Diary of a Day

With the wife out of town this weekend, I'm finding it quite easy to fill up the time.

Last night had a good time for a birthday dinner, for which the kids came along and ate an ungodly amount of garlic rolls and spaghetti.

Today was a different day. Here goes:

8:30: Wake up.
8:31: Trudge downstairs, half-asleep, to make breakfast.
9:10: Begin getting everybody showered and dressed to go to ballet class.
9:40: Realize that every pair of stocking for Sammie's ballet class has run away.
9:41: Scramble to find other clothes for Sammie.
9:42: Leave for Target.
9:44: Arrive.
10:05: Leave Target with stocking after waiting for morons to clear out in front of me
10:12: Arrive for the 10:15 ballet class and get Sammie dressed in ballet clothes juuuuuust in time.
11:15: Make the unilateral decision to go to Krystal. To hell with cooking lunch.
12:30: After corn dogs and burgers, head to Kroger to get materials to cook later tonight. Yes, there is a plan.
1:00: Home. Laundry. Dishes. Let kids chill for a little while.
2:30: Pack up everybody in the car to go downtown for a Tea Party Protest, which I was going to write about and take pictures of to write up.
3:20: Arrive downtown, and see that no streets are closed. Last year, on April 15, 10,000 people were in front of the Capitol. This year, no streets closed, all folks on the sidewalk, less than 400 people. Make the decision to not cover it and not park. Kids are also wondering where the hell everybody is.
4:30: Back in the neighborhood, head to Laurel Park with the kids to get their energies out at the playground instead.
5:30: Walk to the pond to feed geese and ducks.
5:31: Hey, look, a dozen ducks want to nibble from Sammie's hand. Sammie does not like that.
6:00: I still don't feel like cooking a meal, since I'm making a dessert later. Time for pizza.
7:00: Time to start making the cake. We make the frosting, then put on Snow White, then assemble the cake afterwards.

Recipe:

• Combine 2 oz cream cheese and 3 tbsp confectionary sugar with mixer.
• Watch kids laugh as sugar sprays from bowl onto their clothes.
• Decide to mix with a fork.
• Add 1/4 tsp vanilla extract and 1 cup heavy whipping cream.
• Whip and mix.
• Allow kids to use mixer.
• Cower in fear.
• Thank the maker, nothing broke or spilled!
• Place icing in fridge.
• Place bag of popcorn in microwave.
• Pull everyone onto the couch for movie cuddle time.
• After the movie, take poundcake (not made from scratch, I have my limits) and slice horizontally twice to make three layers.
• Bottom layer: spread out 1/4 cup lemon curd, cover with 1/2 cup raspberries.
• Middle layer: slather with 1/4 cup raspberry jam, place down on top of previous layer.
• Middle layer: spread out 1/4 cup lemon curd, cover with 1/2 cup raspberries.
• Top layer: slather with 1/4 cup raspberry jam, place down on top of previous layer.
• Hand spatulas to kids.
• Begin slathering icing on cake.
• Remember that I should have put something down to take care of any drippings that come from a three-year old icing a cake.
• Ah, fuck it. Keep slathering. I'll clean it up later.
• Hey, she has some coordination and isn't dripping very much. Really. The proof is here.
• Alex got bored, though, so he isn't in the picture.
• Put cake in the fridge to chill overnight. It tastes delicious.

Put kids in bed at 10:00.

Hey, this wasn't a very hard day. Granted, I didn't cook any meals, just a dessert, but it wasn't too rough a day.

Nothing is going on until 5 PM tomorrow, when we shall bring said cake to a cooking club. So, hooray, we can sleep late!

G'night.

Me Time

I've noticed over the last few weeks that I've played less and less poker. I haven't really been up for playing too much, and haven't been too excited about either grinding away for itty-bitty amount or trying to take long shot in tourneys with thousands of players to hit a 0.05% chance of a big score.

It just hasn't interested me much lately. I've had too much other crazy stuff going on.

