Vegas & The Aftermath - Diary

[AndrewT]

Ok - I'm off to write something funny about balaclavas which I'm thinking of adding into my set for Saturday........

Is this true or are you just trying to pull the wool over our eyes?

[tikay]

Oh, & added to that, Ralph......

I don't actually recall, but I do know the Match was on a Sunday, & "settling day" was Monday (as a@ Midnight Sunday), so maybe I was in the hole for a few thou that week, & needed to "gamble" to get out of it.

It was a regular occurrence, the Sunday spin up.

[Dingdell]

Good luck Saturday, Miss D, & I hope a few blondes stagger along to rail you.
I gather Dad is not so well right now, with that damn dreaded disease. Thoughts are with you both.
x

Tnx - yes very angry with the world today and playing the 'what if' game in our heads. The good thing about all of this is that it had brought us closer than we could ever imagine, we were a very distant parent and child and for that change in our relationship I am truly grateful. I was happy with 'distant' because I didn't know any different so this has been a blessing in one way.

Very nervous about Saturday as it's the first time I will be judged on content and performance with a visible result, and everyone else who is competing in my heat has been on the circuit for almost or at least 12 months. I may be being over confident entering now but it is a competition for comics with less that 2 years on the circuit and it's an annual competition so it's just fallen this way for me. If I don't give it a go how will I ever know?

Ok - I'm off to write something funny about balaclavas which I'm thinking of adding into my set for Saturday........

My best wishes to you and your dad.


PS- Balaclavas are like minges, no fun if you have an oversized itchy one..

Tnx Tom xx
Lol you are far more racy than I ever thought.....I was going with something along the lines of "I have a date next week and my Dad has given me some money to go and buy something nice to help the date go well, he suggested a balaclava but I've plumped for rohipnol."

[MereNovice]

Oh, & added to that, Ralph......

I don't actually recall, but I do know the Match was on a Sunday, & "settling day" was Monday (as a@ Midnight Sunday), so maybe I was in the hole for a few thou that week, & needed to "gamble" to get out of it.

It was a regular occurrence, the Sunday spin up.

Sunday 25/02/2001.

[RED-DOG]

Tnx Tom xx
Lol you are far more racy than I ever thought.....I was going with something along the lines of "I have a date next week and my Dad has given me some money to go and buy something nice to help the date go well, he suggested a balaclava but I've plumped for rohipnol."

They laughed when I told them you were doing stand up.

They're not laughing now.....













Break a leg Trace. 

[TightEnd]

you thought the Belfry was a "thank you" freebie but they charged you £30,000?

[tikay]

you thought the Belfry was a "thank you" freebie but they charged you £30,000?

No.

When I checked, that was roughly how much I had lost on IG Index in 12 months.

It was just a broad analogy, "a round of golf cost me £30k"......

[TightEnd]

you thought the Belfry was a "thank you" freebie but they charged you £30,000?

No.

When I checked, that was roughly how much I had lost on IG Index in 12 months.

It was just a broad analogy, "a round of golf cost me £30k"......

sorry. gotcha.

Nice earner for the Pro's, I suspect

[rex008]

you thought the Belfry was a "thank you" freebie but they charged you £30,000?

No.

When I checked, that was roughly how much I had lost on IG Index in 12 months.

It was just a broad analogy, "a round of golf cost me £30k"......

sorry. gotcha.

Nice earner for the Pro's, I suspect

That's not very nice Mr Prew. I'm sure they didn't put their fees up that much when they heard it was tikay.

[DMorgan]

I was asked, on a Betting Thread, why I was always seen lurking on all the Betting Board stuff. I replied,l & there were questions off the back of it.

My Post read like this, & I'll reply to the questions afterwards......

"....I'm afraid I have gone the whole nine yards, & a bit more besides, punting, during my life.

I started with regular punting on the horses in the Betting shops, in fact, I can date it almost to the day - I did my first lump in the 1974 Derby, on a horse that could not possibly win - Snow Knight, Bryan Taylor was up top, (the horse was trained by Peter Nelson), & was thrown from the animal in the parade ring, & the horse then played up shocking going down. No way he could win, of course. He cantered up @ 50/1, & I did a week's wages.

