67 WINS – 53 LOSSES – 2 PUSHES —– (+ 68.55 units / 1 unit = $100)
STARTING BANKROLL: $10,000.
CURRENT BANKROLL: $16,855.
BEST BETS OF THE WEEK: 9-3-0
Last week’s record was 5 wins and 4 losses. Most important, the net gain was +9.3 units.
If there’s one thing I’ve improved this season over the last many years I’ve been posting plays at various public forums (which started in 1997), it’s been with weighing picks and better money management.
It took me many many years to realize that flat betting gives way too much away when there are stronger than average plays on the board. Moreover, a pick may be worth playing, but for a smaller amount based on the line or total. Hence, I strongly recommend varying your bet sizes. I have more work to do and much more to learn in this area. But I do want to say that if you only get half your picks right, but weigh the games accurately, you might still be able to produce a nice profit.
I’m making three wagers on Thanksgiving Day games. Sunday’s plays will be released at the customary time.
Writer’s Note: Tonight I had the great fortune of enjoying yet another extraordinary dinner and deep discussion with friends and colleagues.
Steve Schorr, Race and Sportsbook Manager at Harveys Lake Tahoe (pictured standing at center in photo) made the mistake of including me in his good graces, an invite that’s always sure to result in an assault on the liquor cabinet, several off-color comments, and a sink full of dirty dishes.
Gracie, his longtime companion and our host extraordinaire for the evening (standing with Steve in the photo) served a dinner that would have made Henry VIII bust his pants. The only thing more pleasing than the fresh salmon and glazed lamb chops was the company.
On second thought, while the company was indeed wonderful, those smoked lamb chops served with a reduction sauce were pretty damned good. Sorry Steve, you’ve been upstaged by a slaughtered lamb.
Naturally, with good friends and wine comes interesting conversation. The following essay was prompted by our discussion.
Another dinner.
Another epiphany.
If we have a sixth sense beyond the known five, it’s probably instinct.
Think about that for a moment.
Instinct.
An inner voice.
A feeling.
Were I to define instinct, it would be perception which cannot be measured nor transposed. But it’s real. Just as touch is a tangible sensation — a neurophysiological process of transmission from body to brain — it’s not necessarily defined in the abstract. After all, we see objects, we hear sounds, we taste flavors, we smell odors. But touch isn’t quite the same. Accordingly, isn’t it quite possible – even probable — that all the evolutionary tools we’ve come to master over hundreds of thousands of years are now manifested in a greater awareness of our surroundings and a dominion as to how to optimally react to stimuli?
Alas, this is what I call instinct.
It’s taken me most of my life to erase what amounts to fifty years of ignorance or indifference to instinct. I’m hardly alone. We’re all inundated with second-guessing and self-doubt. Killers of human instinct. Assassins of truth. Which gradually leads to loss of confidence — and ultimately to sadness and depression.
Photo Caption: Dinner tonight at “19,” which is high atop the Harveys Resort and Casino at beautiful Lake Tahoe. I wolfed down a 20-ounce coffee-rubbed rib-eye, with garlic mashed potatoes, asparagus, a house salad, a full bottle of Pellegrino, two double expressos, and two bottles of Caymus (shared, of course). Epic dinners like these always bring about great conversation, especially when you are with great company like Steve Schorr (Race and Sportsbook Manager) and Glen Cademartori (Caesars Entertainment Marketing Director for Northern Nevada). Dinners like this are what living life is all about. Tonight’s dinner prompted the following thoughts and column:
I wish there were 36 hours in the day, instead of 24.
I wish there were eight days in the week, instead of seven.
I wish I had more time.
There’s not enough time to read all the books I want to read. There’s not enough time to listen to all the music I want to hear. There’s not enough time to travel to all the places I want to go. There’s not enough time to make all the friends I’d like to meet. There’s not enough time to covet those family relationships and friendships that I’m already blessed to have. There’s not enough time fulfill a vast cauldron of desires.
Indeed, each of us lives inside an hourglass. The sand beneath our feet is always shifting and slowly disappears, one grain at a time, one ticking second at a time. At some point — no one knows exactly when — the sand runs out. Our hourglass becomes empty. And then, we will be gone.
When you think about it, other than our good health, time is our most precious resource.
Why then do we waste so much of it?
Tonight at dinner, the conversation turned to living a good life.
