Vegas & The Aftermath - Diary

[the sicilian]

I'm staying at The Rio, & I could not sleep last night, so I was writing a lot of the night.

I went down to try & get a proper coffee at about 2am, & bumped into Joe Grech, sat by (but not playing) the slots.

He was telling me he's down about (a lot) on the trip, been here a month or more, & may not play the Main Event He has $5,000 left, & is struggling to get cash - he has plenty in the bank, but not easy to access it from here. I almost lent him some - he's as good as gold, & has helped me many times, without being prompted, but I'm travelling light, & only have a few thou with me, so I thought better (i.e., selfishly) of it.

Knowing him, he'll win a Super-Sat, & cruise to a good cash - I sure hope so. He's a very good player in my view.

He was telling me that the Venetian Deep-Stacks are a bit "sharp" at the business end. He played in one with 600 runners, & with 60 players left, & average 100,000, the Blinds were 4k-8k. Maybe that was the "inflection point", I dunno, but I heard they were well-structured. I'll have to ask Mother Hen - nobody understands Structures as well as he does. No, really!

Venetian deepstacks good value...get a bit crap shooty mid way and then begin to become playable again.You get lots of chips and nice clocks but the looney yanks will call 23K bets with ace high and 700 in the pot !!...the sheer size of the fields and the vast spectrum of play from ( mostly awful minefield avoiding types ) to very very good make these a tough nut to crack..but the rewards are as they say high..went v. deep in 3 of these at Venetian and Caesars...but just outside money sigh...tough to sit there for over 10 hours at a time and no moolah..

[tikay]

I bumped into this Gentleman tonight at Caesars Palace - he is, in my view, not ony the best World Champion in recent years, but possibly the best Ambassador the game has. He conducts himself in exemplary fashiom on & off the table, & is a credit to poker. I've rarely seen him dressed any different - 'Stars top, knee-length shorts, white socks, Compo-style open-toed sandals, & Thewy Man-Bag slung over his shoulder. He's a man very comfortable in his own body.

[tikay]

I also saw John Vacc, the Luton guy, playing cash in Caesars. He is not running too hot apparently, but had done well at The Commerce in Los Angeles over the previous few weeks.

[TheChipPrince]

I bumped into this Gentleman tonight at Caesars Palace - he is, in my view, not ony the best World Champion in recent years, but possibly the best Ambassador the game has. He conducts himself in exemplary fashiom on & off the table, & is a credit to poker. I've rarely seen him dressed any different - 'Stars top, knee-length shorts, white socks, Compo-style open-toed sandals, & Thewy Man-Bag slung over his shoulder. He's a man very comfortable in his own body.

That Pokerstars top is actually quite smart...

[boldie]

I bumped into this Gentleman tonight at Caesars Palace - he is, in my view, not ony the best World Champion in recent years, but possibly the best Ambassador the game has. He conducts himself in exemplary fashiom on & off the table, & is a credit to poker. I've rarely seen him dressed any different - 'Stars top, knee-length shorts, white socks, Compo-style open-toed sandals, & Thewy Man-Bag slung over his shoulder. He's a man very comfortable in his own body.

he should be..there's plenty of space in there for him

[tikay]

Thiis my favourite Dealer at the splendid Caesars Place Cardroom, we sort of became friends last year, & it was great to see her again, she has a sort of mischievous glint in her eye. I called her "Mum, & she slapped me good & proper.

[snoopy1239]

Before I start this year's Vegas blather, I wanted to list my Vegas likes & dislikes before I set off, but you know how it is, I'm not too organised, & it never happened. By the way, I've loved all the Vegas Diaries this year, & I hope it becomes the norm for blondes to tell us their Vegas tales.

So, my Vegas likes & dislikes.

Dislikes.

Constant queues, eveywhere, all the time.

The heat.

The tacky architecture.

The constant background music, everywhere.

Air-Conditioning.

The amount of Stretch Limos - I've never understood why anyone would think a Stretch Limo is cool.

The sound of a 1000 slot machines, all out of tune with each other, as you enter any & every Hotel Lobby.

Traffic on The Strip.

The sleaze.

Lack of greenery, grass, trees, nature, wildlife.

