White, a yellow tip.
12 days since you left, only,
50 years to go.

Ah, the given up smoking haiku. Not an easy ode to pen, since I can’t bloody smoke to get those creative arteries juicing. So I’m sorry it’s crap, but you’ll just have to put up with it.

So there. That told you.

Googled “nicotine craving”: Result number two is from the BBC. Apparently:

Quote

Smokers desperate to give up cigarettes could soon resort to a small program on their mobile phone or PDA. It would throw up a series of flickering dots on the screen, which psychologists say seem to break some of the mental processes that drive the need for another nicotine fix.

Sadly, the story is two years old, which suggests that not much progress has been made since. Anyhoo, you can read more here: Mobiles to beat nicotine craving

Meanwhile, I’ve forgotten what I was writing about. Adieu!

March 30th, 2006, posted by Neil in Vague rants · No comments

• Introducing the all-new settings section, giving you more flexibility over the output, including colours for raises and results
• Converter now stores cookies to save settings for future hands
• Added function to include pot odds when players call bets

March 30th, 2006, posted by Neil in Hand converter updates · No comments

Some people have a little too much time on their hands…

Case Mods - The Ultimate List

March 28th, 2006, posted by Neil in Brilliant · No comments

So much text recently, and so few photos. Time to redress the balance!

And so, in no particular order, I present views in and around Morzine. By the way, some of these were taken with what was a fairly expensive (at the time) Canon Ixus 430, and the others were taken with using the camera on my mobile phone. I hope you can tell the difference…

Tom and Ruth (great cous-cous makers), A view from a tele-siege, another view, plenty of snow in Ardent

Looking across to Morzine from the Super-Morzine Telecabine, Snow-brushed trees and an unknown peak, Perfect conditions, Morzine rooftops

The gentle run back to Morzine, Trees and peaks, More trees and peaks, Where does this one go then?

Stranded santa?, More bloody mountains, Nice spot for le pic-nic, Some bloke

It’s a long way down from 2300m, Switzerland, I swear this slope was actually quite steep!, It’s good to be among friends

March 27th, 2006, posted by Neil in Photos · No comments

Many years before I had this web space to fill up with whatever cheese and pickle fell out of my Sylvian fissure and its grassy areas, I used to write guff and nonsense at a place called Everything2.

Until I pretty much ran out of steam and couldn’t justify (aka couldn’t be bothered) to spend the amount of time necessary to craft each writeup before submitting them to the site, I did manage to write 71 pieces for the site. Some of them weren’t anything more than diary entries, in truth, while others I toook a good deal more care over, such as:

• The Third Man
• World Cup 2002 Technical Report
• FA Cup
• Amazingly long sentences

I still occasionally log in, to see if anyone’s voted up any of my write-ups, and to see if I have any messages from other writers. Mostly nothing happens, but every now and then I find out I’ve got a few votes here and there, gained a few points, or someone just wanted to tell me they enjoyed one of my write-ups.

And then recently, a most completely wonderful and unexpected change took place in the E2 rulebook.

You see, as a reward for writing good pieces that other people give the thumbs up to in the form of votes, you get what are called experience points. Every now and then you accumulate enough EPs to move up a level. As you move up through the levels you are given more votes to dish out on other writers and so on.

But as well as voting an article (strictly known as a node over at E2) if you reach such great heights, you can Ching! a node, which basically promotes it to the front page for a while, and is a general bestowing of coolness on a node. For ages I’d been one or two write-ups short of having this power, until only the other day, when the whole karmic EP balance thing was given a quick tap from one side, and everyone’s level was adjusted. Upshot: I moved up a level, and finally I’m allowed to hand out all these lovely C! to people. Well, I say all, but I only get one a day (I get 30 votes each day).

Naturally, as a mark of respect and gratitude for his introducing me to E2 back in 2001, I chose a write-up by the great TallRoo as my first C!

Seven mice, forced to listen to music by The Prodigy, died

As the days roll by, I hope to add my seal of approval to some of the many wonderful and varied nodes to be found at E2. Here’s a very brief snapshot of some of my favourites. I recommend them all:

• The German textbook that was written by Morrissey - short, but very satisfying
• Do not attempt to stop chain with your hands or genitals - one of the things you can do at E2 is create an empty node, which means you give something a title, but don’t get round to adding the write-up. Every now and then challenges are issued to people to rescue these shells, by supplying the content. I think this is an example of just such a thing.
• English As She Is Spoke - simply because it discusses the world’s best phrase book
• Fun Latin Quotes - for the classical geek in all of you
• Learning from Lotus Notes - because I have to put up with it, and everyone should be aware of how awful it can be
• Monkey, monkey, monkey, monkey, William Shatner - low content, but who cares. Isn’t the title enough?

There’s so much more. And beyond just the write-ups there’s so much more. Ways in which links between nodes are generated, for example, or the ways you can add links to other nodes in the body of your own text. All in all, a cool place, and I’m slightly sad I don’t have the time to contribute to it these days.