Of course, my computer went on the fritz as well, so that probably did not help either.

I have been starting to devote myself to other things, though. Instead of playing poker, I've been reading about it. I've actually been picking up books and reading - and not just for a class, either. It's been a long time since I bothered reading anything that wasn't for class or just a magazine (which doesn't require much of an attention span.)

I just started reading Every Hand Revealed by Gus Hansen, which is a review of his win at the 2007 Aussie Millions and every single hand played. Hopefully it will provide some good insights to battling through some large fields and trying to exploit every edge, which I know I've had trouble doing recently.

The last book I read for leisure prior to this was Check-Raising the Devil, an autobiography of Mike Matusow, co-written with Amy Calistri (Aimlessly Chasing) and Tim Lavalli (PokerShrink).

My big question, right now, is what else might you recommend as good reading material? I don't plan on putting any money online for the time being (unless a nice deal comes my way) and the absolute earliest I would be setting foot in a casino would be April in Vegas for a Circuit event (assuming I can still get out to Caesar's then).

Any thoughts? (Aside from Lost Vegas, when it comes out, of course.)

As for non-pokery books, the only other book I've recently read were Liberty and Tyranny by Mark Levin. That's it.

Gingrey participating in health care discussions in district

Gingrey participating in health care discussions in district

Posted using ShareThis

Fleeing the Titanic

It seems everyone is racing to get off the Democratic ship.

First, Chris Dodd and Byron Dorgan decide not to seek re-election.

Then, Evan Bayh shockingly quits his re-election campaign - perhaps for future presidential primary challenges, or a governor's race, or who knows what despite being up by double-digits over any Republican challenger. Democrats are now scrambling to find a candidate as the seat is now an absolute toss-up and a heavier favorite to flip in November.

Last night, Sen. Frank Lautenberg falls at home, and while we can hope for a speedy recovery, he is 86 and may decide to step down anyway if he has the chance - he is not due for re-election until 2014, at which point he would be 90 years old, and New Jersey will be in GOP hands until 2013, when he will be 89.

But most interesting is the news that Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-MD) may also withdraw from a re-election campaign in 2010 due to health-related reasons.

Now, while it is sheer lunacy to think that a Republican would have a chance in the state of Baltimore + DC Suburbs + farms, you could also say the same thing about any number of other seats.

Like Massachusetts.....oh, wait...

Or California, where heavily entrenched Democrats are unassailable...oh, um...

No seat is safe, and if there is a candidate who could make a run for it, it would be nice.

Too bad the RNC hasn't been great at finding candidates themselves lately - whoever is in charge probably should find something else to do until November.

Hey, wait a minute......

Of course, in the lunatic off-chance that Michael Steele should agree to leave the RNC chairmanship to take another stab at a Maryland Senate seat, we would need to find somebody to take over the RNC duties that Steele hasn't done a great job of doing for the past year - and at some times, has done such a poor job some folks (myself included) have said it is time for him to go.

Now, he'd have cover to leave, but we would need to find someone else up to the tasks at hand.

Going on media tours.

Finding new donors and getting heavily into fundraising.

Fielding suitable candidates who aren't liberals in sheep's clothing.

Having a telegenic personality.

I wonder who would meet all of those criteria that could do the job for 2010.......

Make the call, if the opportunity arises.

But the groundhog said it would be an early spring

Going through the site and updating a lot of lists, especially the sidebars.

So, if your site isn't there, and you'd like it in the blogroll, you should probably let me know.

That's right, I'm doing Spring Cleaning a month before Spring shows up.

Either I'm grabbing the bull by the horns and being really good in being productive...or I'm trying to put off doing other stuff that I DOAN WANNA DO YOU WOAN MAKE ME WAHHHH!

You're probably right either way.

Bayh stepping down

LInking because I started writing on Examiner again. Go check it out if you feel like it.

