have expected to see this thing do as well as it has. I thank all of you for your support and dedication. I think we've got a great group of 14, and probably could push it to a 3 table league if it was feasible and prudent, but sometimes it's not the size that matters.

Hopefully I won't be sad (not finishing 2nd) after the events, or tired (it does suck driving home from Frank's at 3am) to put down some observations and thoughts after each event.

I ask all of you to keep a thick skin, and open mind, and take most of the comments I put here with a grain of salt. Anything I say is meant to be in good fun and really, isn't that what this is all about? Just a diversion from the real world and an excuse to have some fun.