That's Not A Guide Dog

After a highly enjoyable first week off work I went down with a bad dose of man flu the night after my MTT win and spent most of the second week blowing my nose and feeling miserable.I did actually make the final table ( 6th for $353) of a $5 Hyper Turbo Mtt on that Friday night after my last post but any thoughts that I may actually be running well and on a heater have been quickly put to bed by my luck at the felt since then.

Things went a little better last night, although I only managed a few small cashes and just missed out on the final table of a $5,$10k Gtd ( 3500 runners) when I ran QK into AK and AA.At least when the cards were turned up I was so dead in the water there was no need to sweat the flop,turn or river I suppose!


I've also been messing around a bit trying to find more spots to put other players to the test, but while getting creative is fun,staying out the way during most of the 3,4 and 5 betting wars that are standard in Mtt's these days is probably more profitable.It was interesting to hear the guy that came 2nd in the WCOOP Main event ( behind Mr "I WONT MILLION") saying on the 2+2 Pokercast last week that his way of combating the aggressive nature of that tourney was simply to nit it up and play a tight game.


That's not to say there isn't room for moves at the right time.My current favourite is probably 3-bet shoving with a wide range over light openers/limpers.Even if I do get called there's always the chance of sucking out and it also means that if I've been playing a tight game,I'm more likely to get action in future on my big hands if they've seen me 3-bet shove with an average hand.


Away from the poker life has been pretty quiet.I had my 1-1 with my manager at work and asked about only working 4 days for 6 months.I asked before and was told there would be no guarantee I could come back fulltime but the complaint queues are down at the moment and we have new management so it could be a good time to ask.


For all the talk about how "flexible and agile" the company is I think they'll still tell me it would have to be a permanent change to my contract.Even if that is the case I'm pretty sure I'm going to do it.If I'm going to be stuck in a job I don't enjoy then only doing it for 4 days instead of 5 would make it far more bearable.At the moment thanks to poker winnings I don't have a car loan,car insurance bill,council tax bill etc and I've calculated that if I did have those bills to pay I could still live in relative comfort.Dropping 20% of my salary would mean less treats and a tighter budget but as I reminded myself on Mon morning when the alarm went off,it would also mean every week would be like a bank holiday week! ( and I assume I'd get an extra day off when there was a bank holiday if I get Mondays off as I would like).


On the subject of work Step A has volunteered to work in a local charity shop and I'm delighted she's finally going to be doing something as she's never worked since she left school just before her 16th and she's just turned 18 now.I think she's finally got bored of playing Final Fantasy all day and she also said the encouragement ( nagging I think she called it!)from me and her Gran also persuaded her to give it a go.

Ok,thanks for reading.I'll finish with this fine tale.It was posted on a forum as having happened to the OP ( original poster ) but it's an old one that's been around a while so I don't mind pinching it and posting it here.Subtitles for anyone outwith the UK who hasn't seen Trainspotting... "Dug" = Dog. "Whit huv" = What have.Ah = I.Ma = My

I was working in an old Social Security office years ago and was interviewing the punters.The office has a strict no dogs policy unless needed.

I call a guy into a room and he comes in wearing sun specs-it was summer- and has a wee scabby mongrel on a leash.

"Sorry sir but you cannot bring your dog in here." says me
" Ah needs it mate, it's ma guide dug," replies the claimant
Me noticing the er, breed of said dog..." guide dogs are usually Labradors"

The reply?

" How, whit huv they gave me?"

I let the dog stay.

Back soon....

Troll Time....

Regular readers of this space will probably know that I don't have much time for the Daily Mail or the Guardian.This weeks Daily Mail story about the 13yr old lad who recently became a Dad and the fake moral outrage which ensued has particularly got my goat."And people wonder why I left the UK" wail Ex Pat commenters at the foot of the online story.This is from people who detest our country so much that they left and now spend their time reading UK Newspapers online and leaving smug stupid remarks.Nevermind the fact that cases of 13yr old fathers are very rare indeed and the teenage pregnancy rate has fallen substantially over the last decade.

