NFL Picks Contest- Week 6

 If you are picking tonight's game, I need your pick by 7pm (CDT).


We're down to heads-up play with only ggrouchie and Vegas Vic left standing.

Good luck!

MLB Picks, Oct 11th

Only one game worth a peek today.

$15 on Detroit (Verlander) over Oakland (Parker) -1 1/2 @ +$120

Tiger's ace Justin Verlander takes the ball in the final game of this ALDS. Verlander is 5-0 with a 1.03 ERA in his last 5 starts, including a 7 inning, 1 run stint against the A's in the first game of the series. Overall he is 3-0 with a 0.90 ERA against Oakland this season. The A's counter w Jarrod Parker, who gave up 2 runs in 6+ innings in a loss to the Tigers his last time out. Oakland has won 8 in a row at home and 10 of 11.

Starting Bankroll           $1,500.00
Profit/Loss                     $ 173.50
Current Bankroll            $1,673.50

Action is considered dead unless both listed pitchers start.

All picks are for entertainment purposes only with no guarantees implied. Any money wagered is at your own risk.

Good luck!

MLB Picks- Division Series, Oct 10th

Two games on the menu today that look interesting, both in the AL.

$20 on Detroit (Scherzer) over Oakland (Griffen) @ -$110

Max Scherzer gets the nod for the Tigers in Oakland today. Scherzer is 16-7 this season and is 5-1 with a 1.50 ERA in his last 9 starts. A.J. Griffen toes the rubber for the A's, who will be trying to stave off elimination for the second straight game. Griffen has had a nice season, as indicated by his 7-1 record, but has stumbled lately, posting a 1-1 record with a 7.79 ERA in his last 4 outings. He surrendered 5 runs in 4+ innings against the Tigers in mid September.

$10 on Baltimore (Gonzalez) over NY Yankees (Kuroda) @ +$160

A hot Miguel Gonzalez takes the ball for the Orioles in Yankee Stadium tonight. Gonzalez is 3-0 with a 1.83 ERA in his last three starts and is 2-0 with a 2.63 ERA against the Pinstripers this season. Hiroki Kuroda will throw for the Yankees, bringing a 2-1 record with a 4.00 in his last three starts to the party. Baltimore is 6-3 in the Yanks' house this season.

Wynn has the best price on this one.

Starting Bankroll           $1,500.00
Profit/Loss                     $ 203.50
Current Bankroll            $1,703.50

Action is considered dead unless both listed pitchers start.

All picks are for entertainment purposes only with no guarantees implied. Any money wagered is at your own risk.

Good luck!

MLB Picks- Division Series, Oct 9th

I don't see any noticeable advantage in either of the Division Series games today, so I'll put my wallet in my pocket and try again tomorrow.

Starting Bankroll           $1,500.00
Profit/Loss                     $ 203.50
Current Bankroll            $1,703.50

Action is considered dead unless both listed pitchers start.

All picks are for entertainment purposes only with no guarantees implied. Any money wagered is at your own risk.

Good luck!

BOOM! Goes the Dynamite!

We only had four show up for Tin Man's $5 NLHE Tourney on Friday so we decided to skip it and just play a cash game.

We usually set the buy in at $2, but agreed to raise it to $5, with $2 re-buys, since we weren't ponying up any moolah for the tournament. With the Rangers completing their epic meltdown on the TV in the background, the poker was pretty relaxed, mainly because we have all played together so much, we know each others game top to bottom and don't have to pay attention too closely.

Two hands do stand out however, and I was involved in both. In the first, I open raised from the button with the powerful 2-4 offsuit and was called by Philly Phanatic. The flop showed three hearts with Philly checking and I bet a little over 1/2 pot and got an unwanted call. The turn produced a fourth heart and I once again bet after Philly checked. This time I got the fold I wanted, with Philly showing second pair. I returned the favor by showing him my bluff.

In a later hand I raised from UTG with 9-7 soooted, only to get an all-in 3 bet from Tin Man. It wasn't a whole lot more to call, and the entertainment value of a possible suck out on Tin Man and watching him blow his stack made it worth the risk. Tin Man tabled pocket kings and the mumbling started when the flop gave me a four flush. He felt a little better when the turn was a blank, but the real pissin' and moanin' started when I hit my inside straight redraw on the river :)

You remember the scene in Christmas Vacation when Clark (Chevy Chase) goes off on his boss when he learns his Christmas bonus is a membership to the "Jelly of the Month" Club?

