Wednesday, January 23, 2013

All work & no play makes me a dull boy... greets from Charleston, SC

Note: Poker content in the second section.

So I'm having a bit of poker withdrawal.  I wasn't able to get seat time in last week, save for the Tuesday after we got back from the cruise.  I'm not going to be able to get any seat time this week.  After work, I'm huddled in the corner of my room, shivering, in the fetal position from lack of pokerage.  Not really.  But it makes for a good story, no?

Actually, Charleston turns out to be quite a pleasant city.  It has a small feel to it; very quaint and rustic.  I've kinda taken a liking to it - though I can't get over the odor that seems to permeate the area.  It almost smells like a sawmill; I suspect that's because this is considered low country and the smells roll in from the marshes?  Perhaps I'm wrong - maybe I should check the internet?

Ok - back from a simple search of "Why does Charleston smell" results in the fact that there's a paper mill in town...  wow; I really nailed the smell!

Anyway, the women are absolutely gorgeous here - and they're all friendly!  Too bad I'm a married man.  The food is *EXCELLENT*.  The buildings are all old school; typical southern like one would expect when visiting the south.  I'm having fun here, catching up with colleagues who I haven't seen in such a long time (it's been a year and a half since I've supported the particular meetings that I'm supporting today).

Online poker update

At any rate, I've been doing a bit of online play lately.  I've been playing on a place called Seals With Clubs.  For those that don't know, you can grind for Bitcoins, which while not readily available to convert into hard currency, are at least something "meaningful."  That is to say that people treat these bitcoins seriously; you don't see players donking off as they usually would with 72s in a PokerStars play money situation because... "they were sooooooted."  When suckouts invariably happen, people are genuinely upset in the chat box.

The way sealswithclubs.eu works for me is they run hourly freerolls for 50 chips (each chips = 1/1000 of a bitcoin).  I was able to win the very first freeroll I played, and tried unsuccessfully for a few more 50 chip wins.  Finally, I said screw it and started playing 1/2 -200 with my meager roll.  The min buy in of 40 chips allowed me entry.  I was able to turn that into a full 200 coin buy in that same day, and haven't looked back since.  I'm up to 2400 chips (2.4 bitcoins) at this point; it's been a month or so since I started.  FWIW, the USD equivalent for 1 BTC is around $14.  Additionally, they allow multi-tabling (I'm up to 2 HUD-less tables at this point) and offer a tiered rakeback program.  All in all, it seems very generous and easy to get started with the sole risk being time.

Note that sealswithclubs.eu does not have a downloaded client; it runs in flash through your web browser.  Therefore, I don't believe you can run a HUD to track hand histories / player tendencies.  I've found that with recent my live experience, I'm much better suited now to playing an online game sans PT3 / HEM (though I would love to get back into tracking players / fish).  sealswithclubs.eu has been rolling out mobile software as well - I got involved with their pilot program for software on the Android tablet which works well so far.  The best part about the whole thing is that bitcoins (BTC) are not regulated by the government, and thus cannot be shut down by the DOJ.  It's a very small site currently, but at least it's better than nothing and it seems to be growing.

It should also be noted that I have not yet cashed out anything, so I caveat your play with an "at your own risk" warning.  However, so far, so good.  I'm enjoying being back online.  Come & join me!

10 comments:

  1. I'll have to check out that site. I really miss online play.

    As for Charleston . . . I was there once a few years back for a DMB concert and weekend of debauchery. Great city. Reminded me of a small New Orleans. Have fun!

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  2. I thought online poker was back on in the US? Full tilt and all that?

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    1. No online poker here... at least "legitimately." Our esteemed government has deemed that we citizens cannot be trusted with online poker for fear that our GDP will be dumped to other citizens of the world. If we get that online gamble going, we're going to bankrupt ourselves... so they currently make it as difficult as legally possible for us to fund online poker accounts, and make it illegal for online poker sites to offer the U.S. citizens the ability to play.

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    2. When i read tbc,s blog he talks about lock poker - and there was alot of press over here about full tilt going again in the US, I take it the ban is very state specific then? The whole thing sounds like a bit of mess.

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    3. The problem is that TBC is playing on a site that can be shut down by the US government at any time. It's offering USD cash games to US players, which is illegal - the same thing that FT & P* was offering and was shut down. I'd imagine if you got down to brass tacks, sealswithclubs is doing the same, but the accounts are not funded by USD nor can you cash out USD. You must use bitcoins, which are transferable by third party to USD.

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  3. I'm huddled in the corner of my room, shivering, in the fetal position from lack of pokerage.

    When I do that, I also get the shakes, sometimes delusions.

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  4. are u getting paid from the ad u have up for bitcoins, or is that a free service to them?

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    1. I'm not getting paid for the ad; it includes an affiliate link which is linked to my account - they give me rakeback on top of the rakeback you get when you sign up through the link. As additional incentive, I believe they will be providing me with a code so that you can get free bitcoins to try them out. Tony - I believe that this would be a good site for you; you could grind out bitcoins and not have the worry that your roll will be seized by the government.

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  5. Don't know if you are still in Charleston, if so, take a ride up to Myrtle beach. Live gambling on the Sun cruz casino boat.

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