Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Steveseam Wins at NPP in His 1st Round!

Congratulations Steve.
It has happened only five times before.

I won the first NPP tourney on-line. Poker Stars had to rig that!

Actually, it was only me and DavetheDog (Fourputt) in the first one and I paid him $100 to sit out and get blinded out. Worked for me!

But SpartanToJo, Momo, Doneill and Hammer1010 did it honestly.

Doneill actually won 3 of his first 5 tourneys!

What ever happened to Momo and Hammer?

And Hlam14, light a fire under ToJo will you? He should be a regular. Anyway, we want to welcome the new players besides Steveseam.

There was ThePunk75, who seemed to have brought his own booing section (HTM-xxx?), and Sirgash! Welcome guys. HTM should get on the table so he can harass us all evenly and fairly.

On to the action:

8 min: Nahanni (14th) got crippled when her pair of aces on the turn (A4) ran into Steve’s two pair (65). [Q65] [A] [8].

23 min: Your host Mikeniks-Faldo (13th) makes a bad call to get knocked out. Yeah, I was cold-decked with a BB vs SB special, but so what? I knew I was beat and called anyway. Stupid, stupid, stupid.

Bighousea2 raises our blinds after a flop of [A6A] and Rennzzo and I call.

The turn is a [7] and Bighouse bets and Rennzzo calls and I re-raise with (A8). Bighouse folds and Rennzzo goes all-in. I know he has (A7) or (66), but I call anyway {lazy poker}.
He has (A6) and I don’t get my miracle eight.

I was so mad I knocked my dunce cap off of my head with a sledge hammer. Who invited players from Hudson, MI anyway….oh, that was me.

24 min: Bighousea2 (12th) follows right behind as his short-stack all-in with (QJ) and a flop of [8KQ] runs into Hlam14’s (K9).

52 min: Some poker is played before UMichpoker (11th) has to make a move with (A8) and runs into Doneill’s (JJ).

53 min: I missed Sirgash’s (10th) exit as I was writing down UMichpoker’s demise. Now we are at one table.

54 min: Biglou93 (9th) falls out as his short stack all-in with (A2) and a flop of [JA2] runs into Hlam14’s (JJ). That hand is killing people tonight.

Break:
Steveseam 5255
ThePunk75 3278
Tigercub8189 2945
Doneill 2750
Rennzzo 2697
Hlam14 2140
7Jokers 1375
Duder1123 560 (sitting in Faldo’s old seat. He had no chance!)

66 min: ThePunk75 (8th), after a long think with (TT) decides to call an all-in by Steveseam on a flop of [5Q3]. Steveseam has (Q9) and there is no help coming.

Pick up my cap and we can share it tonight, Punk75.

67 min: Duder1123 (7th) has to make a move with (A3) and runs into Rennzzo’s (AT).

71 min: Hand of the night! A short-stacked Tigercub8189 makes his stand on a draw with (A3) and a flop of [KQT], with Steveseam already in with (J3) and has the Cub covered. A [9] on the turn makes it look grim for the Cat, but a three-outer [J] shows up, using up another cat life.

I always hit hands like that ……NOT!

89 min: 7Jokers (6th) makes his move with (AK) {yes, he plays that trash} and is called by the big stack Steveseam with (KJ). But a [J] on the flop AND river ends the Joker’s hope to gain on Hlam14 tonight.

103 min: Tigercub8189 uses some more cat lives as his all-in with (A6) is met with Rennzzo’s (QQ). A [6] on the flop and an [A] on the river makes these two switch places in the chip totals.

105 min: Rennzzo (5th) now has to go when his (K3) pairs on the bottom of a [344] flop. He is called by Doneill (XX) and Steveseam (AQ). An [A] on the river again against Rennzzo is this time fatal.

106 min: Doneill does an Hudini act and survives an all-in with Steveseam.

112 min: Tigercub8189 (4th) finally has his A-rag all-in lose to Steveseam’s (JJ).

JJ was the hand of death tonight I guess.

113 min: Hlam14 (3rd) has his A-rag fall to Steveseam’s (99).

114 min: Poker Stars must need the table as it rolls up the remaining players. Doneill’s all-in with (K5) and a flop of [6QK] is called by the huge stack of Steveseam with (JT). An [A] on the river – yet again – ends the evening.

Congratulations Steveseam!

1st – Steveseam 10 pts
2nd – Doneill (21 pts)
3rd – Hlam14 41 pts
4th – Tigercub8189 7 pts
5th – Rennzzo 2 pts
6th – 7Jokers 20 pts
7th – Duder1123 5 pts
8th – ThePunk75
9th – BigLou93 3 pts
10th – Sirgash
11th – Umichpoker
12th – Bighousea2 1 pt
13th – Mikeniks-Faldo (19 pts)
14th – Nahanni74 (1 pt)
Hammer1010 10 pts
McGuinness 10 pts
Matchy 3 pts
ArcticBlast 3 pts

Total points race is located on the right side of the blog!

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

McGuiness007 Makes His Return Memorable!

