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Made the decision to do the Vegas pilgrimage anyway and have booked my flights.
Found direct return flights from LHR to Vegas with British Airways and flight transfers from Glasgow - London all for £700 total.
Just have to figure the hotel stuff out and set aside some cash game funds
You were very unlucky in the OH8 league, pipped by 1 point on the last day.
Thanks a lot bromley.
Hope you have an amazing time over there!
I hope the run bad turns around for you and you make a packet in Vegas.
VUL m8, but glad to see you are going anyway, be good to meet up.
Also great to hear you are back playing more, enjoying it and have started the home games up again. June might be a bit tight for me as I will have to focus the effort to get a few $$'s for Vegas on July 9th after the poker gods decided I would be footing the bill myself lol. If they are going to be somewhat regular then you can definitely count me in for some of the future games! If they are anything like the last one I was at then I know they will be so much fun.
Would be great to see you back at the WSOP again next year. If you are in lots of the live sattys I might see you at a live event before then. Sky have just announced their live poker tour the SPT is starting back up with the first event at Manchester in around 10 weeks I think. I will 99.9% be going to that, be great if you managed to bag a ticket. I think the direct buy in is £220.
If you fire a Facebook account up again let me know and I will add you or you can add me my email addy is markycrash@hotmail.co.uk. I still have all the old regs on there, Puggy, NeilMC, Iceman, Dri, Pedro, Arez, Ratty, Bella, Tricky, Trebor, Christian etc etc, sure they would love to hear from you again.
Take care mate and hopefully we can get a wee live game in 1 form or another soon and a catch up over a few beers
Was some night for Groggy with his score in the SS main event too, WP that man.
Hope things are going well with you!
Cheers mate, much appreciated
Hope the internet is sorted now and cya in Vegas!
Looking forward to meeting you in Vegas Pom
Will certainly give it a shot and batter the cash tables and maybe some Rio Deepstacks and WSOP sattys.
Finally getting the trip in order on my own dime after the disappointment of so closely missing out on 2 packages.
Vegas
Well I am truly over any disappointment regarding the unfavourable end to the VLV finals. I admit I was a bit glum for a couple of days as I had got so near and then encountered horrible situations in thee key spots in both games. At the end of the day though, it is poker, these things happen and we never have anything "in the bag" until it is actually "in the bag".
I am also fortunate enough that I can still make the trip, albeit it will take more effort. If we think about the battles cenachev and Mr goodun have been going through at times or the horrible events in Manchester or London then it just makes it absurd to ever let yourself get glum about anything to do with poker.
On a brighter note I am really looking forward to the trip. Will be lovely to meet the Sky folk again and some of the people who have qualified who did not make it over last year, such as Enut and pomfrittes.
A lot of what I get up to over there will depend on how I do on the tables between now and then. Hoping to hire a car and take a trip up Mount Charleston again this year; it really is lovely up in the mountains and almost the inverse of what Vegas is. The weather is about 30 degrees cooler, it is peaceful and the natural scenery is absolutely stunning. It is crazy to think it is well under 1 hour drive from the strip.
Will also maybe take a drive over to Lake Las Vegas. It is also quite peaceful and has lovely scenery and I personally prefer it to Lake Mead. It is much smaller but there are lovely quiet little restraunts to eat at and you can waste a couple of hourse floating around on the water in a pedalo away from the crowds.
On the poker front... Will definitely play some NLHE and OH8 cash games but what tourneys I get involved with will be depend, as mentioned, on how the poker goes between now and then.
My other half taking up poker?
My other half has a 3 hour astrophysics exam today and then has a break from studying until January. I have floated the idea of her playing poker and she has been surprisingly keen. She is almost a complete novice. I think after my years of poker ramblings she has just sort of figured 'if you cannot beat them, join them!".
