Vegas & The Aftermath - Diary

[tikay]

I really enjoy your diary when you're off galivanting and having fun, or even just when you're working and having fun, basically when you're not worrying about other people's problems/actions. Can u warn me to stop reading when it gets back to the worrying about who posts what where and who said what to who stuff and I can switch off again

Keep having fun over there Gramps x

Thank you, Mr K. I think......

I don't do the current fashion, "degen", and am not sure what the attraction is, vicarious I guess, and it's not really my thing, but I'm always having fun.

I've enjoyed this holiday because it's given me time to kick-start my Diary. When I'm back home, I have so much to do next door, I rarely seem to find the time. They pay me fortunes, & I feel bad if I don't give the job my full attention.

My job @ Sky Poker has been - still is, unless I have a nasty surprise when I get home - been absolutely wonderful for me. I enjoy being involved in business, & I've learned so much about the intricacies of running an Online Gaming business. Much "deeper" than I ever realised. Nice to be part of a Gaming platform which is so successful, too, with all "arms" trading at 50% or better yoy. Which, in an online poker market which has declined in excess of 20% yoy, is really quite something.

Hope all is well with you & Blue Square/Grosvenor.

Quite sad to read yesterday that J P Kelly has parted company with 'Stars. He's an immense talent, & extremely likeable, to me, anyway, no doubting that. No tits, though.

[boldie]

Villain #1 should have been able to find a fold there really playing 150BB's deep IMO.

I'm proud of you for trying that dish from Asia Noodles, I'm salivating here thinking about it, but why on earth did you inhale the pak choi?

Get well soon, there's nothing worse than being ill in Vegas.

xx

He dwelt for an absolute age, & even said "you must both have 6-7". Good read, Sir. Eventually he said "oh well, I may get lucky". And so he called, or, as the kids say, "sigh-called".

Noodle Asia? I half fancy trying "Minced beef with eggs sunny side up", but I'm scared they will pollute it with green stuff, or onions, or somesuch.

Yes, being sick in Vegas is not so good, but nature is clever, as I went to bed & slept solid for nearly 24 hours, so not so bad really. I still feel unwell, very odd in fact, my head is all over the place, and I'm not sure if I dare venture out today.

I found a lovely 24 hour pharmacy, though (thanks to Dom), smack next door to the Venetian, sell all sorts in there, so I dosed up on the American version of Night Nurse & a few other potions. Kill or cure, sort of thing. Hope I'm better before I travel home, 10 hours on a 'plane feeling like this does not sound like fun.

Obviously need to eat some fruit and veg, then you'll be fine.

You'll not get your second telegram from the queen if you don't!

Veg? Never!

We don't NEED Veg to stay healthy.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/11/18/us_veggie_law/

Sigh.

[tikay]

My Venetian Tourney tales of woe continue, another blank yesterday, in the PLO8.

Opening Table was wonderful, one poor chap limp-called EVERY single hand, but sadly, the rest of the Table were making smartarse remarks to the poor soul non-stop. Why do peeps so like to belittle? The Table broke, sadly, I was up to 33,000 from an opening 12k, just nice & steady small-pot poker.

My new Table was the complete opposite, so aggro, & they soon took me out of my comfort zone, even though I was way north of average.

One kid was well aggro, & after an hour or so of watching him dominate, only to show down pretty poor starting hands, with "one-way" prospects only, I made the fateful mistake of deciding to engage in a pissing contest with him. Eventually, I flopped a flop of absolute beauty, two nut-nut draws, & we got into a raising war on the flop, & somehow got 55,000 in before the Turn. I was a bit stunned when he called me with top pair, no real extensions, & no low draw at all, but I guess I got my come-uppance as I somehow contrived to miss the lot, & ended up with A high.......I did feel a tad silly, tbh. So that was that, another blank.

[JaffaCake]

I really enjoy your diary when you're off galivanting and having fun, or even just when you're working and having fun, basically when you're not worrying about other people's problems/actions. Can u warn me to stop reading when it gets back to the worrying about who posts what where and who said what to who stuff and I can switch off again

Keep having fun over there Gramps x

Thank you, Mr K. I think......

I don't do the current fashion, "degen", and am not sure what the attraction is, vicarious I guess, and it's not really my thing, but I'm always having fun.

