Life, Thoughts, Ramblings

Nudged

2009-02-17T09:33:00.002Z

Rosie has commented that I have not updated for a while so here goes.

Last time I said I had started a new job, and was on probation. Well, 3 months into the 6 month probation, I have been confirmed as permanent. Even better, I am now in charge of the whole site, which is nice. Just got the small matter of planning to deal with 30% growth, installation of new equipment, and improving customer service. Well, I suppose it is better than downsizing and making people redundant!

In my personal life, I have now been with my girlfriend 6 months, and am very happy, though my new job is a significant distance away from her. I am confident that we can deal with that though. I need to find somewhere to live closer to work now, because the 80 minute drive each way is killing me, never mind the cost of the petrol.

I am only getting to see my kids once a fortnight, which sucks. Some might say I only have myself to blame, but I am certain that ending the marriage really was the right move. People I see only occasionally are saying how much happier I seem. I certainly feel a huge sense of relief. I've bought the kids mobile phones, so they can both phone me whenever they want. Had a phone call from them last night.

I have managed to sell my old house, for not much less than the asking price, and for the same as I paid for it 5 years ago, which I suppose is a result really. Should be completing on that at the end of the month, which takes a huge strain off the wallet.

Thats it for now. Better get on with some work! Will try to post a little more regularly from now on.

Saturday night in

2008-12-06T19:08:00.003Z

Going to have a completely chilled out Saturday night on the sofa, with lovely company and a bottle of wine, watching top quality tv. Ok, actually I'll be watching the X Factor, but the company and the wine are great.

Continuing to enjoy playing poker again. Playing at micro-limits, but enjoying the challenge of building a bankroll in the face of dreadful suckouts by players who don't know where the fold button is!

Moving On

2008-12-04T12:09:00.002Z

I spent a grand total of one day unemployed. Didn't get the job in Chester I previously wrote about, but am now working in Workington, in north-west Cumbria. Had a meeting there on Monday 3rd November, and was asked to start the following day! Only got a 6 month contract initially, but if all goes well it will be permanent.

Have started playing poker again recently. Played in Pauly's Omaha tourney last weekend, and, whilst I wasn't first out, I wasn't much better! Think I will stick to Hold'em for now. I am sticking to cash games, and trying to build a bank-roll from basically nothing. Generally am winning more than I am losing.

How quickly everything changes

2008-09-04T15:32:00.003+01:00

Well this is my first post for over two months. I don't think I've read any blogs since mid July. Rather a lot has happened since then, so here's the summary:

In July, I split up with my wife, after 14 years of marriage, and 18 years together. At pretty much the same time, I found out that I was likely to be made redundant.

Lets start with the marriage.

For a while now I have felt that things have been going wrong. Arguments over stupid things, not being able to talk about stuff, just a general distance between us. In the end I decided that things couldn't carry on like this. She thinks it is all because I can't cope with her being disabled. This isn't true. That is just a tiny part of the whole thing. Talking to some of our friends, they have expressed surprise that it didn't happen ages ago. Did everyone see this coming apart from us? I tried to stick it out at home for the sake of the kids, but it just wasn't practical. So I am now living with my parents, which has some difficulties, but is generally ok for now.

My daughter in particular is finding things difficult. I see the kids every weekend, and twice during the week at athletics training, but she is very upset at us all not doing things together anymore. My wife and I are trying to keep things civil, but things have been done and said during the split that make it difficult. I am sure that over time that will improve, but for now the thought of spending a day together is not good.

There is a lot of bitterness at the moment. I handled things badly (is there a good way to leave your wife?) and upset her a lot. She lashed out and someone I was briefly involved with (and who had no part in the marriage breakup) got hurt, which I am angry about.

Since then I have met a wonderful woman (via the internet of course!), who is also separated, and also has kids. She is someone I can talk to about anything, including things I have never told anyone else. We meet up whenever we can, but neither of us want our kids to meet the other, because we don't want them to have a succession of "aunties" and "uncles" if things don't work out. We have taken a punt on us still being together in three months, and have bought tickets to see a band at the end of November. Fingers crossed!

At work, since the Company got taken over in January 07, I have felt increasingly vulnerable. As an independent company, I was involved in all aspects of the business - purchasing, sales, service, quality, production, transport, and doing projects for the MD. As part of a national company, they have centralised purchasing and sales, a group quality manager etc. Much of what is done centrally I think is pretty poor, but no one seemed interested in listening to any ideas from us. On 18th August it was confirmed that I was being made redundant, and was given 12 weeks notice. After 17 years working there it isn't nice, but it isn't the same place anymore after the takeover.

Next Wednesday I've got the third in a series of meetings with a company in Chester, in the same industry. They are independently owned, and are growing fast. I sent them my CV speculatively, they didn't actually have any vacancies, but, it looks promising that they are going to create a position for me (which is nice!). So hopefully, by the end of next week I will have a job, and can chill out.

Have just re-read all that, and it isn't terribly well written or coherent, but, maybe in time, I can get my head straighter, and look at things less emotionally.

Pimpage

2008-06-25T14:20:00.004+01:00

The sharp eyed amongst you will have noticed the new add over to the left, promoting my gallery at Imagekind. You can pop over there and buy fabulous framed photos of this beautiful country. You can also get the images made into greetings cards.

Commercial over. Thank you for reading.

Over

2008-06-18T21:18:00.003+01:00

It was my Uncle´s funeral today. He was 63, and has three sons aged 17, 18 and 23.

He was diagnosed with cancer 18 years ago. In that time he has also had 3 hip replacements. All of this he regarded as a nuisance which got in the way of him running his farm. When it was first diagnosed, he would get up in the morning, milk the cows, have a 160 mile round trip to Christies for radiotherapy, then milk the cows again. Later on there was chemotherapy. Again he just carried on as normal. He became so well known at the hospital that at one stage, when he felt he was too busy to go in, a nurse turned up in the farmyard to take blood for testing. In amongst all of this, he, along with his sons, built a new milking parlour. His hip was so bad at this point he had to be lifted into the seat of the digger in the morning, would work all day, then would be lifted out in the evening.

A less stuborn man would have been dead five years ago just from the treatment, never mind the illness.

At the end of last year, finally being persuaded that his sons could manage the farm, he had some drastic treatment which involved wiping out his immune system, which as a result, lead to him developing numerous other problems, but, he fought them off, and the treatment was expected to give him 5 years without other treatment. However, fate had other ideas, and one of the potential side effects, that had a 5% chance of occuring was found 6 weeks ago. Leukemia. 6 weeks later we are standing around a grave. The mind can only drag a reluctant, pain ravaged body so far. In the end his strength finally ran out. However, he has seen his three sons grow into men to be proud of, and maybe he finally let go knowing that they were ready to go it alone.

Looking back, I remember the man who wouldn´t let me call him Uncle, because it made him feel old, who stopped all work on the farm to make me a sledge when I saw my first heavy snowfall, and who had to be the first to use it. Who, when I was aged 7, saw how upset I was at the death of a lamb I had been bottle feeding on the farm, turned up at our house that evening with a lamb of my own (which we took for walks round the village on a lead!). I remember sitting on his knee steering the tractor, and rolling bales of hay across the field towards the trailer when I wasn´t big enough to lift them.

The village church was full. In fact there were people standing because there was nowhere to sit. The collection plate couldn´t be seen under the pile of notes placed upon it. The money is being split between the hospital where he had been treated for the last 10 years, and the village charity fund, which had previously given £2000 to the hospital.

Britbloggerment

2008-06-16T12:18:00.002+01:00

I had a reasonable night at the Bloggerment last night, finishing in the money in third place, for my second ever cash in the tournament. I also managed to drop the hammer twice!

I had some good fortune just before the break, when Spid went all in and I called with 66. Spid showed 77, but a 6 on the turn doubled me up, and left Spid down on 775 in chips. However, only two hands later he saw 77 again, and doubled up with a full house.

Down to the last three, and I went to war with AJo, against simonjjj's TT. A Jack on the flop and an Ace on the turn were great for me, but the Ten on the river certainly wasn't, and my stack was decimated. 5 hands later and I was out.

Spid recovered in fine style to win the whole thing, with Simon taking second.

It was a good night, with some good natured banter in the chat box, and some familiar names playing. A turnout of 13 isn't great, but I quite like a short-handed table to start. Hope to make it again next week.

Iggy´s Satellite Success

2008-06-16T07:09:00.002+01:00

Iggy is in the main event.

Innocent until proven guilty?

2008-06-15T18:09:00.001+01:00

Take a look at this very well written post on the 42 day detention period.

Euroblogger!

2008-06-07T22:17:00.002+01:00

Tonight I played in the inaugural Euroblogger tourney on Pokerstars. Unfortunately there was only five of us!

Along with the familiar names of Zagga, Cloud and Hammerheid was Copa1982 from Darmstadt.

It all went horribly wrong for me when very early on I was dealt AK. With only 5 of us I went all-in. Unfortunately I ran straight into AA!

The final two were Zagga and Cloud. There was talk of a chop, but I urged Cloud to take it down for England, which he duly did, taking down the massive first prize of $25.

Blog Roll Update

2008-06-06T06:49:00.002+01:00

Just done a little tidying up of my blog roll. Taken off a few blogs that either don´t interest me any more, or just aren´t being updated. One new one to point out to you - Dudley has moved his blog over to Raise the River - check out it out here.

Also, for great coverage of the WSOP, head over to Tao of Poker.

Young Carers

2008-05-19T12:39:00.003+01:00

Someone from the local Young Carers support group is coming to see my kids this evening.

Over the last twelve months they have had to do far more than most kids would have to do in helping out around the house, and in particular helping their mother, who is in almost constant pain and has great difficulty in carrying out many normal, straight forward activities.

My daughter in particular is quite sensitive, and feels "different". My son mostly just notices that his activities are somewhat curtailed from what he used to be able to do. Sometimes it is just that if I'm late home from work, he can't go and do whatever activity was planned, because Mum can no longer drive.

Typical of the things they help out with is putting the washing on, fetching and carrying, and helping mum with socks and shoes. Some of it is fun (my son enjoys whizzing round the block on the electric scooter as he brings it from the garage to the front door); other stuff, such as cleaning the rabbit's house out, is not. Sometimes they'll answer the phone, because mum is in too much pain to talk to anyone (my daughter says she hates sales calls - don't we all?) Very occasionally they have to get themselves something to eat to put them on until I get home from work.

Tidying their rooms is of course a dreadful thing to ask them to do, but that just makes them the same as any other kids!

Safety First

2008-05-12T13:03:00.002+01:00

Such a tolerant creature!

Uncultured

2008-05-06T07:10:00.003+01:00

We had a family day out yesterday; me wife, two kids and dog.

We started the day in Crosby, just north of Liverpool, to take a look at the sculptures by Anthony Gormley, standing in the sea. The dog had a nice walk, kids got to run about on the beach, and we had our picnic looking out to sea towards the offshore wind farm.

After that we moved on to Liverpool. My daughter wanted to go to the Tate Modern, and my son went along with that idea when he found out they had a den-making exhibit.

The drive to the Albert dock was a nightmare. It took three quarters of an hour to travel about 5 miles. The waterfront seems to be one huge building site, and the traffic lights seem to be doing everything they can to hold you up.

Once we got on to the dock we discovered that it had just six disabled parking spaces. Six! And there are no concessions for the disabled. I ended up dropping the family off whilst Woody and I went to find somewhere to park up and wait. I came back an hour later and found a space, and decided to let Woody stretch his legs whilst we waited. Guess what? No dogs allowed on the Albert Dock. So, back in the car to wait for the others. At least they had a good time at the Tate, where the staff were very helpful, and the den-making was great fun.

