Wizards Catch All Thread v2007.03

U.S. vs Austria U-20 result.

[result] The U.S. played probably their worst game of the tournament and are out. It was a really awful game to watch, lots of misplayed passes and really nothing of note. I don't think anyone in a U.S. jersey played well. [/result]

Generally agree on all counts.

Whenever the Wizards get me down, I can always flip over to a Royals game and be thankful we don't have Emil Brown playing left back.

Representin' in Spain:

http://www.bellandbottle.com/html/photo_gallery_2_6.html

I was wondering when they were going to put the new pictures up. You can tell by my squinty face this is the tail end of a long day of drinking. It doesn't help that beer is the closest thing to water you can safely drink. At least they have a decent, cheap local brew.

Did anybody watch the Houston-TFC game last night? Maurice Edu was ejected for a play that reminded me alot of the Virtuoso-plowing-into-a-defenseless-Jimmy Conrad play. Brian Mullan played a ball with his head and Edu came in hard after the ball was already gone and gave Mullan a bloody face. Originally Abby had his yellow card pulled, but I think changed his mind when Waibel started griping and he saw the blood on Mullan's face. Geez, I guess Jimmy's face needed to bleed if he was going to get any kind of a fair call. If memory serves, Virtuoso didn't even get a yellow card for that play.

Did anyone see that Victoria Beckham special on NBC last night?

My girlfriend made me watch it, but I'm glad she did.

It was fecking hysterical.

If anyone wants to see it, the full episode is on NBC.com.

I watched it with my wife... yes, it was Hilarious.
I enjoyed watching it. VB is pretty damn funny.

I can't see it from my location. Hopefully youtube comes through soon.

They actually DON'T have the entire special online. They cut out the part with her throwing out the first pitch at the Dodger's game, which was really funny.

"They want you to throw out the first pitch at the Dodger's game! It's a big deal!"

"They actually want me to DO something active? Can I wear heels?"

I watched it with my wife.

It was funny, I thought she would be a bitch but she seems like she would actually be nice.

This Saturday I will be missing my first Wizards game this season ...

I'll Be in Denver

But will you be back by Sunday evening......since that's when the game is?

Earthquakes will be back in 2008

very nice, I heard there was a big announcement coming Thursday. Figured this was it. Great to have them back.

Cool! They can't be serious about playing games at several stadiums, can they? That would be hell on the season ticket holders and the FO staff who have to keep up with ticket sales if it's true.

HEARD ANYTHING ABOUT ANY OTHER TEAMS COMING LIKE THE FLORIDA TEAM OR ARIZONA TEAM?

The article mentions NY #2 and either Portland or Seattle (or maybe Vegas) as the next likely cities. See page 2 of the article.

arizona has fallen out of the public eye lately, Florida hasn't had any news about an ownership group stepping up.

DUH...THANKS..I DIDNT SEE THE SECOND PAGE..HAHAHAHA

I WOULD RATHER SEE A ARIZONA, VEGAS OR FLORIDA TEAM THO!!

I HAVE BEEN SEEING NEWS ABOUT PHEONIX AND ORLANDO...

http://www.mlsphoenixrising.com/ AND I WAS WRONG ABOUT ORLANDO..ITS A INDOOR TEAM.

ok, well most of the sites I look at for expansion info have been listing the NW, San Jose, New York 2 and Philly. To a lesser extent StL. I've seen very little news about Phoenix.

Good morning everyone! Just ended, Event 55, the Final Table of the 2007 WSOP Main Event. It was Final Table Day 7 and the 11th day of play overall. The Final 9 met for a top payout of $8.25M USD. Even 9th place was guaranteed over $440K.

[Result]Jerry Yang outlasted 6300+ people and his 8 opponents today to take the Title of World Champion. Yang ended the day by felting Tuan Lam with pocket black eights against a suited AQd. Yang had a commanding 5:1 chip lead when all the money went in pre-flop after Tuan Lam raised All-in for his remaining $20M chips. Lam caught a door Queen (first card out) on the flop to take the lead on a Q-9-5 board with two clubs. Yang continued his highly improbably run by turning a 7 and rivering a 6 both men will remember the rest of their lives to overtake Lam's Queens with a gut-shot, runner-runner, 9 high straight. If you are scoring at home, that's a 6 in 47 chance of hitting either the other 2 eights for a set or one of the 4 nines for the straight - about 13%. Also Yang could have caught running clubs for a flush. To be fair, Yang was about 54% pre-flop when the money wnet in.

Yang started the 205 hand final table with just 8.45 Million chips of the 127 Million in play. He was the 8th stack of 9 and definitely a short stack. The days chip leader was the first to be eliminated after his early bulling backfired numerous times. Unlucky.

Yang eliminated 7 of the 8 other Final Table competitors coming from behind on at least 4 if not 5 of the 7 elimination hands. Previous to those Yang was Al-in for his Tournament life where he doubled up and/or had to come from behind to stay alive.

Those who think a pro will never again win this event are right for another 52 weeks. The only known pro at the Final Table, Lee Watkinson, went out re-raise pushing an A7 into the overly aggressive Yang's A9. Yang called. The A9 held up. What remained was 6 amateur players. Lee made the move simply because of Yang's previous mistakes and subsequent suck-outs. Hard to blame him.

Yang used his subsequent big stack well after the early Final table wins by playing with selective aggression. Commonly his stack was well over half the chips in play and he did double others several times on questionable hands. His stack never dwindled below 33% of the chips in play after Lee's elimination.

In the end, his aggressive play defined the outcome of the table as the boards were almost always in his favor ahead, behind, or coin flip. Even when his hand was second best, his losses seemed to draw opponents into continued aggression. Yang always had the best hand the second time to eliminate the hopeful.

What a phenominally good run!

The Final Table had men from numerous countries which created an atmosphere of friends and families that often resembled a World-Cup soccer match at times, rather than a sedate poker event.

For the math inclined there is a numerical concept called "M". M is a measure of how many orbits of paying antes and blinds a person can play before going broke by blinding out. If your stack is big enough to go 10 laps at current antes and blinds then youy M=10. Simplisticly, math says, M's of 7-8 or above do not need to put their whole tournament at risk with second or third rate starting hands. There is little to no math in it, but it must be a very different thing to play in front of chanting countrymen, a crowd, announcers, analysts, media, and the ESPN camera and lights.

This final table, with the exception of one guy, Kravchenko, everyone (including the Champion numerous times) went All-In with a high M in the teens or higher. Ever later Kravchenko did go All-in with a high M after building his very short stack up carefully throughout the night. This to exploit their perceived advantage in the hand as the aggressive tend to do. The first 30 hands Yang was the guy going All-In hoping to catch. After the first 30 hands, Yang was normally the guy calling the All-In move with medium cards and the big stack to well absorb the hit if it came.

If you applaud the guy that goes for it, consequences be damned, this is your Champion. It was his early outrageous good fortune, consistent bravery, and in the end skilled play of a dominantly huge stack that shaped everyone else's actions.

As for poker, if you play, I'm guessing ESPN will do nothing but show the All-ins, the numerous suck-outs, and the gloriously wonderful rivers for Yang. People will see this and play around this country and on-line will slant even more towards over aggressive play. All-ins with any two cards or a big stack will be the book until they go broke. Net effect should be aggression will be common, poker will grow, and those who can adapt will find even more money out there for the skilled and bankrolled.

If Jerry Yang can do this, everyone might feel like they can also. The event will be bigger next year, no question.

Unbelievable.

Jerry Yang, your 2007 World Series of Poker Main Event Champion.[/result]

Do you ever have a concise post?