The Future Of Tournament Poker?

I received an email recently from William Hill exhorting me to enter the satellites for the following competition:

The William Hill Poker Grand Prix is the tournament for poker enthusiasts who want to take on the very best the world of poker has to offer.

This televised tournament has a fantastic prize pool of £450,000 - of which William Hill are adding £114,000. The tournament will feature a mixture of specially invited professional players and only 8 qualifiers from the William Hill Poker Room - so you haven't got any time to waste!

There's more detail on this competition on the Blonde Poker site here.

This looks interesting for a number of reasons.

The most eye catching thing is the sweetened pot. William Hill are adding $200,000 to a (roughly) $10,000 buy-in tournament. Or put another way, almost $4000 per player.

I know this has been a bone of contention in the past in 'sponsored' tournaments.

Secondly, the players can wear any sponsored clothes and logos. This is a very generous approach when the event sponsor is adding $200,000.

So, the pros who are buying in are getting a very good deal for their money.

Additionally, the tournament is being structured with slow blinds, and the online qualification is limited to 8 of 56 players. This should mean better poker - no all-in frenzy - and probably a final table with more pros.

As a viewer, this sounds attractive to me. If I want to see diabolical poker, I can log into Party Poker any time. When I settle down with Doritos and beer to watch poker on TV, I want to not only be entertained, but educated.

The double-shootout format worked well at the British Poker Open, which was televised live on The Poker Channel. This tournament seems to build on that success.

If it goes as well as I expect it to, the Poker 425 viewing figures should be good.

I'm sure many people will be hoping this event sets a precedent.

Book Review: High-Low-Split Poker

Over the last month or so, I've been expanding my horizons beyond Hold Em into Pot Limit Omaha Hi/Lo.

After a few exploratory sessions on the low stakes tables of Full Tilt and PokerStars it became apparent to me that a fair percentage of the players were not very good. Equally, it was obvious that while I had some idea what I was doing, I was far from expert.

With this in mind, I posted on a few forums asking for advice on Pot Limit Omaha Hi/Lo reading material.

One author was recommended unanimously - Ray Zee.

Whilst Zee's book focuses primarily on limit betting, and covers both Omaha and Stud Hi/Lo, it seems to be universally recognised as the definitive work on split pot poker.

Interestingly, it was written pre-Internet boom, so has more focus on live play, and is intended for advanced players. Indeed the full, rather unwieldy, title is High-Low-Split Poker,Seven-card Stud and Omaha Eight-or-better for Advanced Players.

As a consequence of this focus, Zee's definition of a comparatively cheap game is something like $10/20 limit. Not quite the $25 buy-in pot limit PokerStars tables!

Despite being aimed at advanced players, the book is concise and well written. The advice is easy to follow, and backed up by comprehensive question/answer sections to test the readers assimilation of the concepts Zee espouses.

For a novice such as myself, there are good explanations of starting hand strength, the value of position, buying the button in Omaha, the risk of being quartered, forcing out competing hands, the risk of being trapped in a jammed pot, etc.

Beyond this, Zee puts a lot of emphasis on adapting the standard plays to match the texture of the table.

Are the opponents weak or aggressive, tight or loose? Are they good enough to recognise an advanced play, or is a subtle bluff wasted on them?

The advice is descriptive and loosely framed, rather than prescriptive and rigid. The clear assumption being that the reader has sufficient intelligence to adapt their play to match the situation.

This marks the book as targeting a more advanced audience, and is perhaps it's greatest strength. The reader is encouraged to learn to think, not spoon fed a mechanistic gaming strategy.

Never having played Stud Hi/Lo, I found this section slightly more challenging, without being confusing or offputting. Being encouraged to think about the game whetted my appetite to get involved.

After completing this section, I was compelled to venture into the micro limits on PokerStars, to get a taste of the Stud Hi/Lo action. Zee's enthusiasm for the game permeates the pages.

Overall this is a well written, informative and concise book, which covers a wide range of topics without ever overloading the reader. It has certainly helped to improve my play, and I will return to the more advanced sections in the future, as I move to higher buy-in games.

You Couldn't Make It Up

The Monday morning commuter train. Disembarking off the low level at Glasgow Central, the workbound masses pass a policeman with a sniffer dog. That's a first.

I should add that it was a solitary, middle aged policeman, with a dog that was some sort of beagle I think. In the extremely unlikely event of detecting a would-be suicide bomber, what was he going to do?

Tackle him hand-to-hand? Unleash man's best friend on him? The dog would be more likely to lick a suspect into submission, than savage him to the ground.

He won't catch many suicide bombers in Glasgow, but might have given palpitations to a few of the neds floating around with a gallus quarter ounce in their back pocket.

The Monday evening commuter train. 'We regret to announce this train will be delayed due to a trespasser on the track'.

More precisely, a would-be jumper. Perched over the Clyde on the railbridge leading from the station.

Once that became apparent, the reaction was clear. Shove him off and let us get home.

The train was only ten minutes late. As we edged slowly from the station, a disheveled forty something nutter, crouched atop the bridge wall, was arguing with a bunch of cops, who were observing him from a safe distance.

I couldn't hear what he was shouting, but presumably he wasn't oblivious to the trainload of weary commuters who were observing him. Many openly laughing as they passed.

Given his comical attire, it was hard not to laugh. Sports shorts and thick grey socks. No shoes. He looked like he'd had too much of the sun, and the tonic wine too probably.

So, anti-suicide bomber patrols in the morning, and wanna be suicide nutters in the evening.

Maybe they can do a deal.

Round up one of the former, twenty of the latter and stick them in a bunker with a few pounds of Mother of Satan. Death for the wannadies, the bomber hits the unbeliever quota to qualify for his 72 virgins, and no more train delays.

Everyone's happy. Except the commuters who need to do it all again on Tuesday.

The Perfect Poker Product

Online card rooms, and the associated money transfer companies such as Neteller, hold a lot of money. Unlike most financial institutions, they do not provide any sort of guaranteed return on the deposits held.

Party Poker claims to have five million customers. If each of those customers maintains an average of just $100 in their account, that equates to half a billion dollars of cash sitting in the Party coffers. All interest earned on that money goes straight to the Party bottom line and gives no benefit to the player. On a lesser scale, the same is true of any online site.

For the casual player who does not maintain separate poker funds - cashing out when they win, depositing to play when their account runs dry - this is likely to be an insignificant issue. The loss of interest on a few dollars which rarely lies long in their account for long is likely to be trivial.

However, a substantial number of players take poker seriously enough to focus their efforts on building a bankroll. For even a moderately committed player, the bankroll could easily run to several thousand dollars. For a serious online player, tens of thousands of dollars is a realistic sum. Most of which will be deposited with poker rooms or Neteller.

Presently the only value they derive from this bankroll is the ability to make bigger bets.

A bankroll is simply a segregated sum of cash which is used to fund participation in cash games or tournaments. This bankroll will vary over time, with the intention being for the long term trend to be upwards.

The size of the bankroll dictates the level at which a player can safely play. The bigger the bankroll, the bigger the bets they can make. Higher risk allied to superior skill should, if the cards fall evenly, lead to higher rewards.

The greater the bankroll, the more confidently a player can approach a higher stakes game. Entering a high stakes game with an insufficient bankroll would expose even the finest players to the risk of going bust. Poker is a game of hot streaks and cold decks, where variance takes its toll. So a cash reserve is a must.

As the bankroll grows the player will initially derive little tangible reward for his efforts. The growing pot of cash simply serves as the foundation for a progression through the betting scales.

If the player were to frequently skim off any profits, the bankroll would fail to grow and they would find themselves stranded at the lower limits - lacking the resources to step up to a higher level.

Building a bankroll is a long term process which assumes similar characteristics to more mundane financial endeavours. Patience, commitment, restraint, are all needed to make the effort to grow the bankroll, whilst resisting the temptation to spend the profits as they accrue.

Alongside these long term traits, runs a more immediate demand - the bankroll must be swiftly accessible. Poker swings cannot be forecast, and money may be required at any time. Therefore the bankroll cannot be invested in shares, or locked away in long term deposit accounts.

The simplest way to fulfill these requirements would simply be for Neteller, or the poker rooms, to offer interest on deposits held. This would indeed be a welcome step forward.

However, paying interest on deposits does have drawbacks.

Receiving interest can incur a tax charge. In the UK a higher rate tax payer would pay 40% on any interest received.

One product which has gained popularity in recent years, and which combines the long term outlook of bankroll building, with tax efficiency and instant accessibility, is the current account mortgage, also known as an offset mortgage.

An offset mortgage uses cash reserves to reduce the interest charge on the outstanding mortgage, rather than pay interest on the cash reserve.

For example, a person with a £100,000 mortgage, who had a cash reserve of £5,000 would pay interest on only £95,000 of their mortgage. They would receive no interest payment on the cash reserve. The cash reserve is generally accessible instantly, or at very short notice.

This mechanism is both tax efficient and advantageous in interest rate terms, as mortgage rates generally tend to be higher than current account rates. The long term benefit is that the outstanding loan reduces more quickly as the cash reserve grows, thus reducing the mortgage repayment term.