Return to the Bloggerment

2008-04-07T06:53:00.004+01:00

Last night was the 53rd Britbloggerment on Pokerstars. So these have been running over a year now? Still lots of the same names there that were there at the start - BurnleyMik and Acorn of course, Rosie, AlEleven and Quixote8. Oh, and me too, but playing much less regularly than I was.

Congratulations to Acorn for taking it down; I came 5th, outside the money again, as my AJ went down to Cell's AK, as neither of us improved.

Things had started really well as, early on my pair of sixes met a flop of 633, and then, to my delight, two players went all in before me! That gave me the chip lead for quite a while, but it dribbled away over the next two hours.

I did manage one success last night, as I BurnleyMik put a $5 bounty on AlEleven. I took that as I rivered a straight to beat Al's pair. So I can afford to play again next week, as long as I don't donk it off at the cash tables before then!

So what time does the tide usually come in?

2008-03-30T17:20:00.002+01:00

Eclipsed
Originally uploaded by Rambling0n

Had a lovely family day out in Southport today, where I took this photo of a sculpture at the end of the pier.

Whilst we were on the pier, I was approached by an American couple who asked, "Is the tide coming in or going out?" If you've been to Southport, you'll know that when the tide is out it is virtually over the horizon. It was like that then, and I replied "I think it is about low tide now." "So what time does it usually come in then?" they asked, "Morning or afternoon?"

I suppose living on an island you forget that some people can live a thousand miles from the coast, but it was all I could do to politely reply "It's a different time every day." From the look on their faces I don't think they believed me!

More pics

2008-03-23T16:13:00.003Z

Been out and about with the camera again today. I've uploaded a load of pictures to Flickr.

One photo I think has come out quite well is this one.

Maybe it's a bit corny having a black and white photo of a black and white bird, but I like it.

Where eagles dare

2008-03-23T09:23:00.009Z

Went to Haweswater yesterday, looking for golden eagles. What we actually saw was 1 crow, 1 chaffinch and 2 geese!

We set off to climb up to High Street, but at 2200 feet the wind was so strong that the kids couldn't stay on their feet.

Here's a few photos of the day.

Moving On

2008-03-17T09:59:00.003Z

I've had enough. I want to do something constructive at work, not just plod along. There are so many things wrong in this Company, but nobody seems interested in fixing them, or in letting me fix them.

Last Friday I started phoning contacts I have made in the industry over the last few years. It's amazing who one knows when one sits down and thinks about it. I'm on first name terms with a director of the largest company in the industry. I know the owners of several of the smaller businesses well.

Of course none of these contacts matter if there are no vacancies. In these times no one can afford to create a position for someone; but, the word is out there that I am looking for a job. Hopefully if someone is considering expanding their team, they'll think of me. My CV has been polished 'til it gleams.

Speaking of CVs, a little addition to my interests is Athletics Coach. Turning up twice a week to watch my kids train is now expanding into helping with the coaching. Last Monday I was helping one of the top under 20 800m runners in the country. Of course he knows far more about it than me! I've sent off all the forms for the enhanced disclosure, to make sure I'm safe to work with kids, and I'm hopefully going on a coaching course with UK Athletics. Level 1 is just for assistant coach, but, who knows, maybe you'll see me at the Olympics with my proteges in 2020 ;)

Britbloggerment 48

2008-02-24T23:14:00.000Z

Played tonight, and things were going pretty well. Down to the last 6, and getting a bit low on chips. I limped with A9c, and, with a flop of Ad 3h Kh, I pushed. After some thought the big stack, PhillyStein, called, and showed A6s. The inevitable 6 on the river sent me to the rail.

Congratulations to the winner, jjay2005. The final table finished like this:

1: jjay2005 (watford), $47.50 (50%)
2: Oenone (Scotland), $28.50 (30%)
3: Cell 1919 (Leeds), $19.00 (20%)
4: PhillyStein (Elkins Park),
5: simonjjj (watford),
6: stephenrhall (Blackburn),
7: jd8119 (Bristol),
8: zagga (East Kilbride),
9: lisam8319 (Bristol)

Pimpage (better late than never)

2008-02-16T20:36:00.003Z

Come and play pot limit omaha with the good doctor, tonight at 9:20 GMT. If you've never played PLO before, all the better, I need someone worse than me!

TPTK

2008-02-12T23:00:00.000Z

Congratulations to BurnleyMik and Yorkshire Pud on their forthcoming additions!

Meet Woody

2008-02-05T20:59:00.000Z

Against my better judgement, We've adopted a 14 month old labrador. As you can see, he is absolutely adorable.

Training with Kelly Holmes

2008-02-03T19:32:00.000Z

Last September my 8 year old daughter joined Ribble Valley Athletics Club, inspired by a week of free athletics activities over the summer holidays.

The club is particularly strong in middle distance running, with the head coach Don having previously been a middle distance runner.

His daughter Leigh, only sixteen, a few weeks ago won gold in both 400 and 800 metre events at the north of England under 20s championships. As a result of that she has been selected to represent England at U20 level. On top of that she has now been given a place on a training camp with Kelly Holmes.

My little girl has been so inspired by all this - she trains twice a week, in all weathers, indoors, on the outdoor track, and cross-country. Last week she dragged me out for a 2km run in the snow. What I think is great about her joining the club is not whether she wins anything or not, but the fabulous supportive atmosphere at the club, where you will find 13,14,15 year old kids looking out for all the younger ones, 16,17,18 year olds coaching younger athletes, and a great turn out from club members to support their team mates even when they are not taking part in an event.

A few weeks ago my daughter took part in an indoor sports hall games event, setting 3 personal bests and scoring points for the club. She was so chuffed!

If you live in the Ribble Valley/Blackburn area, and you've got kids who like sport, get them along to RVAC. Just turn up on a Monday, 6pm at Witton Park, Blackburn, or Oakhill Academy, Whalley, on Wednesdays at 7pm. Just look out for the large group of polite, healthy looking kids and introduce yourself.

Saturday with Dr Pauly

2008-02-03T17:48:00.000Z

Pauly has restarted his Saturday tourneys on Pokerstars, and the name of the game is Pot Limit Omaha.

Now I have a big problem with Omaha; intellectually I know only two out of the four hole cards count, but, emotionally, I see all those cards and get over-excited, leading to big mistakes.

Last night things were going pretty well, I was well up with the leaders in chips, not making too many donkey calls, and had outlasted a few players I know, such as ResdentEvil and Katitude. Then this hand comes along -

I am dealt:

Qh 8c 8s Qd. 

I raise pre-flop and get one caller.

Flop is 

Qc 9s Jd

The internal donkey shouts "Full House" and I push all in.

One caller.

Of course I haven't got a boat, because I can only use two hole cards.  In fact I only had a set of queens.

The villain shows

Kh Kc 2c Th

I am ahead.  He has a pair and is drawing to a straight.

Turn is 4h.  No help for him.

River is Ac and he hits his straight, and I bust out.

Oops. 

I might try again next time.  Note to self - count to 5 before shoving!

Whoops, that was a long time between posts!

2008-02-03T17:42:00.000Z

Hello once again loyal reader. After a gap of 6 weeks I've summoned up the energy for a post.

In the news -

1. I didn't get the job. In fact, no one was appointed, and the position has been re-advertised. I am officially not better than nothing.

2. Christmas was a nice, calm family affair. Excessive quantities of alcohol were not consumed.

3. Poker playing is, as usual, up and down. My attempt to build my bankroll from almost nothing on Mansion is stalled. I've been as high as $120, and back down to $70.

4. My wife has been back to the consultant neurosurgeon, who is the most obnoxious, arrogant member of the medical profession it has ever been my misfortune to meet. As far as he is concerned because he has fixed the slipped disc, there can't be anything wrong with her. Obviously she is just using that wheelchair for fun..... Back to the GP if I can ever persuade her to visit a doctor again after this experience.

Journey South

2007-12-14T13:20:00.000Z

Off down the M5 on Monday for a second (and I am assured last) interview. A 400 mile round trip.

Update

2007-12-13T22:28:00.000Z

Ok, interview over. Haven't really got a clue whether it was good or bad. I find out in the morning if I've got a second interview. If I do it will be on Monday in the home town of Rosie and the SS Great Britain.

Today's the day

2007-12-13T10:05:00.000Z

Interview today.

I am much more nervous about this interview than the one earlier in the year. I suppose it is because I feel that this is the last chance with my current employer. If I don't get this job then I will start looking elsewhere.

Blue badge rant

2007-12-08T11:17:00.000Z

Regular readers will know that my wife has had some major health problems. This means that if we go out shopping she has to use a wheelchairs. As a consequence, she has a blue disabled parking badge. The main problem with this is that all the disabled spaces in the car parks are often full.

The reason we need a disabled space is not to do with closeness to the shops (though I like that when I'm pushing the chair!), it is all about the width of the space, allowing the car door to open fully, and the wheelchair to fit easily between cars.

On Wednesday we had a trip to the Trafford Centre. We found a disabled space, next to the lift, on the end of a row, so cars alongside my wife's door weren't an issue anyway. We went off and did our shopping (credit card is hurting now) and came back about three hours later.

Parked next to our car, not in a proper space but in the roadway at the end of the row, parked so close that I would be concerned getting in myself without banging the door, was another car. A car with a disabled badge. A car with a notice in the passenger door requesting people not to park to close because they used a wheelchair! How can somebody who is a wheelchair user themselves park so as to so badly inconvenience another disabled person? There appears to be a small number of disabled badge holders that give the rest a bad name. They use their parking privileges to "abandon" their cars wherever is most convenient without any thought to other road users or pedestrians, and other people won't say anything for fear of being thought uncaring.

Unfortunately I didn't have a pen on me, or there would have been a very snotty note left on their windscreen. We also reported them to the centre staff, but I suspect nothing would be done.

Why don't they fold?

2007-12-06T07:18:00.000Z

Continuing my efforts at bank roll building on Mansion, I've got stuck in the $60-$70 region. I'm playing $0.05/$0.10 cash games. The problem I'm having at the moment is the idiots who chase their draws to the river. However, it does sometimes work to my advantage. The following hand is an example. I know the guy will see a flop with any rubbish (having previously been beaten by his 8 3o!

ANTES/BLINDS Hero posts blind ($0.05), .jackrymer68 posts blind ($0.10). PRE-FLOP Mejram folds, IceManQQQ folds, sebequino calls $0.10, xrajka calls $0.10, Hibachi13 folds, joza111 folds, Baggers59 folds, Hero bets $0.35, .jackrymer68 calls $0.30, sebequino calls $0.30, xrajka calls $0.30. FLOP [board cards: QS,7S,9C ] Hero bets $1.50, .jackrymer68 folds, sebequino calls $1.50, xrajka folds. TURN [board cards: QS,7S,9C,7C ] Hero bets $2.95 and is all-in, sebequino calls $2.95. RIVER [board cards: QS,7S,9C,7C,5D ] SHOWDOWN Hero shows [ QC,KC ] sebequino shows [ 8C,TC ] Hero wins $10.



SUMMARY Dealer: Baggers59 Pot: $10.50, (including rake: $0.50) Hero. bets $4.85, collects $10, net $5.15 .jackrymer68, loses $0.40 Mejram, loses $0 IceManQQQ, loses $0 sebequino, loses $4.85 xrajka, loses $0.40 Hibachi13, loses $0 joza111, loses $0 Baggers59, loses $0

Cash at Last

2007-12-02T23:26:00.000Z

Played in tonights Brit Bloggerment for the first time for a while. And, for the first time ever, I made it to the money, finishing third.

I certainly had my share of luck along the way, but I don't think I made too many donkey calls. I managed to practice some of the restraint I've been learning in the cash games; I only saw 12% of flops.

I left HullJimi and BrainMc fighting it out for victory.

Update: Congratulations to HullJimi, who took the tourney down after 2 hours 44 minutes.

