My Favorite Birthday Present...

My favorite two-day-late birthday present every year, The World Series of Poker, begins today. Ugh, It's killing me that I can't be in Vegas right now.

I Think I Need Help...

I just placed five bets on the Scripps' National Spelling Bee with an equally sick friend:

1. Over/under 8.5 letters in the winning word: I took the under.
2. The gender of the winner: I took male with 3:2 odds.
3. Whether the winning child's home town is east or west of the Mississippi River: I took east.
4. Over/under 19 letters in the winning child's hometown + home state (with spaces not counting). I took the over.
5. What letter the winning word begins with: I took the letters 'A' through 'M'.

I don't know what's worse... the fact that I actually agreed to place a bet on the spelling bee, or the fact that my friend and I were able to come up with five things from the spelling bee to bet on.

Anybody have the number for Gambler's Anonymous?

Too Good to be True?

So a friend called me yesterday with an opportunity I thought I'd mention. He told me about this chick who, for a few days now, has been bugging him about attending one of her company's 90-minute presentations... you know, one of those presentations where they try to sell you something, and, supposedly, just in exchange for listening to the sales pitch you get a three-day vacation package?

Well, this company was offering packages to three different cities: Orlando, Los Angeles, and Las Vegas. My friend said, as soon as he heard this offer, he told that saleswoman that he wouldn't go to the presentation unless he could bring a friend (me). So now my friend and I are gearing up to go to the presentation this Saturday, naively (I can't stress that word enough) hoping there isn't any kind of catch to the offer that stops us from going. And even so, if it doesn't work out, I'll still be in Atlantic City next weekend with some friends, so I'll still get my live gambling fix one way or another.

Another Birthday Goes By...

Yet another birthday goes by, and I'm not any closer to figuring out where I'm going than I was my last birthday. At the moment, I'm two years behind schedule to graduate from George Mason University, and seeing all my friends graduate this year has left me feeling a little envious. I probably sound like a petulant child now, essentially saying things like "I don't know what I want to be when I grow up" and "I envy my friends", but it's all true.

Anyways, I'm not doing anything special today... just going to have a quiet dinner with my brother and mom, but that's all I really need every May 28th.

Hope all you guys enjoyed the long weekend.

Monday Night Raw Results - 5/26/08

Vince McMahon came on the screen after a short tribute dedicating the episode of RAW to our country's troops. McMahon described how he wanted to do something for all the WWE fans. He said they needed to be appreciated, and he said that he would, later in the evening, come up with something for the fans that had never been done before. He then said he'd even ask for some suggestions from the RAW wrestlers throughout the night.

After the promo, Todd Grisham, RAW's primary backstage interviewer, was standing in the ring in front of a podium, ready to conduct a face-off interview between Triple H and Randy Orton. He asked Orton why he thought he could beat Triple H in a Last Man Standing Match considering Orton barely beat him last time in the same match-type after only wrestling two matches before that match while Triple H had to fight three. Orton defended himself and said that, despite his seven-month reign of dominance, everybody downplayed his wins and laughed at him. He said that he'd put an end to that this Sunday at One Night Stand.

Triple H retorted by saying that the reason people laughed at him was because he was an ass. He told Orton that, although Orton talked a big game, his insecurities with himself were obvious.

Orton came back and said that, of all people, Triple H was the insecure one, as Triple H was the one who made a career off of making people a threat or getting close to them. Orton then said that it was no mistake that Triple H's closest friend, Shawn Michaels, was his friend to begin with because he was a threat to him. He also brought up the stable known as Evolution, and how soon Triple H destroyed it when it became a threat to him.

Triple H interrupted him and said that, when it came to the WWE title, every man was for himself, and the king of the jungle wouldn't be thrown out until a bigger, badder lion came and got him.

Orton made some cheesy remark and said that the lion was coming on Sunday.

Jillian Hall took on Melina in a match. Before the match, Hall SUNG that Melina had no chance of beating Beth Phoenix on Sunday. Melina forced Hall to submit within five minutes and picked up the win. Only thing I have to add is that both ladies were looking fine!

