Primrose vs Harrier - Troll Challenges

I think it was a very nice outcome for both trolls. I love it too, when both trolls make it ITM. Those challenges are always exciting and interesting and with this PLO8 tourney, I can perfectly combine my BR-challenge and the Troll Challenge. ♠_biggrin:♠_cool:

As I mentioned in my blog, I got infected with some little virus and do not feel super great. But I wanted to play at least this cool Troll Challenge. I was surprised that I did get that far. I´m good with that min cash. Never thought I would cash at all yesterday. ♠_ugly:

Sunday HORSE Race

Probably the last one for the time being, as I have suggested that we may keep our poker challenges to PLO8 only. Prim doesn't seem to mind, but we haven't decided on anything yet. But I'm getting seriously tired of those FL Hold'em parts where I keep losing. Prim used to complain about the Stud parts, though I think she's doing fine in them by now, even if she needs some reminders every now and then that terms like "single-suited" and "double-suited" don't really belong in Stud - at least it wasn't Badugi this time.

I don't have a lot to comment on, because I was suffering from "too many tables" syndrome yet again, trying too many SNGs at the same time as side games. I do know that I busted out very early before we were even done with all five game formats from HORSE, with me failing to win a single hand until then. I rebought, and it went a little better, I almost even could have made ITM, until I squandered everything during the FL Hold'em part again, as usual.

Prim was doing a lot better this time. Again, I can't comment on much, I often didn't even have her table open because of all those SNGs, but I can at least share a highlight hand from her during the Stud8 part - where she started out with A23ss, as she called it:

PokerStars, $0.98 + $0.12 - 7 Stud H/L Limit (H.O.R.S.E.) - 625/1,250 (250 ante) - 8 players
Hand delivered by CardsChat

Seat 3: 19,255 (15 bb)
Seat 4 (Prim): 3,610 (3 bb)
Seat 5: 26,942 (22 bb)
Seat 6: 32,596 (26 bb)
Seat 7: 12,351 (10 bb)
Seat 8: 13,846 (11 bb)
Seat 1: 22,722 (18 bb)
Seat 2: 4,776 (4 bb)

Third Street: (2,000)
Xx Xx 2♠ BI bring-in 375____BI folds
Xx Xx 8♣ UTG folds
3♣ 2♣ A♠ Prim raises to 1,250
Xx Xx K♠ MP folds
Xx Xx K♦ MP+1 folds
Xx Xx J♦ LP folds
Xx Xx 6♦ CO folds
Xx Xx 5♥ BTN calls 1,250

Fourth Street: (4,875) (2 players)
3♣ 2♣ A♠ T♣ Prim bets 1,250
Xx Xx 5♥ Q♣ BTN calls 1,250

Fifth Street: (7,375) (2 players)
3♣ 2♣ A♠ T♣ 5♦ Prim bets 860 (all-in)
Xx Xx 5♥ Q♣ 8♥ BTN calls 860

Sixth Street: (9,095) (2 players, 1 all-in)
4♦ 4♣ 5♥ Q♣ 8♥ 3♠ - Seat 1
3♣ 2♣ A♠ T♣ 5♦ A♥ - Seat 4

Seventh Street: (9,095) (2 players, 1 all-in)
4♦ 4♣ 5♥ Q♣ 8♥ 3♠ J♥ - Seat 1
3♣ 2♣ A♠ T♣ 5♦ A♥ 4♠ - Seat 4

Total pot: 9,095

Showdown:
Seat 4 (Prim) shows 3♣ 2♣ A♠ T♣ 5♦ A♥ 4♠ (HI: a straight, Ace to Five; LO: 5-4-3-2-A)
Seat 1 shows 4♦ 4♣ 5♥ Q♣ 8♥ 3♠ J♥ (HI: a pair of Fours)
Prim wins 9,095

Long story short, Prim finished 56th for a $1.75 mincash with 71 paid. I finished 120th, so Prim is the clear winner of the challenge, but I'm proud that she brought in another cash for "Team Troll".

