Skill Or Competitive Idiots.

This blog holds a special place in my heart, so I appreciate comments in advance (hint hint). Today I was playing on PartyPoker.net (yes I know, a 15 year old playing poker against more skilled people all around the world.) and entered a tournament. It was just a play money tournament, nothing with real chips (for I would be out a fairly big amount of money right now.) The buy in was a measly 33 "chips". At three o'clock it began.

I played for one hour, two, and I was working my way towards a full three. The tournament started with 1340 players, and at this point it was down to ten. I, a 15 year old boy taking on people from all over, managed to make a final table. Naturally, I was excited, but in second place I wanted more. In a hand that would put me around a million chips and only 600K behind the leader(this guy was cruising), I had two pair. A fellow finalist went all in with 250K. I naturally called, and a river card gave him a straight. I was crippled down to 700K. The next hand i hit trip nines on the flop. After the turn my opponent went all in with 400K, and had two pair Queens and nines. The river came....a queen. Now I was down to 300K, and a very grim outlook (Multiple "you got screwed" comments flowed in).

I fought and crawled and worked it down to nine, then eight, seven, six, five, four. Back I was with around 700K. Then there was three, and shortly after two. I was in the final two, but a 5:2 chip underdog. I would eventually lose to the guy that led most of the tournament, but I got thinking. 'How do I manage to finish ahead of 1338 other people in second.' I barely play poker.

Is this my calling, or just luck from other idiots. Most likely a combination of skill and stupidity from others did it, but nonetheless I was proud to say I was runner up in a tournament of around 1450 people. Say what you want but I still think that it is impressive.



Side Note: My father's best ever finish in a tournament was 3rd.


After word: I understand this is more of a memior than a blog, but I was really proud of this and wanted to share it.

Phil Mickelson: No boom to this bust

As Lefty gets set to tee of as Bethpage Black in about a half an hour for the 109th US Open, I started to think "What's the big deal about this guy?" Now I understand everyone wants him to win because his wife was diagnosed with breast cancer, and that is understandable, but Mickelson really isn't that good. I may not follow golf as much as the next guy, but I always know stats before I talk trash about somebody. That is what this blog is about, ragging on Phil.

This is Phil Mickelson's 17th year on the tour. In the PGA there is four majors a year, The Masters, The British Open, The PGA Championship, and of course The US Open. If you do the simple math that is 68 majors since Phil Mickelson has emerged on the tour. Now you can disregard any times he was injured or just didn't participate, which to the best of my knowledge is little to none. How many of these has he, won you ask? Three.

Three!? Tres!? Trois!? Drei!?

That is it. In 68 events, he has only managed to win three of them. So what is so great about him? Now I'm not one of the guys who criticizes everyone that isn't Tiger, but I personally don't like Phil, and these stats show that he really isn't a good golfer. I mean, look at the stats. Three divided by 68 is just over four percent. Four percent of the time Phil will win a Major. You have to wait 25 events, or six and a quarter years, to see him win a Major. Okay you say, but Majors are more difficult, what about regular events?

The PGA season consists of 48 events. Let's do the math here 48 times 17 equals 816 events since Phil "stormed" onto the tour. Now granted he didn't enter every single one, so let's say Phil has been in 750 events in his life. He has only won 36 of them. Yah, only 36 of around 750. That is just under five percent of the tournaments he has been in. So basically, twice a year Phil wins an event. That is pretty sad for someone who is supposedly one of the greatest. Some say he could be just as good as Tiger, well let's compare.

This is Tiger's fourteenth year on the tour, and he has won 14 majors. Easy enough, one major a year compared to Phil's once every six plus. Since Tiger has been on the tour there has been 672 events roughly. Looking at last year's injury plus other non entered tournaments and such, let's say he has been in 600 events. He has won 91 of them. That is around 15% of lifetime tournaments won. Three times better than Phil. And yes I will give a slight BOTD based on Tiger being the greatest all time.

So looking at the stats, it's pretty obvious that Phil isn't as good as he is cracked up to be. Yes I will give him the sympathy cheer this weekend at Bethpage Black, but let's face it, he won't win. As a matter of face, he probably won't make the cut. And even if he does win by some fluke, we won't see it again until 2015 at the British. So good luck Phil, but readers (my uncle and cousin) don't expect anything to flashy out of Lefty.

What My Life Has Come To

Me and three friends recently entered a fundraising wiffle ball tournament for my school's nordic ski team. The cost for a team was $40 dollars, so naturally each person paid ten. Also on Friday, my school has a half day and then a "Spring Fling" that has many "fun" activities. This also has a wiffle ball tournament, but this one is free.

That is fine, everyone loves a good game of wiffle ball. However, I took it way to far. I hate myself for working over an hour on stratagies for these very wiffle ball games...

Hey, consider the Spring Fling a practice. If I spend ten bucks, I want to win.