Amateur Poker Association & Tour
Poker Forum => General Discussion => Member Blogs => Topic started by: KarmaDope on December 13, 2012, 20:45:13 PM
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After http://www.apat.com/forum/index.php?topic=10096.0 finally got completed I kept having the urge to just post random thoughts in there.
However, it is a very specific blog so I managed to resist.
Then I thought, hell, if Ger can do it, so can I! Let"s see how long this lasts for (over/under - a month).
What to expect? This is me, so random crap is probably the best to hope for. I"ll try and chronicle my saving for Vegas, my life in general, random thoughts, trip reports from APAT and other poker events. I"ll also throw in the odd story from the past, embarrassing and just downright weird.
Oh, and some of the really random stuff that Joobs comes out with, as a bonus. Trust me, that"s worth waiting for!
I"ll start with my memories from the recent event in Stoke that I believe some of you may have attended...
(as an aside, I"ve just seen Heston Blumenthal roll an absolute shed load of bread on a cricket pitch with a roller, WTF?)
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So...Stoke
(http://www.merseysidepotters.com/stokeRoadMap.gif)
I originally wasn"t gonna apply for the England team, as at the time I didn"t feel that I was good enough. But in Glasgow I was talking about it with Asa McGrath on the way home after chatting to Rich Baker on a very funny Sunday night and we both decided to apply on the train home!
Cue the selection night and I was still not expecting to get in - yet still excited. Unlike Asa though, I actually managed to get some sleep and was lucky enough to wake up to it at a decent time! Matt, JP, Mark, Asa and I then spent some time working out what we would do in certain situations - and trust me, those helped in the MTT!!
(Now Heston is making a sandwich of Passion Fruit & White Chocolate cheese with freeze-dried strawberries and bitter dark chocolate...this just sounds wrong)
I very nearly pulled out on the day before though. I"d been up all night with a touch of Delhi belly, and I hadn"t even had a curry!! Decided that I couldn"t miss it though, took Imodium, and jumped on the train to Stoke. Met Asa on a very cold train platform and proceeded to do my own version of a drunk - tripping INTO the Taxi after I missed my footing! That hurt, especially after I managed to scrape my back on the very hard seat buckle. Either way, got to the Hotel that the boys were staying in and had a pre-match drink (well, they did, I apparently sat there looking very ill) before Matt drove to the casino.
And his sat-nav managed to take us off the main road and tell us to get straight back on! That"ll teach him to use an app that cost less than £2.
Get to the casino and receive the white T-shirt. I can"t speak for the rest, but that"s when it became real for me. Do the team photos and the Captains disappear for organisational crap whilst the rest of us catch up with friends who were going to be foes today. We head over to the poker tables and FML, I so got the worst draw ever for my first stt.
1 Grant Speirs (Scotland A)
2 Carl Pilgrim (England A)
3 Stuart Ward (England C)
4 Adam Sharples (England B)
5 Darren Shallis (Wales B)
6 Steve Roderick (Wales A)
7 Kevin O"Hanlon (Ireland A)
8 Tom Clark (Scotland B)
Needless to say, it was a very good table which actually worked for me, as I was able to get shoves through because these guys weren"t calling off randomly. Somehow managed to luckbox a second after losing a flip (Grant, you run too good at flips), and after the first round of STT"s we were 5th, on 20 points. As the entire world waited for John Murray to finish his heads-up, we had a discussion about PLO.
Now, my weakest games will always be PLO and I had a simple strategy - LADDER. JP took me to one side and told me just to play my cards and look for spots, so I did. Some familiar faces on my second table including Tom Clark and Kevin O"Hanlon again (Tom would turn out to be a massive nemesis all bloody weekend) and JB, Rudders, Don Roberts and nyerun to my right. I also managed to survive the mouth that is Paul Gupta ;) I hung on and on until we got 3-4 handed but I knew I was outclassed by Rudders in particular, so I ended up having to turn it into a preflop game, negating Rudders" advantage. Got HU in this one as well and had JB drawing to 5 outs on the turn FTW, but the luckbox hit and I couldn"t finish it off again. JP somehow won and everyone finished at least 5th so we took 30 points from PLO and had 50 going into the MTT...
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Yeah I run good in general mate :) Even by APAT standards I"d agree that NLHE STT was one of the toughest line-ups I"ve ever faced as well. The hand I remember most was the one I got so so wrong, on the jack high board when I called your Q/Q all in with 10/10. I remember saying "There"s a load of hands I"m beating here" :D Epic fail on my part! You played very well on that table and didn"t luckbox anything that I remember. You"re overall individual finishing position after the MTT said it all really 8)
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Yeah I run good in general mate :) Even by APAT standards I"d agree that NLHE STT was one of the toughest line-ups I"ve ever faced as well. The hand I remember most was the one I got so so wrong, on the jack high board when I called your Q/Q all in with 10/10. I remember saying "There"s a load of hands I"m beating here" :D Epic fail on my part! You played very well on that table and didn"t luckbox anything that I remember. You"re overall individual finishing position after the MTT said it all really 8)
+1 You played ever so well, that well I might even forgive you for the rubdown the day after!!! :P
wpwpwp xx
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That table was utterly vile. This is all
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So we head to the MTT and the table looks like this:
Team NLHE PLO MTT TOTAL
Scotland B 28 26 0 54
England A 30 20 0 50
Wales B 28 22 0 50
England B 20 30 0 50
England C 20 29 0 49
Wales A 22 20 0 42
Scotland A 16 20 0 36
Ireland A 16 13 0 29
This was the weirdest MTT I have ever played. Nobody bust before the 1st break, which was 3 levels in. Hell, even the WSOP ME has bustouts by then! It was the nittiest game I"d ever played. Not any fault with the structure, just that people knew that staying in was important and they were happy to fold, fold, fold down to 1xbb. It eventually got to the stage where it did become a crapshoot after the second break at the end of level 5. At that break, I think 38 people were left in, including all 5 of us. Then 5 minutes after the break, I got moved.
To JP"s right.
Oh, hold on, we"d planned for this! I was short and JP had chips so let"s just say I got a few walks and leave it at that. I"ll save the team game discussion for another post. Shortly after that though, Mark, Matt and Asa all bust early, and we were down to 2 whilst most teams had 4-5 left. JP and I had a quick chat and again, this was an advantage. Everyone else wanted/needed to stay in. JP and I couldn"t care less. We couldn"t nit it up because we were practically out - so we played poker. We went for the individual win.
And people kept busting. Soon we had 4 tables.
Then 3 tables.
Then 2 tables. And we were still there, sat next to each other, keeping up with the average chip count.
It was only then that we realised "hold on, we can still qualify for the finals here!" Matt, Mark and Asa were constantly keeping us updated on the scores. Ireland were out but every other team still had a chance...but now WE had the player advantage! Scotland B had 4 and every other team had 1 or 2.
Then we got to 13 and it all changed. Scotland B were assured of a HU for Gold spot so they loosened up, and we had to slow down again. Some very quick maths by Mark told us which players we had to aim for, and JP and I focused on their blinds, until I got moved. I had average chips, albeit 8bbs, but was the 2nd biggest stack at my table.
On the other table I was the shortstack.
Next thing I knew, I"d played one round of the table and we"d gone from 12 to 8! We knew we could only get 3rd/4th, but it was ridiculously close and was as simple as "finish higher than Carl Pilgrim". Yeah, easier said than done. I"d also realised that I was close to scoring the highest individual points and that only two people on the final table could beat me if I finished 8th or 7th. One of them was Paulie D but I was lucky enough to see him lose 2 coolers and bust 7th.
The other person? JP Round.
I really wanted a medal. However, I REALLY wanted to be the highest points scorer. I needed it. I"d spent a month doubting myself that I was worth my spot and I needed to prove it. So I hung on, and on. Then I found a pair of Queens and shoved. Can"t remember if I got called. Either way I won a pot. I was just focused on staying in and getting us 3rd.
Then Carl busted.
We had 3rd. We were playing for a medal.
Then Leigh came over and said that there was no point us playing on...and if everyone agreed, finishing positions would be decided by chip counts. I did some VERY quick maths and worked out that I needed to finish 4th if JP won as a tie gave it to him. On chip count he was 3rd, so I was guaranteed to finish highest points scorer.
Damn right I said I was happy with that!!
So we head to the HU matches. JP had decided our order before the STT"s. He was going to lead off with Mark, Matt would go 3rd, I would go 4th, and Asa was the death man.
I just sat and watched as Mark beat Jo Sharp, JP got lucky against GiMac and Matt got an early lead and never looked back against Grant. I got to start my match with Mary but we played half of the first level and that was it!
