The SBP Archives - Your less than frequent dose of SBP!

Did you notice when talking to your friends or with co-workers over the past week, no one really brought up the subject of who won best picture at the Oscars on Sunday? I mean, even for me, this was likely one of the least talked about Academy Awards for a long time. Usually I could recite every nominee but this year I had a hard time trying to remember all five (Atonement was the one that I kept forgetting).

The writer's strike threatened to pull the plug on the Academy Awards altogether, and if the award winners were announced in an AP release not too many people would have complained. It's too bad, because after 80 years, it's a film tradition that should be highly anticipated. But maybe this past year's crop of films wasn't the kind that took filmgoers' hearts. I think maybe the fact that there wasn't a mainstream film up for best picture may have turned people off. I thought The Bourne Ultimatum might have had a good shot for consideration, but more and more academy members have lately been opting for independent fare.

No Country for Old Men surprised me that it won not because it's a bad film, because it's excellent, but the fact that it's dark and moody and regardless of what you thought of the ending (I will not spoil it, and I've talked about the ending with others because I totally admit I didn't get it) most didn't like the ending because it offered no closure. Some call it art, some call it a rip-off. I thought Juno would have won, mainly because it's more "accessible", it's well-paced, funny, had likeable characters we can sometimes relate to and it has an indie flavour that many voters look for. But they opted for dark and artsy.

What am I trying to say? Not sure. But most don't care about this subject anyway. I'll end by saying I was very happy Daniel Day-Lewis won for There Will be Blood, and we won't drink milkshakes quite the same again.

You know, for a team that was four games away from winning a Stanley Cup about 8 months ago, they sure are playing like last year's 102 games were nothing more than a complete fluke.

I have no idea what's wrong with these guys. Is it John Paddock's system (and someone please tell me what it is. Jacques Martin was defense. Bryan Murray was work ethic spiced with creativity. What's Paddock's system?)? Is it the handling of the Emery/Gerber situation? Is it Emery for showing up late to practice? Is Bryan Murray just a horrible GM? Does Ottawa not have enough talent? Is it the defense? The offense? Are players playing injured? Is it the late run to June that's making them lethargic? I have no clue, but watching yesterday's SBP birthday debacle game against the Leafs and tonight's 4-0 spanking versus Boston in which the team showed absolutely no interest in winning, I don't know, I think I've stopped thinking they have any chance of going all the way. Looks like they'll slip to 6th or 7th place and it'll be followed by a first round exit. I'd send in a request to get my money back for the tickets I still have remaining (interestingly enough, against the Leafs and Bruins) but there are no refunds. I can't defend these guys anymore. And if this makes any sense, I used the last $80 or so dollars in my Paypal account to buy a white XL Sens jersey off Ebay that was on sale. Yeah, guess it's easy to figure out why it was sold at half price.

By the way, you may have noticed I'm using the old logo in this blog entry. I'm hoping for a return to last year's effort.

In any case, I'll take the time now to end on a positive note and thank everyone for the birthday wishes yesterday. Good friends more than help make up for disappointments displayed by your local sports team.

Stupid Senators.

I don't usually treat myself to some fancy, expensive dining. But for my birthday, I made an effort to do so, for as you all know, SBP is usually always up to eating something.

So KKP organized a dinner reservation at Beckta's (which is literally just around the block from my place) several weeks ago. As a side note, when calling to confirm the reservation, KKP was told it was cancelled on Wednesday. NO ONE DID ANY SUCH THING! So, what else would you do except cry? That's what KKP did, and sure enough they decided to open up the private dinner room for all of us, which made a great evening even better. Very strange the cancellation happened to begin with, as they got a call on Wednesday around 2-3pm recorded on their PC that someone called in to cancel our reservation. But nonetheless, things still worked out.

So for an appetizer, I had the Rabbit Garganelli, which was a very tasty blend of asiago cheese, roasted garlic (organic, no less), mushrooms, pasta and a tangy sauce combined with some tender, yes, rabbit! After finishing, it was like I already had the main course as it was very satisfying, but there was more to come! I liked the options available on the menu because you could experiment with different items you never tried before, or if you wanted to lean towards "safer" choices you could and not worry about spoiling your meal. Well, I decided to lean towards safe and enjoyed the beef tenderloin. The key word in that is TENDER, because, mmm, it just melted in your mouth it was so good. And as a side, they served up chickpea frites which, crudely put, is like french fries except it's 10x more delicious. Again, more melt-in-your mouth goodness. It was also served with carrots, mushrooms with "truffle" butter, but I'll remember the chickpea frites the most.

