Honu win!

The North Shore Honu win the Hawaii Winter Baseball championship!

How awesome is it to be able to watch a baseball game the night before Thanksgiving?

The Hawaii Winter Baseball league was formed using minor league players associated with the Majors and from Japan. Its inaugural season started Oct. 1 and concluded tonight in Les Murakami Stadium on the University of Hawaii campus. It made me so happy to know that baseball was being played in the middle of the Pacific in the dead of the offseason.



It was a pretty good game. The Waikiki Beachboys and the Honu were all tied up at 1 run apiece until the Honu scored 2 in the eighth and 2 in the ninth to win 5-1. I didn't recognize any of the players, but maybe I will remember them if they ever make it to The Show. This league also ran in the mid-90s before being disbanded. During that run, Ichiro and Jason Giambi played here in Hawaii before anyone knew who they were.

A little more than a thousand fans showed up. It was a decent crowd. Everyone was friendly and having fun, but the allegiances to the teams weren't strong since the league is so young. I saw some fantastic defensive plays and speedy pitching. I object to astroturf and they didn't play "Take Me Out to the Ballgame," but I don't have any other complaints.

I loved watching the Honu pile up on the field to celebrate their win. Even though it was a short season on a team made up of players who didn't know each other two months ago, they still seemed excited to win the four-team league.



---

Hand of the Day

Sometimes pocket Aces become worthless very quickly, but usually it's hard to let them go.

In this hand, my decision to check-fold wasn't difficult. That board was disgusting.

Full Tilt Poker
No Limit Holdem Ring game
Blinds: $5/$10
8 players
Converter


Pre-flop: (8 players) HERO is MP1 with :as :ad
2 folds, HERO raises to $35, 3 folds, SB calls, BB calls.


Flop: :tc :ts :9c ($105, 3 players)
SB checks, BB checks, HERO checks.


Turn: :jc ($105, 3 players)
SB bets $65, BB folds, HERO folds.
Uncalled bets: $65 returned to SB.


Results:
Final pot: $105