If anyone has ever happened upon my blog, what you do know is that I always try and put myself out there, for better or worse. Let me stay true to that.

With apologies to our Fed Reserve chief, we're at or near the bottom of a pretty rotten economic climate. It's been bad since Q3 of 2008, and I don't expect it to get a much better for the US as a whole until Q1 2011. My logic is fairly simple: Fiscal 2011 budgets are being made now, and executives will remain conservative regarding headcount and budgets. Also, the policy curbs that company's have put in place regarding expenses and spending won't be lifted any time soon.

One of my strengths is to always see the glass as three-quarters full rather than half empty. It's gotten me through tough times when I was employed at large company's, and it's helped us weather big storms (including post-9/11, when no one wanted to talk to anyone about consulting for quite a long time).

This economic collapse, however, left me with my shorts at my ankles.

I blindly stumbled into a client that has kept me extremely busy since December. It has been a very good thing as we've had very strong billings since. But it also brought to light a big gap between my wife and me. This gap is kind of complicated, but let me explain it.

My wife I'm pretty sure is smarter than I am, and I like to think I'm very smart (she has a BS in Chemistry as well as a BS in Chemical Engineering). Once we had our boys, she decided she wanted to stay home with them. And she is a great mother who is a big help to the boys and to me. She does the finances for our company, helps with the new soccer club (now in its third season), as well as takes care of everything.

I've dutifully been the breadwinner who shields her from most stuff. She patiently let me go through my three years of being engrossed poker, both playing and blogging/writing about it. She then let me move onto starting the soccer club. As Summer approached, she was on to planning for the logistics of taking the boys here and there, etc. I started feeling more and more alone, and became resentful I think for the first time in our marriage.

It was a very difficult series of weeks. I was five hours away most of the time, and I was struggling with our relationship for the first time since we were married eighteen years ago. The few folks I confided in laughed that "...it took you this long..." For me, I became very concerned. I didn't want for us to transition into a new type of marriage, a new phase of our relationship.

I think that we've made it through the end of this tunnel. I know she understands where I am now and the risks there. We had a great meeting with our accountant (I've never really done that), and he actually helped frame what I'm going through. I've had my company for eleven years, and I'm basically still self-employed rather than having built a company.

We also had some tough discussions about my faith and our church. I don't feel connected there, and she has been very involved in a Discipleship group as well as in the Children's ministry. I think she went through a period of time where she felt I was broken and needed to be fixed. I definitely feel that I am broken, but I don't think there is one-size-fits-all way to cure me. Sara Groves says it like this in one of her songs, "I am just a seeker too, in search of God."

So anyways, as this big project comes to a close, the anxiety starts anew for me. It is a different class now, how do I capitalize on this, can I build a company that can sustain us? I seem to have talents and can do great things. Can I exploit these?

And can I find happiness and fulfillment through what I do for a living? That seems to be one of the macro-conclusions from my four years of poker and soccer, that I can't find fulfillment through my work and consequently dive into other things.

I don't know the answers. I'm hoping to post at the other blogs that I spent alot of money designing, but this will be our secret place if that's OK.

So I haven't blogged at my new digs in more than six months, so I thought I'd hit this for what it's worth. I depleted my online bankroll through withdrawals and poor play about a year ago, and I spent my live bankroll as I quit playing. I'll occasionally goof around on FT with my two-figure bankroll or play the random SNG or Steps on Stars.

I've been in a high state of stress lately, and I'm thinking of playing more in the coming weeks. If I jump in, I'll document it here. I'm open to ideas for a new venture when it comes to poker, whether it's depositing a certain amount and grinding, focusing on one thing or another, etc. From the little I've played lately, it does look like the play in general has tightened up. I don't know if that's the case or not, but just glancing at table stats it seems so.

I'm also thinking about heading to Vegas in December, but that seems so far away. I've had some real problems thinking about anything in the future as it seems to bring on the anxious emotions. Am I alone? I'd be interested to know.

