Issue: Whether a sentence of life without parole for someone who was convicted of murder when he was fourteen violates the Constitution’s prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment.
What we're eating: Australian, Wagyu, grass fed beef.
What we're reading: The Godfather of Poker: The Doyle Brunson Story: Even if you don't the difference between an inside straight and a full house, the amazing life story of a True American original will keep you fascinated and laughing. Mr. Brunson was at various times: one of the top two or three high school milers in the US; a probable first round pick of the NBA Minnesota Lakers; given three months to live before the age of thirty; robbed ("hijacked" in his parlance) more times than you can shake a stick at; playing and betting golf with over a million dollars a round at stake; and of course perhaps the best poker player in the world.
What we're hoping for: no rain this weekend and a competitive US Open.
What we're worried about: The after effects of the Greek vote this Sunday and the European Union.
What we're going to do about it: hopefully lie by the pool (see "what we're hoping for" above.)
What we watched Friday night: Nik Wallenda walking across Niagara Falls. The video is here.
What we watched Friday night: Nik Wallenda walking across Niagara Falls. The video is here.
Enjoy your weekend.
51 comments:
What can we do to get a new courthouse? Why cant we all band together and ask our county commissioners to propose this?
Rump, what serious steps can be taken to try and secure a new criminal courthouse?
enjoyed a delicious and somewhat entrancing 09 Mondavi merlot while savoring some sand dabs at cafe Tutti Frutti while watching France v Ukraine in the Euro2012 matches Friday in NoBe.
Let me just say one thing to Ukraine- Canary Yellow? Really? The French played in a very sophisticated and understated dark blue/gray and they looked dashing. But this bright yellow was just offensive. Hello! Anybody in the former USSR have one dash of fashion sense?
Rump- I got 3500 down on 8-1 on Woods to win the US open- made a bet a few months ago before he got hot.
I can layoff 4-1 on the rest of the field now so I can lock in 14K win or let it all ride on Tiger and try to scoop 28K. Any thoughts? Need to know asap.
Lay off your bet. Furyk's going to win the open. This is his kind of course.
11:11, you'd need to lobby the commissioners with a lot of money. That's the language that they understand.
Rump...what you should be worried about...the Heat beating OKC sometime next week (probably next Sunday but maybe as early as Thursday) and then you coming onto your blog and congratulating the Miami Heat for winning their 2nd franchise championship and admitting you were wrong...not only are the Heat the best team but the best team with the best player in the world....Go Heat!!!
What degenerate gambler.
FU! I made 163K as an attorney in 2011. I took 50K and did the following: +49K holdem poker; -16K football betting regular season; +21K football playoffs and superbowl including a pre-seaon bet on Giants to win Super Bowl that paid off nicely; ; +3K basketball regular season; +2K basketball playoffs so far; +36K in other prop bets like the tiger woods bet, a prop bet that the Heat would make the NBA finals; -11K black jack; +18K craps; +2K miscellaneous casino betting like slots, other entertainment games.
Over all I'm up 45K minus my original stake of 50K or put another way, my bankroll is at 95K. Going to hard rock poker room tonight if you want to try and get a piece of it.
How much in taxes are you planning on paying in that $95k?
Ha!
People that brag about how much money they make (especially gamblers who brag about their winnings) really put me off--maybe I'm just too old school, but Miami really does seem to be full of these type of people.
American Minority:
I have a few words for you after reading so many of your comments. I too am an American Minority. I am a young black lawyer in profession where people of my race are usually the defendants and not the counselors. In the years I have been practicing law, I have made a little bit of a name for myself. I am by no means big time, but a few people know who I am and respect my ability.
So here is my advice: stop the self congratulating needless opinionated blogging on every point. Also, stop defining yourself as a "minority". 10-20 years from now, you want people to say there goes one hell of a lawyer. Not there goes on hell of a black or hispanic lawyer. Aim to transcend race not be defined by it. Our heritage must always be a constant reminder of who we are and where we came from. But it should not define who we are and where we are going.
People don't look back and say Johnny Cochran was one hell of a black lawyer. There just simply say he was one hell of a lawyer. People don't say that Rob Pineiro was one hell of a hispanic judge. They simply remember him as a great judge.
