Web Watch » Gambling

Are you an Asker or a Guesser?

web gangsta — Sat, 15 May 2010 23:00:08 +0000

Are you an ASKER or are you a GUESSER?

If you’ve ever travelled to Las Vegas (or Biloxi, Atlantic City, Tunica, or any of the many gambling places in between), you should be familiar with the “comp” system.

Everyone knows about the free drinks that casinos give you just for gambling, but many casual gamblers are left wondering how to get more – show tickets, free buffets, limo pickup at the airport, etc.

The obvious answer is that the player simply needs to gamble more money and spend more time in the casino – and eventually, if you’re lucky, a casino host will magically appear at your elbow and offer you anything your heart desires (if only you’ll continue playing those black and purple chips for a few more hours).

But for the casual gamer – someone who bets the red $5 chips carefully and cautiously – getting those extra freebies takes a little more work.

You have to take the initiative and ask for them.

Some people — the ASKERS — have absolutely no problem asking for all sorts of stuff because the fun is in the gathering of anything that’s free. Some would call these folks “moochers”, “freeloaders”, or “prize pigs” — while others would simply refer to them as opportunists, taking control of a situation and turning it to their advantage for whatever perceived gain there is to be had.

Just like on prom night, they may be turned down. But a blind squirrel finds a nut once in a while, and that’s enough to keep them going on.

The GIVERS, on the other hand, will anticipate the giving of such items and make it appear – however subtly, that the offer is being given away via freewill. There was no need to ask for anything when it is being given. The target may not even know that they are being targeted by a GIVER… the target will just give what is needed to the GIVER.

The end result between the ASKER and the GIVER is the same – both parties will end up receiving said benefit. The difference is how each approaches the situation and obtains what they want. The Asker is more direct and blunt; the Giver is more discreet and manipulative. Askers work well with other Askers; Guessers work well with other Guessers.

They just don’t work well with each other.

So back to the original question: which one are you, and which is the better one to be in the Big Picture?

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How to pick a winning March Madness bracket

web gangsta — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 22:00:53 +0000

This time last year, Web Watch shared some tips on how to pick a winning NCAA tournament bracket.

As basketball tournament madness rolls around again and everyone DOWNLOADS THE 2010 NCAA BRACKET, we thought we’d share some more tips with our Web Watch readers:

ESPN covers bracketology with a set of tips that includes JUST PICK DUKE. Other sites, of course, are saying PICK DUKE, BUT DON’T PICK DUKE TO WIN IT ALL.
No team ranked #11 or worse has ever made it to the Final Four.
Upsets are good for making some advances in your bracket versus others. While we all know that a #1 team has never lost to a #16 team, here are some probabilities that you may want to pay attention to:
- The #1 seed has defeated the #16 seed 100%.
- The #2 seed has defeated the #15 seed 96%.
- The #3 seed has defeated the #14 seed 84%.
- The #4 seed has defeated the #13 seed 82%.
- The #5 seed has defeated the #12 seed 67% — meaning, that #12 wins 33% of the time.
- The #6 seed has defeated the #11 seed 69% — meaning that #11 wins 31% of the time.
- The #7 seed has defeated the #10 seed 62% — meaning that #10 wins 38% of the time.
- The #8 seed has defeated the #9 seed 46% – eh, it’s a 50/50 split. Make your best guess.
You could go the easy route, and PICK ONLY NUMBER ONE AND NUMBER TWO SEEDS IN THE FIRST AND SECOND ROUNDS, but (remember to not pick any team with a nickname consisting of a profession, hobby, or activity you’ve never personally partaken in)
You could RANK YOUR BRACKET TEAMS BASED ON THE SCHOOL’S ACADEMIC RANKING instead of their basketball success
Mathematicians have determined that BASED ON PROBABILITIES, YOU ARE BETTER OFF PICKING ALL THE FAVORITES THAN YOU ARE PICKING UPSETS. Or, at the very least, not any worse off.
Are any teams STREAKING OR SLUMPING in their conference runs? Or do they get HOME COURT ADVANTAGE by playing their regional tournament games close to home?
Besides, once you’re looking at the ELITE EIGHT ROUND, IT ENDS UP THAT A TEAM’S ORIGINAL RANKING REALLY DOESN’T MATTER
You could just take CBS’ MONEYWATCH’s list of things to do, including:
- Fill in your #1 seeds to win the first round, then pick the rest of the field based on the odds that Vegas bookmakers have set for the favorites. In other words, let the professionals do the heavy lifting for you
- Based on previous tournament statistics, the math says to pick your champion as either the 3rd or 4th-ranked #1 seed, or the 1st or 2nd ranked #2 seed. No need to pick an upset as your champion.
- Wait until the final day to submit your chart, because then you can look at what everyone else in the world picked on Yahoo, ESPN, CBS, or other large tournament sites. Use that research to go with the favorites
- Try using an online tool like the POOLOGIC CALCULATOR to determine what teams you should select, based on scoring criteria.