I don't know if this site is even monitored, but there you go. I'll be doing more on my other sites as well, but think of this as more of a PSA than anything.

We're done enough with the new design, so you can head over to C2 Choices and find me from now on. Update your links if you don't mind, and I can't wait to hear what you think! You can email me if needed at csquard@gmail.com.

I'm closing on my third year anniversary of this blog. It started as a poker blog to share my terrific, rocket-like advancement in my poker prowess.

That was the first day.

I then moved onto sharing what it felt like to lose my bankroll. Maybe you've never experienced that or don't remember it. There is this cold sweat that develops over your chest, down your arm, then ultimately to the mouse that you've vice-gripped in your fist. The mouse has come a long way in three years as this post-bankroll-clearing last hand trauma normally would yield a broken mouse or monitor. The hand details are somewhere in the recesses of my hard drive and brain I'm sure, but the typical final hand was either preceded by a flopped straight taking out my overpair or someone calling my raise with some horrific hand out of position then flopping trips or two pair.

Then this site changed as I changed. Poker became a metaphor for the struggles in my life. To an outsider, it might have appeared like poker was cause. It's never been that, just as the TV or eating or surfing the web or any of the number of time-consuming ventures have been the cause of what illed me. It was more of what I had become over the decade of running my own company, a career that has become increasingly insular.

The site moved away from this URL then returned this year, and I've continued to be a part of a great community of people all over the world. I thank all of you for letting me still be in your club even as I haven't been with you as much. As many, many of you have told me and others, a blog should primarily be written for one audience: the writer. It's always been that way for me, but I've benefited most when connection has followed. Connection comes from comments and chatting and talking, and I've grown alot through my times with those who have invested in me.

As the site moves to a new URL, my poker exploits will not be left behind. And I hope many of you will take the time to follow me along the new road. I also hope I can find others out there, others who have their act together or not, others who are great parents or not, others who are great spouses or not.

Others who are believers or not. Waffles has called me the Preacher (when he's called me--or that's probably the nicest thing he's called me!), and I hope I haven't offended or come off that way. As I've grown older, I've found myself not to be a preacher but really a seeker. I've come to find my faith as a journey rather than a destination. I feel much safer being a big fish in a small pond rather than the other way around, yet I find that I am more like the latter now in my spiritual journey.

So it came to pass that I would either kill this blog or invest in it and try to do more. I decided to rebuild it. The next post will be the famous go-to-the-new-link post, and hopefully folks will update links and feeds.

I think we should be making the switch to the new design and new URL in the next twenty-four hours. Still a few final tweaks and all that. I'm pretty sure I'll have some sort of contest to celebrate it, a chance to win something if you link to the new URL and all that.

I've been working hard and stretched fairly thin (although I still don't look too thin!). The move and redesign haven't really contributed to that, but I also haven't devoted very much time to it either. I've paid a nice chunk of change to have someone help with it, and I think it will be well worth it. More in the morning.

Terrific set of interviews by BBC with the managers of the two dropped clubs (Reading and Birmingham), as well the new London hero, Fulham's Roy Hodgson. Such a different view into sport than here in America.

Reading's Steve Coppell

Birmingham's Alex McLeish

Fulham's Roy Hodgson

Great interview also with game winner Danny Murphy, formerly with Liverpool. He's very candid about his own personal struggle watching Liverpool do so well while he languished at Fulham.

First, a happy Mother's Day to all the mom's out there. We headed for brunch after church this morning. I got our name on the list at one of her favorite places, an hour wait that was fine for us as she and the boys were still at church (I grabbed coffee and a couple books as a gift for my wife after the first service while she volunteered in the nursery). She's celebrating her big day with a nap now.

I rushed to the computer when we got home to see if Fulham had gotten their victory at Pompey. With Birmingham and Reading both grabbing four goals, the pressure was surely on the Cottagers as they headed well into the 2nd half scoreless. Then Danny Murphy headed a long free kick into the netting, Kasey Keller parried shot after shot as the Fulham defense weathered an onslaught of balls, and with three blows of the whistle, Fulham survived!

btw, break up the Pirates, please...

