Gavin Smith

The above video was silly, fun, good natured and involved gambling. In short it seems to sum up poker pro Gavin Smith who just passed away at age 50.  He was also a man who had his share of flaws and demons.

Nolan Dalla has a nice remembrance of the man. And I'm sure we'll see many Gavin Smith stories in the days and weeks to come.

Linky Links

Stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.

- Interesting profile of poker player Phil Ivey who is skipping the WSOP this year. (Long read)

- The list is bogus! Where's The Passion of the Christ (why yes I am going to hell why do you ask?)

- Never forget!

- Tennis Shoes?!? What the hell is wrong with you people?

- Bravo Connecticut indeed!

Linky Links

Stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.

- This is scary and bound to adversely affect Tinder stock

- Rio is not ready for the Olympics and the IOC is to blame

- Why pharma companies are fighting legalized marijuana

- I so want this yacht!

- Vietnam vet who saved dozens of soldiers awarded the Medal of Honor

- In my opinion quantum biology will be the next big thing in science

- A reminder to live in the moment and to cherish life comes from the WSOP and the story of Bob Brundige

WSOP - Who I am Rooting For

The WSOP (World Series of Poker) started over the weekend. After reading this article by Brad Willis - I know who I am rooting for. Brad had a quick update yesterday saying that Vanessa Pacella made it through Day 1 with 67,300 in chips.

Any women out there - please get a mammogram before age 40.

Oral History of the 2003 WSOP

Excellent behind the scenes look at the game changing 2003 World Series of Poker. Three quick thoughts on the article:

1. Not a fan of people who complain that Chris Moneymaker got lucky. Every WSOP winner not named Stu Ungar was lucky. That's the way it is in poker. You have to win all the coin-flips and get a lucky two-outer to be champion.

2.Sad to hear that winning the WSOP and becoming a poker pro basically cost Moneymaker his marriage. That's tough.

3. This would have made a great 30 for 30 except ESPN already owns the rights and I'm guessing the poker folks probably wouldn't want to share with Bill Simmons 30 for 30 folks.

Linky Links

Stuff I found interesting and thought I'd share.

- Why don't woodpeckers get brain damage?

- Games of Thrones / Princess Bride mashup - very good!

- Awesome update on what Adrian Dantley is doing these days.

- WSOP champion Greg "Fossilman" Raymer arrested in prostitute sting. [Edit - initial reports were a male prostitute - that has now been changed to a female - maybe the hooker was just extra ugly?]

- Too late for Saint Patrick's Day but still interesting - 11 things you probably didn't know about Guinness.

Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

Brad Pitt's mom writes anti-Obama editorial. What I love about this story is the idea that Brad Pitt's mom's vote will basically cancel out her son's vote in November but since she's from a battleground state (Missouri) her vote actually carries more weight (Brad lives in California which is sure to go for Obama)... Seth MacFarlane is making it possible for Carl Sagan's paper to be donated to the Library of Congress. Nice job Mr. Family Guy... I thought last night's Louie was pretty funny but I'm still haunted by the fact that the woman who played Louie's girlfriend last week was the little girl from Field of Dreams. I know Gaby Hoffman is now 30 but she'll always be little Karin Kinsella in many ways (I also find it creepy that Louie was college aged when Field of Dreams came out)... How all 57 50 states got their names... Tom Glavine had a career batting average of .186. Meanwhile Richie Weeks of the Brewers is hitting just .192 (and it was .182 last week)... Sam Trickett won $10.1 million for coming in second place in the WSOP One Drop Million Dollar Buy-in event but later that night gets beat up by six guys. I'd love to know the whole story on this...

Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

Just as a reminder - before the season started I predicted that Mike Napoli would have a big season offensively. I predicted that he would do as well or better than Victor Martinez. I did not predict that he would be playing almost into November though... Magicians deal in sleight of hand while comedians deal in sleight of wits... Here's your feel good story for the day. I know both coaches involved and can say for a fact that they are both class acts... The last time the McRib was out Steve Rushin had a funny line where he said, "In span of 12 days, McRib and McNabb both discontinued." How funny is it that the line still applies just with McNabb being discontinued by new team... Cool update on what 2005 WSOP runner-up Steve Dannenmann is up to... As a reminder - "Britney Spears" is an anagram for "Presbyterians"... Has anyone had a more complete fall from public grace than Pat O'Brien? He must not have made many friends on the way up the ladder... The Human Torch was denied a bank loan... One of my tests for politicians is whether people who would wear giant paper mache heads would support them. If yes then I don't like the guy.

Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

Paul Pierce's World Series of Poker run ends. He made it to day 2 of the tourney but going all-in with a pair of deuces makes me wonder how he got that far in the first place... Confession - I can't see the movie Lawrence of Arabia without thinking of the porn equivalent Lawrence of a Labia... Just a reminder of how lucky - yes lucky - Wade Boggs was to get to 3,000 hits (he finished with 3,010). If Boggs didn't play at Fenway Park he would have just been an average player. Doubt me? Here's Boggs career home / road OPS splits .934/.782. So at home he was Vlad Guerrero and on the road he became Shane Victorino without the speed. Plus if it wasn't for expansion he wouldn't have even been in the league long enough to get 3,000 - Tampa Bay used the local Boggs as a marketing promotion and then dropped him after he got his hit because by that time in his career he was pretty much useless... I wonder what was the last movie to feature an overture. If Slap Shot had an overture it would have been the perfect movie... All of the Planet of the Apes movies (and TV shows) are based upon the novel by Pierre Boulle but yet he never seems to get any credit. Can you think of any other book that launched as many movies and spin-offs?... Awesome marriage proposal... Just wanted to share this but in the new Brita commercial where the lady gives bottled tap water from the mall to an Eskimo - I always imagine the woman being from New Jersey... Speaking of commercials - if you close your eyes and picture Flo from Progressive Insurance as a talking turkey carcass - then commercials become much less annoying... Some Funny or Die type site should do an Anthony Bourdain spoof. Just call it Reservations. Even better do Anthony Bourdain spoof called Really No Reservations where a Bourdain-type guy eats fish heads, bone marrow and pigs feet from dumpsters... Succulent Pork would either be a good name for a band or a good euphemism for a sex act. Black Forest isn't a euphemism but Nappy Dugout is. Rusty Jones isn't a euphemism but Filthy Sanchez is. Who decides these things?

Linky Links

Stuff I found interesting and thought I'd share.

- The NCAA and Championship Ring Repossession.

- WSOP side action

- Adrian Gonzalez is a class guy and a fan of Anthony Rizzo

- I seriously want to own one of these!!!! (The exclamation points are so you know how excited I'd be to have one of these awesome machines!!!!)

- "Blister in the Sun" from Google's Les Paul doodle.

- The Arctic Light - awe inspiring beauty

- Depth of the Mariana Trench to scale

Linky Links

Stuff I found interesting and thought I'd share.

- Awesome people hanging out together - these pictures were really cool

- Guy finds out at age 42 that his dad is Ted Nugent

- Improv Everywhere: The Mute Button - this was just awesome. What a great idea.

- The Stories Behind 10 Interesting Numbers in American Culture

- The WSOP has started in Las Vegas and a very interesting story is developing regarding Phil Ivey who is boycotting the WSOP and suing Full Tilt Poker. As always the best place for WSOP news is the Tao of Poker: WSOP Day 1: Welcome to the Jungle & Phil Ivey's Titanium Balls

Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

Gerald Ford was eaten by wolves and he was delicious... Reportedly Theo Epstein said today that he wouldn't bet against Josh Beckett this season. It seems to me that the natural follow up question would be "who he would bet against?" No reporter at the press conference asked the question... Wow - I never knew that Aspartame was so bad for you. I'll be sure to start checking labels to eliminate it from my diet... Lady Beiber would be a good name for a band... WSOP Champion Peter Eastgate returns to poker... It just occurred to me that Rio de Janeiro means "River of January". I wonder if somewhere there's a Río de Febrero?... Cool - George Bernard Shaw's rotating shed. David McCullough also did his writing out of a shed but it did not rotate...

Linky Links

Stuff I found interesting and thought I'd share.

- My new goal in life is to beat Jack Ury's record as the oldest ever participant in the WSOP

- ESPN promo featuring Chris Farley as Christian Laettner - a fat, less athletic Christian Laettner

- Do you need any copywriting?

- Wow - Tony Hawk is either sexually myopic or a real man-whore

- Nathan Fillion gets to be Green Lantern!

- The Catholic Church Gives Blessing to Confession iPhone App

- One of the few things that all 50 states agree on

- Very interesting read in Vanity Fair on Mark Wahlberg and Stephen "Lev" Levinson's rise as power producers in Hollywood

- Walton Goggins talks "Justified" and "The Shield" with Alan Sepinwall

- 30 Rock Rocks

Linky Links

Some stuff I found interesting and thought I'd share.

- How Randy Moss almost became a Packer (twice) and how that may have caused Favre's departure.

- Where Are They Now?: The 1989 WSOP Main Event Final Table

- Wow! How can you read about this and not think the idea of Spiderman is credible. Giant spider webs with 10-times stronger than Kevlar threads. Spider senses tingling.

- Heh heh - this jersey is funny than the Ron Mexico one.

- Excellent Vin Scully interview.

- How 13 American Cities Got Their Names

WSOP

The World Series of Poker has been running for about two weeks. If you are interested in following the action - or if you are just a fan of interesting insights into the human condition - then the two spots for you to check daily are:

Tao of Poker - Dr. Pauly's twisted takes on Las Vegas and the degenerate lifestyle.

