SkyPoker.com Online Poker Blog

“Leg One to the Ladies.
 
The Sky Poker UK Tour began on Saturday in Nottingham, & in a field in which there were more females than I ever recall seeing in any Tourney, two of them Finalled in good shape.
 
Kimberley Ploszanski was a little unlucky when it mattered, & eventually finished a most meritorious 8th.
 
Maria “Chili” Demetriou made no mistake though, finding just the right blend of aggression, bluffs, & plain old Lady Luck, to eventually run out an easy winner, with over 60% of the chips in play when 3 handed. Maria, famed for her recent sparkling debut on Late Night Poker, & subsequent 5th for £26,000 in the London GUKPT, has appeared as a Guest on Sky Poker on many occasions, & regularly plays “The Open”.
 
Runner-up was Sky Poker veteran Roy Finch, aka “Hucknall“, who finalled a tad low on chips, but powered through the field in impressive style, & looked the likely winner at one stage. Roy attended the Sky Poker Boot-Camp earlier this year in Bristol and his game has improved by leaps and bounds since then.
 
Davyd Wright & Scott Winnard (Proturian) finished 3rd & 4th, & yet another Sky Poker regular, Tom McCready (Red-Dog), who has appeared in many Sky Poker Promos, was a worthy 5th, after Chili stuck a bit of a beat on him.
 
In 6th place was arguably the class act of the field, local Pro Nick “Redbull” Hicks, who gradually increased his tempo throught the day, only to suffer a series of beats each time his stack threatened to dominate the field. He was dancing big-time on the Final Table, but Red-Dog decided to take him on with position and that stifled the popular Nott’s Pro.
 
The entire day was marked by laughter and merriment, bonhomie and bravado, everyone playing the game in great spirits, with the commentary of Simon Aces Trumper bringing just the right mood to the Event. The day was, if I may say so, a spectacular success.
 
I have rarely, if ever, seen a field of Poker players smile so much, the dealers were being player-friendly, the structure and clock were spot on, and if the next 5 Legs are half as much fun, the fledgling Sky Poker UK Tour will have broken new ground in pokertainment.
 
Sky Poker Presenters playing included Richard Orford, who was busy filming at the same time, so can be excused his early exit, Michelle Orpe, who got super-lucky early doors to bust Aces with Kings, but soon departed, and Norman Pace, who ran very deep, and looked like finalling until he got out-paced.
 
Dave “Compo” Compton elicited howls of disbelief from the railers with an outrageous call, all-in, holding 5-3 - & won!  but got too lairy with pocket threes against the pocket nines of Norman to eventually depart in a Sky-on-Sky confrontation.
 
To every single player, from all at Sky Poker - thank you! You made the day what it was - a splendid success.
 
The Date & Venuue for Sky Poker UK Tour, Leg Two, will be announced very shortly, & the Satellites to qualify - the only way to get a Seat - will be on the Sky Poker Cardroom very soon thererafter. Get in quick, the Seats all went in 10 days for Nottingham, and demand for Leg Two is expected to be even higher.
 
The night before the Event, I was the Analyst on the Sky Poker TV Show, with Michelle Presenting (they keep us busy!), and new Sky Poker player “Villain” won The Open. By a bizarre coincidence, he is a regular Member of The Weekly Poker Club, down in Brighton, where I spent Sunday and Monday at their National Finals.
 
Even more spookily, Tony Williams, who finished 2nd in TWPC Final at Hove on Sunday, also attended the Sky Poker Boot-Camp, along with Roy Finch, at Bristol earlier this year. Sky Poker - the place to learn!
 
This week, online in the Sky Poker card room, we have “SCOOP” all week - “Sky poker Championship Of Online Poker”. We have No-Limit, Pot Limit, Limit, Cash, and Tourneys, and  it all culminates in a Cash-Game this Saturday night which will air on Sky Poker, Channel 865. I will be on that Show, along with Dan Lobb and Mark Banin, and that should be a corker.
 