Evan Bayh (D-IN) decides not to chase third term

Happy Chinese New Year

Everyone else may say Happy Valentine's Day, but we didn't celebrate it too much. Sure, the kids had fun with it in making and getting valentines at school, but this year we didn't really go for (or try to do) anything along the normal Valentine's day route.

No schmaltzy stuff here.

On Sunday, we ended up going a different (and cheaper) route.

In the afternoon, the four of us went down to Georgia State's Rialto Center for the Arts. They were having a free concert, which was meant not just to highlight Valentine's Day but also the Chinese New Year (which occurred Feb. 13).

The kids behaved themselves surprisingly well, considering it was their first concert. They did get tired toward the end of the 2-hour concert, but they were quite interested throughout and behaved remarkably well.

Next stop was dinner, and again we went with the Asian fare on a budget. Trader Vic's or another fancy Asian bistro may have pushed the kids' patience and our wallets a bit, so we went to Doc Chey's in the Virginia-Highlands area of downtown - one of the few Intown Atlanta places I'd consider living - as the kids enjoyed their lo mein and we enjoyed spicier dishes and shrimp rolls.

Lastly, after a well-behaved dinner, we walked down Highland Ave. to Ben and Jerry's and had ice cream, where the kids played with other kids and I was able to turn off the radar for more than 10 seconds - always a good treat.

The kids passed out on the way home, just shy of 8:00. Thanks for the present!

So, a fun time was had by all, and the kids even got to have some decent cultural exposure. Alex will have a field trip to the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra later this spring, so this was a good warm-up for that experience - and on the bright side, he enjoyed it thoroughly as well.

For the budget-conscious, the whole day ended up being a helluva lot less than the normal fancy dinner/show/babysitter combo, but more fun since the kids had a good time too.

Turn it around, back up

He didn't show, but probably flopped the flush. Was really hoping for a call on the river so I could show the table a decent hand for once. Too bad it auto-mucked.

DQB!!!

Gift-Shopping for Your Valentine

Looking for jewelry? Well, you can try this or this, depending on your affiliation. $12.99 is a lot less than dropping dough on diamonds.

As for a card, well, times are tough, so perhaps it would be best to send your loced one of 18 valentines produced by the GOP, in a humorous attempt which actually seems funny (as intended, for once).

Say "I love you" with a card that says "Happy ******* Valentine's Day" - because with double-digit unemployment and massive inflation on the way, thrift is king.

Final Prediction for 2009

This is the tiebreaker - 5-5 so far in the playoffs, so this will determine the difference between being a winner and a big fat LOSER.

Wild-card weekend: 3-1.
Divisional weekend: 1-3.
Conference Championship weekend: 1-1 (missed 2-0 by just half a point).

The line for the Super Bowl is Colts by 5.5.

It's too high.

I'm not saying the Saints will win, but I am saying they aren't going to lose by a touchdown or more. These two teams are not that far apart in terms of talent on both sides of the ball.

But I am saying the Saints (+5.5) will beat the spread.

Looking forward to a good game Sunday.

Thrashers CYA Press Release

From Thrashers GM Don Waddell, after the team tried to sign Ilya Kovalchuk and decided to ship him to New Jersey instead for multiple prospects and a first-rounder - ensuring no playoffs this year (as the Thrashers had been sitting three points out of the final spot, and almost certainly will fall backwards from it.

Wait til next year...at least.

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After several months of negotiations toward a long-term contract with forward Ilya Kovalchuk and his agent, we were unable to reach an agreement and elected to trade Kovalchuk and defenseman Anssi Salmela to the New Jersey Devils in exchange for Johnny Oduya, Niclas Bergfors, Patrice Cormier and a first round draft pick in 2010.

We want you, our fans, to know that throughout the negotiation process, the Thrashers organization remained committed to offering Ilya a contract that exceeded those of the league’s best and highest paid players, and was commensurate to his skill level and performance history.

