Vegas & The Aftermath - Diary

[I KNOW IT]

Happy Anniversary Tikay.

7 Years today since you decided to become a Blonde.

Amazing, but geeky spot, that, Jim.

Yes, 29th January 2005 was the day the Forum began.

Amongst those who signed up that day, and remain active on blonde to this day, were Karabiner, bookiebasher, bobby1, NewportLad, I KNOW IT, luckyblind, Nick Whiten (now at DTD), & byronicacid.

I was in Copenhagen, at the EPT, & I did my first, impromptu, Live Update. Lots of stories around it, in fact, I might just bore everyone to death & tell them, too, but special mention of Joe Beevers who was so helpful to me that day.  We have remained very good friends, often working together, since then, though we had a bit of a tiff & a separation during the P4C thing. That was inevitable, as we were opposite sides of a very  tricky & uncomfortable fence, but we are as cool as cucumbers (an odd expression) these days, & I saw him quite recently, socially. He has been helpful & supportive to blonde throughout.

I really wish I had the time to write more, as I could pen so many stories which started that day.

Interesting (perhaps….) to see the top four finishers in that particular Season 1 EPT.

1st – Noah Boaken

2nd – Ram Vaswani

3rd – Charalambos Xanthos (aka Bambos)

4th - Thewy

156 runners, & $190k up top, with $30k to 4th.

My, how the EPT has grown, & how poker has changed. Thewy, meanwhile, is still getting the job done, with three tidy Live Comps won in the last 9 months from a pretty small sample.

My, how time flies and so much water has flowed under many bridges.
I remember that was the year when Paul Maxfield was runner up in the WPT Championship, I wanted to post what was happening but my internet went down at home, bearing in mind Paul was a close friend and we had been  talking on the phone after each days play, I was gutted that I wouldn't be able to follow the action on a certain sites updates .(remember this was 2005) Then Peter (Bandit ) Evans called me and told me to come over to his and follow it from there. Peter lived around 30 miles away but I couldnt get there quick enough and followed the updates through out the night reproducing them on Blonde. That is one night I will never forget.
Paul unfortunately was the runner up that night but that tournament didnt go with out a lot of controversy

[bobby1]

Happy Anniversary Tikay.

7 Years today since you decided to become a Blonde.

Amazing, but geeky spot, that, Jim.

Yes, 29th January 2005 was the day the Forum began.

Amongst those who signed up that day, and remain active on blonde to this day, were Karabiner, bookiebasher, bobby1, NewportLad, I KNOW IT, luckyblind, Nick Whiten (now at DTD), & byronicacid.

I was in Copenhagen, at the EPT, & I did my first, impromptu, Live Update. Lots of stories around it, in fact, I might just bore everyone to death & tell them, too, but special mention of Joe Beevers who was so helpful to me that day.  We have remained very good friends, often working together, since then, though we had a bit of a tiff & a separation during the P4C thing. That was inevitable, as we were opposite sides of a very  tricky & uncomfortable fence, but we are as cool as cucumbers (an odd expression) these days, & I saw him quite recently, socially. He has been helpful & supportive to blonde throughout.

I really wish I had the time to write more, as I could pen so many stories which started that day.

Interesting (perhaps….) to see the top four finishers in that particular Season 1 EPT.

1st – Noah Boaken

2nd – Ram Vaswani

3rd – Charalambos Xanthos (aka Bambos)

4th - Thewy

156 runners, & $190k up top, with $30k to 4th.

My, how the EPT has grown, & how poker has changed. Thewy, meanwhile, is still getting the job done, with three tidy Live Comps won in the last 9 months from a pretty small sample.

My, how time flies and so much water has flowed under many bridges.
I remember that was the year when Paul Maxfield was runner up in the WPT Championship, I wanted to post what was happening but my internet went down at home, bearing in mind Paul was a close friend and we had been  talking on the phone after each days play, I was gutted that I wouldn't be able to follow the action on a certain sites updates .(remember this was 2005) Then Peter (Bandit ) Evans called me and told me to come over to his and follow it from there. Peter lived around 30 miles away but I couldnt get there quick enough and followed the updates through out the night reproducing them on Blonde. That is one night I will never forget.
Paul unfortunately was the runner up that night but that tournament didnt go with out a lot of controversy

Strangely enough mate I remember that and just to show it's a small world, I picked him as the William Hill poker rankings European player of the month and I think Tikay interviewed him.

