Going Liquid

What a strange sensation it is to being going liquid at this stage of my life.Its not an easy thing to do. To sell most of your material goods in order to move half way around the world. Although I consider myself a 90% poker player I have also had a couple of businesses on the go over the past few years. This has provided me with a stable lifestyle so that I have been able to go out and play poker without worrying where the next months mortgage will come from.

I came back from travelling Australia and New Zealand in 1999. I had been away for 2 years and I had my rucksack on my back and a couple hundred pounds in my pocket. This was all that I owned in the world. Upon my return I made a few phonecalls and got offered a job as an assistant manager in a busy pub/restaurant in Essex.

After 18 months i got transfered into my own pub also in Essex. 6 months later the company who owned the pub sold up and I had the chance to take on a 10 year lease. I was offered the lease for free all I had to do was come up with the rent deposit and buy the stock. So 8 years later I have sold up. Made a good profit on the place. I actually made an increase in profit and turnover every year in what is a declining market. Im also glad to be out before the smoking ban ruins the trade.

The house is also ready to complete, just a few more i's to dot and t's to cross and we will be there. The strange part for me is all the little bits and pieces that I need to liquidate before the big move. The things that you dont think about but will need to be sold anyway as there is no point in taking them. As I stated in my original post timing is the key to everything in this move.

I have to sell my car. Its a good car in good condition and I want a good price for it so I dont want to just make it a last minute sale but on the other hand I want it avalible to me up until the day I leave. Same goes for my TV and computer. I bought a 46 inch top spec plasma screen which is the dog's. Although I have only had it for about 6 months I doubt I will get even a 1/4 of the price of what I paid for it. So al my electronic items have to go. The people who are buying my house have made offer on the white kitchen appliances and have made a terrible offer to me for them all. They are taking the piss with the offer and they know that they are but for the effort on my behalf to get them all moved to sell to someone else they know they are in a strong position. Saying that they are paying over the odds for the house so maybe I should cut them some slack.

Most of the stuff I guess I will have to give away. Its going to be a new life for us out there and although replacing a whole house worth will prove expensive I think it is the better way of doing it. My internation removals company is quoting my £5k to ship my stuff to vegas. As my visas are all in order yet though they are refusing to do it until all the papers are sorted. So what we are doing now is going with another firm and sending all to my parents in Virginia. From there it will be easier to get it all sent on to vegas.

Xmas and New Year have been very awkward for me this year. To be honest im not a great fan of either really but this year they have just got in the way.

I think my solicitor has taken two weeks over through the holidays so no news on the house completing.

My bad news of the holidays has been the closure of MaxJet. Maxjet was/is a budget business class airline that ran out of stanstead airport (some 15 minutes away for me). They did some great deals and provided an amazing service for flying direct to Vegas. So I guess its back to Virgin and Gatwick for me, what a pain that will be, im not a fan of Gatwick in the slightest.

We are planning a trip over in 2 weeks to meet with a couple of estate agents and to look into rental accomodation for when our house is sold. Also planning to visit other parts of Vegas than just the strip to discover the suburbs and to see if we can find the family home that we are looking for.

Well thats it for now I guess please feel free to post comments. This thing is easier to write if I feel people are out there reading. Im a bit of a technophob so I havent got the blog set up with a counter yet or linked to a blog rater.

21st Century

Poker in the UK has now entered the 21st Century.

I made the drive up to Nottingham last night. Some 145 miles around the M25 and then M1 led me to this powerhouse of a pokerroom. I had set the sat nav but was suprised at just how easy it was to get to Rob Yong's new club. Upon arriving i quickly received my membership card and entered the club for the first time. I walk in and slowly turn my head from side to side trying to take in as much as I can from my full 180 degree view. I dont think i have ever walked into a cardroom seeing such energy even in Vegas. I spot a few familiar faces and walk over to say hello. Simon Trumper (who runs all the poker at DTD) is introduced to me, and offers me a full personal tour of the club. He talks me through all the ins and outs of the club. The tv tables, how the tournament system works through the 22 plasma screens around the room. He takes me into the bar and restaurant which is very special and been done out to the highest order. The next part of the tour he takes me to the VIP lounge and shows me the private cash tables out the back for the big game. I thank Simon for the tour and made my way to the cash game desk and put my name on the £5/£5 dealers choice game and within minutes a new table is opened to accomodate. Soon enough we have a very lively game with some big name players and a few value stars in the game. I find my feet quite quickly even though I only really know the style of play of a couple of the players. SuperStud was the main game of choice which is becoming more and more the game of choice in the dealers games that I sit in. SuperStud creates some monster pots many of which result in multiway allins. If you are in form in this game you can end up with a very profitable session, maybe moreso than any other game.

I ended up doing my money in the game i didnt have the greatest run of the cards during the session but i felt that i had played ok for my first venture at DTD. We had some great banter all night and as i say even though I had a hefty lose I definatly had a very enjoyable night and im looking forward to my next game at DTD.

All of you out there that reads this blog I ask you to visit DTD as soon as possible if you havent already. When you get there you will be glad you made the trip.

From Now Till Then

So the big move is still a few weeks away. So what am i gonna do in the meantime. Well tonight I'm gonna venture up to Dusk Till Dawn for the first time. I have heard nothing but good news about this place and im quite excited to see just what the place has to offer.

