The Gainesville Sun reports that
… Read full postJerome Anthony Henry, 48, of Seville, and Richard David Smith and Robert Erwin Ford, both 50 and from Palatka, were killed inside the structure, a former bar that officers said people had been using as the location for a “high-stakes” poker game.
All four men
I like to walk, and I liked it even more when I was in high school, so I didn’t think much of it when George (not his real name) told me he was late because he chose to walk. George was one of the students coming on a Boston Debate … Read full post
Grrrrrrrr I missed the PLO Bounty event, I didn’t realize it was an afternoon tournament. The $500 HORSE is tonight, so that’s what I’ll be playing instead.… Read full post
At that start of the year, I set some year-long poker goals for myself. One month into 2008, I’m pretty much on track, though it’s close and there’s plenty of room for improvement. I averaged only about 16 hours of playing per week, well short of my goal of 25. … Read full post
It’s got nothing to do with poker. But WJMN, a Boston hip hop station, recently interviewed me and a few students from the Boston Debate League. I’m only going to post my portion of it here, which is about 10 minutes long. I was very happy with how it … Read full post
2+2 Internet Magazine recently cut a deal with a German poker website called PokerOlymp that allows them to publish German translations of articles initially written for 2+2. This is great for us authors because whenever they choose one of our articles, we get an extra $100 for no additional work! … Read full post
While reading a relatively unrelated opinion piece in today’s New York Times, I was reminded of a comment left by Jen on one of my recent Savage Inequalities posts. She asked whether Kozol addressed the question of inequality between states and pointed me to the condition of schools in … Read full post
It has been 25 years since Savage Inequalities was first published, and there have been some changes. Schools are still funded primarily by local property taxes, guaranteeing that wealthier school districts will produce better educated children. However, the federal role in education has greatly … Read full post
The Boston Herald ran an article today that was (half) about the Boston Debate League and an event we had yesterday in honor of MLK Day. This time they ran a nice photo of one our debaters; the lack of a picture was one of my disappointments from the last … Read full post
Some time ago, I posted a letter that I sent to my elected officials in Massachusetts concerning pending legislation that would simultaneously legalize casino gambling and prohibit internet gambling. I received a response from Governor Patrick, but it was so vacuous that I didn’t even bother posting it. It stated … Read full post
One thing I admire about Kozol is that he is much more upfront about his agenda and the sacrifices required than are many other advocates of reform. He admits that, “Attorneys in school-equalization suits have done their best to understate the notion of ‘redistribution’ of resources. … Read full post
The argument can be made, sometimes convincingly, that many forms of inequality in the US result at least in part from poor choices on the part of those who hold the short end of the stick. That argument absolutely disintegrates in the context of education. Not only is it patently … Read full post
I’m a voracious reader, and it’s not my intention to write a review of every book I read. Having just completed Jonathan Kozol’s Savage Inequalities: Children in America’s Schools, however, I am moved to record some thoughts here. It turns out I have a lot of thoughts, so I’m … Read full post
Happy New Year!
Yesterday, I reviewed my 2007 goals and whether I’d achieved them in the last year. Today, I’m going to set some new poker-related goals for 2008. If you’re a serious poker player, I think that you ought to do the same.
Last year, I set a monetary … Read full post
This time last year, I set four major poker goals for myself. It’s time now to review and evaluate the year in light of those goals:
Goal 1: Make $X Playing Poker Failed
Sorry, but as usual, I don’t want to specify my exact goal or my exact income. I … Read full post
My UBOC final table earned me a quick mention (by screenname only) in the official Ultimate Bet blog:
“Speaking of winning the Sunday Guaranteed…didn’t “urbandb888″ win that back on November 4th? Why, so he did!”… Read full post
On Friday morning, we got the chance to explore the region of Zion called The Narrows that we had to pass on Sunday. As the name suggests, it’s a particularly narrow portion of the canyon that is both one of the most scenic and one of the most difficult to … Read full post
The plan for Thursday was to rise early, rent appropriate gear, and hike/wade Zion’s most famous region, The Narrows. Emily woke up not feeling particularly well, however, and so we nixed that and I got breakfast alone while she slept.
