Start to look for a shift in the value of running backs as we see an increase in bad weather. Rain, wind, snow and freezing temperatures will cause teams to throw less and run more.

This week will provide you some top and running backs along with some middle to low tier RB’s to help you fill out you lineups.

Matt Forte

This all-purpose back will be facing the hapless Tampa Bay defense. Forte leads the team in receptions and rushing yards and we expect him to have a monster game come Sunday.

DeMarco Murray

The Cowboys are playing the New York Giants who are terrible against the run. With Dallas needing to keep Tony Romo healthy and the team coming off a bye week, we expect the Cowboys to lean heavily on Murray in this crucial division matchup.

Houston Running Back

We’re not sure who’s going to be the starting running back this week for the Texans, but whoever it is you want to get him into your lineup. Arian Foster has been nursing an injury, and if he can’t go, Alfred Blue will get the nod. Keep an eye on the injury reports. If Blue is in definitely start him, if Foster is the starter be careful as he is likely to split time or reactivate his injury.

Eddie Lacey

The Packers be playing the Vikings outdoors in the polar vortex. So, whether Green Bay decides to run the ball more, or if there blowing up Vikings, we expect Lacey to see significant touches and this game.

CJ Anderson

The bottom line is that the Broncos win when they run the ball. Look for more of an emphasis on the running game as the Broncos deal with some injuries to their pass catchers, and with Ball in Hillman out with injuries, Anderson will reap the rewards.

Isaiah Crowell

The Browns released Ben Tate leaving Crowell and Terrance West as their only real options. They may split time but Crowell is our bet to get the lion’s share of the touches. Start him with confidence as a low salary value play.

Those are RB picks for the week. Check out our QB pics if you have not seen them. And remember, if you still haven’t signed up for FanDuel or DraftKings please click on links and help support F5.

Also, be sure to let us know how you do win or lose.

With 2014 being a crushing blow to poker pros who are looking for a sugar daddy site to sponsor them, Neil Channing, one of the UK’s brightest poker personalities, has bucked the trend.

According to PokerNews UK (and Channing himself), the affable Channing has signed on to be an ambassador with Sky Poker bringing his wit and witticism (as well as his over $3M lifetime earnings) to both Sky Poker TV as well as blogging for Sky’s online presence.

Channing is a versatile player too so not only can you expect to see him patched up and pitching Sky in live events but he’ll be grinding the online site as well.

If you’ve not had the pleasure of getting to know Neil, as perhaps many parts of the world may not have, we recommend you checking out this archived version of the 2p2 Pokercast.

Disclaimer: We here at F5 don’t have anything to do with this effort, but to us, it looks both legit and like a very good thing. Make sure you are comfortable with it should you choose to get involved.

In truth, poker players can really be a very generous lot.

Last year around this time we were happy to bring you a post about poker player (and former DeepStacks Champ) Billy Vogel and his mission to bring together poker players to help deliver toys to kids in need this holiday season.

Well, he’s back at it for 2014, and in its 5th year, Vogel has worked out a healthy 35% discount for buying toys in bulk and the plan is to split the donations between the Toys For Kids program as well as the Global Medical Relief Fund.

Billy is taking donations through PokerStars, Skrill and PayPal. Again, if you have questions or any doubts, please feel free to hit Billy up and ask away.

He’s started a thread (which has been allowed by 2p2) over on Two Plus Two and we hope you’ll check it out and perhaps give a little holiday love – if not through this poker player initiative, perhaps on your own.

Read more: 5th Annual Toys For Kids Donation Thread

Here’s some additional details:

- Deadline to donate to help buy toys is Dec. 7 – Vogel will take a ton of photos both of the toys and the donation so you can get the warm and fuzzies. – After he brings the toys to the kids on Dec. 13 any further donations will be given in whole to the Global Medical Relief Fund. – Billy doesn’t take any of the money out for “his services”, it all goes to the kids. – Here’s a story the local news ran about the donation from last year, check it out.

If you decide to donate, let us know!

If you followed our advice last week hopefully you selected our top pick at the quarterback position, Aaron Rodgers.

He was the top performing quarterback in many formats and was only one of three QBs to throw for three touchdowns last weekend. Let us know if you used him and had a big score on DraftKings or FanDuel.

This week we’ll offer you our QB pics once again, and we will also take a look at some QBs that we think you should steer clear of.

Jay Cutler

In what can be looked at as the revenge game, quarterback Josh McCown and head coach Lovie Smith returned to Soldier Field to take on their former team. And though they may try and rack up the points on the Bears, their defense is simply not good enough to stop Jay Cutler and the Bears aerial attack. But, be sure to check the weather before game time. Forecast calls for rain which could change the game plan to a running attack.

Aaron Rodgers

Yep, him again. Rodgers has been hot, and we see no reason for that to change when he travels to Minnesota to take on the Vikings. Even though the Vikings held him in check in their first meeting of the year, Rodgers is on a roll, the Green Bay defenses is on a roll, and Minnesota is starting a rookie quarterback.

Andrew Luck

Luck is at home once again, but unlike last week he will be facing the weak Jacksonville defense. The Colts lost their top-performing running back last week (Bradshaw), which will likely force Luck to throw the ball even more than he would have otherwise. Look for Luck to bounce back from a mediocre game in grand fashion.

Drew Brees

Brees is at home this week where he normally performs at his highest level. He is also facing the Baltimore Ravens pass defense which allows a ton of points to opposing quarterbacks. We know he’s down his rookie starting wide receiver, but Brees still has plenty of weapons from which to choose and could have his best game of the season in prime time on Monday night.

Zach Mettenberger

Sometimes you just have to go cheap at the QB position, and that’s why our value pick of the week is Tennessee quarterback Zach Mettenberger. He had a decent showing in prime time against the Steelers in this week he faces a much easier defense (though not at home) in the Philadelphia Eagles. The Eagles ranked dead last in the league in points allowed to opposing quarterbacks. Look for Mettenberger to have a big game.

Some of the QB’s that we like include the Manning brothers, Tony Romo, Josh McCown and Joe Flacco.

Quarterbacks we think you should steer clear of this week include Russell Wilson, Philip Rivers, RG III and Michael Vick.

There are only six weeks left in the NFL regular season, so you gotta take your shots at these big prize pools while they are still there. DraftKings is offering $2.2 Million contest with $1 million going to the first place winner for only $27, and FanDuel offers a $2.5 Million contest where nearly 20% of the entries will win double their money for only $25.

When you’re smiling in the winner’s circle about to collect all your cash make sure to tell them “F5 poker sent you“, and make sure to check in tomorrow for our recommendations at the RB position.

The entities over at Wicked Chops Poker say the numbers are in and the numbers look good for poker.

With the Main Event behind us and a champion crowned the only thing that’s left to do is sift through the rubble and that’s what WCP did when they were handed the ratings of the 2014 WSOP Final Table on ESPN.

According to WCP, ESPN actually received a healthy 10-13% year-over-year jump in ratings for the Monday broadcast as the final table played down to 3 players. Then, though, the ratings took a 6% dip (again, year-over-year) when the broadcast returned on Tuesday night.

The final three was an absolute nut-kicker worst case scenario for TV viewership in the U.S., essential pitting three mute non-Americans against each other.

But even with that take, which would seem grim for “mainstream” audiences. The ratings were still better than some regular season games in leagues like the MLB and NBA.

So what does this mean for poker in general. Well, the guys think it looks good and that if this kind of trend continues, you may actually get to enjoy more poker on TV in the years to come.

Don’t take our word for it – check out the whole write up over at Wicked Chops: 2014 WSOP Ratings and State of Poker TV

Take a load off. What’s the hurry? Sure, you have a busy life but we both know what you’d really prefer to do is sit back and check out a couple episodes of the made-for-tv cash game that is Poker Night In America.

They know it too, that’s why they put out a pair of episodes this week for you to check out. Up top, it’s the Farewell to Chad Brown episode and after the jump you can watch another 30 minutes of action both hailing from the Reno, NV sessions.

