So why 500 not out?
Well an aptly named blog in recognition of my 500 tweets, to my steady build up of followers, which is now standing at 51; where the hell did you come from??...NO, stay, don't go now, it's just about to get really interesting!
This goes alongside my 13 blogs, which according to the blog stats has achieved 665 views so far...Yep, I'm as amazed as you!!
Oh and of course my three published articles on my Grassroots journey, both online and in the local Sussex press (100,000+ combined circulation).
And why all of this social media and publication activity...yes, of course you know, the Ladbrokes Poker Grassroots promotion (aka #LPGR2012). The final date and venue for this great promotion has been announced, where remember the winner will get £10k sponsorship from Ladbrokes. So my hope is for Ladbrokes Poker to value my contributions to promoting Ladbrokes Poker and all the great work they do, including their Grassroots promotion and to be awarded one of teh two cherished Wildcards. If that happens then you'll be able to rail me (cheer me on) at the Palm Beach Casino in Mayfair in their £1k event on 1st October...
But first we must wait to see how Ian / ElJudge does in his event at The Fox on 8th Sept, who is the last to play in teh 'semi-final' round. I haven't really changed my view since blog #11, it really is a very close run competition and am so intrigued to hear the outcome of Ladbrokes' deliberations when the time comes. Ian's been off ill over the past month or so and was light on #LPGR2012 interactions but is back with avengence. Off posting pics of himself visiting Ladbrokes outlets in a five day road trip and then some really neat #LPGR2012 badges.
Must admit I'm not sure how the roadtrip will help FTW, (my opinion and NOT a slate on Ian!) but have to say the badges look great...though obviously not as good as anything I've done cos we wouldn't want to jeopardise 'my' wildcard place now, would we! :-)
Oh, and even with all my social media activity, had to google (is that a verb now?) what FTW meant (it was in one of Ian's tweets) ...oh dear, I really am old!! FTW = For The Win apparently! Well that was my education for teh day!
Meanwhile Jon / NZ_Donkey, another wildcard hopeful has made the leaderboard in the Ladbrokes Poker Social Series after winning it last month, which I have to say is quite impressive. I'm just hoping that with the school holidays coming to an end I'll be able to participate in them again when Sundays' will be back to teh kids finishing their assignments or homework rather than us being out and about or having friends/family over...oh what a social butterfly!
If you follow @Ladbrokes_Poker on twitter or on facebook then you'll get notified of these events, which are generally free or no more than $1 to enter and you can have a go yourself, which is a great way to hone your poker skills at low cost.
I would also like to say a big thanks to Ladbrokes for continuing to run their online Grassroots event for the initial 40 qualifiers, putting into teh pot £200 to tempt players and keep the grassroots spirit going. Good job Ladbrokes!
Oh and thanks to another of their great promotions; their 50-a-day give-away' promotion, where I opted in and was then lucky enough to be randomly selected for some Laddies goodies, and chose this top...great quality and looks great...shame about teh 'model' hey! Once more Ladbrokes Poker proving they are the best!
Another good event that Ladbrokes Poker run, which I really like having started playing it is their €12.5k gt'd event, with €16.5 buy-ins and add-ons. It starts at 19:30, has a good online structure in my opinion and gets around 350 entrants, normally paying 30 places. It seems to have a solid player base with generally 'good' play and if you make the final table, which would be around 01:30 then you're in for anything from €250 to €4000, which I think is very good value. So far I've cashed in 2 out of 6 attempts, both on the final table, so I may be a bit biased but I think it really is a good event and is worth trying.
So what else? Well, my blog title does suggest I do more than play poker...so...I recently joined Virgin Active along with my family on a joint mission to get fit, well actually not necessarily to get fit, but to try and lose weight, or at least maintain the bulk of weight we do have - but definately not to add to our bulk! Have to say, so far so good, 9lbs down, BUT 27lbs to go, well that or I need to grow about 2 feet!!
So, I'm trying to go three times a week and so far my regime is:
- 7 minutes on rowing machine
- 60 sit ups on teh power plate (basically a massive vibrating floor that you exercise on)
- 13 minutes attempting to run on teh treadmill (THIS NEARLY KILLS ME and IS DEFINATELY UNLUCKY FOR ME!!)
- 3 * 30 repetitions on some ads and chest weights
- 7 minutes on the cross trainer
- Followed by a few lengths of their pool and of course the steam room or sauna.
Other than that work (which has been a bit of a nightmare recently so I won't bore you with that) and our quest for a dog continues. A while ago we had researched, googled, emailed for weeks and eventually decided that a Eurasier is the dog our family wants, so we contacted some UK breeders a while ago. After a couple of unsuccessful mating attempts we're hoping a trip one of teh bitches took to Germany to get 'mated' went well; so maybe the patter of tiny paws beckons...
...which grows into one of these gorgeous creature...
Anyway, now a tense week and a bit waiting for Ian to play the final live Grassroots event and then anticipation of the Ladbrokes wildcard announcements. So keep your fingers crossed for me... (oh what a nice tie in to the start of this blog) and WILDCARD I HOPE YOU COME HOME TO ME!
