Access Denied
Aug. 18th, 2006 06:25 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
peterbirksMy company brought in a new filtering system this week that meant I could no longer access most gambling-related sites. Curiously, in most cases, I just didn't really care. Last year a trip to the Hendon Mob site was almost de rigeur first thing in the morning, but these days it mainly feels like most of it has already been said.
Andy Ward's Secrets of the Amateurs was blocked, but Get It Quietly was not. I guess that the filter spots any blog on blogspot with "poker" listed in the metafile.
The most irritating block was Betfair. How am I meant to make my money if I can't check the prices on the cricket? But, well, you can hardly blame the company for blocking it. I'd be hard pushed to justify any visit to the site on the grounds of business research.
Needless to say (and isn't this the way with companies?) my biggest gambling site -- Finspreads -- remains easily accessible, solely because my manic punts are on the value of shares and currencies, not sports.
But it would be nice to have access to Betfair. Does anyone know of a mobile phone contract I can get which will give me easy access to the site and to the prices? (Maybe I should just e-mail Betfair).
The lack of concern at the lack of access to the poker sites is also a product, I think, of a certain alienation from the majority of posters. There are maybe a dozen or so "thinkers" about the game that I know of, while the rest of the stuff on the fora is mainly bollocks from gamblers. Dave D, Aksu, Bluff, ThreeBet, Fargis, Andy Ward, DY (to a degree), and I'm sorry if I missed off your name and you should be here bt I'm in a rush, write thinking stuff. I may often disagree with it, but it's stimulating and the lines taken are invariably a result of logical thought. Felicia writes good stuff for the typical bad gambler. It may come across to us as a primer in how to become a tight player like Felicia, but it's probably a lot more useful in terms of being capable of turning a losing player into a winning player than the material we spew out about metagames and loss-aversion.
Compare this with most of the nonsense that you see, and the wide spread of "group think", and I can understand why the lack of access to what most poker players are writing is of virtually no concern to me.
Andy Ward's Secrets of the Amateurs was blocked, but Get It Quietly was not. I guess that the filter spots any blog on blogspot with "poker" listed in the metafile.
The most irritating block was Betfair. How am I meant to make my money if I can't check the prices on the cricket? But, well, you can hardly blame the company for blocking it. I'd be hard pushed to justify any visit to the site on the grounds of business research.
Needless to say (and isn't this the way with companies?) my biggest gambling site -- Finspreads -- remains easily accessible, solely because my manic punts are on the value of shares and currencies, not sports.
But it would be nice to have access to Betfair. Does anyone know of a mobile phone contract I can get which will give me easy access to the site and to the prices? (Maybe I should just e-mail Betfair).
The lack of concern at the lack of access to the poker sites is also a product, I think, of a certain alienation from the majority of posters. There are maybe a dozen or so "thinkers" about the game that I know of, while the rest of the stuff on the fora is mainly bollocks from gamblers. Dave D, Aksu, Bluff, ThreeBet, Fargis, Andy Ward, DY (to a degree), and I'm sorry if I missed off your name and you should be here bt I'm in a rush, write thinking stuff. I may often disagree with it, but it's stimulating and the lines taken are invariably a result of logical thought. Felicia writes good stuff for the typical bad gambler. It may come across to us as a primer in how to become a tight player like Felicia, but it's probably a lot more useful in terms of being capable of turning a losing player into a winning player than the material we spew out about metagames and loss-aversion.
Compare this with most of the nonsense that you see, and the wide spread of "group think", and I can understand why the lack of access to what most poker players are writing is of virtually no concern to me.
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Time Trumpet
Date: 2006-08-18 10:12 am (UTC)At a tangent, I see that last night's Time Trumpet wasn't the episode that was supposed to be broadcast. Obviously they've been re-ordered to allow for terrorist sensitivities. Boo.
Re: Time Trumpet
Date: 2006-08-18 11:41 am (UTC)I could still write the "entertaining" poker articles if I wanted to. Stephen at Gutshot has asked me to write some more. But if it's not something that I am enjoying, it's not really worthwhile doing it.
The poker stuff here is really more about exploring new avenues - it isn't designed to be entertaining, morea s a kind of mutual discussion area in the vague attempt to improve my game and to understand the game better. if other people's games are improved as well, then that's just a bonus.
no subject
Date: 2006-08-18 10:20 am (UTC)Odd that the general perception of "insurance" is of prudence, while that of "betting" is of recklessness.
Titmus
no subject
Date: 2006-08-18 11:37 am (UTC)"Insurance" is, in a sense, the negation of a gamble that I don't want to take. In other words, when I buy a house, I gamble that it won't fall down. Insurance negates that gamble.
no subject
Date: 2006-08-18 03:50 pm (UTC)What this means in practice, is that when your team gets to the Champions League Final, you find the nearest bookie and put a lump on your opponents.
Which, apparently, is frowned upon.
Titmus
no subject
Date: 2006-08-18 09:06 pm (UTC)* i.e. when they win they get more dosh.