Vegas & The Aftermath - Diary

[sonour]

Tikay,

Have you read For Richer, For Poorer : A Love Affair with Poker by Victoria Coren ?

I really enjoyed it and think you might too. I have finished with my copy and could send it to you if you so wish ?

[RED-DOG]

Tikay,

Have you read For Richer, For Poorer : A Love Affair with Poker by Victoria Coren ?

I really enjoyed it and think you might too. I have finished with my copy and could send it to you if you so wish ?

Can it wait until he's watched Breaking Bad?

[sonour]

Tikay,

Have you read For Richer, For Poorer : A Love Affair with Poker by Victoria Coren ?

I really enjoyed it and think you might too. I have finished with my copy and could send it to you if you so wish ?

Can it wait until he's watched Breaking Bad?

Tom, Can I watch Breaking Bad online somehow or do I need to get the box set ?

Thanks

[DaveShoelace]

Tikay,

Have you read For Richer, For Poorer : A Love Affair with Poker by Victoria Coren ?

I really enjoyed it and think you might too. I have finished with my copy and could send it to you if you so wish ?

Can it wait until he's watched Breaking Bad?

Tom, Can I watch Breaking Bad online somehow or do I need to get the box set ?

Thanks

Netflix

[RED-DOG]

Tikay,

Have you read For Richer, For Poorer : A Love Affair with Poker by Victoria Coren ?

I really enjoyed it and think you might too. I have finished with my copy and could send it to you if you so wish ?

Can it wait until he's watched Breaking Bad?

Tom, Can I watch Breaking Bad online somehow or do I need to get the box set ?

Thanks

Shugie's right. you can watch the entire thing on Netflix.

I don't go overboard about fictional TV, but I envy anyone who hasn't seen breaking bad.

[AlrightJack]

In case you missed it Tony, some exciting train news:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-25145632

This really excites me too. The exploits of the Urban Explorers (some of whom who managed to sneak into the Mail Rail a couple of years ago) are fascinating and much of what they are doing is related to trains, in particular getting into disused underground stations, tunnels and such like. The secret world beneath our feet includes lost rivers, underground stations, catacombs, sewers, bunkers and various other oddments. Urban geography yay!

[marcro]

Tikay,

Have you read For Richer, For Poorer : A Love Affair with Poker by Victoria Coren ?

I really enjoyed it and think you might too. I have finished with my copy and could send it to you if you so wish ?

Can it wait until he's watched Breaking Bad?

Tom, Can I watch Breaking Bad online somehow or do I need to get the box set ?

Thanks

Shugie's right. you can watch the entire thing on Netflix.

I don't go overboard about fictional TV, but I envy anyone who hasn't seen breaking bad.

I just finished watching all 5 seasons of Breaking Bad on Netflix over the last 3 weeks.  I am now halfway through House of Cards, another good series.  Really impressed with Netflix which works very well on my iPad.

[polerization]

hey tikay, I was polerized on sky today and took down the seat as you know. Just a quick few questions, do I just turn up on the day and say oh hi i have a seat? and also can i pick my day 1 or is it a certain one?

[Tal]

Tikay, I reckon two subjects you would have some passing familiarity with would be 1979 and TV. Let's say to the extent you wouldn't feel uncomfortable conversing about them over a chilled beverage with an inquisitive accomplice.

Just watched this on one of the old Top of the Pops episodes on BBC FOUR:

 

My question is: how much of that would happen, if TOTP were to be brought back?

I'm going with under 3%

The older presenter (Mike Read?) getting two awkward looking younger girls to kiss him on the cheek simultaneously? "Slower".... Errrr...No

The dancing girls of Legs and Co? (Seriously, what was that all about?!) No

The horrendous miming at the start on whatever instrument that is the lead fellow is tapping away at. No.

The outfits? The coordination? The bizarre antics of the man on bongos? Nope

How about the song? My Soundhound app struggled to find out what it was, it was that bad. Don't get me wrong, it was still better than anything featuring FloRida. It's important I get that across in case I get accused of losing perspective. My aunt Ada makes a noise when she gets out of her chair that's more pleasing to the ear than his bottywash excuse for a record collection.

Anyway, I digress. Point was, times have changed, innit?

Anyway, Two Man Sound was shortly followed by Passenger 67...blimey...

