... but I am too busy playing poker.
I guess a more correct statement would be that I am too busy filling what little free time I have left with playing poker.
First of all I purchased
Harrington on Cash Games Vol. 1 and 2 on Monday. Much to my surprise they arrive at my door before 5pm on Tuesday. I will never know how newly released poker books written in English were available in Japan for same day shipping. I think it's part of the same mystery that causes fish to bet you on a river when they are playing the board ...
So I bought some new poker books. Between playing craps while on blogger Vegas trips and buying the latest poker books I've actually become a little bit negative in the poker game. I think the fact that craps is really the problem here has been well documented though.
I've been wanting to learn no-limit for a long time. I tried it out a few times and was horrible at it. Within the several pages of HCG I finally understand why. I always thought top-pair top-kicker was a great flop! Yet for some reason I was always getting into these huge pots and getting beat by strange straights, small flushes, and sets! (If any of this has happened to you then the $70 on this book set will be well spent.)
There is one problem with reading poker books though. It kind of makes you want to play poker. So I log on and jump on to a $10 NL table and start clicking fold. I try to keep the pot low when my hand is weak and build it up when it was strong. Guess who started taking down huge pots with trip-kings after the AKs guy pushed all-in?
I ended up staying up half of the night and getting through half of volume one. It's really well written. Also if you've tried to read 2+2 books before and couldn't make it through one I highly recommend you give Harrington's books a try. He is a much easier writer to read than Mason and Sklansky yet constantly refers back to their most important points.
So maybe this is a bit of a mega post after all.
Too bad I don't have any interesting pictures for you ...
So how about a little poker update. My Neteller account was approved finally so I am now back in business. It's nice to be able to quickly transfer money between poker sites again. I hope all of you US players are jealous! It does cost a bit more here though. Between the bank charges and exchange rate fees I paid about 3.5% in fees to get that money in there. I'll have to pay about that much to get it back out too. Assuming I never go bust I will only have to pay the outgoing fees from now on, but a 3.5% cut off winnings that were already raked is still a bit depressing.
I'm basically a completely new player as far as all of the poker sites are concerned so I get to really rack up the bonuses and freebies. I signed up with
Poker Source Online since I can convert their points into useful things like poker accessories, Amazon gift certificates, and cold hard cash. I'm also going to chase down all of the sign-up bonuses on the major sites. I don't really plan to become a major bonus whore, but I want to get my initial investment back a bit quicker and for me it provides an extra incentive to keep playing when the cards aren't running my way.
So far I'm running at a net break-even. My foray into 6-max has been a little bit bumpy so I'm down about 45BB. The no-limit has been a bit better and it covers about a third of those losses right now. The bonus cleans up the rest. Total net loss right now: $0.07. I'm not really sure why, but that amused me somewhat.
I will end by linking you to
information about the new Tokyo Tower which is scheduled to begin construction next month.
