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Play up Pompeynic : A Part Time Poker Player’s Procrastinations.
pompeynic
Member Posts: 2,834
Hello All,
I thoroughly enjoy reading all of the different forums on Sky Poker, some good, some funny and some, shall we say not quite so good.
I take part in some of these from time to time , but thought it might be nice to contribute by starting my own diary. As the title suggests, I am only a part time, play for a bit of fun, type of player, so this may not be to everybody’s taste. I am an absolute techno dinosaur, so, until I figure out how to post hands and pictures , it may also lack a little sparkle.
A little bit about myself, I guess, may be a good start, for those of you who have not been bored to death by me at the SPT’s.
I am 51 years old, that frightens me just typing it, I am currently on a long sabbatical, after my employer of twenty seven years and I had a falling out over company policy. Looking back they were right, I was wrong, but they liked me enough to pay me six months money to leave quietly. My mortgage paid and my health in serious decline I decided to take a short break from work, to get fit and healthy and see what life had to offer. I had always put my heart and soul into work, neglecting a personal life and I wanted to take a step back and relax. I lost a lot of weight, over ten stones, although I have recently put some of that back. Mostly I have enjoyed just being stress free, although I still have no personal life to talk off. I always wanted a family, but my inability to talk to women and lack of chances to meet people out of work, means that boat has sadly sailed. Four years after losing my job, with my bank balance unfortunately depleting, I am probably going to have to go back to work next year.
Come the Bank Holiday weekend at the end of May, I will have been playing poker on Sky for six years. It is the only site I play on, I was very lucky to win the first tournament I ever played and have stayed loyal ever since.
I started playing a bit of everything, I had never played poker before, but finally settled into PLO8 dym’s. I played these because there was a fantastic group of people, we became collectively known as *ploppers*, who played the games for fun and enjoyed each other’s company. Plenty of good banter, laughing off the occasional whinges of some, but never abusive to others. In fact they went out of their way to try and help, offering advice to new recruits, to help them enjoy the great four card version of the game.
Tikay was the driving force behind this group, he had started a thread on the forum which was compulsive reading, but,over time, some people left and sadly the dym traffic has all but gone these days.
Back at the Manchester SPT I spoke to Tikay and * The Ambo * about going to Vegas. I wanted to know a few things, mostly whether I would just be throwing my money away if I played a World Series event or two. They both suggested that they thought I could hold my own, so with that in mind I started planning a holiday in the USA this summer. I am a big baseball fan and wanted to watch some of that and was then going to go to Vegas and play some poker. Now, some of the regulars at the SPT’s will recall me bemoaning the fact that I was rubbish at satellites, so imagine my amazement when I won a Sky package to Vegas after playing my way through a quarter, a semi and a final satellite.
The roar that went up at some time after midnight, when I won, must have measured on the Richter scale. My apologies to the neighbours.
So finally we get to the poker reason for starting this diary.
On June 6th I fly to Vegas for the very first time, where, thanks to Sky’s £1000 towards the flights ,along with seven nights at, what looks like the best hotel I will ever stay in, I will begin a month long stay in the USA. After the week in Vegas , where I will hopefully do myself justice in the $40,000 tournament, I fly to Cincinnati to do some sight seeing, but mainly to catch the three game series between The Reds and my team the Texas Rangers. Then I fly to Dallas for a week long stay in Arlington, more sight seeing and baseball. It is the last year the Rangers will play in their old stadium, so I wanted to see that, plus it gives me an excuse, in the future, to go back and see the new one. Then I fly back to Vegas for twelve more days in sin city, where, some World Series events are calling. I am also hoping to play a few PLO8 tournaments with Tikay, if he is still around. I am looking to keep you all * enthralled * with tales of daring doo’s on the felt, along with some other fun stuff.
By the way , procrastinations was used in the title for a reason, I have thought about starting this for a while, only just got around to it.
Also if you haven’t guessed I can waffle on for England.
So that’s the beginning. Any questions or comments greatly appreciated.
Nick.
I thoroughly enjoy reading all of the different forums on Sky Poker, some good, some funny and some, shall we say not quite so good.
I take part in some of these from time to time , but thought it might be nice to contribute by starting my own diary. As the title suggests, I am only a part time, play for a bit of fun, type of player, so this may not be to everybody’s taste. I am an absolute techno dinosaur, so, until I figure out how to post hands and pictures , it may also lack a little sparkle.
A little bit about myself, I guess, may be a good start, for those of you who have not been bored to death by me at the SPT’s.
I am 51 years old, that frightens me just typing it, I am currently on a long sabbatical, after my employer of twenty seven years and I had a falling out over company policy. Looking back they were right, I was wrong, but they liked me enough to pay me six months money to leave quietly. My mortgage paid and my health in serious decline I decided to take a short break from work, to get fit and healthy and see what life had to offer. I had always put my heart and soul into work, neglecting a personal life and I wanted to take a step back and relax. I lost a lot of weight, over ten stones, although I have recently put some of that back. Mostly I have enjoyed just being stress free, although I still have no personal life to talk off. I always wanted a family, but my inability to talk to women and lack of chances to meet people out of work, means that boat has sadly sailed. Four years after losing my job, with my bank balance unfortunately depleting, I am probably going to have to go back to work next year.
Come the Bank Holiday weekend at the end of May, I will have been playing poker on Sky for six years. It is the only site I play on, I was very lucky to win the first tournament I ever played and have stayed loyal ever since.
I started playing a bit of everything, I had never played poker before, but finally settled into PLO8 dym’s. I played these because there was a fantastic group of people, we became collectively known as *ploppers*, who played the games for fun and enjoyed each other’s company. Plenty of good banter, laughing off the occasional whinges of some, but never abusive to others. In fact they went out of their way to try and help, offering advice to new recruits, to help them enjoy the great four card version of the game.
Tikay was the driving force behind this group, he had started a thread on the forum which was compulsive reading, but,over time, some people left and sadly the dym traffic has all but gone these days.
Back at the Manchester SPT I spoke to Tikay and * The Ambo * about going to Vegas. I wanted to know a few things, mostly whether I would just be throwing my money away if I played a World Series event or two. They both suggested that they thought I could hold my own, so with that in mind I started planning a holiday in the USA this summer. I am a big baseball fan and wanted to watch some of that and was then going to go to Vegas and play some poker. Now, some of the regulars at the SPT’s will recall me bemoaning the fact that I was rubbish at satellites, so imagine my amazement when I won a Sky package to Vegas after playing my way through a quarter, a semi and a final satellite.
The roar that went up at some time after midnight, when I won, must have measured on the Richter scale. My apologies to the neighbours.
So finally we get to the poker reason for starting this diary.
On June 6th I fly to Vegas for the very first time, where, thanks to Sky’s £1000 towards the flights ,along with seven nights at, what looks like the best hotel I will ever stay in, I will begin a month long stay in the USA. After the week in Vegas , where I will hopefully do myself justice in the $40,000 tournament, I fly to Cincinnati to do some sight seeing, but mainly to catch the three game series between The Reds and my team the Texas Rangers. Then I fly to Dallas for a week long stay in Arlington, more sight seeing and baseball. It is the last year the Rangers will play in their old stadium, so I wanted to see that, plus it gives me an excuse, in the future, to go back and see the new one. Then I fly back to Vegas for twelve more days in sin city, where, some World Series events are calling. I am also hoping to play a few PLO8 tournaments with Tikay, if he is still around. I am looking to keep you all * enthralled * with tales of daring doo’s on the felt, along with some other fun stuff.
By the way , procrastinations was used in the title for a reason, I have thought about starting this for a while, only just got around to it.
Also if you haven’t guessed I can waffle on for England.