I got heavilly into the horse in the next 20 years, I was a Member at Cheltenham, Newmarket, & Southwell (!), & I subscribed to all the usual punters gumf, mainly Timeform Racecards, etc. In fact, I had the honour & pleasure to meet both Phil Bull & Reg Griffin on numerous occasions, & I was a sort of regular visitor at Timeform House in Halifax.  I doubt I failed to have a bet less than 10 days in 20 years, during which I learned a lot, & lost even more.

Dogs, too, at one stage, I was dog racing 5 or 6 nights per week - White City, Hackney BAGS (Saturday mornings), Haringey, Walthamstow, Wimbledon, Hendon, Watford, & in later years, Slough BAGS etc. I adored Slough as a track, in fact. I done my money in these punting forecast doubs & trebs, 112 x 10p Forecast Doubles, da de da.....

Later - much later, I discovered Spread betting, groan.....I adored it, & it gives me a tingle even to this day to think about the buzz it gave me. I was with IG Index, & back in the day, what a punter had to do if he wanted to punt "unlimited" was produce a Bank Statement every 3 months proving they were "good" for £50k. So I did that, & loved it. Every Monday, settlement was by cheque. Trust was still around then!

Then I had 2 shocks, days apart.

First up, I was on the Arsenal one Sunday afternoon up @ Old Trafford, on something called "Supremacy", I think I was on at £500 per goal, or whatever. It was carnage - 6-1, I seem to recall. I had plenty of chance to "get out" (you just reversed the bet to get out) but like the fool I am, I hung in, & did the lot, the fat end of £3k as I recall.

Days later, I was a Guest of IG Index at a "private" Golf weekend, @ The Belfry. This was not long after, or before, the Ryder Cup was held there, I think. I booked in & was given a "King Suite", in it was a complete wardrobe of new golf gear, also a note that my Tee-Time on the Saturday morning was 9am, on the Brabazon Course (THE best course @ Belfry).

I toddle up @ 9am the next morning, & there on the tee was Sam Torrance & Ken Brown. "Oh, sorry Guys, thought I was booked for 9am" sorta thing. And I was - I had 18 holes with those two, err, "duffers".

Later, I thought it through, why would IG be so nice to me? A quick look at my Statement confirmed the inevitable. That Golf Weekend had cost me the fat end of £30,000......

The very same week, I discovered Poker, & I snap gave up punting. I think I may have wagered a total of £100 since then, just on Corporate days out at York Races with SB&G etc, nothing else, not a bean.

Snap "cured"?

Not really!

I still yearn to punt, it's like alcholism, or gambling anon, the bug never leaves me, but so far, I've resisted.

My current desire is to mess around on the exchanges, Betfair utterly fascinates me, the maths & logic seem right up my street, but so far, I've managed to resist.

Whether I can continue to resist is another matter altogether. But make no mistake, I've won & lost fortunes gambling. And I do mean fortunes. I'm not proud of it, not at all, but I've never borrowed or stolen to punt, but I have sent myself skinto several times, & dug myself out - by working, not punting - each time. Don't really wanna go down that road again, not at my age!

So yes, I still love to see what's happening with the punting, & have a little smile to myself when I see "idiot betting" - folks doing short-priced accas on football & horses etc.

I tried the "other side" as a youngster too, & took a "Settling Course" with Wm Hill (this was pre Computers or even Genies) which I passed, I think I scored 99.3%, & they offered me a job as a LBO Manager, but I wanted to own my own Shop, so I declined. Then began 5 years in trying to buy a second hand" LBO, & that's a story in itself, believe me.

Now, I have ended up in a lovely place, I work in poker, & work for a "Gaming Site". Every day, I get several updates as to our Sky Bet liabilities, who we want to win, who we want to get beat, then @ 9am the next morning, on the very dot, I see all the numbers, which are midnight-midnight daily, & split into each sport, & each of the "arms" of SB&G. And the daily poker "margin", we look to keep making better numbers, obv, & these are split into each format - so that gives me a kick, a buzz, too, as the Company is stunningly successful. (Ignore all the "SB&G is shit" nonsense, the business is incredible).

I cannot imagine living without the thrill of a punt, be it regular betting, poker, whatever, so I've fallen pretty lucky now, to be honest. I have a pretty impressive library of Bloodstock books, & books about legendary punters, etc. The whole scene just thrills me to bits.

