Just Treading Water

I am just treading water on the poker front. I haven't really been able to sit down for any length of time to play some good solid poker. I lost the 4 buy ins the other night and have been able to make only about one buy in back so far. I hope to remedy that tomorrow as I will have all afternoon to play some good solid poker.

Wish me luck!

I tied for my best nine holes of golf on Friday, shooting an even par 36 at Prairie Creek Golf Course in Dewitt, Michigan. I hit one bad shot in the whole round and it cost me two strokes. I was sitting at two under par after 6 holes when I came to the fairly easy par 5 seventh and hit my second shot into the water. I ended up taking a 7 on that hole. I parred out on 8 and 9 and finished up with an even 36 for the nine holes.

All of my best scores this year have come when my chipping and putting have been spot on and Friday was no difference. I was able to one or two putt every hole, including one 50 foot birdie putt that I was just trying to lag close. I made two putts to salvage par from knee knocker distance after misjudging the speed of the green by just a bit. One was a downhill putt that I managed to leave above the hole (which I never thought could happen) and was able to roll it in dead center. The other was a lag putt from quite a ways that went about 8 feet past the hole but I was able to hole the parr putt to keep my round going.

I am finally hitting my driver the way I should be hitting it. It has only taken me 3 months to figure out what I was doing wrong. If I were grading my drives I would put them at a C+ or a B now.

I have enough confidence in my game now that I feel I can play most any course at bogey golf and, hopefully, a couple of strokes under. I have fair distance off of the tees and with my irons and now that my chipping and putting are consistant I am getting some nice scores on my card.

This and That

I sat down at a table on Poker Stars on Friday Night and ran into a maniac that was playing 75/60 (VP$IP/PFR) and he was winning everything. He stacked me twice. I tried to be really patient and get it in with the best hands and I did once out of the two times. This guy was playing any two cards and hitting trips, straights, two pair and bigger pairs than anyone at the table. He turned $25 to over $100 then lost back to $75 and was building it back up to over $90 when I left the table.


I was trying to be patient and was in a hand with him and one other player when he raised big and I folded only to see him turn over 5/6 off and he had hit his straight. I guess this was in my mind when I got 7/7 on the next hand and raised it big to try and isolate this nut. He reraises me and I call and he and I see a low rag flop. I push all in and he calls and turns over Pocket Kings. Now he gets the good hand and its Rebuy for me.

The next hand I get A/K off and again I raise up preflop to isolate the maniac and he reraises. The flop comes down 5, 7, K rainbow. I bet he raises and I push all in and he calls. He shows K/3 off and I have him dominated until the 3 comes on the turn and its Rebuy time again.

I left that table soon after that as everyone was not playing their game but were trying to stack the maniac and there would be 3 players raising big preflop and I did not see this as a profitable situation for me. In fact the rest of the night at other tables went downhill from there as I could not hit a single flop and when I did it was for second best hand.

It was a terrible night at the tables but I came back on Saturday and today to regain some of the buy-ins I had lost.
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Let me understand this. They (the prime time media) are saying that this 7 country, 10 day trip for Barack Obama is suppose to make him an expert in foreign affairs. That's like saying that if I go to the Detroit Zoo then I would be an expert in Animal Husbandry and Veterinarian Medicine. How absurb. One trip overseas does not an expert make and, arguably, doesn't even give the person a factual account of what is going on as they will be so out of touch with the situation when there are more than 40 media people in attendance, including all 3 network anchors, not to mention his own entourage. I heard there were 20 vehicles in his 'parade' when he was in Jordan or wherever.

I like how the media reports that 200,000 Germans showed up to see Barack Obama and failed to mention the free concerts prior to him speaking.

++ Pop Concert for Obama Fans ++
6:33 p.m.: The tens of thousands of Obama fans are being entertained as they await the senator. The reggae musician Patrice kicked things off, followed by the rock band Reamonn.

Not to mention campaign flyers, in German. Never heard of any of this from the American Media darlings that are in love with this man. What a bunch of shit.

Black, white, red or yellow, he is too liberal for me and has too many socialist tendancies.

Randy Pausch passed away today

Today is an extremely sad day as Randy Pausch passed away. Randy Pausch found out he was dieing of pancreatic cancer so he gave his "last lecture" at Carnegie Mellon University and it was one of the most watched videos on U-tube.

