Disappointed, RakeTheRake and Home Tourney

I can't begin to tell you how disappointed I am in my Dallas Cowboys. Way too many mistakes to win the game. 11 Penalties for the Cowboys vs 3 for the Giants. The Cowboys had a great 10 minute drive to almost end the 1st half; but let the Giants drive down and score a touchdown in less than a minute (again aided by a big 15 yard penalty). So many things went wrong that it would be hard to assess blame; but you got to start somewhere.

1. Coaching. Were the Boys really prepared? Could they not adjust like Giants did. The Cowboys have been a great 2nd half team all year; but could only muster 3 points yesterday. I think it starts with he coaching. Also, do the massive amounts of penalties also lie on coaching? Hard to say? On the plus side, I think it was a great coaching move to start MBIII. Barber proved that he is worthy of being a starter. Well, at least in the first half.

2. Offensive Line. Such a great offensive line all year long. They let us down in the second half as Romo was constantly being pressured and knocked down. That may be the first time that I have really seen him frustrated. The running game was almost nonexistant in 2nd half.

3. Penalties. It bears repeating. You just can't have all of these silly penalties in a big game.

4. Special Teams. As usual, this one needs help. Some of the tackling was just plain embarrassing.

I could go on and on; but it is what it is. I guess I will pulling for the Packers now to make the Super Bowl and knock off the Patriots unless the Chargers can do it..... nahh.. they can't happen, can it?


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I have two rakeback sites that I use. Recently I really plugged ThisIsTheNuts as the rakeback site that I would suggest mostly due to their web site. Now, I think it is only fair to mention my other rakeback site that I use, RakeTheRake (see banner on right). Let me give you a few more details. First, between the two that I use, they were the first to have monthly freerolls. There freerolls go something like this:


Poker room
Rakeback
Network
Promotions
Sign-up bonus

Absolute
30%
Absolute
$15,000 Freeroll & $6,000 Race
100% up to $500

Betfair
30 - 37%
Independent
$5,000 Freeroll & $5,000 Race
100% up to $5000

Cake Poker
33%
Cake
$10,000 Freeroll & $3,000 Race
100% up to $500

Full Tilt Poker
27%
Independent
$20,000 Freeroll & $13,750 Race
100% up to $600

Interpoker
Up to 50%
Cryptologic
$10,000 RTR Race
up to $1000

PokerHeaven
30%
Boss Media
RTR Free Gift Promotion
100% up to €500

PokerPlex
Up to 50%
Cryptologic
$9,000 RTR Race
up to $1000

UltimateBet
30%
Independent
$10,000 Freeroll & $2,500 Race
111% up to $1100

William Hill
Up to 50%
Cryptologic
$5,000 Freeroll for RTR players
up to $500


But what they have really improved on is their website. They have finally revamped their website so that you now see your rakeback for the month (which they always had); but now you can see when it was last updated which was always a question mark especially when you use Absolute Poker as they typically don't update daily. They also track the number of hands that you have towards the promotions such as the freerolls. Also, they have a better way know of tracking your referrals and how much you have earned off of them. I've always plugged TITN so I can really speak to this; but if you would like to give them a try click on the banner on the right to sign up or get more information.

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I was basically sick the whole weekend starting Friday night which is never fun. Just the usual cold, fever and aches thing. I just couldn't shake it. I did, however, make it to a home game on Saturday night with some of my softball buddies. It was a $35 buy in and had between 30-35 guys. I never did see a final count. I just basically kept on surviving. I lost a few big pots late which put me in bad shape. In this tourney, all 8 people that made final table got paid so I was relieved when I made the final table as the huge short stack; but at least, I would get my money back plus $5.

Again, I kept surviving. I won a pretty big pot when I shoved with AQ and got called by KTs. The flop was AKT and I thought I was a goner; but a beautiful Ace came on turn to keep me alive. I won't bore you with all the details; but I made the final 3. Again, the huge shorty. I had something like 12K in chips to the other two about even with 40K chips (blinds at 2k/4k). Then the strangest thing happened. The big stacks went to war in a couple of hands and finally the one guy called with second pair on a huge all in call on river. I guess he was tired of being bullied around by him and he called... and lost. He would go out on the next hand. No one was more surprised than me; but I wasn't complaining. So now I am heads up with. I went all in blind as the tourney lasted longer than he thought so the hand before this he jumped blinds to 5K/10K (I couldn't really complain the structure was pretty good as he had 30 minute blind levels). Of course, the chip leader called.. officially he put me all in and I called without looking. Just my luck, he tabled JJ. But wait.. I finally looked at my cards and turned over KQs so I'm not in too bad of shape. I had already won 2 pretty big races so my confidence was not too high and the Jack on the turn confirmed my thoughts and I was gone; but finished 2nd which I can't complain about. It paid out $305.

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Finally, just a report on my goal for the year (to be a winning limit poker player). I really haven't played too many hands but I want to keep tracking my progress so after 2,787 hands I am running at a 2.1 BB/100 hands clip. Not great; but positive so for right now, I am happy.

That should do it for now...

Have a nice day!!!