Getting into a raising war with Pedro

April 2004.

There was no way either of us was not going to commit serious amounts of chips here.

I limp UTG with 89, no raises.

Flop Q Jh Th. I check, Pedro bets £5, one caller, I call.

Turn Ts. I bet £5, Pedro raises 5 more, other guy cold calls, I call the extra 5.

River blank, we all check.

Pedro announces three Tens and I scoop the pot, ker-ching!

Bad Teddy Karma

Back in the days when I lived in a B&B round the corner from Harrowby Street, I went to the Vic every other day.

I used the place mostly as a kind of social club (a bit like Peter Benson). Somewhere to eat stir-fry and watch the football on the big TV.

Anyway, I collected the frequent visitor points and was duly rewarded with a George Foreman lean-mean grilling-machine, a large Teddy and two England-supporting Cuddly Lions (it was Euro 2004 & I‘d narrowly failed to accumulate the complete set of three lions). Yes, Grosvenor really knew how to treat the high rollers like The Paper.

All these items have languished in boxes or bin bags for the last couple of years but I'm now keen to move them on.

The grill is on its way to a culinarily-minded colleague. But what to do with Teddy and his pals? Their natural target constituency is the younger segment of the population. But it seems plain wrong to visit such items of dubious provenance on these innocents - perhaps the capital invested in these furry objects comes directly from the case funds of compulsive degenerates, recently-resigned gas sector-based public servants, ditching their formerly productive lives to pursue a 'career' as a 'professional' poker player.

The skillful thing would perhaps be to offer them up without volunteering details of their precise history. In karmic terms, I think this would serve as purification, and their new owner would remain unsullied.

Are there any lamas out there who are regular readers of this blog and could provide some guidance on this please?