Vegas & The Aftermath - Diary

[tikay]

Right, it's 0430, & I have to be at Eurostar Ebbsfleet for 0730 to hook up with Compo & get to Paris, where I'm having Dinner with Mrs Merton & thence to The Aviation for the European Poker Awards.

And I'm late. I blame Thewy.

Toodle pip.

[Longy]

Yeah great night tikay, DTD was brilliant tonight. Just what we all hoped would happen 100+ poker enthusiasts enjoying a competitive game of poker, in a great atmosphere. I didn't here any form of arguements tonight, just good banter.

[boldie]

4am - Just back from dtd - what a buzz there was down there tonight!

It was the first "open to all" £50-er, & I arrived at about 7pm to find a queue stretching into the Car Park! The Tourney sold out, they added a table or two, there were 20 alternates, & as many again were turned away.

Plenty of faces there, but it was like the Gala Notts crowd had been transported to dtd - almost everyone from Gala Notts was there. It was just like old times, & I adored it. And there were cash-tables galore - 6 or 7 - with everything from Hold 'Em, Omaha Hi-Low, & £2-£5 & £5-£5 Dealers Choice - the whole works. Add to that 5 or 6 SNG's at a time, & over 200 folks in there, & at last, after last week's razmatazz, this was a glimpse of the real dtd. The tmo was thrilling - really - & Rob has clearly hit the spot. Imagine, 200 players there on a Thursday night!

I played the comp, & had the most wonderful starting table, including Thewy & Karabiner, but every one of them was a treat to sit with.

Dave Welch dropped in, as did Pete Singletion, & Rob had his full Team on hand. Simon Trumper was Mother Hen - "seat on a SNG" - "seat available at £1 £2 Hold 'Em" he was announcing over the PA, & Matilde was dealing too, to help out. Yogi was TD, & he's just awesome. Nick & Rob, Chubbs too, are splendid Hosts (thanks for the dinner, Rob), & I had such a lovely evening.

I shall not abandon Luton, where I've been made to feel so welcome by the players & Staff, but when they clash, it'll be a tough call. With 200 players there, dtd really buzzes. Great stuff.

2..things;

1; Wow! that sounds amazing.

2; You're all Lucky B******S for living in England.

[tikay]

Had a nightmare of a journey to Ebbsfleet this morning, the M25 Bridge/Toll Crossing was closed by high winds, sheesh.

Anyway, hooked up with Compo at the Station, where we were greeted by a man who said "ahh, tikay, I watch you all the time on the Sky Show". Which means Compo has to pay the taxi Fares for the entire trip. About time, too.

Slept the entire train journey, arrived at Paris Gard de Nord, & waited 30 minutes for a taxi. We changed £150 at the Bureau de Change, & got, wait for it, €162......

The mad taxi driver got to the roundabout thingy at the Arc de Triomphe, & it was cheek-clenching time there, as per usual. It's like, well, the biggest roundabout in he world, about 12 lanes wide, with 7 or 8 main roads feeding into it. There are no "give way" rules or driving code, it's every man for himself. An unbelievable & frightening sight.

Arrived at the Champs Elysses Best Western Hotel, needed an Iron as my shirt for tonight needs ironing. "No irons Monsieur". I love the French.

OK, nap time, we start work at 6pm. (We are an hour ahead over here). No nap for Compo though - he's off to the Aviation right away - to play the Cash-Game. He's poker mad, a one track mind, & has no self-discipline.

[tikay]

"The Times" has a lovely little feature called "Questions Answered", where readers ask, & reply, to all manner of odd matters.

Today, it came up with this purler.

"Sheep, or cows, when grazing in their fields, tend to face in the same direction. Why?

To which this reply was printed.

Further to Catherine Mauger's letter (23rd Nov) I am not convinced by the argument that sheep & cattle graze upwind to avoid each other's flatulence....."

So Peter Paul & Mary were wrong when they sung, "The answer my friends, is ......................."

[kinboshi]

Is it not to do with wind then? (being able to detect the scent or sound of predators)

Is it just to do with the direction they are 'grazing' as a group?

Is it so they can all keep an eye on each other, and again react as a group to predators?

