CARDRUNNERS

I had a typical shitty day at work. I really hate this job. This is the first time EVER that I can't wait for the summer to be over and it pretty much just started. The summer is usually my favorite time of the year. On monday I start working on site at a company called UOP. That is both a blessing and a curse. I think I will have more interesting stuff to do. However, it is in a city called Des Plaines which is about 50 min away from me w/ no traffic. I am guessing it will take a minimum of 2 hours to get there and home. That is absolutely miserable. I am guessing for the next few weeks I will have almost no free time on the weekdays. I just counted it up and I actually only have 6 weeks left. I am taking a week off for 4th of July and finishing up a few weeks before school starts again. Thank god I only committed to as little as possible. I can survive 6 more weeks.

After work I had to figure out my Q2 taxes. They were due yesterday, so I was scrambling to understand what I needed to do and then get to the post office in time. It all worked out. Uncle Sam sure is greedy...I hate paying so much, but I also love the country I live in and if that is what I'm required to do to live here then so be it.

I played like an hour of poker. I am both running and playing much better. I played on PP and picked up almost 4 buyins during that session. I'll take it.

The heat are back in the series, so that's good. I really want to see them win. I also don't want to lose my bet w/ my friend. I'd really like to rub it in that I won.

I think this weekend should be pretty solid. My friend Carrie called me last night about going to some party tonight. I went to high school with Carrie and I don't hang out with her all that much, but I have a good time when I do. Also, since I got back from Europe I've felt that when I've gone out it's been kind of stale. It's the same people doing the same thing everynight. It will be good to be around some different people.

Obviously before I made my last post I didn't know or think Party would shut down. I still think things are going to work out just fine. The industry will take a hit, but it will still be in operation. I think mostly we will see a shift in power as to what the big sites are. There is also the possibility that Vegas (MGM or Harrahs) steps in and buys Party, etc and then makes a push for legality in the US. I don't think that is all that far fetched. I'm basically hoping that is what happens.

As far as my plans go, I still plan on playing when I graduate. It's unlikely I will continue to play 10/20nl though. You will be more likely to see me at 2/4nl or 5/10nl. The main reason for that is that I don't want to keep a ton of money online right now and also that I think we will see the bigger games start to get noticeably more difficult. I feel like I can still make really good money at the lower stakes and it will also be less stressful.

As for now, I have taken all my money off all the sites. I probalby didn't need to do that, but I had too much money online to risk if everything went to hell. Right now, I have 40k left online. I am debating whether I should take more off. The least I would leave on would probably be about 20k. Right now I am still leaning towards taking 20k more off. I'm still a bit concerned about leaving money online. I figure I should error on the side of caution.

I haven't played any poker since Sunday. I have had school work to get done after missing a week of school and I've also been really caught up in all of the talk about the new law. I have spent more time than ever on P5 and 2p2. Even though it's all speculation at this point, I still am very interested to know what people are thinking. I think that we basically just have to wait and see how this all plays out.

I think I'm gonna throw some money on FTP on thursday and start playing some again. It's very strange to me to not have money on any site right now. For the past three years I have always had money online and I have alwasy been playing a lot in my free time. It's very weird to not even have the option to play right now.

Best thing for us all to do now is stay calm and play the waiting game.

I'm sure most of you know Gambler2k4. He's a good kid but can be awfully annoying at times. Anyway, lately he has been IMing me a lot and just basically bragging about how good he is. I believe he is a good poker player but I don't trust that his mental game is good enough to beat 2/4+ games. He also hasn't played 5/10 in many months and he doesn't realize it's gotten harder, especially on stars. So he had a big cash in a $100 stars mtt (21k) and decided he'd hop back in the 5/10 games. I also plan on playing a lot of poker in June. I told Gambler I would make more at 2/4 than Gambler will make at 5/10. It's not that I think Gambler will crash and burn (last time he played 5/10 he lost 22 buyins in one day), its more that I think the 5/10 game is hard and that I can have a better hourly rate at 2/4 than he can at 5/10. We'll see if that's true. I also wanted some motivation to play well this month. Our bet is just drinks for a night (although that will be expensive for a night out in vegas). It's mostly just for fun.

There are two reasons why Gambler is the favorite. First, even though I am going to play a lot of hands, he will play more. Kid is sick at putting in a lot of hands. Next, he's also playing 5/10. If he runs well, he will likely crush me.

I just thought of this. I'll post my daily progress vs him on here. Right now I'm up 3k for June and he's up 10k. Obv not a good sign, but 2 days doesn't mean much. I'm gonna play a lot tomorrow. I'll get some HHs up.

We got into Vegas today. The house is really nice. I can tell it's gonna be a good month for poker. It's really great to live with a bunch of good poker players. I think it will help me get my game back to where it used to be.

First event I play will be on Thursday. It's the $1500 6man event.