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!

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

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).

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

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

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

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

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)

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

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

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

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

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!

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.

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.

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

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

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]

• 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.

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.

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.

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!

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

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!

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!

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.

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'?

Steveseam Wins at NPP in His 1st Round!

Congratulations Steve.
It has happened only five times before.

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

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

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

Doneill actually won 3 of his first 5 tourneys!

What ever happened to Momo and Hammer?

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

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

On to the action:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

I always hit hands like that ……NOT!

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

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

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

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

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

JJ was the hand of death tonight I guess.

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

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

Congratulations Steveseam!

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

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

McGuiness007 Makes His Return Memorable!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

2nd Break!

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

McGuiness007 7895
Duder 3421
Hlam14 2184

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

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

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

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

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

U of M Poker Tuesdays joining NPP!

Exciting news!

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

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

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

Well, 3 or 4 anyway.

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

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

Internet NPP - 2009

Open the comment section!!!!

Do we continue or do we fold the internet league?

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

We need a stable of double what we currently have.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Break:

7Jokers 3320
Hlam 3310
Mikeniks-Faldo 2370

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Stakes: $1 - $2 limit

IN
Matchy
Beerhog
7Jokers
Duder
Buff
Faldo

OUT
Greg G.
Boother

MAYBE
Dave E.

Doneill Takes Over the Win Lead for 2008!

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

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

"8 players made it to the table.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


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

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

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

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

Total point standings on the right side of the blog.

Faldo Gets Bad Beat Even in Golf!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

I won zero, naturally.

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

I drew #14.

Hammer1010 Wins in His Debut

Two new players tonight and they both earned points.

How is that for being able to draft players, Matt Millen? Eat your heart out.

That gave us eleven starters – one shy of the record.

Hammer1010 knows Aqualung and Bighousea2 knows Faldo. Let's try and like them anyway.

The newbies showed up and showed us NPP regulars up! BigLou returns from a golf induced layoff and got points too.

Let’s hope we can get some of the other regulars back into the mix. On to the action.

28 min: Aqualung wins a hand to short-stack BigLou. But Lou hangs tough.

34 min: To the Final Table we go. We started on two tables as usual, so I did not see the exits of Duder (11th) or Rennzzo (10th). Maybe someone can fill us in.

36 min: Tigercub (9th) has his (TT) run into 7Joker’s (AA).

41 min: BigLou is able to get back into the match as he outkicks ArcticBlast in a close hand.

42 min: The bad luck continued for ArcticBlast (8th) as his short-stack all-in with (44) looks good as a two-pair win, but the board double-pairs on the river and Bighouse out-kicks (Kh 2h) Blast out the door.

51 min: BigLou really gets back into the tourney as he gets 7Jokers to fold on the river to snag a big pot.

57 min: A short-stacked Aqualung (7th) moves all-in with (AJ) and does not improve against Hammer’s (TT).

58 min: 7Jokers (6th) goes all-in with (66) on the flop of low paper, but Bighouse top - paired (J8) and 2-paired on the river.

Break:
Bighouse 4945
Mikeniks-Faldo 3690
Hlam14 3430
BigLou 2300
Hammer 2135

The chip leader goes ICE COLD from this point on. It’s ugly.

70 min: Hammer turns/rivers a straight on Bighouse.

73 min: BigLou straights up on Bighouse’s (JJ).

87 min: The Poker Stars torture of Bighouse (5th) finally ends when his Ace-high kicker with the board two pair loses to Hammer’s larger two pair. Nice showing for a 1st outing, House!

96 min: Mikeniks gets the chip lead by turn/rivering quad eights on Hammer!

102 min: A short-stacked BigLou (4th) has to try to hit his open-ended straight draw against Mikeniks (AA), but doesn’t get there.

106 min: Hammer stone cold bluffs Mikeniks out of a huge pot to take the chip lead.

118 min: Hlam (3rd) makes his move when he flops a middle pair of fours, but Hammer is holding (JJ).

Heads up: Mikeniks 9000 - Hammer 7500

Two minutes later and the second break arrives. Hammer 10700 – Mikeniks 5800

125 min: After a little jousting, Mikeniks (2nd) goes all-in with (22) and a flop of [T99], but Hammer is holding (J9).

