steve_in_hb just told me about this. One guy in a tournament (who, it would later be learned, had won hundreds of thousands of dollars off other players) seemed to have a psychic read on every other player's cards at the table -- doing odd things like folding pocket aces when someone else at the table had lucked into flopping a straight.

It turns out the guy -- or an accomplice -- had a "Super-User" account, one of the first created by Absolute Poker (and one that appears to belong to partner Scott Tom), which allowed him to see every single hole card at the table.

The guy turns out to have been a bad cheater, because by making so many absurdly prescient moves people came to the conclusion they were facing a cheater before internet detective work proved this to be the case.

He won too often and too obviously, never allowing himself to lose to classic trap hands like trips, always walking away when he was beaten. Rather than just on occasion -- just to maintain the illusion -- making the expected, normal, losing play. He raised whenever no one had anything, and always called when people were bluffing.

It's not necessarily Scott Tom behind this, but obviously someone at Absolute Poker gave out a very useful login to someone, or used it themselves. Absolute Poker is now claiming it was all the work of a "disgruntled employee," but people are wondering.

Here's video of the cheating. "Potsripper" is the cheat.

The rest of the videos (four in all) are here.

A bit more about this at the 2 + 2 poker forum.

Oh... He also pays to see just about every single damn flop (why shouldn't he? He always knows what his opponent has and can usually bluff him out) except for those where an opponent has some big pocket pair. Then, suddenly, he folds.

Man, that's the way to play poker. Wish I had a Super-User account.

Posted by: Ace at 02:31 PM | Comments (20)
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Nuance. Sweet, creamery, savory nuance.

Chris Matthews: "You know when we walk into those, every night on television you watch pictures of American soldiers risking their lives to break into homes in Baghdad, at gunpoint, telling people to go along with the government that we've set up over there. Democracy at gunpoint. I wonder if it's filtered back here at home. I wonder if it's drift back home? The idea that democracy is something you do at gunpoint. ‘Either you behave and do it this way and show up by putting your fingers in the ink and doing it this way or you're an insurgent, therefore, we can round you up and if you resist we can kill you.' That notion it's a bit fascist and it's certainly a fascistic notion of democracy we're forcing, forcing on people over there. They didn't invited us into Iraq and I wonder now whether we are picking up some of the bad habits of the war front?"

Now contrast his caterwauling over the lost "right" to be disruptive with his laughing over Maher's forcible ejection of hecklers, linked below.

I guess dissent is the highest form of patriotism, except when it cuts into Chris Matthews' book-plugging tv time.

Thanks to pablo honey.

Posted by: Ace at 11:32 AM | Comments (14)
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Charming.

Posted by: Ace at 10:46 AM | Comments (24)
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The MSM is quick and decisive in correcting public "misimpressions" about such things as Saddam Hussein's support for terrorism (despite the fact that, you know, he did support terrorists), but when it comes to a public misimpression that aids the Democrats, they're quick to justify and even amplify that error.

The fact is we're in a period of growth, not recession. This is not a "feelings" based thing. It is a fact: the economy is growing, sometimes robustly and sometimes merely adequately, and has been doing so for years.

But the Democrats and the MSM want the public to think it's in a recession, so they constantly imply that maybe it is, facts be damned. Tom Blumer (BizzyBlog) notes a CNN "expert" sagely informing viewers that the nations' economic health isn't a verifiable, mathematical fact but simply "how you feel," so liberals are encouraged to continue "feeling" like the nation is in a recession.

What. Ev. Er.

As I've noted before, when people are asked to rate their personal economic fortunes, they rate them fairly highly, and do not claim to be in individual "recessions." But when asked about the macro scale -- how the economy is doing overall for all 300 million of us -- about half of the country consistently claims we're in a recession.

And where are they getting their information about the macro performance of the economy, praytell? From the MSM of course. And then, the MSM having lied to the public about the health of the economy, they then reassure those misled by previous lies because it's all about "how you feel" about the economy.

And if the public "feels" the economy is in a recession precisely because the MSM keeps implying it is, oh well.

