Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Holland and back in 24 hours visit to the deGroot compound for Granddad’s Birthday

Remember to vote for DUG's next big trip. Voting button in on the left.
Some of what you are about to read is true and some is not. (pictures are at the bottom)

I thought my traveling was over for 2008, it was 6:00 am on Friday December 26, 2008. I heard a loud banging on my trailer door. I woke from a deep sleep to find Margarite not looking very happy explaining we had to get to Amsterdam, Holland, and we had to be there by Saturday morning, yes in 24 hours. Still groggy from being woke from a deep sleep, I asked why? It was clear Margarite was upset, but I still asked why.

Margarite explained tomorrow December 27, 2008 was her father’s 75th birthday. Being in the U.S. for several weeks really backed her up with her responsibilities at the orphanage and she just plain forgot about her father’s birthday. She went on to explain her mother had put together a huge family reunion for her father, and Margarite had to be there no matter what.  There are not many flights out of Botswana, and on such short notice it was going to cost a fortune to get to Holland. I explained this to Margarite and to my surprise I found out something I would have never guessed, Margarite’s family was not just rich, but mega rich. Apparently her great, great, great, great grandfather on her mother’s side was involved in one of the most famous market bubbles of all time, which occurred in Holland during the early 1600s when speculation drove the value of tulip bulbs to extremes. At the height of the market, the rarest tulip bulbs traded for as much as six times the average person's annual salary.  Margarite’s distant grandfather was on the right side of this bubble and made enough money that most of her family has never worked since the 1600’s except for investing their small fortune.

Margarite went on the explain most of her mother's brothers had private jets and her Uncle Fred was sending his jet down to pick us up to take us to Holland. We needed to get packed and be at the airport by late afternoon. I could not believe what I was hearing, the lady that got upset with us when we took a private car to the airport for our trip to France instead of a bus, was now talking about taking a private jet from Botswana to Holland. I had no idea what this would cost the family, I had only priced using a private jet once, it was $10,000 an hour. Botswana to Holland had to be an 8 - 10 hour flight. I still could not believe what I was hearing I pinched myself to make sure I was not dreaming, the pinch hurt so I must have been awake. I was not one to turn down a trip, there was only one issue, I had a meeting with the elders on Monday to report on my status of the village master plan. I explained to Margarite I had to be back for Monday and found out this was not an issue as we would be flying back in this same private jet Sunday.

The jet was going to be at the airport at 4:00 pm we found out we would then fly to Paris where Margarite’s Uncle Fred and Aunt Pat would be, we would pick them up and continue on to Holland arriving at around 10:00 am.

I had several things to do in the morning so we decided to head out to the airport around 10:00 am. It was normally a 3 hour bus ride to the airport, we had gotten some bad rain Friday night and it was still raining so we wanted to make sure we had plenty of time as not to hold up the plane.

The bus ride out to the airport ended up taking 5 hours, the road is half dirt and half paved and when it rains it gets very slick and it is slow going and somewhat scary. Once at the airport we found there is what is called the corporate jet hanger. This is where all private jets come in. You would not think there are many private jets in Botswana, which there aren’t but 2 of the neighboring countries Zimbabwe and the Republic of Congo are very corrupt and their dictators and their families keep (hide) there private jets in Botswana. Also several of the owners of the gold and diamond mines in those countries also keep their jets in Botswana. I could not believe I have never noticed this part of the airport before, this hanger was more like a high end first class lounge you might find at some of the largest international airports in the world. When we checked in they asked us for the call numbers of the jet that was picking us up. Margarite and I found a nice area to sit and relax. There was a large television with a map of the world on the map were a couple of dots with numbers next to them. What we came to find out was each dot represented a plane someone in the lounge was waiting for. We could actually watch as our plane got closer and closer to the airport and then finally landed.

I do not know much about jets let alone private jets, but this jet could hold about 8 people, it had a small bar and small kitchen they called a galley. There were two pilots and one hostess. Three of the seats folded flat into beds, the restroom had a full shower.  The hostess explained to us it would be 8 hours to Paris landing at 3 am and then 2 additional hours to Amsterdam.  We would hang in Paris until 8:00 am when Margarite’s Aunt Pat and Uncle Fred would be arriving. She went on to tell us she would be serving us dinner at 6:00 pm and then after that we could turn the seats down and go to sleep. Because of some safety features I did not understand she said we could sleep through the landing and she would wake us a little before Fred and Pat arrived. The jet flew as smooth as could be, the pilot explained we could actually fly higher then commercial jets and slightly faster which gave us a very smooth ride, and unbelievable quite. I asked the pilot what a jet like this cost and he said about twelve million dollars.  The flight was uneventful except I got a great night’s sleep as the bed on the jet was a lot more comfortable then the one in my trailer. I was a little nervous as this is the first time I would be meeting any of Margarite’s family. Fred and Pat arrived right on time and we immediately took off for Amsterdam. We arrived in Amsterdam at 10:00 am. A limo picked us up and we headed out to the deGroot estate. I could not wait to get alone with Margarite she was going to have a lot of explaining to do.

The deGroot family estate was massive for a European estate, the main house or should I say palace must have been 30 rooms. The ball room where the dinner party was held was massive. I was put up in a small house that had 4 very beautiful decorate rooms.  Margarite’s father’s party was all family members expect for me. Everybody was very friendly toward me, but I got the feeling I was not the first stray Margarite brought home and that they did not think I would be the last.

The family was clearly a Dutch family I think this might have been the most blonde haired blue eyed people I had ever seen in one family, plus a couple of red heads thrown in for good measure.  Almost all the grand kids were there, as the newbie I was responsible to keep the children occupied, or should I say the kids quickly saw I had no intentions of disciplining them for any of their bad behavior, so they decided to keep me occupied. I had very little time to speak to any of the adults so I was not able to get any more of the deGroot family history then the brief story Margarite had told me before we left Botswana.

The party was a very nice dinner and celebration, it was clear that Margarite’s father, Hans, was very happy to have his family all at the party, he seemed to be especially please that Margarite was there. I over heard him talking to Margarite about her work at the orphanage in Botswana, I also notice during the conversation, Margarite’s mother was rolling her eyes. This gave me the impression she did not endorse Margarite’s work.

The party wrapped up about 11:00 pm and we all retired. In the morning the family limo took us back to the Amsterdam airport for our flight back to Botswana. There was some fog so the flight was delayed a short period. To my surprise there was a casino in the Amsterdam airport, so I played a little black jack to kill some time. We left Amsterdam around at 10:00 am. The flight home was very delightful and Margarite filled me in on the entire family history. It was 2:00 am by the time we got back to the village.



Cheers,

DUG

Thursday, December 25, 2008

Christmas Week 2008

Please remember to vote for my next big trip, voting button is off to the left. Ask others to vote, about 30 days left to vote. Greenland is in the lead.

I would like to wish everybody happy holidays. Since I have moved to Africa, many people have wished me a happy Kwanza, I have attached two video’s that will help clarify the history of Kwanza, as you will see this is not an African holiday and in fact most Africans in Botswana have never heard of Kwanza.





This week I started working on a 5 year plan for our village. The goal is to become energy independent, financial independent, and produce zero CO2. Though one might think this is a lofty goal, it actually should be rather easy. Currently our village has a VERY low standard of living. Normally to get to energy independence sacrifices need to be made. For our village I do not think this will ring true, in fact I believe we should be able to increase our standard of living, while we achieve these goals.
My first task was to do an energy audit, find out what energy we use and where it comes from. Here is what I found out:

Transportation
1) No one in our village owns an automobile.
2) There are 15 motor scooters, these run on petrol, and appear to be high in pollution. I did not do any scientific evaluation on the emission I simply saw the amount of black smoke that came out of the exhaust.
3) All other transportation is either by foot, bicycle, or pubic transportation
a. Public transportation is most often a matatus (see picture), which is a mini bus. They can hold up to 8 people legally, but I have seen over 20 people in one.
b. We will have to come up with some formula to figure out how to calculate the energy we use when we take a matatus and the CO2 we add to the atmosphere.

Home energy needs
1) Since we live in a very warm climate we have no need to heat, and all the villagers are use to not having air-conditioning so no need for that.
2) For most cooking, heat is obtained from wood that is harvested from the area surrounding our village while this wood is plentiful it is not unlimited plus the burning of the wood release a lot of CO2. Also the trees breathe in CO2 so every time we cut a tree down and burn them we add more CO2 and eliminate a tree that absorbs CO2.
3) Most homes have a few kerosene lanterns which are used for lighting in the evening.
4) We do have two refrigerators in town, one is at the medicine mans (herbalist house), and the other is at the Bar Keeps house. Both are powered by current brought in by power lines, this current is not very dependable, there are daily outages.
a. The medicine man does have some herbs that he must refrigerate
b. The Bar Keep must keep the beer cold.
5) The school is looking to add some computers, so they will need power for them.
6) There are a few outside lights that light up some of the village at night and they are also powered by the same current.
7) There is my PC and internet connecting that is powered by the same current, I also have a diesel generator for back up. This generator not only uses diesel to get its power, its exhaust is very dirty.

That is what I could find as far as what we used for energy. It seems I need to produce electricity, to replace the current we use, and I need to find a substitute for the kerosene we use in our lanterns, the petrol we use in our scooters, and the diesel I use in my generator. If I can find a more reliable source of electricity, I might not need the diesel generator.

Next I looked at our waste, we produce very little waste and most of what is produced is organic. The biggest issue and the one I will discuss here is human waste. Some of the huts have holes in the ground that the villagers use as toilets. These holes then flow out through open trenches to a large pond where the waste slowly gets absorbed into the ground. For the villagers that do not have these holes in their huts, they use public holes that are set up around the village these holes flow into the same pond. (see picture of the trench and the kids)

The villagers as a whole eat very healthy, with very little disease, the one issue is when some of the children get into these trenches or worst into the ponds, they tend to get sick. Long term I am concerned that this pond may have a negative effect on our drinking water or on the land we farm.

My first project will be to figure out a better way to control our sewage issue. I have some ideas how I can solve this issue and also maybe take care of some of our energy needs. I will fill you in on that idea later.

Now for my Poker play for the week, this week I did very well, in fact I am debating moving up to the next level of table. I currently play most of my poker at $1.00/$2.00 tables and sometime at $.50/$1.00 tables. After the first I am going to working building my bankroll and moving up to the $2.00/$4.00 tables.
This week I played 4.65 hours of poker with total winnings of $312.15 which gave me an hourly of over $67.00 an hour. I only played 325 hands or a little over 69 hands an hour. I played very high quality hands. My biggest losing hand and winning hand for the week are listed below the detail is below the graphics.

BEST HAND OF THE WEEK



WORST HAND OF THE WEEK

BEST HAND OF THE WEEK
POKERSTARS GAME #23120107240: HOLD'EM NO LIMIT ($1/$2) - 2008/12/21 10:59:40 ET
Table 'Somville II' 9-max Seat #1 is the button
Seat 1: dnabreTeneR ($177.95 in chips)
Seat 2: shmaf ($213.60 in chips)
Seat 3: vicnev ($62.45 in chips)
Seat 4: Trigger0o4 ($76 in chips)
Seat 5: DUG ($193 in chips)
Seat 6: ponchoko ($329.25 in chips)
Seat 7: 13_Xerxes_13 ($205 in chips)
Seat 9: LolDnkaments ($43 in chips)
shmaf: posts small blind $1
vicnev: posts big blind $2
utellme12: sits out
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to DUG [6s 6d]
Trigger0o4: folds
DUG: calls $2 Playing to hit a set
ponchoko: raises $6 to $8
13_Xerxes_13: folds
LolDnkaments: folds
dnabreTeneR: calls $8
shmaf: folds
vicnev: folds
DUG: calls $6 worth a call
*** FLOP *** [6c Th Qs] Bingo hit a set this is a gut shot straight draw if someone called with AK.
DUG: checks Figure one of those guys will bet.
ponchoko: bets $20
dnabreTeneR: calls $20 Great.
DUG: raises $55 to $75 This might have been a mistake. But I do not want anybody to draw out on me for free.
ponchoko: folds
dnabreTeneR: calls $55 This is good.
*** TURN *** [6c Th Qs] [8 h] Now there is a flush draw.
DUG: bets $110 and is all-in
dnabreTeneR: folds This is ok with me I liked the size of the pot.
Uncalled bet ($110) returned to DUG
DUG collected $194 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $197 | Rake $3
Board [6c Th Qs 8h]
Seat 1: dnabreTeneR (button) folded on the Turn
Seat 2: shmaf (small blind) folded before Flop
Seat 3: vicnev (big blind) folded before Flop
Seat 4: Trigger0o4 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 5: DUG collected ($194)
Seat 6: ponchoko folded on the Flop
Seat 7: 13_Xerxes_13 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 9: LolDnkaments folded before Flop (didn't bet)


WORST HAND OF THE WEEK
POKERSTARS GAME #23157663863: HOLD'EM NO LIMIT ($0.50/$1.00) - 2008/12/22 14:44:15 ET
Table 'Knysna' 9-max Seat #6 is the button
Seat 1: MarGee1 ($100 in chips)
Seat 2: DUG ($98.90 in chips)
Seat 3: anakin17 ($50 in chips)
Seat 4: gsmnet ($48.50 in chips)
Seat 5: Justelis ($209.25 in chips)
Seat 6: jrockhaf ($176.40 in chips)
Seat 7: luckyleft ($99 in chips)
Seat 9: cAAnber ($112.60 in chips)
luckyleft: posts small blind $0.50
cAAnber: posts big blind $1
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to DUG [8d Td]
MarGee1: folds
DUG: raises $3 to $4 Just going for a steal I have not played a hand in a while
anakin17: folds
gsmnet: folds
Justelis: folds
jrockhaf: folds
luckyleft: calls $3.50
cAAnber: folds
*** FLOP *** [Tc Jh 8h] Hit 2 pair.
luckyleft: checks
DUG: bets $6 figure I will end it here.
luckyleft: raises $6 to $12 Might have an AJ
DUG: calls $6 worth a call, most likely I have the best hand. Could have TT or 88 or JJ, but not likely.
*** TURN *** [Tc Jh 8h] [9s]
luckyleft: bets $12
DUG: calls $12 I still think I have the best hand, but not worth a raise.
*** RIVER *** [Tc Jh 8h 9s] [Ac]
luckyleft: checks I think he is trapping me now.
DUG: checks No reason to bet.
*** SHOW DOWN ***
luckyleft: shows [As Ad] (three of a kind, Aces) He won on the river.
DUG: mucks hand
luckyleft collected $54.25 from pot Not a real big pot.
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $57 | Rake $2.75
Board [Tc Jh 8h 9s Ac]
Seat 1: MarGee1 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 2: DUG mucked [8d Td]
Seat 3: anakin17 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 4: gsmnet folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 5: Justelis folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 6: jrockhaf (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 7: luckyleft (small blind) showed [As Ad] and won ($54.25) with three of a kind, Aces
Seat 9: cAAnber (big blind) folded before Flop

Cheers,

DUG

Friday, December 19, 2008

Travel review 2008 and Poker the week of December 15, 2008

Please remember to vote for my next big trip, voting button is off to the left. Ask others to vote about 44 days left to vote.

I thought I would take some time and review at a high level DUG’s trips in 2008. With the weakening U.S. dollar I did more trips in the U.S. then I had planned, but with the cost so low it made sense. Plus I got to keep up with a great election cycle.

