Non-smokers die every day

It is my birthday. Big frigging deal. I'm pretty miserable. Drinks with lots of people tonight, but I am not looking forward to it because there will be different 'branches' of my friends there and I don't feel like they are all terribly compatible. I am bound to disappoint someone by not talking to them, or by the choice of venue, or whatever. Frankly, I could do without the whole damn thing.

My curmudgeonly mood is not helped by turning thirty-whatever and being at such a pitiful point in my life. A lazy-arse at work who can never focus on his career, with no house and no car, saddled with crippling debts and a credit rating that will very soon preclude me doing all those cool things that credit enables - buying shit online, joining new poker sites, and so on.

Jeeeeeeeesus, I am a miserable fucker. I need a few lagers inside me. Which is kind of worrying.

Anyway, I had a few in me when I wrote that last excuse for a post. As it happened, shortly after posting that I had a tear of three big hands in that five card stud game, and finished up over forty bucks winners. Not shabby for a $1/$2 game, just rather galling that only a couple of ugly outdraws prevented it from being almost a three figure haul. And I could REALLY do with one of those right now!

Unfortunately, last night did not go so well. I lost a little in an even smaller five card stud game (the $1/$2 wasn't running), mainly through calling down hands that I would not have done if the stakes hadn't been so low. But, far more frustratingly, I failed to cash in three out of three sit and goes.

4th, 6th and 4th was the awful story. I didn't do much wrong in any of them, although I may have pushed a little too hard in the third one when we were four-handed. I made a chump mistake in the end, marrying the King-high flush - only slightly mitigated because when its four-handed its a lot harder to put down. That left me crippled, and I got eliminated when my KKTx went up against AJJx and saw a damn Ace on the flop.

Oh, the elimination hand in the previous game was painful. The guy had four outs after the turn, and hit one of them. That's the margin sometimes between going into a great chip position - and being eliminated.

Ah well. Yesterday was quite neat, another pleasant drive to a meeting. This time I listened to one of my Bill Hicks CDs. If you don't know who he is (or rather, was) then find out - you'll thank yourself for it.

Boneheads

Just thought I'd drop in. I played one sit and go earlier, finishing 2nd.

Five card stid has been unbelievably cruel to me today. At the same time as the sit and go I recorded a tiny profit at 50c/$1, but was robbed by a couple of unbelievable hits on fifth street of about $30 - quite a big deal at 50c/$1 limit! You get these players who raise and reraise after you show strength. And they keep hitting on me on fifth. I have two pair, they hit their two out trips, and so on.

Tonight, at $1/$2, has been even worse. I am just about level at the moment, but have been absolutely fucked up the arse - sideways! - to the tune of over fifty bucks in pots, by cruel cruel rivers. One chap raised his four-flush on fourth street against my open Jacks, and hit it. Another reraised my two pair when it was literally impossible for him to be beating me, and hit his two-out trips.

It is maddening when people make these bone-headed plays against you, completely oblivious to the tight play that you have displayed for over an hour, and get lucky.

However, in the time it has taken to write these short paragraphs I have actually benefitted from the boneheads to the tune of 12 big bets, so I will shut up moaning and go to bed.

One degree of Kevin Bacon

Phew, life is a bit frantic at the moment. Loads to do both professionally and personally; I am going into debt management - which pretty much screws my credit rating for some years, but should mean a slightly less crippling proportion of my income goes on debt repayments each month. Therefore avoiding me borrowing more and more as I struggle with a shortfall of actual money to live on.

Professionally, procrastination is catching up with me somewhat, and this week I am out of the office on visits to customers both yesterday and tomorrow. PLUS I have the dentist appointment this afternoon, making today a shortened day.

The visits have some consolations; it is nice to sit in the company pool car and listen to CDs while cruising along the motorways. It beats sitting here, in much the same way that quad Aces beats no pair, seven high.

Further, I am managing to tie some personal things into it. Yesterday I was at a prominent seaside town where a girl I know has been living for eighteen months or so, and I haven't seen her in all that time. Actually, she is one of my life's missed opportunities. She is a really hot Danish girl who I used to work with some years ago. I always fancied her very much (having a functioning penis and all) but thought she was out of my league - blonde, fit bod, etc. Some time later, by which time I was in the throes of what became my seven year relationship, it transpired that she had always been attracted to me too. We proceeded to have a few sneaky sort-of-dates, I did kiss her a couple times, but the ball was in my court and I was not prepared (at the time) to end my relationship to be with her, even though I was extremely tempted.

