Vegas & The Aftermath - Diary

[tikay]

A few last memories of the DTD £300.

The Dealers - superb, almost without exception.

Rooks comeback. He arrived at my Table short, but doubled up with esquisitely played & timed Aces, it looked for all the world like a squeeze play - he overbet them big time - but he knew he'd catch someone, & he did.

Then he lost two big races, getting the wrong side of AK both times, & was out, busto, he left the table, only to be called back, he had 300 chips left over. It was something to behold, but I swear it's true - he had over 10k within a single orbit! Pretty it was not, but effective it sure was.

Des Bling-Bling Jonas,. My oh my, his game has improved leaps & bounds, & he's a proper fun guy, & takes his beats like a real man. His speech-play is awesome to behold, & I like him a lot.

Wernick - I thought he was gonna do the double, but he lost three biggies in a row, & even the Mighty Wernick could not come back from that.

Dingdell - she had great game, & overcome early problems from Malc-M, who was pillaging her Raises, to return on Day Two as lowish, but still with a chance. She got up to 35k, but the old AK v QQ jobbie did her. These play themselves.

Fran - she also returned very low, & got even lower, & just clung & clung & clung, like a barnacle. But persistance is all, & somehow she scraped into the Final, then she almost looked at one stage like winning it. It was her biggest ever cash, at her "home" Venue, with many of her friends there to Rail, & it must have been  a fairytale cash for her. Gotta love poker fairytales. Her Dad, Rob, has every right to be well proud of Fran's success.

And Pete Linton? Wow, who would have dreamed he'd win it? But he did, & fair play to him. He gambled a lot, & lost most of his stack several times, but he won't lie down & die quietly, & he just fought back every time. I don't want him on my Table, I tell you that. He reminds me a bit of Garry "Whacker" Bush, the ants in the pants syndrome, but he plays a bit different to Garry!

That was as good a weekend as I can recall at the Poker Tables, & I still had the £100 consolation jobbie to look forward to. More of which later, but for now, bed awaits, & I'm back on the road Wednesday.

[Woody502]

Great report on the 300 quid jobbie at DTD Tikay who knows one day I may return to the fair city of my birth and be able to give it a spin with a table full of blondes.

[77dave]

Tikay your diary is on page 222    Reds diary is on page 22 do you think you will get to page 300 before he gets to 100?

when you started this diary on your way to Vegas for the WSOP did you think it would still be running strong in Feb 08?

Do you think your outlook on your own game or the poker world has changed since you started writing your diary?

[RichEO]

Back to your broadband.

As BT have sent you a new wirless router, you should probably be using it. It might be less prone to disconnections. You should also try new microfilters. (You do have a microfilter on every phone socket in the house already don't you...?).

I'll can take a look next time I'm at DTD if you want.

[tikay]

Tikay your diary is on page 222    Reds diary is on page 22 do you think you will get to page 300 before he gets to 100?

when you started this diary on your way to Vegas for the WSOP did you think it would still be running strong in Feb 08?

Do you think your outlook on your own game or the poker world has changed since you started writing your diary?

Hi Jim,

No idea when, or if, we will, respectively reach 100 or 300, & it's not crossed my mind. I can only write when I get the desire to, sometimes I do, sometimes I don't. And they are very different in style. Tom writes so beautifully, so much "colour" in his musings, & takes much more time & care to prepare his Posts. I'm very much A-B-C stock-bowler stuff, but I live such a wonderful life one way & another that I want to record it for myself, & now & then, others may find it interesting.

As you know, Tom & I are vey close, but our Diaries have another connection. I could neither read nor write at 14, & I had head problems, so when I suddenly - overnight - found the key to my head, & discovered I did have the ability to read & write, it was a huge novelty, which, to this day, has never worn off. Hence I read so many books, &, some might say, write too much. It's still my "new toy". And it's similar with Tom. As you can imagine, he never had a conventional Education, &, incredulous as it may seem, until blonde came along, he never had the confidence to write publically. But now, when we read a Tom Diary Post, you can see the pride bursting off the page. It takes him hours to refine them, polish them, get them "just so". And if a spelling error gets through, he's furious with himself. In fact, I'd go so far as to say that the best thing that has come out of me penning a Diary is that it may have contributed to Tom's decision to do one. (And, I hope, other blondes may do the same). I actually think that the best regular features on blonde are the Live Updates, & Tom's Diary, and if were to charge an Annual Fee for subscription, those two items alone would make any reasonable fee good value. (But we won't, before everyone jumps on me....).

