The Crooked Link

Life of a Low Stakes Gambler...

Friday, May 30, 2008

2008 WSOP Fantasy Pool

Full Contact Poker has a contest going for this year's WSOP. Basically you pick ten players and then earn points according to how do place in this year's 10 "Championship" events except the main even because of the delayed final table.

Top prizes include things like a 6 month subscription to Daniel Negreanu's new poker training site Poker VT, as well as copies of Daniel's new book coming out this summer.

So here's my picks in no specific order:

Phil Ivey

Daniel Negreanu

Phil Hellmuth

John Juanda

Erick Lindgren

Ted Forrest

Gavin Smith

Allen Cunningham

Patrik Antonius

Barry Greenstein


Obviously I picked all well known poker pros which in retrospective probably wasn't the best route to go. I should have thrown in some lesser known players who've had some quiet success in the past.

Also guys like Patrik Antonius and E-Dog will probably be too preoccupied with the side cash games to play every event.

And I don't know why I threw Gavin Smith in there. For entertainment value I guess.

Paying for a Victory

I do this thing sometimes where, I'll bet against a team that I really really want to win, just to create a win win situation for my self.

This way, if my team loses, at least I get the consolation of winning money. If my team wins, I have no problem paying my debt, but knowing my team won. It's stupid I know, yet somehow it makes sense in my head.

I don't do this often. Usually only with some of my favorite teams such as the Cubs in last year's playoffs and Santos in yesterday's game. I bet against Santos not because I thought Santos might lose, but because if they did, I wouldn't feel TOO bad. So as I'm watching the game yesterday at work, the guy I bet against is like "WTF?" cause I'm rooting for Santos the whole match even though I bet on Cruz Azul with him.

Well Santos went on to win the game, and I had no problem paying my debt. It felt like I was paying for my team to win...

Yea....slow day.

I'll post of few pictures of the Santos victory.

It's a 2 game series so the Champion will be decided this Sunday, but with Santos heading home with a 2-1 lead its almost a lock given their strength at home this season. They haven't lost at home in like 2 months.

My dad is a HUGE Santos fan so we're having a BBQ on Sunday for the game. Call it the Mexican Super Bowl. Dad also has mad money riding on Santos.








Tuesday, May 27, 2008

Memorial Day Weekend

The Memorial Day Weekend went by pretty fast and surprisingly uneventful. Friday I had work and won $50 from Furcio in coin flips. I ran like god, betting on tails and winning like 5 in a row. Then on Saturday I...shit I don't even remember what I did on Saturday. I think I stayed home all day even though I was suppose to hit up Mackenzie's party.

Sunday night I went to my friend Steve's show at Pressure. That was pretty cool. A lot of Northsiders were there. Steve played for almost 2 hours. My favorite song was definitely Hey Jude, even though he mumbled half the lyrics, lol. Oh yea and half way into the show Steve decided to call me out and publicly thank me for having attended all of his shows at Pressure and asks the audience to give me a round of applause and I'm just like, wtf?

Anyway, so Monday I didn't do much. Was home all afternoon on the 360 and then went on a 9 mile bike ride down McCormick Blvd, which was cool. Then I came home and. played a $5.50 6k guaranteed KO tourney on Full Tilt. I was doing ok and had about 4300 after the first break. Then I bluff away half my stack 5 minutes into the second hour but managed to recoup when I hit a set of nines and got paid off. Unfortunately on the next hand I get JJ on the button and make it 600 to go with blinds at 100/200. Small blind folds and the big blind moves in on me. Read him correctly as having AJ-AK and he did in fact have AK and ended up busting me with an Ace on the river.

Then watched Superbad and played some GTA IV online and finally went to sleep.


So, today is suppose to be Senior Ditch Day at Northside but I decided to come to school anyway. I think I've taken way to many personal ditch days already, lol.

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Not a lot of sports betting action has been going on. I did win $20 on the Santos-Monterrey game on Sunday but besides that not much has been happening. I still have the Lakers to win the series laying 4-1 to Furcio and Ahmed for $20 and $10.

Dude from work also owes me $160 so I'm probably going to hit up the casino when I collect.

Friday, May 23, 2008

ISS

Damn haven't posted in over a week. I'm not dead. I just hadn't felt like bloggin' for some reason. Sometimes I just feel like writing a ton, which is when I'll post a few blogs on the same day but other times I just don't feel like writing at all.

But I'm at In School Suspension right now so I've got 3 hours to kill. I told Mr. Correa I needed to write a paper for Lit, so he let me bust out my laptop much to the disliking of the other people here with me who aren't even aloud to have head phones on, lol.

