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A scuttling crab
Jan. 5th, 2006 08:28 amBack to two tables last night and early this morning, with positive results, in a minor kind of way. This morning was an oddity; I won both my "significant" pots (if any pot at $2-$4 could be so described) by calling all the way (once with a pair of 10s, once with a pair of threes) rather than being called. The straight bat defence with a pair against a raiser in middle to late position looks to be a powerful weapon at the moment.
++++
I see that Pokerstars is investigating either a flotation or a sell-off, yet more indication that the people in the know can see that the boom is, if not falling back, then at least levelling off. Those of us who have seen what has happened to the other major sites once the suits come in will not be happy at the prospect of Pokerstars being run by the same mindless morons. The true nightmare would be if William Hill bought it. They could fuck anything up.
And all is not wine and roses at Betfair, either. The executive chairman has gone, having lost the confidence of both important institutional investors and the co-founders. The facts are simple. The company has been going for some years now, and the investors want some cash back. For whatever reasons, last year's planned flotation did not go ahead, leaving a number of people (including the co-founders) wallowing in massive positive EV, none of which will buy lunch. It's like being a million miles ahead in a massive pot against a guy with a one-outer, with just the river to come.
+++++
The situation where news reports claimed that 12 miners in West Virginia had been found alive when, it transpired, all but one of them was dead, is evidence of the mania amongst reporters for being first with "breaking news". Indeed, the Sky News channel seems intent on having one "breaking news" story every day, no matter how mind-numbingly tedious the news that is breaking might be.
Although this particular instance is sad for all concerned, some good might come of it in that inexperienced news editors might be a little bit more careful when rushing things into print (or over the Internet). I can see how this happened. Someone overheard a mobile phone call about "multiple survivors". This person said something to someone else. Unfortunately, this being West Virginia, all the people were gathered together. This led to A Chinese Whisper wildfire, with rumour becoming fact and all the relatives concerned celebrating the "sutrvival" of their loved ones. The news reporters, assuming that so many people couldn't all be wrong, sent it to their news editor as a "verified" story. The young news editors aren't bright or cynical enough to question whether verification by people who all happened to be in the same place is quite good enough (see urban myths and their propagation), and the story gets run. Other papers, seeing it being run in one paper, run it in their own. And then, three hours later, the truth emerges.
++++
I see that Pokerstars is investigating either a flotation or a sell-off, yet more indication that the people in the know can see that the boom is, if not falling back, then at least levelling off. Those of us who have seen what has happened to the other major sites once the suits come in will not be happy at the prospect of Pokerstars being run by the same mindless morons. The true nightmare would be if William Hill bought it. They could fuck anything up.
And all is not wine and roses at Betfair, either. The executive chairman has gone, having lost the confidence of both important institutional investors and the co-founders. The facts are simple. The company has been going for some years now, and the investors want some cash back. For whatever reasons, last year's planned flotation did not go ahead, leaving a number of people (including the co-founders) wallowing in massive positive EV, none of which will buy lunch. It's like being a million miles ahead in a massive pot against a guy with a one-outer, with just the river to come.
+++++
The situation where news reports claimed that 12 miners in West Virginia had been found alive when, it transpired, all but one of them was dead, is evidence of the mania amongst reporters for being first with "breaking news". Indeed, the Sky News channel seems intent on having one "breaking news" story every day, no matter how mind-numbingly tedious the news that is breaking might be.
Although this particular instance is sad for all concerned, some good might come of it in that inexperienced news editors might be a little bit more careful when rushing things into print (or over the Internet). I can see how this happened. Someone overheard a mobile phone call about "multiple survivors". This person said something to someone else. Unfortunately, this being West Virginia, all the people were gathered together. This led to A Chinese Whisper wildfire, with rumour becoming fact and all the relatives concerned celebrating the "sutrvival" of their loved ones. The news reporters, assuming that so many people couldn't all be wrong, sent it to their news editor as a "verified" story. The young news editors aren't bright or cynical enough to question whether verification by people who all happened to be in the same place is quite good enough (see urban myths and their propagation), and the story gets run. Other papers, seeing it being run in one paper, run it in their own. And then, three hours later, the truth emerges.