Vegas – March 2008 – This is an annual trip I take with some long time friends, though the casinos were very profitable for us, this year we spent time outside the casinos. We went to some sporting events, saw a NCAA men’s basket ball game and a NCAA women’s basket ball game. Both games were very exciting, I felt the women seemed to have more heart. We also went to a minor league Ice Hockey game, a lot more fighting the players and fans, then hockey play, but well worth the $5.00 ticket.

Prague and Budapest – May 2008 – This trip was rich in history. It was the first time I had been to an eastern block country, and even though the wall had come done many years ago, it was interesting how events for this culture are much different then for the west. The biggest historical factor was once these countries were freed from Hitler, they were then oppressed by communism. In both cities there were Jewish sections which had a lot of history and this made for a great educational trip.

Crested Butte, Colorado – August 2008 – This trip was part of my marathon training, I wanted to get some altitude training in and this was perfect. Also I got to do some white water rafting. This is a video my nephew “A” put together of some mountain biking we did while in Crested Butte.



Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming – August 2008 – This trip was a hiking camping trip, which also helped my marathon training.

France – September 2008 – This was my longest trip for the year, 15 days in France, it was a great trip and I got to see a lot of the French culture.

Puerto Rico – November 2008 – This trip was originally a gift to my nephew “Z”, but turned into a nice family trip, with my brothers and father.

South Beach, Florida – November 2008 – Just great a great place to rest and relax after running a marathon.

Poker this week was very good, one of the best weeks I have had this year. My total winnings for the week were $402.10. I played 4.95 hours which gives me an hourly rate of $81.23 an hour. This is a king’s ransom in Botswana. My hands per hour were a little high this week at 97 compared to 89 and 75 the last two weeks. The reason for this has to do with table selection. I was in line at 2 tables on Wednesday both had the perfect players. It ended up that I got seated at both tables at the same time and got great position at both, so I decided to play at both for a little while and as you can see it paid off nicely. I have listed my worst hand for the session, which you will see I lost on the river the guy had 3 outs 6% to win and he hit on the river. I list two winning hands the second I played it the way I did because of my position relative to ibiza007 he plays many tables, well over 10 and he plays a very specific pattern, which I will explain in the hand and why I played it the way I did.

WORST HAND


BEST HAND



SECOND BEST HAND


WORST HAND
POKERSTARS GAME #22997506661: HOLD'EM NO LIMIT ($1/$2) - 2008/12/17 8:52:58 ET
Table 'Lundia' 9-max Seat #1 is the button
Seat 1: Vittinator ($209.65 in chips)
Seat 2: go_fast5 ($122.95 in chips)
Seat 3: bumbabba ($91.30 in chips)
Seat 4: Spooky1 ($327.35 in chips)
Seat 5: DUG ($200 in chips)
Seat 6: msotown ($379.05 in chips)
Seat 7: bigsheng ($260.75 in chips)
Seat 8: voffe21 ($200 in chips)
Seat 9: CK the 1 ($191 in chips)
go_fast5: posts small blind $1
bumbabba: posts big blind $2
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to DUG [7d Kd]
Spooky1: folds
DUG: raises $5 to $7 This is not that good a hand, but I played it for 2 reasons, I had not played many hands at this point, so I had a tight image, if I hit I could win some money, if I missed I should be able to take the pot after the flop.
msotown: folds
bigsheng: folds
voffe21: folds
CK the 1: folds
Vittinator: folds
go_fast5: calls $6 This guy is loose and aggressive so I will only play if I hit.
bumbabba: folds
*** FLOP *** [7c 4c Kh] I hit 2 pair, but there is a flush draw and I have no clubs.
go_fast5: checks
DUG: bets $9 This guy will call no matter what he has so I bet enough so that it is a mistake for him to call if he is on a draw, but I bet low enough not to build a pot for him and I get committed.
go_fast5: calls $9
*** TURN *** [7c 4c Kh] [2s] There is no way this card helped him.
go_fast5: checks
DUG: bets $16 Again, I do not want to give him a free card, but I do not want to build a pot.
go_fast5: raises $16 to $32 He has a K with a good kicker, if he had nothing he would call. He loves top pair.
DUG: raises $48 to $80 Now I am just building the pot he has about a 6% chance to win and I have a 94% chance to win. I put him on KT, KJ, KQ, or AK, he could even have AK clubs which would give him a few more outs and he would have a 27% chance to win.
go_fast5: calls $48
*** RIVER *** [7c 4c Kh 2s] [Qd]
go_fast5: bets $26.95 and is all-in
DUG: calls $26.95 He must have hit his Q, but I have to call as the odds are to good to fold.
*** SHOW DOWN ***
go_fast5: shows [Qs Ks] (two pair, Kings and Queens) This will happen, you must just realize you did something to piss off the poker gods and try to make up for it, so they come back on your side.
DUG: mucks hand
go_fast5 collected $244.90 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $247.90 | Rake $3
Board [7c 4c Kh 2s Qd]
Seat 1: Vittinator (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 2: go_fast5 (small blind) showed [Qs Ks] and won ($244.90) with two pair, Kings and Queens
Seat 3: bumbabba (big blind) folded before Flop
Seat 4: Spooky1 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 5: DUG mucked [7d Kd]
Seat 6: msotown folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 7: bigsheng folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 8: voffe21 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 9: CK the 1 folded before Flop (didn't bet)

BEST HAND
POKERSTARS GAME #22998889011: HOLD'EM NO LIMIT ($1/$2) - 2008/12/17 10:14:09 ET
Table 'Orestes V' 9-max Seat #9 is the button
Seat 1: ibiza007 ($211.20 in chips)
Seat 2: DUG ($243.35 in chips)
Seat 3: Frank DeG ($216.20 in chips)
Seat 4: fylhtq123 ($183 in chips)
Seat 5: dymarko ($40 in chips)
Seat 6: Seinedsofaul ($81 in chips)
Seat 7: toluschev ($199 in chips)
Seat 8: darou ($134.25 in chips)
Seat 9: FULLABULL123 ($80 in chips)
ibiza007: posts small blind $1
DUG: posts big blind $2
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to DUG [Kd Kh] I like getting KK and AA when I am in the blind as the other players have no idea what you have when you just call.
Frank DeG: folds
fylhtq123: folds
dymarko: folds
Seinedsofaul: folds
toluschev: raises $4 to $6 This guy is fairly new to the table so I do not have much information on him.
darou: folds
FULLABULL123: folds
ibiza007: folds
DUG: calls $4 Since we are already down to just two players I only call. The reason to raise with KK or AA is to reduce the players down, but in this case that has been done, so why give my hand away.
*** FLOP *** [6c 4h Kc]
DUG: checks
toluschev: bets $8 Most likely a continuation bet.
DUG: raises $8 to $16 I make a small raise as I want to build the pot, I am giving him about 3 to one odds so he should call with just about anything.
toluschev: raises $20 to $36 Wow this is great. He must have something, maybe AK. He might have some wacky like AJ clubs, of AQ clubs and going for a flush draw. He could even have pocket 6’s or pocket 4’s but the raise preflop does not fit that. He could have AA, but if that is the case I will get all his money.
DUG said, "bluff" I make him think I have nothing and tell him I think he is bluffing and I make a huge over bet.
DUG: raises $201.35 to $237.35 and is all-in This way he should fold a draw and call if he has top pair of a lower set.
toluschev: calls $157 and is all-in
Uncalled bet ($44.35) returned to DUG
*** TURN *** [6c 4h Kc] [Jc] I hope he did not have a flush draw
*** RIVER *** [6c 4h Kc Jc] [Ad] I hope he did not have AA
*** SHOW DOWN ***
DUG: shows [Kd Kh] (three of a kind, Kings)
toluschev: mucks hand
DUG collected $396 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $399 | Rake $3
Board [6c 4h Kc Jc Ad]
Seat 1: ibiza007 (small blind) folded before Flop
Seat 2: DUG (big blind) showed [Kd Kh] and won ($396) with three of a kind, Kings
Seat 3: Frank DeG folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 4: fylhtq123 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 5: dymarko folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 6: Seinedsofaul folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 7: toluschev mucked [4c 4d] Wow he had a lower set. His play was good if I had AK and not KK.
Seat 8: darou folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 9: FULLABULL123 (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)


SECOND BEST HAND EXAMPLE OF POSITION
I will only play with ibiza007 if he is on my right. This way the majority of the time he makes his decision before me. One of his patterns is, if a lot of players are in the pot preflop and he is in late position he will make a big over bet like he has AA or KK. If he gets any callers he will then do he same thing after the flop. As you will see below this information paid off big time for me.

