Vegas & The Aftermath - Diary

[tikay]

Can barely believe this, I've not booked Vegas yet, & have yet to finalise what I plan to play, or total spend, & yet the MANTIS arrival & question has seen a little group of investors, & I'm quite touched by it.

It's all provisional so far, & nothing is binding on your parts, but the first stakers list is below.

I'll get in touch with Mere soon, & ask him to be stake Arbitor/Referee, as he does every year, & set up the Official Staking Thready. In all matters, his final say will be binding as to any alterations or confuse-aments. That assumes he accepts the invitation, obviously. 

This seems to be where we are so far, in order of posting....

Brad the Boss 5%

Nakor 1%

KarmaDope 2%

horsey 2%

RedSimon 1%

booder 1%

hhy 1%

Mohican 1%

sonour 2%

Redbull 1%

17% reserved as of now.

I will take 5% please teeks.

Nice to see a revival of the diary, really enjoyable reading.

Morning Dylan,

Great to hear from you mate, how are you? Job, family, health OK?

Are you still Big D, or are you now Bigger D, or Slimmer D?

You may have heard that Next Door had another Jackpot winner last month, only the 4th ever, & you were the first, all those years ago. It's on your CV, & they can't ever take that away.

Not pokering these days?

How did you come to spot that the Vegas Staking was up & running again? You surely don't check my Diary daily? I was umming & arring as to whether to let you know, as you always take a bit, but it seemed a little presumptuous, as if I were asking.

Anyway, no worries, you are on board now, thank you.

You spoken to Thewy lately, since he got himself a job? I feel a little guilty, as I have not, but we never really did small talk, or convo's for convo's sake. My respect for him, & gratitude for everything remains immense.

It could have been a tad awkward, when he moved on from Next Door, but we never had a single moment of awkwardness, so that was wonderful really, as I was in a tricky spot wearing both Business & personal friendship hats.

Really pleased to hear from you. 

[tikay]

did you hear Allis' great line last night?

Spieth struggled off the tee a lot, but of course his sensational scrambling and putting kept him well ahead until that fateful hole

Allis on Spieth

"Its like listening to Willie Nelson. He cant sing at all but makes great records! "

He was in great form, Tighty & yeah, that one tickled me.

Sadly, one way & another, I guess we'll not hear much more from Peter Alliss after this year, which is such a shame. Fingers crossed Ken Brown finds a broadcast outlet, more & more he has become the natural successor to Peter. He is very good indeed. Where will be ply his trade, though? He does not seem to be a good fit for Sky Sports. Maybe CBS?

[tikay]

Which moves us nicely on to the Masters Golf on Sunday.

I guess not everyone is interested, but for fans of sport, & golf in particular, it was one of those things none of us will ever forget, to our dying day. Tremendous theatre, & drama, real jaw-dropping stuff, & I struggled to sleep afterwards, such was the excitement.

The Masters was going along fairly quietly for 3.5 days. Jordan, was imperious, never headed. A few stray drives, but this boy is different gravy & was never threatened. He had been 2nd in 2014, & won it - by a distance - in 2015, & had not been headed in 2016 as they approached the turn on the Final day. He is, quite simply, the best. And he is just 22, so a long way from his peak.

Much as I enjoy the Masters, I was tired, & was about to go to bed. Jordan birdied 7, 8 & 9, & the Masters was over, he was, I think, 5 shots clear. This kid can't lose. He can't.  Might as well go to bed & get stuck into Bryson for half an hour.

Dropped shots at 10 & 11 were of no consequence really. But then........that 12th, a Par 3, that 5 or 6 minutes was breath-taking, as everything went so terribly wrong, climaxed by a full on "clunk" or "duff", so bad that any club golfer would be embarrassed.  I was transfixed by what I was seeing. He carded a 7. Doubt he has ever carded a 7 at a Par 3 in his Pro life.

I enjoy watching body language, & the lad was briefly in bits. His caddie is his brother, & the pair of them looked like they had been hit by a bomb.  

All of which brings us on to the real point of the tale, or 2 of them really. More on which shortly.

  

[doubleup]

did you hear Allis' great line last night?

Spieth struggled off the tee a lot, but of course his sensational scrambling and putting kept him well ahead until that fateful hole

Allis on Spieth

"Its like listening to Willie Nelson. He cant sing at all but makes great records! "

He was in great form, Tighty & yeah, that one tickled me.

Sadly, one way & another, I guess we'll not hear much more from Peter Alliss after this year, which is such a shame. Fingers crossed Ken Brown finds a broadcast outlet, more & more he has become the natural successor to Peter. He is very good indeed. Where will be ply his trade, though? He does not seem to be a good fit for Sky Sports. Maybe CBS?

