Vegas & The Aftermath - Diary

[Karabiner]

Some folks - not me, for sure! - have that knack of saying so much, in so few words, & even then, convey a meaning which somehow says "yup, know exactly what you mean".

I bet you can work out who said this to me today, apropros the WSOP Main Event, in a note......

still in tho, got 11k, 20 bb's when we return on tuesday so plenty to be a pain in the ass with.

Sums up him, & his game, so perfectly.

Mike matusow ?

[tikay]

Some folks - not me, for sure! - have that knack of saying so much, in so few words, & even then, convey a meaning which somehow says "yup, know exactly what you mean".

I bet you can work out who said this to me today, apropros the WSOP Main Event, in a note......

still in tho, got 11k, 20 bb's when we return on tuesday so plenty to be a pain in the ass with.

Sums up him, & his game, so perfectly.

Mike Matusow ?

Very good!

You are a droll man Ralph. Wrong, of course, as you well know, ( I bet you guessed who it was in a nana-second) but funny.

[tikay]

Some good news.

I've mentioned a couple of times why DingDell has been absent from the Forum lately - the cryptosporidium parasite which has contaminated the water supply in Northampton has crippled her business, temporarily we hope, but devestatingly in the short-term. To see years of hard work destroyed by something completely out of your control is heart-breaking. (And don't I know it).

Anyway, it appears that resolution is in sight, & the "all-clear" is but days away now. It will take a while for the business to recover, for confidence to return, but at least she can do something now. It's the inability to do anything which so frustrates.

So, right out of the blue, she rung me this morning, to tell me this. She was very emotional, unsurprisingly, a lifeline is in sight. It was an odd convo, thousands of miles apart, on a bad line, but tears were shed. And not just hers. I'm not sure if I'm tired, going soft, or just have a feel for people's problems which I never had when I was younger, but these things seem to affect me more than they used to. Cue "he's totally lost it" Posts. Ah well.

Anyway, I'm delighted for Ding, I hope she's soon back, up & running as normal.

[tikay]

I'm on an Ethernet connection (via a cable) in my Rio Room.

Right now, I'm doing e-Mails via Yahoo, & blonde Forum stuff. Nothing else.

My yahoo "tab", when I just refreshed it, came up with this message, on a new page......

Network Intrusion Detected

The SolutionIP Server has detected questionable traffic originating from this computer. Your service has been slowed to 56K for the next 10 minutes.  

Eh?

[tikay]

Seen entering the Rio CardRoom this afternoon - an hour late - these three laid-back guys. Just another Comp for them I guess. I wonder what enjoyment level they get from Poker these days? For the you's & me's of this world, the foot-soldiers, it must be an awesome experience to play the WSOP Biggie, but do the Pros get the same buzz?

Ram Vaswani, Marc Goodwin, & Kevin O'Connell.

[tikay]

Eddie Hearn.

As I noted earlier this week, Eddie, Barry, & the Matchroom Crew are in Vegas for a Darts Tourney, & I think someone Posted what it was.

Eddie came up to The Laddies Lounge at The Rio this morning, where I was decamped with a bunch of Sky Suits, to say Hi, & we had a quite amazing chat. He's a man with great presence, & it's lovely to listen to his views on this & that.

On Matchroom-Type Poker.

He knows many poker purists don't much like the 6 handed "Turbo" structure, & he gets slated in the Forums for it. He cares not a jot. He sells the Shows to Sponsors & Channels, & earns a nice living. He reckons the hardcore "Poker Serious" make up about 5% of the audience, & give him all the grief. The rest of the audience love it, proofed by Sponsors queueing up to do business with Matchroom. In fact, he is at capacity, there are no more TV slots available for Poker.

On Darts in America

It's a very low-profile thing in the USA, Darts. Eddie is trying to change it, hence this Tourney. And you can easily see why - if he "cracks" Ameerica, the pickings will be absolutely massive. He's given me some tickets for the Darts - it's at "Mandalay Bay" - & I'll try & pop across to take a look, just out of curiosity. And, with Sky Bet sponsoring a Darts Tourney in Dublin in October, meaning Sky Poker will be there in some capacity, I really ought to try & see what's what with the Darts scene.

