Party Animal

Warning : Brag post ahead.

I posted previously that the games in Partypoker were kind of soft. And I do believe it is just a lucky streak. But before I donk the winnings away, let me just post my Party Poker "shark" status for posterity before it disappears forever in the annals of poker history.

I know its a pretty small set of data and not really conclusive, but heck it only happens once in a while and it's my blog anyway. So I'm bragging about it while it lasts. =)

In semi related poker news, I was in Guangzhou China for the Canton Fair last week and I am now convinced that online poker/gambling is controlled in some way by the government. I stayed in a different hotel from last time and like before, all the poker sites were not working. The only exception was the merge network and even then it was mind-numbingly slow to the point of impossible. Suspiciously similar to the circumstances of my last visit. All the other sites like Google and Yahoo were working fine.

So if the USA wants to control the proliferation of online poker in their shores, they should take a page from the Chinese. I have no idea how they do it, but its damn efficient. I'm guessing the USA can also easily do it thru the ISPs, except they're probably scared of lawsuits and whatnot.... so they're going about it in a roundabout way by controlling the payment processors.

Oh well, I'm glad I'm living in good ol Pinas. Where the government is too busy politicking and leaves online poker alone. =)

PSP vs Poker

Part of the reason why my poker blogging has been non-existent lately is because my wife got me a PSP last month.

I've always been an avid gamer ever since I was a kid. Name the system and I've probably had it at one time or another. Game & Watch, Atari, Famicom, Superfamicom, Genesis, etc. When the Playstation first came out, I think I was one of the first buyers. I didn't care that it was 20K ++ at that time and was only out in Japan. The first time I saw Toshinden (don't know if anybody even remembers this game). I knew I had to have it.

My fascination with video games only waned when I got married and had kids. So my last systems were the PS2 and the Gamecube which I sold a long time back since I wasn't playing with them anymore. Setting it up coupled with work and family life was just too much hassle.

But I more or less kept up with what was happening and knew about the Wii, PS3 and Xbox360 when they came out. But the high price and the knowledge that I wouldn't have time to play with them kept me from buying them.

Last 2006, I purchased a Nintendo DS, but this was for my daughter's sake. She apparently inherited my love for games and plays with it all the time. I play a couple of games here and there. But the games were too cutesy to really catch my attention.

My wife knew about this previous hobby of mine and decided to surprise me with a PSP last month. Mweheheh, now she's regretting it as a lot of my already sparse free time has been sucked up by the device. The list of interesting games is endless, Metal Gear Portable Ops, Grand Theft Auto, Medal of Honor, Negreneau's Stacked and now the sequel to Final Fantasy 7. I don't even know if I can find the time to finish an RPG as I remember how long it took me to play one of these things.

The fact that its a handheld device suits working adults perfectly. You can always just play a few minutes at a time while in the loo or before going to bed. It's sleep feature comes in extra handy as you don't even need to wait for a save spot if you need to do something. Just put it to sleep, finish what you need to do and turn it back on and you just continue where you left off. Add the fact that you can download ISOs for free makes it an even better proposition.

But of course, poker is my new addiction and it's really no contest. I still automatically migrate to the PC after dinner to play a couple of SNGs. The good thing is, during those times I go on tilt, I now have something to divert my attention. Instead of opening up another table at the higher stakes to get back what I lost. I just fire up the PSP and mow down old ladies using my beat up Chevy. Great way of releasing the pent up stress of poker. =)