A 'n' K Suited

Supporting from the UK....

2010-07-03T01:24:00.000-07:00

Hi All

This is K here with the 1st posting of this year's blog..... sadly I'm still in the UK whilst my hubby has already been in Vegas for almost a week (stupid work!), but finally I join him tomorrow!

Good news to post from afar though..... A is playing in Event #54 of the WSOP and has made Day 2 after successfully doubling up through an American poker pro! Hurrah.... see below for the posting from pokernews!

http://www.wsop.com/tournaments/updates.asp?rr=5&grid=764&tid=10875&dayof=1463

7/2/2010 10:10:04 PM PST (about 3 hours and 7 minutes ago)
Hamilton Runs Into Aces

Facing a raise under the gun to 900, a call from late position and then a three-bet to 3,600 from the small blind, Lisa Hamilton made it 10,900 from the big blind.
The original raiser moved all in for 13,300 and once the call and three-better folded, Hamilton made the call.
Hamilton: KK
Opponent: AA [An up and coming poker player from the Appley Bridge in the UK, a certain Andrew Hayes..... well OK this is a slight amendment of the post by a proud wife!]
Apart from a slight sweat on the river when it fell paint, the board fell fairly dry as it was spread to see Hamilton double her opponent up while slipping to just 3,600 in chips.

Can't wait to see you tomorrow babe.... just make sure that you get to Day 3 so that we can see you in action!!!

K x

Tournament Summary

2009-06-07T15:25:00.000-07:00

So, we're back in good old Blighty - thought I'd post quick summaries of the tourneys I played:

30-May - Binions Poker Classic - $210 entry - Finished 240th / 246 - $0

First tournament of the holiday and I'm all fired up and ready to hold 'em like they do in Texas, please. Let's go go go.

Unfortunately, the cards aren't quite so fired up. I get dealt utter trash for almost an hour until I get A5 and go crazy on a A5827 board, making a stupid call on the river only to find out the other guy had AA all along.

So I'm down to 1600 chips and the very next hand I get KT in the small blind and shove all-in against three people, hoping they all fold. The first two do but Mr AA asks for a count of my chips and then calls with AT - one of the worst hands I could see as really only a K will save me. Alas, it doesn't come and I'm knocked out of the tournament without winning a single pot. D'oh!

On a side note, "Oklahoma" Johnny Hale, legendary poker author, player, and jolly nice fellow was sat three to my right: http://www.pokerplayernewspaper.com/bioview.php?image=8

31-May - WSOP Event #4 (3 day event) - $1,000 entry - Finished ??? / 6012 - $0

First World Series event of the trip and things don't go quite as planned, winning only a couple of small pots in three hours as I dwindle from the 3000 starting stack to 2100 at blinds of 75/150. I then make the second stupid mistake of the trip by raising KQ to 500, only to get called by the small blind and then raised all-in by the big blind. The big blind has only ever shown down big hands so I give him credit and have to fold.

Anyway, next hand, I'm dealt 55 and decide to push all-in for my last 1600. Alas, I get called by the button with JJ, the board doesn't help me and I'm knocked-out.

01-Jun - Planet Hollywood 2pm - $80 entry - Finished 18th / 67 - $0

After a couple of poor tournaments, me and Kate decide to play a small tournament at the Plant Hollywood casino to try to have a bit of fun and restore some much needed confidence.

After 30 mins or so I get knocked out again... sigh. After thinking about signing up to play in a cash game, I find out that they let busted players re-enter for another $80 and decide to give it another spin.

This goes a lot better and I get a nice double-up when I shove all-in from the big blind with A5 against a guy that limped and then calls with KJ. A5 holds and now I have a bit of a stack to play with.

With it being a small buy-in tournament, the blind levels increase quickly and there's not much room for "proper" poker play as most every hand is all-in or fold. With 18 out of 67 players left (8 getting paid) there's a raise and I shove all-in from the small blind with AJ - the raiser calls with 77 and it's basically a 50-50 coinflip - unfortunately, the board doesn't help and I am again knocked-out - I think I would have been in good shape to reach the final table and go deep in the tournament had I hit an A or J, but again, it wasn't to be.

02-Jun - WSOP Event #7 (3 day event) - $1,500 entry - Finished ~500 / 2791 - $0

This is another story of what could have been - barring one mistake, I felt like I played pretty well for the whole 9ish hours (plus breaks) of the day, and had a good handle on the other players at my table.

Of course, doubling-up my stack on the 2nd hand certainly helped! I raise with JJ, get one caller and end up shoving all-in on the river with a full house. After thinking, my opponent calls and shows KK and is knocked-out, $1500 poorer, after just two hands.

However, later that level I get AA and raise, getting one caller. I bet the 862 flop and again on the 4 turn, only to get raised. I am so close to folding when I get a nagging doubt that he *could* have 99 to KK, and decide to raise all-in. He insta-calls with 88 and I end up being back around my start stack of 4500... sigh, shoulda folded, and I know it has cost me 3000 chips.

I win a few smaller pots and go to first break slightly up on my starting stack.

Shortly after break, I make a good call when the bully to my left tries to bluff me out of a pot with 99 when I have KQ which pairs a Q on the board.

Can't remember too many more hands but I steadily accumulate chips and am up to 25000 with approx 90mins left of the day. 25000 would have been enough to see me through to Day 2 but I wanted more! I nearly got them when I raised with 6h 4h trying to steal the blind's chips.

Unfortunately, the guy to my left calls and then calls a bet on the AT3 board. I check the 7 on the turn and decide he's bluffing when he then bets. I have outs to a flush with any heart or a straight with any 5 so decide to raise all-in. He thinks for ages before calling with AQ - damn, I was hoping he would fold a hand like that. Alas, no heart or 5 on the river and my WSOP adventure is over for another year. If I had hit my hand on the river I would have had 50000 chips and would have been in great shape for Day 2 and a shot at the $650,000 first prize.

03-Jun - Venetian DSIII - $340 entry - Finished 70 / 870 - $428

Hurrah, my first cash of the trip! Unfortunately, it's only $88 profit, and that was after 13 hours of play.

I got off to a good start with two AT hands that I get all-in to double-up my 12k starting stack by first break. Again, I steadily accumulate chips and am looking good for a deep finish and a shot at the $65k first prize - unfortunately the poker gods strike me down in my prime when I lose over half of my stack all-in with AK against another guy's QT - he hits a Q on the flop and I then have to scrap my way to 70th before I am forced to shove all-in with KJ. I get called by AQ, hit a K on the flop but the A on the turn kills me off and I am knocked out once more.

04-Jun - Venetian 7pm - $120 entry - Finished 110 / 240 - $428

Last tournament of the trip and it goes pretty much the same way as the others, getting a nice stack early on with AA against another guy's AK. But then I lose two key all-ins, Q7 against K8 on a 567 flop - which hits a 9 on the river to give him a straight. Then I'm forced to shove 89 only to get called by AQ - I hit a 9 on the 78T flop, but a K on the turn and the J on the river gives him a straight and I am busto for the final time.

Tournament Update

2009-06-04T11:48:00.001-07:00

Quick update on my tournament results so far:

30-May - Binions Poker Classic - $210 entry - Finished 240th / 246 - $0
31-May - WSOP Event #4 (3 day event) - $1,000 entry - Finished ??? / 6012 - $0
01-Jun - Planet Hollywood 2pm - $80 entry - Finished 18th / 67 - $0
02-Jun - WSOP Event #7 (3 day event) - $1,500 entry - Finished ~510 / 2791 - $0
03-Jun - Venetian DSIII - $340 entry - Finished 70 / 870 - $428

Total entry fees - $3210 (including extra $80 rebuy at Planet Hollywood).
Total winnings - $428

It was nice to finally cash in last night's Venetian tournament but it was only for one level above the minimum and $88 profit (for 13 hours work!). It could have been better but my AK lost all-in pre-flop to QT just before we reached the money and cost me half my stack - ah well.

I plan on playing a couple more smaller tournaments before we leave but have decided against today's $550 Ventian event as not really up for another long day.

