Borgata – NL$340, last Friday

After a 4^th place finish on Thursday night, I played in the noon NL$340 tourney.  10,000 in chips, 25-50 blinds, 30 minute rounds.  Hand one, I’m in the big blind, looking down at 8-8 and called someone’s 150 chip bet.  Flop 8,3,2 two clubs.  I bet out 200 and one caller (ie. flush draw).  Turn, J of clubs, shucks.  I check, he checks.  Hm.  River, ‘3’, bingo.  I bet out 400, he raises to 1600….I re-raise to 5,000 and he goes all in.  I actually hesitate a split second (JJ?), but call and he turns over his A5 clubs.  Nice to double up hand one.

I pick up QQ shortly there after and raise and am raised by the guy on the button.  I call and flop is 10 high with three hearts (I have the Q of hearts).  I check, and he bets a good amount.  I call.  I check the turn (low non-heart card), and he goes all in.  I actually fold face-up and ask him if he has AA with the Ace of hearts…and sure enough he turns it up.

I get my JJ beat by QQ and down starts the spiral until a 5^th round exit.  Ugh.  Here’s hoping one of the tourneys I play in this week fares a little better.

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The Borgata…the room was nice, but funny thing happened after the Kansas-Villanova game…ain’t that right JP?

The Borgata is probably the nicest AC hotel, of which I liken it to The Monte Carlo in Las Vegas. Again, nice hotel, but not luxurious like The Wynn, The Bellagio, etc. But very nice, sophisticated place, the type you don’t go raving around like a teen-aged lunatic right? LOL. Did I mentioned my good buddy JP was in town for the weekend also for our draft?

He and two other buds Scott and Tony were also in town and so the four of us were crashing in one room. After an initial night of black-jack with Scott while JP watched the Villanova Massacre, the four of us ventured back up stairs and three of us went down, all but JP. He seemed a little out of it, so looked like he was going to crash. We ate a late dinner and then Tony went upstairs while Scott and I were headed to play at little more 21. I got a call from Tony – one of those ‘oh my’ type calls.

Let me tell you…..upon getting back up to the room….you wouldn’t believe the blitzkrieg of vomit that could inhabitate one hotel room. I’m surprised the kid didn’t throw up his pancreas. The bed, the carpet, the bathroom, the sink filled to the brim, pillows, blankets, towels. Poor cleaning crew,…45 minutes, $20 in tips, and a night on the floor for me. Ugh. Ah, boys will be boys, and JP will be JP!

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NL$180 @ Borgata

Borgata?  Yes, I’m in Atlantic City this weekend for my annual baseball fantasy league draft which takes place tomorrow (Saturday) evening.  I arrived in town yesterday morning on a redeye and wound up doing some work and then catching up on some sleep.  Played in the 7pm daily NL$180 tourney.  87 players, 10K in chips,25-50 blinds, and 20 minute rounds.  Played pretty solid, but got very unlucky early on, in order losing AA, KK, QQ and JJ and I still had chips (over 6K) after this debacle.

I lost AA when JJ short stack flopped a set of Jacks…I lost QQ when I flopped top set and the board ended up with four diamonds on it, thank goodness for runner runner flushes; I lost KK when and Ace flopped on the board and the guy with A5 suited made a nice read on me for all his chips, lol; and I lost JJ when a short stack reraised all in after my pre-flop raise with AA.  I finally and thankfully moved tables and my very second hand of KK and all in by me got called by 10,10 AND 55.  Flop K,5,J….  I was now in good shape.

From there I played good solid poker, picking up blinds, antes and bullying short stacks without risking too much.  Down to 11 (they pay top 9) I’m actually chip leader and pick up KJ off under the gun.  I min raise and the two short stacks push in.   It’s a nominal amount for me to call and I’m up against KK and AK.  Woops!  Flop brings a Jack and the turn and river, no Jack….but….someone says ‘FLUSH’ and I realize there’s four hearts out there and I have the fifth.  Woohoo.  Now I’m a huge chip leader 270,00 with 870,000 in play, down to nine.  I proposed a deal, based on percentage of chips but two guys weren’t interested. 

We quickly lost 9th, 8th and 7th places as I picked up no cards.  Then I raised late position with Q,10 hearts.  Two callers.  Flop AQ8 only one heart.  Two checks and I bet only to be check-raised.  I folded and now was a commoner with about 150K.  No cards, no cards, no cards down to four people.  A10 raises under the gun and me on the button with A9 pushes (blinds were a crazy 10-20K).  I flopped a four-flush but no help and I bust in 4th place, still good for $1,178.  They played out the whole way, no chops, the sickos. 

