Slugger's Tales from the Rails

2009-08-16T12:32:00.002-04:00

I find that as more time passes, that the goals and achievements I once thought necessary for a successful life are unlikely to happen. I do find that the one consistent accomplishment is helping people through rough times and lifting them up in their time of need. It makes the difficult times bearable knowing that at some time I will have a stranger or friend who needs to hear that someone else has been through what is happening to them now and came out the other side.

Peace and Love

The smokescreen by the MLB Player's Union

2009-08-09T12:39:00.003-04:00

Watching the David Ortiz press conference yesterday, I was struck in particular by a couple of things. First, the union attorney who came to assist Ortiz didn't think enough of the event's importance to comb his hair. Second, his attempt to put up a smokescreen on behalf of the players who tested dirty was pathetic.

The union asked the Court to seal the list and the results that it allegedly shows. Now the Union is saying, "we'd love to go into this in detail, but the Court Ordered us not to." Pathetic. All the union has to do is petition the court to unseal the record. There's no reason the Court would want to keep it secret. The results would be public and the matter could be better dealt with. This is a transparent stalling tactic. The more time that passes, the more likely we are to hear that people don't want to talk about the past (Hi Mark McGwire. You'll need a ticket to get in Cooperstown just like me now) or that people shouldn't care because the test was so long ago.

Baseball has lost its way and is close to losing its soul. The game's connection with history means more to baseball than any other sport. Why is baseball so unconcerned about the statistical break with history that steroids has created?

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2009-08-08T09:37:00.000-04:00

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2009-08-08T09:32:00.000-04:00

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2009-08-08T09:27:00.000-04:00

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2009-05-27T01:20:00.000-04:00

2009-05-27T11:15:00.001-04:00

Online Poker Age Verification Works

2009-05-16T13:20:00.002-04:00

One of the arguments used against online poker is that of children playing. It is a canard used by opponents who would take away the freedome of others without good cause. Please take a moment to read this article by The Engineer of the Poker Players Alliance don't believe the lies.

Wretchy on CardplayerTV

2009-05-14T17:30:00.003-04:00

2009-05-08T18:13:00.004-04:00

Below is a very nice picture of a plane which serves as Air Force One when the President is on board flying over the Statue of Liberty. While it is a very nice image, for some reason I don't think it was worth the $328,835.00 the Air Force ended up spending to get it and terrorize a large part of New York City.

Do you?

Bloomberg on Legalizing Internet Poker

2009-05-13T11:43:00.002-04:00

WVUMANIAC2 Final Table

2009-05-12T22:21:00.002-04:00

Congrats to Jacob who playing as wvumaniac2, final tabled the PokerStars Nightly Seventy Grand on 05-11-2009. Jacob won $980.00 for finishing 9th out of 1382 entrants. Great job sir!

Happy Birthday!!!!!!!

2009-05-11T19:29:00.003-04:00

I am very happy to wish Happy Birthday to a really cool guy and rabid Duke fan, Pratyush "FenwayKing" Buddiga. I have gotten to know him a lot better over the past few months at pocketfives. Pratyush is a very talented young man and one of the great group of writers at freebillsimmons who is fortunate that his birthday falls the week after finals. If you haven't had a chance to read his writing, do yourself a favor and check out the site today.

I hope it is truly a great today and the first of many more! Don't worry the doctors will soon come up with a cure for the rapidiness :)

In this undated photo Pratyush visits the Duke Library for a picture to send to his parents to convince them he is serious about his studies. It is believed but unconfirmed at this time that this was his only trip to the Library.

Major Flooding hits Southern West Virginia

2009-05-10T18:36:00.004-04:00

My part of the world was hit hard early yesterday morning by heavy flooding. We have had heavy rains all week and the result was a lot of people suffered a heavy loss in their lives.

Thanks to the American Red Cross, the Salvation Army and the National Guard. Flooding isn't unheard of here and these groups have shown again that they can be counted on during tough times again.

Some news coverage of the flood can be found WSAZ-TV,WCHS-TV, TV59 and Register-Herald.

