After what seemed like an eternity waiting, Sunday 17th October finally rolled around signalling my first ever trip to Las Vegas.

The reason for the trip was entirely non-poker related - my fiancé's brother was getting married there, meaning that over the next few days numerous future family members were going to turn up, most of whom I'd be meeting for the first time. The week was therefore going to prove challenging in trying to play as much poker as possible, whilst not abandoning the Mrs completely and trying not to convey the image of 'degenerate gambler' to the rest of her family.

The second week of the vacation was to be a cruise around the Caribbean so, knowing that I'd have a week available to recover from the first week, I'd intended to spend a little time as possible asleep in order to be able to play.

Day 1 - Sunday 17th October
The day got off to a flying start when we reached Gatwick to hear that my mileage upgrade request (for which I was on standby) had been accepted at the last minute. We therefore spent the transatlantic leg of the journey in the comfort of business class! Unfortunately, this didn't extend to the connecting flight from Newark to Vegas where we had to 'slum it' in economy. We landed in Vegas at around 9pm local time (meaning our body clocks were on 5am), 18hours after checking in at Gatwick. After picking up our car we made the short journey to the Luxor.

After gawping open-mouthed at the size of the lobby for a while we managed to check in straight away (I'd heard nightmares about check-in times on weekends so this was a relief) and were offered upgrades to one of the jacuzzi suites in the pyramid, which we took. This turned out to be a great decision.

We dumped the bags in the room and went downstairs for a look around the casino (which is by far the most disorientating one we found all week!). I located the poker room, which had a few tables going, and decided to come back down and play after the Mrs had gone to sleep. Unfortunately, upon getting back to the room, I made the mistake of watching TV whilst lying on the bed and, next thing I knew, it was 3am! I suppose, given the travel time, this wasn't a surprise but it was not the start I'd hoped for!

Score to date: Tiredness/Mrs 1 Poker 0

Day 2 - Monday 18 October
One of the advantages of travelling to the US is that on the outward leg, you always wake up early due to the time difference. The 5 hour difference to the East Coast is bad enough but with an 8 hour switch we were both wide awake at 5am! In an attempt to get onto Vegas time we tried to sleep again until at least 7am but it was useless.

After getting lost in the Luxor breakfast buffet (went to fill my plate and couldn't find the table again!) we went to explore the Strip. Excalibur and Mandalay Bay were done on foot before we headed upto Bellagio for a look around.

I had mixed feelings about going to Bellagio on this particular day as I had long since known that there was a $1,000 satellite taking place at midday for the WPT event starting the next day. I'd spent countless weeks leading up to my trip trying to figure out a way of entering this. However, I'd eventually concluded that it was pointless as, even if I'd qualified, I'd then have half a day on Wednesday where I'd either have to miss the several hours of play (assuming I’d made it to the 2nd day of the event) or would have to incur the wrath of everyone on the Mrs’ family by missing the wedding itself.

However, this did not mean that I wanted to be in the casino itself when the satellite started, which is where I found myself! On getting to the tournament area I was even more gutted to discover that another $500 satellite was taking place that evening! I can't describe the frustration of actually being in the location of a WPT tournament and not being able to take a shot at it!

The afternoon was spent looking around more casinos/hotels up and down the strip and getting one of the more unpleasant tasks out of the way - the Mrs' promised trip to Jimmy Choo's (damn you Sex and The City!). 2hrs and $500 later I felt her mood was sufficiently good to insist on a bit of poker play at the Luxor before dinner. Therefore, at 5pm, I finally got dealt my first hand. The $2/4 game in which I was playing was not exactly what I'd had in mind (I've recently moved up to $10/20 and $15/30 in my online play) but it was immediately available and my 90 minute max window of opportunity didn't let me be too picky! The game itself was a classic stereotypical low limit game with 6+ players seeing the flop. The guy on my immediate right was frequently playing blind to the showdown whilst smoking a cigarette away from the table (shouting instructions to the dealer from 10 feet away). Ideal conditions in many respects but by the time my 6.30pm deadline came around the suckouts outweighed the wins and I was down $70. Not a great start in trying to show the in-laws (future father, mother and brothers-in-law all know about my frequent online play) how profitable this game can be!

