Coping with Changes in the Online Poker World

Life After Black Friday

We are now five weeks past Black Friday, the day that the world of online poker in the USA was turned completely on its head. Instead of focusing on the related issues such as the status of money at Full Tilt Poker, I instead wanted to focus on the day-to-day reality of the change.

How has it affected me? For starters, it has increased boredom in my life. After a hard day's work I used to look forward to spending some time on Full Tilt Poker, be it playing in one of several blogger private tournaments or messing around at the cash tables. Like many, I really liked playing at Full Tilt. Now it was gone. I have been able to still play at some of my less favorite sites, like UB, Bodog, and Cake, but it is just not the same.

I find that I have been watching more televised sports, especially since post-season play in the NHL and the NBA has been so spectacular. I have watched a few movies and have spent more time cruising around the internet.

What I have really felt, however, is a loss of some of the closeness with some of my blogger friends. Without a regular weekly tournament like the Mookie/Dank, I find that my communication with other bloggers has greatly decreased. Just after a great event like Survive Donkey Island invigorated the blogger community, it is now like we are in a period of extended vacation. Thankfully, some of the bloggers have continued to post on a somewhat regular basis. At least posting and commenting on posts keeps us connected. But, to tell the truth, I really miss the regular routine. A couple of the play money tournaments have been okay, but they are just not the same.

Softball Update

Is it really May? My last softball game was played in frigid, windy conditions. I only got two at bats but went 1-2 with a single (naturally), bringing my batting average down a bit to .714. Ha ha -- I love that -- bringing my average down to .714!


My trip to Las Vegas is getting a little closer and the desire to play some live games is again on the increase. A road trip this weekend might be in order.

Full Tilt Bonus Posted in Account Today

I received an e-mail message that my bonus from Full Tilt Poker's Take 2 promotion has been credited to my account. So ... it looks like this may be the start of the Full Tilt cash out process?

"Official" Statement From Cereus Regarding Absolute Poker and Ultimate Bet

Dear Sucker:

It is finally time for all the chumps in the world (and that includes you, buddy) to get a life and realize that you were dumb shits to do business with us. Geez -- it was not enough that superuser accounts were created and some players lost ungodly amount of mobney playing at an unfair advantage? Even when the stories surfaced you still believed in us? Pathetic! At least you know that we always had secure connections -- uh ... right?

Did you ever try to follow the money to find out who really was running the show here? Holy JFK -- talk about a mystery wrapped in a riddle inside an enigma!

Even after the DOJ indictments came down and even after PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker suspended real money play to USA poker players, we still continuue to offer tournaments and "cash" games. If you have not yet figured it out, let us explain it to you: our "cash" games now = play money games. Have fun playing while our sites are still functional.

Oh yeah -- don't come looking for us. That deserted building you might find? We're on an extended vacation.

One more thing regarding cash outs ..................

MUHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Sincerely,

The Management



NOTE: A good read for the real sad story here ...

Does Today Mark The End of Online Poker As We Know It?

The Department of Justice indicted the owners of PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker, and Ultimate Bet today. PokerStars has already blocked access to real money games for US players. I imagine that the others will quickly follow.

Cribbage, anyone?

Soooo Close in the Twitter Poker Tour Championship Series (TPTCS) Event #6

A week ago I played in the Twitter Nightly online poker tournament at Full Tilt Poker and agreed to a chop when we got down to four people, "finishing" second with second place money plus. So ... seeing as how I had Twitter on my mind, I ended up finding an interesting poker site, the Twitter Poker Tour. I saw that the tour was having a championship series, so I joined and thought that I would try a tournament or two. I played in Event #1, a Pot-Limit Omaha tourney, finishing 7/23 -- three places from the money. On Thursday night, I decided to play Event #6, a NLHE tourney. The results were much better -- 2/56. Just short -- sigh.

With a reasonable 3,000 chips to start, I had a little room to play but saw my stack bounce up and down near the starting amount for some time. I tried to mix up my play, raising, limping, playing tight, playing loose. I was able to hit a couple of sets early on and chipped up to a comfortable stack. The level of play at my tables was quite good, a mixture of conservative and more aggressive players.

The tournament itself seemed to have the usual number of bad beats and river comebacks. Knowing that only the top seven places paid, I took a risk in a hand early on, pushing with the nut flush draw and a pair. I was up against a higher pair, but I caught my flush on the river and won a big pot.

My stack took a substantial hit when I decided to call an all in after the flop with top pair top kicker. There were two clubs on the flop and I guessed that the villain had a flush draw. I called the all in, only to see the villain hit a higher pair on the turn and then complete a flush on the river. Yuck.

I chipped back up and glided to the final table. Play there was challenging and fun. My big break came when I flopped top pair on the flop and hit two pair on the turn. I pushed, only to see the only other person in the hand had a set. I was about to lose all of my chips when the river completed my full house. Yes -- we all need one of these every so often if we hope to win any tournaments.

I made it to heads up, where my opponent, astro_pup, and I fought a great back and forth battle. Unfortunately, it ended when I ran my trip Aces into astro_pup's flush. That was all she wrote.

A big congrats to astro_pup for an excellent well-deserved victory. The final table was quite challenging and anyone there could have won.

A special thanks to Very Josie and PokahDave, who railed for a bit and provided some comic relief and support in online chat.

Thanks to the Twitter Poker Tour for hosting an excellent tournament. I am new to the tour and do not know much about it, by I have learned that I need to send some props to its operators cprpoker and coolwhipflea.

The next Championship Series event, #7, will be a NLHE 6 max touney at Full Tilt Poker on Sunday, April 17 at 2:00 pm Eastern. Sound interesting? Check out the tour at http://twitterpokertour.com/.

Catch you on the flip side!