One for the thumb! Now I’ve won a SnG at FIVE different online poker sites! Of course, this speaks volumes about how pathetic my life is, and how I seek outside validation for my own self-image, and how I’m basically a complete online poker whore… Finally lost my cherry at PokerStars, winning a robust $27 in a $6 “Limit Hold’Em Turbo SnG” yesterday. Blinds increase every 5 minutes in this structure and it’s basically the poker equivalent of a Chinese fire drill with chips running in mad circles around the table.

Strangely, in limit play, “Turbo” tourneys seem to favor the grinders in the early stages since there are usually several chasers to each pot, and if you can be patient and wait for a premium hand, you can drag pretty substantial pots. Then, as the blinds increase faster than the fish can adjust their play, you can steal pots by playing off your “tight” table image (and the increasing pucker factor of the escalating blinds) by cranking up the aggression factor. One thing is for sure, it favors a flexible table approach more than it favors the pure aggression of the maniac or the robo-play of the tight-weak player. “Turbo” gets a thumbs-up from me.


Caution: Political content below!

Frankly, the Democrats must think that the average voter is a complete buffoon. Their anti-Bush rhetoric is filled with illogic and contradictions, but they keep trumpeting the same notes.

1. “Bush lied about Iraq and WMD” – Pure rhetoric. This assumes two “facts”, neither of which have been substantiated. One, this assumes Bush KNEW that Iraq didn’t have WMD, and Two, he deliberately lied about it to the American people as a rationale to invade.

A more likely scenario is that the CIA gave him effed-up intelligence, which was supported by the equally incompetent Russian and British intelligencia, and that Bush used this information to support his decision, which may or may not have been personal. Regardless, he accomplished Goal 1A, which was to eliminate an anti-American dictator from a strategically important region.

2. “Iraq never had WMD” – Ummm, just because the “weapons inspectors” didn’t find any, doesn’t mean they were never there. Put it this way, do you think NFL players use steroids? Because very few have been caught… Do you think that NFL, MLB, and NBA players do drugs? Because very few have been caught…

Why haven’t they been caught (meaning Iraq, NFL, MLB, NBA)? Well, if you KNEW when you were going to be tested or inspected, you would hide the evidence, wouldn’t you? UN inspectors gave Iraq MONTHS to hide the shit while they hid their eyes and counted to, oh, about 40,000 before calling out “Ready or not, here we come!” Hell, it’s not like the stuff was in a building marked “WMD Industries – No inspectors allowed” or “Anthrax-R-Us”. Ask yourself this: Had the US not threatened to invade, would Iraq have pursued anthrax or ricin production for terrorist reasons or genocidal warfare? Yes, and that justifies the invasion.

3. “Bush had no strategy in Iraq” – OK, this one is true. He had a white knight mentality (which incidentally isn’t unique to him). Once Saddam was gone, he thought that the people of Iraq would come streaming out of their homes, parading yellow ribbons, and clamoring for free elections. Well, that wasn’t even close to being right. It was a colossal misjudgment based upon the American cultural ideal of FREEDOM being a good thing, ignoring the effect of a repressive anti-Western religion, years of dictatorial oppression, and a fear of the military.

4. “Bush is dumb” – He may not be an articulate public speaker, but he ain’t dumb. How many of you have gone to Yale? Graduated law school? Owned a major league baseball team? Run a company? If you want articulateness, vote for Edwin Newman.

5. “Bush gave tax breaks to the rich” – He gave tax breaks to EVERYONE. Didn’t any of you take Economics in college? The rich pay waaaaay more than the poor, so in real dollars the rich saved more, but they SHOULD. Think of it like this, Joe Millionaire makes $1M a year and is in the 35% tax bracket, so his tax burden is $350K. Joe Sixpack makes $40K a year and is in the 25% tax bracket, so his tax burden is $10K. If taxes are cut by 10% across the board, the rich guy saves $35K, the not-so-rich guy saves $1K. Is that bad? Let’s say both guys spend their entire tax break, which amount helps the economy more, $35K or $1K? Sheeesh. If you raise taxes on the rich, they’ll just take their money and investments elsewhere (like Monaco), and hurt the US economy that way. God, liberals are fiscal retards.

6. “Bush will outlaw gay marriage and abortion” – Ummm, no he won’t. It’s virtually impossible for a President to do, no matter what his personal views are. Ronald Reagan didn’t pass any anti-abortion legislation, and he was the most powerful anti-abortion president (in terms of Congressional clout) that we’ve had in the post-Roe v. Wade years. Gay marriage should be an issue for the states, and frankly, the federal government has no business legislating ANYTHING about marriage or personal relationships, nor would any of it pass any court judgment. Of course, this means that we shouldn’t ADD any language guaranteeing special treatment either…

Like I’ve said, I don’t think Bush is a particularly strong President, possibly not even a good one, but Kerry hasn’t done ANYTHING from a legislative perspective, a leadership perspective, or even a campaigning perspective (other than saying “I’m not him”) to indicate that he would be preferable. In fact, if anything, it shows how weak the Democrats are that he would be their standard bearer. Quick questions for you Kerry supporters: What’s his view on tax increases? Cutting government programs? HOW to get France/Germany to support Middle East peace?

Kerry is the political equivalent of a Monday morning quarterback. He complains a lot, because it’s easy when you haven’t really done it, but he doesn’t seem to have any concrete solutions. It would be the equivalent of putting me in charge of the SF 49ers. Hmmmmm....