I’m currently on vacation, spending Thanksgiving with my girlfriend in Utah’s Zion Canyon. Yesterday, we hiked a beautiful trail called Angel’s Landing. Though most of it was paved, it was still strenuous at times, as were ascending over 1000 feet in about two miles of horizontal distance.
We departed from … Read full post
There are a lot of things I like about living in Boston that I didn’t like about the area where I grew up in Maryland. But I do miss my family, which particularly on my father’s side is very close, and nothing kills me like my 10-year old cousin Hannah, … Read full post
I’m currently reading Robert Musil’s “The Man Without Qualities,” a gift from a friend of mine who is a student of German literature. It’s a very insightful and well-written book with a lot of humorous passages, though it’s a bit long-winded at times. Anyway, I recently came across a few … Read full post
Today’s Boston Globe ran an article about the Harvard Law School seminar that I attended recently. I remembered meeting this reporter but thought she was from Harvard’s paper, the Crimson. I probably would have put more thought into how I portrayed myself, but I think I come off … Read full post
The first round of the first tournament of the Boston Debate League’s fourth season has just gotten underway. With about forty students competing, it is one of our largest events ever. Unfortunately, 90% of the debaters are from 50% of the schools in the League. While these schools are doing … Read full post
Slovenian film critic Slavoj Zizek is pretty much the hippest academic out there today (taking over the title from Jean Baudrillard, of course). I first discovered him through college debate, where his work is among the most cited no matter the topic. Unfortunately, his books can be tough to read, … Read full post
Sorry for the long silence, I was out of town for a wedding and didn’t have much time to update. Quick funny story from the wedding: I caught the garter when the groom threw it, which apparently meant I had to put it onto the leg of the woman who … Read full post
Two days in, and I’ve recovered about 1/3 of what was lost in September. I have a bunch of stuff on a list to post, but I got wrapped up in a really good heads up match that kept me up later than I planned, so I don’t have time … Read full post
Yesterday concluded both the worst week and the worst month of my poker career. I’m not going to post dollar figures, but I lost about 15% of my bankroll and slashed my hourly rate for the year by nearly 1/3.
I initially put this graph together to garner pity, but … Read full post
Like most people, I get a ton of junk mail. My girlfriend managed to get her name on a ton of catalogue mailing lists, so I get like two of those on an average day, and she doesn’t even live here now! Plus, we are both fairly recent college graduates, … Read full post
I’ve finally got some pictures from the BDL Summer Institute last month up on the BDL website. Click here to see them.… Read full post
…was my third losing month of 2007. I was only out about $1500, and I made almost $1000 in rakeback, so it was really more of a breakeven month than a losing month. Still, there was a negative sign in front of the total on my spreadsheet, and that makes … Read full post
Sorry for the lack of updates, but as predicted, I haven’t spent a lot of time on the computer in Chicago. I’m out here for a week volunteering for the Chicago Debate Summer Institute, a two-week camp very similar to the institute I ran in Boston last week. Unlike my … Read full post
Today was the last day of the BDL’s week-long summer institute, and it really went better than I could have hoped. There were some snags, particularly when the post office lost three weeks worth of my mail including all of the applications, but we rallied and managed to bring together … Read full post
I’ll start by telling you that the BDL camp got off to a good start. We had twelve students on our first day, which was about as many as I’d expected when we first thought about having an institute, but not as many as I’d hoped after the flood of … Read full post
Once again, got off to a good start. Eventually, this happened:
Full Tilt Poker
No Limit Holdem Ring game
Blinds: $100/$200
9 players
Converter
Stack sizes:
UTG: $13505
UTG+1: $15869
MP1: $1845
MP2: $7740
MP3: $10452
Foucault: $7435
Button: $2686
SB: $10085
BB: $6027
Pre-flop: (9 players) Foucault … Read full post
I took seven semesters of French in college, and though I’ve never been to a French-speaking country, my knowledge of the language, particularly the written languate, was pretty strong when I graduated. In the past three years, though, I’ve barely used it. I’ve been wanting to read the Harry Potter … Read full post
They are called TED Talks, and they are like intellectual crack. TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design, and basically TED conferences bring together some of the smartest and most fascinating people from these fields. Each gives an 18-minute talk about the work that he or she does, and to … Read full post
There’s a trailer up on YouTube for the documentary, called Resolved, about high school debate in which my friend Dave plays a key role. Unfortunately he isn’t in the trailer, and in fact his students are barely shown either, but if you’re intersted in a brief introduction to the … Read full post
That blogger from the Balitmore Sun whom I mentioned a few days ago just posted another little blurb about me. His conclusion?
“…super smart and level-headed don’t always necessarily go together. It’s refreshing to see when it does.”
I’m blushing.… Read full post
The Los Angeles Urban Debate League, run by my good friend David Wiltz, has been in the news lately thanks to a new documentary about the world of high school debate that highlights two of his former students. Here’s a good summary from the article:
“In the film, the … Read full post
I got a mention on the Baltimore Sun sports page today from a blogger named Bill Ordine. He didn’t know much about me at the time, but here’s what he had to say:
“The only other Maryland player who appeared to cash-in at the main event who was listed … Read full post
My most recent poker article, entitled “Your First World Series of Poker“, has just been published in the July issue of Two Plus Two Internet Magazine. Please let me know what you think with comments here or in my thread in the 2+2 Magazine Forum.… Read full post
Over continental breakfast, Emily and I discuss what to do about the last episode of Sopranos, which was to air that night. Though Emily is not a fan of the show, I very much am. The complication was that, lacking either cable or ready access to friends with cable, I’d … Read full post
For those who don’t know, my girlfriend Emily is moving to Las Vegas for work, and I drove out with her to help her move and then to stay through the WSOP. After a solid week of driving cross-country from Boston, Emily and I finally got into Vegas late last … Read full post
We’re now three days into road trip to Vegas. Sorry for the lack of updates, we’re spending most of each day on the road and getting in too late for me to do something coherent with limited internet access. Not much of note has happened, though I did find myself … Read full post
I came across a very interesting/disturbing report today from the New York Civil Liberties Union entitled “Criminalizing the Classroom“. The following is an excerpt from the Executive Summary:
“Since the NYPD took control of school safety in 1998, the number of police personnel in schools and the extent … Read full post
As some of you may already know, my girlfriend Emily has accepted a job doing public relations and marketing work for an adventure tours company based out of Las Vegas. Believe it or not, Vegas was in no way my idea, and in fact I was not thrilled to hear … Read full post
Sorry for the lack of updates guys, I haven’t played much recently and have generally been busier than usual. Every summer I have a pretty large research project that entails assembling some five hundred pages of materials on the upcoming debate topic. These materials are then distributed for free to … Read full post
Sunday’s Boston Herald contained a very nice article about the Boston Debate League, a non-profit organization that I founded and now direct. Please click here to read it!
