You might think because of his image that Lil Wayne is some type of violent offender who probably deserved this anyway, but it seems that couldn’t be further from the truth. His only arrests in addition to this gun “possession” were a couple of drug possession charges. Basically this guy has no record in terms of violent offenses and is going away for a year for standing near a gun that wasn’t even his! Wow! Thanks New York!

Keep in mind this is the same state that sent New York Giants wide receiver Plaxico Burress to prison for two years for possessing a gun in a nightclub. Granted, it’s hard to feel as bad for Plax as you might for Lil Wayne since he was stupid enough to let the gun go off, but it shows that Lil Wayne’s case is not the only example of highly unreasonable gun laws affecting people in New York. One year in prison for possession (even though it wasn’t really possession!) with no intent to use is ridiculous. This should have been a fine or at worst a month in jail.

I’ll end this post with my favorite Lil Wayne tune as of late. I just picked up this full album on iTunes as a show of support. It’s a rock album called Rebirth that’s worth checking out if you’ve always avoided Lil Wayne’s music on account of the fact that it’s hip-hop.

To my disappointment, “aggressive” atheism seems to be getting worse. Much worse. I just saw a news story about a group called ‘Atheist Agenda’ giving away porn in exchange for Bibles in a campaign they’re calling “Smut for Smut”.

Take a moment to consider how unbelievably stupid that is.

Dear “aggressive atheists” of the world, here’s what’s wrong with your approach: it is accomplishing the stone-cold opposite of what you want it to. So you don’t believe in God. Good for you! What a savvy intellectual you are for discarding the idea of a God on the basis that 2,000 year old unverifiable religious text is insufficient ground on which to base a belief. Honestly, what brilliant little thinkers you all are! I’d like to take a moment to applaud your brilliance!

*Applause!!*

Alright, now that that’s over, let’s sit down and have a little talk. It seems apparent to me that you think religious beliefs are detrimental to the happiness and peace of humanity. Perhaps you have a point. In fact, let’s say that you’re 100% correct. Let’s assume that religious beliefs do indeed facilitate war, conflict, poverty, and the self-loathing tendencies of man. I might suggest that it’s the egg that came before the chicken, that religion is a coping mechanism that comes after the war, fear and self-loathing thoughts, but let’s not get stuck on that point. Let’s say that you’re 100% correct. Let’s say that religion is bad for humanity. I can understand how it could be easy for you to think that. We did just have a President invade a country that probably shouldn’t have been invaded on the grounds that “God told him to do it”. So you’re mad at God. Fine, I get that.

Here’s where you’re screwing up: if you want people to consider the possibility that their religious beliefs are not unlike that of a child believing in Santa, you can’t scare them off by running campaigns to distribute porn in exchange for Bibles! Do you realize how horrifying that is to people? Take ten steps backwards and look at what you’re doing: you’re saying “hi, I’m an atheist, and I believe your precious holy book is on the same level as pornography.”

How does that not make a record screech to a halt in your mind? In the minds of the people you most desire to influence (believers), you are anchoring your doctrine (atheism) as a belief system that leads to people doing things like distributing pornography in exchange for Bibles. Do you really think that’s influencing anyone to your side? I can assure you it absolutely isn’t. But here’s what it is doing. It’s giving Ma and Pa Believer a fantastic excuse to climb even further down the rabbit hole of their beliefs. Just when they thought it might be safe to peek their head above the surface, what did they see? They saw an angry group of atheists passing out porn to anyone who gives up their Bible.

You people are setting back your own kind.

I understand that you’re angry at God. And I know why you do things like put up billboards on Christmas and exchange porn for Bibles: you do it because you’re angry and you need a way to release that anger. But the problem with your tactics is that they are selfish. You are catering only to your own needs and it’s bringing down humanity as a whole in the process. What you’re doing is in no way unlike what the religious do when they put up billboards that promote their beliefs or go around handing out Bibles. And if it angers you so much when they do those things, why are you practicing the same activities yourselves?

