I am officially an idiot. When I booked my hotel for this week"s trip to London, I looked at a map and found it was near Lancaster Gate tube station. As it was a few minutes walk from The Vic, I tried to work out whether I would be able to find time for a bit of cash action. However, when I walked into the Oxford Hotel the receptionist said I didn"t have a reservation. After a swift phonecall she confirmed that I did have a reservation, but I had reserved a room at the Oxford Hotel near Earls Court, not the one north of Hyde Park. Doh! After a swift exit and a prayer that no-one would ever find out (you won"t tell anyone will you? No? Thank you) I headed off to my base for the next two nights.
My main reason for the trip was to visit Wembley for the England v Egypt game on wednesday. I arrived on tuesday and my brother-in-law, who is currently working in London, sent me a text to confirm that he wasn"t able to meet that evening for a beer as planned, so I had the rest of the day to myself. I"ve only been to London for more than 24 hours once before and that was for the season 2 world championships at The Vic. Unfortunately, I spent most of that week suffering asthma problems, which meant that most of the time I wasn"t at the casino, I was laying down in my hotel room. Therefore, the plan became to explore by foot for a few hours before, hopefully, making a few quid later in the day.
From my hotel I passed the Natural History and Science museums, walked east inside the southern edge of Hyde Park then carried on along Picadilly, did a quick circuit of the Shaftesbury Avenue/Leicester Square area, turned north up Wardour Street, left onto Oxford Street then Marble Arch and finally onto Edgware Road. After deftly sidestepping a baby-carrying beggar just outside the main entrance, I was at my ultimate destination. I arrived between 17.30 and 18.00 with the plan on playing poker for a couple of hours before quitting to settle down with a meal and a beer to watch the Brazil v Ireland game. Deep down, I knew I was not giving myself the best possible opportunity of making money as I wanted to sit down in the £1/£1 with £120 whereas the maximum buy-in is £200. However, my priorities were to occupy myself for a couple of hours, enjoy the surroundings and learn from the experience. Making a profit would have been a bonus. As I approached the poker desk there were 5 names on the waiting list for the £1/£1 game, one of which was Willie Tann. He was already in action at another table, but just to make sure I didn"t have to lock horns with him, I revised my schedule so i had my meal first, then played. Thankfully when my name was called, I didn"t recognise anyone at my table, although Mr Tann and Robin Keston weren"t far away. I played for about 2.5 hours and retired on a £22 loss. There was one hand where the player to my right raised to £7 and I reraised him to £16 with AQ of spades followed by everyone except the raiser folding. The player concerned had folded a £7 raise to a reraise to £15 on the previous circuit, but after asking the dealer how much I had behind, he 4-bet me to £66. I considered the possibility that he may have either been tilting slightly because he"d been bullied off a pot a few hands before and I"d seen him lose a few big hands, but I had a decision to make. Calling another £50 to leave £40 behind wasn"t an option, so it was all in or fold. I didn"t feel that AQ was a hand I wanted to commit my stack with as there was no way he was going to fold to a 5-bet all-in and I felt all his likely holdings (big pairs or AK) would have been ahead. Reluctantly I folded. I quit in time to be able to sip a pint whilst watching the final 30 minutes of the Brazil game then walked back to my accomodation via Bayswayer Road and through the middle of Hyde Park.
Wednesday morning was filled by a visit to the Science Museum before another long ramble around town. I met my brother-in-law at the Hole In The Pound pub next to the Bond Street tube station before getting on the Jubilee line for the trip to Wembley Park. Such was the perfect timing of the consumption of my second pint that we arrived in our seats exactly 2 minutes before the game kicked-off.
I really must head to the capital again sometime soon. Next time, I think I"ll book a hotel that doesn"t have a namesake in town.
