This is not a man with a blog.

Now he’s one year old!

By Shabbir | June 20, 2006 | Comments Off on Now he’s one year old!

It’s not that I don’t love, you, but I’ve been seeing other blogs. The baby turned one year old right before we headed to Atlantic city for a week.  You heard me right, my wife, the most fabulous woman in the world, rented us a beach house adjacent to Atlantic City, home of all things…

Under and Alone by William Queen

By Shabbir | June 9, 2006 | Comments Off on Under and Alone by William Queen

I just finished "Under and Alone" and was really blown away.  I’ve only met one undercover detective before, but he struck me as an odd guy.  I met him at the trial of the operators of the Centreville poker game I used to play at.  He really didn’t have to worry that much about getting…

Bad tv, good tv

By Shabbir | June 5, 2006 |

The season finale of The Sopranos was particularly disappointing.  I was excited to see AJ start to turn his life around, but that didn’t make up for the complete lack of a plot climax. However tonight starts the new season of High Stakes Poker on the Game Show Network.  I first heard about High Stakes…

My best hand!

By Shabbir | May 31, 2006 | Comments Off on My best hand!

I buy a lot of poker books, as you can tell from my Amazon wishlist.  I actually often buy books that are ahead of where I am in poker skills.  I don’t mean that I don’t understand them.  On an intellectual level I do.  But experience counts for a lot in poker.  And for me,…

ABC poker wins again

By Shabbir | May 29, 2006 |

I babysat for Sarah and one of her fellow mom drinking buddies this weekend and then after they got home, I hit the Big Game slightly before midnight.  I arrived to a table of six morose people playing $2/$5 No limit Hold’em, maximum buyin $1,000.  Two guys were racking up around $5-6,000 in chips and…

Wait, a leak in my game!

By Shabbir | May 27, 2006 | Comments Off on Wait, a leak in my game!

I seem to have developed a leak in my game.  I realized it when I made the same mistake both in live poker and online in corresponding No limit cash games. The leak is that I seem to be assuming people are bluffing the flush on the river.  A quiet better who calls me on…

Honestly, the Palm is dead, they just don’t know it yet.

By Shabbir | May 26, 2006 | Comments Off on Honestly, the Palm is dead, they just don’t know it yet.

Although I will never write a history of cellphone innovation, 2005-2007 will mark the year that Microsoft came into a dominant space in the market.  Was it something Microsoft had done?  Did their marketing team figure out the secret to getting people to buy Windows mobile based phones?  Did a competitor stumble?  Nope, none of…

Nats beats Astros, 8-5

By Shabbir | May 26, 2006 | Comments Off on Nats beats Astros, 8-5

So I played hooky yesterday and saw game 3 of the 4 game series against the Astros at RFK.  It’s a 1:05pm game and was supposed to be a date for Sarah and I, but she got a couple of big deals in at work and so I went alone rather than mope around at…

“The Professor, The Banker, and the Suicide King” by Michael Craig

By Shabbir | May 25, 2006 | Comments Off on “The Professor, The Banker, and the Suicide King” by Michael Craig

Katie picked this up for me for my birthday and I read it in 48 hours flat.  It’s the story of a banker from Texas, Andy Beal, and how he discovered poker.  The story is interesting because Andy is a billionaire, and instead of working up through limits, he decided to simply study one kind…

Not just pride, but unchecked hostility goeth before the fall.

By Shabbir | May 24, 2006 | Comments Off on Not just pride, but unchecked hostility goeth before the fall.

I’m usually very good with vendors, but yesterday I confess that I lost it.  A serious problem was escalated to a vendor manager and wasn’t noticed because this person was training a new staffer all day Monday.  Along with a poorly placed "fuck" in the conversation, I suggested that perhaps new employee training ought to…