So on to dessert, I had what got my attention as I perused the menu, which was the Chocolate Bombe, a rich, dark chocolate mousse that was also served with chocolate gelato. It was delicious, but it couldn't compare to what some others had, the salted caramel & chocolate torte. Now it doesn't sound appetizing (to me anyway), but it included the richest chocolate fudge cake which may be one of the tastiest I've ever sampled. If I ever go back, I'll go straight to that, for as you all know me, SBP likes his cake and that was one of the best!

I'm not a wine drinker so I just had a couple of beers, a Tom Collins and a tea to go with my dessert, they also capped off the meal with a white hot chocolate beverage which was really good but by then we had our fair share and were pretty full. With tip, the meal came to about $120 and I have to say, it was money well spent. The service was excellent and everyone enjoyed their meals. If you feel like treating yourself, Beckta is definitely worth your time!

I never got around to buying a page-a-day calendar for my desk at work this year until yesterday. The last couple of years, my calendars had offered poker advice and before that, some Simpson's quotes. This year, at a price of just $4.00, every day I'll get a picture of what I consider pure contentment, relaxation and natural beauty. There is something very soothing about gazing at a beach, with palm trees in the scenery looking over clear, turquoise water. I guess I've been thinking to myself what I would do if I ever got my hands on a big chunk of change. I would never leave Canada permanently, but maybe a stretch during January to March a residence down south would be alright. Strolling along the beach, a nice warm breeze in the air, the sound of the ocean crashing against the white sand along the shoreline...paradise I tells ya.

Yes, that would suit me just fine. I can picture Andy right now driving down on the highway with the top down, the sun shining across his forehead and a huge smile spread right across his face. Yup, some birds aren't meant to be caged, because their feathers are just too bright.... (I'm paraphrasing a little, but WHAT MOVIE?!)

It's been awhile since I gawked at Natalie Portman, but check out that photo right beside this text. Notice the simplicity of it all: Simple hair, simple shoes, simple dress (her dress even has pockets for chrissakes) but she is still so stunningly attractive. How can I get her to date me? "Hey baby, I'm not tall, I'm just standing on my wallet...". Nah, she's too classy for some cheesy line to work on her. Better start going to the gym! :-)

- Are you sick of John Paddock? After Martin Gerber played a solid game against the Devils (from what I hear, it wasn't on TV), Paddock still decides to stick with the "win and you're in" philosophy and puts Emery in net. Gerber is obviously not being shown any confidence and if that's the case, they should just stick with Emery to get some more games in. At the same time, Gerber has to wonder if he has to start fights with teammates, show up late to practice, and threaten motorists with their lives to be considered the #1 guy. Anyway, Paddock was a failure as a coach with the Winnipeg Jets in his first and last stint since being hired by the Sens, and despite all the talent he has in front of him, is coaching a .500 hockey club after their 15-2 start. I'd like to see Bryan Murray back behind the bench.

- Family Day was a bust in a sense that Federal Government employees had to go to work but you couldn't buy a pair of jeans because all the stores were closed. They should just make it national and allow every retail outlet to be opened, it'd be good for the economy! What's that you say, it wouldn't? Well then, don't ask me how the economy works.

- I filed my tax return online today and I'm taking my refund to Atlantic City. That's my way of saying I didn't get much of a refund

- I'm going to see GSP! Not sure if I mentioned it, but I'll be heading out with Neil and Cindy to see George St Pierre @ UFC 83 in Montreal on April 19th. It's already sold out and all I have to say is Mr. St Pierre better win, I didn't blow all that money for a loss!

- After my haircut, two co-workers pointed out how gray my hair is. Thanks. Thanks very much! You know, maybe I should start walking up to fat people and point out the size of their girth.

- Pac-Man in HD is pretty sweet

- I didn't buy Def Leppard tickets. Pains me to say it, but I'm not as excited as I used to be. Maybe later on as the concert gets closer that will change.

- I got back from Ultimate about 30 minutes ago and I'm still wired from it. Late night games stink.

Here's the logo of the new Can-Am baseball team, the Ottawa Rapids. I actually don't mind the name, I guess there's a tie-in there to the Rideau River (meh, maybe a stretch saying that) but whatever. What do Kings have anything to do with Los Angeles for instance? Anyway, Rapids: pretty close to bilingual (rapides), you think of the words fast, exciting, quick (in other words, the opposite of what baseball is all about) and another thing is that it's original; I'm not aware of any other sports teams having the same name.

