Vegas & The Aftermath - Diary

[Woodsey]

Up to 136 with this post , soon get to 300 

10% please...

[Royal Flush]

I had a personal note & invitation to do some "stuff" from the guy who runs the Partouche Poker Tour today, the one in Cannes where Flushy covered himself in, err, glory last year, & Spacefrog gave him the Rubdown of the Decade.

It began....

Hello Tony !


Hope you are doing well.


This year, we organize the second edition of Partouche Poker Tour. Our MAIN EVENT will take place from 30th of august to 5th of September, at the Palm Beach Casino in Cannes (French Riviera), France. With € 3, 000, 000 as guaranteed Prize Pool, the Partouche Poker Tour is becoming one of the most attractive tournament in Europe! Last year, the best world poker players took part in! (Gus Hansen, Phil Ivey, Scotty Nguyen, Tiffany Michelle, Mizrachi Brothers...)

No mention of Flushy there? And could the author be spacefrog?

yawn, will just win it this year anyway

[Laxie]

I bet that's what you tell all the girls.

[boldie]

I bet that's what you tell all the girls.

Just the famous ones.

[MereNovice]

Before I return to Des Wilson, I have special reason to say "Hi" to two Members currently viewing this thread - Mere Novice, & Nutter5932.

MereNovice knows why I'm so pleased to see him around, 'nuff said.

And Nutter5932, young Ben Nuttall, who came to Vegas with me this year. He's still killing the Games at Sky Poker, & we got to know each other much better in Vegas. I like him, a lot.

Hi Both.

Hi and thank you. Apologies for not seeing this earlier - I have been slow in reading this thread.
My respect for you continues to grow.

[tikay]

Before I return to Des Wilson, I have special reason to say "Hi" to two Members currently viewing this thread - Mere Novice, & Nutter5932.

MereNovice knows why I'm so pleased to see him around, 'nuff said.

And Nutter5932, young Ben Nuttall, who came to Vegas with me this year. He's still killing the Games at Sky Poker, & we got to know each other much better in Vegas. I like him, a lot.

Hi Both.

Hi and thank you. Apologies for not seeing this earlier - I have been slow in reading this thread.


My respect for you continues to grow.

Respect? And yet you called my Shove last night?

I cannot believe you Called me there, Pre-Flop. OK, KK is a big hand, but I could only have a better hand if I shoved into you.

PS - I actually typed in "good luck guys, wp" before realising that my KQ had prevailed. All very embarrassing.....

PPS - Good to have you back, both here, & "over there".

[tikay]

Hey, train boy.

What do you make of the plans to electrify the Great Western Railway?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2009/jul/23/electric-rail-line-great-western

Must be good to get rid of those old locomotives that have been around for years and get some nice shiny new trains, like the ones Virgin have...

It vexes me greatly Andrew, & I hope it never happens.

Brunel never designed or built the line to be electrified, & I foresee huge problems at such iconic structures as Bristol Temple Meads, Paddington Station, Box Tunnel & Maidenhead Bridge, & they will be ruined. They should immediately be classified as Grade 1 Listed Buildings, meaning they cannot be interfered with by the electrification nutters.

And what does electrification really mean? 20 minutes off the journey, & an incredibly small reduction in carbon footprint, by a Government who are as un-green as any on earth. If they wanna go green, look at the RAF, or Airlines!

As for the locos, I sense your tongue in your cheek, but it's no laughing matter - these Class 43's are irreplaceable.

[tikay]

How could you desecrate this stunning Portal (to Box Tunnel) with catenary?

[tikay]

Tony - won a biggie in Vegas and not told us?

Click to see full-size image.

I would not be seen dead in that Rex. Kidz car.

This is a proper car.

[tikay]

Tomorrow morning, at 11am, I'm meeting Des Wilson at The Vic, to be interviewed for a Magazine Article, about Sky Poker. Which is good., because I'm staying at a Heathrow Hotel for a few nights, & thus I have an excuse to use the Heathrow Expresss twice tomorrow, lovely, my treat for the week. First-class too, don't you know, £55 down the pan, but worth ervery penny.

It's a 15 minute journey. By the time you've settled into your first class seat it's time to leave.