There are actually some audio clips also, though they’re hard to find. After the second paragraph, there’s a drop-down box that says … Read full post
This weekend I’m taking a two debaters from Boston to the J. B. Fuqua Urban Debate League Celebration in Atlanta. The two debaters, Charles and Peter, are a great team. Charles is a hefty black man, smart but reserved, very friendly and with a charming sense of humor once he … Read full post
I attended a pretty interesting meeting yesterday about the UIGEA and strategies for legitimating the game of poker in general. It was an impressive crowd consisting of some prominent lobbyists and lawyers for the gaming industry, Poker Players Alliance president Michael Bolcerek, professional poker players Annie Duke, Howard Lederer, and … Read full post
I got a note today from a young woman I first met last summer while teaching at a debate camp for the Los Angeles and Southern California Urban Debate Leagues. She was one of the smartest, nicest, and most mature teenagers I’ve had the pleasure to work with, and she’s … Read full post
Sorry for the recent silence, but I’ve had a busy few days. On Tuesday, my non-profit organization, the Boston Debate League (BDL), co-hosted a luncheon with the National Association for Urban Debate Leagues (NAUDL). To be brutally honest, the BDL’s organizational and institutional capacity is severely underdeveloped right now. That … Read full post
I’ve been trying to balance a ton of stuff lately, between poker, my writing, my work with the Boston Debate League and the National Association for Urban Debate Leagues, my finances, etc. I’m also kind of absent minded and procrastinatory, so I’ve started keeping a To Do list. It’s just … Read full post
I started watching the Sopranos after receiving the first two seasons on DVD for Christmas my senior year of college. My roommate, Logan, and I were hooked immediately, and we soon dragged our friend Jen in as well. At that time, Season Four had just come out on DVD, so … Read full post
I elected not to torture myself playing the big Sunday tournaments today, opting instead for Easter brunch with the girlfriend followed by Sopranos with friends in the evening.
Brunch was at the Doubletree Suites in Cambridge. It was a nice spread, with a pretty wide variety of breakfast, lunch, … Read full post
I came across this pretty cool article about a student I worked with when I was an administrator for the Chicago Debate League. Chime Asonye was definitely one of the most ambitious and talented of the hundreds of debaters in that League, and even after I left Chicago and … Read full post
I’ve got another article in this month’s 2+2 internet magazine, entitled The Last Bet. Please take a look at it and let me know what you think either by leaving a comment here or by posting in my thread in the 2+2 Magazine Forum.
In case you missed … Read full post
Saturday was the fourth Boston Debate League tournament of the 2006-07 season, the last before our two-day City Championships event. It got off to a rocky start. I had to bring coffee, donuts, awards, a computer, and a printer with me, which meant that I had to borrow my girlfriend’s … Read full post
I had some Mandalay Bay chips that I forgot to cash in on Saturday, and since I needed to go there anyway, I decided to check out their game. The guy keeping the wait list when I first got there didn’t seem to speak English very well, and I couldn’t … Read full post
Joe, Logan, and Darren all left on Sunday, which meant we had to check out of the Venetian. I was staying another night, but at the MGM, so the plan was for them to move all of their stuff into my room there. Since they didn’t get in until like … Read full post
Although it was after 5AM Saturday morning when we went to bed, I woke up in time to play the $500 Noon tournament feeling not the least bit hungover. It may have been better if I slept through it, though. Early on, I made a classic internet donkey mistake and … Read full post
I woke around 8AM Friday morning, it being 11 AM my time. When I finished showering and dressing, Logan was awake as well. Together we went across the street to the Mirage buffet.
Though the selection at breakfast wasn’t great, the food was quite good for a buffet. The bacon … Read full post
Ugh, I started working on this yesterday and somehow managed not to save what I had done. My apologies if laziness and irritation compel me to write less well than usual.
My friend Logan, his roommate Joe, and a regular from our poker game named Darren had been planning to … Read full post
I dropped a bunch of money on tournament buyins yesterday, and today I’ve got nothing to show for it but one shallow cash. If I recall correctly, I played:
Bodog 100K
Stars $1.5 Million
UB whatever their guarantee is
FTP 400K
Stars WSOP satellite
Stars Second Chance
FTP Mulligan
I … Read full post
I won the Poker Stars $100 deep stack last night for about $7000. The structure on these is phenomenal: I had over 100 BB’s for more than half the tournament, including much of the final table. Playing a deep stacked final table is really a great experience, and a good … Read full post
A piece that I wrote, entitled “Attacking and Defending Dead Money in Tournament Poker“, appears in this month’s issue of Two Plus Two Internet Magazine. Although getting published in an internet magazine isn’t quite as prestigious as appearing in print, Two Plus Two Publishing is the largest … Read full post