Hella Hold'em

Wow... I was going for a nice, relaxing, generally un-productive (in terms of work) Sunday. I sure accomplished it! As I think back to yesterday, trying to recall what I did, I can come up with this list of tasks:

1. Caught up on blog-reading
2. Caught up on email
3. Wrote up my blog post on the Diamond game
4. Read some more of Phil Gordon's book (thoughts on that at a later date)
5. Played off the rest of my raked hand requirement for that $20 come-back bonus on Party
6. Played more poker online
7. Played a little bit more poker online

Five hours of poker online, to be exact. I don't really remember the last time I sat for THAT long playing cards online. It's usually a 3 hour affair for me.

All in all, I ended the day down four bucks. The table I played at to work off my bonus was killer (in the bad kinda killer way) - I made 2 really bad calls on 2 really big money hands, and it hurt. Later on at what became the blogger table, I turned a profit to make up for the earlier loss. What can I say - it's all free money anyway, so it's hard to put it into perspective, but I am swearing from this moment forward: since I worked off the bonus, that money is now MINE and is no longer to be referred to as free money. It is now very much real.

Tonight, I'm heading over to Scott's (host of the Diamond game) for a little single table action - a rebuy tourney, I think we're doing. It will be enjoyable (and hopefully profitable as well). I like playing cards with those guys. I much prefer playing with people who study and have a respect and love for the game, than with people who just play for fun or the thrill of "gambling." To me, the "fun" of poker is in learning its nuances, in having those light-bulb strategic revelations, in seeing the math of it all work like a finely tuned machine. THAT is fun. Seeing someone suck out a big pot playing a hand he/she should have never played in the first place, calling raises with nothing all the way down to that magic 2-outer river card - that is NOT fun. Hopefully, there will be none of the latter at the game tonight. Just some nice hand vs. hand, player vs. player poker.

Time to throw some more clothes in the washer... (oh yeah, that whole "life other than poker" thing...)