General Update

Since my last post I haven't played much poker online which leaves me just shy of $200 for my race to $500. Soon I will be able to start playing in $10 SNG's which I am definitely looking forward to. I must admit, forcing myself to play in the $2-$5 SNG's really helped my patience. Players at these buy-ins shove and call all-ins with the crappiest cards. You truly need a hand or a solid read on the table to rake in a lot of chips. I've been doing good, but since the buy-ins are so low it takes a lot of money finishes to make a decent increase in your bankroll.

As for my live poker, I have been running fair. I played in a friends annual poker tournament which consisted of two NL Hold'em games finishing 3rd and 1st respectively. I also took a shot at the Turbo Hold'em Tournament at the Hilton in AC. I made an early exit when I tried to accumulate chips before the blinds and ante's went crazy. My girl also took a shot at the turbo tournament for her first live casino game. She finished 27th when her A6 was out flopped by her opponent's A2. I'm proud that she made it that deep in her first real tournament and with a little more experience she will do well on her own. She is already winning small games online, and I am currently attempting to help her establish a starting bankroll. I believe that if I keep working with her she will be a solid player on her own right in the future. She has really made solid progress in the last 4-5 months making consistant finishes in small online games.

In other news, my friend and fellow blogger James Hawkins posted about an employee cheating while playing on Absolute poker. The story has reached major news outlets like MSNBC and the hand history is posted all over the Internet. It's sad to see such ignorance in our community. I never understood why people always try to "gain an edge" while playing poker. If these people put the time into developing their poker skills rather than finding ways to cheat, they'd become solid legit players on their own right. It's stories like this that make Congress want to keep the Internet gambling from US players. They now have more fuel to add to their fire by claiming, "they are protecting US citizens from gambling scams".

Speaking of Congress and Internet gambling, recently the PPA went infront of Congress trying to pass Barney Frank's & Robert Wexler's bills. The Congress continues to be stubborn as CardPlayer writes, "reason is that lawmakers rarely admit to their mistakes and would often rather let their past decisions stand than to change their minds and look as if they are wavering". But with the PPA publishing stories about poker players with disabilities not able to play in brick and mortar casino's, one would hope that these heart warmers will one day change Washington's stance. Unfortunately pure ignorance will never go away as one "defender of the UIGEA" deeply argues that college kids are dumping thousands in credit debt to play Hold'em poker. He goofs at the end and admits he was someone who "did it" - referencing ringing up excessive credit card debt playing online poker. So when you think about it, since he was a losing player he wants to punish everyone. I bet if he won a major tournament for a couple grand he'd have a different tune on online poker. Sad isn't it? It's simular to Bill Frist (started the UIGEA) pulling the act that he was an anti-gambler while he received campaign money from Harrahs Casino. How that all works out I have no idea.

To further upset things, the IRS has passed a new law that enforces casino's to report any poker tournament winnings over $5,000 to them. The IRS will be asking for 25% of the player's winnings for tax purposes. If the tournament winner fails to present the casino with a valid tax id number (social security number), the casino is to withhold 28% of the winnings to be collected for taxes. This means when you see a player on WPT or WSOP win $1 million tournament, they will be playing $250,000 to the government. Such taxes really make me want to switch to a cash game player than a tournament player. The only advantage I have right now is that I do not play in high enough stakes to win such monies. As well, the new law states nothing about Internet poker. But tie this tax law with some of the new rules in tournament poker like the "cannot discuss your hand" rule, it really makes the cash games look better and better.

Well, that's it for now. Other then the normal daily grind I been spending time on TwoRags.com. This is one of the coolest poker sites I've seen in a long time. Not only do they have blind structures for virtually every brick and mortar & online tournament, they also have a wealth of information including EV calculators that you can use right on their website, no software downloading. It's definitely a must-bookmark site for any serious poker player.

Until next time, good luck on the felt!