TORONTO (Reuters) - Canadian gambling software company CryptoLogic Inc. and Playboy Enterprises Inc. will expand their relationship by launching the first Playboy-branded online poker Web site, the companies said on Monday. The exclusive three-year licensing deal means CryptoLogic will provide the only software used by the site, which will target players around the world except in the United States. No terms of the deal were disclosed. The two companies already have a similar agreement in place to launch a new Playboy casino site. Playboy plans to cross-promote the gaming Web sites in its other properties, including print and online, the companies said. "In CryptoLogic, Playboy has found an innovative and proven partner who can help us capitalize on the growth and excitement of online poker," Playboy chief executive Christie Hefner said in a statement. The poker site will use marketing similar to that of the casino site, offering Playboy merchandise, invitations to events hosted by the company and even trips to the "legendary" Playboy Mansion, the companies said. CryptoLogic shares rose 58 cents, or about 3 percent, to $20.90 on Nasdaq on Monday morning. They were up 62 Canadian cents, at C$23.60, on the Toronto Stock Exchange.
WTF - Playboy is launching an internet casino and poker room that won't be marketed/target players in the US.....How is that possible? Almost makes me want to move to Canada to enjoy the site.
Wow...what a weekend. Had a great time seeing all of the family for the reunion this past weekend. No major issues or such, just alot of reconnecting and such. Will post pics on the family site (and send pics out this evening from home).
After the last of the family departed yesterday, had some time to pay some poker and finish off HL2:E1. Spent about an hour trying to solve the final puzzle in HL2 before I realized that there was a break between the two trains that would allow me to get to the rocket ammo and blow up the strider, jump on the train and watch City 17 dissolve before my eyes while riding out of town.
Poker was good to me...had two sessions yesterday, both with positive end results....so that's a great thing. If I can get one more session in tonight, then I might be able to erase the losses from earlier this month and at least break even for the month. For the record, I'm still up for the year, but took some beats earlier this month that I've been slow to recover from, mostly due to lack of playing time.
The sessions yesterday were fun, as I had good notes/history with about half of the players at the table, so that helps alot. Best session was yesterday evening (+$112)...started out up $70, only to watch it slide away along with another $70 on some wicked bad beats (KK loosing to 67 suited when he flops a gut shot and chases it to the river to hit...ugh). Turn around started when I was the second recipient of three straight hands where someone on the table showed down AA....all winners for a change. I proceeded to then get hit by the deck....picking up 10-10, KK, 88, AKs, QQ and JJ over the next 10-12 hands...culminating in a nice run in profit to erase the -$70 and get me well back into the positive cash flow for the session. Final hand found me UTG with AA (again), and the table folded to my UTG raise...I showed the hand then left the table.
Hadn't planned on playing any poker last night...was exahusted after the travelling and needed to get some work done around the house...so after cleaning out a sink drain (ugh...what a disgusting job), fixing Alan's crib and filling in the screw holes on our cornhole set for the weekend, I decided that a little me time was in order. So, after dinner I went down to see what I could find to mess around with. Ended up at a 10-seat $5/10 table with a bunch of solid players that I had played with before, along with at least one huge fish that I had notes on. Unfortunately, the fish left to go play in a tourney before I could cycle into the blinds...but knowing that the majority of the players were solid, tight players made for a very good game. Players respected pre-flop raises and re-raises for the most part, which made stealing a bit easier....played about 75 hands to a nice $120 profit. Kept the stealing to a bare minimum and just played the solid hands...bailing if I missed (keeping the risk at a minimum). About the only hand I pushed on and lost was QQ when the flop came with an A and two others in the pot...they both checked to me and the dude with A7os called me to the river with his top pair and took the pot. Nice to make the note on him that he'll play Ax and juct call to the river though.
After that I went on to about an hour of Half-life 2: episode 1 that I downloaded last week. Amazing game play and graphics...I love it. Chucking granades and rockets around is also a great stress reducer as well. Ended up calling it a night a bit after 10pm with the plan to head to bed only to be captivated by Alton Brown and some tenderloin recipies....mmmm peppercorn crusted filet....just had to watch. And he's such a crazy dude on TV, love the sketches and such that he comes up with.
Anyway, time for some lunch now...going out house hunting again after work, then back to get ready for the family coming into town. Daryl and Heidi are due in late tonight/tomorrow morning. Probably taking tomorrow off from work to spend some time with him and paiting the cornhole set. Planning on a Steelers based design,but probably only time to get the primer coat done for this weekend. Will post pics when they're done if they turn out as nice as I hope.
Nothing of note to post...bankroll was caught in limbo for a couple of days until I realized that UB had transfered the money to my firepay account rather than my neteller account. If I had known, then i probably would have played some poker the last few nights while in NJ...instead I was relegated to freerolls and such. Didn't fair too well either night...last night I was busted by the chip leader when my all in on 10-10 from a ss position was called by KJos, and he catches a K on the flop...mghn....
