The Weekly Wheaties Report

It was on a fine summer's morning,
When the birds sweetly tuned on each bough;
I heard a fair maid sing most charming
As she sat a-milking her cow;
Her voice, it was chanting melodious,
She left me scarce able to go;
My heart it is soothed in solace,
My Cailín deas crúite na mbó.

With courtesy I did salute her,
"Good-morrow, most amiable maid,
I'm your captive slave for the future."
"Kind sir, do not banter," she said,
"I'm not such a precious rare jewel,
That I should enamour you so;
I am but a plain country girl,"
Says Cailín deas crúite na mbó.

"The Indies afford no such jewel,
So precious and transparently fair,
Oh! do not to my flame add fuel,
But consent for to love me, my dear;
Take pity and grant my desire,
And leave me no longer in woe;
Oh! love me or else I'll expire,
Sweet Cailín deas crúite na mbó."

"Or had I the wealth of great Damer,
Or all on the African shore,
Or had I great Devonshire treasure,
Or had I ten thousand times more,
Or had I the lamp of Alladin,
Or had I his genie also,
I'd rather live poor on a mountain,
With Cailín deas crúite na mbó."

"I beg you'll withdraw and don't tease me;
I cannot consent unto thee.
I like to live single and airy,
Till more of the world I do see.
New cares they would me embarrass,
Besides, sir, my fortune is low,
Until I get rich I'll not marry,"
Says Cailín deas crúite na mbó.

"An old maid is like an old almanack,
Quite useless when once out of date;
If her ware is not sold in the morning
At noon it must fall to low rate.
The fragrance of May is soon over,
The rose loses its beauty, you know;
All bloom is consumed in October,
Sweet Cailín deas crúite na mbó."

"A young maid is like a ship sailing,
There's no knowing how long she may steer,
For with every blast she's in danger;
Oh! consent, love, and banish all care.
For riches I care not a farthing,
Your affection I want and no more;
In comfort I'd wish to enjoy you,
My Cailín deas crúite na mbó.."

One of those poker truisms that you quickly tire of hearing is that it's seldom the last hand that knocks you out of a tournament, but rather the one played at some point earlier. That was true for ricoM last night at the WWdN Invitational, as I left in 36 position in a small field of 65.

The Turbo Texas Hold `Em advisor claims my limit game is too loose/aggressive; and it may well be right for NL too. I may have shifted the pendulum too far to the other side after I became convinced that my tight/passive play was losing more games for me than winning. So I now need to figure out how to mix it up and come up with a tight/aggressive strategy.

In any case, it was one of those nights where the cards in my hand were good, but not good enough to consistently take pots, and I think I played - and played out - way too many hands. I foolishly played out a hammer early in the game against 23skidoo, who simply ignored my increasing raises and paired a 10 at the river to take $1595 away from me. I recovered from that, as I recovered from several other blows, until a colleen with the pretty name of cailin deas put the serious hurt on me, whacking my Ace high straight with a full house and taking almost $2k of my chips in the process.

After that crash it was just a matter of time till the coroner's wagon came for me. About 20 minutes later, short-stacked, my Big Slick wouldn't improve against what started as a pair of 7s and would turn into a straight at the river and I was left with $25 in the small blind. I did help Sir Waffles, still smarting from the spanking I gave him in an earlier tourney, fulfill his quest of busting me out, though. An ill wind, silver linings and all that...

Let's see: the famous GRob would take 1st. Several people who were at my first and only table placed up in the pack, including Gracie, slipping into the moola once again and 23skidoo in 8th. The pretty maid who brought me down finished in 13th.

Until next week.