Nice win Hammer1010 and welcome to NPP.

1st – Hammer 10 pts
2nd – Mikeniks-Faldo 14 pts
3rd – Hlam 15 pts
4th – BigLou 3 pts
5th – BigHouse 1 pt
6th – 7Jokers 5 pts
7th – Aqualung
8th - ArcticBlast
9th – Tigercub 3 pts
10th – Rennzzo
11th – Duder
Doneill 1 pt

Total point standings are on the right side of this blog.

Hlam14 Return to the Winner’s Circle

Ok, your host screwed up and had a limit tourney this evening. I set up the tourney this morning – pre coffee and breakfast. I got a lot going on right now and I forgot to set the thing to NL.

I blame Poker Stars as the setup should default to NL, as it is the most popular tourney format.

Anyway, on to the 8-player action (no new players – and that is a shame!).

34 min: Poor Duder (8th) never won a hand the entire time. He finally flops a pair of sixes, only to run into a flopped two pair by Rennzzo.

48 min: Rennzzo (7th) is out when his flopped pair is no match for 7Joker’s (QQ) in his hand.

56 min: Arctic Blast (6th) makes his move and comes up short.

57 min: I missed writing down Arctic’s demise as Mikeniks-Faldo had to play his (AA) to outlast Doneill’s (5th ) (AK).

I got the sneaky suspicion that Doneill was tired of the 'limit' grind and bailed. I just happened to be the lucky recipient of his chips. But I could be wrong.

Break:

7Jokers 4864
Mikeniks-Faldo 2503
Hlam14 2368
Tigercub 2265

95 min: A 35 minute battle ensues and it would take a smack down to break the gridlock. Tigercub (4th) is the victim as his turned two pair is crushed by Hlam’s trips on the river.

99 min: 7Jokers (3rd) was completely card dead since the break and has to make a move with (A8) and runs into Hlam’s (AQ).

105 min: The absolute worst heads up player in the country, Mikeniks-Faldo (2nd) is made short work of. I hit two pair on the turn, but Hlam gets his straight on the river.

Welcome back Hlam14.

1st – Hlam14 10 pts
2nd – Mikeniks-Faldo 7 pts
3rd – 7Jokers 5 pts
4th – Tigercub 3 pts
5th - Doneill 1 pt
6th - ArcticBlast
7th - Rennzzo
8th - Duder

Total points race is on the side of the blog

7Jokers Wins Two in a Row!

7Jokers is the NPP man right now. He padded his victory lead. Meanwhile, Faldo got to pad his 2nd place tourney finish lead at the same time. But I am getting ahead of the story.

Boother was not available to attempt to tie Nahanni for the 3rd quarter point total. Some lame excuse of elk hunting in British Columbia, Canada.

Seven of us ventured to the game this night. With this battle hardened group, it took a while for the casualties to start.

53 min: A short-stacked Tigercub (7th) went all-in with (QJ) and did not catch to beat Nahanni’s (22).

55 min: A short-stacked Matchy (6th) had to go with (8d 4d), but Nahanni had (AK).

Break:

Nahanni 3348
Rennzzo 2089
Mikeniks-Faldo 1935
Hlam14 1650
7Jokers 1478

66 min: At around the 60 minute mark, Nahanni (5th) gets a Faldo run of cards.

Her flopped two pair get run down by 7Joker’s straight.

Her attempt to take out Rennzzo hit his (AA).

Then her desperate all-in with (KJ) ran into 7Joker’s (AQ). But congratulations Nahanni. You have a seat in the NPP Finals!

85 min: Even though Hlam (4th) predicted 7Jokers would take him out, it was me, Mikeniks-Faldo that seemed to have it in for him. I raised his BB four consecutive times and when he finally made a stand with (99), I had (AK) and hit my [K] on the river. Ouch!

100 min: The battle raged on for quite a few hands, when finally Rennzzo (3rd) makes his stand with (KT) and runs into Mikeniks' (A9).

