Newcastle Trip Report (Part 1) - Warning No Poker Content!

Pud's Poker Progress / Matthew Pitt / 24 February 2009 / 1

After all the recent talk of live poker on the Betfair site, I was itching to go play at any casino and feel the cards and chips between my fingers.

"WTF is the Angel all about? It looks crap and full of rust. I really don't see the point to be honest but there again, I never have been the arty type."

So imagine my excitement when I had a frantic Amatay on MSN asking me if I wanted to represent Raise The River in the UK Forum Championship, hosted by Grosvenor Casino, Newcastle on behalf of the Newcastle Poker Forum. Over the next couple of posts I'll give you a trip report from start to finish!

After getting an overnight pass from Mrs P to attend, I was extremely excited to say the least, although my preparation for the event was not as it should have been for a model poker player! After consuming my own body weight in curry and Red Stripe lager I didn't expect to be in top shape for the 100 and odd mile trip to Gazzaville. However, a nice third place in a tournament the night before, worth almost £200 meant that if I returned from Newcastle fruitless, I would not be overly skint as I could simply withdraw my new found bankroll when I returned home plus it gave me some confidence after a recent dry spell so I was ready to rock and roll!

I awoke at about 0745 on Saturday morning and promptly jumped out of the sack, had my usual giant cup of coffee and ironed a couple of t-shirts for the weekend. After saying goodbye to a sleepy Mrs P, who tried to make me feel guilty for leaving her behind in such a pregnant state, I loaded up the car, bought a big bottle of Red Bull rip-off and some chewing gum and set off.

My biggest worry about the journey was the fact someone in a stolen car ploughed into the side of my little motor the other night and made a bit of a mess, so I pictured my door falling off halfway up the A1 when I hit 70mph! Thankfully, this would not be a worry, although the boredom was almost too much to take. I usually listen to Talk Sport when I am driving on my own but the further north I went, the weaker the signal was so I had to resort to listening to Radio One with the unfunny Vernon Kay, who really rubs me up the wrong way, all the while needing to offload last night's curry and beer onslaught! Bad times!

Like a trooper I focussed on my target destination and was making good progress thanks to the severe lack of traffic. However, my speed was soon drastically cut after I realised a traffic calming section near some roadworks had those clever cameras that work out your average speed and I never realised why I was sailing past everyone despite only doing 60mph. A little light came on in my brain and I stuck the anchors on and travelled the next two miles at around 35-40mph to compensate. I really hope I don't get a fine!

After a quick pit stop at the services, the details of which you really don't want to know, I started to ache all over from sitting in the same position for the past two hours, but I soon saw the Angel of the North which meant I was only 10-15 miles away from my hotel and, a hotel that had received some bad reviews from forum members Amatay and Cogsgoigne who had stayed their the previous night. WTF is the Angel all about? It looks crap and full of rust. I really don't see the point to be honest but there again, I never have been the arty type.

Anybody who has ever been on a journey with me will know I am pretty good at following directions when on the motorway but my sense of direction resembles a headless chicken when I am in a new city. My dying poultry impression started when I had to go around a roundabout three times before finding my exit and then I missed a turn-off when I was gawping at the impressive St James' Park stadium.

After deciding to continue going forwards for another mile before hailing a taxi and following that to my hotel, I miraculously saw a sign for Benwell, which is where my room was waiting. After another 10-15 minutes doubling back on myself I was in Benwell but none of the street names were anything like what I had written down on my shoddy instructions so I almost resorted back to the "follow a taxi" plan until I found a supermarket, where I decided to ask for directions.

Newcastle Trip Report (Part 2) Accumulating Chips

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rubbish | 25 February 2009

Pud,
Come on mate get to the dirty women bit.
Hope you had a blast.