I don´t mind playing only PLO8 of course, thought the HORSE race can bring a little grain of salt in our challenge, because it´s something different.

Bread For The Trolls!

It's finally time to begin Level 1 of my Baking Challenge, which only requires me to bake any kind of bread. Seems simple enough, but I don't have a lot of faith in my baking skills - which is why Prim talked me through it on Skype this time.

I believe I ended up using 250 g of flour, 200 ml of water, half a package of dried yeast and a pinch or two of salt. Then I mixed it together, covered it and let it stand for about 30 minutes (correct me if any of this was wrong, Prim).

I was still a bit skeptical about the dough. It seemed quite wet and sticky.

I still decided to just go for it and poured it into my little baking dish. I was surprised how well the dough held together as I was doing it.

Then I put it in the oven at 200 °C for about 45 minutes. This is how it turned out:

Doesn't look too bad, does it? It's pretty small, looks more like a cake than a loaf of bread, but I wanted to start out small anyway.

I decided that I might as well serve it for dinner too, with cream cheese and ham.

It was good! Thanks a lot for talking me through this, Prim. I will keep practicing this a few more times until I'm sure that I got it down, I believe, but I now consider my Level 1 "Apprentice" challenge passed!

Now, for my Level 2 "Loafer" challenge, I would need to make some good burger buns. I don't think Prim can help me a lot with the recipes here, so I would have to find them myself, but maybe she can still assist me with some good advice while I'm making it.

Next week, maybe? I'm making burgers every other week anyway, might as well combine it with this challenge.

Hey, looks yummy! Wasn´t it easy? ♠_cool:♠_thumbsup:

Originally posted by Primrose6789
Wasn´t it easy? ♠_cool:♠_thumbsup:

Yes, surprisingly so. I guess I just have to get used to the messiness of kneading the dough and all that.

Now I'm excited to see how I'll be doing with the more advanced stuff...

The "troll family" is complete!

Our regular readers may know now, that Baby Peach is part of our little "troll family" (and that I am a passionate plushie collector). Well, guys, my collection has grown and the "troll family" is complete now! Baby Peach´s siblings are finally here!!! ♠_love:♠_love:♠_love:

We have: Baby Rosalina, Baby Mario, Baby Daisy and of course our "famous" Baby Peach, who is a talented PLO player and my avatar on Stars and Party. ♠_biggrin:♠_love: Especially Baby Rosalina has a long journey behind her - she arrived on Monday from Japan. ♠_love: Finally she´s here and completes our cute little "troll family". ♠_love:

Awwwwwww, aren't they cute?

We have such a lovely Troll family.

I LOVE how Baby Mario smiles!! ♠_love:♠_love:♠_love:♠_love:

Hi-Lo

Tough night... Prim's session didn't go her way, as she mentioned on her blog. When we played our PLO8 tournament for the challenge, she seemed to do a good job, from what I could see when she landed on my table. The main problem was that table luckbox, who was almost busted out by Prim herself when she entered the turn as a 90% favorite but then had to chop on the river. Just a few hands later, that player was in a 3-way pot against two other players and got his stack in with a single digit % equity on the flop, but chopped again. And then finally, in Prim's exit hand, she was heads-up with him and an 80% favorite on the turn (or was it even 90%?), but this player, who was a big stack by now, somehow got it yet again. I didn't even see exactly what happened, I was playing a Five Card Draw SNG at that time and only saw the equities in the corner of my eye.

So that was a bit crap, and Prim didn't choose to rebuy, it was near the end of late reg anyway. I had a much better start, but didn't make the best decisions later on in the tournament, so I too had to bust out without a cash, in 45th place (34 paid). Tough night, as I said, but okay. I was the winner of tonight's challenge, in any case.

I'm not sure yet if we'll do another PLO8 tomorrow, or HORSE again, or maybe something completely different. We'll see.

I think it´s time that I step into poo somewhere. Should bring luck? Unfortunately the weather is not optimal for outdoor sports, it´s stormy and rainy here.

