I happened to be working a desk job during the Alito hearings that allowed me to watch it on CSPAN the entire time, so I saw everyday. It was actually pretty interesting, seeing the various senators, mostly saying the same things over and over again. The more partisan democrats making wild accusations, the more partisan republicans asking no questions and refuting the democrats. The others feel somewhat in between.

However, I believe it was senator Biden (D. Delaware) who brought up the usefulness of the judiciary committee debating over the confirmation of a justice. Now there is value in actually debating the confirmation of a justice, in so far as the justice actually practices prudent law. This was largely addressed by Judge Alito’s record of nearly flawless regard for the law, the glowing recommendations of his fellow judges from both sides of the ideological spectrum, and his approval by the American Bar Association. Clearly he has a high regard for the law and it’s application.

Therefore, much of the confirmation hearing was politicians asking political questions based on decisions that they think are important and will be decided in the future by the Supreme Court. These questions simply were not appropriate for Judge Alito to answer. His reason was logical and relevant, his job is to decide cases based on arguments between the lawyers and application of law, not to decide before a judiciary committee and then apply later, disregarding or affirming what he had already said. His most prudent choice of action was what he chose, not answering questions directly about political issues that may be heard on the Supreme Court.

Now I am a fan of decisions and justices that have a regard for individual rights, privacy and the like. A more liberal judge that would support a woman’s right to choose, etc. However, I do not see it appropriate for a judge to have to answer questions about how he or she would decide such a case in the political atmosphere of the senate. It would essentially politically bind him to whatever he said. Judge Alito was right to dodge the questions.

I wrote earlier about how abortion was really not in danger just yet. I still think that is definitely true. Based on what I heard at the hearings, Alito will be a very conservative judge that will rely much on stare decisis and careful application of law. This is actually much better than a conservative judge who is also very activist.

The bottom line is if you want to see a different kind of judge appointed to the Supreme Court, then take it up the only way you can: with your vote. This year 33 senators are up for reelection and the whole house. These elections are important, do not miss them. They will add steam or take it away from the presidential race in 2008.

I discussed slow playing earlier and said, for many situations you probably don’t want to use it. There is a pretty good alternative to actual slow playing online that works effectively against many players. That is the “literal” slow play.

Say I am a preflop raiser with AJs in late position with 3 other limpers. The flop comes and I flop trip Aces. Everyone checks to you. At this point, some say you should probably slow play this, maybe wait until the turn to see if you pick up some more action. You are also giving up some cheap draws when you do that, to a flush sometimes. And it wouldn’t be advisable. There is a way to get your cake and eat it too! It involves a psych out.

When you are in a live card room you can look at your opponent, exam exactly the way he is breathing, moving, etc. You can, perhaps, tell from his tells that he has a big hand, or not. Online, we have no tells. However, many poker players online seem to love the idea of tells. What is the one thing that you can see online, one of the most notable things when a player makes a decision? The time it takes him/her to make their move.

When a player takes a really long time to make a decision the natural thought to everyone at the table is .. this is a hard decision for the player to make. If the board is scary, by that logic, he must not have whatever the board says he probably has. He may be bluffing. Although this is highly speculative, you will be surprised how many players probably have this going through their heads.

Exploit this tendency! In the above example, when it is checked to you, wait until you hear the game beep for a move. Perhaps around 15 seconds or more, use much of your time until the game beeps. Then throw that bet in there like you had to think hard and long to make this crazy bluff. Hope that the other players saw this (and aren’t multi-tabling) and they think you are full of it. When they call (or even better raise: some very aggressive asses will raise you after you do this play!) you have just, perhaps, squeezed a few bets in that you may not have gotten had you bet really fast.

It’s the little things, and in my experience this play works more often than not. The best time you should try it is when you flop a great hand, but do not want to give any free cards by slow playing.

I keep getting lucky hands when I first sit down at a table. Here is such an example from today. I may branch out soon into some No Limit because I want to try out some SNG’s. Of course this is while I move up the limits. Judging by the .05/.10, I will give this limit another week before moving up again since I just got payed for winter break. To raked limits! Yes, I’m a big noob. Screw you.

PokerStars 0.05/0.10 Hold’em (9 handed) [url=http://www.selachian.com/tools/bisonconverter/hhconverter.cgi]converter[/url]

[b]Preflop:[/b] Hero is MP2 with K:heart:, J:heart:. Hero posts a blind of $0.05.
[color:#CC3333]UTG raises[/color], [color:#666666][i]2 folds[/i][/color], Hero (poster) calls, MP3 calls, CO calls, Button calls, [color:#666666][i]1 fold[/i][/color], BB calls.

[b]Flop:[/b] (12.40 SB) T:spade:, 9:spade:, 4:club: [color:#0000FF](6 players)[/color]
BB checks, [color:#CC3333]UTG bets[/color], [color:#CC3333]Hero raises[/color], MP3 folds, CO calls, Button folds, BB calls, [color:#CC3333]UTG 3-bets[/color], Hero calls, CO calls, BB calls.

[b]Turn:[/b] (12.20 BB) 4:diamond: [color:#0000FF](4 players)[/color]
BB checks, [color:#CC3333]UTG bets[/color], Hero calls, CO calls, BB calls.

