Poker and Golf

Merry Christmas Everyone!!

2008-12-19T20:35:00.001-05:00

Merry Christmas Everyone

the Over/Under is 7

2008-11-03T20:00:00.000-05:00

I am placing the Over/Under for nationwide celebratory deaths when Barack Obama wins the Presidential Election tomorrow night at 7.

I figure the celebrations for the Presidential elections in the major cites, like Detroit and St. Louis and Los Angeles, along with the college campuses such as Michigan State University, University of California - Berkeley, etc. will account for approximately 7 deaths.

If McCain should win the election the over/under for suicides and/or moving out of the dreadful McCain led United States by the Hollywood movie stars or just by the left wing will be set at 10.

I'm Back!!

2008-10-29T20:35:00.000-04:00

At least for a little while. Probably post off and on and see how it goes for the next few weeks. Probably not a lot about poker and golf but a little about everything including beer and politics.

PREDICTION: If Barack Obama gets defeated on Tuesday by John McCain there will be rioting in the major U.S. cities the likes that haven't been seen since 1967-68. If
Ba rack Obama win the election on Tuesday there will still be rioting in the major cities of the U.S. but it will be like a winning the Superbowl type riot or winning the NBA Championship type riot. Either way the downtown businesses of major cities will have their windows broken and some cars will be burnt, including at least one or more police cars.

PREDICTION: If Barack Obama is elected president on Tuesday, he will get a free pass for the first two years of his presidency. No matter what happens in the first two years of his presidency they will blame it on George Bush. If there is a terrorist attach on the U.S., then George Bush should have know about it and stopped it. If the stock market plunges again it will be George Bush's fault. No matter what bad news happens to the U.S. for the next two years it will be George Bush's fault.

__________________________________

I had a bottle of Shiner Black Lager from the Shiner Brewing Company of Shiner, Texas. They describe this beer as:

Bohemian Black Lager, crafted according to exactingold-world standards with imported Czech Saaz, Styrians Hops and selected roasted malts, is the darkest beer we brew. Initially added to the Shiner family as our 97 Anniversary Brew, the unique and complex flavor of this rare brew found such a following among our customers that we brought it back for good!

This was a very good dark beer and I wouldn't hesitate to get it again. This is the perfect beer for a chilly wintery night.

Holdem Manager looking good so far

2008-09-08T17:48:00.000-04:00

Holdem Manager is looking pretty good so far in just about an hours worth of play with it. Poker Tracker 3 worked pretty darn well but I am feeling pretty good about Holdem Manger. I was able to export my hands from Poker Tracker 3 and import them into Holdem Manager with no problem. Over 100,000 hands of poker. Not bad for a part time player. Now that it is getting into fall and approaching winter, my golf will be sharply curtailed and I will begin putting in a lot more hours at the tables.

I am pretty happy with may game right now. I just haven't had much time to play. The wife and I have been watching seasons 2, 3, 4 and 5 of The Wire and that has cut into my poker playing time. We will soon be doen with Season 5 and then I can start dedicating more of my time to playing some good solid poker.

Grinder School and Poker Trikz videos have really helped my and my 6 max Holdem Game. I just need some time to put the things I have learned into action. I feel really good about my game right now and know that with just some quality time at the tables I should see a big difference in my play and, hopefully, in my bankroll.

Blogger days are dieing a slow death

2008-09-04T21:58:00.001-04:00

My blogging days may be over. I don't know if I will quite entirely but my posts will probably be sporadic and may be more about beer than poker or golf. Not sure why I am not posting as much. Just seems like I am saying the same things over and over.

Speaking of beer. I bought a six pack of Estrella Damm, the Star of Barcelona, from my favorite Beer store, Horrock's.

I think this is a pretty good beer. It is described on the web site as a Pale Lager. To me this is a session beer that tastes really good on a hot summer day. I will have no trouble finishing my six pack and probably another as well. It isn't a full bodied beer and tastes more like national brews Coors and Budweiser but how often do you get to drink a beer from Spain at only $5 dollars a six pack? I'm looking forward to having the next one.

Beer Advocate rates it just a C and most of the reviews were not too happy with this beer. Rate Beer gives it about the same rating.

__________________________________

I am about done with my Poker Tracker 3 trial period and am now going to load Holdem Manager and use it until its trial period is done. After that I will decide which one I like better. Places that have rated both seem to like Holdem Manager better and the cost for low stakes play is right up my alley. It already has an edge over Poker Tracker 3.

New Challenge is a challenge

2008-08-19T18:02:00.000-04:00

My new challenge has turned out to be a real challenge. So far I am am a little ahead in my attempt to make $10 dollars a day at $25 No Limit Holdem at PokerStars and Full Tilt. I went through a stretch where variance was kicking my butt and I literally lost 4 sets over sets in 3 days. What a bummer. And these were true sets where me and the villain both had pocket pairs and completed our set with one of the cards on the board, usually on the flop. Lately variance has changed in my favor and last night I won with a set of Aces against a set of Jacks.

It seems like if I win at Full Tilt, I lose at PokerStars and vice-versa. Overall, I am slowly moving my bankroll in a positive direction but I won't be moving up to $15 and $20 dollar challenges anytime soon. I will need at least a week of good solid play to finish off the $10 dollar challenge.

I tend to win more than just $10 when I win and have been losing a little more than a buy in ($25) when I lose. This is because I am multitabling and I may have wins on several tables and then make a nice pot to clear the challenge for the day and that puts me over the $10. Most of the time I am at $20 in wins when I quit. The opposite is true when I lose a buy in. I may be down a few dollars at a couple of tables then drop a big pot and that makes me lose more than just one buy in.

My discipline has come into question, too, as I oftentimes will win a buy in after only about 15 - 30 minutes of play and I am hesitant to quit as I feel I can win even more money. One night that bit me in the butt as I continued to play and lost a buy in with one of the aforementioned Set over Set hands.

A New Challenge

2008-08-07T20:35:00.000-04:00

My PokerStars, Full Tilt and Absolute Poker bankrolls took quite a hit this past week. It was just one of those weeks where variance had to rear its ugly head and make a big loser out of me. Twice I lost huge pots to set over set and I lost numerous pots to flush and straight draws.

Unlucky me.

I really like the way I was playing the past week so I am not too upset that my bankrolls took such a hit. I was getting it all in with the best hand most of the time. I was folding to 3 bets and to the large river bet after the scare card hit the board. I was raising with good hands and getting the most value out of the hands I did win. I didn't lose every hand I played, just a few of the big ones. If I had won the set over set hands I would have been up for the week instead of down 6 buy ins.

So today I am starting a new challenge on Full Tilt and PokerStars. I am going to play until I win $10 a day and then quit. If I drop one buy-in, I will quit playing that day. I am going to do this for 10 days in an attempt to win $100. $10 dollars a day for 10 days - on both sites (so it is realy $20 a day for 10 days). I am reserving the right to deviate from this challenge by playing more if I feel the tables I am at are beatable. Its my challenge so I can make the rules as I go.

My goal as a poker player was to win enough money to pay for my golf and family vacations. $10 dollars a day would achieve that goal. I have fallen short of that goal lately so now I am going to try a new strategy and see if I can't kick it up a notch and try and get to the next level of my play.

If I can complete this challenge successfully, the next step may be $15 for 7 days which would be $95 dollars. Then $20 for 5 days for another $100 dollars. I may have a final goal of winning $300 by September 1st. These are realistic goals to have and hopefully will help me get back to playing some good Tight Aggressive poker and start back on the winning track.

I'll keep you posted on how I do.

Grinder School Videos helping me restore my Bankroll

2008-08-01T20:19:00.000-04:00

I am continuing to watch the videos at Grinder School and they are helping me to restore my PokerStars bankroll that took a hit the other night. I learn something new every time I watch a training video and am trying to apply that knowledge to my game. I have been able to make back almost two of the 4 buy-ins I dropped the other night with very limited play. I just haven't had the time to sit down at the tables lately. Winter is the best time for me to put in some marathon sessions. Summers in Michigan are too precious to be sitting in front of the computer.

Take today for instance. I worked my 12 hour shift overnight (7PM to 7AM), got home went to bed and woke up about 5 hours later. Two cups of coffe and some raisen bran and then I am off to Prairie Creek to play 9 holes of golf. I shoot a 42 for nine holes (1 over for the last 5 holes) and then I head home to play tennis with my daughter. We are using tennis to help us lose weight. My daughter doesn't like to exercise as it is boring to her but tennis is an activity that she likes to do. Niether one of us will be challening Nadal but we are outdoors, running around, sweating and burning calories so "good" is a relative term. We are much better than when we started 3 months ago and our goal of losing weight is working as we have both lost close to 10 pounds.

After Tennis I cook out on the grill and then it is back to work for another 12 hour shift. No time to play poker today because I was too busy being outdoors and enjoying a wonderful Michigan summer. There will be plenty of time to play poker when the gales of November come early.

Just Treading Water

2008-07-30T20:53:00.000-04:00

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

2008-07-27T20:09:00.000-04:00

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.
_______________________________________________
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

2008-07-25T15:56:00.000-04:00

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".

______________________________
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

2008-07-22T15:43:00.000-04:00

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.

_________________________________
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.
_____________________________________________
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?

2008-07-21T11:33:00.000-04:00

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

2008-07-18T16:27:00.001-04:00

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.
______________________________
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?

2008-07-15T17:54:00.000-04:00

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

2008-07-15T17:43:00.000-04:00

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

2008-07-14T17:27:00.000-04:00

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.

_____________________________

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

2008-07-09T20:52:00.001-04:00

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

2008-07-07T23:03:00.000-04:00

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.
____________________________________
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

2008-07-07T02:50:00.000-04:00

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.

__________________________________

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!!

2008-07-03T17:36:00.001-04:00

Grinder School subscription paying for itself

2008-06-28T01:39:00.000-04:00

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.

I'm Back

2008-06-27T00:34:00.000-04:00

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.
___________________________________________________
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.

Them's Quad Beaches!!

2008-06-15T13:23:00.000-04:00

Comeback Kid

2008-06-12T16:32:00.000-04:00

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.
____________________________
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.

Stacked times Three

2008-06-10T15:47:00.000-04:00

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.

I joined Grinder School

2008-06-09T16:04:00.000-04:00

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.

This and That

2008-06-06T22:06:00.000-04:00

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?

2008 Stanley Cup Champions - Detroit Red Wings

2008-06-05T21:09:00.000-04:00

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.

The Bad and the Good

2008-05-30T17:34:00.000-04:00

First the Bad. This was a hand I couldn't get away from and have no fault with my play. This was literally the 3rd hand I was dealt in this game and had no reads on anyone.

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

BB: $66.80
UTG: $24.95
MP: $22.55
CO: $18.40
BTN: $24.15
Hero (SB): $14.50

Pre-Flop: Q K dealt to Hero (SB)

2 folds, CO calls $0.25, BTN folds, Hero raises to $1, BB calls $0.75, CO calls $0.75

Flop: ($3) K 4 Q (3 Players)
Hero bets $2, BB calls $2, CO calls $2

Turn: ($9) A (3 Players)
Hero bets $11.50 and is All-In, BB raises to $23, CO folds

River: ($32) 7 (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

Results: $32 Pot ($1.55 Rake)
BB showed 4 A (two pair, Aces and Fours) and WON $30.45 (+$15.95 NET)
Hero showed Q K (two pair, Kings and Queens) and LOST (-$14.50 NET)
______________________________________
Now, the Good. This player hadn't really done much during this session. He seemed solid enough but this was a strange hand to play.

