Ramblings by the River

The Washington Post had an interesting article about a new service ( http://www.phantomalert.com/ )that provides a downloadable database for your GPS of likely speed cameras, red light cameras and police radar traps. I haven't tried it yet, but it sounds like something to check out. Davenport, Iowa, has reinstated their cameras, much to my dismay. I will continue to do as little business as possible in the Davenport area until the camera's are taken away and urge other people in the area to do the same.

The jackpot at the Isle of Capri poker room in Bettendorf, Iowa, got hit again, so it's down to $4000 now. Unfortunately, I missed getting any portion of the last three jackpots. The poker room added hot dogs for the players. I hadn't had a dog in years, but I've had several recently and they are pretty good. I miss having onions and tomatoes to put on them, though. They have relish, ketchup and mustard.

The jackpot has been hit twice in the last couple of weeks, but the current jackpot is still over $26,000. This is the last large jackpot until the funds build up again.

The Bettendorf jackpot is now over $77,000.

The Isle of Capri poker room (Bettendorf) has a jackpot now worth nearly $70,000. The jackpot is shared between Holdem and Omaha. In Holdem, the qualifier is Aces full of Tens. In Omaha, it is quad tens.

The Isle is ending their Tuesday night tournaments and now will have just Monday and Wednesday night tournaments. The Monday night tournament is a $60 freeze out with a bounty of $15 for each player you eliminate. The Wednesday tournament costs $55 with one $20 rebuy.

Make no mistake: Obama and Biden, with the help of a Democratic congress, will take your hard earned money, cycle it through Washington and give it to someone else. Vote Republican!

This country is the envy of the world and the land of opportunity for one reason. Because we allow people to succeed. People all over the world aspire to come to the United States and bring their friends and families here. Let's not go down the path of failed socialist economies. Big government is not the solution to people's problems.

As Republicans, let's get back to the core principles that made our country great. Lets reduce the size of government, move toward a balanced budget, lessen governmental intrusion and interference in people's lives, and reduce redistribution of wealth except to those neediest of citizens, who, through no fault of their own, need our help to survive.

Obama is a very glib speaker, and excellent at hiding his true agendas. He has to hide behind rhetoric because he knows he cannot expose his true ideas because he would never become President. Just look at his past voting record and read his books, and his ideas are exposed. We cannot afford four years with a President and Vice President with some of the most extremely liberal voting records in congress.

I am certainly no fan of John McCain, but he sacrificed greatly for this country and deserves the opportunity to lead us back to greatness. As we take the fight to muslim extremists who want to destroy the United States, certainly there is no question, John McCain is the best choice to finish the fight.

Get out and vote in this election! It has never been more critical for the survival of our nation.

I can't understand school starting earlier and earlier each year. My niece started last week already, and the summer is far from over! Don't children need time to be kids any more? I remember treasuring my time off during the summer. In a regular job, most people don't get a lot of time off. Let the kids enjoy life a little!

Here's a story about a group traveling around the country searching for and fixing spelling and puncuation errors on public signs. It's pretty amusing, I thought.

http://www.jeffdeck.com/teal/

Recommended!

Luckily, I don't have Internet access with Comcast. If I did, I would look for another provider. Deliberate spoofing of packets with the intention of interfering with legitimate network traffic should be illegal.

Here's the scoop:

http://www.eff.org/wp/packet-forgery-isps-report-comcast-affair

We went to the Fall Classic in Shakopee, Minnesota, last week, to play in the Omaha Hi/Lo tournament. The buy in was $230. There were 217 players. I managed to finish in the money with an extremely lucky break on one hand in particular. I was low on chips and ended up all in on a low draw and nut flush draw. There were two active players in the hand for the turn and river. On the river, I had no low, no flush and no pair. However, the last player to act bet and the other active player folded. I sadly turned up my A-Q high and was ready to leave, only to discover the bettor had and A-J high with no pair!! So, I won the main pot which had T$8000 and was still alive.

The side action was good. I played 10-20 Omaha H/L with a half kill most of the time. A young maniac came into the game the last night I was there, played and raised every hand. His luck was incredibly good for a while. He even made quad threes in the blind on one hand, followed with trip sixes on the next hand. It went on like that for quite a while. He left when he started to cool down. His run had taken a toll on my chips, so I spent the rest of the time trying to recover. I did make some chips back before it got too late and I had to leave.

Don't miss the Fall Classic next year! It's a great series of tournaments. Canterbury Park has about 35 tables and is very busy during the tournaments, but it doesn't usually take too long to get into a good game. *Recommended* We stayed at the Country Inn which is one exit on 169 away from the poker room. The room prices weren't too bad and they have a pool and Jacuzzi and a great continental breakfast. The waffles were excellent.

Last year, I was in on four Bad Beat Jackpots, but none this year. I estimate I should be get a large share of one every 3 years on average, based on how often I play and my past experience.

Tips for Omaha High/Low

1) Don't expect to bluff very often, especially if there is a possible low and the pot is large
2) Don't continue without a draw to the nuts, preferably the low side; back door draws are helpful
3) Be very cautious with high only hands that are less than the nuts. Often they must be mucked when a low is possible.
4) Know your opponents tendencies. Sometimes the players that play too many hands can be exploited.
5) Pick your starting hands carefully and discard liberally after the flop without a good connection.

