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I Never Asked To Be Your Mountain
Feb. 16th, 2007 12:03 pmWomen have an uncanny ability to telephone you at inconvenient times. Just as I was sitting there with JJ in the small-blind, three-bet preflop and reraised by the initial raiser, with two live opponents, on a flop of J86 rainbow, and the prospect of a hand that not even I could conspire to fuck up, the phone rang.
This time it was a woman at Betfair.
"Er, could you hold on a second", I said, "I'm in the middle of a ginormous pot."
"No problem, I've got my cup of tea," she said.
When we eventually got round to the conversation (oh, I won the $110 pot, many thanks, although the poker gods didn't take long to get their own back -- I later went nought for three with aces in just 60 hands on Noble Poker, the first two times when I was just about 90% favourite on the flop) said nice lady asked me whether I was happy with Betfair's performance. Clearly my withdrawal of a four-figure sum and absence from the poker and betting emporia in recent months had not escaped their attention.
"Well, your new poker software sucks beyond belief".
"Oh, did you like the old software?"
"Well, no, the Cryptologic software sucks as well, but the new Betfair software is even worse than that".
"What about the non-poker content?"
"Well, it's fine, but my company won't let me access the site any more, and I like to bet on the cricket in running. Hence my absence."
"Oh, well, we are offering selected clients a free £20 if you place any bet or bets worth £10 within the next 48 hours."
"That's fine. I'll do that, then."
"Oh, and you don't have to put the whole £10 on a single bet, if those stakes are too high..."
"Er, no, I think I'll just put on one £10 bet".
"Excellent, well, I'll let you get back to your poker".
"Thanks, bye."
The point here is, now that I think about it, my business is probably worth about $20,000 to $30,000 a year to gambling sites. The money doesn't come from me, of course (a specious argument frequently put forward by the weak-tight multitablers posting on 2+2). It comes from losers, via me. But, as far as the sites are concerned, it comes from me. I am, in others words, a valuable customer. If they have proper customer tracking software, any absence should be noted, and offers like this should become more frequent. We shall see.
+++++
Web access via mobile phone had always struck me as, in my particular case, a pointless exercise. I was at the computer so often that accessing the web, for those short periods when I was not at a computer or within range of one, seemed rather silly. However, that phone call confirmed a conclusion I had come to a couple of days previously, that, with a number of sites being blocked by my work computer, mobile phone access suddenly didn't look so irrelevant to my needs.
A couple of days ago I downloaded Operamini, Opera's browser for mobile phones. It took me 20 minutes to work out where it had stored itself (within the "Java Applications" part of the phone, rather than within the "web" section) and I couldn't access my home e-mail on BTYahoo (I'll try to work out that one later), but, overall, it worked quite well.
I see now that Finspreads and Betfair also have bespoke mobile phone applications. I know that some of the poker sites are well forward on this as well, but, hell, I think that might be going a bit too far. Then again, for those quiet moments in the office...
The other option at work would be to buy a second laptop and set up some wifi connection from my desk (I'm sure I'll be able to find some way to do that, even if it's via a mobile phone connection)
++++
I've downloaded High Stakes Poker Series Three Episode One, but it took a couple of overnights to do it. Then again, this episode ios a month old. Perhaps the newer files will download quicker.
Then I started playing it on the machine and it began jumping badly on Windows Media Player (cue the normal shit of "run it on [insert poster's beloved pet non-Microsoft system here]. It's brilliant.")
Yeah, well, I've installed most of them in my time, and there's always a downside. Real Player is an absolute disgrace these days (I've gone back to version 8.0 on both machines). I have a couple of bespoke .avi players on one compluter, but I play .avis on my machine so rarely, that I forget where the hell they are or, indeed, what the hell they are called. Then, when I find them, I forget how they work.
So, I adopted my normal solution of spending an hour's burning time putting it onto video CD, thus reminding myself that my computer really is getting rather old. The VCD plays well on my DVD in the main room and then I can watch the show from the comfort of the sofa, on a proper TV without background PC noise.
PC users "block out" the noise of their computer, but you really notice its absence when you turn the machine off.
