Credit Crunch Bitten You Yet?

I've been following the news with interest all week: all doom and gloom, cutbacks left right and centre... Seems ironic that the Government seems more concerned with propping up the banking sector than safeguarding community services. In the mist of it all the shocking revelations that €83m was siphoned from the Disability Services funds, by that ongoing bad variance AKA the HSE, barely cause a stir.

'So what' says the News '€400bn is more juicer to chew on...'

All the talks of the ECB lowering the interest rates has me sceptical too. Do anyone really think that will happen??!!! Did any of you notice that almost all the fixed rates have been steadily increased by the banks by .1/.2% across the board?

'So what' says the News 'We need to speculate what the banks will do with the €400bn...'

The Unions are encouraging us to reject the recent paydeal, rising unemployment and the Government majority owned 'State' airline is considering laying off its ground staff in favour of outsourcing. Hardly reassuring...

'So what' says the News 'US Congress just approved a $700bn bad debt bail out! Everyone is working towards recovery...'

Two of my friends announced that they were doing their Christmas shopping this week. My eldest gives me a list of 20 toys/games and subtly hints that I pass it on to Santa for him. Eeek! Why so early!!! I plan to bring my winning from the Deepstack to Amsterdam in November - that's time enough for me, and Santa will have to make do with what he can find in Kalverstraat! Then the rumour mill starts grinding out more bad news: the credit cards will be withdrawn, overdrafts will be frozen, forget shopping and start paying them off now!

'Ah sure' says the News 'If you run into debt the Banks are covered... just don't go over €400bn on the credit cards.'

Several prominent players were complaining they were too late to register, or had other commitments, to play in the IPO or Laddies game in Killarney ... Let's be honest - the real reason lies with the credit crunch... right?! Come clean!

I'm old enough to remember the bad old 80's, being in secondary school with peer pressure to look good was tough if you didn't have the means! The shame of having to wear those god awful council glasses! The shame of having no headstone for my father's grave for 4/5 years! The shame of having to sell the family car,and my mother had to hitch with the weeks takings (we had a business) to the bank in the next town... No worse than anyone and we survived.

'Uh oh' says the News 'WARNING: This recession will be worse. MUCH worse.'

With the looming threats of rising bills, food costs and interest rates reared last May - it was time to start cushioning myself for the worse. I changed my driving style, turned off the air con, and shopped around for petrol, I pay my son in PC hours to clean the car (he's very good!); shopped for food bargains (very easy right now), the new fridge with the extra freezer space is full! I reduced our heating usage, got strict with electricity and got rewarded with the cheapest utility bill I've ever had last week! A gas bill for €17!!! I'm so proud of it - I carry it around everywhere! I even applied to fix my mortgage for 5 years... just before the rates went up.
But the best advice yet had to to from a client last month. This little old lady whose daughter is regular on the poker scene, upon learning that I was a player asked me how was my 'poker purse'. She had me mystified at first then explained that her daughter held two purses: one for housekeeping and the other for poker! "And never the two shall meet!" LOL! While my virtual online 'purse' is pathetic... my live purse is currently richer than my housekeeping one that's for sure!

I set myself a 1k challenge for August - started really well but had a disastrous final week, but glad to report I was €700 up by 31st August and already had that spent! September added another €230 profit to start off my 'purse' (didn't play as much, kept to low stake games) plus a bottle of sparkling wine the best hand (straight flush to the Jack) and October is off to a good start with another €170 profit into the 'purse'... it should have been €390 but I messed up in the final hand headsup. Meh! Feck the credit crunch - I'm setting myself a 1k target for October!

"Ah now" says the News... Shhhhhhh! I'm enjoying my wine!

Maybe I should rename myself Queen Fish!

GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR! I'm so pissed off at myself!

Was in the mood to play tonight but was too late to go anywhere. Had $300-400 spread out over 3 sites... Betway; PPP; Devilfish... Decided to hop on those! And totally spewed the lot to $100... Well below $100!!!! Nothing but major spewing sessions with stoooopid donk calls! :(

I should have logged off when I was falling below 20% but no... Being the total tilt-roller I just had to keep going "trying to clear variance!" IDOT!

