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Here are some notable hands from a tourney that I played this afternoon on PokerStars.
Early on, the blinds are 25/50, I have 1300 in my stack. There are two limpers, including one guy with a big stack. I checked in the BB with 3d7d. The flop is 4d5dQ, which is a good flop for me with such a crappy hand. I checked, the big stack bets 125, the next guy called. I thought about raising all-in on a semibluff, but I was pretty sure that I had no fold equity and I can afford the call. So I smooth called. The turn was the awesome 6c. I checked, big stack bet 275 and the next guy called again. I make it 775, big stack folds, next guy called my raise. The river is a J, I shoved in my last few chips and he folded. He must have been on a higher flush draw.
My stack is up to about 4200 and the blinds go up to 50/100. A short stack shoved for 475 in early position. I find 88 in the cutoff. I raised to 1200 to isolate the short stack. To my surprise, the big stack at the table goes all-in over the top of me. I had about 2900 chips left, which was still an above average stack at this point in the tournament. If he has a hand like AK, I’m making a huge mistake by folding with all the chips that I’ve put in the pot. After some thought, I decide that it’s more likely that he has an overpair so I fold. When the hands were shown, I had made the right decision because the big stack had pocket Aces. I was very happy with my decision until an 8 hit on the flop. That’s poker.
I managed to stay afloat for awhile without picking up any cards. At the 100/200 blind level, I had about 2500. A player limped in middle position, I found 6s9s in the small blind and completed. The big blind then checked. The flop is 36J. I checked, the big blind checked and MP bet 550. It was pretty obvious he had nothing and was trying to steal the pot, so I went all-in with my middle pair. It was another 1900 for him to call, which was almost his entire stack. He called me pretty quickly and showed 45 for an open ended straight draw. I was relieved to be ahead, but a 2 hit on the river and I was eliminated.
I wasn’t that upset. I had to start accumulating some chips somehow and I will gladly take a shot at doubling up with those odds anytime. It was a pretty poor call on my opponent’s part but I hope people keep making those plays against me in the future. I just hope they don’t get lucky.
May 31st, 2009 10:32:30 PM GMT+5 | Posted in Poker by windizzle | No Comments
The french open has always been one of the most exciting events in the tennis season. The fans are always excited though sometimes hard on the players but this is really a great event to watch and really is the highlight of the clay season. Nadal has been absolutely dominant on clay and a look at the stats shows just how dominant. Coming off his easy third-round victory over Lleyton Hewitt on Friday, four-time defending champion Rafael Nadal improved his Roland Garros record to an to an unreal 31-0; and he now owns the record for consecutive victories here. Even more staggering is his sets record: 92-7. (He has won 92 total sets in 31 matches, not 93, because Novak Djokovic retired from their 2006 quarterfinal when down two sets.) Nadal lost just three sets during his victorious debut run in 2005, three more in 2006, and one—in the final against Roger Federer—in 2007. He has since played 10 consecutive French Open matches without dropping a set, but these numbers are staggering but will come to an end this morning as he actually just dropped a set against Robin Soderling.
So does this mean that Nadal is vulnerable? After the loss to Federer at Madrid I would have to say its possible but my money is still on Nadal to win it all this year. He just needs to get by Soderling today, this would be one of the great upsets in tennis history if it happened.
So what else have we learned from the Open this week? One thing that stands out to me is the lack of dominant players in the WTA. One glaring example has been the play of Elena Dementieva. It seemed pretty appropriate that Australia’s Samantha Stosur was the one to upset No. 4 Elena Dementieva and knock her out of the French Open given the fat that that another Aussie, Jelena Dokic, had Dementieva on the ropes in the second round. On Thursday, Dokic won the first set from Dementieva, 6-2, but injured her lower back during the second set and had to retire. (Dementieva said after that match that she didn’t think she would have won if Dokic had of continued.) Dokic’s Fed Cup teammate, the 30th-seeded Stosur, defeated a tired looking Dementieva, 6-3, 4-6, 6-1, and advanced to the fourth round of the French for the first time.
So what about Americans and especially the American mens chances. Obviously they rest with Andy Roddick and he has one of the best draws in the tourney. With a 6-1, 6-4, 6-4 victory over Marc Gicquel , the sixth-seeded Andy Roddick advanced to the fourth round for the first time in eight French Open appearances. Roddick has had a dismal record at Roland Garros but if you look at his opponents he has not had a grueling schedule. Roddick has had a cakewalk to the tournament’s second week. Coming into this event, his first two opponents—French wildcard Romain Jouan and Ivo Minar of the Czech Republic—had won a combined two matches in ATP Tour main draws this year. His next opponent, the Tunisia-born Frenchman, is a Top 50 player, but posed no great problems for Andy. Roddicks next opponent is Gail Monfils and this is a tough test so we will have to see but for right now we still have some hopes for an American man in this tournament.
