Tuesday, July 31, 2012

Tomservo2 Wins His 4th NPP Tourney of the Year

Lost in the hard-charging Lump2’s efforts, the emergence of T3chlady and the consistent dominance of LittleRedElf is the solid performance of Tomservo2. After all, he already won the 2nd quarter! He wins his 4th tourney of the year beating your host in a fine heads up match.

Lump2 holds on to a large lead in the 3rd quarter.

We welcome a new player; Rijzor, to the NPP family. Great to have you here as we add yet another good player to our little study group.

On to the action:

10 min: Derf-63 (15th) Missed it.

18 min: Wingsfancurt (14th) tries it with (66) but loses the coin flip to Tomservo2’s (AK) when an [A] hits the board.

19 min: T3chlady (13th) Missed it

20 min: 8thmile (12th) moves in on a low card flop [T56] with (JJ) but Mikeniks-Faldo is holding (55).

22 min: A short-stacked (SS) Sanster89 (11th) has to go with (AQ), but loses the coin flip to Rijzor’s (88).

46 min: Theedouble*d (10th) blinds out.

73 min: Absea98 (9th) blinds out.

1st break:

Tomservo2 7495

Suetman123 4588

LittleRedElf 3163

Mikeniks-Faldo 2760

Pre01 1262

ThePunk75 1255

Rijzor 1040

Lump2 937

53 min: Lump2 (8th) goes with (AJ) and runs into ThePunk75’s (As Ks).

80 min: A SS Rijzor (7th) has to go with (Tc 7c) and loses to Suetman123’s (A7).

73 min: ThePunk75 (6th) goes with (AJ) but loses the coin flip to LittleRedElf’s (TT).

Timeout for some poker! We lose no one for over a half hour.

106 min: Suetman123 (5th) has to go with (Ad Td) and loses a coin flip to Tomservo2 with (55).

2nd break:

Tomservo2 11976

Mikeniks-Faldo 4775

Pre01 2939

LittleRedElf 2810

122 min: A SS Pre01 (4th) has to go with (Jc 7c) and runs into LittleRedElf’s (A7).

130 min: LittleRedElf (3rd) has to go with (AQ) and loses a coin flip to Mikeniks-Faldo’s (88).

Heads Up: Lump2 15000 - Tomservo2 7500

Sorry, but I don’t have the hands or the chip counts. I was playing. But it was a back and forth battle and both players had the other out a couple times, but come-backs happened.

152 min: A SS Mikeniks-Faldo (2nd) goes with a (J7) and loses the coin flip to Tomservo2’s (66).

Congratulations to Tomservo2 on his 10th NPP win!

1st – Tomservo2

2nd – Mikeniks-Faldo

3rd – LittleRedElf

4th – Pre01

5th – Suetman123

6th – ThePunk75

7th – Rijzor

8th – Lump2

9th – Absea98

10th – Theedouble*d

11th – Sanster89

12th – 8thmile

13th – T3chlady

14th – Wingsfancurt

15th – Derf-63

The 3rd Quarter Standings and the Total Point Standings are on the right side of the blog!

Thursday, July 26, 2012

Warnings: It's Like Yelling in Antartica Anyway

Faldo doesn’t go to a lot of bars. But Faldo has a couple of them he will frequent. One is where you will usually find me. The one with chicken wings and cold draft beer.

The other semi-regular place is a cigar bar. Friendly, open, trendy and like Faldo said, you can smoke a cigar.

The last spot is where Faldo goes to drink alone and stew in my own thoughts. Not as classy as the cigar bar and not trendy like the wing restaurant, but not a dive where Faldo has to worry about hassles. Faldo is not there often enough to where the employees notice me. As a matter of fact, this night all the “help” appears to have changed - again. This is perfect for my desire to not be bothered. If Faldo wanted company the other two places is where Faldo will be.

Faldo was all the way at the end of the bar on a more crowded than usual night for his “alone” place. It is a rainy weeknight and that seemed to have packed in some of the professional people and professors from the financial district and major college campus nearby.

