A day at PokerRewards

Today was a lost day... It was my AWS, and I had only a few errands/tasks to accomplish, including trip to the dentist, and going to the DMV. Dental went off without a hitch, the DMV as is usually the case was a disaster, but at least I didn't waste much time. I went to renew my license. I got one of the "take a number" numbers and waited for my turn. When I was called and headed to the window, I handed over my paperwork and dug out my money. She typed in my information and ...waited...ad nauseum! "Oh no...well our computer system has been down all morning but we've been trying it everytime..." Information I could have used when I walked in, but whatever. To her credit she told me the system was down statewide, and I could call in first before wasting a trip (you know in addition to the one I'd already made.) C'est la vie... So, I head back home and get started on the mound of laundry and then fire up PokerRewards. I sit down at a couple of .05/.10 NLHE tables and just feel the life and chips being sucked out of me. I think I lost time there somehow. I know a few IQ points went down the drain. No cards, no wins, no opps to steal even a couple of paltry blinds. Just frackin' dismal. I join a $5 SNG, realizing only too late that it's an Ultra-Turbo. Oh the donkey parade. Ugh...it was horrid, and I of course got sucked out on, blahblahblah... no one really cares about that one hand I had the one time (I know Frank.) Frustration enters, not quite tilt, but close enough. So close in fact that I fire up the accursed BLACKJACK. Yes, JJ it is fuckin' evil. Yes the F-Bomb boys and girls. In matters of the BLACKJACK, the terms of my self-censorship do not apply. Deal with it! Anyway that wretched game sucks about $30 out of me, and leaves me with very little dignity. With the paltry remainder of my PokerRewards bankroll, I throw caution and my mind to the wind. Fire up a .50/1.00 NLHE table, and seat my dumb self with my last $80. Stupid...I know. Early on I make a call based more on a feeling than analysis. It really felt like my opponent was buying it after the flop came up. In his defense he was on a flush draw with his K-10 of diamonds...but my AQos had connected with the Queen on the flop as well. He had made it $4.50 to go preflop and I went along for the ride, He INSTA-POPPED it for all his chips...which I had covered. I called after some deliberation. I at first thought he wanted to prevent ME from hitting the flush, not the other way around. I need to remember this in my other games. Sometimes they put too much stock in that potential flush draw. Learn it...use it... That win, put me up around $130-ish. Now there were some additional ups and downs, but none of them were the evil BLACKJACK induced! I lost $20 on a hand with my AQ0s (as luck would have it) when my opponent turned over his AKos for the win. Say it with me...ACTION DRIVEN ALGORITHM! I saw more pocket pairs run into other pocket pairs than I care to remember. Luckily I wasn't normally involved, since pocket pairs were something that just weren't comin' my way. BUT I saw 3 pocket pairs go at it for all the marbles once... AA vs KK vs JJ...and the JACKS laughed all the way to the bank! Ooof, that'll leave a mark. But since I was logged on and playin' I saw a couple of freerolls firing up. The first was NLHE, semi turbo-ish, and like 10,000+ players to start. I finished in the low level money, for a buck, or so, which was pretty impressive, considering the donk field...and the idiocy that ensued...and generally so many people playing for so little actual money. It was fun nonetheless and gave me another table to watch. But then I got involved with the 5-card-draw PL game. I've played draw before, I guess, but I can say that PokerRewards does offer up some oddball tournaments to wet your whistle on. I did, and had a ball with it. As you can see I finished 29th out of the initial 892 players. Sounds cool...and profitable doesn't it. Well cool...but profit ehhh, not so much. They don't get as many fools to play these lesser games, and so the prize pool is diminished. But I'll be back. All in all, despite the BLACKJACK losses, and a few of my bad calls, I managed to move up a few dollars on the site, while increasing my number of raked hands considerably today. I started with $126. Now, I'm at $141.02. I know tiny baby steppin' cheer_dad. But let's remember that I was down to my last $80, and the poker gods did look down, and for once took pity on my miserable existence. They threw me a bone of sorts the first time with the AQos. They simply reminded me who was boss when they didn't let me win with it the second time. : )

I believe the Yanok's are hosting on Friday night...and Big Red and I will be there for sure! And then on Saturday it's off to do battle with the whole crew courtesy of the Wolfe's...and again Big Red and I will be there. Man we've got issues. But you gotta have a hobby right?! : )

Time to go watch the rest of the OSU vs LSU game. Big Red is getting much too much enjoyment out of watching bad things happen to the Buckeyes. : P See you all soon!

Regards,

cheer_dad