Going on Vacation

Now old man rhythm is in my shoes, it’s no use sittin’ here singin’ the blues,

So be my guest, you got nothin’ to lose, won’t you let me take you on a sea cruise?

Ooowee, ooowee baby, ooowee, ooowee baby,

Ooowee, ooowee baby! won’t you let me take you on a sea cruise?

John Fogarty's "Sea Cruise".

Mrs. Wolverine and I are headed off to the Carribbean this Saturday aboard the Carnival Triumph. This will be our fourth cruise in the last six or so years. This is the second time we will have sailed in the eastern Caribbean. We leave Miami for Half Moon Cay, Bahamas, then a day at sea while we set sail for St. Thomas, USVI, then stops in San Juan, Puerto Rico and Grand Turk the capital island of the Turks and Caicos. Another day at sea and then back to Miami and home again, jiggety jig.

Drink it up, This ones for you

It's been a lovely cruise

I'm sorry it's ended

It's sad but it's true

Honey it's been a lovely cruise

Jimmy Buffett - Sea Cruise

The cruise is one of the nicest vacations for us because the Cruise Ship can avoid rain and thunder stroms, (let alone hurricanes), you get to see a lot of different places so you won't be bored and, of course, you get to eat tons of great food.

You're gonna fly away

Glad you're goin my way

I love it when we're cruisin' together

Music is played for love

Cruisin' is made for love

I love it when...I love it, I love it, I love it

Ooohh

Cruise with me baby

I love it when we're cruisin together

Smokey Robinson - Cruisen

Treading Water

My Chris Ferguson Challenge is just treading water for the last week or so. I have been as high as $6 and as low as .50 cents and right now it is at $3 dollars and some change. The biggest problem is I don't have the bankroll to play back at someone when they hit me with a moderate raise. I have tried to play tight and only see the flop with premium hands. Unfortunately Poker.com is ganging up on my by not giving me very many premium hands. Today I played for an hour or so and the best hands I was dealt was A/K off, two times. I wasn't dealt any big pocket pairs and I wasn't able to flop a set with my small pocket pairs. The hands I did win were with Kings and that kept me pretty much at even for the day.

I will keep trying to build my bankroll with my Challenge or will go broke trying. I can't really say I am learning much as the microstakes are unreal for people calling with crap and sucking out to win the hand. I'm hoping I can survive the microstakes and get into a little higher No Limit game where the play is not as fishy.
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I am going to ask Santa Claus to bring me some Poker Videos to help me step up my game. Does anyone out there know any good training videos for a medium to good players. I don't want beginner videos but would drather have training videos for advanced players. I have watched a little of Final Table Poker with Phil Gordon and I really liked it. That would be one I think I would be interested in.
I can't afford to join Cardrunners so I will have to find some other less expensive training videos.

Treading Water

My Chris Ferguson Challenge is just treading water for the last week or so. I have been as high as $6 and as low as .50 cents and right now it is at $3 dollars and some change. The biggest problem is I don't have the bankroll to play back at someone when they hit me with a moderate raise. I have tried to play tight and only see the flop with premium hands. Unfortunately Poker.com is ganging up on my by not giving me very many premium hands. Today I played for an hour or so and the best hands I was dealt was A/K off, two times. I wasn't dealt any big pocket pairs and I wasn't able to flop a set with my small pocket pairs. The hands I did win were with Kings and that kept me pretty much at even for the day.


I will keep trying to build my bankroll with my Challenge or will go broke trying. I can't really say I am learning much as the microstakes are unreal for people calling with crap and sucking out to win the hand. I'm hoping I can survive the microstakes and get into a little higher No Limit game where the play is not as fishy.
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I am going to ask Santa Claus to bring me some Poker Videos to help me step up my game. Does anyone out there know any good training videos for a medium to good players. I don't want beginner videos but would drather have training videos for advanced players. I have watched a little of Final Table Poker with Phil Gordon and I really liked it. That would be one I think I would be interested in.


I can't afford to join Cardrunners so I will have to find some other less expensive training videos.

What's going on with Poker??

