Gadgets: Decided to go for a Netbook

I have been looking at Netbooks for a while as I wanted something I can use at home for playing poker on (apart from when in my office), something to use as media player - particularly for my digital photos (so I can bore the parents and in-laws with my collection of snaps) and also to use for the poker games up the club

Thing is I could never really justify the expense, but having had a bit of luck on Ladbrokes.com Blackjack and Roulette (OK a lot of luck!) found myself with some spare cash so have treated myself to one !

In the end I went for Advent 4211-C with Windows XP (due to most poker clients only working with Windows) and the Logitech V220 Cordless mouse for Notebooks.  It has 1GB RAM and 160GB disk which should be fine for the intended use

The great thing about the Netbook is it's small size and light weight (and pretty cheap as well !)

The thing  had to be very careful about was the size and layout of the keyboard... as they vary quite a bit in feel, layout, size of enter key and very importantly the ease of use for the mousepad and mouse buttons.   If you are thinking of getting one, you really have to go and play with a few to be sure you can cope with it.

I ended up getting mine in my local Currys shop as the prices seemed on par with what I had seen on the Internet

The screen resolution is the other downside for Netbooks, but once you get used to it, it is OK actually.  Most applications will adjust to the screen resolution and are can be used with a bit of scrolling here and there.  The Advent also allows you to se the screen res to 1024x768 (rather than 1024x600) so any "awkward" applications (like "Tournament Director" in my case) can still be used successfully.  

The only thing annoying me so far is that it seems to get the Home/End buttons to work you have to turn on NumLk which is really frustrating, but otherwise no real issues so far and am really pleased with my purchase. 

I need to get an external DVD r/w (as you don't get one as standard) and might look out for a small case to carry it in, but otherwise nothing else I am planning to add to it.  

Poker: Home Tournament -February 2009

Wow, where do I start ?   Another great game had by all.... a big crowd as well, with Jock and another long term no show, Jon both turning up ;-) so 15 players for the off.

I started off well, with my normal careful start I hit the flop and tripled up which gave me a nice stack to sit back and relax with.    Sean had his normal rebuy every hand kind of start and chips were flying everywhere in the early stages.  Lee also made a good start and got a heap of chips early on.  

Oddly enough both Lee and my stacks seemed to dwindle towards the break, with Steve W and Bill getting the chips.   The hand before the break saw me with A6 and under 1000 chips, so decided may as well stick them in.  I wasn't that worried by Bill's call, but Steve W also went for it.  Turned out Bill was the one to worry about, as his pocket K became quad K by the turn and Bill now has huge chip stack.

After the break, Mick was the first to go- busted by Darren but my luck changed for the better.   Can't remember all the hands now, but I think it was when I busted Jock that my Pocket 4's ended up quads !   The other table also had quad Q's so seemed the pattern of the night...

As the numbers dwindled, I hit another couple of hands and we even saw both Bill and Sean folding post-flop ! but the net effect was that my chips stack was around the 10'000 mark for a good while.  

With 9 players left, Lee was in the Small Blind of 500 leaving him 100 behind.   He astutely folded and found himself outlasting Alex, so maintained his 100% record of points finishes, now a run of 7 games !     His luck ran out on the final table, finding himself on the Big Blind but was impressive finish nevertheless

Having dispatched Lee from the final table, the Big Blind fell to Andy who had less chips than the Big Blind, and Darren promptly dispatched Andy as well !    Steve W was next in line but managed to survive the onslaught.    Peace did not last long, as with Simon all-in on the big blind I raised with A8   Bill called for his few extra chips so three showed their cards...Bill was ahead with A9 and Simon has A2 so looke3d rosy for Bill.  Unfortunately my 8 was the first card shown on the flop and no-one improved so I took out two more players and was very close to chip lead with Derek

With the blinds at 2000/1000, 4 players and Steve W short stacked it was never going to last long... sure enough Steve W got taken out by Darren leaving three for the money and about 10 minutes to play.   I hit a bad run and gave a load of chips to Darren, leaving me in 3rd place with around 10'000 chips.    I then got pocket 8's and raised, with Darren calling me with KJ.  a J spelt disaster for me and I'm out in 3rd.     Felt I played OK but was gutted not to finish better

The final two played for a couple more hands before Derek succumbed to the inevitable 2nd place, Darren taking a deserved victory

It was a great game with lots going on... I know I say that every month but its true !!   That's why we all will be back for more next month :-)

General : Cinema “Revolutionary Road”

We went to our local Vue Cinema to watch the movie “Revolutionary Road” last Saturday

The critics will doubtless describe it as a “thoughtful drama” but we both thought it depressing, sluggish and boring !

Our best hope is that the film wins an Oscar, then we win a couple of free cinema tickets to go see something decent !  (Saw a trailer for “The Boat That Rocked” which looks like a must see for me :-) )

In fairness, I would say it was well acted and had some story to follow, but you would get just as good acting, story and more satisfaction from watching Coronation Street   At least the soaps throw in some humour and you don't have to sit there for 2 hours…..