Archives for Category "Entertainment"
April 1, 2008
Baseball Has Begun
The Washington Nationals opened their season at their new stadium on the Anacostia River Sunday night. By all accounts, it is a lovely and fun new place to go and spend wads of money (and to watch baseball). We didn't go - it's unlikely that we'll make it to a game this season, given the givens (although we may try to catch a minor league before I become completely ginormous). We did watch it on the television, though, and it was a good game, culminating in a stupid mistake by the Nationals' new catcher (former Met Paul LoDuca), which allowed the Braves to tie the game in the 9th. But then, Mr. "face of the franchise" Ryan Zimmerman hit a walk-off run in the bottom of the ninth with 2 outs to win the game. Way to open the season, boys!
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January 8, 2008
The Economist on Poker
I was catching up on a few magazines the other day and came across an end-of-year article in The Economist on poker and the no-limit Texas Hold 'Em phenomenon. I'm still very interested in watching it on the teevee when I get a chance -- Poker After Dark on NBC (wikipedia info) in the wee hours is particularly good as is any broadcast of a World Poker Tour tournament (you can 'watch' WPT with your eyes closed as if it were a radio broadcast -- the commentators are so thorough). I'd like to try to play more often, but we haven't really found a good opportunity for that and playing just heads up with each other only teaches you so much. We did play tournament-style with some family at Christmas, including my grandmother who's a real card shark, and I won both times. Woohoo! Anyway, The Economist (which I'm receiving as a free subscription -- they've ticked me off too much in recent years for me to actually pay to subscribe):Today poker is the third most watched sport on cable television in the United States, after car racing and American football, trumping even NBA basketball. In America, it is regularly aired on ESPN and the Travel Channel, while Britain has its own poker channel. ESPN's World Series shows regularly get more than 1m viewers, and numbers hold up well even during the busiest sports periods, such as during the major-league baseball play-offs and the NASCAR motorsports season.Who knew, right? I've avoided playing any poker online because I fear it might become addictive. At the same time, it is a way to play a lot of hands really quickly and to really start to get the statistics drilled into you so it feels intuitive as opposed to having to stop and remember that pocket aces look nice pre-flop, but many hands still beat them post-flop. Anyway, it's an interesting and long overview article. Worth a skim.. One interesting issue: is poker a game of chance or of skill?
The poker economy has never been flusher. There are an estimated 60m-80m regular players in America and perhaps 80m-100m elsewhere. Poker is by far the largest chunk of the online gambling market, which had worldwide revenues of around $15 billion in 2006—a figure that may be closer to $20 billion this year. Poker chips are among the best-selling items on Amazon.com. What was once the preserve of either high-rollers or low-lifes is now being roundly embraced by the mass of ordinary folk in between.
America's Department of Labour has given a nod to the element of skill, in some eyes, by last year recognising “professional poker player” as an official occupation. Courts, however, tend to view poker as a game of chance. That, Mr Lederer is convinced, is only because the opposing arguments have been botched at the bench.
As he concedes, it is hard to argue that a seasoned professional will beat a first-timer in any given hand. But there is evidence aplenty that, over the long run, a player with a head for calculating odds and a feel for the psychology of the game, such as bluffing, will always overcome an untalented opponent.
The skill, Mr Lederer argues, is in the betting. And it is apparent in the fact that you can win without the best hand. More than half of all hands end without the cards being shown, not because one player got lucky but because he managed to persuade the others, given their analysis of the available information and the size of the pot, that it was sensible to fold. When no one declares their hand, can it really be argued that the outcome was determined by luck?
<=> | Comments: 4 | in: Entertainment
January 4, 2008
Costas for Commissioner
One of TheGuy's gifts to me for Christmas was Bob Costas' book, Fair Ball: A Fan's Case for Baseball. I really liked it. It explained many things that have confused me since I started following Major League Baseball again after ignoring it since the 1980's. When and why did we end up with a wild card? Why does there seem to be so much more player trading going on now than I remember way back when? Lots of other good stuff. He also explores the economics of the league and has created a set of very sensible proposals that would go a long way toward fixing what's broken. The book came out in 2000 and not many of his suggestions have been implemented, but really, they should make him the baseball commissioner. I'd enjoy the game, as a whole, a lot more, I think if the bulk of his proposals were put in place. As it is, I now enjoy individual games, the rules and strategy and tactics, and I follow our local team, but I am a bit skeptical about the Game and the League as a whole -- and even more so, now that I understand a bit more about what's been happening over the last couple of decades.I didn't keep my booklist in the sidebar updated very well this year - I missed noting a bunch of books that I read this year -- will try to do better next year. But I give this one a 4 on the BCDC scale.
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November 1, 2007
Infield Grass
I've been meaning to write up a little post/summary of the 2007 Nationals baseball season, but dunno when I'll get around to it. Work is proceeding apace on the new stadium. Today they started putting the infield grass sod down. The (near-)live stadium-cam is now aimed at the infield as construction continues.Best way to keep tabs on Nationals news is to follow Svrluga's blog at the Post and Screech's Best Friend's citizen reporting at the Nats 320 blog. I doubt we'll actually go to many games at the new stadium -- seems like it's going to be a hassle to get there, and too expensive anyway, but I'm sure we'll get there at least a couple of times.
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