Better Results

I played for just about an hour today with a bit better results than yesterday. I made a small profit of about 1/2 a buy-in after being stacked on one of my first hands. I stuck to my new mantra of playing less hands and raising preflop on my quality hands so early on I was dealt 10/10 and I raised it up preflop and got one caller. Flop was all rags, including an 8, and I put in a good size bet only to have the villain raise all-in which was just about $1 dollar more to me. I called and saw that my pocket 10s had his 6/8 offsuit dominated until he hit the trip 8 on the turn and won that pot. That was about the only pot he won and he left shortly after.

All I could do was shake my head and keep playing quality cards. I was able to come back from that minor setback to turn a small profit. I was quite proud of myself as I didn't let that donkish play tilt me and I stayed true to my game and was able to rebuild with less than stellar cards. My raising caused for a lot of folds and I would only win the blinds but I did get played back at a couple of times and I was fortunate enough to hit the flops and take down a few smallish pots.

All in all I was quite happy with how I played and the small profit I was able to generate.
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Mrs. Wolverine and I have just finished watching the first two seasons of the Showtime series Weeds on DVD. We really liked the first season but wasn't overly thrilled with the second season and how the characters were developing. Mary Louise-Parker plays Nancy Botwin. Her husband died of a heart attack and left her little or no money. To make ends meet and continue the suburban lifestyle she is accustomed to she sells marijuana. The show is about her "job". The first season was cute and made us laugh a lot at the zany cast of characters.

The second season was less than stellar. The circumstances that the characters put themselves into began to be more mean spirited and less funny. We began to not care for any of the main characters because of their actions. This made the show much less enjoyable than it had been.

The music is the one constant that was outstanding in both seasons 1 and 2. The theme song is a catchy protest song written by Malvina Reynolds in the 1950s and the songs within the show and at the end of each episode were spot on. The songs were quirky and totally perfect for the scene they were tied to.

We will probable watch season number 3 but we hope it goes into a different direction than season 2 went into.

Righting my Sinking Ship (again)

I am not doing well in my microstakes No Limit Holdem Challenge. I have dropped over 6 buy-ins the last several days. The problems are mostly with me in that I am playing too many hands, calling when I should be folding and not getting a whole lot of good cards which tends to lead to my playing less than ideal cards, i.e. Q/10, K/J, K/10 etc.

The last two times I played I actually started off doing quite well and was up a couple of buy-ins when the wheels came off. I know what I need to do. Slow down and stop playing so many hands. Only play quality hands and raise them up preflop when I do play.

I am going to start to right my sinking ship the next time I play. My mantra will be, "Only Quality Hands! Raise Preflop!!" Those two things should help to turn my losing streak into a winning streak.
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Has anyone had the Guinness Draught Bottle? It is on sale at our local supermarket and I told my wife I would get a six-pack as a Superbowl treat. I guess you are suppose to drink it from the bottles as there is a widget in there that helps to keep the Guinness creamy and 'natural'. Everything I read says you won't get the good odor of Guinness but it is suppose to taste good.

Helium Beer Review has the following to say about the bottle:


In 1999, Guinness introduced its Draught Bottles. The idea was to capitalize on the success of its Draught Cans and adapt it to create a Guinness that can be consumed directly from the bottle. Its special "Rocket Widget" is designed to charge the beer with nitrogen and carbon dioxide every time you move the bottle to your mouth, creating the smooth and creamy flavor one gets from the tap or a Guinness Draught Can. That's the idea. In practice, however, in my experience, the Draught Bottle tastes nothing like Guinness from the tap or can. There is no true sense of the creamy essence that is Guinness, and the beer has a bitter taste that reminds me of the Extra Stout and lacks the full-body taste that you expect from a Guinness Draught.

Dr. Beer Love had an entire write up about Guinness Draught and did a taste comparison of the can vs. the bottle. It is quite extensive so take a look at it and see what you think. He drank the Guinness Draught from a glass and said the better taste was at a warmer temperature even though the bottle says to drink it super cold.

The Beer Belly did a comparison of Guinness on tap, in a can and in the bottle and concluded with:

Does the bar drawn pint from a tap win hands down? I don't think so. I actually preferred the bottle over the true draught in this taste test.

Should I get the Guinness Draught Bottle for watching the Superbowl or should I opt for something else like Newcastle Brown Ale or Bells Oberon??

