Silva: Each NFL team enters the offseason with a series of pressing needs. Sometimes a team can address them all, sometimes they ignore them all. But if a team's smart, they'll listen to us. These are the most crucial aspects for NFC teams.
SportsTalk: Albert Pujols signs with the Angels and Prince Fielder joins the Tigers. Which team is better now?
Ryan Callahan scored three goals as the New York Rangers beat Philadelphia 5-2 on Saturday for their seventh straight win over the Flyers.
Jeremy Lin hit a free throw with 4.9 seconds left to overcome a dreadful second half and lift the New York Knicks to their fifth straight victory, 100-98, over the Minnesota Timberwolves on Saturday night.
Arc's five up, five down: After No. 11 Michigan State's 58-48 upset of No. 3 Ohio State, you'd be a fool to discount the Spartans' national title chances now.
CFT: Jordan Jefferson makes it clear he wasn't happy with LSU's game plan in the Tigers' BCS Championship Game loss to Alabama.
Move over, Hollywood and NFL types, golf's two real A-listers take center stage Sunday at Pebble Beach, both in need of a win.
The United States swept favored Switzerland out of the Davis Cup on Saturday when Mardy Fish and Mike Bryan beat Roger Federer and Stanislas Wawrinka 4-6, 6-3, 6-3, 6-3.
Luis Suarez's refusal to shake hands with Patrice Evra overshadowed Manchester United's 2-1 win over rival Liverpool that lifted the defending champions to first place in the Premier League on Saturday.
Tessa Worley of France fought off gusting winds to win a second consecutive World Cup giant slalom Sunday in the Andorran Pyrenees. Overall leader Lindsey Vonn was more than a second behind and finished eighth.
Robins: It’s the Year of the Dragon on the Lunar calendar, and this Chinese influence could extend to it also being the year of the Pekingese on the green carpet at the 136th Westminster Dog Show on Tuesday.
This is the second of three columns that I have audaciously titled “Poker made simple.” In truth, I think that this series demonstrates that poker is simple on the surface and underneath the still waters, very complex. The basic question is always simple: “Should I raise, call, bet, or fold?” The questions you might consider to answer this simple question are very numerous and difficult.
What are the variables?
In the first installment in this series I explained a simple truth about poker: math defines the most profitable play you can make in a given situation if you know all the variables. Forgetting about math for a moment, what are the variables? What questions could you consider when deciding to answer the simple basic question: “Should I raise, call, bet, or fold?” Off the top of my head I came up with a short list of twenty, the answers to which might affect the outcome of a poker hand:
How many opponents am I facing? What are my cards? What is the best possible hand? How likely am I to have the best hand? Has the player in seat three been drinking? Have I been drinking? How long has the player in seat seven been playing? How long have I been playing? Is the player in seat six playing a higher limit than she is accustomed to? Who won the last pot? How many cups of coffee has the player in seat nine had? What does the tattoo on the forearm of the player in seat 10 mean? What cards are on the flop? Does the player in seat four have more money in his wallet or is it all on the table? What does my opponent think I have? Are the players in seats one and two married to each other? Did the dealer flash a card? Does the player in seat four think “kings are running?” Is the player in seat five angry at the player in seat nine? How much will my hotel room cost me tonight?
You might think that some of these questions could not possibly affect the outcome of a poker hand. Obviously, some are more important than others, but any one of them could be important. How much will my room cost me tonight? If I have my last $200 on the table and my room costs $150 then I better not lose more than another $50 before I quit.
If that is the case then it may affect what cards I choose to play. If I am scared of losing then I will probably play tighter than I otherwise would.
Is the player in seat three drunk? Generally, when a player is drunk he plays looser than usual. Herein lays the clue as to why these questions could be important. How does anything — position, number of opponents, sobriety, anything — affect what cards your opponent will play and how he will play them? All of the questions that could affect the outcome of a hand of poker do so because they may alter the cards that you will play, or that your opponents will play. Also, they may alter how you and your opponents will play them.
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Back to the original hypothesis for a moment: math defines the most profitable play you can make in a given situation if you know all the variables. Since you know what your cards are and you know what the board cards are, the only variables you are interested in are:
(1) What are my opponent’s cards?
(2) How will he play them?
What’s he got and what will he do with it? If you have multiple opponents then you are asking yourself what each of them has and how each of them will play?
Robins: It’s the Year of the Dragon on the Lunar calendar, and this Chinese influence could extend to it also being the year of the Pekingese on the green carpet at the 136th Westminster Dog Show on Tuesday.
NEW YORK (AP) - As the glow fades from the Giants' Super Bowl triumph, some New York sports fans are tuning in to basketball and hockey, with the Rangers in first place and the Knicks' overnight sensation, Jeremy Lin, sparking "Lin-sanity.''
Robins: This year, six new breeds will be making their debut on the green carpet for the Westminster Dog Show, which begins Monday.
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Jeremy Lin hit a free throw with 4.9 seconds left to overcome a dreadful second half and lift the New York Knicks to their fifth straight victory, 100-98, over the Minnesota Timberwolves on Saturday night.
Doron Lamb hit a 3-pointer with 3:18 left to put No. 1 Kentucky ahead to stay, and the Wildcats took a big step toward a Southeastern Conference regular-season title by beating Vanderbilt 69-63 Saturday night for their 17th straight win.
Wesseling: Each NFL team enters the offseason with a series of pressing needs. Sometimes a team can address them all, sometimes they ignore them all. But if a team's smart, they'll listen to us. These are the most crucial aspects for AFC teams.