Chris Jericho was seen backstage with Vince McMahon. Jericho suggested that the fans deserved to see him and Shawn Michaels in a match that night... Vince agreed. Y2J also recommended that McMahon, in the spirit of fan appreciation, should twist his "No Chance" theme music with some metal rock or scat. Cryme Time showed up in the office and started grabbing portraits of former RAW GM William Regal off the wall to auction them off (which they did during commercials).

Following the commercial break, Hardcore Holly and Cody Rhodes put their tag-team titles on the line against the quick duo Paul London and Brian Kendrick. The young Rhodes went back-and-fourth with London as they exchanged headlock reversals. London tagged in Kendrick, who drop-kicked Rhodes to the ground. After exchanging some blows, Holly came in and dismantled Kendrick with some hard grapple moves.

Kendrick attempted to get something going, but Holly thwarted his momentum with a "Holly lariat". Rhodes tagged back in and tried to finish Kendrick off, but Kendrick went for his finisher "Sliced Bread #2". Rhodes got away from it, and tagged Holly back in.

All four men started to brawl in the ring, and Kendrick and Rhodes took their battle outside the ring. Holly "Alabama Slammed" London, and the match was over. Hardcore Holly and Cody Rhodes successfully defended their tag team championships.

As soon as the tag-team partners began celebrating, Ted DiBiase came out to the ramp. He got on the mic and said that last week he and Vince McMahon agreed to get DiBiase's son on the RAW roster. Ted DiBiase Jr. came out and got on the mic, putting Holly and Rhodes on notice for their tag-team gold. DiBiase Jr. took it to the cheesy extreme when he said everybody had a price but him... because he was priceless. Ugh.

After the commercial break, a funny training video of Cousin Sal and Roddy Piper was aired.

Afterwards, Mickie James is seen with McMahon backstage. She made some suggestions when JBL rudely interrupted her. He suggested to Vince the idea of selling pieces of the ring containing John Cena's blood after this Sunday. JBL then mocked James and her ideas with some suggestive comments about her and Cena and bodily fluids.

Returning from commercial break, a much-hyped tag-team match (which, frankly, didn't really deliver) between John Cena/Jeff Hardy and Umaga/JBL took place. Umaga and Cena got things going early, as Cena first failed on an "F-U" attempt, then Umaga missed a splash in the corner. As he got up, Umaga caught Cena mid-cross body jump, and slammed Cena to the ground similar to the way he slammed Hardy outside of the ring last week. If you haven't seen it, the only way I can describe it is as a "spinning sidewalk slam".

Anyways, Hardy got tagged in, and Umaga beat on him a little and, this time, hit a splash on Hardy. Umaga tagged JBL in, and JBL went to work on Hardy's mid section with an abdominal stretch. Hardy escaped, but JBL connected with a big boot. JBL picked Hardy up and threw Hardy into the corner. However, Hardy used the momentum from JBL's throw to execute a "Whisper in the Wind".

Hardy tagged Cena in, who proceeded to dominate JBL and Umaga with an assortment of clotheslines, hard punches, etc. Cena went for the "Five-Knuckle Shuffle", but was taken out mid-step. Hardy tagged himself in and went for the Swanton bomb on JBL. JBL, though, got out of the way, and hit Hardy with a "Clothesline From Hell". That was all she wrote, as JBL pinned Hardy 1-2-3.

Following the commercial break, Mr. Kennedy (aka the future of the WWE) came out and got on his mic. He said that we were looking at the man who got rid of the "pompous piece of garbage" William Regal. Carlito then came out, ready to fight Mr. Kennedy in a regular match.

Carlito went after it and attacked Kennedy's back, but Kennedy countered one of his moves and nearly executed a "Mic Check". He missed, however, and Carlito got Mr. Kennedy in the corner. Carlito got Kennedy in a submission hold, but Kennedy reversed the whole thing and got Carlito back with a "Green Bay Plunge".