POKERSTARS GAME #22999741922: HOLD'EM NO LIMIT ($1/$2) - 2008/12/17 10:57:06 ET
Table 'Orestes V' 9-max Seat #2 is the button
Seat 1: ibiza007 ($280.45 in chips)
Seat 2: DUG ($427 in chips)
Seat 3: I_h8_p0ker ($195.80 in chips)
Seat 4: DonKaleone ($200 in chips)
Seat 6: marbru7 ($248.10 in chips)
Seat 7: xaponet ($211.75 in chips)
Seat 8: pennyyy ($37 in chips)
Seat 9: FULLABULL123 ($77.10 in chips)
I_h8_p0ker: posts small blind $1
DonKaleone: posts big blind $2
semmlgeist: sits out
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to DUG [Ac Ah]
marbru7: calls $2
xaponet: folds
pennyyy: raises $8 to $10 This is good, and ibiza007 should raise if he follows his pattern.
FULLABULL123: folds
ibiza007: raises $14 to $24 Perfect
DUG: calls $24 The reason I only call, if I want to get the second bet from ibiza007. I expect marbru7 to fold and pennyyy is a short stck only $37 in chips so I am not worried about him.
I_h8_p0ker: folds
DonKaleone: folds
marbru7: calls $22 Wow must have some kind of pair.
pennyyy: raises $13 to $37 and is all-in Wow, must have a high pair.
ibiza007: calls $13 He has to call at this point it is so little money.
DUG: calls $13 I tried to raise, but I guess there is only 3 raises per betting round.
marbru7: calls $13 Again, must have a pair.
*** FLOP *** [7c 6s 3c] Great flop, unless someone had a pair of 6’s, 7’s, 3’s or has 4 5 for a straight. Most likely not.
marbru7: checks
pennyyy said, "AK all plz" He is hoping we all called with AK
ibiza007: bets $76 This is what he normally would do.
DUG: raises $314 to $390 and is all-in I assume Marbru7 will fold if I raise most likely will fold even if I call. Ibiza007 is the wild card so I want him out of the hand. If I just called I might get more money from him, but the chance of him hitting and him getting all my money is to high to risk. Greed can kill.
marbru7: folds
ibiza007: folds
Uncalled bet ($314) returned to DUG
*** TURN *** [7c 6s 3c] [3h]
*** RIVER *** [7c 6s 3c 3h] [7h]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
DUG: shows [Ac Ah] (two pair, Aces and Sevens)
DUG collected $152 from side pot
pennyyy: mucks hand
DUG collected $148 from main pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $303 Main pot $148. Side pot $152. | Rake $3
Board [7c 6s 3c 3h 7h]
Seat 1: ibiza007 folded on the Flop
Seat 2: DUG (button) showed [Ac Ah] and won ($300) with two pair, Aces and Sevens
Seat 3: I_h8_p0ker (small blind) folded before Flop
Seat 4: DonKaleone (big blind) folded before Flop
Seat 6: marbru7 folded on the Flop
Seat 7: xaponet folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 8: pennyyy mucked [Js Jd]
Seat 9: FULLABULL123 folded before Flop (didn't bet)

Cheers,

DUG

P.S. The picture is of the road from the airport to our village it is about 90 km and takes 3 - 4 hours to travel.

Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Update on the Village and my Poker Play week of December 8th, 2008

A couple of book keeping items:
Please vote on my next trip, there are 44 days left to vote. Right now Greenland is in the lead. If you have voted please ask other you know to vote. The voting button is on the left margin of www.LifeOfDUG.com

If you have not subscribed please do so, it is easy simple click on subscribe enter you email address, you will then get a validating email. Life Of DUG has over 1,000 subscribers and I would like to hit 1,500 in the next month or two. If you have already subscribed please forward this to your friends.

The last book keeping item, I have added a Web Camera to Life Of DUG, the camera will either show live shots of our village (out side) or when I am playing poker it will show me playing poker. I just hope the picture is blurry enough not to show my cards. I hope everybody enjoys.

It was great to be home for a full week and reacquaint myself with all the villagers. I got a lot of questions about my stay in America. From how Obama was running the United States, I had to remind everybody he is not the president yet, to the financial crisis.  It is funny how everybody cares about the United States even people in my little village. The United States has no material effect on our village and I doubt ever could, but people seem to care.

I had one meeting with the elders about our situation with the environment and the financial health of our village. As I had mentioned we are going to have a great crop this year and I believe will be able to sell our pineapples to other villages. The elders are already taking about what they might spend the money on. I have their ear since I was the one that bought the elephant dung that has allowed for such a great crop. They are going to allow me to develop a long term plan for the village, one that both will make sure we are healthy finically and environmentally. They did remind me my diesel generator has the biggest carbon foot print in the village.  I will keep everybody posted as my plans move forward.

Poker was good this week I continue to keep the quantity of my play low and my quality high. I played 10.7 hours just an hour more then last week, with a total of 970 hands about 90 hands an hour. I won $82.00 which works out to almost $11.00 an hour. Below are my best and worst hands of the week. As you can see the best hand was only best, because the Poker Gods paid me off.  I hit 53,000 hands played for the year this week.

BEST HAND


WORST HAND


BEST HAND
POKERSTARS GAME #22732398383:  HOLD'EM NO LIMIT ($1/$2) - 2008/12/08 11:28:24 ET
Table 'Semele IV' 9-max Seat #6 is the button
Seat 1: bubbakush77 ($95.60 in chips)
Seat 2: bw07507 ($200 in chips)
Seat 3: suddend3ath ($196.70 in chips)
Seat 4: ADZ122 ($203 in chips)
Seat 5: Spagiari ($200 in chips)
Seat 6: Tzoo ($232.50 in chips)
Seat 7: KingBoromir ($212 in chips)
Seat 8: DUG ($215.70 in chips)
Seat 9: Nostromo9366 ($217.50 in chips)
KingBoromir: posts small blind $1
DUG: posts big blind $2
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to DUG [3s Kd]     Not a very good hand to play, if you hit a K your kicker is not good.
Nostromo9366: folds
bubbakush77: folds
bw07507: raises $5 to $7
suddend3ath: folds
ADZ122: folds
Spagiari: folds
Tzoo: folds
KingBoromir: folds
DUG: calls $5        So why am I playing, This guy is new to the table and I think I can get him to fold.
*** FLOP *** [3c 5s 9s] I hit bottom pair not good, but again I think I can get him to fold, he has either AK or a med to high pair. TT, JJ, QQ, KK or AA.
DUG: checks    I am going to check raise.
bw07507: bets $10    What I would expect no matter what the flop was.
DUG: raises $18 to $28 This should get him to fold. It will look like I hit a set and do not want him to draw if he has 2 spades.
bw07507: calls $18  Not good for me.
*** TURN *** [3c 5s 9s] [4d]  The 4 could not have helped him.
DUG: bets $50    I will bet about 3/4 the pot, this should get him to fold.
bw07507 : calls $50  Oh, SH&T!!!
*** RIVER *** [3c 5s 9s 4d] [3d] Poker Gods paying me off. No way he thinks I have a 3.
DUG: bets $130.70 and is all-in  He must have AA or KK and will pay me off.
bw07507: calls $115 and is all-in Perfect
Uncalled bet ($15.70) returned to DUG
*** SHOW DOWN ***
DUG: shows [3s Kd] (three of a kind, Threes)
bw07507: mucks hand
DUG collected $398 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $401 | Rake $3
Board [3c 5s 9s 4d 3d]
Seat 1: bubbakush77 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 2: bw07507 mucked [Th Tc]  I love players that fall in love with their hands. Remember if you end up at the river, a pair is not a very good hand. All he had was a pair. He should have reraised me before the river and I would have gone away. (folded)
Seat 3: suddend3ath folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 4: ADZ122 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 5: Spagiari folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 6: Tzoo (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 7: KingBoromir (small blind) folded before Flop
Seat 8: DUG (big blind) showed [3s Kd] and won ($398) with three of a kind, Threes
Seat 9: Nostromo9366 folded before Flop (didn't bet)


