Merry Christmas Everyone!!

Merry Christmas Everyone

the Over/Under is 7

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!!

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
Barack 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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Wish me luck!

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

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

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

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

This and That

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


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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Randy Pausch passed away today

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

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

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

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

No poker/no golf

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

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

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

_________________________________
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?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Warming up to Poker Tracker 3

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

They describe their Harpoon Hibernian Ale as:

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

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

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

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

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

A sign of the Apocalypse?

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

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

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

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

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

World Series of Poker Final Table is Set

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

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