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

BTN: $103.05
SB: $26.20
BB: $22.55
UTG: $20.65
MP: $23.90
Hero (CO): $23.30

Pre-Flop: A A dealt to Hero (CO)
UTG raises to $1.25, MP folds, Hero raises to $3, 3 folds, UTG calls $1.75

Flop: ($6.35) 9 3 6 (2 Players)
UTG bets $4, Hero raises to $20.30 and is All-In, UTG calls $13.65 and is All-In

Turn: ($41.65) 3 (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

River: ($41.65) 8 (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

Results: $41.65 Pot ($2.05 Rake)
UTG showed A J (a pair of Threes) and LOST (-$20.65 NET)
Hero showed A A (two pair, Aces and Threes) and WON $39.60 (+$18.95 NET)

This helped to turn around my session and I won back my losses plus. I had good luck at another table to end up with my bankroll back to what it was before yesterday when I dropped a buy in.

I am very happy with my game at this time and am looking forward to playing a lot this week-end.

Down one Buy In

2008-05-29T21:00:00.002-04:00

I played a short session today and was up early but in just two hands I dropped a buy-in to end up down overall. I wasn't able to play very long so couldn't stay around to try and get back to even. I hope to get things rolling tomorrow when I will be able to play longer and should be able to rebuild my bankroll.

I was very happy with my play and even the two hands I lost were not from bad plays just from my opponent getting the better of me on those two hands. The biggest loss came against the dreaded Queen/nine off suit. I raised from the button with K/10 suited in an attempt to mostly steel the blinds but was confident I could play this hand well if I had to. The villain called with his Q/9 off from the Small Blind and the flop came down rag/Q/Q. A total disaster for me. He checked, I did a continuation bet and he smooth called it. The turn sealed my fate when a lovely king appeared and I put in about a pot size bet after his check again and again was smooth called. The turn brought a nine to give him a full house and when the villain led out against me I knew I had lost this hand.
__________________
I am presently drinking 3 different styles of beer in a 12 Pack Sampler from Spanish Peaks Brewing of Bozeman, Montana. This sampler 12 pack contains Black Dog Ale, Honey Raspberry Ale and American Pale Ale. I haven't tried the Honey Raspberry yet but the Black Dog Ale and the American Pale Ale are both excellent brews.

Beer Advocate gives the Black Dog Ale and the American Pale Ale solid "B"s but the Honey Raspberry doesn't fare as well as it only gets a "C-" rating. I prefer the Black Dog Ale to the American Pale Ale but would have either at any time as they are very nice tasting beers.

Hits and Misses

2008-05-27T20:43:00.001-04:00

My poker game is in pretty good shape as we speak. I have been playing quite a bit and things have turned around in that I have been hitting the cards I need and my opponents have been missing their draws against me (with a few exceptions). I have lost some pretty sick hands but remained patient and was able to win back those losses and more.

One player hit his gutshot straight with a hand that he had no reason what-so-ever in playing against my Top two pair but I knew if he stayed around long enough I would win my money back and more. I didn't tilt and remained patient until I finally got the perfect hand when I called his preflop raise and hit my set of 8's and he just couldn't let his Ace high pair go and I stacked him to win back my losses plus a few dollar more. Things like that help reinforce that you know how to play this game and the donkeys won't always suck out on you.

I have been trying to be patient and really bet my good hands and it has worked well the past week so I am hoping things hold up for a while longer so I can get my bankroll to my all time high.
___________________________________
Here is a picture of all of the taps at HopCat bar in Grand Rapids. This is where I had the Starboard Stout and I ordered a nice Celis Wit (white) from the Michigan Brewing Company in Webberville, Michigan. They describe their beer as: Celis White is seasoned with Curacao orange peel and coriander, and is brewed from a unique recipe first brewed in Belgium in 1453. It is top fermented and brewed from 50% raw winter wheat and 50% barely malt and is hopped with Willamette and Cascade hops from the Northeast.

This beer is very similar to Blue Moon's Belgium White beer. My wife was very happy with it.

Dilemma

2008-05-25T11:46:00.000-04:00

I have a dilemma in my poker playing. Variance has reared its ugly head again and I am down several buy-ins over the last two days. My first attempts to turn around my game was to drop down to lower stakes and try to rebuild my bankroll. The only problem with this is that you get the real donkeys of poker staying in every hand trying for their flush and, when they hit their draws (no matter how much you bet to get them off their draw) they end up taking a good part of your money. And they are everywhere in the lower stakes games.

I have beaten the lowe stakes enough to move up to the next level but it is very frustrating to do what the experts tell you and still have that not be the best alternative. I think I will go back up to the higer stakes and just play a bit tighter game with less of a buy in and that should help me get things turned around.

____________________________________________

The Kenny Chesney concert was great fun. He played nonstop for almost two hours and his concert was full of energy. It was a really fun night with my wife and daughter and I can see how he is Country Music's Entertainer of the Year four years running.

We ate dinner at HopCat Bar and had a great burger and wonderful beer battered frys. I ordered an Oatmeal Stout from the Arcadia Brewing Company, their Starboard Stout. They describe their beer as: "Starboard Stout is a unique Irish Oat Malt Stout. Deep black in color, with garnet undertones, it has a robust yet well-balanced chocolatey roasted malt character and a creamy mouthfeel. A subtle and complex hop flavor and aroma is provided by Willamette and Cascade."

It was very good and tasted very much like the Oatmeal Stout from Breckenridge Brewery in Colorado. I am really into the stouts right now and have one more to drink then after that I am going to go back to summer brews.

This and That

2008-05-22T13:22:00.000-04:00

Not much happening on the poker front. A change of shift for this week at my job has me playing just about one half hour a day. I have had nice results from my short stints at the tables where I have managed to win a buy in at Full Tilt, PokerStars and Absolute. Just playing solid poker and getting good hands to help build the bankroll.

I am back to my old shift starting tomorrow so will be playing more from here on out.
_______________________
Myself, my wife and daughter are going to see Kenny Chesney in concert tonight in Grand Rapids. We saw him at the same place two years ago and really had a great time. We are going to go early and quaff a couple of brews at HopCat in Grand Rapids and have dinner there as well before we saunter over to the concert.

Party time in GR with Kenny and some nice island/country tunes.
_______________________
I'll have a mini-report on the brews I drink at HopCat as they have 48 microbrews on tap and most are from Michigan. I am leaning toward the The Chocolate Wheat from Short's Brewing Company in Bellaire, Michigan.

That's Mr. Luckbox to you

2008-05-20T13:55:00.000-04:00

Here is a hand on PokerStars that I actually thought out each step of the way and, admittedly, got lucky to take it down.

Poker Stars, $0.10/$0.25 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 4 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter

UTG: $19.45
BTN: $25.40
Hero (SB): $32.35
BB: $4.95
Pre-Flop: 6 A dealt to LZFSB3 (SB)
UTG raises to $0.50, BTN folds, LZFSB3 calls $0.40, BB folds

I called the minraise here because Trikkur has instilled in me to punish minraisers. He would have raised him here instead of just calling.

Flop: ($1.25) 4 A A (2 Players)
LZFSB3 bets $1.25, UTG raises to $2.50, LZFSB3 calls $1.25

Good flop for me but my kicker sucks. This was a feeler bet to see where I was in the hand and when he min-reraised I knew he had an ace but that min raise was still worth calling.

Turn: ($6.25) 6 (2 Players)
LZFSB3 bets $5.25, UTG raises to $16.45 and is All-In, LZFSB3 calls $11.20

Bingo!! Somebody is getting stacked now. I wanted enought of a raise to get the villain to go all in and this worked out perfectly.

River: ($39.15) 2 (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

Results: $39.15 Pot ($1.90 Rake)
UTG mucked K A and LOST (-$19.45 NET)
LZFSB3 showed 6 A (a full house, Aces full of Sixes) and WON $37.25 (+$17.80 NET)

This guy wasn't very happy with me but I never would have been in the hand if he hadn't just minraised.

That's Mr. Idiot to you

2008-05-18T17:17:00.000-04:00

Here is how to misplay a hand into a nice tidy win.
Poker Stars, $0.10/$0.25 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 6 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter

Hero (BTN): $24.30
SB: $39
BB: $26.10
UTG: $63
MP: $35.80
CO: $24.90

Pre-Flop: 8 8 dealt to Hero (BTN)
3 folds, Hero raises to $1, SB folds, BB raises to $3, Hero calls $2
Mistake number 1 - I thought he minraised me so I called.

Flop: ($6.10) 3 A 3 (2 Players)
BB bets $1.25, Hero calls $1.25
Mistake number 2 - I should have reraised here to indicate I had the ace and to see where I was at in the hand. I thought this was a really small raise and indicated he didn't have the ace.

Turn: ($8.60) 2 (2 Players)
BB bets $1.25, Hero calls $1.25
Again, calling here is just bad poker. Mistake number 3.

River: ($11.10) 8 (2 Players)
BB bets $1.25, Hero raises to $5, BB calls $3.75
Lo and behold, look what I found. Now why didn't I reraise at least $10? That was mistake number 4.

Results: $21.10 Pot ($1 Rake)
Hero showed 8 8 (a full house, Eights full of Threes) and WON $20.10 (+$9.60 NET)
BB mucked K K and LOST (-$10.50 NET)

My only consolation was that he misplayed his Kings as he was afraid of that Ace on the flop. I was very lucky here but there have been just as many times when I had the best hand and Mr. Idiot kept calling against me until they get their flush or set or whatever.

What goes around comes around.

A Little Golf Post

2008-05-15T21:54:00.000-04:00

First of all a little bit about my poker play today. I broke even in my play today and enjoyed it immensely. I would have finished in the black but for one person that would not fold their Q/5 from the Cut Off and rivered the 5. Oh well, a note was made and I hope to see them again soon. I was able to double up off a couple of donkeys to help save my session and prevent a second losing day in a row.

I have been to the golf course about 8 times so far and have played 18 holes twice, the rest being just 9 hole rounds. I have shot a low of 41 and a high of 48 when I have offically kept score. If I don't keep score it is a practice round.

If I were to grade my golf so far it would be like this.

Driving - D-

I am having a hard time getting consistant drives on or near the fairway. It is either a massive push to the right or a pull hook running like a scared rabbit in the woods on the left.

Long Irons & Utility Clubs - C

I have been hitting my long irons and Utility clubs quite well and, except for the occasional pull hook, have been happy with the results. I could almost give these clubs a B- but will save that for the second marking period.

Mid Irons - C-

My mid-irons are just not getting the job done. These clubs have to put me on or near the green when I use them and they haven't been coming through for me. I have been cursed with a pull hook playing these clubs and am just now getting this problem worked out. I hope to have better results next marking period.

Short Irons, wedges - B

My short irons and wedges are saving my game. I am hitting these clubs quite well and that is allowing me to shoot the scores I am.

Chips - C+

My chipping has been pretty good for me. This has always been my achilles heal in the past but this year I have found a system that works for me and is getting the ball close enough to have a decent chance at par.

Putting - C+

My putting has saved several rounds for me and has cost me even lower scores eith a few 3 putts and missing the gimme birdie/par put occassionally. I am pretty happy with my putting but will never be totally satisfied with it until I totally eliminate my 3 putts and the 3 foot misses.

I am trying to play about 3 times a week and will have another report card around the first of July.

Minor Setback today

2008-05-14T21:35:00.000-04:00

My winning streak was shortlived as I had a minor setback today. Part of it was my fault over valuing my hands and part of it was donkey moves rewarded by PokerStars. Either way I only have myself to blame and am not too discouraged as I know I can earn back the buy in and a half I dropped today and get back on the winning streak.

I made a very questionable play by pushing my pocket nines only to see the villain was unable to fold his Queen that he got on an Ace high flop. How he was able to hang onto that queen with my bets indicating that I had the ace is beyond me but he did and he wins this round. I have a note on him now and will remember that he has a hard time folding top pair. It wasn't a pure bluff as I raised preflop and my past play indicated I usually had the goods when I was raising preflop but I was playing like a bit of a lag and that may have convinced him to stay in when he should have folded his Q/9 preflop (but they were sooooooooooooooooooooted!!).

___________________________

When I bought my Breckenridge Breweries Oatmeal Stout that I wrote about yesterday I also bought a 22 ounce Avalanche Amber Ale. $1.99 each for both brews is a steal. What a great deal for a couple of really good brews. I bought two more Oatmeal Stouts today and had one at dinner tonight with Chili. Yummo!!

