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Blood diamonds

Pud's Poker Progress RSS / Matthew Pitt / 10 May 2009 / 4

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For some reason, unknown to me, most events and happenings around the world do not seem to affect me. I don't know why it is but I seem to be desensitized to most things reported in the media or depicted in films or pictures.

After watching the film it made me realise how lucky we are to live in a country such as England. Yes there are a hundred and one things I'd change about this place but at least Pud Jr doesn't have to walk five miles to the nearest school and we can go cast a vote without fear of being beaten, raped or murdered for doing so.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not some heartless monster who couldn't give a toss about anything, I simply do not get affected by the goings on around me. However, now and again I will read a story or watch a film that strikes a cord and hits home with me and this happened last night.

Saturday night was the first time in ages that Mrs P and I have had the evening entirely to ourselves so we decided to go for a curry, get some beers, watch a film or two and catch up on some much needed sleep. Most of the films at the cinema looked total crap so we borrowed Blood Diamond from my parents.

I'm so glad we did as it turned out it was a very good film and I'd recommend it to anyone who has a DVD player. I won't give out any spoilers to those who haven't seen it but will say some parts of the film are very graphic and make you realise how awful it must be to live in parts of Africa.

After watching the film it made me realise how lucky we are to live in a country such as England. Yes there are a hundred and one things I'd change about this place but at least Pud Jr doesn't have to walk five miles to the nearest school and we can go cast a vote without fear of being beaten, raped or murdered for doing so. It really put some things into perspective and made me feel a little guilty about moaning about mundane things in life. I'm not going to go into the ins and outs of my views on politics etc as it's not for this blog but I think you should go rent the film, it's very good and thought provoking.

Pokerwise I've not exactly set the world on fire since my last entry but I have played a little. In total I played 22 of the $6.25 turbo HUSNG with an ROI ov -4% or a loss of around $6. I'm not going to bore you with bad beat stories but if you check out this thread you will see some of the hands I came up against the other night and why I did not finish well up in my session.

My bankroll is still $150, in fact it has actually gone up to $155.47 as I have transferred my money onto another site where I received rakeback and I still had some money in there from previous month's payments. Rakeback is so important to a micro-stakes player like myself.

With my estimated volume at the stakes I am playing the rakeback will only be around $30-50 per month but this equates to between 10-25 buy-ins which is too much to turn down, especially if I can turn half of those free entries into wins! Couple this with the fact I will be entered into a $20k freeroll each month with only 400 entrants and it seems silly to say no.

I'm also considering moving down in stakes for a week or so after receiving a reply to a comment I left on Bart Chalker's blog, a high-stakes HUSNG player who I have the utmost respect for. I asked him his bankroll management rules and he told me he has always followed a 100-buy in rule and also gave me some solid advice. I actually have almost 30BI for the $5.25 games and over 70 for the $2.15 games, all non-turbo varieties.

I'll be playing non-turbo's on this site as the blinds escalate quicker anyway but also to reduce variance. I am feeling really confident about my game right now and am really looking forward to grinding out plenty of games for the rest of the month. As it is a new site and format I will start recording my games played from now on and not the 22 matches played previously. With 20 days left of May, I reckon I should be able to fit in 200 games if I pull my socks up and get a move on. Here's to the grind.

Current bankroll - $155.47

As always, thanks for reading and best of luck at the tables!

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    1. havin_a_laff | 11 May 2009

      Hi Pud.

      I've done a bit of travelling and visited a few hellish places, hence I refer to blighty as paradise on earth

    2. Rossi | 11 May 2009

      good luck with the grind mate.
      Is the site you've moved too BetnGo by any chance?!

    3. snake_eyes | 12 May 2009

      Hahah BetnGo, Amatay has really sold his soul lol

      keep grinding pud, u have the skills!!

    4. Yorkshire Pud | 15 May 2009

      Rossi - it's not on BetnGo but if Amatay is trying to get you to sign up it will be through an affiliate called TetleyBoy who are superb so don't worry about them!