Fantasy Football, Pigskin Pick 'Em, The Ferguson, Roll Saints!

Wow, football season is almost here! It might surprise many people that knew me in high school that I have become this big of a nut. Maybe it is an unrequited desire to return to my youth and be an athlete or maybe I have just spent more time observing the game without someone yelling at me. Either way, I am pretty pumped.

Currently, I have a fantasy league on nfl.com that is sporting my friends and loved ones from across the country. (Sorry slackers, its full) We did this last year and I found it to be a BLAST, if not ridiculously time consuming! You may not realize this but fantasy sports apparently has over 200 million devotees/players around the globe with fantasy football (American) claiming 50 million of those. Looking forward to kicking it off and running roughshod over the competition...or at least not looking like an idiot!

I have automated the now 5 year old ritual of a weekly picking pool (all fun league) by putting it on ESPN.com's Pigskin Pick 'Em site. While this does not do the Playoff Prognostication pick (I'll still do that manually) it makes it a hell of a lot easier for me than manually sending out the forms and tracking the stats of about a dozen people. Not to mention ESPN hands out prizes if yer guud. Enjoy slackers, this has no cap, but you do have to be in by Sept. 6th. Join at this link: Get in the action now:
http://games.espn.go.com/pigskin/group?groupID=6527&password=beerme
if that does not work, try:
Game Front: http://games.espn.go.com/pigskin/frontpage
Group: Knight's of Classic Lore
Password: beerme

The year starts off with the game that ESPN and NFL.com polls showed that the majority of America wanted and promises to be a real humdinger, The Saints vs. The Colts. Were this in the Superdome, I would say 'Saints' hands down, but those crazy Hoosiers know how to back their high powered team. A win there will really launch the Saints though so as long as they are stepping on Payton's neck by the 4th quarter, I will feel pretty good. Party at my house this Thursday night.

Finally, in a weird twist of circumstance, I have taken on a challenge a la poker great Chris "Jesus" Ferguson in which he turned both $0 and $1 into over $10,000 (and still growing). Anyway, he has a really interesting tight money management control system that never puts more than 5% of the bankroll into play at one time in a cash game scenario and 2% in any MTT, in cash games he picks up if his stack grows to 10% of the bankroll at any one time when the blinds reach him. (Basically, double and get up. Go to a different game) I am working on it on two sites, Full Tilt Poker where I am attempting to take $9.36 and turn it into $1000 in 6 months and Ultimate Bet where I am still in the process of taking $1.23 that I won in a free roll and turning it into $1000. We might set new goals after. The brilliant part of this is that I get all kinds of play with no risk. The down sides are that the rewards are tiny for quite a while and the players at that level are idiots and turn up the bad beats on you. Also, you get some real 'back to basics' play training in. Just like running drills or doing basic moves in sports. Those have to be solid to be good. See more about 'The Ferguson' at:
http://www.fulltiltpoker.com/chris-ferguson-challenge


Well, that is what is going on now. Hope that updates everyone.

Someone explain this one to me:

Japanese Gameshow: Mess up what you say and get mousetrap-hammered in the nutz?

I'm surprised Fox doesn't own the US rights yet.

Way to go Ronnie Mac.

So the last time I was in LA for the Mini Series and found cash game gold and no love in the tournament series, I saw an old tournament buddy and Live At The Bike team member, Ronnie MacMillan.

Ronnie was at the event doing some cleanup for the now defunct show and was about to head to Australia to do some similar work and I offered to loan him some cash to get into a cash game and the Seven Stud 8/ob tournament running that day. Well, none of it went well as a runner runner donkey popped his cash game and, despite brilliant play echoed by his tablemates, eventual card death shut Ronnie down. I was confident that he would pay me back as he had a good reputation amongst our old tournament rat group (and there are a lot of shifty SOBs out there) even though I was nervous as A) I don't lend money. B) I was already at the bottom of my bankroll and the tables were being nice...for now.

Then Ronnie has a lung collapse. (Sound familiar to some of you?) This is right before he is about to get on a plane to Australia...which is semi fortunate since had he been on the plane, it probably would have killed him. However, now he is stuck to his surgeon, his backers, landlord, etc. and his boss who fronted money for the job. Ronnie is in deep doodoo. But, dauntless, and with his honorable reputation in tact and a network of friends, Ronnie kept pushing forward. I told him to take his time with the cash, the clock wasn't running and to get himself set up.

Fate turns around and Ronnie thinks there is a heavenly hand in place. Based on the above and the bit to follow, maybe you will agree.