Will the Girls prevail again, as they did in Nottingham, or will the guys be back on top? Time will tell. For now, it’s girls on top!”

Ooh-err Mother - no, I don’t mean THAT! What do I mean? Patience, read on, & I’ll get there eventually.
 
First up, apologies for the break in my Weekly Blogs, it’s been a bit up & down one way & another. I came back from Vegas totally wrecked, then suffered a few health issues, then the cat ran away with the milkman - I just knew something was going off - and on top of that, my poker form’s been dire.
 
Since Vegas, I’ve had just 2 Live Cashes, both for small sums, though one was last night, so maybe my form is turning. Variance is a weird & wonderful thing, no more so than in poker.
 
I played the £1,000 Luton GUKPT a fortnight back, & hoped to run deep, but it did not go too well. I sat next to a good little player, a Chinese Gent by the name of Mr Wong, who was hitting cards for fun, & thanks to Mr Wong it all went Pete Tong.
 
I got myself back in the Tourney after I moved Tables, but Evil Edna eventually cast her wicked spell on me, & Paul Daniels would have been impressed with how she made my stack disappear. Evil Edna (real name Edna Adams) must be over 70, & is a quite remarkable character. She appeared several times on Late Night Poker, but it’s less well known that she once held the UK angling record for the biggest carp ever caught. She sure caught the fish called tikay!  The Event was won by a pal of mine called Sam Trickett, yet another top-notch player to emerge from the Nottingham Academy.
 
That apart, it’s mainly been £100 Events at Luton & DTD, & my form is just terrible, and confidence soon suffers when on that sort of run. I finalled 4 times at Luton got sucked out every time, and only cashed in 2 of them. Need to do better.
 
Sky Poker has been huge fun though, and we have a great batch of new Shows coming through, some stunningly good Card room Promotions (watch out for SCOOP!), & the Sky Poker Games was very well received.
 
I played the Sunday Showdown yesterday, in the Studio, and  was motoring along nicely, double average, before trapping a player all ends up with top two pairs, but he hit perfect-perfect to bust me. Typical! To make it worse, TFO (The Fish Orford) who was playing alongside me lasted longer than me. Oh, the shame……
 
I’m also really looking forward to the Sky Poker UK Tour, starting at my local Card room, the magnificent DTD in Nottingham, on September 13th. I hope many of you come along - it’s the ultimate Live Poker experience, and with the Sky Poker cameras there, plus Norman, Michelle, TFO, & Tim Peters, we plan to have a ball.
 
Finally for now - well, it’s catch-up week! - I’ll be playing online, at Sky Poker, this Thursday, 15th September, from 7pm until about Midnight. I plan to play “Scary” at 8pm, “The Open” at 9pm, & maybe the 9.30pm £450 Guaranteed, plus I’ll be spending the rest of the time (!) on various Cash Tables. I’ll start at 7pm on the £0.25-£0.50 - and so, there at last, the Blog title becomes apparent - Come & Get Me!
 
See you Thursday. And don’t be late. Right?

 
Yes, Sky Poker is hitting the road, & we have a 6 stop UK Tour planned.
 
At every Venue, you will get to meet, play with, or, if you prefer, just chill with, some of our Presenters, including Norman Pace, Richard Orford, Michelle Orpe & Tim Peters.
 
We will also have the Sky Poker Camera Crew on hand, & we hope to film interviews with as many of you as possible, & these interviews will be transmitted on Sky Channel 865, within weeks of each Leg.
 
There will be a Mini-Master-Class for those not used to Live Play, a Tournament as the centrepiece of the day, SNG’s, Heads-Up Matches - you can take on the Presenters - & Cash Games. All 10 Finalists in the £5,000 Guaranteed Tournament will also get the Bonus of a £200 Seat in next June’s Sky Poker UK Tour Grand Final.
 
Leg one will be at the fabulous new DTD Card room in Nottingham, on September 13th, and the seats are going like hot cakes. Qualification is by Sky Poker Online Satellites only, so get registered sharpish, before it’s too late!
 
