First aid to babies

It is quite incredible what - and how many - topics of conversation my mother thinks will interest me. Church events that I won’t attend, techniques for administering first aid to babies, work colleagues I have never met, pregnancies of people I haven’t seen nor spoken to in at least a decade, special offers at a local supermarket… I could go on.

I was wondering last night how interested she would be if I replied with fascinating titbits from my own life and sense of priorities:‘Well today I read a fascinating message board post about a guy who became a pro poker player in Las Vegas several years ago; ooh let me tell you a new concept I picked up about certain types of starting hands in Omaha eight or better; I was going to play football on Saturday morning but it got cancelled; yesterday I went from 5pm without a cigarette and haven’t had a drink in over two days; I fancy getting a ‘Playstation 2’ but I know I will end up never playing it; its amazing how cheap you can get mp3 players on eBay blah blah blah’. Actually she might be fascinated, apart from the poker stuff.

Last night didn’t turn out so bad in the end, I finished up only $11 down, and I if I hadn’t played a $10+1 multi then it would have been a dead level evening. I know you need to be able to pick up some chips without cards in a tournament, but the strongest hand I saw in about six levels of play was KQ unsuited, not one pocket pair, no big Ace, hell hardly even a couple of suited connectors or gappers to mess around with. I won precisely two pots, and came 89th out of 360-odd entrants.

Oh well. Where it counts, in the cash games, I think I am getting more and more to grips with Pot Limit Omaha 8. I find that time and time again my decisions prove to have been the right ones. I could possibly learn when it is right to gamble a little more, but that will come with time. It can be a frustrating game, of course. Last night I decided to bet only enough on the turn to tempt two opponents to draw to (presumably) lows versus my nut high, and sadly a low river did arrive. I remain convinced that so many people play the game so badly that sooner or later I am going to have a monster win.