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Socks Away.

The official Christmas giveaway. I soon tired of tidying room, thought I'd banish the boredom with a brief bout of benevolence. How many socks (mostly odd I hope) in this pile? Closest guess wins a bottle of port, bottle of bollinger if you get it on the nose.

December

Decided to repeat the Poker Goal element of blog for December. However, I won't set the bar too high; I don't want cards to get in the way of drinking mulled wine and knocking back the port. 30k hands, no Skype, stop checking session results halfway through, 5 videos.

Am off to london next week as I have a seat in the Palm Beach Big Game, which is a £1k tournament in Mayfair that attracted 79 well-heeled punters last month. I've not been to the casino before, it's in a nice area, so I have high hopes of it being a good crowd, will no doubt dip my toe in the cash action after trying to bluff a donkamenteur off top pair. Kev is also coming down to play, so after a Porridge breakfast I'll probably accompany him around London for an early morning jog.

Poker Goals Revisited

Well the last month hasn't been a total disaster, hence me posting a graph. I even managed to bink a donkament, admittedly there were only 30 runners!

In short I failed to meet any of the goals I set, however, I definitely think the very act of setting them and holding myself accountable has helped improve my results. After a diligent few weeks of 2/4 and 3/6 I decided to mix in some 5/10 and even a spot of 20/40 limit and 2000NL, the conditions justified it, I was confident and playing to the best of my ability. Results have been good, I've played pretty well, although part of the reason for taking a break until Dec1st is I've been playing a bit sloppily the last few days. The volume of hands I played could have been better, but when I was playing 5/10 I was happy just to 2 table and concentrate on not spewing! Reviewing hands with coach never happened, presume he's playing world of warcraft or something as he's been unreachable.

Will spend the rest of the month watching the Ashes and trying to squeeze some more poker videos in (the poker maths ones have been a tough chore). It's pretty cold here and the pump that powers the underfloor heating has packed up so have been spending most of time in sitting room playing by firelight. My sister passed her Chartered Surveying exams so props to her!

Alan's back, back again!

I've spent 30 minutes on the phone to my pals at Halifax today, they were vigilant enough to block my card for a suspicious transaction to pokerstars.fr, not that suspicious in the context that I've use this card to finance casino withdrawals for playing 2/5. I'm glad they've got my back though...

On a brighter note, Alan Partridge is back! He's descended to new lows his "banter" is more cringe-worthy than ever, his clothes even more dated and his hair is well...you have to see it! Alan certainly hasn't become any more politically correct during his hiatus, he manages to crass remarks about the Jonestown massacre and paedophilia before segueing (first time ever used that word) into more inane nonsense. Sadly we don't actually get to see Anthea "The Body" Turner, although on a side note (segue number two) I do have her autograph as she stayed at my Aunt's B&B in the Spring of 1994.

I finished off "Enemy number one" I did enjoy it, although it was a little heavy on racing info for someone with more of a general gambling background. Veitch seemed to have been spurned into action after a local mobster tried to extort money from him and he decided to go to the police, resulting in years spent in hiding, looking over his shoulder whilst bashing the bookies. It was interesting that a great deal of effort went into him actually being able to get action on the races, as money associated with him was blacklisted by bookies, much more of an issue than I imagined it would be. Will move onto Ather's "Gambling: A Story of Triumph and Disaster" now.

More Apprentice Spoilers

So it seems Lord Sugar reads my blog and actually made a decent decision for once, Paloma had to go. Watching "You're Fired" on BBC2 the past few weeks has been fairly interesting, both Melissa and Paloma came across really rather well, I presume this is because they can conceal their true nature in a 30 minute programme, rather than the original editing of the Apprentice was not as sympathetic as it could have been etc. Perhaps, these high powered business people can not actually cope under pressure as well as they think , it's all very well spouting business jargon until you're blue in the face, however, if you can't behave to even the low standard required to dupe the dopey Alan, perhaps you don't deserve the role.

One of the good new additions has been Dara O'Brien hosting "You're fired". He does a really good job and seems to allow the contestants to project themselves in a good light as well as leading the panellists, all making for an excellent show. I actually picked up his book at Smiths (paying is so overrated) alas, I have yet to start it. I've only just finished Steven Levitt's "SuperFreakonomics", a rather accessible guide to avant-garde analysis on topics such as global warming, prostitution and suicide bombers.

Yet another Amazon package arrived today, I had to replace my second Logitech mouse in under a year after yet again the usb receiver snapped inside my laptop. James recommended I went for a much simpler affair, I'm now rocking an old School Microsoft button clicking enabler. I also ordered some more books (paid for and all) including Mike Atherton's "Gambling: A Story of Triumph & Disaster". I read his autobiography "Opening Up" whilst at school, and seem to remember it was pretty good, so have high hopes of this. Also, added another Derren Brown book to my collection as well as "Enemy Number One". I'm sure he'll be a distant second by the time James decides he'll spend a week or two knocking up a comprehensive sports betting model in between building computers and getting on it.

Power Snooker

I headed up to London on Saturday armed with on a couple of recently acquired paperbacks ( something more like a swordstick would have been more appropriate for wandering the Edgware road on my way to the Vic). I was already at the cutting edge, alongside Jambon, Dave Lu, Ed Rogers and his buddy Dave. We had all made it to the O2 arena to watch "POWERSNOOKER" which is marketed to be snooker's equivalent of 20/20 cricket, with glamorous girls, music, lights, audience participation and a plentiful supply of £4 pints. The standard was a little poorer than I expected, by that I mean standard of dress, Ali Carter wore an absolutely horrific lime green shirt that was an affront to even my colour blind vision.

The "shot clock" meant that players only had 20 seconds to take each stroke, however, they seemed to rush unduly, obviously unfamiliar with this format they seemed to put themselves under pressure to play way faster than they needed to and it must be said that the quality of play did suffer for this. Other facets of the game included the "Powerzone", which was the area behind the baulk line, potting from here would entitle you to double points. One of the 9 reds was also a "Powerball", upon being potted a two minute "Powerplay" would be instigated during which players scored double points. Points were all that counted, each game lasted 30 minutes, points counted, frames didn't.

The atmosphere was pretty good, much to the crowd's amusement referee Michaela Tabb would announce "Powerzone" every time the cueball returned to baulk, it did seem rather funny after a few pints, I think it was the Scottish accent. Audience participation amounted to cries of "Powerzone", mocking Jimmy White's errors, and a rather borderline cry of "You can do it" in a Chinese accent with definite overtones of Cockney to inspire Ding, he also was on the receiving end of a few Ding-Dong type puns. Unfortunately I had to leave early as the last train back to safety of Devon departed at 8pm, alas it was not to be thanks to my inept taxi driver. I sought refuge at the Vic, I was thrilled to learn that my allnighter was to be extended by an extra hour thanks to the changing of the clocks. Once I finally boarded the train at Paddington and rested my weary limbs I was trodden on twice by the "Professor" who had taken the seat opposite me on the table, she failed to apologise either time.

