2/1/06 The Future of Google

It seems as if Google is starting to face the inevitable backlash from becoming too powerful and too big. We all forget how much some of us LOVED Microsoft back in the day. Most of you are going to deny it, but I was there. I saw you all ga-ga over your 386 running Windows. I'm actually old enough to remember what it was like trying to type a paper on some DOS based, hotkey hellhole, text-editing, piece of crap word processor. Only to be very relieved the day I got to use Windows 3.1 with Microsoft Word. I'm not that old, so this really isn't all that long ago. All of the sudden, Microsoft is the poster child of "Evil Empire" (The Yankees no longer own that title. They are just a giant bag of overpaid suckage). But I digress. I think Google is started to face a little bit of that same sort of backlash. In honor of their rapid expansion, some "experts" (don't get me started on that word again) have given their Google Prophecies. How will Google shape our world over the next 100 years?

I email a few people everyday with poker hands that I've played. It's sort of a forum to discuss poker strategy, I suppose. So today I'm going to start talking about hands that I've played. Both good and bad. Last night I "sat down" at a sit & go table online. For those who don't play online poker - There are 10 players at a table, each with 800 chips. Every 10 hands the blinds increase. And the top 3 players get paid out. In level 3, the blinds are 25/50 and I have just about what I started with. Maybe 750 in chips. I play really tight in these games (for reasons I'll talk about in some other post). I'm in the small blind with K 6 offsuit. There were 2 limpers, so I just call, hoping the big blind will check. He does. So, we're seeing the flop 4 handed with nobody showing any real strength. I'm first to act. The flop comes 9 6 6 with 2 spades. Great flop for me. I decide that with 3 people to act after me, I can check raise whoever bets into the pot. I check. 2nd guy checks. 3rd guy bets 150. 4th guy folds. It's back to me. I have to raise, but how much? I'm only really scared of a flush or straight draw. But given the size of the bet, I put the guy on a 9. Maybe Q 9 or J 9. Or he was masking an overpair, since he limped preflop in early position. I'm not particularly scared of any of those hands. So I raise the minimum to 300. He pauses for a long time. Online, that

1) usually means he's going to fold and is just posturing (80% of the time) or
2) he's masking a huge hand and is pretending to think (15% of the time) or
3) is actually overthinking the whole situation and is putting you on a bluff (5% of the time)
(Note: all percentages have just been pulled out of my ass on the fly. They by no means are supposed to be accurate).

He raises me all in. Which makes me believe that he did #2 (huh huh) with a big pair and I'm still not scared. Or #3 with really nothing. So I call his all in.

He had 9 3 offsuit. It's hard for me to believe that he thought he had the best hand, unless he put me on a draw. I probably fold 9 3 there to a raise. At minimum he had to believe I had a 9 with a better kicker. Anyways, I'm ahead huge at that point. He's drawing to 2 outs (the 2 remaining 9s) and he catches one for the bigger full house. My game is over. And I remain frustrated with terrible plays like that. Long term those players can make online poker profitable. But short term, it really steams me that I can wait 25 hands to get involved in a pot post flop, only to lose a proposition that I was 90% to win. Comments on these poker moments are welcome.

This whole poker rant is brought to you by Phil Laak (aka "The Unabomber). His take on cameras in the poker room is very unique. He recommends a book in the article. I actually put that book in my cart at Amazon.com.

Star Wars meets MythBusters.

And finally - Why American Cars Suck.

(P.S. I ran spell check on this blog. Google found about 15 errors, mostly with the poker lingo. I ignored each and every one.)