Is it because they are sheep, even if they are cows?

[ifm]

Yeah this was on the "ask Dom" feature on the Chris Moyles" show.
Something to do with either facing into or away from the wind.

[boldie]

Yeah this was on the "ask Dom" feature on the Chris Moyles" show.
Something to do with either facing into or away from the wind.

so essentially all you can say for sure is that "It has something to do with the wind"

[tikay]

Just back from Paris (nearly midnight on Saturday), & I planned to travel up to Manchester tonight, for the APAT Day Two on Sunday, but I'm totally pooped, so I'm gonna travel up in the morning, & just pray I can find the energy to get out of bed in time for the journey up to Manc.

Meanwhile, Paris was interesting......

[tikay]

Bruno Fitouissi is some cool dude, & if I wanted to be the coolest guy in poker, I'd try & be him. He's the sort of Genial Host & Mother Hen at Aviation Club de France, & has always been a wonderful host to me. I've never paid for a meal yet in their quite splendid Restaurant, (he comps me every time) & he always finds me a cash-game table if I want some action.

He dresses superbly, the women dote on him, & he speaks with a deep Parisian accent but in perfect English, except that, like most foreigners, he sometimes gets the right words in the wrong order in that wonderfully cute way.

I was chatting with him & Jen, & both of them had been nominated for an European Poker Award, in different categories. Both failed to win, & neither seemed unduly bothered, not really expecting or hoping to win. But he came up with this purler, speaking to Jen, on the failure of either of them to get a gong, & he said it beaming from ear to ear.

"We got both fucked".

Gotta love Bruno.

[Karabiner]

Surely there's a cash game at dtd just begging for a bit of action......

[tikay]

Jen, meanwhile, came along with her Brother, who's a sort of male twin of Jen - stratospheric IQ, mischievous, great articulation, & wonderful company. She's immensely proud of him, & cares for him protectively & territorially.

Jen looked absolutely splendid, too. She had trousers, proper shoes (Jen, in proper shoes!), & a sort of Japanese style kimbo thing. It was pure silk, black, with crimson coloured japanese drawings & stuff on it, very unusual, & very striking. It was - & pardon me, but I've been learning the French language - a sac poubelle fit for a Princess.

The Aviation Club de France - ACF - have tightened up on dress code, but almost anything goes except trainers & dodgy shoes. I asked Jen how she managed to gain entry to the ACF when she & I Updated the WPT there a few years back, because Jen's favourite Updating Shoes are, well, let's just say "non-compliant".

Now, you have to try & visualise this.

She said her tactic was to wear an ankle-length dress, & when she approached the entrance, she'd bend at the knees, making herself 6" shorter, such that her dress went all the way down to the floor, & hid her shoes. Then she waddled in, knees still bent, trying to look natural.

One Jen Mason, there's only one Jen Mason.

It was a gruelling weekend, but some chill-time in the company of Jen, her Bro, & Compo, made it all worthwhile.

[tikay]

Surely there's a cash game at dtd just begging for a bit of action......

What a ridiculous thing to say.

Then again, hmm......

[tikay]

The way we handle defeat - in Poker or anything else I suppose - is interesting.

I take defeat at sports & games (not business, that's different - VERY different!) easily - I've had enough practice - but really, I don't give a toss.

It's fair to say, that if losing hurt me more, or hurt me at all, I'd be a better poker player. But I play to amuse myself, to be with gambling folk, to satisfy my urge to gamble, & most of all, to have fun. If losing in Tourneys hurt me or upset me the way it does some, I'd quit, there & then, I never ceased to be amazed how little enjoyment some folks get from poker, forever moaning & whingeing about their (alleged) bad luck. Read the moans & groans when playing poker Online, & you wonder why they bother playing.

But you can't argue with one thing - those that take defeat badly, by which I mean it hurts them - not to be confused with losing their dignity & behaving like spoilt kids - are almost always better players for it.

Which brings me to the phenomonen that is Annette Oberstrad. At 19, her maturity is just unbelievable. Like her poker.

