Thoughts of 'A Badgers Ballbag'

Last Post

2011-06-01T18:45:00.002+01:00

The content of the blogs diminished of late and I've lost the desire to keep updating, so I'll post my final figures for May and this will be the last post ... on this blog. I've ideas for a new blog, and Poker/Betting challenge, in the future and will post the link on here or beg for links from the followers and blogs I read regularly.

The final figures for may were a $326 profit, which as I was away for 15 of the 31 days I'm pretty pleased with.

Thanks to all the readers, past and present and hopefully I'll get the blogging mojo back sooner than later, in the meantime I will be reading all my favorites blogs on a regular basis.

April Ends

2011-05-01T09:38:00.002+01:00

Not a great month profit wise April - only $109. But on the positives most of that came from Cash games which shows continued improvement in that area, and on top of the cash I've also won my IPad which is a great little tool.
The tourneys were disappointing and my ventures into STT's , albeit very sporadic, again provided a loss.

Good Luck to the Ace of Clubs team who are playing in a team event at Newcastle this weekend, last year was a great success with one of our lads ending up as individual winner and the team finishing 3rd overall. I'm afraid I couldn't make this years and they have had to put in a patched up team to fill out to the full 10, but I'm sure they'll enjoy the weekend again and with a little fortune maybe win some cash between them.

Thunderbirds Shuffle Up and Deal

2011-04-13T21:17:00.004+01:00

Has anyone watched the latest series of High Stakes Poker on Pokertube ...... I'm certain the new 'Host' - Norm MacDonald - used to be Scott Tracey on Thunderbirds. Not only in his performance and looks but also his mannerisms

Full Ring Cash Woes Pt 2

2011-04-13T21:06:00.000+01:00

I love Full Ring Cash games ....

Full Ring Cash Woes

2011-04-12T22:02:00.003+01:00

Fuck Off Ring Games is all I have to say ................

Starting from Scratch ....

2011-04-10T22:17:00.004+01:00

After reading Mikes new blog and having a bigger screen - after treating myself this week. I've decided to resurrect an old betfair account, which has zilch in, and see if I can keep up with Mike in his attempt to become a high roller - I'll only be having the freerolls running at the same time as my regular tourneys, but it may reduce my concentration lapses, and hopefully prove profitable.
I'll only blog any notable milestones on here and will probably put any balance counts and serious bad beats on the AOC Forum pages.

Weekend Woes

2011-04-10T22:09:00.002+01:00

Been my first hit of bad form on the Full Ring tables this weekend, and my profits dropped around $50 :(

Think I've become a little lack in the aggression, plus I've fired up 6 tables now I've got the bigger screen - which probably hasn't helped.
I've also had some awful beats on the Tourneys tonight which hasn't helped the mindset ...

I'm working through a small bonus on Full Tilt which should regain a bit back and will probably drop back down to 4 tables max, and not mix with the tourneys until I'm more in the comfort zone.

So bad weekend after promising start to the month, time to get back on track though.

iPad2 4 U

2011-04-04T17:59:00.002+01:00

Beat 490ish other players last night in a $2 Tourney on 888.Com and won myself an IPAD2, just ordered from the site and expecting delivery within 30 Days.
Down to 3 with Chip Stacks pretty even, 2 players win an IPad, and I pick up AA in the Big Blind. The SB makes it 1.5 BB and I flat call, the flop comes an incredible AKA - !! I flat call his flop bet and we both Check the J on the Turn. The river drops a Ten and he puts in a 1/2 pot bet - I just know he's hit his Straight, I push over the top and he insta calls - Thank You Very Much !!

.... a £400 IPad is heading my way ....

Marching on

2011-04-03T11:37:00.002+01:00

Happy with the Poker results in March, especially as I continued my 'success' at Ring games, although I must try and keep improving and not rest on my laurels. So I intend to get a first complete read through of the book by the end of April, with the intention to keep revisiting chapters and applying them more completely as I get more comforatble with the HEM Stats and what they indicate in the way of players future actions.

I also had a couple of decent MTT returns for my low stakes with a 2nd in the Vroll for £50 and a couple of final table finishes in the UKPPL Sunday Tourneys which have a $1k added to the pool.

Which gave an overall profit of $526.95 below is my Ring Game graph

Preparation for Augusta

2011-04-03T11:15:00.004+01:00

With the Clocks moving forward last Sunday, this meant a first chance for a round of golf after work. This year the intention is to play Thursday evenings with 3 from work, we are all as bad as each other so we can hopefully improve together over the year.
I used to enjoy golf, but lost interest a few years ago due a little to lack of motivation, and more to not having someone who would be willing to make a weekly game. I've no great ambition to be a great golfer, I'd just be happy to be able to restrict the 'duff' shots to less than 5 or 6 a round and consistently score in the 90's for a full 18 holes.
As its still too much to ask to get a full 18 holes in after work at the moment, as it drops dark still around 1930 and we can't tee off much before 1730, we will be playing a few 9 holes courses for the first few weeks or so. This week the 9 Hole Course at Morley Hayes was the venue and it was very short - not much more than an extended Pitch and Putt - think the longest hole was around 300 yds - as the big problem with my golf game is hitting woods off the Tee it suited me very well as I only needed to use a wood twice (and could probably have avoided those shots, but felt I ought to try and have a go at working through the 'Wood Problem' - that sounds like a sexual dysfunction, but its not :))
Anyway after 9 holes I led the 'field' by 2 shots and posted respectable +10 which hopefully bodes well for the coming summer months.

On the Oche .....Darts Report

2011-03-13T22:56:00.011Z

Had a good night at the Darts, although would probably have been even better if I hadn't been at work next morning, and could have had a few pints to fully soak up the atmosphere.
Took us around 1hr 50m to get to the MEN from Derbyshire, which at 'Rush hour' time on the M1 thought wasn't too bad. I've never been to Manchester Centre before and from the brief view i got it looks a very 'happening' place. Anyway we parked up in the 'Arndale' Car Park, then walked into the Arndale Precinct to ask directions. My mate asked a thirty-something mum directions and after pointing us in the general direction she asked who was on at the MEN tonight - when my mate replied 'Were going to see Darts', she gave a sympathetic 'Oh' and looked him up and down as though he was a real saddo :)
I'm not sure if she thought we were going to see the band 'Darts' or actual 'Darts' but presume for her the 'you saddo' look fitted in with either.

Anyway after turning left instead of right the journey took us a little longer than it should have, but we eventually found the box office, strangely located in the middle of the railway station, and I stood in the 'Guest Tickets' line behind around 20 other people. After 15mins I approached the Kiosk window and gave the lady behind the counter my name, after a nervous few minutes of her mumbling "....can't see your name on here" she eventually gave a ".. oh your here" and passed me my envelope, so I thanked her and strode of towards MacDonalds for refreshments before the show started. As I walked I opened the envelope and found 1 ticket, and a wristband - ! I quickly returned to the kiosk and went down to the line next to the guest tickets line to explain that I'd not been given both tickets, thinking she could lean across to the Guest Line Lady who was stood next to her and she could quickly sort us out -Wrong !! She pointed me to the back of the now even longer queue were we had to wait for 20minutes more to rectify the error and get our other ticket and 'Players Lounge Wrist band' - Bloody Jobsworth !!!

Whilst waiting again we saw our only (real) VIP of the evening walk past followed by the sound of around 30 soccer fans who had also spied him, chanting his name across the station foyer. Mr Robbie Savage.

Eventually we got into the watch the event and had a table to ourselves right next to the "tunnel" were the players begin their entrance, flanked by 2 very pretty young models dressed each time in varying skimpy outfits. So not a bad view at all :)
We each had first pick at 2 games a piece with a wager on the outcome of each match - I was bloody useless ending up 0-4 by the end of the evening, and if "James 'The Terminator' Wade" is supposed to be a professional darts player then there's hope for me yet - !! If you want to make a few quid back against him winning anytime you see odds offered.

While we were there I met the chap who actually won the entry tournament, he got the same package as me but he wasn't overly impressed about the VIP description in the adverts, he complained to anyone who would listen, and probably only watched about 2 games before setting off in search of the 888 representative (if there ever was one there !). He was telling us that he used to sell Cocaine, and deal Pirate DVD's in the Canaries Islands and that when he gave a VIP night out over there he used to give his clients the best seats in the club and as much Coke as they wanted - Too be fair if he was expecting that sort of treatment from 888.Com he was always going to be a little disappointed :O

He was a really likable chap, called Gary and (for those of you who are old enough) looked like Neil out of 'The Young Ones', he also bore a remarkable resemblance to another current 'TV Star', and whilst stood leaning on the rails were the players walk on, had his hand shaken vigorously by one of the players - who kept saying to him "Hey its you !!. its YOU !!, its you off the telly" -(This was the aforementioned "James 'The Terminator' Wade", he was still probably thinking about who Gary reminded him off, instead of concentrating on throwing his bleeding darts straight!). Gary looked a little embarrassed by it all, and then explained he quite often gets mistaken for Frank Gallagher from Shameless - as soon as he said it the resemblance was there to see.

So after Gary disappeared into the Manchester evening, in search of the 888.com rep and a fix we watched the remaining Darts matches, with the Phil Taylor v Gary Anderson match the pick of the bunch, both playing really top notch darts, Taylor edging it 8-6 in the best of 14 Match.

The last game was a little one-sided (my man losing again) so we skipped ship about 10mins early, saved ourselves a £5 in Car Parking costs in the process and arriving home just after midnight

If ever you have a chance to attend one of these events then I would highly recommend it, just make sure you have a day off work next morning and you can have a few bevvies while you watch the game.

Look what you could have won ....Better than a Speedboat ....

2011-03-07T23:52:00.004Z

"Super Smashin Lovely" as the doyen of Darts Mr Jim Bowen would say ... tonight I've won two VIP tickets for the PDC Premier League Darts at MEN Arena on Thursday - plus $200 for expenses.

A few managers from work went to the Nottingham Leg the other week and commented how good a crack it is, something a little different and great value for a $5 entry (17 runners - Top 2 Win Tickets).

As the missus looked in disgust when I asked her if she fancied going to the event, Ive asked a guy from work - he actually paid for a ticket at Nottingham and couldn't go due to family reasons, so should be a nice recompense for him - plus I'm hoping he'll drive as he's got a nice company car and not sure my 25 Year Old Rover will go that far !!

February Summary - Not quite ready

2011-03-07T23:39:00.004Z

No February update yet, as I'm still finishing off my staking which win or lose will form part of February's figures.It'll probably end up a very small loss, unless I have a good result in my last 2 staking games.

This month (and back end of last month) I have concentrated mainly on Cash tables, for a couple of reasons.
1. I need to earn 100 pts on Poker Idol to continue in a team tournament on there at end of Month. I only had to earn 50pts last month and it cost me $35+ to get them - which makes for a bloody expensive Freeroll competition. I lost the money playing Omaha, as I theorized that the pots would be bigger and the pts would rack up quicker. Although I didn't theorize that I'd be $35 out of pocket !!
2. I'm certain I should be able to become a winning cash player, even if only at the micro stakes - I'm fine at tournaments but have always been impatient and hence rubbish at cash games. So I've forked out a fair few $$$ on a book which had good reviews and so far its working well - I'm only playing micro full ring, maybe 4 max tables at a time, and one of those being the Poker Idol site to rack my points up. I'm not going to tempt fate but so far I'm pleased with how its going.

** EDIT **
Just played the last 2 staking games this evening and finished 3rd for $106 - Which means a 32% Return for my stakers and a small profit of $10+ on the month after all monies paid out.
I'm just pleased that the stakers got a return rather than the lack of profit for me :)

Songs to suit the Occasion #1

2011-02-13T17:51:00.002Z

Whilst trying to track down 'Muller Light Greek Yogurts' in Morrisons this afternoon this classic spilled out over the tannoy .... a song to suit the occasion

Who Killed Cock Robin ....

