Posts Tagged ‘NCAA basketball’

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Super-Sized Saturday $15/$30 LHE (Live Blog)

February 3, 2018

Yesterday I played a 16+ hour session (+$312) like a true degenerate sicko without blogging so I feel like I should do one today. I’m going to be a little less crazy today. I’m currently on alert for when the game is about to spread and I’ll be leaving my house as soon as that happens. But honestly, I hope that’s not for another hour.

Palace in Lakewood has had a sick High Hand promotion the last three days – $500 every 20 minutes for 12 hours each day – and yesterday they managed to fill every table in their brand new 15-table room. For those of you that don’t know, I worked at Palace from August 2015 to October 2016 and while we did get all eight tables full on occasion, it was more of a 5- or 6-table room during my tenure. So seeing all 15 tables full with big lists was kind of mind-blowing. I couldn’t be happier for The Man, for poker in this area, or for myself really. It seems like the last few days it has been accepted that a $15/$30 game can be spread every day (yesterday there were five $8/$16 games and a $15/$30 with a big list at one point) and if that happens to be true, I have no good reason (except variety) to travel to Renton to play $20/$40 at Fortune anymore. I still might go a few times a month, but it won’t feel like something I need to try to make a bigger priority.

I missed the new promos on the 1st because I decided to go to the University of Washington vs Arizona State college basketball game. And what a great decision that was. I had a BLAST! Here’s a really dumb fact: I initially enrolled at UW in fall of 2003 and I eventually graduated in 2010 (that’s another story) and in 14.5 years of UW affiliation (and a stretch of college basketball obsession – I used to do my own Top 25 Rankings), I had never been to a Husky basketball game. I never saw Brandon Roy, Nate Robinson, Isaiah Thomas, Quincy Pondexter, Tony Wroten, or Terrence Ross play basketball in a UW uniform (except on T.V.) and being at the game on Thursday, as great as it was, made me feel the pain of all those missed opportunities. And it also reinvigorated my passion for Husky basketball. I’ve been reluctant to get back into it because I have a tendency to overindulge (see above link) and feel like I need to watch every game for every relevant team… but I’m just going to be a Husky fan. I think I can do that. And I want to go to another game ASAP. In fact, though I will be live blogging my session today, I will also be bringing my iPad to watch the UW-Arizona game at 8 PM. I’m invested now.

I did something else yesterday that was bittersweet – I bought tickets to the Broadway musical Hamilton playing at The Paramount in Seattle on February 11th. This is a total bucket list item for myself and the $250 tickets I saw on StubHub were by far the cheapest I’ve seen them anywhere. I only say bittersweet because this happens to be the same day as the Main Events in the Grizzly Games on Global Poker, so I won’t be playing in those. Another tournament getting scratched off my list.

Welp. Palace already has ten tables running with five names on the list for $15/$30, so I’m going to hop in the shower and head that way in about 20 minutes. Stay tuned!

1:23 PM: Just arrived at Palace. They have 12 tables going with 6 names on the list for $15/$30 and these other players don’t seem to grasp the concept that you can’t start a game… without starting a game. I can see up to 5-6 more people that might jump in $15/$30 if it actually got off the ground.

And… that list is down to 5 now.

I’m 4th up for $8/$16 and I really have no desire to sit in that game for an hour.

1:38 PM: Sitting down in $8/$16 with $2000 and people can’t help themselves but make comments: “that don’t mean nothing” and “just because he bought a lot of chips.” Like… I can’t hear you?

1:50 PM: I rated my first album of 2018. SiR‘s November is really, really good. He’s a TDE product (same camp as Kendrick Lamar), so the expectations are high and SiR doesn’t disappoint. This is an R&B/Soul album, not a hip-hop one, but it’s high quality stuff: elite production with great songwriting. “D’Evils” and “Something Foreign” are the first two songs on my Best of 2018 playlist and I more songs are catching my ear as I listen. Check it out!

2:22 PM: I have voluntarily played two hands in almost an hour of action so far. I won a pot with TT.

There are still only five names on the $15/$30 list and Radio Mike just text me and said he’s not playing today. There are only two open tables left. This could be a problem. I really don’t want to play $8/$16 with $2000 in chips in front of me all day. Whoops!

2:53 PM: Three limpers, I raise AA from SB, five of us see flop. Q42 with two diamonds. I bet, a player totally unknown to me raises, there’s a cold caller, I three bet and the unknown caps. Still three of us to black 9 turn and I’m still leading. I’m happy to see both of them just call. River is a 4 of diamonds and I’m definitely one to go for thin value, but I don’t know what’s going on here and one of these guys could easily have a flush. I’m not bet-folding so I check and it checks around and I’m good.

