Ornate Push

 
 

 

 

Friday, March 30, 2007

The Richest Race In The World

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Tomorrow we get to watch some of the greatest horses in the world compete for the biggest prize money available. The race schedule is as follows :

2PM BST -
Kahayla Classic 2000m Dirt US$250,000
2.40 -
Godolphin Mile 1600m Dirt US$1,000,000
3.15 -
UAE Derby 1800m Dirt US$2,000,000
3.55 -
Golden Shaheen 1200m Dirt US$2,000,000
4.55 -
Sheema Classic 2400m Turf US$5,000,000
5.40 -
Dubai Duty Free 1777m Turf US$5,000,000
6.30 -
Dubai World Cup 2000m Dirt US$6,000,000

Big Money = Best Thoroughbreds and these races are very exciting for that reason.

The big highlight is the World Cup, as Twister says "Invasor vs Discreet Cat is the biggest dirt clash for many years. They're the two top rated in the world and the only occasion one of them was beaten was by the other."

I'm backing Invasor and Twister's on the Cat so we'll have some fun rivalry on the night. My hunches on some of these races are as follows :

2.40 : Fusaichi Richard
3.55 : Kellys Landing
4.55 : Sir Percy
5.40 : Pompeii Ruler
6.30 : Invasor

Don't coming running to me though if you back 'em and they turn into donkeys, I aint professing to be a tipster and I'll probably be 0-fer-5 by 6.45pm !

Played one $10 180 on Stars last night whilst chatting with BurnleyMik, Sir Fortune and YorkshirePud not much happened really, it was late, I was tired, I made a play based entirely on a read in the end which proved completely wrong as I was trying to read an idiot. Anyway, I did have one have fun moment in the tourney, as you can see...



Don't forget tonight it's Katitude's B'dayment... HAPPY BIRTHDAY KAT !


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Wednesday, March 28, 2007

England - Andorra

Two posts in one day, and I even tagged this one!

England as a football team were absolutely awful on Saturday when they played Israel. It was a case of watching 11 quality england players who didn't gel at all for 90 minutes all attempting to play the same way they do for their Premiership clubs. Ok, they didn't have much training time together, but it seems to me that Soccer Skills 101 should teach any coach that a team needs balance, and England completely lack it at the moment. Compounding the problem, the "brilliant" McClaren, team coach, seems to think that putting players in positions they aren't used to playing will also create some unexpected spark of football magic.

Thankfully we are told by the media that Wayne Rooney has taken matters into his own hands by striking the ball, hitting Lampard and breaking his wrist. This may be a smokescreen for the fact the McClaren has dropped Lampard from midfield, which is a difficult but essential move. It should have been tested earlier when McC had some capital for experimentation before everyone got on his back after 3 poor results. Whether he's been told not to, or just can't do it, Lampard doesn't track back to cover when other players are out of position.

So with Lampard out how should the England team line up ?

GK - Robinson

RB - Richards or Neville
CB - Ferdinand or Carragher
CB - Terry
LB - Cole

RM - Lennon
CM - Gerrard
CM - Hargreaves
LM - Downing or Barry

CF - Johnson / Defoe
CF - Rooney

This team sheet has players in their favoured positions and should balance the team enough to make them a solid proposition. Of course if Wayne Bridge was fit probably favour him at left back and move Cole forward, but for now this would be my team.

There is however no accounting for the seeming random choices our current manager chooses to make, a prematch coinflip could easily see something random like a second-choice keeper playing, with Jenas & Dyer mucking up the midfield.

Before I heard the Lampard news, my value bet of the day was going to be Andorra 1-0 England @ 200-1. The way England had been playing odds like that were worth the change of squandering a fiver. Since the Lampard news I still think the randomness of our coach makes that bet good value, but if the team sheet lines up as I've said above then I'd expect an England victory of +4 goals or more.

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Destination Unknown

Last night I actually let myself get de-stacked with TPTK (AK) on a $50 table at Stars. I can't remember the last time I did that ! It serves me right for attempting a quick half hour session before bed when I should have gone straight to sleep. Oh well, I guess that's one of the bad things about taking a long break from daily sessions, I'm re-learning the lessons and knowledge that pre-christmas would have been automatic.

I'm not sure where my game is going. I feel like I need goals, but I don't think a goal such as "I want to make $1000 in the next 6 months" has as much value as "I want to play at a level of thinking where x% of my decisions are good" or maybe even "I want to play in more than half of the $1M gtd's on Stars this year".

