Ashes

And so, Aus regain the Ashes, humiliating England 3-0.

Its after timing, but, am happy with the financial result, and happy for the Aussie team, who put in a lot of hard work, which was rewarded.

The difference, from the 3-0 beating in Eng, was :

1.  The ball

2. Johnson

3. Warner

4 A fit Clarke

5. Boof

Am happy for all concerned. England are over-rated, and expect a good few to have played their last Ashes.


The series against S.Africa in Feb, will b v interesting.

Radio Links

Sorry for the quiet spell ..

Been doing a lot of cricket, and playing golf .. hard life.

Have played 5 rounds with a 26 yr old, from Pretoria, who is trying to turn pro next yr, and we are having
fun .. He has a lot of time off .. from his job as a commercial pilot, which sees a downturn in work, this time of yr.

Played a lot of different courses, and managed to shoot 97, which put the magical 90, in range, but, reverted to mean, and shot 107 next outing .. so, althou am playing some good shots, there is no consistency.

Its coming, but, not sure, the 90, will be in danger any time soon.

Listening to the abject performance by England in Aus .. here are the radio links, for people outside the UK.

http://www.cricket.com.au/live/audio-stream

Poker famlies

Gonna be a busy week, as have a major poker tourny on (potentially), Sat/Sun ..

Its a 10k buy-in, but won a seat thru a satellite, and field is capped at 80 players, most of whom I regularly play with.

There is a One-day cricket match in Durban (1 hr flight), on the Sunday, which I would normally watch live - plus the Nedbank Golf Challenge at Sun City (Thrs-Sun), so, will try and sell my seat for the Poker - for 12-15k - I wouldn't take less ..

The Saturday start time is 11am, and we play for 12 hrs - v nice starting stack of 30k, with decent levels .. so, figure will play normal aggressive game, during second part of the day, and try to get a big stack for Day 2 - or go to the cricket.

Playing are really hating being to my immediate left .. as I almost always attack their blinds, either by raising or shoving, and thou they all talk a good game .. That next time etc, they will re-shove .. they never re-shove light .. they almost have to have Q's+, to do anything, and, they aint so easy to pick up.

Played in a really fun tourny on Sunday, (41) players, for a buy-in of $150.

15 mins in, I get 8♦ 3♣ in the big blind, and check.

Flop is 8♣, 5♥, 3♣, and Leggan Zackey (Warrens son - 2008 WSOP 22nd), get it all-in, when he has 5♣, 3♠.

I manage to dodge a 5 .. and double-up, which was nice .. as I have ammo to bully for later.

20 mins later, got involved in some mad hands, where the same guy flopped quad 3's, and kings, in the space of 20 mins, and then this hand came up :

I had : 3♦ 3♠

I raised, and he called ..

Flop : 3♣ Q♥ 10♦

He bet, I raised, he shoved, and I called.

He turns over Q♦ 9♦ .. so, hes a 20/1 chance to win the hand .. Turn Q♠, River 9♣ ..


Anyway, it happens, the odd thing was, people kept saying I was lucky .. and running really well !!

I must have got some chips somehow .. and with 20 players left, got moved to a really tough table, with Warren Zackey, Leggan Zackey, Peter Nasser and a tough reg to my immediate left.

We are all good talkers, and the verbals were fantastic, when we attacked each others blinds.

Its in fun, and done the right way, its both great for the table, and your image. Everyone thinks I am v loose/too aggressive .. and its true, I am involved in a lot of pots .. but, its always when I have good position. I have cut-out, speculate raises from early position with 8/9 suited etc .. now, its a solid pair or better.

Having raised a tight nits blind, something like 8 times in a row, players start asking if I even bother looking at my cards .. and they are right .. If u know the guy wont 4 bet with air .. its an easy steal.

Anyway, Warren stole some chips from me, with 6♣, 4♥, when I had A♥ J♠ but we all got to the final table.

1st prize was $2500, down to 5th $250. So, its all about winning or coming second.

I immediately start raising etc, but, run into some good hands, and am knocked down to 12k chips .. chip leader has 70k, with blinds at 600-1200.

I pick up A♠, J♠ in the big blind, and Leggan shoves on me, with K♥, 10♣ .. and I manage to double up.

V next hand, I get A♣, A♠ .. Hello !! .. Ist time all night, and chip leader, has opened under the gun, for 6500.

I shove .. and my image gets me the call, as she has A♦, K♦  .. and I double up, to almost chip leader.

I lost 22k chips, calling an all-in with J♠, J♣, against his A♥, 5♥ .. with another player folding A♦, J♥ .. so, I'm 4/1 fav .. but he finds an Ace and a flush !!

Down to last 7 .. we are meandering about, and we do a deal .. the 4 of us, from the second last table, all get money .. which was v likely, as we all can play, and it was a lovely nights poker.

(( Odd thing about the deal, was .. money on screens etc, was $125 over, what we got to share .. they said numbers were over-stated .. but, customer service non-existent, and no-one tells us, till we get the loot ))

Degen Stories

Reading some stuff on TwoplusTwo and there are some classics.

http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/54/poker-beats-brags-variance/degen-stories-447948/index359.html

Along the way, someone posted a link, for a Alfred Hitchcock short story ..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cz7vMJBKCnc

T20 - S.Africa v Pakistan - Wanderers

Wet season .. with some heavy stuff,  falling over the weekend, and later in the evening, most nights.

Earlyish start, may help get a game, but, CMM 1.5+ and rising .. looks right.

Hope they get a game.

/////////////////////////

Didnt rain at all, yesterday, and thou its fractionally more overcast today, think the game will be fine.

CMM currently, 1.31

WPT SA - Winner

As the saying goes .. u could have knocked me down with a feather.

The winner, was Deon .. at least thats what I know him as .. and its a major sadness he was recorded in the event as Daniel .. with no picture, cos, I would have loved to have railed him to victory.

Deon is a regular feature at the Wednesday/Sunday tournys, and we often get to play together, as there are only 50-60 players. I am not surprised he went so deep, and am sincerely happy, he pulled off a major win.

Hes a nice guy, (thou, his pocket 5's cracked my Aces), 3 weeks ago !!

Playing Hardball

Let me start, by saying, I hate real estate agents.

Much like, bankers/lawyers/parking meter attendents .. I am sure, they have their supporters .. somewhere, but, in a country where they can often charge 7% .. yes, an eye-watering 7% of the price .. they get short shrift from me.

I have been trying to sell a property ..

I gave a mandate to sell, and specified, I wanted a certain price.

We had 2 offers, which would have fallen $5000 or so, below this price, so, I turned the offer down.

This was over the last 5 weeks, and the agent, who wants her commission, is trying to get me to budge ..

The poker, has, if anything, made me even more reluctant to sell .. and when she came with a 3rd offer .. cash, but still $5000 short, I resoundly told her, NO !!

It turns out, the potential buyer, wants to buy 3 properties, and has given her a headache, in that, he has said, he will take all 3, or none.

Cut a long story short, she is cutting her comm .. at least on my property ..

Megarain 1  .. Estage Agent 0