Vegas & The Aftermath - Diary

[tikay]

Has Tikay lost the contract for posting on this diary as well?

Ha, not quite, just busy, busy, busy.

I'll try & get up to date tomorrow, I'm all over the shop right now.

In brief, Tuesday was all a bit emosh. The Show was upbeat, more Twitter messages than any other show, but once it finished it all got a bit uncomfy, & everyone was sort of standing around awkwardly. So I said a few words, bla bla, & then hurried away before it got even more uncomfy.

Wednesday was bedlam, everyone connected with the Show was writing e-mails "it's been great, da de da", & of course I needed to reply to every one, as well as write a few myself. Because I still have my main job there, it put me in quite an awkward spot finding the right tone & mood. I had to do a Report about the Show & feedback for the Office, too.

My Twitter feed exploded with Tweets, too, so they need(ed) addressing, plus the thread Next Door, PM's here & PM's Next Door.

Then, back to the regular day job, a few hiccups arose which I had to deal with. Just routine stuff, but you know what poker players are like, a minor prob soon becomes a crisis, & they (we...) are not exactly calm in a crisis are they?

So all very time consuming.

I've upped my daily walk to an hour, too, so that takes up more time.

Saw a wonderful TV Show in the week about the (UK) Supreme Court, & the 11 Lords or judge things that it is composed of. (10 males, 1 female). The oddity about the Supreme Court is that they are allowed to ignore precedent, & as you know, Law is largely based upon precedent, & regular Courts are generally obliged to follow precedent, even if it results in an iffy verdict.

More on that later, but they all have the most spiffing names.

Lord Clarke of Stone-cum-Ebony.

Lord Wilson of Culworth

Lord Kerr of Tonaghmore

Where are these weird sounding places ffs?

Felt rather sorry for Lord Carnwarth - Lord Carnworth of Notting Hill. Does not quite have the same ring to is as Stone-cum-Ebony, does it?

The Show was called The Highest Court in the Land, & you can catch it on I-player here.....


http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00xz0s5

Excellent viewing.

Bet it got about 100,000 viewers, whilst Ant & Dec are pulling in x million per show. Go figure.

[tikay]

Quick PS - I've found that Stone-cum-Ebony is in Kent, & the population is 468.

Not sure how a Parish of some 468 souls deserves a Lord, but there you go.

Culworth is in Northamptonshire. Population? 445.

Tonaghmore is something of a mystery, though it might be in Co Down, if so, it is the 82nd largest Townland in Co Down. Big time, indeed.

Not at all sure how all this works.  If they were Lord someone from London or Bristol it'd make much more sense, but it's actually all rather lovely & British, don't you think?

[MANTIS01]

Don't really know why you find this stuff awkward?? Life is about chapters, it's what makes it interesting. Imagine a book with one chapter? What a shit book. So the sky poker team came together and joyously knocked out a really positive chapter that you can all walk away from with fond memories. Onwards and upwards to the next adventure, brilliant. It's like when somebody dies, do you focus on the sadness they are gone or the joy that they were there? You are free to decide what attitude to take but personally I think awkwardness is about pity for others and I doubt anybody wants pity. Do you want my pity Tony? So dust off your burgundy jacket and move on to the next wonderful adventure, same for Orford or whoever, it's what life is about.

[doubleup]

Quick PS - I've found that Stone-cum-Ebony is in Kent, & the population is 468.

Not sure how a Parish of some 468 souls deserves a Lord, but there you go.

Culworth is in Northamptonshire. Population? 445.

Tonaghmore is something of a mystery, though it might be in Co Down, if so, it is the 82nd largest Townland in Co Down. Big time, indeed.

Not at all sure how all this works.  If they were Lord someone from London or Bristol it'd make much more sense, but it's actually all rather lovely & British, don't you think?

They pick the "of xyz" themselves.  Perhaps they were born there or have some other close connection.

[DesD]

Dan Lobb got a mention in Mondays Metro newspaper from Andrew Castle in a column he was writing. He was his doubles partner in some sort to tennis charity event.   

I'd plum forgotten all about Dan Lobb until you mentioned him.

We rarely worked together - just 5 or 6 times I think - & we were not really mutually attracted. Dan was very "superior", & self-assured, & there were often behind the scenes flare ups.

He did well for himself though, moving on to Daybreak & other stuff.

I recall you being the phone-in guest one night, too. Happy memories.

The time I lost my temper at him in a meeting and threw a paper ball which hit him on the forehead.  Not my finest hour....but I wasn't really one for 'talent'isms.

