Shaun Deeb booted from the Rio

Steve Freser is a good guy. If he took me aside and said I was about to get 86ed I'd be pissed, probably a lot more so than Shaun F'ing Deeb.



Everybody's nightmare banned from the WSOP for life. Supposed video of you doing something you know you didn't do. Terrible.

However, the execution of this fell short of the mark. And the mark failed to deliver. Why not go after a hothead instead of a nice guy.

And, Steve's too nice a guy to Shaun. He should have heaped on, with lines like, "I'm just so disappointed" "I thought you were one of the good ones" "It's a shame. Are you doing drugs?" "You having problems at home." "I think they are going to get the law involved."

By the same token, I don't know if this should become a trend.


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Hubris ain't a tasty fried pie but I can eat it up...

This am we had a bit of a scare with my future baby, so me and my wife scurried over to the doctor's office. She's had some bad symptoms the last couple of days the most worrisome no movement of the baby. Turns out things were okay and the baby started hiccuping in the waiting room.

Zip to the Donkley and barely get in under the gun.

I make a big call when my opponent's rive bet just didn't make any sense. He had A high with nine kicker and I had Ace high queen kicker. Won't go into why I made the call (too much): a previous hand, texture of the board when the bets were made, and physical read. Funny, I thought he was week enough that I didn't need my kicker but glad to have it.

I got a couple of kudos from players I really respect. The table was actually pretty loaded and I was glad to see them break it after that hand. A player who routinely makes the final table walked up to me and said, "I don't want to play with you, that was an amazing call." I felt really full of myself. I said, "I just got lucky."

Sit down at the new table and steal a couple of pots. I look down at two queens. Get a caller from late position and the big blind. Flop is 9d7d4. I bet just under the size of the pot. Fold. Big blind bumps it up for half his stack. Bad spot. Too many hands he could have. I shove he calls. AA. I compliment him on how he played the hand. Would like some viewpoints here. In retrospect, I think I'm in his shoes that's not quite the spot I make that move. UTG bet indicates a pretty strong hand. You are going to get your action. Why not get rid of the sidecar and pop back because you know you are going to get some chips.

I like that move (early in the tournament as it was) with a mid position or late position bettor and a caller. That's hand I'll risk going broke on to accummulate chips early. But I don't know if you need to trap UTG. Later position preflop raisers it's more effective because you can trap (or trap yourself and go home) lesser hands that might need to connect with the flop (top pair) to pay you off. UTG is already indicating some strength, your reward is probably already there, no need to take the risk with AA that you might have to if players are in different postions. Thoughts?

Very next hand, i'm in big blind and flop trips with no kicker. Totally should have checked called the good player betting to the river (his kicker was an A), yet, perhaps tilting I made a bet that only pot committed me (so, terrible). I put in the rest of the chips when he came over the top and hoped to hit my kicker (Hellmuth might have folded there). He kind of slowrolled me as I turned over first and he worried about matching my call with his chips. I showed the 9 the river bricked and only then did he show A9. He's seems like a nice guy so I don't think he did it on purpose, at least I hope not, but who knows.

Anyway, I played a great hand, kind of got coolered, and then played a really bad hand. In a short span, I went from the World's Greatest Player (in my head) to just an average tilting donkey. I decided it would be a bad idea to play cash despite the bad beat jackpot, and the ample opportunity to steal money from all the bust-outs. Course I was a tilting bust out at that point.

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Ruling that Riles

So, I'm playing Friday night in the cash game. Action started quickly on the first hand as I look at two queens. As I'm waiting for my turn, I eyeball a guy I've played before, and preflop I can tell he's got a big hand. I can't tell you what he was doing to cue me in but I just knew. I bet, then he, on the button, reraises me. The reraise helped. I decide to flat and see what happens.

Comes queen high. Nice. He's got the jimmy leg. I bet, he calls--I think he's got an overpair. Suhweet. On the turn, I check, he shoves, I call. KK. River is Kingball. Fortunately he doesn't have too many chips.

So, I proceed to get QQ three more times that night and not win a dime with them. Didn't lose too much, all things considered so I'm not complaining.

Later as I'm mounting my comeback, a latin gentleman to my left who I've been playing with all day, gets into a hand with me. Every time he has a decent hand (not a great one) he'd make a quick call and spits out "CALL" with some force. Totally, a move he does when he wants to slow down his opponents--at least that's the only tactic I can think of. He always had second best when he did it. Maybe it's his venom at knowing he's beat but not being able to lay-down.

I get the painkillers, as Shoats likes to refer to them, and I bet, he insta "CALL"s. Hmmm. Flop is nontextured. I fire out a bigger than normal bet and it's "CALL!". The turn is an Ace. I slow down, I check he "CHECK"s. Now, whatever mid-pair he's got could be scared. The river is a brick. I stew, what will he call.
I thinking about the proper bet size and figure about 70. As I stack it and pick it up to toss it in, he says "CALL."