I will bring her up to speed quickly in the coming weeks and see how she gets on. I have a feeling she will do very well once she gets to grips with things, she is an extremely smart cookie. Can she get up to speed and confident enough to play at the SPT in Manchester? We will see
One thing I do wonder is the logistics of her playing here. I would like to teach her PLO8 mainly (plus a little NLHE) as I feel there are bigger potential edges in PLO8. I know there are other couples on Sky who play so hopefully it would not be an issue. Even although we are fiercely competative I understand we couldn't play the same cash tables or DYM games. Hopefully PLO8 and NLHE MTT's would not be a problem though. I will check it all out before she ventures to the felt but it would be nice if she could play here, make a good effort at it and maybe also become part of the lovely community on Sky.
A poker hand to finish
This was a hand I played last night which I found quite interesting and one of my most crisp reads.
I will paste it below and welcome any comments good or bad. Basically I am sat to the left of the tourney chip leader with around 12 players left (6 paid and I am 2nd in chips). I get AK48 in the SB and a shortish stack UTG limps in. I am happy with how my cards play versus their UTG limping range but the big stack with the BTN miniraises and I will be OOP versus him post flop if I get involved. I decide he is just isolating to kick the rest of us out and get HU with the potential bounty and that my AK48 is probably ahead of his range here. Rather than flat call and be OOP and not have the initiative I decide to go full pot.
With the pot overly inflated we see 3 clubs fall. I lead for half the pot which means if my opponent continues he is potentially putting most of his stack at risk. He makes a huge reraise and I feel with weak flushes he would flat call and be a little worried and might flat with the nuts so I might commit myself on the turn. I also feel sets flat call mostly here hoping the board pairs so I have him on nothing and get the stacks in...
Player
Action
Cards
Amount
Pot
Balance
markycash
Small blind
200.00
200.00
15927.14
BB
Big blind
400.00
600.00
11845.00
Your hole cards
· Ks
· 8d
· 4s
· Ah
UTG
Call
400.00
1000.00
6530.75
HJ
Fold
CO
Fold
BTN
Raise
800.00
1800.00
23239.57
markycash
Raise
3000.00
4800.00
12927.14
BB
Fold
UTG
Fold
BTN
Call
2400.00
7200.00
20839.57
Flop
· Kc
· 6c
· Jc
markycash
Bet
3600.00
10800.00
9327.14
BTN
Raise
18000.00
28800.00
2839.57
markycash
All-in
9327.14
38127.14
0.00
BTN
Unmatched bet
5072.86
33054.28
7912.43
markycash
Show
· Ks
· 8d
· 4s
· Ah
BTN
Show
· Qs
· 10s
· 9s
· Jh
Turn
· 3s
River
· 4c
markycash
Win high
Two Pairs, Kings and 4s
16527.14
16527.14
markycash
Win low
8-low
16527.14
33054.28
Only a matter of days now until I am lucky enough to visit Vegas at WSOP time once again.
I do appreciate how lucky I am to get to go on these journeys and the excitement never seems to dwindle. Foreign holidays were not even a remote consideration when I was growing up and were just something that other people done. I would feel like a lottery winner if we took a trip to Millport or, on rare occasion, go somewhere utterly exotic like the Norfolk Broads. It would therefore probably take many thousands of years before I ever tired of foreign trips and I doubt it would happen even then.
So yeah, cannot wait to get out there and join in the fun and hopefully get some answers to important questions. Such as...
Will Matt need the full 3 days to win his event?
Does Tikay still have that pink shirt?
Will the sun still be shining on Vegas or will it be rather dull with a large cloud of Marijuana smoke obscuring the sun after the recent legalisation of pot?
Could anyone really be dumb enough to lose their passport 2 years on the bounce?
Hopefully these and many more pressing questions will be answered in due course
Well it had been a while since my last update so I will be gentle and leave it there for now. I will try and post a few updates when I am away and hopefully give anyone who cares a flavour of happenings on the trip.
