January is still terrible

I've been neglecting the blog because I don't want to complain, but January continues to be a thorn in my side. The registration problems I blogged about last time were only the beginning of a much more annoying problem. iPoker, my preferred poker network, has been undergoing a painful update process that has made it very difficult to get on the grind.

I figured out a workaround to the registration problem and was able to put in a solid 4-5 days. However on the 19th the client forced a major update that broke all of the modding programs. Those of you who don't play on iPoker, or play online poker period will probably have a hard time understanding the significance of this. But to put it candidly iPoker is an extremely ugly platform and the only way to facilitate mass multi-tabling is to completely change the way the client displays information.

Because iPoker uses a proprietary format for images and text this isn't a simple matter of swapping files around. In fact the problem is so widely recognized, and the ugliness of the client so profound, that there is enough demand to sustain the development of three different commercial applications (two of which I own) whose sole purpose is to make the appearance of the tables more friendly to iPoker customers (ipskinner, minimaxmod, and iBolide).

On top of this the commercial iPoker betpot application is also broken. A betpot program makes it easier to execute decisions when you're playing a lot of tables at the same time (I typically play between 12-20 tables). For example, instead of having to click the fold button I can simply right-click anywhere on the table. And instead of typing a bet amount into the betting box I can simply scroll the middle mouse wheel to increment my betting up and down. When you have to make 30+ decisions a minute these are the 'conveniences' that become absolutely necessary.

So I've basically spent a lot of the past three days trying to cope with this change in my playing environment. Until this problem is fixed I'm going to be focusing on finishing a staking arrangement on my Stars account that I started last year. Hopefully the iPoker mess gets fixed soon. Also I will be blogging more going forward. Three blogs in 23 days is pretty lazy!

Slow start to January

I knew January would be a slow start, but I didn't think it would be this slow. Both mine and my father's birthdays fall within the first 4 days of the month, so time with family took priority out of the gate. Unfortunately this was immediately followed up by the passing of my grandfather, so obviously poker wasn't even on the radar for days following that (RIP gramps).

I woke up yesterday with a plan to really kick the poker year into gear and was met with even more resistance. For some reason with the exception of a brief window I've been unable to register for tournaments on my preferred poker site since yesterday ~noon. The "register" button just doesn't do anything, and CS has offered me no practical advice but obv assures me everything will be fixed soon.

So in short, things haven't been going well. But I'm young, healthy and stubborn, and there's still lots of year left. Here's hoping for a better start to the second half of January both personally and professionally.

Here we gogogo!

I've been grinding online tournaments full time for about 3 years. This is no secret to most of my friends, family and the STT forum regulars on 2+2. This year though I'm going to do something different in an effort to curb what may be best described as extreme laziness, or total lack of motivation. In 2010 I'm going to be blogging a bunch about mostly poker related stuff. Although some non-poker stuff my sneak in every now and then (no politics, I promise).

Most importantly though at the start of every month I will be releasing my records for the previous month, showing exactly how much time I've put in and how much money I've made. My first results entry will be posted on February 1st and with enough hard work (hard work that I'm shaming myself into, obv) and the blessing of the poker gods we'll be on our way to $100k. Until then I'll be blogging periodically about whatever and grinding away.

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