Fist-bumping Zaza (Hawks 105, Nets 88)

I bought a cheap $10 tix again and made my way down to Section 305 from 303 only to be totally jealous that the Hawks starters, from Josh Smith to Zaza Pechulia, were fist-bumping one of my colleagues and the rest of press row -- I had never seen that before the game.

It was a great day to go but it took forever to get in. Still, I made the most of their $1 pre-game promotion of hotdogs, popcorn and sodas.

It was this discount that led to my migration from the Section 303 seat -- after I came back from the concession stand with another doll-to soda, a family was sitting in my seat and several down the row. So I made my way to the $30 section instead.

I really liked seeing Acie Law's energy driving to the basket and really have come to think that Zaza earns his money, too. It was interesting seeing two players from my alma mater -- Vince Carter and Marvin Williams -- and thinking they are at different levels in their careers.

I had expected the Hawks to fall behind early but they kept up, or caught up after falling behind in the first quarter. I could only stay for the half but even half a game is worthwhile.

Value in hoops

Having a great year with sports, going 39-21-2 (65 percent) so far. If you take out my terrible 2-7 football/bowl game record for the year, it's 37-14-2, it's 72.5 percent for mostly basketball.

Most of my analysis is the wrong kind, the square kind, but I've found the NBA and college basketball's ACC to provide amazing value so far because in both there are really strong teams and horrible teams that face each other nightly.

I use rivals.com to compare scores of teams. With college basketball teams, you can easily see the list of scores, particularly how well a team has done against the Top 25.

Last night, for example, Florida State tends to play the better teams close, so I chose them for +11.5 instead of my alma mater, UNC. Carolina won by 3.

I've tended to look at Duke, Wake Forest and UNC against the ACC's worst teams -- including Maryland and Georgia Tech and have gone 6-2-2, with 2 of wins being 4-unit plays (Duke-Ga Tech and Wake-BC).

The Southern Conference's Davidson also plays like an ACC powerhouse. Last night's line of Davidson by 11 points against Chattanooga was just ridiculous.

With the NBA, I've gone 27-12 with the strong versus the weak. Celtics, Magic, Lakers against real terrible teams like the Wizards, Clippers and Golden State. I usually use rivals.com's calendar schedule that easily lets me see basic trends in how the teams perform at home and on the road.

This is by no means a system or something that I can say would work in the long term. It just seems right now there's tremendous value in betting obvious outcomes.

10K in online poker? Read this

Casinos in the United States fall under the same currency requirements as banks and other financial institutions. Congress and the IRS recognized that money laundering and other currency shenanigans could occur at a casino. I've always felt that one day the Treasury Department would consider offshore (foreign) online casino to be a foreign financial institution and subject to reporting. Well, that day is here.

Every year I've sent an inquiry to the FBAR group at the Treasury on this subject. This year they responded that these accounts must be reported if the account value requirements were met.

To determine if you need to report your foreign financial accounts (including online casinos), determine the maximum value of each account during 2008. Add up the total. If the sum is $10,000 or more all your accounts must be reported.
-"Online Casinos are Foreign Financial Institutions," Taxable Talk

Taxable Talk is a great resource. What a timely warning now that tax filing season is upon us.
Anyone with an online balance that high should read the rest of his post, especially the part of reporting that increases a chance of audit and that not reporting it could lead to hefty fines.

Going to have to park the Mako, Operation Anchorage is here

A friend recommended Mass Effect and I've been playing it pretty much like I did Fallout 3, non-stop, although I have managed to get in my hands of poker this month.

But now, the first of Fallout 3's downloadable content is here, Operation Anchorage, which lets you experience the fabled invasion of Alaska by the Chinese that was the prelude to Fallout's post-apocalyptic storyline.

The announcement is here.

In the upcoming months there will be two other new downloadable contents for Fallout 3:

I've yet to play using Xbox LIVE, even despite invitations to kill zombies in Left 4 Dead with Absinthe.

But this is too good to pass up...

Your mistake, sir, is that I have little money left

I wish I had the hand history from early this morning, a good example of the aggro nature of the games lately. But not aggro in a good way - I question the wisdom of tourney-pushing a buy-in without thinking more.

Anyway, I get 3-bet when I have KK in late in NL$1/2 6-max, so I make it 4-bet for $150 since we both have some money behind. Flop comes with an A that I hate, he pushes for $190 and I'm like oh, great.

