Poker: Home Poker Tournament - July 2008

As there are only 10 players this time, we all play on one table.   This tends to give a really weird dynamic to the table and this, along with the fickle nature of the Poker Gods, produced a really exciting (and soul destroying for some) game!

With so many players we were only doing around 9 hands every 30 minutes, so there was frantic action before the rebuys stopped, with lots of people seeing the flop and lots of rebuys :-)

   In one such hand, I limped in late position with A-3 (a little loose for me, but hey...)   The flop came something like A-J-8.  Andy and Sean checked to me, so I bet it out.  Steve called, along with the other two.   The turn was a blank and we ended up with all four of us all-in.    Bizarrely, myself, Andy and Sean all had A-3 o/s and split the pot three ways !

Alex could be considered fairly lucky then unlucky in one hand, where about 5 people saw the flop and most were all-in.  Alex had two spades and picked up a flush draw.  He hit the flush on the turn, but then the fourth spade on the river gave Derek the nut flush with his A

Jon was probably the unluckiest person all night, the main hand I remember was where he got all-in pre-flop with Q-Q   Sean showed A-x and Alex had 5-5    The flop was blank, but the turn brought Alex his 5 and his trips held up (did I just say he was unlucky ? ;-) )

Once the rebuys stopped and everyone had time to reflect... we started up again.  I had around 2300 chips, with Bill and Derek having largest stacks

Thinks didn't go to well for me after the break.. a couple of draws didn't come, no cards to play so had to sit back and wait.    Sean was first to get busted out and as the blinds increased Andy and Alex followed in quick succession.   Things started getting a bit tense as myself, Mick and Steve were all relatively short stacked compared to the others.... Mick decided to keep his unnatural consistency going and went out in 7th place (again !) 

My luck wasn't with me as was down to my last 500 chips after the blinds went through me and couldn't get any cards to play.   On the dealer button I nearly stuck it in with 4-5s when two other people called the blinds.   As it turned out, I would have won with a straight as the board came 2-3-4-Q-A so I felt gutted, but the very next hand I saw A-6h and with Bill calling the blind I went in.   Luckily for me I hit the A and have now got 2000 chips

Jon's bad run continued as he went out on a bad beat to Bill (who else...) can't remember the hand now, but by all means add a comment with your views :-)

The next hand saw me raising the pot with a decent hand and Steve calling all-in.  The blinds got out the way and left us heads up.    Can't remember the details now, but I was behind but hit the River to take Steve out and virtually double up.    

A few hands later, with Derek on the SB and Simon BB, I see A-2 suited and raise the pot when Bill folds.   Derek re-raises all-in and Simon folds.   As its only around 2000 more to call I have to go for it, and found myself against K-J, so was in better shape than I thought.   The first card turned was a K, but the turn brought my A and Derek goes out in 4th and suddenly I have slight chip lead !!  

As we all have similar chip stacks the game is interesting with chips passing around, but with the blinds at 2000-1000 and average chip stack just over 9000 there is some action going on.....

I manage to build up my chips so when Bill busts Simon, I have 14'400 chips to Bills 13'600 with 4 hands to play.    Bill wins one, then folds one but with 2 hands to play calls my large pre-flop raise (I have A-9)   I have hit top pair with my 9, so go all-in and Bill calls with 6-4 (!) and as he doesn't improve, we have our result !!

Full results and analysis at http://www.statsgenie.com/poker/ as normal

The single 10 seater certainly makes an interesting game, although can be a bit frustrating with it being Pot Limit at times.  

Next week we have the Poker Satellite final table, so not long for some of us to wait.    For the rest, I will see you next month

Technorati Tags: Poker

Computing : I am now using a new editor for my blog postings

Technorati Tags: blogging live writer

I am posting my first post using Microsoft Live Writer, so lets hope it looks OK :-)

This is a GIF image that I just picked randomly from my hard disk.... apologies as I have no idea where it came from but just wanted to see how easy (or otherwise) it is to add an image and format/position it where I want to .... and it's very easy !

Of course HTML tables helps formatting, so have put an example below, just as a test

Title	Result
Complete gibberish	and here also

I must say, I am pretty impressed with the editing capabilities and will likely use this software for updates to my blogs in future !

Editors Note:   Editing existing postings seems equally easy... I am just adding this paragraph but there really is nothing to it

Holiday : Devon 2008

Went to Brixham in Devon Saturday 21st June for a week, so here is diary of our activities

Saturday 21st June

The day dawned dull and drizzly, which kept up for the whole journey down. We left around 10:30am but the run was surprisingly clear, except for a section around Stonehenge (I guess due to the Solstice being this morning!) so despite stopping a couple of times, we arrived at the bungalow around 3pm. First impressions of the immediate area was that of a council estate, but actually wasn't all that bad really. The bungalow was big and clean, but you could tell it was owned by an elderly lady.

By 4pm we were walking into Brixham town to see whats what. We are staying at the top of a hill on the outskirts of town, so is quite exhausting 20 minute walk, but amazing views on the way down. Our route takes us through a picturesque park as well. It is still drizzly and very windy, but quite refreshing after the journey. On arriving in the town, seems there is a trawler race, so the pubs are packed with drunk trawler men, who are also protecting about fuel costs (lucky us) ! We had a walk around, got cold and wet, so had a nice cup of tea in a cafe on the harbour front. Then decided to have Fish and Chip supper, which was most excellent :-) This gave us the energy to walk back up the hill to the bungalow, it certainly is a steep climb!

A short rest sees us fit and healthy enough to venture out again (back down the hill, again!) but this time to a pub for a drink or two..... enough lubrication to get us back up the hill (didn't seem so high or steep this time)

Sunday

Woke early and out by 9:30am ! Not raining, but still windy and cloudy (with Sunny spells) Walked around Battery Gardens after getting a paper and sat to have a nice read in the Sun whilst looking at Tor Bay below us. Walking round the headland found an isolated craggy cove, which was great, but very steep hill to climb back up for lunch back at the bungalow. Also managed to watch the French Grand Prix before going out for another walk where we found a beachy cove for future reference (not exactly sunbathing weather today) After a rest back at the bungalow, went out to find dinner. Tried the local pub, but they don't serve food after 4pm on Sundays (would have been OK any other day!) so ended up at the local Holiday Park where the restaurant was open to non-residents. Food was OK, but the main advantage was that we didn't have to climb a big hill to get back to the bungalow. Got back to the bungalow knackered by all the walking done so far, so just enough strength to watch Top Gear and a bit of footy

Monday

Up early again.... must be the Sea Gulls waking us up I think... also the bed is tiny double compared to what we are used to ! Out and about by 9:45am and went to Paignton Sea Front for a walk. Cloudy, cold and windy today, although starting to get Sunnier by the time we left around midday. Went onto Compton Castle and had a good look around, but not very big place so only there a couple of hours, so ended up at Totnes for a nice lunch by the river.

After lunch we walked up the high street (which is steep uphill climb!) going to the museum, buying an Ice Cream, finding a bear shop and going to the Castle before running out of time in the car park

Back at the bungalow feeling knackered again, but force ourselves walk into Brixham to find a pub for a drink. Walked back via the closest pub to our Bungalow before the hill climb to take away some of the pain of getting up that hill!

Tuesday

Up even earlier and out on the road by 9:15am heading for Kingswear. Parked the car at the top of a steep hill !! and walked down to get the ferry to Dartmouth and at the shops by 10am. Walked around a bit then stopped for elevenses This gave us the energy to walk to the Castle and have a good look around. Back into the town in time for lunch and found a lovely tea shop to stop in "The Singing Kettle Tea Shoppe" and had a nice lunch (albeit a little expensive, but certainly worth it)

After lunch we did the rest of the shops, couple of parks and nice views walking along the river, then went back on the ferry just in time to look in the Bear shop in Kingswear, so now have a new addition to our furry family (called Charlie so I'm told)

Once we had walked up the hill to get the car and got back to the Bungalow, we were knackered (again!) so drove to a local Carvery pub/restaurant... unfortunately it is curry night, so no nice roast turkey for dinner. The normal (non-curry) menu was OK, so had a decent enough dinner.

