Vegas & The Aftermath - Diary

[tikay]

34 runners for tonight's £200 Omaha at Luton, and a quality field.

James Akenhead, Bradders, James Browning, Jeff Buff, Bingo Bill, Mark Goodwin, Lloyd Greensite, Lalit, Jeff Kimber, Claire, Karl Mahrenholz, Keith Mliler, Ambro, Mo Muse, & Jim Reid, were all present & correct.

I had a lovely starting Table (& finishing Table, come to think of it), Mark Goodwin, Claire, (replaced by Karl later), Bradders, James Akenhead, & Jim Reid from Level 7.

James Akenhead absolutely owned me early, when I mangled my opening hand as bad as bad can be. I had Re-Raised him with the DS Aces, he'd called, checked to let me bet my oh-so-transparent hand after a nothing flop, then he stuck it up me big time, & I meekly let go.  First hand, 25% of my stack pissed away, marvellous. I was mortified, & felt as stupid as I looked.

I sat quiet for a while to gather myself, whilst James was owning everyone & quickly running up a dominating & towering stack, he's very aggressive, & very impressive. Marc Goodwin somehow got him to fold a monster, but that apart, he had it all his on way.

I called James OOP with a decent hand, picked up a nut flush draw, & check-called the Flop, in a three way affair, with Chinese Alan now all-in. The Pot was now 16k, & I had 4k behind, & I hit my Draw on the Turn. I ummed & arred, then stuck it in, & James passed second nut flush face up. The Table tittle suggested I should have checked the Turn, given a freebie, then Bet on the end. I somehow play these coups wrong every time.

I then had a bit of a run, & was soon nudging 30k, way above average, but then it just went all tiddly-poo.

I Housed up with Kings Full, but half-fancied my Oppo had Aces Full, so I check-Called on the end. Luckily - as he did have it.

It just went downhill from there.

After an excellent Buffet, free, but oddly timed - 11pm! - Jim Reid joined the Table, & he & James Akenhead went to war big time, Jim very much getting the better situations, including a huge pot when Jim was chasing the nut flush with a straight draw as back up, & he hit the latter, to peg back James significantly.

Karl had nursed a small stack all Comp, & he was Button to James Akenhead's BB, and it as grand to see there was no same village stuff there, & they clashed a few times.

Karl eventually made his move, & with Blinds at 300-600, & maybe 5k, he Potted it. I held single-suited Kings, but I fancied my hand was good, so I decided this was my spot, & re-Raised to isolate, out of my now sub-average 11k. To my horror, the mountainously-stacked Jim Reid then re-potted it, oops. Karl threw the rest of his stack in, as he had to, & I did not really have too many choices here, though I was sure I'd walked into the Aces & was in shocking shape.

Karl had top two on a Q-J-4 flop, the 4 paired on the turn to counterfeit him, so all was well, except Jim did indeed have the Boots, & that was that.

As I departed, there were 12 left I think, with Jim Reid the Big Boss, & James Akenhead still in good shape. Jeff Buff was still in, too, as was James Browning. The winner ought to come from Jim, James A, or Jeff, I fancy.

Enormous fun, well run, good atmo, & a good-stacked Omaha Tourney. Perfect. I so wish I could play more Omaha Tourneys. I might play them a little better if I did, sigh.

[NoflopsHomer]

I love an omaha tourney as long as the structure is good.

Regarding your AAds, personally I don't see any point in RR preflop while deep especially against someone as good as James who will be able to take you off just about any board that you don't hit. I think flatting is much better and disguises any monsters you hit. Also when people do flop combi draws they'll usually be crushed when you have AA + NFD. And anyone flopping a set will usually stack off when you flop top set as you hand is well concealed.

When I played with DC in Manchester, he had a habit of min-raising UTG which people respected as he did it with AAxx as well as other hands he wanted to see the flop with, people were very wary of reraising him because he would be able to come back over the top easily. Perhaps it's something worth trying.

