Review of Internet Poker Sites

This used to be a favorite post of mine. I would write about what new sites had opened, what their features and sign up bonuses were. I would rate the "Top Twenty" sites I had accounts in and explain why. I would highlight the new addition and explain the reasons I cut the other sites.
But with the death of NetTeller, thanks to an exiting Republican Party trying to hang on to office at the last minute, the flood of poker sites has dried up.

I only know of eight poker sites that accept US players and the internet banker - ePassport, for deposits and withdraws. Here I rank them according to events, safety, and looks:

The KING
1. Poker Stars - the best by far

The next three are all good sites.
2. Full Tilt Poker
3. Absolute Poker
4. Ultimate Bet

Endangered List - these sites don't have a large volume of players. I worry they might dry up and take my money like Jet Set Poker did.

5. Jungle Poker - nice site, low amount of players





Cashed out of the site:
6. True Poker - Great graphics, but few tournaments. Considering a return however for the winter. I can schedule my day to play in the few they have.
7. Bugsy's Club - Nice software but no players
8. Poker4Ever - No Players

Sports Betting and Poker Sites.
They don't have an easy way to fund or collect from, so I am going to win enough to cash out by mail or lose what I have there this football season. I have them listed in my preference of their poker software.
9. World Poker Exchange - No rake on ring play. Nice software
10. Sportsbook - Nice software, no players
11. BoDog Poker - Plenty of players but I don't like the poker software or the look.

All other sites either don't take US players or cannot be funded thru ePassport. So there are your nine options and some sports books that also have poker rooms. If you go thru the trouble of funding them, you got a virtual Vegas casino on your computer.

I'm waiting for one of these sportsbooks with poker to go the ePassport route.

Hope this helps your fall and winter poker enjoyment. - Nik Faldo

Rownder Wins NPP Internet #35

We got ten to the table tonight!!!! Great job NPP team.
People seemed to be in a gambling mood tonight. That has not been the case. The tourney was over in less than 2 hours. We have had 6-player tourneys last thru two breaks before.

We started with two tables but by hand #20, we were down to one table.

Bronco76 (10th) made it back after missing for quite a few months and was unceremoniously drummed out quickly. He goes all-in with AK and runs into Nahanni’s QQ and gets no help.

When we went to one table, across from my seat was the row of Aqualung, Boother, Rownder and Sev4TSev. I call that Murderer’s Row!

On hand #28 Aqualung’s (9th) QQ ran into Boother’s KK. There was one less killer at the table now.

Things calmed down until on hand #55 a short-stacked Matchy (8th) went all-in with 33 and ran into Nahanni’s TT.

Hand #69 saw five players see the flop of [5s 7s Qd]. Sev4TSev bets and only the short-stacked Duder (7th) calls. They get all in on the turn on Duder’s pair of 7’s but Sev4TSev has the lesbian couple.

We head to the break and I head to the bathroom. I didn’t get the exact chip total but I think the standings were:
Boother
Nahanni
Sev4TSev
ArticBlast
Rownder
Mikeniks (Faldo)

Mikeniks (6th) is the short stack and on hand #76 soon after the break, I go all-in when I pair my K on the flop. Sev4TSev has American Airlines (AA) and turns my K into KY Jelly.

On a personal note, that ended my tournament streak of picking up at least 1 point (5th or better) at twenty-five.

Three players see the flop of [2h Js 4c]. Boother (5th) bets, Rownder folds and Nahanni calls. The turn is [Ad]. Boother checks, Nahanni bets and Boother goes all-in with the semi-bluff of (JhTh). Nahanni has (22) so is not going anywhere and hits the full house on the river to boot Boother.

After Sev4TSev takes a pot from Nahanni who folds to a flop of [7J7] and an all-in bet, the next victim is claimed. Note to players: Never tangle with 747 when 7’s or 4’s hit the flop. Uhhhhm HELLO???

Nahanni (4th) calls ArticBlast’s BB. The flop is [4h 8d 9h]. As Nahanni continues to ask 747 if he had a 7, she bets, gets raised and calls. The turn is the [7d]. (Damn sevens again Nahanni). Nahanni bets again, gets raised again and calls again. The river is the [8h]. Nahanni goes all-in with 3 eights and ArticBlast freezes her out with the ten-high straight.

Rownder calls Sev4TSev’s (3rd) BB. The flop is [8s 5h 8c]. Rownder checks, 747 bets and gets called. The turn is [3d]. 747 bets, Rownder raises and gets called. The river is the [9c]. They are all-in and Rownder’s full house crumples 747’s straight.

We are heads up and Rownder has a 2 to 1 chip lead over ArticBlast. These two were both the short-stack at one time and have eliminated three former chip leaders en route to this showdown.

Rownder chips up to a big chip lead before ArticBlast (2nd) goes all-in with his (44) and a flop of [QKK], but runs into Rownder’s (Q7). It is Rownder’s 6th victory of the year! Congratulations to Rownder.

1st – Rownder
2nd – ArticBlast
3rd – Sev4TSev
4th – Nahanni
5th – Boother
6th – Mikeniks (Nik Faldo)
7th – Duder
8th – Matchy
9th – Aqualung
10th – Bronco76

Beerhog's NPP Game is On for Saturday the 15th!

Must be poker season is coming up.

IN
1 - Beerhog - HOST
2 - Faldo
3 - Tolly
4 - 747
5 - Matchy
6 - LP

MAYBES
Newbie via Tolly
Gridlock
Thai Food


OUT
Boother
4Putt (of course)
Herbavor

Beerhog, send me your address again on my home email.

Nik Faldo Poker - Gambling Stories

Story #1 - Best laydown ever:
NPP game: Someone had called Omaha High only. I looked in my hand and had KKQT double suited. I bet and was raised by The Wall. Only one other player called, Black Bart.
The flop was [AAK] but none of my suit. I bet and The Wall raised and Bart folded.
I turned over my KK and told the Wall to take the pot as "you have AK and I am not going to draw against a made hand", doing my best Michael McDermitt impression. The Wall indeed showed his AK. That good a calling of the hand is actually a Negreanu-Herbavor impression.

Story #2 - Worst call:
NPP game: The only natural Royal Flush I ever got was in a 7-stud Deuces Wild hand. I hit the Spade Royal on 6th street and bet and raised, and re-reraised against Tolly. He had 3 eights visible. I knew he had 5 eights already. But I bet and called anyway as I just could not throw it into the muck.

Story #3 - Worst ignoring of a 'feeling':
Soaring Eagle Casino: I had just finished a 10 hour session of cards
and had turned an early -$380 into a
+$160 and was heading to the buffet with my comp.
As I was passing the craps table - literally the hairs on the back of my neck stood up and I heard my little voice say "DOUBLE FOURS!". I stop and there was a slight delay at the table as a could people got chips and made change. I reached for the new c-note I had in my pocket and had it half way to the felt when I stopped! I said to the little voice - "I just worked 10 hours for this and I am not throwing it on this craps table!"
The very next roll: 44

Story #4 - Second worse ignoring of a 'feeling':
Very Early NPP: We were playing the long time favorite 5-stud Hi/Lo with 3 buys. The pots always got huge as everyone who didn't have a hand bought to make one. Folding was out of the question as we literally counted the number of players seated to determine how many buys we could get without re-shuffling.
I had the A-high club flush and a 6 low. The pot was HUGE. I was the dealer. When the final buy round got to me, I knew I had the two visible 7 lows beat. There were a couple of all-most for sure full houses out there for high. That tingling started on the neck. I knew the next card in the deck was the 2 of clubs to give me the A-5 straight flush. I just knew it!
It actually occurred to me that the guys might thought I cheated if I threw away a lock 6-low to chase the near impossible. But I had not seen the 2 of clubs hit the board and I just 'KNEW" the next card was the miracle card of the three still in the deck.

I calmly said, "I don't buy", took my my half of the pot and peeked. The 2 of clubs was there!!!

And now you know why I never get cards in my own game anymore. I pooped on the card Gods that night. - Nik Faldo

Faldo Wins NPP Internet #34

I owe it all to Beerhog and the relentless practice of playing him heads up at Buffalo Wild Wings and losing my butt. But it was practice at one of my many poker weaknesses, and it sure helped later.

We had two tables of four to start the night:
#1 Mikeniks(Faldo), ArticBlast, Duder and Sev4TSev
#2 Aqualung, Boother, Matchy and Nahanni

After a mere 18 hands and the first level change, we went to one table and had not lost anyone.

On hands #28 and 37 Boother cripples Aqualung, but Aqua was still above water, still holding on to a life-jacket of 16 big blinds.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Aqua above water! Get it? Life jacket?? HAHAHAHAHA!
I kill me.

On hand #61 Aqua cripples ArticBlast as his 66 gets iced by Aqua’s 99. I’m on a roll!

On hand #62 Boother raises and gets re-raised by Nahanni and Boother (8th) calls all-in with (AT), taking a shot. Nahanni has (66) and hits a full house to boot.

On hand #65 a short-stacked ArticBlast (7th) goes all-in with (A3) and is called by Aqualung’s (AJ) and gets no help.

On hand #69 a short-stacked Duder (6th) goes all-in with (T6) and is called by Matchy with (KQ) and Matchy helps himself with a [K] on the flop.

So at the break we stand:
Nahanni 3445
Matchy 3105
Aqualung 2575
Mikeniks 1545
Sev4TSev 1330

On hand #80 the new chip leader Matchy goes all-in with Nahanni (5th). Nahanni holds (22) and Matchy (KhTs). Four straight hearts come out on the flop and turn and we will not have a repeat winner.

On hand #115 Aqualung (4th) misses the flop and bluffs all-in with (Q2) against Mikeniks who had bet the flop calls with (QJ) and a [J] on the flop. Gutsy bet and a gutsy call. Sev4TSev was about even with both of us in chips and us going to war could not of made him real happy. I do not get run down and now I have some chips.

On hand #120, there is an [A and two diamonds] on the flop and Sev4TSev (3rd) goes all-in with (A8) and Matchy calls with (6d3d) and hits the flush on the river to crash the big plane.

Now to heads up:
Matchy 8000
Mikeniks 4000

By hand #150 we are even. Matchy is destracted as he is also participating in his football draft. It was great that he made it to the game in spite of the pressing commitment. A lesson 4Putt, Cigar4John and a few others could take a cue from.

By hand #160, Mikeniks has a 8500 to 3500 lead.

On hand #169, Matchy (2nd) escapes one all-in but on hand #172 Matchy runs into another hit flop for Mikeniks.

They all bet and call the flop of [6cQhJc]. Matchy is holding (KdTc) and Mikeniks (QsTs).
They both check another [Jd] on the turn, but get all-in for the river. Matchy has the straight draw and is low on chips.

But a harmless [7] falls on the river and Mikeniks-Nik Faldo gets win #2 of the year.

1st – Mikeniks (Nik Faldo)
2nd – Matchy
3rd – Sev4TSev
4th – Aqualung
5th – Nahanni
6th – Duder
7th – ArticBlast
8th – Boother

August Internet League Standings

I got some flack for not posting everyone's record last time so I will this time.
We seem to be stuck on an average number of players at 6.5.
Now is the time to recruit for next year.
The posting is the same as before - Name, total points, points per entry average.

