Stag, Wedding and Honeymoon....

I have played like 6k hands this month which is pretty laughable :)  I have a legit reason though, I was busy getting married so took some time out..!!

It all started with my Stag in London. A few of us hit Laser Wars at a place called Bunker 51. After that we hit the town via the Partybus which is basically a nightclub on wheels that takes you to 5 other clubs along the way. This is the Stag night crew:

It was then the big day and I married my other half of 4 and a half years, Claire. This is us during the picture shoot just after the vows:

A couple of days later we flew out to the luxury 5* Azul Sensatori Resort which is in Mexico just 20 minutes south of Cancun. This is the place:

So, I'm back now to hit the tables again and chase that 200k VPP mielstone which is going to be tough as I need to get hands in everyday while working full time and trying to have a social life.!!

See you on the tables.

Rosh

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Center Parcs Elveden Forest Review / Trip Report

I got back on Friday after spending 4 nights at Center Parcs Elveden Forest in Suffolk. It was my first visit to one of these places.

The journey from north west London was not too bad at around 90 minutes by car.

For those who don't know Center Parcs is a sports and activity village. There are 26 villages around Europe.

The villages have villas, lodges, bungalows and hotel accommodation for guests. We stayed in the the hotel as the smaller lodges were booked up.

The map of the village can be seen here:

As you can see it is quite a large place. It is advisable to hire or bring your own bikes to get around. We decided to hire bikes for £25 each for the length of our stay which was decent value. We picked up these 2 mountain bikes:

The hotel was nothing amazing, I would say it was around a 3 star for the room. There was a pretty cool revolving restaurant on the top floor which served a good breakfast albeit slightly expensive.

Here is our room:

We had a little friend visit us too:

In the middle of the village is an area with shops and restaurants. The best place to eat was probably Hucks American Diner which served up some tasty burgers and fajitas. Bella Italia was also good as well as Cafe Rouge. The worst place was the Indian Rajinda Pradesh which had extremely poor service and the main course was awful. 

Meal at Hucks

Also in the central part is the Sports Plaza and Subtropical Paradise. We spent a lot of our time here. You have in this area:

Badminton

Tennis

Ten Pin Bowling

Snooker/ Pool

Bar

Nightclub

Arcade

Las Vegas Style Gambling Machines

Various Swimming Pools

Water slides

Tropical Cyclone Ride

All in all it was a really enjoyable trip and I can recommend it to anyone who wants a short break in the UK. 

My favourite part of the trip was riding the Segway Scooters:

I got a little footage too, was hard to film while riding:

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Roman Baths (In Bath)

Location In The UK

The Roman Baths are historical site in the English city of Bath. The location is visible in the map here:

The baths are below street level and the buildings are above. The main parts of the site are: the Sacred Spring, Roman Temple, Bath House and Museum.

More than 1 million people visit the attraction each year and I was there recently for a day out.

Rain water falls on the nearby Mendip Hills, it percolates down through limestone aquifers to a depth between 2,700 metres and 4,300 metres where geothermal energy raises the water temperature to between 64°C and 96°C. With pressure the heated water rises back to the surface along faults in the limestone. 

I drank some of this warm water. It tasted pretty normal. It is completely safe to drink at the spa water bore-hole which was sunk in 1983 in the Pump Room. Mrs Rosh refused to drink the water.

Here are some pics from the day:

From the site you can also see Bath Abbey:

In The Museum:

On route to the site I briefly stopped off to see Stonehenge:

Follow my friend "Eliize" in his journey to high stakes poker: www.shloogy.com

Off To See The Druids

I'm going to be spending some time in the Cotswolds. I will be leaving shortly.

The trip starts off with Stonehenge where there may be some modern day druids hanging around.

We then drive to Bath where we will be staying while we explore the Cotswolds....

Nice to get away from the Felt......

Back in May..!!

BBC Good Food Show, London Olympia

One of my favourite things in the world is food. The missus and I often watch Man vs Food for a few laughs.

The BBC Good Food Show has come to the London Olympia for a 3 day event so we got a couple of tickets and went down yesterday to see what it is all about.