Maybe you will take my advice or maybe you won't. But keep in mind that you should never aimed to be defined by being a minority.
An old time poker player and blackjack card counter- lou the shoe- told me that the only sucker you never cheat is the government. So I never do. And lou got his nickname because he could count into a six deck shoe and break the house which is why they use 7 deck shoes now standard.
This comment is directed to 'booking it said' at 4:26. You obviously know little about the science of blackjack counting. The concept of counting cards is based on the same mathematical principle regardless of the number of decks involved. It requires no more skill to count a 100 decks than it does to count a single deck. The principle is the same, you are simply keeping a running number which changes with each card shown. Of course the number of decks involved dictates the house or player advantage. The more decks, the more difficult it is to win because the decks get neutralized by the sheer large number of cards. The best games are double deck games in Vegas, where a skilled counter enjoys an immense advantage. I play in Panama where 4 deck games are the rule. I avoid the Hard Rock here in Broward because they use 8 decks except in the VIP where they use 6 and have a $100 minimum. I have played BJ all over the world and have never encountered a 7 deck game. But while you know nothing about BJ, I will give you credit for a vivid imagination. Oh by the way, I do teach 'Advanced Blackjack Techniques' to a very select group of individuals who have a background in mathematical probability and possess large quantities of discipline. I refuse to teach gamblers, only amateur mathematicians.
Yeah Mr. Ric? What's a "wonging" system? Go google it and then let me know. I know more about gambling than you'll ever learn.
The primary goal of a card counting system is to assign point values to each card that roughly correlate to the card's "effect of removal" or EOR (that is, the effect a single card has on the house advantage once removed from play), thus enabling the player to gauge the house advantage based on the composition of cards still to be dealt. Larger ratios between point values can better correlate to actual EOR, but add complexity to the system as the number of decks increase. With this in mind, systems aim to achieve a balance of efficiency in three categories:
Betting correlation (BC)
When the sum of all the permutations of the undealt cards offer a positive expectation to a player using optimum playing strategy, there is a positive expectation to a player placing a bet. A system's BC gauges how effective a system is at informing the user of this situation.
Playing efficiency (PE)
A portion of the expected profit comes from modifying playing strategy based on the known altered composition of cards. For this reason, a system's PE gauges how effectively it informs the player to modify strategy according to the actual composition of undealt cards. A system's PE is important when the effect of PE has a large impact on total gain, as in single- and double-deck games.The more decks in the game, the less the effect of a PE can be gauged.
Insurance correlation (IC)
A portion of expected gain from counting cards comes from taking the insurance bet, which becomes profitable at high counts. An increase in IC will offer additional value to a card counting system.
The observation of the ace plays a key role in such a way that when the ace has an assigned point value, you will see an increase in betting correlation since the ace is the most valuable card in the deck. If a system does not assign a point value to an ace, it will see a decrease in BC with an increase in PE; in a situation in which the change in PE will offer a greater gain than a slight loss of BC, such a system is preferable.
One way to deal with such tradeoffs is to ignore the ace to yield higher PE while keeping a side count which is used to detect addition change in EV which the player will use to detect additional betting opportunities which ordinarily would not be indicated by the primary card counting system. However this gets increasingly complex as the number of decks is increased above two.
Since there is the potential to create and overtaxing demand on the human mind while using a card counting system another important design consideration is the ease of use. Higher level systems, and systems with side counts will obviously become more difficult with a larger number of decks and in an attempt to make them easier, unbalanced systems eliminate the need for a player to keep tabs on the number of cards/deck that have already entered play typically at the expense of lowering PE.[
These are just some of the "preliminary" rules I follow. Tell me great card counter, how does your "advanced" system measure up?
Rump- you get one ticket- do you choose Foreigner, Journey, or Boston? I got "More than a feeling" that you're choosing Boston.
Rock on Rump.
To all the Boston Maniacs---
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0XBGEft83zE
Rump- Bernouli's Principle! Conjo!.