We found a replacement!

As we decided to play new Troll Challenge MTTs, we were looking for a replacement for our 4.40 $ 5-card-draw PKO. Now, we found it! I suggested that we could play instead the 2.20 $ PLO8-PKO on Stars which starts at 6.30 p.m. We could play that one on Fridays. ♠_biggrin:

And I can perfectly combine the Troll Challenges with my BR challenge (plo and plo8). ♠_thumbsup:

I´m still a supporter of the HORSE race on Sundays, it´s such a nice fun-tourney and adds a grain of salt to our grindings. ♠_love:

Originally posted by Primrose6789
I think it´s time that I step into poo somewhere. Should bring luck? Unfortunately the weather is not optimal for outdoor sports, it´s stormy and rainy here.
This has never worked for me.
The last time I tried, I had to throw the shoes away.
(and it didn't help with the luck, either )

Sunday HORSE Race

Will our Sunday evening HORSE race stay? It stayed for tonight, at least. I had a decent start, except for my hated FL Hold'em part, but Prim had to rebuy after a while. After some more time, we were more or less even in chips, and both struggling at times to stay in the game.

Here's one very close hand for me from the Razz part:

PokerStars, $0.98 + $0.12 - Razz Limit (H.O.R.S.E.) - 200/400 (80 ante) - 7 players
Hand delivered by CardsChat

Seat 6: 2,607 (7 bb)
Seat 7: 4,614 (12 bb)
Seat 8: 6,128 (15 bb)
Seat 1: 2,702 (7 bb)
Seat 2: 10,250 (26 bb)
Seat 4 (Hero): 2,603 (7 bb)
Seat 5: 13,240 (33 bb)

Third Street: (560) Hero is in Seat 4
Xx Xx Qx BI bring-in 120____BI folds
Xx Xx 6x UTG raises to 400____UTG calls 400
Xx Xx 6x UTG+1 folds
Xx Xx 8x MP folds
Xx Xx Ax MP+1 folds
Xx Xx 4x CO calls 400____CO calls 400
5x 2x 7x Hero raises to 800

Fourth Street: (3,080) (3 players)
5x 2x 7x 3x Hero bets 400
Xx Xx 6x Tx UTG calls 400
Xx Xx 4x Jx CO folds

Fifth Street: (3,880) (2 players)
Xx Xx 6x Tx 2x UTG bets 800____UTG calls 523
5x 2x 7x 3x 3x Hero raises to 1,323 (all-in)

Sixth Street: (6,526) (2 players, 1 all-in)
5x 2x 7x 3x 3x Jx - Seat 4 (Hero)
4x 8x 6x Tx 2x Qx - Seat 6

Seventh Street: (6,526) (2 players, 1 all-in)
5x 2x 7x 3x 3x Jx 9x - Seat 4 (Hero)
4x 8x 6x Tx 2x Qx 9x - Seat 6

Total pot: 6,526

Showdown:
Seat 4 (Hero) shows 5x 2x 7x 3x 3x Jx 9x (Lo: 9,7,5,3,2)
Seat 6 shows 4x 8x 6x Tx 2x Qx 9x (Lo: 9,8,6,4,2)
Seat 4 (Hero) wins 6,526

We both made it ITM - barely. And Prim soon needed some help in Stud Hi, where she correctly pushed JJx, but was unfortunate to run into QQx:

PokerStars, $0.98 + $0.12 - 7 Card Stud Limit (H.O.R.S.E.) - 500/1,000 (200 ante) - 8 players
Hand delivered by CardsChat

Seat 6: 16,474 (16 bb)
Seat 7: 9,636 (10 bb)
Seat 8: 11,787 (12 bb)
Seat 1: 13,006 (13 bb)
Seat 2 (Prim): 3,580 (4 bb)
Seat 3: 9,870 (10 bb)
Seat 4: 26,278 (26 bb)
Seat 5: 8,876 (9 bb)