The Avalanche Amber Ale is on par with Killian's Red.

Breckenridge Breweries describes their Avalanche Amber Ale as: "Subtlety. That's what makes our Avalanche amber ale such a treat. We blend pale and caramel malts – and just a kiss of bittering hops – to create a refreshing-but-flavorful, any-time beer. Aromas of pale grains, a semi-sweet middle and a clean-as-Colorado-snow finish make this our best-selling beer."

This was an enjoyable beer but I would rather buy the Oatmeal Stout and partake in that as it is more of a treat to me. I think my Killian's is comparable to the Avalanche Amber Ale .

Rock and Roll!!

2008-05-13T20:08:00.000-04:00

I had Frank Sinatra on my playlist, several poker training videos from PokerTrikz under my belt and a renewed confidence in my game. I was ready to Rock and Roll. I have had several good sessions since my mega losing streak and am back almost to where I was before the losses. I am very happy with how my game is going but I still see need for improvement.

It amazes me the small difference between a winning streak and a losing streak. When I was losing the villains were hitting every flush draw on me and during the winning streak they missed their draws or I hit the magic card on the river like when my A/K found a flop of K/K/3 with two clubs aboard. I put the villain all in only to see they have J/4 of clubs and the case club comes on the turn. Lo and behold the board pairs with a beautiful 3 on the river and my Boat beats their flush and I start stacking the chips. It didn't matter that they never should have called my preflop raise in the first place. It only matters how the cards come on the board and this time the lucky stick hit me square up side of my head.

______________________________________

I found me a real find at my favorite place for buying my specealty beers, Horrocks in Lansing, Michigan. They have 22 ounce bottles of Breckenridge Breweries Oatmal Stout for only $1.99 each. I am stocking up on them as we speak.

They describe this brew as: Rich, round and roasted, our Oatmeal Stout is satisfaction in a glass. It's a bold, smooth-bodied concoction that oozes dark-roasted coffee aromas and flavors of espresso and semi-sweet chocolate. We round out these heady pleasures with a dose of flaked oatmeal for a creamy body and a semi-dry finish. Unforgettable.

This is a really nice Stout and goes down very smoothly as the bitterness units are only 31.

Beer Advocate gives this beer a sold "B" and the reviewers have some very nice things to say about it. My feelings were summed up by this one, "Fairly drinkable, and enjoyable, a solid example of the style and well worth trying. Would be a good choice when introducing newbies to the style. Glad i got to try this, and its likely something I'll come back to at some point."

I am enjoying this stout immensely and hope to have several more while there is still a spring chill in the air.

2008-05-09T04:40:00.000-04:00

Chipper had some sound advice in his comment in my last post about my mega-losing streak. He said, "if you're on a major losing streak then you are getting impatient and need to wait to better opportunities." and "My best advice for when you are losing a lot is to stop playing for a while and think about other things."

I took both his pieces of advice. I tightened up and waited for my better hands which helped me win some money back and then I stopped playing and am taking a couple of days off from the tables. It helped to end on a mini-winning streak and now I can stay away from the tables knowing that it isn't all me and my shitty plays.

The thing that was amazing is that I play 3 different sites and I was getting coolered on all 3 sites. I told my wife about how I was on a big losing streak and that ususally helps me turn things around because I get it off my chest and can start fresh. After talking to her I sat down at a table and within the first 10 hands I was dealt Aces. I raised preflop and after a raggedy flop I raised the one caller all in and saw him turn over J/4 off suit. He had hit his 4 on the flop and then on the river the miracle jack hits and I lose to a major Donkey call. I should have quit right there.

On another table I saw a player win one hand and it was against me when he called my preflop raise with K/4 of hearts and on a one heart board I put him all in with my Pocket Kings and he called and got runner/runner hearts to make his flush and take down the pot. He then managed to lose that money and more in the next 20 hands by losing every hand he played (except for the one against me).

Another time I had pocket jacks and lost to K/rag when he called my preflop raise and got the one card he needed to beat me.

Hopefully that bad spell of cards is over and I can start to rebuild my bankroll. I am just amazed at how quickly the cards can change, how donkey calls can be rewarded over and over and how it can happen on every site you play and not just one. I know we want those people to keep playing those bad cards and we will get them eventually but I may go broke before eventually gets here.

Them's Quad Biotches!!

2008-05-07T13:00:00.000-04:00

This is about the only thing that went right for me lately. I'm on a mega losing streak and need to turn it around soon or I'll have to take my cards and go home.

Variance is a cruel mistress and couple that with running into maniacs that are playing any two suited cards and hitting their flushes, straights, sets, etc. and it makes for a long day at the tables.

My VP$IP has only been around 19% or less but I am still getting my money in at the wrong times.

Lets hope this minny rant helps turn things around.

Red Wings Rule!!

2008-05-02T02:00:00.000-04:00

My Detroit Red Wings made short work of the Colorado Avalanche as they swept the series with an impressive 8-2 win on Colorado's home ice. This was reminiscent of 2002 when the Wings beat Colorado and Patrick Roy 7-1 in the 7th game of that series.

Now they will have a bit of a rest before their next series, probably against the Dallas Stars. The Wings are clicking on all cylinders as Johan Franzen scored a hat trick and has 11 goals so far in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Henrik Zetterberg is also scoring in bunches and teaming with Pavel Datsyuk to form two very impressive scoring lines. The Wings look like they are on the march to the finals and, hopefully, win their 4th Stanley Cup in the last 11 years.

So far, so good

2008-04-29T14:17:00.000-04:00

My move up at PokerStars has been a modest success so far. I have managed to eke out some nice wins and have boosted my bankroll by two buy-ins. I have been playing one table at the $25 limit and one table at the $10 limit and have had success at both. I think I will do that for a while longer until I get more comfortable at the higher amount and my bankroll gets a little more padding.

I could have named this post, "What the Poker Gods giveth, they taketh away" as I have been successful at PokerStars but have had a couple of losing sessions at Full Tilt Poker. I have made some bets at the wrong time like when I put my pocket Jacks up against pocket Aces and when I had a semi-bluff trying to make my opponent think I had the flush when he was holding the nut flush all of the time. I was ahead in the hand until the river and then I threw caution to the wind and took it on the chin. I have been playing tight but haven't had any action with my good cards and have bet at the wrong time against better hands.

__________________________________

I managed to snag a couple of six packs of Spanish Peaks Brewing Company American Pale Aleat an excellent price. This is one of the fine brews that you can find at the Black Dog Ales web site. Spanish Peaks Black Dog Ale was first brewed in 1991 in Bozeman, Montana near the foot of the Spanish Peaks Mountain range. Spanish Peaks is dedicated to brewing the finest possible ales for your enjoyment.

American Pale Ale is a classic Pale Ale. It is describeds as, "medium bodied with golden amber color. It has a very pleasant hop character that integrates nicely with its smooth malt flavors. A classic pale ale with very good drinkability.

That describes this ale perfectly. It is a nice pale ale with a bite to it. Beer Advocate rated it a solid "B" and, though there were a few critical reviews, many were very complimentary like the following:

Full hearty malt and a hoppy citrus flavor. Nothing special or out of the ordianry, jsut a really solid drink. A fine example of an APA.

A nice beer. Glad to have a sixer of this one. The next beer I will decant a little more carefully in order to perserve the appearance. Certainly recommended if you like the sweeter side of the style. I prefer the hoppy side.

This is a really good American Pale Ale and I am glad I have 10 more beers sitting there waiting for me to quaff.

Moving UP

2008-04-28T00:09:00.000-04:00

I have earned enough money on PokerStars to move up to the next level. I have managed to put together some nice runs at the 6-Max $10 No Limit tables and feel I have enough of a bankroll to move up to the $25 dollar tables. I think the play at the $25 dollar tables will be better than the $10 tables. When I was able to move up at Full Tilt and Absolute Poker I found that the players were playing a better, more by-the-book style of poker. The $10 dollar tables get a lot of low buy-in players that are going for the "home run" hand where they can double up quick.

I am going to play a little tighter than usual when I start so that, hopefully, I can put some winning sessions under my belt as I get more comfortable at this level and feel out the type of players at the $25 dollar tables. I am really confident that I will be able to continue my upward march and look to add some significant numbers to my bank roll.

I was one of those players that use to say they could never win at Microstakes No Limit but now I feel I can win at the microstakes and low limit levels. I have to to give credit to my new and improved game to Trikker at Poker Trikz and the players who recorded the training videos at Flop Turn River. I am a big fan of any and all Poker Training Videos and I can't express enough how much they have improved my game.
_______________________________________
I have been to the golf course a total of 6 times in the last two weeks. I have played nine holes 5 times and 18 holes once. The first three times I went out I was just using them as practice rounds and hitting anywhere from 2 to 5 balls a hole. Last week I went out and started to record my scores. I shot 41, 42 and 85 for my 18 hole round. I am really happy with how my game is right out of the gate. My putting and improved chipping have helped to keep my scores respectable. I haven't been able to get off of the tee with any consistantcy but have made up for it by chipping pretty close and hitting some middle to long putts. I have been able to drop almost every knee knocker putt (the 4 to 6 feet long putts) except for one and that has really helped my score.

The wind has been hard to play in but maybe it is making me concentrate more as I have done quite well on the most windiest of days. The wind just really plays havoc with any shot that is mishit and seems to really turn a bad shot into a terrible shot. Hopefully the worse of the wind is behind us as we head into May.

I won't be able to play much this week but that is all right as the weather here is going to take a nose dive and we may even get some snow. I'll try to get in a couple of rounds but next week I should be raring to go.

Bell's Winter White Ale

2008-04-24T23:05:00.000-04:00

I found a nice buy on six packs of Bell's Winter White Ale and have been drinking it for the last couple of weeks. It is a very nice beer with a mild flavor. This could be a session beer for me as it tastes very smooth and goes down nice.

Bell's Winter White Ale is described as-
A Wheat Ale brewed with American Wheat and a proprietary blend of Hefe and classic Belgian-style yeasts. A refreshing winter alternative created from the subtle fusion of two classic flavors.

Beer Advocate rates this beer a "B" overall and there are some really nice reviews for this beer. One I totally agreed with stated, "Very drinkable, thought it might be 7%-8% before looking, a nice spring/summer session beer, I'll be looking for more." I thought this could be a nice summer beer. It is very different from the stouts that seem to taste best on a cold winter night.

The Eminent Domain Blog gave it a nice review and even he stated, "I think that the Bell's Winter White Ale would be a perfect summer beer. It's not heavy, the alcohol content is moderate, and it's got a clean finish. That would make it an ideal beer for a warm summer night. It provides a refreshing flavor but doesn't weigh heavily in your stomach. If you enjoy hefeweizen style beers, you will love this."

I just really enjoyed this beer and could drink quite a few of them on a hot Saturday after golfing or just listening to the Detroit Tigers or the Detroit Red Wings beat the Colorado Rockies as they go after another Stanley Cup.

Adding to the Bank Roll

2008-04-23T19:56:00.000-04:00

Here is a nice hand from Absolute Poker that helps my bank roll grow on that site.

Absolute PokerNo Limit Holdem Ring gameBlinds: $0.10/$0.255 playersConverter

Pre-flop: (5 players) Wolverine Fan is SB with 2 folds, Button raises to $1, Wolverine Fan raises to $3.1, BB calls, Button raises to $12.4, Wolverine Fan raises all-in $22.73, BB folds, Button calls.

I had been playing pretty good on this site and had built my $20 buy in up just a couple of dollars so I was ready to take down a big pot. May have been a donkey bet but I liked my Queens here.

Flop: ($48.56, 1 player + 1 all-in - Main pot: $48.56)
Nice flop for me

Turn: ($48.56, 1 player + 1 all-in - Main pot: $48.56)
Nice Turn for me.

River: ($48.56, 1 player + 1 all-in - Main pot: $48.56)
Not too afraid of this River card.