To that end, we offered Kovy several lucrative packages in an effort to meet his financial objectives. One offer that we extended to Ilya would have made him the highest paid NHL player on a per year average with $10 million per year for seven years. Another offer totaled more than $100 million over 12 years, and it, combined with the previous contractual commitments that were made to Kovy, would have earned him more money than any other NHL player in the history of the league.

If we had met Kovy’s ultimate demand, we would have jeopardized our ability to build a competitive team around him and retain our other young players as they became eligible for new contracts in the seasons ahead. At the end of the day, we couldn’t close that gap and simply reached a point at which we couldn’t reasonably go any higher.

We’re excited about the addition of all three players and feel that Johnny and Niclas will quickly complement our team of budding young stars, highly-skilled veterans and elite players. We also look forward to having Patrice join us in the near future. Our goals for this season have not changed—to make and advance as deep as possible in the 2010 Stanley Cup Playoffs—and we move ahead with a new sense of purpose that is energized by our continued climb in the standings as we position ourselves to compete with the best in the NHL.

We will maintain the option of bringing in more players, in addition to the ones that we have acquired in the trade, to make sure that we are fully competitive for the remainder of the season and the postseason.

We thank Ilya and Anssi for all they have done for our organization and wish them well. And we thank you, for your continued support, and look forward to your enthusiastic presence in Blueland to help drive us into the 2010 Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Coming of age

Little kids can't stay babies forever. Eventually, they grow up and begin doing things on their own. They take on their own interests and you just try to hold their hand as they do them.

On Saturday, we began doing some of those things with our now three-year-old. Sammie had been interested in dancing and doing some more of it, beyond twirling around the house. We signed her up for a ballet/tap class near the house, which she would do every Saturday morning.

This past Saturday was her very first class, and we (ok, I) was a bit nervous about how she would like it, or be intimidated in being away from us and, essentially, with complete strangers in a new environment.

I shouldn't have been worried one bit. She loved it. She had a great time, and she is very much looking forward to doing it every week, much like one of her favorite stories, Angelina Ballerina.

That afternoon, we took another new step on the path of growing up: We finally took the plunge after months of discussion and went to get her ears pierced. Now, I know some folks may not think this is a big deal - they got it done at birth, or when they were young, and it was no big deal. Of course, I was worried about doing it, as I'd been reading up about it and was worried about it gunking up or getting infected, but we finally went ahead and did it.

Well, that, and I knew it would hurt and was hoping there wouldn't be a complete meltdown followed by hours of crying.

We let her pick out the studs - little gold studs with pink flowers petals coming from the studs - and sat her down for the piercing. During the whole time of paperwork and piercing, she held onto a lollipop - and my card, as she wanted to "pay" for it.

Aside from the complete shock of OMIGODWHATDIDYOUJUSTDOTOMYHEAD and about 90 seconds worth of crying, she took it very well. She was smiling by the time we walked out of the store, and was ridiculously cute and happy walking through the mall swinging her little bag of cleaner/antibiotic for keeping the punctures clean.

Sometimes, it seems like they grow up too fast.

Thankfully, she still wanted to cuddle up when we got home for naptime, which is becoming a harder task to convince Alex to do as he continues growing, and growing, and growing (which I was reminded of while filling out paperwork for first grade...and I'm not really sure how time moved so quickly).

I wonder if I'll feel the same maudlin way about kids growing up too fast when Little League starts soon for Alex...since it seems like time goes by way too fast.

Celebrity Collage by MyHeritage

MyHeritage: Family tree - Genealogy - Celeb - Collage - Morph

Angela Merkel? Really?

Sheesh.

How to Survive the SOTU

While there might be some more serious analyses elsewhere, I would prefer to share my own State of the Union preview.

Naturally, this preview will be based solely on the amount of alcohol that can be consumed during the course of the speech and rebuttal.

While some inspiration comes from multiple sources, such as Glock Talk and HuffPo, some are my own creation as well.

With no further delay, here are some friendly guidelines for tolerating listening to the bloviating impassioned speech and rebuttal.