Might be 16 minutes, but I managed tro take over 50 photos during the journey. They'll be Posted soon.

[tikay]

The Duxford Date is August 20th.

Confirmed so far.

Red-Dog. (Not been given an Option).

Mother Hen

Me.

Any more for any moire? Moaning old fogeys only please. Bring your own thermos floask & warm blanket.

Karabiner confirmed, as, I think, is Bongo.

[tikay]

Today, Ronnie Biggs was officially released from jail. In fact, he was not in prison, he was in hossie, unable to walk or talk, & presumed to be days from death.

By coincidence, it is his 80th Birthday today, & it's also exactly 46 years to the day that The Great Train Robbery took place.

What a tale that was.

I was in my early teens at the time, & had just discovered the ability to read. This story was one of THE great news stories ever ever ever, & I devoured every story about it eagerly, & subsequently, read numerous books about the event, & the characters who were in the coup.

[tikay]

The Robbery took place in August 1963, & all the cast were behind bars by April of 1964, most of them got 30 years, which most felt was a little harsh.

In July 1965, Biggs escaped from Wandsworth Prison - over the perimeter wall, onto the roof of a waitng lorry, easy-peasy. He fled to Paris, then Australia, then Brazil, but he arrived in Brazil skinto, as he'd paid so much in hush money to so many.

The Flying Squad were formed especially to catch the Gang, but made a pigs ear of it really.

Jack Slipper "Slipper of the Yard" as he was pretentiously known - went to Brazil twice to try & extridite him, to no avail.

Wherte he failed, The Sun succeeded, & in 2001 they sent a Private Jet, paid Biggs a bunch of money, & he was back in Britain the next day, where Scotland Yard proudly arrested him.

He stayed in Prison ever since. In June this year, the Parole Board recommended he be released, but Mr Straw vetoed it, because the 79 year old was "unrepentant". His family appealed, & yesterday,. Mr Straw relented, & issued orders for his release on compassionate grounds.

ASLEF, the Railway Union, never given to sensible judgement, condemned his release, as violence had been used in the 1963 robbery. (1 man had been injured, but not sufficient to be hospitalized).

He'll die very soon, I expect. I never liked or disliked him, but he was an old-style villain, & I respected them a lot.

[tikay]

The Great Train Robbery itself remains engraved upon my mind.

Leatherslade Farm, (Bucks) where they all hid for a week, Bridego Bridge, where the Mail Train was stopped, & the characters themselves.

The Gang was 2 Gangs really - The South West (London) & South East Gangs.

Bruce Reynolds was the architect & leader, but there were about 12 in all - Reynolds, Douglas "Goody", "Buster" Edwards, Charlkie Wilson (my favourite), Roy "The Weasel" James (a motor-racing driver), Jim Hussey, Roger Cordrey, Tom Wisbey, a few others, &, of course, Biggs, who was in fact a low-level Gang member. One guy - I forget which one - later had a flower-stall at Waterloo Statioin.

They bungled it really - lack of attention to detail. In Letherslade Farm, they wiled away the days playing Monopoly, but the geezer who was supposed to "clean up" the Farmhouse messed up, & the fingerprints of them all were on the Monopoly money, & also on a ketchup bottle. Bizarrely, the guy who owned the Monopoly Set got off, on the grounds that his fingerprints were entitled to be on the Monopoly set!

The story ran in The London Evening News - this was when The Evening Standard was not London's main evening paper - for ages, with daily revelations of bags of money being found in telephone bioxes, left luggage lockers, under park benches, all sorts.

One by one the gang all got arrested. It took 8 days to catch the first, but the rest all followed sharpish. Most got 30 years, & most did it, but Biggs became the face of the Great Train Robbery because of his exploits later.

They all went to Prison before England won the World Cup, Mobile Phones had not been invented, nor had the Internet, Walkmans, MP3's, I-Pods, MSN, Teletext, Colour Telly, Freezers, Automatic Gearboxes, or Online Poker.

Amazing how things change so quickly.

[AlexMartin]

so impressed by Des Wilson's bio tikay. How is it some people find all this time to do such amazing stuff with their lives?