+++++++++
The dentist's receptionist telephone yesterday to say that they would have to reschedule my brace-fitting appointment because the bloody things hadn't arrived yet. So, another week to wait.
Five weeks today until Vegas, and it gets more attractive by the hour.
This time it was a woman at Betfair.
"Er, could you hold on a second", I said, "I'm in the middle of a ginormous pot."
"No problem, I've got my cup of tea," she said.
When we eventually got round to the conversation (oh, I won the $110 pot, many thanks, although the poker gods didn't take long to get their own back -- I later went nought for three with aces in just 60 hands on Noble Poker, the first two times when I was just about 90% favourite on the flop) said nice lady asked me whether I was happy with Betfair's performance. Clearly my withdrawal of a four-figure sum and absence from the poker and betting emporia in recent months had not escaped their attention.
"Well, your new poker software sucks beyond belief".
"Oh, did you like the old software?"
"Well, no, the Cryptologic software sucks as well, but the new Betfair software is even worse than that".
"What about the non-poker content?"
"Well, it's fine, but my company won't let me access the site any more, and I like to bet on the cricket in running. Hence my absence."
"Oh, well, we are offering selected clients a free £20 if you place any bet or bets worth £10 within the next 48 hours."
"That's fine. I'll do that, then."
"Oh, and you don't have to put the whole £10 on a single bet, if those stakes are too high..."
"Er, no, I think I'll just put on one £10 bet".
"Excellent, well, I'll let you get back to your poker".
"Thanks, bye."
The point here is, now that I think about it, my business is probably worth about $20,000 to $30,000 a year to gambling sites. The money doesn't come from me, of course (a specious argument frequently put forward by the weak-tight multitablers posting on 2+2). It comes from losers, via me. But, as far as the sites are concerned, it comes from me. I am, in others words, a valuable customer. If they have proper customer tracking software, any absence should be noted, and offers like this should become more frequent. We shall see.
+++++
Web access via mobile phone had always struck me as, in my particular case, a pointless exercise. I was at the computer so often that accessing the web, for those short periods when I was not at a computer or within range of one, seemed rather silly. However, that phone call confirmed a conclusion I had come to a couple of days previously, that, with a number of sites being blocked by my work computer, mobile phone access suddenly didn't look so irrelevant to my needs.
A couple of days ago I downloaded Operamini, Opera's browser for mobile phones. It took me 20 minutes to work out where it had stored itself (within the "Java Applications" part of the phone, rather than within the "web" section) and I couldn't access my home e-mail on BTYahoo (I'll try to work out that one later), but, overall, it worked quite well.
I see now that Finspreads and Betfair also have bespoke mobile phone applications. I know that some of the poker sites are well forward on this as well, but, hell, I think that might be going a bit too far. Then again, for those quiet moments in the office...
The other option at work would be to buy a second laptop and set up some wifi connection from my desk (I'm sure I'll be able to find some way to do that, even if it's via a mobile phone connection)
++++
I've downloaded High Stakes Poker Series Three Episode One, but it took a couple of overnights to do it. Then again, this episode ios a month old. Perhaps the newer files will download quicker.
Then I started playing it on the machine and it began jumping badly on Windows Media Player (cue the normal shit of "run it on [insert poster's beloved pet non-Microsoft system here]. It's brilliant.")
Yeah, well, I've installed most of them in my time, and there's always a downside. Real Player is an absolute disgrace these days (I've gone back to version 8.0 on both machines). I have a couple of bespoke .avi players on one compluter, but I play .avis on my machine so rarely, that I forget where the hell they are or, indeed, what the hell they are called. Then, when I find them, I forget how they work.
So, I adopted my normal solution of spending an hour's burning time putting it onto video CD, thus reminding myself that my computer really is getting rather old. The VCD plays well on my DVD in the main room and then I can watch the show from the comfort of the sofa, on a proper TV without background PC noise.
PC users "block out" the noise of their computer, but you really notice its absence when you turn the machine off.
+++++++++
The dentist's receptionist telephone yesterday to say that they would have to reschedule my brace-fitting appointment because the bloody things hadn't arrived yet. So, another week to wait.
Five weeks today until Vegas, and it gets more attractive by the hour.
