"The Downswings of Property and Poker"

[RedFox]

Good luck in Malta. There's some nice restaurants in an area called st Julian's. If you've not heard of it let me know and i can sort out directions

Oh, and stick a warning up next time you put naked pictures up. Gave me flashbacks of that night in a derby hotel

Cheers Son

Arrived last night and tried to keep it from my Maltese family that I was coming prior to the wedding but unfortunately my old dear let the cat out the bag so I have already been texted 5 times from cousins and Aunties wanting to meet up but that goes with the territory here.

We're staying away from St Julian's in Sliema at a friend of family appt called Bay View which kinda misdescribes the one bed appt that my mum will take over when Petra and the kids arrive Tuesday as there is not even a glimpse.

I really love Malta and every time I come here it just feels like home!!!

Great to hear this sounds like a fun family time as well as picking up some mega title and wonga.

Enjoy :-)

[Eso Kral]

Well I kinda owe this an update and the past 4 weeks have gone so quickly and apologies in advance for the long nature of these posts but there has been a lot going on...

When I last posted I was in Malta and was playing my first ever EPT along with the IPT main and unfortunately both events were bricked which is always disappointing when with the WPT at DTD on my return they were 2 of the biggest events I would play this year and for whatever reason the cards and runouts just went against me but I don't dwell on it too much as I received a lot of favourable runouts earlier this year.

Having bust both the events it meant that I was there when Petra, the kids and my mum arrived on the Tuesday a few days before my cousins wedding so I got chance to be on holiday with them which was nice and although the weather was very changeable it was pleasant and we managed a couple of days by the sea and visited some of the other relly's I have there and hadnt seen for a couple of years.

The kids love being there too and are definitely water babes with Max being happy splashing around and Ivy content to just have a bucket & spade and go from the waters edge to the first bit of the shore and below are a few photos of them with their own characters coming out all the time, they really are great kids!

Ivy

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I think the water was colder than she expected on the rooftop pool in this one!

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and Max

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Max was due to be page boy for my cousin Michelle's wedding and despite some tears when he went to try on his suit he enjoyed his bits of the day with one of the ushers really looking after him from when we dropped him to their house at 9am in the morning until his duties were finished as they arrived at the reception venue and Max could relax

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Max was even given the role of ring bearer


The wedding itself was held in the amazing "Silent City of M'Dina which dates back to 4000BC and is a walled city which is still inhabited despite it's wealth of history by around 300 residents and as Carl (The Groom) was born in nearby Rabat they get the chance to get married in the beautiful church within the confines of the city itself and if you have ever visited Malta and indeed M'dina then you have probably spent a few minutes inside.

One of the reasons I love Malta is that despite being only 20odd miles x 9 miles there is so much history on this small island and the beauty of it for me is a massive draw!
Here is the inside of the church itself when we took Max for a walk through a few days before the wedding so he could see and practice his walk

The windows and paintings on the walls and ceilings are imo immense

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Here is Carl and Michelle outside the church and I posted last September some photo's of their house which is in another great town called Mosta and they have been renovating it for just over a year in readiness for the wedding and will now move in as husband and wife which is typical of Maltese couples being mainly Roman Catholic by religion.

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Then it was off to the reception a few minutes away and these photo's and video's show how blessed I truly am and obv before Vinny pipes up how far I bat out of my league
Here is my amazing family!

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Ivy spent pretty much the whole afternoon dancing


and being an Maltese wedding with loads of Italian influence there was plenty of dancing going on which made a great afternoon and evening



We then flew back to the UK late on Monday 2nd and a day later I headed off to DTD for the WPT which was a similar tale to Malta with the main busting in level 8 and I then played the 6max and finished 12th with 7 paid losing QK vs AJ aipf for an average stack having not had starting stack since the first hand of the tournament until 3 levels into day 2 after losing 10k in the first 20 minutes before a rally and then the disappointing feeling of an exit so I jumped straight into the £300 deepstack and literally the first hand I sit down after late regging I lose 30% of my stack in a multi way pot where I had to bluff the river or give up and unfortunately the villain didn't feel like folding quads so I ground it out before getting an absolute gift late on to come back healthy for day2.

I ending up having to grind out day 2 losing two key pots and on the bubble I was definitely not going to be all in first as there were 4 micro stacks so had to wait for one to bust and then found a double up vs Ben Winsor who played great when I was on his table but having beld to 12 bigs with 12 left I jammed the button with AKdd into a guy who made some terrible folds against the shorties on our table and he found JJ and we didn't win the race to get a min cash +1.

I will do one more post now and then later on update whats happening elsewhere in life.

[Eso Kral]

I think we really do need to get a TV in the bedroom!

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Yup you got it, we are expecting again with baby number 3 being due in the early part of May and we didn't really say anything to anyone until we came back from Malta as didn't want to overshadow Carl and Michelle's day so its exciting times in the house although we have not said anything to the kids yet.

We the plans we have and I will post about later the timing is great and we had been "trying" for a few months but if we had not caught by the end of the year then we would have stopped trying so hopefully god willing and everything going smoothly for the next 24 weeks we will be a family of 5 and the dog!

It was nearly 6 as we actually had "Vanishing Twin Syndrome" http://americanpregnancy.org/multiples/vanishing-twin-syndrome/ which means there was in the early stages another baby there but for whatever reason the second baby has not developed since the very early stages although the membrane is still there and clearly visible.

Obviously this comes with a tinge of sadness but I'm a half glass is full kinda guy so will assume that these things happen for a good reason and that maybe if things had carried on further then maybe the other twin may have been affected so hopefully all goes well and this may be the first time that we will find out the sex of the baby prior to him/her popping out but it will definitely be born at home just like Max and Ivy as long as Petra is classed as low risk.

Now I need a Dubai style bink as will need to buy some nappies 

[bobAlike]

Great news Rich. Better news than any bink whether on the felt or on the track Congratulations.

[TightEnd]

Many congratulations to you both.

[bookiebasher]

Happy Days , enjoy and congratulations.

[George2Loose]

Awesome news. Congrats buddy!

[Karabiner]

Great news Rich.

Congratulations.

[BorntoBubble]

Top stuff Rich!

Congratulations to you and the team!

[typhoon13]

Nice to hear the news Rich

Keep grinding you will get there

[craigbetts]

Oi oi, it just gets better. Massive congratulations.

[Marky147]

Great TR & pics, and congrats to you all on the incoming bambino.

[booder]

Congratulations to you both.

[Big_D]

Congratulations Rich, great news mate!

[TL900]

congrats mate