Turbo SitNGos

My play at the microstakes Turbo SitNGos continues and after 65 games I have a ROI of .28. It was higher but I hit a bad stretch and that knocked it down. My last 10 games have been much better and I have finished in the money on 7 of them. I am not getting rich by playing these but it is fun and fast so I guess they have that going for them. I said I was going to move up in stakes and I did for a bit but then dropped back down because the lower stakes fill up so much faster and I can have 4 games going within 10 minutes of sitting down at my computer. The higher stakes games take much longer to fill up.

My short stack micro-stakes No Limit game took a hit on Absolute last night, dropping just over two buyins in about an hour. Worse hand was when my A/K lost to K/5 when he rivered his 5. Why he was playing that hand is a mystery but that is what you get at microstake's play. If you are going to play the microstakes you have to get use to that type of play but my bankroll isn't enough to move to higher stakes yet. I can't say the I am emotionally set to lose to donkey hands like that as it takes everything I have not to tilt after losing a stack to such a shit hand.
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I am drinking Leinenkugel's Big Butt Doppelbock and am really enjoying it. So far, to me, it is the closest taste that I have come to Moose Drool yet. Dopplebock is a dark brew and very malty but not quite as malty as Moose Drool. Leinenkugel's Big Butt Doppelbock is only available from January through March. It is a nice winter drink.

Beer Advocate only rated this beer as a C+ and most of the ratings stated it wasn't a true Bock beer. Not thick enough for the most part, a bit thin for the true Connoisseur. I'm still pretty new at drinking "Quality" brews so, to me, this was a good beer. As I become more sophisticated, I may realize that this is a bit thin for a true bock beer.

We took Ms. Wolverine (the middle daughter) out to dinner for her birthday to Claddagh's Irish Pub and Mrs. Wolverine and I both got a pint of Guinness. It was very good and went down nicely with my bangers and mash.

No time to play

I haven't had any time to play the last couple of days so don't have much to say. Here is a hand I lost in one of my Turbo SitNGos. Probably didn't play this as well as I could have but it is what it is.
Full Tilt (7 handed) Full Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com (Format: HTML)

Preflop: Wolverine Fan is BB with 4c, 5d. SB posts a blind of 40.
1 fold, MP1 calls, 1 fold, Villain calls, 2 folds, Hero checks.

Flop: 4h, Js, 4s (3 players)
Wolverine Fan checks, MP1 checks, Villain checks.
Slow playing trip 4s.

Turn: 5c (3 players)
Wolverine Fan bets, MP1 folds, Villain calls.
I made a Pot size bet here ready to take this down right now as I have the nuts.

River: 7c (2 players)
Wolverine Fan bets, Villain raises, Wolverine Fan calls 245 (All-In).
I make another Pot size bet here and the Villain raised me all in so I called figuring I had just doubled up.
Final Pot:

Results:
Wolverine Fan has 4c 5d (full house, fours full of fives).
Villain has 7h 7d (full house, sevens full of fours).
Outcome: Villain wins

I lost another game where 3 of us went all in after seeing the flop. Me with a set of 9s, Villain 1 with a set of 10s and Villain 2 with K/Q off (gutshot straight draw). A Jack comes on the river and me and Villain 1 lose to a straight. I thought I was gold with my 9s and it turns out I had worse hand of the 3.

Good times.

Winner, Winner, Chicken Dinner

My low stake Turbo SitNgo is getting better and better. I have played a few games at the higher stakes and have finished in the money 3 out of 4 times. So far, after 40 games, I have a .40 ROI.

The Poker Gods did shit on me at Absolute. I knew better than to say anything about how I was playing. The first hand tonight my Q/Q was cracked by a donkey that got his straight on the river. That put me on semi-tilt and several hands later my A/Q suited was cracked by another donkey that called a 5X BB preflop raise with 2/9 suited. It went down hill from there.

I get at them again tomorrow or the next day. The SitnGos were fun but Absolute was not very fun. Loss over 2 buy-ins today.

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Here's a picture of a moose laying by the road in the Grand Tetons. You can see where the snow plow had threw the snow so you know the moose is close. He wouldn't look at me when I was trying to snap his picture. My youngest Wolverine and I saw moose, elk, deer and eagles in the Tetons. She is still there and doing well at her new job. I'll post a couple of more pictures I took while I was there.

Mrs. Wolverine and I are going to visit her in September.

Feast or Famine in the Turbos

I have been playing low buy-in Turbo SitNGos on Full Tilt Poker this week-end and so far it has been feast or famine. I have played 30 games and finished in the money on 9 of them (30% success rate), winning 6 of the 9 (the Feast part). My ROI is 15%. I would like to get that up considerably.

My first games were not so good but I am getting better. I have had some horrible beats but have put some horrible beats on others, too, so it all evens out. I like these games as they are fast and fun.

