The Gambler

I may be 37 now but one of the younger girls at work ( 24) assured me that I'm still young....when compared to "really,really old people".I was disappointed too that despite dropping subtle hints like "I'm going for my break,now would be a good time to start a birthday collection" that my colleagues haven't got round to buying a calculator big enough to handle totalling up all the £20 notes I'm sure have been donated...

Wearing my ( height of fashion in Milan at the moment) Stars t-shirt also prompted an interesting chat with another colleague.I confirmed that yes I do play poker and actually make decent hobby money out of it.She asked how much I'd made and when I gave her last years net profit figure ( $15k) she replied,"Ahh but how much did you lose though?" My explanation about how I play other players, not the house and how over the long term poker skills will triumph over short-term luck were met by a disbelieving smirk.

It's probably a belief shared by some players too.One loose fishy at a $22 last night asked a nitty regular if he was "tightening up until the gambling starts later" which gave me a laugh.I realise the fish meant that with high blinds compared to stack sizes players will be shoving/calling far wider than early in the game and this can give the appearance of it simply being about luck.Obviously in the short-term it's a big factor, but there's no doubting there's a decent amount of skill required to be able to put other players on correct ranges and to be push/folding as optimally as possible.

I had a decent night at the felt last night mainly 2-3 tabling the $22's and finishing off with a $33 which I took down.( 15 games in total) I was also watching "Family guy",a re-run of that BBC show "Survivors" and some "South Park" too.

On the football front I was interested to see Arsenal drawn against celtc in the Champions League Qualifier.The tv money paid to English teams means there's no way Scottish football in general can compete with the EPL in the transfer market and I hope this is reflected in a record breaking and humiliating defeat for the mutants across the city.Come on you Gooners!

Thanks for reading and thanks especially to those who wished me a happy birthday in the comments box and elsewhere.

Back soon..