S-P-E-L-L-I-N-G for dummies (and the jetlagged)

2009-05-31T10:35:00.000-07:00

Waking up at 5am, local time, is no fun. But my body still thinks it should be 1pm and questions what this lazy arse is still doing in bed. After a couple of hours of futile dozing I remember that it is FA Cup final day back home and wonder if I can be bothered going downstairs on my own to find the game on TV in the sportsbook area. It's not until a few hours later - after we've both got up, found coffee and pastries, eaten them in the sunshine by the pool, come back upstairs, showered and changed - that I realise that our room TV has all the ESPN channels one could ever want and it was probably on live all along - durrrr...

ESPN2 however, is showing some national spelling bee competition - so very strange, yet weirdly compelling and fascinating:

Host: Spell strepitoso

Gawky high-school kid in braces: can you repeat that please?

Host: Spell strepitoso

Kid: strepitoso? Is there an alternative pronunciation?

Host Only one, strepitoso

Kid: strepitoso? Am I pronouncing that right?

Host: Yes, sounds correct to me?

Kid: strepitoso? strepitoso? Can I have the meaning of the word?

Host: It's a word used in sheet music to denote a particular style of playing

Kid: strepitoso? Am I pronouncing that right?

Host: Yes, already!

Kid: strepitoso? strepitoso? strepitoso? Can you use the word in a sentence, please?

Host: sure, "I asked this f***ing stupid kid if he could f***ing spell strepitoso!"

Ok, I probably made that last part up, but you get the idea.

Sounds like a compelling first day... but given this only takes us up to leaving the hotel at 11am there is more to catch up on.... maybe A has only taken us up to this point due to a reluctance to post that the missus made it further through the Binion's poker classic than he did... Oops! A respectable 65th place for me (still 45 places away from prize money though) whilst A busted out in 245th!!! Will fill you in on the details later!!

Have a nice day, y'all.

Viva Las Vegas

2009-05-31T10:31:00.000-07:00

After every long haul flight we always swear never to fly economy ever again... yet here we were once more, onboard flight VS043 from Gatwick to Las Vegas. 10 hours in the same, cramped, seat and we finally landed at McCarran airport in the middle of the Nevada desert.

Catching a glimpse of the Stratosphere tower and assorted ridiculous-looking hotels as we descended, we knew we'd arrived in the magical oasis that is Sin City. We also knew that swearing never to fly economy ever again was basically an empty threat.

Within an hour of landing we were all checked in to the swish Encore hotel. The suite is pretty sweet, although the view from the 31st floor of Circus Circus and assorted car parks isn't the best. Being on the the 31st floor does mean that the lifts serving the upper half of the hotel have only one stop to the lobby though - so can't complain too much.

Within another half hour we're down by the pool and decide to order some cocktails - Pineapple Mojito for the Mrs, Long Island Ice Tea for me, and boy are they strong. The initially irritating dance music, blaring out from the speaker behind our loungers, becomes strangely enchanting after a second round.

Half-knackered, half-pissed, we head to the room to get ready for dinner. It's an easy decision to hit the Wynn buffet for our first night.

The buffet is immense - petty much every possible type of food is available from umpteen different serving stations. It's all you can eat, but a pitiful (by most of the other patron's standards, anyway) two plates later and we've both been beaten.

A quick go on the slot machines and I turn $20 into $50 in no time at all - wahoo! We struggle on to 10pm (6am BST) and decide to call it a night after a quite ridiculous 22 hour day.

A.

Vegas tomorrow

2009-05-28T13:39:00.000-07:00

The Vegas dream begins again tomorrow as we head back for eight nights in Sin City.

K has kindly agreed to come back with me - I think the promise of a 5* hotel and a load of pampering spa sessions may have had something to do with it though! I'm again hitting up some poker tournaments:

30-May - Binions Poker Classic - $210
31-May - WSOP Event #4 (3 day event) - $1,000
01-Jun - Venetian DSIII - $550
02-Jun - WSOP Event #7 (3 day event) - $1,500
02-Jun - Venetian DSIII - $330
03-Jun - WSOP Event #9 (3 day event) - $1,500
03-Jun - Venetian DSIII - $330
04-Jun - Venetian DSIII - $550

2009 World Series of Poker
Binions Poker Classic
Venetian Deep Stack Extravaganza

Not quite the $10k Main Event of last year, but hey, more raffle tickets = more chances to win big!

Viva Las Vegas!

A.

PS. oh, yeah, and I'll also be a twittering fool @hazey88

WSOP report - part 3

2008-07-19T06:46:00.000-07:00

(Again, as originally posted on ITH)

After the buzz of Day 1 we had a fairly quiet Monday although we did have a hotel move up the road to The Wynn. Our new hotel room is pretty sweet even though it's the cheapest one they do and we resist the temptation to pay extra for a suite upgrade at check-in. The massive floor-to-ceiling windows give us a great view down the strip and also out to the mountains. The Rio looms large in the distance and I can't help but take a sneak peek at every opportunity and wonder at what might happen.

That evening we meet up with Tall Paul for some mindless button-pressing on the slots at K's favourite Monopoly machine, while taking full advantage of the cocktail service. We then move to Treasure Island to meet up with a couple of friends that have just flown in for our last few days in Vegas. After a quick drink the time zone change hits them and they head to bed while we hit the bar for some video poker and a few more potent mojito cocktails. Tall Paul tries to pass on tips he's picked up from chrisjp while the barman tries to pass on a completely different set of tips and convinces me that Double Double is the *only* game to play. Hmm.

TP then has the genius suggestion to move to the Venetian for some NL cash. We try to get onto the same table but get placed a few apart. I buy-in short for 50BBs and ask for a table change, before promptly donking off my stack on the third hand, calling all-in on the flop with the nut flush draw and an overcard. It misses and I decide the mojitos have left me in no fit shape for poker. I wuss out and leave TP to it.

The wife and I spend Tuesday with our newly arrived friends having a look at Fremont Street and the Stratosphere before all heading down to the pool at the MGM (finally making some use of our free but unused room). We then head to Charlie Palmer's steakhouse at the Four Seasons (following a recommendation from a mate back home) for a superb meal and one of the best steaks ever.

We then head back to the hotel where I log-on to the internet to find out my Day 2 table before bed. No huge stacks and no big name players and I like the look of it. Of course, you can never really tell until you sit down. I spot that there's a chap with only 3k in chips three to my right, putting my BB firmly in his sights. With the first level 250/500/50 I imagine him pushing first-in and me calling light to knock him out and adding his chips to mine - yeah! Paul Azinger is also drawn at my table and sticks out but surely he's a golfer and not a poker player, I hope!

Day 2 starts at the PartyPoker hospitality room at the Rio. I have a veritable entourage(!) as chrisjp and Tall Paul join my wife and our two friends in there with me. Chrisjp and I wish each other good luck as we head to our respective tables. Here we go (again)...

First hand I get dealt 77 UTG. Figuring that everyone will be pretty cagey first-up I raise to 1500. It folds around to shortie who quickly pushes for his 3k and I quickly call. He shows AJ and after 10 hours of poker on Day 1 I'm in my first coin-flip of the Main Event. Not quite the way I imagined-it but I win and do get to add his chips to mine. After he leaves the table, Paul Azinger quips that he folded another AJ but didn't have the heart to tell shortie that as the board played out!

Paul Azinger is a nice guy but not that great a poker player. Within 45 mins he's busted his 21k starting stack. With around 8k left, there's a raise to 1400 and a call, and he just calls in late position. He then folds to a bet on the flop. Weird.

The guy to my right, Jamal Kunbuz (who I've posted about before and ended up finishing 33rd) is pretty active and playing a lot of pots. I get involved with T9 in the BB, calling after the cut-off raises first-in to 1300 and the button and then Jamal calls. The flop comes 689 with two diamonds. Jamal checks and I bet out for around 3k, get two folds and a call from Jamal. The turn is the Ten diamonds which improves me but makes a pretty scary board. Jamal leads for 3k and I'm in a tricky spot. Anyway, I end up calling, hoping for a free showdown and see the river - another Ten. Bingo. Jamal leads for another 3k and I thank my lucky stars before deciding how much to raise. My mind has gone blank however and I'm struggling to remember how much is in the pot. I finally add it all up and decide to raise to 15k. He calls, and mucks as I show. Yes!