Heads up: 7Jokers 6000 – Mikeniks-Faldo 4500

105 min: 7Jokers 7500 – Mikeniks-Faldo 3000

108 min: Mikeniks (2nd) makes a stand with (A7) but 7Joker’s (A5) hits a [5] on the river.
7Jokers is pulling away from the pack in NPP wins. Nice job Tim!

1st – 7Jokers (41 pts)
2nd – Mikeniks-Faldo (22 pts)
3rd – Rennzzo (22 pts)
4th – Hlam14 (8 pts)
5th – Nahanni (45 pts) Wins 3rd Qtr. Seat!
6th – Matchy (5 pts)
7th – Tigercub (33 pts)
Boother 34 pts
Beerhog 30 pts
Doneill 28 pts
ArcticBlast 13 pts
Duder 13 pts
Aqualung 10 pts
BigLou 5 pts
DavetheDog 3 pts

The total points race is on the right side of the blog!

You Have to be Insane to be a World Class Poker Player

I have proof - even greater than the Whale saga.

Watching High Stakes Poker and a hand came up between Daniel Negreanu and Eli Elezra.

Negreanu limps in with (Ad 7D) from middle postion. Eli checks from the big blind with (QJ).

The flop is [Js Jd 5d] and Negreanu bets $4000 into a $5000 pot. Eli raises it $14000 to make the pot $23,000. Daniel calls the extra $10000 to see the turn.

[9s]

Eli goes all-in for $80,000 and Daniel rightfully folds. Now here is where the evidence is that these guys are CRAZY!

Daniel asks to rabbit hunt and the dealer turns over an [As] on the river.

As Eli rakes in the pot, Daniel states, "I had to fold anyway. He had a Jack." Eli states he did not and that it was a stone bluff.

Daniel laughs and says, "I'll bet you $50,000 you had the Jack," and slams the cash on the table.

Eli says, "Ok, here is my $50,000. Let's give it to Barry and after the game we can run the tape!"

Negreanu says nevermind and pulls his stack back.

First, Negreanu risks $50K on his read and Eli calls a bet he could not possibly win!

Insane.

Tigercub8189 on Fire on Poker Stars

Tigercub has taken advantage of the rainy weather by hitting the tourney circuit on PS.

He comes in 6th in a 360 player tilt (winning 17 times the entry) and follows it up with a 3rd in a similar tourney (winning 40 times the entry).

Well, the natural progression of numbers hopefully means a title soon.

Nice job Catbear.

Beerhog Wins at Boothers!

Been there - have not done that!

Good players and a great time, and to win there is quite a feat!

This happened a couple of weeks ago. I would have posted this sooner but Beerhog never got me any info on it. I got tired of waiting. Maybe Boother can give us a little low-down as to the action.

Great job Hog!

Faldo Drops "Doyles Room" From His Rotation

I liked the look of the game at the table, but the negatives were just too numerous.

1) The lobby is ugly, slow to load and hard to read
2) The time clock on the site was off by +4 hours (Alaska time?) and you could not adjust it to EST.
3) Very few tournaments available in my prime tournament playing time.

Doyle should push to Americanize his site. He should allow adjustment of the time clock / dates and add tourneys for US prime time.

The software is the old Gambling Club software, improved, but with a dumber lobby.

I am out of that site for now. - Faldo

I Got a Bum Steer in Traverse City - One Bad, One Good

Up in Traverse City, MI on business. I checked into the hotel at about 2pm since I got done with my meeting in Cadillac early.

I found a tourney on Bodog and signed up. I figured I could write my trip report and play in the tourney at the same time.

Anyway, I made it to the final two tables, with the tourney paying only the final table of nine.

With 12 players left, and me 8th in chips, I get (Ah Kh) in the small blind. Here we go.

The cutoff (10th in chips) makes the standard raise as the first one in. I got the 12th place guy in the big blind and I would love for him to come along - or make the forced all-in with hopefully a hand like (AQ).

I juice it to force the BB all-in, if he calls. But he folds and it is the cutoff who goes all-in. Well, I guess I can play a lap from 11th place with a fold or ....

All-in and lose to (QQ).

