Day 1, Thu Oct 18th
- Our party of 15 gather in the departure lounge at Stansted airport for the 2 hour flight to Trieste.
- Arrive Trieste pretty much on time, two mini-buses waiting to take us 25 min drive to hotel... compliments of hotel.
- All rooms ready and waiting for us, as reserved by email with Poker Room manager... no deposits required.
- All checked in and time for a couple of beers in hotel cafe/bar before start of 1st tournament at 5:00pm.
- 13 of us enter the €360 + €40 Freezeout... total entries 57... we have two on Final Table - Jimbo placing 4th and Kathryn 7th.
- I went out in around 40th place. :-( After a look around the casino I decide to give the cash games a try... A bit of a shaky start, losing the €300 I had on me, I borrowed €300 (Thanks Tony) for one more crack at the €2/€2 NL game. After grinding it out til about 5.00am, I cashed out €1680 to show a nice profit at the end of day 1 (or was that the start of day 2?).
Day 2, Fri Oct 19th
- I spent most of the late morning and afternoon sitting in the sun outside the hotel cafe, preparing myself for the evening's tournament and watching Matt, Pete, (big) Rich and 'The Bookie' playing backgammon.
- Around midday, half a dozen of the more adventurous / younger / fitter / less hungover set off in search of the town centre... I don't know what they found by way of a town centre, but they obviously found some bars!!
- I think only 10 of us made it into the €550 + €50 Double-Chance Freezeout at 5.00pm. Jimbo & Kathryn deciding not re-invest but to bank their profits from the previous night, whilst another (who shall remain nameless) heard that 'the game' was on in town and went off in search of some heads-up action! - more detail can found on Rich's blog!!
- The tournament had 61 entries and our party surpassed itself with 4 of us (sorry, that should be 4 of 'them') on the final table... 'The Bookie' exited in 6th place, The Buffet Queue Kid missed the buffet and made 4th place - cruelly robbed by the Poker God when his AK couldn't hold up against Paul Mac's AJ... Down to three-handed and a deal was thrashed out which guaranteed all 3 of them €6000 with the winner taking the remainder, another €3k or so. 'Big Tone' and Paul Mac then took 3rd and 2nd place respectively.
- Oh yes, I finished in 23rd place!
- The events of the rest of the evening have become a little hazy now... if I'm honest they were a little hazy the following day!! I recall cashing out with a few hundred €uros profit from the €2/€2 NL cash game and then playing some Blackjack with Rich (The BQKid), which I think also showed a small profit... we then sat for ages playing Video Poker with €10. About 8.00am we headed out of the casino, Rich went off to bed and, as they were already serving breakfast I thought I'd get that out of the way! After brekkie I sat outside, in the sunshine, with a coffee until about 9.00am - then went to bed!
Day 3, Sat Oct 20th
- No poker tournaments today... The instructions were, "Meet outside, at the cafe at midday - we're going on one!!"
- I'm there at midday, the 'Backgammon Four' are already shaking and moving, but they don't look like they are actually planning on moving very far.
- By about 12:30 there are seven of us ready to venture into the wild blue yonder... the plan is to head to 'Mama's', a bar that the advance party found yesterday, about 400 yds away. We settle in, outside in the sunshine, around two tables only to be told that 'Mama' wasn't in today, one or two who had been here yesterday seemed dissappointed - I didn't ask! So the beer's start coming, periodically interupted for a round of Sambucca (urgh, but it had to be done!). After a disastrous attempt to try and introduce some of us to game called 'Liar Dice' it was decided that we should play 'Spoof' and the losers would split the bill, when/if we decided that we had had enough beer. The mere mention of the word 'spoof' made Paul 'the game' so excited we thought he was going to pop - indeed he might have done but for the events of the previous night!! - so excited that it prompted the immortal declaration, "I will play anyone [at spoof], anywhere, anytime - for all the tea in China!"
- The spoof lasts for 4 games, Paul & Kathryn lose two each and have to split the bill between them... but this is Slovenia and it is cheaper than the UK, the bill for a couple of hours worth of beer and Sambucca for seven people comes to just €72... luckily for Paul no-one took him up on the Tea bet! :-)
- Just as the subject of conversation turns to that night's rugby world cup final, three of the 'Backgammon Four' arrive on the plot - Matt, Pete & John 'The Bookie' - along with Martin. Not being one to let patriotism get in the way of a gambling opputunity, Paul 'the game' offers to lay England with a +12 point handicap. A couple of handshakes later and Paul feels he's fully committed with €100 or so at risk, and so Martin asks 'The Bookie' if he'll take €500 on the handicap bet. Well, of course 'The Bookie' is a bookie, and thinking that Paul was laying at the 'official' handicap, he gladly accepts Martins bet at +12 points. Then for some reason 'The Bookie' decides to borrow someone's phone and ring home, he had wandered away from tables to get a bit of quiet and after a short conversation, those that were facing towards him could tell that all was not well in bookieland... John's face changed through several shades of red and then green, I swear this was as close as it is possible for someone to become physically sick just through the power of words!! The bad news?... It seems the 'official' handicap was +8 points not +12... oh dear!!
- As the sun dissappears behind a tree and it gets a bit chilly a few head of back to the hotel, while some of us head inside for a game of darts... That is throw some things that resemble darts, with plastic points, at a thing that resembles a dartboard, that is a plastic thing with little holes in it... to cut a long story short Jimbo relieved 'The Bookie' of a few more €uros, in response to a 15/1 "You can't hit the Bull/25" challenge.
- The exact sequence of events from here on has been lost with the passage of time, but I remember a group of us setting of to find a sports bar that was going to have the rugby on and someone saying, "We don't need a taxi, it's not far", and after wandering aimlessly around Nova Gorica for 30 mins, when it became clear no-one had a clue where they were going, some of us gave up and headed back to the hotel... I remember playing some €2/€2 NL cash and losing a couple of hundred €uros... then finding Rich (The BQKid), Jimbo & Kathryn watching the rugby on a TV just outside the poker room! Then playing some €2/€4 NL cash and losing some more! :-(
- My night ended in the casino playing Blackjack and drinking complimentary large Jack Daniels & Cokes... I sat at the BJ table with €200 and played for ages, on two seperate occaisions I had my last €20 or €30 committed but kept fighting back (getting lucky!). I then hit an amazing rush for 20-30 mins and finally cashed out €800, recouping the day's poker losses. :-)
Day 4, Sun Oct 21st
- Not much to be said about Sun... got up... felt like shit... waited for the mini-buses to take us to the airport.
- Mini-buses arrive out front of hotel, spot on time and take us to airport.
- Sat in airport departure lounge... felt like shit.
- Slept most of the 2 hour flight and 2 hour drive home.
So if you go up to see the lights this year and you see this guy weaving down the Golden Mile, wearing a 'Kiss Me Quick' hat, on a Saturday night... say hello. (The one on the left, wearing the deckchair, not the old bloke off the telly.)
So if you go up to see the lights this year and you see this guy weaving down the Golden Mile, wearing a 'Kiss Me Quick' hat, on a Saturday night... say hello. (The one on the left, wearing the deckchair, not the old bloke off the telly.)
