Poker on the Boundary

Travel again...

2009-05-08T16:25:00.002Z

On the road again
Just can't wait to get on the road again...

Tomorrow morning: Dublin - London
Tomorrow afternoon: London - Toronto
Tomorrow evening: Toronto - Las Vegas

OH YEAH!!!!!

Four nights in Vegas, then back to Montreal for a wedding. I'll need a holiday when I get home...

Credit crunch? Bah. Impending potential redundancy? Pshaw.

Eat, drink and be merry. Until Tuesday 19th anyway.

Future?

2009-03-14T01:00:00.003Z

My posting history on this blog makes it plain that I'm not a "writer" - I simply don't have that need to sit and commit words to a virtual page. I regularly think of stories, and often have them in my head ready to be scribbled down, but they never get there. I tell myself "One day..."

I don't know when I'll next update this dusty corner of cyberspace, but until then, here are phrases that make me shiver. Don't ask me why, but they do. Some are possible mis-quotes...

"Rage against the dying of the light"
Dylan Thomas
Do not go gentle into that good night

Does anything express better the crankiness of age?

"For the glass of the years is brittle wherein we gaze for a span;
A little soul for a little bears up this corpse which is man."
Algernon Charles Swinburne
Hymn to Proserpine

A bitter but interesting outlook on life

"Won't you help me sing
These songs of freedom"
Bob Marley
Redemption Song

Who could resist that, not just as a call to thought, but as a sublime piece of music?

"Tread softly because you tread on my dreams"
W.B. Yeats
He Wishes For The Cloths Of Heaven

....

Finally, and to me most importantly, because these six words can have an impact on me out of all proportion to their relevance:

"Shine until tomorrow,
Let it be"
The Beatles
Let It be

Me no good

2008-12-14T15:06:00.002Z

I had an excellent night last night, and while unconscious this morning I missed a call from the Madness that is the Imperial Palace on the Saturday night of the WPBT Winter Gathering. Wish I was there...

An email awaited me this morning, telling me my blog doesn't meet the standards required for the Pokerstars blogger competition. My reaction: meh... BFD.

No Vegas

2008-12-07T19:06:00.003Z

It's official - I won't be making it to the City of Blinding Lights for the blogger gathering next weekend. I'd dearly love to be there, but finances & leave simply don't add up.

I'm sure it'll be a blast, as always, and would ask you all to raise a glass in this direction at least once over the weekend...

What's going on?

2008-08-17T19:30:00.002Z

What's going on? Lots of things, and not a lot.

The lots of things are in Real Life, involving work, travel and generally enjoying myself.

They also involve cricket, where until the Irish summer intervened, I was building a good umpiring season, with a lot of top-level games, and enjoying myself.

The "not-a-lot" is in poker, where I've played about 10 live hands in the last 6 months, and only dip in & out of the online world now & again. It's not that I no longer enjoy the game, but with time crunches (not to mention this credit-crunch thing that's all over the news) and other things going on, I'm going through a "meh" phase. I don't believe I'm alone in this...

I've a lot of travelling coming up, starting this Wednesday when we decamp to Montreal for a family wedding. The weekend will be spent in the mountains at the ceremony & after-party, and I have to say I cannot wait for this - it's a long time since all that side of the family were together, and while we'll hate the sight of each other by Monday, we'll have fun over the weekend.

Tuesday will see myself & herself in New York for a few days, and I fly back to Dublin on the Thursday. I then have 7 days to organise myself for a trip to the South of France for some volunteer work, which will be as tough as always, but I'm looking forward to it.

What all this travelling means, though, is that Vegas in December is in extreme doubt. I'd like to go, but financial reasons, among a host of others, may make it imprudent. We'll see...

Update

2008-05-07T19:43:00.003Z

An update on my previous post.

My car's been recovered, & I'm awaiting an insurance company decision on what happens to it. Apparently it's not too badly damaged, so I'm hopeful of getting it back soon.

My brother's car is still missing, and as it's his livelihood, he's in more trouble than me.

The other things that were taken - cameras, mobile phones, laptops - are replaceable, and while I've absolutely no expectation of retrieving them, the insurance company appears to be playing ball, so no major worries in that area.

So there's just the anger and general pissed-off-edness to sort out now.

Soon, I hope.

PS - Thank you to all who commented, emailed or texted with kind words & support, it's really appreciated.

Violation

2008-05-01T16:07:00.003Z

I awoke this morning to discover my front & back doors wide open.

My car was missing.

My brother's car was missing.

Several mobile phones were missing.

My digital cameras were missing.

Burglars. Bastards.

I should look on the bright side. I'm alive & unhurt, So are my brother & his girlfriend. Nobody is dead, and we have insurance.

But someone has been in my house without my permission. While I was asleep.

I don't think sleep is an option tonight. I may never sleep again.

So good they named it twice

2008-03-20T23:34:00.007Z

American icon

A week in New York City is an excellent end to the winter, and the sheer energy of the city gets transmitted through the soles of your feet into your bones. This was my second visit, and we loved it.

Saturday – arrival

As we landed in JFK it looked foggy – very foggy. Later it was confirmed we were lucky to land at all, and the airport we would have been diverted to was Washington. That would have put a crimp in the holiday plans straight way.

Taking a taxi into Manhattan wasn’t a lot of fun, as the rain pounded on the windscreen (I’m staying European on terms & spellings folks!). Arrival at our hotel showed us exactly how central we were – 1 block west of Times Square. The hotel was reasonable, clean and comfortable, and met all of our needs admirably.

The plan this evening was to meet friends of Herself, one from home and two from Nashville, via Florida. Joined by a friend of one of the friends, we adjourned to a bar for some sustenance (liquid & solid), then 3 of us headed for Madison Square Garden to see the Knicks take on the Trailblazers. Even I know the Knicks suck this year, but a good performance brought the game to overtime, and the occasion & atmosphere was worth the price of the ticket.

As we were on Irish time still, bed was needed, so off we went.

Sunday

I made contact early with a friend who works for one of the airlines, and he was in New York on a stopover. We met at his hotel, then headed to a nearby diner for breakfast. We lingered over coffee, and decided a stroll was in order.

Sunday lunchtime & early afternoon was spent in the paradise that is Central Park on a sunny day. We walked to Strawberry Fields, then wandered around the lakes to the Zoo. Here we parted company with my friend and headed into the Zoo, where we spent a happy couple of hours inspecting all it had to offer.

Leaving the park we decided to stroll down 5th Avenue, stopping at the Plaza (Herself wanted to see the chandeliers), and at a certain technology store for me to purchase my new gadget. We then window-shopped our way down the avenue, finally stopping in St Patrick’s Cathedral – a magnificent building and an oasis of peace in the bustle of the city.

Dropping off our purchases at the hotel, we decided that the Empire State Building was next on our list. Herself had very cleverly purchased Express tickets, and these saved us at least an hour of queuing. The audio tour available is worth every penny of the price, and we spent a happy, if freezing, hour on the 86th Floor, listening to the audio guide and spotting the various buildings mentioned.

The Brooklyn Bridge from the Empire State Building

For dinner, we met Herself’s Irish friend from the previous evening down in Little Italy. Having rejected a restaurant mentioned in a guide book (I’m not a fan of lawn furniture inside a building), we wandered past one further down the street, and were drawn in by the patter of the host.

A magnificent evening ensued, with fine food and lots of red wine, all seasoned with superb company, and a waiter who entertained endlessly. We drifted home via a bar, and I must confess I was not entirely sober going to bed…

Monday

With the sort of hangover that only 2 litres of rough red wine can give you, Monday morning was quiet for me. Not so for Herself, who had an early appointment, and headed off with surprisingly good grace. I lolled in my cot until it was time to arise and head for lunch.

The lunch venue, Serendipity, had been selected by Herself on the strength of an appearance in some George Clooney movie. While the food was excellent, neither of us were really in the form to appreciate it properly.

Bloomingdales was next on the agenda, and after an hour I pled exhaustion and fled to a taxi. Herself soldiered on for a couple of hours more, then returned to the hotel where we both napped solidly. Dinner was in a chain restaurant off Times Square, as neither of us was energetic and the next day was important.

Tuesday

We breakfasted on 8th Avenue looking out at spring sunshine, and got the subway downtown to Battery Park, as today was our Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island tour. We met Herself’s Irish friend again (by now a firm friend of mine too), and we went through the formalities of getting on the ferry.

First up was the Statue of Liberty, and another top-class audio tour. While the Statue itself is awe-inspiring, and one of the real cultural landmarks of the world, there isn’t a lot you can say about it except tell the story of construction. After a lot of listening, and staring upwards, we headed back to the ferryport.

The next port of call was Ellis Island, and this was the item of the holiday I was looking forward to most. Ever since I first heard of the place I’ve been fascinated by the romance and fear engendered by it’s purpose, and I was hoping the tour & restoration would live up to my expectations.

Boy, did it. The sense of history is palpable from the moment you walk into the door, and the audio tour (superbly researched and developed) instantly transports you back to the days at the turn of the century when the great ships docked outside and prospective immigrants streamed through the doors into the baggage room.

As the tour takes you through the process followed by an immigrant, you hear information on the layout of the rooms, and fascinatingly, first-hand accounts from people who passed through the halls to a new life all over America. One particular account was very moving, and I saw more than a few tears on hearing it – an old man talked of the door opening to where people waited to collect the new immigrants, and he as a 10-year-old boy saw his father for the first time in 4 years.

As you move from the Great Hall through the various rooms, you see artefacts from the past, along with hundreds of photos and displays cataloguing every aspect of life on the island, where some stayed for days & even weeks, recovering from illness, caring for family members or simply awaiting an entry decision. The photographs of children are particularly affecting.

One interesting piece of knowledge that I didn’t know was that unmarried women were not allowed leave the island to go to New York or New Jersey unless a male family member accompanied them. This resulted in a thriving wedding service market on the island, as single men would come to see the new arrivals and, if so inclined, marry them & whisk them away.

