Vegas & The Aftermath - Diary

[boldie]

It always makes me uncomfortable when someone suggests that someone else do something philanthropic.

I know exactly what you mean....

http://www.runningsponsorme.org/kinboshi

lol WP. Stll hoping you'll trip and break your leg when having the finishing line in sight though

[tikay]

Midnight, & the day is done. No weigh-in today, no scales.

Was all of a tither again this morning, something's not quite right in my head, & when we got to the Casino, there was no internet connection, which did not help. So, apart from a few interviews to camera, & a g/v/intro, I was like a spare part, not much I could do, & that truly does my head in.

But the day gradually improved, & ended on a high.

Sky Poker took 7 players to Manchester, & 4 of them made it safely through to Day Two.

Young Robbie, probably never played more than a tenner Tourney before, managed to hang in with 20k. He loved it, sharing a Table with Mr Cody for most of the day.

Redmond Lee, after motoring with a nice stack all day, took a big hit just before c-o-p, & returns with 19k.

Lisa-Marie comes back tomorrow with a very pleasing 71k.

Meanwhile, Dan Brown returns as, we think, Chip Daddy, with 129,200.

Dan got his stack in a big hand v Redmond, blue-on-blue, so that was sort of bitter-sweet. 

So, we go back tomorrow, & the 4 of them all have a squeak, or more, of making Sunday.

Quite pleased with that.

Tomorrow will be a long day, if we can get 1 or more through to Sunday, if not, so be it, & I can head South.

BIG week in prospect next week, with the Sky Atlantic Launch Party affair going off on Friday.

I'll be quite pleased to move on from this week, I've not always covered myself in glory, one way or another.

[mondatoo]

At least Keys is going to ship you 50k Staking FTW.

[tikay]

Sky-Bet are starting to do a lot of business on "virtuals" - Horse Racing, Football, Motor-Racing, even Speedway. Good grief. Serious money is staked, too.

By way of helping with some of the intricate cross-selling they do, they wanted to name some of the "virtual" horses after the 865 talent. So, a little internal competition was organized to find names for each of us, or our virtual horses.

My name received all the usual abuse & mockery - it's almost my living, no issues with that - but the winning entry whooshed me completely, until I resorted to google. So, good luck in the virtual 4.30 at the virtual racecourse to the virtual nag, "Little Tony".

[tikay]

At least Keys is going to ship you 50k Staking FTW.

I don't like to think too much about that! It'd be kinda nice if he did, but we are a long way from home yet.

Got to say, Red-Kings were pretty cute with their timing - what a splendid capture James would be if he binks, & the Red King SEO specialists will be very busy getting the word out.

As Camel said, too, it's grand to see so many peeps getting behind James, even when no vested interest is present.

[mondatoo]

Either way he's done very well, class player so not surprised, but still. Sick for him that he'll only have the record blonde staking return until November, when you smash it.

[tikay]

At least Keys is going to ship you 50k Staking FTW.

Not quite, but still very nice indeed!

[tikay]

Slept wonderfully, for the first time in weeks, 10 hours straight, felt so much better today.

Awoke to find Mr Keys was Heads-Up in the A-M, eventually to finish 2nd for a 7 figure cash.

By a most peculiar chain of fortunate circumstances, which stretches back to August, I ended up with a bit of him, 2.5%, so that was really quite a nice surprise.

We took 4 players back for Day 2 of the Manchester GUKPT, & one of them, Dan Brown, managed to Final with 250k, which is mid-field, & about 25 bigs. The wily old warhorse Alan McLean has topside of a million. Alan is not given as much respect as I think he's due, but he's bloody awkward to play against, & is fearless. His first recorded Live cash, according to the Databases, was back in about 1993. Takes some doing to survive that long.

Our Dan, meanwhile, is more than adequately competent to take it down if the winds of fortune are in his favour. Or finish 10th. I'm hopeful of a deep run, he's got good tempo, & won't be phased by the occasion.   

He & Lawrence Gosney clashed a fair bit today, Dan eventually hero-calling in quite a big Pot with 9-4 on a A-4-6-6-8 board, Dan holding 9-4, every street bet by LG. I'm not convinced that Lawrence was very impressed by the Call.