3:56 PM: Still no $15/$30 (7 on list, two open tables). No blog regulars at my $8/$16 table. I’m tired. I haven’t slept well in a few days and added a 16-hour session to that mix. If the $15/$30 doesn’t fire in the next hour or so, I’m just going to relax and watch the UW-AZ game from home.

5:23 PM: I’m still here and now I’m rethinking my decision to leave. The $15/$30 game isn’t going to happen. I’ve accepted that.

But check this hand out: multiple limpers, button raises, I 3-bet AQ from the small or big, button caps, everyone calls. 5- or 6-ways to A75 two hearts (I have none) and I check-raise the button. The players two my left cold call and the button calls. Turn is Kh. I bet, two call, button raises, I fold, and only one player calls. River Th. It checks around and… button tables TT.

That’s the kind of chip-torching that keeps me up at night wondering if someone like that is playing in a casino near me while I’m sleeping.

7:34 PM: I’m at home now watching the game. After 5.5 hours of $8/$16 I cashed out $2066 which, if you recall, means I won $66. Another very ho hum session.

I suspect tonight will be one of the 5-10 times I fall asleep before midnight in 2018.

GO DAWGS!!

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MacRankings – Bracket Edition

March 13, 2011

TOP 25:

#1 Seeds

1. Kansas (32-2)
Key Wins: Arizona, UCLA, Memphis, USC, @Michigan, @Baylor, KSU, Mizzou, A&M, @Mizzou, Texas
Key Losses: Texas, @KSU

2. Ohio State (31-2)
Key Wins: @Florida, @FSU, @Michigan, @Illinois, Purdue, @Minnesota, MSU, Illinois, Wisconsin, Michigan
Key Losses: @Wisconsin, @Purdue

3. Duke (30-4)
Key Wins: Marquette, Kansas State, MSU, Butler, BCU, UNC, Temple, Clemson, V-Tech, UNC
Key Losses: @FSU, @SJU, @VTU, @UNC

4. Notre Dame (26-6)
Key Wins: Georgia, @Wisconsin, Gonzaga, Georgetown, UCONN, SJU, Cincy, Marquette, @Pitt, L’ville, Villanova, @UCONN, Cincy
Key Loses: @Kentucky, @Syracuse, @Marquette, @SJU, @WVU, L’ville

#2 Seeds

5. San Diego State (32-2)
Key Wins: @Gonzaga, St. Mary’s, Wichita St., @Cal, UNLV, @New Mexico, @UNLV, New Mexico, UNLV, BYU
Key Losses: @BYU, BYU

6. Pittsburgh (27-5)
Key Wins: Maryland, Texas, UCONN, Marquette, @Georgetown, Syracuse, Cincy, @WVU, @Villanova, WVU, Villanova
Key Losses: Tennessee, NDU, @SJU, @Louisville, UCONN

7. North Carolina (26-7)
Key Wins: Kentucky, V-Tech, Clemson, @BCU, FSU, @Clemson, BCU, @FSU, Duke, Clemson
Key Losses: Vanderbilt, Minnesota, Illinois, Texas, @Georgia Tech, @Duke, Duke

8. Connecticut (26-9)
Key Wins: Wichita State, MSU, Kentucky, @Texas, Villanova, Tennessee, @Marquette, G’town, @Cincy, G’town, Pitt, Syracuse, L’ville
Key Losses: @Pitt, @NDU, L’ville, Syracuse, @SJU, @L’ville, Marquette, @WV, NDU

#3 Seeds

9. BYU (30-4)
Key Wins: Utah St., St. Mary’s, Arizona, UTEP, @UNLV, SDSU, UNLV, @SDSU
Key Losses: @UCLA, @New Mexico, New Mexico, SDSU
Last Week: #2

10. Florida (26-7)
Key Wins: @FSU, KSU, Xavier, @Tennessee, @Georgia, Vanderbilt, Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia, @Vanderbilt, Tennessee, Vanderbilt
Key Losses: OSU, @UCF, Jacksonville, SCU, @Miss St, @Kentucky, Kentucky
Last Week: #10

11. Texas (27-7)
Key Wins: Illinois, @UNC, @MSU, A&M, @Kansas, Mizzou, @A&M, A&M
Key Losses: @Pitt, @USC, UCONN, @Nebraska, @Colorado, KSU, Kansas
Last Week: #9

12. Purdue (25-7)
Key Wins: @V-Tech, @Michigan, MSU, @Illinois, Wisconsin, OSU, @MSU, Illinois
Key Losses: @Richmond, @Minnesota, @WVU, @OSU, @Wisconsin, @Iowa, MSU
Last Week: #7

