The torch has been passed. Rafael Nadal is the new No. 1 player in men’s tennis, and he’s the favorite at 11-8 to win the 2008 U.S. Open. Roger Federer, the four-time defending champion, was 13-8 at press time. The closest competition is third seed Novak Djokovic, who checks in at 5-1.

The women’s draw at Flushing Meadows is another story. World’s No. 1 Ana Ivanovic was dumped in the second round by No. 188-ranked Julie Coin of France. She wasn’t the only top seed to falter in the early rounds; No. 4-ranked Svetlana Kuznetsova was bounced on Day 5 by No. 28 Katarina Srebotnik.

Unfortunately, we won’t see the Williams sisters in the final. Instead, Serena and Venus were matched up in Wednesday’s quarterfinal, with Serena prevailing 7-6, 7-6 as a  –150 chalk. She’ll play Dinara Safina in the semis; Serena was the 9-4 favorite to win the women’s draw heading into the quarterfinal round, while Safina was 5-1.

Poker pro Mike Matusow, future Olympian?

When I watched the equestrian competitions (OK, I didn’t watch them, but I saw them briefly) I wondered why that was an Olympic sport. The horse was doing everything, the guy who won the medal just sat there. Alright, calm down all you horse fans, I know that the guy riding the horse has to do a lot of training in preparation for a routine, but I still think it’s the horse that should get the medal.

Then I thought that a poker player just sits there - maybe poker could become an Olympic sport like horse jumping? But then I realized that poker is a game, not a sport. If games were Olympic sports we would have been playing for chess gold medals for the past century. Olympic sports should require that the participants at least have to get off a chair to compete. Could you imagine Mike Matusow with a gold medal? (Or 2008 Summer Olympics 8 x gold medal winner Michael Phelps with a gold medal in Poker?)

There isn’t a ton of strategy involved in playing Caribbean stud. Optimal strategy can be a bit complicated, but if you follow a few simple rules you can diminish the house edge to 5.23%. That’s as close to optimum strategy as you’ll get without getting deep into the numbers.

The first thing to do is to always raise your bet with a pair or higher, and fold with anything less than an ace/king. And raise your bet with ace/king if one of the following situations arises:

1. If the dealer’s card is a 2 through queen and matches one of yours.
2. If the dealer’s card is an ace or king and you have a queen or jack in your hand.
3. If the dealer’s rank does not match any of yours and you have a queen in your hand, and the dealer’s card is less than your fourth-highest card.

A recent USA Today poll shows a heavy support for online gambling, and many think it’s time to legalize it. With the economy in its current condition in the US, online gaming could provide some needed revenues for governments and social systems.

Recently Representative Jim McDermott made a proposal named HR 6501 that will aim to raise revenues for training and foster home funding through the legalization and taxing of online gambling. “What’s going on now is around the edges of legality in various countries of the world, and (bettors) aren’t sure where their money is going.”

He wants the money taken from online gaming to be invested into individuals that have spent time in the foster system; and others in declining sectors of the economy. After the legislation was introduced it was referred to the Committee on Ways and Means and the Committee on Education and Labor.

Dennis Phillips has played his way into the “November Nine” WSOP main event final table. He not only made it to the final table, but he has the chip lead going into the final, which will start on November 9. He currently has the best odds to win the tournament at 3:1, and has the chip lead with a stack of 26,295,000. But his lead is less than two million chips.

He hails from Cottage Hills IL, and is relatively new to the live tournament scene. Before this year’s WSOP he only had two cashes, both at the 2007 Grand Casino Tunica Poker Tournament - WSOP Circuit Event, where he finished 7th and 9th in two different no-limit hold’em events. The two events combined only paid him a little over $4500, peanuts compared to what he’ll walk away with when he either gets knocked out, or wins it all, this coming November.

Mark Cuban’s got nothing on these curmudgeons when it comes to dissing the Olympics. FC Barcelona are refusing to release forward Lionel Messi to play for his native Argentina at the Summer Games in Beijing. FIFA has ruled that they must; however, Barca may appeal on the grounds that the Olympics are not on FIFA’s international soccer calendar.

Messi isn’t the only player caught up in this. Brazil could be down three men: Kaka (AC Milan), Rafinha (Schalke) and Diego (Werder Bremen) are also being held back. So far, FIFA has yet to rule on Kaka’s fate. Their absence would make life difficult for the second favorites at 11-4 on the Olympic soccer futures market. Argentina is the favorite at 2-1.

Italy and the Netherlands are tied for third favorite status at 7-1. There’s generally less interest in Europe for Olympic soccer; South Americans take it much more seriously after first arriving on the national scene at the 1924 Paris Games.

This could be something of a disappointing Olympics for the United States. The over/under on medals for Team USA is 92.5 – two fewer than the host nation China.

There are two ways to go about handicapping this bad boy. You could look at every single sport at the Summer Games, everything from archery to wrestling. Or you could look at the medal counts for Team USA in Olympics past and spot the trend. Both methods have their limitations, but at least the second one won’t take you from now until the Olympics are over to figure out.

The smallest medal total for the U.S. over the past 40 years (1980 aside) has been 94, at Munich, Montreal, Seoul and Sydney. So the over is a lock, right? Wrong. China’s medal count has climbed steadily, and they’ll be winning a lot more this year as the host nation. It’ll be at the expense of Team USA.

If the All-Star Game represents the midway point of the baseball season, then it’s time to hand out a few midterm report cards.

Chicago Cubs: A. The best record in the majors at 57-38, and they had the chutzpah to trade for Rich Harden after Milwaukee got CC Sabathia.

Boston Red Sox: A. Leading the AL East at 57-40, even without David Ortiz. Wisely decided (for now) not to trade Kevin Youkilis and Craig Hansen for Mark Teixeira.

Los Angeles Angels: A-. Tied with the Cubs, despite a +21 run differential compared to Chicago’s +106. Need to improve in second term.

New York Yankees: B-. Scraping by at 50-45, but getting excellent pitching from Joba Chamberlain in his accelerated conversion from the bullpen to the rotation.

Seattle Mariners: F. Expectations were too high to begin with, but Seattle’s implosion is epic nonetheless. A textbook example of how not to run a franchise at the big-league level.

Have all your friends gone somewhere for vacation this summer? Are you finding yourself home alone with nothing to do? We all know there’s never anything good on television in the summer months. If you have time on your hands why not try and turn it into some profit? There’s no better way to kill time than playing online slots or video poker.

If you’re going to play online casino games make sure you practice responsible bankroll management. Only play with what you can afford to lose, and play in games where your money will last you a long time.

Online casino games are a much better value than regular casino games, you’ll often get better playing odds, and it won’t cost anything to get to the casino. Online casinos will give you extra money to play with when you buy-in; try getting that at a regular casino.

A very wise man once said that the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few. This is what the case for or against the legalization of sports gambling boils down to.

Problem gambling is a serious issue that should never be taken lightly. The 2007 British Gambling Prevalence Survey found a problem incidence rate of 0.6 percent of the gambling population, or about 284,000 people in Great Britain. The percentage rises dramatically for sports gambling, and the social costs are borne by everyone.

Anti-gambling legislation comes at a much higher cost: our civil liberties. The free world was founded on principles that date back to the Magna Carta and beyond. Without these principles, we are little more than property of the state.

The aforementioned survey also found 68 percent of Britons gambled in some form or other last year. But even if that number were 0.68 percent, the right to gamble remains every bit as valid.