Nik's Poker Palace

Partagas Cigars – A Taste of Cuba!

2012-02-02T05:56:00.002-05:00

The Partagas brand name has always represented some of the finest cigars ever made. Ramon Cifuentes and Benjamin Menendez the conocedores.

The Cifuenteses ran the Partagas Havana factory for over 100 years – until the Obama Communist Revo…….sorry, the Castro Communist Revolution.

After, Cifuentes brought his expertise to the Dominican Republic, and along with Ben (who created the Montecristo brand!) restarted the brand. This united two former competitors to create a new “super-brand.”

Partagas are exceptionally well made – reputation has it, and is definitely a top 5 selling brand. Some say it is as high as #2. Why quibble.

Faldo has not tried this brand yet. It is on my cigar bucket list however.

Although a medium strength cigar, it is said to be on the smooth and slightly sweet side.

Sounds like a “back nine” cigar worth taking a look at.

The standard Partagas (medium) comes in all the familiar sizes and shapes. Other Partagas styles are;
Black Label – (full bodied)
Cifuentes Winter Blend – (medium)
Limited Reserve Decadas – (full bodied)
Series S – (med – strong)
Spanish Rosado – (med-strong)

ThePunk75 Wins his 2nd NPP Tourney of the Year

2012-01-31T23:29:00.000-05:00

The Punk takes over 1st place in the standings. Twenty players saw action tonight, making Faldo very happy. But PokerStars was about to sour his mood – as usual.

We welcomed back Theedouble*d tonight. Great to see you back DD.

On to the action:

6 min: Cpadanj (20th) Faldo missed the first four knockouts as Faldo was in a money tourney on another site, but got knocked out of there short of the money.

10 min: Derf-63 (19th)
17 min: Wingsfancurt (18th)
24 min: Lump2 (17th)
39 min: Theedouble*d (16th) goes with (KJ) and runs into ThePunk75’s (AK).
42 min: A short-stacked (SS) Bb557 (15th) sees his (KJ) run into Absea98’s (QQ).
50 min: A SS Suetman123 (14th) sees her (33) lose a coin flip to ThePunk75’s (Kh 7h) with a [K] on the river.

1st break:
ThePunk75 7670
LittleRedElf 4780
95corolla 3820
Tomservo2 2450
Mikeniks-Faldo 2305
KingBing420 2025
Tommydoo 1632
RodCPA 1532
Pre-01 1435
Brucef1040 1078
Absea98 890
8thmile 378
T3chlady 5 (did not make the game)

60 min: T3chlady (13th) blinds out.
62 min: A short-stacked (SS) Brucef1040 (12th) (14th) sees his (AJ) run into Tommydoo’s (AK).

72 min: Absea98 (11th) with (As Ks), loses a coin flip to 95corolla with (88).
78 min: RodCPA (10th) Missed it because Faldo was watching a hand on my table.
88 min: Mikeniks-Faldo (9th) raises with (AA) (83%) and gets re-raised all in by Tommydoo with (Kd 7d) (17%) and of course Faldo has to call. The flop was [8K7] with a [7] on the turn.

Faldo cannot complain as his (JJ) (20%) ran down Pre01’s (AA) (80%) a few hands earlier with a [J] on the flop. I was on a pass as it was.

90 min: 8thmile (8th) Missed it. Still throwing up over the 88 minute mark hand.

100 min: Tommydoo (7th) re-raises all in with (Jd 4d) (64%) with second pair on a flop of (7d Js Th]. He caught Tomservo2 on a draw with over-cards (AK) (34%), and Tomservo2 calls it anyway. A [Q] hits the turn.

110 min: A SS Pre01 (6th) tries with (33) but runs into 95corolla’s (88).

2nd break:
95corolla 10088
LittleRedElf 8812
ThePunk75 4530
KingBing420 3546
Tomservo2 3024

125 min: A SS KingBing420 (5th) loses to 95corolla’s straight.
131 min: A SS LittleRedElf (4th) has to try with (Ah 9h) but runs into 95corolla’s (AK).

154 min: 95corolla (3rd) goes with over cards and a flush draw with (Kh Qh) but cannot catch Tomservo2’s (33) with a [3] on the flop.

This sets up a battle!!!

Heads up: Tomservo2 15000 - ThePunk75 15000
160 min: Tomservo2 9700 - ThePunk75 20300
165 min: Tomservo2 16800 - ThePunk75 13200
170 min: Tomservo2 9200 - ThePunk75 20800

3rd break: Tomservo2 17983 - ThePunk75 12017

185 min: Tomservo2 13200 - ThePunk75 16800
190 min: Tomservo2 10000 - ThePunk75 20000
195 min: Tomservo2 9100 - ThePunk75 20900

198 min: Tomservo2 (2nd) goes with (Ah 8h) (70%) and ThePunk75 calls with (Qc 8c) (28%), but as happened most of the night, the leader pre-flop falls. A [Q] on the flop ends the match.

Congratulations to ThePunk75 on his 12th NPP win!

1st – ThePunk75
2nd – Tomservo2
3rd – 95corolla
4th – LittleRedElf
5th – KingBing420
6th – Pre01
7th – Tommydoo
8th – 8thmile
9th – Mikeniks-Faldo
10th – RodCPA
11th – Absea98
12th – Brucef1040
13th – T3chlady
14th – Suetman123
15th – Bb557
16th – Theedouble*d
17th - Lump2
18th – Wingsfancurt
19th - Derf-63
20th – Cpadanj

The total point standings are on the right side of the blog!

NPP Exclusive - Beerhog at the Links

2012-01-26T21:39:00.003-05:00

And NO, Faldo is NOT the Starter.
Think Spring!

Lump2 Wins His 1st NPP Tourney and Takes Over the League Lead

2012-01-24T22:32:00.002-05:00

Ilary Blasi was so impressed - she fainted - as Lump2 is the 65th player to win an NPP tournament event! Welcome to the Walk of Fame Lump2.

Well it was bound to happen. Lump2 was hanging around the final tables this season and finally closed the deal. He did it mostly by eliminating the competition with NINE knockouts on the night. Impressive.

Turnout was a little lighter than I expected after the nice turnout last week. It did not dampen play any as the tourney ran almost as long as the others.

On to the action:

13 min: K9isadog (15th) hits his flush, but Tommydoo’s is bigger (twss).
18 min: A short-stacked (SS) Absea98 (14th) sees his (TT) lose a coin flip to Lump2’s (AQ) with an [A] on the flop.

21 min: Brucef1040 (13th) sees his pair of queens get out-kicked by Derf-63’s pair of queens.

40 min: Derf-63 (12th) Missed it. Playing a hand on my table.
46 min: 95corolla (11th) Missed it. Playing a hand on my table.
49 min: 8thmile (10th) Missed it. Watching a hand on my table.
50 min: ThePunk75 (9th) Missed it because I had to take a phone call.

Your humble reporter is not having a good night – playing or writing.

1st break:
Lump2 7120
Tomservo2 4413
Pre-01 3600
Tommydoo 2025
Bb557 1890
Suetman123 1820
Mikeniks-Faldo 1265
KingBing420 367

66 min: Tommydoo (8th) is out-kicked – Ten to Nine by Bb557.
73 min: A SS KingBing420 (7th) hits a pair of kings on the flop, but Suetman123 hit trips! Ouch!

90 min: A harmless looking flop of [7h 6h 5s] gets three-way all-in action going (twss). A SS Tomsevo2 (6th) tries with (Ad 8d), Bb558 (5th) has to go with (88), and Lump2 has to call with (66) and his trips hang on for the double knockout!

98 min: A SS Suetman123 (4th) tries the flush draw with (Kd 9d) on a flop with two diamonds in it, but cannot run down Lump2’s (KJ). Another “out-kicked” ousting tonight.

110 min: A SS Mikeniks-Faldo (3rd) has to go with (A2) but cannot catch Lump2’s (22).

Heads up: Lump2 11000 - Pre01 11500

2nd break at 115 min: Heads up: Lump2 13500 - Pre01 9000
124 min: A SS Pre-01 (2nd) goes with (AK) on a dry flop of [7Q8] but runs into Lump2’s (T7) and does not improve.

Congratulations to Lump2 on his 1st NPP win!

1st – Lump2
2nd – Pre01
3rd – Mikeniks-Faldo
4th – Suetman123
5th – Bb557
6th – Tomservo2
7th – KingBing420
8th – Tommydoo
9th – ThePunk75
10th – 8thmile
11th – 95corolla
12th – Derf-63
13th – Brucef1040
14th – Absea98
15th – K9isadog

The total point standings are on the right side of the blog!

Faldo Returns to the Felt at Matchy’s Poker Room

2012-01-21T10:03:00.005-05:00

Just a reminder - BoDog Poker and Sportsbook is now closed to US Players. Ahhhh, the sweet stench of our freedom dying.

By the way, Matchy's Poker Room can’t be Matchy’s Poker Palace because of copy right laws. NPP’s team of powerful lawyers (Dewey, Cheetem and Howe) would swoop down and take every chip, table, and chair – and then work on getting the CPA licenses pulled from every math-challenged accountant playing in that room. Of which there are several.

Anyway, Faldo returned to the poker wars for the first time in 2012. It was a great game. It was lots of laughs and stories, along with great poker. Everyone participated in the frivolity except for Boston Dave – who we have to help get over his shyness.

Matchy introduced a new poker oval poker table to MPR and it was a nice addition. The padded arm rest really helps in the comfort area, and the cards slide easily and that helps with the dealing. Nice job Matchy.

The table was filled – in order of seating number by:

1 – Boother36
2 – Artic1Blast
3 – Boston Dave
4 – Mikeniks-Faldo
5 – Silent Chris
6 – Stanley Cup Tim
7 – River Dennis
8 – Matchy
9 – 95corolla

The synopsis (I bought this word from the website Smartwordsfordumbbloggers dot com) of the six hour game [HOPE – Holdem, Omaha, Pineapple, Omaha8 rotation] by seat was;

1 – Second best great hands all night – stealing a Faldo trademark.
2 – Shoulda raised Boston Dave out of his seat all night
3 – Hit every flop all night, but took it easy on us. Big winner.
4 – Faldo hit every river all night but too bad he folded
5 – Chris just quietly kicked butt. 2nd winner.
6 – Tim bluffed Faldo out of 954 pots.
7 – Dennis lost so many hands on the river, he thought he was Faldo playing on PokerStars.
8 – Matchy made a comeback
9 – and 95corolla had the same plight as Faldo – river hits while on the sidelines.

A special thanks to 95corolla for the cigars – hand picked as a gift for Faldo since Faldo blogged he had not tried them yet. Several Licenciados and La Flor Del Caneys will be heading 95corolla's way.

And a SUPER special thanks to 95corolla’s son – a marine serving in Afghanistan. God bless him!

Community Card Review - We’ve Got Lying, Cheating and Treasonous Americans to Defeat

2012-01-19T05:33:00.006-05:00

A Reminder: A picture of Democrat voters and their feelings towards the military outwardly expressed - when a Republican is in the White House. I'll bet these same paid employees of the DNC are now working at the Occupy protests.

Governor of Wisconsin Republican Scott Walker was in office in January 2011 with a budget deficit of $3.6 billion.

Over the protests of the Democrat voting union thugs and the cowardly and treasonous Wisconsin Democrat lawmakers who fled the state to stop the voting on reform, Governor Walker made state employees to pay 12.6% of their salaries to their healthcare benefits. Private sector workers pay double that, by the way.

And he made them pay 5.8% towards their own retirement.

Gov Walker also gave the state workers the right to "opt out" of the union, so dues would not be automatically taken from their pay checks.

The results of just this little bit of reduction in state-worker union dictated entitlement spending was:

The school tax levies across the state of Wisconsin - for the first time in history - went DOWN!

The budget for 2012 is projected to be a $300 million SURPLUS without raising taxes or layoffs of government workers.

However, Governor Walker is targeted for a recall vote by the Democrat National Committee and the national union offices. Loss of UNION DUES is the real issue with the DNC and the union kingpins. The rest is all window dressing.

In order for the recall initiative to be started, signatures on petitions have to equal or surpass 1/4 of all ballots cast in the election that put Walker in office.

All the Democrat and union ballot box stuffing apparatus was turned on to gather the signatures needed. Names like Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, and Adolf Hitler were deemed legal by a liberal judge, along with the signatures of a man who signed the petitions eighty times!

Who is it that opposes voting registration verification? The Democrats. Now you know why. Democrats want to cheat. They always cheat. They have to cheat. They can’t win unless they cheat – even with a school system and media monopoly.

Illinois Democrats proudly announced they were going to be the anti-Wisconsin - and tax their way to a balanced budget. And they got elected. Well, in the same amount of time, Illinois raised taxes 66%!

Illinois still has a 10% unemployment rate, still a huge fiscal deficit, and they just surpassed California as having the worst bond rating in the country.

The choice will be clear in Wisconsin when the next vote happens late this summer. Wisconsin can return to the Democrats and double digit tax increases, billion dollar deficits and record job loss - or stay the course and continue the momentum of increased jobs in the state, a balanced budget and tax freezes or rebates!

Citizens of Wisconsin will have to beat the Democrat and union election cheating and almost unlimited spending in lying advertising. If Wisconsin citizens want to win their state back from the Democrat socialists - now is the time.

Our entire nation faces the same decision in the next national election. The same cheating, lying, and billion dollar spending from the Democrat–Communists will happen along with the hit pieces from our main stream media propaganda arm of the Democrat Party.

We have to beat the Democrats-Socialists-Communists-Union Thugs in November or become slaves. Pure and simple.

Decision time.

(PS: Unions are outlawed in China, Cuba and North Korea. Something to think about you pro-union Democrat voters. Be careful what you wish for.)

ThePunk75 Wins His 11th NPP Tourney and Takes the Lead in the League

2012-01-17T22:31:00.003-05:00

Gemma enjoyed watching the tourney.

ThePunk75 bests eighteen others tonight to take the lead in the league. It was a methodical, patient and thoughtful victory. Nice job Punk!

We welcomed tonight a new player – Cpadanj. And he is a player! He did well in his first NPP tourney.

On to the action:

15 min: Wingsfancurt (19th) Missed it. Watching an all-in on my table.

26 min: Pre01 (18th) sees his Aces runs into Tommydoo’s straight.
32 min: 8thmile (17th) hits two pair on the turn, but Mikeniks-Faldo had trips on the flop.

35 min: A short-stacked (SS) Suetman1 (16th) hits two pair on the turn, but K9isadog turned a flush.

42 min: KingBing420 (15th) sees her (AK) run into Cpadanj’s (AA).
46 min: LittleRedElf (14th) sees his (JJ) run into Absea98’s (KK).
49 min: Lump2 (13th) sees his pair of Aces get out-kicked by Derf-63’s pair of Aces.
50 min: Douge2 (12th) Missed it. Another all-in at my table.
52 min: Tomservo2 (11th) sees his trip sixes get out-kicked by Cpadanj’s trip sixes. It’s an out-kicked epidemic!

1st break:
Cpadanj 8087
K9isadog 4563
Bb557 2880
ThePunk75 2770
Tommydoo 2580
Derf-63 2525
T3chlady 1675
95corolla 1650
Mikeniks-Faldo 1110
Absea98 660

63 min: A SS Absea98 (10th) goes with (Kd 9d) and is called by big stack Cpadanj with (QT). And a [T] flops and Absea98 gets no help.

72 min: Derf-63 (9th) sees his Jack-high flush and Cpadanj sees his trips lose to T3chlady’s Ace-high flush!

84 min: A SS Bb557 (8th) has to go with his pair of Aces on the flop. ThePunk75 calls with a pair of tens, but hits a straight on the river! Ouch!

87 min: A SS Mikeniks-Faldo (7th) has to go with (55) and Tommydoo correctly calls with (Ad Kd) and hits a king on the flop.

96 min: A SS Cpadanj (6th) tries to go with (As 2s), but runs into K9isadog’s (AK).
113 min: A SS 95corolla (5th) has to go with (QJ) but run into K9isadog’s (KJ).

2nd break:
K9isadog 11051
T3chlady 7946
ThePunk75 5876
Tommydoo 3628

124 min: Tommydoo (4th) tries the flush draw with (Kd 9d) on a flop of [Ad 6d Js] but cannot run down T3chlady’s (A8).

136 min: K9isadog (3rd) hits two pair but loses to ThePunk75’s straight.

Heads up: ThePunk75 21000 - T3chlady 7500

139 min: A SS T3chlady (2nd) goes with (K3) but runs into ThePunk75’s (77).

Congratulations to ThePunk75 on his 1st NPP win of this season.

1st – ThePunk75
2nd – T3chlady
3rd – K9isadog
4th – Tommydoo
5th – 95corolla
6th – Cpadanj
7th – Mikeniks-Faldo
8th – Bb557
9th – Derf-63
10th – Absea98
11th – Tomservo2
12th – Douge2
13th – Lump2
14th – LittleRedElf
15th – KingBing420
16th – Suetman123
17th – 8thmile
18th – Pre01
19th - Wingsfancurt

The total point standings are on the right side of the blog!

Winter is a Time for Eating!

2012-01-16T11:23:00.005-05:00

Doesn't that sandwich look good?

Yes, trust me - there is a sandwich in that picture. Look carefully. [Ed. Note to half my readers: Nevermind. You don't have to find the sandwich. Don't hurt yourself.]

But sandwiches are made from leftovers.

Picture a meal of tender and juicy roast beef, mashed potatoes, veggies and a salad. Maybe fry up some onions, green and red mild peppers and mushrooms in a little garlic and olive oil.

Here is the Italian Beef recipe, with a big hat tip to the blog - Paw Paw's House!

Rodger's Italian Beef

Ingredients:
3 cups water
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon dried basil
1 teaspoon onion salt
1 teaspoon dried parsley
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 bay leaf
1 (.7 ounce) package dry Italian-style
salad dressing mix
1 (5 pound) rump roast

Directions:
1. Combine water with salt, ground black pepper, oregano, basil, onion salt, parsley, garlic powder, bay leaf, and salad dressing mix in a saucepan. Stir well, and bring to a boil.

2. Place roast in slow cooker, and pour salad dressing mixture over the meat.

3. Cover, and cook on Low for 10 to 12 hours, or on High for 4 to 5 hours. When done, remove bay leaf, and shred meat with a fork.

After 10 hours in the slow cooker, the beef is falling apart.

I sampled just a taste and the flavor is incredible. - PP

Faldo knows what he is having for dinner next weekend!

Men Never Learned Either - We Let Them Vote Now Too!

2012-01-14T13:00:00.002-05:00

Douge2’s Humor Corner - PARAPROSDOKIAN

2012-01-12T18:54:00.002-05:00

…is a figure of speech in which the latter part of a sentence or phrase is surprising or unexpected in a way that causes the reader or listener to reframe or reinterpret the first part. It is frequently used for humorous or dramatic effect, sometimes producing an anticlimax. For this reason, it is extremely popular among comedians and satirists. For instance;

Going to church doesn't make you a Christian any more than standing in a garage makes you a car.

The last thing I want to do is hurt you, but it's still on the list.

If I agreed with you, we'd both be wrong.

We never really grow up, we only learn how to act in public.

War does not determine who is right - only who is left.

Knowledge is knowing a tomato is a fruit; Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.

Evening news is where they begin with 'Good evening', and then proceed to tell you why it isn't.

To steal ideas from one person is plagiarism; To steal from many is research.

A bus station is where a bus stops. A train station is where a train stops. On my desk, I have a work station.

Dolphins are so smart that within a few weeks of captivity, they can train people to stand on the very edge of the pool and throw them fish.

A bank is a place that will lend you money, if you can prove that you don't need it.

I didn't say it was your fault, I said I was blaming you.

Why does someone believe you when you say there are four billion stars, but check when you say the paint is wet?

Why do Americans choose from just 2 people to run for president and 50 for Miss America?

A clear conscience is usually the sign of a bad memory.

You do not need a parachute to skydive. You only need a parachute to skydive twice.

The voices in my head may not be real, but they have some good ideas!

Always borrow money from a pessimist. He won't expect it back.

A diplomat is someone who can tell you to go to hell in such a way that you will look forward to the trip.

Money can't buy happiness, but it sure makes misery easier to live with.

I discovered women scream the same way whether they are about to be devoured by a great white shark or if a piece of seaweed touches their foot.

I used to be indecisive. Now, I'm not sure.

I always take life with a grain of salt..... plus a slice of lemon, and a shot of tequila.

You're never too old to learn something stupid.

To be sure of hitting the target, shoot first and call whatever you hit the target.

Nostalgia isn't what it used to be.

A bus is a vehicle that runs twice as fast when you are after it as when you are in it.

Change is inevitable, except from a vending machine.

Absea98 Picks Up Right Where He Left Off Last Year. Wins Again!

2012-01-10T22:54:00.004-05:00

Sometimes you need to gang-tackle an opponent.

Fresh off the 2011 NPP Finals victory, Absea98 proceeded to beat us all into submission on the first night of action of the new season. Thanks a pant load!

We welcome two new players to the NPP family tonight: Bb557 and Lump2. Welcome guys!

This season will be back to the 4 quarters – with each winner getting a seat in the NPP Finals and the top two in points also getting a seat in the finals. All ties also get in.

On to the action:

7 min: KingBing420 (14th) pairs her jacks, but loses to Derf-63’s queens.
11 min: Tommydoo (13th) runs into 95corolla’s trip jacks.
28 min: Bb557 (12th) Missed it as he was on the other table.
31 min: 8thmile (11th) was really card dead and has to go with (22) but loses to T3chlady’s two pair.

41 min: ThePunk75 (10th) was as card dead as 8thmile.
43 min: BigDaddyTman (9th) goes with (88) but LittleRedElf’s (Ac Kc) makes two pair. BigDaddy is crippled and leaves a few hands later.

60min: Mikeniks-Faldo (8th) knows there is a PokerStars Break Monster. The Monster gives a short stack a high pocket pair and then crushes it with a dirty flop - right at the break. Faldo knows this, but decides to test the theory to the max.

Faldo is dealt (AA) – of course – in middle position, the last hand before the break. DANGER WILL ROBINSON!!!! (a Lost in Space reference that shows Faldo's age)

I raise half my short stack, wanting action and preferably an all-in move. I need chips to fight on post-break after all. Maybe an all in push stops the disaster about to happen, but I don’t pick up that much ammo in that instance. All fold but Derf-63 who has the chips to call.

The flop is [6c 8c 9c] and I know I am dead, but I have to play like there is no Break Monster on PokerStars.

I move all in and Derf-63 has to call with (Kc Th), having both straight and flush draws, and for all he knows over-card draws, which he ended up not having. Of course the 4th club hits the river and the field conveniently shrinks at break time.

Game-set-match to the Break Monster.

1st break:
Absea98 6825
Suetman123 4225
Derf-63 3745
LittleRedElf 2745
Lump2 2115
T3chlady 790
95corolla 555

66 min: A SS T3chlady (7th) pairs her Aces and loses to Suetman123’s Aces and Jacks.
70 min: A SS 95corolla (6th) has to go with (Kc Tc), pairs, but Absea98 hits a straight on the river. Ouch!

76 min: Derf-63 (5th) sees his (AQ) run into Absea98’s (AK).

Now we settled in for a long battle.

104 min: Suetman123 (4th) runs into LittleRedElf’s two pair.

116 min: Lump2 (3rd) gives it a shot with (8s 7s) and shoves at a flop of [5s Kc 3s]. LittleRedElf makes a crying call with (KJ) and the kings hold up.

A fine performance by an NPP rookie. Good job Lump2!

Heads up; LittleRedElf 11000 - Absea98 10000

2nd break:
LittleRedElf 17240
Absea98 3760

125 min: LittleRedElf 16730 - Absea98 4270
130 min: LittleRedElf 15730 - Absea98 5270
135 min: LittleRedElf 11500 - Absea98 9500
140 min: LittleRedElf 9330 - Absea98 11670

142 min: LittleRedElf (2nd) goes with (A9) but runs into Absea98’s (AJ).

Congratulations to Absea98 on his 6th NPP win.

1st – Absea98
2nd – LittleRedElf
3rd – Lump2
4th – Suetman123
5th – Derf-63
6th – 95corolla
7th – T3chlady
8th – Mikeniks-Faldo
9th – BigDaddyTman
10th – ThePunk75
11th – 8thmile
12th – Bb557
13th – Tommydoo
14th – KingBing420

The total point standings are on the right side of the blog!

Caesars Windsor Does WSOP Qualifiers

2012-01-10T05:28:00.003-05:00

WSOP Qualifier Jan 13th and 14th – and this young lady will be cheering for you!

Friday 13th
10am & 8:15pm
$70 buy-in

Sat 14th
10am | $70 buy-in
4pm | $555 buy-in

Theedouble*d will be going...anyone interested?
Call or email Faldo for DD's phone number to discuss.

