"that's so sick..."

Behind "nice hand," this is the most overused statement in poker. In the past week, I've heard more people exclaim "that's so sick" after poker hands than ever before. What's worse, usually whatever they are exclaiming to be sick isn't sick at all. Guys get all in preflop with 7's against AQ, an ace hits the river, and they start in with their pitiful speech. "That's so sick." Actually, no, it's not sick at all. It's something you see all the time. Pretty ordinary.

I've been around some pretty terrible poker players this week. Hanging out up at Black Hawk playing in the low buy in tournaments, I've been witness to (and occasionally party to) some awful poker. But the good news is that out of 5 tournaments I've played this week, I've cashed in 4 for a grand profit of almost $2,000. Not bad. I will play a few more this week and then try the insane Friday night tournament... $50 buy in with 9 $50 rebuys. First is usually over $5,000.

I'll tell you what's really sick, though. If you read my last post, you know about my relationship with the horse Flying First Class. Well, my dad phoned me this morning to let me know that he ran yesterday at Keeneland! I thought Friday was the end of the Keeneland meet! I had no idea! Not only that, those Kentucky morons let him out of the gate at 7-1!

Of course he won, with fellow Oaklawn shipper UDGhetto coming in second for a huge exacta. I was wasting my time winning a $60 tournament when I could have been getting back all the money I've blown on that horse. I'll never get 7-1 on him again. Argh.

Another great day at the races

The Derby is over, the damage is done. Another season comes to a close and another Kentucky Derby is set. I'll do my best to recap the day for you, two days later.

This was Katie's first Arkansas Derby. She's slowly becoming more of a horseracing fan. As much of one as I could hope for, anyway. She has been to two Travers with me and watched the Preakness with me at Fairgrounds in New Orleans. This was her first trip to my home court, however. But without all of my family there (most cancelled their trips) and with the track in disarray (more on this later) and with pretty cold and shitty weather, it wasn't quite the experience I hoped to share with her.

It wasn't all bad, either. I had a great time yukking it up with her and Adam Webb and my family. And I didn't do too awful at the windows, either.

I stayed up the night before picking the Premier Pick 4, which I posted here. That was going to be my one big investment on the day, at around $90. In fact, I even sat the first race out when we got to the track, other than betting a couple of doubles that didn't hit. The second race I sat at as well. The third race I singled out a horse that was 7-1 and wheeled him over the field. Katie and I handicapped it together. She was fascinated by the horses' "hats" and after a discussion with her about why horses wear them, I pointed out to ther that the 4 horse was taking his "hat" off for the first time in this race. "That's bad, right?" she asked. I responded that it wasn't bad at all, and could actually be very good. I showed her that the trainer had only opted to take the hat off 3 times before on other horses, and that one of them won the race. We talked about how a trainer decides to put the hat on or off based on things he observes in the way the horse is running, and he clearly thinks the hat is a liability in this case. We looked at the rest of the horses form and decided that other than its last race, he had all the speed he needed to compete with the field and settled on him. I wheeled him and hoped for the best. He won the race easily and a good 5-1 horse got up for second place and a $200 exacta. It was very early and I had all the money I needed for the day already.

I played some small bets as the day wore on trying to preserve money for the Pick 4 without going to the ATM. As we got closer to post time at Keeneland, I learned that one of my picks for the Arkansas Derby, For You Reppo, was scratched. For You Reppo, named for the father of a kid who bullied me my freshman year of high school, was one of my longshot hopefuls. I had a decision to make: leave him out and buy a cheaper ticket, or replace him with another horse.

I had sold shares to my father and Adam, so they and I and Katie deliberated what to do. I could also opt to throw in another horse in the Bluegrass to keep the ticket price where it was. If we were to do that, we decided we'd throw in Domincian. If we stayed with the number of horses in the Arkansas Derby, we'd throw in my father's favorite Officer Rocket (a local favorite that had fans sporting "Officer Rocket Fan" buttons all over the track). Katie lobbied hard for Dominican, thinking he had quite the winning name. I leaned towards Officer Rocket, thinking the AR derby was going to be much more competitive and needed more coverage than the easier Bluegrass.