I've enjoyed this holiday because it's given me time to kick-start my Diary. When I'm back home, I have so much to do next door, I rarely seem to find the time. They pay me fortunes, & I feel bad if I don't give the job my full attention.

My job @ Sky Poker has been - still is, unless I have a nasty surprise when I get home - been absolutely wonderful for me. I enjoy being involved in business, & I've learned so much about the intricacies of running an Online Gaming business. Much "deeper" than I ever realised. Nice to be part of a Gaming platform which is so successful, too, with all "arms" trading at 50% or better yoy. Which, in an online poker market which has declined in excess of 20% yoy, is really quite something.

Hope all is well with you & Blue Square/Grosvenor.

Quite sad to read yesterday that J P Kelly has parted company with 'Stars. He's an immense talent, & extremely likeable, to me, anyway, no doubting that. No tits, though.

It's nice to see u enjoying whatever it is u do, work or play, and makes your diary so readable. Forums are so tiresome when they're just full of people arguing who's right or wrong about things noone really cares about anyway.

Didn't know about JP til u just said, pretty shocked tbh. He's useless at the extra things a sposnored player has to do, turn up for things, write stuff, but he's so good that he's always in the news, just caught up with watching his main event run, he played so damn good and was so close, just one illtimed bluff (when he did it we had dinner that night and his reasoning was sound - he triple barrelled into quad queens) and he plays really high online on stars too, regular at 25 50 and higher.

Then there's Jake who has obv been holding out for Stars for years who has now signed with pkr, hard to know what more stars want from their players, bracelets, wpts, epts, always in the news, looked up to by everyone they play with. Oh yeh, no tits, you're right. Dno why they don't just sponsor a page three bird and be done with it, if u gonna sponsor a dolly bird may as well do it properly.

Your PLO8 hand sounds ridic ul, did u work out the % afterwards? Sounds like you're playing really well, keep it up....and then let's get back into the live cash at the Vic again!

[tikay]

So then I moved onto the Cash games, & it took a while to find a seat, then found myself on a "must-move".

Flopped Quads first hand - holding A-J-x-x it came an incred J-J-J, so I bet out, & the chap with Aces was a nonbeliever, especially when the case ace rivered. Wow, 2xup first hand, mbn to be me.

Soon, I was forced to move, & I took my $1,300 (started with $500) with me.

This Table was well wild, & again, the first hand I played I got the absolute lot, 4 way, & including a small sidepot. $3k to the good, & I'm almost looking for an excuse to quit now, I'm tired, have a heavy cold, & have $3k locked up on a Table with way too much gamble for me.

As chance would have it, I had no need to find an excuse to quit, as a massive dispute arose which caused a lengthy - 40 minutes & counting - adjournment whilst the hapless Floor tried to resolve an unresolvable dispute.

The pot had been a 4 way all-in, & a 7 year old American mouthy itinerant had won half of the main pot. (He was all-in pre with a hand that had so much scope to improve - 9-9-4-4!, & they ran it twice, & he hit quads), but now it all got messy.

With a Main Pot & 2 SidePots, AND running it twice, it was quite a job to sort this pot. But worry not, said itinerant (seat 7) HELPS HIMSELF to the Main Pot, splits in it half, then takes the other 50% OFF the Table & hands it to Player B, (Seat 1) who split it with him. The Dealer is a bit confused, so is everyone else, & another 10 minutes ensue trying to sort the side pot.

Meanwhile, a Korean kid, with very limited English, who split the sidey, has been well short-changed, & he quietly & politely tries to protest. Itinerant tells him to stfu, next hand is dealt. Korea won't shut up though.

Eventually, THREE HANDS later, "Floor" is summoned, & have the now impossible task of reconstructing everyone's stack retrospectively. But no worries, as Mr 7 year old Itinerant knows farking everything, & gets all shouty & excited.

And so it goes on. One by one, we are all asked for our take on it by the Floor. Not a prob, as Itinerant answers for us....

It gets to my turn to speak, & I suggest it's probably a bad thing to allow players to touch the pot, let alone remove & distribute "their bit" & bollox to everyone else. That goes down really well with Itinerant kid, who now threatens me with outside. Pretty sure he had less between his ears than he was born with, but the com bit was he called me "Pops", groan.

