Vegas & The Aftermath - Diary

[tikay]

Tuesday's DTD £50 x 3 affair saw this result - some interesting Norweigan names there.

Cato Vonheim £5,744
2 Iftakhar Ahmed £3,247
3 Frode Hoel £1,998
4 Bjørnar Thomassen £1,399
5 Bjørnar Koss £1,082
6 Kevin Lund £749
7 Kai Marius Klein £583
8 Chin Chai Koh £416
9 Andrew Murphy £333
10 Spencer Lawrence £233
11 Oystein Arild £233
12 Peter Conduit £233
13 Geir Ståle Plassen £233
14 Richard Sherwood £1

Some result by Kevin "burglar Kev" Lund, after a horror play & exit in Sunday's £100 jobbie.

[bobby1]

Great Leighs is the new AW track and it's supposed to be quite good (as AW tracks go)

Loved the article Bobby...especially this quote;

"don't lose your confidence if one result goes against your judgment."

Wise words indeed.

The worrying thing is that if the snooker is anything to go by I have lost my judegment too!

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This made me laugh out loud for almost the only time today, from a Thread elsewhere on blonde.

"and get a garnishing order on all of the players personal wealth"

That'll do the trick - putting salad dressing on bank acccounts!

 

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How come you can't remember a hand from last week or player's names from last year, but you can remember horse's names from 1979, who sired her, how many lengths they won by etc...  Is it all lifted from books, or do you actually remember most of it??

Hi Simon,

Nice to see you tonight.

In this case, I knew most of it off the top of my head. The Trainer's family are legendary, the Grandsire was the greatest Sire of all time, ever ever ever, as removed & above all others as Tiger Woods is in golf, & of course, Three Troikas was a personal favourite, whose every race I watched with interest.

I needed my friend google to remind me what race she won as a 4 y-o, (The Prix d Harcourt), the spelling of "Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe",  & whether Alec Head did indeed buy her - he did. I was not at home, so I could not use my reference books, but google is so much quicker in some ways. But I prefer my books given a choice.

When I do these blathery spiels, that's usually the case - most if it is in my bonce, but I generally need to do some background work to check a few things - as in the "Humph" thing for instance, when I had no idea how long ISIHAC had been running, or how old he was.

Last week's poker hands? I can remember the hands months after, but not the betting pattern down the streets - I forget that within minutes. Usually before the hand is over.

But Big Comp exits - my Deauville EPT Semi for example, where I was in great shape to Final deep-stacked, well, I'll take that to my grave, because of the sheer stupidity of the play I made, three days into a comp in which I'd not made a single error. And that was 2 or 3 years ago!

And in my only WSOP, the $1,500 NL I think (or was it $1,000?), I can remember every single second of my exit, deep in the money with a Bracelet Final in sight. A stupid, stupid, BB shove with A-J after it was Passed to the French SB, who had "made up". He dwelled for about 6 years, then said those words you just hate to hear...

"OK, I think I'm well behind, but I'll gamble". And he gambled with his A-4. I could have shot myself for my absolute stupidity.

But I've downsized since, & I enjoy my poker so much more down in the lower levels, & I don't really give a toss, or remember,  how I exit, unless it's self-inflicted. Which it often is.

[Royal Flush]

How come you can't remember a hand from last week or player's names from last year, but you can remember horse's names from 1979, who sired her, how many lengths they won by etc...  Is it all lifted from books, or do you actually remember most of it??

Hi Simon,

Nice to see you tonight.

In this case, I knew most of it off the top of my head. The Trainer's family are legendary, the Grandsire was the greatest Sire of all time, ever ever ever, as removed & above all others as Tiger Woods is in golf, & of course, Three Troikas was a personal favourite, whose every race I watched with interest.

I needed my friend google to remind me what race she won as a 4 y-o, (The Prix d Harcourt), the spelling of "Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe",  & whether Alec Head did indeed buy her - he did. I was not at home, so I could not use my reference books, but google is so much quicker in some ways. But I prefer my books given a choice.

When I do these blathery spiels, that's usually the case - most if it is in my bonce, but I generally need to do some background work to check a few things - as in the "Humph" thing for instance, when I had no idea how long ISIHAC had been running, or how old he was.

Last week's poker hands? I can remember the hands months after, but not the betting pattern down the streets - I forget that within minutes. Usually before the hand is over.

But Big Comp exits - my Deauville EPT Semi for example, where I was in great shape to Final deep-stacked, well, I'll take that to my grave, because of the sheer stupidity of the play I made, three days into a comp in which I'd not made a single error. And that was 2 or 3 years ago!

And in my only WSOP, the $1,500 NL I think (or was it $1,000?), I can remember every single second of my exit, deep in the money with a Bracelet Final in sight. A stupid, stupid, BB shove with A-J after it was Passed to the French SB, who had "made up". He dwelled for about 6 years, then said those words you just hate to hear...

"OK, I think I'm well behind, but I'll gamble". And he gambled with his A-4. I could have shot myself for my absolute stupidity.

But I've downsized since, & I enjoy my poker so much more down in the lower levels, & I don't really give a toss, or remember,  how I exit, unless it's self-inflicted. Which it often is.

Nearly, but not quite, 50p please

[tikay]

Amazingly, the blonde Forum had it's busiest month for over a year (judged by Posts) in April, & it's 4th busiest month ever.

Amazingly, because it's 50% higher than February.

"Hits" on blonde in 2008 have been easily the highest we've ever experienced.

The monthly Forum stats are bewildering. There seems to be no discernible pattern to them.