Ken has a regular commentating gig with the Golf Channel and is quite often on their team for European tournaments.  (imo the Golf Channel commentary team are a lot better than Sky's mob with the exception of Wayne Riley who knows his stuff).

[tikay]

did you hear Allis' great line last night?

Spieth struggled off the tee a lot, but of course his sensational scrambling and putting kept him well ahead until that fateful hole

Allis on Spieth

"Its like listening to Willie Nelson. He cant sing at all but makes great records! "

He was in great form, Tighty & yeah, that one tickled me.

Sadly, one way & another, I guess we'll not hear much more from Peter Alliss after this year, which is such a shame. Fingers crossed Ken Brown finds a broadcast outlet, more & more he has become the natural successor to Peter. He is very good indeed. Where will be ply his trade, though? He does not seem to be a good fit for Sky Sports. Maybe CBS?

Ken has a regular commentating gig with the Golf Channel and is quite often on their team for European tournaments.  (imo the Golf Channel commentary team are a lot better than Sky's mob with the exception of Wayne Riley who knows his stuff).

Ahh, never knew that, thank you. And I agree, I'm not much of a fan of the Sky Sports Golf team, to be honest.

[tikay]

Before we return to the real point of the Spieth tale, a word about the winner, Danny Willett from England.

Here was a young man, already doing very well, but not a household name. I think he had just made the Top 10 in the world, or thereabouts, & his Wiki page suggests he had already amassed over £8 milly in winnings, so not exactly a novice or also-ran. 

The fates conspired just so, a million to one chance, & presented him with a chance, a once in a lifetime moment, to change his live for ever.

How would he cope with it? And what must his feelings have been when he saw the scoreboaard, showing that Spieth had dropped an astonishing 6 shots in 3 holes?

Most if us, in that spot, would have had legs of jelly, & gone to pieces. This was life-changing, he & his family would never want for anything material again, ever. Lifetime earnings of £50 to £100 million would be possible if he closed this one out.

How do you keep your swing under that pressure, or make those oh-so delicate chips & putts on the lightning fast greens?

I watched him carefully. He was feeling it. Puffing his cheeks, taking deep breaths, trying to stay composed.

And he did.

What mental composure, what balls he must have.

A sad footnote to all this was the TV coverage, as he sat in a chalet, surrounded by his entourage, awaiting that final conformation that his life had changed forever. Spieth, until the 17th, could still force a play off.

But no, & Willett knew he had done it.

At this point, we can but imagine how he felt. And he wanted to ring.......his wife. It was her Birthday, & he had delayed a decision on even playing as she was due to give birth a week or two back. No baby, no play. 

So he picks up his I-phone & wants to "facetime"  & ring her.

Here was THE most intense personal moment of their 2 lives. Just 30 seconds of privacy did not seem unreasonable to me. And what did the TV crew do? Filmed every second, close up, of that special private moment.

Do they have no shame, no respect? That was private, it was personal, but they had to show it. Did we really need to be shown that?

If nothing else, Danny now knows the price of fame.

[horseplayer]

Click to see full-size image.

Click to see full-size image.

[tikay]

Now back to Spieth.

After that die horribillis (get me, using Latin, Tal & Ralph will be most impressed), how would this young man cope with the next 6 holes?

And here's the thing. He gathered himself, got back on track, & even managed 3 more birdies (& one more bogey) in his attempt to rescue something from the worst afternoon of his pro career. 

In short, he recovered magnificently.

Afterwards he was, & with good reason, mortified, & still trying to take in what he had done. Or, not done.

His demeanour, all things considered, was wonderful. Polite & respectful, he was just trying to get through the formalities & get the hell out of Dodge.

And THEN, for the pure rubs, he had to put the Green Jacket - HIS Green Jacket - on the winner. Which he did with great dignity. He even straightened the collar, & managed a smile. Not sure many others could smile in that spot.

My admiration for this young man - barely a man, really, he's just 22 - is immense. I probably - no, I DO - think more of him now than before all the wheels came off on Sunday afternoon.

What a man he is, what strength of character he must have. This man will own Pro Golf for the next decade or more. Deservedly. Hard to think of anyone who could have managed those last 5 holes remotely as well as he did.

As with poker, when things are going well, it's easy. It's when things go wrong we see the real character of a person.

What a wonderful thing to see.

[MANTIS01]

I don't wish to appear overly critical at this early stage of the staking adventure but 'Team Vegas' is lame. It's all about the branding these days and it's all about the attitude and lifestyle a brand evokes. Personally I like 'Team Ass-Rip'. This means business, it's a signal of intent, it's mean and moody. As it stands 'Team Vegas' makes us sound like a group of old women from the bingo club going to watch a Barry Manilow concert at The Mirage. I would also seriously consider going blonde again for the trip, sure it's retro but that's bang on trend at the minute too.