1st - NikFaldo 148/5.3
2nd - Boother 120/4.8
3rd - Sev4TSev 96/5.1
4th - Rownder 93/4.7
5th - Matchy 83/3.5
6th - ArticBlast 56/2.3
7th - Beerhog 50/4.5
8th - Momo 42/3.5
9th - Nahanni 38/4.8
10th - Duder 28/3.1
11th - Cigar4John 28/3.5
12th - BonAir 28/3.5
13th - Hlam14 14/2.8
14th - DavetheDog 9/3.0
15th - Aqualung 5/2.5
16th - 1stout 3/1.5
17th - SpartyToJo 1/.5
18th - Bronco76 1/1

A beautiful thing would be 18 regulars every Tuesday night.
In December we will have voting for DAY and TIME for next year.

Nik Finishes 7th in a Jungle Poker Qualifier - Moves on to Finals

Come in 7th out of 463 players.
It's a $1000 tourney I qualified for this Saturday.
Had to make the final thirty I'm going to have to see if I can move the tourney to another weekend - like in December.
Less golf days in front of us than behind us.

Nik Finishes 4th in Full Tilt Qualifier

You had to win it to get the seat. Bested all but 3 of a 360 person field.
As the short stack, I went all-in with 66 and was called by KT suited. A Ten on the flop ended my dream of qualifying for the Aussie Millions satelite.

Nahanni Wins NPP Internet #33

We had six players as Boother and Beerhog were just a little too late to enter.

On hand #20, Aqualung (6th) took the bad hit of the night catching an eight’s over full house on the river but running into Nahanni’s ten’s over boat.

On hand #60, Rownder (5th) went all-in with (88) and got called by ArticBlast’s (TT) and got no help.

On hand #85, we got a rare three-player all in between ArticBlast (4th) with (77) and Duder and MikeNiks both with (A9) and a flop that was 9-high. No 7 for Blast and a split-pot for Duder and Niks.

That got us to the break after 90 hands:
Nahanni 3800
MikeNiks (Faldo) 3400
Duder 1800

On hand #95, Mikeniks grabbed the chip lead momentarily. But on hand #98 Duder (3rd) goes all in with (JJ) and is called by Nahanni with (K7) and a [7] on the flop. A [K] on the turn and it is all over for Duder. Nahanni now has the lead back.

Nahanni pecked away at my (Mikeniks) chip stack until I (2nd) went all-in with (AQ). Nahanni called with her winning (K7) and hit a [K] on the flop to end the evening.

1st – Nahanni
2nd – NikFaldo (Mikeniks)
3rd – Duder
4th – ArticBlast
5th – Rownder
6th – Aqualung

My heads up record took yet another hit. But credit goes to Nahanni who kept her cool as I went all-in many time trying to illicit a mistake. She didn’t take the bait.

Absolute Poker Has a New Look! - Very Nice!

Tolly tipped me off that the site had changed. It is not Internet Poker season so I am not playing near as much as I do when the snow flys. Couple that with work overload and I just have not played there in a month.

The look at the table is really cleaned up and easy on the eyes - at least my old eyes. Gone is the ugly orange end tables and the hard blue AP symbols. Plus you have a choice of three table looks to choose from - and they expand to a full size monitor if you so desire.

Another nice feature is that if you also have an account at Ultimate Bet, you can transfer money back and forth between the two. This is a great idea and other sites should get with it also.

Absolute Poker also takes ePassporte deposits and cashouts - the best new internet poker bank in town, now that NetTeller abandoned us. AP definitely moved up Nik Faldo's ranking scale of internet poker sites with these changes.

Another note: NetTeller may have abandoned us but at least they didn't cheat us. I got my deposited money back.

A Hot ArticBlast Wins NPP Internet #32

Get it? Hot artic blast? Nevermind.
Seven players made it.
Boother and a new player Aqualung85 sat out in the beginning. Aqua joined the game at about hand #30. Boother never made it.

On hand #53 Nahanni (7th) gets (JJ) and runs into Duder’s (QQ). That was a rough return for our lone lady player to the NPP internet felt.

On hand #81 Matchy (6th) calls an all-in by Aqua with (93). Aqua had (AQ) and Matchy got no help.

This got Boother in the points.

Duder cripples Aqua when his (AJ) beat Aqua’s (KQ) suited on hand #86.

On hand #89 my (5th) (KK) gets beat by Artic’s (A3) when an Ace flops. I went ahead and bet my remaining chips after the flop, which was probably stupid. But Artic had position and I would of either had to fold or call anyway if he bet. The question was …did I think he had an Ace? No I didn’t but I should of.

Right at the break Boother (4th) blinded out. Chip count:
ArticBlast 7250
Duder 2300
Aqua 950

Two minutes in, our short-stacked new guy Aqua (3th) gets the worst bad beat of the night as his (AA) lost to Artic’s (J4). They bet and when a [J] hit on the flop, Aqua went all-in and got called. Artic hit a J on the turn.

It was not 2 minutes later that Duder (2nd) checks Artic’s small blind call.
The flop is [Kd 6h 9d] .
Duder bet, Artic raised, Duder re-raised and Artic called.
The turn is [Ts].
Duder bets and Artic called.
[4d]
Duder makes a big bet, Artic raised all-in and got called.
Artic hit the flush holding (7d 2d) to beat Duder’s pair of kings.

1st – ArticBlast
2nd – Duder
3rd – Aqualung
4th – Boother (DNP)
5th – Mikeniks
6th – Matchy
7th – Nahanni

Boother Throws a Great Game! Tourney Won by Rounder

The Boother Invitational is a great night of poker!

One consistent for heads-up at final tables, whether it is on-line or on the actual felt - Boother
Boother and me Tuesday Internet - Boother wins.
Rounder and Boother Saturday in the Big Game and Rownder wins.

A great night of poker and a good bunch of mopes at the tables. The ring game during and after the tournament was alive and kicking.

I read Matchy's comment on the last post:
"What buy-ins do you guys prefer at tournaments? I know small buy-ins lead to all-ins every hand, but I don't need extra $ tagged on to a buy-in to get poker enjoyment. I am thinking of the loss rather than what I could win."

Ouch. Put me in Matchy's golf cart. And it is not a financial concern, but for some reason (age?), I have grown increasingly risk adverse - and that has killed my game.

I will still be in there because I love the competition - and the agony of defeat apparently.
But I now see myself as dead money, rather than a player.

Boother Returns and Wins NPP #31

Seven made it to the game and one just missed (Nahanni). Quite a lot of action and elevator rides for the players too.

Sev4TSev (7th) was getting the hands he was getting 2 games ago - again - and got short-stacked early. On hand #48 he goes all-in with A9 and gets called by Boother with TT. A T on the flop ends it.

On hand #50 ArticBlast takes out Duder (6th). Short-stacked Duder had AK and went all in with a flop with a K in it. Artic had K5 and hit a 5 on the turn.

The other five of us make the break after 70 hands:
Boother 3000
Mikeniks 3000
Rownder 2190
ArticBlast 1770
Matchy 540

On hand #80 Matchy goes all-in and gets called by ArticBlast and Rownder. Matchy had K7 and Blast had QT, with a flop of [6Q4]. A turn of a 5 and a river of a 3 saved Matchy with the straight.

On hand #102, Matchy makes a big comeback hitting a straight against Boother.

On hand #115 however, a once again short-stacked Matchy (5th) goes all-in with 74 with a [7] on a flop. Rownder takes him out hitting a flush.

On hand #128 Rownder (4th) is taken out by Boother who hits a flush, but his AK beat Rownder's K7 anyway.

On hand #144 ArticBlast (3rd) is another Boother victim as his K2 hits a [K] on the flop but Boother has KT.

That leaves only the worst heads up player on the planet between Boother and another win. He takes me (2nd) out on hand #183. It was hand #178, I hit top pair with A7 but Boother had two pair on the same flop. I thought he was taking a stab at a pot and stupidly called. That crippled me.

Boother took out 6 of the 7 players on his way to victory.

1st - Boother
2nd - NikFaldo
3rd - ArticBlast
4th - Rownder
5th - Matchy
6th - Duder
7th - Sev4TSev

Sev4TSev Wins NPP Internet #30

We had five. And some conservative play happened throughout.

No real action happened until hand #76 when the two shorter stacks hooked up. Sev4T's AQ hit an A on the river to beat Matchy's 22. Matchy was crippled at that point. His night looked like 747's last week.

The next hand Matchy (5th) goes all in with 93 and I call with 44. The flop comes [A23] and that is not enough for Matchy to catch me. But a [9] on the turn gives him the lead. The torture ends for Matchy as my 4 comes on the river.

The four of us make the first break and after 95 hands:
Sev4TSev 2400
Mikeniks 2200
Duder 1950
ArticBlast 950

On hand #108, a short-stacked ArticBlast takes an all in stab at the pot with Q6s and I have Q9 with a [Q] on the flop. The flush gets there and now I am low man.

On hand #131, Duder and Artic Blast (4th) limp in. A flop of [8s 9s 5d] hits and ArticBlast goes all-in with (Qs 2S) and Duder calls with (8 5). No flush arrives and the Blast is out of air.

On hand #144, I am short-stacked and take a stab at a pot with 65s and a flop of [5A4]. Sev4TSev calls with his 34 and I get healthier. This sets up the next hand situation I think.

On hand #146, Sev4TSev goes all-in with 55 and runs into Duder's KK. But a 5 on the river shows it is the Airplane's night.

On hand #149, I (3rd) go all-in with my (AQ) when the flop is [A49], but Duder has A4 and it's all over for the host.

It was a long battle two-handed - close to 45 minutes - before Duder takes an all-in bluff stab with Q4, but Sev4TSev has T6s and hits the flush to close out the night.

1st - Sev4TSev
2nd - Duder
3rd - Mikeniks
4th - ArticBlast
5th - Matchy




On hand #146, Duder gets Sev4T

Neteller cashout worked!

Previously I wrote about the window of opportunity to *finally* cash out of Neteller.

Well my friends, I requested it a few days ago and it just arrived.

Since most NPP regulars lose and lose* this post is of no value but for those winning players with superior intellect** this is welcome news.

* = does not include Beerhog, Tolly or Herbavor - the lucky bastards.
** = Nik Faldo, Fourputt, Cigar John, Matchy

NPP Internet Standings - thru July

Here are the standings. I think making 2 out of 5 games is not too much to ask. Henceforth, only players who have 10 games played by July or are on track to get 20 in by December will be listed.

The first number listed is total points. The second is the average points per tourney.

1st - Nik Faldo 128 / 5.3
2nd - Boother 107 / 4.7
3rd - Rownder 89 / 4.9
4th - Sev4TSev 86 / 5.1
5th - Matchy 81 / 3.9
6th - Beerhog 50 / 4.5
7th - Momo 42 / 3.5
8th - ArticBlast 35 / 1.8
9th - Nahanni 28 / 4.7 (played 6 times in 10 weeks - on track)
10th - BonAir 28 / 3.5 (played 8 times in 20 weeks - on track)
11th - Duder 9 / 1.5 (played 6 times in 9 weeks - on track)

Nik Wins NPP Internet #29

Miracles happen! I had a rush of cards you dream about. About the only way I was going to win one of these.

