Zeitgeist: The Movie (2007)

This week I watched an interesting documentary, Zeitgeist: The Movie.

Peter Joseph is the American writer, director and producer of the Zeitgeist Trilogy of Movies. There is also a 4th movie in the pipeline.

This thought provoking film is split into 3 parts:

Part 1 questions the origins of the Christian Religion and whether it was developed through other Pagan Religions. He also talks about the Jesus myth hypothesis.

Part 2 is about conspiracy theories relating to the events of 9/11 and whether they were actually carried out by the US government in order to gain public support for the so called 'war on terror'.

Part 3, titled 'Don't mind the men behind the iron curtain' questions whether war is deliberately orchestrated for financial gain. Joseph says that the powers behind the Federal Reserve want wars to occur so that the US government has to borrow money to fund these wars and thereby the bankers become wealthier.

This movie is well worth watching if you're into conspiracy theories. Whether you believe the ideas or not it will definitely get you thinking.

I have just watched the 2nd movie called Addendum which is also very interesting and based around the ideology of a resource based world vs a monetary society and how technology would be far more advanced today if we had no money in the world and if everyone just worked towards their full potential in life.

Verdict: 7/10

Top 10 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Bracelet Winners Of All time

The WSOP has been going on since 1970 when Benny Binion kicked things off at the Horseshoe Casino.

Each person that wins an event receives a bracelet and a cash prize based on the buy-in and number of entrants.

Many have won bracelets over the years that have ensued. Some have been lucky or skilled enough to win multiple bracelets.

Here is the all time winners list:

11 - Phil Hellmuth

10 - Doyle Brunson

10 - Johnny Chan

9 - Johnny Moss

8 - Phil Ivey

8 - Erik Seidel

7 - Billy Baxter

7 - Men Nguyen

6 - T.J. Cloutier

6 - Layne Flack

6 - Jay Heimowitz

In other news I briefly played some live poker yesterday at the Vic in London. After spending time at the bar, the restaurant, the roulette tables and generally walking around I sat down to play the £1/£1 game while on the long waiting list for the £1/£2 game. 

I quickly realised my seat draw was the worst at the table as I had the most active and aggressive player directly to my left. I won a couple a three figure pots before shipping a bit to this aggrodonk to my left. He only showed down one hand and it was AA. I have no idea if he ever had a hand the other times but being OOP I had to fold to his aggression a few times as I had weak holdings. I banked a small win for the night and left the table within 45mins. I thought about joining a better table but instead I hung out with my gf and mate.

2011 WSOP Main Event Commences + Hellmuth misses out on number 12 again

So, its all kicked off... The big one has begun and day 1a is over.

I will one day play in this event, hopefully next year.

897 players started the first day with 341 biting the dust and failing to make day 2. The next 3days will be day 1b, day 1c and day 1d. In total it is a 13 day event.

The forecast entrants figure is likely to be around the 5500 mark. This is more than 3000 below the peak of 2006 when 8773 players entered and the final was won by Jamie Gold for a cool $12,000,000.

Some familiar players started day 1a, they included Doyle Brunson, Johnny Chan, Greg Raymer, Annette Obrestad, Lex Veldhuis, Fatima Moreira, Jerry Yang, Vanessa Selbst, Randy Lew and Isaac Haxton.

I wonder who will end up winning the final table and a life changing chunk of change. Last year Canadian Jonathan Duhamel scoop $8,944,310 after defeating the field of 7319 players.

In other news Phil Hellmuth narrowly missed out on a record breaking 12th bracelet when he finished 2nd the the $50,000 Poker Player's Championship. At one stage Phil had a 5:1 chip lead over eventual winner Brian Rast.

In the final hand Phil picked up a flush draw on a flop of JT9dd while holding 82dd. Rast was holding KQ for the nuts as Hellmuth pushed all in. Rast held and Hellmuth was unable to break his own record of 11 Bracelets.

GL to all in the main event.

Pulling my teeth out with pliers.....

This could easily be a normal poker related post as I often feel like doing something like this when I take some of these ridiculous bad beats..!!

2 days ago I was completely fine. Now I am in complete agony and thinking about going into A&E.

My wisdom tooth has popped or something and I am in so much pain its unbearable. Its only 1 tooth as the other 3 have never grown.

I just took 45mins to eat a meal. I normally take about 10mins. Emergency dentist tomorrow for me now..... seriously though if I last that long. The pliers are ready.... Never had tooth pain like this in my life.... Its gonna be a long night..!!

Anyone got any wisdom teeth stories?

F***ed by the Whale yet again.....

I seem to get 1 or 2 of these everyday now for the last month or so. My bottom line would be so much better if I could just hold up 1 of these beats a day. The poker gods are mad at me for some reason


Poker Stars $100.00 No Limit Hold'em - 9 players

SB: $106.35
BB: $38.50
Hero (UTG): $100.00
UTG+1: $111.00
UTG+2: $100.00
MP1: $109.65
MP2: $40.00
CO: $76.05
BTN: $102.80

Pre Flop: ($1.50) Hero is UTG with 7 7
Hero raises to $3, 4 folds, CO calls $3, 3 folds

Flop: ($7.50) J T 7 (2 players)
Hero bets $6.00, CO raises to $12, Hero raises to $97, CO calls $61.05 all in

I am a 90% favourite at this stage to win this hand

Turn: ($153.60) A (2 players - 1 is all in)

River: ($153.60) K (2 players - 1 is all in)

Final Pot: $153.60

Hero shows 7 7
CO shows J Q

CO wins $150.60


Should I play this any different? Raise less OTF? etc....

Pokerstars The Big Game Season 2 - Week 1

Last week the Pokerstars Big Game Show returned for another season.

For those who haven't seen it the premise is quite simple. Basically a random is chosen to play against the pros in a 6-max high stakes cash game.

The random is staked $100k (which is the minimum buy in) and gets to keep anything he/she wins above that $100k. If they lose money or bust they lose nothing personally as Stars staked them.

You can find it here

He is a preview:

Wladimir Klitschko Jabs David Haye out of the Fight

Right from the get go Wlad assumed the centre of the ring and edged forward jabbing away at Haye.

Haye had talked about taking it to Klitschko but was unable to get within range. He made numerous attempts to come inside but Wlad was too clever in keeping him at bay.

He cited a broken toe as the main reason saying he was unable to launch from the foot. I'm not sure the result would be any different if he was completely fit.

If he truly believes that this lost him the fight then he must fight again and prove the case. I don't think he should retire with unfinished business still left hanging in the air.

There was a large British contingent within the 45,000 strong crowd that packed the Imtech Arena. They were frustrated to see their man lose badly on points with large margins. They were 117-109, 118-108 and 116-110.

After all the hype in the build up we were expecting a lot more from this fight.

The Klitschko's have now unified the division and there doesn't seem like there is anyone out there to stop them.

Who will Win the Big Fight? David Haye or Wladimir Klitschko

 

How to add a Poll to a Blogger Main Post?

1) Firstly you must create a Poll inside your sidebar. Use the add gadget like normal and name your poll.

2) Check your Poll is working by visiting your blog

3) Now must now find out how to View Source in your particular Browser. I use Internet Explorer and its easy. Just click 'Page' on your toolbar and 'View Scource'

4) The text editor will now open. Use ctrl + F or the Find function to look for the title to your Poll.

5) Copy (Right Click/Copy) the HTML Code:

Code will look something like this:

6) Paste the HTML text into your Blogger Post and Publish

7) You can now delete the sidebar poll

June 2011 Review

The less said about June, the better. I ended the month with a minus $600 session to finish a pretty meh month.

I started the month with great optimism, thinking that I could bank my first 5-figure month.

Having had 2 good winning months at the tables I thought that if I could replicate that again and potentially pick up 2 large bonuses then $10k in a month was on the cards.

Unfortunately I lost big on the felt and decided not to go for the second bonus (200k VPPs Milestone) this month.

I was also going for a 52k VPP target, but the bad beats put paid to that. I did get in decent volume but the games were just not good for me in June.

I did pick up my first $4,000 cash bonus which was needed to get me back in the black. I have learnt that you can not really make forecast in this game as that the tides can turn very quicker for the better and then for the worse.

So, my forecast for July is that I hope to work hard n play hard and maybe run good.



The final numbers for June are as follows:

134,000 Hands Played
33,558 VPPs

-$3,530 (Cash Game Losses)
-$55 (Tournament Losses)
+$4,000 (FPP Cash Bonus)
--------------------------------------------------------------------
+$415 (Total Month)


The Ytd numbers as at the end of June are as follows:

688,000 Hands Played
182,140 VPPs

-$1,214 - Jan
+$1,075 - Feb
+$722 - Mar
+$4,766 - Apr
+$3,278 - May
+$415 - Jun
--------------------------------------------------------------------
+$9,042 (Total YTD)


Lets all get some run good going.......!!