Was good to see Jambon and Dave again, the relaxed atmosphere meant it was possible to chat during the play. We also had dinner at Gaucho which was was rather good, I've only eaten at one once before and that was with James in Amsterdam. Oh, and Ronnie won btw.

Camerownage!

Ed Miliband seems like he'll be a good challenge for Cameron. Particularly enjoyed this afternoon's exchange, EM threw some good jabs looking to expose splits in the coalition before landing a final blow at Clegg, mocking him for his smoking ( a reference to a recent "Desert Island Discs in which Clegg named a stash of ciggies as his luxury item.) However, Cameron had the benefit of being able to have the last word and crushed Miliband. Never mind trying to rid Parliament of "Punch & Judy politics" it's entertaining stuff, I bet it's great fun sat alongside your mates cheering and jeering. Watch from about 4.20 if you don't fancy the whole thing.

I wonder who will disgrace themselves on the apprentice tonight...

Poker Goals

Decided I want to be playing 5/10 more regularly. I think atm I'm not playing my best there so have implemented a plan:

Poker Goals

I would like to compete with confidence @ 1knl on a regular basis.

In order to build this confidence I intend to prepare properly. I shall first watch and take notes on all eight episodes of “Mathematics of NLHE” before then completing “Professor Plotkin.” These videos will help improve my theoretical knowledge in situations. I shall also continue watching other videos, at least 4 game time type videos before moving up.

In addition to this video preparation I shall only play 5/10 when I have satisfied the video requirements, played a minimum 50k of hands @ 2/4 and 3/6, I shall achieve this by Dec1st. I shall avoid using any msn/skype whilst gaming- to be achieved by ensuring is not open when I start a session. I shall review, hands flagged in previous days play on a daily basis before starting play. I should post at least 10 hands on various forums before any 5/10. I will also revitalise btt forum. Trouble hands can be reviewed with coach.

I shall also have analysed the stats of at least 10 regular players and broken down their game and identified strategies to exploit them. In addition to this having a roll of $X+ before playing any 5/10 will bolster my confidence.

I know no-one signed up to read this drivel, infact no-one signed up at all, but were coerced into reading the blog! It's not a poker blog, more a place to have a good moan, Rupert linked me to this anonymous detractor of The Gutshot. I have no idea who wrote it, however, he loves a good moan, so it did amuse me. Seasoned vets may remember some of the posts I made in my youth regarding the place! This chap writes really well and with a great deal of passion!

http://www.pokerbastard.blogspot.com/

Egregious

Stumbled across this word when reading the DC forums, if only I'd known it earlier in the week...It really would have been perfect for describing Paloma:

egregious formal adj outrageous; shockingly bad. egregiously adverb. egregiousnessnoun.
ETYMOLOGY: 16c: from Latin egregius standing out from the herd, from e out of + grex, gregisherd.

Shout out to Chamber online!

Not another link!

It's grim up north, spare a though for poor old James:

http://hellocanuhearme.wordpress.com/

However, steps are being taken to improve matters somewhat.

Paloma/ HIGNFY

I remember riling up Jambon back in my university days by omitting to post "APPRENTICE SPOILERS WITHIN".

I was thoroughly appalled but not all together surprised by Lord Sugar's (Sugar from here on in as there's no love lost) complete ignorance in the boardroom this week. It was perfectly obvious that even if Shibby did lack "business acumen", the two alongside him were quite patently completely unemployable, would be completely incompatible with his organisation and are undeserving of any post. Sugar should have thrown Paloma out when she referred to Shibby as " a joke" , before she had the chance to tell barefaced lies, denying that she stabbed the workshy Sandeesh in the back by discsussing her lack of activity with the rest of the team. Initially I presumed the decision was due to Sugar's incompetance at evaluating the contestants, however, in retrospect the evil Paloma did pull the wool over his eyes with her tirade of lies and personal abuse. I say bring back Margaret, Paloma's diabolical personality traits would have been spotted immediately by her. Karen's probably too used to dealing with footballers etc. to notice!

There seems to be a bit of a trend of contestants with any kind of moral compass falling by the wayside. Sugar was not even astute enough to avoid representing himself and company in a poor light by questioning the need for Shibby to pay compensation to the hotel's chef for failing to fulfill the order. No doubt Amstrad will lose a bit more credibility!

For supposedly bright candidates, the contestants are a complete shambles. Melissa, captained team Synergy this week. In spite of her ineptitude they managed a victory, the argument she had with Alex over GCSE results was particularly amusing. She's another one I'd lay super long odds on ever getting the job.

I've always considered Janet Street Porter to be highly irritating. However, I must say I was pleasantly surprised by her appearance on this weeks HIGNFY, her voice does not seem quite as piercingly shrill as before, perhaps I've aged and my eardrums are no longer subjected to the highest frequency squawks. Reginald D Hunter was a little quiet I felt, perhaps he tired himself out in Edinburgh.

I renewed my deucescracked membership today, so will probably make a token effort at watching a few videos in the dead time before the next episode of "World's Strictest Parents".

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/search?q=The%20World's%20Strictest%20Parents

Congratulations to Rupert who came second in Sunday's FTP $640 for a whopping $142k. He also nearly made the final table of the Poikerstars million but was chewed up and spat out by Andrew Litchenberger. For those of you not too au fait with online poker, that was an amusing pun pivoting on Andrew's online moniker being : "Lucky Chewy"

Ding Ding.

So far have spent the weekend playing a tonne of poker, which has gone rather well. The games have been pretty good and I've been listening to the Annie Mac shows on Iplayer, as well as a great Harry Hill interview on the Scott Mill's show:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00v4slc/Scott_Mills_Friday_Harry_Hill/

Mongy won a tournament last night, no congratulations for that, but I will, however, tip my cap to you for this link:

Encore

I felt obligated to update the blog before the mosquito induced scarring covering my ankles vanishes altoghether. Once Mr Ducharme ( a whole 8 months more mature than at our last meeting) made his way to the villa, the holiday was ready to begin in full swing.

