Handicapping Contests Blog

Some chances come once in a lifetime. Others are as routine as dropping a nice pick-up line to the pretty little redhead at the convenience store. A few of these chances involve some meritorious award after being executed successfully, while other victories occur away from the public eye; inside oneself.

He had made the final table once before, and bowed out before making his presence felt. The odds were stacked against him to ever make it back that far, let alone improve beyond his already criticized accomplishment. They said he was the beneficiary of ill-timed decisions and 'bad beats', others just said the mother****er got lucky.

Last night was his night to change all that, to rewrite history, to finish what he had started.

CrazyLou entered the final table ranked 3rd with a chip stack of just over $21,000. He felt a quiet calm coursing through his veins, the cylinders were spinning upstairs, all his thoughts and opponent reads were interconnected beautifully like the inner workings of a stop watch. He felt complete control over his table image, mixing his play up masterfully and switching positions more violently than a politician up for re-election. Nobody at that table could touch him, but that doesn't mean nobody tried.

Jeremythegreat sat to his right, and would proceed to challenge him throughout the final table. The first big test occurred after Jeremy moved in for just over $19,000 into CrazyLou's big blind. CrazyLou held AQ of spades, and contemplated the decision carefully before folding. He had just over $23,000 in chips at the time, and it made no sense to put his entire tournament life on the line for what he knew would be a coin-flip at best. He folded, and Jeremythegreat quickly showed AJ offsuit, arrogantly mocking Lou for his decision to get away from the hand. The attempt to throw him off his game didn't inspire Lou to ''get even'', it didn't prompt him to think about revenge, he simply moved onto the next hand and played the best poker he was capable of playing.

Several dozen hands later, the field began to narrow, survival of the fittest and all those old cliches that run through your head anytime there's a Rocky re-run on the tube.

When the smoke began to clear, only Jeremythegreat and CrazyLou remained alive, dualing it out in a brief heads-up war that resulted in CrazyLou winning his first ever SBR Poker Freeroll.

69 entered the tournament that night with victory on their minds.

Only one had a chance to escape with a 'W', one man took that opportunity and seized it.

This article is your congratulations, CrazyLou, for achieving the unthinkable and cementing your name next to the list of forum legends who have earned the right to refer to themselves as champion.

-Anonymous Poker beat writer

Join Bodog's $500 Beat The Pro Tourney

BobbyBaseballs bested the field of 80 players with an inspired performance Thursday night. It took a little over three hours to complete but once the cards were done flying Bobby stood alone in victory, after a fierce heads up battle with regular SBR forum poster BigDaddy. There were many SBR heads at the final table including Smitch124, Pico, newcomer KingRevolver and previous Bodog poker winner from two months ago HungQver.

$500 worth of prizes were divided up between the top 9 finishers, and players look forward to Bodog's Event #3 poker tournament which is scheduled to feature Bodog poker professional Jean Robert Bellande. Bellande, the fiery and flamboyant TV personality, had caused uproar after no-showing an event he was scheduled to play in with a bounty on his head to boot. SBR forum posters look to jaw it up with the professional and get another crack at that attractive $100 prize on his head.

Be sure to check SBR forum Saturday morning for the Event #3 sign-up!

Winners	Prizes
1st - BobbyBaseballs	$150
2nd - BigDaddy	$100
3rd - cmerunoveru	$75
4th - spal2811	$50
5th - HungQver	$40
6th - KingRevolver	$30
7th - bmfinestt	$25
8th - Smitch124	$20
9th - picoman	$10

$500 Bodog Poker Freeroll

When: Thur. 6/18 at 9:00PM ET
Where: Bodog
Tourney Name: SBR Poker
Password: PM or email Lou@sbrnewsdesk.com with Bodog poker name.

Players without Bodog, open an account here.

Event #1 of 8
prize pool

Rank|Prize
1|$150
2|$100
3|$75
4|$50
5|$40
6|$30
7|$25
8|$20
9|$10

All prizes sportsbook cash & carry 3X rollover.

Thursday June 11th- $500 Freeroll
Thursday June 18th- $500 Freeroll
Thursday June 25th- $500 Freeroll

Thursday July 2nd- $500 Freeroll
Thursday July 9th- $500 Freeroll
Thursday July 16th- $500 Freeroll
Thursday July 23rd- $500 Freeroll
Thursday July 30th- $500 Freeroll

More...

Former NFL Player Dies at Age 39

Pio Sagapolutele, a former player for the Cleveland Browns, New England Patriots and New Orleans Saints, passed away after a massive stroke and heart attack Sunday. The Samoan-born defensive lineman was only 39 years old.

Sagapolutele was born in American Samoa, grew up in Hawaii, and attended San Diego State University before being selected by the Browns in the fourth round of the 1991 NFL Draft. He played 92 games in seven seasons, amassing seven career sacks and 89 solo tackles. He started at right defensive tackle in Super Bowl XXXI for Bill Parcells' Patriots.... More...

Forget hedging. I've been riding Roger the entire tournament, have an +1150 ticket pending, and don't plan on jumping off now.

Robin Soderling has played an exceptional tournament, I'm not going to pick apart his game because I think if you understand his mechanics and the type of game he likes to play, you will realize the mismatch against a guy like Federer and the 9-0 HU record reinforces that point.

-375 is generous for what I feel is at worst a 4 set victory for Federer, but I consider a straight sets outcome to be more likely so if you are... More...

When handicapping majors, an important and useful way of analyzing matches is to look not for how a player has done that tournament, but instead look for how that players performances are perceived by the betting public and in turn, the oddsmakers.

This sounds simple, but in tennis it is most effective because you are not betting on a team sport. There is no homecourt advantage less a player hails from the state that the major is being held at, and even in that specific scenario there is no HCA which is factored into the betting line.

There are really not as... More...

$500 Bookmaker Poker Freeroll
[SIZE=2]
when: Wednesday June 24th @8:00PM ET
[/SIZE][SIZE=2]where: [COLOR=Black]Bookmaker: open Bookmaker account[/COLOR][/SIZE]

All players must PM CrazyLou their account # prior to 12:00PM ET 6/24/09. Anyone who attempts to join afterward is NOT guaranteed a spot in the event, we'll attempt to accommodate you but no promises.

PRIZE POOL
$500 Sportsbook cash, 3x rollover