Craven Cottage, 2006

The Barclay's Premier League/EPL. Probably second to the NFL, the Premiership is the best that sports has to offer. Tomorrow is exactly why.

At the top of the league, Chelsea is tied with Manchester United atop the lead. The regular season is the thing in soccer, and it is simple and just. 20 teams, play every team home and away, then add up the points for wins (3 pts) and ties (1 pt). Subtract the goals you score vs those you give up and you have the goal differential for the season. Man U is ahead of Chelsea on goal differential by 17 goals, so Chelsea must have a superior result to this weekend to take the title. They host Bolton Sunday, and Man U will travel to mid-tier Wigan.

It's the bottom of the table that makes soccer leagues around the world exciting until the last day (except for the US). Fulham, owned by Harrod's mogul Mohamed al-Fayad, dropped to the bottom three of the twenty teams at the first of the year and have been down there ever since. Now if you were the Royals or Knicks or Raiders, that would be an unfortunate situation but hardly desperate. But this is the EPL, where the bottom three teams drop out of the Premiership. With the loss goes the estimated $35mil in revenue and the prestige of the Premiership. And what happens if you drop from the Premiership? Look no further than Leicester. They played in the UEFA Cup in 2001, the tournament for top European teams who do not qualify for the Champions League. This season, their record in the League Championship division (Triple-A) pushes them down to League One (Double-A) next season.

With three wins in the last four games, Fulham has clawed their way up to 17th place with 33 pts and a goal differential of -23. 18th place Reading (33pts/-29) and 19th place Birmingham (32pts/-19) both need a result to escape the drop. Reading has the easiest path, traveling to 20th place Derby County (11pts/-65). Birmingham hosts 7th place Blackburn (58pts/+5) and their stingy keeper, American Brad Friedel.

Fulham travels to 8th place Portsmouth (57pts/+9). Known as Pompey, Portsmouth could be faulted for overlooking this game. They play Cardiff next Saturday in the FA Cup final, England's most prestigious soccer tournament. The FA Cup hearkens to the Indiana High School basketball tournament of old, made famous by the movie Hoosiers. In the FA Cup, literally every professional and semi-pro team in England play in the tournament, so Cardiff (in the League Championship division) has a chance to play in Wembley Stadium and take home the hardware of the FA Cup.

Fulham's future will be intertwined with three of their five Americans. Kasey Keller signed up with Fulham earlier this season, a seemingly over-the-hill goalkeeper unclaimed by any other team around the world. He may not be automatic in the back, but he is certainly solid. Clint Dempsey also signed with the club in the middle of the season. The former Furman All-American leads the team in goals and is now a mainstay in the starting XI.

Brian McBride, now the team's captain, is the heart of the team. Last year's leading scorer for the squad had a catastrophic dislocation of his kneecap at the beginning of the season. He's the epitome of workmanship; we'd call it leaving it all on the field if we were talking about football here. No one will outwork him on Sunday, probably no one in the EPL. And he may have his own blood all over him by the end of the afternoon.

Fulham has a tough task in front of them, lessened by Pompey's looming FA Cup match next weekend. I like Reading leapfrogging the other two tomorrow and snatching the final berth in the Premiership next season, but I'll be pulling for McBride and the Cottagers. No one will be tanking tomorrow to move up in draft position, that you can guarantee.

OK, maybe that is a bit of a stretch, but this was the most stunning display of moronic combined with the most evil side of female connivingness (I know this is not a word, but really I think it is). I haven't read EW's recap yet, so definitely head there if you are a fan at all. Also, head to the Survivor website to watch this episode in its entirety.

Meet Exhibit A, Erik. He's the Superfan and would have a restraining order as a stalker if he hadn't actually been cast on the show. He's also a Herculean competitor of the Ozzy mold. With Ozzy leaving a few weeks ago for being too cocky and James almost losing his finger, Erik was the last man standing with four ladies.