Were Neteller or some other online wallet provider to offer such a product, there would be genuine benefits for participants.

Most crucially, for the average poker player, it would lock in a little value with every win, and minimise the temptation to squander any windfalls.

By tying the bankroll to a long term financial product, players would gain some extra financial benefit from every winning session, but the mechanism for delivering this benefit is such that there is no way of translating it into an immediately wasteful alternative. (Online craps anyone?)

It would also be the perfect way to defuse a million household arguments.

"Are you playing poker AGAIN!?"

"Yes darling, and thanks to poker we will own our home four years early."

Here's hoping!!

As the industry matures, more associated products will certainly be developed. There's no compelling reason why poker related financial products should not be part of this development.

---------------------------------------------------

N.B. For a broader overview with a US slant, see the always excellent Scurvydog.

The Postman Only Rang Once

Reading Material 

I've been busy on Amazon. Reviews to follow!

Dispatches From The Front

I really put the hex on Andy Black, huh?

In future, I'll keep my thoughts to myself. It's like the unwritten rule when following your football team - NEVER praise the performance of a defender or goalkeeper before the final whistle has blown, as it guarantees a blunder.

Equally when your strikers are having an off day, it's compulsory to bemoan their performance to all and sundry, as it almost assures a wonder goal.

A variation on the "they'll never hit us from th.." syndrome.

You may have noticed the blog has become somewhat content light of late.

Despite three weeks paternity leave, I have been up to my eyes in what can only be described as 'stuff'. No grand plans or schemes, just the everyday hand-to-mouth existence of looking after a new born.

Baby Div hasn't yet settled into a routine and she is keeping us up to all hours. I'm now back at work, and after a few days acclimatisation, my forehead is no longer resting on the keyboard by lunchtime.

I wouldn't change it for the world. However, it would be highly convenient to win the £66m (~$100m) National Lottery Euromillions rollover draw on Friday night.

Farewell work. Hello sleep!

Mrs Div is already back to within seven pounds of her pre-pregnancy weight. I thought this was super impressive, and was praising the benefits of breast feeding. Her response, 'It's nothing to do with breast feeding. I just haven't had time to eat.' Oops.

Poker is very much on the back burner. As is socialising of any kind. With the new football season approaching, my time allocation is going to be even more stretched.

In blog terms, this will probably mean more small posts, on very specific subjects, and occasional catch all posts to sweep up other topics.

Speaking of which, Grubby has a nifty ploy for casino bonus whoring, which I am taking advantage of presently. Who can say no to free money?

I'm reading Ray Zee's book on split pot gambling at present. It's filling in the train time nicely. Review to follow soon.

WSOP 2005 Final Table

Watching the updates on Blonde Poker and Pauly's site, I'd heartily second the various requests for live TV coverage. Not that Pauly, Jen and Tikay are doing a bad job, just it seems so outdated, and unnecessary in this digital age.

I'm somewhat conflicted about who I want to win.

Part of me wants a well known pro to win, to reinforce the 'poker is a game of skill' argument. However, that would probably mean Mike Matusow, who isn't the perfect poker ambassador.

As a Scot, the closest I have to a hometown player is fellow celt Irishman Andy Black. He does have previous in the WSOP, finishing 14th in 1997.

So, for a combination of celtic connections, and skill, Andy Black will be getting my vote.

Welcome To My Office

Not much poker to report. Parenthood is taking priority at present.

I'm on paternity leave until the end of this week and have been incredibly fortunate with the weather. We are encountering a mini heat wave at present, and have been making the most of the sun. So this is how we have been spending our days...


Welcome To My Office 

Today it was so hot my wireless network stopped working - I think the router overheated! I am lobster pink tonight, but I'd rather be pink from the sun than blue from the cold.

No doubt normality will be restored soon and we will be back indoors. The weather might hold long enough to see a very pleasant British Open at St Andrews. I hope so!

The only poker news is that I've ordered a bunch of books to read on the train to work. I'll review them as they are received and read.

I mentioned recently that I was getting into Omaha Hi-Lo, and interestingly both Felicia and Iggy have picked up on the trend away from Hold Em.

It would be good to see some non Hold Em poker on television. Split pots might be a bit too complicated to cover easily, but Omaha would be a nice progression from Hold Em. Maybe the Barry Greenstein/Simon Trumper storm in a teacup in the $10,000 WSOP event will have done it a favour by boosting awareness.

How To Beat Islamic Terrorists

Sitting at home listening to the helicopters thudding overhead en route from Prestwick Airport to the G8 summit at Gleneagles, I was formulating a post about the ludicrousness of a bunch of anarchist mongs 'defeating global capitalism' by smashing up a Burger King and a few random cars on a Stirling council estate.

Today's events in London have made that post irrelevant. Obviously this is an al-Qaeda attack, aimed at the UK specifically and the democratic world in general.

No doubt you will all be as sickened by this as I am. You may even be wondering what you can do to beat these maniacs.

I sincerely hope the UK and our allies - let's face it we can hardly lean on any major power without the assistance of the USA - do not fall into the trap of picking a likely target - Syria or Iran probably - and bombing the crap out of them. Iraq and Afghanistan proves the pointlessness of that approach.

Instead, the best way to win this war is as follows:

If you live in the UK and were planning to take your girlfriend to a movie tonight; take her. If you were expecting to hit up your local card room with your friends; go play cards. Go to work at your normal time, using your normal transport.

Live your life and do not be afraid.

If you reside outside the UK, and have not yet booked a summer vacation, get over to the UK. Take in a London show, take a trip on the London Eye, visit Tate Modern. Get out of London and see the rest of the UK.

You can even fly to Scotland direct from the USA and take in some of that great countryside President Bush was referring to. Get to Glasgow from Chicago with American Airlines, from Philadelphia with US Airways, or fly from New York to Glasgow or Edinburgh with Continental.

Spend your dollars or euros over here and stick it right up these terrorists who try to rule by fear and intimidation. That's how to win this war.

Is It Just Me....

...or are those $3/6 6-Max tables on Party Poker a new innovation?

Reading many other people's blogs, it seems the holy grail of moving up the limits is to hit the $5/10 6-Max. I wonder if $3/6 is a useful new intermediate step?

Personally, I still haven't reached $3/6 ten handed yet. Though I have created a new Poker Tracker database purely for $3/6 and have been datamining whenever I get the chance, in preparation for making the leap.

June Summary

Slightly late - but you all know why by now - it's time for the June summary.

Were Mrs and Baby Div to have stuck to the original timetable, I might have gotten myself quite depressed whilst writing this post, as June was hardly a vintage poker month, in financial terms at least.

I started the month on a twin track strategy. Playing some $100 buy-in no limit Hold 'Em on Full Tilt, and learning the basics of Omaha Hi-Lo on Poker Stars. The Hi-Lo went fine, since most of the players seemed even less knowledgeable than me, but the Hold 'Em went pretty badly.

I made some REALLY awful plays, especially over valuing TPTK, and running into several flopped sets. I learned an expensive lesson about the cost of not folding when someone re-reraises on an apparently innocuous flop. I ended the month down around $300.

About midway through the month, I needed a break from the cash game grind. At this point the ever expanding poker boom - which has now hit Britain big style - came to my aid.

Two newspapers, The Daily Record, a Scottish tabloid, and The Metro, a free paper distributed in major cities, were both running freerolls.

The Record was sponsoring a $50,000 freeroll, known as The Scottish Open, running on a site called Bet Fred. The Metro was sponsoring a competition on PokerStars to win a seat at the WSOP main event. Both were long running tournaments with nightly qualifying heats for a tournament final.

Now, I'm no fan of The Record - referred to by many as 'The Retard' - but hey, I'm not one to turn down free cash. The Metro is a good read on the train to work, primarily because it is mostly sourced from agency articles and has no real agenda.

So, I tried both events. Sadly, the Bet Fred site has the worst poker software I've ever seen. Truly awful. Allied to a dreadful standard of play, it made for a pretty unrewarding playing experience. What made it fun was sweating my various friends who were playing alongside me. I was as keen for them to do well as me. On the very first night, my friend TeaCake made the final table, but didn't make the final.

The Metro tournament was much more fun. Way better software on Poker Stars, and better players too. Probably because a WSOP seat - rather than $50,000 in cash - is more likely to attract only genuine poker players.

The Daily Record tournament is still ongoing, so I might try again to make the final. The Metro tournament is long gone.

Additionally, I played what ranks alongside the WPBT bracelet qualifier as the most fun tournament I've participated in. Good play, good chat, and a good structure.

This was a £20 freezeout on William Hill, organised by Blonde Poker - the website of poker pro Dave 'El Blondie' Colclough.

Blonde Poker has a great forum. Very friendly and helpful. The content is very UK focused, and I'd recommend it to any UK players.

As you'd expect from a small but growing site, set up by a UK pro, the initial membership seems to have comprised some other pros, plus a large number of players I'd characterise as semi-pro i.e. they may have a 'proper job' but they also play poker at a fairly high level and many clearly know each other well.

Having just joined the forum as one of an influx of newer players, I decided to play their inaugural online tournament more as a social event than with any expectation of doing well.