So ask yourself, aggressive atheist, what is it that you really want? Do you want to wallow in self-pity for the “lies” you perceive to have been told about God your whole life or do you want to rise above the petty God vs. No God argument, an argument that, no matter which side you’re on, is bringing down humanity and keeping us from living together peacefully?

If you want to wallow in self-pity, keep passing out porn and putting up billboards. Just don’t be surprised when church attendance increases in the process.

For the rest of you who might be able to conceive where I’m coming from and realize how utterly selfish and counterproductive you’re being and wish to change that, here’s what you do: relax. Forgive. Try a little compassion for a change. Realize that people believe in religion because they’re scared and it brings them comfort. If you really want to be a force for good for humanity, accept this with an open and understanding mind. It is only when you do this that healing the world becomes possible.

By the way, Nat Arem posted an article by Bill Simmons called A Fan-Friendly Solution to Fix the NBA on Facebook. It’s an absolute must-read for any serious fan of the NBA. His Entertaining as Hell tournament idea is brilliant.

One final thing: my friend Paul (the guy in the suit from the skit) thinks he’s the greatest sports-bettor in the world. Maybe he is and maybe he isn’t, but I’ve set out on a mission to find out. I made a bet with Paul for a considerable amount of money that he cannot pick 55 (or more) games correctly out of 100 within a year. All of his picks have to be of the -110 vs. -110 variety. In other words, he can’t just take the moneyline on heavy favorites because of course that wouldn’t be fair. I started a site called Paulie B’s 9 Star Locks to track his 100 picks. The site is nothing special, just a spreadsheet basically, but it’s there for anyone to follow along and bet along with Paul or even against him. Granted, 100 picks isn’t a huge sample size by any means, but should give a vague indication whether or not Paul is a savvy sports-bettor. At the time I write this, if you had bet every game the opposite of what his pick was so far, you’d be up money!

It’s such a sick city like that because no matter what happens they’ve got you hooked and you’ll want to be coming back.

This trip was just disastrous in every way imaginable for me on the gambling front. I mean, we’re talking 99th percentile in terms of statistical “run bad”. I may never have a trip like this again from just a sheer “odds going against me” standpoint. I lost everything. I mean everything. Overpairs vs. underpairs in poker for a $5k NAPT seat. Got rivered. Doubling down on 11s, I musta been 0/14 on catching a Ten. Sports bets? Forget it. Anyone who had taken the other side of my sports calls and put triple their normal bet on it would be clinking together glasses of champagne on a yacht right now and having a hearty laugh with their friends off the coast of Monte Carlo. I mean it was that bad but of course I’ll still go back in a couple months.

On our last night there, we were at this place on the 58th floor of the Palms that is like a hybrid between a nightclub and a casino. They’ve got blackjack tables and a roulette wheel so if you want to gamble and skip all of the dancing and socializing, you can. After three nights straight of going out to fancy-shmancy places, all I really wanted to do was sit down at a blackjack table and leave the dancing to the new arrivals.

My friends were pretty much feeling the same way, so they joined in. One friend, I’ll call him Terry since I don’t know how he’d feel about his business being aired on the Internet for everyone to read, had won a ton of money playing slots of all things. I mean, everyone knows that there are plenty of sucker bets in Vegas, but slots are the sucker bets of the sucker bets. Even the three card poker players view the slot machine players as total suckers. But Terry likes to overlook this fact and sit down at the slots thereby making all of his friends uncomfortable since playing slots is a very chick thing to do. How does Terry do at the 15% house-edge slots? Kills them, of course. So while Greg (another fake name) and I are getting killed at things we’re good at (poker) and things that don’t have thaaat bad of a house edge (blackjack), Terry is absolutely mutilating the slot machines to the tune of a couple thousand.

And it’s not like he hit some big jackpot either. He was just spiking $100-$200 scores on the slots all day like that type of thing just happens normally.

