Well another long time since my last post and even longer time since I done any sort of personal update and since it’s pretty much the end of summer it seemed worthy of update. I’ve mentioned this previously that I probably wasn’t going to update often because i’ve stopped playing poker and so don’t really have a focus for this blog anymore.

From the end of last year I planned a trip across the U.S.A travelling from NY to LA on a bus with an organised tour group of 13 people i’d never met before for 3 weeks in the summer. Then i’d be topping it off with a  week in Vegas meeting up with my parents and the rest of the NPF crew. It’s been ages since i’ve been back and was planning on doing a proper trip report but fell into the trap of couldn’t be arsed territory so instead i’ll just give a brief overview.

Some of the places I managed to go to:

• New York
• Washington DC
• Tennessee
• New Orleans
• Houston and San Antonio Texas
• Colorado
• Monument Valley
• Grand Canyon
• Zion National Park
• Vegas was also on the trip which meant I had an extended stay there as I decided not to finish off in LA.

There were some other stop offs and a some other national parks but were more of a stop off point along the way and not really any decent time spent there. Some of the highlights included:

Whitewater rafting on the Ocoee River in Tennessee. Going up to class 4 rapids which is very rough. For the record I can’t actually swim but thought fuck it and did it anyway. Did not fall out but someone pulled me in on the still bit not knowing I couldn’t swim. Nearly didn’t get back in the boat like. Then after doing it I find out someone died on that river a month before hand. This was quite an amazing experience and would recommend it to anyone seeking a thrill ride and has an opportunity to do it somewhere decent.

New Orleans. An amazing place and defo a must place to visit when in the U.S. Really cool and chilled out place and great to just walk about there’s just a good atmosphere about the place. Probably couldn’t spend more than 3 days there though unless you are an uber party person. The famous bourbon street not really too my taste but can see why people love it. Loads of music type bars instead of clubs so much more friendly and intimate. Loads of tramps and got a bit too seedy late on. You could not really tell it had been hit by a hurricane just a few years ago with the main city not really being affected and still having that New Orleans vibe that it is famous for. There’s a Harrah’s casino there as well which is just like Vegas, $12/hour rake on $1/$2 though and managed to win $100 for a couple of hours.

Mountain Biking in Colorado. Basically drove to the top of a massive mountain which took half an hour then biked down a dirt road. Loads of fun despite not being confident on a bike and there were some amazing views. The not fun bit was riding a bike with the suspension not working. I run so bad.

Monument Valley was amazing and done a jeep tour round the monuments. Met some Navajo people but was not really authentic because it’s still very touristy.

Hiked 12 miles into the Grand Canyon and helicopter tour. We were camping in the park for 2 days so that meant we got to see sunset and sunrise. We done a thing where we had bags over our heads before we saw the canyon and didn’t take them off until we were at the edge so that was a really cool way to see the canyon for the first time. Other than that it was just ‘hmm Grand Canyon, nice’. The next day we were doing a hike into the canyon at 5am to a place called plateau point which is in the middle but not at the bottom near the river. This was pretty fucking intense since the gradient is ridiculously steep, stupidly uneven terrain and 100°F+ when the sun comes out. I was completely fucked after doing it and wanted to die towards the end but in the end it was worth it just because of the achievement and was an experience that so few people will do.

On the 2nd day I did a helicopter tour over the Canyon. Was not really arsed about seeing the canyon but I just wanted to go in a helicopter and since I was there the Grand Canyon seemed like a good place to fly a helicopter over. If you’re in Vegas and want to see the Grand Canyon then you might aswell just do the helicopter tour. It’s a bit pointless to just go there and see it from a cliff edge since there is only so much rocks you can see before it all looks the same and gets boring. So you might aswell get an extra experience out of if you’re not staying overnight in the park to enjoy it more.

Then went onto Zion National Park which is apparently amazing but did not do the morning hike because too fucked and then the 2nd day was raining so didn’t see any of the park so bit gutted. Then onto Vegas for 2 days where I did a limo tour which was cool and then we got pissed in O’Sheas.

