Sorry for the lack of updates, but there hasn't been much to write about. Nothing has been even semi-interesting on the poker front as I failed in my attempt to satellite to the main event at the Wynn by getting impatient in the satellite and making a terrible move. The cards don't even matter really or the hand. It was more a matter of impatience clouding my poker judgment. This is something I think every player accustomed to the online game has to fight.
I want to take some questions from readers and lead into some of the topics I wanted to talk about today.
Dave writes "my question for you is would you vote for John Mccain and if not why, even if that why is because you want to punish the republicans?"
I would be open to voting for any candidate Dave and usually try to base my decision on what the candidate says during debates and speeches as opposed to endorsements and attack ads. I know a lot of Americans respond to attack ads and this is why Bush beat Kerry in '04. I think any dumb material that comes up in the news is also unrelated including the current Obama pastor controversy. Before I talk about that though, I just wanted to make it clear that I could possibly vote for McCain, but I do feel Republicans in some sense need to be held accountable for the war decision.
This speech from Obama though is going to solidify my vote for the Presidency hands down. One of my biggest problems with politicians today is that they never make a solid stand on something that is a political hotbed. Obama shattered that yesterday with his speech. He tackled the issue of race in America head on to bring the conversation to a higher level. This kind of speech is something that never happens in the USA anymore. Politicians are too worried about their own popularity to ever take a stand on something. Obama gave a thoughtful, eloquent, reflective speech yesterday that I think challenged every single American. That's what I want in a President and any politician. This speech alone is on a whole different level from anything McCain, Hillary or anyone else can do. Whether it gets a great response or not, it was representative of the type of politician he is. He's different and someone not afraid of people perceiving him as different. Unfortunately, and this is being realistic, the majority of people in America just don't care and around half of people won't vote.
Dave, I also like your poker tip of the week idea. So I'll do something simple every once in a while. For people that play often, this will be extremely watered down and simple and you probably already know it.
Poker Tip of the Week: The Value Bet. In No Limit Hold 'em, we are often faced with situations where we aren't sure how much we want to bet. Let's say for example, you are playing a No Limit cash game with $200 and all the other players have $200. The blinds are $1/$2. When you have a strong hand, you always want to maximize the amount of money you get from the opponents while always making them pay an appropriate price to continue in the hand. You basically want to make a bet that is not too small or too big, but just right. So let's say you have AK and the board runs out AK3 7 2. Let's say that hypothetically, you raised to $10 preflop and were called by your opponent, then after the AK3 flop you bet $10 and were called. Then you bet $20 on the turn card and were called. Now you are at the river. With the $3+$10+$10+$10+$10+20+20 bet amounts between you and your opponent in the pot = $83.
You still have around $150 in your stack. If you assume that your opponent is calling you with an A and another card and you have them beat, you want to bet the amount that they are going to call that is just right. This is the value bet. The best kind of value bet maximizes the amount of money we can make from our opponent. You don't know what your opponent has here, but you want to bet the amount that a hand you think he has will pay you. If you think he has a hand like AQ AJ A10 A9 A8, then make the bet he will call. With $83 in the pot, bet around $50-$70. Too many players just push all $150 in the middle and someone with AQ AJ A10 A9 A8 won't pay them off.
I would love to have some feedback from this tip, so let me know if it makes sense or if you want something simpler out there.
Final Four
Memphis, UNC, Duke, Wisconsin.
This is my final four and I won't reveal my champion until after all you donkeys have your polls in. I really have slacked in college basketball this year, but did catch a few of the big games near the end of the season.
What I do know is that UNC is the clear favorite as they should be. This team plays gritty, tough defense and solid basketball. They have a solid all around game, but the defense is impressive.
Memphis is probably the most underrated of the favorites. This was the team that almost went undefeated, but now everyone seems to have forgotten.
Duke got a favorable match up in the brackets in my opinion. I think UCLA is the weakest 1 seed and Xavier is arguably the 3rd or 4th 3 seed.
Wisconsin is in the toughest bracket of them all. This bracket is not fair period.
USC, Kansas St, Wisconsin, Kansas, Georgetown, Davidson, Gonzaga, Vanderbilt, Clemson.
I just have things all shaken up in this bracket, but what I do know is that to beat all these great teams, you need a tough defensive team that I think Wisconsin possesses. Picking a winner out of this bracket is seriously impossible and it's most likely going to be the bracket that determines the winner of any bracket.
Enjoy the madness and I can't wait to talk about LOST this week.
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