Ready to jump solo

I got back from my skydiving training class a few hours ago, and I can't wait to try my first solo jump on Tuesday. There was a lot of information to absorb and emergency procedures to practice, but I'm feeling confident in my ability to respond to any of the situations we practiced for today. Kevin explains things well and is a fairly straightforward guy -- exactly what you'd want from a skydiving instructor. Tuesday can't arrive fast enough!

Upon walking through the door on my return to the house, I was greeted by shouts of excitement from the dining room table where a game of Chinese poker was being played. Ben, Nate, and another friend of his from Yale who's staying with us for a few days were all playing a lively game that I simply had to join (even though I didn't know anything about Chinese poker). Here are the rules in a nutshell:
- each player gets 13 cards
- you arrange your cards to make three different hands: one regular 5-card poker hand, one deuce-to-seven lowball hand (a 5-card game where the best possible hand is 23457), and one 3-card poker hand (best possible hand is AAA)
- the 3-card poker hand you choose to play must be lower in value than the 5-card hand you arranged
- cards cannot be used in more than one hand
- the game is scored with 'points' similar to gin rummy; each player scores how many points he is up against every other player. money is involved by setting the stakes wagered per point.
- there is almost zero skill involved in Chinese poker -- it's a total gambler's game

We played $5/point for about an hour, and I killed everybody. I was +11 points at the end of the session, and everybody else was down. Victory is mine!

After that, I went upstairs to record my 12th video for CardRunners. This one covered how to make the transition from playing a TAG game to a LAG game. I think I introduced some great concepts, and hopefully the membership will get a lot out of the video.

If any of you don't read Brian Townsend's blog, you should really start reading it. The guy is so sickeningly good at poker; when you talk to him you can instantly tell that he's an extremely bright individual who approaches everything he does with a very deliberate, focused mindset. My game has improved a ton from watching his videos, and I'm lucky enough to have him help me with tricky hands that I encounter from time to time. Unfortunately, I never got to meet him in person (he was too busy cleaning out the pros at the Bellagio), and he's heading back to Santa Barbara tomorrow morning. Brian told me he'd be back in town towards the end of next week though, so hopefully we'll be able to meet up then.

Anyway, I feel like playing some cards so I'm gonna try to find a ride to the strip. More updates later.