Next hand, I go all-in with (AQ) and lose to an unimproved (AK). I finish 12th, instead of those two mopes!

Time for dinner and some beer to drown my sorrows.

If and when you get to Traverse City, a must stop is Mode's Bum Steer. It is a small bar south of main street (129 e. State St.) - and it serves Black Angus steaks!

A sign posted right after you enter says quite plainly, "NO YOUNGSTEERS". I like that in a steak place.

Unfortunately, it is now smoke free - which meant the cigar had to be enjoyed outside after dinner. In Traverse City, in late summer, this is not exactly a step down.

The steaks are served with a huge Iceberg lettuce wedge, smothered in the dressing of your choice. I always get the blue cheese dressing because the chunks of cheese are the size of Milk Duds!

It also comes with a baked potato (fries or rice can be substituted) the thickness of your balled up fist and as long as from the tip of your middle finger to past your watchband! A spud on steriods!

I got the grilled mushrooms on top of my 8 oz Filet Mignon. I owed it to myself for my tough loss.

Had a Sam Adams Octoberfest prior to ordering and another to wash the dinner down.

Next was a walk on the beach, smoking a Licenciado Toro, after purchasing a tall Foster's at the beach side bar.

I sat on the bench to finish my great cigar and beer - and watch the sun set on the bay. Then came in here to tell you about the rotten luck I had in that tourney, while watching football in the room. Pity me. - Faldo

7Jokers Expands His Tourney Victory Lead!

This win puts 7Jokers three ahead of his closest rivals for most NPP tourney wins! Impressive! This is not a bunch of ribbon clerks he is besting.

Seven made it to the game tonight. I suspect the Comcast internet being down contributed to the lower than average turn out. I didn’t make it as my internet did not return until around 8:30 pm. I was just about to head to Buffalo Wild Wings to make sure I caught the tail end of the tourney, when Comcast got it running.

Yes, I would have been to BWW or a Holiday Inn Express if I needed NPP points. Instead I waited it out at home.

?? min: Duder (7th) is the first one out. Maybe someone can tell us what happened.

45 min: ArcticBlast (6th), who’s luck is the only one close to being as bad as mine, flops trip 9’s – calls all-in on the turn – but Doneill had hit a straight.

58 min: Tigercub (5th) is short stacked and makes a move with (AT). Doneill is holding (KK). An [A] on the flop teases the Cat, but a [K] on the turn dashes any comeback.

Break:

Doneill 4665
Hlam 2830
7Jokers 2085
Rennzzo 920

64 min: Rennzzo (4th) (Ks Jc) goes all-in over a Doneill (Kc Th) bet. Doneill hits the heart flush, taking the heart out of Rennzzo.

66 min: Hlam14 (3rd) takes a beat from 7Joker’s flush and loses shortly afterwards to Doneill.

Heads up: Doneill 7300 and 7Jokers 3200

70 min: 7Jokers hits a big hand and takes a 9000 to 1500 lead!

71 min: Doneill (2nd) goes all-in with (76) and 7Jokers takes it down with (A6). Another win for 7Jokers!

1st – 7Jokers 31 pts
2nd – Doneill 28 pts
3rd – Hlam14 5 pts
4th – Rennzzo 17 pts
5th – Tigercub 33 pts
6th – ArcticBlast 13 pts
7th – Duder 13 pts
Nahanni 44 pts
Boother 34 pts
Beerhog 30 pts
Faldo 15 pts
Aqualung 10 pts
Matchy 5 pts
BigLou 5 pts
DavetheDog 3 pts

Boother needs a win to tie Nahanni, as long as Nahanni doesn’t get any points on the last week. Should be an exciting night of poker!

Total point race is on the right side of the blog.

Boother Cashes in the Heartland Poker Tour!

This is outstanding! Way to go Boother. He represented the Kings of White Lake (KOWL) and NPP with honor, distinction... and probably didn't let on he knew any of us. But, can you blame him? I'll let Boother tell the story:

"As many of you know, I won a direct buy-in to the Hartland Poker Tour (HPT) main event by winning the last quarter in my poker club, The Kings of White Lake (KOWL). The HPT was in Mount Pleasant this past weekend (Sunday, August 24) and the place was pretty crowded with poker junkies.