This is the first one of these I have been so it was quite interesting.

You basically have 2 floors of around 150 stalls and small exhibitions where you can sample food and drink for around $25.

I was trying pretty much everything, so much so that there was no need for lunch as I was stuffed..!!

We also got to see a few of the BBC chefs that are always on TV: Mary Berry, Paul Hollywood, Rachel Allen and a special theatre show by Brian Turner who managed to set fire to firstly a paper and then the grill as well as the pans (this intentionally). We also saw booze dudes Olly Smith and Oz Clarke.

Here are a few of the stalls:

The size of the place can be seen here:

September 2012 Review

I had lined up a few pictures of clowns that I was going to post in the September review instead of doing the normal numbers as poker has become something of a joke but I have manned up and will do a normal write up :)

I am still on the worst downer ever (in 7yrs of poker). Over the last 3 months I lost 60 BIs at NL50 only I recover it at NL25 (BIs that is not $$$) I then lost more and it is just very swingy now.

Over this 3 month period I am pretty much making no cash whatsoever. Its lucky that I have a few other small income streams in life to help me pay my rent / bills and also have a little saved for the future.

I will post a graph in bb now as it shows I won 32 stacks in the month which is ok. The problem is I lost a lot at the higher level (NL50) and crushed the lower level (NL25).

The final numbers for September are as follows:

126,008 Hands Played

11,864 VPPs

+$382 (Cash Game Winnings)

+$35 (WCOOP Re-load Bonus)

-$267 (Online Tourny Losses)

-$97 (Live Cash Game Losses)

+$215 (FPP Sunday Million Tkt)

--------------------------------------------------------------------

+$268 (Total Month)

The Ytd numbers are as follows:

905,211 Hands Played

131,654 VPPs

+$3,648 - Jan

+$3,213 - Feb

+$2,023 - Mar

+$2,072 - Apr

+$3,642 - May

+$5,120 - Jun

-$699 - Jul

+$664 - Aug

+$268 - Sep

--------------------------------------------------------------------

+$19,950 (Total YTD) 

So at least I finally won some $$ at the tables but the take for the month is so low. I will get a $1,600 bonus in Oct so hopefully some winnings can push the month over $2k at least. My target for the year including the 200k VPP bonus is to make at least $30k overall.

I plan to play NL25 for the first 5 days of the month before moving to NL50 for the rest of the month. In November I will move to NL100 and sometime at the back end of December I want to be mixing NL200 too ready for me to decide on whether or not I commence an SNE attempt in 2013. 

I went to the Stars VIP London meet which was quite interesting. I met a few random players from other games but no-one from my games. I had a few beers + bites and watched the footy on a big screen. They also had an arcade room with a few games which was quite good. Lee Jones introduced the new software which is coming out. It looks pretty good and it designed with the idea of making it as easy as possible for recreational players to get playing poker, which is good for all of us. I actually got called up in Jan and went into London to test the software but had to sign a NDA so I didn't mention it in this blog but as the secret is out I guess it's okay now.

Anyway peeps, GL in Oct..!!

Pokerstars VIP Club Live: 1st London Party

I've just purchased my ticket for the 1st VIP Club Live - London Party hosted by Pokerstars.

£10 for unlimited beers + brunch during the Arsenal v Chelsea game sounds like a great deal.

There are also 3 UKIPT packages to be won.

It will good to meet a few of the other players that I see on the felt on a regular basis but have no idea what they look like in real life. The last stars event that I went to was a twenty20 cricket game and was pretty good.


Schedule:

The Cost:

Movie Review: The Inbetweeners Movie

If you liked the series then you will most likely love the film.

I discovered the tv show quite late on as they were beginning the 3rd series. I quickly caught up with the previous 2 batches and immediately became a fan.

On Thursday I went to catch the film and wasn't disappointed. You pretty much know what to expect.... more of the usual non sense and buffoonary which is all good fun.

Schools out and the guys are all going to be moving on with their new lives. Before that there is time for a lads holiday in Malia, Crete.

