It was a marathon after the 2nd break. No, we didn’t make a record 3rd break, but I don’t think we ever had such long gaps in between eliminations as we did this tourney. It is more proof that we have some serious poker players in this league.
We had 20 players make it to the virtual felt tonight – including two new players – GvSu2009 and Rjmech. Welcome Jacob and Randolph to the NPP league. On to the action!
9 min: Crackbuyer (20th) thinks it is safe to take a stab at a big pot holding (KK) and finds Addictedtoem had the case (6). That is not the last flop the lady nails on a great poker player. Who could that be I wonder? I’m just say’in.
15 min: GvSu2009 (19th) gets the patented NPP welcome for new meat. I didn’t see it but I know it almost always happens.
20 min: Jager244 (18th) I heard had his (44) killed off by RKidder51400’s flush after being called in four places! Talk about schooling and a feeding frenzy!
30 min: Short stacked LittleRedElf (17th), our current point leader, is treated rudely this evening as his (T6) is met by Akensi’s (A8) after a flop of [268].
32 min: Suetman1 (16th) has her (AQ) run into ThePunk75’s (AA). Must have been sitting in an ex-Faldo chair, Momma Sirgash.
39 min: Whilden (15th) has his (TT) get squashed by Kensik and his (AJ) with a [J] on the flop.
43 min: Theedouble*d (14th) blinds out here. His (44) had lost a coin flip to Douge2’s (AK) earlier and was too short-stacked to continue.
46 min: In a battle of two other short-stacks, Absea98 (13th) has his (TT) get bowled over by Tigercub8189’s (AJ) with an [A] on the flop AND river.
1st Break:
Douge2 6685
ThePunk75 3720
Kensik 3670
RKidder51400 2835
Akensi 2530
Rjmech 2305
Tigercub8189 2070
Mikeniks-Faldo 1905
Biglou93 1665
7Jokers 1120
Addictedtoem 970
Rennzzo 575
64 min: I, Mikeniks-Faldo (12th) refuse to believe Addictedtoem has hit the flop – HARD. I over-play my (QQ) and am shown that my Ray Charles - Stevie Wonder – Helen Keller - opponent reading ability is still on full display. The flop is [87A] and she has (A7), instead of the open-ended straight draw or flush draw I thought I was up against. I thought the [A] on the river was a nice touch also.
65 min: While doing primal screams and sticking pins in a Poker Stars voodoo doll after my debacle, I missed Rjmech (11th) and his tale of woe. Making the break is a nice showing for an NPP 1st timer.
68 min: I also missed Tigercub8189 (10th) and his bubble finish. You took my spot bro!
72 min: A short-stacked 7Jokers (9th) goes all-in with (Ts 9s) and is called by ThePunk75 with (KQ). Even though a [9] hits the flop, a [Q] is in there too.
79 min: Addictedtoem (8th) took a big hit earlier (that is what happens when someone holds Faldo’s ‘lucky’ chips) and is extremely short-stacked. She makes her stand with (A4) and is called by Rennzzo with (K2). She gets a [4] on the flop, but runner –runner [2][2] come on the turn and river. I think it is my chips that did her in.
80 min: RKidder51400 (7th) has her (A4) run into ThePunk75’s (AT).
With six players left, we battle on here for 15 minutes.
95 min: Interesting hand here. After a flop and turn of [598][7], Douge2 (6th) moves all-in with (87). After using just about all his bank, BigLou93 makes the call with (99), and the river changes nothing.
With five players left, we battle on for another 17 minutes!
112 min: The shortest stack Kensik (5th) has to try it with (Ad 6d) and a flop of [634]. ThePunk75 makes the call with (55) and a [2] hits the river again.
119 min: Fearing the Poker Stars Break Monster is a real concern. Short stacked Akensi (4th) goes all-in with (93) and a flop of [3J4] and is called by ThePunk75 with (QJ).
2nd Break:
ThePunk75 16327
Rennzzo 9268
Biglou93 4405
Ok, the big stack should make quick work of these guys, right? Uh….no - 15 minutes later….
135 min: ThePunk75 12500, Biglou95 8500 and Rennzzo 7500. What a battle!
147 min: Rennzzo (3rd) survives a couple times, but finally his (JT) is crushed by ThePunk75’s (AT)
Rennzzo’s effort here was unbelievable and shows why he is the current point leader. Due to family duties at his house, he sat out 45 minutes of the 1st hour and was down to 300 chips! He came rocketing back to finish 3rd. Great job, Rennzzo.
Heads up: ThePunk75 17500 – Biglou93 12500
155 min: Biglou 16700 - The Punk 13300
160 min: ThePunk 16000 - Biglou 14000
165 min: ThePunk 18500 - Biglou 11500
Yeah, another marathon battle of 19 minutes before:
168 min: Biglou93 (2nd) calls all-in with (JT) and sees ThePunk75’s (A8) hit two pair on the flop. Just a great fight by these two fine players and congratulations to ThePunk75 on his second NPP win!
1st – ThePunk75 20 points
2nd – Biglou93 14 pts
3rd – Rennzzo 10 pts
4th – Akensi 7 pts
5th – Kensik 5 pts
6th – Douge2 4 pts
7th – Rkidder51400 3 pts
8th – Addictedtoem 2 pts
9th – 7Jokers 1 pt
Current standings on right side of the blog!
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Saturday, February 07, 2009
Full Tilt Poker Back on Faldo’s Good Side
I finally got my cash out – which is really what it is all about. Oh the trials and tribulations a US citizen has to go thru, simply because the government has not figured out how to get THEIRS. If you think gambling laws are there to protect people, I want some of what you are drinking because it has to be strong stuff.
I asked for a cash out from Full Tilt Poker in mid-November, doing a transfer. My bank had changed hands since the last time tried to do this, but the account number was the same. I didn’t expect a problem.
Well, after three weeks, the money was nowhere. Not in my bank and not in my Full Tilt Account. Emails to Full Tilt Poker’s 24/7 support team got me no response for two weeks! This did not give me a ‘warm fuzzy’. Now I was even worried about the cash still left in Full Tilt.
Finally, I got a response saying the money was on hold at their bank for some reason and that my cash out would be arriving soon. For my wait, they loaded 10% of my cash out back into my account for my trouble.
After Christmas, I got another email stating the money would be back in my account soon. In mid-January, the money re-appeared as promised and another 10% was added to my account for the delay!
I then asked for a check, and they asked for a fax of my driver’s license and some utility bill statements. Once they accepted that, the check arrived this early February. So it took two and a half months from start to finish, but I think the slide is greased for the next time and I will ask for a check.
Ok, in Full Tilt’s defense:
A) My bank did change and maybe their policies were different.
B) Maybe my bank never contacted me that there was a deposit they were not accepting
C) They added 20% to my account (10% a month) for my trouble – a nice ROI
What Full Tilt did wrong:
A) Their 24/7 support was awful, pathetic and disgraceful. Not to answer an email about someone’s money for five weeks is unacceptable.
B) Their lack of follow up emails for another month is not good either.
C) Full Tilt said it was their bank that was the hold up, but never explained why.
Bottom line is that money in limbo is never a good thing, and Full Tilt needs to be more responsive in their customer service. Their 20% ‘apology’ is generous now that I received the cash out, but a daily return of emails should be their policy, since they don’t have a phone line.
Anyway, Faldo returns to playing on Full Tilt and will be working hard to build up to another request for a check.
I asked for a cash out from Full Tilt Poker in mid-November, doing a transfer. My bank had changed hands since the last time tried to do this, but the account number was the same. I didn’t expect a problem.
Well, after three weeks, the money was nowhere. Not in my bank and not in my Full Tilt Account. Emails to Full Tilt Poker’s 24/7 support team got me no response for two weeks! This did not give me a ‘warm fuzzy’. Now I was even worried about the cash still left in Full Tilt.
Finally, I got a response saying the money was on hold at their bank for some reason and that my cash out would be arriving soon. For my wait, they loaded 10% of my cash out back into my account for my trouble.
After Christmas, I got another email stating the money would be back in my account soon. In mid-January, the money re-appeared as promised and another 10% was added to my account for the delay!
I then asked for a check, and they asked for a fax of my driver’s license and some utility bill statements. Once they accepted that, the check arrived this early February. So it took two and a half months from start to finish, but I think the slide is greased for the next time and I will ask for a check.
Ok, in Full Tilt’s defense:
A) My bank did change and maybe their policies were different.
B) Maybe my bank never contacted me that there was a deposit they were not accepting
C) They added 20% to my account (10% a month) for my trouble – a nice ROI
What Full Tilt did wrong:
A) Their 24/7 support was awful, pathetic and disgraceful. Not to answer an email about someone’s money for five weeks is unacceptable.
B) Their lack of follow up emails for another month is not good either.
C) Full Tilt said it was their bank that was the hold up, but never explained why.
Bottom line is that money in limbo is never a good thing, and Full Tilt needs to be more responsive in their customer service. Their 20% ‘apology’ is generous now that I received the cash out, but a daily return of emails should be their policy, since they don’t have a phone line.
Anyway, Faldo returns to playing on Full Tilt and will be working hard to build up to another request for a check.
Thursday, February 05, 2009
Little Red Elf Heated Up in January
Tales from the Poker Stars wars! NPP players kicking butt!
Let Little Red Elf {Dave} tell it:
“I've been fortunate to win 3 tourneys and finished 2nd in two others on PokerStars in this past January.
The first win was in Pot Limit Omaha on the 8th. There were 90 people paying the entry and it lasted about 5 hours before the final hand was played. I took down 20 times my buy in for my efforts.
On the 15th, I won a Limit 7 Card Stud tourney. There were only 56 people, (not many stud players out there). The payout for that event was 17 times my buy-in for about 3.5 hours work.
The last win was on the 20th and the event was Limit Omaha Hi/Lo. There were 108 players. This tourney lasted 5.5 hours before I was able to take down the 23 times entry prize.
And finally, on Feb. 4, I entered a Razz tourney at 7:45 PM Tuesday, 15 minutes before the NPP league. It was just over 100 players and just finished after 6 hours. I got 2nd place. My payout was 17 times the buy-in.”
Wow! I win two or three tourneys a year and LRE wins that many in a month - with 3 seconds!
The other thing that is special is that LRE plays all the games, just like Faldo does – only successfully!
Nice job Little Red Elf!
Let Little Red Elf {Dave} tell it:
“I've been fortunate to win 3 tourneys and finished 2nd in two others on PokerStars in this past January.
The first win was in Pot Limit Omaha on the 8th. There were 90 people paying the entry and it lasted about 5 hours before the final hand was played. I took down 20 times my buy in for my efforts.
On the 15th, I won a Limit 7 Card Stud tourney. There were only 56 people, (not many stud players out there). The payout for that event was 17 times my buy-in for about 3.5 hours work.
The last win was on the 20th and the event was Limit Omaha Hi/Lo. There were 108 players. This tourney lasted 5.5 hours before I was able to take down the 23 times entry prize.
And finally, on Feb. 4, I entered a Razz tourney at 7:45 PM Tuesday, 15 minutes before the NPP league. It was just over 100 players and just finished after 6 hours. I got 2nd place. My payout was 17 times the buy-in.”
Wow! I win two or three tourneys a year and LRE wins that many in a month - with 3 seconds!
The other thing that is special is that LRE plays all the games, just like Faldo does – only successfully!
Nice job Little Red Elf!
Wednesday, February 04, 2009
Jager244 Wins His First NPP Title!
The second largest field in NPP history was no problem for Jager244 tonight.
Round five of the new season welcomed new players, CardHockey15 and Wrongwayman, and an old player and past tourney winner McGuiness007. Welcome and welcome back gentlemen.
On to the action:
17 min: A family pot ensues with six limpers. What a nice friendly table this is. Mr. Action, Mikeniks-Faldo folds. The flop is [5h Kc Ks]. Maybe my AK-suited was worth a call there. Oh well.
Acesovru (23rd) makes a pot size bet and only McGuiness007 calls. The turn is a [Qh] and McGuiness leads out with a baby bet which is called. The river is a [Th] and they get all-in and 007 has the higher two pair.
34 min: The talent at NPP is undeniable as it takes twice as long for our next exit as 7Jokers (AA) and McGuiness007 (QQ) eliminate Wrongwayman (22nd). Don’t take it wrong, man. We treat all newcomers this way. Jager244 met the same fate his first round.
37 min: Douge2 (21st) is out and I didn’t catch it.
42 min: Nixi44 (20th) had her (JJ) run into Mistermusic5’s (QQ). She must have had Faldo’s seat at another table. Ouch – but it is called poker.
58 min: The Poker Stars Break Monster works overtime to eliminate CardHockey15 (18th) and Sirgash (17th).
1st Break:
Whilden 4214
Biglou93 4085
McGuiness007 3695
Absea98 3690
Mistermusic5 2920
Mikeniks-Faldo 2405
7Jokers 2363
Theedouble*d 1860
Jager244 1715
Tigercub8189 1515
RKidder51400 1433
Hlam14 1300
Rennzzo 1275
LittleRedElf 1126
Suetman1 505
Crackbuyer 399
A new record for the number of players alive at the break! Wow!
63 min: Theedouble*d (16th) tries it with (AJ) and sees 7Jokers (88) hit an [8] on the flop.
65 min: Last week’s champ CrackBuyer (15th) is short stacked and makes a stand with (Ah 2h) against another short stack – Suetman1 with (Ac Jc), and loses and goes out soon after.
74 min: McGuiness007 (14th) has been bleeding chips since the break and gets a chance to load up as his (KK) all-in is met by LittleRedElf’s (A8). The cards stay sour for him as LRE hits his [A] on the flop. Ouch!
77 min: The valiant short stack battle of Suetman1 (13th) ends cruelly as her (QJ) loses to Rennzzo’s (35) call as [55x] falls on the flop. Carnage begins for 3 minutes.
82 min: Two more short stacks collide as RKidder51400’s (12th) call with (Ah Th) gets run down as Tigercub8189’s bluff with (96) in the blind as [875] falls on the flop. Wow!
83 min: Whilden (11th) has his (44) run into Tigercub8189’s (KK) AND Mistermusic5’s (AA).
84 min: This made Tigercub8189 (10th) have to try with (KJ) but he cannot over take Jager244’s (77). And then calm fell over the poker final table.
97 min: Hlam14 (9th) has his (JJ) run into to Jager244’s (QQ).
100 min: Absea98 (8th) has his (AJ) run into Jager244’s (AK). Can you feel the rush coming?
108 min: Our short-stacked 1st quarter point leader Rennzzo (7th) has to try with (A4), but 7Jokers runs him down as his (KQ) gets help from a [Q5Q] flop.
113 min: Mikeniks-Faldo (6th) goes with (Ad 5d) only to see that 7Jokers is holding (AA).
2nd Break:
7Jokers 9063
Mistermusic5 7839
Jager244 7463
LittleRedElf 6730
Biglou93 3405
125 min: BigLou93 (5th) goes it with (KQ) and runs into LittleRedElf’s (JJ).
130 min: A seesaw hand sees Mistermusic5 (4th) with his (AT) spike an [A] on the flop against LittleRedElf’s (KK), but Poker Stars wants the table and a [K] arrives on the river.
140 min: LittleRedElf (3rd) with (Ah 6h) cannot run down Jager244’s (A8).
Heads up with Jager244 (24000) and 7Jokers (10500).
145 min: Just getting ready to get the chip counts for the next update when after a flop of [T6J] 7Jokers goes all-in with (T8) and is called by Jager244 with (Q9) and the open ended straight draw – which hits!!! Ouch to 7Jokers, a nice comeback to LittleRedElf, and congratulations to Jager244 and welcome to the NPP Walk of Fame!
1st – Jager244 20 points
2nd – 7Jokers 14 pts
3rd – LittleRedElf 10 pts
4th – Mistermusic5 7 pts
5th – BigLou93 5 pts
6th – Mikeniks-Faldo 4 pts
7th – Rennzzo 3 pts
8th – Absea98 2 pts
9th – Hlam14 1 pt
The point standings are on the right side of the blog.
Round five of the new season welcomed new players, CardHockey15 and Wrongwayman, and an old player and past tourney winner McGuiness007. Welcome and welcome back gentlemen.
On to the action:
17 min: A family pot ensues with six limpers. What a nice friendly table this is. Mr. Action, Mikeniks-Faldo folds. The flop is [5h Kc Ks]. Maybe my AK-suited was worth a call there. Oh well.
Acesovru (23rd) makes a pot size bet and only McGuiness007 calls. The turn is a [Qh] and McGuiness leads out with a baby bet which is called. The river is a [Th] and they get all-in and 007 has the higher two pair.
34 min: The talent at NPP is undeniable as it takes twice as long for our next exit as 7Jokers (AA) and McGuiness007 (QQ) eliminate Wrongwayman (22nd). Don’t take it wrong, man. We treat all newcomers this way. Jager244 met the same fate his first round.
37 min: Douge2 (21st) is out and I didn’t catch it.
42 min: Nixi44 (20th) had her (JJ) run into Mistermusic5’s (QQ). She must have had Faldo’s seat at another table. Ouch – but it is called poker.
58 min: The Poker Stars Break Monster works overtime to eliminate CardHockey15 (18th) and Sirgash (17th).
1st Break:
Whilden 4214
Biglou93 4085
McGuiness007 3695
Absea98 3690
Mistermusic5 2920
Mikeniks-Faldo 2405
7Jokers 2363
Theedouble*d 1860
Jager244 1715
Tigercub8189 1515
RKidder51400 1433
Hlam14 1300
Rennzzo 1275
LittleRedElf 1126
Suetman1 505
Crackbuyer 399
A new record for the number of players alive at the break! Wow!
63 min: Theedouble*d (16th) tries it with (AJ) and sees 7Jokers (88) hit an [8] on the flop.
65 min: Last week’s champ CrackBuyer (15th) is short stacked and makes a stand with (Ah 2h) against another short stack – Suetman1 with (Ac Jc), and loses and goes out soon after.
74 min: McGuiness007 (14th) has been bleeding chips since the break and gets a chance to load up as his (KK) all-in is met by LittleRedElf’s (A8). The cards stay sour for him as LRE hits his [A] on the flop. Ouch!
77 min: The valiant short stack battle of Suetman1 (13th) ends cruelly as her (QJ) loses to Rennzzo’s (35) call as [55x] falls on the flop. Carnage begins for 3 minutes.
82 min: Two more short stacks collide as RKidder51400’s (12th) call with (Ah Th) gets run down as Tigercub8189’s bluff with (96) in the blind as [875] falls on the flop. Wow!
83 min: Whilden (11th) has his (44) run into Tigercub8189’s (KK) AND Mistermusic5’s (AA).
84 min: This made Tigercub8189 (10th) have to try with (KJ) but he cannot over take Jager244’s (77). And then calm fell over the poker final table.
97 min: Hlam14 (9th) has his (JJ) run into to Jager244’s (QQ).
100 min: Absea98 (8th) has his (AJ) run into Jager244’s (AK). Can you feel the rush coming?
108 min: Our short-stacked 1st quarter point leader Rennzzo (7th) has to try with (A4), but 7Jokers runs him down as his (KQ) gets help from a [Q5Q] flop.
113 min: Mikeniks-Faldo (6th) goes with (Ad 5d) only to see that 7Jokers is holding (AA).
2nd Break:
7Jokers 9063
Mistermusic5 7839
Jager244 7463
LittleRedElf 6730
Biglou93 3405
125 min: BigLou93 (5th) goes it with (KQ) and runs into LittleRedElf’s (JJ).
130 min: A seesaw hand sees Mistermusic5 (4th) with his (AT) spike an [A] on the flop against LittleRedElf’s (KK), but Poker Stars wants the table and a [K] arrives on the river.
140 min: LittleRedElf (3rd) with (Ah 6h) cannot run down Jager244’s (A8).
Heads up with Jager244 (24000) and 7Jokers (10500).
145 min: Just getting ready to get the chip counts for the next update when after a flop of [T6J] 7Jokers goes all-in with (T8) and is called by Jager244 with (Q9) and the open ended straight draw – which hits!!! Ouch to 7Jokers, a nice comeback to LittleRedElf, and congratulations to Jager244 and welcome to the NPP Walk of Fame!
1st – Jager244 20 points
2nd – 7Jokers 14 pts
3rd – LittleRedElf 10 pts
4th – Mistermusic5 7 pts
5th – BigLou93 5 pts
6th – Mikeniks-Faldo 4 pts
7th – Rennzzo 3 pts
8th – Absea98 2 pts
9th – Hlam14 1 pt
The point standings are on the right side of the blog.
Friday, January 30, 2009
Faldo Finishes 6th and 7th in the Same Day
Faldo not playing well. Faldo not getting cards, flops, turns, rivers or nub! Faldo getting set over setted, turned, rivered and bluffed. Faldo getting every move countered. Faldo’s confidence and table presence shot to heck.
Well, there are two cures for this my fellow poker players:
Making the wife shovel more snow (without gloves or boots) and having her walk 5 miles to the beer store to buy two cases for me didn’t work by the way. (Hey, I thought it would.)
Nope, the two cures are either:
A) Take a break for a while – and then return to regular play or drop down in stakes
B) Drop down in stakes and bear down
Since I have time on my hands (thanks to Democrats, Granholm, labor unions, Washington and half the American voters not knowing what makes this nation great), option A was not considered.
So, I hunkered down and dropped down. This resulted in a 6th place finish on Full Tilt in one of those 180 person SNG’s and a 7th place finish in a 361 player tourney on World Poker Exchange!