[DaveShoelace]

Dan Lobb got a mention in Mondays Metro newspaper from Andrew Castle in a column he was writing. He was his doubles partner in some sort to tennis charity event.   

I'd plum forgotten all about Dan Lobb until you mentioned him.

We rarely worked together - just 5 or 6 times I think - & we were not really mutually attracted. Dan was very "superior", & self-assured, & there were often behind the scenes flare ups.

He did well for himself though, moving on to Daybreak & other stuff.

I recall you being the phone-in guest one night, too. Happy memories.

The time I lost my temper at him in a meeting and threw a paper ball which hit him on the forehead.  Not my finest hour....but I wasn't really one for 'talent'isms.

One of the first times I did a telly show (as a guest) with Dan we were chatting in the green room and not sure how it came up but I mentioned I had been moonlighting for one of PokerNews's (while I worked for PokerNews) biggest rivals at the time under a pseudonym. I asked him to keep it to himself.

So he blurted it out about 2 minutes into the show.

Bless him.

[tikay]

Dan Lobb got a mention in Mondays Metro newspaper from Andrew Castle in a column he was writing. He was his doubles partner in some sort to tennis charity event.   

I'd plum forgotten all about Dan Lobb until you mentioned him.

We rarely worked together - just 5 or 6 times I think - & we were not really mutually attracted. Dan was very "superior", & self-assured, & there were often behind the scenes flare ups.

He did well for himself though, moving on to Daybreak & other stuff.

I recall you being the phone-in guest one night, too. Happy memories.

The time I lost my temper at him in a meeting and threw a paper ball which hit him on the forehead.  Not my finest hour....but I wasn't really one for 'talent'isms.

Ha, he did have that knack of ruffling feathers, & not just yours.

He & Matt Broughton got along famously. Any idea what Matt is doing these days, Des?

Unrelated, but I was up in Leeds yesterday, oh my, what a big company SB&G has become. You been up there lately & seen their other new Office, sort of next door to the existing one? Fabulous.

They now have 2 or 3 entire floors of the original Wellington Place office, & 2 floors of no 6, which has just opened. I've not been to their International offices (Sheffield, Rome), & another is planned soon. I recall when they just had that little office in Harrogate.

It's astonishing how they keep growing revenues 30 to 40% y-o-y without eroding margin.

I often wonder how long such growth in online gaming (not just SB&G) can continue, there must be a limit, surely? It's a staggeringly large market now, & is evolving in so many different ways.

Poker (generally) is moving away from the traditional model, the focus is now more on bells & whistles stuff, recreationals & of course x-sell. Sports Betting, ditto, the singles markets which the pros live off is diminishing in importance, as they are now adding on higher margin stuff, such as exotic multiples, RAB & Cash Out, which casual punters seem to lap up.

The FTP stuff, which I believe you are a big part of, is staggering in size, I can barely believe the weekly numbers.

I bumped into "Flinty" recently, he must be loving life since they were sold, given him so much more freedom. They've added 400 staff since "independence", which is investment for the future, & that sort of thing was difficult under the previous ownership as short-term results were deemed more important, & we had those annual recruitment freezes & so forth.

Hope life is treating you well, & you are still minting it. As per.

 

[tikay]

Dan Lobb got a mention in Mondays Metro newspaper from Andrew Castle in a column he was writing. He was his doubles partner in some sort to tennis charity event.   

I'd plum forgotten all about Dan Lobb until you mentioned him.

We rarely worked together - just 5 or 6 times I think - & we were not really mutually attracted. Dan was very "superior", & self-assured, & there were often behind the scenes flare ups.

He did well for himself though, moving on to Daybreak & other stuff.

I recall you being the phone-in guest one night, too. Happy memories.

The time I lost my temper at him in a meeting and threw a paper ball which hit him on the forehead.  Not my finest hour....but I wasn't really one for 'talent'isms.

One of the first times I did a telly show (as a guest) with Dan we were chatting in the green room and not sure how it came up but I mentioned I had been moonlighting for one of PokerNews's (while I worked for PokerNews) biggest rivals at the time under a pseudonym. I asked him to keep it to himself.

So he blurted it out about 2 minutes into the show.

Bless him.

Ha, that's about right, God bless Mr Lobb.

Did OK for himself though, so good luck to him.

When is the next book due? Are you living in luxury from the royalties of TMGOP?

[tikay]

Quite a challenging day yesterday, left home at 5am to travel up to Leeds, had 5 Meets in 4 hours, then got the train back south.