The game did bring a really funny moment though. The Monday Night Football game was showing at the time on the TV screens and there was a $500 high-hand jackpot split between the 3 best hands shown down during the game. Every now and then the dealers would shout out the qualifying hands (e.g. full house on 7, etc). After about an hour or so a new player sat down at the table who turned out to be a LAG who frequently tried to buy pots with bluffs after the flop. After a few minutes I was quietly feeling a little aggrieved towards him as he'd played back at me on a ragged flop when I was holding KK, which unsurprisingly developed into a big pot. Unfortunately, the river brought an Ace and when the hands got shown down it transpired he'd be doing so with A6o and had managed to suck out on the river. At this point the best hand so far with regard to the jackpot had been Quad 3's.

A couple of hands after my kings had lost, the guy looked to be repeating his trick against another English tourist who, so far during the game, had been a real calling station. Surprisingly, after the LAG had bet the river, the calling station (they were heads up by this point) folded. LAG mucked his winning hand face down telling the table that he'd had quad 5's, at which point everyone started going on about the jackpot, which he'd missed the announcement of. The dealer dug his cards out of the muck and, sure enough, found a pair of 5's to go with the two on the board. However, as the cards had been mucked, the hand didn't qualify and the fact that he'd just thrown away at least $250 improved my mood no end.

I'd planned to play again that evening but, ultimately, the effects of the previous day finally hit us (not helped by the soporific effects of the in-room jacuzzi) and I was in no state to play when the window of opportunity finally came around.

Score to date: Tiredness/Mrs 2 Poker 1

Day 3 - Tuesday 19th October

Another day spent touring the hotels. After a slightly later start we hit the strip again but I made sure that we were back at Bellagio just before 1pm to railbird the start of the Doyle Brunson WPT Event. The main area for the tournament was a cordoned off section just outside the main poker room (not sure if this is there permanently) which allowed good viewing. When we arrived everyone was queuing up to register, which meant we could mingle and chat with the players briefly.

Unsurprisingly it was like walking through a 'who's who' of poker. It was an incredible experience just to be around all these familiar faces. There were plenty of others doing the same thing as us and, in fairness to all the big names, all seemed quite happy to chat, shake hands, etc while they waited. I had brief conversations with Daniel Negreanu and John Murphy (the WSOP episode where he’d overslept had been aired in the UK the day before we left). I was also hoping to say 'hi' to Paul Phillips but he was in conversation with someone at the time and I didn't want to disturb him.

The only disappointment was not being able to photograph any of this (no-one else appeared to be taking photo's so we assumed, correctly, that it was frowned upon).

Two players I was hoping to say hi to were gotmilk (who I'd seen had won a satellite entry earlier in the festival) and Fossilman. However, I didn't spot either of them (I don't think Greg played). Mike Sexton was also there at the start but, alas, no sign of Shana!

I managed to hang around for about 20 minutes of play before the Mrs (who'd been keeping an eye out for Ben Affleck!) got bored enough to want to go and the rest of the day was spent doing tourist stuff.

A pre-wedding family get-together had been arranged for the evening, where I discovered that most of the relatives had been stumbled across the events at Bellagio during the day. When they learned of my ‘hobby’ many were asking me to explain poker to them (so much for not appearing to be a degenerate gambler then!).

Also during this get-together I was highly embarrassed when a group of parents/aunts/uncles tried to find a seat in one of the lounge bars and were delighted to discover a large empty table when the rest of the place seemed full. I watched in horror as they slowly congregated at this table, which happened to be in front of the TV screen which was showing Game 5 of the Red Sox vs Yankees series. After pretending to be part of a different group for a while (we’d managed to find a 4 seat table away from the TV which was vacated as we walked in) the 4 of us ‘young ones’ were horrified to be called over to this table after about 30 minutes when some more seats became free. After spending half an hour virtually lying down on the seat underneath the TV I was relieved when everyone decided to move on for food and then tried to explain that they’d been blocking the equivalent of the FA Cup Semi-Final in England.

