MLB Games for May 31
Well, the AL East is starting to look like it always has, with Boston and New York fighting for the top spot, and “all the rest” bringing up the rear. That, unfortunately, includes the Blue Jays, who are no longer peering down on their competition from atop the division. In fact, the blue Jays have been in a free-fall of late, and are nowhere near the dominant team they were to start the season. Speaking of which, the Red Sox travel up north to face Toronto. John Lester (3-5, 6 ERA) faces Ricky Romero (2-1, 3 ERA). If anything will save the Blue Jays from themselves in this matchup it’ll be a strong pitching performance to stop the bleeding. I think they’ll get it here. Lester is shaky in Toronto and having a difficult season so far…look for his struggles to continue in this one. Toronto, despite heading in the opposite direction as Boston, will be a slight favorite, probably a -120 to Boston +110. I’d take Toronto in this one, and I’d also take the over. I think both teams will light it up for 12+ total runs.
How about Seattle at Los Angeles? One team that at one point looked great in the AL West, and another that dominated the entire league last year trying to recapture it’s magic. Can you guess which team is which? I’ll give you a hint, neither is in first place right now - that distinction somehow goes to the Rangers. The Angels, who’ve pulled themselves above .500 finally, send Ervin Santana to the mound. At 0-2, 7.82, you wonder why he’s still in the rotation, until you see he’s only started three games so far this season. An excuse? Does it matter? The Mariners send an equally unimpressive Chris Jakubauskas with an ERA close to 7 himself.
It makes you shake your head when you see these mlb betting matchups as a baseball gambler. Both teams are around .500 in their last 10 games, but here’s the difference. Angels are at the top of the AL in hitting but almost at the bottom in pitching. Mariners are almost the opposite, struggling greatly in team average so far. Which do you trust to come through in the clutch? I trust pitching, but not by much. The line will go to the Angels as the home team and the better record. -110 to +110. But I say take the Mariners in this one. Or avoid the line and take the over. Statistically, that’s the safer play anyhow.
World Series of Poker Main Event Online Satellite Qualifiers
It’s the beginning of a new poker season for the World Series of Poker and with the Main Event approaching in a couple months all of the major online poker rooms have begun offering packages to Las Vegas. Like every year the Main Event of the World Series of Poker will take place at the Rio Casino & Resort in Las Vegas and will draw in the world’s biggest poker names and countless amateurs looking for their shot at fame. Right now is the time to be looking around for your shot at winning an online WSOP Main Event qualifier for this year’s tournament which is running from July 3rd – July 14th.
The poker rooms that are offering WSOP satellite qualifiers are typically the big poker rooms that have a lot of players so it does make it difficult to win one of the packages. One good thing about some of the poker rooms that offer WSOP Main Event packages is that they are offering hundreds of them to players. Most of the poker rooms below have already started there satellite qualifiers for this year’s Main Event so make sure you join one of the poker rooms soon before you miss your chance. Most poker rooms will be running the events until the end of June so you still have lots of time.
Poker Stars
www.PokerStars.com always is one of the most represented online poker rooms at the WSOP Main Event and this year they plan on sending over 500 poker players who qualify online in their poker room. They have started offering tournaments already and will begin handing out WSOP Main Event packages any day now. The WSOP packages that Poker Stars are offering their players total $12K in value.
Full Tilt Poker
FullTiltPoker is one of the biggest online poker rooms and has the best team of poker pros sponsored. Not only do they have a great team of pros who play in their poker room and at WSOP events, but they also send many regular poker players like us to the WSOP Main Event. This year Full Tilt Poker plans on sending more then 500 poker players to Vegas with packages that are worth over $12K.
Party Poker
Party Poker runs satellite tournaments starting as low as $2 and although they don’t send as many people to the Main Event as some poker rooms they still are one of the best. They also sell packages to this year’s WSOP Main Event through their player points store so if you’ve been amassing points at Party Poker you might be able to buy your way to Vegas this year. Party Poker offers two packages for players including one worth $12K and another worth $5.5K.
These three online poker rooms offer more seats to the WSOP Main Event then any other poker room. Some of the other smaller poker rooms such as Ultimate Bet and Carbon Poker will also be sending players to the event in Vegas, but your chances of winning a seat are much better at Poker Stars, Full Tilt Poker and Party Poker.
Small Stack Strategy
You know what to do when you’re the chip leader, leaning on players, buying pots, trying to clear out the weak links so you can finish off the table and either claim your prize or move on to the next round. But what do you do when you’re that weak link trying to turn things around? How do you handle – or how SHOULD you handle – being short-stacked up against a big bully with a stack you can hardly see over?
The question everyone should be asking yourself here is when do you make your move? Does patience, something you’ve prided yourself on having the entire time, even factor into the equation here on FullTilt? The blinds won’t stop going up, so you can’t wait around forever. If you do, you’ll eventually find yourself all-in whether you want to be or not. But if you’ve just taken a huge loss, or have just realized that you’ve been nickel and dimed down from third place to sixth place with only enough chips left to call a few raises, how much longer do you wait before your remaining chips hold no power aside from keeping you alive?
I think there is a decision to be made here. You can’t just throw yourself all-in on the “next hand,” because that’s liable to be an 8, 3 off-suit, and you’ll be not only powerless, but also tagged as an impatient sucker who’ll “give up” when the going gets tough. That can hurt you in future tournaments.
I’d say give it three hands, if you can afford to, and/or put yourself in play the minute you get a hidden face card. A queen in the hand is better than crap in the bush.
You also have to be prepared to get called regardless of what you do at this stage in the game. If the chip leader was winning to play “call anything” mode for most of the game, you’re not going to throw him off that now, especially since him and everyone else is likely wise to the fact that you’re trying to buy your way back into relevancy. This won’t matter in terms of what you should do, since your options are limited anyway, but you shouldn’t be discouraged from going all-in on a face card just to be called by someone with a poorer hand statistically trying to catch you in exactly what you’re doing anyway. At that point, either of you could get lucky on the flop. If it’s you, though, you live to fight another day at Cake Poker.