Seventy seven players paying £20 each meant top ten paid out, with the winner taking home £660 (roughly $1000). The setup was superb. 2000 chips to start, and a 20 minute clock. LOTS of play. The William Hill software is also very good.

To my astonishment, deep into the tournament I found myself sitting in second place with a big stack. Then it all went horribly wrong.

Until that point I'd won every race. TT v AK. No big cards. AK v 99. Hello Mr King.

Suddenly I went into reverse and started losing those races. I ended by bubbling out in 11th.

I did make one really questionable play. Raising on the button with A7o. The SB, who I had well covered, smooth called. The flop came A high. SB checks, I bet the pot, SB raises all-in. Hmmm.

I think I actually thought about this too much. I had a suspicion that as a newbie the guy might have been trying a move on me. Equally I wondered if he thought I was making a move with a button raise and had decided to try to outplay me on the flop.

My thinking was that if he did have an A, he would probably have reraised pre-flop with anything in the AK-AJ range. So if we were looking at A-rag, there was a better than even chance my A7 was ahead. So, I called.

He had AJ. Doh!! So much for my read.

If I'd folded to the check-raise I'd have saved a lot of chips and probably made the money. Looking back I really should have tightened up and coasted into the money, but I don't play many tournaments and the adrenalin was pumping, so I kinda got carried away.

That was pretty much my last poker action before Mrs Div sprung her surprise, and I don't expect to be playing lots and lots of poker for the next few months.

Ideally I'd like to keep my eye in online. Realistically this is likely to be limited in scope, but hopefully there will still be time for a fair amount of reading. I want to expand my knowledge of poker more into Omaha and Omaha Hi/Lo, and, given my results early in the month, I need to work on my No Limit Hold 'Em cash gaming too.

If I'm really lucky, I might even take a shot at a few tournaments. That is a long shot though.

So, time for a few more book purchases. As always, I welcome recommendations.

Happiest Man In The World

Comrades, for one post only, I hope you will allow me a little self indulgence.

In the past few days I have been puked on, crapped on, peed on, and I couldn't be happier. No, it's not a particularly depraved smut fest, but the joys of parenting.

Yesterday, Mrs and Baby Div came home from hospital. Both are doing great.

Today, I got to visit the local government office to register the birth of my first child.


Pink Lady 

I am absolutely knackered from a combination of non-stop activity and minimal (and somewhat disrupted) sleep. Yet I am absolutely bursting with joy and pride, as are Mrs Div and the grandparents.

Baby Div was a little smaller than average at 5lbs 10oz, but she already has an adult sized personality, and appetite!

I've allowed myself a couple more photos - one of which shows how she hardly fills half of her Moses basket.


Moses Basket 

It's an awful cliche, but true nonetheless, that I really do feel like the happiest man in the world right now.

Hopefully as we settle into a decent routine over the next few days, I will find time for some more poker content. I did actually have a fair amount of poker activity to report on, prior to the unexpectedly swift new arrival.

The details I have managed to retain in my sleep deprived brain should appear here in short order. I've been broadening my horizons recently, and while it has not yet been financially rewarding, it has been fun. More soon.

Finally, a heartfelt thanks for all the kind comments. Your thoughts are much appreciated.

It's A Girl

Baby Div 

Wow. Does life get any better than this?

I had intended to catch up on my blogging duties over the weekend, and in particular thank Joe Speaker for his kind words. But as you can see, nature intervened and Mrs Div went into labour a few weeks early.

Baby Div was born early this morning and mother and daughter are doing well.

Back soon!

The Ethics and Economics Of Gambling

It is often said that the USA and UK are two nations divided by a common language.

The impending Party Poker flotation has highlighted a second glaring difference. The approach of the respective nations to gambling.

The greatest gambling destination in the world is Las Vegas, USA. The UK, indeed Europe, has no comparable city. Were such a city to exist, prevailing market conditions would be highly favourable towards it's future prosperity.

Prior to the 2005 election, far reaching UK government plans to liberalise the bricks and mortar gambling industry were stymied by a coalition of political parties and pressure groups.

A proposal to allow for the creation of multiple 'super casinos' in the same mould as The Bellagio, MGM Grand, Wynn, Treasure Island, Aladdin, Venetian, etc. was defeated in parliament. Plans to remodel fading seaside resorts, such as Blackpool, by allowing clusters of casinos in the same manner as the Las Vegas strip, had to be put on ice. Instead, only one super casino will be allowed in the whole of the UK.

This is hardly likely to become a mecca for European gamblers!

There appears to be a fear that introduction of these super casinos would lead to a dramatic increase in gambling addiction, and a breakdown in society. The bigger the casino, says this theory, the more addicts will be drawn through its doors.

This is a fundamental misunderstanding of the nature of these establishments.

Yes, they do have enormous gaming areas, vast arrays of slot machines blinking and bleeping hypnotically. They also have superb restaurants serving a global range of cuisines, shows which would grace Broadway or The West End, enough hotel rooms to house an army, and an inventive range of other attractions which transform each super casino into an attraction in its own right and make hospitality and entertainment a 24 hours-per-day, 365 days-per-year industry.

It is perfectly feasible to spend an activity packed week in Las Vegas without actually indulging in any gambling activity.

The best Las Vegas casinos truly are world class. An accolade of which the UK government is keen to see more UK companies become worthy.

Instead, the new watered down rules will simply promote more small casinos. Each of which will have much gaming space, but no distinctive attractions with international appeal. More gaming space, less non gaming activity. No Bellagio fountains, no Venetian gondoliers, no Mandalay Bay aquariums.

Is this what opponents of the original plans really intended?

By constraining the industry in this way, the UK has missed a huge opportunity. In this era of DIY holidays and budget flight options, traditional UK holiday destinations have suffered greatly.

The consumer is hardly likely to choose a week in Blackpool with highly variable weather, when for £50 they can be winging their way to the sunshine of Spain, or cosmopolitan European capitals, such as Rome and Paris, direct from their local airport.

Budget airline flights from the UK generally take more Britains abroad, than foreigners to Britain.

What is needed to sustain UK tourism is a better mix of attractions.

Scotland, for example, has many attractions which have an appeal in both Europe and the USA. As the home of golf and whisky, with a rich industrial and historical heritage, there are many sites well worth a visit.

One thing Scotland most definitely does not have is the weather. Mild and wet in winter, cool and wet in summer. Whilst excellent for raising pedigree cattle, it is hardly the ideal conditions for a tourist industry built on outdoor activities.

A more balanced offering, which presented a range of indoors and outdoors events, could be built around a few super casinos.

For Europeans, and east coast Americans, a long weekend in Scotland could encompass a stay in a super casino with all the attendant gambling opportunities, alongside more traditional options such as golf at St Andrews, Gleneagles, or Turnberry, a whisky distillery trip, visiting historic sites, tours of the three 50,000+ seater football stadiums in Glasgow, or a myriad of other smaller events.

Instead of The Hoover Dam, think Edinburgh Castle. For The Grand Canyon, substitute Loch Ness or The West Highland Way.

Such a combination of events would negate the disadvantages of the Scottish climate, and stimulate a year round growth in inbound tourism, as well as the conference market which thrives in Las Vegas.

There may be an increase in the number of gambling addicts, but not on the scale the doom mongers predict. Anyone who wants to gamble already has ample opportunity to do so. Not only at smaller existing bricks and mortar establishments, but also online. Another area where US and UK policy differs fundamentally.

In contrast to the puritanical approach to bricks and mortar casinos, the UK has pushed ahead with a much more liberal approach to online gambling.

As a consequence, the UK shows signs of becoming the trading centre of the online gaming industry. While US investors in online casinos can expect the FBI to take a keen interest in their activities, they will receive more attention in the UK from government agencies keen to encourage them to put down UK roots.

Empire Poker has already floated on the AIM(junior London exchange), and in two weeks time Party Poker will float on the main London Stock Exchange with a valuation likely to place it in the top 100 companies list.

As both companies are likely to use their new status to issue further shares to take over smaller rivals, they are likely to grow further still.

Party Poker is a tremendously profitable enterprise, with margins most companies can only dream of. Online gaming is the perfect internet enterprise. All monies are paid up front, the service is delivered instantaneously to the consumer with no third party shipping costs, and for poker sites and gambling exchanges, the risk is assumed by the consumer not the service provider.

The one concern which hovers over the impending float is the possible illegality of Party Poker operations in the USA.

The nation which gave the world it's gambling mecca frowns upon any attempt to gamble within the sanctity of one's own home.

This approach is more rational than the UK approach.

A super casino, as allowed in some US states, generates a range of benefits which can be enjoyed by gambler and non gambler alike.

A lone gambler hunched over a PC, credit card in hand, generates only profits for the online casino, and in the case of poker, his more skilled, or fortunate, opponents.

Being more rational than the UK does not, however, make it a rational policy. To make criminals of millions of US consumers is to deny the reality of the situation. Online gaming is here, and here to stay.

Rather than attempting to hold back the sea of online players, the US government would be better advised to promote regulation and control, ahead of prohibition and an almost certainly futile attempt to strangle what is the perfect online enterprise.

