Alex Goldie's birthday celebration.
Topic: Misc.
After Norway, next stop Battersea, to celebrate the continued existence of Alex 'the gent' Goldie - a living national treasure if ever there were one. I enclose a few pictures taken on the day. Apologies to those I missed: Neil, Jude, Ellis and others.

Alex and DY
Topic: Misc.

Titmus and Dom
Topic: Misc.

Lord and Lady Miros
Topic: Misc.

Gryko and Oakley
Topic: Misc.

Congratulations to Frode and Asa.
Topic: Misc.
I went to a wedding in Norway at the weekend, along with Neil. The groom was Frode Gjesdal, whom many of you know. I first met him waiting outside the Riverboat casino in Glasgow in 2001. We've been in touch ever since.

I wish him and Asa all the happiness in the world.

The happy couple.
Topic: Misc.

Nordic Beauty, Neil, "Lars Vegas" and Oysten (phonetic spelling).
Topic: Misc.

Marvellous!
Topic: Poker
There's been a lot of crap written about Neil Channing this week, following the online publication of this interview with Derek Kelly. Neil has a great deal to tell the aspiring gambler and like anyone who tries to help others, he has received a heap of abuse in return. No good deed goes unpunished!

He has a better record in tournaments than a cursory examination of the PokerInEurope database would suggest. It doesn't show that he won two Saturday afternoon comps in the Vic in a row, or that he won a second-chance competition in Binion's and came third in another during the 2004 WSOP.

But that hardly matters, because his speciality is something the most accurate tournament database could never reveal - his ability to create a good gambling atmosphere. It's one of those skills of the game that is rarely ever written about. To watch him in a cash game is to see a master at work. Few people realise it, but the best poker games are the ones where your opponents don't think they're playing poker, but instead think they are gambling. Neil pushes them in that direction.

Want an example of his genius? Try this - imagine you're playing a cash game in the Vic against a really bad player you've never seen before. You want to know when he's coming back, but you can't be too blatant. What do you say? You might ask how long he's in town, (I often do), but it's a bit of a giveaway. So late in the night, Neil asks: 'Got a long drive home?' It's brilliant. The most harmless question imaginable gets the star to reveal where he's come from, how long he's staying and from there you can try and get him to reveal what night he'll be back so you don't miss him. I tried it once when he wasn't there and it worked a treat.

There are many issues in cash poker that never come up in tournaments, so those who think that $20 rebuy events and $30 freezeouts are the be all and end all of poker never realise how deep you have to think to get your opponents' money into your pocket. A lot of regular cash players never grasp it either. I've seen people with great ability and discipline make no attempt to get people to gamble more recklessly than they planned. They go their whole playing careers without ever realising that there is a dimension to the game that they have never explored. Neil doesn't just aim to figure out how his opponents think. He actually changes the way they think - making them play the way he wants them to.

Whatever his technical ability, I assure you that Neil's skills at getting people to gamble are second to none. And I enjoy being in his games just to see him work his magic.

The flat tax revolution.
Topic: Politics
There's been a revolution taking place in Central and Eastern Europe and until this month I knew nothing about it. It's the "flat tax" - a tax regime that removes higher bands and raises personal allowances. Proponents claim it raises revenues by increasing incentives to work and invest, while reducing the level of tax evasion.

Greece is rumoured to be the latest country to introduce such a regime. If it does, it will join Poland, Slovakia, Latvia, Lithuania, Russia and Estonia. The results for growth and revenue have been dramatic. Sadly our own government shows no sign of looking at the idea with an open mind. It has even gone as far as supressing documents that advance its advantages.

I wish my grandparents could have lived to see the day that Russia and Eastern Europe had higher growth rates than the UK and were pioneering low-tax approaches to stimulating economic growth. The one consolation is that there does now seem to be an issue on which the Conservatives could fight the next election.

Mistaking vice for virtue.
Topic: Poker
Over at Andy Ward's Blog, our hero takes on those who make a virtue of making final tables.

He's reminded me of Craig Grant, whom I haven't seen for a few weeks. Craig has told me countless times that whenever he's knocked out of a tournament he always goes out with the best hand.

I believe him!

In fact I'm convinced it's the reason he's never won anything. Check out his stats. Lots of money finishes. No wins.

