ESPN's PTI had a discussion about which Jessica is the hottest. Sounded like a good debate, the kind you'd expect on a blog named "Big Slick Nuts".

Without further ado...

Hottest Jessica Poll
Which Jessica is the hottest?	Jessica Alba Jessica Simpson Jessica Beal
	Current Results

From MMORPG Blog

Still popular, according to Lycos:

The Top 10 Most-Searched Toys this holiday season: Poker; Pokemon; iPod; Neopets; Barbie; Harry Potter; Blackjack; Baccarat; Bratz; Playstation 3.

Of all the Michael Richards videos floating around...

Jesus H. Christ comments on Michael Richards...



10-20 minutes, indeed.

Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in...

So, today I turn 40.

I have a ton of emotions about reaching this milestone. None of them good. I'm having way more trouble facing this birthday than any previous milestone. There's just something about waking up and realizing you may have peaked at 38. Ironic, because I was just delivered the obligatory balloon bouquet with the "Over the Hill" print on them.

From my parents.

So, I sat down at the PC today ready to re-energize my career-search (I have a job, one that sucks and doesn't pay the bills and exploits my overqualified selling skillz skills (I turned 40, I'm no longer allowed the luxury of using the urban "z"), but at least I have one). My google search agent hits my mailbox to let me know there is some news item that mentions "poker blogs".

Happy Birthday! Iggy is back! What a guy, to remember and post an special uber in a new location, just for me!

And so I waste the first hour of my re-energized career search destroying my home-office productivity.

[sigh]

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Not feeling up to doing a "Posts with the Most" post this week, but wanted to point you to this great workplace rant by Scurvy. Nobody does the workplace rant better than Scurvy. Made better because I know where he works and his regular complaints about his workplace overlords dumbing down his job to take away any value he might add.

Ironic, because a few months before I met Scurvy in Austin, I'd recommended to my boss that we not renew our contract with his employer because they weren't adding value (this, of course, was before I met him and knew where he worked, Scurvy-workplace-overlords!).

Oh my sweet lord...

Sure to give Al a run for his money for Post of the Year. All I can say is:

I WANT MORE!!!

I am SO prescient

To the fool that eff'd with Pauly's site, I warned you two weeks ago in my anniversary post:

"2. Thou shalt not take Pauly's name in vain, lest you bring down a firestorm of shit."

And to any pretenders to the throne, let me just remind you of my first commandment:

"1. Iggy is the blogfather, do not try to take his place."

Remember, I'm prescient. Really.

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While I've never taken advantage of the opportunity to travel to a blogger gathering and meet Iggy, I've exchanged e-mails from time to time about one thing or another. When I first did so, I was pretty nervous, expecting to get some male blogger-diva attitude in reply. Instead, he was generous and friendly, and I think this has helped set the tone for the community. From time to time I've had to contact other "top" bloggers (I know they hate being segmented this way, but for the sake of brevity...) and found them all to be the same. Bloggers are truly cool people, and this would be a far different community without Iggy's example. I truly hope this is *just* a hiatus.

It never ends

I tried the NL cap game at Full Tilt. Micro stakes, of course. What a stupid game.

I saw so many dumb calls because it's "only $3". Yeah. It's a card game, and there's betting, but is it poker?

Silly. Is the only strategy available to just tighten up and pray you don't get outdrawn by 4 idiots? Seriously, is there money to be made in the long run, or is it a complete waste of time? Frankly, I was sitting there for an hour or so, just thinking back to Hank's post about Morten's Theorem.

I have so much to learn about this game.

Cool Feature

If you click the Permanent Link in my posts and go the Post Page, at the bottom of the post will be a random BSN post from some time in the past. The post changes every 24 hrs, and I'm dying enjoying being embarassed and humiliated surprised by some of the past posts. Might be a good way to weed out the crap over time. Unlike some bloggers that treat every post as manna from heaven, to be preserved for all eternity, I understand that 80% of what I spew is filler until I find a muse for the other 20% I'm actually proud of.

Brilliant!