Hope you are all running well both on and off the tables!
Marky
P.S. @pomfrittes - Excellent idea regarding my partner doing a little blog. She is quite reserved though (just like myself lol) so am not sure what she will think. Will certainly pitch the idea though
A few people have asked me about blog updates so I will post a couple of updates...
The trip over went very much to plan. I was rather concerned as I was flying from Glasgow to London City Airport and then had to make my way across London to Heathrow airport for my Vegas flight which departed just 4 hours later. This involved 3 train journeys on the London Underground. I have heard the London underground come in for some stick but my experience was excellent - I waited no more than 2 minutes for any of the trains and made my flight with bags of time to spare.
I was flying on a BA Jumbo and my previous trip on a jumbo last year was excellent. That one was spacious, modern and had an excellent entertainment system. This one however was not one of the re-fitted planes in the fleet so wasn't just as good, although it was perfectly adequate.
The spaciousness was a bit of an issue though. I was sat next to what appeared to be the largest chap on the flight and I am relatively large too. This made for an interesting dynamic with the arm rest positioned in the middle of us. I mean who has 'right of way' to use the middle arm rest? Additionally the chap sat directly in front of me was also one of the few passengers who decided to use the full reclining properties of his seat, so it was all rather cramped.
Anyways, after 10 1/2 hours of elbow wars I made it over ahead of schedule and picked the hire car up and made it over to the hotel without incident.
Not sure when they will be approved but regardless I will add a little pic to the bottom of each update.
I had arrived in the hotel after my journey out around 10pm. Now a real baller would head straight out and make the most of Vegas right off the bat. I would have probably taken this option and got tore in about Vegas when I was south of 40 years old, well I did take that option in the past. As I am now north of 40 I decided the +EV play would be to 'get an early night' and get my bodyclock, or circadian rythm to use the proper term, firmly onto Vegas time. This did not work and I just couldn't sleep so I wandered the Palazzo casino from 3am until 10am doing my best impression of a 'Walker' from The Walking Dead.
At 10am I met TimmyRaRa and his sister and we went for a drive over to a Wall-Mart in Henderson and then drove to Lake Las Vegas for a quick drink. I hired a convertible Mustang for the trip so this was a great opportunity to take it for a spin. My USA driving was a little rusty but we got there and back safe and sound and it was lovely to meet Timmy and his sister.
It was now around 5pm and as the welcome meeting was not until 8pm it seemed like a good time for a nap. I was meeting Tikay at 7:45pm so I had plenty time and set my alarm. I woke up and glanced at my phone... the time? 9:45pm - oops!
I scurried down to the welcome meet and met the players who were still there although Tikay had left by then so I emailed my apologies for standing him up... He was very understanding and a cafe latte seemed to broker the peace
Had an enjoyable few drinks in the Palazzo after the welcome meet broke up with Essexphil, TommyD, Matt Bates and Chicknmelt before retiring at 3am for a 'proper sleep'.
All in all a long but very enjoyable day.
Woke up early and managed to completely shake the jetlag off.
After my poor time keeping the previous evening I figured I had better get up to the Rio early as I mentioned to Tikay I would drop by and see if I could be of any assistance. So I headed up and had a rather brilliant breakfast at H@sh House A Go Go in the Rio.
I ordered sausage and scrambled eggs although it actually came with mounds of french toast, cream, walnuts, syrup and a rather strange fried green thing that I thought may be plantain. I asked the server as it tasted amazing and he informed me it was a friend green banana. I would never have thought of adding a fried green banana to a breakfast of scrambled eggs and sausage but it certainly hit the spot.
I then headed off to meet Tikay with the cafe latte in tow and he very kindly showed me all around. Almost instantly upon my arrival 2 of the 4 Sky main event players came into the media room to report their bust outs... A 3rd followed not to long after and when I left it was just Boggo left in. I hear when I left he duly doubled up and was sitting close to the average stack.
