So I mentioned that I'd get into fantasy football, but what to tackle?
Well let me state that I'm in 3 leagues currently. I run one league that has been together now for 14 years. We started with 8 teams and have grown (and maxed out) to 14 teams. It's a normal scoring, head to head, non keeper league. The only real interesting thing we do is during the draft we go 1-14 in round 1, 14-1 in round 2 and then 14-1 again in round 3. We've done this for 3 years now and during the 1st 2 the difference in records for the top half of the draft and bottom half of the draft has been rather even. Through 5 weeks this year our top half was 18-17 and the bottom half 17-18. Currently I'm leading the league in scoring but have only a 3-3 record to show for it.
In my second league I'm in a 10 team auction keeper league. Its about as different as you can get from my league. This is our fourth year and I haven't had much success in the first three years. This year I'm 5-1 so I guess I have hope.
My third league is a new league this year and it's with guys at work. Most of the players aren't very competitive so it's a good break from my other leagues. I'm currently 5-1 in that one as well.
Everyone who writes blogs or runs a website has their own theory on how to draft a team and I do as well so during the off season I will go over the do's and don't to having a success team. I won't promise that you'll win every time, mainly because I choose safe over flashy. I'd much rather have Wes Welker over Terrell Owens or Desean Jackson this past draft year. I know what I'm getting from Welker and that is half the strategy. Obviously I'll miss out on rookie studs, but they are few and far between. How's Beanie Wells working out for ya?
On the Poker front: I believe with enough practice, patience and money (that's the key) I could play poker professionally. Unfortunately I am about 5 years too old to have taken advantage of the poker boom. By the time it became uber popular I was already in an established relationship with a job and bills to pay. I'm not wealthy enough to take six months off and give it a run and I don't have enough faith in playing online to try and make my riches. I love playing poker, some for the rush of gambling, some for the mental warfare that goes on and some just because I have always played cards and I truly love it.
I want to, in the future, go over certain hands and break them down a la Ron Jaworkski for the NFL, but I don't have a good hand to go over now. People do say that poker is luck and top pro's will say that it is more skill than luck, but I'm going to compare poker to fantasy football. The way I play is the same way I draft. I'm looking to put myself in the best possible situation more times than not. What does that mean you ask? With football, taking the constants rather than the flash. In poker the whole goal is to put your money in with the best hand more times than not. The trouble nowadays is that if you play too conservatively you will just get run over by crazy, wild players. That forces tighter players to try and make players with lesser quality hands. So now you have to learn how to play from behind during a hand, while trying to convince someone that you are playing exactly how you would play if you knew you had the best hand. You can't flop the nut flush or trips or a straight every time. Sometimes you have to pay to catch up. Knowing your opponent is almost as important as what you have in your hand.
I can play against my friends and some of them will fold to a raise every time if they don't have a good hand. Some will only call every raise because they 'think' they have a good hand but they don't know what to do with it. Some will call every time because with 1 more card they can have a good hand. The latter of the three players is the hardest to play against. You can bet to try and win the pot, but most of the time it doesn't matter, they're staying until the end. You can check, but then you've given the player a free card and you have no one to blame but yourself. The best way to play against a player like that is to bet more money than you ever would just to end it right there. If they want to put their entire chip stack on a draw, let them. Sometimes they'll win, but more than most, you will. If you have a marginal hand against a marginal player, end it quickly. Just like in the NCAA tournament in Men's Basketball...the longer you let a lower seed hang around, the great the chances you have at doing something stupid to lose.
Ok, that's it for now. Hopefully I'll get to write tomorrow before going on vacation for the weekend. I'll tell you all about my trip to the woods on Monday.
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