I seem to remember ending my last column by stating that I would have a relatively quiet month in which to prepare for the
World Series of Poker. Having booked a flight out on June 7, I began to plan which events to play in before the arrival of the Ladbrokes qualifiers on June 30 and the opening of their players lounge. Just the thought of poker made me itch for a game, and the next leg of the
GUKPT was just a week away. Unfortunately, it clashed with the
FA Cup final, but I was yet to have my tickets confirmed. Five people had promised me two tickets, but with five days till kickoff, not one had contacted me. Eventually, Ladbrokes helped make up my mind by offering to sponsor me for the poker tournament. Twenty minutes after travelling to the nearest Grosvenor casino to preregister, one of my contacts phoned, saying he had the promised two tickets!
It was the first
Cup final at the new Wembley Stadium, Manchester United was playing, and I heard myself refusing two tickets; poker gets to you like that.
I didn't have to wait too long before being proven to have made the right decision.
Having ended day one second in chips, I returned for day two on the day of the
Cup final. The game was boring, Manchester United lost, and after a roller-coaster chip lead, I made it to the last 14 and day three. With 20 players left, I had more than 500,000 of the 3.1 million chips in play. After taking on two all-in players in two separate races, both times being in front on the flop and losing on the river, I ended day two with 190,000. Despite making day three, I couldn't make it through any more players and exited in 14th place, the only comfort being that I thought I was playing well, and with Vegas just around the corner, what a time to hit a bit of form.
A week later, I was back in London to host the
Poker Million satellite at Leyton Orient; £100 sit-and-gos were being held in the morning to qualify for the £1,000 satellite in the afternoon. Twenty minutes before registration closed, and with no time for another sit-and-go, the one-hand turnover proved to be as popular as ever; I even added to the excitement by offering odds on any hand before and on the flop. Thirty-six entrants meant we could offer two seats into the
Poker Million and payouts to the next three. Eventually, we had a final-table lineup that included current
World Open champion Anthony Hardy, Sandy Huckle, one of the two lady players who entered, Simon Zach, last year's bubble player, and one of the three Romanello brothers (yes, there are three!), Antoni. With the people's favourite Jon "Skalie" Kalmar finishing third, the two seats went to Ash Hussain and a player I consider to be at the top of his game, Kevin O'Connell.
Funds raised throughout the day went to the Leyton Orient Youth Development Scheme.
With the day over, I thought I would be travelling home to write this column and pack for Vegas. One phone call and an e-mail later, I am writing this on a plane to Vienna to squeeze in two days of voice-overs before flying to Vegas.
Surely after all of this, even the excitement of knowing that the
WSOP has begun and at the time of this writing two bracelets have already been won won't be enough to stop me from sleeping through the 10-hour flight.