I win another tidy pot when I call a guy's river bluff with A9 on a JJ9xx board and I'm up to around 61k in chips and feeling good. Being on one of the higher-numbered Brasillia tables (54) we break soon after and I get drawn on Brasillia 43, seat 2. in a strange coincidence Jamal also gets the same table, seat 3. I would have loved to keep that guy on my right but not to be.

Late on in the level, I raise first-in on the button with AQ. An older guy in the big blind calls and we see a KK9 flop. I check behind. The turn is a blank and he checks again. I decide to fire out just over a half-pot bet which he just calls. The river is an Ace but the guy leads into me for 4k. Hmm. I call and he shows KQ for the flopped trips. Interesting one, and looking back there's not a lot I can beat after he calls the turn and then decides to lead that river. Maybe I could have saved a few chips there - nevermind. I finish the level with around 56k.

Level 2 is 300/600/75 and I start with a couple of nice hands. There's a raise to 2k from the cut-off, the button and SB calls and I call with 88. The flop comes TT8! SB checks and I bet out for 5k but unfortunately everyone folds. I think a check would have been more appropriate as thinking back I reckon one of the late position guys would bet. Oh well, I was hoping that one of them would have a T or an overpair there and get fruity.

I then get AA UTG and raise the table standard 2k. The button and the BB calls. The flop comes J7x with two spades. I bet 5k and get a call from the BB. The turn is a blank and BB checks, I bet 10k and he folds.

That puts me over 70k! Unfortunately, it's all downhill from there...

It's a bit of a blur where my chips went but I remember seeing a load of AJ, AQ, AK hands that don't hit.

I raise AQ from 2nd position and get the SB to call. The flop is K25 rainbow, he checks and I cbet. He calls. The turn is a 3 and I decide to check-behind with my gutshot wheel draw. The river is a blank and I check-behind again. He shows 44 to take the pot. Hmmm, maybe another barrel was required but I remember that for next time.

In late position I pick up AK of diamonds. The guy to my right, who's becoming a bit of a pain, raises first-in and I reraise. He calls and it's heads-up to a flop of 944 with two clubs. He checks and I put in a decent cbet. He thinks for what feels like ages. I have about 40k behind and, sitting statuesque in my usual Joe Navarro stance with elbows on the table and hands clenched under my nose, find myself unable to resist the dire need to gulp (silly, I know!). Not sure if he noticed or used it as a tell but soon after he check-raises me all-in for my stack. I think it over for a while but decide I can't call and muck.

I pick up AK again UTG and raise to 2k. The old guy from the AQ/KQ hand calls and then the tight guy in middle position reraises to 10k. It folds around to me. It feels like he's squeezing but he's tight and still has half the table to act behind him so I give him credit for a hand. At the time, I figured him for AA or KK but realise now that his range is probably a fair bit wider. With just under 35k behind I think I should have shoved this one when it comes back to me.

I'm floundering a little and hate giving up all these pots. On the last orbit before break I decide I really want to win one. I pick the tightest player on the table and decide to raise his big blind whatever. In late middle position it's folded to me and I raise with 84o. Everyone folds. Yes.

What a level! Up to 70k and cruising and then back to earth with a bump. But I still have 33600 in chips and have to forget about it and just get on with things. Level 3 is 400/800/100 giving me an M of 16 and I realise that this is going to be a big level for me.

For the first hour I stay pretty level. Our table is playing pretty tight and steal once or twice, but you can feel the blinds and antes taking what seems like big chunks out of your stack every hand.

Then the guy to my right who had earlier check-raised my AK all-in raises to 3k in the cut-off. I'm on the button with 32k and QQ, and re-raise to 10k. He's been stealing quite a lot but has me covered. He calls. The flop is K92 rainbow, he checks, I bet 12k, he puts me all in. I have 10k behind, hate it, but call. He has KK. Turn comes a Q to give me 1 out, but I miss and I bust. Man, it feels awful as I trudge back to the hospitality room to say goodbye to the reps in there that looked after us.

And so my World Series adventure comes to an end. What an amazing experience though. Everything, from first walking into the Amazon room and seeing all those tables, to just walking around the Rio and stumbling past one poker superstar after another, it's fantastic.

My advice if anyone wins a qualifier - no matter how much you'd like to bank the cash, you just have to go and play in it! There truly is nothing else quite like it. Plus you get to meet some top ITHers - it was a pleasure to meet up with yankees, Tall Paul and chrisjp.

I'll be trying my darndest to get back there next year. Fingers crossed I can get lucky again and it will happen. Hopefully see some of you lot there too!

WSOP report - part 2

2008-07-19T06:41:00.000-07:00

(Again as originally posted on ITH)

So here it is. The big day. Sunday 6th July, Main Event Day 1D. We get to the Rio with plenty of time to spare which is good 'cos the place is packed with people and getting around is proving tricky. Good job we have the PartyPoker room in which to seek refuge - nice comfy sofas and as much free coffee, water and assorted snacks as you can manage.

I get to my seat in Blue 17 after wading through the masses of tables in the Amazon room. The sight of all those tables is quite something but as soon as I sit down it feels like any other live tournament and I can ignore everything else to just concentrate on my own table. I'm in one of the end seats (seat 8 ) which is good as you can get a nice view of the whole table without too much straining.

"Shuffle up and deal!" comes the call from the tournament announcer and we're off. I smile to myself and have a flash of not quite believing where I am.

First hand, here we go... I'm in the cutoff and there is a raise from the guy on my right. I look down to find QTo and I fold. The button calls and we see a flop... QT7. Nooooo! Bet, raise, call. Turn is another Q. Nooooo! Bet, call. River is a blank and it goes bet, call again. Initial raiser turns over AQ and the button mucks. Wow. Welcome to the World Series!

The button later tells us that he had KK on that first hand. Man, I could have tripled up! No point thinking about that too much though as I made the right play.

My plan is to play it tight, especially before the antes kick in. With 20000 chips to play with I'm aiming to stay out of trouble and just play things pretty straight. I'm happy to see flops with position though and when the early position old guy raises to 300 I call on the button with AJ. The flop comes a Jack high rainbow and the old guy leads for 400. I raise to 1000 and he calls. I'm likely ahead as he checks a 2nd diamond on the turn. I bet around half the pot but he folds. My first pot won and I immediately feel more settled.

The rest of those early levels is pretty uneventful. I fold a lot of marginally playable hands from marginal positions but continue to chip up as I hit QQ a couple of times, but don't get any action past the flop.

My table is as good as I could ever have hoped for. It's just so tight and passive and there is not a single player I am worried about playing against. It was also quite a surprise to find that the guys on my table were all nice chaps - not a single loudmouth, obnoxious idiot that ESPN's coverage makes it appear is at every table! Towards the end of the day there was plenty of humorous banter but it felt just like a home game, it was that comfortable.

The old guy who I had won my first pot against now had a decent stack after busting the 2 players between us on my left, but surprised us all when calling a huge all-in raise on the river with KT on a 7898T board against a full house, 9s over 8s.

That and another couple of hits left him with less than 8k at the 150/300 level. He min-raises UTG and I reraise in the BB with JJ to 2k. He just calls and we see another J-high flop. Sweet. I check, he bets and I raise to put him all-in. He calls and shows AA. My set holds and I win a nice pot. Thankyou for not pushing preflop, mister! I'd have been in a bit of a tricky spot if he did. Instead, i get lucky and win a nice pot to get up to 36k.

That old guy is replaced by another who later wins the award for the funniest hand of the day. He raises from early position, gets reraised by the young Californian dude in a Full Tilt cap and calls. The Californian has got 6600 behind after the KJx flop. I know this because the old guy checks, and he bets 3000, the old guy min-check-raises and Californian dude pushes all his chips into the middle. He flips his cards - KK for top set but didn't quite realise that he hadn't already been put all-in. Now, old guy has seen the KK but then unexplicably shows and mucks AQ!! For 600 chips in an 18000+ pot?!?!?!? WIth 4 outs... twice!! The whole table can't believe what we have seen and falls about laughing, apart from the Californian, who feels very embarrassed after making the rookie live mistake of showing before being all-in, but also relieved to not have to face two cards that could have put him out!

