hey we got snow today. that is montana. you never know what weather will come at any month of the year.

that is good for the poker games though. when bad days come the players all crawl out of the woodwork to the poker room. so that is the benefit to bad weather days. as well as creating some time to do the chores we all put off for whatever reason.

gamblers, its golf season for sure.

it may be tough to match up for money sometimes with players. everyone wants more strokes than they need. and the better player wont give out as many as they need to make it close. what is there to do?

well skip trying to play a match. go to the chipping and putting green and make bets on closest to the hole chipping. and bet on who makes putts first. this even outs things a bit as the longer hitter or better overall player doesnt have to win in the short game.

you can easily spot a few feet on a long put or a club length or so on chips.  makes it easy to get bets going. and from there you can often move to the course.

if you want to gamble both sides can find a way. if you want a cinch, stick with the fun players.

played in a nice 120 buyin tournament locally today. didnt get any hands worth playing. managed to win lots of tiny pots and lost all that had more than a little in.

near the end for me i was semi short stacked and the blinds were up. so i flopped top two and took a chance to get action and gave a free card. which i rarely do as it yields death more than success. and this time it was true. he hit a gutshot and got the rest of my chips.

overall i did the best i could do with no cards. had fun and got to go home early enough. players in my area come out of the woodwork for tournaments.

this is the time of the year the rivers flood. the one out my door is at flood stage and right at the bank. a little more which i dont think or hope will happen, and the water will pour over down my driveway. last time it went over i had about 6 inches in a low spot to go through.

its fun to watch the giant trees and logs go floating by one after another. they come from 50 miles up river or so and go all the way into the lake if they dont get hung up along the way. most find a spot where they stop and rest for a few years till the next high water.

it will be until july before the chocolate brown water turns clear again and you can easily boat and fish.

one big difference in holdem and omaha i have noticed is that in holdem most players put a decent amount of emphasis on position before they enter the hand.

in omaha most of the players play the same hands from all positions with minor changes only. hands have so many more possibilities, so maybe they dont worry about position as much. or more likely are just looking for a reason to play more hands.

since winter hours are over and summer hours are here some of the card rooms have gotten smart and are starting their games later in the day. this makes good sense to the players. some room owners would think now they get less hours in. but in reality the games dont go often early and you string out the regulars and dont get a bunching affect where they all come in together. now you can count on the games actually going as you have a starting crew all there at the same time.

there is nothing worse for a room to have 15 players come in at all different times and leave because you couldnt get 5 or so there at once.

ah finally got some high 70 degree wether. wonder why it always takes so long for it to come. maybe its because we are so far north, huh?  it actually is hoter than normal here for this time of the year.

golf is in full swing and the place is buzzing with locals getting out. this is the best time of the year after a long dull winter.  we have to remember to do things or soon it is all passed by and no good memories of the fun things.

after all we only have so long and why waste it on things that really dont make much difference. i try to remember any fun things i got from wasted time in the past and cant find much. so off to the races.

its official. yea. in montana in october the pot limit goes up from 300 to 800. this will have a good effect on the games i believe. it will bring in more players and expand poker in general. the rooms that dont adjust may suffer some but that is business.

we started out with 100 dollar limit in the pot and that was crazy. not even poker. then they went to 300 and now going to 800. thats good. politicians and outsiders want to control everything they dont know much about. that where the problems start and end.

finally started getting some warm weather up here in the middle of nowhere. the nest which i found last year near the house has baby bald eagles in it. they were there last year too.

cant get better than that to have bald eagles near your house to look at. though, after a while the trees will get too many leaves and block my view of them in the nest. but its hard to be there anyway when they make their first flight away.

poker picked up a little and that is good for everyone. when money flows it goes all around with most players getting a piece. whether they keep it or not is their problem.

we have two poker rooms in town now trying to spread about the same games for the same players. it will be interesting to see who wins out or if they both can share the limited pool of players.

certainly the one that treats or gives the best deals for the players will have the big edge. ultimately the room with the most loose action will survive likely.