Bland Icelandic Coldplay, is how my friend descibes them as I ask him if he wants a ticket. And that’s without even listening to Leaves. Still, it doesn’t put him off coming to the gig. In the end, four of us headed off to the Joiners for a gig that none of us are hugely enthusiastic about. The big worry is that Leaves will indeed turn out to be bland. Of the three of us who have listened to their second album, The Angela Test, none of us can particularly remember any standout tracks, although I make a case for The Spell, even though I secretly wish it didn’t sound quite so much like something from the “Rush of Blood…” sessions.
Archive for October, 2005
I’d forgotten how frustrating limit holdem can be when you are playing 5 games at once, and those rivers just keep on hurting. Time to zen…
In the light of the recent Party skins schism, the big question has been who will step in and take advantage. And while party offers paltry player points bonuses (play a million hands a day, get a small bonus at the end of the month), and Empire expects players to earn large bonuses in very short spaces of time (play 6000 hands in a week), the best current bonus I see is Holdem Poker’s.
Current deal is a 100% sign up bonus, and a 100% reload bonus, and the maximum combined bonus is $666. I’ve deposited my first $466, and will deposit the remaining $200 any day now. Since the bonus expires on 30 November, there’s plenty of time to earn the points. As Holdempoker is a Poker Room skin, the points system is pretty similar to Poker Room’s. In other words, if you are a limit player, at 1/2 or below, you’re looking at about the same clearance rate as say Absolute Poker, but between 2/4 and 5/10 you’re looking at a pretty sweet deal. I’ve even heard rumours that the reload bonus will work more than once, which is all good.
Even better, they are running a friends bonus, where you can refer a friend, and each of you get a little sweetener on top of the normal bonus.
This really is a great bonus, and the traffic is easily good enough to find a game going at most times (I’ve played UK a.m and late p.m, and both times didn’t have to wait long before I was sitting at 5 tables.)
Note: This bonus has long since ended, but you can still sign up through me by clicking the links to holdempoker. You can earn a $100 bonus by signing up now! (much better than the crummy $20 you got before…)
To sign up for holdem poker, visit holdempoker.com and enter your details.
Note: This next part isn’t true any more. Not the iPod bit, anyway. You can still refer friends for $20, though.
I nearly forgot to mention - when you are signed up at this site, you can of course start getting your own referrals signed up. You’ll get $20 for each, and an iPod nano when 10 are signed up and have met the points requirements (which will take them a couple of hours only). Sweet 
Happy holdem!
On Saturday evening Party Poker, part of the largest online poker network, surprised almost everyone by opting to go it alone. The result? A lot of confused and bewildered online poker players, some obliquely pissed off statements from the other sites in the network, and suddenly it seemed like there were no games and no players left.
So what exactly is going on? Why has Party Poker opted to suddenly cut its player base overnight, severing links with other sites, losing players and action, and leaving its position as the biggest online poker site wide open for the taking?