To satisfy my inner goat ( he's just a kid),I'm proud to say I managed a bit of successful trolling on the comments section of their headline story today.The item is about a guy who broke into a heroin dealers house and flushed bags of smack down the toilet after threatening the dealer.( the guys brother in law is a regular user and customer).He was arrested for this.Of course all the usual comments from the hang 'em/flog 'em brigade followed, along with the standard "No wonder I left poor old broken Britain" comments from ex pats who live in crime free havens such as Jamaica.

Mark Renton was of course the main character in Trainspotting....

"Quite right that he was charged.You can't go barging into peoples houses threatening them.His brother in law is an adult who chose to buy drugs of his own free will.Nothing was "pushed".The pathetic war on drugs will never be won.Legalise,tax and make it safe.It's the only way."- Mark Renton,Edinburgh.

Click to rate Rating -472

I'm particularly proud of the -472 rating Mark achieved.Managing to piss off nearly 500 Mail readers makes me smile.I just wish I'd added "choose life" to my last sentence!



On the poker front I only played four sngs last night and the contrast between both sets of two games couldn't have been greater.Perhaps I need to play a couple to get into my stride as I was completely card dead in the first two and didn't make any moves to stay afloat.At one point it was folded to me in the sb with Jh2h.The big blind was a multi-tabling regular I knew wouldn't call me too lightly and yet I meekly folded.After those two warm up games I played a $22 + a $33 and took them both down...which was nice.

Righty just back from the pub after a fine bison burger meal.Time to chill out before playing in the RTR forum game at 9pm.

Back soon...

Sun stats + ytd

Not much to post about after last nights play.I won a few $ at Laddies,lost a bit on 365 and played some more Mad Tilt tourneys at Pokeroom.I also played a couple of Heads Up sng's at Stars.I lost the first one and reckoned I had won the 2nd when I trapped my opponent with my Jack high straight.A closer look at the board ( it was late and err smokey )revealed I actually only had Jack high, although if there was a 6th community card I had a great drawing hand!

I feel I need more Heads up experience and more standard speed mtt's to give myself a better chance of winning Bloggerment and raisetheriver type games.In Fridays RTR league game I had a big stack with three left but was crippled by two hands.I ran 88 into QQ and not long later ran 77 into those Nolan sisters.( QQ again)

Straight after the game I felt I couldn't get away from the sevens and eights when three handed ,however on reflection I think I played the end game like it was a turbo.The blinds didn't go up to 200/400 until just after I went out in 3rd and I felt my lack of experience when shorthanded with lowish blinds showed.I still consider myself a cash game player first and foremost.Sngs and mtt's will probably always be a nice change of pace, rather than any kind of serious money maker for me.


Aside from the poker I enjoyed watching Rangers beat St mirren 2-0 at Ibrox yesterday with goals from Ferguson and Cousin.Step A loved her earings and had a good birthday all round including a noisy sleepover with her friends last night.

I'm nearly finished reading Irvine Welsh's "If you liked school,you'll love work" and have been very disappointed with it so far.It's nowhere near as good as Trainspotting,Filth or his other collection of short stories,The Acid House.

The only bit so far that I really enjoyed was the part in one story where the main character is chatting about a girl called Jenni he's lusting after.

He says he'll never be popular with her family after her Dad came into the pub he was in with a couple of blokes.One of them was saying something about a place called Kelty and "of course ah couldnae keep ma big mooth shut.Ah goes " Ya hoor ye,only hoors and miners come fae Kelty".So big Tom Cahill,this Jenni lassies faither ,he looks at me aw hard and goes "Ma wife comes fae Kelty".

Weel,sorry,ah jist says tae um,what pit does she work in?

Made me smile anyways!

Here are a few more clips I like so therfore everyone else must watch and like too!( aint that right Rosie?!)







Ok,here are my latest stats since July 29th...

Pokerstars $258,Full Tilt $1520,Pokerroom $513,Party $1147,Ladbrokes $2030.Total $5468 ( + $344 since July 29th)

Last YTD profit figure on June 7th ( since start of 3rd yr of real money play on Oct 31st) $1599.Bankroll stood at $4254.

Profit since June 7th = $1214. New total YTD profit = $2813.