Friday, September 08, 2006

Transsexuals, Two Million Extra Chips, and a 180

I just stood in line behind a preoperative transsexual at Old Navy. He was very tall and built and wore gym shorts and muscle T but had your 55-year old aunt's frizzy auburn ponytail and wore fuschia lipstick. Thick gold hoop earrings finished off the look. He/she purchased a curious combination of scoop-neck henleys and boxer shorts and paid cash. Only in L.A.

As I turned out of the parking lot and prepared to make a left on La Cienega, I noticed a huge banner dangling off the Beverly Center mall. "H&M. Beverly Center. Fall 2006." I almost read-ended the SUV in front of me as I squealed in delight and speed-dialed Showcase.

Fashion-conscious east coasters know what I'm talking about. H&M has some fabulous stuff at insanely low prices. Whenever I go to New York, I'm guaranteed to bring back at least two full bags of stuff back on the plane with me, and I'll have spent like $200. It's about fuckin' time they set up shop out here.

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I urge all of you to check out Amy Calistri and Tim Lavalli's stellar three-part article "Two Million Questions: Will Poker Answer?" over on Poker News. These two just spent the last three weeks intensely investigating how two million extra chips were added to the final chip count in this year's WSOP Main Event and they come to a very compelling, specific conclusion. Tournament poker's security and quality-control procedures have grown obsolete in the face of super-sized fields and Tim and Amy have shown a lot of guts in explaining why.

Two Million Questions: Will Poker Answer? (Part I)
Two Million Questions: Will Poker Answer? (Part II)
Two Million Questions: Will Poker Answer? (Part III)

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I'm off the poker schneid thanks to one of those Stars 180-player SNGs. I managed to make the final table in one last night, though I exited in a disappointing sixth when A8 flopped an 8 against my AK after getting the money in pre-flop. The $180.00 was nice, as was the knowledge that the players in these are still frighteningly bad.

Might try another tonight.

6 comments:

Max said...

Shhh. Don't tell them how bad they are, they might figure it out and play better. Then again, if that hasn't happened yet....

Hammer Player a.k.a Hoyazo said...

Nice work, Change. I too love those 180 sngs, though I have not cashed in them quite as much as I think I should have.

Not only is the competition pretty damn poor, but I love the overall structure. With 180 people it's large enough to get that big mtt feel, and yet small enough that you or i can realistically feel like we can take the thing down. And it only takes like 4 hours start to finish to get through the field.

Glad to hear you're back on track. Hope the new gigs are still going well.

slb159 said...

I haven't tried a 180 yet, but did a few 45's when the 45 chazllenge was going. Yeah, they can be soothing if good play gets rewarded, but we all know that doesn't always happen.
Nice work.

Iakaris aka I.A.K. said...

If I can ever work through my deep-seeded emotional trauma relating to Stars, I will give those 180s a shot.

Nice work.

Jennifer said...

Love your blogs. :)

Just wanted to give you more info on the H&M invasion - the first one will open on 9/21 on Colorado in Pasadena. Here's a link for more info.

http://www.calendarlive.com/printedition/calendar/cl-et-quick26.2aug26,0,696981.story?coll=cl-calendar

PokahDave said...

The 4.40 180's are even worse...lots o' money lately in those....