Post Hangover

So Joe Speaker has been and gone. At least I'm hoping he's gone. I certainly haven't heard that he missed his flight!

This is his holiday, so I'll leave the full report to him, but I'm presuming his weekend notes go something along the lines:

Friday - travel, booze
Saturday - booze, poker, booze, girls
Sunday - football, booze, clubs, booze

I certainly had a blast, though my liver is feeling the pain.

Saturday night in particular was a real hoot. Other attendees including The Tank, and several of my other poker playing friends.

I didn't take many pictures, but here's a snapshot from my camera phone of two online MTT specialists battling it out in a £20 SNG.


Centre is Joe Speaker, and to his left, one of my oldest friends, and recent online winner, Teacake.

Special mention has to go to Mrs Div, who not only looked after the baby and gave me free rein for the entire weekend, but also sanctioned my attendance at some establishments of dubious moral provenance. Three cheers for my better half!

On the poker side, we dropped into The Cincinnati Club for a couple of hours, and got involved in a few satellites to the evening £10k guaranteed event.

In fact I only played one, which lasted an absolute eternity, through a combination of one very talkative drunk guy, and the short-stacks who wouldn't die.

So rare have been my live appearances this year that I felt like a total rookie again. The buzz of a semi-bluff check-raise on a very scary flop reminded me what I've been missing.

It felt even better when the semi-bluff got there on the turn and I raked a big pot when the villain's two-pair went down to my straight.

My chips then fell victim to the resilient short stacks. The rot starting when AK wasn't good enough to take down talkative drunk guy's AQ - all-in pre-flop.

Eventually I busted 5th. Which wasn't too upsetting, since the weekend was about socialising not poker - though the cash would have come in handy later.

Another member of the group, Rod Paradise, did somewhat better and scooped the £200 in the second satellite.

We won't be letting him forget his new nickname, coined by a visiting Californian - River Rod. Say no more!

I hope Joe Speaker enjoyed his trip to Scotland as much as I did. I'm hoping to catch up with him, and others, in Vegas later this year.