What is going on in the Poker world? Since I last had a post, Norway's Annette 'Annette_15' Obrestad became both the youngest person to ever win a World Series bracelet and the first woman to ever win a WSOP Main Event title when she finished atop a field of 362 entrants in the first-ever World Series of Poker Europe £10,000 Main Event tournament. This girl just turned 19 and can't even go to Las Vegas next year to play in the World Series of Poker because she will be too young!! She had already set the online Poker World on it's ear and now she shows that she can do it at the live tables.

The 2+2 forums are abuzz over possible cheating at highstakes games at Absolute Poker. There are several super long posts about it, inlcuding this one. There are a lot of people pointing fingers at Mark Seif, although I think it is quite absurb that he would be capable of this. Mark Seif (born October 4, 1967) is an American attorney and poker player from Lake Tahoe, California. That is not the pedigree of a computer Hacker. It is stuff like this that I stay away from 2 + 2. They may be a great site for helping you with your game but they have way too many conspiracy theorists and will rip you a new one if you ask a poker question they deem 'stupid'.

Poker Tracker was hacked and temporarily disabled. This story is from Kick Ass Poker Blog. Users of the popular performance-tracking software PokerTracker were dismayed late in the week to discover that the site had been compromised, resulting in its quickly being taken offline by the software's owner/developers.

Since a lot of users have their PokerTracker software set to retrieve updates automatically, the question then arose as to whether the software was somehow auto-installing a virus that would compromise users' own sensitive information. The answer to that, at least, seemed to be no --- while at least one 2+2 poster reported that a patch obtained from PT might have contained a virus, the problem seemed to be that the PT site itself was hacked, resulting in the software hanging while it searched for updates that could not be retrieved.

PokerTracker arranged with another third-party software maker to have its install files temporarily hosted their while its own site's issues are resolved. PokerTracker is expected to be online as normal sometime during the coming week.

Finally, my Michigan Wolverines won their first game of the year and looked good doing it with their Freshman quarterback. Let's see if they are contenders or pretenders as Penn State comes to The Big House to face the Wolverines this Saturday.
GO BLUE!!

My Chris "Jesus" Ferguson Challenge

My Chris "Jesus" Ferguson Challenge on Poker.com improved by a whopping .30 cents today to stand at $5.06. For those of you that don't know why I am calling it the Chris "Jesus" Ferguson Challenge it is because he claims to have painstakingly turned $1 into more than $20,000 on an online poker site over six months, as a personal challenge. He also claims to have succeeded in a similar scheme to turn $0 into $10,000 on Full Tilt Poker by first winning freeroll tournaments, and then playing with the prize money.

I started this challenge because I had removed the majority of my bankroll from Poker.com and due to some bad beats and poor play my remaining bankroll had fallen to micro-micro limits, i.e. less than $2. What better time than now to try a Chris "Jesus" Ferguson Challenge ? I really like the site, Poker.com, and I think almost anyone that plays microstakes online poker has tried to do a Chris "Jesus" Ferguson Challenge. Who doesn't dream of taking a couple of bucks and turning it into thousands?

I'm not saying that I'm a Chris Ferguson but I am going to continue to play some solid, tight poker at the microlimits and see how far I can take this.

SitNGos and Chocolate Milk

My Poker.com Jesus Ferguson challenge is still moving upward, albeit slowly. I am sitting at $4.76 after being down to .50 cents.

I hate to say anything about how I am playing as the poker Gods will be sure and flip on my doom switch so lets just leave it at I am making some good plays and getting some good cards right now and my poker winnings are inching upward. I only played for a little over an hour today but was able to finish in the black on Poker.com and Poker Stars.

I plan on golfing today so don’t know how much poker I will be able to play. It is getting closer to winter and that is when I will be able to increase my time at the tables. I’m pretty sure I will be playing more and more as we march through fall and towards Thanksgiving and Christmas.

SitNGos and chocolate milk
these are just a couple of my cravings
everything it seems i like's a little bit stronger
a little bit thicker
a little bit harmful for me

if i should play SitNgos
have to beat them all in just one sitting
everything it seems i like's a little bit sweeter
a little bit fatter
a little bit harmful for me

and then there's those other things
which for several reasons we won't mention
everything about them is a little bit stranger
a little bit harder
a little bit deadly

To the tune of Cigarettes and Chocolate Milk by Rufus Wainwright.

