I LIKE MONDAYS

Today, for the first Monday in a while, I woke up with a smile.

No early alarm call, no sitting in rush hour traffic, no making the coffee, no watching the clock, no death hour, no sitting in silence, no boss looking over my shoulder, no having to eat at a certain time, no being given orders to obey, no photocopying, no faxing, no printing, no scanning, no binding, no replying to boring emails, no looking at spreadsheets, no… well, you get the idea.

I’m not going to start playing online until next Monday. I’m trying to divide my accounts into 3 (live, online, and personal) just so I can keep a better track of any financial activity. I’ve been working pretty hard this year without taking a proper holiday, just the odd day here and there, so I don’t see any reason why I can’t put my feet up for a week.

Of course, there’s always the danger that I lose a few bucks on Monday and then say, ‘I’ll start properly tomorrow.’ But like when smokers are trying to quit or when fatclubbers are dieting, you’re always starting your regime the next day. Definitely Monday for me though, no excuses.

I was at Walsall yesterday and somehow managed to spend 635 squid. Eeeeeeeeek!!! I bought in for Tuesday’s £300er which, although isn’t a double chance freezout, should be a good comp. Then I did £100 on a £25 satellite and £200 on a £100 satellite.

Amazingly, only 27 turned up for the latter, so just the 3 seats were created. I could have sworn with the festival just around the corner that there’d be over 50 playing this. Stupidly, this put me in bad spirits as I’m not too hot at satellites where there are barely any seats. Also, because I’d been forced to wait around for a couple of hours after exiting the afternoon comp, I was a tad restless and really not in the mood to play. This led to me into the world of…

LaZy PoKeR – argh!!!

Yep, we’ve all been there. Our brain’s just not in gear and our heart’s not in it. You call a couple of hands you shouldn’t, you don’t pay attention, don’t examine the other players when you’re not involved, you know, generally just fail to focus on the mission ahead.

I eventually went out when I missed a straight and flush draw. I knew the other fella had top pair when he bet out, but I needed a double up from somewhere and with the dead money from the limpers, I was probably just about getting the pot odds to move in.

RED-DOG was also present, feet up on a neighbouring chair whilst he nursed an injured ankle. Old age mi thinks. Anyhow, he eventually exited 9^th, after losing another race. He can’t seem to win one at the moment. If I spot a chance of a coin flip with RED on Tuesday, I’d be wise to take it.

A quick anecdote for you. Whilst I was playing the £25 satellite earlier on in the day, one guy came up to me and said, ‘Do you want to hear a good tip for these satellites?’ Eager to hear his pearls of wisdom and learn more about the game, I nodded and leant forward, all ears.

His top tip for the day? And wait for it, it’s a belter…

To put it nicely, he said that before the satellites he… and I still cringe now, ‘interferes with himself.’

Fanbloddytastic. Cheers for conjuring up that picture in my hend. Just lovely. For a moment there, I really thought that this fella, who’d obviously been around the game for many a year, was going to give me some really tip top advice. Bah.

He ended up on my table. I decided that I didn’t want to win his chips. Not without gloves anyway.

A couple of other, more serious issues that were on my mind last night.

(i) smoking

My clothes smelt smokier than ever this morning. How can that be when it’s a non-smoking cardroom? Well, when you’re sitting near ‘smoker’s row’, you might as well be sucking an exhaust pipe.

What’s the point of making the cardroom non-smoking if they all gather round that one area and blow smoke back into the cardroom? If you sit on that one side, then you’re probably inhaling more than if it was a smoking cardroom.

They should either push them back closer to the roulette etc or give them a designated room where they can go to light up.

Just my 2 cents.

(ii) the already qualified

There may be mixed views on this one, but, IMHO, if someone has already qualified, then they shouldn’t be allowed to play any more satellites. If they’ve bought in and then fancy trying to win their seat instead, then I can understand, but if they’re playing just to cash in once they win another seat, then I’m not a happy snoppy.

Personally, I want as many weak players in the field as possible. There were a few admittedly good players participating last night who had already won a seat. To me, this just isn’t fair on everyone else and makes it harder to qualify.

Satellites are comps for seats, not cash, and cash should only be offered under extreme circumstances where the player just can’t make the main tournament.

Okay. Rant over.

It’s Monday, my pockets are lighter, but I’m still a happy bunny.

L8ers all.

snoops

ps. I drank a Red Bull last night and it made me feel tired and lethargic. Where are my bloomin wings!!!