Have I gone deaf or have the vuvuzelas stopped?

No, my mistake, forgot to turn the volume up.

The world cup is still to really kick into gear and having watched most of the first ten games or so I’m now at the “Meh” stage when faced with Honduras v Chile or suchlike. England take on Algeria tomorrow and failure to pick up full points from that is unthinkable. I’m stuck at home in front of the TV for this one unfortunately as my wife doesn’t finish work in time for me to get to my preferred drinking hole. This means I will have to fend off questions from my youngest whose interest in football has suddenly been perked by the wall-to-wall coverage and the football trading cards that him and all his mates are collecting. Trying to explain why “International Legend” Bryan Robson no longer plays whilst trying to concentrate on a match is tough. And if he asks me one more time why I don’t play for England…. ARGH!!!!

Anyways, here’s hoping we win 10-0 tomorrow just so there’s lots of pissed people signing on to play poker when they get home from the pub. I guess a 10-0 loss would have the same effect. Life on the virtual felt has been kind to us recently. I’ve played nearly 10k hands for the month of which 7.5k has been 200nl. I’ve been winning but more importantly learning. I can certainly beat this level too. Beat it well? I reckon I can. “Developing a robust strategy” is one of the aims of that Miller/Flynn/Mehta book which is aimed at $1/$2. That’s what I’m shooting for – a tough all round game. A decent pool pro once said of my pool game “He might not do all the flair stuff, but he’s bloody hard to beat”. I hope one day to have the same levelled at me in poker. On top of revisiting some of the best poker texts, I’ve been consciously working on the mental game too. In fact, June has been a good test in that department as a number of my sessions have started with a stacking (or at least being stuck a fair bit). I’m pleased to say these bad starts have been shrugged off and I’ve remained focused enough to complete my intended session duration – often posting green ones at the end. Big self pat on the back.

Anyways, things going well and I’ve only flopped about one set all month. Once I get that little bit of running like god back into my game then 200nl better watch out.