Vegas & The Aftermath - Diary

[tikay]

Soon, retirement beckoned, proper fail that.

Has been an incredible late chapter - several actually - & it might well be the closing one.

I doubt anyone could imagine the stuff I've seen of late, because I work for a Poker Site. Mind-blowing, a book in itself. Probably the most extraordinary year of my life, but for legal reasons, can't be discussed here. Yet. Been quite character testing, I can tell you. The story is all written down though, every word of it.

As recently as last week, blonde received a Legal order, a "desist or else" thing. You'd never guess from who in a million years. THE most extraordinary thing. It was not a problem, we soon sorted it, "no case to answer", but wow, it blew me away. The depths to which some will stoop......

Honestly, you could not make it up.



 

 

[tikay]

And why do you look older then, than you do now.

That's not a compliment, it's a question.

Healthy eating, that's the secret.

[theprawnidentity]

Read blonde on a Monday morning, or follow all the Online grinders doing their Sunday bollox, & you have to wonder who has got it right. "I fu**ing hate poker" & all that crap, it really does make me wonder why they play.

#lovethegame

And those bloody hashtag things, & checkboxes, wtf is that about?  

I actually get this.  As someone who doesn't play poker for a living I absolutely understand where the regs are coming from with this.  It's very much like your scenario with the sale of blonde.  The opportunity to bink off a life changing sum of money that you've worked so hard for taken away in a second.  You spend hours, weeks, months and years studying to improve your game but its more often than not cruelly snatched away from you.  Its effin frustrating to say the least.  You have to put yourself through it, Sundays are like the gold at the end of the rainbow.  You have to appreciate that for a full time grinder a big Sunday would make life soo much easier and that their whole livelihood depends on it.  And I'm sure taking a beat with 12 people left in a tournament with a life changing sum of money for the win is difficult to enjoy, much more so when your living depends on it.

[tikay]

No idea how much longer I'll carry on working. It has that Marmite thing again.

I get so damn tired though. Last week nearly killed me, I had heavy days Wednesday thro Sunday, & it got the better of my stamina.

On Saturday, at the SPT, I had to give best at 11pm, after doing bugger all the whole day, I was dead on my feet, & Tighty, God bless him, sent me packing, back to my Hotel, & bed. Never "given up" in my life, but I did on Saturday.

Much better on Sunday, full of beans, & in a great mood, & I did OK, then did the 300 mile, 5 hour drive home non-stop. Anyone sensible would have gone straight to bed, not me Sir, I stayed up all night watching NFL. I blame Fred, which is another story.......

The SPT are increasingly hard work for me, the mental tension is incredibly high, poker players have such an extraordinary sense of false entitlement. We run Satellites for 6 weeks, nobody enters them, then the seats sell out & peeps queue up with the "can you get me a seat?" stuff. Say no, & you're a proper tosser. There is never a second of privacy, either, can't even take a leak in silence, without "I just bust, I raised with A-K & guess what he called me with?"......

We had 204 runners, & in the early stages the plasma was not up to date with Exits, it said 184 left, there were only about 170. 4 players complained bitterly, "the plasma is out of date, we NEED to know how many players are let". Yeah, you need to know that with 160 left, lads. We were paying 23......

But I love them, too, the SPT's drain me, but I absolutely love the buzz, the people (for the most part), renewing friendships, the whole thing of trying to help folks have a grand day out that they will remember. The Forum next door is like here in some ways, no shortage of moany woany types, but scores of people Posted "had a GREAT time", & I must have had 20 PM's saying how much they enjoyed it. Gotta love that.

I get gifts from the players, too, every single time. How nice is that? Not everyone likes me, there's a thing, but the balance is fine.

I bet 20 players wanted their photo taken with me, too. Honestly, I kid you not. Embarrassing, but nice. Definitely.

One chap came up to Tighty & I & described us as "Alan Davies & Stephen Fry".  

"Which one am I?" I asked.

"Stephen Fry" he says.

Tighty's face was a proper picture.

Stephen Fry, you hear that?

[tikay]

Read blonde on a Monday morning, or follow all the Online grinders doing their Sunday bollox, & you have to wonder who has got it right. "I fu**ing hate poker" & all that crap, it really does make me wonder why they play.