Erik wins the Immunity Challenge (lapped the girls; btw, they should have had the person who finished last is out as a twist--the women were horrible in the challenge). He's like a Labrador puppy in these challenges, still sprinting at the end when the other four haven't even made it to the last stage of the challenge.

In the interim, Erik has told different alliance stories to three of the women, who then tell each other of his promises and laugh it up, all within earshot of him. He's a downtrodden puppy who just wants to be liked by these Survivor heroes of him, and it gets him down around camp. Back to real-time: after the Immunity Challenge, the four ladies are sitting around talking about what they will do, and then Cirie stumbles on the most ridiculous idea in the history of reality television. Cirie blurts out that Natalie should use her evil, wily ways to get Erik to give her the Immunity Necklace, playing on his pitiful emotions and need to be liked. Natalie knows she's going home and would do anything to stay, but even she can't come to grips with how anyone would actually fall for this. 'Why would he fall for that?'' asked Natalie. ''Ozzy, Jason, and Erik,'' announced Parvati. ''He belongs in that threesome.''

More giggling ensues, then Natalie heads to find Erik and lay it out for him: Cirie will joing Erik and Natalie to vote out Amanda, but only if Cirie gives Natalie the necklace as a sign of redemption and to show that he is indeed a man of his word that everyone can trust. The jury will also like the move, she explains.

My wife was on the sofa, and as the Tribal Council rolled on, she was ambivalent. "This is ridiculous," she said. "No one would be that stupid."

Ahhh, she obviously overstates the size of a man's brain. And the pure wickedness of the female species.

And you thought the male praying mantis had it bad. At least he gets a last hurrah before having his head bitten off...

No more superlatives. Enjoy...


UPDATE

Go to the bottom of the EW review to see the Jeff Probst interview with EW on Erik's move.

Because of my mad skillz, I'm super-goot again...

PokerStars Game #17300210676: Hold'em No Limit ($0.25/$0.50) - 2008/05/08 - 23:45:08 (ET)
Table 'Ophelia III' 6-max Seat #6 is the button
Seat 1: morodepoco ($42.70 in chips)
Seat 2: mahkiemahk ($55.20 in chips)
Seat 3: Bill Maz89 ($41.90 in chips)
Seat 5: KentuckyRuLz ($45.95 in chips)
Seat 6: csquard ($62.60 in chips)
morodepoco: posts small blind $0.25
mahkiemahk: posts big blind $0.50
bw07507: sits out

Holecards:
Dealt to csquard [ ]
FOLD Bill Maz89
FOLD KentuckyRuLz
RAISE csquard , $1.50 to $2
FOLD morodepoco
RAISE mahkiemahk, $5 to $7
CALL csquard , $5

Flop: (Pot: $14.25)
[ ]
BET mahkiemahk, $10
CALL csquard , $10

Turn: (Pot: $34.25)
[ ] [ ]
CHECK mahkiemahk:
BET csquard , $10
RAISE mahkiemahk, $28.20 to $38.20 and is all-in
CALL csquard , $28.20

River: (Pot: $110.65)
[ ] [ ]

Showdown:
mahkiemahk: shows [ ] (a straight Ten to Ace)
csquard : shows [ ] (four of a kind Jacks)
csquard collected $108 .65 from pot

SUMMARY:
Total pot $110.65 | Rake $2

Board:
[ ]
Seat 1: morodepoco (small blind) folded before Flop
Seat 2: mahkiemahk (big blind) showed [ ] and lost with a straight Ten to Ace
Seat 3: Bill Maz89 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 5: KentuckyRuLz folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 6: csquard (button) showed [ ] and won ($108 .65) with four of a kind Jacks

Alan Sepinwall at the Star-Ledger has a terrific article on American Idol (see 5 Reasons the Best 12 Weren't). Just a terrific deep-dive into this season vs the overall franchise. Some of the new gimmicks haven't exactly worked out (for example, the use of instruments this season has more often been a prop than an exhibition in musicianship), while some of the old new gimmicks have been ridiculous (see the Q&A from viewers). His on the money with his discussion of themes and mentors. Everyone is probably very gun-shy about doing away with these things, but I think it is time to do that.

