The Not-Too-Distant Future

I cashed out today.

All the troops returned home. My 1st Battalion at Party Poker made a mass exodus to Moneybookers. All my money in the outer rim blackjack sites rushed back to the USS Neteller. Scattered change at Full Tilt, PokerStars and the Cryptos joined the evacuation.

In the background, pundits spouted bullshit on CNN. The headline on the bottom of the screen said, "Senate Bans Internet Gambling."

The party is over.

The fish are gone. The games are dead. The rakeback drip has been plugged, affiliates put out of business, shareholders ruined. The everday players have no where to go.

What am I supposed to do? I'm not going to keep playing in these dead-zone games, where the only opponents I'll face are the die-hard gamblers or flaky Euros.

I could just keep my money in my accounts. I could continue playing. But what's the point? This is the end of the good times. It's all downhill from here.

I'll still go to Vegas a couple of times a year. But it won't be the same. I won't have a real bankroll to speak of, and I won't be able to keep in practice without online play.

It was fun while it lasted.

Poker kept the boredom at bay, allowed me to support myself in South America, enabled some fun vacations while unemployed. It has been a nice source of emergency cash while I tried to build up my bankroll without end. I made some good friends.

Now what? Now nothing.

Now I go back to February 2004, to a time when the only poker I played was the Wednesday night game for $5. A time when slow-playing could fool anyone and that small buy-in meant more to me than a $1,000 day on the Internet.

My poker skills aren't worth much anymore. Like a foreign language, I won't forget the basics but the details will fade. What a waste of time.

I probably won't have much to blog about anymore. Thanks for stopping by.

I'm going to read a book.

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I hope this day doesn't come. It's approaching frighteningly quickly.