Nik's Poker Palace Starts Season #19 Tuesday

2012-01-08T20:34:00.004-05:00

Don't just stand there leaning on the wall. Tell your friends. NPP starts our fun Tuesday Night Tournament League January 10 at 8pm.

Download PokerStars dot net and then email Faldo at the email at the top of this blog for the league number, and password.

Those that played last year are all set.

But all you newbies, get those emails to me as soon as possible.

See you Tuesday night!

Top Ten Smartest Teams in Sports

2012-01-07T15:50:00.003-05:00

The smartest league is of course Niks Poker Palace, followed by the NFL. But this is about the smartest teams. Here is Faldo's list. Let's discuss:

10. Los Angeles Lakers - Like it or not, and whether with league help or not, no pro basketball team has performed so well for so long.

9. Boston Red Sox - Yes, they spend like the 2nd biggest baseball market team (which they are), but they still manage to out-duel the 1st big market team - the New York Yankees (who barely failed to make the top 10 cut).

8. Baltimore Ravens - GM Ozzie (the Wizard of Oz) Newsome has got them in the playoffs 5 of the last six years, all without braking the bank. Shrew trades and good drafts keeps the Ravens in the mix every year.

7. Atlanta Braves - Just now starting to slide, but winning 14 consecutive divisional championships will never be repeated. Even with the Ted Turner wallet closed, the Braves continue to "be a factor" every baseball fall.

6. Tampa Bay Rays - A tiny baseball market with the smallest payroll, Tampa Bay always battles the "Big Boys" - the Red Sox and Yankees - in their division. Three playoff runs, with one winning the pennant in 2008. They continue to be competitive when all indications say they should be Pirates-Cubs clones.

5. Pittsburgh Steelers - Love them or hate them, like Alabama, they just keep rolling. Perfect drafting even without the high choices, and free agent signings that not only don't break the bank, but fill holes - and the locker room chemistry - perfectly.

4. Detroit Red Wings - Car accidents, heart attacks, garbage officiating and untimely injuries prevents them from being #1. Playoff contenders for 20 years running with 10 Central Division championships and 3 Stanley Cups thrown in. Without some bad luck and league shenanigans, 7 Stanleys is not that far fetched.

3. New England Patriots - Playoffs in 10 of the last 11 years with 3 Super Bowl wins - matched only by the Steelers in that time frame. Not only do they draft, free agent fill and keep the winning culture like the Steelers, they find other ways to get edges over the competition. "If you ain't cheating, you ain't trying" is almost their motto. Kind of a new century version on the Al Davis Raider's 'Just win baby!"

2. Green Bay Packers - How do they get players to go to that God forsaken winter shanty town? How do they continue to beat the bigger market teams like a old rug on a clothes line in August? 14 league championships, 4 Super Bowls and an army of "cheese heads" across the country. As a Lion's fan, I'm going to be sick.

1. Minnesota Twins - Playoff bound in 6 of 10 years with unknown players that later became American League MVP's. That's called drafting folks. A small market team which somehow manages to play over .500 baseball all the time, and then blow by everyone at the wire to get in the post season. Kind of a Tampa Bay - on steroids - but in a weaker division, which helps their success. Every year I wonder, "How do those Twinkies do it??"

That's Faldo's list. What is yours?

The NPP League Returns January 10

2012-01-02T12:06:00.002-05:00

Relaxation time is over.

E-mails will be sent shortly also, but Faldo is ready to post the schedule.

The season will be 4 quarters again. The first three will be 12 tourneys in length and the last one only 11 tourneys.

Another change; we are going back to the 12 minute blinds rather than the 15 minute blinds. The reason is simply that I think the tourney needs to be over in under 3 hours.

The schedule is this:

1st quarter: Jan 10th thru April 3rd, with Valentine’s Day night off (Faldo’s wedding anniversary and I don’t want to be killed in my sleep). Twelve games.

2nd quarter; April 10th thru June 26th. Twelve games.

3rd quarter: July 10th thru September 25th. Twelve games

4th quarter: October 2nd thru December 11th. Eleven games.

NPP Final: December 18th.

Here is hoping everyone had a good holiday and will have a great year ahead. Faldo did and is planning on it!

Happy New Year! - And Drive Safely Out There

2012-01-01T08:31:00.003-05:00

A Christmas Present to Faldo - Nice!

2011-12-26T11:22:00.001-05:00

From my daughter-in-law! Way to pick em' son!

Absea98 is NPP’s 2011 Player of the Year!

2011-12-21T13:27:00.002-05:00

It was his 2nd time winning the honor, as Larissa Franca is pointing out.

The award goes to the most deserving as he was the best all year anyway.

Absea98 destroyed the field in the first quarter before the shutdown. He had the point lead after the shutdown. When we started back up, he was #1 in the point total for the new format!

Great year Absea98!

Let’s check out the action;

Final NPP Table

Seat 1: Suetman123 (Mrs. Absea98)
Seat 2: LittleRedElf
Seat 3: Absea98
Seat 4: Tomservo2
Seat 5: K9isadog
Seat 6: 95corolla

At the 30 minute mark, the chip totals are:

Absea98 3088
Suetman123 2770
LittleRedElf 1245
95corolla 1020
Tomservo2 767
K9isadog 530

Sorry for the lack of hands on how we got to this point, but your reporter was just not up to the task.

41 min: A short-stacked K9isadog (6th) has to go with (Td 9d) he doesn’t improve against 95corolla’s (KQ).

Great season K9isadog. You played the least amount of tourneys by far and still earned a chair. Outstanding!

At the 45 minute mark, the chip totals are:

Suetman123 3200
Absea98 2900
95corolla 2200
LittleRedElf 845
Tomservo2 680

At the break:

Suetman123 3800
Absea98 2800
LittleRedElf 1600
95corolla 1500
Tomservo2 625

70 min: A SS Tomservo2 (5th) has a pair, but Suetman123 has two pair.

Great season Tom.

At the 75 minute mark, the chip totals are:

Absea98 4900
Suetman123 4150
LittleRedElf 1200
95corolla 1050

79 min: A SS LittleRedElf (4th) is called by Absea98 and Suetman123, who wins the pot with (TT).

It was another great season by the Elf who technically won a seat in both halves of the year, along with Absea98. Great job Elf.

At the 90 minute mark, the chip totals are:

Absea98 5600
Suetman123 4300
95corolla 2000

105 min: This was painful. A SS 95corolla (3rd) sees his (J4) hit a flop with [J63] only to see that Absea98 is holding (J6).

95corolla is a tremendous addition to the NPP family this year and will be one of the regulars challenging for a chair ever year! Nice season Kevin.

Heads up: Absea98 8800 Suetman123 3200

110 min: Absea98 9500 Suetman123 2500

172 min: Suetman123 (2nd) has to go with (Ad Qs) on a flop with [3 diamonds], but Absea98 is holding (Qd Jd) and a 4th for the board never arrives.

“Sue” has come on to challenge the entire NPP line up every single week and is the most improved player of 2011.

Congratulations to Absea98 on his 2nd NPP Title!

1st – Absea98
2nd – Suetman123
3rd – 95corolla
4th – LittleRedElf
5th – Tomservo2
6th – K9isadog

Faldo Home From Surgery

2011-12-20T15:03:00.002-05:00

[Photo of current and former HG beer cart girls discussing Faldo's return home.]

I got home Monday afternoon with every intention of posting something. But, I think the doctors are serious about this recovery taking a while.

The pain meds make it hard for me to concentrate enough to write something good.

I know. How could Faldo know if it was good? (twss)

Bottom line is, I think the heart finally got fixed (won’t know for sure for 3 more months), but I will need to do some re-hab time to get my breathing, strength and stamina back. It’s only been a week tomorrow since the surgery. Maybe recovery will pick up speed later. Right now - not so much.

But I want to thank all of my friends for their support. Charles Darwin said, “A man’s friendships are one of the best measures of his worth.” I am the wealthiest of men!

They called, they emailed, they texted, they posted, they visited, they sent cards, they sent well wishes and they asked for updates. Every single friend’s thoughts helped me thru the rough times. Thank you again.

Now to NPP business.

Tonight is the final. Faldo will be there to write the story. Good luck to all participants. I look forward to another classic NPP Final.

A head-up tournament will attempt to be scheduled soon - if possible - to be run all on one day or night. TBD

K9isadog Wins for the 2nd Time This Season! – NPP Final Table Set

2011-12-13T23:04:00.001-05:00

Two in a row! K9isadog does it again! A late rush of wins and he slides into an NPP Finals seat. It is truly amazing as he only played in HALF the tourneys!!

K9isadog was dominating in 2010 also, and it looks like he is back for 2011.

Eighteen show for the last night of NPP action for 2011.

Surprisingly, one player that still had a chance to make the finals didn’t play – Cigar4John. That’s a shame!

Another exciting conclusion to the NPP season! When the smoke cleared, here are our Finalists:

Absea98 – Winner of the first and last NPP rounds!
LittleRedElf – Most points earned in the first two rounds, but also had enough points to win a seat in the last round!
Tomservo2 – Winner of our shortened middle round.
95corolla – Winner of the 1st seat earned in the last round.
Suetman123 – 2nd place seat in the last round.
K9isadog – 3rd place seat in the last round

Hat tip to Tomservo2, Wingsfancurt and T3chlady for their effort here tonight.

On to the action:

16 min: A short-stacked 8thmile (18th) is called by three players and loses to LittleRedElf’s (TT). This eliminates 8thmile from a Finals chair.

18 min: KingBing420 (17th) loses to 95corolla’s trip sixes.
19 min: Bblbtt (16th) loses to T3chlady.
22 min: ThePunk75 (15th) is double-teamed by BigDaddyTman and 95corolla, who wins it with pocket queens. This knocks ThePunk out of a Finals seat.

31 min: Finalist Tomservo2 (14th) pairs his kings, but loses to K9isadog’s two pair.
34 min: Derf-63 (13th) Missed it. Phone call.
36 min: BigDaddyTman (12th) sees his (AK) run into 95corolla’s (KK).
36 min: A SS Pre01 (11th) has to go with (Jd Td) but loses to LittleRedElf’s (Ac Kc).

1st break:
95corolla 9030
T3chlady 3852
K9isadog 2934
Wingsfancurt 2730
Absea98 2470
LittleRedElf 1935
Suetman123 1849
Tommydoo 1155
Mikeniks-Faldo 620 (sitting out)
Douge2 430 (no show)

68 min: Douge2 (10th) Blinds out again.
75 min: A SS Tommydoo (9th) goes with (A3) and pairs his [3] on the flop. But runs into T3chlady’s (Ac Qc) and a turned [Q].

76min: Mikeniks-Faldo (8th) always sits out the last tourney of a league decider if he doesn’t need to win a seat himself.

83 min: A SS LittleRedElf (7th) has to go with (AQ) and is called by K9isadog with (KQ) and a [K] turns. See you at the Finals Elf!

We settled in for some poker at this point.

2nd break:
95corolla 7825
K9isadog 5855
Absea98 4180
T3chlady 3822
Wingsfancurt 3690
Suetman123 1628

136 min: A SS Suetman123 (6th) has to go with (AX) but K9isadog has two pair. Now she has to wait and see if she will hang on to a seat in the Finals.

140 min: 95corolla (5th) has a straight, but Wingsfancurt has a full house!! No matter as 95corolla is in the NPP Finals.

157 min: Wingsfancurt (4th) sees his two pair lose to T3chlady’s trips! Ouch. Wingsfancurt will come up just short of an NPP final chair, but a great year just the same.

170 min: Absea98 (3rd) sees his (QQ) lose to K9isadog’s straight.

Heads up K9isadog 20200 T3chlady 6800

172 min: T3chlady (2nd) has to go with (AK) but is beaten by K9isadog’s (Qd 9d) when a [9] flops.

Congratulations to K9isadog on his 9th NPP win, and yet another seat in the NPP finals.

1st – K9isadog
2nd –T3chlady
3rd – Absea98
4th – Wingsfancurt
5th – 95corolla
6th – Suetman123
7th – LittleRedElf
8th – Mikeniks-Faldo
9th – Tommydoo
10th – Douge2
11th – Pre01
12th – BigDaddyTman
13th – Derf-63
14th – Tomservo2
15th – ThePunk75
16th – Bblbtt
17th – KingBing420
18th - 8thmile

Faldo Finishes 6th in PokerStars HORSE Tourney

2011-12-11T16:51:00.004-05:00

I just love Coca-Cola!

It was out of a field of 533 players. I am really happy about this finish. Here is why:

HORSE is a rotation of five games; Limit Texas Holdem, Omaha Hi/8 low, Razz, Seven Card Stud and Seven Card Stud Hi / 8 low.

To be able to make the final table in a tournament that includes five different poker games means that maybe Faldo can “play some cards.”

I was in good shape too at the Final Table, sitting 3rd in chips. But as can happen, the deck turned against me down the stretch.

In the Seven Stud game, my turned straight got run down by a full house on the river.

Then, to end my tournament, in the Seven Stud 8 Hi/Lo, my 4 card low and flush draw that I had to move all – in with, only finished into a small two pair. That didn’t hold up.

Now a word about the NPP Finals.

We will have our final table set after this week.

I have to set the tournament up BUT I cannot password protect it.

So when you get the email about ‘another’ tourney being set, it is only for our NPP finalists.

We still managed to have a fun and exciting season, in spite of our government’s attempt to ruin it.

I am looking forward to next year! Play chips or not, NPP players are still the best – and the nicest – around.

Faldo

Gas Price Hypocrisy

2011-12-10T18:50:00.001-05:00

Community Card Review - Jobs Lost to Obamacare - Just the Beginning

2011-12-10T11:32:00.004-05:00

More proof of Left-wing hate for the United States. It makes no sense I know, but one in five Americans hate their country. it's called being mentally ill, i.e., liberal.

To understand the Obama Regime’s affect on the jobs market, look no further than the ‘medical devices’ industry. These are high tech, high paying jobs that are on the cutting edge of improving health care, manufacturing everything from stints to scalpels.

Nance Pelosi was not kidding when she said, “We have to pass Obamacare so we can know what is in it.”

Democrat voters elect these types of genius folks. Repeatedly. And she knows what’s in it – communism.

Well, what was also in it was a $20 billion tax on the medical device industry. Not on their profits, but on every dollar of sales!!!

Congressman Paulsen, who’s district is home to a large number of these jobs said, “Ten percent of the workforce, 43,000 jobs have been lost due to Obamacare already, with more to follow as jobs are moved off shore.”

Paulsen introduced a bill to repeal this section of the bill, but Democrats have blocked it to this point. Only friends of Democrats are getting waivers (over 100 issued so far to Democrat supporters only) from Obamacare, to keep their companies afloat – until after the election. Then Obama won’t care about them either.

Cook Medical employs 10,000 people. Their CEO said, ‘Companies are already moving jobs and technology overseas to avoid the double taxation here. If we don’t repeal this soon, the United States will no longer be the home of the greatest medical breakthroughs.”

The Obama Regime invested billions of taxpayer money into fraudulent “green’ jobs – like Solindra Solar - , in which all the companies are going bankrupt while making Democrat contributors wealthy beyond belief, with the taxpayers the losers in these frauds.

While playing ‘cronie capitalism’ to a level never before seen in this country, Obama is driving the real high tech jobs our nation has overseas. Furthermore, it is all done on purpose.

We elected a communist - who hates the United States of America - as president! You give this traitor another four years, and the United States as a free republic is over. Pure and simple.

Douge2’s Humor Corner - Emails

2011-12-08T21:19:00.003-05:00

Dear Miss Lindsay Lohan,
We pass on the opportunity. We suggest you try to pose for a magazine that air brushes everything to make it...uh, them....uh.....you...look good.
Sincerely,
Hustler Magazine

Dear Icebergs,
Sorry to hear about the global warming. Karma's a bitch.
Sincerely,
The Titanic

Dear Yahoo,
I've never heard anyone say, "I don't know, let's Yahoo! it." Just saying.
Sincerely,
Google

Dear 2010,
So I hear the best rapper is white and the president is black? WTF happened?!
Sincerely,
1985

Dear Windshield Wipers,
Can't touch this.
Sincerely,
That Little Triangle (twss)

Dear jf;ldsfa/kvsmmklnn,
Please lknvfdmv.xvn.
Sincerely,
Stevie Wonder

Dear Nickleback,
That's enough.
Sincerely,
The World

Dear Osama Bin Laden,
Marco....
Sincerely,
United States

Dear World of Warcraft,
Thank you for ensuring my son's virginity.
Sincerely,
Parents Everywhere

Dear Batman,
What was your power again?
Sincerely,
Superman

Dear Customers,
Yes, we ARE making fun of you in Vietnamese.
Sincerely,
Nail Salon Ladies

Dear Global Warming,
You're the best imaginary friend ever!
Sincerely,
Al Gore

Dear Ugly People,
You're welcome.
Sincerely,
Alcohol

Dear Mr. Gump
WTF are you talking about? There's a little diagram on the lid that tells you EXACTLY what you're gonna get.
Sincerely,
Jenny

Dear World,
Please stop freaking out about 2012. Our calendar ends there because some Spanish douche-bags invaded our country and we got a little busy ok?
Sincerely,
The Mayans

Dear White People,
Don't you just hate illegal immigrants?
Sincerely,
Native Americans

Dear iPhone,
Please stop spellchecking all of my rude words into nice words, you piece of shut.
Sincerely.
Every iPhone User

Dear Giant Spider on the Wall,
Please die. Please die. Please die. Please die. CRAP! Where did you go?
Sincerely,
Terrified

Dear Trash,
At least you get picked up...
Sincerely,
The Girls of Jersey Shore

Dear Man,
It's cute, but can you pick up peanuts with it?
Sincerely,
Elephant

Dear Dr. Phil,
Look man, there's only room for one fake doctor in this world and I was here first.
Sincerely,
Dr. Pepper

K9isadog Wins for the 1st Time This Season!

2011-12-06T23:30:00.001-05:00

But he is no virgin. He moves past Theedouble*d with this win in a 14 player field. As you can see, we need a cage to keep K9isadog’s fans away from the NPP tables when he makes his entrance.

I was disappointed that some of our players still in the hunt for a seat failed to show. A 16 or 18 player field would have juiced up the number of points available and would have really made it interesting next week.

It still will be. I think anyone with 5 points or more can still get there. One week left!

On to the action:

9 min: Tommydoo (14th) pairs his Jack, but 95corolla flushes
15 min: T3chlady (13th) sees her (AA) run into Derf-63’s (Qs 9s) flopped straight.
32 min: A short-stacked (SS) Suetman1 (12th) goes with (A9) but Tomservo2 has (AT)!
36 min: A SS Wingsfancurt (11th) has to go with (A6) but loses the coin flip to Derf-63’s (44).

49 min: Poor LittleRedElf (10th)! Mikeniks-Faldo had his number tonight. Of course Faldo didn’t outplay the Elf. He out-flopped the Elf.

First as a shorter stack, Faldo has to go with (QQ) and the Elf has (KK). A [Q] hits the board. Then LittleRedElf’s trips are killed by Faldo’s A-high flush.

Then, the last insult, a SS Elf has to go with (A7) and Faldo has (AJ). Sorry Elf!

1st break:
95corolla 5845
Mikeniks-Faldo 4825
Tomservo2 3447
8thmile 1856
K9isadog 1774
Absea98 1382
ThePunk75 906
Douge2 485 (no show)
Derf-63 480

68 min: Absea98’s (9th) two pair loses to Tomservo2’s full house.
72 min: A SS Derf-63’s (8th) (55) runs into ThePunk75’s (77).
77 min: Douge2 (7th) blinds out.
90 min: A SS ThePunk75 (6th) has to go with (76) but Mikeniks-Faldo has (T8).
107 min: A SS Tomservo’s (5th) pair of Kings loses to 8thmile’s two pair.

2nd break:
K9isadog 9077
Mikeniks-Faldo 5090
8thmile 3618
95corolla 3215

137 min: What goes around comes around as Mikeniks-Faldo’s (4th) Aces’s over two pair get smapped off by K9isadog’s hit of a full house on the river. Ugly! But I cannot complain after the two-outer I hit on LittleRedElf.

Ok, I still want to complain.

155 min: 95corolla (3rd) sees his (AK) get double teamed by K9isadog and the winner 8thmile who pairs the board.

Heads up K9isadog 15600 8thmile 5400
160 min: K9isadog 19800 8thmile 1200

8thmile screams, “I’m card dead!!!” Nice timing for that to occur.

162 min: A SS 8thmile (2nd) has his (KJ) beaten by K9isadog’s (AQ).

Congratulations to K9isadog on his 8th NPP win.

1st – K9isadog
2nd – 8thmile
3rd – 95corolla
4th – Mikeniks-Faldo
5th – Tomservo2
6th – ThePunk75
7th – Douge2
8th – Derf-63
9th – Absea98
10th – LittleRedElf
11th – Wingsfancurt
12th – Suetman123
13th – T3chlady
14th – Tommydoo

The total point standings are on the right side of the blog! Remember the top 3 point getters in this 12 round league get a seat in the NPP Finals!

And also remember already [qualified players] are not counted and Faldo is not eligible for the final.

Poker Sites Are Collapsing Around Faldo

2011-12-04T13:59:00.003-05:00

The Royal Flush girls showed up to comfort Faldo.

I don’t know what you out there are finding, but my family of poker sites is shrinking quickly.

First of all, I had to leave BoDog Poker because they are closing to the US market at the end of the year. I didn’t feel like playing poker at a site that basically is saying, whatever money you don’t lose, we have to send back to you.

What if they don’t want to send it to me? My river cards may be even worse for Faldo than usual (not that it could be possible really).

I was playing at Poker4Ever, but the super-turbo freerolls have dried up to nothing, and I am not depositing any money into any more poker sites until our government figures out how and how much to rip us off.

Logging into P4E is simply a waste of time (as is playing freerolls and playing for free chips, but at least playing has some entertainment value).

Cake Poker doesn’t have freerolls and as I stated, I am not depositing anything at this time.

And now Absolute / Ultimate Bet Poker has a frozen free chip SNG room. I don’t play on line free chip ring play. But I do play the SNG’s. Well the last three log ins on three different days, showed me the exact same tournament fill record. None of the screens are working properly.

I tried different computers and both sites, and the results were the same.

This leaves me with two sites to play for money (cash still in the site won in freerolls) Sportsbook and World Sports (Poker) Exchange.

And two sites to play for play chips – Poker Stars and Rise Poker.
I guess they will have to do.

Ashton Cigars – Faldo’s Pick In a Crisis!

2011-12-02T21:49:00.005-05:00

Editor’s Note: The following is a true story. Don’t let your children read it alone!

Imagine the unthinkable. There you are, trapped in No Man’s Land!

You are at an extreme upscale cigar bar. Most of the men have their own PERSONAL humidor rented on the premises. The women are all in long evening gowns with large slits up the side or shiny mini-cocktail dresses with 4 inch heels.

The small talk is all about private schools and colleges, “Beemers”, European vacations, summers in the Hamptons, winters in Palm Springs or the Cayman Islands.

The hosts of the get together are none other than the famous socialites “Mary Ann and Biff.”

It is bad enough that Faldo is forced to walk into the "visitor’s humidor" to purchase his cigar to go with the “martini” – extra dry with 3 anchovy stuffed olives. – End of scary part.

Ashton to the rescue! Another brand blended by the Fuente family (see the Arturo Fuente cigar write up). Ashton is manufactured without compromise.

Faldo’s “go to” cigars will not be available in that walk in humidor. Maybe the Trinidad, but don’t hold your breath.
Ashton is always well constructed and consistent with a peppery mild to medium flavor that burns in a perfect white ash. The maduro wrapped Ashton is actually sweeter than the Connecticut wrapper.

This is an “upscale” cigar that is twice the price on-line as Faldo’s mild and medium selections of Licenciados and La Flor Del Caney. Ashton is 4 to 5 times the price in a cigar store.

Ashton is Faldo’s choice when you want to look like you were born with a silver spoon in your mouth instead of the Peppy’s Hamburgers coffee stirrer Faldo was born with.

As Teachers Prepare for Yet Another Vacation Break in Their 9-month Work Year….

2011-12-01T05:19:00.003-05:00

The American Education System - Turning out morons and useful idiot Democrat voters since 1916.

Imagine the National Football League in an alternate reality. Each player's salary is based on how long he's been in the league. It's about tenure, not talent. The same scale is used for every player, no matter whether he's an All-Pro quarterback or the last man on the roster. For every year a player's been in this NFL, he gets a bump in pay.

No difference between Tom Brady and the worst player in the league. And if a player makes it through his third season, he can never be cut from the roster until he chooses to retire, except in the most extreme cases of misconduct - maybe.

Let's face the truth about this alternate reality: The on-field product would steadily decline. Why bother playing harder or better and risk getting hurt?
No matter how much money was poured into the league, it wouldn't get better. In fact, in many ways the disincentive to play harder or to try to stand out would be even stronger with more money.

