Vegas & The Aftermath - Diary

[tikay]

I've been retired 8 months now, & the novelty has yet to wear off. It's the luxury of having plenty of time to do whatever I want, no worries or obligations, never having to rush, always arriving early. After working hard for 60 years, it's just wonderful.

I've done something (golf, poker, meals & travelling with Gill) just about every single day, & with one exception, I've enjoyed every single day.

Typically?

I get up at 0630 or 7am, it varies according to daylight hours.

Tesco first, bits & bobs & a Costa.

Then I go for a half hour drive around the country lanes, I have a dozen or so different "loops". I live in such a beautiful part of the country, & in 3 minutes I can be in Derbyshire back lanes, gorgeous gently hilly countryside, trees & birdlife galore, & those old fashioned direction signs, black & white cast-iron ones, sometimes with a little pointy finger on them.  I look forward to that every day.

Next it's the Golf Driving Range, to hit a basket of balls. I'd like to think it improves my game, but it reality it does not, & it's hard to get better at my age.

BBC News next. Has the news ever been more fascinating?

Next, a round of golf. I play every single weekday, though I missed most of January as the Courses were closed due to weather. We actually played yesterday when the "feel like" was 23f, which was a bit dumb, but so be it. I was awful when I re-started golfing, & I've not improved much, but it does not matter, & I'm blessed to have such an understanding bunch of golf mates. I'm always mindful of spoiling their game but they are wonderfully tolerant. I mean, there's plenty of piss-taking but that's all part of the fun. I'm super-short off the Tee, so the running joke when there's a group in front of us is "it's safe for you to tee-off tikay". Which is OK, but a bit hurtful on Par 3's...

After golf, a spot of lunch, then a few hours nap. I LOVE having a nap with no need for an alarm call. Weird really, when we sleep we are effectively unconscious, & yet for some reason I love it. Always preceded, of course, by reading a book for half an hour. (Since retiring I've read 37 books, basically 1 a week).

Next is poker, I play every night Wednesday to Sunday inclusive. I'm no better or worse than I was 30 years ago, except that the results don't matter, I just love the buzz. It's mostly small-ball Tournaments, £50 or £100, & I just like to have plenty of table time in good company, & the occasional cash. If I bust the tourney early, I go play cash, either £2 £2 6 Card PLO, or £2 £2 DC. Scariest thing ever to play at those levels, especially in relation to a £50 Tourney, & I suppose that's part of the attraction, the danger.

I have a bet on the football most nights too. I think I'm a compulsive gambler, I can't enjoy Live Sport unless I have a bet, but for the most part, it's just £10's & £20's, though for Ante-Post stuff, leading Goalscorers etc, a bit bigger. 

After poker, it's home for dinner, which can be any time between 10pm & 3am. Dinner, & watch a Documentary on NetFlix. Nobody does documentaries better than NetFlix. TV entertainment finishes with an hour on You Tube, watching all sorts, but usually finishes with some music - Clapton, Pulp, BB King, Kinks, Radiohead, all sorts. "Just one more video" usually ends up about an hour, so it's often 4am before I get to bed. Then 30 minutes with my book.

Rinse repeat, pretty much.

[tikay]

OK, 18 holes await, so gotta go.

Today I'm going to play well.*

I say that every time, & of course never do. It's the hope, isn't it?

[Kev B]

Sounds absolutely perfect Tikay, and well deserved me time after all those years working.

I have an eclectic taste in music too, a lot of cross overs with your mentions. I have a couple of suggestions for you to check out. Firstly a band I've been banging on a out for 20 years or more, Alabama 3. Best known for the soundtrack to the Sopranos "Woke up this morning " Secondly a band I saw for the first time last year after my eldest son introduced them to me in 2020 namely Black Keys. Both amazing live.

Have missed my golf but I'm not a fan of sludgy courses or the rain. Hopefully get a game in over the next few weeks if conditions change. Off to beautiful Killarney in April with my son to play Mahoney's point and can't wait. https://killarneygolfclub.ie/

Anyway looking forward to more retirement stories and golf reports in the thread.

[Karabiner]

I'll second The Alabama Three suggestion.

Exile on Coldharbour Lane has been one of my favourite albums for ages.

[Kev B]

I'll second The Alabama Three suggestion.

Exile on Coldharbour Lane has been one of my favourite albums for ages.

The first album I bought of theirs because of Woke up. Saw them the 1st time touring the Power in the Blood album. You have great taste Ralph.

