Quick Thoughts - Entering the Final Four

Returned from Texas, and so much the wiser. Listen, I’m not quite ready to discuss my “business trip” to the bowels of humanity known as Northeast Texas. Let’s just say this – I left on Wednesday and returned on Friday; they found my bags on Sunday. And that wasn’t the worst thing to happen…

Therefore, today will be spent on some quick thoughts heading out of the best weekend of college basketball I’ve ever gotten the chance to watch, and heading into the Best weekend of Major League Baseball since, well, since last season…

Quick Thoughts while recalling the 80-degree temperatures at takeoff in Dallas…

- Michigan State made the Final Four. Hmmmm. I seem to recall saying that they wouldn’t make it out of the first round, falling victim to the dreaded 12-5 upset at the hands of Old Dominion… Yep, nailed that one.

- I’m 2/3 of the way through my fantasy baseball drafting season, holding one last Tuesday while packing for Texas, and one yesterday while searching my newly rediscovered bag for my toothbrush. I think I made out well in both leagues. I’ll post my rosters for all three leagues once I finish my last draft tonight.

- Oooh, one other fantasy note – you know you’re playing in a league full of Red Sox fans when Curt Schilling goes #1 overall, A-Rod falls to FIFTH, and there are loud cheers when Dave Roberts makes the leap onto a roster in the 12^th or 13^th round. Somehow though, John Halama remains a free agent…

- In the league that I’m running, my friend Don missed the draft and still ended up with Johan Santana & Randy Johnson as his first two picks on the wrap-around at the end of the first round. Impressive. Personally, I used my first round pick in both leagues to nab Bobby Abreu. And I’m quite happy with that.

- Better fantasy starting rotation – Don with Santana & Johnson or me with Jason Schmidt, Ben Sheets & Tim Hudson in the same league? Got Gagne closing, too.

- OK, enough fantasy baseball. For now. How about some poker? Will that satisfy you?

o So I won a free entry into a WSOP Main Event satellite tournament yesterday. 1750 entrants, #1 got a seat in the Main Event in 100 days plus $2000 spending money to get to Vegas for the week. #’s 2-5 got a free entry into a $2Million prize pool online event next month.

o An hour and a half in, I’m #3 overall (with about 400 left) and get A-10 suited diamonds. I raise the Big Blind after 2 calls from 150 to 750. There is a call, then an all-in for about 1700. Three calls.

o Flop is Ac-10h-3d. Flopped top 2 pair. Checks around. Turn is 7-d. Now I’ve got top 2 pair AND nut flush draw. I bet out 1000 chips. Two folds, and an all-in for about 8000 chips from the button. I doubt he has a set, and think he’s just trying to buy the pot. I call (had about 12k in chips). I was right.

o First all-in has pocket 8’s; the guy who just moved in has K-J of spades. Maximum, he has 3 outs (any Queen except Qd which would give me the flush).

o River falls Qc. I fall from 3^rd overall to about 280^th. Very next hand, same guy busts my pocket kings with an 8-9 suited when he flops a set of 9’s and knocks me out. Ridiculous. I watched the rest of the tourney, and that guy pulled a river queen to win a hand five more times. He ended up finishing 5^th. No WSOP for me this year. Oh well.

- I actually spent time last week online researching all of the low buy-in (<$500 entry fee) No-Limit tourneys that happen weekly in Vegas so I can plan accordingly for my August trip. As it stands, I’ll probably be in about 15 tourneys in four days – smallest buy-in at $20 plus re-buys, biggest at about $200. That should get interesting…

- Back to NCAA Basketball… I’ve gotta be totally honest here – once Wake Forest got knocked out last weekend, I had no doubt Louisville would end up in St. Louis. Washington just wasn’t a strong #1 seed, and Louisville was horribly undervalued at a #4. They’ve got a good chance to take out Illinois next weekend.

- I’m 2-4 on my Final Four picks, and my Championship Game (UNC over Illinois) is still intact… Doesn’t mean I’ve got a chance in hell of winning any of my pools, but hopefully those of you using my picks are still at least marginally alive in your offices…

- Woke up this morning just in time to catch a promo for Opening Night Baseball on ESPN next Sunday… “Their first meeting since The Greatest Comeback in Baseball History is this Sunday… Red Sox. Yankees. It begins, again.” Wow. Got goose bumps just writing that.

That’s it today. I’m still searching through luggage trying to find my razor. Maybe next week I can muster up the courage to relive that trip. I tried to keep a journal of the three days, but I gave up after day one. If I reprint my thoughts, you’ll understand why.

Lata.

posted by Big D @ 10:30 AM