66 into 78 on a J10Q board, the 78 kept check-calling my raises to the end... meh(!)
Called UTG's pf-raise holding KK ... checked behind him on the flop... A on turn and I push, UTG calls with AK(!)
Meeting KK on a KQx board holding J10 for straight/flush draw - I really need to stay away from draws! I'm an awful one for over valuing them :(
KQ suited flush beaten by A3 off for a higher flush... I checked behind on the turn (3rd suited card) and pushed when the river showed a 4th suit(!)
Re-raising with AK on all streets - on a flush board with no ace and no king in sight(!)
And folding 55 in SB to a 3xBB button raise, button went on to show 97off... very next hand he does same and I shoved with 72, only to kicked out by his 44s or 55s(!)
Worse was calling an all-in with 50% of my chips holding J9 (what was I thinking???!!!) into QQ! I deserved the criticism in the chat box that went something like this:

-What a donk
-J9 OFF? LOL
-LOL
-sry... I pressed t wrong button, meant to fold (pathetic lame excuse!)
-yeah yeah donk!
-Ty fish! LOL

When I pushed AIPF with JJ a few hands later - wasn't surprised to get 4 callers(!):

-Another J9? Me calling
-LOL More value donk!
-havta call tat!
-bye bye fish!

GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR! Time to get some coaching me thinks. :P

Charity Poker Event - 28th September

The HSE cutbacks have really affected the voluntary community sector; and DeafHear.ie is no exception. With all the rural outreach clinics curtailed Deaf/Hard of Hearing have to travel to the nearest Resource Centre for information, hearing aid batteries (we sell them for €3 compared to €7 in your 'local' chemists!) and other advocacy services. Cost of Deaf Technology has increased; a hearing person can buy a simple smoke alarm in Woodies for €20 but the cheapest Smoke Alarm for a Deaf/Hard of Hearing person will set them back €170 plus installation costs (and no, there are NO grants available). The Universal Newborn Hearing Screening Project has been put on hold despite a well run campaign and a successful pilot project with Rotunda Hospital - unbelievable considering that Ireland is the only Western country without one! The Mental Health and Family Support (social workers) Service is struggling with an increase in referrals. With the majority of our clients depended on Social Welfare - the Celtic tiger hasn't really benefited the Deaf/Hard of Hearing community and the current recession is really biting hard.

Rather than moan about it - DeafHear.ie embarked on a fundraising drive with each centre doing their share. A National Sky Dive has been planned for 12th October and two of our staff members: Shane & Geraldine (Gerii) along with Gerii's partner Andrew will be throwing themselves out of the plane for the cause! Two of them are really scared of heights (I give ya a clue: it's not the female!) which makes it all the more funnier! We need to raise a minimum of €2,000 but we set ourselves a challenge of €3,000!

I suggested running a poker night, at first no one would agree... Thankfully the CEO & the Regional Manager gave their blessing, and I was off to organise it before they could change their minds!

JP Poker has kindly agreed to host it in Molloy's Pub (it's also known as the "local deaf club" due to its close proximity to the Tallaght Deaf Club) on the provision that it starts at 4pm. Some colleagues from the other resource centres have agreed to come along on the provision that we teach them how to play; a couple of Irish Deaf Poker regulars have agreed to show them basics from 3:30pm

I am actively looking for sponsors to sponsor a table (half a table even) to cover the organising costs (e.g. refreshments etc); so far I've three tables sponsored... We have a raffle too, I have several lovely raffle prizes already - including vouchers for restaurants & shops, concert tickets, gifts and bottles.

It should be a good fun day: please come along! Leave the car at home and check out the cheap booze on offer at Molloys including their famous pitchers of beer! Join the re-buy madness and support DeafHear.ie Dublin South Sky Dive Challenge!

Cya all there!

IDP's Deepstack is coming and the seats are getting HOT!

Sorry I won't be there at the Irish Winter Festival on October Bank Holiday weekend - I'll be in the Fitzwilliam for the Irish Deaf Poker's Deepstack Classic! A note of advance warning: I'm going to win!

The Fitzwilliam have been very generous: allowing us the use of the premises, staff, and food 'for peanuts'. Enabling us to keep the reg small and allow more money into the prize fund.

There are several Deaf poker players who have never set foot inside a casino and this novelty along with the news that the expected prize fund will exceed €4,000 has the event selling fast!