The main event ended up having 306 players and they were paying thru 30th place. Play finally started around 9:30 AM. Throughout the day I was able to collect chips when I got on a hot streak, and survive with minimal chip loss when I went card dead (which happened several times during the tourney). My first goal was to simply place in the money as it would be the first cash for me in a major tourney, as well as the first cash for KOWL.

Once I made it to the last 3 tables, I had a decent size stack and felt very comfortable in coasting higher up in the standings as the short stacks battled against the ever increasing blinds/antes. As the evening turned into night, more and more people were getting knocked out and soon I found myself at the final table of 10.

At that point, my next big goal was to make the final 6 so I could get some face time on TV (HPT televises the final table from each major tourney)!! I dodged a huge bullet when I raised with AQ and the player behind me goes all-in, only to have the guy behind him go all-in too!! I laid down my hand only to see KK and AA get turned up.

After that big hand, we got down to 9 players. I really never got any huge hands after that. I stole some blind/antes a few times, but also lost a few raises when I got caught trying to steal. My final hand came down to Kd6d under the gun. I decided that I had to make a stand since I only had about $200,000 in chips, and the blinds/antes were going up to $30,000/$60,000 and $5000 in about 5 minutes. On that hand, my all-in move was looking pretty good as everyone folded around to the big blind. Unfortunately, the BB called me with 99. While I hit one diamond and a 6 on the flop, after the turn and the river were blanks, my hand didn’t improve. I finished in 9th place at about 9:30 PM with a payout of $10,848.

Needless to say, winning that money was kind of bittersweet. While I was truly excited to win, I still can’t turn off my brain from running thru all the “what if’s”!!!!

It was really cool that 3 guys from KOWL stayed for the whole tourney to watch/support me!! And I was lucky that Wendy was able to make it up to the Soaring Eagle at around 7:30 PM to watch the last couple hours of play. It was really cool to have a cheering section in the crowd and to have their support.

Hopefully this will be the first of more good things to come!!" - Boother

Once again, great job Boother! - Faldo

Legend of the Whale – Part VI

Fat Russ got what he thought was the last bit of bad luck the Whale could lay on him.

After all, in the short year or so since Russ first met the White Whale at a poker game I played in at my softball coaches’ house, he went from wealthy to flat busted. He went from one of the biggest middle-size bookies and successful sports bettors in the metro-Detroit area, to an arrested, busted, flat broke guy, with no house, furniture or even a car.

His wife, who had a successful real estate career going, also lost her job since Fat Russ met the Whale.

With no future left in Detroit (and the Whale still living in the area), Russ and his wife decided to settle in their favorite vacation spot – Las Vegas! There, they would get jobs as blackjack dealers and start over.

So is that the end of story? Well, for Frank – the bookie / softball coach, and Nik Faldo, the poker player - it has been. We stayed in Michigan. But the Whale and Russ continue their saga.

Russ and his wife do get jobs as blackjack dealers. Russ’s wife gets her license back in Las Vegas – just as the real estate boom takes off! She ends up making so much money selling real estate Russ can back off of his hours dealing blackjack, and joins a tournament blackjack team.

He is somewhat successful doing that, but decides to try his hand at poker in the casinos. After all, how different can these games be than the ones he dominated in Detroit? As he finds out, they are even easier!

Awash in cash from killing the tourists in cash games, and making it to five final tables in less than two years of poker tournament play, Fat Russ enters the 25th anniversary World Series of Poker Main Event (1994).

“Fat” Russ Hamilton wins the $1 million 1st prize and – as a bonus – gets his body weight in silver from the Binion’s Horseshoe Casino! Being ‘Fat’ Russ paid off handsomely that time.

At precisely that moment, there were people looking for investors for a new gaming industry called ‘internet poker.’ They were talking to all the ‘high rollers’ and known gamblers in Vegas. They approached Russ - since he had all this new found wealth.

Most people were not touching this investment – with new or old money - as most felt there is no way that people will ‘trust’ the idea of risking money in a ‘make believe’ casino.

