StatCounter is cool

StatCounter really is a cool tool. Whoever told me about it, thanks! I just spent the last hour or so reading my own blog because of StatCounter. They recently changed their keyword analysis to show you exactly when the searches were entered into whichever search engine, calling it "Recent Keyword Activity." I was browsing the searches that hit me, and then reading the pages that those people would get. I have pretty much forgotten everything I wrote before the beginning of the year, and some of it is really good stuff! I might hurt my arm patting myself on the back like that, but I really am impressed by some of the stuff. Things like this from a post called I'm not a very good poker player:

How do I make money even though I'm not good? Because being at a poker table is like being in a group of guys being chased by a bear. You don't have to be the fastest guy in the group, you just can't be the slowest.

If it weren't for StatCounter I never would have gone back and read through some of that stuff. Just like in poker, if you want to improve your blogging you have to analyze your history. See what you did right and do more of it, see what you did wrong and try to avoid it. It's easier to be more objective about your writing after so much time has passed.

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I missed the WPBT event last night. I planned on playing, even looked forward to it. But I had to play in a Bar Tourney instead. I know that sounds fishy, but really I had to go, for political reasons.

First, let me explain what a Bar Tourney is. It's free poker for no money. Sounds like shit, right? Yeah, pretty much.

Poker is still illegal outside of Indian Reservations in Oklahoma. So if you want to play Hold Em, all you can do is play in these "Amateur Poker Leagues." Here's the deal. A group of people, I hesitate to call it a "business" but I guess that's technically what it is, organize these free poker tournaments in bars. For the bar, it's like having a band, and they pay these people the same as what they'd pay a band.

You go to the bar and they give you 3000 chips. If you buy a meal at the restaurant, you get another 1000 chips. For every beer you buy, you get another 200 chips. If your table "tips" the organizers of the tournament the most, everyone at the table gets another 1000 chips. If you bring a guest, both you and the guest get an extra 1000 chips.

I was new, so I started with 4000 chips. The guy that brought me started with about 8600, because he brought me, another guest, bought a meal, his table tipped the highest and he bought a few beers. Nothing like starting in a hole.

Then there's the opponents. Here's a direct quote:

I've never played against people before, not even on the internet. I saw it on the TV and played some hands against my husband, so I thought I would come out and give it a try. Why not, it's free!

Ugh. In the first hand I decided I would try to convice the table I was a "crazy player" and I bluffed with ten-high. Of course I got called, which I expected. What I didn't expect was that I bluffed with the BEST HAND. Yes, I bluffed with ten-high and got called by NINE-HIGH. Oh the humanity.

The top two players get points. Those points get you into other tournaments....somewhere down the line there is a prize. A trip to Vegas or something....sorry, I really wasn't paying attention.

So now you know about Bar Tourneys (I have a hard time even calling it "poker") I'll explain why I had to go.

I recently lost by boss and my best friend in Oklahoma. The bastard moved back to Kansas City. When I lived in KC I worked with him there. He moved to OKC and offered me a job at his new place. I accepted and moved down here to work for him. Then he got another job back in KC! So HIS boss is now MY boss until they fill his position, which isn't clear if they will do that or not. His boss knows I am sorta (!) into poker, so he said I HAD to be his guest at the Bar Tourney last night. It would have been a bad career move for me to say no, so there I was swimming with the fishes for two hours on a Wednesday night.

So all this is one big excuse on why I missed the Blogger Tourney last night. I did watch Iggy's table for the last two hours though. I stayed up nearly to midnight when my alarm goes off at 4:30am...shouldn't that be worth something. Naw, probably not.

Like I told Felicia when I got there, I didn't play. I suck.