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Is the local television station biased against poker? 6/5/08 Alright, I know it's been a while since I have blogged here, but I'm back and here we go, below is a letter I wrote my local station manager of the local NBC affiliate, who airs Poker After Dark out of normal schedule from NBC. If I get a reply, I'll post that here as well. Dear Station Manager Dave Madsen:
I am writing to you on an issue that can not be overlooked anymore. Do you or someone at the studio have a bias against poker airing on KTIV? This question is due to your apparent distain and lack of regard for the programming offer "Poker After Dark" from NBC that airs, as it seems, rather reluctantly, on KTIV.
Now you may ask how do I come to such a conclusion. Fair enough let me setout some facts to backup the assertions in the preceeding paragraph.
Poker After Dark from NBC is slated to air at 2a E/ 1a C timeslot immediately following Later with Carson Daily during the weekdays, and at 1a E/midnight C on Saturday immediately following Saturday Night Live. I checked directly with the main NBC network for confirmation of this, and also referrenced how Omaha, NE's NBC affiliate handled the program, with the aforementioned network airing at a 1a C M-F and at Midnight C on Saturday. However, you have KTIV airing the program at 2a M-F and 1a on Saturday, allowing for a 10p repeat of the news and a re-run of the 3:30p Extra show prior to airing the program M-F, and then allow the 1 hr Extra weekend to air prior to airing the program on Saturday. Airing the program where it should be aired wouldn't hurt any of the current KTIV schedule, as before Poker After Dark began being offered by NBC, KTIV aired the 10p news repeat at 2a. If you wished to keep with re-running Extra as well, that could be done at 2:30a before handing the late night reigns back over to NBC as most midwestern affiliates do at 3a for NBC's "Up all night" feed reruns of Leno and Conan.
In addition, whenever the NBC schedule is off in any way, you always have KTIV use "Poker After Dark" as your buffer to get the affiliate back on schedule. As evidenced this morning, June 5th, when the Stanley Cup game pushed the schedule off, instead of shortening something like that already aired rerun of Extra (which had just aired less than 8 hours earlier), you took it out of Poker After Dark's time, leaving the show coming in right at, as the hostess said "Howard had the lead after hand one and hadn't reliquenished it, until that last hand. Now let's get back to the action." What hand??? Had you done correctly and had the show air correctly, we'd here in Siouxland would know, but no, we're left going "What happened???"
Finally, I sometimes swear you must not have a master control operator on staff during this time at night, as we get the "Swirling NBC logo" that airs, which from my past experiences is a place holder for local affiliates to place in their own local commercials, announcements, whatever they have. I'm waiting the logo right now as I type at 2:56a, and look, a new way for the NBC logo to be handled, with a flag at half-staff. Ok, so I digress. Furthering the belief you don't have a master control operator staffed at this time is that local commercials came in about 5-10 minutes later playing over the top of the program that had resumed, most likely the result of a mis-timed computer (or mechanical device) used to automate the proceedure. However, as KSCJ radio in town (who also suffers from this problem) the computer timer is off and cuts off the program. I have never see it cut off the news repeat nor the Extra repeat at 1:30a, and also have seen it cut off the Leno/Conan repeats after Poker After Dark.
So I come back to my first question at the top of this letter. Do you or someone at the studio have a bias against airing poker on KTIV? I honestly don't expect a legitimate reply, as I probably will only get a cookie cutter reply from someone writing for you, but yet I write, hoping somewhere, somehow this may not fall on the compost heap and actually may help faciliate positive changes.
Thank you for your time reading this, and have a great day.
Chris Parsley
Sioux City, IA
Again, if anything happens, I'll post it here! A REAL rant... not about poker for once (or is it) - 12/1/06 While I was trying to get the Blogger' Poker Tour links working (note my formatting on the post below.... I came across what can only be described as pure, unadulterated anger as the simple program (in this case Office Live) didn't/wouldn't work as it should in placing simple HTML text in a page and letting it flow as smooth as silk, as the old saying goes. However, and I guess it is the choice of the writer on how things go, I was also in a tourney at Bugsy (I love that place, where else can 2cents be worth a $11 seat and then thousands of dollars?) I digress I know in the shameless plug there of Bugsy, but the tournament play in the game was much like my frustration that was building over the software limitations imposed by what seemed to be a whim. For example, mid-stage of the tourney I flip over from editing to see Kd - 10d in late position, I limp and we have 4 to the flop... the flop comes (2s 8d Qh) and 3rd spot bets and I call???? (I know wtf am I thinking).... the turn comes the King of hearts, and it appears poker favors the idiots, (or at least those too busy to notice any different)... My opponent bets the minimum ($800-$1,600 blinds at this point), and I re-raise the pot on my opponent, to be awaken from this stupor by an all-in move by the opponent... Without thinking I call all-in, watch him flip over K-Q and take the pot, ending that tourney run. What does that teach us (other than NOT MULTITASKING!!!)??? Simple, never let one action lead over into the next... Had I not let my anger on getting the link coded build into the game, I wouldnt of called.... Had I not made that mistake, I wouldnt of been around for the King, and wouldn't of compounded the error with a call from what had to be a better hand..... Until next time, take care everyone! A tour you can sink your teeth into -- 11/29/06 A friend of mine pointed myself to the "Blogger Poker Tour", which is simply put a tourney league for the folks I consider know the poker world the best. (AND NO, that's not the pros, the Card Player writers, etc...) It's the bloggers, who put fingers to keystrokes when the urge hits, and make it happen on sites too numerous to mention, and now yours' truely from MyUSAPoker is a part of the festivities (hence the blurb below). The first event I'll be at is this weekend at Poker.com, so come on by, root the bloggers on, and watch what should be some great poker!  <--- CLICK HERE NOW TO GET TO THE BLOGGER POKER TOUR AND ROCK ON GANG!!!
I play poker at Poker.com Get Flash
I play poker at Poker.com
A Difference of Promotions (off-line) 11/01/06 I am normally a decent patron to the local Indian casinos in the area, and get their top coupons each month ($20 per week, $80 a month in free gaming money), and until recently I thought that was the best I could do. However, back in September, I went down with a friend from work ONCE (note that number, once) to the Horseshoe in Council Bluffs, IA and only racked up 139 reward points. For those of you who don't know, the Horseshoe is part of the Harrah's chain of properties. So, here we go, comparing Winna-Vegas, which I've played at for years (7 ) and Harrahs' Horseshoe in Council Bluffs, IA (one time) WinnaVegas - $20 Coupons - Insert in machine to get credit per week for the month. (4*20=$80)
- Gas for play - Buy 10 gallons of gas, get $10 to play on slots/table up to 2x/week (8*10=$80)
Total Comp sent = $160.00 Horseshoe - 4x Reward Credits - Any Thursday in November, present coupon and get four times your play credits for the day. (Not counting any value on this one)
- "Legendary Bonus Credits" - Every Wednesday and Sunday in November, present the coupon and receive 1,500 Reward Credits (1,500 points = $15 cash) (Total Value 9*15=$135)
- "Legendary Cash" - For play every Sunday and Tuesday, insert ticket into machine with player's card to receive free cash. ($10 coupons each, four for the month of November) (Total Value = $40)
- "Legendary Offers -- DirectBet" - For play on either Friday or Monday of each week, between $10 and $300 of cash value once you stick in into a machine (Total Value $40-$1,200)
- "Twice a month cash" - Two tickets for $15 each free cash, can be used in combination with any other day's promos. (Total Value $30)
- Hotel Rooms - A total of nine nights offered in November, average room rate of $100/nite. (Total Value $900)
Total Comp sent = $915 - $2,075 Even using the small side of the ball, the casino I've gone to for years is being beat by the casino 60 miles further away I've gone to ONCE by a minimum of $755!!! Makes you wonder who wants you more, eh? The OIC Challenge 10/19/06 A few years ago I was part of the Open Internet Challenge (OIC), whose purpose was to faciliate normally lower end players to be able to work up the ladder to higher stakes, all on a small bankroll to start. The competition would begin at the .50/1 Limit Hold'em level with a $50 roll provided by the site, and would end at having a bankroll of $2,000 finishing up at the $15/$30 level. The blind levels were as follows. - $15/$30 Level -- Bankrolls at $1,500-$2,000
- $10/$20 Level -- Bankrolls at $1,000-$1,500
- $5/$10 Level -- Bankrolls at $500-$1,000
- $3/$6 Level -- Bankrolls at $300-$500
- $2/$4 Level -- Bankrolls at $200-$300
- $1/$2 Level -- Bankrolls at $100-$200
- $.50/$1 Level -- Bankrolls at $0-$100
Now the rules state anytime you reached the high end of your current level ($100 for instance in level one) you would have to continue play at the $1/$2 level. The game would continue until enither reaching the end of that level, or dropping 50 big blinds (BBs), at which point you would drop back to the lower level to continue play. Now that I think back to those days, it was a very valuable tool for someone where I was in those days, unable to muster a large bankroll but could get the valuable experience of such play without the overlay. I was thinking of getting it going again, maybe even bringing it down a level to start it at $25 ($.25/$.50 level), but I guess it would be a little ways off. Let me know what you think to support@myusapoker.com and I'll post the best ideas/suggestions/questions here. Thought of the day - Which is more akin to gambling, sitting in on a poker table where you know there are a nice pile of fish, which some must think is akin to the end of the world, or the stock market, where one plops your money on a company and hopes the pony comes thru?
Poker & the New US Law 10/19/06
With the passage of the "Safe Port Act" almost two weeks ago now, we have definitely noticed a fallout since. Party, I-Network, just to name a few, have slammed their doors shut on players from the United States. In the same boat, some other sites have come out in the opposite direction, ready to keep the cards falling, those turns and rivers making enjoyment and heartache alike. These are the sites (and reason) why I have been prompted to return to the web in a new face... MyUSAPoker.com
In these interesting days, we will keep on top of the world, so you can simply worry about your nut flush draws!
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