No Rest For The Wicked

What a week. Sadly I haven't played as much poker as I'd like, since that pesky irritant called work has been getting in the way. In truth though, I've actually enjoyed it.

I switched job last year from the carefree world of independent contracting to a 'proper' job.
The new job was a bit of a letdown at first, as there wasn't enough work to keep me busy, and I got bored very quickly. The new company is very small and they had been hoping to land a big piece of work - hence my recruitment. But it didn't happen and we were in the doldrums for a while.

It was a shame, since they are a really good bunch of guys to work with, and I felt bad at taking a fair chunk of cash out of the company each month for what I knew was little return.

I'd like to claim the upturn started when the boss/owner got suckered in by my incessant jabbering on about poker, and returned from lunch one day with a 'Hold Em In A Box' poker set. Cards, plastic chips, a piece of cheap felt, and a dealer button. Shuffle up and deal!

We've had a few lunchtime sessions, and the Christmas night out morphed into a beer, pool and casino outing.

Since Christmas, work has been much busier. Our corporate clients have brought in the New Year with some juicy invitations to tender. Big businesses make me laugh. They take six months to make a decision, then expect the work to be done in six days.

So, I've finally made the step I wanted to make - from doing the coding and design, to helping bid for the work and deal with the business issues. This week I've been getting paid to write pretty, corporate-friendly words, which turn a file processing system for techies into a super efficient and flexible, money saving, must-have, business processing system for the men with the cash to spend. I've enjoyed every minute.

On another corporate note, I see Party Poker is likely to float on the London Stock Exchange soon. See here and here for more info. They seem to be making money hand over fist. I wonder if the affiliates or players will get a chance for discounted shares.

If that isn't enough evidence of the poker boom, my very intermittent home game is on for tomorrow. Instead of struggling to round up enough players, this week it looks like I might be oversubscribed, due to more friends and workmates of friends wanting to come along.

Since there will be a few newcomers, I'm actually trying to write up some house rules. Beer + money + strangers + inexperience, could lead to misunderstandings, so I want to be sure there's an impartial reference point for resolution of any disagreements.

So tonight, I'll be playing poker, writing rules, catching up on blog reading, and probably savouring a nice glass of red wine, while grooving to the Craig Charles funk show on Radio Six Music. (The wonders of 1 Meg cable connections)

A nice way to conclude the week. Happy gambling!