Euchre

I love playing Euchre! Every day at lunch we try to play two or three games of euchre. I play online on Yahoo! games all the time as well. At work, we've worked out how each other person plays, and by the third or fourth trick we can usually throw in the rest of the cards. Playing online is kind of frustrating though. I usually play in the intermediate lounge on yahoo. I'd rather play in the Advanced Lounge, but the players their are very judicious about protecting their ranking. Your ranking is based on the number of games you have played, your win loss record, and the ratings of the players you have played with and against. On a given night, my ranking will waver between 1550 to 1700. So if my rating is 1550, and my partner's rating is 1550, and we play against players who both have a ranking of 1700, and we win, our rankings will go way up and their rankings will go way down. However, if the team with the 1700 rankings win, our rankings will only go down a little, and theirs will only go up a little. This ranking system keeps very good players from getting higher rankings by playing very poor players. However, it also means that very good players will not play against someone whose ranking is not within 100 points of their own. If they do, they run the risk of taking a big hit in their ranking points. So many times when I join the Advanced Lounge, I get booted from tables for having a ranking that is too low. It is sort of insulting. And it has created a situation where, unless you already have a high ranking, it is very difficult to get a higher one. Players in the Advanced Lounge usually won't play with someone with a ranking of less than 1700. In the Intermediate Lounge, it is difficult to find players with a ranking over 1600. This makes it difficult to find opponents that, if you win, offer a good chance of improving your ranking. Instead, you have a better chance of lowering your ranking by losing to a very low ranked opponent. All I want to do is play euchre with people who are skilled at playing, and have a good understanding of the strategy to the game. Maybe Yahoo will change the ranking system at some point. Or maybe I just need to write my own online euchre game. Well, that sounds like a lot of work, so I'll keep using the Yahoo one.

Breakfast: SlimFast
Lunch: QDoba Chicken Burrito and a Diet Vanilla Coke
Dinner: Two Fosters, Alice Springs Chicken, and Cheese Fries from Outback
Current Weight: 225