No , I didn't go anywhere. It's just that my home internet connection is back! It's such a hassle going to internet cafes just to update this blog or check my email, so after two weeks i finally get to post something again. It took more than two weeks for the PLDT DSL guys to finally tell us that they CAN'T install in our area, duh. So we got this other Smart WIFI service which turns out to be powered by PLDT DSL! Weird.

So what has been happening these past few weeks? Poker-wise, i have not been able to play as many tournaments as i wanted to, but i've been having some success at playing small-stakes home ring games. The funny thing about no-limit hold'em is, even though some of the blinds we play go as low as 3-6, i still win the same amount of money as i would in a 20-40 game! BUT, it somehow feels much more satisfying hehehe. The biggest i've lost in one night is about 3 buy-ins which is 900, but i've won 2,000+ twice in a week in the same game! If we convert that to the regular 20-40, i would have lost 6,000 or something. The wins in the 20-40 on a grinding night is usually somwhere in the 2k-4k range, on a good night maybe 8k-10k. So in proportion to what you can win and what you can lose, the small home games are actually a better bet. AND what's more, these "fun" home games have free booze and food to boot! So if you havent been seeing a lot of me in the regular games, i'm probably in one of my home game invasion missions hehe.

Another thing that has kept me busy the last two weeks was the supposed departure of Kath who got a job to work in Turkey for the european summer. Instead of the usual poker nights, we decided to spend more time together since she will be gone fo about 3 months. After saying her goodbyes and mentally and physically preparing for the long trip, july the 5th came and it was time for her to leave. After bringing her to the airport and a tearful goodbye, i went home. A few hours later i called to wish her a safe trip, and it turns out they were not able to leave at all! To cut the long story short, one of their companions had questionable papers (which turned out to be incomplete) and they were detained at the airport, missing their flight. Kath could have just gone ahead and gotten on the plane since she was traveling on her German passport which meant she didnt need a visa or anything, but she stayed since her friend who owned the place she was going to work in was forced to stay. It turned out to be a mistake because the Airport guys saw this as an opportunity to make some money ( Kath's friend was an American citizen, which to translates to $$$) and held their passports after letting them go, saying "just come back after three days and everything is going to be ok, it's just standard procedure to verify your papers" etc etc. Well, they COULD get their passports, but for a goddamn price, and an insane one at that. So, Kath's trip was postponed until they could get the passports back. Hopefully, she will be traveling already by the end of this week. These are the times when it sucks to live in a third world country where corruptiona dn extortion is a fact of life. Those greedy SOB's are the reasons why our country will never really improve, and this is a sad truth. Our system sucks. Check out her story at German Snake's blog.

Next topic, i was really looking forward to the NOVA foundation charity poker tournament to be run Marco A.'s group which is this saturday at the ACF! Not only will it be for a good cause, but the prizes are great too! Sadly, i will be out of town with the family so i wont be able to play. Check out their site at dealahelpinghand.blogspot.com for more details.

There, these are the things i've been up to the past two weeks i was gone. Expect more articles from me now that i have an internet connection at home again!

See you at the felt.