After dinner, had just enough left in the legs to have a walk along Paignton sea front before heading back.

Wednesday

There was a knock on the door at 7:30am as the fuel delivery man wanted access. We had been told about the delivery but was expected around 8:30am and he should have gone to the bungalow 4 doors down for access.... oh well, its Sunny spells but still very windy, so can make the most of an early start

Went to Berry Head to start off, which had Napoleonic/WW2 forts as well as lots of wildlife to see. The guillemot colony was incredibly noisy and there was a RSPB post where the very helpful lady had telescope and binoculars set up to allow anyone to take a closer look.

Then went to Coleton Fishacre which was spectacular art deco interior to the house and fantastic views around the gardens (up and down hills again!) before going back to base for a well earned cup of Tea and a quick snooze!

Around 3pm set off into Brixham for a long walk to Shoalstone Beach then back round to the Harbour (and back up the hill!) returning around 5:30pm for another well earned cup of tea.

It's been a long day, but with the local Weatherspoons pub firmly in our minds, we set off back into Brixham and had a decent meal in the pub. Only slight problem was the air con in the pub was set to super cold, so was glad I had my jumper with me!

After the meal we had a slow meander round the harbour to let the food digest, before fueling ourselves with a swift pint in the pub for the walk back up that hill

Thursday

Decided today is our "rest day" so are intending to spend the day at the beachy cove by the lifeboat station. Despite the sunny weather promised by the BBC the previous evening, it looks just as windy and cloudy as the previous days.... so decide to lay in bed until 9:30am. Didn't leave bungalow until 11am so got to the beach around 11:30am. Quite warm and sunny by now, but lots of clouds about. Leave beach around 1pm and go back to the bungalow for lunch. Then walk back down and get the first cream tea of the holiday. Get back to the beach, but actually around 4:15pm by now and no sign of the sun, so only stay half hour before walking back to get ready for dinner.

Decided to drive to Stoke Gabriel based on looking at the map (looked like it may be quaint and on the river), but the two pubs in the small town didn't appeal so ended up back at the Carvery pub we went to before. Unfortunately no carvery being served tonight, but did have a reasonable meal from the normal menu. As the weather is looking a bit like rain, decide to go back to base and walked down the local pub

Friday

Forecast is to be wet all day, although it looked kind of OK when we woke up. Still cloudy and windy, so decided to go into Brixham where we had a walk then a Fish & Chip lunch. Decided to come home early, so packed up and left around 1pm, arriving home by 5pm after an uneventful journey home

We both enjoyed the holiday and were glad we went, but both felt the hills on our legs ! It was a shame the weather wasn't better but didn't really have an impact on us, apart from making us decide to cut half day from the stay down in Devon on the Friday. Overall it was a good holiday and a nice rest. Certainly is a very beautiful part of the country and well worth seeing and experiencing

Poker : Annual Satellite 2008 : Semi Final result

With two men and two women, it had the hallmarks of a classic battle of the sexes. With three tight/passive players and a relative unknown in John, the pace from the start was "leisurely" By level 3 we were still looking for a hand with some action... so far there had been a lot of calling and checking.... John was even reading the newspaper, although it was a bit of a tell as he put it down when he got a good hand !!

Sure enough John puts the paper down and bets 200 pre-flop.... Karen and Steve call and the turn is 8-3-J. Everyone reverts to type and check, and also everyone checks the A on the turn. A J falls on the river and John bets the pot to take the largest pot of the night so far.

Karen's strategy for the game seems to be to see a lot of flops and make lots of minimum raises, but seems to be working now as she is taking a lot of small pots uncontested.

Bit of excitement when 9-T-Q flop comes, as Steve and Lynn start raising. The turn of 8 is followed by J on river, giving both the straight, but its checked down as they both are playing the board.... Steve had a 9 and Lynn the Q, but the split pot was quite large This is soon followed by more action after the 5-5-7 flop is checked, the A on the turn doesn't prevent Lynn from calling and the Q on the river really makes it hot up as Steve takes the 1500 pot from Lynn with A-Q to Lynns Q-7

Level 4 continues the action, as John has finished reading his paper and calls with everyone else for a family pot. Its checked down to the river and Johns pot bet of 500 takes it uncontested. He shows his K high bluff. Johns relatively low on chips now, but his more aggressive stance falls foul when Lynn goes all-in on the turn and shows a made flush and Johns drawing dead

At the break the chips levels are: Lynn 5700, Karen 4600, Steve 3800 and John 1900

Karen and Lynn start what becomes a game long battle, with Karen betting 500 into 1500 pt and taking it down., but before that develops we see Steve John and Lynn getting a A-K-A flop. John bets 500 into 600 pot but gets called the turn and river bring J-5 and John is all-in thinking his J is good for 2 pair, but Lynn has hit her straight and sends John packing

We are now at level 6, with Karen still min raising and lots of checking going on. Lynn checks Karens min raising but on the river Lynn puts in a strong 1000 bet on K-6-8-A-9 board. Karens turn to let go and Lynn takes a good pot. Soon after another Lynn/Karen pot evolves with Karen min-raising and Lynn calling. With the board J-5-9-3-K Lynn sticks 1000 into 2000 pot and takes down the pot again

The next level sees pressure on Steve with the short stack. Lynn bets 500 into 2000 pot and Steve calls. The 9 on the river gives it to Lynn, so Steve under more pressure now. Its then Karens turn to bet 1000 into a 2000 pot and pushes Lynn off the pot The last hand of this level sees Steve pushing all-in although its only for another 600. Lynn and Karen both call. The flop of Q-9-8 doesn't make Steve look happy, although the girls check down the turn and river of 2 and 3. Karen takes the 6000 pot, knocking out Steve and giving a 2:1 chip advantage to Lynn

Lynn has around 4500 chips left, so it's soon over as a couple of hands into level 8 sees unraised flop of 7-2-3 Karen bets out 2000 and Lynn calls all-in Lynn's A-K was ahead pre-flop but Karens 6-3 is ahead. The turn/river of 2 and Q don't help Lynn so we have our winner

It was a well fought game by all and although it was a steady start, it had moments of brilliance, aggression and thought

See you at the final table !

We did have a quick cash game afterwards, and one hand was hillarious. We were down to 4 players and blinds of 25/50. Bill folded and Sean immediately went all-in for 2050. There was no way I was calling, but needled Sean a little about how he overbet the pot and was only going to get called by someone way ahead. Lee in the Big Blind insta-called with pocket A's and Sean giggled as he showed his 7-2 off suit. The first card turned was another A, but a 7 gave Sean a miracle runner, runner out. The turn paired the board to give Lee the full house, and the 7 on the River gave Sean a consolation lesser Full House.

Poker : Home Tournament - halfway there....

Reflecting on the statistics for the first half of the season there are some interesting patterns emerging (You can see the spreadsheet at http://homepage.ntlworld.com/sceaga/Poker/poker_2008.xls)

Sean seems to like finishing 11th, Mick has one 8th place and four 7th places and Alex seems to love finishing 2nd :-)

The least consistent finisher seems to be Darren with a 1st and a 14th, although Roger is close behind on this measure (1st and 13th) with a gaggle of players with 9 place differences (including me!)

If we ignore the players who only played one game, the highest average finishing position is Andy at 3.8, with the next closest person being Derek with 5.2 (maybe Andy consciously talks his game down so much to lull us into a false sense of security!)

