Couldn't Stop If I Tried
I readily admit I have an addictive personality. There's too much evidence to the contrary to deny it anyway so I just embrace my passion (or obsessive compulsion) for various activities and enjoy it.
What I didn't realize is how my addictions can feed off of each other.
I recently got on Twitter (az48fan if you want to follow me) and I've been adding people to follow here and there but with no plan. It was mostly just my friends. But, in the past few days I decided to make the effort to add as many people of interest that I could find. I think I was inspired by the Time cover story on Twitter combined with several electronic articles from the various tech sites I follow.
So, I added some political folks, some business leaders and some entertainers. But, I didn't stop there.
Somehow, it came to me to follow some pro poker players. Next thing I knew, I had added a bunch of them and some general poker Tweeters, too. The players are all in Las Vegas playing in WSOP (World Series of Poker) events and it's been fascinating to read their tweets throughout the various tournaments. Annie Duke posts pictures, too, which is very fun.
One could make an argument that electronic communications like Twitter and Facebook are poor excuses for actually knowing and personally interacting with someone. I would disagree and say they're just another form of interaction. And, I gotta tell you, it tickled me to read Doyle Brunson say he was pissed at getting knocked out of a tournament. That was just cool to me. (Not that he got busted out, but that I got to read his reaction.)
So, all this poker Twitter led me to expand upon another addiction, poker itself. There are two apps that work with Facebook and I tried both before settling on Poker Palace. It's OK but the people are sooooooo slow. I'm a pretty quick decision maker and it's annoying as all get out when someone consistently uses their maximum time, especially when you're in a tournament with accelerating blinds.
Julie told me I should try one of the online Poker sites so I decided last night to register at Full Tilt Poker. After a quick perusal of the screens, I jumped into a freeroll (no fee) No Limit Texas Hold 'Em tournament. I also selected one that was Turbo Charged (or something like that) because I assumed the play would be fast.
There were about 1,900 players in all but the blinds went up every 5 minutes so I thought it would be done with 60 minutes or so. Plenty of time to go out to dinner with the gang, in my guesstimate. Which was wrong.
While it moved really, really fast with a very short time from making your call and the quick blind acceleration, there were still about 300 players when The Rocket Scientist showed up at my door. I called an all-in that I normally wouldn't have and got busted out. The funny thing is that I was out front when I made the call. The guy rivered me. Maybe it was the poker gods saying it was time to go socialize. I was happy to finish in the top 20% with my first attempt.
It was inevitable that I would get back on when I got home from dinner. This time, I paid $250 (fake money) to buy in to a smaller tournament with only 599 players. I was much more used to the speed of play and got lucky a few times. I even got called "lucky idiot" by a guy who went all-in on the flop with a King high flush. I called with the Ace and the board actually flushed to the river so my 6 card flush beat his 7 card one. ;-)
I made it to the final table and finished 8th. I think my winnings were around $3,500 (again, play money). Not bad for a second attempt!
We're playing in a charity game tonight for a Little League team so I'll get my fix of live playing. I'm pretty sure I'll be online later tonight for another tournament at Full Tilt.
Yeah, it's an addiction, all right.
What I didn't realize is how my addictions can feed off of each other.
I recently got on Twitter (az48fan if you want to follow me) and I've been adding people to follow here and there but with no plan. It was mostly just my friends. But, in the past few days I decided to make the effort to add as many people of interest that I could find. I think I was inspired by the Time cover story on Twitter combined with several electronic articles from the various tech sites I follow.
So, I added some political folks, some business leaders and some entertainers. But, I didn't stop there.
Somehow, it came to me to follow some pro poker players. Next thing I knew, I had added a bunch of them and some general poker Tweeters, too. The players are all in Las Vegas playing in WSOP (World Series of Poker) events and it's been fascinating to read their tweets throughout the various tournaments. Annie Duke posts pictures, too, which is very fun.
One could make an argument that electronic communications like Twitter and Facebook are poor excuses for actually knowing and personally interacting with someone. I would disagree and say they're just another form of interaction. And, I gotta tell you, it tickled me to read Doyle Brunson say he was pissed at getting knocked out of a tournament. That was just cool to me. (Not that he got busted out, but that I got to read his reaction.)
So, all this poker Twitter led me to expand upon another addiction, poker itself. There are two apps that work with Facebook and I tried both before settling on Poker Palace. It's OK but the people are sooooooo slow. I'm a pretty quick decision maker and it's annoying as all get out when someone consistently uses their maximum time, especially when you're in a tournament with accelerating blinds.
Julie told me I should try one of the online Poker sites so I decided last night to register at Full Tilt Poker. After a quick perusal of the screens, I jumped into a freeroll (no fee) No Limit Texas Hold 'Em tournament. I also selected one that was Turbo Charged (or something like that) because I assumed the play would be fast.
There were about 1,900 players in all but the blinds went up every 5 minutes so I thought it would be done with 60 minutes or so. Plenty of time to go out to dinner with the gang, in my guesstimate. Which was wrong.
While it moved really, really fast with a very short time from making your call and the quick blind acceleration, there were still about 300 players when The Rocket Scientist showed up at my door. I called an all-in that I normally wouldn't have and got busted out. The funny thing is that I was out front when I made the call. The guy rivered me. Maybe it was the poker gods saying it was time to go socialize. I was happy to finish in the top 20% with my first attempt.
It was inevitable that I would get back on when I got home from dinner. This time, I paid $250 (fake money) to buy in to a smaller tournament with only 599 players. I was much more used to the speed of play and got lucky a few times. I even got called "lucky idiot" by a guy who went all-in on the flop with a King high flush. I called with the Ace and the board actually flushed to the river so my 6 card flush beat his 7 card one. ;-)
I made it to the final table and finished 8th. I think my winnings were around $3,500 (again, play money). Not bad for a second attempt!
We're playing in a charity game tonight for a Little League team so I'll get my fix of live playing. I'm pretty sure I'll be online later tonight for another tournament at Full Tilt.
Yeah, it's an addiction, all right.
