The journey
I arrived in Glasgow two hours later than planned thanks to a delay to my Aer Lingus flight. My mood wasn’t helped by the fact that most of those two hours were spent sitting in the part of Dublin Airport that resembles a bus terminal, primarily because it basically is a bus terminal. Eventually our bus showed up and brought us to the farthest part of Dublin Airport where a small domestic plane was waiting to bring us to Glasgow.
My VegasSlotsOnline News, Chip Race, and WPTglobal colleague David Lappin had waited for me and we caught an Uber to the Ibis budget hotel he had reluctantly booked for us after six “are you sure?” messages. In actual fact, the hotel was a lot better than expected and the room a lot bigger. The fact they gave us a disabled room was largely responsible.
Confused old man
I got off to a good start in the Main Event, almost doubling my starting stack, before a sequence of unfavourable outcomes saw me bust. My policy in these situations when the early bullet doesn’t catch the worm is generally to wait until the last possible minute to fire the second bullet. So I went back to the hotel room and chilled until the appointed time. I arrived back in the casino and the clock confirmed there was a few minutes to go before the break. I registered and was assigned a seat under the gun. With less than a minute showing on the clock, I decided I might as well take the hand. After folding a hand I deemed unplayable, I joined the throngs deserting their seats on the surrounding tables to go on break.
It took me about 30 seconds to realize what had happened: the clock I was looking at was for a side event
I went to get some water, and then chatted to a few people before I noticed that my table was still playing. It took me about 30 seconds to realize what had happened: the clock I was looking at was for a side event. The clock I should’ve been looking at would’ve told me that the blind levels were longer than I thought in this flight of the Main, and we were actually only halfway through level six rather than at the end of level nine.
I sheepishly returned to my table and took my seat to some funny looks. And who can blame them? Think about it from their perspective: I arrived at the table with a starting stack, clearly having just bought in. I then sat down, folded one hand under the gun, and then just left the table as the big blind was about to hit me. I stayed away for the next few hands, losing big blind, big blind ante and small blind, before returning again to the table. Peak confused old man.
Barry Carter reigns supreme
While I was doing this confused old man impersonation in the Main Event, my co-author Barry Carter was winning the side event whose break I had mistakenly taken. Barry had never won a live poker tournament in his long and undistinguished career, so this was a real thrill for him.
He also had a very lively rail. His lovely wife Gina who we had steak dinner with the night before had told him that if he got back to the hotel after 3am, she would exempt him from a nature walk the following morning, but if he got there before 3am, she expected him to join her on the nature walk. Barry decided to share this tidbit with his rail, and his deep desire not to be part of the nature walk, so obviously when he lost a large pot around 2:30am which made it look very likely he was going to be back at his hotel before 3am, the rail started chanting:
Barry’s going on a nature walk”
This seemed to provide him with the additional motivation he needed to take the tournament down.
Lappin goes deep
While I failed to make day two of the Main and bricked all the side events I played, Lappin was making a real run at the Main Event. He arrived back to the hotel room we were sharing to tell me he was massive cheerleader going into the final table on the last day. Unfortunately, things didn’t go fully to plan, and in particular he lost all the all-ins three handed, ultimately busting in third period. The event was taken down by local cash player Zhen Zhen who held her composure impressively on the final table with a stack that swung from shortest to chipleader several times.
The casino itself is impressive, the event was excellently run, and the Party Poker live staff pulled out all the stops to make for a very fun event. Jamie Staples, who also final tabled the Main Event, is a consummate ambassador, and the dealers on floor staff were all excellent.
What’s next?
As soon as Lappin bust from the Main, I opened the Aer Lingus app to check in for my Monday afternoon flight to Dublin. I was greeted by a message saying my Tuesday morning flight to Belfast was now open for check-in. Apparently, my Dublin flight has been cancelled, and Aer Lingus decided that sending me to Belfast the following day was the best alternative.
A phone call to their support from my travel agent (David Lappin) during which he assured them that no, being sent to a different country on a different day was not an acceptable alternative. He managed to negotiate an early morning flight from Edinburgh, which meant after a picturesque early morning Uber I ended up getting home several hours earlier than originally scheduled.
I enjoyed Glasgow and would heartily recommend it to anyone thinking of playing there
As much as I enjoyed Glasgow and would heartily recommend it to anyone thinking of playing there, I have to admit to being very tired when I got home. I have played quite a bit live since I got back from five weeks in Vegas so I’m looking forward to a month at home before my next festival, Killarney. Killarney is always the highlight of the Irish calendar, and with WPTGLOBAL adding another 100K promotion to the event, it will be extra special this year.
Until then, I will be concentrating on coaching, content creation, writing, and improving my own fitness. I’ll also try to fit in as much online poker as I can and I’m particularly excited by the 2 million guaranteed freeroll series that just started on WPTGLOBAL.
See you at the tables!