We stayed good friends anyway, and she was ironically the one person I confided in when I did end up having an affair with somebody else a couple of years later. But with me moving out of town in one direction and her in the other, we hadn't seen each other in eighteen months until I met her on the beachfront yesterday on a balmy summer afternoon.

And the great thing is, I am definitely over her. Maybe she's lost a little of her looks and sparkle, I dunno. She's a couple years older than me so its bound to happen sooner or later... ha ha.... Maybe its just the passing of time. Maybe its the boyfriend she is with, even though he seems a very nice bloke. Either way, it is nice to have some closure there! I think if I met the woman I had my affair with, I would still be hooked. Tallish, slim, olive skin, raven black shoulder-length hair, dirty eyes, a bit of a Helena Christensen look, a sexy accent, a naughty tattoo and an intimate piercing. And, oh yeah, a great personality!

Enough of that. Two sit and goes on Monday night, simultaneously. The first featured two clueless non-Omaha players, which had me licking my lips. I never found a hand though, and ended up taking a stand (possibly slightly too early) against one of them who turned out to have AAKK. I turned a straight but he rivered a flush and I was out, eliminated by somebody who was only playing Omaha by accident!

The second went better. I was kicking myself a couple of times, when I made very marginal folds with decent draws against a couple of already all-in opponents. I chose to see people get eliminated and preserve my reasonable stack, but actually would have won both hands and been a very healthy chip leader. However, once again I moved up at least two gears when we got short-handed and got headsup - but with a 2-1 chip disadvantage. To cut a short story even shorter, I won the headsup inside four or five hands.

So, the record reads: Played 20. Cashed 11 times. 6 wins. 4 runner-ups. 1 third place. I am justifiably proud of that (especially the ratio of 1st and 2nd places compared to 3rd)and will keep plugging away, although I may deposit some more bucks on payday in order to widen my game selection possibilities a little.

PS I remembered another celebrity I have been told I look like. A friend thought I looked like Kevin Bacon when we watched 'Mystic River' (good movie, especially if you like Grim Sauce with your Misery Pie). I could sort of see it.

Too much Codeine

What a weird weekend. Sunday, in particular, I felt fuzzy-headed all day from the interrupted, sporadic sleep of two nights plus far too many codeine pills. It feels like a lost weekend, somehow.

I would have liked to have played more poker. After the last entry I completed four more PLO sit and goes. 5th, 3rd, 1st, 5th. The 1st place was satisfying as I put my foot to the pedal more than usual with four left, when it became clear that the others had a bad case of 'fold-into-the-money' disease. I progressed quite comfortably from shortest stack of four to the headsup, which I managed to win despite starting at a worse than 2-1 disadvantage.

Still, my results have dropped off significantly in these games; I have only cashed in four of the last twelve since that blistering run of six consecutive 1st/2nd placings. Which means that over the last twelve I have a profit of less than a single buy-in.

The figures in total, over 18 sit and goes, are five 1sts, four 2nds and one 3rd. Ten cashes, and only two placings outside the top five. I think that always being in the top five is very worthwhile. It may go against the tournament poker idea that you should build a big stack or be prepared to go out, but I do not think that theory really applies to these games. Frequently, three or four players go out inside the first two levels, while the blinds are still tiny compared to the stacks. Even with more or less your starting stack, you can still afford to wait for a really, REALLY good spot to commit your chips. In top of which, people tend to play quite badly with five and fewer players left. As far as I can remember, I have had the chip lead only once or twice at that stage - it just isn't that important

Anyways, I will keep increasing the sample size and see how it pans out. Four cashes in twelve is very disappointing, but at least I am continuing to cash mainly in 1st and 2nd. Only one 3rd place in ten cashes is very gratifying, and suggests that I am playing the right way when it gets short-handed.

Sigh... Oh, to get back to the days (only six weeks ago!) when I had hundreds in the bankroll and could play most any game I wanted with freedom and elan.

Right now, I have to grind like I have never ground before, playing as low-variance as possible. And that means the sit and goes, on the whole. Five card stud has been okay, but there are a handful of quite tricky players who show up there regularly now. I don't mind playing with them, but I prefer mindless profitability at the moment!