Catching up with Pittsburgh...

Well, I am officially back in Pittsburgh. It's been a whirlwind 6 months in Wisconsin, and I am disappointed that things did not go as planned there, but I am thrilled to be back in the 'burgh and looking forward to figuring out what I missed...

Let's start off with the Steeler's... when I left, they were defending Super Bowl champs but they had some big issues. Big Ben's face, no extension for Cowher, no Bettis, Santonio Holmes arrests... but they came out and beat what was thought to be a good Miami team on opening night. Now I am back and there was no playoffs, no more Cowher (not to mention Whisenhunt, Grimm, or Hoak), and next season is a HUGE question mark with the new coach. He has things in place, but Cowher was a terrific motivator and Tomlin has some huge shoes to fill in that regard. And with Baltimore and Cincinnati having quality teams and Cleveland looking like they might turn things around with Crennel, it's going to be hard for the Steeler's to become a dominant team again quickly.

At least things are looking up for the Buccos. I like LaRoche but I still don't know if their starters will be enough. Every team needs a solid veteran to anchor their rotation, or at least be a guy where the rest of the team has confidence behind whenever they are on the mound. They may pitch a bad game here and there, but everyone knows that they can count on the guy when things are going bad. Young pitchers need to grow into that role and I'm not sure if there is anyone currently on the staff that can handle that role now. The offense should be good, but the Cubs and Brewers both did some work too and it will be hard for the Pirates to get out of the 5th spot in the division.

Meanwhile when I left Pittsburgh, the Penguins were relying on the Isle of Capri to save the team and get them a new arena. I like what the Pens have done management-wise in trying to get a new arena. Over the past few years they had very little to bargain with. Lemieux came out of retirement to try to jump-start things and when that did not work (because the NHL had horrible salaries where small-market teams were having a hard time competing) he stopped spending money, lost a lot of games, got some good draft picks and used them wisely. Now the team is loaded with young talent, fans are going to the games, and Lemieux has suitors from around the country who want the team to move. There really is no excuse now for the State and local governments to get together and create a plan that keeps the team in Pittsburgh for a long, long time.

Well, I have not mentioned poker yet. The one thing about Wisconsin is that they have Indian casinos all over the state and about half have poker rooms. The one in Green Bay at Mason Street was nice with 2-5 NL and 3-6 Limit. I stuck to the NL and did ok... some big hits and small losses. The Ho-Chunk Casino was located about 8 minutes from my house in Baraboo but they did not have poker... until 3 weeks ago when I had determined that I was moving back. They only have limit (3-6, 5-10, and occasionally 10-20) and I was not able to go even once!! ARGHH!! But I do have an interesting hand that a friend of mine witnessed...

3-6 Limit. Flop comes A K Q all clubs. 3 players in the hand. Player 1 bets, player 2 calls, Player 3 raises. Player 1 raises, player 2 calls again, and player 4 says something about flopping the flush and caps the raising at 4 bets. Player 1 says "I have outs!" and calls. Player 2 calls too.

Next card is a blank. Player 1 bets, player 2 calls, player 3 raises. Player 1 finally just calls and player 2 calls.

Last card is a K. Player 1 says "Gotcha!" and bets. Player 2 suddenly wakes up and raises. Player 3 calls for some reason (he has to know he's beat and that player 1 caught a boat). Player 1 raises and player 2 caps the betting at 4 bets. Player 3 shows his cards to my buddy and says something about not being good. But he goes ahead and calls. At this point Player 1 looks at Player 2 and asks if he has Aces? But he calls the bet. Player 1 shows AK, Player 3, who should have folded as soon as the King hit the river shows 9-7 clubs, and Player 2, who did not raise until the river, shows J 10 clubs for the Royal Flush... needless to say there was a lot of oohing an ahhing over the hand. If it was No Limit, I have no doubt that everybody would have had all their money in. But that's what I don't like about Limit: you can't get your money in and use it to your advantage. So therefore you get sucked out on a lot and do a lot of sucking.

Til next time!