A mechanism should be found to fund gambling addiction helplines. A surcharge on advertising of gaming sites is one option which has been suggested. By conveying legitimacy on the industry, the US government could easily justify some form of levy or tax to offset the negative social impacts of online gambling.

The USA and UK are not strangers, yet they have much to learn from each other. If their respective governments can share their experience and learn from each other, they have an opportunity to turn a perceived threat into a controllable opportunity, which can be harnessed for the common good.

If not, they risk ending up with the worst of both worlds.

In the US, a multi billion dollar industry with ineffective regulation, unclear ownership structures, and hidden social impacts.

In the UK, a rise in gambling activity, with no associated rise in ancillary benefits, and little or no boost to the tourist industry.

It is not too late to avoid this trap, but it requires bold thought and action. Can UK and US politicians rise to the challenge?

Taking Poker Into The Workplace

A recent report stated that poker was now being used as a differentiator by recruiters as they appraised CVs.

The report suggested some companies were actively seeking poker players, as an interest in poker suggested an aptitude for a variety of useful business skills, such as numeracy, strategic thought, people skills, etc.

My initial reaction was although this did seem to have a degree of rationality behind it, in all likelihood it was nothing more than a passing fad. Mind you, it didn't stop me adding poker to my CV. Just in case!

An event this week suggested my initial reaction could be wrong, as my own poker attributes were put to full use in the most unexpected of circumstances.

To make sense of the event requires knowledge of two facts.

Fact 1. The Div staredown has become my trademark in our homegame. Usually on TV I see the pros giving their opponent the big staredown BEFORE they act. After acting they will then generally go into frozen mode, while they wait for their opponent to react.

For some reason I tend to take the opposite approach, and face down my opponent AFTER I've bet or raised. Almost daring them to call. I'm told the look is fierce, and I'm inclined to believe that. I can be pretty intense in some circumstances.

Fact 2. Our previous home was in the centre of the city. A flat within walking distance of our respective work locations, all the shops, dozens of bars and restaurants. The perfect location for a young(ish) childless couple.

When we decided to start a family it was time to move on. Out to the suburbs and a house with a garden.

The Scottish way of selling homes often leads to a blind bidding outcome where interested parties submit a sealed bid by a given deadline, and highest bid wins. In our case, we received five bids. The highest of which was from a guy called Mark Hubbock.

The nature of the legal process tends to mean all the contracts aren't signed until several weeks after the bid is accepted. This was the case with our sale. Initially this didn't concern me, but when it got to two weeks before we were due to move home and things still hadn't been concluded, I started to get concerned.

At this point we got indications from our solicitor that Mark Hubbock was showing signs of pulling out of the deal. This would be unfortunate to say the least, as it would leave us stuck with a shortfall of roughly £120k (~$200k) on our new mortgage.

The game he was playing became clear soon after, when he submitted a revised offer on the flat which was £8,500 less than what he had initially agreed to pay. He appeared to be hoping we would be desperate enough to accept the reduced price, as it was so close to our moving date and too late to remarket the flat.

This is extremely unusual in Scotland. Not illegal, though certainly immoral. He was certainly a trailblazer in his field, as the practice was practically unheard of when it happened to us, but is now more common and has become known as gazundering.

Obviously he didn't know me very well. There was no chance we would make a deal on his terms. Cue two weeks of massive stress as I frantically reshuffled our finances to cover the shortfall. Ultimately we were hit with a few thousand in legal fees and interest charges that should never have been necessary, but Mrs Div and I did get things sorted out.

Mark Hubbock disappeared from the scene. No phone call, no letter, no expression of regret from his solicitor. Nothing.

I was absolutely seething, but there was nothing I could do.

Two years later, imagine my reaction when I walked into the office I'd been dispatched to this week, and there, seated in the same area I'd be working in, was Mark Hubbock!

The situation is - I work for a small company(SC). We are doing some work for a big customer(BC). The work is being done in the offices of a big supplier(BS) to BC - who are collaborating with us for the duration of this piece of work, but are effectively one of our biggest competitors. Mark Hubbuck is working as a freelance contractor on behalf of BS.

Still with me? If you are, you will see this is a delicate situation. Consequently my preferred option of strolling up to his desk and punching him hard on the nose had to be ruled out. I decided to simply go for the pretend he isn't there approach.

This was fine until the BS team leader decided to do the sociable thing and introduce me to the rest of the team.

Ugh. I had to shake Mark Hubbock's hand. Now I know how Prince Charles felt when Robert Mugabe approached him! I guess being polite to people you despise is a daily hazard for politicians, but it's not in my nature.

I played it straight as an arrow. Pretended to the team leader that we hadn't met. My poker face in full effect. I did make sure he got the Div staredown. Manoeuvring so my back was to the team leader as I did so. He didn't look terribly happy to see me. Let's just say he had a tell or two.

It doesn't get me back any of my cash, but seeing the discomfort writ large across his face certainly made me feel better. In an ideal world I'd like to at least 'have words' with him, but I don't want to harm the reputation of SC. Sometimes you need to put other considerations before your own needs.

It looks like I'll be settling for moral superiority, rather than the grim satisfaction of direct retribution.

Memo to Self....

...Stop losing at online poker!!

So far this month I have donked around 15% of my bankroll away, on a combination of bad play and bad luck. I think my cash No limit Hold Em will be better in the long run for the experience, but it's still a painful lesson to bear.

The bad play I covered earlier, so time for the bad luck moments. One of which, at first glance, seems anything but.....

Dealt KK in late position, I see an EP player make a raise, a MP player reraise, I reraise, EP goes all in, as does MP. Since I'm the biggest stack, I only need to call, and am delighted to see JJ and QQ, neither of which improves. Pot to me!

So, why bad luck? Well they were the two shortest stacks at the table, so I only made ~$60 from what was a freakishly good card combination. The sort you spend hours folding marginal hands for.

Half an hour later I'm dealt KK again. Raise it up and get a caller. The flop comes low but with two to a flush. The pre-flop caller now calls my pot size bet. The turn makes the flush, but I know if I check I am surrendering the hand. I bet out again, and get insta-raised. Fold. Bang goes most of the freak hand profit.

He doesn't show but claims to have made a set on the flop. Seems more than likely. A week ago I'd have reraised and blown away my stack on a 2-outer. Then again, maybe he was bluffing? That's the beauty of poker.

Over the last few days I have turned things around a little at the Pot Limit Omaha Hi/Lo tables. I'm in profit overall, though I still managed to lose a buy in on another freak hand. On the turn I am sitting with the nut low, when the betting goes crazy. With a flush board, two players go to war with pot size raising.

Caught in between, I decide that they are probably battling for the high, and at very worst I am splitting the low, and probably winning it, so I decide to tag along - which needs all my chips in the middle.

The river is an Ace, duplicating my hand. Ugh. Cards over and one player has the Ace high flush and no low, the other has a straight flush with four rags in the hole - and now beats my low thanks to the Ace on the river. So he takes down the whole pot. Nice hand indeed! Omaha truly is a game of the nuts.

On the plus side, the live poker scene is definitely improving. As well as the Riverboat Casino, I've now heard of an unofficial card room in the city, and, the piece de resistance, a dedicated card room with official licensing opening very soon.

Details are still sketchy but I know the name and where it will be located. Welcome to Glasgow for The Cincinnati Club.

I'll definitely be reviewing it when it opens! Perhaps my first visit will be the official head wetting for baby Div?

I'm really enjoying the WSOP 2005 live coverage from Pauly and the Las Vegas Vegas crew. They really do manage to convey the atmosphere of the event.

As Pauly himself said, it would be nice to get more info on the cash games that go on away from the glare of the TV cameras. With that in mind, I've set him on the trail of this guy. $5k to $76k in three hours. Superb! He will be telling that story for a few years I bet.

Poker and Pregnancy

Tuesday is almost a poker free zone now, as parenting classes are taking priority.

The routine is battle through the rush hour jams, quick change, off to class, home to dinner, grab a quick poker session if possible, then bed. Hardly the most relaxing of evenings, though I did manage to make a small inroad into the weekend losses during my hit-and-run poker session.

After our little scare on Monday evening, it was a relief to still need the parenting class, and I did find it interesting.

Last night was about preparing for the actual delivery - breathing and stretching exercises for the mums to be, details of the various procedures, the role of the partner, etc.

I'm pretty blase about medical issues, though I'm not over keen on needles. A few of the dads, as well as mums, looked rather more squeamish as the midwife was outlining some of the possible digressions from the path of a perfect delivery.

Politicians and various interest groups are forever bemoaning the fact that the UK has one of the highest teenage pregnancy rates in Europe.

Usually the talk is on how we can improve sex education to persuade our children to postpone procreation til after high school. Abstention v contraception is the question that is posed.

It seems to me they are missing a trick. Rather than sex education classes, what they need is pregnancy classes. Forget about trying to persuade wispy chinned lotharios to carry and use condoms, or telling boozed up Lolitas that teenage motherhood is not a moral career option.