(https://fbcdn-sphotos-g-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-frc1/526956_481880365188462_1365484720_n.jpg)
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It was a great day and I"m really proud to have been a part of it. Big thanks to JP for having faith in me and actually selecting me. Thanks to the rest of the team for getting us over the line. It might be a bronze, but it takes pride of place on my bedside shelving (where the cat cant get it), unlike Joobs, who has a silver and it"s in a drawer somewhere.
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Yeah I run good in general mate :) Even by APAT standards I"d agree that NLHE STT was one of the toughest line-ups I"ve ever faced as well. The hand I remember most was the one I got so so wrong, on the jack high board when I called your Q/Q all in with 10/10. I remember saying "There"s a load of hands I"m beating here" :D Epic fail on my part! You played very well on that table and didn"t luckbox anything that I remember. You"re overall individual finishing position after the MTT said it all really 8)
+1 You played ever so well, that well I might even forgive you for the rubdown the day after!!! :P
wpwpwp xx
I didn"t mean the rubdown deliberately, whatever I said! xx
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I know you didn"t hence the :P!!!, still think you played brilliantly for the team ;D
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Great posts Adam and really well deserved success.
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Liking the start of the blog Adam, I"ll imagine you"ll keep yours up to date better than I do with mine!
Definitely deserving as the highest points scorer at the team event, both yourself and JP in the mtt were immense which got us over the line.
I actually wasn"t aware of how ridiculously tough your NLHE table was in the stt ( to be fair they all were but that took the biscuit!)
One thing of note, putting the shirt on also made my heart start beating a fair bit quicker, so I know how you felt!
The thing with the bronze... same with me, I didn"t care about the colour and still don"t, the first one is going to be special, and I can see more coming!
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(http://static.vg.no/uploaded/image/bilderigg/2012/12/13/1355392083054_542.jpg)
It appears that Norwegian pilots do have a sense of humour when circling to land...this is the route one particular pilot decided to take...
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Braving the fun at the Aquarium tonight...
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The Aquarium last night was a bust, but still good fun albeit lacking Ger so a little bit quiet. Shogun won, again.
I got to go cos Ju had a works xmas party in Manchester and she was staying overnight. Met her in town today and we went around the Christmas Markets. I don"t really get them to be fair, it seemed massively overpriced for what it was, anybody else think this?
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The Aquarium last night was a bust, but still good fun albeit lacking Ger so a little bit quiet. Shogun won, again.
I got to go cos Ju had a works xmas party in Manchester and she was staying overnight. Met her in town today and we went around the Christmas Markets. I don"t really get them to be fair, it seemed massively overpriced for what it was, anybody else think this?
I suppose the stuff they sell is a lil different, but to be fair, I don"t really look ( or shop!) at them!
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I went to the Manchester Christmas markets when I was in Manchester last - I pretty much take them as being there for the food and drink. And given the drinks specialities are pretty much all alcohol based I could see how that wouldn"t leave much left to interest you in particular.
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If I ever post on here saying I"m going to Domino"s or Pizza Hut, remind me that I"m an idiot.
We have a Costco near us and they do takeaway pizza, one size only, £7.95.
It"s bigger than a large size dominos/hut and the toppings are fresher. Plus its less than half the price!`
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Got an interesting parcel in the post this morning.
Asa McGrath, care to explain?
(and thank you very much, its awesome and taking pride of place)
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Got an interesting parcel in the post this morning.
Asa McGrath, care to explain?
(and thank you very much, its awesome and taking pride of place)
I thought you"d like it somehow :)
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I do, cheers mate!
As Joobs put it "I"ve now got a picture of you playing poker stuck on the bloody wall!"
In my defence - I"m not playing poker. I"m stood there with a bronze medal :D
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I do, cheers mate!
As Joobs put it "I"ve now got a picture of you playing poker stuck on the bloody wall!"
In my defence - I"m not playing poker. I"m stood there with a bronze medal :D
Well after my last week, it"s a good reminder :)
I have done the same for the other 3 ;)
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I do, cheers mate!
As Joobs put it "I"ve now got a picture of you playing poker stuck on the bloody wall!"
In my defence - I"m not playing poker. I"m stood there with a bronze medal :D
Picture please ;D
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I do, cheers mate!
As Joobs put it "I"ve now got a picture of you playing poker stuck on the bloody wall!"
In my defence - I"m not playing poker. I"m stood there with a bronze medal :D
Picture please ;D
(https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-_eQ0ILZROCc/UM-DPM8B2HI/AAAAAAAAAaI/b27OWYyCFYc/s800/IMAG0046.jpg)
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Very cool! Well done Asa...unlucky Joobs :)
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That looks absolutely superb
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That looks absolutely superb
It looks better on a wall than up close I will be honest!
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It is absolutely superb, Asa"s a legend for sorting these out.
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It is absolutely superb, Asa"s a legend for sorting these out.
I was hoping they"d all arrive at the same time. Mr Porters", alas, wasn"t ready in time to be sent at the same time.
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Very nice canvas and great gesture from Asa, Top man 8)
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Asa is indeed a top man and a few beers will be bought for him next time I see him, I reckon.
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I"ve been playing this Facebook game in my spare time - so I apologise if you have been spammed.
It"s called "myVegas". All you do is play slot machines and work your way through the levels, getting more slot machines and after one level, you get to play Blackjack as well. You also have to build casinos along the Las Vegas Strip - all part of the MGM Empire.
Anyway, the reason I"m playing it is not because I"m a boring geek (although I can be), it"s because you also get Loyalty Points. And these loyalty points can be exchanged for various goods.
Including free rooms next time you go to Vegas.
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Well, we survived the end of the world shiite going around.
Bugger.
Now I have to go to Kent and see the in-laws.
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Made it to Kent.
Remind me never to move here. It"s so boring!
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Congratulations to Tom Clark for winning Carl"s festive freeroll last night, and I think that after the fun Tom and I had in Stoke all bloody weekend, Glenn and Lucy might get a nice windfall as well.
Great gesture by a great man and it seems like a large sum of money has been donated to a good cause.
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Review of 2012 and plans for 2013
Well, 2012 was actually a bust for me poker wise. I don"t really think I did anything. Yeah, I was selected for England in the Home Nations, and was individual top scoring player, but apart from that one day I was an overall loser I reckon. I won a few 180"s but didn"t really go deep in any scheduled MTT"s and broke even at cash. My "roll" is at the lowest it"s been for some time - at $150ish (some in Stars.fr).
In 2013 I need to be more disciplined. I need to stop flitting between games and just stay with one, study and make monies. So...my game of choice is crack. Or as it"s really known, Hyper HU SNG. I also intend to give up on live tourneys as they aren"t worth it, and intend to start playing live cash. Even if I have to organise my own games...
Anyway, in list format:
Poker - year targets
[ ] Be playing $30+ by the end of the year
[ ] 4 figure profit
[ ] No scheduled MTT"s unless staked or satellites
[ ] No online cash
[ ] No mixed games
[ ] Competent 3-4 tabling
Poker - month targets
[ ] Chromestar
[ ] 3 figure profit
[ ] Competent 2 tabling
[ ] 500 games
[ ] Be at the $3.50"s
Poker - Studying targets
[ ] 15 strat posts on 2+2 in the HUSNG forum
[ ] 10 strat posts on blonde PHA
[ ] 10 strat posts on APAT
[ ] Watch 10 videos from HUSNG.com
Poker - Live targets
[ ] Play a DTD deepstack
[ ] Make a day 2 APAT
[ ] Cash an APAT
[ ] Win a medal/trophy
Life targets
[ ] Make it to Vegas in November 2013
[ ] Earn a permanent contract at work
[ ] Move out of our flat and into a house
[ ] Learn to cook
[ ] Put on at least 25lbs.
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Right, Stars money is at $67. Starting at the $1.50 level. Let"s go...
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0/3 in 5 mins. That went well...on we go later when I get home from Jaxie Towers.
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Good luck in the sitngo"s this year. I assume there is going to be a fair bit of variance (hate that word) in those games so sounds like losing the first 3 is nothing at all to be concerned by. I have no doubt you will beat them comfortably.
Please keep updated.
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So far I have played 7 and won 1.
Big effort this weekend as I need to play at least 300 this month to hit the volume target.
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Played 20.
Won the grand total of 6.
Running really bad in card distribution but starting to get the hang of these now...
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Played 20.
Won the grand total of 6.
Running really bad in card distribution but starting to get the hang of these now...
glglgl I guess they must take some getting used too but reckon you will easily beat them soon enough.
Have you said your screen name or kept it private?
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My screen name is the same as my username ;)
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Well, this sure went well.
Let"s just say that I should never play hyper HU and leave it at that.
To sum it up, I got wiped out and hate poker (well, until Saturday anyway).