Anyway, I hope the team takes off and Ottawa will forget the Lynx and give baseball a try again. I don't like seeing teams fail in this city and for once, maybe something outside of hockey will thrive.

(In case you care, here are some of the names I submitted for the "name the team" contest: Colonels, Gold, Silver, Diamonds, Red, Gladiators off the type of my head...I thought Colonels would have a good shot but no dice. Guess the mascot for this team might be a gigantic fish or something, or perhaps a man with a foam canoe....?).

p.s. Happy Valentine's Day. I celebrated the day with the adding of chocolate to milk.

If you're involved in a hand, you have some choices to make when it's your turn to act: check or bet, or, if someone has bet before you, call, raise or fold. But I want to take the time to discuss what your try to accomplish when you're first to act and you do indeed bet.

Betting is a very powerful action in no-limit hold 'em. You should know in advance what you're trying to accomplish by betting out:

1) If you're bluffing, you need to bet a strong amount to cause other players to fold. If, for example, the pot has 1000 chips and you bet 100 into it hoping your opponents will fold their hand, this will likely not happen. The pot is so big that, even if they're unsure whether or not you have a good hand, the pot odds almost make a call mandatory. I would bet out at least 1/2 the pot if I was trying to get others to fold, or whatever amount you've observed is enough to get your opponent to muck their cards.

2) If you're trying to protect your hand (i.e. getting players drawing to a flush or straight out of the pot) you must, like the previous example, bet out a decent amount that would make it a mistake (from a mathematical viewpoint anyway) for them to call you bet. If, for example, the pot is 1000 and there are two hearts on the flop, you might make it a 1/2 to pot-sized bet (500-1000) if you think there's a heart flush draw and you want players to fold. You're making it too expensive for them to continue.

3) If you're trying to build a pot, in other words, you have a strong hand and actually want people to call your bet, you might want to make your bet on the lighter side. A 1/4 pot-sized bet is a good size if you have a hand like a set or top pair with no apparent draws. (You might decide to check, hoping to induce a bet from your opponent, but for this post we're evaluating betting only).

4) If you want to bet to "see where you stand," betting out at the pot can help you determine where you are. For example, if you have pocket 10s and the flop comes K-8-3 and you decide to check, if your opponent then bets he/she may have paired their King, but maybe not. A bet before will go a long way to determine if your hand is still best, and you might decide your done with the hand if you're raised or called. But again, betting 10% of the pot won't tell you where you stand. Bet a decent amount that's enough to make your opponent consider folding if they think they have the inferior hand.

Seems elementary, but enormous blunders can be made if you bet too little or too much depending on what you're trying to do. Make sure you have a game plan before you put your chips in.

The consensus among fans and non-fans of the Ottawa Senators is that GM Bryan Murray made a terrific deal in getting the team ready and loaded for the Stanley Cup playoffs by bringing in two former Stanley Cup winners in Cory Stillman and Mike Commodore.

The Senators had to give up D Joe Corvo, a player with good speed and skills but not so reliable without the puck. Murray revealed that his agent had asked him to make a trade to an American team as he didn't like the scrutiny he received being in a city that's passionate about hockey. Combine that with the fact Ottawa has three defencemen that are virtually identical in Corvo, Andrej Meszaros and Wade Redden, Murray wanted to get more of a shut-down physical defenceman and Commodore fit the bill perfectly. At 6"5 and 230 lbs, he'll make the defense better. He's not as quick, but that's the tradeoff. He'd be a perfect partner for Wade Redden to offset the defensive lapses Redden's been known for lately.

Patrick Eaves is a young player with potential to be a 30 goal-scorer in the league, but this is the sort of player you need to give up to get immediate veteran assistance for the post-season. Stillman is surprisingly (by NHL standards) underpaid at $1.75 million for a near point-a-game player. He'll be a nice fit on the 2nd line with Mike Fisher to help out with secondary scoring. And I can't emphasize how great it is to bring two guys who have been through the wars to win the championship. These guys were no bystanders in 2006 with Carolina, both Stillman and Commodore were important parts of that Stanley Cup run.

Hardly any blockbuster trades are made anymore with the cap system, but this is a pretty exciting one to talk about. I think this makes Ottawa better, and the nice thing is Murray actually has still about the same amount of cap room as before the trade so he can still make another acquisition if he feels the need. In any case, here's my salute to the trade, courtesy of the Bandit:

Wade Redden was one of the original Ottawa Senators who saw the franchise from it's early times in the cellar of the NHL, blossom to it's first playoff appearance, to many disappointing post-seasons and finally to elite status among NHL teams, where last season's Stanley Cup final was perhaps the last step before the Ottawa Senators can realize their dream and win the Stanley Cup. So you can understand why, after 11 seasons, Wade doesn't want to leave his team, his friends, and his home, to get lost in the California hockey scene where the San Jose Sharks have expressed interest in his services and leave the #1 team in the Eastern Conference.