Looking for more PNIA? Check out episode 17 right here.

Last night we posted about the fallout from an ongoing feud between Canada’s Playground Poker Club (PPC) and Allen “The Chainsaw” Kessler about tournament fees. One of PPC’s “passionate employees”, in a nutshell, publicly told Kessler that if he didn’t like the rake, don’t play.

Read this: Playground Poker Club to Allen Kessler: Don’t Like Us, Don’t Play Here

Perhaps the straight-shooting employee misread the room because it took mere moments for the tide of popular opinion to turn against the terse tone of customer service.

Well, the Playground Poker Club wants to make everything right and so they offer a formal apology…to the poker community.

Here it is in its entirety:

Earlier today, the official Playground Poker Club Twitter account sent out a regrettable tweet directed at one of the poker community’s best-known characters. Since its inception, Playground’s top priority has been to provide the best customer service in the industry, by offering an unparalleled playing experience. Unfortunately, today’s tweet was complete contrary to that ongoing mission.

Playground Poker would like to assure the poker community that the words that were directed towards Mr. Kessler do not represent our brand, or our values. The opinion of one passionate employee managed to get the better of him, and he was held accountable. Playground Poker Club always has been, and always will be For Players, By Players. That is not just a motto, but how this business is run.

In the past, Allen Kessler has shown some dissatisfaction with Playground Poker Club, which stems from a visit in 2012 for the inaugural WPT Montreal. There was confusion with the US/CDN exchange rate, and he has since also voiced his displeasure with our tournament rake being higher than other North American venues. Thankfully, we live in a society where everyone is free to speak their minds, and we hope that Allen will keep voicing his, as this can only make the product better for all of us.

We’d also like to apologize to the poker community for one person’s lack of judgement that publicly jeopardized our reputation, which we have worked so hard to build. Playground prides itself on its top-level customer service and we invite anyone who hasn’t been to our Club to come and experience it first hand, and see why we are Canada’s Premier Poker Destination.

Many thanks,
Playground Poker Management

There you have it, not only did they apologize to the poker community but they turned it into a solid marketing effort at the same time. Lemons into lemonade.

And maybe we’re just being shit starters here…but where in there exactly is the apology to Alan Kessler?

If you find it…Tweet at us!

This post is appropriate for a FanDuel ad…right?

A horrible story out of Flint, Michigan where Michigan Live reports that a 45-year old man, Andre Moore, will serve 7 years behind bars after pleading no contest to involuntary manslaughter for the shooting death of his own brother.

The brothers were having a few drinks and playing a little poker in a home game, a little over a year ago, when apparently the now deceased Jeffrey Moore was caught cheating and the brothers got into a fight over it. The end result was the older brother, Jeffrey, was shot in the chest and Andre was charged with murder.

“The incident involved two brothers — one the defendant, the other the victim — who were involved in a dispute over a card game at the defendant’s house,” Leyton said. “There were allegations of cheating and theft and it was very difficult to sort out the facts.”

Self-defense was claimed and the cops had a hard time sorting out the facts so we’re guessing a plea deal down to involuntary manslaughter was agreed upon. Andre Moore will also be serving a multi-year sentence for a felony possession of a firearm which he will serve concurrently.

Kessler gunna Kessler, you know?

What that means that if there’s a leak in a structure or he thinks your poker room is charging too much vig – Kessler is going to call that out as he sees fit. It’s rarely tactful, often times crude – but it’s what he does. The poker world just kind of accepts it, maybe cracks a joke and moves on.

This time though, when he called out Canada’s Playground Poker Club, which is hosting the upcoming stop of the World Poker Tour, he didn’t exactly get the standard customer service response.

Don’t like it, don’t play here. Boom. Not exactly the stereotypical Canadian good guy reply one might expect. Also, pretty terse for public response.

Kessler goes on to claim that the Playground Poker Room is “stealing hundreds of thousands in extra fees” from poker players.

As it turns out though, the Playground Poker Club has a bit of a feud with Chainsaw and they feel like they’ve just had enough of getting Kessled (™).

And it ended right there.

Oh wait, no it didn’t – Kessler took to snap clicking the RT button and the Playground heard an earful from Kessler’s supporters:

And the hits just keep coming.

So, what do you think? Is Kessler out of line here by making a big deal about fees or does Playground Poker owe “The Chainsaw” an apology? Let us know!

The partypoker WPT Montreal event starts on November 20th with the first of 3 starting flights.

Nice find by Brian over at Card Player on this entry into the Poker Crime Logs.

Police in Albany, GA made a big time bust when they finally made arrests and put to an end a poker game that was occurring at the home of Mary Morgan.

Mary’s 90, yo.

Morgan is the senior-senior citizen homeowner of where the felonious game was being hosted and as such was placed under arrest and hauled to the pokey. She officially becomes the oldest person to be booked into the Doughery County jail as cops confiscated $4100 in cash from the game as well as variety of “recreational” drugs (weed, coke and the like).

According to WBTV.com, more than a dozen people were placed in custody and booked on a variety of charges. Morgan was charged with maintaining a place of gambling, illegal alcohol sales and “disorderly house.” (Which just sounds like she had a messy house.)

“This operation was a result of a two month investigation into illegal activity at this residence which included illegal gambling, illegal alcohol sales, illegal tobacco sales, possession of cocaine, ecstasy, marijuana and spice,” said Deputy Chief Mark Scott.

For her part, The Gambling Granny does have one luxury that comes with age. She gets her own cell.

Poker may be frowned upon in Georgia, but we think DFS is aok…click the banner guys.

Poker is full of bad beats.

That said, every once in a while a story comes along that’s going to lift you up, and this is for damn sure one of them. This past weekend marked the full fledged return to the poker tables for Kevin “Phwap” Boudreau after two years when at one point he was literally fighting for his life.

You may recall that a couple years ago, Kevin was struck by a sudden crippling traumatic brain injury in the parking lot of the WSOP. Kevin fought back and with the help of his friends and family and received the care and inspiration he needed to grind out tough days of recovery.

Now Kevin’s the inspiration as this past weekend, according to Bluff Magazine, he played in the Mid-Stakes Poker Tour event in Colorado and not only did he take his seat – the kid took 5th for over $34K.

Now that’s one hell of a comeback. Congrats to Kevin (and his family).

Read more about Kevin: “*Kevin “Phwap Boudreau’s Inspiring Return To The Rio*

Terrence Chan, poker player, mixed martial artist and former employee of the now defunct Ultimate Poker, goes on the record and dissects what he thinks went wrong at the start-up poker site that has seen its final days.

While Chan is critical of the way things went down at UP, this isn’t going to be a video where he pisses on the tombstone of his former place of employment and he’s pretty adamant that if you are one of those people who enjoy doing that, you can “go fuck yourself.”

In the end Chan says that basically UP, with their proprietary software, lacked the time, tools and resources in order to get their product to the level that those inside the company knew they needed. But perhaps, the company’s biggest downfall, according to Chan, was their failure to invest in the people who believed in company.

Speak candidly, Chan takes a look at the inner workings of this particular start-up and so if you are interested in what happened in the offices of Ultimate Poker, Chan’s video podcast – while perhaps a little dry – holds some incredibly interesting information on the business end of online poker.

Want more TChan? Check it: Terrence Chan Settles In To “Life After Poker”

Also – Ultimate Poker’s Greatest Hits: Former Ultimate Poker Pro William Reynolds Lashes Out

(h/t The Omnipresent Kevmath)

If you’re interested in backing, Jose Canseco is selling pieces of himself.

Former MLB slugger turned steroid whistleblower and poker enthusiast, Jose Canseco, let his fans know that now they can take a piece of him home with them.

Literally.

Canseco’s infamous “poker finger”, the one he shot off his own hand while cleaning a gun. The one that was surgically reattached, started smelling bad and eventually fell off – AT THE POKER TABLE – is going up for sale.

According to USA Today though, while it’s unlikely that Canseco can actually put that finger up for sale, he is seemingly trying to get rid of the gun that left him holding a bad hand. (turns out that selling either would be against eBay’s T&C)

We can think of at least one guy who might be interested in this deal.

A shaggy haired “Marky” Mark Wahlberg stars in the new big budget underground gambling movie aptly called “The Gambler.” Wahlberg plays a college literature professor (that’s movie magic, ya’ll) that is also a broody high stakes degen that has run afoul from some dangerous loan shark types (John Goodman).

Check it out and let us know if you plan on risking $10+ dollars that this will be worth your time, you gambler you.

Last week we posted a couple stories about the inflammatory remarks from One Drop winner Daniel Colman in regards to noted poker personality Phill Hellmuth as well as Hellmuth’s response to the online attacks.

Well, as one would imagine, the end didn’t arrive once Hellmuth made his comments and the original thread that was once about Brian Koppelman's podcast which featured Hellmuth became a back and forth between the Hellmuth haters and Colman’s critics alike.

Both sides were getting their fair share of praise and haters and one poster even suggested that, as long as the thread was on the subject of Hellmuth’s checkered past with Ultimate Bet – someone should look into Colman’s life. (Which is not a good suggestion)

Colman, who must have been monitoring the thread, snap replied with the following:

I multiaccounted tournaments online when I was 17-18 with a me against the world mentality. I have made plenty of mistakes, but I know I am far from that person I once was.

If Colman’s statements are true and his memory is correct that would put his multiaccounting days around 2007-2008 (as he’s ~24 right now) after the multi accounting scandal of Justin Bonomo and right around the time that the infamous JJ Prodigy's machinations were discovered.

Colman seemingly just wanted to get this out there.

That wasn’t the end of Colman’s conversation in the thread though as he decided to address this Hellmuth situation one final time. Here are some highlights from his statement:

Once again, I admit to being too harsh in my initial post. Phil didn’t deserve that hateful of a message. I was a bit heated in the moment and it showed in my writings. I underestimate how much the poker world amplifies anything I have to say now that I have godmoded a few live tournaments, I will exercise more caution in the future before clicking the post button.

That being said, I still stand by the main gist of my post. Phil’s behavior in poker is atrocious, and I don’t think it belongs in this game.

Also, if you are looking for Colman and his recent hot streak to be a spokesperson for the game of poker, you’re going to continue to be disappointed.

Some of the resentment focused towards me I am sure comes with me choosing not to be an ambassador to poker, I am sorry but I am not going to be that guy.

Then, for good measure, a little shade gets thrown on 2013 WSOP Champ Ryan Riess.

Look to the new main event champ, Martin Jacobson, unlike the last champ, he doesn’t have to go around saying he’s the best in the world after winning. He plays phenomenal poker and carries himself exceptionally well, so his peers are happy to do the talking for him.

He goes on to remain resolved that Hellmuth should stop berating players on and off camera and that he feels that he still has to answer some questions regarding his involvement with Ultimate Bet.

Again, I agree I was wrong for attacking Phil in the manner I did, and I apologize, but my main points stand. In my view he is a terrible ambassador for the game, and I think its despicable that with all the money he made as the face of UB, he has never even sat down and engaged the poker community about his involvement.

Read the post in full over at Two Plus Two.

Now, we know…this post is super long and it’s about nothing important but that’s what we do! We help you waste time when you can’t be wasting time elsewhere. So, with that, we want to point out ONE. MORE. THING.

In a rando post in this thread, someone posted what looks like to be an exchange between Colman and Doug Polk, where Colman claims that he’s DONE in 2015.

Again, this is unverified, total gossip, could be completely made up so take this next quote with a heap of salt.

WCG|Rider: we both know you arent hanging up the gloves
WCG|Rider : so whats your plan
mrGR33N13 : serious
mrGR33N13 : i play pca maybe aussie next year
mrGR33N13 : then 100k one drop and main event
mrGR33N13 : then its all over
mrGR33N13 : they dont deserve me, they been treatin the greenie too rough lately

If that transcript is for real, then it looks like Colman is claiming that it’ll be “all over” come this summer.

What do you think? Does his admission of multiaccounting change your mind on how you think of Colman? Do you think he can really walk away?

Let us know if you actually got to the bottom of this post!

It’s Monday again. That means before you dive into your work week you really should take a little “you time” and watch the latest episode of PokerStars winner-take-all televised tournament – Shark Cage.

This week the show travels to Monaco where familiar faces face off in the single table sit-n-go that is Heat #4. ElkY, Ike Haxton, Bill “The Businessman” Perkins, American Pie actress Shannon Elizabeth and Antonio Esfandiari try to navigate the tournament waters for a chance to win a milly. But, unlike in weeks past, the online qualifier isn’t a mere luckbox who is just happy to be there – it’s a former nosebleed grinder that has history with half the table.

Enjoy!

Miss episode 3? We got you: Shark Cage Episode Two

In the wake of the World Series of Poker crowning a new, worthy champion – what story could trump that less than a week later?

How about former professional baseball player, steroid whistleblower, celebrity boxer Jose Canseco having his surgically reattached finger literally fall off at the poker table.

Yep. This happened and it’s getting way more mainstream attention than anything else that came before it in 2014. Outlets from ESPN to E! Online are reporting on the slugger’s single digit loss on the felt.

It’s so grotesque while simultaneously being bizarrely hilarious that it seems that everyone is talking about it. Canseco knew that the finger in question was in danger of being lost from the get go, well before he decided to play a few hands, as he’d recently blown it off his own hand while cleaning a gun.

For his part Canseco is taking it all in stride, even cracking jokes about “finger food.”

Now…be careful here. Graphic content…

Canseco said that there was video of it, which was sold to his manager. But in the meantime, Jose posted a photo which is of the most disturbing variety.

Bluff Magazine’s Tim Fiorvanti just so happened to finger Canseco at the Aria (ok, that sounds bad) the day before this went down and noticed the hand in question.

There’s not much time left until this weekend’s NFL games kickoff, but you can still get your lineup in at FanDuel.com and at DraftKings.com if you hurry. But, make sure that you have an account set up. If you don’t, click here to sign up at FanDuel.com and here to sign up at DraftKings.com.

We had a real solid week last week with our wide receiver recommendations. If you followed our advice then you played guys like Torrey Smith, Brandin Cooks and Odell Beckham Jr..

This week we’ve got some good recommendations for you at the WR position as well.

The first two guys not only have great matchups but their salaries have not yet been adjusted for the big games that they had on last Monday night when the Eagles played the Panthers.

Jordan Matthews

The high-powered Philadelphia offense will most likely be in a shootout with the Green Bay Packers in the marquee late game on Sunday. Matthews has built a rapport with his new quarterback Mark Sanchez and should have another big game this week.

Kelvin Benjamin

Benjamin is playing at home against the weak Atlanta defense. He’s the only real threat at wide receiver for the Panthers and this game to has the markings of a shootout.

Julio Jones

Jones will be on the other sideline facing Benjamin, and in addition he is the number one target for his quarterback. Look for Jones to have a real big game as Atlanta tries to salvage their season.

Julian Edelman

In another game that promises to be a shootout, the Patriots will face the Colts on Sunday night football. Brady has a lot of targets, and Edelman should be a large part of the offense on Sunday, plus it helps to have action in this great matchup!

Antonio Brown

We gave Antonio last week and though he caught eight of nine targets for 74 yards, he did not make it to the end zone. This week against the weak Tennessee defense we again expect Brown to go off and have a big game. Don’t miss out on having the biggest and baddest receiver going on Monday night.

Make sure to check out our picks for the QB and RB positions, and get those lineups in ASAP. FanDuel is paying out $2.5 Million for its Sunday Millions tournament and DraftKings is paying $1 Million to the winner of its Sunday Millionaire Maker tournament.

And, don’t forget to check the box to receive your very own allowance of F5 NFL run good.