Vegas & The Aftermath - Diary

[AlunB]

Starbucks > Costa but that is of course a matter of personal taste.

I think you're wrong on both counts!!!!

 

I remember watching a TV show about Raymond Blanc. He did a blind taste test with his staff to prove expensive chocolate is better. They all preferred the Dairy Milk. His response? "Well you're all wrong." It was one of the most ridiculous things I've ever heard.

I'm generally a bit of a coffee snob, but at times only a Starbucks will do.

I get a little testy when folks say THIS or THAT is the best Coffee/Burger/Mobile Phone, & yet we see it every day on blonde. 

We may or may not like Starbucks, but to say it is "bad", or even as I saw yesterday, "atrocious" is a bit weird. It's not any of those things, but as individuals, we may or may not detest it, or like it. That does not make it good or bad though.

There are some things that are good or bad, such as foods made of entirely artificial material etc. But in general I totally agree with this point.

My least favourite thing at the moment are food critics who use the word 'challenging' as a term of praise for food. Challenging! It's FOOD. We need it to live. It's not supposed to be challenging. How decadent have we become. Cue Chris Rock...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XivoORVIRNc

Drinking a pint of spinach water would be "challenging"........

I've always found crab/lobster very challenging if it arrives in its shell. I have no idea how to eat it.

[Eso Kral]

Tikay has very kindly given me permission to spam his diary for Movember as myself and a few others are donating our top lip for the month and letting it grow in aid of mens health charities mainly Prostate and Testicular as listed on the website.

If anyone is unaware of Movember the please see a short video below



It is obviously a cause close to my heart after my own father passed away having started off with one of these cancers that eventually progressed and he sadly passed away 3 and a half years ago.

If anyone fancies joining in for the month then please see the Movember Blonde thread here http://blondepoker.com/forum/index.php?topic=55384.210

Or if you would like to donate then please click on the link to my donations page here https://www.movember.com/uk/donate/payment/member_id/1433244/ and remember to click the gift aid box as well.

Many thanks for reading and for all the guys letting me post in their diaries and I will update the Movember thread with ongoing photos of the growth.

Cheers

Rich

[doubleup]

They don't make station kiosks like this anymore

Click to see full-size image.

[/URL]

[pleno1]

Did you speak to Mark Chantler much last week? The guy that started staking me for cash games and coaching me when I played HU SNGs was Mark. Hes a really funny guy and popular between his peers. He won a contract with victory poker to be a sponsored pro for 100k worth of MTTs iirc.

Victory ended up cancelling the deal and voiding their promises to I think 7 other guys after thousands applied.

Mark comes from a very wealthy background but was really good in poker, one of the biggest winners on PKR and hes really smart so did very well when poker was softer a few years ago. He has the perfect balance now, has a very good job and plays the PKR live cash games, and random tournaments like this on the weekend where he wll still usually be one of the best players in the field.

He has it all sorted really, even golden locks.

[Marky147]

Starbucks > Costa but that is of course a matter of personal taste.

I think you're wrong on both counts!!!!

 

I remember watching a TV show about Raymond Blanc. He did a blind taste test with his staff to prove expensive chocolate is better. They all preferred the Dairy Milk. His response? "Well you're all wrong." It was one of the most ridiculous things I've ever heard.

I'm generally a bit of a coffee snob, but at times only a Starbucks will do.

I get a little testy when folks say THIS or THAT is the best Coffee/Burger/Mobile Phone, & yet we see it every day on blonde.  

We may or may not like Starbucks, but to say it is "bad", or even as I saw yesterday, "atrocious" is a bit weird. It's not any of those things, but as individuals, we may or may not detest it, or like it. That does not make it good or bad though.

There are some things that are good or bad, such as foods made of entirely artificial material etc. But in general I totally agree with this point.

My least favourite thing at the moment are food critics who use the word 'challenging' as a term of praise for food. Challenging! It's FOOD. We need it to live. It's not supposed to be challenging. How decadent have we become. Cue Chris Rock...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XivoORVIRNc

Drinking a pint of spinach water would be "challenging"........

I made a drink earlier - 1/2 pack of Kale, 2 Celery stalks, 4 handfuls of spinach, 1 green Apple, 1 Cucumber and 1 Lemon.