As a fan of poker generally and in particular the WSOP it was great to see the WSOP from a different perspective. I even manage to employ grade A photobombing skills and got on the ESPN live coverage as I was stood behind French poker pro Gaelle Baumann taking notes as she bust out with AA versus KK (AIPF, K on the flop). I hadn't realised until I seen the delayed coverage played in the media room. I also railed the feature table for a little while and watched some of the action between Doug Polk and Sam Grafton.
I then drove back to the hotel to decide what to do next today. Was stuck in relatively heavy traffic around the strip which was excellent. If the traffic is moving quickly there isn't as much time to take in everything that is going on along the strip. Crawling along slowly was therefore actually quite fun (see piccy at foot of page).
Now sat in the hotel deliberating whether to go play some pot limit Big O (5 card PLO8) at the Venetian, probably will.
Thanks for reading my ramblings and hope you are all running well on and off the tables.
@weecheez - Probably sticking with cash mate. I planned to play some 'Big O' last night but I didn't feel great (didn't feel terrible either), just a sore throat and feeling a little lethargic. I will definitely fit some 'Big O' in before the trip is out though.
I am not too worried about the tournies this year. The mandate this year is just to have a break, soak up the atmosphere and enjoy Vegas. Next year I plan to have had a regular job for most of the year and let the roll build up so I can play at the very least 10 events, hopefully a lot more. Time will tell if this plan works out
Hope you are keeping well Harry and doing well on the tables too!
@gerardirl - Yeah, it has been all go. That may be why I have felt a little lethargic today. I have no clue how these young uns, such as Tikay, manage to do it... Doffs cap at Mr T!
Great news that Mrs Good Un has enjoyed her time in Vegas! Hopefully see you over here next year mate.
I will round things off here from the Vegas trip to appease my own cognitive dissonance and then I can hopefully begin to chart the waters of life that lay ahead, both poker and non poker related.
Some highlights of the trip - in no particular order apart from the top one...
* Getting to be Tikay's very own Debbi McGhee for a couple of days - Remind me to email him and let him know I enjoyed it immensely and look forward to seeing him in Manchester. I tried to tell him in person but although he is an English wordsmith in the written format - he doesn't seem to understand very clearly spoken Scottishy English with a hint of Norwegian?
* Meeting the players and the rest of the folks from Sky - I knew some from last year and met some for the first time. Brilliant bunch of folk and great to see 7 of them cash and 3 make the top 100.
* Nice day out with TimmyRaRa and his sis Lizzie - Even although ordering a beer and 2 cokes seemed to cause mass confusion... in the end they were comped and then Timmy went on to cash for the third time on the bounce in the Little One, win win! or rather win win win!
* Breakfast with Essexphil - Got to try the 'Man v Food' dish 'Andy's Sage Fried Chicken Benedict' at H@sh House a Go-Go in the Rio. Pretty tasty although I don't think either of us finished it. Clicky - Starts at 3 minutes 27 seconds in.
* Getting to have a chat with Sofia Lovgren - I had spoke to her before but only online. Smart, attractive and aggressive skilled poker pro. If I didn't have a better half already and was a tad younger then Sofia would be in serious contention to be my main poker crush. Sad to see her bust when she looked at one point like she may do some serious damage in the WSOP main event.
* Not being the person who lost things - Glad to report that my passport safely negotiated the return trip without incident. Also nice to lose the tag of being the person losing stuff... Shout outs to James and his phone!
I am sure I have forgotten plenty stuff but will end now with a few pics...
The Sky bunch from 2017 (stolen from the Sky FB page)...
Tikay thinking about singing in the rain at the WSOP (Courtesy of SUPERNOVA)...
Break from the WSOP reporting for a selfie...
A couple of days to recharge the batteries for me then a mix of poker grinding and putting CV's together for the upcoming job hunt.
Thanks for reading and GL to you all both on and off the tables.