3:10 to Yuma (No poker content)

I love westerns. The Clint Eastwood Spaghetti westerns, Lonesome Dove, The Searchers with John Wayne, Jeremiah Johnson, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid to name just a few. I was really excited when Mrs. Wolverine and I went to the cinema the other day to see the Russell Crowe movie “3:10 to Yuma”. This was a remake of the 1957 film of the same name starring Glenn Ford. Both movies were based on the short story “3:10 to Yuma” by Elmore Leonard. I rate the move a 5 out of 10 as it was barely good and they included way too many harrowing experiences and too many shoot outs to liven up this flick. Plus, it was nothing like the short story.

I read the short story by Elmore Leonard and the story is about 1/10th of the movie, mostly the end. The start and middle portions of the movie have nothing to do with the book but were made up the by the screen writers.

It could have been one of the best westerns since Clint Eastwood’s “Unforgiven”. All they had to do was concentrate on the gist of the story and to have some realistic shoot-outs, not the glorified Hollywood shoot’em ups where they fire their double barrel shotgun 3 times before reloading.

Why does Hollywood do that? Why are movies like “Unforgiven” or “The Usual Suspects” so few and far between? Doesn’t Hollywood realize that sometimes “Less is more”?

Suited Hammer and Wolverines are on Life Support Now

I won a nice hand with the suited hammer here.

My Poker.com Challenge has moved from intensive care to a ward room now. I turned my last .58 cents into $3 and the challenge is still going. The big difference between Friday and today? My big hands held up today. It started when I got pocket Kings and went all in with about .50 cents. Three others called all in and I flopped a set and they held up to boost my bankroll to $2. After that I just played very tight and won a few more hands that pushed my bankroll over $3 bucks. Whooo Hooo!!
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Now my Michigan Wolverines are on life support. Maybe this is for the best and good things will come out of it like a new coach. I still think we can turn this season around but now winning 8 games looks like a wonderful year after these two devastating losses. Ron English, our Defensive Coach was suppose to be a defensive genious after last year but we can see his is much less than a genious.

It is probably time for Lloyd Carr to retire. I was never on the "get rid of Lloyd" bandwagon but I will not shed a tear if he decides to step down.

I have been a Michigan fan all of my very long life and this is hard to take because I have never experienced this in my Wolverine fan years. I'm just going to wear my color with pride and know that almost every other college program has gone through this and have bounced back and won again. That is what the Wolverines are going to do.

Those who remain will be Champions!

Not MIssion Difficult, Mission Impossible

My Poker.com Challenge to grow a bankroll via microstakes No Limit Holdem is on life support as we speak. Several bad sessions in the last two days has my bankroll down to the minimum buy-in for .02/.04 No Limit. This will be a Jesus Ferguson Challenge for sure now. Sunday will probably be my D-day for the challenge. I am going to go in with total confidence that I can quadruple my bankroll and make this challenge work.

And so it goes

I managed to eke out two winning sessions today on Full Tilt and Poker.com. I sat down at my Limit Holdem table at Full Tilt and it was almost a replay of yesterday where I was getting good hands, playing solid poker but the donkeys were hitting the flop and taking down the pots. Finally, I was able to take one such donkey to the cleaners when I was dealt pocket Kings in late position.

This donkey was playing almost every hand and would not let go of the hand if he managed to hit one of his cards. His strategy was working so-so in that he never lost all of his money but he never won much either. He did manage to make a couple of dollars above his buy-in when I was dealt my Kings. I raised and he called and so did the Big Blind. The flop was 10 high and I did my continuation bet and he called and so did the BB. There was no flush or straight possibilities showing so all I was up against that could beat me was two pair or a set. The turn was a rag, I bet, donkey called, BB folded. The river brought a 3 on board that paired it with another 3 on the flop. Oh-oh, I thought. I knew the donkey played if he hit the flop and he very well could have called my preflop raise with A/3 or some combination. I threw out my last bet figuring if he raised I was beaten but he just called and turned over a 10 for a pair of tens and my Kings held up to win a nice size pot. That put me in the black for that session and I had to leave soon after.