On the amusing side...on the way into NYC yesterday morning, our van full of LimitedBrands employees was pulled over by one of NYC's finest for the driver making an illegal left turn. Apparently the signs are posted 20 feet off the ground and the driver didn't see it...neitehr did the guy that was in front of us in the little operation, or the two others that were pulled over while we sat there. After reviewing the driver's papers and license, the cop informed all of us that the driver's license was under suspension and that we could be sitting in the van for awhile...we grabbed a map and decided to hoof it the 16 blocks to where we needed to be. At least it was a beautiful day in the city for a walk.
Hopefully will be playing some poekr tonight, now that I have the money reloaded. ttfn.
Update from yesterday (below) didn't load correctly for some reason...It's Tuesday morning now and I'm in NJ waiting to catch a van into the city for the day. Will update on anything exciting later tonight.
One quick note....played in a freeroll last night...was playing pretty tight and had accumulated some chips until the following....UTG+3 (me) with 10-10, UTG goes all in for half my stack...I call (its a freeroll and I figure I'm good, as a big PP would have limped to get the action)...he turns over 92os, and I watch in horror as a 9 hits the flop and a 2 spikes the river to take half my stack with the worse hand in poker...unreal.
----Monday----
Getting ready to head out of work to catch a flight to NJ again...spending the next two nights in luxurious Saddlebrook, NJ...wheee. Will be in SoHo (NYC) for the day tomorrow, probably no time to get in any trouble or anything, as we'll be locked into the shuttle service back and forth from NJ...no way I'm driving a car into the city.
Anyway....HUGE thank you to Jen's mom and Jessica for coming down for the weekend. Allowed Jen and I to have some fun together over the weekend. I discoved on Sat that my limit of ribs is 1.5 racks....the last three bones almost had me in the bushes, but damn were the ribs good. Mike and Leah were excellent company as always (raspberries to the rest of the gang that decided not to show...you know who you are...missed a great time).
Jen and I did some shopping for the new computer desk with little luck...cheap stuff at $100-200 (laminate and cardboard) or solid oak ($700+) not much in between. Will keep looking and see what we find over the next few weeks...no real hurry, as the family is coming in town this weekend and we don't have time to rearrange the house between now and then anyway.
Played a bit of poker over the weekend....up and down, but overall I'm up $110 from my $300 deposit a couple of weeks ago...not bad since there was a $200 loss mixed in there over two sessions. Also...a note to anyone reading....do not play blackjack on any online site....I'm a pretty decent BJ player and I've been getting shelled online. UB is ok...definately streaky..poker.com is atrocious.....lost what seemed like 30 straight hands...ridiculous.
Getting ready to head out of work to catch a flight to NJ again...spending the next two nights in luxurious Saddlebrook, NJ...wheee. Will be in SoHo (NYC) for the day tomorrow, probably no time to get in any trouble or anything, as we'll be locked into the shuttle service back and forth from NJ...no way I'm driving a car into the city.
Anyway....HUGE thank you to Jen's mom and Jessica for coming down for the weekend. Allowed Jen and I to have some fun together over the weekend. I discoved on Sat that my limit of ribs is 1.5 racks....the last three bones almost had me in the bushes, but damn were the ribs good. Mike and Leah were excellent company as always (raspberries to the rest of the gang that decided not to show...you know who you are...missed a great time).
Jen and I did some shopping for the new computer desk with little luck...cheap stuff at $100-200 (laminate and cardboard) or solid oak ($700+) not much in between. Will keep looking and see what we find over the next few weeks...no real hurry, as the family is coming in town this weekend and we don't have time to rearrange the house between now and then anyway.
Played a bit of poker over the weekend....up and down, but overall I'm up $110 from my $300 deposit a couple of weeks ago...not bad since there was a $200 loss mixed in there over two sessions. Also...a note to anyone reading....do not play blackjack on any online site....I'm a pretty decent BJ player and I've been getting shelled online. UB is ok...definately streaky..poker.com is atrocious.....lost what seemed like 30 straight hands...ridiculous.
Apologize for the lack of posts this past week...was stuck in NJ for three days with no internet access. Hard to believe how disassociated I felt without emails or blogs to check up on, let alone play any poker while camping out in a hotel room.
The new monitor arrived and is AWESOME. Ended up with a 20" Samsung flat panel from newegg.com. Free shipping and a $60 rebate from the manufacturer pushed the price under $300, so that was a good enough deal for me. The monitor looks fantastic, and I broke it in last night with some tourneys on UB and Titan. Played in the following over the evening:
$30 No limit (UB) $20 Omaha limit 8/b (UB) $5 SnG (UB) Freeroll on Titan $5/10 limit (UB)
Ended up swinging and missing on all of them. Played solid in the $30 NL event, waded through about 140 players down into the final 30 before busting out when my BB found me with A7s and a free flop with 2 other players. Flop of Q-7-7 had me smiling and betting. An A on the turn had me positively grinning as I bet and was re-raised, gleefully going all in with my full boat, only to see my stack disappear as the other guy turned over QQ for a flopped boat and out I go.
