What's better than discovering a bad player at your table? A bad player with lots of chips. -DrPauly

We have a "bad" player in our home game. He's not very good at poker but he is brave. Our game used to be arranged in a SNG format but I would try to get a lot of play out of them with small blind increases. It didn't really work because 4 of us would always rebuy if given the opportunity and 2 would never rebuy. Rebuys put so many chips in play the game would never end. The last 3 weeks we've played a cash game, £20 buyin and blinds of 10p/20p. Rebuys allowed and anyone can cash out whenever they like. Our brave players weaknesses are fully exposed in a cash game. When we played tourneys he would always be there in the final 3, partly due to luck and partly due to an endless supply of rebuys. I'll admit in the early days it annoyed me, until playing online I learnt to accept my fate gracefully. Now when bravery beats me he gleefully talks up how I don't like losing to him, but I can take the talk with a grin. Because I know in a cash game I'll always have a shot at winning it back.

Bravery's strategy is along the lines of -

Never raise preflop, ever.
Rarely fold to a single raise preflop, regardless of other action.
When you think you could be ahead, or the other person has not much, bet everything you have.

The net result of this play over the last 3 games is as follows

TanOrpheus + 100
Hooks + 57
Twister + 17
Bravery - 174

This is made all the more satisfying because in our last session Bravery was up +85 for the night and I was down -50, I ground my way back to a £40 stack and then talked Bravery into making a crazy call when I had Q9 on a 499A7 board. I can't quite remember but I think he'd paired the 4 and I remember all the talk was about whether I had an Ace or not. He decided not and called my allin.
Trust me, you'd love to have him in your game.

*******

Mine That Bird won the Kentucky Derby in the most ridiculous horse race ever run. All the Jockeys in the race bar one were apparently on something nice and speedy and had no idea what pace a 1m2f race needs to be run at. Imagine lining up the ten best 400m runners in the world for a race but 9 of them run it as if it is only a 100m sprint and are then spent for the rest of the distance. The 10th best guy pacing himself blazes past the rest in the final in the final stretch and wins.

This is made all the more clear by the overhead shots if you get to catch a replay of the race. By my reckoning Poineerof The Nile was the best horse in this race, but he blazed away with the rest of the field and was left for dead at the end when you see Mine That Bird running at almost twice the speed of the exhausted field and come from dead last past them all to win. Mine That Bird was not a better animal than the other horses in this race. The horse did have the only sensible jockey in the shape of Calvin Borel, and he should get all the plaudits for finding victory where others were idiotic.
One shouldn't bet on horses and sports, there are too many variables involved. I am yet to learn this lesson.
*******
Ricky Hatton got decked 3 times by Manny Pacquiao and dispatched with 8 seconds left of the 2nd round. Pacquiao proved again he's the best in the world, Hatton proved he never learnt to change his brawling style. Hatton was a exciting fighter but never had the technical ability to adapt strategically to win a fight.
*******
The IT Dept I work in is being downsized, I am very fortunate not to be one of those culled for now. This is partly thanks to natural wastage in my area of expertise (two people left before the bad news started coming) and partly thanks to the extra effort I put in during the time I wasn't blogging earlier this year. I originally started that extra commitment as a push to gain promotion and was disappointed when that didn't happen, now I'm relieved I got my arse in gear when I did and made myself look more like the kind of person who should stay. I'm lucky for now. Many others aren't. I'm counting my blessings.
*******
And finally, if Barcelona beat boring Chelsea in the semi final of the Champions League tonight they will set up what would be on paper the most exciting final in years against Manchester United. Come on Barca !

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