2011-02-11T22:27:00.004Z

Fuckin me ...

First time I've ever asked for a small staking request to play some $5-$10 Value Added tourneys on PP ($80 Total) and I can't win a bloody race. In fact there not even races KK v AK QQ v TT - if it was my all my own money I wouldn't be as bothered, but I feel a sense of expectancy for the stakers.

I've only played 3 of the 12 tourneys so plenty of time to make amends, there was a nice little post this week on Punters Lounge about confidence in Poker, and I'm doing my utmost to go in with a positive mindset and think positively and confidently, but at the moment whenever I get all my chips in and I'm well in front I can't help but get these nagging thoughts pecking away at my brain saying, 'I'm going to get fucked over by the river'.

as I say its only 25% of the way through so I'm going to hope I can reward my stakers faith before the Fat Lady has need for an encore

So far So good

2011-02-01T19:11:00.003Z

Had a full month at the tables in January, give or take the odd work commitment and ended + $214 - Which for my low stakes entries is pretty fair going.
The WBCOOP was a bit of a waste of time from my point of view, even if I'd won a few SCOOP Tickets (which I didn't) don't think they're much use for recreational players like myself, as you need to devote a fair chunk of a day to play in the SCOOP tourneys if you're seriously trying to cash.
We've been making use of the New Home Games bolt-on on Pokerstars over last month or so, a lad from work set a group up, which has been a good laugh - also a couple of groups set up from PL which also played in a good atmosphere and a good laugh is had.

A lad from the works home game group has had a couple of cashes in some of the 180 Man Turbos on Pokerstars, and he now thinks this Poker Game could be an easy way to earn a decent living - I've tried to tell him that its not and pointed out few of the Blogs I read of those who do this for a living to show that there's a lot of work needed to become a consistent winning player. He's not convinced however and is thinking of booking a few days off to see how much money he can really make !! - I said he may need to progress from playing one STT at a time to have any chance of making money, and to prove the point I found out an article on one of the Supernova Elite guys from last year 'Jorj95' and showed him the bit about him playing 200 STT's an hour !! - Quite unbelievable

Works is getting in the way

2011-01-12T21:19:00.002Z

Been setting out with the best intentions to hit the tables this week, but my real job keeps getting in the way !

Tonight I didn't get out of there until 19:45 which means home around 20:10 and too late to start any of the Low Stakes MTT's - as I'm also wanted in work for 08:00 tomorrow - anything started after 20:00 means a well past midnight finish, which means I either feel knackered all day at work - or end up playing less then optimal trying to finish the games early.

The first two weeks of each month are becoming a real 'mare at work with early starts, late finishes and working at home being par for the course, and it all adds upto me not being in a good frame of mind for Poker Playing in the evenings, and last weekend was taken up with work that I'd sent home to finish.

I had started the month well up almost $90 after 3 days play, then due to the above aligned with a $16 donation trying to win at Rush poker, as I couldn't fit any tourneys in, I'm only sitting at $77 profit 12 days in .... I think a realistic achievement of $200 is most I can hope for this month - not going to get rich at that rate.

Hopefully I can start and finish on time for the next couple of weeks - before the month of February comes along and rips my game plan to shreds again.

Happy New Year

2011-01-01T11:05:00.002Z

Started playing again on a pretty regular basis from Mid-December onwards, with a few rest days over Christmas, so happy with the $129+ profit. Albeit could have been better with a few smaller cashes that should have been bigger, if I'd had a little more patience.

Overall even allowing for the missed months, it was still a poor year profit wise - But I think I've got the bug back again so hopefully 2011 will be the best yet Poker wise !!

Hope everyone else has a happy and successful year also, in Life, Poker or whatever you do !!

--- We've agreed minimum target of $1,200 this year to pay for a Luxury Tree House break at Centreparcs in January 2012 - plus a bit on top to pay for Xmas 2011 !!

My Christmas Message .......

2010-12-20T20:05:00.002Z

Make sure you're hear to see in the New Year .........

Falling Off the Wagon

2010-12-13T23:16:00.003Z

Been playing Poker again for the last few evenings and quite enjoying it - even though the results haven't been great.

I'm down a few $ almost all due to my RIng game expertise .... nothing changed in that sphere then !!
But I've made a couple of final tables in the MTT's aligned with a few other small cashes, just need to wait for it to be my turn for the flips to go my way at the crucial times.

So now I'm back playing again, I'll hopefully be putting a few more blog posts on also.

I now need to decide what I'm aiming to play for, previously I've just accumulated my winnings then put them towards a new car for the missus, I've still got around £3,000 Bankroll but need to give myself a target to aim at, otherwise I've a feeling I'll just spend it on just general - I'm not going to be in a great rush to build it up, small risk , steady profit is the aim.

I think I need to also get the wifes buy-in for the target also, otherwise she'll be hatching her own plans for any profit :)

November

2010-12-04T19:57:00.002Z

Was given some Free Money by Betfair this month - after I'd removed my whole balance from the Site. Managed to lose all they gave me :)
But still made a ickle profit from about 4 x 180 Man STT on Pokerstars

Heres looking to October

2010-10-07T00:51:00.003+01:00

Not played Poker since 15th August so nothing to report win or loss !!
Pretty sure I'll have the odd game or two in October, as the dark nights are now upon us - although definitely not the volume I was playing prior to my break.

Still plodding away with my Teversal challenge on FM2010 - I'm now in my seventh season of management and have overseen 4 promotions in the previous 6 seasons, which means I start season 2015-2016 in the Blue Square North. This is a little tougher and I'm currently only 7th after the first 10 games of the season.

I'll consider the challenge complete when I've taken them to win the Premiership, and then go onto win the European Cup. I think that'll take me up (and probably past) to the release of FM 2011 on November 5th, and I'll see how bug ridden the new version is before I set about a challenge or two on that one.

As background for my challenge I've been to watch the real Teversal play a couple of times, without sounding to big-headed I'm doing a far better job than the real life manager is - although if he could scout 3 Argentinians and a couple of Bulgarians, like I have for my FM side, then their performances would probably improve !!

August Update - For whats its worth !

2010-09-02T00:28:00.003+01:00

Still no incentive to play - Played 2 Tourneys all Month, and a handful of STT's, almost all of those teaching the Daughters boyfriend a few tips on how to play.
Not even been on a site since 15th August ....

I've enjoyed a few games of Golf, Squash, been out for a couple of meals, to the pictures and walking at weekends in the Peak District. !! - During the week I'm attempting to take Teversal FC - (Northern Counties East League D1) to Premiership and Champions League Success on Football Manager 2010.

My results for the few bits I've played was a small loss of $26.78.

There may be no Poker Blogs at all in October if I'm in the same frame of mind ..... But if your interested in Teversal FC's rise to World Football Supremacy then watch this space ....

JN6 ... Pre Moneymaker Addicitivness

2010-07-30T23:02:00.003+01:00

Still not got the interest back fully for poker - I played a few full evenings during the rainy week, with a small profit from the Low Stake MTT's - played well but no final tables, and a good run at Rush Micro Stakes Omaha. This turned around my $100 loss into around a $30 plus - don't think I'll get anymore Table Time in now as we have a busy weekend with friends from afar visiting - but pretty confident that as the nights begin to draw in that I'll pick up full speed again. I've found a nice 'niche' of about 10-12 Tourneys Low Buy in MTT's an evening to choose from when I begin playing again more regularly.

I also found my copy of a PC Game that I used to play almost as much as I have poker over the last 3 years - Online Tourneys each evening against other (better) players via the MSN Gaming Zone - Jack Nicklaus 6 'Golden Bear Challenge'. Unfortunately I couldn't get it working on my Vista OS, until I managed to find a Vista Install process on the Net - Hurrah for the Internet.

The pre-runner to the Tiger Woods XBox/PC games but IMO far more addictive and fun to play

Another plus is that the custom course could take 4-5 hrs to download with a dial-up connection, now with Broadband I can download the biggest courses in 2-3 minutes. Although there is very little Online activity or Comps now, and the people that do play them seem to post unreal low-scores so I doubt I'll ever be competitive again so I'll play it for a few weeks until the novelty has worn off, by that time summer will well and truly be gone.

If anyone has an old copy that they want to use on a Vista PC heres the link to make it work
'How to Install JN6 on a Vista OS'

To Nice for this Poker Lark ?

2010-07-14T00:41:00.004+01:00

Can't gee up any interest in playing Poker this month, don't know if I've become totally bored with it or whether its just a temporary thing. I've been out a few nights playing Golf which I have really enjoyed, and also purchased a few games for the PC - I'd probably only bought around 2 games since I started playing Poker over 3 years ago prior to these - 'A Call of Duty Bundle' of 5 Games for a nice £20 plus a copy of a game I've read a fair bit about 'Batman Arkham Asylum Game of the Year Edition', and I'm enjoying playing those for a few hours each evening instead of the Poker.

I'm off work this week, doing a few jobs that needed doing around the home and when I booked the days off I planned to have a couple of days playing Poker Tournaments when I'd done my chores - but the way its panning out I'll probably been re-enacting the 'Siege of Stalingrad', or saving the World from the clutches of 'The Joker'- I'm around $60 down for the small amount of Poker I have played, but even the thought of having a losing month isn't a spur to start pumping up the volume of games - In fact playing when my heart wasn't in it is probably the reason I'm currently showing a loss.

There are a couple of Magazine Freerolls, and a PuntersLounge game coming up over the next couple of days so that may re-ignite my passion for the game. If not I'll probably leave it a while until the dark nights and bad weather hits back on us.

Less is More for June

2010-06-30T18:33:00.002+01:00

Coming to the end of June and its been a better month Moneywise even though I've but relatively small volume in, what with the World Cup, nice weather and a digging out of my Golf Clubs.
Final total was $504.01 with profits in STT's, MTT's and even Ring Games - thanks to a dabble on the Micro Omaha tables

The volume may remain down in July if the nice weather continues, albeit if I can make another $500 profit I won't moan about it too much.

Englands World Cup 2010

2010-06-27T20:38:00.001+01:00

..... Woeful

.....

2010-06-25T22:37:00.004+01:00

After placing my Freebets on Italy to Win Outright and South Africa to Win their Group, my brief career as a Football Tipster has come to a rather abrupt end.

Adebayour .. with Subtitles

2010-06-19T15:46:00.002+01:00

Been watching quite a bit of the World Cup, especially liking the Live Streaming on the BBC Site .

I can fully understand getting 'Experts' from all nations to add to the ambiance, but please whoever signed up Adebayour as the 'African' expert needs sacking, I think you can just about understand 2 words in every ten he speaks - Surely they could have picked someone that people could understand ! ..... Its probably the same person that employed Gordon Strachan as an expert on MoD.

(Almost as bad a call as when ITV had Gazza as an 'Expert' in Japan/Korea (I think)).

Its Italy ... what do you expect ?

2010-06-14T23:08:00.005+01:00

The usually tortoise like start to a World Cup Tournament for my picks Italy tonight, as is par for the course a Draw in their first match sets them on the way.
I've been having a few interest bets while watching the matches, with my first bet being on Slovenia in the 'Thrill a Minute' victory over Algeria. A mixed set of results since but still showing a 2.89pts profit after todays three games.
I've begun looking at the form of the teams myself and drawing my own conclusions in a thread on the Ace of Clubs Forum so I thought my analysis should be available to an even smaller audience which is why I'll publish anymore I do on here also.