The Californian had been drinking Vodka Tonics since he slipped below 10k. Probably not a bad plan but he gets plenty of Mickey taking for the rest of the day about showing his KK!
It's at about this time I find out that the guy who was moved to my right in the previous level was Mark Brockington and had finished 2nd to Blair Hinkle in Event 23 for $326k. He was a really nice guy and had an amazing setup when in a hand. He would basically put his hands together at the wrist and cover his entire face, except for a small V between his fingers and cap. No idea how he could see anything of what was going on but it appeared to be working. Fortunately, he seemed to be playing a fairly straightforward game and I was able to steal quite often - apart from the once when he had just told us about the $326k win and I jokingly gave him a walk, showing my 92o and telling him he'd better just take my small blind in that case then!

At 150/300/25, I run into a tricky spot. The guy UTG has just won a big pot and is still stacking his chips as he looks at his cards before raising to 900. He looks a bit jittery as I reraise to 2500 with AK in middle position. He thinks and then re-re-raises to make it 3000 more to me. Woah. I'm thinking he has AA or KK here and finally fold, trying just to stay out of trouble that an A or K-high flop might get me into.

Apart from that, the last couple of levels are fairly uneventful. With the antes, pots become more attractive to stealing. It certainly helps when at least 3 at the table are looking at their cards before the action is on them and I start to be able to tell when they're gonna fold. I love this table.

Unfortunately, at the start of the last level - 200/400/50 I suffer a couple of setbacks with steals not getting through and dwindle back to around 27k.

One of those setbacks is against the old AQ guy from before. I raise in the cutoff with K8o and he calls in the SB. I check behind an AA9 flop with the intention of delayed c-betting the turn. He checks and I bet just over half the pot on a 7 turn. He calls and we see an 8 on the river. Now he leads for a decent amount and is staring at me. Not seen him do that before and I feel the urge to raise and continue to represent the A but I end up thinking too long and end up folding. Hmmm... I think I may have been bluffed here but my 8 is probably not enough to call. Raising is probably the better play but I got a bit scared and dodged it.

Anyway, another steal attempt with 97o in the hijack gets a caller in the same old guy on the button. The flop comes 985 and I cbet 2/3 of the pot. Old guy calls and I check a J turn. He checks behind and we see a J river. That's a good card for me. After our last tangle I know old guy will bet it though so I check and quickly call his 3k. He shows AK and I take a nice pot.

The Amazon room has gone very quiet as it's getting late and people are dreaming about making Day 2. That is until we hear a loud "F**k!" come from a few tables away. The whole room goes "Ooooooohh!" and starts laughing as one of the floor people goes over for a chat. Apparently, he was just swearing at himself after having to throw away yet another duff starting hand.

Our table gets even tighter (if that were possible) and I make a few more routine steals to keep me ahead of the blinds and antes and I finish the day, exhausted but happy, with 36,425.

Chrisjp comes over to help me out with the bagging-up process. Thankfully, he's done this a few times before and I finally get all the different boxes filled and the bag of chips sealed.

What a day. 10 hours of poker, plus breaks, and K was there for the whole thing. Despite not being able to see my table from the rail she patiently stood there the whole day and looked after for me during breaks. Mind you, as a Soap fan she was happy at getting to watch Michael Greco play on the table two behind me by the rail. She was also having fun watching this almost blind guy play. Every time he looked at his cards he had to bring them right up to his face and the whole rail could see what he had. Buoyed by the SNG cash earlier in the week she tried to imagine herself playing with the same cards... maybe next year, dear...

WSOP report - part 1

2008-07-19T06:27:00.000-07:00

Now we've landed back in cold, cold England and I've had some time to reflect on the amazing experience that was the Main Event, I think it's about time I wrote a report.

I actually originally wrote this on Internet Texas Holdem (ITH). Quite possibly, the finest poker forum on the t'internet, and quite possibly the finest internet forum full stop. I'm a sometime poster on there under the name hazey.

So, we got to Vegas on the 2nd July, giving us a few days to settle in, and me a few days to get some warm-up poker sessions under my belt. We spent the first night at the MGM playing 1/2 NL, where I finished with a tidy $50 profit after a couple of hours.

On the second day I got my first taste of tournament play in Vegas. After having a touristy walk round Caesars we stumbled on the poker room and both signed up for a $65 sit-n-go. K has played a few online sit-n-gos in her time and knows the basic tight, tight, tight, pushbot, pushbot, pushbot strategy, but she'd never played live before. We were drawn at either end of the table but it wasn't long before the rest of the table knew we were a married couple...

In the first level I raise from early position with AK, she calls. The flop comes A33, I lead, she raises and I push all-in. Now, I'm really hoping she's not got AA and we've hit the case Ace - that would be embarrassing! But we both flip AK, laugh our socks off and split the pot.

The rest is a bit of a blur until we find ourselves 3-handed. Mrs H has done really well to chip-up and it's just me, her and an older guy left in. We briefly discuss a chop before deciding to play on as I've got a healthy chip lead. A couple of hands later, he calls my check-raise all-in on the flop with 2nd pair and my top pair holds to give A 'n' K 1st and 2nd, yay! I offer to play on heads-up but Mrs H kindly offers to give my ego a boost and my chip lead 1st place - she's so sweet

That evening, we ended up going on a last minute helicopter trip to the Grand Canyon. Landing at the bottom of the Canyon for a picnic as the sun was going down was truly amazing. We then flew back over the strip as it was getting dark. So spectactular!

After getting back to our room at the Bellagio I decide it's a good idea to pop next door to Caesars for their 11pm $120 tournament. I didn't really think through how late this thing might go on but went anyway as I really wanted to get some MTT practice in. 55 players entered and with 3000 chips and 30min blinds things started slow enough but soon cranked up as antes were introduced.

Can't remember very much other than steadily accumulating chips and then getting a nice double-up against the aggro big stack bloke 2 to my right when my KK held against AQ after I shoved against his raise.

Sometime after 2am we'd reached the 10-handed final table. I had arrived as one of the shorter stacks after losing a couple of coin-flips. But with 7 getting paid there was some bubble exploiting to be done...

With the rising blinds/antes I had about 10 big blinds and not in good shape. But a couple of well-timed shoves got me back in contention and I was able chip up after ruthlessly stealing from those who were clearly trying to fold into the money.

Things loosened up slightly after we finally reached the money but unfortunately, I ended up becoming a shortie again after my KK didn't hold for a second time against another AQ. But my later 98s shove into the same player doubled me up and kept me alive against his overcards, much to his disgust!

Just before 5am (!) we were finally down to 3. We were all so short with the rising blinds, but I was shortest and suggested a deal. Mr Big Stack (who can't have had very many chips anyway) was having none of it. A few rounds of push/fold poker later and the guy to my left had finally got fed up of me hitting on his bb and called with T7 against my QJ. I held and we were now heads-up.

When the blinds and antes almost doubled again I suggested a chop - 2nd paid just over $1000 and 1st paid $2000. He had me outchipped, not by much, but still refused to deal. A good thing for me as he totally sucked heads-up! He had a real hard time understanding the whole pre-flop/post-flop postioning and once bet the river out of turn after I had hit trips. I then went for the check-raise, but he folded... hmm. I was now a big chip-leader and he sheepishly asks for a deal. Nope! A couple of hands later we got it all-in with my K8 vs J5 (or something like that anyway). My hand holds and I win. Yay!

The SNG earlier in the day was my first live cash and later on I now have an MTT victory to go with it too!

K was railling me for the whole final table... well, trying not to fall asleep at the table next to us anyway! I'm totally ecstatic as we stagger back to the Bellagio through a fairly quiet casino, apart from one of the noisiest craps tables I saw all trip - some guy in a cowboy hat was clearly having a lot of fun! We hit the Cafe Bellagio for some well-deserved breakfast and then crash.