A right to free speech?

2007-12-01T17:58:00.000Z

I went in to Blackburn town centre today with all the family. My daughter's favourite dress had had an accident involving an iron, so we were off shopping to replace it.

As we walked into the main pedestrianised area, we were confronted by two people addressing the public with amplifiers.

On the right was Jack Straw MP, Minister for Justice, and someone who, despite being a cabinet minister for many years, takes his constituency responsiblities seriously. Once a month he goes into the town centre, stands on a box, and invites his constituents to ask him questions. Whilst we were passing today he was promising to take up an issue with the Chancellor, and was going to respond in writing to the questioner. Whilst I may disagree with many of the things this government has done, and Jack Straw has been a major player since they were first elected, I cannot but admire him for putting himself out there for his constituents to harangue.

On the opposite side was a man with a board proclaiming him to be from a presbyterian church. What he was doing was rather less praise-worthy. In the middle of a very multi-cultural town, and a time once again of heightened tension due to events in Sudan, he was bellowing offensive comments about Muhammad and the Pope. So much for good will to all men at Christmas. I am pleased to say that the only person appearing to listen to him was his colleague trying to hand out leaflets. However, he may have attracted more of an audience if Jack Straw hadn't been there.

Whilst I believe everyone is free to believe what they want, I don't want my children exposed to this poison. At the moment they don't notice skin colour, and show interest in, not contempt for, the various world religions.

Stephen Fry, supergeek.

2007-11-30T08:43:00.001Z

I recently stumbled across actor/presenter Stephen Fry's new blog. It really isn't what I would have expected. It is nearly all tech related. He owns a load of Macs, and also runs Ubuntu, Red Hat and Yellow dog linux distributions. He talks knowledgeably about the history of PDAs and smartphones, he compares the Palm OS to Pocket Windows, and writes scathing reviews of new media playing phones. As a result of the blog he's even been given a tech column in the Guardian.

His latest post is a review of a clockwork mp3 player!

Mansion Update

2007-11-30T08:32:00.000Z

My free $20 is now up to $65. Shortly after my previous post on the subject, my bankroll started dribbling away alarmingly - I couldn't hit a flop, and my bluffs weren't coming off. However, over the last week things have changed.

It started, strangely enough, with me losing a full $10 buy-in at the 0.05/.10 cash tables within 5 minutes of sitting down. Now, normally if I lose a buy-in I stop playing, to limit my losses, however, this time, I didn't. I bought straight back in again, and with half an hour I had won my $10 back plus another 10. Most of it came from two people. The table nearly broke up, and for quite a long time there was only 3 of us playing. One guy kept buying in with just $1, I presume to minimise risk, but I just kept taking that dollar off him, and he'd buy in again. I think that happened at least 6 times. The other guy at the table had around $15 at the start of this session, and I took most of that.

I am staying away from the SNGs. I just can't seem to make any headway there at all. The cash games, whilst providing less opportunity for one big win, allow me to steadily grind away, taking two steps forward, one back, without the tilt provoking bad beats which finish you off in a tourney.

If I get the bank roll up to $100, I'll probably step up a level. At the level I am playing now it is a matter of playing ABC poker. Don't get too clever, because it can go straight over the heads of a lot of the people at the table, They just keep calling, and they'll catch something on the river. Of course whenever you get dealt AA in the big blind, everyone folds pre-flop.

Another door opens...

2007-11-14T06:59:00.000Z

Back in January I wrote about the company I have worked for since I graduated 16 years ago being taken over by a large public company, and how I applied for, and narrowly missed getting, a General Manager's position at another site within the group.

Well now the General Manager's post at the site I work where I work is becoming vacant. It's sad in a way, because it means someone I've worked with for the last 12 years is leaving, but, it's an opportunity for me. I've been told by two other managers at the site that I should apply (people that report to the GM), also by some of the people that report to me now. Perhaps part of that is "Better the Devil you know!" but it is encouraging.

My CV didn't need much updating, since I'd done that in January, so the day after the vacancy was listed, my application was in. Closing date isn't until the end of the month, so I will be stewing for a while yet.

The £100 PC

2007-11-13T07:03:00.002Z

Actually it's $199, and only available at Walmart in the States, but, this is a great package. It does it by running Linux rather than Windows. It doesn't need all the power just to run the operating system, so can be built from cheaper components. From the reviews on the website, it's won some converts to Linux. It has sold out online, but if you're in the US and want one, you might be able to pick one up in store.

Bad beats and royal flush draws.

2007-11-13T06:38:00.000Z

Kat and Burnley Mik both been on the wrong end of a bad beat (Mik have you upset someone in another life, that is one hell of a run?).

Meanwhile, things have been going well for me over at Mansion. The $20 the gave me a few days ago is now $46, just from playing the $0.05/0.10 no limit cash tables. Hands like this certainly help!

*** Blind Bet Round *** :
rastaralle2 : Post Blind ($0.05)
-tordy- : Post Blind ($0.10)
TonyV1885 : Post Blind ($0.10)
Dealt to Hero: Ah
Dealt to Hero: Jh
*** Pre-Flop *** :
david-jr : Call ($0.10)
LECSO7373 : Fold
Lisa_K38 : Fold
jonna92 : Fold
TonyV1885 : Check
PeTiKe22 : Call ($0.10)
Hero: Bet ($0.35)
nmseg72 : Call ($0.35)
rastaralle2 : Fold
-tordy- : Fold
david-jr : Call ($0.25)
TonyV1885 : Fold
PeTiKe22 : Call ($0.25)
*** Flop *** : Qh 10h 8d
david-jr : Check
PeTiKe22 : Bet ($0.25)
Hero: Raise ($1.50)
nmseg72 : Call ($1.50)
david-jr : Call ($1.50)
PeTiKe22 : Fold
*** Turn *** : [ Qh 10h 8d ] Ks

david-jr : Check
Hero: Bet ($7.35)
Hero: All In ($7.35)
nmseg72 : Call ($5.65)
nmseg72 : All In ($5.65)
david-jr : Call ($3.70)
david-jr : All In ($3.70)
Dealt to Hero: Ah
Dealt to Hero: Jh
Dealt to nmseg72: 10s
Dealt to nmseg72: 4s
Dealt to david-jr: 6h
Dealt to david-jr: Kh
*** River *** : [ Qh 10h 8d Ks ] Ac

*** SUMMARY ***
Pot: $22.10 | Rake: $1
Board: [ Qh 10h 8d Ks Ac ]
LECSO7373 lost $0
Lisa_K38 lost $0
jonna92 lost $0
TonyV1885 lost $0.10
PeTiKe22 lost $0.60
Hero bet $9.20, collected $22.10, net $12.90 Shows [ Ah Jh ] (a straight, Ace high)
nmseg72 lost $7.50 Shows [ 10s 4s ] (a pair of tens)
rastaralle2 lost $0.05
-tordy- lost $0.10
david-jr lost $5.55 Shows [ 6h Kh ] (a pair of Kings)

It's a lovely feeling when you're all in on the turn, the cards show, and everyone else is drawing dead. Of course, the decision to go all-in would have been much less stressful if the King on the turn had been a heart but, as that was in one of the other guy's hands, that wasn't to be.

I looked back at my history on Mansion from last time I played here, and I did well then too. For some strange reason I withdrew my roll and moved it all to Pokerstars! I think I'll see how far I can take my free $20. Next stop $100!

Money for Nothing..

2007-11-09T18:33:00.000Z

.. but no chicks ;)

Mansion have given me $20 to go back and play on their site. It's probably 12 months since I last played there. I had a reasonable amout of success, but I eventually withdrew my roll and moved it to 'Stars.

Never one to look a gift horse in the mouth, I've re-installed the Mansion software, and am giving it a try.

There's a new, clean looking user interface, but, unlike Pokerstars, the size seems to be fixed. The range of games is also more limited than 'Stars. Anyway, I'll give it a go, and see if I can turn a profit.

Maudie's new home

2007-11-08T07:46:00.000Z

Maudie has moved her blog to www.pokerperspectives.com. Drop in a say hi.

Wandering Monsters

2007-10-31T13:28:00.001Z

Any of you guys play MMORPGs or D&D? Take a look at this Encounter table.

Don't you love it when this happens?

2007-10-25T00:05:00.000+01:00

A lesson I've learnt the hard way - beware of the paired board!

sparkie545: posts small blind $0.02
conngent: posts big blind $0.05
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to stephenrhall [9d 9s]

>>000'>J: folds

marquelyn: folds
FlitzeAAA: raises $0.10 to $0.15
TheOne2006: calls $0.15
astralfunk: calls $0.15
ionut_steaua: folds
stephenrhall: calls $0.15
sparkie545: folds
conngent: folds
*** FLOP *** [3h 8h 8d]
FlitzeAAA: checks
TheOne2006: checks
astralfunk: checks
stephenrhall: bets $0.35
FlitzeAAA: folds
TheOne2006: calls $0.35
astralfunk: folds
*** TURN *** [3h 8h 8d] [4c]
TheOne2006: checks
stephenrhall: checks
*** RIVER *** [3h 8h 8d 4c] [9h]
TheOne2006: bets $13.19 and is all-in
stephenrhall: calls $3.57 and is all-in
*** SHOW DOWN ***
TheOne2006: shows [Ah Th] (a flush, Ace high)
stephenrhall: shows [9d 9s] (a full house, Nines full of Eights)
stephenrhall collected $8.11 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $8.51 | Rake $0.40
Board [3h 8h 8d 4c 9h]
Seat 1: ionut_steaua folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 2: stephenrhall (button) showed [9d 9s] and won ($8.11) with a full house, Nines full of Eights

Inspiration

2007-10-23T21:07:00.000+01:00

I try to set an example to my children, to encourage them to strive to better themselves, to do their best at whatever they attempt.

Yesterday the tables were turned.

I took the kids cycling in Grizedale Forest. It's the first time that we've done that sort of thing together. To be honest, I haven't done any serious cycling for years. In my early teens I would think nothing of cycling 50 miles; today I wouldn't want to think about such a distance.

Towards the end of the day, we're slogging up a hill. My son has already given up and is walking, and I'm seriously considering joining him. I look up the hill to see how far there is to go, and, ahead, I see my 8 year old daughter, moving her bike up the hill through the force of her own stubbornness. At that point I can't get off and walk. She's going through the pain of moving that bike up the hill, with 6 gears less to go at than me, and a lot less strength and experience (though admittedly an awful lot less excess weight too!). I drag myself and the bike to the top of the hill, and then thankfully call for a rest to wait for my son, heart bursting with pride in my little girl.

And they're off

2007-10-14T20:13:00.000+01:00

The big event has started. I was sharing a table with Lou Saban, but got moved after one hand. Rosie has an interesting seat - left of Dr Pauly.
13 minutes in, 32 out.

Update 1
Looks like I gave Rosie kiss of death - she's out in 1311th place.

Wil Wheaton is sharing a table with BurnleyJoe. Any relation Mik?

Otis has shown up as commentator, under name of Blogger Brad!

Playing steady so far. Not taking any risks. Slightly up on starting chips.

Update 2

Playing hardly any hands. I've seen two flops, won 3 hands!

Dropped in on Acorn. He's about level too. BM Similar.

Update 3

Just had a double up on my table, AA takes down KK.
Burnley Mik down to 7000.

Update 4
AQh and I make my first raise for ages. No takers.
Limped with A3h and flop AA3! Only BB in hand. I can't get him to raise, and he folds to my raise on turn.

Update 5
ResdentEvil was all in with a flopped straight and he doubles up.
Wil Wheaton has just dropped the HAMMER!

Update 6
Pauly is out. SuffolkPunch is down at around 8000, as is BM. I'm down to 8800. Nothing I can make anything of.
Two big stacks at table. I've pushed with JJ. One big stack calls with 99. Flop gives him a 10 high straight draw. Turn and river are blank and I double up.