Dead Money = Sir AlCantHang I was going to write a eulogy, but then
I read Al's and said, "Ah, fuck it, I can't even come close."

Like a mini-vacation...

It's rare in the new world of my employment to get 2 days off in a row, especially when one of them is a Sunday. When I got news of this, I made hurried plans to visit the old homestead. An enjoyable day was spent celebrating the birthday of a nephew, BuccaneerMike's son.

BuccaneerMike told me the boys had only played poker once since Old Man passed away, a lost poker weekend spent at a North Florida hunting camp. It's weird how the loss of one member of a group changes the group dynamic to that extent.

On the "good news" front, an old family friend bought the local hot dog stand and has made huge improvements. Great leaps in both the facility and service, while having the good sense to leave the hot dogs alone. If you're ever in the Brooksville, Fl area, you gotta get a foot long.

Posts with the most

This One'll Get to Ya... | PokerBlog.com Follow the links to the WHRP YouTube video. It's my favorite ever, and I can still remember my father laughing so hard he stopped breathing.

Up For Poker Blog Perhaps "Stupid is as stupid does", but this is a great post nonetheless

Bill’s Poker Blog » Pass The Bill Lose The Hill Give Bill your suggestions for how to use his new URL

Pamela Poker Joins Stardust, Klondike, Jim Leach - Card Squad ... and the world lowered it's collective head in despair...

PokerPages.com Poker News - Oh, The Good Times In The Foxy Woods...; Foxwoods, CT Great trip report from Joe Sebok

Something to think about...

A few days ago, I posted about Rafe Furst's article in the Full Tilt Tips from the Pro's e-mail. I thought it was fairly sound.

Then I read Maroon's analysis of the same article.

That's why he makes way more money at this than I do, folks. Good analysis.

Site Review: Cardschat.com

I’ve been poking around Cardschat.com for a few days since discovering their blog. Good, solid, pokery stuff in there, folks. I also like how well the site is organized. The site reviews are comprehensive without being overwhelming, and are consistent so you can compare apples to apples. They also have a ton of bonus codes, so you can pick and choose from one spot as you chase first-time and reload bonuses.

The Articles page is another example of strong organization: Articles are broken down by topic, with a good range of sub-topics in each without so many that it becomes overwhelming and difficult to follow. Generally, these articles cover the sort of thing you might ask in a forum; they could almost serve as an FAQ for all those questions we ask in those first few years we’re learning the game.

The Online Poker Guide is another really solid section of the site, and should be considered a “must-read” for beginners. I certainly wish I’d had this resource 3 years ago when I started dipping my toes into the online waters; I definitely would have slept better understanding how my money was being handled, and might have avoided a few of those beginner mistakes, namely, playing over my head.

The Poker Odds Calculator is great, probably my favorite of all I’ve seen. Great graphics, easy to set up the player cards and the board, and a Random function where the calculator will change the cards in play to random hands so the player can get a feel for how different hand types can play with different boards.

The heart of the site, however is the Forums. With over 14,000 registered members, 20,000 threads, and 155,000 posts, there’s a ton of activity going on. Most threads seem to stay on topic pretty well, so that’s a big sign of a quality community in my book.

Anyway, looks like a good place to hang, so bookmark it and keep going back, m’kay?

Quality end-game advice from Rafe Furst and FTP

If you play at Full Tilt, you are probably receiving their "Tips From The Pros" e-mails. In the latest e-mail, Rafe's tip about a decision he made at the PLHE final table is a great example of the thought process for SNG bubble and ITM play. Back when I was playing the high-buy-in turbos on 'Stars, the good players went through this process all the time. This level of thought is why you sometimes see some funny hands shown down at that point. Someone makes a steal play at a pot with a garbage hand, and they wind up priced in to calling when the blinds decide to play back. In Rafe's case, his decision was a wash between folding and calling, and he made a good point regarding his decision to fold a live to play another hand. Holding an Ace-middle was the key to why this was a good decision - the range of hands Rizen might make that play with included a whole lot of better-Aces (making the Ace a dead card to him). Had Rafe been making the play with something like a suited-connector (8-9, for instance), the math would be changed enough that he would have been compelled to call since it was more likely both his cards were live.

