Back in Action

I am back in Michigan to do some work for my company.  I left Austin at 6am and made it to Flint at 11:30am.  Everything was on time and I had a friend pick me up at the airport.  We ate at Mongolian BBQ  and then we played at my favorite place, Palace Poker.  They open at 1:30PM and we were one of the first to arrive.  I hit a set of 333s early on and boated when the board pair with 2 aces. I never looked back and played for 6 hours.  The action was good and I cashed out $615 after buying in for $200.  

Palace Poker in Flint is still the best action in Michigan.  While I did play with a few regulars, their were plenty of new faces that I never played with, to help pay me off.  It's always nice to play at a new place where no one knows you.  This was my regular place 9 months ago.  But now its just a new place with some old faces and a few new faces.  It only takes a few loose players to pay you off...

Current Stats

Crazy night

It was a crazy night of poker.  I was up over $225 and then lost all of it until hitting a set of kings to bring me back up over $80.  I had a long streak of cold cards and it was killing me that I could not play.  

The action was crazy with 2 maniacs at the table.  Eric the fist manic doubled me up when I had pocket aces.  He called me down with top pair.  Later in the evening, Dean, the maniac lawyer shows up.  Dean has a predictable style, he first buys in for $100, 3 times and donkeys it off. He raises every hand and goes all in on any flush draw or straight draw.  After losing all his money he buys in for $500.  He continues to play that same and starts getting paid off with people making marginal calls to him.  This guy goes up $500 and then slowly loses it all and buys in for another $500.  At the end of the night, he rebuy over 6  times and his total losses is $4000.  The lesson here, is to not play like a maniac.  While this style of play does get callers, you end up losing everything at the end of the night.

Dean gave most of this money to Bill.  Bill was the chip stack leader with over $1500 in front of him.  Unfortunately, Bill loses his entire stack when he ran up against Jessica's pocket Kings to his pocket tens.  The flop was 744 and Bill goes all-in. Jessica had pre-flop raised $100 and Bill only calls.  A very strange play for him, but I think he wanted to give his money to Jessica.  He loves her attention and affection.  Bill can afford to lose the money and it means allot more to Jessica.  I told Jess that it couldn't have happen to a nicer person.  It was a tough call for her, but she made the call and doubled up.  Jessica ended up cashing out for over $3200.  Congratulations, I wish it was me...! 

Videos to watch

BANK CEOS TESTIFY ON THE TROUBLED ASSET RELIEF PROGRAM

BANK CEOS TESTIFY ON THE TROUBLED ASSET RELIEF PROGRAM 2

PARNELL TAKES 5TH AT SALMONELLA HEARING

The Banking Ponzi System Solution

If the Mark To Market rules don't change then all the Banks will fail. None of the big banks have solvency if they have to continue to mark their assets to market. There IS NO MARKET!!! Banks are highly leveraged companies needing 10:1  - Assets:Capital or captial ratio.

Since by law (or regulation since Sarbanes Oxley was enacted) there Assets have to be marked down, then by law they have to be shut down, because they are below 10% capital ratio. Who says 10% is right. The Investment banks were at 40:1. The dirty little secret is that the financial crisis is all based on breaking this stupid rule, that really don't mean anything, because the banking system is really just a big Ponzi system, regulated by the government.

The government can not remove Mark to Market because then they would be admitting that in fact the crisis was really due to this 10% capital ratio regulation that they imposed and that the system is just a big Ponzi system. 

So the other answer is to just print money and pump it into the banks to make them solvent... Inflation... This is what most other countries do, but the USA has always avoided. But now with a liberal President and Congress, I think they will print there way out of this mess and kill our currency and savings accounts.

The Media

Today Obama announces his bank rescue plan and the market sells off almost 5%.  Clearly the markets are disappointed of the news, yet the main stream media says the market is disappointed at Tim Geithner's announcement.  Tim Geithner is Obama'a Secretary of Treasury.  Yet the press never mentions it is really Obama's plan.  The spin and blame is on Geithner.  

Now why didn't the press ever say anything after the market dropped when Obama was inaugurated or when he was elected (after his election the Dow dropped over 2000pts).  Both times the market fell even more points..  Another clear example of the liberal media bias....

