It’s been three weeks since I last posted. I know.

I forgot to mention a really weird thing that happened in the tournament at Winstar.  Player A goes all-in, B goes all-in and C calls.   B and C have A covered, so they have a side pot, albeit a small one.  B is all in; C has chips.

A had junk, B had AK and C had AJ.

A is the only guy that pairs up, while the other two players totally miss the board.  A scoops his chips.  B is ticked off and bolts out the door.  Dealer ships the side pot to C.

Just as the dealer was getting ready for the next hand, it occurs to the table that Player C lost to Player B.  We get him to stop the hand and get the Tournament Director who rules that since Player B up and left and since his cards are now in the muck, he basically forfeited the hand to Player C.  This would be like Phil Ivey’s folding the best hand except that Ivey did not ever show his cards – he just mucked them.

So not only did C get the side pot, he also won the $25 bounty for “eliminating” Player B.

I don’t know if that was the right call.  I think the side pot should have been awarded to B and B should have been blinded off. 

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My annual poker tournament will be on December 19 at 2:30pm in the Siberia Room in Dallas.  Let me know if you are interested

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The craziest thing I saw in college football this weekend was the LSU – Ole Miss game.  The game started with the refs robbing Ole Miss of a touchdown TWICE and ended with Les Miles robbing his own team of a victory.  Let’s count the errors:

1)  He ran a bunch ot time off the clock before calling time out right before the Hail Mary

2)  They ran a Hail Mary a few yards shot of the endzone (hint: it’s not about field position at this point, it’s about scoring.

3)  He told Jodan Jefferon to spike the ball (or “to clock it”) even though there was only one second left in the game.  Spiking it will end the game.  The only right call would be to run a play or kick a FG.

4) He lied in a press conference saying that he didn’t know who told JJ to spike it.  You can see on Youtube that it was none other than Les Miles calling it.  (Advice:  don’t lie about things that are on TV.  You will be on Youtube and have 1 million hits before you even finish telling your lie).

Here it is:

 

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Charlie Weis is a dead man walking.  I thought there was a sliver of hope that he might keep his job, but it should be a done deal now that he lost to the one team that seemed unable to have anything go their way.  I guess if you lose a player then lose three gut-wrenching games and can’t seem to have anything good happen to you, a visit by the Fighting Irish is just what the doctor orders.

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I think OU quit against Tech and have quit for the season, but at least one guy on their team still has a spark of enthusiasim:

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Thanks to Levi for this one:

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Thanks to Beau for pointing me to the amazing story of Isildur1 who was racking up poker profits by the millions last week.  By the time I got around to posting about him, it seems his fortunes have reversed.

I have a free pass to the LPGA tournament for Sunday if anyone wants it. Send me an email or comment to this post.

I wrote recently:

I kinda made up the dollar amounts as I don’t recall for sure, but the gist is right.

• I get A3 in the “small” (i.e., “first”) blind.  (Note that the game is two blinds of $0.50)
• Three callers preflop, I check.  So does BB.  $2.50 in the pot.
• Flop comes AQ3.  I overbet the pot: $4.  BB calls, all else fold.  Pot is $10.50.
• Turn is a K.  I overbet again, $15.  He raises $30 to make it $45.  Pot is now $70.50 and I owe $30 to call.  His stack has another $70 in it, and I have him covered.

Here are my thoughts.  He could have

1. AQ, AA, QQ, 33, all of which have me crushed
2. JT, which has me crushed, needing 2 outs.
3. AJ, AT, which I am beating but each of these have 7 outs to beat me (14%)
4. Nothing but a bluff

I rule out 1) because he would have really been slowing playing the first two streets with this, which is unlikely for most players and certainly not his style.
I rule out 2) because that would have been a pretty stupid call on the flop
I rule out 4) because I know the player

So, I figure I am looking at 3) and act accordingly: I move all in.

I can’t fold since I think that I am most likely ahead.  I can’t call and let him get a free card.  If I move all-in, I’d love a call, but I am not bothered by a fold.  After all, I can’t win any more money on the river against these hands (though I could certainly lose).  I consider this a pretty easy all-in.

In the unlikely case that he had 1) or 2), I still have a re-draw, albeit only two outs (the two 3s).

I go all in.

He had AQ, and he called.  He could have folded AQ with the Broadway showing, but very few people would fold in that situation.  I needed two outs, and one came on the river.  I won a huge pot.  My opponent said I was lucky.  I was extremely fortunate (4% chance) to get a 3 on the river.  No doubt.  But he then said “I guess it is better to be lucky than good.”  A familiar jab.  My reply was “it is even better to be both lucky and good.”   In this situation I think I was good to go all-in, and I was lucky to hit my river card.  (Of course, we are ignoring that I was unlucky to have flopped two pair under another two pair!)

In a later post, I wrote about KSU not kicking a PAT when they won the game with time expiring.  I got an email that asked what the rule was in this siutation.  Correct me if I am wrong, but in college and pro, if you score a TD that wins the game in OT, there is no PAT by rule (because of the nature of sudden death).  If you score a TD at the end of regulation (whether is a winning TD or a garbage TD), the coach has the option to kick the PAT or not.  For that matter, he may choose to go for two.  Help me out here, but that is my understanding.

I want to extend a warm welcome to Dhockster and Big Mac (no relation) to the IAG roster. They are both going to start blogging here regularly, mostly on sports but also on other stuff, in our ongoing process of providing more regular content to you, our loyal readers. They’re both personal friends of all of us who are already here and they both will be valuable additions. 

I also want everyone to know that we have some cool stuff planned for the next few weeks as we start to try to expand the readership of the new site. Keep your eyes open and your bookmarks set.

Our generous sponsor Doc’s Sports (seriously, go check them out!) has asked us to pass along these links for the race this weekend. If you’re heading to the track, you could do worse than this:

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