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Live Journal
Apr. 10th, 2009 01:24 amI went to the Empire tonight after a trip to the Donmar to see Jonathan Pryce in Athol Fugard's Dimetos. An interesting play rather than a gripping one, with the actors struggling to cope with a text that seemed to demand some rapid changes in their mood. Lydia, in particular, seems to jump from carefree kid to suicidal within seconds. Perhaps the acting could have been better. Even Pryce, I fear, couldn't quite get to grips with the play. He really ought to have been a little bit creepier in the first half-hour, while Holliday Grainger (Lydia) failed to show the character frailties that must have been under her skin for her mood change to become so dramatic.
Anyway, poker at the Empire, some live play. I won back the £45 that I lost there a few weeks ago, frequently shaking my head at play that was just this side of unspeakable. There were some players who knew what they were doing, but most were either just there to gamble or, perhaps worse, were there to win but quite clearly did not understand the basic principles of the game. Oh, and one drunk who eventually had to be told to leave because he was holding up the game so much that it wasn't worth waiting for him to throw away his last £25.
Despite the awfulness of the play, I really can't see how DY makes a living at it -- the games are so slow.
Anyhoo, I played for just shy of three hours and noted that I am going to have to get my mental (and physical) strength in gear if I am going to play even two days of 10 hours' poker in succession, let alone three or more (if I go deep in the EPT tournament). I'm not 21 any more and the old days of playing for 18 hours at a stretch are going to be tough. I played a 16-hour session in Vegas back in 2000, but that was only $4-$8. I also remember playing about 18 hours two-tabling when I first tried $3-$6 limit and I was first giving two-tabling a go for any length of time. This would be 2003 or thereabouts, on Paradise. I got to the end of the day and was staggered to see that I had played more than a thousand hands. When I look at some of the 2+2 full ring players' figures, with 100K hands-plus in a month, I still shake my head in disbelief. (However, it's pleasing to look at these figures from "the pros" and to realize that, in good months at least, I am close to their rate per 100).
Jan doesn't text me so often these days and I have only now come to realize how much I had come to rely on it. Mobile phones are the work of the devil I tell you! I'll get used to it, probably fairly quickly, but at the moment it feels like a gaping hole in my life, not knowing what she is up to, which is just plain stupid. Indeed, when out tonight I was missing Facebook and the emails from other people as well (plus, of course, no texts). It used to be you went out to socialize. Now, when I am out, I worry that I am missing out on (virtual) socializing at home. This is a seriously fucked-up way to look at the universe and an indication that I should spend more time away from communication devices and more time communicating with people face to face. The fact that I find communicating with people face to face darned difficult is neither here nor there.
Oh, and I did my bollocks today online. Didn't play well (but didn't play particularly badly either) and just had the two or three bummers, plus general poor cards/flops, that gradually add up into a big defeat. In today's case, about minus $460, which is part of a $750 downswong since 9pm last night (but I got £45 it back live!). A hundred was set under set (blind vs blind as well!) and $75 (in a $200 BI) was a reraise from the blind with AKs and a continuation bet on a so-so flop that got snap-shoved by the original button raiser. I can't even remember where the rest went, but it was over 750 hands or so. It was overdue. I'm not moaning.
Looking forward to relaxing the next three days, although if anyone is up for annything in central London, I am available! Getting out and about is now a Birks mantra.
Night night.
____________
Anyway, poker at the Empire, some live play. I won back the £45 that I lost there a few weeks ago, frequently shaking my head at play that was just this side of unspeakable. There were some players who knew what they were doing, but most were either just there to gamble or, perhaps worse, were there to win but quite clearly did not understand the basic principles of the game. Oh, and one drunk who eventually had to be told to leave because he was holding up the game so much that it wasn't worth waiting for him to throw away his last £25.
Despite the awfulness of the play, I really can't see how DY makes a living at it -- the games are so slow.
Anyhoo, I played for just shy of three hours and noted that I am going to have to get my mental (and physical) strength in gear if I am going to play even two days of 10 hours' poker in succession, let alone three or more (if I go deep in the EPT tournament). I'm not 21 any more and the old days of playing for 18 hours at a stretch are going to be tough. I played a 16-hour session in Vegas back in 2000, but that was only $4-$8. I also remember playing about 18 hours two-tabling when I first tried $3-$6 limit and I was first giving two-tabling a go for any length of time. This would be 2003 or thereabouts, on Paradise. I got to the end of the day and was staggered to see that I had played more than a thousand hands. When I look at some of the 2+2 full ring players' figures, with 100K hands-plus in a month, I still shake my head in disbelief. (However, it's pleasing to look at these figures from "the pros" and to realize that, in good months at least, I am close to their rate per 100).
Jan doesn't text me so often these days and I have only now come to realize how much I had come to rely on it. Mobile phones are the work of the devil I tell you! I'll get used to it, probably fairly quickly, but at the moment it feels like a gaping hole in my life, not knowing what she is up to, which is just plain stupid. Indeed, when out tonight I was missing Facebook and the emails from other people as well (plus, of course, no texts). It used to be you went out to socialize. Now, when I am out, I worry that I am missing out on (virtual) socializing at home. This is a seriously fucked-up way to look at the universe and an indication that I should spend more time away from communication devices and more time communicating with people face to face. The fact that I find communicating with people face to face darned difficult is neither here nor there.
Oh, and I did my bollocks today online. Didn't play well (but didn't play particularly badly either) and just had the two or three bummers, plus general poor cards/flops, that gradually add up into a big defeat. In today's case, about minus $460, which is part of a $750 downswong since 9pm last night (but I got £45 it back live!). A hundred was set under set (blind vs blind as well!) and $75 (in a $200 BI) was a reraise from the blind with AKs and a continuation bet on a so-so flop that got snap-shoved by the original button raiser. I can't even remember where the rest went, but it was over 750 hands or so. It was overdue. I'm not moaning.
Looking forward to relaxing the next three days, although if anyone is up for annything in central London, I am available! Getting out and about is now a Birks mantra.
Night night.
____________