Results:Final pot: $48.56
Button Shows As Ks
Wolverine Fan Shows Qh Qd

The Button and I went all in preflop so I saw that he had Ace/King of spades and I knew he had a lot of outs. He had at least 20 outs amd I figured I would lose to a flush. Fortunately for me he didn't hit any of his many outs and I took down a nice pot.

I was two tabling and I was up almost a buy in on the second table so overall I won over two buy ins for the night. This was a nice addition to my bank roll on the Absolute Poker Site.

This and That

2008-04-22T17:37:00.000-04:00

My middle daughter came to visit this week-end and sat and played SitNGos all week-end with some nice results. She is really getting into the 45 Man Turbo SitNGo on Poker Stars and was able to finish in the money about half of the time winning around $20.

We talked quite a bit about the difference in the way we play poker. I am trying to me more aggressive and she is more conservative. We were able to discuss quite a few hands and we were pretty much polar opposites on how each of us would play them. It is hard to argue with her results, though, and she was having fun, which is the bottom line.

I have played a few hands the last couple of days and am starting to win some nice pots. I am getting back my two big losses outlined in my last post and, so far, have won back about half of what I had lost. Hopefully tonight I can get it all back and start to rebuild my bankroll on Full Tilt.
____________________________________________
I bought a 12 ounce bottle of Winter’s Bourbon Cask Ale, a rich, full-bodied seasonal draught hand-crafted by Anheuser-Busch brewmasters. It's description states Winter’s Bourbon Cask Ale treats beer lovers to an exceptional drinking experience, full of rich aromas, hints of vanilla, and flavorful hops. Its uniqueness and complexity will appeal to adults who have a passion for beer.

You can really taste the vanilla. It is a deep amber, almost copper color and quite a few of the beer aficionados are turned off by the heightened vanilla flavor. The Beer Advocate gave it a C rating and that is probably about right.
It is a sweet beer with a very vanilla taste to it. I could drink one or two of these but that is about all. I am glad I tried it and would drink it again.

Don't Bluff and Don't Slow Play

2008-04-18T21:06:00.000-04:00

I have been watching a lot of Poker Training videos and am really, really trying to escalate my No Limit Holdem game. So far I have had fairly good results but the other night I made two very, very big mistakes while playing that caused me two buy-ins.

The first mistake I made was when I made a massive bluff with A/10 only to find out my opponent had a set of 7's. BIG MISTAKE!! I am not really sure why I did it because it was such a donkey move. It was almost like someone else was controlling my mouse and making it click on the maximum bet button.

The second mistake I made was when I turned pocket nines into a set when a nine came on the flop. I tried to slowplay the set only to find out that my opponent made their straight from the free card they got on the turn. A good bet by me on the flop probably would have taken down the pot as my opponent was looking at a gut shot straight and wouldn't have the odds to continue with that hand. Instead, my slow play cost me a buy in.

Two big mistakes within 20 hands of each other and I am down two buy-ins. I can honestly say that I rarely bluff and rarely slow play hands anymore but I did both and they cost me quite a bit of money.

Played Longer, Lost More

2008-04-10T23:25:00.000-04:00

I was able to play longer today like I had hoped but the results were not what I was expecting. I dropped at least two buy-ins because I would shove my good pocket pair into someone who had a better pocket pair. I really never got much action with my good hands like A/A or K/K but did manage to lose once with Kings and once with Jacks.

I did win a hand with J/J against K/K when I rivered the 3rd jack. I managed to win quite a few nice pots but I lost way to many when my continuation bets were reraised or my all-ins ran into Aces. My losses added up to more than my winnings. I really never hit the flops very good so I think dropping two buy-ins was acceptable given my new, aggressive style. My VP$IP was just 17% so I really wasn't playing that many hands but the ones I did play I raised preflop and usually had a contiuation bet.

I have to work on when and when not to continuation bet. I really am having a hard times with that. Basically, I continuation bet almost every raise I throw out there. Many times I take down the pot with just air but other times I get reraised or called and then I'm not sure what to do on the turn.

I lost several pretty nice pots to middle pocket pairs when I never hit anything on the flop, turn or rver and I couldn't get a fold from my continuation bet. I wasn't real happy with my play and know I have a big leak to fix but overall I think I did all right but needed to have my cards hit more flops.

I'm going to continue watching videos and will give it another try tomorrow night.
________________________________________
I have usually played a couple of rounds by this time of the year but not this year. There have only been a couple of nice days to play and I had other obligations so wasn't able to get out. Looks like it may be next week before I make it to the course.

Down a Buy In

2008-04-10T01:21:00.000-04:00

I played about 90 minutes of poker today and finished down a buy in. I was pretty happy with my play but I could see there were several pots that I should have raised preflop and would probably have taken them down. I know I sound like a broken record but the poker videos are really helping my game. I just have to make myself play optimal poker. I was pretty tight on Full Tilt with a VP$IP of around 16% at 6 max. I am comfortable with that but I can see where there are some hands I could be playing to get it up around 20%. Still, at 16% with optimal play, I should be a winning player. Of course, it helps to get good cards today.

My big loss today was when I ran my pocket jacks into pocket Kings. Everything went in preflop which was stupid on my part as pocket Jacks are not that strong of a hand. I did suck out against another play when I four flushed with the worse hand to win the pot. So, all in all, it was a fair session and I am looking forward to playing again tomorrow. I hope to get as many as 3 hours in playing later today.

Kansas Jayhawks NCAA B-Ball Champs

2008-04-07T23:52:00.000-04:00

The Kansas Jayhawks downed the Memphis Tigers in overtime. Kansas had to hit a last second 3 point shot in regulation and then dominated the overtime. This offically ends men's NCAA Basketball for 2007-2008 and, with that, I'd like to comment on the state of my beloved Michigan Wolverines.

My Michigan Wolverines basketball has fallen to its lowest point in the history of a once storied program. The Wolverines finish their 2007-08 season with a 10-22 overall mark and a 6-14 record in Big Ten play. How did it ever get to this point. In 1989 the Wolverines won the National Championship and in the early 90's the Fab Five was wowing them at Crisler Arena. But, in retrospect, that was the beginning of the demise of this once proud program. The Fab Five were less than fabulous with the leader, Chris Weber, found out to be taking money under the table from a shift booster who made his money with illegal gambling operations. The program goes on probation, hires shitty coaches and the next thing you know it is almost a decade since we even played in the NCAA tournament.

Where does it go from here? Up is the only direction this program can go. Coach John Beilein has been a proven winner at the other stops on his career. His first year at Canisius was less than stellar but he turned things around quickly and won over 20 games the next two years. His first year at West Virginia he was just over .500 and then went on to win over 20 games the next 3 out of 4 years. His West Virginia players under Coach Bob Huggins made it to the NCAA tournament and won their first two games in the tournament, one of them over the Duke Blue Devils.

So there is hope for my Michigan Wolverines and I hope it begins with next year.

Aggressive play or Donkey play?

2008-04-06T12:56:00.000-04:00

I have been watching Poker Training Videos and am trying to be more aggressive in my play. There is a fine line between being aggressive and being a donkey and I think I may have crossed it with this hand.

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

CO: $35.05
BTN: $24.95
SB: $10.50
LZFSB3 (BB): $17.95
UTG: $25
MP: $49

Pre-Flop: J A dealt to LZFSB3 (BB)
UTG folds, MP raises to $0.50, 2 folds, SB calls $0.40, Hero raises to $2, MP calls $1.50, SB calls $1.50

Flop: ($6) 9 8 T (3 Players)
SB bets $3, LZFSB3 calls $3, MP raises to $18, SB calls $5.50 and is All-In, LZFSB3 calls $12.95 and is All-In

Turn: ($46.40) Q (3 Players - 1 is All-In)

River: ($46.40) 5 (3 Players - 1 is All-In)

Results: $46.40 Pot ($2.30 Rake)
SB showed T 9 (two pair, Tens and Nines) and LOST (-$10.50 NET)
LZFSB3 showed J A (a straight, Queen high) and LOST (-$17.95 NET)
MP showed K A (a flush, Ace high) and WON $44.10 (+$26.15 NET)

Almost Tilted Today

2008-04-03T20:36:00.000-04:00

My last post was about how I didn't Tilt anymore and, don't you know it, I played today and almost became tilted. I think if it wasn't for writing my last blog post I would have tilted but that reminded me that I am bigger than tilting over one meaningless hand.

I was down early at both Full Tilt and Absolute Poker but was able to come back and make a profit at Full Tilt but ended down a bit on Absolute. I only played for one hour today and I was a bit out of sorts so probably shouldn't have been playing at all. Today was one of the few days that I could tell I wasn't on top of my game and I probably shouldn't have even started.

If your remember back to when I first started to seriously play No Limit, I was buying in short at the tables and waiting for the big hand to double up with. I have progressed past that point and am coming to the table with almost a full buy in now and today I really noticed the short players. I had two players buy in for $5 dollars on the Full Tilt $25 dollar tables. I never bought in that short. I would at least buy in for $10 or $12 dollars but never $5 and you know what? They really annoyed me. I couldn't wait to get a good hand and stack them and finally it happened. One of the short stacks had won a couple hands and built their $5 to around $7 or so and limped in from MP. I was in the BB with Q/8 and should have raised but just called instead. The flop was a beautiful Q, Q, 6 rainbow. The shortstack went all in and I called. The only thing I was worried about was getting out kicked but it turns out they were holding a 6 and my 3 queens held up to stack them. They left right after that.

___________________________________

I bought a six pack of Genesee Cream Ale and have been imbibing it the last couple of days and I really like its taste. This beer is brewed by the High Falls Brewing Comapny. High Falls Brewing Company (High Falls) is an American brewery located along the Genesee River in Rochester, New York. Until 2000 the company was known as the Genesee Brewing Company.

The High Falls Brewing Comapny is also the brewer of J.W. Dundee's Honey Brown and other lagers.

In the Movie A History of Violence, Viggo Mortenson orders a "Genny Cream" at a Philadelphia bar.

The Beer Advocate gave it a C and that is about what it deserves. It is on par with Rolling Rock or Michelob and at $5 dollars a six pack is a beer that I can have again. I can't always be shelling out $10 for a six pack of higher end beers so will be partaking in some of the lower priced but better tasting lagers than Budweiser or Miller.

No More Tilt

2008-04-03T00:45:00.000-04:00

My poker game is in a bit of a roller coaster mode right now. I play primarily 3 sites and interchange which one's I am playing at any one time. I am happy with each site and there really isn't any one reason I would play one over another at any time. What I am experiencing now is that I will win at two of the sites and lose at one. Its never always winning at one site and always losing at another. The site I win big on today may be the one I lose on tomorrow. Thus, I am winning overall, but am only slowly building my bankroll because I am in "two steps forward, one step back" mode. More like one and a half step forward, one step back mode.

I have been watching quite a few Poker Training videos and feel like my game has grown because of them. I am comfortable at the tables and feel that I can win every time out. The funny thing is, I don't win every time out, and when I get a bad beat or my aces cracked, I'm not tilting. I may type, "Lucky you" and reload and keep playing or just reload and keep playing. I know that in the long run I will win and I want that donkey to play those cards against me. I can beat thise pocket jacks 7 out of 10 times. You will only get that 3rd jack once in a while so keep going all in with those cards and I will stack you.

You may say, "So what if you don't tilt. You shouldn't be tilting anyway." But I was a notoriously bad tilter. If my aces got cracked by a junk hand or if I lost several hands by the slimmest margins I would go off the deep end and pretty much piss my bankroll away. I would have to make myself close down the tables and then I would stew about it for the next 24 hours or more. Now that is not happening. I am just continuing on and making every effort to play each hand to maximize my expected value and, so far, it has been happening. Today I lost my stack to A/K when I had A/Q. I was able to reload and over the next 40 minutes win back what I had lost and finish with a slight profit. And I have been able to do that on other days, too.

I am really likeing this new found confidence and I think my game is reflecting the better play on my part.

