Atlanta Race Weekend

"No, he didn't slam into you, he didn't bump you, he didn't nudge you...he RUBBED you. And rubbin', son, is racin'."

--Robert Duvall (Harry Hogge) in Days of Thunder

This weekend was race weekend at Atlanta Motor Speedway. I usually don't make an effort to attend the race, but this weekend I had the opportunity to go to the Craftsman Truck race on Saturday. I also attended the IROC race that was held immediately prior to the truck race.

My parents have, for the last several years, attended the race with my mom's sister and her husband. They camp at the racetrack, and attend all the races throughout the weekend. Last year, we met them for supper on Saturday night in Morrow, and we were going to do the same this year. Plans changed somewhat, however, when Leila's brother managed to get tickets to the truck race on Saturday.

So, Saturday morning, we loaded up Camille, Bryant and his friend Victor, and Leila and headed for the racetrack. We met up with my parents at the motorhome and visited for a while. Then, we made our way into the racetrack.

We were on row 62, so it was quite a hike to our seats. I was pretty beat when we got there. I was pleasantly surprised with the quality of the IROC race. I've never really been that interested in the IROC series, but the racing was pretty good.

The truck race was the highlight, though. There was a wreck at the beginning of lap 2 that caused the race to be red-flagged for 20 minutes. The remainder of the race was pretty clean, up until the last lap. Jack Sprague was leading, but Kyle Busch was coming on strong, coming from 5th to second in two laps. Coming out of turn 4, Kyle was making his move on the outside of Sprague, and Sprague tried to pinch Busch off by moving up. He pinched Busch to the wall, and Busch bounced off the wall and back into Sprague. Sprague went spinning and collected several other trucks. Busch went on to win.

It was a very exciting finish, a great way to end my first truck race. I've never really paid much attention to the truck races either, but after Saturday, I may change my mind.

After the race, we went to dinner with my parents and aunt and uncle. The service was unusually bad at the Roadhouse Grill. We couldn't get a good drink, and Victor's entree was first too rare, then too done. He ended up just cancelling the order. The funny thing is that they weren't all that busy.

We got home about 9:30. All in all, a very nice day. I'll have to do it again next year.

UN Tries to Take Over the Internet

There is so much media now with the Internet and people, and so easy and so cheap to start a newspaper or start a magazine, there's just millions of voices and people want to be heard.

--Rupert Murdoch

According to an eWeek article, the United Nations is planning to try to wrestle control of the internet from the United States. What makes this scary is that it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that if the UN manages to take control of the internet that it won't be long before they will be regulating what can be posted. Any organization that cozys up to China and puts countries like Lybia on a "Human Rights Council" can't be trusted with something as important as the internet. The UN's own Declaration of "Human Rights" states that freedom of speech is guaranteed...unless that speech interferes with the UN's goals. Think about that for a moment.

To its credit, the US Government is planning to fight the takeover attempt. The US invented the internet, and the rest of the world is hitching it's wagon to the invention of the US Military. If they get especially belligerent about it, I would fully support withdrawing completely to within the US with regard to the internet. Just make it work for the US, and let the rest of the world figure out their own system. In other words, take our ball and go home. We'll see how long the rest of the world will last without being propped up by the US.

Another Second Place at BWW

There is no room for second place.

-Vince Lombardi

In a sense, that's true. But sometimes, second isn't all that bad. When you're competing in a points event, consistency is the key. Just look at NASCAR. The championship usually isn't won by the person who wins the most races, but rather by the person who consistently finishes close to the front.

We had just enough folks at Buffalo Wild Wings last night to place everyone in the second column of the points table. With the Braves playing a home playoff game, Georgia Tech playing at home, and the weather being crappy, we were eight regular players short, meaning we all basically started out at the final table. There were nine of us, and I finished second. Bryant's friend (and mine) Tommy finished third. I had the win in hand until my opponent sucked out on me twice in a row for the win.