Scott had a couple of memorable celebrations throughout the course of the month, the first of the double fistpumps occured after dinner in Ville franche. George missed a rather nondescript "blackball, corner pocket" shot which Rupert had a tidy wager riding upon, however, I'm sure he could appreciate the pleasure Mongy derived from this as he jubilantly waved his cue about, Rupert was later heard to say the joy on Scott's face was worth more to him than the money. After one sherbert too many, George was concerned that missing the black could be a metaphor for the rest of his life, the poor lad was worried about "bottling" the high pressure situations!

After a few days of settling in, a fellow Devonian came out to join us in the form of my schoolmate David. Despite now living in Geneva, David has retained a reassuring solid condascending stance on Europeans. We undertook some day trips whilst he was staying with us, including checking out the Villa Ephrussi de Rothschild. Strolling around the grounds was great, there were nine different themed gardens, all with their different nuances, the Provencal garden was particularly impressive. The afternoon was rounded off with a Kir Royale, which incidentally is the favourite drink of Torquay Casino's Bob.

After a few days David had picked up the lingo, (he's pretty sick like that) and was at ease with Ducharme wearing pyjamas in public, so was ready to hit Jimmy*z with us. Jimmy*z didn't disappoint, this institution has been "setting fire to the Riviera" for 30 years, I was distinctly aware that there seemed to be a lot more "brass" there this year, perhaps they were more concentrated with it being more off-season. Unperturbed, we soldiered on, making our way through the vodka and fresh apple whilst Rupert and David did their bit to promote Anglo-Russian relations. We made 3 Jimmy*z trips in total, they all seem to have blurred into one haze of cigarette smoke, vodka, and:

I do however, have distinct memories of everyone shining individually, the most incandescent example was Sweir. Upon leaving, Callum was trying to coax a rather dazed Ducharme into his car, Sam was quick to make the most of this opportunity and quickly donned the high visibility jacket that French law dictates should be in the back of every car. Whilst in Hong kong he sadly never made it into the Dragon Guard's van, he was able to sneak into Callum's Corsa and pretend to drive. The "bouncers", inverted commas because really I have no idea what you have to do to be asked to leave, perhaps ordering an alcopop or something, looked on this with great mirth, this was not, however, shared by Callum, who after he'd removed Steve's socks, raced around to retrieve his car keys.

I enjoyed a few evening at Nice casino, accompanied by Steve and Sam on different occassions. The 5/5 game there was really fun, and full of Russians, one blonde, who wore really low cut tops and translated to her husband who spoke no French or English, this made things difficult, as when the inevitable argument about who has to show hand first broke out he had to resort to shouting at the top of his voice in Russian. He was a good lad though, I saw him in Jimmy*z and he recommended we check out Nikki Beach, which hopefully we will in future. The floorman was a thoroughly nice guy, the whole experience of playing live there was thoroughly enjoyable. The game was soft, the atmosphere congenial, the rake exorbitant and the G&T's free.

>

I've left it a bit too long to feel like writing a more thorough report, but suffice to say the month flew by and thanks to Rupert for his organisational endeavours.

Rupert Guest Blog

In typical Warwick fashion my blog is temporarily redundant since I can't login. No doubt this new wave of graduate bloggers has made them realise they should go back to charging for WGA membership.

Anyway, it's been bloody ages since I last blogged - partly because I was in France for a month, but mostly because i've been incredibly lazy.

France was its wonderful self with a glorious month of sun, Jimmy*z and downswinging. When all was said and done, I was relatively poor compared to the start of the holiday which made me very sad.

Nevertheless, since getting home I haven't let being drastically underrolled from stopping me playing an absurd volume of poker. It wouldn't be time for me to blog unless I won a tournament recently so you should note that after my 4th place in a $75, 1st in a $20r and 3rd in a $109 I am nothing less than a bona fide tournament genius. It wouldn't be bragging unless I mentioned that i'm up a bag at cash since getting home too.

It's all becoming a bit too much. After I got home I found myself with a delightful cold, sore throat, cough, sneezing fits, swollen tongue (????) all wrapped up in a two word diagnosis the doctor informs is as a "throat infection". My old mate from GCSE History Flemming is here to help me out though and i've been popping 8 penicillins a day like a recovering junkie. With great success too I may add, since I am practically cured and can now speak without sounding like a complete spastic.

As Tommo has granted me the privelege of blogging a guest post (due to aforementioned reasons) i'm humouring him at the possibility of moving up to Edinburgh with him. Availability of premises seem largely limited at the moment, mostly by not having an HMO license which apparently is the be all and end all these days when letting an apartment. Still, gives me something else to refresh in the morning.

Much to his disappointment, i'm going to allow Tommo to complete the France trip report because he's doing a fantastic job, and also I can't be arsed.

Rupert

Les Vacances- Part I

My adventure began with a trip up to Norwich for the annual Alan Partridge Convention, handily enough it was held at the airport hotel, which made it pretty convenient for Rupert to collect me and the break to begin. Despite getting off to a somewhat melancholic start (the Alan Partridge tie and blazer badge packs sold out before I could get one) Bury St. Edmunds proved the perfect tonic. Home to notables such as Peter Charalmbos, James Keys and Rupert, it's a picturesque English market town that has a solid reputation for producing beer, housing the Greene King brewery. We ambled about the town, managed to squeeze in a pint in "The Nutshell" reputedly Britain's smallest pub:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Nutshell

Buoyed up with Dutch courage I managed to negotiate a discount on a blue pinstriped jacket I'd seen earlier in the day. The previous tailor had stated he may be able to throw in a pair of socks for free, however, I managed to cajoule the manager into knocking off a few guineas. I stayed the night at Rupert's house before we left and kept an eye on Koopa, Rupert has a tendency to neglect him, he clearly needs handling every hour to check whether he is asleep etc...

After we finally managed to overtake mongy, who, was once again plodding along in the middle lane, we arrived first at the port but were soon met by the Brighton Boys, Scott and Callum. After a fairly uneventful crossing, we arranged to meet at the Chateau which we were staying at to break our journey up. Rupert and I managed to circumvent the debris littering the road, alas George was not so fortunate, they endured a few hours of garage related pigeon english as they decided how best to replace two of G's wheels. Meanwhile, Rupert and I kicked back with a few G&T's at the Chateau, rowed around the moat before picking up a couple of cases of champage from the production outlet nearby. The chap who gave the tour of the premises and explained the manufacturing process did so entirely in French, however, Rupert and I purloined an English middle aged balla who was on his way back to St Tropez with his son to translate for us. Picked up a couple of cases and a Magnum.

When the boys arrived we all tucked into the restaurant’s tasting Menu which was very good. We also got involved with some vintage port which went down rather better than out request for Port Salut cheese, the waiter huffily informed us that this was “Supermarket cheese” and stormed off to go and peel some more onions. We set off for Villefranche the following morning in jolly spirits.

