Great month and other ramblings...

Does this sound just exactly like a poker play or what? 1.) Yes definitely my life has always been chaos. 2.) Uh yeah for sure! 3.) Yep, adrenaline junkie here. 4.) Of course, visualize those wins and they'll happen. 5.) All my life and always, rules? who cares about rules. 6.) Yes, winning poker players have to be very persistent and tenacious or else they'd never stick it out through the God awful downswings. 7.) Yep biggest thing, every loss isn't failure but an opportunity to learn to do it better next time.

Now on to bragging about my amazing wonderful month! Finished with a nice bankroll and a few wins and several final tables. After 5 months of the downside of variance it's so nice to be on the good side finally. I'm actually really enjoying the game again and look forward to playing every day I can.

Merge has reopened to the US and the volume has picked up and the field has soften slightly. The site really needed some fresh errrrrr well people, let's be nice. :-)

Anyway, here's looking forward to another great month, which started with a win after midnight tonight so it was a really great way to start a new month! Onward and upward!

Oh and things are looking up for legislation too so keep on pushing!

It's good to run good!

After over five months of running consistently below EV I decided to take some time off from poker. Best thing I ever did! I took three weeks off and only played a few sit-n-goes to keep up my skill at multi-tabling. I didn't play any MTTs or cash games during this time. Breaks are good! I took the time to re-evaluate my game and my mindset. I didn't start playing again until I really found the desire to play again. That desire hit me about Wednesday of last week.

On Thursday I finished 2nd in the $3r $5.5K GTD for $770 then continued to make several other final tables. Tonight I took down the $16.50 $5K GTD for $1025. This was my first win on Merge for over $1K and it certainly feels nice.

On a side note, the above graph is earnings from zero. I won $100 in the Hero freeroll in May and I've never made a deposit. (and Chad Hills wonders why I support this money losing vice, see below.) Next stop $5K.

While Black Friday really sucked I have to say I'm not sure I would have put as much work on my game had I been able to continue playing on PokerStars, well as long as I kept winning like I was. Due to the stiffer competition on Merge since Black Friday it's been necessary to step up my game quite a bit. In the long run this is good and I feel I'm a better player because of it.

On another note, Chad Hills with focus on the family is such a self righteous ass! I commented on one of his blogs about online poker and he responded by making an insinuation that he's looked up my stats on Sharkscope and made it sound like I was a losing player. I quote: "I even looked your “handles” up on the SharkScope.com site to see how successful you’ve been in online poker, and I was left wondering why you support this money-losing vice?" Can you believe it? He's basically lying to make his case more believable. If he looked up my stats he saw where I had won but he makes it sound like I was losing. He goes on to talk about how so many that comment on his blog make out like they are winning players when they are not. I got so tilted over this I took out my frustrations on the virtual felt and the $5K take down was the result :-) If heaven is full of fools like him they can have it!!! Well he's an insignificant piece of crap as far as I'm concerned!

Until we meet again may we all continue to run good and win lots! Don't forget to do your part for online poker legislation! We need it if for no other reason than to spite the self righteous assholes!

Get off your asses!!!

Garfield by Jim Davis

A lot of people think of poker as nothing but mindless gambling and a waste of productive time and money. A lot of people are way wrong! Mathematical experts have done extensive studies proving that poker is a mind sport and game of skill just like chess and bridge. Judges in several U.S. States have ruled poker is a game of skill.

So the why does the DOJ insist that the UIGEA applies to poker? Because they are misinformed by politicians who are out for the interest of the all powerful and all contributing brick and mortar casino industry who fear online poker will cost them revenue. They are also misinformed by others like the right wing politicians who insist on not accepting poker is a game of skill and want to legislate morals and by state Attorney Generals like Preet Bharara in New York.

Poker is the most difficult game I've ever tried to master. Good players spend hours studying and reviewing and working on their game just like chess players and golfers do. It's time to put an end to this silly and senseless prohibition of poker!

Poker is a game of skill and a game which many Americans not only enjoy playing for casual entertainment but for many it is (was) their full time well paying job. Legislation and regulation of online poker will create thousands of jobs and bring in billions in federal and state tax revenue.

While I honestly wish we could just have legal unregulated poker instead of having the government interference it's just not going to happen so supporting H.R. 2366 now is the next best thing!

What can you do to help?

Write or email your senators and representative and ask them to support H.R. 2366. The Poker Players Alliance makes the job easy by having a pre written letter ready to send. All you have to do is take 2 minutes and click a couple of buttons! Click here to send the letters!

Take less than one minute to do the daily actions on 2p2! Click here!

Sign the poker petition at We the People: Click here!

Call your senators and congressman and ask them to support H.R. 2366!