In other words, not much has changed since we covered bracketology last year – we just have more information at our disposal.

But the BEST WAY TO FILL OUT YOUR NCAA BRACKET is to use the LRMC system developed by Joel Sokol and Paul Kvam and Georgia Tech. Using sophisticated computer models based on previous games, they’ve been able to accurately predict the top bracket finishers for the past few years’ tournaments. This year, LRMC PREDICTS A FINAL FOUR OF Kansas, Duke, Syracuse, and West Virginia… with the final game between Kansas and Duke going to Duke.

And if you are having trouble watching NCAA basketball at work, you could always try using your cell phone. SPRINT and ESPN announced a partnership allowing some Sprint customers to receive live ESPN television coverage of 23 men’s and 19 women’s NCAA basketball games (including the Big 12 and Big East conference championships) right on their cell phones.

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Video Fun: The Luckiest People Alive

web gangsta — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 00:00:08 +0000

Feeling lucky? These people are….

www.youtube.com/watch?v=SEZS25rKPDI

www.youtube.com/watch?v=qKcFPnS9r8Y

www.youtube.com/watch?v=ytrVeNZwxAY

www.youtube.com/watch?v=lrxI9bV9yxY

www.youtube.com/watch?v=3uRpVGkVhVI

www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJ3VoWOWQn0

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Super Bowl 44 Prop Bets – You making any of these?

web gangsta — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 00:00:31 +0000

The Super Bowl.

A time for getting together with friends, family, and co-workers for the ultimate Super Bowl party as you gather around the big screen to watch the game (and the Super Bowl commercials), while you hunker down with some awesome Super Bowl party food.

And what makes watching the Super Bowl with a crowd more interesting is a little friendly wager.

We’re not talking about anything crazy, money-wise. Everyone can just throw $5 into the pot and fill out some FOOTBALL SQUARES – you don’t have to know anything about the game, just put your name into a box and wait for the scoring to commence. Could be the easiest money you’ve ever made.

But for the more serious gambler who looks at the Super Bowl as an investment opportunity, Football Squares is not nearly as interesting as the SUPER BOWL PROPOSITION BETS that you can get through any major Las Vegas casino. While most everyone is familiar with the more common bets (who will win the game? what will the final score be?), a proposition bet is one that covers the more esoteric parts of the game. In essence, if there is something in the game that can’t be known ahead of time, a prop bet should be able to cover it.

Remember when the Chicago Bears’ Refrigerator Perry scored a touchdown in the Super Bowl in 1986? That is credited with being the first proposition bet set, and it was done by Caesars Palace. Needless to say, they lost a lot of money on that one. Perhaps you’ve made your own prop bets of your own: the outcome of the opening coin toss, for example, is a common one made between two friends. But it takes some real professional oddsmakers – like the ones at the Las Vegas Hilton – to come up with SOME OF THESE PROPOSITION BETS for this year’s Super Bowl:

First, the more common ones -

Who will score the game’s first touchdown?
Total points scored by the Saints?
Reggie Bush to score at least one touchdown in the game
Will Devery Henderson score at least one TD?
Will Pierre Thomas go over 24 receiving yards?

