Here Be Dragons...and Fish
Say what you like about Ger (and you can, he won't mind) but the last thing you could call him is inhospitable. Inviting nearly 40 people to one's suburban home for a monster beer fest (and a purely incidental poker game) is something I suspect most of us would think a few dozen times about. Ger didn't even think twice.
The calendar and distance have always mitigated me away from attending (since I've known the man) but when the offer came this time I snapped his hand off.
When the day came, I left home around 10.15 for the drive to the unknown regions of Ellesmere Port. Google Maps wasn't much help, just a blank space with "Here Be Dragons".
Fortunately, my satnav app was a little more helpful. I left home around 10.15 in no special rush. I'd planned to take it easy on the drive up and arrive around 3pm. I had no trouble on the motorway and the M6 Toll was, once again, a joy to drive. Well worth the £5.50.
I stopped, as planned, at Norton Canes at the northern end of the M6 Toll for a cup of tea, a lovely Double Chocolate Muffin and a 'comfort' stop after a couple of hours.
Suitably refreshed, I headed off again but as soon as I'd left the Toll Road the clouds rolled in as though I had entered Mordor. The rain began and the traffic began to slow.
Rolling past Stoke I had a good gauge of how long the drive would be at the end of November which was handy. I reckon it's about the same rough distance for me as Nottingham. A couple of hours or so during the day should be no problem.
Although progress was slow as the M6 joined the M56, once I was past it, I was on the move again and rolled into the Premier Inn (Wirral – Two Mills) [known locally as the Tudor Rose after the Brewer's Fayre pub attached] bang on 3 o'clock.
Part one of the travel plan accomplished. I'd barely sat down and plugged in the laptop before Ger is on the phone wanting to know if I've arrived. I indicated that I was and I was in the bar a couple of minutes later when the Ellesmere Port Mafia turned up with Glen Laming in tow.
I got a round in which didn't last long and soon we were off for some scran. We piled into Carl's car and headed a couple of miles down to The Wheatsheaf Inn for a very nice carvery meal.
After that, we made our way back to Chezger. When Ger offered me a Fresca I was expecting this…
but instead was handed this…
Oh well, I hate to say no…but I should have.
Before long it was time to head over to the Whitby Sports & Social Club (ex-the Shell Club) but known APAT-wide as 'The Aquarium' which is a great venue for the local community.
All the stories are true. I donked out to Carl pretty early on and had a couple more beers while waiting for the action to end.
If you can take the variance, I guess you could call it a laugh but the game setup is wrong for proper poker.
They only get 4 hours of play at most as the club has to close. To make matters worse, the starting stack is a ridiculous 20,000. Then again, the blinds start (IIRC) at 100/200.
This means the blinds are 14 minutes (why not 15 minutes?) and the blind structure is steeper than the side of K2.
I seriously think they would be better off running a shootout format of 3 - 4 tables (with small stacks) taking 2 from each and making a final table out of that.
Whatever, it's their game and if they are happy with it…!
By the time midnight had rolled around I was pretty tired. Ger had called cabs but they took an age to arrive. As it was, I tried to hijack one to continue on to my hotel but the Irritating Man had snaffled it first.
No matter, another was called and I was back into my hotel room by 1am.
A good night…I thought.
