Interesting Times

As most, if not all, of the Tuesday night regulars will know, "Bee" (currently 9th in league), suffered an horrendous cycling accident a few weeks ago and has had to have his spleen removed. More recently, Rich Merrill the current league leader, has slipped on his ice-covered doorstep and broken his leg in several places. Now, as I sit here at the bar of the White Horse late on a Monday night, putting a few words together for an email about poker night seems almost too trivial.

Bee and Rich both rarely miss a Tuesday game, and in the hope that they're managing to pick up their emails during their duress, I'd like to say that it won't be the same without them, [insert punchline here].

But seriously folks… 3 birthdays on one poker night?! It's enough to make you lose your cool, (sorry Ben), or throw up, (sorry for mentioning it Terry), or lose all your chips, (balls - me again!).

Even more seriously… starting the blinds at 200:400 instead of 100:200 seems to have brought the end of the game back towards the 11:30 target despite there being 23 players.

Even though I was almost the first out, I quite liked the blinds starting higher. It felt as though you had to get involved sooner, which I guess is what blinds are for in a time-limited tourney. So, in the absence of any dissenting voices I think 200:400 should be the start whenever there are over 16 players, (ish).

Date for the diary: Saturday March 31
This should be around the time the clocks go back, and happens to be my very birthday, and I'm thinking of hiring the Pavilion for a tournament, cash game, sort of party and general excuse to spend the subs on beer and wine before they reach a level worth embezzling.