to the more unusual -

How many times will The Who’s Pete Townshend do his signature windmill move?
Will a member of The Who smash a guitar?
If Pete Townsend smashes his guitar, will he do it against the stage, against a speaker, against a microphone, on a fan, or on the drummer?”
How many times will CBS cut to Archie Manning?
How many times will CBS cut to Kim Kardashian?
How many times will announcers mention Hurricane Katrina?
What color Gatorade bath will the winning coach receive? Lime green, yellow, orange, red, blue, or clear?
Who will the Super Bowl MVP thank first? God, family, teammates, coach, no one?
Which will be higher: combined first-half points, or the winning car number at Daytona?
Which will be higher: Kim Kardashian’s boyfriend Reggie Bush’s rushing yards, or Chloe’s Kardashian’s husband Lamar Odom points/rebounds/assists?
Which will be higher: Colts first-quarter points, or Alexander Ovechkin’s shots on goal?
Which will be higher: Drew Brees TD passes, or number of goals in the Arsenal-Chelsea match?
Which will be higher: the number of Peyton Manning TD passes, or Phil Mickelson’s fourth-round birdies?
How many times will Kim Kardashian be shown on camera?
What color will be the top Kardashian wears at the Super Bowl?
Who will score more points on Sunday: the Saints and Colts, or Kobe and LeBron
How long will it take Carrie Underwoood to sing the National Anthem?
The number of times game announcers will mention Hurricane Katrina?
Which number will be larger, the winning car number in the NASCAR Bud Shootout or the Saints/Colts first-half points?
Which will be higher: Big 10 college hockey’s Michigan and Wisconsin goals scored or the Saints/Colts total touchdowns?

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Read This Book: William Poundstone’s PRICELESS – THE MYTH OF FAIR VALUE

web gangsta — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 00:00:58 +0000

William Poundstone is one of Web Watch’s favorite writers, having written many books around the same theme of exposing various ways that professionals (magicians, street crooks, carnies, casinos, etc) lie, cheat, and steal their way into your wallet.

Some of Mr Poundstone’s books that you may already be aware of include:

All are great reads and lots of fun.

And now Mr Poundstone adds to his roster with PRICELESS – THE MYTH OF FAIR VALUE AND HOW TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF IT. Have you ever wondered why retail outlets (and iTunes) use the $0.99 pricing model? That is, why are things priced at one penny below the next full dollar amount – $3.00 vs $2.99? It’s not because the retailer is giving up that penny of profit – it’s because that number by the dollar sign is the only one that customers bother to look at.

And that’s just one of the topics that are covered in the book. Why supermarkets are designed the way they are and how they decide where on the shelves to place product – it’s in there. Why the successful retail stores at the mall are designed in a counter-clockwise manner, with the cash register on the left side of the store – it’s in there. And how RESTAURANTS DESIGN MENUS TO ENCOURAGE DINERS TO CHOOSE CERTAIN THINGS OFF THE MENU, including:

Placing high-end items in the upper right-hand corner of the menu, where diners typically read first
Placing similar, but slighly less-expensive items nearby makes those items appear to be indulgent bargains by comparison.
Restaurants don’t often list prices in straight columns, as it encourages diners to easily order the least expensive item on the menu.
Items surrounded by boxes/lines are usually the restaurant’s feature item – and as such, also carry a high profit-margin

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The 12 Most Ridiculous Bets of All Time

web gangsta — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 00:00:45 +0000

You have probably seen the movie 21, about the MIT whiz kid blackjack players who figured out how to scam casinos for millions of dollars simply by counting cards and playing as a team.

Regardless of how glitzy the movie made it look, counting cards to make a living is not as easy as it seems.

Sometimes, gamblers need to have fun too – which is where proposition bets come into play. What’s a proposition bet? It’s a side bet of any type, usually of an uncommon event.

