Free poker money

A while back, a poker message board that I frequent had a post about a site called powerplayer.com that was literally giving people $25 just to sign up on their site. Lots of poker sites give out sign up bonuses and whatnot, but this was flat-out free cash with no deposit required so I used the code to try it out, if only because it sounded too good to be true. It wasn't. The $25 was immediately deposited in my account. The code is now defunct, otherwise I'd post it here so anyone could give it a try.

I hadn't played much on that site, mainly because I don't really like their graphics or their software. It is a skin (a duplicate site that looks exactly the same but has a different name) of Poker Room, which I had tried before because my friend Vince used to play there occasionally. Anyway...I was bored on Friday night and logged onto the site as a $5 MTT (multi table tournament) was about to begin, so I signed up. I ended up finishing in 12th place out of 250 starters. It was a rebuy tournament with an add-on but I didn't do either one and I cleared almost $20 of profit. I got knocked out with pocket queens on a pretty short stack so I can't really complain about the final spot. Tonight I logged back on there again and came in 2nd place in a $5 sit and go tournament (a single table tournament that starts when ten people sign up). Not too bad--all of this for free! My plan is to run the account up to a couple hundred bucks, try to clear an additional $75 bonus that they give you for free if you play enough, and then move the money into my Neteller account.

We saw Charlie and the Chocolate Factory today and it was really good. I loved the book as a child but I've never seen the original movie all the way through, so I can't compare there, but it did seem very faithful to the novel while still incorporating some modern touches. Johnny Depp was great, as always. I can't think of an actor working today that commits more to a role than he does (e.g. Pirates of the Caribbean, Once Upon a Time in Mexico), and he's always great fun to watch. The cast of kids they got was phenomenal as well.

On the other side of the spectrum, I recently rented Napoleon Dynamite. I held off on seeing it for so long because I just didn't think I would like it. I was right. When it finally ended, I was mentally labeling it one of the worst movies I've ever seen. However, a couple of things are making me reconsider this position. First, I've found that I'll occasionally think back to a scene or a moment that is weirdly funny. And secondly, and probably more importantly, my brother thinks that I should give it a chance. If anything, I thought that he might hate it more than me, but on the contrary; he suggests that under the right conditions--his exact preference was "watching it with Kinsman after a few beers"--that I might find it funny. This is probably true, so maybe I'll put this theory to the test some day. Until then, I'll just have to work on my nunchuck skills.