Vegas & The Aftermath - Diary

[Bad Beat]

 All the big PLO is at the Palm Beech these days though. £10/£25 runs every night I believe although I have only played poker five times this year and none have been at the Vic or the Palm Beech.

 Btw - I did intend to reply about poker rooms rewards systems and contributed rake, I just never got time. What was the question again?

[tikay]

I don't generally play much PLO in the Vic.

 It used to be that the £5/£10 PLO always started at between 4.30pm and 6pm and broke around 1am. That game depended on the smae bunch of regs and it stopped happening regularly every day around eighteen months ago. In order to "breed" a new PLO player pool £1/£2 and £1/£3 PLO games were introduced. The £1/£2 happens every day now (I think) and occasionally they may run £1/£1 or £1/£3 or some combination of two tables of PLO. The players in these games tend to stay for the night and if you aren't in the top three on the list you are on for a long wait.

 You are correct that the Vic are often reluctant to start new games and some staff seem happy to see a list of 15 names. They are scared that the game will start and break.

 The players have to take some responsibility though. Way too many regs are reluctant to play short-handed and don't want to help start games.

 This really is the problem that stops extra games from running. I'm just about to write a blog about that actually.

Appreciate both the replies, Neil, thank you.

All I seem to get is this bit....

This usually results in much sucking of air through teeth and a vague estimate of a time we could start in about 40 minutes

....which I am very familiar with.

I'd happily jump a train & go up there most afternoons & stay until late evening (I have to work in the mornings...), but I cba to go all the way up there & then wait for hours, & see the Regulars sneak into seats & jump the queue. They often disappear for an hour for Dinner, locking up the seat, & only regulars seem to be able to "play over".

I really have tried to get involved there, but so far, no joy. Given that poker is not exactly booming, & I'm a monsta fish, you'd have thought getting a game of Omaha going, at maybe £2 £2 or £5 £5 would be relatively easy. Guess I'll just stay at home & play Online, but I do rather enjoy the personal interaction of Live Poker.

[tikay]

All the big PLO is at the Palm Beech these days though. £10/£25 runs every night I believe although I have only played poker five times this year and none have been at the Vic or the Palm Beech.

 Btw - I did intend to reply about poker rooms rewards systems and contributed rake, I just never got time. What was the question again?

The question was exactly that, where do you stand on this "contributed Rake" method?

The PLO Game @ Palm Beach, £10 £25, that'd be a bit big for me, I fancy, I'd have to work for a year to cover a week's losses......

You mention you were about to pen a blog on cash games etc, I never you wrote stuff. Do they limit the BBP mentions to, say, 100 times per piece?

Congrats, by the way, on BBP sorting an Event @ Aspers in Stratford, you must have shot through that metaphorical front door five minutes before I did. (Watch this space, as to next door). London is crying out for third-party friendly fully licensed Venues, & in that respect, we have tried The Vic, but they don't exactly fall over themselves to welcome such Events, & there is no other suitable London Venue, or not until Aspers Stratford opened, anyway. Trust you to be first out of the blocks, & top marks to you for that.

Did you know I'm now a full time pro punter? Some old timer set me up a treat, think his name is Camel or somesuch. Ever heard of him?

http://blondepoker.com/forum/index.php?topic=56581.0

I had £50 on who received first, & if the singer girl used a headset for the half-time Show in last nights Super Bowl. Dear old Cyril Stein will be turning in his grave, bless him.

[bobby1]

One of my favourite gambling stories was a Cyril Stein one about the Miss world contest.

He convinced Laddies to get involved in it and was at the venue sorting out the wheat from the chaff, as it were when he got some info that one of the girls was ' expected' to be tough to beat. He put out a market  knowing other firms would copy the prices with strict instructions not to lay this particular girl.

He then bet the girl to win a decent amount and was in the front row of the audience when the result was announced. He didn't realise until he saw it on TV that he was clearly visible in the coverage jumping out if his seat, fist pumping, shouting oioi miss whatever her name was with akind of 'get in there you beauty face'

[tikay]

One of my favourite gambling stories was a Cyril Stein one about the Miss world contest.