Yes, making money is a good goal for starters, but I could play ABC poker like a robot, make money and never get any better at poker. Maybe I don't need a yardstick at all, perhaps I just want to talk about it to make myself feel like there's a purpose to me watching all these cards fall for hours on end. So I can justify it to those who question it, just because they care. Do I need to justify it ? It's just a game. And I play ok at it. It's not like I have to justify playing CounterStrike for 4 hours of an evening, and I always LOSE at that !

I guess I dont need to know where my game is going, as long as it's going somewhere. Playing the game makes me smile, even today after getting stacked last night, I have the aura of a sagacious man. I think it comes from the confidence of knowing where you're at, even if you don't know how far the distance is that you've still to travel.

Monday, March 26, 2007

50 Things

I played some good poker this weekend, I made some dumb calls too, I mostly played Ace-Jack badly several times. I'm still a bit rusty I think. I did hit Quad T's in one tourney on Saturday, but then my KK got beat by 44, so balance was restored.

The bloggerment was good fun last night, even if I didn't last that long ! Many of the people there didn't know much about me, so here are 50 things that'll give you a better idea what I am.

1. I'm nearly 30. I still don't know how to play QQ perfectly, but I have overcome my fear of playing them badly. As evidenced yesterday evening in the Brit Blogger tourney where I brilliantly pushed them into Clouds KK.

2. I nearly lost my own crown jewels when I was 9 years old and slipped whilst doing a "tight rope walk" along a wall. I got distracted and lost my footing, time stood still for what seemed like forever while I waited for gravity to take hold of me and bring the pain. Eventually I fell, one leg either side of the 8 inch wall. The only thing that saved the family line was a small recess in the very centre where a flowerbed had been arranged. My thighs were badly damaged and took a while to recover but the feeling of relief when I actually hit the wall was the thing that made me cry.

3. So far I haven't broken any bones in my body.

4. I once fell into a bonfire which burnt the skin from my left forearm, it didn't hurt very much but I still cried because I thought I was going to get into so much trouble. I didnt get into any trouble in the end but the next 2 months were extremely painful every day.

5. The closest I have come to a nightclub punch-up is being headbutted by a guy who I didnt know, who was giving my mate a hard time, at which point I spilt my drink. Fortunately my chin was stronger than his forehead and I was too drunk to feel any pain. We celebrated as he got thrown out of the club by drinking cocktails.

6. I passed my driving test at the first attempt.

7. I am a very messy person.

8. I'm useless and lazy when it comes to long-term project stuff, however if you need me in a crisis/emergency I'm calm and dependable.

9. One of my favourite things is a calm sea on a sunny day.

10. I once dumped someone on boxing day, that's basically as bad as doing it on christmas day. I'm not proud of it.

11. I've lied to an exgirlfriend about sleeping with her best friend.

12. I've lied to a best friend about sleeping with his exgirlfriend.

13. An exgirlfriend of mine immediately slept with my best friend after we split up.

Karma ?

14. Three weeks later she cleverly exhibited some quantum mechanics by being an ex girlfriend, ex bestmatesgirlfriend and a one night stand all at the same time.

15. My first car was a mini clubman estate, which my brother had given to me. It was light brown, so we spray painted it black.

16. I was on the road for 3 weeks until my best mate (who hadn't yet passed his test) wanted a driving lesson in an empty car park and smashed into a granite wall. My lasting memory from this moment is from the other friend with us who was sat in the back. Upon impact with the wall, writing off the car, the two of us in front suffering minor cuts and bleeding, my friend in the back was heard screaming "My glasses ! My parents are going to kill me" when he realised he'd just broken a lense.

17. I'm a geek but water-cooling an expensive, electrical device such as a computer just seems an unnecessary risk and illogical.

18. The last time I threw up from drinking was on the 24th February after Action Rich and Tension Girl's engagement bash. We had just finished a lot of shots in a short space of time. I should know my limits better as I get older.

19. I still haven't stopped smoking and I started 10 years ago.

20. My hands shake a little nearly all the time, I think it's the nicotine.

21. Trust your instincts and follow your heart. It's better to call and be wrong than fold and think " what if " forever.

22. Same for life. Listen to your intuition more than your reason and follow your heart.
For the last 7 years I've nearly always listen to my head over my heart, and this has left me with regrets. I've only recently started listening to my own advice.