[tikay]

hey tikay, I was polerized on sky today and took down the seat as you know. Just a quick few questions, do I just turn up on the day and say oh hi i have a seat? and also can i pick my day 1 or is it a certain one?

Morning.

Yup, just turn up on the day, it's that simple. You will be pre-registered, along with all the other qualifiers, satellite winners & direct buy-ins.  You don't have to do a damn thing.

Which Day One? You'll get an e-Mail about that shortly.

These things have to be ratified by Security/Fraud first, to ensure everything about the game, the play, & your Account, is tickity-boo, and once that is completed, your alias will appear in the Sky Poker Lobby, & I'll Post a copy of it on your Diary, so you can feast your eyes on it.

What a thing, eh?

I was very surprised by how it played out (generally) last night. With a £33 Entry tag, & a £1,100 UKPC seat up for grabs, I assumed that every player on Charlotte's Table would call any & every bet by Charlotte, but from what I saw, many players were playing it "normally".

In "the" hand, Charlotte raised it up with 8-8, & I assumed EVERY player would call, but iirc, 2 players passed pre-flop.

Anyway, BOOM!


 

[tikay]

Sad News

http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/29/news-views-gossip/caesars-lv-poker-room-closing-1409840/

I know you are fan of this poker room.

Looks like it's relocating rather than closing. Always found it excessively AC'd and was cold to play in tbh. On the casino floor might be better location and pick up random players.

To my mind, relocating is as bad as closing it.

It was not the Tourneys, staff, or anything else - it was the magnificent, catherdal-like, room itself that had me purring. Think I've played poker in 11 or 12 countries, & well over 100 rooms, but nothing ever gave me the buzz that Caesars Room did. 

Never mind, life goes on. 

[tikay]

Does look fairly impressive for a poker room I must admit.
Following on this question if you can tikay. For someone on their first trip to Vegas this year (planning stage at least) what rooms would you recommend? In order if at all possible, I don't want to hit the best early and then go downhill from there

Morning. Sorry a bit late with the reply, was supposed to reply last weekend. Where does the time go?

Impossible question, as it is so subjective.

Still, I'll try.

You should try as many as possible, but you must include, for different reasons.........

Bellagio

Venetian

Caesars

Aria

Encore/Wynn

Orleans (off the Strip, & very dated, but an experience).

Red Rock (way out of town, but really top, top, class).

Rio. The Rio should ONLY be during the WSOP. The WSOP is held in a Conference Centre -a big warehouse really - & has zero aesthetics or niceties, it is truly bland in every way, BUT......during WSOP Events, you can cut the atmo in there with a knife.


Now, as Mr Tal said earlier, there is Downtown. If you are a Vegas newbie, know this - "Downtown" is, literally, a different place to "The Strip". The Strip is, say, the French Riviera, & Downtown is sort of Blackpool or Southend, very tacky.

It is 20 minutes away in a cab (call it $22 to $25) and TOTALLY different to The Strip in every way. You MUST try Fremont Street at night, one of the most exciting things you'll ever do in Vegas, the place throbs with excitement.

For the poker, there are two main Rooms Downtown, Binions & Golden Nugget. They are, literally, 20 yards apart.

If you are a poker player bred on the internet, I'd suggest you steer clear of both. If, however, life is more balanced, & you enjoy life as a journey to be enjoyed, & Live Poker, & you enjoy meeting people, & characters, you gotta play in both.

I've seen better Poker Rooms in Hull, Luton & Walsall, & Binions, in particular is so filthy it is a health hazard. But, WOW at the characters you'll meet there.

The Dealers - by regular standards - are awful, really awful. But it does not matter. They talk to the players (in between making countless mistakes) & it is such a fun experience. Very few "internet players" play at Binions or GN, as they have no tolerance to Dealers errors, but if you play there, you'd better understand, they are useless dealers (on the whole) but wonderful, wonderful, characters. The Entries dont go on a Computer, it's all money in the hand sorta thing, & they don't give you a Seat or Table, there are a stack of seat cards on the desk, & you choose whatever one you want!  

It's the greatest thing ever, playing Downtown. Do it.  

Enjoy your trip.

A paL of mine is going late February, & is working on me to go, too. Wow, it's tempting......


