Seconded!
Great day............
Me and At it set off from Leeds and headed to the marriott at lunch time to find Mr Ironside with a bottle of becks, soon followed by Robert HM, MalcomM, Colchester Kiv, Heid, Tightend and (after a great set up by ironside to get the receptionist to ask him for his autograph) that bloke off the tele, Tikay!
We headed across to the Broadway to beat the rush to join and have some dinner. Its a pretty impressive casino, with areas better than your local trendy bar and good food!
The need for poker was growing by 3.30pm so a few of us decided we would have a satalite to the evening competition (i know a 30 quid buy in but thats not the point!)..... Ten of us sat down.... Myself, At-it, Dewi, Wardonkey, Boodeeram, MalcolmM, tikay (sorry cant remeber the others!) With a ten minute clock and 1500 chips we were treated to some professional standard dealing from at it, some less professional standard playing by myself and some unbelievable speech play from Tikay who was in every pot and winning! I took a few off him with 10 10 and he exited soon after - with the commitments to mingle!
Anyway it got to Me At-it and booderam(sorry if i spelt that wrong!) I got slightly lucky taking the A 10 of booderam out with QJ to be heads up with an advantage over at it... I double him up once but I caught him eventually! We were on a 50/50 weekend anyway but not the point! great stuff I'm in tonight for about a fiver!
Before the competition starts there is a chance to meet some great people, mostly throught ppl bradley knows, like simon Nowab who is one of the most energetic ppl alive and pretty entertaining (even at 5am in the marriott bar after several bottles of champers, too many others to mention.... hi all!)
Into the comp..
I'm on table 11, the first there, and in seat 2 - the most recognisable person at the table was Red Dog and I have tips on Da Matrix being handy...the table being friendly if a little quiet with several of us having only a small amount of live experience.... I decide not to take my second chance st8 away and build chips nicely... losing a decent amount with JJ V QQ - the table is broken soon after.......
I'm now moved to table 9 where i immediatly recognise mr yong and londpokergirl (who can drink many vodka red bulls). I was a fan of Rob Yong's vegas diary and fully respect his business achievements and generosity. Soon after I arrived he appeared to be winning pots with speech play and friendly bullying.... time for me to step up and give some speech to him - hopefully all taken in a friendly mannor to keep myself and the table entertained and rob interested in the game! Neither of us got each others chips as he was drawn to the bar for large periods!
To my right was Glenn, who is chilli's other half, a really nice bloke who is fairly new to poker (his second live game)and had come along for the ride.... I kept a check on his progress throughout the night, getting the occational smile as he realised he was in good shape and enjoying the whole experience (i expect there is another member in the mist if not already!) I think he ended up 6th ish.
My next table.
I'm sat to tightends right with a man in a black suit and shaven head about five to my right. He was sat reading a magazine and seemed to be chipped up - i couldnt see his name tag! After a few hands he made 3000ish to go at 400-800, i have JJ on the button with approx 6000 - I push he calls with AK and turns his ace... I'm gone from my first experience with Mr ActionJack himself! Note to self - take notice of who is who - i would never of change this situation anyway - a 50/50 double up was needed!
I throughly enjoyed my competition and filled some time with a bubble finish on a single table and some rail time...
The final table takes a while to form as the short stacks wont die from 14 to 10!
My deal with Mr bradley means I'm 9 people away from my biggest prize in poker without actually playing!! the blinds by this point are huge - the bish went from 600 to 40k at one point - benefiting from some nice hands and the blind size.... At it eventually went out 9th after making a move....
The heads up games were really good to watch as was the final few of the final table, two world class players going at each other in a $30 comp, and i heard the phrase, 'I'm not bothered about the money i just want the trophy' absolutely unbelieveably fantastique!!!! Major respect to bothfor playing with such an attitude! It really shows how good these pro's are, including El blondie and simon Nowab (and At-it, as his manager and finanacial advisor I will promote him with no shame at every opportunity!) their experience being just a small fraction of their advantage allowing them to show just how to play the game.
We headed back to the marriott, treated by a round from Rob yong, sadly i'm driving! Tikay (
) plays ActionJack for a place in the team heads up final.... AJ and his girls progress, think the final is being played today, mainly consisting of girls - well done you!
All that was left was the 120 mile drive back to leeds at 5.30am after an amazing 16 hours in birmingham......
A big thank you to all involved, Broadway & staff, Dik9, all the mods, all the pro's and all the blondes!!!!!Great to put some names to faces, no doubt about it being the first of hopefully a regular event that is going to need to find a casino that can seat 200+ soon (I've heard there is a poker club near Nottingham opening this year that may be able to do this!)
That is my rambling experience of yesterday and I could really have summed it up by saying I had a great day with some great people....
How was your experience?
Edited to correct some of the spelling mistakes - i'm a bit tired!
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