What he fails to mention is how those who have remained (aside from David Cook) are so lacking next to some of those who have been cast away. Carly and Michael Johns should absolutely still be here with Jason Castro and Brooke gone in their place. I'd much rather have seen those two added to the trio that remain to see who could have made it to the last three. My wife cannot stand Little David (photo above from Star Search at age 12). He drips child beauty pageant, and he probably needs a wild weekend with Miley Cyrus to knock some reality into him. From all accounts, his father is in the Crazy Stage Parent Hall of Fame, so it's hard to attack Little David too much directly.

David Cook (above) has been a breath of fresh air in this competition. He's escaped the so-called controversy of knocking off previous knock-off's found on YouTube to become the best this season has had to offer (regardless of who wins). You can definitely see him having a career with legs in the future. The big question AI has to ask itself is what needs to change in the show to have six others like him in the last eight or nine (we'll always have some strange person who makes it deep, like Sanjaya or Jason Castro). As much effort and investment in weeding through the tens of thousands of possibilities, you'd think the show would do a better job of finding more diamonds in the rough.

One reason they haven't had more spit out at the end is that the obstacle course the contestants have to run doesn't correlate with what makes a successful recording artist. A young man or woman with a particular style and tone shouldn't have to somehow push that style on a succession of songs from the Beatles, Neil Diamond, Andrew Lloyd-Webber, Dolly Parton, and Mariah Carey. Maybe they can simply perform the absolutely best song they want to perform each week then let us decide.

The cliche that the judges' feedback has become is also a problem that Sepinwall omits discussing, one that makes the show less appealing. Let's go worst to first. Paula really needs to be replaced. She brings no critical eye to the show and doesn't appear credible most of the time. Randy should be much more focused in his feedback rather than simply rambling and throwing in his slang terms. Maybe I'm overstating things a bit, as he does seem to focus on the accuracy of the singing and specifics of the arrangement.

Colin is such a key part of the show that it would be hard to imagine AI without him. The constant booing whenever he speaks is overworn and ridiculous, as is chiming the music in immediately after he says his first words. To watch him on AI then watch him on "Britain's Got Talent" is like watching two different people. He generally likes and respects his two cohorts across the pond. He repeatedly shows that he thinks Paula has no sense at all. He also has resigned himself, it appears, that AI is what it is and there isn't much he can do about the American public.

Lastly, me email to Sepinwall (about to send):

Really terrific analysis of American Idol. As part of the wrong demographic (>40 Male), I've still been a fan of American Idol. The one thing you fail to mention is the impact of TiVo/DVR on American Idol viewership. There is absolutely no way I would watch American Idol live, and I never watch anything on the results show except for a performance that might catch my eye. I fast-forward to the end to see who was voted off then delete the episode. I haven't even sniffed listening to a group sing number and haven't seen a cheesy AI commercial since maybe Season 2.

I've been out of the blogger tourneys for the most part since they moved almost exclusively to FullTilt about six-eight months or so. I rarely played Wil Wheaton's tourney but was a mainstay back in the days of two-three tables of the Mookie and the MATH. The fact that I never won a Mookie event (and thus never got to answer all those questions about me) frustrated me to no end. I also hosted a small weekly tourney on PokerStars, even getting the PokerWorks folks to give me some cash to add to the prize pool (I think $1k). My tourney was never very popular in numbers, more of an intimate gathering of knuckleheads than anything really.

It's been stunning to watch the growth of these tourneys, and AlCantHang along with Hoy, Mook, smokkee, and MiamiDon, have been instrumental in pushing the envelope. FullTilt especially has embraced the marketing value of having bloggers playing regularly on their site, driving traffic, affiliate revenue, downloads, and conversions in the process.