So we’re up there and Greg and I are just getting killed. Absolutely killed. I finally catch a good card. I hit a 13 against a 10 and spike the perfect 8. Sweet! I am finally going to win a hand. Before the dealer showed their down-card, I said, “if I don’t win this one and somehow push, I’m done. I’m out of here.” Dealer’s down-card is a 2, draw card is, you guessed it… 9.

I grab my chips and leap up out my seat. “Nyet! I’m outta here. I’m going back downstairs. Screw this place.”

After I walk away, Greg tells Terry that he should play the next hand that I would have been dealt if I hadn’t left. He was like, “listen, I know you don’t like blackjack, but you’re basically the luckiest guy in the city right now. You need to put $100 on the next hand that Cory was going to be dealt. You’re a guaranteed winner.” Terry complies and of course gets a blackjack.

Near the very end of the night, we wind up at a blackjack table downstairs where there is this Asian male dealer. At this point, I was totally down to the felt. Whatever money I could lose on this trip was pretty much already gone. I had maybe a couple of bets left in me before it was time to take that long, painful walk to the elevator with nothing but your room key in your pocket.

At some point we learned that the Palms blackjack tables allow surrendering. If you don’t know what that means, don’t sweat it too much; it’s basically just a nice alternative to hitting or standing that can save you half your bet when you have a really bad hand.

So I get dealt a 16 against a 10 which is pretty much the worst statistical scenario you can find yourself in at a blackjack table. I motion to the guy that I want to surrender my bet. Now this is how cold I was running… I had already lost so much hand over fist that it had gone from being frustrating to just being funny. So I motion surrender and the dealer looks at me, swear to God, and says, “why?”

Pause… pause…

I look around in disbelief with my arms in the air and just say to him, “I dunno man!!…. CAUSE I SAID SO!! Since when is that not good enough?!” My friends and I just lose it. Even he started laughing. I mean… I was running so cold that I couldn’t even get the dealer to just do what I wanted him to without having him drag me over the coals about it! What makes it especially startling is that surrendering is what you should do in that situation from an optimal-strategy standpoint! I mean… really?!?! What do you mean, “why?” For one, because you’re supposed to, but more importantly, why on God’s green earth are you asking me? Just deal the card!!

The whole thing was a pretty good laugh. It truly did feel like something out of a movie where there was a moment where you couldn’t even believe what was happening. He turned out to be really cool and ironically reminded me that surrendering was an option when I was later put in the same 16 vs. 10 scenario on the biggest bet I made of the night (it’s easy to forget that surrendering is allowed since it usually almost never is). That was a moment I’ll never forget. I’ve played thousands and thousands of hands of blackjack before but never once has a dealer just looked at me and said, “why?” after I declared my decision.

Vegas is such a terrible place. Think about it… where else in the world can you visit, have the worst luck imaginable all trip, and on the flight home agree wholeheartedly when your friend says, “we should go back in April!”

Note: I didn’t really want to write much about poker in this entry since I already did so in an article on PokerTips.

Since buying airfare, the whole trip has taken on more significance. Two friends are now meeting up out there and the Venetian altered their Deep Stack schedule by adding the $5,000 buy-in inaugural Main Event for the newly-created North American Poker Tour (NAPT). That event starts on Saturday. On Friday, I’ll be chasing a pipe-dream of participating by playing some satellites.

A few weeks ago, my friends and I booked a table at Tao, the nightclub at Venetian, for Friday night. Just today I saw that PokerStars is holding a launch party for the NAPT that same night which will be headlined by T-Pain. Apparently Tony Hawk, Christian Slater, Brad Garrett, Marlon Wayans and several others will be in attendance as well. How cool is that? Just so happen to book a table at a certain club on a certain night in Vegas and it turns out PokerStars is holding some huge launch party there!

