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A Duck called Ferdinand got shot
Dec. 26th, 2005 06:57 amRemember, a turkey isn't for life, it's for Christmas.
So, amid not doing very much apart from relaxing on the sofa tidying up my collection of home-recorded Simpsons DVDs. I entered a 60 FPP freeroll on Pokerstars, which I proceeded to play on the laptop. And, bugger me, I beat 180 other entrants and picked up 6000 FPP for the privilege. Obviously I unregistered my entry for the Monte Carlo Invitational (in which I would be dead money for a tournament that had one prize and that prize was a tournament for which I would be even more dead money) and banked the FPPs, giving me a healthy balance of 11,500. Later last night I entered a 300 FPP tourney for the Scandinavian EPT tournament, but my Queen flush on the turn with the Ace on board (Q2 of spades; damn getting in cheap in the Big Blind!) was no match for the King flush on the button. Exit stage right. Perhaps I could have as one of my targets for 2006 the accumulation of 100,000 FPP on Pokerstars.
The curious thing about the first tournament was that my own successful strategy in tournaments seems to go against all the rules (with the exception of the "all-in when short stacked" principle, which I follow assiduously). I don't try to run the table; I don't try to push things; I don't try to make most of my money from fold equity. In fact, I tend to play a very non-tournament type of game. Usually this results in me getting short-stacked and having to gamble. This time I seemed to accumulate chips quite nicely, without any all-in moves (when I had a hand, I milked the opposition rather than trying to get all of their stack or to double-through). Even when I had strongish but non-nut hands, I played them quietly, trying not to risk more than half my stack (but prepared to call if I thought I was winning). I dodged numerous bullets this way.
Needless to say this meant that I had no chance of ever becoming chip leader, and I never was, until after about 15 minutes of the heads-up. With 20 players left I was 16th, and with 10 players left I was sixth. The FPP nature of the tournament meant that people were a little more devil-may-care, which meant that, even when 16th of 20, I still had about 40 small blinds left (i.e., room for some play).
I think that I am going to have to tear up most of the books on No-Limit tournaments, in that my own route to success seems a quirky one. I neither play to survive, nor play to win. I just play each hand as if it were a cash game.
+++++
I'm working hard on Greatest Hits. I've done the movie reviews and I'm just sitting down to do the book reviews. After that I can cannibalize the blog and people's responses and, with luck, get something ready for printing by Wednesday or Thursday.
A couple of nights ago there was an Arena on TV about Madhouse on Castle Street, the 1962 TV play in which Bob Dylan made his UK acting debut (and performed four songs, including Blowing In The Wind) and which, for reasons which evade even the most perceptive, was thrown away by the BBC in 1968. I mean, it's not as if Dylan was exactly an unknown in 1968. So now Arena is desperately searching for anyone who might have a copy. There are recordings of the songs, with a recently found version of rather good quality, but it looks as if any tape of the play itself, even an audio version, will never be found. Sometimes you wonder at the idiocy of administrators (see arse-covering, previous post) but every so often their complete and utter lunacy defies belief.
At work, I had to fight to maintain the archive of my newsletter, which we used to have as an online archive. The idea was to sell it to subscribers, but none was forthcoming. It was costing eleven grand a year to maintain, so, in early 2002, the company wanted to pull the plug and abandon it. After serious internal battles we managed to keep the archive as an internal intranet, which I have faithfully updated ever since, every day.
And what's happening now? Yes, we are launching a new insurance portal, and the archive will be an important part of that portal. Of course, no-one ever thanks you for being right, but this is the kind of thing that the creatives have to battle against when it comes to the bean counters and pen-pushers. Lack of vision? Tell me about it.
So, amid not doing very much apart from relaxing on the sofa tidying up my collection of home-recorded Simpsons DVDs. I entered a 60 FPP freeroll on Pokerstars, which I proceeded to play on the laptop. And, bugger me, I beat 180 other entrants and picked up 6000 FPP for the privilege. Obviously I unregistered my entry for the Monte Carlo Invitational (in which I would be dead money for a tournament that had one prize and that prize was a tournament for which I would be even more dead money) and banked the FPPs, giving me a healthy balance of 11,500. Later last night I entered a 300 FPP tourney for the Scandinavian EPT tournament, but my Queen flush on the turn with the Ace on board (Q2 of spades; damn getting in cheap in the Big Blind!) was no match for the King flush on the button. Exit stage right. Perhaps I could have as one of my targets for 2006 the accumulation of 100,000 FPP on Pokerstars.
The curious thing about the first tournament was that my own successful strategy in tournaments seems to go against all the rules (with the exception of the "all-in when short stacked" principle, which I follow assiduously). I don't try to run the table; I don't try to push things; I don't try to make most of my money from fold equity. In fact, I tend to play a very non-tournament type of game. Usually this results in me getting short-stacked and having to gamble. This time I seemed to accumulate chips quite nicely, without any all-in moves (when I had a hand, I milked the opposition rather than trying to get all of their stack or to double-through). Even when I had strongish but non-nut hands, I played them quietly, trying not to risk more than half my stack (but prepared to call if I thought I was winning). I dodged numerous bullets this way.
Needless to say this meant that I had no chance of ever becoming chip leader, and I never was, until after about 15 minutes of the heads-up. With 20 players left I was 16th, and with 10 players left I was sixth. The FPP nature of the tournament meant that people were a little more devil-may-care, which meant that, even when 16th of 20, I still had about 40 small blinds left (i.e., room for some play).
I think that I am going to have to tear up most of the books on No-Limit tournaments, in that my own route to success seems a quirky one. I neither play to survive, nor play to win. I just play each hand as if it were a cash game.
+++++
I'm working hard on Greatest Hits. I've done the movie reviews and I'm just sitting down to do the book reviews. After that I can cannibalize the blog and people's responses and, with luck, get something ready for printing by Wednesday or Thursday.
A couple of nights ago there was an Arena on TV about Madhouse on Castle Street, the 1962 TV play in which Bob Dylan made his UK acting debut (and performed four songs, including Blowing In The Wind) and which, for reasons which evade even the most perceptive, was thrown away by the BBC in 1968. I mean, it's not as if Dylan was exactly an unknown in 1968. So now Arena is desperately searching for anyone who might have a copy. There are recordings of the songs, with a recently found version of rather good quality, but it looks as if any tape of the play itself, even an audio version, will never be found. Sometimes you wonder at the idiocy of administrators (see arse-covering, previous post) but every so often their complete and utter lunacy defies belief.
At work, I had to fight to maintain the archive of my newsletter, which we used to have as an online archive. The idea was to sell it to subscribers, but none was forthcoming. It was costing eleven grand a year to maintain, so, in early 2002, the company wanted to pull the plug and abandon it. After serious internal battles we managed to keep the archive as an internal intranet, which I have faithfully updated ever since, every day.
And what's happening now? Yes, we are launching a new insurance portal, and the archive will be an important part of that portal. Of course, no-one ever thanks you for being right, but this is the kind of thing that the creatives have to battle against when it comes to the bean counters and pen-pushers. Lack of vision? Tell me about it.
