Week 1: vs. the Pats.

I'm going to start off by saying that I don't hate Brady.  I think he may be the best QB to ever play the game.  He just has such control of his offense.  When you watch him, you have to be in awe... even if they're playing your team.  Anytime you're watching him can be a historical game. 

 

OK... enough of that.  He's a jerk and I hate him!

 

This game left me with mixed emotions concerning the Dolphins.  First, kudos to Chad Henne.  I hope last night stops the complaining.  He showed he can lead this team.  He was far from perfect, having a handful of overthrows, but showed that he can throw and they don't need to run all the time.  I also have to tip my cap to Sparano for changing his mentality from run to throw.  The fact that they had no big back to run in from inside the 5 yard line killed them.  Could have added 2 touchdowns in there.  The Dolphins always had a defense, they just didn't show any offense.  It looks like that has changed.

 

Speaking of the defense... I'm REALLY hoping this game was indicative of the Patriots offense and NOT the Dolphins defense.  They were just MANHANDLED!  Brady had them sucking wind the entire game and they could not stop them at all.  I love Cameron Wake and was glad to see him get to Brady, but Solder owned Wake all night long.

 

All-in-all, this game has given me some hope for the Dolphins.  I'd be surprised if they could win the AFC East, barring any injury to Brady (or other key Patriots players), but if they can focus on their defense, and get their bigger backs healthier (can they beg Polite to come back?), I think the Dolphins have the opportunity to snag a Wild Card spot.

 

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Are You Ready For Some Footbaaaaaaaaalllllll!

As I'm not playing as much poker recently, I'm going to start sprinkling the blog with football tidbits.

 

Some of you may know, I'm a Dolphin fan.  I have been for a long time.  I have Dan Marino to thank (or blame) for that.  When I first started to get into football, I had no loyalties and wanted to find a team to follow.  I didn't want to be the typical New Yorker and pick the Giants, Bills or Jets, but still felt I needed a reason for my loyalties.  I was born in Miami and figured that's a good place to start.  I watched Marino play and was hooked.  Now mind you, at this time, I was probably 10 or 11.  I've been a fan ever since.  I'm not a "die-hard" fan, but I am a loyal fan.  I've liked other teams in the past (Cowboys, Rams, Cardinals), but always the Dolphins first (notice those are NFC teams).  I start each season with hope, but I'm realistic.  And I can't find the ability to root for any AFC East team, except the Bills (my wife's favorite team) last few seasons but only because they've been at the bottom for some time and not a threat (looks like that may be changing).  If they are competitive, I won't be able to root for them at all.  Super Bowl XLII, I was such Giants fan.  I always like to see the Pats lose, but had the added factor of keeping the 72 Dolphins with the only perfect season.

 

Anyway, all that is just pre-amble to say I'm a Dolphins fan and why I have this affliction.  I don't have Direct TV, so I can't watch every Dolphins game.  There will be at least 4 televised Dolphins games.  Two Monday Night Footballs games (Patriots, Jets), they play the Cowboys on Thanksgiving, and then their 2nd Patriots game.  There are a few other potential games that will be aired: Week 7 vs. Broncos (but will probably be the Jets game) and Week 8 vs. Giants. 

 

I'll try to post my thoughts on the game the next day.  I know... you're holding your breathe.

 

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Way The Fuck Off Base

For years, online poker players (yours truly included) have been saying that the Absolute and UB scandals were anomalies and that we can put our trust in the bigger sites.
"There's no profit in them stealing our money. They can make plenty of money off the rake."
"This is poker, they're word is what they have, if they were to cheat us, they'd lose everything."

Well as it turns out, there are even less companies to trust. Apparently there is profit in stealing from poker players... Profit, to the tune of $300,000,000 (or $400,000,000 in distributions to owners). Oops.

As many of you know, the Southern District of New York has amended their original complaint against FTP, what is known as Black Friday in the online world. Wicked Chops Poker has a good breakdown of the highlights.

• As of March 31, 2011, Tilt owed players from around the world over approximately $390,695,788 but had only approximately $59,579,413 in its bank accounts. (page 72)


• Howard Lederer received approximately $37M in distributions as well as another $4M in profit sharing (page 72).


• Chris Ferguson received approximately $25M in distributions. (page 72)


• Rafe Furst received approximately $11.7M. (page 73)


• In all, it claims there are 19 owners of Full Tilt Poker. (page 73)


• An owner, named as “Player owner 1″ but clearly Phil Ivey, is alleged to have received at least $40M in distributions, “as well millions of dollars characterized as loans,” of which $4.4 million have not been repaid. (page 73)


• On that note, interestingly no other Full Tilt Poker owners where named in the amendment.


• Owners continued to receive approximately $10M/month even though beginning in the summer of 2010, management/the board of directors were aware of issues in collecting funds from U.S. players. (page 73)


• Approximately $130M in U.S. player funds were never collected due to payment processing issues. (page 74)


• The amendment claims that Tilt was “extremely insolvent” by March 2010, however owner distribution payments continued as late as April 1, 2011. (page 74)


• After 4/15, Tilt continued to accept funds although it had worldwide liabilities of over $300M. (page 75)


• In an internal e-mail on June 12, 2011, Ray Bitar expressed concern that a company announcement regarding lay-offs and the Board (including himself) being replaced would be seen as bad news (which we find unbelievable–as most would’ve considered it great news), which in turn would cause a “new run on the bank,” adding that “it could be a huge run” and that “at this point we can’t even take a five million run.” (page 75)


• Any property, including money, used in [an illegal gambling business] may be
  seized and forfeited to the United States–or better put–the accounts assets of Howard Lederer, Chris Ferguson, Ray Bitar, and Rafe Furst would be gonzo. (page 77)


• Also, ownership percentages for the four Board members were listed as Ferguson (19.2%), Lederer (8.6%), Bitar (7.8%), and Furst (2.6%).

They are calling it a Ponzi Scheme. While there are those that are going to show, "LOOK! AT THIS! THIS WOULD NOT HAVE HAPPENED IF IT WERE REGULATED!" I think this will put a huge delay into any kind of regulated online poker. It is going to scare the casual players away from playing anywhere. They're not going to see it as an issue of regulation vs the Wild West. They're going to see it as more evidence that these companies are just going to steal from you and that they should stay away.

With Full Tilt added to the list of untrustworthy poker sites, it starts to make you wonder, how clean is Pokerstars' closet?

-My name is Unimpressed, and I'm an donkaholic.