[Karabiner]

I'll second The Alabama Three suggestion.

Exile on Coldharbour Lane has been one of my favourite albums for ages.

The first album I bought of theirs because of Woke up. Saw them the 1st time touring the Power in the Blood album. You have great taste Ralph.

I used to take The Observer every Sunday until around 10 years ago Kev, and they had a really good music section where they reviewed new releases, and I bought quite a few CD's on the strength of some rave reviews. Exile on Coldharbour Lane was one of those.

[tikay]

apropos nothing really, but many of you will remember long-time blonde GreekStein, aka Cos, aka PaperTits. We never quite knew what line he might take in the numerous blonde scandals & money affairs, but he feared no one & he "spoke his mind", to put it mildly. Fair to say he caused the Mods more than his fair share of headaches, whilst at the same time oiling the blonde wheels. In fact it was him who came up with the idea of "crowd-funding" me into the WSOP Main about 15 or more years ago.  

Anyway, we try to keep in touch, not as often as either of us might prefer, but now & then, & after writing to him over the Christmas/New Year period, he replied today. His excuse was that it's hard to post on blonde on a 'phone, which is abso right, but now he's invested in a Lappie, so we may seem him on blonde a little more now.

I won't go into any personal stuff, but it seems he's sort of normalised himself, almost like a regular person, judging by this...

"I'm a calm dad now. My daughter is 8 and my son 5."

"I've just spent the last 2 years working on a passion project centred around dogs. Its a cafe, dog swimming pool, park, dog hotel, wellness clinic, pet shop and training facility all rolled into one."

 
Isn't that lovely? And who'd have thought that one day he'd become almost normal?

Not quite sure why, but it pleased me to bits.

[tikay]

On the topic of blondes from back in the day, I had a lovely surprise over the weekend when I bumped into redsimon (Simon Lawler) during the APAT do at DTD.

I'd not seen Simon for 10 or 15 years. He used to run with "Old King Cole" (?) who I think has now sadly passed, & they were a fixture in Vegas every summer, especially at The Orleans. He had a smattering of cashes at the old-style Rooms - Binions, Nugget, etc & more lately I gather he's an APAT stalwart, with a dozen money finishes over the years.

It was no secret that Simon was unwell, right back to the Gala Notts days, with kidney issues. Well somehow, 20+ years on, he's still doing fine & does not look much different. He's on the transplant list, but it does not seem to be getting in the way of enjoying life, although it can't be much fun being a Forest fan.

It's so good to hear from, or bump into, poker pals from back in the day. I'm not sure why it's so pleasing, but it is. Similar with golf really, it's helped me to re-connect with the original poker crew from 20-25 years ago, including Tom, Ralph, The Moany Twins Jamie Moult & Trevor Pearson, Mr Giblin, Jac & many others.

Meanwhile, not long ago I was chirping about playing golf every single weekday. Guess I tempted fate there, the incessant rain means that I doubt I've played 3 rounds so far in 2026. Every day I wake up hoping, & every day the rain just keeps on coming. Meh.

  

[GreekStein]

apropos nothing really, but many of you will remember long-time blonde GreekStein, aka Cos, aka PaperTits. We never quite knew what line he might take in the numerous blonde scandals & money affairs, but he feared no one & he "spoke his mind", to put it mildly. Fair to say he caused the Mods more than his fair share of headaches, whilst at the same time oiling the blonde wheels. In fact it was him who came up with the idea of "crowd-funding" me into the WSOP Main about 15 or more years ago.  

Anyway, we try to keep in touch, not as often as either of us might prefer, but now & then, & after writing to him over the Christmas/New Year period, he replied today. His excuse was that it's hard to post on blonde on a 'phone, which is abso right, but now he's invested in a Lappie, so we may seem him on blonde a little more now.

I won't go into any personal stuff, but it seems he's sort of normalised himself, almost like a regular person, judging by this...

"I'm a calm dad now. My daughter is 8 and my son 5."

"I've just spent the last 2 years working on a passion project centred around dogs. Its a cafe, dog swimming pool, park, dog hotel, wellness clinic, pet shop and training facility all rolled into one."

 
Isn't that lovely? And who'd have thought that one day he'd become almost normal?

Not quite sure why, but it pleased me to bits.

ffs your reply has made me go down a bit of a blonde rabbit hold here! Apologies in advance but....

