LET US GOGOGO

I was suffering from a case of insomnia last week so I turned on NBC and watched Poker After Dark. During the broadcast there was a commercial for a poker site I had never heard of. The setting was a funeral, where the deceased had died of "too many bad beats". Then a spokesman came on and said, "Don't let this happen to you" and gave the plug for Duplicate Poker. The next day I went online, downloaded the software and checked it out. There was a short video explaining how the site worked. There are different games and tournaments, but the basic format is the same. You get into a game and sit at a table. At the same time other players take their seats at other tables, but in the same game or tournament. All of the tables have the same number of players. For the duration of the game every table gets dealt the same cards. So if you're on the button and get A J , the player on the button at the other table or tables are looking at the exact same hand. And the...

* Intro * Spring 1901 * Fall 1901 * Spring 1902 * Fall 1902 * Spring 1903 * Fall 1903 * Spring 1904 * Fall 1904 * Spring 1905 Negotiations: Yeah, about that.... Every player is on his own at this point. I am fighting Italy, but don't want Russia to win the game. Italy is now fighting Russia, but in the process of stabbing me also. Meanwhile Russia is on his way to a solo victory, so he clearly benefits from this arrangement. I just have a wait and see approach. If Russia makes it to 18 centers by this turn, good game. If not, I'll see if I could get Italy to ally against him. Truth be told, I didn't mind if Russia ended it here though. It would be a long fight ahead, and if my citizens were still speaking en francais at the end, that's good enough. Orders: ENGLAND Edinburgh MOVE Norwegian Sea -> resolved Wales MOVE Liverpool -> Bounced FRANCE Burgundy MOVE Marseilles -> Bounced English Channel HOLD -> resolved Mid-Atlantic Ocean MOVE North Africa ->...

Time for another update. * Intro * Spring 1901 * Fall 1901 * Spring 1902 * Fall 1902 * Spring 1903 * Fall 1903 * Spring 1904 * Fall 1904 Negotiations: After stabbing my only ally, I go back to Russia and offer him support. I tell him that I will help him achieve a solo victory. I was a little sour towards Italy since he is attacking me in the south so I was happy to have Russia win instead of an Italian victory or Russia/Italy split win. However, I still wasn't conceding defeat at this point. I figured if Russia could get up to 15-16 centers, I could go back to Italy and say "Hey, if we don't work together Russia is going to win." Anyway, Russia asks for support into the North Sea and I agree to give it to him. Orders: ENGLAND Edinburgh MOVE North Sea -> Attack broken by f nwy - nth Wales MOVE London -> Bounced FRANCE Burgundy HOLD -> resolved English Channel SUPPORT Norway to North Sea -> resolved Mid-Atlantic Ocean SUPPORT Marseilles to Spain (Sout...

* Intro * Spring 1901 * Fall 1901 * Spring 1902 * Fall 1902 * Spring 1903 * Fall 1903 * Spring 1904 Alright, got some time to update this before I go to bed. Matt, appreciate the comments so far. Certainly makes this much more interesting to do. Negotiations: Germany wants me to support him in Munich (holding) and support HOL-KIE. I tell him I will do so. Orders: ENGLAND Edinburgh MOVE North Sea -> Bounced Liverpool MOVE Wales -> resolved FRANCE English Channel SUPPORT Wales to London -> resolved Mid-Atlantic Ocean MOVE Western Mediterranean -> Bounced Burgundy MOVE Marseilles -> Bounced Spain HOLD -> resolved Ruhr MOVE Belgium -> resolved Wales MOVE London -> resolved ITALY Aegean Sea MOVE Smyrna -> Bounced Piedmont MOVE Marseilles -> Bounced Tyrrhenian Sea MOVE Gulf of Lyons -> resolved Western Mediterranean HOLD -> resolved Kiel HOLD -> resolved Tyrolia MOVE Munich -> resolved Albania MOVE Tunis -> resolved Constantinople ...

Not so long after my last post I checked my email and find that UB gave me a free $10 to play with. Take that along with the other $2.25 in my account and sit at the highest stakes possible, NL $50 full-ring. It just so happens to be a Bad Beat Jackpot table as well. Need to lose with quad 8s or better to qualify. Jackpot was around $189k, but some of that gets split between the other players at the table. Anyway, sit down, post in the CO. First hand 85o. Get a limper and a raise to $2.50 in early position, so fold. Fold the next crappy hand, and then get A 6 . Limper in EP, I decide to muck. Nice looking hand if I was deeper stacked. Flop comes A68 with 1 , turn blank, river 6. Would have coolered a guy who had 86. Someone else went to showdown as well, forget what he had. But Lame. Next hand I get dealt T T . Folded to me somewhere in middle position, I make it $2.50, five times the big blind. It gets folded to the blinds, who both call. Again, lame. Flop comes Q 7 2 . Checked to me...

In the ever continuing journey to find other games besides poker, I have landed on Moola (well, I actually landed there last summer but I have just recently starting playing again after a long hiatus). For those who are unfamiliar, it is a site where you can make money playing games (and doing a few other things as well). The site starts you off with $.01 and you play games at different levels and try to keep doubling up. When you get to $10, you can cash out. There's 3 games, and the one I enjoy most of all is gold rush. It's a fun game and involves psychology and probability like poker. You start with 6 gold nuggets, representing 1,2,3,4,5, and 6 lbs. Your opponent gets the same, and the mine has 1-6 lb. nuggets as well. One by one, the nuggets are drawn from the mine and you bid with your opponent on each nugget. There's 6 rounds, winner of each gets the value of all 3 nuggets and you need 32 lbs to win the game. Here's an example from a game I played earlier. Here ...

* Intro * Spring 1901 * Fall 1901 * Spring 1902 * Fall 1902 * Spring 1903 * Fall 1903 Wanted to update this earlier, especially with some added insight, but it's been a busy week. Here goes. Negotiations: I have a tough decision to make at this point. Russia contacts me and tries to persuade me to grab a few German centers while I can. Meanwhile, I maintain contact with Germany and try to put a plan together, while I'm thinking about stabbing him. The other option is helping him regain a few of his centers and setting the Italian back while Russia grows. That way we may be able to form a 3-way alliance against Russia to stop him from winning outright. Also, while that is going on I still have to worry about Italy in the south. Orders: ENGLAND Edinburgh MOVE North Sea -> Attack broken by f lon - nth Liverpool HOLD -> resolved FRANCE English Channel SUPPORT London to North Sea -> resolved Irish Sea MOVE Mid-Atlantic Ocean -> resolved Burgundy SUPPORT Bohemia t...