Ok since I'm unable to connect to the internet right now and there's nowt to watch, I thought I'd might as well type up an entry for the blog so here goes:
On the social front things have been good the last few weeks. My shoulder injury which has had me sidelined from football since February has meant I am able to go out at weekends and not worry about my club commitments. I've actually enjoyed the improvement in that aspect of life and I no longer can feel like a recluse. I've come to concede that my enthusiasm for the game has finally waned after playing club football since I was 8. So right now I think I probably won't be playing club football next season because I want to enjoy life as much as I can, go away at weekends, go on the beer on Saturday nights and not have to worry about football commitments. To me, football has been a chore this season and when one starts to see it that way, then it's time for them to go a different way. For me, it is somewhat sad that my personal outlook on the game has gradually gone from being obsessed to half-arsed. Perhaps it's because subconsciously I am frustrated at getting injured all the time. Maybe when I recover from the shoulder injury, I might have a different perspective. Time will tell.
But anyway back to the social aspect- Went out to Carlow for Joey's birthday with the lads at the end of February. It was some mad weekend. Drank on the way up to Carlow on the train Friday night, got hammered. And then woke up just in time to grab breakfast before breakfast was no longer served after 10.30am.. Ate a delicious breakfast and duly obliged to throw up on the way back to the hotel room. Thank god for the fire-exit, otherwise the corridor would have been splattered with half digested sausages and bacon! Lol! Then Tim, Joey and myself thought it was an excellent idea to have one pint as hair of the dog. That one pint turned out to be the first of many as we did not stop drinking till the early hours of the following morning with the rest of the lads joining in throughout the day. Needless to say, I was once again hammered as early as 3pm but managed to solider on with the best of them! When we returned from the nightclub that night, Eoin made us all laugh so much when he thieved some drink from the hotel bar (which was closed after 4am) and was later caught red-handed when he was pulling a pint of carlsberg for me behind the bar! Amazingly he was let off by the security staff, who ushered us to our rooms as we were being a bit raucous for their liking!! Oops!!
Following week I jetted off to London to catch up with my mates. I have to use up my annual leave before the end of March and with Ryanair flights totalling at €10, it was far too good an opportunity to pass up. Crashed at Greg's late Thursday evening and headed immediately to Camden Town for a few jars with the lads. Actually to think of it, the whole weekend was one big session but nonetheless it was good to catch up with the crew in London. Managed to squeeze in a game of poker, but the standard was so awful I found myself not wanting to play and got busted early when I went all in blind, prompting some silly remarks from one or two guys who had supposedly expected a lot more from me! Lol! Even though I had enjoyed my break, I was glad to be going home on the monday. London is far too big and expensive for me. I must have squandered about €400 which is quite a lot considering accommodation was free. But the fact it's massive makes me appreciate Dublin all the more, despite its many faults. In London, there's so many people at the one time, I can't help but feel I'm just merely existing like I'm literally an ant in a swarming and overpopulated ant colony. In Dublin, I just feel like I'm someone, and there's a more friendlier vibe in the city. Although I must say for some strange reason, I feel more confident chatting up randomers in London-something I would never have the guts to do here! Probably cos I know I won't ever see them again if I get shot down!
I was out in town last Monday, celebrating Paddy's day at an IDYA party in the porterhouse. I'm not the biggest fan of the drinks in porterhouse, but the pub crawl I was trying to organise beforehand never materialised as the boys never got back to me about it so I just went directly to porterhouse upon arrival in the city centre. Bouncer at the door asked me for ID, before asking me where I was coming from. When I said I had just arrived in town from my house, he refused to believe me and said he was pretty convinced I was drunk! Lol!!! But in the end, I managed to talk my way in and started my paddy's day celebrations in earnest. The party turned out to be decent despite feeling a little out of place at the start cos none of my peeps were there!
As for the poker I managed to play another two live tournaments in succession to the one I had played in last Thursday in the local. After picking up the €350 the night before, I decided to play the €100 FO in Winners on the Friday. With 3.5k guaranteed, it was good value with 30 runners. I got good run of cards in the first level which I dislike, as I like to be able to fold marginal hands and get an early insight of my opponents play whilst the value of the blinds are generally irrelevant to your stack. Anyway I suffered a dent to my stack when I had to fold AJ and AK on the river after the same guy had betted heavily into them. I was not that convinced the guy had me beat but as I said, the blinds were still really low and I wasn't short stacked by any means. But I doubled up anyways about ten minutes later when my pocket Aces came up against pocket Kings. I went on to reach the FT without having to go to showdown in the process, so I think my image was that of a rock. My stack dwindled to 8BB so it was a case of picking my spots and pushing to steal the blinds/pot. Doubled up with A8 v A7 and my normal game strategy resumed. Picked up the Aces again in UTG, made the standard raise to be re-raised by a shortie who flipped Queens and duly absorbed half my stack when he spiked a Q on the river. About 5 hands later with 7BB, I found Queens and was called by AdKd. Flop gave him two pair, turn and river were blank and I found myself in 8th place. I was disheartened not to cash, but happy overall as I knew the hands I went to showdown with couldn't have been played any better. But overall, I'll be making an appearance there again cos the atmosphere was really friendly and it was excellent value for €100.
The next day, after much humming and ahh-ing, I played in the €50 DC in CHL. In hindsight it was a mistake as I wasn't as eager to play as I had been the previous night. I preferred to go out on the booze, but the rain and financial situations of my mates meant I had the choice of either staying in or playing poker in town. When I sat down at the table, for no reason I can explain- I was full of restless energy and played like a possessed maniac as I entered every single pot bar one in the first level! I can't explain why I played so incredibly loose. All I know was I was far too restless to sit tight and play my normal game. Granted I didn't feel all that comfortable with the style but one thing I noticed was that the other players didn't too. It was an education in a way to adopt a style that totally contradicted the style I had played the previous night. I got looked up more, people were checking expecting me to raise. The irony I suppose was that even though my stack went up and down a lot, by the time the add ons were given out, I still had more chips than those who had been playing tight. It was a style I do not envisage permanently adopting in the future, (I later got busted with 88 v JJ preflop after the break-Even to think of it, I'm cringing at how reckless that was) I realised I could take something from that style and incorporate it into my present style as I can't expect to win €100+ tournaments playing super tight. But all in all, despite an €150 outlay for the two tournaments, I had managed to reduce the deficit to €20 when I won €90 at blackjack over the weekend and pick up €42 in the cash game in Chris house after the tournament in Winners.
I've still not played any online poker since the problems with my laptop. So I've been forced carry out drastic measures on the advice of my sister's boyfriend, Conan who reformatted the laptop or something like that. I've lost everything I had but on the flipside, at least it's like new now and running a lot faster. So when I get the WEP key for the internet at home, I'll download ipoker first thing after connecting to the internet to see if it works perfectly! It better cos I'm dying to play online poker!
I'll be off to Galway later today for the Easter weekend to serve as assistant manager to Joey and/or to get hammered.. Something tells me it's gonna be a weekend of madness either way!! :-)
Till next time!!!