Once again the tortoise triumphed, with Rupert’s mighty Almera beating the Scooby to the finishing line. We were greeted by the housekeepers, Elektra and her husband Victor. What an eccentric couple they were, well we’ve not had our deposit back yet, and after last years farce I’d better move swiftly on before I tell of racist jibes, violent outbursts, death threats etc.

The Villa itself comprised of two self contained unit. Initially I thought that this would lead to a rather more segregated affair than last year, however, this didn’t really prove to be the case as the group was more divided upon ideological principles, such as how awful “Two jacks in the hole” is, rather than by domestic constraints. We all set up our computers downstairs in the living room eager to shoot for loot for the coming month. We were soon joined by Steven, regular readers may recall him from my Australian tales.

To be continued...

Hellocanuhearme

Will be bashing out a blog soon, in the meantime I'd recommend you check out James's page here:

http://hellocanuhearme.wordpress.com/

If he learns capital letters, he might just be the best...

September

New month, flying up to meet Rupert later and will be on way to the Villa in south of France via a jaunt around Champagne tomorrow. Quite a lot to endure really, will be rely on Roy Jones Jnr to keep me motivated to get some hands in.

Some change would do me good.

I've always loved saving up coins ever since being a child. I cracked into my treasure chest a while ago, I started the task of counting up the loot recently ( I thought I'd lost my wallet, alas it was hiding under my monte trousers), I'll probably just scramble it all up and superglue the box shut again for a few years or until I have enough to afford to buy a Hamilton's breakfast for every day of the year.

I didn't mention in my last blog one of the most surreal experiences I've ever had. On the way back from a cheeky pint at the "St Vincent" a tramp approached me and asked me to help him fetch a cushion from the bin, "it's amazing what some people throw away". In return for my assistance he treated me to a 15 minute discourse on the importance of different dietary supplements. He had an article published in "The Scotsman" in 1988 apparently. Drinking and smoking is a no no, cleanse your system with some seaweed and be sure to take regular supplemets of korean ginseng. My offer of a bottle of tequila was given short shrift, Organic Jim had to see his acupuncturist tomorrow... Fish head soup was the order of the day. I gave him a score, all the unopened pokerstars clothing from Monaco, Rupert's sleeping bag, and one of the numerous pillows that littered my room. He seemed especially pleased with the stars Hoodie. As I bid him adieu, he gave me his email address, I expected Dom Jolly to roll around the corner.

Last of the summer whines.

August saw my return to Edinburgh, the tenancy of my flat was drawing to a close and Flash had booked a load of stuff for me to go and see at the Fringe. Saw some pretty big names in the world of comedy, Jimmy Carr, John Bishop, A famous Scot etc, it was all pretty good, however, I'm not really convinced that someone standing on a stage and spewing out a routine written by someone else is intrinsically funny. The format of them all was pretty puerile too, lots of swearing, comments on the audience etc, seems like there is a checklist of stuff to do. I'm pretty convinced that with the help of a few good lads, the odd pint of ale, Hamilton's steak sandwich and parsnip chips (with mayonnaise for dipping) and a spare week or two I could write something of a similar standard.

Having said this, there were some performers who rose above this arch-mediocrity, Reginald D Hunter was very solid and I enjoyed his show despite coughing all the way through and sitting in an auditorium akin to an oven. Paul Merton and his improv chums are the type of act that I would class as genuinely funny, off the cuff humour combined with banter amongst themselves made for a memorable afternoon. Jimmy Carr did have some good material, his delivery was also pretty sharp, however, there was still some "filler" within the hour which means whilst he gets a mention on the blog he's not top echelon.

I saw two magicians, Paul Zennon and a chap whose name T.G will have to remind me of. Both turned in good, solid performances and their shows rated as the best value for money available at the festival, running the £6.50 steak baguette into a close second. Zennon's wit was particularly sharp, I thought it was a shame that there were not more people there, incidentally David Lu, if you read this, you still have my copy of Paul Zennon's "100 ways to win a tenner!" The magic stuff may not be everyones cup of tea, but there was a fair bit of comedy involved, AN Other did some great pun based gags that were suitably awful to be pretty hilarious.

The highlight of the fringe was something a little bit different. It took the form of "Ivan Brackenbury" a mock hospital radio DJ with an unfortunate talent for sticking his foot in his mouth and playing the most inappropriate of tracks. I'm not sure youtube really does him justice, so keep reading the blog, he's sure to be making an appearance at my next flat party!

I also went and saw Ardal O'Hanlan as the Irish contingent had a spare ticket. As an aside, I had a plate of chilli and rice before this, seemed like a rare enough occurence to make it into the blog. Suffice to say Ardal was "grand" and I'd rate his comedy as amongst some of the best I saw.

The worst, well...Anything Australian was totally dire, absolutely atrocious, one particular perpetrator was "Brendan Burns" I put his name in inverted commas as despite being an Ozzie I doubt anyone would be brazen enough to put their real name to this farcical debacle. It was £15 or so too, which was a total rip-off, I wanted to walk out after 3 minutes, but Rupert had tied my shoelaces together and challenged me to enter a Tommy Angelo state of trance. I saw a couple of Australians so actually am in a privileged position to advice that Australians are categorically not funny, as well as having no manners. Cheers to TG for booking all the tickets and organising everything.

There were some other big names in Edinburgh during August, namely Keith "The Camel" Hawkins and Neil Channing, for those unaware of why Keith was dubbed the Camel, sometimes he can go days without a drink. The boys all came up too, Sam and Laurie, George, James, Rupert, Rick and Kev a Scottish guy I battle with on Ipoker. The tournament was resoundingly unsuccessful, I did manage to turn in a good bowling perfomance though, so got the lot in side action.

I'd taken the liberty of booking a few tables at Opal. The night went pretty swimmingly with Rick introducing us all to an absolutely fantastic pun based game, which was absolutely marvellous.

Sample hand:

Game 31232342

Tommo is on the G&T with 23823

James is on the B52s with 26352

James posts: Do you have a business

Tommo posts: Yes I have a business

James probes: What business?

Tommo: I own a blowjob bar in Bangkok

James: How's business

Tommo: On it's knees.

Game 31232342 is won by Rick Beech.

This made for great entertainment, plenty of options, from the obviously booming explosive business to the more tangential ones (Anything Kev suggested!)

I flew back to Devon on Wednesday which meant an end to my time in 2F2 Clarence St. Had a great time whilst I was there, which probably wasn't frequently enough, but being on own all day did suck more than I'd imagined it would. Got on well with all the housemates and enjoyed living with people who had proper jobs and were responsible enough never to take sick days despite me constantly telling them that 12 days a year is average!

