Musings on Receding Hairlines

Have you noticed that, since about 1995, any man under the age of 50 with a receding hairline has opted for the grade 1 or 2 all over buzz cut to disguise the soap opera unfolding on top of his head?

I have been off work for 2 days now with a virulent case of man-flu, and have had to endure wall to wall daytime television, punctuated by the world snooker championship. My thoughts on the receding hairline came while watching today’s second round match between Peter Ebdon and Mark King. Now these boys have opted for a grade zero up top, and the reflections coming off their heads, combined with the Crucible lights reflecting off the snooker balls didn’t do my headache any favours. Whilst the skinhead option is understandable, it’s a bit uniform and seems to have been taken up by the entire population. Perhaps trends will change, and in the 2012 match up between Ebdon and King, Peter will be sporting a Bobby Charlton style comb over and King will have a patchy afro similar to Dr Emmett Brown from Back to the Future.

You can tell it’s been a boring few days…anyhow - thought I’d give a quick update on this week’s league match at LC on Tuesday night. Only 12 runners, which often happens when the day has to be changed from it’s usual berth of a Thursday night. We were split into two tables of 6, and the action was fast and furious. Can’t remember too many hands as I’m flued up, but here are a few:

Hand1
I raise to 150 with 5♣7♣ and get called in two spots.
Flop: Ac, 10d, 2c
I bet 300 and get one caller
Turn is a brick - check, check
River misses my flush draw, but the guy has played the hand pretty weakly, so I put him on Ace Rag. I bet 700 which I hope would make him pass but he calls with A4. Bad start…

Hand2
Get involved in a large pot with Tom and McDee. Both myself and Tom end up all in on the turn with identical top 2 pair, and we chop it. McDee put a fair amount in the pot though, so it wasn’t a bad result

I then win a few pots without showdown and head to the final table with about 6k, which is a bit below average. I win a few more pots with raises, and win a decent 1k pot pre-flop by re-raising a raiser to 1800 with QQ. We are down to 6 players:

Hand3
Deven pushes all in for 3000 total on the button (blinds 150/300) and I hold AJ in the Big Blind. If I lose this it will really cripple my stack, and I worry that I am completely dominated or racing. I suppose he might have A10, but my read on Deven is that that is the only hand I am beating, so I pass. I think he probably had 77-JJ there, but we’ll never know. Not sure about whether that was the correct laydown or not to be honest.

Hand4
Very next hand I find A♥8♥ in the small blind. and when folded around I make up the small blind (400 now). Chip leader Fluke, who has been experimenting with a new LAG approach bordering on manical, raises to 1200 in the BB. I’m starting to feel pushed around after the lay down last time, so decide to flat call and see what the flop brings.

Flop 3, 8, 9

This looks a pretty good flop for me - it’s low enough to not give Fluke a straight draw with big cards, and also if I was dominated with a big Ace preflop I am winning now. I decide to risk that he doesn’t have a big pair and push all in for 5k in total (it’s an overbet, but this pot is big enough to put me in decent nick for the run in.

Unfortunately he has the one hand I can’t see, a set of 3s and I’m virtually drawing dead, and out in 6th spot.

A bright spot, however, is that I am pleased to report a winning live cash session! Not much, about £70 I think, but maybe it’s the start of better form in that discipline. I also played a little online cash while ill, and boosted the bankroll challenge by 70 dollars or so in a little under an hour.