Pocket Queens:

[Doobs]

gl gl, but surely he has the man now.

[tikay]

Is today a good day to be a Corporate Lawyer, Natalie?

The legal profession will surely be the biggest winners from Brexit, with all those trade deals and stuff to be renegotiated.

[Tal]

Quick update:

Boy has made Day 3 of the Goliath (breaking his Day 3 duck). We have $4k locked up at the moment with $200k up top.

Prop bets looking irrecoverable right now for me, but railing all the same!

Oioi!

[DingleBelle]

Is today a good day to be a Corporate Lawyer, Natalie?

The legal profession will surely be the biggest winners from Brexit, with all those trade deals and stuff to be renegotiated.

Any short term gains are likely to be wiped out by the prospect of another recession.

Saying that, in a corporate insolvency lawyer so the immediate future is looking depressingly rosy for me right now!

[Mohican]

Is today a good day to be a Corporate Lawyer, Natalie?

The legal profession will surely be the biggest winners from Brexit, with all those trade deals and stuff to be renegotiated.

Any short term gains are likely to be wiped out by the prospect of another recession.

Saying that, in a corporate insolvency lawyer so the immediate future is looking depressingly rosy for me right now!

'Cos recessions never happened whilst we were in the EU. #justsayin
Hope your enjoying your new job as a rail bunny. Give my best wishes to the Boy as he does his first day 3.
I'm sure the premium handbag makers are on standby.

[Knottikay]

About Bloody Time. Well Done.

[Doobs]

About Bloody Time. Well Done.

Have we done a win? 

[DingleBelle]

Good morning.

An early second half goal sees your Belle back in the game.

1-3 on the flag front.

Full update to follow!

[celtic]

Bump

[DingleBelle]

Postcard from Vegas | The Curious Case of the Limping Belle

It occurred to me today that I'm entirely comfortable in my own company. In a densely populated, social media existence it is a rare thing to spend some time alone. To let your mind wander. To be in the moment with the elements. To resist capturing every moment on camera instead of living that moment and savouring the memory. 

Why was I alone in Vegas do you ask? Let's rewind a little...

I last left you just as I'd managed a min cash + ladder in the PHamous Goliath series at the Planet Hollywood. I played well, but there wasn't really anything else spectacular to report from the event. The only comment of note was that we had to grind a 45 minute bubble. Forty. Five. Minutes. This may seem overkill for a $180 event, but it made me appreciate that there are still a significant number of players to whom that min cash meant a lot. That can only be good for the game and for general recognition of the value of money (a concept I fear gets lost in poker). 

An early second half goal should, you would think, put me on the right track to a trip-saving result in Prop Bet #1 (number of flags). Alas this was not the case. As the Boy is now 1-4 ahead. 

His 4th flag was in downtown Vegas at the Binions. A cracking event - 50,000 chips and a one hour clock - which was rammed to the rafters with players. So much so that the 2 day event had to be turned into a 3 day event and the TD was pacing the floor on the microphone crying about the number of players and asking everyone to play aggressively and bust as soon as possible. Would never happen on Trumper's watch...

Again, nothing particularly exciting to report, apart from the rather annoying scenario that in a room full of the senior and super senior cohorts, I managed to get two of the most young, aggro, technically hard-to-play-against fellows sat directly to my left. Plus Tal. Meh. 

So let's fast forward to the point where I found myself alone with my thoughts in the (probably massively overpriced) spa in the Aria. Well I managed to tear the connector muscle at the top of my hamstring. And I have no idea at all how I did it. But I couldn't walk for two whole days and was hobbling around so badly that I was accosted by security at 3pm in the afternoon and accused of being drunk. I mean, it's a fair shout in this town but give me a break dude. 

The trip itself has been so much fun and we've actually been able to do a lot of non-poker fun since we've been here. I'll update you on those later, but it involves seeing me cheering on the Germans in this weekend's Euros. How on earth did I get myself into that pickle... 

[booder]

<3 Dingle updates.

Get well soon.

[celtic]

<3 Dingle updates.

Get well soon.

[DingleBelle]

Postcard from Vegas | Play, play … then play some more

This year was my 7th summer in Vegas. You’d think that, by now, I would have seen all that there is to see. The beauty about Vegas is that every visit unearths some gem that you had not seen before. Something that was always there, but you just didn’t see it (like the adorable row of quaint Parisian shops and patisseries right at the back of the Paris Hotel). Or something new that has been added to the chameleon city since your last visit (such as the Central Park replica tagged onto the end of New York, New York).

I saw so much this year and really enjoyed some downtime away from the grind of poker and the stresses of my day job.  Too much really to squeeze into one post. So here is my “Top Five” for WSOP 2016.