This got me 10 times and 12 times my entry respectively. Still no nub on Poker Stars, but I bubbled with class in one and watched my KK go down in flames to AQ early in the other. Maybe it is turning around.
So I gave my wife her gloves back. ; -)
Well, there are two cures for this my fellow poker players:
Making the wife shovel more snow (without gloves or boots) and having her walk 5 miles to the beer store to buy two cases for me didn’t work by the way. (Hey, I thought it would.)
Nope, the two cures are either:
A) Take a break for a while – and then return to regular play or drop down in stakes
B) Drop down in stakes and bear down
Since I have time on my hands (thanks to Democrats, Granholm, labor unions, Washington and half the American voters not knowing what makes this nation great), option A was not considered.
So, I hunkered down and dropped down. This resulted in a 6th place finish on Full Tilt in one of those 180 person SNG’s and a 7th place finish in a 361 player tourney on World Poker Exchange!
This got me 10 times and 12 times my entry respectively. Still no nub on Poker Stars, but I bubbled with class in one and watched my KK go down in flames to AQ early in the other. Maybe it is turning around.
So I gave my wife her gloves back. ; -)
Thursday, January 29, 2009
ThePunk75 Finishes 6th in Live Tourney Action!
Send Faldo your stories. It is nice to hear when NPP is well represented.
I hope all NPP’ers are mentioning our blog and Tuesday night offering on Poker Stars. That will get them to the UMich Poker News and the UMich Forum too. You are doing people a favor hooking them into NPP! Spread the Nub!
The Punk75 checks in with a report from the live felt!
ThePunk75: “I play locally around town at a couple of the new poker rooms in bowling alleys. Most of them strictly run freerolls with rebuys now so they can get people to play. I frequent them mostly on weekends in Livonia. I have done relatively well there, I chopped top prize there a couple months back, and Ive final tabled there about half a dozen times.
I started off slow then doubled up on two pair vs a flush draw. Then on near consecutive hands, I flopped trips 3 times (66, AA, JJ), 1 big double up another 2 big pots. The table was none the less getting a little angry at me, as I had a monster stack by the first break.
It continued to grow after the break as I flushed my AK spades vs AK hearts. Busted an obvious big pocket pair when I flopped my ace and just called his bets down till he mucked in anger.
Right before 2nd break I busted QQ with A7, with an ace on flop, and called his all in on river. Lost only one bad suck out through out tourney A7 - A3 after 2 aces hit flop, it became a re-raise fest till the eventual all in by the shorter stack, and he hit his 3 on river, to take down the pot. The table was relieved to see I indeed could lose a hand.
But soon after that had a huge double up right before 3rd break when one player raised pre-flop , got one caller then my all in with KK which the original raiser called, the other caller folded. He turned over 1010, and slouched when I showed my KK, the player who folded said he mucked 1010. I did a fist pump and a “YES!!” The other player just got up knowing he was done.
Once we got back from 3rd break had one bad hand that probably cost me, I was holding 66 and raised big just to push out everyone and steal the blinds, another player came over the top all in with about half my stack. After some thought I mucked as I had seen him make the same play with AK, and although I knew I was ahead, but slightly. I didn't want to risk basically my tournament on 66.
Got to the final table and I was at the time in the mid to short stack range. By that time I had gotten cold decked, so I let the other players knock out the shorter stacks. Then once we got to the cash (top 6 players) it was my time push being the short stack.
It was ironic I pushed with 66, the hand that probably cost me a chance to win the tourney. Got called with QJ in the BB, he hit his J on flop and I was done in 6th place and [some free clams] in my wallet. Not bad for not doing any re-buys or add-ons.”
Great job ThePunk75, and thanks for the report!
I hope all NPP’ers are mentioning our blog and Tuesday night offering on Poker Stars. That will get them to the UMich Poker News and the UMich Forum too. You are doing people a favor hooking them into NPP! Spread the Nub!
The Punk75 checks in with a report from the live felt!
ThePunk75: “I play locally around town at a couple of the new poker rooms in bowling alleys. Most of them strictly run freerolls with rebuys now so they can get people to play. I frequent them mostly on weekends in Livonia. I have done relatively well there, I chopped top prize there a couple months back, and Ive final tabled there about half a dozen times.
I started off slow then doubled up on two pair vs a flush draw. Then on near consecutive hands, I flopped trips 3 times (66, AA, JJ), 1 big double up another 2 big pots. The table was none the less getting a little angry at me, as I had a monster stack by the first break.
It continued to grow after the break as I flushed my AK spades vs AK hearts. Busted an obvious big pocket pair when I flopped my ace and just called his bets down till he mucked in anger.
Right before 2nd break I busted QQ with A7, with an ace on flop, and called his all in on river. Lost only one bad suck out through out tourney A7 - A3 after 2 aces hit flop, it became a re-raise fest till the eventual all in by the shorter stack, and he hit his 3 on river, to take down the pot. The table was relieved to see I indeed could lose a hand.
But soon after that had a huge double up right before 3rd break when one player raised pre-flop , got one caller then my all in with KK which the original raiser called, the other caller folded. He turned over 1010, and slouched when I showed my KK, the player who folded said he mucked 1010. I did a fist pump and a “YES!!” The other player just got up knowing he was done.
Once we got back from 3rd break had one bad hand that probably cost me, I was holding 66 and raised big just to push out everyone and steal the blinds, another player came over the top all in with about half my stack. After some thought I mucked as I had seen him make the same play with AK, and although I knew I was ahead, but slightly. I didn't want to risk basically my tournament on 66.
Got to the final table and I was at the time in the mid to short stack range. By that time I had gotten cold decked, so I let the other players knock out the shorter stacks. Then once we got to the cash (top 6 players) it was my time push being the short stack.
It was ironic I pushed with 66, the hand that probably cost me a chance to win the tourney. Got called with QJ in the BB, he hit his J on flop and I was done in 6th place and [some free clams] in my wallet. Not bad for not doing any re-buys or add-ons.”
Great job ThePunk75, and thanks for the report!
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
CrackBuyer Wins His 1st NPP Title Against a Record Field!
CrackBuyer has knocked at the door of the Walk of Fame quite a few times, but was always been turned away. Sometimes outplayed, and sometimes it was an unlucky card. But this time he kicked the door down with the most players ever holding it back.
Twenty-four players entered tonight, breaking the old record by two! And we want to welcome the four new players also; Absea98, Addictedtoem, Fixyourbuggy and Suetman1.
On to the action:
36 min: As Hlam14 pointed out, play was on the tight side tonight. No casualties until Sirgash (24th) had his (33) over taken by Duder1123’s (KJ) when a [K] hit the board.
37 min: Then a small rush of casualties. Fixyourbuggy (23rd). A typical NPP welcome to new players, as you will see as this tourney moves on. But hang tough Buggy!
Sorry, with the volume of players, there is no way I can get all these hands and play mine too. I am lucky to get the time of the elimination.
38 min: Addictedtoem (22nd) - ditto Addict. We are hard on newcomers.
44 min: Tigercub8189 (21st) – Missed this and it was at my table! Watching the next one out’s hand.
45 min: I did see this one as Duder1123 (20th) goes all-in with (44) and a full house, but loses to Akensi’s Quad Tens! He is not out on this hand but is taken out soon after this.
47 min: Absea98 (19th) - It's not you, it's us.
48 min: Jager244 (18th)
50 min: Acesovru (17th)
51 min: Theedouble*d (16th)
53 min: Mistermusic5 (15th)
55 min: ThePunk75 (14th)
Break:
CrackBuyer 7105
Rennzzo 5345
Akensi 3880
Littleredelf 3675
Suetman1 3535
Whilden 2947
Douge2 2685
Hlam14 2490
Kensik 1435
Nahanni74 1188
Biglou93 735
Mikeniks-Faldo 510
RKidder51400 470
The most ever still alive at the break!
71 min: The low chippers battle on – except for RKidder51400 (13th), who finally blinds out.
72 min: Biglou93 (12th) has to try it with (Td 9d) but Nahanni’s (66) makes a full house for over kill.
77 min: Didn’t see it, but Nahanni (11th) is the next one out.
78 min: Mikeniks-Faldo (10th) has to go with (8h 7h) but runs into Akensi’s (Ah Jh).
89 min: Kensik (9th) has his (AQ) run into Suetman1’s (AK).
102 min: A good battle ensues before Akensi (8th) has her (Ac Jc) fall to Whilden’s (QQ).
112 min: Douge2 (7th) has his (33) get run down by Whilden’s (Ks Qs) as a [K] appears on the board. That is two 7th’s in two consecutive starts for Doug.
Break #2:
Whilden 13750
CrackBuyer 8990
Suetman1 6020
Rennzzo 2680
LittleRedElf 2525
Hlam14 2035
124 min: Bad beat of the night of the hands I witnessed (please lay the others I missed on me on the comment section). Hlam14 (6th) has to go all-in with (KK), but sees Whilden hit a [T] on the flop and an [A] on the river! Ouch! That makes two 6ths for Hlam in two consecutive starts also.
126 min: Point leader Rennzzo (5th) has his (TT) run into Crackbuyer’s (AA).
137 min: Suetman1 (4th) has her (A9) get run down by Whilden’s (J9) as a [J] appears on the flop. A very nice finish for a newcomer. Look out guys - another tough lady player in our group!
138 min: LittleRedElf (3rd) goes all-in with (AJ) and is called by Whilden with (A8). Ok, we all know an [8] falls on the flop.
Is it me or is Whilden hitting more boards than a bag of hockey pucks during warm up? I was trying to get a pool going for what suit the [8] would be on the river, but Poker Stars spoiled the fun and dropped it too early.
As we go to heads up, the chips are even between CrackBuyer and Whilden.
140 min: Whilden 21000 - CrackBuyer 15000
143 min: The match turned when they got all-in with a (77) for CrackBuyer and a (JT) for Whilden. A [T] hit on the flop, but a [7] appeared on the turn! This reversed the chip lead and then some.
144 min: Whilden (2nd) made his stand with (65) and was called by CrackBuyer with (KQ), who made the K-high straight for an over kill final hand.
Nice run by Whilden and congratulations to CrackBuyer for his fist NPP victory!
1st – CrackBuyer 20 points
2nd – Whliden 14 pts
3rd – LittleRedElf 10 pts
4th – Suetman1 7 pts
5th – Rennzzo 5 pts
6th – Hlam14 4 pts
7th – Douge2 3 pts
8th – Akensi 2 pts
9th – Kensik 1 point
Point totals for the league are on the side of the blog.
Twenty-four players entered tonight, breaking the old record by two! And we want to welcome the four new players also; Absea98, Addictedtoem, Fixyourbuggy and Suetman1.
On to the action:
36 min: As Hlam14 pointed out, play was on the tight side tonight. No casualties until Sirgash (24th) had his (33) over taken by Duder1123’s (KJ) when a [K] hit the board.
37 min: Then a small rush of casualties. Fixyourbuggy (23rd). A typical NPP welcome to new players, as you will see as this tourney moves on. But hang tough Buggy!
Sorry, with the volume of players, there is no way I can get all these hands and play mine too. I am lucky to get the time of the elimination.
38 min: Addictedtoem (22nd) - ditto Addict. We are hard on newcomers.
44 min: Tigercub8189 (21st) – Missed this and it was at my table! Watching the next one out’s hand.
45 min: I did see this one as Duder1123 (20th) goes all-in with (44) and a full house, but loses to Akensi’s Quad Tens! He is not out on this hand but is taken out soon after this.
47 min: Absea98 (19th) - It's not you, it's us.
48 min: Jager244 (18th)
50 min: Acesovru (17th)
51 min: Theedouble*d (16th)
53 min: Mistermusic5 (15th)
55 min: ThePunk75 (14th)
Break:
CrackBuyer 7105
Rennzzo 5345
Akensi 3880
Littleredelf 3675
Suetman1 3535
Whilden 2947
Douge2 2685
Hlam14 2490
Kensik 1435
Nahanni74 1188
Biglou93 735
Mikeniks-Faldo 510
RKidder51400 470
The most ever still alive at the break!
71 min: The low chippers battle on – except for RKidder51400 (13th), who finally blinds out.
72 min: Biglou93 (12th) has to try it with (Td 9d) but Nahanni’s (66) makes a full house for over kill.
77 min: Didn’t see it, but Nahanni (11th) is the next one out.
78 min: Mikeniks-Faldo (10th) has to go with (8h 7h) but runs into Akensi’s (Ah Jh).
89 min: Kensik (9th) has his (AQ) run into Suetman1’s (AK).
102 min: A good battle ensues before Akensi (8th) has her (Ac Jc) fall to Whilden’s (QQ).
112 min: Douge2 (7th) has his (33) get run down by Whilden’s (Ks Qs) as a [K] appears on the board. That is two 7th’s in two consecutive starts for Doug.
Break #2:
Whilden 13750
CrackBuyer 8990
Suetman1 6020
Rennzzo 2680
LittleRedElf 2525
Hlam14 2035
124 min: Bad beat of the night of the hands I witnessed (please lay the others I missed on me on the comment section). Hlam14 (6th) has to go all-in with (KK), but sees Whilden hit a [T] on the flop and an [A] on the river! Ouch! That makes two 6ths for Hlam in two consecutive starts also.
126 min: Point leader Rennzzo (5th) has his (TT) run into Crackbuyer’s (AA).
137 min: Suetman1 (4th) has her (A9) get run down by Whilden’s (J9) as a [J] appears on the flop. A very nice finish for a newcomer. Look out guys - another tough lady player in our group!
138 min: LittleRedElf (3rd) goes all-in with (AJ) and is called by Whilden with (A8). Ok, we all know an [8] falls on the flop.
Is it me or is Whilden hitting more boards than a bag of hockey pucks during warm up? I was trying to get a pool going for what suit the [8] would be on the river, but Poker Stars spoiled the fun and dropped it too early.
As we go to heads up, the chips are even between CrackBuyer and Whilden.
140 min: Whilden 21000 - CrackBuyer 15000
143 min: The match turned when they got all-in with a (77) for CrackBuyer and a (JT) for Whilden. A [T] hit on the flop, but a [7] appeared on the turn! This reversed the chip lead and then some.
144 min: Whilden (2nd) made his stand with (65) and was called by CrackBuyer with (KQ), who made the K-high straight for an over kill final hand.
Nice run by Whilden and congratulations to CrackBuyer for his fist NPP victory!
1st – CrackBuyer 20 points
2nd – Whliden 14 pts
3rd – LittleRedElf 10 pts
4th – Suetman1 7 pts
5th – Rennzzo 5 pts
6th – Hlam14 4 pts
7th – Douge2 3 pts
8th – Akensi 2 pts
9th – Kensik 1 point
Point totals for the league are on the side of the blog.
Sunday, January 25, 2009
Tigercub8189 has a 4th place finish in Poker Stars Tourney
Tigercub8189 took 4th in a 180 player tourney on Poker Stars. In the end, his (77) lost to two overcards - one of which paired the board. A coin flip win there and he might have captured a win.
Still a nice job by Tigercub8189 - who won 14 times his entry.
Still a nice job by Tigercub8189 - who won 14 times his entry.
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
TheNewY2K Wins His 1st NPP Tourney!
Always exciting when we can add another player to our Walk of Fame! In round #3 of the new year, TheNewY2K bested nineteen others to get there, showing stamina. He was the low chip person a few times early, but come back to win it!
We also welcomed back Nahanni and Umichpoker for their first action of the NPP season.
6 min: It was ugly early for Mistermusic5 (19th) as his (KK) ran into a [6] on the flop and CrackBuyer’s (66) in the hand.
Mistermusic5 will not be the only one who got run down tonight. It’s poker. It’s poker on Poker Stars – and it hurts sometimes. Sometimes it hurts a lot.
23 min: 7Jokers (18th) takes a shot with (KK) and a flop of [8J9], but finds Tigercub8189 holding the nuts (KT).
33 min: Four players see a flop of [338]. TheNewY2K raises a Umichpoker (17th) bet and call, and the turn is [4]. Y2K moves all-in with (A3) – trips - and is called by Umich with (87) – two pair – and the river is no help.
37 min: A short stacked Kensik (16th) makes a move with (A5) and is called in two places by CrackBuyer (77) and Thedouble*d (KK) and no Ace appears.
45 min: RKidder51400 (15th) tries to get her (AQ) to finish the straight the flop started with [TK9], but it doesn’t get there and CrackBuyer is holding (KT).
50 min: Due to me playing my own hand and folding against Nahanni on another table, BigLou93 (14th) was lost on another table and I didn’t see it. Maybe someone can clue us in.
53 min: Jager244 (13th) makes his move with (KJ) and runs into Akensi’s (AK). Action now picks up as the Break Monster gets busy.
58 min: Theedouble*d (12th) with (AK) goes all-in and is called in two spots by ThePunk75 (A8) and LittleRedElf (44). The flop of [3JJ] is no help to DD, but the turn is a dagger in the chest [8], with no CPR on the river.
59 min: Last week’s winner Rennzzo (11th) had bad luck befall him this week as his (AA) gets run down as Nahanni’s (Js Ts) makes the flush on the river.
Break:
Nahanni 4370
Tigercub8189 4090
Acesovru 3390
TheNewY2K 3310
Douge2 2665
Akensi 2565
LittleRedElf 2515
ThePunk75 2368
Mikeniks-Faldo 1870
CrackBuyer 1387
61 min: Right off the bat ThePunk75 (10th) has his (TT) run into LittleRedElf’s (QQ).
73 min: Then Crackbuyer (9th) gets to have his (77) run into LittleRedElf’s (QQ). Needless to say the Elf is standing taller now and liking the Ladies!
99 min: Girl-on-girl action as a short-stacked Akensi (8th) has to try with her (JT) but Nahanni has (88) and no help arrives.
105 min: Having just taken a sting from TheNewY2K, Douge2 (7th) tries his (K9) but runs into Nahanni’s (A8) and doesn’t improve.
113 min: First Nahanni (6th) pushes her top pair with (KJ) and a flop of [x J x] and runs into Tigercub’s (QQ). Then with (A2), she goes all-in with (A2) only to see Mikeniks-Faldo call with (JJ) from the small blind. The break chip leader is gone – taken out by the Faldo brothers.
117 min: Acesovru (5th) tries to bluff a flop of [KTT] with (A6). But TheNewY2K is holding (T8) and is not going anywhere.
Break II:
TheNewY2K 9705
LittleRedElf 9022
Tigercub8189 5106
Mikeniks-Faldo 4667
128 min: Mikeniks-Faldo’s (4th) chance to make a move towards victory. Holding (QJ) and a flop with a [J], I go all-in. LittleRedElf calls with (77) and a [7] falls on the river. Another bubble for Faldo (# 4,114,119 – but who’s counting?).
136 min: Tigercub8189 (3rd) goes all-in with (TT) and gets called by both players – LittleRedElf and TheNewY2K. The board ends up with [QJQJx] and the Elf’s Ace plays kick the Cat.
It is heads up time and LittleRedElf has a 3 to 1 chip lead. I was not able to watch the action as the phone rang and I had to play Western Union Relay man between daughter and wife. I got back to the action in time to see that TheNewY2K now had a slight chip lead.
Sorry readers. I hope the winner will fill us in on this gap.
147 min: LittleRedElf (2nd) makes a heads up bluff with (A4) and a flop of [2QQ]. As earlier with Acesovru, Elf picked the wrong time as TheNewY2K is holding the nuts (Q2).
Congratulations to TheNewY2K and welcome to the Walk of Fame!
1st – TheNewY2K 20 pts
2nd – LittleRedElf 14 pts
3rd – Tigercub8189 10 pts
4th – Mikeniks-Faldo 7 pts
5th – Acesovru 5 pts
6th – Nahanni 4 pts
7th – Douge2 3 pts
8th – Akensi 2 pts
9th – CrackBuyer 1 pt
10th – ThePunk75
11th – Rennzzo
12th – TheeDouble*D
13th – Jager244
14th – BigLou93
15th – Rkidder51400
16th – Kensik
17th – Umichpoker
18th – Mistermusic5
Standings on the side of the blog.
We also welcomed back Nahanni and Umichpoker for their first action of the NPP season.
6 min: It was ugly early for Mistermusic5 (19th) as his (KK) ran into a [6] on the flop and CrackBuyer’s (66) in the hand.
Mistermusic5 will not be the only one who got run down tonight. It’s poker. It’s poker on Poker Stars – and it hurts sometimes. Sometimes it hurts a lot.
23 min: 7Jokers (18th) takes a shot with (KK) and a flop of [8J9], but finds Tigercub8189 holding the nuts (KT).
33 min: Four players see a flop of [338]. TheNewY2K raises a Umichpoker (17th) bet and call, and the turn is [4]. Y2K moves all-in with (A3) – trips - and is called by Umich with (87) – two pair – and the river is no help.
37 min: A short stacked Kensik (16th) makes a move with (A5) and is called in two places by CrackBuyer (77) and Thedouble*d (KK) and no Ace appears.
45 min: RKidder51400 (15th) tries to get her (AQ) to finish the straight the flop started with [TK9], but it doesn’t get there and CrackBuyer is holding (KT).
50 min: Due to me playing my own hand and folding against Nahanni on another table, BigLou93 (14th) was lost on another table and I didn’t see it. Maybe someone can clue us in.
53 min: Jager244 (13th) makes his move with (KJ) and runs into Akensi’s (AK). Action now picks up as the Break Monster gets busy.
58 min: Theedouble*d (12th) with (AK) goes all-in and is called in two spots by ThePunk75 (A8) and LittleRedElf (44). The flop of [3JJ] is no help to DD, but the turn is a dagger in the chest [8], with no CPR on the river.
