Vegas & The Aftermath - Diary

[tikay]

While waiting for the car to be serviced, I perused the cars in the showroom, (the idea I suppose) & they've got some nice bits of kit there.

I took to a black M3 or M5, I forget which, it was gorgeous, but it cost £50,400 I think. How much? I was briefly tempted, & toyed with the idea of having one, but then common-sense returned. Why would I need one of them? Mine is warm & comfy, goes as fast as I need it to, is economical, looks ok, starts every time on the button, & gets the job done In short, it's fit for purpose. It's a diesel, & I've always been anti-diesel - this is my first "D" - but after 100 yards, you just don't notice any more.

You can drive to London in a Rolls, or a 3 series, but it's much the same end result, & takes the same amount of time. In Poker Venues, DTD is the Rolls Royce, but the regular Venues still get the job done - just not quite the luxury experience.

Each of the cars shown in the Showroom had a laminated spec sheet on a little stand, these made interesting reading. "List Price (say) £45,000, this Model £49,500". And it then listed the optional extras fitted to that particular model. Special wheels, £1,500, walnut dash, £450, flashy headlights £600, poncy seats £800, & in every single case, this, which amused me.....

"Fuel, £45".......

[tikay]

Played in that numpty DC game last night Tikay. I got some player notes for you

PM 'em to me then!

How much you make?

[M3boy]

 It does 44.1mpg, & I can do 650 miles on a tank.

How jealous am I?

I get 27mpg average and only 400 miles to a tank, but then again, 0-60 in 6 seconds

[M3boy]

Played in that numpty DC game last night Tikay. I got some player notes for you

Did Marino stay?

Was he tilted?

[tikay]

Oh, & when I got the car back, it was squeaky clean! The last time it got cleaned was when it was last serviced - last April I think!

Mind you, it took 2 hours before I went to the garage to clear out the toot in the car - I filled a wheelie-bin to the top!

Cleaning cars is a waste of good time, but I think I take that logic a bit far. I think there must have been over 100 old coffee cups & crisp bags in the back of the car.

I promised myself to keep it tidier in future. Yeah, right.......

[tikay]

 It does 44.1mpg, & I can do 650 miles on a tank.

How jealous am I?

I get 27mpg average and only 400 miles to a tank, but then again, 0-60 in 6 seconds

0-60 in 6 seconds? Wow. That must be jolly handy.......When it's doing 80, how fast is it going then?

[kinboshi]

 It does 44.1mpg, & I can do 650 miles on a tank.

How jealous am I?

I get 27mpg average and only 400 miles to a tank, but then again, 0-60 in 6 seconds

400 miles to a tank...? If only I could get that out of mine... .

[Bongo]

I get about 350 out of mine... If I drive like my mum! Although it's only a small tank...

After today I'm just glad I don't have to drive to work every day!

[RED-DOG]

 It does 44.1mpg, & I can do 650 miles on a tank.

How jealous am I?

I get 27mpg average and only 400 miles to a tank, but then again, 0-60 in 6 seconds

You can't beat saving two or three seconds when you're accelerating, no matter how expensive it is. Hell, it could add up to almost a minute a month.

[tikay]

 It does 44.1mpg, & I can do 650 miles on a tank.

How jealous am I?

I get 27mpg average and only 400 miles to a tank, but then again, 0-60 in 6 seconds

Bear in mind, my driving is 95% Motorway stuff, & I avoid rush-hour driving 100%. Drive from Feltham to Derbyshire at 1am, on deserted M-ways is perfect driving economy & satisfaction-wise. Tomorrow (Tuesday) it's Derbyshire to Brighton, then Heathrow, then back to Brighton, then home, groan, but I'll go "out of hours" & avoid the traffic.

[TightEnd]

Especially vital at traffic lights, when two lanes merge into one shortly after

Unless you can do 60 in under 6 secs you'll have to filter in behind, and that is quite a dreadful experience

Personally I like all my cars to hit 60 in under 5, just to make sure

[AndrewT]

Personally I like all my cars to hit 60 in under 5, just to make sure

Get Kev to drive them - in five seconds I'm sure he could hit at least a dozen cars.

[RioRodent]

I have the best of both worlds...

0-60 in 20 secs AND 25 mpg AND it's built like a TANK.  

[tikay]

I played the £200 at DTD the Sunday before last, jeez, those Notts boys play fast! I had forgotten just how loony most of them are, as I "retired" from Gala Notts a few years back for personal reasons.

At 25-50, the standard first Raise was 400! One guy got Re-Raised, insta-pushed - this was Level One - & got instacalled, they begun with 4k or 5k I think. A-T v 8-8..........!

And so it continued. I think you have to adapt to the table, so I battened down for a long & thoroughly enjoyable old-style tikay grind. I was never far off average, & never in danger, & I felt I'd Final in OK shape. Wrong. I escaped from my grind-mode when I was on the Button at 300-600, & sensed a good squeeze situation with 4 limpers, and 12 left, so shoved with A-9, & got looked up round the back (for his Tourney life!) by K-9 man, & he hit, so that was that. Unforced error, no complaints, these boys don't do Pass, & I should & could have waited.

But it's easy to see why Mother Hen saw fit to modify the structure of the £300 (£500 as was), as I know he was astonished it played so quickly. How on earth they got down to 9 players by 4am (in the £500) will forever be a mystery to me. He scheduled & structured it for a 2 day comp, & if it's a 2 dayer, it needs to be 2 days, & structured accordingly. He structured it - properly & beautifully - for 2 days, but it played way too fast, so he's slowed it down even further, & eventually, he'll find the balance. Not easy, mind.

But it's cool, I can get by nicely if folks wanna play that fast.

[tikay]

You ever watched HM the Queen, or Commander-in-Chief Bush, inspecting their troops? Well, watch Mother Hen before a Tourney at dtd, it's some sight.

For a 7.30 start, he inspects his troops (thats Dealers, chips, chairs, tables) at 7.10. He's dressed in dark suit, crisp white shirt, smart tie, shiny shoes, & has his arms behind his back, Prince Philip style, and he walks along the rows of tables, & inspects every single one.

Dealers in place, in their smart uniforms? Tick.

9 chairs, all exactly symmetrical? Tick.

Cards all fanned out? Tick.

9 sets of starting chips, all beautifully neat & tidy? Oops, adjust one stack half an inch. That's better. Tick.

And then - & only then - he gives a signal to computer button man to press the "ENTER" button, & up pops the Plasma screens with the table & seat draw for the 7.30 Comp - at 7.15.

A thing of beauty, but pure class. Attention to detail, in all good things, is key. They do attention to detail by the bucketload.

And here's the secret - keep it quiet, eh? Attention to detail, smiling, & starting comps on time, are a bit like smiling. They all come free. Who'd have thought there was no cost to starting a Comp on time? They'll all be doing it soon. We wish.....