ONE SHOT/DRINK:
"Let me be clear"
"Make no mistake"
"I'm fighting for you" (two if you actually believe it)
"The stimulus is working" (also weep silently)
"Healthcare reform" (though this could lead to blackouts)
"Job Creation"
Nancy Pelosi or Joe Biden clap hysterically
"Change we can believe in"
Any seemingly personal narrative which can be smelled as bull**** from a mile away
Any wink or point to and follow-up shot of Michelle

TWO SHOTS/DRINKS
"Inherited from the previous administration"
"Cap and Trade"
"We must reduce spending" (Rolling your eyes will help significantly)
"Last eight years"
Harry Reid sulks/cowers (since he is on track to lose re-election)
Hillary Clinton smirks, knowing she won't get reamed as badly in November
John McCain grimaces
Any congressman caught sleeping
Any congressman caught twittering
Any reference to his "faith"
Nancy Pelosi blinks more than 100 times in one minute

OTHER
Standing Ovation from only one side of the aisle - three drinks
Mentions of campaign finance reform or Citizens United v. FEC - three drinks
"The time for debate has ended" - drain the bottle, then grab a pitchfork
"Senator Kennedy's legacy" - drain the bottle, then drive into the nearest bridge or river
"Republican leadership" - no drinks; laugh hysterically
"Democratic leadership" - ditto
Undesired yelling from the gallery or opposing senators/congressman - drain the bottle and applaud
"War on Terror" - N/A, because that would requiring acknowledging it as a war and not a criminal process.

Karma Chameleon

This weekend's games will result in an exciting Super Bowl matchup, regardless of the winners. We have the three best teams in the league as seen throughout the year, along with one underdog team which just HAPPENS to be from the biggest media market playing the "Nobody Believes in us" card to the hilt.

So, without further adieu, let's look at each game.

Jets v. Colts (-7.5)

In Week 15, when the Colts' starters were removed, the Jets were down by 5, in a similarly pressured game...have to win to stay alive, the Colts feeling pressure (or so we thought) for a perfect season, in a very loud dome, yada yada yada.

The Jets managed to hold their own, and without penalties at inopportune times may have ended up beating the starters outright. I'm not really considering the last 21 minutes of the game, since it came against the backups.

But the Jets have shown that they have the potential to play in this field. However, let's ALSO remember that the Colts' defense got a week off before throttling the Ravens last week, who sport an offense eerily similar to the Jets - limit the quarterback's potential for mistakes, win on running the ball 25-30 times and a great defense.

Mark Sanchez is not Joe Flacco ro Trent Dilfer, and the Jets defense has some injuries (Shaun Ellis, broken hand, and Kerry Rhodes, knee) which means Manning will have that extra second or two needed to find an opening when needed.

Regardless of the outcome, the Jets have a lot of reasons to be proud. They may not have any pressure on them at all, since nobody expected them to be here, and that might change things in the end. Unfortunately, I don't think the Jets win, and I don't think they can keep PEyton Manning off the field enough - their defense has injuries and Sanchez is not good enough to repeatedly engineer long drives that chew up the clock.

If the Jets pull it out, no hard feelings, despite the benjamin I'll owe someone if the manage to then go and win the Super Bowl.

THE PICK: Indianapolis (-7.5)

Vikings-Saints (-3.5)

PLEASE, FOR THE LOVE OF GOD AND ALL THAT IS HOLY, DON'T LET ME DEAL WITH TWO STRAIGHT WEEKS OF BRETT FAVRE FELLATIO!