I was supposed to finish off the tour in LA but since I was staying in Vegas for another week it seemed pointless to go and come back and I did not make any really good friends to say goodbye too properly. This turned into a bit of a regret as I was a bit bored at the start and ended up having too much time in Vegas where it would have been good to have a break up and seeing a little bit of LA.

Up to this point I had not played any poker for months (apart from a tiny bit of cash in New Orleans) so despite being in Vegas I still had no desire to play any poker. It was not until halfway where a lot of the NPF crew said they were playing the Binnions Poker Classic $200 on the Sunday so thought i’d have a crack at it since the tourney suited me with a 30 min clock and 15k stack.

I was really not enjoying the start of this tourney and started wishing I hadn’t played it. Did not like the naff surroundings and then there were some turd dealers which I had to stop myself from tilting. Then I just couldn’t get a hand despite a ton of fish to pick up chips. Managed to grind out my normal tight game until I see i’m the last NPF left out of like 15 of us and by this point i’m feeling really comfy and actually quietly confident about winning this tourney.

The NPF rail had been getting drunk at the bar and went for some food before coming back seeing me with a massive stack and looking cert for FT. I lose a big flip after a good call for a huge chip lead but manage to keep with it and make a Binnions final table. I was still very confident about winning with a big NPF rail behind me I get to heads up and somehow manage to bink a decent tourney for just shy of $5k. I played well and ran normal winning flips when I needed to and loosing flips when I had the chips. My biggest score to date and took home a trophy left the fucking trophy in my room which Aria could not locate so some Mexican cleaner has it on her mantlepiece. Proper gutted and is just something I never do.

For most people after a big score they’d have a big confidence boost and want to play more but not for me. Played just 1 Aria tournament then the Newcastle Club Championships at home and that’s it, the last game I have played. No more desire to play anything else and quitting while i’m ahead with a nice wedge of USD.

Before I left for my trip I was in the middle of a big project at work with a new computer system which was planned to be finished before I left and have the trip as a reward. Of course things don’t go exactly to plan and have ended up 3 months behind and just now we have gone live with things starting to settle into place and I can start to make progress with the things I want to do.

During this time I was busy doing this project the forum had taken bit of a back seat although still taking up a lot of time and big distraction. There’s been quite a few conflicts this year and numerous times i’ve been so close to closing the thing down completely and actually had some serious conversations about doing it.

The most recent conflict was between Pads and the admin which had actually built up over a much longer period of time. At first I had never had any problems with him and infact had staked him more than once in the past. The second time was a chance for him to prove his ability in poker and to show how he appeared to be on the forum. Turns out he messed this up. Then he had a run in with a new person on the forum and ended up calling him low life scum which he is now appears to be bezzie mates with. Then there was that thing about people wanting a big pat on the back for genuine hard work. Over time with numerous comments i’d come to the conclusion that he was a complete faker and hated reading his total bollocks and arrogant attitude. Eventually he left the forum. Whether this was down to my pressure or because of a cushty new job I don’t know and don’t care but him leaving was the best outcome and a huge weight off my shoulders. Of course it’s a totally selfish point of view as many people still got on with him and liked him. I could have just banned him but truth was he didn’t really do anything bad enough to be banned. He was just a really annoying itch that wouldn’t fuck off and the more you scratched it the worse it got.

Work is now a big priority with some big things happening in the next 2 years. I don’t know if the forum has reached some sort of plateau right now but finding it harder all the time to move it forward. I know I still really have to develop the blog on the home page by writing loads of new and useful articles but just waste too much time and never seem to get anything done. I really want to target more new players because since starting the forum, all the decent tournaments are so tough now because of all the good players. That is one of reasons for the blog home page because a lot of new players are put off by forums so i’m hoping to attract a much larger audience. I’d like to get a regular tournament organised by NPF but so much competition out there right now it’s hard to tell if it would be a success or not and sometimes the work/reward ratio does not pay off.

For my personal life i’ve still been stuck in a bit of a rut and lack motivation in areas. I’ve managed to gain over 2 stone since June 09 (intentionally) because I was so skinny and have been doing a strength training program but have skipped so many workouts and been lazy with my diet i’ve not reached my goals. I’m nearly 22, have some clear paths ahead of me but i’m really going to have to stop waiting for things to happen.