Russ, always the gambler, sunk a big chunk of his WSOP winnings into the venture and became part of the management team running the project. As he told Frank via telephone, “I have no room in my mattresses for anymore cash anyway.”

His investment in Ultimate Bet became the third largest internet poker site in the world – turning profits (not revenue – but pure profit) at around $20,000 an hour! Mr. Hamilton is now officially on easy street.

Enter The Whale.

The Whale, I was told, had literally been chased out of Detroit due to gambling and loan debts. Faldo was a victim of the Whale to the tune of $10,000, but got three times that amount back by betting opposite of the games The Whale picked and bet thru me. His picks were automatic losers virtually every time. I capitalized on this ‘reverse lock’ system.

Frank, however, was probably stuck $50,000 by the time it was all said and done with his dealings with The Whale. I guess at $50K, you are no longer funny – no matter how funny you are.

The Whale left Detroit for his favorite town – Las Vegas – and got a job as a phone sales jockey for a football prediction service. You know, the Lock of the Week hustlers. Whale – pushing the Lock of the Week. That is almost more ironic than a Democrat being an economist!

The Whale, in his off time of course, hit the casinos – looking for Fat Russ. The Whale had heard Russ was now ‘the man’ in Vegas and wanted to be on the in with ‘his old buddy’ from Detroit.

One night, Fat Russ lost a huge pot in the biggest game in town at the time, by actually misreading his own hand. That is very embarrassing for a WSOP champion. As Russ shook his head wondering how that could possibly of happened - he looked around and saw the Whale standing at the rail – right there in The Mirage!

That was too much! Russ immediately cashed out and left in a huff – not to be seen in the casinos for months!

Russ, then fearing the usual bad luck that follows him when the Whale appears – sells his interest in Ultimate Bet poker as quickly as possible! For how much you ask? Lets just say he sold it for triple-digit millions!

Soon after – very soon after – NetTeller, the on-line service used the most by players funding internet poker sites, has their CEO’s arrested in an airport in the United States. This sends shockwaves throughout the internet poker industry as sites close down, lose customers or simply stop accepting action from US players.

NetTeller itself freezes the assets of US players with accounts. Action on the internet dries up for a time.

The stock and the worth of the surviving poker sites plummets dramatically! Russ, as it turned out - sold his shares at a high price that no poker site has yet ever returned to!

There is a poker lesson here, NPP people. Fat Russ followed his read, his ‘gut feeling’ and the way previous ‘hands’ with the Whale had played out - and backed it all the way to the tune of millions of dollars.

Russ jumped off a ship that looked like it had clear sailing – and at just the right time – because his read told him he was about to get ‘cold-decked’.

I never felt Russ was a good card player when I played against him at Frank’s house where I got my first real poker education. I always felt I could play better than he did. Of course I was wrong by a country mile, obviously.

But what I did remember – and always believe - was that Russ was fearless! He would back his decisions with every cent he had in front of him – and more if you would accept an IOU.

If he thought he was right, he would go all-in – and win or lose – he never second-guessed or whined about the outcome.

Maybe that is why he is a WSOP Champion and I finish 4th continuously in 55-cent SNG’s on Ultimate Bet. – Nik Faldo

Epilogue – Part VII next.
PS: I really won’t have that much to add, but I always wanted to use the word ‘epilogue’.

Doneill Wins NPP #34 – 10

Eleven players made it to the felt – one shy of the record! Nice job NPP Team!

And welcome back Hlam14! Herb had been a regular at the NPP game for years. You can see his POTY record on this blog and that speaks for itself. He is joining us from his new home in Iowa.

Nahanni and Boother sat out some of the early going and ArcticBlast was late, but they all saw live action. On to the show!

48 min: Nahanni (11th) missed the first 45 minutes of action. Playing the big games on-line must take precedent over NPP action. Nahanni is short-stacked and has to make a move with (A5). Beerhog correctly calls with (Kh 8h) and an [8] on the turn ends Nahanni’s short night.

51 min: A short-stacked and late ArcticBlast (10th) bluffs with a lame flop of [386], but 7Jokers hits the [8] on the flop to freeze out Blast.