I was up early on Thursday as I was off to Lords for a few days. Day 1 is pissed down and there was only 12 overs of play. Alarmingly there was no bitter on tap in some of the pubs surrounding St Johns wood, after being served cold, bottled beer I had to move onto the G&Ts. Day 2 was great, not only did KP get a golden duck, but true lads Stuart Broad and Trotty made hundreds, showed some guts, applied themselves and dug England out of a pretty big hole. Lily Allen was in attendance, sadly our paths did not collide, however, our opening bowler and skipper did nearly knock her over whilst carrying his pizza express slices at her head level, F**k you very,very much. The train back was packed, luckily our treasurer had secured us table seats, the annual chase the ace game stakes were eventually bumped up to £2,having started at 10p, notes were in danger of being broken into!

WSOP 2010

The World Series begins today with the $50k 8 game event, it's not a big event for me, I do have a 0.5% interest in Joe Serock though. Tomorrow things will get into full swing with Event number 3, a $1k. I've taken a good chunk of action in the Series events, fingers crossed it works out well for me, it won't be disastrous if everyone bombs, but it will definitely be frustrating. I'll have to make sure am not too busy railing the events to focus on grinding online myself.

I'm not especially pleased with how I've played this month. I've made an ok profit, but have definitely been turning in way too many sub par sessions, which are definitely hampering me from realising as much profit as I'm capable of. I don't generally blog about my own poker, however, I think listing a few Aims for now onwards will be helpful:

1) No Msn/Skype web browsing whilst playing. Have pretty much completely neglected this obvious maxim recently, it should be easier when people are away in Vegas etc.

2) Quality Time. Endeavour to use playing time efficiently by ensuring am playing an optimal amount of tables and not just playing for sake of it. Play A game and improve focus/concentration, should enable me to develop some reads rather than just relying on HUD.

3) Reviews. Something I've always struggled with, actively working on game away from table. Daily reviews of hands flagged up in previous days play seem to be a good place to start and will hopefully ease me into getting in a routine of doing this. Continue watching videos, ensure take notes on concepts.

4) Less refreshing: Be it pokernews, checking up on the horses, Holdem Manager to check profit mid session (something have noticed myself doing way too frequently lately) or 2p2 to check the staking forum, all these things are detracting from my game.

Will be interesting to see how I get on, I definitely owe it to myself to make a good effort. Poker's so potentially lucrative I shudder to think how much this carelessness is, or could cost me in terms of missed profit/not moving up etc. Of course there's no-one there to tell me to strive to uphold these aims so I'll need considerable discipline.

Am enjoying watching "Luther" on the BBC at the moment, apparently the lead was in "The Wire", but don't let that put you off! The premise is different to other detective dramas in that the viewer is shown who the murderer is in the opening scenes, however, the tension is ratcheted up by the character of the nihilistic Alice Morgan, a former child genius who murdered her parents. Luther has been unable to convict her as of yet...

Respite

Since the last blog I've had several staking sweats. Wazz, who was mentioned in the previous blog finished up 4th in EPT SanRemo boosting my coffers to the tune of around £15k. Then on to EPT Monte Carlo, this was a tale of broken dreams really, Rupert and I had pieces of two people 2nd and 3rd in the Main Event with 11 left, with a first prize of 1.7M euro. We joked about how awful it would be if neither of the lads made the final. This prophecy realised itself, at the time the 5 figure payday seemed rather paltry, but it was better than a poke in the eye with a dirty stick I suppose. The 15 euro G&Ts in the hotel bar did not taste as sweet as they could have.

Since then have had another chap bubble a major final table, this time WPT Paris, c'est la vie. I've got a good chunk of money riding on Vegas stakes, so I could manage to drop a load of money out there without having to endure the unbearable heat, terrible people and general misery. I won't definitely rule out a visit, but am keen to continue getting in solid volume online and keeping the wolf from the door.

Am currently recuperating back in Devon having felt rather exhausted by all the travelling around I've done recently. Such was my reluctance to avoid expending too much effort I decided not to play the Pokerstars event in Nottingham which I'd won a seat for a few days previously. I'll try and update a little more frequently as trying to recap a month at a time is pretty hopeless. I've also signed up for twitter today as "bombtheturn" so I can snoop on all the nags.

XXV

Well it's been some time since my last update, I haven't been putting a great deal of volume in online, something which I will rectify after my Monte Carlo trip. I have, however, been playing live poker, with has been lucrative enough to keep me rolled for Hamilton's breakfasts.

This weekend threw a bit of a shindig for my 25th. Unfortunately Mongy and Rick were unable to make it up due to the volcanic ash issue. However, Rupert and I did raise a "vodka and fresh apple juice" glass to toast them both. Sorted out a magician to come to the house party, he was pretty sick, but his game selection was a little off when he tried to outsmart James, he should have probably stuck to pawning noobs rather than looking to pick off the most inebriated. A bagpiper rounded off the house party with a rousing rendition of some Scottish nonsense, am sure the neighbours appreciated it anyway.

It was then off to Opal Lounge. Hired out some tables, worked pretty well, had never been in such a big group and done this before. It was certainly worth it though, more people to throw ice at etc. The evening went pretty smoothly, Al ordered a load of B52s to wash down the other booze, good lad.

Thanks to all those who came up, a special mention for Rupert who not only endured the indignity of public transport, but was also forced to sit next to the toilet for 4 hours. At least he had his pokerstars luggage for comfort. I have 5% of someone deep in EPT San Remo so fingers crossed he can close better than Saunders and Mercier ;)

Selling EPT action

Back in Edinburgh now, had a few good nights out with James, Flash and housemate Claire and caught up with Andy tonight over a few pints at local boozer.

For those of you feeling the pinch from the budget, snap up the value in my EPT thread. Can reserve pieces if I know you w/o sending quite yet.

http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/163/staking-selling-shares/msnl-reg-baltic-festival-winner-ept-monte-carlo-action-743340/

When I TID will be fun time in Jimmyz.

Also am making tentative birthday plans, so keep 16/17th of April free. Will probably try and sort something at Opal Lounge where Grandmaster Flash will be making a Premier performance of the soon to be classic "Opal Lounging".

PRAHA

Nope it's not a Prahlad Friedman themed entry espousing the merits of overbetting rivers...I'm off to Prague tomorrow with the Warwick Poker Soc and esteemed former members such as Rupert. Avid readers may recall Steven, who stayed with us in Australia, he was the chap disappointed to be described thus: "Steven managed to make us all feel rather mature and responsible". He was also supposed to be joining us, meeting me at Bristol airport, however, it transpires he has lost his passport.

