Cup of Tea anyone?

Absolutley no bad beat stories today. Not one. Nada. Nothing.

But I had 3 Aces!! Stop right now thank you very much. God bless the Spice Girls eh? Always there when you need a distraction (I still know all the moves to that song thanks to my little niece).

And I really need a distraction at the moment. Is it possible to suffer from Poker apathy?

I really love playing the game, but sometimes I just can't be arsed and the last few days have seen so much rain where I live, that there's not a lot else to do when the missus is watching Coronation Farm or Emmerdale Street or Hollyhocks and all that other trash that seems to be there everytime I turn the telly on, depicting the 'real life' of our country's residents. (Funny analogy there between live and online poker.....)

'Let's watch a fascinating programme on the sex lives of the rare Mo-Mo monkeys of the Amazon, it's just about to start on the National Geographic Channel' I say. 'Or, there is one of those 'How Did They All Survive That Plane Crash' documentaries that I find worryingly compulsive, also on in a minute'.
'How would you like to wear that televsion' she replies, and puts the soaps back on. 'But they're not real' I say, 'none of life's problems are ever resolved by sitting down in Emily's front room with a cup of tea. Why does everyone have their christening, 18th, 21st, engagement, wedding, pregnancy, leaving do, new job do, divorce, funeral and any other celebratory point in their lives all in the same pub?' It just doesn't happen (I hope).

But can I persuade her otherwise? No. Even more worrying, Mia tends to stop her personal attempt at the land speed record around the front room as soon as the Du Du Du of Eastenders theme tune starts, and stares transfixed at the screen until it finishes, before carrying on until she hits something and adds another bruise to the collection. I stand in the background crying 'see what you've done to our daughter!!'

So, I found my way begrudgingly to the tables and played a few SNG and cash games. It all started well, winning a 3-table SNG, beating a guy who had just qualified for the WSOP into first place (I was chuffed with that!) . Then took my winnings to the cash tables and saw the same old thing - my heart just wasn't in it and I played accordingly.

So before I lost all my winnings, I shut down and did a bit of a review on my poker year so far. Checking all my poker accounts, I worked out my starting balances at the beginning of the year, and what I am at now. I have a seperate credit card I use for poker transactions, to keep it nice and easy to see where I am at. We took out £700 to get the loft done (notice the 'we', like I had any say in it at all!) so the account stands at £427 in credit (£1127 without the withdrawal).

Not a bad year then, but this was nearly £300 higher two weeks ago, which shows how your bankroll can suffer after a week of spectacular bads beats (oops, wasn't supposed to mention those). Has anything changed in these 2 weeks? Probably, but let's save that for another post - I'm feeling happy today.

Sat down this morning to a 10 seater SNG and after folding the first few hands, realised it was a fixed limit game, as I tried to raise my AK. God, it was boring. Who plays tournaments at Fixed Limit anyway? Maybe it's for youngsters like Mia? Maybe you can have a cup of tea in Emily's front room and still play? I managed to sneak 2nd place so made a 10$ profit, but I have never played a more frustrating game in my life! I only got so far because I tried to (slowly) throw my chips away early on and hit a few lucky catches and then was chip leader so played properly.

Changing subject with no apparent link, the weather forecast for the week and weekend is very good, and I'm at a friends all-day party/BBQ for his son's 2nd birthday (last year was a good day, from what I remember) on Saturday, so no poker this weekend.

Enjoy your week and your poker, and remember, if you're not enjoying it - there's a soap starting on at least one of your TV channels right now. Tonight offers a very special epsiode; Jimmy's funeral and Tracey's Wedding both being held in the pub - if you can tear yourself away from that cup of tea.