Saturday, March 29, 2008

The Project – Part Two (of Three)

According to the ‘instructions’, I’ll be needing to draw a combination of circles and straight lines in order to construct on the carpet, the perfect octagon. What was meant to be a simple exercise turned out to a fair bit of a headache, moreso because I didn’t have a protractor BIG enough. Wtf mate? Anyways, ingenious as I am, I decided to tie some raffia string to a plastic peg I found somewhere (no idea what it was meant for, but there were plenty of ‘em) on the other end, I tied the string to a piece of chalk. There you go. Instant circle.

STEP 4: The Draw
Although there were some initial problems with actually getting the chalk lines to show on MyCarpet, scrappy nevertheless, I managed to draw what was required, as per the picture provided. Funny thing was, not only did I not have a protractor, I also did not have a long enough ruler so virtually most of the lines (including all the straight lines) were drawn free hand. But I though it looked good enough. Judge for yourself.

I thought from a bird’s eye view it sorta looked like Leo Da Vinci’s Naked Dude drawing of proportions (I think its called “the Vitruvian Man or somethin’”).

STEP 5: Snip Snip
From then on, it wasn’t so difficult I guess. I got a huge pair of scissors and started cutting. Of course the edges weren’t even. So I simply folded it in ½ and started snipping the excess away. Things are shaping pretty nicely I guess.

Next: Then came the fun part, the inlay of the poker mat. I’ve previously experimented with the white spray paint (as seen in earlier pics) and I think I can pull it off now.

Friday, March 28, 2008

M.S.O.P – Province Level: Official Report

Another interesting nite the other nite was. Some $$ lost but plenty of experience gained.

Local Heroes present: Mr. Lee, Mr. Kien, Mr. Symons, and Mr. Kee. Mr. Lee Senior dropped by for 2 shakes but didn’t participate. 2 games played in total.

The first game I totally washed-out. 2 bad calls, including the second where Mr. Fats called me all in, and I saw him, with the SECOND SMALLEST PAIR ON THE TABLE, and I was out. Dumb right?

But I didn’t really mind losing early. I kept calling the hands of aggressive playas with totally shite hole cards of my own, PURELY by reading the game. And I was virtually correct all the time. I won my first big call by beating out Mr. Kien who, although consistently raised every round, I put to have nothing on him. I was right and I hit the high card for that one. But I lost the 2nd and 3rd rounds, both to Mrs. Read.

Even in my losses, I called him correctly but was beaten both times on the river & kicker respectively. The first loss was where he hit a flush draw on the river (dagnabit!) and beat my pocket K’s (which otherwise I would have won) and the other was where I went all in with a hole of 3 & 4 suited, cos I read him as havin nothing, even at the river. The Community Cards opened up to a random set of cards except for another 4. There. I had one of lowest pairs in the game, and the smallest on the table. But I still thought he had nothing. Mr. B.B.B was holding another 3 (dagnabit damnations!) but he had 4 for a kicker. So there. I was shuffling for the next hour or so. Hararharharhar!

The 2nd game was more dynamic and dramatic. Mr. Lee was the first to leave and I wasn’t far behind. Mr. B.I.G was notorious as the chip leader. But I clawed my way back and gave the Calvinator a run for his $$.

I got impatient and eventually lost anyways. So there.

Thursday, March 27, 2008

The Project – Part One (of Three)

O.k guys, here is the first installment of the 3-part Poker Night Chronicles: The Project.

As some of you may already know, I’m making my own poker table cover, and its gonna be brilliant! BRILLIANT! My first problem was the shape. If you glance at the previous posts you can see the picture that was my inspiration, so I eventually decided that it should be an octagon, an 8-sided polygon. I think it looks more professional that way.

Second problem: How can I cut out a perfect octagonal shape, or at least something passable? Once again, Wikipedia provided the solution for my problems. Check this site out:-

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Octogon

Its pretty cool. It even has a GIF picture with moving illustrations that show how to draw out the plans for a perfect octagon. You’ll see what I mean for yourselves later…

STEP 1: What is it that you want?
You’ll need a clear idea of what you’re looking to make. Forget the creative juices (unless you’re some architect or similar) and instead, go on-line (as I have) and look for some inspiration in sites that sell poker/cards merchandise.

STEP 2: Buy what you need
Once you know what you’re looking for, pay a visit to your nearby D.I.Y shops and get the stuff you need. Try to picture the whole project in fast forward so you can buy everything at one go (it would save you the hassle).

Practicing what I preach, I took a trip down to Ikano with Calvin and got myself some green carpet (in the absence of felt) and some other miscellaneous stuff, like spray paint and crispy popiah.

STEP 3: Organize your work space
I found a place in my house, upstairs with a wide enough space to lay out my ‘carpet’ and at the same time, found a great workspace. I also set up all the ‘equipment’ that I needed, such as the make-shift protractor…which was actually a piece of chalk on a string tied to some peg (or peg-like apparatus). Check it out.

NEXT: According to the instructions, I need to draw some shapes and some lines. Simple? Well, not if you don’t have a protractor or even a ruler which is that big!

Wednesday, March 26, 2008

M.S.O.P – The TTDI Leg: Official Report

Local Heroes present:
Mr. Kee, Mr. Lee, Mr. Ken Li (sorry man, maybe I spelt it wrong!), Mr. Tan & Mr. Symons.

