Greed

We all get it, everyone at some point in there life whether it be who gets the last Yorkshire pudding, or winning that large sum of money in a poker tournament. But what do we do when we have it all? I saw Angelina Jolie of the news two days ago in the Congo or somewhere. She was helping women who were victims of rape with the children who were the result of that doing. Then we have others who throw their money around like there's no tomorrow. This all came to mind when I was getting my fix of my newest poker craze, no not open face Chinese, Courchevel! Did I really need to say it again?...yes.

I cannot imagine what I would be like if I had all the money in the world but poker has taught me that if I'm not having fun, I just get greedy and lose. Yesterday was the fine example of how I went up to $85 then dropped down to $20. So today I had to put some rules in place before I started. I was terrified of clicking the 'seat me' button again with it's forced higher level stakes. Knowing that a real good time would be on the cards I had to say if I lose my $10, go to bed, if I make it to more than $20, dropping down to $20 makes it bed time. If I manage over $30, leave, and the maximum stay was 35mins to finish at 11pm. I broke the rules slightly when I got to $37 and stayed until 11pm dropping to $32. So, no one was hurt, myself I mean, and I made a cool $22, bringing my bankroll to a swift $40, yay for low stakes eh?

What I learnt is I am extremely greedy, Where do I stop? I want more action and more money all the time through the happy medium of playing poker. I now know why everyone loves PokerStars, I love it because it brings me all the games I want and games = action = money.

@AntoniaChigurh

Omaha, but in Courchevel

There's a place in France that I looked up called Courchevel, it seems to be well known as a fun place to go skiing as it lies knee deep in snowy white mountains. Beautiful to look at, however cold to the touch. The hotels on the other hand promise a walm and cosy place for your stay. It is then that I realise; I am a poker player, what does Courchevel have to do with poker and myself?

PokerStars have this incredible week called 'Omaha week'. I'm not one to be an expert at Omaha, and the idea of strategy? Haven't a clue. I usually turn to the game when times get hard at the old Hold'em side of things. Now you are thinking 'just get to the point!'.

I joined twitter to follow the EPT and other tournaments and PokerStars mention 5-Card Omaha and I'm mesmerised by the fact that I can start playing a different type of poker online. I ask for more information and said subject and I get a response in the shape of an easy to understand tutorial video. Now, this video not only explains 5-card Omaha, which turns out to be the same as normal Omaha but you get an extra card in the mix, it also gives you a taste of this other game called Courchevel. I can't believe my eyes. 5 cards are dealt to each player, blinds are in, hold up! What the holy mother of ice cream is this?! The first card from the flop is shown and then the first betting round takes place. All of a sudden getting to my computer and playing this game is the only thing that matters in life. 2 hours and $85 later, I am well out of my comfort zone. Courchevel is my favourite. So much so that 1 hour later I am $60 down from that. What I really do not understand is this first and second turn and river card sets that seem to occur when that special 'all in' moment occurs. I can never say that I made a loss, I won a love for a beautiful place called Courchevel.

@AntoniaChigurh

Courchevel

I begin my day abnormally as I get up on time at 6am, unlike my usual snooze for 10-15mins. I am later bombarded with bin bags that are needing to be taken outside as we have a flat inspection at 4pm. I will not be present for this though it has effected the idea of me playing any sort of poker game for the past couple of days, oh no! Oh yes. I go to work as usual, working with the dental therapist was only fantastic because we share such good conversation...but all I want to do is go home and find out what the hell Courchevel is....this beautiful word describing a variation of Omaha.

Finally I am leaving the dental practice at 5:30pm after many exciting patients, bringing with them a range of mouths. I'm tired when I get home so I snooze and finally shake myself up and onto my computer by 8:30 with a glass of water to quench the thirst of the mind. Cour-chev-el...I deposit $10 to my PokerStars account, hoping I will find a 5c/10c cash game. I am shocked, there is none, I don't know what to do, my mind goes into overdrive thinking of how much of an amateur I am, I can't possibly play 10c/25c...or can I? I then discussed it over with myself that £6.60 is not a lot to lose, this is a brand spanking new shiney golden thing that sits in front of me with a fancy name, and girls like shiney golden fancy things. So I give it a whirl, it's so much fun, I had a really good run, made $67 then $86, so I think, I'll get it to $100 then give it a rest. Did I get that far? Hell, you'd have a better chance of a fish surviving a shark attack (keeping in with poker of course). I whittled down to the tiny $10 I started with. It was fun and I do want to try it again but my luck seemed to be the only thing keeping it going. After a while I would get, what I thought was, the nuts, then get kicked down by a better card.

However I did try Full Tilt again, thinking I may have been on it, it was so cool!

@AntoniaChigurh