Poker, Beer and of course "Vegas baby"

I’ve been told that the Malt Shovel is holding a poker league and that the first Monday night field had eighteen runners including trainers, jockeys and stable staff. I think it would be quite fun to take a Monday afternoon and Tuesday day off and go and play in this small event. It’s definitely not the money or the ‘fame’ that the game would bestow but the opportunity to chat and try and prise inside information from players would be interesting.

A friend of mine played at the LA Poker Classic in the 7-card stud ring games 100/200. I don’t think it was the most successful week! On a much smaller scale I’ve been suffering a period of variance. Playing the other evening I found myself on a weak table and was able to take advantage and won 5 max buy-ins. The next evening I of course managed to lose 5 max buy-ins to another bunch of players who called down every hand hitting their draws on the river. Really, I shouldn’t mind as over time I’m a massive favourite but I’m starting to come to the conclusion that at the levels I play this just doesn’t work.

I said some time ago that I was only going to play in multi-table tournaments on the web and then play live whenever the opportunity arose. Since moving to Tunbridge Wells this hasn’t worked out. I can’t find any live games (I prefer tournaments than cash games) and I haven’t had the time to play multi-tables on the web.

I’m thinking that I will have to make the trip to Vegas if I want a weekend of poker playing madness. Unfortunately this concerns me as I will have to increase the bank roll so that I can sit down at a 2/4 or 4/8 NL Hold’em or a 5/10 or 10/20 Limit Hold’em cash game as well as playing some 100 or 200 buy-in tournaments.

I guess I’m going to have to find a 10/1 winner or two!

So we spent the day at the Breeders Cup in the owners’ enclosure, drinking beer, eating the free food and gambling on anything that moved!

However, I do recall that we eventually got ‘thrown’ out of the viewing boxes just prior to the start of the Classic as hundreds of security guards turned up. So we have to admit to watching the final and biggest race on the TV! I still don’t really understand why they bothered with security for the last race, maybe they just wanted to get a good view of the Classic.

Once the racing hand finished we dashed for a taxi and made a fast escape back into Dallas. At the hotel we raced to the ‘Sky’ bar on the 30^th floor and consumed some really good cocktails. I think our speed to the taxi rank helped as it took other guest quite some time to get back to the bar.

After a couple of drinks it was time to grab the bags and head straight to the airport. I remember that it was during this taxi journey that I had one of those 'bizarre' phone calls.

We wanted to have a bet on the Melbourne Cup but couldn’t get through to Betfair. However my phone rang and I answered to hear Josh Apiafi’s voice. It was perfect timing.”Josh what are the odds on the Melbourne Cup? “. “ Hang on a second.....okay no.1 is 5/1.........” It was at this point that I thought ‘wtf (poker term ;-)) it must be 3.30am in the UK’. “Josh where are you?” “Flemington.” Nice.

The flight from Dallas to Vegas was the last chance to grab a quick snooze before we hit The Strip. However, the flight was packed, the seats rather narrow and the atmosphere buzzing so the chance was pretty much gone.

Flying into Vegas for the first time was pretty exciting. Each time we saw a road with lots of flashing lights we thought we were looking at The Strip, how naive we were. Just as we landed there in front of us was The Strip, we won’t be confused again!

Part 3?