Should be interesting. I’ve been to Tao before and the place is pretty huge, so it’s entirely possible that the launch party will be going on in a part of the club that my friends and I are unable to gain access to. That, or I’ll be standing on top of a piano singing I’m On a Boat with T-Pain.

Hey, it’s Vegas. Anything can happen!

But stop the presses!

I just saw the most baller jersey maybe ever: Jordan’s 1985 All-Star Game jersey.

Holy crap does that thing look awesome. Only 300 of them being produced which makes a $250 price tag actually seem kind of reasonable.

While I was writing this post, just played the following hand in a $10 rebuy on PokerStars. Aren’t people funny sometimes?

PokerStars Game #39458709789: Tournament #284011111, $10+$1 USD Hold’em No Limit – Level V (75/150) – 2010/02/08 21:47:07 CT [2010/02/08 22:47:07 ET]
Table ‘284011111 57′ 9-max Seat #5 is the button
Seat 1: spartan44ga (1500 in chips)
Seat 2: enheda (5910 in chips)
Seat 3: magi8000 (4350 in chips)
Seat 4: Goonasabi (6120 in chips)
Seat 5: thtsjusmygam (4295 in chips)
Seat 6: McShove (6935 in chips)
Seat 7: fred535 (6375 in chips)
Seat 8: flor3nc3 (2625 in chips)
Seat 9: Ozone23 (6280 in chips)
McShove: posts small blind 75
fred535: posts big blind 150
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Ozone23 [Ad Ah]
flor3nc3: folds
Ozone23: calls 150
spartan44ga: calls 150
enheda: folds
magi8000: folds
Goonasabi: folds
thtsjusmygam: folds
McShove: folds
fred535: checks
*** FLOP *** [2s As Ac]
fred535: bets 300
Ozone23: calls 300
spartan44ga: folds
*** TURN *** [2s As Ac] [Jh]
fred535: bets 600
Ozone23: calls 600
*** RIVER *** [2s As Ac Jh] [9d]
fred535: bets 1200
Ozone23: raises 4030 to 5230 and is all-in
fred535: calls 4030
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Ozone23: shows [Ad Ah] (four of a kind, Aces)
fred535: shows [Ts 9h] (two pair, Aces and Nines)
Ozone23 collected 12785 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 12785 | Rake 0
Board [2s As Ac Jh 9d]
Seat 1: spartan44ga folded on the Flop
Seat 2: enheda folded before Flop (didn’t bet)
Seat 3: magi8000 folded before Flop (didn’t bet)
Seat 4: Goonasabi folded before Flop (didn’t bet)
Seat 5: thtsjusmygam (button) folded before Flop (didn’t bet)
Seat 6: McShove (small blind) folded before Flop
Seat 7: fred535 (big blind) showed [Ts 9h] and lost with two pair, Aces and Nines
Seat 8: flor3nc3 folded before Flop (didn’t bet)
Seat 9: Ozone23 showed [Ad Ah] and won (12785) with four of a kind, Aces

I’ve been playing a fair amount of poker at the new Rush Poker tables on Full Tilt. I love love love Rush Poker. It’s made online cash games fun for me again. I’ve been doing pretty well by playing like ridiculously aggressive. Like I’ve been raising any two cards anytime it folds to me in the hijack, cutoff or button and I feel like it’s been solidly +EV doing so. People are just addicted to that “Quick Fold” button and love getting on to the next hand that there’s some value in dwelling in the moment a little bit and trying to win the hand you’ve been dealt rather than moving on to the next one. My average hands per hour at Rush Poker is around 195. The average average (haha) hands per hour is more like 270, so I’m definitely playing way more pots than most people.

I spent last week in New York and had a really nice time up there. We went to the Letterman taping on Monday and got front row seats. Apparently they seat people based on how you do in an evaluation process when you pick up your tickets. Somehow we wound up in the front row with all of the attractive and smiling people despite the fact that we made zero effort to appear to be having a good time when we picked up our tickets. Good beat. Here’s the view of Dave interviewing Bruce Willis. I could literally use the stage as a foot rest which was pretty ballin’. Sorry for the poor image quality; we weren’t allowed to use a camera so I kind of had to sneak this one on the sly with my phone and I think maybe my hand was a little shaky or something. That, or maybe the iPhone camera just sucks (more likely).