Poker : Home Tournament - June 2008

I was lucky to make the game this month... had it been the previous evening then I definitely wouldn't have made it as I was in bed with "Man Flu" but felt OK by the next afternoon (albeit maybe I shouldn't have bothered in the end :-) )

The game started off fairly briskly on my table (probably because Bill was on it !) although Bill managed to fold several winning hands in the first level, including what would have been four tens !! My play was not on top form but was also hampered by Bill calling down and hitting his hand. I managed to dodge his 7-3 when it hit trip 7's on the flop, and didn't push hard enough when I was ahead and ended up laying down a couple of hands by the river, so my chips were disappearing fast. Derek on the other table took his top up first, but I soon had to do the same. Even then my bad run continued and was down to around 900 chips. Luckily I hit A-K and went all in after a couple of callers and took a reasonable pot without having to play. I then got Q-Q and went all in again, this time Alex called me with K-J and didn't improve so I was back in the game with nearly 4000 chips

My memory is very woolly about the proceedings (due to the cold unfortunately) but by the break I was up to around 5000 chips, with Roger on around 6000 and the others slightly under chip average.

The restart started seeing some action on the other table, with Steve busting out first Sean (at least it wasn't after two hands...) then Steve W in quick succession. I was the lucky one to change tables, but was 2nd in chips to Steve (who had a huge stack) The first hand on the new table saw me with A-9 suited, so put in a standard raise. Derek quickly called behind me but the others folded. With flop of T-9-x I was hoping Derek had missed the flop and with the pot at 2300 put Derek all-in for his last 2200. As it turned out Derek had missed the flop but called with his A-J. I was a little disappointed to see a J on the turn and blank river, so was down to around 1500 chips. A few hands later I was down to 1000 and the blinds 500/300 I had to go for it, but on the other table Bill went out in 10th so I tried to hang on to make the top 8 for one point. Unfortunately my 9-3 on the big blind didn't hit the flop and had to fold to Andy's bet (he showed Pair so was the right choice) then the Small Blind saw me all in and taken out in 9th.

The final table started off with some technical problems with the tournament software, which was resolved when I realised I had managed to turn on the keyboard lock ! That's what a lack of Adrenalin does to you when you got a cold. The play was tense and cautious, as the blinds were starting to hurt most people. It took some time, but with the blinds at 1000/500 Darren found he had to go for it..... but Steve took him out ! Mick followed suit the next hand, but Simon taking the scalp.

Andy was getting some stick for moaning about not getting any picture cards (he had only got 4 all night apparently), but suddenly got an embarrassment of riches when he seemed to have nothing but pictures and was taking down some pots.

As we came into the last 20 minutes with blinds at 2000/1000 Derek was the next victim by Alex this time. The action died down a little and the chips were being passed around, but for the last few hands there was an explosion of activity as Roger came alive and hit some stonking hands. First took down Simon to get a large number of chips, then went all-in again on the next hand. Steve decided to call and Andy chose to stick in his remaining chips, despite having the option to play tournament strategy and let the others fight it out. As it turned out, Andy made the wrong choice, as Roger hit big and took both out, Andy being 4th by having less chips than Steve who took the 3rd place prize money.

With Roger a huge chip leader over Alex and two hands to play, it was all over. Roger took the deserved win and an sure Alex was happy to have seem Roger blitz the remaining players to promote him to 2nd.

Another exciting and enjoyable game, which leaves the leader board wide open at the half way point.

Andy (who never has any good hands or any good luck according to himself) is at the top of the leader board with 100% point's finish record (how did that happen !) but the top 8 are split by only 12 points, so a win could take anyone anywhere in the leader board, so all to play for and should be an exciting rest of season. The title can literally still go to anyone.... !

Travel: Visit to Stratford

Went to Stratford-upon-Avon Saturday, on the way to Nottingham..... had a nice walk about but was dismayed (well one of was) to find the Teddy Bear Museum has moved to Wimbledon !! Still managed to find a shop that sold bears, but also found a nice tea room for Tea & Cake :-)

We had a lovely weekend away, coming back Sunday. The cruise there and back at 60mph on the motorways did have one beneficial effect (other than me not getting ear ache :-) ) and that was achieving an incredible 48.75mpg in the Fiesta !!) Won't see that kind of fuel consumption when I'm on my own in the car I bet !!

Poker: Annual Satellite 2008 : Heat 4

Martin was luckily able to get a heat together at short notice (thanks) so went round to officiate. Martin, his friends Andy and John, plus his son Luke and his friend Chris being the players.

Level 1 started quietly with little pre-flop raising, and any raise pretty much taking the pot.

Once the blinds went up, Martin seemed to wake up a bit and start sticking in some raises and all-ins!. He mostly took the pot uncontested but then Andy called him pre-flop, called on the flop and stuck in a re-raise on the turn. After some thought Martin folded.

Chris and Luke had so far also been busy texting on the mobiles which got them some stick but as the action hotted up they seemed able to "fold" their mobiles... Chris played his first hand and although he hit his flush and had a showdown was only a small pot.

Went back to the standard call, call, raise, fold, fold scenario with Martin being the aggressor a lot of the time. Andy came back at him again and showed KK when the pot was taken uncontested.

The Kings kept coming up as Andy re-raises Martins pre-flop raise to 1000. The flop comes Q-9-4 rainbow and when Martin checks, Andy goes all-in and takes a sizable pot. He shows KK again!

The last hand before the break sees Martin raising again, but Luke on the BB calling. Luke checks and Martins bet takes down a reasonable size pot

Soon after the break we have our first casualty. Chris had been sitting quietly most of the night, but raises from the button. Martin goes all-in and Chris calls. Chris shows the ladies (QQ) but Martin has the gentlemen (KK) ! No-one improves so Chris goes out in 5th place

Luke is now the short stack and sticks most of it (around 2000) into a 600 pot with the K-Q-8 flop and takes it uncontested. He shows A-4 (Martin shows A-6) so seems Luke has been taking note of his Father style and adopting it :-)

It is Johns turn to be small stack and lumps it all in when the flop comes 6-4-2. Martin calls with pocket 3's but doesn't improve, doubling John up.

The action is really hotting up as the blinds increase, and soon see Luke going all in on a flop of A-Q-7 He must feel pleased to get a caller when he shows his A-7 but his hopes are soon dashed when Martin shows 7-7 and takes down the pot.

Luke has 1000 chips, Andy 4500, John 8500 and Martin 6000

With the high blinds Luke has to get busy but manages to get a caller for his QQ. Andy's TT seem to be in trouble until the flop comes T-7-6 Two 5's don't help so Luke is out in 4th

The chips move around the remaining three players and it is all quite close, then Martin decides Johns all-in push on a board of 9-9-7-9-4 is a complete bluff...... but Martin shows K-3 and although John only needed an A to beat him, he actually showed T-9 so was way ahead from the flop..... so Martin finished 3rd and we are heads up !!

John has around 2:1 chip lead but Andy is playing very cagey. Lots of cautious play so its a tense time. The blinds go up to 1000-500 so neither player can afford to give up chips easily now so start seeing calls and raises pre-flop. Andy takes a reasonable pot and goes chip leader, but then John pulls one back and the chips are moving around.. eventually both players feel they have the better hand and all the chips go in the middle. Andy takes the pot and a well earned victory, but we'll see John in the semi's

Well done to all and see you at the next one!

Holiday : Dad's 80th birthday bash

Woke up Saturday at 3am with dodgy tummy, so had to go to the toilet... then again at 4am, 5am, 6am.... you get the (not pretty) picture, wasn't all that bad and could eat breakfast OK but feeling a bit tired from the interrupted sleep !