For example, people bet on the Super Bowl all the time – whether it be a Super Bowl grid or betting the line in Vegas based on who they think will win, or whether the point spread will be met. A Super Bowl proposition bet are the more obscure items:

The coin toss
Whether there will be a kickoff return for a touchdown
Whether anyone will be heard swearing on the television broadcast

These aren’t necessarily tied to whether a team will win or lose the game, but rather what happens in the events surrounding the Super Bowl. But a proposition bet doesn’t have to revolve around the Super Bowl or sports at all. Sometimes, these bets are a bit more obscure and interesting.

Chicago Now has compiled what they feel are the TOP 12 MOST RIDICULOUS PROPOSITION BETS OF ALL TIME. Some of these include:

Poker pro Howard Lederer, a vegetarian, earned $10,000 by eating a hamburger
Amarillo Slim made $40,000 by driving a golf ball over 1.5 miles.
Online poker player Jay Kwik was paid $40,000 after living in a Bellagio bathroom for just a few days
Brian Zembic, a professional backgammon player, was bet $100,000 that he wouldn’t be willing to get breast implants and keep them for a year. Not only did Brian win the bet, he kept the implants for longer than the bet required. (Brian is the subject of the book THE MAN WITH THE $100,000 BREASTS, a fine read that covers the background of this story as well as a few other gambling stories

If you are interested in placing your own proposition bet, you may want to consider visiting LONGBETS.ORG, a site where you can post and bid on bets of all types.

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Hungry? Check out the Wheel of Lunch!

web gangsta — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 23:00:07 +0000

Sometimes the hardest thing about figuring out where to go for lunch or dinner is simply trying to figure out where to go for lunch or dinner.

Wouldn’t it be great if you could just randomly select a restaurant from your local zip code, any time you wanted?

Well, now you can!

Introducing the WHEEL OF LUNCH, a roulette wheel of food.

Just punch in your favorite zip code and enter what you are looking for (“lunch”, “sushi”, “pizza”, “beer”, etc) give the wheel a spin with your mouse just as if you were on a famous word-based game show, or spinning the Wheel Of Ramones.

The wheel will spin (round and round she goes; where she stops, nobody knows) and land on a randomly-selected locale. All you have to do is commit to go wherever the Wheel of Lunch tells you to eat at.

Yes, even if it is Aunt Bea’s Oyster House. You’ll still have to go. It’s the first rule of Wheel of Lunch.

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What Are The Odds? (a different look at some statistics)

web gangsta — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 00:00:52 +0000

Whenever Web Watch visits Las Vegas, we like to watch people play the “carnival” games scattered across the casino.

You know the games – high visibility on the gaming floor, but not a lot of chance that the people playing will actually walk away a winner. An example: we once watched someone blow through about $1000 in 10 minutes playing Casino War. Yes, the children’s card game WAR as played in a casino. He didn’t stand a chance (he should have moved to craps or blackjack, where the odds were much more in his favor).

Knowing what the odds are in any scenario, whether it be a game of chance or a life-altering event, is important.

But odds need to be put into perspective. One could tell you that you have a 1-in-6 chance of taking the unshaken beer out of the 6-pack carrier during a game of Russian Beer Roulette, or they could just bet whether you can roll a six on a die. They’re the same odds, but sometimes you need these things pointed out to you.

So here’s a look at SOME OTHER ODDS, PUT INTO PERSPECTIVE, which should give you a better appreciation of how common (or rare) some items actually are:

Odds of successfully climbing Mount Everest: 1 in 3
Odds of getting divorced: 1 in 3
Odds of dying from being bitten by a dog: 1 in 700,000
Odds of having quadruplets: 1 in 700,000
Odds that your child is a genius: 1 in 250
Odds of writing a New York Times best seller: 1 in 220
Odds of being the victim of serious crime in your lifetime: 1 in 20
Odds of getting colon cancer: 1 in 20
Odds of an amateur golfer getting a hole in one: 1 in 5,000
Odds of dying from electrocution: 1 in 5,000
Odds of guessing a four-digit lock combination on the first guess: 1 in 10,000
Odds of finding a four-leaf clover on the first try: 1 in 10,000
Odds of any given American being elected president: 1 in 10 million
Odds of dying from parts falling off an airplane: 1 in 10 million

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Movie Review: The Hangover

web gangsta — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 05:00:46 +0000

Rated R for adult situations, sex, booze, drugs, profanity, boobs, weiners, and too many shots of ugly dude butts.

