Vegas & The Aftermath - Diary

[tikay]

Ticked an item on my Bucket List last week - watched all 4 days, start to finish, of The Open golf on BBC TV. I had to miss a few hours on Thursday evening, as I was working, but I'm bagging the tick.

The BBC cover it just beautifully, it must cost a fortune, but for the most part, it was superb coverage.

Recognizing that not everyone is golf mad, the coverage attempts to please a wider audience. In doing so of course, rather like the way poker commentators are received, they displease both sides. Never mind.

Peter Alliss was the head bloke chap, & he was a notch below par this year, & did not look too well to me, being more gaunt in the face than I recall. Still a mile better at anyone else at what he does though.

The cameras alight on all sorts during coverage. Frollicking children, bird life, folks in fancy dress, peeps who have fallen asleep, or are dressed eccentrically, sort of AndrewT style.  

Suddenly, they showed this chap.....

Click to see full-size image.

To which Lord Alliss quipped "I'm sure a brood of swifts are nesting in there".

Brilliant.

As a young man, like most, I'm pretty sure I used to mock people who looked like that. It's the way life is. These days, I give them a tad more respect, for having the courage to not care, & swim against the tide of fashion & mediocrity, or whatever the peers on 2+2 tell us we must think.

Later, they revealed his name - Lord Griffiths. Ooh, a googling we must go.

Turned out he was a right character.

Wiki includes his sporting achievements thusly.....


At Cambridge University, Hugh Griffiths won Blues for cricket in 1946, 1947, and 1948, recording career-best figures of 6 for 129 against Lancashire in 1946. He also made eight appearances in the County Championship for Glamorgan County Cricket Club, taking 4 for 61 against Surrey on his debut in 1946.

On top of that, he is the only person ever to have been President of the MCC AND Captain of the R & A. Bet he even has a reserved parking space.

There are some amazing people around, how can I be this age & never heard of such a chap?

What a great resource the internet is.  I can't read a book these days without google at my side, so much interesting stuff out there if you delve deep enough. If only I knew that when I was younger, when I knew everything.

[tikay]

He is not to be confused with Baron Griffiths though, another very interesting character, & who I initially confused him with.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brian_Griffiths,_Baron_Griffiths_of_Fforestfach


Baron Griffiths of WHERE?

Fforestfach?

That can't be a real place, can it?

Off I went again, googling.

And it IS real. Near Swansea, & google reveals it has a Walkers Crisp factory (now closed) & a Retail Park.

Bugger. It deserved something better with a name like that. Guess there are bound to be a few dead ends when we start researching. Wish I'd not looked now.  

There is not always a crock of gold at the end of that rainbow.

Click to see full-size image.

Click to see full-size image.

[Tal]

Also worth mentioning ITT what the Dennis Healyesque Lord Griffiths did for a day job.

Not many folk in public eye roles who work to that sort of age.

[tikay]

Also worth mentioning ITT what the Dennis Healyesque Lord Griffiths did for a day job.

Not many folk in public eye roles who work to that sort of age.

Well there we go again.

We go looking for his day job, & learn that he was a pre-eminent Judge bloke, with a variety of titles.

Far & away the best title he held was.....


Lord of Appeal in Ordinary

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lord_of_Appeal_in_Ordinary

Wow, how good is that? He was the top bloke for ordinary stuff.

If the girl at the Tesco checkout asked me for my job title, think I'd omit the "Ordinary" bit.

[Tal]

One of your favourites, Lord Judge was also a Lord of Appeal in Ordinary.

It is commonly called a Law Lord and is one above Lord Justice of Appeal.

The title is now defunct, I believe, as they don't have the dual function of being members of the House of Lords anymore. This was because of the creating of the Supreme Court, so the senior judge blokes are now called Justices of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom.

I suspect you will enjoy the title of one of the current Justices:

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthony_Clarke,_Baron_Clarke_of_Stone-cum-Ebony

[Tal]

The pay for a judge is incredible compared to the job they were likely doing beforehand. Could you imagine being promoted and taking a hefty cut in wages?

If you get to the top of the tree, you get £250k as a Justice of the Supreme Court. Top commercial barristers can earn premiership footballer money (£5m+ a year), particularly if they get on a meaty case of Bank v Bank or International Conglomerate Airline v Sovereign Nation.