Only four showed up to face my avalanche of hands. Maybe we need to go back to 9pm. How about 8:30? Opinions? Anyway, onto the game;

It was not Sev4TSev’s (4th) night. Every hand or flop got run down for him early. On Hand #30e gets knocked out by be with a typical hand for him this night. Sev’s got 98 and he and I see the flop as limpers. The flop is [A83]. I bet and he calls. The turn is a 9 and he goes all in. Unfortunately for Sev4TSev, I am holding A8.

The three of us went round and round with me raising a lot because of the great hands I was getting. On hand #60, Matchy did get into 2nd place with the three of us.

On hand #72, short-stacked Duder and I limped in with a flop of [7A2]. I had 82 and was very happy when a [2] hit on the turn. We get all in on the river when an [A] hits, filling my boat. Duder has A9. Doh!

On hand #84, Duder takes over 2nd when he wins a good size pot from Matchy.

On hand #88, Matchy wrestles 2nd back away from Duder. Meanwhile I am slowly bleeding chips away from both of them with endless raises. The sad part was I always had something. What a run of cards.

On hand #94, Duder and Matchy were dead even at 800 chips while I sat there with 4800.

On hand #95, reality returned to my world as my TT got run over by Duder’s QQ and that left Matchy in deep 3rd place.

On hand #97, Matchy (3rd) goes all in with 55 and I have to call with my AJ s.
A [J] on the flop and I win the coin flip.

Heads up now, I have 4600 and Duder 1400.

Hand #100, Duder gets some life when his 34 hand hits a flop of [T48] against my T9. He gets all-in and I call. A [4] on the river and he doubles up.

Too bad my endless raises had bled his chips down. His double up only got him to 1000.

Hand #104 ends the night as Duder (2nd) had A9, called by my A8. I get lucky and hit an 8 on the flop and Duder got no help.

1st – Nik Faldo
2nd – Duder
3rd – Matchy
4th – Sev4TSev

Neteller's Distribution of $94 Million in U.S. Funds

Today, NETELLER announced That It Is out of Negotiations and will soon begin to
implement a Plan for the Distribution of $94 Million in U.S. Funds
Today, NETELLER announced that it is out of negotiations and will soon begin to
implement a plan for the distribution of $94 million in US funds. The distribution
process will begin by July 30, 2007. Customers will receive an e-mail when distribution
is available. The two most important things to note are: 1) Beware of scams and 2)
requests will only be accepted until January 26, 2008. Here is NETELLER’s News Release.

full article here.

Time Out for Sports

Let’s pretend I was King (as I should be).
Tim Donaghy and the NBA: Root out the evil doers as soon as possible and move on. News flash to everyone: Gambling is a ….gamble! And the NBA has been a joke since it instituted the Jordan rules and fixed the draft lotteries.

Moving on would be changing the rules of this WWF game to something worth watching. Here are my rule changes (remember, I’m King).
> There is no such thing as a hand or reach in foul. Do anything you want to the guy with the ball - with your arms and hands on his arms and hands.
Obviously, if a player stops dribbling and doesn’t pass the ball right away, he is going to get hacked pretty good. The game will really move!
> Blows to anywhere else besides the arms get the two free throws, possession of the ball and a 30-second penalty like hockey. In other words, you foul someone; you may give up 5 points pretty quickly. This will not affect the game that much as except for hand-arm fouls, how many fouls are actually called?
> You foul out after 3 fouls.
> Fighting is allowed - like hockey - with each combatant getting a 2 minute penalty and the teams would then play 4 on 4. A fight counts as 2 fouls. No free throws for fight fouls.
> Basket would be raised one foot.
> Shorten the season to 60 games and the playoffs to the top 8 teams.
> April is set aside for NBA playoff games.

NCAA Basketball - Same NBA rules apply. You will notice I have freed up March for ‘March Madness’. It is all you and a bag of chips!

WNBA - Don’t know what that is. Don’t waste the King’s time with this nonsense.

PGA, Seniors PGA - No changes at this time.

LPGA - Skirts mandatory. If you can’t, won’t or should not wear a skirt, then I guess you don’t play.

Men’s Tennis - Earrings banned. Matter of fact, earrings banned on all male atheletes.

Women’s Tennis - Shorts and shorts under the skirt are banned. Most of you are women, so dress like it. I am pondering making the women’s beach volleyball uniforms mandatory for women’s tennis - so don’t try the King’s patience.

NFL - Michael Vick: I grant him the ability to work at his job until he either quits himself, he is cut by his team or he is found guilty of the charges.
> Cut the pre-season to two games. Eliminate the bye week. Eliminate the week break between the championship game and the Super Bowl.
> Make cheerleaders mandatory in every stadium with the amount of material allowed for the uniforms not to exceed the current Dallas Cowboy cheerleader uniform. Going ‘under’ is fine. I of course have veto power over the cheerleader hires.

NCAA Football - Leave the bowls and the BCS as it currently is. Then have the coaches secretly vote for the 4 best teams, and then use a point system with the writer’s polls to come up with your playoff teams. Lots would be drawn to determine opponents for the 1st game. The profit generated would be divided between every division I school.

NHL - Eliminate the ‘instigator rule’ and the ‘check from behind penalty’. In my day, you settled things on the ice and you knew better than to approach the boards face first.
> Eliminate regular season overtime and shoot-outs. Don’t need it if you don’t have the ‘instigator rule’. Even the worst hockey team is worth watching if they can play the style of “If you can’t beat them, beat them.”
> Shorten the regular season to 60 games and the playoffs to the top 8 teams - four from each league. Playoffs over by Feb 28. You don’t play ice hockey in the spring.

MLB - Intentional walks are just that - intentional. Just wave the guy to 1st base.
>Shorten the season to 150 games, and have the regular season run May 1 to August 31. Labor Day Weekend off. Play double-headers you sissies. Break a sweat for crying out loud. It’s a team game - use your bench. A team can resign instead of wasting pitchers should a rout happen. Nevermind - I declare an 8 run mercy rule after 5 innings. 7 runs after 7 innings, and 5 after 8 innings. How many 5-run comebacks have you seen in the 9th inning? Please.
>Then the playoffs start - Top 4 teams in each league, scheduling the games to be done by September 30. That is 27 days to get the maximum of 21 games done. We don’t play baseball in the late fall and winter.

Ok, sports issues solved and solved for the better. I hope my ‘Queen’ lets me play golf this weekend (especially after reading this). - Nik Faldo

Rownder73 Wins NPP Internet #28

Sorry I could not attend. Relatives from out of town arrived at my sister's door for a big dinner and I was designated drink supplier.

But five made it to the felt, I see. Maybe we could get a little play by play from the participants?

1st - Rownder73
2nd - ArticBlast
3rd - Sev4TSev
4th - Boother
5th - Duder123

Advantages of Road Trips

A Hawaii woodpecker and a California woodpecker were arguing about which place had the toughest trees. The Hawaiian woodpecker said Hawaii had a tree that no woodpecker could peck. The California woodpecker accepted his challenge, and promptly pecked a hole in the tree with no problem.

The Hawaiian woodpecker was in awe. The California woodpecker then challenged the Hawaiian woodpecker to peck a tree in California that was absolutely im-peckable (a term woodpeckers like to use). The Hawaiian woodpecker expressed confidence he could do it, so accepted the challenge. After flying to California, the Hawaiian woodpecker successfully pecked the tree with no problem.

So the two woodpeckers were now confused. How is it that the California woodpecker was able to peck the Hawaiian tree and the Hawaiian woodpecker was able to peck the California tree, but neither one was able to peck the tree in their own state?

After much woodpecker-pondering, they both came to the same conclusion...your pecker is always harder when you're away from home.

Nik finishes 9th in 10,000 player Tourney on Poker Stars

Maybe you all didn't want a piece of me Tuesday because you knew the carnage I would inflict this night.

I got in four regular tourneys since no one showed up for the Tuesday night gig. Cashed in one, finishing 66th, but showed a profit as it easily paid for all three entries.

This 9th place finish in the lone freeroll I entered, gets me a seat in a $1000 tourney on Sunday at 2pm. Guess I will have to golf early that day.

NPP Tuesday Internet Tourney Had Nik Faldo All By His Lonesome

Here I was in Norwalk OH, looking forward to poker with my buds.

I was all alone.

Played with myself anyway and lost heads up.

1st -
2nd - Nik Faldo

Played in four big tourneys on PS since you all ditched me.

Finished 66th in the first one - quadrupling my buy-in.
Out the next two.
In a freeroll - at the 4th break, I am 34th out of 62 - trying to reach the final 27 that qualify for a $1000 freeroll - Weekly Round 2.

Matchy Wins NPP Internet #26

Only four players made the game. But the battle was a long one.

On hand #40 Matchy took a bad beat when his KK lost to a shorter stacked Artic Blast's QQ - with a Q on the river.

On hand #79 Matchy got his revenge and started his roll to the top when his JT made a straight to oust Artic Blast (4th) and his pair of nines.

On hand #87 my (Nik Faldo - 3rd) short-stacked butt had to make a stand with Jh Th with a flop of [9h 8h 3s] and found I was against Matchy's Kh3c. I did not improve.

Matchy still was slightly behind in chips until he hit a 4 of a kind hand and took the chip lead for good.

At the break, Matchy had 4800 and Sev4TSev had 1200.

The end came when Sev4TSev (2nd) hit two pair on the flop but Matchy hit his flush on the river.

1st - Matchy
2nd - Sev4TSev
3rd - Nik Faldo
4th - Artic Blast

Poll - Who is the Best Player at NPP?

Well the results are in. Congrats to "The Wall".

Next Poll - Who is the luckiest player at NPP?

Results of weekly NPP PS Tourney

• Only ArticBlast and Fourputt showed up.
• PS canceled the tournament due to lack of participants.
  

Who is the Best NPP player?

Latest NPP poll results show Tolly and Boother (!?!) in a tie.

Momo Wins NPP Internet #25

Eight players made the game - which pushed our average player per game to 7.0!
Nice job guys and gal!

Hand #10 saw Boother get crippled in the first of many 2nd best hands he saw this night. He ran into Nahanni's full house.

Boother (8th) went out on hand #27 as his K8s ran into Momo's KK.

On hand #36, Momo cripples Duder with a full house on the same hand Duder hits the flush. That is painful when that happens.

Duder (7th) goes out when his short stack bets it all with a pair of aces but finds Sev4T7 has a flush.

Artic Blast (6th) is short-stacked on hand #59 and goes all in with AQ and is called by Nahanni's J8 with a flop of [JJ9].

The break comes after 66 hands of play with the stacks looking like this:
Nahanni 5400, Momo 2600, NikFaldo 1700, Sev4T7 1200 and Rownder 1200.

On hand #74 Rownder survives an all-in with JT against the A5 of Momo when the flop comes [JXX] and a J on the turn.

Hand #76 saw an unusual three-handed all-in as Sev4T7 (5th) went all-in with TT. Both a short stacked Rownder and the big stack Nahanni called. They checked down a scary board. Rownder had AK and Nahanni QJ. The flop served up a Q but no straight and 747 was out.