[tikay]

BA announced today that they hope to merge with Qantas, which pretty much sums up BA's muddled thinking down the years. When Qantas first floated, BA purchased 25%, reduced it to 18% a few years later, then sold the rest in 2004. Now they want to merge! They also continue their long-running talks with Iberia (of which they own 13%), & the American Airlines alliance continues to swirl around, as it has done for over a decade.  To get an idea of their scale, BA operate more 747's than any other Airline - 60 in total. 60 747's!

The Tale of the Tape says it all as to the oh-so-bloated BA & Qantas. Stats can be misleading, but bare facts don't lie.

                                                                   BA                        Qantas

Passengers carried per annum.                        33m                         38m

Flights per day                                              750                          960

Aircraft                                                        250                          224

And the clincher......

Staff                                                         42,000                     37,000

BA are the last great bastion of the Trade Unions, & they have got BA tied in knots. The Baggage Handlers Union demand - & get - "consultation" as to how the Airline is run. Since when did Baggage Handlers have Management Skills & right of veto? It might be worth adding that BA lose more baggage per passenger per annum than any other major airline.

They need a Rupert Murdoch to get a hold of the Company, it's famous for it's overmanning, & always has been. It will soon be a has been at this rate.

BA shares bounced 12.5% to £1,57 on the news, but let's get that in perspective, to - they floated at more than that - 20+ years ago! I have held BA Shares since Day One, & topped up several times, but they were off the Dividend List for many years, the only bright spot being their £1 Convertible Preferences, which paid an amazing 13%. I had 5,000 of those, but stupidly converted them into BA Ordinaries upon maturity, instead of selling. I don't see the Qantas deal going through, though, because despite some eye-watering top-ups, the BA Pension Fund remains £1.7 billion - billion - underfunded. That's some black hole. In fact, it's not that bad in real-life, but the Accounting Standards treatment of Pensiuon Funds is designed by Accountants. 'Nuff said.

As per usual, Virgin Airlines rubbished BA's Qantas plans - as they do to every snippet of news from BA.

I remain overly fond of BA, but I despair that they will ever gain control back from the Unions, & so they'll eventually pay the price, as such Companies always do.

[tikay]

I love an omaha tourney as long as the structure is good.

Regarding your AAds, personally I don't see any point in RR preflop while deep especially against someone as good as James who will be able to take you off just about any board that you don't hit. I think flatting is much better and disguises any monsters you hit. Also when people do flop combi draws they'll usually be crushed when you have AA + NFD. And anyone flopping a set will usually stack off when you flop top set as you hand is well concealed.

When I played with DC in Manchester, he had a habit of min-raising UTG which people respected as he did it with AAxx as well as other hands he wanted to see the flop with, people were very wary of reraising him because he would be able to come back over the top easily. Perhaps it's something worth trying.

Yup, I played it as bad as bad can be. Most embarrassing. I'm not quite sure what I was thinking, it was as transparent as glass what I had, & James played me like a fiddle. Embarrassing moment in poker, # 9367.

[tikay]

Ryanair, meanwhile, returned to bid once again for Aer Lingus, at €1.40 per share - almost half it's rejected bid of 2 years ago. Ryanair already owns nearly 30% of the stock.

One day, Ryanair will get Aer Lingus, then watch the blood-letting start, for the Tale of the Tape between those two is staggering, both of whom operate out of Dublin.

                                                                  Ryanair                  Aer Lingus

Cost per passenger carried.                             €42.50                   €81.30.

Staff Cost per Passenger.                                €6                         €19.20.

Marketing spend per Passenger                      €0.70                       €3.80

To balance that, & put it in perspctive, Ryanair earn €55 per passenger, whilst Aer Lingus earn €83 pp. But Ryanair carried 4 times as many poassengers.

The complete opposite to BA in so many ways, Ryanair lose less than 1 bag per 1,000 pasengers - an industry benchmark.

Will Ryanair get Aer Lingus?  Probably, but there'll be a right fight, as the Unions own a good chunk of Aer Lingus, & they know that if O'Leary gets hold of their Company, the game is well & truly up. Nobody messes with O'Leary.

[tikay]

And finally......