Have to say, that whilst looking radioactive, it didn't taste all that bad.

+1 to the 'That's wrong' nonsense too!

[pleno1]

Victory grimmed a charity as well for about $6k, still as long as Flyshman has his $250k watches and Antonio has his $1m buyins i guess its all good?

yeah weird Antonio never gets heat for this.

[tikay]

Did you speak to Mark Chantler much last week? The guy that started staking me for cash games and coaching me when I played HU SNGs was Mark. Hes a really funny guy and popular between his peers. He won a contract with victory poker to be a sponsored pro for 100k worth of MTTs iirc.

Victory ended up cancelling the deal and voiding their promises to I think 7 other guys after thousands applied.

Mark comes from a very wealthy background but was really good in poker, one of the biggest winners on PKR and hes really smart so did very well when poker was softer a few years ago. He has the perfect balance now, has a very good job and plays the PKR live cash games, and random tournaments like this on the weekend where he wll still usually be one of the best players in the field.

He has it all sorted really, even golden locks.

Wow, small world.

(For those unaware, Mark won the SPT Grand Final recently).

I chatted with him a fair bit, yes, but never knew any of that. It was clear he is from good stock, he has that good bearing, holds himself well, posture etc. I took an immediate liking to him. First impressions count for a lot, & he had a good handshake, eye-contact, & smiles readily. Dressed "just right", too. I don't think suits are necessary in live poker, but I do like to see young men make an effort to be presentable.  

Never spoke with him again until the Final, on Day 2, & he impressed even more then - self-deprecating, modest, plenty of graceful humility, but clearly quite "deep", one of those folks who, when you chat to them, you know they are processing info at a great rate of knots, & are always unsure what the reply might be.

Whatever he does in life, I suspect he'll succeed. A really decent type of chap.

When we have these sort of Events, you always hope for a "good" winner, if that makes sense. He ticked that box a treat.  

Mark is the slightly taller of these two Gents, for those unaware.

 

Click to see full-size image.

Click to see full-size image.

[AndrewT]

It was clear he is from good stock, he has that good bearing, holds himself well, posture etc. I took an immediate liking to him. First impressions count for a lot, & he had a good handshake, eye-contact, & smiles readily. Dressed "just right", too.

So it was exactly like the first time you met me?

[tikay]

It was clear he is from good stock, he has that good bearing, holds himself well, posture etc. I took an immediate liking to him. First impressions count for a lot, & he had a good handshake, eye-contact, & smiles readily. Dressed "just right", too.

So it was exactly like the first time you met me?

In EVERY way Andrew, bar the clothes-sense. Though in your case, you remind me of those posh types who cba to make an effort, & sort of deliberately dress shambolically. It does not fool me though.

Well done on a decent run in the UKOPS Main last night, though you failed to beat Posh Alex & Plump Jakally, I note. You outlasted me though, as did most. Ugh. A surprising number of blondes played it. The winner took home a rather pleasing £12,000, whereas I went home alone.

[tikay]

Victory grimmed a charity as well for about $6k, still as long as Flyshman has his $250k watches and Antonio has his $1m buyins i guess its all good?

This is all news to me.

Long time ago, all dead & buried now?

Magician Antonio?

Who is Flyshman?

[tikay]

They don't make station kiosks like this anymore

Click to see full-size image.

[/URL]

I can't tell you what an evocative 'photo that is to me, simply superb.

At one time, they were everywhere, every train station, & there was one outside Kings Cross Station (still there now, but not as grand these days) where I used to go to to collect Timeform Cards hot off the train from Halifax, at Midnight the day before racing. The staff in those places always seemed like salt of the earth types, don't know why.

I remember one in San Francisco, too, which sold English newspapers, I'd go there every day. The papers cost 5 times as much as the UK price, & were 4 days late, but there was no internet then, so they were priceless.

I used to have a lot of shares then, & I had a right coup with one called "Regentcrest", a Property Company, run by two rascals, twins, from the black country, the Richardson twins, who I knew through JNK & Business. (Not THOSE Richardsons, but nearly as wide).  

