Fake money

It seems that I have an Italian bank account that is about to expire. Imagine that: a bank account that terminates itself whether or not one has ever put/had money in said account. It must be a very important matter, for I have received numerous notifications from various addresses over the last few days. Too bad I don’t read/understand Italian, otherwise I would not let such an oversight go untended.

So, if I don’t know the language, how do I know what today’s warning states? I used an online translation program. But I don’t trust the accuracy of such programs, and, so unsure of what the email is about, I guess I will have to let the account lapse. Pity. It probably had very little money in it, perhaps about as much wit as the above.

Meanwhile, I went looking for a buddy of mine on the social site. He cleared $1,000,000 playing poker. (Yeah, if only it was real money, and if only the poker rooms of the world were full of social site poker players. There are 225,000 people playing at the time of this writing.) While searching for him, I saw that the folks at the poker application are having a contest of sorts to win a 13” MacBook. I just happen to be in the market for that very same machine, so I thought I’d give it a shot.

There are three tiers of shoot-outs one must make it through to eligible…for the drawing. Five computers will be given away. Yet, to make it worth one’s while, one can accumulate more fake money for various good hands, winning the shoot-out, etc. Once one wins a first-tier game, one can move up to the next level. If one loses at the second level, one has to start at level one again. If one loses in the third level shoot-out, well, I don’t know what happens. I assume that one has to start all over again. I’ll let you know.

I played about three hours tonight. The first level was predictably easy. The first hand several players jam. If one doesn’t hit, another game is ready to start up almost immediately. I won one such jam-fest with JQ off when I caught a Q on the river. I knocked out five players. And, of course, I won that shoot-out.

The heads-up play is atrocious. And this is coming from someone who very rarely plays tourneys. A basic understanding of HU strategy almost assures a win. In the three hours of play I won three first level games, placed third in two of the second level games, and won my third attempt.

I almost didn’t play the last second level game. Even though it is fake money, I don’t play any way except as if it is the real thing, and inasmuch, my adrenalin is constantly pumping. Not so much fun for the ol’ thumper. Nevertheless, I steeled myself with a scotch and went for it. Heads-up was odd. The guy just quit playing. Perhaps it was my 3 to 1 chip lead. Who knows? I know that my dear readers would not give up so easily. Nor would I, and (brag) I know that it is possible to come back from a greater deficit, say 8 to 1, to take the thing down, as I did in a first tier game.

Now that I think about it, in the first-tier tourney that preceded my second tier win, two players voluntarily left the table (chips do not remain in play), including the chip leader. If anything, aside from a spouse coming into the room to find the other playing poker YET AGAIN, this is a testament to how little value people put in these games, and therefore the free poker. As a reformed pub poker player, tell me something I don’t know already.

But I am done for the evening. I’ll give the third tier a go tomorrow as I cook the brisket and cranberries for Christmas Eve dinner. We are having guests, so I won’t play much. The house needs a once-over as well. Still, I have no doubt that were I to find sufficient time over the next two days (the contest ends Christmas day), I would become eligible for the drawing. And then the luck factor really kicks in.