This is my first post in 2010 and i’ve had this post written in my head  2 weeks ago but just getting it written down now.  Since coming back from holiday I have noticed a problem with my reading where I constantly have to re read lines because I did not take it in the first time.  This is really pissing me off because it’s taking me ages just to read stuff and is actually putting me off from reading. My typing has also got a lot worse where I just missed complete words out my sentences or just don’t finish a word before hitting space. That is the reason for my post title because I don’t if it’s just my mind full of other shit that I can’t concentrate or i’m suffering from some sort of slowness.  I sort of noticed it before my holiday but as I had been reading a lot on holiday it became more noticeable.

I had a good relaxing holiday where I basically did fuck all as usual so had some good time to do some thinking and read the books i’ve been wanting to read. It turned out I ended up taking my laptop because there was going to be a 10 hour delay so thought it would help pass the time away in the airport eventhough I did not end up using it.  It was really good just to turn off and not have to worry about what was going on at home.

There was plenty of sun to be had which really makes a different to your mood to get away from the shitty constant greyness in England. I’m not much of a sun worshipper so i’m usually content in just staying in bed to miss the heat and then have a lounge later on. Eventhough it was an all inclusive resort I managed to lose about 5lbs as I just never feel like eating on holiday plus I had the shits for 5 days which didn’t help like.  I tried to get in the gym but they didn’t even have any sort of squat rack and not even a barbell with more than 20kg so it was a complete waste of time. So now i’ve lost about 6 weeks of training and it’s really hard to get back into it when your gym is like 0 degrees.

For those that know me will know that I really have lost all interest in playing poker and the last game I played was the NPF Championships at end of October and even then I only lasted 5 hands and had not played for 2 months before that so i’m pretty serious about it. (About an hour before writing this I donked out the WBCOOP because it reminded me how much I just didn’t want to play). So it’s unlikely you will see me write about myself playing poker and will probably turn this blog into more personal stuff and posts will probably be random as the poker articles I planned to write will be written for the coming soon new NPF site.

That brings me to another point and expanding from my mental overload/slowness is that I have developed an uncanny ability to scan posts for where it talks about playing a particular hand, I can just see where it begins and ends and just skip it completely because I just can’t bear to read it. It usually contains something like ‘I picked up KK and there’s a raise so I re raise to 1500 and he flats…He turns over fucking AJ for the straight…what did he think I had like on the king high flop and the big re raise pre flop?’.

I really think 2010 is going to be the year for me as i’ve got a much clear goal of what I want to do and looking at the goals in my 2009 wrap up post I can really see myself having done all of those things and more by the time i’m 23. But it in order for that to happen I can’t just sit around and wait for things to happen which is what i’ve done all my life. I’m getting there slowly but surely.

As 2009 is drawing to a close and i’m off on a sunny holiday in a few days I thought i’d write a wrap up post of 2009 as no doubt i’ll just not end up doing writing it.

At the start of 2009 I made some resolutions for the upcoming year. Just looking back at those now realise how quickly a year can fly by and how things can change along the way.

One of my big goals was to get some strength and I can proudly say that I achieved this as if you read my previous post you will know that I have gained loads of weight and i’m getting comments that i’m looking a lot more healthy. I can currently squat 85KG which is a canny bit of weight on your back for a lightweight like me.

I did eventually get my room sort of tidied but this has since gotten bad again and have piles and piles of shit on my desk which makes being productive more difficult.  I’ve still been wasting a lot of time by getting up late on weekends, too much TV and a lot of idle internet browsing.  However, although I have not been doing a lot, I have probably learned more this year than I ever have and I plan on taking this knowledge into 2010 to actually do stuff.

I really wanted to get some big things planned for Newcastle Poker Forum this year but they just didn’t happen so are now planned for next year. The organic growth of the community has just been phenomenal and i’m really proud of what I created.  It is great that I have allowed people to make new friends, some who would probably have never even talked to each other if it wasn’t for the forum. I’ve been reading some articles on what makes a successful community and I can say that it ticks all those boxes.

