I’m sorry for the week-long period without a new blog entry. My reasons for simply boil down to “I’ve been busy.” I could tell you with what, exactly, but chances are you’re not really that interested in what problems I have with dead-lines at work, nor how my mushroom-picking on Saturday (and subsequent dinner cooking) went.

I’ve been playing a fair share of poker in the last week too, though, and I’ve been doing alright. I had a rather vicious (why don’t Americans spell that “vicios?” Hmm.) 75BB downswing in a single session on Sunday, but other than that, the past week has been alright. I’m about to make the switch to $5/$10 permanent and I’m having mixed feelings about that. I know that the first week or so at a new limit (where I’m doing more than just taking a shot) is usually spent feeling ever so queasy about the size of the bets. It shouldn’t, but it does. The step from $2/$4 to $3/$6 was the (percentually) smallest one so far, and I still felt that.

Still, I’m looking forward to moving up. Making that jump was the goal for 2006, so it will be a nice pat-on-the-back to accomplish that.

So what can I expect from this new limit? I do have a couple of hundred hands played at $5/$10 since before, and I haven’t noticed anything extremely different. People are still, generally, too loose and often too passive. I did notice quite a bit more aggression in the blind battles, but with a sample as small as mine that may well just be a coincidence.

Another reason I’m looking forward to moving up is that for every limit I go up, the rake plays less and less of a role in determining my winnings. At $2/$4 and $3/$6, the rake is pretty awful at a 6-max table. It can be around 1.5BB/100, or close to it, and that puts a serious dent in my win-rate. It’s not going to be exactly “super” at $5/$10 either, but at $10/$20, I’m counting on it being a lot more dismissable, so the next step is one step closer.

For those of you looking for updates on the upcoming US poker legislation, I recommend you check this thread:

http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/showflat.php?Cat=0&Board=law&Number=7284934&page=0&fpart=all