We awake late on the 4th July and I chat with Tall Paul (another member of the ITH forum and a top guy) in one of many broken mobile phone conversations. It always seemed that one but not the other could get decent reception! Anyway, I promise to head down the Venetian to watch him play in the final table of the Deep Stack tournament. Unfortunately, by the time we have woken, been down the Rio to complete registration for the Main Event and got back again, TP is out.

I then get a call from TP inviting us to a barbeque at chrisjp's house with Yankees (yet more top ITH folks). I must admit we were a little freaked to be invited and initially hesitant but I knew TP, Chris and Yankees would turn out to be cool people (and they were!). Plus the thought of doing a proper American 4th July was too good an offer to refuse! 10 minutes later, Yanks is pulling up outside the Bellagio in his car with TP and they are driving us to Chris'. Genius! Chrisjp and his assembled family and friends are all utterly lovely and make us feel so welcome. We have a quality evening sitting out by the pool eating meat, drinking beer, watching fireworks and talking poker. Could it get any better? Well, yes, when Chris' wife brings out the lemon cakes and ice cream! Mmmmmmm...

The day before the Main Event was spent at Planet Hollywood playing their $80 tournies. I busted out of the 10am one fairly early but meet with the wife for lunch in between her Bellagio spa sessions (that'll be the Caesars money going up in smoke, then!) before deciding to try again in the 2pm. This one goes slightly better until my TP/TK runs into an aggro player's set and I bust. They allow you to re-enter within the first hour and with nothing better to do I pony up another $80. I make this one last and make the final table after a huge slice of luck when I end up having to push J4s only to get called by an AK and KQ. However, a rivered J-high straight triples me up . I am running so good until we're 5-handed and I push from the SB with 66. The chip leader (still with very few big blinds) in the BB calls for half his stack with A8 and spikes an 8 to send me out for $366. Can't complain at that really.

3 MTTs, 2 final tables, 1 win and I feel ready for the Big One, although slightly concerned that I have used up all my luck for the trip!

That night is the PartyPoker party at Prive nightclub, upstairs in Planet Hollywood. A good opportunity to get some free food and booze to help me sleep that night. Got chatting with some Scandinavian online pros that had also qualified for the ME, and bumped into Mike Sexton and Robert Williamson III. Then after a trip to the restroom, I get back to find that K has got chatting with some random girl. Turns out, she's Dave 'Devilfish' Ulliot's girlfriend and is from the north of England like me and K. Anyway, she's lovely and we all have a great chat before getting introduced to Devilfish himself. He always comes across as being a bit of an arse on TV but away from the poker table he seems like a nice guy and incredibly funny with some great stories to tell.

Before long though it's 11pm and time to get some sleep. The nerves are kicking in but I manage to get a reasonable number of hours and wake feeling raring to go.
Wow, that was actually quite a long report - maybe my memory is not so bad after all!

Day 1 of the ME to follow...

I'm out

2008-07-09T19:13:00.000-07:00

Boo. Went out in the middle of level 3 after 5ish hours on my Day 2.

Was up to around 70k in chips at one point but then dwindled after losing a few key pots with big hands that didn't hit.

Final hand came at the 400/800/100 level when I had 32k. Guy before me raises to 3k, I reraise to 10k with QQ, he just calls. Flop comes K92 - he checks, I bet 12k, he raises to put me all-in for my last 10k. After investing 22K, and with 56k in the pot, I pretty much have to call even though it's likely I'm beat. He shows KK for 3 Kings. I'm in real bad shape but the Q on the turn means I have one out to win... the last Q. Hey, it's only a 44/1 shot...! But it doesn't come and I'm O-U-T.

Still enjoyed the whole experience. For the record, I finished about 1978th out of 6844. Not bad for my first time in Vegas, I s'pose...

A.

WSOP Day 2!

2008-07-08T23:52:00.001-07:00

I appear to be at table Brasillia 54 tomorrow (name, chip count, table, seat #):

David Freeman 60,000 BR54 01
Jamal Kunbuz 62,725 BR54 02
A 36,425 BR54 03
Kyle Hewitt 18,100 BR54 04
Shahram Rastegari 56,550 BR54 05
Michael Chiang 27,425 BR54 06
David Barter 30,225 BR54 07
Paul Azinger 21,250 BR54 08
Bryan Curtis 3,175 BR54 09

(I'm seat 3). Brasillia is outside of the main poker room so it probably means my table is likely to be broken up fairly early on and I'll be moved elsewhere as others get knocked out.

Paul Azinger? The golfer?? It appears so - here's hoping he should be sticking to his day job!

I have no idea who the rest are, hope that's a good sign although I am useless when it comes to names.

The blinds start at 250/500 with a 50 ante so still a long, long way to go. At the end of all the Day 1s there were 3663 players still in with 666 players winning money. I expect the money to be reached at sometime during Day 3 so ages away yet. Feel like I've done well to get this far so it's just a case of seeing what happens on Day 2. I'll be trying my best!

A.

Bright light city

2008-07-07T01:51:00.000-07:00

Well….I’ve just deposited the husband at the door of the WSOP room and the queue for the spectators was huge, so I’ve retired to the Party Poker room and thought I’d update you on the last 3 days…. Sorry we’re a bit behind. Pre-big game prep has taken precedence! So A finished the blog on Weds Night (even though he wrote it on Friday - he couldn’t face writing about Thursday as we had such a monster fun filled day). It’s now Sunday, so loads to catch up on.

Thursday morning we woke up and then went to Caesars to play a $65 sit and go - something that both of us could do together. My first live poker action ever…. and I have to say it went quite well! The husband/ wife team finished 1st/2nd - in reality this meant we shared the pot, but A still claims a moral victory as he had more chips at the end! There was one nerve racking point where he and I were all in against each other, him having pushed me all in…. but luckily we both flipped over the same hand, AK (quite ironic given the name of this blog).

Once out of the poker room, we headed back to the hotel to sort out a Grand Canyon trip…. We picked out the one we wanted online and then gave the company a call…. No availability over the 4th July weekend (duh, we should have figured that one!) but she put me on hold and came back and said they had availability for like…. now and that the Limo would pick us up downstairs in five mins. So we popped in our contact lenses and were out the door!

The Limo collected us from the Bellagio and drove us to McCarran Airport where were weighed in….. to sort the helicopter balance out (scary or what?!) and then us and two other couples boarded our helicopter piloted by Capt Scott! It’s only as it was taking off that I remembered that sometimes I have a little fear of heights - oops - too late now! But it was amazing - we flew over the Hoover Dam, Lake Mead (the water backed up from the Hoover Dam), and then onto the Grand Canyon - what an amazing sight….the famous red rocked volcanic structure at Golden Hour, as A calls it. We landed at the base of the Canyon, where we had a champagne picnic, just like the American Indians who own the land… not! We took off again and flew over towards the Las Vegas Strip at sunset, all lit up, it looks spectacular from the sky! What a fab day and as Jimmy Cricket would say and there’s more….

We got back to the hotel at about 9.45pm, we got showered and changed and headed off to Caesars again for the 11pm MTT (or Multi-Table Tournaments to us non-Poker players!) - To keep myself busy I attempted another $65 Sit N Go, but alas I was not to repeat my earlier success, a lowly 9th place finish - hey but I was still ahead!! A on the other hand was doing fine…. Slow and steady play meant that he made it to the final table, albeit with a fairly small stack compared to the other players but still alive, with the top 7 places paid prizes. At this point it was about 2am, I’d depleted all my interest in the slot machines and I was just wondering how much longer it would go on for….well the answer was until 5.30am!!! This was despite many offers to share the prize money, there was always one person who didn’t want the deal! Finally the field was down to 3, and A was the shortest stack… he then managed to bully the guy to his left several times into folding and the placings were reversed, he then knocked him out and it was down to the final 2 - minimum $1000 prize, all for the bargain price of $120, plus 6 hours of both of our time!! A again asked if his opponent, Yen, wanted to split the pot, but he wasn’t up for it as he had a substantial lead and instead said “Let’s play 3 more hands and we’ll see”. Big mistake number 1, Yen, my husband rocks heads up and sure enough the tables were turned within those three hands and A was the big stack. He then wanted to split but A wasn’t having it and the next hand he won the big prize…. $2k! Wow…. We were knackered but ecstatic!! We collected his winnings and then carefully treaded into the sun, which was just rising and headed back to the hotel for Breakfast before retiring to our bed…. Zzzzz.