To my anonymous 'friend'. I assume you are referring to Stanford Wong who has written exhaustively on BJ. His book "Professional Blackjack" is in my library. I need not google anything with regard to BJ. It's amusing how you write about the game, making it sound so much more complex than it really is. Sounds like a big-time inferiority complex. Having previously played ALL the counting systems including Thorp, Revere, Uston, Humble, etc. I prefer that articulated by Canfield which is as follows: 9 and all 10s count as minus one, 3,4,5,6 and 7 count as plus one and Aces, 2 and 8 are neutral and count as zero. I also keep a side count of aces using right foot position. This system is easy to play and exceedingly powerful. I also use true counts versus actual counts and have developed shuffle tracking techniques. I have also personally developed the most powerful negative count playing strategy in the world. I have forgotten more about BJ than you'll ever know. If you are willing to accept a challenge, I propose the following: Each of us puts up a minimum of fifty thousand dollars in a head to head competition lasting a minimum of 8 hours. The loser donates the 50 K to his favorite legitimate charity. The loser also shuts the fuck up. I'll be in the building covering bond hearings in Courtroom 5-3 on Friday, June 22nd. Come see me and we will iron out the details. I suspect you can't even play perfect basic strategy. Looking forward to our little game Mr. scared to give out his name.
Your 50k is safe Ric. This bozo copied his drivel straight from Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Card_counting
Holy crap.
The judge just completely called some poor fool out. Time, date, location.
I don't know how this is going to play out, but I'm thinking of registering as a charity to see if I can get a cut of the losers dough.
But Jesus Christ, that is a ballsy move. Dictionary definition of putting your money where your mouth is. Much respect!
That's my Miami ! Professional gambler judges calling out anonymous bloggers to shut the fuck up about contrary card counting stratifies between bond hearings. I love my job!
I so miss Ric Margolius on the bench. Old school judges. They are a dying breed. What we have now are the coral gables social club judges. Too busy with the afternoon spa dates to actually try a case.
First of all, I've never heard of you. I've been around a bit-not forever like the dinosaurs like Edith Georgi or Oliver Morales or Bruce Reich or Bruce Fleisher- but a quick check of the 11th circuit website reveals no judge by that name.
Second- I can't afford to lose 50K and I never said I was a card counter of any note. I said Lou the Shoe was. I will play heads up in poker for 20K winner take all and y favorite charity is ME. So deuce to seven low ball heads up, or Razz heads up, or holdem heads up, 20 K table stakes. Blinds 100/200.
It's your money.
Lawyers and judges are officers of the court who are supposed to uphold the law instead of violate it. Cheating at cards is theft and, as such, is a violation of Florida law. Besides, any gambling other than what's legal is illegal.
Deese are baby games. Blackjack is for suckers. Holdem for 20 somethin chumps. Play a real man's game: Romanian stud! Rules simple: seven card stud at each round of betting you show one card and players scream and berate and curse and threaten and cajole you to give them one card they need. You must keep track of cards dealt, cards shown, and cards traded. Very complex.
we play three handed- I have 20K (just got new murder case so I have cash) and we play until I win it all.
"bookin it" seems like a real asshole. First, he brags about all the money he makes gambling and then says he can't afford to wager $50K (which doesn't seem like a huge amount of money for an alleged big-time gambler). To top it off, he claims not to know who Ric M. is. Makes you wonder if this isn't another one of those fake blog entries, like the MILF guy or the 56 Y/O hip-hop lover.
Romania stud! LMAO. Also- how hi will ric's BP go when he reads this guy don't know him?
Lets settle down here. If we can keep our cool when all those around us aren't- we have the makings of a real live blog event here.
I propose the following:
each participant put up 15k- 10,000 for profit 5,000 for charity- so the winner risks 15 and wins 20 and the charity gets 10.
Plus we sponsor the event: "the small blind is brought to you by Markus and Markus- tough federal cases need tough federal lawyers"... and "Ric is in the big blind and the big blind is brought to you by Terry Lenamon and his death penalty clinic. Don't let the state put you to sleep without a fight."
The dealer can wear a Ticket Clinic jersey- "Don't gamble with your license. Hire the ticket clinic for all your traffic needs."
The participants can wear sponsor labels as well.
We do this at a local bar- say Tobacco road and charge a $50.00 ever for a few beers and some sliders and wings and give the proceeds to charity, and we also record it and sell the DVD. Ric can give a twenty minute lecture on bond hearing and pass out some materials and we can get 1 hr CLE and sell the disk for charity as well.
