Chan Makes The Call

It's been non stop since I finished work. Non stop Tiger Woods 2007, non stop golf and non stop lounging on the settee watching rubbish with the occasional good programme on Sky.

I did though watch a most excellent programme I had seen previously yesterday on challenge, it was the World Series Of Poker 2003 and a TV table featuring Johnny Chan, Howard Lederer, Paul Darden and Chris Moneymaker.
It was hugely entertaining, watching the seriously cool Darden better the Professor and Moneymaker stand up to the Orient Express. In fact it was Moneymaker who unwittingly produced the highlight of the show.
Johnny Chan had made a seriously big raise that Lederer had just flat called and now the action was on Moneymaker. As he seemed to give the situation some serious thought the commentators were massively bigging up Moneymaker'...'He's using the pro's techniques against them!.....'He's being strong, he's not afraid anymore’… etc etc. It took Chan to sort out the situation by asking if Moneymaker realised it was his turn which of course he didn’t, cue howls of laughter and some even more clueless remarks by the commentary team, the final irony being when one of them remarks, 'I think Moneymaker learned a lesson there.'....you couldn’t make it up.

One other upside of watching this programme was it helped me come to a decision about my future. One of the greatest players of all time 'Johnny Chan' was the man who inadvertently made up mind. There was a small feature on him during the programme and at the end of it they asked him what was his secret to winning. He replied that poker is all about instinct and that he had a killer instinct. It got me thinking, I have always believed that instinct is the one key component a poker player needs and mine is pretty good. In fact my instinct has been an exceptionally good friend to me over the years, only once letting me down spectacularly badly last year but other than that its served me well and my instinct informed me I need a break and that a holiday is the order of the day. With that in mind I turned down a pretty good job offer from a bigish poker company and decided that my instincts will guide me through. So now its make your mind up time with Oz and Goa being the earlier market leaders followed by Shanghi, 10/1 bar 3. Perhaps if the legislation in the US hadn’t gone through things may have panned out differently but that’s the way things are so a good break is the order of the day.

Another viewing highlight yesterday was being able to watch Prime Ministers question time on sky. I forget how good Blair is at the dispatch box and he bossed Cameron without much bother; one does yearn for Alan Clark though. If you have any interest in government or the life of an MP I implore you to read any one of his 3 books which are in diary form and follow his up's and down's. This is the man who was accused (correctly as it turned out) with sleeping with a colleagues wife and his 2 daughters. If that wasn’t enough he was extremely rich and had a roving eye that was constantly on the lookout for a new conquest's though he never managed to bed the one true love of his life, Lady Thatcher!

Things are very mixed for me on the sports front presently. The dragon put me to the sword 3&2 at Almenara to lead our series 8 ½ to 7 1/2. Its first to ten and he could the business in Morocco next week. On the plus side I defeated Luke Donald on the 2007 game though John Daly is proving to be a tougher conquest.

Chelsea gave a great performance against the European Champions Barcelona on Tuesday night and all but secured our place in the knockout stages. Great game plenty of action, 4 goals 10 bookings, controversy and another Mourinho 'in yer face' celebration (remember old Trafford when he was manager of Porto?). The highlight though came late on in the game when Deco went down as if he had not only been shot but also hung, stabbed poisoned and beaten with a hammer. John Terry decided to test how badly hurt he was by kicking the ball at him whilst he was on the floor writhing in agony. Deco of course got up immediately and made his way angrily towards one of the most imposing defenders in world football. After Terry tried to wring his neck the ref decided he had to intervene and booked Terry but im sure all Chelsea fans will join in with me in starting a collection for any fine Terry may get. Drogba is a diver and a cheat I know but somehow his acting and diving just look plain stupid whilst Deco is a cold calculating cheat who has got away with it far to long, well played Terry!.

Another TV highlight last night was the penultimate episode of Hell's Kitchen starring our very own Gordon Ramsey. It was full of surprises and a quality shocking ending.
Im starting to watch too many cooking programmes on telly with 'cooking it' and 'a cook's tour' on the food channel all bookmarked every week.
Perhaps that is the reason im putting on so much weight at the moment as every episode of the above programmes have me rushing to the fridge for munchies. A new fitness regime is the call of the day, after Friday of course where im hoping a few ex colleagues will join me for a beverage after work and go through the 'sorry to see you going' motions and 'stay in touch' routine. Ive never been a massive fan of the leaving do but I made so many friends at Stan James I thought it rude not to offer to buy a few of them a drink. To end, another poker quote this time from Amir Vahedi which I think sums up where I am in my life at present,
"... In order to live, you must be willing to die ..." I hope not to do so on Friday evening though.