Agree that the Team Vegas is bland and a rebranding is necessary but Team Ass-Rip sides like the result of a particularly large anal probe.

Lol good point. What about Team New Rip? Better still rather than rebrand the team name let's rebrand the player. Definitely go blonde, couple of Botox sessions, reverse cap & Jason Herbert's Ed Hardy hoodie...suddenly we're a 'young gun'! This would be perfect to disguise our nitty rock-like tendencies! As long as we sniff a lot at the table it will explain our constant toilet breaks.

[tikay]

And finally on Spieth......

Some of the Twitter abuse he got was barely believable. This came from Team Armchair, who have never, & will never be in Jordan's position, & don't have the first idea of the mental character needed to win a major sports title. What sad, pathetic, self-satisfied twits they must be. It's just too easy to knock & diss from our comfy armchair, anyone can do that. 

Amongst it though, even though the majority are usually silent, there were some gems.

That was some TV, some drama, truly wonderful.

[tikay]

Out of time today, back tomorrow to update the Staking Thread, & reply to posts.

Have a great day.

[Marky147]

I don't wish to appear overly critical at this early stage of the staking adventure but 'Team Vegas' is lame. It's all about the branding these days and it's all about the attitude and lifestyle a brand evokes. Personally I like 'Team Ass-Rip'. This means business, it's a signal of intent, it's mean and moody. As it stands 'Team Vegas' makes us sound like a group of old women from the bingo club going to watch a Barry Manilow concert at The Mirage. I would also seriously consider going blonde again for the trip, sure it's retro but that's bang on trend at the minute too.

Agree that the Team Vegas is bland and a rebranding is necessary but Team Ass-Rip sides like the result of a particularly large anal probe.

Lol good point. What about Team New Rip? Better still rather than rebrand the team name let's rebrand the player. Definitely go blonde, couple of Botox sessions, reverse cap & Jason Herbert's Ed Hardy hoodie...suddenly we're a 'young gun'! This would be perfect to disguise our nitty rock-like tendencies! As long as we sniff a lot at the table it will explain our constant toilet breaks.

[Mohican]

I don't wish to appear overly critical at this early stage of the staking adventure but 'Team Vegas' is lame. It's all about the branding these days and it's all about the attitude and lifestyle a brand evokes. Personally I like 'Team Ass-Rip'. This means business, it's a signal of intent, it's mean and moody. As it stands 'Team Vegas' makes us sound like a group of old women from the bingo club going to watch a Barry Manilow concert at The Mirage. I would also seriously consider going blonde again for the trip, sure it's retro but that's bang on trend at the minute too.

Agree that the Team Vegas is bland and a rebranding is necessary but Team Ass-Rip sides like the result of a particularly large anal probe.

Lol good point. What about Team New Rip? Better still rather than rebrand the team name let's rebrand the player. Definitely go blonde, couple of Botox sessions, reverse cap & Jason Herbert's Ed Hardy hoodie...suddenly we're a 'young gun'! This would be perfect to disguise our nitty rock-like tendencies! As long as we sniff a lot at the table it will explain our constant toilet breaks.

Is this what you had in mind?

[mondatoo]

Completely agree about the TV coverage being far too intrusive and been seeing it too often in the past few months in Sport. Thought it was out of order at Cheltenham right before a race they were trying to get a response from jockeys basically holding a mini interview right before the race, stfu and leave them alone. Then in Pac vs Bradley fight at the weekend they were interviewing Freddie Roach during a round, what the hell leave him alone to do his job watching his fighter not having to give an interview. I guess this is the plan going forward for TV companies due to trends with social media and people's obsession with prying into other people lives, I think it's all very bizarre.

I had they exact same thoughts as you with the final day of The Masters, very nearly turned it off after Speith played the 9th as was sure he was a lock, thankfully I kept watching, great sport. I knew nothing about him but even before he had a legit sweat I was very impressed with how composed Willett was playing, superb to watch. It was as if it was scripted to have him and Lee Westwood together on that 16th hole to see Speith had gave up his lead, have to say it was no shock to see Westwood "choke" again, defended him on here previously in regards to that matter but so many times now that he's been in a great position to win a major and just can't get it done, I was shocked at how happy he was in his interview with that being the case but I guess maybe the huge 6 fig payday is enough for him, be amazed if we ever see him win a major now without him massively improving mental side of his game as it seems very likely that's a problem for him now.

[tikay]

The harder I try, the more behind I get with this.

Anyway, today's "to-do's" are done, 11 e-Mails, including 2 chuntery ones - I seem to chunter a lot these days, far more than I would wish - 3 or 4 PM's Next Door, player requests & the like, a few posts answered, & one article written. Really pleased with the article which is for a new high traffic site. Whether it will ever see the light of day remains to be seen. 

So first up, best get the staking list up to date.