It feels like the night before the start of a new term at school, full of anticipation, I've got several upcoming trips, after Prague will be checking out Dubrovnich with Rupert, George and James, then Monte Carlo for the EPT, followed by a bit of lashing for a stag weekend. I have been packing my belongings up and wondering how my Mum how has managed to lose all my pairs of socks in the wash. I also discovered my external hard drive in the bottom of my cupboard and took a rest from working my fingers to the bone to enjoy a spot of Alan Partridge. It truly is a timeless classic. I'll be returning to Edinburgh from Prague, it will be good to catch up with the flatmates and James, who is making his way up from London.

Had a little bit of an upswing at poker, my Ipoker contact seem determined to thwart it though, offering me the chance to play in a £10k minimum buy in 48 hour cash game. I mustered up the discipline to decline.

House of cards

Has been some decent TV on this week. The BBC had a couple of programmes focusing on unemployment. Celebraties such as Meg Matthews, Archie Mitchell from Eastenders, A Parker-Bowles IT Girl and Irish gardner Diarmund, all went to live with an out of work person/family. I thought all parties came out smelling of roses, the celebraties were portrayed in a pretty positive light and the plight of those suffering from long-term unemployment was also sympathetically highlighted.

"My Big Fat Gypsy" wedding was a rather more lighthearted Channel 4 documentary, focusing, as you may expect on traveler's nuptials. In their world most of the girls seem to get married at 16, with a huge, ridiculously oversized dress being a great status symbol. The larger the better, with many of the dresses weighing more than the brides and causing permanent scaring to the hips. It also transpired that the location of the reception must be kept secret, as if the venue get wind of it being a gypsy wedding they will cancel the occasion for fear of violent debauchery!

Poker has been pretty dismal, may take a few days off to watch some videos and regain a positive mindset. Am off to Prague on the Warwick Poker Soc trip next weekend which should be good fun.

Elsewhere, this caught Rupert's eye, we saw it being constructed in Macau, and is now finished.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/8559882.stm

Miscellaneous

Didn't really feel like playing a lot today. The msnl games weren't great so I mixed in some 1/2, results were poor, but there we go. I punted another share selection, picking up some "Mouchel Group", the mutter from the gutter is that it will bid up and there is decent upswing potential and a limited downside. Props to Robbie: http://thenakedtrader.co.uk/ A decent read if you have any interest in this type of thing.

In between "Doctors" and "Neighbours" I also managed to help a new horse set up hand history imports into Holdem manager and configure table selection software. Later I took a look over another guy's Holdem Manager stats and gave him a few pointers on what he can do to help improve his game a bit. Hopefully I won't turn him into a complete spewmonkey! Anyone looking for staking should take a look at my 2p2 thread: http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/135/staking/full-time-msnl-players-seeks-horses-fun-times-frolics-614357/

Finally, Congratulations to James "The Market Maker" Saunders who finished 3rd in the March £330 competition at Simon Trumper's "Dusk Til Dawn". A terrific score to open up his Hendon mob database account with.

One Week in...

Managed to get a good amount of hands in, however, week ended badly when I jumped into a ridiculously soft 5knl game and managed to lose a stack, relieving myself of the majority of my week's profits. Elsewhere in poker, my horses are making good progress and James Saunders is making a deep run in the DTD £300 (http://blondepoker.com/forum/index.php?topic=47063.0). Good Luck JDizzle. Was a little disappointing to drop that stack today, it's hard to figure the balance between taking shots in juicy games and trying to mantain sanity as well as ensuring that I don't feel need to take a day off or something ludicrous.

I enjoyed seeing "Question Time" this week, Boris and Carol Vorderman were both guests. Carol gave a lovely character assassination of Lord Mandelson whilst Boris kept me amused by expressing his displeasure with terms like "rhubarb" and "absolute codswallop". Serial HIGNFY guest Will Self also featured, he was rather tiresome at first, before eventually making some decent points. I was curious about his background so looked him up on wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Will_Self), discovering that he was a former heroin addict.

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Pinch, punch.

Still feeling under the weather, however, need to get back into grinding spirit. I therefore aim to play 60k hands on ipoker this month. The bonuses will be significant and I should be able to beat the 2/4 and 3/6 games for a decent clip if all goes to plan.

No trips or distractions this month, although I'll have to make my way back up to Edinburgh at some point. Once there I think I may get a 30" monitor to facilitate the grind. If I don't fail spectacularly may even put a graph up at the end of the month.

I took the plunge and created my own internet share dealing account. Picked up Microfocus and PVCS, ones to watch out for. Will be keeping an eye on them between clicking buttons. Once again may decide to keep track of the profit/loss on here.

In other gambling related matters I've taken on a couple more horses. Both seem reliable and have a good work ethic, so hopefully it will work out successful for all parties. Check out the forum where we discuss hands: http://bombtheturn.freeforums.org/

Not the illest...

Am feeling somewhat better, although am still being plagued by a rather irritating cough. To distract my self from this have just embarked upon a Rosetta Stone French course, hopefully will be able to ask for directions to the yachting club by the summer.

Have installed Google Analytics, so I can now see how many people view the blog. Prize of the same amount in $'s for anyone who guesses the number of "hits" received yesterday. Voting closes on Thursday.

Covalescing

Have been feeling pretty awful since my return. Appears I've contracted a cough/cold. However, think I'm over the worst of it now. Am intending on working my way through my Jonathan Creek Dvds, learning some scrabble words, watching bluefire poker videos and investigating shares. My advisory broker has been treating me like a bit of a mug and I'm fed up of paying vig on every purchase/sell. Hopefully Mr Keys will inform me of his picks soon...

Also am looking to trade some ftp money for stars ~10k, let me know if you are interested, smaller chunks acceptable too.

That's a wrap.

Now I'm back on Devonian soil and my blog homepage has purged itself of Chinese symbols it seems appropriate to cobble together a series of observations/remarks from the past 5 weeks and try and pass them off as a blog post. I'll probably spin it out into a two parter.

As all the lovies know, it's always good to start by thanking a few people. Rupert did a grand job of organising the whole trip, and Sweir's local knowledge and Uni friends made for a great time in Hong Kong. I think that's a syccophantic as I want to get, although special thanks must also go to Mongy for ensuring that we never got lost, and keeping the rowdier elements of the group in check with a stoic head shake and "Boys, boys boys" combination!

Whilst initially we found Australians to be rather impolite and not great company, we were lucky enough to meet Rupert's father's colleague, Shane, who reversed the damage done by his compatriots. The trip along the Great Ocean drive was undoubtedly one of the highlights of the holiday, the 7% homebrew and farmweigh caps certainly added to the ambience.