I know there has been alot written about what blogger tourneys have become. Since I haven't been playing in them this year, let me chime in (always great to have an opinion about something you know nothing about, right?).

With the significant added value arranged by Al et al, the blogger tourneys have been one of the few series of poker tournaments in the world where someone is adding to the prize pool. Let me repeat that. The blogger tourneys are one of the series of poker tournaments in the world where there is significant added value to the prize pool. The WSOP made news last week for their delayed Main Event, and I noted that one of the other items mentioned was that the interest on the prize pool for those at the Final Table would be given back to them. A quick calculation of this: 0.17% added to the prize pool, and none of that coming from the host or sponsor of the WSOP. I'll let someone more familiar with the blogger tourneys figure out the overall prize pool, the rake, and how much FullTilt is adding, but I assume it is more than 0.17%.

So this has moved from being a gathering of virtual acquaintances and friends to a competitive regular happening. Folks have reacted differently to this, with some getting test and nasty in their chat and IM's about donkey play or bad beats. Sometimes those comments have gotten heated and personal. Additionally, people have come to care more about playing in these, about doing well in them, about getting points and getting money.

Has all of this taken away from the general feeling of community that brought everyone to these events in the first place? I'll let others comment on this. I do know that one of the terrific parts of blogger tourneys is that a new person can gain entry into this strange community of people called poker bloggers. All it takes is visiting one of the above sites, finding the password, having $10-25 on FullTilt (or Bodog), then signing up and sitting down. You can chat away with the people you've read and trolled and commented on, these big figures in our little world.

You can play with neophytes or the best we have to offer, folks like Lucko and Fuel and LJ and Gnome and cmitch. Is it the same as playing with annette_15 or Gus Hansen or Jason Strasser? It isn't too far from it, I don't believe. Because of it, bad players have become mediocre and good players have become really good. It is one of the real draws of blogger tourneys, that you can test yourself with such a wide array of players who you also know a little about.

Did the intimacy get lost as the fields grew? Sure, just as some of the connectivity and community that originally developed in poker blogs has been broken by Bloglines and Google Reader. Much of that intimacy now comes from subsegments of our group, IM's and chats with smaller groups of people.

Do we need a tourney that isn't part of all this, just a place to have fun like the good old days? I wouldn't be the judge of that. My impression is that the field is pretty packed, what with 1-2 events going on every single evening. How anyone stays married or attached to a significant other or remains a competent parent while spending all these evenings on their computer is one I don't fully understand. It's probably what has kept me away from the events the most, just that I'm now enjoying sitting four feet away from my wife in front of the television rather than returning to The Pit (as we've come to affectionately call this office/dungeon) to play poker with my virtual friends for 10 minutes-4 hours (depending on how quickly I bust out).

Having removed myself from these tourneys and currently holding down last place on the leaderboard with 0 points, I can tell you I miss doing eighteen things while having a tournament open with you guys. I miss shoving, hitting, then reading all of the chat about how stupid I am and how could I make this play when so and so hasn't re-raised in five weeks (even though I am never paying any attention to even my cards, much less all this complicated stuff like what other players are doing or have done or their position or M's or size of raises or position). I do miss it, I do. I almost reached out last night to get some FullTilt funds for Stars funds into my account so I could jump in to the Mook. My wife was out, and I had the evening free. Work and work and putting the boys in bed led me away, and I didn't reach out and didn't sign up. I looked for some way to jump into some ring game to turn my $0.04 at FullTilt into the $11 I needed, but I couldn't find that either.

So poker blogger tourney folks, here's my wisdom: take a couple steps back then return to the table with a fresh view of the Mookie or MATH or Riverchasers or the Big Game or whichever other event you're signing up for. You get whatever you want out of the event, but don't forget that one of the best parts is seeing friends and finding new ones.