#4 Seeds

13. Kentucky (25-8)
Key Wins: Washington, Notre Dame, @Louisville, Georgia, Tennessee, Florida, Vanderbilt, @Tennessee, Florida
Key Losses: @UCONN, @UNC, @Georgia, @Alabama, @Ole Miss, @Florida, @Vanderbilt, @Arkansas
Last Week: #20

14. Syracuse (26-7)
Key Wins: MSU, Notre Dame, @St. John’s, Cincinnati, @UCONN, WVU, @Nova, @G’town, SJU
Key Losses: @Pitt, Villanova, Seton Hall, @Marquette, G’town, @L’ville, UCONN
Last Week: #11

15. Louisville (25-9)
Key Wins: Butler, UNLV, Marquette, SJU, WVU, @UCONN, Syracuse, UCONN, Pitt, Marquette, NDU
Key Losses: Drexel, Kentucky, @Villanova, @Providence, @G’town, @NDU, @Cincy, @WVU, UCONN
Last Week: #16

16. Wisconsin (23-8)
Key Wins: @BCU, @Marquette, Michigan, Illinois, Purdue, MSU, OSU, @Michigan
Key Losses: @UNLV, Notre Dame, @Illinois, @MSU, @Penn St, @Purdue, @OSU, Penn St
Last Week: #13

#5 Seeds

17. Arizona (27-7)
Key Wins: UCLA, UW, USC
Key Losses: @Kansas, @BYU, @Oregon St, UW, @USC, @UCLA, UW
Last Week: #19

18. St. John’s (21-11)
Key Wins: @WVU, Georgetown, Notre Dame, UCONN, @Cincy, @Marquette, Pitt, @Villanova, Duke
Key Losses: @St. Mary’s, St. Bonaventure, @Fordham, @Notre Dame, Syracuse, @Louisville, Cincy, @Georgetown, @UCLA, @Seton Hall, Syracuse
Last Week: #17

19. Xavier (24-7)
Key Wins: Butler, Temple, @Richmond, @Georgia, @Dayton
Key Losses: ODU, Miami (OH), Gonzaga, Florida, @Cincy, @Charlotte, Dayton
Last Week: #22

20. Vanderbilt (23-10)
Key Wins: UNC, Marquette, Georgia, St. Mary’s, Kentucky, @Georgia
Key Losses: WVU, Missouri, @South Carolina, @Tennessee, Arkansas, @Florida, Tennessee, @Kentucky, Florida, Florida
Last Week: #18

#6 Seeds

21. Texas A&M (24-8)
Key Wins: Temple, Washington, Missouri, KSU, Mizzou
Key Losses: BCU, @Texas, @Nebraska, Texas, Baylor, @Baylor, @Kansas, Texas

22. UNLV (24-8)
Key Wins: Wisconsin, @Virginia Tech, @KSU, @New Mexico
Key Losses: @Louisville, UCSB, BYU, @SDSU, Colorado St, @BYU, SDSU. SDSU
Last Week: Unranked

23. Kansas State (22-10)
Key Wins: Gonzaga, Virginia Tech, Kansas, Mizzou, @Texas
Key Losses: @Duke, @Florida, UNLV, @OK St, Colorado, @Mizzou, @A&M, @Kansas, @Colorado, Colorado
Last Week: #25

24. West Virginia (20-11)
Key Wins: Vanderbilt, @Georgetown, Purdue, @Cincy, NDU, UCONN, L’ville
Key Losses: Minnesota, @Miami, St. John’s, @Marquette, Marshall, @Louisville, @Villanova, Pitt, @Syracuse, @Pitt, Marquette
Last Week: Unranked

#7 Seeds

25. Washington (23-10)
Key Wins: Portland, @USC, @UCLA, @Cal, Arizona, Cal, UCLA, WSU, Arizona
Key Losses: @MSU, @Kentucky, @Texas A&M, @Stanford, @WSU, @Oregon St, @Oregon, @Arizona, WSU, USC

Note: San Diego State has a strong argument for a #1 seed, but I like Notre Dame more heading into this tournament.

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College Basketball Rankings 11/28/2010

November 29, 2010

Last week’s rankings in brackets:

TOP 25

1. Duke (6-0): Duke survived it’s first tests of the season edging a possible tourney team from Marquette and easily handling #4 Kansas State. [1]

2. Ohio State (5-0): Looking forward to seeing what these guys can do against a stretch of good teams. [3]

3. Pittsburgh (7-0): Panthers still cruising after a good start to the season. [4]

4. Kansas (6-0): The Jayhawks got their first test of the season and beat a good Arizona team, plus Josh Selby is eligible soon, so these guys are just going to get better. [6]

5. Kansas State (5-1): KSU took a pretty bad loss against Duke, but hey, that’s the number one team in the nation and Kansas State already has a couple good wins under their belt (Gonzaga, Virginia Tech). [4]

