Vegas & The Aftermath - Diary

[tikay]

Live Poker is, to many, certainly myself, what it's all about. And today in Cardiff's monthly £250 Freeze we once again saw why. Value, a decent structure, tremendous company, great craic, lovely buffet, plenty of boom-bang-a-bang hands, plus lots of ooh's & aah's.

32 sat down sharp at 4pm, including Iwan Jones, Martyn Cavanagh, Barbara Gibson (a previous winner of this Event), Red-Dog (ditto), Roberto Romanello, Rana Gurnham, (he's a real live-wire), Ouday Hikory, & Viv Williams. Many of the Grosvenor Venues ascribe nicknames to players on the computer system, which show up on the plasma. See how many of these you can put a real name to......

Sgt Bilko

sniper

Grand Master

swiss toni

The Weakest Link

The old guy off the telly.

I can't regale you with any tales of my derring-do, as there were none. I was down to 5k early, (2 or 3 bad calls, 2 suckouts), diddled my way back to 12k, then found myself the subject of a quite spectacular call, after I'd re-popped with  , delighted (or so I thought) to see my oppo had decided to take me on with the dominated 

The flop is all you need to see,

 

....and he went on to rub it in by hitting both draws! Ah well, there it is.

Tom (Red) was in a rip-snorter too - a behind-ahead-behind-ahead jobbie. Try & imagine what emotions both players experinced in this little beauty.

Tom is holding  , Matey Boy 

OK, Tom's behind. but he's live, & this was the eye-opening flop, which Tom kinda liked.

 

Tom bets small, to induce action. He gets it, big time, as AK man shoves, & Tom can barely contain himself & calls rapido.

Turn.....

 

Ouch! Tom needs to improve now.

River.....

 

You think that's an eye-opener? You've not heard the best of it yet. Guess who Raised pre-flop? With J-8.......Your reputation as a Rock is in tatters, Mr Red.

Then, heaven knows how, but with Blinds at 200-400, 40,000 chips somehow found their post-flop way into the middle with Ten high v K high, both of them chasing the same flush. Both missed, & K high took a whopper.

Here's another which elicited lots of oohs & aahs. The hand holdings were.....

 

 

 

The flop is what, I believe, can be called an Action Flop.

 

So, top set, middle pair + up & down, & Aces.

The river was a blank, but of all the spectcular Rivers one can imagine, what popped out but the......

 

There were some fairly brisk Post-Mortems on that one, I promise.

My starting table was lovely, but I've had better seats than 1, with Roberto & Iwan in 2 & 3 respectively. They both took chips off me early, Iwan doing my AK with A-T after I'd let him in cheap. There's me thinking I was trapping him....

I left them to it once the Final had been reached, I really am very tired, but I'd like to thank everyone at Cardiff Grosvenor - Staff, Dealers, Sean, & players - for a really wonderful day.

I stay over tonight in the rather comyy Future Inn, & Poker Week get to work in the morning, with Johnny Gould coming west after he's finished the Baseball game. It's raining. Naturally.

 

[HOLDorFOLD]

According to RAC routeplanner with medium traffic, it will take you around 1 1/4 hour more. But obviosuly you will want to give more time than this not just for traffic but also because you will wanna go slower through the beacons i guess to appreciate it.
There is obviously hundreds of square miles more to the national park than you will see from the road but im sure it will be a lot more nicer than going to through newport, well i hope so now i have suggested it.!
Plus monmouth to brecon is in itself a lovely drive aswell as its a very historical part of wales/england.

What are "The Brecon Beacons", hills, forest, or what?

Big bastard hills that knacker you out - did military training there once, never again.

Edit that - just remembered I did the Pen y fan twice, the first time I had to descend the steep side (there is teeny path but we wasn't allowed to use that,  I got massive disco leg at that stage)

The second time I did it for pleasure, couldn't understand why i was knackered this time round then found out 3 weeks later I was pregnant at the time.

Actually, now I'm sitting here thinking about it the Brecons are beautiful, relaxing, and challenging.