At least I got off my tournament shnide.  I think I’m a more respectable 2 of 8 now for 25% cashing.   Gotta go…NL$340 starts in 30 minutes!

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…in typical Syracuse fashion…

…they proceed to blow a 22-point lead in the NIT tournament.  They can’t even get to the Final Four of the NIT.  They lose to a solid UMass squad, but c’mon, they were up by 22!  Their youth, their lack of a bench showed why Donte’ Greene and Jonny Flynn will be back next year.  But the silver lining is that they’ll hopefully learn from it and should be a Top 20 or possibly a top 15 team for most of 2008-2009.  Still hate seeing them lose though.

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Do they make movies like they used to?

I’m watching Fight Club right now and recall what  great movie it was.  I don’t remember too many very good movie though over the last few years.  Maybe Wedding Crashers could belong in there or The Departed, but I don’t recall too many really awesome movies recently  Some of my older favs are movies like The Jerk, Stripes, Caddyshack, Rounders, Shawshank Redemption….  Looking forward to some good ones being made hopefully sooner than later.

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The 11-day diet returns…

So my wager with Mr. MacGregor went well in spite of my defeat by 24 oz.  The 11-day diet worked ‘ok’ as each time I lot 5-6 lbs. (they profess 9lbs in 11 days).  I’ve ‘ballooned’ back up to 188 (from a low of 181) and now am ready after a 4-6 week hiatus of getting fit for the summer, the move, the baby, baseball, and life.  So today is day one.  Back to my eggs, deli meat, tuna,….and life over the next week and a half of bland foods.  Woo-hoo! 

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One month

March 19th…our move…April 19th.  So much to do, but in a sense it feels like hurry up and wait.  It’s tough to start packing since most of our stuff is in storage and there’s not much room in our condo to place a slew of boxes.  I’ll do some in the coming week or two, but have also decided to pack up our stuff myself since the movers were going to charge about $1,600 to do so.  I figure with about $150 in boxes and a little elbow grease, I can knock out most of the stuff within a day or two and enlist the nanny to pack up some stuff too.

We’re still uncertain as to what’s taking place with Mrs. S’ job status.  The Big Mouse is dangling opportunities in NYC and Bristol, CT (with a fairly well know entertainment sports network which I think will catch on), but nothing is even close to being set in stone…in fact, the next 2-3 weeks will tell what we’re doing this summer (or I should say what she is doing this summer) and where we will be later in 2008.

In the interim, I continue to work keeping in mind that I’ve only got one month left.  I look at the archived blog entries on the right side of my blog and see all the months I’ve been here.  Plenty.  Will I miss this place….yeah, a little, but will I have any regrets leaving?  No.  I have the best wife and amazing son and no matter where we end up, Atlanta, NY, CT,….I know that we’ll be better off.

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My NCAA Pool – draft

I joined a few of my northeast friends in a $300/person pool.  Seven guys with $2100 at stake.  You get 1,000 points to bid on 65 teams.  A chinese auction format was implemented and we used a quick computer program to set up the random team selection order.  It’s up to each individual to decide how they’re going to strategize on doing their own draft.  Of the $2,100, you earn a % of the prize pool for each tournament win your team gets.  If you win the:

1st round -you earn 0.5% of the prize pool or about $10

2nd round – you earn 2% of the prize pool or about $20

3rd round – you earn 4% of the prize pool or about $40

4th round -earns you 8% of the prize pool or about $80

5th round – earns you earn 13% of the prize pool or $160.

and if you win it all you earn like 20% of the pool or about $420.

These are estimated numbers which should add up to 100%.  Anyway, my goal of course was to get UNC or UCLA.  The first team up was Marquette a very good Big East team which I’m familiar with and a #6 seed that I though could very well upset Stamford in the second round.  I bid $50 and won them.  UNC came up the 3rd team overall and Dan M’s bid of 501 (over half his points) won the likely Final Four team and possibly his money back on just that selection alone.  The draft went middle heavy early with many teams blowing through their points and some questionable bids like Tennessee a #2 seed (in UNC’s bracket) for 470 (out of 1000), Stanford a #3 seed at 241, Xavier a #3 seed and UConn a #4 seed (both in the UCLA bracket) for 200 and 151, Butler a #7 seed for 91.  Some good buys of other participants I thought were Georgetown a #2 seed for 368, Oklahoma a #4 seed for only 38, Miami a #7 seed for only 37, and Temple a #12 seed for only 17.  Below are my selections:

