Poker and Golf

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Location: Lansing, Michigan, United States

I play my poker at Full Tilt, Poker Stars and Absolute Poker as LZFSB3. I golf at Prairie Creek Golf Course and carry an 11 handicap.

Saturday, June 28, 2008

Grinder School subscription paying for itself

My Subscription to Grinder School is already paying for itself. I have learned so much by watching the microstakes videos and have been able to apply that knowledge to the tables.

Spenda (Cullen) and Jyms (Jim) have such an excellent way of teaching. They explain their plays extremely well and use the timer button to give them more time to really go in depth on why they are calling/folding/raising the hand.

Microstakes could possibly be the hardest levels to beat because you have such erratic play from a variety of players. You have players limping with Aces/Kings/Queens, playing any two cards at any time, buying in really short and leaving the tables after just a few hands. You have players that are really bad and some players that are really good but are playing this level due to bankroll limitations or other reasons. The combination of these things makes it extremely difficult to make the plays that gives you the best chance to win.

Spenda (Cullen) and Jyms (Jim) show you that by playing solid ABC poker you can win at these levels and build a bankroll that will help you move up to the next level. Do you win every session? No but you will win more than you will lose if you watch the videos and really, really work on your game using the techniques they are teaching.

Do you want to be a winning poker player starting at the microstakes level? I suggest you get your subscription to Grinder School, start watching the videos and participating in the forums and then apply what you have learned at the tables. I guarantee you will win at the microstakes level on a consistent basis.

Friday, June 27, 2008

I'm Back

I'm back from a week's vacation and another few days off of work. I was ready to give up this blog but decided I would just type away when I felt like it and about what I felt like typing about. I have always tried to keep it poker related but now will be putting in some posts about non-poker stuff.

This past Saturday may have been my one worse day at the tables ever. And I didn't even realize it. What a dweeb!!

I was playing on Full Tilt and I was multi-tabling the microstakes and I was being so arrogant and felt like I should be dominating these players that I forgot where my fold button was and only could find the raise/all in button. The culmination was when I raised PF w/ K/10 suited from the button as mostly a blind steal only to get called by the Small Blind and the Big Blind. The flop was a beautiful 9/J/Q with two hearts. I had flopped the straight.

Both blinds check and I raise and then the Small blind reraises, the Big Blind folds and I push all in. The Small Blind turns over A/Q of hearts and has a flush draw. The Turn was nothing but the river was the 7 of hearts and IGHN. That was when I closed down the tables and realized that I had just lost over $100 dollars playing microstakes.

Since then I have turned things around and have won back 2/3s of what I had lost. I just started to play smarter, found my fold button and waited for my chances where I had a better chance of winning than just a race. And it has worked.

Last night there were a ton of players buying in as short stacks then trying to go all in with any ace/rag or pocket pair. It was like shooting fish in a barrel. Just be patient and pick your times to call and lo and behold you find out they have nada and you have them dominated. The only time I called a shortstack all in with less than prime cards was when I had K/4 suited and went up against A/6. The villain flopped and Ace and a 6 but there was a 3 and a 5 and a 7 came to give me the straight and send them packing. By all accounts I should have folded and should have lost but I didn't and after that I went back to only calling with premium cards.
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I was given a 10 pack of Summer Ales from World Market and I drank the Stoudts American Pale Ale from Stoudts Brewery in Adamstown, Pennsylvania. This is their Flagship Beer and has been their number one selling beer ten years running.

Beer Advocate rates it a sold beer and most everyone had very nice things to say about it. I can sum it up by saying this is a Classic American Pale Ale.

I really enjoyed this beer and would really like to have a few more of them but, alas, my 10 pack has only the one so I will be trying another different one tomorrow.

Sunday, June 15, 2008

Them's Quad Beaches!!

Thursday, June 12, 2008

Comeback Kid

I have continued watching Grinder School videos and it must be helping as I have had 3 winning sessions in a row. Today's winnings would have even been higher if I hadn't run my full house into quads. The villain commented, "I had a good hand." My comment back was, "Ya think?"

Grinder School has been everything I hoped it would be and more. I know I won't have winning sessions every time out and I know that variance will slap me up side of my head again but the videos are helping me to make the right decisions when I play and that should lead to more winning sessions overall.

I know that I will be reupping at Grinder School when my current subscription runs out.
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I watched a bit of the U.S. Open today. Tiger was being Tiger. Missing fairways but scrambling to make his pars. He was at 1 under par when I was watching. Phil had taken his driver out of his bag and was hitting a 3 wood off of the tee and he wasn't even getting that into play. He was at 3 over when I had to stop watching to go to work.

Well things turned around for both players. Tiger had two double bogeys on the back nine to end up at 1 over par and Phil must have straightened out his 3 wood as he was 3 under on the back nine to finish up at even par.

Phil will never achieve the status of Tiger but he could help his reputation immensely if he can beat Tiger heads up in this Tournament. The first two days they will be paired together then after that it depends on scores. If he can beat Tiger on Thursday and Friday and then go on to win the tournament, it will really be a big deal for him.

