Burnout

I declare I don't care no more
I'm burning up and out and
Growing bored

I'm not growing up,
I'm just burning out
And I stepped in line
To walk amongst the Dead
Apathy has rained on me
Now I'm feeling like a
Soggy dream
So close to drowning but I don't mind
I've lived in this mental cave
Throw emotions in the grave
Hell, who needs them anyway

- Green Day, "Burnout"
___

I'm running out of gas. There are about eight hundred people in the house right now and there's no room to breathe. It's poker talk 24/7 in the house, in the car, on the town, at the Rio. Today was the first day since I've gotten here that I didn't have the fire in my belly. Still, I played flawlessly, but lost a large coinflip with 88 against AJ and then the rest of my stack with AQ against a moron's 75s.

Far more important than anything going on at the WSOP is the long-awaited opening of higher stakes NL tables ($25-$50 5k max buy-in) on Party Poker. Right now there are only four of them and they look pretty tough. Not unbeatable but tough. I don't know if I'm going to launch right into 5k NL as I always thought I would when Party opened it up. I may just stick with 2k NL, or perhaps forage into the bigger game with joint sessions with others.

Speaking of Party Poker, here is a recent email correspondence with them I found amusing:

From: gnightmoon@gmail.com

Date: 2006-07-08 15:32

To: vip@partypoker.com

Cc: info@partypoker.com

Subject: Some of Party Poker's Finest Making Runs on Tournament Circuit

Hello. My name is Thomas Fuller and I have been a regular on Party Poker for almost three years now. For the last two years I have consistently played the highest-limit cash no limit tables available on the site. Although I am a professional player who plays mostly online, I play exclusively on Party Poker.

The reason I am writing this email is to inform you that my group of friends and I have started playing frequently on the live tournament circuit, and have been very close to some major successes. Three days ago my friend Paul Wasicka finished 14th in the 5k NLHE at the WSOP, and I finished 11th in the same event. Paul placed 15th in the WPT Championship main event two months ago.

My friends and I have rented a home in Las Vegas for the World Series and are playing almost all of the NLHE and PLHE events, including the main event. The players staying at this house are all Party Poker regulars, including

Thomas Fuller (tfuller, GnightMoon, APotIsAPot)

Paul Wasicka (kwicky, Kwickfish)

Christopher Moore (gcnmoo, schnie23)

Jason DeWitt (TheMasterJ33)

Joel Patchell (gamblegambel)

Nick Saxon (hostileblue)

Chris Viox (PiMaster)

As the 5k NLHE got down to the last two tables Wednesday night, Paul andI began talking to potential sponsors about a licensing deal if we made the final table. I feel that each of us on the list above could make a major breakthrough at any time, and wanted to give PartyPoker the "heads up" on sponsoring us. Like I said earlier, I've never played on any site but Party, and would like to give PartyPoker the opportunity to sponsor us before another site swoops in and steals us away.

Thank you for providing the games that have made this all possible. I hope to hear back from you soon.

Sincerely,

Thomas Fuller

***

I received a prompt response from Party which read as follows:

Dear Thomas,

Thank you for contacting us.

We would first like to congratulate you for your performance at the events! We thank you very much for your continued patronage. We have added an amount of $25.00 to your account in goodwill. We do acknowledge that this might not completely justify the kind of bonus you might deserve. However, we just thought we could express our gratitude!!

We have forwarded your e-mail to the marketing department so that they can look into the matter. We request you to write to marketing@partypoker.com for matters such as this in future.

Regards,

Srinivas

PartyPoker Customer Care

***

About a week later the marketing department finally responded:

Dear Thomas,

Thank you for your kind email. I am glad you are enjoying our games. Online poker is a good platform to hone your skills and I am glad we could contribute to your current offline success. Unfortunately we do not sponsor any players "in advance". After a successful major event, we will be happy to negotiate a very attractive deal, but not at this point. Good luck in the main event. I hope you will be joining us at our Party at MGM.

Kind regards,

Irina Evita Cornides

VIP Marketing Manager

***

The double exclamation mark is my favorite part, even more than the $25.00 which shall immediately be donated to charity (please give me suggestions).

___

1k NLHE: -1000

2k PLHE: +685

2.5k Shorthanded: -2500

2k NL: -2000

Year to Date: 166,686