The chips haven't even crossed the line. I freeze.

We are both sitting deep. Could I shove my stack in?

I look at the dealer confused. I think about it for a while and decide me and the gentleman have been friendly all night, so why f 'em. I throw in the 70 I was about to throw in before and he laughs and says "PASS" and tosses his cards in.

I'm stupefied. I thought I was letting him off the hook and now he's stiffing me. There are no friends in poker. I look at the dealer and she calls the floor.

Bruce comes over and listens. His verdict, the "CALL" is the same thing as betting out of turn. Therefore, not binding. Whoa.

Sweet. So angle shooters out there, let's say you get into a big hand with a guy both of you are deep stacked. I advise while he's contemplating a river bet you say "Call." Then if he shoves (as that's the most value he can get) you lay down your average hand. If he min-bets raise. Totally, a dumb rule in my opinion and one open for exploitation--if you are the type.



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Donkley and Doh!

Took 5th in the Donkley (yes I'm running good there), easily could have sat out one hand and been 4th... or better. The difference in payout between 4th and 5th wasn't much at all. The second short stack fired a button raise (which in his range is basically any two cards if the pot is unopened--he's a solid player who is tought to put on a hand). The SB calls--an unpredictable older gentleman who had a penchant for overplaying hands and being sticky. I look down at KQ. I have 4k in as the BB. The button raised 12 on top. I had about 20 behind.

The pot was about 38.5. I couldn't just call. It was ship it or fold.

The scary thing, with the way these two played, I could have the best hand. I ship. Call, call.

Flop is all babies. Old guy shoves. Button folds (?). He barely has 6 or 8 grand left. Pot is huge.

Old guy shows deuces. I got 6 cards to hope for and none come.

I played a little divergent from my typical strategy because a couple of the bigger stacks indicated they were going to be in it for the long haul. I figured I needed to gather some chips and gamble a little bit if we were going to play it out. I thought it was the right decision at the time, but sure enough they three way chopped after the dude on the button got eliminated. Maybe could have waited a bit and gotten some first in vig. I played a short stack all day, so playing one 4 handed wasn't scaring me.

As hot as I'm running, I'm seeing many of the same faces on the final table. One guy has made six straight playing whenever he can. It's crazy.

Let's see, suckout of the day: I make a terrible read against a player protecting his hand vs. a straight draw (? maybe) on the board with a massive overbet. After two checks he shoves. I had a gutterball with my pocket 6s. I thought he might have overs and just be trying to take it down. He did have overs. Two kings. Turn brought me a third six. I told him how well he played the hand but he wasn't interested in a compliments as I stacked his chips.

Also, got quad 2s but got nothing for them. K hit the board, and though I prayed for an A on the river it never came. River bet wasn't called.

Alright, that's a bit of a wrap.

No it's not, heres the Doh! Played some cash and after folding for two hours, I flop top-top (AK). I put my opponent on a set, paid off two value bets and he had a set. The information was all there. Knew he was a good player. There were muliple players in the pot and he fired two reraises on the flop and turn. I am stupid. Even better, cue criticism, my fault for limping AK. He was an old guy so he might have folded his 33 to any raise. Oh, well. I got felted shortly thereafter playing tournament short stack poker, and left up for the day but steaming a bit over that final couple of cash hands.

Also from today:
Jackpot is IMMENSE. Do not hit it unless I'm at your table.

Hornets might be resigning Pargo, because he's back at the 2-5 game.

For you sports gamblers out there the U.S. Soccer team is about to start the ir defense of the Gold Cup (or regions version of the Euro cup). You might see some tantalizing odds based on their strong performance in South Africa but don't take them. We will be fielding a mostly B-team.




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Phil Hellmuth On the Flying Trapzee

That's Phil Hellmuth being lowered on a trapzee at Studio 54. Pics from Tiffany Michelle's twitpics.

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Confederations Cup--is it meaningful?

I'll post about poker later today, but this is straight soccer, so skip at your leisure...

There is some confusion about the relative importance of the US making it to the Finals of soccer's second most important international tournament. Is the Confed cup, as one of my friends put it, the "Who gives a sh** cup?" No. I wish there was an easy comparison to other sports that nonsoccer fans would get but there is none. The Playoffs and Superbowl is the only competition in the NFL. Golf has four majors. Same with tennis. While you could argue Wimbledon or the Masters is slightly bigger than the others, they each count as a Grand Slam.

The Olympics and the World Cup are events 1 and 2 in terms of global sports. In some places the Olympics is more important (here) but in most places THE sporting event is the World Cup. In fact, the world cup is so big, any tournament pales in comparison. So, perhaps college basketball provides a ready comparison because March Madness and the N.I.T., are two tournaments in one sport where the first is THE biggest deal and the second is an also-ran. I had a texting debate with a friend of mine in New York who viewed the Confederations Cup as meaningless and disparaged it as the N.I.T. The analogy only holds true in terms of scope, however, in all other respects it fails.