Bizarre when you think about it, although you're unlikely to starve on a quarter of a million a year.

[tikay]

When I got back from Vegas, I received several gifts from players next door. People really do some lovely things, & whilst the regular abuse from the usual suspects is not exactly enjoyable, there are some very positive things, too. Balance ftw.

One of the gifts could hardly have been better - a Biography of Sir Henry Cecil, who passed away quite recently. Sir Henry was my favourite person in horse racing, bar none, for over 40 years.  





As a bonus, the book includes a photo I was recently sent by a friend, (horsey, I think) which appeared on Twitter. Two of my favourite peeps in one photo. Bonus.  




The only drawback, or so I thought, was the author - Brough Scott.

I have not been an admirer of Brough for many years, for the entirely illogical & irrational reason that he played a role in the demise of The Sporting Life, (by helping to start the dreadful Racing Post) the best racing newspaper ever printed, & it's not even close. These days, it lives on as a website, & a very fine one, too, owned, as it happens, by those incompetent morons next door who will shortly reveal their eye-opening year end figures, with the graph still heading sharply north.





Surprisingly, & despite me having the merest trace of inherent stubborn-ness & obduracy, I rather enjoyed Brough's writing style in the Cecel bio. Cecil had an extraodinary background. I'd love to retell the whole tale, but you'd desert in droves, maybe even to the Kettle Diary, so I'll spare you.

But it was one of those books where you needed the ippy to hand, to better be ready to go googling.

One chap who featured in the family lineage (other side) was Ernest Cassel. Who?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernest_Cassel

When he died, in 1921, he is said to have left £6 milion.

In 1921, £6 million was a whole lot of money.

He lived rather well too, I gather.

He had arrived in the UK penniless, & made that fortune just by being a bright chap. Isildur, eat your heart out.

Click to see full-size image.

Without google, I don't know what I'd do, I really don't.

[tikay]

One of your favourites, Lord Judge was also a Lord of Appeal in Ordinary.

It is commonly called a Law Lord and is one above Lord Justice of Appeal.

The title is now defunct, I believe, as they don't have the dual function of being members of the House of Lords anymore. This was because of the creating of the Supreme Court, so the senior judge blokes are now called Justices of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom.

I suspect you will enjoy the title of one of the current Justices:

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthony_Clarke,_Baron_Clarke_of_Stone-cum-Ebony

Oh Lordy Lordy, it just gets better.....

Stone cum Ebony!

Note he succeeded Nicholas Phillips, Baron Phillips of Worth Matravers, & was succeeded by David Neuberger, Baron Neuberger of Abbotsbury

What chance in life did I have, coming from Acton? Still, it does have 7 Railway Stations. And poor Barry Crater hails from Sheffield. No chance, him.

[tikay]

Saw this on 2+2 and wondered

Had 2337 in the Bb see a free flop 4 way, lead a 37Kr flop, older dude with iPad and sky poker patch calls, K turn, I fire a good sized bet, he calls, my hand is almost always good here and as I decide what my next action in another ****ing K comes on the river, I check he fires small I wanna puke and fold, lucky ****

Ha!

Guess it would be hard to plead "Not Guilty" to that. I am very well-respected on 2+2, I have the coveted "LolPro" status there.

I don't recall the hand, but I'm pretty sure I know the kid concerned. He keeps an Online Diary, where he recalls, in aching detail, every street of every hand he loses (how can these fucking idiots call) & every hand he wins (trapped the fish a treat).

He claims he is 100% staked for both cash & Tourneys, & appears to have several backers in each.

He educated us all, too, telling us how badly we played every hand. It was after the WSOP $3k Final, which was streamed, & he said did you see how lolbad they all were. If I just had the money to enter, I'd wipe the floor with them.

Shortly after saying that, he somehow got the lot in pre with 7-7-8-9, which must be as near to the worst starting hand in PLO8 as it is possible to get. 7, 8 & 9 are the so-called "bandit cards", & if you have any of those in your hand in PLO8, it is immediately devalued. He had all of them!

He bluffed endlessly, too. Bluffing in PLO8 needs extreme care, there are only certain specific boards where you can even contemplate it. 

Yes yes, of course mate. Plays poker every day of his life, does not have a penny to his name, & his arse is hanging out of his trousers. Proper pro, him

Anyway, I plead guilty, but my mitigation is I'm a fish. I know a lot about concrete though, if that helps?