Saturday was hot and sunny. I drove up to Aldeburgh in Wife's car, so was getting lots of useful hints from the passenger as well as the Sat Nav... like when to brake, when to change gear... :-) but got to the destination in one piece in around 3.5 hours so not too bad considering it was meant to be the busiest day on the road for the weekend.

Stayed in the Wentworth Hotel and the staff were nice, room was clean and functional (with HUGE bathroom) so no worries there

The festivities started with Champagne and had fantastic meal, more than enough to drink (although I actually only had 2 or 3 drinks) and fun and games or entertainment. Ethan managed to win the Horse Racing DVD game we played, despite only being there for the first race :-) We had a nice walk back to the hotel which seemed to go ever so quick, maybe because it's mainly down hill !

Although the hotel bed was comfortable, Sea Gulls seemed to be scrabbling around the roof in the early morning so they woke us up with their calls, so hadn't really fully recharged my body with sleep ! Sunday had dawned with lots of rain and wind so when we went to Emma's to see their new additions to the house, we got a bit wet !! Then back to Margarets for lunch. Luckily lots of people wanted to watch the Grand Prix so saw that as well. Went back to the hotel for a well earned rest!! Back to Margarets for dinner, which was less people but much more good food, drink and frivolity. Despite intending to have only a couple of drinks and an early(ish) night, we managed to stagger back to the hotel around 12:30 (we think!)

Monday was a non-day for me as I didn't feel all that great.... had a dodgy tummy again, which was probably to do with over eating and over drinking with less sleep than I needed but managed to drive home in the wind and rain then sit in front of the TV for the afternoon..

It was a very hectic weekend and wasn't 100% fit all the time, but had a great time and seems everyone else enjoyed themselves as well :-)

Cars: Donnington Park touring cars

Went to Donnington Park to watch the Touring Cars Sunday. Unfortunately Lynn wasn't 100% so went up in her car so she wouldn't be "bumped about" but it was no big deal as the route was all motorway anyway.....

Got there in time to see the start of the first Touring Car race. Got a good view of the back of the track and saw some excitement.... although of course there was a lot action going on the track we couldn't see. After the BTCC race we walked around the track and watched the Seat Cupra race as we went around. The best view is from the far side of the track, where you can see the Craner Curves and the top of the hill, so watched some racing from there.

They also had some vehicles going round during the lunch break, so saw a new single seater and a white van going round at speed. (the white van having a Jaguar running gear and engine!)

When racing resumed, the rain which had been in the air all day, decided to become more persistent... so we ended up leaving early... but was certainly a worthwhile trip and really enjoyed the bits I saw. Next time we would take our camping chairs (which we had forgot, and assuming we are going in Lynns car of course) as the ground is a bit hard to sit on for any length of time!

General : trip to London

We decided to have a shopping trip to London last weekend, not sure how we decided to go... but nominally to go and buy me a Birthday present :-)

The first bit of excitement was at the train station at Ascot, where we saw the steam train... not sure what it was doing there but obviously some trip somewhere and lots of people were on board having their breakfast !

Once at Waterloo, we went to get the tube, but there are lots of lines closed due to engineering works and also an "incident" on the circle line, so it was confusing and crowded but we ended up at our first planned destination, Portabello Road. Coming out of the tube, there was a queue just to get out! There were hundreds of people walking up and down the approaches to and Portabello Road itself..... We walked up most of it, but wasn't a very pleasant shopping experience due to the crowds

We then went on the tube to Regent Street and found a nice cafe for lunch, then went into Hamleys! After spending a fair amount of time in Hamleys, we walked to Hatton Garden (as it was a nice day . Hatton Garden is the Jewelery quarter so majority of the shops were expensive Jewelry shops !

Then decided to go to Harrods, where we made the only purchase of the day.... a handbag.... no not for my birthday, it's for Lynn :-)

On the way home, we had to change at Ascot and decided to pop in the pub for our evening meal. The food was really nice and pretty reasonable so were pleased with our decision.

All in all a very nice trip out, despite not buying what we went out for....

Poker: Home Tournament - May 2008

It was a bit of a shock for some to see some GIRLS turn up to play :-) We also had Steve W join us for the first time, so welcome to everyone to the bonkers monthly game...

On my table, Bill seemed to start off in his normal style by getting all-in with Andy.... as it turned out his A-K against JJ was a close race but neither improved and Bill is buying in the first hand (now that isn't unusual) There is a lot of limping in (also as normal) so I am getting compelling odds to play quite loose and end up limping in with some rubbish like 6-4 but hit a straight and as Bill has called me, he ends up buying in again and I start building a good size stack. A few hands later, Bill is all in against against my two pair and the turn comes what I think is a blank but the river completed his runner-runner straight and takes a miracle win.... its going to be a long night...

My luck is actually pretty good, as its not long before I get K-7 on blind and flop gives me a straight draw. Alex gives me a cheap card and I hit the straight on the turn which we both check. The value bet on the river gets paid off and my stack is looking healthy again.

As the night progresses Alex builds up a good size stack, as does Andy. My stack starts to go up and down a bit but mainly down....

At the break, I am at around 2500 chips which is a little below average but not anything to worry too much about.

Incredibly, Jon is the first man out on the other table and stands around looking shell shocked.... but he isn't the only one out for long and Jock gets busted out by Andy

As the blinds increase it is starting to get expensive to see flops and Steve W suddenly springs into life by busting out Roger then Bill in quick succession. With a decent size stack he also starts putting in pot sized bets on the flop and suddenly has a huge stack ! Not bad for a beginner (you did say you were a beginner, didn't you ;-) ) Soon after, Viki gets busted out after a good show, so we are down to the final table.....

The final table sees Karen with the chip lead, Mick low stack but on the button and I have just enough for the BB but am one off the BB so have two hands to be all in. Seeing A-7 was enough for me to put my 700 chips. Lucky for me everyone else folds except Steve W who is obliged to call the extra 200 and shows 6-4. Luckily I hit a 7 and take the pot so can afford to put in my BB now ! I have to fold the next hand when there is some raising but go all in with A-4 on SB when everyone except Derek folds. Alex re-raises which makes Derek fold, but am not confident when Alex shows A-8 Luckily for me, the flop brings an A and all high cards, so we end up splitting the pot and I have got a full round to make a move with my 2000 odd chips now.

To my surprise and delight, the action really hots up, with Steve W betting out on all streets against Karen, he has to show a complete bluff on the end against Karen's pair A, so is the first player out from the final table (well done though, good effort) Turns out to be the start of Karen's Juggernaut ride over the table as she takes out both Mick and Simon on the next hand.... Simon with trip Aces was betting big but Karen sitting there quietly with Full House took a HUGE pot (Simon was likely 2nd chip leader at the time) I suddenly find myself in at least 5th place which was unexpected to say the least, but the winner is no longer in any real doubt....

Unfortunately I do not improve as I stick it all in with K-7 and get called by Karen and Andy from the blinds. With no pocket pairs, my 7 pairing the flop put me well in the lead but with Alex and Derek's support, Karen hit a T on the river, taking another two players out and leaving just 3 players.

It is all over bar the shouting as Derek find himself all-in with T-3 but this time it is Alex who is taking a player out

With there only being time for four hands, Karen continues her tight play and takes the well deserved win.

With 16 players it was quite busy, but a fantastic game with lots of action.... next month is the £10 special (no-limit, no-rebuy with 2nd chance) so that one should also be a cracker... can't wait !