If you haven't seen it I implore you to watch it and enjoy one of the best 'lectures' I have ever seen by anyone. I don't have the writing skills to describe what a tremendous person Randy Pausch is and what a valuable lesson he left our society with via his "last lecture".

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I won a buy in yesterday and gave most of it back today. I was sitting at two tables on Poker Stars that were just ripe for the picking. There were 3 players on each table that were in the 40+/10+ VP$IP/PFR category and I couldn't get a hand or hit a flop to save my life. I am a bit proud of myself for limiting my losses in the face of so much money to be had from these LAGs. If I could have hit one flop with a set or two pair I would easily have double up against these players as they had a hard time letting TP/GK go.

I hope to be back at it later today or tomorrow and get my money back plus some more.

No poker/no golf

I haven't played any poker in the last two days and haven't played golf since last week. Hopefully will remedy both of those shortages soon.

I won the hand in my previous post where I had A/K off and flopped Broadway. I did raise too much on his flop bet but he got it all in with two pair and I doubled up.

That was a nice way to end my week of play.

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My daughter and I saw The Dark Knight this week-end and really enjoyed it. It was a little bit long though. They could have shortened it by 10 to 20 minutes and not lose much. Plus they really didn't set up a continuation or plot for the next movie if they have one.

If you go out to The Dark Knight site there is a game you can play with Batman on his Motorcycle type vehicle. Gotham City Street Chase

Now Christian Bale is in trouble so who knows what will happen.
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Estelle Getty of 'Golden Girls' fame dies at 84. A sad day for fans of the Golden Girls. My daughters are real fans of the show and one even said that Bea Arthur is like another grandmother to her. Sad day for hollywood.

Was my flop riase too much?

I had been at this table for a bit and the villain is around 30% VP$IP/15% Pre Flop Raise. I had him as someone I wouldn't mind going up against but would treat him with respect on account of his numbers.

Did I raise too much on the flop after his bet?

Poker Stars, $0.10/$0.25 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 6 Players
LeggoPoker.com -
Hand History Converter

Hero (MP): $18.15
CO: $22.75
BTN: $5.95
SB: $1.05
BB: $27.60
UTG: $27.15

Pre-Flop: dealt to Hero (MP)
UTG folds, Hero raises to $1, CO calls $1, 2 folds, BB calls $0.75

Flop: ($3.10) (3 Players)
BB bets $1.75, Hero raises to $9, CO folds, BB calls $7.25

I'm not sure if I hit the pot button on my raise or if I just was too fast in making a raise. I have a bad habit of acting too fast and not thinking things through enough and that was the case here. If I had to do it overagain I think I would have minraised him or maybe just a $5 dollar raise. If I had not raised so much I may have kept the Cut Off in this hand as I really had flopped the nuts and maybe could extract more money from two players instead of just one.

Warming up to Poker Tracker 3

I am warming up to Poker Tracker 3. I am using it more and more and it is starting to work properly on both Full Tilt and Poker Stars. It has helped me make a couple of decisions during play already so I am starting to get the feeling it is going to be worth the investment. I have 52 days remaining on my trail period and I am going to use up almost all of them before I make a decision. I will be loading Poker Manager soon so that I can determine which one works best and will purchase accordingly.
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I am drinking Harpoon Hibernian Ale right now. It is on sale at my most favorite Beer Store and I have purchased one six pack and soon hope to be buying another one or two. This beer is brewed in New England at Harpoon Breweries with two locations in Boston, Mass and Windsor, Vermont. Their tag line is "New England's Craft Brewery".

They describe their Harpoon Hibernian Ale as:

HISTORY OF THE STYLE
Harpoon Hibernian is an Irish red ale. In its first year of production, it was available only on tap in the Greater Boston area. This was Harpoon’s salute to and the celebration of St Patrick. The following year it became Harpoon’s official spring seasonal beer. “Hibernian” comes from the name Hibernia, which is Latin for “winter”. This name was given to by the Romans who were unaccustomed to the land’s cold weather.

CHARACTER
Harpoon Hibernian Ale features a deep amber color. The flavor is malty and complex. Hibernian Ale has a moderate hop finish that, along with the generous amounts of malt, makes for a medium bodied, smooth, rich beer. Try serving Hibernian with a hearty stew… the beer’s robust character will compliment the bold flavors.