Hand #90 finally ended Rownder's (4th) comeback bid as his KQ did not improve against Momo's 22.

I (3rd) was now the short stack and on hand #92 my A3 lost to Momo's KJ as a flop of [T98] caught a 7 on the turn, for a straight for Momo.

Nahanni and Momo were very close in chips at this point. The winner would be winning their 3rd NPP title of the year!

They battled and Momo was taking a bit of a chip lead. But Nahanni hit a flush to take the lead temporarily.

A crucial hand developed when both bet and called on a board that grew to look like this: [QQ8] [J] [3]
Momo goes all-in with Q3s for a full house and is called by Nahanni with 43s - who said she put Momo on AK the whole hand.

This gave Momo a 9000 to 3000 chip advantage.

Nahanni (2nd) went all-in with 33 and was called by Momo's A7s. The flop had a 7 and no improvement came for Nahanni. Cogratulations for the 3rd win on the year for Momo.

1st - Momo
2nd - Nahanni
3rd - Nik Faldo
4th - Rownder
5th - Sev4TSev
6th - Artic Blast
7th - Duder
8th - Boother

Overall Standings
1 - Nik Faldo - 113 / 5.1
2 - Boother - 104 / 4.7
3 - Rownder - 79 / 4.6
4 - Sev4TSev - 71 / 5.1
5 - Matchy - 66 / 3.3
6 - Beerhog - 50 / 4.5
7 - Momo - 42 / 3.5
8 - Nahanni - 28 / 4.7
9 - Cigar4John - 28 / 3.5
10 - BonA1r - 28 / 3.5
11- Artic Blast - 17 / 1.0
12- Hlam14 - 14 / 2.8
13- 1stout - 3 / 1.5
14- Duder - 1 / .3
15- Davethedog - 1 / .5
16- SpartyTojo - 1 / .5
17- Bronco76 - 1 / 1.0

Remember the tourneys will start at 8pm from now on! And recruit players please!

Rounder Wins NPP Internet #24

Nine players made it to the game this beautiful June evening. Poker Stars started us on two tables to make room for late arrivals. There were none and went to one table after the first blind increase.

Fireworks right away after the merger on hand #19 as Matchy’s KK crippled Boother’s stack when he held QQ.

Boother (9th) survived two all-ins, but on hand #36 he went all in with J2 when a [JXX] fell on the flop. ArticBlast called with KJ to end the comeback.

Hand #53 saw four people bet into a flop of [22K]. I was one of them. But when ArticBlast (8th) raised and Beerhog went all in, I smelled trouble. Matchy and I folded and Artic called with 92. Beerhog had A2 and it held up.

Hand #57 had a short-stacked Nahanni (7th) go all in with K9 of clubs and get called by Beerhog with A6 – of clubs! An [AXX] flop ended the drama.

The very next hand a short-stacked Sev4TSev (6th) went all-in with Q5s and a flop of [56X]. Unfortunately for him, Rownder called with T6 and no help arrived.

On hand #68, Beerhog gets crippled as he goes all-in with AJ and gets called by BonAir with KK.

Beerhog (5th) exits on hand #72 as he goes all-in with AQ and a flop and turn of [678Q], but runs into Rownder’s Q6.

At the break, BonAir has 5400, Nik Faldo 3000, Rownder 2800 and Matchy 2300.

BonAir starts right after the break playing great big stack poker! On hand #90, Matchy (4th) goes all-in on a flop of [K7Q] with AQ, but BonAir holds K7!

I was now the short stack and had to gamble. It paid off too – temporarily. On hand #95, in the big blind with 63, I was not thrilled. But the three of us saw the flop together. I love it when we all play nice.

The flop was [495], giving me the open ended straight draw. I threw a bet of 300 out there – leaving me with about 900 - hoping all would fold. No such luck. I get raised by BonAir to 900 and Rownder folds. There is 1650 in the pot now. I should go all-in (since calling pot commits me anyway) but I call thinking I will make a weak bluff if paint arrives. BonAir is not folding unless he is holding napkins – and feminine ones at that. The odds are, 34 to 65 – better than 2 to 1, as BonAir has K9, so I am getting the right price for the call.

The turn is a [3], committing the rest of my chips. What are my odds to win the hand now you ask? 30 to 70 (at the time I thought they improved with the 3 to 38/62 - some math genius, eh?), but short-stacked as I am, it is an easy call. I am still getting 2 to 1 on 2.3 to 1 odds.

The river is my dream card 7, for my straight.

I don’t play hand #102 as smart. I (3rd) over-bet my A2 on a flop of [7AX], going all-in and running into Rownder’s A7. An [A] on the river rubs it in hard. Why I did it is a mystery to me. Before I hit the all-in button I knew it was the wrong play. But I couldn't stop my hand.

Had the same problem in high school with the cheerleaders.

About 10 hands later Rownder wrestled the chip lead away from BonAir (2nd). BonAir goes all-in with AK against Rownder’s AQ and a [Q] hits on the flop ending the night. Congratulations Rownder.

1st – Rownder
2nd – BonA1r
3rd – Nik Faldo
4th – Matchy
5th – Beerhog
6th – Sev4TSev
7th – Nahanni
8th – ArticBlast
9th - Boother

Panic in Internet Poker Again!

I was reading some WSOP blog updates when I ran acros this:

"With just 24 days to go before banks are required to comply with the UIGEA, I was greeted with this unfortunate message when I went to cash out my daily $300 from ePassporte today:

US Bank Account

This functionality is temporarily disabled. Our backend ACH processor is currently experiencing technical difficulties. Please check back later.

I wonder if technical difficulties mean, our USA processor just bumped us to comply with UIGEA and we're scrambling to find another. I have about $2,000 left of the large sum I've been pulling out at $300/day for quite a while, I hope I can get the rest out. I also have a dozen $300 withdraws in the “pipeline” that have left my ePassporte account but haven't shown up in my bank account.

Ok, so now would be the panic time. Online poker is about to collapse in the USA. Get your money out now. :)

Update: ePassporte is working again, for now. Still, less than a month left before full-on UIGEA."

I will read up on UIGEA and post about it after Tuesday. But forget the poker angle guys and gals. Our - scratch that - THE government is squeezing the people of this nation more and more, except for the ones here illegally.

NPP Poker Table and Chips For Sale

It was a great 12 years but the live action at NPP is closing down. I want to give you guys first chance to take over.

POKER TABLE
$400

IN VERY GOOD SHAPE
8 – SEATED – OCTAGON
WITH COVER - FELT TOP – CUSTOM DETAILED

I WILL THROW IN:
24 NEW BEE JUMBO FACE DECKS
12 NEW DECKS OF BICYCLE
12 CASINO DECKS OF JUMBO FACE
CARD SHUFFLER
MATERIAL FOR NEW TABLE TOP

ALSO AVAILABLE - 700 COUNT CHIP SET
$100

500 YELLOW, 100 RED, 100 BLACK
WITH TRAYS AND A CASE

npokerp@yahoo.com

Sev4TSev Wins NPP Internet #23

Lots of agains again.

Sev4TSev won again.
Boother sat out and scored points again.
4Putt was a no show again.
Nik Faldo got beat heads up yet again.

Only six struggled to the table on this night.

On hand #20 a short-stacked Nahanni (6th - 5th) went all-in with 33 and ran into my (Nik Faldo) 88.

On hand #96, 1stout (5th – 4th) hit top pair on the flop [469] and made two pair on the river when a J hit. The money all went in. Unfortunately for him, I was holding 44.

At the break, Nik Faldo 4300, Sev4tSev 3100, Artic Blast 1600, Boother 5. Yep FIVE.

Hand #100 Boother was finally blinded out in 4th.

Artic Blast (3rd) put up a gallant fight, but he finally had to go all-in with 87s on hand #142 and ran into Sev4TSev’s AQ s. An [AQ6] flop sort of ended the drama right there.

Heads up again for me and Sev4TSev proceeded to slowly reverse a 5000 to 4000 chip lead I had into a 5500 to 3500 chip lead he had.

I then stupidly called down a lower two pair as his K-rag was higher than my K-rag. The only major mistake I think I made this night. I did lose all the rag races but one in this same stretch – reducing me to a 9 to 1 chip dog.

On hand #196, I go all in with 54 and get called with Sev’s 99. I runner – runner to hit the straight. Time to roll now!!!

Hand #209, I (go all-in with A7 when an A falls on the flop. Sev has A6. Good for me. A 6 falls on the turn. Bad for me. A 7 on the river! Good for me. Whew!

Maybe a comeback is possible.I’m only down 5000 to 4000 again. Maybe I can beat this tough guy that has slapped me around for quite awhile now heads up.

Uhhhh, no. Hand #211 has us go all-in. I (2nd) have 88 and Sev has AJ. He makes the straight on the river. Congrats Sev4TSev.

1st – Sev4TSev
2nd – Nik Faldo
3rd – Artic Blast
4th – Boother
4th – 1stout
5th - Nahanni

Neteller Announces Return of Funds

The Neteller PLC group today announced a plan to return all monies owed to United States residents. As we reported this weekend the 75 day time-line that Neteller announced back in March of this year expired on June 4th.

Neteller had claimed that over $55 million dollars were seized by the DOJ after the arrests of two Neteller founders.

......

The expected date for this to begin is July 13th, 2007. Neteller explained that further information regarding customers funds will be communicated to them via email, through our website and through a press release once the date for implementation of the Distribution Plan is finalized.

Full article here.

Ketchup

Get the ketchup out.

Nahanni Wins Back to Back NPP Internet Tourneys! - Takes Tourney #22

It was deja vue all over again for me. But I am getting ahead of the story. Ten showed up for the game – including a new player – 1stout! Welcome Todd.

We started with two tables so I missed out on how Momo (10th) exited on hand #61.

On hand #72, Matchy (9th) took the bad beat of the night – thanks to me. I raised with JJ and got called. The flop of T98 looked promising for me so I bet. When Matchy re-raised a large amount, I am not going to lie - I put him on AA, KK or QQ. So I should have folded.

Matchy had AA! I thought I was close to a coin flip, but I was actually a 61% – 38% under dog if I called. I honestly thought I was better than that, maybe 52-48, and I had him covered. My math was off and I gambled – hitting a 7 on the turn for the straight.

On hand #79 Sev4TSev (8th) and Nahanni hooked up in a hand. The flop of [QKA] got all the money in and Sev4TSev’s AJ could not overtake Nahanni’s KQ.

On hand #82, a short-stacked ArticBlast (7th) got his two pair all-in out-kicked by 1stout.

On hand #89, 1stout (6th) was gone as his AT could not overtake Boother’s 88.

At the break: Nahanni 4600, Nik Faldo 3600, Beerhog 3500, Rownder 1700, and Boother 1600.

On hand #94, Rownder (5th) gets pot committed and goes all in with A6 and a board of [8Q363]. But Nahanni has K8 to take him out.

On hand #102, Boother (4th) gets all-in with Q8 against Beerhog’s A8 and he doesn’t catch up.

I take the chip lead when I hit a flush on the turn and Nahanni bets into it. I return the favor later and then some. Nahanni was now in 3rd.