59 min: Last week’s winner Rennzzo (11th) had bad luck befall him this week as his (AA) gets run down as Nahanni’s (Js Ts) makes the flush on the river.
Break:
Nahanni 4370
Tigercub8189 4090
Acesovru 3390
TheNewY2K 3310
Douge2 2665
Akensi 2565
LittleRedElf 2515
ThePunk75 2368
Mikeniks-Faldo 1870
CrackBuyer 1387
61 min: Right off the bat ThePunk75 (10th) has his (TT) run into LittleRedElf’s (QQ).
73 min: Then Crackbuyer (9th) gets to have his (77) run into LittleRedElf’s (QQ). Needless to say the Elf is standing taller now and liking the Ladies!
99 min: Girl-on-girl action as a short-stacked Akensi (8th) has to try with her (JT) but Nahanni has (88) and no help arrives.
105 min: Having just taken a sting from TheNewY2K, Douge2 (7th) tries his (K9) but runs into Nahanni’s (A8) and doesn’t improve.
113 min: First Nahanni (6th) pushes her top pair with (KJ) and a flop of [x J x] and runs into Tigercub’s (QQ). Then with (A2), she goes all-in with (A2) only to see Mikeniks-Faldo call with (JJ) from the small blind. The break chip leader is gone – taken out by the Faldo brothers.
117 min: Acesovru (5th) tries to bluff a flop of [KTT] with (A6). But TheNewY2K is holding (T8) and is not going anywhere.
Break II:
TheNewY2K 9705
LittleRedElf 9022
Tigercub8189 5106
Mikeniks-Faldo 4667
128 min: Mikeniks-Faldo’s (4th) chance to make a move towards victory. Holding (QJ) and a flop with a [J], I go all-in. LittleRedElf calls with (77) and a [7] falls on the river. Another bubble for Faldo (# 4,114,119 – but who’s counting?).
136 min: Tigercub8189 (3rd) goes all-in with (TT) and gets called by both players – LittleRedElf and TheNewY2K. The board ends up with [QJQJx] and the Elf’s Ace plays kick the Cat.
It is heads up time and LittleRedElf has a 3 to 1 chip lead. I was not able to watch the action as the phone rang and I had to play Western Union Relay man between daughter and wife. I got back to the action in time to see that TheNewY2K now had a slight chip lead.
Sorry readers. I hope the winner will fill us in on this gap.
147 min: LittleRedElf (2nd) makes a heads up bluff with (A4) and a flop of [2QQ]. As earlier with Acesovru, Elf picked the wrong time as TheNewY2K is holding the nuts (Q2).
Congratulations to TheNewY2K and welcome to the Walk of Fame!
1st – TheNewY2K 20 pts
2nd – LittleRedElf 14 pts
3rd – Tigercub8189 10 pts
4th – Mikeniks-Faldo 7 pts
5th – Acesovru 5 pts
6th – Nahanni 4 pts
7th – Douge2 3 pts
8th – Akensi 2 pts
9th – CrackBuyer 1 pt
10th – ThePunk75
11th – Rennzzo
12th – TheeDouble*D
13th – Jager244
14th – BigLou93
15th – Rkidder51400
16th – Kensik
17th – Umichpoker
18th – Mistermusic5
Standings on the side of the blog.
Friday, January 16, 2009
Faldo Wins Full Tilt Qualifier
One hundred and eighty players and your beloved Nik Faldo finished 1st to qualify for a tourney TBD.
Now I will attempt to play in this tourney or save my entry for another time.
But I wonder, even if I win, can I cash??????????????????????????
Now I will attempt to play in this tourney or save my entry for another time.
But I wonder, even if I win, can I cash??????????????????????????
Thursday, January 15, 2009
Full Tilt Poker Must be in Trouble! And So Are All of Us.
When I started this blog, it was before the NPP internet tourneys. Besides writing up our home NPP games, I also visited internet poker sites and posted my review here. I told you what sites were simply skins of another site and what the 'main' site was. I told you how the software looked, how many players were there and how to get your cash in and (hopefully) back out.
I have visited 270 on-line poker sites and have lost hundreds of dollars because of it. No, not at their tables. That only happens to me on Poker Stars. I lost it when sites shut down or the site changed the rules for withdraw - and asked for things like a copy of my passport in order to get my money out.
When NetTeller was forced by our benevolent government (citizens doing what they want with their money is a problem, but paying social security benefits to ILLEGAL aliens is no problem) to close to US citizens, this shut off my withdraw methods to certain sites as well. The fees for getting a check were higher than some of my deposit amounts to try the site.
Anyway, I now limit my play to four sites and that is soon going to ONE!
BoDog Poker is ok and the money moves ok too. But not alot of players for tourneys and I just HATE their software. I will tinker with SNG's there and an occasional tourney, but I'm not stopping by often.
Absolute Poker and Ultimate Bet Poker have merged. Their email response time is crap, but they do offer chat and a phone number and that works fine for service. But the Russ Hamilton scandal has crippled their player base. And their tournament schedule is filled with qualifiers.
I don't like qualifiers. I hate to 'win' one tourney so I can lose in another. It's my lack of talent. I rarely do well in one tourney, so why would I think I could win two in a row? So lack of players and tourneys is the reason I am leaving them. Again, an occasional SNG when Poker Stars has 'bad beat' me into a rage.
That leaves me with the #2 site on the internet for US players - Full Tilt Poker. A recent score there had me attempt to get some cash out for the holidays. That withdraw was made Dec. 12th. I was told it was going to take 15 business days for the money to transfer!
It used to take only three days! Doesn't matter, I still don't have it after 28 days. Emails to Full Tilt Poker to both their 'cashier' and 'support' are not answered.
Sooooo, it looks like #2 is on bad financial legs for some reason. Even their own Full Tilt Blog has players complaining about NO service and NO payouts.
With no other recourse that I could see, I emailed CardPlayer Magazine with this:
Dear Card Player,
You have an advertiser in your magazine that is lying to your readers and providing terrible service to their customers. I am asking you to speak to them on my behalf, or give me the phone number and direct email of someone I can speak to. I am speaking of Full Tilt Poker.
Now before you send me the standard letter stating that you are not affiliated with that poker site, I want to state now that I reject any attempt at that claim.
First of all, you accept advertising profit from them.
Second, one of their spokespeople writes articles for you and others who are spokespeople for that site – have written for CardPlayer in the past.
Third, your advertisement sends readers to the Full Tilt site, where they blatantly lie. You are assisting in their farce.
This poker site is currently delivering the worst customer service of any of your advertisers. I will assume you are not aware of that fact.
I withdrew some of my winnings from their poker site over a month ago with a direct withdraw to a bank.
The money is not in my Full Tilt account and it is not in the bank – after four weeks of time.
I have written Full Tilt’s 24/7 Customer Service 3 times in a week and have not received a reply. This is from the site stating they have outstanding customer service. I have visited some poker blogs – including the Full Tilt blog itself, and my experience is not unique.
I am sympathetically requesting that you step in and help one of your customers and long time readers. Things need to improve at Full Tilt Poker and your efforts would help thousands of your loyal readers – not just me.
Sincerely yours, Faldo - end of letter
No response from CardPlayer. Not suprising either. I'm just their customer.
There is a saying that "Poker is Life". Well it is certainly true. In poker the payer gets treated the same way by the collector as the citizen of the United States. Robbed, then ignored.
I have visited 270 on-line poker sites and have lost hundreds of dollars because of it. No, not at their tables. That only happens to me on Poker Stars. I lost it when sites shut down or the site changed the rules for withdraw - and asked for things like a copy of my passport in order to get my money out.
When NetTeller was forced by our benevolent government (citizens doing what they want with their money is a problem, but paying social security benefits to ILLEGAL aliens is no problem) to close to US citizens, this shut off my withdraw methods to certain sites as well. The fees for getting a check were higher than some of my deposit amounts to try the site.
Anyway, I now limit my play to four sites and that is soon going to ONE!
BoDog Poker is ok and the money moves ok too. But not alot of players for tourneys and I just HATE their software. I will tinker with SNG's there and an occasional tourney, but I'm not stopping by often.
Absolute Poker and Ultimate Bet Poker have merged. Their email response time is crap, but they do offer chat and a phone number and that works fine for service. But the Russ Hamilton scandal has crippled their player base. And their tournament schedule is filled with qualifiers.
I don't like qualifiers. I hate to 'win' one tourney so I can lose in another. It's my lack of talent. I rarely do well in one tourney, so why would I think I could win two in a row? So lack of players and tourneys is the reason I am leaving them. Again, an occasional SNG when Poker Stars has 'bad beat' me into a rage.
That leaves me with the #2 site on the internet for US players - Full Tilt Poker. A recent score there had me attempt to get some cash out for the holidays. That withdraw was made Dec. 12th. I was told it was going to take 15 business days for the money to transfer!
It used to take only three days! Doesn't matter, I still don't have it after 28 days. Emails to Full Tilt Poker to both their 'cashier' and 'support' are not answered.
Sooooo, it looks like #2 is on bad financial legs for some reason. Even their own Full Tilt Blog has players complaining about NO service and NO payouts.
With no other recourse that I could see, I emailed CardPlayer Magazine with this:
Dear Card Player,
You have an advertiser in your magazine that is lying to your readers and providing terrible service to their customers. I am asking you to speak to them on my behalf, or give me the phone number and direct email of someone I can speak to. I am speaking of Full Tilt Poker.
Now before you send me the standard letter stating that you are not affiliated with that poker site, I want to state now that I reject any attempt at that claim.
First of all, you accept advertising profit from them.
Second, one of their spokespeople writes articles for you and others who are spokespeople for that site – have written for CardPlayer in the past.
Third, your advertisement sends readers to the Full Tilt site, where they blatantly lie. You are assisting in their farce.
This poker site is currently delivering the worst customer service of any of your advertisers. I will assume you are not aware of that fact.
I withdrew some of my winnings from their poker site over a month ago with a direct withdraw to a bank.
The money is not in my Full Tilt account and it is not in the bank – after four weeks of time.
I have written Full Tilt’s 24/7 Customer Service 3 times in a week and have not received a reply. This is from the site stating they have outstanding customer service. I have visited some poker blogs – including the Full Tilt blog itself, and my experience is not unique.
I am sympathetically requesting that you step in and help one of your customers and long time readers. Things need to improve at Full Tilt Poker and your efforts would help thousands of your loyal readers – not just me.
Sincerely yours, Faldo - end of letter
No response from CardPlayer. Not suprising either. I'm just their customer.
There is a saying that "Poker is Life". Well it is certainly true. In poker the payer gets treated the same way by the collector as the citizen of the United States. Robbed, then ignored.
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Rennzzo Wins His 2nd NPP Event on Week Two of 2009
And once again we had a record tying number of entries at 22. Lots of double knockouts (twos?) tonight as you will see. Why all the two’s? Did you see the picture of the new player at NPP? I think we may be cursed with twos now. Not that there is anything wrong with those – uh, that.
On to the action:
21 min: Last week’s winner Douge2 (22nd) was treated shabbily. They say fame is fleeting. I wouldn’t know because I’ve never had any.
32 min: Nixi44 (21st) was sitting too close to Faldo’s seat and chips and the bad luck rubbed off obviously.
35 min: Thedouble*d (20th) was out next.
40 min: New player Jules401961 (19th) got the standard NPP greeting. Be sure to email npokerp at yahoo with your 1st name and last initial please, Jules. Thanks.
42 min: Kensik (18th) was out next.
44 min: In the first of a quite a few 3-ways, LittleRedElf (17th) got bounced alone.
46 min: A big bluff by Acesovru (16th) gets called by Duder1123.
50 min: Another 3-way and I (Mikeniks-Faldo 15th) got a front row seat with Sirgash (14th) as Duder1123’s (KK) took us short stacks out together.
54 min: TheNewY2K (13th) made his move with (AJ) and was called by Mistermusic5 with (QQ).
58 min: BigLou93 (12th) and 7Jokers tangle near the Break Monster’s water’s edge. But I don’t think Lou was dragged in as much as he fell in. BigLou bets his (TT) and Jokers defends his blind with another caller.
The flop is [92Q]. It is checked and the turn is [7]. Biglou bets and 7Jokers calls alone. Danger Will Robinson!!! (Ok, I’m dating myself with that one).
The river is a [9] and when BigLou93 goes all-in, 7Jokers’ full house falls on him.
Break:
Duder1123 4584
Crackbuyer 3926
Jager244 3780
Mistermusic5 3375
Robbin_Hudd 3004
Tigercub8189 2975
Boother36 2895
RKidder51400 1530
Akensi 1390
Rennzzo 840
Maybe Comeback of the Year honors won in Week 2!
65 min: Another 3-way double knockout as Mistermusic5 (11th) (99) and Jager244 (10th)(AJ) get all-in against Duder1123’s (KK) and cannot catch up.
68 min: New player Robin_Hudd (9th) has his (AQ) run right into last year’s champ Duder1123’s hot run as he is only holding (AA) after the (KK) three minutes ago! Points on your first appearance at NPP will have the players wary of you now Robin.
70 min: RKidder51400 (8th) finally has to take a stand with (99), but 7Jokers is holding (QQ).
77 min: Yet another 3-way double knockout as Tigercub8189 (7th) gets a bad beat here as his (KK) loses. Boother (6th) was all-in too with (AJ). 7Jokers has (AK) and looks to be in trouble. But a flop of [QAT] has Tiger and Boother now drawing very thin.
93 min: A long battle ensues before Akensi (5th) raises with (88) and is called by 7Jokers and Rennzzo. The flop is [5d 7d Qh]. Akensi decides to make her move and goes all-in.
Both guys call; 7Jokers (9d 6d) and Rennzzo (Ad 9s). The turn is a [9] and Amy is out.
Guys we have some very strong lady players in our mist now – in alphabetical order; Akensi, Nahanni74, Nixi44, RKidder51400 and of course Umichpoker. Thanks for joining and classing up the place, Ladies.
Now go make us guys something to eat and NPP needs vacuuming. Take the beer empties back to the store too.
117 min: Another long time of battle ensues and then a big hand happens. Chip leader Crackbuyer loses his lead to Duder1123 as he call’s Duder’s rivered full house all-in with his river made straight. Ouch!
2nd Break:
Duder1123 14566
7Jokers 8056
Rennzzo 6400
CrackBuyer 3978
122 min: Fireworks early as Rennzzo takes over the chip lead by his (88) beating Duder1123’s (AQ).
124 min: Crackbuyer (4th) has to make a move with (QJ) and Duder’s (KJ) dominates.
126 min: Rennzzo loses the chip lead back to Duder1123 as his full house is smaller than Duder’s. But revenge is on the horizon.
132 min: 7Jokers (3rd) makes his move with (A7) and Duder calls with (Qd Jd) and a big stack. A turn [Q] and river [Q] take out the man with the most wins at NPP.
152 min: I would have kept the chip totals every 5 minutes as usual, but the stacks never really changed. Duder1123 stayed at about a 3 to 1 advantage for the whole 20 minutes until Rennzzo’s (55) beat Duder’s (44).
154 min: The flop is [997] and there is betting and calling. The turn is [T] with more betting and calling. The traps are set. The river is another [T] and Duder (2nd) goes all-in holding a (7) but Rennzzo is holding a (T). Nice job on your 2nd NPP win Rennzzo.
1st – Rennzzo 20 points
2nd – Duder1123 14 points
3rd – 7Jokers 10 points
4th – CrackBuyer 7 points
5th – Akensi 5 points
6th – Boother36 4 points
7th – Tigercub8189 3 points
8th – Rkidder51400 2 points
9th – Robin_Hudd 1 point
10th – Jagger244
11th – Mistermusic5
12th – BigLou93
13th – TheNewY2K
14th – Sirgash
15th – Mikeniks-Faldo
16th – Acesovru
17th – LittleRedElf
18th – Kensik
19th – Jules401961
20th – Theedouble*d
21st – Nixi44
22nd – Douge2
The standings are on the right side of the blog.
On to the action:
21 min: Last week’s winner Douge2 (22nd) was treated shabbily. They say fame is fleeting. I wouldn’t know because I’ve never had any.
32 min: Nixi44 (21st) was sitting too close to Faldo’s seat and chips and the bad luck rubbed off obviously.
35 min: Thedouble*d (20th) was out next.
40 min: New player Jules401961 (19th) got the standard NPP greeting. Be sure to email npokerp at yahoo with your 1st name and last initial please, Jules. Thanks.
42 min: Kensik (18th) was out next.
44 min: In the first of a quite a few 3-ways, LittleRedElf (17th) got bounced alone.
46 min: A big bluff by Acesovru (16th) gets called by Duder1123.
50 min: Another 3-way and I (Mikeniks-Faldo 15th) got a front row seat with Sirgash (14th) as Duder1123’s (KK) took us short stacks out together.
54 min: TheNewY2K (13th) made his move with (AJ) and was called by Mistermusic5 with (QQ).
58 min: BigLou93 (12th) and 7Jokers tangle near the Break Monster’s water’s edge. But I don’t think Lou was dragged in as much as he fell in. BigLou bets his (TT) and Jokers defends his blind with another caller.
The flop is [92Q]. It is checked and the turn is [7]. Biglou bets and 7Jokers calls alone. Danger Will Robinson!!! (Ok, I’m dating myself with that one).
The river is a [9] and when BigLou93 goes all-in, 7Jokers’ full house falls on him.
Break:
Duder1123 4584
Crackbuyer 3926
Jager244 3780
Mistermusic5 3375
Robbin_Hudd 3004
Tigercub8189 2975
Boother36 2895
RKidder51400 1530
Akensi 1390
Rennzzo 840
Maybe Comeback of the Year honors won in Week 2!
65 min: Another 3-way double knockout as Mistermusic5 (11th) (99) and Jager244 (10th)(AJ) get all-in against Duder1123’s (KK) and cannot catch up.
68 min: New player Robin_Hudd (9th) has his (AQ) run right into last year’s champ Duder1123’s hot run as he is only holding (AA) after the (KK) three minutes ago! Points on your first appearance at NPP will have the players wary of you now Robin.
70 min: RKidder51400 (8th) finally has to take a stand with (99), but 7Jokers is holding (QQ).
77 min: Yet another 3-way double knockout as Tigercub8189 (7th) gets a bad beat here as his (KK) loses. Boother (6th) was all-in too with (AJ). 7Jokers has (AK) and looks to be in trouble. But a flop of [QAT] has Tiger and Boother now drawing very thin.
93 min: A long battle ensues before Akensi (5th) raises with (88) and is called by 7Jokers and Rennzzo. The flop is [5d 7d Qh]. Akensi decides to make her move and goes all-in.
Both guys call; 7Jokers (9d 6d) and Rennzzo (Ad 9s). The turn is a [9] and Amy is out.
Guys we have some very strong lady players in our mist now – in alphabetical order; Akensi, Nahanni74, Nixi44, RKidder51400 and of course Umichpoker. Thanks for joining and classing up the place, Ladies.
Now go make us guys something to eat and NPP needs vacuuming. Take the beer empties back to the store too.
117 min: Another long time of battle ensues and then a big hand happens. Chip leader Crackbuyer loses his lead to Duder1123 as he call’s Duder’s rivered full house all-in with his river made straight. Ouch!
2nd Break:
Duder1123 14566
7Jokers 8056
Rennzzo 6400
CrackBuyer 3978
122 min: Fireworks early as Rennzzo takes over the chip lead by his (88) beating Duder1123’s (AQ).
124 min: Crackbuyer (4th) has to make a move with (QJ) and Duder’s (KJ) dominates.
126 min: Rennzzo loses the chip lead back to Duder1123 as his full house is smaller than Duder’s. But revenge is on the horizon.
132 min: 7Jokers (3rd) makes his move with (A7) and Duder calls with (Qd Jd) and a big stack. A turn [Q] and river [Q] take out the man with the most wins at NPP.
152 min: I would have kept the chip totals every 5 minutes as usual, but the stacks never really changed. Duder1123 stayed at about a 3 to 1 advantage for the whole 20 minutes until Rennzzo’s (55) beat Duder’s (44).
154 min: The flop is [997] and there is betting and calling. The turn is [T] with more betting and calling. The traps are set. The river is another [T] and Duder (2nd) goes all-in holding a (7) but Rennzzo is holding a (T). Nice job on your 2nd NPP win Rennzzo.
1st – Rennzzo 20 points
2nd – Duder1123 14 points
3rd – 7Jokers 10 points
4th – CrackBuyer 7 points
5th – Akensi 5 points
6th – Boother36 4 points
7th – Tigercub8189 3 points
8th – Rkidder51400 2 points
9th – Robin_Hudd 1 point
10th – Jagger244
11th – Mistermusic5
12th – BigLou93
13th – TheNewY2K
14th – Sirgash
15th – Mikeniks-Faldo
16th – Acesovru
17th – LittleRedElf
18th – Kensik
19th – Jules401961
20th – Theedouble*d
21st – Nixi44
22nd – Douge2
The standings are on the right side of the blog.
Saturday, January 10, 2009
Faldo Finishes 4th in UB Tourney
Against 152 other players this morning. Ultimate Bet has these bounty tournaments where 1/3rd of the entry is for bounties. If you knock someone out, you pick up a bounty. Usually if you knock out about five players, you make your entry fee back.
I played well, got cards at the right time and read a guy's bluff correctly. I even got called on my semi-bluff and hit my hand as a 3 to one dog. You have to do that at least once usually to go deep in a tourney.
Got down to the final 18 and I sat 7th. Not too bad. But the players all went on steroids and I didn't have even a draw to get in there with. So when the final table arrived, I was now 7th of 9. Still ok but not alot of nub to spare.