I have taken a keen interest in Southend Airport since I began using a Hotel on the perimeter of the airfield some years ago as a base for Tourneys in Southend. It's quaint, under-used, & very fifties reminiscent, & is largely used for air-freight services. It's less than an hour fom London - as near as Stansted - but more importantly, as befits an Airport, it sits on a huge tract of land. There are few noise issues, as the airport sits right on the coast.

And it's now found it's new owner - Stobart Group (Eddie Stobart Transport). Happy Days, lorries & aeroplanes, in one Group.

Stobart Group already own Carlisle Airport. Eddie Strobart sold the Company to brother William a few years back, after a financial crisis, but it's back on an even keel now.

I once met Eddie, many moons ago, when the B & K Group were building a huge warehouse for him at DIRFT, near Crick. The warehouse is mind-boggingly huge. Freight "Logistics" as Haulage Comapnies are now known, have come a long way.

[booder]

I once met Eddie, many moons ago, when the B & K Group were building a huge warehouse for him at DIRFT, near Crick. The warehouse is mind-boggingly huge. Freight "Logistics" as Haulage Comapnies are now known, have come a long way.

FACT


Mr Stobart is a very astute businessman.Whereas most haulage companies purchase/lease their vehicles he employs/employed mostly owner drivers (stipulating that said drivers must have their vehicles liveried in his colours) thus not having the tremendous costs of maintaining a large fleet of vehicles.......he also transported goods free of charge as long as he got the storage rights for these goods.His warehouses are probably the most organised/efficient in the UK.

[Royal Flush]

Marketing spend per Passenger                      €0.70                       €3.80

That shocks me, if you are right in the 4x passangers thing that still means RyanAir spend less in marketing.

[tikay]

Marketing spend per Passenger                      €0.70                       €3.80

That shocks me, if you are right in the 4x passangers thing that still means RyanAir spend less in marketing.

Yes, correct - if I'm right!

Those figures came from here.....

http://www.independent.ie/business/european/carrier-has-the-second-highest-cost-base-1197688.html

As to numbers carried by each Airline, I could not find exact Traffic Numbers, but I know Aer Lingus carried 5.1 million passengers in the first 6 months of 2007, so call it 10 million per annum.

Ryanair recently reported November's Traffic figure as 4.23 million, giving a 12 month total of, amazingly, 57.43 million (load factor over 80%).

So in fact, Ryanair have almost 6 times as many ppa as Aer lingus. And therefore the €0.70 per head for Ryanair actually amounts to a greater amount (based on ppa) than Aer Lingus, if I read it right. Amazing what you can do with Stats, eh?

O'Leary is quite an extraordinary businessman - I'd back him to win any fight, & make any business successful. If ONLY he could get the helm at BA!

Do you have any O'Leary/Ryanair tales to tell, from your aviation background?

[Royal Flush]

Marketing spend per Passenger                      €0.70                       €3.80

That shocks me, if you are right in the 4x passangers thing that still means RyanAir spend less in marketing.

Yes, correct - if I'm right!

Those figures came from here.....

http://www.independent.ie/business/european/carrier-has-the-second-highest-cost-base-1197688.html

As to numbers carried by each Airline, I could not find exact Traffic Numbers, but I know Aer Lingus carried 5.1 million passengers in the first 6 months of 2007, so call it 10 million per annum.

Ryanair recently reported November's Traffic figure as 4.23 million, giving a 12 month total of, amazingly, 57.43 million (load factor over 80%).

So in fact, Ryanair have almost 6 times as many ppa as Aer lingus. And therefore the €0.70 per head for Ryanair actually amounts to a greater amount (based on ppa) than Aer Lingus, if I read it right. Amazing what you can do with Stats, eh?

O'Leary is quite an extraordinary businessman - I'd back him to win any fight, & make any business successful. If ONLY he could get the helm at BA!

Do you have any O'Leary/Ryanair tales to tell, from your aviation background?

No i am afraid, however i do know that its the entry job a lot of people want, your better looked after than at sleazy and you are also much better paid!

It's where i would want to start out if i couldn't get into a long haul carrier.