Faldo was half-way thru my first glum solitary drink when a well-dressed suit about my age sat down in the only empty stool left at the bar – next to me. Faldo thought maybe he recognized him as a “somebody” but could not quite place it. Or maybe Faldo had seen him in here before and that 1st class suit just made him look like a “somebody”. Either way, it was dismissed as - after all - he is sitting next to Faldo. It don’t get too much more “somebody” than that!

Mr. or Prof. GQ orders a double from the bartender who knows which scotch to reach for – it’s the best and most expensive of the bottles of scotch in view. He downs it like it is iced tea and nods to the bartender for a re-fill and with a raised eyebrow from the pourer, the glass is refilled. This time, only half is poured down quickly and the bartender retreats to other thirsty people.

We sit there in silence for 10 minutes, with only an interruption in our private thoughts is from the silent drink pourer with a quick double refill for my neighbor and a fresh cold stout beer for me.

Some time passes and Faldo notices GQ is looking at his smartphone and is staring at it approximately 5 inches from his own face. After a few minutes he says to know one in particular, “The new day starts in about 10 hours – more or less.”

He then sets the smartphone down and throws back his third double and signals for a refill – which is slow in coming. Faldo looks at the phone and it is the latest and greatest on the market. This thing could fly the space shuttle if it needed to. Faldo saw the advertisements for that smartphone, and know that not only are they are more than triple the price of any other smartphone on the market, but there is a waiting list to get one. Only the hoy-connected-paloy has them right now.

So, this guy is a “somebody”. But who?

After his re-fill arrives, he turns to me and asks, “Do you know anything about how the world financial markets work?”

Faldo said, “I just know it is all IOU’s, smoke and mirrors and controlled by a few people in a few countries.”

He doesn’t confirm or deny my allegation. The look on his face is one of study. Like he is deciding whether to agree with me or set me straight. Not from an opinion standpoint. No, the look tells me he knows the correct answer and is debating whether or not to tell me.

After a while Faldo asks, “Why did you ask me that?” That breaks his trance and he says, “What?” like he never heard my question at all. Faldo repeats it and he just turned back to his drink.

Faldo did the same thing and after a few minutes he said, “When I was in junior high, there was a game we played once in class. It consisted of asking the question ‘If it was nighttime and we knew positively that the world was going to be destroyed tomorrow morning, would we tell anyone? If you ask enough people, you will notice some interesting patterns.

There are really only three basic answers. Some will say that they will spend the remaining time screwing, eating, drinking, getting stoned, listening to their favorite music or walking in the woods. The Sensualist reply.”

Others will say that they will try to escape even if it was hopeless. They would spend their time searching for the loophole that would save the planet or at least themselves. This is the Pragmatic reply.

Others will try to come to terms with the oncoming doom. They will settle in their own minds any way to find some peace or retribution. They will either enjoy the time with spouses, family and friends. While others come to terms by strike out at who they thought was responsible for bringing this apocalypse. This is the Appolonian reply.

There are some crossovers and mixtures of the two, but you can really fit them all into just these three categories.”

He downed another drink before continuing. “The next question was even more revealing. If you knew the world was about to come apart completely and unravel, making currency, property and banks worthless overnight. And then the world will fall into total anarchy followed by purges of governments, colleges, media outlets, with death, starvation, slavery, re-education camps and despair for the masses, would you tell anyone else?”

Mr. GQ turned to me and said, “Would you tell anyone else?”

Faldo thought for a while and asked again if there was “anything that could be done to stop it?” He said, “Nothing.”

“In that case,” Faldo said picking up my mug for a swig of beer, “I wouldn’t say anything.”

“Ok, then I won’t either.” And with that, Mr. GQ got up, threw a hundred dollar bill on the bar and walked out. The bartender looked really happy when he saw the massive tip lying there. But also lying there was Mr. GQ’s smartphone.

“Well that guy will be back for his phone…..and for his change,” Faldo said to the bartender, who now looked a little mad at me for suggesting that. Then Faldo asked the bartender, “Who is that guy?”