Rating: B

THE HANGOVER is the latest comedy from Todd Phillips, the director of Old School.

The premise is simple: four guys go to Las Vegas for a routine weekend bachelor party at Caesar’s Palace. They toast each other with some Jagermeister, and then find themselves inexplicably sharing a suite with a rooster, a white tiger, various pieces of stolen property, and the most pounding post-party headaches they’ve ever had. Oh, and the group has lost the groom, found a baby, hung out with Mike Tyson, went to the hospital…. and they still need to get back to Los Angeles in time for the wedding that takes place in a few hours. Have I mentioned that nobody quite remembers what happened between the Jager shots and waking up the next day?

And that’s the fun of the movie, watching the three friends piece together (ala Memento, working the timeline backwards with each new clue they uncover) exactly what happened the night before, and trying to find the missing groom so they can get him to his wedding on time.

To me, The Hangover is a solid cross between Ferris Bueller and After Hours, where the group finds themselves in impossible situations during a road trip, and then spend all night wondering how they got from point A to point B. The film had a little too much Ed Helms for my taste, but he was nicely balanced out by Zach Galifianakis and some side characters that are too funny to describe here for concern of ruining their film appearance.

There are tons of raunchy laughs here, with no possible way for all the best jokes to be shown in the standard green band trailer that’s suitable for all audiences as The Hangover definitely earns its R rating. You’ll also want to be prepared to sit while the credits roll for what are some of the funniest closing credits scenes you’ll have seen in a long time, a perfect way to end this film that gives the audience a satisfying ending to the story.

If you’re looking for a raunchy comedy, The Hangover will fit the bill. And After seeing The Hangover, you’ll want your next Vegas trip to be even just half as exciting a time as these guys had. But maybe without the tiger.

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Join WSOP champion Annie Duke at “Sucking Out On The Rivers” poker tourney

web gangsta — Thu, 21 May 2009 02:47:05 +0000

What are you doing on Wednesday May 27th?

If you didn’t like the outcome of this year’s Celebrity Apprentice… and who did?… then this is your chance to join in a little good natured revenge with proceeds going to Refugees International.

(I mean really – while I admit that the last few Celebrity Apprentice episodes were hysterically entertaining, everyone knows that the best quality finale would have been between Jesse James vs Annie Duke. That would have been awesome. And we would next like to see Annie and Jesse take on Dancing with the Stars next. But I digress.)

What do you need to do to join in the fun? Just join poker champion Annie Duke at the SUCKING OUT ON THE RIVERS POKER TOURNAMENT at the Hard Rock Casino’s poker room in Las Vegas.

Annie Duke and renowned Joan Rivers impersonator Frank Marino are joining forces on this charity poker tournament. Buy-in is $200 (with re-buys), and they expect a few poker pros to come out and join the fun. There are also going to be 20 other Joan Rivers impersonators playing along, each one with a bounty on their head for the lucky player who knocks them out.

Advance information is saying that the tournament is going to start at 6pm, but considering how much fun this sounds like, I wouldn’t be surprised if it started later and ran long into the night.

Full press release after the break.

Annie Duke to host “Sucking out on the Rivers” Charity Poker Tournament, Sponsored by UltimateBet.net

Well-known Joan Rivers impersonator to host charity poker event in support of Refugees International alongside poker professional Annie Duke. The world’s top poker pros, regardless of endorsement deals, are scheduled to play in the UltimateBet.net-sponsored charity poker tournament along with over 20 Joan Rivers impersonators.

Miami, FL (PRWeb) May 20, 2009 – Fans of NBC’s Celebrity Apprentice may need to do a double take on May 27th after seeing Annie Duke join forces with archrival Joan Rivers at a charity poker tournament in Las Vegas. Leading online poker site UltimateBet.net today announced the sponsorship of the Sucking out on the Rivers charity poker tournament in support of Refugees International. UltimateBet.net’s own Annie Duke will be hosting the event alongside Frank Marino, a well-known Joan Rivers impersonator, and nearly all of the top poker pros in Vegas are already on board to play in the charity tournament.

