I'm back

That was a long week away from the tables, but my fears have been eased and it's time to get back to the action.

Full Tilt won me over. Their statement showing commitment to the safety of players' money and to alternate deposit methods really appealed to me. The $500 bonus was just icing on the cake.

So I threw part of my bankroll in Full Tilt, whose software, business and customer service have always been better than the industry norm. The fact is that Full Tilt is the only site I trust right now. I'm ready to hear something from Poker Stars, but they still haven't publicly said whether they're going to stay open to U.S. players once President Bush signs the anti-gambling provisions into law.

My first impression upon my return to the tables was that my multitabling skills weren't quite as sharp. I had a hard time managing all the "seat open" notifications popping up while also trying to monitor new tables and play hands. Of course, this is a nice problem to have -- Full Tilt lets me have up to 16 tables open at a time! That's so awesome.

Despite my slowness in table selection, my game was still very good. I felt more confident about my play than I have in a while, just because I had time to think about the fishyness of my average opponent over the last week.

Two hands made my night:

In the first, I raised in late position with Q9s in a 6-handed 2/4 NL game. The small blind called, and the flop came 8-high rainbow. The small blind checked it, I continuation bet, and he called. The turn paired my 9, so I made a $70 pot bet in position hoping to take down the pot right there. The villain called. The Q on the river gave me two pair, and I went all in. My opponent called with TT, and I'm saved by the river!

In the second hand, I picked up a lot of outs on the turn with AQs and went all in, and my opponent folded.

I stopped playing after one hour because I wanted to have a drink with a friend who had just seen the season premiere of Battlestar Galactica. Damn, it's an awesome show. I still think Gaius and Colonel Tigh's wife are cylons.

It's good to be back.