It was funny to hear the response to the news GM Bryan Murray approached Redden about waiving his no trade clause. Many actually accused Redden of being selfish for wanting to stay, not making room for what was perceived as a move that would put Ottawa over the top (two names mentioned: Patrick Marleau, who has stunk it up for the last two years, and Matt Carle, a defenseman who's been a healthy scratch more than once this year). If you ask me, it's just one problem for another.

Redden's stats aren't actually that bad with over 30 points and a plus 16 or so, but the fact of the matter is that his glaring weakness: turnovers, have made Ottawa fans cringe when he steps on the ice, afraid he'll make a back-breaking mistake that will cost his team any chance of success. As Ottawa's top salary earner this year @ $6.5 million, he's not playing to that amount. I find that his defensive partners, Andrej Meszaros and Joe Corvo, are playing just as bad or worse than Redden, but no one really throws them under the bus as often for the simple reason they're making a whole lot less than Wade.

So, what will happen? Well, what I'm hoping is Redden will want to show up management and the fans and play his best hockey of his career, and once the season comes to an end everyone will come begging for him to come back. Could it happen? Last night, Redden was solid and played well, and he capped the evening getting into a tilt with a Montreal player. Was he sending a message? Do the fans buy he's starting a turnaround?

I find Redden hasn't been liked at all by Ottawa since he arrived, even when he was playing well and made Team Canada in the 2004 World Cup. But he's slowed down and everyone wants to drive him out of town, forgetting someone else will have to play his 23 minutes a game and take his place. I don't trust Corvo, Meszaros, Scubert or Richardson to step up in his absence personally. Murray would have to acquire someone else to take his spot even if he were shipped out and how many top defenseman are available? And this is why fans don't realize Ottawa actually needs Redden to play to his full capacity if the Sens are to get back into playing for the Stanley Cup. I thought it was kind of unfortunate and mean that this news got out on Redden, but hopefully this might be the fire to set him off and who knows, maybe he won't be done with Ottawa after the season's over. Well, maybe I shouldn't get too carried away.

Wouldn't it be funny?

If Mats Sundin was traded to Ottawa and won the Stanley Cup, then decided he wanted to stay? I can just picture it: "I'm having too much fun," said Sundin, moments after captain Daniel Alfredsson insisted he hoist the Cup first before getting his hands on it, "Being with a team that cares only about winning and achieving the ultimate dream of every hockey player is just awesome. I told Murray: I want to come back. Don't worry about cap issues...I'll play for the league minimum! Just make sure to line me up with Alfie and Fish each night, and you won't hear me complain. GO SENS GO!"

If you're not trying to steal every blind or call with very speculative hands and instead play solid values (which is what I consider my style of play), I find you can make most of your decisions much easier when you just consider how much is in the pot and how much it will cost you to try to win it. I think a lot of players isolate the results after the pot is over and if they wouldn't have won it if they considered the pot odds and called, then they automatically made the correct decision. For the short-term, perhaps, but if you do this often over the long-haul, you will come out on the short end of the stick.

A hand that I played last night comes to mind that helps illustrate what I'm talking about.

Six players remain, I'm first to act with Ace-Ten offsuit. The table has been tight, so not too many players have been speculating at this point because of the blinds being quite high (50-100 at this level, with everyone having started with 800 chips). At a full table of nine people, I'd usually fold, but with six players, this is good enough to get involved. So, I decide to raise to 300. The small blind moves all-in, so after calling my initial raise, an extra 150 had to be put into the pot. That didn't bother me, but the big blind then also went all-in, calling the small blind's raise and adding an extra 175 to the pot (this is all from memory, so the numbers may not be exact).

So at this point, I have to think I'm behind. Not one but two players didn't flinch at my all-in and gladly put their chips in the middle. So do I fold? Not right away. These all-ins were short stacks and still gave me plenty of reason to call, given how many chips there were to take.