I'm probably a candidate for Gamblers Anon, in truth, except that I'm in remission, & have been for a decade or more. The urge is still there, though, I just satisfy it in other ways. I've never lost money at poker, never made much, either, I just play small-ball, & nick a bit here & there, nice & quietly, whilst the kids shout & scream if they have a winning night, & tell me I cannot play, because I'm over 40, bless them.

Sorry for the overly long reply - as you can seee, I have a bit of a passion for punting....."

A classic case of books and covers...never had any idea you used to be a big time punter! Incred story, please post an Eso Kral type story now and again, these kind of things make for very entertaining reading - especially for those of us that just don't sports bet. The perspective from the other side of the fence is fascinating

[TommyD]

Mrs O's barnet must be a were-wolf as it doesn't cast any shadow.

I thought that was vampires?

You're confusing shadows with reflections.  A vampire has a shadow but no reflection.  A werewolf has both a shadow and a reflection, and on occasion has attacked it's reflection.  Except for Teen Wolf obviously who just liked Basketball and Truck Surfing.

Pack it up, Tommy, wrong Diary, we don't do all that arty nonsense here, we do proper things.

Still, I do want to congratulate you on that UKOPS bink - £15,000 - probably the biggest Tourney win ever on Sky Poker, at a guess? Your Sharkscope graph now looks pretty neat too, what a turn-round halfway along, how did that happen, did you change your game or something?

We'd like you to come on 865 as a Guest one evening, if you are up for it, just say the word, & I'll sort it. Go on, you know you want to.....

Poker talk in your diary.  Shucks.

Thank you very much Tikay, can't actually remember what James binked during the first UKOPS but I think the number are close.  There was also a massive prizepool way back when for one of the first Primos.  My score is more than likely at least in the top three.

Two main things really have affected my 'scope.  First up I totally revamped my MTT game.  I got a little obsessed at the start of last year when I realised a monkey ramdonly thrashing at a keyboard would have won a daily main event in the amount of times I had tried and failed.  Buckled down a lot, worked on the technical side, mainly gear changes (so much more important in 6max than in full ring) and when to flip.  Also really tried to sort out my 20BB and under play as well.  Really happy to see the work come up trumps last year.

Secondly I have really benefitted from the structure changes and bigger buy in tournaments introduced last year.  A few of us (Young Mr TiltBean a clear example) have turned bad to shocking graphs into good winners from the, from my point of view, better and slower structures.  Combine the two together, sprinkle run good throughout and I ended up nicking the 'Scope Polo Star from Sneed at the end of the year.

I'd love to come on 865 Sir, PM me here or there when you're thinking of and we'll sort it.

[bobby1]

I was going to reply on the Tighty thread Tony but after reading your gambling post I thought I would reply in your diary.

I remember you telling me the golf weekend story once and I would have loved to hear even more of your punting memories, I love reading gambling tales. You must have had some great days in there too?

To have gone so long without a bet and knowing it was the best thing for you to do is a big achievement, really shows a strength of character I already know you have but in a different light. Stay off it mate, not only do you have to pick winners these days you have to get on in bits here and there and get paid afterwards. Far more hassle than it should be, you can make it pay through poker and that's far more relaxing and I know it brings you a lot of enjoyment too.

[mondatoo]

Hope you put a decent round in.

[Tonji]

For when you get a spare hour or so. Some best of the year from around the world.

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2011/12/25/sunday-review/2011-pictures-of-the-year.html

http://framework.latimes.com/2011/12/28/the-year-in-pictures-2011/#/0

http://www.washingtonpost.com/conversations/iconic-and-memorable-images-from-2011/2011/12/23/gIQAHkCcOP_gallery.html?tid=sm_btn_tw#photo=1

http://blogs.sacbee.com/photos/2011/12/looking-back-at-images-from-20.html?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter#mi_rss=The%20Frame

(Associated Press) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qQf-rBUzkUo&feature=youtu.be

http://blog.gettyimages.com/2011/12/19/year-in-focus-the-images-that-defined-2011/

http://lightbox.time.com/2011/12/12/time-picks-the-most-surprising-photos-of-2011/#1

[Tonji]

Some Natural History Photographs to inspire.

http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/visions/field-test/nichols-serengeti/photo-gallery#/NaN

http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2011/12/50_best_photos_of_the_natural.html