We welcome a new player UMichPoker (Michele) to NPP.

We are looking forward to her flock joining the NPP fold. I think this will be the best internet league around – both for talent and trash talk! Bar none!

As usual, we treat our new players with ZERO courtesy! That is the NPP way I guess.

But it is an old player who returns to kick the poop out of us! Your host was (as it turned out) thankfully late and was able to miss the carnage.

21 min: UMichPoker (9th) gets PS’ed as her (AA) runs into Doneill’s (55) and a [5] on the flop.

48 min: 7Jokers (8th) gets all-in with (AQ), but Nahanni has (KK).

Everyone seemed to have their panty hose in a bunch as tight play was the way of the evening. We make it to break with seven players!

Nahanni 2870
McGuiness007 2330
Tigercub8189 1840
Doneill 1790
Hlam14 1790
Rennzzo 1735
Duder 1145

78 min: A short stacked Tigercub8189 (7th), who was river bit all night, hits a flop of [AA9] with (J9), only to see McGuiness007 holding (AJ).

85 min: A short stacked Rennzzo (6th) has to go when his (Q9) hits a flop with a [9] in it. McGuiness is pot committed with (Kc2c) and a flush draw and hits a [K] on the river.

88 min: Being the chip leader at the break seems to be a curse that Nahanni (5th) was all too aware of. She gets all in with (A7) and has two callers: Doneill (A9) and Duder (KK). The flop with [99] ends Nahanni’s evening. Duder survives due to his monster stack he built in 28 minutes.

93 min: A short stacked Doneill (4th) (after getting hurt by McGuiness007 earlier) makes his move with (A8) and runs into Duder’s (77), and no help arrives.

100 min: A short-stacked Hlam has to go all-in with (97) and a [7] on the flop. A low stacked Duder calls with (JJ) and a [9] on the river reverses their fortunes!

2nd Break!

Hey, your host was drunk and has to go to work in the morning! This is going long! Where is the love for him?

McGuiness007 7895
Duder 3421
Hlam14 2184

125 min: Hlam14 built his chips to a slightly higher total than Duder’s (3rd) by this time. Hlam goes all in with (AJ) and Duder has to call with (TT). An [A] on the river ends Duder’s run.

132 min: The big bully McGuiness calls the short-stacked Hlam14’s all in with (2nd) with (Kh Qc). Hlam14 holds (QQ). But a 4 club board wins it for McGuiness!

Welcome back McGuiness after a six month break! UMichigan Poker – welcome aboard the NPP yacht.

1st – McGuiness007 10 pts
2nd – Hlam14 36 pts
3rd – Duder 5 pts
4th – Doneill (14 pts)
5th – Nahanni (1 pt)
6th – Rennzzo 1 pt
7th – Tigercub8189 4 pts
8th – 7Jokers 20 pts
9th – UMichPoker
Mikeniks-Faldo (19 pts)
Hammer1010 10 pts
Matchy 3 pts
ArcticBlast 3 pts
BigLou 3 pts
Bighouse 1 pt

Total points for final seats at the right side of the blog. ( ) = already has seat in Finals

Monday, October 20, 2008

U of M Poker Tuesdays joining NPP!

Exciting news!

At a secret location known only to the other most powerful people in the world, Nik Faldo and the CEO of Umichiganpoker.com met to negotiate maybe the biggest merger in the history of the world!

Wall Street was on pins and needles waiting for this to finally be settled. World peace may also now be in the offing.

Michele will be merging her tournament into ours! Nothing will change here at NPP, but a flood of new players is expected. A tidal wave! A tsunami!

Well, 3 or 4 anyway.

U of M Poker will put NPP and our tourney on their mailing in October and this can only increase the fun on Tuesday nights this winter, and hopefully the rest of the year as well.

The stock transfers, cost of the merger, and the massive entry fee paid by Umichiganpoker to NPP was not disclosed. The Wall Street Journal is begging for details, but they will have to be content with the little guys like Walmart and Exxon. Michele and Faldo are not talking to the crush of media hounding us.

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Internet NPP - 2009

Open the comment section!!!!

Do we continue or do we fold the internet league?

Only ten people have made half the games, which I think half is a fair amount to expect players to make.

We need a stable of double what we currently have.

Luckily, we still average 8 per game, which is good - but statistically....lucky. We need to average 10 easily to maintain viability. Here is the data on attendance.

Faldo 83%
Tigercub 83%
ArcticBlast 75%
Duder 70%
Nahanni 68%
7Jokers 63%
Beerhog 60%
Rownder 55%
Boother 53%
Rennzzo 53%
Biglou 45%
Doneill 43%
Aqualung 43%
McGinness 35%
Matchy 33%
Hlam14 18%
Bronco76 5%
Davethedog 3%

Do we change format? If so, to what? Do we change nights? Do we change number of tourneys? Monthly, bi-monthly? Or am I all wet and it is all good?

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

7Jokers Ties for the 08 Victory Lead – Extends Overall Victory Lead!

Only six made it to the felt tonight, leaving it easy pickings for the hot running 7Jokers.

