My poker play has officially declined into the Horrendous stage. Played two 20-seaters, busted out in both before the final table by overplaying mediocre hands. It was almost an out-of-body experience watching me slide the raise-bar over into the all-in territory. On one, I knew I was beat, but just didn’t have the discipline to walk away from the pot. I had AQo from LP, and made a moderate raise. Got two callers to see a ten-high rainbow flop. After the brick flop, I bet slightly more than the pot, saw one fold, and then a raise all-in. Right there, I mentally knew that he had paired or made a set, but for some frickin’ reason, I called. Naturally, he flipped over T9o and when I didn’t improve, took the pot and my tournament life. He called a raise preflop with T9o to beat me! Sigh.

My poker malaise may be attributable to the multiple distractions around the house (new kitchen tile, new kitchen cabinets, new doors all through the house, new appliances, etc.). The whole house is a mess with boxes of kitchen crap strewn all over the house, TV trays in the living room, wads of newspaper for packing thrown around the family room. I’m too damn tired to muster any energy for poker. I’ve actually have more enthusiasm for other computer games than online poker lately (Splinter Cell, Madden, Ghost Recon). Reading through the other blogs, it seems like many others are fighting these poker doldrums, like we’re on a collective poker overload right now. More and more bloggers are writing about drinking, travel, drinking, fantasy football, drinking, and television shows than any actual table play, virtual or b&m.

Speaking of fantasy football, here’s a tip for you. Check back on who I drafted, and get rid of them. All of them. Deuce McAllister? Hurt. Kevan Barlow? Hurt, but still might play. Todd Heap? Hurt. I made two good picks in the whole freakin’ draft, Chad Pennington and Isaac Bruce. My platoon 3rd WRs, Muhsin Muhammad and Reggie Wayne? Played them in the exact WRONG order, missing out on their good weeks. Got off to a splendid 0-2 start, just like my 49ers. In other words, my FFL is in about as good a shape as my online poker play.

On a more competitive note, the Doggers are coming into SBC Park to play the Giants in a pivotal series this weekend. If the Giants win two out of three, they’ll be ½ game back with six to play. If they lose two of three, they’ll be virtually out of it. Here’s hoping that Shawn Green has a nice traditional Yom Kippur and stays home tonight and Saturday, though rumor has it that he’ll violate his religious views to play tonight. I hope they play some “Hava Nageela” on the stadium speakers when he bats, just to point out what a disappointment he probably is to his sweet Jewish mother. The guilt should overwhelm him into popping up four times.

And I’m just curious, Otis brings up some questions about the geography of the blogosphere, and I know I’m a West Coaster, but are there any others in the Bay Area? I haven’t seen anyone specifically talking about living in Northern Kah-lee-for-nee-yah. We can’t let the East Coasters have all the roadtrips….