Tuesday, April 26, 2005

Funny, I Don't Feel Different

So why have I been winning the last two nights? I haven't played that differently, with the exception of being more cautious (but not weak) with an overpair on a ragged board and someone betting into me.

I continued to win back everything I lost over my two week losing plunge and now I'm getting Back in Black (start guitar intro by AC/DC here). My Party account is showing four figures again while I have almost cleared the most recent offering there (bonus code: BONUSAPR for 20% up to $100).

At Full Tilt (bonus code: Drizz99) I went 1 for 2 at the $20 SnGs including a come from waaaaaaaaay behind victory, finally catching some cards when it mattered the most. I saw Erik Seidel sitting at a $20 O8 SnG waiting to draw the flies into his web. In the past I would have signed up without even taking the time into consideration. But, it was a work night and getting up at 4am the next morning gets tough as I remember from my gaming days while playing Dark Age of Camelot....

I look back at those days and I'm amazed as to how long and how much time I put into playing. 5-6 hours a night was not uncommon during the week, and on the weekend if I wasn't playing in a softball tournament you could bank on me fighting Beserkers, Healers, Infils, and Wizards for beloved realm points. I would play with the same group of guys usually and every once in a while I still get the urge to boot up the game and start playing. But, after the toil it took on my marriage and real life friendships, I knew I needed a clean break from gaming. I took it too seriously. So, a very good friend helped put my character up on Ebay so I could start a new addiction. Poker.

I had won and lost several hundred at Pacific Poker and still had a hundred left after playing games way over my bankroll at the time, the $300 I got from the sale of my Dark Age of Camelot character gave me the small stash needed to adventure into the bonus whoring waters of online poker. Is Poker going to control my life like MMORPGs (massively-multiplayer-online-role-playing-game) did? No. I am able to quit and control when I quit for each session without worrying about disappointing others. DAoC is a group game, you need a group to accomplish tasks and compete in Player vs. Player combat, poker is a solo game. As stated, I was part of a group, without a part of the group being on it weaked the chances of being successful. No, I wasn't guilted into playing each night, I enjoyed chatting with my "guild" or group members on a nightly basis, but I felt guilty when I needed to leave as the group wouldn't function the same way without me. But the game (not the people) grew stale for me, and I saw what it was doing to my personal life. Being the addictive person I am, I needed a new hobby. I'm not artsy as doing a calculus problem is easier then cutting a straight line on a piece of paper for me. I'm really not an outdoors type person (minus playing sports of course, which I love). So, I mixed my love of cards with my love of gambOOOOling and came up with online poker.

SirWaffleMan had asked question as to why you want to be a part of the blogging community? I do it for a reasons I stated above, and the blogging community is my new "guild". I love the fact that should I ever need help with this hobby/addiction I can trust a few writers and drunks to steer me in the right direction as most of them have little ones and spouses also. I just hope that my hack writing style gets my point across one in a dozen posts.

Ok, I'm misty this morning for unknown reasons, maybe my wife left the Lifetime channel on last night while I was sleeping. Good luck at the tables everyone :)

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