[jgcblack]

TK,

I just wanted to be a bit random and say 'nice one, well done' on your Daniel Neg interview... I don't know when it was but I'm just up late downloading some movies from my new educational poker site I've joined with Sky Poker on in the background.

And the Dan N interview comes up and among other beauties is this...

TK - 'So, Danie, you're a bit of a sports bettor?'
Negreanu - 'Yeah well Ice Hockey, I used to do that a lot'
TK - 'Oh the thing with the ball and stick..'
Neg - 'errr... yeah'
TK - 'Thats what the girls play here in England...'   
Neg - 'errr....'


At this point I actually started rolling around my chair and chortling to myself! 



So thank you for this moment of joviality.. and take care, see you soon I'm sure.

jb

[tikay]

LilDave gives forth, swears a bit, has a rant or two, & gives a little money to charity, too. Balancing his range now, see?


http://bit.ly/w8h0PV

[NoflopsHomer]

The WSOP November Nine is no more?

http://www.pokerlistings.com/wsop-drops-november-nine-for-2012-68188

That is well & truly laying the ghost of Jeffrey Pollack.

Yeah, but it's not as big a change as people think. The final is going to be on the 28th to the 30th of October, basically they're moving it one week back. The real change is the removal of things like the $10k limit and $10k limit 08 (Flushy will be devved by this I reckon). Some of the new 'novelty' type events look like they've been cribbed straight from the EPT. I still don't understand why Stars haven't setup a series to run against the WSOP given the mutual antipathy.

TD Steve Frezer is running the GSOP here in Salzburg and he says the Rio will have more space this year which is why there will only be 3 start days for the main event, atm Harrah's actually believes they might well get an increase in numbers from last year.

[tikay]

The WSOP November Nine is no more?

http://www.pokerlistings.com/wsop-drops-november-nine-for-2012-68188

That is well & truly laying the ghost of Jeffrey Pollack.

Yeah, but it's not as big a change as people think. The final is going to be on the 28th to the 30th of October, basically they're moving it one week back. The real change is the removal of things like the $10k limit and $10k limit 08 (Flushy will be devved by this I reckon). Some of the new 'novelty' type events look like they've been cribbed straight from the EPT. I still don't understand why Stars haven't setup a series to run against the WSOP given the mutual antipathy.

TD Steve Frezer is running the GSOP here in Salzburg and he says the Rio will have more space this year which is why there will only be 3 start days for the main event, atm Harrah's actually believes they might well get an increase in numbers from last year.

Keep up Floppy! And yes, there will be more space, & Tables in use this year.

http://blondepoker.com/forum/index.php?topic=56648.15

[NoflopsHomer]

Oh I missed that thread, thanks. I'm stuck in this large warehouse near a construction site on the edge of Salzburg, it's a very weird tournament setup but fun. A bit like a slightly nicer version of those studios that Matchroom use.

[tikay]

I chanced upon this gem of a quote by Theodore Rosevolt yesterday.

It is not the critic that counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly, who errs, and comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds."

I think I might love young Theodore.

[tikay]

What a week!

I'll reply to the comments & questions soonest, but keep them coming, please, I'm grateful for all of them.

[bobby1]

Are you sure that isn't Stephen Fry?

[tikay]

Are you sure that isn't Stephen Fry?

Close. Ish.

Click to see full-size image.

[gatso]

I chanced upon this gem of a quote by Theodore Rosevolt yesterday.

It is not the critic that counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly, who errs, and comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds."

I think I might love young Theodore.

did you happen to find your memory as you were 'chancing upon' that quote?

http://blondepoker.com/forum/index.php?topic=30601.msg1460282#msg1460282

[tikay]

Cliffs for the last 10 days or so.

Prep for Luton SPT, cope with a last minute avalanche of "can you get me a seat?" requests. With 10 days to go, we had sold 74 seats, but we eventually maxed out at a capacity of 200.

Luton SPT weekend - total success from start to finish, ran like clockwork, good atmo throughout, no aggro, no cock-ups, & a terrific Final Table, with Thewy getting the winners cheque. I played poker Friday night & most of Saturday, & on Sunday, I did the live commentary for both the room, & the Live Stream, for 10 hours straight. Not too many "stfu & gtfo" comments, thankfully, though Mrs Bracket in the DC cash game was not overly impressed.