WORST HAND
POKERSTARS GAME #22731788032:  HOLD'EM NO LIMIT ($1/$2) - 2008/12/08 10:59:15 ET
Table 'Hela II' 9-max Seat #3 is the button
Seat 1: Spagiari ($240 in chips)
Seat 2: ADZ122 ($200 in chips)
Seat 3: 21hero ($128.45 in chips)
Seat 4: Dr. Fells ($192 in chips)
Seat 5: Ajven ($200 in chips)
Seat 6: DUG ($202.95 in chips)
Seat 7: tbv84 ($235 in chips)
Seat 8: piscogay ($194 in chips)
Seat 9: Muisamaa ($212.05 in chips)
Dr. Fells: posts small blind $1
Ajven: posts big blind $2
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to DUG [4d 5d]   I will play these hands about 10% of the time. Low suited connectors.
DUG: calls $2
tbv84: folds
piscogay: folds
Muisamaa: folds
Spagiari: folds
ADZ122: folds
21hero: folds
Dr. Fells: folds
Ajven: raises $8 to $10
DUG: calls $8     I think he is stealing.
*** FLOP *** [Ts 6c 5c]
Ajven: bets $16  Continuation bet.
DUG: raises $29 to $45 I raise hit a pair.
Ajven: calls $29    Not good.
*** TURN *** [Ts 6c 5c] [2h]
Ajven: checks   This is good.
DUG: bets $55 Take the pot here.
Ajven: raises $90 to $145 and is all-in   Oh, NO!! I have to fold, I only have a pair and it would cost me all my chips.
DUG: folds
Uncalled bet ($90) returned to Ajven
Ajven collected $218 from pot
Ajven: doesn't show hand
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $221 | Rake $3
Board [Ts 6c 5c 2h]
Seat 1: Spagiari folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 2: ADZ122 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 3: 21hero (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 4: Dr. Fells (small blind) folded before Flop
Seat 5: Ajven (big blind) collected ($218)
Seat 6: DUG folded on the Turn
Seat 7: tbv84 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 8: piscogay folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 9: Muisamaa folded before Flop (didn't bet)
 
Cheers,

DUG

Thursday, December 11, 2008

Table Selection in No-Limit Texas Holdem Poker and an update on our village

Before I get into poker I want to give a little update on our village and give an explanation of the two pictures. As I am sure most of you know there is great unrest in the Republic of Congo and also in Zimbabwe, both countries are very close to Botswana geographically.

“The Rock” (from our France trip) thought it might be wise if we armed ourselves and started doing drills for the villagers just incase we ever came under attack. We do these mock drills at night so the one picture is taken through night vision goggles. The other picture is one of the huts in our village during the day. I think most of
the villagers know we are very safe and Botswana is a great country to live in, but we go along with “The Rock” to humor him.

Now, for a great poker tip on table selection and table position while playing on-line poker, specifically Texas Holdem. There are two concepts I will point out to you, the first is picking a table and the second is choosing the correct seat at a table. You might think to yourself, do you really have a choice on what table you sit at. Right now Thursday December 11, 2008 at 10:25 am EST (PokerStars keeps their clock on U.S. Eastern Time Zone) there are 95,645 active players and 15,043 active tables.

How do you know what table to choose? There are a couple of easy questions to ask. What type of poker do I want to play? Do I want to play a cash game or a tournament? How much money do I want to risk? How many players do I want at my table?

These four questions are very easy for me to answer; I only play No-Limit Texas Holdem. My philosophy is if you feel you can only do one thing great stay focused and do it great. I would be concerned playing different types of porker would affect the quality of my play. I play 99% cash games and only 1% tournaments. The reason for this is I can walk away from a cash game at anytime, a tournament you either lose or stay until you win. This allows luck to factor into the game. As of now I play either $.50/$1.00 or $1.00/$2.00 cash games. This means my maximum loss potential is $100.00 or $200.00 respectively. I like to have 9 players at my table. You can pick 2 players (Heads up), 6 players or 9 players. I like 9 players you get more hands dealt for the blinds you pay.

Now that you have answered those four questions you can set your table filter to see the tables that might be of interest to you. So I set my filter to No-Limit Texas Holdem, 9 player maximum, minimum stakes $.50/$1.00 maximum stakes $1.00/$2.00. At PokerStars you can not filter out pot limit games from no-limit, so you need to make sure you do not sit at a pot limit game when you expect to be at a no-limit game.

Right now there are about 250 $.50/$1.00 tables and 175 $1.00/$2.00, these numbers will vary depending on the day of the week and the time of day, while I have been working on this post, the number of players has increased from 95,645 to 103,859 and the tables have increased from 15,043 to 16,125, this increase happened in about 20 minutes.

Out of the 375 tables that fit my criteria, what table should I play at, I have a few hints as to how to fine tune your table selection. I look for tables at the highest stakes I am comfortable playing. Since I am comfortable playing at either $.50/$1.00 or $1.00/$2.00 I will look at the $1.00/$2.00 first. PokerStars will give you statistics on each table, the number of players at the table, I had picked tables with a 9 player maximum, but that does not mean the table is full, so this number tells you how many players are currently sitting at the table. If the table is full (9 players) you can wait in line to sit at the table, they list how many people are waiting in line. Average pot is listed, this tells you the size of the average pot, this sometimes can be used to gage the aggressiveness of the players at the table, the idea being the higher the pot the more aggressive the players. You have to be careful as one big pot can skew this number, say in the last hand before you looked the average pot of $10.00 and then the current hand one player has AA and the other player has KK, they both end up all in before the flop, this pot will be $400.00, and will bring the average pot size up. So be careful when you use this number in the table selection. The next number I look at is what I feel is the most important number, players per flop. This tells you on average how many players are in the hand to see the flop this is an indication of how loose the table is. The higher the number the looser the players, this is true as long as the pot size is not small. Say there is a table where no one is making preflop raises, now you might get a lot of players seeing the flop because it is cheap, they only have to pay the blinds. I like loose players so I look for tables with high players per flop. I like to see a number above 25%. So you must think about all the statistics before you choose your table.

Once you pick a table you will either sit down at an open seat, or wait in line, if you choose to wait in line, which is the right thing to do, if a table that fits your criteria does not have an open seat. Because it does not make sense to play poker at a table that does not give you every advantage you can get. That is called GAMBLING, not playing poker.

If you need to wait in line, wait in line at several tables if you can find several that fit your criteria, put the tables up on your screen and watch the players and take notes. This way when you sit at the table you will have one leg up on the players already at the table, you will have some idea of how they play and if the other players have patterns but the other players will know nothing about you and your play.

If you sit right down at a table the first thing you need to do is look at the tables hand history. Usually you can see the last 10 hands or so. You want to see if anybody might have just won a big hand or lost a big hand or who has been playing and how they have been playing. This is all information that will help you win the game, and thus make money.