If we do this right, I'm thinking 50,000 for charity maybe 75. Stan Blake can MC. Alex can stand off to the side and mutter curses. Joel Brown can...well he can do what he always does.
I think this is a winner here.
10:58: let me step in here and say that card counting is perfectly LEGAL. All casinos can do is say it violates their own rules and ask the counter to leave. No one gets arrested for counting, which is merely using mathematics to turn the odds in your favor at certain times during a blackjack game.
Let me also say that this blog and the comments often careen into areas I never imagined.
I think he got you Judge. If you ain't on the website, you ain't real.
Evidently you are the real fake judge.
So you don't exist, the gauntlet has not been thrown down, the status quo has been restored.
Breaking news-
Judge Arzola has challenged any two lawyers to a game of cut throat dominos. The Judge will be teaming up with a so far unnamed Judge from civil division.
Losing team in each round must sever a finger.
On the undercard, Judges Thomas and Tinkler Mendez will Indian leg wrestle for $5.
Lets take a good look at what we have here.
First- two guys, want to be tough, not going to let anyone push them around. One is bragging about his money, the other is calling him stupid and a fake. The first responds, the second issues a challenge and now we're talking about throwing around money that many working class people work all year to earn and feed their family with.
Of course it spins out of control and now there's a proposal to put it in a bar and now there's beer guzzling and gorging on fatty foods while swilling alcohol while watching the two boys fight. Such neanderthals.
The only thing missing is the demeaning spectacle of putting women in bikinis and high heels.
Punks and idiots.
How about deciding this on the Miami Beach Country Club Golf course? $500 Nassau with pressers should cover the sums you're talking about.
Go Ric
A Real Renaissance Man
DS
My FINAL word on this subject. I am not a gambler. I am a mathematician. I absolutely abhor gambling of all kinds and especially casinos. The evil that casinos do to decent peoples' bankrolls is most unfortunate and very often tragic. I never play roulette, craps, keno, slots, etc. because the house advantage will always get the player in the end. I have tried my hand at hold 'em poker and basically suck, so no more poker for me. The appeal (for me) of blackjack is that the game can be beaten, another words turning the usual house advantage in my favor, by the application of sound quantitative principles grounded in mathematical probability. I have been counting cards since 1972 and have always been fascinated with math since taking calculus in college. I thought the scenario here raised the possibility of raising a significant sum of money for the American Cancer Society, a charity I have supported in the past through sales of my rock 'n roll CDs. Kudos to Rumpole for astutely pointing out that what I have done and continue to do is perfectly legal.
Here's what I suggest Bookin in- stop by Ric Margolius court for bond hearings and lean over to an attorney nearby and just have a nice friendly chat. As long as you keep your voice down, Ric won't mind at all.
Hahahahahahahahahahahahaha!
Rodney King dead--- http://news.yahoo.com/1990s-la-police-beating-victim-rodney-king-found-153048343.html
Angury Girl, there is nothing demeaning about putting women in bikinis and high heels especially if the woman does not mind.
Reading the comments on the previous thread makes me think American Minority and Angry Girl are off their meds or post during their free time in the psych ward.
AG
No matter how much tough talk you do, you will just never understand having balls.
I'm sure you will have some long winded clever response, but it does not matter. You will never understand the joy of being a guy and doing guy things and eating guy food.
11:42 , that Is funny !!!
Babes in bikinis and high heels! Now you have my interest!
Ric- Booking it- why can't we all just get along?
But since we can't, if y'all put together this wing ding, y'all gonna need a good ol boy to judge the event and keep things on even keel. Being a real-fake-former-judge- I think I'm uniquely qualified to help you fellas out. Give me a ring when the particulars are set.
Poker is a game of skill Ric, not a game of chance. The US Supreme Court has said so. It's the rake that kills the grinder like me.
AG
Your Right we need lots of women in Bikinis & Heels, especially the ones w/ the red bottoms.
DS
Hi From Vegas Rump. For the last dozen years or so I clear my June and July and rent a condo and play the world series events and of course, as most know, the big money at the WSOP is in the cash games where I hold my own and some of theirs. This happened last night: sitting 50-100 at the Bellagio- not the biggest game in the room but you can leave up or down 50K if you're not careful.