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So....APAT weekend. (Apologies for TL;DR)
Originally Joobs and I were going to head down on the Saturday to save some cash on hotels etc and so we didn"t have to book days off work. Then things changed. I got a nice promotion in work which meant I was changing contracts. Joobs also decided she really didn"t fancy Luton and to be fair, I don"t blame her. She hasn"t really played poker for quite some time now (apart from the odd trip to the aquarium, the last game she played was Chezger in September 2012) and so would have been sat around doing nothing all weekend. Finally, an issue with my access meant I had an unexpected day off on the Friday.
So when I got up on Friday morning I found myself in a Facebook chat with the rest of #TeamBlonde. Needless to say, an hour later I had found a room in the Days Inn for £30 for the Friday night and a cheap train ticket down to Luton, albeit via Crewe, Stoke, Tamworth and London. I eventually got to Luton for about 4.45pm and walked up to the Days Inn. Dumped the bags in the room and then hit the bar for a chat with Glenn and Paulie D. The rest of the travelling contingent of #TeamBlonde eventually made it to Luton (except Rodders) and we all headed to the casino for food and to play the comp afterwards. Vinny showed up with his new "burd" in tow and FML, he"s done well for himself there, Amanda is lovely.
I made the mistake of ordering a pizza, with chips, thinking it would be a small thing and I would need the chips to actually get some sustenance. After 2 almighty cockups with the orders, we eventually get served and the small pizza I was expecting turns out to be a massive pizza that nobody there could have eaten. Complete with chips. After attempting 2 slices I gave up and we headed down to the comp. Sadly, by the time we got there it was Level 3 and nearly the end of late registration. I decided I didn"t really want to play and just anti-railed the rest of them - none of them cashed.
Decided I wanted to play some cash but (and this appeared to be the theme of the weekend) there weren"t any dealers so gave up at 1am and went back to the hotel. Asa left at the same time I did and he dropped me off in a cab on the way. Really thankful for this after what happened to John Murray later that night...
Woke up at 10am Saturday morning and after the usual, I headed down to Tesco to grab some bananas and croissants to keep me going through the day as I felt a bit rough over the whole weekend. Headed back to the hotel and had a nice chat with Leigh before the APAT crew had their usual meeting and the rest of us tried to listen in and not burst out laughing at Team Blue Blood, who for some reason had scheduled a bloody 2hr seminar in the lobby at the Days Inn! What they needed that for I did not know, the Blue Blood player on my table even admitted she was ignoring it for most of the time!
Got to the casino for 1pm and George Bedi was a bit worried because it turned out that Vinny hadn"t got to bed til after 8am and nobody could wake him up! He eventually arrived and we had the team photo taken - Tighty had the best description (7 poker players and some mug in a woolly hat) and I found myself at table 5 seat 3 with Dai Llewellyn and Michael Martin to my left, and my usual APAT nemesis Tod Wood in seat 1. Easy table then!
Sat and folded the first few hands then decided that it would be a good idea to start peeling hands like suited aces and small suited connectors in position, and just generally splashing around in pots whilst it was cheap to do so. Made some flushes and by the first break I"d doubled up without getting it all in and only having to show one hand. After that it all went south. Dai had realised what I was doing and was just flatting all my raises in position. Managed to get him off a few hands but just kept my stack level. Got to the 2nd break and by this point we were already out of the team game.
Tried to set up for a big stack but literally kept raise-folding as it felt like every time I raised, Guy Gullen in seat 4 just 3-bet me relentlessly. However, to be fair, every time he 3-bet me, he did show me QQ+ AK so I think it was just that he was getting monster after monster. Dribbled down to about 22k before the 4th break, then I found a nice cold 4-bet shove with AK at 400-800 for 20k. Got that through to put me back to 26k and just maintained my stack until I found AKhh in the BB and thought it was a good spot to 4-bet shove again. Sadly, this time Tod called with his JJ and despite flopping J-5-4hh he turned a 5 for the house and I was done in 104th, just out of the points.
Sat and chilled with Des and Leigh afterwards railing George and Stato, whilst waiting for dealers so we could play cash. Unsurprisingly (and this is definitely a theme now) there weren"t any. They eventually gave up and started some self deal games but the moment had passed. I coerced Asa into dealing for tips and sat down with £50. This didn"t even last one round of the table after KK was no good vs Q10.
Gave up after that and grabbed some food whilst waiting for Asa, as I had to check out of the Days Inn and into the Travelodge. Play ended as Asa"s cash table was closing up and we got a cab back to Travelodge. Checked in, got my key and went to bed.
Got up the next morning and I had to check out. Had originally agreed to get a cab with Asa back to town but could I get hold of him? Nope. Knocked his door down, text him, phoned him, but no response. He phoned me later to say he hadn"t got to sleep until really late and was dead to the world, so fair play. I checked out at 12 after watching Andy Murray throw away the Australian Open and headed back to the Days. Wandered over to the casino with Rodders but nothing was going on so I decided that Joobs didn"t need to come and get me and just jumped on the train home as I knew I couldn"t play the PLO as I had to work the next day.
It was a very good weekend and I really enjoyed it, despite the usual shiite at the poker. After the beating I"d had online over the last few weeks I really felt that I played well for once (well, I got Dai to fold the best hand a few times, can"t argue there!) but just ran really bad. Either way, I"ll be back for more at the worlds! It was good to see everyone again, the APAT events have become less about winning the tournament and more about playing poker with your mates and having a good time for me, which is probably why I"ve chilled out a lot recently. Coincidentally, I"ve been playing better as well...
Managed to book the time off for the worlds but gonna miss some of it as it"s my brother-in-law"s 40th on the Saturday in Bristol, so I"m gonna see what the side events are and play day 1b of the Main, Joobs has agreed that she will drive me from Bristol to Notts on Sunday morning so I"m sorted there as with it being Easter Sunday, I dont have a chance of getting a train!
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FML, my reports are long...
I note the Worlds have been released. This is my birthday present to myself (my birthday is the week after) so I"ve reserved seats for the Stud on Thursday, the Six-Max on Friday, the Main on Sunday, the Razz (if I bust the main) also on Sunday, and the HU on Monday.
Part of me is hoping I don"t get to play the Razz or the HU but part of me wants to play them rather than the main, weirdly enough. Either way, I just want a bracelet. An even smaller part of me is hoping that I don"t get to play any of them other than the main and the Team Champs...
Gutted about the Saturday though. I have to go to Bristol for a 40th so am leaving Notts on Friday night and not returning until Sunday. I really wanted to play HORSE as well...
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Good god TV adverts have got worse and worse...
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Bumping, well, because I can.
New contract is going well but I"m shattered because it"s bloody hard work! Well, I lie, it"s actually an easy job and I could do it from the comfort of my own home but I"m not getting much sleep for some reason (none of them good) so I"m constantly knackered.
Assuming I keep the job until November (the project is due to go-live in June so I don"t know what"s happening after that) then I"m planning a trip to Vegas. Sadly, my dates don"t work with the rest of the APAT lot so it looks like I"ll be going the week afterwards. The important dates for Joobs and I are the 21st and 28th, we really want to be in Vegas on those days so planning 19/11 - 5/12, which would be 16 days.
Not much else going on here - I played one live local comp a couple of weeks ago and cashed for £70 but apart from that I"ve barely played. Too busy watching Dexter, playing myVegas and working!
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19/11
Me and Curlarge will still be in town I think.
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Bumping, well, because I can.
New contract is going well but I"m shattered because it"s bloody hard work! Well, I lie, it"s actually an easy job and I could do it from the comfort of my own home but I"m not getting much sleep for some reason (none of them good) so I"m constantly knackered.
Assuming I keep the job until November (the project is due to go-live in June so I don"t know what"s happening after that) then I"m planning a trip to Vegas. Sadly, my dates don"t work with the rest of the APAT lot so it looks like I"ll be going the week afterwards. The important dates for Joobs and I are the 21st and 28th, we really want to be in Vegas on those days so planning 19/11 - 5/12, which would be 16 days.
Not much else going on here - I played one live local comp a couple of weeks ago and cashed for £70 but apart from that I"ve barely played. Too busy watching Dexter, playing myVegas and working!
At the moment I am planning to go and see my cousin and his family in Park City on Nov 15th and then come back to Vegas on 18th or 19th. At least you"ll look good in the photos!!!!
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If I do end up going this year, it"ll be the same sorta time you"re over ( late November rather than mid), but shall wait and see.
Glad the new job is going well, if tiring ( believe me I know that feeling at the moment!)
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Awesome, we"ll have to work out who"s still there and grab dinner or something. Oh, Asa, I"ll keep an eye on cheap flights for you.
Decided that I"m gonna pull out of some of the World"s events - probably the Razz and HU. Need to pay off the CC before it gets too late which means I need to find about a grand before April 1st.
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Paying off the CC was a massive fail.
Sadly, well, gg Vegas. I"m hoping to run a cheaper trip by flying to the East Coast for a day or two then the West Coast. Joobs will just have to fly economy. That way I can do it for a bit less :)
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Have given up on Vegas this year - mainly because we just can"t commit with contracts. I"m pretty sure that mine will be up in August. If it was just me going for a week with Ger etc then yeah, it could be done, but we just can"t afford two of us.
Well, we could if SOMEONE would fly cattle class like everybody fecking else.
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What"s it like to be in awesome batting form?
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Weird and slightly random. Especially as I have already scored a season high number of runs for me and we"re in the 1st week of May!
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I do think me being there helps a little bit :)
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Probably - a shored up batting line up does help a lot - less pressure
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Probably - a shored up batting line up does help a lot - less pressure
Definitely, wonder where we"ll be batting next week!!
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Probably - a shored up batting line up does help a lot - less pressure
Definitely, wonder where we"ll be batting next week!!
God knows.
I won"t know until Saturday anyway as Guy has already said that he is not attending nets tomorrow lol!
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Cricket did not go well today.
The opposition were a club that had transferred into our league last year as their league had folded. Unfortunately for us, the league they were in was a slightly better standard than ours and it showed.
We were all out for 90 and they scored them for the loss of 2 wickets. At least I was able to add another 13 not out to my runs total - and am currently averaging 83!
No Asa with us this week due to his work, but thankfully he is back next week, we need him to shore the batting up!!
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What"s that you say?
Wembley?
ISPT?
APAT?
See you there :)
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Have fun updating! :)
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Have fun updating! :)
+1
just lose the "mateyboy" for unknowns please
PS - you and Tighty are doing a great job
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What"s that you say?
Wembley?
ISPT?
APAT?
See you there :)
Important questions
Is there any beer?
How much is the beer?
Is there any Guiness?
Hearing its 25 quid for burger and chips? fearing for my beer roll :( x
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Have fun updating! :)
+1
just lose the "mateyboy" for unknowns please
PS - you and Tighty are doing a great job
The "mateyboy" is something of an institution in a blonde update going back to the times when we didn"t have player lists lol...would never use it on any other site, it"s just blonde tradition!
Phil - there is beer. Being a non drinker I don"t know how much but I think someone said yesterday it was £4 per pint. Ouch. I didn"t see Guinness.
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Phil - there is beer. Being a non drinker I don"t know how much but I think someone said yesterday it was £4 per pint. Ouch. I didn"t see Guinness.
Ouch and double ouch!
See you soon fella nice job on the updates yesterday x
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Bumped so I can do a proper post tonight (in work currently)...
To be told:
- Story of ISPT
- Work
- Cricket
- Saturday just gone
- Download Festival
This is going to be a monster...
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Bumped so I can do a proper post tonight (in work currently)...
To be told:
- Story of ISPT
- Work
- Cricket
- Saturday just gone
- Download Festival
This is going to be a monster...
waits patiently...
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Gimme a chance - I just got home...
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(https://encrypted-tbn1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRLmzTgHNKpV6L3AQ72sA4uNRTXESkh7LrYsyU3ofJlM0YUIpQUgQ)
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Sooooooo....
- Story of ISPT
When DTD announced that they were getting involved with the ISPT, I was worried and yet elated, worried that this would cost a shedload of cash for DTD but elated because there was always a chance that I could be at Wembley. I knew I couldnt play the event because I had to work and couldnt take the days off for it, but after checking with work I knew I could have a long weekend. I saw Tighty at the Worlds in March and he asked me if I could update it, assuming he got confirmation from DTD that it would be updated.
Needless to say he got confirmation, I snapped his hand off and I was off to Wembley!
Managed to get half of Thursday off so I could travel down the night before and stopped off in Northampton cos it was cheaper :) This was helped when I decided to go to the local casino and somehow chop the comp for £150 - I guess JP was right for once when he said it was easy there! Survived on limited sleep and was up at 8am Friday morning for the continuation of the trip to Wembley.
Got to Wembley and OMG what a place. Even now, thinking back, I"m still in shock at how it was played. Throughout the 3 days I had times where I would just stand at the entrance to one of the bubbles and slowly look around in awe, it was Wembley and I was stood on the pitch! However, there was one part of it I didn"t like...92 fecking steps. Every time I went to type an update it was 92 fecking steps up, then 92 fecking steps back down, then 92 fecking steps up...you get the jist.
Either way, it was an experience I absolutely loved and it has refuelled my love of updating. Roll on WSOP 2013! (As if I"d ever be allowed to do that...)
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- Saturday just gone
Asa and I were supposed to be playing cricket on Saturday but on a day where the British & Irish Lions did the job, the mercury was pushing 80 degrees and there was Formula 1 racing on, shockingly both opposition teams were unable to field a side! So with 50 points in the bag, we ended up in the pub by the train station railing the Lions to history. Once this had finished, I had my bag with all my cricket gear in so went back to mine, picked the wife up and the plan was for Asa to head home and Joobs & I were going to head into town or New Brighton dependent on her thoughts.
Next thing I know, all 3 of us are headed to New Brighton to play Crazy Golf! Thought it would be fun to persuade Ger, Carl and Michelle to come out and they met us in New Brighton for the obligatory lovely pub lunch (which was actually quite cheap) before heading over to the Crazy Golf arena. It was more mini golf than crazy golf though, with every hole based on famous holes from famous golf courses. I was winning at halfway but it ended up with Carl winning and Joobs coming last (although she really didnt give a crap lol). Then it was "sit and go?" Why not?
End up with Asa, Joobs, Michelle and I all crammed in the back seat of Ger"s car to head back to Ger"s for poker and food. That hurt, 4 grown human beings should never ever do that. Ever :) Got to Ger"s and set up for a ROE £10 sng, after Ger and I had stopped off at Sainsbury"s to pick up beer, coke, pepsi, beer and chocolate, oh and a barbecue & marshmallows for Joobs! Ger & Michelle set up to play the APAT online and our sng at the same time - with Michelle running like Usain Bolt in the first one and chopping with Carl. We started another one and Matt Bird joined us, I ended up chopping that one with Matt as it was 2am and we just couldnt find a winner. Joobs had fallen asleep by that point!
Great night, great friends, great fun...so Ger, when"s the next Chezger game?!?!
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Will continue this tomorrow, as I need sleep!
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- Work
Writing this in work - which is a rarity for me!
I work as a contractor in Projects, providing Office Administration/Co-ordination support and/or management (of the office, not people thankfully) and the project I"m currently working on is a multi-million pound project within the NHS, where we have basically replaced all the paper casenotes with computerised casenotes in a hospital.
To sum it up, I"m a glorified secretary :)
Our project "went live" on June 26th, which meant that since the beginning of June, it has been MANIC. Without going into too much detail, we"ve had to outfit all the wards with new computer equipment, which has meant ordering an absolute shedload of the stuff, then building it to our specifications, then actually delivering it. On top of that, we"ve had to finish building the system, prepare for go-live by co-ordinating a Command Centre and then deliver on the Command Centre, where we have had a ridiculous amount of issues come in and resolved them :)
Needless to say, the Saturday referenced above was my first proper day off since June 9th! This is also the reason I missed Coventry, sadly, because I was really looking forward to it as well! I calculated that since 22nd June as well, I"ve done over 110hrs in 2 weeks...bring on the money (which I"m not going to see).
Just really happy that we went live in the end, it was close but we got there and the feeling of success that we have in our office right now - it"s like winning a bracelet (albeit in Stud or something ;))
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Looking forward to Cardiff - nice way for me to celebrate the end of the Project and therefore end of my contract.
Still coming though - bought my seat and booked my hotel, just need to sort my train tickets out now!
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Looking forward to Cardiff - nice way for me to celebrate the end of the Project and therefore end of my contract.
Still coming though - bought my seat and booked my hotel, just need to sort my train tickets out now!
Am paying for this by doing 12hrs overtime tonight after an 8hr shift today.
Mad, I know, but at least I can work from home tonight :)
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I will be joining Duke & co in Vegas in November.
Without Joobs.
It is going to be EPIC.
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So over the last few weeks I have been working nights. Those of you who have me on FB etc will have probably, at some point, seen/heard me moan about it. I dont know why I moan about it because it is quite possibly the easiest job in the world and I get compensated very well for it, but I am one of life"s serial moaners and I still moan.
It is sadly coming to a close tonight I believe (unless I get a last minute offer to extend it) and I start a new contract on Thursday. This is an easy typing job that pays quite well and takes me up to Vegas, which was what I was looking for. One of the main advantages of the contract work that I do is that I get to pick and choose my jobs and can structure them around my social life, which means I get to do things like Vegas and not have to worry about work holidays.
The downside is that I just dont get paid whilst away!
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Sigh...spoke too soon - still on nights...
#thinkingofvegas
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Definitely my last night tonight as I couldn"t get free"d up from my new contract which starts on Thursday.
I"ll be glad to be returning to normal but wish I could have done a few more now that I know they are on offer - after all it is free money for Vegas!
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5 weeks and a bit to go before Vegas.
It feels more real now that I have bought my sim, got my dollars and started to plan my packing...only 33 days to go!
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Copying Rodders" list...
[X] Flight
[X] Hotel
[X] Passport
[X] ESTA Done
[X] Travel and Medical insurance sorted
[X] Dollars sorted
[X] SIM ordered and paid for
[X] Phone unlock code ordered
[X] Travel to and from Manchester arranged
[X] Shuttle to/from McCarran booked
[ ] Packed
Can"t wait. This time next month I will be in the air on my way!
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Not long to go now.
I intend to post a live TR this time, rather than one at the end. Will probably create a new thread for that so keep an eye out.
9 days...and I still haven"t started packing!
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Not long to go now.
I intend to post a live TR this time, rather than one at the end. Will probably create a new thread for that so keep an eye out.
9 days...and I still haven"t started packing!
packing is for women and losers!!
Will hyou be playing the APAT as you are host or not mate?
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I can confirm that I will be playing the APAT.
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Julie is away in Glasgow tonight with work so my initial plans on the way home were to start packing. Needless to say, this has not happened!
I am a lover of these documentary-style police shows that you get on UK tv, the Motorway Cops/Cops With Cameras/999 What"s your Emergency - you get the jist. Channel 5 currently have a series running called Criminals: Caught on Camera. This one is of particular interest to me for 2 reasons.
- It is based in Chester, so I am constantly looking for people I know.
- It shows that we have far too many cameras watching our every move.
So far, it has shown that it is a very good idea to avoid Chester on races day, and that I do not know any unsavoury types as I do not recognise any of the people caught on the cameras. I shall keep an eye out for Ger & co on the remaining episodes... ;)
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Copying Rodders" list...
[X] Flight
[X] Hotel
[X] Passport
[X] ESTA Done
[X] Travel and Medical insurance sorted
[X] Dollars sorted
[X] SIM ordered and paid for
[X] Phone unlock code ordered
[X] Travel to and from Manchester arranged
[X] Shuttle to/from McCarran booked
[X] Packed
All done now. Ready to go bar the last minute stuff (haircut, doctors appointments, last minute shopping...). Excitement levels are through the roof now, but 61hrs to go until I leave my house for Manchester Airport!
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Already packed, wtf? No bloke should be that organised ;D ;D ;D
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Already packed, wtf? No bloke should be that organised ;D ;D ;D
It was either that or lose my mind trying not to get too excited...
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Already packed, wtf? No bloke should be that organised ;D ;D ;D
Yeah the correct day to pack is Tuesday.
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Flight over was "interesting".
I had guessed right when I booked my seat as I had mountains of leg room (which is what I wanted) and the Wi-Fi on the plane worked. Sadly, my trusty laptop decided it wasn"t going to and the HDD kinda went kaput 30 minutes into an 11hr flight. Oh joy. Thankfully there were a few people sat around me who were pretty cool and we ended up chatting for most of the flight.
Got to Vegas and jumped into my shuttle. Expected a town car. Got a stretch limo. Win. Got to the Orleans and spent an hour playing the odd slot machine/video poker machine before crashing at about 10pm Vegas time. Put my US SIM into my phone and it did not work. No mobile and no laptop. Oh ffs.
Woke up the next morning. At 2.15am. FML. Lazed in bed for an hour before deciding to get up and go downstairs to get breakfast and gamble, naturally. Slots and video poker again for about 2hrs before I decided to head to the Strip. Found myself in the Flamingo at 6am playing 2/4 Limit Hold"Em cash. Lasted 3hrs and made a profit before heading back to the Orleans as on a comp and wanted to give them some decent (for me, anyway) play. Ran about $700 through the machines (when I say ran $700 I mean with wins and stuff, so actually spent a lot less) then headed back to the Strip to meet the rest of the APAT contingent. Back to Flamingo for more cash after a hot dog and fries for lunch, won a small amount before heading to Harrahs to meet the degens.
Met the degens and Ger had us all playing 3-card poker. Lost $75. Awesome. This might become a recurring theme. Gave up on that pretty soon and headed to the Quad to watch the NFL game. Waitress was ridiculously hot. Ger, Joe, Matt Bird and I got bored and hit a $10 Pai Gow table. Lost another $25.
TBC...laptop is about to die again after I got it to work, slightly.
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Will do the report on the flight back, but just took 6th in the $125 at Aria for $700.
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Proper TR time - x-posted to VMB.
I flew out from Manchester, UK with two plane changes; firstly at London Heathrow and then at Los Angeles. This may seem a bit weird but it was for two reasons. Firstly, I am a sucker for massive legroom. You can give me a chair where I can"t even turn sideways and I won"t care. I just need that legroom. So I did my research and ended up booking seat 33G on the 777-300 from London-LA with American (I will post a pic of the legroom but I"m typing this in work and the pic is at home), so the changes were to get me to London and then get from LA to Vegas. Oh, and as an added bonus, these are the only planes I could find that had power ports in Economy and also Wi-Fi.
The second reason was price. I can"t fly direct from Manchester any more so to fly direct from the UK, I have to travel to London anyway, whether it be by train/car/bus/plane. It was cheaper for me to fly to London than to take any of the aforementioned ways, and the flight to LA then Vegas was cheaper than flying direct from London to Vegas by at least £100 ($160).
The flight from Manchester to London was chilled, which I needed after being up since 4am UK time. We went up, cruised for literally 10 minutes, then went down. Unfortunately when we came in to land the first time, the runway at Heathrow had to be closed for a 5 minute safety check so we had to pretty much take off again. Nobody reacted badly though so we just circled Heathrow and landed 10 minutes late. Quick change of terminal and we were soon boarding the 12pm from London to Los Angeles.
We took off late because of the earlier runway delays but because of the winds, we made most of that time back up in the air. Sadly for me, I managed to pay for wifi and just get settled in before my laptop went kaput at 36000 feet. Awesome. The hard disk broke so it was terminal. Spent most of the flight just dozing and trying to connect to the wifi on my phone, which barely worked, and this soon turned into the longest flight ever. Eventually landed at LAX and had 2hrs to make my Vegas connection. This seemed very simple and I was at the gate with more than enough time to spare. Had booked an aisle seat and got 2 Mexicans next to me, thankfully the dude in the middle wasn"t plus sized and we eventually landed in Vegas at 6.45pm PST.
I"d prebooked a VIP shuttle with Bell Trans and after a slight delay, a limo turned up. Luxury ride to the Orleans and check in went very smoothly. Room miles away from the elevators with a view of the Orleans Arena and Rio/Palms from the window at the end of the corridor. Managed to stay awake until 10pm PST and staggered up to the room having been awake for nearly 27hrs. Was out like a light, hoping that I would sleep 8hrs and get that sleeping pattern sorted straight away...
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Room miles away from the elevators
I just asked politely for a room near the elevators (Paulie don"t do walking)...and boom, I was sorted.
Downside is, of course, that everyone walks past your door, usually making noise. Fortunately, I"m a heavy sleeper and it"s not an issue for me.
Bell"s VIP shuttle was the bee"s patellas as far as I am concerned. The way to go as a solo traveller to Vegas...if you are in a group then the cost / value ratio goes down.
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Room miles away from the elevators
I just asked politely for a room near the elevators (Paulie don"t do walking)...and boom, I was sorted.
Downside is, of course, that everyone walks past your door, usually making noise. Fortunately, I"m a heavy sleeper and it"s not an issue for me.
Bell"s VIP shuttle was the bee"s patellas as far as I am concerned. The way to go as a solo traveller to Vegas...if you are in a group then the cost / value ratio goes down.
I specifically asked for rooms far away from the elevators - for the noise reason but also because it was my first solo trip and I knew that if I was really far away, I couldn"t just nip up and get more $$$ when I suffered a bad beat, I"d have enough time to calm down :)
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I woke up at 2.15am on the Thursday morning. FML.