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I was trying to rebuild my bankroll on Poker.com at the same time I was playing on Full Tilt. I managed to win a nice pot early but due to some very aggressive play by the donkeys that have more money than poker sense, I soon had lost that and was slowly sinking, down almost half a buy-in when I was dealt pocket sixes. The flop brought a beautiful six to make my set. I made a pot size bet only to have one other player go all in. Hmmmm, what could he have. No flush or straight draws showing so I put him on two pair and called. He turned over pocket 3s and I beat him with set-over-set to put me up about 1/2 a buy in.

Nothing to get too excited about but a win is a win and I really played quite sparingly. I hope to play some more tomorrow and see if I can't continue with this success.

In a Funk

This may be a short post. Basically, everything that went well this week-end took a 180 degree turn and blew up on me today. I lost two buy-ins at Full Tilt when every time I had a good hand a donkey would call with a lesser hand and hit the cards he needed. Finally, I just tilted when my Ace/King went against 10/10 and guess who won that battle. My VP$IP was running at 18% so I don't feel I was playing too many hands. The biggest pocket pair I had was J/J and that lost when an ace came up on the flop. Had A/K three times and won once with it. My best hand was when my pocket 8s turned into a set on the flop and I did make a big score there. I just need to cool off and give it another go tomorrow.
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My challenge at Poker.com took a step back when I lost a buy in there when my K/K went against A/10 and the turn brought the ace to send me packing. I was playing pretty good and holding my own when the kings came up and I was hoping to double up and call it a night. I got exactly what I wanted. One person going all in with a less than primo hand. Unfotunately he hit the card he needed and GG me. I was ahead 70% to 30% and lost.

That pretty much summed up my night. Hopefully things will turn tomorrow and I can start a new winning streak.

Good Poker Week-end

I had a good week-end of poker climaxing when I final tabled a 180 man SitNgo at Full Tilt. I ended up finishing in 5th place for a nice little profit. I can't remember any really spectacular hands and I don't really think I sucked out on anyone. I just played some tight poker in the early stages, my good hands held up until the end and I ended up making the final table. There were about 15 left and I was in the money when I lost half of my stack to a lesser hand. We both went all in before the flop and my Ace/King had him covered only to see him go runner/runner and garner a straight. That put me in poor position to advance but the Poker Gods were favoring me as in the next couple of hands I look down to see Ace/Ace and I parlay them into a nice little pot that puts me back in position to make it to the final table. Even then I did a lot of folding of some pretty good hands and let the more aggressive players have at it.

Good or bad strategy? Probably not such a great strategy if you are trying to win because by letting others make the moves you are letting at least one of them garner a lot of chips. Sure, some are taken out and you move up but when I got to the final table I was 7th out of 9 in chips and had little possibility of really taking it all down. I made some good plays and won a few hands but the blinds and the aggressive play of the big stacks slowly wore me down until I had to go all in with less than an ideal hand just to try to win enough to finish one spot higher.

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My No Limit Challenge at Poker.com is doing well. I have managed to double my bankroll in just a short time. That's not saying a lot because my bankroll was very, very small to begin with. However, I am optomistic that I can slowly build it up to a respectable amount. This is really a Jesus Ferguson type challenge as I started this challenge with just over $2. I can't really say that I am learning much as every time I have played there has been at least one guy that wins everything and one donkey that tilts and loses it all. I have been fortunate enough to double through the donkeys a couple of times.

I did lose one big hand to the guy that was winning everything when my K/10 lost to his A/10. One ten came on the flop and one on the turn so the only thing that could beat me was the Ace. I had to see if he had it because at the microstakes level, people call or bet with almost anything. I was pretty sure he had the ace because of his past plays but he didn't raise it preflop in late position so I was hoping he had a lesser kicker.

My final hand that doubled me up was pretty lucky on my part. I had K/Q suited in late position and I raised it pretty good. The BB went all in. I had him covered and he was doing that a lot with less than stellar hands and was on tilt a bit so I called only to see him turn over A/K. Oh Oh. I sucked out and the board gave me the straight. Broadway, Baby!!! and the chips slid over into my pile.

I didn't feel too bad about sucking out on him because he was playing such shit cards that there was no way I could respect his reraise all-in of my raise. I thanked the Poker Gods and left the table soon after that.

Those who remain will be Champions!