Friday, January 2, 2009

Week of December 27th 2008 a year in review, meet Big Bill Ludwick

HAPPY NEW YEAR FROM BOTSWANA!!!

Besides the quick trip to Holland, this week was not that exciting. I did have my meeting with the elders about the village master plan and got approval to investigate the feasibility of acquiring or building compost toilets.  I believe these toilets will eliminate a waste and health issue for our village, at the same time produce fertilizer for the crops and maybe even some energy. More on that as my research unfolds.

I did have a visit this week from a long time friend William (Big Bill) Ludwick. Many of you may know Big Bill as Mr. Pittsburgh he competed a few years ago in Body Building competition (see picture). His big claim to fame turning down steroids back in the day, the steroids were offered to him by another body builder that is now in politics so I do not want to mention his name. Big Bill was in South Africa for a business conference and decided to hop over for a quick visit. I took the bus into Gaborone to meet up with Big Bill. He was staying at the The Grand Palm which is a Peermont Resort. (see pictures) They have a casino and a very nice Poker Room. Big Bill is a very good poker play in fact if you ask him he might even say he is a great poker player. We entered a $100.00 U.S. dollar No-Limit Texas Holdem tournament. Remember in Botswana you can live like a king for a week on $1.00 U.S. dollar. This was a big money tournament for most of the locals.  The prize pool was $20,000 U.S. dollars with 200 players at 20 tables. I made to the final 4 tables but pushed my chips all in with a bluff and got called so I was out. Big Bill made it to the final table and got heads up with one of the local players Big Bill had a huge chip lead.  Botswana does not have much corruption, but the guy Big Bill was playing was one of the exceptions, I am not sure his real name but he was known as Jake. If Big Bill beat this guy we may have had an issue with leaving to see the next day. So Big Bill laid down some monster hands at one point both players had the same size stack. Jake pushed all in with pockets Aces, Big Bill called with 3 4 off suite. We were sure Big Bill would lose. The flop was Ace, 2, 5 giving Big Bill a straight. What awful luck. The turn was a 10, but the river was an Ace giving Jake 4 of a kind and he won the tournament. Big Bill still took home $2,500 U.S. dollars so he was happy. Big Bill wanted to get a lady for the night I reminded him this was Botswana and not Vegas and he got my point. We had a great dinner, which Big Bill bought and then we headed our separate ways, me on a bus back to the village and Big Bill on a plane back to South Africa and then back to America.
2008 was an exciting year for many there were a lot of ups and down. Most of the excitement was in America, but as I had mentioned before much of what happens in America is watched by most other countries. Rather then go through the list of events I thought this video hits most of them right on the mark.



Poker this short week was very stressful. At one point I was down almost $550.00 dollars at minus $200.00 an hour. Fortunately patients and discipline paid off and I recovered almost all of the loss, to have a down week of $28.35 I played 10.5 hours so my hourly loss was $2.70. I was very pleased that I was able to recover. This was my first loss in about 9 weeks.   Below are my best and worst hands for the week. The best hand was actually a mistake that paid off I will explain in the detailed explanation below.


