What A To-Do

[peterbirks]

To The Kensington Hilton for the draw for the European Ladies' Tournament courtesy of Ladbrokes. Actually, I turned up at the wrong place and at the wrong time, but Ladbrokes event manager Nigel Blower kindly gave me a lift to the right hotel. Some other people turned up in a different wrong place at a different wrong time. It was that kind of night.

But I did get to chat to Kevin O'Connell, whom I hadn't seen since Russell Square days, and Marty Wilson, likewise. I met Jesse May for the first time. I took a photo of Padraig Parkinson and his much better half Veronique, but it came out blurred, damnit, so you will just have to take my word for it.


Anyway, here's a few pics.
Sorry that they are of fairly crap quality. I need to get a better camera and become a better photographer.





The gorgeous Sam the PR person and her boss David, managing director of Ladbrokes eGaming. "Sam and Dave" would be the obvious tagline here, wouldn't it?
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Jac Arama returns from the missing list, mainly because Diane Arama is playing tomorrow.
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The gaffer tries to work out how the microphone and speakers function before the executives arrive.

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Kevin O'Connell and lots of better halves. To the immediate right of Kevin is Leona Harsden (sp?), his better half, and to the right of Leona is Nicky Newman, fearsome head of Paddy Power web site, devilish poker player, staggeringly sexy and, well, I'd better stop now.

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Roy The Boy works out the schedule. Chloe Bailey and Kate Szeremata aren't as bored as they look, honestly, although Chloe had been to see John Duthie that afternoon, so perhaps she was just tired.
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A few more women.

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Also returned from missing list is Mr Welch as DebbieFish enters the tourney.

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Vida Segren? A typical Norwegian online qualifier. Not like the old days in Russell Square, is it?

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A couple of Danes and Finns, plus five Norwegians, all of whom seemed to know each other, and four Swedes, all of whom seemed to know each other. Oh well, I guess they are small countries, so that shouldn't be surprising.

Anna Louisa Roma of Sweden should be one of the favourites, along with Katherine Harty and Alison Floyd from England, and Nicky Newman from Ireland. Oh, and Debbie Rogers. Veronique and Leona will be under stiff tutelage from Parkinson and O'Connell no doubt.


They are filming tomorrow at the Riverside, and they are setting up a TV camera in the bar to film "the boyfriends" getting nervous.

Heh heh.

Comments

British Poker Scene

[(Anonymous)]

Hi Peter,

It's interesting you made this post, as just today I received a couple books I had ordered, one of which is Stewart Reuben's new Poker 24/7. Of course since I play big bet, I am a longtime fan of his poker books (although his somewhat laggy style would bust less experienced players), and this one is different in that it isn't a strategy book, but a recount of his life experience playing poker. It has throughout the various times and places he has played, various bios of different players he played with over the years. John Duthie that you mention is mentioned there. I have just skimmed through it, but it is very interesting.

It is sad to note though, his account of the "big game" breaking up that had gone on at the Vic for so many years, due both to managerial incompetence there as well as a group of players starting the Western. Also it seems, that following a particulary bad run at the big tables, Mr. Reuben has dropped down to smaller stakes and not play that often, not because he can't play higher financially necessarily (although he did say the game at the Western runs too high for his liking frequently), but because he has questioned his abilities at his age. Anyway, if you get a chance to read it, I think you will find it entertaining.

As to the ladies tourney, I think the fact that the internet and TV tourney boom has attracted growing numbers of younger as well as older women to poker, augurs very well for the game in coming decades. And although some women might disdain ladies only events as putting them in a lower class than primarily male games, I would think it engenders player comaraderie among them and makes them more comfortable playing in general including those times when they are the only woman on the table.

BluffTHIS!

Re: British Poker Scene

[peterbirks.livejournal.com]

Hi Bluff:

Yes, I'll read that Reuben piece. As you may know, I played in a few games with Reuben back in the early 1980s.

I agree with you on the Ladies' tournament thing. In fact I was talking to Ian, who was (a) executive producer and (b) self-admittedly "a bit pissed" and he said that the coverage would be just as if it were a normal tournament.

As to Andy's comment; well, yes, the

Re: British Poker Scene

[peterbirks.livejournal.com]

(con'td) cock up there.