With all that said about table selection, sometimes you may want to play a particular player, if that is the case PokerStars has a nice feature where you can search for a player to see what tables they are at. This is useful if you happen to have played a player you know is weak, most likely he did not get better since the last time you played him so it could be easy money, though remember, he might have just had a bad day, so always be on guard.

Now that you are at a table, you want to make sure you have good position at the table based on the other players. I like to have loose aggressive players on my right I like players that play patterns on my right or left depending on their pattern. I like tight players on my left and I like calling stations on my left. You might say the table is really a circle so isn’t every player on your right and on your left. In a pure geometry sense that would be true, but in poker most of your hands will be player against the two or three players to your right and the two or three players to your left. This is a rule of thumb not a fact, but I typically would not worry about a player across from me, because I know I will play very few hands against him.

Loose Aggressive players – will play many hands, they have a low standard for starting hands, and they will play them aggressively will bet high preflop and continue to bet no matter if they hit or not. The reason I like these players on my right is I will almost always have to make my decision after they make theirs. So I will have more information then they will. For example, let’s say a loose aggressive player raises to 5 blinds preflop. Since he is loose he could have anything. If I do not have a hand I would simple fold and it would not cost me anything, but let’s say I have AA in this case I would call, I know he will make another bet no matter what the flop is and at that point I can either raise him or call depending on what I put him on, but I know I will most likely get 2 bets out of him. If he was on my left, and I had AA he would call me, I would have no idea what he had, so let’s say the flop is 3H, 4C, 6H, I bet after flop figuring my AA is best and he comes over the top of me, now I have a very hard decision. He could have 5, 7 for a straight, he could have 33, 44, 66 for a set, or he could be on a pure bluff and I would have no idea and most likely it would cost me my entire stack of chips to find out.

Players that play patterns – will play many tables and play a very consistent pattern, it is important to take notes on their pattern and allow other to test their pattern, or if you must do it by risking a small amount of your chips. Also you may want to bring up the other tables they are playing at so you can see if the pattern you detect is been played at other tables as well. The reason I say I like them on my right or left depending on their pattern, some players with patterns are aggressive if no one has bet preflop (they like to steal the blinds), I like that player on my right, I get to decided what to do after they make their play. Other pattern players like to make very large preflop raises when they think some is trying to steal from them (they are the blind). I like that player on my left. This way when I go to steal, he will raise and I can then re-raise or call, get a few more bets and then raise or bet when he checks, since I know there is a high likely hood that his play was a pure bluff. See below hand for a good example of this.

Tight players – will play mostly premium hands high pairs, AK, etc. Though you make a bet before them you know if they call or raise you what they have, so if you hit your hand you can slow play them and get a good bit of their money, also since most hands are not premium, most of your preflop raises will go uncontested.

Calling Station – will call almost all bets and then usually fold on a river bet. You want this player on your left so they will call your bets when you hit monster hands.

Though there are a lot of tables to choose from, there are rarely a lot of seats at a table to pick from, so how do you make sure loose players are to your right, tight players are to your left and the correct pattern players are on the correct side. There is no way to do this, what you need to do is if you see you do not like your position at the table compared to the other players, simple leave the table and find another table where you feel you will increase your chances to win. Remember you want to play poker and make money not GAMBLE!!!

See example of a hand below. Detail is below the graphics.





POKERSTARS GAME #22729424897: HOLD'EM NO LIMIT ($1/$2) - 2008/12/08 8:43:12 ET
Table 'Regina IV' 9-max Seat #2 is the button
Seat 1: studboy1 ($200 in chips)
Seat 2: NoTurns81 ($270.50 in chips)
Seat 3: Honk115 ($234.75 in chips)
Seat 4: dng_ps ($388.55 in chips)
Seat 7: DUG ($217.95 in chips)
Seat 8: ADZ122 ($210.95 in chips)
Seat 9: slicksam24 ($32 in chips)
Honk115: posts small blind $1
dng_ps: posts big blind $2
lapa00: sits out
kurbli: sits out
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to DUG [7h 7d]
DUG: calls $2
ADZ122: raises $8 to $10 When ADZ122 makes a big raise it normally means he has nothing. This was a little strange with him making it so early, this is his usualy move after the button, maybe has has AK.
slicksam24: folds
studboy1: folds
NoTurns81: folds
Honk115: folds
dng_ps: folds
DUG: calls $8 I would normally call he and hope for a set (7 on the flop) in this case I am going to push the hand at some point with a high degree of confidence that ADZ122 will fold.
*** FLOP *** [Td 6d 5c]
DUG: checks This is an ok flop for me, but I want to let him bet first.
ADZ122: bets $16
DUG: calls $16 I just call next card I will bet less then ½ the pot and feel he will fold.
*** TURN *** [Td 6d 5c] [6h]
DUG: bets $22 I think he will fold to any bet, but I need him to see I am for real.
ADZ122: folds He has to fold he is playing about 10 tables and no way can see I am just playing against his pattern.
Uncalled bet ($22) returned to DUG
DUG collected $52.35 from pot Not bad for pocket 7’s
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $55 Rake $2.65
Board [Td 6d 5c 6h]
Seat 1: studboy1 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 2: NoTurns81 (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 3: Honk115 (small blind) folded before Flop
Seat 4: dng_ps (big blind) folded before Flop
Seat 7: DUG collected ($52.35)
Seat 8: ADZ122 folded on the Turn
Seat 9: slicksam24 folded before Flop (didn't bet)


Cheers,

DUG

Saturday, December 6, 2008

Week of December 1st, 2008

Please encourage others to subscribe to LifeOfDUG and remember to vote on my next trip.

The flight back from the U.S. was a killer door to door 24 hours. Our welcome back to the village was awesome, the kids really missed Margarite and I, they made a sign welcoming us back and they rushed us like we were some kind of celebrities. (see pictures) Story continues below.



The entire orphanage made me play Simon Says with them. This is their favorite game, the kids can play for hours, but after a 24 hour trip home I was beat. I was able to get them to quite after about an hour, then they wanted me to give them wheel barrel rides, fortunately one of the aides saved me and took the kids back to class. I was ready to go take a nap, when the elders found me and wanted to show me the crops. I am not sure if you remember, but back a few months ago I paid for elephant dung. Elephant dung is one of the best fertilizers available in Africa, and it is also very expensive. One of my goals at this village is to help them become self sufficient. Growing enough crops to not only feed the village, but sell to other villages is a good way to get started. I also suggest that they grow pineapple this year. It is a great source of sugar for the kids and you can easily ferment it into alcohol to drink or use as an energy source. They were so proud of their first rip pineapple they waited for me to pick it. It is an awesome feeling to get back to the village. Right now I do not have another trip planned until the middle of January, so I am looking forward to relaxing with my friends for a while.

As far as poker goes this week was very interesting, I started my play on Tuesday which was a mistake I had been away from the game for a while and also was very tired from my trip home. I quickly lost $380.00 in about 5 hours or negative $64.00 an hour. I realized I was playing very poor poker and took Wednesday off and just hung around the village. I then played on Thursday and Friday and slowly recouped my losses and ended up $17.40. I was happy with after my terrible play on Tuesday. I played a total of 9.22 hour for an hourly rate of $1.89. If I had not played on Tuesday I would have had a very nice week. I played a total of 696 hands or 75 hands an hour.

Below are my best and worst hands for the week. I added a new viewer to LifeOfDUG so you can actually see the hands get played back, by simple clicking on the play button, or read below for the detailed strategy.