23. I've got no tattoo's or piercings.

24. My Personality Type is INFP

25. My nickname from 8 - 17 years was "Vintage", I was the oldest in my year.
My nickname from 17 - 23 was "Shagbag"
My nickname now is "TanO" or "Tan" or "TanOrpheus"

26. I lost my virginity when I was 17, and lasted about 20 minutes. For the first 10 minutes all I could think about was making sure it lasted more than 10 minutes, then I relaxed and it was wonderful. I only divulged my "cherry status" with my girlfriend after the event, and she kindly acted like she was surprised.

27. The best computer game ever made is Counter-Strike. I have spent more hours and had more enjoyment with friends playing CS than all other games combined.

28. I'm the youngest of 3 children, my sister and brother are 13 and 10 years older than me.

29. When I was 12 I went to a friends house and was bitten on the arm by his over excited weimaraner, I cycled home with blood pouring down my arm, it was just a small puncture and the shock was worse than the bite. Since then, I prefer cats to dogs.

30. I'm almost totally deaf in my right ear, I was born with a little piece of inner ear missing so I can't hear a lot of frequencies on that side. Therefore I shall always position myself on your right when we are walking, will always try to sit on the right-most edge of any dinner table and always sleep on my good left ear so that no noise wakes me up. I sub-conciously lip read, this generally makes guys think I'm not honest because I wont look them in the eye and makes girls think I'm trying to look down their cleavage.

31. I like acoustic guitar better than electric and love trying to learn picking guitar tunes. I dont play my guitar enough.

32. My first serious girlfriend cheated on me with a friend at a party, in the room next door. I had gone to bed early so that I could wake up at 7am to take her to work the next morning. I think if you ask them, my ex's would say I have pushed away every girl I've been close to since.

33. The most I have ever been "stuck" from poker in a 24 hour period is $2k down. The most I have ever been up is $4k.

34. The Jack of Hearts is my favourite card.

35. I'm in love

36. She doesn't know

37. I went on a road trip with 3 friends from San Fran - LA - Vegas and it was the most memorable holiday I've ever had.

38. Major places I've visited :

Vancouver
Toronto
Florida
San Fran
LA
Vegas (twice)
Edinburgh
London
Barcelona
France
Madeira
Amsterdam (five times ? - can't remember exactly)
Thailand (Phi Phi Island, paradise)

39. When I was 17 I managed to cut school for almost 3 consecutive weeks to spend each day with my girlfriend, who was also cutting school. When I was finally caught out I got away with it thanks to an outrageous cover story about my girlfriend's ex-boyfriend threatening to kill me and hanging around the school gates. Looking back I have no idea how I got away with that. It may have been my first successful bluff.

40. I'm not a morning person, it takes one cup of tea and two coffee's to get me up to day speed. It's best not to approach me before 11am if you want a meaningful response.

41. I'm a hopeless romantic.

42. My birthday is on 26 September 1977, which makes me a Libran.

43. My philosophical outlook is existentialist.

44. My library consists of around 20 poker books, 40 fiction books and a dozen factual books.

45. I've seen a horse being put down, not pleasant.

46. I've assisted in the castration of a horse, worse than 45.

47. My best tournament finishes have been where I have won pots in which I had no good cards but a good read on my opponents.

48. I don't like people who moan about poker. Sure, I'm a moody fucker, but it's rarely about poker. It is absolutely pointless moaning about random cards being dealt which didn't help you.

49. If I was American I'd vote democrat and be proud.

50. Dont use chips to tell a story, use your chips to ask the question.

Thursday, March 22, 2007

Instant Satisfaction

I came to the conclusion that tournaments were like long term relationships that included an arduous courting process where you put in hours and hours into foreplay without getting laid. Whereas cash games are like those ladies you pick up at the Hooker Bar in Las Vegas. Pauly

Just a quickie, here's the highlight of last night's visit to the poker red light district, during my 53 hand stay I made $130 in less than hour, which I think is a record return/hour for me at the $.25/.50 tables. 4 hands after this one I went to sleep, glowing :o)

