Stay or Go?

From my school days I'm still best friends with the S-man,The Miami Trout( though I need to get back in touch again soon as it's been too long) and a girl I'll call L who I swap birthday cards with every year.Our birthdays are just over a week apart and I think we did have a hazy shag against a tree many years ago after smoking a ton of weed!( she has a partner now I think!)

Anyway L sent me a text today asking if I'd like to go to a school reunion curry in December.I replied saying "Hmmm and meet all the people I've managed to avoid over the last 20 yrs".I did add that it would be nice to catch up with L as it's been a few years.I also said I'd have a wee think about it and get back to her.

I remember seeing a similar idea on the once popular "Friends Reunited" website a few years back and thinking I'd rather puke up my own pelvic bone than meet a lot of people I haven't seen for 20 years.My theory being that I've stayed in touch with the people I still want to be friends with and an evening listening to how fantastically well everyone is doing and how great their kids are would be a mind numbingly dull experience.

I've a terrible memory too and once or twice down the years I've been enthusiastically greeted by a "stranger" I went to school with, and although they always seem to remember me, I stare blankly at them trying to recall who the hell they are!

Still,it's only a night out for a curry,I'll be going with L ( and maybe the s-man if he's up for it)and it might not be that bad.Hmmmmmm!

No poker yet this week, though I do plan on hitting the felt at the weekend as usual.I'll also be watching my recording of German Pius Heinz winning the WSOP main event title on ESPN as I play.I did find it funny that the news made Britains top selling tabloid paper who ran with the headline ( not on the front page!) " Hoodie wins Poker world series title".Hopefully his win will encourage plenty more German fish to play in my games at Stars!

I've been playing a ton of Modern Warfare 3 this week and I'm not sure I like it as much as Black Ops.The maps all seem small and it seems like it's back to being all about fast reactions and who has the best connection instead of being about outplaying my opponents.

The chat sound quality is dreadful too which doesn't help when playing with friends.Maybe I'll like it better when I know the maps better and I find a weapon I like using.Anyone who has watched me play poker ( live or via Yahoo IM) would be amazed that the same guy who sweeps through beat after beat without blinking at the tables turns into a completely frustrated raving ranting lunatic when playing Call of Duty at times!

Ok,thanks for reading.Back soon...

Orly!

I'm back in the habit of not playing any poker during the week.This can be a bit of a problem when trying to come up with poker related stuff for my blog,especially as beyond dreaming of playing in the main event one day,I really don't have much interest in which young hotshot has taken down the latest tourney at the WSOP in Vegas.

I will be hitting the tables tonight though before heading into Glasgow for another internet date tomorrow evening.I've been texting two women this week and felt a bit guilty telling Woman 1 that I was visiting the Big Chap in Ledhills ( a place miles away with no mobile reception!) on Sat night.I was thinking about asking W1 out tonight, but she said she's visiting a friend for a couple of hours which is probably her way of avoiding having to tell me she's going out on a date!

Ahh well its' a ruthless game and if she is still free and it doesn't work out with Woman 2 on Sat night then maybe I'll take her out next weekend.

I've never been the most stylish of blokes and although I don't think I have any issues with confidence/self-esteem,I don't delude myself that I'm particularly special either.( special needs maybe!) My philosophy on life tends to be that nobody else is that special either and that as the Pink Floyd put it, we're "all just bricks in the wall". I'm not at all religious and John Grays "Straw Dogs" book which ( in simple terms) says us humans are not separate from animals and are simply driven by the same instincts and urges made a lot of sense to me.

Having said that if I don't want to be single forever I suppose I need to learn to play the game a bit better and try and sell myself a bit more pro-actively.All of this is just a roundabout way of saying I splashed out nearly £50 this week on a couple of new Bench shirts! I did have a look in the Diesel shop today though and nearly fainted when I saw they were selling t-shirts for £70 and jeans at £130.The much used internet forum "Orly Owl" pic below sprung to mind at those prices!



I'm probably just being an out of touch old slob!

Before I hit the publish button on this post I turned on the tv and there was a kids quiz show on.They played a bit of music and the kids had to guess it's name.I loved one kid asking if it was the "National Theme Song" and the presenter enquiring further and discovering the kid meant the national anthem! It would be great if they took a lead from that kid at next years Olympics and asked the crowds to "Please be upstanding for the National Theme song of the United Kingdom"....Made me smile anyway!

Back soon...

Sunshine and Rainbows

Ahh who needs philosophy when Rocky Balboa is around!