Gateway to America - the main hall on Ellis Island

The tour didn’t shy away from some of the less savoury things that occurred, and in general did a magnificent job of conveying the amazing history of the place. Everyone, of any nationality, would benefit from a visit here, if only to realise the horrors that most people were fleeing from.

I always had an idea in my mind that Ellis Island revolved around the Irish – a conceit on my part, and one that proved unfounded by the facts, figures & accents in the audio tour.

I cannot praise this tour enough – if you ever get the chance, do it!!

For dinner that evening, we had a reservation at Tao, a slick & trendy Asian restaurant off Madison Ave. The food here was spectacular, but the décor and approach put me off, and the service was terrible. We tipped accordingly, and to my surprise were stopped by a management type on our way out. He wanted to know the issues behind our lack of gratuity, and we explained them civilly but honestly. He apologised, and said he’d "look after us next time we came". Whatever that means.

Wednesday

After the rigours of the day before, we felt a relaxing morning was in order, and so we took the subway to SoHo (or Soho, or however it’s being spelt this week). Here we wandered happily around the shops, art galleries and furniture stores, enjoying the relaxed pace and friendly vibe.

We decided to treat ourselves for lunch, and headed to Balthazar, a French brasserie-style place in SoHo. Here we had an amazing lunch, served in a really pleasant atmosphere, This was the second-best place we ate on the trip, and would easily have been the best if we hadn’t gone where we went on Thursday – more anon.

We pottered around the MOMA shop, which was across the road from the restaurant, and then decided we needed a little more exercise to work off lunch. Onto the subway we jumped, and we headed to City Hall, determined to walk the Brooklyn Bridge.

What a walk this turned out to be. A broad wooden pathway leads between and then above the busy traffic, and the amazing construction of the bridge itself is laid out before you. Copper panels at each support tell the story of building the bridge (although they gloss over the loss of life involved), and the views of Manhattan, Brooklyn & the East river are amazing.

It’s a fair walk, and to be honest unless you know Brooklyn there didn’t seem to be a whole lot for tourists on the other side, but God what a view, and what an experience!

This evening had been set aside to see a musical, and after brief excursions to Toys’R’Us and the hotel, we settled into our seats to watch Phantom of the Opera. I’d never seen it, or any Broadway-style show, and while I enjoyed it tremendously, I wasn’t as blown away by it as I’d been led to believe. As with a lot of stage productions, I spent a lot of time admiring the scenery, lighting, technical stuff – the stuff that makes the production happen, not the production itself.

Thursday

This was our last full day in New York, and we still had a few bits & pieces to do. Some gift shopping was required, and some final pieces of tourist stuff.

First up was the Circle Line boat tour. We jumped aboard at the slip at 42nd St, only to learn that the cruise we were on would be truncated, as there was work being done on a bridge in the Bronx and we would be unable to circumnavigate Manhattan.

Despite this we had a fine cruise, heading down the Hudson, out to the Statue of Liberty, up the East river as far as we could, then back around Manhattan, up the Hudson a little way and then back to the slip. The guide was a genial old gent, with a joke for every occasion, and very entertaining. All in all, a very good way to see a lot while sitting down in the warm!

The final shopping was performed next, and then we headed to Rockefeller Center. We wandered around the shops for a while, observed the ice-skaters, then headed for Top of the Rock.

This roof observation post is spectacular, and comes very very close to the Empire State Building experience, especially as you can actually see the Empire State Building! You get magnificent views of Central Park and uptown, which you don’t get from the Empire State, and the different levels of the roof give subtly different panoramas.

If Top of the Rock had a similar audio tour to the Empire State Building, it would be perfect, and you’d actually get to see slightly more. One gripe I have with the city, though, is this: nowhere can you get a decent view, or photo, of the most beautiful high-rise building in New York: the Chrysler Building. It’s always obscured, usually by the heartbreakingly-ugly Met Life building.

Central Park from Top of the Rock

A swift nap was called for, to prepare for our evening in the restaurant I most wanted to try: Brasserie Les Halles. I read head chef Anthony Bourdain’s expose “Kitchen Confidential” several years ago, and ever since I’ve wanted to see if he was as good as he thought he was.

The restaurant is, in a word, magnificent. It’s meant to be an old-style French brasserie, and it pulls this off superbly. My starter of pate was stunning, rough and smoky and exquisitely spicy, while the brie in honey ordered by Herself was delicious.

The main course of steak au poivre was perfect, and I mean perfect. You can say “it’s only steak”, but anyone who’s had a bad steak, and we all have, will know that it’s difficult to cook steak just right. The pepper sauce didn’t overpower the taste of the meat itself, and left a wonderfully peppery taste in your mouth.

This was the best meal we had in New York, and it was eminently reasonable in cost too. If you’re around midtown, go there, it’s worth it!

No caption necessary...

Friday

This was moving day. We checked out, then headed for lunch in Carmine’s on 43rd St. Their Hero sandwiches are amazing, and filled us nicely. Fresh bread, sausage and peppers? Gooooood!!

We collected our car on 11th Avenue and sallied forth into the Manhattan traffic. I’d selected the Car Hire office based on it’s proximity to the Lincoln Tunnel entrance, and my research, combined with a good Sat Nav system, ensured our trip to Atlantic City was pain-free.

We arrived in Caesars, dropped off the car at the valet and strolled to our room, a recently-renovated one in the Temple Tower. It was superb, with an enormous bed you could fit a family of four in.

Herself has been to Las Vegas before, so has seen the whole casino experience, but not in the company of a degenerate gambler like me. We played some roulette for a while, then swiftly agreed that she’d head for the shops, while I hit the poker room. The World Series of Poker Circuit was in town, meaning Caesars poker room was super-packed, but I got a seat and tipped away, not winning or losing anything spectacular.

After dinner, we played some more roulette, then wandered into Bally’s where I introduced Herself to the joy that is Pai Gow. It’s not cheap there, at $25 a hand, but we did ok and enjoyed ourselves. Herself then headed for bed & I got stuck into the rum & coke at a poker table. Memories are very hazy, but I had cash in my pocket when I woke, so I couldn’t have done too badly!

Saturday

We slept late, then lunched with a friend of Herself’s who drove 3 hours to meet us, then 3 hours home. I headed for the poker room again, while the two girls caught up.

Around 4pm we decided to stroll to the Tropicana, just to see it. We found a roulette table, and decided that it was time to start drinking. We moved from there to a Pai Gow table (still $25), and despite a distinct lack of cocktail servers, had a good time there too.

Dinner was required at this point, and we saw there was a Carmine’s in the Tropicana. As we’d been so impressed with the lunch in New York, we decided to give it a whirl. The food was excellent, but the family-style servings were just too much, and it was awful to see so much good food going to waste.

We retired to the Toga bar in Caesars, and spent a few hours there talking, observing the Spring Breakers and Paddy’s Day parties weaving their way around the casino. When the mood struck, Herself headed for the roulette table, and I to the poker room.

There were 45 people ahead of me in the line for $1-$2 no limit, and the entire room was full. I decided not to wait, and found myself a spot at a craps table. I lost a lot quickly on some cold dice, so decided to join Herself at roulette. Except she wasn’t there.

I found her in the Asian Lounge, playing Pai Gow. At $40 a hand. And loving it. What have I done?

I sat beside her and realised it was a hot table. We both played for a long time, had a lot of drinks and, when I prised her away from the table, we were both a couple of hundred dollars to the good. At this stage, the wine and rum & coke was beginning to take it’s toll, and we crashed.

Sunday

Going home from a holiday is never fun, especially when you’ve enjoyed yourselves as much as we did. We checked out, retrieved the car and headed off on the Atlantic City Expressway to JFK.

Bad weather & traffic delayed us a little, especially with a crash on the Verrazano Bridge, and a Sat Nav that decided to bring us through Brooklyn city streets rather than the expressway, but we arrived in plenty of time.

Check-in, bad airport food and some shopping all took place, then we boarded the Delta 767 which whisked us back to Dublin….

Roundup

This was an amazing trip, memorable for many things, and one that I’ll remember fondly for a long time. NYC is a place I love, and I know we’ll be back, maybe even as soon as August.

I could take or leave Atlantic City, to be honest, but I’d been warned about it by a couple of people, so it was fun. It’s not a patch on Vegas though.

The worst part of any holiday is having to go home, and while I’m quite a home bird and love Dublin, there’s a certain sense of letdown when you get back to the daily grind. Still, that means you get to plan the next one…

Return from NYC

2008-03-18T22:08:00.002Z

Back home, exhausted but happy. Full trip report to follow.

Major news (for fellow gadget-geeks): a new purchase was made. Betty can guess what it is, as I spent a lot of time admiring hers in Vegas in December, but as I'm going to do something very slightly naughty with it, and Betty may be forced to professionally disapprove, I won't actually mention the product...

Comedy

2008-03-06T18:51:00.002Z

Most people who know me well know that I can't stand stage-Irishness, particularly in singing.

But I nearly cried laughing when my brother showed me this.

Enjoy.

Thoughts on things

2008-02-11T14:23:00.000Z

A roundup of my opinions on lots of things, in no particular order:

Rugby

So, with two rounds of the Six Nations over, we now know a little more about all the teams involved... or do we? There are as many questions as answers, to be honest, and no team has shown it's true colours yet.

England - just like the girl with the curl, they've been wildly inconsistent. In both games, they've been running things at half-time, in no discernable danger, and then the wheels have come shooting off the wagon in the middle of the second half. Wales beat them, and Italy should have. Verdict: lots of talented individuals, struggling to find the consistency that separates a good side from a great one.

Wales - the form team of the competition so far, they are reaping the benefits of the appointment of a new coach. Players are keener, strategies are new (or at least fresh), so there's more interest & excitement in their play. Whether this can last is debatable. The bench looks weak, and while Gatland and Edwards can shout & drop players with impugnity when winning, a couple of losses could undermine their approach to man-management. Verdict: good, entertaining, but potentially brittle.

Scotland - lots was expected of the Scots in this Six Nations, as they were one of the surprises of the World Cup. They've not delivered much, while promising little more. They need big performances in Dublin and in Rome to ensure this campaign gives more to build on than the last. Verdict: without picking things up, could be win the Wooden Spoon again.