Michael Craig's Poker Blog - heavy on Full Tilt pros and stories of same but great stuff nonetheless

Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

Trivia Question: Who held the home run record before Babe Ruth came along?... Last night Bill Simmons was making excuses for Obama's weak first pitch saying that you had to give him a break because he was wearing a big bullet-proof vest. Some people can't drink enough of the cool-aid. George Bush wore the same vest but he didn't throw like a girl... Someone named David Wells cashed in 603rd place at the WSOP. Could this be Boomer Wells? $21k could buy a lot of hamburgers if it was... Interesting to note that Jim Thome of the White Sox has a CAREER OPS of .965 while Justin Morneau of the Twins has never equaled that OPS in a single season... I've become a fan of Michelob Golden. I understand that it has a very limited distribution area of just Minnesota and Wisconsin. However, Summit Extra Pale Ale is my new favorite Minnesota beer... Jon Heyman of SI speaking of the first pitch by Obama tweeted last night that George Bush's biggest tool was his pitching arm. I disagree. His biggest "tool" was Ari Fleisher... Trivia Answer: His name was Roger Connor and his old record for home runs was just 136

Eric Drache

Eric Drache finished 2nd in the 2009 $10,000 World Championship Seven Card Stud event in the WSOP. I had never heard of Eric Drache until I read this fine piece by Benjo over at the Tao of Poker. I was intrigued by a guy like Drache who literally invented tournament satellites, who helped produce the greatest TV poker show ever (High Stakes Poker) and who had once been responsible for running the WSOP itself.

Benjo told a story of a nice guy who had lots of old timer Vegas guys rooting him on to what was hopefully to be Drache's first WSOP bracelet. The old timers told stories about Drache like the following:

"And he was taking care of the people working for him, too," continued Thor. "One Christmas, he was short of money to pay the dealers their bonuses. He knew those people were like any other people and had been gambling, or doing whatever else they were doing. They were short of money, and he didn't want to leave them broke for Christmas. So what did he do ? He went on the street, and borrowed several dozens of thousands of loan-shark money to give to them. He had to pay juice for months after that, but it didn't matter. Cause he made his people happy for Christmas."

The story begs the question of why he was short of money in the first place. I was curious - so I looked around the Internets for more information on Eric Drache. Wikipedia had this nugget on his page:

In the middle nineties he was prosecuted on federal tax fraud charges and lost his Nevada gaming license as a result, which is required to work in casinos.

Take everything you read on the Internets with a grain of salt (especially Wikipedia) but I found this nugget via a Google search and the picture of Eric Drache seemed to come clearer:

Eric Drache was put in charge of the WSOP. What a joke this was. Poker was now controlled by cheats. It was always controlled before, but it was not this well organized. Eric Drache was a compulsive sports better and soon was losing more at sports than he could steal or cheat. On the occasion that he was let go from the WSOP after running it for years, he had sold many seats for a discount for a quick monetary fix. He must of sold twenty to thirty WSOP $10,000 seats for $8,000 cash before the event. After losing the money he was in a bad situation. Jack Binion covered the loss and nothing was told to the public. However, Eric Drache was no longer running the WSOP. This is the reason that Eric Drache was no longer in charge of the WSOP.

The picture now seemed more fleshed out and understandable. Pure speculation on my part but it seems like a nice guy with intelligence who had skills in poker but who fell prey to a lack of skill in picking winners in sports betting. Using money from the dealers Christmas bonuses or from discounted entries for the WSOP Main Event to be replaced when the Raiders or Lakers or the Yankees or whoever covered the spread. Of course in the gambler's mind it is always "when" and not "if" and when the "whens" fail to pass you end up borrowing money from loan sharks or getting fired from your gig running the WSOP for skimming from the entry money.

The fall and redemption of a guy like that would seem to make a great Hollywood story line. Of course to make it a true Hollywood tale - the guy who invented the tournament satellite would have to win a satellite to get into the 2009 WSOP and he of course would not finish 2nd. In the movie version - he'd have to win it. I'd go to see a movie like that.

Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

From Coco Crisp's Twitter account I learned that he likes to play World of Warcraft and that he has a pet Chihuahua. I'll never be able to look at Coco Crisp the same... The World Series of Poker is off and running. Just a reminder but the best place (in terms of writing, humor and updates) to follow the WSOP is at The Tao of Poker... Speaking of poker - when I first read this story I was disgusted. After a minute I was amused thinking about the irony of socialism on a small scale running smack dab into police state tactics (or in this case State Police tactics). A charity poker game run by a cooperative with proceeds from the event to feed the poor raided by the state police because the Sisters didn't have the proper papers - yup. Look out South Berwick Strawberry Festival Committee - you're next!... All week I've been meaning to write a review of Bottom of the Ninth: Branch Rickey, Casey Stengel, and the Daring Scheme to Save Baseball from Itself. I read the book over two days and could not put it down. Excellent history and insight into a period of baseball history which has largely gone overlooked. I recommend the book heartily...

WSOP

Just 15 days until the first event of the 2009 World Series of Poker.

The first event is the Casino Employees No-Limit Hold'em Tournament on May 27th.

The $50,000 buy-in World Championship H.O.R.S.E. is about a month later on the 26th of June.

The $10,000 Texas Hold-em Main Event will be start on July 3rd. Once again there will be a couple month break with the Final Table starting on November 7th.

WSOP HORSE Day 1

Pauly has some great perspective about Day 1 of the WSOP HORSE event.

Unless Norman Chad is bringing his A game - there is no better poker writer on the planet than Pauly. He's the only place for me for WSOP news and updates.