"The world ain't all sunshine and rainbows. It is a very mean and nasty place It will beat you to your knees and keep you there permanently if you let it. You, me or nobody is going to hit as hard as life. But it ain't about how hard you hit, it is about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward, how much can you take and keep moving forward. That's how winning is done!"

I had a fine evening over at the s-mans last night.We watched Rocky Balboa and it was far better than I expected.I loved most of the Rocky films with Rocky 4 being a particular favourite.The 12yr old me wanted to kill that big nasty Russian back in 1985!!

The poker gods continue to test me at the tables.0/2 at Party $22 turbos ( AQ v AJ and AJ and I still lost!) and then 0/3 at Stars $16's.Aces being busted by JJ,AQ by 45 off and AQ V QJ ( J on turn) were last nights beats.I didn't get home until just before 1am and went to bed at 3am after the last suckout.

Looks like I'll be keeping my $10 as nobody has yet guessed the villains hand from my July 2nd post! I'll keep the competition open for one more day.

I see the WSOP Main event has now begun in Vegas.I'll be following it via Tao of Poker and Hard Boiled poker as those guys really know how to cover a poker tourney.I didn't try and qualify at all this year but like most small time players it still remains a dream to play in the main event one day...

I actually played a couple of Omaha sngs last Saturday thinking I could play in Dr Paulys $10 PLO game at 9.20pm UK time on Stars.( pass:taopoker) I did play a couple of $2 sngs but had no idea what I was doing ( hi? lo? limit?) and decided to leave that to experts like Dudley Do-Right!


Today I plan to take Nacho for a run ( if the rain goes off),do some shopping,roll up a fat one and hit the tables.

I popped into the pet shop on Friday to buy Nacho some pigs ears as a treat and to liven up my dull life I thought it would be amusing to say to the girl behind the counter "I'd better be careful how I phrase this, but do you have pigs ears?".How amusing I thought to be asking if they stocked pigs ears and to jokingly imply I'm asking the assistant a personal question.That was until I glanced at the side of the assistants head and noticed the largest pointiest ears I've seen in years.Oooops!

Ok,don't forget all are welcome to play in tonights Euroblogger game on Stars.Hope to see you there...

Sitting out....

Apologies for forgetting to post anything about the Bloggerment in yesterdays post.Congrats to Hulljimi for taking it down again! Two key hands helped knock me out.For the first I raised with 1010 and folded to a reraise and a shove.I would have been up against AK and KK but would have hit my 10 on the turn to win a huge pot.The other key hand was when I reraised all in with QQ and was called by KJ.A nasty 3 outer King on the flop and I hit the rail.I usually hang about for the chat but after my Sat night poker hell ( see previous post) I actually felt quite cheesed off about my Queens getting busted and didn’t watch any more of the Bloggerment.Thanks to all who turned out.Same time,same place this Sunday!

Last night I finally realised why it takes me so long to begin to play poker most nights and it’s quite simple really.I hate poker! At least I hate suffering beat after beat and when playing turbo’s there simply seems to be no escape.I fired up some $16’s ( 18 player as usual) and went 0/5 without cashing after yet another horrible run.No boring details but I couldn’t win a race and I couldn’t even win with hands like AA v KQ.

I told myself to get a grip and to keep playin’ em right and I would come out ahead, but I’ve been on 0/13 and even 0/20 without cashing before, and the hard cold fact of poker is that you can play like a WSOP champion and still get beaten down time after time.Determination and willpower can only take you so far.Thankfully I fired up three more and managed a crashout,a third place and win in the last one.From 0/5 despair ( ok not quite despair but the frustration was building) to a small profit overall.I did feel I actually got lucky on a few occasions in the game I won and I’ll try and remember that when thinking about the previous beats.

Not that I’m running out of ideas to post about ( ahem!) but I thought I’d mention a comment I left on BM’s latest excellent post on variance and not berating the villains in the chatbox.Although I tend to focus on my own bad luck rather than an opponents donkey call, the other reason I’ve never ever berated a villain over a bad beat is that if I’m still at the table,I feel it narrows the calling range the table will put me on.ie if someone makes a donkey call with A9 V AK and hits, typing “how could you call with a9 you idiot” simply alerts the table to the fact that I’d be unlikely to call a shove unless I had a premium hand,leaving me more open to getting my blinds stolen.As poker is an information game I reckon it’s best to keep ‘em guessing.

