Party Poker has two reload bonuses going this month. Both are for 15%, up to $100. Yesterday, I cashed out some, and redeposited 15 minutes later for a $30 bonus (when I play 210 raked hands, which I will do.) I’m going to do it again today, but for my whole bankroll there, instead of just part of it. As long as I can play break even poker (and, at Party at least, I play better than that), I make money.

I’ve had two pretty amazing sessions there lately, playing 1/2. Both were under an hour, an both I finished better than +50BB. I played fairly well, but also got the best cards when everyone else got good cards (in other words: I got pretty lucky). You have to be lucky to make 50BB/hr. I’ll just give a few of the hands from these sessions.

I get dealt A♣2♣ in the small blind. UTG calls, someone in MP calls, I call, big blind checks. Flop comes A♠7♦A♥. I bet, everyone calls. Turn is the 2♥. I’ve made Aces full. I bet, BB calls, UTG raises. We lose the MP player, and it gets capped. River is 5♥. It gets capped this round, with all three of us left staying it. I show my aces full, the other two players muck. BB had K♥6♥ for the flush, UTG had 2♠2♦ for the little boat. I take down a 27BB pot.

A few other nice ones:
I get 77, try to limp in, and it gets raised behind me. The small blind makes it three bets, and I call. I hit my set on the flop, we’re capped every round, and I beat AA and T4o (who, lucky for me, flopped two pair). The AA (small blind) checkraised me every round, and every time I raised him back. Took down 32BB pot.

I get 65s in MP. As I’m clicking the box to call, someone raises, and I accidently call the raise. It gets capped behind me, and the pot’s too big to fold at this point. The flop comes 667. I bet, the two preflop raisers call. Turn 4, I bet, two callers. River 8 for my straight to go with my trips. I bet, same two callers. I flip my straight, they muck AA and KK. Like I said, I was getting lucky.

It almost makes up for the bad luck I had Friday and Saturday at Chumash. I’ll save my bad beat stories for later.

After staying at Chumash all night Friday and well into Saturday, I decided to go watch the qualifying round of the Masters tournament at Zodos. (In case anyone’s confused, I’ve moved the topic on to bowling now.) It was fun to watch, and a bunch of my friends qualified for the tournament. After the qualifying round, I decided to get some bowling in. I had been bowling terribly now for a few months, but I came right out and shot a 244. I think it must have been my first game over 240 in 6 months. My next game, I shot a 254. The lanes must have just been easy. Or not: third game was a 133. I finished off with two decent games and then another 243.

After oversleeping, and missing the Sunday morning tournament at Chumash, I went back to Zodos to watch the bowling tournament. Again, I bowled afterwards, this time an insane 22 games (with a two hour break in the middle). I shot another few 240s, and several more over 200. I don’t know what happened, but as soon as my leagues ended, I started bowling well again. At this point, I decided I was going to bowl in the handicap tournament they were having Monday night.

I show up Monday night, and after a bit of a rocky start in the first game, I finish it off strong for a 214. Then I go nuts and throw a 241 and a 240, for a 695 series for the first three games (my new high)! I’m a bit annoyed, since I left a 4-6-7-10 split in the 9th frame of the third game, killing my 700 series, and what could have been a 279 game (until that frame, I had all strikes, except for one solid 9 pin that I picked up). Then, I started the last game with four open frames in a row. The first one was a tough pickup, but the next three was easy spares that I should have made. I moved left one board, and then threw four strikes in a row, and finished the game with a 183, for an 878 scratch series, and 1026 handicap.

1026 was good enough to win, by ten pins. I took home $115 for first, and three $33 sidepots (my 241, 240, and series sidepot), for a nice $179 profit. The money’s nice, but I really just wanted to win. I will very likely be going up to the tournament in Lompoc this Saturday, and hopefully my luck (or skill?) will hold.

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On Sunday, April 18th, I will be bowling in a charity fundraiser for The United Boys and Girls Clubs of Santa Barbara County. To bowl, I need to raise a minimum of $100, and their goal is $200 per person. If they get $200 from everyone bowling, they will raise almost $20,000. Their website is located at http://www.ucsbngbgc.com/, but unfortunately, it doesn’t seem like they have any information about this event there.

If you’d like to donate, you can send money via PayPal . I will put back in what PayPal takes out, so your full amount will get donated.

Thanks, and please let me know if you have any questions.

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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.