Poker News

2009-05-10T13:40:00.005-04:00

PokerNews is reporting that Actor Don Cheadle, one of the founders of the Ante up for Africa charitable organization, has been signed as a friend of FullTiltPoker.
Read more about it by visiting Poker News Daily.

Congressman Jim McDermott, (D-WA), introduced the Internet Gambling Regulation and Tax Enforcement Act, HR 2268, this week. This is a companion piece of legislation to Barney Frank's previously introduced bill for comprehensive internet gambling regulation.
For more on these proposed pieces of legislation, visit Poker News Daily and Poker News.

To help support the efforts to keep online poker legal, visit Poker Players Alliance.

RIP Dom DiMaggio

2009-05-08T11:56:00.007-04:00

Former Boston Red Sox All-Star Dominic "Dom" DiMaggio died this morning at the age of 92. Dom was the last surviving member of the trio of DiMaggios who roamed major league outfields beginning when older brother Joe's Hall of Fame career started with the New York Yankees in 1936 and ending with Dom in 1953 in Boston. Older brother Vince, also an All-Star, played 10 seasons in the National League.
Dom hit .298 over the course of his eleven year career which began in 1940 and saw him selected to seven All-Star teams. He served in the U.S. Navy for three years during World War II. The loss of those three years may have cost Dom his own election to the Baseball Hall of Fame.
Dom was prominently featured in the book "Teammates" by renowned author David Halberstam. The book details the friendship between former teammates Ted Williams, Johnny Pesky, Bobby Doerr and Dom. Like all of Mr. Halberstam's works, it is a read that is well worth your time. I had the good fortune to see Dom interviewed when the book was released in addition to features on ESPN and ESPN Classic about Ted, Joe and/or the Boston-New York rivalry. From all accounts, Dom was a true gentleman who was widely admired.
If you are a prayerful person, please remember Dom's family and friends and take a moment or two today to be grateful for the presence of a good man. Baseball lost a good one today. RIP Dom.

For a more detailed story on Dom, please visit either ESPN.com or the New York Times.

Wretchy's Pwnage moves to FullTilt

2009-05-08T01:24:00.004-04:00

Seemingly tired of winning the $100 rebuy tournaments on Pokerstars, Dan "Wretchy" Martin moved over to FullTiltPoker to win the $22 rebuy last night. The tournament field consisted of 404 players and Wretchy won $5,870.00 for taking down first place.

It has been an impressive week on the virtual felt for The Wretched One who is currently ranked as the 19th best online tournament player in the world at pocketfives.com. A win in an FTOPS event would be a great addition, as would a victory in another triple crown event would be a great way to cap an awesome week.

Great job sir and continued success!

FullTiltPoker gets Weined!

2009-05-08T00:14:00.003-04:00

Congrats to Wein for wading through a huge field cashed in the FullTiltPoker FTOPS Event #1 on 05-06-2009. Playing as "ChasingIdiot", Wein not only made the final table but was dominating the tournament before the double headed monster of the apocolyspe, cold deck and bad beat, conspired to knock him out in third place.

Wein won a very impressive and jealousy inspiring $81200.00 for finishing 3rd out of 4445 entrants. Fantastic work sir! Very well played. Wein has been making impressive runs through tournament fields for some time now, so this isn't a surprise. Look for Wein to appear at a final table near you under some of the most inspired screen names that would make the members of Monty Python proud.

Rename each of the Stars $100 rebuys.

2009-05-06T16:35:00.003-04:00

Any form of $100 rebuy on Pokerstars shall henceforth be known as the Wretchy Open. Dan "Wretchy" Martin crushed the field in a couple more of them last night.

In the early $100 2 rebuys + 1 add-on event, Wretchy made the final table. He finished 6th out of 108 entrants and won a prize of $1600.00.

In the evening $100 rebuy $20,000 guaranteed tournament, Wretchy took down the title and won an impressive $23431.50. This tournament had 279 entrants.

What else can be said? The Wretched One owns this tournament. Congrats Dan and I look forward to making the same post tomorrow.

