It's Just a Ride

[Tal]

Anyone who posts that link in answer to that question goes straight to the top of the Tal Poster of the Week Leaderboard.

Love that man so much.

[VBlue]

Sunday is Photos Day

From Easter Monday at Brockhole on Lake Windermere

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[VBlue]

Fancy Play Syndrome?  Blonde Diary Syndrome.

Let's remind ourselves that I play the micros/low-stakes up to $5.  I found a couple of new games that start a little earlier than my usual schedule tonight.  One is a good value deepstack.  I busted that first hand obv.  I then busted the other and I busted the $3k first orbit.  Now I'm contriving to bust the $1k.

I have been trying to run some bluffs and generally playing less than optimally.  Maybe I've been reading to much of the young guns' dairies today and am suffering from BDS.

Not to worry, I guess it's good to experiment.  Experiment may be a bit generous for what I have been playing like tonight though.

League Games

BBP league returns for leg 3 tomorrow night and I'm top 10.  I think after playing the last couple of seasons I have adjusted my play to suit the game a bit better and feel like I'm giving myself a good chance to go deep in this and maybe win a decent prize, that I won't be able to take advantage of as it's a seat at their live event at Aspers in May (or a Mega Sat seat/Sat Rebuy seat(s)).  I can sell it though and the personalised hoodie would be an OK prize, though I'll probably never wear it anywhere.  I might wear it out more often than my Iraq football shirt though.  I've not sold that there have I?

The Piranha

Seeing as we are doing first name terms, The Piranha is my girlfriend of ten years, Hannah.  The name comes from when we used to play poker between us two and my flatmate in Manchester when she used to come and stay the weekend.  You have to put on your best Jessie May voice for it to sound right - Hannah Piranha.  She does have a personalised hoodie with it on that the poker club I used to work gave it her for her birthday - thanks Johno.

I'm incredibly proud of her today.  She took a year out to have our boy and went back to work for an agency last year, but got told before Easter that there is no more work for her at the college she has been providing care for - adults with Downs, Asperger's, Autism, etc.  

She had an idea to set up a business with very low start-up costs, which her Sister invested/loaned her £200.  She has built a website and back-office system, got a friend to do her logos and some marketing material for the cost of a case of wine, started a Twitter and FB account, and today had three meetings with local businesses.  

This last part has been challenging as she has little real sales experience.  I coached her some over the last few days.  She nailed the meetings and secured one deal in two mins flat and the other two are referring them for internal sign-off.  One of the businesses could provide access to thousands of potential clients each year.

Her business looks so professional, the work she has put in at evenings and weekends has been incredible.  One guy was stunned with her website and that she had done it herself.  She has been teaching herself coding and all sorts.

She is also partnering with a local festival in the summer to get access to 2000 local people on the day.  

Han and I lost a fair bit of money when she decided to open a cafe quite a few years ago now and we have only just payed off the debts.  To get back in the saddle, albeit without the financial risk, takes some doing.

What a girl.

Running Better

Got above average now.  Gonna make a go of this session after all.  

[VBlue]

Just realised that I failed to respond to the Nando's order question.

There is no Nando's near me and the last time I viisted one was probably about five years ago at the Trafford Centre.  I know I remember that despite being OK with medium curries I am a bit of a wimp when it comes to their hotter piri-piris.

I'm a bit of a tradionalist so there ain't gonna be no veggie burgers (although I like a good veggie burger) or wraps.  Salad can GTFO.  Probably the Flame-Grilled Butterfly Chicken Breast or good 'ole half chicken.  I'm into corn and coleslaw and fries and all that jazz.

I've just spotted the Chicken Livers & Crispy Portugese Rolls though and I do like my offal.

[ruud]

I love the way this diary is written.

Well done to Hannah, and you Mark. Always great to hear about people sticking by one another, and pulling together, through thick and thin.

What does the website deal with if you don't mind me asking?

[VBlue]

It is a babysitting agency.  Hannah's background is in childcare and she has child development qualifications.  Her exeprience is quite diverse - nurseries, working with abused children in residentail settings delivering key skills education, local government as a Family Support Worker (junior Social Worker position) which actually drove her to quit and open the cafe.  Then onto the recent position working with the adults at the college in Bowness.

Thanks for the kind words of praise.

Off to Paris Blackpool on Saturday night for their one year anniversary with £1k added - £40 + £5 and £10 bounties.  100 runners plus alternates.  Managed to find a spare hundo for the trip.  Don't suppose you are around and want to join us?

[ruud]

It is a babysitting agency.  Hannah's background is in childcare and she has child development qualifications.  Her exeprience is quite diverse - nurseries, working with abused children in residentail settings delivering key skills education, local government as a Family Support Worker (junior Social Worker position) which actually drove her to quit and open the cafe.  Then onto the recent position working with the adults at the college in Bowness.

Thanks for the kind words of praise.

Off to Paris Blackpool on Saturday night for their one year anniversary with £1k added - £40 + £5 and £10 bounties.  100 runners plus alternates.  Managed to find a spare hundo for the trip.  Don't suppose you are around and want to join us?

good luck with this, TID!