Hand #114 was a butt kicker. Especially since I laid down JJ to Nahanni’s monster bet the hand before with a K on the flop. Nahanni had AA, Beerhog 66 and I had TT.

I raised and was re-raised again by Nahanni naturally. And when Beerhog called, I dumped. Wise move as it turned out – although it didn’t stop the inevitable. This hand crippled Beerhog and gave Nahanni the chip lead.

I took Beerhog (3rd) out with AT against his A3 on hand #125.

I won hand #130 when my TT held on against Nahanni’s 88. That got us back to even. But hand #135 hurt as Nahanni’s flush beat my two pair.

She had 9000 to my 6000 at this point.

The final hand had me (2nd) hit the two pair on the flop right into Nahanni’s trip deuces. I had 76 and the flop came down [2c7c2s]. I got all-in afraid of the over-pair or flush running me down, but I was already cooked.

That is two wins in a row for Nahanni. Very impressive against this group of players!

1st – Nahanni
2nd – Nik Faldo
3rd – Beerhog
4th – Boother
5th – Rownder
6th – 1stout
7th – ArticBlast
8th – Sev4TSev
9th – Matchy
10th - Momo

Cork Soakers

Cork Soakers Video.

4Putt Golf Open Cancelled

Well, maybe next year.

The Wall retired from poker and did not want to be tempted at the Soaring Eagle Casino.

Beerhog was the replacement, but with 3 golf trips already planned, he decided to stay married and not fill in.

Thai Food was thinking about it, but he don't like chasing the little white ball for free - let alone pay for it and spend five hours of good poker table time on the course.

I of course got my annual golf trip injury extra early as I severely sprained my ankle in a golf cart incident. Mental note: Keep feet in cart when driving next to brick pavers that will twist your foot 180 degrees from the direction the knee is pointing.

4Putt himself wants to go but the demands of his job are monsterous right now.

Herbavor did not respond to my email as to his status.

Anyway, I got the reservations cancelled and we will try again next year or maybe a fall weekend trip.

Nahanni Wins NPP Internet #21

Seven of us took to the felt after the Memorial Day weekend. Must of been a heck of a weekend for some, because it was a quiet table. I tried to stir the pot a little and was dealt silence.

Even Beerhog was quiet! Probably watching the Pistons get thumped.

Onto the action. Artic Blast (7th) could never get any cards or flops (must of grabbed my PS seat by accident) and was soon short stacked. He finally had to for it with J4s. Boother took him out with 22 as the Blast did not improve.

Beerhog, (6th) who lost several contested pots also, was the next lowest. He made his move with J9 and was called by Nahanni with JT. A ten on the flop and it was over.

Duder (5th) got crippled as his AQ ran into a BB special, as Nahanni's K6 improved a ton on the flop of KQ6. The Dude exited a couple of hands later.

I think the most interesting hand of the night was next. Heavyweights Sev4TSev and Boother hook up and call standard bets. The flop is [Th 2s 3h]. There is a standard bet and call. The turn is a [6h]! The betting gets them both all in!

Sev4TSev (4th) has AT and Boother has JJ. The 2h on the river and we'll have no repeat champion tonight. I should not of folded my 2s3c I guess.

Break: Nik Faldo 4800, Nahanni 3400 and Boother 2300.

When play started back up, I hit a few flops against Nahanni to keep her stack from expanding much. I seemed to win from her what she took from Boother.

Nahanni had won a contested pot with Boother, so Boother was a little on the low chip side. Boother (3rd) goes all in with 99 and is called by Nahanni with KQ. A Queen on the river and Boother is out.

The chips are at the following levels for heads up. Nik Faldo has 5800 and Nahanni 3700. A very impressive comeback begins!

All I can say is I got run over. When I tried to make a move - I got re-raised! When I bet with the few hands I saw (if you call KQ a hand), she folded. It was like Annie Duke versus one of the Greeks in the restaurant.

It has become quite obvious to me (so I assume to the rest of you) that head's up is not my strong suit. For the seventh consecutive time - heads up in this tourney series this year - your humble host has been defeated. This is an ugly flaw I have in my game.

After Nahanni whittled me down to 1800, I (2nd) get all in with the first pair I saw 22 and Nahanni has 44. Good night Faldo! Great job Nahanni!

1st - Nahanni
2nd - Nik Faldo
3rd - Boother
4th - Sev4TSev
5th - Duder
6th - Beerhog
7th - Artic Blast

Monthly overall standings with tourney average points:

1st - Boother 98 / 5.4
2nd - Nik Faldo 89 / 4.9
3rd - Rownder 65 / 4.6
4th - Matchy 63 / 3.5
5th - Sev4TSev 60 / 6.0
6th - Beerhog 44 / 4.9
7th - Momo 32 / 3.2
8th - Cigar4John 28 / 3.5
9th - BonAir 21 / 3.0
10th - Hlam 14 / 2.8
11th - Artic Blast 12 / .9
12th - Nahanni 10 / 3.3
13th - Duder 1 / .3

DavetheDog, SpartyToJo and Bronco76 - not enough entries to make the list.

Nik Finishes 4th in Tropical Poker Tourney

Supposed to go play golf on this Memorial Weekend, but the rain kept me house bound.
So I had the wife clean my clubs, polish my golf shoes and wash the golf towel.

While waiting for my lunch to be made, I decided to enter a poker tourney. Tropical Poker had one that featured a 306 player freeroll field. A freeroll was in order in case;
A) the weather broke and it was time to golf
B) I had to renew the restraining order I have on Jessica Alba who is stalking me
C) Tiger Woods stops by for me to once again fix his putting issues

Anyway, finished 4th as my QQ lost to a bigger stacks AQ with the expected A falling on the flop.

On the bright side, I won a little free cash, the weather had cleared and my clubs and shoes were done.
Off to the course!

New NPP Review of On-line Poker Sites

Since my last review, so much has changed. Thanks to the Republicans making a last ditch effort to save an election, they pandered to the religious right. They went after internet poker by primarily attacking the internet banking sites that poker players used to move chips around.

I blame the greed of the internet banking and poker/gambling sites for all of the chaos. We already know the government politicians are greedy crooks and extortionists that would make Al Capone blush. The on-line gambling industry refused to let the politicians ‘wet their bill’ in the fountain of money.

Hence, you get laws that shut down your business. And henceforth, the industry fights back with the Poker Players Alliance, which is nothing more than the lobbying group in charge of making donations to politicians. Notice they are asking the players to pony up along with the sites. Basically, it’s yet another rake.

Nothing has changed from the protection money Doyle and the boys had to pay on the old interstate circuit.

Anyway my criteria for what makes a good poker site has changed. Here is the new list of things that are important.

1. Safety/size of site/ Players funds held in escrow (not that it makes a lot of difference as our government already has proven how it will screw it’s citizens for no reason)
2. Ease of deposit/withdraw (using ePassport – the biggest internet bank left now that Net-Teller and our government has jointly screwed poker players over).
3. Freerolls – I want extra play available for my rake money
4. Big Tourneys available for low buy-ins (still don't trust internet poker fully - not rational as the chance of getting cheated is greater at home games and casinos, but I still have a hard time spending more than $5 on an internet tourney)
5. Software playability (not very important anymore)
6. Service (yeah right)

Here is the list of the NPP best places to play internet poker:

1. Poker Stars
2. Absolute Poker
3. Ultimate Bet
4. Full Tilt Poker

Here is the second tier where I still play. I worry about their safety and pulling a Jet Poker on me and closing without warning.

5. Jungle Poker
6. Poker Poker (the biggest of this group)
7. Bugsy’s Club
8. Poker4Ever

Here is where I still have accounts and play, but they do not have ePassport as a funding/withdraw option, so if I go tap I am done with them.

9. Tropical Poker (love the site but can’t fund)
10. World Poker Exchange (love the site but can’t fund)
11. Bo Dog Poker
12. Sportsbook Poker

What shocks me is the number of sports books that do not use ePassport as funding options. I expect that to change by football season. – Nik Faldo

Sev4TSev Wins Heads Up Match Against Nik Faldo to Win NPP Internet #20

Only three signed up and only two played. I guess the message is loud and clear - the masses want NL Holdem! I'm sorry, but I owed the guys two HORSE tourneys.

Back in the beginning the winner of the previous week got to pick what the game was the next week. Both Beerhog and 747 requested HORSE after winning and I could not do it because the Poker Stars software had screwed up.

Once it was repaired I scheduled the two HORSE tourneys I owed the guys. They are paid off.

Well, 747 won this week and he picked NL Holdem for next week.

1st - Sev4TSev
2nd - Nik Faldo
3rd - Boother

Beerhog Hosts the NPP Boys - Great Game!

Well it was a who's who of NPP. I really didn't think we could get a game together for the month, but Beerhog decided to give it a shot.

In spite of two NPP regulars (Herbavor and LP) unable to attend, seven still made the game.

Beerhog, Gridlock, Thai Food, Tolly, Nik Faldo, Matchy, and Sev4TSev all made the game.

I was not the chip seller so I am guessing at how people did. I won a little and I think Thai Food was the big winner, but I could be wrong.

The tournament ended with a deal struck with Sev4TSev taking first, Nik Faldo second and Tolly third. Matchy did not play in the tourney.

Beerhog Finishes 4th In Poker Stars Limit 7-Stud Hi-Lo Tourney

Beerhog bested all but three of the other 263 players that got into this tourney. He won twenty-one times his entry.

Beerhog said, "It just takes too long...even with a case of beer - good beer anyway."

Great job Beerhog!

Two things;
Can you describe a key hand or two and secondly, how did you find a tournament against 263 blind 5 year olds on Poker Stars?

Just Another Reason to Get Good at Poker

We got the 4Putt Open in a few weeks (June 7 thur 10)and although I have written about this subject before - it bears repeating. Hope I listen to my own advice.

Good dealers can get out forty hands an hour. If you are playing in a $4/8 game the dealer will take around $4/5 per hand for the house. That comes out to $240 off the table in an hour, counting tips to the dealer!

If ten players sat down with $40 each and played an hour and a half, the entire table would be broke in an hour and a half.

Clearly the answer is to play at the highest level you comfortably can to limit the effect of the house rake on your bankroll.

Or play at NPP, Boother's and Beerhog's!

Beerhog Wins NPP #19

I missed the tourney due to a combo of stupidity and the internet blinking out at the wrong time! I was on in plenty of time but didn't register. The computer kicked me off because of a 12 hour sign in rule. By the time I logged back on the tourney had started and because of a full table PS did not allow a late entry.

I went out and had a few.

Anyways, the results.

1st - Beerhog
2nd - Boother
3rd - Matchy
4th - Rownder
5th - Hlam14
6th - Sev4TSev
7th - Duder
8th - ArticBlast

HORSE again next game. NPP will be dark May and June. Beerhog may have a game. Let's discuss. Give us the details Beerhog. - Nik Faldo

Sev4TSev Wins NPP Internet #18

747 doesn’t have the Point Lead, but he has the Highest Average Finish per Tournament Lead by a mile.