I got pocket Aces and I'm third to act and I raise it to 1500. I get two callers: Sally Balls who I'm sure is a wise guy from Perth Amboy, New Jersey, and some internet player chick from sweden who sat down with a 35K stack of black chips.
The Flop is A22 and I lead out for 3500 and Sally makes it 10 and Sweden calls. Now I got close to the nuts- Aces full of duces and I call. A 4 falls on the turn and I check and Sally makes it 15K and I toss in my full house because I'm fairly sure he has quad duces but Sweden calls. The river is a 4. To recap the board is A2244. Sally moves all in for his final 25 and sweden calls. So there's almost 95,000 in this pot and Sweden calls and this chick turns over 44 and of course Sally had 22. Two sets of quads and I folded a top full house!!!! What a hand. The 15k loss hurt but not as much when I saw my lay down. I grinded the rest of the night and went home about up 2K which is almost my daily nut out here ( food, rent, office expenses in MIA, child support, alimony, and the 25 year olds who are happy to spend a few relaxing hours with me at my condo). But what a hand!
6:18
ZZZZZZZZZZZZZ ... can you get any more boring?
Bullshit poker story........nobody would ever call that raise to 10k with only pocket fours after the flop, especially with the original raiser behind him and an A on the board.......if your going to lie at least make it somewhat believable
10:30 a.m., you should consider Angry Gurl's not so subtle suggestion and put on a parade of fine chicks on red bikinis and high heels to serve alcohol and greasy yummy food.
What little you know about poker. The great players. Especially in holdem and draw games like duece to seven lowball know that you play the man ( or woman) and not the cards. Sweden had seen enough of our play to know that neither Sally nor I played tight and both were capable of raising with nothing. Personally I follow Doyle Brunson's advice in the original Super System which is never to give a free card when an Ace first falls because you can now make the hi or low straight. So if I'm either of them with pocket pairs Im looking to call and see the turn. Also the pot odds are such that a call is reasonable with that amount of money on the table. This hand was not a lie, and I am proud of my lay down.
So he is going to just call 10k and pray to hit a set on the turn (if you dont reraise)? Please......if he was a "great player" and put you and "Sally" on shit, why wouldn't he raise in that spot? Plus, am I wrong or didn't your story say you were playing holdem? Why are you taking about the low? Just admit that you are lying...not to mention the quads over quads with a mucked full house aspect of your story...I think you watched "Rounders" one too many times
Sat,3:01pm, I am grateful of the intent of your post. However, I would like you to understand some points in my response.
First, your right the most of "Minorities" that many of the Judiciary comes in contact are in the form of defendant's and not counselor's. That is the first reason I chose the Title "American Minority", as sort of a Philosophical rejoinder.
Secondly, you said I should stop self congratulating myself. If we as minorities, or for that matter any individual who stands or works alone, doesn't encourage him or herself, who shall. So yes I self congratulate and I don't feel that I spiked the ball. Let's face it every now and again we should spike the ball, for hard work done. G Wya pretentiously did it with the big banner on the U.S. Battleship.
Next, I not aiming to be defined as a minority, I am making a responsive statement in a country that has already automatically categorized, and ostracized me. I am the reciprocal answer to that specious subjective, and ignorant classification.
Lastly, you mentioned, my Role Model who I feel statistically, and ability wise, was the best Lawyer in America. You said that "No one remembers you as one hell of a Black Lawyer, I beg to differ, he was, and is remembered by majority, as exactly that. I think you should look up one of his interviews where he says "We are exiles in our own country", and should seize every civil opportunity to serve, influence, and control our outcomes.This is the very reason I have chosen to use the name not to be defined as a minority, but to sarcastically respond and exhibit, that I am not what you have categorized me to be. I have traveled all over the United States of America, up north, deep south (Martin Luther Kings' Home and Museum & University, Spellman Alma Mater), and (Thurgood Marshall's Alma Mater) Howard) in D.C. Gettysburg,Pa Battlefield, the Black Science Museum, the Capitol's Congressional Chambers, and while I was at the U.S.S.C. and saw the POTUS motorcade arrive for a Justices' Investiture, it was venerating, and it reinforced my over standing, that I am not what they ("the majority"), say or think I am, but I am the the ultimate "American Minority".
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