In a quieter tone, I have to pick the Saints, for several other reasons:

• Favre has yukked it up at the ends of seasons way too much over the past few years (as Jets fans, Dolphins fans, Giants fans, and Packers fans, and while the bye may have helped him engineer a strong performance last week, there is no rest leading up to this week's game for that ancient arm.
• The environment in the Superdome will remind Favre of his days as a Packer, visiting the Metrodome - when it was his own house of horrors. It will be LOUD.
• The Saints defense will be the best he has faced all year - better than the Cowboys, Packers, Giants, or Bengals - and fully healthy.
• Sean Payton can run circles around Brad Childress in developing schemes for this game - and if Childress developed any kind of game plan, Favre would probably overrule him in the huddle anyway.
• Karma should be heavily loaded in New Orleans' favor - comeback from Katrina (for the Saints, the Superdome, and the whole city of New Orleans), compared to comeback from I-can't-make-up-my-mind-wait-let-me-screw-over-another-team for Favre. The New Orleans region NEEDS this in a way no other city could possibly need something like this.
• Adrian Peterson still has a fumbling problem - either the Vikes try and use him (with the risk of fumbles) or let Favre throw 40+ times (and probably a pick-six or two to old teammate Darren Sharper)

Again, God, don't let Brett Favre go to the Super Bowl. The SAINTS NEED THIS ONE. If they play like they did last week and not like they did in Weeks 16 and 17, they will. I might be making this pick for more personal reasons that objective reasons, since the other half of the household is heavily in the Saints camp - but I can handle anyone else in the Super Bowl than Brett ******* Favre.

THE PICK - SAINTS (3.5)

How Breakups Affect Everyone Else

Watching the latest late-night feud between Jay Leno, NBC, and Conan O'Brien makes me sad.

It's sad to think about how such an acrimonious breakup can affect not just the main parties, but residual folks as well.

There's a lot of collateral damage.

The writers.

The staff.

Their families, who made the move to California from New York.

Other characters of the show (Except for Max Weinberg, who can just tour some more with Bruce Springsteen.)

Advertisers.

Friends and other loved ones.

And, of course, the Masturbating Bear.



(click into post if the clip isn't viewable in your reader. )

Rush Poker Review

A few days ago, a software upgrade notice fluttered across my computer screen for a new feature on Full Tilt called RUSH poker.

Soon afterwards, I got an e-mail explaining the point of said upgrade, and what RUSH poker was.

Instead of having a lot of isolated table at a certain level, with the same players through each hand, RUSH will keep moving you from table to table, as soon as you fold a hand. It is designed to keep you ALWAYS in a hand - as soon as you click "Fold", you are taken to another table, with a different group of players, for the next hand which (so far) begins with no delay at all.

I opened up one of these RUSH games last night. There were about 1300 people on a 0.05/0.10 NLHE game. I sat down, and played through for about 50 hands to get a feel for it.

My thoughts:

GOOD: More hands, more experience
GOOD: Easier to build up points and/or rakeback due to the volume of hands (if I'd stayed a full hour, I could have racked up 300 hands easily)
GOOD: Simpler Decisions on playing hands
GOOD: Players will probably not be able to get a read on you.
GOOD: Can exploit simple, ABC-type players

BAD: You can't get a read on other players - reinforces simple thinking by just playing what you have without being able to evaluate the table
BAD: Extremely difficult to put any notes down on any players due to the speed and the constant switching of players.
BAD: No chat or communication. At all. It's just not possible.

The main impression I got from this type of game was that it could easily be exploited. Most other players are strictly playing their cards, without much thought to position and obviously NO thought to how others might play.

I played 53 hands, and won about 20 of them. Most of them were due to raising pre-flop and taking down blinds, or c-betting a flop and inducing a fold. Most folks will be scared off by pre-flop raises and simply move on, or are not willing to go to war without what they believe is a good hand in this format. This can easily be exploited to rack up a LOT of orphaned blinds. It seemed possible to steal from ANYWHERE in this game, since most folks will just fold and move on.

I only had two hands go to showdown - one, a winning flush, and one, QUADS against two pair. The rest of the profit came from just being heavily aggressive pre-flop, as most folks just wanted to get out of the way and move on. With almost no pre-flop re-raises from anyone else, it seems easy in this format to play the bully.