A field of ten made a go of it. Two weeks in a row of a double digit field. Great job everyone! To the action:

We have a habit of treating new players with corrosive gloves – both at NPP and on-line.
On hand #20, Nahanni (10th), in her second start, took another bad beat. By her own admission, maybe she did not play the hand correctly. Anyway, she and BonAir see the flop. [KJ3]. BonAir (K4) calls a smallish bet from Nahanni (AA). The turn has a 4. When Nahanni goes all in, BonAir takes her out.

Hand #33 saw Artic Blast (9th) lose to 747, who had (QQ). I did not see what Artic had and screwed up trying to get the hand number to review. I blame my wife – who was serving me a beer and bring me my slippers at the time – and distracted me. She will have to pay for that.

Hand #40 saw last tourney winner and short stacked Rownder (8th) with (KK) end up all in against 747 (QsTs). The flop of [ 2s 7h 5s] and a turn of 3s – ended the suspense.

Hand #43 saw Matchy (AK) get hurt by a shorter stacked Boother (77). It is basically a coin flip preflop. They get all in and the flop has an A in it. But a 7 on the river cripples Matchy.

Hand #50 sees a short stacked Matchy (7th) (AT) run into the KK of Beerhog.

Hand #65 saw a very rare 3 handed all-in! Hlam (6th) (KJ), Boother (5th) (66) and BonAir (KQs). BonAir hit the straight and wiped out two very dangerous players all at once.

Hand #68, BonAir hit a straight again. Unfortunate for Beerhog (4th), who saw his flopped two pair get rolled.

At the break we had
BonAir 7.2K,
Sev4TSev 6.1K and
perennial short-stacked Nik Faldo 1.5K.
Can Nik pull off a Rownder/Boother type comeback?????

Uhhhh, no.

I (3rd) got a run of high pairs, pairs and high suited cards and went all in about 6 or 7 times in a row, and got my stack close to 3K. Safer ground, but still safely behind. The decent cards continue and I get (44).

On hand #92 my all-ins continued and get called by BonAir (AsTs), who got tired of my little show of force.

Can Nik Faldo win a race for once on Poker Stars???? Uhhhh, no.

A T on the flop AND two spades. Just to rub it in, PS drops a T on the river. Uncalled for. A spade ok – but another ten is just cruel. Time 10:12

At 10:29, BonAir’s FH beats 747’s two pair and the chip lead is BonAir’s at 11K to 4K.

At 10:32, Sev4TSev hits a straight to take the lead 8K to 7K. He never lost it, even though they go at it for quite a while.

At 10:50, Sev4TSev (1st) raises pre-flop and is called by BonAir (2nd).
Flop [Ks 6d 4s]
There are bets and they are all-in.
Sev4TSev (AKs) and BonAir (KT). Trap city.
Turn, A and the unnecessary river card was a 4d.

1st – Sev4TSev
2nd – BonAir
3rd – Nik Faldo
4th – Beerhog
5th - Boother
6th – Hlam14
7th – Matchy
8th – Rownder
9th – Artic Blast
10th – Nahanni

Question: Beerhog is golfing on Tuesday. Is there a better night to do this, like Monday or Wednesday? Thursday and Friday is the weekend. We don’t want that. When we originally voted, Tuesday barely beat Monday, and there are only 3 players who played last night who voted at that time.

Time for a new vote.
Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday? – Nik Faldo

Watch Out for Ohio Products!

A dairy farmer in Michigan needed to get a new dairy cow. His dairy cow died, and needed to get a new dairy cow. He didn't know where to go. He looked in the newspapers and found an ad. Some Ohio dairy farmer was selling a cow.

So he called the guy up.The guy said, "Come down and take a look at it. It's a pretty young cow. I think you'll like it."

He goes down to the cow, looks at the cow, and likes the looks.
The Michigan guys says, "Look, I'm not going to buy this cow unless I can milk it."

"Well, go right ahead. Feel free."

With every tug (Pshew! Pshew! Pshew!), the cow expelled gas. Every time!

The guy from Michigan says, "Is that normal?"

"Yeah, and I can't explain it. But it doesn't matter. Look at the milk. The milk is fine," the Ohio farmer says.

"Okay, okay. I'll take it." So he packs the cow up and brings it home to Michigan, calls his best buddy down the road, another farmer, and says, "Hey, I just got this new dairy cow. You have got to come check this out. You won't believe it."

So the farmer comes by and says, "Okay, it's a good cow, but I have to milk it too. I'm not going to take your word for it that it's a great cow."

"Well, go ahead! Be my guest."

With every tug, the cow would expel gas, and the farmer's buddy says: "Did you get this cow in Ohio?"

"Yeah, I did! I didn't tell you that. How did you know that I got it from Ohio?"

"Eh, my wife is from Ohio."

Rownder Wins NPP Internet Tourney #17

A record tying twelve players showed up tonight for the game. Two new players showed up – Nahanni and Duder. Hopefully they will tell us their connection on this site. Or someone else can.

Which is usually the case at NPP, the new players were treated rudely once the game started. On hand #10 Duder’s (12th) trip 3’s were beaten by an ArticBlast flush.

Hand 16 saw a bad beat on a new player as Nahanni’s (11th) JJ lost to Beerhog’s 99 with a 9 on the flop.

Matchy (10th) went out on hand 24. I did not see it as he was on the other table and I did not get a report. Maybe Matchy can give us the gory details.

Now to one table. A short-stacked Momo (9th) went all in on hand 48 with a marginal hand and lost to Cigar4John, who called with a marginal hand.

Hand 51 saw Sev4TSev (8th) get trapped when he bet with Ah8h and was called by Beerhog with Ad3d. The flop was 8d 2d As. Sev4TSev hit the two pair. He went all in and Beerhog called and hit the 5d for the flush on the river.

Hand 59 saw a short-stacked ArticBlast (7th) get all his chips in with trip 7’s on the river. He was called by Cigar4John called with the same trip 7’s and had ArticBlast out kicked! Ouch!

Hand 61 – I was short-stacked and got all my chips in with QQ and got called by Cigar4John with AQ. That got me back in the game.

Hand 77 – Cigar4John (6th) made a play with 98s but was called by Beerhog with AQ. He didn’t need it but Beerhog got an A on the flop and a Q on the river.

Play really slowed down at this point. BonA1r (5th) lost on hand 131 with K7 against somebody’s KT. I messed up my notes somehow. Sorry.

Hand 148 saw short-stacked Hlam (4th) go all-in with K7s and was called by the other short-stacked Rownder with J9s. The flop was a teaser for Hlam with a 3-K-9. But a 9 on the river ended Hlam’s night.

The second break occurred after hand 184. Beerhog had 12K, I had 4K and Rownder had 2K.

I (Nik Faldo – 3rd) was the next one out on hand #234!!! Lots of back and forth as we all had the chip lead at some point. It was very exciting and a lot of fun. I finally had to go with KTs, was called by Beerhog with A5 and I got no help.

The last hand saw Beerhog’s (2nd) QT lost to Rownder’s AJs. Great job Rownder!

1st – Rounder
2nd – Beerhog
3rd – Mikeniks (Nik Faldo)
4th – Hlam14
5th – BonA1r
6th – Cigar4John
7th – ArticBlast
8th – Sev4TSev
9th – Momo
10th – Matchy
11th – Nahanni
12th - Duder

Poker Math Made Easy!

Not every poker player is a math expert. But being able to accurately calculate probabilities in relation to rewards (the pot and future pot size) is critical to poker success.

I found the trick to make poker math easy. It is called the Golden Rule of Two.

You multiply the number of outs you have to win the hand by 2, per cards to come.

For example, you have JT of spades on the button in a limit game. A middle player calls and the cutoff raises and you call the double bet, and the BB and middle player both call.

The flop is 3h, 8c, 9d. You assume the cutoff raiser has a big pocket pair (AA, KK). We figure pairing our J or T will not win us the pot. We are positive we need the nut straight to win especially with all the fish in this pond.

To figure the percentages you simply take the number of card that will give us the straight (8) and multiply it by 2. Since there are two cards to come, so we can multiply this number by 2 also.

So 8 x 2 (for turn card) = 16% chance of hitting straight on the turn.
Then, 16 x 2 (river) = 32% of hitting straight with the turn or the river card.

So we can estimate that our odds of hitting the straight by the river is 32% - or almost 3 to 1 against hitting the straight.

The actual odds are 34.2%, but this method obviously gets you close enough. This assumes all the cards you need are still available to show up, which is rarely the case – so this estimation method may actually be better than the real calculations.

So if the two front player’s check and the raiser bets the flop. You know there are 6 big bets in the pot and maybe only 8 big bets at the river. It is going to cost you at least 2.5 big bets to call it down. That is a 3.2 to 1 payoff for 3 to 1 odds. A coin flip decision.

If you are certain the limpers will continue to call it down also, the odds change. The minimum that will be in the pot after the river betting may be 12 big bets, not counting your donations. Now you are getting a 4 to 1 payoff for a 3 to 1 bet – a clear call – or for Beerhog, a perfect re-raise situation.

Let’s say you have JTs on the button and the table all fold to the cutoff who raises. You know if you call you will have even a coin flip situation – WITH a near perfect flop AND both the SB and the BB calling. Is that the situation you want to put yourself in continuously? A clear fold.

Of course a Boother re-raise from the button may get the SB and BB to fold, leaving you heads up against the raiser. Your JTs is a slight favorite over small pairs and A-any, but hurting in a big way against AK, QQ, KK or AA.

Lesson over - now commentary.

34.2% is the percentage to hit that straight for normal players.

For me to hit that straight, it is 4.1% against a random player on-line or at a casino, or at Boother’s game.

Against ArticBlast, BonA1r, Boother, Beerhog, Cigar4John, DavetheDog, Hlam, 747, Matchy, Momo, Rownder, SpartyToJo and Tolly it is 3.7% that I would hit the straight and 99.9% of them hitting the straight if I have the big pocket pair in the hand with you mopes.

Sour grapes and being a sore loser were not involved in this commentary what so ever. – Nik Faldo

NPP Internet Tournament League Standings

Here is the standings after 16 tourneys guys:
Place, Name, Points, (Tournaments missed), [Ave/Tour. played].

1st - Boother - 80 (2) [5.7]
2nd - Nik Faldo - 65 (2) [4.6]
3rd - Matchy - 58 (1) [3.9]
4th - Rownder - 52 (5) [4.7]
5th - Sev4TSev - 37 (11) [7.4]
6th - Momo - 32 (7) [3.6]
7th - Cigar4John - 28 (9) [4.0]
8th - Beerhog - 24 (last 11) [4.8]
9th - BonA1r - 13 (first 10 - 11 total) [3.3]
10th - ArticBlast - 12 (7) [1.3]
11th - Hlam14 - 10 (14) [5]
12th - DavetheDog - 1 (14) [.5]
13th - SpartyTojo - 1 (14) [.5]
14th - Bronco76 - 1 (15) [1]

The main ingredient to earning points - is to play!

Momo Wins NPP Internet #16

Seven players made it – which is over average (six is slightly under average).

I was soon low man as I hit two hands that lost right off the bat. That sent me steaming early. The tip off is that I didn't record those hands or the ones soon after. Not tilting, but definitely steaming already. Not good.

Hand #30 Rownder took a good lump of Momo’s chips without a showdown.

Hand #35 BonAir took a good lump of Matchy’s chips without a showdown.

