The taste of victory

Can't believe I didn't mention this before, but Norwich City, my beloved football team, have now won four in a row. Amazing. No clean sheet yet, but I'll take the points. This included beating the second place team away from home (they were unbeaten up until then). We are now only five points off the play-off places. Should get one, but won't make an automatic promotion place as we are 30 points off the leader and 20 off second place.

Bad thing coming up. The January transfer window means that someone is going to buy our 'star striker'. Granted we should get 6+ million GBP for him but who is going to score? We need replacements. Something like this may be just the thing to ruin our winning streak.

What no cracks?

Back from my chrismas break in Utah. Probably had one of my most enjoyable chrismases and all I did was grill some (turkey) sausages and keep the fire going. Lots of cool maps, particularly like Smith's geological map of the UK from 1815. A reproduction obviously. Guess I am a geophysicist after all...

Arches NP rocks. Didn't get to Canyonlands because Chris was ill (also lost the first day because I wasn't well) and I didn't actually climb anything: Chris had her first lead fall and was too shaken to continue (I was pretty scared too as it was a big fall coming down upside down and head-first) and then was ill so we didn't go back. Shame. Was great to be on sandstone slabs again even if all I got to do was look longingly at it. Why is most climbing in the US crack stuff?

Laptop still broken so no poker for me. Got my powerbook back though. Finally. When I've saved a little money up again I want to go back and play live again. That was a lot of fun; I must tell you about it sometime.

Off to Ney York tomorrow. Will be my first time there. Not sure what I'm going to do, but feel like it is somewhere I must visit. And new year should make it even more fun. Not sure why I'm writing in such short sentences either. Perhaps I should do some research and find out some nice places to visit and not the horrible tacky touristy stuff that is so obvious. Might still have to go up the Empire state building though ;-)

Quick summary

So, I'm leaving to go camping for christmas tomorrow and here is what has happened in the last week.

My powerbook refuses to be repaired. No really it is sitting there and sticking its tounge out at me. The USB port is faulty and so far I've had the port itself, data cable and USB board replaced, next is the motherboard and I hope that fixes it.

I seem to have had a hard drive failure on my windows laptop. Lost everything and can't play online poker :-(
More cost.

Coming back from San Francisco United re-routed my baggage through an alternative airport (no idea why) and during that time someone went through it and stole my camera and brand new laptop charger. My only uninsured camera. More cost.

Chris is still here :-) More cost.

Anyway I think a week away is just what I need. It's going to be cold, but some climbing, skiing and hiking/snowshoeing should be fun.

Then we're off to New York for New Year. One to remember? Definitely more cost.

Enjoy christmas,
a.x

The most confusing game so far

Oops, meant to post this about a week ago. Bless the 'save as draft' button.
Not that you missed much really.

Triple draw lowball.

WTF

5 card draw with four betting rounds, three drawing rounds and the low hand wins.
For the deuce-seven variety aces are high and the best hand is 2-3-4-5-7 (unsuited obviously).

There's a home game I'm hoping to get invited to this weekend so this may be a chance to try it out. With any luck I'll be the only person that has any idea of the rules, never mind strategy! Expect the variance is pretty high in this game.

Changes

I have added my bankroll on the right-hand side. Check it out and see it fluctuate. Hold on, doesn't that imply it goes up as well...

Branching out into Sit n Gos

It's not that I'm bored with the ring game but...

So I've been playing Omaha hi/low a tiny bit and started dabbling in sit and go tournaments. Unsuccessfully.
First day played 7, had 4 third places unfortunately they pay the top two only.
Played two more tonight and finished 6th (last) and first! I won my first tournament!!
Currently I am sitting out at the Titan $1+0.1 SnGs. They are 6 max and only pay the top two places. I've not worked out if this is a good arrangement or not, but I am happy for now. I will work my way up from this level I think. I feel quite comfortable playing against a full table so may look for some 10 max elsewhere when I step up a level or two.

So, some analysis then...
Those four 3rd places bothered me. Mostly because I went in to the last 3 as a big chip leader in two of them. I carried on playing aggressively and lost out. This is a good thing I think, but what seemed to happen was that I'd raise 4-5 times the BB pre-flop , get called and out-drawn. Maybe I should bet stronger pre-flop and limp with weaker hands in position. Position seems to be more important than ever when you get down to three.

Of course, the tourney I won I played tighter than normal. Can't put it down to too much as I won a couple of important hands. Need a lot larger experience before I can conclude anything. But then again tight may be the way to go as they didn't really respect my play.

Don't think I'll ever understand poker.

a

Away

I have been, and still am, in San Francisco this week. I'm tired. It has just convinced me that I have so much more work to do if I am going to apply for a proper job somewhere. Am I prepared to commit myself to it? Wish I felt more confident and committed.

Still, had a fun week. Don't really like San Francisco a whole lot but have met up wit friends and colleagues from Southampton and that has been nice. Perhaps it will spur me into action after all. Want to get back to my girlfriend in Wyoming as she is only wisiting for a short time and then has to leave again.

Tired and been drinking so that's all for now.