Debating heading down to Genting tonight. £30+6 with £2000 GTD and 3 seats to their £165 'Poker Link' comp around New Years.
The Poker Link is an interesting concept. It's sort of like those big bingo games where a few clubs are linked together over a screen and they all pool the money into one big prizepool. Three day 1s spread over Luton, Reading and Southend. Then everyone meets in the middle at Luton for day 2 and 3. £29,660 GTD or some figure like that. It's not a full £30k though which is odd, think there must be some GPS seats in there for the prize pool to be that amount.
Might play some holdem cash if for some miracle it is running, though after the abysmal ruling given against me on Sunday in a cash game I should probably boycott them as a form of protest, though I'll doubt they'll notice and/or care.
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Drinking and driving actionAs I mentioned previously in this thread, I suffer from quite a bit of anxiety. I find myself nervous around large groups unless I am a couple of drinks deep. So the first thing I do in a cardroom is sit in the corner and inhale a pint whilst pretending to use my phone in the hopes people leave me alone until my dutch courage has kicked in. Smoking area is off limits because someone will want to strike up a conversation about roulette or ask me if I'm winning, and being in a confined space with someone I don't know gives me sweaty palms. Unless I'm steaming and then I will talk for hours and join in with the nonsense gamblers spew.
This doesn't stem from any incident, I was never jumped by a gang of lads and it's made me scared to be alone in public or anything. I don't know what treatment there is for this, and I think I might get looked at like a loony if I went to a doctor and said "Listen mate, I'm generally scared to be out in public, I take taxis everywhere because of it and I won't talk to anyone unless I'm six sheets to the wind. Got any pills for that?". There's a lot of stigma around mental issues like this, and I don't want to get branded with the 'MAD' iron on my forehead.
The problem with this is I have to keep up a degree of inebriation throughout the night, and it's very easy to cross the line from 'talkative' to 'slurring pisshead'. The problem with slurring pisshead is that sometimes you think you can 5bet shove
and it'll work to the old mans 4bet that's 4 times the 3bet amount. The other problem is I find myself getting in weird ego wars with other young players. It's completely dumb, it costs me tournaments and sometimes I'm left wondering if any banter exchanged has left someone with a poor opinion of me.
The Pain TrainGot a feeling I'll be on the 1am train from Luton to Bedford after this comp (if I go). I've coined this The Pain Train, as it's the train I catch when I near bubble a comp and there's no cash games running, so I'm booking a loss and I have to evade the train station staff so I'm not out another £8 for the train back. I don't drive due to being in quite a serious car crash when I was 17 and narrowly avoiding decapitation by about 2 inches, which doesn't really help my generally skittish nature. Whenever I am waiting for the pain train, someone is always quick to hit me up for some money at the station. Always a sob story, always me alone on the platform with someone asking for a fiver. It's never a quid anymore, it's always a fiver. Even in Luton town, the local degens outside Wetherspoons want a fiver. It's hard to say "I've only got a pound mate" while trying to keep a tight hand on the wrap of £50s in your wallet when you know he doesn't believe you.
Anyway here's to the comp tonight - here's to the hangover in the morning and here's hoping some relatives come through with a few quid in a Christmas card because I'm probably going to need a rebuy tonight.
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