Third Street: (1,600)
Xx Xx 2♦ BI bring-in 300____BI folds
Xx Xx Q♥ UTG folds
Xx Xx Q♠ UTG+1 raises to 1,000____UTG+1 3-bets to 3,000____UTG+1 calls 380
Xx Xx A♠ MP folds
Xx Xx 5♠ MP+1 folds
Xx Xx J♥ Prim raises to 2,000____Prim 4-bets to 3,380 (all-in)
Xx Xx T♦ CO folds
Xx Xx 9♣ BTN folds

Fourth Street: (8,660) (2 players, 1 all-in)
9♦ J♠ J♥ 5♣ - Seat 2 (Prim)
Q♣ 4♥ Q♠ T♥ - Seat 7

Fifth Street: (8,660) (2 players, 1 all-in)
9♦ J♠ J♥ 5♣ T♣ - Seat 2 (Prim)
Q♣ 4♥ Q♠ T♥ 3♦ - Seat 7

Sixth Street: (8,660) (2 players, 1 all-in)
9♦ J♠ J♥ 5♣ T♣ 8♦ - Seat 2 (Prim)
Q♣ 4♥ Q♠ T♥ 3♦ T♠ - Seat 7

Seventh Street: (8,660) (2 players, 1 all-in)
9♦ J♠ J♥ 5♣ T♣ 8♦ Q♦ - Seat 2 (Prim)
Q♣ 4♥ Q♠ T♥ 3♦ T♠ 5♥ - Seat 7

Total pot: 8,660

Showdown:
Seat 2 (Prim) shows 9♦ J♠ J♥ 5♣ T♣ 8♦ Q♦ (a straight, Eight to Queen)
Seat 7 shows Q♣ 4♥ Q♠ T♥ 3♦ T♠ 5♥ (two pair, Queens and Tens)
Seat 2 (Prim) wins 8,660

Nice one! I hit a pair of Kings on 4th street a while later, and also decided to push with my small stack:

PokerStars, $0.98 + $0.12 - 7 Card Stud Limit (H.O.R.S.E.) - 500/1,000 (200 ante) - 8 players
Hand delivered by CardsChat

Seat 5: 30,842 (31 bb)
Seat 6: 4,580 (5 bb)
Seat 7: 9,641 (10 bb)
Seat 8: 18,620 (19 bb)
Seat 1: 5,082 (5 bb)
Seat 2: 8,076 (8 bb)
Seat 3: 17,064 (17 bb)
Seat 4 (Hero): 5,458 (5 bb)

Third Street: (1,600) Hero is in Seat 4
K♠ 5♥ 2♠ Hero bring-in 300
Xx Xx 4♣ UTG folds
Xx Xx A♠ UTG+1 calls 300
Xx Xx 8♣ MP folds
Xx Xx 6♦ MP+1 folds
Xx Xx 5♣ LP folds
Xx Xx K♥ CO folds
Xx Xx 6♠ BTN folds

Fourth Street: (2,200) (2 players)
Xx Xx A♠ T♣ UTG+1 bets 1,000
K♠ 5♥ 2♠ K♦ Hero calls 1,000

Fifth Street: (4,200) (2 players)
Xx Xx A♠ T♣ 6♣ UTG+1 bets 2,000____UTG+1 calls 1,080 (all-in)
K♠ 5♥ 2♠ K♦ T♦ Hero raises to 3,958 (all-in)

Sixth Street: (10,360) (2 players, 2 all-in)
7♦ 7♠ A♠ T♣ 6♣ 9♥ - Seat 6
K♠ 5♥ 2♠ K♦ T♦ 8♥ - Seat 4 (Hero)

Seventh Street: (10,360) (2 players, 2 all-in)
7♦ 7♠ A♠ T♣ 6♣ 9♥ A♣ - Seat 6
K♠ 5♥ 2♠ K♦ T♦ 8♥ Q♠ - Seat 4 (Hero)

Total pot: 10,360

Showdown:
Seat 4 (Hero) shows K♠ 5♥ 2♠ K♦ T♦ 8♥ Q♠ (a pair of Kings)
Seat 6 shows 7♦ 7♠ A♠ T♣ 6♣ 9♥ A♣ (two pair, Aces and Sevens)
Seat 6 wins 10,360

Not so lucky... I wasn't out yet, but didn't last much longer. Prim therefore gets the win tonight! Could have gone either way, but well done!