Played pretty wild in the Omaha event. Always seemed like I was just missing on my low hands (A2458 vs A2358), not hitting my nut flushes and so on...was all in on a couple of occasions only to see me rake big pots and survive. Made it again down to sniffing distance of the money (final 30 with 20 paying), but my nut low draw missed on the river and I was out.
Also played in an Ultra turbo $5 SnG...I've cashed in the previous 2 that I had played in, and walked out to a huge chiplead early (had about 6000 in chips with 2 players knocked out). Gave a bit back to try and knock out some short stacks, then the following hand happened...
me - 77 in the BB (400-800) - I have about 5k in chips Idiot - AQos in early position (4k in chips) Luckbox - 10-J on button (1500 in chips)
Idiot limps in, Luckbox goes all in...I call the extra 700 and so does the Idiot. Flop comes down 10-J-4....I check, idiot puts in a half pot bet....I reluctantly fold while cursing the idiot (there are 5 players left...top 3 pay)...The cards flip and the Luckbox rakes a very nice pot....oh, BTW, did I metion that a 7 hits the river!!!!!! I tilted and berated the Idiot for tossing the bet in there and forcing me out of the pot. Why he bet with a gutshot draw I'll never know. Luckbox ends up taking me out a few hands later when my JJ runs into his slowplayed AA and I'm done in 4th place. Idiot ended up cashing in the event.
I had registered for the Titan freeroll earlier in the evening (9pm) and forgot about it until 10:30...ran downstairs to find myself still in with about 900 in chips. First hand sees me triple up with KK, about 3 hands later I double off the chip leader with QQ against his 10-10. I wade through for awhile and make it up into the top 20 as the ghosts are weeded from the event. Top 15 play and I finally have to resort to some shortstack play. I end up pushing with 99, getting a call from the chip leader with KJos and he hits the K on the turn to bust me out....again no cash.
However, my luck turned and I posted a profit for the evening with some play at the $5/10 tables...taking about $120 in profit in two short sessions. Bankroll is over $500 now from the $300 I reloaded with after the poker.com win. Hopefully I can hit some cash in these tourneys soon and get some breathing room in the bankroll.
Looking forward to the weekend...local Rib and Jazz festival with some friends...weather looks perfect (78 tomorrow) and Jen will finally get to go along for the ribs. Can't wait.
Time to get some work done and then buzz out of here for the afternoon. Have a great weekend all....
Quick update...after mulling over the monitor from the poker.com tourney and discussing with my better half, decided to send an email over to poker.com last night checking to see if I could take the cash value on the monitor rather than the monitor itself. While the monster monitor would be way cool...the cash will allow us more flexiability. Within about 30 minutes, I had a response from poker.com customer service approving the transaction and stuffing the cash into my account on the site. How cool is that.
So here is the current plan....still going to upgrade our monitor to a more reasonable 20-22 inch flat panel to allow the girls to have out 15 inch monitor, and give them the current computer desk. Also still planning on a new computer desk, so the cash will allow us to pay for that outright rather than slapping it on a credit card. And finally, I get to beef up my bankroll online without paying any transaction fees to neteller or firepay for quite some time.
Everyone happy.
So if anyone knows where to get a good deal on a new monitor, please let me know. ttfn
Not much to speak of...I placed in the money on Sat afternoon during the Cardplayer.com freeroll. 2 for 2 on Saturdays the last two weeks. Made it to 5th for $60 in the freeroll and picked up some points in their leaderboard standings. Need to be more diligent about playing in these freerolls every month. Thy typically get 300+ to register, but only about half show up, so you get 15 minutes of blind stealing before UB removes all the dead wood and the playing gets started. I played pretty well....never putting my stack at risk and steadily ammasing chips. Was the chip leader with under 30 players remaining before another guy doubles/triples up to shot past me by 40k chips. I make it to the final table in 2nd or 3rd....we get some short stacks that were happy with their $30 and push all in immediately and then we're down to 7.
I make a questionable play at this point that almost crushed me....I'm on the button with AQs and get a mid-position player (average stack) limping in....I do a pot sized raise for 1/2 his chips, SB and BB fold out and he goes all in. Now, at this point, my brain should have screamed (coin-flip or way behind), but I didn't take time to do anything but hit the call button....of course, he has AA and I don't catch anything to help. This takes about 2/3 of my stack and now I'm short. Fortunatly I get a great run of cards and pick up lots of blinds and antes to work my way back up to 3rd in pretty short order. My final hand again comes from the button with AK suited. mid-position player goes all in, I re-raise all in for another 15k, chip leader in the SB goes all in over the top (uh oh)....cards flip with my AK dominating the shortstack A6, but behind the SB KK....no A hits the board and he knocks us both out on one hand....the $60 was a nice addition to the bankroll though.