The N.I.T. invites the best teams that didn't make the NCAAs. The Confeds cup invites the champions of each regions (comparable to conference champs which get auto-bids to the NCAA). Europe is represented by the team that won the European Cup (Spain), South America by the team that won Copa America (Brazil), and so on. Then the host nation of the world cup is given a bid (South Africa), and the defending world cup champion (Italy) is also invited.

This narrow selection or qualifying process creates a couple of contradictions. Like the world cup, every team in the world can qualify for the confed cup, however, unlike the world cup no more than three teams can come from one region and usually only one team represents a region. Three teams would be an odd event too, as it would take separate teams from, say Europe, winning the world cup, winning the euro cup, and hosting the next world cup.

So, being so exclusive actually shuts the door on fan interest in many places in the world. Some soccer playing countries like England, Russia, Portugal etc. have never made it to the tournament and have less interest in it. Then they look at the lineup and see half the tournament being comprised of realtive minnows like the African champs (Egypt), the Oceania champs (New Zealand), Concacaf champs (the U.S.) and the Asia Champs (Iraq). So they dismiss it. In one respect it's more exclusive than the world cup, in another, it's woeful in comparison.

The World Cup will have all the top teams from Europe and South America battling each other, in the Confed Cups only their champions will be there. The World Cup has more depth, but the confed cup is a harder tournament for say an England to qualify for.

The truth of the matter, it's a big, big deal, to the champions of smaller regions, and a big deal to the biggest teams in the world that regularly qualify for it. You only need to look at the weeping of a vicitorious Brasil team to know the Confed cup means something to them. Every big team in the tournament brought their best team, and started their best players. This was no N.I.T. by any stretch of the imagination. The N.I.T. doesn't invite the top 3 teams.

The World Cup now has 32 teams. You will never find a group as tough as the one the U.S. played in, in a world cup. Italy, Brazil, the U.S., Egypt. Won't happen. Course you will never find all top 8 teams in the world in the Confederation cup, any time soon, with the elite mostly in Europe and South America.

There could be some debate about the European Cup or Copa America being bigger or more important tournaments than the confederations cup. They are certainly bigger but each are regional, not globabl (even if the world watches the Euro). Add in the fact, winning them qualifies them for the Confederations Cup, structually they are on a lower rung on the ladder.

Most Europeans or South Americans, would prefer winning the Euro or Copa America to winning the Confeds cup, I'd imagine, but it's an odd choice because it's almost impossible to win the Confed cup without winning the European or Copa America.

So, because any and everything in soccer is complicated, the U.S. incredible run in this tournament is burdened by justifying the tournament's worth. It's not the World Cup (nothing is) but it is the second biggest globabl tournament there is and is treated pretty seriously in places like Brasil, France, Argentina, Germany, Italy and Spain. Your limey friend might dismiss it as a crap tournament but you can tell him that's just because England just can't seem to qualify for it.

What the U.S. accomplished in making the finals is incredible. Being 2-0 up on Brasil in such a final is something few teams can ever brag about. Also goes to show you anything can happen in sports and sports betting. One bettor got the U.S. at astronomical odds to win the Confederations Cup, when all looked lost, and had to be irate when they lost that two goal lead.




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Rough Week

So at the beach with the in-laws, things are going swell. It's a little too hot but bearable, a nice breeze over the gulf, soft white-white sands, tropical blue oceans and everybody in great spirits.

Then my Mother-in-law has a heart attack. Things are suddenly not so good. She gets airlifted to Pensacola and luckily the cardio surgeon there had a procedure scheduled and they are already ready to go. They bump that lady out and quickly get to work. Two blockages, one 100% the other 70%.

A stint is inserted effectively for the 100% blockage (the 70% one will have to wait until things heal up), and she is in the Pcola hospital until today. Spent the last three days driving my wife back and forth to visit.

Two hours each way every day, and an expectant mother anxious about her mother, makes for a rough week. Even tougher is the sudden surprise of it all. Lady works out with a personal trainer, eats well, and just got great numbers on her cholestral. She's in great shape and it blindsided everybody.

Fortunately, there was a lady on the beach with a jeep who took my mother-in-law back to the house within minutes of the chest pain. We had some baby aspirin and regular aspirin on hand and that mitigated the attack quickly. 911 was called and the ambulance was there within minutes and she was fast tracked into the local E.R. They quickly realized she needed to be helicopter-ed to Pcola and she was.

By the time we got there, driving fairly frantically through the panhandle, she was in recovery.

Anyway, they let her out a day early (today) and she is back at the beach house. She'll be trying to pack in some fun into what's left of her vacation.



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