So that’s the beginning. Any questions or comments greatly appreciated.
Nick.
Comments
It’s great that you’ve started this
You’re a fantastic bloke and i’m so chuffed for you that you have won the package.
I’m really looking forward to reading this thread and wish you all the best in everything you do
Looking forward to the SPT and some 4 card nonsense.
@Jac35 summed it up, really
Fabulous start Nick, well done.
Subscribed.
So happy for you for your Vegas package win, please dont be shy, send us lots of updates etc
Best wishes
Mother
PS Ask Mr K about Mount Charleston lodge, he recommended it to us and it is well worth a visit
xxx
Hi Mother.
If time permits - & it might not - I'll take Nick & Phil up to Mt C for brekkie one morning.
On the life side congratulations on the wieght loss and don't panic about the 'boat having sailed', I have a friend who met the love of his life when he was in his 60's and they are as happy as Larry now (some 10 years later) and another who has just had his third child at the ripe old age of 58, so you have plenty of time!
Good luck on the tables and in Vegas and I look forward to catching up with your story.
Really pleased you are doing a blog, will be an avid reader, you are always a gent when we “ lock horns” on the PL08 tables, good luck out in Vegas.
50 is the new 30 btw.
The Team's name has changed now too, used to be the 51-ers, in deference to Area 51 which is quite near by, but now they are called "The Aviators", which is a tip of the hat to Howard Hughes who was so closely associated with Las Vegas & aeroplanes. In fact the land upon which the new Stadium was built still belongs to the Howard Hughes estate.
The Aviators are a Triple A affiliate of the Oakland A's & play in the Pacific Coast League.
An evening at the local Baseball Park is highly recommended to anyone spending time in Vegas.
250 views and 16 replies is great for a first day diary, thanks for all your interaction.
I have met @Amarie , @albion90 , @Essexphil , @Jac35 , @SidV79 and @tomgoodun at various SPT’s around the country and they are all fantastic company and thoroughly nice people.
@Enut is a regular tablemate of mine, very good PLO8 player , I thank you for your words of optimism, l guess all things are possible and I need to stay hopeful.
I have not yet met @bert21 @engy @goldnballz @TheEdge949 or @waller02 but have played against all online and hope to meet you sometime in the future.
Oh and just in case @madprof feels left out, the 72 off suit hat wearing SPT man is also a great guy, but all I can say to him is shhhhhhhhh.
I got an email yesterday, from The Venetian/ Palazzo hotel confirming my room reservation.
It means I really am going and having had another look at the website, confirmed that this is one really fancy hotel. Some of the restaurants attached have incredible looking menus. Having a sweet tooth, as I do, the $15 crazyshake milkshake at the Black Tap Craft Burgers & Beer establishment has me drooling. The breakfast in the mountains @Tikay10 has mentioned also sounds very appealing.
At the moment , as has been revealed in the fat club thread, many of us are dieting like crazy in preparation for the trip to Vegas. You do not get to a point where you can lose ten stone, and not have had something amputated or died as a result, without being a greedy so and so and I will have to find some self control from somewhere whilst on holiday. I have struggled with my weight all my life, it has affected me in so many ways, none of them good, but I must find a balance between enjoying myself and just being silly and eating anything and everything that looks good and catches my eye. Easy to write not so easy to do in reality.
I have been playing a few of the £5.50 PLO8 bounty hunters recently. I tried out a few different strategies, playing a little looser than normal, being really aggressive etc and found myself exiting said games pretty rapidly. I wanted to try a few things before playing in Vegas , it is better to try at the £5.50 level than when playing a few hundred dollar tournaments.
It reaffirmed to me that if you lose concentration or make a mistake, you can very quickly find yourself behind the 8ball. I love the four card game, it can have massive swings both for and against you, even if you do everything right you can still lose chips, getting quartered etc,but I am really looking forward to playing a tournament or two with Tikay and Phil in Vegas.
Good luck to all at the tables.
