Two Straight Days Updating, The Federal Reserve and the UIGEA

I can't even believe it myself. I'm updating again. I'm still running unreal good which helps, but I'm more updating because I'm a little bit scared about what the Federal Reserve may do in a here in a couple weeks. They want to finally enforce the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) and force banks and other financial institutions to stop partaking in transactions with known "gambling" sites. I'm not really an expert on the whole subject, but here is the way I understand it. The legislators who penned the UIGEA tacked it on to the end of a Safe Port Act during the end of a Congressional Session in 2006. It was passed just as Congress was breaking for the 2006 election, and the UIGEA section was probably not read by many Senators or House members. This act essentially prohibits transferring funds (read, your own money) to an internet gambling site. Barney Frank along with Ron Paul attempted to pass a bill in 2007 to overturn this act stating it impeded on people's freedoms, and furthermore, we're losing valuable tax money in the process. That didn't go through, and now we're here today. They're now attempting to define what is considered gambling and where it's illegal to put your money with this enforcement.

I have a lot of feelings about government which I won't really get in to since I consider this a poker blog. Suffice it to say that I voted for Ron Paul in the primaries and wrote his name in for the actual election. I know he ran as a Republican and is a Republican Senator from Texas, but he's pretty much a Libretarian in modern terms. I guess that makes me one too. I'd prefer to not really give it a name and just say that I am a strong advocate of freedom. Freedom to spend your money and live your life the way you want as long as you aren't harming someone else; that's what I'm about.

Anyways, I'm frustrated that it seems more and more likely that one of my hobbies is going to be taken from me for reasons that are beyond me. People don't need to be protected from themselves. It's true there is a very small percent of people that are problem gamblers and they will lose their money if allowed to participate in online gambling. The vasy majority of people should not be punished for this small amount of people. That's the way our government works unfortunately.

I've made my comments on The Federal Reserve's website and can only hope that enough people do the same.

As stated at the beginning of this entry, I ran really really good again last night. I've doubled my bankroll and up to about $500 now. I played 18 games last night and cashed in 13, winning 7. I feel kind of dumb for getting so angry during my run bad times that weren't really even that bad. I had a couple of small losing days and one really long break even day. All I needed to do was check my game for leaks with a fine tooth comb and keep on plugging away. I don't believe that I was pushing light enough when in the SB and late position with less than 10BBs. After loosening up a little bit and getting a little bit of run good from the poker gods, I had a great couple of days. Hopefully I can keep up this hot streak and make a little bit more moneys before they tell me it's illegal to do so. 

Running Goot

I played a decent amount this weekend, for me anyways. I played sit n gos the whole time. $6.50 9 man turbos on Full Tilt. Ran like dog shit on Friday and Saturday, then ran really, really good today. So far in my quasi challenge / attempt at bankroll management, I'm up about $100. I really think I should buy sit n go wizard because it seems like it's quite a bit better than SnG Power Tools. I am a software engineer in my day job and I really think I could make an online version of sit n go wizard and just use ads to fund it or something. More than likely wishful thinking.

I've really got some problems with getting angry while playing though. When I was running just horrible on Friday and Saturday, I seriously wanted to punch walls and I almost broke my desk by hitting it after shoving AA in the SB and getting beat by K3. It seemed like the 10th time I'd been beat while holding AA or KK and I snapped. I did resist tilting off my roll which seems like a bonus, but I'd rather do that than be so angry. It's dumb because the anger goes away relatively quickly and I feel excited about playing the next day. I need a punching bag. I wouldn't feel so bad about just beating the living shit out of a punching bag since that's what they're for. Mostly, I think my outbursts really let me know that I shouldn't do this for a living because I can't deal with swings even on a small scale. I don't know, maybe if I got more consistent in my volume and play I would handle it a little better.

I don't even know what I'm doing at work right now. I'm thinking about transferring back to the Indianapolis site of the company I work for. I'm ready to buy a house and stay somewhere for a while. I'm sick of renting and not feeling like I own where I live. My family is Indianapolis, and I know they would like having me back there. It's pretty similar in terms of cost of living down there as it is here in Fort Wayne, and I'm assuming it would be pretty easy to transfer. I don't know though, I've heard some horror stories about this company sucking when it comes to helping people transfer, so we'll see. 

My buddy here at work just let me borrow his copy of Force Unleashed for PS3 so I will probably burn a few hours of my life playing that here in the next week or so. The reviews are mediocre for the game, but the demo was fun and I've watched people play the game and it still seems fun.

I somehow manage to have quite a few hobbies and put a decent amount of time in to all of them even with my job. I'm pretty good at guitar and manage to play a few hours a week. I read every night before going to bed, although I wish I was able to read a little more. I have 4 or 5 TV shows that I manage to watch every week. I probably play 4 - 6 hours of poker a week. I run almost every day now, and I'm getting fast again. And I play video games. So even after all of this I'm able to keep my house pretty clean and go out with friends occassionally. I do all this, and I still feel like I have a ton of free time. I don't understand people that tell me they never have any time to do anything and that's why they don't work out, clean up their place, pick up a new hobby, etc. 

Alright, I'm out.

Some Ramblings

I made some more progressive playing more sit n gos on Full Tilt a couple nights ago. So far I'm running well. I'm debating switching back over to Stars for sit n gos though. Full Tilt's rewards system kind of sucks compared to Stars. You are rewarded for how many points you accrue on Stars where you are only rewarded for how many days you play on Full Tilt which I think is kind of dumb. If I were to only play 2 days a week, yet play a ton, I wouldn't get much on Full Tilt. As far as game structures go, they are pretty equal in my opinion. However, I am kind of in to stats, and my stats suck on sharkscope on Full Tilt. My drunken $500 sit n gos have taken their toll on my numbers. I'm in the red just about $3500 there. Maybe I'll wait until I'm back in the black before I move off and go back to Stars. That sounds like a dumb reason, but I don't care.

I want to find a form of poker that is lower variance, yet can still provide a chance for a large ROI over time. The problem is that I love playing multis, which by the nature of the payout structures is guaranteed high variance. I love big scores and the thrill that comes with them, but that doesn't really fit in to the low variance concept too well. I think I normally hear the word variance when people are on a downswing, but they kind of forget that big scores are the other end of it. I don't think that's true for everyone, but I think it is a lot of the time. I don't understand how live tournament players survive. A normal online guy can put in more volume in one week than a live tournament player can in a year. A bad week in the online world is pretty common, which could equate to a bad year for a live guy. I couldn't deal with not making money for a whole year. Anyways, I'm just kind of rambling and just writing without much of a point.

I didn't play yesterday even though I was thinking about it while I was at work. I got home about 6, went for a run, showered then ate. By the time I was done with all that, it was well after 8 and I was exhausted. So I finished Dead Space instead. The game ended in awesome fashion and was well worth the price of admission. I've got LittleBigPlanet to play next. I've played it a little bit, and it is a very beautiful game. It seems like it will be a lot of fun as well. 

Alright, time to get back to work.