BEST HAND OF THE WEEK


WORST HAND OF THE WEEK


POKERSTARS GAME #22616997197: HOLD'EM NO LIMIT ($1/$2) - 2008/12/04 13:32:26 ET
Table 'Rusthawelia IV' 9-max Seat #5 is the button
Seat 1: AndrewBoccia ($259 in chips)
Seat 3: mike331949 ($118 in chips)
Seat 4: tommylay2002 ($99.25 in chips)
Seat 5: Haubitze31 ($69 in chips)
Seat 7: dingdong40 ($194 in chips)
Seat 8: DUG ($200 in chips)
eigerspider will be allowed to play after the button
dingdong40: posts small blind $1
DUG: posts big blind $2
bersekus: sits out
aelcher: sits out
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to DUG [Qh Tc] This is a scary hand, many hands like AQ, KQ dominate this hand.
AndrewBoccia: folds
mike331949: raises $2 to $4
tommylay2002: folds
Haubitze31: folds
dingdong40: calls $3
DUG: calls $2 The reason I called is many times when a person in early position (mike331949) makes a small raise preflop, they have AA or KK, I am getting 5 to 1 pot odds and if I am correct and he has AA or KK my implied odds are very good, so I call.
*** FLOP *** [9h Qs Qc] Great flop for me.
dingdong40: checks
DUG: checks
mike331949: bets $2
dingdong40: folds
DUG: raises $2 to $4 Want to build the pot, I am confident I have the best hand, maybe someone with JT has a straight draw if that is the case the poker gods were just not on my side.
mike331949: calls $2
*** TURN *** [9h Qs Qc] [8h]
DUG: bets $8 Want to keep building the pot with out scaring him away.
mike331949: calls $8 Perfect
*** RIVER *** [9h Qs Qc 8h] [Qd] Now this is the best possible card I could have gotten. Now he will never think I have a Q and if he has AA or KK as I think he does, I will get all his money.
DUG: bets $11 I make a weak bet so he will raise. This is called a trap.
mike331949: raises $11 to $22 Perfect I now know for sure he has a high pair.
DUG: raises $162 to $184 and is all-in So I make a bet like I have a Q, which will get him to call, because the odds of me having the last Q are so slim.
mike331949: calls $80 and is all-in Perfect
Uncalled bet ($82) returned to DUG
*** SHOW DOWN ***
DUG: shows [Qh Tc] (four of a kind, Queens)
mike331949: shows [As Ac] (a full house, Queens full of Aces)
DUG collected $237 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $240 Rake $3
Board [9h Qs Qc 8h Qd]
Seat 1: AndrewBoccia folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 3: mike331949 showed [As Ac] and lost with a full house, Queens full of Aces
Seat 4: tommylay2002 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 5: Haubitze31 (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 7: dingdong40 (small blind) folded on the Flop
Seat 8: DUG (big blind) showed [Qh Tc] and won ($237) with four of a kind, Queens

As you can see the below hand was played on Tuesday, it was ok to see the flop, but after that I should have gotten out fast.

POKERSTARS GAME #22566279620: HOLD'EM NO LIMIT ($1/$2) - 2008/12/02 - 17:01:02 (ET)
Table 'Abastumani II' 9-max Seat #7 is the button
Seat 1: Sunny Equity ($190.70 in chips)
Seat 2: B1gSexyB ($249 in chips)
Seat 3: Diplomat Jim ($88.30 in chips)
Seat 4: roberlander ($200 in chips)
Seat 5: NoiSe NL ($179.60 in chips)
Seat 6: george3739 ($124.50 in chips)
Seat 7: DUG ($191 in chips)
Seat 8: hoer25 ($198 in chips)
Seat 9: Sharknebulah ($224.45 in chips)
hoer25: posts small blind $1
Sharknebulah: posts big blind $2
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to DUG [Tc 9c]
Sunny Equity: folds
B1gSexyB: folds
Diplomat Jim: folds
roberlander: raises $4 to $6
NoiSe NL: calls $6
george3739: calls $6
DUG: calls $6 This call was ok since I have suited connectors.
hoer25: folds
Sharknebulah: folds
*** FLOP *** [Jh 9d 4d] I hit middle pair.
roberlander: bets $18
NoiSe NL: calls $18
george3739: folds
DUG: calls $18 With a better and a caller I should have folded and folded fast.
*** TURN *** [Jh 9d 4d] [6c]
ro berlander: checks
NoiSe NL: bets $10
DUG: raises $25 to $35 This was real dumb.
roberlander: folds
NoiSe NL: raises $25 to $60
DUG: calls $25 This was even dumber.
*** RIVER *** [Jh 9d 4d 6c] [3d]
NoiSe NL: checks
DUG: bets $107 and is all-in How stupid, I am an IDIOT
NoiSe NL: calls $95.60 and is all-in
Uncalled bet ($11.40) returned to DUG
*** SHOW DOWN ***
DUG: shows [Tc 9c] (a pair of Nines)
NoiSe NL: shows [Jd 6h] (two pair, Jacks and Sixes)
NoiSe NL collected $389.20 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $392.20 Rake $3
Board [Jh 9d 4d 6c 3d]
Seat 1: Sunny Equity folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 2: B1gSexyB folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 3: Diplomat Jim folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 4: roberlander folded on the Turn
Seat 5: NoiSe NL showed [Jd 6h] and won ($389.20) with two pair, Jacks and Sixes
Seat 6: george3739 folded on the Flop
Seat 7: DUG (button) showed [Tc 9c] and lost with a pair of Nines
Seat 8: hoer25 (small blind) folded before Flop
Seat 9: Sharknebulah (big blind) folded before Flop

Cheers,

DUG

Tuesday, December 2, 2008

Thanksgiving 2008: South Beach

Thanksgiving 2008: It has been 4 days since the marathon and I have recovered nicely I am back working out, trying to keep my fitness and allowing me to stuff myself with turkey and dessert and not gain weight. Margarite and I are heading to South Beach (Miami, Florida) for a few days of rest and relaxation. We took a mid- morning flight on Thanksgiving Day arriving at our hotel around 1:00pm. I arranged a top floor ocean / pool view room. The global economic crisis is having a great positive effect on people that have been savers and conservative with there savings. The hotel we are staying is the Sagamore. Since August the room rate has dropped 40% and occupancy is down 50%. Once we arrived at the hotel I went to the pool and Margarite took a nap.

(More to the story and some videos below)



The Sagamore is a art hotel more like an art museum then a hotel. There are sculptures and pictures throughout the hotel. One cool exhibit was the stairwell project where each floor of the stairwell was done by a different artist.

Thanksgiving Dinner was at Barton G a very unique restaurant local to Miami. At the restaurant we ran into Dan and Naomi, what a small world. They had read on LifeOfDUG that I was heading to South Beach and they decided it sounded like a great place to hang for Thanksgiving. They reason they had not told me they were headed to South Beach was they thought LifeOfDUG was 100% fictitious and did not believe Margarite and I were actually going to be in South Beach for Thanksgiving. We ended up having dinner together. Everybody had a great meals, Margarite had Foie Gras served with a replica Eiffel Tower bringing back memories of our recent trip to France. Naomi had a wheel barrel full of veggies.

Dan and Naomi were going to the Everglades National Park on Friday and invited us along. We did a 10 mile canoe trip through the glades. We started at Nine Mile Pond and followed a trail that winded its way through the glades and then back to Nine Mile Pond. It was a great trip the only disappointment is we did not see much wildlife.



On the way home we stopped at “Robert is here" which is a family owned and operated fruit stand, which is known for milkshakes. The milkshakes were good but not the world’s best.

Margarite and I were wiped out and called it an early night. I think Margarite is falling in love with me. Saturday I got up and ran an easy 4 miles on the beach I am amazed how quickly I recovered from the marathon. The plan for today is layout at the pool all day.

There is a crazy rumor that Naomi was seen at Miami Ink Friday night and got a very wild tattoo I have no idea if it is true or not, I just over heard some people talking at the pool about a situation that happened at Miami Ink and it sounded like something Naomi would be involved with.