I finally got to play some poker late on when the Mrs had gone to bed. This time I chose Mandalay Bay (I wanted to sample as many different rooms as possible during the week) and when I got there at about midnight there were lists for $4/8 limit and the $200 no-limit games open. I signed up for both and got called to the $4/8 game after about 10 minutes. This turned out to be a real fun session and it’s a game I highly recommend. The structure is a little unusual - the blinds are $1 and $2 and there's a half-kill, and the first pre-flop raise takes the bet to $6, not $4. I'm not sure how typical the game I was in was but it provided a lot of opportunity to limp in for $2 pre-flop with speculative hands such as suited connectors, small pairs, etc as the implied odds of hitting a hand were huge. The players at the table were all generally reasonable (no complete idiots or novices and a few locals who, as I’d expected, were more aggressive). I'd been treading water for a couple of hours or so when the following hand came up:

An early position player had raised to $6. Surprisingly, just about everyone had called the bet when the action got round to me on the button holding 44. I called, the blinds completed and we had an 8 or 9 way pot going into the flop.

The flop was a dream, 4-4-x with 2 spades. The small blind, a local, led out with a bet which everyone called. I also called, waiting for the turn to get in my raise (and hoping that the pre-flop bettor was also planning to raise here too). The turn brought the Ace of spades putting a 3 flush on the board. SB bet again, 3 or 4 players called, all of whom then called my raise with an air of defeat with the general consensus being that I'd made a King high flush (they were actually talking aloud to each other saying this).

The river came a blank and it was checked to me. I bet, desperately hoping that someone had a full house and was going to play back at me. Unfortunately, everyone folded to the last player who thought for a moment and then called saying "I have to show you how close I was." Once his chips hit the table I said, "I'm pretty sure you weren't close," and flipped over the quads, at which point the table erupted in surprise and congratulations! I had my hand shaken/high-fived by several players, which is possibly the best indication I can give as to the nature of the game I was in - real fun and friendly! The dealer then announced a high hand on the table and it turns out I'd qualified for a payout from the high hand jackpot. After being asked to sign a form I was told this was an additional $110, which was fine with me!

Following this hand the mood of the table had changed with everyone appearing even more talkative and friendly. When the action got round to me on the next hand I announced that I'd give some of the profit back to the table and raised blind. The local on my left re-raised and I called (can't remember how many others stayed in). After the flop it was checked around and I bet again (still blind), he raised, everyone folded and I called. He bet again on the turn and I called. However, after his bet on the river I announced that I supposed I'd better look and took a peek at the hand (which turned out to be KQs giving me a 4 flush on the final board, but only a king high hand) before mucking it face up to much laughter from the table. The other guy showed his winning hand, and then he proceeded to play blind for the next few hands, which generated a lot of fun action around the table (and more chips for me as I found a couple of hands during this time) before things returned to normal when he busted out (he rebought and started to play normally again).

By about 3.30am I’d turned my stack from $200 to $539 (most of which was in $1 chips, so it looked huge). I was still wide awake and wanted to carry on playing but didn't want to suffer too much the next day so when a couple of new players turned up at the table I said my goodbye's and cashed out (a lot of the other players from the quad hand had left by then so I didn’t feel too bad about leaving).

I've no doubt the experience won't always be like this but I highly recommend this particular game to the low limit players. The mood in the entire cardroom seemed much more relaxed than other places I played and the game structure should suit the better post-flop players.

Score to date: Tiredness/Mrs 2 Poker 2

Day 4 – Wednesday 20th October (the day of the wedding)

For obvious reasons, my hopes weren’t high that I’d get much play in today. The wedding wasn’t scheduled until 5pm so I took advantage of the morning by heading out to the Gamblers Book Store (where I was described by the guy behind the counter as like a kid in a candy store). Despite owning most of the major titles in the poker section I picked up some of the titles I’d found difficult to get hold of in the UK – Othmar’s 7CS book and Championship Satellite Strategy, along with Magriel’s backgammon book. I also bought a few of Dancer’s video poker strategy cards and had to buy a second copy of Mason’s ‘Fundamentals of Craps’ as, like an idiot, I’d left mine at home (the game is totally alien to us Brits!)