Typical, actually! Finally decided to drag my ass to the shower at 3am after trying my hardest to go back to sleep, but the excitement of Vegas took over and I headed downstairs after a shower to find a surprisingly not as dead as I thought Orleans Casino. Played a few slots and a small amount of VP before grabbing a breakfast sandwich (sans egg, I hate them lol) with breakfast potatoes from Fuddruckers to go. It was good enough for me, plus I had a coupon that I got when I checked in. Ate that in my room and logged onto the wifi on my phone as I wanted to play some Limit Hold"Em (I can"t play this game live in the UK, nowhere spreads it) and the only place that had a game was the Flamingo.
I also needed to get a new MLife card so I cabbed it to Monte Carlo but their cashier was less than helpful so I walked to Aria, who sorted it pretty quickly. A nice walk up the Strip to Flamingo soon saw me seated at the only game in there with one crazy guy who couldn"t speak English but was drunk and donating and a bunch of rocks playing for the BBJ. Played until about 9am when the donator left and I had made a small profit. Had to take the long way around to the shuttle at Bally"s as the sidewalk between Flamingo and the Bally"s bridge was closed until 10am for construction. Missed a shuttle so went to Stage Door to check the place out.
I"m gonna be honest here - maybe it"s because I don"t drink or maybe it is because it was 9.30am, but I don"t get why people like Stage Door. It just seemed like a small bar with a bunch of locals in that has some video poker bartops. Grabbed a snack from the Supermarket attached to it and jumped on the shuttle back to Orleans.
I"d decided that I wanted to give some play to Orleans as I was staying there on a comp, so I ran my points balance up to around 700 (I think it was $1=1pt) through their machines, mainly playing video poker and Top Dollar slots. By this time it was 1pm, and I knew the rest of my mates were arriving in at about 4pm, so I headed back to the Strip. Grabbed a hot dog & bacon + cheese fries from Nathan"s at Bally"s, before walking back up to Flamingo to play more poker. The boys were staying at Harrah"s so I cashed out up $20 at half past 3 and went to Harrah"s to meet them.
Didn"t take long before we were seated at a 3 card poker table. Very quickly dropped $75 before Stu and his brother decided it was time to go and watch the NFL game. Went to the sports bar at The Quad to do this. I recommend this place just for the waitress. She was absolutely stunning. Also pretty good at her job, but to be honest, I wasn"t really interested in that bit, just her if you get what I mean ;)
At half time in the football, 4 of us (Ger, Matt B, Joe and I) got bored as it wasn"t the best game ever, and hit a Pai Gow table in The Quad. The dealer was a good laugh but I didn"t run particularly well and lost another $25. As the game was finished we met up with the others before heading back to Harrah"s, where I bade my farewells at about 9pm so I could get back to the Orleans at a decent time. Caught the shuttle and headed back. Played some more VP and slots, including hitting 4 Aces on BP when I was trying out a new game at nickels and played literally 5 hands ffs, before heading up to bed at about 11pm.
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Friday was moving day one of two. I checked out of the Orleans at about 9.30am after a quick game of poker and some slots. Made a bit but was pleasantly surprised to find out that I had played enough to cover my room charges without having to ask (albeit it was only about $25).
Grabbed a cab to my new home for one night, Monte Carlo. This was a myVegas comp as I didnt fancy paying Friday night rates on SEMA week! Total value was $155 including resort fee so in my eyes it was definitely worth the time and effort put in to accumulate the points. Was able to check in early and dumped the bags in the room before heading up to Harrah"s to find the rest of the boys.
We"d planned a trip Downtown to play the Binions 2pm poker tournament so after a few entered (and busted) the regular 10am game we all jumped in a limo and headed Downtown. Limo dropped us outside Binions and we then all had to queue up for half an hour to get players cards as these were needed to enter the tournaments.
We"d registered by 1pm so had some time to kill - naturally we headed to the bar by the Party Pit (or whatever Binions call it). VP + Women + beer = win. Don Roberts, Paul Gildea and the rest of their group turned up and asked for directions to get a players card. Unthinkingly, I just replied "straight up there, turn right, past the million dollars and there"s a booth there", whilst concentrating on my VP. I was with Paulie_D at the time and he burst out laughing, saying "You"d only ever hear that in Vegas!"
Played the tournament and despite making the final two tables, bust out before the money in a standard spot. Stayed and railed two of the boys as they chopped it for $500 each before we headed over to the D (it was about 8pm) for some SIGMA! Unfortunately for us there were only a few seats. I managed to score one but about 15 mins in, it broke so I headed to the VP progressive behind it. Didn"t hit the royal but hit a couple of quads and more than doubled my cash so was happy.
The boys got fed up of SIGMA so some headed back but a few of us headed down to Hogs & Heifers to see what it was like. Definitely going back as I loved it. I do like the film Coyote Ugly and this bar is owned by the team that had the bar in NYC that was the inspiration...plus it is all about first impressions and as we walked in there was a woman on the bar with boobs out, signing her bra for the wall. Can"t really beat that.
Most of the boys were flagging by about 10pm so after a couple of rounds in H&H we left (sadly!) and caught cabs back to the Strip. Finished the night off with some 3-card poker (lost, again) before heading back to Monte Carlo for sleep...
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I haven"t forgotten about this but just been busy with work etc so will try and catch up soon...
In other random news, I"ve been selected to play for Blonde in the Team Championships for what looks to be a very strong team, so quietly confident I can break my curse in that event and actually make Day 2!
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Saturday was moving day two of two. As a quick review - Monte Carlo is nice and comfortable but not worth the extra cost IMO, Harrah"s was okay enough for a lot less $$$.
Today was also the day of the APAT poker tournament. I had agreed to host the event so after moving from Monte Carlo to Harrah"s, which included a 30 minute wait at checkout as MC couldn"t seem to process my myVegas comp, I headed over to Caesars to meet their team. Grabbed some lunch with a few of the boys who were playing the event along with some others who weren"t, and made introductions at the start of the event before leaving them to play.
Went back to Harrah"s to check in properly, only to find that the air conditioning unit wasnt working properly. Gave no thought to it and left again, yep this came back to haunt me. Tried contacting Paulie & Ger who I knew weren"t playing the APAT game to see where everyone was, but all phones were dead (it later transpired that pretty much everyone had succumbed to jetlag today and they were all having unscheduled 8hr sleeps at 3pm. On a Saturday. In Vegas.) Jumped on some slots to kill some time, broke even, and headed back to Caesars as I needed to be there for the final two tables.
Did my hosting duties for 3-4 hrs and the tournament was finished just after 10pm. Was shattered by then so grabbed a quick bite to eat and headed up to the room. Lasted 10 minutes before I got so fed up with the air con that I went downstairs for another room. Unfortunately it was Veterans weekend and they were fully booked, but said that I could switch first thing in the morning. Earplugs in, I eventually got to sleep...
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Quick break from the TR:
I"m playing for Blonde at the Team Championships in Stoke, where Asa is captaining. This has the potential to be one of the most epic APAT events ever...after all, we have the following:
Jaxie leading Team APAT.
Biggest team event ever.
Ger coming down solely to rail for 2 days.
Asa leading Team Blonde.
Phil TC is bringing Lilly TC.
Superbowl after the event guaranteeing that most people will stay until Monday.
I sense that this is going to be awesome.
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Quick break from the TR:
I"m playing for Blonde at the Team Championships in Stoke, where Asa is captaining. This has the potential to be one of the most epic APAT events ever...after all, we have the following:
Jaxie leading Team APAT.
Biggest team event ever.
Ger coming down solely to rail for 2 days.
Paulie coming up solely to rail for 3 days.
Asa leading Team Blonde.
Phil TC is bringing Lilly TC.
Superbowl after the event guaranteeing that most people will stay until Monday.
I sense that this is going to be awesome.
FYP
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Quick break from the TR:
I"m playing for Blonde at the Team Championships in Stoke, where Asa is captaining. This has the potential to be one of the most epic APAT events ever...after all, we have the following:
Jaxie leading Team APAT.
Biggest team event ever.
Ger coming down solely to rail for 2 days.
Paulie coming up solely to rail for 3 days.
Asa leading Team Blonde.
Phil TC is bringing Lilly TC.
Superbowl after the event guaranteeing that most people will stay until Monday.
I sense that this is going to be awesome.
FYP
TY for adding this.
Trip just got more epic.
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Trip just got more epic.
Not looked at APAT for a while and come on to see the (real time slowroll of the year) APAT Team Selection ...... oh dear lord .... going to be the loudest, funniest, best team event .... how can I miss it ... decision made ..... railing ftw booooooooooooooooom
Now with even more epicness...Stoke, look out!
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I have serious updating to do of these TRs.
Good job I"ve got a lot of time.
Must get round to these in the next few days.
List for me whilst I remember:
Vegas
Stoke
Christmas
Plans for the next 2 years...(hint: it is one of the two places above, I"ll let you guess!)