Of course, a few wild-eyed reformers might suggest the whole system was broken and needed revamping to reward better results, but the players union would refuse to budge and then demonize the reform advocates: "They hate football. They hate the players. They hate the fans.”

If you haven't figured it out yet, the NFL in this alternate reality is the real -life American public education system. Teachers' salaries have no relation to whether teachers are actually good at their job—excellence isn't rewarded, and neither is extra effort.

Pay is solely determined by how many years they've been teaching. That's it. After a teacher earns tenure, which is often essentially automatic, firing him or her becomes almost impossible, no matter how bad the performance might be. And if you criticize the system, you're demonized for hating teachers and not believing in our nation's children.

Inflation-adjusted spending per student in the United States has nearly tripled since 1970. According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, we spend more per student than any nation except Switzerland, with only middling results to show for it. [Editor’s Note: 16th in the world is where the USA finishes]

Over the past 20 years, we've been told that a big part of the problem is crumbling schools—that with new buildings and computers in every classroom, everything would improve. But even though spending on facilities and equipment has more than doubled since 1989 (again adjusted for inflation), we're still not seeing results, and officials assume the answer is that we haven't spent enough.

These same misguided beliefs are front and center in President Obama's jobs plan, which includes billions for "public school modernization." The popular definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over, expecting different results. We've been spending billions of dollars on school modernization for decades, and I suspect we could keep on doing it until the end of the world, without much in the way of academic results. The only beneficiaries are the teachers unions.

Some reformers, including Bill Gates, are finally catching on that our federally centralized, union-created system provides no incentive for better performance. If anything, it penalizes those who work hard because they spend time, energy and their own money to help students, only to get the same check each month as the worst teacher in the district (or an even smaller one, if that teacher has been there longer). Is it any surprise, then, that so many good teachers burn out or become disenchanted?

Perhaps no other sector of American society so demonstrates the failure of government spending and interference. We've destroyed individual initiative, individual innovation and personal achievement, and marginalized anyone willing to point it out. As one of my coaches used to say, "You don't get vast results with half-vast efforts!"

The results we're looking for are students learning, so we need to reward great teachers who show they can make that happen—and get rid of bad teachers who don't get the job done. It's what we do in every other profession: If you're good, you get rewarded, and if you're not, then you look for other work. It's fine to look for ways to improve the measuring tools, but don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good.

Our union-dictated system isn't working. If results are the objective [Ed. Note: Results are not the objective of the union. Dues are.], then we need to loosen the reins, giving teachers the ability to fulfill their responsibilities to students to the best of their abilities, not to the letter of the union contract and federal standards. – Fran Tarkenton, Wall Street Journal

In other words, unions and government are the problem. Our education system is a slush fund and an indoctination operation for the Democrat Party. Pure and simple.

Faldo Wins for the 3rd Time This Season!

2011-11-29T23:35:00.005-05:00

Faldo came in from behind, with a rush late(twss).

Seventeen made it to the NPP felt tonight. Really sixteen as Douge2 never made it in. But his chips did.

No cards early for Faldo, but cards at the right time to stay alive. Other players chopped down the big trees (stacks) and Faldo caught cards late to vacuum up the chips.

That is all there was to it. A run of cards late in the tourney. Just what you want.

We did learn that RodCPA joins Boother36, LittleRedElf, K9isadog, Fourbetbluff, ThePunk75, Nahanni74, T3chlady, 95corolla and a few others as have cashed large in the tourney circuit.

But with two WSOP cashes – 3rd in 2007 and 30th in 2011 in the Senior events for almost $200K, he probably is the highest cashing player at NPP.

I asked for some stories and I hope Rod will send them along.

On to the action:

14 min: Tommydoo’s (17th) two pair loses to RodCPA’s trip.
21 min: KingBing420 (16th) loses a coin flip with (Ad Kd) to RodCPA’s (TT).
27 min: BigDaddyTman (15th) loses to Wingsfancurt’s two pair.
33 min: A rare double kill by T3chlady with (QQ) to take out short-stacked (SS) Tomservo2 (14th) with (A8) and SS Derf-63 (13th) with (55).

40 min: LittleRedElf (12th) goes with his (AK) and a flop of [98K] and run into RodCPA’s (99)!

47 min: A SS 95corolla (11th) is double teamed by Absea98 and the winner with a straight, RodCPA.

48 min: Suetman123 (10th) missed the hand watching the one above at my table.

1st break:
RodCPA 7094
Wingsfancurt 6511
Cigar4John 3621
T3chlady 2966
Mikeniks-Faldo 1529
Absea98 1059
8thmile 1035
K9isadog 820
Douge2 815 (no show)

64 min: K9isadog (9th) loses to T3chlady’s flush.
72 min: 8thmile (8th) Phone call – missed it.
83 min: Douge2 (7th) blinds out.
100 min: A SS Absea98 (6th) has to go with (A6) but T3chlady has (JJ).

2nd break:
Wingsfancurt 9480
RodCPA 8765
Mikeniks-Faldo 2859
Cigar4John 2281
T3chlady 2115

This group settles in and goes to war.

133 min: A SS T3chlady (5th) has to go with (Kd 6d) but RodCPA has (AJ).
153 min: A now SS RodCPA (4th) saw is big stack get broken down by chase downs and then sees his (Jh 8h) pair on the flop, only to see Wingsfancurt with (A5) hit his [A] on the river. Sometimes it is just not in the cards.

165 min: A SS Cigar4John (3rd) sees his (TT) get double teamed by Wingsfancurt and Mikeniks-Faldo with (KJ) and a flopped [J]..

Heads up Wingsfancurt 16500 Mikeniks-Faldo 9000

175 min: Even
3rd Break:
Mikeniks-Faldo 19155
Wingsfancurt 6345

184 min: A SS Wingsfancurt (2nd) has his pair of fours beaten by Mikeniks-Faldo’s trip Aces.

Congratulations to Wingsfancurt on moving up the points board.

1st – Mikeniks-Faldo
2nd – Wingsfancurt
3rd – Cigar4John
4th – RodCPA
5th – T3chlady
6th – Absea98
7th – Douge2
8th – 8thmile
9th – K9isadog
10th – Suetman123
11th – 95corolla
12th – LittleRedElf
13th – Derf-63
14th – Tomservo2
15th – BigDaddyTman
16th - KingBing420
17th - Tommydoo

The total point standings are on the right side of the blog! Remember the top 3 point getters in this 12 round league get a seat in the NPP Finals!

And also remember already [qualified players] are not counted and Faldo is not eligible for the final.

ThePunk75 Rides a Chip and a Chair to a 5th Place Finish at the Electric Stick

2011-11-27T12:55:00.003-05:00

Even Jennifer Aniston wants to know how he did that?? ThePunk75 tells us with a superb write up.

“This wasn't the first time I've been down to a chip and a chair and come back, but the timing of this one was special.

It was last Sunday at The Electric Stick. We are given 35k to start the tournament and right at the end of the first blind level (25/50 blinds) this hand left me crippled.

I played A3 on button. The was a preflop raise to 300, I hate playing A3 under most circumstances but the button made me call and there were 5 callers so there was already a decent pot brewing.

Flops comes [248] checked all around I don't remember what the turn was but someone bet 1k, and I call as do 2 others. River is the 5 and I have made my wheel.

SB leads out 3500, BB reraises to 7000. Folds around to me and I literally have this sick feeling. I have hit my hand and its looks like its no good. My initial thought was the SB also had the wheel and BB had 67 and hit the bigger straight, so if I flat call I get to see and only lose 7k if he did hit it. So I call the 7k.

Then SB goes all in. BB sits there for a minute and folds. Now what do I do. Go with my first read? Rethink the entire hand? How can I fold? All I know is that I might be forever be taking A3 out of my range at any bet level after this fiasco. After a couple of seconds I decide I can't fold, I have to go with my first read, so I call. SB turns over 67. Great. The BB says he had a set.

After all of this I was left with 525 chips. 1.5% of my starting stack. I say at least I have 10 bbs left. As soon as I finished saying that the blinds go up to 50/100. This gives me even less chance of getting many folds on my impending shove.

Very next hand I get AK. Shove. 3 callers. Flop comes AA10. BAM. It’s checked down to river and the running 9's gave me the full house and I held the only A. Now with something like 1800 chips I look down at AK again. Shove. 3 callers. Flop a king and it holds and I have just under 4k and I literally can't believe this.

Next hand there was a preflop raise and I look down at A10, and I figure lets ride this one more time and shove. 2 callers. It was a rag board, and Q on turn, and I'm thinking my luck ran out. A ten hits river and it’s checked around again. I turn over my A10 for a pair of tens and that’s the best hand. One guy said he had AJ.

From 525 all the way back to about 13k in 3 hands and now I have some breathing room. I took down a couple more pots with AK and a set of queens before the break, and had about 16k. First hand after break, AA I raise to 1400(200/400 blinds) with two callers.
Flop is KQ4 all clubs. I check my cards for the club. Yep ace of clubs is down there. I’m going all in on this hand but I want to try and extract some chips first so I check hoping for a bet with the paint of the board. One guy bets and I shove over the top he calls. He shows KQ, which was the hand I didn't want to see him turnover. But the turn was the club I needed and after a fist pump I raked the pot and my comeback was complete, as I now had just about my starting stack back.

The cards went cold for awhile and the blinds were eating me up so I look down at 55 and shove my last 28k, two callers and they both have AQ. My fives hold and a nice triple up.

Now in BB, an UTG shove, and I see 66 and call. He has me covered in chips so this is it for me. A queen hits the flop and I stand up. The 6 hits the turn. I sit down. I now have ballpark of 130k.

We get through one more orbit and I'm in BB again. Another shove on my BB and just as I look down at 55, the tournament director says final table is set. Now what do I do, I have made it to final table if I fold. But I really am short-stacked to do anything but shove once I get there. I call. He shows AK. I hit a 5 on flop and another fist pump. But he gets a straight draw on turn, but misses the river.

The player asked me after the hand how I call that. I said I needed chips to do anything at final table and 55 has been good for me tonight. An equal 8 way chop (with top 3 playing for remaining balance) was agreed upon at the Final Table.

Seeing I wasn't even supposed to be there I had no argument for that. My final hand went down like this. 6 players left, an all in from UTG, and all in for less next to me and look down at 77. Seeing a chance to triple up again and have a shot at the additional cash I call, and I’m against 99 and A10. The nines held and I finished 5th.”

ThePunk75

What a night and what a story! Great job Punk, and thanks for the re-cap.

LittleRedElf On His Recent Success – Faldo 5th in Rise Poker Tourney

2011-11-26T10:09:00.005-05:00

LittleRedElf gets extra motivation from his cheering section.

Faldo wants preface this article by saying Faldo asked “The Great and Powerful Elf” to write something about his success over the last two straight NPP tourneys. As you may have noticed, Faldo was at a loss for words (accolades?).

LittleRedElf graciously agreed.

“The first thing I want to say is this: I do not play this league tourney any differently than I would the previous league $5.50 tourneys or any real money event.” [Ed. Note: Obviously Elf and thank you from the league for that. Faldo plays the same too (but that is what is wrong with Faldo’s game in the first place)]

“The first hand I was dealt was AK suited which I raised 3x pre flop, it did not hit anything but I took it down with a bet on the turn, then the next hand was KJ suited which hit the J on the flop.

I do not remember a lot of hands but I do know that I won the first 7 showdowns I was in which is very significant. I bluffed a few times in certain instances when I felt I could take down the hand.

There was a big hand against CPA where I held 77 and foolishly called his bets and caught a 7 for a full house on the river. He was very upset set at me for doing that. My contention about that hand is this:

I never made any moves except call his bets, including his all-in at the end when his AA was beat. He did not need to do that. The next hand I got QQ, hit a Q on the flop and got a lot of chips from somebody (I can’t remember, maybe Absea98) who had KK.

So yes, in those two hands and the final one with T3CHLADY who held 99 against my A/10 (I caught an ace on the river, like Barry Greenstein’s book), I was significantly behind pre flop and got lucky.

The hand with ThePunk75, I was holding 6/2 in the big blind I think, there was no raise pre flop and the flop was 663. The turn was a J and I bet a little chunk and punk called with his jack.

The river was the last 6 and I bet a little more than the pot, but only about a third of punk’s stack. He pushes all-in and of course I call with my quads. My point is: why didn’t ThePunk75 just call?

If I just have a jack, we split the pot no matter the size. Why push in more chips? Poker is brutal. We have all been on both ends of bad beats. It’s just the nature of the game. I’ve been fortunate the last 2 weeks.”
Regards, Dave

Thanks Dave! There you have it folks. You have to be good…and lucky. That’s poker.

But it sure helps a lot if you are as good as LittleRedElf. I speak for the entire NPP family when I say that it is a pleasure to play against you, Elf.

Speaking of lucky, Faldo finished 5th in a Rise Poker tourney finishing 5th out of 151.

The end came on a hand I thought I played well. Your opinion please!

I am 4th in chips in the SB with 9 BB’s left. The villain is 5th in chips in the cutoff with 12 BB. I look down and see (22).

UTG calls the blind, as does the villain and the button. What to do?

I don’t like a shove here. Not with (22). What do the NPP pros think? If I get heads up, I MIGHT be a coin flip and if there are multiple callers, which I think there will be at least two, then I am behind.

I call set-mining and if that fails maybe one or two of these mopes get eliminated. We take the flop as a family. I like the pot but obviously, but have to get lucky to earn it.

So that is not happening. It’s Faldo. The flop comes rainbow [4 7 8]. I check although a shove here may be a better option. The only problem is that the BB could have hit this flop and have me dominated.

But to my dismay, he checks as does the UTG player. The villain moves all-in and the button folds. I smell over-cards only and call, super relieved when the BB and UTG fold also.

The villain has (KJ) and hits a [J] on the river.

I built myself a big pot and got to the showdown as over a 2 to 1 favorite. I think the hand is a Faldo success story, except for the outcome which doesn’t mean anything.

Comments on this hand?

The True Story of Thanksgiving

2011-11-25T08:59:00.004-05:00

History revisionism is not something that’s been going on since outcome based education. It’s been going on for quite a while. The false story of Thanksgiving can be summed up very quickly.

The Pilgrims came from England to escape oppression. They arrived in a new land and were immediately overwhelmed with their own incompetence as human beings. They couldn’t grow food. They couldn’t feed themselves. They couldn’t protect themselves. They had no clue what to do.

Our schools and the media have obliterated the contributions of America’s earliest permanent settlers, the Pilgrims. Why? Because they were people inspired by profound religious beliefs and overcame incredible odds. Today, public schools are simply not teaching how important the religious dimension was in shaping our history and our nation’s character.

President Washington’s holiday declaration for Thanksgiving spoke only of using this day to thank God for the many blessings and miracles he gave our nation. Period!

There was nothing about thanking the Indians or stuffing ourselves. Whether teachers are just uncomfortable with this material or whether there’s been a concerted effort to cover up the truth, the results are the same. Kids are no longer learning enough to understand and appreciate how and why America was created.

The story of the Pilgrims begins in the early part of the seventeenth century. The Church of England under King James was persecuting anyone and everyone who did not recognize its absolute civil and spiritual authority. Those who challenged ecclesiastical authority and those who believed strongly in freedom of worship were hunted down, imprisoned, and sometimes executed for their beliefs. A group of separatists first fled to Holland and established a community.

After eleven years, about forty of them agreed to make a perilous journey to the New World, where they would certainly face hardships, but could live and worship God according to the dictates of their own consciences.

On August 1, 1620, the Mayflower set sail. It carried a total of 102 passengers, including forty Pilgrims led by William Bradford. On the journey, Bradford set up an agreement, a contract that established just and equal laws for all members of the new community, irrespective of their religious beliefs. Where did the revolutionary ideas expressed in the Mayflower Compact come from? From the Bible.

The journey to the New World was a long and arduous one. And when the Pilgrims landed in New England in November, they found, according to Bradford’s detailed journal, a cold, barren, desolate wilderness. There were no friends to greet them, he wrote. There were no houses to shelter them. There were no inns where they could refresh themselves. And the sacrifice they had made for freedom was just beginning.

During the first winter, half the Pilgrims – including Bradford’s own wife – died of starvation, sickness or exposure. When spring finally came, Indians taught the settlers how to plant corn, fish for cod and skin beavers for coats. Life improved for the Pilgrims, but they did not yet prosper!

This is important to understand because this is where modern American history lessons often end. Thanksgiving is actually explained in some textbooks as a holiday for which the Pilgrims gave thanks to the Indians for saving their lives, rather than as a devout expression of gratitude grounded in the tradition of both the Old and New Testaments.

Here is the part that has been omitted: The original contract the Pilgrims had entered into with their merchant-sponsors in London called for everything they produced to go into a common store, and each member of the community was entitled to one common share. All of the land they cleared and the houses they built belong to the community as well. Bradford, who had become the new governor of the colony, recognized that this form of collectivism was as costly and destructive to the Pilgrims as that first harsh winter, which had taken so many lives.

He decided to take bold action. Bradford assigned a plot of land to each family to work and manage, thus turning loose the power of the marketplace. That’s right. Long before Karl Marx was even born, the Pilgrims had discovered and experimented with what could only be described as socialism. And what happened?

It didn’t work! Surprise, surprise, huh? What Bradford and his community found was that the most creative and industrious people had no incentive to work any harder than anyone else, unless they could utilize the power of personal motivation!
But while most of the rest of the world has been experimenting with socialism for hundreds of years – trying to refine it, perfect it, and re-invent it – the Pilgrims decided early on to scrap it permanently. What Bradford wrote about this social experiment should be in every schoolchild’s history lesson. If it were, we might prevent much needless suffering in the future.

Here now, in its entirety, the William Bradford journal, what he wrote about the social experiment after abandoning what essentially was socialism shortly after the Pilgrims had arrived in the United States or in the new world:

“The experience that we had in this common course and condition, tried sundry years…that by taking away property, and bringing community into a common wealth, would make them happy and flourishing – as if they were wiser than God,” Bradford wrote. “For this community [so far as it was] was found to breed much confusion and discontent, and retard much employment that would have been to their benefit and comfort. For young men that were most able and fit for labor and service did repine that they should spend their time and strength to work for other men’s wives and children without any recompense…that was thought injustice.”

Do you hear what he was saying, ladies and gentlemen? The Pilgrims found that people could not be expected to do their best work without incentive. So what did Bradford’s community try next? They harnessed the power of good old free enterprise by invoking the under girding capitalistic principle of private property. Every family was assigned its own plot of land to work and permitted to market its own crops and products.

Not just use themselves and not just send to a common store but they could market. They could grow as much, they could sell it for what they could get for it, and the incentive was clear to do as much as possible on both sides. “And what was the result? This had very good success,’ wrote Bradford, ‘for it made all hands industrious, so as much more corn was planted than otherwise would have been.’ Bradford doesn’t sound like much of a Obama-maniac, does he? Is it possible that supply-side economics could have existed before the 1980s? Yes.

In no time, the Pilgrims found they had more food than they could eat themselves. So they set up trading posts and exchanged goods with the Indians. The profits allowed them to pay off their debts to the merchants in London.

And the success and prosperity of the Plymouth settlement attracted more Europeans and began what came to be known as the ‘Great Puritan Migration.’ Now, let me ask you: Have you read this history before? Is this lesson being taught to your children today? If not, why not?

Nevertheless, the Pilgrims and the Puritans of early New England are often vilified today as witch burners and portrayed as simpletons. But to the contrary, it was their commitment to pluralism and free worship that led to these ideals being incorporated into American history, and our history books purposely conceal the fact that these notions were developed by communities of devout Christians who studied the Bible and found that it prescribes limited representative government and free enterprise as the best political and economic systems. Now, there’s only one word for this, folks. It’s censorship.

That’s what’s being taught today. What is not being taught today is the devotion to God that these people had, but the failure of a socialist compact to adequately provide for the residents of the first colony and how William Bradford himself saw it was failing almost from the outset and devised a new compact which was basically capitalism and unfettered competition, and incentive, and then it was Katie bar the door. All of these things are part of the original Thanksgiving, and even when I go back and remember my days in school, I was not taught this. I was not taught the involvement and the references to God.

I was not taught that the Pilgrims had all this bounty after awhile and shared it with the Indians. It was quite the opposite. The purpose of teaching Thanksgiving when I was a kid was to tell all of us just how wonderful the Indians were and how well they treated us when we arrived because we were basically inept and incompetent.

I enjoy passing this story along every Thanksgiving because we’ve been doing it here since I published and wrote the book, and it always reaches new people. Every year we do it, people who have never heard it before are amazed. Now, if I was able to find it and get the true story, it’s out there, but it’s not in conventional history textbooks that you’ll find in many of the public schools.

Hat tip to Rush Limbaugh.

Douge2's Humor Corner - Evidence

2011-11-24T09:40:00.001-05:00

The Recession has hit everybody.....

I got a pre-declined credit card in the mail.

CEO's are now playing miniature golf.

The US Communist Party laid off 25 of its Democrat Congressmen.

A stripper was killed when her audience showered her with rolls of pennies while she danced.

I saw a Mormon polygamist with only one wife.

If the bank returns your check marked "Insufficient Funds," you call them and ask if they meant you or Them.

McDonald's is selling the 1/4 ouncer.

Angelina Jolie adopted a child from America.

Parents in Beverly Hills fired their nannies and learned their children's names.

A picture is now only worth 200 words.

When Bill and Hillary travel together, they now have to share a room.

The Treasure Island casino in Las Vegas is now managed by Somali pirates.

And, finally...

I was so depressed last night thinking about the economy, wars, jobs, my savings, Social Security, retirement funds, etc., I called the Suicide Hotline. I got a call center in Pakistan, and when I told them I was suicidal, they got all excited, and asked if I could drive a truck.

Would You Marry Again?

A husband and wife are sitting quietly in bed reading when the Wife looks over
at him and asks the question....

WIFE: "What
would you do if I died? Would you get married again?"

HUSBAND:
"Definitely not!"

WIFE: "Why not? Don't you like being married?"

HUSBAND: "Of course I do.."

WIFE: "Then why wouldn't you remarry? "

HUSBAND: "Okay, okay, I'd get married again."

WIFE: "You would?" (with a hurt voice)

HUSBAND: (makes audible groan)

WIFE: "Would you live in our house?"

HUSBAND: "Sure, it's a great house….and the kids know where it is."

WIFE: "Would you sleep with her in our bed?"

HUSBAND: "Where else would we sleep?"

WIFE: "Would you let her drive my car?"

HUSBAND: "Probably, it is almost new."

WIFE: "Would you replace my pictures with hers?"

HUSBAND: "That would seem like the proper thing to do."

WIFE: "Would you give her my jewelry?"

HUSBAND: "No, I'm sure she'd want her own."

WIFE: "Would you take her golfing with you?

HUSBAND: "Yes, those are always good times."

WIFE: "Would she use my clubs?

HUSBAND: "No, she's left-handed."

WIFE: -----silence -----

HUSBAND: "shit."

LittleRedElf Wins His 2nd in a Row! 3rd of the Year and His 13th NPP Tourney!

2011-11-22T22:40:00.000-05:00

When you are a great player …and then the deck shines on you, the rest of us might as well say good night. And we all did. [Ed. Note: Same heading as last week!]

We welcome KenLamb to the NPP felt.

And a hat tip to Faldo for showing him in. Ken received the typical NPP welcome of an early elimination. Don’t take it personal Ken. We treat everyone that way the first week. [Ed. Note: Same third paragraph as last week!]

Besides, LittleRedElf was on fire so there was nothing any of us could do anyways. [Ed. Note: Same 4th paragraph as last week!]

It was Groundhog’s Day and déjà vu all over again. A repeat. The same. Ditto.
It was Groundhog’s Day and déjà vu all over again. A repeat. The same. Ditto.
It was Groundhog’s Day and déjà vu all over again. A repeat. The same. Ditto.

On to the action:

10 min: Cigar4John (16th) Losing my hand to LittleRedElf on the other table and didn’t see it.

18 min: KingBing420 (15th) with (A9) hits an [A] on the flop, but Tomservo2 with (QQ) hits a [Q]! Ouch! A lot of OUCHES tonight!

29 min: Tommydoo (14th) Missed it while winning my hand at the other table.
32 min: K9isadog (13th) with (44) loses a coin flip to ThePunk75 with (AK) and an [A] on the flop.

43 min: A short-stacked (SS) KenLamb (12th) sees his (7d 6d) run into ThePunk75’s (AJ).

50 min: A SS 8thmile (11th) sees his pocket (77) lose coin flip to Suetman123’s (KJ) with a [KJQ] flop.

52 min: A SS 96corolla (10th) goes with (6h 5h) but cannot catch LittleRedElf’s (QJ).
60 min: Mikeniks-Faldo (9th) flops trips, but Tomsevo2 flopped two pair, and hit a straight on the turn. Déjà vu for Faldo from last week. OUCH!