Below are my thoughts on tomorrows first two matches

Slovakia v New Zealand

Slovakia are probably the worst European team to qualify for the Finals - and I include Greece in that assumption - they seem to be able to grind out results against other Eastern Bloc countries and have been fairly well organised defensively of late. But without any major flair players I don't expect a plethora of goals from the Slovak's.
If Slovakia are the worst European team to qualify for the finals then New Zealand are the worst team to qualify period ..... Well and truly dumped on in their Confederations Cup tournament played in South Africa in 2009 - where Spain put 5 past them, and Sth Africa 2 they are a team who rely on an Aussie A League player Shane Smeltz to provide the goals.
During the pre World Cup Friendlies they caused an upset, and almost a riot, when they beat Serbia 1-0 in Austria - they also lost 3-1 to Slovenia in another prep for this game against Slovakia.
In Summary following on the patterns of the matches so far in this World Cup I expect a pretty dour game, but its a game both teams need to win with Italy and Paraguay drawing this evening, a win here against a team both managers would perceive as being the best opportunity for 3 pts, is imperative. With that in mind I don't expect New Zealand to be ultra defensive which I hope will give Slovakia the opportunities they need to find gaps in the 'All Whites' defence and notch up a win. This will be the first time Slovakia as an independent nation has played at the World Cup, and I'm hoping they play with a similar patriotism that Croatia did in their first World Cup back in France '98.
Summary - SLOVAKIA WIN with an optimistic 2-0 as the final score.

Ivory Coast v Portugal

Something tells me we could quite a few goals in this match, both good teams who like to attack and playing in a match that is more akin to a knockout game, as the losers would probably need to defeat Brazil to progress. Portugal haven't played a decent team since 2001 and racking up results against the likes of Mozambique, Leictenstein, China aren't really the test that is required. They qualified via the European play-offs by beating Bosnia over two legs. They have some old legs in the team, but also have the worlds ~~biggest knoob~~ most expensive player in Cristiano Ronaldo, although he's had a few injuries the past season missing the play-off games - and hasn't scored for Portugal in over a year. I'm not certain that making him team captain is ideal for him, as motivational talking,intelligent thinking and playing good football is probably 2 tasks too many for the man. On the flipside they haven't conceded many goals playing the likes of Whaley Thorns Welfare so the jury is out on how they fare against another flair team like Ivory Coast (or Ivory Coats as I just referred to them in a typo )
The Ivory Coast have their own Superstar as Captain - Didier 'Smiley' Drogba - and have shown fair form in the African Nations Cup this year beating Ghana 3-1 in the Group Stages before leading 2-1 at 90 minutes against Algeria in the quarter finals until succumbing to an ultra-late equaliser and elimination in extra time. They haven't played a European Team in 2010, but with Sven'gali' Eriksson now at the helm they should be well versed on whats required - Apparently Sven has been teaching them how to play more as a team, and not 11 individuals and has concentrated on improving the defence - But hopefully not to much to stop it being an entertaining game.
Summary - MORE THAN 2.5 GOALS

Its never easy being an England Fan

2010-06-12T23:15:00.002+01:00

Watched Englands World Cup opener tonight against the USA, and its just so typical of the English never to make qualifying easy.

Thought we were by far the better team, and apart from a 15 minute spell in the middle of the First Half dominated the Americans - which TBF we were expected to do.

The positives for England for me were the contribution by Glen Johnson, Aaron Lennon and the link up play by - the much maligned - Emile Heskey. Gerrard worked his socks off, as did most of the team TBH.

The negatives, obviously the howler by Rob Green and how it'll effect him mentally - and the bigger worry that Capello may resort to putting David James in goal ! We can't use Jamie Carragher in the Centre of defence, he just hasn't got the necessary pace for this level of football, and looked increasingly exposed as the game got spread during the mid-latter stages. I'm not a Spurs follower and have no idea if Dawson has pace, as it seems to be a major requirement for today's World Class centre halves.

The other quandary is that if Rooney isn't firing, as he wasn't tonight - he seemed to be playing to deep for me ? - although I'm sure he'll get better as the tournament goes on - then were are the goals going to come from. There's even more emphasis on the need for goals now as the League positions will probably be decided on goal difference, and coming second makes a Round 16 game against 'The Hun' a big possibility if that scenario arises.

May it end quickly

2010-05-31T16:14:00.004+01:00

May has been a real struggle on the results front, in my 4 Years of playing I've never known so many bad beats for big tournament defining pots - I'm never one to overly moan about bad beats but towards the end of the month it began to be as though I was expecting shit to happen on the turn or river.
I can now understand where those 'Online Poker is Rigged' conspiracy theories come from :)

Anyway as I doubt I'll be playing much if any games tonight, aligned with the fact that I just want May to end so I can post some positive score I'm calling time on Mays results now with a final profit post of £221-19 - which is pretty much par for the year, but the underlying results where poor as the bulk (all) of the profit came from a €200 Bounty in a tournament I didn't cash in, plus around $70 from sites giving me Money !!

Not included in the above I've also got a £25 World Cup Bet which I won through Betfred - not sure if I can play it on any World Cup Market, but if its on an outright winner then I'm going to take their 12/1 about the Italians winning again. (although you can get 14's at other firms)
I've not read an awful lot on the World Cup form, or taken much information from the friendlies being played - but I'm a great believer in trends within football, and a few that stick out in my mind about the World Cup are that

- The Home Nation always do well
- There's always a big price winner of one of the groups
- Apart from Argentina,Brazil all other South American/Central American Teams doing nothing away from the American Continent
.... taking all the above into consideration SOUTH AFRICA are a massive 7/1 in places to win group A

Anyway I'm sure the World Cup will mean a reduction in Poker Hours in June - which the way I feel about Poker right now might be a good thing !!

EDIT: - Placed My Free Bets - £15 ITALY OUTRIGHT @ 12/1 and £10 SOUTH AFRICA to WIN GRP A @ 6/1

Its the thoughts that count

2010-05-27T21:43:00.006+01:00

While walking through town early this evening with my missus, we had to descend down a steepish cobbled street on our way to Maccy D's for a nutrious evening meal.
Coming up the hill towards us in the middle of the street was what appeared to be a street beggar in a wheelchair, he appeared to have had an amputation below the knee, hence his need for a wheelchair, and he was struggling to propel himself up the hill, sweating and puffing prefusely pushing the wheels of his chair against the incline and the cobbled street.

My missus saw him and said to me ...
"Look at that poor bloke struggling, I think we ought to go and give him a hand"..

To which I quickly replied ...
"He's got two good ones already, its another leg he could do with"

At which point she called me a heartless bastard, and thumped me very painfully in the kidneys !

If you just see one stand up show this year ...

2010-05-27T21:15:00.004+01:00

Make it this one ....

We went to see him at Nottingham on Saturday Evening, he was bloody excellent..

Help!! ... the Aged..

2010-05-27T12:50:00.002+01:00

Last weekend I went shopping into our local town to buy my dad a couple of presents for Fathers Day, being a bit 'old fashioned' he usually likes clothes from traditional shops such as Marks & Spencer, Co-Operative etc.

So I ventuired into M&S and chose him a nice Shirt, and some socks - (probably could have got similar for 1/2 the price at Primark !!) and proceeded to the counter to pay. There were 2 Middle Aged operatives at the tills and a line of around 7 Old People waiting to be served .... Agony, is to kind a word for it !!
Everyone of the pensioners that went to the till took an age to be served, it seems that unless you can't explain how your feeling today and then recall the tale of what happened last week when you came in the shop, then your shopping experience isn't complete.
On top of this you have the joy of watching the old people trying 3 pin numbers and 2 debit cards before hitting upon the correct combination - things where a lot easier before decimalisation - apparently.
Then to top it all with a queue now resembling the 1980's 'Labours Not Working' Poster - the shop assistant has to ask them if they have a Store Card, and if not would they like one today - which needs repeating at least 3 times to the hearing impaired customer. ..... FML !!

I'm therefore disappointed not to hear in yesterdays Queens Speech a new law in the next parliament that outlaws anyone over the age of 60, and lets throw the unemployed into the mix as well, from doing their shopping at Weekends.
These groups get plenty of time off - (like forever!) - that there's no reason that the working/tax paying public should have our leisure time eaten into by getting slowed down by the aged, and infirm at the weekends... :)

Pokerstars Summer Festival Freerolls

2010-04-30T20:44:00.003+01:00

This month again is a little mediocre on the Poker Profits front, mainly due to the fact that I've been playing a fair few highly subscribed games in the Pokerstars Summer Festival tournaments, which usually means 4 hrs play for about a $1 profit !!

Although TBF they do offer entry into a $100k event at end of the promotion ....

I do find it a little strange that the 'SUMMER FESTIVAL of FREEROLLS' runs from/during April to May ?? - those clued up Yanks have obviously realised that those 2 Days around the middle of May where the temperature reaches a heady 62 Degrees constitutes an English Summer.

Following on from the success of these they are apparently planning the CHRISTMAS CRACKER SPECIAL FREEROLLS in November - and the HOPPITY HOPPITY LEAP YEAR FREEROLLS EXTRAVAGANZA begins in February 2011.

March - What happened to the Weather

2010-04-01T14:53:00.005+01:00

There's an old English saying associated with March - 'In Like a Lion, and Out Like a Lamb' which is supposed to reflect the weather accompanying the entrance and exit of the month, but it could well have been written for my Poker exploits during the month - Starting of with a 'roaring' $200+ profit start after a few days and ending up with a 'meek' $140+ Profit by the end of the month.

Said in the previous post I was going to concentrate solely on STT's this month but will also mix in a few MTT's with a daily sprinkling of STT's. Also going to mix the field sizes a bit which means spreading my interest over more than a few sites - as the Big Bucks, Big Fields of Pokerstars aren't conducive to regular steady profit, so I'll be running these alongside some 30-70 + fields on UB,Betfair and Cake.

Fingers Crossed for a better month.

Back to Plan A

2010-03-25T22:45:00.002Z

Think next week I'll revert back to the STT's that served me so well early on in the month - I've been playing more MTT's without much luck over the last few weeks.
The STT's don't offer the chance for that massive win but will hopefully build up my bankroll steadily - which is what its all about.

Don't think I'll get much Poker Online this weekend as I hope to be down at AOC tomorrow for a PL Omaha tourney, which should be fun for a change, then Saturday myself and fellow AOC member 'Spawny Bastard' are playing as part of the PuntersLounge Team in a £50 Buy-In Charity Event at DTD, so hoping for a late night and nice cash there. Which aligned with the fact that the clocks go forward on Sunday Morning might mean a late start Sunday - knowing me I'll probably be knackered all day, I really do need a full nights kip otherwise I'm like a zombie the next day.

Then next week I'm off work - and I'm pretty sure the weather will be shit, so the tables may get visited quite regularly - see if I could earn more in 8 hrs at the tables than I could 8 hrs at work !!

Integrity and Honesty at Hull City

2010-03-17T21:25:00.005Z

Hull City's chairman has managed to make almost as mystifying choice of new manager as Burnley's did a few weeks ago ..... !!

I had to smile at this quote from Hull City chairman Adam Pearson

Chairman Adam Pearson, described his new recruit as someone with "great passion, integrity, honesty and up for the challenge", said he hoped Dowie's deal could be extended at the end of the season.

"Integrity and Honesty" are in the cliched world of Footballing soundbites,perhaps not quite the correct couple to associate with Iain Dowie !! - "Handsome and Good Looking" would even have been more accurate !!

This is the man who left Oldham because he wanted more money from a club already in financial difficulties - and then was successfully sued by Crystal Palace owner Simon Jordan, for lying about the reasons he left Crystal Palace - Dowie quoted the reason he wanted to leave (IIRC) being family issues and then eight days later he turns up down the road as Manager of QPR !!

Hardly, Integrity and Honesty personified ??

Levelled off...

2010-03-17T21:20:00.002Z

My great start has levelled off over the last week or so, with a case of 2 steps forwards another couple back. But afterjust about shaking off a bout of Manflu I'm pretty ahppy with my play - I was sitting well placed in a couple of MTT's this evening until going out of both while holding AA !! - Sometimes things don't always go as you hope, but look past those couple of hands and at my overall game and I'm playing some decent poker.

Pleased with the start

2010-03-01T21:35:00.004Z

Well tonight I started again with my STT's and managed to Cash in 2 out of 4 of the 18 Man, and then only went and won my 180 Man for $108 - as I mentioned in my previous post, I just eased off the aggression a tad, and pushed a wider range in position.

Even though its a Turbo you can still avoid panic if you don't pick much up in the early levels - I went from 1,000 Chips to 15,000 chips in the space of 5 hands.

Then luck must have been on my side as I even made a $20 profit playing through my raked hands for entry into tomorrows VRoll.

So good start to the Month - 1 Day in and up $132 !! - Lets see if I can kick on from here and earn enough for a deposit on a holiday in October ...

February Figures

2010-02-28T22:27:00.004Z

Better Month in February, when I changed tack and moved onto the Multi Table STT's - Mainly 18 Man but a few 27 Man and 180 Mans thrown in.
Watched a few Videos on Deuces Cracked to point me in the right direction, for my assault on the STT's,and started off with loads of winning days which helped soften the bad beats towards the back end of the month. I started of on Stars with an excellent ROI - But think I took the aggression a little to far as I became a little over confident -- with the low buy-ins I've been playing you can get called pretty light even if its for their tournament lives, so after hit a downswing over the last week I moved onto Full Tilt, where there are no Antes and the levels move up a little slower - so IMO not quite as necessary to over-egg the aggression - and to use position and attack the tighter stacks.

I had planned to make the 180 Man my main game but found that the gap between cashes got a little disheartening - even though I had a ROI of around 70% on a very small sample size.

I ended up playing 258 STT's all at Lowest buy-ins with a return of $100 + and a ROI of about 30%.
The cash games where almost no-existent with just 8 sessions, almost all just to get raked hands requirements for various tourneys. I still managed to lose around -$27 from those few sessions !!
The MTT's again I played remarkably few an average of 1 a day, and that includes a fair few freerolls - yet from my 27 games I managed to return $138+ , still overall the best way to make money for a low stakes player like me - although they do take up so much time, and its easy to have a long string of games without any decent return.

Anyway plan for March is more of the same, I will play a 1000 STT's before moving up a Buy-In, and hope to have another crack at the 180's again this month -I may play a few of the Full Tilt non-Turbo 180's as well to see if it suits a little better. I will again leave the cash games alone, but maybe try and play a few more lower buy-in MTT's if I can find some decent ones that don't contain 1000's of players.

Final Profit for Feb was +$251.66

Dreaming of the Big Win

2010-02-25T23:18:00.003Z

Dreamt I'd made the final table of the World Series last night, can't quite remember everyone at the table - only that Daniel Negraneau was on my immediate right, and the recurring theme was that no one could understand my broad Derbyshire accent - the Dealer repeatedly kept saying to me 'English Only at the Table please' and I'd already had an F-Bomb penalty when he'd mis-understood my welcoming 'Ey Up Mi Duck' to Daniel as he sat down.

Daniel was his usual chatty self, trying to probe more for information - but he had trouble understanding me as I politely answered all his 'friendly questions'. The game progressed and the strange thing was that I got dealt Pocket Aces every hand but every time I bet everyone folded ....

Then I sat in the big blind for the key hand I looked down and, not Pocket Aces but Pocket Deuces ? .... Daniel in the small blind made up the blinds and there were just the two of us in the hand. As he bet he asked me what I did for a living ....

So, before making my bet, I politely replied 'ImALorryDriverMiDuck' ... Daniel look non-plussed ,

I spoke slower, and a little louder 'ImmmDeliverrrrrrinnnnnStuffInnnnnATruck' ..... still a vacant look

So I thought I'll speak even slower and shout even louder to make him understand, and perhaps try and describe it in a more American way ... so at the top of my voice I shouted

'I'M IN.... HAULIN' !!

At which point the dealer pipes up 'Player All-In', WTF !!

Daniel instantly calls and Turnover Pocket Aces !!!!

.... the Flop is dealt out ACE, KING,KING ... and which point I lose my composure and 'Ey up Mi Duck' becomes 'Ey yu Little Fuck', as the Dealer deals the turn and river, which are amazingly a TWO and another TWO. Quads for me !! - at which point I calm down and give Daniel my handkerchief, to mop his bloodied mouth, and courteously pick up two of his front teeth off the floor and place them into his top pocket.

.... Which is why playing Poker is clearly a game of Skill

Sledging wa' never like this when I wor' a lad

2010-02-23T17:45:00.003Z

On a dustbin lid, 'tween two walls o'ice,
As smooth as watter darn a funnel,
Give cheers for Amy Williams,
Sort o' an attractive Sally Gunnell

Poor Start to New Year

2010-02-01T19:54:00.002Z

Only $160 profit for January - not helped by (yet again) a disastrous flirtation with Ring Games ..... Think a belated resolution will be 'No Ring Games' of any kind in 2010

APAT Team Event - For everyone whose had a bad day

2010-01-24T13:46:00.003Z

Whilst following the expolits of my Local 'Ace of Clubs' (and the 'PuntersLounge') Team at the APAT Team Championships Manchester, I logged on this morning to check on chip counts when I came across this post from the 'APAT Commentator, and Thread Updated -"Tight End".(Affectionately known as "Tighty")

I had to leave my hotel room by 11am, and I just managed to do this despite waking up at 10.30am and thinking it was 6am such was the demands I placed on my weary body yesterday.

I had missed breakfast. Timed to conclude at 10am on a Sunday morning, the establishment clearly was not used to catering for people, such as myself, for whom before 10am on a Sunday is anathema.

I was thus faced with a dilemna. Hungry, which to be fair is not an unusual state, and with time to kill I headed for the Salford McDonalds. I am not proud of this, but my hankering for ready fare overcame any sensibilities of healthy eating.

I arrived at McDonalds, and negotiated my way into the drive through. At the first window I was met by the silhouetted figure of the server, behind a mesh grill and specially reinforced perspex. Royal Windsor and Eton, this is clearly not

I placed my order, repeating three times because the young lady could not understand my dulcet tones, and gingerly handed over my £10 note, except that my hand got stuck in the small area to pass such money, such is the protection afforded to staff in this area.

Extricating myself from my car, one handed, I yanked at my trapped hand whilst a manager came out to observe the commotion. Behind me a couple in a Ford Capri, with no fewer than four children huddled in the back, were it seemed to me trying hard not to titter. Behind them a gentleman in a Kit car was blaring out Urban music from what appeared to be bountiful speakers.

My hand was still trapped, and the manager re-emerged and poured some washing up liquid over my hand and told me to wiggle. A strange request I thought, until I realised he meant my hand

A few minutes later my hand was free. My face was bright red from both embarrassment and exertion.

I moved onto Window three. My gast was flabbered when the male youth behind the next grill and eprspex said "Your order will be two minutes, please park in Bay 2"

"Hold on my good man" I said "I have been stuck at Window One for 7 minutes 30 seconds"

"I need to park in Bay 2?"

He said something to me which may well have been a foreign language such was the strength of his accent, but a point towards Bay 2 and a grunt later, I parked up and waited

A knock on my window followed. Not a word, merely a grunt and a hand thrusting a bag of food in front of my face. I accepted the proferred food, and settled down. The mixture of Radio 4 and McDonalds offered a bewitching cultural menage, but soon I was sated. By Radio 4, not the food.

I moved onto the casino, where within a minute of settling down I was offered my first bad beat story of the day.

My hand is still hurting. My pride is hurting more, and next time I am in Manchester I intend to make it to Hotel breakfast.

Proof that Government Jobseekers Courses can work .....

2010-01-13T23:04:00.004Z

New Snow Laws to be Introduced

2010-01-10T11:05:00.003Z

I was interested to read on the Government Website a proposal for some new 'Snow Laws' to be enforced before next winter - in an effort to improve road conditions.

A few controversial ones in there that are bound to cause a few letters of complaint from the countries Guardian readers, but I think, taking them as a whole package, the new law throw up some very sensible suggestions. I'll list a few of the key ones below....

ROAD USE

Females of any age, and Males over the age of 65 will be banned from using public highways when there is more than a 50% chance of Ice or Snow - this will greatly reduce the number of vehicles travelling at 2 mph, and will help clear up road congestion for those people that can actually drive the vehicles they've purchased.
(For the purpose of this law, all members of the Gay community are to be classed under their 'Psychological Gender' and not their 'Physical Gender')
Any Male under the age of 65 who can't drive at speeds above 5 miles per Hour, will be temporarily classed as 'Gay' and will thereby fall into the 'banned' category.
If the pavements are snow covered and make walking a little difficult, whilst it won't be against the law for Pedestrians to use the Roads for walking on, Motorists will be within the letter of the law to run them over if they can't be arsed to step back on the pavement while you drive towards them.
Pedestrians who survive will also be fined £25 and be wholly responsible for repaying the loss of any of the Motorists 'No Claims' Bonus for the next 5 years.

So hopefully by next year a few days of Ice and Snow won't bring the Country to a complete standstill

Bloggers of the World Unite

2010-01-07T21:48:00.004Z

I have registered to play in the WBCOOP PokerStars World Blogger Championship of Online Poker! You too can Play Poker Online at PokerStars.com and take part in the WBCOOP which is open to all Bloggers by registering on WBCOOP to play.

Registration code: 819722

Huh ... Where'd December go ??

2010-01-01T16:41:00.003Z

Apologies for lack of any Blog Content during December - I think it was due to the general malaise that affects me during that Month, its my least favorite time of the year. I think the condition also affected my Poker play where it seemed going out on the Bubble was the 'In Thing' for me in December.

I ended the month with a small profit of $217.49c which was OK but not as good as I'd have hoped - Still the yearly profit of $5432.10 is fine for a $5 Tourney Man like myself, hopefully this year will provide much of the same and hopefully more.

As everyone seems to do around this time of year I'll set myself a few 'Resolutions' that I can hopefully avoid breaking before January is over. I may add to these as the month progresses, but for now my 'Goals and Aims for 2010' are

Poker - Get out of the safety zone of the $5 Tourney and start making some big results in bigger tourneys

Personal - Improve my mind, take an Interest in the happenings around me, I hardly ever see much News on TV or read a Daily Paper, so I intend put aside at least 30 mins a day catching up on UK and World events

Poker - Become Luckier

Personal - Lose some weight

Poker - Win enough to pay for a holiday for me and the missus around August time - We have no 'spare' money for a Holiday this year, due to having other more pressing financial needs, so a target of around $4k by August would pay for a nice holiday.

Poker - Get a nice Live Cash under my belt in 2010 - We have made some changes at our Poker Club, which means we aren't having the bigger prize tourneys anymore this year, but the intention is once a month for us (as a Club) to visit other casinos and play in bigger buy-in games there. I'll probably not go every month but it may give me more occasion for the bigger Live win.

November

2009-11-30T21:16:00.001Z

Bit of a calculated guess with Novembers total, after the computer crash - I reckon around $429 pre crash + $96.96 post crash.

Windows 7 - More 'Doh's than Wins

2009-11-20T09:54:00.006Z

When I purchased my new PC in July time, I was granted a free upgrade to Windows 7, from Vista, when the new OS was released in November. It eventually arrived yesterday, so I hastily threw in the disk and started the upgrade.
Halfway through I get a message saying 'Update Unsuccessful', and that it would revert to my old settings ..... FML. But for some unknown reason it didn't back out and carried on to 'complete' the install, or so I thought.
2hrs later I realise its totally fucked up my PC, when after 20 attempts to restart, it would'nt get any further than the 'Snazzy' Windows 7 Logo.