I was going to come visit the family (Mum lives in B'Pool) and was considering this event, but can't really miss the MC satellite around the corner mate, sorry!

Will def try and play together when I next get up north

[ruud]

Mark,

as you are into your hard hitting Indie films, have you seen....

Click to see full-size image.

I watched it when it first came out two years ago and then revisited it again this year after Jennifer Lawrence won the Oscar for Silver Linings Playbook (also amazing).

If you haven't seen either, make them a priority....

[VBlue]

Was going to watch Silver Linings Playbook at the weekend but we got too drunk.

Was going to watch Winter's Bone the weekend we are in Liverpool in the hotel when the missus was badly but was too tired.  Loved Martha, Marcy, May, Marlene (favourite film of the last year) with John Hawkes.  Have had Winter's Bone on my watchlist for a while now.

Will definitely watch both - thanks.  And will look forward to catching you for a game sometime.

[VBlue]

It seems to be a musical morning, so time for a

Musical Interlude

https://soundcloud.com/gregwilson/hacienda-good-friday-sankeys

For those who don't know Greg Wilson this is his own bio from his blog:

I’m a Deejay from Merseyside. I started out in 1975, but stopped for almost 20 years, between 1984 and the end of 2003, at which point I started again.

One night during the period I wasn’t deejaying, turning off my mind, relaxing, and floating downstream I had what might be termed a moment of clarity. Paradoxically, although I was no longer a Deejay in the literal sense I suddenly became aware that I’d never actually stopped being a Deejay, for even if I was in a room with just one person I couldn’t help but ask them ‘have you heard this?’, and not only ‘heard’, but ‘have you seen this / read this?’, for it goes beyond music. Already taken somewhat aback by this nugget of self-discovery, I realised, in true eureka style, that this all pre-dates my being a deejay and goes back as far as I can remember – I’ve always had an inherent need to share, it’s absolutely central to my nature. This was quite a revelation.

So it’s no wonder that I became a Disc Jockey, for once I fell in love with those circular pieces of magical plastic during my formative years, it wasn’t a matter of choosing this as a path, the path pretty much chose me.


For those who do not know The Hacienda - really, wtf?

I would have loved to have made the reunion gig despite never having been to the club itself. I cannot get enough of this mix - Greg never picks a bad record.

Sit back, relax, and enjoy!

[david3103]

3) Obviously, Del Boy falling through the bar:

Just caught up and wanted to echo the support for the selection of anything by Stuart Lee. Unmissable live.

A comedy sketch group called Idiots of Ants also took a good line on the Del Boy moment set at his funeral..
"yes, he just went to lean on the bar but someone had lifted the hatch and left the cellar door open...."
tried to find it on YouTube but Channel 4 had blocked it. miserable gits!

[VBlue]

The Live Pokers

I'm finally getting out of the house and down the road to the Vegas of the North, Blackpool, for a £1k added £40+£5+£10 bounties tonight.  Seems an opportune time to talk about my experiences in the live poker scene.

It started for me when I saw The Badger take on The Dragons and I became interested in running a pub poker night myself.  I took a trip to The Nuts Poker League in Wrexham and met Steve and Doug(?) who ran the business.

I got a night set-up in Kendal and we played for points each week and had a £5 optional cash buy-in.  We were maybe pulling in fifteen players per week on average.  I branched out and added a second night at another pub in Kendal with what was essentially a load of Thirsty Thursday piss-heads.  Much fun ensued.  There was an interesting dynamic you won't find in many poker games; around 9:30pm some would start getting on the cocktails and ordering taxis to take them to town.  You could obviously call down much lighter as they were more interested in making the taxi than the money.

We did the Regional Finals and National Finals events and I ran these games for about two years in total.  Kostas the Jackal tore up the Day 1b National Final in Stoke-on-Trent, having arrived without sleep and fuelled entirely by gin all day.  He was easily the draw of the day and donning aviators, looked like a Risky Business-era Tom Cruise with a hangover.  Unfortunately, relentless aggression was picked off on the FT bubble and he crashed in 6th to miss the money by one after destroying his way through a field of about 200 for ten hours or so.  Of course, he went straight out when we got back to Kendal.

At a similar time as starting the pub league games I wanted to play local poker tournaments and came across a game in West Cumbria.  This was the biggest live poker event I had ever seen - seventy-odd players in a rugby league club in Whitehaven.  I ran KK into AA first hand after the break.  I spoke to them about running events locally to me and they agreed to provide equipment, dealers, and posters to advertise, to get me started.  I recruited my own dealers and set about getting the game established.

The next episode is one I will have to consider whether I want to talk more about now it has passed.  For those who know the infamous hotdog wars of Leicester in the mid-90s, or the even more infamous ice-cream wars of Glasgow of the 1980s, these weeks and months will forever be remembered in Kendal folklore as the pub poker wars......dum..dum..dum..dum..dum..da.da.da.da.

[VBlue]

Trip Report - Paris Casino, Blackpool

One thousand of your English pounds added to this £40+£5+£10 bounty tournament.  Four £25 bounties issued as Special Bounties - drawn at random.