Good stuff!

Posts with the mosts

SnG Strategy: 6-seaters - Online Poker Blog

Looks like his 6-seater strategy is the same as successful turbo strategy. Good solid pokery stuff right here.

 

Back-Alley Mugging By Bloody P: Blogs

Bloody P. reminds us that...

 

Res Ipsa Poker: Trust Them, They're CNN

Poker Blogging: Good for what ails ya'.

 

Mean Gene

Tears can dry.

 

The Cards Speak - A Poker Blog: Resurrection

Hank is still around, with some quality quotes.

Funny customer

Working in St. Augustine, we have a lot of deaf and blind customers due to this being the home of the Florida School for the Deaf & Blind. I had an interesting customer today. A blind African-American man came in with a friend. No that wasn't the funny part.

The funny part was his t-shirt, which read:

"I am not Stevie Wonder"

Wish I'd taken a picture...

Anniversary

As I said a few days ago, today is the two-year anniversary of this blog. If you're new to blogging, here's BSN's 10 commandments of successful poker blogging:

1. Iggy is the blogfather, do not try to take his place.

2. Thou shalt not take Pauly's name in vain, lest you bring down a firestorm of shit.

3. Keep holy PokerStars Sunday Million.

4. Honor thy Harrington, for he will bring you great wealth.

5. Thou shall not tap on the aquarium.

6. Thou shall not welch on a prop bet with another blogger.

7. Thou shall not crib another blogger's post without providing plainly visible and respectful attribution.

8. Do not bear false witness against the boys from SC. They'll kick your ass.

9. Thou shall not engage in douchebaggery behavior with another blogger's wife.

10. Thou shall not covet Al's shot lest he bite your fingers off.

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When I was a kid, I loved hitting Spencer's every time I went to the mall. Here's a coupla things I found through some of my affiliate ads that looked interesting (so buy 'em, dammit!):

 

Couldn't help myself

The Tampa Bay Business Journal has a poll up about online gambling (hey, go vote, dammit!), and I gave them my $.02:

BSN, Da' Ladies Man...

Working with teenagers/young adults has been... interesting. I'm not accustomed to men I work with sharing details of their relationships. Sometimes, it's just boyish bragging. I'm pretty sure one of the 18 year-olds just lost his virginity. He can't talk about anything else except where he's spending the night with his girlfriend.

Another young man I work with just got engaged a little over a week ago. He's 23, she's 19, and she's freshly graduated from National Guard boot camp. He works 2 jobs, and near as I can tell, has almost no social life because of it.

He came into work yesterday morning almost in tears. Seems his new 'fiance' told him last night she wanted a 'break'. He asked me what that meant.

"It means she's already started one," I told him.

Of course, he didn't want to hear that. Nobody does. Yeah, I could've been more sensitive, but you and I both know it's true. We've all been there already, haven't we?

Anyway, with this November being a big month for me - what? You haven't heard?

Yep, in addition to hitting the 2-year anniversary for this blog on November 3, I turn the big 4-0 on the 20th.

So, to keep me from sliding into the depths of depression, I'm going to engage in some active denial of this event and perhaps go through a mini-mid-life crisis right here, in this space, for the next few years days. Some may call it sophomoric humor, and Mrs. Big will continue to accuse me of misogyny So, without further ado, here is...

7 Things I Know About Women

(Ok, I'm tempted to just leave this blank, but that would defeat the purpose)

1. If they say they want a break, they've already started one.

2. If they say they want space, don't call.

3. Flowers work as an apology after the first argument, but are a waste of money after the second.

4. After 30, all they require in a mate is hair, teeth, and a job. Everything else is negotiable.

5. To quote an old country song: "Older women are beautiful lovers."

6. To the young men: Know how you can have a fight with a buddy and when it's over, it's over? Yeah, it doesn't work the same way with women.

7. Take care of "friends with priviliges" because you'll be sorry when they're gone.