Vegas & The Aftermath - Diary

[tikay]

Life moves on & you lose touch with people, but I'm at that age where I'm trying to re-connect with a few people & say some stuff before it's too late.

I sort of lost touch with Phil Quayle (Bobby1) the last few years, & then I lost his number. Luckily, a close mutual friend sorted his number for me & I Whatsapp'ed him last night. I should add that WhatsApp is SO so good, & I use it all the time to keep in touch with others, & I'm not sure what I'd do without it.

Anyway, we had the most wonderful chat & everything's cool. I won't bore you with the whole nine yards, but Phil - quite literally - changed my life by giving me a job with Wm Hill around 19 years ago. I've worked non-stop since that day, all down to Phil. You might say what's so great about work, but I love working, & when Sky eventually put me out to grass I've no idea what I'll do with myself. And let's not forget, "work"  has resulted in a trip to Vegas with Wm Hill, plus all the land-based quallies for Late Night Poker, then we had that weekly Poker Magazine TV Show where we went all over Europe every weekend. After Wm Hill shuttered their TV Channel, early 2006 I think, I moved seamlessly to Poker Night Live, & then in October 2006 to Sky. Sky have now sent me - all exs paid - to Vegas 14 times, to Punta Cana twice, pus a few other adventures. All that's down to the start Phil gave me. How good do I run? 

Phil is still in contact with John McGrane, & the pair of them go fishing apparently. Hard to imagine John McGrane fishing, bet he shouts at the fish if they don't bite. When John was in Vegas with us in 2005, & busy running 18th in the WSOIP Main, his son Liam was with him. Well Liam is a proper grown up now & is at Uni (or College as I think they call it  in America) in New Jersey.  John lives in Durham now.

Phil's son Conor is a grown up now too, think he's 16 or 17.

Anyway, it made me feel good to have got back in touch with him.

More follows...

[tikay]

I managed to watch every moment of The Open last week. Not sure I've ever managed that before, stuff usually got in the way. In fact I've watched all the Golf Majors from start to finish this year.

I still like a bet & usually back 6 or 8 players in every Major. Starting with Matt Fitzpatrick last year I've made really good money - until last week when Mr Harman blotted my copybook big time. Don't even ask.

In football, I do the Spreads these days, & that went OK last season. I started with a £100 bank, had to replenish it twice, then once I'd sussed the lie of the land, run it up to £850. It's only small money, but it just gives me that gambling buzz I need. I do Multi Corners,(1st half multiplied by 2nd half)  & you have to watch the game "finger-poised" ready to close the bet if things are going badly. The line is usually about 25, & I sell for £4 a corner, so it's enough to keep me on my toes. I never buy, it's either sell or no bet. As a general rule, if the line moves to around 15, I close out & bank the profit. Proper hit & run merchant, me.   

Lord Flounce of the Fens looks after me too, & he gave me an absolute belter of a bet last year, the biggest bet & biggest win I've ever had lifetime, God bless him. I don't really know why he looks after me so well but he does & I'm very grateful.

Tom looks after me too, though in different ways. It's a rare day when we don't chat on WhatsApp. I don't really like taking/making voice calls, but I'm fine with the written word.


More follows....

[tikay]

We don't discuss the ages of young ladies, but Miss Mason had a birthday a few weeks ago & I was thrilled to be invited to have a spot of dinner. I really don't do "social dining" & all that mandatory small talk, but this was very different & I had a wonderful evening. I do see her every year at SPT's, but we never get chance to have a proper chat as there's always stuff to tend to, players to schmooze, updates to do.

Jen has not changed one bit, still as mad as a mad thing. She's aged wonderfully though. There were 3 of us, Jen, Tal & me. I felt intellectually inadequate with those two, as I'm sure you can imagine, but three hours absolutely flew past, they were THE most wonderful company & looked after me a treat.

I'd best not tell you Jen's age, but technically she's middle-aged. WTF?

Click to see full-size image.

[tikay]

Well I've waffled long enough for now. Apologies for all that durge, but blame little Vinny, he kept asking.

[Mohican]

Looking forward to hearing your tourney reports from Vegas however a little disappointed that there is no staking thread. Enjoy your trip and hopefully the Poker Gods smile on you.

[redsimon]

enjoy vegas tony, especially the Orleans card room

[doubleup]

enjoy yourself tikay

[tikay]

Thanks Carl, Simon & Sir doubleup.

Well after chirping how perfect life is now & how I'm full-on chilled every day I got my payback yesterday big time. I had some computer problems, & that unsettled me especially as I'm about to head overseas for a few weeks. So I tried to solve them. Truly, every time I had two options I chose the wrong one & I just kept digging. Decided to pop to Leeds HQ to get them sorted. 80 minutes by train, or just over an hour by car? No brainer, car. The 1 hour drive north took 3 hours, the return journey 10 minutes less. I parked my car in a big Multi & when I got back it had been stolen. WTF? I went to the Security Man & he scanned the cameras for me & managed to locate it. Some bugger had moved it up 2 floors, & incredibly, moved the car next to it as well, as the same car was still parked adjacent to mine.

The laptop boffins decided I needed a new one so that took a while. The new one is sleek & shiny but I've now lost all my saved Passwords. And it's got a fancy new "touch-pad" which I'm struggling to use.

I had booked a cheapo IBIS hotel near Heathrow to stay over last night, planned to get there at around 6pm. Actually got there at a minute to midnight.  

My stress levels were right off the chart. That'll teach me to chirp how chilled I am every day.

[booder]

 

Have a great time.

[celtic]

All that updating broke the laptop 

Enjoy Vegas, glad things are good.

[tikay]

All that updating broke the laptop 

Enjoy Vegas, glad things are good.

Ahh Mr Vinni. Been so long since you posted I thought you'd left blonde.

[Tal]

Safe flight, Tikay. Enjoy Vegas.

[celtic]

All that updating broke the laptop 

Enjoy Vegas, glad things are good.

Ahh Mr Vinni. Been so long since you posted I thought you'd left blonde.

[Marky147]

Have a great time.

This

Safe flight and loved the updates.

Glad Phil is doing well, and likewise Mr Cupcake.

Haven't seen John since the Vic just after his WSOP score.

[typhoon13]

Looking forward to the next couple of weeks updates

Have a great time and spoil Gill please