Sponser Ad Down

I have taken down the ad for Full Tilt Poker.  If they get their $hl# together, I would be more than willing to put it back.  I have not heard from a representative of FTP in over a month.  And after today's suspension of their license, it seems that their troubles are more than they were letting on.  Read more on the suspension here.

I hope you all have found a place to Enjoy the Pokery Goodness!

Death of Online Poker: Day Zero

With the indictments today of the Big Three online Poker providers in the US today, there is a virtual blackout of online play.  I am sure you can still feed your urges at some of the smaller sites, but I would not encourage it.  This is the reason I have played very little with real money since UIGEA was passed by congress.

For details on what is happening, I suggest you got to Pokerati.

Enjoy the Pokery Goodness (just not online for the time being)!

What A Great Day!

This afternoon I went to make a withdrawl from my FTP account.  I have done this often enough that it almost seems like clockwork.  I make a withdrawl request for a check to be sent to me.  It gets approved.  And in less than 3 weeks, I have a shiny new check to deposit.

Well, this afternoon that changed.  Apparently FTP is having some kind of issue with check withdrawls and will "contact" me by email when it is fixed.  Huh?  I hope this isn't some kind of UIGEA related problem.

Being unemployed, the meager funds I have at FTP are very helpful.  If anyone knows what is going on, please let me know.

Enjoy the Pokery Goodness!

Oops, Life Happens

Yeah, I know I said this morning that I might play in the "Very Josie" tonight.  But right now that doesn't look like it's going to happen.  There are too many things to get done today.

1.  Laundry
2.  Dishes
3.  Trip to the Workforce Center
4.  Writing
5.  Workout
6.  Fix dinner for Mrs. _one and the (not so) little _ones.
7.  Wrangle homework

This leaves precious little time for poker today, much less playing in what sounds like a good little tourney on FTP.  If you have the time stop by here for details.

Enjoy the Pokery Goodness!

I Think I Am

I think I am going to play in the Very Josie monthly tournament tonight.  It will depend, of course, on my being able to complete all my husbandly and fatherly duties here at the house.

Looks like a fun tournament to play.  I am sure they will appreciate my dead money.  Who knows, maybe I will do a write-up.  It will by definition be short as I do not expect to last long.

If you are thinking about playing, go here for the details.

Enjoy the Pokery Goodness.

Very Nice Blog

Very Josie is a blog by, you guessed it, Josie.  Josie just got back and is posting about the recent WPBT Winter Classic.  I have a feeling I need to read this blog regularly.

And as an added bonus, she runs a regular tournament on FTP on the first Wednesday of every month.  I haven't played in it yet, but who knows, I have a couple of bucks in my account...

Enjoy the Pokery Goodness!

Not Blog-Pimpage or Book Review - Actual Poker Content!

Over the last week, a couple of interesting poker-related things happened.  I played a hand in a tournament that put a player severely on tilt.  The other is that I am in the middle of FTP's Rush Week.

I really don't want to bore you with all the details, but I feel compelled to give you most of them.

The set-up for the tilting hand:
I was playing in a $250 freeroll at FTP.  These are donkfests at least through the first hour or so.  I was moved to a table sometime during the last half of the first hour needing a lot of chips to get up to even.  I landed in chip heaven.  Of the 8 other players, six were sitting out.  I played a little standard poker until I go a feel for the other two players.  Player A had me out chipped about 10 to 1 and Player B (henceforth known as Bad Guy) had me out chipped about 5 to one.  Even the players sitting out had more chips than me.

About this time the deck hits me pretty well, and I double up a few times.  I notice that Player A is playing very weak-tight (my guess is that he got a lot a chips early and was sitting for the most part).  Bad Guy was playing almost every hand, but checked a lot.

I decided to start playing into Bad Guy and just run over Player A.  During the course of the next 15 or so hands, I busted out Player A, and severely crippled Bad Guy.  At this point I have about 16k in chips and Bad Guy has almost 4k.  One of the short stacks is all-in in the big blind.  Bad Guy calls and I raise with KhJh in the big blind.  Bad guy calls.

The flop comes Ad-Tc-2c.  The way Bad Guy had been playing, if he hit the flop or had a flush or straight draw he would have raised.  Bad Guy checks and I check.  The turn comes up 9c and Bad guy checks again.  Bad guy could have been slow playing a flush at this point so I was being careful.

