Off to Monte Carlo again courtesy of Badbeat.com and, to make sure I do not have my usual problems with catching the plane, I phone Marc ‘Mr Cool' Goodwin to seek his confirmation as to what time I ought to get to the airport. He suggests 7am and so I make sure I get there on time and wait in the queue for Marc and Trevor (Reardon). At 7.10 am, Marc has not joined the queue so I phone him to find out where he is in the airport. As it turned out he was still in bed with his wife. Now his wife is very attractive but I thought that was going a bit too far. (Obviously it wouldn't be if we were talking about Nick Gibson's wife)
Marc rushes at illegal speed to the airport and gets there at around 7.38am. As the gate was due to close at 7.40am, he should have been all right, but unfortunately the desk closed early and he was unable to check in. He sought out the relevant reps and tried to argue his case but received a very unhelpful and uninterested response accompanied by a very smug smile. He had a very poor experience with the travel arrangements as he ended up buying 3 separate flights. Eventually getting there and finding his luggage had gone astray, he had to purchase new clothes and then on the way back had to pay a surcharge because his baggage was too heavy. (The surcharge for his baggage was in excess of the amount payable for an individual to fly one way from Nice to Birmingham)
Anyway, we get to Monte Carlo, check into our hotel, and then go to meet Iwan Jones at his hotel and proceed to spend the whole afternoon using my Betfair and Ladbrokes accounts, putting bets on nearly every horse race during the day. We then get a tip on a horse called Welsh Dragon and between us put £2000 on it. The horse is well clear entering the final furlong and then gets caught on the line by a fast finisher and it is a photograph, but looks like a dead heat. Then the result is announced and we have a glorious victory. After counting our cash and working out how much I owe from my online accounts, a full 10 minutes later we are suddenly shocked to hear that the on course judge has changed her mind (unusual for a women we thought) and altered the finishing order of the first two horses, thereby placing our horse second. As you can imagine, we are in shock and feel robbed by the disgraceful on course British bookmakers who, obviously being in such a big loss situation due to the gamble on Welsh Dragon, have conspired to get the result altered. As with most good conspiracy theories, particularly when those forwarding them have a financial interest in them being true, the actual truth was that our horse had never finished first and it was a gross mistake that it ever had been named first. The bonus for us was that in accordance with UK betting rules, because the ‘weighed in' announcement had been made before the ‘correct' result was given, for betting purposes the first incorrect result stood and we were paid out. A great outdraw for us at the start of a big week.
I was due to play the first day and the game went superb for me in the first 3 sessions (1½ hour sessions) and I accumulated a great stack of nearly 35K (average around 13K at this stage). I had the great player and class act Marcel Luske on my table and I was very pleased to make a very good call to take a pot off him. I limped under the gun with 2-2 and he raised 150 with 500. I would 
normally probably fold this as unless I hit a two on the flop and if I am heads up and out of position, I am almost certainly going to lose the pot, as he will almost certainly bet if I check. Before it was my turn to act, the small blind called which gave me a semblance of protection from the potential positional flop bet and also better odds to justify the call, so I called. The flop came 10-9-7, we all checked, the turn was 4; we all checked, the river was 7. I feel sure I am winning and the small blind checks again so I ask the dealer what is the minimum bet I can make and Marcel tells me 150 so I bet 150 and he immediately re raises me 1100. The small blind folds and I am left wondering where I stand. He does his usual chatting and I tell him I do not have much but I think he has less and he laughs. I tell him I think he has either a full house or no hand as I cannot see what other hand he bets that way. He instinctively answers yes and then immediately changes the subject which I interpret as a suggestion that he wished he hadn't said it and he has no hand, so I call. Now my call was made a little easier because if I was wrong I could simply muck my hand without revealing my embarrassment. As it happened he had AJ and I looked good, which usually happens when you make a dodgy call and get it right.
The tables break and I move to another table where I experience just about the worst period of things going wrong I can ever remember. The high points being running into quads and paying them off (with A-K on an A high flop and then an ace flush) twice in 10 minutes and again for the third time some time later. My stack was down to 15K and my head was gone so I went for a walk outside to try and subdue the tilt feeling that was beginning to fester in my mind. I came back and was fortunate to have things go much better and I finished the day on about 27K and was very happy.
