The more I think about the trainwreck that was the WBCOOP at PokerStars, the more I think I feel pretty ok about how it turned out. Sure, I would have liked to have played the hand that busted me out a bit differently, but dangit, I made a good play, I didn’t have the better hand but I priced it high enough that the guy shouldn’t have called. But he did, and I lost. It stinks, but as I’ve experienced from the other side, the gambling part of poker is that sometimes bad play gets rewarded.

I’m ready for some more live game action, right here at the homestead. To that end, I’ve determined this the summer of George! George Washington, that is. $1 games… all summer. Or at least every other Sunday starting July 2. We’ll do $1 Turbo SNGs, $1 heads-up challenges, $1 cash games, whatever strikes our fancy. RSVP at HomePokerTour.com - linkylinky - it’s a nifty little site that will allow us to track and post all the results over the course of the Summer of George. You’ll have to register for the site, if you aren’t already. Once you register, you’ll automatically get a reminder email before each game.

The first game, July 2, will be right here at my place. We’ll do NL Hold Em Turbo SNGs… 500 chips to start, 15 minute blinds, winner takes all. We’ll also have a side table, ring game, and if there’s enough interest, Rebecca’s Heads-Up Challenge - I’ll stake my 6-year old daughter for $1, you put up $1, and get 250 chips to go heads up against Rebecca.

As always, RSVP as soon as you can so we can be sure there are enough seats.

At the one hour break, I’m currently in 552nd place of 1499 remaining players. I’m just a couple hundred chips below average. The chip leader has over 26,000, and I have 2,695… but it’s close to average, and I feel like I’m making good decisions and staying out of trouble so far.

We’ll see what happens… keep tuned for updates.

EDIT: out in 1401st place. too pissed off to describe the hand.

Played for a while with the brothers at a family gathering. We chose to mix the games up a bit, and play some PLO as well as some 2-7 triple draw. Holy cow. I’m really developing a taste for other games. I mean, hold ‘em is great and is largely responsible for poker being pretty much everywhere nowadays, but I’ve grown fond of all the options that come with having four little cards in front of you instead of two. I will say this though, as a brand new Omaha player, I’ve noticed quickly that you have to get really good at divorcing yourself from those purty hands that make you think you have something great when all you have is a hand that is easily squashed by a flush. Or worse yet, when your flopped straight sees a turn that pairs the board… oh the humanity!

In other news, I’ve been kicking around a few things in my head, one of which is the implications of the Washington state online gambling law. Since ‘unenforceable’ and ‘impossible to prosecute’ are not valid reasons for breaking the law, I need to think hard before depositing anymore money online. I think the state is being absolutely ridiculous, and as in most cases should just leave us the heck alone… but disobeying the law is still not justifiable. I’ll post more on this later.

The other thing I’m kicking around is putting together some sort of poker league, that tracks results over a period of time. We’ll start in the fall, and I think in conjunction with Monday Night Football (of the ESPN variety) is probably the way to go. I’ll keep you posted of all the details.

In the meantime, wish me luck in the Pokerstars blogger-championship-tournament-wsop thingy. There are over 2000 players, and the prize structure is pretty weak. Unless, you know, you win FIRST and all. Then the prize structure rocks the hizouse. Since I’m rather inexperienced at navigating such a large field, I’m hoping to crack the top 50%… top 1,000 players, and I’m happy. If I get there, and have a better than average chipstack, then I’ll just shoot for top 500. If stars align and the cards hit just right and I don’t do anything too stupid and end up top 500 with a better than average stack… well, I guess then I’m shooting for the top. But chances are, this will all be moot by 3pm on Sunday. Either way, it will be a fun experiment.