Fall Awards

Some superlatives from a fast-paced month and change spent in Atlantic City, New York, Philadelphia, and the Twin Cities:

Best Poker Tournament:
The WPT Borgata Championship, which was the greatest tournament I have ever played in. A fantastic structure, wonderful players, and a great venue. Of course the WPT had to ruin it with ridiculous rising of blinds at the final table.

Best Card Club:
Canterbury Park in Shakopee, MN. Still the best-run card club I’ve been to.

Worst Card Club:
The Trump Taj Mahal in Atlantic City, which was unprepared for the US Poker Championships. They offered a nice structure and ESPN, but the floor staff was totally inadequate for this level.

Best Apartment/House:
I saw many, and Kevin and Jeremy’s was easily the best.

Best New Album Purchased:
There were several deserving choices: Death Cab’s “Plans” (solid), BRMC’s “Howl” (okay), The Rolling Stones’ “A Bigger Bang” (surprisingly good), Nada Surf’s “The Weight is a Gift” (good but not great), and Bloc Party’s “Silent Alarm” (the jury is still out). But the best disc I listened to on this trip was Embrace’s “Out of Nothing”, which sounds exactly like a cross between Coldplay and Oasis.
*It should be noted that I haven’t yet listened to the new Franz Ferdinand or Neil Young albums. It should also be noted that I will never listen to the new Nickelback or Sheryl Crow albums. Finally, it should be noted that there were two Sheryl Crow songs on the recently compiled list of my 100 favorite songs.

Most Shameful Bandwagon Jump:
Yankees fan Ian McCulley, who hopped on board the Bronx Boat just in time to hit the iceberg.

Best Movie:
“The Constant Gardener”, a solid 8/10.

Best Blog Comment:
Second place goes to RumbleJbJ who said:
Note who is in last place in the points standings: John "Checkraise" Hayes. Looks like Mr. "Checkraise" ran into a few too many "re-raises" this tournament.
First place goes to thegravewolf for his "Cheers, Julian" take on the spammers. Read all the comments from “This One Hurts” on October 4th to fully appreciate the Wolf’s entry.

Best Pre-Tournament Text Message:
"dominate dominate" from Nate Abbott right before the USPC main event.

Most Mediocre City:
Philadelphia, which seems to revel in its own mediocrity with fatalistic glee. Milwaukee may have been a strong contender in this category if I was there for more than seven hours.

Best All-Around Player, Fall Poker Classic: Yep, that would be me.

Most Pretentious Movie:
“Elizabethtown.” Not disappointing because it’s bad (it’s not), but because it’s the second straight near miss from Cameron Crowe. “Almost Famous” was an unpretentious movie about unpretentious characters trying to be pretentious, before ultimately realizing they could just be themselves. “Elizabethtown” is a pretentious movie about pretentious characters trying to be unpretentious, and ultimately failing. This wouldn’t be too bad, except a) Crowe tries to convince us they succeeded; and b) Orlando Bloom is the main character.

Most Necessary Visit:
First place again goes to the Wolf who needed to make a showing after the WSOP “months of hype” airball. Second place goes to Kwickfish who also threw up a zero at the WSOP but never claimed he would make an appearance. Third place goes to PunkyPickett who did not have to redeem herself but made the trip anyways.

Best Colorado Sports Team:
The Denver Broncos, although I think the Buffs have a better chance to win their conference this year. And the Nuggets’ season hasn’t started yet. Keep sipping that Kool-Aid, Mr. McCulley.

Second Biggest Redneck in the History of Survivor:
Too close to call. This has been a very competitive category, with three contenders battling hard. So far Bobby Jon is holding on by a thread over Brandon and Jaime (making a late charge). No one has a shot at passing the incomparable Big Tom for first place on the all-time list.

Best Televised Poker Play:
Phil Hellmuth’s check/fold with AK on a board of A44Q in the WSOP this week. The preflop reraiser showed him AA after the laydown. 90% of players are going broke with AK heads up when it comes A44, and Hellmuth lost nothing. Granted, the hand was horribly played by his opponent (but not as bad as these):

Worst Televised Poker Play:
Third place: A donk puts in his whole decent sized stack with AQo after getting reraised by Marcel Luske who had AK.
Second place: A donk puts in his whole short stack with QJs after Daniel Negreanu raised limpers with AQ.
First place: A donk puts in his whole decent-sized stack with KJs after getting reraised by Hellmuth who had AK. Of course he hit the miracle suckout sparking the inevitable, always entertaining Hellmuth temper-tantrum.

Best Music Video:
James Blunt’s “You’re Beautiful.”

Worst Music Video:
Rob Thomas’s “This is How a Heart Breaks.”
*However, this also won “Best Unintentional Comedy.”

Worst Use of Mario Lopez:
The only nominee in this category is also the winner: ESPN Hollywood. This show is so dreadful that I don’t know how truly awful it really is, because I never get through more than two minutes without reassessing my commitment to a cable sports package at the new house.

Most Obvious Bill Simmons Ripoff:
This blog entry.

Best Moment:
Walking on the Atlantic City beach listening to music and watching the sunset.

______________

It was a very exciting month and I'm already excited about getting back on the road. I'll be playing the championship events at Foxwoods on Nov 13, WSOP Circuit Paris Las Vegas on Nov 19, and Bellagio on Dec 12.