Next week, I’ll tell you the nitty gritty details - local hotels, travel, dress code, (men don’t have to wear them), what time you need to be there, etc.
 
Anyone can come along to watch; you don’t have to qualify for the Tournament, so come on, get yourself up to Nottingham & let’s have a little fun.
 
We’ve talked the talk, now we are walking the walk. Sky Poker really is Interactive”.

Sky Poker Games - Points make Prizes
 
The Sky Poker Games, played over 10 nights, came to a thrilling conclusion, with a bunch finish keeping the excitement levels high until the very last hand.
 
4th to 10th spots all collected the much-coveted Sky Poker Hoodies as prizes & these went to poseidon, saynowt (who finished very strongly), flunge, CT, JACOBWBA, M444RKG, & skicowboys.
 
Commiserations go to PHARLAP777, who missed out in 11th spot, after a strong start, a mid Games slump, & a very strong finish.
 
The Top Three all got Sky HD & World Entertainment packages worth over £660, as well as Sky Poker Hoodies, and they thoroughly deserved them, too.
 
So, a big congrats to our podium finishers who were…..
 
Dead Heat for 2nd place (523 points each) - espash123 & skygypsy.
 
FIRST PLACE (565 points) - dionysis
 
The name “dionysis” was, refers to the Greek God of wine & intoxication, so Sky Poker’s dionysis is perfectly entitled to live up to his Greek ancestor’s drinking habits by way of celebration. Well done Sir!
 
Some remarkable performances were witnessed, too, with dionysis, skygypsy & poseidon all, astonishingly, scoring in nine of the ten legs. Unbelievable!
 
Not far behind were espash123 & saynowt, who both netted 8 scores,. & saynowt scored in his last 8 Tourneys on the bounce.
 
We had some lovely feedback from the players, so look out for more Sky Poker Fun & Games very soon. In fact, keep your eye out for our next biggie - SCOOP!
 
It’s coming soon, from Sky Poker, & you can be part of it!”

Leg 3 - Shot Putt - DOMJAM Gets the Goods

Breaking his Sky Poker Games duck, DOMJAM threw his way to the front of a large field & scored a perfect maximum 100 points. Felix5, & NITRAM59, filled the other podium places.

8 players have scored in all the Games held so far - dionysis, poseidon, funaaron, REF, roppa, stewar1972, gibbo, & thehoff07. Well done them!

Leg 4 - High Jump - TOXITRICK TOPS THE TOURNEY

It was his first jump of the series, but TOXITRICK scored the absolute max, & out jumped DJBLACK04 & our old friend from the West Midlands, CRANEOP.

Meanwhile, dionysis had his first blank of the series, so the leader board is tightening up a bit now.

Leg 5 - 400 metres - Jimbo31 springs a surprise

With nil points until now, JIMBO31 produced a terrific finish & scooted home to bag 100 points, & enter the Leader board for the very first time, with dreamhunte & SOLACK in close pursuit…

Amazingly, & uniquely, poseidon has now scored in all the first 5 Events - an incredible effort!

Leg 6 - 110 metres hurdles - Raybs1986 Jumps into contention

Another debutant enters contention, & his first score was a perfect 100 points, chased home by evoecfc, & denny, both of whom were also earning their first points of the Sky Poker Games.

Meanwhile, poseidon continued his remarkable perfect run, having scored in every one of the first 6 Events.

Leg 7 - Discus - BAXSTARS does the biz

Another Sky Poker Games points duck is broken as BAXSTARS wins this, & dddk manages 3rd for his first points, too, whilst in 2nd place, ESPASH123 scores for the 5th straight event, & jumps into Leader board contention.

After an incredible series of 6 straight sets of points, it was a throw too far for poseidon, who, for the first time, failed to score a point.

Leg 8 - Pole Vault - ICEBORG keeps his cool

cleverken (2nd) & bubblefish (3rd) did their best to grab the top spot, but ICEBORG was, well, not prepared to let (tuce) them……

poseidon, meanwhile, got back into the points after missing the previous leg, & now he, dionysis, & Skygypsy have all scored in 7 of the 8 Events - an extraordinary record!