Tigercub8189 had a bad evening at work, which made him late showing up. His tourney night was not much better.

11 min: But as bad as his night was BigLou (6th) had a worse one! BigLou flops two pair with (QT) and runs into Mikeniks and his trip Kings (KK). Ouch!

40 min: Tigercub8189 (5th) was short-stacked when his (77) ran into Hlam’s (KK).

58 min: The short-stacked Matchy (4th) makes his move with (KJ) and runs into 7Joker’s (A4).

Break:

7Jokers 3320
Hlam 3310
Mikeniks-Faldo 2370

67 min: Well a bunch of missed flops and a few bad calls and no-calls leaves Faldo (3rd) in dire straits. I get all in with the slight best of it with (55) against 7Joker’s (AK), only to see the [A] hit the river.

I know my short table – heads up play is not good, but if you can never win races near the end of a tourney, Doyle, Chan and Hellmuth wouldn’t have any bracelets either.

90 min: The heads up battle rages on for quite a while with 7Jokers starting with a 2 – 1 chip lead. But Hlam (2nd) finally gets whittled down and 7Jokers wins to tie Doneill for the most wins this year.

7Jokers also has a 5 win lead over everyone else in grand total wins! Especially considering his few months off there in the middle of the year, that is quite an accomplishment!

1st – 7Jokers 20 pts
2nd – Hlam14 29 pts
3rd – Mikeniks-Faldo (19 pts)
4th – Matchy 3 pts
5th – Tigercub8189 4 pts
6th – BigLou 3 pts
Doneill (11 pts)
Hammer1010 10 pts
ArcticBlast 3 pts
Rennzzo 1 pt
Bighousea2 1 pt

Total Point Standings are on the right side of the blog.

Wednesday, October 08, 2008

Matchy Building an NPP Game for Saturday? Who's In?

Matchy (and his lovely...let's not leave the person giving the permission slip out) is looking for a game at his place for this Saturday at 7pm.

BYOB and bring one for the host! (standard NPP rule!)

Stakes: $1 - $2 limit

IN
Matchy
Beerhog
7Jokers
Duder
Buff
Faldo

OUT
Greg G.
Boother

MAYBE
Dave E.

Doneill Takes Over the Win Lead for 2008!

I missed it due to a speaking engagement where I told a bunch of voters it is their fault the country is in the mess it is in. Talk about the bad beat I got!

Anyway, 7Jokers was nice enough to send me some info. U da man, 7Jokers!

"8 players made it to the table.

Duder (8th) hits 2 pair (A-7) on flop but Doneill hits a queen on river for a higher 2 pair (A-Q).

Tigercub (7th) slow plays AA until the turn when 3 clubs are on the board and is called by Hlam with A-10 of clubs.

Nahanni (6th) calls out JJoker's hand of 6-7 and still calls my all-in with her top Pair of Jacks, but the Joker straight takes her out.

Rennzzo (5th) hits trip 6's but a heart flush is made on the river card by Arcticblast and he takes the pot.

Arcticblast (4th) has AA but runs into Hlams K8 (2 pair).

we are at the 40 min mark now....

7Jokers (3rd) goes all in with A3 and is called by Doneill with K6 and a 6 on turn is all she wrote.


The 2 remaining player make it to the break. hlam has $1945 and doneill has $10055.

Hlam says he is going all in with any high paper everytime.

Hand# 5 after the break and Hlam goes all in with J9 and is called by Doneill with K7, a 7 on flop and doneill wins YET another tourney. Congratulations to Doneill for taking over the 2008 tourney win lead.

1st - Doneill (11 pts)
2nd - Hlam14 22 pts
3rd - 7Jokers 10 pts
4th - ArcticBlast 3 pts
5th - Rennzzo 1 pt
6th - Nahanni
7th - Tigercub 3 pts
8th - Duder
Mikeniks (14 pts)
Hammer1010 10 pts
BigLou 3 pts
BigHousea2 1 pt

Total point standings on the right side of the blog.

Thursday, October 02, 2008

Faldo Gets Bad Beat Even in Golf!

Me and three other guys represented my company in a scramble put on by one of our major customers. It was held in Kokomo, IN. There were fourteen teams in this shotgun start. The number of teams becomes important later.

Even though your score had no bearing on the prizes you could win, there were plenty of prizes to be awarded.

In addition to drawing prizes, they had:
2 longest drive holes
2 closest to the pin in two holes
4 closest to the pin holes on the par 3's
2 longest putt greens

During the round, your host was on FIVE of the prize stakes at one time!

I had a longest drive, both closest to the pin in twos and two of the closest to the pins on the par 3's.

I don't need to elaborate on how good the shots were, except to say, as we ate, I asked how many did the group think I won of the five I got to sign up for.

One guy said 3 and the other two said I won at least 2. I smiled and said, "I pick zero, just because it is me. Who wants to bet?" They all just laughed.

I won zero, naturally.

We finished fifth in the scramble for the score turned in (-7) and I got to pick fifth for the number for where my group got to pick from the prize pool.

I drew #14.