Saturday night grind

Another good night for me.  It was a long night and I didn't have many big hands until late.  I did crack Aces again.  I had AQ and flopped the nut straight.  Tony (a maniac player), new he was beat but called my short stack all-in after I checked raised him.  

Jay was nice enough to double me up with my AK hand.  I hit my King on the flop and he decided to call my over bet on the turn.  I think he was on a draw.

Then my big blind special.  I had 57 and flopped a boat, with a 575 flop.  I checked it and Jay bet $20.  Two other solid players called and I called.  The turn is a 6.  I check again and Jay bets $20.  A solid player re-raises to $60.  I decided to end the games and re-raise to $160.  Everyone folds to me and I take down the $170 pot.  The guy that raised to $60 said he had the nut straight, but knew he was beat if I was re-raising him.  He knows the tightest player in Austin doesn't re-riase a paired board without having a full house.  Good player and nice lay down!!!  I cash out a little bit later for $425.

Current Stats

Friday night at the new place...

My Friday night poker place has purchased a new house. No more gated apartments. It is actually a merger of three poker games into one. This makes sense to me instead of renting out 3 apartments, now they have one and a steady group of players to fill all the seats. Sometimes having 2 tables going on with Omaha High playing.

It was an average night for me. The night started out slow for me, losing a third of my stack playing Q10 again. Remind me to never play this hand again. It's the second time I loss a big hand to it. I hit two pair while the other guy had a higher two pair with AJ. It is just one of those hands that look good starting, but is really a crap hand like J10.

Big Slick Hand: After getting down to $100 I decided to gamble with AK. I was in late position and called a $7 raise after a few other callers. One short stack guy decided to go all in for $30. Another loose guy, "Tony" pushed all-in for $46. I normally don't like to gamble that much with AK pre-flop, but the odds were there for me and I was last to act so I called. They all missed and I hit my Ace on the river. Now I am back up to about $175.

Pocket Aces Hand: I am under the gun and look down at pocket Aces. I raise to $15. The guy to my left instant calls, and its a wave of callers after him. A total of 5 callers plus the straddler. The flop is 55Q. Not the flop I want with 6 players in the hand, but I have to bet out. I bet $75. The guy to my left folds and then Justin, new guy who has a game in San Marcos, re-raises me another $100. Everyone else folds. I smooth call. The turn is a 3 of hearts and now there is a flush draw possibility. I check and he goes all-in. I put him in AQ so I call with a Ace of heart redraw. The river is a brick and its showdown. He has pocket Aces also! We split a $650 pot and make about $50 each from the initial pre-flop raise.

Cracking Pocket Aces: I am on the button and look down at pocket nines. I raise to $12 and the small blind, Eric (the maniac) re-raises me to $30. I instant call, putting him on a big hand. He knows I play tight, so he wouldn't do that without the nuts. The flop comes K93. Eric bets out $25. I re-raise Eric to $75. Eric cant believe it. He says to me, "You are the tightest player..." I say to him, "Then it should be easy for you to fold.." Now, I know he has Aces. Since he is not afraid of the King on the board. He must think I have AK, because he pushes all-in for my remaining ~$100. I instant call him and he misses his 2 outer, he did have Aces. I double up to over $400 and leave after another hour of playing...

Current Stats

Another Grind and my Aces finally cracked!

Another grinding session Saturday night.  The night started out great!  Within two hours I was up to over $600 in front of me and was the chip stack leader.  I made up all my losses from Friday night and then some.  I was averaging over $200/hr.  The table had some crazy Russian that I had never played with.  He reminded me of KGB from the movie "Rounders."  Well the Russian played pretty crazy and doubled me up.  He was chasing a flush and hit on the river.  Unfortunately, for him I had turned my set and the river paired the board to give me the boat!  

I should have left at that point, but was feeling good and continued to play.   It turned into bad beat city...  I started chasing flushes, because I had a ton of money in front of me.  That was a mistake! I think that was the start of me losing...  I lost with a set over set, I hit my set on the flop and he hit his set on the river.  In another hand, my Aces finally got cracked when I put a guy all-in with Kings and he hit is set on the River.  In a round of Omaha,  I lost to a set over set over set.

At the end of the night, I did make $85.  Not to bad considering 3 set over set losses... But I was up over $400..  It just makes you sick to think about it.. Overall, it was a profitable month and better then December, so I shouldn't complain.

Current Stats