Finally had to make a stand in the SB when I hit my pair of twos and a possible backdoor straight draw with (25) and a flop of [249]. But a limper actually had (99) and I was a goner in 4th place.
Made 8 times my entry - including the 5 bounties I collected.
I played well, got cards at the right time and read a guy's bluff correctly. I even got called on my semi-bluff and hit my hand as a 3 to one dog. You have to do that at least once usually to go deep in a tourney.
Got down to the final 18 and I sat 7th. Not too bad. But the players all went on steroids and I didn't have even a draw to get in there with. So when the final table arrived, I was now 7th of 9. Still ok but not alot of nub to spare.
Finally had to make a stand in the SB when I hit my pair of twos and a possible backdoor straight draw with (25) and a flop of [249]. But a limper actually had (99) and I was a goner in 4th place.
Made 8 times my entry - including the 5 bounties I collected.
Wednesday, January 07, 2009
Douge2 Wins The 1st NPP Tourney of 2009 - and His 1st!
We are off and running for the new season. We set a record with 22 entries – shattering the old mark of ….a lot less. Fourteen I think (too drunk to look it up right now).
Sign ups for this league totaled 55 of the 64 limit set by the NPP Tourney Committee. My experience running games tells me you get half of the “Yeah, I’m playing” commitments. Internet – email is slightly worse. Las Vegas put the over/under at 24 ½ - and I bet my entire life savings on the OVER.
I’ll be begging next week during the round so don’t report me!
How this will work is – if we get 64 who have actually played in an NPP event, their data will remain in the records. If you don’t play for five weeks, your spot could be taken by a new player.
Longest delay without playing - Lowest point people – then seniority will have to be the factors going into the decisions. But no worries yet. Only 22 spots on the totals board are taken right now.
Speaking of which, on to the action!
4 min: Cigar4John (22nd) – one of the original NPP live game guys and a part time internet guy, stopped by and was treated rudely. I didn’t see the hand but I think it was a big pair versus a bigger pair that sent him to the rail. Welcome back John. Hope you can play more this year.
18 min: Whilden (21st) is one of our new players - treated to a typical NPP greeting of his (QQ) losing to TheNewY2K’s (AA).
25 min: One of last year’s finalists, Tigercub8189 (20th) ran into the EXACT same hand with the EXACT same person – seven minutes later.
27 min: Theedouble*d (19th) was the next to go out. Another new player - who got the typical NPP greeting. I didn’t see the hand, but if he has to go out early, I was hoping it was going to be 38th.
Get it? 38DD? I kill me. Sorry, I will refrain from that cheap humor from now on. I think (and you all wish).
29 min: Mistermusic5 (18th), a new player who joined us for the year end Heads Up tourney, had his turn card flush get drowned on the river by Douge2’s full house.
33 min: Crackbuyer (17th) was the next one out. No info. Knock me out quicker people and the article will have more information in it.
35 min: New player and short – stacked Kensik (16th) made a move with (A6) and lost to Sirgash and his (TT).
36 min: Last year’s Player of the Year, Duder1123 (15th) was gone next. No info.
41 min: New player Akensi (14th) goes all-in with (JJ) and runs into Douge2’s (KK). Ouch! See above for history of new players.
45 min: New player Gobluebilly (13th) is gone next. No info.
47 min: New player RKidder51400 (12th) is the next one gone. No info.
50 min: ThePunk75 (11th) has his (AT) lose to LittleRedElf’s (AQ).
56 min: New player Jager244 (10th) is the next one out. No info.
Break to only one table! An incredible amount of carnage already! I expected 2 table of six players at least at 1st break. But a lot of big hands collided early. And we get it done before the 2nd break too. Where was the fire I wonder?
Rennzzo – 7200
Douge2 – 5900
Sirgash – 5400
TheNewY2K – 4000
LittleRedElf – 3200
Hlam14 – 2600
Mikeniks – Faldo – 1600
7Jokers – 2000
Nixi44 – 1200
62 min: One of last year’s finalists, 7Jokers (9th) raises a bunch with (KK) and is called by Douge2 with (AQ). After a flop of [Q9A], 7Jokers goes all-in and sees the bad news.
74 min: Short-stacked Nixi44 (8th) goes all-in with (A6) and runs into LittleRedElf’s (AA).
82 min: I – Mikeniks-Faldo (7th) meet a similar short-stack demise when my (AT) cannot run down LittleRedElf’s (77).
89 min: One of last year’s finalists, Hlam14 (6th) makes his all-in move with (Kh Th) an is called by LittleRedElf’s (AK). The flop of clubs [2KA] ends the discussion.
90 min: TheNewY2K (5th) has his (AK) run into Rennzzo’s (JJ).
99 min: Douge2 and LittleRedElf (4th) call-check in. The flop of [9JQ] has LittleRed bet and Doug call. The turn of [8] gets both players all in with Doug holding the higher straight.
104 min: Rennzzo (3rd) takes the bad beat of the night when his (AA) loses to Sirgash’s trip 3’s. Rennzzo goes out three minutes later as his flopped pair of ladies lose to Douge2’s flush. No nub for Rennzzo.
110 min: Sirgash (2nd) calls all-in with his (QQ) into a flop of [745]. That looks safe enough I guess – except Douge2 is holding (63). Congratulations Douge2 on your 1st NPP victory! Welcome to the Walk of Fame!
1st – Douge2 – 20 pts
2nd – Sirgash – 14 pts
3rd – Rennzzo – 10 pts
4th – LittleRedElf – 7 pts
5th – TheNewY2K – 5 pts
6th – Hlam14 – 4 pts
7th – Mikeniks-Faldo 3 pts
8th – Nixi44 – 2 pts
9th – 7Jokers – 1 pt
10th – Jager244
11th – ThePunk75
12th – Rkidder51400
13th – Gobluebilly
14th – Akensi
15th – Duder1123
16th – Kensik
17th – Crackbuyer
18th – Mistermusic5
19th – Theedouble*d
20th – Tigercub8189
21st – Whilden
22nd – Cigar4John
Standings will be on the right side of the blog!
Sign ups for this league totaled 55 of the 64 limit set by the NPP Tourney Committee. My experience running games tells me you get half of the “Yeah, I’m playing” commitments. Internet – email is slightly worse. Las Vegas put the over/under at 24 ½ - and I bet my entire life savings on the OVER.
I’ll be begging next week during the round so don’t report me!
How this will work is – if we get 64 who have actually played in an NPP event, their data will remain in the records. If you don’t play for five weeks, your spot could be taken by a new player.
Longest delay without playing - Lowest point people – then seniority will have to be the factors going into the decisions. But no worries yet. Only 22 spots on the totals board are taken right now.
Speaking of which, on to the action!
4 min: Cigar4John (22nd) – one of the original NPP live game guys and a part time internet guy, stopped by and was treated rudely. I didn’t see the hand but I think it was a big pair versus a bigger pair that sent him to the rail. Welcome back John. Hope you can play more this year.
18 min: Whilden (21st) is one of our new players - treated to a typical NPP greeting of his (QQ) losing to TheNewY2K’s (AA).
25 min: One of last year’s finalists, Tigercub8189 (20th) ran into the EXACT same hand with the EXACT same person – seven minutes later.
27 min: Theedouble*d (19th) was the next to go out. Another new player - who got the typical NPP greeting. I didn’t see the hand, but if he has to go out early, I was hoping it was going to be 38th.
Get it? 38DD? I kill me. Sorry, I will refrain from that cheap humor from now on. I think (and you all wish).
29 min: Mistermusic5 (18th), a new player who joined us for the year end Heads Up tourney, had his turn card flush get drowned on the river by Douge2’s full house.
33 min: Crackbuyer (17th) was the next one out. No info. Knock me out quicker people and the article will have more information in it.
35 min: New player and short – stacked Kensik (16th) made a move with (A6) and lost to Sirgash and his (TT).
36 min: Last year’s Player of the Year, Duder1123 (15th) was gone next. No info.
41 min: New player Akensi (14th) goes all-in with (JJ) and runs into Douge2’s (KK). Ouch! See above for history of new players.
45 min: New player Gobluebilly (13th) is gone next. No info.
47 min: New player RKidder51400 (12th) is the next one gone. No info.
50 min: ThePunk75 (11th) has his (AT) lose to LittleRedElf’s (AQ).
56 min: New player Jager244 (10th) is the next one out. No info.
Break to only one table! An incredible amount of carnage already! I expected 2 table of six players at least at 1st break. But a lot of big hands collided early. And we get it done before the 2nd break too. Where was the fire I wonder?
Rennzzo – 7200
Douge2 – 5900
Sirgash – 5400
TheNewY2K – 4000
LittleRedElf – 3200
Hlam14 – 2600
Mikeniks – Faldo – 1600
7Jokers – 2000
Nixi44 – 1200
62 min: One of last year’s finalists, 7Jokers (9th) raises a bunch with (KK) and is called by Douge2 with (AQ). After a flop of [Q9A], 7Jokers goes all-in and sees the bad news.
74 min: Short-stacked Nixi44 (8th) goes all-in with (A6) and runs into LittleRedElf’s (AA).
82 min: I – Mikeniks-Faldo (7th) meet a similar short-stack demise when my (AT) cannot run down LittleRedElf’s (77).
89 min: One of last year’s finalists, Hlam14 (6th) makes his all-in move with (Kh Th) an is called by LittleRedElf’s (AK). The flop of clubs [2KA] ends the discussion.
90 min: TheNewY2K (5th) has his (AK) run into Rennzzo’s (JJ).
99 min: Douge2 and LittleRedElf (4th) call-check in. The flop of [9JQ] has LittleRed bet and Doug call. The turn of [8] gets both players all in with Doug holding the higher straight.
104 min: Rennzzo (3rd) takes the bad beat of the night when his (AA) loses to Sirgash’s trip 3’s. Rennzzo goes out three minutes later as his flopped pair of ladies lose to Douge2’s flush. No nub for Rennzzo.
110 min: Sirgash (2nd) calls all-in with his (QQ) into a flop of [745]. That looks safe enough I guess – except Douge2 is holding (63). Congratulations Douge2 on your 1st NPP victory! Welcome to the Walk of Fame!
1st – Douge2 – 20 pts
2nd – Sirgash – 14 pts
3rd – Rennzzo – 10 pts
4th – LittleRedElf – 7 pts
5th – TheNewY2K – 5 pts
6th – Hlam14 – 4 pts
7th – Mikeniks-Faldo 3 pts
8th – Nixi44 – 2 pts
9th – 7Jokers – 1 pt
10th – Jager244
11th – ThePunk75
12th – Rkidder51400
13th – Gobluebilly
14th – Akensi
15th – Duder1123
16th – Kensik
17th – Crackbuyer
18th – Mistermusic5
19th – Theedouble*d
20th – Tigercub8189
21st – Whilden
22nd – Cigar4John
Standings will be on the right side of the blog!
Monday, January 05, 2009
NPP Statistics Time - Final Installment
On the eve of the 2009 season, I thought I would post the rest of the stats fit to print for 2008.
Most Wins
1 - 7Jokers 7
2 - Doneill 6
3 - Beerhog, Duder1123, Nahanni 4
6 - Boother, Tigercub8189 3
Most 2nds
1 - Mikeniks-Faldo 8
2 - Tigercub8189 5
3 - 7Jokers, Nahanni, Rennzzo 4
6 - Beerhog, Boother, Doneill, Rownder 3
Most 3rds
1 - Mikeniks-Faldo 5
2 - 7jokers, Biglou93, Duder1123, Hlam14, Tigercub8189 4
Most 4ths
1 - Duder1123, Mikeniks-Faldo 8
3 - Boother, Rownder 4
5 - 7Jokers, ArcticBlast1, Tigercub8189 3
Most 5ths
1 - Tigercub8189 8
2 - Mikeniks-Faldo 7
3 - Nahanni 6
4 - 7Jokers, Aqualung86, ArcticBlast1, Doneill, McGuiness007, Rennzzo 3
Longest Streak Earning at Least One Point
1 - Mikeniks-Faldo 10
2 - Nahanni 6
3 - Aqualung85, Duder1123 5
5 - Tigercub8189 4
In 2009, we will be giving points for the Final Table. My guess is consistency and attendance will get you to the Big Dance on December 15, 2009.
Most Wins
1 - 7Jokers 7
2 - Doneill 6
3 - Beerhog, Duder1123, Nahanni 4
6 - Boother, Tigercub8189 3
Most 2nds
1 - Mikeniks-Faldo 8
2 - Tigercub8189 5
3 - 7Jokers, Nahanni, Rennzzo 4
6 - Beerhog, Boother, Doneill, Rownder 3
Most 3rds
1 - Mikeniks-Faldo 5
2 - 7jokers, Biglou93, Duder1123, Hlam14, Tigercub8189 4
Most 4ths
1 - Duder1123, Mikeniks-Faldo 8
3 - Boother, Rownder 4
5 - 7Jokers, ArcticBlast1, Tigercub8189 3
Most 5ths
1 - Tigercub8189 8
2 - Mikeniks-Faldo 7
3 - Nahanni 6
4 - 7Jokers, Aqualung86, ArcticBlast1, Doneill, McGuiness007, Rennzzo 3
Longest Streak Earning at Least One Point
1 - Mikeniks-Faldo 10
2 - Nahanni 6
3 - Aqualung85, Duder1123 5
5 - Tigercub8189 4
In 2009, we will be giving points for the Final Table. My guess is consistency and attendance will get you to the Big Dance on December 15, 2009.
Sunday, January 04, 2009
Nixi44 is the NPP Heads Up Champion!
A lady suggested we hold a heads-up tourney and a lady won it. I guess that was just "in the cards."
Nixi44 made her way thru the brackets leaving 2nd place to Boother and Mistermusic5. Anybody making it thru ANY type of NPP obstacle course, proves they can play some poker!
Thank you to everyone who participated and for the sportsmanship shown all the way thru the bracket scheduling.
Congratulations to Nixi44!
Faldo
Nixi44 made her way thru the brackets leaving 2nd place to Boother and Mistermusic5. Anybody making it thru ANY type of NPP obstacle course, proves they can play some poker!
Thank you to everyone who participated and for the sportsmanship shown all the way thru the bracket scheduling.
Congratulations to Nixi44!
Faldo
Friday, January 02, 2009
Boother's New Years Day Tourney - Another Great Time!
Boother holds a New Years Day at his NPP North location. It is by invitation only and once again it was a fun time. Boother is a great host - with a stocked fridge of beer, an open bar and a ton and a huge variety of snacks.
We opened with a short ring game, followed by a 13 player tournament and then back to ring play.
Matchy won the tournament, with a 2nd by BonA1r, a 3rd by Hlam14, a 4th by Beerhog and a 5th by Faldo.
As you can see, NPP players travel well.
I'll let the players tell you how they fared individually.
Boother, thanks again for hosting a great game.
We opened with a short ring game, followed by a 13 player tournament and then back to ring play.
Matchy won the tournament, with a 2nd by BonA1r, a 3rd by Hlam14, a 4th by Beerhog and a 5th by Faldo.
As you can see, NPP players travel well.
I'll let the players tell you how they fared individually.
Boother, thanks again for hosting a great game.
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
NPP Heads Up Championship Semi-Finals Are Set!
Here are the four finalists:
1 - Nixi44
2 - Mistermusic5
3 - Boother
4 - Mikeniks (Faldo)
Should be exciting!
1 - Nixi44
2 - Mistermusic5
3 - Boother
4 - Mikeniks (Faldo)
Should be exciting!
Monday, December 29, 2008
The Faldo Legend Continues to Grow
It is no secret that Beerhog and Faldo spend quite a few hours of time up at BWW in Brighton. It is a chance to talk business, talk sports, bet sports, have a few beers and cigars – and play poker on the BWW NL Holdem game.
Beerhog and I will usually have a side bet on which one of us will finish with the most chips in any two hour session. This is tricky, because even though he and I are playing for real, many of the other players on the table are playing with fake chips for free – and their play shows.
But sprinkled into this mix are players playing for real - even if it is play money - as the high chip getters get their names up on the big board for both highest ‘weekly’ and highest ‘monthly totals. So it makes for good practice at reading players and their motives while playing.
Regardless, at or near the top of the list every month are JMAX (Beerhog), FALDO (Faldo) - and OLDMAN (Curtis) – a friend and BWW regular at the bar with Beerhog and me.
The recognition of the fact that these three names are always at - or near - the top of the leader board is so prevalent, that many of the part time players are making hybrids of our names when they play!
For example in our last visit, Beerhog and I played against IMAX, OLDMN, and (are you ready for this?) FALDO2, FALDDO, and FFALDO – all at the same time!
They say impersonation is the greatest form of flattery, but this is just plain spooky. We don’t know any of these people either. – Faldo
Beerhog and I will usually have a side bet on which one of us will finish with the most chips in any two hour session. This is tricky, because even though he and I are playing for real, many of the other players on the table are playing with fake chips for free – and their play shows.
But sprinkled into this mix are players playing for real - even if it is play money - as the high chip getters get their names up on the big board for both highest ‘weekly’ and highest ‘monthly totals. So it makes for good practice at reading players and their motives while playing.
Regardless, at or near the top of the list every month are JMAX (Beerhog), FALDO (Faldo) - and OLDMAN (Curtis) – a friend and BWW regular at the bar with Beerhog and me.
The recognition of the fact that these three names are always at - or near - the top of the leader board is so prevalent, that many of the part time players are making hybrids of our names when they play!
For example in our last visit, Beerhog and I played against IMAX, OLDMN, and (are you ready for this?) FALDO2, FALDDO, and FFALDO – all at the same time!
They say impersonation is the greatest form of flattery, but this is just plain spooky. We don’t know any of these people either. – Faldo
Friday, December 26, 2008
NPP Statistics Time - Part II
These are the best stats, I think.
Most Points Earned in 2008
1 - 7Jokers 130
2 - Faldo 122
3 - Tigercub8189 102
4 - Nahanni 92
5 - Duder1123 91
6 - Doneill 90
Most Points per Start
1 - Doneill 4.3 (3 pts is 4th place!)
2 - 7Jokers 3.7
3 - Faldo 3.5
4 - Boother 3.1
5 - Nahanni 3.1
6 - Beerhog, Matchy, Rownder 2.9
These players average a 4th place finish every start???
Honorable mention has to be given to Hlam14 who averaged an incredible 4.6 points in 12 starts!
Well, you can't say we don't let you know who can play (except for that Faldo mope - he stinks).
Most Points Earned in 2008
1 - 7Jokers 130
2 - Faldo 122
3 - Tigercub8189 102
4 - Nahanni 92
5 - Duder1123 91
6 - Doneill 90
Most Points per Start
1 - Doneill 4.3 (3 pts is 4th place!)
2 - 7Jokers 3.7
3 - Faldo 3.5
4 - Boother 3.1
5 - Nahanni 3.1
6 - Beerhog, Matchy, Rownder 2.9
These players average a 4th place finish every start???
Honorable mention has to be given to Hlam14 who averaged an incredible 4.6 points in 12 starts!
Well, you can't say we don't let you know who can play (except for that Faldo mope - he stinks).
Wednesday, December 24, 2008
NPP Heads Up Elite Eight Bracket!
Here are the matchups:
1 - Nixi44
2 - The NewY2K {forfeits – see note below}
3 - Beerhog
4 - Mistermusic5
5 - Jamestown07
6 - Boother
7 - Greg48471
8 - Mikeniks(Faldo)
Nixi44 is moving on to the next round due to chivalry and for the betterment of his fellow man. TheNewY2K did not want to take advantage playing someone of the weaker sex in something as rough as a Heads Up poker match.
Secondly, and more important – Y2K thought of Sirgash. After all, how could Nixi44 get his slippers and beer, make and serve a nice meal, run his bath, feed him grapes – and play the match at the same time? And so close to the New Year too!
What if the computer or monitor fell into Sirgash’s bath water or knocked his beer over??? The horror!
No, TheNewY2K, seeing the potential of disaster has conceded his match to Nixi44 and heads to Florida to get his MC PIG certificate. Well done, sir.
The rest of you, email your opponent to set some dates and times. My email has already reached the rest of you quarter-finalists!
Faldo
1 - Nixi44
2 - The NewY2K {forfeits – see note below}
3 - Beerhog
4 - Mistermusic5
5 - Jamestown07
6 - Boother
7 - Greg48471
8 - Mikeniks(Faldo)
Nixi44 is moving on to the next round due to chivalry and for the betterment of his fellow man. TheNewY2K did not want to take advantage playing someone of the weaker sex in something as rough as a Heads Up poker match.
Secondly, and more important – Y2K thought of Sirgash. After all, how could Nixi44 get his slippers and beer, make and serve a nice meal, run his bath, feed him grapes – and play the match at the same time? And so close to the New Year too!
What if the computer or monitor fell into Sirgash’s bath water or knocked his beer over??? The horror!
No, TheNewY2K, seeing the potential of disaster has conceded his match to Nixi44 and heads to Florida to get his MC PIG certificate. Well done, sir.
The rest of you, email your opponent to set some dates and times. My email has already reached the rest of you quarter-finalists!
Faldo
NPP Statistics Time – Part I
Merry Christmas to all NPP players, readers and their families - including all past, present and future memebers!
Here is the time when the effort of the NPP Tournament Committee really shines - with the help of the NPP Secretary Nahanni, of course.
The Committee first has to set up the cut off point. How many games must a player play of the 48 rounds open for entry, in order to get nub at the end of the year?
This is the question that the Committee pours over for days and days, as they toil in obscurity. Ah, the suffering of the few for the enjoyment of many.
