2 Blue Lines!

“I’ve seen the needle and the damage done
A little part of it in everyone
But every junkie’s like a setting sun”
Neil Young

After 2 – 3 weeks away, my return to the game after what can only be described as one of the most frustrating periods in my life reached a head. Reading back over the last 2 posts, I was considering deleting them, as some of the comments were made at this peak, and being the emotional guy I am, it felt right at the time to express them this way. But, diaries are meant to portray feelings and things that affect you, and this sure did, so I'm leaving them where they are!
Anyway, I’m back and hopefully it has made me a better player. As Adam Duritz (Counting Crows) once said, that which does not kill you, makes you stronger. Let’s hope so.

Played a few more live games since, with mixed success. Went out in 8th (out of 42, but 1st money place) and 20th (out of 45) places in my local club, and actually left a casino in Glasgow (was there on business) after very strange behaviour from the dealer, who was also playing in the game.
Tried to bluff a pot, it failed, and when my opponent turned over his cards, I said ‘It’s yours’ and pushed my cards, face down, back to the dealer. He asked me to turn my cards over, and I said, no, I’ve acknowledged he has won the hand. He took the cards from me and turned them over! I told him that was wrong and would be grateful if he didn’t do that again.
Few hands later, a player bet, was re-raised by another player and after a few minutes thought, he folded. The re-raiser pushed his cards, face down, to the dealer, who looked at them before putting them in the deck.
Hang on, I say – you can’t do that – show the cards to the rest of the table now you’ve seen them. He refused and shuffled the deck! Along with another 2 players, I objected to the tourney director and he asked the dealer to tell the rest of the players what the cards were, as he was gaining an unfair advantage. The dealer told us, but who knows if that was right?
Anyway, it was a rebuy, I went out a few hands later with top pair v a set and refused to re-buy on principal!
Still, enjoying the live experience, and my local club has 3 nights of tournies a week, so looking forward to playing a bit more regularly. The game is massively different to the online game, but I guess I’ll have to adapt accordingly.

Another major thing in my life happened last week, when I came home and was met with a weeping Cathy, and some small white object in her hand. The title of the blog entry may give some of you with children a bit of a clue – but it was a pregnancy test, and it was positive! We’ve been trying for a couple of months and she’s caught pretty quickly so we are both over the moon and looking forward to an expanded family!

Now I need to re-think my name, as I won’t just be Mia’s Dad anymore!