With my earlier reference to how things can change I was specifically referring to my poker. I had goals of building a bankroll and keeping proper records but instead this has turned on its head and now I have so little interest in actually playing poker.  I don’t know the cause but the growth of Newcastle Poker Forum this year has probably had a big influence on my passion.

In 2009 I played a few big events including Liverpool Winter Festival, Virgin festival and the Sky Poker Tour Main Event which I got half staked for.  I gained a lot of experience playing in these and in the Sky Poker game I had just regained a bit of love for the game after being staked to then go out with a bad beat after making a great call.

Then for my 21st birthday I was fortunate to have been able to go to Las Vegas and got to stay in The Palazzo which is now the most luxurious hotel in Las Vegas. I had a great time as I recently posted and now plan on going back at least once a year.

The Future

Instead of doing goals for 2010, i’m looking at things I want to achieve in the future which are in no particular order.

• To build a blog style homepage for Newcastle Poker Forum so will be additional content to the user driven content of the forum. This should attract a new base of visitors into the Newcastle Poker community that are overwhelmed with the forum.
• Speak fluent Spanish.
• Live in another country for atleast 6 months.
• Learn to swim. I’m one of the millions that can’t do this essential life skill and has stopped me from doing the things that I really want to do and has brought fear in my life.
• Make friends with people that are more successful than I am.
• Build a sustainable income from the internet.
• Build my personal brand.
• Travel across America (planned for May/June 2010)
• Visit Australia and New Zealand.
• Find something i’m really passionate about to turn into a business.
• Be more confident and social.

This is all I can think of right now and I may add to it at another time. This may or may not be the last post of 2009 so i’d like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Do the things you love and if you are doing something you hate then stop doing it now!

If you also have some goals for the future, let me know in the comments.

Before I went to Vegas in September I had reached a point where I had lost all interest in poker and had only played 1 game in about 3 months before. With the trip to Vegas booked and being the mecca of poker I would have thought that i’d get some sort of buzz back. It turns out that that I run exactly the same in Vegas as I do at home and that I that I think I could be somewhere else doing something else more productive instead of just folding 80% of hands.

So since i’ve been back i’ve only played a handful of games including the Circus £75 Freezeout, the NPF championships and an NPF online deepstack tournament. So the Circus game, you sit there putting up with shit hands and then when you decide that you need to make a move you do it at a terrible time or run a good hand into a slightly better hand. The online game where eventhough I played brilliantly and came 2nd there is just no buzz.  Then when you enter the NPF Championships without the desire to play because your mind is on other things.  To make it worse the first 2 hands I get I fold AJ and AQ because i’m early position and then the next hand I lose with JJ after someone hitting trips then the next hand I go bust with aces after I put a big re raise in pre from the sb only for the same person to turn a straight that I couldn’t possibly put him on.  I was never in the right from of mind to fold so I busted and was the first person to exit after 5 hands despite being one of the tightest players in the tournament so it made me wonder why I play.

So after those games I just decided that I simply don’t have what it takes to play poker very often as the desire to win is just completely gone so wasting time basically doing nothing is not very productive. I don’t know how people keep so passionate about playing the game. I’m still massively passionate about poker tough and I still love reading about it and also I enjoy seeing the success of other people which has been happening a lot recently on NPF. It is a pleasure to know that I have a small contribution to those successes because of the forum I created.

I’ve had loads of ideas for some more websites I want to make, some gambling related, some not. One idea is a site about poker tournament structures because i’m somehow really passionate about them and have developed a great understanding of them when organising tournaments for NPF. I was originally going to do posts on this blog but decided that it would work out better on a dedicated website. I also still have plans for a load of unique articles and hope to post once a week once I get them written.

Outside of poker I’ve had plenty of stuff going on but still being really limited by how lazy I am and struggling to make the changes I want. Anyone that knows me will know how skinny I am so since June i’ve been eating more and doing a strength training program in the gym I set up in my garage.  Since then i’ve gained 25lbs and now have to walk around without the button fastened because I can’t be bothered to buy some new pants that fit. Although, I see this as a bit of a mini achievement I’m still disappointed because i’ve started slacking off a lot since the weights have got heavy and can’t be bothered to eat when i’m supposed to.

