March, 29, 2009Playing the sports odds

Okay gang, we all know I am not the sharpest crayon in the box,that is the saying right? I can be witty and all that good stuff but I am not a gambler, that's a given. It is probably a mistake then for me to ever to visit a casino I reckon. But, my sister on the other hand is a genius at that stuff. I was watching Real World when they went to Atlantic City and one of the guys won over a grand while a girl lost $600. My sister told me when she went to Vegas she one like two grand and I nearly died. I ask her why she never shared this information with me before to which she replied, she just didn't want to. I was shocked. Her and her boyfriend are really good at that whole betting and know what the betting odds are for each game. Her boyfriend, the sports guy, put some down some bets on a few games since he knows sport betting so well. He also won a ton of money which I am equally jealous of. He studies sports, players and all that jazz, something I am simply not equip for. He knows what each teams odds are based on all these factors which just zoom right over my head it kind of gives me a headache, in fact I need an aspirin just writing this. Okay, the aspirin are not in the belly and I await it kicking in. He knows all the sports odds and I have no idea how he can know all that. I suppose if you follow sports like he does you kind of just memorize it like second nature. If you were to ask me about Friends, Grey's Anatomy or American Idol, I'd be your own little professional. I am like the rain man of American Idol, not sports or poker or whatever other casino games and betting there is. It seems a little risky to me to do so but it could be cathartic for some people to bet and gamble. I would be smart if I ever do that because let's face it; I am not the richest student out there so I understand that whole budget thing. One day one day I shall venture and place some bets though. I will learn those sports odds first though and practice like crazy! My dog is about to attack the UPS man so I think I should go stop her.

Posted by Renee @ 8:46 AM

March, 27, 2009playing full tilt poker

This time of year when the weather is changing and we're all dying to get outside and away from the stuffy classrooms it can be difficult for us to stay focused on things that are important. Similarly if you have to work while you are in college then you have even more time spent thinking about the great weather to come and wishing that you could be out there with the blue skies and breezes blowing through the trees. I am definitely one of those people at this point. My current schedule is loaded with economics and math and so I am sitting inside doing calculations with a professor staring down at me and all I want to do is go for a hike every single day. Alas, this is not possible.

Though I do feel this urge to get myself out there it is not to say that I am not voluntarily tied to the educational and digital aspects of my life. I just finished setting up an independent contract for myself for this summer in which I will get credit for spending about two hours a day online playing poker. I know it sounds crazy but that's the beauty of having your own ideas about education. What I will be doing is for my statistics class and it will be a study surrounding the play of online poker. I have always been a big poker fan and thus I have been naturally drawn to number and the study of cost and risk analysis. I have set up an account on a site called full tilt poker. In the full tilt game rooms I will be looking at the game play of opponents and the types of decisions players make based upon my own moves. It is something that has been studied a lot by many very intelligent people in the past, but I am being allowed to do the study in exchange for some basic level class credit. It won't be a hugely professional project at the end but there is a possibility I could use it to do my research in some other class later on so Hopefully it all works out. I'm just excited to be able to sit in the park, play poker, and get credit for it all at the same time.

Posted by Renee @ 2:53 PM