He convinced Laddies to get involved in it and was at the venue sorting out the wheat from the chaff, as it were when he got some info that one of the girls was ' expected' to be tough to beat. He put out a market  knowing other firms would copy the prices with strict instructions not to lay this particular girl.

He then bet the girl to win a decent amount and was in the front row of the audience when the result was announced. He didn't realise until he saw it on TV that he was clearly visible in the coverage jumping out if his seat, fist pumping, shouting oioi miss whatever her name was with akind of 'get in there you beauty face'

More Uncle Cyril stories please, Phil.

[tikay]

One of my favourite gambling stories was a Cyril Stein one about the Miss world contest.

He convinced Laddies to get involved in it and was at the venue sorting out the wheat from the chaff, as it were when he got some info that one of the girls was ' expected' to be tough to beat. He put out a market  knowing other firms would copy the prices with strict instructions not to lay this particular girl.

He then bet the girl to win a decent amount and was in the front row of the audience when the result was announced. He didn't realise until he saw it on TV that he was clearly visible in the coverage jumping out if his seat, fist pumping, shouting oioi miss whatever her name was with akind of 'get in there you beauty face'

Thought that may interest you, Phil.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Hill_(businessman)

This is a little less cheerful, what a mess the Playtech thing was!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Hill_(bookmaker)

Do you ever regret moving on from Wm Hill?

Was very impressed with your clever little "edge" bets in last night's SP.

[tikay]

Well I'm glad today is done, & it's gone well. So far, anyway.

The last week blew me away a bit, we had SPT Luton last weekend, the re-Launch of 865 on Thursday, with a full rehearsal on Wednesday, then I went up to DTD over the weekend for the Deepie, & spent most of Saturday night trapped in a traffic jam, after leaving the warm & welcoming "open all night" DTD. Could never have imagined I would turn down the chance of being "trapped" all night in a poker room!

The DTD deal timing was a bit awkward. I had gone home on Thursday lunchtime to get some rest before the new 5 hour Live Show - well tiring, that - & just got into bed when the phones started getting hot on the DTD thing. I explained to Rob, Nick, & Tighty that I'd be off the radar until Friday, when we could get things sorted better. To complicate it further, Nick was off on holiday on Saturday morning, so the phone lines were red hot on Friday evening.

I agreed to move it forward on Saturday, at the Deepie in Nottingham, & chatted briefly with Rob, we decided to sort it over a cuppa after I exited the deepie, but I messed that up by hanging in all day, & then I had to get away because of the weather.

Today, I just checked back, & 29 e-Mails have gone back & forth today alone between Rob, Nick (still on holiday, sorry Nick) & Tighty, & I spoke to rob several times on the 'phone this morning.

I was trying to juggle all this with my day job next door, too, so it got a bit frantic for a while. Rich, as ever, was straining at the least to start moving threads & stuff, & suddenly I was behind the 8 ball, as I had to do the Thread & announce everything, & Rich was ahead of me with his stuff.

Big thanks to Rich, he is a pain at times (though not a big a pain as me, I'm quite sure), but a nice pain, & he troubles me as infrequently as possible. He's been a immense force here, & I'm eternally grateful to him.

When the thread went up, I held my breath briefly, so often the first responses set the mood, poker players can tend to follow the herd, you only have to read 2+2 to see that, & swimming against the tide is not everyone's cup of tea, but the right guys posted early, & supportively, so, all being well, we should be OK now.

There are, & will be, those who don't like our line, that's abso normal, but it won't  - I hope - affect any friendships, sometimes it happens that pals end up on opposite sides of a fence.

So that was some 10 day spell, but looking back, everything went just about as well as I dared hope - SPT Luton, the 865 re-Launch, & the DTD deal. All good. I played as well as I could in the DTD Deepie, too, but just came up short when it mattered.