Ooh, one other thing. If you are going WSOP time, the weather is unbelievably hot, & I do mean HOT. It's unbearable, it takes your breath away. BUT.........the Casinos are all air-conditioned - EVERY building in Vegas is - & they get very cold, so, remarkably, you need a jumper, or cardy, or you'll sit there shivering.

At night, do NOT venture away from the Strip, or Fremont Street Downtown.  It's not a good place to wander the streets at night.

[tikay]

wow i really wanna read more about that coup! Definitely post links or start a new thread imo!

I'd LOVE her to start a thread, but if not, I hope she Posts plenty more stories here.

She has a nice little coup on the go right now, actually. She has taken some positions in a Golf Tourney in which, no matter what happens, she'll make a goodly sum of money. She is, almost literally, printing money, she cannot lose.

It's all about being eagle-eyed & nimble of mind.

If I find time, I'll try & copy some of her stuff across to here from Fred. 

Some of it is rip-roaring "life" stories involving her, & Peter The Bandit, other stuff is a bit deep, such as......


My preference would have been to back £200 at 9/2 at Betfair. Then lay £190 back. Now if McIlroy wins we win £900 minus £741 = £159.
If McIlroy doesn't win we lose £200 minus £190 plus £9.50 Betfair commission = £19.50.

So we have £19.50 to win £159 which is over 8/1.

My philosophy is work out how much you want to bet, but bet the maximum you can and lay the difference.

I'll probably bet over £5,000 with Betfred on this today but I don't want to risk £5,000 however good value it is. I'll probably only actually bet £200 but I'm a lot better off betting £5,000 and laying £4,800 back than just betting £200.
I hope that makes sense.


Got that?

OK, now try this, which was another little do.....



If :-

SL = The Lay Stake

SB = The Back Stake

OL = The Lay Odds

OB = the Back Odds

CL = The Lay Commission

Then for a Stake Returned bet :-

SL = ( SB times by OB ) divided by ( OL minus CL )

And for a Stake Not Returned bet :-

SL = SB ( OB - 1 ) divided by ( OL - CL )

So in the example above

SL = ( 1000 x 10 ) divided by ( 11 - 0.03 ) =  £ 911.58


Yeah, bit heavy, so here's what I'd call a life story.....


I was playing Pete at snooker at the golf club a few years ago. Before the girls were born we used to play for £100 per frame, 20 or 30 frames in a session.

I was running well on this particular day and Pete was getting more and more fed up. I potted a black to win another frame and saw Pete walking away from the table towards the bar or possibly the toilet, or so I thought.
I set the table up for the next frame and went to the bar to look for him. He wasn't there so I assumed he was in the toilet and got another round of drinks in.
I then spent a good few minutes bashing balls around on the next table, still no Pete. After about half an hour I decided that something was wrong and asked the club steward to go and see if he was in the toilet, he wasn't.
I looked outside and his car was gone.
He had just gone home without saying a word and left me stranded. I had to get a taxi home. Lovely.



There are some amazing characters in life if you keep your eyes & ears open. I've known Pete the Bandit quite well for 10 or 12 years, but Lisa less well, & only for about 5 or 6 years.

[Tal]

Mr IceShade, Downtown, you can play nice buy in level non-holdem comps, too. You don't have to pay $700 to take on a table of 25/50 8game whizzkids like you might at Aria.

The chap to my left got knocked out in an 8game comp at the nugget and was replaced by Tom McAvoy. The last few WSOP champs weren't born when he was winning bracelets.

A friend of mine sat next to Oklahoma Johnny Hale at Binions. Me neither. He had his bracelet on, though.

Completely different universe.

[tikay]

Mr IceShade, Downtown, you can play nice buy in level non-holdem comps, too. You don't have to pay $700 to take on a table of 25/50 8game whizzkids like you might at Aria.

The chap to my left got knocked out in an 8game comp at the nugget and was replaced by Tom McAvoy. The last few WSOP champs weren't born when he was winning bracelets.

A friend of mine sat next to Oklahoma Johnny Hale at Binions. Me neither. He had his bracelet on, though.

Completely different universe.

True, most Downtown Tourneys are $80, $120, $220, that sort of thing. Maybe 100 to 300 runners tops. Tremendous fun.

I shared a Table with both McEvoy & Oklahoma Johnny at Binions last year, real magic moments & great memories. Oklahoma Johnny is awesome, a proper character, Tom, not so much. I have some photos somewhere, I'll try & find them.