Pokerstars needs to run more $100 rebuys says Wretchy

2009-05-04T09:17:00.006-04:00

May 3, 2009 saw Wretchy dominate some of the largest no limit hold em tournaments on the web, the $100 rebuy tournaments on PokerStars. In the first $109r, $300,000 guaranteed, Wretchy finished second after getting heads up for the title. There has been a lot of discussion in the poker forums about the chop talk after Wretchy and Mogilni were the final two. There is a lot of dispute regarding the Stars chop procedure and whether chat chop talk is binding without support present and whether the faillure to sit out voids any agreement to chop. Wretchy earned bringing in $52986.15 for finishing 2nd out of 1089 entrants. If you would like to read more about the controversy, you can read more at pocketfives.com and twoplustwo.com. Also, here is a thread by Wretchy explaining his point of view at P5s.

Wretchy bounced back from the set back to win the late PokerStars $109+R NL Hold'em tournament, $150,000 guaranteed, on 05-03-2009. Wretchy won $36518.00 for beating 539 other entrants.

Congrats Wretchy. Great play sir!

Jason Koon in the Poker Zone

2009-05-06T16:08:00.003-04:00

Cardplayer Magazine's Poker Zone featured Jason "NovaSky" Koon aka JAKoon1985 in its latest edition. Jason has had an incredible year so far and is a really great guy. Look for him to have much success in WSOP this year.

Enjoy the video here.

This Guy Gives Police Officers a bad name

2009-05-05T15:57:00.001-04:00

2009-03-30T21:05:00.002-04:00

At the Rail with Annie Duke

2008-06-21T21:57:00.002-04:00

Annie Duke is a World Series of Poker bracelet winner and arguably the best women’s poker tournament player ever. More importantly though, she a the mother of four and one of the co-founders of Ante Up for Africa. Conservative estimates put the number of murdered in Rwanda at 800,000 over the last 15 years and the massacre in Darfur has left at least 400,000 dead and caused millions to flee their homes and now are living as refugees.

On July 2, 2008, the second annual No Limit Hold-Em Tournament held in conjunction with the World Series of Poker® will be held in Las Vegas at the Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino®

Annie Duke, 2007 winners Dan Shak and Brandon Moran, and Don Cheadle

Thank you for joining me here at the rail Annie.
How did Ante up for Africa begin?

One day Don and I were having Lunch back in September of ’06. Sushi. We were chatting about nothing much and then I mentioned a charity poker tournament I had just hosted that had raised almost a million dollars. We had just been talking about Darfur so the two topics just had a light bulb go on over our heads. It was a Duh! Moment where we realized we could raise money to help the crisis in Darfur though poker.

How are the funds raised put to work?

The funds are divide equally between two charites. One is Not on Our Watch (http://www.notonourwatchproject.org/) and The Enough! Project (http://www.enoughproject.org/)

I’ve read that several states have passed legislation requiring that Sudanese holdings be divested from state operated retirement/pension plans. How many states have made passed laws as of now and are there others who may soon do so?

Here is the best place for information on that:

http://www.sudandivestment.org/home.asp

Are there other lobbying or non-direct aid to the people affected by the unconscionable acts of the Sudanese Government that the organization is able to provide?

That is what The Enough! Project does. It raises awareness about issues like Darfur.

What is the one thing that you’d like to make sure that everyone who reads this knows about the plight of the people in Africa?

What I want people to know is that there are over 2 million people driven from their homes, in refugee camps where they need clean water, food and medicine. These people cannot turn to their own government for help because it is their government who has driven them from their homes. The US does not have a strong economic interest in the area so as a country we have not focused much attention on Darfur. Without an economic interest such as oil the only way we can effect change is by making our voices heard, letting the world know that this is an issue we care about. We hope that events like Ante Up For Africa will help in that cause.

Your first tournament raised more than $700,000 last year and a non-WSOP related event raised another $500,000 at the San Manuel Casino near Los Angeles, California recently, is there a specific level you hope to reach with this year’s tournament in Las Vegas?

