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Meh, could almost smell that Vegas side package. 13 is unlucky for some, it was especially unlucky for me as that's the position I departed
Only played 2 other tournaments last night and had good runs in both (6th in the £8.80 F/O and 7th in the 9.30 BH). Sods law that I'll play 15 MTTs tonight and not win a bean; I like how we can blame variance for our shortcomings at poker
2 weeks until Newcastle, see you down at the bar.
Newcastle
however I have to give a shout out to my team mates who made the trip and also put up with me on a daily basis. Everyone was great and I look forward to the next one.
Brilliant. Many thanks to those who got it off the ground. I'm reluctant to name names as my memory is terrible and someone will pipe up saying ''oh thanks for not name checking me'', won't they Slykllist
Poker wise it was a wash out. At least I was eliminated by the eventual winner (rosjim) when he called my river all in airball with A10 (I had J10) and was good. I knew I was doomed when he asked the dealer to spread the pot
In reality, the poker was getting in the way of the drinking, football and socialising. So that's why I bluffed my stack off about 6 hours in
Sky Poker TV
Sad to see it go. I have to admit though, I'd feared the worst for a while. I used to watch it religiously, but in the last 18 months or so I haven't tended to have it on as much. I think Tikay sums it up nicely when he says that it did well to last 8 years in that format, for such a niche market. I wish the people involved in the new productions all the best.
Possibly against the grain, but I also think the community (as a whole) needs to 'get over it'. Constant threads popping up about it aren't doing anyone any favours. People have probably lost jobs with all the changes, yet we have players acting very pettily, and almost selfishly, towards the whole situation. We are all sad to see it disappear as we know it, but perhaps have a little faith in this new set up and give that a chance to breathe.
Twitch
Looks like this could be the next big thing. I'm trying to keep up with the programme, so I dropped in on Don's yesterday and joined a couple of his tables too. In reality, I have little interest in it; perhaps I'm falling out of love with the game, but it just doesn't appeal to me, either watching or being watched. I do think the forum would benefit from a single 'Twitch' thread, and people just bump it when they know what time they will be playing on a stream.
Bits and bobs
Had a job interview today which went ok I think, though these things can be hard to gauge. First one in almost 7 years so I was a tad nervous (I should clarify that I've not been unemployed for 7 years!). Find out at the end of the week if its a yay or nay. And thanks Sky for my £5 birthday treat, though you were a few days early......sort it out Sky!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Well said Jon (never thought i would say that) :-)
Glad you enjoyed it last night, and you had a great run in them. It took Sam about 9 months to get in the top 10, and you did it on your first week
Granted, maybe I should have put fortnightly instead of weekly
Shockingly, I think I was the first one blamed for its disappearance. For once, it was nothing to do with me!
I did say to Sam, and the blonde casino worker who also quizzed me, that they were welcome to do a full body search, every nook and cranny, to try and find it.
They declined, surprisingly.
If someone can teach me how to cash in £11+ games, that would be nice
X: no cocky. comment..oh, no audience..lol00:05 hhyftrftdr: see ya X: oh i will see you you fat little sad troll..dont ya woory. hhyftrftdr: lol hhyftrftdr: lololololol X: yeah...keep laffing u sad fooker.00:06 hhyftrftdr: anymore?
Though he forgot to put 'troll' in capitals, very disappointing and a distinct lack of effort on his part.
See y'all heading to MK in a week
I'm the TROLL, and the guy who sent that (plus a rather abusive FB message at 3 this morning) is the forum good guy.
The message was almost as good as his last threat; ''I've found my 6 fingers, they are at the end of my knuckles''.
If you keep an eye out for a tall, slim, handsome gent, then that means you've located Shakinaces. Chances are you'll hear us before you see us of course, with Sam in tow. Don't forget your Twix!
Alas it isn't Anna, though if she wants to send abusive messages to me in the wee hours then she's more than welcome to
Did City pay over the odds for him? Yes.
Does it matter that City paid over the odds for him? Not a jot.
I know I'm biased, but this transfer represents a significant investment over many many years. I like him; he's far from the finished article, but he's the type of player who gets bums off seats. Watching him running at our defence last season wasn't a pretty sight, he has pace to burn and it must be a nightmare for a fullback to be coming up against him. He's also pretty versatile, capable of playing pretty much anywhere in the final 3rd. He gives us far more options and threat than the guy he is likely to replace, Navas. I'm very excited about seeing him line up for us this and future seasons.