Haiti Help

Stolen from LJ's site, with some easy ways to contribute.

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CR instructor Verneer is organizing donations for Haiti here and has already raised over 6k, and FTP is also doing a bunch of tournaments and fake tournaments and matching 100%. Cribbed from Brian's blog:

1. Aid For Haiti tournaments: Starting tonight and running through Sunday, there will be a number of “Aid For Haiti” tournaments at a range of buyins for players to participate in. The first one is at 2PM ET (under an hour) and it’s a $5 + $5 ($5 from every entry will be donated).

2. Aid For Haiti “no-play” tournaments: These are “fake” tournaments that won’t run. For anyone that wants to make a direct donation, they can enter one of the 10 different tournaments (all “scheduled” for Sunday at 6pm ET, 3pm PT) and not worry about playing a tournament.

3. An “Aid For Haiti” user has been set up for direct P2P transfers. Anyone can transfer any amount greater than $5 to that player ID.

All money raised will be matched by Full Tilt Poker and sent to various charities, so for every dollar you donate, an additional dollar from FTP will be directed toward helping the cause. Personally I will be making a direct donation, as well as possibly playing in some of the tournaments. I urge anyone who can help, even a little, to do so as well.

****************************************

for those who don't want to use poker monies (like me) you can donate directly through red cross here.

apparently pokerstars is matching donations. info on their blog.

lastly via riggs: You can TEXT right from your mobile phone. text “Haiti” to 90999 and your phone will be auto billed for $10 and go directly to help efforts.

WSOP Rules 2010

Still not sure about the Series itself, but the Circuit event at Caesar's in April is looking very tantalizing...

Meant to post Thursday, but stuff happens.

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LAS VEGAS (Jan. 14, 2010) – With the 41st annual World Series of Poker® (WSOP®) just a short 133 days from commencing, the official rules governing the largest set of poker tournaments in the world are now available online at WSOP.com for all players.

Players are encouraged to download the PDF document from the official WSOP website and become familiar with them prior to playing in any events.

The 8-page, 105-rule guide details the variety of regulations in place under the following seven categories:

• Tournament Registration and Entry
• Tournament Scheduling
• Prizing & Seating
• Player Conduct & Tournament Integrity
• Player Likeness & Image
• Poker Rules
• Tournament Operations, Policies & Procedures

Click here to view and download the official rules.

“Poker has evolved exponentially the last decade, and with so many new players to the game, it’s important that we as tournament officials, dealers and players are all familiar with the rules,” said Vice President of International Poker Operations and World Series of Poker Tournament Director Jack Effel. “We believe that as the industry leader, it’s important for us at the WSOP to have the most comprehensive rules in the game today.”

While no major additions were added to this year’s rules, several tweaks were made to better define some rules and to incorporate the revisions made in 2009 by the Tournament Directors Association (TDA).

The logo policy, which was adjusted in 2009, remains the same as it was for the 2010 event.
A more manageable and enforceable cell phone rule (Rule #55) has been adopted, in part, in recognition of social media applications such as Twitter, which has become a favorite task of poker players.

The penalty tracking system which was implemented in 2009, returns and will be in effect for 2010. A total of 186 penalties were tracked, or an average of 3.72 a day during the 2009 WSOP. Penalties ranged from warnings to disqualification from the tournament and removal from the premises. The most common penalty imposed was a one-round penalty and the range of infractions included: exposing hand, acting out of turn, removing chips from the table, abusive language, excessive celebration, soft play, cell phone use, throwing cards, dealer abuse and discussing the content of a hand.

The WSOP, an annual poker extravaganza, which dates back to 1970, is televised exclusively on ESPN from the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas and consists of a comprehensive slate of the game’s most popular variations running from May 27-July 17, 2010.

A total of 57 coveted gold bracelets will be up for grabs in 2010 – equal to last year’s total.

