Darlo's World

With one more day of lessons left, conveniently a day with just one lesson, it’s pretty fair to say that the Winter break is just around the corner.

Just around the corner by ~xXxFucked-UpxXx on deviantART

It seems I’ve been spending a lot of random time in London lately; participating in the UK Rock Paper Scissors Championships, handing in my application for a job in Japan, taking the Japanese Language Proficiency Test. But, much to my parents pleasure I’m sure, I wasn’t involved in the recent ‘student’ activity in the capital. It is unfortunate that the cost of going to University will rise, but at least loans and grants are still there for us poor saps, and I’m just thankful I’m supposed to graduate this year.

So what are my plans for the long awaited winter break?

Well to be honest I’m not planning on venturing out an awful lot. Going out means (generally speaking) money spent. I will be heading back to Telford at some point for a few days, but will definately be venturing back up to Leeds before New Year.

On Sunday I have a Poker Tournament at the Alea Casino, something I’m really looking forward to. As normal my game plan will simply be “don’t be that pillock who’s out first”, though I guess I’ll have to wait and see on that one.

There are many project that need my attention aswell so I want to be able to spend a bit of time on those.

Of course studying and preparing for the January exams will be high on my list, as well as making a start on my dreaded dissertation. 8,000 words to write, give or take 10%. So I guess I’d better get off my arse and make a start on something. Catch You later.

Ok first of all I know that ‘chanciness’ isn’t a real word … or is it? Just a moment.

(checks nearby dictionary) Nope, didn’t think so.

As you might know I have a bit of a history when it comes to Rock Paper Scissors. For those who didn’t know, I was on the Official UK RPS Team in 2005 at the World Championship in Toronto, and also set up up the Leeds U Rock Paper Scissors society when I started out here at Leeds Uni.

Well this weekend was the UK Rock Paper Scissors Championships down in London, and I had the pleasure of participating in the event with 3 other members of LURPS as a team: Team LURPS (not the most original name, but oh well). Over 100 competitors verged upon the Durrell Arms in Fulham on Saturday night, so my initial goal (like when I was at the world champs) was just to get through round one, which I’m pleased to report I did successfully. Although I was knocked out in round 3, one of our team made it right up to an impressive 3rd place, winning a bottle of wine.

Many videos and pictures from the event can be seen at LURPS, The Ham and Egger Files and of course the official website.

Here’s a video of one of our members winning ^_^

For those who don’t know I also play in a weekly poker league at the Fenton pub, as part of a national poker game (kinda), run by Redtooth Poker. It’s free to play every week, with a prize of 8 pints of beer for the game winner (not to be drunk all at once of course, lol). Along side this league points are awarded depending on your finishing position. The top two finishers qualify for the Redtooth Regional (West Yorkshire) Tournament, with a playoff tournament for the third spot for positions 3 to 10. As I finished 5th in the league, I made it to this playoff tournament. However, by the time it was down to the final two my chip stack started to dwindle. Here’s an overview of how the second to last hand panned out (for those who don’t know poker, um … try this, and good luck).

My Hand – 10 7
Opponents Hand – 10 5 (I don’t remember the suits, but they don’t matter)

Both called pre-flop.

Flop: 5 6 10

Me: Bet
Opponent: All In
Me: All In

Turn: 10 (giving my opponent a full house, and my legs a reason to stand up due an a very high chance of losing there and then)

River: 7 (giving me the stronger full house).

Though I’m pleased to have won the play off and qualified for the regional tournament, it’s the kind of hand where I really felt sorry for my opponent.

So it’s here I say farewell for now, as I have some (lots of) work to do and catch up on. I’ll try and update more often, so thanks for hanging in there.