My meanderings through the worlds of Omaha and Stud (briefly, very briefly) have not helped my poker game. For some reason I've been neglecting my bread and butter: No Limit Texas Hold 'Em.
That's NLHE for the uninitiated (but why would the uninitiated be reading this blog?). NLHE is the New York Yankees Philadelphia Phillies of poker games (in case you're wondering, the Phillies are now the comparative standard for top-of-the-line). It's the game by which all other games are to be measured.
And it's now a lot like my front yard: thick with weeds and in need of some chopping. Reading that back to myself it makes little sense, but I digress. The bottom line is that my game needs sharpening. Sunday is the Iggy Invitational, and my NLHE has to be top notch if I hope to avoid embarrassment.
With that in mind, I jumped on Pacific Poker. I figured I should get used to the interface before the big tourney. It seems easy enough to use. I think blind levels go up too quickly, but that's okay. At least the chat feature is easy to use, so trash talking should be simple.
Before I even dropped a dime on the game, Pacific gave me $10. For doing nothing. I love Pacific Poker, it's the best ever! I also decided to deposit another $50 for which I received a 25% ($13) bonus. Pacific also covered the Neteller deposit fee, so that's another $5.
To recap, I hadn't played a hand yet, but Pacific had given me $28. Maybe they knew I'd be giving it back soon.
You see, staying away from NLHE for a long time can obviously be a bad thing. It's like leaving your pudding out for too long. You won't like the first few bites, but eventually it should taste good again. (Hmmm, reading that back I'm not sure anyone will understand that analogy. You see, pudding can develop a film on top if it's sitting out and... bah... forget it.)
I'm apparently not through the filmy top layer of the pudding yet because I've busted out on the bubble of three consecutive SNG's. I really have no one to blame but myself. Granted, I got rivered two out of those three times, but at that point in the game, I don't think I was making the smart plays.
Sometimes discretion is the better part of valor, but people in glass houses shouldn't throw stones, and there's no use crying over spilled milk. That's what I always say! (No Guinness was consumed during the composition of this post. God, I need a girlfriend...)