Gareth, you may know this place, the name escapes me now, but we had to abseil at the beginning of this lovely nature walk place where at the end is a waterfall that you can walk behind - that's worth going to.

[kinboshi]

Thats a lovely drive actually. Once off the M5, the M50 runs down past Ledbury, one of the UK's most scenic areas, but then it gets better. The road down to Monmouth is just dramatic, rolling hillside, heavily wooded, & the dualled road swoops downhill. This is the Wye Valley, where the beautifuly named Symonds Yat can be found, as well as plenty of deer, & if you are lucky, police in vans with speed cameras can be spotted.

FYP

Was going to post exactly the same thing myself.  Got points on my license on the A449.  Watch out for the dark red van parked in the bushes.  Not something Tikay has to worry about, seeing as his license has been revoked...

[tikay]

If you enjoy irony, even in bad situations, the Foot & Mouth outbreak in Surrey is a stunner.

The BBC say.....

111,000 farms across UK affected by movement ban. That includes 10m cattle, 23m sheep and 5m pigs

Experts are "99.9% sure" the cause was a failure in procedures in Pirbright, where the Institute for Animal Research, & commercial pharmaceutical outfit Merial Animal Health, share premises.

So now the Government is placing a huge order for the very vaccine that caused the problem. And guess who are they ordering it from?.........

[tikay]

Back to Poker. Just briefly, mind.

I've enjoyed a golden run of luck during the last few months, & at some point, I have to pay the Variance Bill.

Maybe the moment has arrrived.

I played the DTD "Hunt the Pros" affair tonight, & many thanks to the DTD boys for putting me in. The £100 Bounty was on me, too. Some field, too, with 43 runners, & Jon Kalmar ended up 2nd, Dave Colclough 5th, Michael Greco 6th, MPower 8th, & Kev O'Connell 9th. Julian Gardner, Steve Jelenik, Howard Plant, Smithers, Richard Ashby, Simon Trumper, Fran, Chubbs, Rob Yong, & Lucy Rokach were among the also rans. I finished a miserable 31st I believe, & won exactly one hand, having been comprehensive outplayed by "DE1" for most of the game, it being too late by the time I clocked his game strategy. The hand I won, I was dealt KK on Rob Yong's BB, & hoped to trap him, so limped. Instead, I caught Fran, the flop coming K high, & she had the case K. Rob, meanwhile, had escaped. Damn him.

But the exit hand was comical, I was in shove teritory now, & I moved with the impressive  , being looked up by 

I sort of liked the  flop.

And LOVED the  turn, housing up with a card to spare.

I thought the Pot had been pushed to the wrong guy after the River though, & had to look twice. The River was the 

It's weird, but there are some sites I just can't win on, & that seems to include Crypto. Some might say, that includes all sites.

Tonight, in the $30k, I managed another weird one, though I went in a mile behind this time, my 8-8 lining up against A-A.

I was a bit embarrassed by the Q-Q-8 flop. Until another Q turned! Ah well, justice was done there.

And I am still trying to work out the call made to bust me yesterday in Cardiff, after I re-popped with A-Q & got insta-called by Q-T. I deem this a bad call (he did not have the odds to call), & that's fine by me, I was able to retire from work thanks to folks making bad calls, this is how we make a living. But you have to wonder what the guys logic was. Go figure.

So that means 2 things. My "golden" run of form is maybe on the turn, & it'll be months of payback now, fair enough.

And I better put £1.50 in the jar.

"Work" means I can'ty play much of Luton, but I've decided to play the GUKPT, & I play Friday. (Thanks for sorting my entry Thewy). I'll get the 50p ready now.

[tikay]

I'm not knocking my dear friend sofa-king, & I wish him well in Cyprus. But for me, anyone who leaves the UK must be missing something.

I promised myself I'd "smell the flowers" a little more often, & for once, today, I kept my promise.

After finishing filming in Cardiff, I headed North, bound for Brecon.