The pot, after these all-ins, had a total of 1375 chips in the pot (my 300 + small blind's all-in of 450 + big blind's all-in of 625). I had to put another 325 chips in the middle to try to win a pot of 1400. The odds are 1375/325 = 4.2 to 1. Those are excellent odds. Even if I'm dominated (which I figured I was, facing at least an Ace-Queen or better), it's correct to call as I would be about a 70% underdog at what I figured to be the worst scenario possible. If they had pocket Aces, then the odds aren't correct, but with desperate short stacks you should discount this possibility and not let that take you out of opportunities to add to your stack, because the blinds creep up on you quickly and eventually you'll lose your chips anyway.

So my Ace-Ten was up against Ace-Queen and an Ace-Nine suited, the Ace-Queen about a 50% favourite to win while the Ace-Ten & Ace-Nines were each only about 25% to win or tie. Regardless, the odds were still correct to call. And wouldn't you know it, I caught a ten on the turn and river to make trips, both players were eliminated, and I went on to win the game.

You can't second guess yourself when opportunities like these present themselves. My instincts were correct in thinking I was behind, but the pot odds were too compelling to throw away my marginal hand. Short stacks don't have enough chips to protect their hands and that is why you'll hear them complain about a bad beat as they leave the table. My belief is, if you let the odds dictate your play, more often than not you'll come out ahead and you won't have to sweat out tough decisions.

A week has passed since 28 year-old actor Heath Ledger died and the results of the autopsy were released today. Now I don't know if this is just me, but when an medical examiner says he died of an "accidental" overdose, well, I just can't come to the same conclusion.

Check out the list of drugs that were found in his system:


- oxycodone
- hydrocodone
- diazepam
- temazepam
- alprazolam
- doxylamine

Okay, off the top of my head, I have no idea which is which, but they amount to sleeping pills, painkillers and anti-anxiety medication, all taken together at around the same time.

Ledger no doubt has access to the best doctors in the world being that he's very rich. And no doubt these doctors would be able to tell Ledger what he can and cannot mix. Even if someone was just trying to make a quick buck off of prescription sales, it's hard to make money when your patient is dead. Anyone with an ounce of common sense would say to Ledger, "Hmmm, maybe taking six different types of medication isn't good for your health."

What am I getting at? I don't know. No one for sure can say whether or not this was a suicide. But if I'm taking all these pills together, I'm not sure if I'm doing this by accident. I'd think I'd be very well alert to just how dangerous this would be.

If anyone had doubts about former WWE star Brock Lesnar's ability to be a fighter in the Ultimate Fighting Championship, he put them to rest last night. Sure, he tapped out to an ankle lock submission in 90 seconds in the first round. But the above picture reflects what the quick fight mostly reflected: Lesnar dominating with brute force throwing flurries of punches to Frank Mir's head. At one point, I actually thought Lesnar had won when the referee stopped the fight because of a punch to the back of the head (illegal in UFC, but I thought the ref was ruling Mir wasn't defending himself properly as he took about 6 punches in the head in a row and was about to award the fight to Lesnar). Lesnar's inexperience showed when he submitted: he was impatient and was just looking to continue the thrashing instead of timing it better and Mir capitalized. I think Lesnar won the crowd over and he'll be better prepared for his next fight: Neil told me likely in June.

To hockey, mostly Sens:

No Heatley, no Alfie, no Philips = no win. The Senators simply aren't a depth team and need their big guns to get the victory. The reason is that guys like Antoine Vermette and Chris Kelly have been huge disappointments this season...Joe Corvo became linemates with Wade Redden and the only thing he has duplicated well is his turnovers...You gotta laugh when McCabe says he won't waive his no trade clause from the Leafs. Bottom line is no other team in the NHL will touch that horrendous, expensive contract with a 10 foot pole even if he wanted to be moved...Forget Hossa or Forberg, Ottawa needs defense. Brian Campbell and Danny Boyle out of Buffalo and Tampa are apparently available. DO IT...The Montreal crowd was lively yesterday, the only difference though with a middling game against the pathetic New York Islanders is that 90% of the crowd do what the jumbotron tells them to do: I'd peg Ottawa at about 40%...The Penguins play the Sens in the opening game next season in Sweden and I think it's a terrific idea. It'd make more sense for Detroit to go as they have a pot full of Swedish meatballs but Alfie playing back home makes sense (and playing a game in a country where they actually care about hockey also makes sense)...Playing 84 games instead of 82 does NOT make sense. It should be dropped to about 70...The NHLPA head had this crazy idea: NHL is a gate driven league where the majority of revenues come from ticket sales. The six Canadian teams comprise of about 1/3 of all revenues. So if the NHL considers moving a team, the NHLPA head thinks they should think of, drum roll please, COMING TO CANADA? Crazy thought, isn't it?