The overall character is a complex maltiness with a deep amber color.

Beer Advocate rates this beer a solid B with comments like, "Not a bad Irish red, a nice seasonal" and "Overall a good beer, and a standard example of the style".

I really enjoy this beer as it is a nice tasting session type brew. It has a good flavor and goes down very smoothly. The price I am getting it per six pack makes it as good a buy as Killian's Irish Ale.

A sign of the Apocalypse?

InBev, the world's leading brewer, just got bigger. Headquartered in Leuven, Belgium, InBev employs almost 89,000 people worldwide. With sales in over 130 countries and now they are adding Anheuser-Busch the makers of Budweiser, Michelob, and many, many others.

InBev and Anheuser-Busch Agree to Combine, Creating the Global Leader in Beer with Budweiser as its Flagship Brand. Combination Will Create One of the World’s Five Largest Consumer Products Companies Company to be Named Anheuser-Busch InBev.

The combination of Anheuser-Busch and InBev will create the global leader in the beer industry and one of the world’s top five consumer products companies. On a pro-forma basis for 2007, the combined company would have generated global volumes of 460 million hectoliters, revenues of $36.4 billion (€26.6 billion) and EBITDA of $10.7 billion (€7.8 billion).

Anheuser-Busch and InBev together believe that this transaction is in the best interests of both companies’ shareholders, consumers, employees, wholesalers, business partners and the communities they serve. Budweiser, together with Stella Artois and Beck’s, will become the combined company’s leading global brands, leveraging InBev’s expansive international footprint.

InBev's most famous brews are Beck's Beer and Stella Artois and a host of other brews you probably have never heard of like Leffe, a Belgium brand of Abbey Beer or Brahma, a Brazilian Beer.

World Series of Poker Final Table is Set

The 2008 WSOP $10,000 NLHE World Championship Final Table:
Dennis Phillips 53, St. Louis, Missouri, 26,295,000
Ivan Demidov, 27, Moscow, Russia, 24,400,000
Scott Montgomery, 26, Perth, Ontario, Canada, 19,690,000
Peter Eastgate, 22, Odense, Denmark, 18,375,000
Ylon Schwartz, 38, Brooklyn, New York, 12,525,000
Darus Suharto, 39, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, 12,520,000
David Rheem, 28, Los Angeles, California, 10,230,000
Craig Marquis, 23, Arlington, Texas, 10,210,000
Kelly Kim, 31, Whittier, California, 2,620,000

I'm pulling for the old guy, Dennis Phillips. I just turned 53 the other day so if Mr. Phillips can win this tourney at the age of 53 then there is hope for me some day soon. Or maybe just to keep my senility at bay and make enough money to pay for my golf and vacations. That would be sufficient.

A bit discouraged

I am a bit discouraged with Poker Tracker 3. I am having a difficult time to get it to work correctly and, from reading the forums, I guess I am not alone in this. I wonder if it is better to purchase it and get Poker Tracker 2 and Poker Ace Heads up Display and use them instead of Poker Tracker 3?

Any ideas, suggestions out there?

Most of the problems are getting the Heads Up Display to work correctly. I have had some sucess for a few games and then I have had some real bustos with it where I wasn't working at all or giving me stats for players that weren't even at my table.

It's almost like getting a Christmas or Birthday present and opening the box only to find that all of the pieces aren't there and you have to return it to the store. Can't play with it right away and all of your excitement is lost and turns to depression.

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I started reading about Holdem Manager and now am wondering if this is the direction I should head. Many people on 2+2 forums like Holdem Manager over Poker Tracker 3.

Happy Birthday to Me

Happy Birthday to me,

Happy birthday to me

Happy birthday dear Wolverine Fan......

Happy Birthday to me.

Today is my *%(@#) birthday. I am as old as dirt.

On the day I was being welped by my wonderful mum so was Jimmy Smits, American actor, Willie Wilson, American baseball player and Steve Coppell, English football player and manager.

While my mom was straining to push me out of the womb (where I was very comfortable) the song "Rock Around Clock" hits #1 on Top 100 chart on this day and was playing in the background.