Simon is dumped by his girlfriend and agrees that a holiday will cheer him up. They end up in an absolute dump of a hotel and soon hit the streets. The guys get lured into a 'banging' club which turns out to be empty but its too late as they have paid their entry fee. They meet a group of ladies and make their moves...

The film builds up to a big boat party where Simon will attempt to win back his ex, who incidently is also on holiday in the same place. Between Arrival and the Boat Party they go through many ups n downs...

If you're not sure then let me assure you it's a good watch

Verdict: 7.3/10

 

They are all great characters but I think Will is my favourite

Rosh

Brick Lane

Brick Lane is a street in the East End of London. It runs from Swanfield Street in the northern part of Bethnal Green, crosses Bethnal Green Road, passes through Spitalfields and is linked to Whitechapel High Street to the south by the short stretch of Osborn Street.

Today, it is the heart of the city's Bangladeshi community and is known to some as Banglatown. It is famous for its many curry houses.

Yesterday I visited this famous street in London for the first time an enjoyed a nice curry. You can walk the entire length of Brick Lane in about 10 minutes.

Winding through fields, the street was formerly called Whitechapel Lane but derives its current name from former brick and tile manufacture. By the 17th century, the street was being built up from the south. Successive waves of immigration began with Huguenot refugees spreading from Spitalfields, where the master weavers were based, in the 17th century. They were followed by Irish, Ashkenazi Jews and, in the last century, Bangladeshis. The area became a centre for weaving, tailoring and the clothing industry, due to the abundance of semi- and unskilled immigrant labour.

In the 20th century the Brick Lane area was important in the second wave of development of Anglo-Indian cuisine, as families from countries such as Bangladesh (mainly the Greater Sylhet region) migrated to London to look for work. More recently the area has also broadened to being a vibrant art and fashion student area, with considerable exhibition space. Each year most of the fine art and fashion courses exhibit their work near Brick Lane.

Wimbledon Final...

After negotiating the usually engineering works on the London underground we finally made it to the Wimbledon Grounds to take our seats at the Men's Final to see Rafael Nadal vs Tomas Berdych. It was an awesome day even though the match was pretty one sided as Nadal smashed Berdych in straight sets 6-3 7-5 6-4.

Having been unable to defend his title last year due to injury, Nadal has now won 14 straight matches at Wimbledon. Nadal has proved beyond doubt that he is currently the world's best player and, at 24, he has plenty of time to close on Roger Federer's record 16 Grand Slam titles

It would have been great to see Federer in action but it wasn't to be. All in all it was an experience....!!

July Poker so far.....

I am currently around $40 down mtd which is actually an achievement considering that the pattern of last months results have just continued into July.... i.e the bad beats just go on and on. I have hardly played any poker in the 4 days so far but here are 3 hands that i have had:

1. I get all-in pre flop with KK against my opponent who turns over QQ. All is going well until the river, then BANG the Q hits and I'm stacked...!!! Great....

2. I raise with AA in MP and get one caller on the button. The flop is A36 (2 spades). I check and he bets around half the pot. I re-raise 3 times his bet and he calls. The Turn is a Qd and we get all-in with the Villain turning over QT spades. You know what comes next... yes his 25% chance to the hit the flush comes in with the 9s on the river. Stacked again.... awesome...

3. An absolute fish raises A6 UTG and there are 5 callers including me on the button with 55, maybe i should have raised but i flat called. The flop comes down A65 rainbow and I get all-in on the flop with the original raiser.... Yes you know the way i run these days.... Its time for the river card and what else could it possibly but the 6, giving him a bigger full house and leaving me stacked..... I have never had a bad run like this ever. Its been 6 weeks of non-stop bad beats with me down around $5k on the tables in that time. I am having to fight so hard just to break-even. The bonuses are just about keeping me afloat. I will receive a $1,500 cash bonus in a couple of days to put me up this month. Lets see if i can hang-on to that lead....

It's been a good day at the tennis so lets leave it there... i am enjoying a few vodka's as i review the photos of the day. I know that as soon as i log-on to pokerstars every fish will be busting me with any hand they choose to play... so lets play cards tomorrow...

laters...