Trials of a Poker Apprentice: Let the paranoia begin

Like anybody who puts up a personal website, I enjoy looking through the logs and seeing where people are coming from, what brings them to the site, what they look at, etc. But this morning I have to say I was a bit surprised to see that one of last night's visitors was on a computer at none other than the U.S. Department of Justice.

OK, OK, no need to panic. Even though that kooky Virginia senator is trying to ram an internet gambling ban down our throats. Even though the Bush administration has been most unfriendly to internet poker (just ask Antigua). There's no reason to think it was anything more than some poker-playing staffer goofing off when he should have been working.

Right?

Well, the referring page was All-In Magazine's website, so there is some reason to think that it was indeed a card-playing kindred spirit who just so happens to be trapped in neo-con hell. Keep the faith, brother.

But that does bring me to the fact that All-In Magazine links to my site. How cool is that? Sure, they link to a lot of poker blogs in their blog monitor. As the site says, it has "real-time updates of the top 200 poker blogs." Fancy that. I'm in the top 200. I'm going to ignore the fact that there are probably only something like 205 poker blogs, and I'm probably number 200. In fact, yesterday I pseudo-bragged to my friend, coworker and poker compatriot Sheldon that All-In Magazine had named my blog one of the top 200 poker blogs. I could tell by the look on his face that he was unsure whether that was some sort of achievement or not, so I just looked at him with a grin and said, "It is what it is."

But I would be remiss if I didn't say thanks to the folks at All-In for making me feel a just a wee bit special, and for giving folks another way to find my site.
My time at the tables last night was a mixed bag. I started off the evening by finding and taking advantage of another new site's free-money offer. Pitbull Poker is offering new players $10 free, no deposit required, to try out their site. Plus, if you take the deal, you also get a 200 percent bonus if and when you do make a deposit later on, up to $200. If you're looking to try a new site, you can't go wrong with this deal. Use the $10 to see if you like the site, then, if you do, deposit and get a good bonus. The site is Flash-based, meaning it is playable by both Mac and PC users. There's not a lot of traffic there yet, but there are enough players to pretty much have a low-limit table going, plus freerolls every hour on the half-hour.

No sooner had I signed up for Pitbull Poker though, I got an email from Party Poker saying they had given me $20 to come back and try the new software. Yippee! Without playing a hand, I was already up $30!

So, I played awhile at Pitbull and managed to double my meager holdings there. Then I went to Party, registered for a $1 tournament that ended up with 885 players and sat at a no-limit table with the rest of my money. Unfortunately, I lost the entire stack at the ring game, but I was running pretty fair in the tournament and was well situated to finish pretty high in the money. The top 90 got paid and we were getting close to the bubble when I looked down, saw pocket 6s and figured it was time to change gears. The blinds and antes were high enough that I felt it would be good deal if I just won them. There were a few people who limped in for 600, so I raised to 3,000 from the button. I was shocked and a bit distressed when two people flat-called. The flop came 10-10-4. I couldn't imagine that board helping anybody, so I led out with a continuation bet of about 6,000. I was immediately reraised all-in, without thinking, I immediately called. Man, I hate it when I do that. I was probably pot-committed at that point anyway, but it seems I always end up pulling some donkey move near the bubble and finish out of the money. And it's especially upsetting when I've played very damn well for several hours and then end up losing everything I've scraped to build in one stupid call. Anyway, the other guy had pocket 4s and had flopped a full house. I was out in 129th, just 39 away from the money.

So, my return to Party was notable only for its brevity. However, I did manage to offset my loss there with my wins at Party and Titan last night, so I can't really complain.

I'll be taking several days off from the blog starting tomorrow, as I'll be heading to Louisville for an academic competition my son is in. It will be nice to get away for a few days, but I'm sorry to say that it doesn't look like I'm going to be able to get out to Caesars this time around. I should be back this Tuesday or Wednesday. Until then, here's what's shaking in poker from around the web: