Quick update

It's been a month and I'm still alive and stillkeeping my hand in.
I had a little splurge on FT around the time they handed out the reload bonuses.
I owed a friend some $, deposited $500, transfered him $250 (his first real money deposit) and rolled it back up to $450-odd in the two weeks before the bonus expired.
My friend won't tell me what happened to his roll so I think he lost it!

On Stars I've taken my puny $50 deposit up to $250.

I also have a grand total of $564 in Mansion, where the traffic is frankly a joke. I'll withdraw this once I get round to sending them a copy of my passport.

Speaking of traffic I've been seriously considering taking a punt on Partypoker.
I write about the stock markets and speak to professional investors every day. They constantly talk about unloved stocks, and going against the crowd.
Partypoker is seriously unloved by the market.
It is sitting on 30p but was once a member of the FTSE 100 at 150p.
If you check out Pokerlistings.com, it now sits at no.2 in traffic, having disappeared off the radar following the US gaming ban.

Europeans have flocked to the site and when it makes its next trading update, early next year, it may surprise the market.

The key for Partypoker and many other sites is Asia, and the Chinese.
At the moment, the Chinese are going crazy for the stock market. Millions of dealing a/cs are being opened every day so that ordinary people can take a punt.
Inflation is running at 6% and you get 2% by depositing yr cash in the bank.
This is against a 10% gain EVERY MONTH from the Chinese stock market.

Almost every fund manager I talk to is talkign about a bubble.

It sounds simple but these guys like to gamble and if there is a crash, if the Chinese gambling instinct moves from playing the stock market to playing poker, and if Partypoker can get a slice of the pie, it could grow its earnings exponentially.

Lots of ifs, i know, and there is a danger that the Chinese could chose a homegrown site to play.

But on a one year view, I would hope to at least double my money.

I'm also going to invest in an Africa fund, but that's another story.