I'll be back at the Loafing Leprechaun on Tuesday, trying to rack up more points. I may have to find a different place to play than BWW, because so far there haven't been enough folks there to make the points payout worth it. I need to find a tourney with 30-40 players, and BWW just doesn't have that kind of traffic.

Million Dollar Homepage

When I was young I thought that money was the most important thing in life; now that I am old I know that it is.

-Oscar Wilde

There was an item that was discussed on TWIT for October 2, 2005 about the Million Dollar Homepage. It seems that some guy put up a page that has one million "pixels". Advertisers (or just ordinary folks) can purchase pixels for a buck a pixel. So if you wanted to post a 10x10 pixel ad, it would cost you $100.

Apparently, the guy is doing this to pay for college, and I've got to say that it's a pretty ingenious idea. It seems to be working, as they said he had made about $250,000 (and had his PayPal account frozen, as well). What do you think the chances are that clones of this site are going to start popping up like crazy?

Tech Vidcasts and BitTorrent

I used to be a huge fan of the show "The Screensavers", which aired on TechTV every night. What could be better for a geek than a live television show devoted to the cutting edge of technology? From Leo Laporte to Patrick Norton to Kevin Rose, I felt as if the stars of the show were somewhat of a "geek family" to me. I was extremely saddened when Comcast bought TechTV and merged the channel in with their horrible G4 channel. After the merger, they basically dumped all the tech-based shows in favor of shows having to do with video games. They kept The Screensavers, but Leo and Patrick weren't part of it. The show quickly went downhill. It finally got so bad that I couldn't watch it. It eventually turned into a show called "Attack of the Show", which is some of the most atrocious television you could watch.

Imagine my elation to find out that my favorite Screensavers alums were doing video podcasts. Now I could watch my favorite tech personalities without the constraints of a corporate structure holding them back. The webcasts are great, by the way. I look forward to each new episode. I have added links to my favorite shows to the menu on the right under "Science & Technology". TWIT (This Week In Tech) is hosted by Leo Laporte, with a slew of guests that usually include Kevin Rose and Patrick Norton, as well as John Dvorak. Systm and Diggnation are productions of Kevin Rose, with co-hosts Dan Huard and Alex Albrecht. DigitalLifeTV is hosted by Patrick Norton and Robert Herron from TechTV. Command-N is a show hosted by Amber MacArthur, who is a TechTV Canada host. All of these are worth checking out.

All of this brings me to BitTorrent, a fabulous bit of file-sharing technology. This technology doesn't necessarily make it easier or quicker to download a file, but it takes the bandwidth burden off of the distributor. Since you're pulling "bits" of the file from your peers (others who have or are downloading the file), you're not costing the distributor bandwidth charges. I think this is important for the fledgling download-only shows. Most don't have advertisements, or they have very little ad support, so they're not making a ton of money. Bandwidth is expensive, and with the popularity of these personalities, their monthly bandwidth can be measured in terabytes (!!!). The use of BitTorrent takes some of this responsibility off of them, thereby ensuring the continuation of these great shows.

I personally use the Azureus BitTorrent client, and while it is slower than a direct download, I see it as my duty to help these guys out in any way I can. Check out these shows -- you'll like them.

Four Months a Dad

Spread the diaper in the position of the diamond with you at bat. Then, fold second base down to home and set the baby on the pitcher's mound. Put first base and third together, bring up home plate and pin the three together. Of course, in case of rain, you gotta call the game and start all over again.

--Jimmy Piersal, on how to diaper a baby

Yesterday my daughter turned four months old. I've been a dad for four months, and I have to say that there is very little to compare to holding this little bundle and trading smiles and silly noises. I love to just hold her in my lap and make faces at her. She'll laugh a big, open-mouthed laugh, and I swear, she's the cutest thing to ever grace the face of the earth.