(Note to the Poker Gods - I'm not saying I am running good but just telling me two readers that I am a calmer, better player so don't smite me with your bad vibes, please)

Poker Training Videos - Part III

2008-03-31T16:47:00.000-04:00

Grinder School

I'm going to recommend anyone playing microstakes Texas Holdem to join GrinderSchool.com. This is a site specifically designed with low stakes players in mind.

Most players playing Microstakes poker are doing so because:
1. They are inexperienced and are trying to get better at Texas Holdem
2. They don't have the bankroll to play the higher stakes
3. Or both

Grinder School describes their site as:
Grinderschool is a novel idea in poker websites. We are a strategy site specifically designed with the low stakes player in mind. We realize the need for quality poker strategy, including vidoes and articles, for players on a budget. Grinderschool will provide in-depth strategy instruction for low stakes players, most notably through videos and direct access to our team of successful player for questions and advice. For a glimpse of what we offer, check out our free articles and videos.

Most advice on other sites is aimed at high stakes players. Many of those tactics do not necessarily apply well in low stakes games. Further, these sites can charge $100s in up front costs, followed by expensive monthly fees. To put it bluntly, a low stakes player is screwed! This has created a void for low stakes poker strategy. We seek to fill that void. Grinderschool charges no up front costs. All you pay is the monthly enrollment fee, which is much smaller than the fees charged by other sites.

You can suscribe via PayPal or a PokerSite Transfer (PokerStars, Full Tilt or Ultimate Bet), which is pretty neat.

The Grinder School team consists of:

AApoker: Adil began playing poker in 2005. He started off playing low stakes cash games and grinding bonuses for extra income each month...
JGB146: Jeffrey has been playing poker since 2004. In that time, he has been profitable in every format of No Limit Texas Hold'em....
Jyms: Jim has been playing online poker since January of 2006. He started out playing the odd home game with friends...
Spenda: Cullen has been playing poker for 4 years. He began taking the game seriously when he was living in Las Vegas...

Check out this site. Check out the free videos and give it a try. I don't think you will be disappointed and will be a winner in the long run.

Poker Training Videos - Part II

2008-03-26T16:20:00.000-04:00

FREE VIDEOS

There are two sites that I have found on the internet that offer a multitude of free Poker Training Videos. The first site is Flop Turn River which has a total of 43 free videos that cover a gamut of games. There is an Omaha video but the majority are No Limit Texas Hold'em covering everything from microstakes games to $400 dollar No Limit and SitNGos and MTTs.

Flop Turn River describes their videos as: FTR is now offering free instructional poker videos with commentary made by FTR members to demonstrate certain tactics, strategies, and thought processes. We're always trying to learn more about the game of poker, and watching videos of others playing poker while listening to their poker video commentary can open our eyes to new ideas, alternate strategies or provide confirmation on how to play a given situation.

Many of the videos were made by players that have not moved on to their own pay for video site GrinderSchool.com which I will talk about in part III of this series.

The second site is Poker Trikz. The site describes itself as: PokerTrikz.com is the newest online poker training site that is totally free of charge. We are dedicated to bring you top notch free poker instruction and all you have to do is want to learn. If you are a struggling player and looking to beat micro stakes or small stakes poker games, you came to the right place.

The free videos are the big draw for Poker Trikz but there is more to the site than just videos. They are really promoting rakeback from a number of poker sites as well as a Forum section, Articles section, Reviews section, Blogs section (not quite up and running yet) and a Coaching section.

I really like Poker Trikz and heartily recommend everyone joining up and watching the videos. There are at leasat 29 different videos and they are geared to teaching a specific part of No Limit Texas Holdem. One video describes on How to Deal with Down Swings, another talks about Moving Up in Stakes and another is about How to Continuation Bet. The best part is that you are learning all of the other aspects of Texas Holdem while concentrating on one area. This helps reinforce all of the other things you must know how to do well to become a winnner at No Limit Texas Holdem.

It's no secret that I am a big fan of Poker Training Videos and these two sites are awesome to provide Free Training Videos to everyone.

Poker Training Videos - Part I

2008-03-25T13:39:00.000-04:00

All of us who play online poker seriously have purchased and read at least one or two (and probably more) books on how to play Texas Hold’em poker- Poker's most popular game. We want to become good players, so it is almost mandatory to read and digest the quality poker instruction books that are available. After playing live or online for several months, any serious player should take the next step to improve their game and become a consistently winning poker player.

That step would be to begin watching and digesting poker instructional videos. There are a wealth of sites on the internet that have Poker Training Videos.

Card Runners
Stoxpoker
DeucesCracked
Poker Savvy Plus
Grinder School

To name just a few.

All of these sites offer a multitude of instructional videos, narrated by tried and true professional poker players and offering a variety of games (Holdem, Omaha, RAZZ, Stud, etc.) The membership fees range from a one time fee, monthly payments or a sign up fee plus monthly payments.

If you are dedicated to bettering your game and will put the time and effort into learning how to play you will probably be able to justify the expense of joining one of these rooms from your increased winnings at the tables. All of these rooms offer free videos for you to watch so you can become familiar with how the videos are made, the type of instruction you will receive, and if the commentary is to your liking or not. These also work great for those of you who are in a rut and feel the need for a short lesson to help pick up your game.

There are plenty of free videos out there to watch and learn if you don’t have the funds or just don’t want to join one of the sites that charges to view their videos. I’ll comment on that more next post.

Them's Quad B*******!!

2008-03-21T16:28:00.000-04:00

This wasn't even my big hand of the day. At this same table after I had already doubled up I was dealt Aces in the Big Blind. I went all in and got two callers and they held up to help me triple up. I did much better today than on Wednesday and won back quite a bit of my losses so am sitting better now.

Got My ass handed to me today

2008-03-19T15:55:00.000-04:00

I dropped quite a few buy-ins today on Full tilt when my good hands were always second best to another hand and my great hands either got no action or lost. The worse was when my Pocket Kings ran into trips jacks and I rebuy now. Pocket aces, everyone folds and I just win the blinds. I would raise preflop with A/K, A/Q, A/J, K/Q several times and miss every single flop. I would continuation bet and before it was all over I lose $3 on the hand and after 10 or more times of that the losses add up.

My $VPIP was only 19% for 6-max so I wasn't playing too many hands. I was just losing the hands I was playing.

I did win on Absolute Poker when my pocket Jacks hit another Jack on the river to give me a full house and beat a lower full house. That has made my Absolute bankroll at one of its highest points ever. I have played well there but was lucky today when I caught that jack on the river.
_________________________________________
I moved down in stakes on Full Tilt yesterday to the .50/.10 ($10) No Limit tables and I will never do that again. The play at that level was atrocious. You could not get people off of a hand and a preflop raise was a joke as they called everything. Now I remember why I hated playing that level so much. As far as I am concerned the play at the $25 dollar level is head and shuolders above the $10 level. With that being said, you still find donkeys at the $25 dollar level but there are only one or two per table, not 4 or 5 so chances are much better for you and play is much better. It doesn't take long to figure out who the donkeys are and then you can try to exploit them.

You just have to hit a few flops to be successful and today I was not. My worse day of poker in a month.

Some good, some bad

2008-03-17T19:25:00.000-04:00

I have been watching a lot of poker training videos and have enjoyed them immensely. The nice thing is that they reinforce many aspects of my play while they are teaching me new things about Texas Holdem. A nice little double up in the learning department. It is always good to know that you are doing some things right and good to learn new things.

I was able to put my new found wisdom into play tonight with mixed results. Overall I was a winning player tonight but 3 hands (all at the same table to 3 different players) cost me from having a really, really good night. The first was when I ran pocket Kings into pocket Aces. All in after the flop and I rebuy. The second was when My A/Q on a queen high board ran into pocket Kings which were played pretty well and I rebuy again. The third was when my Pocket Queens went up against A/K off, an ace on the flop and an ace on the turn and it was time for me to leave that table.

My pocket Kings running into Pocket Aces is just poker. Hard to get away from that hand. The other two hands were probably not played well by me as I was trying to recoup my stack after the Aces vs. King fiasco.

Like I said, though, overall I was a winner and took a nice little profit in for the night. Just wasn't as good as I had hoped. I'll be watching more videos and trying to recoup those losses.

The Perfect Storm

2008-03-15T19:08:00.000-04:00

Remember the movie, The Perfect Storm with George Clooney when, in October 1991, three weather systems collided off the coast of Nova Scotia to create a storm of singular fury, boasting waves over one hundred feet high. It was the storm of the century, a tempest created by so rare a combination of factors that meteorologists deemed it "the perfect storm." Well, I had the "Perfect Hand" today when a combination of factors all came together to let me triple up my buy-in.

The first sign of good fortune was when I was allowed to limp into a 3 way pot with 3/3 from the BB. The second sign of good fortune was when I hit my set on a flop of K/4/3, two of them clubs. The third sign of good fortune was when the 4 of clubs came on the flop to make a flush possible and give me a full house. The river was a queen and I was all in. UTG called as he had made his flush and an MP player called with trip 4's. I took this hand down with my full house and tripled up.

It was the "Perfect Hand" because of all of the above factors coming together to make for a large pot. The player with the flush had to figure his hand was pretty good and the guy with trip 4's was probably betting on a wing and a prayer as his trip 4's was the worse hand of the three and it looks like he just couldn't get away from it.
________________________________
I saw another hand that was the perfect hand for someone else. I don't remember what I had but I folded preflop. Two other players played out the hand and one was stacked when his King high flush ran into his opponents straight flush. The funny thing is the guy with the King (Kc/Js) actually had a bigger straight (as well as a flush) but his Jack was a spade and his opponent had 8/J of clubs to complete the idiot end of the straight but because his cards were clubs, his was a straight flush.

So Picture this - Player one had Kc/Js, player two had 8c/Jc. Flop is 9c, Qc,6c. Turn is the 10c and I don't remember what the river was but both were all in at this point.

That would have been a very tough hand to lose.

No Poker Today

2008-03-13T21:02:00.000-04:00

I haven't played any poker in a couple of days and probably won't be able to play again until Sunday as work is keeping me away from the tables. I am working five 12 hour days this week and that leaves little time for poker after I get some sleep and do my household duties.

I have been able to watch some poker videos and am really enjoying them. I can understand how joing one of the video training sites can really help your game. They are a bit pricey for me at this time so I will probably have to forgo joining any for a while. I realize that I should be able to win the price of admission from what I learn from the videos but it is getting on to summer and I will be golfing more and playing poker less so I think I will wait until the fall.

I bought a six pack of Grolsch Amber Ale on Sale at my local beer store and I enjoyed the first one I had. Grolsch is a Dutch Beer and the amber ale was began distributin to the United States just a few short years ago. I would put this beer on par with Killians.

Rate Beer gave it a so-so rating but Beer Advocate gave it a slightly better rating of B-. Some of the comments were, "It has an excellent malty taste with a bit of light citrus/tangerine flavor. It's not a hoppy beer at all. It goes down extremely smooth, it's a very good beer." and "Taste is really malty, with a nice bitter finish. Great balance."

The funny thing is that the Grolsch website is an interactive site where you have to solve a mystery (if you so chose). It was great fun. If you are going to their website just to read up on their beers you will be greatly disappointed but if you are a gamer and like doing a little role playing and get into this interactive mystery, you will love it. I had a great time trying to solve the mystery which took me about an hour or so to do.

Was this a Donkey Call??

2008-03-12T14:55:00.001-04:00

This was the 11th hand in this particular session. I had played only one hand prior to this hand when I limped from the BB w/ A/2 off and I folded on a turn bet. The villain had played one hand prior and folded to a turn bet, too.

Absolute Poker
No Limit Holdem Ring game
Blinds: $.25/$.10
5 players
Converter

Stack sizes:Seat 3 - TATERLEGS ($54.20 in chips)
Seat 4 - LZFSB3 ($9.15 in chips)
Seat 5 - SKINNY1314 ($81.67 in chips)
Seat 6 - ASHTOXI ($25 in chips)
Seat 1 - BASJE ($11.59 in chips)
Seat 2 - DJ_JIM ($14.15 in chips)

Pre-flop: (5 players) LZFSB3 is SB with :Ks :Ad
UTG folds, DJ_JIM raises to $1, Button folds, LZFSB3 raises to $2.25, BB folds, DJ_JIM calls.