[b]River:[/b] (16.20 BB) Q:club: [color:#0000FF](4 players)[/color]
BB checks, [color:#CC3333]UTG bets[/color], [color:#CC3333]Hero raises[/color], CO folds, BB folds, UTG calls.

[b]Final Pot:[/b] 20.20 BB

Results below:
UTG has Kc Ks (two pair, kings and fours).
Hero has Kh Jh (straight, king high).
Outcome: Hero wins 20.20 BB.

So I make a pretty loose preflop call. I figured I had already put money in voluntarily and I had position on the raiser, so I would call it.

The flop comes and I flop a gutshot straight draw (4 outs) and two overcards (6 outs discounted to 4). So I have about 8 outs to a probable best hand. I have odds to call, but I would rather raise here because we have fairly strong outs. The preflop raiser reraises us, and I just call. Oh well. I put him on overcards also.

Turn comes and its not a flush, but it does pair the board. Getting about 13:1 to call, I call because we are 10.5:1 to make some kind of hand.

The river comes and I hit the straight, oh baby. Easy raise for value.

“Soon the Killer Bees will occupy territory north to San Francisco and Richmond, essentially half the United States”

Well, I for one, await our Killer Bee overlords. And I am still waiting, some ten years later. Where did they go? I guess these bees weren’t the conquering sort.

This bee decides to forgo blood lust for a flower instead. How nice

So, since I haven’t been mauled by a hive of angry bees every time I walk outside, I can assume I was pretty much the victim of sensationalist journalism. Where can I get back all those sleepless nights? But seriously, a lot of people worry about a lot of things. These people have problems. You should never worry about anything you cannot control. It’s a futile waste of time.

The news media is here for one reason. To make money! Don’t be fooled by some mission statement to give practical and honest reporting of the news to the masses. Those people are reporters, they are under some kind of delusion they work for someone who isn’t in a suite looking at revenue figures. When some reporter reports a 20 second clip on a murder, or a 3 minute segment on those killer bees that are going to take over the United States, use some common sense and skeptical nature.

Remember this when the Earth’s magnetic field collapses, the flu pandemic comes, aliens attack, the earth stops rotating, global warming melts the ice caps causing Water World, global warming causes an ice age, hurricanes destroy everything, the Chinese invade, or a Texan becomes president.

Slow Play - Playing a strong hand as if it were a weak hand in order to deceive your opponents.

You don’t see it too often in the micros or low limits, but sometimes a player will slow play a big hand. Most of the time you will see a slowly played flop and a fast played turn and river. Some players wait until the river. I did not expect the slow play here, and he got me.

PokerStars 0.05/0.10 Hold’em (9 handed) [url=http://www.selachian.com/tools/bisonconverter/hhconverter.cgi]converter[/url]

[b]Preflop:[/b] Hero is CO with 9:spade:, J:heart:. MP3 posts a blind of $0.05. Hero posts a blind of $0.05.
UTG calls, [color:#666666][i]1 fold[/i][/color], MP1 calls, [color:#666666][i]1 fold[/i][/color], MP3 (poster) checks, Hero (poster) checks, Button calls, [color:#CC3333]SB raises[/color], BB calls, UTG calls, MP1 calls, MP3 folds, Hero calls, Button calls.

[b]Flop:[/b] (13 SB) 6:diamond:, 2:club:, J:club: [color:#0000FF](6 players)[/color]
SB checks, [color:#CC3333]BB bets[/color], UTG calls, MP1 folds, [color:#CC3333]Hero raises[/color], Button calls, SB calls, BB calls, UTG calls.

[b]Turn:[/b] (11.50 BB) 9:diamond: [color:#0000FF](5 players)[/color]
SB checks, BB checks, UTG checks, [color:#CC3333]Hero bets[/color], Button calls, SB folds, BB calls, UTG calls.

[b]River:[/b] (15.50 BB) 9:heart: [color:#0000FF](4 players)[/color]
BB checks, UTG checks, [color:#CC3333]Hero bets[/color], [color:#CC3333]Button raises[/color], BB folds, UTG folds, [color:#CC3333]Hero 3-bets[/color], [color:#CC3333]Button caps[/color], Hero calls.

[b]Final Pot:[/b] 23.50 BB

Results below:
Hero has 9s Jh (full house, nines full of jacks).
Button has Js Jd (full house, jacks full of nines).
Outcome: Button wins 23.50 BB.

I don’t think I should have played that any other way. I think I should rather pay off slow players than miss bets fearing an unlikely slow player, at least in small stakes. Note that I did not have any tells, so the slow play is surprising here, but may be suspected in other situations.

Many players like to slow play many of their hands, like a set of Kings or such. This is rarely correct in small stakes games because many players will call with virtually any piece of the flop. In the above example, this player (maybe accidentally) pulled a pretty good play. After his mistake preflop of not raising, he used his position on me to slow play until the river. Probably accidentally again, he raised at just the right time (when I thought he probably had a 9). I say accidentally because this player has a VP$IP of 87% and (besides that hand) lost money on pretty much anything he touched.