Fun times!

I ended the evening ahead by $8 as did Lil' Annie Okie. Philly dropped $6 and Tin Man took the worst of it with a $10 loss.

On the drive home I was witness to a car wreck at an intersection. Fortunately, no one was seriously injured, but I was delayed for about an hour waiting for the police to show so I could give a statement.

No poker next week as both the Tuesday and Friday home games have been cancelled, so it should be a break even week, at least at the table. Hopefully, I'll be able to make a few bucks on the sports betting side.

Till next time, win the flips.

MLB Picks- ALDS, Oct 8th

I like the match up in tonight's late game.

$15 on NY Yankees (Pettitte) over Baltimore (Chen) -1 1/2 @ +$120

In a battle of southpaws at Camden Yards tonight, the Bronx Bombers look to take a death grip on this series. Andy Pettitte gets the nod for the visitors, bringing a 2-1 record with a 1.62 ERA in his last three starts to the party. The Orioles counter with Wei-Yin Chen, who is 0-4 with a 6.06 ERA in his last six trips to the bump. The Yankees have hit Chen hard this year as his 1-2 record and 6.38 ERA indicate. New York is 7-3 at Camden Yards this season.

Caesars/Harrahs and Stations have the best line on this one.

Starting Bankroll           $1,500.00
Profit/Loss                     $ 218.50
Current Bankroll            $1,718.50

Action is considered dead unless both listed pitchers start.

All picks are for entertainment purposes only with no guarantees implied. Any money wagered is at your own risk.

Good luck!

Lighting Strikes Duck!

Due to a severe lack of judgement, I convinced myself that the Dallas Cowboys offensive line would be good enough to keep the Chicago Bears defense off of Tony Romo long enough for him to be effective, and took lightning36 up on a wager that my Cowboys would send "Da Bears" home bloodied and bruised. Well, the Cowboys O-Line was offensive all right, and because of that I lost the bet and have to eat crow and turn over Small Potatoes to the lightgiver for a post.

I noticed he used a numerous pictures in his post. I guess if I had his writing talent, I would use a lot of pictures too :)

Lucki Duck and I had a bet on last week's Bears-Cowboys Monday Night Football game. The winner would get to make a guest post on the loser's blog. It sounded good to me, the proposer, as I had a pretty good feeling that the Bears would come out on top. They did, of course -- 34-18. So Lucki is really the winner as he gets to have a genuine lightning36 post on his blog -- clearly the gold standard for savvy poker bloggers.

But first -- a little talk about Texans. Living all my life in Illinois, I had not met many people from Texas until I hit the college years. It took me a little time to understand, but I finally realized where most Texans are coming from. I began to understand how Texans see the United States:

Being a Chicago Bears fan all my life, I was never one to root for the Cowboys, of course. I figured that people who lived in the area of the country would probably root for "America's Team." Whenever I saw pictures of Cowboys fans at their home team's game, I was reminded that things are much different in the southwest. For one thing, almost all the guys who went to football games looked and dressed like this:

In all fairness, however, I would not be surprised to find that Lucki expected all Bears fans to look like this:

Of course, most Bears fans DO NOT look like this. Their bellies are usually a tad larger. : o )

But ... I must tell you that Texas sports teams have been extremely important to Chicago fans for the past several years. Aside from the previously mentioned Bears-Cowboys game, Chicago has relied on Texas in several ways. The only Chicago Major League Baseball championship in my lifetime was in 2005, when my White Sox went to the World Series and defeated ... the Houston Astros. Can you say sweep?

And sadly, in one of many, many rebuilding years for the Cubbies, the denizens of The Friendly Confines lost 101 games in 2012. But fear not -- they did not have the worst record in baseball. That "honor" belonged to ...

Surprise -- the Astros again, who lost a tragic 107 games. Houston, we have a problem.

Kidding aside, I do want to say a few words about my friend, Lucki Duck. I actually met him online through Very Josie, as he began to follow her blog and play in her private tournaments. We found out that we were going to be in Las Vegas at the same time in February 2011 and met up.

One of the best times I have ever had in Las Vegas was a lunch I had with Lucki, his lovely wife, and fellow blogger The Neophyte and his wife. The lunch was interesting -- just five; "slowly maturing" adults from different parts of the country talking a little poker, a little family, and a little life.

So ... I am honored to make this guest post on Lucki Duck's blog and proud to call this fine Texas gentleman my friend. Now if only I could get him to see the light and root for the Chicago Bears ...