Happy St. Patrick's Day to everyone! This doesn't rank too high on my personal holiday list since it's more of a bar hopping occasion than anything else, but have a good one anyway. My wife is cooking up some corned beef and cabbage, so that's making the house smell really good. It's one of those odors that starts off pretty bad, but builds up to something great. As of a few hours ago, it had drifted into the great range.
Perhaps it's a sign of getting older, but I've started looking forward to holidays more for what I can eat than what I can drink. I mean, the beer and whiskey are there any time of the year. It's not every day I get turkey that's been cooked in the oven all day long or corned beef and cabbage for that matter. I'd actually prefer it if the bartenders kept their green food coloring for the cookies and kept it out of my lager.
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Monday, March 2, 2009
No offense meant to flag football players
I love watching poker on TV. I realize how strange it is to turn on a television and watch a card game, but there's plenty of betting strategy, personalities and thrills to keep me hooked. I also know I don't need to explain this since I'm obviously not the only one responsible for poker shows being so popular. One thing that drives me freaking NUTS is all the focus on amateur players.
Yeah, anyone can get lucky at the World Series of Poker, outdraw the pros and win millions. That's why I've stopped watching the World Series. If I'm going to watch a sport on TV, I want to watch the pros. Otherwise, I might as well stop everything I'm doing to watch kids play flag football. Unless they're YOUR kids, that's not a great way to spend an afternoon. Seeing amateurs make bonehead calls and then get lucky embodies everything that's annoying about the world. It shows loudmouthed morons succeeding against people who have studied, practiced or otherwise put in their time to excel at their craft. It shows that blind luck trumps skill and planning. It shows that quitting school and hanging out in bars PAYS off! And it shows that being a general a-hole is a good way to become rich.
Now, I'm not talking about ALL amateurs here. Some truly have skill and are just at the bottom of the ladder at the moment. They make good plays, take their beats like adults, and employ some sort of plan. The ones I'm talking about are the a-holes who pump their fists and taunt their opponents after going all in with three-ten off suit and flopping a ten-ten-three. Sure, that's a cause for celebration but don't strut for the rest of the night like THAT was your master plan. Phil Helmuth may be an ass, but at least he relies on something other than blind luck. Mike Matusow may taunt and torment the other players, but he KNOWS how to play the game.
Bring back the Professional Poker Tour!! Show more High Stakes Poker! I saw a fairly recent Poker After Dark where three internet players went against three seasoned pros. Those internet guys were tough players, didn't scream and did very well. All three of them looked like kids, but they handled themselves better than the jerk-off who mimicked Sam Farha TO HIS FACE at a World Series a few years back. That makes me long for the good old days where idiots like that were taken to a back room and taught to use their "indoor voice".
Yeah, anyone can get lucky at the World Series of Poker, outdraw the pros and win millions. That's why I've stopped watching the World Series. If I'm going to watch a sport on TV, I want to watch the pros. Otherwise, I might as well stop everything I'm doing to watch kids play flag football. Unless they're YOUR kids, that's not a great way to spend an afternoon. Seeing amateurs make bonehead calls and then get lucky embodies everything that's annoying about the world. It shows loudmouthed morons succeeding against people who have studied, practiced or otherwise put in their time to excel at their craft. It shows that blind luck trumps skill and planning. It shows that quitting school and hanging out in bars PAYS off! And it shows that being a general a-hole is a good way to become rich.
Now, I'm not talking about ALL amateurs here. Some truly have skill and are just at the bottom of the ladder at the moment. They make good plays, take their beats like adults, and employ some sort of plan. The ones I'm talking about are the a-holes who pump their fists and taunt their opponents after going all in with three-ten off suit and flopping a ten-ten-three. Sure, that's a cause for celebration but don't strut for the rest of the night like THAT was your master plan. Phil Helmuth may be an ass, but at least he relies on something other than blind luck. Mike Matusow may taunt and torment the other players, but he KNOWS how to play the game.
Bring back the Professional Poker Tour!! Show more High Stakes Poker! I saw a fairly recent Poker After Dark where three internet players went against three seasoned pros. Those internet guys were tough players, didn't scream and did very well. All three of them looked like kids, but they handled themselves better than the jerk-off who mimicked Sam Farha TO HIS FACE at a World Series a few years back. That makes me long for the good old days where idiots like that were taken to a back room and taught to use their "indoor voice".
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