Interesting to note that Liverpool are 'only' getting £36m up front for him, with a further £4m in various add ons, and QPR entitled to 20% of the fee paid (£45m), so that leaves Liverpool with £36m to waste on Southampton players.
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Poker is still mostly fun. I seem incapable of winning the 9.30 £11 BH despite regularly cashing and occasionally FT'ing it. A few days ago I was chip leader with 3 left. Came 3rd. Played a stupid hand stupidly. My bad. Earlier that day I'd tipped a horse, Birdman at 12/1, at the first race at York. It was pleasing to see it romp home, not only cos I got a few quid for it, but because I knew plenty of people had followed the tip. Was very pleasing to hear X had won ££ and Y had won ££££ from your advice. I think that allows me a few dodgy tips in the future
MK was great fun as always. Nice to see plenty of friendly faces again, plus a few new ones too. Pleased for Jimi chopping the Friday MTT, how he was still sane after sharing a car with myself, Sam and Trippy for 4 hours is beyond me. Didn't win a bean all weekend but it really didn't matter, its not about that. Even the ridiculously expensive pints didn't dampen the mood all weekend. Was also great to see plenty of people sporting the Team Dagg shirts, which leads me on to....
....the passing of the gentleman. I only had the fortune to meet him once, at Newcastle earlier on this year. I had a pint and a natter with him for an hour or 2 on the Saturday night, talking about football, poker, Sky and various bits and pieces. It was nice to chat with him as we'd previously had a mild fallout over a crass joke I made on a rail. There was no air to be cleared or anything like that, but it was nice for us both to clarify a few things over a beer. I know he really enjoyed that weekend, and I hope he knew he was in all our thoughts right until the end and beyond.
RIP mate.
The compensation was well received, as it was far from a profitable week! Played 5/6 MTTs totalling about $1000 and didn't get a sniff of a cash. More than half of that was on an event at PH, as the Colossus was a no go by the time we landed. I did have the pleasure of (briefly) sharing a table with Jake Cody in it. Not every day you have a guy sit down at your table who's in the top 5 biggest winners of live MTTs in England. Couple of the Americans at the table didn't realise it was him, despite the fact he is pretty recognisable and had his Stars patches on too. When Jake left the table (he was coming and going frequently), I whipped my phone out and showed the guys to my right his HM page, they finally believed me
Played a decent amount of cash on the trip. Everyone says cash is soft in Vegas if you play in the right places, and everyone is correct. Sadly over the course of the week I was probably a few hundred down, a couple of sessions in Flamingo went badly and saw me do about $700 there, despite the games being good. Ironically, I had my best session in what was comfortably the toughest game I played. We were staying at Monte Carlo. Woke about half 7 one morning and wanted a game, so wandered down to the poker room. There was only the single game of NLHM on the go, a 3 handed $1/$2 table. I sat down with $250 (max buy in was $300 but for some reason I always sat with 250 initially). It soon became apparent that these guys had been playing all night, and the stacks were deep; one guy had about $1700 in front of him, another had maybe a grand. There were straddles all over the place, huge open raises, so different from the passive players you often find in 1/2 games. Playing 4 handed, there really is no hiding place. Whilst I didn't pick up any premiums, I did flop a set in a family pot and that got me a full double. Won a couple other nice pots, a couple of moves got through, before the game broke, and I cashed out for $620 so a nice profit for a couple hour morning session. I really felt like I'd earned that money though!
