What a Gigantic Fucking Hassle
With winter fast approaching and the rolling hills of Central New York soon to be covered in snow, driving to the Turning Stone to play poker will soon become too difficult to do on a consistent basis. So, in order to keep my income steady, I will be forced to play online poker.
I don't like online poker. I don't like not being able to see my opponents. In live games, I can usually put people on hands by looking at their eyes, hands, and breathing. I can fold monster hands when they're crushed in live games. In online games, it's a different story. And my style is dependant on my ability to get away from big hands that are crushed.
But online offers much more convenience. I can play any day, play in between classes, and can play at any time. There are more tournaments online and they're cheaper to buy into.
The biggest advantage to online poker is the number of hands you can play compared to live games. Considering the 3 total hours of driving back and forth to Turning Stone to play, plus the slower rate of hands dealt at casinos, plus the ability to play at multiple tables online, playing online means a more productive use of time.
At Turning Stone, you'll get dealt about 30 hands in an hour. Online, it's 60. So let's say you have 8 hours one day with which to play poker. Driving to the Stone will result in losing 3 of those hours. In the 5 hours of playing (assuming you don't have to wait long for a table), you'll see 150 hands. That is the same number of hands you can get playing 1 table online for 2 and a half hours.
Let's say you use the 8 hours to play online and on 3 tables at once. You'll get dealt 1440 hands, almost 10 times as many as in the live game. If you're a good player, that means 10 times as much profit.
Despite my preferences to play live games, playing online is just something I have to do considering my class schedule and the upcoming bad weather. It is also a smart business decision. If I can do well in online poker, my bankroll will skyrocket.
There is one inconvenience with online poker. You've got to somehow get money to them. In the age of technology this should be easy. But I can assure you, it is not.
I had intended to play on PokerRoom. I tried using my VISA debit card to sign up, but Visa doesn't do business with gambling sites. So I had to sign up to NETeller, which is an intermediary company that takes money from your bank account, then puts it in online poker sites or other online ventures.
After verifying myself to NETeller, I had to verify my bank account. However, Bank of America wouldn't let me do that. They don't do business with online gambling sites.
I tried depositing $ on Poker Room tonight, but they close their site to non-deposited players during peak hours. I tried UltimateBet to see what their deposit methods were. Once again, tried Visa to no avail. Tried NETeller again...nope. Then I tried using Click2Pay, for some reason they banned my account the second it was created.
I moved on to PokerStars. Poker Stars has the most traffic online since PartyPoker stopped doing business with Americans. This means the players are generally worse, and the games are softer. I decided to sign up with them and give depositing a shot.
I encountered similar problems. I tried eChecks, and was not approved (probably Bank of America and Visa again). I then decided to try Western Union. You can send mnoney online via Western Union, and although you have to pay a fee, Bank of America can't fuck with you.
So I sent the money, to some random guy in Costa Rica that PokerStars told me to send it to. I then had to call up WU and confirm the order. After some trouble with my address (my mailing address is in Ithaca, my official address is in Norwood), the transaction was about to go through. Then:
Operator: Do you know the person you're sending money to?
Me: No, but I know the company the person represents
Operator: Which company is it?
Me: Poker Stars
Operator: Oh, we're not allowed to send transfers to gambling sites, sorry. You're transaction will be cancelled, but you can go to a Western Union location and do the transfer yourself
Fucking hell! I'm going to do that tomorrow afternoon, I guess. Topps has a Western Union, so after class I'll go down there and send some money to a dude in San Jose, Costa Rica.
What a major fucking annoyance.
Also, the Bears did not cover the 12 point spread tonight, so I'm even with my fake sports gambling so far. My big mistake was putting half my football bets on one game. I was failry confident in that one, but I made it so that one game would make my weekend unprofitable or even detrimental. I made 4 bets, was right with 3 of them, but still only broke even.
Tomorrow I'll see if I can break into profitability with Arsenal and the St. Louis Cardinals.
I don't like online poker. I don't like not being able to see my opponents. In live games, I can usually put people on hands by looking at their eyes, hands, and breathing. I can fold monster hands when they're crushed in live games. In online games, it's a different story. And my style is dependant on my ability to get away from big hands that are crushed.
But online offers much more convenience. I can play any day, play in between classes, and can play at any time. There are more tournaments online and they're cheaper to buy into.
The biggest advantage to online poker is the number of hands you can play compared to live games. Considering the 3 total hours of driving back and forth to Turning Stone to play, plus the slower rate of hands dealt at casinos, plus the ability to play at multiple tables online, playing online means a more productive use of time.
At Turning Stone, you'll get dealt about 30 hands in an hour. Online, it's 60. So let's say you have 8 hours one day with which to play poker. Driving to the Stone will result in losing 3 of those hours. In the 5 hours of playing (assuming you don't have to wait long for a table), you'll see 150 hands. That is the same number of hands you can get playing 1 table online for 2 and a half hours.
Let's say you use the 8 hours to play online and on 3 tables at once. You'll get dealt 1440 hands, almost 10 times as many as in the live game. If you're a good player, that means 10 times as much profit.
Despite my preferences to play live games, playing online is just something I have to do considering my class schedule and the upcoming bad weather. It is also a smart business decision. If I can do well in online poker, my bankroll will skyrocket.
There is one inconvenience with online poker. You've got to somehow get money to them. In the age of technology this should be easy. But I can assure you, it is not.
I had intended to play on PokerRoom. I tried using my VISA debit card to sign up, but Visa doesn't do business with gambling sites. So I had to sign up to NETeller, which is an intermediary company that takes money from your bank account, then puts it in online poker sites or other online ventures.
After verifying myself to NETeller, I had to verify my bank account. However, Bank of America wouldn't let me do that. They don't do business with online gambling sites.
I tried depositing $ on Poker Room tonight, but they close their site to non-deposited players during peak hours. I tried UltimateBet to see what their deposit methods were. Once again, tried Visa to no avail. Tried NETeller again...nope. Then I tried using Click2Pay, for some reason they banned my account the second it was created.
I moved on to PokerStars. Poker Stars has the most traffic online since PartyPoker stopped doing business with Americans. This means the players are generally worse, and the games are softer. I decided to sign up with them and give depositing a shot.
I encountered similar problems. I tried eChecks, and was not approved (probably Bank of America and Visa again). I then decided to try Western Union. You can send mnoney online via Western Union, and although you have to pay a fee, Bank of America can't fuck with you.
So I sent the money, to some random guy in Costa Rica that PokerStars told me to send it to. I then had to call up WU and confirm the order. After some trouble with my address (my mailing address is in Ithaca, my official address is in Norwood), the transaction was about to go through. Then:
Operator: Do you know the person you're sending money to?
Me: No, but I know the company the person represents
Operator: Which company is it?
Me: Poker Stars
Operator: Oh, we're not allowed to send transfers to gambling sites, sorry. You're transaction will be cancelled, but you can go to a Western Union location and do the transfer yourself
Fucking hell! I'm going to do that tomorrow afternoon, I guess. Topps has a Western Union, so after class I'll go down there and send some money to a dude in San Jose, Costa Rica.
What a major fucking annoyance.
Also, the Bears did not cover the 12 point spread tonight, so I'm even with my fake sports gambling so far. My big mistake was putting half my football bets on one game. I was failry confident in that one, but I made it so that one game would make my weekend unprofitable or even detrimental. I made 4 bets, was right with 3 of them, but still only broke even.
Tomorrow I'll see if I can break into profitability with Arsenal and the St. Louis Cardinals.
posted by rob | 9:58 PM
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