I see this as a blind steal, possibly A/rag or Q/J, K/rag and I reraise in hopes of taking pot right now.

Flop: :4h :2h :Jh ($33.3, 2 players)
LZFSB3 bets $2, DJ_JIM raises to $6.25, LZFSB3 raises all-in $6.90, DJ_JIM calls.

I did standard continuation bet and when he raised there was only .65 cents more for me to go all in so I did. If I call his raise I only have .65 cents left anyway so I go all in. I'm not worried about flush at all and still have him on Blind Steal with A/rag hand.

Turn: :6s ($17.65, 1 player + 1 all-in - Main pot: $17.65)

River: :4d ($17.65, 1 player + 1 all-in - Main pot: $17.65)

Results:
Final pot: $17.65
DJ_JIM Shows Kd Qh
LZFSB3 Shows Ks Ad
This player started to berate my call, saying such things as "Donkey call", "I had no hearts, how could I call that?", etc.
He commented on my short stack but he didn't have much more than I did so I'm not sure what was up with that.

Was my play so terrible? I only played three hands out of about 26 hands and left because of this player and another berating my play.

Poker Savvy

2008-03-10T09:58:00.000-04:00

It has been quite a while since I have talked about Poker Savvy. Poker Savvy is the premeir site for obtaining bonuses from joining a poker room and playing a set amount of hands to garner points for that site and get the bonus. Poker Savvy is a win/win situation where by simply playing good poker you can not only win money at the site you are playing but generate a nice bonus from Poker Savvy at the same time.Prior to the passage of the UIGEA, I had made about $600 dollars from Poker Savvy bonuses. Not too shabby.

Poker Savvy has really expanded since I first joined. They now have videos and articles on poker. These are contributed by players just like you and me and there are some very good players submitting articles, like DoubleAs, who doesn't play so much now but was a premeir player at one time and could be again if he choses.

There is also a new site Poker Savvy Plus that has recently signed Mike "The Mouth" Matusow to make player videos. This is a site that is all about improving your game by making excellent training videos for all forms of poker, from Hold'em to Mike Matusow's specialty, Omaha.

I encourage you to check out both site. Add some bonus money when signing up at a poker room and watch some videos so you will play better when you join that poker room.

Mr. Luckbox

2008-03-06T13:47:00.000-05:00

This was my second or third hand since sitting down at the table. I had already won one pot and then was dealt A/K in the SB. (I play as LZFSB3 at all poker rooms)

Full Tilt No-Limit Hold'em, $0.25 BB (6 handed) Full Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com (Format: HTML)

Erik Lindgren ($24.65)
Button ($13)
LZFSB3 ($16.50)
BB ($24.55)
UTG ($25.45)
MP ($21)

Preflop: LZFSB3 is SB with Ah, Kc.

1 fold, MP raises to $0.5, Erik Lindgren calls $0.50, Button calls $0.50, LZFSB3 raises to $2.1, 1 fold, MP folds, Erik Lindgren calls $1.50, Button calls $1.50.

The min-raise is curious to me. I figure he either has a monster or maybe small pocket pair and is trying to win blinds but w/ A/K out of position I raise pretty big in hopes of taking down pot right now.

Flop: ($6.85) Td, 4s, Jc (3 players)

LZFSB3 bets $3, Erik Lindgren raises to $7.75, Button folds, LZFSB3 calls $4.75.

Continuation bet here of about half the pot. Erik raises and I am thinking my monster hand theory is holding true. I call because I still have lots of outs.

Turn: ($22.35) Qh (2 players)

LZFSB3 checks, CO bets $4.25, LZFSB3 raises to $6.75 (All-In), Erik Lindgren calls $2.50.

Bingo, the perfect card. I go for the check/raise here and it works to perfection and I am all in.

River: ($0) Qs (2 players, 1 all-in)

Final Pot: $35.85
Worrisome card here.
Results below:

LZFSB3 has Ah Kc (straight, ace high).
Erik Lindgren has Tc 9s (two pair, queens and tens).

Outcome: LZFSB3 wins $35.85.

So much for a monster hand. Wasn't even the middle pocket pair I expected. Lucky me.

Poker fading to Golf

2008-03-05T23:18:00.000-05:00

I didn't play any poker today for the first time in about a week. I really don't want to say anything about my poker because the Gods are favoring me in much of my play. I have had some unbelievable wins lately (will try to post the most unbelievable one tomorrow) and am running good at Absolute Poker and Full Tilt. I am down a bit at PokerStars but it could be much worse as I have been able to claw my way back after being stacked early the last two times I have played.

I know that variance works both ways when one plays a lot of poker but I have to admit when the cards go against me it is a lot harder to take. Isn't that just the smartest thing anyone can say about playing any game or sport. When I lose it sucks. Wow, genius.

Anyone that has played a lot of poker and had the inevitable downswings will know what I am talking about. Aces getting cracked time and again by terrible hands or unbelievable runner/runner or river cards. Full house losing to higher full house, sets losing to flushes over and over. Those times feel like you are never going to win at this game again and closing down the computer or not going on tilt is a victory in itself.

Spring is slowly coming to Michigan and as soon as it is in full bloom and bordering on summer my poker playing will go way down to almost nothing while golf takes over. Just when I am starting to feel like I know what I am doing playing No Limit Texas Hold'em. It has taken me the better part of the winter to finally show some gains in this cruel game. And it may be put on hiatus soon.

I guess I had better put in some productive hours in the next 3 to 4 weeks before I start to curse the golf Gods for guiding my drives into the ponds or smack dab behind the only tree between me and the green.

Good Old JokerStars

2008-03-03T19:25:00.001-05:00

I have been fortunate to be a winning player at the higher stakes ($25 No Limit) at Full Tilt and Absolute Poker. So here is what happens when I try the higher stakes at PokerStars.

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $0.25 BB (6 handed) Poker Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com (Format: HTML)

MP ($24.35)
CO ($25)
Button ($27.40)
SB ($48.90)
BB ($9.25)
Hero ($9.80)

Preflop: Wolverine Fan is UTG with Qd, Qh.
Wolverine Fan raises to $0.75, MP calls $0.75, 3 folds, BB calls $0.50.

Flop: ($2.35) 4d, 5c, Jd (3 players)
BB bets $1.25, Wolverine Fan raises to $2.5, MP raises to $10, BB folds, Wolverine Fan calls $6.55 (All-In).

Turn: ($21.70) 2d (2 players, 1 all-in)

River: ($21.70) 3c (2 players, 1 all-in)

Final Pot: $21.71

Results:
Wolverine Fan has Qd Qh (one pair, queens).
MP has Ah Jc (straight, five high).
Outcome: MP wins $22.64.

I had been playing quite tight and was very patient and this was the first good hand I had in a long time. Good ol' runner-runner.

Typical on PokerStars.

Edit: I reloaded and kept playing at PokerStars. A maniac came to the table and started to run over everyone. I stayed patient and just played good hands. Finally, I got A/J spades UTG and I raised $1 and had two callers including the maniac. Flop comes Jack high with two spades and the maniac bets big and I raise all in. He calls wtih K/Q diamonds. No Kings, no queens but another spade comes on the river and I double up for the first time. A few hands later I get 7/7 and limp in. A 7 comes on the flop to complete my set. The maniac bets big, I go all in and he calls and my set holds up to get me back to even for the day. Maybe JokerStars isn't so bad after all.

Dear Poker Gods. I am still not bragging, just telling my two readers how I did today.

Moved up in Stakes

2008-02-28T11:08:00.000-05:00

I hate to write anything good about my poker play because the Poker Gods seem to look down on any positive thoughts and decide to stick it to you where the sun doesn't shine. That being said, I have moved up in stakes in my No Limit Play. I was playing the No Limit Hold'em $10 tables and now have moved up to the $25 dollar tables.

The difference in play is like night and day. The higher limits respect your preflop raise a lot more, don't tend to call your raise with the bizarre low number/high gap cards like 2/6 off or 3/7 off and then hit it big on the flop. They don't seem to chase the flush draw as much. I just think it is a better quality of play and it is suiting my style much better. And I am respecting the other players raises a lot more and folding now instead of calling because I have doubts on what my opponent is playing. Amazing how much money you can save by folding.

I think when you raise preflop the .50 or .75 cent raise means a lot more than the .30 sent raise at the lower limits. When you bet a dollar that seems to be more like real money to the players than when you bet a few dimes.

I moved up at Absolute and Full Tilt because my bankrolls on those sites can support the higher stakes. I still buy in short but it is still a respectable amount, just not a full buy in.

Now Poker Gods don't read this as me getting cocky or bragging. I'm not. I'm just telling my two readers what is new in my poker play.
______________________________
Grinder has been writing more about politics lateley. I am not thrilled about either of the party candidates, Barack Obama (or Hillary if she can pull of a miracle) or McCain.

I had to chuckle at the latest exchange between Obama and McCain when McCain is taking Obama to task about Al Qaeda being in Iraq and that is why they call it Al Qaeda in Iraq. Obama comes back with the comment that if Bush and McCain hadn't invaded Iraq there wouldn't be any Al Qaeda in that country. How do you respond to that? He is right. Sadam had his country in control and I don't think he had anything to do with Al Qaeda.

It would even be hard for McCain to justify invading Iraq because of Sadam. There are at least 10 other countries on this earth with worse dictators than Sadam was. You could argue that Cuba with Castro was a better country to invade than Iraq. We could have taken Cuba with just a naval bombardment. And what about Iran?

Sorry <Grinder, didn't know you wrote about the exact same thing.

Not Much New

2008-02-26T11:47:00.000-05:00

Not much new to report. It has been several days since I have played any poker. The last time I played I dropped a buy-in at the Full Tilt $25 No Limit Texas Holdem tables. I had sat down for a long session of poker but Mrs. Wolverine put the kebosh on that when she told me she had different plans and they included me so I was unable to come back from my loss that day. I hope to sit down to a nice 2 or 3 hour session today and see if I can't make back that money and more.
I am drinking a new beer, to me. It is Sleeman Honey Brown Lager brewed by Sleeman Brewing Ltd of Guelph, Ontario in Canada. I really like it. I think it is a better tasting Honey Brown than J.W. Dundee's Honey Brown. (and I really like J.W. Dundee's Honey Brown)

Sleeman's describes their beer as:
A refreshingly smooth, full-bodied lager, with a subtle touch of all natural honey which creates a slightly sweet finish.

Beer Advocate gives it a so-so C+/B- rating and the reviews pretty much sum up the rating, a good but not great beer. Beerman Sez has this to say about it -
The Beerman first saw this HBL at a hotel near Toronto when it was being delivered to a friend's table. It was love at first-sight and first taste. This is crisper and not as heavy as Dundee's HBL. If you buy the Beerman a Sleeman Honey Brown you will make a new friend.

The price of this beer, on sale, is on par with J.W. Dundee's Honey Brown so I can see myself drinking more of this in the future.

Book Review: Daniel Negreanu - Hold'em Wisdom For All Players

2008-02-21T23:09:00.000-05:00

Daniel Negreanu's Hold'em Wisdom For All Players is NOT a book for beginners but it is not that good of a book for advanced players either. This is a book for experienced beginners. This book expects the reader to have a pretty good working knowledge of Texas Hold'em. The expectation is that you will have read other material and played enough Texas Hold'em to know what pot odds are, what 'outs' are, what starting hands to play and many other basic Texas Hold'em strategies.

This book is not a book for advanced players wanting advanced strategy plays or more in depth concepts like how to play from Under the Gun or how to play the blinds, etc. This is a book for the fairly new Texas Holdem player that is trying to steadily improve his game and move up from microstakes play to higher buy-in poker. This is a good book for that type of player and I am one of them. I am trying to hone my game and improve my knowledge so as to be able to move up to higher stakes Hold'em and I really enjoyed reading this book.

