I love beer festivals. Granted, I haven't been to many, but when it's love, you just KNOW it, you know? The Great Taste is a terrific beer festival for so many reasons. It's really well-organized and reasonably priced at $35. They only sell 5000 tickets, so it's not overcrowded. It's held at a nice park on the lake in Madison. The people are friendly and the food is good. Best of all, every good brewery in the Midwest is serving beer. You can sample some rare beers that are almost impossible to get, such as barrel aged Dark Lord and barrel aged Darkness.
I can't wait for August 9!
- schneid
Thursday, July 17, 2008
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
Why did the caribou cross the road?
...because their habitat was destroyed by profit-mongering US oil companies! Gosh, that's not very funny.
Yes, the price of gas is very high right now. That sucks. Most everyone would agree with that. But will drilling for oil in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Reserve solve that problem? No.
Here's the premise: we need to drill for oil in Alaska to lower gas prices!
And here are the reasons that will not work:
Big Oil could charge less for gas, and maybe just for one quarter they could have just average billion dollar profits, rather than record multi-billion dollar profits. But they won't do it, because then where would the CEos get all the 100 dollar bills to light their cigars?
Good potential solutions may be:
Didn't we encounter the very same problem in the 1970s? Everyone was going crazy about solar power and other alternative energy sources. Then we were all fat and happy in the 80s and 90s and forgot all about it. Maybe if we spent billions of dollars on research instead of war, we would already have an answer.
Maybe McCain will follow Bush's lead and send everyone an extra tax refund - an economic incentive. Unfortunately, that's just giving you back your own money.
- schneid
Yes, the price of gas is very high right now. That sucks. Most everyone would agree with that. But will drilling for oil in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Reserve solve that problem? No.
Here's the premise: we need to drill for oil in Alaska to lower gas prices!
And here are the reasons that will not work:
- It will take years to get any oil from ANWR, so why would that help oil prices now?
- The total oil coming from ANWR will be about 1% of the world oil supply. Why should we think that will affect oil prices by more than 1%?
- OPEC controls the world's oil prices, so if we actually manage to produce more oil, they will just produce less, keeping the prices the same.
- Even if somehow we could put a dent in the oil supply, why would Big Oil give us a break on the price??? They could do that RIGHT NOW! But do they? NO! They continue to make record profits while we all suffer the consequences.
Big Oil could charge less for gas, and maybe just for one quarter they could have just average billion dollar profits, rather than record multi-billion dollar profits. But they won't do it, because then where would the CEos get all the 100 dollar bills to light their cigars?
Good potential solutions may be:
- alternative energy sources
- drive less
- more fuel efficient cars
- take public transportation
- 4 day work week
Didn't we encounter the very same problem in the 1970s? Everyone was going crazy about solar power and other alternative energy sources. Then we were all fat and happy in the 80s and 90s and forgot all about it. Maybe if we spent billions of dollars on research instead of war, we would already have an answer.
Maybe McCain will follow Bush's lead and send everyone an extra tax refund - an economic incentive. Unfortunately, that's just giving you back your own money.
- schneid
Sunday, July 13, 2008
Poker tourney cash
I finally managed to win a little money in a poker tournament.
I was disappointed with my results at Friday's tournament with our weekly group. I would be remiss to not mention my first bustout (it was a rebuy tourney) to Marc with my KK vs his 99 where, of course, he rivered a 9. Anyway, I finished 7th out of 10.
On Saturday night, I found some cool tournaments on PokerStars. There are $12 sit-n-gos for 180 players. The only ones that ever fill are turbos, which I'm not crazy about. It's amazing how fast these go - 2/3 of the players are eliminated in under an hour. It pays 18 places, but you don't get much unless you are top 5. I won a 9 player $16 sit-n-go for $67.50 but didn't cash in the 180-player.
On Sunday night, I played in 6 simultaneous 180-player sit-n-gos. They fill up every 10 minutes or so. I at least doubled my stack in four of them. And finally, in one of them, I made it to the final 3. The overwhelming chip leader surprisingly offered to make a deal. He suggested a very good deal and we agreed. I was third in chips with about 26,000, and the other players had about 54,000 and 190,000. My cut was $350, which was almost second place money.
It was nice to get a decent cash and I'm going to start playing these regularly. The level of the players is awful. When it gets down to about 30 players, the skill level is pretty good. But there isn't much room to maneuver because the antes kick in and the stacks aren't very big, so you pretty much need to push all-in or fold. And then you need to get lucky.
I also played in an insane 0.50/$1 cash game on Saturday night. A guy kept making and calling raises with crap and making huge hands. Here's the first hand he showed down, and lost:
UTG limps, UTG+1 raises to $16 all-in (huge overbet), Maniac calls on BB, UTG calls all-in.
UTG: JJ
UTG+1: AQo
Maniac: 8d3s ???
The board came 6s As 6c 8h 2s and AQo wins with two pair. But the Maniac called a huge $14 to win a $18.50 pot with 83 offsuit! Shortly after, the Maniac triples up.
UTG limps for $1, UTG+2 limps, SB raises to $6, BB (Maniac) raises to $22 all-in, UTG folds, UTG+2 calls all-in, SB calls all-in. The hands?