When we arrived at ACF, they had a €5,000 Tourney in the early stages, Level 3 I think. Annettte was short (in chips, I mean, not stature, though she's that too), & already in "push" mode. (By the bye, Jo Grech & Stu Rutter were both running well by the start of Day Two, but John Kabbaj was out, & my tip to win it, Anthony Lellouche, was not in good shape). Anyway, Annette busts out early doors, & I quip to her that she's never gonna make the grade unless she gets her act together. Mistake, as she goes off on a rant about "some idiot floating the flop with 9-7 when I had Queens". Like she does not float more flops than Fosbury. See what I mean - these winners take defeat so hard that they are blinded to the reality - she's busted more than enough Premium's with 9-7, but when it's done to her......This, by the way, is NOT an anti-Annette story, she's just terrific in every way, it's an "I'm a winner" story.

So, come the Euro Awards, & Annette is nominated in no less than three categories (but oddly, not in Rookie of the Year though). And she's 1/10 to win all three. She knows it, we all know it, them's the facts. I was even asked by Betfair to Interview her for French TV on how much it meant to her to win all three gongs.

Come the first award, the Media - & there were more Media than players there - had all eyes on Annnette, as the winners envelope was opened. A dozen or more cameras - TV & still - were trained on her, & everyone in the room was staring at the "19 year-old about to be awarded gong" winner.

But she never won it. What? Nope, it went to someone else. And the girl who's took on the World in London in September, & Dublin a month later, & never flinched, was suddenly seen to be human - fighting to hold back the tears, blinking rapidly, self-consciously, hurting badly.

So, Award Two is next. And she does not win that, either. What? Rinse, repeat.

But justice is done, & eventually, she deservedly gets "Europe's Leading Lady" Award. (And no, before you ask, there was not a "Europe's Leading Man" Award). Now she was smiling again. This girl is gonna murder poker's established elite. She's a born winner. But don't speak to her after a defeat, because she feels the pain. Badly. Which is maybe why she's so damn good.

As to the French TV Interview, time never allowed us to do it before the Awards were announced, so we agreed to do it afterwards. But nobody had the guts to ask her afterwards. We were all too scared.

[jonah]

4am - Just back from dtd - what a buzz there was down there tonight!

It was the first "open to all" £50-er, & I arrived at about 7pm to find a queue stretching into the Car Park! The Tourney sold out, they added a table or two, there were 20 alternates, & as many again were turned away.

Plenty of faces there, but it was like the Gala Notts crowd had been transported to dtd - almost everyone from Gala Notts was there. It was just like old times, & I adored it. And there were cash-tables galore - 6 or 7 - with everything from Hold 'Em, Omaha Hi-Low, & £2-£5 & £5-£5 Dealers Choice - the whole works. Add to that 5 or 6 SNG's at a time, & over 200 folks in there, & at last, after last week's razmatazz, this was a glimpse of the real dtd. The tmo was thrilling - really - & Rob has clearly hit the spot. Imagine, 200 players there on a Thursday night!

I played the comp, & had the most wonderful starting table, including Thewy & Karabiner, but every one of them was a treat to sit with.

Dave Welch dropped in, as did Pete Singletion, & Rob had his full Team on hand. Simon Trumper was Mother Hen - "seat on a SNG" - "seat available at £1 £2 Hold 'Em" he was announcing over the PA, & Matilde was dealing too, to help out. Yogi was TD, & he's just awesome. Nick & Rob, Chubbs too, are splendid Hosts (thanks for the dinner, Rob), & I had such a lovely evening.

I shall not abandon Luton, where I've been made to feel so welcome by the players & Staff, but when they clash, it'll be a tough call. With 200 players there, dtd really buzzes. Great stuff.

I was on your left on the first table tikay (you brought me a coffee), then when we got down to the last 2 tables & you were on my left (I returned the coffee favour)

Just to echo your thoughts really that it was probably the best venue i've ever had the fortune of playing in, (winning it as well helped I suppose )

It was a pleasure being on the same table with the likes of yourself, an ept winner and other well known names. Where else will that happen in a £50 comp?

Great venue run by great people but more importantly played by great people who are there for just 1 reason & not to pass the time while having a break from the gaming tables.

Hope very much to become a regular down there.