dkpw - Wicked Fire

What were my first thoughts as 2009 came in?

Well, it was “I can now set my Rolex taking into account the leap second” and “did I really only score 5 points in my 2008 death list?”

Sad but true.

Welcome to 2009 - year of the bastard £4.5K roof repair - great fucking joy.

I’m having quite a nice run on the poker tables at the moment, on my favoured 6 seat $3.25 turbo sit ‘n’ go.

I got to heads up with MoneyBeast who had sucked out on me a couple of times earlier in the tournament. Just before this hand, I had taken the chip lead with an all in of A9 against his KJ with the board not helping either of us.

I do like suited connectors, and so decided to see the flop cheaply with my 5-4 of hearts. He called the BB and I checked. The flop brought me set of fours. I bet 200 and he raised to 600. I re-raised to 1,000 which he called. The turn brought him a 10 and top two pair. I bet my set again for 200. He raised again to 600 and  I re-raised to 1,000 one more time which he again called. The river brought me quad fours and unfortunately for him a full house, fours over tens. I went all in, which he must have thought was a semi-bluff as he called.

He should have folded at the flop, after my re-raise but being Germanic, he wanted to bully me around, even though he had less chips. I suppose he was doomed when he hit that 10 on the turn - although I had him beat from the flop. He probably thought I had a six.

Thank you and “Goodnight Vienna” which in this case is an appropriate saying as he was indeed from “Wein.”

While checking that I had not missed any of my candidates’ demises, I made an interesting discovery.

Sir Bernard Crick, famed academic and expert on George Orwell, whose biography of said author is a great book which I read many years ago, recently died. He was also active in the work of the Labour Party, when it actually was the Labour Party and not some Blairite/Mandelsonian abomination. I have therefore known about him and admired his work for nearly 30 years.

However I did NOT know he looked like Victor Meldrew with a tash!

Crick

Richard Wilson with tash.

2008 is ending with a flourish, as Harold Pinter goes to that big Birthday Party in the sky. I’m grateful for my fifth point this year.  Only four more days to go but the weather is cold…

As Harold was in my 2009 list, I’m in the lucky position of being able to elevate another likely candidate and after due consideration, I think I will include Robert “Bob” McNamara ever famous as Secretary of Defence during the Vietnam War and the man who brought business methods and ideologies to warfare. Born in 1916 he’s a fair bet. Thanks Alex for the suggestion!

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, emphasised the same need for compassion and hope through “small and local gestures” during his Christmas sermon. Speaking at Canterbury Cathedral, he said people should not wait for “larger-than-life” heroes to solve the world’s problems.

So the second coming is off then? Jesus Christ -  the man’s a tosser - how fucking woolly can you get?

This is why I like Feist - not taking one’s self too seriously - plus the look of huge joy when at the end when she realises the take went well. Plus there are penguins!

Get the latest Flash Player to see this player.

The Rolex world is awash with rumours that CEO Patrick Heiniger’s sudden and unexpected resignation may have had something to do with the 1 billion Swiss francs he invested with Bernard Madoff, the U.S. money manager charged with a $50 Billion fraud. 1 billion Swiss francs equates to about $900 Million or 150,000 Rolex Submariners.

The Rolex board are notoriously conservative, and Heiniger’s “sin” was not wasting money rather being too adventurous and fond of risk taking. He stands down at the end of the year for “personal reasons” after 16 years in the post.

I’m not going to feel too sorry for him, as he no doubt will be able to afford many more ridiculously large ties from his savings and handsome pension.

I played in the PokerStars Blogger qualifier and finished a disappointing 250th out of about 600 players. I was card dead for most of the night, and after the first hour decided to go all in with two live cards, Q 9, when on the button with under 10 big blinds left. I hit a 9 on the flop but my opponent hit his A, from his A4o on the turn and I was gone. There’s a final NLHE qualifier tonight and I’ll be trying to get to the finals tomorrow.

Due to smaller numbers than usual, we had three quick £10 sit ‘n goes at Ruths. After a poor first game, I concentrated better and went on to win the second and third games of the night. A small profit was had. Hurrah.

And just to prove that I don’t always show the good hands, here’s what happened to me playing NL 5 card draw, having flopped a full house. Arg.