Vegas & The Aftermath - Diary

[neeko]

I know you are quite the admirer of his but I never realised Donald Trump at one point was in billions of dollars worth of debt,quite the hole to get out of to be where he is now.I only no this as he mentioned it on the US Apprentice which I've just started watching so not sure in what way he was in debt,I'm guessing not credit card bills.

There is a cartoon somewhere of Donald and a friend walking past someone begging, his friend asks why Donald did not give him any money. D replied why should I he is 400 million richer than me.

[mondatoo]

I know you are quite the admirer of his but I never realised Donald Trump at one point was in billions of dollars worth of debt,quite the hole to get out of to be where he is now.I only no this as he mentioned it on the US Apprentice which I've just started watching so not sure in what way he was in debt,I'm guessing not credit card bills.

There is a cartoon somewhere of Donald and a friend walking past someone begging, his friend asks why Donald did not give him any money. D replied why should I he is 400 million richer than me.

Hope you noted tikay is indeed not an admirer I don't really know anything about Trump and I guess my post showed that.Com sig btw lol.

[tikay]

A high-energy (for me) Show last night, a good Show too, I think, but this morning I'm utterly drained, like a sort of adrenelin hangover. I did one 30 min pre-record, 1 30 min rehearsal, & the 4 hours Live, & it's huge fun, but it really leaves me "flat" the next morning. Prior to the evening's "work", I'd one a normal day. I just checked, & I received 107 e-Mails yesterday (most are "Read Only" or "FIO ONLY"), & sent 37 e-Mails, in addition to sorting some odds & ends out, as per yesterday's Diary. The internet truly does eat into our lives so comprehensively.

An early start today. I left the Hotel at 6, was in the office at 0630, so I can clear my Desk & the overnight mail before I head north to Blackpool.

I'm taking LML with me, she stayed at my Hotel last night, as there was no point in her going back to North London last night, then back here again this morning. So I'll drive back to the Hotel & pick her up for 10.15am, & off we go.

I am a bit socially uncomfortable with passengers in my car on long journeys. She's a friend, of sorts, more than an acquaintance anyway, but not "close", & I'm not good with people skills in these spots, because I am a epic fail at small talk, & I "switch off" very quickly unless the convo stimulates.

I've lived alone since I moved away from the family home 30 odd years ago, happily alone too. I drive all over the place, 2, 3, 4 hour journeys alone, & am entirely happy with myself for company. There are probably only 2 or 3 people who I can properly relax with, & let my guard down.

If a situation arose where I never got to talk to a soul on earth, ever again, for the rest of my life, sure I'd miss 1 or 2 a great deal, but I'd be 100% fine, I really would. I never fall out with myself, see, & I don't have to worry about what I think or say.

Yes yes, I know, I'm a bit funny.

Have a great weekend, whatever you do.

[RED-DOG]

Bon voyage.

[tikay]

Good Luck to Rob, Nick, Simon & Co at DTD this weekend.

What an amazing achievement, 900 runners.

I know from chatting to them that all the negative nonsense, & "DTD have done it all wrong with direct buy-ins" bla bla bla" just had the effect of driving them on.

Can you imagine 450 people "on the day" queuing up to buy-in? (And hundreds being turned away). I think not. It's amazing how good poker players are at running other people's busineses. Every poker player on every site knows better than the Site what to do, & how to do it. Read any poker forum for the proof of that.

Well done DTD, you are the absolute best, the place is a credit to all involved.

[tikay]

I hope you will spare a moment today to give respect to Big Laz, his Funeral will be at 11am.

Like most who were not close (MUCH different for them), I was pretty cut up about it all, but, you know, it happens, & we move on. Sad, but that's how it works.

And then, last night, I had a PM from Laz's brother, who was very close to Laz.

You may recall, he is in a wheelchair, "long-term" shall we say, & had a big problem with recurring ulcers on his leg. And so, about 18 months ago, they came up with a novel solution. Chop his foot off. And so they - the Hossie, not Laz - did, & he recovered within weeks, it all worked out perfect.

Laz was very close to him, & vice-versa.

So, the PM came in overnight, & I end up in absolute floods of tears this morning. I'm sure I'm getting dafter as I enter my dotage.

Take care Big Man.

xx

[ForthThistle]

There is an extra star up there now Tony...

Take care Laz.

An Absolute Legend!!

[tikay]

Oh my word.......

This is in Internet Poker, in case you missed it.

http://blondepoker.com/forum/index.php?topic=50368.0

[EvilPie]

What? No..... Really?

Lol, behave, you. The fact is, I am , & it works. Case rested.

I long ago learned the maxim needs must as the Devil drives



You going to Blackpool next week?

Yes. I'll be there Thursday onwards. Will I see you there?

No idea. But yeah, I'll be there from Wednesday. Part work, part playing.

Do you know when you're playing? Might be a LL opportunity.

Yeah, Wednesday.

I'm playing Wednesday's £300 (I chopped it last time I played it there!), & maybe Thursday's whatever it is, but NOT the Main. I'm there to cover Team Sky Poker, who are sending up 4 players for the Main, all of whom play Friday, Day 1b. And I'll stay up there as long as they remain in. Team Manager, me, innit. Advising the kids how to play. Yup.

PS - We are hi-jacking the DTD thread, best chat further on my Diary. You know what that nasty Rob is like if you upset him.

I may be wrong here but I don't think there's a £300 on the Wednesday.