IDP set ourselves a limit of 80 seats, expecting to have 70 players, but as of today and with 7 weeks to go: 75 seats have been pre-registered! If you haven't reserved your seat - DO IT NOW!!!!!!

Once we hit 80, there will be a reserve list set up... I'm sure the good people in the Fitz will help us to accommodate the extra numbers... But don't count on it! Reserve your seat now!

Betway.com offered to run a freeroll (password needed) on Monday 8th September or IDP with $100 GTD and 2 tickets to the Deepstack up for grabs. All the registered players and Deaf poker clubs were sent details. When the freeroll started there were 70 players registered, on my table I had one London player and 8 Latvians all from Riga(!) They played into us very aggressively, I was literally in a 'push or fold' mode for the first two levels finally building my stack up to 12k. Then lost it in two sick hands... one Latvian kept going all-in pre-flop every few hands trying to win the blinds, he got called twice showing 10 7 suited and a J4 off and was down to 5.7k when he shoved again UTG+1. I was on the button with AQsuited and called; he showed 88 - flop showed two hearts, but no heart never mind a A or Q to help me and I was down to 6k. Two hands later I had KJsuited and raised, another short-stacked loose Latvian pushed all in on the button with Q2; I called, seeing it as a steal... he won with a pair of 2's and left me with 580(! ) When the blinds got to me (blinds 200/400) I had to push with Q8 suited against AA... and it was GG, UL, G'nite to me!

I continued to rail Cathy 'Forever Late' (in sit-out mode!!!) and Ciaran 'DefSheriff' the last two Irish to make the final table, along with 1 Swedish Deaf player and 6 Latvians who were being coy about how they got the password if they were deaf etc. Cathy in sit-out mode was hilarious! She was all-in no less than 6 times... and won 5 of those showdowns with top pair, two pairs, straight (holding 2 5 on a A34xx board against 88) and a set (holding 9 5 against QQ with 9 on the flop and 9 on river!) She got to final table, then managed to get online just in time to push with her remaining 120 chips and lost! You should have stayed offline Cathy! LOL!

Ciaran made it to 3rd place - not easy with Latvians colluding with each other, it was so obvious, the Latvian chipleader (who had double the average stack on the table) would raise to ensure Ciaran/Swedish player folded, another short-stacked Lativan player would re-raise all-in and chipleader would fold with only a few chips left to play! This ensured that the Latvians remained in the game... When it was down to the final 3 - both Ciaran and one Latvian were sitting on less than 5BBs; my suspicions of collusion were confirmed when chipleader made his usual raise and Ciaran folded only for the short-stacked Latvian to call him with A3... Chipleader showed 10 3 off... WTF! The cheeky chipleader then wrote a comment on IDP website asking if we were paying for his trip to Dublin now that he had won the Freeroll(!)

I wrote a complaint off to Betway afterwards; got the usual reply that they will look into it. I hope they will investigate this thoroughly and reward the tickets to the final two deaf players (Ciaran & Swedish Player Chris Markvelle) although it was a freeroll with small stakes the principal is still important IMO. A few players told me afterwards they had trouble getting online/getting into Betway; which was a shame, I would have loved to see more Deaf players in the game.

Back to the Deepstack: the rumour has it, that our next monthly game on 4th October will be a freeroll with re-buys with one FREE Deepstack ticket up for grabs; with the re-buys funding a few extra tickets... Seeing we'll burst the 80 player mark by then, with most of our regulars are already pre-reg'ed for the main event - the free tickets will just mean some of you lucky ducks will get your seat for less than €70!

Wooo-hoo! Bring it on boyos!

UPDATE: Betway got back to me after an investigation and agreed to awarded the tickets in the freeroll to the two Deaf players: Ciaran & the Swedish Player. Bravo! WP!

I should have offered to split...

Played the Bell last night.

Was a little late starting, spent the day making the most of the good weather working the garden. Was wary walking in, glancing around the tables checking for the GHA... he wasn't there, phew! Heard a few more choice comments from others what he was mouthing on the final table about me and boy, I will so lose it with him next time... Just hoping to harvest the feeling and use it at the DPN's End of League night coming up soon - I'm dreaming of kicking him out in SPECTACULAR fashion, not just winning mind, but a sick sick bad beat.

Anyway I digress... back to the Bell.

