actually he has a real store and pays import duties on the goods he brings back to canada.
he won a case in court allowing him to do this. i dont know about the trademark issues in canada. but i wish him all the best as he isnt hurting anyone, and is rooting for trader joes to open in his town so he can close.

well spring is here in montana. my fruit trees are starting to bud out and the animals are getting into mating. around here spring is late and almost summer time for others.

this year was mild during the winter so the deer have really populated on my property. i get to see at least 40 every time i come home. there is a lot of agitation for them so starving isnt something they need to worry about.
the coyotes get quite a few during the winter and i find lots of deer bones around.

it seems many have been saying poker is slowing down all around. this may be true or it may be more localized. ive been in a few places where it is better than ever.

poker should follow the economy somewhat. so since the economy has gotten much better and we are in fact in a boom poker needs to follow that. since it lags the advance of the economy time will tell, but it looks like it is slowing.

same old story. watched a 300 buyin tourny today at the last table. one guy had most of the chips while most of the others just sat there and anteed themselves broke trying to move up on the field. thus basically forfeiting first or second place money hoping to get something back.

the fear of getting broke in a tourny seems to make players play badly trying to last and not go broke.

came in third in a small tourny yesterday. mostly because i lucked out on two hands, but gave myself a great chance of winning them with fold equity. it didnt work so i had to just draw out on them

most players play way too careful and rely on getting in the money solely on the hands they get for the night.

Really enjoy reading your thread. Your splitpoker book gave me the foundation to not only win a Stud8 MFTOPS and 109$ Big Game, but also got me in position to basically instantly be profitable at 8-Game smallstakes, despite only having played NLHE and PLO seriously before.

thanks too rare.
glad you like it and the split book. it has helped many players to become winners and financially solvent.

and as always i encourage players to set up a retirement plan and an investment plan for their earnings. this way it compounds over the years which do slip by, and sets you up for being well off later on when its more important.

thanks too rare.
glad you like it and the split book. it has helped many players to become winners and financially solvent.

and as always i encourage players to set up a retirement plan and an investment plan for their earnings. this way it compounds over the years which do slip by, and sets you up for being well off later on when its more important.

What are your thoughts on poker in Calgary and Edmonton?

poker in calgary and edmonton is always good. there are plenty of places to play especially calgary. they play many different games and limits and being a wealthy city there are lots of players with money to gamble with.
still some very good players live there and play in some big games that are not regular but happen often enough. mostly plo for those.
i dont go up there much anymore but do keep some tabs on the action.
but there is good medium limit holdem and very good small blind no limit.

Cool, keep up the good work.

Any particularly funny or sad moments or anecdotes from the tables worth sharing? Here's one, intoxicated 30ish woman raising and reraising until she's all in on the river, announces "flush" and tables her cards, her opponent says "full house" and tables his, someone else points out to her that she has a royal flush.

playing a long time ago in oregon i got a place that only played lowball to start no limit holdem. it was a relatively big game and the money would be great. after a few hands one of the players asked what is a good hand in this game.
well the only other player that knew the game of holdem and he also played very well needed to show how smart he was and told the table you want to have like ace king or big pairs and big suited cards.
they still played badly and lost but he did hurt the action. and didnt show how smart he was.

lately i have been lake fishing for stocked trout. they are easy to catch if you learn the tricks for your area. i usually can catch as many as i want in a fairly short time.
ive been keeping a few each time for dinner as i like them on the bbq grill.

i tend to release all native fish but will keep stocked trout to eat at times.

lately been on a rush in the small field tourneys. last four of them i gotten at least third. partly better hands than normal of course but also i have been able to keep a float by winning the smallish pots over and over.
too many just dont want to risk going broke as they are there to play and want to last.

Enjoying your blog Ray, I know Montana is a big state but do you ever get to play cards with the Brunson clan?

Went through Montana years ago and got to spend the night at a pow wow in Wolfes Point, going into town that read "Lewis and Clark stayed here, why don't you!", so we did!

It was wonderful they we camped out among hundreds of tents and several authentic tee-pees , there was song, dance and we were treated very well.
Ever since then I've been eager to return to the big sky state

hank it is a wonderful place to visit in the summer, winter if you ski. so many of those kind of things go on to see and do. the western part is the continental divide so the scenery is the best.
todd and the family come up in the summer and i usually get to see them. todd also has a poker tournament in august so he is around and playing then. he is more fun to go out drinking with though as i can always talk him into paying for the drinks

had a good run in the local tournaments lately but it has come to an end. the last two ive only gotten to about half way through. no fault of my own just the luck of the game.
there isnt much room for playing hands out and making great plays. the blinds move up fast and you are almost always short stacked. you have to win all the hands given to you when you know they arent calling. then along with a few all ins with some kind of a race.

small tournaments are more of a game of picking spots than playing poker.

i just read where eskimo has passed on. too bad as he was a character and fun usually to have at the table. he will be missed and remembered.

here is a little story --

many years back we were playing in about a 200/400 limit razz game at the 4 queens in vegas. the game was quite good with easy pickings and eskimo losing as he often did back then in cash games.
after a time i realized that the cards were marked in the game. i wasnt sure who may have been in or even if they came in from some other table and no one knew. but i made a big stink about it as that is best. so the floorman took the deck out and said he would check it and i still wasnt happy with the little response from him. i guess he was in.
but eskimo who was losing and certainly wasnt part of any scam asked me to be quiet about it as he didnt want any of the players to quit. i guess he would rather be cheated than not have a game to play
i quit soon after as i determined two players were at least partners and they probably did the deed. later i heard he and another player lost big. the funny part was he and all the rest kept playing even after i showed how the deck had been marked.
there are lots of interesting and funny eskimo(paul clark) stories and he deserves his place in poker.

I heard that Eskimo was killed 4 years ago before i went to the WSOP. I got to the WSOP and there was Eskimo. I'd check the story if I were you. I'll be at WSOP on Sunday. Any chance you will be there? Talked to you a lot via this forum through the years but have never met you in person. I think I would like that.

Vince Lepore

I watched a tourney at Bellagio a few years ago. It was bubble time. Tony Ma and Sklansky were short stacked at the same table. I'm not sure what the payouts were. But Sklansky could not get his hand in the muck quick enough waiting for Tony or someone else to bust. Tony played the same way except he took a little longer to fold. Quite a sight watching millionaire Sklansky trying to cash. If I remember correctly they both made the money.

this time i think its true eskimo is gone. almost all of the players from my era that were smokers are dead or in bad shape medically. of course most smokers dont take care of themselves or care anyway or they wouldnt even consider smoking.
each time one goes a little piece of the good old days of poker is gone.

I was a 3 pack per day smoker from 1966 to 1982.There were a few periods in there that I tried unsucessfully to quit. Quit cold turkey in 82. Havent smoked since. Nasty habit in addition to being unhealthy.

You think the old days of poker were good days? Interesting.There are those that think the moneymaker phenom were the best days of poker. This forum's participation worldwide should make you twoplustwo owners consider this a very good time for poker. Then again if poker continues to grow world wide we may have yet to see pokers best days. Are you going to be in Vegas in the near future.

the old days of poker everyone knew each other and were very social at the table. it was like a true social event to go play poker. the games were good and not as much free money around for sure like during the big internet boom. but that doesnt make those days so great. in my opinion. the games as it stands isnt as much fun as the players are not the same kind as before. they are very much less social. not all of course but in general.

plus when i go out to play hardly anyone talks much and just sits and stares. way too many players tank for no reason and ruin a good game. poker is slow enough as it is.

A...freaken...men