Sigh.. Since I have had regular flu jabs over the past five or six years, I have been lucky and avoided nasty bugs and colds..
Then last Thursday I began to feel a little ill with the usual cold/flu like symptoms, grrrr please not this weekend!!
Alex our son had spend the week off school with a virus which really hit him for six, and Emma had also been feeling decidingly dodgy.. So I was praying that we would be both fit for the team event Saturday..
So Friday the weather looked fine in Suffolk, no chance that the weather would be a factor in spoiling the trip for me, unlike some from "up t North" who where faced with real weather worries!!
Feeling pretty crappy I went to bed early Friday evening, Emma had made homemade chicken soup a sure fire winner to fight the bugs.. So was in bed at 8pm tucked up with a DVD, expendables2 hmmm not brilliant but I guess there are far worse action movies out there!!..
So managed to get a few hours sleep and wake up at 4 am.. Luton is only 100 miles drive for me, so wasn"t planning to leave until 10-11 to have enough time to book into hotel and get to casino for team meet up and photos etc..
But feeling pretty crappy I just couldn"t get back to sleep!! So after sitting up for a couple of hours decided to give up and get showere etc and make a early leave grab a brekki and not rush about like we usually do..
So we where out of the house by 9am and on our way.. had been in contact with the rest of squad and where all making there way to Luton..
Stopped for a breakfast of kings at Mcdonalds, was bloody Hungary and this made me feel a lot better so perhaps I was getting over the bug??..
Now I like to be errr how do I put it.. Prepared!! So I had booked my Hotel well in advance, I always use Laterooms.com and have never had any problems.. Had booked a hotel for 1 night £65 breakfast included, car parking WI FI and disabled access room which is the most important thing, booked into a hotel called "Quality Skyline" .. had phoned them a couple of days before to confirm everything and also to request an early book in so I could get to casino in time..
So sat nav takes us to a residential area, and we eventually find Hotel
umm ok from the outside it looked a dive but hey ho it"s only 1 night, and it"s somewhere to sleep..
The car park was like an ice rink!! Not cleared no disabled parking, hmmm ok not to worry minor problem lets get booked in and get off to casino!!..
So we get to the reception, lol i say lol because the ramp into reception was like a wooden homemade job at a ridiculous gradient, poor Emma was getting so stressed with it all.. Better was to come!!!
So after a little mountaineering to get into reception, we are greeted by a couple of Russian girls who spoke poor English.. Explained I had made booking etc, she says you are early room not clean.. I say I called etc to confirm early booking.. No problem she say I call housekeeping, at this point Emma starts looking worried!! The reception still had tinsel above on the ceiling lol.. So another Russian woman in dungarees shuffles into reception and says no problem I have clean room for you no worries follow me to lift.....
LMAO the problem being the lift is up a flight of three steps.. Not little steps but big deep steps!! No way I was getting up them, Emma at this point losses the plot and demands money back, housekeeper saying no problem we help you "lift" him up steps, errmm don"t think so!! So reception speak to an Asian man sitting on a pc in foyer and he reluctantly gives us our cash back.. Struggle back down ramp and back into car.. 1 quick phone call to Holiday inn, booked in for that night £39 with complimentary breakfast to boot SORTED!! First bit of weekend run good..
So after we had booked in we where off to casino wiiiiii..
Now I had began to go a little downhill from this point, my throat had a tickle that just wanted to make me constantly cough!! And my headache was a monster..
So he team talk kinda went a little tits up, Liam was having a nightmare journey with the coach breaking down, and was having a breakdown himself poor buggar, he was really worried that he was letting everyone down by being late.. I was explaining not to worry and get here when he can, the structure allows you to be late not a problem, we missed the team photo so decided to have it in the dinner break..
I was on a table wich for me was a bloody nightmare to get to and from.. Was in seat 10 on table 7 had to negotiate my way through a mass of players, and then do a 50 point turn to get my wheelchair into a small slot up against a wall, so my apologies to all the peeps who had to keep moving every time I was going to and from my table..
I had a great friendly table with a notable couple of APAT regs Pat Kelly (padster) who I was lucky to have position on , as he raised 75% of pots
and Gi mac who had position on me, also had a player on my table who was known by Pat and Gordon but must admit myself had never met, Clare Duffy..