I just positioned myself in front of the TV to start watching Super Bowl pregame coverage five hours before kickoff. I love Super Bowl Sunday. I’m a total sucker for it. The coverage, buildup, suspense, flash bulbs at kickoff, commercials, all of it, love the whole thing. I’ll probably fire up a couple of the usual tournaments so long as I’m sitting here doing nothing, but I really don’t want to play too many to where I can’t primarily focus on the game.

I’ve got a fair amount on under 57 and am also exposed to the Saints moneyline. Before the playoffs started, a buddy and I went back and forth drafting teams. He took first pick (Colts) and I got the next two picks (Chargers and Saints), and then we went back and forth one-and-one after that. Anyway, whoever’s team wins the Super Bowl wins a few bills, so I guess I’m sort of rooting against the Colts (even though I’m really not since my heart is kind of with them being from Indiana and all). As long as the under comes in, I’ll be happy no matter who wins!

Alright, last thing, did an interview with Mike McDonald this week on PokerTips that is worth checking out if you’re a poker fan. He’s off to a sick start in 2010 and really has put up some unbelievable results despite not even being old enough to play in the U.S. yet.

Henry Waxman made himself look like an idiot. Keep in mind he was the Congressman who led the witch-hunt on interrogating MLB players about steroid use yet during his interview he seemed completely clueless regarding very basic facts about steroids including whether or not anabolic steroids are legal or illegal in the U.S. It’s terrifying how incredibly stupid most Congressmen are.

The film went into other aspects of performance-enhancers in American culture such as musicians who use beta-blockers to remain calm during performances or students who take Adderall to perform better on tests. Should they have an asterisk by their name? Or what about pilots who are mandated by the Air Force to take amphetamines during long flight missions, the same type of amphetamines that if taken by a baseball player might land them in a Congressional hearing. It was definitely thought provoking and eye-opening and gives viewers a different viewpoint to consider regarding steroids than has been hammered into our heads by after school specials.

I played some online poker tournaments today for the first time in a while. For the past several weeks I’ve either been busy traveling or waiting on a laptop arrive which prevented me from playing the regular Sunday tournaments. Up until just a few days ago, I was down to just the desktop I have in my room. I don’t have a TV in my room (I need to fix that) so watching the NFL playoffs in the living room and thereby skipping the Sunday tournaments has been my preference for the past few weeks.

Today I got to do both. The NFC Championship game was great, but I didn’t like how it ended. At the start of the playoffs, I bet that the Saints would not win the Super Bowl at odds of -515, so I’m disappointed that I’ll have to sweat that bet to the end. I really thought they would have lost by now, and they probably would have if Brett Favre had scrambled rather than thrown across his body on what might have been a horribly lackluster final play of what was otherwise a brilliant career. The Saints should feel really fortunate to be going to the Super Bowl. Minnesota should have won that game notwithstanding having turned the ball over four times before Favre’s ill-fated decision.

The Colts are 4 to 5.5 point favorites in the Super Bowl depending on where you look. The over/under is 56. I love the under. I could see it getting up to 57 and when it does, I’ll probably try to get a decent sized bet in so I’ve got more rooting interest than just the big Saints fade.

Two Super Bowls ago I enjoyed the sporting event of a lifetime not only because was it the best Super Bowl ever played, but also because I was on the Giants, unhedged, at 70:1 odds to win. Last year was another really good game but it didn’t go my way at all. I was on the Cardinals moneyline so it was pretty painful watching that freak defensive TD to end the first half by James Harrison and then the sick catch by Santonio Holmes to seal it in the end. If my money is on the right side of the Super Bowl every other year, this year should be pretty good!

What do you like?