Just in case you needed more: I'm not sure which is strangers, the Britain's Got Talent audition by Craig Harper of a Boyzone song (where he sings the parts of all five members) or the actual Boyzone song itself.

You be the judge.





No, I'll say the strangest has to be Mr. Donald Bell-Gam, absolutely horrific and making Simon Cowell wish for the worst American Idol experience as an escape.



Or maybe the Gollum Boy, with his terrific impression from Lord of the Rings?



Or maybe Michael Machell, playing keyboards possibly for the first time (the theme from Star Wars)?

I grew in a small town in Southwest Mississippi, about an hour south of the state capital Jackson and 2 1/2 hours north of New Orleans. I thought our town had a population of 18,000, but the census has it at a little less than 10,000 and our county at around 33,000. Growing up in a small town had its disadvantages to be sure, but one thing I'll always remember is how everyone knew everyone, or at the least knew of them and recognized them. I don't get back there at all anymore, what with my parents moving to Memphis after I was in college and all.

The death toll in Myanmar/Burma is now estimated to be 22,464 with almost 41,000 missing. It is as if my entire hometown and county have been wiped off of the face of the Earth. I don't watch the news, so I haven't seen any of the images from this, just reading about it on the web. My entire town, dead.

The people in Myanmar are a poor, backward people. They look different than me, talk multiple languages. 55,000,000 people live there in a country slightly smaller than Texas. These tens of thousands of people lost are a drop in the bucket in a place where life is always tough. The value of these lives is so much less than the value of the lives of people here in Atlanta or the US.

At least, it's easy to think that way in our inner-most thoughts.

No, these aren't 22,464 nameless, faceless, strange, poor people who have been lost. I've searched for an hour to find the name of one of these who have died, but nothing comes back. A 12-foot wave crashed down on these tens of thousands of people, but that's too impersonal.

No, it was a young father who huddled in his shack with his wife, two daughters, and two sons (ages 8-3). He had steered clear of the military and earned money as a day laborer, picking up money doing everything from hauling trash from construction sights to carrying boxes of goods to market. The mother took care of the young children, sewing children's clothes to put a bit more food on the table. There were no paychecks to regularly cash, so neither of them knew for certain if there would be enough food for them or if it would go to the children each day.

Their life was drastically hard, but no different than anyone else in Labutta, this remote place over 100 miles from Yangon. They prayed that Saturday as they held one another, prayed until their shanty disappeared in the foam of the waters higher than a basketball goal. And each of them, this father and mother and daughter and son and son and daughter, children who could be running in and out of my house if they had only been born in Suburbia, each of them has been separated from their loved one. You see, these six humans are among the hundreds now floating in the Pyarmalot River.

Nameless, faceless victims, half a world away as I drink my coffee and go on to the next bit of thinking and typing and figuring out what I'm paid to do. 22,464 and counting.

My favorite thing about living in New Jersey was listening to Mike and the Mad Dog on WFAN. Mike Francesca made his name originally on CBS March Madness coverage, while Christopher Russo has transformed himself from a sidekick with an irritating voice to a terrific sports talk radio host. They've been together since September 1989.

And now he has the Mad Dog Minute. Watching him and listening is some kind of treat.

A terrific analysis in a 2+2 post of the starting chips and structures of a $1.5k WSOP compared to Venetian and Caesar's Deepstack tourneys this summer.

There are four mid priced series going on during the summer, but the structure for the Bellagio Cup III is impossible to find, so I will compare the other three series:

World Series of Poker $1500
Venetian Deepstack $1060
Venetian Deepstack $540
Caesar's Megastack $540

First off, I would like to note that the Venetian has auto shufflers, so you should be getting in more hands on those events. This increases their value, but I am not directly taking it into account.


Starting Chips

WSOP $1500 - 3,000
Deepstack $1060 - 10,000
Deepstack $540 - 10,000
Megastack $540 - 15,000

You get less starting chips with the WSOP, so you won't be starting out deepstacked.