The decision was made to dis-regard all statistics of players who played less than 18 rounds – or a quarter and a half. The Committee decided that a Quarter and a half of play against the talent pool here, would determine who's stats were truly relevant.
With that in mind, here is the first posting of statistics from 2008. Enjoy.
Iron Men – most rounds played
1 – Tigercub8189 42 rounds
2 – Mikeniks (Faldo) 35 rounds
2 – 7Jokers 35 rounds
2 – Duder1123 35 rounds
5 – Nahanni 30 rounds
6 – Rennzzo 29 rounds
I think this shows that Iron-people make it to the Finals! Only Hlam14, who moved and changed jobs AND states (now an Iowan - no sheep is safe) make it to the final and was not an Iron Man. Unless you have Hlam14’s outstanding talent, being a regular grinder seems to be the secret to success at NPP.
More stat reports to follow. – Faldo
Here is the time when the effort of the NPP Tournament Committee really shines - with the help of the NPP Secretary Nahanni, of course.
The Committee first has to set up the cut off point. How many games must a player play of the 48 rounds open for entry, in order to get nub at the end of the year?
This is the question that the Committee pours over for days and days, as they toil in obscurity. Ah, the suffering of the few for the enjoyment of many.
The decision was made to dis-regard all statistics of players who played less than 18 rounds – or a quarter and a half. The Committee decided that a Quarter and a half of play against the talent pool here, would determine who's stats were truly relevant.
With that in mind, here is the first posting of statistics from 2008. Enjoy.
Iron Men – most rounds played
1 – Tigercub8189 42 rounds
2 – Mikeniks (Faldo) 35 rounds
2 – 7Jokers 35 rounds
2 – Duder1123 35 rounds
5 – Nahanni 30 rounds
6 – Rennzzo 29 rounds
I think this shows that Iron-people make it to the Finals! Only Hlam14, who moved and changed jobs AND states (now an Iowan - no sheep is safe) make it to the final and was not an Iron Man. Unless you have Hlam14’s outstanding talent, being a regular grinder seems to be the secret to success at NPP.
More stat reports to follow. – Faldo
Friday, December 19, 2008
NPP Heads Up Tournament Bracket!
Ok, readers come feast your eyes on the bracket that has left March Madness in the dust! Round One of the 1st Annual NPP Heads Up Tournament:
1 - Nahanni74
2 - Nixi44
3 - Derf-63 - Forfeit
4 - TheNewY2K
5 - Beerhog
6 - Matchy
7 - CrackBuyer
8 - Mistermusic5
9 - LittleRedElf
10 - Jamestown07
11 - Boother
12 - Duder1123
13 - Acesovru - Forfeit
14 - Greg48471
15 - Sirgash
16 - Faldo
I hope to see polite notes, encouragement, enlightenment, peace, love and understanding in the comment section of this post. Players give your synopsis
(Beerhog - that is a BIG adult word for - "What the Fxxx happened", just so you know)
of your matches. Thanks to all who entered.
Faldo
1 - Nahanni74
2 - Nixi44
3 - Derf-63 - Forfeit
4 - TheNewY2K
5 - Beerhog
6 - Matchy
7 - CrackBuyer
8 - Mistermusic5
9 - LittleRedElf
10 - Jamestown07
11 - Boother
12 - Duder1123
13 - Acesovru - Forfeit
14 - Greg48471
15 - Sirgash
16 - Faldo
I hope to see polite notes, encouragement, enlightenment, peace, love and understanding in the comment section of this post. Players give your synopsis
(Beerhog - that is a BIG adult word for - "What the Fxxx happened", just so you know)
of your matches. Thanks to all who entered.
Faldo
Thursday, December 18, 2008
Bulldog0615 Wins His 1st NPP Tourney!
It was the consolation tourney on Championship Night, but a victory in an undercard against a full line up of NPP talent still counts!
We also welcome a new player by the name of Derf-63! Welcome to the league!
PS: Need your email too Derf. Whatever I copied Tuesday off the chat was not right.
Email me at npokerp at yahoo dot com as soon as you can. I got to get you the Heads Up Tourney bracket!
I didn't get the hands of this one. But Bulldog0615 beat most of the regulars this night. Here is the standings for this tourney:
1st - Bulldog0615 - Welcome to the Walk of Fame!
2nd - ThePunk75
3rd - 7Jokers (Playing in the Final also!)
4th - vbholdem
5th - Airforce1977
6th - Nixi44
7th - Douge2
8th - Sirgash
9th - Derf-63 (usual NPP welcome)
10th - LittleRedElf
We also welcome a new player by the name of Derf-63! Welcome to the league!
PS: Need your email too Derf. Whatever I copied Tuesday off the chat was not right.
Email me at npokerp at yahoo dot com as soon as you can. I got to get you the Heads Up Tourney bracket!
I didn't get the hands of this one. But Bulldog0615 beat most of the regulars this night. Here is the standings for this tourney:
1st - Bulldog0615 - Welcome to the Walk of Fame!
2nd - ThePunk75
3rd - 7Jokers (Playing in the Final also!)
4th - vbholdem
5th - Airforce1977
6th - Nixi44
7th - Douge2
8th - Sirgash
9th - Derf-63 (usual NPP welcome)
10th - LittleRedElf
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
Duder1123 Wins the 2008 NPP Player of the Year!
Five of NPP’s finest sat down for the title. Doneill was MIA, and that is a shame.
Good will and harmony between the combatants was expected. But the overwhelming NUB for Poker Stars – and their dealing - was what impressed me!
Yes, I lie awake at night and think of all the things I want to do…er, I mean want to get…for the Poker Stars dealer. Now on to the action.
1 min: The blood is spilled early! The second hand is a family pot – all five call the blind. The flop is [4c Qd 2d]. Hlam14 bets, Duder1123 raises and only Hlam calls.
[7c] Duder bets 100 and Hlam calls.
[7s] Duder bets 200 and Hlam calls to see Duder’s (22) for a full house. One wheel off of the Hlam tricycle.
See, Hlam14 lost 500 of the 1500 he started with – so I called it a tricycle. Pretty clever eh? {Working on Internet Pulitzer Prize and smoozing judges}
8 min: Another painful hand early. Nahanni74 makes a small raise and only Duder1123 and Hlam14 call. The flop is [8c 4h 5c] and Nahanni makes a button bet for half the pot and only Hlam calls.
[Qd] Nahanni with a pot size bet and Hlam calls.
[Qh] Nahanni fires the third bullet and Hlam calls with his trip Q’s and busted flush draw, but Nahanni (76) flopped the straight!
That flop, turn and river was going to hurt someone somehow. No doubt about it. But it was Hlam who was now down to just a back wheel, and it was missing spokes.
16 min: Duder1123, Hlam14 (5th) and Tigercub8189 take the flop with friendly limps.
[9s 7s 7c] and Hlam is all-in. Only Duder calls with (KK) to beat Hlam’s 9’s over 7’s two pair. No nub for Hlam this evening.
The man with the most NPP titles is out. But, he was here at the title match AGAIN!
43 min: The battle rages on for almost 30 minutes before another family pot is played.
[7s Kc Ks] A short-stacked Tigercub8189 (4th) fires in a bet and gets raised by 7Jokers (Kh 8h), and Tigercub (22) goes all-in with two pair and gets called by 7Joker's trip kings.
The fine year for the Cat is over.
59 min: The world famous Poker Stars Break Hammer made its appearance. No NPP game is complete without it. 7Jokers (3rd) raises and gets called by Duder1123.
[Kd 7c Qc] 7Jokers (AK) fires a bet, Duder1123 (Ac 9c) raises to put 7Jokers all in, and he calls. The blank hits the turn but the [Jc] lands on the river to make Duder's flush.
The top point getter for the year – 7Jokers is out.
Break:
Duder1123 4265
Nahanni74 3235
65 min: No need for a chip log as by this time Nahanni74’s (2nd) chip stack has been halved. She moves all-in with (A3) and Duder1123 calls with (88). An [8] on the flop ended the drama.
The Secretary of the NPP Poker League falls just short of the title. But her destruction of the NPP field in the third quarter was impressive!
Now for the new champion – Duder1123! What a story this is. He worked his way up steadily in the points list and proved that perseverance and grinding gets rewarded! Nice job Duder!
1st – Duder1123 (NPP Poker Player of the Year)
2nd – Nahanni74
3rd – 7Jokers
4th – Tigercub8189
5th – Hlam14
6th – Doneill (DNP)
Good will and harmony between the combatants was expected. But the overwhelming NUB for Poker Stars – and their dealing - was what impressed me!
Yes, I lie awake at night and think of all the things I want to do…er, I mean want to get…for the Poker Stars dealer. Now on to the action.
1 min: The blood is spilled early! The second hand is a family pot – all five call the blind. The flop is [4c Qd 2d]. Hlam14 bets, Duder1123 raises and only Hlam calls.
[7c] Duder bets 100 and Hlam calls.
[7s] Duder bets 200 and Hlam calls to see Duder’s (22) for a full house. One wheel off of the Hlam tricycle.
See, Hlam14 lost 500 of the 1500 he started with – so I called it a tricycle. Pretty clever eh? {Working on Internet Pulitzer Prize and smoozing judges}
8 min: Another painful hand early. Nahanni74 makes a small raise and only Duder1123 and Hlam14 call. The flop is [8c 4h 5c] and Nahanni makes a button bet for half the pot and only Hlam calls.
[Qd] Nahanni with a pot size bet and Hlam calls.
[Qh] Nahanni fires the third bullet and Hlam calls with his trip Q’s and busted flush draw, but Nahanni (76) flopped the straight!
That flop, turn and river was going to hurt someone somehow. No doubt about it. But it was Hlam who was now down to just a back wheel, and it was missing spokes.
16 min: Duder1123, Hlam14 (5th) and Tigercub8189 take the flop with friendly limps.
[9s 7s 7c] and Hlam is all-in. Only Duder calls with (KK) to beat Hlam’s 9’s over 7’s two pair. No nub for Hlam this evening.
The man with the most NPP titles is out. But, he was here at the title match AGAIN!
43 min: The battle rages on for almost 30 minutes before another family pot is played.
[7s Kc Ks] A short-stacked Tigercub8189 (4th) fires in a bet and gets raised by 7Jokers (Kh 8h), and Tigercub (22) goes all-in with two pair and gets called by 7Joker's trip kings.
The fine year for the Cat is over.
59 min: The world famous Poker Stars Break Hammer made its appearance. No NPP game is complete without it. 7Jokers (3rd) raises and gets called by Duder1123.
[Kd 7c Qc] 7Jokers (AK) fires a bet, Duder1123 (Ac 9c) raises to put 7Jokers all in, and he calls. The blank hits the turn but the [Jc] lands on the river to make Duder's flush.
The top point getter for the year – 7Jokers is out.
Break:
Duder1123 4265
Nahanni74 3235
65 min: No need for a chip log as by this time Nahanni74’s (2nd) chip stack has been halved. She moves all-in with (A3) and Duder1123 calls with (88). An [8] on the flop ended the drama.
The Secretary of the NPP Poker League falls just short of the title. But her destruction of the NPP field in the third quarter was impressive!
Now for the new champion – Duder1123! What a story this is. He worked his way up steadily in the points list and proved that perseverance and grinding gets rewarded! Nice job Duder!
1st – Duder1123 (NPP Poker Player of the Year)
2nd – Nahanni74
3rd – 7Jokers
4th – Tigercub8189
5th – Hlam14
6th – Doneill (DNP)
Sunday, December 14, 2008
Faldo Finishes 3rd in UB Omaha Hi/Lo Tourney
What do you do when you playing well, but you are on Poker Stars - and they crush you early in one tourney and bubble you in the next two playing Texas Holdem?
Well I switched sites and games! Now having played for 6 hours and just a little frustrated, I'm looking for maybe a couple table SNG that I can finish in a couple hours.
Ultimate Bet has those, but they are not filling up for some reason. I see an Omaha Hi/Lo tourney with only 48 people in it, and 4 minutes until it goes off. That looks fine.
Well 102 make it by the time late registration is over and then 86 re-buy! I don't have to do that, but I did add-on. So there are a ton more people and a ton more chips! Time to knuckle down, cause this is going to take alot longer than I thought.
Well it is another 5 hours of play before I get knocked out in 3rd. I make 15 times my buy-in and end my poker Saturday profitable.
Time to watch the Wings and the UFC fights! - Faldo
Well I switched sites and games! Now having played for 6 hours and just a little frustrated, I'm looking for maybe a couple table SNG that I can finish in a couple hours.
Ultimate Bet has those, but they are not filling up for some reason. I see an Omaha Hi/Lo tourney with only 48 people in it, and 4 minutes until it goes off. That looks fine.
Well 102 make it by the time late registration is over and then 86 re-buy! I don't have to do that, but I did add-on. So there are a ton more people and a ton more chips! Time to knuckle down, cause this is going to take alot longer than I thought.
Well it is another 5 hours of play before I get knocked out in 3rd. I make 15 times my buy-in and end my poker Saturday profitable.
Time to watch the Wings and the UFC fights! - Faldo
Friday, December 12, 2008
NPP Final and Consolation Tourneys Posted on Poker Stars
The two tourneys for Tuesday night have been posted.
NiksPokerPalaceFinal (password emailed to Finalists)
and
NiksPokerPalaceNoNub (same old password)
Feel free to sweater (pester) the Finalists! They can always flip the chat off if becomes a distraction.
Please - Finalists, if you can't play that night, let me know! I will try to get the next alternate in that seat.
Heads Up Tourney - There are only 3 or 4 seats left for this! It is 1st come - first serve, so let me know if you want in. Look at it this way - win the first round and you have a freeroll to a little $$$ - not to mention the more important NPP imortality and bragging rights! - Faldo
NiksPokerPalaceFinal (password emailed to Finalists)
and
NiksPokerPalaceNoNub (same old password)
Feel free to sweater (pester) the Finalists! They can always flip the chat off if becomes a distraction.
Please - Finalists, if you can't play that night, let me know! I will try to get the next alternate in that seat.
Heads Up Tourney - There are only 3 or 4 seats left for this! It is 1st come - first serve, so let me know if you want in. Look at it this way - win the first round and you have a freeroll to a little $$$ - not to mention the more important NPP imortality and bragging rights! - Faldo
Thursday, December 11, 2008
Faldo Needs Help!
Yes I know you all know that - but let’s leave insane asylums, electro-shock, heavy drugs, intravenous whiskey drip, Alzheimer’s medicine and frontal lobotomies out of this for now.
I’m talking about help getting ready for the Final Tourney, the Heads Up Tourney and next season.
I need readers, players and friends of players to fill in the blanks. Nahanni helped me already – several times – as I overlooked some past emails. Thank God she is my secretary!
Ok, here is the laundry list of my needs:
1. From these people, I need their real names and emails sent to npokerp @ yahoo dot com.
If I already have it and didn’t connect it, blame it on my senility and hangover…or better yet, blame it on my secretary.
Bigcat1967 – new player
Bulldog0615 – new player
Dsdugout – new player
Rennzzo – veteran player
Vbholdem – wanna be player
Aquariumco – MIA (missing in action)
Kbutter - MIA
Passen - MIA
Steveseam - MIA
2. From these people, I need their Poker Stars handles:
Bradley D– wanna be player
Kevin K– wanna be player
3. And I need to know who else wants in the Heads Up Tourney? We have 13 right now.
Ok, flood me with comments and of course the famous NPP nub! - Faldo
I’m talking about help getting ready for the Final Tourney, the Heads Up Tourney and next season.
I need readers, players and friends of players to fill in the blanks. Nahanni helped me already – several times – as I overlooked some past emails. Thank God she is my secretary!
Ok, here is the laundry list of my needs:
1. From these people, I need their real names and emails sent to npokerp @ yahoo dot com.
If I already have it and didn’t connect it, blame it on my senility and hangover…or better yet, blame it on my secretary.
Bigcat1967 – new player
Bulldog0615 – new player
Dsdugout – new player
Rennzzo – veteran player
Vbholdem – wanna be player
Aquariumco – MIA (missing in action)
Kbutter - MIA
Passen - MIA
Steveseam - MIA
2. From these people, I need their Poker Stars handles:
Bradley D– wanna be player
Kevin K– wanna be player
3. And I need to know who else wants in the Heads Up Tourney? We have 13 right now.
Ok, flood me with comments and of course the famous NPP nub! - Faldo
Tuesday, December 09, 2008
LittleRedElf Wins His Fist NPP Tourney
Welcome to the Walk of Fame! But is it fair that a player named LittleRedElf can play in a tournament so close to Christmas? A bit of an unfair karma advantage I would say.
Fourteen players made it to the last regular season round of NPP 2008. This included a RECORD four new players in one night! Airforce1977, Bulldog0615, Dsdugout and Whilden – welcome to NPP! You made history for this league already!
Thank you to all who participated throughout the year – and see you next year – if not before in our Heads Up Tourney!
15 min: Congratulations to Duder1123, who clinched the last seat in the NPP Finals. Although he clinched it quickly tonight by the fact that the two guys who could catch him did not show, that doesn’t diminish the fact that he had the lead on them. And wait until you see where he finished tonight anyway! He won his spot going away!
17 min: ThePunk75 (14th) is in the big blind. 7Jokers raises and it folds to ThePunk, who re-raises and Jokers calls. The flop is [Td Jh 3s]. ThePunk goes all-in with (99) but 7Jokers has (QQ).
35 min: We play on for a while before Whilden (13th) has to make a move with (QT) and a flop with [6s 9d Jd]. Airforce1977 calls with (Td 7d) and makes his flush on the river.
47 min: A short-stacked and equally short lucked Sirgash (12th) makes his stand with (AK). Duder calls him down with (Ac 4c). A [4] on the flop and river ends the Sirgash hope of a 3-peat win performance.
50 min: Rennzzo (11th) has to go with (KT) and runs into Bulldog0615’s (KJ).
55 min: Dsdugout (10th) makes his stand with (KJ) and runs into Tigercub8189’s (A7).
Break:
Tigercub8189 5295
7Jokers 2843
Biglou93 2670
LittleRedElf 2275
Airforce1977 2175
Duder1123 1992
TheNewY2K 1840
Bulldog0615 1360
Umichpoker 550
64 min: The shortstacked Umichpoker (9th) makes her stand with (A4) but Duder1123 has (AK).
80 min: A little stretch before Airforce1977 (8th), Biglou93 and 7Jokers get into a snit. Airforce is all-in. After a flop of [2 7 Q], Jokers bets and gets called. This happens again on the turn [9d] and the river [4h]. 7Jokers takes the pot down with a pair of Ladies.
82 min: This seemed to rattle Biglou93 (7th) who tried to bluff all-in with (43), but Tigercub8189 called with (KQ).
85 min: Bulldog0615 (6th) makes his move with (88) and runs into 7Joker’s (KK).
89 min: TheNewY2K (5th) gets all-in after a flop with (KJ) looking at [J89]. Tigercub8189 calls with the made hand (QT).
98 min: Duder1123 (4th) is short-stacked and moves all-in with (K2) and a [AKX] on the flop. LittleRedElf has (A6).
110 min: For almost a quarter of an hour, LittleRedElf puts on a clinic grinding down Tigercub8189 and 7Jokers. But he loses his huge chip advantage (A4) to 7Jokers (A6).
119 min: Tigercub8189 (3rd) is short-stacked and (Jc 9c) looks like a hand to move in with when the flop is [6c 2c 4d]. But 7Jokers has (44) and no club saves the Cat.
Break:
LittleRedElf 11212
7Jokers 9788
125 min: LRE 13000 / 7J 8000
130 min: LRE 14000 / 7J 7000
132 min: 7Jokers (2nd) goes all-in with (66) and LittleRedElf calls with the coin flip (Ac Qc), and the [A] falls on the river. Congratulations to LittleRedElf for his first NPP win!
1st – LittleRedElf
2nd – 7Jokers
3rd – Tigercub8189
4th – Duder1123
5th – TheNewY2K
6th – Bulldog0615
7th – Biglou93
8th – Airforce1977
9th – Umichpoker
10th – Dsdugout
11th – Rennzzo
12th – Sirgash
13th – Whilden
14th – ThePunk75
The seats for the Final are set, and I will have a consolation tourney scheduled for the same night and time.
The consolation tourney will have the same password. I will send the seat winners the password for the NPP Championship!
Seats and final point standings on the right side of the blog. Thanks to everyone for your play, comments and friendships. – Nik Faldo
Fourteen players made it to the last regular season round of NPP 2008. This included a RECORD four new players in one night! Airforce1977, Bulldog0615, Dsdugout and Whilden – welcome to NPP! You made history for this league already!
Thank you to all who participated throughout the year – and see you next year – if not before in our Heads Up Tourney!
15 min: Congratulations to Duder1123, who clinched the last seat in the NPP Finals. Although he clinched it quickly tonight by the fact that the two guys who could catch him did not show, that doesn’t diminish the fact that he had the lead on them. And wait until you see where he finished tonight anyway! He won his spot going away!
17 min: ThePunk75 (14th) is in the big blind. 7Jokers raises and it folds to ThePunk, who re-raises and Jokers calls. The flop is [Td Jh 3s]. ThePunk goes all-in with (99) but 7Jokers has (QQ).
35 min: We play on for a while before Whilden (13th) has to make a move with (QT) and a flop with [6s 9d Jd]. Airforce1977 calls with (Td 7d) and makes his flush on the river.
47 min: A short-stacked and equally short lucked Sirgash (12th) makes his stand with (AK). Duder calls him down with (Ac 4c). A [4] on the flop and river ends the Sirgash hope of a 3-peat win performance.
