Half-time Tunnel Syndrome
Feb. 2nd, 2006 08:34 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
peterbirksNow, as you know, I don't write about football much. This doesn't mean that I dislike it; it just doesn't hold the fascination for me that it seems to hold for many other people. Just about the only sport I can get halfway emotional about is cricket. And, anyway, many other bloggers write about it far better and at much greater length.
But even I was interested in the events of last night. First, we see Chelsea achieving the mastery of the technique that Arsenal managed for years — that being, whenever you drop a couple of points, your rivals drop three.
Secondly, we see West Ham beating Arsenal, at Highbury. I hadn't expected that to happen again in my lifetime.
Thirdly, we have the joy of an Arsenal reject scoring a hat-trick and, not just scoring a hat-trick, but doing so against Manchester United. If the irony of this was lost on anyone then, well, they must have been ironyless at heart.
But all of this, yes, all of this, was beaten by the supreme moment, when we saw a player, who, after being substituted, could have watched the second half of a match for free from a fine viewing position (one which fans would have paid many hundreds of pounds for), deciding instead that he wanted to go home. Yes, as far as Sol Campbell is concerned, he wouldn't watch Arsenal if you paid him (which, indeed, Arsenal do).
Apparently it was all part of a cunning plan. Sol had a dinner date and he got the days mixed up. So he cunningly played like a twat, got himself substituted at half-time, and just had time to change into the Hugo Boss and hot-foot it in his BMW 645CSi to Belitha Villas, Islington, in time for the first course of velouté of salmon in a lemon and rock salt jus.
++++
Still keeping the faith in not updating the pivot tables. So, I know roughly how well I am doing (and, to be frank, I played bloody brilliantly tonight to finish slightly ahead after a horrific first half-hour), but I can't spend happy hours starting at several different types of graph.
Here was one hand from that first half-hour. This is surely the kind of hand that gets people writing to customer support and saying that it's all rigged.
I'm on the button with 88. UTG+1 raises to $4. Passed round to me and I make it $6 to go. There are reasons for three-betting here -- the main one being that I'd rather have one opponent than two or three, so getting out the blinds is my main aim.
UTG+1 reraises me, which makes me think that I am behind to a strong hand (although I'm not ruling out AK just yet). I call.
$19 in the pot:
Flop comes 8d 4d Kd, giving me a set of eights.
Opponent bets. I flat call intending to raise the turn provided a diamond does not come.
$23 in pot.
Turn brings Kc, giving me the full house.
Opponent checks, I bet, he raises. Hmm, perhaps he does have AK. Fine by me. I three-bet, opponent caps it. I call.
$55 in pot.
River brings Qs.
Opponent bets. I call. Opponent shows Ks Kh for four kings. Opponent wins $60 with four kings.
I reckon that I just about lost the minimum that any sane person could have lost on that hand. And, and here's the good part, I didn't feel the slightest annoyance, despite the fact that this pushed me to about $140 down at $2-$4.
The more hands you play and the more tables you are playing at the same time, the less there is that can happen to annoy you. For a start, you don't have time to dwell on it.
About three hours in I hit a rush at all three tables and then, bang, I was up. I played another half-hour wihtout much happening, and left. Although three tables cuts your standard deviation per hour, it certainly doesn't cut your standard deviation per 10 minutes. Even at $2-$4 you can have $100 swings in a matter of minutes.
But even I was interested in the events of last night. First, we see Chelsea achieving the mastery of the technique that Arsenal managed for years — that being, whenever you drop a couple of points, your rivals drop three.
Secondly, we see West Ham beating Arsenal, at Highbury. I hadn't expected that to happen again in my lifetime.
Thirdly, we have the joy of an Arsenal reject scoring a hat-trick and, not just scoring a hat-trick, but doing so against Manchester United. If the irony of this was lost on anyone then, well, they must have been ironyless at heart.
But all of this, yes, all of this, was beaten by the supreme moment, when we saw a player, who, after being substituted, could have watched the second half of a match for free from a fine viewing position (one which fans would have paid many hundreds of pounds for), deciding instead that he wanted to go home. Yes, as far as Sol Campbell is concerned, he wouldn't watch Arsenal if you paid him (which, indeed, Arsenal do).
Apparently it was all part of a cunning plan. Sol had a dinner date and he got the days mixed up. So he cunningly played like a twat, got himself substituted at half-time, and just had time to change into the Hugo Boss and hot-foot it in his BMW 645CSi to Belitha Villas, Islington, in time for the first course of velouté of salmon in a lemon and rock salt jus.
++++
Still keeping the faith in not updating the pivot tables. So, I know roughly how well I am doing (and, to be frank, I played bloody brilliantly tonight to finish slightly ahead after a horrific first half-hour), but I can't spend happy hours starting at several different types of graph.
Here was one hand from that first half-hour. This is surely the kind of hand that gets people writing to customer support and saying that it's all rigged.
I'm on the button with 88. UTG+1 raises to $4. Passed round to me and I make it $6 to go. There are reasons for three-betting here -- the main one being that I'd rather have one opponent than two or three, so getting out the blinds is my main aim.
UTG+1 reraises me, which makes me think that I am behind to a strong hand (although I'm not ruling out AK just yet). I call.
$19 in the pot:
Flop comes 8d 4d Kd, giving me a set of eights.
Opponent bets. I flat call intending to raise the turn provided a diamond does not come.
$23 in pot.
Turn brings Kc, giving me the full house.
Opponent checks, I bet, he raises. Hmm, perhaps he does have AK. Fine by me. I three-bet, opponent caps it. I call.
$55 in pot.
River brings Qs.
Opponent bets. I call. Opponent shows Ks Kh for four kings. Opponent wins $60 with four kings.
I reckon that I just about lost the minimum that any sane person could have lost on that hand. And, and here's the good part, I didn't feel the slightest annoyance, despite the fact that this pushed me to about $140 down at $2-$4.
The more hands you play and the more tables you are playing at the same time, the less there is that can happen to annoy you. For a start, you don't have time to dwell on it.
About three hours in I hit a rush at all three tables and then, bang, I was up. I played another half-hour wihtout much happening, and left. Although three tables cuts your standard deviation per hour, it certainly doesn't cut your standard deviation per 10 minutes. Even at $2-$4 you can have $100 swings in a matter of minutes.
