More interesting than solitair

In preparation for my trip to Las Vegas next May, I thought I should learn to play poker. I think slot machines are for suckers and I'd rather play against human beings than a casino which has a distinct advantage since it owns the joint. I started with software that has some artificial intelligence which apparently learns how you play and improves. That was o.k. but then one of my students recommended online poker. So I tried it. Seems like it should be innocent enought, right? Hah! So it is now my latest addiction. At least I don't end up with a lot of junk cluttering up the house like with Ebay. I'm not doing as well as expected. But I am having a good and interesting time. I've mainly played extremely low-limit games so far except for a bit today I went to a $.50/$1.00 table and managed to lose $10 in no time flat. One aspect I find fascinating is how international of a group is one there; I've played with people from China and Brazil. This particularly poker site only lets me play on the really low-limit tables for 45 days so after that I'll probably quit playing or move to another site.