Shuffle, cut, deal

AP hosted a ripper of a poker night with endless iTunes and ale, premium pizza and an all-round happy vibe. T'other combatants were SK, DL, BW, LPO, PB and me. Typically, I placed third in the Hold 'Em tourney, which meant I was refunded my $20 stake. PB beat SK (aka "The Bridesmaid") heads-up to scoop the big bucks and gain possession of the League Of Ordinary Gentlemen trophy until we reconvene. During the dealer's choice period, I introduced the lads to Omaha. It's fundamentally the same as Texas except you have four face-down cards and must use exactly two of those and three from the middle to make your hand. They were non-plussed. There was more of the variant Guts than usual, though no brave/foolhardy gambler lost too heavily. At the mutually agreeable finishing time of 1am, I had $17 in chips - for an overall loss of $3 in 5-6 hours. Yes, I play tight.

BW dropped LPO and I in the city near Paddy Maguire's. Although tired, I agreed to go for "a quick one". It ended up being two slow ones as we played doubles pool against strangers, winning control of a table then losing it again by a single blasted ball. Our success was entirely due to LPO, who I suspect may have honed his game while at university. Now beyond tired, I said seeya later, hurried through the drizzle to Elizabeth St and caught a bus.

Arose from my slumber at midday, just in time for "WWE RAW" and the return of Goldust. A fellow mid-carder.