50 min: Rennzzo (11th) has to go with (KT) and runs into Bulldog0615’s (KJ).
55 min: Dsdugout (10th) makes his stand with (KJ) and runs into Tigercub8189’s (A7).
Break:
Tigercub8189 5295
7Jokers 2843
Biglou93 2670
LittleRedElf 2275
Airforce1977 2175
Duder1123 1992
TheNewY2K 1840
Bulldog0615 1360
Umichpoker 550
64 min: The shortstacked Umichpoker (9th) makes her stand with (A4) but Duder1123 has (AK).
80 min: A little stretch before Airforce1977 (8th), Biglou93 and 7Jokers get into a snit. Airforce is all-in. After a flop of [2 7 Q], Jokers bets and gets called. This happens again on the turn [9d] and the river [4h]. 7Jokers takes the pot down with a pair of Ladies.
82 min: This seemed to rattle Biglou93 (7th) who tried to bluff all-in with (43), but Tigercub8189 called with (KQ).
85 min: Bulldog0615 (6th) makes his move with (88) and runs into 7Joker’s (KK).
89 min: TheNewY2K (5th) gets all-in after a flop with (KJ) looking at [J89]. Tigercub8189 calls with the made hand (QT).
98 min: Duder1123 (4th) is short-stacked and moves all-in with (K2) and a [AKX] on the flop. LittleRedElf has (A6).
110 min: For almost a quarter of an hour, LittleRedElf puts on a clinic grinding down Tigercub8189 and 7Jokers. But he loses his huge chip advantage (A4) to 7Jokers (A6).
119 min: Tigercub8189 (3rd) is short-stacked and (Jc 9c) looks like a hand to move in with when the flop is [6c 2c 4d]. But 7Jokers has (44) and no club saves the Cat.
Break:
LittleRedElf 11212
7Jokers 9788
125 min: LRE 13000 / 7J 8000
130 min: LRE 14000 / 7J 7000
132 min: 7Jokers (2nd) goes all-in with (66) and LittleRedElf calls with the coin flip (Ac Qc), and the [A] falls on the river. Congratulations to LittleRedElf for his first NPP win!
1st – LittleRedElf
2nd – 7Jokers
3rd – Tigercub8189
4th – Duder1123
5th – TheNewY2K
6th – Bulldog0615
7th – Biglou93
8th – Airforce1977
9th – Umichpoker
10th – Dsdugout
11th – Rennzzo
12th – Sirgash
13th – Whilden
14th – ThePunk75
The seats for the Final are set, and I will have a consolation tourney scheduled for the same night and time.
The consolation tourney will have the same password. I will send the seat winners the password for the NPP Championship!
Seats and final point standings on the right side of the blog. Thanks to everyone for your play, comments and friendships. – Nik Faldo
Thursday, December 04, 2008
SpartyTojo Wins a Charity Tourney!!!
If you make it to the NPP Walk of Fame, then you are a certified threat in any tournament or ring game you enter. No brag…just fact.
Job and family obligations have kept SpartyTojo from joining the NPP SNG game all that often. But he does manage an occasional appearance now and again - including with our private limit ring games. He sent me this:
Hey Faldo,
”I know that you always like to hear when a NPP student makes good, so I thought that I'd drop you a quick note.
A friend of mine has a daughter that plays on a travel soccer team.They decided that a great way to raise money would be to hold a 'charity' Hold 'Em tournament. Buy in was $100, with half or so going to the kids. There were 75 registered with a few rumors of sharks in the mix.
Top five got paid. The food was great and the beer and soft drinks were free. In addition, they were served by friendly soccer moms. [Ed. Note: How friendly? How friendly?????]
We broke into tables of nine, with no remarkable action for quite some time. I had played my crappy hands conservatively. With about half the field retired I found myself getting low on chips with the blinds climbing pretty quickly.
The club had a strict closing time because of the liquor license and they meant to hurry the game. I went all-in with a suited QJ and made the straight with a couple of callers to put together a reasonable stack.
Fast forward and we're down to two tables. The cards had improved, but the blinds were progressing at a dizzying pace. I managed to catch a hand or two, giving me just enough to limp into the final table in seventh place.
Short stacks eight and nine fell quickly, but I was now left with about three big blinds worth of chips in front of me and huge stacks across the table. I caught a pair of 9's as big blind with two callers in front of me. I went all-in and was called by a big stack and sixth place. A nine came on the flop and the set held. We lost two more on the next hand and I was thrilled to be in the money in fourth place.
The blinds now seemed to be going up exponentially as we approached the witching hour for the club. Fifth place blinded out quickly, and the guy in third lost an all-in to one of the two monster stacks, giving me third place, but with about 20% of either of the two monster stacks. They decided to blind me out and chop the pot between to two of them.
A streak of good cards foiled their plans as I hit trips and a straight on successive all-in hands against one player. Now I was in second place, and eliminated the short stack on the next hand with pocket Jacks.
I agreed to chop the pot with the remaining player as the club was turning the lights out. A chip count put me in first by a few so I got the first place trophy, a nicely engraved bottle of champagne. And eleven times the entrance fee. [Ed. Note: And how many phone numbers of ‘friendly soccer moms?]
I owe it all (ok, not all...) to my degree earned at NPP University. My tuition check is in the mail.
P.S. As I just took the buyout from Chrysler and am no longer gainfully employed the tuition check will be delayed indefinitely.”
SpartanToJo
Congratulations SpartyTojo! I see no nub for the instructor in the offering! I tell you, I toil in enamanimity, uhhh enimauppity, uhhhh ennamorusity,….uh nobody knows WHO I THINK I COULD BE!
Job and family obligations have kept SpartyTojo from joining the NPP SNG game all that often. But he does manage an occasional appearance now and again - including with our private limit ring games. He sent me this:
Hey Faldo,
”I know that you always like to hear when a NPP student makes good, so I thought that I'd drop you a quick note.
A friend of mine has a daughter that plays on a travel soccer team.They decided that a great way to raise money would be to hold a 'charity' Hold 'Em tournament. Buy in was $100, with half or so going to the kids. There were 75 registered with a few rumors of sharks in the mix.
Top five got paid. The food was great and the beer and soft drinks were free. In addition, they were served by friendly soccer moms. [Ed. Note: How friendly? How friendly?????]
We broke into tables of nine, with no remarkable action for quite some time. I had played my crappy hands conservatively. With about half the field retired I found myself getting low on chips with the blinds climbing pretty quickly.
The club had a strict closing time because of the liquor license and they meant to hurry the game. I went all-in with a suited QJ and made the straight with a couple of callers to put together a reasonable stack.
Fast forward and we're down to two tables. The cards had improved, but the blinds were progressing at a dizzying pace. I managed to catch a hand or two, giving me just enough to limp into the final table in seventh place.
Short stacks eight and nine fell quickly, but I was now left with about three big blinds worth of chips in front of me and huge stacks across the table. I caught a pair of 9's as big blind with two callers in front of me. I went all-in and was called by a big stack and sixth place. A nine came on the flop and the set held. We lost two more on the next hand and I was thrilled to be in the money in fourth place.
The blinds now seemed to be going up exponentially as we approached the witching hour for the club. Fifth place blinded out quickly, and the guy in third lost an all-in to one of the two monster stacks, giving me third place, but with about 20% of either of the two monster stacks. They decided to blind me out and chop the pot between to two of them.
A streak of good cards foiled their plans as I hit trips and a straight on successive all-in hands against one player. Now I was in second place, and eliminated the short stack on the next hand with pocket Jacks.
I agreed to chop the pot with the remaining player as the club was turning the lights out. A chip count put me in first by a few so I got the first place trophy, a nicely engraved bottle of champagne. And eleven times the entrance fee. [Ed. Note: And how many phone numbers of ‘friendly soccer moms?]
I owe it all (ok, not all...) to my degree earned at NPP University. My tuition check is in the mail.
P.S. As I just took the buyout from Chrysler and am no longer gainfully employed the tuition check will be delayed indefinitely.”
SpartanToJo
Congratulations SpartyTojo! I see no nub for the instructor in the offering! I tell you, I toil in enamanimity, uhhh enimauppity, uhhhh ennamorusity,….uh nobody knows WHO I THINK I COULD BE!
Tuesday, December 02, 2008
Sirgash Walking Thru NPP Right Now – Gets 2nd Win in a Row!
A week late trying for the repeat, but he still did it! He walked thru an eleven player tourney – including a new player added to the flock – TheNewY2K. Welcome to the game, blog, forum and Umichpoker newsletter!
[Ed Note: I swear players make up names just to screw with us bloggers that have to write the articles!] On to the action:
7 min: Umichpoker (11th) needs a lifeline as Poker Stars is giving absolutely no nub to her. After running into a full house moments earlier, Umichpoker makes a stand with (AQ) and runs into ThePunk75’s (TT).
53 min: The two-table 5 player game goes on for 45 minutes before a short-stacked CrackBuyer (10th) calls all-in with (AQ) but runs into the raiser LittleRedElf’s (JJ).
This opened the floodgates and all heck broke loose [Ed. Note: Once again players not taking the poor blog reporter into account!]. Try 4 players out in 4 minutes! This made me miss writing down the chip counts at the break as I was firing hand numbers into Poker Stars, so I could decipher what happened later.
55 min: ThePunk75 (9th) raises, then re-raises all-in with (AK) and is called by the original re-raiser TheNewY2K with (TT). Once again the dime stores win.
56 min: Short-stacked Rennzzo (8th) calls all-in with (Q9), but 7Jokers is holding (JJ).
57 min: Biglou93 (7th) limps in, but Nixi44 raises and Tigercub8189 calls, so Biglou93 moves all-in with (KQ). Tigercub gets out of the way and Nixi44 calls with (AJ).
Notice, losses by the better hand pre-flop --------yet.
Break (chip counts estimated as about 2 minutes of play happened after these totals):
TheNewY2K 4600
Sirgash 3300
Nixi44 3100
LittleRedElf 2300
7Jokers 2000
Tigercub8189 1200
Close enough.
73 min: There is some play before Nixi44 (6th) makes a stand with (Ah 7h) but gets not nub against TheNEwY2K’s (88).
82 min: Tigercub8189 (5th) calls all-in with (Ad 9d) against TheNEwY2K’s first to shove all-in with (QJ). A [Q] on the flop and we have our first come from behind win that eliminates someone this evening. Usually, there are more than a few by now. But they are still out there, and due to start in earnest.
Congratulations to Tigercub8189 for locking up a seat in the 2008 NPP Finals. Nice job! See, persistence and hard work IS rewarded (except in my bedroom, but I digress).
90 min: 7Jokers (4th) was making no headway and had to try it with (93) only to see LittleRedElf’s (77) hold up.
110 min: TheNewY2K (3rd) makes a move with (66) and has the lead against TheNEwY2K’s (AQ). But a [Q] on the turn takes him out. Nice showing in your first NPP game though, Y2K.
113 min: No time for a chip count as LittleRedElf (2nd) goes all-in with (A6) and Sirgash called with (A4). I told you the take outs of pre-flop hand leaders were in the weeds. A [4] on the river ends the evening.
That is back to back wins in back to back starts for Sirgash, to go with a 2nd before that! Impressive!
1st – 10 pts – Sirgash 27 points
2nd – 7 pts – LittleRedElf 8 points
3rd – 5 pts – TheNewY2K 5 points
4th – 3 pts – 7Jokers (35 points)
5th – 1 pt – Tigercub8189 (18 points)
6th – Nixi44
7th – Biglou93 9 points
8th – Rennzzo 8 points
9th – ThePunk75 13 points
The rest not relevant as all seats are decided but one! Be there next Tuesday for the exciting conclusion to the season.
Who will get the last seat at the finals with four still in the hunt?
Will 7Jokers overtake Faldo for the Total Points collected?
Will Nahanni ever finish the spreadsheet???
Will Beerhog, Boother, Duder, Matchy and Rownder quit watching the Brokeback Mountain DVD (expanded edition – whatever that means) together over and over again, and come back to the poker table? {Not that there is anything wrong with that.}
Total point standings are on the right side of the blog.
[Ed Note: I swear players make up names just to screw with us bloggers that have to write the articles!] On to the action:
7 min: Umichpoker (11th) needs a lifeline as Poker Stars is giving absolutely no nub to her. After running into a full house moments earlier, Umichpoker makes a stand with (AQ) and runs into ThePunk75’s (TT).
53 min: The two-table 5 player game goes on for 45 minutes before a short-stacked CrackBuyer (10th) calls all-in with (AQ) but runs into the raiser LittleRedElf’s (JJ).
This opened the floodgates and all heck broke loose [Ed. Note: Once again players not taking the poor blog reporter into account!]. Try 4 players out in 4 minutes! This made me miss writing down the chip counts at the break as I was firing hand numbers into Poker Stars, so I could decipher what happened later.
55 min: ThePunk75 (9th) raises, then re-raises all-in with (AK) and is called by the original re-raiser TheNewY2K with (TT). Once again the dime stores win.
56 min: Short-stacked Rennzzo (8th) calls all-in with (Q9), but 7Jokers is holding (JJ).
57 min: Biglou93 (7th) limps in, but Nixi44 raises and Tigercub8189 calls, so Biglou93 moves all-in with (KQ). Tigercub gets out of the way and Nixi44 calls with (AJ).
Notice, losses by the better hand pre-flop --------yet.
Break (chip counts estimated as about 2 minutes of play happened after these totals):
TheNewY2K 4600
Sirgash 3300
Nixi44 3100
LittleRedElf 2300
7Jokers 2000
Tigercub8189 1200
Close enough.
73 min: There is some play before Nixi44 (6th) makes a stand with (Ah 7h) but gets not nub against TheNEwY2K’s (88).
82 min: Tigercub8189 (5th) calls all-in with (Ad 9d) against TheNEwY2K’s first to shove all-in with (QJ). A [Q] on the flop and we have our first come from behind win that eliminates someone this evening. Usually, there are more than a few by now. But they are still out there, and due to start in earnest.
Congratulations to Tigercub8189 for locking up a seat in the 2008 NPP Finals. Nice job! See, persistence and hard work IS rewarded (except in my bedroom, but I digress).
90 min: 7Jokers (4th) was making no headway and had to try it with (93) only to see LittleRedElf’s (77) hold up.
110 min: TheNewY2K (3rd) makes a move with (66) and has the lead against TheNEwY2K’s (AQ). But a [Q] on the turn takes him out. Nice showing in your first NPP game though, Y2K.
113 min: No time for a chip count as LittleRedElf (2nd) goes all-in with (A6) and Sirgash called with (A4). I told you the take outs of pre-flop hand leaders were in the weeds. A [4] on the river ends the evening.
That is back to back wins in back to back starts for Sirgash, to go with a 2nd before that! Impressive!
1st – 10 pts – Sirgash 27 points
2nd – 7 pts – LittleRedElf 8 points
3rd – 5 pts – TheNewY2K 5 points
4th – 3 pts – 7Jokers (35 points)
5th – 1 pt – Tigercub8189 (18 points)
6th – Nixi44
7th – Biglou93 9 points
8th – Rennzzo 8 points
9th – ThePunk75 13 points
The rest not relevant as all seats are decided but one! Be there next Tuesday for the exciting conclusion to the season.
Who will get the last seat at the finals with four still in the hunt?
Will 7Jokers overtake Faldo for the Total Points collected?
Will Nahanni ever finish the spreadsheet???
Will Beerhog, Boother, Duder, Matchy and Rownder quit watching the Brokeback Mountain DVD (expanded edition – whatever that means) together over and over again, and come back to the poker table? {Not that there is anything wrong with that.}
Total point standings are on the right side of the blog.
Saturday, November 29, 2008
Faldo Finishes 7th in a Poker World Freeroll
Poker World is a site I found that runs a few freerolls you can enter without having to deposit money first. They run them at 1 PM, 4 PM, 6 PM and 11 PM - which is not graveyard times at all!
I outlasted 225 of them, but got run down twice to lose a chance for victory.
The first time with about 40 players left, I was sitting in the middle of the pack in chips when a guy with only two-thirds of my chips goes all-in and it is folded to me on the button with AK. I honestly did not put him on a pair. I just knew he didn't have a pocket, let alone AA or KK.
So I call and he has AT. Of course the flop has two tens in it!
This cripples me, but I fight on and make the final table in 9th of 10.
I gather a few chips and even knock someone out. I move up to 5th in chips with eight players left.
I get (Kc Qc) on the button and see a small raise from the middle position player with the lowest chip count. I'm suspicious of that raise and only call as does the big blind - who has more chips than both of us.
The flop is [Kh Tc 3c]. The bettor checks and I decide if you have AK, good for you and I go all-in. I get called by both players! One with (KQ) and (AQ). Of course the [J] falls on the river to eliminate two of us.
Anyway, the lobby is good and the software is just ok. It plays well, but you cannot make the table full screen. This hurts if you are on more than one computer at a time as I often am.
But check out the site if you want to play on a small site or you are looking for Freeroll practice.
I outlasted 225 of them, but got run down twice to lose a chance for victory.
The first time with about 40 players left, I was sitting in the middle of the pack in chips when a guy with only two-thirds of my chips goes all-in and it is folded to me on the button with AK. I honestly did not put him on a pair. I just knew he didn't have a pocket, let alone AA or KK.
So I call and he has AT. Of course the flop has two tens in it!
This cripples me, but I fight on and make the final table in 9th of 10.
I gather a few chips and even knock someone out. I move up to 5th in chips with eight players left.
I get (Kc Qc) on the button and see a small raise from the middle position player with the lowest chip count. I'm suspicious of that raise and only call as does the big blind - who has more chips than both of us.
The flop is [Kh Tc 3c]. The bettor checks and I decide if you have AK, good for you and I go all-in. I get called by both players! One with (KQ) and (AQ). Of course the [J] falls on the river to eliminate two of us.
Anyway, the lobby is good and the software is just ok. It plays well, but you cannot make the table full screen. This hurts if you are on more than one computer at a time as I often am.
But check out the site if you want to play on a small site or you are looking for Freeroll practice.
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
Online Poker Cheating Teaser
Usually the NPP gang suspects Beerhog, Herbavor and Aqualung as being guilty of this (given their obvious lack of poker skill). More importantly - maybe, just maybe, this lends validity to Nik Faldo's complaining/whining/weeping-like-a-grandma of how Poker is "out to get him". - Davethedog (aka Fourputt)
Watch CBS Videos Online
Watch CBS Videos Online
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
Duder1123 Steamrolls to Victory #3 of the Year
Two new players added to the stable! Welcome LittleRedElf and Vbholdem! This gave us a twelve player tourney. Sirgash did not return tonight to go for the 2-peat.
15 min: ThePunk75 (99) raised and is called only by LittleRedElf {Elf}. The flop is [6h Kh 7h]. ThePunk bets and Elf calls again. The turn [7d]. Another bet and call. The river is the [7c]. Not believing the (AK) Elf is holding, there is another bet and call, and ThePunk75 is hurt bad early.
21 min: If Umichpoker (12th) wants to sue Poker Stars for ‘cruel and unusual punishment’, I’ll be a witness! It seems like the more you promote and support the site, the meaner it is to you.
Kind of like a wife, but I digress.
Umichpoker gets all-in with (QQ) only to run into Vbholdem (AA). This cripples her stack, but leaves her with enough for this hand.
She gets all-in with (88) against ThePunk75’s (55), only to see a [5] land on the flop. Ouch!
Umichpoker and I should play heads up on Poker Stars. Bet we tie for 3rd! It Hate Us!
22 min: While I am writing up the notes on this hand, a bloodletting happens on the other table. CrackBuyer ousts Tigercub8189 (11th) and 7Jokers (10th) with his (AA).
41 min: We played some poker before this hand. What is with the triple all-ins all of a sudden? They used to be rarer occurrences than me hitting any piece of a flop. But in the last two weeks – a bunch of them.
Not me hitting flops - the triple all-ins have been happening a lot. After all, don't get crazy on me.
The Punk75 (9th) (Ad Td) (29%), Doneill (8th) (KK) (54%) and Biglou93 (QQ) (17%) are off to the racetrack.
The flop is [38Q] and "Down the stretch they come! From the far outside – the winner, BigLou!"
47 min: Rennzzo (7th) makes his move when his (QJ) pairs with a flop of [J6T], but CrackBuyer is holding the over pair (QQ).
58 min: Duder1123 survives an all-in at the buzzer, beating the Poker Stars Break Monster! An omen of good things coming his way - and here we stand:
CrackBuyer 5480
Biglou93 3681
Duder1123 2994
Vbholdem 2375
LittleRed Elf 2225
Davethedog 1245
65 min: Duder1123 goes on a rush now!
Duder calls a raise with his (Jc Td) against Vbholdem (6th) with (JJ). When the flop comes [6c Js 8c], the shorter stacked Vbholdem (92%) is all but too happy to push. The turn and river are clubs and Duder steals it.
78 min: LittleRedElf (5th) goes all-in with (KK) (92%) and is called by Duder’s (TT) after a flop of [6Q5].
Was that not two back-to-back - almost 10 to 1 AGAINST - wins for Duder?
We play on now for a half hour. Great battle guys! CrackBuyer tried a couple times to eliminate the shorter stacks, but they kept surviving.
107 min: Davethedog (4th) has to make a move with (Ac Qc) and is called by BigLou93 with (33) and no A, Q or clubs arrive for the Dog.
113 min: Biglou93 makes his short stack move with (JT) (67%) and is called by Duder1123 with (43) after a flop of [QA2]. Duder makes the baby straight on the river!