Did I think I'd keep the thing going this long? Well I hoped I would, but, you know, almost all of us start Diaries every January 1st, & 95% of us don't get past the first week. So yes, I was conscious of failing. But from time to time, someone Posts "good read, keep it going", & that acts as a motivator. I'd almost certainly fail if nobody ever encouraged me, but I write it for myself. I know, that makes no sense, does it?

Has my outlook on the poker world changed since I began writing it? Not really. Those who frequent our little, insular, poker comminity exactly reflect society really. Some complete arseholes, & some wonderful human beings, all pissing in the same pond. I still get terribly upset when the sort of stuff that went off last week go down, I simply can't grasp how odd some people can be. I'm fine with them not liking me, or blonde, but all the public theatricals that go with it leave me numb. "I'm never Posting here again you dumbasses" is something we get almost every week. And I'm thinking, "fine, just leave if you don't like it, why all the hoohah?, we never invited you in, never charged you a bean, the doors over there". Of course, almost without exception, they continue to lurk, & most soon return. One day someone will say "I'm off, but thanks for the fun, & the free updates & Forum, & good luck in the future", but I'll not hold my breath. I write to almost every one of them, & say "well, I'm sorry, I hope you enjoyed it here, & whatever you decide, I wish you & yours well in the future". Never had a reply to one of those yet! And yet I DO mean it. But for every down there is an up, & I am continually shocked at how lovely some of our Members are. I had a lovely PM from Brandon Schaeffer last week, I've not see him for 2 years, but he wrote to encourage us not to get discouraged over the Update hoohah & other unpleasant stuff. And I've made such lovely friends via blonde, that going to a cardroom has become a social event for me. I suppose it's just like a family, there always gonna be ups & downs. And when a blonde does well in an Event - as, say, Fran & Pete did last week, or when any of us gets a cash, I sort of burst with pride, "that's one of us".

And I'm inspired by the battles won, or being fought, by some of our Members. Iron, Brendan - never without a smile, either of them - Maureen, Stacey & Reece, Suzanne, so many others. If you did but know the grief Tom has had in life, just because he's a a Gypsy. He's an ethnic minority - officially - you know. And Charmaine, doing her Birthday thread thing, day after day. And so many others.

Anyway, I've gone off on one there, I'm just out of bed, & my grumpy side got up first, & I should really press the Delete button. It's my honesty that gets me in so much trouble, & for that reason, bugger it, I'm gonna Post this.

Anyway, the sun is shining today, & I plan to catch up on my PM's, Invoicing, e-Mails,get some Sky background work done, & go to Luton for a cracking cash-game with a bunch of friends tonight. Life is good, for all the occasional squally showers. I'm in the closing chapters of my life, & suddenly it's all got rather exciting.

And with every passing day, nature calls me, & no, I don't mean I need a leak. I'm utterly in awe of nature, & I want to get on the road, do my Scotland Tour, (a 3 or 6 month jobbie), get myself a dog with a limp, before it's too late. So I don't know how long I'll continue in Poker, really. Probably another 12 months, I dunno.

[tikay]

And so, to wrap up the DTD Weekend, I played the £100 on Sunday night.

I was utterly card-dead in the £300, & luck always evens out, & I suspected I'd get good fortune in the £100, & so I did, big time.

From the very off, I got Cards, & customers, & then some.

We began with 4k, & I had 16k before Level One ended - and that's not my style at all.

I picked up QQ first orbit - never had a single Premium in the £300 - and luck being the fickle thing it is, I quadded up with a card to spare. And got paid. Then KK three times in two orbits. On one occasion, I played them ultra slow, & flopped the set, a flush turned - can he have it? - nah - & housed up on the end. And the poor guy DID flush it, & I got paid again. Played it awful, misread the other guy completely, got paid, how does that work?

