Losing your Internet Connection during play - Who You Gonna Call?

Who you gonna call?
I lost my internet connection when I was in the middle of a SitNGo yesterday. It was a nice, clear, sunny day with no storms on the horizon. My Cable connection was working fine and then..........Blam!! No connection. I was right in the latter stages of my SitNGo with about 5 players remaining and I was second highest Chip stack. I couldn't believe it. Here I was with a chance to win a pretty nice little pot and, through no fault of my own, I was unable to play. The good news is that I ended up 3rd. The bad news is I could have had a second or first place finish. I got to wondering, what if I was in an MTT or SitNGo where the buy-in was $100 or more?? What then?? Do you call the cable company and tell them they owe you the money you would have won had they not screwed up your internet connection while you were playing on-line poker, which is technically illegal in the United States? Such a dilemma. I'm thinking the cable company will have a good laugh at that one.
My SitNGo games are starting to come around again. It looks like I have beat back variance for a time, at least.

Changed my Clubs
No, not more on poker......changed my golf clubs. I went back to an older model of clubs that tended to hit the ball higher. They are Pro Staff Midsize irons. I had mixed results today with them. I did not get the distance I have been getting with my other irons but they did seem to go higher and straighter. I will continue to use them for several more times and see how my results are. I need to get that other set of clubs built that are clones of Calloway X-16s. They will get the ball up and I should have good distance with them. So much to do and so little time....

Now yard work is starting to infringe on my Poker/golf time.
Why oh Why did I fertilize my yard this year.

My handheld sprayer stopped working the other day. It wouldn't pump up. The gasket had probably worn out after four years of use and neglect. So, I drilled a hole in it and started pumping it up with my air compressor. Plugged the hole with a golf tee and I was good to go. I am going to rig it up with a valve stem extension for car tires and just use my compressor to pump it up. Works great and no more pumping up and down with my feeble old right arm...... although I can feel my bicep begin to atrophy now that it won't get any work out from the sprayer.

Variance Hits and Golf Sucks

Variance Hits
Variance hit me this week-end at the Poker Tables. It seemed like I couldn't win a SitNGo. If I got a set, someone got a flush. If I got a flush, someone got a full house. If I got a full house, someone got a better full house. No matter what it seemed the cards were against me. I managed to tread water and finish in the money enough times to only suffer a minor loss of the bankroll but I was really wondering if I knew how to play this game or not. Then today hit. What a difference a day makes. In four SitNGos I had two firsts, a second, and a fourth. Hopefully my new found success will hold to form and I will ward off that wench variance for a long while.

Golf Sucks
Golf sucks. Enough said. I play again tomorrow and hopefully will have good golf stories to tell you.

I Shot an 81 for Eighteen Holes

I shot one of my best 18 hole round scores today, an 81 at Briar Ridge Golf Course after playing one of the worse nine holes of golf ever on Tuesday. I had 39 on the front and 42 on the back for a total of 81 strokes. My driving was excellent. My putting was very good. I only made two bad mistakes. On the 8th hole, a short par 4, I pulled out my 5 wood to just get the ball in play and pulled it into the water and took a double bogey. On the 12th hole, a par 5, I was 60 yards from the hole in two strokes and duffed two lofted wedges to end up with a bogey 6. If not for those two mistakes on two easy holes I would have shot in the 70s for the first time ever. I won't be playing again until Sunday so I am going to hit a ton of wedges and short irons in my yard to get ready for Sunday. If I can get my short game working I think I will have some good scores this year.

A very nice comeback from Tuesday when I shot a terrible round. I finally figured out what I was doing when I pull hooked the ball. My shoulders weren't square to my hips and that led to the pull hook. I went back to basics and started to take my basic stance making sure everything was square and I started nailing the ball right where it was aimed. What a feeling after pull hooking the ball for the entire spring!! Just go back to the basics and you can get any more basic than a good set up.

No poker today, just golf. Hope to play a few SitNGos tomorrow.

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Poker Girl vs. Golf Cart Girl

Poker Girl vs. Golf Cart Girl

42 for Nine Holes

No Improvement on the Golf Front
I played 18 holes with my friend Terry Reese and did pretty good on the front nine, shooting a 42 with one birdie. The back nine started out terrible on 10 and 13 with two triple bogeys. I righted the ship a bit and ended up with a 48 for a total of 90 for the 18 holes. Not too bad for early April but hope to improve on that score by at least half a dozen strokes or more.

I hit into my net some but when I did a practice round today, I still was hooking the ball considerably. I have to slow down my swing and get my hips into it and then I can get a nice draw. Practice. Lots and lots of practice into my net and on the course. I feel real good about this year and hope to post my best scores.

Poker is going all right. having a string of suck outs on the SitNGo front but still breaking even. Some of the suck outs include Q/3 going against my Ace/Queen and flopping the 3 to win the hand or I get pocket dueces in the BB and make a full house on the turn only to be beaten by a better full house on the river. Once it turns around and the cards strart falling my way again, I should post some nice wins. Finishing 4th quite a few times in the $2.40 SitNGos which is on the bubble and out of the money. I have to figure out how to finish and get down into the top 3. I'll keep working on it.

SitNGo Magic

SitNGo Magic
I won a $2.40 dollar SitNGo at Absolute this morning after being down to my last $300 dollars with the blinds at $600/$300. There were still 4 players remaining with the final 3 getting into the money. I just knew I was going to end up with another 4th place on the bubble with nothing to show for an hours worth of work. I didn’t copy the hands that led me to the win but, needless to say, I had to go all in for about 4 hands and won every time. I know two were total suckouts when I was able to make a straight to offset the pair of Kings my opponent had and another time I managed to get a 4 club flush on the board when my opponent didn’t have a club in his hand but went in with the best hand. After that I started to get a run of quality hands and after two of the four were eliminated I was heads up with the chip leader. In about ten hands I had taken over the chip lead and won when I flopped a straight and my opponent went all in. $9 dollars added to my bank roll and a lot of confidence added to my game.

Earlier in my poker playing days I would have given up and resigned myself to 4th place and another bubble but now I go down fighting all the way. I have learned that just because you are the short stack now, it may not stay that way. Granted, the majority of the time you are not going to make it back all of the way and win but if you can hang in there good things can happen. Oftentimes an opponent will go braindead and push all in with second best and be eliminated letting you get into the money via the back door. Not that there is anything wrong with that. It doesn’t matter how you get into the money, just that you get into the money.

Putting up my Net
Tomorrow my golf game starts to take a big improvement. I will be putting up my golf net in my back acre and starting to hit balls into it. This helps my game immensely for a couple of reasons. Firstly, it helps promote muscle memory by making the same swing over and over. Secondly, I hit the ball better as I swing smoother and don’t try to kill the ball because It isn’t going anywhere anyway. Hello!! It is going into the net so why is there any reason to try and kill the ball. Thirdly, it is great stress relief to go out and hit about a hundred balls into the net. You are out in the sun, exercising, and working up a sweat. Can’t get any better than that. I will also start to work on my chipping in the back yard and that should cut a couple of strokes a round just by the practice of chipping and getting the distances down. All of us hackers (bogey golfers) should be working on our game form 100 yards to the green at least 75% of the time. That is where we will lower our score.

My number one place to improve on the golf course is to eliminate my penalty strokes. I am averaging two penalty strokes per nine holes but that is not all. Second area of improvement is to work on my greens-in-regulation. Improving in those two areas will cut my score immensely. I will keep you posted on how I do.

Masters Day 3 & 4

Masters Day 3

Rain, Rain go away, come again another day. Enough said.

Masters Day 4

Phil Mick runs roughshod over the field. Tiger and Freddy can’t putt and the rest is history. Who would have thought that Mickelson would win two tournaments in a row, and one a major. Since Phil won his first major, the Masters a couple of years ago, he has been on a tear in the Majors. Won two more and finished very high in several others and possibly should have won one or two. Now he is in Tiger/greatness territory. If he can win a couple more majors he will certainly go down in history as one of the greatest golfers of all time.