56 min: A short-stacked Rennzzo (9th) goes all-in and gets picked on by Mikeniks and 7Jokers with Joker’s (As Qs) taking the pot.

Break:
Mikeniks 3170
Doneill 3165
Beerhog 3153
Tigercub 2800
7Jokers 1517
Boother 1110
Hlam14 835
Biglou 750

62 min: A short-stacked Hlam (8th) goes all-in with (KQ) and is called by another SS Biglou with (JJ). This cripples our Iowa homeboy and he goes out soon after.

70 min: 7Jokers (7th), BigLou and Beerhog call the blinds. The flop was [827]. BigLou bets and they all call. The turn is [6]. BigLou bets and only 7Jokers calls. They get all-in on the river of a [J] and BigLou’s straight on the turn took the pot down.

75 min: Boother (6th) gets hurt by Mikeniks hitting a flush and then goes all-in with (KJ), but ran into Beerhog’s (77) and he got no help. No three-peat for Boother. Nice run!

82 min: Doneill starts his run. Beerhog (5th) gets all-in with (AQ) and is called by Doneill with (AT). The [T] on the flop ends Beerhog’s night.

In the next 15 minutes, Mikeniks-Faldo gets bad beat 4 times in a row.

97 min: A very short-stacked Mikeniks (4th) (A3) hits Doneill’s (AT). Amazingly, the flop was not [333]. Go figure.

107 min: BigLou (3rd) has his (QQ) run into a flop of [K28] and Doneill’s (K2).

Heads up, Doneill has a 13,500 to 3000 lead over Tigercub.

115 min: Tigercub (2nd) battles for a while, but his (44) loses to a Doneill flush. Congratulations on your 5th NPP tourney win, Doneill!

1st – Doneill 21 pts
2nd – Tigercub 32 pts
3rd – BigLou 5 pts
4th – Mikeniks-Faldo 15 pts
5th – Beerhog 30 pts
6th – Boother 34 pts
7th – 7Jokers 21 pts
8th - Hlam14 0 pts
9th - Rennzzo 14 pts
10th – ArcticBlast 13 pts
11th – Nahanni 44 pts
Duder 13 pts
Aqualung 10 pts
Matchy 5 pts
DavetheDog 3 pts

Total point race is on the side of the blog.

Boother Wins NPP #33-9 for 2nd win in a Row!

A wild and crazy night at the internet NPP tourney! But some things stayed constant – Boother ruled!

First, we welcomed back BigLou - who has been hitting the white ball with the funny sticks on Tuesdays.

Ten players entered and – technically - only two left at the 1st break! Nahanni sat out all the way to the break, and ArcticBlast didn’t play a hand until it got 4-handed!
Crazy!

It took a while for the first casualty, and then a poker game/suicide mission broke out!

33 min: 7Jokers (10th) is gone first and Tigercub was the murderer. So we are now at one table.

39 min: Tigercub (9th) slow plays (QQ) and for some reason bets into Doneil holding (A6) and a flop with an [A] in it.

44 min: A rare double kill as Beerhog’s (88) holds up and takes out BigLou (8th) (Ks Js) and Duder (7th) (Ah Kh).

46 min: The bad beat of the night! Oh, there were others, but because of the amount of chips involved – since it was the clash of the big stacks – this hand wins it.

Doneill (6th) has to get all-in when his (Kh 6h) makes a flush on the turn. Boother calls with the (Ah) and the [4h] hits the river. Boother now has a monster stack!

50 min: Mikeniks-Faldo (5th) has to make a move all-in with (Ac 5c) and is called by Beerhog with (99), and didn’t get enough help. Sure, an [A] hit the turn, but PS has already dropped a [9] on the flop.

56 min: ArcticBlast survives an all-in and Nahanni (4th) finally blinds out.

Break:
Boother 11,309
Beerhog 2355
ArcticBlast 1336

71 min: Beerhog (A3) cripples ArcticBlast (QQ) when an [A] lands on the turn.

75 min: Beerhog and Boother both call down ArcticBlast (3rd).

Heads up – and Boother has a 12 – 3 lead over Beerhog.

