It seems that you really can't do much of anything these days in California unless you're a celebrity. We've got a celebrity governor and now the unheard of: a celebrity poker champion.

Yep, it's true, Ben Affleck won the California State Poker Championship.


California Poker Champion, Ben Affleck

Poker is certainly undergoing a tremendous amount of growth these days. I like the game, and have been playing in various California casinos for about 3 years now. I've never played at more than a $3-$6 game however, because I'm certain better players lurk at higher limit games. I will say that with the influx of all the new players, it has become easier and easier to walk away from a couple of hours of play with at least a 20% win.

I'm a tight-agressive player, and while I do get my share of bad beats, it almost always works out that some players will just call all the way to the river with absolute crap in their hands. I guess that it all works out in my favor in the end, and there's nothing I like more than to be verbally attacked for check raising some guy that is trying to see if his offsuit A-2 is going to somehow magically pay off.

I have been playing more and more online for a variety of reasons:

1. It's easy to get in and out of games.
2. There's plenty of bad players online.
3. I have a chart that I use to quickly evaluate hands, and I can use it in an online game, but not at the casino.
4. I can take notes on each players play, and when I get in a heads up situation with any of them, I have some very accurate data on which to make my decisions.
5. I can play at two tables at once. This one can bite you, as you can catch two good hands at once which leads to some quick decisions, but with tight-aggressive play, you end up throwing 80% of your hands away before betting, so this generally works out.
6. Play is much, much, much faster than in the casino.
7. You can play with a 4 color deck which makes reading a mix of clubs and spades as a flush absolutely impossible.

Anyway, if you're interested in playing online, I'm really enjoying myself at Party Poker. Go check it out! If you make a deposit, make sure to tell them that "sgtdilbert" sent you! :)