1st break:
Tomservo2 5730
LittleRedElf 4683
ThePunk75 3772
RodCPA 2517
T3chlady 2302
Suetman123 2163
Derf-63 1444
Absea98 1389

75 min: RodCPA (8th) has (AA) and LittleRedElf has (77). LRE hits a [7] on the river! OUCH!

88 min: A SS Absea98 (7th) has to go with (AQ) but he is two-timed by Suetman123 and the winner ThePunk75 with (A7) who hits a [7] on the flop. OUCH!

91 min: A SS Derf-63 (6th) has to go with (AJ) but ThePunk75 has (Kc Tc) and hits a [K] on the flop. OUCH!

94 min: A SS Tomservo2 (5th) has his (Q4) with a [Q] on the flop, lose to LittleRedElf’s (QJ).

105 min: ThePunk75 (4th) sees his full house run into LittleRedElf’s QUADS!! OUCH!

106 min: A SS Suetman123 (3rd) sees her (QJ) run into LittleRedElf’s (KJ).

Heads up LittleRedElf 21000 T3chlady 3000

109 min: A SS T3chlady (2nd) has her pair of nines beaten by LittleRedElf’s Aces.

Congratulations to LittleRedElf on his 13th NPP win!

1st – LittleRedElf
2nd – T3chlady
3rd – Suetman123
4th – ThePunk75
5th – Tomservo2
6th – Derf-63
7th – Absea98
8th – RodCPA
9th – Mikeniks-Faldo
10th – 95corolla
11th – 8thmile
12th – KenLamb
13th – K9isadog
14th – Tommydoo
15th – KingBing420
16th - Cigar4John

The total point standings are on the right side of the blog! Remember the top 3 point getters in this 12 round league get a seat in the NPP Finals!

And also remember already [qualified players] are not counted and Faldo is not eligible for the final.

Ms. Barnhardt's Entire Letter - No Rules, Except for Us Serfs

2011-11-22T05:44:00.003-05:00

BCM Has Ceased Operations (source)
Posted by Ann Barnhardt - November 17, AD 2011 10:27 AM MST
Dear Clients, Industry Colleagues and Friends of Barnhardt Capital Management,

It is with regret and unflinching moral certainty that I announce that Barnhardt Capital Management has ceased operations. After six years of operating as an independent introducing brokerage, and eight years of employment as a broker before that, I found myself, this morning, for the first time since I was 20 years old, watching the futures and options markets open not as a participant, but as a mere spectator.

The reason for my decision to pull the plug was excruciatingly simple: I could no longer tell my clients that their monies and positions were safe in the futures and options markets – because they are not. And this goes not just for my clients, but for every futures and options account in the United States. The entire system has been utterly destroyed by the MF Global collapse. Given this sad reality, I could not in good conscience take one more step as a commodity broker, soliciting trades that I knew were unsafe or holding funds that I knew to be in jeopardy.

The futures markets are very highly-leveraged and thus require an exceptionally firm base upon which to function. That base was the sacrosanct segregation of customer funds from clearing firm capital, with additional emergency financial backing provided by the exchanges themselves. Up until a few weeks ago, that base existed, and had worked flawlessly. Firms came and went, with some imploding in spectacular fashion. Whenever a firm failure happened, the customer funds were intact and the exchanges would step in to backstop everything and keep customers 100% liquid – even as their clearing firm collapsed and was quickly replaced by another firm within the system.

Everything changed just a few short weeks ago. A firm, led by a crony of the Obama regime, stole all of the non-margined cash held by customers of his firm. Let’s not sugar-coat this or make this crime seem “complex” and “abstract” by drowning ourselves in six-dollar words and uber-technical jargon. Jon Corzine STOLE the customer cash at MF Global.

Knowing Jon Corzine, and knowing the abject lawlessness and contempt for humanity of the Marxist Obama regime and its cronies, this is not really a surprise. What was a surprise was the reaction of the exchanges and regulators. Their reaction has been to take a bad situation and make it orders of magnitude worse.

Specifically, they froze customers out of their accounts WHILE THE MARKETS CONTINUED TO TRADE, refusing to even allow them to liquidate. This is unfathomable. The risk exposure precedent that has been set is completely intolerable and has destroyed the entire industry paradigm. No informed person can continue to engage these markets, and no moral person can continue to broker or facilitate customer engagement in what is now a massive game of Russian Roulette.

I have learned over the last week that MF Global is almost certainly the mere tip of the iceberg. There is massive industry-wide exposure to European sovereign junk debt. While other firms may not be as heavily leveraged as Corzine had MFG leveraged, and it is now thought that MFG’s leverage may have been in excess of 100:1, they are still suicidally leveraged and will likely stand massive, unmeetable collateral calls in the coming days and weeks as Europe inevitably collapses.

I now suspect that the reason the Chicago Mercantile Exchange did not immediately step in to backstop the MFG implosion was because they knew and know that if they backstopped MFG, they would then be expected to backstop all of the other firms in the system when the failures began to cascade – and there simply isn’t that much money in the entire system. In short, the problem is a SYSTEMIC problem, not merely isolated to one firm.

Perhaps the most ominous dynamic that I have yet heard of in regards to this mess is that of the risk of potential CLAWBACK actions. For those who do not know, “clawback” is the process by which a bankruptcy trustee is legally permitted to re-seize assets that left a bankrupt entity in the time period immediately preceding the entity’s collapse. So, using the MF Global customers as an example, any funds that were withdrawn from MFG accounts in the run-up to the collapse, either because of suspicions the customer may have had about MFG from, say, watching the company’s bond yields rise sharply, or from purely organic day-to-day withdrawls, the bankruptcy trustee COULD initiate action to “clawback” those funds.

As a hedge broker, this makes my blood run cold. Generally, as the markets move in favor of a hedge position and equity builds in a client’s account, that excess equity is sent back to the customer who then uses that equity to offset cash market transactions OR to pay down a revolving line of credit. Even the possibility that a customer could be penalized and additionally raped AGAIN via a clawback action after already having their customer funds stolen is simply villainous. While there has been no open indication of clawback actions being initiated by the MF Global trustee, I have been told that it is a possibility.

And so, to the very unpleasant crux of the matter. The futures and options markets are no longer viable. It is my recommendation that ALL customers withdraw from all of the markets as soon as possible so that they have the best chance of protecting themselves and their equity. The system is no longer functioning with integrity and is suicidally risk-laden. The rule of law is non-existent, instead replaced with godless, criminal political cronyism.

Remember, derivatives contracts are NOT NECESSARY in the commodities markets. The cash commodity itself is the underlying reality and is not dependent on the futures or options markets. Many people seem to have gotten that backwards over the past decades. From Abel the animal husbandman up until the year 1964, there were no cattle futures contracts at all, and no options contracts until 1984, and yet the cash cattle markets got along just fine.

Finally, I will not, under any circumstance, consider reforming and re-opening Barnhardt Capital Management, or any other iteration of a brokerage business, until Barack Obama has been removed from office AND the government of the United States has been sufficiently reformed and repopulated so as to engender my total and complete confidence in the government, its adherence to and enforcement of the rule of law, and in its competent and just regulatory oversight of any commodities markets that may reform. So long as the government remains criminal, it would serve no purpose whatsoever to attempt to rebuild the futures industry or my firm, because in a lawless environment, the same thievery and fraud would simply happen again, and the criminals would go unpunished, sheltered by the criminal oligarchy.

To my clients, who literally TO THE MAN agreed with my assessment of the situation, and were relieved to be exiting the markets, and many whom I now suspect stayed in the markets as long as they did only out of personal loyalty to me, I can only say thank you for the honor and pleasure of serving you over these last years, with some of my clients having been with me for over twelve years. I will continue to blog at Barnhardt.biz, which will be subtly re-skinned soon, and will continue my cattle marketing consultation business. I will still be here in the office, answering my phones, with the same phone numbers.

Alas, my retirement came a few years earlier than I had anticipated, but there was no possible way to continue given the inevitability of the collapse of the global financial markets, the overthrow of our government, and the resulting collapse in the rule of law.

As for me, I can only echo the words of David:

“This is the Lord’s doing; and it is wonderful in our eyes.”

With Best Regards-
Ann Barnhardt

Open Letter to All of My NPP Friends

2011-11-21T08:49:00.004-05:00

As you know (or should), Faldo wants only the best for his friends and family. As I learn things (and think and predict things) I want to share it with those I hold dear.

This is a real letter from a real CEO who lives, breathes and eats investing, wealth management and financial security.

Do what you will with the information I supply:

From: Barnhardt Capital Management
To: All Investors
Subject: BCM Shut Down -The Liquidation of All Assets Back to Investors
From: CEO of Barnhardt Capital Mgmt.

"The reason for my decision to pull the plug was excruciatingly simple: I could no longer tell my clients that their monies and positions were safe in the futures and options markets – because they are not.

The futures and options markets are no longer viable. It is my recommendation that ALL customers withdraw from all of the markets as soon as possible so that they have the best chance of protecting themselves and their equity.

In short, the problem is a SYSTEMIC problem, not merely isolated to one firm.

Finally, I will not, under any circumstance, consider reforming and re-opening Barnhardt Capital Management, or any other iteration of a brokerage business, until Barack Obama has been removed from office AND the government of the United States has been sufficiently reformed and repopulated so as to engender my total and complete confidence in the government, its adherence to and enforcement of the rule of law, and in its competent and just regulatory oversight of any commodities markets that may reform.

So long as the government remains criminal, it would serve no purpose whatsoever to attempt to rebuild the futures industry or my firm, because in a lawless environment, the same thievery and fraud would simply happen again, and the criminals would go unpunished, sheltered by the criminal oligarchy." - Ann Barnhardt

Ms. Barnhardt also insists Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, Chris Dodd and Barney Frank have to go...out of government (Ed. Note: and preferably to jail or a firing squad) before she would start her business again.

In addition, if anyone saw “60 Minutes” last night, our main stream media STILL openly broadcasts the Democrat lie that it was the banks, corporate CEO’s and Wall Street - alone - to blame for the economic disasters spreading across the globe. They used none other than the head of the International Monetary Fund, Christine Lagarde to regurgitate the lies.

The fault rests completely with the socialist and communist governments across the planet (the United States included), and the cronie - "government help and bailouts to certain friends of Democrats/Socialist parties" - and insider trading and government loan guarantees to political friends.

All of this corruption is Democrat rooted. If it was not, NAMES would be attached to it, not generalities like "Wall Street", "bankers" and "speculators". The media is as guilty for not reporting the truth as the actual criminals are for their activity.

Governments also cannot continue to print worthless paper and pretend you have funds to give to unproductive people and not drag down the wealth of all that earn it.

Research about the economic collapse of Argentina. See what is happening in Greece. The United States is on the brink of the same fate.

Personally, I feel like Joe Paterno.

Even though I don’t personally witness it, I know every liberal, Democrat and Democrat voter is responsible AND continues to drag our nation into the sewer - either thru treason or gross ignorance and arrogance.

Yet – I do nothing. Well, certainly not enough. Not near enough.

Chess Magic - Too Many Knights Alone

2011-11-20T10:31:00.004-05:00

Black to move and win.

White is about to move his h-pawn to the last rank and then promote it to a Queen. Black must 'get er' done' soon before re-enforcements arrive.

Find the three move win for Black.

PS: The standings have been updated by PokerStars and are correct on the right side of the blog.

Niks Poker Palace - 1000th Post!

2011-11-18T05:04:00.006-05:00

Wow! Started on July 12, 2006 with an article on the best internet poker sites to play on. Poker Stars was #1 and Bodog was #2.

Talk about Faldo advice being dead on! History proved that Faldo - way back when - steered players to the two sites with the most integrity.

PokerStars paid their US players when they had to shut down and BoDog has announced their closing date to US players at the end of this football season - so ample warning to cash out.

If everyone had just listened to Faldo (including Faldo) everyone would have all their poker funds cashed out.

Anyway, this labor of love was the brain child of Davethedog (4putt). And he still contributes here on the odd occasion (like the last video post). Other regular contributors include Douge2's Humor Column, and he gets anonymous assistance from Bigbrimar.

4Putt convinced me, after a day of golf (he was - back then - not fully neutered yet) and beer drinking - and then 5 pitchers of beer with cigars at Hooters in Novi, that I could and should write a poker blog.

Stupid beer always gets me in trouble. But in the immortal words of Beerhog, "You can't drink all day if you don't get started in the morning." 4putt and I gave it a try that day.

But a blog is not successful without readers! Readers are the most important thing. They are the yardstick that measures how good your blog is!

I want to take this opportunity to thank my faithful readers! So Thank You! - to both of you.

Boother36 and the Hartland Poker Tour - Needs a Little Hand Help!

2011-11-17T07:36:00.003-05:00

Can the NPP poker brain trust let Boother36 know what they would have done in this spot?

"I know firsthand that NPP players are some of the best around. So I am asking for some help with analyzing a hand. Here is the set up:

This is the first hand of a $360 qualifier for the Hartland Poker Tour. The top 20% win a buy-in to the Main Event ($1,650). The starting stacks are at $10,000.

The blinds are $100/$100. The button is in seat 1, yours truly is UTG, Villain #1 is in seat 7 and Villain #2 is the BB.

I get my cards and look down 8-8. I bump it to $400. V#1 calls and V#2 calls as well.

Flop comes A-10-A. It checks around.

The turn is an 8. V#2 checks, and I bet $500, V#1 calls and so does V#2.

River is a 6. V#1 checks, I make it $2,200, V#1 thinks about it and calls, V#2 thinks even longer and makes it $7,000. Still thinking I have the bet hand, I push all in. V#1 calls and V#2 insta-calls.

We roll them over, V#1 has A-J (and is very proud of it….pointing at it vigorously like he has something really special!!), V#2 shows A-10. And just like that, I am out on the first hand!! I have never done that before…but I guess there is a first time for everything!!!

So here is my thought process…..I put both of them on an Ace each…guessing that they were novices/amateurs, I figured them to be all excited about a having a set of A’s and not likely to fold. While I was right with my read, I guess I didn’t think far enough along that one of them would actually have their hole cards matched the board….so I guess I under estimated my opponents!!

I am looking for some feedback and thoughts by some of the other NPP players. What would you have done?? Could you have laid down a hand that had a better than 98% chance of winning on the first hand of a “big” tourney?!?!?

Any analysis would be appreciated. And I expect a few smart-ass comments as well!!
BTW – this is a very similar hand to one in the 2005 WSOP Main Event when Sammy Farha was up against some famous actress’s husband and the flop came A-10-A too. The “famous by association” dude had 10-10 and Sammy had the A-10….that duesch lost to Sammy and went out on the first hand too!!"

Boother36

Faldo and His Inner Circle of Advisors Discuss Women on the Golf Course

2011-11-16T23:28:00.001-05:00

LittleRedElf Wins His 2nd of the Year and His 12th NPP Tourney!

2011-11-15T23:50:00.002-05:00

When you are a great player …and then the deck shines on you, the rest of us might as well say good night. And we all did.

LittleRedElf wins in a walk and slides past Hartland Poker Tour pro Boother36 on the NPP Walk of Fame. Nicely done Elf!

We welcome RodCPA to the NPP felt. And a hat tip to Derf-63 for showing him in. Rod received the typical NPP welcome of an early elimination. Don’t take it personal Rod. We treat everyone that way the first week.

Besides, LittleRedElf was on fire so there was nothing any of us could do anyways.

On to the action:

12 min: T3chlady (14th) Missed it by losing my hand at the other table.
25 min: Cigar4john (13th) sees his 2 pair lose to Wingsfancurt’s straight.
51 min: A short-stacked (SS) RodCPA (12th) sees his (A9) run into 95corolla’s (AK).
52 min: Pre01 (11th) sees his pocket (88) lose to Suetman123’s pair of kings.
60 min: Tomservo2 (10th) I usually miss the final table bubble hand.

1st break:
Wingsfancurt 4075
Suetman123 2860
Absea98 2720
95corolla 2685
Tommydoo 2290
Derf-63 2145
LittleRedElf 1550
8thmile 1475
Mikeniks-Faldo 1200

76 min: Tommydoo (9th) flops top pair, but LittleRedElf flopped two pair.
82 min: SS Mikeniks-Faldo (8th) has to go with (Ah Th) but LittleRedElf has (JJ).
100 min: A SS Suetman123 (7th) has to go with (AK) but Wingsfancurt hits a 9 on the flop with (As 9s).

105 min: A SS Derf-63 (6th) has to go with (KT) but can’t catch Wingsfancurt with (AT).
107 min: 8thmile (5th) has his (AK) lose to LittleRedElf’s (JJ).
115 min: A SS Absea98 (4th) has to go with (A7) and runs into 95corolla’s (66).

2nd break:
LittleRedElf 9860
Wingsfancurt 8790
95corolla 2350

134 min: A SS 95corolla (3rd) sees his pair get out-kicked by LittleRedElf.

Heads up Wingsfancurt 13000 LittleRedElf 8000
140 min: Wingsfancurt 6300 LittleRedElf 14700
145 min: Wingsfancurt 3300 LittleRedElf 17700

147 min: A SS Wingsfancurt (2nd) has his pair out-kicked by LittleRedElf

Congratulations to LittleRedElf on his 12th NPP win!

1st – LittleRedElf
2nd – Wingsfancurt
3rd – 95corolla
4th – Absea98
5th – 8thmile
6th – Derf-63
7th – Suetman123
8th – Mikeniks-Faldo
9th – Tommydoo
10th – Tomservo2
11th – Pre01
12th – RodCPA
13th – Cigar4John
14th - T3chlady

The total point standings are on the right side of the blog! Remember the top 3 point getters in this 12 round league get a seat in the NPP Finals!

And also remember already [qualified players] are not counted and Faldo is not eligible for the final.

Community Card Review - Liberal School System's Current Crop of Disasters

2011-11-15T13:03:00.001-05:00

Pharaoh Obama’s Ministry of Justice, led by Field Marshall Eric (“I won’t prosecute my people who intimidate voters, but I will sell guns to Mexican Drug Lords in order to blame it on the 2nd amendment”) Holder, is demanding the Alabama school districts turn over a list of names.

They want a record of all students that have dropped out of school this year. The reason? The Communist and Chief wants to see if Alabama’s immigration laws are hurting school attendance by illegal immigrants children.

It was in late September of this year when a Federal judge upheld most of Alabama’s immigration laws.

The Obama dictatorship is suing the State of Alabama for trying to enforce the few FEDERAL immigration laws the FEDERAL court still allowed them to enforce. Czar Obama’s Injustice Department is also suing South Carolina for the same reasons.

A sitting president of the United States, not only failing to enforce federal laws, but using tax payer money to attack those that do, is an out and out violation of his oath of office and an act of treason.

Not that anyone seems to care.

The Atlanta Urinal and Constipation accidentally reported what was an inadvertent act of journalism when wide spread cheating was discovered done by school administrators.

No, the school administrators did not catch cheaters – 180 of them - were the cheaters! They falsified test scores and up-ticked grades of many students to show higher levels of achievement than they actually earned.

The cheating was all about greed. If the students had better grades, the administrators got more funding for their pension plans. [You didn’t think most of the education dollars goes to the classroom – did you? With unions involved? Seriously?? Albert Shanker, head of the United Federation of Teachers once proudly remarked, “I’ll worry about children when they start paying union dues.”]

The students of the Atlanta school system are really worried that this will affect their ability to be accepted into or then perform at colleges they wish to attend.

If liberals can treat children that they are supposed to be caring for this way in order to enrich themselves, one should ask, “What else are liberals lying about and who else are they cheating?”

If Atlanta school children can ask themselves those questions, they may learn one of the most important life lessons – in spite of the liberal school system they were forced to attend.

After decades of coddling student trouble makers in school, New Jersey school administrators claim to now have a ‘bullying’ epidemic in the schools. So the rules are changing.

The act of jumping in front of the school lunch line can now be reported to the POLICE thru the Crime Stopper’s Hot Line. If only the Penn State grad student had witnessed someone ‘taking cuts’ instead, Joe would still be coaching. But I digress. . [I take it Tony Soprano’s NJ union docks where people are still sent to ‘sleep with the fishes are exempt from the new rules? I’m just sayin’.]

Children in school from kindergarten on up will take six hours of training on how to become a state sponsored public snitch, as opposed to a private citizen tattle-tale. [No fear of early Hitler Brown Shirt training. Nothing to see here. Move along.]

Students will be taught that if they see bullying, they are to ‘butt in’, because there are no ‘innocent bystanders’. [No prelude to ‘your neighbor had a banned newspaper, so you MUST have read it too.’ Nothing to see here. Move along.]

Each school must employ an “Anti-bullying Specialist” to investigate complains. Each district must employ an “Anti-bullying Coordinator.” Results must be published on the State’s Education Website. [No union featherbedding here. Of course there is money to pay for all of these salaries – and pensions - and most important, union dues. Nothing to see here. Move along.]

No United States left to see. Move along.

Enjoying Cigars - A Classic Line of Puros

2011-11-12T14:07:00.003-05:00

H. Upmann is among the oldest cigar brands in existence, dating back to the 1840s. Around 1840, banker Herman Upmann opened a branch office in Havana, which provided ample opportunity to send cigars home to Europe.

The possibilities of a commercial endeavor became clear to Upmann and in 1844 he invested in a cigar factory and the H. Upmann brand was launched. This made Upmann one of the first non- Cubans who made a name for himself in the cigar industry.

Upmann is sometimes even credited with the invention of packaging cigars in cedar boxes to give to their customers.

Through the late 1800s, the H. Upmann brand gained international recognition at various exhibitions and won seven gold medals which still adorn the lithographed art on today's H. Upmann boxes, along with Hermann Upmann's original signature.

The favorite cigar of US President John F. Kennedy was the H. Upmann Petit Coronas. The night before the Kennedy embargo on Cuba was signed, he had aide Pierre Salinger procure every box he could gather from Washington, DC tobacconists, for a total of 1,200 of his favorite cigars.

Et tu, Democrat? Democrat laws for the low masses only - existed even then.

H. Upmann cigars are classified as mild to medium strength, but Faldo finds them to be medium-strong. After all, they are of a pure Cuban blend heritage. H. Upmann is a great cigar, but a little pricey.

H. Upmann maintains it’s #3 favorite USA cigar status. With 30 different styles, Faldo is not done trying this brand.

The First Linebacker ...uh, First Lady Arrives at State Dinner...Seriously???

2011-11-11T05:57:00.005-05:00

Caption this photo.....

For instance, "This is embarrassing. Can't our country's cheap hookers dress better than that???"

Douge2's Humor Corner - Letters

2011-11-10T20:47:00.001-05:00

Dear Icebergs,
Sorry to hear about the global warming. Karma's a bitch.
Sincerely,
The Titanic

Dear Yahoo,
I've never heard anyone say, "I don't know, let's Yahoo! it..." just
saying...
Sincerely,
Google

Dear 2010,
So I hear the best rapper is white and the president is black?
WTF happened?!
Sincerely,
1985

Dear Windshield Wipers,
Can't touch this.
Sincerely,
That Little Triangle (twss)

Dear Nickleback,
That's enough.
Sincerely,
The World

Dear World of Warcraft,
Thank you for ensuring my son's virginity.
Sincerely,
Parents Everywhere

Dear Batman,
Seriously, what was your power again?
Sincerely,
Superman

Dear Customers,
Yes, we ARE making fun of you in Vietnamese when we talk to each other.
Sincerely,
Nail Salon Ladies

Dear Global Warming,
You're the best imaginary friend ever!
Sincerely,
Al Gore

Dear Ugly People,
You're welcome.
Sincerely,
Alcohol

Dear Mr. Gump
WTF are you talking about? There's a little diagram on the lid that
tells you EXACTLY what you're gonna get....
Sincerely,
Jenny

Dear White People,
Don't you just hate illegal immigrants? We do too!
Sincerely,
Native Americans

Dear iPhone,
Please stop spellchecking all of my rude words into nice words, you stupid
piece of shut.
Sincerely,
Every iPhone User

Dear Trash,
At least you get picked up...
Sincerely,
The Girls of Jersey Shore

Dear Man,
It's cute, but can you pick up peanuts with it?
Sincerely,
Elephant

Faldo Has a Serious Question to Ask

2011-11-09T19:19:00.003-05:00

How do Democrats get more than 30% of the vote, let alone win elections?

Explain this to me. As a non-retarded person, it just makes no sense.

Nothing they believe or pretend to embrace has ever worked in the history of mankind, and instead has caused the death of billions and the suffering of billions and billons of even more people.

Why are they even taken seriously as Americans, let alone the other main political party?

Tomservo2 Wins His 2nd of the Year and His 6th NPP Tourney!

2011-11-08T23:17:00.001-05:00

Tomservo2 doesn’t need to win this quarter having already locked up a seat in the finals. But he played tonight like it was do or die for him. A great job all the way thru.

