MLB Playoff Picks Round 1

Detroit over Oakland in 3.

Reds over San Francisco in 4.

New York over Baltimore in 4.

Washington over St. Louis in 5.

Detroit was my pre-season pick to win the World Series so I'm sticking with them till the end. Stay tuned for the next round's picks! Till then...

Fantasy Football and Baseball Update

Well 3 weeks into the NFL season and my money team (Gridiron Goose) is 1-2. The only good news is my 1 win made me $20 for being 2nd overall in points this week. Stafford has started slow and may not play Sunday. Fred Jackson was hurt in the 1st quarter of week 1. Marques Colston has been disappointing as has Justin Blackmon, Shonn Greene and the San Francisco defense. It's still early though and I'm 1 game back in my division. The team I'm playing next was the leader in points this week. Ugh.

While my 3 NFL teams are all 1-2, and I'm out in my Survivor league (friggin Patriots!), my fantasy baseball team finished in 1st place for the second year in a row. Everyone stayed relatively healthy and that helped a lot. I actually tied the team I played in my first playoff matchup, but won the tiebreaker for having a better head-to-head record against him in the regular season. Then rolled through the finals. Going for the trifecta next year baby!


Stay tuned for my MLB playoff predictions coming next week!

Fantasy Football 2012 Draft Results

Well the results are in and I couldn't be happier with how the draft went. I had the 10th pick out of 12 teams. So without further adieu...

Round 1- Matt Stafford, QB, Detroit Lions

Round 2- Julio Jones, WR, Atlanta Falcons

Round 3- Fred Jackson, RB, Buffalo Bills

Round 4- Mike Wallace, WR, Pittsburgh Steelers

Round 5- Marques Colston, WR, New Orleans Saints

Round 6- Shonn Greene, RB, New York Jets

Round 7- Justin Blackmon, WR, Jacksonville Jaguars

Round 8- San Francisco 49ers Defense

Round 9- Kevin Smith, RB, Detroit Lions

Round 10- Nate Washington, WR, Tennessee Titans

Round 11- Fred Davis, TE, Washington Redskins

Round 12- Alex Smith, QB, San Francisco 49ers

Round 13- Jason Hanson, K, Detroit Lions

Round 14- Brandon LaFell, WR, Carolina Panthers

Round 15- Pittsburgh Steelers Defense

Round 16- Randall Cobb, WR, Green Bay Packers

This team is built to win and win it will. Assuming I don't get plagued with injuries, I think this team has a legitimate chance to win the league. My first 4 picks are solid, and Colston is a STEAL in Round 5! I took a chance on Blackmon, drafted the NFL's number one defense early, and got a few sleepers in the later rounds. All in all, no mistakes I thought. Some of the other owners are gonna have a hard time this year. One guy had two quarterbacks with byes on the same week! Yikes! I can't wait for the season to start! Until then...

A Summer Recap

   So Labor Day is fast approaching, and as busy as I've been lately I finally found some time to reflect on my summer. Bearfest in Easthampton, kayaking, a 311 concert in Hartford, PechaKucha (Japanese for chit-chat) at the Berkshire Museum, and a wild game of horseshoes at a friend's party were the main highlights. There was only one thing I didn't get a chance to do and that was play poker. A couple of small home games and that was it. The itch is becoming tougher to scratch as the bankroll continues to grow. Just shy of $6000 now. Almost bankrolled to play the $120 deep stack tourneys at the casinos. Soon enough.

   Even though I haven't played much poker, it doesn't mean I haven't found something to throw money down on. This Thursday is my first Fantasy Football draft for real money. The buy-in was steep even by my standards. $235 to be exact. I know! The investment has some real potential to payoff though. 12 teams, 5 paid at the end of the season. 4 playoff teams and one "Toilet Bowl" winner of the 8 non-playoff teams. $700 for 1st, $430 for 2nd, $300 for 3rd, $250 for 4th and $150 to the winner of the "Toilet Bowl". Plus there are weekly prizes for the top 3 point getters. $30 for 1st, $20 for 2nd, and $10 for 3rd. I've been doing my homework and I think I'm ready. I'll be posting my draft results this weekend.  I wish my Fantasy Baseball league was for money as I currently reside in 1st place with one week to go before the fantasy playoffs. I have a pretty good chance to win my 2nd consecutive title.