We had by far the noisiest table in the poker room!! .. I usually love the poker banter and the craic as its known, but I guess the combination of the headache etc I really wasn"t enjoying some of the table talk, maybe in another frame of mind mood it wouldn"t of bothered me but I must admit I wasn"t that upset when Clare exited after a couple of brutal beats, Sorry Clare im sure on any other given day I would of joined in but it was just badly timed..
I"m not going to go into a long and detailed waffle about all the hands on my table I played, just perhaps explain a couple that spring to mind..
One hand was early on when I found KK and raised, Gordon then three bet me, Gordon hadn"t played one hand up to that point of any note and being a complete nit I know he is decided to keep it "sensible", smooth called his three bet.. Now I just checked called all the way to river on a raggedy board, I didn"t want to check raise with just one pair, Gordon could of easily been betting three streets with AA and didn"t want to face a all in, the pot was considerably big to blind situation so this was a major factor to the way I played the Kings.. Gordon even checked the river himself and we both flipped over KK for split pot, think we both played it well..
I stayed around 15-18k for the first six levels without much to talk about, then I doubled up with a cooler of a hand. I raised pre with A2 of hearts and flopped a flush draw, I checked the flop which was a straightening flop for a range of KJ, the gin card came on the turn, it was either the
or
can"t recall, but it was unfortunate for my apponent as I checked the turn and he overbet the pot obv scared about me getting a cheap river heart, but obv with the nuts unless he had a set he was drawing dead, I forgot to mention Adrian Was in the pot aswell so I did Hollywood a little to get him to call my all in, but he folded, and indeed the guy was drawing dead, and I was up to 40k, which was well above average at this point..
Played the rush of cards I was getting and picked up a few small pots to peak at about 45k..
Then my one mistake of the tournament.. Table nit raised early pos to 1.8k blinds where 300/600 I was in BB with 88.. So i decided to smooth call to see a flop and new he would continue bet any flop, as he had 100% of the hands he had played, and if the flop looked wet I would put him to the test.. ( early on he had raised a pot pre flop and then bet 10k into a pot of 1600? ).. So the flop came Q high two rags, he bet 3k which left him 16k back, so without thinking I shoved all in... Ooopps he flips over QQ lol Ermmmm terrible terrible play by me I was just being a bully I need to learn pot size didn"t need to do this really..
Then the key pot which was the killer, new player had come to table and was aggro from the off, open shoving into limpets pre flop, he dusted off some chips when three people limped (including me with A8 suited) he did his raise which I knew was coming, but early limped shoved all in, I folded faster than a cheap tent, he snapped called with KQ guy flips over AJ which held.. Then this happened, after my 88 hand I still had just over 30k blinds where 400/800 so plenty of room for play, I look down at QQ raise to 3.6k, a hefty raise I thought, to pick up blinds and antes, guy then snap shoves all in from button I think it was, I was in H/J I had him covered by about 3 k, so was looking at a 60k pot, I called he flips over AK safe flop dreaded A on turn.. Down to bowl of rice..
Few hands later I get it in with TT in a crazy pot pre.. KK v AK v QQ .. Also Gordon shorts tacked folded 44 and table nit folded JJ .. The dreaded A on turn won taking KK and myself out QQ was the guy who crippled me (lol not literally that"s the MD ) so I guess you win some you lose some..
Think on a whole considering I felt utter toss, apart from the 88 hand I never put a foot wrong, and played really well, happy with that just need that flip to go my way and who knows I might of been able to score a few points for the team..
As far as the rest of the team went, they ran pretty awful themselves, our hero of the tournament was Warren who scored all of our points !! And managed to cash aswell as winning the last longer trophy .. Well done Waz 14th was a sterling effort wtg..
I really wish to apologise to my team members.. David, Brian, Warren, Naz, JP, Michelle, and Liam.. I felt my captaincy skills where utter rubbish!! I hate to harp on about the bug but it did knock me for six!! I felt like I never took the time to bond with you like I should of done in the breaks etc and after.. Just wanted to get home to be honest..
Was a pleasure meeting David and Brian for the first time, hope to see you at future events, Adrian was a pleasure meeting you aswell as a few others who I have never met before..
Congratulations to the medal winners, GNF have to be banned next year? .. Another awesome weekend arranged by APAT as always!! Looking forward to the worlds c"mon GET IN THERE,,!!