Heads up: CrackBuyer 10000 – Duder1123 8000
115 min: CrackBuyer 10500 – Duder1123 7500
Break 2:
Duder1123 9671
CrackBuyer 8329
123 min: CrackBuyer (2nd) goes all-in with (99) and is called by the over cards of Duder1123 (KT). The coin flip is won by Duder who hits his [T] on the turn! Congratulations Duder1123 on your 3rd win of the year!
This clinches the last Quarter seat for Hlam14. Congratulations to Hlam14 also.
Still a battle for the last two seats granted for the most points won without winning a quarter! That race is posted on the right side of the blog.
1st – 10 pts Duder1123 18 pts
2nd – 7 pts CrackBuyer 7 pts
3rd – 5 pts BigLou93 9 pts
4th – 3 pts Davethedog 3 pts
5th – 1 pt LittleRedElf 1pt
6th – Vbholdem
7th – Rennzzo 8 pts
8th – Doneill (24 pts)
9th – ThePunk75 13 pts
10th – 7Jokers (32 pts)
11th – Tigercub8189 17 pts
12th – Umichpoker
Hlam14 (46 pts)
Mikeniks-Faldo (26 pts)
Sirgash 17 pts
Hammer1010 10 pts
McGuiness007 10 pts
Steveseam 10 pts
Matchy 3 pts
ArcticBlast1 3 pts
Nahanni (1 pt)
Bighousea2 1 pt
Tomservo2 1 pt
15 min: ThePunk75 (99) raised and is called only by LittleRedElf {Elf}. The flop is [6h Kh 7h]. ThePunk bets and Elf calls again. The turn [7d]. Another bet and call. The river is the [7c]. Not believing the (AK) Elf is holding, there is another bet and call, and ThePunk75 is hurt bad early.
21 min: If Umichpoker (12th) wants to sue Poker Stars for ‘cruel and unusual punishment’, I’ll be a witness! It seems like the more you promote and support the site, the meaner it is to you.
Kind of like a wife, but I digress.
Umichpoker gets all-in with (QQ) only to run into Vbholdem (AA). This cripples her stack, but leaves her with enough for this hand.
She gets all-in with (88) against ThePunk75’s (55), only to see a [5] land on the flop. Ouch!
Umichpoker and I should play heads up on Poker Stars. Bet we tie for 3rd! It Hate Us!
22 min: While I am writing up the notes on this hand, a bloodletting happens on the other table. CrackBuyer ousts Tigercub8189 (11th) and 7Jokers (10th) with his (AA).
41 min: We played some poker before this hand. What is with the triple all-ins all of a sudden? They used to be rarer occurrences than me hitting any piece of a flop. But in the last two weeks – a bunch of them.
Not me hitting flops - the triple all-ins have been happening a lot. After all, don't get crazy on me.
The Punk75 (9th) (Ad Td) (29%), Doneill (8th) (KK) (54%) and Biglou93 (QQ) (17%) are off to the racetrack.
The flop is [38Q] and "Down the stretch they come! From the far outside – the winner, BigLou!"
47 min: Rennzzo (7th) makes his move when his (QJ) pairs with a flop of [J6T], but CrackBuyer is holding the over pair (QQ).
58 min: Duder1123 survives an all-in at the buzzer, beating the Poker Stars Break Monster! An omen of good things coming his way - and here we stand:
CrackBuyer 5480
Biglou93 3681
Duder1123 2994
Vbholdem 2375
LittleRed Elf 2225
Davethedog 1245
65 min: Duder1123 goes on a rush now!
Duder calls a raise with his (Jc Td) against Vbholdem (6th) with (JJ). When the flop comes [6c Js 8c], the shorter stacked Vbholdem (92%) is all but too happy to push. The turn and river are clubs and Duder steals it.
78 min: LittleRedElf (5th) goes all-in with (KK) (92%) and is called by Duder’s (TT) after a flop of [6Q5].
Was that not two back-to-back - almost 10 to 1 AGAINST - wins for Duder?
We play on now for a half hour. Great battle guys! CrackBuyer tried a couple times to eliminate the shorter stacks, but they kept surviving.
107 min: Davethedog (4th) has to make a move with (Ac Qc) and is called by BigLou93 with (33) and no A, Q or clubs arrive for the Dog.
113 min: Biglou93 makes his short stack move with (JT) (67%) and is called by Duder1123 with (43) after a flop of [QA2]. Duder makes the baby straight on the river!
Heads up: CrackBuyer 10000 – Duder1123 8000
115 min: CrackBuyer 10500 – Duder1123 7500
Break 2:
Duder1123 9671
CrackBuyer 8329
123 min: CrackBuyer (2nd) goes all-in with (99) and is called by the over cards of Duder1123 (KT). The coin flip is won by Duder who hits his [T] on the turn! Congratulations Duder1123 on your 3rd win of the year!
This clinches the last Quarter seat for Hlam14. Congratulations to Hlam14 also.
Still a battle for the last two seats granted for the most points won without winning a quarter! That race is posted on the right side of the blog.
1st – 10 pts Duder1123 18 pts
2nd – 7 pts CrackBuyer 7 pts
3rd – 5 pts BigLou93 9 pts
4th – 3 pts Davethedog 3 pts
5th – 1 pt LittleRedElf 1pt
6th – Vbholdem
7th – Rennzzo 8 pts
8th – Doneill (24 pts)
9th – ThePunk75 13 pts
10th – 7Jokers (32 pts)
11th – Tigercub8189 17 pts
12th – Umichpoker
Hlam14 (46 pts)
Mikeniks-Faldo (26 pts)
Sirgash 17 pts
Hammer1010 10 pts
McGuiness007 10 pts
Steveseam 10 pts
Matchy 3 pts
ArcticBlast1 3 pts
Nahanni (1 pt)
Bighousea2 1 pt
Tomservo2 1 pt
Thursday, November 20, 2008
How About an NPP Heads-Up Tournament on PS?
Nahanni writes into NPP headquarters with this idea:
“Can we do a heads-up bracket tournament for the first 16 RSVP’s between Dec. 17 and the start of the new league? Like the heads up NBC Championship? Here is what I am thinking…
[Ed. Note: Not responsible for the content of women thinking or the damage wrought by same]
“Can we do a heads-up bracket tournament for the first 16 RSVP’s between Dec. 17 and the start of the new league? Like the heads up NBC Championship? Here is what I am thinking…
[Ed. Note: Not responsible for the content of women thinking or the damage wrought by same]
- First 16 who send in email to npokerp at yahoo get in.
- Faldo draws 4 bracket (named by the suits) with 4 people per bracket and posts it on the site.
- People comment on the site to each other to schedule their match. Faldo makes tourney on PS and emails the passwords to the players for the match.
- As the matches get completed, Faldo updates with a new post. Players are responsible for reading the site and the correct post.
- Faldo has forfeit power for lack of response or delay of play – even if he is in tourney. (heh-heh-heh!)
- Final should try to be completed before new league season begins.
Comment if you would like to try this. We can go the first 8 or 4 or 2? 32?
Maybe Michele and UMichPoker can promote this one too to draw more players. – Faldo.
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Sirgash is Not Denied This Time! Gets 1st NPP Win
Tigergub8189 took him out in second place last round. And NPP sent the NPP tourney victory leader - 7Jokers - out against him this time, but Sirgash prevailed. Nice job.
A big field too! It was tied for the most players ever, as 15 players took to the Poker Stars felt. Three new players added: Douge2, Crackbuyer and Tomservo2. Welcome to NPP - or as Tigercub8189 calls it - The Shark Tank!
17 min: Beerhog takes a bit of a pounding in his boys as his (AQ) runs into ThePunk75’s (AK). The Hog is crippled.
28 min: Fighting on, Beerhog (15th) goes out soon after as his paired Queens run into the paired Kings of Duder1123 on the flop.
31 min: Douge2 (14th) gets the standard NPP welcome – a kick in the pants – as his (AT) runs into Nixi44’s (AQ).
32 min: UMichpoker (13th) raises with (JJ) and is called by Tomservo2. The flop is [K6T]. UMichpoker bets again and is put all-in by Tomservo2 with (AA). Poor UMichpoker keeps running into hands every week! Stop sitting in Faldo’s seat UMich, and that won’t happen.
48 min: Low-stacked (and welcome back by the way) Boother stays alive as his (AK) runs into Tigercub8189’s (KK), but hits an [A] on the flop.
51 min: ArcticBlast1 (12th) gets a bad beat as he has to make his move with (A4) and a flop of [A64]. Duder1123 correctly calls with a bigger stack and (AK). Duder gets his [K] on the turn.
56 min: The Poker Stars Break Monster was on a feeding frenzy tonight. A short-stacked Nixi44 (11th) goes all-in with (77) and is called by Tigercub8189 with (KJ). A flop with [JJ] kind of ended the suspense early.
59 min: All-in before the break is always scary for the short stacks. A rare (but not tonight) threesome all-in, as Duder1123 (10th) (33) and Biglou93 (9th) (98) make a move at the buzzer and run into Tomservo2 with …surprise, surprise (AA).
Break:
ThePunk75 6200
Tigercub8189 4025
Tomservo2 3540
Crackbuyer 2360
Rennzzo 2285
7Jokers 1575
Sirgash 1435
Boother 1080
(Faldo analysis written at the break) The Punk is playing well, but with 7Jokers and Boother still breathing at the stretch drive, it is always a concern. Always!
62 min: Crackbuyer (8th) deserved a better fate as his bad beat involved his (33) tripping on the flop, but Rennzzo – who correctly called with (KK) – managed to hit a flush on the river, crippling Crackbuyer, who went out shortly.
65 min: Boother survives when his all-in with (AT) survives against Rennzzo’s (AJ) by hitting a full house [K2K][T][K].
79 min: Tigercub8189 (7th) is gone when his short-stacked (A3) runs into 7Joker’s (A7).
82 min: Sirgash survives as his short stacked all-in (Ks 6s) hits the [KJ8] flop, only to see Tomservo2 holding (Js 8s). But a [6] comes on the turn! Now the hunted becomes the hunter!
85 min: ThePunk75’s lead is dashed as his (AT) has him switch chip positions with 7Jokers, with his (AQ).
92 min: Another threesome all-in as the short stacked Boother (6th) with (A6) is called by a small stack Rennzzo with (Ks Qs) and 7Jokers with (TT). 7Jokers tags trips on the flop, but Rennzzo makes a flush on the river. Boother is gone.
97 min: Tomservo2, who has amassed a lot of chips without taking players out, trips his (88). Unfortunately, 7Jokers tripped his (AA) on the same flop! Ouch!!!
Tomservo2 (5th) is crippled to less than a small blind, but he fought on! As the big stacks try to take him out, he doubles up once and triples up once, and is back in it.
107 min: Finally, Tomservo2’s (A7) runs into Sirgash’s (AQ).
109 min: The worst torture of the night (not really a bad beat until the river) in an evening loaded with them happens when the short stacked ThePunk75 (4th) moves in with (86). He is rightfully called by 7Jokers with (33). The flop of [AA5] looks promising for both players. The turn [5] gives ThePunk the lead, with a split very possible. But the two-outer winner for 7Jokers [3] comes on the river!
111 min: Rennzzo (3rd) makes his move with (AQ) and finds Sirgash holding (JJ).
Heads up between 7Jokers and Sirgash and they are about even in chips.
115 min: Sirgash 13600 – 7Jokers 8900
118 min: Sirgash 7700 – 7Jokers 14800 – but they just about switch chip stacks as Sirgash’s (AK) makes a straight against the Joker’s pocket sevens!
The next few minutes are not good for 7Jokers either!
2nd Break:
Sirgash 20500
7Jokers 2000
121 min: Sirgash pairs a (9) on the flop to beat 7Jokers (2nd) (A8). Congratulations Sirgash on the win and a 2nd – back to back!
1st – 10 pts Sirgash 17 pts
2nd – 7 pts 7Jokers (32 pts)
3rd – 5 pts Rennzzo 8 pts
4th - 3 pts ThePunk75 13 pts
5th – 1 pt Tomservo2 1 pt
6th – Boother
7th – Tigercub8189 17 pts
8th – Crackbuyer
9th – Biglou93 4 pts
10th – Duder1123 8 pts
11th – Nixi44
12th – ArcticBlast1 3 pts
13th – Umichpoker
14th – Douge2
15th – Beerhog
Hlam14 46 pts
Mikeniks (26 pts)
Doneill (24 pts)
McGuiness007 10 pts
Hammer1010 10 pts
Steveseam 10 pts
Matchy 3 pts
Nahanni (1 pt)
Bighousea2 1 pt
Total points race is listed on the side of the blog. ( ) denotes already has seat in the Finals.
A big field too! It was tied for the most players ever, as 15 players took to the Poker Stars felt. Three new players added: Douge2, Crackbuyer and Tomservo2. Welcome to NPP - or as Tigercub8189 calls it - The Shark Tank!
17 min: Beerhog takes a bit of a pounding in his boys as his (AQ) runs into ThePunk75’s (AK). The Hog is crippled.
28 min: Fighting on, Beerhog (15th) goes out soon after as his paired Queens run into the paired Kings of Duder1123 on the flop.
31 min: Douge2 (14th) gets the standard NPP welcome – a kick in the pants – as his (AT) runs into Nixi44’s (AQ).
32 min: UMichpoker (13th) raises with (JJ) and is called by Tomservo2. The flop is [K6T]. UMichpoker bets again and is put all-in by Tomservo2 with (AA). Poor UMichpoker keeps running into hands every week! Stop sitting in Faldo’s seat UMich, and that won’t happen.
48 min: Low-stacked (and welcome back by the way) Boother stays alive as his (AK) runs into Tigercub8189’s (KK), but hits an [A] on the flop.
51 min: ArcticBlast1 (12th) gets a bad beat as he has to make his move with (A4) and a flop of [A64]. Duder1123 correctly calls with a bigger stack and (AK). Duder gets his [K] on the turn.
56 min: The Poker Stars Break Monster was on a feeding frenzy tonight. A short-stacked Nixi44 (11th) goes all-in with (77) and is called by Tigercub8189 with (KJ). A flop with [JJ] kind of ended the suspense early.
59 min: All-in before the break is always scary for the short stacks. A rare (but not tonight) threesome all-in, as Duder1123 (10th) (33) and Biglou93 (9th) (98) make a move at the buzzer and run into Tomservo2 with …surprise, surprise (AA).
Break:
ThePunk75 6200
Tigercub8189 4025
Tomservo2 3540
Crackbuyer 2360
Rennzzo 2285
7Jokers 1575
Sirgash 1435
Boother 1080
(Faldo analysis written at the break) The Punk is playing well, but with 7Jokers and Boother still breathing at the stretch drive, it is always a concern. Always!
62 min: Crackbuyer (8th) deserved a better fate as his bad beat involved his (33) tripping on the flop, but Rennzzo – who correctly called with (KK) – managed to hit a flush on the river, crippling Crackbuyer, who went out shortly.
65 min: Boother survives when his all-in with (AT) survives against Rennzzo’s (AJ) by hitting a full house [K2K][T][K].
79 min: Tigercub8189 (7th) is gone when his short-stacked (A3) runs into 7Joker’s (A7).
82 min: Sirgash survives as his short stacked all-in (Ks 6s) hits the [KJ8] flop, only to see Tomservo2 holding (Js 8s). But a [6] comes on the turn! Now the hunted becomes the hunter!
85 min: ThePunk75’s lead is dashed as his (AT) has him switch chip positions with 7Jokers, with his (AQ).
92 min: Another threesome all-in as the short stacked Boother (6th) with (A6) is called by a small stack Rennzzo with (Ks Qs) and 7Jokers with (TT). 7Jokers tags trips on the flop, but Rennzzo makes a flush on the river. Boother is gone.
97 min: Tomservo2, who has amassed a lot of chips without taking players out, trips his (88). Unfortunately, 7Jokers tripped his (AA) on the same flop! Ouch!!!
Tomservo2 (5th) is crippled to less than a small blind, but he fought on! As the big stacks try to take him out, he doubles up once and triples up once, and is back in it.
107 min: Finally, Tomservo2’s (A7) runs into Sirgash’s (AQ).
109 min: The worst torture of the night (not really a bad beat until the river) in an evening loaded with them happens when the short stacked ThePunk75 (4th) moves in with (86). He is rightfully called by 7Jokers with (33). The flop of [AA5] looks promising for both players. The turn [5] gives ThePunk the lead, with a split very possible. But the two-outer winner for 7Jokers [3] comes on the river!
111 min: Rennzzo (3rd) makes his move with (AQ) and finds Sirgash holding (JJ).
Heads up between 7Jokers and Sirgash and they are about even in chips.
115 min: Sirgash 13600 – 7Jokers 8900
118 min: Sirgash 7700 – 7Jokers 14800 – but they just about switch chip stacks as Sirgash’s (AK) makes a straight against the Joker’s pocket sevens!
The next few minutes are not good for 7Jokers either!
2nd Break:
Sirgash 20500
7Jokers 2000
121 min: Sirgash pairs a (9) on the flop to beat 7Jokers (2nd) (A8). Congratulations Sirgash on the win and a 2nd – back to back!
1st – 10 pts Sirgash 17 pts
2nd – 7 pts 7Jokers (32 pts)
3rd – 5 pts Rennzzo 8 pts
4th - 3 pts ThePunk75 13 pts
5th – 1 pt Tomservo2 1 pt
6th – Boother
7th – Tigercub8189 17 pts
8th – Crackbuyer
9th – Biglou93 4 pts
10th – Duder1123 8 pts
11th – Nixi44
12th – ArcticBlast1 3 pts
13th – Umichpoker
14th – Douge2
15th – Beerhog
Hlam14 46 pts
Mikeniks (26 pts)
Doneill (24 pts)
McGuiness007 10 pts
Hammer1010 10 pts
Steveseam 10 pts
Matchy 3 pts
Nahanni (1 pt)
Bighousea2 1 pt
Total points race is listed on the side of the blog. ( ) denotes already has seat in the Finals.
Monday, November 17, 2008
Faldo Wins Qualifier on Full Tilt!
It was a 180 player field with a 20 FPT (frequent player point) entry and I somehow bested them all!
I now have a seat in the “Satellite to the Sunday Brawl” – which will be played Saturday at 2:30 pm. It is Tourney #65904612 and I go by “DagnyT” on that site, if interested in sweatering.
If I finish in the top 36 in that one, I make it to the “Sunday Brawl” on Sunday at 2pm, which has a prize pool of $350,000!
One-third of the way to a $70,000 pay day. Wish me luck!
PS: I called Full Tilt and asked, "Since I am a third of the way to $70,000 and ...after all...Nik Faldo, can I just take...let's say $30,000 and let the rest of the players live and at least make $40,000 for first place?"
Somehow, we got disconnected before the Full Tilt guy could answer. Must be my cell phone acting up. Yeah, that's it.
I now have a seat in the “Satellite to the Sunday Brawl” – which will be played Saturday at 2:30 pm. It is Tourney #65904612 and I go by “DagnyT” on that site, if interested in sweatering.
If I finish in the top 36 in that one, I make it to the “Sunday Brawl” on Sunday at 2pm, which has a prize pool of $350,000!
One-third of the way to a $70,000 pay day. Wish me luck!
PS: I called Full Tilt and asked, "Since I am a third of the way to $70,000 and ...after all...Nik Faldo, can I just take...let's say $30,000 and let the rest of the players live and at least make $40,000 for first place?"
Somehow, we got disconnected before the Full Tilt guy could answer. Must be my cell phone acting up. Yeah, that's it.
Thursday, November 13, 2008
The Secret to Success...Never Give Up!
Thomas Edison failed 10,000 times before he perfected the light bulb. If he had quit at attempt 9,000, we might be playing internet poker by candle light.
Ok, that made no sense, but you get my drift.
The chase for heralded and coveted Nik's Poker Palace Player of the Year title is a marathon and not a sprint. A year is a long, long poker game my friends. Twists and turns in life, health, jobs, kids, relationships, friendships - as well as the cards - all play a part in determining the winner.
You may or may not have noticed the changes to the current "Seat in the Final" list, as well as the new standings in the Total Points Seat race.
I want to explain what happened. The NPP Tournament Committee met at the secret underground bunker - safe from any form of espionage. These geniuses from all over the world came together to decide how the December 16th Final would be populated. The greatest minds in the world, mind you, determine the fate of 30 of the best poker players (and nicest people) in the world! An awesome responsibility!
1st Quarter - Winner Mikeniks-Faldo
Committee said he is ineligible due to his lame attempts at humor all year long.
So the seat goes to the 2nd place finisher in Qtr I - Aqualung. But Aqualung informed the Committee he may not be available for the game on that date. So the Committee awarded the seat to the 3rd place finisher in Qtr I - 7Jokers!
The lesson here is to always play hard and play every round you can every quarter. As I said earlier - life happens!
2nd and 3rd quarters are set as Doneill and Nahanni are ready to play for poker immortality!
That leaves Qtr 4. Hlam14 has a strangle hold on it right now, but he is still catchable!
The exciting news is that the Committee is awarding TWO SEATS from the Total Points standings - unless there is a tie in Quarter 4 - then there will only be one seat.
But with four tourneys left and a possible 40 points possibly added to a player's total, a lot of players are still alive for a seat in the finals!
The plan was to have a 6-person Final, but sometimes plans change. We will have six and possibly seven.
The exciting news - and the other lesson here is, as Yogi Berra says - "it ain't over til it's over!"
Keep in mind, we could have cancellations once the seats are set, so you never know! All I know is - it is all very exciting!
Ok, that made no sense, but you get my drift.