Next day, or 2pm when we finally emerged from our pit, we headed out to check out the scene at the World Series (WSOP) at the Rio, so that A could register and get the lay of the land. Wow, there are a lot of poker players here… the majority whom have qualified via online, but some Pros and others who are willing to pay in the $10k. It was a bit nerve racking, but hopefully settled A into what the scene would be like.

We then got a phone call from one of A’s online poker contacts who invited us to his home in the Las Vegas suburbs for a 4th July BBQ - very bizarre but a true American experience!!!

Next day was spent poker practicing and chilling in the Spa (guess which way around?!) , then onto the Party Poker Party at Prive in Planet Hollywood, where I got chatting to the Devil Fish’s (a well known poker pro from Hull) girlfriend and then we got an intro to the man himself….fairly cool!

Today I’ve been railing A at the WSOP - my feet are so tired, but in a way that’s good cos he’s made it through to Day 2.… am just sat outside the room waiting for the chip count…….. He’ll let you know, but that’s me signing off for today!

Not sure he is awake enough to let you know, but the news is he has 36,425 chips so over 16,000 more than he started with and is in good shape for Day 2, which plays on Weds!!! Plus check out an interview with A at http://blog.partypoker.com/

Will and Ali join us tomorrow, so should be more fun to follow.

PS - pictures still not working... we'll fix tomorrow.... promise!

Today's the day

2008-07-06T09:16:00.000-07:00

My first day in the World Series of Poker Main Event is today. I start in about 2 and a half hours (12PM PT, 8PM BST). Getting kinda nervous but really looking forward to it...

Vegas, baby!

2008-07-04T12:39:00.000-07:00

Well, we made it to Vegas. After a 2nd lovely day in Santa Monica with a walk up to Venice Beach and an afternoon at Universal Studios, it was time for us (well mainly K, actually) to pack up the suitcases again, and head out.

286-ish miles from Santa Monica to Vegas, and about 100 of that just crossing the behemoth that is LA. The drive up the mountains and through the desert was pretty spectacular, and then the sheer madness of a high-rise city in the middle of nowhere hits you as soon as you spy the pyramid of Luxor from the I-15.

This place is truly insane.

After having the air-con on full blast all the way the first we felt of the heat was in the middle of the multi-storey carpark at the Bellagio. The floor we were on had never even seen daylight yet after stepping out of the car it felt like you'd just set foot in an oven at 180 degrees (that's about gas mark 4 for anyone still using old money...). This place is hot. It's a good job then that the hotels have their own air-con also running at full blast - no doubt using the equivalent of an entire country in electricity - 1.21 gigawatts(!) a second, every second no doubt...

The Bellagio is prettay, prettay, sweet and the view from our room window is amazing. We've got the Eiffel Tower in front of us and the famous Bellagio lake and fountains down and left a bit. A constant reminder, whenever you open the curtains, of just how insane this place is. They even put the fountain music on its own TV channel so you can watch the full show from your room when they're on.

After settling-in to the room, we stumbled around the Bellagio casino, not quite believing that the minimum bet on one Blackjack table we saw was $500! We then hit Olives for dinner which was great. Kate had the Mahi Mahi (some fishy dish, don't think K knew quite what it was) and I went for the Pork Tenderloin which was superb.

We then headed down to the MGM - the taxi line at the Bellagio was horrendous so we decided to try to walk it, after all, we could see the top of the hotel from the street, so it can't have been that far! Bong! Error. Even though the sun had just about set it was still unbelievably hot and the MGM was a little further than we thought. Oh well, the air-con set us right again once we stepped inside.

Since we'd come here for the poker we set about trying to play some. We were hoping for some small buy-in tournaments that both me and K could play together - unfortunately there weren't any running so K let me sit down in one of the many tables of cash games that were playing.

I put my name down for a $1/$2 no-limit hold'em game and within a few minutes I was sat down. I always feel a bit nervous when first sitting-in and this was no exception, especially as I didn't really know how to get my cash turned to chips. Anyway, the chip-runner lady soon took my hundred bucks that I was buying-in for and returned with a fairly small looking stack of red $5 chips. I was kinda hoping for a nice big wodge of chips that would look at least a little bit impressive, but hey, give me a few mins and I'll have 'em doubled, trippled or quadrupled up! Yeah, right. After about an hour of having a whole bunch of rubbish starting hands I'd dwindled with the blinds to about $85. Not quite what I had in mind.

Then I got dealt 88 in the big-blind. The guy across from me raises to $10, gets two other callers and it comes to me. I call for the extra $8. The flop comes a beautiful T82 rainbow, giving me three 8's and what surely must be the best hand right now. I check, hoping the raiser will bet again which he duly obliges with another $20. The other two fold and I think about raising. I reckon his most likely holding is a couple of high cards - AK or AQ so I just call, hoping he'll improve on the next two cards. The turn is a King which I'm hoping he hit. I check but unfortunately he checks behind. The river is another King giving me a full house. Unless he has KT for an unlikely bigger full house I think I'm good here but I really don't want him to check behind again so I bet out for $3o hoping just to get paid off. Please have AK, or AA or QQ and call, please! After a long think he calls. Yes! Unfortunately I had the right to wait for him to show what he had first but with a bit of a schoolboy error I got too excited and flinged over my 88 - he then threw his cards into the muck pretty damn sharpish, clearly beaten. Would have been nice to see what he had, anyway learn for next time, but I scoop a nice $140 pot putting me at about $160 total.

After a few more hands I'm getting the feeling that K is pretty darn bored (as I'm sure you all are after that description!) and I get up to leave with $150 left. $50 profit, nice!

Then it's back to the Bellagio (in a cab this time!) and to bed to await a new day of madness in Sin City.

A.

(PS. I was going to add photos but now can't get it to work - will do later)

Love/Hate America

2008-07-01T08:33:00.000-07:00

Loves:

- New York - cool city, even if the people can get a little grouchy
- San Francisco - cool city, a hundred times more laid back than NYC - and they have beaches!
- The food - great food in humungous portions - mmmmm...
- In-n-Out Burger - we need something like these on our side of the pond so badly.
- The service - almost always a million times better than in the UK in almost every situation, almost always with a smile, even if you can tell they might not really mean it...
- A Starbucks on every corner - when you absolutely, positively have to have a Caramel Macch, accept no substitutes!

Hates:

- A Starbucks on every corner - corporate America gone a little too far. Mind you, we're heading this way in the UK too
- Turning right on red - most traffic light junctions allow you to turn right, even when on red - ARE YOU INSANE?!?
- Turning right on green - you've still gotta watch for the crazy, drunk pedestrians (or cyclists, hey K?) who have right of way.
- No roundabouts - c'mon America, they're not that difficult. Give way to the right - simple.
- 15-20% tipping as standard - yes the service is great and usually happy to pay for it, but as a Yorkshireman this has to go down as a Hate...
- Sales tax - instead of adding it on at the till, here's an idea - call it VAT and include it in the label price - simple.
- Running-out-of-single-dollar-bills-when-your-valet-parker-has-his-hand-out - In the land of the tip, the one dollar bill is king. Not having any when you need them is a bummer. Hate this.

A.

Days 5, 6 and 7...oops missed a few!!

2008-06-30T23:20:00.000-07:00

So where did we get to....? Ah right, San Simeon - so we spent a fairly uneventful evening, what was left of it anyway, in the Orchid Inn after our mammoth trek down the 1 and then the 101. We were a bit disappointed not to have made it all the way down the Pacific Coast Highway or PCH as us seasoned travellers now call it(!), but we were still on course!

