LOL Hachem

Last things first – a few people that I know from teh pokerz have been fairly supportive with the situation with my Dad. The kind words and wishes I have had from people have actually been pretty amazing. Anyway, the news was fairly positive – the existing tumour has shrunk and the pain in his lower back is almost certainly a disc problem, for which he is receiving physiotherapy. All of this news is about as good as we could have hoped for.

Thus far this month I have played around 9k hands of 50NL HU. This has generated a profit of around $500 (excluding rakeback), relative to an EV adjusted amount of $1,100. It has been absolutely brutal (although hopefully I should come out around the same amount of profit as in June) and I am overall running 8 BI below expectation. This is fine, as the rewards that HU poker brings are matched with high volatility. My main aim for the month is to finish having played over 10k hands, which I should accomplish with all things remaining equal and hopefully I can top the 11k that I did during June.

I played one guy (Italian, obv) and lost 4 BI to him by being all in three times with dominating hands (A9 < J9 and AK < AQ twice). Then I managed to chop two pots vs the same guy (the second a 4 BI pot) with AQ = AT on an AQx board and 77 = A8 on a 678 board versus a complete maniac. I find that these insane opponents are often very good value (partly because they three bet with a lot of hands where you get better value from flatting), particularly after reading DogIsHead’s advice that they should be “cock-slapped repeatedly” into submission, as it is indeed more fun than nitting it up and extracting their money a different way.

With this rather lame whine over, I am fairly happy with how I am playing (I spew a lot less) and one reg typed in chat “there isn’t much value in this for either of us so it is probably best if I quit you” – I have been beaten quite badly by some of the regs before and I actually quite rated this guy’s game, so I’ll take this as a compliment. I’d like to have $4k on Chilli by the end of September and be in a position to move up to $100NL (I’ll probably also seek some coaching at this time).

West Ham’s pre-season has seen us fail to generate any notable results. The jungle drums seem to suggest that Ashton will be off to Stoke – this is a shame, as for a short while he looked the real deal with us, but we can’t afford to carry someone that is permanently injured, particularly on his wage packet and with his reputed issues regarding training. I’m just hoping the 17 year-old we signed from Chelsea for a few buttons isn’t his replacement, as starting with one semi-proven centre forward and a couple of spotty kids is a recipe for disaster and has certain similarities with our previous relegation season.

I’m off to see the Bruno film tonight. The juvenile humour should provide a good end to a dull week at work.

Saving the best until last – Joe Hachem isn’t usually one to keep quiet when there is an opportunity to open it and look stupid, so here he is, true to form – from the Associated Press. As one guy on 2+2 said, “Joe has got disrespect down to an art form, so I trust his opinion here.”

“BC-World Series of Poker-Day 10,0234 - Stacks rise as players drop at poker world series
Eds: APNewsNow. By OSKAR GARCIA, Associated Press Writer, LAS VEGAS (AP)

The 2005 World Series of Poker champion sayshe's lost all respect for a new brand of extremely aggressive pokerplayers who seem to want to gamble all their chips on every hand in the main event.

Joe Hachem said after two hours of poker on Monday that the pacehasn't slowed down at the no-limit Texas Hold 'em tournamentbecause many players are willing to risk their tournament with mediocre hands. Play started with 185 players and 38 were eliminated in two hours, despite starting with many chips relative to minimum bets.

Hachem says the overaggressive style is disrespectful to thetournament, its history and the $8.55 million prize. Hachem is one of two former main event champions left in thetournament, along with last year's winner Peter Eastgate.”