The chase for heralded and coveted Nik's Poker Palace Player of the Year title is a marathon and not a sprint. A year is a long, long poker game my friends. Twists and turns in life, health, jobs, kids, relationships, friendships - as well as the cards - all play a part in determining the winner.
You may or may not have noticed the changes to the current "Seat in the Final" list, as well as the new standings in the Total Points Seat race.
I want to explain what happened. The NPP Tournament Committee met at the secret underground bunker - safe from any form of espionage. These geniuses from all over the world came together to decide how the December 16th Final would be populated. The greatest minds in the world, mind you, determine the fate of 30 of the best poker players (and nicest people) in the world! An awesome responsibility!
1st Quarter - Winner Mikeniks-Faldo
Committee said he is ineligible due to his lame attempts at humor all year long.
So the seat goes to the 2nd place finisher in Qtr I - Aqualung. But Aqualung informed the Committee he may not be available for the game on that date. So the Committee awarded the seat to the 3rd place finisher in Qtr I - 7Jokers!
The lesson here is to always play hard and play every round you can every quarter. As I said earlier - life happens!
2nd and 3rd quarters are set as Doneill and Nahanni are ready to play for poker immortality!
That leaves Qtr 4. Hlam14 has a strangle hold on it right now, but he is still catchable!
The exciting news is that the Committee is awarding TWO SEATS from the Total Points standings - unless there is a tie in Quarter 4 - then there will only be one seat.
But with four tourneys left and a possible 40 points possibly added to a player's total, a lot of players are still alive for a seat in the finals!
The plan was to have a 6-person Final, but sometimes plans change. We will have six and possibly seven.
The exciting news - and the other lesson here is, as Yogi Berra says - "it ain't over til it's over!"
Keep in mind, we could have cancellations once the seats are set, so you never know! All I know is - it is all very exciting!
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Tigercub8189 Wins His 3rd NPP Tourney!
It took an epic heads up battle, but he did it!
We picked up another new lady player – the lovely Mrs. Sirgash – Nixi44. Welcome to the game! Nahanni and UMichPoker will tell you we are not that bad a group of guys – and they are lying!
Nine players started. On to the action:
I sat out due to a crowded house at the time of the start of the tourney, but was able to record the action.
11 min: UMichPoker (9th) hit the flop of [7JT] with (AJ), but 7Jokers was holding (KK).
45 min: It took a little while for the next casualty. Then a couple oustings happen in a row.
Last week’s winner ThePunk75 (8th) got cold-decked as his (Q9) hit a flop of [57Q] and a turn of [9], only to run into a slow-played (QQ) of Sirgash.
54 min: A short-stacked Hlam14 (7th) goes all-in with (JJ) and is called by Tigercub8189 with (TT). The flop is [TAT]! Ouch!
58 min: A short-stacked Nixi44 (6th) goes all-in with (53) and a flop of [634], but cannot run down Doneill’s (77).
Break:
Sirgash 4028
Tigercub8189 3300
7Jokers 2635
Doneill 2577
Rennzzo 960
65 min: Rennzzo (5th) makes his move with (99) and is called by Sirgash’s overcards (KQ) for a coin flip. A [Q] on the flop ends the night for the Hudson native.
68 min: Doneill (4th) has to go when his (A9) hits a flop of [7AT] only to find Sirgash has (AJ).
75 – 77 min: 7Jokers (3rd) breathes new life into his stack as his panic all-in with (A9) hits a [9] on the flop to beat Tigercub’s (AK).
But just a couple of hands later, Poker Stars taketh away as his (KK) gets run over by Sirgash’s (77) as a ten-high straight arrives on the river. Ouch! Cruel cards tonight for everyone.
So, heads up with Sirgash and 10,500 chips and Tigercub8189, with 3000 chips.
85 min: Sirgash 11000 – Tiger 2500
90 min: Sirgash 5300 – Tiger 8200
95 min: Sirgash 10000 – Tiger 3500
100 min: Sirgash 10500 – Tiger 3000 (back where we started!)
105 min: Sirgash 4650 – Tiger 8850
Then Sirgash goes all-in on a flop of [9Q6]. Tiger goes into the tank and then calls with (A4)!!!!
Who does he think he is…me? Nobody air-locks like that, except me. All he could beat was a pure bluff that doesn’t hit a pair by accident. It was all blanks that showed up and Sirgash held (JJ).
Sirgash 9800 – Tiger 3700
110 min: Sirgash 11,400 – Tiger 2100
Then the Card Gods got cruel to Sirgash!
115 min: Sirgash 3500 – Tiger 10000
117 min: The long struggle ends as it usually does – two similar hands hoping for a flop. Sirgash (2nd) is holding (AT) and Tigercub (Ah8h). The [8] on the turn gives Tigercub8189 his 3rd NPP win. Congratulations to Tigercub and to Sirgash for the entertaining battle!
1st 10 pts – Tigercub8189 17pts
2nd 7 pts – Sirgash 7 pts
3rd 5 pts – 7Jokers 25pts
4th 3 pts – Doneill (24pts)
5th 1 pt – Rennzzo 3 pts
6th – Nixi44 0 pts
7th – Hlam14 46 pts
8th – ThePunk75 10pts
9th – UmichPoker 0 pts
Mikeniks-Faldo (26 pts)
Hammer1010 10 pts
McGuiness 10 pts
Steveseam 10 pts
Duder1123 8 pts
BigLou93 4 pts
Matchy 3 pts
ArcticBlast 3 pts
Nahanni (1 pt)
BigHousea2 1 pt
Total point race is on the right side of the blog. ( ) = clinched seat winners
We picked up another new lady player – the lovely Mrs. Sirgash – Nixi44. Welcome to the game! Nahanni and UMichPoker will tell you we are not that bad a group of guys – and they are lying!
Nine players started. On to the action:
I sat out due to a crowded house at the time of the start of the tourney, but was able to record the action.
11 min: UMichPoker (9th) hit the flop of [7JT] with (AJ), but 7Jokers was holding (KK).
45 min: It took a little while for the next casualty. Then a couple oustings happen in a row.
Last week’s winner ThePunk75 (8th) got cold-decked as his (Q9) hit a flop of [57Q] and a turn of [9], only to run into a slow-played (QQ) of Sirgash.
54 min: A short-stacked Hlam14 (7th) goes all-in with (JJ) and is called by Tigercub8189 with (TT). The flop is [TAT]! Ouch!
58 min: A short-stacked Nixi44 (6th) goes all-in with (53) and a flop of [634], but cannot run down Doneill’s (77).
Break:
Sirgash 4028
Tigercub8189 3300
7Jokers 2635
Doneill 2577
Rennzzo 960
65 min: Rennzzo (5th) makes his move with (99) and is called by Sirgash’s overcards (KQ) for a coin flip. A [Q] on the flop ends the night for the Hudson native.
68 min: Doneill (4th) has to go when his (A9) hits a flop of [7AT] only to find Sirgash has (AJ).
75 – 77 min: 7Jokers (3rd) breathes new life into his stack as his panic all-in with (A9) hits a [9] on the flop to beat Tigercub’s (AK).
But just a couple of hands later, Poker Stars taketh away as his (KK) gets run over by Sirgash’s (77) as a ten-high straight arrives on the river. Ouch! Cruel cards tonight for everyone.
So, heads up with Sirgash and 10,500 chips and Tigercub8189, with 3000 chips.
85 min: Sirgash 11000 – Tiger 2500
90 min: Sirgash 5300 – Tiger 8200
95 min: Sirgash 10000 – Tiger 3500
100 min: Sirgash 10500 – Tiger 3000 (back where we started!)
105 min: Sirgash 4650 – Tiger 8850
Then Sirgash goes all-in on a flop of [9Q6]. Tiger goes into the tank and then calls with (A4)!!!!
Who does he think he is…me? Nobody air-locks like that, except me. All he could beat was a pure bluff that doesn’t hit a pair by accident. It was all blanks that showed up and Sirgash held (JJ).
Sirgash 9800 – Tiger 3700
110 min: Sirgash 11,400 – Tiger 2100
Then the Card Gods got cruel to Sirgash!
115 min: Sirgash 3500 – Tiger 10000
117 min: The long struggle ends as it usually does – two similar hands hoping for a flop. Sirgash (2nd) is holding (AT) and Tigercub (Ah8h). The [8] on the turn gives Tigercub8189 his 3rd NPP win. Congratulations to Tigercub and to Sirgash for the entertaining battle!
1st 10 pts – Tigercub8189 17pts
2nd 7 pts – Sirgash 7 pts
3rd 5 pts – 7Jokers 25pts
4th 3 pts – Doneill (24pts)
5th 1 pt – Rennzzo 3 pts
6th – Nixi44 0 pts
7th – Hlam14 46 pts
8th – ThePunk75 10pts
9th – UmichPoker 0 pts
Mikeniks-Faldo (26 pts)
Hammer1010 10 pts
McGuiness 10 pts
Steveseam 10 pts
Duder1123 8 pts
BigLou93 4 pts
Matchy 3 pts
ArcticBlast 3 pts
Nahanni (1 pt)
BigHousea2 1 pt
Total point race is on the right side of the blog. ( ) = clinched seat winners
Boother's Nephew Scores a Natural Hat Trick!
Wow, this is cool! From Yahoo Sports:
"If David Booth had to pick a favorite, his first goal Sunday would probably get the nod.
Booth scored three straight goals for his first NHL hat trick.
Booth was able draw the struggling Panthers even 2:19 later, lofting a backhander past Jean-Sebastien Giguere.
“It was good to get that first goal, we’ve given up the first goal a lot lately and haven’t come back until the third, so to get one right away helped our team out,” said Booth, the former Michigan State star who added two more goals in the second period."
Aqualung and I have a nephew, Michael Repovz, who will be making noise for the CMU football team in the near future.
Nuts! Youth is wasted on the wrong people!
"If David Booth had to pick a favorite, his first goal Sunday would probably get the nod.
Booth scored three straight goals for his first NHL hat trick.
Booth was able draw the struggling Panthers even 2:19 later, lofting a backhander past Jean-Sebastien Giguere.
“It was good to get that first goal, we’ve given up the first goal a lot lately and haven’t come back until the third, so to get one right away helped our team out,” said Booth, the former Michigan State star who added two more goals in the second period."
Aqualung and I have a nephew, Michael Repovz, who will be making noise for the CMU football team in the near future.
Nuts! Youth is wasted on the wrong people!
Sunday, November 09, 2008
Matchy, Aqualung and Beerhog Attack the Shark Club
Matchy reports Saturday night live action - NPP boys venture out:
"Myself, Beerhog and Aqualung all met out at the Shark Club in Howell lastnight. There was not enough interest for a tournament but there were 3pretty full cash game tables.
All 3 of us got assigned to different $1/2Hold 'Em tables, and the place was well run. It felt like a casino with nicetables, lighting and excellent dealers.
No smoking at the tables, but peoplejust stood up and fired up their Cigs and Cigars, and my shirt had thatnasty "bar" smell when I got home last night, reminded me of the old days!
I bought in for a modest amount and it lasted all night. I will letAqua and Fred talk about their play if they wish, but I don't think the NPPwas hitting on all cylinders for most of the night. I also learned about many inadequacies in my game, especially playing with mostly sober peopleand a dealer. I managed to announce "re-raise $20" when it was only a raise,and I did that out of turn.
I also folded and called out of turn. And I was scolded for grabbing chips when I won a pot! The guy next to me, who wasnice, said "You don't play much with dealers, do you?" He was right, I'vegot lots to learn in that department!
I did win and lose some nice pots, andwent out with fives full, all in against tens full. It was 11:30 so I calledit a night. Fred was still going so hopefully he won some dough.
It is tough to stay ahead in the long term with the rake, but all and all it, was 2.5 hours of fun, and I would probably go back.
The other rake is the bar right next to the tables, it was 8 bucks for 2 PBR's after tips, I couldget like a 30 pack for that at home! It is mighty close to home andaccording to the regulars generally stays crowded.
Also a dude at our tablemade quad kings and was leading the high hand of the day jackpot, which theysaid paid $230 the day before, and you don't have to be there to collect." - Matchy
Thanks for the review Matchy!
"Myself, Beerhog and Aqualung all met out at the Shark Club in Howell lastnight. There was not enough interest for a tournament but there were 3pretty full cash game tables.
All 3 of us got assigned to different $1/2Hold 'Em tables, and the place was well run. It felt like a casino with nicetables, lighting and excellent dealers.
No smoking at the tables, but peoplejust stood up and fired up their Cigs and Cigars, and my shirt had thatnasty "bar" smell when I got home last night, reminded me of the old days!
I bought in for a modest amount and it lasted all night. I will letAqua and Fred talk about their play if they wish, but I don't think the NPPwas hitting on all cylinders for most of the night. I also learned about many inadequacies in my game, especially playing with mostly sober peopleand a dealer. I managed to announce "re-raise $20" when it was only a raise,and I did that out of turn.
I also folded and called out of turn. And I was scolded for grabbing chips when I won a pot! The guy next to me, who wasnice, said "You don't play much with dealers, do you?" He was right, I'vegot lots to learn in that department!
I did win and lose some nice pots, andwent out with fives full, all in against tens full. It was 11:30 so I calledit a night. Fred was still going so hopefully he won some dough.
It is tough to stay ahead in the long term with the rake, but all and all it, was 2.5 hours of fun, and I would probably go back.
The other rake is the bar right next to the tables, it was 8 bucks for 2 PBR's after tips, I couldget like a 30 pack for that at home! It is mighty close to home andaccording to the regulars generally stays crowded.
Also a dude at our tablemade quad kings and was leading the high hand of the day jackpot, which theysaid paid $230 the day before, and you don't have to be there to collect." - Matchy
Thanks for the review Matchy!
Monday, November 03, 2008
ThePunk75 Wins in His Second Try at NPP
The talent pool only gets deeper here. I don't know if saying this helps or hinders recruitment.
It seems to me, if you can practice here for a lousy $5, you should do well everywhere else you play - whether on line or live.
The word I'm getting is that NPP players are a force outside of this league. Not me of course, but the other players. More on this in later posts.
Only eight players made it to the felt tonight, and one of those got blinded out. I think some of the players either can’t make Mondays, or forgot about the change. Back to Tuesdays next week! On to the action:
21 min: 7Jokers (8th) had a rough time card wise early. He goes all-in with (J9) and a flop of [JT6] and he runs into ThePunk75’s (AJ).
37 min: Rennzzo (7th) goes all-in with (AJ) and runs into Hlam14’s (QQ), who hit an unnecessary full house for over kill.
49 min: Tigercub (6th) gets chewed up by Mikeniks-Faldo this evening.
First Faldo hits a big hand to shrink Tiger’s stack. Then when Tiger goes all-in over Faldo’s raise with (AJ), Faldo is pot committed and calls with (JT). Tiger is a 7 to 3 favorite – a little over 2 to 1.
Mikeniks-Faldo hits the [T] on the river to end Tigercub’s evening before the break.
Biglou93 is severely short-stacked, but he has not been waiting for Duder to just blind out to move up in points. He gamely tries to pick up chips and get back in this thing. Nice fighting Biglou!
Break:
ThePunk75 5011
Hlam14 4275
Mikeniks-Faldo 2105
Biglou93 334
Duder1123 275
61 min: Right back at it! Biglou93 (5th) goes all-in with (AQ) and ThePunk75 calls with (99).
62 min: Duder (4th) finally runs out of chips.
75 min: Hlam14 (3rd) starts playing aggressively and goes all-in with (Ks Js) and gets called by ThePunk75 with (AJ).
77 min: Another quick finish. Mikeniks-Faldo (2nd) goes all-in with (Ah 5h) and ThePunk75 calls with (AK). Congratulations ThePunk75 on your first NPP win!
1st – 10 - ThePunk75 10 pts
2nd – 7 - Mikeniks-Faldo (26 pts)
3rd – 5 - Hlam14 46 pts
4th – 3 - Duder1123 8 pts
5th – 1 - Biglou93 4 pts
6th – Tigercub8189 7 pts
7th – Rennzzo 2 pts
8th – 7Jokers 20 points
Doneill (21 points)
Hammer1010 10 pts
McGuiness007 10 pts
Steveseam 10 pts
Matchy 3 pts
ArcticBlast 3 pts
Nahanni (1 pt)
Bighousea2 1 pt
Total points race is listed on the right side of the blog! ( ) means that player has already won a seat in the Championship.
It seems to me, if you can practice here for a lousy $5, you should do well everywhere else you play - whether on line or live.
The word I'm getting is that NPP players are a force outside of this league. Not me of course, but the other players. More on this in later posts.
Only eight players made it to the felt tonight, and one of those got blinded out. I think some of the players either can’t make Mondays, or forgot about the change. Back to Tuesdays next week! On to the action:
21 min: 7Jokers (8th) had a rough time card wise early. He goes all-in with (J9) and a flop of [JT6] and he runs into ThePunk75’s (AJ).
37 min: Rennzzo (7th) goes all-in with (AJ) and runs into Hlam14’s (QQ), who hit an unnecessary full house for over kill.
49 min: Tigercub (6th) gets chewed up by Mikeniks-Faldo this evening.
First Faldo hits a big hand to shrink Tiger’s stack. Then when Tiger goes all-in over Faldo’s raise with (AJ), Faldo is pot committed and calls with (JT). Tiger is a 7 to 3 favorite – a little over 2 to 1.
Mikeniks-Faldo hits the [T] on the river to end Tigercub’s evening before the break.
Biglou93 is severely short-stacked, but he has not been waiting for Duder to just blind out to move up in points. He gamely tries to pick up chips and get back in this thing. Nice fighting Biglou!
Break:
ThePunk75 5011
Hlam14 4275
Mikeniks-Faldo 2105
Biglou93 334
Duder1123 275
61 min: Right back at it! Biglou93 (5th) goes all-in with (AQ) and ThePunk75 calls with (99).
62 min: Duder (4th) finally runs out of chips.
75 min: Hlam14 (3rd) starts playing aggressively and goes all-in with (Ks Js) and gets called by ThePunk75 with (AJ).
77 min: Another quick finish. Mikeniks-Faldo (2nd) goes all-in with (Ah 5h) and ThePunk75 calls with (AK). Congratulations ThePunk75 on your first NPP win!
1st – 10 - ThePunk75 10 pts
2nd – 7 - Mikeniks-Faldo (26 pts)
3rd – 5 - Hlam14 46 pts
4th – 3 - Duder1123 8 pts
5th – 1 - Biglou93 4 pts
6th – Tigercub8189 7 pts
7th – Rennzzo 2 pts
8th – 7Jokers 20 points
Doneill (21 points)
Hammer1010 10 pts
McGuiness007 10 pts
Steveseam 10 pts
Matchy 3 pts
ArcticBlast 3 pts
Nahanni (1 pt)
Bighousea2 1 pt
Total points race is listed on the right side of the blog! ( ) means that player has already won a seat in the Championship.
Saturday, November 01, 2008
Faldo Makes Two Final Tables Almost at the Same Time!
Fighting one of the worst headcolds ever, all I can do is sleep....and play poker on-line.
Using the Zicam, tea, chicken soup, Vicks and sleep approach gets me feeling good enough to sit up for a while.
I have a set up of four laptops in a semi-circle here at NPP. How I ended up with four is a story unto itself (maybe I will tell in the comment section if somebody is interested). And no, they are not set up for porn, porn, porn-porn chat and email/poker/porn.
I know that the cold will be back to hurt me in just a little while, so time is of the essence.
I decide that if I am going to play poker - lets play some poker! So I get in five tourneys at once.
From left to right I got Absolute Poker, Full Tilt, Poker Stars (2 tourneys) and Ultimate Bet.
I make the breaks everywhere but one Poker Stars tourney, then lose the other Poker Stars tourney and get bubble boyed on Ultimate Bet.
I make the final table on Full Tilt (180 players), and finish 5th when my (AK) loses to (JJ). I pick up ten times my entry.
Then almost at the same time, I limp into the final table on Absolute (400 players). I proceed to panic all-in bad beat the table 3 times, while the big stacks knock each other out! I am out-chipped by a gazillion when finally my (A3) fails to hold up and I finish 4th, picking up seven times my entry.
I might be on to something. There was no time to wonder around and look at emails, blogs or TV with that many games going. I had to get into the zone and actually concentrate a little.
Hey, anybody got a laptop they are not using that I can 'borrow'?
Using the Zicam, tea, chicken soup, Vicks and sleep approach gets me feeling good enough to sit up for a while.
I have a set up of four laptops in a semi-circle here at NPP. How I ended up with four is a story unto itself (maybe I will tell in the comment section if somebody is interested). And no, they are not set up for porn, porn, porn-porn chat and email/poker/porn.
I know that the cold will be back to hurt me in just a little while, so time is of the essence.
I decide that if I am going to play poker - lets play some poker! So I get in five tourneys at once.
From left to right I got Absolute Poker, Full Tilt, Poker Stars (2 tourneys) and Ultimate Bet.
I make the breaks everywhere but one Poker Stars tourney, then lose the other Poker Stars tourney and get bubble boyed on Ultimate Bet.
I make the final table on Full Tilt (180 players), and finish 5th when my (AK) loses to (JJ). I pick up ten times my entry.
Then almost at the same time, I limp into the final table on Absolute (400 players). I proceed to panic all-in bad beat the table 3 times, while the big stacks knock each other out! I am out-chipped by a gazillion when finally my (A3) fails to hold up and I finish 4th, picking up seven times my entry.
I might be on to something. There was no time to wonder around and look at emails, blogs or TV with that many games going. I had to get into the zone and actually concentrate a little.
Hey, anybody got a laptop they are not using that I can 'borrow'?
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