The end of an era

"A political giant". "He bestrode right-wing politics in Britain in the 20th Century". "He will be sorely missed".

Yes, these are three of a number of tributes that I can pretty much guarantee we will not hear about John Tyndall, who appears to have topped himself at the age of 72. Tyndall was an old-school racial supremacist who dressed himself up as someone concerned about the white working class because even he realized that devoting most of your time to praising the wonders of Adolf Hitler and the evils of the Judaeo-Communist conspiracy was unlikely to garner many votes in Oldham.

Dressing up in uniforms and mixing in a culture of like-minded males is always likely to attract people of a certain sexual persuasion, and the British National Party was no exception. It was never really established whether John Tyndall was fond of young working-class (white) chappies, but Martin Webster, who usurped him as the public face of right-wing nuttiness in the early 1970s, certainly was.

British fascism/nazism/right-wing nationalism suffered from the same problem found virtually everywhere bar Italy and Germany. If you were proud of Britain/France/insert European country of your choice, then showing naked admiration for an Austrian who ran Germany (and who was a vegetarian to boot) was an odd way to go about it. But since the economic revival generated by Hitler depended mainly on creating jobs that either entailed building roads or killing people, the macro-economic ideas behind applying all of this to Europe didn't really hold up.

Tyndall's politics were always a rag-bag of nonsense that only really seemed a danger in the early 1970s, when Webster managed to pull in the skinhead youth of the time and create something that looked like a coherent force. It never was -- one thing you could always guarantee about the BNP was that as soon as real success arrived, it would split into rival factions. They all secretly wanted to be loved like Hitler, you see. None of them wrote down: "I'd really like to be the power behind the scenes".

Some PLO fun

Having a 90-minute nap before sitting down at $5-$10 either does wonders for my game or turns me into Mr Lucky-Hat of Lucksville, Indiana. Whatever, I felt right on top of my game when winning $88 in an hour and a bit on Party last night. In 200 hands I picked up just five pocket pairs (alright, they were all 8s and above, which makes a difference), but the hands I played I felt that I played well, not pushing things too far when I knew that I was stuffed. The previous night I knew that I was stuffed, but I pushed on anyway.

But, subsequent to that, I played a bit of PLO on Ultimate, since I am very pissed off with the site's Hold'em at the moment.

I lost a few hands, of which one was the following. I picked up K5K8 with K5 suited in 25-50 PLO. I called for $1 in the small blind and saw a flop of KT9 two diamonds (not my suit in any way shape or form). There was $8.50 in there and seven live opponents. What to do? I have $48 in front of me.

I decided on a part pot bet of $5, with the aim of getting to the river as cheaply as possible. This was called in two places (by a $23 stack and by a $114 stack). Could it be that there was no QJ out there? Or was one of them scared of being duplicated and being outdrawn? The turn brought a five of spades, which was not good. But I might still be in front. Ugh. I decide to bet $5 again. Once again I am called in two places. Oh well, at least I got to the river cheaply.

River is the Ace of Diamonds, putting a possible flush out there. I check, player on my left checks, final player with $114 bets the pot, and I fold. Player on my left dwells up for an eternity and finally folds, swearing about "bloody diamonds").

Yes, he had the QJ, and it looks like the calling was nothing to do with fear of being duplicated. The guy simply would not put all his money in until the end when he had the nuts. He should have raised me straight on the flop and taken down the pot or, if the big stack calls him (which gives me the implied odds to call), put in the rest of his money on the turn. His +EV is enormous.

But weak-tight players at this level just don't do that. They have a $25 buy in and this, I suspect, is half their money. They ain't gonna gamble it on a 50% shot that is laying them 2-to-1.


Subsequent to that I picked up KT-J5 double suited two off the button. The normal 5 limps round to me (a number of these games seem to get female types who want to see cheap flops and will try to get all their money in with the nuts on the flop or turn) so I decide to put in a pot raise. Partially this was on the grounds that people in these games always put a raise on AA. I also wanted to nick the button.

I get four callers, of whom two are behind me. Whoops. But at least we have a $12 pot already.

Flop comes 789 two diamonds (not my suit). So I have the straight, and it isn't the dry nuts in that a Queen gives me an out. Obviously I'm most worried about QJT being out (well, I'm most worried about KQJT two diamonds, but that's seeing boogie-men under every bed...). But, sod this for a lark.

Small blind bets the pot, putting himself all-in. I decide that I want to take this down here and now. So I raise $44. To my surprise, the player behind me calls all-in for $15 or so. So I reckon I want the board not to pair and not to have a dimaond.

Turn brought a rag and the river brought a very pretty non-diamond Queen. Opponents BOTH turned over a four flush with, as far as I could see, bugger-all else.

Madness.