Vegas & The Aftermath - Diary

[tikay]

My latest piece (penned a month back) for Bluff Europe.


http://bit.ly/1zcsB6M

Are you taking the 'What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas' mantra to extremes mate? any tales of derring do off the tables, Jeeves in Peppermint Horn or Glitter Glitch stories, any Brogue bombing going on this year?

I have a Question, you mentioned your diet had been pretty poor during your trip, could there be a correlation between your eating habits/coffee intake out there and any energy, fatigue setting in or possible mental mistakes you identified at the tables?

Now then Phil, there's a question & a half.....

I'm about to embark on a "wrap-up" Vegas Trip Report, & probably ramble on for ever & a day, but I think it may be useful in understanding it if I answer this first.

My instant reaction was "don't be ridiculous".

But then I thought about it a little deeper, as things really did not go as I expected this year. Without pre-empting my End of Term Report, I did make 2, possibly 3, really bad mistakes in Tourneys during this trip, & in each case, the very instant I made them, I knew I had messed up. In the 2 cases I know I made an error, I had a decent stack, quite a long way into the Tourney. Generally, in these spots, I'm a lock to Final, I'm OK @ late-stage play. So they hurt, a lot, & I have thought about "why?" long & hard. 

The first rule any PLO8 player of merit needs to know & understand is don't get freerolled by trying to win half the pot & end up losing the lot, which, on one occasion @ Golden Nugget, & another @ Venetian, I actually did. In both cases, I had well-above average, & healthy stacks. We ONLY play to scoop, & we should never set out to get half. 

Ant PLO8 player knows we should never do this. It had to be some sort of mental brain-fart, or sheer lack of concentration. We know they were mistakes, but the question is why would an experienced & mentally calm player do such things? It could of course just be failing mental dexterity, or even the onset of senility, but I don't think so.   

So, back to your question.

First up, I have always thought this "eat well" stuff is utter bollox.

I have worked since I was 15, so that's 53 years, & in all those years I had, I think, ONE sick day. More latterly, I am in my 8th year @ Sky Poker TV, & I've never missed a shift yet, not one. Not to deride my colleagues, all of whom are, obviously, much younger, but I am the only Member of the Team who has never missed a shift through sickness. (Or claimed sickness, I suppose it ought to be added). 30% of the Shifts I get are because I get the "stand-in" gig when others go sick. 

So yeah, I'm a bit up my own arse on this subject, I'm as healthy as anyone. Name me someone you know who has worked for over 50 years & only had one sick day? They are rare beasts indeed.

I've not consumed alcohol since I was 21, but I've smoked almost all my life, since I was 14 or 15, so over 50 years.

I've never eaten salad, or green veg, the only exceptions being potatoes & peas. It's been a lifetime of KFC, fish & chips, sticky buns, & I've probably consumed more of those wonderfully-healthy-full-of-goodness pork pies than any person alive.

So no, my Vegas Diet this year could not possibly have contributed to my concentration errors, or mental fatigue. I am indestructible.

Or could it?.......

More follows.

[tikay]

My "Vegas diet" this year?

Well I had a 1 week break from poker, during which I had a full USA style breakfast 4 days straight, & a Vegas Casino "Buffet" for evening meal on 6 of the 7 nights, excluding one night when I had Spag Bol @ Otto's in Venetian.

The other 4 weeks, whilst pokering?

One meal a day, no exceptions at all. I ate last thing before I went to bed. Nothing else whatsoever, except of course, fluid, which consisted of, on average, 4 Starby's per day, & 2 or 3 bottles of fizzy pop/lemonade.

My daily meal - & I emphasise I ate NOTHING else at all - was from the Sports Deli @ The Rio. It was....

One half pound cheeseburger. American cheese. Well done. No lettuce, tomato, onions or relish. One large box of chips or "fries". (Proper lovely they were, too). Plenty of Tomato Ketchup on both, of course.

For afters, I had two Haggen Daaz (sp?) choc ices. Sometimes I'd have 3, but usually two.

And for the record, I lumped 2 stone in whilst in Vegas, all of it, it seems, in a now gigantic pot belly.

I'm really grasping at straws to explain my possible mental fatigue or concentration lapses, so in fact, you may have a point.

I think if I did the trip again, I'd correct things, by cutting down to one choc-ice. That should do the trick.  

As it happens, I've been seriously grumpy this week, & unusually short-tempered. I started my Diet the day I got home, & day by day, my mental state seems to have calmed a bit.