I’m going away to Punta Cana in Domincan Republic again for Christmas and New year again with my parents so very much looking forward to that to relax. At first I wasn’t really bothered about going away as I was satisfied with the Vegas trip and was going to use the time off to maybe get some work done that i’ve put off for ages.  But now i’m glad we’re going away as I think I just need some and to relax.  I don’t think i’m going to take the laptop so will probably get the chance to read some books that I haven’t got round to reading yet.

I’m also planning on doing a 3 week trek across America in May/June next year and then do Vegas again for a week where a lot of the NPF crew are going out for the WSOP. I fancied doing something different, something to take me out of my comfort zone where i’ve always had things done for me and sometimes handed on a plate. I should be making most of the time I have while i’m still young because you never know what is round the corner. Hopefully, it will be a massive learning curve/personal development for me so something i’m really looking forward to.

Bellagio Fountains

Well it’s been like 2 months since I got back from Vegas and this post is rediculously overdue and has caused my blog to die.  Dunno why it’s taken so long to really get up but I made some notes on it whilst I was out there and was going to full write it on my last day or in the airport but just got distracted.  And ever since then, just never really been in the frame of mind which i’ve mentioned before but I think i’ve got a bit of inspiration back.  So sorry if this is going to be a bit shit and not as detailed as I wanted and will probably leave out some shit that I forgot about. This part 2 is just gonna be a bit of a summary of my experience and what I thought about my first Vegas trip.

As a shy 21 year old I knew that it wasn’t going to be a streotypical trip where you hear stories of getting pissed up, seeing strippers, hooking up with birds or just partying till the early hours.  That’s just not me.  I preferred to just spend the time taking things in just learning from such a vast place and the people it attracts.  The sheer amount of different type of people it attracts is just amazing which is what is so great about the place.  Anyone will really fit in and there really is something there for anyone outside of the gambling and partying you see on the TV.  You’ll see some of the hottest girls with their high heels and oversized glasses to the hoochie mamas with their trail of 5 overgrown kids.

The biggest surprise for me was how little I got IDd.  I came with expectation of pulling out my ID and then having them not believe it was really me but yeah that was pretty wrong.  I think I only got IDd 4 times not including the times where it was compulsory.  Although to be honest, that was probably because I didn’t gamble outside of poker and I don’t really drink plus I was with family.

I must say that the food was the most dissappointing part of the trip. Probably because we were eating in the wrong places but I just couldn’t see anywhere that is value for money, you just seem to get a lot of fries with everything.  But it is very easy to see why Americans are such fatties. Coke refills were pretty good and somehow it tastes a lot nicer? Probably down to the large quantities of ice and the hot weather. Since i’m such a skinny I never even finished a meal and my mouth simply couldn’t process the food about a 1/4 through because it just wasn’t nice. Best place was Grand Lux cafe reet on our doorstep in the Palazzo which I sussed out on the last day.  The place is massive, just not what you expect when you look at it from the front and has a massive menu and very very reasonable prices.

Some of the entertainment was brilliant and amazing some of the stuff that you can see for free.  Everyone says this but The Bellagio fountains are definitely the best and would see them a few more times.  Quite impressed by the lions at the MGM, they were so beautiful as they explained how much they were cared for.  Sirens of TI was a bit cheesy but never really saw much from my view but you can’t go wrong with hot girls. Mirage volcano was good but not something worth seeing more than once. I thought Freemont Street was a bit naff but still good to see none the less. I was fortunately there when David Copperfield was in Vegas so my Dad got us tickets and a show definitely worth the money.  Won’t go into detail on the show but his crack was class was a great addition to the magic and really show how much of an entertainer he is.  Also went to see Holly Madison’s Peepshow which was quite good.  Shows how useless is where she pretty much did nothing except prance about to the build up a brief titty revealing which were quite shit tbh.  The rest of the dancers were average looking at best and could have benefitted from a couple of larger breasted ladies.

In the last few days of the trip when i’d pretty much seen all the things I wanted to see I had a wander up the north end past the wynn and as far as Circus Circus.  Urgh it’s not very nice and didn’t feel comfortable even in the day.