BEST HAND


WORST HAND


BEST HAND
POKERSTARS GAME #23388436341:  HOLD'EM NO LIMIT ($1/$2) - 2008/12/29 23:28:54 ET
Table 'Echemmon II' 9-max Seat #9 is the button
Seat 1: vjpconst1 ($200 in chips)
Seat 2: PuppaBongo ($207.30 in chips)
Seat 3: xfactr21 ($256.05 in chips)
Seat 4: greg1983007 ($53.15 in chips)
Seat 5: zachvac ($253.75 in chips)
Seat 6: Tixmaster ($200 in chips)
Seat 7: WMJ3910 ($65.45 in chips)
Seat 8: DUG ($184 in chips)
Seat 9: mza33 ($259.95 in chips)
vjpconst1: posts small blind $1
PuppaBongo: posts big blind $2
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to DUG [8s Ts]            Normally would not play this hand
xfactr21: folds
greg1983007: calls $2
zachvac: folds
Tixmaster: folds
WMJ3910: folds
DUG: calls $2                Might be worth it if I hit I no one will put me on a 8 T suited.
mza33: folds
vjpconst1: calls $1
PuppaBongo: raises $6 to $8        Not good should fold.
greg1983007: folds
DUG: calls $6                What the Hell, not guts no glory.
vjpconst1: calls $6            At least now I am getting 3 to 1 on my money.
*** FLOP *** [9s 3s 5h]        Have a flush draw but it would be 10 high.
vjpconst1: checks
PuppaBongo: bets $12      
DUG: calls $12            I call because I believe vjconst1 will call and with the implied odds, I am happy with the odds.
vjpconst1: calls $12            Perfect
*** TURN *** [9s 3s 5h] [7c]    Now I have a flush draw and spade (9 cards) and a gut shot straight draw with a 6 (3 cards I already counted the 6 of spades in the flush draw)
vjpconst1: checks
PuppaBongo: bets $30
DUG: raises $134 to $164 and is all-in  This was my mistake that paid off. I was planning to raise 75 (semi bluff) and some how typed in the number wrong. I think I typed in 750. So it put me all in.  This worked as you will see below if I would have raised  PuppaBongo would have re-raised all in, and I might have folded.
vjpconst1: folds
PuppaBongo: calls $134
*** RIVER *** [9s 3s 5h 7c] [As]    Poker Gods paid me off.
*** SHOW DOWN ***
PuppaBongo: shows [Kd Ks] (a pair of Kings)
DUG: shows [8s Ts] (a flush, Ace high)
DUG collected $387 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $390 | Rake $3
Board [9s 3s 5h 7c As]
Seat 1: vjpconst1 (small blind) folded on the Turn
Seat 2: PuppaBongo (big blind) showed [Kd Ks] and lost with a pair of Kings
Seat 3: xfactr21 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 4: greg1983007 folded before Flop
Seat 5: zachvac folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 6: Tixmaster folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 7: WMJ3910 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 8: DUG showed [8s Ts] and won ($387) with a flush, Ace high
Seat 9: mza33 (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)

WORST HAND
POKERSTARS GAME #23386855859:  HOLD'EM NO LIMIT ($1/$2) - 2008/12/29 22:27:26 ET
Table 'Sextans VI' 9-max Seat #9 is the button
Seat 1: JDSMOKEY ($643.25 in chips)
Seat 2: DUG ($200 in chips)
Seat 3: ahh_snap ($322 in chips)
Seat 4: chuckk ($333.50 in chips)
Seat 5: cbob8 ($175.20 in chips)
Seat 6: FrAnWaN ($311 in chips)
Seat 7: Gooserer ($210.85 in chips)
Seat 8: bsc30 ($94.45 in chips)
Seat 9: I The King I ($200 in chips)
JDSMOKEY: posts small blind $1
DUG: posts big blind $2
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to DUG [2c 2d]
ahh_snap: folds
chuckk: folds
cbob8: raises $8 to $10
FrAnWaN: folds
Gooserer: folds
bsc30: folds
I The King I: folds
JDSMOKEY: folds
DUG: calls $8                Should have folded FAST here.
*** FLOP *** [4c Qs Qd]
DUG: checks
cbob8: bets $14
DUG: calls $14            doubt he has a Q, but could be trying to mislead me. I thought it was just a continuation bet.
*** TURN *** [4c Qs Qd] [Td]
DUG: checks
cbob8: bets $16
DUG: raises $16 to $32        Small raise as if I have a Q.
cbob8: calls $16
*** RIVER *** [4c Qs Qd Td] [Ad]      
DUG: bets $50            Again a small bet make it look like a value bet.
cbob8: raises $69.20 to $119.20 and is all-in    He must have AQ and I am folding fast. Or maybe even AA.
DUG: folds                 Should have never been in the hand.
Uncalled bet ($69.20) returned to cbob8
cbob8 collected $210 from pot
cbob8: doesn't show hand
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $213 | Rake $3
Board [4c Qs Qd Td Ad]
Seat 1: JDSMOKEY (small blind) folded before Flop
Seat 2: DUG (big blind) folded on the River
Seat 3: ahh_snap folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 4: chuckk folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 5: cbob8 collected ($210)
Seat 6: FrAnWaN folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 7: Gooserer folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 8: bsc30 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 9: I The King I (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)


Cheers,

DUG

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