We welcomed back Douge2, who has entered a few nights, but this was the first time he played. It was good to see our NPP contributor.

Faldo must apologize to “RodCPA” who requested to join, but Faldo was late to the tourney and missed his application. Rod, be here next week!

On to the action:

14 min: Derf-63 (15th) – was at the other table.
28 min: A short-stacked (SS) ThePunk75 (14th) pair of Jacks ran into Mikeniks-Faldo’s flopped two pair.

33 min: Douge2 (13th)
49 min: KingBing420 (12th)
52 min: Bblbtt (11th) hits two pair but runs into Absea98’s flush.

1st break:
Tommydoo 6577
Tomservo2 4340
Pre01 3170
Absea98 2570
T3chlady 1855
Mikeniks-Faldo 1298
LittleRedElf 950
Suetman123 925
95corolla 525
8thmile 290

63 min: Mikeniks-Faldo (10th) bubbles the final table as usual with (AK) against LittleRedElf’s (JJ). Faldo flopped a [K] but Elf made a straight on the river.

64 min: (SS) 8thmile (9th)
66 min: Suetman1 (8th) has to go with (AK) but Tomservo2 has (AA)!
69 min: A SS T3chlady (7th) has to go with (KQ) bur Tommydoo has (A8).
71 min: A SS 95corolla (6th) has to go with (A4) but with (Kd 7d) Tommydoo hits a pair of kings.

76 min: LittleRedElf (5th) has his (AK) lose to Tomservo2’s (KK).

Now that the children (small stacks) are asleep, the quick exits stop.

90 min: Absea98’s (4th) trip kings has kicker problems with Pre01’s trip kings.

2nd break:
Tomservo2 9736
Tommydoo 6724
Pre01 6040

137 min: A SS Tommydoo (3rd) goes with (A8) but Pre01’s (KJ) flops a [K].

Heads up Tomservo2 13400 Pre01 9100
140 min: Tomservo2 16600 Pre01 5900
145 min: Tomservo2 15400 Pre01 7100
150 min: Tomservo2 17200 Pre01 5300
155 min: Tomservo2 14500 Pre01 8000
160 min: Tomservo2 15700 Pre01 6800
165 min: Tomservo2 18200 Pre01 4300

167 min: A SS Preo1 (2nd) pairs his ace, but Tomservo2 makes a straight!

Congratulations to Tomservo2 on his 6th NPP win!

1st – Tomservo2 - [8.4]
2nd – Pre01 – 3.3 pts
3rd – Tommydoo – 5.4 pts
4th – Absea98 – [17.7]
5th – LittleRedElf – [9.4 points]
6th – 95corolla – 8.9 pts
7th – T3chlady
8th – Suetman123 – 9.6 pts
9th – 8thmile – 2.5 pts
10th – Mikeniks-Faldo – [7.7 pts]
11th – Bblbtt – 2.4 pts
12th – KingBing420
13th – Douge2
14th - ThePunk75 – 4.8 pts
15th – Derf-63 – 6.1 pts

The total point standings are on the right side of the blog! Remember the top 3 point getters in this 12 round league get a seat in the NPP Finals!

And also remember already [qualified players] are not counted and Faldo is not eligible for the final. So plenty of chances to jump into contention for a seat in the Finals!

Men Have Their Way, But Women Have Their Wiles

2011-11-07T22:24:00.008-05:00

Ari Brugh's dress has my attention!

A girl, Gabrielle was born France in August of 1883. Her father abandoned the family when she was 10 years old and her mother died of tuberculosis two years later. Gabby went to a Catholic orphanage until she was forced to leave on her 18th birthday. On that day, she dropped her father’s surname and used her mother’s – Devolle.

To make ends meet, she got a job as a cabaret singer and got the stage name “Coco” – which was short form of ‘cocotte’ – French for ‘a kept woman’. She would soon learn to and earn that title for life.

One of her quotes in life was, “Once you know men are children, you know everything.”

When she lost her job as a singer, she took a job in a combination textile mill and tailoring shop. There she applied her wiles on the owner’s son E. Balsan, and future heir of the business. Soon she was no longer sewing, but designing hats for her adulterous boyfriend.

She moved into an apartment he furnished for her, as he lavishly showered her with gifts and jewelry. But in 1909, she began an affair with one of Balsan’s best and even richer friend, Captain Arthur Capel.

Capel soon financed Coco’s own hat boutique, and continued to do so nine years after marrying another aristocratic woman.

She said at the time, “I don’t know why women want any of the things men have when one of the things women have is men.”

Coco dated some of the most influential men of her time, but she never married. The reason may be found in her answer, when asked why she did not marry the Duke of Westminster she said,

“There have been several Duchesses of Westminster. There is only one Coco.”

When a famous French actress wore one of Coco’s hats on stage and another at a modeling show, her business took off.

In 1924, Coco made a partnership with two brothers who owed a perfume factory. They felt they needed a woman’s point of view to expand their business.

Coco said at the time, “A woman who wears no perfume has no future.”

Her fame as a hat designer had grown, but the market for hats was declining. So she expanded her designs to dresses and shoes. She said at the time,

“Don’t spend time beating on a wall trying to turn it into a door.”

In 1931, while vacationing in Monte Carlo, she met Samuel Goldwyn. Coco was dating Sam’s friend, the Grand Duke of the Russian Empire at the time. Sam was impressed with Coco and made her an unbelievable offer. He would pay her the sum of $1 million dollars ($75 million in today’s money) to come to Hollywood twice a year to design dresses for his MGM stars.

Coco had told him, “Look for the woman in the dress. If there is no dress, there is no woman.”

But ultimately it was her perfume line that made her the most famous and wealthy despite everyone telling her she would fail.

She said, “Success is often achieved by those who don’t know failure is inevitable.”

On their 5th attempt, the perfume was perfected – and she decided to put away the past and named it with her father's last name – Chanel.

She thought that - Chanel #5 - was the best name of the ideas she came up with. She said at the time,

“The most courageous act is still to think for yourself out loud.”

Now you know the rest of the story.

Chess Magic - Too Focused!

2011-11-05T09:35:00.011-04:00

How does a good player make a serious chess error? Usually by over-thinking minor attacks, threats and positional advantage, without realizing a grenade has already been dropped in your foxhole.

[Faldo has no concept of what error is, but I have heard they happen. That's a shame.]

Here Black has two issues he is concentrating on:
1) making sure his knight does not end up trapped on the edge of the board ("A knight on the rim is grim" - twss) and

2) taking control of the queen side of the board where his strength is amassed.

If White does nothing about this, his pawn structure will be shattered and the enemy will pour thru on the left flank. So White played the natural looking 1. Rc3, which appears to clear the way for re-enforcements.

Black continues his assault plans with 1. ...bxc4

Find how White wins, but only take credit if you find the full three move win.

The solution can be found by emailing Faldo at npokerp@yahoo . com or scroll down the right side of the blog to Chess Magic Revealed.

The Community Card Review - Communism on Display

2011-11-03T05:44:00.002-04:00

Our Speech Maker and Chief accidentally delivered a speech full of truth! Of course he was not aware he did it. I guess his telepromper didn't either.

At a Dr. Martin Luther King Memorial Obama said,

"In too many troubled neighborhoods across the country, the conditions of our poorest citizens appear little changed from what existed 50 years ago. They are broken down slums, plagued by violence, with under-funded schools and lack of adequate healthcare. "

He is 100% correct. And who has run these neighborhoods with an iron fist for the last 50 years? Anyone want to take a guess?

What political party do the citizens of these areas keep sending back to the state and federal government capitals? Anyone want to guess?

Despite the special programs, the war on poverty and the trillions and trillions spent on wealth redistribution, nothing has changed.

The truth is lack of education, lack of jobs and lack of mobility is job protection for Democrat politicians, who - with their promises - keep the crumbs falling down to the slums of their useful idiot voters (google the term).

Speaking of “useful idiot voters”:

The President does a fund-raiser at the Bellagio. One casino owner and frequent donator to the Democrat Party will not be there - Steve Wynn.

"The policies of this administration have destroyed the living standard of the working class in America. What is supposed to be the base of the Democratic Party is taking the worst hit in history.

It is because of these unbelievably uninformed polices of this president and his colleagues who have fostered this ridiculous class warfare, these non-sensible policies that have been proven to be in-effective and unsuccessful everywhere they have ever been tried in the world."

And how does Obamacare affect business in the future?

”I am frightened to death about the future of any business. My friend Harry Reid hung up on me for the first time in forty years. That is what it has come down to.

I supported a Democrat, a congress woman named Shelley Berkley. I called her during the Obamacare vote and I said, 'Shelley, what are you doing? How can you do this? This is killing the country and all of us who are supplying healthcare to our employees."

And she said to me - quote - and I mean quote, not hear say, and she is running for the Senate!
”Steve, I know it is terrible. My husband is a doctor and he hates it too. But if I don't vote for it, Nancy Pelosi will punish me!”

If any businessman or any working person doesn't understand that this is a turning point in American history, then I am afraid we are going to get what we deserve."

Faldo has been warning people that the Democrat Party is the home of the Communist Party for over a decade now. There is no denying it now. No one listened, but you are welcome for the genius anyway.

Now my fellow Americans, FIX IT or doom your offspring for eternity. If the light of freedom goes out in the USA, the entire world goes black. Well actually communist red

Obama is Not a Keynesian

2011-11-02T19:00:00.000-04:00

Absea98 Wins His 4th NPP Tourney!

2011-11-01T23:20:00.002-04:00

A nice win by Absea98 in a 14 player NPP night. That is his 2nd win this quarter and his 3rd this year! Absea has really picked up his game. Nice job Ab!

Derf-63 took the early lead, Suetman123 made a great comeback, and Absea98 just steadily got it done.

These longer blinds are making for long final table battles. What is everyone’s opinion of that?

On to the action:

4 min: T3chlady (14th) runs into Derf-63’s straight.
18 min: ThePunk75 (13th) ran into Tommydoo’s aces and LittleRedElf’s flush – back to back!

34 min: The hand of the night! Well, it was for Faldo. A short-stacked (SS) Mikeniks-Faldo (12th) is card dead, but finally hits an Ace-high flush with his (AT) on the turn. The river pairs the board and LittleRedElf (11th) hits a 2’s over kings full house with (22). But Derf-63 has (K2) and has the kings over 2’s full house.

41 min: Wingsfancurt (10th) bubble the final table.
45 min: A SS Bblbtt (9th) is double-teamed by Derf-63 and Tomservo2.

75 min: Tommydoo (8th) has to go with (K8) and a flop of [KK6] but Derf-63 has (KT)!

1st break:
Derf-63 7235
Tomservo2 3989
8thmile 3235
Suetman123 2150
95corolla 2040
KingBing420
Absea98 952

73 min: KingBing42- (7th)
91 min: Tomservo2 (6th) has (KT) and hits a pair of kings, but Suetman123 has (KJ).
94 min: 95corolla (5th)
97 min: A SS 8thmile (4th) loses to Derf-63.

2nd break:
Absea98 13117
Suetman123 4610
Derf-63 3273

130 min: A SS Derf-63 (3rd) goes with (A2) and runs into Suetman123’s (AT).

Heads up Absea98 13600 Suetman123 7400
130 min: Absea98 14900 Suetman123 6100
135 min: Absea98 14700 Suetman123 6300
140 min: Absea98 6500 Suetman123 14500
145 min: Absea98 8500 Suetman123 12500
150 min: Absea98 17000 Suetman123 4000
155 min: Absea98 16000 Suetman123 5000
160 min: Absea98 17800 Suetman123 3200
165 min: Absea98 18300 Suetman123 2700

167 min: A SS Suetman123 (2nd) has to go with King-high, but Absea98 paired his Jacks.

Congratulations to Absea98 on his 4th NPP win!

1st – Absea98 - [15.3 points]
2nd – Suetman123 - 9.6 points
3rd – Derf-63 - 6.1 pts
4th – 8thmile - 2.5 pts
5th – 95corolla – 8.9 pts
6th – Tomservo2 - [3.7]
7th – Kingbing420
8th – Tommydoo – 2.8 pts
9th – Bblbtt – 2.2 pts
10th – Wingsfancurt
11th – LittleRedElf – [7.3 points]
12th - Mikeniks-Faldo – [7.7 pts]
13th – ThePunk75 - 4.8 pts
14th - T3chlady

The total point standings are on the right side of the blog! Remember the top 3 point getters in this 12 round league get a seat in the NPP Finals!

And also remember already [qualified players] are not counted and Faldo is not eligible for the final. So plenty of chances to jump into contention for a seat in the Finals!

Happy Halloween!!

2011-10-31T06:02:00.002-04:00

From the Brain Trust at NPP!

TTT Trinidad - Faldo's Full-bodied Cigar Choice!

2011-10-30T11:34:00.001-04:00

This brand was introduced in the United States in 1997. It is designed to garner the same respect as it’s namesake in Cuba.

From the Website: “The dark Ecuador Sumatra wrapper encloses a rich Connecticut broadleaf wrapper and a filler blended from Dominican, Nicaraguan and Peruvian tobaccos. This creates a smoke that is rich and powerful, without being over-whelming. Pure smoking satisfaction!”

Faldo agrees. This is the first full-strength cigar I have truly enjoyed.

I now have my “favorite” trio complete.

Golf course front nine and early day: Licenciados
Golf course back nine and afternoon: La Flor del Caney
After dinner, after dark or after the first two!: TTT Trinidad

This won’t stop me from trying others and of course reporting the results. But these are my “go to” cigars right now. I will always have some of these in my humidor.

Caption This Photo!

2011-10-28T20:38:00.005-04:00

"Miss, let me get that lint off of there for you."

Your turn.

BigDaddyTman Wins His 3rd NPP Event!

2011-10-25T23:12:00.002-04:00

He would have more wins if he was able to play more. A nice steady diet of creative poker was played by BigDaddyTman against the other sixteen who made it to the NPP felt tonight. As he was kind enough to point out, this is not an easy group to wrestle chips away from, but he did it tonight.

In addition to welcoming back BigDaddy (and letting him have his way with us – twss), we also saw the return of Duder1123. Duder picked up points his first night back too.

I was as pleasantly surprised with the returnees as I was disappointed by the point getters who were no shows tonight. A missed round wins you exactly a free "zero" points.

Playing the tourney… usually...I say usually gives you a better chance of getting points. I’m just sayin’.

Oh well, it will leave the NPP final seats up for grabs until the end and nobody has pulled away yet.

On to the action:

29 min: Derf-63 (17th) runs into Tomservo2’s three aces!
36 min: Absea98 (16th) sees his (88) run into Mikeniks-Faldo’s (AA).
39 min: ThePunk75 (15th) sees his (JJ) run into Tomservo2’s (AA).

(AA) held up pretty well tonight - all night!

45 min: Bblbtt (14th) loses with a king high flush to Wingsfancurt’s ace high flush! Ouch!
47 min: A SS Kingbing420 (13th) has to go with (KT) and a flop with a [T] and runs into BigDaddyTman’s (AT).

51 min: A SS LittleRedElf (12th) has to go with (A9) and is called by Tommydoo’s (Kd Qd). A [Q] hits the board.

1st break:
Tomservo2 5807
BigDaddyTman 5307
Wingsfancurt 4444
T3chlady 2665
Tommydoo 1878
Duder1l23 1325
K9isadog 1284
Mikeniks-Faldo 995
95corolla 770
Douge2 735
8thmile 290

65 min: 95corolla (11th) with (QQ) gets run over by BigDaddyTman’s straight.
72 min: Douge2 (10th) blinds out for the 3rd straight week.
73 min: A Ss 8thmile (9th) has to go with (88) but runs into Duder1123’s flush.
75 min: Two short stacks collide as Mikeniks-Faldo has to go with (KQ) and Tommydoo (8th) has to call with (AJ). Tommy hits a [J] on the flop, but Faldo hits a [K] on the turn!

87 min: Wingsfancurt (7th) hits a flush but Tomservo2 hits his full house!
90 min: T3chlady (6th) hits two pair, but loses to BigDaddyTman’s trips.
94 min: K9isadog (5th) has to go with a two pair but Duder1123 hits trips.

2nd break:
BigDaddyTman 12227
Tomservo2 7099
Mikeniks-Faldo 4286
Duder1l23 1888

102 min: A SS Duder1123 (4th) hits his ace with (A6) but Tomservo2 has (A9)!
130 min: Mikeniks-Faldo (3rd) with (AK) hits a pair of kings but BigDaddyTman has (AA).

Heads up BigDaddyTman 15000 Tomservo2 10500
150 min: BigDaddyTman 17900 Tomservo2 7600
155 min: BigDaddyTman 13700 Tomservo2 11800

160 min: Tomservo2 (2nd) gets killed by back to back (77) of BigDaddyTman! Tom first has (AK) and a board of [69K], but then an [85] runner-runner for the straight and Tom is crippled.

The next hand, Tom has (T9) and can’t win the coin flip. Oh well, that’s poker!

Congratulations to BigDaddyTman on his 3rd NPP win!

1st – BigDaddyTman – 5.3 points
2nd – Tomservo2 - [3.7]
3rd – Mikeniks-Faldo – [7.7 pts]
4th – Duder1123 – 2.6 pts
5th – K9isadog – 2.4 pts
6th – T3chlady
7th – Wingsfancurt
8th – Tommydoo – 2.8 pts
9th – 8thmile
10th – Douge2
11th – 95corolla – 8.9 pts
12th - LittleRedElf – [7.3 points]
13th - Kingbing420
14th - Bblbtt – 2.2 pts
15th - ThePunk75 – 4.8 pts
16th – Absea98 – [10.3 points]
17th - Derf-63 – 3.2 pts

The total point standings are on the right side of the blog! Remember the top 3 point getters in this 12 round league, get a seat in the NPP Finals!

And also remember already [qualified players] are not counted and Faldo is not eligible for the final. So plenty of chances to jump into contention for a seat in the Finals!

Douge2 Humor Corner - Women ask Too Many Questions

2011-10-23T09:24:00.002-04:00

…and Screw Things Up! Or Unscrew Things?

On his 74th birthday, a man got a gift certificate from his wife. The certificate paid for a visit to a medicine man living on a nearby reservation who was rumored to have a wonderful cure for erectile dysfunction.

After being persuaded, he drove to the reservation, handed his ticket to the medicine man and wondered what he was in for.

The old man handed a potion to him, and with a grip on his shoulder, warned, “This is a powerful medicine. You take only a teaspoonful and then say '1-2-3.' "

When you do, you will become more manly than you have ever been in your life and you can perform as long as you want."

The man was encouraged. As he walked away, he turned and asked, "How do I stop the medicine from working?"

"Your partner must say '1-2-3-4,'" he responded, "but when she does, the medicine will not work again until the next full moon."

He was very eager to see if it worked so he went home, showered, shaved, took a spoonful of the medicine and then invited his wife to join him in the bedroom. When she came in, he took off his clothes and said, "1-2-3!" Immediately, he was the manliest of men.

His wife was excited and began throwing off her clothes and then she asked "What was the 1-2-3 for?"

And that, boys and girls, is why we should never end our sentences with a preposition, because we could end up with a dangling participle.

Today's Word is.......Fluctuations

I was at my bank today; there was a short line.

There was just one lady in front of me, an Asian lady who was trying to exchange yen for dollars. It was obvious she was a little irritated . . .

She asked the teller, "Why it change? Yesterday, I get two hunat dolla fo yen. Today I only get hunat eighty? Why it change?"

The teller shrugged his shoulders and said, "Fluctuations."

The Asian lady says, "Fluc you white people too"

Play a SNG With Faldo

2011-10-22T21:53:00.003-04:00

My personal trainer said, "You were a bad Faldo!!! A very bad Faldo!"

I needed to write a poker article for the blog, but I also wanted to play some poker after doing a little (very little) yard work. I couldn’t do both. Or could I? These play chip SNG’s are loaded with good players. On to the action:

9 –player – 1500 chips - Blinds open at 5/10

3 min: I call with (KT) in early Position. I bet the flop, turn and river with a board of [6 K 4 8 2] and lose to the button with (K6). What??? Down to 1250 chips.

7 min: Called in the small blind with (AT) with six callers. Folded to bets when I missed the flop. 1185 chips.

20 min: Seven players left. 1060 chips.

22 min: Blinds at 15/30 – My (66) holds up and I win my first pot! 1415 chips.

25 min: Blinds 20/40 – I raise in middle position with (99) and got re-raised and called in three spots, so I folded. 1295 chips.

28 min: Six players left. 1180 chips.

35 min: Blinds at 30/60. I tried to eliminate the short-stack with (Ah 6h, but it backfired. 680 chips left.

45 min: All in with (44) and 600 chips, and ran into some rock’s (AA).

Finished 4th in the next SNG, and 2nd in the third!

I am down a third of a buy – in but I plan on getting that back, plus profit after the next SNG session - AFTER the session with my personal trainer that is.

An Open Letter to Democrats

2011-10-20T21:52:00.004-04:00

Dear American liberals, leftists, social progressives, socialists, Marxists and Obama supporters, et al:

We have stuck together since the late 1930's for the sake of the kids, but the whole of this latest election process has made me realize that I want a divorce. I know we tolerated each other for many years for the sake of future generations, but sadly, this relationship has clearly run its course.

Our two ideological sides of America cannot and will not ever agree on what is right for us all, so let's just end it on friendly terms. We can smile and chalk it up to irreconcilable differences and go our own way.

Here is a model separation agreement:

Our two groups can equitably divide up the country by landmass each taking a similar portion. Then we conservatives will give you first pick! Can’t get any better social justice than that!

We don't like redistributive taxes so you can keep them. You are welcome to the liberal judges and the ACLU. Since you hate guns and war, we'll take our firearms, the cops, the NRA and the military.

We'll take the nasty, smelly oil industry and you can go with wind, solar and biodiesel. You can keep Oprah, Michael Moore and Rosie O'Donnell. You are, however, responsible for finding a bio-diesel vehicle big enough to move all three of them.

We'll keep capitalism, greedy corporations, pharmaceutical companies, Wal-Mart and Wall Street.

You can have your beloved lifelong welfare dwellers, food stamps, homeless, homeboys, hippies, druggies and illegal aliens.

We'll keep the hot Alaskan hockey moms, FOX News, greedy CEO's and rednecks. We'll keep the Bibles and give you ABC, CBS, NBC, MSNBC, CNN, The New York Times and Hollywood.

You can make nice with Iran and Palestine and we'll retain the right to invade and hammer places that threaten us. You can have the peaceniks and war protesters. When our allies or our way of life are under assault, we'll help provide them security.

We'll keep our Judeo-Christian values. You are welcome to Islam, Scientology, Humanism, political correctness and Shirley McClain. You can also have the U.N. but we will no longer be paying the bill.

We'll keep the SUV's, pickup trucks and oversized luxury cars. You can take every Subaru station wagon, electric car and moped you can find.

You can give everyone healthcare if you can find any practicing doctors. We'll continue to believe healthcare is a luxury and not a right. We'll keep "The Battle Hymn of the Republic" and "The National Anthem." I'm sure you'll be happy to substitute "Imagine," "I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing," "Kum Ba Ya" or "We Are the World.”

We'll practice trickle down economics and you can continue to give trickle up poverty your best shot.

Since it often so offends you, we'll keep our history, our name and our flag.

You would agree to this, right? After all, except for us not there to pay for it, it is everything you say you want. Have at it.

In the spirit of friendly parting, we conservatives are willing to talk with you in 5 years and see which one of us is dong better. Until then, good luck to you liberals.

Sincerely,

The Tea Party

P.S. Also, please take Ted Turner, Sean Penn, Martin Sheen, Barbara Streisand, & Jane Fonda with you.

P.S.S. And, don’t worry. You won't have to press 1 for English when you call our country.

95Corolla Wins His 1st NPP Event!

2011-10-18T23:51:00.002-04:00

And he earned it! He had to face one of the greatest NPP players of all time – LittleRedElf - in an epic heads up match! The action and incredible final hand is below.

95corolla becomes the 64th person to win an NPP tournament!

It was a great night of poker action as NPP is almost back to normal. Many regulars returned and were present and accounted for – except for Douge2.

Twenty players of the twenty-three on the roster made it to the felt tonight and that made Faldo happy!

Of course PokerStars saw this and fixed Faldo’s temperament early – and late - as you will see. PokerStars, you can’t deal one AA vs KK hand in two hours??? Anything to cost Faldo – in chips or sleep!

On to the action:

2 min: KingBing4220 (20th) sees her (AK) get run down by Cigar4john’s (AQ) with a [Q] on the river! Ouch!

7 min: K9isadog (19th) is eliminated by BKrywkol.
9 min: Mikeniks-Faldo (18th) with (AK) loses a coin flip to BKrywko1’s (QQ).
13 min: Absea98 (17th) goes with (88) and runs into Derf-63’s (AA)!
14 min: While I was watching that, ThePunk75 (16th) was eliminated.
24 min: A short-stacked (SS) Wingsfancurt (15th) is double-teamed by T3chlady and Tommydee804. Tommy wins the hand with a flush.