Crossing the M4, I picked up the A470 to Merthyr Tydfil, & what a road that is, Dualled all the way to Merthyr, & only about 2 or 3 roundabouts, rising all the time, I can only imagine it was EEC funded, the dear old DoT would never be so far-sighted as to fund that.

After Merthyr, it reverted to single lane, still rising, more steeply now, but this must be one of Britain's miost beautiful stretches of road. To the left, reservoirs abound, & in the bright sun, they sparkled. I suppose it's snow-melt & mountain run-off that fills them. To the right, the imposing Brecon Beacons, reminding me a bit of the Pass of Glencoe. It's the scale that's hard to judge. There were little white dots right up the mountain side, like plastic carrier bags, but these were called, a local told me, sheep. How do Hill-Farmers find all their sheep? They were grazing everywhere, including on the road. Huge areas of the Beacons were tree-less, I think there's something called a "tree-line", above which trees don't grow. Is this due to poor soil, or the lower temperatures up there? Slightly lower down, there were commercial forestries, all coniferous, (they grow quickest) with their neat fire-breaks looking so incongrous in Nature. It must need the patience of a Saint to be a tree-farmer. The income takes 50 or a 100 years to arrive! Bur profitable mind. Plant (with free seedlings), leave Nature to do it's thing, come back 100 years later, cut down & sell. Tax-breaks, too, what's that about?

At Brecon, I picked up the A40 towards Abergevanny, & now it's a dramatic downhill curvy-wurvy downhill swoop for miles, on a deserted A-road, reminiscent of the A6 in Derbyshire between Whatstandwell & Matlock Bath. Big dense trees both sides of the road, with a canopy above that meets in the middle, perfectly symmetrical where the lorries "brush it" daily. You see that symmetry in grazing pasture too, on the underside of trees, I think it's called "stock height", where the cattle reach up & chew.

Abergevanny was beautiful, & soon I was back in Monmouth, heading for the M50, M42, & M1. Well worth the diversion though, & another of my tick-boxes is filled in.

I'm so glad I did it.

[tikay]

On the way down to Cardiff, I found a tinsy little hamlet just before Monmouth, & parked up. The Main Road was but 100 yards away, but here was tranquility & perfect peace.

"Dixton" it was called, a School, (Agincourt Pre-Preparatory for 3 to 7 year olds) & a beautiful, quaunt, olde-world Church, with cemetery, & a Public Footpath to the River Wye was Dixton's sum total.

The cemetery grass was neatly trimmed, but not flat, it was all bumps & humps. They had a weeping willow, a yew, & an oak tree. The Headstones wwere at all sorts of weird angles, very few were upright. I found the grave of Trevor Arnott, former Captain of Glamorgan Cricket Club, & the tombstones of his entire family were all adjacent. They all had the same inscription - "requetes in pace" (or similar, I forget), I assume that's Latin or Welsh for Rest in Peace.

Walked on 30 yards, & I came to the Wye, deep & wide & fast-flowing, but crystal clear. How come rivers are so beautiful? And who needs poker for kicks?

PS - A little too much detail.....

In the Churchyard was a home-made, laminated, sign.

"PLEASE do not allow your dogs to foul the cemetery. Last week a piece flew up & hit our gardener in the face. And it's disrespectful to those buried below".

God Bless Britain.

[tikay]

We did some filming at Cardiff's Millenium Stadium on this morning. (Monday). Empty footie Stadiums have a certain atmo, & we'd filmed at The Reebok a few months back, but this was a cut above.

Built in 1997 by John Laing, (it opened in 1999) I suppose I am the only person who never knew that it shares the site with Cardiff Arms Park, which is quite seperate, & in fact slightly restricts the size of the Millenium Stadium from what I could make out.

Viewing from the 74,000 seats is superb, there is not a single column to interrupt the view, the whole edifice being supported by 4 gigantic external masts.

Surprisingly, parts of the interior look dated already, but at £126 million (& not £30 million as I stupidly said to the cameras whilst blathering away today), it puts Wembley Stadium to shame for cost-value.