Table 'Delportia II' 9-max Seat #6 is the button
Seat 1: all the time ($19.70 in chips)
Seat 2: Ablaze666 ($10 in chips)
Seat 3: BwhatUwant2B ($44.95 in chips)
Seat 4: mattyjgyet ($68 in chips)
Seat 5: X_ruffian_X ($47 in chips)
Seat 6: rms12 ($68.40 in chips)
Seat 7: nsal8260 ($12.45 in chips)
Seat 8: mesmer78209 ($42.25 in chips)
Seat 9: TanOrpheus ($76.50 in chips)
nsal8260: posts small blind $0.25
mesmer78209: posts big blind $0.50
Ablaze666: posts big blind $0.50
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to TanOrpheus [Kc Kd]
TanOrpheus: raises $2 to $2.50
all the time: folds
Ablaze666: folds
BwhatUwant2B: calls $2.50
mattyjgyet: folds
X_ruffian_X: calls $2.50
rms12: folds
nsal8260: folds
mesmer78209: folds
*** FLOP *** 2d 9d Td
TanOrpheus: bets $3.50
BwhatUwant2B: calls $3.50
X_ruffian_X: raises $8.50 to $12
TanOrpheus: raises $62 to $74 and is all-in
BwhatUwant2B: folds
X_ruffian_X: calls $32.50 and is all-in
*** TURN *** 2d 9d Td Qc
*** RIVER *** 2d 9d Td Qc Tc
*** SHOW DOWN ***
TanOrpheus: shows Kc Kd (two pair, Kings and Tens)
X_ruffian_X: mucks hand
TanOrpheus collected $98.25 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $101.25 | Rake $3
Board 2d 9d Td Qc Tc
Seat 1: all the time folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 2: Ablaze666 folded before Flop
Seat 3: BwhatUwant2B folded on the Flop
Seat 4: mattyjgyet folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 5: X_ruffian_X mucked Jd Jc
Seat 6: rms12 (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 7: nsal8260 (small blind) folded before Flop
Seat 8: mesmer78209 (big blind) folded before Flop
Seat 9: TanOrpheus showed Kc Kd and won ($98.25) with two pair, Kings and Tens

Any comments about playing this better/differently are welcome of course. Meanwhile in the real world I am still writing forms and submitting cheques and applications for things related to the new flat, which is now due for completion on the 5th April. We're also thinking of selling the boat too, about which I am totally gutted, it's a tough decision to make but an essential one at the moment. Don't forget to sign up for the brit-based blogger tourney on Sunday and tell yer friends !

Monday, March 19, 2007

The Inaugural BritBloggerment




Game ON ! Come along one and all to join in some cheap, british bloggerdom. Just make sure you show some stiff upper lip when your aces get cracked by the hammer !

Thanks to BurnleyMik,Yorkshire Pud and AcornMan for setting up the inaugural UK Blogger/reader tourney on Sunday March 25th at 9pm BST.( 4pm EST ). The name for this first one in the lobby is Britbloggerment and can be found under the tourney /private section of the lobby at Pokerstars. The password is donkament and the entry fee for this No Limit holdem game is only $5.50 (we're cheap over here).

Come along, and you might get to bust me and have bragging rights for a week or two :o)

Thursday, March 15, 2007

Lessons

1 : It should never, ever, be left a whole month between blog posts.
2 : Cheltenham day 1, never bet on horses, they can't be trusted. It's a leak.
3 : Everything in moderation, take a break from poker once in a while for a whole month, it'll give you a better perspective
4 : Don't arrive somewhere, look around and be so absorbed in the moment that you forget the journey you went through to get there.
5 : I love my past. I love my present. I love my future possibilities.
6 : Trust your heart, believe in yourself, have faith.

I'm still playing poker, but much less lately because every night I've had something to do with regard to the impending flat purchase. The valuation came back good, the mortgage is all set to go and now it's just lawyers paperwork etc, etc, etc. I feel nervous anticipation as the completion date of 5th April rapidly approaches. I'm still reading yer blogs out there and hopefully it sounds like we'll have a UK blogger tourney running soon which will be very good for our little community !

And finally, a quote for the day

Sometimes when you look back on a situation, your realize it wasn't all you thought it was. A beautiful girl walked into your life. You fell in love. Or did you? Maybe it was only a childish infatuation, or maybe just a brief moment of vanity.

Henry Bromel, Northern Exposure, The Big Kiss, 1991

Contact Details

Yahoo IM : TanOrpheus

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Description

Ornate - adj. 1. Elaborately, heavily, and often excessively ornamented. 2. Flashy, showy, or florid in style or manner;

Push - 1. To exert outward pressure or force against something. 2. To advance despite difficulty or opposition; press forward. 3. To expend great or vigorous effort.

Ornate Push - The messy ramblings of a troubled poker player and tilted mind.

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