Carlito went for his signature "Back-Stabber", but Kennedy reversed and, this time, executed his Mic Check (which by far garnered more fan support than the Green Bay Plunge from earlier) and pinned him.

Katie Lea suddenly came down the ring, telling Mr. Kennedy that he made a big mistake getting Regal fired. Paul Birchill, Lea's brother, then snuck up behind Kennedy and beat him to a pulp. Birchill again drove the point home, telling Kennedy that mistakes have repercussions.

Chris Jericho aka Y2J was scheduled to have the last match of the night against Shawn Michaels. Jericho gambled early, as he went for a springboard kick but missed. However, he recovered, and managed to get Michaels in a chin lock. Michaels broke out of it, but was unable to escape Jericho's blows, as he took a beating in his midsection.


Jericho gambled yet again and went for a bulldog, but Michaels escaped, and hit an inverted atomic drop followed by a flying forearm off the ropes. Jericho then attempted to get Michaels into a "Walls of Jericho", but Michaels reversed that into a possum pin, only to have Y2J kick out after two counts. Jericho missed yet another move, but this time Michaels missed one right after, failing to connect on a flying elbow.

The fight spilled outside of the ring, and both men beat each other up so badly that both men were counted out. Jericho lost it and nearly hit Michaels with a steel chair after the match was declared over, but his sense finally overcame his emotion, and he walked off looking disappointed in himself.

Now was time for the big announcement!

Coming back from the last commercial break, all members of the RAW roster could be seen standing on the ramp. Out came Vince McMahon, and he had two announcements for us:

1. A WWE draft would be taking place in a month.
2. Starting next week, he'd give out money in the sum of a million dollars to fans.

McMahon said he didn't yet have the logistics of the money-giveaway, but this was essentially it. He said there were no tricks, no hoaxes... nothing. This money would legitimately come out of his bank account, and the money would be given away every week.

As far as the WWE goes, things will get MUCH more interesting once this draft happens, and hopefully some fresh new rivalries emerge and erase the current boring, played-out rivalries that have carried over from month-to-month.

As far as the money giveaway goes, well, some online sources indicates it'll be a million bucks given away EACH week, while other sites say that the total money given away during the entire gimmick will be the SUM of a million dollars. Either way, it's not a bad thing for us fans! Hopefully I'll score some of that cash for myself when I go to RAW July 28th!

Traffic...

This site's traffic is peanuts compared to some other sites. Then again, I've only been back in "the game" for two months, and 75-100 hits per day is actually damn good for a rookie. But guess what those people who come to my site are looking for?

Is it poker content? No.

KGBlovesOreos-related content? Probably not.

Shannon Elizabeth content? Well, a few, yes.

But most of the people coming here are actually looking for, you guessed it, WWE-related content.

Funny thing, eh? I start this site off just to talk about poker, and get nothing. Maybe five hits a day at most, one or two of those being me, yet as soon as I started discussing all things WWE, people flock here as if I have the latest scoop on the business.

Which begs the questions... Is the WWE booming while poker is sinking? Is Mr. Kennedy to the WWE what Chris Moneymaker was to poker? Or are my readers all just gay for those statue-esque Triple H poses that find their way into my posts? (see pic on the right)

Whatever it is, the WWE seems to be hot right now, and although the current television ratings don't agree with that statement, they will in the coming months.

PS - Look away from the Triple H pic and get your hands out of your pants pervs... this isn't that kind of site!

PPS - Enjoy the nice long weekend everybody.

Building Your Image by Defending Your Blinds

It's no secret that I advocate a loose, but aggressive approach to poker. The first reason I believe it is a great style to play is because, well, it's often mathematically correct to bet at a pot rather than check, call, or fold. But the second reason I advise people to add aggression, mixed in with the right amount of loose play, to their arsenal is because of the image you develop as you toss money into the pot, and the rewards you can reap from that image later.