Music: SliceThePie.com

I have recently taken up with SliceThePie.com which is a site that allows you to make money by listening to music and reviewing the tracks... what a fantastic idea :-)

The artists are all non-signed (the idea for the bands is to get finance) and you only get 3p per track to start with... but it is great if you want to get into new music. I have done around 50 reviews now, in around 2 weeks of occasional use, and am now a 2 star scout, which means I now get 5p per track review. At this rate, I will make a tenner by the end of the year :-)

The quality of the music is pretty high most of the time. The issue at the moment is that there is a mix of genre in the scouting room, and you have to review tracks randomly assigned to you and anonymously, so you have to listen to all sorts of stuff... country, rap, folk... although mostly indie rock so like a lot of it. I have discovered a couple of tracks which I would not otherwise have bothered to listen to but actually really like (one rap, one weirdy foreign one) so is opening my eyes ot a wider range of music..

All in all, if you have a spare half hour here and there during the week, like listening to music generally and have the patience to listen to then review the tracks, then you may find this interesting yourself.

More info on the FAQ page at http://www.slicethepie.com/About/Default.aspx

Poker : Annual Satellite 2008 : Heat 3

As the first hand started you could cut the tension in the air with a knife ! Having said that, everyone was eager to get into the action straight away and the first hand was a family pot to the flop. Karen bet out from the small blind (SB) and everyone called except Sean (!!) Only Alex and Karen saw the showdown with Karen's flush beating Alex's top pair to take down a reasonable first pot.

It had to come sooner rather than later, and sure enough we saw the first husband/wife battle on the next hand, with Darren pressuring Viki who very reluctantly folded on after seeing the turn.....

It was all action early on with the next hand seeing Alex check/calling Sean on a 9-9-x flop, but re-raising Sean's large bet on the River but Sean showed A-9 which had Alex's K-K well beaten so Alex's stack was already looking depressingly low.... but hope came the next hand when Alex hit flush on the River to overturn Darren's trip A's

Already into the second level, no-one stopped for breath as Karen bet out against Sean in another domestic.... despite thinking she had two pair a very scared looking bet on the River was called by Sean, who folded when Karen said she had two pair.... pointing out she actually had a flush was just an added bonus.....

There were a couple of hands of relative calm, before Sean and Alex started laying into each other on a K-Q-9 flop. Alex check calling Sean's bets on the flop and turn. When the river came down with a 9 to pair the board, Sean went all-in which was insta-called by Alex who shows K-9 for the full house, leaving Sean with 300 chips !!

The blinds went up and Sean immediately got done for a BB (which was folded to a raise) Lady Luck was obviously with the ladies, as Sean went all-in on the SB but was called by the two ladies..... the flop was J-7-2, another 2 on the turn and T on the river saw Karen take both pots down with her 4-2 off suit, busting Viki's 9-9 and taking Sean out in last place !

Viki was looking short stacked. With the blinds now 125/75 Alex raised to 500 from the button. Viki told Alex off for raising but called and Karen also called. To teach the big bully a lesson Viki bet out another 500, called by Karen but Alex took the hint and folded his A-Q on a flop 4-4-x Viki kept it friendly after that and led out with min bet on turn and checked River, showing A-4 against Karen's A-J, so all had a good hand but Viki made a monster and doubled up

At the break the chip counts were Alex 7000, Karen 6000, Viki 5000 and Darren 2000

Blinds are now 200/100 so Darren needed to get busy... so he raised with K-Q and Karen called with J-7 suited. With Flop of J-T-7 Karen called Darren's all-in bet and the J on the river was not needed and Karen had claimed another victim !

Viki's chips were dwindling again and Karen was getting aggressive with her chip lead and was hammering Viki. Karen picked up big pot by making a straight on the Turn, and a couple of hands later her pair 4's beat Viki's 2's With short stack, no luck and the blinds going up again, Viki was all-in against Alex who had pocket 5's. With no improvement on the board Viki went out a respectable 3rd place.... but she had the satisfaction of doing better than hubby !

The chips were exactly level for the heads up, and both players were being very cagey. Lots of calling and checking (and folding) It needed two good hands to get action going, and it soon came when the flop showed A-8-x all diamonds. karen was betting out but Alex called it down to the showdown, taking it with A against Karen's 8

With the blinds going up to 1000/500 Karen went all-in. Despite feeling he was behind Alex called with T-9 and sure enough was behind to J-3 Karen didn't need the 3 on the river as was ahead all the way to the showdown and took her back to 9'000 chips to Alex 11'000

After a few more hands of calling, check /folding, Karen was down to around 6000 chips and went all in. Alex said he was behind, but again called anyway (why can't you do that when playing me !) Karen was ahead (again) with her A-2 to Alex K-7 but the flop of K-8-3 put Alex ahead and the K on the turn killed it and gave Alex a bravely won victory. We'll see you in the final !

Poker : Annual Satellite 2008 : Heat 2

Oops, nearly forgot to post some words about Bill's heat ! It was a while ago, so only have vague memories.....

It was quite a tense affair to begin with (aren't they all :-) ) even Bill was playing a more considered, tighter game than we are used to seeing !!

We didn't see a casualty until after the break, when Roger got done by Mick. Bill could contain himself no longer by this time and got busted by Andy.

The three remaining players were playing steady and the chips were circling the table, but Andy was next out.

The chips were very even for the heads up, and again was very steady with a lot of calling and checking but Lynns chips gradually got pushed over to Mick, particularly when the blinds went up and Mick took a well fought win

Poker : Annual Satellite 2008 : Heat 1

My heat was the first to run and turned out to be an exciting affair. The evening got off to a friendly start with everyone limping into the first couple of hands. Overall the play was tight, which made for a tense game.

I started out well and built my stack up, but later played a couple of hands against Lynn where I was drawing and her pair held up to take away my chips putting me back to starting levels, that will teach me to try to fool the wife !

A key hand early on was my AJ against Simons AT when an A fell on the flop. The board cards were a little scary for both of us so the betting was steady rather than aggressive, but my kicker played and got my stack back.

Derek played a large hand against Lynn, but Lynn's inspired calling found her pair holding up against Derek and Lynn had a good size stack as well.

Simon was the first victim when his pocket A's got stuffed by Steve hitting a second pair on the River taking Simon out and giving Steve the chip lead.

At the break Steve was around 6000 chips, I was 5000, Lynn was 6000 and Derek was low stack with about 3000

As the blinds increased, the play became more cautious until two good hands came along. Derek decided pocket Q's was a good hand and decided to play with Lynn calling his raise. The river didn't look too scary so Derek went all in. Lynn thought about it then called with Ax Unluckily for Derek an A came and took him out in 4th.

The blinds went up again and are becoming significant to all players. Lynn called from the small blind and I checked my 7-8 suited. The flop came an unbelievable 4-5-6 flopping me the straight! I bet after Lynn checked but she called. The turn was a 9 giving me a higher straight, but I bet a reasonably large amount and was slightly concerned that Lynn called again. The river was a K with no flush possible so I had the nuts and went all in when Lynn checked. She called again and revealed a Straight draw so I took a huge pot, leaving us heads up

Steve had around 6000 chips to my 14000. Steve played it cool and the battle was tough. My more aggressive style probably gave me an edge (as well as the edge of having twice as many chips of course !) After a bit of give and take, Steve seemed to not get any playable cards, so I accumulated chips from the large blinds. In the end Steve has no choice but to go all-in and I had no choice but to call. My 6-4 didn't look good, but was favorite against Steve's 5-3 !! I hit a 4 on the flop and took the game

Everyone played well so was an exciting game, but I can't wait for the final table now :-)

Poker: Home Tournament - April 2008

Everyone got their priorities right tonight, wives and jobs took second place and turned out for Poker instead :-)

For me, it was one of those nights where nothing seemed to go my way...... everyone on my table seemed to be in mellow mood so lots of limping and calling going on. I got a couple of decent starting hands in the early stages and raised but got called. Raised a couple of times with dodgy hands and got called (and then either got called all the way to the showdown, or I was put under pressure and folded) so my timing was not good !