That tickled me all weekend, thanks Simon. He was not the worst player I encountered, & if time permits, I'll write about him in due course. A classic case of do not disrespect technically bad players.   

I'm aching to go back & play PLO8 & PLO for a week or two, if time, circumstances & money permit. Never had such a good time.

[celtic]

There's a nice round of each tourney at Luton tonight if you're at a loose end..

[tikay]

There's a nice round of each tourney at Luton tonight if you're at a loose end..

Ha! Don't tempt me.

I was actually thinking of trundling down to Rendezvous Brighton tonight & maybe hooking up with Miss J Mason for some fun poker.

I'll toss a coin later.

I'll probably end up staying indoors & playing Online. Can't go to Brighton or Luton in my knickers. 

You do know there are some monster thunderstorms forecast for this evening, right?

Kettle Diary & I went down to Brighton one night several years ago in a torrential downpour. The road flooded, we got trapped.  We heard police sirens, & then a police van towing a RESCUE BOAT came past.   

Swear to God, that is true.

When this rain arrives tonight, it is gonna be epic, believe me.

[tikay]

There's a nice round of each tourney at Luton tonight if you're at a loose end..

Does Chompy play ROE?

The mind boggles.

[redsimon]

Saw this on 2+2 and wondered

Had 2337 in the Bb see a free flop 4 way, lead a 37Kr flop, older dude with iPad and sky poker patch calls, K turn, I fire a good sized bet, he calls, my hand is almost always good here and as I decide what my next action in another ****ing K comes on the river, I check he fires small I wanna puke and fold, lucky ****

Ha!

Guess it would be hard to plead "Not Guilty" to that. I am very well-respected on 2+2, I have the coveted "LolPro" status there.

I don't recall the hand, but I'm pretty sure I know the kid concerned. He keeps an Online Diary, where he recalls, in aching detail, every street of every hand he loses (how can these fucking idiots call) & every hand he wins (trapped the fish a treat).

He claims he is 100% staked for both cash & Tourneys, & appears to have several backers in each.

He educated us all, too, telling us how badly we played every hand. It was after the WSOP $3k Final, which was streamed, & he said did you see how lolbad they all were. If I just had the money to enter, I'd wipe the floor with them.

Shortly after saying that, he somehow got the lot in pre with 7-7-8-9, which must be as near to the worst starting hand in PLO8 as it is possible to get. 7, 8 & 9 are the so-called "bandit cards", & if you have any of those in your hand in PLO8, it is immediately devalued. He had all of them!

He bluffed endlessly, too. Bluffing in PLO8 needs extreme care, there are only certain specific boards where you can even contemplate it. 

Yes yes, of course mate. Plays poker every day of his life, does not have a penny to his name, & his arse is hanging out of his trousers. Proper pro, him

Anyway, I plead guilty, but my mitigation is I'm a fish. I know a lot about concrete though, if that helps?

That tickled me all weekend, thanks Simon. He was not the worst player I encountered, & if time permits, I'll write about him in due course. A classic case of do not disrespect technically bad players.   

I'm aching to go back & play PLO8 & PLO for a week or two, if time, circumstances & money permit. Never had such a good time.

Yeah I read his diary thingy/ trip reports in the "las Vegas Lifestyle" board.

Glad to see its not just me that thinks he is not the worlds greatest too

[Nakor]

Mr K - One to add to the list.

Danny Bakers autobiography - Going to Sea in Sieve, it is a remarkable book.

Well written, appears honest, while he seems to have made his way in life after having a fine childhood and upbringing, has enjoyed everything he has done and the trappings that came in life through his hardwork and dedication.  He has a stable home and family, has avoided controversy (in the main) while in the public eye and he still manages to be polite and honest to those around him.  Almost unique in today's world I would think.

His style is to the point, but with a descriptive power that just oozes enthusiasm for whatever he has done with his life - his passion for sport, music and triva is so engaging. It really is up there with the best autobiography's I have read, cant recommend it enough.

[celtic]

There's a nice round of each tourney at Luton tonight if you're at a loose end..

Does Chompy play ROE?

The mind boggles.

Unfortunately not, he struggles enough with two cards, to start trying to get to grips with 4.

I'm in Brighton Tuesday and Wednesday...