The river comes with 3c making it four cards to a club flush.  At this point Bad Guy puts in a very small value bet.  I know he has a flush.  But I know if he had the Ac he would have bet on the flop.  So, I can either fold, call or raise.  If I fold, he will run all over me even though he has fewer chips.  If I call, he beats me with his "less-than-nut" flush.  Or I could choose C and raise,  knowing that he will lay down his "less-than-nut" hand to a big bet and that my cards will be seen because of the all-in sitting out player, I bet about 125% of the pot.  Bad Guy folds, my cards are shown, I scoop the pot from the all-in players K4o.  Then the fun began.

At this point I get no cards unfortunately.  In the middle of the next hand Bad Guy says in the chat box, "I'm gonna rape your face if i can find your address."  Excuse me?  Bad Guy gets this worked up over having to fold a hand in a freeroll?  Unfortunately I was not able to capitalize on his tilt as the table broke up after a few more hands.

I did not go on to even make the money in the freeroll, but I outlasted about 93%.  Bad Guy went out shortly after folding to my bluff.

Note to any at FTP:  Bad Guy's comments crossed a line.  In some jurisdictions it could even be considered assault.  If you wish to sanction him, I will give you the details.  And please keep your database secure as I don't want him showing up at my house and doing bad things to my right ear.)

-------

I am playing in FTP's Rush Week.  I like Rush Poker.  And so far I am a winning player on the micro-limits.  Not much of a winning player or else the free $10 for playing about 10 hours of poker seems like a good deal.  (I have to accumulate 10 FTP points a day for 7 straight days.)  So far so good.

Enjoy the Pokery Goodness!

Technical Help Needed!

The owner of this Blog needs help!  He can't connect to FTP with is laptop running Window 7 Pro 64bit.  Having been through the FTP technical support nightmare last year, I can sympathize.  Maybe someone from FTP still reads this blog.  Go read and see if you can help.

I know he would like to be Enjoying the Pokery Goodness.

Half of Take 2 = Take1?

I am five days into the 10 day Take 2 promotion at FTP.  So far I have met the requirements for the first level.  That means $5.00 will go into my account on Monday.  If I meet the requirements for four of the five next days they will add another $20.

At this point is seems like taking candy from babies.  I have been playing on the micro-limit Rush Poker tables.  (I had a little cash in my FTP account.)  Who knows, this could be the start of my online bankroll without having to run afoul of any UIGEA regulations.

Enjoy the Pokery Goodness!

Running Bad?

I think I am running bad.  Either that or my recent hot streak was just a fluke.  I have not yet determined whether it is me or variance.  I am leaning toward me.  I guess I will have to break out the 5 Poker books I own.  Three of which are instructional, and two that aren't.  (Note to self:  Once your lazy ass gets a job, pick up a couple of new books.)

I have been doing my online playing at Full Tilt Poker lately.  Ultimate Bet used to be a favorite, but they have pretty much abandoned the lowly dial-up speed at which I can connect.  (Another Note to self:  When you get a job, spring for a cable modem.)  I have a feeling that PokerStars will be the same as UB, but I will try later anyway. 

Anyone have any site suggestions?  Are there any sites that have a shortage of fish like me?  Let me know.

Enjoy the Pokery Goodness!

Dead Money Again

Once again I find myself qualified for Full Tilt Poker's $1000 Weekly Freeroll Sunday October 3rd at 3:40 pm eastern time.  Who knows where I will finish this time.  Two weeks ago I outlasted more than 90% of the field and still did not make the money.

If you want to see some truly awful poker playing, drop by and sweat me.  My FTP ID is "the mortal 1".  Of course my 3 or 4 readers probably have better things to do on Sunday...

Enjoy the Pokery Goodness.  I know I will tomorrow.

90%?

Well at least I can say I was better than more than 90 percent of the players entered in the $1000 Weekly Freeroll at Full Tilt Poker.  But that is about all I can say.  I was going alone pretty well until My AQ ran into AA and I lost three fourths of my chips (At least I did not lose them all).  I did recover and played over half the tournament even getting into the top 1000 for a while.  But the blinds and antes kept going up and I was card dead for quite a while.  Oh well.  It was good experience.  Officially I went out 1223 out of over 18000.  Maybe next time.

Enjoy the Pokery Goodness.

