RIP Guinness and Poker

I've just returned, sides aching, from the funeral service. As one of the ones to whom Kat refers when she says:

All those future poker bloggers who will miss out on that first *squeeee* and feeling of validation when their blog gets pimped by the Blogfather himself. Poor things. I feel for 'em, I really do.

I can only ask: if you're so worried about my perilous emotional state, what are you going to do about it?

In much less important news, I played for the first time in a HORSE tournament yesterday, and quite enjoyed it, despite finishing well out of the money (but in the top half of the field). I have no idea what starting hands to play in Stud-8 though. Help?

Might have been better placed had a slightly shorter stack not hit his one outer on seventh street at stud (I had 8's full of A's, he had 9's up, and one of the 9's had been folded ...) but that's poker.

Also played my most card dead ever NLHE MTT (this is an objectively verified fact via PokerTracker). Not so bad as I was trying to concentrate on the HORSE, so the mind numbing routine of "fold, fold, fold, check/fold, complete/fold, limp/fold, fold, fold ..." did not distress me as it might of otherwise.

Missed one opportunity with blinds at 50/100 when I picked up 88 in MP. The cards I was getting, that looked like AA. I raised to 300, got an all in from LP, which I intended to call, then another all in from one of the blinds. Both players had me covered, and I decided discretion was etc. Got to see their hands of course: AJo, 77. To add insult to injury, an 8 hit on the flop, and neither of the other two ever improved. Almost made it to the bubble, before needing to push (8BB) from LP with QJ, running into AK in the small blind.