25 min: Suetman123 (14th) loses to LittleRedElf’s three kings!
32 min: A SS Tomservo2 (13th) has to go with (AJ) and runs into 95corolla’s (AA).
37 min: 8thmile (12th) – I missed it on a beer/bathroom run.

1st break:
LittleRedElf 10205
BKrywkol 4925
Derf-63 3050
95corolla 3025
T3chlady 2525
Bigbrimar 1980
Cigar4John 1620
Tommydee804 1183
Pre01 967
Douge2 535

65 min: Nobody leaves for a while until a SS Pre01 (11th) runs into Tommydee804’s QUAD JACKS!!

67 min: Douge2 (10th) blinds out for the 2nd straight week.
76 min: T3chlady (9th) pulls a Faldo and loses a coin flip with (AK) to Derf-63’s (55).
78 min: Cigar4John (8th) runs into a Bigbrimar full house!
98min: BKrywko1 (7th) and Bblbtt (6th) are a double kill by LittleRedElf’s full house!
101 min: Bigbrimar (5th) has to go with a big pair but Tommydee804 has two little pair (twss)!

102 min: Tommydee804 (4th) happiness is short-lived as his (JJ) runs into LittleRedElf’s (AA)!

105 min: Derf-63 (3rd) with (AK) gets double-teamed by LittleRedElf and the hand winner 95corolla who makes the straight with (98).

Heads up LittleRedElf 5700 95corolla 24300
110 min: LittleRedElf 5630 95corolla 24370
115 min: LittleRedElf 3360 95corolla 26640

2nd break:
95corolla 26620
LittleRedElf 3380

Ten minutes of heads up play and the chips are the same! But that turns out to be a sign of things to come (twss). What is below is not a mis-print!

125 min: LittleRedElf 4865 95corolla 25135
130 min: LittleRedElf 2300 95corolla 27700
131 min: LittleRedElf 5700 95corolla 24300
135 min: LittleRedElf 5600 95corolla 24400
140 min: LittleRedElf 5200 95corolla 24800
145 min: LittleRedElf 5200 95corolla 24800
150 min: LittleRedElf 6700 95corolla 23700
155 min: LittleRedElf 8200 95corolla 22800
160 min: LittleRedElf 12400 95corolla 17600
165 min: LittleRedElf 11400 95corolla 18600
170 min: LittleRedElf 11200 95corolla 18800
3rd break: LittleRedElf 13425 95corolla 16575
185 min: LittleRedElf 14400 95corolla 15600
190 min: LittleRedElf 15700 95corolla 14300
Finally a lead change after 85 minutes of heads up play!
195 min: LittleRedElf 11600 95corolla 18400
And change back again.
200 min: LittleRedElf 14600 95corolla 15400
205 min: LittleRedElf 11800 95corolla 18200
210 min: LittleRedElf 11600 95corolla 18400
215 min: LittleRedElf 5900 95corolla 24100

218 min: Incredible heads up battle!!! A SS LittleRedElf (2nd) has to get all his chips in with (52) and a board of [7 3 4 A 4], but 95corolla (65)!

Congratulations to 95coroll on his 1st NPP win! Kevin, you are on the NPP walk of Fame, placed in front of all the one time winners that are no longer playing in the league.

1st – 95corolla – 8.9 points
2nd – LittleRedElf – [7.3 points]
3rd – Derf-63 – 3.2
4th – Tommydee804 – 2.8 pts
5th – Bigbrimar – 2.5 pts
6th – Bblbtt – 2.2 pts
7th – BKrywko1
8th – Cigar4John – 2.3 pts
9th – T3chlady
10th – Douge2
11th – Pre01
12th - 8thmile
13th - Tomservo2 [ 0 ]
14th - Suetman123 – 6.1 pts
15th - Wingsfancurt
16th – ThePunk75 – 4.8 pts
17th - Absea98 – [10.3 points]
18th - Mikeniks-Faldo – [4.7 pts]
19th – K9isadog
20th – Kingbing420

The total point standings are on the right side of the blog! Remember the top 3 point getters in this 12 round league, get a seat in the NPP Finals! And also remember already [qualified players] are not counted and Faldo is not eligible for the final. So plenty of chances to jump into contention for a seat in the Finals!

Who Won the Big Rivalry Game This Weekend???

2011-10-17T19:46:00.002-04:00

Nevermind. I think I know.

Nice way to settle a bet. Doing a little sewing, fixing a button.

That is what she is doing, right?

A Classic

2011-10-16T11:32:00.001-04:00

The Community Card Review - the 4th Estate is Bankrupt...and Corrupt

2011-10-15T08:45:00.002-04:00

Something dangerous happened in secret, and no one is giving it a second thought. The Obama Administration took the life of an American citizen without the benefit of a trail. It’s not the first time this has happened (Ruby Ridge, Waco, etc.).

The military conducted a death strike on Anwar Al Awlaki, an American citizen. The White House had two lawyers draft up a 50 page brief explaining the ‘legal’ justification for killing Awlaki, and by this action they admit they knew they were crossing a line. Anwar Al Awlaki had been convicted of nothing.

The American people need to get an explanation from Obama and/or Eric Holder as to why Awlaki was targeted and killed, and the legal justification used for it. This brief needs to be published.

I am not saying it was wrong to carry out the strike, but the justification needs to be make public. Don’t you agree with that at least? What secret briefs will be written someday to whack....oh, I don't know.....poker players?

When is the left wing media going to question the war time policies of King Obama?

They also need to ask why the wire taps the Obama complained about as a candidate were used to carry out this assassination.

The liberal press also needs to ask Pharaoh Obama why over 2000 terrorists have been killed by drones without due process. After all these are the questions they asked when Bush43 was in office.

They won’t ask and the de Fuhrer Obama won’t tell.

The media will save all these questions for when a Republican is in the White House.

The liberal “peace” demonstrators only appear with a Republican in the White House.

Is the liberal press ever going to ask the Obama Administration about Fast and Furious? It was the secret operation to sell American guns to Mexican drug lords and then blame the 2nd Amendment when the bodies of US and Mexican citizens started piling up.

The third part of the plan worked to perfection – a first for the Obama Administration. The bodies did begin piling up. Hundreds of Mexican citizens, some American citizens and a US Border Agent were killed and people are still dying by the use of these guns.

The second part of the plan is still being implemented as “tougher” gun laws are being enforced in the southwest states.

But even though the plot by the White House to openly attempt to grow a movement against the 2nd Amendment is now known, there is no attempt by the left wing media to actually do real journalism with a Democrat in the White House.

Is the left wing media going to ask why Dictator Obama is sending troops into Africa without consulting Congress? If you remember (and liberals won’t), Bush got overwhelming approval from a Democrat Congress to enter Iraq. And you still hear liberals caterwauling about that act of war.

Only you can change this by complaining to and then never watching anything but FOX News… and listening to the Rush Limbaugh Show. These are the only places left to get any semblance of the truth anymore. Pure and simple.

IT

2011-10-13T05:54:00.002-04:00

It, quite frankly, is the disgusting, embarrassing and treasonous thing that no one wants to admit is there. It is the family holiday dinner with a “funny uncle,” the always drunk cousin, slutty dressed aunt, multiple out of wedlock baby producing daughter, farting grandma or the lecherous grandpa.

But it is much MUCH worse than that. We just pretend it is only a slight embarrassment. It is actually more in line with an abusive mother to an infant, an incestuous father, a son who is a rapist, a daughter who murders for life insurance or a brother who robs and kills the elderly.

We all know it is there, but no one talks about it. We simply carry on like everything is normal. I speak of course about the managers, engineers and working professionals producing product in the automotive industry. We simply pretend the UAW is not “really” as bad as all that.

We actually take on the persona of the Chinese people. They have a saying; “Governments come and go, but the Chinese people endure.” Yes, that is how we look at it. The nation needs cars – and we build cars. And we do it with every road block possible placed in our way by the government, the UAW and the people running the company - who could not run a two-bicycle parade effectively. Car people simply endure so we can continue to do what we do.

Who is running two of the three auto companies? Socialists and communists appointed by the current government who push the Democrat/Communist agenda and hand money to the communist union. Who then donate it back to the Democrat Party. The union then tells their enslaved members how they “fought the tough fight against management” to protect them.

The fact is it is actually the same people negotiating with themselves! Wow, that’s some impressive lying.

Car professionals are then forced by their government captors to build cars no one wants, subsidized by the taxpayers and by the profits from the building of the cars people do want. This of course sucks up any company profit for investors, which explains the fall of the automotive stock price.

How is the stock supposed to go up when the people running the company openly state that “profit” is a bad thing and gas needs to be at $10 a gallon so people will be forced to buy cars the company actually loses money on??? The entire nation is poorer because of this.

The UAW runs the daily operations at the plant…until things really start going bad. Then they back out and tell management to “fix it – but we’ll tell you what you can change, and blame it all on you to the workers.” All the while the union bosses back-seat agitate and arm-chair quarterback the entire time. Top management (Democrats) meanwhile simply threaten the Car Professionals with their very livelihoods in order to keep this warped business model moving forward.

Car professionals work long hours sandwiched between a hostile management (Democrats/UAW), a hostile UAW workforce and an increasingly tough global market. Some day the car professionals will say “Enough!” (Look up “Who is John Gault?”) But that time is not yet here I guess. Our families need our pay checks. We simply try to look as humble and weak as we can as to not upset our masters in the UAW. The cancer in the company is simply tolerated by the car professionals as it stands right next to us.

The UAW meanwhile takes up big chunks of prime office space, filled with feather-bedded union cronies who have the job of looking tough, important and involved - with their feet up on the desks and conference tables. What they really do is interfere, antagonize, waste time and money, have different UAW slogan shirts printed – then they leave for a golf outing, a junket somewhere or just because they want to do something else with their day besides lounge around the plant and drink coffee.

UAW propaganda is distributed everywhere plant wide. No opposing opinion (actually called “the truth”) is allowed to be uttered, let alone printed, posted or distributed like the UAW propaganda is. No freedom of speech allowed unless it is union/Democrat speech. This is how dictatorships are formed.

What makes me smile to myself is this: If things remain as they are, I wonder if the union bosses have looked ahead to the day their goal is achieved, capitalism is dead and the government runs all businesses (this is called communism by the way). Have they given this any real thought?

What do they think the government will do to anyone interfering with their “business” once they have complete control? How will the government handle strikers, work stoppages or even the union sponsored protests on Wall Street or anywhere for that matter AFTER you useful idiots (another term you should google) help the Democrats achieve their goal?

Union supporter, you may want to consult a history book for the answer. Or google “Stalin’s purges” on the Internet. You will get the idea.

No charge to you for the education, Mr. or Ms. Comrade UAW Supporter.

Faldo Wins this NPP League Night

2011-10-11T23:14:00.003-04:00

Of course you do Sara. Now you know why Miss Underwood shows Faldo the nub!

It was a weird one. Faldo’s best hands lost and the bad cards turned into monsters at just the right time. Faldo had so many big hands cracked he would have been an early exit usually. But my ‘bad’ luck only seemed to happen after some incredibly good luck. But I guess it was just my night.

We welcome one new player tonight – Bblbtt – to the NPP family. Welcome Carol!

And many old-timers returned to the NPP felt tonight – Bigbrimar and Cigar4John. Welcome back guys!

We also have K9isadog signed up but didn’t register in time and Douge2 registered but never played a hand (same as Tommydee804).

Oh well. We still had our biggest turnout since the re-start - 13 players.

Many weeks left and the race for the seats remains wide open with only Suetman123 opening any kind of cushion. Most of the other point getters already have seats locked up.

On to the action:

35 min: Tomservo2 (13th) sees his two pair lose to KingBing420’s flush.
36 min: LittleRedElf (12th), who’s chip stack seemed to yo-yo up and down constantly, sees his pair of kings run into KingBing420’s pair of Aces.

45 min: Pre01 (11th) hits a pair of kings with (K8) and a flop of [KQ2], but KingBing420 is holding (22)! Three knockouts for this lady already!

38 min: Bblbtt (10th) – Missed it as I was busy misplaying my own hand.

1st break:
KingBing420 9130
Cigar4John 2925
Absea98 2685
Mikeniks-Faldo 1905
Suetman123 1240
Bigbrimar 1035
8thmile 440
Douge2 115
Tommydee804 25

65 min: Tommydee804 (9th) and Douge2 (8th) blind out.
69 min: A short-stacked (SS) 8thmile (7th) has to try with (AT) and hits a flop of [QA3] against KingBing420’s (QT). But a [Q] appears on the turn! Ouch!

86 min: A SS Bigbrimar (6th) has to call with (AK) but Mikeniks-Faldo flopped two pair.
104 min: A SS KingBing420 (5th) has to go with (Qc 9c) and Cigar4John (4th) is there with (AK), but Mikeniks-Faldo has (TT) and flops trips!

2nd break:
Suetman123 11540
Mikeniks-Faldo 5885
Absea98 2075

Notice it is a 54 minute battle before the next player falls!
158 min: A SS Absea98 (3rd) goes with (J9) but runs into Mikeniks-Faldo’s (AQ).

Heads up: Suetman123 3300 Mikeniks-Faldo 16200

165 min: Suetman123 2200 Mikeniks-Faldo 17300

169 min: A SS Suetman123 (2nd) calls an all-in bet with (Ts 9s) but runs into Mikeniks-Faldo’s (QQ).

1st – Mikeniks-Faldo – 4.7 pts
2nd – Suetman123 – 6.1 pts
3rd – Absea98 – 10.3 points
4th – Cigar4John – 2.3 pts
5th – KingBing420
6th – Bigbrimar
7th – 8thmile
8th – Douge2
9th – Tommydee804
10th – Bblbtt
11th – Pre01
12th - LittleRedElf – 3.4 pts
13th - Tomservo2

The total point standings are on the right side of the blog! Remember the top 3 point getters in this 12 round league, get a seat in the NPP Finals! And also remember already qualified players are not counted and Faldo is not eligible for the final. So plenty of chances to jump into contention for a seat in the Finals!

Chess Magic – Rent is Not Free!

2011-10-09T21:04:00.004-04:00

Women always love to watch Faldo play chess!

Solitaire Chess is a great way to study. What you do is take some published games in a book or magazine and peek to see who wins. Then you cover up some moves near the end of the game (3 to 6 of them) and then see if you can guess the winning moves that were played.

I arbitrarily also cover five moves near the center of the game and the last six moves of the game.

Let’s say it was a 40 move game with Black resigning without making a 40th move. I would cover up moves around 20 thru 24 – or close to that where the book or magazine make it easy to do, and try to see if I can follow along with the winner’s logic or plan.

But when I get to the last six that is where I try to really get them right. After all, the win happened and I need to see if I can see it too. I would start with the first 3 moves and then as you start getting 2 or 3 right most of the time, expand to more moves from the end.

Here is what is called a miniature game because it was over in less than 20 moves. It was eighteen in this game to be exact. For miniatures, I just cover up the last three moves or so. Again what ever I can easily cover in the magazine or book without page flipping.

In this one try and guess the last three winning moves for White!

1. e4 d5

This is called the Center Counter Game. Black challenges White’s control of the center immediately.

2. exd5 Nf6
3. d4 …..

Pushing the pawn to c4 to protect that extra advanced pawn is exactly what Black wants. But White knows his pieces are not developed enough to protect an opened up Queen side (twss).

3. ..… Nxd5
4. Nf3 Bg4
5. Be2 Nc6
6. c4 ..….

Now White can risk the pawn push because Black has to waste a move in order to remove his Knight from the attack.

6. ..… Nb6
7. 0-0 e6
8. Nc3 Be7
9. d5 exd5
10. cxd5 ...…

Isolated pawns are usually not a good idea, but White has a plan.

10. ….. Nb4
11. Qd4 Bxf3
12. Bxf3 Nc2
13. Qxg7 Bf6
14. Qg4 Nxa1

Did White just blunder away a rook (the rental property)?
Uh…..no.
Find White’s win in three moves after …

15. Re1+ Be7

How does White win in 3 moves?

The answer is found in Chess Magic Revealed. Just scroll down and look on the right side of the blog.

Incoming Fire Has the Right of Way

2011-10-06T22:09:00.004-04:00

Clint Smith, Director of Thunder Ranch, is part Drill Instructor, and part standup comic. Here are a few of his observations on Tactics, firearms, self defense and life as we know it in the civilized world.

"The handgun would not be my choice of weapon if I knew I was going to a fight....I'd choose a rifle, a shotgun, an RPG or an atomic bomb instead."

"The two most important rules in a gunfight are: Always cheat and always win."

"Don't forget, incoming fire has the right of way."

"Make your attacker advance through a wall of bullets. I may get killed with my own gun, but he's gonna have to beat me to death with it, cause it's going to be empty."

"If you're not shootin', you should be loadin'. If you're not loadin, you should be movin', if you're not movin', someone's gonna cut your head off and put it on a stick."

"Do something. It may be wrong, but do something."

"Shoot what's available, as long as it's available, until something else becomes available."

"If you carry a gun, people will call you paranoid. That's ridiculous. If I have a gun, what in the hell do I have to be paranoid for."

"Don't shoot fast, shoot good."

"You can say 'stop' or 'alto' or use any other word you think will work but I've found that a large bore muzzle pointed at someone's head is pretty much the universal language."

"You have the rest of your life to solve your problems. How long you live depends on how well you do it."

"You cannot save the planet. You may be able to save yourself and your family."

"Thunder Ranch will be here as long as you'll have us or until someone makes us go away and either way it will be exciting."

More thoughts:
The purpose of fighting is to win, not to fight fair.

There is no possible victory in defense. The sword is more important than the shield, and skill is more important than either.

The final weapon is the brain. All else is supplemental.

Don't pick a fight with an old man. If he is too old to fight, he’ll just kill you.

If you find yourself in a fair fight, your tactics suck.

I carry a gun because a cop is too heavy, and not as reliable.

When seconds count, the cops are just minutes away.

The reporter recognized the Colt Model 1911 the Ranger was carrying and asked him 'Why do you carry a 45?' The Ranger responded, 'Because they don't make a 46.'

An armed man will kill an unarmed man with monotonous regularity.

The old sheriff was attending an awards dinner when a lady commented on his wearing his sidearm. 'Sheriff, I see you have your pistol. Are you expecting trouble?' 'No ma'am. If I were expecting trouble, I would have brought my rifle.'

The true man fights not because he hates what is in front of him, but because he loves what is behind him.'

'Those who hammer their guns into plows will plow for those who do not.' ~ Thomas Jefferson

Remember, it is our 2nd Amendment that protects the rest!

Hat tip to Bigbrimar.

Absea98 Wins His 3rd NPP Tourney and Takes the League Lead - Again!

2011-10-04T23:25:00.003-04:00

Cameron Diaz likes what she saw!

Absea98 won the 1st quarter before the shutdown if you remember. He has the lead in this one by winning this 11-player event. Nice job Absea98.

He overcame a tough field and even the curse of the Faldo Chips he kept winning from me. I think I lost 7 of 8 hands to him. Ouch!

We welcome a new player tonight - 8thmile. It’s great to have you here at NPP.

We have 21 players signed up right now but only 11 players made it to the table. Nice weather and the Tiger game probably hurt attendance. Faldo is not discouraged. NPP will re-build!

On to the action:

31 min: A short-stacked (SS) Tommylee804 (11th) loses to Absea98’s flush.
38 min: A SS Wingsfancurt (10th) loses with (QT) to LittleRedElf’s (KQ).
51 min: T3chlady (9th) loses with (AQ) to 8thmile’s (AK).

1st break:
8thmile 3300
Absea98 3060
LittleRedElf 2905
ThePunk75 2230
95corolla 1755
Tomservo2 1225
Mikeniks-Faldo 1045
Suetman123 980

63 min: ThePunk75 (8th) (As Qs) pairs his [Q] but Absea98 (Ad 5d) hits his flush.
105 min: A SS LittleRedElf (7th) has to try with (99) but loses to Mikeniks-Faldo (Ad Td) with an [A] on the turn.

2nd break (the 15 minute blinds lengthening the evening a little):
Absea98 6950
Suetman123 4580
Tomservo2 1740
Mikeniks-Faldo 1375
95corolla 1190
8thmile 665

122 min: 8thmile (6th) has to go with (AK) but loses the coin flip to Suetman123’s (QQ).
132 min: A SS Tomservo2 (5th) goes with (T8) and runs into Suetman123’s (A8).
140 min: A SS Mikeniks-Faldo (4th) moves in with (A2) but gets run down by Absea98’s (KQ) with a [Q] on the turn.

152 min: Suetman123 (3rd) goes with (A8) but runs into Absea98’s (AK).

Heads up: 95corolla 3500 Absea98 13000

153 min: Its over quick and silly! 95corolla (2nd) of course moves all-in with a flop of [797] holding (87)! Absea98 correctly calls with (T9).

The turn is a [9] – the river is a …………[9]!!!!!! A PokerStars special!

Congratulations to Absea98.

1st – Absea98 – 7.6 points
2nd – 95corolla – 3.40 pts
3rd – Suetman123 – 2.78 pts
4th – Mikeniks-Faldo
5th – Tomservo2
6th – 8thmile
7th – LittleRedElf – 3.4 pts
8th – ThePunk75 – 4.8 pts
9th – T3chlady
10th – Wingsfancurt
11th – Tommydee804

I do not like the top only point total, but adjust Faldo will!

Faldo Wins His 17th Internet Tourney - This Time on Rise Poker

2011-10-02T21:10:00.001-04:00

Ana Hickman wanted Faldo to join her for an evening swim, but Faldo turned her down to play in this freeroll to win a seat in another tourney to possibly win a t-shirt.

Good thinking on my part because I ended up winning the 251 player tourney, the seat in the T-shirt Final on Tuesday Night AND an extra 1000 play chips. Good thinking eh?

I got card happy at the right time. A series of AK and AK-sooooooted held up against short stacks and one monster stack with QQ. hit the A on the flop and a K on the river to boot! I was in the coin flip zone and didn’t lose in four straight.

Then my AQ suited beat an AK with a Q on the river.

I got hurt when my KK lost to a decent stack with 77 that tripped on me. But I got him back with a QQ over JJ win later.

This is my first win in a 200+ player tourney since my 2008 win in a PokerStars freeroll with 10000 players in that one.

It was a nice way to start the October month.

Now I have to win the NPP Tuesday night SNG, keep score for the article – all while going t-shirt hunting on another site in another tournament.

Maybe that will impress Ana. She has not returned my calls or texts even after I left a message saying I won that tourney after not going for that swim.

Wonder why? I mentioned I would let her wear the t-shirt once in a while - if I win it.

Arturo Fuente – The #2 Family of Cigars

2011-10-01T14:35:00.005-04:00

Why? I don’t know. My experience has shown that the Arturo Fuente family of cigars has more taste and personality than the Macanudo. Again, no knock against either family, but I have found more flavor and distinct cigar tastes in the Arturo Fuente brands.

The Arturo Fuente website shows;

Fuente Grand Reserva – comes in 9 sized and in three different wrappers

Chateau Fuente – Cedar wrapped in 8 different sizes.

Fuente Box Pressed and Mini’s

Fuente Magnum R – Lighter and smoother cigar in 4 sizes

Don Carlos – Cedar wrapped and aged 10 years in a rich and dark Cameroon wrapper in 7 sizes.

Hemingway – A line of shaped cigars in 7 sizes.

Montesino – Aged 5 years in 8 different sizes. Smooth, creamy with a hint of a peppery finish.

Anejo – Aged 5 years in a cognac barrel and cedar wrapped in 6 sizes. A rich, spicy and slightly sweet taste.

Fuente Fuente OpusX – the very top of their line in 7 sizes.

Faldo has smoked the Grand Reserva, Cheatau Fuente, Don Carlos and the Montesino, preferring the Montesino a lot more. It was milder, but tastier at the same time.

One of the fringe benefits of researching for these article is I learn some things myself. I see I have to investigate the other fine cigars in the Arturo Fuente line - the Magnum R, the Anejo and the OpusX.

Who knows. I might just find another “must stock” cigar. Oh the pain and agony of testing all those cigars. But somebody has to do it.

This May Explain Davethedog's Absence From Golf This Year

2011-09-30T23:27:00.006-04:00

.....and Poker!

Community Card Review - You Are to Blame

2011-09-28T21:03:00.007-04:00

Don't look now, but that is your nation outside the right side of the plane.

Obama says you are to blame. You are, but not for the reasons he says. You are to blame for either voting Democrat or not preventing people from voting Democrat.

The reason this nation is in debt is that the people of the United States have been irresponsible.

For a host of reasons, they have ignored the SUPER debt spending and taxing of the Democrats and the debt spending of the Republicans.

The reasons the voters have done this is a whole other matter, and a different article.

Liberalism (socialism - communism) is the reason we are in the situation we are in. Pure and simple.