What was especially nice is that both of us cashed tonight again, and we even both got further than a mincash this time. I finished 43rd (71 paid) for a second ladder cash of $2.64, and Prim made it to the third ladder, finishing 26th for $3.56. While that means a slightly higher profit for me because Prim took a 2nd bullet and I didn't ($1.54 vs $1.36), Prim still wins the challenge, which is simply about getting as far as possible in the tournament with a maximum of one rebuy.

It was time for another very enjoyable meetup - the last one this winter. With spring approaching in the following months, there should be a bunch of sporty outside challenges coming up for us soon, and the Trolls are looking forward to it.

Today, however, it was another nice day to chill at home, enjoy some mixed drinks, and play a couple of video games. Maybe we could combine that with some sporty fun already, though, despite the cold and icky weather outside?

We had an idea, with the Winter Olympics being underway now, and nobody caring about it: How about we do some proper Winter Olympics, fit for a troll, right here?

Live Challenge No. 5 - Olympic Troll Winter Games

Prim and I had been messing around with the game Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games on the Wii a few times already in the past. The game is what you'd think it is: Just a basic sports game based on the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver, but featuring characters from the Super Mario and Sonic universes. There are several mini games based on real-life Olympic events, where you would typically use the Wii remotes in a way that simulates the athlete's movements in the sport that is depicted (e.g. holding the remotes in both of your hands like ski poles and twisting or turning them to move your character in alpine skiing, or putting the remote in front of your chest and then moving your body left and right to steer a bobsled). In addition to that, there are also so-called "Dream Events", which play a bit more loosely with the real-life sports to add some elements from the video games.

Normally, Prim and I would just play some of those events against each other, but for today's challenge, we competed together as a team in this game's "Festival Mode", which is a series of training sessions and competitions over several in-game days to simulate the full Olympics. The aforementioned "Dream Events" are also included, so yes, don't expect a ton of realism in a game about cartoon princesses and brightly colored anthropomorphic critters competing in the Olympics.

There are four spots on our team, and the adult versions of our cute "Troll Children" are all there, except for Rosalina, who is not in the game. Instead, I picked Tails from the Sonic universe, because he's just so adorable.

Naturally, the game keeps track of your results throughout all events and includes a total ranking for the entire Olympic festival, and of course, anything but an overall 1st place for the trolls is unacceptable! Therefore, this will be our goal for the Troll challenge too, so let's bring home some virtual athletic glory for Pokerstrategy! ♠_biggrin:

Now, with the game's "Festival Mode" lasting several in-game days, and potentially a couple of real-life hours too, we didn't play through the full thing yet. We played through the first couple of days, with mostly training sessions for the trolls, which usually went well... except for that team ski jumping part, where our trolling teammate Peach failed to make the jump off the ramp (admittedly being controlled by me) and landed not so gracefully a short distance down the hill, in a manner reminiscent of the legendary Eddie the Eagle. But just like in Eddie's case, we chose to admire her courage rather than looking down on her performance.

Apart from that, there were two competition events for Team Troll already, both of them being "Dream Events":

Event 1: Dream Bobsleigh
Instead of merely competing one after another for the fastest time like in the more realistic event, all competing sleds in the Dream Bobsleigh race down some fantastical slide at the same time, trying to reach the finish first, while collecting items and using them against each other like in Mario Kart.

I can't say that Prim and I had the best idea about how to guide our sled all the time, but it was enough for a very close win. We'll take it!

