Still Here

The Washington State Secret Police haven't come knocking on my door yet to enforce that silly new online gambling law. I have nothing to worry about though, I've been a good citizen and have only recently gambled in the state-sanctioned casinos.

Bah! Mr. EasyCure is rightfully peeved and is on a crusade to do something about it. EC, I have a buddy who's finishing up law school in NYU this year, so I'll ask him about it. :)

I've been playing "for free" online though, such as the PokerStars Blogger tournament last week. The only other name I recognized at my opening table was The Rooster, but he was sitting out. I almost made it to the first break, when DonkeyPuncher showed up to chit-chat and came just in time to witness my exit. I pushed with AT and was up against a big stack's 99. An Ace on the flop elicited a "Nice" from the DP, and the 9 on the Turn just made me laugh out loud. It was either that, or DP saying, "I've never been ****blocked online before." when ToddCommish and I interjected ourselves into his attempt at table chat with SarahSpades.

Luckily the day wasn't a total wash. It was Father's Day, and my girls treated me to BBQ'd ribs and lots and lots of chocolate!

Well, back into hiding for awhile. The next month is going to be busy and expensive for me as all of my girls (wife and 3 daughters) have their birthdays within a month of each other. We do have a summer road trip scheduled, but unfortunately Vegas isn't anywhere near the planned route.

P.S. EasyCure - I am *not* a felon. The law went into effect on June 7th. As you can see on my previous post, I went broke on June 5th.

Doc - Glad you got my note about PJ's NL... I think I'm gonna give it a shot this weekend. And since you killed it, I think getting those OzzFest tickets would be an acceptable referral fee.

Stacked!

Typical example of how things have been running every time I sit down at a table, real or virtual:

Can I Play Too?

I have registered to play in the PokerStars World Blogger Championship of Online Poker!

This Online Poker Tournament is a No Limit Texas Holdem event exclusive to Bloggers.

Registration code: 7330476

Just Can't Get Away

With all the hours I'm working now, I thought my only Poker outlet was going to be through the writings of others on their blogs. Boy, was I wrong!

As most degenerate gamblers do, I try to keep the talk about my addiction hobby on the downlow while at a place of business. But during my first full week here, the two Vietnamese brothers who are on my shift were taking a vacation... to Vegas... to play Poker.

So while I've posted very little here on the blog, I've had plenty of hardcore Poker discussions during normal working hours at my desk! One of the brothers plays multiple online SnGs and hates the live limit-game, while the other brother is making a killing at the 4/8 tables in the tribal casino. We all even made a trip on our collective day off to try and sweep the money at the daily Cascade tournament (none of us cashed). Me and the limit-playing brother stuck around afterwards though, and cleaned out some other fishy's racks before we called it a day.

Now he's trying to talk me into joining him for an all day session at the Tulalip. He said he made almost $1000 last weekend at the 4/8 tables and showed me the multiple deposit slips. Apparently it's a lot more touristy than my usual hangouts (like the Muckleshoot). I can see where this can be true... the Tulalip is visible from the freeway, and supposedly the wait in the poker room is never that long, allowing the fish to come and go in droves. The 'Shoot is easy enough to find, but it is kind of tucked away so the casual gamblers wouldn't really have the chance to spot it and act upon their impulses; and the wait for a 4/8 table can run into multiple hours on a busy night.

The Tulalip is normally out of my driving range (not worth the trip with so many options to choose from near my own neighborhood), but it's actually pretty close to the new office here, so I could realistically head up there after work. And if all went well, I could come right back to work from there the next day! I'd have to run that by the wife first, but I am definitely going to give it some consideration! Okay, I guess I could do it on a night where I don't have to come back to work the next day!

In other news, and I saw that Iggy posted about this, but I happened across this news the other day as well: Internet Poker Illegal in Washington State

This comment about the bill is pretty damn funny:

Class C felonies in Washington State, include bestiality; assault on a child in the third degree; custodial sexual misconduct in the first degree; third degree rape; four DUIs in seven years; second degree assault; sex and labor trafficking; unlawful taking of endangered fish and wildlife; robbery (1 count); animal fighting abuse or, most egregiously, going “all-in” in a PartyPoker $5+0.50 multiple table tournament. 60 months in jail seems more than appropriate for going “all-in” with less than a pair of jacks.

So unless I hit a big enough score to post bail, I guess I'll be seeing you all again in 3 to 5!

Addict

Hello. My nickname is skitch, and I'm a workaholic.

So I officially started my new job a month ago and I got assigned to the 1-11pm swing shift. I had put in my notice with my previous employer, but they've had trouble getting a replacement for me, so they've been happy to have me come in a few hours in the morning to do my 'thang. So now I work from 8a-12p at the old job, then pick up lunch and eat in the car during the 30+ minute commute to the new job.

Yea, I guess I'm pretty addicted to work. Or maybe it's the double paycheck every other week that's the enabler. Whatever the case, my replacement doesn't start for another 2 weeks, and there'll be some training and transition time needed, so it looks like I can milk the old job for another month at least.

Somehow, I've been able to squeeze in some time for another addiction, and played the 300 raked hands needed to clear the free money Party dumped into my account. I'll sign up for the occasional WSOP freeroll on Party and Full Tilt, but I just don't seem to have the mental or physical endurance to last them out right now.