Those of you who saw the races know how everything unfolded, but I'll recap it from our point of view. The first race at Keeneland was great. My second A horse, and the one with the longest odds, Silent Name, ran exactly the race I wanted him to and kept the majority of my tickets alive. The Blue Grass was a thrilling race, led most of the way by our longshot choice Teuflesburg. He set a miserably slow pace around the second turn, and the jock seemed to be holding him back with every ounce of strength he had. My dad commented that the jockey was straining to hold Teuf back, and the time showed it. The first half mile was run in like 51. I started thinking we'd wire to wire it. In the stretch, Teuflesburg took off like a shot and seemd to have the race in hand, but he wasn't the only horse with gas left in the tank. The field closed in a pack, and Teuflesburg drifted and seemed to foul Great Hunter, another of my horses. As the finish line approached, it was clear that one of either Street Sense or Dominican would win, and as they crossed in a blanket finish, I could tell that Dominican got the nod. My dad wasn't so sure. He said "You got it, man." That reassured me for a second, but on the replay, it was clear we had lost by a nose, which would be yet another big bet for me this week blown by a nose job. Katie was indignant about me refusing to include Dominican like she had lobbied for. I was sick.

There's been a lot of discussion about this race, and how the Polytrack surface probably contributed to the finish. I have to agree that most of the races I watched at Keeneland this week seemed to follow this same pattern of slow pace and lightning stretches. But that information does me no good now, nor would it have helped anyone handicap the Blue Grass. Even Teuflesburg was running with the surface in mind it seems.

The Oaklawn Instant Racing Breeders Cup put me out of my misery, however, as none of my 5 horses won. A 30-1 Assmussen horse won: Cream Only. That was the horse to have, the horse that would get the pick 4 up over $3k.

The Arkansas Derby was my last chance to make some scratch. I had blown most of my winnings at this point, and decided I needed to beat the 1-5 Curlin to redeem myself. I looked to the 10-1 Flying First Class, the beaten chalk from the rebel, but more importantly, the horse I had a $50 future pool ticket on sitting on my dresser back in Denver. Without a win today, FFC had no shot at running in the KY Derby, and I had no hope of cashing that ticket. What really pains me about that ticket was that the day I bet it I could have grabbed Curlin at 50-1.

We braved the cold to watch the race outside on the apron. There was a crowd outside, but it was still the smallest I'd seen on Derby Day in many years. It was the closest to the finish line I had ever stood for this race. There seemed to be as many Flying First Class backers out on the apron with us as there were Curlin or Officer Rocket.

He broke miserably in next to last place, but closed the gap in the back stretch, and took the last turn off the pace in 4th. At the top of the stretch he made his move and took off, and it looked like we could win. We started cheering excitedly and jumping up and down. But our excitement was short lived. As the jockey slowed Flying First Class down, we looked at the screen and realized that the horse that was distancing himself from the pack was none other than the freak Curlin. It was obvious nobody could beat him, and nobody, not even Flying First Class, dared try.

Curlin romped to victory and as we were shuffling back inside, one of the other guys who was rooting for FFC said "I think we just saw the Kentucky Derby winner."

He may be right, although this was a source of debate yesterday as well. Curlin earned a 103 beyer and broke the record for the number of lengths he won by. But "smart" horseplayers still consider him a throwout because of his lack of experience. What I read into the Curlin skepticism, however, is a bias against the Oaklawn track and the fields Curlin competed against. If commentators keep dissing this horse, I'll become his strongest backer. Right now, though, I'm looking for some value in what is really a wide-open race.

Oh, I also managed to fenaggle an extended vacation from my job, so there's a strong chance I'll be in Kentucky the first Saturday in May, even more reason to hope for a standout and a triple crown winner. I'll keep you posted if I do.

The rumors that Oaklawn has been or will be sold to Harrah's seem unexaggerated. There were no bathroom attendants, no ushers, no redcoats, fewer tellers. The staffing situation during this year's biggest day seemed bleak. One can only speculate that the Cellis family is trying to pocket as much cash as they can before they hand the operation off. A sale to harrah's could be a good thing, particularly if Harrah's builds a garage and a hotel. And let's hope they return the staffing levels to where they once were. This was embarassing.

