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He's a horribly abrasive & small-minded man who dislikes me, & the feeling is distinctly mutual. And I know it will soon kick off between us, despite my best intentions not to get involved in any bad blood at the table. He's the sort who can start an argument in an empty room & we have a lot of history.

Early doors & we play a small pot which is checked down, it's a chop & the Dealer splits the pot.

3 hands later he suddenly complains that the Dealer short-changed him by 100 chips. Imagine starting an argument over 100 chips....

I have no idea if he's right or wrong, nor does anyone else, but he's getting very agitated now. I cba with all this & toss him a 100 chip across the table with a bit of a cutting comment, "there you go sunshine, happy now?" sort of thing. He gives me the mother of all dead eyes & I know trouble is brewing...

But not a problem, as he tilts off his entire stack the very next hand with an inexplicably poor play & he's history. I just about resist the temptation to give him a send-off.

Only recognize 1 player at my table, Ivo Donev, who I know from 20 years or more ago.

He has a few dozen WSOP cashes & a WSOP Bracelet which he won in 2000. He's also a Chess whizz, an "International Master" or somesuch. Lives in Austria but is a Bulgarian. That's him in the blue, next to the Dealer.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivo_Donev

https://pokerdb.thehendonmob.com/player.php?a=r&n=71

Bump into a couple of familiar faces before we start, Rob Price & Pete Wigglesworth.

So, Day 1 was the $800 PLO8 @ Venetian.

The "new" Venetian cardroom is an absolute beaut, plenty of room to move about, luxury chairs, charging points at every seat, & really good & bright lighting. Oddly, it's not exactly in Venetian, it's really upstairs from Palazzo in the Olde Canal Shoppes.  

Anyway, regged in plenty of time & off we go.

Test photo...

 

My editing skills are in line with your parking ability.

Best of luck , run good and try to park between the white lines .

Looks perfect parking to me.

Looking forward to your updates again this year Tikay. After breaking my Vegas virginity last year, I will only have your exploits to read about this year. SIGH. VBOL Sir and enjoy 

Morning Alan.

TYVM.

Hope you & the lad are well, & plan to watch Arsenal this evening.

Here are my first two articles related to the 2026 WSOP

https://pokerindustrynews.com/poker-news/live-poker/uk-players-heading-to-the-2026-world-series-of-poker/

https://pokerindustrynews.com/poker-news/live-poker/participation-drop-for-opening-bracelet-events-at-the-2026-wsop/

Morning JR.

Enjoyed both those articles.

I have said nothing on S-M about POTUS with good reason, as I travel to the USA frequently these days, but I think Mr Boatman has a point & I think visitor numbers generally to the USA will be down. If DJT keeps insulting everyone & making dire threats, folks will be reluctant to travel. 

Meanwhile, did you see that Caesars Entertainment agreed to a takeover yesterday by a business that owns, amongst other things, Golden Nugget? (Fertitta Entertainment).

Caesars have been selling off arms & legs of their business for some years now in an attempt to service their debt, but eventually it's caught up with them. Think the price was $5.7 billion, plus assuming responsibility for $12 billion of debt.

Looking forward to your updates again this year Tikay. After breaking my Vegas virginity last year, I will only have your exploits to read about this year. SIGH. VBOL Sir and enjoy 

Test photo...

 

My editing skills are in line with your parking ability.

Best of luck , run good and try to park between the white lines .

Paul Ho.

Was out here in Thailand and seems uncontactable ever since he returned. Anyone know if he's ok?

very curious if anyone has any info