From the decline in morality (drugs, sex, abortion and - yes - gambling) to the wealth re-distribution models (welfare, food stamps, unemployment insurance, social security, Medicare, growth in government), to the decline in education and work ethic (unions, main stream media, climate change hoax and pushing the communist agenda).

It all has it's base in liberalism. The hippies of the 60's are running this nation and have for about 20 years.

Look back on what those people were then to understand why we are where we are now. Liberalism is destroying this nation ....and it is on purpose.

Obama tells us - after he gave trillions away to federal, state and automotive unions - that we, the taxpayer have to learn to live within our means. Then proposes another half - trillion of spending we don't have - while adding taxes that if collected won't come close to covering the cost.

As a side note, if the Democrats could collect EVERYTHING - which they would if they could - it would pay for our government for about 3 months. Then we would be broke ...again, and no one would have anything left to take.

Our media knows this and reports …..nothing.

Obama says the reason our nation is in debt is because 'the rich' have not paid their fair share. He says the rich have dodged the tax system and therefore are the scofflaws responsible.

This is a barefaced lie, easily proven false, and only the Kool-aid drinking useful idiot liberals belief it anyway.

Our media knows this and reports …..nothing.

A full 86% of the federal taxes are paid by 2% of the population and 50% of the people in this country pay $0 income tax and instead get a "refund" on money they did not even pay in (Earned Income Credit).

Our nation suffers from a spending problem by our government with the root cause being a VOTING problem by our citizens. We get the government we deserve.

After our Constitution was finalized, a woman asked Benjamin Franklin what type of government we had. He stated, "It is a republic, if we can keep it."

Thomas Jefferson predicted our republic would last just 200 years as "it is natural for democracies to morph into dictatorships as soon as the citizenry realizes they can vote the money out of their neighbor's pocket." The Democrat model to be sure. We will barely outlive his prediction.

If you have ever voted Democrat you have the biggest share of the blame for this. If you have always voted Democrat, you are the problem and you are the traitor to this nation. If you have always voted Democrat, then YOU should be paying the most in taxes. You should be over - paying your taxes.

If paying more taxes is the road to utopia, then YOU should be leading the way and giving every extra penny to the government. Show us the way! Live as you want us all to live.

Ah, but liberals never seem to do that. Environmentalists fly to their meetings in corporate jets and take limos to the conference. Income tax hawk liberals already have made or inherited their wealth. Wealthy Hollywood donate their "time" and "name" but never cash.

Obama wants to punish the people who make too much.

I want to punish the people who elected Democrats. Obama thinks the rich have destroyed this nation and wants them punished with taxes. I think the Democrats have done that, so tax them. Democrats vote to raise "other people's taxes", well, let's vote to raise Democrat's taxes.

Regardless of who we tax, we don't have enough money to pay for our debt this way. The only solution is to stop the spending.

We can only do that by removing every Democrat from office and then holding every Republican responsible to fix it this time. If they don't do it, we are either sunk or a third party has to start winning elections.

A revolution is coming - either in the way we vote and how we pick candidates - or the other type. We have only one shot remaining at this.

This nation cannot survive another Democrat president or Congress - EVER!

ThePunk75 Wins His 10th NPP Tourney!

2011-09-27T22:15:00.004-04:00

Some things never change. Who is left standing to go for the win?
ThePunk75
LittleRedElf
Absea98
This is the same movie I walked out on in April for crying out loud!

We welcome one new player (I think) Tommydee804 (unless it is Tommydoo in disguise), but either way Tommy, I need your email.

Only eleven signed up to play the opening round tourney of the 19 signed up for the league so far. I expect more to be in the fray next week.

The scoring is much different in the Home Game set up on PokerStars.net

Emphasis will be on finishing at the top, rather than making final tables or surviving at the final table. Points will be awarded only for the top 20% of the participants.

I did slow down the blind structure, so the need to play bingo poker is less. I figured we would get enough of that with it being play chips anyway. But watching the play this first night, it looked pretty much the same. Tough!

We will try this for the rest of 2011 and make an evaluation after this 12 game league.

On to the action:

10 min: Faldo gets hurt early losing flush over flush to KingBing420.
24 min: BKrywko1 (11th) The play chip software does not have re-play or hand history, so if I don’t see it live, I won’t have it. BK was at the other table and I couldn’t follow the action.

26 min: Wingsfancurt (10th) loses a coin flip (AJ) to LittleRedElf (88).
43 min: Mikeniks-Faldo (9th) loses a coin flip (99) to the same KingBing420 (AK).
53 min: Tommydee804 (8th) gets double-teamed by T3chlady (AK) and the winner, Derf-63 (QQ), who takes it down.

1st break:
ThePunk75 6883
LittleRedElf 3390
T3chlady 1997
Derf-63 1619
KingBing420 1442
Absea98 649
Duder1123 520

68 min: T3chlady (7th) has to try with (T8) and a flop of (8 5 2). But LittleRedElf wakes up with (55).

70 min: Duder1123 (6th) blinds out having never played a hand.

73 min: A short-stacked Derf-63 (5th) goes with (AQ) and runs into Absea98 with (AK).
Derf missed the early action due to meetings, but got in to give it a shot.

75 min: KingBing420 (4th) moves in with (AJ) to find ThePunk75 with (JJ).

80 min: LittleRedElf wins a nice pot and our three remaining players, ThePunk75, LittleRedElf and Absea98 are all within a grand of each other!

94 min: Absea98 (3rd) sees his (A4) run into ThePunk75’s (AQ).

Heads up: LittleRedElf 5500 ThePunk75 10000

100 min: LittleRedElf 1500 ThePunk75 14000

105 min: LittleRedElf 5500 ThePunk75 10000

110 min: A SS LittleRedElf (2nd) calls down with (A3) and a flop with an [A] in it, but ThePunk75 is holding (AK).

Congratulations to ThePunk75 on his 10th NPP win, as he moves past Nahanni74 on the all-time list!

1st – ThePunk75 – 4.82 points
2nd – LittleRedElf – 3.40 pts
3rd – Absea98 – 2.78 pts
4th – KingBing420
5th – Derf-63
6th – Duder1123
7th – T3chlady
8th – Tommydee804
9th – Mikeniks-Faldo
10th – Wingsfancurt
11th – Bkrywko1

Take heart everyone. All of the point getters but ThePunk75 already have seats in the NPP Final. Missing week 1 didn't hurt anyone really. ThePunk got a leg up (twss).

NPP Tuesday Night Tournament RETURNS!

2011-09-25T14:37:00.003-04:00

This lady is all in…..how about you?

Fifteen people have signed on to play in this Free Chip Tournament as I write this. A very nice turn out, and I expect a few more by game time.

To join Niks Poker Palace, email Faldo at npokerp at yahoo dot com – for the password to join our Play Chip league.

If you have not done so already, erase you PokerStars dot com site and reload with the PokerStars dot net site.

Open the main poker lobby and click the Home Games tab.
Click the “Join a Poker Club” button.

Enter the NPP Club ID number: 41614

Enter the password you received from Faldo in the email.

Then click on the tournament scheduled and register.

If you ever wanted to try your hand at tournament poker against some great players, but didn’t want to “donate” for the privilege, here is your chance.

This league will give you something to do as fall descends over Michigan. Come join the fun.

Tournament Note: I made this first one 15 minute blinds rather than the standard 10 minutes. Let's see how it goes.

Operation Fast and Furious – Border Agents (and 200 Mexican Citizens) Killed by the Democrat’s Attempt to Attack the 2nd Amendment

2011-09-22T21:12:00.003-04:00

$500 million of stimulus money to a “green” energy solar panel company - with no customers – who then donate to the Obama Campaign coffers and go out of business in less than 2 years. But at least no one we rely on to secure our borders got killed.

From the Natural News and editor Mike Adams

“You just gotta love the audacity of the Obama Administration and its active staging of crimes in order to achieve political goals. Operation Fast and Furious is the most recent example of a Democrat-run criminal conspiracy pursued for the ultimate purpose of dismantling the Bill of Rights.

It involved ATF agents running a criminal scheme that sold literally tens of thousands of guns to Mexican drug gangs, after which the government planned to call for "gun sales restrictions" following the wave of gun violence that would inevitably result.

There was only one problem with the government's evil plan, however -- some ATF agents blew the whistle, and then the whole conspiracy exploded in their faces.
Now even the mainstream media, who usually won't harm the Democrat Party, is all over Operation Fast and Furious. Heck, the LA Times even has an entire special section dedicated to it, and the paper is actually producing some decent stories on the subject: http://www.latimes.com/news/nationw...

One of their newest stories reports, "Top Mexican officials say the U.S. kept them in the dark. One official was stunned to learn that the cartel hit men who killed her brother had assault rifles from Fast and Furious in their arsenal."

Here's a conspiracy fact right in your face -- and the government has now been forced to admit to it!

Even CBS is breaking some of the news on all this, including publicizing newly-released secret audio tapes that reveal Agent MacAllister and Howard (the gun dealer) expressing concern that "...whistleblower ATF special agent John Dodson has further evidence that could be damaging to the government."

This is total government criminality caught in action, folks. And if you really want the whole story on Operation Fast and Furious, read up on InfoWars.com.

What's clear about Operation Fast and Furious is that it involved not only the ATF but also the White House.

The LA Times and other mainstream media papers are incorrectly reporting it as a "failed sting operation," but that's just the cover story. In reality, Operation Fast and Furious was a raging success! It achieved its stated goal which was placing thousands of rifles and pistols into the hands of Mexican drug gangs, then hoping enough violence would spill over into the USA that the American people would call for gun sales restrictions.

Whether you admire the Second Amendment or not, you've got to admit this is a particularly insidious conspiracy because it has the government directly promoting sales of weapons to criminals. Normally when you walk into a gun store, you can't buy a weapon without passing an FBI background check. So there's a safety mechanism in place to prevent guns from being purchased by felons or non-citizens.

But in this conspiracy operation, the ATF specifically told gun store owners (such as Lone Wolf in Arizona) to sell guns to criminals even if they didn't pass the background checks. This is just one example of how the U.S. federal government has become a criminal organization that promotes gun violence in America.

Remember the conventional cover story for all this? That the guns were going to be "tracked" to see where they ended up?

There's just one problem with this whole story: There were no tracking devices installed on any of the guns being sold to criminals. Thus, the whole idea of tracking these guns is ludicrous, and the government's official cover story falls apart (yet again). The purpose of Fast and Furious wasn't to TRACK guns but to ARM CRIMINALS and then hope enough bodies would pile up that the government could call for restrictions against the Second Amendment.

In fact, even though the government has been caught red handed in this operation, it has already begun to roll out the gun sales restrictions as it planned all along!

Documents acquired by InfoWars (and also separately by NaturalNews) reveal that gun shops throughout Arizona, New Mexico and Texas have been ordered by the ATF to report any sale of more than one rifle or pistol to any single person. Thus, even though the FBI already runs background checks on purchasers of firearms, the ATF is now creating a second layer of burdensome paperwork on many sales of firearms. Importantly, this adds no additional background check security to the gun purchasing process, which is already subjected to FBI approval anyway.

Even worse, this entire process is being done completely outside the law, using solely the regulatory bullying of the ATF itself -- the very same agency that is technically a rogue government agency steeped in criminal behavior.

We have a lawless government right now. [NPP Editor: Like no federal budget submitted for 2 years as constitutionally demanded.]

Did you ever notice how the federal government never faces any consequences when it breaks the law, but if you or I sold guns to Mexican drug criminals, we'd be facing decades in prison? As we've all seen from numerous examples, the government today is a lawless, criminal gang that breaks its own laws with impunity.

There's no telling what the government is planning and plotting right now in its evil scheme to destroy our civil rights and unleash a total police state in America. What Operation Fast and Furious really proves is that the U.S. federal government will openly endanger innocent lives and break any laws it wants in pursuit of crushing freedom in America.

It's not even about the guns, you see. It's about the tactics that the U.S. government now uses to achieve its political aims. Rather than going to the People and asking for their rational views on security versus freedom, the government stages its own catastrophes and crimes in order to get people to REACT so that freedoms can then be stolen from everyone.”

Will the last one holding the last copy of The US Constitution please save it and hide it so some life form in the future will see that our species did have the perfect government model. Too bad we failed to follow it.

Douge2’s Humor Corner - Anatomy

2011-09-21T05:43:00.002-04:00

This is why men die sooner than women. It's all the women's fault!

The Disease Might be Better Than a Cure

Of course I won't laugh," said the female doctor. "I'm a professional. In over twenty years I've never laughed at a patient."

"Okay then," said guy said, and he proceeded to drop his trousers, revealing the smallest male part the doctor had ever seen. Its length and width was almost identical to an AAA battery.

Unable to control herself, she tried to stop a giggle, but it just came out. And then she started laughing at the fact that she was laughing. Feeling very badly that she had laughed at the man's part, she composed herself as well as she could.

"I am so sorry," she said. "I don't know what came over me. On my honor as a doctor and a lady, I promise that won't happen again. Now, tell me, what seems to be the problem?"

"It's swollen," he replied.

She ran out of the room.

[Ed. Note: I heard that this is what happened. Yeah, that’s right. I only heard of this.]

Christmas All Year Round

Breasts are like electric trains.
Both were created for the children, but it's the fathers who play with them.

A Matter of Perspective

I stopped by a dealership yesterday for a look at a new car. I took my selection out for a test drive.

The salesman (wearing an Obama "change" lapel pin) sat in the passenger seat describing the truck and all its "wonderful" options. The seats were of particular interest.

He explained that the seats directed warm air to your butt in the winter and directed cool air to your butt in the summer heat.

Feeling like messing with his mind, I mentioned that this must be a Republican car. Looking a bit angry, he asked why I thought it was a Republican car.

I explained that if it were a Democrat car, the seats would blow smoke up your ass year-round.

How Many Would Be Interested in a NPP Play Chip League?

2011-09-19T20:24:00.000-04:00

Anahi Gonzales wants to play. She told me her screen name is Want_Faldo.

I could set the tourneys up for starting on September 27th on the PokerStars Home Games System.

Let me know by email or comment on the blog. Feedback please.

We will probably lose some (a lot) but may pick up a few (none). But I am willing to set it up now that fall is here.

As for Faldo’s poker work, there is nothing in the real arena. I just don’t have the fire to play ‘competitively’ right now, for a few reasons. One thing I do know about the players I play against; if I am not at the top of my game, I might as well start cooing and looking for statues to poop on as soon as I sit down.

As for the Play Chip wars, I still play both tournaments and SNG’s while watching TV or even studying chess, or playing three or four tourneys at a time. Yes, I have to multi-task or I get bored. No sense over-studying the players for play chips.

My success in tourneys is much better (final tables scored) but my SNG percentages are down. Go figure. The sample size is not big enough to know for sure, but I think increased aggressiveness is helping in the MTT tourneys but hurting in the SNG’s.

So I backed off some of the pressure in the SNG’s and won 3 straight on three different sites. Again, too small a sample size to determine validity, but something worked. Maybe I just got cards at the right time for a change.

Let me know one way or the other about the Play Chip League.

And anyone have any suggestions on how I can get Anahi to stop stalking Faldo?

Chess Magic - Never Give Up!

2011-09-18T08:44:00.007-04:00

Black to move and win!

Admittedly, this one is a little tougher. Ok, alot tougher. I had some complaints that these puzzles were way too easy. Well here is one I hope doesn't send you to your chess computer for the answer.

If you are not sure you found it, my suggestion is to come up with the 2 or 3 possible moves and rank them in order you think they are right.

Also write each solution down all the way to the end, including the loser's move you thought he would make. Many times we find what we think was the solution because we make a "not best" move for the losing side.

This doesn't happen to Faldo of course, but I have heard mere chess mortals sometimes do that.

In this case, Black has a superior piece advantage (a Queen for a Knight and two pawns), as White sacrificed the Queen for the checkmate threat in three moves of: 1. Rh3+ Bh4, 2. Rhxh4+ Kg8, 3. Rh8 mate.

So Black has his hands full. First Black has to get out of the mate and then just win baby! (A little Al Davis football lingo there). Remember to take your solutions out to the end (checkmate, obvious resign or material advantage).

The solution can be found by scrolling down and finding Chess Magic Revealed on the right side of the blog.

All Women Want Gifts

2011-09-16T06:30:00.000-04:00

I Could Be Wrong - Good Thing Faldo Never Is

2011-09-16T05:27:00.003-04:00

This video is getting a little old, but you can swap out or add just a name or two, and it still works!

The Community Card Review – Unions Are Worse Than Jihad Muslims

2011-09-13T21:31:00.006-04:00

Unions are the enemy within America - that are Americans. That is what is so insidious about them.

Funny how they are not out in front of the White House with their 'rent-a-mob' with a Democrat living in there.

President of the Teamsters Jimmy Hoffa, Jr., tells the President of the United States that – he, the President – has at his disposal, an army of union members ready to “Take out these son of a bitches!”

The ‘son’s a bitches’ Hoffa wants to take out -

I presume in a more public way than his father was taken out by Jimmy Jr.'s bosses - are the Tea Party. The Tea Party are the people of the United States of America that want our government to return to following the Constitution and a Judeo-Christian capitalist system.

The people who do not want their children’s children paying for the debt of Barack Hussein Obama. Many Tea Party people are forced to be union members. So Hoffa wants thousands of his own union 'brothers' taken out also.

The President of the United States then smiled and shook hands with this despicable piece of human debris. Obama praised Hoffa in his speech. It was one piece of debris shaking hands with another piece of debris.

The Democrat Party is nothing but a collection of communist thugs only interested in power. Little Jimmy Hoffa Jr. is now a spokesmen for the people that murdered his father. This is proof positive of total lack of decency in liberals.

Liberals will join with the lowest forms of life for the sake of liberalism, the power over others, and the cushy lifestyle it gives them.

Let’s be honest here. Jimmy Hoffa Jr. sells out his father and works with his father’s killers, so he doesn’t have to do any real work in his life. Pathetic.

These types of people are the Democrat Party. Traitors (Sean Penn), Racist preachers (Reverend Wright), domestic terrorists (William Ayres), communists (Bill King – UAW) and USA haters (Michelle Obama).

Has anyone considered the irony of unions and the Democrat Party celebrating Labor Day in front of a company they both destroyed in a city they both destroyed?

Nothing, and I mean nothing, epitomizes the destruction of lives and the abject pain and poverty that Democrats and unions have caused the people of this nation at General Motors and the City of Detroit. Detroit – at over 15% - has the highest unemployment rate in the NATION, even with the cooked statistics the Democrat Party puts out.

Detroit is as good a place as any for liberals to celebrate the success of organized labor - since there are not any in the first place.

How well does the alliance of government and organized labor work? Look at Detroit. Look at Chicago. Look at Toledo.

Look at Michigan. Look at California.

Look at our failed education system. Look at the cost of a college education. Look at our dependence of foreign oil. Look at the businesses and jobs driven out of this country.

Open your eyes and look!

Then get ready for the civil war that is coming. Don’t want to fight? Too bad, they are coming for you anyway and your money and freedom.

Macanudo – The #1 Cigar in the USA

2011-09-12T15:22:00.002-04:00

Why – I don’t know.

It tastes good and certainly built high quality and smokes just fine. But I don’t see what is so special about it.

Don’t get me wrong. I am not trying to put down the brand. Not at all. You can’t find my two previously mentioned favorites - Licenciados and La Flor del Caney - at a cigar bar or even a small cigar store. You usually have to order my top choices on – line.

But every cigar seller carries Macanudo and it is always a safe choice for a good cigar.

This cigar is the standard and is the price barometer. At usually around $125 for 20, or $6 a cigar per box – $8 per single - the rest of the cigar prices tell you whether you got a ‘premium’ or a ‘cheapo’ in your hand (twss).

My Licenciados go for around $90 for 25, which puts them in the ‘cheap’ column, but I see then as an absolute steal at that price.

Just like wine - you sometimes get what you pay for, you sometimes find a bargain and sometimes you get ripped off.

By the way, Licenciados used to go for $75 a box but demand is driving the price up. All my bragging on that cigar is now killing me! Good job, Faldo.

Anyway, back to the Macanudo.

From the company General Cigar, the Macanudo originated in Jamaica in 1868, Macanudo was introduced to the US market by General Cigar in 1971, widely known for its mild flavor and body. Due to unfavorable conditions in Jamaica, such as the weather, Macanudo cigars are now produced in the Dominican Republic.

All Macanudo cigars are made with the finest Connecticut shade wrappers, mild yet flavorful twice-aged Dominican fillers, and binders grown in the San Andres and Tuxtla Valley of Mexico. The result is a consistent cigar that always delivers a distinctively smooth and mellow taste.

These great cigars are perfect for both men and women because of the smooth, robust taste and are best known for their smoothness and consistency.

General Cigar is one of very few manufacturers that actually plants, grows, harvests, and processes its own Connecticut shade wrappers; in fact, General is probably the number-two grower in the Connecticut River Valley, second only to an individual farmer named Oliver Thrall.

Macanudo does have specialty releases of their cigars; special years, specially aged types, a maduro and a robust strength. All made with the same high quality and consistency.

Macanudo is #1 for a reason. You really can’t go wrong choosing this brand.

2011-09-11T08:29:00.005-04:00

There is no better example of liberal weakness and utter failure than the site of the New York 9/11 attack. Bill Clinton caused it by his weakness in foreign policy admitted Bin Laden himself.

And ten years later, there is still nothing more at the site but a hole in the ground - which liberals can't tell their asses from.

A free market capitalist system would have re-built the towers - bigger, better and in record time!

But the companies and jobs used it as an excuse to leave New York for lower taxes. The truth is New York doesn't need that office space anymore. Any business that can flee liberal cities and the liberals running them, does.

And now a paid advertisement Faldo rejected - on the ten year anniversary of the worst main land attack by a foreign enemy:

"From the NY Times to Jihadists everywhere.

Is your terror cell living in terror?
Is your safe house not that safe?

If you want your sleeper cell to sleep safely....read the NY Times!

Jihadists everywhere depend on the NY Times for the information you cannot get anywhere else! Information comes from liberals inside the US government and we print it just for you!

Here is a testimonial from Jihadist Leader, I’shav Herboush: "I saved my sleeper cell at the last minute, thanks to the NY Times!"

Did you know your phone calls were being traced?
Did you know your money transfers were being intercepted?

Well, now thanks to the NY Times, you do! Terrorists around the globe depend on the NY Times to stay one step ahead of the infidels, and any Republican administration!"

Another testimonial from Mi'balz Zarhari: "I re-routed my cash transfers a different way, thanks to the NY Times!"

You will find all of the secret stuff that the Great Satan is doing to protect itself and to stop you from future attacks!

Plus we have exciting bonus features like daily attacks on the infidels and their capitalist system by Maureen O'Doud, Paul Krugman, Tom Freidman, and a real hater of the USA, Muhammad Al’Stram.

Not to mention our entire front page is designed to demoralize the infidels and give Jihadists - and liberals - new hope!

Gift subscriptions are available.

We at the NY Times offer quantity discounts for your really large sleeper cells, and educational discounts for your training facilities.

Read the NY Times and your sleeper cells can sleep safely!

Even in the deepest darkest cave, you will be the first to know what the infidels are planning next to stop you.

The NY Times. the Jihadist's …and liberal’s best friend!"

end of advertisement -

Douge2’s Humor Corner – Doctor Visits

2011-09-10T11:40:00.004-04:00

If Annette Melton is what a biker chick looks like...Faldo is heading to the nearest Schwinn dealer!

I’ll Bet Blackbeard Never Had This Problem

A young woman goes to her doctor's office, afraid of the strange development on the inside of her thighs . . . a green spot on the inside of each.

"They won't wash off, they won't scrape off and they seem to be getting worse."

The doctor assures her he'll get to the bottom of the problem, and tells her not to worry until the tests come back.

A few days later, the woman's phone rings. Much to her relief, it's the doctor. She immediately begs to know what's causing the spots.

The doctor says, "You're perfectly healthy - - there's no problem. But I'm wondering, is your boyfriend a Harley guy?"

The woman stammers, "Why, yes, but how did you know?"

"Tell him his earrings aren't real gold."

The Full Latte

An Irish woman of advanced age visited her physician to ask his advice on reviving her husband's libido.

‘What about trying Viagra?,” asked the doctor

“Not a chance”, she said. “He won't even take an aspirin.”

“Not a problem,” replied the doctor. “Give him an 'Irish Viagra'. It's when you drop the Viagra tablet into his coffee. He won't even taste it. Give it a try and call me in a week to let me know how things went.”

It wasn't a week later when she called the doctor, who directly inquired as to her progress.

The poor dear exclaimed, “Oh, faith, bejaysus and begorrah! T'was horrid! Just terrible, doctor!”

“Really? What happened?” asked the doctor.