More comical moments from Australia included Rupert's $100 steak dinner being interrupted by some muggins from England calling him up and trying to offer him a job. Amused me as we credit card rouletted the bill. A separate dining experience involved Toby Lewis demolishing a plate of ribs, I really think it could go down as performance art, the blood/sweat/juice emulsion around his face, smeared by the odd arbitrary wipe of a napkin truly was a sight to behold.

Every trip organised by Rupert has a soundtrack, this year Andy Tokyo had to yeild supremacy to Lady Gaga, although there was some consistency, with "Black eyed Peas" retaining their position as a firm favourite., "Bad Romance" became somewhat of an anthem, although Rupert's experience of rooming with Keys gave him leeway evaluate the pros and cons of "Tonight's going to be a good night". Other chit chat included a homage to Neil Channing and "marvellous", references to Dizzee rascal's "S'up darling" whilst"Nobody, nobody but you (ad nauseam)" was reserved for serenading taxi drivers. Keys and Rupert also exchanged some really good "Office" related quotes, it's been ages since I've seen it and I definitely think I should reacquaint myself with this masterpiece soon.

The cabbies we experienced have earnt a paragraph of their own. Our Australian experience drew to a close with outrather animated Indian chap shouting at the top of his voice "This is F***ing Bullshit man" as we declined his ride to the airport due to him lacking enough space for our luggage. As a whole, the Aussie cab drivers were all Indian, they seemed to be much less integrated into soceity than in Britain, barely bothering to talk to clients and generally just being rather introverted/disinterested. There was an exception though, who was very good value and was chatting to us about Indian culture/religion etc, so it was good to finally get some interaction going. Lily Allen later informed us that there's actually a pretty big problem with racial tension in Australia, which we were all unaware of before visiting. They have coined the term "curry bashing" to describe it, incidentally we later managed to convince some American girls in Hong Kong, that this was a national sport in Australia.

In Hong Kong the drivers were all together more animated. On discovering we were English they would invariably start gabbling "David Beckham" whilst smiling broadly, all except the driver who seemed to have a penchant for shouting "Harry Potter" before bursting into fits of uncontrollable laughter. Mongy's sign language skills were not wasted, as he managed to coax one chap to "drift" around corners and roundabouts, the car wasn't rear wheel drive, so the handbrake was utilised, it was certainly an experience being sat in the back after a few beers for that trip.

On the first day in Hong Kong we saw a film about the "Number one witty Asian Gambler" which was Cantonese but with English subtitles. It seemed like a bit of a laugh, will probably try and find a copy from somewhere...Whilst the gamblers in Macau were of course predominantly Asian, wittiiness did not seem to be a trait that they were endowed with an abundance of, needless to say, we still managed to drop a load of cash there. Rupert, however, chopped a tournament, which was mainly notable for a rather witty, affable Asian chap. He informed Rupert that he should be referred to as Master Wong, we all enjoyed shouting that from the rail; nearly as much as we enjoyed his fistpumps, interjected by an apology to the guy he eliminated, followed by a cursory celebratory bang of the table. Master Wong, we salute you.

Obligatory Guest Post

Well since i've been exiled to Tommos room I felt it only appropriate to post on his blog. The night out at Fevar in Kowloon was absolutely fantasitc, with both Sweir and his bird starting on different people. I thought i'd have to do a Ross Kemp and roll out when it all kicks off but the phrase became more appropriate as I dragged my mattress across the Langham Place hallway at 5:30am in order to get half a fucking nights sleep as an American bird slept comfortably in my 5* bed. Marvellous.

Nevertheless, Tommy Angelos advice is fantastic in this situation as just like a solid 8 hour traffic jam I remain calm and unemotional and reminisce over the classic Black Eyed Peas tune TONIGHTS GONNA BE A GOOD NIGHT which at this point is beyond ironic. Matters weren't helped in the joint when Mongy disappeared, I took a piss, Julia had gone to the bar leaving the awkward 3s a crowd of Sweir, Laurie, and Tommo getting drinks poured over them and Tommo left out in the open as the remaining couple attempted to eat each others face.

Fucking brilliant. Anyway, off to Macau tomorrow for a few days to hopefully do my absolute bollocks on baccarat and that game I do for a living allegedly ALTHOUGH PERHAPS NOT ACCORDING TO YANKIEDOODLE before returning to HK for a calm couple of days and 12 hours of football manager on the plane.

Yours lovingly,

Rupert

Australian Highlights.

The two tallest members of the group (Keys and Mongy) had some good sparring, Keys was brazen enough to mock the famed "Mongy GPS" and incredulous to discover Scott thought that Ivanhoe was an Australian state. Mongy was on form for the trip and is now a converted Lily Allen aficionado, rumour has it he's going to do a happy hardcore remix.

Rupert's forte, aside from organising the next holiday, was chatting to the taxi drivers. The pick of the bunch was when discovering that one particular chap had come over for work, was, "well it's better than walking in a call centre I suppose."

Steven managed to make us all feel rather mature and responsible as he indulged in night after night of baccarat session. Also jeered at Andy Murray with me whilst watching the final of Australian Open.

Sweir had a deep run in the 6max, although showed his real prowess at aiding Rupert with taxi driver baiting. "Is this a vomit shield?" followed by a mock demonstration was particularly memorable.

Not to be left out I had a few exchanges. After being pilloried with Tony Cascarino as a "Pommie" I commented, "Well I wouldn't want to ever steal a pot boys, you never know where you may get deported to" Tony Hachem seemed to enjoy that one. One particular mug (sunglasses/headphones etc) in the 6max was rather irate at me for looking at his chipstack:

Rolf: "Fuck you, eyeballing my stack".

Me: "I'll have to get a pair of sunglasses like you, so you can't see where I'm looking"

Rolf: "You should, you can probably afford them"

Me: "Not sure I can to be honest, am still saving up for a pair of those swish headphones"

Dealer Interjects...

Afternote: Poor little Steven was whining at being called immature, I guess he'll grow out of this phase, it is a little wearing. Apologies Steven I didn't mean to be condescending-that means patronising (it's when you talk down to people) ref Jimmy Carr. In fairness though his extensive knowledge of pirogies, snow cones, tiramisu, 5bet jamming ranges belies his modest years.

Game, set and Hats.

We headed to "The Rod Laver Arena" today in order to watch the tennis. It was once again ridiculously hot, we were all rather concerned that we may melt into our chairs. The first match started worrying as Serena Williams completely ran over Li Na for the first couple of games and it appeared that a bloodbath was on that cards...(On that tangent we sneaked out and checked up on Key's progress to find he had busted in the money) Na fought back and this led to a great match which Williams won 7/6 7/6. Henin destroyed another Chinese girl 6/1 6/0 in the next match.