So the cards are on the backburner for now, though they provide a nice distraction every now and then. In the meantime, I have to focus on my other current obsessions: Quizno's Prime Rib sandwiches and Jack-in-the-Box's Orange Cream milkshake. Oh yeah, and getting myself on the fast-track of climbing my new corporate ladder!

Anyone know where I can find a sponsor?

WSOP Freeroll, Take 2!

Seems Saturday wasn't a good day for WSOP Satellites. I didn't make it anywhere as close as JoeSpeaker did, outlasting only half the field of 3000 in the Party WSOP Freeroll. I had vowed to play tight, and thought I was on the path to righteousness when I made the decision to fold JJ to an all-in on the 3rd hand. After an hour into it, I was cruising along just above average when I got moved to a new table, right behind a big stack with about 6x the average.

He used that stack to his advantage, pushing me off pots or calling me all the way down. I don't know why I let it get to me, but I decided I needed to double up through this guy just once. I started limping in with almost anything, hoping to catch a miracle flop. He min-raised when I had a low pocket pair and there was a caller behind so I thought it would be a prime time to push. I did, and unfortunately he could easily afford to call me with Ace-rag. Of course there's never an Ace on the flop when I need it in a race, and yet it gleefully drops for someone else when my tournament life is on the line.

Pitiful. I seem to do fine getting myself to the big game, but then I choke when it's time to play ball. Yea, I qualified again late last night, wading through 3450 others with hardly a worry. I just need to stay in that state of mind and pull a repeat performance come next Saturday.

Poker Gods Smile Upon Me

Yesterday turned out to be a very good day for me. I got the message that no skeletons were found in my closet, and therefore I was cleared for hire. I talked to the new boss about what shift I'll be starting on and such - it's a large telecommunications company, so they have support needs around the clock and I noted my preference for the night shift, as that's when my buddy works. There's also obviously less pressure from the hecticness of normal business hours, and it'll be an easier commute for me during those off hours (and it will be quite the commute). But it sounds like I'll be starting a 1p-9p swing shift for my training, and then I'll get placed more permanently after a few weeks.

So I let the news slip to two of my current coworkers, and they were excited for me. I've only been here for 2 years, but they're certified lifers at over 6 years each, and I guess I gave them a glimmer of hope and allowed them to live vicariously through me! A lot of discussion at lunch time about the various ways I can break the news to the higher-ups, ranging from giving the classic "Take this job and shove it," speech to just going AWOL. As upstanding as I'd like to try and be, the question "What have THEY done for ME lately?" keeps coming up. Well, other than provide me a job and steady paycheck... but you get my drift. So I've plotted and timed out my escape route, and it may cause a bit of a scramble but I think it'll be a fair proposition for all parties involved.

Obviously, morale isn't at a high point, and I'm not concerned about burning bridges. I started here as a temp, and it was only supposed to be a temporary blip on the radar; it's absolutely nowhere near to close to the career path I want to be on. I've made some good friends, learned a few things, and can drive a mean forklift now... but somehow I don't think: "Able to crossdock 20-feet beams of lumber through an 8 foot bay door" as a skill on the resumé would really impress any IT recruiters.

And there'll be no more of having to deal with this...


So I'm obviously thrilled about this new opportunity, and I really owe it all to the Poker Gods. Huh? How's that? A few months back, I got a call from a friend to meet him for a low buy-in Poker tourney after work. And while I busted out early because of a silly chip miscalculation; I got to hang out with my buddy - the one that told me about the job opening and put in a good word for me during the interview process! So even though I didn't cash on that particular day, it's turned out to be my most profitable Poker tourney yet!

I'm not sure exactly what I did to curry the Gods' favor yesterday, but boy, did they shower me with it. After everything that went on during the day, I spent the evening partying it up on Party Poker. I actually didn't fare too well in the cash games... I blew a buy-in at the PLO table when I accidentally clicked "RAISE ALL-IN $12.86" on the River when I was trying to switch windows. Of course, I had missed all of my draws and my nemesis just had to call with his Full House.

It was okay though. The $20 I lost there was more than worth the price of where the night was headed. The window that popped up that made me misclick was the beginning of the 3:50 AM (EST) WSOP FreeRoll Qualifier. The one that had about 2100 entrants in it. The one that found me tripling up early on. The one that I flopped Quads twice and got paid off. The one that I ended up on a table with no other live players (everyone was away) so I chipped up quickly by raising every hand. Just how lucky was I? One person whose blind put him all-in had AA against my J9. I rivered Trip 9's on him.

Yes, the Gods were smiling upon me. It took four hours, and lots of folding folding raising folding to work my way down to the last 80 or so - that's about where I dozed off after raising pre-flop with AJ and woke up to Party's warning bell just in time to bet my TPTK. Then I got a really good wake-up jolt when my Pocket Queens held up against AK, giving me enough chips to glide into the top 50 and into the Saturday WSOP Freeroll Satellite.

Wish me luck, and pray for the Poker Deities to keep an eye on me for just a few more days, so that I can escape unscathed from my current cubicle and freeroll my way into the WSOP. :)