I'd paid £0.30 a share & had 10,000 of them, & they had been on the rise for ages, doubtless due to ramping. They peaked whilst I was in SF @ £3.80, so I decided to sell them when I got home. I arrived home on Monday 19th October, 1987, (flew Pan-Am, another lost memory) a day which later became known as "Black Monday", as Share prices worldwide crashed, when the bubble burst. They were trading at 22p when the Market re-opened, & soon sunk to zero.  

LOVELY photo, thank you. It just needs a Title now.

Here's another, similar sort of atmosphere.

[pleno1]

Ha you sum him up so so well.  He would have been a good ambassador for victory that's for sure.

Dan flyshman (spelling) was the CEO of victory poker a poker room based in Vegas that was made up of the balla Vegas crowd, esfandiari, laak, dan blitzarian etc

They has a lot of playboy girls as pros, Andrew robl and other guys got involved and all the pros at the time were pretty cool. They did huge Vegas promotion parties but flyshman was the business guy behind it all. I know a consultancy firm I had a small gig at we're speaking to him regularly and he as big plans and the guys behind him all had money.

They did an international contest for players to join the team and mark was one of the 5? Winners in a pretty huge deal then try just stopped contacting then after everything was signed iirc. May not be right about things being signed.

I'm not sure is much Bearing Black Friday had but I think it was already looking a little,dodgy before. I'm not 100% sure about the charity stuff though.

[tikay]

Ha you sum him up so so well.  He would have been a good ambassador for victory that's for sure.

Dan flyshman (spelling) was the CEO of victory poker a poker room based in Vegas that was made up of the balla Vegas crowd, esfandiari, laak, dan blitzarian etc

They has a lot of playboy girls as pros, Andrew robl and other guys got involved and all the pros at the time were pretty cool. They did huge Vegas promotion parties but flyshman was the business guy behind it all. I know a consultancy firm I had a small gig at we're speaking to him regularly and he as big plans and the guys behind him all had money.

They did an international contest for players to join the team and mark was one of the 5? Winners in a pretty huge deal then try just stopped contacting then after everything was signed iirc. May not be right about things being signed.

I'm not sure is much Bearing Black Friday had but I think it was already looking a little,dodgy before. I'm not 100% sure about the charity stuff though.

Ahh yes, I do remember them now. They were at "Poker in the Park" I think, 2009/10?, pretty sure they signed a World Champion Boxer, I may even have done an interview with him for next door.
By strange coincidence, within a few Posts, both "Black Friday" (poker) & "Black Monday" (share prices) have been mentioned. You were not even born when Black Monday went off!

EDIT - strike that. It was Evander Holyfield, & he was with "Real Deal Poker". Whatever happened to them, I wonder?

Jeez, some sites have sunk without trace down the years.

[AndrewT]

It was clear he is from good stock, he has that good bearing, holds himself well, posture etc. I took an immediate liking to him. First impressions count for a lot, & he had a good handshake, eye-contact, & smiles readily. Dressed "just right", too.

So it was exactly like the first time you met me?

In EVERY way Andrew, bar the clothes-sense. Though in your case, you remind me of those posh types who cba to make an effort, & sort of deliberately dress shambolically. It does not fool me though.

Well done on a decent run in the UKOPS Main last night, though you failed to beat Posh Alex & Plump Jakally, I note. You outlasted me though, as did most. Ugh. A surprising number of blondes played it. The winner took home a rather pleasing £12,000, whereas I went home alone.

Yeah - my first online poker in ages. Decent bad beat to go out as well - AA v KK for what would have prob been the chip lead.

Decent numbers in the tourneys as well - the bean counters must have been happy this morning.

[tikay]

Made me think, that, "Trillion Poker", "All-In Poker" (a sort of pyramid-selling thing), blondepoker......

blonde even has  shares in a poker room, forget the name. It was run by Dave (?) Eastwood & some Northern lads, I think James Browning was involved. Must be worth a fortune now. Ish. It was such a good investment that they hawked shares around to everyone, & sold 50% of the Company to businesses like blonde & others. So good, they sold the Shares.  

I'm not certain anyone ever paid for the shares though, everyone owed everyone else bits of money, or favours, & they'd offset the debt or whatever by taking shares. Standard stuff really, until the music stops.