So what have I been up to? Well, gambling of course. It seems like the past week and a half there hasn't been one day when I don't have at least $20 of action with someone from school. I also broke Jose from work for $160 when he gave me the Cavs in game six of the series for $80 and then we went double or nothing on game 7 with him giving me the Celts. And I've got some other bets open right now. I laid 2 guys from school 4-1 that the Lakers will win the series. So I'm risking a total of $120 to win $30. Not that great a bet on my part, but what can I say. I'm an action junkie.

Anyway I've also got some bets with a couple of FCP guys on the outcome of the 10k prop bet challenge.

Wednesday, May 14, 2008

I Need You Kobe

So Christian neglected to let me buy out of our bet even when I offered $30. I don't blame him though. He knew I was easy money, lol. Thankfully I had an amazing rush of cards during lunch against Furcio and I managed to win $40 from him in blackjack. So he'll be the one paying my debt haha.

Shit, after me and Christian finished our game today I had a chance to make some money when he offered to give me 10-1 odds on a half court shot. He backed off the bet last minute and of course I go on to sink the basket.

I also have a couple of bets for tonight. One which I already won, which was who would score first in the Cavs v. Celtics game. That was for $10 against Mackenzie and I chose the Cavs. King James gave me the win with a 20 foot jumper.

I also gave my guy Furcio 3-1 odds on the Jazz v. Lakers game. My $30 against his $10 with me getting the Lakers obviously. Really need Kobe to break out here without making me sweat the game at all.

And one last official play for tonight in a Mexican Playoffs soccer game.

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Chivas Pick (2 Units)

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Day Profit:

Day Record:

Total Record: 50-66-2


Bankroll: $161.12

Total Profit: -$38.88

Tuesday, May 13, 2008

I Suck at Basketball

A while ago my friend Saif had proposed to me a prop bet that seemed to good to be true. A 1 on 1 basketball game up to 11 and he'd spot me 10 points. Yea...as in, I only had to sink one basket. But I had to lay him 2/1 so I'd put up $100 and he'd put up $50. Well that bet's been on hold for a while but today I did a similar bet with another dude and got my ass handed to me.

During weight training, Christian offered me a similar bet. Game up to 11 and he'd spot me 9 points for even money ($40 each.) I'm thinking, "Are these guys serious? They do know I've shot a basketball in my life before right?"

Anyway right after Weight Training we head downstairs to the gym to start the match.Now, I'll be the first to say, basketball is not my sport. Put a soccer ball in front of me, and I'll drive that bitch all night, but basketball? Not so much. And I hadn't played in a looong time but I figured the game plan would be simple. Since my jump shot leaves much to be desired I figured I'd let him drive in on me a couple times let him miss, and then I'd go after the rebound and try to look for a couple easy lay ups.

Well it was anything but a perfect plan. I didn't anticipate that the 8'' inches or so that's he got on me, not to mention the far superior conditioning, would lead to me getting my ass kicked. This guy not only plays basketball, but he runs cross country and track and field. He was rebounding mine and his own missed shots left and right and before I knew it he was up 10-9. I put up a last minute jumper just inside the 3 point line to get back to even at 10-10, but we decided to stop and continue tomorrow since we were both dog tired and the next class was coming in to use the gym.

So we'll continue tomorrow with the score 10-10 and me having possession of the ball. But I've gotta win by 2 points so things aren't looking great for me. I'll probably try and buy out for like $20 and cut my losses.

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No official plays for tonight yet but I do have a couple of plays with my friends.

Spurs +6.5 (Mackenzie)

Detroit -7 (Saif)

Monday, May 12, 2008

Not Quite a Hustler

I spent about 85% of my free time this weekend playing Grand Theft Auto IV on the 360 and it was hella fun. The online gaming is sickly addictive and I found myself not wanting to do anything but sniping guys from rooftops and blowing shit up with RPGs. I took care of my gambling habit on Friday at work.

I won $20 in blackjack from my guy Furcio and then around midnight, this cat comes in and he sees me,Furcio and this new phone guy named Kevin, playing poker. So he's all like, "Ay man I just got back from Vegas and I'm tryna learn how to play poker. Can I play with ya'll"

LOL, now the first thing that came to my mind was that scene from Rounders where Worm and Michael hustle those college kids in a Stud game, claiming they're just trying to learn how to play and shit. So I'm like damn, this dude's a straight up hustler and he's going to end up with all my money, lol. But we let him in the game anyway.

We were playing 4 handed NL Hold Em, but with no blinds. Instead everyone anted up a dollar and then action started to the left of the dealer with an option to check or bet. Same thing after the flop, turn and river. Shit got crazy cause we weren't playing table stakes. It wasn't like you were playing only the money you had in front of you. If you wanted to reach into your pocket to bet more money, you could do that.