Update 7
BM up to 14000 as he rakes in the chips with AA and another rocket on the flop.

Update 8
First break over, back to folding. I'm being a bit of a masochist, I'm playing Britbloggerment too.

Update 9
This time its me with 99. KK on the flop. I put a couple of small raises in. One person limps along, and I take the pot. Next hand 77 not so lucky, and I lose a few.

Update 10

I raise pre flop with TT. Two callers. Flop is AK4. One instant all in. Must be AK. One instant fold from me. One insane call with AQ. It was AK. It holds up.

Dealt 84 in BB. One limper. flop is 824. Limper pushes. I easily have him covered, so I call. A 9 on the turn and another on the river, counterfeiting my hand and giving him the higher two pair. Down to 11000.

Update 11
Now outlasted half the field, but low on chips.

Last update.
Out in 655th place.

Here are the fateful hands.

Dealt to stephenrhall [Qc Jc]
biobakje: folds
IAMB67: folds
PanamaStone: folds
stephenrhall: calls 600
bbmart60: folds
bighair83: calls 600
Catalina_Day: folds
Leraner: calls 300
quintiliano: checks
*** FLOP *** [3h Jh 4s]
Leraner: checks
quintiliano: checks
stephenrhall: bets 4925
bighair83: raises 4925 to 9850
Leraner: folds
quintiliano: folds
stephenrhall: raises 721 to 10571 and is all-in
bighair83: calls 608 and is all-in
*** TURN *** [3h Jh 4s] [Ad]
*** RIVER *** [3h Jh 4s Ad] [5c]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
stephenrhall: shows [Qc Jc] (a pair of Jacks)
bighair83: shows [6h Ah] (a pair of Aces)
bighair83 collected 23316 from pot

quintiliano: posts small blind 400
biobakje: posts big blind 800
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to stephenrhall [Ks Ts]
IAMB67: folds
PanamaStone: folds
stephenrhall: calls 113 and is all-in
bbmart60: folds
bighair83: folds
Catalina_Day: calls 800
Leraner: raises 4125 to 4925 and is all-in
quintiliano: folds
biobakje: folds
Catalina_Day: folds
*** FLOP *** [Td 5d 2d]
*** TURN *** [Td 5d 2d] [6d]
*** RIVER *** [Td 5d 2d 6d] [3s]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Leraner: shows [Kd Tc] (a flush, King high)
Leraner collected 2348 from side pot
stephenrhall: shows [Ks Ts] (a pair of Tens)
Leraner collected 565 from main pot

World Blogger Championship

2007-10-14T17:11:00.000+01:00

The event starts in less than three hours now. Registration is open, and entries are passed 400 and climbing rapidly.

Plenty of familiar names signed up - Dr Pauly, Mookie99, Kronsdat, ResdentEvil, Mike and Lou Saban, Hammerheid, Kattitude...... No sign of BurnleyMik, Acorn or Cloud yet. I presume they'll be along later.

Dead Hamster

2007-10-11T12:20:00.000+01:00

Got a phone-call this morning from my wife, saying that the hamster was dead. This was quite a shock, as it is only two months old, and it was running around on my hands the evening before.

Of course the kids were devastated, and went to school almost in tears.

An hour later I get another call. The hamster is alive! She had gone to put it in a plastic bag before putting it in a box to bury it, and it had moved. It was breathing about once every two minutes.

Turns out that because we had moved it from the lounge to the dining room, the slight drop in temperature, along with the lights being on less, had sent it into hibernation. A quick google for hamster hibernation, and we find that we need to warm it up, give it sugary water and mushy food. The warmth was easy - just plonk it down on the laptop PSU! Much TLC later, and we have a very grumpy, but awake hamster.

Sporting a bandage

2007-10-02T23:41:00.000+01:00

My daughter has joined a local athletics club. This involves training twice a week , with transport provided of course by Dad's Taxi. She is settling in really well, and can run far better than I ever could. The warm up last night consisted of a one mile jog before they even started training properly. She is only 8! The club has the 3rd ranked U15 800 metre runner in the country, and my daughter is wanting to follow in her footsteps.

Before training, she told us that she had a sore ankle, she had gone over on it at school. As you do, we jollied her along, told here that when she started running it would be ok, and, off she went, good as gold, completed the session, coach told her how well she had done, and then home to bed.

This morning we felt incredibly guilty as she limped downstairs, ankle sporting a technicolour bruise and swelling. So we had to send her to school with an elastic bandage and a note asking that she be excused PE.

World Blogger Championship

2007-10-02T23:33:00.000+01:00

It's time for the Pokerstars World Blogger Championship. I didn't think they were going to do it this year, as last year it was before the WSOP, with the first prize being a seat in the main event. This year first prize is a place at the Pokerstars Carribean adventure.

Last time I finished just outside the top 100 which I felt was a pretty decent performance, but it didn't win me anything. This time a 20 place improvement wins me a duffle bag! 45th and you start to get to the real prizes.

Stardust

2007-09-26T23:32:00.000+01:00

No, not the '70s film starring David Essex, but the book (and now film) by Neil Gaiman.

I got the book this evening, and, whilst my daughter was doing circuit training, I sat in the gym and read the first half of the book non-stop. The words leap off the page and form wonderful pictures in the mind's eye. I think it will be one of those books that I will be very sad to finish.

Hot and Cold

2007-09-25T12:48:00.000+01:00

I managed to fit the Sunday night Bloggerment in this week. I had registered the previous week, but unregistered just before the start, as I was just too tired to see it through

I surprised myself by making it through to 5th place. Not in the cash, but considering the way my tourney play has been going recently, it was pretty good. I was card dead for most of the game, and I eventually reached the stage of having to push to stay ahead of the blinds.

I seemed very quiet, then I realised that Burnley Mik was on holiday.

I am spending most of my poker playing time in the cash games, where I am very slowly building my bank roll (need to resist donking it off again in the SNGs!) I'm trying to wait for the premium hands, and maximise what I can get from those hands. I do throw the occasional bluff in, which, as I establish a tight image, generally come off. I'm generally seeing less than 20% of the flops.

I'm hoping to be a bit less tired in the future, as, at work, we are recruiting, so some of the more tedious and repetitive work I do will get passed over to somebody new, and this should let me concentrate on the more interesting areas. As my wife is still ill (another MRI scan this weekend) I can't afford to be knackered all the time.

Bloggerment 24

2007-09-02T22:22:00.000+01:00

Played my first bloggerment for a month tonight. Spent an hour and a half completely card dead. I saw 10 flops out of 110 hands dealt. With the blinds eating away at my stack, I finally went for it with KTo, and found myself up against Mike's pair of 8s. A flop of 6 7 9 gave us both straight draws, and made my ten useless for making up a pair. A ten on the turn gave Mike his straight and put me out in 12th.

Welcome to biakkax, getting up at 5am in Japan to play poker with us!

SCO Lose!

2007-08-10T23:37:00.000+01:00

The redoubtable Judge Kimball has rules on the summary judgement in SCO vs Novell, over the ownership of the copyright to Unix. Read all about it at Groklaw.

This means Novell's waiver of any violations by IBM in their contributions to Linux stands, which completely pulls the rug out from under SCO's case against IBM.

Pot Committed

2007-08-08T16:13:00.000+01:00

(with apologies to change100).

Played in Sundays bloggerment. Got myself pot committed with AQo. Ended up pushing all-in, busted out in second to last place, after running into AK sooooted.

****.

To long away from the tables. I need to get back into the groove.

Still Here

2007-07-28T22:38:00.000+01:00

Hello reader.

I'm still alive.

Sorry I disappeared off the face of the blogosphere, but life has been particularly stressful recently.

At the beginning of the month we were supposed to go live on a new computer system at work. We finally went live two and a half weeks late, with no printers, no access to half our previous data, and morale at an all time low. It wasn't my job to implement the system (thank god!) I just had to carry on operating around all the crap.

On top of that, my wife's health isn't improving. The spinal surgery hasn't made a great deal of difference, so she's really down about that.

For the last two weeks I have been getting in from work, making a meal for the family, doing the housework and crashing out. I have never slept so soundly (at least the stress isn't keeping me awake ;) ).

Anyway, enough of my whining. Tomorrow is Kenny's charity tournament. I've made my donation, but don't know if I'll manage to play. I'm now on holiday a week, and we may be taking off tomorrow for a few days to get away from it all. Kids have got all sorts of commitments later in the week, so if we don't get off now we don't get much time. Looks like the turnout won't be great :( Hopefully Kenny will get that later miracle and the buy-ins will appear. If I'm here I'll be playing. I've even got the software running under Linux!

Hairy Gymnast

2007-07-09T11:46:00.000+01:00

Some time ago, The Cloud set out to be the number one on Google for Hairy Gymnast. You can read about this here at the hairy gymnast post. However, and sneaky journalist who goes by the name of Suffolk Punch, and I'm not linking his blog here so he doesn't get any hairy gymnast credit, is trying to steal the crown. He's even got Otis (of Pokerstars blog) recruiting people to his cause. We need to gather our resources and fight back. Go back to your blogs, and link Hairy Gymnast to http://thecloud71.blogspot.com/ .

League Table

2007-07-07T21:38:00.001+01:00

Sorry its late again.

Simon extends his lead, Zagga leaps up to second, I score some points at last, but don't move up.

See you tomorrow.

Simonjjj	60
Zagga	49
ResdentEvil	47
the_cloud71	42
TanOrpheus	33
PokerMunk3y	33
Spid	31
stephenrhall	30
Rosie_m_t	23
Al Eleven	22
BurnleyMik	22
Quixote8	23
cadmunkey	25
weegem	18
mikesaban	16
Bluescouse	16
Kronsdat	15
Katitude	14
Pokerdwarf	14
lzfsb3	14
Luckbox21	12
lightning36	11
mauzj	10
Daleroxxu	9
Sir Fortune	9
Viktor1973	9
Kennl	8
sookraboaby	8
LepRecon777	7
SuffolkPunch	7
lousaban	6
S.t.b	6
HullJimi	6
countryk	5
a104l9	4
Cogsgoigne	4
AlCantHang	2
Tupaclypse	2
Cell1919	1
4everleeds	0
mookie99	0
Neil Ross	0
wadhead	0

Bubble!

2007-07-01T23:05:00.000+01:00

Just in time for the next tourney..

2007-06-30T20:05:00.000+01:00

Here's the latest table. Good job BM posted the result, forgot to ask someone to send it to me!
Simon extends his lead, and Rosie, BlueScouse and Krondsat all move up the table.

See you all tomorrow.

Simonjjj	56
ResdentEvil	47
the_cloud71	42
Zagga	42
TanOrpheus	33
PokerMunk3y	33
Spid	31
stephenrhall	24
Rosie_m_t	23
Al Eleven	22
BurnleyMik	22
Quixote8	21
cadmunkey	20
weegem	18
mikesaban	16
Kronsdat	15
Katitude	14
Pokerdwarf	14
lzfsb3	14
Bluescouse	13
lightning36	11
mauzj	10
Daleroxxu	9
Sir Fortune	9
Kennl	8
sookraboaby	8
LepRecon777	7
SuffolkPunch	7
lousaban	6
S.t.b	6
HullJimi	6
countryk	5
a104l9	4
Luckbox21	4
Cogsgoigne	4
AlCantHang	2
Tupaclypse	2
4everleeds	0
mookie99	0
Neil Ross	0
wadhead	0

I'll be back

2007-06-23T20:45:00.000+01:00

But not until next Saturday. Off to Fishguard for a week's holiday. Hoping to see some whales off the coats of Wales. No internet access, unless the neighbours are a bit lax with their wireless security. So, for the first time, I'll be missing the bloggerment tourney :(

A word from our experts

2007-06-19T12:22:00.000+01:00

I enjoyed this hand, but probably should have extracted more chips. How would you have played it?

