No dogs playing poker

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Too easy

So, I've bet on nine preseason Major League Baseball games in the last weeks of the Cactus and Grapefruit Leagues.

Result: One lost, one stopped at a draw after the 10th inning (money back) and seven won . Suspiciously easy...

My highly scientific method: If one team gives about 1.7 times the bet or lower and is above the other with >2 times the bet in the rankings (Won - Lost), bet. Just win or lose, no tricky over/under bets ("Well, Billy Bob Pugwash is probably pitching for the San Angeles Demons and it's partially cloudy so I don't think there will be many runs.") or messy parlays.

It goes better than my poker. No long-winded bad beat stories but: Several KK vs AA. Good hits vs better hits like JK (the very first hand after my quad Kings) flop QJJ, turn blank, river K for a full house... vs QQ for a flopped boat.

Let's see - I play poker, drink bourbon, follow baseball, have a lucky dollar bill in my wallet and a lucky halfdollar in my pocket sometimes. Is my honorary US citizenship in the mail already? Of course, weigh that against the fact that I've made jokes about the governor of Alaska and that my Delta Airmiles have expired (and that I got 4 S'ed once).

W Innings

I'm reading Baseball For Dummies. I've verified that my TV channel package will show Major League Baseball this year as well (it was last year I saw some games on one of the sports channels and got hooked). I created an additional fantasy baseball lineup.

In preseason betting, I'm two out of three. I only make "surebets", low odds on favorites. Damn KC Royals. Go Cubs and Yankees.

I haven't found any cheap bats, balls or gloves yet.

Pass the beer and pretzels.

Batter up

I wrote earlier that I was getting hooked on baseball.

Opening Day is approaching, and I've even created a fantasy baseball lineup at MLB.com, the Swedish Meatballs.

Even before I got interested in baseball, I bought an MLB baseball cap. A Yankees one. I don't have any particular team preference, I just like the design. Also, good luck finding anything other than a Yankees cap in Sweden, because it's more of a (hip hop?) fashion item/accessory. I think in stores, it's 90% NY or more, and a few of the other well-known Major League teams (Angels, both Sox). More for the look of the logo than any geographical preference. Something like Arizona Diamondbacks or Seattle Mariners would be a rare find.

I think I'll try to find a Mets cap and let it fight it out with my Yankees cap.

Also, maybe I should try to scrounge some equipment and get some people to play ball, or at least catch. That could be fun. But official baseball equipment is expensive, and there's not a lot of second hand stuff (other than bats from our local variation brennball and retired streetfighters). Also, I'm doublehanded. I would be a right-handed hitter but a left-handed pitcher. Gloves are hard to find, and then gloves for the right hand would be even harder to come by.

Too keep my Blogspot "active", here's how I feel at the tables sometimes.

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The last holdout

Just before 2008 ended, I was the last person in the northern hemisphere with Internet to get a Facebook account.

Nom

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A first for everything

Did the earth move for you too, honey?

I woke up half an hour early this morning hearing rattling and rumbling, and feeling some shaking. I didn't think much of it then, thinking it was a passing heavy truck, or a flyby from the nearby airbase (fighters or helicopters). It can't be, not in Sweden, right?

Wrong, it was a real earthquake, the first one I've felt.

Initially reported to be between 4.5 and 5.0 on the Richter scale (USGS first said 4.7), those bastards at USGS now seem to have downgraded it to a 4.2.

We want bragging rights, damnit! And T-shirts!

U.S. Presidential Election 08

So Tina Fey didn't get enough electoral votes but Keegan-Michael Key will get an auger rated in January.

What will The Daily Show do now?


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US and A

I'm becoming Americanized... When I was in Las Vegas, Nevada in 2006 there were times when people thought I was a local. Not surprising, since I'm white, didn't wear the traditional national costume of Krepplachistan (I wore Hawaiian shirts, mostly), and my English language skills are very good according to TOEIC and university courses.

At that time, I didn't pay much attention to the TV screens lining many poker rooms. They showed sports, much baseball.

A while ago, I was channel surfing and saw that a sports channel included in my package showed at least one Major League Baseball game from NASN daily and I watched for a while and then decided to learn more about baseball. Much as I did with cricket, satisfy my curiosity about what the big deal was.

Now I'm hooked.

I'll probably start following it even more next season, from the start, and probably also partake in fantasy baseball. I'll learn more about the trickier rules and what numbers are considered good.

Part of the appeal I think lies in that it, like poker, is much a game about percentages and a little gambling. Should they give an intentional walk with runners on first and second with two outs at the bottom of the eighth with a weak hitter next in the lineup? I dunno.

It would be fun to try playing (or just pitching, batting and fielding) but baseball isn't a big sport here in Sweden and the nearest field and club that I know of is 40 miles (60 kilometers) away and that's a bit far to do anything serious.

A certain festive betting and gaming site gave me $10 again (they do that from time to time to lure me back) and I blew it all on what I thought would be a sure bet. But nooo, the D-Backs choked against the Pirates and lost 2-0.

Geez. The next time I'm in Las Vegas I'm going to be a total degenerate. I'll be at a poker table, drunk as a skunk on fine American products like bourbon and canoe lovemaking beer with half of my attention going to the TVs and ballgames "No, no, nooo, don't put in a rookie pinch hitter now, I've got three Benjamins on the over/under. Awfuhgeddaboudit, get me some racing forms..." Yup, it's the ponies next, I'm afraid.