A Christmas Present to Faldo - Nice!

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

Absea98 is NPP’s 2011 Player of the Year!

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

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

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

Great year Absea98!

Let’s check out the action;

Final NPP Table

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

At the 30 minute mark, the chip totals are:

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

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

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

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

At the 45 minute mark, the chip totals are:

Suetman123 3200
Absea98 2900
95corolla 2200
LittleRedElf 845
Tomservo2 680

At the break:

Suetman123 3800
Absea98 2800
LittleRedElf 1600
95corolla 1500
Tomservo2 625

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

Great season Tom.

At the 75 minute mark, the chip totals are:

Absea98 4900
Suetman123 4150
LittleRedElf 1200
95corolla 1050

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

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

At the 90 minute mark, the chip totals are:

Absea98 5600
Suetman123 4300
95corolla 2000

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

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

Heads up: Absea98 8800 Suetman123 3200

110 min: Absea98 9500 Suetman123 2500

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

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

Congratulations to Absea98 on his 2nd NPP Title!

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

Faldo Home From Surgery

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

---

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

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

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

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

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

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

Now to NPP business.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

On to the action:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

We settled in for some poker at this point.

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

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

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

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

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

Heads up K9isadog 20200 T3chlady 6800

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

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

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

Faldo Finishes 6th in PokerStars HORSE Tourney

I just love Coca-Cola!

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

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

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

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

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

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


Now a word about the NPP Finals.

We will have our final table set after this week.

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

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

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

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

Faldo

Gas Price Hypocrisy

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Douge2’s Humor Corner - Emails

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

K9isadog Wins for the 1st Time This Season!

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

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

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

On to the action:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Ok, I still want to complain.

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

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

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

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

Congratulations to K9isadog on his 8th NPP win.

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

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

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

Poker Sites Are Collapsing Around Faldo

The Royal Flush girls showed up to comfort Faldo.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Ashton Cigars – Faldo’s Pick In a Crisis!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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