international nut of pastry - I think this lines mostly filler.

To make up for the lack of recent content, here's a couple poker stories from this Thursday night.

This wasn't my hand, but happened on the table I was at. The guy next to me was dealt pocket fours and since I had already folded, he showed me and he started laughing - All in for about 5g.

One or two others folded, but one man stayed in... He matched the bet, and turned his cards - Pocket five's.

The flop... Nothing, 4, 5.

The turn.. . A 4, and the river card was nothing.

An interested ride for the two guys involved in that hand, and fun to watch too.

Unfortunately, one of the best hands I had was the exact hand the guy next to me had... A K off suit. I called all in on it for around 2 grand, he matched it and we both laughed as we turned our cards. The river cards meant nothing, and it was a split pot.

Been awhile since I wrote any words that appeared here, not sure why that is... I suppose I felt the odd photo that I put online would be enough. But every so often you've just got to rant.

Poker has pretty much been down hill since I came 4th. The week after, I didn't place. The week after that I came 9th, and the last two weeks now I've not placed. I guess my luck has run out as I'm not really doing anything wrong with my playing style - cards just aren't coming my way. I'm not sure if I need a break from poker, or if I need to somehow play more. A break would hurt my standings at the venue. But when you're continuing to get only 10 points just for showing up, you aren't going to make it far up the ladder.

I'd folded countless hands... Waiting for something good to come my way, so I could double up and stay in just a bit longer. It hadn't happened. The blinds were quite painful now at 5,000 and 10,000. I had about 15,000 left, and I was the big blind. The cards I'm dealt were 3 and 2, off suit. "What the hell", I thought. Now was as good a time as any to go out. I'd made it onto the final table, in the top 8, I was happy with that.

"All in" I said, laughing. The few people behind me that saw my cards laughed too and my bet was matched by 3 others.

The flop was dealt, there was a 2 in it. But I wasn't winning, as someone had been dealt pockets that were higher many my pair of 2's.

The turn card helped nobody.

And the river... Well, the river was a 3. I'd hit two pair, and taken quite a good pot to keep me in the game for a few more hands.

I finished 4th that night. Out of 128 people. My best placing yet.