Vegas & The Aftermath - Diary

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So, with two nice £250 2 day Comps in Luton nicely dovetailing with the rarity of 3 empty days in my Diary, I indulged in a 3 day orgy of poker, & had a terrific 3 days.

In the Luton G £250, I just ran bad throughout, & busted 10th or 11th I think, playing my exit hand like a complete donkey.

The Comp as a whole played incredibly fast. 10k in Chips, & an hour clock, & yet 6 players bust before 2 levels were out, including one who exited with A-J on a J high board on the second hand! It continued in that vein throughout, but I never had the cards, or the wit, to take advantage, & came up just short.

The Stanleys £250 was a 15k, 40 minute clock affair, with all levels, including 150-300, 400-800, 500-1,000, 1,200-2,400.

Not one for the chip shovers, but for those who prefer a more leisurely structure, it was a beaut.

I began well, & was shocked by how "slow" the players were playing, very passive indeed, totally opposite to the Comp at the G - which is just 5 minutes down the road. Weird. I ran my 15k up to 21k with small pot pilferage really, but than I ran K-K into a set of 6's, & managed to get off quite cheaply. Soon, I was back amongst the dead men, with 11k, but I got that back to 15k, & was loving my Table, although Rosy ITB (?) & Tom Foster, both to my immediate left, were a real pain, they both have a cracking game.

I then had two extraordinary strokes of luck, which gave me enough chips to Final. I got table-moved, straight into the BB, & was still stacking my chips (not a task that takes very long, I hastily add...), when Ray Hamner, UTG, moved all-in for 2.5k, with Blinds at about 200-400. It was flat-called round the back, & I looked down to see K-K. Nice. I decided to bet big, to get rid of the smooth-caller, & made it 10k on top, & to my horror, the flat-caller insta-called! He had A-T.........!

Ray had A-Q, so I just had to dodge the 2 remaining aces for a huge Pot.

I kinda liked the K-2-2 flop, checked to Mr Smooth, who moved in for his dregs, & running fours on Turn & River only served to give me a second, bigger, Boat. Game of skill, this.....

Then, late on, I re-poppd Mr L Goose, who had made it 5k, & made it 12k with A-K, & he smoothd it. Oops.

The Flop came A-J-3, he checked, & I bet 15k, with some 20k still behind. He now shoved for about 25k, only 10k more, & I called, suspecting 2 pair, but he only had K-J, for 2nd pair! Happy days.

I pretty much shut up shop then, returning today with average chips, about 43k, with M3Boy a massive chippe with 107k I think.

Rookie had a real Yoyo Tourney, but exited in a horror suckout, holding A-J v A-T on a A-A-T-x-x board.....

Tom & I were sat next to each other for hours, which was a bit awkward, he BB to my SB, as he's as stubborn as a woman when it comes to me messing with his Blinds. I pinched one off him, he pinched 17 off me. Standard.

He roomed with me overnight, & he snores & farts for England, it has to be said, so I never slept a wink.

But we had a smashing afternoon exploring Luton's Stockwood Park Discovery Centre, which is a surprising sort of place to find in Luton, & then had a lovely roast dinner at the Halfway House, opposite Stanleys Casino.

The 12 remaining played a bit cagey for a while, & I made an iffy Pass after Raising with A-T & receiving a shove from Tom Foster, & electing to decline. He showed 6-6.

Tom exited after getting a bit low, & shoving, only to find himself dominated, so that was that, & we soon reached the Final, with me still low, never having recovered ftom that A-T play.

[tikay]

The Final was a fairly quiet & subdued affair, very few "big on big" hands, dominated totally by Mrs Calling-Station, who was impossible to get off hands, & never once failed to catch her card.

I got lucky again, with two extremely tight players to my left, & just maintained my stack by Raising them in every unopened pot when I had the Button.

M3Boy was to my right, with a monster stack, but kept getting the wrong side of Mrs Calling-Station, including her miracle House with K-2.

She was very awkard to play - at 1k-2k, her opening Raise, from a mammoth stack, was generally 25k! She did that when I found A-Q, but I declined, like the wimp I am, but I truly felt I could play small-pot poker for a while yet, with the two Rocks still behind me.

When they eventually exited, my seat became awkward, as Mrs Calling-Station was now my sentry.

I Blinded down to danger level, shoved with Q-7, got called by J-9, & it held, back in it.

Paul, meanwhile, was getting a battering from Mrs Calling-Station, who just would not Pass,  she seemed to river the winner every time.

I found the way to play her was to flat-Call on the Button, & just hope to hit. Raising her Blind with no hand was a terminal affair, she would always call, so I went for Plan B, & just smoothed on her BB, & won a few.

I picked up A-K at last, in the BB, & got walked, damn!

But I was now gaining momentum, & soon, with just 3 left, the Table became completely lop-sided, with Mrs C-S up to 450k-ish, & Paul down to 85k, me 75k.

He then shoved on my BB pre-flop with K-9, I Called smartish with my first real contested hand of the Final, Q-Q, & his two pair were enough to send me home.

