Buying and selling the right to pollute

Did you know that there is an exchange for pollution rights where the right to pollute is traded like a commodity?

The Chicago Climate Exchange offers member organizations the right to buy and sell pollution credits. Do you think this is right? Should the depth of one's pockets determine how much they should be allowed to pollute?

Pretty much every major chemical, oil, auto and manufacturing company is a member. Click here for a complete list.

My first WSOP - part 2 -Single table satellites to WSOP events

So I am knocked out of the Cesar's mega stack when my TT runs into AA. NEH - Vegas sucks. I decide to head over to the RIO, scope out the room and perhaps play a satellite to try and pay for some of my entry to Event 31. The satellite room is across from the main tourney room in the Rio convention center. I visited the Rio during the $50k HORSE event last year so was prepared for the rush and excitement that permeates the main room. Last year I was taking pictures with the stars, this year I was there to beat them.

I got my seat card for the next 10 person sng satellite, $275 buy in, winner take all (they pay approx. $2500 in tournament lammers which can be used to buy in to a WSOP event). I did a lot of research prior to this trip and decided to play in one or two of these expecting at least a chop was +EV if I could get down to heads up in at least one. The satellite got going within 15 minutes and I surveyed the table to see what I could gather about my opponents.

I was seated in the #9 spot. A nerdy, mustachioed man sat directly to my right and was talking my head off about how he had played in four of these single table satellites already today and chopped two of them. The guy to my immediate left was a senior who looked like a rock but ended up playing like a donk. The requisite crazy older Asian man was sitting in seat #1 and an Asian kid from Cali in seat #5 made the point of introducing himself to the table to which I said, "I'm not really expecting this to develop into a long term relationship so excuse me if I don't remember your name in 5 minutes." Damn, I am and ass sometimes. I think his name was Mike or Ike.

The last person to take his seat was this sunburned redheaded man who I will assume to be from either the Great Britain or Kentucky. He didn't say a word the whole time so there is no way of knowing since the dress and mannerisms of the residents of Great Britain are very similar to those found in the peoples of Kentucky, West Virginia and Tennessee (no offense to anyone from anywhere).

The mystery man with the sunburned face was bouncing around the room like a pinball prior to the start of our tourney. Once the tourney started he transferred all that built up kinetic energy into the worst 15 minuted of play I have ever seen. He was so excited that he got two cards every hand he played almost every one. He was all in before the second blind level preflop with 76 against AK and didnt improve. A Frenchman and a quiet man in Oakleys were the next to go. Both were victims of the crazy Asian man hitting an open-ender. Then the old man who had played like a rock the entire time, decides to reraise all-in after the flop (but for only 1/3 of the total pot) with K-high against the crazy older Asian guy, who calls with A high and a flush draw and takes out our rock/donk in fifth place.

The blinds were at 100/200 and I had been stealing the occasional pot from time to time and did not have to show down a hand when I picked up Qc9d on the button and decided to limp in, with about 1800 behind me. I had the Crazy Asian in the big blind and the younger Asian dude had limped in early position.

The flop was 992 with two clubs. Pretty close to the dream flop for Q9. Both players check and I check to disguise the strength of my hand. The 6c spikes on the turn. Now I may no longer have the best hand. Both players check and I fire a bet of 400 into the 600 pot. Part feeler, part value bet as I am pretty sure I have the best hand but the flush is out there and if another club hits I may be in trouble. I do have the Qc which may be good, but probably not if the other person calls this bet.

The crazy old Asian man instantly raises my bet of 400 to 1200, the younger Asian man folds faster than the Lakers without Kobe, and I have a tough decision to make. I consider my opponent and what his possible range is (ATC) and decide I have to go with this hand. I repush all in and he flips over J9 no clubs. Pretty much the hand I wanted to see. Domination. 1 card left, 3 outs. I guess you know what the river was.

The man apologized to which I said "Nonsense. I pushed, it happens. I wanted to get the money in there more than you did."

Random events are just that - random, unpredictable.

I left the Rio satellite room slightly disappointed, deciding it was pointless to play more of these satellites -but hopeful that I could still perform well enough in the WSOP event in two days to make this all seem like the bad joke that it was.

