Toph Cooks Up a Pi

Congrats to Chris (Toph) Moore on his 3rd place finish at the Shooting Star. In what has been a recurring dream for him, every mid March he plays a 10K event and finishes in the top 3. In 2007, it was a 3rd at the Wynn Classic. Last year, it was a win in the same Wynn Classic. So why didn't he play the Wynn Classic again this year? It started on the same day as this tourney, and because of that they weren't expecting much more than 50 players. Toph opted for the Shooting Star instead. I guess this means next year, he will win this tourney if history repeats.

In addition, about a month ago Toph got 2nd in the 10k HU tourney at the LAPC. With both of these finishes, he should move into 5th or 6th in card players POY standings.

KABOOM!!!!!

Today the fed dropped a bomb on the markets. They announced basically that they are going to be purchasing $1.1 trillion dollars of agency debt and treasuries. This is called monetizing the debt, and essentially is creating money out of thin air. Upon announcing this interest rates plummeted (refinance if you can BTW), the dollar plummeted (get rid of your dollars), and gold skyrocketed (getcha some). Short-term this will likely provide a boost to the economy because of the liquidity it will provide, but long-term this is very bad for the US unless the government/fed is extremely careful. Historically the government has never been good at pulling out of the market effectively. When they do try to withdraw the liquidity, our economy will likely freeze up again, and if they don't withdraw it, inflation will likely spike much higher. In the meantime, we continue to go more and more into debt.

Ironically, the people on CNBC pretty much called Bernanke a genius, and seemed to think this was the best thing since sliced bread (or at least the best thing since the last time the fed did something similar). They are so short-sighted it is unbelievable. If the potential effects of any action are further than a few months out, they ignore it. Did anyone talk about what this may do 3 years from now? Give me a break! Kramer about blew his wad talking about how everyone can refinance their mortgages now at even better rates (which they can and I would advise), but as before this is what led us into the current problem - EASY MONEY! Throw money at it! What did Greenspan do everytime there was a problem? Throw money at it! What has Bernanke done every time? Throw money at it! Give the drunk his drink - that'll solve the problem.

The only (I repeat only) way to grow an economy is to actually produce something or provide some useful service. You can't create money out of thin air to grow an economy. Sure everyone will have more of it, but each additional dollar purchases less goods due to inflation. So you aren't any better off. In fact, the economy is actually worse off because the government (or better put - the taxpayer, you and I) has a larger interest payment each year.

Here is my advice:

1) Refinance if you can.
2) Instead of spending the money you save each month from refinancing (which is what the government hopes everyone will do, but will just make you worse off), put it in precious metals or pay off any debt (if you have some). Essentially make your self wealthier. Another idea is to buy nonperishable goods. I expect food prices may rise substantially in the next couple years. Stockpiling some food that doesn't go bad can't hurt you, but may help.
3) Do not keep alot of US Dollars. This can be done by buying ETFs that invest in foreign currencies (such as the Canadian Dollar - symbol FXC, or Austrailian Dollar - symbol FXA). Gold/silver purchases serve this purpose also.
4) Pray that the mess our government is getting us deeper and deeper into doesn't explode.

I could go on and on about this, but if you want to talk about it more, just give me a call.

Fun Days

Today marks the beginning of my favorite week of sports - the first four days of March Madness. This is by far the best format of any championship event out there.

However, there is something else out there on my sports horizon: the St. Louis Blues. I have always been a huge Blues fan, but since the lockout, they have been the league's cellar dwellar. Yet in the last couple years under new management, a dramtaic turnaround is in the works. Earlier this year they were at least 10 points out of the playoffs and in last place in the conference. This wasn't totally unexpected as one of the youngest and most injured teams. Their two best defenseman, and one of their top offensive players are out for the year. Throw in a bunch of other top line players who have missed a handful of games and your starting goalie getting placed on waivers, you have the recipe for a long year with the young guys getting their feet wet in the NHL.

Nevertheless, coach Andy Murray has them playing their asses off every game. Now they are one of the hottest teams in the league, and sit a mere 1 point out of the playoffs with less than 15 games left for all the teams. The Blues youngsters are a blast to watch. TJ Oshie (age 22 and easily my favorite player to watch - picture the tasmanian devil from cartoons on skates), Patrik Berglund (age 20), David Backes (age 24), and David Perron (age 20) have Blues fans salivating at the future of this team. In addition, Eric Johnson (age 20) is our top defenseman and one of the guys out for the year. They may not make the playoffs this year because their upcoming schedule is ridiculously tough, but I will be surprised if this team doesn't make a serious run for the Cup within the next three years. If they can keep these guys together for a while, you may be seeing the beginning of the next dynasty in the NHL.

KK

I never knew I'd hate KK so much. In seven NLH tourneys today I ran KK into AA four times. Three times it busted me (with two being late in fairly big tourneys for a big stack) and once it crippled me in the Sunday Million. I lost with it a couple times vs Ax hands also. On a good note (I guess), I've gone from not cashing at all to inconsequential cashes. Next step ???????????

Tailspin

Since the beginning of February, I have basically lost money almost every single day I've played poker. I am still up on the year due to my one nice win, but what was once a great start to the year has turned into the SOS (same old .....) I've been struggling through for the better part of nine months or more. I wish I could get a grip on what I may be doing wrong, or if this is just one massive semi-cold streak. I haven't cashed in 24 straight tourneys. This comes right after my streak of 27 straight. Cash games haven't been any better.

For example, today I played four hours of PLO on 2 tables (2/4 and 3/6). I did not win one large pot the entire time. In fact, the largest pot I did win was a triple barrel bluff. I made a fair amount of moves and almost all of them worked, and yet at the end of the session I was down nearly $1500 because every single big pot got pushed to my opponent. It was one of the more frustrating sessions I've ever played due to the fact I felt I played really well and didn't land one big pot. Keep in mind this is PLO. Big pots happen very regularly. This is how it seems things have been going for a while. The problem is - is my objectivity objective enough. I keep feeling I must be doing something wrong even though it doesn't seem so to me. Any concrete help is very welcome.