Vegas & The Aftermath - Diary

[tikay]

The bare ace one seemed fine.  Your opponent's call seemed ambitious vs an old fella to me.  I flap a bit making the call with a king flush.

Surprised how many of the other hands I'd have played differently though.   Do you always open pot?  I noticed that you said a min raise seemed odd which is something I frequently do.  There are way more differences in playing styles in plo8, so I wouldn't worry unduly.

Anyway in Vegas now, so will likely see you tomorrow.  I have a new trick for getting an upgrade.  You arrive at the hotel to be told no rooms are available.  You then return an hour and 20 later to be told that there are still no rooms.  I must have given her a look that made her think it was wise to upgrade me right then.  I am worried about my poker face though.

Exactly what are you inferring by " v an old fella"?

[tikay]

Just caught up on the last few weeks Tony, keep the faith mate and enjoy it.

Thanks Phil.

Gill and I really enjoyed our train journey. Train journeys are great.

You been on any train journeys lately?

[tikay]

Mr Force seems to have joined proceedings too.

Tim "Hi diddly hi" Flanders is on an adjacent table, too.

Is Mrs okily dokily also in town?

Yes, as it happens I saw her today.

She seemed a little better than when I last saw her, on that occasion she was walking with a stick and could barely walk.

Today, Tim was holding her hand but she never had a stick and she looked, if anything, a shade better.

I do hope she recovers, she is a genuinely kind and caring person.

[tikay]

Another blast from the past spotted today was Steve Jelenik. He told me it was his first visit to Vegas in 5 years.

[Doobs]

The bare ace one seemed fine.  Your opponent's call seemed ambitious vs an old fella to me.  I flap a bit making the call with a king flush.

Surprised how many of the other hands I'd have played differently though.   Do you always open pot?  I noticed that you said a min raise seemed odd which is something I frequently do.  There are way more differences in playing styles in plo8, so I wouldn't worry unduly.

Anyway in Vegas now, so will likely see you tomorrow.  I have a new trick for getting an upgrade.  You arrive at the hotel to be told no rooms are available.  You then return an hour and 20 later to be told that there are still no rooms.  I must have given her a look that made her think it was wise to upgrade me right then.  I am worried about my poker face though.

Welcome to Vegas, David, hope the flight was ok. How are you sleeping now?

I just paid in for tomorrow. Got seat ........2. Marv.

No, I vary my opening size, depending on table, stacks, blinds, position, da de da.

When I referred to the guy who made an "odd" min-raise it was because he was UTG. Inevitably, a chain reaction set in and he ended up with a bunch of callers and a bloated pot out of position. It may have been intentional, of course, but I doubt it.

Not sure I put it on the boards, but it might be interesting to a few snorers.

I got diagnosed with severe sleep apnoea a week and a half ago.  I have been struggling with staying awake during the day for some time.  It had started to get a bit ridiculous.  I tried sleeping for up to 10 hours, tried healthy diets, tried getting rid of caffeine.  None of which seemed to make any difference.  I couldn't sit through match of the day or a film without crashing out.  No idea how many times I got woken up by the beep beep on pokerstars.  A fair few times it didn't wake me, so suspect it was costing me a fortune. The final straw was falling asleep at my work desk 2 hours after getting up from a "good nights" sleep.  It was pretty much happening daily and often twice a day.  

When it wasn't so bad 2 years ago, I first went to the doctors, but don't think I pushed it hard enough.  I pretty much underplay things at the doctors, and work away a lot, meaning I didn't get any follow up.  

This time I made sure I explained really how bad it was.  Anyway they gave me a pulse oximeter, which measures the oxygen in the blood.  They called me in pretty quick after that.  Apparently I was getting 65 apnoeas an hour.  Or my oxygen level was dropping 65 times in an hour, which effectively was waking me up each time and I was never getting deep sleep.  As I was so tired, I wasn't aware this was happening. I am not a doctor, so apologies if this explation isn't accurate.  Apparently 30 is the border for severe, so I'd left it pretty late.

So a week or so later I was in papworth and now have my own cpap machine.  What it does is force air into your lungs to stop your airway collapsing (which stops you breathing).  First night I was asleep for 4 hours.  I could have bounded out of bed right then, apart from it wasn't even 4am.  

The mask is pretty horrid to wear, and doubly so in this hot weather we have had.  But 3 or 4 hours of crappy sleep with the mask falling off, blowing in my face etc is so much better than the sleep I was getting before.  No idea how long it has beem going on, but it is years since I have had the energy I have now.

I am still struggling with the mask, but a lot of people do.  I think it is a question of getting used to a new way of sleeping.  

If anyone reading thinks this applies to them, get it checked out.  Apparently only about 20% of the people with sleep disorders are diagnosed, and I suspect overweight poker players are a good fit for the other 80%.  Any questions, just ask here or pm me.

It is nearly 5 uk time right now.  Zero chance I could have stayed up this late 2 weeks ago.  And hopefully my poker game should be much improved now I cam concentrate again.  So yes, way better, but dreading the cpap/air conditoning combo.  Hopefully it won't be too shit.  Anyway Ascot is on the box early in the morning so gn and see you at 11ish.

Sorry for the wall of text, feel free to tldr.

[tikay]

Great to hear David, and I'm glad you shared it for others.

As I said when we discussed it privately, being tired all the time is so debilitating in every way.

You will be a new man now. Enjoy.

[tikay]

O J Simpson will be applying for parole next month, if successful he could be a free man by October.

His Defence lawyer claims O J will live a "quiet life" if released.

Good luck with that. It'll be the biggest media circus of all time.

To my mind, the O J story still ranks as one of the most spectacular news stories during my life.

Be quite interesting ( but maybe only to me) to know what the top 5 or 10 news stories are in people's lifetime.

[tikay]

Excuse my nocturnal waffling (though it is only late evening here), but I am sat at a very slow cash table in The Rio. Which is fine, but I am sharing it with a woman who has the grace, elegance and social skills of an ill-tempered honeybadger.

She is an alpha female of the worst kind, a thoroughly despicable human being with no discernible saving graces.

I am having nightmares imagining getting stuck in a lift with her, or having her sat next to me on a long-haul flight.

[tikay]

1). Watergate. Clear winner.

2). The Falklands War.

3). Robert Maxwell.

4). O J Simpson

5). The Troubles in Ireland. Really, a collection of awful stories, this one.

6) John Stonehouse and Donald Crowhurst. (Dead heat, this one).

7). Idi Amin

8). JFK and the Warren Commission.

9). 9/11

10) The Miner's strike.


Have deliberately omitted Jimmy Saville, Stuart Hall, Rolf Harris, Max Clifford etc, as all of them were too distasteful to think too much about.

How about your Top 10, then?

[MANTIS01]

Diana's death was the biggest news story for me. Times like the Grenfil Tower we still really miss her imo

[RED-DOG]

9/11
The tsunami
OJ
Brexit
Apollo 13
Falklands
Great train robbery
Yorkshire ripper
Diana
Concord
Berlin Wall
Foot & mouth
Ethiopia famine
Torrey Canyon
Vietnam War
Iranian Embsay
JFK assassination
Clay v Frazier
Concordia
Aids

I could go on. So much to be interested in.

[tikay]

Ooh, some good ones there I had forgotten.

Great Train Robbery has to be in.

Torrey Canyon

Iranian Embassy.

[tikay]

Most significant and far- reaching invention of our lifetime - has to be the Internet, surely?

[RED-DOG]

Smartphone. AINEC.

[tikay]

Smartphone. AINEC.

Well yes, that changed everything, too, but without the internet there would be no smartphones.