Next up, I made a howler of a bad play with Tens, the play suggested he may have better, but I sensed I could hit a set, my luck was so good. I did not have the price to call the all-in re-re-raise, but I called anyway, on their backs. He has Jacks, & the flop comes T-7-7.....

So, suddenly I have a Big Boys Stack, nearly 20k, & this is so rare for me. What to do, I muse. Use it, I decide.

And boy oh boy, did I bully & pillage & steal & dance, like never before. And within two Levels, I'd run the 20k up to 5k......

Now I'm sub-average all of a sudden, & I give myself a good talking to. But low stack is my comfort zone, it's where I play best, my senses go on high alert, & I'm very good - I AM! - at short-stack play.

And soon comes the lovely cry "FINAL".

More soon. I know, you can't wait......

[tikay]

The average was 25k or so, I had over 50k, & I decided to play the Final "New Thewy" style, sit out early while the Shorties did their thing.

But my reads were - for once - superb, & I snapped off shoves & bust the first 4 players to depart, one after the other, & I'm soon Chip Daddy with nearly 100k.

But eventually, the inevitable accident occurred. I played it right, but I got damaged badly, & that turned the Final for me, from cruise mode to ducking & diving (as per) again.

I had re-raised the eventual winner all-in after a Raising war, (he was 2nd stack) with QQ, & he called with K-Q, &, after so much luck, the K was inevitable, & so it turned out. Tactically, perhaps I should have avoided the 2nd stack, but I just sensed he did not have much, & went with my read. I'm not putting it down as an error though, it was the correct play, & I got lucked out.

Angelo - Chili's Dad - played a grand Final, showed a few dance steps too, getting me off Tens I think with A-4! I said to a bystander, "he has Kings minimum, I can Pass these easily", only to see he'd got one past me, the crafty old bugger.

Three-handed a Deal was proposed, DTD did the sums, but Rooks & Kev clucked me out of it, & I ended up 3rd for about £900, & thus a profitable weekend.

It was a lovely, fun, Final, & I enjoyed every minute. Funny game, this poker.

[Tonji]

It's my honesty that gets me in so much trouble, & for that reason, bugger it, I'm gonna Post this.

Thats why so many keep reading this thread (& so many others on blonde). "Keep it real" is a fine motto.  to you Tikay.

get myself a dog with a limp

btw why does the dog need a limp?

[Laxie]

I might have a cat with a limp for you by the time the day is out. 

Our little darling decided to play 'chicken' the other night with oncoming traffic...and lost.  He took off running after 'the hit', so we reckoned he was either ok and would be back or he was gone off to die.  As it turns out, he was just pissed off and hiding next door.  Ego sufficiently injured, as well as a few body parts.  The kids found him yesterday before they went off to school and brought him in to me.  It's the first time Rocky's allowed me to hold him since he was a kitten.  Almost like the lil fecker knew, 'I'd better play nice, nice here.'  Sigh............I caved and carted him off to the vet.  They've kept him over night and are doing x-rays as I type.  9 lives won't be enough if he ever decides to play in traffic again...grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

[tikay]

It takes all sorts, but there was a guy in the Final who tickled me pink.

Every time he was put to a decision, he went into the tank. And that was just about every hand.

The routine never varied. It'd get to him, he'd look at his cards, his face would drop, "oh NO", he'd chuck a chip on his cards, put his head in his hands for 30 seconds, then request a count of his oppo's stack.

Our man had a low stack throughout - he had a great game actually - & he'd always ask for a count of the oppos stack. Which was always covering him. On one occasion, with less than 20k, he asked for a count of Matey Boy, who clearly & visibly had about 90k. "Don't worry fella, he covers you easily" someone says. "Yeah, but by how much" says our hero......"he could be making a move". Err, yes.

Each & every decision of his took 3 minutes or more, & it slowed the game down a treat, which, as it happened, suited me & my stack.

