The Riverush Poker Tour . . . and Making Some Adjustments
So as B reported in the last post, we got out to the Blarney Pub last night to take part in the Riverush Poker Tour, which we learned of from Chad, who won one of the tourneys last week (besting 3 other players). And we met Chad at the tourney. I've finally met my first fellow poker blogger: Cool.

The freeroll last night attracted 22 players, a new record for the tour. I busted out early with a very impatient move holding a medium pocket pair. It was just a dumb move borne of impatience and the general scatterbrained feeling I've had since returning to the 9 to 5 (or in my case 10 to 6) world. B, on other hand, stuck around to finish 9th (out of 21), and would have had a real shot at winning the thing if her pocket aces hadn't been cracked shortly before they merged the two tables into one. I've said it before and I'll say it again: She is just a much better tourney than I am.

Anyway, the Riverush Poker Tour is a pretty cool idea. Instead of one bar just holding a freeroll, this is essentially several bars that have gotten together to hold a series of freerolls over the course of six weeks. The winner each night gets a seat in the final tourney, the prize for which is (I think but am not sure) a trip to Vegas. Other top finishers get points on a leaderboard. There are other special prizes, like the winner last night got a chip set, the winner of the first tourney in which there are 50 players will get a PS2 or XBox, and the first person to get a royal flush will win an iPod Mini.

It's all organized by Jason and Mary, who ran a similar thing in Milwaukee, where it was a big success. Evidently it's all sponsored by liquor and beer companies, with contributuons from the hosting bars. Neat--I woulda loved it if they'd had something like that back in Rhode Island.

As it is though, I'm wondering how often I'll be able to make it to these freerolls. For the past 5 years I was a freelancer--as in, work from home, no set hours, plenty of free time. All that free time is one of the big reasons I got so into poker and blogging in the first place. Now I'm back in the workaday world, working a whole freakin' 8 hours each day, and evenings just seem to fly by. (We still haven't set up cable TV here and thus far I haven't had time to miss it.) So right now I am going through a period of adjustment.

One thing to get used to: Wearing acceptable work clothes every weekday instead of shorts and a t-shirt or just pajamas. My lack of adjustment to this led to an icky mishap yesterday before the tourney. I wore a polo shirt to work, but wanted to a wear a t-shirt to the bar. I get out at 6pm so I figured I wouldn't have much time to go home before the freeroll, which started 7. So I left the t-shirt in the car, and changed into it, in the car, after work. I also brought some deodorant, correctly assuming that what I roll on at 8am isn't gonna be very effective at 8pm. Problem was, it was 93 degrees hot yesterday, which was enough to liquefy my deodorant. So I'm sitting in the driver's seat of my car, and when I take the cap off the deodorant, it pours out all over my hands and into my lap. Gross. So I drive home to change, with the A/C, and as I'm driving the deodorant solidifies on my hands and crotch. Very unpleasant indeed!

Anyway, that's why I was a bit later to the bar than expected, and why I was a bit frazzled the rest of the evening. Great story, huh? I'll definitely have to play in another Riverush tourney in order to redeem myself.

In other poker news, we fixed what was wrong with our Internet connection out here, and B sucessfully played Absolute Poker for an hour today, using my account. She got me to 10,000 AP points, so now I can host private tourneys. Woo-hoo! Now I've gotta organize one with some of our friends back east.

I think B and will head down to the Canterbury this Saturday. They'll be running the Claiming Crown, which is the track's biggest race of the season. I'm assuming the lines for poker will be looong but we'll put our names in and bet ponies while we wait.

OK, now I'm gonna go read Pauly's update on the WSOP.
posted by James at 9:18 PM