I did have a funny moment at a turbo tourney the other night when I raised with J8 from the small blind to steal the big blind because the big blind was “sitting out”.He/she must have “sat back” just as I raised because he called and we saw a ( lucky for once) Jack high flop.I bet out and he called on the flop ,turn and river and then berated me for raising with J8.I don’t think I mentioned I only bet because I thought he was away but it did get me thinking about using “sitting out” to gain an edge,especially during the mid to late stages of tourneys when the blinds are worth stealing.

I usually fold garbage hands anyway so the plan would require sitting out and letting the site software auto-fold for me until I picked up a playable hand,hoping someone tries to steal and quickly sitting back in and reraising.If the initial raiser is betting from the cut-off/button then they are likely to be betting quite lightly ( ie with not much) so it may not even require that great a hand to “sit back” and shove over the top with.

I’m sure there are other variations on using “sitting out” to gain an edge and I’d be interested to know if anyone has tried any or had any other suggestions.

Off to the ex’s tonight to look after Step A and Nacho.I’ll be taking my laptop and will be watching poker training videos and trying to “borrow” a wireless connection to play some poker….

Viva Las Vegas....

I think I need a lawyer! I took an extra £5k in equity out of the value of my flat when remortgaging recently and the Mortgage company have made a mistake and paid it in twice.Now £5k is almost exactly $10k which just happens to be the entry fee for the WSOP which must mean my mortgage company reckon I’m ready to challenge for the title and this is their way of encouraging me to go for it.

Actually I’m fairly sure the onus is on me to tell them and I’ll probably get done for fraud ( even though it is entirely their error) if I don’t inform them.They did however charge me a £400 arrangement fee to do the remortgage and I need to know if I’m legally allowed to charge them £400 in order that I “arrange” to give them back the overpayment.My bank and mortgage co are separate so they can’t just come back into my bank account and take it.Any suggestions ( and I don’t mean a $10k prize pool for this weeks bloggerment tourney ) welcome.


I was paying so little attention I didn’t do very much in the $50k freeroll last night and my lax attitude carried on into the Late night Laddys $10 crapshoot.I played at a very fishy Pokerroom $50 nl full ring game for about ½ hr much later and left $8 down after chasing a few sets with pocket pairs preflop.

I should probably have taken the s-mans ( sookraboaby) advice and just taken a wee break last night and not played at all.I’ll see how I feel tonight before just logging on and playing just because it’s there.

I also took Mrs A out for a wee driving lesson in her new car last night and she did really well.She wanted an automatic but I insisted she pass in a car with gears that way she can drive either when she passes her test.She is now the proud owner of Chloe the fiesta.

Ok,dinner calls.Until next time make mine an awfuckit call....

Tues Update

Mrs A and I seem to have been getting on a lot better over the last few days.My only worry is that I suggested going to Relate ( relationship counselling) at the weekend and she reckoned things were so bad it would be a waste of time and yet now ,only a few days later, it’s as if that conversation never took place.It’s hard to tell if we’ve turned a corner or the clock is just ticking until the next ( and probably final) blow-up.

I missed the start of last nights Wsop Laddys freeroll because Step A had fallen out with her wee friend during a game of hide n seek and there were a few tears.Thankfully her wee friend knocked on the door to apologise and with all finally being well,I hit the tables.
It was fairly non-eventful for me and a lack of anything remotely playable meant I was never in with much of a shout and when I finally went out aprox half way through the field I wasn’t too bothered.

Miami Mark and the ‘Stars 18 player $15 turbo’s were calling so I logged in,fired up Sharky and settled down ready to fold a lot.My tens fell to a flush in my first game and although I was slightly annoyed at myself for not reraising preflop ( He’d raised with A4s from UTG) I did make him pay way too much to make his hand on the turn.That hand crippled me and I was out soon afterwards.

The next game wasn’t going so well either so I two tabled and was lucky enough to build a big stack at my new table which was just aswell as I didn’t last much longer at the first one.
My big stack stayed big thankfully and in the end I was disappointed to take 2nd after getting the other HU villain got lucky more than once on the river.The funniest aspect of that sng was that Mrs A arrived home from work right on the bubble and Miami Mark was knocked out by another player whilst trying to steal my blinds because I was busy.Justice was done!

I needed that wee boost and finished off the night by winning a wee $5 shorthanded sng at Pokerroom.

Meeting my wee sister for lunch tomorrow,renting Saw 3 on Thursday night and should be heading out for a few beers with workmates on Friday night.

Back soon....