Merry Christmas

I hope all of you have a safe and good holiday. Enjoy your friends and family, and try to take a little time to reflect on how we as humans can try to make this world a little better. I enjoyed spending time with everyone who reads this post this past year, and look forward to seeing you guys in the upcoming year. Merry Christmas!

Another Day for our Government

I woke up this morning, and one of the first websites I visited had the headline, "US Settles WTO Online Gambling Claims with the European Union". I began to read it, and it got me more and more infuriating. Our government has basically decided that paying some foreign countries billions of dollars is better than legalizing and regulating online poker in our country. Nevermind that the vast majority of our country thinks the law is against our rights as Americans as set forth by the Bill of Rights. Of course, legalizing it would bring billions of dollars of revenue for our government, a government that is perpetually short on money and long on fruitless expenses such as the one I am talking about. This is what pisses me off the most. In a time when our economy is suffering, our government is willing to flush billions down the drain (no one has commented how much, but the EU was asking $100 billion with ongoing payments annually of $3.44 billion). Here's the link to the article - http://www.pokernews.com/news/2007/12/us-settles-online-gaming-claims.htm

Of course, this event likely won't even be a blip on and in the news because the government will try to keep it on the down low. However, you will continue to hear President Bush and many other politicians bitch and moan how we still need to find funds to support this and that program. You'll hear some say we need to raise taxes. What could $20 billion do, let alone potentially $100 billion?

The scary thing is, you know this is just the tip of the iceberg. Our government throws around money like it grows on trees. Every politician does it. A lobbyist gave me money, here's a $20 million program to help you out; here's a tax loophole for your industry that will save you $50 million/year. All I have to do is attach it to this bill we got going. Then these same politicians will have the audacity to say the budget is out of control.

These are the thoughts that went through my head as I read the article. I could write about this topic for hours. It is one of the reasons our country could be in deep s&*t in the years ahead. Hopefully, sometime soon there will be a major overhaul in how our country is run. I wish I were optimistic this will happen, but I'm not.

Robin Williams - Drunk Scotsman Invents

This is probably my favorite Robin Williams skit. Hope you enjoy even if you've seen it before!

Chip Reese

As everyone in the poker community probably knows by now, Chip Reese died unexpectedly last night. He may be one of the most unknown great players of all-time. Ask any casual fan who he is, and they may or may not know him. Yet if you asked any world class player to name the top all-around player, Chip's would likely get mentioned. He was the epitome of the professional poker player. In a day and age where the "top" players often can only play NLH effectively, he could play any game at a world class level, and he rarely if ever lost his cool. He likely could have been one of the best tournament players also, but he chose to stick with the bread and butter of any good poker player, cash games. This also kept him close to his family. However, his proudest moment may have been winning the inagural 50K HORSE Championship in 2006 at the WSOP. This was because his family, and in particular his sons, were able to watch it first hand. The money was nice, but who are we kidding, he made and lost that amount many days each year.

I have never heard one bad word mentioned about Chip. This speaks volumes in the self-centered cut-throat world we compete in. The poker world is mourning today because of Chip's death. R.I.P.

New England

I haven't talked with my friend Tom about last night's football game between the Ravens and the Patriots. However, I do know that he hates New England. With that in mind, I can't imagine how he feels about them now after grasping victory from the jaws of defeat. New England not only deserved to lose, they should have lost. Baltimore played unbelievable until the last few minutes of the game. It all started with Boller's pointless interception, after he had played one of his best (if not the best) game of his NFL career. The next key play was the 4th and 1 time out by the defensive coordinator just a split second before New England snapped the ball. No one heard the whistle, and so the play was completed with Brady getting stuffed. This would have basically ended the game. After the timeout, New England had a false start on another play that Baltimore crammed down their throat. On the third try, now at 4th and 6, Brady was able to scramble for the first. Later on in the drive, on another 4th down, Baltimore was called for illegal contact to continue the drive (granted this was an obvious call). Finally Brady completed the touchdown pass for the go ahead TD as Baltimore began to implode. In a symbolic moment for both teams, New England kicked off from the Baltimore 35 after two personal fouls and an offsides were called against Baltimore. However, Baltimore still had a glimmer of hope, but it was crushed as their "Hail Mary" was completed, but snuffed at New England's 2 yard line as time ran out.

This fantastic game ended with the expected result...another New England victory. The 1972 Miami Dolphins must be wondering if this is finally the year a team goes undefeated to tie their historic feat. New England has Pittsburgh, Miami, and both New York teams left. Two of these games against the Jets and Dolphins should be gimmies, but the other two against the Steelers and Giants could be pretty tough. For what it's worth, I am not a New England fan (if fact I usually hate them also), and yet I found myself rooting for the Patriots last night.