France - in a similar vein to England, they've been awesome in patches and woeful in others. They're not being helped by the tinkering of the their coach - this nearly lost the Irish game for them, as their scrum collapsed and with it their domination of possession. They have proven match-winners, and superb combinations, but Lievremont must decide on his best XV and let them play. Verdict: will walk away with the Championship if they play the rugby they're capable of. If not, God knows...

Italy - a limited team in terms of raw attacking ability, the Italians have been working hard on their basics, especially their defence, and are now a worthy participant in the competition. If the Irish game had lasted 5 minutes longer they might have won, and they were unlucky not to beat England in Rome. They need a playmaker and to get back some of their injured stars. Verdict: add some flair and a little killer instinct and the rest of the sides will have to look to their laurels.

Ireland - who knows what's going on with this team? They have appeared rudderless since the World Cup, with no idea of a Plan B for when Plan A isn't working. A good second half in Paris gives cause for optimism, but poor decision-making lets us down again & again, and I wonder if the revival was because of or in spite of the coaching team? Verdict: could go either way - selection must be right, and players need to back their instincts. Big performances, and results, are required!

Cricket

I'm doing the Umpiring course again this winter, working towards my GL5 qualification, which is the second level on the ladder. As with last year, it's very enjoyable, and while I'm discovering less gaps in my knowledge, there's still a few! It's fascinating relating the course material to my practical experience from last year, and it's whetting my appetite for Season 2008. This is just around the corner, but there's an exam to be done first, at the end of March.

Poker

Not much to report here. PLO cash is my game now, mainly on Full Tilt, although I'm still half-trying to qualify for the Irish Open. The Full Tilt sats don't really suit, with the Final at 6pm on a Saturday, so I'm playing a little on Paddy Power.

The other game I'd like to get to, but won't for a few weeks at least, is the Saturdays with Dr Pauly PLO game, at 9pm (GMT) on Saturdays. I'll be there when I can though!

Other stuff

For the first time in a long long time, I'm really interested in the American general election. I see this November as a crossroads for the USA, and I've got strong opinions on what's needed. However, as I'm not an American, I'm not sure I've the right, (or even want), to commit these views to this corner of the interweb.

I'm going to New York (and Atlantic City, yay!!) for a week in early March, so will keep my eyes & ears open, and maybe when I get home I'll scribble my thoughts down here, for nobody in particular to read.

Until then, stay safe!

The Six Nations starts now

2008-02-01T21:36:00.000Z

Tomorrow the Six Nations rugby tournament gets underway, with a lot of questions to be answered:

Will England be able to build on their World Cup Final appearance, or will they revert to the poor side they were in Spring 2007? Mind you, they were a poor side in the World Cup too...

Can the new coaching team revitalise Wales and get their team full of individual but wayward talent going forward together?

Can the new-look French team gel and show their undoubted class?

Can the Scots actually get it together and play rugby for 80 minutes at a time?

and finally, and most importantly:

Will Ireland be able to put their appalling World Cup behind them, and move on? Can Eddie O'Sullivan inspire the same bunch of players to play together, or is there too much familiarity on all sides? Should the form players be playing (Jackman, Bowe) or is it right to stick with the supposed Number 1s (Best, Dempsey, Darcy)?

We will find out tomorrow, starting at 2pm in Croke Park. I will be seated in the stand somewhere, taking it all in.

Finally, check out the gem from YouTube below. For sports fans from the British Isles of my age, this piece of music was the highlight of Saturday.

Satellite season

2008-01-11T19:15:00.000Z

It's the time of the year when thoughts turn to qualifying. The two poker tournaments I want to play start the qualifying road now - the Irish Open is in mid-March, while the WSOP Main Event is in July.

I'm concentrating on Irish Open qualifying at the moment, mainly on Full Tilt because I like their satellite structure & prize deal. I'll probably play a bit on Paddy Power and Green Joker Poker too, even though I dislike their software - a lot.

Other than that, there's not a lot going on here. The cricket umpiring course starts again next week, which I'm looking forward to - I'm planning on sitting the GL5 exam, which is the second level exam. The course itself is normally fun too, with a lot of banter & people swapping stories.

So there's nothing too exciting on the horizon until March, when myself & Herself are off to New York for a week, with a couple of nights in Atlantic City thrown in - can't wait!

Photos

2008-01-06T18:38:00.000Z

I promised to post my favourite photos of 2007, but on looking through the hundreds I took I was struck by two things:

1) None of them were stand-out enough to publish here.

2) Only hundreds? I normally take thousands! I think I bought my pocket camera just in time.

So,in lieu of 2007 photos, here are four photos I like - not necessarily my best, but ones I like.

This is the view from the top of Table Mountain, Cape Town, South Africa, taken on a cold but clear day in October 2003. If you haven't been to this city, it should be on your list of places to see before you die.

These two lionesses had just finished a large meal of wildebeest - the (headless) carcass was about 12 feet to the left. It was taken on the same South African trip, in a game reserve to the north-west of Pretoria.

Taken in March 2002, the New York City Public Library building gave me a real surprise. I simply had not realised that New York had buildings that were classical in design, I expected everything to be high-rise, steel & glass. I loved looking at the clean lines & classical features of this building.

Finally, a cricket photo:

I count this as my best cricket-action photo. It was taken in May 2006, when Ireland played Middlesex in Lord's. The Irish captain, Trent Johnston, is ducking under this bouncer, and that white blur is the ball, travelling around 90mph.

And so to 2008, when hopefully there will be more photos celebrating travel & fun events.

On a poker note, I've qualified for the weekly satellite for the 2008 Irish Open, starting at 21:00 on the IPoker network. It would be nice to qualify, as it would achieve one of my 2007 goals!

A New Year's Present to Myself

2008-01-02T09:50:00.000Z

Happy New Year to one & all!! May 2008 bring you all you could wish for.

I decided at the WPBT gathering in Las Vegas that I needed a new camera. My trusty Olympus is still doing the business for me, but it's size and (to me) value prevents me from bringing it into environments where it might get damaged, or I might drunkenly lose it. It's also a lot of hassle to set up for that quick snap of a funny or poignant moment.

So I decided I'd buy myself a present. All I needed was a pocket-size camera, tough enough to survive the hurly-burly and small enough to fit in my pocket. It didn't need a fancy zoom, the ability to attach lenses or even a viewfinder. I approached a friend of mine who runs a camera shop, and after a chat with him, became the proud owner of:

It's a Panasonic Lumix DMC-FX10S - 3 mega-pixels, 3x optical zoom, good bright screen. Perfect for the scenarios I want it for, while the serious photography will still get the full Olympus treatment. The few photos I've taken so far (mainly test shots, with a couple of NYE photos thrown in) seem good to me. It's first real test will be my New York & Atlantic City trip in early March.

Inspired by Betty and April, I'll post my favourite photos of 2007 here soon. Watch this space.

Weird dreams of cricket

2007-12-30T19:10:00.000Z

Everybody has weird dreams, they just don't remember them. I do. This is sometimes a very bad thing, such as when I wake up & remember dreaming of my Dad dying in my arms in Dublin Airport. Other times, it's good, such as when I wake myself up giggling at how silly my unconscious can be.

My dreams are worst, or I remember them best, when I've woken in the middle of the night and dropped off again. Or when napping. Last night, I crashed early, around 11pm, and woke around 3am. Turning over, I drifted off... and woke up a few hours later with one of my finest drifting through my thoughts.

I offer an account of last night's dream to the Blogosphere - make of it what you will. No names will be mentioned, but some people may recognise themselves.

dream starts here

I was asked by my brother to umpire a cricket match. Nothing unusual here, as I'm a practising umpire & he's the Appointments Secretary of our Association. What was odd was that it was a match between Ireland (yes, the full national side), and UCD, my old university, who have a social team, at best.

So that was weird. Off I go to Belfield, UCD's campus in South Dublin, and head for the Sports Centre. There I learn my colleague is to be "someone from UCD, who will be late. Kick off without him". OK, not ideal, but I'll cope.

The umpires' changing room is occupied, by a mini-rugby team - under-sixes, if memory serves. I attempt to use an unoccupied corner, only to be informed by their coach that it was a reserved (or possibly sacred) area, and to leave it alone.

Having changed (somewhere, not clear on this) I step out to inspect the playing area, a vital task for any umpire. Now it gets really weird - it's the back garden of my parents' old house in Kilmacud, South Dublin. Before they had the extension built in 1989. A lovely garden, but about 40 square yards at best. Not exactly made for an international cricket match. Oddly, nobody but me seems perturbed by this.

I meet the groundsman, another vital task. He turns out to be a good friend of mine from work. I can guarantee his knowledge of cricket groundsmanship could be written on the back of a postage stamp. With a lot of room left blank.

While talking to the groundsman, and also a good friend who plays for the Irish side, I notice two other gents dressed in umpires' garb. Wandering over to chat, I discover they've been appointed to the same game. No worries, I say, & take out my mobile to ring my brother to investigate. "Don't bother", they abruptly inform me "There's no way we're umpiring now!". Off they go, out through the garage door.

While looking in bemusement after them, I notice a friend playing cricket with her three kids, on the wicket. Doesn't sound like much, but nobody should be allowed onto a wicket before a match. Weirder still, she's got a cigarette hanging from her lower lip. I ask her about this, and her reply is uncharacteristically blunt - "What's it to you?!"

I need to retrieve something from the Irish dressing room - what it is and why it's there, I've no idea. In I go and am greeted by a chorus of abuse from 3 players, all from Phoenix (my club) and none of them anywhere near international standard. Why are they there? I don't know, it's a dream!

We decide to start the game. Ireland are batting, and I can see the non-batting players sitting in the kitchen window watching the game. The first 3 balls are all full tosses over waist height. Someone queries the length of the pitch, and on pacing it out I'm horrified to discover it's only 14 yards long. Pitches are meant to be 22 yards in length. My friend with the kids had moved the stumps...

I scream for the groundsman with his measuring tape. He arrives, and the tape is measured in some weird denomination, not feet, inches, metres or anything logical. We work it out, and I attempt to replace the stumps. They sink further & further into the spongy turf, and I'm reduced to gently standing them up in the hope they'll do the job.

