Peace Out

It has been a great weak my friends. My numbers have grown steadily and I believe that this site is going to become a great place for my readers. I am very proud of the work I am doing and I am putting a lot of love into it. I’m working to set some things up some new things for the blog, including more music and several celebrity and poker pro interviews.

 

Well, that’s all for the week from New Jersey. Peace, love, and I hope you have nothing but sunshine over the weekend. Be safe. Namaste party people!

James Woods Comes to the Borgata Summer Poker Open

I’ve met a number of celebrities and professional athletes during my time in the poker industry and I am constantly amazed when I meet someone that is as passionate about their poker game as they are their career. These people not only dominate their professions, but they can dominate on the felt as well.

 

James Woods is one of these types of people. Nominated for two Academy Awards, Woods is considered an “actor’s actor” and is one of Hollywood’s elite talents. It turns out Woods is also a very serious poker player. This comes as no surprise when you consider that Woods attended M.I.T and scored a 1580 on his S..ATs.

 

So why am I talking about James Woods? The “Shark” star arrived at Borgata late Wednesday night and he is staying the weekend to play in several tournaments.

 

Some of my sources at Borgata told me Woods was coming, so it was no surprise that I saw his name on the seating chart for the day’s tournament. He missed the first couple of levels and then made a “Hades-like” (the Disney cartoon character which Woods voices) appearance on the Borgata poker room floor. Seemingly coming out of nowhere, Woods began immediately taking command of his table after several hands of play.

 

I walked over to introduce myself to him and I stopped because he was finishing a hand. One of his opponents tried to move all-in on the Casino star, but to no avail because Woods who woke up with pocket Aces. To be honest, I was really glad that he won, because it is a hell of a lot easier to introduce yourself to a player (especially a pro or a celeb) that has just won a pot than one who has just lost one.

 

Woods was very friendly and I told him that I would catch up with him throughout the day since I was working the “day shift” and doing the tournament coverage. As the tournament progressed I kept checking on him and he just continued stacking chips. At one point, he pulled me aside and he recounted several hands where he made particular moves that paid off. To say I was impressed is an understatement. I knew he was a player, but I wasn’t exactly prepared for his descriptive analysis. He recounted hands better than some of the game’s top pros.

 

After Woods’ original table finally broke, I caught up with him in the back enclave of the poker room. We got into a discussion about cameras and it turns out he was a photographer for the New York Times. Once again, he rattled off specs and reasons why one of the newer digital cameras was heads and shoulders above the competition. I did my best to keep up. Again, I was totally impressed.

 

When I finally left the floor, Woods had crossed the $100,000 chip mark and was steamrolling over the field, but in the end it wasn’t meant to be as Woods busted 30^th. To be honest, I didn’t care if he won or lost the tournament, because the guy earned my respect. No attitude, no ego, no bullshit. He’s a genuine person that loves the game and his participation makes the remaining Borgata tournaments more exciting to cover.

 

Is Led Zeppelin Going to Reunite or Will Robert Plant Ramble On?

According to Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page, there is a possibility that the group might reunite in the near future. The only problem is he feels that singer Robert Plant may not be into reviving the 1960’s super-band who had hits with songs like Black Dog, Ramble On and the legendary Stairway to Heaven.

 

“You’ve got to have all four members and Robert Plant is out on the road. I’m not gonna persuade Robert to do anything. You come together through the goodness of your heart, said Page in a recent interview with the Daily Star.

 

Despite concerns that Plant might not want a Zeppelin reunion, Page is waiting for the band’s return and he is hopeful it will come in the near future. “I hope fans can vote for Led Zeppelin live awards in the future.”

 

I hope this band gets back together as they are one of a small few that would make me wait in line to get tickets. Seeing Zeppelin live, even an older incarnation would be a magical experience. They’re not to old to rock. I think it would be a must-see show and I firmly believe they would sell out pretty-much everywhere.

World Series of Poker Quickie: 6/20/08

Ante Up for Africa Celebrities Set to Do Some Good

This is the second year that Don Cheadle and his friends have put on the Ante Up for Africa charity poker tournament. Taking place July 2, 2008 at the Rio in Las Vegas, this tournament will raise much-need funds that will help to raise public awareness and provide support for the victims of the humanitarian crisis in Darfur.

 

Poker fans can expect to see many of the entertainment world’s top stars as well as poker’s biggest names at this year’s event. Celebrities expected to attend include Ben Affleck, Matt Damon, Adam Sandler, Ray Romano, Kevin Pollack, Cheryl Hines, and George Lopez. Poker pros expected include Doyle Brunson, Phil Ivey, Daniel Negreanu, Howard Lederer, Phil Hellmuth, and a host of others.