In my defence, when you're 20 years old, living in the UK, doing a job you don't like and not shagging very often (or sometimes at all!) it definitely made a good old tear up on the internet a bit more appealing. I was definitely egged on at times by some, but really never minded saying my piece. I was also sat in an office all day long during 3.5 years in and around some of blonde's busier years where I really had nothing better to do from 9-5 than get stuck in.

I don't regret a lot of it either, but i definitely regret SOME of the ways i went about it in certain cases.

I never minded standing up for what was right against guys like Rob Yong, who thought, and probably still think that their position means they can do exactly what they want. Over 10 years later, I still don't know whether I'm banned from DTD, but his actions will never sit right with me. He's definitely someone that loves and cares about poker and has done a good job of helping to grow the game. I can respect that, whether it's come with significant personal gain or not.

I am also sure that the some of the ways i ranted probably stopped certain people getting scammed by the likes of wronguns like Riverdave. Guys like him were and are bad eggs and will never change.

I don't know what happened with other guys like Richard Kellett and Mark Wright. Both clearly talented players and ahead of the game in many ways at that time but couldn't manage the ups and downs of the games maturely enough. At that age, many of us younger crop of players couldn't manage the whole thing. I personally boomed and busted many times before I headed out to Thailand and finally became a bit more responsible. I never wronged anyone else though, just shot myself in the foot many times and delayed my trajectory.

Then there were guys like Toby Lewis, who seemed to manage themselves very well in ways that most couldn't. I mean this as no slight on Toby, but he wasn't inherently a ton more capable than a lot of others around at that time. But he did tick more boxes of what was needed and kept himself together and managed to be successful. Very pleased for lads like that.

Some others I used to be much closer to. Guys like Lil Dave and Pleno. Its so lovely to read things online every now and again about how Pleno won his 897th Wcoop taking his online winnings to $11 billion and seeing lil Dave playing tritons and mega cash games.

Other guys like Blatch, i can't help but wonder every now and again what they're upto and how their lives went. I harbor no bad feelings toward anyone who got caught up in it in terms of gambling. I've seen many a good bloke make bad mistakes in this industry. I kind of have a 1 time rule for someone. If someone messes up once, holds their hands high, answers to everyone and makes their situation right, no matter how long it takes then I have no bad feeling. I'll erase it from my memory and treat them as though it never happened.

I occasionally read the story of someone like Stu Rutter and just dont want to believe that there was real malice there, just someone at a bad stage in life where they somehow got caught up in something out of desperation and other circumstances. Doesn't make it right, but after 20 years of being a gentleman in the community, they should probably be talked to with a bit more love, tried to be helped and encouraged to dust themselves off and make it right.

I even remember lesser known guys like Boldie, who i remember feeling very very disappointed when he did what he did because again, i believe he was a nice guy that got caught up in it all. Gambling gets you and it got him. But   for me, the test of character was whether they would come back later down the line and say 'x, y and z was going on in my life at the time and i went missing for a while then but here i am now ready to right those wrongs'.

Then there were a few guys like Mantis. Still adamant that he was one of the most eloquent, yet entirely inherently unintelligent people on the forum. I should have just ignored him but quite enjoyed our back and forth at times - like i said, just because i had nothing better to do.

Then there was some very very good guys like Kinboshi and Bedi who i fell out with (and genuinely dont remember why!) over things here on whatever topic. Stuff like that I definitely regret, without even knowing who was right or wrong, I know that i was definitely wrong to put myself in a position to fall out with good lads.

Funny how I've just clicked on your post to say how good it was to catch up briefly, and the internet policeman has come back after 10 years! But more importantly, Blonde taught me a lot! I loved many many parts of this forum.

I made lots of very good friends here too. Stu Hopkin, Sunny Nagi, Mitch, CambridgeAlex, Celtic, Giblin, Matt, Maria etc. Most of whom I unfortunately rarely ever get to catch up with these days but really really enjoy when I do. Catching up with Mitch, Alex, Sunny etc in Thailand over the years has been great and I hope they're all crushing life.

Then theres dozens and dozens of other posters who i had varying degrees of interactions with from the likes of Eso Kral, Claypole to Longy, Paul Ho Girgy. All of these, from their great differences added really nice things to this forum and I hope all are doing well too.

[tikay]

My my, what a Post.

Even after prompting, you have a better memory than most.

As far as I'm aware, Richard Kellett has put his past behind him. Certainly his name seems to pop up all over the place, mainly GUKPT stuff, & I've heard or seen nothing bad.