While this is going on, I notice a Very Important Person in Irish Cricket (in his mind anyway) screaming at me through the kitchen window. I can't hear the words, but the rage on his face is obvious.

At this point all goes hazy, and I realise it's starting to rain. I've been saved by the weather, and we all troop off through the kitchen door, into random changing rooms somewhere - certainly not my folks' old kitchen, and definitely not changing-rooms I've ever been in...

dream ends here

So what would Freud say? I'm not sure even he could make sense of that jumble of half-remembered visions, old experiences and downright contradictory references. None of it makes a lot of sense to me, but at least it's one to laugh at, mainly for the ridiculous setting.

I'll take umpiring international cricket in my old back garden over the darker dreams every day.

Vegas Trip Report

2007-12-15T16:35:00.000Z

Many people have given their accounts of the events & hi-jinks in the City of Blinding Lights last weekend, and most of them are far more coherent than mine would ever be.

To read what went on, read the following blogs:

Betty Underground
Garthmeister J
Poker Kat
Low-Limit Grinder
The Rooster - Hail to the Champ!!
Falstaff
Change100
Tao of Poker
Joe Speaker
Otis at Up for Poker

As with every Vegas trip, there are things I'm glad I did and things I'm sorry I didn't do. They are, in no particular order:

Glad I did:

Get to meet so many new people
Get to re-connect with so many people from last year
Hang at the Geisha Bar - didn't do this last year
Go for a sneaky rum-and-coke at the Venetian Sportsbook Bar, where I passed several happy hours shooting the breeze with (among others) Betty, Speaker, Al, Bobby Bracelet, Mattazuma & the lovely Jonell, Kat, Iggy and the incomparable Waffles (when he wasn't asleep)
Take up GCox's offer of "one last one before you head off". This offer was extended at 02:00 - bed was finally encountered at 08:40. Highlights of this binge include informing the manager of the IP Poker Room that I'd give him my left leg in exchange for a rum & coke...
Sit in the $1/$2 NL game in the Venetian that became a Blogger game
Tell Betty my never-to-be-blogged story - her reaction as we stumbled along in front of Casino Royale will be my over-riding memory of Vegas 2007.

Sorry I didn't do

Get to talk to other people - I barely got a word with the likes of Otis, Drizz (apart from at the Craps tables!), Maudie, Columbo, Mrs Chako etc.
Hang out at the MGM Sportsbook Bar - I was on a 1/$2 NL table, and for some reason was in bad form with myself, so it was better to be away from people. This is my BIG regret of the weekend though.
Go deep in the tourney - mind you, the final table turned out to be a Who's Who of poker bloggerdom, I'd have been out of my depth!
Take more photos - apart from a couple of solo forays up the Strip to take scenery shots, my camera remained in the room, simply because I'm afraid I'll lose or damage it when bombed. My present to myself in the New Year will be a digital compact camera for my pocket...

And so another trip to Vegas fades into memory. Huge thanks are due to loads of people, mainly everybody who made me welcome - the standard reaction of "Oh, you're Irish Jim!" surprised me a lot, and delighted me. Specific thanks are due to several people:

Maigrey - for the meals, the craps instructions and the education in Pai Gow, not to mention the lift from the airport to the IP!
Betty - for a huge laugh all weekend, and for being the best audience I could ever tell horrible stories to!
GCox - a good man to rage with, and in company with The Rooster and Al, a good man to have your back when the hookers are hooking, the pimps pimping (He was never from Quebec!!) and the top-shelf spirits flowing!
Falstaff - for organising a superb tourney, and having the stones to show up in that skirt (a kilt has tartan, man!) :-)

I was astounded how many people remembered me from December 2006, and I'm sorry to all those whom I forgot! The saving for December 2008 starts now...

Breaking into the WBPT

2007-11-19T17:34:00.000Z

Having read Pauly's excellent advice on how to survive in Vegas with the blogger gang, I decided to write a similar thing, giving tips to anyone planning to arrive in Vegas and break into that gathering.

The background is this: in December 2006 I was in Las Vegas to meet my sister at the end of her round-the-world trip. I was there early, and noticed the gathering was on. Having a hard neck, I emailed the organiser of that gathering, the lovely April, and asked to join in. On arrival, everyone was cool, keen to chat and make a stranger welcome.

The following suggestions are things I did, things I didn't do and regretted it, and one or two things I did and wished I hadn't.

1. Get the timetable, and plot your arrival. The bars are best, so aim to hit the Geisha Bar in the IP on Thursday, or the MGM Sports Book bar on Friday. The reason for starting here is that there are lots of people milling about, so you won't stick out, and you can easily follow tip X.

2. When you spot someone you recognise as part of the gathering, take your courage in both hands, walk over and introduce yourself. This was the hardest part for me, but the people I approached smiled, welcomed me into the group and introduced me to others. Within ten minutes I was at the bar, having met about 100 people and with company for the rest of the weekend. Again, following tip X helped me a lot.

3. Ask people questions - a lot of people love talking about themselves, and it really helps to find common ground for conversations. You might discover that someone has a shared interest or obsession. If you ask about something that person doesn't want to talk about, you'll find out soon enough. If this is a problem, tip X will assist.

4. If you admire someone's writing, seek them out and tell them. It's a very good conversation-starter, and nobody can hear that too often. Only do it if it's true, though - people have a stronger bullshit-meter than you think! If you really like their writing, follow tip X.

5. Don't spend all your time talking to the people you know or know of. Branch out & chat to the quieter ones (if there are any, no guarantees). Beware though, sometimes people are quiet because they are beyond speech. This is one of the few times following tip X is not a good idea.

6. Play the tournament, and if possible, go deep. This is how I met a lot of the people involved, and it's easier to hit the post-tourney party if people know you from the table.

7. Play the crazy mixed games in the MGM, and get someone to teach you Pai-Gow, if you don't already know how. Late-night craps in the IP are a must also!

8. If you're tired, power through. Sleep is for wimps! Switch to spirits.

9. Use your unfamiliarity to have some fun - I had a couple of jokes that went down well. A word of warning though - don't make fun of Maigrey when she's tired, it can get nasty...

10. Do not, do not, do not miss the Sports Book party on Sunday. This is definitely the best part of the weekend (for me anyway) and a great place to catch up with people you vaguely bumped into on Friday night.

11. If you ask someone to explain something to you (e.g. the betting system used in the Sports books), have the courtesy to ensure you're sober enough to a) comprehend and b) remember the explanations provided!

And finally, the tip that transcends all others, and is so important that it has a letter rather than a number:

X. Buy people drinks. Lots of them, and often. This is good for several reasons, the best of which is that it's another good ice-breaker. People have good memories too, and will gladly buy you one back.

Enjoy the weekend, and if you spot a burly Irish bloke getting hammered, it's probably me - come say hello!

City of Blinding Lights

2007-11-03T11:49:00.000Z

Flights: Out via JFK on Dec 5, home via Atlanta on Dec 10

Hotel: Imperial Palace - it's a dump, but it's a central dump

Why: WPBT Gathering Winter 2007!

See you there?

2007-10-03T16:38:00.000Z

I have registered to play in the PokerStars World Blogger Championship of Online Poker!

This Online Poker Tournament is a No Limit Texas Holdem event exclusive to Bloggers.

Registration code: 4000602

Heartbeat post

2007-09-30T19:08:00.000Z

This post is just a heartbeat one, to prove this blog is alive and being updated, if only occasionally.

Since my last post I've spent a couple of weeks in France, mostly doing volunteer work, but I got to spend the weekend in Bordeaux attending the Ireland v Georgia Rugby World Cup game. The weekend was a blast, apart from the 80 minutes of the match.

Suffice to say, Ireland's rugby team simply haven't fired in the 2007 RWC, and today they were eliminated by Argentina, who have become the form team of the championship.

On the poker front, there's little to report bar next week's International Poker Open, taking place in the RDS here in Dublin. This is looking like being Europe's biggest tourney, in player number terms, and should be an interesting experience. I'll keep you posted.

Brief update

2007-08-21T14:32:00.000Z

So it's been a while since this particular dusty corner of cyberspace got scribbled on, not through lack of interest, but simply through lack of time. So here's a quick trawl through the things I started the blog to talk about:

Cricket

Move along, nothing to see here... We're having the worst summer in years, and as a consequence there's not a lot of cricket being played. I haven't played a match in at least 8 weeks.

Umpiring

The weather's screwing this up too, but I've got to stand in a few games. I'm enjoying it, and learning lots in each game. I can see this taking over from playing in a few years. I toyed with the idea of retiring from playing completely to concentrate on umpiring, but I'm not going to - I think my focus will just change gradually.

Poker

I'm going through a "meh" phase with poker at the moment, Haven't played live for a while, and the online accounts aren't getting much of a workout either. One thing of note is that there's a big tournament in October, called the International Poker Open. You have to register for this on Mermaid poker, so I downloaded the software, and lashed 20 euro in to see what it was like. One $10 MTT later, I have my buyin for the IPO. Nice!

Other news

We bought a Nintendo Wii - lots'n'lots'n'lots of fun. Get one - you can kid yourself it's a good exercise tool!

Finally, Vegas is beckoning again - I've booked to be there for the WPBT Winter Gathering, on the weekend of the 7th of December. I met a ton of nice people there last year, and am looking forward to catching up with them again this year.

Back from the dead!

2007-05-16T10:45:00.000Z

I’ve been neglecting this blog recently, more from lack of things to write about than anything else. What jogged me to update was a posting on Kat’s blog, giving a link to her Bloglines folder. Glancing around the blogs linked, I noticed this one… I realised it’s been nearly a month since I updated.

I’ve been playing a lot of live cricket, and the odd bit of live poker, so here’s a brief account of them both.

Poker

I’m still grinding away at the lower-limits PLO tables on Full Tilt, and this is relatively enjoyable. I mix it up occasionally with some STTs and the odd MTT, with no great successes in either. I qualified for and played in the FTOPS Event #2, PLO with rebuys. I didn’t play well or get great cards, and was out before the break.