My first WSOP - part 1

So i can't sleep (again) and have finally convinced myself that a recap of my first WSOP is in order.

I decided earlier this month that I should try to win an event in the World Series of Poker. I did some research, evaluated the 50+ events and decided that event 31 (NLH - 6 handed) was my best shot at earning my first bracelet. The field size the previous year was just over 800, significantly smaller than any of the $1500 buy-in events.

So I looked for plane tickets, arranged a place to stay for the week (Thanks Mr and Mrs S) and got my final table outfit ready. All the while I was studying Mike Caro's videos on poker tells and playing a couple of tourneys a day at local casinos to hone my reading abilities. Unfortunately I wasn't winning any of those local tourneys to bolster my bankroll or my confidence.

I arrived in Vegas on Friday the 13Th. What was I thinking? It was the only reasonably priced flight into Vegas because no one going to the land of luck wants to arrive on the unluckiest day of the year. I was hoping that my total disregard for the luck factor in poker would be welcomed by the poker gods and rewarded with lock hands galore. Boy am I dumb.

But I wasn't playing on the 13th so I should be safe...should being a relative term.

I decided that the best way to prepare for a WSOP event would be to play in some of the mid size tourneys that the other casinos are running. So I signed up for the Cesar's Mega Stack on June 14th at noon. The event gives participants a 10k starting stack with 50 minute blind levels for the $350 buy in. Sounds like a good deal. I am catching average hands for the first hour and manage to donk off about 1/4th of my stack chasing a straight draw. Then I pick up KK in the small blind after pretty much the entire table has limped in. The blinds are at 100/200 and I have approx. 6K in chips remaining. So of course I bump it up big time. I raise to 900, 4 callers, flop is 334, seems harmless enough. I don't think anyone called my monster preflop raise with baby cards so I continue bet my overpair, no subtlety here, 2500 is the bet. Two relatively quick calls with a weird glance from the tightest player at the table who is last to act.

Two callers? 2500 bet and I get two callers? Immediately the red phone starts ringing and we are moving to defcon 2. The turn pops the A of spades (ref. Motorhead - Lemme) and I know that I am done. If I wasn't beat already then I surely am now. I check and hang my head in defeat. Meathead Canadian guy bets out 3k, tightest player at the table calls, I dump KK into the muck. Action gets even crazier on the river. Turns out meathead had 44 in the hole, flopping the boat, and the super squeezer dude had 33, flopping quads. So the A on the turn didn't kill me, I was already pretty dead. The A may have actually saved me a bet or two.

An hour later I get TT and move it in first to act on a 9 high flop. The comedian at the other end of the table calls after a moment of deliberation and then flips AA which holds up to knock me out. Remember this hand for later. TT on a 9 high flop is not always as good as it seems. So I went to get a massage to relax and convince myself that I was getting all of the coolers and bad beats out of my system before my WSOP debut.

The lies that we tell ourselves are often the worst.

The steel mill: ultimate finale location or just overused?

I was watching one of my favorite films today and had a startling revelation. The film, Black Rain, stars Michael Douglas and Andy Garcia, as NY cops tracking a crime boss back to Japan. Black Rain is a great film that manages to infuse the typically stale anti-hero cop drama with explorations of cultural identity and racism directed at gaijin or foreigners.

The revelation: the steel mill is the most overused location in action films.

There I was watching Black Rain, a movie I have seen at least 10 times. And just as the climactic third act is getting underway our hero finds himself tracking the bad guy to a steel mill. And that is when it struck me. I could immediately think of three or four action movies with a steel mill as a featured location. In fact a steel millwas the finale location in: Terminator 2, Star Wars Episode III, One of the Highlander movies and probably twenty more that I cant think of right now.

What drives our love of steel mills in movies? If you visit a real steel mill are there bad guys conducting clandestine deals or duking it out with their nemeses around every corner? I'm just wondering why the steel mill is the ultimate finale location in most action director's minds. Is it the machismo associated with the steel worker? Or just all those cool ligthing effects your get from the molten steel?

Florida Aquarium Part 2