European Poker Tour London Part 1 - Baller or Not?

I wrote my last blog during my flight to London so its only fitting I follow it up with one written on the flight home to Ottawa.

Before I get into my adventures I want to share some Heathrow terminal food advice. If you are looking for a cheap yet delicious on the go meal make your way to the “Pret a Manger” ,which translates to “Ready to Eat”, and grab a hot wrap for £4.25. I personally went with the jalapeno chicken wrap but there were at least four other options and I assume they’re all delicious.

Since this is a poker blog I feel obligated to update my readers on the latest news in my poker life. Since coming to England my HEM graph mimics a Swiss double black diamond ski run going straight down over 12k hands to the tune of 40 buy ins from two different sites.

Everyone thought I was exaggerating my plight until I sat down with Gavz, Frank (e-cart6) and Wazz to review my hands. After roughly 50 hands they told me to stop pulling up new histories. The overall consensus was I have to stop running so badly. This made me feel a lot better about nose diving my bankroll over the last two weeks. Of the 50 hands there were four that we all agreed I totally pooched and the rest were standard spots or unfair nonsensical “get theres” by my opponents. I’m no stranger to downswings so I know its time to evaluate my remaining bankroll and come up with a strategy for success.

Thankfully I’ll be back to my office with my chair and my creature comforts later today.

So much has happened in the last two weeks that I’m just going to start from the beginning and break the blog into multiple parts. My run good on the way to England came to a screeching halt upon arriving at Heathrow. The customs line was massively long and took over an hour to get through. It’s always a bummer to be excited and forced to wait in a huge line. I made my way to the baggage claim and was lucky enough to see my bag immediately on the carousel.

With my bag in hand, and finally through customs, I took off at a brisk pace to the Underground. For those who haven’t been to London that means the subway or as they call it the Tube. It’s a long trek from the baggage claim to the Underground but I welcomed the exercise. I skipped all the moving walkways so I could really stretch my legs out. When I arrived at the Tube stop I topped up my Oyster Card and hopped on the first Piccadilly line train.

I’m unclear if I fished buying the zones 1 and 2 week pass for £30 or if its better to just top up as you go. If you have any thoughts on this please let me know for next time.

By the time I was actually on my way to the compound – Tony, Mike and Gavz place – it was just past 8 a.m.. The train was empty at Heathrow but got crowded very quickly. If you’re claustrophobic the Tube would be a living nightmare. There really isn’t anything to do on the Tube beside protect your belongings and not talk to people. With nothing to do I began people watching trying to decipher which suited up people were ballers and which were not. I decided the quality of clothes and the shoes were all strong indicators. There are suits and then there are suits.

If this doesn’t make sense to you than immediately go buy a copy of GQ and compare your wardrobe to the people in that magazine. Power exudes style plain and simple. The shoes were tricky to decipher. Beside the people in obviously expensive shoes I kept seeing guys with great suits but had on trashy runners or non-baller shoes.

I finally realized they must be wearing crappy shoes on the tube and changing into their slick threads later. The people with scuffed up leathers were a dead giveaway that they weren’t going to some amazing job. Its such a culture shock to see rich people taking public transportation as this would never ever happen in Ottawa.

Read Part II tomorrow…