Author Archives: java

What Poker Could Have Taught This Harvard Professor Re: Social Capital

Harvard Professor Robert Putnam has been recognized for his contribution to political science. According to Wikipedia, he “has been elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (1980), the Council on Foreign Relations (1981), the National Academy of Sciences (2001), and the American Philosophical Society (2005). He was the President of the American Political […]

The Poker Players Alliance is a Lobby – Not Online Poker’s Personal Savior

I’ve seen some bashing of the Poker Players Alliance (PPA) in the wake of DOJ indictments involving three online poker sites. I’m not a particular fan of the PPA. But I dislike lobbying organizations in general. If online poker sites were engaged in bank fraud as alleged, I’m not sure how the PPA is to […]

They Paved Paradise Part I: The Dawn

There is really no need to interview Perry as the spewage is constant. If I took notes in shorthand on speed, it would be hard to keep up with the banter — Amy Calistri I wrote that about Perry Friedman in April 2003 – later quoted in Tales from the Tiltboys. I had played online […]

The Big Wave and the Fallacy of Safety

I was 11 when I read The Big Wave by Pearl S. Buck. I still remember my confusion and horror at the end of the book. How could Jiya move back to the same fishing village where his family died in a tsunami? Not only did he return with his new wife but they built […]

Cruisin’: Garment Bags and Caribbean Kmarts

In Austin, you can go just about anywhere in shorts or jeans and most people do. So I laughed when the local paper brought in a fashion reporter last year. His first column mentioned French cuffs. I suspected most readers thought he was referring to fancy bondage gear. It’s not that I don’t have dresses […]

Why I’m Your Worst Facebook Friend: Confessions of an Anti-Social Networker

When I was about six, my father asked me if I knew what the word “exploitation” meant. I shook my head “no.” “Get me a beer and I’ll tell you,” he said. I brought him the beer and he said nothing. He just smiled. I wish I could tell you that I learned my lesson […]

How I Lost My Social Life and Learned to Love Dissension

Technically, I shouldn’t have been there. I was the only first-level manager in a sea of higher-ups. My fourth-level manager should have attended the weekly meetings. But he was a single 40 year-old, going on 14. The last thing he wanted to do was burn Friday nights at work. I ended up with the short […]

How the World Series of Poker Saved Me from the Market Crash: Part II

“OK. Well I just hope I can sell this to the Lithuanian,” the voice on the phone concluded. I had just finished negotiating my contract to cover the 2008 World Series of Poker. It hadn’t gone as well as I had hoped. I got more than they initially offered, but not quite as much as […]

How the World Series of Poker Saved Me from the Market Crash: Part I

“The market can stay irrational longer than you can stay solvent.” John Maynard Keynes I thought a lot about Keynes’ cautionary words during the summer of 2007. But in the end, being early saved me. And strangely enough, the World Series of Poker gets most of the credit. In February 2007, HSBC wrote down over […]

Sweating, Gain Bias and the Value Bet

In July 2010, Paul Goydos shot a 59 in the first round of the John Deere Classic, becoming only the fourth golfer in PGA history to hit that mark. He birdied eight of the last nine holes. In this interview with NPR, Gaydos was asked if he was nervous as he lined up to make […]