ABOUT THE WSOP
The World Series of Poker (WSOP) is the largest, richest and most prestigious gaming event in the world awarding millions of dollars in prize money and the prestigious gold bracelet, globally recognized as the sport’s top prize. Featuring a comprehensive slate of tournaments in every major poker variation, the WSOP is poker’s longest running tournament in the world, dating back to 1970. In 2009, the event attracted 60,875 entrants from 115 different countries to the Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas and awarded over $174 million in prize money. The WSOP in December, 2008 was named the 7th most admired sports brand in North America by the Turnkey Sports Survey, trailing only the older and more established NFL, MLB, NBA, NHL, NASCAR and PGA Tour among sports properties. In addition, the WSOP has experienced groundbreaking alliances in broadcasting, digital media and corporate sponsorships, while successfully expanding the brand internationally with the advent in 2007 of the World Series of Poker Europe. For more information on the World Series of Poker, please visit our website at www.wsop.com.

Round 2 Picks - Now With More Notice For Fading!

The games this week are a lot harder to pick than last week. Last week, aside from the Packers-Cardinals game, I felt confident about each one of my picks - and the Packers and Cardinals ended up in a shootout totaling 96 points which went all the way to the end, so it turned out to be a deservedly difficult pick.

This week is a bit more complicated. Three of the four teams who had byes in the first round entered the postseason on shake notes, losing multiple games down the stretch, so it may be difficult to guess which versions of those teams will show up.

But, here goes anyway.

1. Cardinals-Saints (-7). Even before the Saints finally lost in Week 15, their play had been extremely uneven, almost losing to the Rams, Redskins, and Falcons before finally going down to Dallas. While I think the Saints will show up this weekend and prevail in the Superdome against a still banged-up Cardinals team, it seems a bit much to give away a touchdown based on their play of the last five weeks of the season. I don't think they'll run away with it, but there is too much talent on this Saints team to be held completely at bay against a Cardinals team that gave up FORTY-FIVE points at home last week. However, the lack of consistency leads me to pick Arizona for the spread and commence biting my nails furiously as I hope the Saints don't mess it up - being married to a Saints fan doubly ensures that a Saints win would be good.
Pick: Cardinals (+7)

2. Ravens-Colts (-7). I liked watching the Ravens destroy the Patriots last week, as they ran around the field at will in building up an early 24-0 lead. The Colts defense will be much stingier and will NOT allow the Ravens to succeed with Joe Flacco throwing only ten passes the entire game.
Pick: Colts (-7)

3. Cowboys-Vikings (-3). This is a game where I would love to see the eventual victor completely drained so that they have no chance of success in the NFC Championship. I hate both of these teams.

To me, this is the hardest game this weekend to call. On one hand, there is the playoff history of Tony Romo on the road in one of the most fearsome, loudest places to play for road quarterbacks - despite thrashing Philly for the second consecutive week last week. On the other hand, with Minnesota and New Orleans both faltering down the stretch, you could say Dallas is the hottest team in the NFC.

As for Minnesota - they are limping into the playoffs, Adrian Peterson requires a ball with a handle, and Brett Favre is becoming even more of a prick in public in trying to be a player-coach. I smell bad karma coming for the Vikings. Dallas may not get to the Super Bowl, but a win here should take away the Romo-choker tag for good.
Pick: Cowboys (+3, win outright)

4. Jets-Chargers (-8)
The Jets had a convincing win last week by running the ball, running the ball, and running the ball some more. Mark Sanchez threw the ball only 15 times last week. Whether it was on those short passes or all those runs, the Cincinnati defense couldn't drag anyone down after an emotional season.

The Chargers do not have those problems, coming into the postseason as the hottest team, by far. Their defense is worlds better than Cincinnati's, and the Jets will need 25-30 passes from Sanchez with a high completion percentage to win. I don't think a rookie QB, on the road, in the playoffs, who threw 20+ picks during the season has that in him - even against a team coached by Norv Turner featuring a fork sticking out of LaDanian Tomlinson's back.
Pick: Chargers (-8)