Was there EVER a collective worse than poker players at settling disputes? Or, come to think of it, causing them? Does nobody understand O-Level psychology these days, is dispute resolution a lost art in poker?

Anyway, it rumbles on & on, & eventually, the temptation to cut & run is too much, so I go collect some trays - THREE trays, chirpy chirp - & depart, "goodnight all". "Fuck off Pops" says Mr I.

So, that was that. Deffo not complaining, the Table was way too aggro for me, & a $3k profit in under an hour is enormous for me.

Weird how I have run - or played - so bad in the Tourneys, & ran so good - deffo "run" not "played" - in the Cash. I'll take it though, whatever happens now, that's Vegas paid for, I have had a freebie fortnight in Vegas, & will go home in profit.

I'd really like to return regularly for these Venetian Fessies, I've had so much fun, but there's so many other things I want to do next year, too - more travelling, more work, more holidays etc. So much to do......

[TightEnd]

I popped over to the Venetian when I arrived yestersday, saw Dom but apparently had just missed you. What a place, the scale of that poker room is quite something

Hopefully see you at Caesars P tomorrow

[kinboshi]

"Flopped Quads first hand - holding A-J-x-x it came an incred J-J-J, so I bet out, & the chap with Aces was a nonbeliever, especially when the case ace rivered. Wow, 2xup first hand, mbn to be me."

Wish I was Pops.

[tikay]

I popped over to the Venetian when I arrived yestersday, saw Dom but apparently had just missed you. What a place, the scale of that poker room is quite something

Hopefully see you at Caesars P tomorrow

No! So wish I'd seen you.

And yes, Poker here is a wholly different scale to anything in Europe, or anything I've ever seen, anyway. In The Venetian, 4 or 5 Tourneys daily, upwards of 1,000 Uniques, & 50+ cash games on the go, & every form of poker is laid. Valet service is incredibly good on the whole, too. "Different class" indeed. G-Luton will never be quite the same, but then again, playing with mates - & Chomps & Vinny etc - is always fun.

I'm playing today's noon Deepie, then that's me done, I go home Sunday or Monday I think. Let me know what time you need me @ Caesars tomorrow, please, & I'll come across. I guess wearing my Sky Poker patch might be a no-no, though.......

[tikay]

"Flopped Quads first hand - holding A-J-x-x it came an incred J-J-J, so I bet out, & the chap with Aces was a nonbeliever, especially when the case ace rivered. Wow, 2xup first hand, mbn to be me."

Wish I was Pops.

Truly, ALL the "big" (big to me) Pots I have won here have been no-brainers, just played themselves, the only problem being how to get all the money in.

We run bad, we run good, but I really feel for the kids who have selective memories, & only recall the runbad.

[Chompy]

Love these explosive arguments that pop up from nowhere between Yanks.

Squarehead makes it 2200 at 300-600, noisy beard dude in seat 1 calls, shorty in seat 2 shoves for 4000 total. Squarehead now shoves 50k, fair enough with QQ. Still about 100 players left.

Beardy: "You ever played a tournament before?"
Squarehead, cool as you like: "Why don't you just stfu, I paid my fking $350, we'll go outside if you like?"
Beardy stands up and it all goes nico for 5mins. Very funny.

[tikay]

I really enjoy your diary when you're off galivanting and having fun, or even just when you're working and having fun, basically when you're not worrying about other people's problems/actions. Can u warn me to stop reading when it gets back to the worrying about who posts what where and who said what to who stuff and I can switch off again

Keep having fun over there Gramps x

Thank you, Mr K. I think......

I don't do the current fashion, "degen", and am not sure what the attraction is, vicarious I guess, and it's not really my thing, but I'm always having fun.

I've enjoyed this holiday because it's given me time to kick-start my Diary. When I'm back home, I have so much to do next door, I rarely seem to find the time. They pay me fortunes, & I feel bad if I don't give the job my full attention.

My job @ Sky Poker has been - still is, unless I have a nasty surprise when I get home - been absolutely wonderful for me. I enjoy being involved in business, & I've learned so much about the intricacies of running an Online Gaming business. Much "deeper" than I ever realised. Nice to be part of a Gaming platform which is so successful, too, with all "arms" trading at 50% or better yoy. Which, in an online poker market which has declined in excess of 20% yoy, is really quite something.

