Lead balloon

Lead balloon

Got back from my holiday in Egypt wonderfully relaxed. If you like warm weather and plenty of swimming, then Marsa Alam (and I've heard also Sharm El Sheikh) are great holiday destinations. Like England, Egypt is just about to enter the winter season, but unlike England, the temperature there is a balmy 28 degrees on average!

I headed out with my mother and uncle for a week's break (they were staying for 2 weeks) with the Red Sea Diving Safari, but had no underwater plans for anything other than snorkelling. We were staying on a resort site 10 miles south of Marsa Alam, and which was all of 100 metres from the coast. The water was incredibly clear just 50 metres out from the bay, and so any colourful fish or coral was in easy view. And believe me, there was an awful lot of both to be seen! Countless fish swarmed over, under and occasionally through the coral as far as the eye could see, in a magnificent multitude of colours and sizes. The coral itself was incredibly diverse: from familiar 'tree' shapes to bizzare and improbably coloured balloon shapes, and every mutation possible in between. I swam both the north and south reefs at least 5 times each, and was never wanting for new things to see.

On the days we didn't swim the coast of the resort we went to Abu Dabbab to swim with the green turtles and the dugong (sea-cow), both of which were awesome to behold. We also ventured out by boat to the dolphin house, which was itself a magnificent reef in a horseshoe shape, and home to scores of dolhins, though that could be mere rumour as not one of them deigned to see me on the day of my visit. When I wasn't swimming, the choices were usually limited to eating, reading or sleeping. Sunbathing was an option only for the masochistic (or the Italians, several of whom were sporting some worryingly dark tans!).

I will be looking forward to my next visit to the fabulous world under the sea, and hope to take along Faye, confident that as a self-confessed 'water baby' she would truly love the experience.

My relaxed state of mind alas failed to last. The night before I left for Egypt, I played for about 5 hours, and lost heavily. After I returned, I proceeded to lose. Every session. Heavily. By 2am on Sunday, I had lost over 10k altogether.
I went to bed that night wondering what on earth had happened to my game. It wasn't just bad beats and coolers (of which there seemed to be hundreds!), but I couldn't place the missing element. I honestly couldn't figure out what was going on, so, feeling dazed and deflated, I simply slept on it. And in the morning, after a little lateral thinking, the answer was waiting for me: I was bluffing too much.

All the signs were there. I was getting called down by some very marginal hands, but I was losing to them. I was finding myself having to fold from big pots on the turn and river with hands I should have dumped preflop. I was starting to chase draws. My aggression postflop was off the charts, and no-one can have a monster every time, paint whatever picture I would. So I was getting called, and raised, and I was losing.

So it's back in the saddle, once again sticking to more solid hands and tight play, with much more folding going on. PokerAce HUD is up and running and the data-mining continues. Am crossing my fingers that it will help lots, and soon. Good luck to everyone else.