Hand #36 ArticBlast hurt Momo by taking more chips without a showdown.

Hand #37 I took a good lump of Boother’s chips without a showdown.

Hand #38 I hurt Boother by taking more chips without a showdown.

Hand #42 Boother (7th) went out with AK when Rownder’s 55 held up.

Hand #44 Momo went all in with JJ and got called by Rownder’s AK and Momo’s hand held up.

Hand #47 Momo hurt Rownder by taking more chips without a showdown.

Hand #55 Matchy got hurt by Momo as he re-raised Matchy and the hand ended.

Hand #56 Matchy (AJ) took some of Rownder’s (KT) chips.

Hand #60 Rownder (65) hurt Matchy’s (AT) stack when a 5 hit on the river.

A record six players made the break and the chips looked like this:
Momo 3.7K, NikFaldo 2.9K, ArticBlast 2.2K, BonAir .9K, Rownder .4K, and Matchy .3K

Hand #64 Rownder’s (6th) A9s knocked him out when they lost to Momo’s 22.

Hand #65 ArticBlast and I call a short stacked Matchy’s all-in with a flop of 943. Matchy (5th) has A9. I had 65 and we never saw ArticBlast’s hand as I raised some chips when my lucky 7 fell on the river for my straight.

Play went on for a while and action started again on hand #88. Short-stacked BonAir (4th) goes all-in with 33 and is called by Momo’s AQ, and an A fell on the flop.

Hand #96 ArticBlast (3rd) went all-in with T9 when a 9 fell on the flop. Momo called with J9 and the hand improved for Momo with a J on the turn.

Hand #101 was the end for me, Nik Faldo (2nd). I had QdQs and re-raised a couple times the blind and Momo called. He had me out-chipped around 2 to 1.

The flop came 6s Ks Jh. A bad flop for me. Momo bet and I raised to see where I was at. I found out as Momo called. I am sure he has a K but I am just about pot committed.

I am quite sure I played this hand incorrectly. Not because I lost, but I should of folded to the bet or went all-in at this point.

The turn was a harmless 3c, ending my backdoor flush draw. Momo checks and I do too. I know I need a Q. The river was the 5s. Momo checks and I decide to bluff the flush and hope Momo believes me. He doesn’t and may have been forced to call anyway as he has K5 and made two pair on the river. If he had me on AK, he has to know he’s got me now. Great job Momo!

1st - Momo
2nd - Nik Faldo
3rd - Artic Blast
4th - BonAir
5th - Matchy
6th - Rownder
7th - Boother

Poker is Subjective. The Reason We Love This Game!

Poker is subjective. Players will have disagreements on how to play certain hands. And none of them may be 100% wrong.

While there is always ‘the best way’ to play certain hands, player’s poker personalities may prevent them from making the optimum play. That doesn’t make it a bad decision, just not the best.

One player may always push the envelope. He is willing to take the swings in his stack or bankroll in order to maximize results. While another player will be conservative and not risk the ups and downs, but be happy with a lower but consistent ‘grind’ percentage.

And the reverse will also be true. The straight forward ‘take the odds’ approach may sometimes be the optimum play, but for the ‘thrill’ of the action, an aggressive player may decide to push it, even when the odds dictate otherwise, lowering his overall expectation on the same hand or situation.

Adjusting to your opponents is also a consideration. In both my examples, the optimum play as described might be correct for the standard table of one maniac, one rock, one loose caller, one great player, two gamblers, two decent players and you.

But change the mix of the table and the sub-optimum strategy may now become the optimum for THAT particular table. Your persona at that table at that particular moment may even dictate the optimum play for that hand at that particular time.

The absolute best players will adjust to the situation, while recognizing the many different ways to play a hand, and use the optimum way each time.

Having written this about great players and understanding this about great players, why do I not do this? Can anyone answer me? (as if I didn’t already know) – Nik Faldo

Online gambling update

Guest post from the much-loved Fourputt:

"If market expectations are any guide, though, the United States will likely end up allowing its citizens to gamble online. In the hours after the WTO ruling was announced, stocks in online gaming companies lifted. Investors clearly see the writing on the wall, even if the U.S. government does not."

Article link here.

I feel it is my duty to update my friends that love me like a chicken to update them on issues of real importance. Seriously, this "blog" has fallen from a site that once prided itself on improving our poker skills to one than resembles the content you would find in any People magazine one would read while watching "The View" or "American Idol". '

Boother Wins NPP Internet #14

Six of us had enough $ left after Tax Day to have a seat at the virtual NPP felt.
Boother came from near totally dead to first! A great run of cards and expert playing.

The play has really tightened up. When you play in these, settle in for the long haul. We did not have a casualty until hand #72.

Boother had started his comeback at this point after taking some chips off Matchy. But it was Momo's (6th) AK that got bad beat by Boother's AT, with a T on the river, that really lit the fire in Boother's stack.

From that lucky river, Boother played perfect poker to wrestle the chip lead away and then grow the stack.

On hand #80, ArticBlast (5th) goes all-in on the flop with 88. There is an A in the flop and Boother has one. An A on the river was the final nail in Artic's night.

On hand #86, both BonA1r (4th) and I are low in chips. I decide to call BonAir's all-in after a flop of 765. I decide he is on a straight draw, so my KQs might be enough. Besides, I have a back door flush chance and both of us need to gamble.

I was half right as BonA1r has 88. Ouch. But it was more painful for BonA1r as I got a K on the turn and the straight or another 8 didnot come.

This made Matchy (3rd) low chip man and on hand #89 he goes all-in with A7 against Boother's AT. No help for Matchy and we are heads up. Nik Faldo (3100 chips) vs Boother (5900).

At hand #100, it almost ended. Boother has been grinding me down and I only have around 2000 left. I have QQ and make the standard raise, hoping for action that comes. Boother calls and we see a flop of 478. I should be good here and go all in. When Boother calls I expect to see AK or 88, and am thrilled to see J8s.

The turn is a J! Well, it was good night for me, but a 7 hit the river, giving me the larger two pair and pulling the chip totals to as close as they were going to ever get.

For the next 60 hands, Boother does his ground and pound. I'm fighting back on occasion, but just can never get a hand, a flop or action at the right time to really play back. I need cards to win. Boother does not.

Finally, ground down by Boother's chronic raising and my usual run of Poker Stars sewer water, I (2nd) go all-in with 86 and run into Boother's monster 92, and Boother wins his 4th NPP Internet tourney of the year (which happens to be exactly 4 more than the host).

1st - Boother
2nd - Nik Faldo
3rd - Matchy
4th - BonA1r
5th - Artic Blast
6th - Momo

Good luck to all as the golf leagues start. Watch for 4Putt. He may be a beer bitch at your local course now since he was obviously neutered over the winter.

NPP April Game Is Cancelled!!!

Sorry guys. Just not enough to make the game a go. I will ask for dates in May later on this month. - Nik Faldo

Beerhog - tell Gridlock it is off.

Sev4TSev Repeats – Wins NPP Internet Tourney #14

Proving #13 is not unlucky; Sev4TSev beat the star studded NPP tournament group for two victories in a row in tournament #14.

Dave the Dog (6th) was the first casualty on hand #20 as his JJ ran into Matchy’s A3 when an A landed on the flop.

Boother (5th) had the hard luck of his KK running into my AA to get crippled and then on hand #55, his 88 ran into my QQ. A bad time for two good hands.

My own evening was a roller coaster of accumulating chips and nice hands, just to see Sev4TSev take them away with better ones. I lost to the eventual tourney champ in all three of our showdowns as my trips, two pair and pair of aces lost to a straight, a flush and two pair on the turn.

Matchy (4th) got knocked out with 88 as Sev4TSev AJs made the flush on the river. Not exactly a bad beat as the situation is a coin flip anyway.

Rownder was low chip stack but got healthy on a hand #73 flop of 37J of spades. I had KK, Sev4TSev had 37 and Rownder had KQ - of spades!

I became low stack after my 3rd showdown loss to Sev4TSev. Guess he “has no idea what I am doing over here”. (Inside joke. Had to be at the last NPP game)

I (Nik Faldo – 3rd) went out on hand #80 when my desperation all-in with 88 fell to Rownder’s A9 when a 9 fell on the flop.

Rownder (2nd) and Sev4TSev battled for a while, but 747 whittled Rownder down and took him out with AA when Rownder flopped a pair a tens and he had to go all – in.

Nice job Sev4TSev! Two in a row!

1st – Sev4TSev
2nd – Rownder
3rd – Nik Faldo
4th – Matchy
5th – Boother
6th – Dave the Dog

On a different subject, The Wall has dropped out of NPP and the 4Putt Open in Mt. Pleasant on June 7, 8, 9, and 10. That leaves a spot in the 4some of Dave the Dog, Hlam and me. The cost is around $400 for four days of golf, poker, cigars and steaks. Let me know if anyone wants in.

Visa Debit Card

http://www.pokerstars.com/poker/real-money/visadebit/

Any of the NPP gang have any experience with this????

Of course most of you have no experience in withdrawing your winnings.

[guest post by the most-beloved fourputt]

No NPP Internet Game Tonight

Sorry guys!
I could never get it right and I forgot to get something posted in time.
Next week for sure.
Nik Faldo

Your Poker Fortune Cookie

Poker Stars Finally Admits Software Error

Yes, Poker Stars admits there was a software error that was keeping Nik Faldo from winning. Ok, they didn't admit that, but they did admit after ten emails back and forth, that there is a software glitch that:

> is keeping me from being able to make full tournament names and
> keeps me from making HORSE, HOSE or Razz tourneys.

Here is their e-mail to me:

"Hello Nik Faldo,
Thank you for your email.

We are aware of the problems, and our programmers have been informed, the
problem should be rectified in the next update.

Regards,
Gareth
PokerStars Support Team"

I will keep logging into PS as often as possible to get the next one, so I can make the HORSE tourney Sev4TSev requested. And poor Boother was ripped off as the last few tourneys should of had his name on them.

Anyway, I wanted to give you guys the update. I will make the tourney as soon as I can as HORSE or make an Omaha H/L limit tourney on game night if that is the closest I can come to a change.

Sev4TSev Wins NPP Internet Tourney #12

For the second time since we have been doing this, we had nine players make the game!

On hand 24 Cigar4John crippled BonAir when he hit his flush. Cigar bullied the table for a while after that.

On hand 30, BonAir’s (9th) luck continued awful as he ran into Sev4TSev ‘s full house.

On hand 35, ArticBlast brought Cigar4John back to the pack when his Ko9’s full house beat C4J’s 9o8’s full house. Ouch!

On hand 40, Momo (8th), low on chips, goes all in with AQ and cannot overtake Matchy’s AKs.

On hand 60, Cigar4John (7th) goes out when his KQ does not improve over Boother’s 99.

After the break, on hand 84, a short-stacked Rownder (6th) made an all-in bluff with 43 and Matchy called him with 77. No help and we were down to the five getting NPP points.

On hand 92, ArticBlast (5th) goes down when his JT runs into Matchy’s 66 and a six hits on the flop.

On hand 97, I (4th) am low-stacked and move all in with A9. Sev4TSev had TT. I got no ace. This leaves the guys cashing.