I sat down at my table with Mr Muscles, Phil (Ro wasn't there), Young Swedish Bluffer (YSB), Sharkfin Hair Guy (SHG), Tweety and 2 newbies: Bleach Blonde Yob (fish) and another bald yob (fish). In my first hand I had QJ off in BB (25/50), 5 limpers then YSB (in CO seat) raised to 250. YSB is a notorious stealer, he raises in the CO/Button nearly every time, no way was I gonna let him steal my blinds! So I called, Tweety called and the rest folded. Flop came out K10x rainbow; I checked, Tweety checked, all eyes on YSB who threw out 500, with 1050 in the pot and a straight draw I called the 500. Tweety folded. Turn was 9, putting a possible flush draw... I threw out 1200 expecting him to raise me, he called. River 8 (no flush) and I was home dry. I debated whether to shove, putting him on AK, KK or 10 10 here or playing strong enough to extract the most money from him while indicating my strength, I bet 4k... and YSB called. Expecting him to show QJ for a split pot, or KK for 3 of a kind at least, poor lad turned over AA in dismay. Then the comments started '250 is too small for AA'... 'you should have re-raised after Jules 1200 bet'... 'did ya not see the straight?!' I really felt sorry for the lad; he is a decent enough LAG on marginal hands, steals blinds good, but truly falls apart on the monsters like AA, KK, QQ, AK etc. He really needs to lose his loose bluffer image at the table to be taken more seriously in future games...

Two orbits later, YSB was hovering on 4k when he pushed AIPF with K10, suited into my AJ off, Flop AAJQx. Ouch! He stood up came around the table, shook my hand firmly looked at me in the eye, smiled and made all the right noises 'NH GG WP etc.' then he was gone. Good breeding and gamesmanship there: he produced a good strong hand shake with the correct etiquette - I admire that in a person... don't trust the weak hand-shakers who don't look at you when they shake your hand either. Get a good grip, look at the person in the eyes and smile/make your comment directly. YSB: your mammy should be proud of you!

After these early leads I was hand dead, lost most of my chips to short stacker's AIPF calling one player's 77 with AK and another KQ off with A10 suited on ... no help on the Board and they are back in the game. I folded K10 to another AIPF (I would have been leaving 1.5k had I called) and was initially raging at myself when the board came out K10xxA then delight when player showed A10 to win... so glad I wasn't in that pot or it would have been early doors for me!

I started the final table on 10.5k (2nd smallest stack) to Phil's 32k chiplead and 4 players on circa 25k. Paul joined us with 11.5 and SHG was on 5.4k. I had no notion of winning at this stage was was determined not to play too tight, with 4 well jarred players who I knew would trip up sooner or later and boy, was I right! I got ultra LAG pushing all in with any suited hands with high kickers, low pairs etc got no callers just gained a couple of blinds then made a cheeky move!

I was in push or fold mode with an M of 7 and UTG with 15.5k, Mr Muscles (TAG) was BB (1000/2000), One of the Drunks who was half nodding off woke up to his cards, started licking his lips, and got into his 'ready to pounce' mode that singled he was going to bet big... what a tell! Last time he did this he got called by a Short Stack and turned over J8 off. I had Kd4d and had a good feeling about this, I shoved. He called me as I predicted The cards folded around to Mr Muscles who went into the tank for an age then called. I yelped! This Silver Drunk I can face but Mr M??!! He wouldn't only shove all-in from BB without some sort of monster hand. I was right: black AQ off. The Silver Drunk slurred 'Snap!' turning over his black AQ off - but I just knew I had the edge!

Flop: Ad xx [ooooooh!]

Turn: 5d [yesssss! One more Diamonds!]

River: ?d [yaaaaaaaay!]

My sincere apologies to Mr Muscle for my mad whoop of delight! I know you think I'm a 'decent player' at the best of times but I went totally loose and it paid off... sorry! Mr M is off to Vegas this week for 8 days with €8k (niiiiiicccceeeee!) I'm sure he'll run good and bring home loads of interesting stories plus a double up or better!

Phil lost his chips in equally glamorous fashion getting knocked out very quickly. Paul S, Tweety and Drunk Eamon followed suit. Til there was just a Newbie sitting on a big stack playing very few hands so I had no real read on him as a player. And SHG of course.