Seat draw - couple of locals to my right, one an older fella, and an older Scottish fella.  The Scottish fella the least experienced of the three.  Pretty annoying and nerdy 20 year-old poker dealer to my left.  Fairly entertaining older Indian local - like an Indian Rastafish to his left.  Young girl.  Older local lady.  Poker dealer from G - sound enough, possibly a bit cocky.

I open my glasses case and pop it in front of me with my phone.  Look down at A6s utg first hand (think we are 7-handed initially)....and promptly raise to 1,050 at 25/50 level.  Everyone folds.  I put my glasses on.  Milky bar kid nerdy dealer promptly declares 21bb raise and disbelieves my proclamation that I misclicked.  Laughs at imaginary scenario where someone else had KK/AA and I go broke, or something.  This will be fun.

Second hand - milky bar kid loses some hand to K2s (I kid you not John Black) to guy to my right who looks like an amateur magician.  Promptly declares again - 'nice call pre-flop' with large slice of sarcasm.  Receives dressing down from me that we can play however we want with whatever cards we want and I only take advice from Phil Ivey and this kid ain't even black.  This is fun.

Bluff 3-streets vs flopped nuts and fold to river c/r from older Scottish guy.  Nice fellow who is enjoying playing.  Good for him.  Don't fire 3-streets vs these guys - no need.  Bluff 3-streets again obv. after amatuer magician calls p/f oop.  I fire scare-card K turn and blank river to be shown the K I'm repping for 2pair.  I fold face down.  

I nit it up suitably.  Limped pot - I make 600 raise at 50/100 with 34s and get 2 callers and flop trip - confirmed golden.  I then c/r flop and c/r turn vs older local lady who folds on turn.  I get asked my hand and declare I flopped trip .  Milky bar kid and possibly a bit cocky both promptly declare - yeah right and I then get asked if I had QQ.  I've not had this much fun since...the last time I played live at a £50 game.

Make a 3-bet and steal with T9s.  Little else to report.  Indian guy is needling me about mintcake and having decent bants.  Dealer is inexperienced but with all the advice she is getting from the other two dealers at our table she can't go wrong.  She actually deals very well just a little unsure of the odd rule.

Dinner

Buffet is neither 'delicious', or a 'buffet', but you can't complain out of £5 rake, so I'm not.  A serving spoon of macaroni cheese on a plate is better than a slap in the face with a prawn vol-au-vent.  Guiness is decent and less than £3 a pint.  No Masters on in view so can't sweat my bets.  Not too arsed about that.

Get into 20bb-30bb territory where I am comfortable and more clued up than most of the field.  Aggression pays off and I start moving and pick up some bounties.  Table folds.

I then shoved KJo from BB over utg and mp limper to get called by KJo utg+1 and 87o from mp Beats by Dre man.  We chopped it and his bounty.  Next hand same guy, Portugese bloke, open limps again and I over-shove with nearly 30bbs with 99 and get snapped by QQ.  We turn a straight and I'm back in business.  

I now have a stack around 60bbs.  Not sure how as my memory is a bit vague in later stages but I end up losing a flip with 88 maybe but get short and have to start folding as there are others going all-in.  We are playing two tables with 14 getting paid and about 16/17 in.  I shove T8s for about 5bbs and get called in two spots, both cards are live and I think the paired 8 wins it.  I make £25 from busting a super bounty.
ICM knowledge, or even knowledge that ICM exists is non-existent.  We see r/f out of 6bbs and all sorts of weird play.

Bitching and Moaning

Two old guys then decide to start bitching and moaning 'it's you again, every hand' as I fail to act inside 20 secs.  I correct them and they revise this to 'it's every other hand then', so already being downgraded by half as often that I am doing this.  I wonder how much lower I can get them.  I give as good as I get (I actually prefer to ignore here but it's 2am and I'm sober and tired).  I bust the main guy and am now freerolling with £60 in bounties.  His mate calls clock on me a couple of times, generally being out of order.  Firstly, I verse him in the finely balanced decisions I have to make, which he is clearly incapable of (I should stay quiet again and I'm really mainly just working out pot-size and looking at chip-stacks behind, etc.) and accuse him of 'sucking the joy out of the room'.  TD advises I just ignore and play on.

End up busting 10th shoving 10bbs from BU into SB JT v AQ and don't get there.  Make £130 profit.

Staff very good - friendly and professional.  Crowd decent, but it's always the few that seem to linger in the memory rather than the majority who were sound enough.  Promised to bring mintcake for Indian Rastafish next time.

Would return for added value in unconditional guarantees, decent size and well-run poker room, good parking, excellent valet service, and alright crowd for a live £50 game.  

[VBlue]

Winning

Just a short post.  I took down the $1.5k on ipoker for $328 versus 341 runners tonight.  Very pleased to get a second MTT win under my belt.  I was leading the $3k with 124 left and was deep in the $1k whilst on the FT.  Both of those resulted in small cashes following PPs losing to big Ax hands aipf - both on the turn card.

Think my ROI is looking good.  I will do some financial updates as soon as I can.

[RED-DOG]

KERCHING!