“I think that after this poker tournament, the real Joan Rivers will quickly realize that poker players are good-natured people – professional people with respected occupations and families – who really want to change the lives of those less fortunate,” stated Annie Duke. “As poker players, we’re all banding together, not just to prove a point to Joan, but to actually change the world.”

While the charity poker tournament will be co-hosted by a Joan Rivers impersonator, the real Joan Rivers went head-to-head with Annie Duke on the most recent season of Celebrity Apprentice. The often abrasive and brash comedienne told Annie, on camera, that all poker players were white trash and that none of them had last names, suggesting that those who love poker are automatically linked to organized crime.

Rivers’ opinion has drawn the ire of virtually everyone in the poker world, which is made up of doctors, lawyers, accountants, astrophysicists and other professionals. The world’s top poker players and several Hollywood celebrities are slated to play in the charity poker event to show that there’s a lot of good that comes from poker. Over 20 Joan Rivers impersonators will also be playing in the event and each one will have a bounty on his or her head. Poker fans can secure their spot in the tournament for $200 and the No Limit Texas Hold’em tourney features rebuys and add-ons to help the prize pool grow even higher.

100% of the prize money will go to the winner with half of it being directed to charity. While Nevada gaming laws prohibit money being given directly from the prize pool to charity, the winner may volunteer to donate half of their winnings to the charity in keeping with what had been done in previous charity events hosted by UltimateBet.net.

The Sucking out on the Rivers Charity Event, sponsored by UltimateBet.net, DeepStacks University, Hard Rock Poker Lounge, and WSOP Academy, gets underway on May 27th at 6pm at the Hard Rock Casino Poker Lounge. The event will be preceded by a Red Carpet ceremony at 5pm.

For tournament information and registration contact: Hard Rock Poker Lounge at 702-69FLUSH

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Top Three Stickiest Websites

web gangsta — Sat, 11 Apr 2009 09:57:28 +0000

According to Nielsen Online ratings, these were the top three Internet destinations based on the total number of unique users (in February 2009):

Google
Microsoft
Yahoo

This includes all sites owned and operated by these companies, such as email, photo sharing, search, chat, etc.

The top three Internet destinations based on the average amount of time spent on the site per individual user were:

Full Tilt Poker (average time spent: 12:44:25)
Electronic Arts Online (average time spent: 6:56:18)
PokerStars (average time spent: 6:26:04)

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Lessons Learned from THE BEST DAMN POKER SHOW

web gangsta — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 08:24:29 +0000

I’ve been watching THE BEST DAMN POKER SHOW on Fox Sports Net.

It’s a tournament-based series, with two teams of (mostly) amateur poker players competing against each other and coached by poker pros Annie Duke and Phil Hellmuth. For whatever reason, I can’t watch most poker programs on TV, but shows like this one or Bravo’s prematurely cancelled CELEBRITY POKER SHOWDOWN that offer decent, approachable advice for the casual player (along with a little bit of personality and humor) are more entertainly watchable for me versus the more serious World Poker Tour or High Stakes Poker shows.

Besides, who wouldn’t want to get free poker advice from Annie Duke, Phil Hellmuth, or Phil Gordon (an early commentator on CPS)? As such, I turn you to one small piece of advice learned from season 2, episode 5, of The Best Damn Poker Show.

One of Annie’s players, Jon Nau, held Ad Qd. On Phil’s team, Brad Harlness had pocket 10‘s. Heavy betting pre-flop had both players in for one-third of their respective chip stacks. Pre-flop, Jon’s hand had a 53% edge, compared to Brad’s 47%.

The flop came 4d 9h 7d, putting Jon on a flush draw and a 63% edge, with Brad at 37% with his 10′s. Brad bet another third of his chips.

