The last three days have been quite slow for me, partly because Kath has been in Turkey since monday. I wanted to watch a movie since kath and i always watch on wednesdays, but realized that it would suck to watch alone, so i opted fo some sidewalk DVD's instead hehe. Just bought a mountain bike yesterday, and took it out for a test ride by riding from my house to nick's, which is about 6 or 7 kilometers away. Damn i thought it was closer than that! It took me 20 minutes to get there, and my legs were burning! But it's a good start for my weight loss odessey hehe. With poker, I've been playing quite a lot but only the small home games and the Monday tournaments, and although i've been winning lately, the most would be 1K or 2K a night since the stakes are so small. Had a good time at a friends place last night, winning a SNG after taking a huge bad beat when my Aces got cracked pre-flop by a QT making a straight,(big stack vs big stack) had about 360 left in the 100-200 level and managed to claw my way back and win first place!

But what's good about this is, I've rediscovered one of the first reasons why i play poker anyway; to enjoy and have a good time. I've almost forgotten how poker is such a social game that we can play for 6 to 7 hours straight and have great conversations and discussions about everything under the sun. It's funny watching bad beats and everyone just laughs out loud about it since nobody is playing for serious amounts of money anyway! And, you get to meet a lot of new people too.

When you start to really get serious about poker, it can get TOO serious sometimes. A big losing night can really get you upset, and i've even seen some people come to a point that they want to punch someone in the face just because of how they acted at the felt. I've heard harsh words exchanged between friends just because of poker. Some people have even disappeared from the scene because they lost huge sums of money and have started accumulating debt because of it. Sad but true.

If you find yourself playing poker too much and too seriously, take a break from your usual games and find a small home game that you and your friends can play in or better yet, set up your own game at home and get the booze and food flowing. Make sure the stakes are lower than what you are used to, and don't forget to invite new players and introduce them to the game. I guarantee an awesome good time!

I'm also planning on starting online ooker for real money soon, just looking for an easy way to make my deposit and get started. Fish is doing pretty well and i'm getting envious so i can't wait to start!

Till next time.