So totally pissed off, I then try to resurrect my PC back to Vista ..... no fucking chance. I've had to revert it back to factory settings and reload every fucking program, poker site, application again.

Then to put the icing on the fucking cake, I find I'd not copied my Poker Spreadsheet, or Household Budget Spreadsheets onto my external drive as I thought. So all my Site Balances, profit/loss figures ... plus our yearly Budget Info - Gone !!

....Blown out of the fucking 'WIndows' - so to speak.

Ok... Who flicked the Doomswitch ?

2009-11-18T19:22:00.000Z

Feeling the bad side of variance over the last few days in my tourneys.

I've never been really short always playing the hands strongly pre-flop, some instance getting it all-in pre with expectations winning a big pot, but the KO hands have been exceptionally cruel ........ These are the KO hands from my last 7 Tourneys. (My hands first)

AA v ATs - I hit Trips on a J,Q,A flop !! and the river brings a King to give him a Straight.
QQ v 54o - He hits Two Pair on the flop and makes a Full House by the River
KK v 77- First card on the flop a 7
KK v TT - Second card on flop a Ten
KK v 88 - First card on flop an 8 .... (I'm beginning to hate KK)
99 v AK - Queen , Ten on Flop - Jack on River

Then I did cash in second place in this, but still a sick beat when we had level(ish) stacks. Making it worse was that I'd deliberately limped as I knew he would push.

AK v K5 - Flop T,A,6 ........ Turn -5 .......... River - 5

I need to be playing some big value tourneys in the coming days, when someone turns the Doomswitch off, and the variance works in my favour.

One silly mistake after another ....

2009-11-11T00:22:00.002Z

I'm continuing my Tourney Only mode, and playing well for the first 3/4's of a Tourney than playing like a complet dolt when I'm nearing the money.

Started at the AOC Live game on Friday, on the final table , sitting on a decent stack when I try an all-in Bluff on the river against what I thought was a weak river bet. The bluff was called and I'm left as the table shortstack.Out about 5 hands later.

Tonight got down to the final table in a Small MTT on betfair, 2 from the money and I call an All-In from a Shortstack while I'm holding crap - he shows AT and I'm out next hand.

Then on William Hill, going OK in about 20th of 50, when a 4 way limped pot in the BB I get Q4 on a flop of AQA. Check,Check,Check,Bet,Call,Call (Me) , Min-Raise (Obviously an Ace !!), Fold, Fold, All-In (me ??!?! - WTF).

Really pissing me off now - I need to curb my boredom and wait for the right spots.

The Hunt For Thread October ?

2009-11-06T08:21:00.003Z

Browsing though my blog and realised I haven't published my October totals .... 'duuh'

Anyway scores on the doors, boosted almost wholly by the 2nd Place in the OnGame $4k Gtd at start of month +$557.38.

A good excuse for one of my cleverer thread titles anyway !!

A Couple of Sparklers on Bonfire Night

2009-11-06T00:18:00.002Z

After months of avoiding IPoker due to the disconnection problems I was having due to being on AOL, I had a comeback and play letter from Betfred - to which I replied moaning about the connection problems I get with the IPoker sites. Surprisingly I had a prompt reply explaining that the problems are of AOL's making due to their restrictive bandwidth at peak times - but that if I kept the lobby closed the problem wasn't as bad.

So looking for tourneys to play I decided to put some money on Victor Chandler to play their Daily $100 added game, and see if keeping the lobby closed helped the situation.

.......... Result !! and a Result !! ............. The site played without issues and I cashed in the tourney in 4th Position.

To avoid my interest drifting with just the one tourney open, and vowing to not touch the cash tables for a while, I opened up another couple of small tourneys - one on Betfair and the €1k Gtd on Boss.
Another Result when 4hrs later I win the Boss Tourney beating another 409 people in the process and earn €285.97 ($424.86) for my time !!

On a slightly more problematic note I'm having trouble with my PC Network Connections - really weird in that some websites just won't load .... the Browser tab shows the sites name but just sticks at loading status, its happening on the Ace of Clubs forum page and also William Hill Sports pages . I've tried IE8 as well as my regular Firefox, scanned for Malware, cleared my Browser cache, added the latest Java and Flash updates, but nothing seems to work. Hopefully it'll go as mysteriously as it appeared.

My Ideal Saturday

2009-11-01T14:20:00.003Z

What a great way to spend a Saturday afternoon,the wife went Christmas Shopping, and the house was peaceful so I played 2 MTT's, and got 'The Mighty' Forfar Athletic started on their Scottish Third Division league campaign in Football Manager 2010

On the Poker Front

1st/14 Runners and 9th/409 Runners
... plus a bit of Micro Omaha Cash while they where in the early stages - where I came away with a Profit also.

Profit on the Day $101.09

(For those interested Forfar went out in the first round in the 2 Cups, but have begun their assault on the League with a 0-0 home Draw against Stranraer, and a thumping 3-0 away win against Berwick )

X-Factor Live from 'The Priory'

2009-10-19T23:00:00.004+01:00

Following on the increase in viewing figures gained from 'unique' performances from his 'Star Guests' in the previous 2 Weeks, by an apparently 'Off His Tits' Robbie Williams and Whitney Houston in here 'Skip Skop Scalleywag' persona, Simon Cowell has decided to continue the trend with this weeks show coming live from 'The Priory'.

Where they will be featuring 'Greatest Hits of Doped Up Shits' - the highight's will be 'Stacey' doing a rendition of her Step-Sister Amy's 'Rehab' and the not to be missed 'Duncan and Edward' putting their own original twist on 'Smells Like Teen Spirit'.

And if the shows crap, then the after show festivities should be worth watching on ITV1 an hour later.

Rafael Benitez - Ain't Life a Beach

2009-10-18T18:16:00.005+01:00

The freak 'Beach Ball' goal for Sunderland against Liverpool in yesterdays Premier League (nice you tube vid above :) was remarkably well acknowledged by 'Serial Whinger' Mr Benitez. I couldn't believe that he didn't ask for a rematch, or even the shooting at dawn of referee Mike Jones ...... and for once in his life I think he'd have good reason to complain.
By the rules of the game the 'goal' should never have stood, mention for such occurrences can be seen within the Fifa Laws of the Game document

Extra balls on the field of play
If an extra ball enters the field of play during the match, the referee must stopthe match only if it interferes with play. Play must be restarted by a droppedball in the position where the match ball was at the time when the matchwas stopped, unless play was stopped inside the goal area, in which case thereferee drops the ball on the goal area line parallel to the goal line at the pointnearest to where the ball was located when play was stopped.

Also covered here

POWERS AND DUTIES
The Referee:- stops, suspends or terminates the match because of outside interference of any kind

Steve Bruce argued that the referee would probably not have known what ruling applied in such a freak occurrence !!
A referee freshly qualified, refereeing an U-10's match maybe - but this is a man who is (almost) at the very top of his profession. Alex Ferguson had to retract a statement last week after he said Alan Wiley wasn't 'fit' to be a referee,following Man Uniteds game against Sunderland, if he'd said it about Mike Jones he wouldn't have been retracting his statement this week.

Being an ex-referee myself, I always try to see decisions from their point of view and realise what a difficult job they have in games that are covered by cameras from every angle.But in this instance I can't find any excuse for Mr Jones, he obviously saw the incident - but didn't do his job correctly.

Guess you could say it was a case of 'Taking his eye of the Ball'

Turned Out Nice Again

2009-10-04T15:26:00.002+01:00

Well my new attitude to 'Live games' seemed to work Ok at my first visit to the Ace of Clubs for around 5 weeks, when I played an almost faultless game and finished in first place from (an albeit smaller than normal) field of 14 runners - for a £64 return.

Two hands that I was really pleased with where picking of a Pot Sized river bluff whilst holding 2 4 and just having a paired 4 from the initial flop. I was in the BB and we had checked all the way. There were all mediocre cards on the flop, turn and the river brought a possible flush. I checked first in the BB, and I just knew my opponent was going to bet into the river, and I also knew (felt) he had absolutely nothing - which turned out to be the case.

The next hand that really pleased was 4 handed just into the first money position and the hand that eventually turned the game in my favour.
I was slight Chip Leader in the SB, and the second highest stack was in the BB. The shortstack was on the Button and pushed his stack in, of around double the size of the Blinds. I looked down at QQ, and decided to flat call, the BB also flat called and the flop came a raggedy Jack High, I resist the bet with the overpair and check as does the BB. The turn is another Q (Gin !!) giving me the set - I again check, as does the BB. The river brings another rag and I have the nuts with Set of Queens, but I can't just let it go without getting something more out of it, so even though its a dry pot I put in a 1/3 pot bet - saying Ok I've hit a little bit of this, and I think I'm ahead of the Shortstack, basically representing a pair of Queens/Jacks.

At which point the Big Blind instantly declares 'I'm all in' ..... !!

These kind of situations never happen to me normally - so I obviously insta-call, and he turns a flopped 2 pair that he'd attempted to slow play ..... So after a year under a cloud my live game has "Turned out Nice Again !!!"

September

2009-10-02T08:12:00.002+01:00

Just a quick end of month round up from September.

We ended up as runners up in the Punters Lounge 'Betfair' Competition - which means we get 27 Entries into the $18k ($109 Buy-In) during October, so chances for us to play a bigger buy-in than we can normally afford - plus hopefully make a decent bit of Cash.

I eventually cashed for the Team in my penultimate match, which along with my share of Team Profit and a couple of Final Table MTT finishes gave me a final profit of $189.82. Not too bad considering most of my month was taken up playing and supporting in the Betfair Games.

Also during October I have qualified for this months Independent League Final and I'm doing a Bankroll Challenge along with a few more from the forum, with the Target of $2 in Month. Yesterday didn't start very well :) ........ But hopefully the rest of the month will turn out OK.

My idea in the challenge is to find a way of 'grinding' a steady profit and then hopefully topping up my totals with a couple of decent MTT performances. Yesterdays losses came from trying to find the game which will give me a steady profit.
I think i've ruled out NLHE Ring games, although some Stud Cash games may be an option. Heads Up games, whilst I know I would win more than I lose, I'm not sure if they can give a big enough return within the Bankroll % you can invest at for each game. My biggest success yesterday came from 18 Man STT's, which also proved a source of good profit for me last year - before I became 'bored' of them.

So anyway I'll probably chop and change for a couple of days before I decide which way is best.

Good Luck everyone in October

Star Letter

2009-09-22T08:32:00.004+01:00

I've won another chipset this week, by getting the Star Letter in this months Poker Player magazine.
I'll soon be able to have a stall on Chesterfield Market flogging Chip Sets and Knockdown prices.

Heres the letter, it was in response to an article the previous month centering on 'Elky' Grospelier, and a mention of a $75k Weight Loss Prop Bet the story breifly mentioned.

Hi

Reading with interest your (excellent) article on ElKy in the current issue - but I'm not wholly sure Mr.Stuart can have got his facts right ?

Mark stated that ElKy lost 50lbs in 3 Months !! - Did he have both legs amputated, even for a prop bet of $75k I thought that seemed a little extreme.

So I thought i'd ask a dietary expert - my missus - prolific points counter, cabbage soup sipper , sin calculator and red/day green day exponent extrodinaire. After showing her the article she couldn't believe it either, and said if it was true then he should stand in for 'The fat useless cow' that charges £10 a week at her Monday Evening Slimming World Classes, only to tell her she's maintained (the same weight) for another week.

I know eLky 'Runs Like God' - but surely the God in question wasn't Buddha ??