Instead, send in an army of midwives equipped with demonstration forceps, scalpels and needles, to explain the intricacies of the forceps delivery and incisions in the perineum. That would be enough to make sure prospective teenage mums kept their knees together and their boyfriends trousers zipped.

Just Another...

Not a good weekend, for a variety of reasons.

I think my restlessness at work has translated to my poker play, as I digressed from my usual steady, tight aggressive game to try to rumble it up a bit at the NLH tables. Raising with a wider range of hands, over valuing medium pairs, a few bluffs and, to be perfectly frank, some pretty donkeyish play from myself.

Some of the play might have been valid in a tournament, but for a cash game it was a bit too wild.

As Dave 'El Blondie' Colclough said on Sporting Life recently, the key to being a good poker player - 'patience, patience, patience'. Shame I didn't read that before the weekend!

I dropped a couple of buyins on Saturday. Won part of it back on Sunday. Won another chunk on Monday to get back within sight of a break even weekend - before events took an unexpected turn.

The table I'd won back a chunk on broke up soon after I'd made a nice profit from betting the nut flush draw on the flop, hitting it on the turn and having a guy instantly go all in with his lower flush.

I joined a new table and soon had the guy directly to my right throwing a lot of chips around: betting ten times the BB pre-flop, all in on uncoordinated flops, etc. He was taking down a lot of pots without showing cards, though on the few times cards were shown he did have the goods.

We hadn't gone head to head until I found K3 in the BB and several limpers. The flop came K52 and was checked by Big Bet Guy. I made a pot size bet, hoping to take it down, and it was folded back to BBG, who raises it up by double the pot.

At this point I figure him for a bluff, so I reraise, expecting him to fold. He goes all in. Hmmm. There's zillions of hands that could have me beat, but I'm still suspicious of him.

At EXACTLY that moment, Mrs Div appears in the room looking quite teary. The baby has been really active for the last few weeks, except today she apparently hasn't felt it move for fourteen hours. Usually a cup of tea after dinner is enough to trigger some foetal gymnastics, but today there was nothing.

Beep, beep....fifteen seconds to act.

Screw the poker. There's more important stuff to deal with. I should really fold, but the pointer is over the call button so I just click then drop the laptop, and pick up the phone to the hospital.

Half an hour later, Mrs Div is hooked up to a monitor in the maternity ward and there's big sighs of relief as the baby's heartbeat pounds out through the speakers. Racing like an express train, just the way a foetal heartbeat is supposed to sound.

More tears from Mrs Div, of course. It seems the little one was just having a duvet day.

An hour later we were tucked up in bed fast asleep too. It's amazing how draining that sort of stress can be.

As for Big Bet Guy - he had flopped a set of fives. More cash blown on another mongtastic call. Which concerned me not a jot. I'll learn from the mistake and win the money back later.

That I can handle. The thought of something going wrong with the pregnancy is just too awful to contemplate.

Party Poker Reload Bonus Gets Better!

I told you Party Poker was loaded!!

The June bonus has just been announced, and its 25% to $150 rather than the usual 20% bonus. So get your $600 in now with bonus code "BONUSJUN".

The golden age of online poker continues.

Party and Empire Float Bonanza

So, Party Poker and Empire are both going for public share listings in London.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/story/0,3604,1497642,00.html?gusrc=rss
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/4601793.stm

The Party Poker quarterly figures are truly astounding. In the first three months of this year they made a PROFIT of $128 million on REVENUES of $222 million. Therefore profit is more than 50 percent of revenue.

The company has only 1100 employees, yet a projected market value of $10 BILLION dollars. Roughly $9 million per employee.

Think about those numbers the next time you are raking a $50 pot and seeing two dollars rake disappear. About $1.15 of that rake is pure profit to Party.

With numbers like that, I think we can expect the bonus boom to continue for a while yet.

May Summary

Slowly, slowly, things are turning around.

May produced a $348 profit. Better than April, but still less than the $500 monthly target. Even so, I am quite content, for two reasons.

Primarily, it's always better to win than lose. Secondly, I really didn't have anywhere near enough table time, so to hit 70% of the monthly target was creditable in my eyes.

Most of the profit came from hitting the bonuses on Party and Empire. I also signed up for the Poker Stars reload bonus, and am currently plying my trade in the $25 Pot Limit Omaha Hi/Lo there. There definitely seems to be profit in these games, though I am still finding my feet. They also grind through the bonus pretty quickly.

I made the mistake last night of trying to two table, but ended up with my first losing session. A few beats were on the river, but equally I misread a few boards, or missed some of the drawing options. There's really too much going on for a novice like me to multi table.

I'll persevere with Omaha Hi/Lo to work off the Poker Stars bonus, then might get back to Limit Hold Em. Probably at the 2/4 level, but I am steeling myself for 3/6 at some time in the next few months.

May was also a month with several important events in the Div household.

Mrs Div finished work and is now on maternity leave. The arrival of baby Div draws ever closer! The nursery is almost complete - thanks to a monumental effort by the future grandparents - and the cot and a multitude of other baby related goods have been delivered.

With exquisitely bad timing I also came to the conclusion it's time to change job. I've not been enjoying it for quite some time, but have been hoping it would get better. The guys I work for, and with, are a great bunch, but the work just isn't what I'm happy doing. For the first time in my career, I've been dreading each day in the office.

Not only has it felt like a betrayal of myself, but also a betrayal of my employers. It's a tiny company and it really needs everyone pulling their weight, and my heart just isn't in it.

Things came to a head when I had to fill in my annual review form, in preparation for the actual review.

It reminded me of the 1983 Labour Party Manifesto, which came to be known as the longest suicide note in history. Every answer in every section spelled out for me that things weren't right. Something had to be done. The timing is awful, but the alternative was worse.

I'll probably end up with another job in the same field, though a change of career is always an option. I'm quite into finance, and am renowned among our circle of friends for my financial discipline. I'm forever berating them for their credit card fees, uncompetitive mortgages, or lack of pension planning.

Maybe I could become the Alvin Hall of the poker world? A sort of personal trainer for the financially illiterate. I can see myself shadowing Grubby in Vegas. For a reasonable hourly rate I'd tail him through the casinos, armed with a cattle prod to drive him away from the slots and back to the poker room. He'd save in a day, my fees for the week!

On the subject of poker and finance, Scurvydog and I seem to think along similar lines. He mentioned recently a few things poker sites could do to improve their service and product range, some of which tallied with my thoughts on the matter. I've taken the concept a little further and devised a new poker related financial product. More on this in a future post.

My blogroll expanded a little more today, as I discovered two more British bloggers - one of whom is actually from Glasgow! He plays, and seems to win, regularly at The Riverboat (home of the insane rebuy tournament) and has some news of another two Glasgow cardrooms, so it seems the Scottish poker scene is picking up.

Bonuses, Branching Out and Travel Tips

For the first time in quite a while, I played a LOT of poker this weekend.

Having worked off the Party Poker UK player bonus, I ran straight into the May reload bonus. So it was straight back to the tables to work it off.

I spent Friday night on the sofa keeping Mrs Div company, laptop in, er, lap, while she took in the introduction of this years Big Brother contestants (care in the community live on TV!), and I ground my way through a multitude of 0.5/1 Hold Em tables. Swapping regularly as the fish ran dry and the rocks prevailed.

Really I should be playing at 2/4 or higher. My online bankroll is sufficient now to meet the requirements for 3/6, but after a run of really painful sessions, chronicled in these very pages over the last six weeks or so, I resolved to play my way through the slump at the lower limits.

The down side of this is the lower hourly rate - but hourly rate only matters when you are actually winning! A second downside is that at these levels even more crazy beats occur. People really do show down jack high. The upside is that I'm putting a minimal amount of bankroll on the line to earn a decent bonus, and getting back in the winning habit. OK, a 10BB winning session is only $10 but it helps to rebuild confidence. I see it as the equivalent of a football player coming back from injury and scoring his first goals in a reserve game. My poker fitness is gradually returning!

The Party bonus was cleared by the close of play on Friday evening, leaving me uncommitted for the rest of the weekend.

So, as I settled down to take in the Scottish Cup Final on Saturday, I was at something of a loose end. I was pretty much Hold Em'ed out, and looking for a bit of variety. When I'm feeling this way, I head for Full Tilt - primarily to play Razz, but occasionally the Stud tables.

Yesterday I decided to delve into the madness that is Pot Limit Omaha Hi-Lo. I had tried this once previously on a play money table but gave up quickly. There wasn't much point as the other players were just calling down regardless of their hand, and the learning value was nil.

So, I ventured $10 on the 0.05/0.10 table. Even my bankroll can afford a $10 risk! It turned out to be $10 well staked. Not only is Omaha Hi-Lo fantastic fun, but some of the other players were even more clueless than me. I spent most of the afternoon and evening on the table and more than tripled my original 'investment'. Celtic won too!!

One guy reraised my nut straight bet on the turn with two spades on board. When I put him all in he showed three hole spades. I don't think he understood the 'two hole cards must play' rule.

Omaha in general, and Hi-Lo in particular, is a great way to exercise ones board reading skills. With four hole cards in play and so many re-draw possibilities, as well as the low pot to battle for, there's always a multitude of options available.

