I'm please to report that Nick "The Shrew" Whiten seems to have everything under control for the re-fit, at least he doesn't seem as daunted by the task ahead as when I first suggested doing it "in house" (ie. his reaction was "Get lost Rob, you always drop XXXX like this on me, I'm not doing it"). Me and Nick have been through everything together, from nursery to now, and I know that its been quite a life long burden for him, as I've always been dragging him into my hair brained schemes such as hot dog caravans. When we were 18 we bought a house together for 28k, but got a 100% mortgage for 38k through a mate we knew, the idea was we would use the extra 10k for blackjack, as I professed to be an expert player, but I blew the lot and more. So, I can't really blame him for often being on the sceptical side whenever I suggest stuff..........my standard reply is "relax, we can do anything we put our mind to, remember when we did so and so, it will be a piece of cake, I guarantee it....". When we were kids Nick's Mum, Barbara (she is a ball breaker) banned Nick from seeing me, but she is helping me look after my dogs now, and her other son, Darren, is going to be the GM of DTD, so she must think I'm okay now.
I'm turning my attention to the online side working with Chubbs, his heart is in the right place and the enthusiam is there, but we need to be professional in our marketing and organised in our approach, its our only chance of ever getting the money back that we are blowing left right and centre, also, we have to hit certain perfromance measures as part of the contract with Crypto, they don't normally deal with small fish like us, so I have had to put my XXXX's on the line a bit. We will not be launching the online site till October with Crypologic, there is a lot of fiddly stuff to sort out on the back office, and me and Pete met with Anna Dearlove last week, The UK Marketing Director, to go through the various stuff such as affiliates, cashiering, MIS and so on.
How do I feel about DTD at the moment? Well, I feel very very skint, but that's my fault, but I also feel that we are going to do something special here, it won't be everyones cup of tea, you always get the moaners and groaners, and they are not welcome. It will take us time, as we are all rank amateurs in this field (especially me), we will make lots of mistakes, but we have caught peoples attention with this project. I got a taxi home last night and the taxi driver was telling me about this "amazing new poker club that is opening called Dusk Till Dawn", I played dumb and asked him how he knew, and he said "dunno, but I've picked up loads of people that are talking about it".
I know I always keep on going on about how much this thing is crippling me financially, and I can almost see some people rolling there eyes, but its true, If this thing goes tits up I will be personally broke, yes, "big issue seller broke", okay, you can argue that on paper, with business and properties, that I would be okay, but those assets are tied up, my properties are trusted to my charity and my main business, sf group, is far to dear to me to ever sell it off to a 3rd party. I don't want to pretend to people that I am loaded (like so many business people make out), I'd rather be honest, I am risking every penny I have in this DTD venture, what started off as a hobby has developed into a big ugly financial risk..............but how else can you get your kicks, its like sticking it all on with 69 on a 57A flop, it has makes you feel alive.
On another note, I am having a party for my friends and employees at my new pub on Friday August 18th, the Broxtowe Inn, it's just off J26 of the M1, Nottingham. If any blondites friends of mine fancy popping in for a drink, email my PA, Sarah, on shodson@sfgroup.com quoting your Blondepoker name AND your real name to get your name on the list (we will have security on the door so you won't get in otherwise), it will be a free bar all night, disco, some food etc from 7.30pm to 2am. I think most of the DTD crew will be there, Aces, Nick, Shrew, Yogi, Nightfly, Pete, Darren (you better be guys).
Wow, 20,969 hits on this thread, I must be boring the XXXX (= Hell) out of you. Anyway, this will make you laugh. Today's internet play.......
I have JcJs and have flatcalled a £250 raise on the button to a tight UTG raisor, flop comes Jd3c4h, the orginal raisor bets £500, I know he has AA KK or QQ as he checks out of position normally when he has missed, so I make it £1500, he moves-in for £5k..........suddenly my PC dies instantly.........Neo, one of my dogs, has bitten through the power cable, I time out and lose the pot.......its a dogs life.