Until I notice that I only have $50 left in this $350 pot. lol

He had QQ. So I double up and call it a night.

Of course, can't fault him for 3-betting QQ here but there are plenty of other instances where I see 3-bets with far less, especially at Poker Stars.

A ridiculous call

I just couldn't take a losing player's (-$2,500, 23,000 hands) word that he/she had the Q.

Full Tilt, NL$1/2, deep stack 6-max

Free hand converter brought to you by CardRunners

Seat 1: prowest ($291.55) -
Seat 2: kurokitty ($398) -
Seat 3: dangerousmav ($297.05) -
Seat 4: lolo6741 ($223.85)
Seat 5: hot_wheelz_8 ($193.45)
Seat 6: willie34 ($162.50)


PRE-FLOP:

kurokitty posts small blind $1
dangerousmav posts BIG blind $2
Dealt To: kurokitty


RAISE lolo6741 ($4.50)
FOLD hot_wheelz_8
FOLD willie34
FOLD prowest
RAISE kurokitty ($15.50)
FOLD dangerousmav
CALL lolo6741 ($11)


FLOP:

Pot: $33
   

BET kurokitty ($27)
CALL lolo6741 ($27)


TURN:

Pot: $87
     

CHECK kurokitty
BET lolo6741 ($43.50)
CALL kurokitty ($43.50)


RIVER:

Pot: $174
      

CHECK kurokitty
CHECK lolo6741


SHOWDOWN:
lolo6741:

kurokitty:


kurokitty collected $171 from main pot with two pair, Jacks and Threes

SUMMARY:
Total pot: $174 Rake: $3

Final Board:
     

Seat 1: prowest button didnt bet folded - Net Gain/Loss: ($0)
Seat 2: kurokitty small blind showed [Jc Js] and won 171 with two pair, Jacks and Threes - Net Gain/Loss: ($85)
Seat 3: dangerousmav big blind folded before the Flop - Net Gain/Loss: ($-2)
Seat 4: lolo6741 showed [Td Tc] and lost with two pair, Tens and Threes - Net Gain/Loss: ($-86)
  
Seat 5: hot_wheelz_8 didnt bet folded - Net Gain/Loss: ($0)
Seat 6: willie34 didnt bet folded - Net Gain/Loss: ($0)


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HOTD

Overbet is a $54,000 winner in 297,000 hands.

Which means, he can afford it.

NL$2/4, deep stack 6-max

Free hand converter brought to you by CardRunners

Seat 1: KayBash ($800) Sitting Out
Seat 2: Keybored111 ($451.90)
Seat 3: kingsjstur ($400) -
Seat 4: SoccerMom5 ($426) -
Seat 5: overbet56 ($800) -
Seat 6: kurokitty ($827)


PRE-FLOP:

SoccerMom5 posts small blind $2
overbet56 posts BIG blind $4
Dealt To: kurokitty


RAISE kurokitty ($14)
FOLD Keybored111
CALL kingsjstur ($14)
FOLD SoccerMom5
RAISE overbet56 ($58)
CALL kurokitty ($44)
FOLD kingsjstur


FLOP:

Pot: $132
   

BET overbet56 ($84)
CALL kurokitty ($84)


TURN:

Pot: $300
     

BET overbet56 ($176)
CALL kurokitty ($176)


RIVER:

Pot: $652
      

BET overbet56 ($482)
CALL kurokitty ($482)


SHOWDOWN:
overbet56:

kurokitty:


kurokitty collected $1613 from main pot with four of a kind, Queens

SUMMARY:
Total pot: $1 Rake: $3

Final Board:
     

Seat 1: KayBash is sitting out - Net Gain/Loss: ($0)
Seat 2: Keybored111 didnt bet folded - Net Gain/Loss: ($0)
Seat 3: kingsjstur button folded before the Flop - Net Gain/Loss: ($-14)
Seat 4: SoccerMom5 small blind folded before the Flop - Net Gain/Loss: ($-2)
Seat 5: overbet56 big blind showed [As Ah] and lost with two pair, Aces and Queens - Net Gain/Loss: ($-800)
  
Seat 6: kurokitty showed [Qs Qd] and won 1,613 with four of a kind, Queens - Net Gain/Loss: ($813)


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