On Sky Poker.

Surprisingly ('tis true), he watches it a lot, & has forthright views on what's good & bad about it, what Presenters & Analysts do it for him, & what ones don't. And strong views - beautifully articulated, too - on several other aspects of the Show, positives & negatives. He's a commercial animal, & shocked us all (all the Sky Suits were present) with his in-depth knowledge of Sky Poker traffic, & progress, he knows Sky's numbers exactly. And he knows that Sky has it's critics, but as I say, he's a commercial animal, & he can see it's working.

I really enjoyed what amounted to a TV Poker MasterClass.

I've written to him to thank him - it's no secret, I admire him more very time we meet. (Cue "gissajob Eddie"?).

[tikay]

Across wide areas of America right now, there is a huge salmonella poisoning outbreak.

Many have died, & thousands hospitalised. It's very serious.

It's caused by, would you believe, tomatoes, of all things, & the tomato industry has been crippled. (Shades of Ding's problem there).

Who'd have thunk it?

[tikay]

Saw Big Trev this morning, he plays today. I wonder how these guys get their nicknames?

[celtic]

Across wide areas of America right now, there is a huge salmonella poisoning outbreak.

Many have died, & thousands hospitalised. It's very serious.

It's caused by, would you believe, tomatoes, of all things, & the tomato industry has been crippled. (Shades of Ding's problem there).

Who'd have thunk it?

ME!!!! When i ordered a cheese & tomato omellette one morning, the chef looked at me as if i had 3 heads ffs. Tomatoes? Don't you watch the news boy he said!!!!

Does that mean i cant have tomato then?


NO!!!!

Ok, thanks for your advice!!!!

[77dave]

I went into Burger King.

Placed my order.

Whopper plain only cheese please.

Sorry sir we dont have any tomatoes, so you have to have your whopper without tomatoes.

I dont want tomatoes i would like it totally plain with cheese.

okay so you dont mind not having tomatoes then?

[celtic]

I went into Burger King.

Placed my order.

Whopper plain only cheese please.

Sorry sir we dont have any tomatoes, so you have to have your whopper without tomatoes.

I dont want tomatoes i would like it totally plain with cheese.

okay so you dont mind not having tomatoes then?

Did you mind?

[tikay]

This is Joe Legge. Joe runs the Virgin Cardroom, & is out here with his Qualifiers.

He looks about 15, but he's thirty odd, & a top guy.

Many of you will recognize Joe from the Virgin Fessies. The Virgin Fessies have an almost identical structure to APAT (what a coincidence), & added money every time. I suppose "grateful" is the wrong word for Added Money, but "pleased" fits for me.

I've worked with him a goodly while. Ben Walton recruited me into Sporting Odds years back, in Vienna of all places, & when Ben moved on, Joe sort of inherited me. Then he moved to Virgin, my Sporting Odds deal lapsed (I had other fish to fry by then), & I sort of followed Joe there, & still do bits & bobs with him, though for contractul reasons, my range is limited now.

He's a special friend, and a good guy. We plan to have dinner one night next week.

[Royal Flush]

Get some norkage obv!

[ifm]

On Darts in America

It's a very low-profile thing in the USA, Darts. Eddie is trying to change it, hence this Tourney. And you can easily see why - if he "cracks" Ameerica, the pickings will be absolutely massive. He's given me some tickets for the Darts - it's at "Mandalay Bay" - & I'll try & pop across to take a look, just out of curiosity. And, with Sky Bet sponsoring a Darts Tourney in Dublin in October, meaning Sky Poker will be there in some capacity, I really ought to try & see what's what with the Darts scene.

I'ts been in Vegas since 2002.

[tikay]

It's Independence Day here in America. Big day for them.

The Strip is gridlocked, fireworks are popping & banging, folks are whooping & hollering & getting bladdered.

Just another day in Vegas, really.

I guss they don't do Independence Day as much in Vegas as they do elsewhere in the USA. The population is very transient, & even the indigenous population are all working in Tourism related industry, & so working today. A very odd atmo here today, actually. I don't even know what "Independence Day" relates to, or stands for. Guess I better get googling.