Vegas & The Aftermath - Diary

[Karabiner]

Just found this Pic on Facrbook!  Do you have rollers in your Hair??

Eat your heart out Eena Sharples.

[tikay]

Just found this Pic on Facrbook!  Do you have rollers in your Hair??

Absolutely. Heated, of course.

Found the original of that photo today, quite by chance, & a 1,000 other photos, ranging from when I was a 4 year old kid, pics of my real Mum, my Dad, to all sorts of nonsense in the last few years, mostly - but, thank God, not all, poker-based.

If I can be arsed, I may Post a few. Don't worry, I'll give fair warning.

[tikay]

I want to be able to graph it, & Post the Graph on here daily, but don't know how to do that. Any clues, anyone?

Use Google docs and update that and share the URL so anyone can access it to read (but not edit).  You can then even do screen shots of graphs from it and post them on here for the uber lazy.

In fact, a good friend of mine from next door, Aaron Gale, set up a spreadsheet for me on google docs, I think, & sent detailed instructions on how to use it. I used to be able to make spreeadsheets dance, but I'm finding it quite difficult to get my head round them now. I've been so busy, so intense this week, that I've not written & thanked him yet. I must.

Which leads me to an interesting google tale......

[tikay]

A piece in the FT earlier this week alerted me to the splendidly-named "google goggles".

The headline-grabber was that it could solve a sudoko puzzle in a nana second - just take a photo of the puzzle, upload it to goggles, & a zillionth of a second later, it comes back with a photo of the completed puzzle. WTF?

Which is obv exctly that - the Headline grabber for mass consunption in trash organs such as the Daily mail, though I'm amazed the FT stooped so low.

But what DOES it do, really?

The gumf suggests it's primary use was as a "price-comparision website". What?

Wiki confirmed that, to a degree, suggesting it can read barcodes, though that's no jaw-dropper, lots of stuff can. I once knew a bloke that could read barcodes.

Here's the Wiki page.....

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

And here's googles own goggle page. (Gotta love google goggles as a moniker).

http://www.google.com/mobile/goggles/#text

I'm never gonna quite grasp this, but why does it appear to be aimed at & designed ONLY for mobiles & smartphones? Why would it not be equally useful - if useful at all - in a standard PC or Lappie?

All very perplexing. I'd love to see it used, though, & hear what practical uses it could be put to. Sudoko puzzles do not count.

[tikay]

Had a lovely e-Mail from Isabelle Mercier last night. Not heard from her in a while, though we did some 865 work with her at the WSOP-E.

I knew her quite well for years, & when she was playing the circuit & stuff, her Mum used to follow her progress via blonde. Happy days. I eventually met her Mum in Monte Carlo, I think - or it may have been Jen Mason's Mum (hmm, confusion reigns here...), but anyway, Isabelle always kept in touch one way & another.

She's written a book, a sort of French version of Vicky Coren's recent & excellent tome. It's called "Profession: Bluffer", & the English version is in final draft at the moment. It's already been published in France by Flamarrion, & in Italy by Mursia.

The problem - & hence the e-mail - was that it was written in French, with dollops of Gallic humour, but French humour, such as it is, does not translate well in written form.

So, the question was, would I take a look & perhaps make some suggestions as to the English version? I was delighted she asked, though I doubt I'm the only one.

I'm keen to help, as we were always on very good terms, I like her a lot, but when I opened the draft, it ran to about 400 pages of a Word doc. Heaven knows how I'm going to wade through that lot, but I will.

It reads pretty well, I must say, with lots of little titbits about her life which will make for a good read. There is far more to her than many might suppose, & she's led an interesting life.

I'm a little ashamed to admit I also thought it'd make a good business proposition for 865, to have her on the Show, plugging the book, & we could give copies away, da de da, & maybe do a little sort of Parky Show stylee interview.

These little things get pitched to me, & my imagination runs riot. In truth, it'll probably come to nothing. But I'm flattered she asked, & I hope it sells well.

There is a terrible lack of quality reading material about Poker Pros. (Miss Coren's book being a shining exception). I did try to read Mr Ulliott's latest offering, but it got added to a very short list of books in my entire life that I have started & not finished.

So, my backlog of work grows a little backer. I'm sure I'm sinking, but I am my own worst enemy, & don't deem able to say "no" to anyone. I'd be upset if she had not asked, though, & there's the irony.

[Karabiner]

According to my Observer "Discover the 50 best apps" two-page spread from a couple of weeks ago:

"This visual search tool has a dedicated following among alpha geeks but deserves wider attention. It lets you use pictures, taken on your mobile phone to search the web".

[tikay]

According to my Observer "Discover the 50 best apps" two-page spread from a couple of weeks ago:

"This visual search tool has a dedicated following among alpha geeksbut deserves wider attention. It lets you use pictures, taken on your mobile phone to search the web"

"alpha geeks"?

What sort of geek would I be? Or Tighty? Alpha? Beta? Gamma? Zeta?

[MereNovice]

According to my Observer "Discover the 50 best apps" two-page spread from a couple of weeks ago:

"This visual search tool has a dedicated following among alpha geeksbut deserves wider attention. It lets you use pictures, taken on your mobile phone to search the web"

"alpha geeks"?

What sort of geek would I be? Or Tighty? Alpha? Beta? Gamma? Zeta?

Sometimes the Greek alphabet just isn't large enough.

[Karabiner]

According to my Observer "Discover the 50 best apps" two-page spread from a couple of weeks ago:

"This visual search tool has a dedicated following among alpha geeksbut deserves wider attention. It lets you use pictures, taken on your mobile phone to search the web"

"alpha geeks"?

