Pandaemonium

After forking out for a new alternator and battery the other week I noticed the battery light was still comimg on.Cost me another £100 to get the smart charge wire sorted and get a cat converter bracket fixed.I seem to run bad when it comes to cars as I bought a Blues compilation yesterday,popped it in my car's cd player and now the cd player is gubbed.If it's not one thing...

I've accepted my sisters offer to do the driving tomorrow.We're heading down South to Lancashire for my Uncles 60th Birthday lunch.Two Pies will be popping round to my place to watch the Gers game and keep an eye on Nacho in the afternoon and when I get back I've arranged to give the hot chick I mentioned in my last post a call to see how we get on.( we've exchanged a few emails n texts)

On the poker front I ran like crap at Party last night and compounded that by playing like a donk too at times.It was a frustrating night.Everytime the game reached the bubble stage it didn't matter how short the small stacks were,they always doubled through.Even when two big stacks went to war with Aces v AK they both split the pot with the board showing 3 10 J Q K.I can't complain too much as I've had a good run at Party recently making nearly $800 over my last 200 games and nearly $1300 over the last 500 I've played there.

I do think there's some adjustment required when playing at the weekends as the fish v regulars quota seems to increase greatly and in the wee small hours the games seem to attract the tilty ( probably drunken) gambling types who used to pad my roll at the Ladbrokes cash tables.One minor change I make is to raise 4bb preflop in the early stages instead of 3bb.I used to always make it 4bb at the Stars $16 ,18 player games and gradually moved to 3bb as I got used to the Party single table games, but it's horses for courses and none of my plays are set in stone.

Ok,thanks for reading todays witterings.I'm off to read some more of Christopher Brookmyres new book "Pandaemonium",play a few sngs and await the s-mans arrival for a night of Motorstorm online nonsense.

Back soon..

Unlucky Me

I came 3rd in the raisetheriver league game and won about $80 at Laddies later to take my laddies roll over the $2k mark.( $2004!).Full stats tomorrow.

I've had this post saved as a draft for a while and now seems a good time to GIP....


“My new novel, Attack of the Unsinkable Rubber Ducks, takes its name from a coinage of the magician and sceptic James Randi to describe people who, no matter how much proof you try to submerge them in, always bob back up again with a new reason to keep believing”

The above is a quote from my favourite author Christopher Brookmyre and reminded me of the people who believe that online poker is rigged or fixed in some way.

I've never ever believed that kind of nonsense, although at times there's no doubt that at times I've considered myself cursed as the unluckiest poker player on the planet ever!

I have a reasonable sng record but I've also had several runs of 13-14 games where I've not made the money and when on those runs I've felt like I could almost predict the two outer the villain was going to hit to knock me out.At cash tables this could mean buy-in after buy-in down the drain.

When the beats come thick and fast and every folded hand turns out to be a monster I've half jokingly wanted to kill the virtual dealer who has picked on little old me and decided to make my poker life a misery.Why me? Why always me? Can I not just get one damn hand to hold up?!

I'm no expert on luck and probablity and although it's easy to point to the much vaunted "long run" when it's all supposed to even out ,it often feels like my "long run" would need to be a thousand years to cover all the beats I've taken.

Reading other blogs,forums and three years of online play has made me realise that decent players suffer bad beats all the time and that the old adage of suffering more of them when you get your money in with the best of it all the time is very true.

Poker is always going to be a 3 steps forward ,two back kind of pursuit.Sometimes it may be 10-15 steps back and it seems impossible to believe there isn't some other force at work.

I suppose the luck factor is the main reason behind poker being such a damn tough game.It's probably ( along with lack of skill) the main factor preventing me moving up and giving $200nl,$400nl etc more of a shot.My experience means I know I could move up,get my Aces in v 63off preflop ( not the hammer because it's a monster!)five times in a row and lose every single one though no fault of my own.I find that thought a little scary!

To sum up, I'd say that if you feel you are the unluckiest poker player ever, then whilst it may be true, it's unlikely, and remember that the "I'm the unluckiest player ever" club has a large membership and an even bigger waiting list...

Dudley Does Right!

Thanks to all 19 people who turned out last night for the Britbloggerment game and congrats to man of many names,Dudley,for taking it down.( dD,Res Evil,Anon,Scotlands own Dragon slayer)

Well played to The Cloud and Pokermunk3y for making the money and to Juice for saving everyones blushes and taking the walk of shame!

He was closely followed by the milkman, although he was unlucky to have his hammer cracked by Tan's fishy play with QQ! I noticed Tan suffered his own hammer failure later on which was equally harsh!

Incidentally I reckon anyone who crashes out first from now on should be spared from having to post the monkey if they go out with the hammer.Any thoughts?

I came a respectable 7th and as usual I can only recall a few hands.I won a biggy v Rosie with QQ v her AK,knocked out louisaban when she was unlucky enough to push her shortstack into my Aces and I gambled by calling Mr Edges all in with my AK and lost to his 1010.

I'm not sure I'd make that AK call again, as I was fairly sure I was lagging behind in a race.Mauzj tends to only play solid hands.I reasoned with 4.4k in chips and with Mauz on 2.5k ,that I wouldn't be crippled if I lost and that I would be in a great postition if my AK had hit, hence the call.

I hadn't crippled my stack, although I didn't have much room for movement after that.When Dudley raised it to 1200 and it folded to me I was hoping he wasn't looking for a call and had a big Ace or low pair.I wouldn't have called with 66 had my stack been bigger but with 800 chips,I felt it was time to take a stand.QQ and a Q on the flop soon sent me to the rail.

Mrs A arrived home from work a short time later and I switched off the laptop ( $5 up at Party) to devote some quality time to my good lady.

Ok,here's a wee funny from the paper before I go.It's a bit more relevant as he is my favourite author and Mother Acorns too.( she attended the talk)

If your looking for a good read I'd highly recommend any of his stuff...( or his US equivalent,Carl Hiassen.


AWARD-WINNING Scottish writer Christopher Brookmyre told the Conversation Pieces audience at Glasgow Royal Concert Hall that when he was at Glasgow University to do Film and Television Studies they combined it with the Drama department and called it the Drama And Film and Television Department. But as everyone knew it by the acronym Daft Department, they quickly changed it to Theatre Studies.

Chris, famed for his long, quirky titles, knows his own books by their acronyms, but is worried that his latest, due out in August, Attack of the Unsinkable Rubber Ducks, gives critics too much ammunition with its acronym AO Turd.

Terms of endearment
INCIDENTALLY, Chris's last book, A Tale Etched in Blood and Hard Black Pencil, is now out in paperback with a glossary the publishers wanted, explaining Scottish terms. St Mirren- supporting Chris may not have taken the glossary entirely seriously as it includes:

Crabbit. Of foul humour. See certain Scottish broadsheet literary critics.


Diddies. Protuberant milk-producing glandular organs situated on the chest of the human female and certain other mammals. See also Greenock Morton FC.


Honking. Emitting a foul odour; poorly thought of. See St Mirren 2001-2004.


Jammy. Enjoying extreme good fortune. See Rangers 1 St Mirren 0, Scottish Cup semi-final replay 1983.


All quite funny apart from the last one as Rangers only ever win through great skill and hard work.I've never seen a jammy Gers win yet!!

Just back after surviving another driving lesson with Mrs A.Got an email from Pokerroom to say that my dreams of playing poker on my new Fusion wi-fi enabled mobile have been dashed because the PR software doesn't work on the Motorola A910,however they have sent me a $5 tourney voucher to ease my frustration.( I didn't ask for it,honest!).

I'm off to see how quickly I can blow it....