After the first day finished we went to the bar and I was talking to Bengt Sonnet (my vote as best overall poker player in Europe). He reminded me of a hand we played in the Monte Carlo Millions final last November. I raised he reraised (A-K) and Phil Ivey moved all in. I folded and Bengt also 
folded. He asked me after the game if I thought he was right to fold (we did not know Phil Ivey's hand) and I said I thought it was a correct lay down, after all what hands will Phil Ivey make that move with that are not beating A-K. Phil Ivey is a very aggressive player, but he is an aggressive raiser not an aggressive reraiser. Bengt said that he had made up his mind that if I pushed all in he would fold and my opinion was that it was much easier for me to push than for Phil Ivey to push facing a raise and reraise before he acted so on that basis alone he should fold. Phil Ivey later told Bengt that he would only make that move with 3 hands and as it happened he had the worst of the three and the only cards you want to see if holding Bengt's hand, QQ.
Bengt had asked several players for their opinion regarding his fold and nearly all had said that he should have called and so it had been playing on his mind. In an endeavour to help I suggested that he consider how many of the players that had expressed that opinion had won as much or been as successful as him. He smiled and shook my hand.
As if to show how poker is a game of decisions that can change for different situations, I also had a conversation with Nick Gibson regarding A-K. He had suffered a horrendous beat at the hands of Paul Testud and had walked to the same area as me to compose himself. He returned to the table and facing a raise from Paul Testud he reraised holding A-K and was set in. He had committed around 3500 to the pot and had a further 10K left. He asked me what I would do and I said in that situation against that player I definitely call as I think the worst you are is a coin toss and getting almost 2 to 1 for the call. Plus, Paul Testud is a very aggressive raiser and reraiser. As it happened Nick folded, he did not find out what his opponent held and Nick finished the day on 28K, so all was well.
In the end, I limped into the cash in 26 th place. The event was won by a highly aggressive 19-year-old American named Jeff Williams who picked up 900,000 Euros. Other notable performances came from Blackpool's Arshad Hussain who played tremendous poker throughout to
finish a highly creditable second and also Ross Boatman who also played fantastic poker and was very unlucky that the cards did not fall right for him when he needed it most, finishing 6th . Ross was unfairly hard on himself afterwards feeling that he had under performed in the final and cited to key hands. The first was when, with blinds at 15K, he faced a raise to 40K from Jeff Williams and folded A-Q pre flop. Now his reasoning was that the American had been highly aggressive throughout and this was a smaller than normal raise suggesting he may want action. So Ross took the safe option and folded. Now whether you agree or disagree with the fold you cannot deny the logic of the decision and in my opinion the game is all about decisions. The more often you make the logical decision based on the information available, hopefully the more often you will also make the correct decision at the time and generally be more successful as a result. So when this goes out on TV and you see the Q-5 that his opponent had raised with, treat the commentary with the respect it deserves. Hopefully they will analyse the situation fairly and not simply criticize the fold because they know both sets of cards before they pass comment.
The other hand was when Ross raised with K-K and on a flop of A-Q-10, Jeff Williams check raised Ross when he bet just over the pot. Again, for me, not on the basis of any read or accurate estimation of his opponent's hand, but on the basis that, as the pre flop raiser and flop bettor, his opponent ought sensibly to give him credit for the ace and therefore he ought only sensibly reraise with a very strong hand, folding the K-K to the check raise was the correct play at the time. Not all players agreed with this view, but then my view was expressed before I knew Jeff Williams had check raised with Q-10. I stick to my view regardless of the opponent's hand.
I think Ross is a great player who deserved better than he got and should not be so hard on himself.
We all play like monkeys at times and we all make wrong decisions during a tournament even though we may still come up smelling of roses or make the right decision for completely the wrong reason (except Phil Helmuth of course). Ross made reasoned decisions that ended up being the wrong choice, all choices would be easier if we knew all the cards held.
Interesting happenings included Micky “The Legend” Wernick, with his glasses steamed up in pouring rain, accidentally walking into the children's swimming pool at the Monte Carlo Bay Hotel and when asking for help being told by a helpful American lady to ‘find a tour guide'. Also, Marc ‘Mr Cool' Goodwin trying to bribe the night reception desk man to get him a cup of coffee starting with 100 Euros and ending with 9000 Euros on the man's desk, but still no coffee. It was apparently more than his job was worth. And finally, Vicky Coren talking, it wasn't so much what she said but she has a very sexy voice and, although she has never spoken directly to me, it's almost voyeuristic listening to her.