Ronnie gets a heavy leverage stake for some of his better games in event 8 of the Legends of Poker (Omaha 8/ob) and wins it at the chop with a table that included top LA players and Amir Vaheedi. That almost gets Ronnie out of the muck.

Ronnie then plays again, similarly leveraged into the Stud 8/OB Event 12 and again, wins that. Ronnie is now smelling daylight.

We talked after the first win and I was one of many people blowing up his phone after the second win once I saw it posted on CardPlayer.com. I however, was more interested on how things were rolling that my cash. Ronnie was doing good, and the story rolls on. Having locked up his cash at home after paying off his many debts, Ronnie went into the Bike with enough money for the game and some spending money when a friend approached him to borrow for a $120 satellite. Ronnie only had $64 but gave his buddy $60 so he could get in with the promise that they were 50/50. His friend returns later with a wad of tournament chips having won, and goes to buy into the $1000 NLHE event. At 3am, he was in 8th at the final table when Ronnie went home after one player refused to chop. Turns out, the objector went out in 3rd and the stake-friend got the first place chop. Ronnie cleared more out of that deal than either of his wins.

Today, the full loan amount appeared in my PokerStars account. Ronnie is payed back in full with everyone and sitting pretty, full of confidence and ready to take down the Main Event. Personally, I want to see him whip some ass in the E.O. World Championship. Why not, since he won both of the single events that make up this one. In an age of Dustin "Neverwin" Wolfe scandals and Jamie Gold lawsuits, its good to see one of the old hands stand up for honor and the unwritten gamblers code.

Way to go Ronnie, keep taking it down.

Slacking off, working hard, house parties and catching up.

Wow, so a LOT has happened since that last post even though I am still peeling from the sunburn at Bolinas beach. I'll start with the most recent and work my way back.

FINALLY had a housewarming party at the new place and even put on a little poker tournament for the folks that stuck around late. I BBQed ribs, burgers, veggie-patties and turkey sausages to hopefully fulfill the dining needs of a diverse crowd whilst the side dishes and deserts were well covered by the attending guests. Some of you need to cook for me more often!! James Malins, in his first poker tournament, bested Mary G. (of course in her first tournament as well) to take home the winners prize in the end. Funny, considering the table had 5 veteran players out of the 8 entered and the 2 that finished were the newbies that seemed to have some great game theory and brains on their side. Beginners luck? Maybe, but Mary and James were gunning to win from the first practice hand all the way to the end!

I am struggling to get enough vacation to visit everyone and do what I need to do so allow me to stick a note in here to apologize to those that are missing me or are hoping I'll be able to fly everywhere again this holiday season. I'm afraid I will have to decline and open my doors to visiting family this year. My 9 year streak of visiting everyone that will have me has come to an end, but the good news is you can finally visit me in foggy/sunny Northern California!!

Going back another week, work took me to Las Vegas again and on my nights off I was, you guessed it, playing poker. Which turned out to be a very good thing!! I won the 7pm freezeout at Caesar's Palace for a nice chunk of cash and them played HORSE and various mixed games at the lower limits with some friends and acquaintances in town (purely coincidentally) at the same time. (Funny story, I called to brag that I was on 'The Strip' and the reply was..."really? I'll be there tomorrow.") Best of luck to Taj and the Zombie Jack.com team in their quest to get their business kicked off and sue the hell out of the rep that screwed them. People like that should be shot. In the stomach. Then left to die slowly. In a hole filled with scorpions. And offal. Lots of offal.

Went to the Olympic Club with the Young Entrepreneurs Organization a few weeks ago and met some truly interesting and inspiring people who just happened to know of a very cool club near by that I will be stopping by at again. Le Colonial in the Financial District in San Francisco needs to be seen! The, thankfully, have a website for those of you in other areas http://www.lecolonialsf.com/.

Below are some wrap up pictures. If you are wondering, that is a tower built out of about $1300-$1500 worth of chips in these picture. Then we knocked it down! Best beer holder ever for Constantine (aka Stoli4Me).

The Tower of Constantine...plus 1 Sam Adams.

The final table at Caesar's Is Stylin'!

The View from the Caesar's Tournament Room and out onto the main floor. Note the pics of the past WSOP Champions over the door and top pros around the rooms. I think I look crappy in leopard print, but you could convince me to be up there.

First place money is purty!

Boyle (left) and Taj (right) let their freak flag fly in Vegas...sporting Zombie Jack's original designs.