Looks like a £150 PLO rebuy and a £150 sat to the main.

I hope I'm wrong because a £300 NLHE would be lovely.

[tikay]

What? No..... Really?

Lol, behave, you. The fact is, I am , & it works. Case rested.

I long ago learned the maxim needs must as the Devil drives



You going to Blackpool next week?

Yes. I'll be there Thursday onwards. Will I see you there?

No idea. But yeah, I'll be there from Wednesday. Part work, part playing.

Do you know when you're playing? Might be a LL opportunity.

Yeah, Wednesday.

I'm playing Wednesday's £300 (I chopped it last time I played it there!), & maybe Thursday's whatever it is, but NOT the Main. I'm there to cover Team Sky Poker, who are sending up 4 players for the Main, all of whom play Friday, Day 1b. And I'll stay up there as long as they remain in. Team Manager, me, innit. Advising the kids how to play. Yup.

PS - We are hi-jacking the DTD thread, best chat further on my Diary. You know what that nasty Rob is like if you upset him.

I may be wrong here but I don't think there's a £300 on the Wednesday.

Looks like a £150 PLO rebuy and a £150 sat to the main.

I hope I'm wrong because a £300 NLHE would be lovely.

Bugger. Plans of mice & men, & all that. I've not played a GUKPT sidey for exactly 2 years, & that one worked, fitted the Diary, eveything. I'm running good right now, too, unbelievably so.

Hey-ho, £330 saved I guess.

[tikay]

The days & weeks just fly past. I set off every day with the intentions of updating my Diary, but there's just not enough hours in the day, or days in the week.

I've had splendid week, achieved lots & my energy levels are higher than they have been since I was on the diet, but I just cannot keep pace with everything, no matter how fast I run. As a younger man, I would never get behind with stuff, even if it mean't staying up 24/7, which I frequently did, but now it's too much to keep up with. It has it's benefits, though, as I still have a great hunger & drive. 

I think I need to get back on the diet. I've put a good bit of weight back on, even though I'm still eating plenty of fruit & white meat, but I'm also eating good/bad stuff, like cream cakes & sticky buns. I deffo do not feel as sharp as I did when dieting.

I'm sleeping a lot more, too, which seems to help. I slept 12 hours straight overnight, & stopped for a 20 minute kip whilst heading south yesterday, & was fast off for 3 hours. But today, I'm buzzing.

Except that......

[tikay]

...I seem to have ricked my back, & I'm hobbling around like an old man.

I think pain is an over-used word. It hurts, for sure, but it's more a sort of ingrowing toenail sot of feeling than agony. The thing is, I can't stand up straight, & have to walk gingerly, & when I get up it's all "ooh" & "aah" like some old bloke.

Tonight, I do a 4 hour Live Show, starting at 9pm, (moved from 8pm, so we can catch the end of a slower clock Tourney), & previously, we stood up fopr the whole 4 hours, which may have tested me. Now we sit down throughout, &, weirdly, it's sort of difficult to stand after 4 hours of being sat down non-stop.

When I awoke today, & realised how bad (well not bad, but, you know, achey) it was, I thought about how I'd cope tonight. But I've never thrown a days sickie in 48 years of work, & that means it's sort of self-perpuating, I refuse to give in because it destroys the CV.

My good health must be a miracle, really. I have smoked all my life, eaten a "bad" diet always, never eaten vegetables, been regularly overweight, gone without sleep, been stressed more often than not, & generally failed to tick all the "do this & be healthy" boxes. The only ticks I get as to looking after myself have been no alcohol or recreational drugs.

I think all this "eat plenty of green veg & be more healthy" stuff is complete nonsense, to be honest.

There I've poked fate in the eye. Be quite an epitaph if I popped my clogs in the near future.

[tikay]

888.com delivered their results in the week, & it was more Online poker pain.

However you try to dress it up, (& they do, for the City), this makes pretty grim reading, but is wholly in line with what the other quoted Rooms/plc's have been reporting. It'll get far worse before it gets better, & the pace of change, consolidation, & outright busto's will accelerate dramatically soon. I'd not keep any cash in all but the most trusted of rooms right now.

888’s poker was down 34% this quarter to $8m compared to $12m in the same period last year and was “in line with industry trends”, the statement read, despite a new UK poker TV campaign launched and a licence granted from French regulator ARJEL to operate poker sites.

That 34% down in the quarter was y-o-y, not q-o-q, so was like for like.

The next 6 months should be ok, as this time of year - in mainland Europe, anyway - really is the busiest time of the year by a long chalk, so it covers the cracks until Spring 2011 arrives. The real pain will be felt come April/May next year, for sure.

[Dingdell]

I think you do alright for an old man - imagine what you would be like if you were given a clean bill of health?!!

[tikay]

How about this for an aggressive statement of intent? It was by Mark Zuckerberg at the annual F8 Developer conference. (The WHAT?)

At the 3rd annual F8 Developer Conference, Mark Zuckerberg laid out his plan to turn the web into “instantly social experiences”.
 The building blocks to this ‘social web’ are Open Graph and Social Plugins including a universal ‘Like’ button, auto-login capabilities and a Facebook social bar.
 The goal is to add instant socialization and instant personalization to every website on the web with everything leading back to Facebook

How extraordinary, & how quick has it all happened, this "social media" thing? Can it implode equally quickly? Maybe. What happened to "Myspace" & suchlike?