Come see the Dead Money

By some freak happenstance, I find myself in the Full Tilt Poker $1000 Dollar Freeroll Sunday at 3:40 pm eastern time.  I won entrance this morning by being one of the top 250 in one of there qualifying freerolls.  I have no chance in hell against a possible 30,000, but it will be fun.  Come by and watch one of the worst players in poker.  If you do stop by, my FTP ID is "the mortal 1".

Now back to your regularly scheduled sucky blog.

Enjoy the Pokery Goodness

Playing again...

The past two weeks I have been playing on Full Tilt Poker again.  So far, I have been playing only with chips.  I have been playing mostly multi-table SnGs.  I have been in the money (chips) 4 out of 5 times.  I have also played 4 freeroll tournaments.  I have yet to cash, but I have gone deep each time.  I think that it is only a matter of time before I start getting some return on my time investment.  If you see me at the tables, give me a yell.  I usually don't pay attention to the chat, unless my name is in the box.


Enjoy the Pokery Goodness!

FTP Notice

I got this email from Full Tilt Poker yesterday.  Fortunately I upgraded my computer in January.

Full Tilt Poker is withdrawing support for Windows 2000 as of May 27th, 2010.

You can continue to play at Full Tilt Poker using Windows 2000, but we will not be able to guarantee the quality of your experience or offer you support if you encounter any issues.

Click here to learn more about current computer requirements.

We apologize for any inconvenience that this might cause. If you have any questions or require any assistance, please email technology@fulltiltpoker.com.

Full Tilt Poker

Of course considering the pain I went through on my Win2K laptop last year just trying to load the FTP software, I don't blame them.  I spent about 8 months dealing with their technology department trying to figure it out.  And eventually I had to come up with the solution myself.  I am just glad I can play poker online.


Enjoy the Pokery Goodness!

Getting Better

I had time for some play money SnG action this week on FTP.  I played 4 multitables and made the final table 4 times.  I was in the (play) money twice and even won once.  I was making good reads and getting my chips in at the right places throughout.  The two where I did not make it to the money, I was not patient enough.  I'm getting better.  Hopefully the trend will continue.

As you may or may not remember, I have not played with real money online since the US Congress passed the most dastardly, cowardly act I can remember.  I think it would be better if they regulated and taxed online poker than try to ban it.  It does not stop those who truly wish to play.  They can get their money to the online site.  With any luck, congress will wake up after the election and deal with this.  But I doubt they will.  At this point it is not a major issue and the atmosphere is too polarized for them to agree to anything. 

I Suck at Poker!

Yep, you heard that right.  I played online for the second session in 8 months.  And I completely suck.  I will have to play more in the future to get what little chops I had, back.  But at least I am enjoying the pokery goodness!

Charles Town Races and Slots is training there dealers for table games, which will start sometime around June.  I just hope I have a job by then so I can go and play live.  I had applied to become a dealer and was rejected.  I will try not to hold that against them.  It is their loss.

Hopefully I will have better things to report on my game the next time.

See Ya!

FTP Withdrawls

I got an email yesterday.  (A rare thing with this blog.)  And this is what it said (name and email address removed):

Hi, I read your blog about not being able to withdraw from your account... can you please help me out..? Im having problems withdrawing.. any suggestions?

Thanks,

I got my withdrawl through the Check by Mail method.  That means I had to scan in a photo ID and a monthly bill or statement.  I then emailed the scans to the cashier at FTP.  They verified that the information on my account matched the scanned documents and then sent me a check. 

All I can say further is to check out the excellent documentation FTP has on the procedure.

Hope this helps!

Enjoy the Pokery Goodness!

Patience!

I guess I need to learn a little of it.  Full Tilt Poker verified me for check withdrawls this morning.  Now I only have to wait up to 48 hours to process a check and wait up to 15 business days more, and I will have my money.

I miss the good old days of Neteller!  Hopefully the check will arrive in time for me to make a mortgage payment.  I hate being unemployed!

Enjoy the Pokery Goodness!

How Long Fult Tilt?

How long does it take Full Tilt Poker to verify your account for check withdrawl?  What would be a reasonable amount of time to wait?  I could see nothing on their site giving even a ballpark figure.  I guess I have waited 6 months to be able to login, they figure what is a few more.

Enjoy the Pokery Goodness...