Cheers

Voiceofjoe

Betfair Team Comp - Week 3

2009-09-21T08:20:00.002+01:00

Not quite as good a week this week in the Betfair Competition, with just Lou picking up points for a 3rd Place finish on Saturday. I've again failed to score with closest being a cash bubble in Fridays big $3k Guaranteed, I also failed in the $22 Buy-In on Sunday.

However despite the lower scoring week we are still in the Prize Positions, lying in second place around 160pts behind first place, but 110pts clear of third.

Going into the last full week it would be nice, from a personal and team point of view, if I could get a good score to keep us in contention. Especially as we have 'injury' problems this week with one of our team out of action until next Friday.

Betfair Team Comp - Week 2

2009-09-13T23:00:00.002+01:00

Another excellent week capped tonight with us again winning the weeks big buy-in tourney this time Mike finished first adding another $170 to the kitty. This follows on from mid-week cashes by Mark, and Lou (in her first game for the team)

So we go into week 3 having $225 more winnings than the current second place team.

Great work team - Lets keep the momentum going

Bit of a Do

2009-09-13T22:43:00.002+01:00

Went to the Punters Lounge yearly PLWSOP Comp at DTD yesterday - got there for 2pm and left around 2am.
First tourney Omaha, which saw DTD Compere and Ex-Poker Pro Simon 'Aces' Trumper stump up £25, and add a bounty on his head. Thinking he wouldn't take it to seriously, he actually went on to finish third, and was willing to tell anyone who would listen how unlucky he was not to go on and win it.
I never really gathered a head of steam and went out in around 12th of 24 entrants.

Similar story in the NLHEwhen I went out around 17th of 33 entrants. The structure on the NLHE was pretty poor with 24min blinds and only 4k starting Chips - which meant it quickly turned it into a shove fest.

I then tried my hand on the cash tables and again without playing too badly ended up £80 lighter - so financially a poor night all around.

I've been pretty disappointed with my Live results this year, yet I seem to do well online - I think its because I tend to treat the Weekly Friday games, and my visits to DTD as more of a jolly than an opportunity to make money. So I've decided to take the live events more seriously and will be siphoning off 10% of Online profit into a 'Live Fund' and will only play when I have enough in this fund to cover the buy-in for the tourneys I am to play, this includes my weekly AOC games -and any ventures onto Live cash tables
I will however put 100% of any Live profit into the same fund - the intention being that I have to make myself try harder to ensure the live events become self funding.

I'll be starting that from this Month., and we'll see if it improves my performances.

Betfair Comp

2009-09-06T23:27:00.002+01:00

Good 1st Week in the PuntersLounge Betfair competition, with two cashes for our team - one of them being first prize of $200 in the biggest Buy-In tourney of the week.

So we now sit top of the league with many thanks to Mike and Mark who provided the returns

Egghead

2009-09-06T22:55:00.003+01:00

Just come back from a party with friends in Lincolnshire, excellent night as always where we meet up with a few of the more 'Redneck' UK population, in one of the few Counties of England where the terms 'Your Wife' and 'Your Sister' can often mean the same person.

However the guest's at the party where all pretty normal, and the evening passed with plenty of drink, and a few 'drinking' games. One of the games devised by the host, and my best mate, was entitled 'Russian Omelette' which consisted of each guest choosing an egg from a tray then lying on the floor while the host broke it against their forehead - the idea being that one of the eggs was raw, and would give the potential 'victim' an egg shampoo - an the rest would be harmless and hard boiled, just cracking without mess.

Anyway the host volunteered to be the first 'guinea pig' and chose his egg, and then asked me to perform the honours of cracking it against his head. A little unfair as he was getting 'egg'sellent odds NOT to pick the raw egg being first to go.
However there was a slight flaw in his plan, in that he didn't demonstrate to me how to 'crack' the egg on the victims forehead. The only instruction I was given was not to hit with the end of the eggs but crack the larger sides against his head.
Anyway he chose his egg and laid flat on the floor in anticipation of me cracking the egg against his forehead - apparently I was supposed to just rest the egg against his forehead and push down gently to cause the egg to crack. But as I said no-one had told me that prior to giving me the egg - so he laid flat on his back, eyes closed to avoid any yolk etc running in, and I took the egg in hand and stationed myself above his forehead................

...... I then,using the full extension of my arm brought the egg down with full force upon his forehead ........

the egg was hard boiled and there was eggshell, and hardboiled white and yolk spread around in a 6ft radius. Everyone seemed to look aghast at me - then a split second later my best mate opened his eyes and with eggshell embedded in his forehead said 'Fuckin Hell, have I done something to upset you !!', and the rest of the room just fell about in tears of laughter.

Priceless ...........

He did however get revenge when somehow I managed to be the only recipient of the raw egg when it came to my turn.

August

2009-09-01T08:19:00.002+01:00

August proved another profitable month, thanks in the most part to my £300 runners up cash in the Virgin Independent Freeroll. Total profit for the month was $572.49.

I've not manged to rake enough points to qualify for this months (played in September) Virgin Final, so will need to look elsewhere for profit.

We start a Team Tourney on Betfair tonight, which lasts all month so I'll be aiming to can get some decent results in my matches in that - I'll also have a percentage in the overall teams profit, so hopefully my team-mates have a good month also !
As part of the competition involves raking up Betfair points I have decided to resurrect my OnLine cash game on Betfair - using Hold'Em Manager to track my progress. So beginning at the very lowest level playing 6-Max and moving up the Limits when I feel I've got the better of each level, or when I get bored whichever comes first !!

Long Time No Post ...

2009-08-30T19:36:00.003+01:00

Sorry for lack of updates, been away in the Costa Del Sol for a few days - the sight of hailstones bouncing of the conservatory roof was sorely missed, but luckily was there to welcome me on my return.

It was our 25th Anniversary while we were away, and as a gift my missus stumped up £100 to pay me into the WCOAP Apat Event at DTD Nottingham. This was the first APAT Event I'd played and I enjoyed it immensley although I was pretty card dead all day eventually pushing my shortstack from the Big Blind in a limped pot, only to find my top pair (crap kicker) called by top pair (top kicker), and I went out in 52nd of the 157 Day 1a entrants.

I then decided to experience a live cash game for the first time (apart from some very small stakes home games). Now I know I'm a poor-very poor online cash game player, after failing at least 4 times to build some sort of online cash game progress through the limits. But while playing live I always play sober so thought this may level the playing field a little. And so it proved to be when after around an hours play at 50p>£1 NLHE I came off £65 to the good - removing all my cash game losses this year in one hit !!

However my joy was tinged with a little remorse, as most of my profit came from 2 fellow Ace of Clubbers - who missed their draws after I'd hit 2 pair holding the mighty 5-3 offsuit on a 8-5-3 flop. With all the money going in on the flop.

Bubbled a Free Vegas Trip ....

2009-08-10T22:35:00.004+01:00

In tonight's Independent League - this time I finished 2nd for £315.
I was over 2-1 chip leader heads up, but my opponent hit AA,KK,JJ and Full House and I wilted under the pressure

Although TBH - We're in the process of buying a car, and we're a little barasic at the moment so I wouldn't have had any cash to go with !!
I'm more than happy with the runners - up prize.

Congratulations to Trip winner Punters Lounger - Burnley Joe !!

Been a good tourney for me, 3rd last month and 2nd this month - roll on August's final

Diplomacy Australian Style

2009-08-08T23:12:00.003+01:00

One thing about blokes from down under is that their hearts and humor are always in the right place!

T B. Bechtel, a City Councilor from Newcastle , Australia , was asked on a local live radio talk show, just what he thought about the allegations of torture of suspected terrorists. His reply prompted his ejection from the studio, but to thunderous applause from the audience.

HIS STATEMENT: “If hooking up one rag head terrorist prisoner's testicles to a car battery to get the truth out of the lying little camelshagger will save just one Australian life, then I have only three things to say, ... "Red is positive, black is negative, and make sure his nuts are wet.”

Ok now do the maths ??

2009-08-06T20:28:00.005+01:00

Whilst I abhor the scumbags actions, I can't fathom out how someone can afford to pay £88k , yet can't find enough to pay the £500 she had to borrow in the first place.

(Story from BBC News yesterday)

Woman paid £88,000 for £500 loan

What a 'Great Tale ' ....

2009-08-05T19:18:00.002+01:00

From the BBC News Website, a son to be proud of ...........

An 18-year-old has secretly painted a 60ft drawing of a phallus on the roof of his parents' £1million mansion in Berkshire. It was there for a year before his parents found out. They say he'll have to scrub it off when he gets back from travelling.

Spoke to soon

2009-08-04T08:29:00.000+01:00

So much for getting a good start !!
Put $50 into Full Tilt Saturday, to enable me to run up some FPP Points to clear the Bonus they're offering.

Emptied it last night.

Ah well, at least I can do the Chris Ferguson $0-$10k challenge on there now.

What do Points make ......

2009-08-03T22:31:00.000+01:00

Had a couple of good results on the Poker front away from the felt this week - Winning a 19" Wide Screen Monitor in a Poker Player Competition, and a signed Copy of Tommy Angelo's 'Elements of Poker' from another one of the Magazine competitions.

I've yet to take delivery of the Monitor, but the book is in my possession and after reading some excellent reviews of the book - I believe it focuses a lot on the mental side of the game and I'm looking forward to reading it whilst relaxing in the Spanish sunshine in a few weeks time.

BBC goes Politically Incorrect

2009-08-03T20:57:00.003+01:00

Reporting on the E.Coli outbreak in Wales the BBC Wales website published this information regarding the owner of the Fish Bar where the suspected outbreak occurred.

Pierre Bartlett the solicitor for Ramazan Asian, who owns the Llay Fish Bar in Wrexham ..

His surname is actually 'ASLAN'

Story Here, although I would imagine the error will be corrected

Poker Players from Hell

2009-08-02T23:54:00.000+01:00

Played the regular AOC weekly Live gameFriday night, and started off on one of the best tables I could have hoped for - all good players, good banter and played at a reasonable pace. Although the other tables didn't seem quite so fortunate with a particularly noisy and chaotic outer table being the worst of the bunch.
Unfortunately as the night wore on and the tables broke up, we ended up with the dubious honor of having the main protagonist of the 'Outer' table chaos end up on our table.
The player in question had obviously been knocking back the 'Shandy' and, whilst not vindictive or nasty, was the probably one of the most self centred and rude people I've had the 'pleasure' to sit with on a Poker table - and the only thing he knew about 'etiquette' was that it came after 'egotist' in the dictionary. Any hand he was involved in took and age to complete (and he was involved in many with a regular any picture limp), he couldn't deal, couldn't tell the values of the chips, couldn't manage to keep his chips solely in front of his own seat, couldn't sit up strait and had to sit with his left arm almost 2/3rds into the centre of the table, couldn't talk without shouting, couldn't let anyone else talk without shouting over them, couldn't let anything happen on the table without making himself Judge,Jury and Executioner.
One of the worse examples of his behaviour was when he was dealing , he had one of the younger players All-In against him, he showed Pocket Tens and the other player was All-In with A6 of Spades. The flop brought another Ten and a Single Spade. Which prompted a victory cheer from 'Mr LookatMe', and, he thought no need for anymore cards !! ....... he was informed that he must deal the turn and river, as the lad still had outs - So the deal of the Turn card was him lifting the top card and looking what it was .... a good 10 seconds later he decides to put it on the table, it was another Spade - giving the young lad the Nut Flush draw. The river card was dealt by lifting up the top corner, so only he could see it, an expletive from his mouth and then him quickly putting it on the bottom of the deck !!
He was forcibly made to put the fucking card on the table by the rest of the players, he wasn't hiding the fact it was another spade, he was quite open that the lad had hit his Nut Flush - But that's just not the way to do things ..... and what made it worse, was that whilst it had indeed mad the lad his Nut Flush it had also paired the board and given 'Mr LookatMe' his full house.

