Until last Saturday I’d never broken a bone, or at least not had one officially diagnosed. It’s quite possible that I’ve clattered a toe on a couple of kodok99 occasions, but as there’s precious little a hospital can do I never actually found out.
It was a combination of my 12 year old son kindly polishing the laminate flooring at the bottom of the stairs, a fresh pair of socks and the fact that I’m a fair sized unit that led to me crashing down, cracking my elbow on the stair and looking a complete idiot! I eventually gave in to my good lady wife who implored me to get it checked out on Monday and lo and behold, a suspected fracture. They’re not actually sure because of what are know as ‘fat pads’. Cheers for that…what my stomach has to do with my elbow I don’t know, although even my best friends say I don’t know my arse from the same joint, so who knows???
No driving for at least two weeks. I can type despite having a sling on because in most planes of movement there’s no pain at all. Twist it laterally and it’s like being burned in hell. I can’t use a fork and am getting sick of comfort food and having solids cut up for me. 43 years old and it comes to this…Hah!
I was going to be on holiday next week anyway, and I’ve now extended it to Bonfire night, 5th November, which is when I go back to the clinic. The up side of this is obvious. I can’t do anything practical at all, not that my wife ever thought I did. But I can click a mouse with my right hand, so poker is most definitely not only a release from the pain (that’s the way I’m spinning it, OK?) but also just about the only thing I CAN do to keep alert…don’t even talk about TV. Ugh. ‘Nuff said.
It’s been a mixed month since I last updated. I started my NL20 staking deal, promptly got smacked in the face by a villain who continually out drew me and my confidence drained away. I tried again a few weeks later and the same thing happened. It’s not as if the stakes scare me. Out of my 45,000 hands since March I’ve played nearly 10,000 hands at NL25, but due to the quickfire losses of a fifth of my then bankroll gave it up having broken even. No, the fact is that playing with other people’s money can impose a responsibility on you which you don’t have when it’s your cash. In the end I played around 500 hands, losing at a rate of 22BB/100 hands. A ludicrously small sample, but it simply didn’t feel right. Cardoza players at that level are freaks, and for a steady plodder like me, well, it just wasn’t working.
Rather than carrying on I’ve ended the deal on good terms with Mik, and perhaps some time in the future we can arrange another stake where I feel comfortable. Thanks to Mik, though, for being very matter of fact about it and understanding that it just wasn’t working :).
Somehow I managed to lead a team of four to victory in the Raise the River team challenge which involved heads up and S&G tourneys. The word to note is TEAM. Individually we were up against great players like Amatay (the new Sky Poker star) and Matty H, erstwhile poster on my blog and responsible for much of what I’ve become as a poker player (but I won’t hold it against him!). However, assisted by an APAT champion amongst others we took a 1-2-3 on the final table of the final match and shared the spoils. Small fry for many, but the winnings boosted my bankroll by 10% and I had a whole load of fun.
So far as the grinding is concerned that’s exactly what it felt like early in the month with cold cards and flops leading to what i felt must have been a losing start to October. However my stats showed that I did in fact manage to win a few dollars, aided no doubt by the fact that I can fold two pairs on a straightening or flushing board whereas many opponents at micro-stakes can’t.
However it all came right and from October 10th I’ve increased my Stars roll to such an extent (proportionately) that I’m looking at hitting $400 by the end of the holiday. In March it was around $100. I’ve had only one losing week in twelve. Not too shoddy for a NL5 player who only ever dual tables and yeah, I’m pleased, especially after the Cardoza disaster.