Last year we thought the pie in the sky number would be $250K. Obviously, we raised much more than that. We were so ecstatic. I would hate to make a goal because any number we raise is so fantastic. But, obviously, that million dollar mark is very enticing.

With the success of the tournament in Los Angeles are there plans to have additional tournaments throughout the country and the world?

We did an event at the WSOP Europe last year. We are planning an event at the Aruba Classic this year as well through our presenting sponsor, Ultimatebet.com. They have made an extremely generous commitment to the charity and part of that commitment will be the event in Aruba in October.

Are there any non-poker tournament fund-raising events held in conjunction with the tournaments such as an auction or a dinner?Thank you so much for taking time to talk to me Annie. One final question, many poker players don’t get to make the trip to Las Vegas for the series. For those who don’t, where can they contribute to Ante Up for Africa?

We will be doing a silent auction this year at the even during the WSOP. Also, you can donate you player points at Ultimatebet.com. UB will also be auctioning off cool items to raise money for the charity such as poker lessons from me, a signed guitar from Scott Ian and other really cool stuff. Check the auctions area of the ultimatebet.com website for more details. The auction and special tournaments for Ante up for Africa are running June 21st and 22nd. A computer problem prevented this interview from being published when it was originally conducted on June 10th. Click this link to find out more about the UltimateBet.com promotions for Ante up for Africa.

I hope that everyone who is able to play can help support this very worthy cause. To learn more about the Ante up for Africa organization, to register for the tournament at the World Series of Poker, and/or to make a donation, please click here

Editorial Note: This interview was completed before Annie Duke's final table at the 2008 WSOP and the purpose of the interview was solely the charity Ante Up for Africa. There was no attempt on the part of the interviewer to ask Ms. Duke questions about poker strategy, her role at UltimateBet or the problems which UltimateBet has suffered in the past year.

College Football Hall of Fame

2009-05-01T09:35:00.008-04:00

Yesterday's announcement of the 18 members(16 players, 2 coaches) of the 2009 class of the College Football Hall of Fame brought good news to the people West Virginia and particularly to those of my hometown. Pineville High Alum Curt Warner was among this year's inductees. Curt was a fantastic running back and I was very lucky to be old enough to appreciate how talented he was. It was amazing watching opponents try to devise a scheme with all eleven defenders with the lone goal of stopping him, then seeing him break through or run around them like a man playing against boys. Curt had a great career at Penn State, leading the Nittany Lions to their first National Championship after an undefeated season and victory over Herschel Walker and Georgia in the Sugar Bowl in 1983, and was on the way to having one in the NFL when he blew out his knee in a game against Cleveland. Curt was a two-time All-American at Penn State. He was a three time NFL All-Pro and gained more than a 1,000 yards in four different seasons for Seattle.

It was also great to see former WVU Quarterback Major Harris among the selected few. Major was a marvelous talent who combined elusive speed with a strong and accurate arm. It was during his time as quarterback that the West Virginia football program returned to national prominence.
Major commanded the Mountaineers to an undefeated season in 1988 and a match up against Notre Dame for the national title in the Fiesta Bowl. Unfortunately, Major separated his throwing shoulder on the Mountaineers' third play of the game and we never got to see how the same QB who had brilliantly led the team throughout the season would do against the Fighting Irish as the Mountaineers fell 34-21. Major was selected as an All-American and finished in the top five in the balloting for the Heisman Trophy twice.
Perhaps Major's most memorable game was in Morgantown against long-time heated rival Penn State. The Mountaineers beat Penn State 51-30 with Major outgaining the entire Penn State team 301-292. The run shown below through almost the entire Penn State defense is still one of the foundest Mountaineer gridiron memories.
Major is the sixth Mountaineer to be selected to the College Football Hall of Fame, joining Coach Don Nehlen,former WVU halfback Ira Errett Rodgers and tackles Bruce Bosley, Sam Huff and Joe Stydahar.
Congratulations to Curt and Major and to the other members of the Class of 2009.