I did play some limit over the weekend as well, picking up about $100 in some short sessions on UB. Were not easy sessions, as both time I had maniacs at the table that were raising or folding every hand. I actually reported two players to UB from Friday night as I believe they were colluding against the table. They would raise/reraise every opportunity as long as someone else was in the hand, then check/fold to their partner when the other players folded. Hopefully UB will see the same pattern and shut them down. Should hear something today from them.
No sign of the new monitor yet. Hoping it shows up this week, as I've been waiting to download the new Half-life campaign to play on the new monitor....itching to see what it looks like. Jen and I have been shopping for a new desk as well...She wants to get something really nice, so we're taking our time in shopping....also need to physically see the monitor to get a sense of size and such to plan the desk accordingly.
Finally...downloaded and started playing EVE Online thanks to a 14 day free trial from the Ogre in PA. Seems like a pretty cool game...slowly getting used to all the nuiances in the game. Not sure if i'll play once I have to start paying the $20 a month or not. It's not too challenging at this point, as I've just been running missions for the local government....basically courier stuff for now as I skill up, build resources and try and outfit my ship. Will see how far I get over the next 2 weeks and go from there. If any EVE players read this...drop me a note online....player name Martello.
For the handful of people that may read this, I would like to remind everyone to reflect on the men and women that have given their lives into making this country what it is. While we have our problems, I can think of no better place on this planet to spend my existence than right here in the good old USA....unless I had an island in the south pacific that I could call my own with no taxes or traffic laws. But I digress. Take the time to thank a serviceman/woman the next time you see one for what they stand for and sacrifice in order to wear that uniform.
I don't think I mentioned it here, but a few weeks ago I was witness to one of the most moving scenes in my life (outside of my wedding to Jen and the birth of our children). I was sitting in an airport terminal here in Columbus waiting for my flight, and across the walkway was a flight of servicemen/women heading somewhere. There were numerous family members saying their goodbyes, and the amount of tears and emotion that surrounded the departure of the servicemen was profound. One young couple held an embrace for what seemed like 10 minutes as they were repeatedly making the last calls for boarding...you could see the pain and sadness that they felt for their upcoming seperation. Many young children were there, obviously not really comprehending that mommy or daddy was leaving for a long time...was one of the most profound moments I have ever witnessed. As much as one could complain about the state of our lives on any given day, most of us are very fortunate to have the people and creature comforts that we are surrounded with and should take the time to be thankful for what we have.
Disappointment has been replaced with giddiness after the tournament on Saturday. Many thanks to all of the other players that have made comments here on my site or on their personal blogs regarding the tournament and my performance. I am very happy with the way I played and was really victimized by the cards and the poker gods in not winning the tournament and the trip to the WSOP. I'll be back in season 2 with a vengence, as I would love the opportunity to travel to Australia for the Aussie Million in January.
Been checking out the specs on the monitor I won on the dell.com site....man, is this thing going to be SWEET....can't wait to get my hands on it. jen and I are planning on converting our 'formal' dining room (aka kids play area) into our computer/media room in the near future...giving the kids the basement for the toys and allowing us to utilize the computer and monster monitor as a second entertainment center for movies and such, given that it is bigger than our current TV and all. Amazing.
Anyway, time to head home for lunch with the family.
Just finished the freeroll for the Poker Blogger tour that I qualified for a few weeks back. 39 bloggers met this afternoon with a trip to the WSOP Main Event on the line. Long story short, my A-10 gets all his chips with his A5os on a board of A-10-Q, only to watch Q and Q fall on the board to conterfit my kicker and result in a split pot. a few hands later my 3-1 chip lead heads-up for the trip melted when my AK when up against 5-6os on a flop of A-5-10 when I called his all in and he catches a 6 on the river to double up and pull even. I miss a couple of hands and can't call his all in bets, putting me down 1-2 to his stack when I push after flopping bottom pair on a ragged flop, only to see him call me with middle pair and win the tourney. I walked away with a 30" Dell Monitor for the trouble, so I'm pretty happy with a $2k monitor...will have to get a new computer desk to hold it...but am seriously disappointed to have come so close to the WSOP only to have it slip away in such discouraging fashion.
Time to drown some limes in some gin and enjoy the evening. ttfn.
kdollar & porkrind - thanks for the comments guys...you two played a tough game...some gin and tonic helped take the sting out last night, as well as planning on a new computer desk for the new monitor, so can't complain too much. Looking forward to season two now and a shot at a trip to Australia. See you guys at the tables.
