My week

Not much has really happened this past week (I say that a lot). Thursday was a 1-day "rake race" warm up at CelebPoker where they gave 1000 EUR to whoever contributed the most rake in the 24h period. I told them from the get-go that I was gonna ship it and I obv came through with my promise, playing 10k hands for just under 10 hours and raking around 1800 EUR in the process. They're repeating it this Wednesday so I'm gonna have to ship that one, too.

The real rake race runs from September 1-14 and BossMedia is bringing out the big guns. They've dedicated 75000 EUR as the prize pool, where the winner gets 25000 EUR. That's a hefty chunk of money for just two weeks of work, so I've set the goal of taking it down. Unfortunately I'm going to have to miss EPT Barcelona for it, but it's a sacrifice I have to make. My EV in the rake race (with winnings, rakeback and rake race prize money) is much higher than at some live donkament anyway, just it sucks because Barcelona is always a great time.

Other than that, Eric Clapton was in town and his concert was sick. The things he does on the guitar are absolutely amazing. Also saw Batman last night and can definitely recommend it. Mad props to Heath Ledger for his performance of The Joker. Such a shame than an actor so talented died so young. I wish I had the motivation to get into acting again (I was in a movie once, IMDB proof, BRAG) but my height is too big of an issue for most film roles. I really enjoy acting and have toyed with the idea of moving to California for 6 months or so to attend a theater acting school. Who knows, I may just do that some day.

Tomorrow night at 21:00 (Monday the 25th) is the private Poker-Tester tournament ($10+1) at FTP. The winner gets an Ergorest as an added bonus, so it's definitely worth it :) Come and beat me, I dare you!

Bets

The 5k eur challenge against Chris is now over. Handing over the 5k in cash did not feel very good but he deserved the win. If I had to do it again I would insist that we would get proper warm up time before each game, not like Darts (cricket) where my first ever lifetime cricket match also happened to count for the challenge. We've already discussed a possible rematch with a few different games, I'm sure we'll work something out.

Don't feel too bad for me, though. I have now clearly started to dominate Ansky in our 1k FIFA 08 matches and after me being up 5 games on him, he stated he will only start playing me with odds. If any of you guys wanna play FIFA money matches let me know!

Unfortunately all the side action has been keeping me away from the tables and after half of August I am well behind schedule to hit 100k hands for the month. I only have 35k so far and am beginning to doubt if I'll make my goal (should have bet against me, haha).

Oh yeah one more bet I forgot to write about. I've found my next weight loss victim :) This time it's Nico "Bunkerlinho" Behling and he wants to drop from 74kg to 65,9kg by January. He'll be weighing in on the first day of the Aussie Millions and has decided to wager 3k AUSD and 10% of the Main Event against me. I got the impression in Vegas that he was super motivated to do this so I really wouldn't be surprised if he wins the bet. Paying him out wouldn't be fun but at least I'd have healthy friends and that's what it's all about, isn't it? :)

Ergorest is your friend

So far after 6 days of play in August I've totaled just over 14k hands of grinding. That's slightly under what I should have so far if I want to hit 100k hands but a couple marathon sessions should get me back on track these next couple days. There have been some pretty interesting hands but I'm too lazy to dig them out right now, so maybe next time.

I'm really proud of my latest purchase, namely a forearm support unit from ERGOREST. After seeing it at the CelebPoker office in London last week (thanks, Jim!) I knew I needed to get one because I spend so much time in front of the computer each day I might as well be as comfortable as possible. This is what it looks like:

Believe me it's the nuts so if you don't have one, get one. My next upgrade will be a better desk chair. Someone recommended the Steelcase Leap Worklounge to me but after a little research it appears like they don't offer them in Germany. If anyone finds one I can buy here please let me know and I will compensate you for your help! I think you're cutting the wrong corners by going cheap on things like desk chairs if you spend the majority of your time in them. I feel the same about beds/mattresses, as getting a good night of sleep is soooooo refreshing and healthy.

Let's see, what else? Oh yeah, I've been playing some $1k FIFA 08 matches after I saw this thread by Ansky in the HSNL forum at 2+2. Since I own everyone's soul in FIFA I obviously had to take him up on his offer. So far we've played 5 matches and I'm up 3-2 in games after some really sick battles. Its hard to tell who has the edge but I'll just pretend I do :)

Thanks to everyone for the graphics card suggestions, I now have an additional card but have been too lazy to get it installed. That should happen one of these next couple days. I realize this entry was quite boring but I'm posting it anyway because I can! muhahaha

Karting and Kylie

London has come and gone and man I had a good time! On Thursday, CelebPoker rented out an indoor go-kart track for the afternoon. 24 people all had 6 races and the top 10 after those races advanced to the final. I somehow managed to finish a disappointing 12th after two incredibly rigged races (seriously, I got scammed) so I lost both sidebets and didn't even race in the final. Whoops.

Ramin, me, Linda and Henrik at the concert

Friday evening was the highlight, as CelebPoker had rented a VIP skybox in the O2 Arena for the Kylie Minogue concert. Her show was very well done and though I didn't know most of the songs, they did a really good job of keeping the crowd entertained. I think it's also pretty amazing how she overcame breast cancer and is back on tour now in full force now, good for her.

this was the view from the skybox. it looks a lot further away on camera for some reason

Before, during and after the concert we were drinking and inevitably ended up drinking too much, as is always the case with open bars :) Luckily things didn't get too out of hand and I think that pretty much everyone had a really great time. The flight back home this morning was bright and early, so I spent most of today recovering in bed.

My plan for August is basically just to put in a sick grind. I am aiming for somewhere inbetween 80-100k hands which is something I've never achieved before but should be feasible. If anyone wants to make sidebets with me for further motivation please feel free! I have no additional travel plans for the next month and the way it's looking right now I'll probably even miss EPT Barcelona due to a rake race I'll be taking part in, but we'll see. Plans can change very quickly!