SHG played the tightest game ever - folding his cards OOP without bothering to look at them(!) Only pushing three times, and getting called, with AAs twice and AK, working his way up from 5.5k stack to healthy 26k.

I was on 75k and raised to 20k (blinds 4k/8k) with A6 off; Newbie woke up and raised to 45k... leaving 10 or so behind. A well jarred SHG shoved all-in. I thought for a min... SHG had shown nothing but AA, AKs, AQ, QQ all night, being drunk made him tighter not looser. Damn - I had to fold. Newbie showed KQ suited, SHG had AK, Flop: Ax6xx

Meh! I had folded the best hand!!! FFS!

Now I was down to 55k and SHG was the chipleader on a massive 70k+ hand... Newbie pushed all in with his remaining 20k and got called by SHG won with high card A. And I was into HU with SHG!

Susie Woosie who was railing me (for a change!) indicated that I should ask to split. But before I could offer, the dealer had dealt out the hand pushing out the blinds from our stacks. I just thought 'ah I'll wait til after this hand...'

I was in BB (now 8k/16k) and well covered by SHG. I looked down on K3 suited; SHG (SB) called for 16k and I checked... flop came out KQJ rainbow... SHG checked, I checked... turn 6. SHG checked again. I thought 'right - top pair... shoving time...' and in I went. SHG insta-called me turning over the nuts: KQ(!) I hate slowrollers... tut-tut!

And it was GG... NH... goodnight!

Awwww... I should have offered to split!

Do you trust fortune tellers?

Was working in a busy country town today with a work colleague 'S', we had an hour to kill before the next client arrived. It was wet miserable morning... the cafe was full of fat builders in ill-fitting shirts and too-big-on-the-butt trousers with egg and tomato sauce dripping down their stubby chins. Grossed me out so much I insisted on leaving! There wasn't anything else to do apart from walk in the rain...

On the Square there was a camper van parked advertising Gypsy Lee 'AS SEEN ON TV' Psychic Clairvoyant Palm Readings, Crystal Ball and Tarot Cards... These weren't your standard handmade/painted posters they were real professional print job with numerous photos of the said fortune teller with various stars and celebrities. Neither of us had heard of her but we were still suitable impressed (mind you 'S' hadn't a clue who Paul Newman was either!) so in we went.

S, who opted for a Crystal Ball reading for €30, came out 11 mins later smiling but still looking a tad disappointed. She felt the reading was general but pretty vague; the woman instantly assumed that she was in a relationship (which she was) and predicted that she would marry him eventually (S was kinda disappointed with this for some reason!) have 3 children in quick succession and give up her job temporarily to mind them. She predicted correctly that there were 4 other members in her family that she was close to (true) and she had 3 close friends that she can count on and go far with (S is off on holidays this Saturday with 2 girlfriends while the other best friend is taking her camping next month... )

Still S was disappointed... no magical dark knight of romance, no scandal to make her famous, or lotto wins to look forward to... just life as she already knew it: boring humdrum day-to-day life.

I went in and asked for the tarot reading (they are cards...) for €40 as I was feeling a little flush after last night's cash win. I was determined not give any telling answers to leading questions such tellers usually ask.

As I sat down at the other side of the caravan with the fortune teller, she immediately asked me a common job related question for a "friend" of hers... I put it down to the fact that S might have told her what we worked at and replied with the usual doled out advice that we are trained to give. Later S swore blind that the subject of our work never came up... Hmmm!?

The gypsy asked me why I picked the cards, and not the crystal ball like S, not wanting to mention poker I thought of 'S' and mumbled something about a previous crystal ball reading I had been disappointed with. They she made me jump...

"Do you play cards m'dear?" she had a deep husky voice and her irises shone yellow with brown specks reminding me of a cat. Huh? I swear I never touched the deck! I had no poker memorabllia or similar on myself... I looked puzzled and asked 'why she thought that?' but she didn't reply to me just spread the cards and asked me to pick any 5 and make a wish in my heart.

"Have you ever given any thought to fostering or adoption?" perhaps in the past... "well I see you doing it in future; fostering a child then adopting them... I see you with 3 children of your own too... 2 girls and a boy... the boy will be born first followed by two girls..." I got goosebumps hearing this! I already have a son and daughter, my son is the oldest. But I SWEAR I have no plans to have a 3rd!!! The very thought has me very worried right now!