#lovethegame

And those bloody hashtag things, & checkboxes, wtf is that about? 

I actually get this.  As someone who doesn't play poker for a living I absolutely understand where the regs are coming from with this.  It's very much like your scenario with the sale of blonde.  The opportunity to bink off a life changing sum of money that you've worked so hard for taken away in a second.  You spend hours, weeks, months and years studying to improve your game but its more often than not cruelly snatched away from you.  Its effin frustrating to say the least.  You have to put yourself through it, Sundays are like the gold at the end of the rainbow.  You have to appreciate that for a full time grinder a big Sunday would make life soo much easier and that their whole livelihood depends on it.  And I'm sure taking a beat with 12 people left in a tournament with a life changing sum of money for the win is difficult to enjoy, much more so when your living depends on it.

But that is the VERY nature of poker, isn't it? Surely we know by now that the best player rarely wins an MTT, & that outdraws are part & parcel of the game?

Read a Staking Thread, & it is a whole series of "fml", "marvellous", "nice call Sir". Nice call Sir my arse. "you are a bloody idiot" is the translation, but that is how poker works, can nobody see that?

If a professional at ANY trade has to throw a strop every time he does not win, life aint gonna be much fun, is it? If you entered 100 MTT's, even against "inferior" players, how many times would you win? Twice, thrice? So you are gonna get beat, disappointed, & throw the strop 97% of the time. That make sense, really? Why not train the mind to deal with it better?

Just as well their staking threads include the all-important caveat. "Soft tourney, full of satellite qualifiers, recreationals & Frenchies". I'm amongst the biggest buyer of stakes on blonde all-time - or used to be - but I refuse on principle to back anyone that spouts that insane hedge bollox now. Try means testing the results of all these soft Tourneys, you'll get a surprise.

I still buy a bit, but only in folks who can handle their beats properly. I used to take action in a kid, then one day I read him saying "the fucking morons & spazzes are in town today". Last time I took his action, rest assured. But he's fine at selling his action still, and I don't have to be associated wth his ill grace, so it matters not, & we will both live happily ever after.

And for the record, I never batted an eyelid when the blonde sale fell through, not a bit of it. Truly, I just moved on. To use one of your fave expessions, shit just got real, but that's how life works, aint it? Our characters are judged not by how we react to winning, when we are downhill with the wind in our sails, but how we cope when shit gets real, & it is uphill, into the wind & rain.

By the way, I LOVE your originality of thought, & writing style, you are some bright & clever young man, amongst the best of the new blonde intake if I may say so. Not exactly Stephen Fry though, if you get my drift. 

Think maybe it is time for a nap, I'm getting a bit ranty here, & I'll have to deal with all the fallout from it soon.

Hope you are well, & your stable is minting it.

[the sicilian]

Boss you going to do a autobiography when you finally call it a day? ... you keep teasing with  'proper story that.one day..one day..'

[theprawnidentity]

I complete agree with you.  And I don't feel like I don't fall into this category.  At least I try not to, we all have our moments I suppose.  But there are people in all professions who do get angry at work and stress themselves out unnecessary, it's just what people do.  Poker won't be any different.  Sometimes it just gets too much and you have to vent I suppose.  I have never understood the retard does this, idiot does that, fish calls mentality.  So much unnecessary aggression away from the tables, but each to their own.  I wouldn't stick up for players who are going round calling people out and thinking they're gods gift, poker owes them, everyone else is retarded.  But a bit of frustration taken out after a big losing session or a series of bits where a lot of money was involved I can understand.

Everything is going swimmingly with the poker enterprise thank you.  Had a little bit of upswingage the past week or two.  Hope everything is well with your glamorous career in the spotlight.  Still stacking bros like a boss?

[tikay]

Permission to interrupt this rantage to talk about a hand of poker I played on Saturday? NLH, too, which I almost NEVER play, except for work purposes, & small money.

Granted.

It was, to me, one of the most satisfying hands I've ever played. Standard stuff to you guys, but I gave myself a proper semi.

Prior Cliffs. Sit down with £200. See a flop very first hand with 3-4, it comes 2-5-x, & Matey Boy has 5-5. You can work the rest out. Full 2xup.

Run like God, & my £200 is soon £900.