6. Connecticut (5-0): Talk about a statement. UCONN headed into last week unranked by everyone and projected to finish in the bottom half of the Big East by most publications. Apparently, Kemba Walker and Alex Oriachi disagreed; UCONN toppled a good Wichita State team, #2 Michigan State, and #9 Kentucky en route to winning the Maui Invitational and Walker looked like the most dominant player in the nation. I’ve never heard of an unranked team jumping this far up the rankings, but I can’t see how you can rank them lower. They are #1 in the RPI rankings, #1 in strength of schedule, and they’re still undefeated. I could see an argument for them being in the top 5. I can’t wait to see what the AP does with them tomorrow. [Unranked]

7. Michigan State (5-1): It’s interesting how these rankings work. Michigan State lost to unranked UCONN, which is going to plummet them from the #2 spot. But… starting tomorrow, losing to Connecticut isn’t going to be so bad. Go figure. The Spartans did bounce back by edging PAC-10 favorite Washington. [2]

8. Syracuse (6-0): Still waiting for this team to play someone good. I doubt this is a top 10 team. They’re playing very tight games against some mediocre schools. [8]

9. Florida (5-1): Gators jump up a few spots and got a decent win under their belt today (vs. Florida State). [12]

10. Memphis (5-0): Hmmm… is Memphis really a top 10 team? Hard to say, but they’ve beat two teams from major conferences and play Kansas, Georgetown, and Tennessee before entering conference play, so we’ll know for sure after that stretch. [13]

11. Kentucky (4-1): Like Michigan State, the Wildcats fell victim to The Kemba Walker Show this past week. However, also like Michigan State, they notched a win over Washington. Plus, Terrence Jones looks damn good… there was hype around him in the preseason, but he could wind up being an All-American and top 3 draft pick this year. [7]

12. Baylor (4-0): Undefeated, but untested. [14]

13. Illinois (6-1): Easy week for the Illini. [15]

14. Georgetown (6-0): Same for the Hoyas. [17]

15. Tennessee (5-0): I hate on the Volunteers every year and they consistently prove me wrong. I was hoping to drop them out of the Top 25 this week; instead they had the best week of any team not named Connecticut. The Vols are #2 in RPI rankings and #7 in strength of schedule. The AP had them #24 last week, but they should be right around here now. I was tempted to rank them even higher than this. [18]

16. Minnesota (6-0): Minnesota maintains after a surprisingly strong start. [19]

17. Villanova (5-1): Just when I bite the bullet and bump Villanova up my rankings, they get upset by Tennessee. [10]

18. Purdue (5-1): I wanted to believe that Purdue could survive as a top ten team without Robbie Hummel, but I felt an impending sense of doom surrounding this team. They hadn’t played anybody special and I thought Richmond might upset them and they did exactly that. Richmond’s a good team, but that’s a game Purdue needs to win. [9]

19. Gonzaga (3-2): The Zags took another loss, but salvaged their top 25 spot with a win over Marquette. [16]

20. Washington (3-2): As a Huskies fan, this was a heartbreaking week. After absolutely demolishing Virginia, the Huskies played a mediocre game against Kentucky and still hung in there until the last couple minutes. They followed that up with a solid showing against Michigan State and barely lost that one. Even though UW took two tough losses, they still showed they are a team to be reckoned with. They’ll climb back up these rankings soon enough. I hope! [11]

21. San Diego State (6-0): Maintaining… [23]

22. Missouri (5-0): I’m waiting for Missouri to lose a game so I can say “Ha!” but it hasn’t happened. Still, I refuse to move a team I don’t really believe in up the rankings until they beat someone worth talking about. [22]

23. Texas (5-1): The Longhorns nearly lost to Rice this weekend, but knuckled up for the win to hold their top 25 spot. [24]

24. BYU (6-0): BYU fell out of my rankings last week, but made it back after going 3-0 this week with wins over South Florida and a St. Mary’s team that I wanted to put here. [Unranked]

25. UNLV (6-0): UNLV has officially played their way onto the national radar with big wins over Wisconsin and Virginia Tech. [Unranked]

DROPPED OUT

Butler
North Carolina
Virginia Tech

NOTES

*Temple, a team that was in the top 25 in both the AP and ESPN polls, took two losses this week. They’ll be unranked tomorrow and I feel kind of smart.

*North Carolina won both their games this week, but they still drop out because they haven’t beaten anyone good, lost to two unranked teams, and, after last year, it’s time to show and prove for UNC.

*I wouldn’t be shocked to see Notre Dame ranked tomorrow. They have a pretty impressive early resume for a team no one was talking about, notching wins over California, Georgia, and Wisconsin already.

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