"I see you surrounded by lots of children... does your job have any involvement with children?" Yes, spot on... "they will grow up to work alongside you in the future... " Hope it's not in poker or their parents won't thank me!

"You are looking for a partner, is that right my dear?" Ah ha! Another leading question! I stared at the cards I picked looking for the 'male figure' that sprung the question - not one card had a male figure. "You may know him already my dear... you may have turned him down once already; don't do it a second time... his initial is P or C" pfffft! I assure all my admirers that there's no 'P' or 'C' in my life, and I've not turned down anyone for a date recently! I bet Susie Woosie is already making a mental list here(!)

"Do you worry about money dear?" Who doesn't! I have a mortgage, a job that involves a lot of travelling and an expensive hobby (no I didn't tell her that!) But she predicts that I will never be 'rich' I will know tight times but I will come into a fair sum of money at various occasions in my life (of course... poker winnings!) and my home will always be luxurious (of course... thanks to my poker winnings!) and welcoming (Did I tell ya about my plan to buy a poker table with wooden top for the dining room with my 'next big win! Just bring a bottle and some cash over with you...) "you will never be in a position to ask for help... as long as you spend wisely" Amen to that!

"I see you climbing the ladder in your career my dear" I nodded, I'm actively working on that one right now and I incorporated it into my 'wish'... "am I right that you wished for career success?" Cue another goosebump moment. "The cards say it will come to you, all in good time my dear..."

There were other messages about my life that rang eeriely true to form in my 20 minute reading... but I digress sharing them for now.

Before I went in - I gave my bag to S, having already taken the €40 from my wallet and tucking it inside my shirt (in my defence I had no pockets... I blame Susie Woosie for giving me this habit!) I was told of a fortune teller years ago who put her children under the table to rob unsuspecting clients of their cash as they placed their handbag on the floor... now Gypsy Lee looked too old to have small children and I had a clear view under the table so it was unlikely to happen but I wasn't taking any chances!

"You can take your money out of your bra, its quite safe here my dear..." Impossible! How did she know???!!! I felt more goosebumps. No... The woman must have CCTV cameras or something!?! I laughed and paid her dues as she chanted the gypsy blessing over the cash in my palm. I just hope she was praying to the deities for it to double up for me than forgiveness for scamming me so well!

IF it was a scam that is, cos she was so good, accurate or scarily close enough to be! Unlike my colleague 'S' bemoaning her 'humdrum' life ... I must admit I'd be very happy if my life turns out the way as predicted!

From $0.31 to $31 in 4 hours...

Was in the mood to play online tonight but I didn't want to add any more money to my account... Instead I challenged myself to grind on the 0.31c I had left! LOL!

2 x .10c SnGs (10 player) = .50c
2 x .20c SnGs = $1.60
Get on .02/.04c tables, put down $1.80, got up with $5 (crazy playing here!)
Play 30 seater $2+.40c = $6 approx
Join .10/.20c table, put down $8 and got up with $31!

Such a small amount be happy about but hey... I don't usually run this good on such small amounts!

Paddy Power Ramasses 0.10/0.20, hand converted by the iPoker Converter at Talking-Poker

saw flop saw showdown

Button Heroine ($13.36)
SB ERCIYESMG ($4.50)
BB EASYCALL75 ($15.83)
UTG theguns1 ($20.38)
UTG+1 yarosh91 ($10.67)

Preflop: Heroine is on the Button with A A
theguns1 raises to 0.80,
1 fold,
Heroine raises to 2,
ERCIYESMG raises to 4.50,
1 fold,
theguns1 raises to 9,
Heroine moves all-in for 11.36,
theguns1 calls 4.36.


Flop (31.42) J K 5

Turn (31.42) 6

River (31.42) 4

theguns1 shows Q Q
Heroine shows A A
ERCIYESMG shows 9 T

Heroine wins 31.42 with One pair, Aces

I would have raised more than $2 but with the SB on major tilt pushing AIPF in almost every other hand with a wide range, he made me fold several times holding the better hand. I needed him to push again here. I didn't expect theguns1 to raise, knowing he had a monster plus he had me well covered, it was time to shove!

First time I secure a win with AA in weeks too! GG!

Thank you Lady Variance!