Live I’ve had a few sessions in the Fitz and the Sporting Emporium. The €1/€2 pot-limit hold ‘em game in the SE is fun, and usually full of loose players who like to throw chips around, but for some reason I’ve never made money here. Patience is the key. My last trip to the Fitz for the €50 PLO game (blinds €1/€1) was unsuccessful, mainly through a friend of mine hitting his straight flush on the river, while the same card filled my ace-high flush. I enjoy this game a lot, and feel there’s a lot to learn from it too, so will continue to play (and probably donate) for a while.

Cricket

I’ve played four games this season so far, with a record of 3 wins and one loss. This is a good start for me, but I must stress that my contribution to these wins has been negligible. I’ve scored 3 ducks, and the other innings was just a single. No catches, no run-outs and I don’t bowl, so not much contribution in the field either. My wicket-keeping is coming on though, so I foresee a season on the bottom team, keeping wicket and hoping to get my batting into some sort of shape. I’ve an idea where I’m going wrong, so I plan to work on that in practice and see what transpires.

I’ve started umpiring, and this is something I really enjoy. I did the GL6 course & exam over the winter, something I’d recommend to anyone, even if they’re never plan to stand as an umpire. I thought I knew the laws of the game well, but through doing the course I realised there were lots of things I didn’t know, and other things I was wrong on. So I did the course, passed the exam, and have stood in two games so far. Both were extremely good matches, played in a good spirit and with no weather interruptions. I feel I did well in both, but I know there are a lot of things I need to work on, such as:

Movement – ensuring that I’m in the right place to view the events, every time
Concentration – ensuring that every ball has my full attention and that I watch the action until the ball is dead
Signalling – while the signals are clearly specified, performance of them is varied from umpire to umpire. I’d like to ensure my signalling is as clear, crisp and thorough as possible.
Administration – there are certain admin tasks required of an umpire at the end of an over, the fall of a wicket, at drinks breaks and at the end of an innings. I need to develop a routine to ensure these are all performed with a minimum of fuss & thinking, to allow me to concentrate on the on-field action more

It’s fascinating watching & talking with other umpires about umpiring. My brother’s a very good umpire, and chatting to him about situations we see on TV or in live cricket is great fun as well as being very instructive in learning the umpiring craft.

The best advice given to me was just before my first match: nobody goes to a game to watch the umpires. Therefore, nobody’s looking at you, so there’s no need to worry about being in the spotlight. Simply concentrate on each ball, give your decisions in a fair, even-handed and consistent manner and you won’t go far wrong.

While I knew I’d enjoy umpiring matches as a neutral official (previously I’d umpired matches I was playing in), I actually didn’t realise how much fun I’d have doing it. A lot of this is down to your rapport with your colleague and the players, and I’d like to think I’m easy enough to get along with. This encourages me to think that I’ll do a lot more umpiring and, with practice, hopefully get quite good at it. The attraction of this is being involved in a standard of cricket I could never hope to play regularly.

Irish cricket

After the amazing events of March & April, May has brought the Irish cricket team back to earth with a bang. The World Cup provided us all with so much joy and so many memories, but has also increased expectations. The Friends Provident Trophy has not been kind to us, with a changed team being regularly put to the sword.

The merry-go-round of media appearances and receptions is also cutting into the players’ recovery time, and I was very worried about certain players when I saw them play in Castle Avenue last Thursday against Gloucestershire. Some of them looked jaded and close to burn-out, and while their hearts & spirits were in the game, their bodies didn’t seem to be able to produce. Fortunately there’s a bit of a break for them for the next couple of weeks, and batteries can be recharged.

I’m heading for London on the 26th of May for two Ireland games, versus Surrey and versus Sussex, and that should be a fun trip. I’ll try to report before then, but I wouldn’t hold your breath!

2007-04-17T10:05:00.000Z

Cricket

We'll pretend that we never played Australia - and no smart comments from you, Garth! :-) Frankly, all that can be said about that game is that we were crushed by a totally superior team.

And then, another win for the glorious Irish team in Barbados, beating Bangladesh by 80-odd runs. They did it the more difficult way too, by batting first and setting a target, then bowling them out. Yes, I'm aware that's normally the easy way in one-day cricket, but not in this World Cup, where the white ball does all sorts early in the day.

So this now makes us a permanent one-day international country. This is obviously a positive step, but it remains to be seen how much cricket it'll get us. Kenya had the same status for the last while and nobody seemed interested. Maybe our proximity to a test-playing nation might assist with this.

Poker

As is always the case with poker, positives and negatives to report.

I played again in the omaha game in the Fitz, and wasn't as successful this time. I was up & down all night, finally recovering to around €350 from my €100 buyin. I then got hit with a bad beat (straight flush beat my ace-high flush) to remove my stack, followed shortly by my second buyin. That's omaha for you!

On more positive note, last night I qualified for the Full Tilt Online Series of Poker Event #2, $100 pot-limit omaha with rebuys, first prize guaranteed at $75,000. So that's what I'll be doing on May 16th from 21:30BST.

Overdue update

2007-04-10T13:29:00.000Z

It's been nearly 3 weeks since my last post, and quite a bit has happened. I'll deal with the poker side of things first, before I get on to bigger things.

So one of my 2007 ambitions went by the wayside - I didn't qualify for the 2007 Irish Open. I didn't attend a single live satellite, which was remiss of me, and playing the qualifiers on Full Tilt, while fun, proved unfruitful. The Open itself took place last weekend (Easter) and at least an Irishman took home 1st place.

I did make some progress on the cash game front. A couple of Saturdays ago I headed to the Fitz to dip my toe in the €50 pot-limit omaha game there. The name is inaccurate, as there's no point in sitting down with only 50 notes, and it proved to be an interesting experience.

Most pots are raised pre-flop, from the blind of €1 to €5 or even €20. This makes seeing a flop expensive, but if the pre-flop raises are too high you can bow out. I played an uber-tight game, only seeing the turn if I held very good cards.

As the €100 game was full, there was a lot of people sitting into our game waiting for it, and this meant for a lot of big pots. I won a couple and lost a couple, and from a low of €9 ended the evening with €460 for a steady profit of €260. Even better, I learnt a lot and would be more comfortable next time I play this game, especially armed with the knowledge I picked up on certain players.

And so to the cricket! My big plans for going back to Barbados & Grenada have been shelved, for several reasons. Mainly it's to do with work and finances, but I'm also thinking that the Jamaica jaunt was the trip of a lifetime and another visit couldn't live up to the first one. None of the same crew of five are going back, so I'll be screaming myself hoarse at the TV rather than at the players themselves!

Speaking of the players, they've been doing us proud. We haven't won a game in the Super-Eights yet, but we haven't been disgraced in any game, and the effort & intensity in each game has been superb. People forget that we are a small nation in cricketing terms and that this squad is definitely punching above it's weight. They are also winning people over because they look like they're enjoying playing the game - and why wouldn't they?

Interest in cricket is growing in Ireland, and across the world - it's even spread to one corner of New Jersey, where a certain American Princess has started asking many searching questions about the game...

Finally, on a really happy note, when I got home from Jamaica a good mate rang me and after the usual pleasantries informed me that we have flights, hotels and match tickets for the Rugby World Cup Final, to be played in Paris on the 20th of October. Yippeee!! All things going well, it'll be New Zealand versus Ireland, and there's only one right result there...

Carribbean return

2007-03-21T19:30:00.000Z

And I'm back...

Of the two games I went to see, we tied one (a very rare result) against Zimbabwe, and then we beat Pakistan. This, my friends, is the equivalent of San Marino beating Brazil at soccer.

My account of the Zimbabwe match is below - this was originally posted on www.boards.ie:

It's a good thing that Boards isn't a voice-operated message board, because I'm unable to speak out loud today. My cricket cap also has a hole in it where I bit through it while watching the last over....

Life in Jamaica is pretty cool at the moment. The hotel where the majority of the Irish fans are staying (Jamaica Grand in Ochos Rios) is top-notch, and the fans are making the most of the all-inclusive arrangements, resulting in many a session and singsong.

One of the less-enjoyable facets is the travelling to Kingston - 3 hours to do 90 kilometres is not fun, and the driving would remind you of a 9-year-old boy playing Gran Turismo on his Playstation.

Sabina Park itself is magnificent, even if Kingston isn't, and the welcome we've received has been overwhelming.

The match yesterday had absolutely everything - the entire range of emotions were felt throughout a pulsating day. Some people at home have expressed the feeling that "it wasn't a win", but this misses the enormity of the achievement.

The team emerged to greet family, friends and fans behind the North Stand after the game, and hugs and tears were the order of the day.

Tomorrow will be a different scenario, and we need to field much much better, bat better (apart from Jeremy who was magnificent) and bowl tight. If that happens, and Pakistan come under pressure, who knows...

I'll report again on Sunday - the bar has a rum & coke with my name on it...

Signing off from Ochee,

TrueDub

And my report from the Pakistan game, from the same source:

Back home now, and have just about got my breath back, so will report on the Ireland - Pakistan game.

In the bar on Friday night I was talking to this English guy, who asked me what had to happen for us to win. I said that we'd have to play brilliantly, for things to go our way, and for Pakistan to have an off-day. And that's more or less exactly what happened. One crucial thing, however, is that Pakistan only played as well as Ireland let them.

The drive to Sabina was better this time, with less traffic, and the discovery of the (well-hidden) motorway an assistance. We parked in the same spot, breakfasted in Munster Final fashion out of the boot of the car, then headed to the ground.

The toss was the big thing - hugely important. Fortunately Trent called correctly and put them in. From the first ball you could Ireland meant business, and Lanky and Boyd Rankin each took wickets in their first spell.

TJ himself and Andre kept up the pressure magnificently, with Andre in particular being unplayable - his experience on green seamers in South Africa and Ireland being a major asset. All the bowlers chipped in, and the fielding was absolutely amazing. Catches were held whenever offered, the major difference with the Zim game. Only the extras count was unsatisfactory.