BB vs Starting stack

Starting level

WSOP $1500 - 60
Deepstack $1060 - 200
Deepstack $540 - 200
Megastack $540 - 300

Again the WSOP does not offer deep stacked play. The Megastack starts incredibly deepstacked.

Four hours in

WSOP $1500 - 15
Deepstack $1060 - 50
Deepstack $540 - 16.66
Megastack $540 - 25

The $1060 remains deep, while the remaining tournaments start dropping.

Eight hours in

WSOP $1500 - 3.75
Deepstack $1060 - 8.33
Deepstack $540 - 2.5
Megastack $540 - 5

The WSOP $1500 is now actually deeper then the $540 Deepstack and is gaining on the other events. The $1060 Deepstack is looking to have great value.

Twelve hours in

WSOP $1500 - 1.5
Deepstack $1060 - 2.5
Deepstack $540 - .33
Megastack $540 - 1.25

The $540 events are showing the disadvantages of faster levels. They have swung from very deep to very very shallow.

Fifteen hours in

WSOP $1500 - .500
Deepstack $1060 - .833
Deepstack $540 - .0625
Megastack $540 - .375

The $540s should be over, or close to over at this point.

Overall

I think I wanted to highlight in this thread what I believe the strength of longer blind levels as opposed to just giving you more chips. The Megastack started the deepest event, but by the end of the tournament it became one of the shortest structures. The first level of this series is going to be like torture playing 300bbs deep with no antes.

The WSOP actually redeems itself once the money is reached. Day 2 of the $1500 events will be must more pleasant because of this, and actually allow some good play at this point. This is at the cost of less play during the first 8 levels.

The $1060 Deepstacks overall have the best structure as shown. The Venetian is really giving players a good tournament here.

Gaming companies have been under severe pressure, and the Wall Street Journal reports after hours tonight that Tropicana Entertainment LLC is filing for bankruptcy protection.

Kentucky-based Tropicana -- with a small casino kingdom that includes the famed Tropicana Resort & Casino in Las Vegas and a host of small regional casinos -- missed an interest payment Friday on a $1.32 billion loan with lender Credit Suisse Group, said two people familiar with the matter. Tropicana isn't expected to make the payment, these people said. Missing the payment terminates a forebearance agreement the company had with bondholders, putting further pressure on the gambling company (WSJ.com).

The Business Courier of Cincinnati had a story on the Cincinnati-based firm last week, laying out the company's struggles with bondholders to force the firm into bankruptcy to gain access to the lucrative land under the Tropicana in Las Vegas. The company's press release regarding the filing and pending reorganization.

EDIT

NY Times article: Economic Troubles Affect the Vegas Strip

Atlanta's own Josh Arieh is out at Bodog, and Justin "ZeeJustin" Bonomo is in as a sponsored player at Bodog (read this interview with Bonomo, I assume by Haley). Of course, Bodog hasn't gotten around to erasing Arieh's image throughout their website. I've tried to interview Arieh several times, as I've been especially interested in his decision to remain in Atlanta rather than uprooting his wife and three daughters. Bonomo should have been snapped by a site a long time ago as he's a threat in any tourney he enters.

The dismissal of Arieh two months after adding Jean-Robert Bellande is a bit more curious to me. Bellande has little tournament success to show for his last thirty months. Here is a nice comparison of Arieh vs Bellande vs Bonomo over the last few years (08/07/06):

• Bellande ($9.4k, $44.7k, $105.1k)
• Arieh ($71.7k, $193.1k, $561.1k)
• Bonomo ($229k, $574.8k, $275.4k)

I'm sure the folks at Wicked Chops could chime in on the matter as they've always been close to Bodog Poker. Arieh's website is no longer there; I haven't checked it in quite awhile. I'll try to track him down through contacts to get his thoughts. Again, I'd say picking up Bonomo is a no-brainer for anyone. His previous transgressions may have kept him from being signed up by PokerStars or FullTilt, but that would only be a wild guess of mine.