How do you "slow play" 21??

So somewhat recently, I have been invited to join a small group of people who play cards somewhat regularly. The first 5 times I played with these guys, I won a total of 7 hands... For those of you who don't play cards, or aren't familiar with how "Hold'Em" works, I'll explain a little better. A single game between 8 people can last up to 8 hours, that's a full work day folks (for those who really work, I know this is typically not actually a full work day). And in any given game, there are probably well over 100 "hands" per player... So lets review (I know how you like it when I review (you do)).





First 5 times, 7 hands (AKA, 40 hours and over 500 "hands", of which, I won 7)





That's one hand won every 5 hours and 43 minutes... it suddenly became very obvious why I was invited...





Until I learned to actually watch the other players, particularly the ones who were considered "good." I learned the secret (This would be the secret that you could probably learn by asking any poker player that is decent or maybe googling "the secret to winning at cards" or by thinking really hard about it for a minute), but I still felt very special about the secret. And here it is...





You don't play the cards, you play the bets. When I learned this, I learned how to win, and have won both of the last games, not just hands. Now the first game was while I was trying to learn my new technique, and I have to give lady luck some credit for keeping me in the game with 4 different hands of a 4-of-a-kind, 2 of which were on the flop (In "Hold'Em", every one gets 2 cards, and there are community cards that are dropped that everyone can play, the first 3 are called "the flop," the next card is "the turn," and the next is "the river."). So at this point, I had to quickly learn, the "slow play." This better than anything talk me how to play bets rather than players. "Slow-playing" is where you know you've won the hand, but you need to keep as many players in the game, and betting as much as you get them to bet to maximize your take... You have to be sneaky here, fortunately, this group knows I'll bet at least something, if I think I have a chance, just to get the pot bigger, and usually, it's a very small bet which kind of pisses people off, but hey, it gets them "bought in" to the pot. This causes people to "chase the river" (which is when you ride luck and hope that the last community card (the river) is the one you need to have a chance). It works quite well, and now I'm going into hands and games expecting to win. Tellin you folks, do not play the cards, or even the players. Play the bets, they tell you everything you need to know about the cards, AND the players.





Now for a segway to stick with my title, how do you "slow play" 21? I'll tell you, you direct a movie about the game of 21, set it primarily in the fast paced city of Las Vegas, add girls, gambling, and the quickest game in cards, and still manage to d.......r.........a..............g it along, and that's how you "slow play" the game of 21, and also how you "slow play" a run-on sentence that lasts entirely too long and has way to many references to "slow play" which I'm sure is shattering some other grammatical writing rule along with writing the number 21 over and over again also too...?





ALL that being said, it was actually a good movie. I for one love numbers, and this movie teaches you that simple math can exist everywhere. It also teaches you that you can make your own luck, but that people notice when you're a little too "lucky."


Kevin Spacey does his usual good job, but the impressive part is the acting of the side characters, most of whom have not had the reel time to be a household name yet. Like I said, the movie does take some time to develope, but if you try to learn something from it, it will keep you interested. Hands down the best performance in the movie is by Laurence Fishburne as the thug Casino Security guy with a chip on his shoulder thanks to new technology trying to put him out of business.





Grade = B+... I'd see it again...

So this post was long

because it was two fold

but it had two points

so I hope it didn't get old

not to mention

that they were related

and the fact that I won

has me elated (look it up, I did)

So I wanted to talk about it

The End

1+1+1+1 = 4

Did you get that?

The Final Four, all number 1's, just like everyone didn't expect to have planned so well. Seriously, I have never seen so many "experts" so surprised that they were actually right. But I guess 68 years of virtually "guessing"(and guessing wrong) who the top four teams were would do that to you.

Unfortunately, that meant I only guessed 2 of the final 4 teams, and now the 2 I have left are facing their most difficult opponents on paper. And it also came at the expense of the young phenom I was obsessing over 2 blogs ago. I have to say, that this was a difficult game to watch on the offensive end. Kansas was no question the better team. They outrebounded, assisted, shooshted (shooted), and flat out, out played Davidson. And yet, there they were. Curry even had, in my opinion, a pretty awful shooting night (9-25). There just seemed to be a lot of really bad decisions made on the part of the offense.

Defensively though, this game was a beauty. I think I saw one shot the entire game that was uncontested. I haven't really been in to college ball much of my sporting life, but if every season game is like the ones played in this tourny each year, then I am definitely missing out. I mean, they actually PLAY basketball... none of this, I'm going to see if there is a way to throw myself into a body to draw a foul so I don't actually have to try and create my own shot until I've done that enough so that people just stop trying to play real defense on me so I get a bunch of easy looks and look like a genius. You know who you are M Ginobli, oh no that's too obvious, let's call you Manu CRAPFACE.... still too obvious... no hard feelings, I just HATE him :) Back to my point, I love the hustle, it really is how sports should be. Congrats to the number 1's, these are gonna be some good games...

well Curry is out

as Davidson fell

it'll be a long trip

back to the hotel

but History is written

how it should be

with the #1's

at the top of the bracket tree

I'm sorry I had to diss

the Spurs MVP (no it's not Duncan, but that's another argument)

But man I hate that guy

cuz he really sucks at life!