Hold'em Wisdom For All Players is what I understand to be a collection of articles that Daniel Negreanu did for various websites and magazines. 50 of these articles have been compiled into this book and each one is presented as a chapter. Chapter 1 - Top Ten Rookie Mistakes, chapter 2 - Top 5 reasons why your losing at Poker, Chapter 10 - The Five Times Rule are just a few of the 50 topics presented in this book that are worth reading and rereading. Each chapter is written with Daniel's folksy style. What is unique is that it is done with Daniel's unique teaching approach, easy going manner and common sense.

This is a very easy book to read and when you are reading this book you can almost hear Daniel Negreanu talking to you. Before you know it you have reached the end of the book and not once have you come across a concept or strategy that was boring or drawn out enough to make you check to see how much longer you had to go before you reached the end of the chapter.

Daniel presents his strategies towards the novice player but will include his thoughts on how the advanced player would play or what advice he would give to an advanced player. This allows you to get an understanding of how your poker insight will change with increased experience.

MagicHoldem.com

2008-02-19T21:08:00.001-05:00

There was a comment in my last post to become an affiliate for MagicHoldem.com, a Poker Odds Calculator. It is a real time Poker Odds calculator and it supports over 100 poker rooms. There is a 100 hand trial period so I downloaded it and played today so that I could evaluate it.

To be honest, I wasn't too thrilled with it. I think it is great for someone starting out as a novice playing Texas Holdem but, other than the odds calculator and showing the outs that are available it really was very helpful to me. If anything, it played a little looser than I do.

Here is how it looks when it is being used:

And here are the explanations for the different tool bars.

One hundred free hands wasn't nearly enough to evaluate this program. You only get to see about 20 hands that you actually play and most of those you fold on the flop so they are about worthless. Even Poker Tracker gives you 1000 free hands to evaluate their program and MagicHoldem.com needs to give you more free hands.

This program was just like Pokerbility that came out about two years ago. I evaluated that program and found it severly lacking. MagicHoldem is much better than Pokerbility was back then but it may have fixed some of its bugs by now so I hate to compare the two. MagicHoldem does more than Pokerbility did.

Pros and Cons about the software

There weren't too many Pros. It is nice to have the Pot Odds and Outs figured out for you. It does give you advice on whether to call, fold, raise or reraise preflop.

The cons were many. You had to have the poker room at the default size for the program to work so it limited your ability to multi-table without having overlap. It didn't even work when I launched Absolute Poker but it did work on Full Tilt and on PokerStars. On Absolute Poker it kept asking me to put the poker room at the default size before it could work and the poker room was at the default size.

There was no difference between advice for Full Ring tables or Siz max tables. It didn't change its advice depending on table position as several times I would be Under the Gun with A/rag off and it would say call or raise. It did the same when I was dealt 6/6 UTG although a raise there would be the better move.

I think this program if fine if you only do one or two tables at a time and if you are new to the game. It can be very beneficial but if you are a veteran player this will just clutter your screen.

Win some, Lose some

2008-02-17T19:39:00.000-05:00

I played on PokerStars today for the first time in a month. I played three 2-table SitNgos and one free roll sponsored by Poker Web Blogs. I finished 1st and 2nd in two of the SitNGos and 12th in the other. I bubbled the Poker Web Blogs free roll when.

My ouster in the Free Roll was a classic Poker Stars rewarding the large stack's play. I had enough chips to fold my way into the money as payoffs went to the top 54 places and there were 56 runners left out of a few hundred. I get A/K in the BB and raise it up and two limpers call, including the Big Stack. The flop comes down King high with two diamonds. I go all in and the big stack calls and shows the two diamonds in his hand and, of course, the river fills up his flush and IGHN. Bubble Boy. In hind site I guess I should have folded into the money or not gone all in but I was really hoping to double up my chips so I could make a run at the final table.

It was a free roll and I would have won a couple of dollars at most but I had invested my time and had a good hand only to lose to a flush. That seems to be the story of my life in poker.

I was four tabling Full Tilt later in the day and I had already won a couple of buy-ins when I get Ace/Queen. I raise and get one caller. The flop comes down with Ace/rag/rag including two spades. I raise it up big to discourage the flush draw and the villain calls. The turn brings a queen and I have two pair and the villain only has a couple of dollars left. I bet enough to put him all in and he turns over two spades and the river fills up his flush. He just wouldn't fold those spades.

The sad part is that was the only hand he won the whole time I was at that table. Less than 20 hands later he goes bankrupt and leaves. The only hand he won was against me by staying in and hitting his freaking flush.

WTF?

2008-02-15T23:54:00.000-05:00

Mrs. Wolverine and I are big fans of Survivor but CBS has to be saying, "WTF?" when, on the very first episode, Jonny Fairplay decided he didn't want to be on the island anymore and asked to be voted out. Jon "Jonny Fairplay" Dalton was one of the best known Survivor Villains when he used the ploy that his Grandma had passed away to garner sympathy from his fellow players.

Jonny Fairplay was one of the most recognizable players in Survivor History and his presence in the newest Survivor was a dream to the Fans that are playing against their Survivor heroes.

Then he decides to quit and before you know it he is gone. All of the bluster, scheming, gamesmanship, etc. that Jonny Fairplay brings to the game is gone in the very first episode. The CBS Execs had to be stunned. Jonny Fairplay was a Ratings Magnet.

Last night's episode was a classic in the Survivor Genre. The Fans Team had lost the competition and had to vote someone off the island. Mikey B was garnering up all types of scenarios and dictating his small colition on how they were to vote. Then behind his back Joel pulls the rug out from under him by getting a bunch of the Fans to undercut Mikey B and vote of his newly acquired girlfriend, Mary.

It was a classic Tribal Council and Mary and Mikey B never saw it coming. I think this is going to be a very fun Survivor to watch.

Blah, blah, blah

2008-02-14T22:07:00.000-05:00

Not much to report on the Poker Front. The worse thing to happen to me in poker recently was Full Tilt giving me the $75 dollar bonus to earn. I earned around $30 of the $75 but loss overall even with clearing almost half of the bonus. I played too many hands and took too many chances and played way toooo many hours in a row trying to clear this bonus. I told myself if I could just break even I would earn money from the bonus but, unfortunately, I played much less than break even. Now I am backing off from playing for a few days and will start up again this week-end.

I'm going to refocus on playing only quality hands and rebuilding my bankroll on both Absolute Poker and Full Tilt. I am pretty sure I can slowly rebuild my bankroll as long as variance doesn't rear its ugly head and smack me down.
_______________________________
Is it just me or does GQ Magazine have more women on its covers now than men? Used to be it would have a well dressed man with the latest fashion trends but now it always seems to have a bikini clad woman on the cover.

Don't you just love the covers of Men's Fitness and Shape magazine? The covers are so eye catching and the lead-ins for the stories makes you want to pick them up and read them from cover to cover.

"Lose Fat not Muscle" "Back in Shape by Spring" "Get Big Arms!" for Men's Fitness.

"Chocolate That Keeps You Slim" "4 Weeks to your Best Butt" "Dress 5 Pounds Thinner" for Shape.

Winna', Winna', Chicken Dinna

2008-02-12T15:20:00.000-05:00

I was a winner today on Full Tilt. My aces held up, my sets held up - it was a beautiful thing. It made playing such a pleasure. Pocket Queens vs A/10. No problem, I'm a winner. A/K against pocket 10s, see ya! Everything was clicking and now I am happy, happy, happy.

Weather in Michigan is freaking cooooold. Snowfall is pretty good too but not as much as Grinder's in Wisconsin (North of Madison, I believe). It is suppose to warm up in a day or so and be back to 'normal' temperatures, mid 20s.

Just getting my Taxes ready to send in. We will be getting a bit of a refund this year. Always a good thing. The Government economy stimulator money is going to pay for our vacation to The Grand Tetons National Park this fall. Mrs. Wolverine and I are going to go see our youngest Daughter out by Jackson.

They have about 400 inches of snow in the Grand Tetons and more is expected. This is a very different winter for my baby as she has been in Michigan winters all of her life and hasn't experienced that type of snowfall and cold temperatures.

Same ol', same ol'

2008-02-10T12:24:00.000-05:00

Here we go again. I'm trying to clear the Fullt Tilt bonus playing $10 No Limit Holdem and am doing quite well. I have doubled up on a couple of tables, have cleared part of the bonus and am feeling quite good that things are changing around for me and this looks like a good day. Then this hand occurs and brings back more of the same old shit.

Full Tilt No-Limit Hold'em, $0.10 BB (4 handed) Full Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com (Format: HTML)

BB ($10.40)
UTG ($4)
Wolverine Fan ($9.95)
SB ($10.05)
Preflop: Wolverine Fan is Button with 5s, 5d.

UTG checks, Wolverine Fan calls $0.10, SB completes, BB raises to $0.3, UTG calls $0.10, Wolverine Fan calls $0.10, SB calls $0.10.
I was up over a buy-in so it was worth it to me to do a little set mining.

Flop: ($0.90) Jd, Qc, 5c (4 players)
Bingo! Just what the doctor ordered.
SB checks, BB checks, UTG bets $3.8 (All-In), Wolverine Fan calls $3.80, SB folds, BB raises to $10.2 (All-In), Wolverine Fan calls $5.95 (All-In).
I am worried about being beaten by set over set but that is why they call it gamboooooling.

Turn: ($24.20) Ad (3 players, 3 all-in)

River: ($24.20) Qd (3 players, 3 all-in)

Final Pot: $23.76

Results below:
BB has Jh Qs (full house, queens full of jacks).
UTG has 8h Qh (three of a kind, queens).
Wolverine Fan has 5s 5d (full house, fives full of queens).

I am golden until the River and he hits his 1 outer (1 fucking outer) and instead of doubling up I am stacked. He had 8 outs total to beat me, the 3 jacks, 4 Kings and the one queen. After the flop I am 85% favorite to win the hand and after the turn I am 93% favorite to win the hand.

How can you lose when you are a 93% favorite??? I guess you ask the New England Patriots that,eh?

I managed to come back a little after that but I ended up down $6 for the session instead of up $15 if I win this hand.

Man, I hate this game.

18 Year Old Prima Donnas

2008-02-07T01:06:00.000-05:00

Today is the big day for College Football as it is National Signing Day for Freshman recruits. This has become such a media event as the 18 year old prima donnas have to call a press conference to announce their decision. And this year, the biggest prima donna of them all, Quarterback Terrelle Pryor, has postponed his decision.

Don't get me wrong, I am very excited about this day because my Michigan Wolverines are in the thick of things this hear with their recruiting class and they are aggressively persuing Pryor. It looks like a very good recruiting class for the Wolverines and can get even better if they land Pryor.

The media circus starts when grown men make it their livelyhood to rate the different players throughout the country and then rate the colleges on the selection of players they obtained. There are over 1000 high schools in the United States that play high school football. That would mean there are over 1000 quarterbacks, 2000 running backs, 5000 offensive linemen that suit up every Friday night. Can you honestly tell me that you can accurately rate the top ten quarterbacks or top ten running backs? Can you honestly say that the offensive lineman from Traverse City, Michigan isn't as good as the offensive lineman from Odessa, Texas? What if one of those linemen was blocking for the sophomore running backs that were inexpereinced in hitting the holes or what if that lineman was an excellent run blocker on a team that threw the ball 70% of the time. How can you compare the two?

You can compare them as to size, 40 yard dash speed, amount of weights they can lift but that only tells you so much about them. You don't know if that Odessa player was up at 5AM every day to milk the cows and when it came time to play on Friday night, frankly, he was just tired and worn out from a full week of work and football practice. What if he and the quarterback were in love with the same girl and, all of a sudden, he wasn't able to block that linebacker coming on a blitz.

You get my drift. There are too many players with too many circumstances happening in their lives to accurately rate them and to say one is better than another. Mike Hart wasn't heavily recruited by anyone but his heart and determination made him one of the best running backs in the nation.

