Vegas & The Aftermath - Diary

[tikay]

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

Knew you'd not let me down, thank you, hours & hours of perusing there.

Top man, really appreciate those (ditto the next Post), you are a top man.

It does include some bridges, right?

[tikay]

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....."

That's quite an amazing coincidence.

My first ever bet was 10p each way on Snow Knight in the 1974 Derby.

Only difference I was 6 and you must have been about 37.

Happy New Year Tony!

You always did struggle with the maths, Keith.....

My Post was badly worded - I was NOT on Snow Knight, how could I be? - it could not possibly win.

How the hell did you pick that one out?

[tikay]

The sender? Tony Cooper! Royal Ormonde Past Captain to Past Captain, that'll not feature on too many TV Shows.....

I've not seen Tony in years, but what enthusiasm he had. He used to drive a big Jaguar, & had retired from working at Rolls Royce Hucknall, as I recall, lovely guy. We all used to go across to Skeggy two or three times a year, you too, jeez, the wind used to blow there!

I can barely believe he was watching the Show.

I bet sometimes you can barely believe anyone is watching you.....

Lovely chap, Mr Cooper........... despite being a Sunderland supporter (IIRC).

Yup, confirmed Mackem. I made the mistake of going to a match with him once - may have been to their old ground, Roker Park - & he don't half get excited, thought he was gonna have a heart attack. Only Slow-Mo Hawksworth got more excited, but that's another story altogether. Another Royal Ormonde Past Captain, too.

The very first time I set foot in the Ormonde Clubhouse, fully expecting the decorum normally associated with Golf Club Bars, Tony Cooper & Simon Hawksworth were both standing on chairs, screaming at the TV. Tony was just a typical Sunderland football nutter, & Simon had some weird spread bet on the go, (multi-corners or cross corners) & had imploded because a corner had been denied, which, iirc, cost him several thousand.

Jeez, oh what days. Then I discovered poker, & the TV thing started, with Compo, & Johnny Gould.

And no, I can't believe people watch it, but they also watch Big Brother, if you get my drift. 

[Simon Galloway]

If ever a mulligan should be permitted...

[b4matt]

Golf boooo

Saw this and thought of you x

Concrete and art...

http://allthingsconcrete.blogspot.com/2010/09/melinda-horvath-concrete-veil.html

[tikay]

Golf boooo

Saw this and thought of you x

Concrete and art...

http://allthingsconcrete.blogspot.com/2010/09/melinda-horvath-concrete-veil.html

Sorry Matt, wrong Diary, art goes next door, with dead bonfires, & peanuts.

[b4matt]

Beltingcrossthreadingsee

[RED-DOG]

Golf boooo

Saw this and thought of you x

Concrete and art...

http://allthingsconcrete.blogspot.com/2010/09/melinda-horvath-concrete-veil.html

Sorry Matt, wrong Diary, art goes next door, with dead bonfires, & peanuts.

Just wait until I start telling them stories of my degeneracy.

Believe it or not, in my younger days I sometimes used to say up all night reading poetry.

Some of it didn't even rhyme FFS!

[DMorgan]

What do you mean by your last sentence, perspective from the other side of which fence?

A poker player that enjoys other forms of gambling as opposed to a poker player that never does any sports betting, table games etc.

[david3103]

I'll tell the story soonest, but for those that know their golf, the 10th @ The Belfry sorts the men from the boys......

This photo is from the green, looking back towards the tee (hidden behind that overhanging tree on the left of picture), but I have a better view of it in a painting of it I have at home, I'll see if I can Post it later.

QFT...

[Karabiner]

Golf boooo

Saw this and thought of you x

Concrete and art...

http://allthingsconcrete.blogspot.com/2010/09/melinda-horvath-concrete-veil.html

Sorry Matt, wrong Diary, art goes next door, with dead bonfires, & peanuts.

I thought you mentioned having a painting at home a few posts back..

[bobby1]

Hi Tony,

Yes still working the golf in running tho I have got stuck into the footy much more this season which strangely had a bad affect on my NFL stuff, not been a good season so far. I just don't seem to have the feel for it this season, maybe concentrating on the footy more at the weekends took the edge of the NFL.

That is a lovely picture of the tenth at the Belfry, I have a question for you about it. I think the story used to be that only two people had driven the green from the tee( this is in the days before advanced golf technology and front tee boxes made it easily reachable to the pro's), do you remember who they were and if my memory serves me isn't there/was there a plaque on the hole that celebrates one of them doing this?

[Geo the Sarge]

Found this site/page whilst researching some old Edinburgh stuff earlier thought you'd like.

I remember you posting somewhere about your stay in the Caledonian Hotel at the foot of Lothian Road and you mentioned that it was originally one of the big "railway hotels" and used to be served by it's own station.

These photos cover the old "Princess Street" station and the line running away from it that used to be behind the Caledonian Hotel but most people who know a wee bit about Edinburgh will now know as the Western Approach Road which runs behind the Foutnainpark Complex where the Gentings/Circus Casino is.

Am sure you will recognise the painted former entrance to the old station as you would've seen it on entering the hotel.

http://www.railbrit.co.uk/location.php?loc=Edinburgh+Princes+Street

Edit: The station basically stood where the huge Standard Life building now sits

Geo

[tikay]

If Timeform had a blonde Diary, it would say.....

WPT Dublin, Grade 2. Exploded out of the stalls, very strong early pace, up with the leaders throughout, took a breather three out, totally dominated the field. Entered the final furlong leading by a distance, & won hard held. Fully exposed, but may still have improvement in him. Can be tempremental, runs better when blinkered. P
 

[MereNovice]

If Timeform had a blonde Diary, it would say.....

WPT Dublin, Grade 2. Exploded out of the stalls, very strong early pace, up with the leaders throughout, took a breather three out, totally dominated the field. Entered the final furlong leading by a distance, & won hard held. Fully exposed, but may still have improvement in him. Can be tempremental, runs better when blinkered. P
 

Is Timeform known for its awful spelling?