Happy New Year, Same As The Old Year

I wrapped up 2012 by playing another session of live charity poker.  Surprisingly there weren't many people and we ended up playing shorthanded.  I played miserably but had one big hand that got me back above even.  I decided to play my last hand with a suited ace UTG for $7 in about a six way pot, completely whiffed and ended up with a $6 loss for the night.  A small price to pay for good entertainment.  I saw more veterans of the old location where I played several years ago, still grinding.

2013 looks to be more of the same.  I see no reason to be optimistic about legalization of online poker - which is just dumb considering the federal government's insatiable thirst for revenue - particularly since I live in a state which has made no noise about allowing state-regulated games. 

I will probably play live a couple of times.  I plan to read a lot less of the 2+2 forums.  If I get really bored I might doodle a cartoon.  Poker in 2013 looks a lot like it will be a repeat of 2012.

Good luck to those who are still grinding.

[x] Played Poker In 2012

I could look back through the archives - hey, for this year that wouldn't take more than about three minutes - but I'm pretty sure I played my only live poker of 2012 so far last night.

 

There are 3 charity poker rooms of which I am aware within 45 minutes.  There may be more than that - for one, there was a robbery of a local event held at a bowling alley recently and I don't know if they run events regularly - but I'm sure of 3 that are open pretty much all the time.

 

I stopped in at the closer one first.  One cash game going at 5:00 on a Saturday, no open seat but I could be first on the list.  I didn't care much for the look of the lineup - too serious - so I ran a couple errands and ended up not going back.

 

Instead, I stopped in to check out another room and I was glad that I did.  Two tables going and they drew about 30 players for a tournament.  More diverse than the other room (LOL WHITE PPL) and much more fun.  I even recognized a couple of players from the place I used to play several years back.

 

Play was awful as usual and highly entertaining.  One poor guy got stacked by a drunk who hit with K3o.  I dropped a buyin early when I raised T9s on the button, got multiple calls, flopped two of my suit (the A and the Q), turned the flush ... and got stacked by a guy playing J5s out of position.  Nice hand, sir.  REBUY.

 

Not many notable hands on the rebuy.  I was a little sad to have to let QQ go after a KQT flop, 9 turn, but it was a easy fold after it got potted and called on the turn before my turn to act.  J6o and J8o split the pot.  Got almost back to even after getting all-in action on a board of AAQ when I held AQo.  (Can you say YAHTZEE?).  Racked up and left after about four hours, down $9.

 

I had really forgotten just how much fun a good table of live poker can be.  I don't really have a bankroll or the skill to play live profitably so this probably won't become a regular occurrence, but for one night it was fun to pretend again that I don't suck at poker.

Confirmed Not Dead

... at least not yet.

Neither I, nor this blog, nor the world of poker blogging are deceased.  None may be as robust as they once were, but all are still kicking.

I renewed my domain yesterday, which was a trigger to post.

I posted, which led me to spend some time wandering through my archives.

Reading the archives was a trigger to see who else out there was still blogging.

Results were surprising.  An hour went by in the blink of an eye as I wandered the blogosphere, which in a metaphorical stretch resembles a rust belt city in decline - pockets of normality, even elegance, with widespread declines in activity and plenty of now-vacated spaces.  There are even criminal gangs in the form of domain squatters and comment spammers.

Poker blogs are Detroit.

As a general rule, I don't read poker blogs any more.  Bloglines shutting down made it more difficult to stay on top of what was news and I just never cared for Google's version of a RSS feed reader.  I follow poker people on twitter and if I want to see what's news I read 2+2 or follow a twittered link.  Since I don't play poker anymore I spend less time on and have less interest in poker-related subjects.

Wandering my way through the blogs yesterday it occurred to me:  I miss the poker some.  I miss the people writing about poker more.  There was a lot of good stuff out there.

I wonder what the next poker will be. 

Everything Forgone

Just checking to see if this thing still exists. It does? Great.

It's been months since I've played any poker. I haven't been able to make the pilgrimage to Las Vegas. My preferred charity poker room shut down quite a while ago. I don't really care enough to run the risks involved in playing on any of the U.S.-facing poker sites. Lobbying and legislative efforts have gone nowhere. I haven't even been to a home game in forever. No wonder this blog is dead.

Maybe I'll play poker in 2013. Or maybe I'll just find a new hobby.

 

***

I read somewhere that the DOJ payment process for U.S. players continues to inch forward, with (iirc) an adminstrator to be named after the first of the year.

Hmm. I wonder how many of the people that had money on FTP are going to have their payout intercepted because they owe back taxes, defaulted on student loans, are subject to child support garnishment or anything else like that. Federal payments are exempt from a lot of things, but the government itself is very good on collecting its due.

Could be that a number of folks are going to be very dissapointed if payouts ever happen.

***

LOL POKER BLOGS. That is all.

Congratulations To The Rest Of The World!

The deal between the U.S. DOJ, PokerStars and Full Tilt has been finalized and the press releases issued. Rest of the world players will have their funds within 90 days, U.S. players will have to apply to the DOJ. Yeah, that's going to go well. I can't be the only one with exactly zero confidence that checks will be cut by our government any time soon. I don't have any of the associated worries - I've paid my taxes on any winnings for one - but I think end of the year might be optimistic. It sure would have been nice if the DOJ had let Stars handle it, they did such an exceptional job in repaying their own players in short order. Now if only Congress would get some legislation passed...