Ask me 3 years from now how this freshman class compares to others or how it rates not that they are in their Redshirt Sophomore year of football.

___________________________________

I was able to win a few dollars playing poker today. Believe it or not my pocket Kings held up against pocket jacks to help me double up. The funny thing is a Queen came on the turn and I had to laugh because that is exactly the card that cracked my Kings the last two times. I was able to come through today by waiting for quality hands to make my move with and it paid off finally when the best hand preflop held up.

The thing I am proudest of is that I never went on tilt after the bad beats I experienced the last few days. It would have been so easy to or to type personal attacks on the villain that beat me in the chat box. Instead I just took a deep breath and tried to continue strong play and win that money back. The only thing that mildly upsets me is when the person that beats me leaves the game shortly after so I am unable to win my money back from them. I consider the money they won from me as a loan and I want my chance to get it back plus more.

Is a Break Even day a Good day?

2008-02-05T19:56:00.000-05:00

I broke even today which, compared to that last two days, is a vast improvement. It is getting so that I hate to write on my blog because it is always about losing when going in with the best hand. Twice today I was all in with Kings vs. Queens and both times they hit their Queen on the river to win the hand. Then I lost full house over full house when the villain called my full house with his trips only to have the one other card on the board pair up on the river to give him a bigger full house. Of course all of the money was in after the turn. I can't fault him for going all in with his trips but, damn, when do thing start to go my way so I can win a bundle and not just break even?

I am sorry for whining and you can call it variance all you want but after a while it just gets impossible to be optomistic about your good hands. I am about ready to quite this blog but I think I will just turn it into a Golf and Beer blog and mention poker just a little bit.

I'm not sure I am a very good poker player and, lately, the results show that I must not be very good. A good player should be a winning player and I am not a winning player in 2008.

I have played 90 Turbo SitNGos and have a 20% ROI. Not very good. It was double that for a while but slowly I have lost more than I have won or have finished 3rd a lot more instead of 2nd or 1st.

They say in cards that every game is independent of another, in fact every hand is independent of another but why do losing streaks just that, streaks?

Starting to get the golfing bug so maybe I will write more about golf.

How does Tiger Woods do it tournament after tournament. Ernie Els had him and Tiger outplays him down the stretch and wins. Freaking amazing. You would think some golfer would get hot and shoot lights out against him to beat him but so far nobody has.

Flushed!

2008-02-04T10:49:00.000-05:00

Poker was terribly, terribly bad last night. Full Tilt gave me a $75 dollar bonus that I could earn so I thought all I would have to do is break even and I could make some money. Not so easy last night. I lost at least 3 buy-ins to players that hung around trying to hit their flush, no matter what size bet I made, and they came through. 3 or more times the flush hit on the turn or river and I am rebuying. It was maddening. At these stakes there is no such thing as pot odds. I lost another buy-in to a rivered straight draw.

You are probably wondering why I am losing so many buy-ins? Remember, I buy-in short so I am not losing as much as you would think and every time I had the best hand when all of the money went in. My hands may have been just slightly favored but they were the best hand every time. I am still buying in short as it is the best way for me to play emontionally.

I did win some hands and I did double up a couple of times and I cleared part of the bonus but overall it was a major losing session. I am going to try again this afternoon and see if I can't clear more bonus and get back to even.
___________________________________________
I was rooting for the Patriots and they failed to come through with their undefeated season. The Giants deserved to win as they made the plays when they had to. I knew they were goign to score on that last drive because everything went their way. Manning should have been sacked and instead he throws up a prayer that was answered by the most unbelievable catch ever. Two other times he could have been intercepted but the ball just went off the Patriot's fingers.

My Super Bowl meal and drink was very nice. We grilled out super burgers topped off with guacomole, home made chile cheese fries and beer. I purchased a six pack of Guinness Draught bottles and a 4 pack of Boddingtons pints. The Guinnes was just a bit strong for Mrs. Wolverine and myself (not nearly as smooth as the pub draught) so I made a Black and Tan or Half-and-Half, if you will, by combining the Guinness and Boddington's. This combination turned out to be the perfect drink to go with our Super Bowl meal.

I was surprised at how much the Boddington's tasted like domestic beer so combining it with the Guinness was a better use of it than just drinking it straight. I was quite dissappointed in the Boddington's and will not be getting it again as it is quite pricey.

Better Results

2008-01-31T22:03:00.000-05:00

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.
_____________________________________________________
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)

2008-01-30T20:23:00.000-05:00

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.
_____________________
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

2008-01-28T10:46:00.000-05:00

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.
__________________________________________
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

2008-01-24T14:49:00.000-05:00

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

2008-01-22T21:08:00.000-05:00

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.

___________________________________

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

2008-01-21T15:23:00.000-05:00

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

2008-01-18T22:19:00.000-05:00

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.

________________________________

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!

2008-01-18T02:50:00.000-05:00

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

2008-01-10T23:52:00.000-05:00

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
_________________________________
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!

2008-01-08T22:20:00.000-05:00

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

2008-01-05T00:52:00.000-05:00

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.

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

2008-01-03T18:54:00.000-05:00

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.
_____________________________
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!!

2008-01-02T21:55:00.000-05:00

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

2008-01-01T11:07:00.000-05:00

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.
_____________________________________
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.

TQB!!

2007-12-29T20:04:00.000-05:00

Hated to do this to one of our Nation's finest but it was one of the few things that went my way today. I won overall and am getting back to even after several days of losses (losing again to the rivered straight for the millionth time this week). This sure helps get you back in the black.

Still losing but ready to turn it around

2007-12-28T16:51:00.000-05:00

I found a couple more ways to lose today but I am ready to turn things around. The biggest problem I am having is that I am playing microstakes and no one is respecting my raises. From now on I am going in with 5 times the Big Blind Raises instead of 3 times. That should root out those who are willing to call with 4/6 suited and stay in until they get their flush (this happened a couple of times today). If they call me after I go in with 5 times the BB then I must respect their hand. If everyone folds then I'll just add up the blinds and hopefully that will build my bank roll.

From now on only premium hands and I am not going to limp again but go in with a raise. We'll see how they like them apples.

I still can't believe how much the cards are going against me. I raise preflop with A/Q and get called by K/J and two kings come on the flop. I seem to be on a roll to see how many ways I can lose to a straight. I go in with A/Q and get called by K/Q and the villain gets Broadway and GG me. I go in the with A/K and get an ace on the flop and a king on the turn but lose to the Wheel on the river and GG me. I bet to take away the odds for trying for a gutshot or for a flush but some players have money to burn and they stay in hands no matter what and have been hitting way too often.

I was really looking forward to this Christmas break so I could play hours and hours of poker but I never expected to get beat by so many donkeys in so many ways.
________________________________________

Today's brew is Old Rasputin Imperial Stout brewed at North Coast Brewing Company of California. Their sites describes this brew as:

Produced in the tradition of 18th Century English brewers who supplied the court of Russia's Catherine the Great, Old Rasputin seems to develop a cult following wherever it goes. It's a rich, intense brew with big complex flavors and a warming finish.

Beer Advocate gives it an A- in its review and describes it as:

This put the stout in stout. WOW!!! Very black beer with a nice, dark brown head that left nice lacing on the sides of the glass. Smelled mostly of coffee and dark malts. Taste started with strong coffee with a bit of alcohol, followed by lots of hop bitterness. The mouthfeel is very smooth and creamy. This is a very good, strong, sipping beer. A few of these and you will be wrecked so watch out.

How many ways can you lose?

2007-12-27T11:05:00.000-05:00

I still have 5 days to go before I can start whining about bad beats but I do have to ask, "How many ways are there to lose at this cursed game?" I had a very bad couple of days at PokerStars and Absolute on Christmas and the day after but I have started to turn it around today. I lost twice preflop when my all-in pocket Queens fell to A/K, once with a King on the river and the second time with an Ace on the flop. Can't fault either play by me or the villains. I lost to runner/runner straight where the river card was the gutshot he needed to beat me. Money was all in after the flop when he only had three cards to a straight at that time.

I lost twice to a really apologetic opponent that couldn't believe that he rivered the winning card both times after we were all in after the flop. Almost every loss I experienced was after I got my money in with the best hand.

I began to turn things around today when I happened upon a table that was the creme-de-la-creme of No Limit Holdem all-in races. Won big with my Pocket Rockets and my A/K suited all in preflops. I figured A/K owed me some wins after cracking my Queens twice so I didn't hesitate to go all in and they held up with Ace and King showing the board for top two pair.

_________________________

Santa brought me a 12 pack of Beers of America from theWorld Market store and yesterday's beer of the day was Avalanche Ale from Breckenridge Brewery of Breckenridge, Colorado. Their sites describes this beer as:

Subtlety. That's what makes our Avalanche amber ale such a treat. We blend pale and caramel malts -- and just a kiss of bittering hops -- to create a refreshing-but-flavorful, any-time beer. Aromas of pale grains, a semi-sweet middle and a clean-as-Colorado-snow finish make this our best-selling beer.

It gets about a "C" rating at most of the Beer Blogs like Brian's Belly and Beer Advocate and Beer Find It (at the bottom of the page. He loved it!).

TQB!! Again!!

2007-12-24T15:05:00.000-05:00

New Strategy for increasing my Bankroll

2007-12-21T19:07:00.000-05:00

I am fortunate to have the job I do where starting tomorrow I will be off of work until January 2nd. I hope to play a lot of poker during the next 12 days. I am still going to continue to work on my microstakes No Limit Game and I really think I am going to see some considerable gains. I am pretty sure I have the ability to win some nice change. I just have to be patient and pick my spots where my all ins will give me the best chance to win. There are still a lot of players at the microstake levels that like to donk it up so I know that patience and waiting for the right cards will give me the best chance to increase my bankroll.

I am going to try to use the style that Ed Miller, Noted Poker Authority advocates in his Poker Made Simple series where he goes through multiple stages:

Early Position Standards
Play in Early Position
Middle Position Standards
Playiing in Middle Position
Cutoff Standards
Playing in the Cutoff
The Button
The Blinds

Grinder has taken the above information and started to create hand charts.

I am going to give this strategy a try and adhere to it as best as I can. I'll let you know how things work out for me after a week or so.

Righting my Sinking Ship

2007-12-19T17:26:00.000-05:00

I managed to play quite a bit of poker yesterday and today and I was able to right my sinking ship some. I got stacked a couple of times but I kept at it and managed to overcome my losses and record a nice winning session. I am still buying in short and building my stack from there. Right now I am just more comfortable playing that way as my bankroll is not big enough to take getting stacked with a full buy-in.

One of the things that I see at the microstakes is when a player makes a min-preflop raise. Just 2 times the Big Blind. When I first started playing Microstakes No Limit Holdem, I thought, “Oh, oh. This guy has a monster hand.” It took quite a while of playing at these takes to figure out that that wasn’t necessarily true. Many players will bet 2 times the BB if they have a small pair and they hope that they can get everyone to fold and take down the blinds. Usually the opposite happens and everyone calls as they figure another dime doesn't make that big a difference.
A lot of times I don’t know what the players are thinking when they make the min-raise and then there are the times when they do have a monster hand. That happened to me today. A player UTG led out with a min-preflop raise and with A/rag on the button I just called his raise. The flop was rag/K/rag and he checked and I checked. The turn brought the Ace and I bet about ½ the pot. UTG called. The river brought a rag and then UTG bet out a pot size bet. I pretty much knew I was beat then. No flush draws, no apparent straight draws. I figured he had a bigger kicker than me. I made the crying call because you never know at these levels what the other player is doing and he turned over pocket Kings and his set beat my pair of aces.

In retrospect I should have raised PF to see how serious he was about his hand but I fell into his trap of just calling and paid for it when he made his set. I can honestly say I have yet to stoop to those tactics when I have monster hands but still continue to raise preflop 3 or 4 times the BB.

Overall I was pretty happy with how I played and hope to continue with some of my new found success.

TQB!!

2007-12-18T14:10:00.000-05:00