Backstage, both Annie and Phil agreed that it was a no-brainer -- Jon needed to push his chips in, going all-in. Mathematically, Annie explained, when you have two overcards versus the flop AND a flush draw, you have to play the odds and bet, as there would be very few hands that could beat yours.

Much to Annie’s chagrin and Phil’s amusement, Jon folded. Annie asked Phil if it would be okay for her to cut Jon from her team right then.

After the hand while the cards were being shuffled, Annie pulled another of her players, Shawn Van Asdale, aside and told him to casually bring up discussion of the exact same hand that was played the previous day, as a way to send a message to Jon that he shouldn’t have folded.

Shawn rejoined the table and mentioned the previous day’s hand. As the conversation progressed, the table agreed that folding was not a good idea. Shawn even referenced item #4 on the David Letterman-like “Top Ten” list that he put on his audition video. What he said at the table summed up the situation in an easy-to-understand phrase that all poker players should be able to remember:

“I would check-raise my mother all-in with two overs and a flush draw.”

The funny thing? This really was on his Best Damn Poker Show audition video:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=RGmHAyFP-SA

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The Human Litterbox Bet

web gangsta — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 09:20:40 +0000

I do not know anyone who would be willing to take this bet. It certainly would make for an interesting end to March Madness tournament betting, especially for those who are always looking for the ultimate bet payoff with one’s friends: THE HUMAN LITTERBOX.

All the loser has to do is use a cat litterbox for a week instead of the toilet.

Sure, you’d have to figure out what to do about using the facilities at the workplace, but that could be easily arranged as litterboxes are fairly portable. What could possibly go wrong with this idea?

Apparently, this is not a new concept. Cats are writing advice columns on how to deal with messy humans, and Half-Bakery even has a suggestion on using kitty litter as a way to keep your bathroom clean between scrubs…and they’ve done the math in how humans and cats differ in pee volume.

I know what you’re thinking – someone did think that there was a practical reason to poop in a cat box. GEM718 asked Yahoo Questions the following: “Can I Poop in My Cat’s Litter Box to Train her to Do So? My kitten is 5 weeks old, and she just will NOT use her litter box. I needed to know if I were to take a dump in her litter box, would she get the idea?”

You’re just going to have to click the link to see the answer for yourself.

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How To Pick the NCAA Basketball Bracket

web gangsta — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 22:00:14 +0000

Whether you call it the NCAA Men’s College Basketball Championship, March Madness, Bracketology, or the World’s Best Office Pool, every year office work grinds to a halt as millions of people sweat over their 63 game selections as they fill out their basketball brackets – hoping ultimately to win their local office pool.

How tough is it to pick the perfect tournament bracket? Try 9,223,372,036,854,775,808 to 1 (nine quintillion, if you lost track of the number of commas in that number).

Officially, the NCAA does not support using the grid in any form of gambling, and frowns upon the amount of effort thrown at filling out the brackets for monetary gain.

Got that? Good. Now that THAT is out of the way, let’s talk about the 10 BEST WAYS TO FILL OUT YOUR BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT BRACKET SO YOU CAN WIN YOUR OFFICE POOL.

(Okay, we may cover more than 10 rules for you to follow while filling out your bracket, but who’s counting?)

MSNBC offered 10 bracket tips in 2005. Here are some of them:

Choose #1 seeds to go to the Final Four
Select teams that have at least one star, preferably more
Pick a number 12 seed to advance over a choking number 5 seed
Go with a sentimental favorite
The hot teams in the qualifying tournaments are not necessarily the ones with the momentum. Go with the lazy ones.

Want some tips that are more based in statistical analysis? Try these from PreGame.com:

Be careful picking teams seeded higher than 12 to advance past the first round.
Look at the upset potential of the #9 through #12 seeds.
You can’t go wrong taking the #1 seeds as far as you can.
If you have a #10 or #12 seed winning in the first round, odds are in their favor to advance to the Sweet Sixteen. The chances of a #13 or higher seed advancing to the Sweet Sixteen are slim.
But if you have a #12 seed or higher in the Sweet Sixteen, that’s probably as far as they’re going to go. Go with the odds and don’t advance them.
The odds say that your Final Four should have at least one #1 seed.
The odds also say that you shouldn’t have any team ranked #7 or higher in the championship game… but you should always pick a team ranked #1-#4 to win the whole caboodle.