The MSM, in other words, endeavors to remove its agency from this erroneous strain of public sentiment. They claim it's okay to think the country is wrongly in recession -- hey, everyone is entitled to their opinion -- without acknowledging that it is their very own misreporting that has caused this mistaken belief.

Posted by: Ace at 10:33 AM | Comments (13)
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Guest Chris Matthews didn't object to Maher's demand that security "kick some ass."

Good video. Fun to watch a lefty get some of the disruption that conservatives have to deal with, and also instructive to note how they react to it.

Maher was within his rights to boot the lunatics out, and I don't blame him for being pissed off. But this happens all the time to conservatives, and we alone are expected to let the lefties disrupt speeches and events, allowing them to have their precious protest at the expense of our right to speak and be heard by an audience that's come to see us.

Hell, when John Kerry was disrupted by a Truther and security tazed the bitch, they blamed George Bush for the Impending Fascism.

Posted by: Ace at 07:58 AM | Comments (25)
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The UN has officially reprimanded an interpreter responsible for an erroneous statement in a report that said Israel attacked a nuclear facility, and has apologized to Syria's UN mission.

Syria claimed a representative was misquoted and demanded a correction, insisting that "such facilities do not exist in Syria".

That sounds like a verb tense thing to me. Anyway the UN officials claimed the error occurred not when translating from Arabic to French, but in the subsequent French to English translation.

The French, always mucking things up. Well, I think I can handle this with one of those free online thingys, let me give it a shot. Here's the Arabic one:

لا يتواجد هذا تسهيلات في سوريا بما أنّ ال [جو] قصفواهم إلى دبش

(such facilities do not exist in Syria since the Jews bombed them to rubble)

And then the French translation:

De tels équipements n'existent plus en Syrie

(such facilities do not exist in Syria anymore)

Which became in English:

such facilities do not exist in Syria

Pretty easy mistake to make if you ask me.

Posted by: Dave In Texas at 07:04 AM | Comments (6)
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Over at Blowing Smoke.

An improv art group busts on clothier Abercrombie & Fitch.

Sort of chuckled when the normal-looking guys posed next to the... more conventionally handsome shirtless model.

Posted by: LauraW. at 06:42 AM | Comments (6)
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Looks kind of good.

And there is... controversy. Apparently the plucky underdog and the arrogant 20-year record-holder played into their roles as hero and villain too well -- the hero likable, the villain a dick -- and the villain has launched a "smear campaign" against the movie.

Review: From Moviegique.

Posted by: Ace at 11:24 PM | Comments (7)
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Goddamn (I've been informed on the spelling I think).

360 points on the anniversary of Black Friday, October 19, 1987.

When I had 47 dollars and 36 cents in two Magellan funds.

Lessee... 500 point drop in the DJIA in 87, that'd be, uh quarter of the market.

360 points today, um... hold on... got the calculator out...

2.6%?

Please correct if I'm off base.

Please panic, like you did in 87.

I regret not being able to offer cowbell.

Posted by: Dave In Texas at 03:09 PM | Comments (22)
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Uhhh...

I don't know what the fuck to even say.

Bidding Over $2M for Dems Anti-Rush Letter

...

Today, Reid was more conciliatory to Limbaugh and whoever is paying for the letter. Though he said on the Senate floor that as he had watched the bidding throughout the week, he never thought it would get to $2 million.

"Now, everyone knows that Rush Limbaugh and I don't agree on everything in life and maybe that is kind of an understatement," Reid said.

"But without qualification Mark May, the owner of the network that has Rush Limbaugh, and Rush Limbaugh should know that this letter that they're auctioning is going to be something that raises money for a worthwhile cause. I don't know what we could do more important than helping to ensure that children of our fallen soldiers and police officers who have fallen in the line of duty have the opportunity for their children to have a good education," he said.

The bidding ends at 1:00p.m. No mater what, Democrats are going to make a ton of money for a charity off their political vitriol.

Um, both of the people contributing -- all two of them, which does not include the 41 Democrats who signed the bullshit letter -- are Republicans, asshole.

Thanks to A. Weasel.

Un. Fucking. Believable.

Posted by: Ace at 03:06 PM | Comments (73)
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