OK so Vegas is a great place.  It’s hard to say if it’s what I expected since I really didn’t know what to expect before I went.  I don’t have any funny stories to tell. I know to fully apreciate what there is to offer then you need to go with the right people or having a willingness to meet people since it is so easy to do so except it is something I am unable to do.

I had a brilliant time and really looking forward to go back.  You really can’t explain to anyone truly what it is like because everyones experience is completely different and there are so mant different opinions you can make on the place. So to anyone that hasn’t been, basically you just have to tell them to get out there and see for yourself. I will definitely make provisions to go at least once a year and I know there’s gonna be a big crew from NPF going out in June for the WSOP so that for sure will be an amazing time.

I’d just like to thank my family for giving me the opportunity to go to Vegas for my 21st and i’m very lucky to get that privilege at my age which very few do.

I arrived in Vegas 5 days ago with really not a clue about what to expect with hearing people’s different opinions but overall I would say it is quite an amazing place that you can’t really describe to anyone because it is so vast and you just have to experience it for yourself.

Flew direct with Virgin Atlantic, had some hour bursts of kip to pass the long flight. Got some seats in the middle at the back next to the toilets on the left side so had a view of the strip on the way in. Virgin are OK but not great, I think the new BA flight will be better and hopefully bring the costs down.

I didn’t really have a plan of action for when I got here with it being my first time I just wanted to take the place in and see some of the sights.  I’m not very outgoing and don’t drink much so no plans for hitting any clubs or anything.

Checked in to the Palazzo and with my own suite which is quite impressive, massive bed, lounge area 3 HD TVs, massive bathroom etc but with a completely naff shower. View over the Wynn golf course is nice too although it looks in quite poor condition.  Had a wander around caesars and stuff to get a feel for where things are and headed back for an early night.

I wandered a bit further on day 2 down to planet hollywood via some of other hotels only to be disappointed that there wasn’t even a full show at the fountains at that time of day. Came back just to see my dad get knocked out of the Venetian noon.  Decided i’d play some 1/2 at the Venetian but don’t really like palying cash and quite inexperienced. Sat with $200 and took ages to get comfy, most of the table seemed solid with a few short stackers and a few were straddling.  Lost $40 early on with 89 which I sort of didn’t really want to be in after the $10 raise. Hit top pair 8 and checked to me so I bet and called by the blind.  Then I was insta shoved on the turn so passed.  Got mostly shit late on then picked up aces, just me and the guy on my left in the pot + the blind called. Flop is quite raggy but a low straight draw and the pot ends up 3 betted by me which is flatted.  Turn brings a scary card which make 4 cards to the straight and decide to tank before shipping the rest of my tank.  I felt he was weak and had been playing weird so took a lot of balls, he tanked and eventually called, didn’t see what he had but had a million outs and missed so thank fuck for that.  Cashed out about $70 up and went to play the 7pm $120 with 90 runners.  Grinded that out with no cards and a very standard tournament.  Very quickly noticed that the standard was so much better than home, every player was solid and no donkeys but no tough opponents.  Like over half the table was drinking water.  Busted in 17th after button shoving J10 with 5bbs, insta called by the blind with K9 that held.  I’d been short stacked so much in the tourney and no one was calling without a hand.

After browsing most of the casinos and seeing their cardrooms I would say that the Venetian is the best here.  The smaller cardrooms are ok but lack the technology of the bigger ones like waiting lists on the screen for cash games.  Generally, things are ran so much better here than back in England and would like to see some things adopted.  Dealers are such an absolute requirement that improves the game and I really think things can be done for the casinos at home to be able to afford them.  Yeah most of the tourneys are higher buy in but even the smaller games have them albeit with a sick rake.

Structures aren’t as good but shows how spoilt we are at home for standard tournaments.  The venetian is perfect for their daily tournaments and gets the game finished within 7 hours for 80 runners.  The rest are just plain rediculous but actually work because they don’t get many runners and doesn’t need to be deep.  The wynn is the most expensive buy in regular tournament and although you get lots of chips and 30 min blinds, their blind structure is just terrible with crazy jumps late on.

Overall, Vegas shows how retarted some British casinos are and if the management just seen how things were ran here they’d increase profits and benefit everyone.