What sort of geek would I be? Or Tighty? Alpha? Beta? Gamma? Zeta?

Eena possibly going by that earlier photo.

[Jon MW]

According to my Observer "Discover the 50 best apps" two-page spread from a couple of weeks ago:

"This visual search tool has a dedicated following among alpha geeksbut deserves wider attention. It lets you use pictures, taken on your mobile phone to search the web"

"alpha geeks"?

What sort of geek would I be? Or Tighty? Alpha? Beta? Gamma? Zeta?

Sometimes the Greek alphabet just isn't large enough.

lol I was going to suggest aleph but I wasn't sure anyone would 'get' it

[Jon MW]

... I did try to read Mr Ulliott's latest offering, but it got added to a very short list of books in my entire life that I have started & not finished.
...

This was one of the books I bought over Christmas, it's a good story but written in a particularly mediocre way. I don't know whether that was because the quality of his ghost wasn't up to scratch or whether he insisted on too much of his own 'voice' in the manuscript, either way the writing itself falls a long way below the story it is telling

[NoflopsHomer]

Had a lovely e-Mail from Isabelle Mercier last night. Not heard from her in a while, though we did some 865 work with her at the WSOP-E.

I knew her quite well for years, & when she was playing the circuit & stuff, her Mum used to follow her progress via blonde. Happy days. I eventually met her Mum in Monte Carlo, I think - or it may have been Jen Mason's Mum (hmm, confusion reigns here...), but anyway, Isabelle always kept in touch one way & another.

She's written a book, a sort of French version of Vicky Coren's recent & excellent tome. It's called "Profession: Bluffer", & the English version is in final draft at the moment. It's already been published in France by Flamarrion, & in Italy by Mursia.

The problem - & hence the e-mail - was that it was written in French, with dollops of Gallic humour, but French humour, such as it is, does not translate well in written form.

So, the question was, would I take a look & perhaps make some suggestions as to the English version? I was delighted she asked, though I doubt I'm the only one.

I'm keen to help, as we were always on very good terms, I like her a lot, but when I opened the draft, it ran to about 400 pages of a Word doc. Heaven knows how I'm going to wade through that lot, but I will.

It reads pretty well, I must say, with lots of little titbits about her life which will make for a good read. There is far more to her than many might suppose, & she's led an interesting life.

I'm a little ashamed to admit I also thought it'd make a good business proposition for 865, to have her on the Show, plugging the book, & we could give copies away, da de da, & maybe do a little sort of Parky Show stylee interview.

These little things get pitched to me, & my imagination runs riot. In truth, it'll probably come to nothing. But I'm flattered she asked, & I hope it sells well.

There is a terrible lack of quality reading material about Poker Pros. (Miss Coren's book being a shining exception). I did try to read Mr Ulliott's latest offering, but it got added to a very short list of books in my entire life that I have started & not finished.

So, my backlog of work grows a little backer. I'm sure I'm sinking, but I am my own worst enemy, & don't deem able to say "no" to anyone. I'd be upset if she had not asked, though, & there's the irony.

Have you read Dr Pauly's book btw? It's very good.

[GreekStein]

Did you see my question the other day about the sky deal?

Also, did you ever get your money back from devilfish from when he played on your stars account?

[tikay]

The latest Full-Tilt innovation had me thinking long & hard, & evoked quite a debate with my Elders & Betters at work.

There is a thread about it in Internet Poker.....

http://blondepoker.com/forum/index.php?topic=51410.0

And the official FT guff is here......

http://www.fulltiltpoker.com/multi-entry-tournaments

Dubai made some very insightful comments on the blonde thread, & Evil Pie contributed this pearl of wisdom....

As an occasional online player who deposits to play the odd reasonable sized tourney I find the prospect of being in a field of 4 moormans, 4 flushys, 4 holeys, 4 triggers, 4 crabmakis etc. and me a bit of a -EV prospect.

I don't mind taking the odd shot but when the better players are getting 4 shots to my 1 I think I'll declare myself out.

Poker needs players like me. I deposit and don't care that I'm unlikely to ever withdraw. Discouraging me from playing is a bad idea.

I had to sit in a dark room & think it through.

Eventually, I came to the view that in a way, it continues the trend started by Rush poker.

My logic is this. 90% (give or take a few %) of Online poker players lose money, but, like Mr Evil, lose it slowly & quite happily. Few admit it of course. What, me?

What Rush poker & Multi-Entry Tourneys do, it seems to me, is ensure that those 90% - or whatever the number is - just lose their dough quicker. I can't see further than that argument, to be honest.

Respect to FT for coming up with these bright new idseas, but whether it's a sustainable long-term business model is another thing. The rake is gonna get us all in time, but FT will get it quickest.

Gonna cost Flushy a few bob on a Sunday now!

As with Rush, I fully expect that there wil be a groundswell of "ooh, it's great", before, eventually, they think it through, but peer pressure may prevent them from fessing up to the obvious - it's gonna cost most of them more money.

Would I play it? You bet I would, I think it'd be incredible fun, & would need quite a different approach to "normal" Tourney poker. In fact, I'd be seriously tempted to try it, if commercial constraints did not forbid it. I'd do my bollox, of course, but hope springs eternal & all that, & we all enjoy new toys. Until the batteries run out, that is.

[RED-DOG]

it got added to a very short list of books in my entire life that I have started & not finished.

You must be really good at choosing books Tony. I would estimate that I dismiss about one in four after the first chapter.