Boom or bust

Yes I know the posts are getting less frequent. Yes I know any regular readers have probably deleted the link. I have excuses though! Welcome back to the not-so-wacky world of Doggystylepoker.

Has there been any poker then? No, not much. I recently swapped ipoker skins to a slightly better deal . Obviously I have a new user name and all the noob run-good associated with it. Plus there’s the added bonus of pillaging those ‘beginner’ tables reserved for recent sign-ups. I really want to up the volume but just haven’t had the time. This has to be my lowest volume year since I started. And so to the excuses…

Well the bottom has fallen out of my industry. From what I can see there is a so-called double dip recession coming and its going to be brutal. Companies are struggling like mad out there. Just yesterday in the news we heard that Thomas Cook Holidays went cap in hand to their bank to rejig loans they took out just weeks prior. That is exactly where we are at my place. A 3rd and final round of redundancies in couple of days will see us with a greatly reduced workforce ahead of our busiest time of the year. I say final round – I don’t think we could possibly cut anymore jobs. Maybe they could get me to do everything… oh wait, I already do. We are literally closing our eyes, pressing “All-in” and hoping to bink when sending the monthly wages transmission to the bank. Its that bad. Needless to say with me working in the finance area I’m putting in some serious shifts and getting endless stick on the phone each day from people wanting some dosh. That alone makes it hard to go home and wind down enough to want to load up some tables. We are busting our balls to stay afloat and I’m not sure if everyone here appreciates the game of brinksmanship we are playing with some of the big boys (Revenue and Customs). Default on them dudes and it’s the dole queue. Or ironically I would likely be playing poker for a living for a while!

But its not all bad. I do still get to relax. Local league pool season is in full swing – going ok – we’re near the top as usual. I won 14 out of 16 for the county side, but we failed to qualify for the national finals. Not sure if I will return to that full-time though. Snooker is also going ok. We’re now in the 2nd tier and facing some handy sticks. My home form is awesome but away form patchy. The team sit in 3rd place early doors and I think it will be an incredibly tight battle for the two promotion places.

The youngests football season is also well underway. The game at his age is refreshingly honest. No cynical fouls, no bad language, no spitting, just lots of little ‘uns swarming round the ball until it ends up in the net. Normally our net. They get battered every week but still enjoy it. My lad is current top scorer – one goal ahead of our next best marksman “Own Goals”. He improves every week and is mad for the game – probably because of the extortionate goal bonus he negotiated with me. I swear he hadn’t looked like scoring until we struck the deal. 5 shots, 5 goals and an empty pocket later… Hustled.

Keep on keeping on