A random question came up that made me to pause and think. And quite frankly, I got stumped. I usually have quick answers for just about everything. That’s what comes with being opinionated. But a question was asked that I still have trouble answering. Perhaps you’d like to pretend you’re dining with us over a few bottles of wine and you suddenly get asked the following:
If you could pick one person in the world to have a long one-on-one dinner conversation with, who would it be?
Let’s embellish this just a bit. You must make two choices. The first choice must be someone living. The second choice must be someone deceased.
62 WINS – 49 LOSSES – 2 PUSHES —– (+ 59.25 units / 1 unit = $100)
STARTING BANKROLL: $10,000.
CURRENT BANKROLL: $15,925.
BEST BETS OF THE WEEK: 8-3-0
It’s hard to top last week’s results, posting a public record of 11 wins and 3 losses– for a monster net win of +52.3 units. However, this is no time to celebrate or relax. Trying to stay in the zone with what will hopefully be another profitable week.
Many plays this week are not so much BET ON games as BET AGAINST games. Some teams are starting to implode and those are teams we want to fade this time of year, especially if not laying too many points. That’s the case on a few games this week noted below.
Why’s it so goddamned difficult to get a decent margarita? I mean, what the fuck!
Its madness!
The recipe is simple. Simple! The act of mixing the cocktail isn’t difficult. But for some reason, which I fail to contemplate, most bars and restaurants — even highly-rated Mexican restaurants — serve shitty-ass margaritas made with no love nor care. It’s time to start sending these abominations back. A major education campaign must be launched, and I’m here to do it.
I’ve had it. I’m livid!
Where’s the pride? How can an owner, a manager, or a server put out such lackluster product, when a margarita should be the centerpiece attraction? How does a restaurant keep its doors open using cheap tequila and rock-gut triple sec poured out of pathetic plastic bottles combined with disgusting powder-based mixers and have the audacity to call that a “margarita?” It’s like putting lipstick on a pig and calling that Anne Hathaway.
Case in point: Whoever created the margarita pictured in the photo below should never be able to set foot behind a bar again. Ever! The criminal should be digging a ditch or serving on a chain gag. Bitch slap his ass! I mean, look at this travesty! And study carefully. Drop what you are doing and pay attention!
Leonardo da Vinci was a spark. He was a luminous force in a dark world trembling in fear and ignorance for a millennia. Da Vinci is widely thought of just as an artist and painter. But Da Vinci was so much more than that. He may very well have been the most extraordinary man who’s ever lived.
Nevada State Highway 266 is the desolate 60-mile stretch of asphalt that straddles across the Nevada-California border at a crux where towns and people do not exist
A visit to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, DC is an emotive experience.
One need not be a military veteran nor even an American citizen to recognize the immense power of this extraordinary artwork, which pays tribute to those a generation ago who went to a faraway land and never returned home alive. It was our most tragic — and I might add senseless — military conflict.
I lived in Washington, DC for 12 years. During that time, many friends and relatives visited what remains a mesmerizing city. I always used those special occasions to travel around our capital, playing amateur guide to our nation’s most impressive monuments. For me, each accompanying visit was a reminder. A reinforcement of what patriotism really means.
The Lincoln Memorial, Washington Monument, the Iwo Jima Memorial, Arlington National Cemetery, the Jefferson Memorial and so many other attractions are powerful places to visit. They should be seen by everyone. In fact, I’ll go so far to say that every American has an obligation to make at least one trip to our nation’s capital to see and experience these sites firsthand. I’m not even sure one can really call himself or herself a true American without having stood next to these structures which represent the very essence of our nation.
However, one memorial above all the rest deserved to be seen. It moved me emotionally each and every time I visited — and always in a different way. I must have touched the granite wall perhaps two dozen times. Instead of becoming bored or indifferent to something I had laid eyes upon so many occasions before, each visit gave me a new perspective about our history, what personal sacrifice really means, and the value of life itself.
Today at Harveys Lake Tahoe, “Captain” Tom Franklin sang the National Anthem. He’s a Marine Corps veteran who served in the Vietnam War. Franklin has been a professional poker player for more than 20 years. He’s also a World Series of Poker gold bracelet winner.
One thing is for sure. It takes real guts to enlist and then serve in combat, as Franklin did. It also take courage to stand up in front of 500 people and sing the National Anthem without any musical accompaniment.
Here’s a video of my introduction of Franklin, followed by his rendition of the Star-Spangled Banner.
