Lazy Buggers!

Is it just me, or have you noticed the increased number of comments being left on your Blog during the day? I used to get a few comments during the evening by bloggers who, like me probably, read blogs whilst they are playing (or in between playing). But now, I am regularly getting comments from 9am – 4pm (never after 4pm strangely).

What’s the reason for this?
Are our blogs more interesting, so people are reading during the day?
Are there more bloggers out there, so therefore more time reading them?

Or is it because you are a bunch of skiving sods, and have nothing better to do during the day? Do your bosses know how much time you spend reading and commenting on blogs when you should be working?
Also, I can’t see a comment left on my blog after 4pm, so not only do you spend most of your working day reading and commenting on other peoples stories – but you knock off early as well!

(Thinks to self quietly……’I see a blackmail opportunity here……’)

So, would you all mind commenting below on where you work and the name of your boss – and I’ll Email him/her and tell them that you never take part in this type of activity and are far too busy working to even consider the possibility that blogs even exist (what is this internet thingy anyway?), let alone read them in works time.

OK – Just been out to the shop, as my blog wants to send Clouds blog a birthday card. With no expense spared, here's the one it chose:

PS - Can’t wait for the party.

Never Never Never

The more romantic of you guys will know the above headline is a Julio Iglesias song.

Come on, I know you guys, under that tough exterior you like to portray on the poker tables, there’s a little bit of Julio in you.

The lyrics went along the lines of:

‘You treat me wrong, you treat me right
You let me be, you make me fight with you
You make me high, you bring me down
You set me free, you hold me bound to you
I hate you, then I love you
then I hate you, then I love you more
For whatever you do, I never want to be in love, with anyone but you’

And on it goes. Quite a nice song actually, in a late night, smootchie, grab your girly kind of way. But before I perforate your eardrums with more of this luuuuuurrrrrrrvvvvveeeee music (Luther Vandross does it so much better, anyway), this is actually a poker post.

What drives us to play this game?
The highs?
The lows?
The realisation that the two are actually the same thing, or at least one doing an impression of the other?
The addiction?
Or it is just because it makes us feel exactly like the lyrics above.

We all love the game - that much is obvious. We spend enough time playing it, talking about and even writing it down on virtual paper for the world to see. This love hate relationship I have with poker could fill the columns of any gossip magazine in ways that Brad Pitt and Angelia Jolie would struggle to compete with.

It treats me wrong (KK losing to KJ)
It treats me right (88 taking out 10 10)
It lets me be (AA wins over KK)
It makes me fight with it (AA loses over KK)
It sets me free (How the f**k do you call that, you idiot!)
It holds me bound (I have AA and 5 players have called my raise)
I hate it (Why do you let these fish play?)
I love it? (Why do you not let more of these fish play?)

But whatever you do, I never want to be in love, with anyone but you (AA stood against 5 players and won me a 100$ pot!!)

What a game!

Ups and Downs

Another weekend over, where do they go?
The rain fell, the only chance we had to get out was Monday morning and Mia was straining at the leash to get to the park. Got back for lunch as the heavens opened, so it was indoors most of the weekend, which does not lead to a happy Mia. She needs to run free and burn off the excess energy, or she is up early and late to bed. Still, we managed to have some fun with plasticine and felt faces.

Takes you back, huh?

Poker was a mixed affair, hence the title. On one site I dropped 100$ due to some amazing cards. Hands where you think you must be ahead, and are amazed when someone raises or bets into you, and you stop and think ‘the only hand I can lose to is…….’. And guess what the villain has? Grrrrr.
The most noticeable one was holding 8h 9h and seeing a flop of 2 9 9. I bet it hard and got a caller. Turn was an A and again I bet it hard, and the river was a 6. He had pocket 6’s.
Looking back, I think these hands you cannot get away from. When there are only 2 of you in the hand, I think it’s fair to assume it is unlikely he has the other 9 (though this is online poker!), though some players refuse to believe they are beaten, these miracle cards happen, so why not this hand?

So I licked my wounds and moved over to another site where I managed to turn 100$ into 274$ in 2 nights. Placed in a few SNG, but mainly this came from cash games, going against what I’ve been blogging the last few times, where most of my successes were coming from MTT or SNG.
I folded KK on 10 7 2 flop, with 2 suited cards and 2 opponents, after betting the flop and seeing a raise and a call. One player had a set of 7s and the other the flush draw, which hit the river, leaving me 3rd in a 3 horse race, had I called. Saved myself a few quid here, and I was pleased with my discipline and sensible-ness.
A spectacular run of cards saw 2 particular sessions turn a 25$ buy in to 100$+ and despite losing a buy in with a set to a rivered str8, I still put in a good profit. Swings and roundabouts, I guess.

The BritBlogger was another disappointment for me. This time I actually had some hands, but Kat always seemed to have better. She raised before me when I had AK, and perhaps my call was a mistake, I should have pushed, especially when I saw what she had. The flop (I think) was JJK and Kat bet about half the pot. I was tempted to push, but there was another player in the hand, and I thought another J could well be out there. So I folded, and Kat showed her 10 J. Raised early on with Aces and Kings, but got no callers so unable to cash in on any strong hands.
I busted out when I matched a J with 3 hearts on the flop, and saw a weakness when Pok3rMonkey reduced his turn bet somewhat, so I pushed all in. After using up most of his time-bank, he called and showed KK (no hearts) and out I went. Such a fine line between success and failure sometimes, as I know he was very tempted to fold. It was a good call on his part, and I’ve linked him up to the right so stop by his T’ai Chi blog and say goodbye to the Monkey as it moves over to Dudley/Dd/Resident Evil’s blog (what do we call him??) for the week.

The biggest surprise came when I check the leader board the next morning and saw position 3 – Burnley Mik. I Emailed Poker Stars support to advise them of the obvious mistake, he surely finished 13th not 3rd, and there was a basic programming error? But no, he did finish 3rd and made good on a promising chip stack for the first time! Only kidding Mik, good stuff – maybe the start of a roll?

Anyway, time to do something better…….