VegasWatch has even done the math on what the winning odds would be if you only picked the favorites to win the tournament. They are very clear to indicate that this does not mean picking the higher seeded team – they say that it’s a 1 in 19,323 chance of succeeding. Not totally insurmountable, as we all know people who have picked the first 32 games correctly over the years.

Of course, you could always try picking all upsets. Every game, every round. The chances of all four of the Final Four teams being #16 seeds?

1 in 144,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000

Dan Steinberg of DC Sports Blog shared his seven strategies on picking the perfect bracket with the Washington Post last year:

IGNORE THE 5-12 RULE
While picking #12 to beat a #5 may sound sexy, you’ll be better served in sticking with the #5 team.
HATE CINDERELLA
Cinderella teams are not winners, statistically.
UPSET PICKS COME FROM THE MAJORS
If you’re looking for an upset pick, stick with the major basketball conferences.
PICK YOUR UPSETS IN THE SECOND ROUND
First round upsets are fairly common to select. Picking an upset in the 2nd round is where you’ll make your money.
DON’T PICK THE FAVORITE TO WIN IT ALL
AT THE END, PEDIGREE MATTERS
Avoid picking a champion that has not made a recent Final Four appearance. Success breeds success.
EMBRACE ONE BIG CONFERENCE OVER ALL OTHERS
Once you’ve got your national champion, go back and make sure you’ve given that team’s conference the proper respect in earlier rounds.

PickManager even put out a press release this year listing the following pieces of helpful statistics:

A #1 seed has NEVER lost in the first round of the tournament
#2 seeds have only lost four times in the first round
#9 seeds have a higher winning percentage that the #8 seeds in the first round.
The first round winning percentage is identical for #11 seeds and #12 seeds. Don’t focus only on the 7 vs. 12 matchup that is commonly referred to by “bracketologists.”
#9 seed performance falls dramatically in the second round with the lowest winning percentage of any seed that makes it to that round (5.8%).
A strong number #8 is as good as a strong #6 seed for advancing deep in the NCAA tournament, while a #7 seed has never won in the 4^th round
#3, #4, and #5 seeds that get to the 4^th round typically perform well in the 4^th round.
Two #11 seeds have made it to the final weekend of the tournament, while no #7, #9 or #10 seed has ever made it.
#1 seeds matter and boast greater than 50% winning percentages in every round.

If you are really interested in proving yourself, you could always take Sean Brooks’ advice – he’s the guy who won ESPN’s 2008 Bracket Tournament:

Pick the #1 seeds to win their first and second round games.
Pick the #2, #3, and #4 seeds to also win their first round games.
Try picking the team that has the best record over their last 12 games
Try picking the team that has a clear statistical advantage in five or more of the following categories: their RPI, strength of schedule, nonconference RPI, nonconference strength of schedule, record versus RPI top 25, record in its past 12 games and adjusted scoring margin.
All things being equal, pick the team with the better ASM.

Finally, I do appreciate this piece of advice from someone who seems to know what he’s talking about, from their own list of advice for filling out the 2009 bracket: Don’t listen to a thing Dick Vitale says.

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Gambling on Entertainment

web gangsta — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 00:02:05 +0000

With the Academy Awards this weekend, Dancing with the Stars gearing up in a few weeks, American Idol still whittling away singers, the NCAA Basketball Tournament coming up in March, now is a good time to take a look at who the oddsmakers are saying is going to win.

The bookies at BETUS have the following for Dancing:

Steve Wozniak - 6000:1
Belinda Carlisle - 1000:1
Denise Richards - 750:1
Shawn Johnson - 250:1

And while some of these singers may be gone in a few weeks before the competition even gets rolling, they currently show American Idol favorites to be:

Danny Gokey – 350:1
Adam Lambert – 450:1
Matt Giraud - 450:1
Anoop Desai - 1000:1

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