Vegas & The Aftermath - Diary

[Compo]

I thought you were a Gooner, no?

dangerous ground matey.

My abiding memory from the Casino eaterie was you ordering a plain omelette and chips......and 15 mins later receiving an omelette between two halves of a baguette, which was icey cold plus a plate of crisps!   mmmmmmmmmmm..

[Claw75]

Can anyone recalll a chain of shops called "Radio Rentals", & "Rediffusion"?

They used to rent Tellies out for 10 bob a week, & they offered you a new one every 5 years.

my dad worked for Radio Rentals in the late 70s and early 80s.  It was great, I was the first kid at school to get get a video recorder - one of those JVC jobbies with the big buttons at the front you had to push down - cool!

[tikay]

I omitted to mention that Compo's wife is a lot younger than him, maybe 10 or 15 years. The boy did good.

[RichEO]

As someone mentioned, I've fallen asleep at the wheel of a car before - twice actually - & have, luckily, never harmed anyone else, or even myself. On the last occasion, my car rolled 3 times on the M62 in the middle of the rush-hour & never touched another vehicle! The car ended up on the embankment, upside down, with a tyre ripped off. The coppers arrive, & I'm bricking it, what do I tell them? "Have a puncture did we Son?" says PC Traffic, & I'm off the hook, phew

What's the chances of falling asleep and having a puncture at the same time? I suppose if you're asleep as much as you are then it's only a matter of time .

[tikay]

I had something of a shock over the weekend, when the WSOP-E peeps got hold of me. 

On Thursday, as a curtain-raiser to the WSOP-E, they are having a Press Conference, with what they call a "Face-Off" between Phil Hellmuth & Devilfish. And they needed a Compere........well, to cut a long story short, I accepted the deal, & they are paying me quite nicely too. I'm just amazed, but I've never told anyone any fibs, never made myself out to be something I'm not, & yet these little jobs keep landing in my lap. And I've never asked for or applied for a job in my life, they just arrive, as if by magic. Happy days. So I spoke to Poker Week, managed to get them Invited along too, so hopefully they will get some nice footage of Mr Hellmuth & Mr Ulliott getting heavy with each other for next week's Show. Maybe I got invited because they know I'm Chairman of the Hellmuth & Ulliott Fan Clubs........

It's a bit nerve-wracking, but I reckon I'll get by.

And on Wednesday night, there is a Party to start the WSOP-E bandwagon rolling, & I got an invite to that too, so I have wangled Sky Poker to come along with a Camera Crew & maybe we can get some interviews with the great & good of Poker. And Messrs Hellmuth & Ulliott.

So, no poker for me this week by the look of it, I'd hoped to get down to Plymouth, but I can't have it both ways, & I gotta get this stuff while I can, it's my only Income, poker apart, & anyway, it's fun. But I have some week in prospect. Up to Bolton tomorrow, to Jon Kalmar's house, with a Poker Week Cameraman to get an in-depth interview. Wednesday, a blonde business meet in Luton in the afternoon, & the WSOP-E Party in the Evening, with the Sky Poker Camera Crew there, stay over & do the Press Conference the next morning, then straight to Sky to do Thursday night's show, stay over, do the Friday night Sky Show, go home after, & do the Sky Show again on Sunday. Maybe I can find some Poker on Saturday - I think there may be a half-decent Tourney on at The Vic.

My poker results have been better this year, & I think that's because I'm not playing as much, so I'm fresher, & more up for it. Or maybe I just keep getting lucky. On and off the table.

[tikay]

Barcelona. We were there with Poker Week, so no poker for me, but we are changing the Format of the Show a bit. Less Exit Interviews, more "features" & "in-depths", so we were on the lookout for interesting in-depth Interviews.

We nabbed Thewy, & he gave us a terrific one on life as a Pro, & his future poker direction, & I did that one. We sorta rotate the "heavy" Interviews, (Rhow does the Exit Interviews) Compo & I are both competitive, but he's so bloody good, I almost prefer him to do them.

So after I had persuaded Marcel Luske to do an Interview, it was Compo's turn to get the job done. Well, you've never heard or seen anything like it. Compo introduced Marcel, "bla bla bla, the great Marcel" & talk about the Alex Ferguson "hairdryer", Marcel went off on one big time! He was ranting & raving, swearing, & all sorts, Compo could not get a word in edgeways. He went on for about 15 minutes without drawing breath! Interestingly, the subject was getting Poker's house in order, unified Rules & some structure to the game. Fascinating stuff, & Marcel was well passionate about it.