£1,295 will do - it had to! - & so that's my 3 day poker orgy done & dusted, & I am back on the road on Monday.

I do the Show on Monday, Friday & Sunday, (so no DTD-3-2-1 for me), Brendan's Funeral on Tuesday, & meetings on Wednesday & Thursday, so not much poker this week. I can't complain.

[tikay]

In the Car Park of Stockwood Park this afternoon, there was a sort of Classic Car Rally going on, & here's a few pics.

This car, an MGB GT , was a Model I once owned (well, Company-owned) for a while, back in the early sevnties at a guess. It was a beaut to drive, & back in the day was considerd the nuts. Note the oh-so-uncool long exhaust pipe, which was considered, in those days, to be the then equivelant of a Beemer today, signifying the owner had a tinsy-winsy todger.

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Whereas, the exhaust cluster on this beautifully-reatored (or replica, in case Kinboshi kicks up) e-Type Jaguar suggested the driver was hung like a donkey. I never once drove one of these.

 

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For a car designed in the 60's, this design was out of this world, & it remains, to this day, one of the best looking cars ever made in Britain, & it was sought the world over, though this was before Japan really started making cars properly.

But Alan Clark, in his Diaries, (he was an acknowleged car-buff), said this was the worst-handling car he'd ever driven, & was so dangerous, it should be banned. He had almost every decent car ever made at the time, but his 3 favourites were a 1953 Jaguar XK, a 1935 straight-eight Bentley, and his everyday hack, a Porcshe. Alan refused to clean his cars, he felt a bit of road grime & dirt added something to a car's character. He'd like my car.

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Over 40 years on, & this Dash & cabin interior must still be the best-looking ever designed. Made in motor heaven, if you go for that sort of thing.

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Incredibly, this wonderful piece of Olde England was manufactured some x-teen years after I was born. Ugh.

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[Dingdell]

How bizarre - my dad took my spitfire up there for the day - did you see it - little red one?

[tikay]

How bizarre - my dad took my spitfire up there for the day - did you see it - little red one?

No - we never spotted that.

Actually, I did see a Spitfire, but I never made the connection. It may well have been, I suppose!

This was not in the Official "Museum", but it was in an impromptu amateur "Rally" in the Car Park.

I must say, great place, Stockwood Discovery Centre, thanks for tipping me off about it.

Red & I stood by the Riding School for 30 minutes or more, watching the little girls on pony's, the girls faces were an absolute picture, & it was lovely to see them enjoying thermselves, & at one with nature & animals.

But we missed the "Bee Centre" for some reason.

Remind me to tell you all about the section on Sack Barrows. Fascinating stuff.

[Dingdell]

How bizarre - my dad took my spitfire up there for the day - did you see it - little red one?

No - we never spotted that.

Actually, I did see a Spitfire, but I never made the connection. It may well have been, I suppose!

This was not in the Official "Museum", but it was in an impromptu amateur "Rally" in the Car Park.

I must say, great place, Stockwood Discovery Centre, thanks for tipping me off about it.

Red & I stood by the Riding School for 30 minutes or more, watching the little girls on pony's, the girls faces were an absolute picture, & it was lovely to see them enjoying thermselves, & at one with nature & animals.

But we missed the "Bee Centre" for some reason.

Remind me to tell you all about the section on Sack Barrows. Fascinating stuff.

Last time I went up there was with my Dad on Fathers day a good fews years ago - it was a bus rally - lots of really old buses and bus blinds.

Sack barrows.....be still my beating heart......

[Claw75]

Remind me to tell you all about the section on Sack Barrows. Fascinating stuff.

you can't just leave that hanging there, you big tease you!

[tikay]

How bizarre - my dad took my spitfire up there for the day - did you see it - little red one?

No - we never spotted that.

Actually, I did see a Spitfire, but I never made the connection. It may well have been, I suppose!

This was not in the Official "Museum", but it was in an impromptu amateur "Rally" in the Car Park.

I must say, great place, Stockwood Discovery Centre, thanks for tipping me off about it.

Red & I stood by the Riding School for 30 minutes or more, watching the little girls on pony's, the girls faces were an absolute picture, & it was lovely to see them enjoying thermselves, & at one with nature & animals.

But we missed the "Bee Centre" for some reason.

Remind me to tell you all about the section on Sack Barrows. Fascinating stuff.

Last time I went up there was with my Dad on Fathers day a good fews years ago - it was a bus rally - lots of really old buses and bus blinds.

Sack barrows.....be still my beating heart......

Ahh, it was not a Bus Rally yesterday, but they had a few working examples of 4 stroke pumps which had Red pretty psyched up. Want a write up on those, too?

[tikay]

Remind me to tell you all about the section on Sack Barrows. Fascinating stuff.

you can't just leave that hanging there, you big tease you!

Wait, woman. The anticipation is all. You'll be ready by the time I start.

[Dingdell]

Remind me to tell you all about the section on Sack Barrows. Fascinating stuff.

you can't just leave that hanging there, you big tease you!

Wait, woman. The anticipation is all. You'll be ready by the time I start.

Omigod. That is all.