At the interval the ground suddenly became very tense - you could see the realisation of what was possible sweep the ground. Amazingly, I didn't have a single beer in the second innings, simply because my stomach was churning.

Losing early wickets didn't help, and things were looking a bit dicey until the O'Brien brothers arrived. Niall batted superbly, and looked to be bringing it home until he had a complete brain-melt and got stumped. I could have strangled him...

His brother Kevin, however, played an innings of incredible patience and maturity to steer the innings home. Andre was given a shocker of a decision, while Andrew White and Kyle McCallan brought the nerves to breaking point.

Then Trent arrived, dodgy shoulder and all, and piloted us to victory. Wides, no balls and every scoring stroke were cheered to the echo, and the roar when Trent hit that final run echoed around Kingston.

The locals were 100% behind the Irish, and the dancing and festivities went on for a while. Apart from 2 idiots I encountered, the Pakistanis were very gracious in defeat, which is more than can be said for their Captain...

The drive to Ochee was quiet, as people absorbed the win. However, the team arriving the Jamaica Grand would have to rank as one of my most special moments - 200 people thronging the lobby, cheering and singing, as the players embraced family, friends and well-wishers alike.

A lot has been said about the team's spirit and down-to-earth nature - I've known quite a few of them for quite a while, so it hasn't surprised me. However, I did notice it from the players I don't know. Every one of them, and the backroom staff, were incredibly friendly to all well-wishers and to anyone who simply wanted to say congratulations. This is something they, and we, should be very proud of. I introduced a young English girl to a few of them, and you'd swear she was meeting Man United, so excited was she.

So the evening went on in a predictable fashion, with the highlight being Roy Torrens (team manager) giving a very gracious speech, concluding by saying "Michael Holding - we deserve to be here!". The singsong was amazing too!

Several players ended up in the pool, some (well, most) by my fair hand, and a magnificent day drew to a close...

And so I'm back in Dublin, plotting and scheming to get back to the Carribbean. The Super-8s are looking likely, and I'm going to be there, come hell or high water.

Final funny moment (of millions): one of our rum bottles spilt in the overhead bin on the flight out of Kingston - a Jamaican man a few rows back shouted "Hey mon, it's-a rainin' rum..."

Thus My Jamaican diary comes to end, but it could soon be a Barbadian diary, or Grenadan diary.... Watch this space!

And so the adventure begins again, possibly.

A final word goes to the Garthmeister, who exhorted me to have a blast: I did, my man, I so did.

Carribean thoughts

2007-03-11T16:17:00.000Z

So the Cricket World Cup kicks off in earnest next week, with Ireland's first game on Thursday against the might of Zimbabwe.

And the good news is... I'm going be there! We fly from Dublin tomorrow morning, via London, to sunny Montego Bay and onwards to Ochos Rios. It should be a blast. A full report will appear here at some stage.

Another Sunday, another Irish Open final qualifier

2007-03-04T19:20:00.000Z

...but this one is slightly different. For a start it's on Full Tilt - I only found out by accident they were running qualifiers, and got through in the second qualifier I tried. Secondly, it's a freezeout, better than the single-rebuy Paddy Power run. So at 9pm GMT I'll be playing that. Updates will appear here...

20:26 Start of Tourney

Bugger, that's a good start - I misread the time difference and missed the first 26 minutes. Still, I haven't lost too many chips, so here we go.

20:41 End of Tourney

Done - bugger. Not worth talking about. Nobody to blame but me.

Ireland finally do themselves justice, and a poker query

2007-02-25T17:46:00.000Z

So Ireland took on the Old Enemy England in Croke Park yesterday, and they handed out quite a beating. Ireland won by 30 points, and played some top rugby- it was a joy to watch. None of the predicted protests or disruption happened either, which was very pleasing.

After the game I headed into town to meet a group of friends, and spent the evening having a few pints and catching up with people I hadn't seen for a while. Town was busy, but we had a nice corner of our favourite pub, and all in all the entire evening was a lot of fun.

Once the pub closed, I decided that rather than head home I'd head for the Sporting Emporium for some poker. The place was busy, and I sat down looking to play tight and catch some cards. This plan went well after being moved table once, and I had doubled my buy-in when two hands occurred in quick succession to change that. Walking home I felt I'd done the right thing in both of them, but now I'm not so sure. Any constructive opinions on this would be welcome in the comments. Some of the details are a bit hazy, but the thrust of it is there.

The opponents in Hand 1 are like this: one is a young guy, aggressive player, trash talker, lots of chips. He's just had a bluff caught, by the other table captain, and didn't enjoy it. I thought he might be tilting a bit after that. The other is a loose player too, but less talkative.

I'm on the button and dealt QJ off-suit. Opponent one raises to 7, opponent 2 calls, I call. Flop comes QJx, all spades. Opponent 1 bets around 30, opponent 2 calls. I call too, wary of the flush, but unsure that either player has it, as both have very wide ranges and are quite capable of calling/betting with absolute rubbish. Turn is a blank. Opponent bets 60, opponent 2 calls. I call too - and here's where I start getting unhappy with my play. I'm really not convinced this was the right thing to do. When the river blanks too, opponent 1 sticks around 120 into the middle. Opponent 2 calls. I fold after thinking for a while.

They both turn over 1 pair - my two-pair would have been good. My thinking is that I should have either folded on the flop, or gone with my read & gut feeling and put all my chips on the line. I think this is back to what I described in a previous post about lack of courage and fear of looking foolish in live games - I should not have been worried about that, as there was a large donkey population present.

The second hand was more straightforward - I had KK, lots of pre-flop betting & calling, flop arrives ace-high, I pot it for around 160 to try and push everyone else out. An Asian dude goes all in for around 70, and once the board pairs turns over aces for aces over eights, beating my full house of kings. I don't think I'd do much different in this one.

So that removed all my profit and crippled me, and a few hands later the loudmouth felted me with the first decent hand he'd shown all night. Ho hum.

20:00 - Positive poker post

I've qualified again for the Weekly Grand Final qualifier for the Irish Open. It starts at 21:00 GMT, and I'll drop updates here periodically. Hopefully I'll be able to update more than last week...

21:00 - Start of Tournament

Cards are in the air!

21:30 - Struggling

Haven't got any cards, and any raises have been snapped off. Hanging in there, but will need to make a move soon to justify taking the add-on.

21:36 - End of (my) Tournament

Nothing to report really, just ran out of options. Final hand was Ace-10 o/s (me) against Ace-7, and a seven falls. No big deal.

Poker progress

2007-02-18T15:21:00.000Z

Friday night the Poker Gods were kind to me, and I won a seat into the Weekly Grand Final qualifier for the Irish Open. The tourney starts at 9pm (GMT), and is on the Paddy Power poker site. I'll try to update here as I go along.

9pm: Start of tourney

And they're off - 202 runners competing for 6 packages ( at the moment- rebuys/addons will up that). I'm on Table 9.

9:24pm: End of tourney

Out in 185th in level 2. Had Jack-Ten o/s, turned a straight. Went all-in, got called, he turned over a diamond draw. It hit. Didn't rebuy.

Bugger. Back to the drawing board.

More Six Nations, cricket umpiring and why I’m not writing about poker

2007-02-12T17:44:00.000Z

Sunday 11th February 2007 was a historic day in Irish life, although not as earth-shattering as some would have you believe. An international rugby match was played in Croke Park, seat & stronghold of the Gaelic Athletic Association.

Without delving into 600 years of Irish history, I’ll try to explain why this is significant. The GAA was founded to foster the playing of native Irish games, namely hurling and gaelic football. As part of this, it took a stance against what it saw as “foreign” or “garrison” games, specifically soccer and rugby.

This opposition was enshrined in the rule book, specifically in the stipulation that no foreign games were to be played in fields owned by the GAA. There was also a rule, thankfully repealed many years ago, that anyone found playing these games was instantly expelled from the GAA, for life no less.

In the modern era, there was much muttering and carping about the GAA’s attitude to the use of their facilities. I’m not going into the whys and wherefores of this, especially as there was (and still is) a lot of bitterness on both sides of the argument.

Over the last 15 years or so the GAA has invested a lot of time and money into modernising Croke Park, and they now possess a magnificent state-of-the-art stadium, holding roughly 82,000 people.

The Irish Rugby Football Union (IRFU) own Landsdowne Road, a now-decrepit stadium on the other side of the city, and in conjunction with Football Association of Ireland (FAI), decided to knock it down & start again, something long-overdue. The FAI have rented Landsdowne Road for soccer matches since the early 80s, when the team actually got good enough for people to want to watch them.

From this a major step was taken by the GAA, namely to allow foreign sports take place on the hallowed turf of Croke Park. We’ll leave aside the slight issue of boxing, American football and even Garth Brooks concerts having taken place there in the recent past…

And so on Sunday we all filed into Croker to watch the rugby boys do their stuff. Firstly, what a magnificent place! I hadn’t been there for several years, and it was a pleasure to watch a game in such a pleasant & well-designed area – quite a shock after the deathtrap that was the North Terrace in Landsdowne.

Alas, the game itself didn’t live up to the venue. Ireland were nervous at the start, poor in the middle, picked it up magnificently in the final quarter and led with 3 minutes to go, only to lose concentration at a vital point and allow the French steal a try and condemn us to a 2-point defeat. This ruins any prospect of a Grand Slam, and puts us up against it to win the Championship, as we now need France to slip up and lose against someone.

The causes of our defeat, and our poor performance, are many, with the backline not really functioning and some very poor tackling contributing. We were missing Peter Stringer, our first-choice scrum-half, and his absence was keenly felt, as his replacement Isaac Boss was simply too slow in the pass to release the backs into space.

Ho hum. We play England in Croke Park in two weeks, and sparks could really fly. Watch this space for an explanation of why, and why they really shouldn’t.

Cricket – there’s lots of international stuff going on, but a poor club player like me is mouldering away just waiting for the long evenings. The Irish team has had an up-and-down sort of month, with several near-misses in the World Cricket League in Kenya followed by handing the UAE a drubbing in the Intercontinental Cup.