Later, I get it all-in Pre with A-K v J-J, & don't get there, & lose every penny of my "profit". Still think it was the right play, but it was not really sensible in some ways. anyway, THE hand.

I buton-raised wth......

 

.....and, unsurprisingly, a Gent called me with.....

 

We both enjoyed the flop, he more than I as it happens.


   

So, 5 high with a flush draw v his top set.

Checked to me, bet, call.

Blank turn.

 

Checked to me again (because I'd been a bit lively, so he was trying to get the max). I bet again, he calls again. Alarm bells? Nah, easy game.

I'm ready to give up on any non-diamond river, but then a strange thing happened.

The river comes like this......

 

Ooh, now there is a thing........

Now he bets, & I fire back at him, just over half the pot. I mean, I have to have the King, right, especially as played?

He picks his chips up to call, then puts them down again. 7 times. Eventually, after I've aged 20 years in 5 minutes, he folds his set of Queens face up.

Oooohhhhhhh

I'll not bore you with the 27 failed moves though. Normal service that, as I'm shite. 

Most satisfying. Eat your heart out Middy & Toby, I'm on the case.

[tikay]

Boss you going to do a autobiography when you finally call it a day? ... you keep teasing with  'proper story that.one day..one day..'

Yup, most likely. There are genuine legal reasons why I have to say that "one day" thing though.

[the sicilian]

Boss you going to do a autobiography when you finally call it a day? ... you keep teasing with  'proper story that.one day..one day..'

Yup, most likely. There are genuine legal reasons why I have to say that "one day" thing though.

do legalities disappear upon retirement ?

[tikay]

I complete agree with you.  And I don't feel like I don't fall into this category.  At least I try not to, we all have our moments I suppose.  But there are people in all professions who do get angry at work and stress themselves out unnecessary, it's just what people do.  Poker won't be any different.  Sometimes it just gets too much and you have to vent I suppose.  I have never understood the retard does this, idiot does that, fish calls mentality.  So much unnecessary aggression away from the tables, but each to their own.  I wouldn't stick up for players who are going round calling people out and thinking they're gods gift, poker owes them, everyone else is retarded.  But a bit of frustration taken out after a big losing session or a series of bits where a lot of money was involved I can understand.

Everything is going swimmingly with the poker enterprise thank you.  Had a little bit of upswingage the past week or two.  Hope everything is well with your glamorous career in the spotlight.  Still stacking bros like a boss?

Excellent Post, if I may make so bold, & I was certainly not suggesting you fall into the category of those ill-mannered bad losers.

Everyone else is retarded, do I not like that sort of childish insensitive shite.

I play "word bingo" with some folks. When I see they have posted, I have a mental list of words or expressions I reckon they will use. Incredible fun. I'm a mirrion to win. 

Stacking bros like a boss? You bet. 5 high gets a set of Queens to fold, proper ownage that, just like a big boy.

Delighted to hear about the upswingage.

[tikay]

Boss you going to do a autobiography when you finally call it a day? ... you keep teasing with  'proper story that.one day..one day..'

Yup, most likely. There are genuine legal reasons why I have to say that "one day" thing though.

do legalities disappear upon retirement ?

Not necessarily, no. It is not exclusive to my employment by any means.

[theprawnidentity]

And you even came in here to do a 'sickest mofo in the room' brag.  Respect.

All you have to do now is make some non-to-sartorial elegance* before heading out to the poker room, I'm thinking a Snapback:

Click to see full-size image.

*Massive points for predicting that!!!!

[tikay]

And you even came in here to do a 'sickest mofo in the room' brag.  Respect.

All you have to do now is make some non-to-sartorial elegance* before heading out to the poker room, I'm thinking a Snapback:

Click to see full-size image.

*Massive points for predicting that!!!!

Nil points for me, though I do have the snapback, or something very similar. I've even got a Lil Dave hat. No, I have.

I can't do the Word Bingo with you, way too unpredictable & original.* Damn you.

* Except shit just got real which I rather like, but does feature in 13% of your Posts.

[tikay]

Time for a nap I think. I promised myself a reminiscey day today ages ago, & I'm not done yet, but for now, kippage awaits. Can't remember last time I took a day off, either, but I'm rather enjoying it.

Back to work tomorrow, & next week will be a proper stressy one. One of those weeks you look back on with great satisfaction, but are painful at the time.