News / Dave Allan / 03 July 2009 / Leave a comment

Just over 36 hours into my Vegas trip and as yet I haven't gambled away any of my hard earned money. (Plenty of time!) Rather impressively I have put on a kilo in weight though in just over a day which means I may end up looking like Danny Devito by the time I head back.

My day started early at 4am when I was woken up by a journalist who wanted to run a feature on our TVG deal in the States and then an early morning call with our PR Agency in London. After a light breakfast of iced coffee and a blueberry muffin the size of my head it was off to the Rio to check out progress on our PR Stunt at the Rio. For those of you who don't know; we are planning on building a giant Big Ben (11ft tall) and House of Commons out of playing cards. The person building it is a gentleman called Bryan Berg who specialises in doing amazing structures out of cards. Watch this video to see his work.

He will be using over 25,000 cards, does not use glue, fold cards or any other equipment. The build will take 5 days and he will be working 8 hours a day. We will be videoing the stunt using time lapse photography. I have had sleepless nights thinking about air-conditioning or someone throwing something at it half way through the build but he assures me that he has worked in harder conditions than this. Simon our Vegas Virgin will be reporting on its progress from Friday onwards.

After this I went and got my accreditation and met with the Harrah's team to talk through plans for the week. I often moan that the WSOPE is long hours and frantic but these guys have been working since the end of May every day for 14 hours a day!! I think I would need to go the Priory after that kind of schedule.

After a quick burger at the Wynn I started finalising the excursions for our ten man press trip which begins on Friday. We have some amazing journalists from all over the world joining us, including The Sun, Timeout, GQ, FHM and titles from Russia and Canada. They are in for a crazy three days in Sin City and will be taught how to play poker by our pros as well as shooting guns, helicopter rides and eating and partying at Vegas's finest venues. Helping me out on the trip will be our very own Amy Trodd and Simon Zammit.

Our Betfair qualifiers arrive tonight and are being looked after by Paul Twaddle who will be tweeting from the event using our www.twitter.com/betfairpoker account. Off to the Rio again to meet our video assistant and security team before sneaking off to the Paradise Poker party later on. Long days but not complaining ......it beats Malta........just!

Tales of a Vegas Veteran - Part One