1.) Set on a wet board
--I try to pay attention to if they ever lead with a set on a draw heavy board or board with possible made hands vs check/call vs check/raise. I have found 90% of my villains play a line completely by default when they flop a set in certain situations. If I know that villain A c/raises his sets close to 100% of the time even when the board is wet, I can estimate a more accurate range based on his actions. I have one that no matter how wet the board is, he will c/c the flop, and then donk any turn. Meanwhile, he will only c/r a big draw. Pretty handy info to have.

2.) TPTK vs TPGK
How many streets of value will they try to get? Several of my regs will always bet TPGK on the flop, but then go into showdown mode and either c/c or check back the next two streets. Meanwhile the same regs almost always bet TPTK on the turn (river is more varied).

3.) Big draw on the flop
I simply want to know who is capable of leading or check/raising a draw. So many times I see in a HH where draws are included in a villain's range and a call is justified, yet if those were removed a fold is the correct play. I have villains who will never shove more than 50BBs on a draw - adding draws to their shove range (which I have admittedly done) is simply lighting money on fire.

Only once. The stripper pool tended to be from clubs I don't frequent.

I think because I am trying to emulate Stringer Bell from the wire. He had Samurai swords in his crib.

Best: a small club in the ATL called Mardi Gras. The room is spaced, lots of room between tables, and is a great spot to take a group for a bachelor party.

Worst: Sheesh. Don't even know their names. Two stand out though.
1.) Not sure of the name or if it was still open, but I went to one that was basically in a trailer park. I think the club was some sort of converted modular home. Place was a bit...greasy. I know I saw more than one C-section scar that night. There weren't a lot of rules in that place...and in that joint that was not a bonus.

2.) I actually got convinced in my youth to visit one of those "WE BARE ALL" "GOOD FOOD" "TRUCKERS WELCOME" spots off of an interstate. Poor choice. First of all, I wouldn't touch any food sold in that place for any amount of money. The women at first glance weren't bad...but upon further review there was a lot of makeup being used to cover up a lot of desperation. The crowd there was sketchy at best. Wound up truckers and locals = no way am I going near that restroom.

Two, but neither were met in a club. One was a former roommate's ex-gf who started stripping after they broke up. She ended up coming to a party of mine and brought stripper friends plus Goldschlogger. Best. Party. Ever. That night she taught me 1.) how far she could deep throat a tall champagne glass, and 2.) what pleasures she could provide with a bit of ice cream in her mouth. I was back in my bedroom with her and I guess I missed quite the show out front with her friends. My apartment did have a bit of funky smell the next day. I also passed out dead drunk that night, and honestly don't remember a big chunk of what went on. She and I hooked up for a few weeks before parting ways.

The second one was a stripper I met in an insurance class. Apparently she was trying to better herself, and ended up asking me for help after class. I obliged, and she was quite thankful in return. Before anything long term could start, she started revealing bits of her past. is my reaction when you just throw out that the state removed your kids from your custody. Check please!

Tough question. I would say one of those moments was when a basketball parent relayed to me that in a conversation with the boys on one of my teams, the boys told her that they liked all of the coaches they had in different sports, but that Coach Skip was the one that they knew if they ever had a problem would drop everything to help them. Which is true, but when dealing with kids 13-14 years old you never know if they really understand what that means.

I also did get an award from a local school and have my name up on the wall in the gym...which oddly enough I always thought that would only happen in a post office.

There have been a lot. I have won a lot of championships and league titles, but what usually matters to me the most is when kids track me down years later to tell me how much they enjoyed being on my team. I have some kids that played for me 4-5 years, and the impact you can have on a kid while he goes from 11 to 16 is huge. Several of my players from the 90s now have kids of their own, and it is a treat when they invite me to meet their little one for the first time.

Among my best coaching memories...
I was the director and coaches in a local 7th-8th rec program in between my travel team seasons. I had one team that was like the Bad News Bears type...nice kids, but not particularly athletic and most were not very good.
We started out the season 2-3, and the most of the boys (2 exceptions) were.not.listening. We had a practice before Christmas that I planned just for fun, and I was giving the boys a small gift afterwards. Practice started out awful, and I just lost it. I threw my whistle in the bleachers, and told the boys I give up. I said I would show up at games, sub them in and out, but if they didn't care, I was done caring also. I wen into the stands, grabbed a newspaper, and just ignored them.

My the two boys on the team that did listen, both 8th graders and great kids who had played for me the year before, took over practice and started running drills. Every kid started busting their butt immediately and they were all hustling and putting in work. I let it go 15 minutes, and the I went back on the court and asked if they wanted a coach or not. They said they did. I said I was back, but it was now officially my way or the highway. Practiced ended extremely well, and I then gave the kids their gift. One 7th grader grinned and said "You still like us!" I told him I never stopped liking them, which is why I didn't want to see them selling themselves short.

We didn't lose a game the rest of the season. Right after Christmas we upset the #1 team in the league, and then we slipped into the playoffs as a 5 seed. We made it to the championship, and were a bit of an underdog (two kids on the other team went on to eventually play small college ball). We trailed the whole game, and then down by 7 our best player fouled out. Things looked bleak, but my two weakest players hit some big shots, and I maybe out coached my opponent by just a little bit. (Okay, by a lot - I was in the zone that day.)

I still hear from kids who were on that team from time to time. The two 8th graders who took over that day still say it was the best basketball season EVER.

BTW, my assistant coach was the dad of one of the 8th graders. He told me after the season he told his wife after the first practice that we wouldn't win 3 games that season. lolz

Use the tears for lube. I do.

You might have just written the script to the next huge feel good sports movie.

^^^^ who knew non-degen stories could be so entertaining?

GwouldprobablywatchmovieG

It could work.
One kid was an undersized point guard. Small, had glasses, and worked hard but was never considered "good" by anyone but me.
My best player could only use his left hand, and couldn't make a foul shot. We had to design everything we did around that weakness.
My first round pick was a great kid but played scared because of an overbearing father and struggled part of the season...but had two big plays to seal the championship.
My starting center? 2nd round pick...turns out he had special needs, was in foster care, and had never played organized ball. Became a shot blocking and rebounding machine.
I had another boy who was a bit of a stoner and in trouble at school (hit the go ahead bucket of an offensive rebound in traffic), another kid under 5' tall who had never played (nailed two big shots in the championship), and another kid who had spent time in a mental institution the year before (could have potentially cost me the championship but he got kicked in the nuts and had to leave the game - therefore he didn't have to meet the minimum PT standards).

Sorry let me clarify:
Did you ever look back on your time with her booking stats for your team and remember thinking (at the time), Man, she would look good sliding down an oiled up pole?

Or did you never really pay attention to her at all back then?

I make it a practice of not visualizing high school girls doing anything naughty. Or at least not admitting it.

Ahhhh...the (perceived) limits of Skip's debauchery...

Lol the Florida strip club you are referencing is Cafe' Risqué

They have hundreds of billboards with explicit innuendos up and down i75 which I'm sure leads to lots of awkward family moments on drives to Disney.

Surprised they allow them tbh

Not sure where skip said that club was in Florida. There are an awful lot of similar places of Interstates all through this great land of ours.

The "we bare all" gave it away because that is their lame innuendo that fathers have to explain away to their children everyday

It was a Cafe Risque, but it was in Georgia. Sadly it was a small chain...

What was going through your head when your player got kicked in the nuts?

lifetime winnings?

Highest level of basketball you played? What position? What books or other information do/did you use to build your coaching philosophies?

High school ball. I played as an undersized 4 a lot, also some time at the 3. My 8th grade coach was awesome, my high school coaches were terrible (the class after mine refused to finish the season with them). My 8th grade coach then got the varsity position when I was a sophomore in college, and he got some of us to come back and help work with the younger kids which how I got started in coaching.

I think my career stat line looks something like 4 pts/ 6 rbs/ 4 fouls.

Once I started coaching I started off with some basic books, but back in the 90s accessing quality material was tough. In 1998 I became part of a large coaches group online where we would take turns sending materials to the other 70 members. In a few short months I had more information than I could handle. Mostly clinic notes and materials coaches had picked up over the years. I stay part of a few groups (now we email materials) and I attend clinics routinely to get new ideas. I am now to the point where I have my core philosophies set, but I am looking for new twists and ways to teach those concepts.

And to be fair, I learned a lot by trial and error. I bounce around from working with 6th graders to varsity players so I have to be ready to work with a wide range of abilities.

"Hopefully it hurts bad enough he won't want to go back in."

Not sure due to shoddy record keeping for many years when I played inconsistently. I can say playing on a part-time basis over the past 3 years I am in the mid-5 figures.

Is 2-2 zone the best choice if playing 4 v 5? Assume you have 2 guards that are quick but undersized, 1 center who is pretty decent at defending the rim and an avg SF.

It's about your only choice. You are essentially going to play a box and one without the one - pick one player from the opposing team you feel is the least threatening and only guard them if they touch the ball.

The other option is to run it like an orbit and over rotate to ballside. Your post starts in the center of the lane prepared to cover the blocks. The other forward starts on foul line. The guards start up top, and you want to press the ball a certain predetermined direction.As the ball moves that way the forward goes out to protect baseline, and you end up in a 2-3 with no backside protection. If the ball reverses, the forward plays like the back of the 1-3-1 and will sprint to play opposite corner coverage. The guards still play all perimeter foul line and above, and the center takes all post play.

You can't stay in that set long, but it lets you show a different look and disrupt the overloads they should be trying against you.

subbing... Is this thing still going?

Got any coyote ugly stories?

Going and going and going and going....

What was life like in wheeling