At the break I had around 1200 in chips but felt good when I managed to double up with a legitimate hand in the first few hands. Just when things looked good and was accumulating chips, I hit two pair on the flop with A-2 in my hand for a A-2-3 flop. Went all-in and got called by Bill who had 9-5 (they were suited) and of course a 4 came of the River to send me out in 10th.

The game got quite bloody very quickly after that and we were soon down to a final table of 7, after Andy trounced his opposition on the other table to me. Incredibly Mick had the foresight to not stick his last 100 chip in when on the small blind and he was on the final table with a minimum of 2 points. Despite a gallant fightback he finished 7th when the Big blind came round

Things settled down a a short while, until Alex got a good hand and busted out Simon and Bill. It was tense for the final four, but then Andy got going again and busted out both Jon and Steve in one go, leaving us heads-up

The final battle was tight and tense, with only 500 chips between them. Most people were watching the action, well at least until free sandwiches were offered, then everyone went to get some grub ! The chip counts remained close for several hands until Alex made a move pre-flop but Andy went over the top. When Alex folded Andy showed pocket A so I was not the only one with bad timing tonight ! After that it was soon over and Andy took a well deserved win.

Despite a disappointing result for me this time, it was a great night of poker and looking forward to getting myself into a league dominating position with a good show next month !

Cars: Mini day at Brooklands

March is always a good month for Motor Sport activities, with the start of the F1 season, but also the first main event at Brooklands Motor Museum that we like to go to... the Mini day.

Although we went to the Mini Day last year it is a good event to go to, as it always seems to be well populated and hundreds of Mini's in attendance, so pretty much every sort of Mini you can think of was there to see..... there were large ones, small one's, old ones, new ones...... you name it, it was there ! The day was bright and dry as well, so perfect for walking around looking at cars (mind you, ANY day is perfect for walking around looking at cars in my view :-) )

After a few hours walking around looking at old mini's, we decided to do our usual trip to Mercedes World as well to look at new Mercedes. Lynn decided she likes the Blue SLK so maybe her next car. (The red one was no good and the AMG SL was too big...) We did disagree on which Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren we would prefer (when we get a spare £350'000 or so...) Lynn preferred the coupe but I would only consider the Roadster... that kind of argument I can cope with :-)

I really like going to Brooklands/Mercedes World as it is actually a cheap day out (unless you order a Mercedes) and there are a lot of cars, planes and Bikes to look at which is always fascinating. There is a real olde-worlde feel to Brooklands, and a real space-age feel to Mercedes world. Might also get around to having a go in those AMG SLK's next time.....they sound MIGHTY !

Poker: Home Tournament : March 2008

The first big game of the year arrives at last. I look forward to all the games, but the no-rebuy, no-limit games tend to be a more tense affair with no-one wanting an early bath, so is a very different game to the rebuy tournaments.

There are 13 players, with Jock and Trevor joining us for the first time. I really hope they enjoyed the game, but it seemed a brutal introduction to the group, coming in for the first time into the no-limit..

The game got under way and battle commences. My table is mainly tight and/or passive players so there is a lot of checking and calling going on. I start quietly and loose a few chips to begin with and ten win a small pot here and there (normally by raising pre-flop and everyone then folding !) Jock is on my table and seems comfortable, but then we see some fireworks with Darren, Jock and Mick seeing an unraised flop which came A-J-J Darren raises and Jock/Mick call. Another A comes on the turn (or river) and all three players are all-in. Unfortunately for Jock his pocket kings are no good and Darren/Mick split the pot with an A each. Jock's remaining 200 or so chips are soon eaten up, but he actually lasted longer than Alex who was first out on the other table (not sure what happened there !)

At the first break I am still at my starting chip level and see to be struggling to accumulate more! I start to get some good cards but still end up winning the pot pre-flop by raising, but suddenly find myself bubbling along at average chip count rather than starting chip count, so that was am improvement. Steve is getting very low on chips, so bully him off the small blind, then a couple of hands later we are all-in together and my hand holds up to give me a good stack of chips and the final table!

The final table starts out with a rash of bush outs. Trevor came to the table with only a few hundred chips, so is all in on the big blind and gets busted on the first hand, but did very well for a first show. Next hand I bust out Mick with Ax against Kx (I think...) as Mick was low stack. My good run continues and a couple of hands later Simon is low stacked and goes in with pocket 9s but runs into my pocket A's which leaves me as chip leader !

Five are left for the last round and the pressure is on everyone with 10'000 the average stack and blinds at 2'000/1'000 no one is safe.

Couple of hands in and Jon's good hand run's into Derek's better hand on the flop and we are down to the bubble. Incredibly I get pocket A's again and Roger obligingly goes all-in with AK, and despite a good draw on the flop, my A's hold up and I have half the chips.

It isn't over yet but we only have four hands to play until the end of the tournament... Darren raises and Derek calls all-in. My Q7 doesn't look that good, even with 2000 already committed, so let them fight it out. As it turned out, Darren was ahead and won with pair 4's... I would have made pair 7's ;-)

The final three hands are heads up, with the chip counts incredibly close... actually only about 500 chips between us (to my advantage) so everything to play for as the blinds need to be won. Unfortunately for me, I get dealt 8-3 twice in succession so Darren just needs to fold on the last hand to win... although we see the flop he duly folds to a bet on the flop so wins by around 500 chips.

It was a hard fought game throughout and very enjoyable. I am happy to cash in and be top of the leader board quarter way through the season, but with Darren, Jon and Derek all snapping at my heels, it should be an exciting season

Cars: At last, my mid-life crisis has arrived !

Yes, after what seemed a long process (albeit quite enjoyable!) I chose the car, picked the spec then had to wait for two months for delivery.... and yes the yellow colour really is that bright :-)

After three days I have got used to driving and living with the car, although I haven't got around to taking the roof off yet.....

Luckily I am patient, as I still need to rack up 1000 miles to run the car in before I can check out the full potential. At the moment I can only use half revs (4000 rpm) and half throttle.... but I am still already enjoying my country road route to work and looking forward to the weekend when I am sure I will find somewhere that needs to be visited (round trip to Edinburgh would sort out the running in period as well ;-) )

Poker : Home Tournament : February 2008

I was looking forward to this months poker (as normal) and felt quietly confident. Everyone was up for the game, especially Jon who had made sure his business trip to US was engineered such that he could fly back Wednesday to be available for the game (albeit slightly groggy)

The early stages for me were quite relaxed. Playing cautiously I took a couple of small pots and built up my chips. I got a good win and nearly doubled up, so could play more freely. Was happy to get all-in against Derek and Roger when my AK hit top pair. Roger had a draw and Derek had K3 so looked good for me when K-K-Q came on the flop. The 3 on the river stuffed me up but luckily Derek was a smaller stack so I took Rogers chips at least to leave me a reasonable stack. After more patient play, I built up some chips again, then called Micks all in bet as I was on the Big Blind. As expected I was behind, but hit one of my 8 outs and took a large stack.

After the rebuys ended, I found myself calling Rogers all in bet. Everyone had checked the flop so I didn't thing Roger had matched the A and my pair T were good - but as it turned out, he had the A so was well ahead of me. Resigned to dropping a fair portion of my stack, I was delighted (but a little embarrassed) to see another T fall on the river, taking Roger out the game

There was some commotion on the other table, with Sean and Simon both being taken out in one hand, when on my table an unraised pot pre-flop saw a flop of 3-3-2 Alex went all in so as I had A-3 wanted to get heads up and re-raised for half my stack. I was a little surprised when Jon asked for a chip count, then re-raised to put me all-in. Mick called as he was getting great value and I really felt I was in front so called quickly. Unfortunately Jon's pocket 2's left me needing a miracle 3, which never came and so Jon took three out and we had 6 players left for the final table.