In the end, the dude ended up being the farthest thing from a hustler. He was playing so shitty, which I at first kept thinking was part of his act, but soon realized that he really was a terrible player. I managed to hit a couple of big hands and ended up winning $71 by closing time (1am). One against Kevin where I made the nut flush on the turn and managed to trap his top pair and a second hand where I turned a set of 5s and again trapped Kevin and the not-a-hustler dude.

My guy Furcio got screwed big time on the last hand of the night, where one of the drivers decided to play one hand just for the hell of it. I don't think he even knows what beats what in a poker game but he just wanted to gamble. So after some raising and re-raising my guy Furcio goes all in on a 10-5-4 board and gets called by Kevin and the driver. I expected to see like, set vs set vs two pair or some shit, but instead Kevin turns over K8 for King high and the driver turns over J-4.

Furcio turns over 5-4 for two pair and he can't believe he got called by king high and bottom pair.(That's how juicy the game was!) So it was close to a $50 pot and unfortunately for my guy, the Jack fell on the turn giving the driver a better two pair. Then he had to hear a whole speech from the driver about how he just KNEW the Jack was going to come, lol.

Anyway the game broke up only cause it was closing time. How I wish that game could have gone all night. Furcio Kevin and I were suppose to go smoke a blunt after work but after his bad beat Furcio wasn't in much of a mood for anything so since he was my ride home, I got screwed out of what Kevin promised to be some high quality shit, haha.

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So that was all Friday. And Saturday and Sunday like I said earlier I spent most of the time playing Xbox. Today at school I made a couple of bets for tonight as well as this thing me and my friend Saif came up with. Basically it works like this:

We each took turns picking a player from the Cubs lineup tonight (we flipped a coin for first pick) and then we're going to pay each other according to how each of our guys perform. Like, a single is $1, a double is $2 and so on. Here's the lineup and who picked who:

Since we drafted the players around 1 pm, the lineup for tonights game hadn't been announced yet so we drafted batting orders instead, with a projected lineup that is probably going to be the following:

Soriano-Saif

Theriot-Victor

Lee-Saif

Ramirez-Saif

Fukudome-Victor

Soto-Victor

DeRosa-Saif

Johnson-Victor


I also picked Zambrano to get Over 5 strikeouts.


Then I've got a couple other small bets, two of which are a wash because I bet on both sides just to give my guys some action, lol. They could have just bet against themselves but whatever.

Boston +2 (Saif)

Cavs -2 (Ahmed)

Boston Pick (Mackenzie)

Also adding a late official play on the Cubs (official meaning I placed it online and it'll go on my record)

Cubs -1.5 (2 Units)

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Day Profit: +$12.00

Day Record: 1-0-0

Total Record: 50-66-2


Bankroll: $161.12

Total Profit: -$38.88

Wednesday, May 7, 2008

Short Hiatus

I got completely raped on my picks on Monday and instead of digging myself out of the hole like I said I'd do, I ended up getting buried even deeper. Down $50 overall. Kinda hurts. And my overall record is preposterous. So I'm taking a short break although not entirely because I've been stinking it up. I'm going to focus on one of my other passions besides gambling for the next couple of weeks which is video games.

I finally went to purchase an Xbox 360 Elite yesterday. It was a really tough choice between the 360 and the PS3, but I think Xbox Live just has got so much more to offer that I think I made the right decision. It cost me a pretty penny too.

The grand total for an Xbox 360 Elite, a copy of Grand Theft Auto IV and a VGA HD AV cable was $599.46.

Yikes! Needless to say I'm in Brokersville, but definitely 100% worth it, considering how amazing the game looks, especially on my LCD monitor which is what I I dished out the extra $40 for with the VGA cable.

It also feels good to know that half of the $600 was paid using money I saved up the last couple of weeks from gambling winnings at work, including the $200 from the Boston game. So I should enjoy the system that much more!

Anyway, yea like I said taking a short break from the sports betting except maybe a couple of NBA play-off games, but I'll be back in a couple of weeks with the mentality that I'm owed $50 by my online bookies and I'll be back to collect, with interest.

Monday, May 5, 2008

5 de Mayo

Exceptionally good day yesterday not only because I cashed my $200 play which turned out to be the easiest $200 of my life but I also managed to do pretty decent in the rest of my picks. The $9.78 was actually my best day since mid april, lol. Hopefully I can tear it up in May but first I'm going to have to dig myself out of the early hole I dug myself into and get back to even.

So I don't know whether to hit up the casino tomorrow night or not. I've got enough cash right now where I can go and buy either a PS3 or X-Box 360 but if I have a bad night at the casino, I'll have to wait another week or so to purchase the new system. And I'm still undecided as to what system I want to get, but I'll get more into that in a later blog today that I'll write while I'm bored at work.