Sometimes there's no justice in this world

July Total

2009-08-01T23:48:00.003+01:00

Pleased with Julys results showed profit in Ring,STT,MTT and 'Other' for an overall + of $476.05.

The Independent League helped with a good start, and I've qualified for this Months 35 Man final also, so hopeful of getting another good start - even if not quite as much as last month.

'Game Stops Play'

2009-07-26T18:17:00.002+01:00

I've treated myself to a new PC - out of some of my Poker winnings - bought from Mesh Computers it arrived this Monday. Now 5 years or so ago when I originally bought my former PC, (- pre Poker-) I also purchased 'Half Life 2' which was, at that time the Pre-Eminent First Person shooter game for a PC.
The problem was that the Graphic Card on the new PC I bought back then wasn't advanced enough to run it, I was also on a Dial Up Modem at that time, and 'Half Life 2' is dependent on having a fast Internet Connection, as it operates via a system called 'Steam', a Anti-Pirating Software application, which constantly downloads content from the Internet.

So in effect i ended up paying £30 for a game I couldn't use !!

Anyway now 5 Years on, and with the addition of Broadband, the entry level PC's are advanced enough to run 'Half Life 2' - So I stumped up £15 on Monday and purchased a new copy of the game, which also includes in the Package 4 spin off games, and for the last week Poker has taken a back seat - and I've not been getting into bed much before 2am each morning, staying up all hours trying to complete the bloody game.

I've not totally neglected the Poker, and what I have been playing I think I've enjoyed more - and also produced a small profit in the few MTT's and Cash games I've played in

Scrapheap Challenge

2009-07-11T14:43:00.002+01:00

Its been revealed to us at work that we have lost 3 Large distribution Contracts, leaving between now and March next year, due to the fact that our Company doesn't have an adequate European Distribution option available, which apparently is now an essential requirement for the Global Names that we distribute on behalf of.
We have another couple of Contracts up for renewal over the next 6 months - so these could prove a difficult few months for me on a professional level. It's a little frustrating to find that your putting in 100% while the people watching the profits roll in, and are getting paid handsomely for that role, haven't had the foresight to 'future proof' our business, by investing the profits where it, appears, it was sadly lacking.
The company is still extremely viable, and produces good profit year on year - but obviously if there's not as much work to go around then that dreaded word 'Redundancies' becomes whispered more audibly. Which as a 40 something and not far away from the employment 'Scrapheap' leaves me in a possible difficult predicament.

I work in a middle management position, and I'm not naive enough to think that management are immune from redundancy (my missus works for the same company but at a Warehouse Operative level), so I'm already looking for avenues to explore that would provide an equivalent income and wilful employment.
Having been self employed (with mixed results) for 10 years(ish) of my younger life I always vowed that I'd never go back to working for myself again - but the more I think about this, the more I think I should give it a go. My best friend makes a living from Betting, and he's already explained to me that knowledge of form etc isn't a compulsory requirement to make profit in this genre. Although at age 40+ it's not the sort of profession that can provide a 'steady income' for a family man to pay his mortgage, but its something to bear in mind if the Jobseekers allowance is the only other alternative.
I'm pretty knowledgeable with Microsoft Office Applications, and a few Commercial Database application's, so was also thinking about going down the line of teaching , but having no teaching qualification's, and not having the luxury of taking out a couple of years at University, then how far can that go ?
The area of E-Commerce also intrigues me, with (at first view) a myriad of ways to make a decent income - although my expertise in that field is currently badly lacking, I hope to rectify this over the interim months - then I think I've met another brick wall when I realise I could probably provide a good product, but how do I go about selling it ?

(Plus both these options would give me more potential Poker Profit Time)

-- Hopefully things turn around at work and we bring some new contracts on board to replace those that we've lost - (Although losing our Head of Business Development to our main rival hasn't helped with this avenue of escape !) ..... failing that the new series of 'Dragons Den' begins this week, so if you see an overweight 40 something, with a face like a 'Badgers Ballbag', puffing profusely as he climbs the stairs, then please Theo,Mr Banatyne et al be kind to him, as it may be me !!

I wouldn't say I was the best manager in the business. But I was in the top one. ... Brian Clough (21 March 1935 – 20 September 2004)

2009-07-06T23:11:00.005+01:00

Nice cash tonight in what must be the best value freeroll out there at the minute.

I made the final table in 4th Position, with the Blinds increasing rapidly I managed to nick the blinds once a level to keep my chip stack fairly safe - and let everyone else drop away.
I was shortstacked when down to 3 Players, but decided now was the time to up the aggression, as my stack was still big enough to make a big dent in the others, so with the might 76o I started my assault - slap bang into AA !!
Good night me ......... but £200 better off I'm not going to moan to much.

The title of the thread used to indicate the quality of the Freeroll (not me :) is one of 'Sir' Brians infamous witticisms, more of his excellent quips can be found here 'The Gospel according to Brian'

Civil Sevants and Read Tape

2009-07-05T15:30:00.003+01:00

Late last year we began application for Power of Attorney acting on behalf of an elderly relative - who no longer had the ability to look after his own affairs.
The process involves a lot of form filling, and quite a bit of running around - as most of these 'Official' types of things do. We could have used a solicitor, but decided to do it ourselves - you do however run the risk of being charged a penalty fee, if your documentation is inaccurate or incorrectly filled out.
Anyway I downloaded the necessary forms from the official' website and began the process, I read the advice booklets and after cracking what seemed to be a jargon equivalent of the 'Omega Code' started on the form filling - eventually everything had been signed and sent off, along with the £150 fee and we waited for the next step in the procedure.
4 or so weeks later I get a response saying that I had omitted to fill out one of the required forms (form 1a)- which they enclosed in the response. I retraced my steps and could find no mention of this 'Form 1a' in the 'Omega Code' and definitely no copy of the form in the downloadable pack.
So a little peeved, but as they hadn't mentioned the penalty clause - I duly filled in 'Form 1a' and returned it to the original address.
Sure enough 3 weeks later we had notification that the wheels for the request had been set in motion and that after a period of 6 Weeks providing there where no objections from named parties we would get the official documentation.
Then a week later we had another correspondence saying that unfortunately they had lost all our original forms and did we have copies, or could we fill out the necessary again - How the fuckin' hell they'd lost them I've no idea, but I was pissed off to say the least -as did I have copies - No !!
So much more running around, and filling out of forms, and postage costs and I send them off again..... 3 weeks later we had notification that the wheels for the request had been set in motion and that after a period of 6 Weeks providing there where no objections from named parties we would get the official documentation.....
...... But hold on a minute ..., they've got my wifes Middle and Christian names mixed up !!
So more checking of documentation (I'd saved copies this time) and I see all my paperwork is correct. So I send of an email pointing out the error.... 3 weeks later we had notification that the error had been corrected and the wheels for the request had been set in motion and that after a period of 6 Weeks etc.etc. blah blah......
....... But hold on a minute ..... the donor is a Male relative, yet they have the donor down here as 'MRS' !!
So more checking of documentation (I'd STILL saved copies this time) and I see all my paperwork is correct. So I send of an email pointing out the error.... 3 weeks later etc.etc. blah blah......
Eventually after waiting a total of 6 months from downloading the original form we have notice that they've tried to deliver it to us , but as we weren't in we have to fetch it from the Main Post Office !!

I get there to collect it and its addressed to someone with a different surname !!

Just what level of intelligence is required to become a Civil Servant these days - the Government may well operate a non-discrimination employment policy for its department. But surely the lack of a brain is a disability to far, I only wish I could have reterieved my initial payment fee everytime they fucked up.

Losing in Straight Sets

2009-07-05T09:11:00.004+01:00

The Pokers started OK this month, I've been playing a few more MTT's than STT's but a few small cashes here and there has so far meant success at a similar rate to last Month.
However over the last couple of evenings, beginning with the Live game at the AOC, I've been getting my money in ahead and eventually losing to the rivered strait.
On the final table bubble at the AOC On Friday, I push with KK called by Ax - Looking good, Looking even better when I hit my set of Kings on the Q9K flop .... only for T..J to fall on the turn/river !
Then yesterday similar occurrences in a couple of my games when my K8 push got looked up by K7 for a board of K85...6...4. Then with KK again getting looked up by 67o and seeing a board of 835..J..9.
I know these things happen, but unusual for the same type of death blow to be dished out quite so often in such a small sample of games.
Anyway on the flip side, I went over to the darkside briefly to play a bit of cash and ended with a couple of really poor players on my tables (none of them in this instance where me :) ), so managed to end the evening with a slight profit.

Great Rivers of the World Pt1

2009-07-01T22:40:00.002+01:00

Not as well known as its main tributary the River Severn, but the River Six is a sight to behold - this lovely view was captured, as it wound its way through the less salubrious parts of Derbyshire just as dusk was setting, on a summers day in July.

Flaming June

2009-07-01T10:52:00.002+01:00

Well the weather in June was very sticky at times, as was my Poker - especially the Cash games during the early part of the month. But I turned my attention to the STT's, Mind-Numbing Double or Nothing STT's and a few smaller MTT's.
Eventually turning in a nice $338 - which average of over $10 Profit, which at the Stakes I play I'm pretty happy about. Giving a ROI of around 29%.

Spirit of '66 and all that.

2009-06-30T22:22:00.003+01:00

The England Under-21's made it through to the Final of the European U-21 Final yesterday in Malmo, unfortunately they where trounced by a more skillful German team (who else could it be !).
England have had an in and out campaign, qualifying from the Group Stages with a game to spare - then somehow squandering a 3-0 half time lead in the Semi-Finals, only to win the game by beating Sweden on penalties.

They didn't help their cause too much with a little indiscipline in the previous rounds, which meant they were without suspended forwards Aghonbalor and Campbell. They were also without regular keeper Joe Harte who's avoidable yellow card in the Semi-Final shootout meant the reserve keeper Scott Loach was drafted in between the posts.Loach had a bit of a nightmare game, at fault for the second goal.

But I had to smile at the write up given in today's Daily Express where it said something along these lines

"There where a couple of big mistakes made by stand-in keeper Scott Loach, that cost England two goals"

..... Its obvious what one of his 'Big Mistakes' was, just from the extract, he should have been divin' , not bloody stand-in

Who Killed Cock Sparrow.

2009-06-28T14:07:00.003+01:00

We went to my parents house for the traditional Sunday Lunch today, and Mum was telling about the SparrowHawk they had seen on the lawn yesterday.

Now Mum, and Dad put loads of 'Fat Ball', 'Bird Feeders', fruit etc out on their garden to encourage the birds to visit. So the clever old 'SparrowHawk' realises that this is probably a good feeding ground for him also, as there's plenty of his type of food all in one place to feed on. Anyway, apparently, yesterday Mum had seen the 'SparrowHawk' on the lawn with a 'Sparrow' under its talons, frantically flapping in a vain effort to escape. I commented on what a privilege it must have been to see nature at its cruelest first hand in your back garden - to which Mum retorted in disgust, at the 'poor little sparrow' flapping around, and how the bloody 'SparrowHawk' had killed it.

I attempted to explain that the 'Sparrowhawk' was only doing what it needed to eat, and that it's not something it would have done just for pleasure. To which Mum instantly replied,
"Well I wish I'd had a gun, as I'd have shot that bloody Hawk myself !"

..... So Mother's logic works that it's not alright for a Bird to kill one of its own in an effort to survive, but that it's alright for her to kill one for no other reason than she doesn't agree with the laws of nature !!

There's a fine line between genius and insanity. I have erased this line. Oscar Levant (1906 - 1972)

2009-06-27T17:13:00.004+01:00

Played in the AOC Snowball last night,22 starters and £940 Prize Pool.