This is the late stages of a STT, the other guy has been playing fairly tight throughout.

Seat 3: stephenrhall (6400 in chips)
Seat 6: Kingpin1988 (4480 in chips)
Seat 9: able222 (2620 in chips)
able222: posts small blind 50
stephenrhall: posts big blind 100
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to stephenrhall [Tc Ah]
Kingpin1988: raises 200 to 300
able222: folds
stephenrhall: raises 200 to 500
Kingpin1988: calls 200
*** FLOP *** [8h Ad Th]
stephenrhall: bets 300
Kingpin1988: calls 300
*** TURN *** [8h Ad Th] [As]
stephenrhall: checks
Kingpin1988: bets 300
stephenrhall: calls 300
*** RIVER *** [8h Ad Th As] [Kd]
stephenrhall: checks
Kingpin1988: bets 400
stephenrhall: raises 600 to 1000
Kingpin1988: calls 600
*** SHOW DOWN ***
stephenrhall: shows [Tc Ah] (a full house, Aces full of Tens)
Kingpin1988: mucks hand
stephenrhall collected 4250 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 4250 | Rake 0
Board [8h Ad Th As Kd]
Seat 3: stephenrhall (big blind) showed [Tc Ah] and won (4250) with a full house, Aces full of Tens
Seat 6: Kingpin1988 (button) mucked [Js Kc]
Seat 9: able222 (small blind) folded before Flop

And now let's take a look at the table...

2007-06-19T09:40:00.000+01:00

Its no change at the top of the table, with Simonjjj just hanging in there, but ResdentEvil (aka Dudley) is pushing him hard. Tied for third place is the hairy gymnast, (need to get you back to number one mate) and Zagga (aka Acorn).

Simonjjj	48
ResdentEvil	47
the_cloud71	42
Zagga	42
TanOrpheus	33
PokerMunk3y	31
Spid	31
stephenrhall	24
Al Eleven	22
BurnleyMik	22
Quixote8	21
Rosie_m_t	18
weegem	18
cadmunkey	17
mikesaban	16
Katitude	14
Pokerdwarf	14
lzfsb3	14
lightning36	11
mauzj	10
Daleroxxu	9
Sir Fortune	9
Kennl	8
sookraboaby	8
LepRecon777	7
SuffolkPunch	7
lousaban	6
S.t.b	6
countryk	5
a104l9	4
Bluescouse	4
Kronsdat	8
Cogsgoigne	3
AlCantHang	2
Tupaclypse	2
4everleeds	0
mookie99	0
Neil Ross	0
wadhead	0

Intermission

2007-06-19T08:34:00.000+01:00

Check out Otis' report on Barry Greenstein multi-tabling at the WSOP.

Here's Stephen, with the weather

2007-06-18T16:45:00.000+01:00

It has been pissing down. I was supposed to be taking my daughter up to the local reservoir yesterday, where my brother in-law was going to take her sailing. I know you get wet out on the water, and that's fine, but I was going to be sat on the shore watching. As it happened, she slipped coming downstairs and bruised her back, removing any inclination she had for going sailing, and giving me a get out of jail free card. Typically, come lunch time, the sun came out, and I could have had a nice afternoon sitting in the sun reading. Oh well, a chance to get the washing outside to dry.

More rain again this morning, as I'm getting the electric scooter out of the garage for my wife to do the school run. At least it stopped for her to take the kids. She got soaked a few days last week, and sitting on a scooter, not moving (except by the power of electricity), one gets cold quite quickly.

Holiday in South West Wales next week, so hope the weather improves.

And now, in more detail....

2007-06-18T16:12:00.001+01:00

So, another Sunday, another Britbloggerment, and I was not at all happy with my performance. I could blame it on being tired - my wife is home, but can't walk more than 10 yards, the kids have activities galore (I'm going to cub camp overnight on Friday, I've packed my tent!), and I'm sick of ironing (and I'm not very good at it). However, I think it more likely that I just played badly.

Things started well, with this hand early on:

Dealt to stephenrhall [Jd Jh]
stephenrhall: raises 80 to 100
weegem: folds
Al Eleven: raises 180 to 280
Spid: folds
mikesaban: folds
Luckbox21: folds
lzfsb3: folds
stephenrhall: calls 180
*** FLOP *** [8h 6h 3h]
stephenrhall: bets 320
Al Eleven: raises 950 to 1270 and is all-in
stephenrhall: calls 940 and is all-in
*** TURN *** [8h 6h 3h] [5s]
*** RIVER *** [8h 6h 3h 5s] [Tc]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
stephenrhall: shows [Jd Jh] (a pair of Jacks)
Al Eleven: shows [Ts Qs] (a pair of Tens)
stephenrhall collected 3110 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***

Al Eleven had just said his wife was dragging him out, so, I felt there was a good chance he didn't have much, and my Jacks held up. He says he expects me to return the favour next time!

His attempts to get rid of his chips didn't go too well, as he then quadrupled his 10 chips up to 40 with 2 4o (flopped a pair of 4s) and then hit a straight with 67o to move up to 110. Eventually though, he had to go, his 63d unluckily beaten by ATo ;)

The next landmark was being dealt the hammer. Lzfsb3, short stacked, raised preflop, and I of course re-raised him. A flop of KK4 and he puts the rest of his chips in the middle. I call, and he shows 7c2s, so we split the pot.

A couple more players out, and one table closes. Joining us are Rosie, PokerMunk3y and simonjjj. A few hands later I'm dealt AdQs on the button. Rosie raises 3BB, and I reraise. I flop of 7c 6d 7h, and I raise. Rosie says "Ok, I give it a try" and pushes. I take a guess that she's holding something like AT or AJ, but, my reading is often not very good. I have her covered and decide to call. She shows 9Tc, and a 9 on the turn puts her in front. However, a queen on the turn puts her out, and I find myself the chip leader.

Around the same time BurnleyMik pops up in the chat, also having just gone out. I took a look at the state of the game overall, and noticed that Lousaban had gone out second, and, as Al Eleven doesn't have a blog, asked if she would be looking after the monkey. Mike didn't think much of that idea.

Things started to go down hill at this point. I was dealt the hammer again, and, raising pre-flop, the short stacked weegem went over the top. I called, and discovered I was not lookng too good, against his K9c. I did get a 2 on the turn, but as he'd already flopped top pair, that wasn't much good. First big lump of chips donked off.

I went card dead after this, until after some time I was dealt AJ. I raise 4BB up to 500. Simonjjj went all in with his 795. Spid called, and so did I. Flop was 4s 9s Qs.

For reasons I can't satisfactorily explain I went all in with my last 1357 chips. Spid called, with a pair of jacks. Simonjjj had a pair of tens. A ten on the river gives Simon a set, and all my chips.

League table to follow, after the weather report.

First, the Headlines

2007-06-18T09:25:00.000+01:00

I played crap.
I busted out in 13th place.
Congratulations to ResdentEvil who won, and Acorn and Mike, who were second and third.
Kronsdat bubbled.
Al Eleven did the walk of shame.

More later.

Bye Bye Monkey!

2007-06-11T18:54:00.000+01:00

Another Sunday, another Britbloggerment, and this one was tight! Nobody wanted to look after the monkey for a week (he's hard on the curtains), and nobody was taking risks. Eventually, after much stealing and folding all round, first out was The Edge! QQ beaten by KK. Pop over and say hi to the monkey. After that is was like a dam had burst, the relief not being first out loosened everyone's play, and more players soon left the table. Next out was Mike, followed by usual high flyer TanOrpheus. SuffolkPunch, who is off to Vegas shortly on behalf of The Sun and Pokerstars, was next to go in 11th place, as my JQh, with the help of a queen on the turn, beat his A6s. He's looking for small investors in his bankroll - got $10 to spare, pop over and take a look. Last to go before the final table was the better half of team Saban, Louise.

So, for the first time for a few weeks, I made the final table.

Next out was Weegem, as, short stacked, he called BMs raise to go all in with QK. BM showed AJ, and neither improved, putting Weegem out. A few hands later I was dealt AA, and raised 3BB. Kronsdat re-raised to go all in, and I called. He had ATo, which had been a very successful hand up to now, but got no help from the board. Out in 8th.

With the blinds increasing, and my stack falling towards the back of the pack, I was dealt JKo in the big blind. Spid raised 3BB, and I went over the top. He called and showed 88. The flop was blank, but a king on the turn put me in front. The following 8 on the river put me out in 7th place.

In 6th was PokerMunk3y, and out in 5th, after a fabulous run up to the break, was The Cloud. Nothing seemed to go for him after the break, but another final table for him. This weeks bubble boy was BurnleyMik! Whenever I'd glanced across to his table early on his stack seemed to be varying wildly, but once we got to the final table things settled down and his stack built steadily.

Onto the cash places, and ResdentEvil was 3rd. In second was Spid, after some solid play, and this weeks winner is....simonjjj!!!!. Taking stick throughout every tourney for his avatar, he kept his cool and took the title!

Turnout was down this week, only 14 instead of the usual 18 or 19, but it was still just as much fun.

This weeks league table! Only last week BurnleyMik was lamenting that he was behind all the regular players. This week he leaps up the table, passing Quixote8, Rosie, and weegem. Simonjjj takes the lead from the Cloud, and ResdentEvil moves up to 3rd.

Well played everyone, see you next week!

Simonjjj	44
the_cloud71	42
ResdentEvil	38
Zagga	34
TanOrpheus	33
PokerMunk3y	31
Spid	31
stephenrhall	24
Al Eleven	22
BurnleyMik	22
Quixote8	20
Rosie_m_t	18
weegem	18
cadmunkey	17
Katitude	14
Pokerdwarf	14
lightning36	11
mauzj	10
Daleroxxu	9
lzfsb3	9
mikesaban	9
Sir Fortune	9
Kennl	8
sookraboaby	8
LepRecon777	7
SuffolkPunch	7
lousaban	6
S.t.b	6
countryk	5
a104l9	4
Bluescouse	4
Kronsdat	2
AlCantHang	2
4everleeds	0
mookie99	0
Neil Ross	0
wadhead	0

Pokerstars' Loss

2007-06-08T22:41:00.001+01:00

I've been meaning to write about this all week, but never found the time, but now I have, so here goes (by the way, trying my pet monkey in a different position this post, what do you think?)

Wil Wheaton has been dropped from Team Pokerstars.

"So What?" you say. He's not a big, successful poker player, why would they want him?

Well, Wil is the reason I'm playing poker. He's the reason the first site I signed up with was Pokerstars. He's also the reason I'm blogging, but thats not the point of this post.

I would think that Wil has been responsible for a substantial number of people signing up with Pokerstars. Even before he was part of Team Pokerstars, he blogged about playing there. He wrote with enthusiasm, excitement, passion. Enough so that I felt I had to try this game, if only to understand what he was writing about. What is a flop anyway, what was this river he was going on about. Where did this gun that he was under come from? So, I downloaded the Pokerstars client, and started on the play money tables. Then, after he joined the team, he started the weekly WWdN tourneys. So, I put some cash in, and played my first tourney. I think I was the 3rd person to bust out. But I'd caught the bug. And I'm still playing today. Mostly on Pokerstars.

Now its the World Series of Poker, and the only person writing on the Pokerstars Blog is Otis. Not that Otis is a bad writer, he's right up there with the best bloggers. But last year Wil added another element to the reporting, gave a different slant.

Whilst Wil was famous outside poker, within it, he, to me, represented us, the ordinary players, not the megastars. He brought us into that world, with its seediness, its bright lights, its characters. Without him on Team Pokerstars, they've lost that connection with the small time player.