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I started watching 24 this season, at the recommendation of my brother (and others). The new season takes place three years after the last one, and I can follow it without having seen the previous two. It’s good. So good that I signed up for a 14 day Netflix trial, and was planning to get the first two seasons there, and watch them.

Turns out a friend of mine actually owns the first two seasons on DVD, so I’ll be borrowing those instead. I did get the first three discs from Netflix on Friday. Friday night, I watched the first disc (4 episodes) and today, I watched the next two (8 episodes). I’m halfway done with the first season, and it’s really good.

I’ve changed my Netflix queue to send me the first season of Smallville instead, since I haven’t seen it. I doubt I’ll keep the Netflix membership after the trial, because I just won’t spend that much time watching movies. Especially since I now have all my new computer equipment, and will be playing games again. I bought Call of Duty yesterday, and played it for a few hours today. It’s been a while, so it may be nothing special compared to other games out there now, but I like it a lot. I’m really glad I’ve finally gotten around to setting all this stuff up again. Now I just have to keep myself from spending too much money on games.

At bowling Wednesday night, I was bowling against someone who’s on my team in my Monday night league. I was doing alright, but not great, the first two games (172, 170). At the end of the second game, he gave me a tip: keep my hand behind the ball, and keep my thumb up. After the third game, he said he should have waited until Monday to tell me that, because I threw a 231 against him. I went bowling yesterday, and tried to keep doing the same thing. It seemed to help, because I threw a 215-247-207 for a 669 series. That could possibly be the highest three game series I’ve thrown, and if not, it’s certainly the highest I’ve thrown in a long time. Hopefully, I’ll keep it up tomorrow night.

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Haven’t had much to say lately. Still don’t really have much interesting, just a bunch of stuff to complain about.

Obviously, I’m not at all happy with the Yankees and Marlins in the World Series. I’m rooting for Marlins, out of hatred for the Yanks, but I’d prefer if somehow neither team won. Unfortunately, that could only happen if the two teams I wanted in there, the Sox and Cubs, made it.

Speaking of the Yankees… well, I ordered a new bowling ball. A plastic spare ball. This one, specifically. The package showed up yesterday, and they accidently sent me this one. ANY other team, except maybe the Braves, I could deal with, but they had to send me the fucking Yankees. I called them this morning, and they’re sending out the right one today.

While I’m on the topic of bowling, I can complain about that, too. I’ve been bowling really badly lately, and I’m not sure why. I somehow managed to average 173 over 4 games last night, but only one of those games was above the 173. I did win that game, and my team did well, despite me. Doesn’t really make it any better, though.

More complaining: The GSM Treo 600 has been delayed. It was supposed to come out 10/13, then 10/20. Latest dates I’m hearing now are 11/03 or 11/24. If number portability was already in effect, I’d probably switch to Sprint now, as the CDMA model is already out. Lucky bastards.

All of these things are pretty minor annoyances, really. There’s something else bothering me more… but I don’t think I want to or should talk about it here. So that’s all you get.

To end on a funny note: Own an Official Piece of ALCS History. Well, not really. The seller ended the auction because the item was lost or broken. I’m guessing broken. [Screenshots: 1 2 for when the auction gets taken down.] Thanks to Jon for sending me the link.

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I think, just maybe, I’ve been bowling too much. For the first time in a long time, my arm is actually sore and tired after (and actually during) bowling today. I bowled pretty badly, too. So badly I’m not even going to actually tell you my scores. I think I need to go ice my arm like a starting pitcher, or something. Tomorrow night, I play softball, and then I bowl again Wednesday. Then I rest my arm until next Monday.

Yesterday, Josh Beckett pitched the game of his life for the Marlins. His first career complete game, first career shutout. He did it in the biggest game of his life, needing a win to avoid elimination. The Cubs only managed two hits, three baserunners, and none of them got past first base. Cubs still look pretty good to win the series, though, with Prior going tomorrow, and Wood going in game 7 if necessary. The two of them are a combined 4-0 in the postseason.

Tim Wakefield shut down the Yankees with his knuckleball for 7 innings today, and the Red Sox tied up the series at two games a piece. Mussina didn’t pitch badly today, but his record this postseason dropped to 0-3. The Sox really caught a break with the rainout yesterday, as they got to skip Burkett yesterday, get Wakefield today, and get Lowe pitching tomorrow at home. His ERA at home is almost 3 runs lower than it is on the road.

We’re just three wins away from Sox/Cubs. Whatever happens, I want the Yankees to lose.

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