Lagasse Stadium:

When I first went to Vegas and saw the signs for this place all over the Palazzo, I thought this was an actual stadium. Where some form of American sport would be played. It was only last summer that I understood that this is, in fact, a sports bar.  Perhaps quite obvious given the rather barren quantum of professional sports teams in Vegas! Nonetheless, it’s a very good sports bar. Styled out very much in the genre of “bloke’s sofa on a Friday night" you hire a spot on massive white sofas and watch your chosen sport on cinema-esqe sized screens. As with anything in Vegas, there is a hefty minimum spend on food and drinks, but if you get enough of you there then it’s not expensive at all. We watched the pathetic England display v Iceland there with Messrs Tal, Rutter and Spittles, then returned again to watch Germany v Italy with some dear German friends - which is how I ended up supporting them!

Click to see full-size image.

I made sure I represented the Clarets though!

Click to see full-size image.

Avenger’s Station:

I am a huge marvel fan and this new attraction at Treasure Island was simply brilliant. Centred around the training of new Avengers recruits (you, obvs), your task is to venture through 5 rooms to learn all about the science behind the super heroes, then complete assessments to move you up the levels. Very very cool. They even had full-sized replicas of each of the Iron Man suits.

Click to see full-size image.

Click to see full-size image.

Pinball Museum:

How do you waste an entire afternoon? Pay a visit to the pinball museum with very deep pockets full of quarters. This funhouse contains rows and rows of pinball machines, dating from the 1950s up to the 1990s. And it is just pure fun (even if your hands do stink of metal at the end of it). Slight warning though; this is not the place for you if you are in any way competitive! I particularly enjoyed rekindling my affair with PacMan and fans of Wreck-it-Ralph will recognise some familiar faces in the crowds.

Click to see full-size image.

Kiss Crazy Golf:

Recently relocated to the Rio, this is easily missed due to its quite poor advertising. We took our German friends there for some England v Germany action (which they won on penalties, obvs). It perhaps wasn’t the most technically difficult of crazy golf courses I have been to, but the lighting, effects, music and memorabilia adorning the walls do make this a fun experience. In the arcade at the end, you win old-school fairground tickets that you then trade for “tat”. We won 275 tickets that we transferred for a rubber duck, a plastic dinosaur and two ninja finger fighters. Ace.

I particularly enjoyed the Batman arcade racer, which was one of my favourite games growing up. Even If I am still annoyed at Batman v Superman, it’s still cool as hell to get into the Batmobile.

Click to see full-size image.

The Mob Museum:

We took the newly adopted member of Team Bromley (Tal) to this on a very early morning trip downtown to learn all about the history of the mafia and it’s influence on early Las Vegas. Well, I say that we took him, but in all honesty it was Tal who was brave enough to deal with (and subsequently supervise) two very grumpy members of TB (we are not famous for being sprightly and alert first thing in the morning). It was so so so worth it. Rammed with more information that you can take in during a few hours, it features the first Vegas casino, the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre wall, an original “Tommy Gun” and some of the first casino chips used. I won’t offer any spoilers, but if you do find yourself over there, do not miss this.

Click to see full-size image.

Click to see full-size image.

Click to see full-size image.

Click to see full-size image.

Click to see full-size image.

I appreciate that not all of our leisure time is spent doing mature, grown up activities, but I am a firm believer that whilst growing old is inevitable, growing up is entirely optional!

[Knottikay]

I appreciate that not all of our leisure time is spent doing mature, grown up activities, but I am a firm believer that whilst growing old is inevitable, growing up is entirely optional!
[/quote]

Great line to finish off a good to read report. Thanks for sharing with us.

[DingleBelle]

“You’re off to great places, today is your day, your mountain is waiting, so get on your way!” Dr Seuss

For as long as I could remember, the ‘new year” began in September. A new school year. The smell of new uniforms. The blisters from new shoes. The grit of shiny new pencils etching ideas onto the blank canvass of a new notebook. At some point in our adult years, emphases move and the timeline of a new year shifts to January with its relentless drive of the New Year’s Resolution.

I never lost the love of September. I am at my most inspired with the promise of autumn leaves, new coats, Halloween, Bonfire Night and all the delicious food and drink that comes with that. Think Harry Potter movies. A colleague today told me about a Podcast she had listened to. The host revealed that she never made New Year’s Resolutions in January, she did them in September. My colleague said this made her think of me and I can see why.

This year has been no different and I have been spending some of my rare-but-precious free time thinking about where I am in my life and what I want to achieve. I feel awake and oozing inspiration.

It therefore comes as a surprise that we are choosing this time of the year to indulge in a late holiday. The World Series was too early a holiday for us and we simply cannot go any longer without a break. The lure of the GPPT proved too much (I am a real fan of this tour) and so tomorrow morning we are off to Killarney to play the Ireland leg. We get to play most of the festival, returning late Monday night.

Rather than drive down to Luton or London for the short flight to Kerry (perils of being Northern), we have instead chosen to fly into Dublin, pick up a car and embark on a road trip along the remarkable coastline of the Emerald Isle. This is going to be a great trip and I am very excited.

I hope to be able to update you on our travels, unless we are crushing the tables, in which case I will post the winner’s photo with the trophy when I get back!

Belle