It's owned by the Welsh Rugby Union, & what a great piece of forward thinking by them.

The sliding roof takes 20 minutes to open or close, & they proudly boast that it only uses £3 worth of electricity to open or shut. What they forget to mention is that the permanent roof has a huge overhang, which severely restricts sunlight onto the pitch. So to ensure the grass grows, they have a sort of gantry of U-V (or whatever) lights, which cover 50% of the pitch at a time, creating, in effect, artificial sunlighght. How much in 'leccy must that cost? The sun was shiinng away today, but all the U-V lights were on, busy cooking the grass.

The pitch is quite extraordinary, they remove & then replace it completely about 6 times a year? How so? They simply roll the grass up, like a roll of carpet, first. Underneath that, the soil is in little, individual, "pallets", 7,100 of them. These are carted away in lorries - 200 lorry-loads - & underneath is a nice, flat, concrete base, & hey presto, they can hold pop concerts & gawd knows what else. Clever, or what? Then they simply put it all back. The grass is actually grown down the road!

Maddeningly, they are proud that the Stadium is bang-slap in the centre of the City. Unlike the residents, shopkeepers, & folks who have to battle to drive & park there. The idea of City-Centre Stadia is as daft as it gets, though Wembley takes the biscuit, there can be no worse place to access. But then that's due to the blithering old fools at the English FA, & nothing is beyond their incompetence.

So all in all, quite an eye-opener, but the best bit was yet to come.....

[KarmaDope]

I've never been to the Millennium, but I did go down to Cardiff for the GUKPT in March, and was surprised at how close the Stadium was to the bus and train stations, I was expecting it to be a lot further away, not to be able to see it the second I step out of Cardiff Central! It's also ridiculously easy to get to (unless you're in a car, I believe) and it's just a shame that Wembley is such a pain to access.

[tikay]

We were just about done Filming, (a nightmare, don't ask) when an extraordinary thing happened.

A man came pitchside with a falcon on his arm!

The man walked right round the pitch, & the Falcon swooped around, perching now & then behind the man, like a dog following his master.

This I had to investigate, so I went up to the man, & on his shirt was the logo "Falconry Services Ltd, Pest Control".

And the Falcon's job was to scare away pigeons & other birds who might otherwise crap all over the seats, for the roof is a network of likely roosting places. Bird crap on seats might not seem a big deal, but cleaning 74,000 seats must cost an arm & a leg, & apparently the Falcon does his job well, there was not a bird to be seen. Falcons must have some bad image, they are the Al Qaeda or bird-life. Or the George Bush maybe.

The Falcon is 14 years old, & quite majestic, with his hooked bill & piercing eyes. I asked the man what the wingspan was, & as if on command, the Falcon immediately opened his wings to their full extent - 2'-6" roughly. Wow! I think the man just moved his arm, & the Falcon opens his wings for balance.

Rhowena, rather bravely I thought, asked Mr Falcon man if she could stroke the Falcon, & I'm thinking "what, are you mad?"

Falcon-man said, "well, not until I've fed him, he's a bit dangerous when he's hungry....".

And with that, he pulled out a little yellow ball of fluff - it was a one day old (& freshly killed) chicken "chick", & in an instant, the Falcon was ripping it to shreds, holding it with his talons & ripping it with his beak. Three mouthfuls was all it took, & the chick had disappeared, feathers, bones, feet & all. The Falcon must have some clever digestive system.

I know it sounds daft but I'll treasure the memory of seeing that Falcon up close - arms length was as near as I dared get - until the day I die.

Magnifique. I've had a lovely day.

[tikay]

Back to poker. Micky Wernick rung today,. He wants to borrow my copy of Allen Carr's "The Easy Way to Stop Smoking". He's obviously serious about quitting the ciggies, & I hope he succeeds. Unlike me, for I'm back on the dreaded weed full-time now, & I hate myself for failing.

Willie Tann rung, too. Marty Wilson had rung him, there is a seat to spare for the Ladies Poker thing that Party Poker are "sponsoring". ("Sponsoring" being loosely speaking), & Willie suggested a young lady of mutual acquaintance for the seat. I said "if it's free, yes, if they are trying to sell it, no!" I think they've had a job to get the seats taken up, & I'm not surprised at $3,000 a pop for a seriously quick structure, & no money unless you Final. (6 heats of 6 players). Only "sponsors" have taken them I imagine (apologies if I am wrong), & they in turn have, I assume, had to give them away, but they get good TV exposure in return.

Maria is playing her Heat on Thursday, thanks to Matt Dale, Bless him, & I'm gonna go & rail her. If they let me in, that is. I'm not sure what day Jen is playing, but I wish them both luck, they'd both find $50k handy enough. Kara Scott is playing, too, & Bev Pace.

Maria & Jen are joint 5th favourites in the 36 runner field, at 16/1, Bev is 25/1, (tempting, but a bad betting medium), but if I had to have a wager, Kara Scott at 100/1 looks the value. She's much better than that. The surprising top three in the betting are Liz Lieu, Pippa Flanders, & Katherine Harteee, & Katherine would be my pick of those 3.

[Rod Paradise]

Tiikay, the falcon was probably a Harris hawk, from America.

They're unique among raptors as they will hunt in 'packs' and so you can fly more than one together without fights, and they will follow the falconer who they've imprinted as one of the familly, during a hunt, so hunting with them is a lot easier than with other hawks and falcons.

[KingPoker]

If you enjoy irony, even in bad situations, the Foot & Mouth outbreak in Surrey is a stunner.

The BBC say.....

111,000 farms across UK affected by movement ban. That includes 10m cattle, 23m sheep and 5m pigs

Thank god we dont have any 23 metre sheep on our farm!!

[NoflopsHomer]

Back to poker. Micky Wernick rung today,. He wants to borrow my copy of Allen Carr's "The Easy Way to Stop Smoking". He's obviously serious about quitting the ciggies, & I hope he succeeds. Unlike me, for I'm back on the dreaded weed full-time now, & I hate myself for failing.

Willie Tann rung, too. Marty Wilson had rung him, there is a seat to spare for the Ladies Poker thing that Party Poker are "sponsoring". ("Sponsoring" being loosely speaking), & Willie suggested a young lady of mutual acquaintance for the seat. I said "if it's free, yes, if they are trying to sell it, no!" I think they've had a job to get the seats taken up, & I'm not surprised at $3,000 a pop for a seriously quick structure, & no money unless you Final. (6 heats of 6 players). Only "sponsors" have taken them I imagine (apologies if I am wrong), & they in turn have, I assume, had to give them away, but they get good TV exposure in return.

Maria is playing her Heat on Thursday, thanks to Matt Dale, Bless him, & I'm gonna go & rail her. If they let me in, that is. I'm not sure what day Jen is playing, but I wish them both luck, they'd both find $50k handy enough. Kara Scott is playing, too, & Bev Pace.

Maria & Jen are joint 5th favourites in the 36 runner field, at 16/1, Bev is 25/1, (tempting, but a bad betting medium), but if I had to have a wager, Kara Scott at 100/1 looks the value. She's much better than that. The surprising top three in the betting are Liz Lieu, Pippa Flanders, & Katherine Harteee, & Katherine would be my pick of those 3.

I don't understand how Liz Lieu is the favourite. 100k with 1k/2k blinds and 21 hand levels won't exactly help anyone either.

[tikay]

Tiikay, the falcon was probably a Harris hawk, from America.

They're unique among raptors as they will hunt in 'packs' and so you can fly more than one together without fights, and they will follow the falconer who they've imprinted as one of the familly, during a hunt, so hunting with them is a lot easier than with other hawks and falcons.

Rhow took several photo's of the falcon, & promised to send them to me. When she dioes, I'll put therm up here.

He (the Falcon) was just awesome.