The bartender said, “Oh, he is the top Economics professor at that college and is also one of the main advisors to President Obama. Yeah, that guy is way up there in the Democrat Party. One of the key guys in the inner circle fund-raising efforts for the Obama campaign here in Michigan. I thought you knew him, because I never heard him speak except to order a drink. But he seemed to be talking your ear off.”

Then Faldo remembered where Faldo saw his face before – on the cover of TIME magazine while walking thru an airport on a business trip.

It has been an hour now and Faldo keeps looking at Mr. GQ’s smartphone. Surely, he will notice he doesn’t have it on him and will come back for it.

But Faldo is starting to worry.

Tuesday, July 24, 2012

Theedouble*d Wins to Slightly Slow Down the Lump2 Express

A Theedouble*d fan watching her man win again for the 8th time in NPP history.

We had to bring in a ringer from the past NPP glory to slow down Lump2.

The tale of two poker players this night. Theedouble*d always had a good stack and slowly crushed all foes. The other was short-stacked all night, but came alive at the right times. By picking up the scraps of the other short stacks, Lump2 made a run at yet another win, but came up just short.

No matter. Lump2 widened his lead on the field for the 3rd quarter seat in the NPP finals.

But with only 3 tournaments played, there is still time left for someone to get hot and make a run.

On to the action:

18 min: Wingsfancurt’s (15th) pair loses to LittleRedElf’s two pair.

20 min: Derf-63 (14th) runs into Sanster89’s (AA).

27 min: A double knockout as ThePunk75’s full house does in Pre01 (13th) and 95corolla (12th).

38 min: A short-stacked (SS) Douge2 (11th) has to go when he makes top pair, but loses to SpartanFlash’s trip sevens.

47 min: LittleRedElf (10th) missed the hand as table closed.

73 min: A SS Tomservo2 (9th) has to go with his (Ah 6h) but can’t run down Sanster89’s (AJ).

53 min: 8thmile (8th) the hands were not shown as he lost to Sanster89.

1st break:

Sanster89 4937

SpartanFlash 4895

Theedouble*d 3912

T3chlady 3110

ThePunk75 2980

Mikeniks-Faldo 1380

Lump2 1286

64 min: ThePunk75 (7th) sees his pair of Jacks run into Theedouble*d’s pair of Kings.

73 min: The three HUGE stacks square off and SpartanFlash (6th) loses to Theedouble*d’s (AA) and an [A] on the board. Sanster89 also gets crippled.

75 min: Sanster89 (5th) sees his pair of Sevens lose to T3chlady’s bigger pair (twss) of Kings.

76 min: A SS Mikeniks-Faldo (4th) has his flopped two pair run over by Lump2’s trip fives on the turn.

78 min: T3chlady (3rd) has her (AQ) lose a coin flip to Lump2’s (44) and then his two pair the next hand ends her night.

80 min: Heads Up: Lump2 6000 - Theedouble*d 16500

82 min: A SS Lump2 (2nd) goes with a (Ks Ts) flush draw but loses to Theedouble*d’s (AJ).

Congratulations to Theedouble*d on his 8th NPP win!

1st – Theedouble*d

2nd – Lump2

3rd – T3chlady

4th – Mikeniks-Faldo

5th – Sanster89

6th – SpartanFlash

7th – ThePunk75

8th – 8thmile

9th – Tomservo2

10th – LittleRedElf

11th – Douge2

12th – 95corolla

13th – Pre01

14th – Derf-63

15th – Wingsfancurt

The 2nd Quarter Standings and the Total Point Standings are on the right side of the blog!

Thursday, July 19, 2012

In Poker: It’s Just Emotion That’s Taking Me Over

An emotional team wins the impossible medal!

“Caught up in sorrow, lost in the song.”

These are the words of those immortal poker players – uhhhh, musical group, the Bee Gees. But they have a strong poker point that they are making. Emotion is no good in poker.