   All in all it's been a decent summer. Jackie had knee surgery recently so recreational activities may be slowing down for us a bit, but that just means we both have more time to plan our well-deserved vacation. Right now the ever-growing list includes Costa Rica, St.Croix, the Bahamas, and Bermuda. Perhaps a cruise as well. Stay tuned for updates on more possible vacation destinations as well as my Fantasy Football draft results. Until then...

   

   

Finally!

Well, it took a year (almost to the day), but my first poker goal has been achieved. My bankroll has at last reached $5000. It took 3 jobs and a lot of small home game wins to get here, but it's done. Ironically, the richest prize in poker history will be given away today at the WSOP. The Big One for 1 Drop, a 1 million dollar buy-in tourney, concludes today with the winner getting 18.3 million. 

I see building a bankroll from scratch much like building a car. My car cost $5000 to build, but now it needs some gas or it just sits in my garage and goes nowhere. Just like in real life, fuel is expensive. The maximum I will put on a tournament with a bankroll this size is $100 (2 percent). Cash game max is $250 (5 percent). Sit-N-Go max is $160-$170 (30 buy-ins). So, to answer the many "what now" questions I will inevitably face from my friends and family: it's time to make some gas money so I can take this car for a spin!

Frustrated Incorporated

I arrived at Berkshire Hills Country Club on Sunday ready to play some A-game poker. It was Rock's Relay For Life poker tournament benefiting the American Cancer Society. The buy-in was $110. There were 62 entries and 8 players were slated to make the money. 

My first table was pretty stingy. There wasn't a lot of talking (except for the guy sitting on my immediate left) between the players. A couple of things kinda bugged me at this tournament. 1. There was no TV! The room was nice, but the walls were bare. I actually commented on this fact only to find that the owner of the club was sitting directly to my right. Insert foot in mouth. Glad I didn't comment on the sub par buffet! 2. We had to deal our own table due to a lack of volunteers. This was fairly disappointing considering it was a $110 buy-in. If it was $75 or less I probably wouldn't have cared, but when you're paying that kind of money, it's nice to have a competent dealer. Plus it slowed the game down I thought. The blind levels, after all, were only 20 minutes in length. The first hour was fairly uneventful. I won two pots. One was with KK pre-flop. the other was with JJ on the river. We started with 12,000 in chips and I was at 18K at the first break.

The 2nd hour I was card dead and dropped down to 11,500. I don't think I took a single pot. I figured I'd take the chip and a chair approach and grind it out. 

The 3rd hour I got hot. First I more than doubled up with AA against AK. I took another hand with AK in the big blind. I went all-in pre-flop and got a couple of limpers to fold. Then with about 15 players left I got QQ under the gun and it held against AQ. This put me at about 60K or so with the blinds at 2000/4000. Then, my inevitable coolers followed. With just 13 players left at a 7-handed table, and 2nd to act, I got AJ offsuit and popped it to 25K. It folded around to the big blind who went all-in. It was just 14K more for me to call so I did. He turned over 88. Sure enough, the magic 8 hit the flop and I was down to about 25K. A few hands later with just 10 players left, I picked up KJ suited on the button. It folded around and I went all-in. I was immediately called by the big blind who turned over AJ suited. An ace hit the flop and I was out on the bubble (It turns out 9th place got their money back. All 9 players volunteered to give up $10 of their winnings to the 9th place finisher).

It's a rite of passage as a poker player to finish on the bubble. Everyone who plays tourneys on a regular basis has had it happen to them. I'm no different. I will tell you that it sucks. There's no other way around it. It was particularly frustrating for me because I haven't cashed in a non-home-game tournament in 4 years. I guess you could say "I'm due". Oh well, it's on to the next one. 

The Home Game Wrap-Up

This week's game drew 6 players and my place was the venue. We played a mix of NLHE (No-Limit Hold Em) and PLO (Pot-Limit Omaha). Almost all of my $65 winnings came on one Omaha hand where I flopped a full house. I checked the flop and allowed two other players to catch up with lower boats of their own. That hand ended up being worth close to $100. I love Omaha. The game has been kinda thin lately as it's becoming difficult to get more than 6 players a week. I'm working the next 2 Thursdays too. At least I have a $110 tournament to play in on Sunday, May 20th. It's Rock's Relay For Life benefiting The American Cancer Society, and is put on by Berkshire Poker. It's usually the biggest one of the year and totally worth playing in. Should be a fun event. I'll be posting my results here and on Twitter so stay tuned!