On September 20, 2007, a new $5 bill design will be introduced:

"Officials from the U.S. Treasury, Bureau of Engraving and Printing, Federal Reserve Board and U.S. Secret Service will unveil the new $5 bill design through an online video at 9:00 a.m. Eastern time, with an online "reporter-only" Q&A at 9:30 a.m. Podcasts and interactive and downloadable education and training materials, some in as many as 22 languages, will round out the digital introduction of the redesigned $5 bill."

http://www.moneyfactory.gov/newmoney/

Last Thursday, the Bad Beat Jackpot was triggered by a husband and wife that play frequently. They don't usually play at the same table unless they have to, but they happened to be at the same table that day. The husband, Don, had a Royal Flush and his wife, Donna, had four Jacks. This was in an Omaha Hi/Lo game, I believe. So now the jackpot is down to $8000.

I played three days this week so far, Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday in the weekly 1:30 p.m. Omaha Hi/Lo games (5-10 with a full kill). I'm on the list for tomorrow, but not in the first 10 seats, so I'm not guaranteed a seat. So, I'm not sure if I'll try to go in for the game or not.

My other hobby is role playing on Second Life. Perhaps I'll talk about that one of these days.

A friend was in town Saturday, so I went in to Bettendorf to play poker around 11 P.M. The Bad Beat Jackpot had been hit at the No Limit Holdem table. It was up to $55,000. This was the last really big one. As of yesterday, the jackpot was $14,000. I played yesterday in the regular Monday Omaha Hi/Lo game. I had a seat for today, but I can't make it since it starts at 1:30 p.m. and I am not ready.

The Bad Beat Jackpot was paid out Friday night in a 3-6 Holdem game. I was playing Omaha on Friday afternoon, but left before the jackpot was triggered. The total jackpot was around $55,000. The back up jackpot (they have two backups) is still over $45,000.

Most Omaha H/L games at the Bettendorf, Iowa, poker room used to be played at the 6-12 limit with a half kill. I almost got accustomed to quickly calculating multiples of 18 during the kill hands (laughs). They have now switched to 5-10 Omaha with a full Kill. This is a slightly bigger game, I think, due to the full kill, but it moves a lot faster since the dealers aren't having to make change or manipulate big stacks of white chips. All in all, it has been a good change.

They have regular sign up games for Omaha on Monday through Friday. The Monday through Thursday games start at 1:30 p.m. The Friday game starts at 1:00 p.m. Don't try to figure out why, just go with it (laughs). You can get on the list for a particular game any time during the week prior to the start of the game. Once you manage to get seated in the start of a game, you can keep that seat for future weeks as long as you show up on time each week. Otherwise, the next person on the list will get the seat and you will have to get back on the list. It's hardest to get in the Friday game. The other ones aren't too bad.

The Bad Beat Jackpot for Omaha is triggered by quad tens. The jackpot as of yesterday was over $52,000.

I have a seat in the weekly 6-12 Holdem/Omaha hi-lo game on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. We play a round of each game with a half kill. The Bad Beat Jackpot was over $35,000 today, so I am putting my time in. I was involved in four jackpots last year.

Are there advantages to acting demonstrably obnoxious at the poker table? My instinct says not many. The bad behavior tends to make one a target and I don't think that is a good thing overall.

Interestingly, it would appear that many obnoxious people don't realize they are personally obnoxious, even though they recognize it in others. There was an example of this recently in one of my regular weekly games. A couple of new players came into the game, one young and one older. Both were talking too much and I felt were about equally unpleasant to have in the game. Funny, when the younger guy left the table for a break, the older guy commented on how bad the younger guy was, never realizing his own behavior was similar. I was pleased when neither reappeared the following week.

Low and behold, the pocket 44's came through again! I was playing 3-6 Holdem last evening and picked up 4-4 in a kill pot (which took it to 6-12 from 3-6). I was the first bettor and we were rather short handed so I raised to disguise my hand and possibly win the pot outright. I picked up a couple of callers. The flop was all hearts so I bet out to try to steal the pot again. I got a caller. The turn was the 4 of hearts making 4 hearts on board!

Now I have three fours which is undoubtably not good if I get called but is worth another bet as a semi-bluff. I got called. The river was a deuce which paired the board and gave me 4-4-4-2-2! I bet and the other player raised. Oh no, I thought he made a bigger full house so I just called. He turned up the Ace of Hearts, but no full house. He was trying to trap me by not raising on the turn. Good one!

Pocket fours came through again (yesterday). I was playing in a 3-6 Holdem game that was fairly loose and passive, a good game. The best of the players at the table was on my left. I picked up pocket 4's in early position and decided to enter with a raise. The player on my left just called and some of the other players called. It turned out the player on my left (PL) had pocket Queens. The flop was Q-7-4 which was a horrible flop for me, but I didn't know it. I decided to slow play and so did PL. However, the next player in line raised! I don't know what he had. We both called. The turn card was ---- a 4!! We managed to get in a couple of raises and knocked out the other player. On the river, I bet out, got raised, re-raised, etc., until PL concluded I must have 4-4-4-4. Nice pot! I ended the session up $207 after 3 hours of play. It was my first winning session of July. I was down $82 during the first 3 sessions of the month.