02 Sep 2010
Dinner at Crockfords
Our poker event is being held at the elegant Palm Beach Casino. The parent company, The Genting Group, is a huge multinational gaming company with a market cap of $25 Billion.
In the U.K. alone they have 44 casinos. Unlike in the U.S., casinos here are renown for their ultra refined elegance. The ultimate is Crockfords, the oldest private gaming establishment in the world. Genting also owns Crockfords.
Wanting to run a top rate tournament, they were wise enough to invite the stellar Bellagio team over to run it. Tournament director Jack McClelland and his staff are running the tournament.
Bellagio poker room manager, Doug Dalton, is himself running a special high limit poker cash game at Crockfords. That’s big.
Dalton was kind enough to invite Allyn and me to dinner at Crockfords tonight. What an experience.
The building itself was built in the 1700s and was home to the Wedgewood china family.
Everything was top notch elegant. We were rubbing shoulders with foreign princes, and wealthy well-known family members of Europe’s power elite.
Both the food and service were top rate. They about flipped when Allyn started clicking her camera though. She just smiled, told them she was the press, and would not take pictures of patrons.
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31 Aug 2010
Poker in London
Our summer season has been built around what may be the three most important London tournaments – World Poker Tour, World Series of Poker Europe, and European Poker Tour.
We are at the Radisson Mayfair for the WPT. It struck us as odd that the first group of employees that we met here were not nearly as caring as those in Positano or Saint-Tropez. It may just be that we were at ultra classy hotels before, and this is just a so-so hotel. Also, virtually none of the employees seemed to be British.
Weirder yet, we immediately went across the street for a delicious Starbucks coffee, and all three of the employees there barely spoke English.
What’s going on?
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30 Aug 2010
Saint-Tropez
Stop two this summer was Saint-Tropez on the French Riviera.
We are right at the end of the very high season and the weather has been perfect. It seems like we heard as much Italian being spoken as French.
Everyday I get fewer euros per dollar. Last year it went the other way. Since I am not a currency expert, I’ll just keep exchanging dollars as needed.
We stayed at Residence de la Pinede. Like our Positano hotel in Italy, it is a member of The Leading Small Hotels of the World.
I’m really starting to like this boutique hotel concept. Everybody knows your name, there are never any chits to sign, and they even do things like hand you your reserved favorite newspaper at breakfast (without being asked).
However, perhaps the bathroom design could have had a bit more thought.
Americans often have the feeling that the French walk around with a stick up their butt. You do not see that here, and believe me, if one was there you definitely could see it. (That is very funny in case you missed it.)
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24 Aug 2010
The Winning Common Denominator for Poker, Sales and Weight Loss
I have started recording all food and exercise. I can’t wait for the results to kick in – even while on vacation.
Winners record their results. It might be where they played, what they ate, or how many appointments they had. But they all keep records.
Does that mean that all it takes to win at poker is to write down results? Can you lose weight just by writing down what you ate? Would that be nice if it were that simple.
But, the contrapositive is true. The failures do not keep track.
Nobody is going to write down everything they eat for months and not lose weight.
If you write down results you will for sure: 1) rise to the occasion to become a winner, or 2) stop keeping track.
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22 Aug 2010
Le Sirenuse – Positano, Italy
Last year while in Positano we stayed Il San Pietro, considered by many (including us) to be one of the best hotels in the world.
Being somewhat adventurous (or is it nuts), we changed this year to Le Sirenuse, which is also considered one of the great hotels.
If anything, we like it better. The location, ambiance, cleanliness and service are all spectacular.
Often, in very high-end hotels, the personnel are a bit aloof. There is none of that here.
They have so many lovely areas, all built for the view. There is the Oyster Bar, the regular bar, the beautiful restaurant and lovely pool area.
Our terrace trumps them all though. Most of these photos were taken from there.
We had one small problem. The wireless Internet did not work in the room, although it picked up on the terrace. Even though it is Saturday and their normal technology company is closed until Monday, they contracted an individual to come out. The hotel paid retail for the proper hardware and had him install the device in our room (which including significant wiring) so that we would not be inconvenienced.
As if that were not enough, they insisted on buying us dinner in their gourmet restaurant tonight. I considered turning them down (for about 5 seconds), but for these prices, what the heck? It was magnificent.
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