1st Place

Event 2: Dream Alpine Skiing
Rather than hitting the Olympic slopes at Whistler Creekside, Team Troll was speeding down some Sonic stage featuring loops and jumping ramps. Once again, power-ups were included, and all team members were skiing simultaneously, trying to get the best group time.

This time, the trolls didn't shine so much. Prim and Daisy sometimes had some difficulties finding the right route, while me and Tails were often showboating a bit too much while airborne, ending our artistic aerial maneuvers with a thud in the powder snow, obviously costing us some time. Our performance was then fittingly concluded by Prim and me crashing into each other inches in front of the finish line. Embarrassing... but good enough to just barely hold on to 3rd place... out of 4.

3rd Place

That was all for today, we plan to continue this challenge next month, and possibly also the month after that to wrap it up, if necessary. Either that, or we'll save the conclusion for next winter. We saw that the next events coming up would be training sessions for figure skating and curling... well, what could possibly go wrong, with us Trolls being involved?

Prim also gave the classic Super Mario Land another shot, trying to fulfill her ongoing challenge from last month of trying to beat the game in one sitting without any help. She got a little further this time, ending her run at the end of stage 2-3, halfway through the game, where the stage boss remained unimpressed by her kamikaze strategy. We did the drinking game from last month again too, of course. I will withhold my comment on Prim's following attempt at Golf on the Gameboy for now...

Regardless of whether or not we will continue or even complete our Olympic gaming challenge during Prim's next visit, we already have plans for some new challenges, involving real sports instead of video games, with winter being behind us by that point. And tomorrow, there will be another round of PLO8.

Cholera!

We´re having Cholera today! No, not the disease - it´s a cake! Cholera is the name of a cake in Swiss cuisine. It´s made with leek, onions, potatoes, apples, pears and cheese. So, it´s not a sweet cake. I´m writing this here because this one is a REAL challenge! I had a really really hard time with the dough. :rage::rage::rage:

Remember: I have celiac disease and have to bake everything gluten-free. Every dough I prepare is a bloody challenge!! As there´s no gluten in the flour the dough becomes friable, sticky, stiff, whatsoever but for sure ooes not have this nice flexible consistency of a conventional dough (with gluten).

The Cholera is in the oven now and I have no idea how it´s going to be. At least desperately tried to bring the dough in some decent form, put the potatoes, onions, leek apples and pears on it, then the cheese and then another layer of leek, onions, apples, pears and cheese. Then, all that good stuff should be covered with another layer of dough, this was a pain in the bum bum!!! It´s not going to be a nice looking cake but hopefully a yummy one! :f_biggrin::f_ugly:

There it is!

Okay, the dough was a bit strange but the combination sweet fruits and salty cheese, potatoes, leek and onion is a real highlight! Homer and I, we both liked it.

Going to make that again some time, but have to optimize the gluten-free dough.

I think that this sums up my feelings about this cake: "Don't knock it until you try it"
I have no idea how it tastes, but is sure sounds weird

Originally posted by VorpalF2F
I think that this sums up my feelings about this cake: "Don't knock it until you try it"
I have no idea how it tastes, but is sure sounds weird

It´s good! Very good! But you can also make that cake without apples and pears if you don´t like them.

Originally posted by Primrose6789
But you can also make that cake without apples and pears if you don´t like them.

That would be how you would have to make it for me. I'm not too keen on most fruits, and certainly not on apples. Honestly, though, I expect that Cholera probably isn't my cup of tea in general - I'm obviously talking about the cake, but sure, not a fan of the disease either.

But I do appreciate Prim's baking a lot, she has brought me a bunch of tasty treats in the past already, very nice of her.

There was no PLO8 tonight after all. Prim was feeling extremely frustrated after her unlucky MTT session earlier that evening and was in no mood for poker anymore. I wasn't in the best mood for it either, so I offered to cancel tonight's Troll challenge. I guess we were both still a little tired, from our tough sports schedule last week and of course from having all that fun during our meetup on Friday.

We plan to continue with another HORSE race tomorrow evening, unless something comes up again.