... game might not be world class, and there might be a few "players' birds" there. But I think that it serves as a good stepping stone to make many online female players more comfortable with live play. Once thing I am sure of, it won'f be a giggly game of "oh, I'm so sorry, I sucked out on you, you take the pot, please". I think that the average quality of play might not be great, but at the top end I suspect it might be surprsingly good.

But, hell, I don't watch ANY tournaments on TV, so missing this one won't make a difference. If it serves to bring more women into the game, (equals, more players into the game) then I'm happy.

PJ

[(Anonymous)]

O'Connell tutelage? Must involved six bottles of win each and more constanant than vowels.

gl

dd

[andy-ward-uk.livejournal.com]

None of which answers the question "why were you there ?". To gape in awe at the array of poker celebs ? To appreciate the excellent play of the top female players in Europe who all happen to be poker players' birds ?

What was the deal ?

Andy.

I've Got To Get Out There

[peterbirks.livejournal.com]

I was there because, basically, I don't get out enough. And, when I do get out, I have virtually nothing in common with the people I meet -- which makes things a bit difficult when you are a non-drinker, because it's hard to stop disintegrating with boredom.

So, when Ladbrokes asked me if I wanted to pop along, I thought I'd go to get some pics for my blog and to tell people who was there. The programme televises on July 4 on Sky I think.

I didn't have to watch any play. That starts today.

As Mr Richard Keith Herring wisely once said, you don't get to meet people sitting on your arse watching TV and eating a Pizza-For-One. So, It was good for me, and people were probably interested in seeing the pics (in the slightly guilty way that they peek over someone else's shoulder on the underground to read a story in The Sun). All in all, more of a positive contribution to society than another 500 hands on Party to build up the monthly hand total.

PJ

Re: I've Got To Get Out There

[andy-ward-uk.livejournal.com]

Good answer :-)

[simong-uk.livejournal.com]

A blurred pic of Padraig isn't necessarily the fault of the photographer...

[jiggery-pokery.livejournal.com]

The Kensington Hilton

Crikey. dezzikitty and I went to Shepherd's Bush to stay there the other week, getting two consecutive iterations of a stay-two-nights-and-get-dinner-for-free non-changeable non-refundable deal. It was awful. The air conditioning could not cool the room down at all beyond pumping in air from outside, which was insufficient to make the room cooler than "hotter than we'd like". We moaned to the management and tried three other rooms, eventually getting the duty manager himself to confirm that the air conditioning was working properly, it just wasn't very good in the first place. Coupled with a hard bed, it was so bad that we cancelled our reservation for the second two nights and went and stayed elsewhere. (Happily, our whinging did manage to get us a refund for the non-refundable nights we had bought.)

Betraying our lack of experience and appreciation of the good life, we've been to the Hilton Islington before and liked it, plus the Euston Plaza hotel before Hilton bought it (two visits, one excellent, one disappointing). We also have been entirely satisfied with the two Holiday Inns at which we have stayed, which indicates how low rollers we are. :-)

But, yes. This is merely to rant about how bad the Hilton Kensington Shepherd's Bush is. Recommendations for places to stay in London at special-offer prices most welcome.

[peterbirks.livejournal.com]

There are no decent-rate places in London, as far as I am aware. It's got to be the most overpriced city in the world for crap hotels with bad service. To get anything even halfway decent you're going to spend two hundred quid a night (that's $380 for the non-financial experts out there).

Any hotel which resorts to special offers clearly can't fill their hotel at normal prices. Usually this is for a reason.

Whenever I've stayed at a hotel in the UK I've usually ended up complaining about something. mainly because the people seem utterly incapable of getting the simplest things right, and yet will still demand an imprint of your credit card (no matter how often you have stayed there before) in case you plan to do a moonlight flit.

London is just equally bad as the rest of the UK, but twice as expensive.

Find a boutique hotel somewhere and pay through the nose. At least those people treat you like human beings. Sandersons in Berners Street and the St Martin's Lane are meant to be good. If you just want a room at reasonable rates, head south down Wilton Road or Elizabet Street from Victoria Station and find a B&B. They are cheaper, are clean, and are not run by corporates.

PJ

[jiggery-pokery.livejournal.com]

Ah! I had a feeling you would say that. This is why I emphasised how low our standards are. :-)

Definitely am prepared to consider specifically recommended B&Bs, though. I'd rather trust your (plural?) opinion than that of, say, TripAdvisor (http://www.tripadvisor.com/), though.