Its like a fresh addiction all over again

I am currently watching Gandhi on BBC2 - crazy to see a young Ben Kingsley "blacked" up to play a man of Indian origin and so convincingly too. For such a film buff this is a film that i feel i should have seen buy now, but how often do you fancy watching a semi religious, political epic. Although now i am, i am enjoying it. This may provide enough motivation to finally watch Lawrence of Arabia, again the title in my head of "Desert Epic" is not very appealing. If you want deserts by the way, watch Three Kings and Jarhead.

Guns Woo! religion boo! that's my motto - (it isn't really - please God don't kill me yet)

So yesterday i played 3 x 180's -
1) 24th ish
2) 12th
3) 6th QQ into KK on the final table. I was watching TV (lol) and playing the RTR tournament at the time and so perhaps did not give the situation due consideration (definitely level 1 thinking) and on reflection should have given the second chip leader more credit

Today i have just busted out in 55th - should have gone way further if a guy who had slightly more chips than me had not decided to shove over the top of my raise with 45 hearts which flopped an open ended straight flush draw, turned a straight and rivered the flush. Joke. Hey ho!

The good news here is that i have gone late in 4 tourneys on the trot with 2 cashes. My current plan is to keep playing these 180's to try and build my BR back up which is currently non existent.

Playing the Raise the River league game yesterday was my first outing with them. I have played the bloggerment once but not this one. I decided i would get involved early and dropped a few chips before seeing Yorkshire Pud do a lot of chips after raising in first and representing a bigger hand than the pocket fours he eventually had to show down. Later he raised again in first or very early position, he was called and i moved all in with 99. He paused and called with KQ suited and i was on my way to a few chips. I then played very tight for the next hour at least and hit some hands and built a nice amount of chippys. When we got to 4 handed i had a good chip lead and proceeded to double up each of the 3 remaining players. Pretty fucking embarrassing to be honest. I thought burnley mik played particularly well as his aggression was often well timed and his judgement correct. I think in 2 key hands i did him in though with AK spades against his A9. I raised the button and he shoved from the sb. Later he had amassed chips again and i shoved over his button raise with 44, a while later he called with 33. The hand prior to this he had raised with 72. I figured he'd think, i'd think he'd have a better hand this time, but from a man i know can fold top pair, i thought he'd think that. lol! Pretty funny really but often the way that a lot of money gets involved with less than premium holdings. Pretty uneventful for me 3 handed. Down to HU against a player who i do not know and i seemed to lose it here, at the crucial stage. I picked up a great pot with AK, he folded to my AQ and AT hearts in the first 3 hands wheni was in the bb. Then he open shoved and then did it again and this swung the pendulum for aggression to him. After that i picked up no hands, hit no hands, mistimed a lame bluff attempt and then he shoved into me and i called with KJ. He showed Q4. Is this normal?? If i win this i take a 2-1 chip lead but it is not to be as the flop brings another two 4's. Gutted.

In retrospect, although there wasn't much room for it i would rather have played for smaller pots and seen his holdings. However, in this situation, the raises were big and the blinds were high. The only thing i can really be happy with is the fact that i put my money in good.

In the lead up to this tournament i did post on the forum at RTR that i was going to win but i will have to settle for second and a promise of a comeback of biblical proportions.

As some of you may know i am a blog fiend. If i haven't read your blog yet i will get there. I currently read around 20 regularly. Of which i have read each in their entirety. Reading the whole thing takes time (in the case of Paul Phillips, i may well be dead before i finish his War and Peace sized scribings), but this is part nosey, part learning and part interest in people. I believe that as part of this community it is all the information i have to attempt to get to know you. With that in mind i am currently reading:

Brian Townsend - no explanation needed
Girlie Poker - Rosie's blog - in my opinion this blog is excellent. It has poker content and a genuinely original style written by an intelligent and opinionated person (being opinionated is a good thing btw). When she writes she sounds like a couple of my female friends and it is therefor something i can instantly tap into.
Kennl - given his recent success i am keen to know more about this player. i have just started reading his blog.It is fairly short so shouldn't take too long. I like the idea of posting in tourney breaks. I would steal it but am usually too busy pissing and making tea. I also like his aims. Some huge, some more reasonable but they look like they may be on the way to becoming reality. Good luck sir.
Burnley Mik - I have seen you about a lot. Now you are al over RTR and i am playing with you so you are next . See you there.

Ok more Gandhi to watch, tournies to cash in and blogs to read. Poker feels good again.