Sunday, May 07, 2006

THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE

It’s been over a week since my last entry, but this has been mainly due to the blonde Live Update team’s precarious venture into the middle of nowhere…

A few days prior to the outing, Jen and I had uncontrollable urges to accept the intriguing offer of Norwegian Poker Magazine’s BA Kildalen to cover the Norwegian Championships, an event, bizarrely enough, actually held in Sweden.

So, never ones to turn down a challenge, Jen and I took a 7.20 (eek – non-poker hour) plane to Oslo, a train to Oslo Central, a taxi to some random hotel, before a ‘sleep is a must’ 3 hour coach journey to Grebbestadeneren Schmerger (or some place equally Swedish in sounding). Where we ended up though, I’m not too certain. It was kind of like a Butlins ghost town, clearly empty due to the testicle freezing temperature and the vicious spits of cold rain that ran down the back of your neck.

After being greeted by the welcome sight of BA, we managed to settle into our loveshack-esque hut, whilst also accommodating a new recruit who needed a place to stay - Norwegian Tommy, a frustratingly good looking young gun who made his fortune on the net. How many of these guys are there?? Grr…

The actual tournament was staged in what can only be described as a huge gym… ideal in fact considering there were an impressive 315 participants turning up, one of which included Britain’s only representative, Miss Jennifer Mason. Unfortunately, as is evident from her own blog entry, Lady Luck failed to push her lever and Mrs Merton crashed out after several hours of play.

Without going into extensive and potentially tedious detail regarding the comp, some fella called Inspecta won, Mortyblack hit the runner-up spot, and online supremo, and one time 350k cash pot winner, Johnny Lodden took third. From the sidelines, it looked like a smashing comp, albeit self-deal, and one which I took great pleasure in updating.

A few plus points that spring to mind are:

(i) The friendly ‘no moaning’ atmosphere.

(ii) The surprising efficiency of the self-deal set-up

(iii) The way in which players were made to write down their chip count at the start of every break.

(iv) The applause for an elimination that alerted the tournament director/s.

(v) Seat tickets that players held on to.All-in-all, a cracking week which, although initially expected to provide an uninhabited space on the Live Update board, produced many a new member a many a new blonde enthusiast… which can only be a good thing.

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