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Bean counting
Sep. 19th, 2005 07:11 amEleven weeks and counting, 76 days and counting. What makes you think that I am looking forward to a holiday?
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The German general election will give mighty ammunition to the anti-proportional representation campaigners, although this seems to be a topic that has not been mentioned so much by the BBC recently, now that the LibDems are winning seats via first-past-the-post. Cynical, moi?
The Germans don't even have real PR. There is a 5% hurdle. But one unforeseen result of reunification has been that the 5% hurdle is no longer enough to stop stonking deadlock. Now we have the Green Party and the new old-style Communist bunch (PSD?) adding to the colours. What do we have now, a red-green-black alliance?
Whatever happens, the current mess is bad news for the euro, making me seriously bullish about short-term dollar prospects for the first time in years.
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I downloaded a couple more of the WSOPs over the weekend (not all of the episodes seem to have been uploaded, and the last two I downloaded are from a different seed to the first three). I also got to watch the NL tourney with Mike Gracz, CT Law and Chuck Thompson. Gracz was awesomely good, but even being awesomly good he had to get lucky to beat CT Law. Phil Gordon went out with Aces. Nice to see that it happens to other people too.
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The last leaf fell off my pachypodium over the weekend as it sunk into hibernation. I hope that I can get new leaves out of it next Spring. Meanwhile, heading off into horticulture, my many cacti at home (grown from seeds bought in downtown Vegas!) are coming along nicely; they are about half an inch tall already and, in the main, looking healthy. I wish that I could say the same about the spare room in which they sit on a rather dusty window shelf. I meant to tidy up yesterday, I really did.
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A small gathering at Lady Jo's in Tooting yesterday where I broke my vow not to stay for the poker and left fifty quid poorer as a result. Basically, I played terribly. Unsurprising, really. My live game is rusty, my rebuy live game is beyond rusty, I had a couple of bad beats, I wasn't that emotionally involved and, basically, my heart wasn't in it and I did not play either my natural game or a particularly good game. Perhaps a bit of luck might have changed that, but I really didn't care. Almost nice to be knocked out and be able to go home. I think I shall give live games in the UK a miss for a while -- until I have time to take them seriously. Dipping in and out is pointless.
I did get some photos, which I will upload later. Nice to see Narinder the Suit now Unsuited, Nick Persaud, Cameron Angus, Steve Bennett, James Gilgunn, James Arber, Martin The Gripper and of course Lady Jo again.
++++
The German general election will give mighty ammunition to the anti-proportional representation campaigners, although this seems to be a topic that has not been mentioned so much by the BBC recently, now that the LibDems are winning seats via first-past-the-post. Cynical, moi?
The Germans don't even have real PR. There is a 5% hurdle. But one unforeseen result of reunification has been that the 5% hurdle is no longer enough to stop stonking deadlock. Now we have the Green Party and the new old-style Communist bunch (PSD?) adding to the colours. What do we have now, a red-green-black alliance?
Whatever happens, the current mess is bad news for the euro, making me seriously bullish about short-term dollar prospects for the first time in years.
++++
I downloaded a couple more of the WSOPs over the weekend (not all of the episodes seem to have been uploaded, and the last two I downloaded are from a different seed to the first three). I also got to watch the NL tourney with Mike Gracz, CT Law and Chuck Thompson. Gracz was awesomely good, but even being awesomly good he had to get lucky to beat CT Law. Phil Gordon went out with Aces. Nice to see that it happens to other people too.
++++
The last leaf fell off my pachypodium over the weekend as it sunk into hibernation. I hope that I can get new leaves out of it next Spring. Meanwhile, heading off into horticulture, my many cacti at home (grown from seeds bought in downtown Vegas!) are coming along nicely; they are about half an inch tall already and, in the main, looking healthy. I wish that I could say the same about the spare room in which they sit on a rather dusty window shelf. I meant to tidy up yesterday, I really did.
++++
A small gathering at Lady Jo's in Tooting yesterday where I broke my vow not to stay for the poker and left fifty quid poorer as a result. Basically, I played terribly. Unsurprising, really. My live game is rusty, my rebuy live game is beyond rusty, I had a couple of bad beats, I wasn't that emotionally involved and, basically, my heart wasn't in it and I did not play either my natural game or a particularly good game. Perhaps a bit of luck might have changed that, but I really didn't care. Almost nice to be knocked out and be able to go home. I think I shall give live games in the UK a miss for a while -- until I have time to take them seriously. Dipping in and out is pointless.
I did get some photos, which I will upload later. Nice to see Narinder the Suit now Unsuited, Nick Persaud, Cameron Angus, Steve Bennett, James Gilgunn, James Arber, Martin The Gripper and of course Lady Jo again.
