All right, here's the official intro to my new blog. This is certainly not a journal or anything like that, but I'll get started by telling everyone a little bit about myself. I'm 26 and I live in Portland, Oregon. My wife and I were both born and raised here, but we had been living in Los Angeles until December, when I was laid off from my job. We decided to move back to Portland, where homes are actually affordable, to try to buy a house.

While looking for work, I've been writing a novel and playing quite a bit of poker online. You can expect a lot of poker content in this blog, as well as snippets from the novel. I welcome feedback on both.

In the last week, I've played 2,630 hands of poker on PartyPoker.com, and won a total of $20.30. Now, now, that may sound like a lot, but it actually only works out to .008 cents per hand. Ah, sarcasm.

In all honesty, it seems like an amazingly profitable time to be knowledgeable in the art of Texas Hold 'Em. I've studied Sklansky's "Theory of Poker," and Cloutier's "Championship No Limit Hold 'Em," and consider myself a solid player. Solid enough to spot the bad players, anyway, and there are plenty out there. Thanks to Chris Moneymaker and ESPN, everyone wants to get in on the poker action. Most haven't done their homework, though, and are easy targets if you have a cool head and can play patiently.

The frustrating thing about the game, of course, is that as a good player, you will most often lose big pots to bad players. You will hardly ever lose a big pot to a skilled player. Why? Because skilled players know how to lay down hands and won't call when the odds are against them. Just this week, I've been beaten 4 times on crazy longshot hands, the type that can drive you crazy. Would you make an even-money bet that you're only going to win 3 out of 45 times? Of course not, but that's exactly what these players did, and it so happened that I paid them off.

When I started playing, last November, I was one of these players. I got lucky right off the bat, and built a $50 stack into $265. When I started losing, I just couldn't figure why, and I went on tilt like nobody's business. Having busted completely, I read Skansky's book cover-to-cover. This helped, and I was able to hold my own in home games with my brother and brother-in-law (both professional poker players).

If you're thinking about signing up for Party, I am planning on setting up an affiliate progam in the near future. What this means is that I'll have a bonus code available on the site, which gives you a free $25 whe you buy in for a minimum of $50. What's in it for me is a small percentage of the profit you generate for PartyPoker. I'm not sure how much it works out to, but it doesn't come out of your winnings at all. If you like the blog, and poker, it would be a good way to get started. You could also use the code IGGY, which belongs to the author of http://guinnessandpoker.blogspot.com. I'm giving him props because I'm hoping he will link to this blog from his own poker blog, which got me started on the idea.

But that's a bit down the road. I haven't even set up the program yet.

I've got a lot of spare time, and a lot on my mind, so expect another post soon. I'll try to keep it related to poker, my novel and occasional miscellaneous ramblings. I will try not to bore anyone with the mundane details of my personal life. Thanks, and enjoy.