I really should do more reading on the subject, but I'm already getting the urge to migrate up the blinds scale. Ooooh, maybe as far as the 0.10/0.25 table. Colour me reckless!

I know there are many good Hold Em books on the market, but can anyone recommend an Omaha Hi-Lo book? Further investigation is definitely needed.

To top the night off in style, I finally got the chance for a quick Yahoo chat with the blogmeister himself. Sadly I won't be getting the chance to meet anyone in person in Vegas, but for those Vegas virgins who will be breaking their duck in my absence, I'd heartily recommend Cocktail Doll for some background reading before you go. Not only is she witty, knowledgeable, and entertaining, but rather easy on the eye too.

Make sure you take a big wedge of dollar bills. Pauly has already mentioned the '$20 trick' when checking in at your hotel - under the credit card and slide across counter discreetly. It worked for me, so give it a bash! Not only do you get a better room, but it makes you feel like James Bond. Or, is Rodney Dangerfield in Caddyshack a better likeness? Well, that depends on you.

Farewell Martin O'Neill

So farewell to Martin O'Neill, and thanks for the memories.

When he came to Celtic five years ago, we were on our knees. He gave us back our pride, our dignity, and our hope.

He gave us the 6-2 thrashing of Rangers, the whitewash season, and, of course, the UEFA Cup Final in Seville. All events that will go down in Celtic history. A new verse or two of The Willie Maley Song surely beckons.

Now he has to take those same qualities he gave to the team into his personal life, to help his wife Geraldine in her fight against that most insidious of diseases, cancer.

In stepping down from the job he loves, to care for the woman he loves, he once again shows his quality as a man, as well as a manager.

He goes with the best wishes of the entire Celtic community, and I'm sure he knows already, he truly will never walk alone.

Over and Over

Ugh. What a weekend. Time to dig out The Smiths back catalogue and wallow in self pity for a few days.

The poker was pretty incidental - though I did run into three beats in a row which I later calculated were a combined 48/1 to happen in succession. With the average pot over $30 I reckon that means the poker gods owe me $1500 of karma. If only it were that simple!!

That was but a gnat bite in comparison to the main story of the weekend. Celtic lost the Scottish Premier League to Rangers in the most sickening circumstances imaginable. Leading 1-0 against Motherwell with three minutes to go, they conceded the equaliser that cost them the title.

That in itself would be bad enough. Rewind a few weeks to Ibrox stadium and Celtic comprehensively outplaying Rangers to go five points clear with four games to play and the true extent of the disaster becomes clear.

Even more hurtful is the fact we could see it coming. The current team has done great service over the past five years, but is a declining force. Too many players are in their twilight years, the hearts remain strong, the will to win remains, but the legs are growing heavy.

This close season will be a crucial one, to determine whether we move forwards or backwards next season. Serious money needs to be spent.

One thing is certain. I, and tens of thousands of others, will remain a Celtic supporter. The club is bigger than any player, manager, or result. It's about more than football. It's a way or life; part of our culture. When we say we are supporters, that's exactly what we mean. Not fans for this season or last season only in a transient sense, drawn to the club by success, but supporters through thick and thin.

The club is in our blood, and will stay with us to our grave. Win, lose or draw we will always be Celtic supporters.

The eTims fanzine summed up the mood perfectly today. They simply published the lyrics of a classic club song 'Over and Over'. You can click through to see the full lyrics but for now all the players need to know is:

"When you need supporting, you will always know,
We'll be right there with you, every where you go."

That's what being a supporter is all about, and that's what we will continue to be.

Do You Like My New Toy? >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

You may have to allow an Active-X control to see it working.

Let me know if you like this or not? Comments appreciated.

If you want to stop the feed, just right click on the image and select Stop.

Some Random Stuff

Just a midweek stream of consciousness post. Move along now if you are looking for lucidity and structure.

On the poker front. Empire bonus = success. I dropped right down to the .5/1 tables to grind it off and made some money on the cards as well as bonus. It would have been more too, if it was not for for a bizarre sequence over the last 100 hands or so. No bad beats, just bad luck.

KK v AA v QQ (Q high flop!)
KK v AA (again)
Baby Boat v Daddy Boat
Set v Bigger Set

All compressed into about 30 minutes, as I was three tabling. Yeugh!

I can always console myself with some poker viewing. We now have TWO dedicated poker channels in the UK, as well as additional coverage on other channels. The Poker Channel (Sky 265) and Poker Zone (Sky 226) are the dedicated channels.

Poker Zone shows live internet poker every night! I've only been bored enough to watch this a few times, but some of the play can be eye wateringly bad. Almost in the so bad it's good viewing category.

I'm back on Party now, working on my latest bonus.

The poker bug has clearly bitten the Div household. Mrs Div is currently compiling her hospital bag, and along with the usual paraphernalia has added a pack of cards and a set of travel chips to the mix. This on the basis that she might be in labour for a while, and will want something to keep her occupied, so we will be playing poker apparently!

It's bad enough to lose heads up to her normally, but to lose heads up while she is in the midst of labour pains would be cruelly embarrassing! Could be difficult to get a read on her though. Is that expression a tell, or is another contraction starting? Hmmmm.......check!

Away from poker, I was thoroughly entertained by George Galloway v The US Senate committee. Not for nothing is Mr Galloway known as 'Gorgeous George' back home. If he were a cake, he would eat himself. I bet his house has a mirror in every room.

Usually I've no time for pompous self publicists, but he did make some good points, and made them in style. If politics were always so entertaining we might get bigger turnouts at election time.

Other than pompous politicians, I reserve a great deal of ire for annoying ringtone adverts. Sweety the Chick, Crazy Frog, etc. must die!! So, this made me laugh! (NB 100% NOT office friendly)

Annoying ringtones are predominantly targeted at what we refer to in Scotland as neds. The rest of the UK call them chavs. I'd guess the US equivalent would be trailer trash.

A prime example of ned communication skills can be found here. The whole office was rocking to this, but I do work in quite a laid back environment. Be warned it's even less office friendly than the last one! More f*cks than Tarantino. My favourite quote has to be 'I'm asking you nicely...'

Wow, this post almost turned out coherent. Result! More at the weekend...

Party Poker Bonus Offer - POKERACENOW

Just a little word to all my new found visitors - the power of Google!!

This Party Poker offer is clearly marked as being for existing UK Real Money players - so anyone registered outside the UK will not be eligible for the big prizes. I've no idea if you will get the 20% deposit bonus. If you try it and do, why not post a comment here as a public service?

If you are a UK player but ARE NOT ALREADY a real money player on Party Poker, it might be safest to sign up first, deposit a very small amount, play a few hands then put in a second deposit using POKERACENOW to get the entry to the big competition.

If you do sign up, it would be terribly nice of you to use bonus code DIV1970. That's enough shilling for now!

This is all supposition, so I can't guarantee anything. All I can say is as an existing UK player I signed up last night and the bonus is in my account.

If you do decide to try it, post here and let everyone know the results. Thanks.

Party Poker UK Player Offer

I liked this email from Party Poker! A bonus code, a freeroll for big prizes, and more TV poker. It also seems to suggest guaranteed entry to some big events. I'm up for that!! Not that I need the makeover of course.

(PS C'mon the Craig Beattie!!!)



Dear Div1970,

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Fishes Eyes

Oh happy days! Wireless technology really is the dogs bollocks.

After many calls to the Belkin support team, my Pre-N router is finally working. So, here I am on a glorious Scottish afternoon, in my back garden, the sun beating down, blogging merrily on my laptop whilst streaming music from my desktop PC. This is the life. I've even got my shorts on and top off, which sadly is an even less impressive sight than it used to be. Time to retrieve the weights from the loft.

It's been a financially unrewarding, yet entertaining weekend so far. Another bonus chasing session on Empire set me back to even on the cards front, but there were enough comedy hands to make it feel not too bad. All the usual nonsense: any two sooted beating flopped sets on the river, runner runner straights, etc. At least partially offset by my best hand in a long time - raise pre flop with JJ. Flop quads! Runner runner that you fishy fools!!

Looks like the wallpaper will be paid from my own pocket.

I also broke my record for fishiest ever player sighting - 90%+ VPIP over 100 hands and, yes, they were winning. Of course I wasn't too pleased at some of the hands I was losing to, but since I was three tabling the next hand was along too quickly to hold a grudge.

An affliction which I'll call 'the curse of the paired board' is haunting me at present. This is not an 'online poker is rigged' rant, since the affliction struck in last week's home game too. Every third hand seemed to see the board pair on either turn or river, and it felt that more often than not, this was a cue for my TPTK to go down to baby trips, my flopped flush to run into a FH, etc.

Of course the curse of the paired board does not apply to flopped quads.

C'est la vie. I've still got quite a few hands to clear, so I'll be back at the tables tonight.

These examples of how not to play Small Stakes Hold Em lead me nicely in to part two of my occasional series:

Music To Play Poker By - Part 2

New Fast Automatic Daffodils - Fishes Eyes

A much underrated band from the end of the 'Madchester' era of the late-80s/early-90s. I saw these guys live a few times and they were fantastic. Bursting with energy, a real edgy stage presence, and a driven funk sensibility that had the whole crowd moving.

