Losing Interest

It's been a while since I last posted, and it has been a funny 2 weeks.

Work is very busy and the team of 16 I inherited are now at 30. My target has been set for 2007 at £22million and things are looking really good. The sales guys are bringing in business really quickly, and we are converting this into sales really effectively. I'm really enjoying it, and the wait and temp work of a few months ago were well worth the hassle.

Poker has been getting me down a bit lately. My Royal Vegas experinece has put me off ever playing on that network again, and maybe I was just unfortunate, but I have no faith or belief in their system at all. Did a bit of research online on them, and found a forum with many similar comments, though some were a bit over the top.
Then, I found another site to bonus whore (from bonus whore dot com) and put 300$ in to get a 100$ bonus. Unfortunately, the people operating this site seem to have dissappeared of the face of the earth and will not credit my refund nor return any Emails or phone calls. Steer well clear of the Tain network then, www.millionminds.com in particular.
I have Neteller and bonuswhore dot com on the case, but if they won't answer phone calls or Emails, I'm not sure what they can do for me. Sure, they will be removed from Neteller's merchant list and hopefully BW dot com also, so at least no one else will fall for it. Doesn't get me my moeny back mind you.

So the combination of the above two events put me over 400$ out of pocket, and should be kept at the fore front of any poker players mind. We may love the game, we may love the players online - but we are also very easy targets and have very little protection against disreputable criminals if they decide to shut down and run off with your money or stage the cards to, basically, do the same thing. Think twice before opening up that next account.

Not the greatest time to do a review of my hand history of the last 2 months - which added to my 'no longer trust any online poker site' feelings. Sure, a 2 month run of seeing AK and AQ beaten by any 2 random cards almost 70% of times when I should be 70% favourite is one of those things - but two months seemed a long time for this unusual stat to hold up.
Realising that I probably wasn't in the most constructive frames of mind, I shut it down and decided that a break from the game was what I needed.
So, with no poker distractions, Mia's new bedroom was plastered, new skirting boards put in and then cleaned out ready for painting. Loads of stuff taken to the charity shop and we feel like we have a new room in the house. More stuff went up in the loft ready for Mia's sister or brother if we can/decide to have another so there is always the reminder of how profitable poker can be (the loft and Mia new bedroom decorated came from poker winnings).

Last week was our work's Xmas do, and I was hoping to post a few pictures - but I think I can get some good money for some of them - so I'll think this over a bit first. I managed to stay out till just before 3am before tiredness got the better of me and I hailed a cab home. They stayed out til just past 5am, and boy did I feel old that night!

Cathy has braved the Trafford Centre with her mum this evening, so I'm just off to the tables now to see if I've re-discovered the hunger.