The Stanley cup is finally here and I am going to have to go with the Detroit Red Wings to win it all. My big concern was goal tending for Detroit but Osgood has been outstanding, and not just against the offense-challenged Blue Jackets or the mediocre offense of Anaheim. He shut down the tremendous Chicago offense that still is third in playoff scoring average despite Osgood holding them to three or fewer goals in every regulation game.
The truth is the West is just miles above the East and it should show up again in this years Stanley Cup. There is a lot less defense played in the East, and the West is a lot tighter defensively. The Wings will have the ability to open up their offense against the Pens, while still playing tight defensively.
My pick for tonight is on the red wings in regulation +115
risking 50 to win 55
MY RECORD
TEASERS 6-2 +$67
PARLAYS 12-12 +$195
STRAIGHT WAGERS 18-15 +$116
HOCKEY 9-8 +$50
TENNIS 1-1 NO PROFIT OR LOSS
BASEBALL 6-8 -$33
SOCCER 0-2 – $46
OVERALL 54-50 +$303
May 31st, 2009 9:48:19 AM GMT+5 | Posted in Free Picks, Hockey, Sports Betting, Tennis by johngm | No Comments
A very interesting match where both teams would like to end the season with another win…
Fiorentina will play in the qualification of the Champions league next year. For them this is a great success because throughout this season they had many problems with the squad. We will see if they can afford to bring some big names in the team this summer or they will try to do something with the same players. For this match, the manager won’t have many problems to put the best players in the starting lines. Maybe they will try to do some pressure in front of the Milan’s goal but I think that it is too hard to break defense.
On the other side, it is speculating that Milan’s star Kaka will leave the club this summer. Another thing is that Anceloti could also leave the team so this means a refitting for the club.
For this match, I expect Milan to start with Pipo and Kaka in the front line and maybe Ambrozini, Pirlo and Flamini behind them.
From this match, I expect some serious chances in front of the both goals. When will be scored the first goal we will see, but I chose to bet that will over 25.5 minutes of the match…
Fiorentina – Milan
May 31st, 2009 6:56:43 AM GMT+5 | Posted in Serie A by ranma | No Comments
For the first time in 50 years the 2nd game in the NHL Finals will be played on back-to-back nights, as last night the Red Wings dominated game 1 winning 3-1. The big question for the Red Wings coming into this series was could they contain the star duo of Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin? The Red Wings did that in game 1, which is why they won. Malkin did assist on the only goal of the Penguins in that game, but Crosby was totals.asp”title=”betting totals” >totally held in check, as he only too 2 shots in the game. Crosby has to take more shots tonight and the Penguins have to bring more offense to the table tonight or they will be heading back to Pittsburgh down 2-0. Chris Osgood had a great game between the pipes for the Red Wings only allowing 1 goal and making 31 saves.
This is not really a must win game for the Penguins, but it is pretty close, as no team has blown a 2-0 lead in the finals since 1971 and since the NHL Finals went to a 7 game format way back in 1939 the teams that have a 2-0 lead are 41-3. The Penguins took 2 more shots then the Red Wings (32-30), but Osgood was legit, as for game 1 he had a great save percentage of 96.86%. The Penguins have to take advantage of the extra man when they get their chance tonight, as in the 2nd period of game 1 they had 2 power plays and even a breakaway, but they could not score. The Penguins defense has to contain Johan Franzen, who scored last night and leads the Red Wings in goals in the playoffs (11) and has at least one point in 13 of the 17 playoffs games. The Penguins do not have the best defense so they have to score or they will lose. Game 1 was only the 2nd playoff game out of 18 for Pittsburgh that they have scored 1 or fewer goals.
The Red Wings were a little lucky in game 1, as 2 of their 3 goals trickled off Marc-Andre Fleury and into the net. If Fleury makes those saves game 1 would have gone to OT. Crosby needs to step up tonight and give the Penguins some offense tonight and if Detroit’s defense is focused on slowing him down the other guys on the line have to take advantage of the open ice around them.