March 24th, 2006, posted by Neil in General · 1 Comment

Just what was going on at Poker Stars tonight, je me demande?

After starting out reasonably sane for the first 20 hands or so, I was a few BB up, then fell into a 50BB hole with the help of some crushinginly weak runner-runner combos on all tables. I feel like I spent at least an hour fighting off poker zombies, crawling interminably towards me with their open limping from the small blind, calling calling calling, then leading the river when their backdoor gutshot appears. Occasionally a super-aggressive zombie would lurch out, raising me on the turn with nothing but a gutshot.

Here’s an example of a happy-go-lurchy zombie stumbling across two pair:

Poker Stars Limit Holdem Ring game Limit: $1/$2 10 players Converter

Pre-flop: (10 players) Hero is BB with A♣ A♦
8 folds, SB calls, Hero raises, SB calls.

Flop: 2♥ K♠ 4♣ (4SB, 2 players)
SB checks, Hero bets, SB calls.

Turn: J♦ (3BB, 2 players)
SB checks, Hero bets, SB calls.

River: Q♦ (5BB, 2 players)
SB bets, Hero calls.

Results:
Final pot: 7BB
SB showed 4h Jh
Hero mucks Ac Ad

Ahhhhh…

And here’s one of those awesome backdoor efforts you just have to take your hat off to:

Poker Stars Limit Holdem Ring game Limit: $1/$2 9 players Converter

Pre-flop: (9 players) Hero is SB with Q♠ Q♦
UTG calls, UTG+1 raises, MP1 calls, 4 folds, Hero 3-bets, BB folds, UTG calls, UTG+1 calls, MP1 calls.

Flop: T♠ J♦ 7♣ (13SB, 4 players)
Hero bets, UTG folds, UTG+1 calls, MP1 calls.

Turn: 4♦ (8BB, 3 players)
Hero bets, UTG+1 calls, MP1 calls.

River: 9♦ (11BB, 3 players)
Hero checks, UTG+1 checks, MP1 bets, Hero calls, UTG+1 folds.

Results:
Final pot: 13BB
MP1 showed 6d 7d
Hero showed Qs Qd

Meh, the pot was large, he had plenty of outs, what can you do?

And finally, while I was in the mire, a big pair to play with, as it were:

Poker Stars Limit Holdem Ring game Limit: $1/$2 7 players Converter

Pre-flop: (7 players) Hero is CO with K♠ K♥
2 folds, MP1 calls, Hero raises, Button calls, SB 3-bets, BB calls all-in $1, MP1 folds, Hero Caps, Button calls, SB calls.

Flop: Q♠ K♦ 4♦ (15SB, 3 players + 1 all-in - Main pot: 9SB, Sidepot 1: 6SB)
SB checks, Hero bets, Button folds, SB calls.

Turn: J♠ (8.5BB, 2 players + 1 all-in - Main pot: 4.5BB, Sidepot 1: 4BB)
SB checks, Hero bets, SB calls.

River: T♣ (10.5BB, 2 players + 1 all-in - Main pot: 4.5BB, Sidepot 1: 6BB)
SB bets, Hero calls.

Results:
Final pot: 12.5BB
SB showed Jc Ac
Hero showed Ks Kh
BB mucks 5c Kc

After this one, my opponent remarked that this was the trouble with Limit. He’d have folded if it was NL because I could have bet more. I didn’t want get into the intricacies of how very wrong such an innocent statement could be, so I let it slide for the time being. Perhaps I’ll explore that idea later.

Still, with the help of a couple of sets, I was, for a while, in the territory known as How In The Heck Am I Up For This Session?

Naturally, it didnt last long, when Mr. I cold call pre-flop hit his straight (it also gave me two pair), and then on the very last hand I chose to play, it was that old devil called the pocket pair again:

Poker Stars Limit Holdem Ring game Limit: $2/$4 8 players Converter

Pre-flop: (8 players) Hero is MP2 with J♦ J♣
UTG folds, UTG+1 calls, MP1 folds, Hero raises, CO folds, Button calls, SB folds, BB calls, UTG+1 calls.

Flop: 6♣ 3♥ T♠ (8.5SB, 4 players)
BB checks, UTG+1 checks, Hero bets, Button folds, BB calls, UTG+1 calls.

Turn: 3♠ (5.75BB, 3 players)
BB checks, UTG+1 checks, Hero bets, BB calls, UTG+1 calls.

River: 8♠ (8.75BB, 3 players)
BB checks, UTG+1 bets, Hero calls, BB folds.

Results:
Final pot: 10.75BB
UTG+1 showed 8h 8c
Hero showed Jd Jc

I’m not having a go at my opponent as such here, although he does come across as passive, wouldn’t you say? No, it’s just the god damn it moment realising that the size of the pot was exactly how much I was down at the end of the session. 950 hands in a nutshell, if you will.

C’est la vie

March 24th, 2006, posted by Neil in Poker and Vague rants · No comments