We took full advantage of the all inclusive breakfast buffet at the Orchid, although no pancakes today - boo!

Once stuffed, we headed off to Hearst Castle - a big house built atop a massive hill by a millionaire publisher mogul in the 1920s to 1948 - yes, it took him that long to complete...so Sarah and Graeme, you've got a bit of time yet to beat that!! ;0) But as the American lady on our tour said: "Doesn't it look good for its age?" I had to bite my tongue as all I wanted to say was.."It's only 60 years old... you want to see the real castles we have in the UK!".

I thought it was quite interesting, however, the husband was a but underwhelmed - see his picture comment below. This Hearst guy had basically collected a load of Spanish/ Italian Tat and then built a house in the middle of nowhere around it. What was interesting though was that the architect who designed everything was the first female architect graduate of Berkeley College and one of the reasons it took so long is that he was a demanding client who kept changing his mind! Sounds like it should have been the other way around!

Once we'd done the castle (?!) - it wasn't really a castle though, we headed south on Route 1 again, stopping at Morro Bay for an Ice Cream (thanks Dad!) - basically this place is famous for.....a big rock, just off the coast - so not all that interesting, but a good place for a stop, none the less.

We arrived in Santa Barbara at about 5pm and settled into the Hotel Oceana for two nights. Right on the beachfront/ marina it was a very pleasant place to stay and thankfully we'd picked up the Southern Californian weather too - so it was lovely - dry and sunny!

Day 2 in Santa Barbara (day 6 overall), we awoke to another sunny day and spent the morning lazing by the pool - well I did anyway... A was torn between there and the Euro Final which was showing on ESPN in our room!!! Typical! Once the footie, sorry Soccerball, had finished we headed out to Los Olivos in Wine Country. My designated driver, A, had agreed to do the proper wine tasting effort and not drink (or gulp in my case) the wine.

We had a really good time in the tasting rooms - Andrew Murray (assume it's not the one trailblazing Wimbledon at the moment) and Daniel Gehr. Bought a few bottles, but won't guarantee they'll get home with us - oops!!

Then we stopped off at a vineyard- some might call it trespassing - to take some photos of the vines!! Back into town and off up State Street for an evening wander.

Next morning and we were up and at em again and departed for LA. We've not heard great things about LA from those who've done this trip before us, but we really enjoyed the drive down here through Malibu, guessing which stars lived in the houses on the Malibu hilltops. Then we spent the afternoon driving around taking in the Los Angeles sights...yes that's drive- this city is far too big to walk around. So this arvo we did Mann's Chinese Theatre on Hollywood Boulevard (we almost saw Will Smith at the Premiere for Hancock, but we couldn't be bovvered waiting for him!!), a Fresh and Easy Store (yes, old Tesco habits die hard!), the Hollywood sign and Rodeo Drive, via the mansions of Beverly Hills for which I sang the song from BH Cop all the way around (in the style of Peter Griffin).

We then returned to the safety and sanity of Santa Monica where we are staying, safe in the knowledge we'd done the LA sights in one arvo and that's us done! It's a bit of a sprawling place, with not that much to see really.... so we're glad we're spending tomorrow in Santa Monica and then hopefully Universal Studios. I think 2 days here will be enough. It's a massive contrast to SF or the places we've stayed on the coast.

Anyway, got a bottle of Daniel Gehr's finest to finish and then sleep....zzz.

Good night!

K x

Photo recap part 4

2008-06-29T13:45:00.000-07:00

Right, last one. We're about to head north-west out of Santa Barbara to wine country and Los Olivios.

The coast around Big Sur...

Not the (quite) famous Bixby Bridge but another one just before it, we so stupid...

Outside Hearst Castle, the biggest tourist trap in all of California...
The castle itself...
Here today, gone to-Morro Rock...

Photo recap part 3

2008-06-29T13:38:00.001-07:00

K on one of our bikes...
The Bridge...

Carmel Mission. We only peered over the wall and didn't bother going in. Unfortunately, this may have led one group in a camper van to think it was shut and head straight back out of the car park!

Photo recap part 2

2008-06-29T13:32:00.000-07:00

San Fran...
Lombard Street...

Tram and ALCATRAZ!
Dutch windmill in the Golden Gate park

Photo recap part 1

2008-06-29T13:22:00.000-07:00

Well I've finally got around to gettting the piccys off my own camera and on to the 'puter. As usual, I've been taking far too many, much to the annoyance of K at times...

Anyway, here's a few randoms from our hol so far...

ALCATRAZ!!!

"Hours of boredom, seconds of terror". Sounds a bit like your average poker tournament to me...

The Dining Room menu. Can you smell what The Rock is cookin'!

Piccies from Day 4 (part deux)

2008-06-28T10:07:00.001-07:00

On the road!
Big Sur coastline and the Bibby Creek Bridge
Road block!!!
Golden Hour through a wing mirror
The road well travelled! Just a little detour!

Piccies from Day 4

2008-06-28T10:01:00.001-07:00

Santa Cruz is not that far...
Monterey Cannery Row
Colourful jelly fish at the Monterey Aquarium
Carmel Beach

Santa Cruz is not that far....

2008-06-28T09:55:00.000-07:00

Well today was jam packed again and started at 8am with another Lori’s breakfast right across the road from our hotel - pancakes and bananas all round - mmm set us up for the day nicely!

Next job was to pick the car up….so we traipsed up the 2 blocks to the Dollar car rental shop where they presented us with a typical American plastic/ steel shell of a car , a Dodge Caliber, with 4 cup holders. When you shut the doors on this thing it doesn’t have that satisfying clunk that our Audi has, instead it’s more of a tinny rattle. I wouldn’t like to say what the calibre of this car is, but it’s not one that I would buy, however, on the plus side it was a free upgrade from the Ford Focus we’d ordered (thanks for the tip, Chris W!).

So having negotiated our way out of the underground car park we were on our way to Monterey! Ace navigator, aka the hubby, did a sterling job finding us a route out of SF that meant I spent the minimum amount of time on the SF streets where there are three things that could have happened: 1 - Tramp jumps in front of us, 2 - we get rammed by a cable car or 3 - I go the wrong way up a one way street!

An hour and a bit on the road later and we’re feeling a bit more confident and arrive safe and sound in Monterey at Fisherman’s Wharf… actually quite similar to the Fisherman’s Wharf area in San Fran. We had a bit of a wander and then headed to the Monterey Aquarium - the largest aquarium in the USA. Had a good nosey round there, we particularly liked the sea otters - a bit of a cross between a beaver and a seal.

Then back in the car, and off to Carmel to see the sea. The beach was lovely, if a little breezy, with golden fine sand. Then back in the tin truck to the Mission for a quick piccie stop and onto Highway 1 - the Pacific coast highway for a leisurely 100 mile drive down to San Simeon (or so we thought). We did, on the way out of Carmel, see a sign that said something about the Highway 1 being closed in 30 miles, but we chose to ignore it as we didn’t see anything else that would suggest it was closed!!

This was it… one of the main reasons for our trip, driving along the cliff tops overlooking the Pacific Ocean, making regular piccie stops and some absolutely breathtaking views - pure bliss! However, there was what we couldn’t decide between lingering mist or smoke in the air - we found our answer in the shape of 2 Highway Patrol officers, who informed us that we would have to turn back as a 30 mile stretch of the road was closed due to the Forest Fires in the area which were only 2% contained (I had heard something vaguely like this on the radio in SF and thought nothing of it really - oops!). So we had to drive back to Monterey and then onto the much less scenic route 101 - boo! Although luckily we’d seen a good chunk of the road and could imagine what the rest would be like.

So just arrived at the hotel at 9.30pm after our 155 mile detour (see piccie)! Anyways we’re both tired again now… must be all the sea breeze laced with forest fire smoke!! Off to Hearst Castle and Santa Barbara tomorrow. Good night!

Pictures from Day 3

2008-06-28T09:36:00.000-07:00

The painted ladies of San Francisco - on Alamo Square
Dutch windmill in the Golden Gate park - nowhere near the Golden Gate Bridge
A on the beach in front of the Golden Gate Bridge
The view from under the bridge, before we cycled up the hill to get over it!

