It was a restless first night on the couch in My Master's suite, before i made arrangements for a room next door the next day
A combination of jet-lag and excitement at once more being acquainted with Master's socks (to be freshly ironed every morning, as per my hastily scribbed instructions) led to only fitful sleep but I nevertheless dozed off only to be awoken at 5.45am by the sun streaming in as Master threw open the curtains
"Morning Jeeves. Up you get. These socks won't unpack themselves! The media centre awaits"
Quite where this bonhomie had come from I was not sure,perhaps after a few days of getting A-2-K-K snapped off by 4-5-6-7 in PLO8 and losing both sides would do for that,i thought
"Later Jeeves" he paused and putted out his chest "We are off...to Binions!"
I managed a smile and a nod. Internally I wondered why of all the places in Las Vegas,all the beautifully appointed hotels and lavish cardrooms that we could visit, that we were spending the day in a venue modelled off the Haven Camping Park, Great Yarmouth 1986 but at this point it was not for me to ask
It was for me to gather up the camera, incontinence pants ("Tena for men, tenner reg fee" was what i pondered might be a useful catchphrase for a poker seniors tour) and laptop charger and follow along dutifully, one pace behind and three steps to the left. Perceptible but at the same time imperceptible.
Later as we were in repose waiting for the tournament to begin I was given a fresh task
"Jeeves, Mr Amaya wants me to record every hand as i might be doing a training video with Daniel on PLO8 tournaments for the over 70s. Apparently that is a growing market in Asia, and you can charge them lots of rake too"
I took possession of a reporters notebook and biro
"So Jeeves, write down everything I do, what the community cards are, what the betting is and what the showdown is. Oh and who I am playing against"
I pondered
"sir, don't we have to ask their permission to take their names under GDPR?"
Master looked at me
"Jeeves, I have not come 8,000 miles to be worried about GDPR. There is no privacy policy on this trip"
I raised an eyebrow and forgot not to say "not even in Peppermints sir?" to be met with a withering look which suggested to me it might be a reasonable idea to change the subject
As the tournament began i warmed to the task of transcribing the action
At the first break i handed the book to Master for his perusal
He alighted on a page where i had written as follows
"Board runs out.....
Master has ....
X X
Bet 400 into 600.
It goes pot-pot behind him and he very wisely lets go, both must have boats.
Well played sir"
and i had written a clap-clap emoji, just as Meghan had showed me how to do
Master sighed
He whispered, half conspiratorially, half resigned
"Jeeves, they both had the bare deuce"
and looked at the floor, bottom lip quivering
"Shall I update my notes sir?" I proferred inwardly, thinking that i must remember NOT to write "Unfortunately Master was too nitty" and instead write
"on all the available post flop action and board texture I had to assume at least one of them would have a full house. Don't be too results orientated" as that would no doubt impress Daniel N and impressing Daniel N had suddenly seemed to be a very important factor indeed in daily life.
After all, when Master's lifetime earnings are $39,543,271 behind the pint sized Canadian genius, we had to assume that Master would play second fiddle in our burgeoning media partnership..............
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