As you play the game more, the line between Donkeyius and Genius can blur into one, as when the Donkey Moves come off they look like acts of Genius, and when they fail they look like acts of Donkeyius.

Last night,after being card dead for most of the night on a (until then) passive table my button raise of 9Ts against 2 Limpers was looking good for the Genius category, until pushing All-In against a made straight on the Turn, when it unfortunately became categorized as an act of 'Donkeyius'

Jensen ... who ?

2009-06-22T18:25:00.002+01:00

Now I'm not a big fan of Grand Prix racing, seeing a red flash zoom past my eyes every 5 secs isn't my idea of enjoyment, although I do hear that the experience of a Grand Prix is something that can only be truly appreciated Live.
However I do listen to the Regular News and regular Sport's news - mainly through the BBC. And is it just me or does anyone else notice a slight disregard for Jensen Buttons F1 achievements this year ? Take this morning for instance on the Radio 1 8:30 News Bulletin, Button got scant mention of his 6th Position in yesterdays British Grand Prix. Yet they had around 5 x 3 second comments from the 'British Public' on their thoughts on Lewis Hamilton finishing 16th !!
Prior to every Grand Prix you tend to get as much mention of Lewis Hamilton, and how he's such a good driver in a poor car - than you do of poor old Jensen, who has been pissing all over the opposition for most of the year (Although if he had physically been pissing all over the opposition, I'm sure his publicity would increase a hundred fold ).
If you just skip back 12 months when Hamilton was doing so well, Button never got a mention at all, even though he was back then 'The Good Driver -in a crap car'
If Jensen was of mixed race would he get more of a mention ?

You are the Weakest Link.... Goodbye

2009-06-11T22:07:00.003+01:00

Flicking through the TV Channels this evening, and happened on the final Head-to-Head on 'The Weakest Link' - and this question was asked to the girl that had made the final 2.

"What is the TEAM Sport, introduced into the Olympics for Men in 1908, and for Women in 1980 - which was originally dominated by India, but now sees such countries as Netherlands, Germany and Australia being successful ?"

The girl thought for all of 2 seconds and came out with a great answer of "JAVELIN" !! .....

..... that's obviously the new TEAM version of the Javelin where one team member throws it and the other one attempts to catch it ?!?!

(The correct answer is of course Hockey)

Virgin gives great head for €3

2009-06-11T21:38:00.007+01:00

Had 2 sessions 4 Tabling the STT's on Stars yesterday and had a 2nd, 3rd and 2 unplaced in my first batch of 4 - then 3 wins out of 4 on my second batch which i was well chuffed with.
Hopefully the last batch of 4 are the starting 4 for the 'Battle of the Planets Challenge' that they have weekly on Stars, as another batch of decent results should see me post a fair score.

Tonight I felt a bit tired so left the STT's, and came across a€3 Bounty Tourney that had been promoted via a Virgin Facebook promotion. Now I'm usually awful at headhunters so wasn't expecting much, and my concentration started to waiver after around 20 minutes,but managed to grab myself 2 Bounties at €20 each, which made me a bit more attentive, and then win the tourney as well for another €50. So things are going well after leaving the cash games alone for a few days.

(Sorry for the lurid heading, but I'm trying to get the hits up on the site, and hopefully the title will introduce a new strain of reader via 'Google search' ........ Lol )

'The Apprentice' - Sir Alans real thoughts

2009-06-10T00:24:00.004+01:00

So Sir Alan Sugar finally chose his 'Apprentice' after 12 Weeks of tasks and Boardroom Bust-Ups. But the final decision shown on Sunday evening was in fact the second take. I have been passed a transcript of Sir Alans actual conversation leading up to his choice of 'Yasmina Siadatan' as his Apprentice 2009.

Cue, the voice over man ....... 'So after 12 Weeks, and 16 Candiates, Sir Alan has to chose between 'Yasmina' and 'Kate' .......

Sir Alan (In lovable East End drawl)- Well, its cam' darn to this, 'n its the 'ardest descision 'av had ta make, your the best two finalists wee've 'eva 'ad - an 'dats da truth.
Kate, you've proved you fantastic at presentin' an' a tr'ffic sales woman - You cud 'probablee take a Billion pawnds of shite an' sell it to an Arab. In fact if I don't take yoo on, Mike Ashley's bin on the 'dog n bone' askin' if you could do that very job.
But, on the downside, you've got a bleedin' Brummie accent -an' pretty bird that you are, if you'd only 'ad a more appealin 'Scouse' lilt or even better bin a Cockeneey like me, then me decsion wud 'ave bin a lot easier. Still I 'spose it could be worse - you could have bin bladdy Scottish, then i'd have need to hire a 'bleedin translator as well.

Yasmina, well you made a right royal cock up in week 4, but you've learned from your erro' an' dun very well over the 'uver tarsks'. But you've got a face like a slapped arse, an' mus' be one of the most miserable looking birds I've eva seen. ........ But I've cum to mi decision ..............

......... 'YASMINA' YOU'VE GOT FECKIN MASSIVE TITS , ...'YOUR HIRED'

Listen Carefully I will say theez Only vunce .....

2009-06-09T07:58:00.003+01:00

After a good start to the month with a few STT Cashes, and a decent MTT placing I was confident that my 'No Cash' Policy was working. So confident in fact that I thought I'd try a few cash games to celebrate - and bang went all the profit. I just play, and play until I've played long enough to lose everything.
So back to Plan A yesterday, and with the Missus working afters I was able to give it my complete concentration -Result 5 STT's and 3 cashes, one of those could have been better but I didn't realise how long a 90 Man STT takes !!! -So had to leave to pick the missus up from work just after I hit the final table ......
Tonight I had a session of 4 and finished out of the money in all 4, then signed on again later and won 2 unplaced in the other 2 - again a profit (albeit small) on the day.

Mays End

2009-06-01T08:36:00.002+01:00

I reverted to the 2 Tables STT's for the last couple of days in May, and got a couple of cashes - (and also single tabled a couple of higher Stakes Cash Tables for a couple of sessions ..... which turned out OK) , so made a small (OK, hardly any) profit of $16-52.

Onwards and Upwards for June .........

Seperated at Birth

2009-05-28T22:16:00.004+01:00

Latest OnLine- 'Trash Talking' High Stakes Cash Superstar

.... Luke'FullFlush' Schwartz

and n'er do well, Chain Smoking, Alcholol Fuelled Irish Punk

....... Shane MacGowan

My face is my fortune .....

2009-05-28T21:11:00.004+01:00

.... which probably explains why I've never had two pennies to rub together !!

Although it didn't stop the Photo Editor of this months Poker Player magazine, realising that sex sells, when he included my chiseled features in the photographs for the Poker Player Betfred Grand Prix review. Right there on Page 69 ;)

2009-05-27T23:43:00.004+01:00

It looks like I'm going to post a losing Month for May, which is pretty understandable as the Cash Game gremlins have continued to rear their ugly heads with increasing regularity - meaning I reverted back to scratch at the end of the month and was never going to recoup my losses from that level - at least I'm not one to go chasing my losses.

So a rethink is required for June, and I'm going to file my cash game disasters under 'Been there done that' - and move on to my old stomping grounds of the Multi Table STTs. As my roll on Full Tilt is extinct I'll be playing them on Stars this time around, I've played very few of these this year - just 26 since the start of 2009 - and my record hasn't been great, but I used to make them pay before and I'm certain I can revert to type and make them pay again.

I think one of my problems is the lack of volume, so I'm aiming to be getting through around 50 a week for a start - with a ROI of around 10% that should give me a return of about $100 profit for the month on these, if I stick at the $5 level. Although I will set a few Bankroll rules to allow a bit of flexibility within levels.

The only cash games I intend to play is the 25 raked hands required for the VRoll Games - if I come out level on the Cash exploits, then I'll look on that as a bonus. I will however aim to play a few more MTT's and see if I can beat the variance and get a nice cash in one of those. I'll probably play these on Betfair as I like their MTT structures and I have an OK Bankroll on there.

Britain has very Little Talent

2009-05-26T23:39:00.003+01:00

Along with the majority of Britain, our family have been viewing intently the 'Britain's Got Talent' Semi Finals this week - Or maybe it should be renamed to 'Britain Sings and does a bit of dancing'.

The winner of the show gets a spot on the Royal Variety Performance, but there's very little variety in these shows its the same type of act everytime - two go through each show - which means 1 singer, and 1 dancer. I can't believe that not a single comedian was featured in any of the 'Audition Shows' never mind make it through to the Semi Finals. But if you sang or danced - then you where a shoo-in for '3 Yes's'.

Susan Boyle, is she really that good ? - If she didn't look like an extra from 'Deliverance' would she really have gotten all the attention she has ? ..... and is it really necessary to put complete tripe through to the semi-finals, when the only programme some of those acts should be in is their local 'Care in the Community' program ...... Just so Piers Morgan can be condescending and patronising, and basically take the piss out of people with the mental capacity of a flea.

Wouldn't it be just great if one of the people that they pull to bits - stands up to them and gives them a round of 'effs' and a few home truths ...... now that person would get my vote.

*** Oh, and have you noticed that all these Semi-Finals, and as far as I can remember in all last years Semi-Finals and the Final - every act that appears last on the show wins. And every tie break goes to a 2-1 vote on the judging panel.

Come on You Blades

2009-05-25T01:38:00.004+01:00

Fingers Crossed for Sheffield Uniteds' deserved return to the Premiership in todays Play-Off Final. Burnley will prove difficult opponents, they're a good Cup Side, and I always think these occasions are more akin to a Cup match than a league match.
But hopefully things will go well for the Blades and we can have at least another 12 months back in the Premiership

** Poor performance by Sheffield by all accounts, congratulations to Burnley they apperared to want it more than 'The Blades'. Its probably going to be easier for them to surivive in the Premiership than for United to win promotion from the Championship next year.

Bigger than Jordans Tits .....

2009-05-19T22:23:00.004+01:00

Oh the power of the media, blown out of proportion or what ??.... no, no, not Jordan and Peter - that other story that's proved to be bigger than Jordans mammaries - the uproar over MP's Expenses.

Before I start defending the MP's wholeheartedly I will add a caveat that - yes, there are some who (appear) to have acted like crooks, claiming for second house mortgages after they've paid for the fucking things, and a couple of other instances- that have made sensationalized headlines this week.

But lets just get a grip on reality a little bit here - if I'm in a job, and part of the job description and contract says that I'm allowed to submit claims for expenses, which then have to be agreed by an independent party, then I'm going to bloody well claim for them !!

Who in their right mind wouldn't - at my current job, if we use our own car to visit other sites as part of our days work then we can claim 40p per mile, do I claim for it - -every fookin time.

I don't claim 50p (or 35p for that matter) but I claim every penny I'm allowed to under the terms of my contract.

So why the outcry over the 99% of MP's who have claimed for all and sundry, as they are entitled to by the terms laid out in their contracts - just because we're in a recession ? - never mind being a reason not to claim, its more of a bloody reason to claim, they're in the same recession as we are.

They did an interview with some 'people' on the streets (of Bolton I think) on Radio 1 today, the only argument anyone of them came up with was basically - I can't do it so why can they ??

One woman went so far as to say, 'They [politicians] claim for Chauffeurs, Maids - and its not right. They should drive to work themselves and clean their own houses' ..... so, in other words,lets throw the Chauffeur and Maid out of work, sod them having a job - !!

It appears to me that almost all the outcry's I heard today could be summed up in one word 'Jealousy' - If I can't have it then they can't frame of mind.

Yes the way MP's expenses are dealt with may be wrong, but the Politicians (at least most of them) are only claiming what they are currently entitled to, every job has its perks, and this is one of being an MP..........

............. is 44 to old for a change in career ?