Oh Blogger. How I've been ignoring you.

I haven't had a huge amount to write about poker-wise. I've not played anything big in 6 months and am not even venturing down to the casino. I should start up again though. Instead the only regular live cards I play is in the pub. That's going alright though it has been a while since I won a game. I'm making final tables more often than not so the wins will come eventually.

Next month I'm playing UKIPT Newcastle. The standard in the north east is very high indeed. I'd say it is the strongest area of the country in terms of ability. So perhaps I haven't picked the best stop of the tour to lose my UKIPT virginity.

Later this month is the LVTC live final - myself and the team I'm in have not done great in the online qualifiers and as a result we'll go in to the event with 6k stacks but on a 45min clock there is enough room to grind the stack up.

In African news, I spent 3 weeks out there and I've done a pretty comprehensive write-up here: http://www.gamblingnetwork.com/forums/general-chat-fun/14683-toms-tanzanian-diary-2011-a.html

I probably made a mistake with it all though - at the start of the year I had around £3,500 in my Africa fund which is more than I've ever had in the past. As such I felt it would never run out and so when I was in Tanzania I got involved in dozens of projects. Now however I'm down to just £130 on the kitty. The money has been used well but there is a stream of issues constantly arising. Currently these are:

• Getting sponsorship for a secondary school child



• Ensuring 2 ex-students at the blind primary school have access to secondary education



• Supplying a blind man with bags of cement so he can enlarge his house



• Supplying food to families in particular hardship



• Buying a plot of land to build a house for a family. The money for the building is already secured.

So anyone have £500 they want to send me? It was worth asking! Fundraising will take place later this year but the problem is you help people solve their issues and then not only do they have more problems that need assistance but other people come forward as well. It is a little like battling the Lernaean Hydra. You solve one problem and two more problems replace it.