Stop making silly excuses not to do these things! The three top things literally take under 5 minutes a day! Squeaky wheels get the oil! The more voices we have speaking the more likely we are to be listened to.

Narrow minds and poker skillz...

Well the battle for legislation and regulation continues. The PPA and now Fair Play USA (backed by the brick and mortar casinos) are doing a good job of getting the word to the powers that be in Washington. We are at least being heard according what the lobbyist are saying. Some of the strongest opponents are starting to come around a bit but it's still a steep climb.

Focus on the Family and other conservative groups pose strong (but basically invalid) arguments against legislation. I'm really trying to understand the mindset of people who insist on pushing their values off on other people. One of their biggest arguments is poker shouldn't be invading the family home via the internet. Oh, wow but it's okay if I leave my family at home and go to a casino to play but I can't be allowed to stay home with my husband and daughter and play online. How does this logic even make sense.

Another big argument is they try to say poker is a game of chance not skill and it's nothing but another form of gambling and online gambling is, has always been and should remain illegal. That's not even true! There were NO laws pre UIGEA which made online gambling illegal in any way. They try to use the The Interstate Wire Act of 1961 as the basis for this argument but the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the Wire Act only applied to sports betting and not other online gambling. It plainly says "bets or wagers on any sporting event or contest" and even then it only applied to transferring funds via wire. Internet didn't exist in 1961 and neither did the current methods of electronic funds transfers so this law clearly doesn't apply to internet gambling. The UIGEA only makes the funds transfers between the bank and the site illegal as well. So therefore, gambling online isn't illegal only the money transferring is.

It's a waste of time arguing (commenting) on the posts/blogs of these Focus on the Family people. They are totally closed minded and will never agree with anything we say. These people are generally basically ignorant (even though some are smart in the book sense of the word and even successful) being ignorant and closed minded is what allows them to believe the way they do. It's the basic tenet of their entire belief system. If they allow themselves to consider other schools of thought they would have to realize that their basic belief system is fatally flawed.

As for skill argument, they refuse to consider that poker has been proven by many experts to be a game of skill equal to chess and bridge. Again no need to argue with them but if you've played serious poker you will readily agree that poker is a very hard game to master. especially tournament poker and sit-n-goes. Speaking of a poker tournament, there is little difference (other than the game obviously) in a poker tournament and golf tournament. In a golf tournament you pay a entry fee (buy in) there are usually administration fees included. The largest portion of the entry fee goes into a prize pool which is paid to the winner or top finishers depending on the structure. The winners are generally the most skilled golfers but alas there is an element of chance. The wind may turn your ball in a direction you didn't intend. The cut of the fairway or green my cause your ball to roll away from where you desired, etc. In tournament poker you pay a buy in with a rake (administration fee usually around 10 to 15%) the prize pool is divided among the winners according to the structure. The winners are usually the most skilled players but the dealing of the cards creates an element of chance just like the wind and grass cut do in golf. The biggest difference, I can play (or could before Black Friday) tournament poker online at home with my family. When my husband plays in a golf tournament he is generally away from home for five to seven hours. Of course if you're playing live tournament poker you're away from home quite a bit too but wasn't having the option of doing it online really nice.

Well let's keep our fingers crossed for our "one time" for poker legislation in the U.S. Please help to make our voices heard above those of our conservative opponents by doing the daily tasks posted on the 2p2 action thread found here.

This article in Forbes just came out a few hours ago: Indicted Banker and Payment Processor Fight Federal Crackdown On Online Poker With Powerful Legal Papers. These two winning their argument would be one more sweet victory for online poker in the US! Can I get a "One Time"?

"Prohibition will work great injury to the cause of temperance. It is a species of intemperance within itself, for it goes beyond the bounds of reason in that it attempts to control a man's appetite by legislation, and makes a crime out of things that are not crimes. A Prohibition law strikes a blow at the very principles upon which our government was founded."

-Abraham Lincoln (1809-65) U.S. President.

This quote is attributed to Lincoln but there is no real proof he actually said it but nonetheless I find it appropriate and quite correct.

Cheating, tapping the aquarium and other ramblings...

All the buzz in the poker world right now is about José “Girah” Macedo scamming high stakes cash players for over $30,000. Basically it boils down to a few young immature poker players working together to scam some people who unfortunately trusted them. More information can be found here. It's sad that this happens and while it does shed a bad light on poker, and particularly online poker, one should realize that cheating, scamming and lying goes on in most fields to one extent or the other. How many people have gotten ahead in the corporate world by stabbing someone else in the back, plenty. How many people are guilty of some form of insider trading, plenty. Actually my guess is more crooked business goes on in the corporate world in a day than happens in the poker world in a year. I also think it's over looked more in the corporate world, if not almost expected. You cheat and scam in the poker world you will be caught and exposed and blacklisted by everyone in the field. No excuses are good enough for people caught cheating in the poker world. I really commend everyone on 2+2 for getting to the bottom of this and exposing the cheaters. The saddest part in my opinion is that the guys involved were winning players who should of been able to make an honest living from just playing poker and had no real need to cheat in order to make money. Unfortunately one of the lessons most people learn from this is to watch out who you trust, which is a shame since I believe most poker players are pretty trustworthy people.

