Wow, it’s been a while hasn’t it. That, as you no doubt can tell from the title, is because I’ve been spending all my free time playing poker. I’m now playing at UltimateBet, for real money. Using UltimateBuddy I can find my friends (or people I know play poorly) online and sit and their tables. I’m up a little bit playing poker, and with the signup bonus and referral bonus (I referred my brother), I’ve got almost double my initial $100 deposit in there. If you want to use me as a referral, or find me at a table, my username there is penner42.

Anyway, I tried tonight to not play, because I know I have a problem and play too much. I almost made it, too. Lasted until 10PM. As of now (11:25PM), I’m up $4.55 playing at .25/.50 limit hold ‘em tables. Make that 3.80. AQs no good. And my brother had to go and checkraise me. And now 5.90 with my kings full of queens. All in about 2 minutes. Enough of that.

Right, so my point was… I don’t know what my point was. I guess just that I’m still here, and just haven’t been posting anything because I’m a fricken addict.

I’m gonna have a poker-only blog soon, I think. I’ll let everyone know when it’s ready. That way, the rest of you don’t have to read me bitching about losing on the damn river all the time.

I went to a bowling tournament last night at Ocean Lanes, in Lompoc. People I bowl with in Santa Barbara have been going up there the first and second Saturday of the month and bowling in it. They told me the lanes up there were easier and more forgiving than at Zodos, and I would average 20 pins higher there than I do here. It’s also a handicap tournament, and I established my average down here, so I would have an advantage.

Well, they were right. The tournament was four games, and you get to throw the lowest one out. I threw a 199-155-219-223, for an average about 20 pins higher than mine here. I also came in third, and won $50 (on $20 entry fee). I also put $15 into the brackets, somehow stayed in one with my 155, and won my money back on those.

Afterwards, we went to Chumash. It was not my idea, but I certainly wasn’t going to complain about it. Turns out their poker room is smoke free, and they do have 2/4 tables. I played for five hours and won a whopping $13 in that time. At least I didn’t lose any money. The table was a lot tighter than I was used to, so that made it hard to win a ton of money. Anyway, it was lots of fun.

Next week, I’m probably gonna head up there early and get in their Saturday morning hold ‘em tournament, and then go to the bowling tournament that night.

Yeah, addicted. I know.

I just can’t get enough poker. It’s really ridiculous how much I (want to) play. Unfortunately, I live an hour and a half to two hours away from the nearest 2/4 hold ‘em table (Chumash is a lot closer, but has only a few tables and hold ‘em is minimum 4/8).

I had to go to LA (well, Pasadena) for work Wednesday, so I went down Tuesday night instead and went to Bicycle to check it out. For the first time since I’ve been playing (really, this is just my fourth time, once a month for the previous three months), I came out ahead. I don’t think I played terribly differently than I did last month, just got luckier (or rather, didn’t get such terrible luck) with my cards. At one point, I was up $180, and I finished up about $100 even. I made a few mistakes, but every single one of them I knew as I was making (or I still don’t know it was a mistake), and did it anyway. It’s just too hard to lay down some hands, even when I know they’re beat.

Time to get some sleep.

I’ve been meaning to start doing some reading again lately… well, for the past two years or so, I guess. I just never really find the time or have the motivation to do it, or something. I did read two books (Winning Low Limit Hold ‘Em, Hold ‘Em Poker) on my flights to and from New York in December and January, and that was good. My results in the casino don’t seem to have improved, though.

Today I started Moneyball, about how the A’s win so many games when their payroll is one of the lowest in the league. I’m about a third of the way through, and am enjoying it so far. I definitely need to make more time in my schedule for reading.

I suppose I could not watch repeats of the World Poker Tour and Showdown at the Sands that I’ve already seen. I almost wish the TiVo listings actually had correct information about which episode it was, so it wouldn’t keep recording it, but I don’t really mind watching them again. I also just got Positively Fifth Street, and will hopefully be reading that next. I also have a bunch of other books on the way. Anyone see a pattern here?

I ordered a deck of cards from Amazon (essentially free because it put me over the top for their supersaver shipping), and they accidently sent me a case (12 decks) instead of 1. I contacted them using their customer service form online, and the response makes me think they never even read what I wrote:

Thanks for writing to us at Amazon.com.

I am sorry for the inconvenience with the set of cards.You may return most items sold by Amazon.com within 30 days of delivery for a full refund.

However, we have extended our returns period for the holidays. Items shipped between November 1, 2003 and December 31, 2003 may bereturned until January 31, 2004 for a full refund, subject to theother returns restrictions outlined on our web site.

We’ll pay the return shipping cost if the return is a result ofour error.

I think at this point I have no further obligation to return them. Looks like I’m going to be giving them away, as they get virtually nothing on eBay.