That reminds me...

Hmmm, I'm having second thoughts about Virgin Airmiles... We have been collecting them by playing on Virgin Poker and also using a Virgin Amex Card. This time next year I should have about 50,000.

Now 50k Virgin airmiles is enough for a return flight to Vegas... that's good. And so long as you're flexible in your travel plans you will probably be able to get a free flight sometime close to when you really want to go.

But how about this then... on my return from Vegas in May, I enquired at the check-in about getting a Premium Economy upgrade using airmiles....

Me: "I would like to upgrade to Premium Economy using some of my airmiles."
Check-In dude: "Yes Sir, let me just check which fare you have."
Tap, tap, tap on keyboard...
Check-In dude: "Sorry Sir, you have an 'x' class ticket, this is non-upgradeable, you need a 'y' or better ticket."
Me: "I just booked online, I put in my dates, it gave me a price, I paid it... no one askes if you want 'x' or 'y' or whatever."
Check-In dude: "No, you have to request a flexible ticket."
Check-In dudess: (who has also been tapping a keyboard) "We do have one PE seat left, if you would like to pay £289 we can upgrade you."
Me: (looking at Check-In dude) "But, but you just told me my ticket was non-upgradeable??"
Check-In dude: "That's right Sir, not with airmiles... however, you can pay for an upgrade."
Me: (whilst thinking, "GFY!!") "It's OK, I'll sit with the poor people, thankyou for your time... have a nice day now."

Now, on my return home I decide to see how much I can save by booking an upgradeable ticket... here is an example (current prices on VA website) -

14 - 22 Oct 2008
Economy Lowest: £591.60 + 2000 airmiles 'x' class (£659 cash only)
Econony Flexible: £1679.60 'y' class (not available as 'miles + money')
PE Lowest: £1358.60 'x' class

So if I want to be able to upgrade on the return leg, I need a flexible ('y' class) ticket... which will cost over £1000 more than the cheapest fare plus 10,000 airmiles... or for £300 less you can just book and go bothways PE!!!

Bargain!!!

Thanks Mr Woolly Jumper... my Gran always used to say, "Never trust men with beards." I'm beginning to believe she wasn't far wrong!

3 1/2 days to go...

So, here we are another week has flown by... just 3 1/2 more days working 'for the man.' I don't remember the last time I was looking forward to something so much! There are lots of us 'rats, jumping ship' at the end of the week, most of whom have done a 35-40 year stretch and many seem genuinely sad and almost reluctant to leave... what is wrong with these people? Or is it just me? Yes, there are few good mates who I'll be leaving behind, but they won't stop being mates just because we no longer work for the same company... Trust me, the only tear I'll shed at my leaving do will be when the money runs out behind the bar! It's been a pretty good 36 years overall, but the job aint what it used to be... and as for the majority of the current managers well, the least said the better!

OK, that's that out of the way... what does the future hold? Well, I'm in the fortunate position that I don't have to go and get a job that pays anything like the salary I was on... for the next two years I 'need' to find £200 - £300 per month to keep the wolf from door and keep a wife and three dogs in style they've become accustomed to! (Just realised I'm repeating myself, from last week - it's an age thing!) Anyways up, it's the life of the semi-pro poker player for now, I've had my slide-rule and abacus out and I reckon that 4-tabling $100NL (0.5/1) for 4 hours a day (not sure about these longer days!!), 5 days a week will bring in around £250 per month in rakeback alone. So as I see it the only real challenge is to remain a winning player and if I can just avoid stacking-off with TPTK quite so often we should be home and dry... Poker Gods permitting!!

It all seems too easy doesn't it? I'm sure there will be some other bridges to cross, but I think I'll use my time proven strategy... and just cross them bridges when we get to them. :-)

This is the new 'office', complete with shiny new monitor, and you know what is really the best thing about this office? I don't have to use the A40 between Witney and Oxford, twice a day, to get to it!!!

We are still on something of a roller-coaster with the cash game but currently on another record high. Still my biggest problem is giving away a buy-in early on in a session and then having to sit and grind it out to get back... I do now make a concious effort NOT to get it all-in without the nuts in the first 20 mins or so of a session... I'm improving, but still some way to go.

Does it get any better than this?

I nearly forgot about this... take a look at THIS animation of a hand from last week, shame I wasn't sitting deeper! :-)

Yer 'tis...

OK, so I've tried Hypnotherapy and Past-Life Regression Therapy... I've tried eating broccoli, blueberries and spinach... I even took a short course at the Bornstein School of Memory Training, but it's no good; I don't remember any details after day two in Vegas!!

The best synopsis I can come up with is... four tournament cashes, no spectacular cash sessions and I didn't go into Glitter Gulch!! So that's it, that's Vegas over and done with for another year.

So, I hear you asking what has he been up to for the last 2 or 3 weeks? Well, the answer is, "Not very much." On May 30th I took the momentous decision to apply for release from BT, on pretty decent voluntary redundancy terms, and it has taken them until this morning to let me know that I am 'on my way'... on the 1st of July, I become unemployed for the first time, ever! Is the Labour Exchange still down Bridge Street? And how much is dole money these days? Do I need to get a Polish passport? Come on people, I need answers!!

Not played much live poker, one visit to The Pigeons and two to The Fox... zero cashes... that's all I have to say about that!

As for online, well I've stuck to cash game grind, with mixed results... after the all time high, reported just before leaving for Vegas, I went on a vicious, $660 downswing!!!! Aargh, FFS! Well I stuck with it and have now recovered to a new record high.

Just as when I was treading water at 12c/25c, and a slightly early step up to 25c/50c got me re-focused and moving forwards; At the lowest point of the downswing, and seemingly unable to do anything right, I decided to have a session at 50c/$1... partly to play against some different opponents and partly (I'm ashamed to admit) due to 'tilt'... anyway, whatever the reasons it got back into winning waysand also moved the raked hands count along a bit faster, in pursuit of my deposit bonus on Eurolinx.

With $250 deposit bonus in the bag I have now moved onto Blonde Poker (iPoker network), and back down to 25c/50c. Due to my revised employment status, I have put on hold the 'Stairway to High Stakes' strategy... with deposit bonus and rakeback to date, the total online bankroll is now just over $1800. The plan is now to move up to 50c/$1 when the total roll is $2k, hopefully by the end of the month, and then to try a make-up the £200 - £300 per month additional cash I need (just for the next 2 years) from playing poker more seriously. I'm not sure I want to give up one job where I sit in front of a computer all day... so that I can sit in front of a computer all day?? I'll give it a go for a month or so and see how it goes, if it's not for me then I may have to go and find that Labour Exchange! Wish me luck. :-)

The long awaited update...

is on it's way...