APAT Cork: Saturday, 24th September 2011.
Iawoke to the sound of something crashing in the road/alley outside the hotel. Frankly it sounded like someone had run over a milk float. I haven’t the faintest idea of what was but, to be honest, at four, freaking, o’clock in the morning I could have done without it.
On the other hand, since I hadn’t been visited by any woodland creatures during the night I just rolled over and got a few more hours of kip.
I know the APAT trips are about having a good time and all that but it’s sometimes refreshing not to wake up feeling like the recently deceased...odd that!
I whipped out the dongle to start my morning routine but wasn’t able to get the proper...erm…connection. Apparently I don’t have the right equipment. I found out on my return that there is something in my dongle I have to tickle inside to maintain the necessary signal stiffness.
Fortunately, the hotel had a pay-per-day option so I paid the necessary price and finished off without too much delay.
Knowing better that to opt for the hotel breakfast, I wandered out on to MacCurtain Street...OK, it wasn’t so much of a wander as more hoofing it a few yards up the road to Rosinda’s, a place I spotted on my way back to the hotel last night. Full Irish breakfast for 7.50 euro…job done right.
I lingered over my second cup of tea before wandering down towards the Macau Club just a street away. I arrived shortly before midday but the place wasn’t open yet so I planted myself opposite and read for a while on my Kindle…marvellous invention…I don’t go anywhere without it these days.
It wasn’t long before the Macau opened up and somehow I’d managed to look up from my reading just as Don and crew were arriving. Walking in, we were, of course, greeted by the sight of Tighty hard at work. A god-awful flight time in on the Saturday and he’s hard at it already…sheesh we don’t say enough nice things about him and the effort he puts in…seriously.
Des arrived shortly after and, along with a couple of others we chatted for a while before the competition started.
Mini-Rant (again).
Look, I know I’d attend the opening of an APAT envelope but I was really disappointed with the turn out. Cost-wise it was no more expensive (for me) than pretty much any other APAT event. There WERE flights at a reasonable cost from several UK airports (including Scotland) and I really feel that some people who would normally turn up had just made up their minds not to bother.
I’m not pointing fingers at anyone specific…just that there seemed to be a perception that it would break the bank to get to Cork. From my research, this simply wasn’t the case and I’d plumped for, perhaps, one of the more expensive hotels when compared to other options.
Perhaps I’m wrong, but it seemed to me that some minds were made up well before the event and nothing we could say was going to change opinions.
Whatever, we got away with a mere 60 odd runners and, as I expected, the standard was pretty awful, at least on my table. Five or six limpers seemed to be the norm and putting in a decent raise in late position would often see you take it down pre-flop. If it didn’t you’d get 3 or 4 callers.
I don’t get it…if your hand is good enough to call a raise (and most weren’t) why not raise yourself?
Regardless, I never got ahead, seeing a mind-boggling succession of J4, Q5, K3 that meant I was folding the majority of hands. After picking up the blinds couple of times (betting with complete air) we were into the 3rd level and I was still sitting on the starting stack.
Things did not improve for me, I managed to lose a fair amount when my opponents refused to believe me when I had a hand and they caught EVERY FRICKING TIME on the river. I managed to donk off a fair amount with AT against AQ on an AAJ6K board despite a pre-flop raise and he still wouldn’t go away after I bet all three streets.
Eventually, I made the mistake of limping (something I rarely do) with JTs in the SB with 4 callers in front. I should have just raised….I knew it at the time and still didn’t do it.
The flop cam Jack high but all spades, I checked and it was check around to the CO who put in a pot-sized bet. It screamed to me of a ‘go-away’ bet and thinking he was drawing, I just jammed with 5k hoping for the double-up to get back in it.
Oops...he was playing 6s9s (mega-sigh) and had flopped it and barring a runner-runner boat, I was dead…and, of course, that wasn’t going to happen.
So there it was, pretty early, and I was done…I wandered off, somewhat dejected, and chatted to Des and Tighty for a while before deciding to hit up a couple of places I’d missed the night before. No point in wasting the evening after all.
So, after checking in with the few APATers who’d made the trip (most of whom were still in) I headed off for a solo night of debauchery…fair enough, just a few pints then if you want to be more accurate.
As I mentioned before, I’d made some notes beforehand and my first port of call was Sin-E (it has an accent in the Gaelic) and is pronounced ‘Shin-A’. The reviews I’d read did not, unfortunately, match up to the reality.
Described as having a large downstairs bar area (downstairs meant 2 steps) it was in fact a pokey little hole, lit almost entirely by candles and stocked with ‘arty’ types for the most part. Eclectic I suppose was the thing they were going for and perhaps it appeals to the many tourists in town but it did nothing for me. Of course, I had to have a couple of pints to give it a proper workout but I left after that under-whelmed.
Ah well, The Corner House beckoned and being just a few feet up the road from my previous venue was much more to my liking. A large bar area with plenty of seating made me suspect that half the people who’d reviewed Sin-E were, in fact, in The Corner House. A lively establishment and I made the appropriate notes should we ever return to Cork…and I hope we do.
A couple of pints later I decided that I’d done my duty and decided that making my way back towards the hotel might not be a bad idea…not that I had any intention of finishing up the night’s solitary revels just yet.
Apparently, I had been abandoned by my fellow APATers who had elected to play the Saturday night competition at the Macau. I have to wonder about their priorities sometimes…I really do.
As it turned out a couple of the pubs on my list had closed and so I made my way back to the Shelbourne which was heaving despite it being only 9 o’clock or so. Fortunately, I managed to snag a table outside and settled in for the long haul. I was well situated to catch APATers walking past and within (we eventually had calculated last night) 31 yards of my hotel’s front door.
Saturday night was in full swing in Cork and there seemed to be some sort of ‘prom’ thing going on nearby as all these suited young men and young-ish girls in their party finery kept wandering up and down the street arm in arm or in groups. They’d walk past one way and then five minutes later, walk back the other way.
I concentrated on my beer and my Social Media updates before being utterly distracted by a young lady who sat down at the next table over. Pneumatic is the word. I just had to take a picture…seriously, I just had to. If you follow me on Twitter / Facebook or Google+ then you have already seen this picture…but if you’re not…here you go.
Sue me….I’m male and breathing. I couldn’t help myself.
I knocked back a few more drinks before heading back to the hotel as I figured that being the hotel bar was safer than having to cross the street. I got myself a drink and was listening to the piano player in the corner doing that ‘muzak’ thing and wondering if I slipped him a few quid if he’d ‘rock out’ when I was unexpected joined by Jon Woodfield and Dave Pilkington who were following me on Facebook. I’m gonna have to stop checking in on there.
We had a quiet conversation for an hour or so before they elected to head back to their respective hotels and I bid them a good night. Despite only eating breakfast I was just pleasantly buzzed, much like the night before, and I had little fear of a furry visit in the night.
Regardless, I hung out the ‘Do Not Disturb’ sign and chained the door, just in case.
