I love Norwood

I moved to Norwood, Mass., last summer. It's a great little town about 40 minutes southwest of Boston -- far enough from the city to feel like I have some space, yet close enough to catch a train in to watch a game at Fenway.

Norwood also has a great little weekly paper called the Norwood Bulletin, and Matt Cook wrote about my quest to trade my way from a sixty cent check to a seat in the World Series of Poker. I really enjoyed the story.

But just to clear up one detail, so I don't have to spend thousands of dollars putting my wonderful son through therapy during his teenage years, I'm perfectly happy to give up what used to be a weekly poker game to spend more time with him!

On a completely unrelated note, the ICC Cricket World Championship is tomorrow, and I'm picking Australia at 2/5 to win. They've been so dominant the entire tournament, it's hard to pick against them.

Classic Craig's List

I’ll admit I’ve used Craig’s List as a way to get the word out about my quest to trade my way from a sixty cent check to a seat in the World Series of Poker. The barter section of the site allows people to trade virtually anything.

At first, I was surprised by the number of tattoo artists looking for trades, and somewhat amused by the number of people seeking or offering “.” The massage posts almost always include a “no perverts, this is not sexual” disclaimer.

There are always at least one or two amusing posts, and occasionally one even makes me laugh out loud. Today, I came across this gem in New York City’s barter section. In case it gets flagged, I’m posting the text here verbatim.

“I would like to thank everyone for a overwelming (sic) response to my ad I recieved (sic) over seventy five inquiries before I got flagged just wanted everyone to know I recieved (sic) an I Pod Nano for my Dildo Thanks again everyone a persons (sic) trash is another persons (sic) gold”

Classic. Makes a 1975-76 Indiana Pacers signed ABA basketball seem rather vanilla by comparison.

I'm not the only one writing about Sixty Cent Main Event ...

First, Chuck Blount wrote about my quest in the San Antonio Express-News, and now Bill Fouts of the Noblesville Daily Times has written about my trade with Lee Adams.

The word is getting out there, and I'm still getting offers, but the right one still hasn't come across my lap yet. If you think you have something that you'd like to trade for the 1975-76 Indiana Pacers signed ABA basketball, and let me know what you've got!

Still looking ...

So I had a promising lead for my next trade, and it was less than an hour away from where I live, in Fall River, Mass. But alas, the young lady backed out on me, instead giving what she had offered to a friend. Don't want to say what it was, as it may taint future offers ...

I have a few more leads, but nothing solid yet. Keep those trade offers coming!

The ball is here! Now let's get to trading ...

I received the Indiana Pacers signed ABA basketball not too long ago (as you can see from this really goofy looking picture of me). Now it's time to crank out a trade!

The ball looks great, just like Lee promised. Once again, like I was with the chips, I'm tempted to not even trade this ball at all, but my mission is the Main Event, so the quest must continue.

E-mail your friends, call your family, post on message boards. If you know any Indiana Pacers fans, or people who love the history of the ABA (and it helps if they like poker too), tell them my story!

I can't wait to see what kind of offers I get for the ball. I've already received quite a few, none have been exactly what I'm looking for though. Just what am I looking for? Once again, I won't know until I get the offer, but once I do, this is where you'll find out about it!

Oh, and from now on, I'm just going to post my cricket picks in this table... check back here for updates ...

Picks for the next three

There's a few days off before the ICC World Cup starts back up, but I'm getting my picks in early.

Going all favorites again, that seems to be serving me well, though the "profits" are pretty weak. I'm taking South Africa at 1/33 over Bangladesh, Australia at 2/5 over England, and New Zealand at 1/33 over Ireland.

Results are updated on my chart in the entry below this one ...

Picks for the next three matches

I'm happy to report that all three favorites won in the Cricket World Cup over the weekend, just as I predicted. I like picking three at a time, so I'm going to give it another go today.

I promise to come back and make a tidy chart like I did for the group stage, but for now, I'm just posting my picks. Look for the handy-dandy chart later today or tomorrow.

I'll take New Zealand at 1/16 over Bangladesh today, Ireland to pull off the upset at 9/1 over South Africa, and Sri Lanka at 2/5 to beat England.

ICC World Cup Cricket Wager "History"

Date	Wagers	Amount	Odds	Status	Return
3/12	Canada to win ICC	$1	1,000/1	L	$0
	Group Stage picks	$22	NA	14-7-1	$27.270
3/27	WI over AUS	$1	15/8	L	$0
3/28	SL over SA	$1	5/6	L	$0
3/29	NZ over WI	$1	10/11	W	$1.909
3/30	ENG over IRE	$1	1/14	W	$1.071
3/31	AUS over BAN	$1	1/500	W	$1.002
4/1	SL over WI	$1	8/15	W	$1.533
4/2	NZ over BAN	$1	1/16	W	$1.063
4/3	IRE over SA	$1	9/1	L	$0
4/4	SL over ENG	$1	2/5	W	$1.40
4/7	SA over BAN	$1	1/33	L	$0
4/8	AUS over ENG	$1	1/4	W	$1.40
4/9	NZ over IRE	$1	1/33	W	$1.030
4/10	SA over WI	$1	2/5	W	$1.400
4/11	BAN over ENG	$1	7/2	L	$0
4/12	SL over NA	$1	4/5	W	$1.80
4/13	AUS over IRE	$1	1/100	W	$1.010
4/14	NZ over SA	$1	1/1	W	$2
4/15	IRE over BAN	$1	2/1	W	$3
4/16	SL over AUS	$1	13/8	L	$0
4/17	SA over ENG	$1	1/2	W	$1.50
4/18	SL over IRE	$1	1/66	W	$1.015
4/19	BAN over WI	$1	7/2	L	$0
4/20	AUS over NZ	$1	2/5	W	$1.40
4/24	SF: NZ over SL	$1	11/10	P	?
4/25	SF: AUS over	$1	2/5	P	?
	Totals*	$46		30-15-1	$50.803

* NOTE: BetFred does not accept bets from U.S. residents, so this truly is for entertainment purposes only.

* Does not include pending wagers
Theoretical Profit: $4.803
Theoretical ROI: +10.4%