The End

Only Back Down if There's Not Some Deep Special Reason To Do So....?

Ok, so if you didn't get what my excellent riddle of a title for this post is about, then I will tell (type) you. This is going to be a quick little review of the movie "Never Back Down."
Despite not being a Box Office Tycoon, it was actually pretty successful for a fairly low-budget, fairly predictable movie.

And as for myself, I gotta say, I kinda liked it. The movie did a good job of showing how a teenagers aquire information these days by having YouTube be the vessel of popularity. Even the dorky kid is "cool" cuz he's the one who "posts" the video's of the actual "cool" kids. The fight scenes are actually pretty entertaining. And when you throw in the ultimate BadA$$ for a trainer Djimon Hounsou (Blood Diamond) and lots of skin, and even a feel good "head-nod" between "enemies" to cap it off and you've got yourself an ok flick.

Now for my beef with the movie... will somebody, for the love of freakin YOU KNOW WHO please try to make a movie where the main characters don't seem to have an unlimited income for no reason at all, other then one that is entirely ethnocentric... Is it that hard, it must be, cuz they are getting further and farther between. Say what you want about comic book movies, but they do this part right...

Grade, a solid B- (AKA, I would see it again with someone who hadn't seen it yet)...

:J

Sorta-Sweet :/

Yes ... Sorta, as in like... I'm sorta excited, I would say 75% (out of 100) excited...ish. Why? Because I picked 6 out of 8 games that's why, because now I only have a max of 3 out of the final 4 that's why, because I'm only 75% confident that the UCLA Bruins I picked to win it are going to be able to stand up to North Carolinas unbelievable dismantlings of every unfortunate group of hopefulls to join the "dance." But I'm stickin with the Bruins and the undeniable power that is Kevin Love.

Call me crazy, but so far I've seen UCLA (probably the "deepest" team in college) play some of their worst basketball. I've seen 3 upset wannabee's play at their absolute best "upset worthy" levels just to be outclassed by pure frustrating talent. If UCLA finds their groove at all, which I think the better competition willl bring out in them, then my 72-65 prediction will become reality, and I might actually win a friggin pole this year for once...

Before I finish, I have to give a shout out to my next phenom obsession, the one The "King/LBJ/The Chosen One" himself said is the only college player he'll be watching. I'm talkin about Stephon Curry, who today joined the likes of Wilt Chamberlain and Magic Johnson by being only the 3rd person ever to score at least 30 points in his first 3 college tournament games.

Let's review, the LeBron James... the same LeBron that got a endorsement deal from Nike that was more than Tiger Woods, Michael Jordan, Warren Sapp, Mia Hamm, and Venus Williams... COMBINED, a-n-d l-i-v-e-d u-p t-o e-v-e-r-y p-en-n-y, says that he's excited about Stephon Curry...

Magic Johnson, despite the early end to his unbelievable career, one of 2 guys to receive MVP honors THREE times, the guy who was only 2.8 rebounds away from averaging a triple-double, for his CAREER!

Wilt Chamberlain, ummmm.... 100 points, one game, ummmm... yeah, nuff said.

Long story long, if UCLA isn't going to take it, I'll be pullin for my favorite new obsession Curry to pull off a Wilt/Magic worthy upset and take the whole thing. So there you have it folks, look him up, and don't be surprised, he's the one on Davidson's team that looks about 10 years old...

Curry is the Prince

According to Lebron the King

And he may just be right

that's the scary thing

He's not physically intimidating

or quick like the flash

But he plays like he invented the game

with all sorts of pinache ("Pi-Nash"?)

I promise you should watch him

his skills are a plenty

He personally outscored Wisconsin

in the second half, 22-20

nuff said

The End

Told you he looked like he was 10!

MaDnEsS!!!

I though I'd take a stab at my first quick illustration

for the new blog... ideas and critiques in this area would also be appreciated :)

Wow! It's begun!!! It's here!!!!! I'm increasing the amount of "!'s" every sentence fragment!!!!!!!!! Isn't that awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm sorry, what was I talking about again, oh yeah! March Madness.

I can honestly say this is the first year that I've actually been able to watch a majority of the opening day of March Madness. If every year is as good as today's games were, I'm seriously going to be too sick to go to work every time it comes around. Aside from a few blowouts that weren't even shown on local network TV, and the fact that there was no "big" upsets... there managed to be a ton of great games today.

But I do have a bone to pick with the media... Maybe I'm watching the wrong sports channels on a daily basis, but I have heard of nothing but how O.J. Mayo can walk on water. Never have my local media personel given a one, Michael Beasley, any air time. This is a problem folks, let's do a little side by side shall we...