A moment as Faldo returns to the confessional. Anyone who has been involved in Faldo’s athletic endeavors in any way, shape or form – has seen Faldo used emotion to motivate himself to do well. Having not been blessed with God-given athletic ability or size, emotion was used (anger, fear and pride mostly) to motivate Faldo to do things Faldo didn’t think Faldo could do in the first place. Playing at a level you don’t really think you belong to be playing at does that to you.

Obviously, Faldo’s whole premise was flawed because Faldo did achieve some athletic achievements, so the ability was there in the first place. But Faldo digresses. The point is, in Faldo’s younger days playing sports and yes, even golf in later years – emotion was used as the motivator to do well. And Faldo ignorantly believed that it did make him perform better. And the fact that it was an illusion was not easy to see. A few times, in athletics, if talent is close, emotion works. A few times anyway.

But when you use emotion in poker, the illusion that it helps disintegrates faster than a beach sand castle hit with a tidal wave.

It is essential to remove emotion from all your poker decisions. Getting negatively emotional on any level will only cloud your judgment and make you think of things that have no bearing on poker outcomes.

Anger will make you strike back at the dealer, card deck or opponents that ‘have done you wrong’. Well, two of the three don’t care and will not be affected at all. And being mad at your opponent will only make them defensive and therefore have their guard up for you. In other words, they will play better against you. Is that what you want?

Frustration will make you act rashly and push decisions and hands that you normally would not do. It’s ok to do it as a planned strategy in a given situation, but ‘tilt’ decisions are rarely successful.

Being depressed is the wrong mindset at the poker table. You will either tighten up to the point you lose value on the hands you do hit, or you will desensitize yourself to losses and the value of your chips. Kind of like a Democrat with tax dollars. This is the sure road to Broke-ville.

Fear of players will cause you to avoid confrontations and miss value bets and profitable raises. Seeing ‘ghosts’ like “that guy always has a hand against me” or “they always hit (the turn, river) on me” or “I never hit”, will shrink your stack.

Pride always comes before the fall. Ego has no place in poker, contrary to the TV images you see. Remember, that is TV! The people making steady money at the card tables are the quiet ones you never even notice. The exception is that you may remember fondly “that person was fun to be around.” Sure, they are nice. They have your money.

To a lesser extent, happiness, pity or nervousness can also hurt you. Being on a roll will sometimes cause a tilt of “I am unbeatable” and cause a leak of profit.

Pity of a particular opponent may seem nice on the surface. But so, you ‘give’ some chips away to them, only to see your tough opponent win them two hands later. Good thinkin’.

Nervousness you should grow out of over time. So, if you know you are going to be nervous be sure to start play rested and in a good frame of mind. Then, get over it and play some cards! They get the same cards you do and if you practice what Faldo is preaching, they will be emotional cripples compared to you!

So, never play when you know you are in an emotional state. Or acknowledge your emotion and dismiss it as the anchor to your game that it is – and drop it! And if you can’t drop it, stop playing and go chill out.

Poker is an emotional roller coaster, but you don’t have to ride the big ride if you don’t want to. It’s up to you.

Yes Faldo, Faldo is talking to you!

Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Lump2 Wins His 3rd NPP Tourney in a Row!

Jenelle Koester is telling us that Lump2 has won three in a row. Almost makes it worth it!

Well, it’s official. The rout is on. No one can even slow him down. That is his 5th NPP win in the last eight tournaments. What an accomplishment! This is not a bunch of ribbon clerks he is destroying.

Luckily there are still a lot of tourneys to go in the 3rd quarter. But as of right now, it is a blow out and has been for the last two months. Nice job Lump2.

On to the action:

18 min: T3chlady (14th) Missed it playing my own hand.

23 min: Wingsfancurt (13th) sees his (JJ) run into Mikeniks-Faldo’s flopped two pair.

38min: A short-stacked (SS) Tomservo2 (12th) has to go with (QJ) but Lump2 has (KJ).

48 min: A SS Suetman123 (11th) with (99) is double-teamed by Lump2 (As Qs) and the winner 8thmile with (QQ).

