Jules, you give that nimrod $1500 and I'll shoot him on general principal!

BBT stuff...

First, I can't even begin to think how bad the BBT has been for me. For one, I have played like a retard throughout. Internet Poker has been something that I have used just as fun, and not really ever put on my competition hat. And this isn't just specific events. This is all of them. Just retarded, stupid, dumbass play throughout. I am usually busy doing something else, and just don't put the concentration into it. Sometimes I'm on the radio, or working, or just plain conversing in like 10 different IM boxes with some of you and don't pay attention to position, stacks, or betting patterns anymore. It really is just about the worst thing anyone can do when competing for the crazy prizes that are up there, at the cost involved. Shame on me.

Last night I tried to hunker down and really play. That lasted about as long as the first half hour when I got a phone call from a potential suiter for the Radio Show. I ended up working about 3 spreadsheets and Power Points all while playing (and drinking, which doesn't help).

When I got down to 13th, I saw 55 in the small. I had a little less than average stack. UTG, (I forget who) had bet out about 1500 (4700 behind). I thought for about half a second, (had them covered by about 500) and just heard the voice in my head about having to win races. So I shoved. I wasn't completely sure about getting a snap call as this player had played extremely tight. Maybe He/She would be able to fold the likes of AQ, and I didn't mind going up against AK. I wasn't worried about cashing, I just wanted chips to make a run at a win. They had Jacks, and although thought about it for a while, (maybe 6 seconds), I was called and sent home. It was a horrible shove on my part. I don't think many hands raised like that utg are going to fold with the stack they had. Just another play where I wasn't paying attention, and decided to gamble on the bad end. I don't know what I beat there, or what I hold up to either, so another lesson re-learned. I just have to really start to pay attention more, if I want to take this seriously.

I am back into the top 18 in the Bodog with two Final tables the last two weeks, taking a 5th and 4th. I have decided to really pay attention in that one being that i can afford to be stupid the first couple of rounds being the structure is so slow and blinds are really low. I still need to make sure I point out in the last two to be sure that I stay in the top 18. I'm not sure how much I like or dislike that site yet. There are too many things missing that I am used to such as a time request button, and just the over all look of the site is confusing. You can't, (at least I can't find) a leaderboard, where it lists the chip leaders without having to find them at each table, and so on. Last week I was trying to call an All in against Don and someone else with AK. Everytime I hit call, I got a message that said the software is experiencing problems, please shut down and restart. It eventually worked and Don was upset about the perceived slow roll. Everytime I get moved to a new table it seems I have to shut down and retart as well. Just weird. Maybe its because I run Shitsta on my laptop, and there are compatibility problems, who knows. But Shitsta has been out for a while and you would think they would have a patch for it to work well with their software...

To follow up on the last few posts, I have spoken to more folks in the industry about the GSN situation. High Stakes Poker is actually the highest rated show on GSN and for them to outright cancel it just makes no business sense. Unless you believe that the advertisers will not continue to support it. It could be the only show on TV with 80 billion viewers, but if know one wants to pay for it, then it goes away. I have heard some things about the online sites scaling back their TV ad budgets in hopes of getting some support from the TV lobbyists on getting the UIGEA overturned. Sounds like a plan, but how much pull can the networks have in congress over this one particular issue?

I believe poker after dark is actually owned by a company owned or controlled by FTP, so that obviously would be treated a little differently. But who knows. Time will tell.

Good luck to everyone who still needs a seat in the TOC. Fischman asked me when the TOC was and I told him the wrong date. Hopefully he doesn't figure it out! One less player for all to avoid! :) My gift to all who made, and make the TOC!!