Leg 9 - Javelin - Flynntok spears to the top

In a top 3 battle of the “f”’s, FLYNNTOK just got home from FULLRICK12 & FELIX5, as the Sky Poker Games approach their climax.

Our three stalwarts, poseidon, SkyGypsy & dionysis all maintained their near perfect record by scoring for the 8th time in 9 Events.

Leg 10 concludes the Games - so can they maintain their near-perfect record? We’ll see…

A larger field of 333 runners paid £3 each for Event Two, the Long Jump, where the Clock increased with the Run-Up & then the Blind Levels jumped!
 
SQUIRELL jumped into 1st place & 100 points for the win, followed by pokersam25, & funaaron in 3rd. Just missing the podium finished were Bonzo, Somerled, & CERBERUS75.
 
But the Leaderboard is the thing, & an amazing performance by AUDIMAN saw him finish 10th in Leg Two, for 91 points, to add this 3rd place in the opening Event - so, with a 3rd & a 10th in two Events, it’s AUDIMAN who heads the Leaderboard at this stage with 189 points. Breathing down his neck after two deep finishes are mattybuy & TONY509.
 
Amazingly, 21 Sky Poker Players have cashed in both Events to date!
 
How will they get on in Leg Three, the Shot Putt? - We shall see, but I’ll be letting you know that on Monday.
 
And don’t forget, Monday Evening sees Leg 4. Who’s for the High-Jump?
 
So, well done to PHARLAP777 & SQUIRELL, but there’s plenty of Events left yet. Can anyone score in all three Opening Events? We shall see!

The first ever “Sky Poker Games” got underway on Friday, & it was the flat-to-the-boards 100 metres which opened proceedings.
 
And this was a real sprint - 3,000 chips & 2 minute Blinds - not much room for patience there!
 
271 hopefuls paid £3 each & took to their Starting Blocks, and then it was “On your marks, Set - GO!” 
 
When the dust had settled, it was PHARLAP777 who burst across the winning line for a maximum 100 points, closely pursued by 21matt21 in 2nd (99 points), with AUDIMAN motoring over the line in 3rd place. stevenso, kittyclare & sharksbite filled the next 3 spots, & so those 6 head the Leaderboard after 1 event.
 
It’s a bit early to be forecasting winners of our Sky Poker Games Leaderboard, but after Leg 2, we’ll have a better idea.

Finally, & not before time I hear you say, how did I get on in that sooper-dooper £200 Jobbie up at DTD? A sad tale really, but here’s the coup. Straight up.

It was what’s called a “Double-Chance”. In these affairs, you get your chips in two tranches, in this case, 2 x 3,000. You can take the lot straight away if you wish, or hold back the second tranche for two levels, & then take them.

Opinion is divided on the best course of action in these jobbies;

1) Take the first 3,000, & use them as “gambling chips”, to get a bit lairy, & try & build a decent stack, safe in the knowledge that you have an insurance stack in reserve.

2) Take the lot straight away, & try to bully the table, especially if they have not taken their reserve stack.

Truth is, Double-Chances (which I adore) change the dynamics of Tourney Poker completely, because you can play “end game poker” at the start of a Tourney. Huge fun!

BUT….just remember this. If the rest of the Table all take their second tranche at the start of the Event, then you MUST do the same. If you don’t, you are playing with one hand tied behind your back, & are at a distinct disadvantage to everyone else.

So, to the Event, & nobody took their Second-Chance, & therefore I did not, & we all began with 3,000 chips.

As always, I sat quietly for the first few orbits, while the donks went charging out of the traps, risking their Tourney lives on A-9 & such junk. It is a BAD THING to mess with these loons, trust me. But don’t fret, most of them will have busted before two levels are out. Let them race ahead, we’ll be OK. Compare it to the first lap of a F1 race, & that dreaded first corner, or the run to the first fence in the Grand National, when all the tearaways set off hell for leather. The winner usually tucks himself in behind, & waits till the dust settles.