[tikay]

Marketing spend per Passenger                      €0.70                       €3.80

That shocks me, if you are right in the 4x passangers thing that still means RyanAir spend less in marketing.

Yes, correct - if I'm right!

Those figures came from here.....

http://www.independent.ie/business/european/carrier-has-the-second-highest-cost-base-1197688.html

As to numbers carried by each Airline, I could not find exact Traffic Numbers, but I know Aer Lingus carried 5.1 million passengers in the first 6 months of 2007, so call it 10 million per annum.

Ryanair recently reported November's Traffic figure as 4.23 million, giving a 12 month total of, amazingly, 57.43 million (load factor over 80%).

So in fact, Ryanair have almost 6 times as many ppa as Aer lingus. And therefore the €0.70 per head for Ryanair actually amounts to a greater amount (based on ppa) than Aer Lingus, if I read it right. Amazing what you can do with Stats, eh?

O'Leary is quite an extraordinary businessman - I'd back him to win any fight, & make any business successful. If ONLY he could get the helm at BA!

Do you have any O'Leary/Ryanair tales to tell, from your aviation background?

No i am afraid, however i do know that its the entry job a lot of people want, your better looked after than at sleazy and you are also much better paid!

It's where i would want to start out if i couldn't get into a long haul carrier.

I assume "sleazy" = Easy Jet?

Long-Haul - Ryanair are gonna do it - UK - New York, the aircraft have been ordered. Watch out Virgin, BA, O'Leary's gonna getcha.

To my astonishment, I discovered yesterday that BA plan to start a London-JFK scheduled service from...... London CITY Airport, in September 2009! It will be a Business Class (Club-World) only cabin configuration, using the only suitable aircraft available - A318's. (What's special about the A318?). But, oddly, on the OUTWARD leg only, it will have a refuelling stop in Shannon, which might doom it to failure. Any idea why "outbound only"?

[kinboshi]

Marketing spend per Passenger                      €0.70                       €3.80

That shocks me, if you are right in the 4x passangers thing that still means RyanAir spend less in marketing.

Yes, correct - if I'm right!

Those figures came from here.....

http://www.independent.ie/business/european/carrier-has-the-second-highest-cost-base-1197688.html

As to numbers carried by each Airline, I could not find exact Traffic Numbers, but I know Aer Lingus carried 5.1 million passengers in the first 6 months of 2007, so call it 10 million per annum.

Ryanair recently reported November's Traffic figure as 4.23 million, giving a 12 month total of, amazingly, 57.43 million (load factor over 80%).

So in fact, Ryanair have almost 6 times as many ppa as Aer lingus. And therefore the €0.70 per head for Ryanair actually amounts to a greater amount (based on ppa) than Aer Lingus, if I read it right. Amazing what you can do with Stats, eh?

O'Leary is quite an extraordinary businessman - I'd back him to win any fight, & make any business successful. If ONLY he could get the helm at BA!

Do you have any O'Leary/Ryanair tales to tell, from your aviation background?

No i am afraid, however i do know that its the entry job a lot of people want, your better looked after than at sleazy and you are also much better paid!

It's where i would want to start out if i couldn't get into a long haul carrier.

I assume "sleazy" = Easy Jet?

Long-Haul - Ryanair are gonna do it - UK - New York, the aircraft have been ordered. Watch out Virgin, BA, O'Leary's gonna getcha.

To my astonishment, I discovered yesterday that BA plan to start a London-JFK scheduled service from...... London CITY Airport, in September 2009! It will be a Business Class (Club-World) only cabin configuration, using the only suitable aircraft available - A318's. (What's special about the A318?). But, oddly, on the OUTWARD leg only, it will have a refuelling stop in Shannon, which might doom it to failure. Any idea why "outbound only"?

Yes, it's downhill on the way back, so it requires less fuel.

[TightEnd]

Wind

Tradewinds direction across the atlantic

[tikay]

Wind

Tradewinds direction across the atlantic

Always? Every day?

[tikay]

Yes, it's downhill on the way back, so it requires less fuel.

'Ding ain't buying that.