As far as today's plays go I'm still undecided because I haven't had a chance to look over the lines since the school network won't let me log on to my online account but I'll look over the board and see what I like as soon as I arrive at work.

Oh yea, almost forgot. Today is Cinco de Mayo. Is it sad/bad that I don't give a shit, being that I'm Mexican and all? And most people seem to think Cinco de Mayo is Mexico's Independence Day for some reason. Shit, actually even I don't know when Mexico's Independence Day is. What kind of fucking Mexican I am, lol?

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Orlando +6

Cincinnati -0.5

Colorado -0.5

White Sox -0.5

Rangers -0.5

Royals v. Angels Over 9.5 (2 Units)

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Day Profit: -$25.73

Day Record: 1-5-0

Total Record: 49-66-2


Bankroll: $149.12

Total Profit: -$50.88

Sunday, May 4, 2008

Game 7

I've got Boston, for $200 no point spread. Just a straight up win by the Celts today and I collect. Guy from work started running his mouth again yesterday, telling me how Atlanta was going to win today. I did my best trying to make him believe that it was going to be a really close game and that it was true, Atlanta was the favorite to win.

See, this guy knows nothing about sports betting, yet he's had my number for the last year or so. This past football season he took me for at least $600 by betting underdogs with no point spread, including the Super Bowl where he gave me the Patriots for even money. If this guy had bet all the games that he bet with me during football season on the money lines instead of even money with me, he would have made a killing. I'm talking at least 5K. But again, he knows nothing about point spreads or money lines.

A few weeks ago I went on a 5-0 run against him and took him for $80 and today I'm ready to take him for another $200. After I convinced him to give me Boston today against the Hawks, the next order of business was trying to make him bet the most amount of money possible. First he wanted to bet $400, and I was cool with that because I was going to sell off half of my action to my guy Furcio, but then later he changed his mind and wanted to only bet $100. Finally we settled on $200.

If this dude really thought Atlanta could win today, he could have taken Atlanta at a local bookie for $200 on the money line for a potential payout of $2,400. Likewise, for me to be able to win $200 by taking Boston on the money line I would have to bet $4,000 lol.

Yea yea I know, Boston can conceivably lose this game. And I can also conceivably hedge this game and guarantee a profit by betting $33 dollars on the Hawks +1200 in which case if I lost the $200 to the guy at work, I would still collect $250 from Bookmaker.com

But I'm just too damn confident in a Boston win today that I'm not going to do that. I'm going to gamble and not take the insurance. Hopefully I don't end up regretting it. Anyway here's the rest of my card for today. All of them are soccer over/unders but I'll be adding a couple of baseball games later.

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Pumas v. Pachuca Over 2.5

America v. Monterrey Under 2.5

Atlante v. Puebla Over 2.5

Colorado -0.5

LA Angels -0.5

NY Mets -0.5

Mets v. Arizona Under 8

Cubs v. Cardinals Under 9

Boston 4Q +1.5

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Day Profit: +$9.78

Day Record: 6-3-0

Total Record: 48-61-2


Bankroll: $174.85

Total Profit: -$25.15

Saturday, May 3, 2008

Fut and Basket

Chivas (Pick)

Toluca -0.5

Detroit -6.5

New Orleans -3

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Day Profit: +$4.10

Day Record: 2-1-1

Total Record: 42-58-2


Bankroll: $165.07

Total Profit: -$34.93

Friday, May 2, 2008

Friday Card

Kerry Wood ruined what would have been a 2 unit profit day yesterday with his blown save in the 9th, and the 76ers but up a dismal effort against the Pistons. I was lucky to have hit the Under though.

Tonight's card I'm not feeling to great about for some reason so a break even day would be welcome.

Phillies -1.5

NY Yankees -1.5

LA Angels -1.5

Cubs v. Cardinals Over 8

Angels v. Orioles Over 8.5

2 Team Parlay
-Boston -0.5
-Tecos (Pick)


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Day Profit: -$11.75

Day Record: 1-4-1

Total Record: 40-57-1


Bankroll: $160.97

Total Profit: -$39.03

Thursday, May 1, 2008

Big Z

Most of the sharp money today is on the Brewers but I just can't bring myself to fade the Cubbies with Big Z on the mound. I'm not asking for another 19-5 slaughter by the Cubs. A 2-0 win would suit me just fine, lol. I might add a couple more baseball games later tonight.

Cubs -1.5

Texas -0.5

76ers +6.5

Pistons v. 76ers Under 178.5

*Impulse Bet*

Cubs v. Brewers Over 10.5

Just adding this last minute for half a unit.
So I guess a 2-0 will suit me no more!

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Day Profit: -$1.78

Day Record: 2-3

Total Record: 39-53-0


Bankroll: $172.72

Total Profit: -$27.28 (-5.45 Units)