I still continue in my quest to be the world's best dad, and I think I'm doing a fair job. She's healthy and happy, and that's the whole point -- raise a healthy, happy baby. In fact, she's extremely healthy. She had her four-month checkup (and shots!!!) yesterday, and she weighed in at 19 pounds, 3 ounces and 27 inches long. She's big, but she's proportional. I feel like once she starts sitting up and crawling that she'll drop some weight, or at least level off in the weight gain.

She's started vocalizing, and it's the sound of angels. She has such a sweet voice, even when she's gurgling.

I hold out hope, as all parents do, that she will continue to be healthy and happy. I also hold out hope that I won't screw up too bad as a parent. I don't think I will, but there's always the possibility. Stay tuned for breaking developments.

The Beat Goes On

The single greatest key to winning is knowing thy enemy -- yourself.

-Andy Glazer

I played in another of the free poker tourneys last night, this one at the Loafing Leprechaun in Duluth. I think I had a pretty good chance to win, had I been able to lay down one key hand. But I'll get to that later.

FullHouseHold'em, the company that my brother-in-law works for, started their "Poker League" last night. The Poker League is basically a 20-week point gathering expedition in which players get points for finishing in the top eight in any tournament that FullHouseHold'em runs. At the end of the 20 weeks, the top points players will get together for a final tourney where the first prize is a paid entry to the 2006 World Series of Poker. All this is sponsored by Bluff Magazine.

Anyway, I decided that since you can play in any number of tourneys a week, that I'd start off trying to earn some early points. My best hand of the night came when I was in the big blind with pocket threes. The flop came 3-3-x. It was checked around, and the turn was a five. The small blind checked, I checked, and UTG+1 went all-in. It was folded around to me, and I called, blurting out "Can you beat quads?" before I could stop myself. The river was a blank, and I doubled up. During the break, I apologized for my rather dickish remark, and the guy said he completely understood. Quads are a very rare thing, except for last night. In this tourney, five sets of quads were hit. What're the odds? No, really, what are the odds? I don't know.

The hand I should have layed down came very near the final table. The blinds were 400/800, and I was in the big blind with a fair sized chip stack, and was dealt K-7 offsuit. It was folded to the small blind who completed, and I checked. The flop was K-x-x, two spades. The small blind checked, and I bet 1000. He raised to 2000, so I went all-in. He called with the nut flush draw, and hit it on the turn. This left me with 400 in chips with 11 people left in the tourney. Somehow I managed to hang around and finish sixth, so I managed to snag some points.

Ironically, my sixth place finish was worth more points than my first place finish last Thursday would have been worth, due to the small field last Thursday and the large field last night. Here's the chart that explains how points are awarded:

As you can see, the points are based not only on your finishing position, but on how many people were in the tourney.

I'm going to try to keep playing two a week, at the Loafing Leprechaun and at Buffalo Wild Wings, but I don't know how long that will go over with the wife. I'm going to try my best to rack up the points, though. I really want to be in that final tourney. I feel like my tourney game is starting to come around, and that I'm becoming a very good tourney player. I guess time will tell if that's really the case or if I'm just fooling myself.

Oh, and by the way, I entered the $5 Turbo on PokerChamps yesterday (the same one that I won on Sunday) and came in second out of a field of 40.

Interesting Exchange About Winning at Poker

The house doesn't beat the player. It just gives him the opportunity to beat himself.

-Nick Dandalos

I read several poker blogs on a daily basis, and one of them is by Bob Rotruck, aka MicroBob from the 2+2 forums, located here. He had a post today that I felt the urge to reply to, not because of his position, but because of the position of the person who he's having the disagreement with.

Here's Bob's post:

Certified Moron Status!!

That's how someone described the latest little exchange with 'online gambling expert' Stephen Katz regarding his claims that internet-poker is not beatable.

Somebody on 2+2 wrote to him and got a reply:

Basically, if somebody doesn't want to spend $2,000 of their own money (as well as time) to prove to HIM something that THEY already know they are successfully doing for income then he refuses to believe it exists.