My next step is to move up to a little higher buy-in and see how that goes. I'll keep you posted.

My Absolute micro-limit No Limit is going well as I continue to win there and have boosted my bankroll considerbly in the last month. Again, I hate writing this as the Poker Gods will make you pay for your optimism at times.

Poker and Beer

I only played a little bit today but I really liked what happened. I have been reading Grinder for a long time now and lately he has been talking about how to beat the turbo SitNGos. I thought I would give it a try today to see how I liked it and how I would do. I played 3 low buy-inTurbo SitnGos on Full Tilt Poker and managed to win one. I finished out of the money at 5th and 6th in the other two but still made money because of my win.

I have rarely played Turbo SitNGos but the structure on Full Tilt is such that you might as well play the turbos as the the regular SitNGos act almost like a turbo. I tried to do what Grinder said about being patient and letting the other knock themselves out and, for the most part, it worked pretty good. On one SitNGo I lost because of my lower kicker. I had K/9 and the villain had K/J and IGHN. That one was so-so in that I was low on money and had to make a move but the one that I really sucked out on was when I went all in with pocket 6s and lost to A/K when two Kings came on the flop. That was just a totally stupid play be me as I didn't have to bet, let alone go all in. I really learned from that game and I think it paid off because I won the next one I played.

Patience, patience, patience! That is the key and I am going to try again tomorrow to see if I can improve on today's results.

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In an earlier post I mentioned that I had some Moose Drool when I was in Wyoming with my youngest Wolverine. Moose Drool is brewed by big Sky Brewing Company of Missoula, Montana. They describe their beer as:

It's chocolate brown in color with a creamy texture. A malty beer with just enough hop presence to keep it from being too sweet. The aroma mostly comes from the malt with a hint of spice added by the hops. Moose Drool is brewed with pale, caramel, chocolate, and whole black malts; and Kent Goldings, Liberty, and Willamette hops. It has an original gravity of 13 degrees Plato, and is 4.2% alcohol by weight, 5.3% by volume.

It is probably the maltiest beer I have had and the first drink really threw me off. My first thought was, "I don't think I like this." Now what the hell was I suppose to do as I had the better part of six beers left in the six pack I had just bought. So I took another drink and then another and now I am thinking, "This is pretty good."

I started to really enjoy this beer. I liked that the taste was different than any of the beers I had drank so far and I really liked how smooth it was and the feel of the beer in your mouth. The biggest selling point was how smooth it was and there was no lingering aftertaste. I finished the six pack before I left Wyoming.

Moose Drool gets mixed reviews from the different sites that review and rate beer. Rate Beer gives it an overall 81% and SevenPack.net gives it another average rating but concludes with, "It’s truly a tasty beer in the sense of a good session brown ale that, while it won’t blow your mind, will make a great daily drinker and has a fun name."

Finally, the Beer Advocate gives it a solid "B" and their words pretty much sum up my feelings for this beer.

An extremely drinkable beer, I wouldn't mind having an exclusive night with this. The alcohol content might be a tad too high to properly label this as a "session" beer, but, given the opportunity, I would not turn down a night of Moose Drool with friends.

On the Winning Track!

I have been back playing poker for the last 4 days and have been on a very nice winning streak. I have had a nice streak going at Absolute Poker where I am still buying in short on the $10 tables and I have turned a pretty profit. I am still able to find players that are willing to bet with terrible cards and, as long as variance doesn't come into play, my better hands are holding up for some nice wins.

The strangest thing happened yesterday at Absolute when my full house was busted by quad 5s. I never had a chance of getting away from that hand so I rebought and went on the hottest run ever. I won the next six hands in a row and ended up making back my losses plus some and ended up busting the other player that had busted me with his quads. It was beautiful. Every hand had held up and I was able to win every pot.

I played a couple of 2 table SitNGos on PokerStars last night and finished out of the money in both. The first one I was busted by a set of Jacks. The second one almost made me swear off playing at PokerStars again when my A/J went up against A/10 with just six players left and 4 get into the money. The flop brought a beautiful jack for me and another 10 for the villain and then on the turn he hit is 2 outer as another 10 hit the board and he took the pot. That left me very short handed and I went out a few hands later.

Today it was much better as I finished in the money on both of the 2 Table SitNGos I played, winning one of them. Now I am in the black on PokerStars for 2008. Whoo Hooo!!

I can only hope that my writing about my nice streak doesn't set the Poker Gods against me.