And the winner is…. ME! It seems that Lady Luck has come round for a bit of a tease. Hahahahaha!

But seriously, not to gloat, it was another monumental battle by our local poker heroes. Last night we started a bit late but because of the intensity of the game, the one game took 2 hours+!!
Mr. Symons, who has been having decent games for the past couple of days (Symons in Real Life & on FB!) was the first casualty of the night as several successive lost pots took its toll on the B.F.G. Mr. Tan was as cool as ever, going over-redline early but later clawing his was back up with a big pot win. That wasn’t enough though to stop Mr. Ken, Mr. Lee’s macha, from bulldozing through Mr. Tan.

Mr. Ken’s aggressive, loose play and constant raising using an ancient multiplication system (Janjang of Death) instilled fear in all those around him. Mr. Lee of course, was as cool as ever, which made him a force to be reckoned with as well. Mr. Lee’s calm & composure is virtually unmatched.

Mr. Kee on the other hand, appeared intimidated by the aggressive plays from the other players and decided to keep things tights (that’s the way he likes it you see), folding often and winning only certain and strong pots.

Eventually, Mr. Symons and Mr. Tan were eliminated with the remaining 3 playas having equal stack standing. Things were tense, and Mr. Symons was restless having already been eliminated (“Get off the floor Big C, and leave the trolley alone!”).

Suffice to say, it eventually down to just Mr. Lee and Myself, but admittedly, I was lucky enough to go head-to-head with superior chips (Mr. Lee had a number of great hands which would have wiped me out if we had even stacks). I won, but it was scrappy (High cards & low pairs).

Oh well, you know what they say: A Win is A Win. At least I’ve got something in common with Newcastle United last night!

Thanks to Mr. Lee for his house. We always look forward to playing there. See you guys soon.

Tuesday, March 25, 2008

How to feed an obsession (or “How to Build a Poker Table Cover”)

Mr. Lee, one of our local heroes has a poker set which we use regularly, and which also includes a plain green felt poker table cover, with 5 (empty) boxes for the Community Cards.

In the meantime, we have kept true to our word and have continued to play on a weekly basis, sometimes even twice a week.

Lately, I have also been feeding this obsession by doing tons of research on the Game: jargon, calculations, strategies, etc. In my journey, I’ve seen quite a bit of poker paraphernalia in various websites. I’ve currently trying to contact several website for details on how the deliver the stuff to Malaysia. Can you believe, a particular website with the most amazing looking Bicycle cards (WHICH I NEED VERY MUCH!) delivers to the Maldives and Sri Lanka, but not Malaysia or even Singapore. When I e-mailed ‘em, I was happy for a prompt reply which explained that the Courier Service FedEx kept returning packages bound for Malaysia, so it caused them some embarrassment in terms of providing good service. I’m still waiting on several more websites to reply to me.

So, anyways, I’ve come across really beautiful looking Poker Table Covers (with chip and cup holders) but they’re a bit pricey. I can afford them, but you’ve got to consider the shipping (not only the charges, but also the transport). Its all a bit of a hassle. Take a look at the picture on the left.
But then I came across a website of this dude, BUILDING his own poker TABLE. That’s right. A poker TABLE. The picture showed an unfinished table but it had the hexagonal (or was it octagonal? For those of you who flunked geometry, hex means 6-sided and oct means 8-sided) shape and it looked pretty sharp. Then it hit me: why not just build one? A table cover I mean, not a table. So that’s when I hit the D.I.Y. shops with Mr. Symons (yet another local hero) for supplies (“Supplies!!”, exclaims Ah Beng).

So far, I’ve bought:-

1) A green carpet-y like thingy. It’s huge. You gotta buy a minimum of 1 metre for RM 25. I think I can lay a snooker table with that;

2) A can of white spray paint (for the ‘boxes’ or any other decals;

3) A box of blackboard chalk (white); and

4) A cheap blade.

Additionally, I got a roll of musking tape, scissors, a ‘peg’ (don’t ask), string and cello tape from home.

More updates to follow with step-by-step pictorial coverage of the whole process.

M.S.O.P. (Malaysia World Series of Poker)

It seems that I’m arse out of luck.

Welcome to the Malaysian World Series of Poker!

One or twice a week, several local heroes will get together for an evening of cards, games, (soft) drinks, Cheezels™ and stomping good time with Lady Luck.

However, for the past couple of days, the revered patron Saint of Gambling has hopped out on me. She has been teasing me ever since we started playing, with me breaking even or recouping losses at the 11th hour. But for the past three days, I think she has found another.

Time will tell if She will have me back…

In the meantime, Poker Night anyone?

Monday, March 24, 2008

Howay lads!

Kudos to King Kev and his Toon Army. The Toon have long been waiting for a win ever since the King’s installment in January earlier this year.
Kudos also to our pint-sized and not-so-pint-sized hitmen for grabbing a goal each, although it still cracks me up whenever Owen scores with his head. I guess there is some real skill involved there.
Did anyone notice the 4-3-3 formation? King Kev played the same formation against Birmingham and did pretty well in the 2nd half. I must say, I quite fancy the idea of an Oba, Mark and Michael frontline and it appears that this tactic paid-off. Probably a bigger pay-off than most (except the Toon Army) would imagine.

Anyways, a win is a win. Cheers to the Black and White and a round of drinks for everyone!

We’ll take what we can from this season. Howay lads!