“Well, I did as you advised and slipped it in his coffee and the effect was almost immediate. He jumped straight up, with a twinkle in his eye and with his pants a-bulging fiercely! With one swoop of his arm, he sent me cups and tablecloth flying, ripped me clothes to tatters and took me then and there passionately on the tabletop! It was a
nightmare, I tell you, an absolute nightmare!”

“Why so terrible?” asked the doctor, “Do you mean the sex your husband provided wasn't good?”

“Freakin' jaysus, 'twas the best sex I've had in 25 years! But sure as I'm sittin' here, I'll never be able to show me face in Starbucks again!”

Faldo Finished 7th in World Sports Exchange Freeroll

2011-09-08T05:25:00.008-04:00

Bigbrimar showing another great hobby out there on Long Lake near Alpena. Nice smallmouth bass there, Bri!

World Sports Exchange is still open to US players for poker. It is a sports book site with a poker room. Not much traffic on the poker site, but that is not why I am not playing for money there. I cannot find an easy way to get money to the site. I never could even before Black Friday.

The situation there is the same as it is at Poker4Ever – very little bling in this site, so I am playing in only the freerolls.

I probably would not put money in there right now given the current banking situation, but if I could safely – I would.

The tourney had 141 entries. My big break came when my (JJ) ran into (QQ), but I flopped a [J].

I got another break - this time from the competition - when I moved in with (Ad Qd) and got called by some big stacks holding (KT) and (Ac6c). I held on and tripled up!

After making the final table, my luck ran out. I had to go with (Kc Js) on a flop of [3h Ks 7h] and I was called by a (Kh 8h). The villain made his flush.

I’m losing to flushes at final tables lately. The ghost of Theedouble*d strikes again!

Faldo will probably stay away from the casinos, poker rooms and live poker games until after the New Year. I’ll just have to make due with a few freeroll tourneys and play chip SNG’s on-line for my poker fix for the rest of 2012.

Faldo is planning a return to the tournament chess circuit for the fall of 2011. Weather and tournament schedules will determine whether it is golf, chess or football watching. I will sprinkle in some on-line poker in there somewhere.

This plan will require brushing up on chess opening and endgame theory, not to mention some on – line and computer practice games.

Now I have a new problem of what to do with all my spare time.

The Labor Day Golf Weekend was a Disappointment.

2011-09-07T08:34:00.002-04:00

I got 36 holes in on Friday by playing with two balls - on 18 holes - by myself. Good thing I have a lot of practice at that.

Even so, my performance was terrible by the way (twss).

I did not play again until Monday. Not because Faldo was spent (twss), but because every golf partner I have was ‘busy’. Some were up north fishing, some were attending college football games, some were injured, some had to work, some were at hockey practice, some were running and/or participating in 30 fantasy football leagues at once. Some even used the excuse there “were at family functions.” How lame.

Oh, and Davethedog had Mary Kay commitments and dishes to dry.

I think you are all familiar with my 2011 Faldo’s Caddie tryouts.

I even decided to give the ladies a chance to tee it up with Faldo this weekend. I asked every one of them I have ever known – even as far back a grade school, several times if they were available – with phone calls, emails, texts, flowers, candy-grams, Thong of the Month gift cards. No takers.

I even tried “Imdesperate dot com” and “Ipaycashjustforcompany dot net”. Uhhhh…..no sale.

Could it be that Faldo is not as handsome and fascinating as he thinks he is?
Naw, that can’t be it.

Monday as you may remember was the worst weather day of the weekend. So, naturally, that is when Faldo gets to return to the links. Another 36 holes – only this time with Bigbrimar and Bronco76.

They proceed to kick Faldo’s butt on three of the four nines! Bigbrimar shot his best rounds of the year, while Faldo continued to add chapters to his best-selling book;

“How to Screw Up Great Drives Even From the Center of the Fairway in Perfect Position and With a Great Lie.”

Subtitled: “How to Double-Bogey Lying One and Only 100 yards Out!” – or – “How to One-Putt for a Snowman” – or – “How to Make Sure Your Third Chip Attempt on a Hole Finally Stays on the Green.”

And it was embarrassing to have to bring in earth-moving equipment in to replace the divots I was making.

I did put my long woods back in the bag (twss) for another chance. I had taken them out because I was slicing them just ever so slightly out of play.

But recently the long irons I was hitting so well in June started chunking, skulling, worm-burning and shanking. So I thought I would try the woods again.

Well now I was hitting the ball with the woods - so far into the woods on the right - I did not have to waste any time looking for it. Bonus!

That gave me more time to pick up the club after it somehow ended up forty yards in front of where I was standing when I attempted the shot. How it got out there so far and fast – I'm sorry. I can't recall.

My clubs may need new grips. Yeah, that’s the problem……the clubs. It can’t be Faldo’s swing being off. Naw, that’s not it. No need to hit the driving range to figure it out.

Driving ranges are for sissies.

Just Another Illegal Alien on Wefare Who Says its Their Right!

2011-09-05T22:47:00.002-04:00

Meet Barack Hussein Obama's Aunt Zeituni Onyango!

You can't make this stuff up!

Hope you enjoyed your Labor Day. This is who and what your tax dollars are used for.

How is that hope and change working out for you?

The Community Card Review - Once Upon an America

2011-09-04T09:08:00.003-04:00

As I sit out on my deck watching a light drizzle while having my morning coffee, I wondered just how many great mornings like this my country and I have left. Because…

Once upon an America,

You could buy whatever light bulb you wanted. The government left the decision about lights in your own home up to you and the manufacturers of light bulbs. It worked.

Nobody complained about holiday decorations, or where the America flag could be flown, or even wondered if “under God” was Constitutional or not. It worked.

Kids didn’t learn about sex in school. Parents, teachers and principals handled school bullies, kids graduated knowing how to read, write and do math. They could even read their diplomas – that didn’t contain spelling errors. And teachers were not more interested in union rallies and political indoctrination than teaching. It worked.

We didn’t have to define what marriage was, what a family was or what the meaning of “is” is. It worked.

It was illegal to be here illegally. There were no sanctuary cities, only American cities. It worked.

You could buy a piece of land and keep it until you decided to sell it, and the government would not force you to sell it to preferred developers who donated to the Democrat Party. That was – and still is, but ignored – law of the land. It worked.

You could fly the friendly skies without being groped or the government taking a nude picture of you first. Those in charge of security actually focused on potential troublemakers – not on toddlers, nuns and 90-year old grandmothers. It worked.

Some women enjoyed being whistled at. Some thought it was rude. But nobody thought it was grounds for a lawsuit. It worked.

The government did not tell you how much healthcare you could afford or how much your doctor would be paid, because you paid for it yourself, and it worked.

The government didn’t force banks to lend money to people who couldn’t pay it back. Real Estate was a solid investment. It worked.

The government didn’t decide what companies could fail and which ones got propped up for political donations. The people who bought things and used services decided all that. It worked.

The government did not own car companies or told you what cars to buy. It worked.

The government wouldn’t dare tell an American company where they can build a new plant, because they figured the company knew best – which they did. It worked.

The government did not dictate what could be in your favorite food or the method it was to be cooked in. Trans-fats were not outlawed. Popcorn had butter, and food tasted great. It worked.

We were proud of our independence from government because we could manage our own affairs without government help. It worked.

The First Lady would not dare tell you what your children should eat. And it worked.

The President of the United States didn’t tell you that your grandmother should just take a pain pill instead of getting a life saving operation. But that was before government took over the medical field, provided school breakfasts, school lunches, school dinners. And it worked.

The President didn’t abuse interns and the First Ladies were proud of their country before their husband got the nomination for president, and the First Family’s preacher said “God bless America” instead of “God damn America.” It worked.

Attempting to blow up the Pentagon would have meant a life sentence, not a ticket to the inner circle of the President. It worked.

Anyone writing a song glorifying the killing of cops would have been vilified. Not invited to the White House for a Culture Night celebration. It worked.

A company could hire or fire you based on your performance. Not on how well you met a quota system designed to keep government off its back. It worked. And people worked.

So how about now in America? Has liberalism worked?

Chess Magic: I Got Rooked!

2011-09-03T09:24:00.004-04:00

White to move and win:

A man's home is his castle - until the judge throws his ass out and gives it to the courtesan. But I digress.

And a man's castle are his rooks!

The material is even, but Black has a pesky passed pawn (a pawn with no enemy pawns in front of him). Black's A-file pawn grows in power and as a threat as it moves closer to the back rank. If this pawn gets to a1, Black's King will have two wives (another Queen), which would be death for White.

I could start the jokes on how Black is also dead with two wives, but never mind.

Since the White King is still relatively safe compared to his enemy, he has a military decision to make.

So what does he do first? Attack or block the pawn?

The solution can be found by scrolling down the page and finding "Chess Magic Revealed" on the right side of the blog.

Football!......and THIS is on the Horizon....FYI

2011-09-01T16:30:00.001-04:00

We had a nice warm summer....but I remember shoveling A LOT of global warming last winter...and probably will have to this winter.

Douge2's Humor Corner - Thinking

2011-08-31T08:57:00.003-04:00

The Faldo Strategy

Near the end of a rainy day Sunday service, the Clergyman asked, “How many of you have forgiven your enemies?” About eighty percent of the congregation raised their hands.

The Man of the Cloth told the remaining people to take a minute to pray to God and forgive their enemies today. After the prayer session, the Preacher asked again, “How many of you have forgiven your enemies?”

All responded, except old Mr. Barnes who only attended the service when the weather was bad and he could not golf. The Clergyman asked, “It is good to see you here today Mr. Barnes. But are you not willing to forgive your enemies?”

Mr. Barnes replied, “I don’t have any.”

“That is wonderful Mr. Barnes. May I ask you how old you are?”

“I’m 98, Barnes replied gruffly.”

The congregation stood up and gave a round of thunderous applause.

The Preacher then asked, “Please, Mr. Barnes. Come up here in front of the congregation and tell us all how you lived to be 98 and not collect any enemies.”

Mr. Barnes walked to the front of the church, stopped in front of the pulpit and turned and faced the congregation.

Then he said in a strong voice, “I out-lived all them son’s a bitches.”

Women are Smart…They Think

A woman was walking along the beach and found the standard lamp that had washed up on shore, She rubbed it and the standard Genie popped out and gave her the standard three wishes.

The Genie told her, “But remember, whatever you wish for, your husband will get 10 times that amount.”

The woman said she understood and asked to be the most beautiful woman in the world as the first wish.

The Genie warned her that her husband will be 10 times more handsome than any man and no woman on the planet will be able to resist him. She said that was ok with her. So it was granted.

Her second wish was to be the richest person on the planet. She understood that her husband would have 10 times that amount, but what is his is hers since they are married.

For her final wish, she asked for a mild heart attack!

Not done. See comments.

Faldo Finished 9th and 6th in Poker4Ever Freerolls

2011-08-30T05:52:00.002-04:00

Poker4Ever (P4E) is still open to US players. I have very little bling in there (and not going to deposit any), but I have enough to be allow enter their few freerolls (FR). This one had 548 players in it.

Now the usual problem still exists with FR – especially those at P4E. Half the table (5 to 6 players) are sitting out and for the first 2 to 3 blind levels, the other two players are moving all-in with any two cards.

In addition, the blinds increase quickly – so the strategy of those 2 or 3 players at the start of the tourney is not necessarily a bad one. But I prefer to wait until I have two cards that at least are bigger than a 9 and live in the same general neighborhood or are the same color. Call me prejudice with poker cards.

After the initial carnage in the first three rounds of blinds, the game switches gears. The tight players still remain tight however.

The “lucky” all-in rabbits now have a lot of chips and tighten up to lock down mode. They now only play premium hands trying to trap the rocks and wait out the blinds, which are chewing up the stacks with super – turbo increases.

Here is where Faldo pounces. If I survived, I usually have the perfect middle stack. If my pocket nines, AQ and a suited Ace have held up, and I am still around, I am the other player’s worst nightmare.

My own tight image scares the rocks and the rabbits alike. The rocks still have a decent stack (they think) and won’t play because they figure I have something and don’t want to get knocked out. The former rabbits now have big stacks, but don’t want to get crippled by my medium one in a coin flip.

If my strategy is successful, I grow my medium army to a large army just stealing the blinds of the people sitting out.

We started with 548 players. We have 280 left, but when the sitter-outers (SOs) are blinded away, the player number drops to 120 in literally 2 hands! By this time in the tourney the blinds are really high, the SOs are gone and the real turbo tourney can begin.

I finished 9th in the hand just after the 10-player final table started when my AKs got called and beat by 44 and JJ. The other loser had less chips than me.

My 6th place finish was a real ugly beat. My 9h 9s tripped on the flop of [9d Ac 8c] and the villain called with (As 4c). Two more clubs came runner – runner.

I thought ONLY PokerStars did this to me – and only on Tuesday Night against Theedouble*d?

Enjoying Cigars – La Flor de Caney

2011-08-29T05:54:00.003-04:00

This is Faldo’s number two cigar behind Licenciados.

This is a slightly stronger cigar, and it is about the same price as the Licenciados. This means it will not break your wallet to buy a box of these, and it competes in quality with the best of them.

La Flor de Caney is an old Cuban brand now made in the Dominican Republic and released in 2001 by Mike’s Cigars. It went on sale one time at the same time I was stocking up on Licenciados, so I bought a box.

When I tried it - and liked it - I was happy that I now had a ‘heavier’ cigar that I enjoyed. So of course I had to research where the cigar came from and was shocked to learn that the master blender was none other than Manuel Quesada.

Senor Quesada is personally responsible for the Licenciados, Fonseca and Casa Blanca brands also. La Flor de Caney is made with the finest tobacco from the Cibao valley in the Dominican Republic, with Cameroon wrapper aged in tercio, letting the leaves sweat in their own juices for the entire aging process. This is a top quality medium bodied cigar at a non-top quality price.

La Flor del Caney comes in the standard sizes; Churchill – 7”x 50, Lonsdale – 6.5”x43, Toro (Faldo’s favorite) – 6”x 50, Corona – 5.5” x 43.

It also has a “Bouquet” size – 4 3/4 x 59 – with a unique bulge in the center (twss). This is a nice size cigar for a ‘quick smoke’.

La Flor del Caney is one of the best coming out of the Matasa factory. Don’t judge this product by the price (around $75 a box of 25). This is one of the best in the market today. If it was sold by a major company this cigar would be over $100.00 a box.

Faldo did try the Fonseca and the Casa Blanca brands by Manuel Quesada. I’ll go ahead and report on both of those on the next cigar report.

Felonious Munk - Stop It B! OBAMA PAY YOUR BILLS

2011-08-28T14:11:00.000-04:00

This is Painful to Watch - But Watch You Must

2011-08-26T05:31:00.003-04:00

Democrat Rep. Hank Johnson - Georgia

Our poor military has to fight battles - WITH CONGRESS - because of an idiot voting block here at home.

This is your Democrat Congress at work.

This is your military-hating Democrat Congress at work.

This is your Marxist-based environmentally challenged Democrat Congress at work.

We in Michigan cannot laugh too loudly. We elected a dumber communist in Carl Lenin and a buffet tipping over and emptying Debbie Stabbing-me-now.

It goes without saying that this Admiral is a better man than me. I could not have withstood the torture of listening to a "boss" of mine that is this incompetent.

The Community Card Review - Democrats Are on the Warpath. Get Prepared to Engage - or Lose Your Country

2011-08-23T20:46:00.005-04:00

An Ohio Democrat government official proudly placing communists on his office wall.

Democrat Maxine Waters of California said that the Tea Party members “can go straight to hell!” I guess she missed the Obama speech on civility.

Of course Obama didn’t hear to his own speech he read off the teleprompter as he told his supporters to “go to war” against the Republicans.

All the Tea Party - and most of the Republicans want - is for our government to actually follow the Constitution. Democrats can’t stand the Constitution. It is an impediment to the dictatorship the Democrats desire.

A few weeks ago, the NAACP celebrated a 102 year anniversary in Los Angeles. President Benjamin Todd Jealous set the agenda for the organization for the coming year.

Looking out over the disaster that is the Obama Administration, Jealous tells the audience that the number one issue for Americans who happen to be Black (AWHTBB) is voting rights.

Voting rights????? Really???

Jealous called for his liberal racist group to mobilize to “stop restrictive laws that oppress voting rights for AWHTBB.” He claimed these laws were every bit as bad as the Jim Crow laws Southern Democrats once enforced.

Of course he forgot to mention that it WAS the Southern DEMOCRATS passing and enforcing the Jim Crow laws. This piece of history must have slipped his mind. An honest mistake I'm sure.

The actual new voting laws just require voters to show photo ID at the polls. It has nothing to do with race. It has to do with stopping voter fraud - which is a way of life in Democrat districts and is on page ONE of their playbook. As the Democrat hero Joseph Stalin said, "It is not voters that win elections, but who counts them."

With AWHTBB unemployment over 16%, the recession getting worse, the housing market in the tank, over 50% of AWHTBB never graduate high school and a test cheating scandal in the Atlanta school system where AWHTBB students were used as pawns to get government money - and Ben Jealous thinks voting rights are the number one concern for AWHTBB???

Obama met with Jealous and Jealous gave is "voting rights" speech two days later.

Here is the real deal. The Obama Administration is deathly worried about AWHTBB voter apathy in this coming election. The "hope" was not delivered and the "change" made everything worse.

The AWHTBB voter base is actually demoralized. They had a Black president and a Democrat Congress in full control of the government - and life for AWHTBB's got much MUCH worse.

The true sign of mental illness is doing the exact same failed policies over and over again and expecting a different result.

Which explains liberalism.

Golf Chatter at the 19th Hole

2011-08-21T09:03:00.005-04:00

Well, the Beerhog Open came and went. 128 players, a great time, great food, great prizes and of course free beer.

Faldo’s team just missed the predicted score of -32 under for the 18-hole scramble. Faldo puts the blame for this on nobody! You play as a team, you win as a team and you lose as a team. That is how Faldo rolls.

However, his playing partners really did stink that day. Faldo carried the team, but penalty strokes killed our score. We were penalized strokes for all kinds of violations.

Davethedog was assessed penalty stokes for Drives not Reaching the Ladie’s Tees, Contamination of the Ponds with Golf Balls, and for Putting Like Magilla Gorilla.

Bronco76 was assessed penalties for Making Divot Chucks that Were so Big (how big were they?) That Needed their Own Zip Code, and for Buying Beer From the Cute Beer Cart Girl Even Though There Was Free Beer On the Course.

Bigbrimar was assessed the penalty strokes for Only Using the Left Side of the Course and for Putting With Undersized Panty Hose On.

Bigbri also was assessed a team penalty for “losing” ALL the Team Jello Shots.

Faldo was even penalized one stroke for Making Too Many Putts Over 50 Feet. It's the new Obama Federal Law where those that make the putts MUST give to those who do not.

Faldo of course played flawlessly, but the penalty strokes (26 of them) left us at -4, which left us just shy of the winning team ….. at -13 under.

Beerhog once again announced the prize winners after dinner with class.

For the longest drive he announced Phil McCraken.

For closest to the stick, it was Mike Hunt.

And Beerhog proudly announced the winner of the Ladies Longest Drive; Amanda Huginkissme.

The golf season is heading into the best time. The rates will be dropping and it is time to hit some of the more expensive courses, if you have not already.

Fall golf is great! And it usually lasts until November.

First of all, the courses are rarely crowded. Once football starts, the courses empty out around noon. Low rates and you can play at a quicker pace. You can’t beat that!

The weather is cooler but still nice.The tree colors are spectacular.

Then, the trees get bare and those stupid leaves don’t slow your ball flight. [Faldo has only heard of this and of course never experienced hitting a ball into a tree]

And the mosquito, horse and deer flies are gone!

When the snow comes, and you know your next golf shot on a golf course is at least 5 months away, you will be glad you got the rounds in you did this fall.

Obama to Give New Speech on the Economy - After a Wine Tasting Tour of Course

2011-08-19T05:46:00.004-04:00

Yes, as soon as his 22nd vacation in less than three years is over, and he returns from Martha's Vineyard and the Hamptons where he dines on lobster and kobe steak - the "shared sacrifice" demanding president will give us a new speech about his "lazer-like focus on job creation."

The only thing missing from this picture is the wheel barrel full of bull manure that is under that wall mounted teleprompter.

Douge2's Humor Corner - Diversity Training

2011-08-17T12:22:00.003-04:00

A Great New Business

Why didn't the U.S. Government think of this??? A friend of mine just started his own business in Afghanistan. He's making land mines that look like prayer mats. It's doing so well, business is booming, and he says, "Prophets are going through the roof!"

GENERAL PUBLIC NOTICE REGARDING MY DOG:

Please be advised I am sick and tired of receiving questions about my dog who mauled three Muslims sitting on a rug next to my retaining wall, six illegal aliens wearing Barack Obama t-shirts, four Democrats wearing Nancy Pelosi t-shirts, five phone operators who asked me to press #1 for English, ten flag burning liberals from Ann Arbor, and a Pakistani taxi driver.

For the last time......The dog is NOT for sale!!!

A Lunch Chat

Two Middle Eastern mothers are sitting in a cafe chatting. The older of the two pulls a bag out of her purse and starts flipping through photos. They start reminiscing.

"This is my oldest son, Mujibar. He would have been 24 years old now."
"Yes, I remember him as a baby," says the other mother cheerfully.

"He's a martyr now though" the mother confides.
"Oh, so sad dear," says the other.

"And this is my second son, Khalid. He would have been 21."
"Oh, I remember him," says the other happily, "he had such curly hair when he was born."

"He's a martyr too." says the mother quietly.
"Oh, gracious me . . ," says the other.

"And this is my third son. My baby. My beautiful Ahmed. He would have been 18," she whispers.

"Yes" says the friend enthusiastically, "I remember when he first started school."
"He's a martyr also," says the mother, with tears in her eyes.

After a pause and a deep sigh, the second Muslim mother looks wistfully at the photographs and, searching for the right words, says …

"They blow up so fast, don't they?"

A Brave New World

A fifteen year old Amish boy and his father were in a mall for the first time. They were amazed at everything they saw, especially these two shiny metal doors that kept opening and closing (an elevator).

The boy asked, “Father, what is that?”

And the father honestly answered, “Son, I have never seen anything like this before in my life. I don’t know what it is.”

While the boy and father were standing there, a little old lady hobbled into the elevator and the doors closed again. When the elevator doors re-opened, a 24-year old hottie in a mini-skirt came out.

The father quietly said to the boy, “Son…..go get your mother.”

The 20 Dumbest Things in Sports – The Top 10

2011-08-16T05:47:00.003-04:00

10B. Soccer is dumber than basketball. There, I said it.

10. Sideline reporters and sideline interviews– Canned responses and a total waste of time. I would rather watch the cheerleaders.

9. Four NFL Pre-season games – Two too many.

8. Spring Major League Baseball games in cold weather cities - Just too dumb, and for no reason. Does it make sense to pull all your multi-million dollar athletes from where they were just playing in 80 degree weather at half speed, and drop them in 40 degree weather to go full speed? Real smart.

7. Touch up “icing” in pro hockey – broken legs and ankles for no good reason at all. Someone will get killed before they change it – the very next day. So why wait? Because the NHL is stupid. I still have even MORE proof of how stupid the owners and the NHL league is. Be patient.

6. World Series in November – THIS will happen someday. >>>> Let’s say it’s a Chicago Cubs – Boston Red Sox match up where game after game is called because of SNOW – and when they do play – its 20 degrees outside. Cut the schedules and have the season end the first week of October. See #8.

5. Super Bowl Halftime Show – Turn in your Man-card if you watch this annual disaster of an event. Pathetic. All the women and children want to watch it. I rest my case.

4. All-Star Games – They all suck. Even baseball’s is a joke. The players want the time off. Give it to them. Getting voted as an all-star is the honor, not playing the game. It turns into three more days of more work, more travel and more idiotic interviews with idiot interviewers.

3. Astro-turf – The stuff today is great and I guess Astro-turf was the Model-T of fake grass. But a thin rubber mat over cement - with no give what so ever – was just wrong! Owners who used it should have been sued or made to play sports on it themselves. But just until their knees and joints were destroyed - like in a week.

2. The BCS – Two more games is all we are asking for. After the bowls, have the coaches vote on who are the four best teams. Coaches in the "top 10" BCS poll get no vote, and the named ballots would be published. Get it done. It would be as big as the Super Bowl. Hey…..that might be the reason it is not done.

1. Instigator rule in Pro Hockey – The NHL always determines what the hardcore hockey fan likes about the game, and then proceeds to eliminate that aspect from the game. “The game within the game” is what the true hockey fan lives for during the regular season. When the new gunfighter was going to face the old guard “policeman”, you could feel the electricity in the air. The NHL saw this and said it had to go.

So you see, it is not just Congress and Democrat voters that are brain dead stupid. The NHL ties them in that department.

Urinating on the people who support you, and telling them it is raining, only works just so long. Unless you are Democrat that is.