Priceless

Gas for trip - $200
Hotel costs - $110
Miles traveled - 1600
Cost of return trip - $530
Time spent with youngest daughter during trip to Wyoming and with her at her resort - Priceless
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Nebraska and Wyoming have 75 MPH speed limit. Grinder, that is probably the only good thing about traveling through Nebraska. It got so that we were looking for different colored cattle in the herds to break the monotony.

Iowa has cheaper beer than Wyoming and Michigan's is cheaper than both states.

Wyoming has liquor stores where you have to got to buy booze. Can't get it at supermarket or party store. Iowa and Michigan have booze available everywhere.

Dubois, Wyoming had very little snow when we came through but just 30 miles away, in the Togwotee Pass the snow was over 6 feet deep and the road was snow and slick.

Predicting weather in the Mountains must be impossible. What happens in Jackson may be totally different 30 miles away. If it was me I would just predict snow and if it was clear everyone would be happy.

Bought a six pack of Moose Drool and I really like it. It is the maltiest beer I have drank but it is smooth and there is no aftertaste. I'll write a review up on it in the next day or so.

1600 miles later - we have arrived!

First Night - Des Moines, Iowa
2nd Night - Laramie, Wyoming
Tonight - Signal Mountain Lodge, Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming
Signal Mountain Lodge is described by Gordon's Guide Adventure and Active Travel reviews as:


Nestled in one of the most beautiful places in the country, Signal Mountain Lodge in Grand Teton National Park is the perfect place to spend your next vacation.
From Signal Mountain Lodge, enjoy uncompromised views of the Teton Range, relax as you take a guided float trip down the Snake River, try your hand at fishing on Jackson Lake with an experienced guide or enjoy the thrill of a guided sailboat tour on Jackson Lake. Whatever your pleasure, you can be sure to experience a fun-filled, exciting "vacation-of-a-lifetime" at Signal Mountain Lodge.
They are the only lakeside resort in Grand Teton National Park and invite you to join them for a truly inspiring vacation.


I have already seen 3 Eagles and we were on our way back from Jackson when a Bull Elk stopped in the middle of the road, 20 feet from us and looked at us like we were the interlopers in his world (which I guess we were). The moment I pulled out my camera to get a shot he began to run off. I hurriedly took the shot anyway and got a beautiful picture of........
the hood of the car.

7 Days without Poker makes one Weak

It will probably be closer to nine or ten days without poker for me during the next week and a half. My youngest Wolverine and I are driving out to Jackson Hole, Wyoming where she starts her full time job on the 14th of January. We are going to leave on Sunday and plan to arrive on Tuesday. Wednesday, Thursday and Friday I will be a tourist at the Grand Tetons National Park, Yellowstone National Park and Jackson Hole.

It looks like the weather is going to give us a really unexpected break on our drive out there. The early January thaw is giving us clear saling for 1200 miles. Lets keep our fingers crossed.

Right now Jackson Hole is getting hit with a half foot of snow and it is suppose to be pretty cold the next week. You'd think I'd have more sense than to travel from 10 degree weather here in Michigan to a place where it will be as cold or colder. Oh well, it will be a grand adventure with my youngest daughter and it will make her mom feel a lot better that she isn't driving out there on her own.

My daughter will have her laptop and I hope to post at least twice in the next week. I'll try to put up some pictures of our trip and of the Tetons. I'm hoping to partake in some of the local ales at the brewpub. My daughter says I should get the Moose Drool Brown Ale brewed by Big Sky Brewing Company.
They describe this ale as:

The name sounds a little iffy, but it's really the best Brown Ale you'll ever taste. That's why Moose Drool is far and away the best-selling beer brewed in Montana.

It's chocolate brown in color with a creamy texture. A malty beer with just enough hop presence to keep it from being too sweet. The aroma mostly comes from the malt with a hint of spice added by the hops. Moose Drool is brewed with pale, caramel, chocolate, and whole black malts; and Kent Goldings, Liberty, and Willamette hops. It has an original gravity of 13 degrees Plato, and is 4.2% alcohol by weight, 5.3% by volume.

I am looking forward to our trip and to being a tourist in a tourist mecca. I have my Tuque and Sorels and gloves packed. Our Cross Country skis are strapped to the luggage rack and we are headed west.

No Poker Today

I wasn't able to fire up any tables to play some No Limit Holdem today. It probably is for the better as I had played for at least a week straight and more than likely needed a break from the game. Hopefully tomorrow or Saturday I can fire up a couple of tables and try to relieve the donkeys of some of their ill gotten gains. I would play every day if I could so a forced break now and then is probably beneficial for me. I will be all fired up when next I play again.
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My beer for today was Bar Harbor Blueberry Ale brewed by the Atlantic Brewing Company's Estage Brewing. They describe their Blueberry Ale as:
A light fruit ale, made with Maine wild blueberries. As opposed to many of the sweeter fruit beers on the market, our addition of fresh Maine wild blueberries in this light ale yields a subtle blueberry aroma, without the sweet aftertaste.