I hope Wil keeps playing, and I hope he blogs about it more. Maybe one day he'll join our little ol' Brit Bloggerment tourney, but with an 8 hour time difference, probably not. Anyway, I'll still be reading his blog, whether he writes about his family, his dog, Teen Titans, his favorite book, or Poker. It was the first blog I regularly read, and it's still one of the ones I enjoy the most.

Actually, maybe now he can enjoy his online poker more, as, not being part of Team Pokerstars, maybe he can change his username and become anonymous once more, away from the idiots that hated Wesley Crusher, and turn up at the rail just to rain down abuse, and the people that just hated him for getting to be part of Team Pokerstars.

Anyway, for the best reporting on this years WSOP, drop by the Tao of Poker, and read Pauly's take on things, and learn which pros he's taken a piss next to today!

Going over to the Dark Side

2007-06-08T15:03:00.000+01:00

I've just made my first music purchase using iTunes Plus - Apple's new DRM free music downloads, at double the bitrate. And it was the same price as the normal DRM encumbered, normal bitrate tracks. They're doing a special offer on a lot of albums, so I got Dark Side of the Moon for £6.99 (I typed the dollar sign first time, too much poker!).

Oh what a night

2007-06-08T08:37:00.000+01:00

Last night, playing a ring game, I found one of those players you never want to leave your table.

I'm dealt AA in the SB.. I've been burnt a lot slow playing aces, so I decide I'm going to be aggressive this time. This is helped by a raise of 5BB from middle position, and one caller. I reraise, and am called by UTG, plus the other two. Flop is 42T rainbow. I put in a pot sized raise, and am re-raised by UTG. The other two fold, and I'm left to think what UTG is holding. Hopefully he wouldn't still be in the game after the pre-flop raises with a middle pair, so I put him on something like AK or KK. I decide to push, and go all-in. He calls. A 3 and a 7 on fourth and fifth street, and he turns over Ts Qh!

He then buys himself another stack of chips. Two hands later I'm dealt QTd. I raise 3BB, and get two callers - my friend from the previous hand is one of them. Flop is 8d 7s Kd. My friend raises, and I've got the pot odds to call with my flush draw. A queen on the turn gives me a pair, but I suspect my friend is holding a king. He puts a weak raise in, and I call. River is 9d. Once again I put him all in, and he calls. He's got KTh, and I take the pot.

Again he rebuys. Three hands later I limp in MP with KQo. Flop is 8TJ rainbow. I test the water with a raise, and once again the only caller is my good friend. The turn is the card I most want to see, a 9. I've got the straight, and he re-raises. I go over the top, but finally he appears to have learn't a little sense, and unfortunately he folds.

I finish the session with 6 times my original buy-in, most of it from this one player. I'm not putting his name here because I don't want him stumbling across this and know I'm looking for him, and I don't want to share him with anyone else!

Better late than never

2007-06-07T22:41:00.000+01:00

Here, rather later than usual, is the Bloggerment league table, with Cloud's consistent good showings placing him top of the tree:

the_cloud71	37
Zagga	34
Simonjj	34
TanOrpheus	33
ResdentEvil	31
PokerMunk3y	27
Spid	22
Al Eleven	22
stephenrhall	21
Quixote8	20
Rosie_m_t	18
cadmunkey	17
weegem	17
BurnleyMik	16
Katitude	14
Pokerdwarf	14
lightning36	11
mauzj	10
Daleroxxu	9
lzfsb3	9
mikesaban	9
Sir Fortune	9
Kennl	8
sookraboaby	8
LepRecon777	7
SuffolkPunch	7
lousaban	6
S.t.b	6
countryk	5
a104l9	4
Bluescouse	4
AlCantHang	2
4everleeds	0
mookie99	0
Neil Ross	0
wadhead	0

Walk of Shame

2007-06-03T21:19:00.001+01:00

Out first, and here's the hand:

PokerStars Game #10252997105: Tournament #51377170, $5.00+$0.50 Hold'em No Limit - Level I (10/20) - 2007/06/03 - 16:10:40 (ET)
Table '51377170 2' 9-max Seat #4 is the button
Seat 2: weegem (1520 in chips)
Seat 4: mikesaban (1150 in chips)
Seat 5: simonjjj (1380 in chips)
Seat 6: Spid (1600 in chips)
Seat 7: Quixote8 (2320 in chips)
Seat 8: BurnleyMik (1390 in chips)
Seat 9: stephenrhall (1140 in chips)
simonjjj: posts small blind 10
Spid: posts big blind 20
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to stephenrhall [As 8s]
Quixote8: folds
BurnleyMik: folds
stephenrhall: calls 20
weegem: folds
mikesaban: calls 20
simonjjj: folds
Spid: checks
*** FLOP *** [8d Td Qc]
Spid: checks
stephenrhall: bets 80
mikesaban: raises 120 to 200
Spid: folds
stephenrhall: calls 120
*** TURN *** [8d Td Qc] [Ac]
stephenrhall: bets 920 and is all-in
mikesaban: calls 920
*** RIVER *** [8d Td Qc Ac] [6c]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
stephenrhall: shows [As 8s] (two pair, Aces and Eights)
mikesaban: shows [Tc 8c] (a flush, Ace high)
mikesaban collected 2310 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 2310 | Rake 0
Board [8d Td Qc Ac 6c]
Seat 2: weegem folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 4: mikesaban (button) showed [Tc 8c] and won (2310) with a flush, Ace high
Seat 5: simonjjj (small blind) folded before Flop
Seat 6: Spid (big blind) folded on the Flop
Seat 7: Quixote8 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 8: BurnleyMik folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 9: stephenrhall showed [As 8s] and lost with two pair, Aces and Eights

Got a monkey on your back?

2007-06-02T10:45:00.000+01:00

Found a link on the Hendon Mob site to Vicky Coren's weekly poker articles in the Guardian. Here's a story for everyone on a bad run.

Last.fm goes corporate

2007-05-30T13:11:00.000+01:00

Last.fm has been bought by CBS. For those of you that haven't tried it, it is a great way of finding new music. It will look at what you listen to, and play you similar music, or, you can search for music similar to specific artists. Given recent massive increases in charges by record companies in America, it will be interesting to see if they continue to allow Americans to access it now they are part of big business.

Dale who?

2007-05-27T23:29:00.000+01:00

It's that time again. Another Britbloggerment over, another bad day for me; but a much improved result for BurnleyMik, as he not only made the final table, he made the money. A solid third place for BM. Unfortunately for him, he came up against a first timer in the Bloggerment, but a rather experienced player, the mighty Daleroxxu, winner of the 2006 Pokerstars World Blogger championship (by the way, what happened to the 2007 tournament, it was supposed to be an annual event?), who crushed all before him. Second was Weegem, giving us a Scottish 1-2.

Early on in the game Rosie and Katitude were running hot and playing good aggressive poker, and bullets were flying. 4 players went out in the first 11 minutes. Doing the walk of shame was ResdentEvil, going out in the same hand as xldane. Next a big shock as reigning champion TanOrpheus busted out in 15th place, followed by another player who has been flying high recently, Zagga. I followed shortly afterwards.

Having been leaking chips, I made a donkey-like push with AT sooooted, and was hit by Quixote8s bullets. Spid, Surflexus and Cloud followed me to the rail, and we moved onto the final table in record time.

Moving swiftly on, mainly because I missed what happened next, simonjjj was tonight's bubble boy, and BurnleyMik makes the money. He was to go no further however, as his great run was crushed by daleroxxu. Weegem took a fine second place, after hanging for quite a while with the short stack.

Heres the full result, and updated league table.

17 players
Total Prize Pool: $85.00
Tournament started - 2007/05/27 - 16:00:00 (ET)
Tournament finished - 2007/05/27 - 17:51:50 (ET)
1: Daleroxxu (Dalkeith), $42.50 (50%)
2: weegem (Falkirk), $25.50 (30%)
3: BurnleyMik (Burnley), $17.00 (20%)
4: simonjjj (watford),
5: Rosie_m_t (Bristol),
6: Katitude (Toronto),
7: PokerMunk3y (Bradford),
8: Quixote8 (London),
9: Al Eleven (Miami),
10: the_cloud71 (Hertfordshire),
11: surflexus (Kennesaw),
12: Spid (Timperley),
13: stephenrhall (Blackburn),
14: zagga (East Kilbride),
15: TanOrpheus (Jersey),
16: xldane (Aalborg),
17: ResdentEvil (glasgow)

the_cloud71	34
ResdentEvil	31
Zagga	29
PokerMunk3y	27
TanOrpheus	27
Simonjj	25
Al Eleven	22
stephenrhall	21
Quixote8	20
Rosie_m_t	18
cadmunkey	17
weegem	17
BurnleyMik	14
Katitude	14
Pokerdwarf	14
Spid	14
lightning36	11
Daleroxxu	9
lzfsb3	9
mauzj	9
Sir Fortune	9
Kennl	8
sookraboaby	8
LepRecon777	7
SuffolkPunch	7
lousaban	6
S.t.b	6
countryk	5
a104l9	4
AlCantHang	2
mikesaban	2
4everleeds	0
mookie99	0
Neil Ross	0
wadhead	0

Now the work really starts

2007-05-24T13:08:00.001+01:00

My wife is out of hospital.

Hurray! I hear you all shout.

Unfortunately she discharged herself.

After nearly 5 weeks in hospital, dealing with a complete lack of information before her operation, and dealing with an attitude amongst the nursing staff after her operation that she should be better by now despite still being in a great deal of pain, she reached the end of her tether (did you understand that sentence? Reading it back I'm not sure I do, but tough).

The operation was successful in that it has halted the progression of her condition, the end result of which could have been paralysis. So thats good. The secondary aim was to remove the pain. That part has only been partially successful. Coupled with the inevitable muscle wastage of 5 weeks in bed, her mobility is severely restricted. But we can work round that. We may be restricted in the assistance we get from the State, as they don't approve of people discharging themselves. If she had waited, we might have got referrals to the appropriate agencies, but now we are working it out for ourselves.

We've applied for a disabled parking permit. That will go a long way towards making life easier - if you can park outside where you need to be then life is a lot less restricted. Anyone know how long these things take to come through? At the moment she can't walk any distance without discomfort, and that's with the aid of crutches. We don't know if there is going to be much improvement in this area.

Social Services should be coming to visit us at some point, but because of the self-discharge, they aren't rushing. We need things like ramps in the doorways (we've been given one of those little electric scooters that are so dangerous in the hands of the untrained!), and perhaps extra hand rails on the stairs, though climbing stairs is far in the future at the moment. We've also been given one of those snazzy electric beds that help you sit up, so that is in the lounge at the moment.

What her being home does mean is that the kids will be able to come home. I haven't seen them in over a week and it's far too quiet without them. They are staying with their grandparents until next Tuesday evening. I'm on holiday from Wednesday so I can spend the rest of the week doing nice things with them. The park, the bikes and the bird sanctuary beckon. It will probably rain.

Today in my car

2007-05-24T13:07:00.001+01:00

I am listening to "Ta Dah!" by Scissor Sisters.

Short and to the point

2007-05-21T16:58:00.000+01:00

Dudley's got a blog.

Orpheus out of the Underworld

2007-05-21T13:55:00.000+01:00

Updated Bloggerment league table - my slide continues, and TanOrpheus continues to storm upwards, as he beats newcomer kennl. Cloud picks up some points to keep his place at the top.

BurnleyMik made it to the final table thanks to me generously busting out in 10th place, and BMs inability to fold AK. He says it was an accident. A king on the turn and he takes the hand. I'm down to 185. I did make a bit of a comeback, thanks to LepRecon777 generously doubling me up twice. The first time I went all-in with AJo. Lep called with 8 5d. No improvement for either of us and I take the pot. A few hands later and I'm just ahead of Lep in chips. He goes all-in preflop and I call with AQo. He flips over A9o. A queen on the flop and I double up again. I double again courtesy of BM with a full house, but my comeback hits a brick wall as, drunk on my success, I run pocket sixes into kennl's KJ on a flop of JJT. Out in 10th again, and no final table again. BurnleyMik obviously couldn't take the rarified atmosphere of the final table, and soon followed me out in 9th place.