'Fishes eyes will watch your lies' sung the New FADS. Indeed they will, but on the low buy in No Limit Hold Em tables they won't understand, or believe, them. I've learned after about a week on these tables that bluffs are virtually pointless. No matter how scary the card that falls, if they have a pair, they ain't letting go - like a dog with a bone they will hang on til the showdown is won.

This tune soothes my brain and puts me in an untiltable groove. Ideal for net casting on the Party/Empire oceans.

Almost beer o'clock, and time to go, but before I do I'd like to offer a final observation.

The most rewarding experience I've had this week was receiving the comments from Iggy and Joe. I don't write this blog for the kudos, but it's good to know some people find it a worthwhile read - at least on occasion. Thanks for the recognition guys. Much appreciated.

I always make an effort to put some sort of comment on posts that catch my eye, and I'd encourage everyone to do the same. Before I started this, I didn't realise how much effort it takes to keep a blog going. Now I understand, I recognise words of encouragement are well deserved.

Cash In Hand

Not much to report so far this week, hence the inactivity on the blog. Still tremendously preoccupied with domestic issues and work. I need to get back to winning poker soon - have you seen the price of wallpaper!?!

What little poker time I've had has been directed at the Empire bonus - braving the scrutiny of the Empire bonus whore Gestapo to grind it off at the low limits. So far I am in profit by approximately one roll of wallpaper. There is a long way to go though!

In preparation for the bonus, I withdrew some cash from Full Tilt to Neteller. I had noted some comments by other bloggers who were critical of the Full Tilt performance in this respect, but I am happy to report the cash hit Neteller on the day I submitted the request.

The remainder of the week is likely to be more domestics, poker wherever possible, and a crucial Hearts v Celtic game on Sunday. The league may be over in England, but in Scotland it's still up for grabs. I expect to be a nervous wreck by Sunday evening! I will keep you posted.

Rollercoaster Ride

This cash No Limit Hold Em certainly demands a bit more attention than my usual limit game!

I managed to blow two $100 buy-ins on Full Tilt with play that was part idiocy on my part, part fishy luck from my foes. One buy-in disappeared when my set of tens went down to a gutshot straight. I should have folded to the all-in raise but didn't want to believe I'd been outdrawn. I managed to convince myself he had two pair or was bluffing.

The second went betting TPTK into an overpair, when I had the foe pegged as an optimistic calling station chasing two overcards.

When the cards were flipped for the second showdown, I was less than happy. Indeed, rather than my usual ranting and raving, I just sat and stared at the screen. Stunned. A sound not dissimilar to our cat expelling a furball, growing in my throat.

Time to regroup! Which I did. After revisiting Hank's article about playing small stakes NLHE, I returned to the fray.

A couple of hours later I was back to even - courtesy of two sets. Set over set, and set over two pair. Delicious! Now all I have to do is eliminate the idiocy and this could actually turn out to be quite profitable!

On the bricks and mortar front, I had a pretty grim session on Friday night. Our home game was a little short handed and I managed to finish second last in all three games we played.

The cards were really quite cruel. My best hand in six hours was JJ and I had to fold that to a big bet on an ace high flop! As we were setting up, I'd been talking about the horrible cards Isabelle Mercier kept getting in her British Poker Open qualifier, and I seemed to inherit her bad karma.

The one hand of note came when I raised with 88 from late position and found myself facing a reraise from the SB. The SB is quite an aggressive player and I had to put him on quite a large range of hands - any medium or large pair, or a big ace, and maybe even KQ.

Against most players I'd have reraised or folded, depending on my read of them. However, with this range, and with position, I decided to see a flop, so I called. The flop came ace high - and no glorious 8. Urgh. The SB bet out with a pot size bet. Double urgh.

I thought about it for quite a while - before folding. I couldn't see how I could be ahead now - much as it pained me - and I still had enough chips left to battle on.

I folded face up. Not something I often do. At which point the SB's jaw dropped, and he turned over....88!! Bloody hell. I did say the cards were being cruel.

Really, I had to applaud his bet on the flop, so I wasn't too distraught. Even if the pre flop raise seemed quite optimistic to me! It pretty much summed up my night.

Still, the banter was good, the booze plentiful, and it's always nice to catch up with friends. The modern world doesn't leave too much time for socialising so it's always good to get together.

False Neteller Email

I have recently received two emails purporting to come from Neteller. They state my account has been blocked due to unauthorised access from 'outside parties'.

The email is a fraud and should be ignored.

This seems to be a recurrence of an old phishing scam. So, be aware.

DO NOT respond or click through the links in these emails.

The Moment Of Truth

So, election day dawns in the UK. Fittingly, like the campaign, it is dull and dreary. Hardly the ideal weather for 'getting the vote out'.

I've refrained from offering comment until now. Not from any antipathy towards politics, or politicians - I have always been politically aware and never short of an opinion on the matters of the day. Rather, I subscribe to the old maxim 'if you have nothing worth saying, say nothing', and with such a spartan choice available to the UK public, I simply couldn't find anything worthwhile to say about my voting inclinations.

One thing I am sure of is I will vote. It is forecast that the turnout today may slip below 60% for the first time since 1918. I will not be one of the missing 40%. I believe in democracy and choice, and despair of those who whinge and moan about the government, only to reveal when questioned that they did not vote at the previous election.

To me they are symptomatic of a longstanding and growing sickness in British society. As a nation we are becoming apathetic, listless, selfish. Happy to blame others for our ills and accept no personal responsibility. Expecting more whilst offering less. Glorying in ned/chav culture. Our TV screens celebrate banality and turn idiots into icons. Reality TV is not the source of our decline, but is a mirror of society.

As a long standing Labour supporter, I should be ecstatic at the prospect of a third Labour government. I certainly was delighted and inspired when Tony Blair led Labour to victory in 1997 - but he has not lived up to his early promise. On foreign policy he has been overly adventurous, and on domestic policy he has yet to really deliver.

I hated the Thatcher years, with their celebration of greed and selfishness. I'm no enemy of capitalism, but Thatcher took it beyond the boundaries of acceptability. Actively seeking to destroy society and promoting the cult of the individual. The shameless 'loadsamoney' society was born. The comic character who reflected this new lifestyle was intended as satirical comment, yet was adopted as it's figurehead. Such was the shamelessness.

When Labour came to power I hoped this would change, and to an extent it has. Unfortunately we are now trapped with the worst of both worlds. The selfishness of the Thatcher years, married to the extended welfare dependency of the Blair years, has spawned a whole new class - the non-working class. A class who are poor but not starving, and revel in their mediocrity and lack of exertions.

When I was a child, the economic heart was being torn from Scotland. I witnessed the end of the Ravenscraig steelworks, the betrayal of the Caterpillar workers, wholesale coal mine closures. Massive unemployment and virtually no work opportunities.

People demonstrated and fought for the right to work. They demanded a job.

Now the economy, while hardly perfect, is in much better shape. Yet a walk through any major town centre inevitably brings the persistent demands of aggressive beggars(my favourite ever opening line being 'gies money'), the hassles of the neds and junkies, and the assault on the optic nerve of acres of overexposed, underwrapped blubber, paraded in the mistaken belief that Jade Goody is the ultimate style icon. The bodies reflect the mind - rarely exercised, badly fed, gorged on junk and revelling in their decrepitude.

My blood boils when I see reports of villages and towns where jobs go unfilled, yet unemployment persists. Places where local people refuse to work in the factories because they are 'too dirty' or 'too smelly'. Yet they expect to live a comfortable life on benefits - benefits paid from the taxes of those who do work. An entire class exists whose primary contribution to the economy is providing the subject matter and stars of a new genre of sub-Springer daytime TV shows.

It makes me laugh, a bitter, humourless laugh, when I see complaints about immigrants overrunning the country, asylum seekers sponging off the government, and the decline of British culture. Yet businesses need to recruit from Eastern Europe and beyond to fill the jobs the complainers won't do. I say bring as many immigrants as the ships and planes can carry. When they arrive, they want to work. They seek out opportunities. They put in the hours our fellow citizens refuse to. They expect less and offer more.

I look back to my own family history and see what can be done. My great grandfather left Dublin to move to Scotland. What his father did, I cannot tell you, since in his time only the rich were educated enough to write. So such fundamentals as parentage, occupation, place of birth, went unrecorded.

He found a job in an ironworks, married and produced a family. Among them was my grandfather. He in turn worked first in a public baths - not a swimming pool, but the communal washing facilities for his community. Later he progressed to work on the railways.

In time he too started a family and his son, my father, went straight from school to an apprenticeship as a joiner. He learned the trade and worked hard at it.

By the time I was born, my parents owned a home. The first generation of the family to do so. They encouraged and cajoled me through school and, to borrow from the Kinnock/Clinton speech, I was the first child in the family to attend university. From illiteracy to graduation in four generations. This is hardly a unique story. Millions in the UK and Ireland have similar tales to tell.

Each generation of the family aspired not to some ephemeral form of social advancement, but simply to doing the best they could for their children. Now I am about to become a father, I intend to continue that tradition.