Was in a "Quiet Coach", but my seat was right next to the area where all the staff sit, congregate & yap, & one Yorkshire woman (staff) with a loud voice never stopped moaning about her job & life in general all journey. Then the 'phone rung for the bloke next to me & she came across & gave him a bollocking as it was a Quiet Coach..... Oh the irony.

I eventually fell asleep (took 20 minutes due to Mrs Moanalot) & I am never in the best of moods when I first awake, so news that the train was 30 minutes late added a bit of fuel to the grumpy fire.

The Victoria Line train was full, no seats, but some bloke offered me his seat, fml. 

Next was the South East trains leg from Vauxhall to Hampton Court, & I decided to take the fast to Surbiton where the platform is less crowded & it feels so much more rural. 15 minutes at Surbiton awaiting the Hampton Court train is always a delight.

If you stand on a busy railway platform, the sounds you can hear are magnificent, trains roaring though, points clanking as they change, the vacuum reservoirs on trains in the station whirring as they replenish, train wheels squealing as they negotiate curves. Love all that. And most of all, train stations have resisted the urge to have background music thank God.  It's an aural delight to be savoured.

And then I heard it. Did I really hear it? Yes. It got louder & more irritating by the minute as my ears attuned to it.

A bunch of carol singers - lovely people, one & all, I'm quite sure - singing Jingle Bells. Farking Jingle Bells. On a Railway Station.

Can you imagine anything worse?

God, life is tough.

[tikay]

I was nice & smart yesterday, got the Crombie out, hat, nice shirt, proper strides & shoes. Well it's an office, right?

Guess what my boss was wearing?

White plimsolls. In an office.

Guess you either have class & taste or you don't. Gotta feel sorry for Yorkshire folk.

[DaveShoelace]

Dan Lobb got a mention in Mondays Metro newspaper from Andrew Castle in a column he was writing. He was his doubles partner in some sort to tennis charity event.  

I'd plum forgotten all about Dan Lobb until you mentioned him.

We rarely worked together - just 5 or 6 times I think - & we were not really mutually attracted. Dan was very "superior", & self-assured, & there were often behind the scenes flare ups.

He did well for himself though, moving on to Daybreak & other stuff.

I recall you being the phone-in guest one night, too. Happy memories.

The time I lost my temper at him in a meeting and threw a paper ball which hit him on the forehead.  Not my finest hour....but I wasn't really one for 'talent'isms.

One of the first times I did a telly show (as a guest) with Dan we were chatting in the green room and not sure how it came up but I mentioned I had been moonlighting for one of PokerNews's (while I worked for PokerNews) biggest rivals at the time under a pseudonym. I asked him to keep it to himself.

So he blurted it out about 2 minutes into the show.

Bless him.

Ha, that's about right, God bless Mr Lobb.

Did OK for himself though, so good luck to him.

When is the next book due? Are you living in luxury from the royalties of TMGOP?

Can you believe I am juggling two books atm, one with Mr Tendler and another one thats a labour of love solo project. Think you'd enjoy the synopsis on that one - how the internet and our vast material comforts these days are making us all much more thin skinned and easily offended. In answer to your question, I am expecting both to be end of next year atm because I'm mega busy with other stuff.

Life goal of mine is to have five proper books out by the time I am 40 years old (currently 37 and have two out there).

One of the reasons for that goal is how much I have enjoyed the fruits of the first two, yes they have paid off handsomely thanks. I still get regular royalties that are way beyond what I ever expected to get when we were plugging away at them. A lot due to the fact we did an audiobook and have it translated in a bunch of languages - just signed off on an Estonian version as it happens. Shame somebody thought it would have been a nice idea to illegally translate and distribute the bloody thing in Russian for free about a week before we signed off on that particular version.

Any movement on your own book project I recall you mentioning a year or so ago?

[arbboy]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/racing/article-4031052/Sky-Bet-chief-executive-Richard-Flint-warns-racing-faces-unprecedented-demographic-challenge.html

Interesting read from your top suit.  Can't believe skybet have more uk online accounts than bet365.  Maybe because they have closed so many from winners and more uniques have to be set up from friends and family.     Rest of the article makes a lot of sense though and highly believable.  Racing is seriously under the cosh long term funding wise from the betting industry.