On on occasion, we had the usual routine, & I popped out to the garage for some ciggies & filled the car with diesel.

On another, he gave it the agonised "oh NOOOOOOOOOOOOO" again, & after less than an hour of thinking, Passed, but asked the Dealer to keep his cards aside, "wait till you see what I Passed". (It had gone Raise, Re-Raise all-in, Call all-in before it even got to him). His mega-hand? Sevens......

I'm not deriding him, really, I'm not, but I just love watching how people handle situations. As in poker, in life, I imagine. Bet he waits forever at busy roundabouts.

The winner & runner-up,were both super guys, one from Blackpool by the sound of him, & the Winner was, I think, a local, & a lovely, fair, gentlemenly, opponent. I'm glad he won, he deserved it.

[tikay]

I might have a cat with a limp for you by the time the day is out. 

Our little darling decided to play 'chicken' the other night with oncoming traffic...and lost.  He took off running after 'the hit', so we reckoned he was either ok and would be back or he was gone off to die.  As it turns out, he was just pissed off and hiding next door.  Ego sufficiently injured, as well as a few body parts.  The kids found him yesterday before they went off to school and brought him in to me.  It's the first time Rocky's allowed me to hold him since he was a kitten.  Almost like the lil fecker knew, 'I'd better play nice, nice here.'  Sigh............I caved and carted him off to the vet.  They've kept him over night and are doing x-rays as I type.  9 lives won't be enough if he ever decides to play in traffic again...grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

I hope Mr Cat recovers - keep us Posted, please.

[tikay]

It's my honesty that gets me in so much trouble, & for that reason, bugger it, I'm gonna Post this.

Thats why so many keep reading this thread (& so many others on blonde). "Keep it real" is a fine motto.  to you Tikay.

get myself a dog with a limp

btw why does the dog need a limp?

Dogs with limps?  It's an old cliche really, but dogs are supposed to end up looking like their owners, & sometimes the other way round. It's actually true, quite often, especially with old men & their old dogs, they merge. You never seen the cartoony pic of the old man & his dog, both barely able to walk, plodding up towards the top of the life's hill, with the sun setting over the hill? A cliche for life, in truth. So, a mongrel dog with a limp is needed. Just me & he, we'll be all right.

[AndrewT]

It's my honesty that gets me in so much trouble, & for that reason, bugger it, I'm gonna Post this.

Thats why so many keep reading this thread (& so many others on blonde). "Keep it real" is a fine motto.  to you Tikay.

get myself a dog with a limp

btw why does the dog need a limp?

Dogs with limps?  It's an old cliche really, but dogs are supposed to end up looking like their owners, & sometimes the other way round. It's actually true, quite often, especially with old men & their old dogs, they merge. You never seen the cartoony pic of the old man & his dog, both barely able to walk, plodding up towards the top of the life's hill, with the sun setting over the hill? A cliche for life, in truth. So, a mongrel dog with a limp is needed. Just me & he, we'll be all right.

my doggie don't wear glasses
so they're lying when they say
a dog looks like its owner
aren't they

[kinboshi]

It's my honesty that gets me in so much trouble, & for that reason, bugger it, I'm gonna Post this.

Thats why so many keep reading this thread (& so many others on blonde). "Keep it real" is a fine motto.  to you Tikay.

get myself a dog with a limp

btw why does the dog need a limp?

Dogs with limps?  It's an old cliche really, but dogs are supposed to end up looking like their owners, & sometimes the other way round. It's actually true, quite often, especially with old men & their old dogs, they merge. You never seen the cartoony pic of the old man & his dog, both barely able to walk, plodding up towards the top of the life's hill, with the sun setting over the hill? A cliche for life, in truth. So, a mongrel dog with a limp is needed. Just me & he, we'll be all right.

my doggie don't wear glasses
so they're lying when they say
a dog looks like its owner
aren't they

You don't wear glasses....

[RED-DOG]

We were so poor our dog had no legs
We used to have to wait until it got dark
And carry it there and back
Across the railroad track
To take it for a drag in the local park