Jon and Darren were the chip leaders, but Darrens seemed to ebb away. Steve played well to build up some chips from a very low level but his luck ran out to finish a credible 4th

Darren was the lowest chips at around 3000 when the blinds went up to 2000-1000. Andy showed no fear to go all-in against Jon but Jon had him beat and we were heads up.

Jon played very tight and Darren had no choice but to go all-in every hand and slowly Darren built up to around 12'000 chips with 4 hands to play (winning post was 17'000 chips) Unfortunately it was inevitable that Jon would find a hand he liked and check, raised all-in. Darren had to call and at least had 2 live cards, but Jon stayed ahead and we had our worthy winner and runner up. Pehaps playing with jet-lag is the way for us all to go :-)

Another great game and sees our 2007 champion now in pole position in the 2008 league table ! (hopefully not for long ;-) )

Roll on next month, this season look like it will be a scorcher!!

General : Gym update

A new year and a time for reflection on my Gym progress.. (also got a new heart monitor for Xmas, so gotta try it out :-) )

So why so long to update the blog, after all it is February.... well after 3 weeks with no exercise and overeating and drinking over Xmas, I felt pretty unfit for the first couple of weeks in Jan !! Also decided to up my pace a bit so wanted to get into that before measuring very much in a meaninigful way.... but here goes.....

My previous update was in August so hope to compare favourably to my activities then... my weight is just under 12 stone, so still consistant

Monday (Running)
Run at 10 kph for 25 minutes, then 12kph for 5 mins, plus 5 minutes cool down. Total of 5.2 km covered. Heart rate peak at 178 bpm and average 142

Tuesday (Rowing)
25 minutes at around 30 spm, then 5 mins at 35 spm, plus 3 minutes cool down. All at maximum resistance (the hard seat gives me a sore bum, else would do more cooldown :-) ) Cover 6286 metres. Heart rate peak at 169 bpm and average 136

Wednesday (Cycling)
Pedal at around 80 rpm at level 11 resistance for 25 minutes, then 5 minutes at 90rpm and level 12, plus 5 minutes cooldown. Cover 12.6 km. Heart rate peak at 151 bpm and average 133

Thursday (Swimming)
Swim 25 lengths in around 25 minutes. Do alternate breast stroke and crawl, with 1 minute rest after each set of 10 lengths. Heart rate monitor could be used in the pool, but didn't bother this time round

Friday (Running again)
Same activities as Monday, but heart rate peak at 181 bpm and average 152.... it seems harder at the end of the week as well !!

Overall, I think I am doing pretty well and will likely keep the same regime over the long term. I can't get up any earlier and don't want to arrive at work any later... so time is the main constraint. Will be having a BUPA health check later in the year, so will be interesting to see what they say about my fitness and general health

Poker: Home Tournament : January 2008

I am getting a bit lax in my updates after the poker, but I guess I must still be dazed and shocked by the experience :-)

The turnout of 8 players was a little down on normal, but this at least meant that (a) we all get at least 1 point for the championship :-) and (b) the dynamic was very different to normal, making a different experience for us

Having said that, it all started out as normal, with Bill and Simon W playing the normal loose game and Andy getting an early chip lead (subsequently squandered against Bill)

For me, I was getting some good pre-flop cards early on, so was raising (and being called by about 4 people!) then missing the flop completely. This meant I had around 6 rebuys in the early stages, but eventually I won a decent pot and got some chips I could sit on for a while.

After the rebuys ended I was probably around average chips, but got dealt A-9 in late position so just called the big blind, along with 2 others. When my A hit I was happy to bet out and only get Simon W call me. The chips ended up in the middle and Simon showed pocket Kings, so I took a large amount of chips and Simon was first out. I seemed to enter a purple patch and when Andy went in as a short stack when I was Big Blind, it was an automatic call with any 2 cards, which was fortunate as I had 6-3 o/s against Andy's AJ ! As it turned out, a 6 hit and I took Andy out as well!!

Eventually we got to three players, myself, Sean and Derek with me as chip leader. I took it easy for a while to see how the others would play... luckily for me as Sean raised me on the BB when I had pocket 4's Sometimes I would re-raise back, but decided to fold and Sean showed AA so was happy to dodge those bullets !

Sean went out next, leaving myself and Derek, with me the chip lead by about 2-1 and around 20 minutes to play. It was a tough heads up match and went to the last 3 hands. Both of us played cagey and tight, so inevitably it would come down to the classic race. The first race Derek won, but luckily for me I had more chips so still had a chance. Couple of hands later, I won a race and was back in the lead. The final hand we played was another race... my pocket Tens against Derek's A-Q but my pair held up and I won !!

So it was a small turnout, but actually a very interesting game (especially for me I guess :-) ) Hopefully I can continue my run and continue to cash in but I guess it will be in the lap of the poker gods as normal......

Goodbye 2007 , hello to 2008 - a whole new year for playing poker

The end of another year of poker playing, so time to see how I fared... particularly in relation to my intentions from last year !

Financially, 2007 was not a great year for me, being around $650 down for the year (Internet poker) I started well in January (despite playing a lot of HORSE tournaments) but a couple of larger than normal buy-ins (without cashing in) and trying to qualify for Ladbrokes Cruise and Late Night Poker tournaments substantially drained my bankroll.

October was the first month where I decided to follow a more professional approach to bankroll management so my losses were only $25 in the last 3 months of the year, which is much more like it and probably reflects where I feel I am at with my game.

My live casino games in 2007 were two £10 rebuy tournaments (only documented one of these trips) and one £200 freeze-out, but didn't cash in any of them.....

The monthly game was pretty successful in the end, being about £26 up on the year, so am pretty happy with that...... (despite missing out on 2nd place trophy)

So for 2008, my resolutions will be to :-
1. Continue with the stricter bankroll management
2. Apply the bankroll management to the live casino games as well as online !
3. Be more selective about the "special" tournaments I play in (although rule 1 will naturally limit the MTT games I can play in anyway)

I think applying these rules will allow 2008 to be my breakthrough year in terms of financial improvement and hopefully give me a solid basis on which to start pushing my game to a higher level.

Whatever happens, I am sure I will be enjoying it, and is still a cheap hobby :-)

Cars: which car to choose.... the final decision !

After a lot of umming and ahhhing.... I decided to go for the Lotus Elise R but without the sports pack and 4 point harnesses.

In a slight twist, after I placed the order it turned out that the 2008 specification has changed (compared to the 2007 spec) in that the Touring Pack is no longer standard on the Elise R, so then had to decide if I really wanted the leather and extra comfort. In the end I thought I better had, as it will be an everyday car. Being given the opportunity to change the order, I nearly decided to go for the Sports pack as well, but have to be a little bit sensible :-)

I am expecting the car in March, but even now am starting to get excited.... seems I made the right choice then :-)

Poker: Home Tournament : December 2007 and end of year thoughts

The game went ahead as normal, but unfortunately I got side tracked and only just got around to doing the write up !!

Naturaly I have no recollection of the details now..... so apologies to anyone who avidly reads the write ups, you will have to miss one

Steve made the final table, so got the years consistancy prize.... there was a small worry a little later as there was a possibility he would make the top two and have to give the prize back ! but when he got knocked out in 5th it was no longer possible.... he did take 3rd place in the championship though (bumping me into 4th place in the process and just by 1 point ... dammmittt.... )

Bill got taken out in 6th, and as Jon was still in the match, Jon became undisputed 2007 Champion with Bill in 2nd place. Well done to both, well deserved in both cases and also shows that two opposite styles of play can both do well in the longer term (some may say Bill is just a lucky sod, but you wont hear me saying that ;-) )

Looking back over the year, everyone seems to enjoy the games and so decided to leave the structures as they are for 2008 (why fix something that ain't broke !) The points system is a huge success and although everyone still wants to get into the top three... most are more concerned by getting the points rather than the cash (a good sign I guess) Interestingly the finishing order by cash winnings was Bill, Derek, me then Jon (rather than Jon, Bill, Steve then me by points)

For myself, the year got off to a shakey start, but my run of results in the second half of the year put me into contention for the last game. It all starts again next year of course, so I have high expectations of myself and expect to do well again :-)

Can't wait.....