The PLO8 bh don't play properly.Probably better playing the 1945 or 2230 tourneys.
BH & PLO8 play like a raffle you just can't get a raise through without at least 2 callers the majority of the time.
Three weeks today I will be flying to Vegas to begin my holiday. Is it weird that a man of my age should be getting so excited about a trip to watch baseball, eat ridiculously large portions of calorific food and play poker? I am particularly looking forward to playing some poker. I must say that ever since Sky brought back the SPT’s , playing live poker is so much better than online. Getting to chat to different people, the vast majority of which have been really nice, stacking your chips after winning a pot, the snap of the cards and a springy felt covered table are just some of the things that give me a thrill. I strongly recommended anyone, who has only played online and has been wondering about trying live, to get along to one of the SPT’s, you will not regret it. I am guessing that playing in Vegas will just supersize everything.
Perhaps the only thing I am not looking forward to is the travelling. Going out is not so bad, you have everything to look forward to. Coming home is awful, you are going back to reality, just wish teleportation had been worked out and that a click of the fingers could get you home. I would not describe myself as a great flyer, it’s the take off and landing part for me, as the plane banks, out of the windows you can see the ground way below and the stratosphere way up high. Something primal In my head says * hang on , I don’t have feathers, what the heck am I doing up hear?*
Once that is over, and the sucky sweet has enabled the ears to pop, I calm down a little, but only a little as the real problems are about to begin.
The portable torture chambers that are airplane seats, are my greatest fear. If you are five foot something and ten or eleven stone, these seats must seem ok. At six foot two and many stones more than ten , I am left to wonder if the people who designed these perches of pain, have a sadistic side. Within seconds the person in front slams their seat into full recline and what was already an incredibly small space is invaded even more. I have never been able to sleep on an airplane, I look around with envy at the people who can. I try to get through my torment by using the inflight entertainment. Imagine, if you will, the horror on one overnight flight back from JFK, when the stewardess announced that tonight’s movie will be James The Amazing Panda.
I booked my flights a couple of weeks ago. Travelling British Airways, booked through Iberia as it was the same flight but cheaper, from Heathrow to Vegas. The return goes to Gatwick for some reason. As I was lucky enough to win a package through Sky, I got £1000 towards the flights so added some cash and have booked Premium Economy seats. Apparently I get four inches extra leg room. As Tesco says * every little helps.* I leave at 4.40pm and arrive at 7.20pm. Whenever I have followed Tikay’s travels to Vegas ha has had earlier flights, I don’t know if my choice was good or bad but it was cheaper than the other options and every penny saved can be put to use elsewhere. By the time I get to my hotel room it should be quite late and I will be cream crackered, so I am hoping to be able to get into the correct sleep pattern straight away. Oh the plans of mice and men.
I will not be at the tables tonight as I will be at Fratton Park, the Mecca of British football, for the second leg of the semi final playoff against Sunderland. Massive game between two sides who have great support and a desire to play at championship level next season. Night games always seem to have better atmospheres for some reason, tonight could be special. If we get to Wembley for a second time this season it will be great, if we don’t it will not be the end of the world. Pompey nearly went out of existence a few years ago, after years of mismanagement at ownership level, the fans went to the high court, wrestled ownership away from the last corrupt guy in charge and we managed to hop off the train hurtling towards oblivion. We were relegated to league two that year and very nearly out of the football league the season after. Since then a slow but steady progression has taken place . We never want to go back to the days of reckless spending, putting the very club at danger. The fans sold the club two years ago to an American billionaire, his vision of building the club back up, *brick by brick* , never again putting the future in jeopardy, struck a chord with the fans. He has been true to his word, I believe we are ahead of schedule and if we do not win tonight of course there will be disappointment, but I am proud of my team and how they have fought all season. If we win, look out Wembley another blue invasion is coming, ticket allocation permitting and we have a pretty good record at Wembley recently.
Play up Pompey.