And on Sunday, we got Roy Brindley. Roy has mellowed a great deal since Sebastion was born, & he's lost a few stone too, & came acrsoss very well indeed. I know he can be abrasive & all that, but he's always been right by me. He's writtten a book, too, should be published soon, that'll be worth a gander.

I went to dinner on Saturday with Jen & Flops, & a few friends, my word, those Updaters work their socks off, so it as good to take a break with Jen & Flops, I rarely see them these days. Heroes, the both of them. Proper heroes, not lucky fish like me. We formed the Mark Telscher Fan Club, too.

The 4 of us - Jen, Flops, Compo & me were chit-chatting in the Press Room, discussing Mark Telschers antics, unaware that in front of us, & listening to us, was Greg Raymer. "Hey, you guys are supposed to support the only Brit in the Final" says the great man. Err, after those antics, we say?......Anyway, Greg comes up & we have an amazing chat, he gave a sort of private Masterclass on the Betting patterns of Stud, Pot Limit v No Limit v Limit, & much else. He can't play the WSOP-E Horse, but he thought that was his best chance of a Bracelet out of the 3 WSOP-E Events, as so many play HORSE so badly, & very few understand the maths of some of the elements. (He'll play the Omaha & Hold'Em). He's a top, top, bloke, & I like him immensely. Had his open-toed sandals & white socks on again.....some dress-sense these Americans, eh? Compo was knocked out by Greg, too, Greg has a new fan I think.

[kinboshi]

Greg Raymer - great fella (by all accounts), great player (from what I've seen and been told), shocking dress sense.

[Compo]

Greg Raymer...top man. His theory on strategy in the private 10 min masterclass was fascinating, especially regarding betting patterns. I'm ready to play!!!

I was also impressed that if he needs to dress to impress he wears black socks, instead of white, with his sandals!

[Karabiner]

Greg Raymer...top man. His theory on strategy in the private 10 min masterclass was fascinating, especially regarding betting patterns. I'm ready to play!!!

I was also impressed that if he needs to dress to impress he wears black socks, instead of white, with his sandals!

Must be kind of like black-tie 

[tikay]

So, what to make of Mark Telscher's odd behaviour in the EPT Final?

One erudite & highly respected blonde Posted this on the Live Update......

How much of Mark's attention seeking twattery at the table is an act?

But there was much worse, & we had to Delete a fair bit of stuff.

Well, it's awkward for me. I really don't overly care for being slagged off by folks who barely know me, so it's a bit out of order for me to have a pop at the fella. I've shared a table or two with him, he's certainly "abrasive" & amazingly arrogant, but that's not a hanging offence.

You may have seen his nickname is catching on, "The Snapper". This arose because whenever he sees a blonde Updater, (he did it with Jonathan Raab too) he assumes they are Valets, so he snaps his fingers & says "coke for me". (It's assumed that he refers to the carbonated drink).

He went to the EPT Grand Final in Monte Carlo in his red ferrari, & parked it on the pavement for all 4 days, right by the cardroom doors, almost blocking them, we all had to walk round it to get in. If I had a Ferrari, maybe I'd do the same. Lives in Park Lane I'm told, but I don't know how he earns his living. Some wag suggested we could find out by asking him to play a version of that old Radio programme, "Whats My Line?".

The entire PressRoom were cringing on Saturday, it was more than a little embarrassing to see anyone so hyper & animated, especially a grown-up. And you had to feel for his opponents, being patronised so. No rule against it, mind.

But tell you what, he must have some game. Won a London EPT, & would have been the first to win two EPT's I believe. And he was so very close, getting it in with K-K v J-T. Whatever one thinks of his table antics, the boy can play, "snapper" or not. He's the real thing.