Tuesday, June 10, 2008

Stacked times Three

I was stacked 3 buy-ins today at Full Tilt. Two were my fault and one was just bad luck running into a made set. I cannot seem to identify a set when someone has it against me. Not a very auspicious start for use of my new training videos from Grinder School.

I really can't blame Grinder School as the first two videos I watched by Spenda were just excellent as he took a tremendous amount of time to explain many of the bets he was making or not making and how he was playing his hands. He explained why he was folding and why he was or wasn't 3 betting and everything made perfect sense. It wasn't so easy when I was trying to put what I had learned into play today at Full Tilt.

I'm going to watch some more videos and try again in the next couple of days. One big difference I am going to do is make sure I have plenty of time for playing so that I am not "rushed" into trying to double up my buy ins. I think that was part of my trouble today as I had just a short time to play and I was pushing to make some money.

I think I may start taking some notes from the videos and discuss them in the forums or just have a journal that I can review to help me retain the information I am learning.

Monday, June 09, 2008

I joined Grinder School

I purchased a one month subscription to Grinder School today. This is a subscription to their Microstakes videos which is where I am presently playing.

I first found out about Grinder School when I saw a couple of their videos on Flop Turn River site and enjoyed them immensely. I was planning on joining this fall when I would have more time for watching poker videos but I decided to make the plunge and sign up for a month right now. The coolest thing about Grinder School is the site (and videos) is specifically designed to aid the low stakes player. The fees are geared to the player that doesn't have a huge bankroll to fall back on.

The videos I watched on Flop Turn River were excellent and I was pretty sure this would be the site for me.

Another reason it has taken me so long to join is that I found PokerTrikz which had a number of free videos made by Trikkur and LOLtrickedu. They are excellent videos and I have watched them multiple times. I only have good things to say about the site but I felt I needed to see more videos by other people to give me a better 'education' on small stakes Hold'em. That is where Grinder School comes in. They have a multitude of videos that I can watch and I will get the perspective of different ways to play from different instructors.

I will always be lurking around PokerTrikz but Grinder School will be my new home for a while.

Friday, June 06, 2008

This and That

I have not been able to play much poker lately which is probably a good thing. Variance had reared its ugly head and knocked me back a few buy ins over the past week. I was beaten by donkeys every way imaginable. I lost to a straight flush when I had two pair. I lost when my full house (pocket nines) was second to another full house (pocket Jacks) on a 3,5,J,9,5 board. I lost numerous hands to flush draws that made it home against my TP/TK, my sets, my two pair hands and my straights. I am taking a break from poker to let things cool down and will get back into it soon as I know those flush draws won't always hit and I will start stacking some folks again.

I am going to make a prediction that Barack Obama will not get elected president this year. Just my gut feeling on things. I'm not going to Las Vegas to put any money on it but I just think he is too liberal and carries quite a bit of baggage with him.

The older I get the more socialist I get. I wouldn't mind seeing some kind of National Health care because if I lose my job I lose my health care and that is scary.

The older I get the more of an isolationist I am becoming. Close the borders and the airports and y'all don't bother coming into our country and we won't bother going to yours. We'll just sit home and buy American goods, grow American food and develop our own petroleum products. I know that will never happen but I sure get tired of other countries complaining about us all the time.

If Tiger Woods wins the U.S. Open after having knee surgery and taking an entire month off from competitive golf then all the other golfers in the U.S. should just kiss it good-by and start playing for second place. In my mind that would the the ultimate in dominance of a sport.

Tiger Woods has been wowing us for over 10 years now. Where are the other African American golfers that he was suppose to inspire and open up doors for? The next generation of golfer should be in their early 20's and we should be seeing some sign of more minorities teeing it up on the PGA Tour and Nationwide Tour but so far things are pretty sparse. Why is that? Are we several years away still?

Thursday, June 05, 2008

2008 Stanley Cup Champions - Detroit Red Wings

The Detroit Red Wings are the 2008 Stanley Cup Champions after dispatching the Pittsburgh Penguins last night in a very exciting game. Not as exciting as Monday Night's game when the Red Wings let the game slip away with just 34 seconds to go and then lost in the 3rd overtime to the Penguins.

The Monday Night game was one of the most exciting games I can remember as a Red Wing fan. To be down 2 to 0 and then come back and take the lead, only to lose it with 34 seconds left in the game and then go to the 3rd overtime and lose on a powerplay was almost too much to take.

This is the 4th Stanley cup in the last 11 years and is as close to a dynasty as you can get anymore in sports. There were 4 Redwings that have been around for all 4 Stanely Cups and several have been here for 3 of them. This team has a nice mix of young and old with the veteran players making up a very solid part of the team and are able to school the youngsters on how the game is played.

The first Stanley Cups were won when the Red Wings had a several Soviet Players known as the Russian five. This team is totally retooled and there is just one Russian, Pavel Datsyuk and 8 Swedes and at times there have been five Swedes on the ice at a time and have been dubbed the Swedish Five. The Red Wings have been able to combine the best elements of North American Hockey with European Hockey and have melded their game to new heights and the rest of the NHL is playing catch up.

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