I actually got called a maniac this week. What's wrong with all-in with A4 anyway? I split the pot, so no harm done ;-)

	the_cloud71		34
	ResdentEvil		31
	Zagga		29
	PokerMunk3y		25
	TanOrpheus		27
	stephenrhall		21
	Al Eleven		21
	Simonjj		19
	cadmunkey		17
	Pokerdwarf		14
	Spid		14
	Rosie_m_t		13
	lightning36		11
	Quixote8		18
	Katitude		10
	lzfsb3		9
	Sir Fortune		9
	weegem		9
	mauzj		9
	sookraboaby		8
	Kennl		8
	LepRecon777		7
	SuffolkPunch		7
	BurnleyMik		7
	S.t.b		6
	lousaban		6
	countryk		5
	a104l9		4
	mikesaban		2
	AlCantHang		2
	wadhead		0
	Neil Ross		0
	mookie99		0
	4everleeds		0

For your delight and delectation...

2007-05-18T07:02:00.000+01:00

here's a new blog for you to read. It's The Bigger Deal, written by a number of people, including Lee Jones, former poker room manager at Pokerstars, and writer of "Winning at Low Limit Hold'em". Thanks to Otis for pointing this out.

Interesting to see the blogs they link to - just two of them. Guiness and Poker, and the Tao of Poker.

Update

2007-05-17T23:00:00.000+01:00

After three hours of surgeons poking around in her back, and a disc that refused to cooperate with said surgeons, my wife has returned to the ward after a discectomy. Apparently the operation was difficult but successful. I believe that successful means, in this case, that she still has use of her legs. Whether or not there has been an improvement in her condition we won't know until tommorrow. At 10pm this evening she said she didn't feel any better, but, after a general anaesthetic and a thorough mauling from the surgeons, I don't think I'd feel too clever either.

Action!

2007-05-17T12:58:00.000+01:00

My wife goes under the knife this afternoon. She is having a discectomy, which basically means they are cutting away part of one of the discs in her spine to relieve pressure on her spinal cord. Apparently she'll be about 3mm shorter after the operation.

The Royal Preston Hospital isn't the most attractive of places. The ward is on the lower ground floor right at the back of the hospital. One of the first things I saw was an ant crawling across the bed, and you can barely see out of the windows they are so dirty. And it's another mixed ward.

On the plus side, the nurses are lovely and the doctors communicative. We have had the procedure explained in full, along with what the expected benefits will be, and the possible complications. In summary, the risk of doing nothing far outweighs the risk of operating. If all goes well, tomorrow, for the first time in nearly 4 weeks, she should be walking about.

We're supposed to be going on holiday at the end of June - we've rented a holiday cottage in South Wales, near Fishguard. The doctor wouldn't commit himself on the likelihood of us being able to go. My in-laws have kindly volunteered to go instead if she''s not fit!

Change of Scenery

2007-05-16T17:20:00.000+01:00

After 1 day short of 4 weeks, it looks like my wife will be moving out of Blackburn Hospital, and into Preston Hospital. She is scheduled for surgery tomorrow, but no one has told her what the operation is. They have transferred someone out of Preston to Blackburn to make room for her, but the paramedics that brought the patient from Preston are too busy to take my wife back!

On the day that the results of a survey on patient satisfaction was published, indicating that 90% are happy with their stay in hospital, we find ourselves definitely in the 10%. I don't know about you, but in an area as critical as this, 90% satisfaction doesn't seem to great. Also as part of the survey, 22% said patients were not treated with dignity and respect. Once again we are in that negative group. One of the worst aspects of her stay in hospital has been the lack of staff talking directly to her about what is going on, when they did bother to talk to her they often talked down to her, and there was very little thought given to her dignity or the dignity of other patients on the ward.

Last night, a 98 year old lady had to wait over half an hour for a nurse to respond to her buzzer, wanting to be taken to the toilet, despite being regularly in the same room doing non-urgent tasks, and despite my wife pointing out that the old lady was buzzing. My wife has sometimes had to wait two hours in severe pain, for the nurses to bring her prescribed morphine. Some of this is down to the ward being understaffed, but some of it is just down to the attititudes of some of the staff.

I must point out that some of the nursing staff have been fabulous, and have done everything possible to make my wife's extended stay as comfortable as possible, but this has been far from universal.

Another NHS topic in the news recently is mixed wards. My wife is on a mixed ward. In a brand new hospital you wouldn't think this would be the case.

Oh well, nearly visiting time. Better check which hospital I'm visiting before I set off!

Somebody will be very pissed off.....

2007-05-14T23:05:00.000+01:00

Here's the last hand of a SNG I just played, after duelling heads up for the last 20 minutes:

Seat 5: SGTMOTO (6055 in chips)
Seat 8: stephenrhall (7445 in chips)
SGTMOTO: posts the ante 50
stephenrhall: posts the ante 50
stephenrhall: posts small blind 300
SGTMOTO: posts big blind 600
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to stephenrhall [7d 2c]
stephenrhall: raises 6795 to 7395 and is all-in
SGTMOTO: calls 5405 and is all-in
*** FLOP *** [9h Ks 5h]
*** TURN *** [9h Ks 5h] [7c]
*** RIVER *** [9h Ks 5h 7c] [4s]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
SGTMOTO: shows [6s 6h] (a pair of Sixes)
stephenrhall: shows [7d 2c] (a pair of Sevens)
stephenrhall collected 12110 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 12110 | Rake 0
Board [9h Ks 5h 7c 4s]
Seat 5: SGTMOTO (big blind) showed [6s 6h] and lost with a pair of Sixes
Seat 8: stephenrhall (button) (small blind) showed [7d 2c] and won (12110) with a pair of Sevens

Britbloggerment 8 - Storm clouds gathering

2007-05-14T20:38:00.000+01:00

Congratulations to ResdentEvil, who defeated Cloud heads up. Once again Cloud has come so close, and fallen at the last fence. PokerMunk3y took the last cash place, with pokerdwarf this weeks bubble boy. Doing the walk of shame was Quixote8. Going down in a blaze of glory just after that was BurnleyMik, whose hammer failed to break Tan's queens.

The league table now looks like this:

	the_cloud71		31
	ResdentEvil		31
	PokerMunk3y		25
	Zagga		25
	stephenrhall		21
	Al Eleven		21
	Simonjj		19
	TanOrpheus		18
	Pokerdwarf		14
	Spid		14
	Rosie_m_t		13
	cadmunkey		11
	lightning36		11
	Quixote8		11
	lzfsb3		9
	Sir Fortune		9
	weegem		9
	mauzj		9
	sookraboaby		8
	Katitude		8
	LepRecon777		7
	SuffolkPunch		7
	BurnleyMik		6
	S.t.b		6
	lousaban		6
	a104l9		4
	mikesaban		2
	AlCantHang		2
	wadhead		0
	Neil Ross		0
	countryk		0
	mookie99		0
	4everleeds		0

MTT Cash

2007-05-13T16:30:00.000+01:00

Today I made it through a field of 9539 players to make it into the money.

It was a Pokerstars $1000 added freeroll. Here is the congratulations email:

PokerStars Tournament #50093293, No Limit Hold'em
Freeroll
9539 players
$1000.00 added to the prize pool by PokerStars.com
Total Prize Pool: $1000.00
Tournament started - 2007/05/13 - 09:10:00 (ET)

Dear stephenrhall,

You finished the tournament in 983rd place.
A $0.20 award has been credited to your Real Money account.

You earned 12.40 tournament leader points in this tournament.
For information about our tournament leader board, see our web site at
http://www.pokerstars.com/tlb_tournament_rankings.html

Congratulations!
Thank you for participating.

Yes, thats right - I won 20 cents. I've decided not to withdraw these winnings, but to use them to contribute towards building my bankroll.

Tagged

2007-05-12T09:01:00.000+01:00

I've been tagged by Rosie, so here are 7 things you didn't know about me :

1. I have a really "interesting" reaction to Pennicillin - starting from the groin and radiating outwards, , my skin turns red and peels off, itching horrendously, like the worst sunburn you can imagine.

2. I am the father of twins, a boy and a girl aged 8.

3. From the age of 5 to 18, I lived on the edge of the English Lake District, and never appreciated how lucky I was until I moved away.

4. Our family pet is a French Lop rabbit, who is house trained, has the free run of the garden, and terrorizes any cat foolish enough to come into his garden.

5. The first album I ever spent my own money on was "Kings of The Wild Frontier" by Adam and the Ants.

6. I won darts competion at my college at Durham University for the right to play Eric Bristow. I didn't get a throw at a double, but I would have beaten him if he'd missed his finish,honest!

7. I have worked for the same employer since I left university 16 years ago. In fact, I worked for them for 5 years before I left university, working there during school and university holidays paid for all my pints of Theakstons!

So who can I tag? This is a bit like pyramid selling - those who get in at the start have it easy. Oh well, lets see if these people are reading this:

I tag

Neil the Geekster
Amatay
Mike Saban

Three weeks and counting

2007-05-11T12:56:00.000+01:00

As of yesterday, my wife has been in hospital for 3 weeks. As of today, it is 2 weeks that she has been waiting for a transfer to Preston. Yesterday was the first time she has seen a consultant since the day she was admitted. He apparently spent most of the time berating the nursing staff for the way they were doing things. If he had been round more often he would have been able to give them proper instructions earlier!

The Patientline system, as well as being a complete rip-off, has proved to be extremely unreliable, with the units crashing regularly. They run an embedded version of Windows XP (say no more!). Also, the network regularly goes down for hours or even an entire weekend, preventing internet access. We have got around the problem of the outrageously priced priced phone calls, as the nurses are allowing patients to use mobile phones. I don't think this is official policy, but given recent revelations that phones don't actually interfere with equipment, and the very bad publicity Patientline has had (including contract clauses stating that hospitals must ban mobile phones), the nurses are applying a common sense, compassionate approach.

My daughter has been of school all week. The doctor says she has a virus, but also says the stress of her mother being in hospital could also be an issue. The children are spending the weekends with me, but go to their grandparents during the week, so they can do the school run with minimum inconvenience to them. I'm looking forward to getting them back home tonight; I spend week nights rattling around the house on my own, eating junk food. I've also got friends coming to stay, with their two younger children. We went to university together, and have known each other for 19 years. With a bit of luck I can give the kids a fun weekend, taking their minds off their mother being in hospital, and they can chill out a bit. Visitors are also an excuse to open a bottle of wine or three.

Might be around tonight to play in the 9 o'clock MTT on Pokerstars. Depends how much tidying up I need to do after I get the kids to bed. Got to make the house reasonably safe for a 3 year old and a crawling baby!

Blog Roll

2007-05-08T10:02:00.000+01:00

I've just got round to updating my blog roll. It gets out of date because, with Google Reader, I just click on Subcribe to add a blog to my regular reading list, but I haven't found a way to display the list of subscribed blogs on my blog. I realised it was out of date when I was looking back for a post I'd read recently, and the post wasn't on any of the blogs on my roll!

They're not all poker blogs - of the non-poker blogs I've added today, gamers amongst you may enjoy Penny Arcade, and there's some great non-poker related writing from Otis, of Pokerstars blog fame.

The post I was looking for was a from a poker blog, it was this one. It talks about reversing the conventional wisdom of playing extra tight in the big MTTs, instead looking to make gains early, and makes the valid point that its better to bust out early than on the bubble, as you have wasted less time!

