And then there were three.

Don't worry - the game hasn't defeated anyone.....yet. But Threads13 has moved on to greener pastures. Well really he's moved on to lots of grey, rainy days, concrete, grunge rock, and Starbucks (ok I admit I kinda like all those things 'cept one). You guessed it- met a girl in Seattle, which of course makes it pretty hard to stay in Prairieton, IN. Incidentally we are looking for new roommate. Inquire within.

Superchimp and Tankers are out of town for a while, so Greta (the dog) and I are currently the lone occupants of Poker House.

So the subject of the day is stress. Poker has become stressful. Sure we all expected the fun to wear off a bit and for poker to start feeling like work. After all it is work. But I for one am starting to feel stressed about playing in much the same way as I would feel stressed about going to the office, or even (shudder) writing a legal memo. Thankfully it is to a lesser degree...and I think it will pass eventually. I've still played only about 200k hands since going pro. That sounds like a ton, but remember we get 300 to 500 hands an hour playing online. Anyway, the point is that there is a lot of variance in this game and I'm still getting used to it. I think after 500K or 1 million hands or something like that it will be easier to back up and look at the big picture and rarely worry about what is won or lost in a particular day, week, or month.

And hell, I've got no boss, make my own hours, and get to tell people I play poker for a living. How cool is all that? Certainly worth a little stress. Especially when the alternatives have stress of their own. It's just a little unexpected is all.

So on to the most important point: Holkan rush still owns on Monarch level! The thing that makes it work so well (better than traditional axe rush, imo) is that you don't need iron, and therefore never need to spend time founding a second city, building road, mine, or researching iron working. Just research bronze working and hunting and voila!...4 strength units immune to 1st strikes and with city raider promotions. Start the game by building two workers, then chop rush barracks and keep chopping until you have a stack of 8 or so. Head straight for enemy capital. Add salt.

So that's it for now. Join us next time when we'll be duct-taping clocks to all kinds a different stuff.