They dipped significantly in 2007, & Rich, the Mods & myself had a long intercourse as to what we could or should do to freshen the place up. One of the things we did - much against my judgement - was to split the Boards up into the current format. I am happy to say I was proven wrong, & that it seems to work better.

To tell the truth, "numbers" themselves give me no satisfaction. They are important, for Advertising Rates & suchlike, & we have, fingers crossed, some nice deals lined up as a result of the recent high-traffic levels.

But I'd rather a smaller, more peaceful, Forum, if expansion comes at the price of civility.

The whole idea - the whole idea - of the Forum originally, was "poker with a smile", and a place where mums & dads, children & the dog, could all chill out, & not be faced with naked aggression, "spaz tard" rubbish, & shouty-wouty incomprehensible defiance & aggression. It's fair to say, in April, we failed. "We" being all of us. Finger-pointing is a kite that won't fly for me, it's irrelevant who's to blame. "Just sort it" as John Kirkland used to say to me.

The bigger it gets, the more it reflects society, but I'm just astonished at how badly some folks do "dispute resolution". Shouty-wouty rarely gets the job done, & almost always ends in tears. I clarified a minor matter last week, & within minutes the Poster responded - "so, you are calling me a lier, eh?". What?

We had a minor business matter to resolve a few months back, something & nothing, but, importantly, the communication lines had been kept open, we never fell out, & everyone knew what the score was. I'd known the Big-Cheese at the other Compny for years, he was a good friend, we'd never had a single cross word. He had my 'phone number & e-addy. Suddenly, like a bolt out of the blue, I got an e-Mail. "Sort it within 48 hours or we'll expose blonde on Poker Forums as being a disreputable company". I replied & asked for clarification. The threat was repeated. What is the matter with people? The sum was about half of what I carry around in my back pocket. In my day (yes, I've reached that age) a simple 'phone call was all it took. "Hi Mate, can you sort out that bit of money you owe us from last month, please?"

It's very sad.

The Mods, Rich & mysef are in a huddle, & we gotta try & get the place back to it's old self. Watch this space.

If we get the Ban-Stick out too readily, we get complaints, & if we don't, all hell breaks loose. It's a tough call to get it "just so".

Maybe it will just go away, as quickly as it came, it's certainly been a tetchy month on blonde Forum.

But it's not all doom & gloom, not at all. I was amazed to hear so many Norweigans compliment us on blonde at DTD last night, & there's still good feel to it most of the time. "Diversion humour" has always beeen encouraged here, & although it never seemed to do the trick much in April, it will continue.

And above all, we still get off topic as much as on-topic, & that's good.

The blonde Diaries - Red's, & Chezgar, for example, get good viewing figures, & seem almost wholly "fun" threads, with no stupid hoohah. I'd really like to see more of them.  Maybe in time.

[tikay]

How come you can't remember a hand from last week or player's names from last year, but you can remember horse's names from 1979, who sired her, how many lengths they won by etc...  Is it all lifted from books, or do you actually remember most of it??

Hi Simon,

Nice to see you tonight.

In this case, I knew most of it off the top of my head. The Trainer's family are legendary, the Grandsire was the greatest Sire of all time, ever ever ever, as removed & above all others as Tiger Woods is in golf, & of course, Three Troikas was a personal favourite, whose every race I watched with interest.

I needed my friend google to remind me what race she won as a 4 y-o, (The Prix d Harcourt), the spelling of "Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe",  & whether Alec Head did indeed buy her - he did. I was not at home, so I could not use my reference books, but google is so much quicker in some ways. But I prefer my books given a choice.

When I do these blathery spiels, that's usually the case - most if it is in my bonce, but I generally need to do some background work to check a few things - as in the "Humph" thing for instance, when I had no idea how long ISIHAC had been running, or how old he was.

Last week's poker hands? I can remember the hands months after, but not the betting pattern down the streets - I forget that within minutes. Usually before the hand is over.

But Big Comp exits - my Deauville EPT Semi for example, where I was in great shape to Final deep-stacked, well, I'll take that to my grave, because of the sheer stupidity of the play I made, three days into a comp in which I'd not made a single error. And that was 2 or 3 years ago!

And in my only WSOP, the $1,500 NL I think (or was it $1,000?), I can remember every single second of my exit, deep in the money with a Bracelet Final in sight. A stupid, stupid, BB shove with A-J after it was Passed to the French SB, who had "made up". He dwelled for about 6 years, then said those words you just hate to hear...

"OK, I think I'm well behind, but I'll gamble". And he gambled with his A-4. I could have shot myself for my absolute stupidity.

But I've downsized since, & I enjoy my poker so much more down in the lower levels, & I don't really give a toss, or remember,  how I exit, unless it's self-inflicted. Which it often is.

Nearly, but not quite, 50p please

Damn you, you Plump Person.

See you Wednesday in Brighton. The Value will be in Town.

[tikay]

It's possible we may decide to kill the blonde Update Kittens. (See Kitten Thread). I like cats, so here's my sign-off.

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[Bongo]

What if the cats came in fancy dress?

[tikay]

Parts of the Amazonian Jungle floods to a depth of up to 6 metres every year, & so animals & insects have to adapt accordingly.

This is a raft of Fire Ants.

I found this piece, after looking for it for weeks, having seen it on a nature programme.....

The rafts of fire ants float to a "safe" area, usually a tall tree. The rafts are made entirely of fire ants. The individual ants on the bottom die, but the colony survives.

Clever buggers, am ants.