Millions of others seem oblivious to this responsibility. They revel in failure, glorify mediocrity and seem incapable of nurturing the faintest levels of responsibility or discipline in their kids. They blame the government, the schools, the police, for the misdeeds of their children. Anyone but themselves.

Reversing this decline in our standards will be the greatest challenge to the next government. Rather than throwing more money at the police and education system, they need to put more emphasis back on the public to inject an element of decency into their lives. The carrot approach has failed; it's time for the stick.

I'd like to see much more focus on good parenting, and a reassertion of parental responsibility. The CSA has been an administrative shambles, letting evasive dads off the hook financially, and the courts are woefully slow to bring parents to book when they permit or encourage their children to commit unsocial acts.

Human rights legislation has tipped the balance so far in favour of the wrongdoers that many feel they can operate with immunity. This is particularly true of schools where enforcing discipline seems almost an impossible task now. It appears teachers can only teach with the permission of the kids, rather than by enforcing their authority. Any form of discipline or punishment seems to breach some convention or other. Children suing their schools for giving them detention. Ludicrous!

When I was at school kids were keen to learn. Their parents made sure they were. The accepted path was to study at school to earn the chance of a job. Then work hard to support yourself. That is truly a working class ethos, which fosters respect and dignity.

Now, too many kids are learning from their parents and peers there is no point studying hard to get qualifications and a job. Why bother when you can get what you want from the benefit system? They lose respect for themselves, and if they cannot respect themselves, how can they respect others?

That is why the yob culture has flourished in Britain. If the tide is not turned soon it will engulf us all in a sea of mediocrity and fecklessness.

Let us hope the next government has the will to fight for decency, respect and civilisation. That is a war worth winning.

Poker Is Fun!

This weekend I relearned an important lesson. Poker is fun!

Sure it's got earning potential, primarily through the twin revenue streams of never ending bonus offers and the undiminished supply of Party Poker fish, but there's more to it than that.

For a while I'd been getting too wrapped up in the minutiae of my downswing. Going over what I'd done, where it had gone wrong, how unlucky I'd been. It was time to take a step back.

Over the weekend I expanded my horizons beyond the usual limit Hold Em, into some cash No Limit Hold Em and a little very low stakes Seven Card Stud and Razz - all courtesy of Full Tilt.

I've always said playing the fun tables is only useful for getting to grips with the mechanics of a given site. To actually learn how to play properly, you need to play cash games. Even if only for $5.

My motivation was twofold. Primarily I just wanted to chill and try something a little different. I'm keen to expand my horizons beyond Hold Em into other areas of poker, but I also wanted a little No Limit practice before the WPBT event.

I had a great time on the Razz and Stud tables. Trying to learn how to read the other players' hands and compare them to mine. I did better at Razz than Stud - possibly due to the fact some players simply didn't seem to know the rules. I saw a few bets called on 6th street by players who could not win with the upcards showing.

The No Limit Hold Em was an experience too.

I'm quite happy buying in for $100 on a 2/4 limit table and committing upwards of $20 in increments on a single hand. It's an entirely different feeling to actually pop the $20 in a single bet, then pause to see whether a fold, call or raise is coming. My heart was pounding each time the cash went in the middle.

When the day dawns that I see the bet as chips, not cash, I'll know I've made it, but for now I'm in awe of the sums some guys are betting.

I've already covered the WPBT event, but I've a few things to add.

Most importantly thanks to Iggy and Otis for their coordinating skills, and Pauly for a splendid writeup. Thanks also to my fellow competitors - good company and good players makes for a fun few hours. I've added several more entries to Bloglines as a result.

Overall I'm fairly happy with how I played. I got good cards early and tried to maintain aggression as far as I could. I rarely play MTT, and even then usually freerolls, so this was a whole new experience.

The key hands for me were getting KK in late position and, unusually, seeing several limpers act before me. I was tempted to slow play, but didn't want so many players to see a flop and get the chance to catch something.

I considered making a standard raise but again thought that might not drive out enough players. I wanted to be 1-on-1. So I decided to push, hoping someone with a smaller pocket pair would read me for AK or a steal, and take me on.

Unfortunately everyone folded. Though the blinds/antes/calls were worth having, it was a missed opportunity.

Soon after, two key hands saw my downfall. When I raised The Poker Prof and he reraised all in, I knew he had a hand. I knew my AK needed to hit something to hold up.

If this was a cash tournament with the final table paying, it would have been a probable fold. I was well behind the leaders, but possibly in a position to fold to the final table or thereabouts.

However I wasn't here to place, I was here to win, and that meant I needed to accumulate chips to make some ground on the leaders. The pot was laying good odds, and I figured I was no worse than 6/4 to win.

The only hands I was truly afraid of were AA and KK, both of which I felt might possibly have led to a flat call rather than a push.

So, I took on The Prof hoping to catch an A or K. Only to see his QQ improve to a set. Despite the fact I lost the hand, it was probably the most enjoyable part of the tourney for me. A classic race - overcards v pocket pair. Just the way I'd seen Howard Lederer knock Chris Ferguson out of the British Open last week. Both Professors were victorious!

I was pretty much resigned to the fact I wasn't going to win now, unless I made a major move and got very lucky. So I was delighted to get the dreaded AQ on my very next hand and see another player go all-in ahead of me. In a cash tourney, a fold, but not tonight!

Race part 2 I thought. All in from early must mean either a low or middle pair or, worst case for me, AK. So, only two hands scared me, AK and possibly QQ. Earlier I'd won the same race in reverse with QQ v AQ.

Again I was hoping to isolate the bettor in an overcards v pair race when I pushed.

Unfortunately Joe from The Obituarium was waiting in ambush with AKs in the big blind and the battle was short.

That was that, and it was time for bed. No prize for me, but a thoroughly enjoyable experience. Thanks again to all concerned. I hope to see you again soon.

A quick footnote - I wrote this post up in my lunch hour and returned home to find comments from both my vanquishers on the last post. Good game guys. Thanks for the comments. And good luck tonight Joe! Kick off in 5 minutes.

Sixteenth

Not bad.

Got some great cards early which took me to this position. A monkey could have played my early hands - possibly played them better!


On Top Of The Pile - but not for long 

Then went card dead for a while. Stole a few blinds without meeting resistance. I'd made a decision beforehand to be really aggressive with no limping, and there wasn't. Every hand I opened, I raised.

I'd fallen back into the pack when I got into a race with The Poker Prof. His QQ v my AK. The QQ not only held up but improved to a set, putting me in very bad shape.

The very next hand I got AQ and saw Scott at Liquor In the Front, Poker In The Rear, go all in. I had him covered - just - and went all in too, since I figured this was as good as it was gonna get.

Joe from The Obituarium rapidly called with AhKh to put me in even worse shape. Scott had 99. Three hearts on the flop and it was all over.

At least it was quick! After 2am now, so time for bed!

April Summary

April was a weird month.

Despite the fact that for most of it I felt like I'd just dropped the soap in the San Quentin shower, I actually emerged with a $245 profit. Not great, but better than losing.

Initially it was a continuation of the diabolical March downswing, but my luck gradually returned to more normal levels in the latter part of the month and I posted a few winning sessions. I still can't completely escape the crazy beats, but crazy beats need crazy opponents and that leads in the long term to +EV.

There can be a real difference between perception and reality when assessing ones own performance, so it's a godsend to have the Poker Tracker stats at hand to act as an impartial judge of my performance. After a few hours of despair, I can revisit the cards and determine whether it was bad luck or bad play bleeding away another chunk of bankroll.

So far as I can determine, I seem to be playing OK. Playing mainly low limit Hold Em, it's more about consistency of starting hand selection and not going crazy chasing the fish. There's certainly lots of room for improvement in my overall game, but on a 1/2 or 2/4 Party Poker table there's only so much you can do!

I still finished down overall on cards played - but all kneel and give praise to the great bonus god! I'm sure there's an analogy about bonus whores and kneeling in there somewhere.

My Neteller account is a succession of $500 withdrawals and $5xx deposits. Again highlighting the value of playing with an underpinning bonus.

The rollercoaster ride continues into the world of football. A triumphant victory for Celtic last weekend, superseded by a diabolical defeat today. The league is still in our own hands, but today's performance sent me home numbed at the awfulness of it. Both Celtic and Rangers seem to be stumbling, rather than striding, towards the finishing line. Let's hope Craig Bellamy's hamstring is healed by next weekend.

Fortunately things have been more stable on the baby front. Mrs Div is very tired but otherwise well. It's now at the stage where the baby's movements can be seen as well as felt, and she can feel exactly how the baby is positioned.

The home preparations are progressing well - primarily thanks to the future grandparents, who have dedicated days of effort to redecorating the house while Mrs Div and I toil at the office. Baby supplies are also being stockpiled, as we attempt to introduce an element of organisation to our previously haphazard shopping habits.

More shopping planned for Sunday, then hopefully an appearance at the WSOP qualifier. Not sure how I'd manage to fund the Vegas trip, or explain it to Mrs Div, in the unlikely event of actually winning! I'll cross that bridge if I come to it.