For those of you who are sports fans, you'll remember back in the day, maybe 8-10 years ago when football games didn't have yellow lines, and didn't have the little box that showed the score. They would just periodically show you the score before/after commercial breaks. Same w/ baseball and basketball. I think we can go a step further and add another "yellow line" or improve some aspect of how the score/stats are displayed on tv. Any ideas what we can add?

Last night was pretty crazy. You can read the trip report in Ezra's blog. Recently, I've been trying to figure out exactly what to do with my life. I will have tons of options once I graduate in December, but I'm really not sure which one I'll end up picking. My options at this point include:

Continuing to play poker

Getting some sort of sports job that utilizes my stats/math background

Getting some sort of finance job

Starting my own business

I feel pretty lucky that I'll pretty much never have to worry about money in my life. But the longer I've lived my current lifestyle, the more I'm realizing that there is more to do with my life than just play poker and make $$$. I am an incredibly ambitious person but I'm also incredibly lazy. Not the most effective combination, yet I've met a lot of these types of people in the poker community.

Does anyone know why the Yankees threw Joba Chamberlain for 2 innings with a 5 run lead yesterday thereby making him unavailable for 6/7/8 innings today when its > 50% that the game is closer than 5 runs. Absolutely awful tactical managerial move by Joe Torre. Note that I'm a Mets fan but I feel for you Yankee fans seeing Joba out for 2 innings. Can any of you Yankee fans truely believe that was the best move?

Indians should probably start CC in G4 on short rest and see how it goesand play it from there so they can start Fausto Carmonain G5 if necessary. Even as is, if Paul Byrd starts and CC doesn't pitch today, Fausto has to get the nod in g5 on normal rest. He was so much more dominating than CC in their first starts.

Overrated:
Juan Pierre
Roger Clemens in the AL (does get props for longevity)
Ivan Rodriguez
Craig Biggio right now


Underrated:
Barry Bonds, not only in his prime but also the past couple yrs (just talking pure statistics...disregard steroid use obviously)
Pat Burrell
Jack Cust
Kevin Youkilis
Pedro Martinez in his prime (99-2000 mainly but also few yrs before that) I would argue that is the greatest peak of any pitcher in the history of baseball factoring in that was in the steroid era, he pitched in the AL, and in the AL East. Also the closest argument you can make is for someone like Sandy Koufax. See arguments above but also add in the argument that he didn't have to play against as many foreign players nor as big a pool of players so the general talent level of hitters (and pitchers) back then was weaker.

I'll add to this list as I see fit.

I'm just going to randomly list things in this and future blog posts and give them a rating 1-100 based on how happy they make me. I'll try to keep this PG rated.

Moving in/out of a new apt/house = 4/100
Golf = 75/100
Online shopping = 60/100
Watching sports on TV = 65/100
Sleeping when tired = 70/100
Waking up when tired = 15/100
Online Poker = 40/100
Grey Goose, Cranberry, and Red Bull = 55/100 (for the first one and then some sort of parabolic scale)
Listening to music = add 5-20 to whatever else I'm doing
Driving = 35/100 while in NYC/traffic, 60/100 otherwise
Going out to eat = 75-80/100
The whole airport experience besides the flight (ie. packing, carrying bags to airport, waiting in lines, security, etc. = 8/100
Prop Betting = 60/100
Rain = 25/100
Snow = 35/100 (not counting stuff like snowboarding)
Leisure reading = 55/100
Assigned reading from HS = 15/100
Assigned reading in college = 35/100

I think one of the most important skills necessary to be a good poker player is being able to learn fast and have a good memory. Everyone talks about the stats/game theory aspect of poker which is important, but I think what I'm about to talk about is even more important.

For example: Say there is a $2405 pot and someone bets $1200 on the turn with $5200 eff stacks behind. You are contemplating between folding, going all-in or just calling. Determining the mathematically correct play only involves some advanced algebra. Ie. your EV when folding is 0. Your EV when calling is a combination of how often you hit, how often you get paid off, how often you bluff successfully later on, etc.

The unknown variable in this equation however is the percentage of time your opponent will act a certain way or have certain cards. Being able to estimate this percentage accurately is one of the most important skills great poker players have. It's not just hand reading. It's more than that. It's also determing how often a bluff will work (metagame aside), how often you'll get paid off, and many other things as well. But it can be grouped into things that being a faster learner with a good memory will be able to do very well.

No one actually works out the equation while they're playing. It's sort of a "feel" type thing based on past hands not only against the particular opponent, but against similar opponents as well if the opponent is an unknown. One of the most valuable tools online poker offers is it lets you see mucked cards after the hand is over. This is incredibly useful for the reasons I just wrote about. It probably speeds up your progress as a poker player by a factor of 10.

Forgot to add that last night Willie Randolph absolutely needed to pinch run for Sandy Alomar in the 10th inning...See logic below for explanation as to why.

is to become GM/tactitional manager of a baseball team. I wonder what the odds of this happening are? Anyway, there are just some absolutely terrible signings and managerial moves that happen day in day out that just blow my mind. I'll shut up about Scott Schoeneweiss but why does Guillermo Mota pitch in a 2 run ball game? Should that ever happen? Didn't the Mets learn anything after he blew 2 2-run leads in one postseason? Didn't they learn anything this year from how terrible he's been all year.

Next thing is the retardedness of not pinch hitting your backup catcher (assuming he can hit better than your next best option). I understand all the hogwash about how you don't want someone catching without a backup b/c catchers take a beating. But how often does a catcher get hurt to the point where he can't play in the game anymore? 1/40? 1/50? Even then, you haven't lost the game. You stick some random dude in there who hopefully caught in little league and take it from there. The bottom line is you wouldn't have gotten to that point if you didn't pinch hit your backup in a spot which helped prolong the game.

Another scenario comes when your team is down 3-2 in a 7 game series. Let's assume you have a 4 man rotation. Becuase of the last series, your rotation lines up as follows for the seven games: 3, 4, 1, 2, 3, 4, 1

Now I've seen it before where it gets to game 6 and the manager for some reason will bring back your # 1 starter on 3 days rest because "it's a must win game". First off, it can even be debated that this day in age your #1 starter might not even be better than your #4 starter (depends on players/team/etc.) on 3 days rest. But more importantly, the manager doesn't realize that the object is to win the series and not just the game. To do this, you need to win both games. Your ace is going to pitch one of those games. Why not make it on full rest? The only argument for bringing him back on 3 days rest is if you plan to not pitch your #4 in game 7 and bring someone else in on short rest for game 7. It's pretty uncommon that this is ever going to be your best option.

Thinking of going...Who's going?

On a sick downswing. Probably not playing great, but running absolutely horrid. Gonna relax, play some golf, hopefully travel somewhere, and basically do nothing poker related for at least two weeks. I cashed out all my money and am not going to play for a while. Yell at me if you see me at the tables.