WSOP Europe / Dave Allan / 21 September 2009 / Leave a comment

A behind the scene look at the World Series of Poker Europe with Betfair's popular blogger Simon Zammit.

Days 6 & 7

Ouch - this was one painful morning! Headache, tiredness and blurry vision greeted me as I woke up just a few hours after my head re-introduced itself to the pillow in my room. Unfortunately, I could not give in and rest a bit more as I was needed to help out for the start of Day 1B, so a quick shower and a coffee on the go were in order.

Thankfully, my colleagues are friggin amazing and the whole registration process went really well and all the players seemed to appreciate that. Soon after, play resumed and I could not help but laugh when Paul Twaddle, who had qualified online to the Event, had a familiar face sitting to his right - our very own Annette Obrestad!! Haha.. This was going to be a fun day after all.

Then, it hit me! John Tabatabai was not at the Casino and after attempting a few calls, I finally got through and he was on his way. I could not help but return to Table 11 where the "odd couple" were playing. Paul had a gutted look already whilst Annette was smiling for all the photos being taken of her. At about 13:00, an hour late and ready for business, John called and we met at the registration desk to sort out his ticket.

Mr Taba was sitting at the feature table so he was straight into the spotlight. I was pretty hungry so it was off to the Media Room and getting a sandwich for me! By the time I finished lunch, the Event was on the first break and I was glad to know that Annette, John and Paul had all made it through the first hurdle but Annette had taken a small hit. At the start of round two, I was horrified as my beloved Pros both got knocked out simultaneously!

Annette ran her AJ pre-flop shove into KQ which obviously required a K on the Turn whilst John (poor Taba) got involved in a 12,000 chip pre-flop all in with his QQ call by another player's 87 (WTF?) Of course, a 7 on the Flop and another on the River had to show up so the young guns of Betfair had to leave the tourney floor.

John was obviously not happy and left the Casino but Annette was quite chilled and even gave a few TV interviews to keep everyone happy. After that was over, Richard and I continued to do all the media and website updates and Annette then invited us to watch a movie at 19:00. District 9 was quite a weird movie to be honest but the "prawns" were very funny and the film itself gets exciting for the second half - well worth a watch in my opinion!

At about 21:30, I made my way back into the Empire and the event was down to just over 110 players, meaning it was a long night to come. Thankfully though, Richard knew I was pretty much low on fuel and sent me off for the night and even gave me half day off so it was a quick dinner for me and bed!

Sunday 20th September

I finally got to have a good night's rest, waking up at 10:00 and feeling like a star. After a relaxed shower and a chat with family and Dawn, I then treated myself to a nice breakfast and made my way to The Sports Bar to watch Man United take on the pretenders, Man City (hehe)

Having paid the £3 entry fee and grabbed my free Bacardi Breezer, I settled in the bar, surrounded by City fans and waited a few minutes for the game to start. Immediately, I was the most hated guy in the bar as Rooney started the party inside the first five minutes. In a foreign country, don't know anyone and surrounded by the enemy, I screamed, jumped and shouted with joy whilst everyone else pretty much wanted to stab me with a fork!

Of course, once City got a goal back, all of them turned towards me, hurling abuse and giving me the finger. Not to be put off, I quickly mentioned that City are run by a rich kid with too much money and in the end, class will set them apart. Security then told me from all people to calm down and continued to watch the game in peace. That is of course until Fletcher got a header in and I was once again laughing and pointing fingers at a sea of "blue people".

The rest of the game was pretty much the same and when they got the draw at the end of normal time, I was actually pushed and told to "suck on it". I honestly was very upset that such a stupid mistake could be done by a player paid over £100k a week but as the tears were drying up, Michael Owen showed his worth and I went mental! So mental in fact that security walked me the first few meters away from the bar to make sure I wasn't killed!

I made my way into McDonald's for a nice "M" meal and then went to the Empire and start the looooong shift. Richard was sitting in the media room and also following his beloved Tottenham (lol) play against Chelsea. Before I could even finish reminding him of the amazing win United had against Spurs followed of course by the one just then, Chelsea score and he starts to make a face, which had me laughing like an idiot.

After the game, which Spurs lost 3 - 0 in case you need reminding, Rich left for home and I was on my own till the final nine players for Event 1 were found - oh yeah, about 45 were still remaining! Hour after hour went by and I was starting to get pretty tired. Uploading videos on the Betting.Betfair site and pictures was not too exciting either and a look at the watch showed that it was still 21:00. Thankfully, a change of atmosphere was to follow as Annette, Stephan and Per invited me for a couple of beers down at the Radisson reception area.

After a few drinks, a meeting and a bit of banter, I then made my way back to the Casino and I was happy to learn that we were down to 13 players, 4 more to go! Soon after just 12 remained but then play slowed down to almost a halt and after 3 more hours of waiting and a few all ins, we had our Final 9 and all that was left to do was upload some more videos and pictures and head home. It was almost 03:30 when I hopped in bed and a patient Dawn, who was feeling pretty ill, actually stayed awake to call me in my room (bless)

Join me in the next episode were I cover the Final Table of Event 1, the start of Event 2 as well as Paul Zimbler's courageous attempt of non stop 80 hours of Heads Up poker - a world record and also in aid of Sparks and the Make a Wish Foundation!

The Vegas Virgin does the WSOPE - Part 1
The Vegas Virgin does the WSOPE - Part 2