Swine Flu

By now most of us have heard of the latest flu bug to hit North America. This one is called of all names the swine flu. Does this mean I shouldn't eat pork?? It seems there are 6 confirmed cases in Canada, 2 here in B.C and 4 back in Nova Scotia. The ones that are confirmed in B. C. are both healthy males under the age of 30 and both were mild cases. All had travelled to Mexico. I think there are a few more cases that haven't been confirmed as they had a lady on the news who has been sick since coming back from Mexico and are waiting on test results to come back. Now I have to admit I am a bit of a germaphobe. Maybe not to the extent of someone like Howie Mandel (who won't shake hands with people) but I am still pretty paranoid at times. If you are sick don't come near me. I joke with my wife and kids (actually I am semi serious) that if you get a cold or flu we should have an isolation room.

I will probably never travel to Mexico again and I know this flu could have started anywhere but I still question the hygienic standards of that country. I love the Mexican people but they really need to get their act together or its going to hurt the average person. Already I am hearing of people not wanting to travel there and any decrease in tourism will hurt the little guy. Some countries have already issued travel advisories. Be interesting to see how this plays out.

Speaking of germs I was playing in a tournament three months ago and there was at least a half dozen people coughing and blowing their nose which of course made me paranoid that I was going to get something. You see all these people were handling the same cards I was. Of course a couple days later yours truly was sick.

I finally caught the televised final table of the B.C. Poker Championship which was played last fall at the River Rock Casino in Richmond, B.C.. This is 2700 dollar buy in event which stretched over 4 days. The structure is excellent and attracted Daniel Negraneau and Dennis Phillips and a few other pros. The final 3 were Daniel and 2 young guys, one from Washington State and one from Delta (a suburb of Vancouver). Even though I knew the final result it was still interesting watching Daniel control the final table as when it started he wasn't the chip leader but in the end he won it all. The 2 young guys made a couple errors but overall played really well but looked a bit in awe of playing against Negraneau. Daniel collected over 200,000 for his win and praised the tournament. I am sure with proper promoting this event will grow in size this year.