So you have set me thinking.

Talking of "unusually short-tempered this week".....

More follows.

[RED-DOG]

Train derails in Montana, dumping Boeing fuselages into river.



http://www.king5.com/news/aerospace/Train-derails-with-aircraft-parts-265866171.html

The Railroad company - BNSF - is owned by none other than Berkshire Hathaway, the primary corporate vehicle of Diary fave Warren Buffett.

Tell Warren not to worry, it's all plane sailing now.

[tikay]

Groan @ "plane-sailing".

Anyway, back to my food intake & mindset thing.

I was a bit sharp, rude even, to the Virgin Atlantic Air Stewardess on the flight home, for which I later apologised. I don't like rudeness, so I was very cross with myself.

It's a long flight, 10 hours, preceded by 4 hours waiting @ McCarron. (I like to arrive early, just in case, & watch the planes coming & going).

I dozed on & off during the flight, but as I had a window seat, & a portly chap blocking egress to the aisle, I had to just sit there all the way & chunter to myself, after what was not, financially, a good trip. I watched a quite ridiculous film, too, "Wolf on Wall Street", which should have had a "Children Under 8 Only" warning. The Director of that film will never make a living in the film industry, trust me. I watched it on the outbound flight too, but having read the book whilst in Vegas, I wanted another look, so I could picture the characters in the book better. I never lrearn.

Anyway, brekkie comes round 8 hours into the flight, which I was looking forward to, Airline Brekkies are simply wonderful, not the least because they break the monotony of the flight.

I'm the back row, upstairs, (Premium Economy) so I get served last.

When she gets to me she says "would you like a vegetarian breakfast?"
 
Lol @ me eating a vegetarian brekkie.

"Err, no thanks, regular jobbie please".

"Actually, I'm sorry Sir, we don't have any regular Breakfasts left, just vegetarian, will that be OK?"

"You don't have any regular brekkies left?"

"No"

"Why is that, did you not know how many passengers there were, or did someone get on halfway across?"

"It's not like that Sir, we average the numbers, & sometimes get it a bit wrong".

"Well I'm not happy, you can tell Mr Wooly Bloody Jumper that, too".

"Try it Sir, it is really not much different"

"No".

"The only difference Sir is that it does not include bacon".



I did not dare tell her I never eat bacon.

[RED-DOG]

I have to have an aisle seat at all costs. I simply can't stand the feeling of being blocked in by someone.

It is not just planes either. Trains, cinemas, theatres, booths in cafés or whatever, I will beg, plead and cajole. I just have to negotiate myself a aisle seat.

[redsimon]

Our brekkie in Economy on Virgin Atlantic was a blueberry muffin a plain yog and some sawdust (they claimed it was granola) to put in it with coffee or tea if you wanted.

Vegas does add weight. I didn't eat stupidly but put 4 Kg on during my trip, too many fry ups and slipped back into having sugar in my tea during the trip I guess (Plus sitting down for hours at a time).

[tikay]

I have to have an aisle seat at all costs. I simply can't stand the feeling of being blocked in by someone.

It is not just planes either. Trains, cinemas, theatres, booths in cafés or whatever, I will beg, plead and cajole. I just have to negotiate myself a aisle seat.

You'd want a backward facing seat if you were at the front of the 'plane, too. Am I right?

[tikay]

Our brekkie in Economy on Virgin Atlantic was a blueberry muffin a plain yog and some sawdust (they claimed it was granola) to put in it with coffee or tea if you wanted.

Vegas does add weight. I didn't eat stupidly but put 4 Kg on during my trip, too many fry ups and slipped back into having sugar in my tea during the trip I guess (Plus sitting down for hours at a time).

Yes, I should have mentioned, I went back to sugar in my Starby's (6 sachets) after a year of using sweeteners.

I must say, you looked remarkably well in Vegas. You've come a long way since those dark days, eh?

Is everything OK in the health department now?

[redsimon]

Yeah, everythings going well. I was just looking at my weight.

Amazingly I was down to 70 kg when on dialysis, now on 85 kg aiming for 80 kg just by cutting back on sugar (back to sweetner in tea) cutting down on bread and walking more. Not a "diet" as such but I cant imagine how I ever was 70 kg, shows the good effect of transplants.

[bookiebasher]

Groan @ "plane-sailing".

Anyway, back to my food intake & mindset thing.

