Poker Withdrawals....

Not money withdrawal problems....POKER WITHDRAWAL problems. I haven't played more than a few 1-5.00 MTT's lately/past two weeks. I haven't kept a substantial amount on any poker site account or Neteller since the UIGEA was signed in Oct. I would deposit 50 here....50 there...sometimes building on a couple of tournament cashes or blogger tourney cashes. I haven't really been on a streak since August. I was playing the 4.40/180 tourneys on PStars and really killed 'em. I had one first place for 216.00 and two second place finishes for 144.00 apiece and also a 4th place for 80.00 or something like that....all within two weeks. I don't know why I stopped playing them...I guess I got over confident and started buying in to the slightly bigger MTT's. This is not good for someone who hasn't been practicing bankroll building since '04. I started to like those 15.00+1.50 NL MTT's on PStars and had some small cashes...but that will also kill a bankroll quickly. I was getting burnt out on Poker Tourneys lately. I decided to empty my PStars account but leave a few dollars for a couple of small buy-in MTT's. I played a Stud8 1.00 MTT on Friday...I got knocked out with quad 5's.....the guy that knocked me out had Quad 10's with two tens hidden....LOf'nL. I then went to UB to play my last couple of bucks there...I entered a 2.20 bounty tourney and got bitch-slapped out when someone called my all-in after a raise and a re-raise. He had K's I had A's.....cracked A's.....LOL burnt out.
This leads me to why I don't keep a large amount of money on a Poker Site or Neteller. I figured the recent happenings with online poker and funding options would be attacked. I used to use ePassporte in '04 for my first 6-12 months of poker site funding. (I still have the account and recently logged into it but I think that they want 35.00 just to access it again. Is it worth it? I just don't know). Party Poker was all the rage and I was learning and losing quite a bit. I would deposit 100 and promptly go to the 1-2 Bad beat tables or even the 3-6 limit tables...bad learning experience. I didn't 'get it' until I dropped to the lowest limit tables...but I soon discovered the 'satellite' tourney. I actually qualified for a good amount of the 216 and once for the 640.00 Party Million. I played well but couldn't cash. I blew through quite a bit trying to qualify for the Party Million cruise....close but no qualifying. When ePassporte got too expensive I found Neteller and was happy. It was about in May '04 that I derailed my Poker habit by investing in Real Estate. I bought a Ski condo from my brother-in-law in '04. My wife and I were only married a year and didn't have my daughter yet. We were actually on the way back from Foxwoods and I said "hey, T is selling his condo in North Conway.....I think we should buy it!" I had some extra money from my previous condo that I made a Kings ransom after it was sold. I sold that when I lived in Nashua, NH and then bought my late-grandfathers house in Lawrence, MA. So I had a bunch of money and paid off my Nissan XTerra. I also had enough left over to either remodel my new small house or buy something else. My wife thought it was a good idea and 2 and a half years later it is worth 40,000 more than I bought it for. I'll take that instead of the bankroll. Anyway, when I did buy the condo I started paying out two mortgages. I also have two sets of bills for those two mortgages. It's quite a place on a 9-hole golf course w/pool, tennis, clubhouse, etc. I can and do rent the condo year round...but high gas prices and other things have slowed the rentals to a crawl. These bills are on top of all the other car payments and other things. In 2005 we had an addition to the family....I have a daughter.....the most important thing in my life.......enter the daycare bill! My wife and I both have full-time jobs but it's still pretty friggin' expensive to live in Massachusetts.
So my Real Estate investment is the best investment I've ever made but I have a conflict. Should I fund my ePassporte account and play online....or continue to enjoy my mini sabbatical from online poker. I've been watching more movies lately......Reading more books lately.......getting more sleep lately. I only play after my daughter is sleeping so that was never an issue. Well....it was an issue when my newborn daughter was home for the first couple of months and I decided to stay up all night and play online poker. That soon became the bane of my wife's existence. I couldn't understand why she would be upset when I was playing all night...but I was also sleeping half the next day away and that was the real problem. So I know why that could be a problem....and I fixed that. wow....am I rambling here or what? I do have plenty of 'live' games and tournament to play in. I've done pretty well in the area around here....but I get the withdrawals still. I'll sit and watch TV.....maybe have a book (Currently reading Harrington on Hold'em Volume 1.....why the fuck did I wait this long to read this book? I love MTT's and I didn't pick this book when it came out.....I must be an idiot...it's so much more advanced than the Cloutier/McEvoy Championship PL/NL Hold'em) and my brand new Compaq Presario w/wide screen is sitting there in all its wireless glory....sigh...The WPBT is starting again soon....to fund or not to fund and bite the bullet....That is the question!

Having a good time lately checking into other blogs I didn't know about. Mostly some good natured rivalry banter with others like Lolaschaubs (GG...although you must have been freaked

out after the first half...ADMIT IT!) about the Patriots....they gave it a good run this year but they were missing a few pieces. Who knows....another wide receiver and a defense without the flu might have sent them on their way to yet another Superbowl victory. Oh well, here's to Peyton...you better win dude! The Pats have a ton of salary cap space and some high draft picks...this may be your last chance! I hate da fucking Bears....I hate the Steelers (although I was happy for the Bus)....and I hate the fucking Yankees. Expel your demons Peyton....nobody wants to hear about you being compared to Dan Marino for 20 years now do they? Speaking of rivalry talk....the ultimate rivalry is just around the corner....RedSox-Stankees....is there anything that compares? Only the Pats-Colts is starting to approach the same galaxy of rivalry. Please chime in if you think that there are better rivalries.....