BritBloggerment 7 - The Results

2007-05-07T11:00:00.000+01:00

And the winner is -

ME!

Actually that isn't strictly true. I won the second chance tournament. And as only 4 of us entered, that isn't the great achievement it might sound. Though I did finish ahead of some mighty players - Cloud, ResdentEvil. Oh, and BurnleyMik played too ;) Whilst I wouldn't want to make a habit of playing HORSE (I really suck at Omaha!) this was great fun - thanks for playing guys.

In the main event, results took a rather different turn, previous high flyers Spid, ResdentEvil, and Al Eleven leaving the game early. BurnleyMik and I both failed to make the final table. We had a new player this week - mauzj, AKA The Edge, who NEVER SHUTS UP! he makes BurnleyMik look shy and retiring. Our resident celebrity SuffolkPunch also joined us. He's trying to steal the Hairy Gymnast crown, but Cloud still reigns supreme!

The eventual winner was TanOrpheus, who was heads up against Zagga. Third was Simonjjj, and this weeks unfortunate bubble girl, after a great comeback,was Rosie. Doing the walk of shame was Bullmeister, who hasn't got a blog, so can't post the monkey!

As far as it went for me, well, the dealer obviously had it in for me, and I had very few cards worth playing. This was made worse by having a very agressive TanOrpheus on my right, who was making a lot of preflop raises, so any marginal cards I received were priced out of the game, and opportunities for stealing were virtually nil. I'm sure that mauzj will be able to tell us all exactly how many times Tan raised preflop - what was the name of that software again? It wasn't mentioned much so I can't quite remember. My personal statistics - played 133 hands, saw 11 flops (8% - a little too tight methinks), won 2 out of 5 at showdown (ouch) and won 12 without showdown. I probably should have called more of Tan's raises - my passivity putting me in a position where I had to push.

I eventually went out in tenth place; with my stack dwindling away, I pushed with JJ. Mauzj called with AK0, and the Ace on the river sent me home.

Updated league table below - no change at the top, with Cloud, me, ResdentEvil and Al Eleven all finishing outside the points, but a big move up the table from Zagga, who is really running well at the moment.

	the_cloud71		23
	stephenrhall		22
	ResdentEvil		22
	Zagga		22
	Al Eleven		21
	Simonjj		19
	PokerMunk3y		18
	TanOrpheus		18
	Spid		14
	Rosie_m_t		13
	cadmunkey		11
	lightning36		11
	Quixote8		11
	lzfsb3		9
	Sir Fortune		9
	Pokerdwarf		8
	sookraboaby		8
	Katitude		7
	LepRecon777		7
	BurnleyMik		6
	S.t.b		6
	SuffolkPunch		7
	weegem		5
	lousaban		4
	a104l9		4
	mauzj		4
	mikesaban		2
	AlCantHang		2
	wadhead		0
	Neil Ross		0
	countryk		0
	mookie99		0
	4everleeds		0

Cash Crash

2007-05-04T07:36:00.000+01:00

Played the cash tables last night, and after doubling my money early on, things went horribly wrong as three times I was dealt AA, and three times failed to win, beaten once by JJ, once folded to a big raise on a scary flop of QQJ, and worst of all, lost to 83 off suit. He called my preflop raise with 83o! He was then on a straight draw after the flop, and called my raise once more. He rivered the straight and I take a big hit.

Dell to Install Ubuntu

2007-05-01T16:35:00.000+01:00

The BBC is reporting that Dell will be selling computers with Ubuntu Linux. This is great news, and should hopefully encourage hardware manufacturers to provide drivers for Linux. I use Ubuntu myself at home, and it does everything I want it to do, with greater speed and reliability than Windows. I wonder what Microsoft will make of this? or SCO?

Full Bloggerment League Table - By popular request

2007-05-01T14:03:00.000+01:00

the_cloud71	23
stephenrhall	22
ResdentEvil	22
Al Eleven	21
PokerMunk3y	16
Spid	14
Zagga	14
cadmunkey	12
Simonjj	12
lightning36	11
Quixote8	11
lzfsb3	9
Sir Fortune	9
TanOrpheus	9
Pokerdwarf	8
sookraboaby	8
Katitude	7
LepRecon777	7
Rosie_m_t	7
BurnleyMik	6
S.t.b	6
SuffolkPunch	4
lousaban	4
a104l9	4
mikesaban	2
AlCantHang	2
wadhead	0
Neil Ross	0
countryk	0
mookie99	0
4everleeds	0
weegem	0

Way to go MPAA

2007-05-01T07:34:00.000+01:00

The MPAA has issued a takedown notice to several sites hosting the encryption key to HD-DVD disks. Unfortunately for them, the idiots have published the key themselves as part of a URL in the letter. Take a look at the second link.

Inconceivable!

2007-04-30T07:06:00.000+01:00

What a strange, mixed up world we live in. In one week everything we have come to accept as normal, as just the way things are, is turned on its head.

BurnleyMik and Zagga made the final table of Britbloggerment6. In fact, Zagga did more than make the final table. He cashed. He finished second. My faith is shattered.

Neither of them won of course. That honour went to Spid. His previous lowly finishes of 9th, 12th and 10th fade into the distance. His previous best of 4th wiped away. Victory to the Spid!

Back down the field, Kat responded to BurnleyMik's jibe about early exits, by outlasting nearly everyone and finishing 3rd, and regular high finisher The Cloud was tonight's bubble boy. Unlucky mate.

And me? I finished 6th. Back to the final table after last weeks aberration, but still no cash.

Doing the walk of shame this week was Rosie, who was quick to post the monkey on her blog.

New this week was another Lancashire lad, Bullmeister, from Nelson. We just need to find some players from Accrington and Colne and we've got the M65 corridor covered. Bullmeister made a promising start, before going out in 13th place.

High flyer Al Eleven wasn't here this week, and so surrenders his place at the top of the leaderboard to The Cloud! Consistent high finishes get their reward on the lofty heights of my league table. Bet he'd prefer the cash though!

Here's the top of the table:

1. The_Cloud71
2= Stephenrhall (still not cashed)
ResdentEvil (Final table every time he enters)
4. Al Eleven (down 3 after not playing)
5. PokerMunk3y (no move here)

A new feature tonight was the second chance tournament at half past 10. Not many takers for this,just 7 of us, but it was a fun game, and I came second! Firt was that model of consistency ResdentEvil, 3rd was Rosie and Zagga (Acorn) finished 4th after sitting out long periods of time whilst he was concentrating on the main event. If we have a second chance next week, how about a different game, maybe HORSE?

Same time, same place next week everyone, and thanks for a fun evening once again.

BurnleyMik's MTT Challenge

2007-04-28T07:40:00.000+01:00

BurnleyMik issued a challenge, to join him in an MTT on Pokerstars last night. Four of us joined him in the $8 MTT at 9 o'clock. Cadmunkey, The Cloud, Pokermunk3y and myself.

Over 1000 entries, with $1800 for first place. Play commenced with all of us in high spirits. Tight play prevailed amongst us whilst we let the donkeys do what donkeys do. Players fell away rapidly, whilst we all sat tight, comparing notes on the incredible cards people were playing.

I was occasionally dealt some premium hands, but in the early stages of a tourney like this there is no way I was going to slow-play, because I was bound to be beaten by a runner runner flush! Given decent cards I raised preflop, and stole the blinds.

Eventually though, I was dealt cards that I couldn't ignore. 7 2 off suit. With such mighty cards, I limped in, and was rewarded by a flop of 788. This was such a clear invitation I went all-in and got one caller. The mighty hammer prevailed and I doubled up.

That was really the last of the good news for me. With a lack of cards, and idiots doubling up with crap all around me, I limped along until, with the blinds becoming increasingly painful, and now over half the players out, I pushed with KK. I got one caller who showed......

A 7 off suit.

Of course, this being Pokerstars he hit the ace on the river, and I was out.

The rest of the guys continued to play solidly, and all made it into the money. With all of them having an M of 3 or less, they had to push, and the luck wasn't with them. Congratulations to The Cloud for the highest finish in 62nd place. Next was PokerMunk3y in 71st, BurnleyMik 85th, and Cadmunkey 112th. I was back down in 318th :(

Don't forget Britbloggerment 6, 9pm on Pokerstars. Password donkament. Be there or be something with four equal length sides at 90 degrees to each other.

Confined

2007-04-28T07:34:00.000+01:00

My wife is still in hospital. She's had an MRI scan of our back, and they have suddenly reversed all previous advice. At the beginning of the week she was given a pair of crutches and told she needed to get moving. Bed baths were given resentfully, as if she was mallingering. Yesterday when they got the results of the scan they took the crutches away and told her she mustn't get out of bed in case she paralyses herself!

From what I can gather, she has a slipped disk which is compressing the spinal cord. However, that may be wrong, as getting information out of doctors is a nightmare, not helped by the fact that my wife is stoned most of the time due to taking morphine for the pain. There's never a doctor around for me to speak to when I visit, they don't give my wife enough information, and she's too ill to press them on it.

On a positive note, she doesn't appear to have MS. Now we just have to wait for a bed to appear at Preston Hospital. She is being transferred there to be looked at by a neurology specialist.
Hopefully we will know more when she gets there, but nothing tends to happen over the weekend, so I think it will be Monday at the earliest when she transfers.

Patientline Ripoff Part 2

2007-04-25T21:21:00.000+01:00

I had to phone into the hospital to speak to my wife using the Patientline system. I was horrified to find that there is a full minute of recorded messages before they even put the call through to the bed, to maximise the amount of money they gouge you for.

BritBloggerment5 - Lets go round again

2007-04-22T23:15:00.000+01:00

Congratulations to Quixote8, who took victory tonight. The rest of the money places taken by pokerdwarf and simonjj, both first timers - well done gentlemen.

An incredibly tight start to the game, with everyone hanging on in for an hour, but once BurnleyMik showed us all the way, we quickly started falling by the wayside. The man at the top of the leaderboard, Al Eleven, was next, followed by another high fligher, the_cloud71. Yours truly was next, failing to make the final table for the first time.

The leaderboard now looks like this:

1st Al Eleven (still there despite the early exit)
2nd ResdentEvil (up one place as those around him fail to score)
3rd Stephenrhall (no points tonight but I'll be back!)
4th The_cloud71 (down one place, no points tonight)
5th Pokermunk3y (no move tonight)
6th Cadmunkey (moves clear of Lightning36)

Patientline Ripoff

2007-04-22T20:30:00.000+01:00

My wife is currently "enjoying" and extended stay in the shiny new Royal Blackburn Hospital, and, I must say, the building is nice, the wards are clean, and the staff are pleasant and professional. The one fly in the ointment is Patientline. As I am sure most people are aware, Patientline provide TV, internet and telephones at each bed, for a fee. The TV and internet package isn't too outrageously priced, but the telephone costs are absolutely horrendous, and their recent increase in call charges has been well publicised.

Anyway, as my wife is probably going to be in for a while, we subscribed to the TV and internet pack. She can browse the web, use Gmail, and watch CBeebies if she so desires. However, when she tried to access Microsoft's web based instant messenger client (as opposed to the downloaded program you have to install) she got a message saying that access to this page was blocked as it "contained material some people find offensive". OK, an over-enthusiastic web filter, so we move on to Google Talk. Same message. Meebo, which offers clients for multiple IM systems. Same message. Every site we tried which would provide any form of "instant" communication with the outside world was blocked as if it contained hardcore porn.

The only people that would find those websites offensive is the people at Patientline, because they provide a way of patients communicating with the outside world without paying their ridiculous phone charges. They haven't had the nerve to block web-based email, but I bet they thought about it!

Hairy Gymnast

2007-04-22T17:19:00.000+01:00

Cloud is currently the number 2 site on Google for searches for Hairy Gymnast. He wants to be number one, so here is a link to his post about Hairy Gymnast.