May 31st, 2009 2:13:06 AM GMT+5 | Posted in Hockey, Sports, Sports Betting by Jason Green | No Comments
I have kept the majority of my blogs on the efforts like the Frank bill that are being made to try and undo the damage the horrendous bush era laws have dome to this prosperous business. I have really noticed a major change in online gaming since the loss of neteller and thankfully efforts are being made to undo these laws that have stymied online gaming.
One of the most fascinating developments in gaming is happening in Delaware. Here is a brief summary I have compiled by reading the news reports in the online gaming news and various journals and forums. This is actually much more exciting than the Hr 2273 in my opinion. Lets take a look at the story and I will have my thoughts afterwords.
Delaware’s new sports betting law complies with the state’s constitution, the state Supreme Court has concluded in a ruling to be issued this morning, paving the way for bets on football games and other sports as early as September.
In an advisory opinion signed by all five justices, the high court ruled that the sports betting law signed this month by Gov. Jack Markell would constitute a lottery, the only kind of sports gambling — besides bets on horse races — permitted under the the constitution.
An attorney for the National Football League had argued before the justices last week that sports betting involved too much skill to be considered a lottery whose outcome was based on chance.
The court ruled, however, that the constitution “allows lotteries to involve an element of skill, as long as chance predominates” and wrote that the games that are created for gamblers “must assure that chance is the predominant factor.”
The NFL has suggested it might sue the state over the issue, just as it had done unsuccessfully in 1976 when Delaware had a short-lived sports lottery. The state prevailed in that federal court case, however, and in today’s opinion, the justices wrote that they concurred with U.S. District Judge Walter Stapleton’s opinion then that lottery “games or gaming embraces a far wider range of activities than those based on pure chance.”
Markell has said he wants to have three kinds of bets: single-game using a point spread; over-under bets on the total number of points scored, and parlay games.
The justices ruled that parlay games, in which a better picks the winner or more than one game, meet constitutional muster, but chose not to rule on whether betting on a single game would constitute on a lottery.
“I very pleased with the Supreme Court’s decision,” Markell said in a written statement. “This decision resolves the legal issues that have been presented and provides a solid legal framework for our sports lottery. With this guidance in hand, we are moving forward with implementing a successful sports lottery in Delaware.”
Alright. so what does this mean and what are the chances of this succeeding. It means that you could drive up to Delaware and actually have the pleasure of live sports wagering, the great atmosphere, players club, horse track and table games on location, and most importantly cash in hand in seconds after finish. Of course ,these places will never effect online gaming because of the variety of options available online and the better lines. If anything this would attract more people to wagering, this is what I wish more online books would do, offer deals to costa rica and let the player have the atmosphere of live gambling. One of the main things I hope doesnt happen is that this bill only allows parlay cards sort of like the canadian Proline. The odds are horrible on these things and it really wouldn’t be worth it to drive for parlay lotteries.
Another exciting aspect of this bill is what delaware park could end up being like, I started wagering in horses in Richmond and Baltimore/DC area and I would love to go to Delaware park if this bill passes. Here is a statement from Delaware park
WILMINGTON, Del.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Delaware Park issued the following statement from its Chief Operating Officer Bill Fasy in response to the Delaware Supreme Court’s ruling today on Sports Betting.
“We are obviously pleased with the ruling handed down today by the Delaware Supreme Court. We believe that the single game sports lottery, with a proper betting line, will provide an exciting entertainment option for our guests and we intend to add a sports betting operation at Delaware Park as soon as the Lottery finalizes the rules and regulations.
We expect to be operating by the end of the summer. Our plan is to create the finest, state-of-the-art sports betting facility, integrated into our existing large simulcast racing rooms, which are already equipped with floor-to-ceiling, big-screen televisions; easy access to fine food and beverages; and more.
It will be the most fun and thrilling place to watch and wager on sports this side of Las Vegas. With the addition of sports betting today and table games in the near future, we are building an unrivaled entertainment venue and tourist attraction that will benefit all Delawareans.”
This would be great to have sports betting live like this on the east coast.
My main concerns are the hypocrisy of these governments and sports leaders proclaiming that this could damage children. Please. Horses, Lotto and casino, these are no problem of course. Another concern I have is the time it may take but having a Vice president from
Delaware should help move things along. Sports should be up by September and tables by January next year. We shall see, I am actually more hopeful about this development than the Frank bill passing with any teeth.
Stay tuned for more news from our site on this exciting development in Gaming.
Cheers
May 30th, 2009 7:51:02 PM GMT+5 | Posted in Gambling Law, News by johngm | No Comments
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