Playing tournaments day after day, week after week must be a hard life when on any given night 35 per cent of the prize pool is out of reach for you. I'm sure it's enough to drive a man to do something crazy.

Odds and Ends.
Topic: Misc.
Humbug about sex, part one.

This story baffles me. The popular computer game "Grand Theft Auto, San Andreas" was banned from shops in Australia and re-rated to 'adults only' in the US after it was discovered that it was possible to see graphic sex scenes by downloading a special patch from the internet.

This might seem understandable were it not for the fact that the game permits players to kill civilians, steal property and take drugs for amusement. I watched a friend of mine play an earlier version of the game (Vice City) and in the first minute he sliced a defenceless female character to death with a samurai sword for no reason whatsoever, before robbing a drug store and driving off in a stolen car. All part of the fun.

Yet it's only when players learn how to make their characters give pleasure to others instead of killing, robbing or mutilating them that it causes offence!

Humbug about sex, part two.

I bought Private Eye today and was amused to see that page five made fun of the number of female columnists writing about nannies. I called Vicky Coren about it, as she had noticed the same thing.

One of the pieces derided in the Eye was from a woman who said that nannies, like children and pets, needed to be set clear limits. She went on to complain about a lesbian nanny she hired who downloaded pornography onto her computer. This, the writer noted, was a clear cry for help and a sign that the nanny needed boundaries set for her.

"No", said Vicky. "She was looking for pictures of minge".

Quite right. It reminds me of the drivel people talk when they say that teenagers who have sex are suffering from low self-esteem. Utter bollocks. They have discovered that their genitals have nerve endings. Sometimes the simplest explanation is the best.

What is the point of W.H.Smith?

Growing up in the 1980s, I recall going to W.H.Smith's on a Saturday morning and seeing the place absolutely packed with customers. It was the Times Square of High Wycombe. If you stayed there long enough, you'd see everyone.

Recent visits to one in Fulham have left me stunned at how dead it is. It doesn't have anything like the stock of books that the local Borders has. It is competing with Rymans (about 100 yards down the same road) in the all-important market for plastic folders and hole-punchers and its music section is pitiful compared to what is available in Virgin and HMV.

All of this is so sad. Not because I'm a shareholder, but because as a teenager in a packed branch I could read substantial portions of the books and magazines I liked for free without being noticed. Now I would stand out a mile. Bah!

An interesting question about the London bombings.
Topic: Politics
Just over a week ago a thought occured to me. I intended to mention it here but didn't get around to it and was therefore frustrated when I found that somebody had put it on the net before I did. Specifically, as Arthur Chrenkoff asks:

We are told that London bombings are a result of Tony Blair's decision to participate in the illegal invasion of Iraq. We are told that the continuing occupation of Iraq, and the carnage and humiliation inflicted upon Iraqi people by the United States, Great Britain and other occupying powers have radicalized some British Muslims to such extent as to push them into becoming suicide bombers on the buses and subways of their adopted country (in some cases their country of birth).

There are 250,000 Iraqis living in Great Britain - that's quarter of a million people, one of the biggest communities in Iraqi diaspora, and just under one sixth of the total British Muslim population of some 1.6 million.

So why, among the original 7/7 bombers, the next lot of recently captured bombers, and all the other people arrested in connection with the attacks, aren't there any British Iraqis?

That's a damn fine question. If it's all about Iraq, where are the British-Iraqi suicide bombers? Could the bombers not find ONE representative of the country on whose behalf they were supposedly retaliating to take part? Maybe the frustrated British muslims who do feel aggrieved about the Iraq war should talk to the Iraqi exiles here to find out why the latter are more sanguine about it. Who knows? They might learn something.

Just to make a change.
Topic: Religion
You've probably read a lot of pieces about Islamic extremists supporting the bomb attacks in London, so just to make a change I'm going to link to some support from the attacks that come from a Christian preacher.

It is of course from Fred Phelps, whom I have mentioned before. He's really surpassed himself with this expression of support for the bombing and the wish that more had died.

News you might have missed.
Topic: Politics
Here's a story you might not have seen. The former foreign minister and deputy prime minister of Iraq, Tariq Aziz, has stated that Iraq did not take remarks by April Glaspie in 1990 to be a green light to invade Kuwait. Apparently he has said this before several times in the past, long before he was captured.

I never knew that. See here:

http://xrlq.com/2005/08/07/aziz-and-aziz-agree/