My Annual Post

I cannot believe it has been a year since my last post, but it has been a crazy year. Full time grad school, substitute teaching, and a move from Alabama to Cincinnati a few weeks back. Things to like in Ohio: 1. Nearby casinos 2. That is all I can think of
Things not to like: 1. Obscene property taxes 2. $6,000 a year property taxes 3. $500 a month property tax

Our house in Alabama closed today and we do have a contract here for a slightly bigger house (because of a finished basement), but absolutely no backyard. The slope of the yard is very conducive to sledding, but notsomuch for mowing. I may have to get some metal spikes for my golf shoes for traction. Company will have privacy due to the bedroom and full bath in the basement. I will probably do a complete lawn renovation next spring and replace the pear tree in the front yard with a maple.

Hopefully, I will get back to posting now that I am not in school.

Another Blackout in Georgia?

Last year, I was able to go to Athens, Georgia to attend the Auburn/UGA game. It was a night game on ESPN, but we got there very early for tailgaiting. It was very interesting to see that most of the fans were wearing black and the team came out onto the field for pregame warmups in their normal home red jerseys. After warm-ups, they went back to the locker room and came out wearing black jerseys for only the second time in school history. The effect was pretty cool, but the game sucked. Knowshon Moreno had a coming out party and Georgia romped. After Alabama's dismantling of Arkansas this past weekend and starting to show signs of past Bama teams, I wonder if maybe The Dawgs will try the blackout thing again. Alabama will be playing in Athens this Saturday night on ESPN.

I finally had decent week in College pick'em getting 9/15 (60%) right against the spread. Auburn, East Carolina, Florida State and, Fresno State were some of my misses. The final score of the Fresno State/Toledo game was 55-54.

My fantasy football team is horrible, but I may still be lucky enough to be 2-1 after tonight's Jets/Chargers game. My #1 pick, Tom Brady is out for the year, and #3, Braylon Edwards has dropped almost as many balls as he's caught along with two easy touchdowns. Matt Forte was an awesome mid-round draft and Santana Moss and Jason Witten are currently #1 at their respective positions in fantasy football. I picked up Kurt Warner off the waiver wire and was actually lucky that I started him over Brady in the first game when Brady was knocked out in the first quarter. Now I just wish I had drafted Ronnie Brown, who was actually the highest scoring player in all of fantasy football when he tore up his knee last year. His 5 td's yesterday against the Pats was pretty impressive.

Betting Against the Spread

This year I joined a Yahoo College Football Pick'em pool and have faired miserably. I am currently 46% correct against the spread. In games where the line was "Off", I am at 100%. However, if I was in Vegas, I would have put all my money on USC covering their 10.5 point spread over Ohio State and would have made lots of money. I also wanted Laura to put money on last night's Cowboys/Eagles game but I forgot to give her money before she left to stay at Mandalay Bay this week. More money I could have won. Other than that, I have thoroughly enjoyed the early football season, especially watching East Carolina beating the West Virginia and Va Tech. College football gets exponentially more exciting this week as he SEC gets into full gear with Auburn/LSU, Alabama/Arkansas, and Tennessee/Florida. Auburn better learn the spread offense really quick, because they will not beat LSU 3-2. Alabama should win, as Arkansas had to pull off 4th Quarter comebacks against Western Illinois and La-Monroe. Ike did give Arkansas a week off though.

Outside of football, I have stayed busy with classes at Alabama A&M(one of the HBCU schools) and substitute teaching at Sparkman High School. Tomorrow, I begin practicums (observations) at Rainbow Elementary School in Madison and will continue those every Wednesday through early December.

Kevin seems to really like his new school and rode the bus today for the first time. I will find out after school how it went. Abby's hair is growing back after her self-barbering episode over the summer and she loves her teachers.

Fall officially begins on Monday and last night, the temps dropped into the upper 50's and it is finally beginning to feel that Summer is releasing it's oppressive grip here.

A Busy Week

Last Tuesday, I played in a home cash game that someone decided was needed because playing every other week is just not often enough. It started as Limit Hold'em and after too many people showed up, we split into two tables and my table switched to No Limit where I was able to win back most of what I squandered at the Limit table. They played again this week, but Laura was out of town, so I had a very good excuse to not have to go. I am going to attempt to register for Graduate School tomorrow and if all goes well, I will have classes on Monday and Tueday nights, so that will put a stop to any poker playing.

Since Kevin started Kindergarten last Friday and Abby is now full-time in preschool, I have had a lot of free time. I am on the substitute teacher list for both Madison City and Madison County schools, but as it is very early in the school year, I have not yet been called. With nothing overly important to do, and with this freakin awesome weather we have been having with cooler temps and lower humidity, I have been playing a fair amount of golf. I played well Friday (62* at tee off), terrible on Saturday (60*), awesome yesterday (shot 77 with temps in the low 80's) and I played good this morning with the heat and humidity moving back in.

I am very excited about this upcoming weekend because I have my Fantasy Football draft in Nashville. This year we are down from 12 teams to 10. I have the number two pick in the first round, but it is a snake draft which puts my second round round pick at number nine (19th overall). Barring injury, I will be taking either LaDanian Tomlinson or Tom Brady in the first round. This will be my third year playing and I made the playoffs, but lost in the first round two consecutive years. The 2006/7 playoff loss was due to injuries, but last season was just a matter of thinking too much and not starting the right players.

For those of you who are not keeping up, College Football, my favorite sport to watch, begins two weeks from today. There are televised games Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday on opening weekend!! USC @ Virgina, and Tennessee @ UCLA are interesting matchups, but the game of the weekend has to be Alabama @ Clemson in the Georgia Dome Saturday night at 8 ET on ABC.

Poker Skill?......What a Crock!!

This will apparently be my last blog about poker because I am fed up with the game. I do not want to hear about "good" players because it all comes down to dumb luck - pure and simple. I get knocked out of last nights live game when I go all-in preflop with my pocket Jacks and my opponent calls with 5's. The flop shows a 5 (of course) and off to home I go. This same player earlier called an all-in with 4's against Aces and again hits his set on the flop to crack the rockets. That is all I have to say about live games.

Switching to Full-Tilt, I have been playing with some funds that were generously transferred into my account from my brother (I will pay you back). I took the $20 and have gone up to $30 and down to $15 and have been staying in this range. Today, I decided to try the .10/.25 Limit Hold 'em to see how different the play was. I entered with my entire bankroll of $19.75 and quickly ran it up to $36.75. I told myself, up to $40 or down to $30 and I would stop. Lo and behold, I get AA in the big blind, bet the pot and had 3 callers. The board flops AKK and I am ready to wet myself. I figure I'll make very little more off this pot but will extract as much as possible. I bet the minimum and everyone folds except the SB. He comes over the top and bets the pot. I call and the turn is a 4. Again, he bets the pot, and I put him on either AK or KQ. We continue raising back and forth until I'm all-in. The cards are flipped and he shows KJ which is fantastic until the river. He hits his K for quads. Full Tilt surely loved the rake from the pot that was from purely "random" cards. My aggravation stems from the fact that I have NOT ONCE sucked out in a pot with a significant number of chips (play or real money) in it, but have been the victim of the suck out far too often.

I do not know what else to do. Should I have folded? Played more aggressive? Would it have mattered? Since I have exhausted my online funds and I apparently have no luck in live play, I believe I will find a new hobby.
Like pulling weeds.

Stupid Is As Stupid Does

I finally decided to give it a go at the .25/.50 HORSE on Full Tilt after whooping everyone in play money land. I brought my big 'ol $5 stack to the table and things were running smoothly as I double my money. I really enjoy the HORSE format because each of the games has their own little quirks. I really got on a good roll during Razz when I meet who I believe is Poker's Biggest Donk. I have A 2 in the hole and 3 4 5 x showing. My opponent has KKQQ on the board and he RAISES. I know that no matter what he has hidden, he can't beat me and I figure he has to know it too. I reraise to see just how big of an Eeyore he is, and on cue, he pushes right back. We continue this until all my chips are in the pot and he proudly shows his K's over Q's boat and then all the chips are moved to his side of the table. I am peeved and checked the comments area to see what was up and saw that the game was no longer Razz.........it was Stud. Welcome to the world of real money online poker. Hee-Haw.

I believe I will leave a message in Full Tilt's suggestion box to put up bright flashing lights when the games change and perhaps even a little disclaimer that reads, "I do fully understand that the game is changing and that I assume total responsibility for my stupid play." I would probably just check the little box and not read it anyhow. I just hope my next poker blog will be about the fortunes I amass in Tuesday night's home game. We shall see.

A Really Bad Beat

I finally played in a local live poker game with 17 participants and things could not have started any better. I was on the button and first to act raised. There were several callers and I reraised to 2x the pot. My pocket queens were good but I did not want anyone hanging around to pair up their Ace or King. This bet did the trick as both blinds folded, followed by everyone else. A few hands later I was holding Ks 10x and the flop came Ad Qc Jd. I was not sure how to play the nuts, and the two diamonds concerned me. The table checked around to me and I raised 2x the big blind and was hoping somone had paired their Ace. All but one folded and he reraised and I simply called and we went to the turn which was a low card. He bet again and I reraised significantly, content with just taking the pot now. Apparently my reraise was not enough and he called. The river was the 7 diamonds and he bet the pot. I figured he hit his flush was very aggravated that I let this pot get away, but I sheepishly called anyway and he shows A 7 for the two pair and my flopped straight held up. I later slow played my A 10 when I flopped an Ace and let others get the action going. Another Ace on the river and I'm feeling real good. The betting comes around to me and I bet big and got what I was hoping for. A very aggressive player said "I know you don't have the ace and are just trying to steal the pot." He calls and shows his cowboys for the AK two pair and my set takes the pot. I won two other pots before disaster struck.
I am sitting a comfortable second in chips and am dealt KJ with no raises and we get the flop KKQ. The table checks all around. The turn is a two and the chip leader makes a big bet and I'm guessing he has a Q or small pair so I push back with an all-in. He shows his K6 and I know at worst I will split the pot with an A or Q on the river. The last card is turned over and it is a 6 to complete his boat. What made this worse was that two others folded 6's, so this was the last one in the deck. I took this suck out with dignity and hung around chatting until the final table. I played well and look forward to playing with these folks again.