Incredibly satisfying to look back on a 7 or 10 day spell & see how it panned out.

This week I shall mostly be relaxing, I hope, & maybe pay attention to the "tikay Tips" thread, which I could not keep up with last week. Still working flat out, though, I think I'd die if I had nothing to do, I want to use every minute of every day. Love it.

I do wish I had more time to write, & time to actually think properly about what I write, research it, fiff & faff with it, finesse it.  One day.

Off home now, to watch Liverpool & Spurs. No real preference for either, just be good to see a quality game, though I have a marginal preference to see Spurs drop points, for Arsenal reasons. Have promised a few of the lads I'll play a little Hi-Lo Omaha Tourney Online tonight, too. Oh, & there is a "take on tikay" jobbie, too. And my book to read, the dishwasher is full, the ironing needs doing.

[tikay]

Hi Tikay,

What do you think is the major difference between live tournaments now and live tournaments 5 years ago?

Previously on a scale of 1-10 how good did you used to stereotype the random player at a table against you (before you had played any hands)

Same question as above but current day?

Have you done anything (studying etc) to improve your game to change vs the "new breed"?

Anything that you are particularly interested in about current poker strategy or things that you have thought about but not really gone deeply into studying the area?

If you had a child 20 years ago would you do a Paul Jackson and try to get them into the game or a Barry Greenstein and push them into education?

In general what do you think about young people (18-21 year olds) decisions to go into education degrees that generally get them into debt and usually without a job vs doing a trade/learning something and generally finding a job ok?

Cripes, there's a book in answering that lot.

Bear with me, I'll get onto it tomorrow, or as much as time will manage. Some of the Q's are dead easy, some not so, to explain in a way which does not upset people.

[tikay]

When I want to relax, wind down afrer a stressy day, I like to peruse photographs, wildlife, people, places I have visited.

Here's the Bridge from Kyle of Lochalsh - what a beautiful name that is - & the Isle of Skye. Not all new construction needs to be a blot on the landscape, & that bridge fits the background beautifully.

I drove over it twice every single day at Christmas, & I can't wait to return to North West Scotland, I had ached to go there for many years, & now I've been, I've got the bug.

The photo, which I found on bing, was called "Skye Bridge moneyshot". Told you it was nice.

[bobby1]

When I want to relax, wind down afrer a stressy day, I like to peruse photographs, wildlife, people, places I have visited.

Here's the Bridge from Kyle of Lochalsh - what a beautiful name that is - & the Isle of Skye. Not all new construction needs to be a blot on the landscape, & that bridge fits the background beautifully.

I drove over it twice every single day at Christmas, & I can't wait to return to North West Scotland, I had ached to go there for many years, & now I've been, I've got the bug.

The photo, which I found on bing, was called "Skye Bridge moneyshot". Told you it was nice.

Lovely pic that but its a good job there isn't a girl called Skye Bridge or you could have got a very very different picture when you searched 

[DesD]

There's nothing like a bit of snow in February....how are the numbers?

[bobby1]

'Do you ever regret moving on from Wm Hill?'

Deffo not, tho I do regret not selling all my shares when they were over 6 quid a pop. It became clear that they had decided to 'stand pat' with the poker room, which was one of the reasons I left.

You can't go to war with a pea shooter used to be a phrase I loved and basically it became clear that not only were we going to war with a pea shooter we were expected to get the same returns that we had when having much more ammo to promote.

In the end they took the outsource option and as you see, that didn't work out too well at all.

[gatso]

You can't go to war with a pee shooter

that's a typo that conjures up all sorts of bizarre images

[tikay]

You can't go to war with a pee shooter

that's a typo that conjures up all sorts of bizarre images

What a spot by Gatters, golden.

[smashedagain]

You can't go to war with a pee shooter

that's a typo that conjures up all sorts of bizarre images

What a spot by Gatters, golden.

i see what you have done there Tikay. Unless of course you never intended it but with money shots and golden i have you now down as a sick little pervert