A mixture of the following Mutton malts, pale, crystal, and Munich, are combined with wheat to give this ale its lighter body, and we only use minimal amounts of Target and Willamette hops.

ABV 5.2%

I was hesitant to drink this beer at first because I am not all that much into fruity beers and the blueberry is one of the lesser fruits I would try (although blueberry pie is in my top 3 favorite pies). I decided to give this ale a try and I was very, very surprised at how much I liked it and how good it tasted. I could not smell or taste the blueberrys at all in this brew and that is probably why I really liked it. I think you could almost get them for false advertisement as, in my opinion, the blueberry smell/taste/presence is virtually nonexistant. I think I just liked it because it was a nice smooth strong tasting ale and had a Killian's red color to it.

The Beer Advocate rates this beer a B and some of the comments are about the lack of blueberry taste or smell. This reviews summed up my feelings best:

But the taste is amazing. Unlike most blueberry beers, this beer is more subtle in the taste of blueberries, it isn't overpowering but mixes just the right amount of sweetness. It's hard to compete with the original blueberry beer in my book. - Taelec

I would recommend this beer to anyone.

Go Blue!!

It is a wonderful day in the Wolverine household. My team stuck it to the Florida Gators and the game wasn't as close as the score as Mike Hart fumbled twice at the goal line after over 1000 carries without losing a fumble. What are the chances? Every time the Gators made a run at us we rose to the occasion and came back with a score of our own. Our defense played pretty well except for containing that Hardin but they did shut down Tebow pretty well.

Chad Henne was healthy and showed it as he was zipping passes all over the field and was moving around in the pocket well. Super Mario (Manningham) and Aarington were a wonderful one-two punch in our passing game.

This was the team we that was rated number 6 in the preseason polls and if Henne and Hart were healthy against Wisconsin and Ohio State we may have ended up at 10-2 but we didn't so I must say that 9-4 is a hell of a lot better than 8-5.

The West Virgina Mountaineers are sticking it to Oklahoma so far in the first half so if you are watching that game you are seeing the Michigan Wolverine Offense next year with Coach Rod. We may have trouble next year but after that with the recruits that Michigan can get, look out because we are looking for another national championship.

Resolutions

2007 was not a very good year for the Wolverine Family. We had a close death in the family, we moved over 60 miles away from my wife's childhood home and we were empty nesters for the first time ever. Too many changes in such a short while.

I am hoping 2008 is a better year for me and my family. It would start out great if my Wolverines could put a world of hurt on the Florida Gators. I can only hope that everyone on my team is finally healthy and ready to kick some Gator Butt!!

Some New Year's Resolutions I have are:
1. Lose weight. Every year resolution but I need to lose 30 pounds or more to get my cholesterol and blood pressure back to normal levels. I went crazy eating red meat last summer so now am eating a lot healthier.

2. Learn Spanish. I'm not sure why I am making this resolution but it seems like a good thing for any future plans I may have. Just one more thing that looks good on the resume.

3. Learn a new skill for my job. I have been basically stagnant the last 4 years in my job and I need to learn some more technical skills to make me more marketable.

4. Play better quality golf. Lately I have been putting quantity over quality and I need to hit the driving range more and the golf course less so that I can lower my handicap. This one is going to be hard to achieve as I'd drather play than practice.

5. Play better poker and win steadily. This one is going to be hard to achieve, as I feel I play pretty well now but I can't believe how many hands I lose on the river to two, three and four outers; to gutshots and flushes that I just can't get the villain to fold, and to sets.

I'll try to keep you up-to-date on how I do with these resolutions.
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Today's brew is Purple Haze by the Abita Brewing Company. They describe their brew as:
Purple Haze is a crisp, American style wheat beer with raspberry puree added after filtration. Therefore, you may see raspberry pulp in the beer. The raspberries provide the lager with a subtle purple coloration and haze, a fruity aroma, and a tartly sweet taste.

I thought the raspberry scent and flavor was very subtle and Mrs. Wolverine said she really couldn't smell or taste it. I thought this was a nice brew that I could drink daily. The Beer Babe gives it a favorable review and I agree with her when she says it really isn't a dessert brew as the raspberry is very, very subtle.

Brian's Belly gives it a favorable review, too.