Essential Reading

I''ve just been taking a sneaky break from revision (13 days to go) and I came across two great articles that you must read if you haven't already:

DoubleAs' kick-ass post on Pressure Point in No-Limit
Poker Nerd's post on Inflection Points

Talking about inflection points, Harington on Hold'em, Volume 2 is out in a couple of weeks so I've pre-ordered mine. If it's anything as good as the first one then it'll be worth its weight in gold.

I've also just got Super System 2 and Caro's Bok of Tells through the post. Cant' wait to get my teeth into those. In the meantime it's back to the books and damn everyone who's heading off to Vegas over the next couple of weeks. Grrrr.

Music

Marital disclaimer: The following quote has got nothing to do with the recent incident when I admonished MissPink for chatting during and interview with Daivd Hasselhoff.

Another disclaimer: I am not a David Hasselhoff fan, but I am a big fan of Jake Thackray:

I love a good bum on a woman it makes my day.
To me it is palpable proof of God's existence - a posterior
And also I love breasts and arms and ankles and those knees;
It's the tongue the tongue the tongue on a woman that spoils the job for me.

Please understand I respect and admire the frailer sex
And I honour them every bit as much as the next
misogynist,
But give some women the ghost of a chance to talk and there upon,
They go on again on again on again on again on again on again on.

Jake Thackray's "On Again, On Again!" has the great privlidge of being the first incumbent in my new 'Tune of The Week' feature (at the bottom). If you ask me, Thackray is a freaking legend. I you ask Miss Pink, he's a f***ing sexists b**tard! Here's an amazonUK link in case you're eager to here more, which you should be.

So...I handed my essay in yesterday. Hurrah! Now only 19 days remain till I’m finished. All I need now is to remain get focused for the next two weeks or so! That’ll be pretty hard given some of the distractions that are gonna be going on. Grrr.

I had every intention of writing a really meaty post since things on this ‘ere blog have been pretty thin of late, but the FA Cup final stars in 15 minutes so I’m going to have to leave you, drink some beer, and diss ManYoooooo.

So you know I haven’t forgotten that the rest of my write-up is still due, here is the one and only picture I took whilst in Atlantic City. It’s a real shame that I didn’t make an effort to take more pictures, especially of the AlCantHang expierience, but this may make up for some of it:


It's a man, man!

Drastic Measures

Days till extended essay is due: 09
Days till I finish for gooooood: 29

Bring it on.

Work has started in earnest and I'm gearing up for the final countdown. This week has been moderately productive, but I've still been distracted at times by the black hole of internet poker. This morning I took the plunge and uninstalled all poker sites from my computer. I know, I thought it was brave too. So far I'm coping reasonably well. I've only had three vats of coffee and I'll probably make it till 6pm before cracking open the whiskey.

Posts will continue to be infrequent, brief and shitty so please accept my continuing appologies. When the time come remind me that you need to hear about three things particularly:

1. The final installment of my trip to the USA
2. That crazy home game down in London where the blinds were10p/20p and yet there was almost £3000 on the table by the end of the evening.
3. The Oxford Cup Weekend.

Briefly, the last weekend was a lot of fun, although I was slightly under the weather. Miss Pink graduated in style and I still had the opportunity to meet Grag Raymer. The Oxford Cup was a blast too and I met up with a bunch of ITHers which was cool. Suffice it to say that I didn't win, but for the sordid details wait you must. In the meantime get over to UPL for results, photos etc.

To bring you completely upto date: when I've been sciving from work, this week I've been playing Pot Limit Omaha and it has been much fun. I've just pipped the $3000 mark in my bankroll which is a good point at which to leave it for studying and should allow for some decent play after graduation. The plan for the summer is to play mostly $5/10 6-max on Party, but I'd want my roll to be up at $5000 for that. Till I get there it'll be more £2/4 6-max limit (slightly above my bankroll, but I've found the play to be surprisingly passive) on Will Hill, $3/6 6-max on PokerStars with the odd bit of $1/2 NL Holdem and PL Omaha thrown in on the side.

That's all folks.

New Blogs

Its been a while since I've been through my whole blogroll but I now feel duly updated. I've also discovered a handful of new Poker Blogs which have been duly added to the list:

I first read The Milybarkid's Blog when Otis was blogging on the EPT. I rediscovered it thanks to Doubleas' link-up. That guy is living the dream: £10-20 PLO and the big tourny circuit. Maybe I'll get there... one day!

Other UK additions to the blog roll: Sherwood Poker, The Camel Ruminates, and Lucky Blind.

In other news...

I met with my essay advisor today to get some ideas for structuring the beast. I've fianlly submitted my title: "Innate Immune Mechanisms in Allergy". It's sufficiently vague to allow me still to figure out what I'm gonna write, although I'd better make my mind up fairly quickly since it's due in just over two weeks.

On the poker front...

I'm continuing to tread water on Party. I think this is a combination of my crapness, which I'm going to put down to the distraction of knowing that whenever I play I should actually be doing some work,and also the fact that I'm playing at the quietest time of day in the USA. I therefore decided to re-deposit on a Eurpoean site. I'd got a "Comeback! We've really missed you." bonus from Victor Chandler but when I tried to deposit it told me that the code ws invalid. The woman on the helpline was suitably lacking in any help so I told her that Will Hill could have my money instead. Besides, the Crypto Network, of which Will Hill is a member, has re-established its £25 monthly prop.

I'd forgotten how good Will Hill had been to me in the past. God only knows why I cashed out from there. The play is abysmal and this was during the day. I transferred $400 of my bankroll over there and by the evening it was up to $900. I played one table of $100 NL and one table of £2/4 short-handed limit. I trippled my buy-in on the NL table. Most of it came when I had AA thanks to a chap with AK who called pot sized bets on the flop and turn with only over cards. The last Ace came on the river which ensured that his whole stack came in my direction. The short-handed limit tables were even better. I've never seen such loose-passive play. I remember the $5/10 6-max tables on Party being juicy (back when I had a roll big enough for that), but they were always very aggressive.

I think short-handed limit is where I want to aim at for the summer. If I can biuld enough of a roll to play the $5-10 game on Party then I can aim to follow in the footstpes of Geormiet and Scapegoate from ITH. It'll be interesting to see if Will Hill's 6-max tables continue to be so passive as the stakes rise. I haven't scouted them out, but I doubt they'll continue to be as easy as things were yesterday.

Right, back to the books....