[tikay]

Don't really know why you find this stuff awkward?? Life is about chapters, it's what makes it interesting. Imagine a book with one chapter? What a shit book. So the sky poker team came together and joyously knocked out a really positive chapter that you can all walk away from with fond memories. Onwards and upwards to the next adventure, brilliant. It's like when somebody dies, do you focus on the sadness they are gone or the joy that they were there? You are free to decide what attitude to take but personally I think awkwardness is about pity for others and I doubt anybody wants pity. Do you want my pity Tony? So dust off your burgundy jacket and move on to the next wonderful adventure, same for Orford or whoever, it's what life is about.

Don't disagree with a word of that, I don't have an ounce of self pity about it, I had a grand time for 10 years, but, for me, the end came at the right time, my TV sell-by-date - assuming I ever had one - has long gone, & in many ways, I won't miss it.  It was fun, it was great, next case.

It's more a case of that moment when you see a bunch of colleagues for the last time & it's a bit awkward to say goodbye.

Did you see the TV Documentary about the closure of Kellingley, England's last deep mine pit? Tough, hard men in a tough environment, & they were all in tears on the last day. And the miners were Yorkshiremen, most  of whom are devoid of emotions & feelings from what I've seen. And they were in floods of tears.

Besides, who would not be a little sad in Anna's shoes?  She put this on Twitter & wrote "here's my TV squeeze".

Eat your heart out boys.

Pretty girl, huh?

[tikay]

And the last word on TV, before I consign it to my mental archive files, here's a guy who loved being on the show.

 

[tikay]

Dan Lobb got a mention in Mondays Metro newspaper from Andrew Castle in a column he was writing. He was his doubles partner in some sort to tennis charity event.  

I'd plum forgotten all about Dan Lobb until you mentioned him.

We rarely worked together - just 5 or 6 times I think - & we were not really mutually attracted. Dan was very "superior", & self-assured, & there were often behind the scenes flare ups.

He did well for himself though, moving on to Daybreak & other stuff.

I recall you being the phone-in guest one night, too. Happy memories.

The time I lost my temper at him in a meeting and threw a paper ball which hit him on the forehead.  Not my finest hour....but I wasn't really one for 'talent'isms.

One of the first times I did a telly show (as a guest) with Dan we were chatting in the green room and not sure how it came up but I mentioned I had been moonlighting for one of PokerNews's (while I worked for PokerNews) biggest rivals at the time under a pseudonym. I asked him to keep it to himself.

So he blurted it out about 2 minutes into the show.

Bless him.

Ha, that's about right, God bless Mr Lobb.

Did OK for himself though, so good luck to him.

When is the next book due? Are you living in luxury from the royalties of TMGOP?

Can you believe I am juggling two books atm, one with Mr Tendler and another one thats a labour of love solo project. Think you'd enjoy the synopsis on that one - how the internet and our vast material comforts these days are making us all much more thin skinned and easily offended. In answer to your question, I am expecting both to be end of next year atm because I'm mega busy with other stuff.

Life goal of mine is to have five proper books out by the time I am 40 years old (currently 37 and have two out there).

One of the reasons for that goal is how much I have enjoyed the fruits of the first two, yes they have paid off handsomely thanks. I still get regular royalties that are way beyond what I ever expected to get when we were plugging away at them. A lot due to the fact we did an audiobook and have it translated in a bunch of languages - just signed off on an Estonian version as it happens. Shame somebody thought it would have been a nice idea to illegally translate and distribute the bloody thing in Russian for free about a week before we signed off on that particular version.

Any movement on your own book project I recall you mentioning a year or so ago?

Good man, that's great to hear. I suppose, with poker being global, the target market is huge.

Think you thoroughly deserve it, you've certainly put the graft in. We had Jared & you on the Show at various times, too.  

What was the hardest - writing the book, or all the puffing it up afterwards?

I would imagine all the post-writing stuff is the hardest.

When I see TMGOP on the bookstalls at The Rio at WSOP time, I feel a little burst of pride. "My mate wrote that" sorta thing.

As I expect you know, Chris Moorman has another book about to be published, & his publishers have been pestering me for months to get involved in making some noise, but he is with 888 & so it's not really appropriate for me right now.

So here's another puff for your one. The great thing about your book is that it is timeless, & does not "age".

PS - do you ever hear from or see Rich Milner these days? He seems to have disappeared out of my orbit completely. Think it kinda broke his heart to leave SB&G, & maybe he feels a little uncomfy about it all. Shame, he's a decent fella, rarely speaks ill of others - a lovely trait - & a genuinely nice man, & I much enjoyed working for him. We used to chat most days, but I've never heard a word since the day he left. Proper boss, too, dressed properly & never wore plimsolls in the office like my current man.