79 min: No epic battle for Boother tonight. His (33) beats Beerhog’s (2nd) (77) with a [3] on the flop and it is back to back wins for Boother. Nice job!

1st – Boother 34 pts
2nd – Beerhog 29 pts
3rd – ArcticBlast 13 pts
4th – Nahanni 44 pts
5th – Mikeniks-Faldo 12 pts
6th – Doneill 11 pts
7th – Duder 13 pts
8th – BigLou 0 pts
9th – Tigercub 25 pts
10th – 7Jokers 21 pts
Rennzzo – 14 pts
Aqualung – 10 pts
Matchy – 5 pts
DavetheDog – 3 pts

The Total Points Race is on the Right Side of the Blog!

Arctic Blast Holds a Great NPP Game

The cards flew at the last minute last Friday. I got back just in time from my tour of Illinois, Indiana and Ohio.

The standard NPP game is a 1-2-3-4 limit game. The main attraction is beer drinking and yucking it up. Although, some serious poker is played.

At least by some. Matchy, Duder and Dave (not the dog) took it out on Beerhog, Faldo and the host. Not very sporting of those three.

Arctic – remember that Beerhog and I were the “nice” guests.

A good time was had by all. Beerhog or Matchy may have the next one.

The original NPP may re-open for a game in November - after the country is ruined.

Boother Wins Round 8 of the 3rd Qtr!

He had some luck along the way – which kills the rest of us as he doesn’t need it!

Ten players got in tonight! Nice job!

9 min: Fireworks early as Beerhog’s (AA) gets clipped by 7Jokers’ flush (Ad 4d).

16 min: Beerhog (10th) fights as long as he can short-stacked. In typical Poker Stars ‘rub your nose in it’, Beerhog makes the all-in move with (A6), only to run into Doneill’s (AA).

45 min: Down to one table, play tightens up. Boother (99) cripples Doneill (KK).

47 min: This sets up a rare triple all-in with the short-stacked Doneill (9th), Rennzzo (8th) and Boother. Boother’s (99) is the best hand going in and it hangs on.

54 min: ArcticBlast (7th) makes his all-in move with (9c 7c) and runs into Duder and Nahanni with (AK).

56 min: 7Jokers (6th) has to get all-in with his (99) and flop of [J9T], but Boother is holding (Q8).

59 min: Smashing the ‘don’t go all-in before the break cause they will kill you’ myth, Duder does it twice and wins both! He jumps from dead last to 3rd in chips.

Break:
Tiger 4130
Boother 3970
Duder 3170
Nahanni 2205
Mikeniks-Faldo 1525

69 min: I (Mikeniks-Faldo – 5th) have to make my move, calling Boother with (Ad 2d) but no help comes against his (A8).

71 min: Duder (4th) gets all-in with (AQ) against Boother’s (A7), but a [7] hits the flop.

76 min: Nahanni (3rd) gets all-in with (33) against Boother’s (AK), and a [K] hits the flop.

Heads up! Boother has an 11000 – 4000 lead. But the Tiger has some fight left in him!

80 min: 12 – 3 Boother
85 min: 11 – 4 Boother
88 min: Even!
90 min: 9 – 6 Boother
95 min: 10 – 5 Tiger!
100 min: 8 – 7 Tiger
105 min: 8 – 7 Boother!
110 min: 11 – 4 Boother (back where we started)

115 min: Tigercub (2nd) calls the blind and we see a flop of [K85]. Tiger bets his (KT)and Boother calls with his (J5). The turn is a blank, so Tiger bets and Boother calls. The river is a [J].

Tiger bets big, Boother raises and Tiger has to get all-in. Congratulations Boother and a nice heads up battle!

1st – Boother 24 pts
2nd – Tigercub 25 pts
3rd – Nahanni 41 pts
4th – Duder 13 pts
5th – Mikeniks-Faldo 11 pts
6th – 7Jokers 21 pts
7th – ArcticBlast 8 pts
8th – Rennzzo 14 pts
9th – Doneill 11 pts
10th – Beerhog 22 pts
Aqualung 10 pts
Matchy 5 pts
DavetheDog 3 pts

Total points race on the right side of the blog!