1st break:

Mikeniks-Faldo 4615

Derf-63 4065

ThePunk75 2785

Pre01 2330

Lump2 2300

Absea98 1255

8thmile 1190

LittleRedElf 900

Sanster89 810

SpartanFlash 750

62 min: Sanster89 (10th) Table closed too fast. Then a flurry six minutes later.

68 min: A (SS) Absea98 (9th) with (A9) loses a coin flip to LittleRedElf with (77).

69 min: SpartanFlash (8th) with (KK) sees the nightmare of Pre01’s (AA).

70 min: A SS ThePunk75 (7th) has to go with (A9) but Mikeniks-Faldo has (AK).

92 min: 8thmile (6th) has to go with (AJ) but Lump2 flops two pair.

102 min: Pre01 (5th) sees his top pair run into a Lump2 flopped flush.

The tournament now ends in a flurry!

108 min: Mikeniks-Faldo (4th) sees his (KK) get run down with two Aces on the board and Derf-63 holding (AJ).

109 min: LittleRedElf (3rd) has a pair of Kings, but Lump2 has two pair.

110 min: A SS Derf-63 (2nd) has to go with (44) and runs into Lump2’s (QQ).

Congratulations to Lump2 on his 6th NPP win!

1st – Lump2

2nd – Derf-63

3rd – LittleRedElf

4th – Mikeniks-Faldo

5th – Pre01

6th – 8thmile

7th – ThePunk75

8th – SpartanFlash

9th – Absea98

10th – Sanster89

11th – Suetman123

12th – Tomservo2

13th – Wingsfancurt

14th – T3chlady

The 2nd Quarter Standings and the Total Point Standings are on the right side of the blog!

Saturday, July 14, 2012

Democrats Still Hate the US Military - Never Forget That

Don't think for one moment that just because the Democrats placed their Communist-in-Chief in the White House, that they now love our military.

They, as Bill Clinton once said, "loathe the military."

After all, unless the Democrats can use the military against our citizens at Tea Party rallies, the Democrats feel, "Well then, who needs them?"

As we move towards the November election where conservatives WILL elect a "band-aid" to fix the .45 caliber wound to our nation's stomach, keep in mind that the core Democrat-socialist-Marxist left, still absolutely hates the armed forces that keep our nation safe.

I should not have to remind any American of the things the Democrats said about or did to our military and our veterans when Bush 43 was in the White house.

The name calling, the treasonous siding with our enemies, declarations that the war was "lost", and the slander of everyone attached to our military should be still fresh in any real American's mind.

The Democrats and their lapdog media and professional protestors are not calling for the immediate withdraw of our troops from the Middle East right now. They would not dare attach a defeat to their Muslim-in-Chief right before an election.

But right after the Obama's are voted out and after they complete their FINAL of over one hundred tax payer vacations, look for the Democrats to start the anti-war, anti-military rhetoric all over again.

Count on it. Even though this prediction is obvious, remember Faldo has only one missed prediction out of hundreds on his record.

That ONE wrong prediction is that Faldo thought Hillary Clinton would be the one residing over the fall of the United States. And say what you will about Hillary, she is not incompetent. Lucky for our nation Obama and Bill Clinton are. Faldo underestimated first of all how little disregard the Democrat Party has for the Constitution, the laws of our nation and the respect for the citizens of this nation. And second, even Faldo grossly underestimated the stupidity of the Democrat voters and many of our fellow countrymen and women.

Oh well; Live (semi-free for only a little while longer) and learn.

Tuesday, July 10, 2012

Lump2 Picks up Right Where He Left Off - Winning!

Another Lump2 groupie helping herself to the NPP spa.

And where he left off was walking thru the NPP line up! Check this out.

Lump2 has won the last two NPP tournaments, just missing running down Tomservo2 for the 2nd quarter seat in the NPP finals. He of course sits on top of the 3rd quarter standings now.

Lump2 has won three of the last four NPP tourneys. He has won four of the last seven NPP tourneys! Way to go Lump2. This is not a soft line up you are pushing around either.

The 3rd quarter just started and there is plenty of time for the NPP players to get back in it. And there is still time for you to join if you have not already.