#3 Louisville (winner rounds 1 & 2) – 151, #3 Wisconsin (winner rounds 1 & 2) (my last selection) – 295 (I used up my remaining points to win this last highest seed), #4 Pitt (winner round 1, lost round 2), 142; #5 Drake (lost) – 52; #6 Marquette (winner round 1, lost round 2) – 50; #8 UNLV (winner round 1, lost round 2) – 19; #8 BYU (lost) – 31; #10 St. Mary’s (lost) – 21; #11 Kansas State (winner round 1, lost round 2) – 33; #11 St. Joe’s (lost) – 31; #12 Western Kentucky (winner rounds 1 & 2) – 37; #13 Oral Roberts (lost) – 10; #13 Siena (winner round 1, lost round 2) – 15; #14 Georgia (lost) – 7; #15 American (lost) – 1; #16 – Miss. Vly. St. (lost) – 1. 

My best picks I thought were Louisville, Kansas State with Michael Beasley, UGA a throw in, but also SEC Champ facing Xavier and Big East Champ Pitt.  I failed in my bids to win any#1 or 2 seeds so I’ll need some upsets when we hit the Sweet 16.

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On a side note, Syracuse beat Robert Morris in the 1st round of the NIT.  I left myself with money at the end of the draft just in case Syracuse was granted a last second bid.

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NL$335 Winnin’O’the Green – Baseball

Poker – not much to write home about there regarding Saturday afternoon’s NL335.  No cards in the first two rounds and I pick up 99 in mid position.  We’re just n the 25-50 round and I have 1,400 chips (out of 2K).  Raise UTG to 150, two callers then me.  I should have pushed but I didn’t, I called.  Two other callers, so ‘only’ six to the flop with about 900 in the pot.  Flop – 7,3,2 rainbow.  Three checks then a 400 bet by Mr. Tight on my right.  My gut’s telling me someone’s flopped a set, but c’mon…how often do we listen to our guts (just me when I’m hungry).  I shove my stack in and he calls and flips over 3,3.  Sooo….  Like a ball player in a slump 1-7 now for .143 batting average, I need to find a way to ‘right the ship’.  Another one of those tourneys I wasn’t into.

The good news is that I won back my tourney entry plus a bennie in the cash games thanks to a couple of donks.  I limp in with those same 9s.  Woman on my left (whom I’d knocked out of a tourey back in November and she opted to wait around giving me the evil eye awaiting my demise stating she couldn’t wait for me to bust – I finished 4th in that tourney) raises to $20.  Five callers!  $100 in the pot and a beauty of a flop of K,9,4 two hearts.  A couple of checks and I bet out $40, she raises to $100 (sweet).  Woman on my right goes in the tank and she is really thinking but eventually folds (later stating she had 4,4 – bullshit).  Anyway, I smooth call.  Turn a relativly innocent 10 (QJ would make the nuts).  I check, she bets $100 and I raise to $300.  She puts her remaining $300 in on just KQ!  River nada, yay for me!  Went card dead after than and blinded my way down to a $100 win on the night actually getting home by midnight!

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Sunday brought a windy day in So Cal but a baseball game and non- pitcher’s duel.  We rallied for six in the bottom of the sixth inning to tie 19-19 before the game was called.  I had a decent day 2-3, RBI, 3 runs and 2 BBs bringing my season stats to a robust .571 average and .700 OBA.  Ah, bless poor pitching (I wasn’t on the hill for those ready to chime in!).

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Syracuse gets a #1 seed!….oh, in the NIT; download your bracket now!

The good news is that we don’t have the same disappointment this year as last.  Last year 10-6 in the Big East and 22 wins and not getting in was a shock!  This year, although of course disappointing pales in comparison to 2007.  The loss to ‘Nova (the last team into the 2008 NCAA field) hurt of course, but losses to Pitt (up by 11 with 3:48 to go) and lowly South Florida stings that much more.  The good news is that this should be our last time on the sidelines (in the NIT) for a few years.  With the returning team next year, a strong run in the NCAA and not just a bid should be the expectation.

We ‘earned’ a #1 seed in the NIT meaning that we play our games at home until Madison Square Garden.  I believe we play Tuesday evening versus Robert Morris.  I’ll like a dedicated fan watch the game (assuming it’s televised).  Yes, they have printable brackets….and no, I’m not running a pool.

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