Pee-Diddy was at our pool most of the day with his entourage you know the wrapper. Margarite got his autograph she thought the kids at the orphanage would get a kick out of it I found it strange as I have no idea how any of the kids would know who Pee-Diddy even is. There were also a lot of women with Pee-Diddy with what I would call artificial body parts. What would possess a woman to augment what nature gave them? I guess only a woman would know the answers to that one.

After a day in the sun for me and the shade for Margarite we hung out in the room until about 8:00 pm and then went out in search of food. Our hotel is just off Lincoln Road which is a pedestrian road with many local tourist restaurants and boutique shops as well as national chains. There are also many street vendors as well as street artist on Lincoln Road. There was one guy with no arms doing drawings with his feet, unbelievable. Lincoln Road was crowded so we walked down to Española Way & Washington Avenue. This is a small side street with a couple of local restaurants and Bohemian shops.

Sunday was a rainy cloudy day fortunately the pool has covered cabanas so we were able to hang out at the pool. Since we were the only one at the pool we had great service. There was a contest to see who could tread water the longest Margarite won she lasted 1.5 hours (see video).



We walked up to the Fontainebleau Hotel for dinner the Fontainebleau is a long time Miami Beach classic made famous in the late 1960's by Jackie Gleason. It has recently been remodeled and we thought it might be cool to see. It was a little overwhelming a rather large complex for two individuals from Botswana. We had dinner at Vida it was just ok. The walk up and back was a total of 4 miles and Margarite’s foot held up fine. On the way home we got to see a great fireworks display out on the beach, I am not sure what the occasion was, but they were great fireworks.

Monday, we fly home to Botswana. We fly direct from Miami to Dubai then connect to a direct flight into Botswana. Then the awesome 3 hour bus ride to our village. It has been well over a month since I have been home and can not wait to see everybody. We have a few hours to kill before our flight since it is raining we plan to do some shopping on Lincoln Road get some lunch and then head to the airport for the 20 hour trip.

We did find a great place for breakfast and lunch it is just south of Lincoln Road and Collins Avenue on Collins. It is called La Provence and is an authentic French Bakery. Unbelievable French Pastries, Mobe would love it. All and all South Beach was great for a few days of R&R.

As far as poker, I only played a little bit this week between the marathon and traveling I had no time, here are my Poker Statistics. I played less then an hour, only 89 hands. I won $154.90 which is $157.53 an hour.

Here are my biggest losing hand and winning hand.

POKERSTARS GAME #22348698931: HOLD'EM NO LIMIT ($0.50/$1.00) - 2008/11/25 - 08:14:25 (ET)
Table 'Alekto' 9-max Seat #7 is the button
Seat 4: Marijo03 ($60 in chips)
Seat 5: 99killed ($166.40 in chips)
Seat 6: DUG ($97.25 in chips)
Seat 7: redbull+pkr ($98.50 in chips)
Seat 8: Livity ($100 in chips)
Livity: posts small blind $0.50
Marijo03: posts big blind $1
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to DUG [4h Ah]
99killed: raises $2 to $3
DUG: calls $3 I like my position and 99Killed is aggressive so if I hit the flush I will get most of his money.
redbull+pkr: folds
Livity: folds
Marijo03: folds
*** FLOP *** [6h 5c Qh]
99killed: bets $5
DUG: calls $5 I have the nut flush draw, I am not getting the right odds about 2 to 1 and I have about a 38% chance to hit, but the implied odds are very good because I know this player.
*** TURN *** [6h 5c Qh] [Ks]
99killed: bets $12
DUG: calls $12 This is a bad call. The pot is about $17 so I am not even getting 2 to 1 and I only have a 20% chance to hit a heart.
*** RIVER *** [6h 5c Qh Ks] [8s]
99killed: bets $30
DUG: folds I only have Ace high I have to fold.
Uncalled bet ($30) returned to 99killed
shmaf joins the table at seat #3
99killed collected $39.50 from pot
99killed: doesn't show hand
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $41.50 Rake $2
Board [6h 5c Qh Ks 8s]
Seat 4: Marijo03 (big blind) folded before Flop
Seat 5: 99killed collected ($39.50)
Seat 6: DUG folded on the River
Seat 7: redbull+pkr (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 8: Livity (small blind) folded before Flop

Winning Hand

POKERSTARS GAME #22377869491: HOLD'EM NO LIMIT ($1/$2) - 2008/11/26 - 08:44:00 (ET)
Table 'Misam III' 9-max Seat #9 is the button
Seat 1: ibiza007 ($196 in chips)
Seat 2: DUG ($191 in chips)
Seat 3: vincewarby ($51.70 in chips)
Seat 4: BIGAUD257 ($21.05 in chips)
Seat 5: Haugiboy1986 ($76 in chips)
Seat 6: ab26 ($126.15 in chips)
Seat 7: Koldan ($78 in chips)
Seat 8: gosha15 ($51 in chips)
Seat 9: When in Rohm ($196 in chips)
ibiza007: posts small blind $1
DUG: posts big blind $2
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to DUG [Ts 6s]
vincewarby: calls $2
BIGAUD257: folds
Haugiboy1986: folds
ab26: folds
Koldan: folds
gosha15: calls $2
When in Rohm: calls $2
ibiza007: calls $1
DUG: checks This is what is known as a big blind special. Remember I got into the hand for free, since I was the big blind.
*** FLOP *** [4d 8c 7s] I have a gut shot straight draw. This is not that good a hand, I need a 9 to hit my straight and someone could have Jack Ten which would have me beat. I just want to hope for a free card.
ibiza007: checks
DUG: checks
vincewarby: checks Perfect
gosha15: bets $6 Damm, I wish I got to play for free. This is a ¾ of the pot bet so he wants us to fold, so he must have top pair, and he wants to chase away any straight draws. Now someone could have 5 6 and already have a straight.
When in Rohm: folds
ibiza007: folds
DUG: calls $6 Normally this would look like a bad call, but I know Vincewarby will call, he is what is know as a calling station he will call every bet to the river, and then fold on the river unless he has a good but not great hand.
vincewarby: calls $6 Perfect, so I bet $6 into a pot that is $22 so that gives me the correct odds, considering I believe a Ten will also give me the win, 7 outs.
*** TURN *** [4d 8c 7s] [9s]
DUG: checks Perfect I now have a straight and a ten high flush draw. I know someone will bet so I will check raise.
vincewarby: bets $2 Wow he bet so he must have something. He would have bet more if he had a hand better then mine.
gosha15: calls $2
DUG: raises $13 to $15 I want to raise to chase out a better straight draw, also if I do get called this bet will disguise my flush draw if a spade comes on the river.
vincewarby: calls $13 Wow
gosha15: calls $13 Wow
*** RIVER *** [4d 8c 7s 9s] [As] Hit my flush, just hope one of these guys had an Ace.
DUG: bets $12 I want both to call so I make a weak beat.
vincewarby: raises $12 to $24 I hope he hit two pair on the river.
gosha15: calls $24 Wow.
DUG: calls $12 Have to call, I believe I have the best hand and even if I do not the odds are to good to fold.
*** SHOW DOWN ***
vincewarby: shows [Ac 9d] (two pair, Aces and Nines)
gosha15: mucks hand
DUG: shows [Ts 6s] (a flush, Ace high)
DUG collected $142 from pot That Ace was the best river card for me, they both hit two pair on the river.
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $145 Rake $3
Board [4d 8c 7s 9s As]
Seat 1: ibiza007 (small blind) folded on the Flop
Seat 2: DUG (big blind) showed [Ts 6s] and won ($142) with a flush, Ace high
Seat 3: vincewarby showed [Ac 9d] and lost with two pair, Aces and Nines
Seat 4: BIGAUD257 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 5: Haugiboy1986 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 6: ab26 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 7: Koldan folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Se at 8: gosha15 mucked [Ad 8h]
Seat 9: When in Rohm (button) folded on the Flop


Cheers,

DUG