I’m continuing with the umpiring course, and plan on standing in a few matches this year. Exactly how many depends on how I enjoy it, and whether I’m prepared to sacrifice watching other games to umpire instead. I’m not prepared to sacrifice playing yet for it, definitely not.

And finally the reason I’m not writing about poker: I’ve nothing interesting to write about. I’m grinding away on Full Tilt at the low levels (05/.10 to .25/.50 PLO and PLHE) and not playing tournies. This must change, firstly to give me something to write about, and secondly to put me into a position where I might even manage to qualify for the big competitions (see my January post about goals).

So if that happens, you’ll hear about it here first. If not….

Start of the Six Nations, and a special moment

2007-02-04T22:34:00.000Z

So the Six Nations rugby tournament kicked off this weekend, and most of the games went with form.

France beat Italy, despite the tradition that the French are at their weakest in the first game, especially away from home, and the Italians are at their strongest in the first game. It wasn't a great match, but the French will see it as a another stepping stone on their road to this September's World Cup.

The one slight surprise of the weekend was England beating Scotland. It's not really a surprise, as they're the better team, but their form has been so horrible in the past few months that Scotland were tipped to win. A change of coach, some personnel changes and a renewed sense of self-belief brought the English a good victory, with a slice of luck from the television referee along the road. I'm not jumping on the Jonny Wilkinson bandwagon, however. He had a superb game, but time will have to judge on whether he's the player he was.

Ireland had a good victory against the Welsh. They didn't play particularly well, and had to withstand a frightening Welsh onslaught at times, but their ability and self-belief brought them to victory. Ireland were the worse team for a lot of the game. It will help with subsequent games that they received such a tough test this time.

On the poker front, things have been quiet. No live poker recently, due to a combination of factors too dull to list here. Online I've been dabbling on Pokerstars and bonus-whoring on Full Tilt. On both sites it's been up and down.

The one notable event in online poker for me this week has been this:

Yes, that's my first Royal Flush in any form of poker. Sadly, all you can see is all that I won, as he didn't call my turn bet!

Rugby in the real world

2007-01-28T21:03:00.000Z

Note: there is no poker in this post.

I've been interested in sport for as long as I can remember. My Dad is a huge fan of sport, and my mother is surprisingly knowledgeable about many sports - this is surprising only because she doesn't talk about it much, but you should hear her screaming at the Irish rugby team...

As a kid I played a lot of gaelic football and hurling from age 9 or so, then when I went to secondary school I took up rugby, as that was the game played there. I was never more than a mediocre player, but I was always interested in strategy and tactics, and I learnt a lot.

In university I got out of rugby and back into gaelic games, and took my first tentative steps at coaching, ultimately qualifing as an adult coach. Almost immediately after getting this qualification, however, I fell away from gaelic games in general.

My overriding obsession from then, and onwards to the present day, is cricket. Closely following that, in recent years, has been rugby again. The change to professionalism has, to my mind, made rugby a better game, and these days it would the sport I'd follow most after cricket.

So what, I hear you cry? Well, this winter a good friend in work joined a rugby club close to my house, and I joined too. I've no intention of playing, it's just a good interest that gets me out of the house and gives me another social outlet. I went to watch a game yesterday, and it's prompted me to ponder a few points about sport.

1. The pros are really good at what they do

The game yesterday was not the worst standard in the world, but it was a god-awful spectacle. As a spectator there was little or nothing worth getting excited about. This is not the players' fault, as these guys were putting their bodies on the line just to play a game. But the skill levels were poor, and this is point: we're spoilt watching pro sport. Those guys are so good, and in general make so few of the basic mistakes, that they make ordinary players look dreadful.

2. The pros can control themselves much better

yesterday I witnessed a bunch of lads deciding on several occasions that punches were better than scores. One guy (from my team) got sent off for punching a guy not once, but twice, with the ref staring at him, and then appeared on the sideline later to defend his actions. Others got involved in niggly off-the-ball stuff, including an unedifying brawl. All this in an amateur game, in a nothing match (neither side are going to win that particular competition), and for no real reason. This lost the game for my team, as they lost their heads, as well as being a man down.

3. Guys playing for fun/love/challenge seem to care more

There were guys yesterday putting themselves in danger of serious injury, either through ordinary play or skullduggery. I admire them, but I don't really understand it. And I certainly don't want to do it. This only applies to contact sports, of course. I'm quite prepared to take the hits that are handed out in cricket which are surprisingly sore, despite the non-contact nature of the game.

Ultimately this boils down to the difference between pro sportsmen and rest of us: they're better at it, they're more entertaining to watch, and the game is better when played by pros. Not an earth-shattering conclusion, but it's Monday.

Never again....

2007-01-27T14:18:00.000Z

God, I hate hangovers. My head's about to burst, my stomach is on a full spin-cycle and my eyes won't quite focus. In short, folks, today I'm as sick as a small hospital.

The reason for all this illness was a session last night. For Christmas my brother got me tickets to a play called "I Keano", which is a comedy musical about the Irish football team's problems before the 2002 World Cup (seriously). I went with Eoin, a good mate of mine, and we had a few beers before the performance. And during. And at the interval. And during the second act. And afterwards in the bar at the back of the theatre, where eventually the only people left were us, the bar staff and the cast.

After that we decided to go to a hotel up the road, where the Leinster Cricket Umpires Association dinner was taking place. Here we met several friends, including my brother, and many more pints were consumed. Hence my illness today.

I've been playing my poker over at Full Tilt these days, mainly because they run a mixed game that I love, round-of-each pot-limit hold 'em and omaha hi. It's going well so far.

Right, I can't see what I'm typing, and I'm not sure I'm making sense. Back to bed for me...

Placeholder

2007-01-19T21:55:00.000Z

Not much happening in my world at the moment.

Work's getting busy, which is good, as I'm enjoying what I'm doing right now. I've not played much poker, bar some online stuff which is running poorly. Satellites seem to have turned against me in the last week or two, while moving down in levels in PLO ring games has solidified my game while removing some of the excitement.

I've started my training course to be a cricket umpire, and I'm really enjoying it. As when I qualified as a coach, it's good to actually think about the game you love, and explore the rules in detail. More importantly is learning how to be an umpire, rather than simply being someone who can regurgitate the rules at will.

January's a dull month - dull weather, dull social life (nobody's got any money!), just dull. Throw an attack of gout into that (I know, I'm too young and too poor to have gout, but I do!) and you have a recipe for a quiet life.

Sometimes when I'm hellishly busy I wish things were quieter. As my mother says "You're never happy unless you're miserable"...

Tribulations at the Fitz, and the Sunday Warm-up

2007-01-07T14:58:00.000Z

Last night I decided to put into practice one of my New Year's resolutions, and headed into the Fitz to play some live cash. I'd planned on sitting at a €50 omaha-only table.

When I got there, there was a list for omaha-only, so I sat at a PLHE table. This was fun, with some good players, one card rack and a varying host of poor players, mostly studenty types. One guy moaned that he got no action on the turn, when he'd raised pre-flop, on the flop and bet the pot on the turn. He showed us all his aces, then couldn't figure out why people knew he had them, even though he hadn't played a hand in an hour.

I won a few and lost a few, and left that table down slightly but happy that I could have stayed there and made a modest profit. The omaha table opened up and I knew this would be a different kettle of fish.

One of the problems about playing omaha is that the above-mentioned poor studenty players don't play it, so you're automatically up against better players. The people on this table were mostly regulars, and I recognised most faces if not names. I got one hand in two hours, giving me a full house on the flop, and everyone folded to my bet. Understandable, as I hadn't played too many hands.

So I learnt you need to be agressive to survive in this game. The blinds are officially €1/€1, but with blind bets and standard open-raises, the pots build. You need a bigger stack to survive, especially if you want to follow up your draws, and it's omaha, so you get lots of draws.

It was a fun evening, and I feel I could enjoy this game, but I'd need a good bankroll. Like a lot of live poker though, if you win a big hand early you're set for the night.

Anyhoo, the online scene has been up and down this week. A lot of my money is going into satellite play, particularly for the Irish Open. no success yet, and looking at the figures involved it might be easier to buy into the weekly Grand Final on Sundays rather than paying for several satellites during the week.

I also came close to the bubble on another Omaha MTT, this time a $10 + $1 rebuy on Stars. Eighteen got paid, and I exited in 21st. Ho hum!

Finally, a $3 rebuy crapshoot sat for the Sunday Warmup on PokerStars was good to me, so my evening will be spent watching the NFL playoff game on Sky Sports, and playing in the Sunday Warmup. I'll update later with the outcome!

Tourney update 20:39 GMT: I'm gone, and I'm absolutely gutted at the way I went.

The scenario is this: having been short-stacked for most of the time I had finally built up to the average chip count through a series of steals & all-ins. so I'm in the BB with 37766 chips and I'm dealt Ac2d. There's an all-in, but it's less than the BB so I can simply check.

The flop comes Ks As 5d, and in a moment of madness I go all in. I just saw that ace and thought "bingo". Of course my all-in is called, both he and the pre-flop all-in have me beat. I'm gone in 270th, with the money starting at 225. Before the hand, I was roughly 180th.

This is not a hard luck story. This is not a bad beat tale. This is simply poor poker from me, a bone-headed decision for all my chips. I'm so annoyed with myself I could scream.

The money for 225th would have been roughly $375. I know you're not meant to play just to make the money, but it's so galling when it was there if I wanted it, and you let it go through stupidity.

My title

2007-01-06T17:50:00.000Z

Checking Katitude's blog while playing another omaha MTT, and came across this site. It gave me my title:

My Peculiar Aristocratic Title is:
Bishop Lord Jim the Insouciant of Oxbridge by Camford
Get your Peculiar Aristocratic Title

This is peculiarly appropriate, for reasons I'm not going into!

Goodbye to 2006, and plans for 2007

2007-01-02T09:24:00.000Z

2006 was a good year for me, not necessarily a great year, but not the worst either. On a personal level I had a horrible time in work for the first 5 months, then things picked up tremendously. Everything else went fine, although I was shown that I need to seize opportunities if they’re presented to me, regardless of the consequences if it doesn’t work out.