I was a bit sharp, rude even, to the Virgin Atlantic Air Stewardess on the flight home, for which I later apologised. I don't like rudeness, so I was very cross with myself.

It's a long flight, 10 hours, preceded by 4 hours waiting @ McCarron. (I like to arrive early, just in case, & watch the planes coming & going).

I dozed on & off during the flight, but as I had a window seat, & a portly chap blocking egress to the aisle, I had to just sit there all the way & chunter to myself, after what was not, financially, a good trip. I watched a quite ridiculous film, too, "Wolf on Wall Street", which should have had a "Children Under 8 Only" warning. The Director of that film will never make a living in the film industry, trust me. I watched it on the outbound flight too, but having read the book whilst in Vegas, I wanted another look, so I could picture the characters in the book better. I never lrearn.

Anyway, brekkie comes round 8 hours into the flight, which I was looking forward to, Airline Brekkies are simply wonderful, not the least because they break the monotony of the flight.

I'm the back row, upstairs, (Premium Economy) so I get served last.

When she gets to me she says "would you like a vegetarian breakfast?"
 
Lol @ me eating a vegetarian brekkie.

"Err, no thanks, regular jobbie please".

"Actually, I'm sorry Sir, we don't have any regular Breakfasts left, just vegetarian, will that be OK?"

"You don't have any regular brekkies left?"

"No"

"Why is that, did you not know how many passengers there were, or did someone get on halfway across?"

"It's not like that Sir, we average the numbers, & sometimes get it a bit wrong".

"Well I'm not happy, you can tell Mr Wooly Bloody Jumper that, too".

"Try it Sir, it is really not much different"

"No".

"The only difference Sir is that it does not include bacon".



I did not dare tell her I never eat bacon.

Grumpy , but still funny 

[RED-DOG]

I have to have an aisle seat at all costs. I simply can't stand the feeling of being blocked in by someone.

It is not just planes either. Trains, cinemas, theatres, booths in cafés or whatever, I will beg, plead and cajole. I just have to negotiate myself a aisle seat.

You'd want a backward facing seat if you were at the front of the 'plane, too. Am I right?

I have a wonderful little story involving bladder infection that I tell to the lady on the check in desk. I have to include some embarrassing details but it usually lands me an aisle seat near the toilet bulkhead, which incidentally also has more than average legroom.

[Karabiner]

It seems that you don't know if a healthy balanced diet at regular intervals during the day would make you feel better as you've never actually tried one.

When in Vegas I always go for the two meals a day routine, starting with a late breakfast (I love American breakfast) around 11am and then a decent meal in the evening such as Noodles Asia if I'm near The V, or a prime rib special at The Nugget.

Surely that's as simple as sticky buns, burgers and chips.

[tikay]

Brief interruptage.

I had occasion to visit a posh golf club yesterday, (for social reasons, not golf) & happened to mention it via PM to a reader of this Diary. 

He then proceeded to tell me two quite remarkable stories.

It would be quite improper of me to repeat them, or name the individual, but if he ever fancies telling both stories on here, I know many would thoroughly enjoy them. Especially the 2nd one.

[RED-DOG]

It seems that you don't know if a healthy balanced diet at regular intervals during the day would make you feel better as you've never actually tried one.

When in Vegas I always go for the two meals a day routine, starting with a late breakfast (I love American breakfast) around 11am and then a decent meal in the evening such as Noodles Asia if I'm near The V, or a prime rib special at The Nugget.

Surely that's as simple as sticky buns, burgers and chips.

Oh those prime ribs @ the Nugget...

[tikay]

It seems that you don't know if a healthy balanced diet at regular intervals during the day would make you feel better as you've never actually tried one.

When in Vegas I always go for the two meals a day routine, starting with a late breakfast (I love American breakfast) around 11am and then a decent meal in the evening such as Noodles Asia if I'm near The V, or a prime rib special at The Nugget.

Surely that's as simple as sticky buns, burgers and chips.

Well when you say "healthy balanced diet", all things considered, I'm remarkably healthy, & as I posted earlier, I've never suffered from ill-health, & I doubt anyone can say they only had one day off work through sickness in 53 years.

But I do take the point.

The thing is, I almost NEVER do sit-down meals. I prefer to eat "on the move", or whilst doing something else. I just never really took to social dining, or sitting down to a meal.

Sticky buns, pork pies, crisps & choc ices can be eaten on the go, so to speak.

I suppose, in time, some concessions to old age may need to be made, it certainly seems to have served you well.