Cars: Which car to choose ?

I really want a Lotus but decided to test drive some other sports saloons to see if anything can tempt me away from the Lotus

The Mercedes was a good car, but was auto only, felt bulky and you do feel a little isolated from the driving experiance by the electronics

The BMW was a better, but didn't do it for me

Vauxhall's VXR8 is a serious contender to the Lotus and could be considered a practical option in comparison. It is a big car though.... and doesn't even have a sunroof... but could live with that

So what is it to be ???

Ummmm, still not sure actually..... I need to decide in the next few days......

Cars: BMW 335i M Sport (convertible) Test Drive

I am thinking of the Saloon rather than the convertible, but this was the only demo car they had that was similar. They were only able to give it to me for one night, so have driven it 38 miles in the dark (and slightly dank conditions)

First impressions are overall good, with the biggest problem being the seat ! The wrap round padding for the sides is great and makes you feel really dialed in to the car, but found the padding under the top of the thighs a little uncomfortable and slightly disconcerting. I didn't really get time to fiddle with the seating position to see if it could be improved, but made me wonder if I could live with it or not.

The performance seemed to be pretty good and the car felt stuck to the road. I hadn't got used to the dimensions of the car, but did feel fairly confident in placing the car in the road.

Compared to the other cars, it did seem quite compact and low slung. There was plenty of room for the front passengers but no way would you get anyone behind me in the back and the boot was pathetic (but these would only be an issue with the Cabro)

The only other criticism was the heavy steering at low speeds... I don't see the missus being able to manoeuvre the car unless she takes up weight lifting ! (that might be a good thing :-) )

Overall, a good car with a couple of niggles. In all honesty I am prejudice against BMWs (for no rational reason) and this car is not good enough to overcome these feelings.... so will it be the VXR8 or the Elise ?

Cars: Vauxhall VXR8 test drive

Imagine my surprise and delight that I was able to get a Vauxhall VXR8 for a three day test drive, and that my three days also spanned a weekend !

My first impression was that this car is a powerful beast !! but the driving experience was tempered by uncomfortable seats and a HUGE steering wheel (the rim must be at least 2 inches in diameter so very difficult to get a natural feeling grip on the wheel)

The plus points of the car are its obvious power, performance and handling. Looks-wise it is a little bit OTT with the spoiler and meaty looks, but is by no means offensive to view.

On the negative side, the seats and steering wheel are the big put-off, but also suffers a little from a twitchy ride, restricted visibility backwards via the mirrors and also the HUGE A pillars block the forward vision. The indicators/wiper stalks are also reversed from most cars, so is a bit annoying at the moment.

Having said all that, now I have driven the car for a few days and experienced it in various driving conditions, I have finally managed to adjust the seat to find a position that does feel comfortable and have also adjusted my grip on the steering wheel and think I could live with that as well now.

As the other negative issues are all relatively minor and would get used to them over time, I think this car would be a serious contender if I don't get the Lotus ! The wife is not too keen though, finding it noisy and uncomfortable (not compared to a Lotus though :-) )..... so she hopes I like the BMW that I am testing next week !

For me, the VXR8 would likely have been crossed off my list had it only been a normal test drive, but the extended experience shows the car does grow on you over time

Cars: Mercedes C350 sport test drive

As I am looking to change my Subaru in March, I am test driving some cars so I can place my order before Xmas for my new car.

First up was the Mercedes C350 Sport which I had for two days

Unfortunately I only got to drive it from home-->Work-Home in the dark on wet roads so couldn't really push it too hard, but got a good feel for it

Being a Merc, it was auto gearbox only, in this case with the flappy paddles as well. The car was about what you expect from a Merc. Refined, comfortable, quiet and a huge amount of power and torque from the silky smooth V6

There were no "faults" with the car as such, other than no manual gear box..... but didn't feel involved and felt the weight/bulk of the car when I did push on down some country roads.

In the end, if it was the only choice of car I had, then I would be happy with it... but am not convinced it is for me

Computing: Cisco Certified !

I have fancied achieving Cisco Certification for a long time, but only recently could I justify the time and money investment.

It seems I have been studying for years for my Cisco Certification exam (CCENT) , but probably only the last 4 or 5 weeks. I bought three books to read, although in honesty I have only really read "CCENT/CCNA IDNC1 Official Exam Certification Guide" thoroughly (ISBN 1-58720-182-8)

Having read the book, I bought a Cisco CCNA Lab kit from eBay, which consisted of a 1600 Router and 1900 Switch. Unfortunately the switch was useless as it had the old operating system but at least provided me an environment I could use. The Router was good as it allowed me to review and practise the commands.

Luckily I was also able to go on the official Cisco course with Global Knowledge in Wokingham
The course was great as it gave good hands on experience with some "proper" Cisco boxes and also gave the WAN routing as well. It also gave further confidence as the instructor was adamant the exam is based on the courseware rather than the book (the book goes into a lot more detail than the course itself!)

After a week revising after the course I went to the exam. I was feeling a little nervous as the exam itself consists of multiple choice (Which I am used to) but also gives you simulation questions where you have to remember roughly what you need to do and then go and do it ! Most of the multi choice questions were fairly straightforward and felt I knew the answers to most of them. For my first simulation I struggled to remember some of the (very simple) commands to begin with, but used the help and managed to get back on track.... in the end the tasks were quite straightforward but not knowing how many more of these questions to expect, I was worried about running out of time. As it turned out, I only got two more simulation type questions and they were both quick and straightforward, so actually finished with 15 minutes to spare.

On clicking the button to end the exam and get the results, the wait seems interminable (around 30 seconds probably!) but I got the good news that I had passed :-) My score was 909 out of 100 (804 was the passing score) so had actually passed with margin to spare

I am very pleased to have got this first level certification and now hope to take the second stage (ICND2) to achieve the full CCNA certification (then maybe the Firewall Specialist) Of course, this would all be after learning the new Oracle technologies I need to understand, so a busy year or so ahead for me !!

Poker: Home tournament : November 2007

Only a quick update today,as being slightly snuffly still from my cold, I dont remember much !

11 players for this increasingly tense tournament. My recent run had me in a good position to take the lead of the championship but my form wasn't great this month. I played quite steady, albeit a little agressive, but with Sean and Bill on my table, there was always a showdown. In the end my raise in early position with KTs on the first hand after the rebuys stopped was my downfall. Sean reraised and bill called all-in which made the decision to fold quite tricky (as both players could have been behind) In the end I did call for another 1000 and the flush draw on the flop made it an easy all in for my remaining chips. Seans pocket KK was a great hand and beat me, but Bill's AT took the main pot and I was first out.

The game was quite close but Alex was soon out then Bill took out two players in one hit to get us down to the final table.

Steve was down to big and small blind when he went all in under the gun, but tripled up. Soon took another couple of big pots and before anyone realised we were down to the final three players. Jon was happy to see Bill out in 3rd, with Steve and Derek having a battle but Dereks chip lead and aggression soon taking the top spot

Jon is favourite to take the top spot, Steve is favorite to take the consistancy prize, but the 2nd place spot is wide open to about half a dozen players, so all to play for in December !

See statgenie for the full analysis