Hadn't had a gambling fix all day so flipped Rupert for who had to purchase the other a Aussie Open hat. I lost the flip, I couldn't moan too much though as we were later heckled by Keys and Steven who were loitering in the VIP area. Keys did a good job of putting a brave face on losing 600ks worth of showdowns having been an overwhelming favourite on each occasion. We had a quick drink and a band entertained Mongy's request for an Oasis tune, then home for a BBQ.

Our Time is Running Out...

Headed to "Big Day Out" on Tuesday, it's a music festival which tours around Australia. Despite having to endure the toilets, thanfully it was a one day event so no camping was involved. Our expectations weren't especially high, another morose taxi driver deflated us by failing to let us provoke any response from him. At least the one we had tonight had the decency to pretend to be on his phone so he could ignore us.

Kasabian did little to instill confidence, they were dire. However, cometh the hour cometh the man. "A black man, purple man, martian man" would have done, Dizee rascal was more than equal to the task. Even cynics like us were waving our hands around and getting involved with the chants. We were then treated to Lily Allen, supposedly recovering from a bout of gastric interitus. She demurely informed to throbbing crowd "I've been shitting myself all week". The fiesty star managed to make a good portion of the audience "Smile" when she flashed her chest, all contextual of course. Poor lily is pretty cut up over her love life, no doubt is Jack Powell's fault. Seemed like she was pretty coked up, seems par for the course, "everyone's at it"

Muse were next, they were really great, the atmosphere was brilliant. They didn't really need to interact as much with the audience as the other performers, quite frankly they didn't need to, everyone appreciated them doing what they do best; banging out tune after tune. The lighting display was amazing, multi-coloured lasers scything through the night sky. A picture of us all below, with me sporting my freshly pilfered DC Tshirt:

Keys, keys, Keys.

Had a new arrival in the appartment today, a Canadian chap called Stephen. Seems like a good guy, didn't moan about jetlag despite his commute, so should fit in well. I was grinding cash last night at the Crown it went pretty well. I was sat next to Tony Cascarino, so was obviously already starstruck when who should wander over but Neil Channing. To my delight he uttered an ironic "marvelous" in one of his tales.

I slept in today whilst the others headed to a Kickball game organised by Tony Dunst. Upon waking I called mongy, it's a testament to Bond's hospitality that Scott told me they were in a flat number that did not exist... The other boys were looking a bit pale, thankfully I chanced upon them leaving the building whilst loitering outside.

After eventually managing to ascertain the room number I headed up to see Mongy. Bond's joint was pretty swish with panoramic views across the city. My camera work didn't really do them justice:

After a rather weak, nondescript Victoria Bitter(It's not even an ale but a larger),LuckyChewy and KingDan arrived and we headed to a Japanese style restaurant. Rupert called just in time to rescue me from the pork dumpling starter, they were locked out of the apartment and not really in any fit state to get back into town. Shame really, am sure everyone would have been impressed by my chop stick prowess and extensive noodling knowledge. I did the noble thing, made my apologies and taxied back. N.B Trying to get any banter out of people in tertiary jobs is like trying to get blood out of a stone, obviously doesn't stop us trying though much to Mongy's displeasure and Sweir's delight.

Props to Sweir for making it all the way to the front door, Rupert only made it as far as the sofa in reception to get his 40 winks!

ElRupert busts 1st level of Cinnamon Challenge.

It's been a quiet day. Keys' work ethic continued to impress us, he resolved to grind single table sats at the Crown, and made it to the train station before changing his mind. Sweir lazed around in a pair of ridiculous shorts that Rupert was incredulous to discover had been purchased in the UK. Mongy recommenced his love affair with stts, and I've managed to go the whole day without a nap. Rupert livened things up by accepting the cinnamon challenge. Whilst waiting for the video to upload FTP have introduced new "Rush Poker" tables, looks like a gimmick also quite young, stay away imo!

Time to Plunder, down under...

I took the train down to London and stayed with James in soho. It appears the credit crunch has hit the area hard as the local dealers were trying to push weed rather than powder. Seemed to be a lot of people looking for "Charlie" though, no idea if they tracked him down. Met up with Mongy who was vocalising with some black fundamental Christians outside the tube station and helping them spread the Gospel.

The flights were not as bad as expected. I was planning on watching some poker videos, taking notes etc, however there wasn't that much space so had to rely on G&Ts for entertainment; until the tonic ran out that was...

Upon arrival we took a taxi to the appartment. The driver had a thick Russian accent, despite claiming to have lived here for 47 years. It took him less than 20 seconds to ask us if we wanted to go to a brothel. After having politely declined we arrived at the appartment. It suits us pretty well, it's around 20 minutes from the nearby train station to reach Melbourne City centre and from there not even the laziest of poker players could justify taking a taxi to the nearby Crown. Uploaded a snap of the view from the balcony.

Have played two donkaments so far. The $1100 was probably as soft as the $1.5ks at WSOP, it's a bit frustrating not to get the gold when the standard is so poor. Am here for a while though so fingers crossed for a nice score. Have been grinding online a bit with decent results which keeps morale up.

Went out for drinks last night and played some drinking games, it transpires that Rupert is unbelievably awful at "The Name Game" but is a complete Nazi on the implementation of International Drinking Rules. Met a couple of girls from Leamington Spa, some may say it's a small world, although it doesn't fell like it after the flights!

Happy New Year.

2009 went pretty swimmingly, I made it through the whole year without having a single curry or Chinese meal forced upon me. Highlights of the year were the trip to French Riviera and assorted Jimmyz outings. I passed my driving test too, which enabled me to make my way to Torquay casino. Poker wasn't bad either...

New Year's Eve consisted of the Edinburgh Street Party, Rupert, Gwen and JD all came up for the soiree. The event was hyped up and lived up to expectations, i.e getting ridiculously cold whilst being shunted from pillar to post by the marauding masses. Luckily we ventured to the pub afterwards and were treated to an attractive 30 something blonde dancing on the tables. Despite the Landlord admitting to being so drunk he couldn't remember a drinks order consisting of 5 beverages he had the presence of mind to bang on a striptease track The blonde duly obliged, although was soon dragged off by her husband.

Hope to work a lot harder on my poker game this year. Financially the cards have been lucrative, and whilst my game has improved I realise I can't rest on my laurels. Should start doing some more exercise too...Am also going to start keeping a spreadsheet to keep track of my spending, should at least enable me to analyse a few leaks, even if I do nothing to plug them!