On to the action:

9 min: Derf-73 (16th) sees his (Ac Jc) lose a coin flip to LittleRedElf’s (TT).

12 min: Sanster89 (15th) Missed it playing my hand at another table.

23 min: A double knockout as Theedouble*d (14th) with (88) and Tomservo2 (13th) with (KK) sees Wingsfancurt with (QQ) – make quads!

24 min: A short-stacked (SS) ThePunk75 (12th) with (AJ) pairs his [J] on the flop, but Duder1123’s (KQ) pairs the [Q] on the river.

29 min: 95corolla (11th) makes his straight on the flop, but Lump2 hits his flush on the river.

30 min: Douge2 (10th) Missed it as table closed.

43 min: Duder1123 (9th) gets cold-decked as his (KJ) sees a flop of [5JK], only to see Lump2 show (JJ)! Ouch!

47 min: A SS Mikeniks-Faldo (8th) goes with (22), and LittleRedElf calls with (AK). PokerStars wasted no time in flopping an [A] as Faldo loses the coin flip.

1st break:

Lump2 8580

8thmile 3770

Suetman123 3680

Wingsfancurt 3055

T3chlady 2380

LittleRedElf 1935

Absea98 600

70 min: Absea98 (7th) blinds out. Never did show. A pity.

72 min: T3chaldy (6th) sees her (TT) run into Lump2’s (QQ).

78 min: Wingsfancurt (5th) has to go with (AK) but loses the coin flip to Lump2 with (TT).

87 min: A SS 8thmile (4th) has to go with (66) and big stack Lump2 can call with (72), and hits [77] on the board.

88 min: Suetman123 (3rd) goes with (AQ) and an [A] on the board, but Lump2 has a flush draw with (7d 6d) and hits it on the turn.

Heads Up: LittleRedElf 5500 - Lump2 18500

95 min: LittleRedElf 3800 - Lump2 20200

100 min: LittleRedElf 3400 - Lump2 20600

102 min: LittleRedElf (2nd) hits two pair, but Lump2 hits a straight!

Congratulations to Lump2 on his 5th NPP tournament win!

1st – Lump2

2nd – LittleRedElf

3rd – Suetman123

4th – 8thmile

5th – Wingsfancurt

6th – T3chlady

7th – Absea98

8th – Mikeniks-Faldo

9th – Duder1123

10th – Douge2

11th – 95corolla

12th – ThePunk75

13th – Tomservo2

14th – Theedouble*d

15th – Sanster89

16th – Derf-63

The 2nd Quarter Standings and the Total Point Standings are on the right side of the blog.

Saturday, July 07, 2012

3rd Quarter Starts Tuesday! Be There or Be Square

Time to leave the pool and get back to the NPP felt.

NPP starts the 3rd quarter action on Tuesday July 10. The tournament is posted now for entry.

If you have not joined NPP, here is your chance to get in on a new start to a 12 week poker league. Simply email Faldo at the address shown in the header, with your real name, and your PokerStars handle. That is all you have to do.

This is a league with great people and great players. Lots of fun and lots of serious tournament practice. What else are you doing on a Tuesday night?

If you have been playing and stepped away, now is the time to jump back in. You have had your fling with summer. It's time to pretend there is nothing to do on the boat, backyard or golf course on Tuesday night, except to play some practice poker on line. Winter will be here before you know it....so act like it is here already!

If you are a regular, thank you for your dedication to NPP. Faldo know that on some Tuesdays with life's ups and downs, dragging yourself to the felt to do battle with the sharks of NPP is not always your top priority. But you gut it out for the good of the league. Again, thank you.

So, with that said, sign up, register for the tournament on Tuesday........and then let Faldo win for once!

Tuesday, July 03, 2012

No NPP Tourney Tonight!

And she was all set to cheer Faldo to victory too.

Anyway, since the Supreme Liberal Activist Judges Who Would not Know the Constitution if it was Read to Them Court took away our freedom, our health, life, liberty and any chance of happiness,

Faldo granted us all the night off to reflect on the death of the United States. And so close to it's birthday too.

Ironic eh?