Hope all is well with you & Blue Square/Grosvenor.

Quite sad to read yesterday that J P Kelly has parted company with 'Stars. He's an immense talent, & extremely likeable, to me, anyway, no doubting that. No tits, though.

It's nice to see u enjoying whatever it is u do, work or play, and makes your diary so readable. Forums are so tiresome when they're just full of people arguing who's right or wrong about things noone really cares about anyway.

Didn't know about JP til u just said, pretty shocked tbh. He's useless at the extra things a sposnored player has to do, turn up for things, write stuff, but he's so good that he's always in the news, just caught up with watching his main event run, he played so damn good and was so close, just one illtimed bluff (when he did it we had dinner that night and his reasoning was sound - he triple barrelled into quad queens) and he plays really high online on stars too, regular at 25 50 and higher.

Then there's Jake who has obv been holding out for Stars for years who has now signed with pkr, hard to know what more stars want from their players, bracelets, wpts, epts, always in the news, looked up to by everyone they play with. Oh yeh, no tits, you're right. Dno why they don't just sponsor a page three bird and be done with it, if u gonna sponsor a dolly bird may as well do it properly.

Your PLO8 hand sounds ridic ul, did u work out the % afterwards? Sounds like you're playing really well, keep it up....and then let's get back into the live cash at the Vic again!

Well I hope – or not! – that I read the JP story correctly – it was here……

http://www.pokernews.com/news/2011/11/nightly-turbo-jp-kelly-pokerstars-premier-league-11452.htm

I don’t know the back story, but there’s much more required of a Pro these days than previously, & I know he’s not much into writing stuff etc. But he turned up to rep ‘Stars at a two bit Pub Quiz in London recently, which impressed me. He has a prodigious talent, for sure. Thing is, does he really need, or want, for sponsorship? He is surely self-sufficient, & happy to be a free agent, I would have thought. Whatever, I hope it works out of for him, I like him, & he always makes himself available for Interviews etc. And I’ll invite him on the Show now he’s de-badged…..

I’ve learned a fair bit next door about varying attitudes to sponsorship, even on a small scale. Young Ryan – “scotty77” – bats well above his (rake) average, working Twitter very hard on behalf of Sky Poker & always trying to be on message, even when he is not, if you get my drift. Some work hard at it, some don’t. Just rewards, & all that, the golden days of “freebie” poker sponsorship have long gone, thank goodness.

Pleased for Jake, very pleased, he well deserves a deal, good looking kid, suitably humble, nice looking boy, incredible talent, got the lot. And PKR are one of the very small handful of Rooms who have increased market share, revenues, traffic, uniques, everything. WP them, not an easy trick to pull in the prevailing market conditions.

Incidentally, as an aside, I think Vicky Coren has done an IMMENSE job @ 'Stars, fair play to her. Witty, intelligent - VERY, great book, & forever on message. As a Pro, she ticks every box, & I think she is seriously underrated. I hope her 'Stars gig lasts forever, she deserves it, she really does work hard at it, & she is multi-talented, fully gets SEO, on TV & all sorts, & a terrific scribe, too. Don't take such talent for granted.

[tikay]

Love these explosive arguments that pop up from nowhere between Yanks.

Squarehead makes it 2200 at 300-600, noisy beard dude in seat 1 calls, shorty in seat 2 shoves for 4000 total. Squarehead now shoves 50k, fair enough with QQ. Still about 100 players left.

Beardy: "You ever played a tournament before?"
Squarehead, cool as you like: "Why don't you just stfu, I paid my fking $350, we'll go outside if you like?"
Beardy stands up and it all goes nico for 5mins. Very funny.

Not sure I understand that. Which one are you, SquareHead or Beardy?

[kinboshi]

Pleased for Jake, very pleased, he well deserves a deal, good looking kid, suitably humble, nice looking boy, incredible talent, got the lot.

Yes, but do you think he's handsome enough?

[tikay]

Pleased for Jake, very pleased, he well deserves a deal, good looking kid, suitably humble, nice looking boy, incredible talent, got the lot.

Yes, but do you think he's handsome enough?

Twice as handsome......

[Royal Flush]

Vicky and Liv are the first 2 people i would sponsor if i were running a poker room in the UK, the gap to 3rd is quite big.