Thursday, March 19, 2009
March Madness
Here's my bracket for this year's NCAA Tournament. I am not in any pools or anything, but some friends and I have one of those Yahoo groups set up so we can see how we do. A bunch of us will be in Vegas next weekend, so we should be able to watch a few games and make a few wagers during the Regional Semi-Finals.
Saturday, March 14, 2009
Bubble Girl and Bubble Boy
Last night, JC and I played in a home poker tournament. It was $100 buy-in with no rebuys, and there were a total of 24 entrants. Everyone started out with 5K in chips, and the blinds went up every 15 minutes. I felt the blind increases were a bit steep, but it still took over 4 hours for the tournament to finish.
The top 5 spots were paid, plus there was a 'bad beat' payout to the worst beat that caused someone to get knocked out. The worst beat was based on the exact cards (and board, if applicable) when the money went in. It didn't matter how many chips you had or anything, so if you were down to your last 100 chips when everyone else had many thousands, you'd be hoping to pick up Aces and get them cracked by something like AK. Anyway, the bad beat payout went to KK that got knocked out by 55 (all the money went in pre-flop).
JC ended up in 6th, and I ended up in 7th. So, we were effectively co-bubblers. In a twist of sorts, she was the one that knocked me out. She had about 8K in chips, and I had around 6K. Blinds were 1K/2K at the time, and she goes all in from early position. I call with all my chips from the small blind with QQ, and she tables AK. The flop came out ragged, but a K hit the turn, and I was out. A short while later she got all her money in with A7c, but was called by A8o, and the A-high board didn't come with enough high cards to get her a chop, and that was pretty much it.
It was fun. There was no cut taken out by the house, and the host provided tons of snacks and drinks, which was real nice. I did make back $60 playing some head-up limit against one of my buddies. I had some pretty good cards and pretty much ran him over.
The top 5 spots were paid, plus there was a 'bad beat' payout to the worst beat that caused someone to get knocked out. The worst beat was based on the exact cards (and board, if applicable) when the money went in. It didn't matter how many chips you had or anything, so if you were down to your last 100 chips when everyone else had many thousands, you'd be hoping to pick up Aces and get them cracked by something like AK. Anyway, the bad beat payout went to KK that got knocked out by 55 (all the money went in pre-flop).
JC ended up in 6th, and I ended up in 7th. So, we were effectively co-bubblers. In a twist of sorts, she was the one that knocked me out. She had about 8K in chips, and I had around 6K. Blinds were 1K/2K at the time, and she goes all in from early position. I call with all my chips from the small blind with QQ, and she tables AK. The flop came out ragged, but a K hit the turn, and I was out. A short while later she got all her money in with A7c, but was called by A8o, and the A-high board didn't come with enough high cards to get her a chop, and that was pretty much it.
It was fun. There was no cut taken out by the house, and the host provided tons of snacks and drinks, which was real nice. I did make back $60 playing some head-up limit against one of my buddies. I had some pretty good cards and pretty much ran him over.
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Elite Apple Trader
So, I was just looking at T&S data for afterhours trading in Apple (AAPL) and saw something funny...
18:27 $ 88.94 440
18:27 $ 88.95 100
18:11 $ 88.63 31,337
18:11 $ 88.63 20,901
18:05 $ 88.74 100
At 18:11, there's a trade for 31337 shares. I guess rich people or big traders have a sense of humor too.
18:27 $ 88.94 440
18:27 $ 88.95 100
18:11 $ 88.63 31,337
18:11 $ 88.63 20,901
18:05 $ 88.74 100
At 18:11, there's a trade for 31337 shares. I guess rich people or big traders have a sense of humor too.
Monday, March 09, 2009
Izakaya and an Irish Dive Bar
This past weekend, JC and I went to check out an Izakaya place called Oyaji in San Francisco. I'd never been to one before, and so it was a new experience for me. This one had a sushi bar too, which is not the norm, but I guess it results in an expanded sushi menu.
The sushi wasn't all that good, but the small plates were some good eats. I had all sorts of stuff -- grilled pork tongue, sizzling rib-eye beef, marinated meatballs, ramen, sushi, and more. Anyway, by the time we were done, we were ridiculously stuffed. I really felt like I needed to just rest a while before heading off to a nearby bar. Not sure I'd go out of my way just to eat there, but it wasn't a bad place and worth dropping by if you're in the area.
Oh, and I should mention that they carried Yebisu beer. That's the best Japanese beer in my opinion. I've only been introduced to it recently (maybe 6 weeks ago), but it's very different than your run-of-the-mill Sapporo or Asahi. For some reason, Yebisu tastes a lot more like a Belgian ale to me.
So, to finish up this quick story, we end up going over to an Irish dive bar about two miles away called O'Keeffe's. It's definitely a dive and it was very Irish (not the fake Irish you get at some of those so-called Irish pubs), but it was totally chill. We liked it a lot there. Both drinks and pool were cheap, the crowd was friendly, and the bartender was really cool too -- he even bought me a beer, which is always good for customer satisfaction. If it weren't so far away I'm sure we'd go back there a lot more.
The sushi wasn't all that good, but the small plates were some good eats. I had all sorts of stuff -- grilled pork tongue, sizzling rib-eye beef, marinated meatballs, ramen, sushi, and more. Anyway, by the time we were done, we were ridiculously stuffed. I really felt like I needed to just rest a while before heading off to a nearby bar. Not sure I'd go out of my way just to eat there, but it wasn't a bad place and worth dropping by if you're in the area.
Oh, and I should mention that they carried Yebisu beer. That's the best Japanese beer in my opinion. I've only been introduced to it recently (maybe 6 weeks ago), but it's very different than your run-of-the-mill Sapporo or Asahi. For some reason, Yebisu tastes a lot more like a Belgian ale to me.
So, to finish up this quick story, we end up going over to an Irish dive bar about two miles away called O'Keeffe's. It's definitely a dive and it was very Irish (not the fake Irish you get at some of those so-called Irish pubs), but it was totally chill. We liked it a lot there. Both drinks and pool were cheap, the crowd was friendly, and the bartender was really cool too -- he even bought me a beer, which is always good for customer satisfaction. If it weren't so far away I'm sure we'd go back there a lot more.
Thursday, March 05, 2009
Blokus
So, if anyone remembers, I played this board game over the holidays called Blokus. I was searching for a cheap place to buy it online today, and I ended up on the official site for the game. Well, what's great is that they have an online version of it that you can play live against others, or play against computers. Plus, you don't have to register and can play as a guest.
Give it a try... it's a great game that has an incredibly simple set of rules, but it's probably one of those 'lifetimes to master' types.
Blokus - Play Online
If anyone wants to play some time, shoot me an IM or something. I suck pretty bad, but hopefully I can get better with more play.
Give it a try... it's a great game that has an incredibly simple set of rules, but it's probably one of those 'lifetimes to master' types.
Blokus - Play Online
If anyone wants to play some time, shoot me an IM or something. I suck pretty bad, but hopefully I can get better with more play.
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