Mar 14th - Quarterly Report

Its almost the end of March already and time for a 'quarterly' report.

At the beginning of the year I was determined to play in many more of the £100+ events both live and on the Internet but recently things have conspired against me in that regard and I've been stuck with playing the £10-£50 'dainty' tournaments here in Brighton. So how did I get to Brighton from Dublin where I've been resident since 1999?

It all started back in mid-Jan as I was laid off from my job in Lisburn, N.I, where I'd spent the majority of 2005 working for a utility company there. I then got offered a job in Raynes Park, SW London, where I now am from 8am-4.30pm Mon-Fri. Luckily for me I still own a place in Northolt (W.London) which was currently being rented out. All I needed to do was to get the tenant to leave. Easy huh! Noooooooooo!

Apparently he's decided he won't budge until Ealing Council re-house him. Ealing Council won't re-house him unless he's evicted so I'm having to go through the courts to get him out and this takes time!! Doh!!

Anyway...some good friends in Brighton offered to put me up till I can re-claim my house so, for the moment, I'm driving 100 miles a day...working 8-4.30...playing cards in the evenin till 2am+ and generally sleeping when I can. Not ideal but I AM winning at cards so I can't complain too much!

The first weeks of the year have been pretty good, for me. I'm up over $3500 and have made 9 final tables from 26 starts at both 'live' events and Internet tournaments with a buy-in of over $100.

What I still need to do though is play in more meaningful tournaments but the problem with this is that they're played over 2 days (bloody useless if you're working) or there are none within the reaches of my temp base in Brighton. Staying at a friends house is great but opening his front door at 5am and leaving again at 6.30am is somewhat taking the piss!

So until I get my house back (before Easter I hope) I'm stuck with the LCI schedule in Brighton. C'est La Vie!