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Passed my driving test today.
Hopefully this will mean I can come to a few more APATs...
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Back to Vegas - Sunday
Woke up after not so much sleep and went downstairs where I was finally able to change rooms. Lost my king size bed but was worth it for the pleasure of actually getting some bloody sleep!
Sunday in the USA, in November, is NFL day (that"s American football, not No Fecking Lime). Quickly established that the rowdy bunch were in the Sports Book at the Venetian and headed there. Met up with Ger, Stu, Rodders etc and spent most of the day just chilling out, playing the odd bit of video poker and generally having a good time. Watched a lot of football before heading back to Harrahs for 3-card and some Pai Gow. Grabbed some food from KGB burger in Harrah"s and went to bed.
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Vegas - Monday
Some of you may have read in Paulie"s blog that he had an issue with food in KGB, and thought it was just him until "some of the others" informed him that they had also had issues.
Some of the others was me. Woke up Monday feeling like death, sadly. Not how you want to spend a day in bloody Vegas! Decided eating was not the best idea and spent most of the morning watching really bad American daytime TV and sipping water. As I alluded to earlier, my trusty laptop had broken and I was fed up with getting it to work for short periods of time (it turned out that the unit works but the HDD is screwed. Second HDD to go in that machine!) so I eventually dragged my weary ass out of bed and headed downstairs.
Debated food but eventually decided it would be a bad idea and jumped on the Deuce. I"d mentioned to Paulie that I needed a new laptop the night before and he had kindly suggested Fry"s. Fry"s is an American electronics store based in Town Square. It is HUGE. If it"s electrical, chances are Fry"s has it and it is bloody cheap. Either way I got there and had a good browse before buying the laptop I am using now - http://www.amazon.com/F502CA-EB31-16-Inch-Notebook-1-40GHz-Processor/dp/B00E3IEYAM
Was a steal in my eyes, brand new at $379 + tax.
Took it back to Harrah"s via takeout from Hash House A Go Go (the Andy"s Crispy Indiana Style Hand Hammered Pork Tenderloin With griddled smoked mozzarella, caramelized onions, fresh spinach, portabello mushroom, house charred tomato and bar b" que cream all served with horseradish mashed potatoes and grilled corn O" cobb is my comfort food in Vegas) and managed to eat something before heading downstairs and to the Venetian to meet up with the crew and support Stu/Rich/Paul in the $300 PLO.
Most of us jumped in the 7pm $200 side event of the Deepstack series and I didn"t even make it to the first break, after running JJ into QQ. Oops. Decided against setting fire to another $200 and railed for a bit before heading back to get some kip. Was nice to hear afterwards that Susiepea and Matty had both final tabled the evening comp, and each of them hit 4 figure scores. Mini Rudders had also final tabled the PLO for a min cash and the Brits were representing well.
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Sigh at never finishing the blog of Vegas.
It"s been 4 months since I last updated this, with many changes in my life. Most of them have been good, and for the first time in what feels like forever, and is at least a year I reckon (Vegas 2013 doesnt count), I will be attending an APAT event to play. See you all in Leeds.
I have also decided that I am going to try and post something in this blog every day for the next 100 days, starting tomorrow, which has been inspired by the 100 Happy Days Photo Challenge, only I don"t want to provide photos. Hopefully I can post something every day that is worth posting.
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So what made me resurrect this?
It was something Julie said to me. As referenced before, I am one of life"s serial moaners, and was lamenting about something when she asked me what my target was. At the time, I didn"t really have a target. Well, I did, but it had been cruelly ripped away from me through no current fault of my own.
As some of you know, I had actually applied to join the Army as a Communications Specialist. I"d attended a course and loved it, passed my interview and was just waiting for my medical before getting my selection date. But I failed the medical due to my previous knee injuries. SO my dream was up in smoke. Hence the question I was asked...what is your target?
So I went away and thought about it. A target had worked for Julie. She"d lost 4.5 stone (those on Facebook have seen the transformation) and gained ridiculous amounts of confidence. Things at home have been better as well. But I still felt a bit aimless, meandering along in a boring job doing nothing. I asked myself, what do I want to do? Do I want to be in the NHS for the rest of my life? No. What jobs have I done that I enjoy doing? There have been a few, but nothing stood out. I discussed it with Julie and she said that I just needed something to aim for, something to give me direction. So I decided.
In 2016 I will play the WSOP Main Event.
That is my target. That is my goal. I will play the WSOP Main Event. It"s one of the few dreams I have left. But it would be simple if I just saved up for it? That"s not much fun, and not really what I want from a target. I want a target I need to work at.
With the support of my wife, I"m currently saving up £1000. Not straight away by putting all my wages into a savings account, but the aim is to get that figure by the end of the year. I"m then going to play live cash, and turn it into the buy in and build a bankroll.
I can hear you all laugh right now :)
So I"m resurrecting this to chronicle the journey, warts and all.
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I refuse to give up on my 100 day post challenge on Day 3, even if I have nothing to say apart from if my beloved Liverpool play as badly as we did tonight when we host Real Madrid, we"re screwed.
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To be fair Kinfishy always boosted his post count by just a smiley face - (I am also guilty of avoiding my blog)
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To be fair Kinfishy always boosted his post count by just a smiley face - (I am also guilty of avoiding my blog)
Ah but I"m not doing it to up my post count. Determined to post a story or a short every day.
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Today is Wednesday. In our house that means over the summer, it is Great British Bake Off day. Julie actually applied for this season, but didn"t get a call back. Needless to say, she has decided that she will try again next year. I like this idea as it means I get more cakes!
It also means that I haven"t been able to do any studying today as at the moment, whilst saving, I am studying by watching the series "Beating Live SSNL" on DeucesCracked. Has started well and I already have 7 pages of notes to re-read. The plan is to watch these videos and then apply that knowledge to the first posts in threads in the 2p2 forum "Live Low-stakes NL". We shall see what happens...
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Tonight I will venture out for my first game of live poker in quite some time. Just debating whether it will be at the Manchester G for their Friday freezeout, or at the Aquarium, where only hardened souls attend...
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Going for a challenge.
Otherwise known as "The Aquarium".
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We did not cash at the Aquarium. However, I did venture out to Leo"s Casino in Liverpool tonight for their regular Saturday comp, a £20+£5 game. Only £1120 in the pot (56 runners after re-entries, 45 different players) and somehow they felt the need to pay 8!
I took 2nd for £230 but a bit gutted as had my opponent all in with A5 vs KJ and he binked a king on the turn - I couldnt recover from that.
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If anyone can figure out how to get rid of Windows 8.1 and downgrade to Windows 7 without a cd drive on the laptop - please let me know! :)
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If anyone can figure out how to get rid of Windows 8.1 and downgrade to Windows 7 without a cd drive on the laptop - please let me know! :)
Which part is annoying you?
I use Start8 from Stardock...gets me my desktop back...dirt cheap too. $5
http://www.stardock.com/products/start8/ (http://www.stardock.com/products/start8/)
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If anyone can figure out how to get rid of Windows 8.1 and downgrade to Windows 7 without a cd drive on the laptop - please let me know! :)
Which part is annoying you?
I use Start8 from Stardock...gets me my desktop back...dirt cheap too. $5
http://www.stardock.com/products/start8/ (http://www.stardock.com/products/start8/)
It"s a memory killer, so all of it. Windows 7 is easier on memory afaik so hopefully I wont lag when playing games!
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So after 3 days, I gave up on getting rid of Windows 8 and eventually decided just to do a factory reset. Computer has sped up a lot so, like Liverpool last night, it has been a success.
Julie and I were at the aforementioned game last night. Her record is still going, but our next game is gonna be the tester. Real Madrid.
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Roll on the weekend. Saturday sees us, along with Asa and our friend Leese, try out an "escape room challenge" in Manchester.
https://breakoutmanchester.com/
Might be worth doing on the Sunday of the team challenge if people are bored...
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Roll on the weekend. Saturday sees us, along with Asa and our friend Leese, try out an "escape room challenge" in Manchester.
https://breakoutmanchester.com/
Might be worth doing on the Sunday of the team challenge if people are bored...
We did this today and managed to breakout of both rooms. It was pretty awesome tbh. Highly recommended!
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Roll on the weekend. Saturday sees us, along with Asa and our friend Leese, try out an "escape room challenge" in Manchester.
https://breakoutmanchester.com/
Might be worth doing on the Sunday of the team challenge if people are bored...
We did this today and managed to breakout of both rooms. It was pretty awesome tbh. Highly recommended!
This looks awesome! Will 100% doing this in the future. Which rooms did you do?