Monday, write & endlessly edited the Press Release for the re-launch of Ch 865 last night. Also, having been Offline @ Luton on Friday through Sunday, commence the catch up on mountains of e-Mails, PM's, messages, etc. Am still working through that pile. 7 of the SPT Finalists wrote to me afterwards & said how well the Event went, which was lovely to see. 

Tuesday, announce a raft of changes next door. Well received, almost universally, with just a small minority having their customary "me me me" moan. It's very hard to please everyone, but we got pretty close. Amongst the changes was upping the Min sit down on cash Tables, which is something people get quite passionate about, & seem to be either strongly for or against, with very little middle ground.

Wednesday morning, announce & set up all the Forum Threads & Tweets for SPT Glasgow & Brighton, both of which take place on the same day. I am pretty sure that demand will be double the available capacity. (6 of the Brighton seats went yesterday, today we start quallies for Glasgow). A nice problem to have.

Wednesday from Noon until 7pm, final "technical rehearsal" (cameras, gallery, sound etc) for the re-launch. It was a full "as Live" rehearsal, wardrobe, make up, the lot. Quite hard to rev up the necessary enthusiasm when you know it is not going out, but it has to be done. I was happy that I was ready for the real thing.

Thursday, came into the office at 4am, then went home @ Noon to get a pre-Show power-nap. (5 hours plus an hour rehearsal takes a bit of energy, & I work better when fresh). Just about got into bed when the phone exploded with calls, & it was time-sensitive stuff, very much so. Discussions as to blonde sponsorship are very important, & so off we went, 10 or 15 phone calls with three different individuals, & a dozen e-mails, all within the space of 2 hours. Good progress though, & I'd be very very happy if we can nail it, it is EXACTLY what I think we want, & need.

Slept fitfully for an hour, woke at 3pm, shower shave & ****, back to the Studio, wardrobe with Triple Barrel & her Triple-Barrel assistant, (I have my own posh dressing room now, ooooh), then make-up, then an hours break. 

At 6.15, final rehearsals, then the new Live Show began at 7pm, & we knew that all the SB&G suits would be glued to the screen, so a bit scary, but you just gotta deliver, & I think we did. Redmond & Mr Hartigan were incredibly good, I was just me. The Show was well-received, judging by feedback, such as you can.

Quite long, the new Show - 5 hours, with just a 5 min break at the top of each hour, & barely time to have a leak in each break as the toilets are some way distant. I coped OK, but 5 hours in a Live TV Studio is quite a stint.

Today, I feel dreadful, & so I'm taking the day off, tomorrow, DTD for the £500, & so a lovely relaxing weekend ahead, & fingers crossed, we can get the blonde Sponsorship negotiations to favourable resolution, that'll be a huge weight off my mind. blonde will continue come what may, no danger, but it's getting the wages paid that is the primary issue, Tighty is blonde these days, & he works so hard. Be nice to get the Server Costs paid, too, it's only £200+ per month, but it adds up over time, & when my stint next door ends, & I'll be mostly without income, & living off reserves, so I'll not be able to continue funding it indefinitely.   

[tikay]

I chanced upon this gem of a quote by Theodore Rosevolt yesterday.

It is not the critic that counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly, who errs, and comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds."

I think I might love young Theodore.

did you happen to find your memory as you were 'chancing upon' that quote?

http://blondepoker.com/forum/index.php?topic=30601.msg1460282#msg1460282

Wow, good spot, trust Tom to Post that, & you to spot it

I "chanced upon it" as I finished reading "Too Big to Fail" last night, in bed.

It's the story of the subprime crisis, the failure of Lehman Brothers, TARP, & the rescue of all the other Wall Street Institutions, &, eventually, the US Economy.

It is quoted at the very end of the final chapter of the book, & it really jumped off the page, especially as I had just seen an esteemed sportsman described on blonde recently as a "complete idiot" because he failed to win something, & so it seemed somewhat timely, & struck a chord.

I then googled it this morning (to save me typing it out) & I found it here.....

http://www.frfrogspad.com/trsaid.htm

Not the first time Tom would get there first, & won't be the last. No shame there, damn that Diary of his.

[gatso]

Wow, good spot, trust Tom to Post that

he didn't