Couple of hands (one involving me, the other I was a spectator) really highlight how good the games can be. The first hand was at Monte Carlo, the first morning of the holiday. Myself and Simon were on the wait list, and I got seated first in this 1/2 game. I sat down but didn't post the blind (I'm from Yorkshire, I'll wait thanks). Literally the first hand I witness is a $1400 pot in a $1/$2 game. Set over set? Flush over flush? FH into quads? Nope nope and nope. It was TPTK vs NFD.....3 way and a flop of Q 9 7, and the betting gets heavy. We have a bet ($100), a raise, and a cold all in. The guy who bet 100 on the flop is in agony, and after much deliberation he passes 9 7 for bottom two. Other guy calls all in and we have a 700bb pot with one person holding AQ and the other A8 for the flush draw. 2 bricks later and AQ man has scooped, 9 7 man is gutted for passing the best hand and A8 man is felted. I simply couldn't believe what I'd seen. Myself and Simon looked at each and didn't need to exchange words, our facial expressions said it all. Just seemed like madness, throwing money in the pot like it was confetti. If 9 7 had come along for the ride the pot would've been around 2 grand. This was a good game to be in
The other hand was at Excalibur. $1/$2 again and the game was nice. I overlimp (I know, I know!) 5s3s and we go multiway. A A 4 flop gets checked round. The beautiful 2 on the turn. Guy to my right bets $6. I elect to call over raising; I felt he was either taking a stab and wanted to let him take another stab on the river, or he has the A and he's gonna bet for value on the river and that's when I'll stick it in his eye. So we go HU to the river and its a 10, no flushes or anything on the A A 4 2 T board. I am 99% sure I have the best hand, and I'm liking it when he leads again, for $10 this time. I dwell for a bit, considering how much to raise it. I make it $32 and sit back waiting for him to pay me off. He thinks for maybe 5 seconds and then puts a stack of red $5 chips over the line. I mucked instantly, no count required (it looked about $100 raise). I rarely do it but decided to open fold, and when he saw he almost fell off his chair. ''How can you fold that''? he asked me. ''Ah man, no-one else at the table folds in that spot'' he bemoans. In reality, it was the easiest fold of the holiday. He asked me why I folded, and I said that if you're bluffing in this spot 0% of the time, and value raising worse 0% of the time, it means I'm beat. Funny game, in 10 seconds I went from being absolutely sure I had the best hand to absolutely sure I had the worse hand. He shows A4 for the old flopped FH and I say nh.
If you treat lower stake cash games in Vegas like 10/20nl on Sky, you can't go too far wrong! If someone raises you on the river and you don't have the nuts or very close, let it go
Champions League draw day. Makes me feel like a kid at Christmas. The perfect opportunity to combine 2 of my biggest passions; City and travel.
Currently on 6 1/2 Euro away games. The half is Barcelona from the year before last, travelled but couldn't get a ticket in the City end, so had to make do with a bar just off Las Ramblas.
I love the mad scramble to arrange the travel arrangements when all the fixtures are confirmed. I'm off work today so I'll do a bit of flight research in advance, see what routes are cheap on certain match days for potential opponents, try and stay ahead of the curve. You wouldn't believe how much flight prices can rocket when the draw is announced. I remember when we got Ajax the other season, returns to Amsterdam from Manchester went from 60 quid to over £300 in the blink of an eye. The key to keeping the price down is to think outside the box....
Unless an away day falls on some holiday time, I'm restricted to swapping days off, so that means generally flying out on the day of the game, 1 night there and flying back the next day. Probably the most ridiculous itinerary was a few years ago when we drew Lech Poznan of Poland in the Europa League. The game was a Thursday night. Got a late flight out of Doncaster after work on the Wednesday night, to Katowice, which is 5-6 hours away from Poznan. We had a few hours to kill in the airport bar in Katowice, then took the early morning train through to Poznan, arriving about 11 on the morning of the game. It was an old school train, with compartments coming off the corridor. Managed a couple hours of awful sleep! There was a group of 4 City fans with the same plans so was good sharing a beer with them on the journey. Thankfully the trip home only required a 3 hour train from Poznan to Wroclaw.
Oh, and we got beat 3-1
Other highlights include flying to Ryanair's version of Dusseldorf for Dortmund away....it is closer to the Dutch border than Dusseldorf. Got beat there as well.
In fact, my record of wins abroad is about as good as my tournament record on Sky; losses at Sporting Lisbon, Dortmund, Poznan and Barcelona, draw in Copenhagen and wins at Porto and Bayern Munich. The latter was very good, after being 2 down in the first 10 minutes, to then come fighting back and win it 3-2. The Allianz Arena is an excellent stadium, though very much in the middle of nowhere.
You want a 'softer' draw, but I'm selfish so I also want good away day opportunities. So getting Madrid or PSG makes things tough, but it appeals way more than PSV Eindhoven away.
Guess we'll see what the crack is in a few hours.....but I don't think Kazakhstan is feasible
Sweden is just different gravy.
Even better than KFC gravy.
Good luck with the draw and, more importantly, bagging the travel and tickets without needing to bink the super roller to cover the cost.