For those of you reading this blog that dont know me and maybe some of those that do. A brief background on me as a poker player. I turned up on the poker scene between 2 1/2 to 3 years ago now. I was completly a tournament player i had no interest in cash games whatsoever. I remember one of my first trips to the Westcliff at Southend, I busted out of the comp and there was a selfdeal nlh game running in the corner. I sat in the game felt hugely uncomfortable in it and proceeded to do my money until my lift later got busted out of the comp. The Westcliff used to run a £100 f/o in a room downstairs of the casino it was dull and dingey no windows and a low ceiling. They allowed smoking in the room, thankfully they stopped allowing the smoking after the first few visits i made. Westcliff was very profitable for me with a hugely high % of top 3 finishes. The reason why I stopped going was because it was only getting 20-25 runners and I decided to start cutting my teeth elsewhere.

So Luton was the next casino I came across. A new room with new players to work out. Luton at this time was quite a tough place to play with some tough seasoned regulars that more than knew there way around. So bigger fields more money on offer but not so easy to get hold of. I hold my own final table here final table there couple of top 3 finishes and every now and then a win. My first festival comes along and i win a single table sat into the £750 f/o with 3 left i was up against Michael Greco and Carlo Citrone. I beat Carlo heads up and was on a real high as the comp started. Well to cut a long story short i make it through to Day 2 onto the final table and we are now discussing a chop. 1 guy is worried about doing a deal as he will get less European Ranking points. I didnt have a clue what he was going on about. The deal gets made and i walk out the casino with £12k in my back pocket. Not bad for a day and a halves work. So I guess im now hooked and like a million and one other soles im playing poker as often as possible. The following week i venture to the Gutshot. I finish 2nd in the 100 rebuy and the following day i get a 4th in the £500 f/o. The final table was televised and is still rerun about twice a week on one of the poker channels. A few weeks later and Im in Vegas, about 8 of us went from Luton id just tagged on to some coat tails but id made my way out there and this is were i got my first taste of real cash action. My first night we go down to the mirage and i get a seat in the $1-$2 nlh game. I sit with the max $200. Within a couple of hours i have about $1200 in front of me, i properly covered the table. I didnt realise at the time but this was my first lesson in playing cash.

Well lots of things have happened in the meantime and I honestly didnt intended the last section of this blog to be this long. Im sure that ill fill in the missing parts at a later date. I guess the reason for me posting this is just to let you all know that these days i consider myself a cash player even though I still play comps and expect to cash in the majority of the comps that I play.

There are lots of things to learn in playing poker but the biggest lesson I think I have learnt is how to make a profit to control bankroll and very importantly never a lender be.

Well good luck to me at DTD ill let you know how things went after the weekend.

So Where To Begin

It took me a while to work out how to write my first entry for my first blog.
So I guess I'm going start by defining why I'm writing the blog at all. Nancy (my fiance and soon to be wife) were talking about moving and were considering somewhere further north from where we are now in Hornchurch. We had been looking at different towns for a while when one night i returned home from the casino and suggested that we consider moving to Las Vegas instead.

My family all moved to the states about 10 years ago. My parents live on the east coast. My sister is just finishing uni and my brother lives in New Mexico with his wife and 3 young children. Stephen my brother 6 years my junior is in the US Airforce and has become a US Citizen. This is our in.

So i have sold up my business i have had a lease on a pub in Romford for the past 7 years. Accepted an offer on the house. Made arrangement for all our furniture to be shipped. Its amazing how many things you have to do just to move house. I have got a million and one things still to do before we move but they get crossed off the long list one by one.

I still find it strange telling people that we are moving to LV. I see the way they look at me as if its the craziest idea they have ever heard and that they are sure ill be back in no time at all totally skint. So i tell people that we are moving to the states i only mention LV if they push for further details.

Although Vegas is Vegas poker is not the main reason for going there. Im looking for a better standard of living and a nicer way of life. We will be looking to start a family after we are married and Vegas seems like as good a place as any. Most people think of vegas as the strip but its a big old place and im sure we can find a nice patch just for us start our family.

One of my fav sayings in poker is "you cant beat timing" well so far it seems my timing has been perfect for this big move. I have sold the pub at its peak turnover and before the cig ban has killed it. The UK housing market is at its peak and i have got an unbelieveable price for my house. The £ is as strong against the $ as its been for a long time and on top of all that the housing market in the states has crashed due to the credit crunch.

So thats the plan move to Vegas get a year round tan destroy the yanks in the cash games. What an edge to be a local but to be given the respect of a brit tourist. Ill know all the best places to play and the best times to play them. Im expecting to play all weekend when all the tourists are in and take it easy Mondays and Tuesdays.

This blog will contain bad beats but will be more for the purposes of giving all that what to read an insight into what its like to life in Vegas. Details on all the different casinos. Deals you can get all over town. Things to do in Vegas when not gambling. Im sure the blog will adapt as my live changes.

So what happens next. Im looking to move around Feb 1st so that gives my 6 weeks. I play Luton as my home casino but over the next few weeks i play to go to the Vic and DTD to see whatelse is out there right now. Ill also be making a few trips over to Vegas. I need to do some house hunting open bank accounts and a few other bits and pieces.

Hope you enjoyed my opening post feel free to comment