Now for people who insist on tapping the aquarium. I was playing in a 10NL cash game earlier and there was this sweet fishcake at the table. He was running 48/10 or so over quite a number of hands and he would get lucky and win a pot or two then lose it all back. I lost some money to him in an earlier hand but had won all of it back plus almost another buy in. Then some brilliant idiot decides to say something like "...and that's why you never get ahead". I relied with shhh! stop tapping and this big mouth goes on to say the guy doesn't know the difference. Well the guy immediately tightens up and I wasn't able to win any more off of him. I've seen this happen so much since I had to start playing on Merge and I just wish people would realize how stupid it is to do this. Poker players win off people who play the game badly and when someone points out to them that they are playing badly it's screws it up for everyone else. So people if you can't say something nice to someone at the table don't say anything at all! Keep your tilted ranting to yourself and STFU!

As for me and my game, not much new there. I'm still running like a three legged dog on an icy road in MTTs. I started playing some cash, as I mentioned earlier, and cash games seem to be going much better than MTTs so for now I'm playing cash five or six days a week and only playing low stakes MTTs one or two days a week. Hopefully my bankroll will begin to improve, as well as my luck in MTTs.

Well good luck and hope you all win, win, and win some more!

You don't know what you've got till it's gone...

AFTER - AAARRRGGGHHHH!!!!

BEFORE - HOW GREAT IS WAS!

Last night I picked up a copy of Bluff Magazine from Sept. 2009 I had laying around the house. As I flipped through the pages seeing all the ads from PokerStars and Full Tilt I realized how much we don't appreciate what we have until it's gone.

We could have gotten behind the Poker Players Alliance and pushed harder for legislation before the DOJ shut down these sites but we were happy enough with things the way they were. We had what we thought were two great sites to play on and getting money on and off was very easy. So why did we need government interference in our poker lives. Well I think we all learned why on April 15.

As I thumbed through the pages of Bluff I remembered how I looked forward to every Sunday and the Sunday tournaments. How I normally made a nice amount of money each week on PokerStars. How great the software was and how smoothly it ran. How after a session I could go back and load games in the Universal Replayer for an easy review. I thought about what great promotions PokerStars always had going and most importantly how much I trusted them. I thought about all the women I met (virtually) through the PokerStars Women's League, not to mention how much money I made off those women's games. I wondered if I realized how great it was at the time.

Thanks to our nanny government all that is gone now. We now have only small sites to play on with little volume and little game choice. The software is slow and buggy and hand history and in game last hand review is terrible. I have to say some of the sites do have good customer service but some are terrible. Getting money on and off is slow and difficult and making decent money seems almost impossible and can these sites be trusted?

We can go on this way or we can get busy and push hard for legislation. I'm am trying to do my part by contacting members of the house and senate asking them to support legislation. You can do your part too. The Poker Players Alliance has an ongoing thread on 2+2 poker forum where you can get links and names for senator's and representative's Facebook pages and email addresses to ask for their support. You can find the thread here, please help by making these contacts as often as you can.

Until we get legislation I'm afraid things won't get a whole lot better, so keep pushing your representatives and senators. Make your voice heard!

Legalize it and live and let live...

America's prisons are overrun with people who committed victim-less crimes. I have no idea how many tax dollars are spent prosecuting these crimes but I'm sure it's in the millions. The DOJ's recent indictment of the three major poker sites and the anti-online gambling laws are just one more way the U.S. infringes on peoples rights and freedoms.

So you want to legally play poker online, why should you not be able to. You want to smoke pot legally, you should be able to. Then there is prostitution, regulate it and tax it and protect the women. If someone wants to watch porn in the privacy of their own homes they should have no one trying to stop them but there are plenty of people who would stop this too if they could.

First off there is the tax revenue and keeping people safe with proper regulation. Can you even imagine how much tax money the U.S. could bring in from online poker, legalized pot and prostitution. I'm sure it would be billions of dollars a year. With proper regulation everyone who be much safer than they are now.

The point is whether you think these things are right or wrong is irrelevant, people are going to find a way to do these whether they are legal or not. Why not make them safe and make tax money from them. Our government needs to stop spending so much time and money trying to legislate morals and more time trying fix all things that are wrong in this country.

On a funny note, notice how all these things start with P, so...

Legalize it!

Pot

Poker

Prostitution

Porn