Another day, another $10 re-buy comp

I hope you're not reading this. You clearly are, don't try to pretend otherwise. Frankly, that upsets me.

I don't really want to write a blog, and I certainly don't want people to read it. I guess it's just a form of therapy. I used to write things a few years back and I even completed an entire novel - albeit not a very good one. It was rejected by one publisher and I gave up trying. After that I started gambling. I haven't written another word since.

Of course, therapy is a perfectly natural thing. 8 or 9 years ago I visited my therapist every week, largely because my family thought I needed it. I wasn't really in a position to argue, considering my recent history, but that's another story. Mostly we filled the hour-long slot with irrelevant chit-chat and minor griping, but every now and then she would touch a nerve and it became a rather less pleasant experience. It was difficult for me, because there were things I didn't want to talk about, and unfortunately these were the things that she did want to talk about. That, after all, was her job. She only seemed to be really happy when she'd made me cry. I just wanted to tell her what I'd had for lunch.

Still, that's all ancient history now. A more pressing concern is what will unfold in the Class F Apprentice Handicap at Southwell. Folkestone and Wetherby are abandoned - marvellous - so somehow I need to scrape together a few bob on the all-weather. Jeffrey Bernard used to organise cat-racing between his friends when the racing was off; sadly I don't have any cats, or indeed friends, within a 30-mile radius. So Southwell it is.

7 minutes to go till the break in the $10 re-buy NLHE. My entire life seems to be spent watching clocks tick. In a way I'm glad the NFL season is over, that's the worst for clock-watching, especially when I'm on the under. I don't think I've won a single pot in this tournament yet. 27 minutes till the off at Southwell, I need to get cracking.

Dammit, this handicap is tough. A couple of the outsiders look to have a squeak which is making my life difficult. Usually I like to hoover up a few quid by laying a couple of also-rans in the place market if I think they're too short. Not today. Then again, the front 2 in the market (Fraternity and Shifty) look convincing too. Fuck it. I've laid a 13/2 shot called Tommytyler - a few placed efforts in maidens looks sub-par for this race - in the win and place markets, and a random outsider, Rocky Reppin. I'm not very happy with these bets.

KK held up against AQ. 162 punters left.

They're off at Southwell. No satellite or cable here in the back o' beyond so I'm reliant on the ultra-dodgy Racing Post text commentary service. The words 'Tommytyler prominent' seem to appear rather too often for my liking. No worries though, one of my squeaky outsiders comes from nowhere to win it. "Shaped as though drop back to 1m will suit", according to Spotlight. Seems all too obvious now.

Full Result: 1st Augustine 20-1
2nd Fraternity 11/4 f
3rd Shifty 3/1

Got a few quid. If I could have a couple of hundred more races like that I'd be out of it.

Getting it right is definitely the best therapy.