------------------------------------------------------

After reading that little note, I send an e-mail to him. Very polite, not disaggreeing with his goals, just telling him he was wrong. Got a response the very next day, kinda funny and pathetic. Here is my e-mail and his response:

Just read a short article by Mr. Katz re online poker.

Unfortunately, Mr. Katz doesn't know what he is talking about. There are plenty of good reasons not to gamble. Gambling destroys thousands of lives and negatively influences the lives of millions more. However, making things up and/or lying about certain types of gambling is, in my opinion, counter productive to the cause of gambling prevention.

What Mr. Katz's piece offers is an incentive for people to find out more about online poker. Why? Because it is so obviously wrong. How do I know it's wrong? I support my family by playing online poker, and have done so for several years, as do many of my aquaintances.

Look, you can't just go around saying "you can't beat the rake!". Whether or not the rake can be beaten depends on the size of the rake relative to the game, and your skill relative to the other players in it. No matter how noble your motives, the ends don't justify the means, and in these case the means are counter productive to the desired end.

Just thought you should know


----------------------------------------------------------

Some of your comments are good and that is appreciated.

But unless you PROVE your claims of winning, anyone stating that they are winning money in the long-run playing online poker, is only a rumor. Don't take it personal - I say that to EVERYONE.

You probably realize that gambling income is taxable and so you have paid taxes on the money. So simply do the following. Post in a public forum, not to me because anyone can photoshop items, do it in a public forum whereby everyone can see it including the IRS which also canvases the internet looking for tax cheats. No one should ever publicly post a false tax return. To the best of my knowledge this is a federal offense.

So...post copies of your last years federal tax return. Post two years since you said "several years." Also post copies of your credit card transactions and documentation from the gambling websites regarding deposits and withdrawals. Before posting though, take all this documentation to a very reputable accounting firm and have all the information audited. They will matchup the documentation with your bank statements, etc. And also post a signed letter from this accounting firm regarding the audit and the accuracy of your documentation. Since you've been paying your taxes and have filed and previously calculated all these figures anyway, this should all be quite easy for you to quickly hand over to the accounting firm. The audit will probably cost you around $2,000 but since you are making all this money playing online poker, a couple thousand bucks should be peanuts to you.

Everyone who I have asked to do this has refused despite the simplicity. If you want to do it...fine, e-mail me back with the public website info after it is posted and of course I'll take a look at it. If you don't want to do it...fine, but the article stands as fact. We both know that there is not any formula for "proving" that online poker can be beat. The best hand doesn't always win - it can be bluffed out. So again...the only way to prove claims of winning money would be showing documented and audited proof of this income. You made the claims, so prove it!

Best Regards,

Steve

And here's my comment:

That's nuts. Saying that you can't make money playing online poker because you can't beat the rake is like saying Best Buy can't make money because they can't beat the electric bill! It's a cost of doing business, and it's certainly beatable.

However, arguing with a fool is pointless. Although, I will say that from his response, it looks like he knows the fallacy of his argument, and is trying to make it unnecessarily difficult and expensive for anyone to prove him wrong.

I fall into the social conservative group, but I do play poker. I play blackjack when I have the advantage (i.e., a bonus is involved), and I have the occasional drink. I believe in moderation in things, so I don't drink to excess, and I don't gamble where there is a large house advantage.

I consider poker a game of skill, not gambling. There is some luck involved, but that goes for golf, tennis, baseball, football, hockey, Scrabble, Monopoly and Tiddlywinks. But what separates poker from the rest of the casino games is that you are not playing against the house. You are pitting your skill against the skill of the other players. The rake is simply "rent for the space" to play.

I would say that I hope he comes around, but that'll never happen. He has his agenda, and even if someone were to provide the proof he asks, the very next words out of his mouth would be "That's an anomoly. One person winning doesn't prove anything." Sadly, it's blowhards like this that will end up getting the attention.

Perhaps it's time to form a lobbying group to look out for our interests.