[Dry em]

I had a funny encounter with him in Warsaw when we were drawn on the same table. I think he was expecting me to roll over and just take his chat. To say I gave as good as I got would be an undertstatement which culimnated in him calling the floor on me for "talking during a pot" (that I was in with him). Gerrard just laughed and told him what I was saying was perfectly within the rules. He then proceeded to bluff off all his chips to me, happy days

A couple of nights later I bumped into him in a bar and he began telling me how he didn't appreciate me "reducing his equity". Haven't laughed so much in a long time - not sure it went down too well ;o)

[NoflopsHomer]

The 4 of us - Jen, Flops, Compo & me were chit-chatting in the Press Room, discussing Mark Telschers antics, unaware that in front of us, & listening to us, was Greg Raymer. "Hey, you guys are supposed to support the only Brit in the Final" says the great man. Err, after those antics, we say?......Anyway, Greg comes up & we have an amazing chat, he gave a sort of private Masterclass on the Betting patterns of Stud, Pot Limit v No Limit v Limit, & much else. He can't play the WSOP-E Horse, but he thought that was his best chance of a Bracelet out of the 3 WSOP-E Events, as so many play HORSE so badly, & very few understand the maths of some of the elements. (He'll play the Omaha & Hold'Em). He's a top, top, bloke, & I like him immensely. Had his open-toed sandals & white socks on again.....some dress-sense these Americans, eh? Compo was knocked out by Greg, too, Greg has a new fan I think.

He is the sort of person you could listen to for hours. He has a very rare knack of explaining exactly why he'll do something, which when you hear it, makes you think, "Oh, it's all very simple," even when it isn't. Pab has a bit of this too. The best thing in that conversation was listening to him talking about the less popular games, which seem to be his bread and butter. The Stud-8 and Triple draw games which he says are very easy, even at high limits. Was fun to see him and Jen discuss the finer points of 08 vs PLO8 as well.

[tikay]

Full of man-cold, I took to my bed before Midnight last night & tried to sweat it out. These things have to run their course, so at least I'm a day nearer it passing.

Still managed an hour of Omaha Cash last night, I was gagging for a game after working every day since Thursday.  Put $600 on a $3-£6 table, finished with $1,300, & $1,000 on a $10-$20, and ran that up to $2,400, so a profit overall of $2,100. Earlier, I bubbled in the $250, so on the day, $1,850 ahead.

That's about it for Poker this week, due to work, so at least the Bankroll will remain healthy & I can't lose money this week now, it's "locked up", a lovely feeling.

Annoyingly, I ran the $1,000 on the $10-$20 up to just under $4,000, but lost $1,600 of it by being greedy. That so annoyed me, I need to learn to quit when I get that much ahead, but greed is a terrible thing.

I find the Online Omaha Cash games pretty soft, just need a lot of patience, (I play mega-tight) but I have a nasty habit of dropping several $thou in a session, undoing the work of several nights in one fell swoop. I guess that's the danger with Omaha, the pots get so big, so quickly, but it's a double-edged sword I guess.

[tikay]

The 4 of us - Jen, Flops, Compo & me were chit-chatting in the Press Room, discussing Mark Telschers antics, unaware that in front of us, & listening to us, was Greg Raymer. "Hey, you guys are supposed to support the only Brit in the Final" says the great man. Err, after those antics, we say?......Anyway, Greg comes up & we have an amazing chat, he gave a sort of private Masterclass on the Betting patterns of Stud, Pot Limit v No Limit v Limit, & much else. He can't play the WSOP-E Horse, but he thought that was his best chance of a Bracelet out of the 3 WSOP-E Events, as so many play HORSE so badly, & very few understand the maths of some of the elements. (He'll play the Omaha & Hold'Em). He's a top, top, bloke, & I like him immensely. Had his open-toed sandals & white socks on again.....some dress-sense these Americans, eh? Compo was knocked out by Greg, too, Greg has a new fan I think.

He is the sort of person you could listen to for hours. He has a very rare knack of explaining exactly why he'll do something, which when you hear it, makes you think, "Oh, it's all very simple," even when it isn't. Pab has a bit of this too. The best thing in that conversation was listening to him talking about the less popular games, which seem to be his bread and butter. The Stud-8 and Triple draw games which he says are very easy, even at high limits. Was fun to see him and Jen discuss the finer points of 08 vs PLO8 as well.

Yup. He said he plays $400-$800 in Vegas, I wonder what Bankroll you need for that? With pull-ups at about $80,000, it don't bear thinking about!

[MANTIS01]

Posted by: Compo

G Raymer...top man. His theory on strategy in the private 10 min masterclass was fascinating, especially regarding betting patterns. I'm ready to play!!!

I was also impressed that if he needs to dress to impress he wears black socks, instead of white, with his sandals!

Whilst I agree that talk of sock-sandal combos is rather entertaining I imagine visitors to the poker forum may have some vague interest in the "fascinating" betting-pattern strategies from the former World Champion.

When you're ready please Compo.....