The journey.

Likes

The way Tourney Poker over here is organised.

Being able to find a Live Tourney 24/7.

The quality of the Dealers.

Meeting Brits out here, it seems that extra bit special to meet up so far from home, a sort of bonding develops.

The local Police - they look so cool.

Yellow School Buses.

Hooking up with friends, particularly Lady Mason, Phil Quayle, & Thewy. And this year, Jim McShane.

Going home.

Jaw-Droppers

The size of the Hotels.

The size of the Hotel Parking Lots.

The size of the Hotel Rooms/Suites.

The Airport - so close to The Strip.

Hoover Dam

The Grand Canyon.

I wonder how many of these will have changed come going home time? Thi is my third "paid" Vegas jaunt, & they have all been workbased, so maybe I'd think different if I came here just to play poker.

What are your Vegas Likes, Dislikes, & Jaw-Droppers?

The sound of a 1000 slot machines, all out of tune with each other, as you enter any & every Hotel Lobby.

I actually really like this sound, although I have no idea why. I find it quite therapeutic. I fear I may be alone in that view though.

[tikay]

These are the two young Ladies with whom I travelled out on Sunday. I have any number of Bosses & Line Managers at Sky, I'm at the bottom of a very tall ladder, but these two are my Bosses in Marketing, with whom I have a seperate contract. They both have dual responsibilities for Sky  Poker & Sky Bingo.

In the black dress, is Emma Crowe, who used to work for WPT, & she's now head of Marketing at Sky Poker. Her hubbie is  a rock musician, & she has two Daughters.

Wearing the shades is Helen Taylor, who is, I think, Emma's # 2, & with whom I work on an almost daily basis now. Some of you may recognize them both from th Sky Live Days at Brighton, Bristol & Brum. Helen came from, or via, UK Betting (Sky took them over) & is a bright & hard-working young lady.

The pic was taken on the roof of the Rio - the Voodoo Lounge Roof, I think.

[tikay]

Work stats tomorrow (today....) at 10am sharp, with a Conference in my Suite (note that, ahem, "in my suite"....), then we are filming non-stop through to Saturday. Today's schedule has us filming from 3pm until 2am the next day, 11 hours straight, in 4 locations.

Our players - 5 of them, each with a guest - arrive early afternoon, & we go to the Airport to meet them, make them welcome, & generally cuddle them. Thewy will be on th same Flight.

Then we go to The Rio & buy them in, take them to dinner in the Voodoo Restaurant, followed by a Mini Pre Main Event Boot-Camp, which Matt Broughton is running, & Kara Scott & Nick Wealthall will be there, too.

The advance party had dinner tonight at the Voodoo, 10 of us, & it came to an eye-watering $620.  Nearest camera is Jill, Content Producer, & next to her is Claire, who does just about everything at Feltham for the TV Side, including Rostering the Shifts & approving the Invoices.

[tikay]

At the far end is Mark Robson (Miami Vic on blonde), who runs the TV side day-to day, I think he's "Executive Producer, Channel" or somesuch. He's never been forgiven for being the one who initially recruited me.

To his right (as we look) is Pete Ward, aka God, at Feltham.

[AndrewT]

The advance party had dinner tonight at the Voodoo, 10 of us, & it came to an eye-watering $620. 

£31 a head is eye-watering?

Do you eat out, ever?

[Colchester Kev]

try asking them to smile for a photo .... LOL

[snoopy1239]

At the far end is Mark Robson (Miami Vic on blonde), who runs the TV side day-to day, I think he's "Executive Producer, Channel" or somesuch. He's never been forgiven for being the one who initially recruited me.

To his right (as we look) is Pete Ward, aka God, at Feltham.

Nice. Who's the broad in the pink?

[tikay]

The advance party had dinner tonight at the Voodoo, 10 of us, & it came to an eye-watering $620. 

£31 a head is eye-watering?

Do you eat out, ever?

Often - I dined in Birmingham in '79.

Just seemed a lot of money to me.

[tikay]

try asking them to smile for a photo .... LOL

Would you smile if you were stuck in Vegas with me for a week? (All except Helen & myself - & the players - go home on Sunday).