My First Live Tournament Win, My First Online Tournament Win

Poker is a combination of luck and skill. People think mastering the skill part is hard, but they're wrong. The trick to poker is mastering the luck.

--Jesse May, from "Shut Up and Deal"

Well, I have had quite a week at the tables. In the span of four days, I have notched my first live tournament win and my first online tournament win. I will say that it seems that I have the best luck when I'm down to the felt with sky-high blinds. I was in that situation in both tournaments.

We'll start with the live tournament. The tournament was one of the free-to-enter bar tourneys that are held in the Atlanta area. This particular one was at Buffalo Wild Wings in Alpharetta on September 29, 2005. I finished second in the tourney on September 22, so having had decent luck I decided to return the next week. Two tables to start, with prizes of $40, $20, and $10 house cash for the top three finishers.

I started off playing my normal tight aggressive game, folding most hands and watching everyone get crazy with less than premium hands. I did have one great hand in the first half-hour. I held AK suited and with blinds at 20/40 raised to $200. I got one caller. The flop came with nothing higher than a ten. I bet $500 and got called. It was at this point I was pretty sure I was beat. I was putting the guy on AT or JJ. The turn was no help to me, so I checked. The other guy bet $1000, and I folded. I think I made the right read on this guy, and am happy with the decision that I made to lay my hand down.

I played a few other hands, never hitting anything on the flop. I was in danger of getting pretty short, with about 1400 in chips at the 50/100 level when I looked down and saw Aces. I was under the gun, and I raised to $300. Everyone folded around to the big blind, who called. The flop came K97 rainbow. The big blind checked, and I bet $300. She put me all in and I called in a shot. She showed K2 offsuit. I have to say that up until that point I had been pretty impressed with this lady's play. She always showed down strong hands, but I don't know what she was thinking there. She had to put me on a big hand, and even if I had K3, she was in big trouble. I won't complain, though, because it really got me back into things for the next hour.

Coming to the end of the next hour, I was getting really short. It was final five players, blinds at 400/800, and I had 1100 in chips. The break hit just as I was about to pay the big blind. When we came back from break, we had been colored up, and since they round up the chips when they color up, I had 1500 in chips with the blinds at 500/1000. I decided that I had to do something, so I just posted all-in blind. I got two callers who basically checked it down to the river. I had 72 of spades, and the flop came all spades. The turn was a blank club, but the river was the queen of spades. At this point I was sure I was beat, but the other two opponents turned over hands full of red cards! I had tripled up.

I folded until I was in the big blind again. There were two callers. The flop came K-Q-10, and I was holding J9! The small blind checked, I checked, and UTG checked. The turn was a blank. Again, the small blind checked, I checked, and UTG called out "All In". The small blind folded, and I called. He turned over K6, and I took it down. Over the course of the next ten hands, I flopped another straight to knock out one opponent, and turned a straight to knock out another. We were finally heads up, with me having about 20,000 in chips to my opponent's 2000.

Heads up only lasted three hands. The last hand had me in the big blind with QT. My opponent went all in and I called. The flop came KJA, and it was over. My wife had been sweating me all night, and she actually took a picture of me "WSOP-Style" with me standing behind the chip stack holding up my cards and the house cash certificates.

The online tourney was on Sunday afternoon. I was sitting in the living room watching the race and basically just killing time. I entered the 2:30 $5 Turbo tourney on PokerChamps. There were 39 players, for a prize pool of $195.

Just like the live tourney, I played a tight-aggressive game, but thought it was all over when I got my AK all in against AJ, and the guy spiked a jack on the flop. I was left with $54 at the 50/100 level. I managed to double up several times, always picking the best spots to put it all in. When we got down to heads up, I had a 25k chip lead. Several hands later, it was all over. To be quite honest, online play happens so fast that I rarely remember exact hands, so I don't even know what I won with. I did manage to take a screenshot of my success, though. Here it is: