Bringing theLittle Brown Jug Home

The Michigan Wolverines are looking for revenge against the Minnesota Golden Gophers tonight at 8PM in the Dome at Minneapolis/St. Paul. The Wolverines let one get away from them last year at Ann Arbor when Minnesota kicked a field goal with no time left on the clock to upset the Wolverines. It is the battle for the Little Brown Jug, which is the oldest rivalry in all of College Football. The Wolverine Defense and a potent offense should be enough to bring the jug home as the Golden Gophers have lost a lot from last year's team, including their best running backs and wide receivers.

I look for the Wolverines to win this one by a score of 35 to 17.

Pokerbility Review

I see that a lot of Bloggers have the Pokerbility add on their sites. I’ll weigh in with my two cents worth about Pokerbility. I didn’t really care for it. I downloaded the free version and played with it for about 50 hands or so. I found it to be very undependable when reading my hole cards. It only worked properly for me a couple of times. The first time I downloaded it I couldn’t get it to read my hole cards at all. In fact, I uninstalled it and reinstalled it and then it worked a bit better. It would always read the flop/turn/river cards but I couldn’t get it to read my hole cards all of the time. I did contact their customer support and was told by Kelly, “Hello - you simply need to register the software through one of our promotions at www.pokerbility.com/openaccount.” Which, in layman’s terms, meant buy the software or get licensed version via joining one of the Poker rooms they are partnered with.

Some critics on the software itself.

1. The biggest drawback is you can only use it at one table at a time and I was almost always playing two tables at a minimum. I did play one table purposely a couple of times just to use Pokerbility.

2. It was very big and took up a lot of my screen, too.

3. It can’t be used with a 4 color deck, yet.

I used it on Titan Poker and Royal Vegas Poker sites (both supported by the software) and I used the default settings. I thought it ran slow and oftentimes I had made a decision before Pokerbility had or I was running out of time and had to decide what to do with my hand. When it was working optimally the decisions it was making for me were ones I had already made or knew that was what to do with my hand. It did recommend folding some pocket pairs I got dealt (which I disagreed with) and I went ahead and played them in an attempt to get a set. This happened with pocket 5s and any pocket pair below that.

Overall I didn’t really care for it much and at $80 dollars I thought it was a bit pricey. I would rather spend $50 and get Poker Tracker and additional money for Heads Up display. I think Poker Tracker would be much more valuable to me than Pokerbility.

Overall I give it a -EV rating.

Limit Challenge Update

I think I will make every Wednesday my Limit Challenge Update day. I moved up to $1/$2 Limit Holdem at Titan Poker and am doing all right. I am not playing much different than I did at the lower limits. I was tight aggressive then and am pretty much the same now with a bit bigger bankroll. I haven't found the players to be much different than at the lower limits.

I only play one table for my Challenge and I have seen it go from loose to tight and back to loose again. Depending on what kind of cards I am getting, I will pretty much stay with my style or loosen up just a bit. I am still really just learning how to play the game so every time I play it is like a college class.

I can really tell that my Limit game has come a long way in the short two months I have been doing my challenge. The number one thing I have learned is to let a hand go. The second is to make sure I have good starting hands in good position.

The Titan Points sure total up fast in the $1/$2 Limit games. I am averaging about a point a hand and you get points whether you have money in the pot or not. I have stayed at the table for 90 minutes and not won or lost too much but have accumulated 80 Titan Points in that time. I only need 1000 more to get my Poker Savvy bonus so I am looking at around 20 days or Mid-October. I'll probably keep going at Titan until I clear at least 3000 Titan Points ($30 bonus). So far I like the site and the players so will probably continue to play there.

Professional Poker Player

I didn’t think it was fair to use household money to pay for my golf so for the past six years I have worked a part time job every spring, employed by the largest tax preparation agency in the United States. I was professional Tax Preparer. It was an excellent part time job in that it was for a limited amount of time and the money was more than enough to pay for my golf membership at Briar Ridge Golf Course.

There were drawbacks to this job, also. It was in the heart of winter with February being the peak season for tax preparation and February in Michigan is usually pretty harsh. You had to have quite a bit of continuing education which meant that I had to take specialized tax preparation classes in the summer and fall. And, don’t forget this, it was a Job with a capital J. That means you had to adhere to your schedule and work the hours you were assigned. You had to give up almost every week-end from February 1st through March 31st. You had to answer to a supervisor, a boss if you will, just like any other job.

“Why?”, you ask am I bringing this all up now? Last week I officially resigned from my Part Time Job. Online Poker is my new part time job. I have made enough money playing poker on-line to pay for my golf. I guess that makes me a Professional Poker Player. The combination of earning Bonuses from the online poker rooms and earning Savvy Points through PokerSavvy has helped me build a bank roll that is sufficient to pay for my Golf Membership.

There are many advantages to being a professional Poker Player. I can work out of my home. This is a job that I can do year around with the big plus that winters in Michigan are perfect for staying indoors and playing poker online. I set my own schedule of when I want to play and for how long. And, the best reason, I am my own boss. I only answer to me (and Mrs. Wolverine, lets not get crazy here!).

I have stated in past blogs that my goal in playing Poker was to make money. That was my one goal. I wanted to average $10 dollars a day to be able to pay for my golf and a nice vacation for me and Mrs. Wolverine. I am close to achieving that goal. I know there will be variance and there will be losses but presently the combination of Poker room bonuses and Poker Savvy points is sufficient to cover my golf membership and the vacation money is slowly building, too. I enjoy the mental stimulation of the game, too.

Book Review: Shut up and Deal by Jesse May

The best thing I can say about Jesse May’s book Shut Up and Deal is that it is only 224 pages long. I can’t say I really liked anything about this book. If you go out to Amazon and read the reviews you would think this is one of the best books ever written, let along one of the best Poker Fiction Books ever written. I can’t agree with either of those sentiments.

I didn’t like it from the outset. I didn’t like Mickey, the narrator, “hero” of the story. I did not like the lack of plot in this book, the lack of any directions that the story was heading towards, and I especially didn’t like the way Mickey played Texas Holdem poker.

The story takes place mostly in the Eastern United States and in the Taj Majal and Foxwoods Casino in particular. A number of reviewers state they don’t know why a non-poker player would ever want to read this book and I second that as the book is only about poker and the people who play it. There were few interesting stories about the players but for the most par the book was depressing. There was way too much drug use and way too many hands of losing poker. In fact, Mickey loses so much that I don’t know how he had the money to keep playing.

I was looking for Mickey to get into the “big” game and win it all with some superb poker playing and, instead, he gets snowed in at Atlantic City and goes on to lose almost his entire bankroll. Maybe that is more reality. Maybe that makes the story more ‘real” and is why people are raving over it. Personally, I’m a feel good guy and the feel good ending would have had Mickey winning the big game, giving him a stake that would last him for a long time.

There is no ‘big” game and really no plot to this story. It is just Mickey talking about playing No Limit Holdem at the different casinos and describing the different players that he continued to meet and play against. He wins a little, loses a lot, and smokes a lot of pot. Maybe this is a book that Change 100 or Dr. Pauly would enjoy with the partaking of some good cannabis but it was not the book for me.

Overall, I say this book is –EV and, if it were a poker hand, it would be a hand worth folding, the likes of 7/2 off suit or 9/3 off suit.

Why I'm a Michigan Fan

Notre Dame - 40
Michigan State - 37

This is why I am a Michigan Wolverine Fan. 'Nuff Said.
Go Blue!

Hail to the Victors, again!!

My Wolverines pulled out another one today. They made quite a few mistakes and gave away a lot of points in the first half of this game but their Defense rose to the occasion and helped pull them through in the second half, especially the third quarter, when the offense began to click.

The score was almost what I predicted and my comment about the big turnover came through for both teams. Michigan recovered a fumbled punt which led to a field goal and Wisconsin picked off 3 passes from Chad Henne but they didn't cause too much damage other than halting good drives by the Wolverines. Next week it is up to the frigid north against the Golden Gophers of Minnesota.
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USA has put themselve into another deep hole at the Ryder Cup. They are headed for another defeat unless they can pull some matches out of their butts tomorrow in the heads up portion of the competition. I was so disgusted with their play that I stopped watching and went to play poker at Royal Vegas Poker and clear my bonus for PokerSavvy.
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Cleared my 250 raked Hands at Royal Vegas Poker to clear my PokerSavvy bonus. Probably will continue to two table to clear the Royal Vegas bonus to earn my $100 from them.
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I guess I am officially a winning Poker Player to the tune that I formally resigned from my Part Time Job that I worked for the last 6 years to earn money for my golf membership. Poker is going to play for my golf membership now. I'll expound on this some more early next week.
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I finished reading Shut Up and Deal by Jesse May. I will post a full review early in the week.
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Halftime - Notre Dame 14, Michigan State 31. You think maybe they gave Charlie Weis that big contract extension too soon? Looks like the teams from Michigan are exposing the Fighting Irish as a team that may not belong in the top twenty, let alone as high as number 2 (where they were a scant week ago). Regis Philbin has got to be spitting nails.

VC Poker and Ryder Cup

I received this e-mail from VC (Victor Chandler) Poker on Monday.

Dear Wolverine Fan,
In respect of ongoing ambiguity regarding the legitimacy of online gaming for US citizens, we regret to inform you that all poker sites powered by Victor Chandler will no longer be able to service US accounts (i.e. accounts referencing US address details).

Further to the email sent to you on Friday 15.09.06, we regret to inform you that you have one day left to withdraw the funds remaining in your real money account by no later than 12:00:00 GMT on 20.09.2006. After this deadline your account will be closed.

The above letter references the first e-mail I received on Friday, September 15th. In August I had opened a real money account on VC Poker to get $10 dollars free from them to play with. I never played there at all as I was in the middle of my Limit Challenge and trying to clear Crazy Poker and Royal Vegas bonuses. When I was informed that I had just a few days left to get the money out of their account I thought, what the hell, it is their money to begin with I might as well have some fun with it.

I decided to play blackjack as I had not played any blackjack on any of the poker sites. I couldn’t lose. I put out a $2 dollar bet and promptly doubled it. I decided to double my bet and I got a pair of jacks so I split them and won with both. After about 5 hands I had turned my $10 dollars into $20 dollars and I decided to cash it out then.

On Monday of this week, I received an e-mail from VC Poker stating the minimum withdrawal was $25 and I was attempting to withdraw only $20. O.K. then, lets see if we can’t turn $20 into $25 by playing some poker. I promptly sat down on Monday night at midnight and turned my $20 dollars into $4 dollars playing .50/$1 limit poker. Since the clock was approaching 2AM I decided to call it a night.

The next morning I thought I would give No Limit a try with my remaining $4 dollars at VC Poker. I promptly built it up to $14 and then loss a big hand back to $4. I managed to work that up to $8 but it was a slow process.

Hey! How about trying Blackjack again?

I went back out to the blackjack tables and, again, I couldn’t lose. I was hitting blackjack, getting dealt all face cards and not busting out while the dealer busted and before I knew it I had $25.56 cents.

I promptly withdrew my $25.56 to my poker bank account and thought to myself, "I must be playing the wrong card game."
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The USA is trailing after the first day of the Ryder Cup but that is not unusual and it is closer than it has been in the past. Historically, if the USA can keep it within a point or two on Friday and Saturday, they usually win the heads up matches and can win the whole cup. The key is keeping it close and then getting out in front early on Sunday to put added pressure on the players going out later in the morning.

One glaring mistake was Tiger missing a short putt to halve the hole. Tiger Woods had not missed a 3 foot putt on the PGA Tour all year and he goes and lips out one in the Ryder Cup and that helps lead to his team's defeat in the afternoon match. Go figure...pressure?

Michigan Vs. Wisconsin

Michigan 28
Wisconsin 14



This should be a good game and with my Wolverines playing at home they should put another victory into the win column. Wisconsin and Michigan play very similar styles. Both teams like to run the ball and both teams play tough, hard nosed defense. I fully expect a low scoring game with a lot of rushing. I think Michigan has the edge in both rushing and passing over Wisconsin due to the personnel on each team. Wisconsin has a veteran quarterback but has a freshman running back and lost a lot of quality players to graduation. Michigan matches the Badgers in the running department with two veteran backs and exceeds the Badgers in the passing department with Henne and his new corps of receivers.

It is suppose to be a rainy day Saturday but I'm not sure the weather will be that much of a factor as both teams will try to get their ground game going. Watch for a big turnover that will help decide the outcome of this game. I think Michigan's tough and fast defense will be able to hold the Badgers while the Wolverine's offense will put up some much needed points.

MICHIGAN WOLVERINES 28 WISCONSIN BADGERS 14
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Less than 50 more raked hands at Royal Vegas Poker and I will clear my Poker Savvy Bonus and collect 500 Poker Savvy points (equal to $50 dollars). I will have that done by Saturday and I think I will keep playing at Royal Vegas Poker until I clear the 1000 hands needed to earn my $100 bonus with them. I should be able to do that by Halloween.

I turned things around at Royal Vegas today and finished with a small profit of $4 plus cleared over 30 raked hands. I played much better today and will continue to play tighter in an effort to not only clear my bonus but to record a profit on this site. Both are very doable.

There was only one table available this morning, but whenever possible, I will 2-table Royal Vegas and that will help me clear the bonus quicker. I should be able to 2-table and still earn a profit.

Poker Ramblings

Poker Blogs dieing? I think not. Maybe some of the more popular blogs or some that have been around for several years are starting to die out but I would wager to guess that for ever Blog that dies, there is one or more to take its place.
Remember there are only so many hours in the day to read up on blogs and you may have a sphere of 50 or so blogs you try to follow but there are at least 10 times that many out there that are still going strong that you can't touch base with every day.
Have you ever read 50 outs blog? How about Check Raise? Or Jarooty’s Poker BLOG? I thought not.
See, there are a ton of blogs out there and maybe you need to divorce some of your regulars and try some new ones. But don't divorce my blog, keep reading it every day.

Check out How to Really be a Poker Blogger by Matt Maroon, too.
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60 Minutes had a segment on Online Gambling and I thought it was pretty well done except for a couple of things. They gave a producer's 16 year old kid his Dad's credit card and told him to try to get into a gambling site. He was unable to gamble on the first two sites he tried but he did get into the 3rd site and began losing money on roulette.

My first thought on this is give him his Dad's credit card and see how successful he is getting into a Porn Site. I bet he gets in with no problem. Secondly, isn't it the parent's responsibility to know what their children are doing while on the internet? The Government can't raise our freaking kids for us. It doesn't take a freaking village, it takes a concerned Mom and Dad, damn it.

“It’s so easy to do. It’s so easy for kids to do. It’s so addictive. And it has frequently been demonstrated that there’s a lot of graft and corruption in this,” says Sen. Kyl

They never asked that stupid Senator Kyl that is backing the bill about Porn sites either. They just kept saying gambling is bad and what about the underage kids gambling. See above for my answer.

Sen. Jon Kyl says that’s the biggest danger in online gambling. “Our kids have access to the Internet. They’re frequently not supervised. And you can run up a huge debt on your folks’ credit card very, very quickly.”

Read the transcripts at 60 Minutes.
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I love Celtic Music and Irish Drinking songs. Check out these guys - Brobdingnagian Bards and their song "Do Virgins Taste Better (than those who are not). You can do a free MP3 download of this song and several others of theirs. Check out their site and listen to some of their music and you, too, will become a big fan.
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Oh, oh. The Brits may have done the unthinkable and pissed off Tiger Woods right before the Ryder Cup. The Daily Mail had an article about Tiger's wife, Elin, and naked pictures. I think I need to see those photos to corraborate this story. A pissed Tiger may just be the best golfer in the history of the game. Read it all at Tiger's wife in topless pics storm as the WABs* fly in

I was born at the Stupid Factory

....... and the 'S' on my forehead does stand for Stupid. I have been clearing my bonus on Royal Vegas Poker by playing the .50/$1 Limit Tables. There is nothing wrong with that but to get credit for a raked hand and to clear my raked hands bonus for Poker Savvy I can do it playing the .25/.50 Limit Tables. I am comfortable playing the higher tables but there is the potential to lose more money and right now what we want to do is just clear the bonus and playing the lower limit tables lets us clear the same amount of raked hands with less chance of losing large amounts. My goal is to be a winning poker player but I have to temper that by clearing bonuses so as not to lose the bonus money in the process.

I have raked 160 hands at Royal Vegas Poker so I need less than 100 raked hands to earn myPoker Savvy points. Royal Vegas is worth 450 Poker Savvy points which is equivalent to $45 dollars. I should have the hands raked by the week-end and then I am going to continue until I rake 1000 hands to clear the Royal Vegas bonus. I should be able to do that by Halloween or sooner.

Right now I am down about $17 dollars and a lot of that is from playing marginal hands in an attempt to clear the bonus quicker. I am going to slow down now and play smarter and try to earn back that $17 plus some as well as clear the bonus.

I'm almost halfway to clearing the 2500 raked hands on Titan Poker needed to earn my Poker Savvy points. That is going to take a bit longer but I am going to stay with it and may have it done by Halloween, too.

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Ryder Cup week and we are the underdogs for the first time in, maybe, forever. The European Ryder Cup teams have pretty much dominated the last ten years of Ryder Cup matches and they are on their home turf this year playing in Ireland. The Americans should have no trouble finding motivation to beat the Europeans. It would be nice to jump out to an early lead in the matches but the first two days have historically favored the Europeans with the Americans making a charge during Sunday's Head-to-Head matches.

They are calling for wind and rain so I'm not sure the weather is going to favor either team. They both have to play in the same conditions so it should be a wash but some are saying the wet conditions will favor the Europeans.

Paul Casey of the European team just blitzed a tremendous filed in last week's match play event and should be ready to go this week. It will be interesting to see how he does as, oftentimes, someone who is hot in one event has trouble sustaining that in the next tournament.

It is up to the United States team to go out and play good golf and send the Eruopeans packing.

Keep Raking those Hands

I have raked over 100 hands at Royal Vegas Poker so I need less than 150 more hands to clear my Poker Savvy bonus and acquire 500 Poker Savvy Points. I'll probably keep playing at Royal Vegas and try to get the 1000 hands cleared I need to earn my entire $100 bonus from them. Although I am down about $8 dollars, I think I should be able to make some money at the .50/$1 limit table and clear the bonus both. Hope to have that done by early October. Then I think I am going to try for the bonus at Seven Sultans Poker. It is pretty much the same as Royal Vegas so I shouldn't have any trouble clearing that bonus by Halloween.
I made a nice score on Titan Poker today. I was much more patient and my big hands hit to let me cash out up $21 dollars. I am still playing my Limit Challenge at Titan and I think I will keep it there as the Titan Bonus is a lot harder to clear than Royal Vegas Poker and having the Limit Challenge gives me more incentive to play there and to play well.

I had one hand in particular that netted me a nice pot when I raised preflop with A/K off and got two callers. The flop was 10/10/3 rainbow and both callers checked so I did a continuation bet and they both called. Now I was pretty sure neither had a 10 but wasn't sure if either had a pocket pair. The turn was another 10 and both callers checked and I bet again. This time one folded and one called. The river was an 8 and the one caller bet out. I was pretty sure he didn't have a 10 and figured if he had A/Q, A/J, A/10, I was good there but was still unsure if he had a pocket pair. He never reraised or check/raised so I figured I was good to go. The pot was too big to fold so I just called his bet and I took it down. He mucked so I'm not sure what he had but he left the table right after that hand so I'm thinking he had nothing and was trying for a steal.

I am getting to be a better player but I see I have a long way to go. Some hands I fold too early and others I call to the river and get burnt. Overall I am happy that I am progressing as a Limit Poker Player and know that with hard work and dedication I should be able to remain a winning Limit player.

HAIL TO THE VICTORS!!

Hail! to the victors valiant

Hail! to the conqu'ring heroes

Hail! Hail! to Michigan

the leaders and best

Hail! to the victors valiant

Hail! to the conqu'ring heroes

Hail! Hail! to Michigan,

the champions of the West!

My Michigan Wolverines pulled off the big win against Notre Dame yesterday. I predicted a win but had the score way off as the Wolverines ran up a lot more points than I thought they would. Their defense was awesome and the passing game clicked early on and after that it was just grind it out, Michigan, Big Ten Football. Now we have to keep it up and beat Wisconsin next week to show that this wasn't a fluke game and that the Wolverines are back with a vengance!
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On the Poker front, Titan Poker kicked my Butt again yesterday. Seemed like I had the second best hand every time. I had my Aces cracked again by a player that literally only played one or two hands but felt the need to call my preflop raise w/ J/9 suited and managed to flop the jack and get the nine on the turn to put my Aces to shame. Then I managed to run my A/Q into Aces when an Ace comes on the flop so I think I am in pretty good shape. Oops, nope, set of aces beats a pair any day. Finally I was second best when my King high flush fell to Ace high by player playing any ace/rag. That was pretty much the day as I don't play many hands and the ones I did didn't hold up.
If it wasn't for needing to clear my Titan Bonus, I think I would divorce myself from that site for a while like I have Poker Stars. But I need 2500 hands to get my Poker Savvy bonus so I'll keep playing. I just have to tighten up and make sure that my hands hold up. Only play winners. Easy game, eh?

Michigan Beats Notre Dame!!!

My Michigan Wolverines Beat Notre Dame today 21 to 17!! At least that is my prediction. I may be going out on a limb but I have a good feeling about this Michigan team and we really need a win over the Iris. It has been a long time since we beat up on those guys and we need to start now. Screw the Gipper and the 4 horsemen he rode in on. The Wolverines are back with a vengeance!!

Golf Update and some Poker Stuff

I witnessed my partner Terry1 hit a hole-in-one yesterday. It was the second Hole-in-one I have witnessed. I have yet to get one myself. Always the bridesmaid, never the bride.

He hit a 4 iron from 175 yards to a front, center pin location. The ball hit the green and took one hop into the cup. It was his first Hole-in-one and I made him buy me a beer.
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I had one of those rounds where you just hit the ball really good but can't score a lick. I had two bad holes on each nine that really ballooned my score but, even discounting those two holes, I just wasn't able to get the ball in the hole in regulation. It was a misty, overcast, wet day and the greens were very wet so all my putts seemed to come up short. What really screwed me up was I figured the air would be heavier with the moisture and the ball wouldn't fly as far but I was hitting my short irons at least one club length farther than normal. Thus a few of my early shots flew the pin and either flew the green or left a long putt (snaking, downhill, left-to-right, over a ridge, double breakers, of course). Maybe I was just hitting my irons really crisp and keeping my head down really good but they sure were flying far.

My driver was working real well but I just wasn't scoring. I have had a discussion with my partner Terry1 about what is better, hitting the ball well but not scoring or hitting bad shots but lucking out and getting a good score. We both agreed that hitting the ball better was the way to consistantly score better as a lucky round after hitting bad shots was not going to keep happening over time.
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I am thinking of some of my goals for golf next year and the number one goal is to get my handicap to single digits. Right now it is at 11.21 and looks like it will stay around 11 for the year. I would need some really good rounds to get it down to 10 or lower.

Secondly, I am going to really work on my chipping. Right now when I chip it is with the attitude to get the ball on the green and be putting. Next year my attitude is to get the chips close so I can one putt for pars or birdies.

My third goal is to work on my putting over the winter in my family room until I can automatically step up and sink anything less than 10 feet. My putting has improved 1,000% over previous years but I want to work on it to make it even better. Next spring I am going to work on distance control so my lag putting is much better than now.
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The "Machine" must have sprung an oil leak or threw a rod as Tiger Woods was eliminated 4 and 3 today in the Match Play Championships. It would have been extremely hard to keep his game as sharp as it has been but still this is a shocking development as he is normally a very good match play player. Hopefully he will be back on track before next week-end's Ryder Cup matches.
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I loaded Royal Vegas Poker and started to clear the raked hands I need for the bonus. This is a Prima site and very similar to other Prima sites, i.e, Crazy Poker. I will be playing one table at Titan Poker and one table at Royal Vegas, .50/$1 Limit to clear the bonus for both sites. Right now I am using Titan for my Limit Challenge site, too, but I may move the Challenge to Royal Vegas.

I only played for about 1/2 hour but so far I like the Royal Vegas site. It had two full ring games going at my limit and it looks like I will be able to get a game at the times I play. It has a good note keeping feature, too, and I am a big advocate of keeping notes on opponents. Keeping notes helps me keep my head in the game and re-reading them in the future gives me good insight on reminding my how this player plays his cards.

Here is an excellent article on keeping player notes at Tight Poker. Check it out and check out the rest of the site. Pretty nice place for learning everything poker.

PokerSavvy

If you want to earn some nice bonuses and some extra money then you should be looking into downloading poker rooms via PokerSavvy. This portal to PokerSavvy signs you up under my profile to give me some extra Savvy points, too. We both win when you join PokerSavvy through my sign up and then you download the poker rooms under your sign up.

The easiest bonuses to clear are Mansion Poker and Crazy Poker. If you sign up via PokerSavvy and download Mansion and Crazy Poker, invest $100 dollars at each and in less than one week you will have doubled your investment. Now if you suck at Poker you may not double your investment but if you just break even you should be able to clear $200 doillars. How does that sound.

PokerSavvy rivals Poker Source Online as a portal to poker rooms. Both places offer nice gifts and poker room selections but you have to go a long way to beat Matt's customer service at PokerSavvy. Matt will get back with you ASAP and do everything in his power to make your time at PokerSavvy the most rewarding possible.

Michigan Vs. Notre Dame

This Saturday is Notre Dame vs. Michigan at South Bend, Indiana. The Wolverines haven't won there since 1994 so it will be a steep hill to climb but we shall prevail. Notre Dame has had two quality opponents already to test them while Michigan has played two less than stellar opponents. The best that can be said for Michigan is that no one got hurt and they are healthy coming into the game. Ball control and no mistakes are what it is going to take to win this game.

Michigan 21 Notre Dame 17

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I jumped back on my Limit Challenge bicycle this morning and was able to break out of my slump and record a tidy little profit of $9 dollars. That coupled with clearing $10 dollars of my Titan bonus made this morning even nicer.

I am just half way to clearing my PokerSavvy bonus through Titan so another month or so and I should be there. As soon as i get my money back from Crazy Poker ($20 dollar bonus cleared) I will be loading Royal Vegas Poker to start clearing their bonus. My goal is to have my PokerSavvy bonus for Titan and Royal Vegas cleared by Halloween.

You may be wondering why I am taking so long and it is for a couple of reasons of which the first is that I don't multitable (at least not to the extent of many who play 4 or more tables at a time). I play just two tables at a time so that I can concentrate on my opponents. Secondly, I want to clear the bonus, not multitable and end up losing all of the bonus money and not have anything to show for it. I am in the process of building my bankroll so that I will be able to move up in limits with a bigger bankroll. Then I can clear more bonuses quicker. It should be self perpetuating as long as I continue to win more money than I lose. Actually, I can break even in my Poker playing or lose just a bit and still clear a pretty nice bonus. That is worse case scenario. Overall, though, I want to be a winning poker player.

Maybe my bad beats are over at Titan now. I think I'll go back and try my Limit Challenge there tomorrow morning. This was a free roll tournament through PokerWants. It is a nice little poker site with forum and everything. Check it out and see if you like it. I like it more now that I won $15 in their Free Roll.

I didn't play poker for 3 days and the break may have done me some good. We'll see.
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Great Week-end of College Football.
How about those Michigan Wolverines??!! We are 2 and 0 and now have to play a pretty good Notre Dame team. They killed JoePa and his Nittany Lions. Penn State really sucked up the field for a team rated 14th in the nation.
And the Ohio State Buckeyes really are the number 1 team in the nation. They really took it to Texas and stomp on their long horns. You may have heard about this little rivalry between Michigan and Ohio. Well, everything you have heard about it is absolutely true. We hate each other.

My Michigan Wolverines have not fared well at Notre Dame or Columbus, Ohio, of late so this year will be really interesting. We had two tune up games to get ready for Notre Dame but I don't think our passing game is where it should be yet. Michigan has always wanted to run the ball and they really worked on that the first two games getting a lot of yardage in both. Michigan uses the run to set up the passing game so they will probably come out trying to run the ball on The Fighting Irish. If they have some success it will help set up the play action passing. If they get stuffed running the ball then they will have to rely on their passing too much and I'm not sure it is that sharp yet.

Michigan would be awesome with Steve Spurrier as the coach or Urban Meyer but Lloyed Carr is pretty conservative. He is always playing so as not to beat yourself and oftentimes will lose close games because of that philosophy. Michigan doesn't usually get blown out of games because of their conservative style but that means they rarely blow anyone out unless they are pretty bad like Indiana or Illinois.

MAN DO I LOVE COLLEGE FOOTBALL!!!

All Things Poker

No poker today and maybe not for the next few days as I am on a self imposed hiatus from Poker to try and exorcise the bad beats out of the poker rooms I play.
I am fortunate enough to have time to review quite a few Poker Blogs so I thought I would put out some links to some of the more interesting stories I found today.

Wicked Chops Poker has a nice review of Scott “Double A’s” Gallant book . Nice little write up and you can see by my sidebar that I continue to promote Scott’s book. I have never met Double A’s but read his blog religiously and consider him somewhat of a mentor (for lack of a better word).

I found a nice write up on Judging your Poker Sessions by WillWonka. It is well thought out and makes a lot of sense.

Amy Calistri and Tim Lavalli have a really interesting report on the WSOP Chip Count discrepancy that can be found at Poker News. It seems an additional $2 Million dollars in chips appeared after a color up. This 3 part story looks at all angles of this controversy and is very well written.

TillerMaNs Blog Spot has a well written piece about Poker Tracker and his stats for VPIP and PFR which are poker tracker acronyms for Voluntarily Put in Pot and Pre Flop Raise. He goes on to explain what the information means and how it can be used. Very well done.



This is a little dated but see how well you agree with this list - Top Gambling Blogs for June 2006. Some I do, some I don’t. I think it is missing a lot of good blogs that beat out many of these.

Sheverb says to check out FreeCycle.

Its Getting Ugly

My Limit Challenge has taken a decided downturn as I have lost $40 dollars in the last 5 days. Today I had A/A two times in 3 hands and lost both of them to the same person. The first time they rivered a jack for a set and the second time they called my preflop raise with Jack/10 and got the jack on the flop and the ten on the turn to beat me w/ two pair. That is very, very hard to take as you expect to win with your aces and to get them cracked twice in three hands leaves you wondering what you did to piss off the poker Gods.

I am trying to be a tight/aggressive player and I am playing less than 20% of the flops so the majority of the time I am going in with the best hand but that is only worth so much as the best hand only counts once all of the cards are played. Yesterday I had King/King, Jack/Jack, and 10/10 broken. The Kings were done when an Ace came on the flop. The Jacks were done when the flop showed Queen/King/rag. Can’t remember how I lost with the tens, probably a flush. It seems like I am losing every race. When I am on a flush draw, it doesn’t come in and when my opponent is on a flush draw, BAM!!, they get their card on the river. Yesterday I played pocket deuces from the BB and was fortunate enough to get a deuce on the flop for a set. Ah, but not quite good enough as runner/runner spades garnered the flush for a luckbox and I was left holding the bag. And the bag was empty.

I’m not telling bad beat stories to garner sympathy but this blog is to help me think through what I am doing wrong, get some needed help from other players, and to get things like this out of my system so I don’t dwell on them and become a basket case.

Now I have to decide if I should drop down in limits for my challenge. I don’t have a problem with that other than it makes it hard for me to clear my Titan points. I think I am going to take tomorrow off from poker and play some golf and then get back at it on Saturday. Things have to turn around at some time. I just have to keep playing good cards and playing them correctly. If I do that I am giving myself the best chance to win. If the cards fall differently or other players stay in a hand they have no reason to be in and suck out on me, then……………..that’s poker. Not much you can do about that.

Good-bye Crocodile Hunter - You will be missed

Sometimes things happen that are so sad and so unbelievable that it is hard to put them into words. That is how I felt when I heard that Steve "Crocodile Hunter" Irwin had passed away. Steve Irwin was bigger than life. He came into our homes via Animal Planet and took the world by storm. He was so passionate about what he was doing and had such a zest for life that you couldn't help but like the man. He was living the fantasy that all little boys and girls have. Working with exotic animals, traveling all over the world, putting himself in harms way and doing it all with a zest, a passion that was wonderful to behold. He was a modern day Tarzan. He seemed to love life and he loved what he was doing and he was able to pass that spirit on to his viewers. He did a lot of silly things and his "Krikeys" got a bit old but he never faked it, he was always just Steve Irwin, Crocodile Hunter. I know my family will miss him very, very much and our thoughts and prayers go out to Terri and his children. He was a true friend to everyone, even those of us he never had the chance to meet.

Outside of my family there have been a few people that have passed on that has made me stop and reflect on who they were and how they lived their life and how their passing effected me. John and Bobby Kennedy, John Wayne, and Elvis Presley come to mind and now Steve Irwin is another. Some very special people that were taken from us too soon. I have shed a few tears for all of them.
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I am slowly turning around my Limit Challenge at Titan Poker. My challenge has become a two edge sword of late. Not only am I playing to learn the game better and develop my skills but I am also using it to clear bonuses. Right now I am playing my Challenge at Titan Poker and am earning Titan Points as I play. I need quite a few more points to get my bonus but they are adding up slowly but surely. I played for about two hours today and made a modest profit of just $5 but I also earned 50 Titan Points. I only saw 10% of the flops which totaled to playing about 10 hands in two hours. Too tight? Maybe, because when I did raise preflop, several times I did not get any callers. I may have to loosen up a bit and play a few more hands but, if I do, they will be quality hands in late position.
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I ended my trial separation with PokerStars and played .25/.50 Limit Holdem there after staying away for a week. I was able to post a modest profit but it could have been so very much better if I didn't have two people suck out on me with runner/runner for flushes. Both times I had the nuts until the river and I see they stay in with two shitty cards that were suited. I played real tight and folded early if I didn't have any part of the flop so when I did go all the way to the River I was playing with some quality cards and no matter how loud I shouted at my Monitor that I needed some red cards or black cards to avoid the flush, I was unfortunate two times in that my monitor failed to listen to my pleas and I was dead meat to two suckout flushes. I'll give it another go tomorrow and try to play the same way and hope that I can avoid any major suckouts.

Ramblings

I know why I like Titan Poker so much now. All of their poker rooms are named after golf courses. I recognized a couple of them here in Michigan, Warwick Hills where the Buick Open is played and Arcadia Bluffs on the shores of Lake Michigan.
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I posted my first 18 hole score in golf in more than two weeks. Shot an 85 which should have been an 83 but two putts lipped out. I wasn't able to hit my best shots which are my wedges and 9 iron. I was pulling them terribly and costing me strokes. I need those clubs to be on so I can score better. I'll be working on them for the next few days so I can depend on them again.
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Songs I'm listening to while playing poker:

1. Joe Nichols - Tequila Makes her Clothes Come Off
2. Rat Pack live at the Sands
3. Jerry Jeff Walker

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My Michigan Wolverines start their season tomorrow against Vanderbilt. Should be a cake walk for the Wolverines.
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People are sucking out on me left and right at Crazy Poker. Can't get hands there to save my life. I'm trying to clear a bonus but don't want to lose more than the bonus. Guess I will just have to tighten up some and play smarter. Preflop raises are like cheese to mice to these players. For instance there are five limpers and I raise from the Button w/ Ace/Queen suited and all five call the raise. I knew then I lost that hand. Can't remember when I got pocket pairs there last. I think it was 10/10 and the flop had a queen and a jack, insta-fold.