Odds and ends

Some poker sites have received bad press, but none more than UltimateBet and Absolute Poker. The two have decided to get CEREUS and combined into one network.

Despite how they handled the cheating incidents, I've kept money at Ultimate Bet and play in a lot of their cheap/soft tournaments. Their software is good and so is their connectivity, and I don't play at high enough levels to even imagine anyone would bother to try to cheat me.

I decided to withdraw a chunk of money and was curious how long it would take to get it. NewinNov is currently withdrawing money from Full Tilt Poker and they told him 10 to 15 business days, i.e. from two to three weeks.

I asked for my withdrawal on Friday Feb. 13, the day I left for vacation. When I returned, I had my check (Friday, Feb 20), seven days later. Not bad! The only downside was that they charged me $8. If I wanted a direct bank deposit, it was $25. I wasn't in any hurry, so took the cheaper route. The last time I withdrew money from UB, the process was free (if for an amount of $1,000 or more), so the small fee was disappointing. The check was on a very well-known bank and the payee was listed as a company in Escondido CA. All this was satisfactory for me.

Have you had any trouble getting paid? If so, please comment.

ADDENDUM: Wednesday evening - I just read this on NewinNov's web site:
"Just checked my bank account and have a pending deposit from Full Tilt. Requested on the 17th, received on the 25th so that is 8 calendar days or 6 business days. Much less than 10-15 business days as advertised."


On a different note: I went online to Zazzle and ordered a hoodie and two tee shirts that have MOJO on them. Why not? I'm having fun with the Memphis MOJO shtick. The hoodie actually says "Hardcore Mojo" on it. I wore it to play poker last Saturday night, and during a break, the dealer saw my sweatshirt and asked me, "What's up with the Mojo thing?" I didn't want to go into the blog, the nickname and all that, so I lied and said, "It's the name of a rock group."

I came home and decided to use Mr. Google and see exactly what it did mean. To my surprise, there actually is a rock group named "Hardcore Mojo" and you can hear them if you click here (but don't do it at work -- it plays music whether you want to hear it or not). So, see, I didn't lie to her after all.

I have two new poker books. The first is The Poker Tournament Formula II: Advanced Strategies by Arnold Snyder. His first book was superb, so I'm hoping this one is, too. Maybe I'll do a book review if I get off my lazy butt I get around to it. The second is Pot-Limit Omaha Poker by Jeff Hwang.

I don't know how to play Omaha yet, so why did I guy the book? I want to learn and now that I've paid the money, I'm cheap enough that I'm hoping this will motivate me to learn. Hwang's book is not a starting point, but I'll have to take the first step, then advance to his book. Make sense?

I asked where to start on bastin's blog, and a reader there suggested Full Tilt Poker Strategy Guide. This seemed like a good idea, so I took it with me on vacation. It assumes, however, that you already know how to play and its thrust is how to play tournaments. That might be good as step #3, but let's do step #1 and #2, first. I guess I'll check in Super System 2 and see if it's on more of a beginner level. Otherwise, I might go online to the uber-micro levels and just be a donkey grind away and learn by experience. Anyone have any better ideas?