Poker

In poker terms, it was a good year too. It was a losing year, but I expected that, and I feel I’m a much better player now than in January 2006. My PLO game is strong, as evidenced by the MTT win in December, while I’m learning new mixed games, like HORSE, and new variations, like 2-7 Triple Draw. My HE game isn’t a strong as I’d like it to be, but it’s not a “card skills” thing, more an aggression & table sense issue.

So, poker goals for 2007. In no particular order:

Qualify for the 2007 Irish Open. This is the biggest tournament of the year on this side of the pond, and online qualification shouldn’t be beyond me. Several of the card clubs in Dublin will run satellites too, which I intend to attend.
Qualify for the 2007 WSOP Main Event. Bit more of a long shot, this one, although I was close in early 2006. Again, the online route is the way to go, although it’ll be interesting to see how the American ban on online poker (I know it’s not that simple, but that’s the main thrust of it) affects qualification & registration.
Play more & bigger live tournaments. By this I mean the likes of the Fitz EOM game (€270) and the Sporting Emporium Big game (200).
Play more live cash games, especially Omaha. This does not mean stumbling into the Fitz or SE after a night on the tiles, ready to blow €200 on a nut flush draw. I’m talking about getting into the Fitz sober about 10pm on a Friday or Saturday, sitting down at a €50 omaha cash table with a good stack (€200+) and seeing if my online Omaha skills can translate.
Win more money. Well, duh!!!

Cricket

It was an odd season for me in summer 2006. Despite playing a lot on the 5th XI & batting higher in the order, I still didn’t score many runs, and the season was fairly disjointed, with me spending a lot of time in London on business. Off-the-field concerns in the club, in terms of my management of the bar, impacted on my on-field concentration too. On the plus side, I started keeping wicket again, and enjoyed & did reasonably well at it. The season finished on high for me, playing for the Leprechauns (and scoring some runs), then getting a game for the 1st XI in Malahide, which we won, which was a rarity for the firsts in 2006.

So for 2007 I have the following goals:

Play more, and play for higher teams. This is directly connected to the second and third points below. I re-discovered at the end of last season why I enjoy playing cricket, and how to continue that. It shouldn’t be difficult to continue enjoying playing game.
Bat better. I’ve had my eyes lasered, so no longer wear glasses, and while this should help it’s not the root cause of my batting issues. Quite simply, I need to watch the ball more. I’ve identified this as a problem for some time, but haven’t concentrated on eradicating it. Priority One for 2007!
Practice more. We have net sessions three times a week and there’s no reason why I shouldn’t be practicing hard. With fewer commitments to the club, this should be something I do more often and better.
Do the umpires’ course, and qualify. Then stand in a few games and see if I like it.

So that’s the plan for 2007, for poker and cricket. I have other plans, more personal ones, which I’ll be working on but not reporting here. If they come to pass, maybe….

Links added, final live poker of 2006, and cricket!

2006-12-30T13:08:00.000Z

I've a spent a while (well, a short while) adding some links to this blog, giving some information on my haunts. Feel free to check them out.

Last night I went to the Fitzwilliam Card Club (hereafter known as the Fitz) to play their regular Friday night scalps game. On arrival I discovered that for last week & this week the scalps element had been abandoned and an extra rebuy/topup added. I was disappointed, as the scalps side of things adds a little extra interest, but signed up anyway.

After dinner (the food in the Fitz is top-notch, and reasonable too, I recommend it) I arrived at Table 3 Seat 6 to discover eight players I didn't know, and Dom Hever, known as 5StarPool in the wonderful world of boards.ie. I work with Dom, have played quite a bit of poker with him, and always enjoy his company at the table. He's a top player though, so it's always tougher with him there.

The next two hours could have been entitled "How not to play Poker, with a side-dish of fairly dumb commentary". One gentleman pondered an all-in, then a call, ahead of him, then figured his 5-8 suited were good and called. He was wrong. There were other players, not as obviously bad, but several bone-headed moves were made.

Comment of the evening was from the gent to my left. Dom raised enough to put this gent all-in. He pondered, then called with the monster that is A-7 o/s. A seven on the flop did for Dom, and the salt was truly rubbed into the wound when the gent commented "That's why it's better to play small kickers, when they hit you tend to win". WTF?

Sadly I never got the cards to take advantage of the poor play, and was in for the full 150 euros by the break. My stack got whittled away, and by the time the table broke it was double-up-or-go-home time. When my third hand on the new table landed in front me, I looked down at a nice AJ of spades. I pushed (with the enormous amount of 5000 chips) and the big blind called. He showed KQ o/s, and while the flop gave me a jack, the turn gave him a King and that was all she wrote.

I've noticed a problem with my play in live games in Ireland: I'm intimidated by other players. Not in a physical way, but I've spotted that I'm simply not as aggressive as I am when playing online or abroad. I'm not sure if I'm more concerned about looking stupid, or my reputation (not that I've got one, but the Irish poker community's a small one in terms of information) or if I simply don't have the confidence to put my chips at risk. It's something I have to work on.

Finally, there's another part of this blog, indicated by the "On the Boundary" part of the name, and that's cricket. For the benefit of those of you from across the Atlantic, this is the bat-&-ball sport played (in the main) by ex-British colonies, not the rather odd variation of darts. Another post will deal with the whys and wherefores of me being a cricket fanatic. There's not a lot of Irish cricket news at the moment, but wait until March for the World Cup, and then the season itself in the summer.

Blog thoughts, Omaha and Vegas

2006-12-26T22:25:00.000Z

A couple of things need to be said, on the off-chance that someone is actually reading this. I'm still not convinced about maintaining this, but I reckon I'll keep it going & update on big events. I don't think I've the stamina or interest to update every day with the minutiae of my life, and my writing style isn't good enough to sustain that type of posting anyway. So this blog will be a highlights reel more than a documentary.

I'm currently (26/12/2006, 22:40 GMT) on the final table of a $10 PL Omaha tournament on Pokerstars. There's a couple of idiots on the table, catching cards to build stacks, but I'm third in chips as I type and plan to win the thing. I'll update the post with the results.

In the meantime, below is my report for my recent trip to Vegas, written at Iggy's urging. You can read his damn fine blog at http://iggy.pokerworks.com/

Here it is - not up to much but post-Vegas flu is biting on this side of the pond too! I don't have the links or anything (edit: added now).

My second trip to Las Vegas was designed to be a special one, as I was planning to surprise my sister, whom I hadn't seen for a year. I timed things so I'd be there a few days early, giving myself space to play poker, craps, drink beer and generally lose my shirt early in the week, thus concealing my gambler-drunkard nature from my sister & her friend.

A couple of weeks before departure I noticed the winter 2007 episode of the WPBT was on the same weekend I'd be arriving. Being the thick-skinned person I am, I thought I'd see if I could get involved, play in the tournament and meet a few of people whose writing I'd been enjoying. A brief email to April resulted in a positive & friendly response, and all was set.

Rather than do a chronological account of my weekend, which would be dreadfully boring (trust me, I've already written it and it is!) I thought I'd scribble a few "highlights of the weekend". This is no particular order, and my apologies to anyone I leave out or whose name I forget.

* The bar by the Sports Book in MGM. I wasn't sure what the reception for an interloper would be. When I arrived I recognised Dr Pauly, so I steeled my courage and approached him & his buddy, and was met with what turned out to be a standard reaction throughout the weekend: friendliness & welcome. The rest of the night was spent in conversation with many different people, some of whom I still only know by blog name. Highlight of the night had to be someone (later identified as Waffles) greeting these military types with "Hey, don't you guys have someone to kill?"...

* The tournament in Saturday. The amount of poker experience and knowledge in the room made this an intimidating place to be, but a good run of cards and some patience helped me to go deep and set the poker side of my trip off to a great start. Getting pocket jacks three hands out of four assisted me to build a stack on my first table, while the banter was always amusing. Having Veneno on my left helped immensely, as she decided that an Irishman in green just had to be lucky, so she rubbed my arm at every available opportunity. I think this brought me as much luck as it brought her.

* The IP Sportsbook on Sunday. As a big sports fan I was in 7th Heaven here, especially when surrounded by knowledgeable and committed fans of the game. Someone described the experience as being perfect for football fans with ADD - I couldn't agree more. Knowing nothing about form, I didn't bet on the games, apart from buying a $50 ticket from Soxlover for $3 - it was a long shot but I wish it had come in, just to see his face. After the games finished simply sitting and chatting to different people here was probably the best experience of the weekend.

* Playing on the 1/2 nl table in the IP on Sunday night. The table was crowded with bloggers (Falstaff, JoeSpeaker, Daddy, Soxlover etc.) and while I got cleaned out fairly rapidly the table banter was hilarious. Highlight of this session was Daddy busting the loudmouth moron - see Falstaff's blog for an account of the hand. I got killed in the crossfire, but it was worth it.

Overall, it was a fabulous time of socialising with a group of people I'd never met before, but whose company I enjoyed immensely. I'm grateful to everyone who made me welcome and included me in their games, conversations and jokes.
My thanks go to April for organising everything & not ignoring my random email and Iggy for catching me at a weak moment & getting me to promise to write this round-up. To Soxlover, Carter, Heather, Garth, April from CA, Pauly, Change100, Mattazuma and all the others whose beer I drank and company I enjoyed, thank you.

Finally, if anyone from the gathering makes it to Dublin anytime, please be sure to contact me so I can return your welcome & hospitality. Iggy has my contact details.

Tournament Update: Well, I did it! I took down the omaha tournament for a cool $460. This is my first non-satellite MTT win, and I'm proud of it! Onwards & upwards...

2006-12-17T16:56:00.000Z

Back from Vegas. Exhausted, but had a blast. Will do a proper report when the time & energy levels permit.

A new beginning

2006-12-02T18:05:00.000Z

After my last abortive attempt, here's a new start to my blogging career. The plan is to talk about things that are important to me. They are, in no order: poker, cricket, rugby, life in general.

I don't plan to be too personal, but we'll see how things go on that front!

I'm in Vegas from Friday 8th, and I can't wait for that.