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Wild Poker Hand

Last night, I played some Hold ‘Em, and went all-in with top pair (kings), holding AK offsuit. The problem was that two other players had AK offsuit, as well! One of them caught a K-high flush on the river, and the other caught the A-high flush on the river. Ouch. Of course, the pot was a monster.

Probability of (at least) 3 players in an 8-handed game having AK (suited or unsuited) = .000029% (1 in 3,465, 531 hands).
Probability of (at least) 3 players in an 8-handed game having AK offsuit = .000013% (1 in 7,921,215 hands).

So, that was probably a once-in-a-lifetime hand. Too bad I got busted on it.

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Frist Supports Embryonic Stem Cell Research

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tennessee), M.D., today announced that he supports a bill currently before the Senate, which would allow federal funds to be used in the destruction of embryos in order to extract stem cells.

I’m not going to dive into the merits of embryonic stem cell research, itself; as I’ve said before, embryonic stem cells are not even necessarily the most promising stem cells, in terms of potential therapeutic value. Numerous treatments have been developed – some with remarkable results – using non-embryonic stem cells, and there is little evidence that embryonic stem cells would be easier to use in therapies, without raising new problems (rejection, etc.).

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