A lot has been written about luck in recent reports, but it barely made an appearance this particular evening. Instead, 8 of us sat down to see who could get a result using their skill. Which is why, despite numerous re-buys, I went out early. A lorry load of Viagra couldn't make my cards stand up tonight. Oh well, I guess I'll just have to start researching how to actually play this game. Either that, or get myself some new, improbable power. Meantime, however, the lucky slag is Deadmoney again.

It was also an unusual evening in as much as there were very few big hands. In a 4 hour game, I only saw pocket aces once, a full house twice and trips maybe 3 or 4 times. Tonight was less about having the nuts, as having the balls to play mediocre cards.

It's not so easy to make a game report interesting when the cards are average at best, so I'm going to tell you about Dave. He was our guest last night - I believe he had played Emily on-line, and being a local, was invited to join our game. A very solid player - he certainly knew his stuff, and happily walked away with a tidy profit at the end in 2nd place with Lindz taking 1st place and an even bigger profit. There's no wildly exciting revelation here - definitely more Mr. Bean (sorry, Dave) than Jac Arama - but there is a point. TCP have aspirations WAY beyond their status in the poker world. We'd like to see more new blood at our games to add variety and to help us improve. And if you're not so local, we're also planning a big charity tournament in Reading (probably in April or May). So come and have a go - you really ought to get out more anyway.

As I said, not much to report about the cards this week, so here's a couple of poker jokes - if you can do better, please email TCP, or post them on our forum.

Six guys are playing poker when John loses $500 on a single hand, clutches his chest and drops dead at the table. The other five count their chips, then Bob asks, Who is going to tell his wife? They draw straws, & Bill picks the short one.

The others urge him to be discreet and gentle and don't make a bad situation any worse than it is. Discreet? I'm the most discreet man you'll ever meet. Discretion is my middle name, just leave it to me. He walks over to John's house and knocks on the door. His wife answers and asks what he wants. Bill says, Your husband just lost $500 playing cards. She says, Well then, I hope he drops dead!

Bill says, I'll tell him.