in seat one we have the forum sage Andrew T who qualified online. He is a nice guy a great player and good looking
So
that's why you were buying me drinks in the hotel bar afterwards....
Anyway, a bit of scene-setting for you. It was quite a miserable looking day in Cardiff, rain clouds hung heavy in the air and the sky was fit to burst. Our cars arrived at the hotel and we were off to the studio on an industrial estate somewhere in the Welsh capital. Vicky Coren was in my car and, true to form, she made the driver find a newsagent so she could buy some cigarettes. Roland de Wolfe chatted about his poker (and sports betting) luck whilst the other internet qualifier Voitto sat smiling, doing his best Chris Ferguson impression.
Upon arrival, Voitto and myself got chatting whilst the production staff busied themselves around us. I was ushered into make-up and had my microphone fitted. There were pre-tournament interviews conducted by Vicky C (Sample question: "What interests do you have outside poker?" Me: "Er, um, well..... er, let me see, hmmmm (silence)").
Scotty Nguyen looked every inch the Las Vegas pro with trophy wife/girlfriend in tow. Backstage areas are prone to drabness compared to the set itself, but ours was lit up by Pascal Perrault's shirt (never has the phrase 'explosion in a paint factory' been more apposite). Tony G was quite quiet, but did an interview for someone writing a book on poker pros. I nearly didn't recognise Roy Brindley as it was the first time I'd seen him without his glasses. Self-professed world's-worst-bookmaker Jesse May was on hand to provide a bit of backstage action - I had a cheeky £20 on Roland at 9/2. Some bets were larger - someone even put £200 on me to win
After a little while (these things never start on time) we were ushered into the very impressive set (they'd obviously gone for the make-it-look-like-we're-playing-in-Frasier's-living-room look). The poker table was
huge - I almost felt like Tony G would have to phone his bets through to me so I'd know what was going on. A photographer took fantastic photos of us all (see avatar). There was some chat whilst we waited for the techies to sort stuff out. Scotty, sat with his Ultimatebet.com medallion round his neck was asked if he plays much online poker. "I haven't played online in two years" he revealed.
After a quick clarification of the rules from Thomas (we were playing with TDA rules, except for the ones which were different...) he uttered the immortal phrase "Shuffle up and deal"...
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