UTG+2: AcAs
SB: QdQc
Maniac: 43cc
Flop: 3h 2c Tc
Turn: 9c !
River: 2s
And Maniac triples up with his flush. The following hand occurred immediately after that one:
HJ-1 limps, HJ raises to $4, SB (Maniac) calls, BB calls, HJ-1 calls.
Flop: 6c 2d 2h
HJ bets $10, Maniac calls, everyone else folds.
Turn: 9c
HJ bets $21, Maniac raises to $49 all-in, HJ calls.
River: Qc
The HJ had TT. Maniac flopped a boat with 6h2s!
In two hands, the Maniac now has 6x his starting stack.
Now everyone is gunning for the Maniac, calling raises with very little, and hoping to double up. I finally get a decent hand and get into a pot with him.
me: AKo
Maniac: ?
Maniac raises to $5 UTG, CO calls, I call on SB. I wanted to reraise, but I didn't want the CO to think I was trying to isolate the maniac and reraise me.
Flop: 8d Qd Ac
I check to give the Maniac some rope, Maniac bets $10, CO goes all-in for $13, I raise to $25, Maniac calls.
Turn: 9d
I hate that card. I check, Maniac bets $20, I call.
River: 6c
I check, Maniac bets $25, I call.
Maniac shows down 5d3d for a flush! I lost $70 in that pot. I started playing badly, calling raises with bad hands to try to snap off the maniac, but it never happened. Fortunately, I managed to get all-in with someone else with QQ vs TT on a 922 flop to recover my loss and actually finish the table with a slight gain. The Maniac started with $39 and worked it up over $200.
-schneid
I was disappointed with my results at Friday's tournament with our weekly group. I would be remiss to not mention my first bustout (it was a rebuy tourney) to Marc with my KK vs his 99 where, of course, he rivered a 9. Anyway, I finished 7th out of 10.
On Saturday night, I found some cool tournaments on PokerStars. There are $12 sit-n-gos for 180 players. The only ones that ever fill are turbos, which I'm not crazy about. It's amazing how fast these go - 2/3 of the players are eliminated in under an hour. It pays 18 places, but you don't get much unless you are top 5. I won a 9 player $16 sit-n-go for $67.50 but didn't cash in the 180-player.
On Sunday night, I played in 6 simultaneous 180-player sit-n-gos. They fill up every 10 minutes or so. I at least doubled my stack in four of them. And finally, in one of them, I made it to the final 3. The overwhelming chip leader surprisingly offered to make a deal. He suggested a very good deal and we agreed. I was third in chips with about 26,000, and the other players had about 54,000 and 190,000. My cut was $350, which was almost second place money.
It was nice to get a decent cash and I'm going to start playing these regularly. The level of the players is awful. When it gets down to about 30 players, the skill level is pretty good. But there isn't much room to maneuver because the antes kick in and the stacks aren't very big, so you pretty much need to push all-in or fold. And then you need to get lucky.
I also played in an insane 0.50/$1 cash game on Saturday night. A guy kept making and calling raises with crap and making huge hands. Here's the first hand he showed down, and lost:
UTG limps, UTG+1 raises to $16 all-in (huge overbet), Maniac calls on BB, UTG calls all-in.
UTG: JJ
UTG+1: AQo
Maniac: 8d3s ???
The board came 6s As 6c 8h 2s and AQo wins with two pair. But the Maniac called a huge $14 to win a $18.50 pot with 83 offsuit! Shortly after, the Maniac triples up.
UTG limps for $1, UTG+2 limps, SB raises to $6, BB (Maniac) raises to $22 all-in, UTG folds, UTG+2 calls all-in, SB calls all-in. The hands?
UTG+2: AcAs
SB: QdQc
Maniac: 43cc
Flop: 3h 2c Tc
Turn: 9c !
River: 2s
And Maniac triples up with his flush. The following hand occurred immediately after that one:
HJ-1 limps, HJ raises to $4, SB (Maniac) calls, BB calls, HJ-1 calls.
Flop: 6c 2d 2h
HJ bets $10, Maniac calls, everyone else folds.
Turn: 9c
HJ bets $21, Maniac raises to $49 all-in, HJ calls.
River: Qc
The HJ had TT. Maniac flopped a boat with 6h2s!
In two hands, the Maniac now has 6x his starting stack.
Now everyone is gunning for the Maniac, calling raises with very little, and hoping to double up. I finally get a decent hand and get into a pot with him.
me: AKo
Maniac: ?
Maniac raises to $5 UTG, CO calls, I call on SB. I wanted to reraise, but I didn't want the CO to think I was trying to isolate the maniac and reraise me.
Flop: 8d Qd Ac
I check to give the Maniac some rope, Maniac bets $10, CO goes all-in for $13, I raise to $25, Maniac calls.
Turn: 9d
I hate that card. I check, Maniac bets $20, I call.
River: 6c
I check, Maniac bets $25, I call.
Maniac shows down 5d3d for a flush! I lost $70 in that pot. I started playing badly, calling raises with bad hands to try to snap off the maniac, but it never happened. Fortunately, I managed to get all-in with someone else with QQ vs TT on a 922 flop to recover my loss and actually finish the table with a slight gain. The Maniac started with $39 and worked it up over $200.
-schneid
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