Matchy (3rd) went all in with A6 and Sev4TSev has TT again!!!

Sev4TSev wears two-in-a-row champ Boother down and finally gets all the money in with AA against Boother’s (2nd) 46s. No help and 747 is the new champ. Next game; HORSE

Here are the new standings:

1st – Boother 69
2nd – Matchy 49
3rd – Mikeniks 46
4th – Rownder 45
5th – Cigar4John 28
6th – Sev4Sev 27
7th – Beerhog 24
8th – Momo 22
9th – Hlam14 10
10th – BonA1r 7
11th – Artic Blast 6
12th – DavetheDog 1
13th – SpartyTojo 1
14th – Bronco76 1

Online Gambling Payment Processor Neteller Announces Plans to Return Funds

Since our most beloved and much feared-at-the-table Nik Faldo is busy writing about his 10th place finishes in 25-person tournaments and Boozer's and Matchy's winning weekly neighborhood tourneys that were once dominated by the infamous Beerhog and Herbavor, the responsibility for providing relevant blog content once again falls on the webmaster.

Payment processing company for the online gambling industry, Neteller, has announced its plans to return funds to American customers.

In an official press release, the company stated that it has signed partnership agreements with the Unites States Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York (USAO), as well as Navigant Consulting, a consulting firm that will provide Neteller with operational consulting services.

These new partnerships will aid Neteller in the process of redistributing frozen funds to its former US customers.

Article link here.

P.S. It should be noted that even though it is a scientific fact that the NPP webmaster is the most intelligent of the NPP table participants, he still does not know how to play suited connectors from the small blind position.

Boother Repeats!!! Wins NPP Internet Tourney #11

Eight players showed this night. Great job guys.
The play was strangely conservative early. Then all heck broke loose.

Hand 27, I folded what would of been two pair, but ArticBlast hit trips. I dodged that bullet.

Hand 28, I hit a flush on the turn but smelled Matchy's full house on the river and avoided elimimation.

Two hands in a row Poker Stars tried to kill me.

Hand 30 I folded top pair to double raises and a straight was hit. Bullet three whizzed by! Then the fireworks started twice the hands later.

Hand 60 finally got us a casualty as I knocked out Artic Blast(8th). He was a little low stacked and raised me all in with A2s. My QJ hit a Q on the flop and Artic was gone.

Hand 70, Boother knocked out Hlam (7th) when his K8 outlasted Hlam's Q8.

Hank 73, Boother's AK knocked out BonAir's (6th) KJ.

On hand 81, we had a rare 3-man all in: Boother AT, Matchy AA (5th) and Momo 77.
Momo hit the straight and Matchy was out.

Hand 84, I got knocked out (4th) when my AJ hit an ace on the flop and Boother two paired with his A6.

Hand 86, Rounder's (3rd) two pair lost to Boother's full house.

Momo (2nd) and Boother battled for another 20 minutes heads up before Boother's AK beat Momo's A7.

Great job guys! And congrats to repeat winner Boother.

1st - Boother
2nd - Momo
3rd - Rownder
4th - mikeniks (Nik Faldo)
5th - Matchy
6th - BonAir
7th - Hlam
8th - Artic Blast

Nik Finishes 8th in Tropical Poker Tourney

Happy St. Patricks Day to everyone. I celebrated the day by watching basketball and playing poker on-line. Mostly tourneys and I had some success.

I finished 12th in a Bo Dog poker tourney (4000 players)- which is free to get in - but has rebuys. So I guess it was like finishing 12th in about a 6000 player tourney!
Cashing there was a big plus - since I put nothing in to begin with.

There were 571 players in the Tropical Poker tourney. I made the final table when for some unknown reason a guy bluffed at the pot with absolutely nothing and I had KK.

I got to the final table in 8th place, and that is where I stayed as I was completely card dead there.

Boother Wins This Week's Internet (#10) Tourney

I got the report from Matchy. Your host missed the tourney as he was driving back from Ohio. I spent the day and part of the evening watching parts move thru a paint line and into containers for air shipment to California. What fun!

Only four made it to the game. And we got a new player! Welcome Bon Air and sorry I couldn't welcome you in person.

The standings were as follows:

1st - Boother
2nd - Bon Air
3rd - Matchy
4th - Artic Blast

I'll make the game NL Holdem for next Tuesday. - Nik Faldo

Poker Players Alliance

The Poker Players Alliance (PPA) is a non-profit organization set up to help protect and fight for the rights of poker players in the United States. Part of the PPA's mission is to protect the right of poker players to play online.

The PPA is proud to have poker enthusiast and former U.S. Senator Alfonse D'Amato as its chairman. With his leadership, the PPA will help keep poker available and legal for U.S. players.

PokerStars supports the efforts of the PPA and wants to give PokerStars players a chance to support the PPA as well. To encourage players to join the PPA, we're running three daily tournaments for a limited time, each with a $5,000 prize pool. The tournaments will run at 8:05 PM, 9:55 PM, and 11:05 PM ET so all American players have a chance to play.

PPA Member By entering any of the tournaments, you agree to become an introductory (free) member of the Poker Players Alliance and grant PokerStars the right to pass along your personal information (name, address, e-mail, and date of birth) to the PPA.

Read the entire article here.

1st NPP Game of 2007 Was a Great Time!

Six regulars made it and we got started right on time.

Beerhog explained his wrong way round-about excursion.

Herb asked about the 4Putt open dates and itinerary.

Larry P. made sure the next NPP night was a good night for him.

Tojo explained how he took 1st in two tourneys in Vegas and cashed in a 3rd! He said he owed it all to the players at NPP and bought the pizza in appreciation. Nice touch!

I explained how 4Putt and CigarJohn's kitchen passes expire after 4 hours, so it was either the golf show or the poker game. The guys at the table explained to me that both 4Putt and Cigar are 3 light-flo day pads short of a full box of tampons.

Sev4Sev didn't know what 'we were all doing' in the card game. So he just took our money.

Tim [Sev4Sev] took the honors as top ring player, but he was the first out in the tourney, getting no cards at all. Even with no tourney cash, Tim was still the big winner.

Beerhog won the tourney, taking down Herbavor's two pair with a straight. For what it's worth, I finished 3rd, underestimating Beerhog's hand.

A great time was had but it was a shorter night than usual as I type this at 1:45 am.

Next game at NPP is April 14, 6pm.

Nik Finishes 11th of 20 in Boother Tourney

I would be remiss if I did not report on the great time and tournament Boother put on and I was invited to the last Saturday in February. It is an absolutely great game, great fun, good guys and nice atmoshere. There are 8 video and pinball machines to keep you entertained prior to 'shuffle up and deal' and during breaks. A big screen TV on the wall is a great feature.

It is BYOB but Boother has a nice supply of liquior also. Isn't that right Beerhog?

I ended up being the bubble boy for starting the cash game because when I got knocked out, the tourney went to one table of 10. Boother's game is run the opposite of NPP. We normally play limit til midnight and then have a quick NL Tourney to close out the night.

Boother's game starts with a good deal of chips and a decent blind structure for the Holdem NL tourney. Once the tourney gets to one table, the NL ring game begins for all those interested.

As for NPP representing, Beerhog cashed in 4th which got his entry back. But he was a little too under the weather to get in the cash game.

My tourney play was fine but it is hard to make it to the cash when you go all-in four times with the best hand and only win once. I got knocked out when my QQ lost to bigger stack with A3 suited. I didn't fare any better in the cash game, losing just a little blind money. Better luck and playing next time.

Maybe Beerhog can shed some light on how going clockwise on the roundabout looks.

Hlam Returns to the Internet Game (#9) With a Victory!

Glad to see the NPP king - Herbavor - back on the internet felt.

This Tuesday’s internet tourney got off to a late start thanks to me. I guess I set the tourney up for Monday night in my drunken state last week Tuesday. Darn Winter Ale special at the hotel. I think they fermented it with anti-freeze.

So I realized we had no tourney at 8:30 and quickly made one but PS has a rule that any tourney must start at least an hour after it is created – so 9:45 pm was it.

We had five stick around and I don’t think we lost anyone. Thanks for hanging guys.

Not going to lie. I was not in a good mood with myself after screwing up the start time. So to improve my mood, I played like a donkey. I played like I had a plane to catch in 15 minutes and bled off half my chips in the first ten minutes. It was going to take great poker skill and luck to recover. I don’t possess either one, so you know how my night went.

Artic Blast (5th) went out on hand 27 as he misread his low hand.

I (4th) lasted until hand 74 when Matchy took me out.

Matchy went down around hand 120 when he got wheeled on the river.

Sev4Sev (2nd) and Hlam14 battled for another half hour before Hlam closed the deal.

1st - Hlam14
2nd - Sev4Sev
3rd - Matchy
4th - Nik Faldo
5th - Artic Blast

I already set the tourney for next Tuesday guys. Omaha H/L 8 – NL.
Double-checked the date too. Six plus seven is thirteen (I think).
Password 5ofclubs again.

NPP Next Live Game March 10 - and Internet Standings

Hello to the NPP faithful. The game is on as we have enough. So I am out for the Boother WL game. Next time for sure. Here is the line-up.

IN
Beerhog
Herbavor
Larry P
Sev4Sev
SpartyTojo
Nik

NO WORD YET
The Wall

OUT
Matchy (another game - acceptable reason)
Gridlock (vacation to a golf mecca - acceptable reason)
Boother (another game - acceptable reason)
Cigar4John (attending golf show - pass from wife only good for 4 hours)
Fourputt (hand sewing his name on his apron)
Thai Food (hockey playoffs)

The internet race is a beautiful thing. We miss the Beerhog and Herbavor who we understand turned in their poker mousepad. Thai Food still is in limbo with PS. And I have learned that Tuesday is Fourputt's knitting night. No word on SpartyToJo. If we had those guys, it would be a heck of a game on Tuesday. But a field of eight last week was sweet. Here are the standings.

Boother 42
Rownder 40
Nik Faldo 37
Matchy 33
Cigar4John 28
Beerhog 24
Momo 15
Sev7Sev 10
Fourputt 1
SpartyToJo 1
ArticBlast 1
Bronco 1

Tuesday night is Omaha H/L - Limit for the first time!

I will attempt to get a hold of the Wall and Sparty for the NPP game. Boother, send me an email with the dates for April for the WL and your games so NPP doesn't conflict.

As usual, if any NPP regular can find a player, bring them.

Nik Finishes 2nd in Sportsbook Tourney

Sportsbook has nice software. I entered this tourney expecting only SNG numbers. But at the last minute we got up to 76 players.
I played well - hit my share of hands and only took one bad beat until we were down to two.
In the big blind I looked down and saw J9 of clubs. My opponent only had 800 chips more than I did. We had been playing about a 1/2 hour heads up by this time.
My opponent just called the big blind and I limped along.
The flop was [As 9s Ac].
I bet my two pair at twice the minimum. If he had an ace, he has an ace.
When he re-raised me double, I decided he did not have an ace. I figured him for a small pair or a flush draw, so I went all-in.
After a long delay he called with T8 of spades.
The turn card was from heaven - [Ah]!
The only cards that can beat me now are tens.
[Tc].
Won 16 times my entry.