Television & Poker
Thursday, October 05, 2006
The Mookie is always a fun tournament. However, its on Wednesdays, and now that Lost is back on the air, I'll be taking a hiatus from the Mook pending the end of this truncated season (6 weeks, then picking back up in February). If you are a Lost fan, I hope you enjoyed yourself. I'll just quickly throw out a theory, one which, I'm sure, will eventually be refuted by the program. However, for the sake of getting it on record, here it is: the Others are holding Jack in the cell until they are sure he does not have the illness everyone fears. When they are ready, they'll accept him into their society in some capacity. Sawyer and Kate, however, are criminals, and will remain in the zoo as criminals.
Oh, and the fact that AlCantHang IM'ed me before the Mook to let me know that he was playing, well, it made me think twice, but Lost still wins out over poker, especially with my new outlook.
Speaking of TV and poker, does anyone watch the Wire? If you don't, it's a show that takes place in Baltimore, and focuses on politicians, cops, and the illegal drug industry. Fantastic show, but I mention it here for another reason. The show is all about poker lately. An up-and-coming drug dealer plays in an underground poker room for hundreds of thousands of dollars, usually losing, and the mayoral candidate hosts poker parties so his donators can "lose" to him, thereby circumventing donation laws.
Oh silly TV, you sure love that poker!
On that note, one odd side effect of not playing as much online poker...I'm starting to actually watch poker on TV again. There is a natural progression in this obsessive past time, where players devour televised poker, but eventually grow tired of it, especially when they can actually play the game online. Take away the online poker (in my case, a self-imposed temporary exile) and televised poker gets interesting again. So, will WPT ratings go up if online poker shuts down? Possibly. But let's remind ourselves, online poker is not going anywhere.
I played about $5 worth of Chinese Poker last night with slb. After losing my $5 buy-in, I noticed that I'm entirely busted at Nine, where I exclusively play Chinese Poker. The truth is, the game is more Chinese than it is Poker, so I consider last night another poker-less night. I'm mentally gearing up for the weekend, when I'll hopefully be going to AC Saturday night. I'm somewhat hesitant, now that Bradley's game is going to take place. However, I really need to get more time in a casino, especially since the December to Remember is coming up.
What, praytell, is it a December to Remember? Why, its because Jordan is popping his WSOP cherry, albeit with a $300 Circuit event at Harrahs. In case you are interested in Railbirding, I'll be playing the Saturday, December 9th event, and possibly the $300 Sunday, December 10th event. I'll also be staying in the beautiful Mardi Gras-themed (sans flooding and racist undertones) Showboat, the official AC Casino of High on Poker.
I'll be with Dave Roose, as he and I have the same backer, Nice Guy Scotty. Dave Ruff may also attend, purely because of his poker degeneracy. All I know is that I'm hella excited.
If things go well, I'll be playing the final table of the Sunday event on Monday, December 11, or playing in the Monday $500 event. Of course, that's also my birthday, so I'm feeling extra optimistic. As for wifey Kim, she's encouraging my little trip; just another reminder that in the Hold'em game of life, wifey Kim is uncrackable pocket Aces.
Later that month, I'll also be continuing the HoP tradition of spending Christmas in Atlantic City. I don't remember where my reservation is at, but I'm thinking Caesars, merely because of some superior rates. Sure, the Showboat, with its super poker room, is my place of choice. But when it comes to AC lodging, my rule of thumb is to choose the cheapest place with a casino.
Roose's Vegas bachelor party is also slowly building. We've booked rooms at the Excalibur for about $400 for Thursday through Sunday. I don't know if its a great deal or not, but $200 per person is easily doable, and that's all that matters. Next up, we have to book flights, a daunting task with our now 13 participants. Some want to go Jet Blue, but the airfare for most Sundays are tres expensive'. I, personally, will take the Sunday red-eye and skip work on Monday, but you know people...
Sure, this is a rambling post with no direction and even less interesting content. But looking forward to future poker-filled fun is like a quick 5 minute vacation. Once I'm done here, I'm back to the grind. The office has been busy as all hell, and I'm just glad that I have people looking out for me here. Time's up folks, so I best be going.
Until then, make mine poker!
posted by Jordan @ 3:22 PM,
10 Comments:
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At 4:38 PM,
DuggleBogey said...
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There's this new invention? It's called videotape? You could check it out?
Besides, Lost is for suckers. I watched the first season on DVD and thought "This is great!" and tried to watch the second season.....NOPE!
They dole out the information so slowly and painfully you'd have to be a masochist to keep watching it. -
At 5:04 PM,
jjok said...
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Lost gave me a huge surprise last night in that it was a really good premiere.
It seems like it kind of crept up on us this year, without a lot of hype......unlike last year.
I like your theory.......makes sense. It is kind of creepy when the ugly dude mentioned that it took the bears 2 hours to figure out how to get fed.......WHERE ARE THE BEARS NOW?!?! And the shark/dolphin tank that Jack is in is kind of creepy too. -
At 5:54 PM,
slb159 said...
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Nice playing with ya'. Too bad things didn't turn out for the better for you...those were some shit cards. I'll keep trying. Thanks again for the pointers in Chinese.
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At 7:46 PM,
said...
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I love LOST but it always worries me. I just keep thinking it can not live up to the potential. Sorta like a Seinfeld Finale. I hope it doesnt crash and burn cause I love the show but my gut feeling is it will let me down.
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At 8:11 PM,
Jordan said...
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It will crash and burn eventually, D. But in the meanwhile, just enjoy its wonders.
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At 8:50 PM,
C.L. Russo said...
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bears=polar bears?
Didn't catch the whole cage criminal thing.
But, why take them, if only to lock them up? Also, the rat faced guy said it would be a 'very bad 2.5 weeks.'
Ah, LOST. It's what I need to take my mind off all this stupid poker stuff. -
At 7:53 AM,
said...
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My theory is that Lost will end with Stephen King walking out onto the set and saying that the entire show was a prelude to his up and coming movie.
What was with the emphasis on the book of the month club? Did anyone catch what Stephen King book they were reading? I'm just messing around, but seriously, I have a feeling that there will be some sort of hidden meaning to that book. -
At 3:49 PM,
Bill said...
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Lost pisses me off. It is spoon fed drivel. Assuming that your arthritic octogenarian aunt in holding the spoon. I watch when I feel like it, but like most soap operas, missing a few episodes doesn't leave you too far behind the story.
The Wire is the best show on TV.
Spend a few $ on a Tivo. -
At 3:55 PM,
Jordan said...
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Wow, Chilly, don't hold back. I have a DVR, but Lost is one of those shows that I want to watch as close to live as possible. Of course, I always wait 20 minutes so that I can watch the show sans commercials.
As for anyone who doesn't like Lost, I'm, well, at a loss. The show is so well written, and the slow pace of the show is more reflective of the amount of content and the importance of minutiae than it is indicative of poor storytelling. Hey, but that's just me. -
At 4:34 PM,
said...
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Looks like the Stephen King book was Carrie.
I love Lost but this premiere bored me a bit - I guess I was expecting a lot more than it delivered.
I'm totally psyched for the Battlestar Galactica premiere tonight. Friday night's have now become the double geek-fest whammy of Dr. Who/Battlestar. Thank god for the dvr!
And Jordan, you should come to Bradley's and take all our money, well, maybe all my money even though I'll put up a fight. : )