Now for the big news. My family is giving me Poker Tracker III for my birthday. Is that a great family or what??!! Look out. Now I will have statistics, heads up display and tons of data on all the donkeys I'll be stacking as well as infinite data on my own game that will help me hone my skills so that anyone I play will be pwned!

Look out American, Wolverine Fan has just been handed the ultimate weapon of destruction to all On Line Poker Rooms.

I have met the enemy and it is me

I sat down at Full Tilt today to play a short session while I waited for the downpour outside to stop and lost a buy in to the biggest Donkey move that anyone could make. I WAS THE DONKEY!! I MADE THE STUPIDEST MOVE EVER!! I had pocket Kings and managed to lose to trip jacks. On the flop. After a raise and reraise. The donkey move was I wouldn't let those damn Kings go. I knew I was beat and I just reacted too fast to the all in and dropped a buy in.

I'll never get to be a really good player until I can stop myself from making donkey moves like that. I know the game better than that. I know the game enough to know that Kings aren't the nuts. I know the game enough to know that these are the type of decisions that mean the difference between being a winning player and a losing player.

I can watch all of the videos in the world and if this is how I continue to play I will never get any better. And I mean to get better!! Maybe this was just the thing I needed to wake me up and sit back and take stock of my game and how I am playing it. Not very well if this is any indication. Maybe this is just what the doctor ordered.

I am going to pledge here and now that I will learn from this mistake and I will not repeat it and I will become a better player and I will be a winning player. Period. Full Stop.
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Yesterday I was raving about the HBO show The Wire and I said it had several episodes. I meant Seasons. I think it has been on for 5 or 6 seasons and just concluded this past spring. We have watched seasons one and two and should be starting up with Season 3 this week.

Andre Royo plays a character in The Wire called Bubbles. He is a Criminal Informant (CI) and a junkie. This man deserves and Emmy award for his acting. Bubbles is perfection personified as a junkie that will go to any extremes to get a fix or to get money for a fix. He steals coppper and resells it and he even goes into an ambulance to try to steal drug paraphanalia.

Michael K. Williams is another actor from The Wire that deserves and Emmy, too. He plays Omar who steals from other drug dealers. He plays this character to perfection. It is acting like this that makes The Wire so good. I don't know how The Sopranos got to be so critically aclaimed and I barely heard of The Wire.

I loved The Sopranos and thought it was a really good show but I like The Wire a lot better. I think I like The Wire better because the good guys sometimes win whereas The Sopranos was mostly about bad guys and how they would screw people over. I think this is going to be one of those series that when it's over I will be really bummed and there will be a big void to fill for good stories, good acting and just good television.

mmmmm, Beer

Not much to report on the Poker front. I am just treading water the last few days, playing break even poker. I guess I may have won a few dollars but not enough to really mention. I will be taking a short break from playing which may help rekindle my game. We are only talking a day or two away from the tables. I will keep watching videos from Grinder School and Poker Trikz which should help my game improve.

I bought a couple of sixpacks on sale at my favorite beer store, Horrock's. The one I am drinking now is Leinenkugel's Northwoods Lager.

The Jacob Leinenkugel Brewing Company is reintroducing Northwoods Lager to Wisconsin, Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota and select distributors in Michigan and Illinois beginning February 4th for a limited time. After a two-year hiatus, the award-winning brew will re-join the Leinenkugel’s family of premium craft brews on retailer shelves.

Northwoods Lager, which was first introduced in 1986 as a fall seasonal and quickly became a year-round favorite in 1990, is a handcrafted blend of select barley malts and aromatic, bittering hops. Brewed in small, high-quality batches at Leinenkugel’s brewery in Chippewa Falls, Wis, Leinenkugel’s Northwoods Lager features a deep golden color and a smooth, robust flavor.

This is a really good session beer. It is amber color and goes down smoothly. This may be one of my most favorite beers to sit down with at home and partake in 3 or 4 at a sitting.

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My wife and I have discovered The Wire, an HBO show. It has been on for 5 or 6 episodes but since we don't get HBO we weren't all that aware of it. Now that it is out on DVDs we have been devouring it and have already watched Seasons one and two.

What a great show. Excellent story lines, excellent acting and more action than the Sopranos. I like this show way more than I liked The Sopranos.

We hope to start watchig Season 3 by the end of this week.

Happy Birthday America!!