Bit awkward for me, I had eye contact with Lawrence throughout the hand, & we are friends right back from our Naps Sheffield days, 10 years ago, & we had a memorable time together at the Concorde in Vienna in '03, I think, & again in Vegas 2 years later, when he binked his bracelet. And of course, Dan is in "my" Team, TSP.

A little bit of verbal was going back & forth between them, but Dan worked out Lawrence's dry humour eventually & they shook hands rather than necks across the Table later.

I've always been able to trust Lawrence 100%, some you can, some you can't, but when he is late for a Tourney, & wanted buying in or whatever, he was a no-risk risk.

So, gotta spend another night up here in Manchester, & this weekend's plans to do this & that have all been abandoned.

Breakfast here is terrific, just as well, as it's hard to diet properly when away. Museli & fruit, scrambled egg & baked beans, pot of tea, orange juice, very enjoyable & surely not too many cals. Not had a weigh for 2 days, nor again tomorrow, so Monday's weigh-in will be a bit interesting.

Maureen & Darren popped into G-Manchester this evening, & I was able to spend a quiet half-an-hour with them. Reece has a little Op scheduled for next Friday, but it's fairly routine stuff - by his standards. I'm sure he'll be fine.

[tikay]

Fabulous day today, work-wise.

Constructed one of my old-sytle "To-Do" Lists, & it began with 17 items. It ended with 59 items, of which 21 did not got cleared. So, I moved a mountain, & another bigger bugger sprung up in it's place. Still, immensely satisfying to do so much in a day, & mostly do it quite well.

Energy levels been immense all day, the Diet is paying off at last.

Disappointed with today's weigh-in, I came in at 13st 3lbs, missing my January target by 3lbs. But on the bright side, I have shed 10lbs in just over 3 weeks. That's 5 bags of sugar. Think of the bulk of 5 bags of sugar, & it starts to seem more encouraging.

12stone by March 12th is looking "challenging", but I'll give it a good shot.

[tikay]

blonde Forum Monthly Post-Count. So, where did that huge January 2011 Post count uptick come from? What an extraordinary change over 6 months - or, more correctly, over one month. Wonder if it's sustainable?

January 2010       16,073

February 2010      15,296

March 2010         13,375

April 2010           14,212

May 2010           13,936

June 2010          16,969

July 2010           12,938

August 2010      14,642

September 2010 13,179

October 2010     13,602

November 2010     13,879

December 2010     15582

January 2011        21262

[outragous76]

diary start ups?

[TightEnd]

A lot of hard work, diaries, tikay in the leagues etc. Even if it dips a little now, forum vibrancy is greater than at any time since 2008.and without live updates til manchester too

[tikay]

Watched that Mark Knopfler thing last night. In fact, I stayed up till 3am watching it. God bless Andrew for the link, & Dewi for the tip off.

The Production was terrific, too - none of this pissing fanncy camerawork, just "one-shot, one-on-one" stuff", with the camera lingering. Perfect.

Knopfler impressed me immensely. Rare to find such balance & humility in one so gifted, it's the perfect antidote to misplaced arrogance, which so rankles.

He is so laid back, too. Oh, to be like that.

He's ageing rapidly, piling weight on, & drinking tea.

I don't know if he ever did drugs, &/or excess alcohol. Anyone know?

I was at the DS Wembley Arena concerts in the mid-eighties when Hank Marvin guest-guitared on stage, & I recall thinking how naff & cheesy Marrvin looked in his uncool old-school clothes compared to the then currentb  fashion. Can't believe how shallow I, & I think many others, used to think in those days. He dresses naff imo, so he is naff imo. The fun I've missed by that stupid bklinkered thinking.

All day today, I have been thinking of how lovely that opening line of "that mist-covered mountain" is.

Rescued from the scrapyard

Too good, Sir, too good.

[tikay]

A lot of hard work, diaries, tikay in the leagues etc. Even if it dips a little now, forum vibrancy is greater than at any time since 2008.and without live updates til manchester too

Well one thing for sure, Rich - you have bust a guy to keep the place buzzing, & for that, much respect. Yes, the Diaries have deffo helped. I love them, but they are not everyone's cup of tea.

The SEO is so much better now, too, stuff is coming up from here on google alerts much more frequently.

It can only be good, but whether it can last is another matter. We shall see.

[Chompy]

Spent all night watching Knopf on BBC4 too. Awesome. Geordie country rock ftw.