In Deep-Stack, well-structured Tourneys, settle down & wait before you start splashing chips around. And don’t - unless it’s AA or KK pre-flop - ever put all your chips in the middle at this stage - you don’t have to, or need to. Outplay them, bide your time, don’t risk everything on one pair, or a single hand. Chill!

Well, having nagged you about all that, how did I come to find all my chips in the middle after just 20 minutes? How indeed…..

In an unraised Pot, I was in the Big Blind, there were two limpers, & I had Jack-Ten. And the flop came a chip-tastic 7-8-9 rainbow. (Rainbow = three different suits, thus no flush draws). Wow - I had the absolute cocoanuts!

I check - as I must - to let one of the early-paced loons behind me hang himself, & sure enough, a nice juicy bet came in. I gave it some dwellage - as you do - with the pained look thing, & eventually smooth-called the bet. Gotcha, my son!

The Turn was a complete blank, I check again, & he moves All-In on me! Happy Days. Or is it? Remember, we don’t want to stick all our chips in the middle at this stage. But we do have the Nuts. Let’s now try & imagine what he might have.

Same hand as me? No problem, we can handle a choppity chop.

A set - 7’s, 8’s or 9’s? (This is his most likely holding, as he’d be a fool to do it with two pair, or a bigger straight draw). Well, we are 2/1 favourite here. We have to take those odds every sinfgle time, like it or not.

Two Pair - we are monster big against this - 9/1 would you believe - HUGE!

And that, believe it or now, was his holding - 2 pair, & he filled up on the River, & I lost the lot. That’s a shocking, horrendous, play, but we WANT him to make that play every single time. At 9/1, I am delighted. So, one time in 10 it goes belly up. Too bad, this is No Limit Hold ‘Em, it’s brutal, it’s not always fair, but that’s the game.

Rewind now, to what I said earlier - try to avoid getting all your chips in early, while the mad but dangerous front-running loonies are still blundering about. But if you are a 9/1 favourite, well, it is what it is. “That’s poker baby”, as Scotty Nguyen (pronounced “Win”) always says.

Never mind, I had my 3,000 second trance in reserve, so I took them. Had to……!

And two hands later, I flopped the almost identical coup. This time I had 6-10, & it came 7-8-9. Wowzer. Flopped, second nut, straight. Bingo Bango Bongo. But I played this one bad, & when my oppo pushed in on me, I never took him for…..the flopped nut straight. Oops. Unlucky? Not this time, no, not really. He went in with Jack-Ten, I went in dominated with 6-Ten, so no complaints this time. A “cooler”, but not unlucky. And that’s that, I was out. Straight out. Twice.

What a blow, out before the first Break in a well-structured Tourney!

Luckily (luckily?) they had a £50 Freezeout at 8pm, so I sat down at that. As is my custom, I immediately got a round of drinks in for all the Table - it’s a lovely ice-breaker, & besides, it’s good to be cooey-wooey with your table-foes, & especially useful in blind-on-blind situations, where I find I get an easier ride if I’m a bit lovey-dovey. No kissing, mind.

The drinks came to £31 (ouch!), but before they arrived, I found K-K and a pusher in front of me. Ah well, let’s do it, & I called all-in. He had A-9, & hit, & I was out.

See what I mean about early loonies, donk-dodging, & not getting all your chips in the middle too soon? Listen to my advice,. I know what I’m talking about. After all, I lasted less than an hour. In two Comps……

The Recovery Mission was on Sunday, at Luton, & I luck-boxed to 4th, & £600, & there you go - a small profit on the week. But I did it the hard way, coming from behind. (And, I confess, found myself All-In the very first hand, with a flopped set asgainst Aces!).

The moral of the story is clear. Take your time, be patient, be the tortoise not the hare. The Tortoise always gets there eventually. And the hare? Like the March Hare, he’s mad.

