One day I might host a little poker tournament at my new house. I don't fancy cash games as, even if you set good limits, there is always the option for people to win, and lose, plenty of cash. A tournament lets everyone put a nominal fee into the pot and the winner gets it all (or the top 2 or 3 depending how you arrange it). The only problem with that is how do you structure it so that games don't last too long? Once you're out, you're out; so Ideally 'social' games should last about an hour without seeming too rushed. Luckily, in this weeks Guardian poker column, Victoria Coren quotes Thomas Kremser, Europe's leading tournament director. According to him the perfect six-player, no-limit hold 'em, mates' tournament structure is: "Give everybody 1,000 in chips, start the blinds at 25-50, and increase them every 12 minutes. Go to 50-100, then 100-200, then 200-400, then 300-600. If the game still continues, increase to 500-1,000 and it will end within the hour." So there you go. If we play at my house that is likely to be the structure we use. I'd probably go above 12 minutes per round though. Thomas upped this from 10 due to the slowness of home players shuffling and dealing. I'd go a little further and have 15 minute rounds: It shouldn't add too long onto the overall tournament length.

On my way into work this morning I was trying to think what I did on Saturday. When I got here John asked whether I'd had a good weekend and I had to admit that I really can't remember Saturday. I think I just dealt with the weeks mail and then made a few cosmetic changes to my web site (still not the best thing in the world - by a long way). Sunday, however, I can remember as I spent all day in the Quality Hotel, Hagley Road, Birmingham playing Magic: the Gathering. I only went along as my friends son and friends have started playing and they know I used to play quite a lot. The whole thing seemed to be a little less nerdy (but not a lot) than I remember from when I used to play back in 1997/8. Opponents were certainly more friendly. Maybe it's me thats changed, maybe it's the other players. There were only 2 or 3 faces that I recognised from back then so I guess a lot of people have left the game too. It does require too much investment in both time and money, with too little to gain, to be a viable long term hobby. I came 18 out of 50 after an apalling start (DLLWWW).

EDIT: the magazine I was looking for is apparently "Classic Puzzles and Brainteasers". The publisher is Jacklin Enterprises UK, PO Box 77, Jarrow, NE32 3YJ. Customer service dept: Phone: 0870 920 1133. You can subscribe by phoning that number, or order back copies from your newsagent or WH Smith (so why isn't it on their web site then?). Games get treated fairly on TV Apparently. I have last nights episode of Child of Our Time recorded as I was out celebrating Debbies birthday. But according to this Guardian blog entry it had a section devoted to the effects video games are having on children. That would certainly make a refreshing change after the supposedly abominable investigations on shows such as Richard and Judy which were incredibly ill-informed and show children playing 18 rated games infornt of their parents. Would they let them watch 18 rated films? Well don't let them play GTA and Manhunt then you idiots. New magazine arrives I'd never heard of Games International until I stumbled on their website while looking for a completely unrelated magazine. I subscribed and issues 17 and 18 duly arrived yesterday. At first glance it looks like a pretty decent board game magazine. The sort that, if I was that way inclined, I might like to write up an article or two for. And the first thing I noticed was an ad for Days of Wonder stating that you could play online (for $1 or €1 a month). The magazine I was looking for was a partworks magazine about traditional puzzles or something. issue 1 came with a tower of hanoi puzzle. Most people think I dreamt the whole thing but i'm sure i saw adverts for it over the festive season. IBM does good (not that I work there any more) IBM are announcing the release of 500 of its patents to the open source community. It will still hold the patents but is letting people use them for free. I am yet to see a full list of what is being "given away" but its a step in the right direction. In stark contrast Bill Gates recently called anyone fighting for copyright reform a communist. Speaking of not working there any more I might as well write up this link since everyone else has jumped on the band wagon. Waterstones fired the guy for comments made on his blog. Now I think it was handled all wrong but what was he thinking, no really. Its not as if there isn't a precedent. That case even spawned a word for it: dooced. More blogs Look. Here is another local blogger, flux. I wonder if he's related to a fellow blogger, Amber, who also used the name fluxxette, but who now seems to have vanished from the Internet.

Thanks to Ajay for pointing this one out. This article was in the latest print edition of the economist. Its been a while since I've studied the game of Go (Igo, Weiqi, Baduk) and I wasn't even very good at the time, mainly because I didn't put enough time and effort into it. If you want to learn the game then I can recommend this book for beginners, although you may well be better off just starting on this web site and moving on to problems at goproblems or gobase. If you're in Britain then this web site would also be a good place to visit.

A mailing list just threw up this link. Its one mans list of overlooked PS1 gems. I have to be honest and say that I haven't played any but Carnage Heart although a few of them were always on my wants list. I assume that like Carnage Heart they are all on the list because they sunded far better than they turned out to be. Still, if you have any of them and would like to donate to a good cause send them in :)

It's rare that any other part of my site gets updated. In fact it seems to be rare these days that I make a blog post either. So, here goes: I've added a list of UK based games shops with a web presence. The list was compiled while looking for items relating to Magic:The Gathering so it is heavily biassed in that direction. Probably the best place to look for games shops is still in the UK board games faq although I haven't been there for a while myself.

Its annoyed me for a little while now so I see no reason not to annoy you lot with it. Make sure your mouse is in good working order then head over to Madness Temple and try the invisibility maze.

Dowload yourselves a copy of Warning Forever v1.04 and see if you can beat mine or John's scores. Heres my best so far: score: 12839600 stage: 14 deaths: 7 duration: 07:10:51

Added Cosmic Encounter and a RoboRally clone to my list of board games playable on the Internet. Edit: I know this will mess up the rss feed, but the link wasn't appearing so I've edited to republish it...

I've started to create a list of boardgames that have either AI opponents or can be played online. I'll keep adding to the list as I find them or remember about them. If you want to tell me about others that I have missed please get in touch.