After the races I suggested we all go to Osaka, the local sushi/hibachi place. Being the big winner for the day, I paid the $200 check which pretty much wiped me out. But it was worth it. We laughed a lot, the food was great, and the chef let me cook a little bit.



All in all, another great day at the races.

Derby Day!

I'm about to leave for the Arkansas Derby. The weather looks gloomy, but so far at least it isn't raining.

The big story today is the horse Olympic Chief, a first time starter who has been entered as a last ditch effort for some rich Arizona couple to make it to Churchill Downs.

My big investment today will be the Premier Pick 4, a national bet covering the two features at Keeneland and Oaklawn. I'm posting my selections here. They may change as the day goes on.

Keeneland Commonwealth Breeders Cup Grade 2

A Horses: 7 Midnight Lute, 8 Silent Name(Jpn)
B Horses: 4 Steel Light, 10 Gin and Sin, 11 Lewis Michael

Keeneland Bluegrass Stakes Grade 1

A Horses: 4 Street Sense
B Horses: 6 Teuflesberg, 7 Great Hunter

Oaklawn Instang Racing Breeders Cup 100k

A Horses: 10 Chatham
B Horses: 1 Champagne Sue, 6 Wellofaprize, 7 New Edition

Oaklawn Arkansas Derby Grade 2

A Horses: 2 Curlin
B Horses: 5 Flying First Class, 9 For You Reppo, 10 Deadly Dealer

I'm investing $87 like so...

AAAA ABBA
AAAB BAAB
AABA AABB
ABAA BBAA
BAAA BABA
ABAB

Still waiting to hear from any of you who want to go in with me. There is some good value in there. Particularly in the Commonwealth.

More later. Wish us all luck! Especially Flying First Class, who I still have $50 on in the KY Derby Future pool at 30-1. If he doesn't win today and win big, he may not even run in the KY Derby!

4 of 6

today i only played one ticket at the track, a $32 pick 6 ticket. i went 3 for 3 in the first 3 races. in the fourth, i had originally picked 3 horses but needed to toss one to get the cost of the ticket down to where i wanted it. of course the horse i tossed won, but even worse he won at 34-1. fortunately i lost the next one too but hit the last race. 5 of 6 paid $300 and change. i hate myself.

i havent been blogging much because the races didnt run sunday through tuesday. yesterday was uneventful as well. in the first three races a horse broke down, and twice it was the horse i bet. but i did hit a $50 tri to fund my losses for the day.

today i met steven davidowitz, who is a great guy, extremely nice and open to discussion with his fans.

tomorrow it is supposed to storm, and more rain scheduled for derby day. ugh.

Racing Festival of the South

I arrived in Hot Springs last night in the middle of the night after driving up from Houston and stopping for a few hours in Shreveport to play some poker. I managed to lose some money in a shitty little 1-2 no limit game, so my gambling vacation got started immediately in the red.

Today was a warmup at Oaklawn with my dad. The first race we went to the paddock to check out the horses, and the 8 horse, Black Giraffe, flipped over in his stall and rolled around on the floor flailing his long, giant legs in the air. I thought they'd scratch the poor animal, but they stood him up, walked him around the paddock, saddled him and stuffed him in the gate where he broke out and ran an amazing stretch run to show. I picked the winner but didn't bet it. But I saw a track bias for early speed on the rail and managed to win the next two races by betting on the best early speed horse. Up about $100, I started betting heavier and by the feature had lost all my winnings.

Tonight I'm staying up late picking horses for the Santa Anita pick 6 where there is a million dollar guarantee. It won't be easy. There are over 10 horses in every fucking leg.

Tomorrow is a big day of racing. I'm planning on getting to the track early to secure a table at the bar. I'll post some of my picks I've made so far below so you kids at home can follow along. I've only picked the first 4 races so far....

1-6,2,7
2-8,6,2
3-3,6,4
4-6

Back to the books. More tomorrow.