O.J. Mayo Michael Beasley
PPG 20.8 26.5
Intangibles 9.9 16.6
FG% 44.4% 53.5%
FT% 80.0% 76.7%
3pt % 40.8% 38.9%

And the most compelling stat of all, minutes per game. O.J. averages 5.3 minutes per game MORE than Beasley yet, scores less points, has less intangibles (my name for the total amount of rebounds, steals, blocks, and assists in a game), shoots 4 less free throws, and takes as many shots just to hit less. Did I miss something??? If more than like 3 people (and that's being generous) actually read this, I bet they would tell me I missed something, I hope they would tell me I missed something... Cuz all I saw in Mayo today, was a young guy who happens to be more athletic of a mediocre player, surrounded by less athletic mediocre players, coached by a great coach.

So that is my argument from the first day of MaDnEsS... Now for another poetic treat, from me to you...

I'm probably just bitter

because my bracket has flaws

I had USC winning

not taking a loss

there goes my perfect bracket

and the cool 5 Mill

that Yahoo! wanted to give me

but O.J couldn't fit the bill

so now I'm stuck in second

in my little Yahoo! pool

BYU didn't help me either

they made me look like a (obviously "fool" would fit nicely here, but I don't want anything that has to do with BYU to "flow" nicely since even though, as an avid University of Utah fan, I found myself trying to cheer on their abysmal field goal shooting despite the fierce rivalry within me just to be disappointed)...

The End

Tiga Tiga Tiga Woods YALLLLLL....

Tiger Woods... ...

Oh I'm sorry, I didn't think anything else needed to be said. At the moment Tiger is on his way to his 6th consecutive PGA victory. Sure sure, he is 2 strokes back, but I guarantee that he feels like his 5 under 67 was a "weak" perfomance. Whereas guys like Geoff Ogilvy, Stewart Cink, are Miguel Jimenez are all calling their wives saying, "sweetie, I "beat" tiger today. Are you proud of me?"

Let's review..

Tiger's brain: "I won't miss that birdie opportunity on the Par 5 12th tomorrow, just stay focused and you should should about a 24 under for the tourny... That should give you some breathing room going in to the final holes.."

3 Guys ahead of Tiger brains: "Don't screw up your in the lead your beating Tiger holy crap don't screw up that's a big lake what if I hit it into the lake I don't want to hit it into the lake oh crap I might hit it into the lake Tiger wont hit it into the lake what if Tiger hits it into me what if he can here my thoughts I should stop thinking .... ..... hello?"

Tiger's Brain: "*chuckle*... if only they all new..."

Result. Tiger will win by 3 strokes. You heard it (read it) here first folks, I'll let you know how much he's up by tomorrow :)

Semi-Lame...

Ok... so I had the ... ummm... "opportunity" to see the movie Semi-Pro, and let me be the first (not the first) to tell you that this movie, should have ridden the "short-bus" all the way to the theatre.

I mean, I expected (as I always do) for Will Ferrel to be the exact same character he always is. I don't mind that, I'm a big Will fan. But this movie with most of the plot-line already written in history was extremely void of creativity. It became apparent very quickly why the producers (or whoever it is that is responsible for making this kind of decision) decided to go for an "R" rated version. Because they had nothing else, and I mean nothing. The jokes were old and more predictible than usual, with the "F-Bomb" thrown in. Clearly this is an attempt to attract the kind of crowd that snickers everytime someone says "peepee." (ok, I may have snickered there)

Don't get me wrong, I don't write off movies because of the "F" word. I understand the thematic element it can provide, but it did nothing for this movie. And it, by the way, was the ONLY reason this movie was "R." That's how I know they were sitting in a room going,

"I think we're done guys..."

"Crap! Really? This is what we spent Millions of dollars on??"

"We're screwed... we gotta do something..."

"I know!!!"

And then it happened, and the movie still sucked. The movie characters even acknowledged the unnecessary use of the word (which by the way, was the only comical value to come out of the "R" rating).

So there you have it, I give this movie a D+ and I will NEVER watch it again.

This movie was bad

and now I am sad

Cuz it cost 5 dollars

The end...ollars...

The actual end.

"Shib-O-pin-Ya-Nye-Tuss"

Alright folks, it's what you've all been waiting for... a SECOND blog for me not to be good at keeping up with!!! Crazy I know, but AWESOME!

Why, why am I doing this? The answer is simple, I have a plethora of hobbies. A plethora? Yes, a plethora, and I DO know what it means... I think...

Moving on...

My other blog (shibbylog.blogspot.com) is an update on Kristen's and my life, and although this will undoubtedly include multiple references to Kristen, and my life... This one is more for the entertainment world... You see, I am in to virtually everything, I like Sports, Games, Video Games, Art, Movies, Video Art Movie Games, etc... I like them so much in fact, that I would love to get into the business, of... well, any of them. So consider this practice, Journamilistic practice...

I'll try to keep it fun, so please comment since my insecurity is constantly driving me to check such comments from my phone about as often as my fingers allow, it's sad folks, but true...

And on the bright side, believe it or not, this will actually keep me up to date on the other blog as well, Yay... just what you all wanted (you did).

Shibby:)