There for the taking....!

Good news first and it looks like despite last years spirit crushing,soul destroying,moral sapping,heavy defeat,Jordan and the US crew are coming back for more!


Understandably Jordan is delaying the inevitable as long as possible so it looks like an October date rather than Ryder Cup weekend.( we’ll be too busy watching the Euro’s make it three in a row anyway!) Watch this space for more details…



Although Wednesday was Halo night , I managed to squeeze in a few hands afterwards at Inter, but soon switched off after my King Flush was beaten.I was sure the only card that could beat me was the Ace of the suit until the villain showed a full house and I realised the board had paired.Definitely too tired to play.



My sister does her 17 mile walk across London tonight for her cancer charity.Huge thanks to all who have donated at her web page.I was hoping for some kind of response but the generosity of bloggers and readers has been more than I could have hoped for.Of course if you haven’t yet donated, her page will still be open for a week or two before closing ;-)



First up last night was a visit to Mother Acorns for a look at why my poor Mum had lost her latest deposit.Too many pathetic 2 bb raises ,information bets which yielded information which was then ignored and heavily betting the river when only a better hand would call ( they did!) were the main problems.Not reading the board and asking “if the villain has just called my raise,what range of hands would I do the same with in their position” was another issue.



I’m not advocating only playing the nuts but the motto “don’t go nuts without the nuts” has been passed on ,in the hope it improves MA’s play.The wonder that is pokertracker means my poor Mum had no escape as we played back hand after hand of poker donkery! I’ve also seen my Mums PT after building her deposit to $250 with good solid play so I know she can play well and hopefully she’ll get back on form now.



On the subject of form I did wonder last night if players can be on or off form like footballers when it comes to poker.Factors from tiredness to burn out obviously affect play but all things being equal is it possible to simply be on great form or be in poor form ?( regardless of the cards).



I usually cash out the small amount I make from my fine sponsor on the right, but last night for a change of scenery I hit up Party and managed to lose $20 at a cash table fairly quickly.Ok,it’s not my bankroll so I wasn’t too bothered and hit up a $22 speed sng just for the hell of it.( wild eh!)



As it was $22 I assumed that was the reason for the cautious play and smallish preflop, raises until I finally realised that I’d jumped into a fixed limit sng by mistake.I’ve probably only played two fixed limit sngs’s in my life ( the other one was a similar mistake) so it felt good to take 2nd place and make a nice wee profit.The truth is I actually enjoyed the limited liability on each hand and sticking fairly rigidly to a raise or fold mantra ( with the occasional trap) seemed to work.



Mrs A went off to bed and I joined the troops for a chat afterwards and managed to win a $5 laddys sng before bed.



At least if I’m having a bad night at the tables I can remember the phrase “there’s always someone worse off than yourself” and this weeks poor downtrodden character is footballer Ashley Cole.I’ve been having a good laugh reading his story in The Times this week.Here’s my favourite quote ( Barnett is his agent)


"One telephone call changed everything about how I viewed and felt about Arsenal," Cole writes. " ‘Ash! Are you listening?’ said a virtually hyperventilating Barnett. ‘I’m here in the office and David Dein is saying they aren’t going to give you £60k a week. They’ve agreed £55k and this is their best and final offer. Are you happy with that?’ I nearly swerved off the road. ‘He is taking the piss, Jonathan!’ I yelled down the phone. I was so incensed, I was trembling with anger. I couldn’t believe what I’d heard’. "



Aye,it’s a hard life right enough….