Let me warn you though, this style isn't for the weak-hearted. Your variance swings will become wider and, unless you have the proper bankroll (20 maximum buy-ins for the stakes), you won't be able to withstand it anyways. However, there is a cheap way to build this wild/loose image, and although it will initially cost you a little money, you probably will put yourself into position for a bigger pot later on that session. I'll now just get to the point... DEFEND YOUR BLINDS!

By defending those blinds (and by that, I mean calling a standard preflop raise), you will be tricking your opponents into thinking you are some reckless player destined to lose your money. And you know what, to a point they are correct in thinking those who regularly defend their blinds and play these pots OOP are consistent losers. Little do they know that all you're doing is giving away some money now to win a lot back more later on.

Let me now show you exactly why it can be profitable to defend your blinds:

1. It doesn't cost much to defend a preflop raise here and there.
2. You're building your loose/wild image at a cheap rate.
3. Down the road, if you get a good hand, by having that loose/wild image, you are MUCH more likely to win a bigger pot than if you didn't.

Chicago Bulls win No. 1 pick in the NBA Draft Lottery

If you didn't know already, I am, and have ALWAYS been, a huge Chicago Bulls fan. Watching the NBA Draft Lottery last night, my team barely had a puncher's chance of drawing a top three pick, let alone pick number one.

But during the 30-minute broadcast, when it was announced 15 minutes in that the Bulls had moved up into the top three, I was giddy with excitement. Once it was shown that the Timberwolves drew pick number three (leaving the Bulls with a top two pick) a shriek, so high-pitched that all the neighborhood dogs may have gathered at my front door, escaped my mouth. When my wildest dream had come true, I jumped up and went fuckin nuts!

So what is John Paxson, the luckiest man in the world besides Tony Parker, going to do with his most valuable asset?

Most mock drafts out there indicate that Michael Beasley, the consensus 1A prospect, will be his choice. The Bulls' glaring hole in the post has killed 'em for years, and Beasley, although still young, has a polished low post game for his age that will improve even more with time. He's also got the great jump shot that is so hard to find in a big man.

Those mock drafts, however, may not necessarily be right. Chicago-native Derrick Rose, the consensus 1B prospect, could be the pick. Rose is a point guard that blends freakish athleticism with excellent vision, a combination only the best of point guards have. However, considering the Bulls already have Kirk Hinrich, a decent point guard in his own right, choosing Rose wouldn't make sense to me unless the Bulls are ready to trade Hinrich away.

Rose seems like the sure thing of the draft, destined to be a 17 points/10 assists/2 steals-per-game guy. But Beasley, with his inside-outside dynamic, has a limitless ceiling that surely leaves scouts drooling. Either way, whichever player the Bulls rebuild around, I'll be happy.

Monday Night RAW Results - 5/19/08

You'll have to excuse me for not making a lengthier post, but today I don't have the time to write out what happened last night. Here's what went down:

Jeff Hardy, fresh off a Judgment Day win over MVP, gets a draw against Umaga. Both were counted out.

Beth Phoenix defeated Maria Kanellis.

Batista pinned Jericho and won the chance to face Shawn Michaels at One Night Stand.

Mr. Kennedy defeated William Regal in an "Your Fired" match. (This match was set up by Vince McMahon earlier)

JBL and Randy Orton defeated Triple H and John Cena.

JBL said, after the match, that his match with Cena at One Night Stand would be a First Blood match. Orton followed by stating his championship match with Triple H would be a Last Man Standing match.

Multi-tabling

I'm a bad multi-tabler.

There, I said it. It's now out in the open. Mock me if you wish, but this may be the single-biggest realization I've ever had during my time on the virtual felt.

You should see some of the oh-so-many-mistakes when I play four, three, heck, even two tables... and these aren't just any mistakes, but rookie mistakes:

Overplaying my overpairs? Check. Missing out on bets with my strong hands? Check. Failing to understand that the table dynamic is constantly changing? Check. Not quitting when the game goes sour? Check. Bluffing chips away when I should have slowed down? Check.

The list goes on and on...

I honestly feel dumb for not realizing this sooner, I'm talking YEARS sooner, but to bring up the old cliche, "better late than never"... right?