By chance, I found myself briefly seated next to RiverDave at a little 4/5/6 PLO affair in Coventry just before Christmas. He seems to be playing smallball PLO stuff around the UK.

I remain well in touch with Mr Giblin, with whom I golf occasionally. He managed to shed 3 or 4 stone in as many months this time last year, then turned up to play golf with us (Jamie Moult, Tom & I) & the three of us never recognized him.

Bedi, aka George2Loose, polls up at DTD now & then.   

Maria does too, & we had a few good catch ups recently, both at Goliath & DTD. She's the happiest & most content I've ever known her, which is 20+ years. She sails her ship solo these days, lives in Leicester, & is a Postie. Think I may have told the story of her falling down a manhole whilst out delivering letters. If not, nudge me.

[tikay]

 


 
Ahh bless, the old Cos still lurks just beneath the surface....


Then there were a few guys like Mantis. Still adamant that he was one of the most eloquent, yet entirely inherently unintelligent people on the forum. I should have just ignored him but quite enjoyed our back and forth at times - like i said, just because i had nothing better to do.



Can't really agree with that. I think most of it was tongue-in-cheek, mischievous stuff. Seemed to me to be a very bright chap, & - like you - writes & punctuates wonderfully.

I'd say you & he are bound to bang heads as you are both Alpha Males.

PS - post more, tell us about your Dog Project.

[GreekStein]

 
Ahh bless, the old Cos still lurks just beneath the surface....


Then there were a few guys like Mantis. Still adamant that he was one of the most eloquent, yet entirely inherently unintelligent people on the forum. I should have just ignored him but quite enjoyed our back and forth at times - like i said, just because i had nothing better to do.



Can't really agree with that. I think most of it was tongue-in-cheek, mischievous stuff. Seemed to me to be a very bright chap, & - like you - writes & punctuates wonderfully.

I'd say you & he are bound to bang heads as you are both Alpha Males.

PS - post more, tell us about your Dog Project.

Beauty of the forum!

Anyway, I wish everyone well.

I even bumped into Mr Flushy a few times doing his thing with Triton. He was someone I looked up to a lot when this forum began. He seemed very happy in his role there.

While I was posting yesterday, I thought of so many posters that added to the forum and its community in one way or another. I think the internet has become a worse place now in this sense. There's no sense of community anywhere. There's just garbage everywhere. Have to be very careful with my kids as to what they can or can't be exposed to. Little things like youtube 'shorts' designed exactly for them are so bad for them. Teaches them to not focus on anything for more than 3 seconds.

What is Tighty upto now? Are there still forum mods?

Have there ever been efforts or strategies over the years since blonde quitened down to either get it busier again or move it on commercially in any way?

[GreekStein]

I was looking through the forum stats:

Total Members:   16784
Total Posts:   2263849
Total Topics:   66633
Total Categories:   3
Users Online:   12261
Most Online:   18293 - January 02, 2025, 04:55:49 PM
Online Today:   14563

Online today and most online must be wrong, surely? Or is there some way it matches IP address with registered user ?

[redsimon]

On the topic of blondes from back in the day, I had a lovely surprise over the weekend when I bumped into redsimon (Simon Lawler) during the APAT do at DTD.

I'd not seen Simon for 10 or 15 years. He used to run with "Old King Cole" (?) who I think has now sadly passed, & they were a fixture in Vegas every summer, especially at The Orleans. He had a smattering of cashes at the old-style Rooms - Binions, Nugget, etc & more lately I gather he's an APAT stalwart, with a dozen money finishes over the years.

It was no secret that Simon was unwell, right back to the Gala Notts days, with kidney issues. Well somehow, 20+ years on, he's still doing fine & does not look much different. He's on the transplant list, but it does not seem to be getting in the way of enjoying life, although it can't be much fun being a Forest fan.

It's so good to hear from, or bump into, poker pals from back in the day. I'm not sure why it's so pleasing, but it is. Similar with golf really, it's helped me to re-connect with the original poker crew from 20-25 years ago, including Tom, Ralph, The Moany Twins Jamie Moult & Trevor Pearson, Mr Giblin, Jac & many others.

Meanwhile, not long ago I was chirping about playing golf every single weekday. Guess I tempted fate there, the incessant rain means that I doubt I've played 3 rounds so far in 2026. Every day I wake up hoping, & every day the rain just keeps on coming. Meh.

  

great to see you looking so well on Saturday, you must be enjoying Brentford's current form, have you been to the new stadium much?