 

One of the year’s premier charity poker tournaments, last year’s fundraiser generated more than $700,000. According to host Annie Duke, it should be an exciting night. “After the success of last year’s tournament, we are looking forward to another excinting year while raising awareness for an ongoing crisis,” said Duke in a recent press release. This year’s tournament donations are going to ENOUGH (www.enoughproject.org), a joint initiative of the International Crisis Group and the Center for American Progress and Not On Our Watch (www.notonourwatchproject.org).

 

Long Train Running

Yesterday’s second day of Event #33 looks like it will be the longest day of this year’s WSOP. Unfortunately, after 16 hours of play, Howard Lederer bubbled the final table, collecting $30,668 for his efforts. There are plenty of solid players left at this final table including Annie Duke, Chris Ferguson, and Marcel Luske and it should make for an exciting final table. Keep an eye out for online monster Steve Sung as he could sneak one by the experienced field.

 

Editor’s Note: The final table of this tournament is taking place as I go to print.

 

Two-Timers Do It Better

“Why do you think the same five guys make it to the final table of the World Series every year. It’s a skill game,” said Mike McDermot in the movie Rounders. Proof of this exists in the number of players that have made two or more final tables. Led by Erick Lindgren, Daniel Negreanu, Andy Bloch, this list consists of several players that are always in the hunt for a title. There is still plenty of action being wagered on the Player of the Year race, so expect several of these players to do just about anything to take down another bracelet.

Life is Like Playing No Limit Hold’em

Sometimes we live no particular way but our own.

Grateful Dead, Eyes of the World

 

Have you begun tapping into your infinite potential yet or are you still waiting for something to happen? Accepting responsibility for your current situation is the first step in making this shift in mindset. Taking this type of action places the creation of your daily experience solely in your hands and allows you to take action instead of feeling victimized or acting helpless. We need to stop denying that we are in control of our destiny and begin to see that there is freedom in taking life one breath at a time.

 

When one learns how to play life’s games, they can take full advantage of the multitude of ways to become a winner. You begin to forget about constraints that you feel keep you from taking life to the next level, you begin to see a host of new opportunities and realities than are only limited by your imagination.

 

In essence, life is like playing No Limit Hold’em poker. Once you understand the fundamentals of the game, the importance of your starting hands decreases because you have learned that any two cards can win at any time. This doesn’t mean that you go all-in with a weak hand (or that you only enter the game holding pocket aces), but it does mean that you have to be able to change your play based on the situation at hand and the tactics of your opponents. Once you understand a game’s principals and what it takes to win, you can then become creative with your play and do things that go against traditional logic.

 

No longer trapped in the constraints of playing like everyone else, one can now live spontaneously and play whatever cards are dealt. This means that one can play starting hands in ways that were never previously thought possible. Although this doesn’t guarantee you’ll be a winner every time, it does ensure that you will always get your chips in with the best hand. As with life, we must continue to develop and improve our play by learning from our experiences and not following repetition. The only way to get better at poker and to make the most out of our lives is to keep pushing ourselves to do better with each new hand or experience that we face.

 

One thing is for certain, if you are unwilling to look at what works and you refuse to play by the rules, you will be destined to repeat your mistakes. Until you decide to take action to stop it from happening again, you are going to keep falling on your face. You may think you know what to do, but in essence, all you are really doing is acting on misinformation and learned patterns taught by watching others make the same mistakes.

 

A person needs to experience life for themselves and make decisions based on what feels right for them. This means doing constant investigative research and continually assessing what works and what doesn’t. Learn to take what you need and leave the rest. A true student of life learns from everyone, but knows that not everything is relevant to them. Find out what works for you and be the best you can be by doing it. When you can do that, you are truly living in the moment. You will have become a student of life, the greatest teacher of all.

Video Game Sales Continue to Climb

According to video game market researcher the NPD Group, U.S. video game, console, and accessories sales reached $1.12 billion. This is a monstrous 37 percent increase from last month’s numbers.

 

Leading the way is the Nintendo Company. The group’s console the Wii, is the top-selling hardware unit while its Nintendo Ds handheld system is a close second. Bringing up the rear are the Sony’s PlayStation 3 and Microsoft’s Xbox 360 respectively.

 

The leading software title is Take-Twos’ monster hit Grand Theft Auto IV (G.T.A.). Released in April, the game continues to dominate the market, selling 871,300 units in May. Considering how much everyone I know loves this game, this comes as no surprise. The G.T.A fans are a loyal bunch and they eagerly await new titles like a crackhead waiting for his next fix.

 

To date, this year’s video games sales have topped $6.6 billion and early speculation by industry insiders suggest that this number could easily eclipse the $21 million mark by the end of 2008.