Well, I'll fill you all in in my pass through the region. The Hilton in Missoula had a nice room and nice staff, but I passed through in the daytime and their game didn't start until evening. The game was 4/8 omaha that switched to 1/2 plo late at night, sounded fun. So I travelled on to Butte, but unfortunately the lucky lils was dead on Tuesday night and the host said they hadn't had a Tuesday night game in weeks. I then hit Cadillac Jacks in deadwood and played their big 5-10-300 Wednesday night game. Loved playing there, but ran terrible. After my big loss I drove all the way back to Billings, where they had a 2-5 PLO8 game that started up on Thursday morning and would supposedly run until the wee hours, but I left in the evening with a nice profit. Nice people there. And a guy from Wyoming filled me in on some games in Wyoming. Apparently the game on Friday nights is at the Rainbow in Sheridan. On Tuesdays and Thursdays they play in Gillete, and on Monday nights they play in Buffalo. He said the games were good, so maybe somebody wants to check that out.

thanks for that. yea nowadays not many places have daily games that are worth much. you have to travel all over to hit certain days of the week or events for the good games.

Where did you play in Billings?

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fish, i heard the billings games have picked up a little. but with the holidays most games slow down. kalispell certainly has.

I played at the Gold Dust in Billings. They had 1-2 PLO8 on Wednesday night and 2-5 PLO8 all day/night on Thursday. Thursday is their big night from what I understood. The game was decent in the day was supposedly usually greag late at night. Clearly PLO8 is the local game, which was odd but fun. There was also 2-6 limit.

plo8 is kicking aground a little. there and kalispell. seems the action players like it and so does the house as the pots hit the rake cap every hand.
problem is you lose most of your skills as you have to show the best hand each pot.

last two poker tournaments i played in i tried the fast accumulate chips routine. in other words get some chips or go home and not dilly around.
it didnt work in either one and i went home early. but in fast raising blind games it is a good way to go as you get in short position soon anyway and it is a big edge to have chips at that point when others have to play push or fold. and some call and get no value.

it probably isnt good to feed wildlife, but when its really cold i do put out something for them. it does help them get through the bad stretches. especially birds as they burn so much energy off and need food every day. some eat their weight in food every day.

one thing i enjoy is looking at various cams all over the country and even around the world. you can see in real time what is happening in all sorts of strange or familiar places.

works good for planning a trip before you go.

I like to do this, too. In fact, Zeno had me monitoring the Spitsbergen cam. I was sure that one day I would see a troop of polar bears passing by. I had to give it up when the disappointment be came difficult to bear.

I remember doing that. It was years ago. Glad it produced a positive effect, at least for awhile.

spitsbergen-svalbard photos-panoramas-videos-and-webcams

the spot for the polar bears is in chruchhill. they congregate there and eat food at the dumps. its a big tourist thing. the ice is going away and getting too warm so they figure not to many decades there wont be any polar bears.

i did get lucky and knocked in a small two table tournament yesterday. i do realize that whenever you win anything some amount of luck is involved unless it is a 100% skill game. which poker isnt .
what always helps is when one or two times you get a big pot gift from someone that shouldnt have gone so far but never realized that.

been losing quickly in the small tournaments lately. i keep getting knocked out real early but with decent hands in good spots. i am trying to accumulate chips early to stay ahead of the fast rising blinds. still i attribute it mostly to bad breaks and some of too much pushing in hands that i could have played slower.

made it to the bubble and as usual i didnt agree to pay the bubble as i prefer to have a bubble to use to my advantage. so i got broke on it and the table was very happy about that.
perhaps i could have not played the hand but decided to pick a spot.

after getting 5 feet of snow in one storm not to far from me in montana they are getting it worked out. this has been a strange year for lots of places but not too many giant casualties happened that were abnormal.
it will be interesting to see how the animals fared with the big cold and wet winter.

slid into an easy third without getting any good hands at all in the game. just managed to pick up some pots along the way without anything to speak of.
then got broke with being a small favorite and would have got to chop it for first and second if i won that.
shows how play over cards is the key.

last two tournaments went out real close to the money. sometimes you have to pick lousy hands and go fir it trying to pick up the blinds or whatnot. when someone wakes up with something good and they call, you look stupid but if smart dont feel stupid as you made the right play and that is all that counts. results dont. they come on their own.

lots of bad weather going around the country. so for all the poker players trying to eck out a living or getting spending money that is the time to put your effort in. as this is when the worse players also are inside instead of at the golf course.
make hay when the suns shines.

small 2 table tourny tonight. i stayed short for a long time after being in decent shape, then made a few good plays and of course got a little lucky and won/split it with a regular player.

funny play i made. they have a high hand prize of a buyin. so down to 3 of us and a big aces full is on the board and little action and super sure no one had it beat. so i bet giant knowing i might win it but unlikely, or i could knock out one player who might fold if the other called and he did, so we split 2 way instead of three and also split the high hand for the night 2 way instead of three.

the skiers out there in the pacific northwest are sure happy this year. lots of snow hit the slopes all winter long.
the snow plow drivers made a mint as well during the storms. so even when things are miserable for some, there is a bright side for another group. that is a good reason to look at the bright side of things when you may be getting the worst of it. when bad for you good for someone, so it will turn at a point and favor you.

What does it tell you if at the poker table and some people (always men) have dirt/grease under their fingernails, a bit unkept or long. Or if they have thick muscly hands with fingernails cut way back so as to preclude getting dirt underneath. Or the stained hands. Montana must be rife with such types. As any backwoods place.

tells me to get in pots with them.

actually though with the crew i play poker with almost none have a job. they either are retired or own their own business.

last week went down to an 800 dollar buyin tournament. i lasted without any real chances pretty late in the first day of the two day event. but then found out there were no rooms in the tourist town to be had or even nearby.

so my new strategy was to go crazy and keep shoving every weak looking spot in hopes of getting lots of chips or going home. i got to drive home.