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Roll on the weekend. Saturday sees us, along with Asa and our friend Leese, try out an "escape room challenge" in Manchester.
https://breakoutmanchester.com/
Might be worth doing on the Sunday of the team challenge if people are bored...
We did this today and managed to breakout of both rooms. It was pretty awesome tbh. Highly recommended!
This looks awesome! Will 100% doing this in the future. Which rooms did you do?
It really is. At the time of booking, we only had the detective office and virus available, so we played them. We got out of virus with about 2 mins remaning. The time absolutely disappears when you"re playing, but it"s awesome fun.
Joobs is attempting Sabotage next week, so I"ve just got to figure out a time and date we"re all free to do Madchester.
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As Asa mentioned above, we did manage to break out of both rooms and I would recommend it to anybody who comes to Manchester. Incidentally, they do have bookings available for the Saturday and Sunday of the Team Event...
It"s been a crazy weekend here. Breakout on Saturday followed by a trip to the Aquarium for Ger"s 60th birthday poker game (which we were too late to buy in for, sadly) and then a trip to Wembley yesterday to watch the Dolphins destroy the Raiders :(
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Las Vegas can be the loneliest place in the world at times.
Not a thin brag or anything like that. Just an observation.
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Las Vegas can be the loneliest place in the world at times.
Not a thin brag or anything like that. Just an observation.
See...you"re handicapped by not being a drinker.
You"re never alone at a bar...I"ve had some amazing conversations with random strangers in bars around the world.
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Las Vegas can be the loneliest place in the world at times.
Not a thin brag or anything like that. Just an observation.
See...you"re handicapped by not being a drinker.
You"re never alone at a bar...I"ve had some amazing conversations with random strangers in bars around the world.
This, I can imagine. Wouldnt be much help though, trying to save money and bar drinks are expensive!
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Shiite...have I only had one thought in over a year?
Actually, that sounds about right! Then again, I"ve not played much if at all. I played the Manchester APAT leg and had fun, but didn"t really do anything and kinda ground my way to a late Day 1 bustout.
As most of you already know, Julie and I are no longer together which took a lot out of me as like the proverbial idiot, I didn"t see it coming. Thank you to those friends who have listened to me whine and moan but I honestly think I"ve got over it now and am in a better place. I have a good job, transport options and am content for the first time in a good 9 months.
I will be making an appearance at the Team Event in Luton playing for Blonde Poker. This might end up being my last event for the forseeable future as I just don"t play anymore. Can"t remember the time I last played online and I think I"ve played live poker 5 times since I got back from Vegas in July, and that includes The Aquarium games which I can no longer partake of as I have moved away.
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So we won the Team Event. I was a little bit happy.
Back to Vegas in 6 weeks. Everything booked and paid for. Cannot wait.
Anybody reading this these days? Worth me doing semi-regular Vegas updates?
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So we won the Team Event. I was a little bit happy.
Back to Vegas in 6 weeks. Everything booked and paid for. Cannot wait.
Anybody reading this these days? Worth me doing semi-regular Vegas updates?
Sigh... As much as it pains me reading Vegas blogs, yes please.. (As long as you don"t whinge about being there a month or so) I have no sympathy :P
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So we won the Team Event. I was a little bit happy.
Back to Vegas in 6 weeks. Everything booked and paid for. Cannot wait.
Anybody reading this these days? Worth me doing semi-regular Vegas updates?
Sigh... As much as it pains me reading Vegas blogs, yes please.. (As long as you don"t whinge about being there a month or so) I have no sympathy :P
Ditto
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Worth me doing semi-regular Vegas updates?
"Tales of a Tee-totaller from Vegas"...nah, sounds pretty boring TBH. :)
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Sounds great Adam.
Where does KarmaDope come from ?
Or is it just an anagram ?
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Sounds great Adam.
Where does KarmaDope come from ?
Or is it just an anagram ?
Who is this Adam you speak of? :)
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I will try not to moan too much. TBH the moaning is going to be when I come back - land on the Sunday night and in work on Tuesday (and Monday if I fancy it lol).
Sounds great Adam.
Where does KarmaDope come from ?
Or is it just an anagram ?
It is an anagram :)
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I will try not to moan too much. TBH the moaning is going to be when I come back - land on the Sunday night and in work on Tuesday (and Monday if I fancy it lol).
Sounds great Adam.
Where does KarmaDope come from ?
Or is it just an anagram ?
It is an anagram :)
Oh, a quiz.
raped amok, poked a ram, make a drop, a dark poem.
If it"s none of those, I give up. Give us a clue - is it anything to do with poker Adam?
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I will try not to moan too much. TBH the moaning is going to be when I come back - land on the Sunday night and in work on Tuesday (and Monday if I fancy it lol).
Sounds great Adam.
Where does KarmaDope come from ?
Or is it just an anagram ?
It is an anagram :)
Oh, a quiz.
raped amok, poked a ram, make a drop, a dark poem.
If it"s none of those, I give up. Give us a clue - is it anything to do with poker Adam?
http://giphy.com/gifs/DKqH1q9gN5AKA/html5
Is it just me that can"t post pics these days?
Penguins applauding in appreciation of JM"s post if you cba to click the link but really want to know
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Nope, it"s not just you :(
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Hahahaha, its easy to work out - just needed a new iPoker name back in the day and plugged adam + poker into an anagram maker. Came up with that. Sorted.
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Oh, a quiz.
raped amok, poked a ram, make a drop, a dark poem.
If it"s none of those, I give up. Give us a clue - is it anything to do with poker Adam?
This made me laugh John you are a Freckle Curve
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Posting pics...
(https://www.sorted.org.uk/Portals/_default/Skins/Sorted/images/u39_normal.png)
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It"s fitting really.
The best way to start a live blog of a WSOP trip?
Make the first post from 36000 feet up. I"m currently over Canada with about another 5hrs to go before I land in LAX to get a connection. It"s been a fun journey so far. A 4am start in Dublin (UK time) and I won"t land in Vegas until 3am UK time.
It"s worth it though.
If only I could sleep on these tin cans...
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but more importantly, will Karma Dope Cabs be available on the 13th? 8)
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Let me see what car I get. Currently in LA waiting for hopper to Vegas.
As it happens I do have that day off...so if I get a decent car, then yes, I"ll be around.
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Arrived.
Started the day at 4.30am in a hostel in Dublin, finished it 25.5hrs later in my room in the Four Queens in Vegas. Naturally woke up at 3am the next morning. Pretty standard for me these days (the sleep that is, not the trips to Vegas, this is likely to be the last WSOP I do).
Four Queens is a nice hotel to stay in downtown. Comfortable, good location, rooms are non-smoking, and cheap with NO RESORT FEE. Let"s see how long that lasts. I think they"re the last remaining holdout against that dreaded fee, even downtown.
Got into McCarran and picked up the car. 2016 Ford Focus with 8.5k miles on the clock. Nice...pics will be incoming at some point.
It"s 3.20am here and I have nowhere to be until 11.20am. To the poker room!
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but more importantly, will Karma Dope Cabs be available on the 13th? 8)
Car is fine. Just need to double check scheduling (should be today or tomorrow) and then will see if I can do this.
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but more importantly, will Karma Dope Cabs be available on the 13th? 8)
Car is fine. Just need to double check scheduling (should be today or tomorrow) and then will see if I can do this.
;D
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At the moment I"m off on the 13th so send me flight details.
If this should change - and it"ll be an emergency if it is - I"ll let you know.
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Hopefully you"ll get plenty of time to enjoy Vegas as well as working.
I got a no resort fee deal at the "D", not sure if there are many around. See you sometime between 12th & 26th :)
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At the moment I"m off on the 13th so send me flight details.
If this should change - and it"ll be an emergency if it is - I"ll let you know.
Colin will confirm which of the 2 BA flights we are most likely to get on just before. I"ll let you know as soon as I know, and thanks again.
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There are a lot of people this year complaining that the Amazon Room is too cold. I concur.
Will do recap of first week tomorrow.
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There are a lot of people this year complaining that the Amazon Room is too cold. I concur.
Will do recap of first week tomorrow.
It was absolutely freezing in The Pavilion for The Seniors last year, I"m packing a hoody!!!!
Also we are on the first BA flight on Monday from Heathrow, arriving at 15.10. Can we just meet outside by the cabs at say 15.45/16.00 rather than that car park?
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I don"t know. I don"t think normal cars are allowed to load there, hence why I went to the car park last time.
I"ll look into it and come back to you.
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https://www.mccarran.com/Park/PassengerPickUp.aspx
There is a pickup point but its by the car park. Now I know where the arrivals desk is I"ll park closer to that this time.
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PM me your mobile and I"ll let you know when we land.
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Good to see the blog forum become active again.
I miss playing poker.