My internet time...

[Barry]

...of late has been devoted almost exclusively to playing poker at both Poker Stars and Full Tilt Poker. What have I learned in a month?
a.) All that insomniac watching Poker After Dark on NBC has been good for something.
b.) You can't make anything happen, but you can let everything happen.
c.) A lot of people playing poker at poker sites don't actually know how to play.
d.) People will dispose of disposable income for no damn reason at all.
e.) Ego is a double-edged sword.

Starting with the 1000 play-money chips the house gives you every five minutes (if you need it), I have worked my way up to around 100K chips. I'm going to start playing with real money. Wish me luck.

Peace,
Barry

[Doreen Peri]

Wow! Cool! Good luck with that, Barry! Gambling can be dangerous but if you think you'd enjoy playing for money, I hope it works out very well for you!

I play Scrabble online almost every day. I don't play for money, just for rank, and there's a lot of luck involved in Scrabble so I go up and down the rating scale but usually fare pretty well. If the game was MOSTLY about skill, like Chess, I might consider playing for money, but there's too much luck involved.

Poker is also a game of luck but also bluffing. So, there is skill and luck and bluffing involved, a different combination than in Scrabble... well sort of the same now that I think of it, because you CAN bluff words but good players have words memorized so they know when a phony is being played.

Anyway, all the best to you, Barry! Let us know when you win big!

Here's what I've learned about human nature from playing Scrabble online:

1) Only about half the people in the world are kind enough to exchange cordial greetings like "good luck" before the game and "good game" after the game. It surprised me to learn that only half the people really are good sports and congratulate their opponent when their opponent wins.

and

2) A lot of people get upset when they lose. Really evidently upset even though it's just a game. That surprised me. It's just a game.

There's more I've learned, I"m sure, but this is enough for now.

Again, all the best to you!

[still.trucking]

Wishing you the best of luck Barry.

I can't change the channel fast enough when i come across a poker show it is so boring for me to watch.

But I could get into watching a chess tournament. Now that is interesting to watch .


What I have learned about gambling and human nature:

Some gamble to win
Others need to lose.
.


Of all the work he did with pigeons B. F. Skinner found that "the concept of intermittent reward or a variable ratio schedule" was the strongest reinforcement.

references:

Organization and Technology of Gambling
______________________________________________
on a personal note:

I am a loser like my father before me
My father had a terrible gambling addiction cost him everything he had. He made and lost several small fortunes. First during Prohibition and then in the garment industry with his inventions.

I remember the day my father found his game. The happiest memories of him that I have revolve around that game. He played Bobby Fischer to a draw.

In round 1 of the 1956 US Amateur Championship, Fischer drew with Michael Tilles
http://www.geocities.com/siliconvalley/ ... ischer.htm
.

But even so I lived for years in dread of being his son. The youngest son of a youngest son. Crazy Jack son of Crazy Mike.

If not for silent woman
I would still have that dread

shit
another day another mindless ramble.

[still.trucking]

My Internet Time
has been much reduced lately

Trying to cut back
It has become just another addiction
Like number two diesel feul.

I have to jump up and turn the computer off three or for times a day
just to get a way from this silicon bitch of mine.

Mz Blue two

then I spend about two hours a day reading the news and listening to the music.

Down from my 1000 mile internet binges of last month

thanks to Einstein's god.
I always get what I need
just in time

Where is nurse diesel when I am in pain?

so this is a pretty good example of what I do with my internet time.

[tonyc]

Barry

Starting with the 1000 play-money chips the house gives you every five minutes (if you need it), I have worked my way up to around 100K chips. I'm going to start playing with real money.

Don't fall for it, that's the oldest trick in the book, they're sucking you in.
Hell I worked my play dough up to a million dollars, as soon as I played with real money, I never won a hand.
It's a ploy..watch your ass.

[mtmynd]

barry... it's alright if you lose your dollars, just don't lose your sense... that's the most difficult to regain.

[Barry]

Thanks for the good wishes and good advice from all of you. I'm just kind of treading water. Not winning much, not losing toomuch, just staying afloat. It is entirely different between the play money and real money tables, even when you're playing for pennies. Watch the pros. They fold almost everything. People go in on the play money tables with shit. There is no comparison. But see, I already knew this going in, from watching TV, of all things.

And truck, I love to watch golf on TV. I'll get up on the edge of my seat. My adrenalin soars. It's exhilirating. Imagine that.

Oh, and if there is a difference bewteen the randomization programs on the play money and real money tables, so as to get people to deposit real money and play, thinking they're good when they're not, unless it's mentioned explicitly in the TOS of the sites there may be a massive class-action suit waiting to happen, don't you think, Tony?

Peace,
Barry

[mudshark]

Wishing you the best of luck Barry.

I can't change the channel fast enough when i come across a poker show it is so boring for me to watch.

But I could get into watching a chess tournament. Now that is interesting to watch .


What I have learned about gambling and human nature:

Some gamble to win
Others need to lose.
.


Of all the work he did with pigeons B. F. Skinner found that "the concept of intermittent reward or a variable ratio schedule" was the strongest reinforcement.

references:

Organization and Technology of Gambling
______________________________________________
on a personal note:

I am a loser like my father before me
My father had a terrible gambling addiction cost him everything he had. He made and lost several small fortunes. First during Prohibition and then in the garment industry with his inventions.

I remember the day my father found his game. The happiest memories of him that I have revolve around that game. He played Bobby Fischer to a draw.

In round 1 of the 1956 US Amateur Championship, Fischer drew with Michael Tilles
http://www.geocities.com/siliconvalley/ ... ischer.htm
.

But even so I lived for years in dread of being his son. The youngest son of a youngest son. Crazy Jack son of Crazy Mike.

If not for silent woman
I would still have that dread

shit
another day another mindless ramble.

man...i hear ya. and dear ya.: http://www.chess.com/video/player/amateur-analysis