That just my opinion, I may be wrong

UPDATED... Since this was a post about opinions, I just heard about this and wanted to throw two cents in. First, read the post by Richard "The Quiet Lion" Brodie. This has to top the list of the most ignorant things I have ever heard. Basically, RB was banned from all (yes All) Harrah's properties. That is Harrah's, Ceasers, all other states... and yes the Rio. So what does that mean. No WSOP for one of the "good" guys of poker. He must have done something really bad to deserve this and he did. He won at Video Poker. Unbelievable!!!! A game that has a built in house advantage. The only other game he plays is.... Poker... I am absoultely stunned at this and wanted to make sure I did my part about getting the word out. I'm not sure what can be done about it. Just publicize it, I guess.


I usually don't go off on opinions on people or things here; but what the heck. A couple of things that have crossed my mind in the past few days.

But, as usual, more on that later.

This is a poker blog so let me talk poker a little bit. I had a Tier-2 token and I decided to use it this weekend as I probably won't be able to use it in "The Big Game" as I play softball on Sunday nights. Anyway, it was the 11PM Central one which I don't remember the guarantee; but it didn't matter as I don't think that there was any overlay anyway.

I ran about average for the most part which isn't unusual for me. Anyway 354 people started this $75 buyin tourney and we are down to about 70 and I get KK. Two all-ins before and I was more than happy to call with my Cowboys. Even happier when they turned over A4o and JJ. My elation was flattened a bit when the flop went 537 and turn 6 to give A4 his straight; but at least I had him covered and would win a small side pot; but the J on the river sent me packing.

That pot obviously puts me squarely in the top 10 and looking good; instead, I'm out around 70th where 36 pay. Again, I will say it, you just have to be Lucky to go deep in these things and yes, the luck means mostly your big hands holding up. Oh well, what can you do. It's poker.

SNGs for the month having been going good with 47.62% ITM and 30.55 ROI but could be a lot better. A big difference so far is that my hands aren't holding up and I'm about even as far as the counts of 1sts, 2nds and 3rds. Case in point... my last SNG that I played we got down to HU and I have 11K to 2K lead. Lose about a 60-40 fav with K5 vs J8, Lose a race with AKs vs 55, fold to his all in (I had 62), then lose a race with TT vs AQ and I'm out in about 6 hands. All weekend, AK was my nemesis. I lost at last 4 times with it when I was dominating to AQ (twice), KQ and AT not to mention races that I lost with it. Brutal.

I'm about 1/2 way through HOH vol 1. Hope to have something in the next few days.

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I was reading in our local paper's sports page. Somebody had an article more or less about being an ambassador for your sport. The gist of it was that he was comparing Michael Vick to LeBron James and pointing out how they are going in opposite directions. I don't think that is too hard to agree with him. He went on to say that LeBron is probably the most popular and visible player in all of sports. Oops.. While, LeBron has vaulted up to the elite, he has not reached the top. I'm not sure who it might be; but certainly, Tiger Woods might have something to say about that; but that's OK, it wasn't too far off.

Watching LeBron over these past couple of years and so far culminating to the NBA finals has been kind of fun to watch and I definitely am not a NBA fan. And it just more than him athletically. They guy just seems to be a genuinely good guy and it is quite refreshing to see (especially in the NBA). I wish him well against the Spurs. I will be pulling for them. I do really like Tim Duncan; but the rest of the Spurs don't do anything for me.. plus they have their championships.

Now, Michael Vick. I might have said the same thing a few years ago about him. At least the special part about watching him. Off the field seems to be a different story. On to the dog fighting. While I am 100% against this and realize that this is a felony, I just don't get it. Somehow, it is OK to go hunt and shoot birds, deer and whatever else that people hunt. It's OK for two humans to get into a ring and box and now with this UFC stuff even more than that. Other than one being illegal, I would love for somebody to tell me the difference. In my mind, it is kind of like alcohol vs pot. More or less the same thing; but one is illegal.

Anyway, I hope Michael and other pro athletes get their act together. I know, pipe dreams.

Kind of funny, related thing. I mentioned to Mrs Wonka about the writer saying that LeBron was the most visible and popular athlete today and... actually, I asked her who she thought might fit this description. After a pause and some thought, she came up with...... Barry Bonds... I just said, I don't know why I try to talk sports to you. Again, taking nothing away from Barry's accomplishments, the guy is about as unpopular as you get except for maybe in the Bay area.

Now, that article got me to thinking about poker. I recently watched two shows this week. One was the latest World Poker Tour event and was a replay of the 2005 WSOP Main Event final table but they had Joe Hachem and Steve Dannemann narrating. I love it when they do that to get their perspective during the game. One of those two guys came as totally refreshing and the other guy rubbed me the wrong way which was confirmed during the WPT event. Of course, Steve Dannemann was the refreshing one. Joe just seems overly cocky to me. While he has been an OK guy in relation to representing poker. In other words, he is no Mike Matusaw or Phil Hellmuth; but again, he just rubs me the wrong way.

One thing that got to me was the during the WPT event. He had QQ vs somebody's AQ. Flop was nothing; but an Ace came on the turn. He totally went off and was just like.. hey I'm Joe Hachem... that shouldn't happen to me... Well, of course he gets his one outer on the River and just starts jumping and yelling like a teenaged school girl. Let's have a little compassion for laying a bad beat on somebody. Also, he got bluffed off a pot and again... it's like... do you know who I am.. I am Joe Hachem... WSOP champ. Well, Joe, just play cards.

To me, Greg Raymer was and is a much better ambassador for poker. That is probably why he is my favorite poker (or least tournament) player. Daniel Negreanu is also one of my favorites.

So there you have it. As Dennis Miller always said. That was just my opinion, I may be wrong.

Have a good day!!