Thursday, January 26, 2006

My Favorite Sql "Feature"

I just thought I'd share my two favorite Sql features with everyone. They come in very handy when moving data around between tables. The first is a nifty way of creating a table and inserting into the table in one easy step.

Create table fooTable as
select a.key, a.first, a.last, b.street, b.zip
from aTable a,
anotherTable b
where
a.key = b.key
and a.other = b.other
The above statement will actually create a table with the columns key, first, last, street, and zip and also insert all rows returned by the select query. Now for the second useful statement. Suppose you already have a table created, and you need to insert a whole bunch of data. Instead of writing a pesky pl-sql procedure/function, just use an sql select instead.

insert into fooTable a (
a.key, a.first, a.last, b.street, b.zip)
select b.key, b.first, b.last, c.street, c.zip
from aTable b,
anotherTable c
where a.key = b.key
and a.other = b.other

And now you can move your database data around with ease. I know that many of you probably already knew all of this, but hey...I thought it was cool.
So, I haven't yet got in the money in the freerolls on Absolute. The last two times I've finished 66th and ....well, lets not talk about the other time, it wasn't pretty. I'm beginning to realize that this may be harder than I originally planned on it being. I think the major obsticle for me is going to be time. It's hard for me to find time where I can spend 5-6 hours on a tournament and not have something important interupt me. Anyways, the "dream" is still alive, and I'll work towards it whenever my free time allows. I'll keep everyone posted.

Saturday, January 21, 2006

Poker Challenge Progress

Ok, so I haven't had time yet to play (it's been a busy week). I'm currently registered in a freeroll on absolute, and if the wife doesn't make me do anything for the next couple of hours, I might actually get to play it. Lately, I've had to unregister before the tournament starts because of "other events" going on. Ha Ha. Anyways, I'll let everyone know if I get to play and how I finish.

Tuesday, January 17, 2006

My Poker Challenge

Ok, so I’ve taken up a challenge that WSOPDream on the poker forum I frequent over at My Sports Radio posted a while ago. The challenge he made was to make a $1000 by years end without depositing a dime in a poker site. I’ve decided to adjust this to my amount of free time, and say I’ll go for $300 profit by years end. I’m going to start either tonight or tomorrow, depending if I can get into a freeroll on absolute poker. I’ll let everyone know my progress as I go.

My Home Game Bad Beat

Ok, here’s the scene: we’re playing a friendly home game with a couple of friends and their friends who I’ve never met before while watching the Bear lose to Carolina. I look down at my hole cards and see Q 8 hearts. Now, up until this point I’ve been playing pretty tight and have only really used it to my advantage once or twice up until now to steal pots. Everyone folds around to me, I’m in small blind. I raise $1, which with this crowd (mostly my old college friends who are still in college, so they’re broke), is a pretty big raise. The big blind quickly calls. Flop comes Q 8 3 rainbow. Ok, I flop top two pair. I move all in (about $12). The big blind calls (he had about 9.50 left). We flip over our cards and he has J 6 offsuit... of course I’m thinking what an idiot this guy is at this point. He didn’t even have a pair, no possible flush draw…really nothing. Well, to make a long story short both the turn and the river reveal 6’s. I loose to a set of 6’s. I ended up going out about 5 hands later when my AK clubs don’t hit and I lost to the same person, only this time he beat me with a pair of pocket 8’s (which wasn’t bad).