Day 3 - Up and down

2008-06-26T21:18:00.000-07:00

Pancakes and maple syrup. They go together like bacon and eggs. In fact, they go better together when all-together... with sausages, and hash browns...

So started day 3 in Lori's Diner with a heart-attack on a plate. Good job too with the amount of excerise we ended up getting.

We gave San Francisco's bus system a try today. It's just like London, complete with the obligitory one-mentalist-per-bus quota. Anyway, off we went to see the number one thing to do in SF, according to the Rough Guide, a row of 5 or 6 different coloured houses on Alamo Square. Wow, what a let-down, they're not even nice houses, just coloured in some long since sun-faded pastels. Still, the park opposite was nice and you could see the whole city over their rooftops.

Then it was off to the Golden Gate park, which I always thought was near the similarly named bridge... nope! Walked for miles and miles from one end to the other down at the beach. Its a very pretty park with lots of lakes and a Japanese tea garden which was worth a look. Still, I would much rather have had one of the Segways that one group of tourists were using. Those things are utter genius but quite abnormally freaky when you see them in action up close.

Once we finally made it to the beach, it was back on the bus to take us back up the hill and to the Fisherman's Wharf area. We skillfully dodged the tourist trap of the Wharf itself after yesterday's mistake to head for lunch at In-n-Out Burger. I'd heard so much about this place from a mate that lived on the West Coast a few years back that we had to try it. I was all fired up for ordering from their so-called Secret Menu and get a 3 by 3 burger but after breakfast I settled on only having a double-double. I did however partake in a Choco-vanilla swirl shake which was ace. The burgers are great too, probably the best fast-food ones I've ever had. Definitely be seeking out more of these on our way down the coast.

Then for the second part of today's exertions. We hired bikes to cycle across the Golden Gate bridge and to Sausalito. The bridge itself is awesome and hopefully I bagged some nice piccys to show it. Once across, it's a 15min speedy freewheel down the other side into Sausalito - a quaint little coastal town with lots of boutique-y shops and cafes. Unfortunately, the ferry back to SF was about to leave so we couldn't stop, and we weren't about to attempt cycling all the way back up that darn hill if we missed it! Definitely one place to spend more time if we come back though.

Another cable-car took us back downtown. Hanging off the side of those things is a joy as it flies up and down all the crazy, inclined streets.

Finished the day in SFMOMA for the late Thursday opening. Saw some nice stuff but half the photography floor was shut which was a bit of a let-down.

So that's the first part of our trip pretty much over as tomorrow we pick up the hire car to head down the coast and Route 1.

A.

Photos from Day 2

2008-06-25T23:07:00.000-07:00

The dreaded standby line or queue to us Brits
Alcatraz
On board our vessel that helped us escape from the Rock
Lombard Street - the crookedest, but one of the prettiest, streets in the world
Alcatraz from the top of one of San Fran's many hills

The rock and rolling

2008-06-25T22:15:00.000-07:00

The jet lag kicked in last night and despite all my efforts to 'power through' it- I dozed off at about 8.45pm local time (4.45 am UK time)...and slept like a log until 5am this morning undisturbed by the Powell Street cable car bells right outside our window!

I'd been particularly organised, list and all, (even though we're on hols I can't give up my Monica-ish tendencies!) and booked the Alcatraz ferry for the 9.30am trip. Having woken up early, we thought we'd have plenty of time to get there using the famed San Fran street cars which run from about 20 yards from our hotel.... however, what I hadn't bargained for was that the famed Hignett late gene would kick in. We went for a leisurely stroll to Starbucks for a customary skinny latte and muffin for brekkie and then joined the queue at the cable car station...so far, so good... but what I hadn't bargained on was that the cable car was a nicety rather than a will get you where you want to go method of transportation.

Firstly, the cars wait across the street for a break at their last stop prior to commencing their next route, I can only assume that the drivers are heavily unionised and require frequent rest stops. Then just as we were about to board we will told, no hot beverages - again a litigious matter!! So we had to wait for the next one. Once happily settled on board, we were on our way, although a little bit nervous at how quickly we could get there, especially when at the first stop, the 'gripman' entered into a dialogue about the whys and wherefores of new passengers, where they could board, what they could do.....we weren't going to get there in time...eek! After about 10 mins we'd made it to Union Square (about 2 mins walk up the road) -so in a vain attempt to make it...we got off and ran. But alas Pier 33 was too far to go in the 10 mins we had - so I was red faced and hot having run for miles (well at least 2!), displayed the 2nd Hignett gene of having a rant in the street and we hobbled to the Pier for 9.40am. I was convinced we'd blown it... the tickets were very clear about no transfers or refunds, so that was it... no tickets available until Saturday... when incidentally we'll be in Santa Barbara - very helpful! On the off chance we turned up at the ticket office and what I can only describe as grovelled. Immediately the kindly lady pulled out a roll of stickers and said not to worry that we could wait in the standby line....how happy was I. A nervous wait with 2 other ladies who'd befallen a similar fate and we were on the 10am boat instead!!! Hurrah!!

Alcatraz was cool!! A really interesting audio tour in the cell block and loads of things to see and learn about, although there were a ridiculous number of giant seagulls who looked ready to either peck your eyes out or deliver an aerial parcel on you at any second!

After making our way back to the mainland, we headed to Pier 39 for lunch... hadn't really known what to expect and as it hadn't made the top 23(why 23 I'll never know - it's not exactly a round number!) things to do in the rough guide to San Fran, I wasn't hopeful and we were right! It reminded me a little of Alton Towers, very commercial and a bit fake... and the guidebook said that the locals shudder as they walk through it.... it is really different from the rest of San Francisco. However, it was a good spot to grab a cheap pizza lunch and to see the famed sea lions that bask on the docks!

Our next stop was Coit Tower, an observation tower that sits atop Telegraph Hill and provides great views over the bay and beyond. Was a really cool place to stop and well worth the excruciating climb up the steepest steps ever! The story behind the tower is also quite interesting... basically a local eccentric lady was a bit fireman obsessed and the legend is that the tower was built with £100k that she left in her will and looks like the nozzle of a fire hose (or a part of the firemens' anatomy which she apparently had good knowledge of too!)

After the tower, we scaled Lombard street - the crookedest street in the world - again very cool, even more so for the brave skater boyz who were winding their way down it.. along with the sheepishly driven cars.

We then caught a cable car (all the way back to the hotel this time!) and rolled up and down the San Fran hills - much easier than walking up and down them!!! The hotel had free Californian wine on offer in the lobby on our return so we partook in a couple of tipples - would have been rude not to and then we continued on to the Grand Hyatt for drinks in their 36th floor observation bar, with dinner at Morton's traditional steak house - yummy - although needless to say our 'smaller' portion steaks were still huge.

Very tired now... but looking forward to another jam packed day tomorrow..... we're hiring bikes and cycling across the Golden Gate Bridge (amongst other things!). Having a fab time so far, will let you know how we get on tomorrow!

K x

Hey, how you doing?

2008-06-24T20:52:00.000-07:00

Umm... hello? New to this new-fangled internet web logging malarkey, but here goes...

So this is the "blog" (hey, it's what the kids seem to be calling it so let's just go with it shall we?) of A and K's trip to San Francisco, LA and Las Vegas, culminating on A taking on 6000-odd of the world's best poker players in the World Series of Poker Main Event for an $8.5m first prize. Easy.

So, this is A. I'll be the one writing in normal fonts. K, A's better half, will also be chipping-in but in italics.

Like this... hello!

So, why AnK Suited? Well, for those non-poker-playing readers out there, AK suited is a nice hand in Texas Hold'em, an Ace and a King, both of the same suit which makes it more valuable to making flushes. It also jst so happens that our initials are A and K and well, we quite suit each other... :o)

So, we have arrived, safe and sound, in San Francisco. Had a good afternoon wandering around and getting fed and watered,... and I've now been up for almost 24h straight and can't...keep...my...eyes....open...any...longer...