Let’s start with the answer to the “teaser” we ended with in my previous piece of pennage. I alluded to a rare distinction held by Joe Grech, unique, so far as I know, on the Pro Poker Circuit. He does in fact hold the George Cross - how about that? Not exactly him, personally, but, well, the award was given by King George VI to “Malta, & all it’s people”, & Joe is indeed a Malteser. There you go, who’d have thunk?

Anyway, I was talking about the £200 Freezeout at DTD last Saturday, my first bit of serious poker for a good few weeks, due to my Vegas sojourn.

They do say you should look for “value” when selecting Events, & if so, I went into this one with my eyes firmly closed, as it was a corker of a field. There were 76 in all, & I’ve rarely seen a tougher £200 field than this one. And check out some of these weird nicknames!

On top of “Maltese Joe” Grech (not literally) my table included Lord Micky Werrnick, the 2005 “European Player of the Year”,  online Legend James “Royal Flush” Dempsey, Four-Finger Jimmy, (can you guess how he got his nick?), & Ali “Bag-of Spanners” Ahmed.

Other luminaries of the felt included Lord Linton of Lenton, (from Lenton), Greek Jack, (he’s Jack, from Greece), & the character known as Mad Turk. He’s mad as a bag of mad things, but I’ve no idea where he comes from.

The father & son combo (that’s poker players, not a 3 piece band) of Alan & Ben Vinson duelled, jointly & briefly, for the chip lead, but Dad busted spectacularly, & Ben, like father like son, soon followed suit. Ben is at Uni in Derby, but Dad Alan came up from London with Stuart Nash, & Albert Sapiano, both of whom are Vic Cardoom stalwarts, & the latter a legendary Calling-Station who’s impoossible to get off a hand.

The Princesses of the Poker Tables present included Maria “Chili” Demetriou, (niece of one of the greatest players ever, Pete Costa), & Fran Creed, the “Sweet & Evil Blogger” who’s been burning up the tables of late. Both of these are on the Sky Poker Guest List.

Local lad Anthony Nicholls was out very early after astonishingly getting all-in with K-Q the very first hand against Marc “Mr Cool” Goodwin”. When I refer to Anthony as a “lad”, it must be said he’s in his late thirties, but, in one of those amazing “small world” coincidences, his father worked for me for many, many years, & I actually went to Anthony’s Christening. Strewth, how old does that make me?

HWCBN  (”He Who Cannot Be Named”) aka Mick McBag (don’t ask) was also present, & down from Sheffield were Rick “Action Man” Trigg, & Barry “Big Daft Bazza” Neville. Who is very big.

Big Bazza is something of a character. In the 2005 WSOP, Barry played, & sat at the table, (all 18 Yorkshire stones of him) with a very famous American player, one Vinny Vinh. Barry had been, as usual, giving it large with the speech-play, & Vinny got a bit miffed with all this, & said to our Bazza,

“Who are you?”

Quick as a flash, Barry, in his thick Yorkshire accent shot back

“Who am I?, WHO AM I? I’m Big Daft Bazza from Sheffield - & who the **** are you?”

Followed by every player at the table collapsing with laughter, & Mr Vinny Vinh not being best pleased. To this day, Bazza has the nickname “Vinnni”. You do meet all sorts at the poker table.

Oh, one more name in this Event, & nobody asks this guy anything twice, try saying this name once, never mind repeating it - “Izuogo Ginikachukwu”. I preferred that guy in the WSOP who went by the handle of Mackenzie Turnipseed - at leaast I can say it - though not without, I confess, something of a smirk. It beats Schnozzle Magoo, mind you.

The Event was won by the young Hot-Shot Josh Gould. Josh is not, shall we say, a shy boy, & “GIQ” (Getting It Quietly”) is not yet within his skillset. When he wins a Pot, he stands up & shrills, at the top of his little voice (his voice has not broken yet), “I’M TOO GOOD, I’M TOO GOOD”. Lovely. He plans, after poker, to take up a career in the Diplomatic Corps. Very fine player though, very fine indeed. Get’s very few Christmas Cards I imagine…….

Oh yes, I nearly forgot. How did I get on? Well, that’s another story, & you’ll have to wait until tomorrow. Do try & control your excitement.

Tomorrow. Right?

“A great deal to tell you about this week, so we’ll have a three-part Blog this week, with Parts 2 & 3 due on Wednesday & Friday.

So, our Vegas experience eventually drew to a close, but what an amazing performance our Team Sky Poker put up!

Still, all good things must come to an end, & come Wednesday, our little group of Vegas-weary warriors all met at Las Vegas Airport to begin the 10 hour flight back to Gatters.

Of course, as we sat glum-faced in the Terminal, Will was very much the hero, bringing home a very tidy $42,000, and, extraordinarily, his Guest, Ed Rodgers, kopped for $38,000 in the Main Event too, after at one stage being in the Top Ten Chip Leaders, prior to, as it were, his wheels falling off. What a double act!

Touchingly, the Players & Guests gave Helen Taylor, aka Mother Hen, & myself, aka Mr Magoo, matching gifts. Helen got perfume, (well it tasted like perfume), & I got a Steam Engine that tells the time. No, not exactly matching, but you get my drift.

Mr Magoo? Ahh yes, I must explain that. I’ve always been known in poker for my “misreads”,  (failed bluffs really, but I blame “misreads”), but in Vegas, I had a little car accident (sorry, “auto-wreck”),  & I also had a coming together with an invisible plate-glass window, which resulted in severe blood loss, a cracked conk, & a badly broken ego. So, Mr Magoo it is. In fact, when my nose swelled up, post-collision, I was briefly known as Schnozzle Magoo.

The Terminal at Vegas Airport as we awaited our 747 was like a Who’s Who of poker. Dave “Devilfish” Ulliott,  Neil “Bad-Beat” Channing, Beverley Pace (& her Sky Poker Presenter hubbie, Norman), the infamous Online legend “Miros”, & the player I’ve known longest in Poker, my special pal Julian “Yoyo” Thew.

Julian - aka “Julia” after a never forgotten EPT scribe made a bad typo - had been due to fly home the day before, but was delayed by the little matter of winning the $5,000 Buy-In Deep-Stack event at The Venetian on Tuesday, resulting in a payday of no less than $180,000. All of which was safely tucked away in his Man-Bag in four $45,000 “brickettes”.

Upon arrival at Gatters Airport, he was asked if he had anything to declare.

“Yes, I have some cash” said the great Yoyo.

“No worries, how much?” said Mr Customs Man, innocently.

$180,000″ says our Julie”. Their faces were a picture……

Anyway, the numbingly long 10 hour flight, just flew by, (as, thank God, airline flights tend to) & that was that, so on Thursday morning we found ourselves back in the Mother Country.

After collecting our baggage at the Carousel (I always think of a funfair when I hear that word), we all kissed each other goodbye, and Helen, Julian & myself (I was Taxi-Driver for the day) made for the Long-Term Car Park. We located the car within 3 hours, & set off for Nottingham & Derby, via London, which seemed to take even longer than the flight from Vegas.

Julian has two little boys - Reuben (4) & Barny (1), a lovely wife, Amanda, & “Dylan”, & the last-named was particularly pleased to see me. Dylan, I should add, is their Siamese. (Cat, not au pair). Tea & cuddles followed at Julian’s house - that cat adores me - & I jealously admired Julian’s Trophy Cabinet, which already includes EPT & GUKPT Trophies, and now a “Venetian Gold Bracelet”. And to think I taught him everything he knows. (About trains, that is). My Trophy Cabinet contains the Grimsby £10 Freeezeout Runner-Up Gong. And that was a Heads-Up Match, sigh.

Right, let’s get back to playing Poker, & DTD Notts was the chosen Venue, and a Star-Studded cast of poker luminaries turned up to play their £200 Freezeout on Saturday, & I drew a seat next to the Legend that is Joe Grech.

Did you know, by the way, that Joe Grech is the only Pro Poker player in Great Britain to have the very rare & prestigious distinction of……well, try & guess. I bet you can’t!

Part Two, with the reveal, will be Wednesday, OK? Don’t forget now.”