So much for my field bet. One of the big five came through after all and left me holding the betting slip. Story of my betting life, bridesmaid but never the bride.

MTT's

My daughter, Rachel, had a good two nights of Multi Table Tournaments on Absolute Poker. For a $1 dollar buy-in she was able to finish second out of 344 players and 7^th out of 400 or so players for a total of $60 dollars in winnings. Not bad investment for a few hours of time. We can consistently get into the money on the $1 buy-in MTT’s but only a few times have made final table to cash a pretty nice check for the night. Usually win back buy-in plus a little more but when you can get to the final table you make enough to make sitting three hours worthwhile.

My $7 dollar SitNGo at Absolute went so-so. I finished 3^rd and pocketed $10 but the $3 profit for 3^rd place wasn’t worth the outlay. PartyPoker has $5.50 SitNGos that are a better deal than Absolute. Bankroll can’t support $7 dollar SitNGo so will concentrate on the $2.40 games for now. I think it is better return on investment and fits my bankroll much better. Much better able to take hits at that level than at the higher amounts.

Masters Day 2

Masters Day 2
My choice of the field players is looking to be about 50/50 right now. VJ and Phil and Ernie are near the top but Chad Campbell, Fred Couples, Rocco Mediate, and Darren and Tim Clark are in the mix, too. If I had to bet today, I would chose VJ, Phil or Ernie as they know how to finish off a tournament, especially a major. The other players certainly have the ability but have not produced as much in the past. Freddie may be the lone exception to that as he has won majors and many regular tournaments. I don’t know if he can putt good enough to win, though. He has really come on in putting with his long stick but still is not in class of Ernie or Phil. VJ is not as good a putter either.

The TV stations won’t know who to film the next two days if Tiger isn’t in the mix. I find the coverage to be much better and to show a lot more golfers when Tiger is out of contention. When Tiger is near the lead all they show is Tiger, Tiger, Tiger. Tiger waling up the fairway, Tiger on the Tee, Tiger on the green. When he is out of contention, watch how many more golfers they show and how many more shots you see hit instead of Tiger walking up the fairway with his caddy.

Golf vs. Poker

Masters Day 1
My Masters predictions are about 50/50 right now. VJ Singh is leading but Aaron Oberholser, Geoff Ogilvy, and Ben Curtis are in the top ten so the field is still in contention. Can’t really count any of the top 20 out just yet and could go as low as top 30 but it will be hard for any of them to make up six strokes on that course. Probably safe to say that top 20 still has a chance. Tomorrow will narrow the field some more.

Golf vs. Poker
Who is the Tiger Woods of the Poker World? Who is John Daly? VJ Singh? Phil Mickelson? Who is the Phil Helmuth of the golf world? Who is Phil Gordon? Daniel Negreanu? Can we make any comparisons? Just for fun. I guess it would be safe to say that Doyle Brunson is Arnold Palmer. If Stu Unger were still alive, would he be the equivalent to Jack Nicklaus? Is Phil Helmuth the Jack Nicklaus of Poker? Is Johnny Chen the Jack Nicklaus of Poker? Kind of fun comparisons to make. Let me know what you can come up with.

Played nine practice holes of golf today. I still am having trouble adjusting how long I am hitting my Pitching Wedge and 9 Iron. Have to club down or take ¾ swing with each club depending on distance. Still fighting the pull hook but have worked my drives out so they are going nice and straight and some with a nice little draw. Have a 1PM tee time for Sunday. Will play just one ball and will probably start to keep serious scoring starting on Sunday.

Michigan is suppose to have inclement weather tomorrow so I think I will dive into the $6 dollar table at Absolute and try my hand at a SitNGo. I have been cashing out very nicely the past two days in the $1.20 and $2.40 games so now is time to step up and see how I do. I will let you know how I do and what my impressions are of the type of player at this level.

Poker, The Masters and Survivor (in that order)

That’s Poker
I had some bad losses in my SitNGos yesterday on Absolute Poker. I lost 4 different SitNGos when I went in with the best hand only to be beaten by a straight or a flush. The worse one was when I was on the Big Blind and found Ace/King. One player in EP limped in and I raised three times the BB. He called and we saw the flop which contained 4 6 K. I went all in and was called by EP with King/Eight. I had him dominated. The turn was a 5 and he rivered the 7 to complete his straight and I was history. Pretty much the same thing happened on the other 3 games. I would have finished in the money on every one of them if I win the hand. Instead I am 0 for 4 and wondering what I did to upset the Poker Gods. Today on Absolute I finished in the money on 3 out of 4 SitNGos and yesterday was in the past. I am happy with my game and feel I am playing very well. I am patient and am betting correctly when I have the cards.

The Masters
This week-end is the Masters, the most hallowed even in golfdom. Will Tiger win his fifth Green Jacket? Will Phil win his second? VJ his second? How about Jim Furyk or Fred Couples or a recuperated Ernie Els? I think this year will be won by a lesser know player like Geoff Olgilvy, Nick Ohearn, Mark Hensby, Ben Curtis, or Lucas Glover. All good players but not in the top echelon. I am going with the lesser knowns. If this was Horse Racing I guess I would be betting the field.
Would you rather watch the Masters or the World Series of Poker, or go golfing or play poker? Personally, I would rather be playing than watching so if the weather is nice this week-end, I may not see much of the Masters as I will be out on the links trying to hone my game. If the weather is inclement, I will be on Absolute trying to raise my bankroll.
I only watch a little TV any more. I watch the Amazing Race and Survivor and Detroit Red Wings hockey when they are in the Stanley Cup Playoffs (which is every year). I don’t like the old couple on the Amazing Race and I don’t like Lake. I like the hippies and MOJO and Jeremy and his partner. They have fun while they are playing. I really like the hippies as they never get mad at each other they just are having fun.
In the Survivor previews, why is Terry telling anyone that he has the immunity idol from Exile Island?? Doesn’t make any sense. He should have given it to Nick on the last show to save him from being voted out then Shane would have had to go as he had the second most votes. Terry is a lot like Tom, the NY Fireman that won a couple of seasons ago.

Good Golf and Poker Week-end

Poker
I'm playing a free roll on Ultimate Bet to try to win trip to Aruba. Taking forever!! I am in 48th place out of 115 left. Top 15 play in another tournament for chance to go to Aruba. Long shot but, oh well, it is free. Probably won't do it again as it takes way too much time out of the day. My Pocket Kings just got busted when pocket sevens made his set. Very next hand I get pocket sixes and make my set but nobody wanted to play so didn't win much. Hope it gets over soon.

I started a mini-comeback at Paty but pissed it all away today. I played .25 NL and very conservatively built my bankroll up by $15 dollar. Today I pissed $10 of it away after I had won $12. I should have stopped right but I didn't and my Ace/King that flopped a king lost to a slow playing pair of Aces. Have to tighten up and start over. SitNGos at Absolute are doing well and I am ready to move up to $6 dollar SitNGo and see if my skills can handle the higher game. I just have to work up the nerve.

Played Golf Sunday
I played Golf at Briar Ridge on Sunday and did pretty good. My driving is getting better and I am losing the hook somewhat and hitting the ball straighter. I am still scoring in the mid to high 40's for 9 holes, but this early in the year, that is all right.

Karrie Webb wins tournament in play-off. I can remember when she was hotter than Anika. Maybe she is getting her game back into top shape and will give Annika a run. Natalie Gulbis is still the Anna Kournikova of golf. Looks great but has yet to win. She comes close, though, so that makes her better than Kournikova.

I don't think it is a good thing to win the tournament before a major so that about eliminates Phil Mikelson from the Master's contention. Players usually don't put back to back wins together. Funny how some courses just fits a player's game and the course this past week-end was made for Phil as he won there last year, too.