We then headed down to Fremont Street to check out Binions, the Golden Nugget and the 4 Queens during daytime so that we were better prepared for a return at night. I was desperate to play at Binions during my stay but after standing at the wall of fame for 5 minutes looking hopeful I was promptly dragged back to reality by you know who!

Fortunately for me the wedding had necessitated an appointment with the Luxor manicurist that afternoon (not for me before anyone dares think it) so I got another brief hour to play in the Luxor $2/4 game again. They opened up a $4/8 game after about half an hour but with so little time available I decided it wasn’t worth switching. Once again, this game proved to be a frustration and I ended up down about $70 at the end.

The wedding went smoothly despite the rain (the week of our stay was marred by what can only be described as ‘English weather’ all week – grey skies & rain showers, albeit slightly warmer than the UK for most of the time), as did the reception at MGM Grand, although they wouldn’t let the two bridesmaids (both aged under 10) sit in the bar while we waited for our table.

Once again I managed to get out and play at around midnight, this time opting for the Mirage where I joined a $10/20 table which was just being started up. I bought in for $500 and, once it got going, soon discovered that it wasn’t the best table in the world. There were quite a few locals at the table, some of whom were full-time players, and the other tourists were all fairly competent in general. The game was quite aggressive with many players willing to try and steal pots with bluff raises on the turn. Two guys to my right were being particularly aggressive and after clashing with each other a few times I was treated to my first ever live version of the ‘wanna play heads up’ challenge seen so frequently on line. One of them called the floorman over who said that he couldn’t spare a table for heads-up play so, in the end, they stayed in my game.

After a couple of hours things weren’t looking great – I was down around $300 thanks mainly to a loss with KK and a whole series of missed draws. Eventually the table got broken up and merged with another one where the run continued. The main culprit was a guy 2 seats to my left who was virtually playing every hand and, initially, hitting with all sorts of crap. Typical example, its folded to me on the button holding ATo, I raise, SB folds, nemesis calls. Flop comes Ten high rainbow. I bet, nemesis calls. Turn Q, river rag – I lose to Q4o. Not a massive bad beat by any means but he seemed, for a period, to be getting lucky every time, which was frustrating given the way the game had been going already.

When my stack got down to about $120 I put a couple of $100 bills underneath it as a partial reload which, fortunately, I never had to convert to chips. I had a run of 3 consecutive winning hands, which restored some of the loss, and I eventually got the stack back up to $504. I thought about cashing out (it was about 3.45am) as the table was starting to lose players, but the calling station (who’s luck had now turned) was still making the game worthwhile. The table then got filled by the residue of a $20/40 game which had just broken and after 15 minutes it was clear that it was no longer such a worthwhile game. I cashed out at just after 4am with a loss of $148. I’m pleased that I stayed patient after a tough start and managed to ride out the early loss. I’m also pleased that I didn’t take a stop-win view when I got back to break-even and made my decision to continue based on game conditions.

Overall, I like the Mirage and I’m sure I’d find better tables there in future. The satisfaction for me that night was that I tested my skills there in a ‘tough’ game and came through largely unscathed without seeing too many good hands. However, evidence of my tiredness when I left was found when I spent 15 minutes looking for the hire car on the wrong level of the car park! I was relieved to finally hit the hay at around 5am!

Score to date: Tiredness/Mrs 3 (no Binion’s play) Poker 4 (2 sessions)

Day 5 – Thursday 21st October

We had a bit of a lie-in (thankfully) till about 10am and then headed to Bellagio for a 12pm meeting with the Mrs’ parents and her brother. During the wedding meal the previous evening I’d promised to talk them through events at the WPT tables and explain the game to her mother, who’d been intrigued by the sight of Chris Ferguson and Doyle Brunson (whom she'd described as “the two cowboys”) earlier in the week. We got there as play was about to commence. The first thing that happened when we reached the tournament section was a motorised scooter went past me into the cordoned off section driven by none other than Doyle Brunson. As he climbed out of it he saw my obviously star-struck gawping face and said “hi” before limping into the centre section. I picked up a chip count list and then headed back to the family gathering where I tried to explain the significance of this event to them. However, no matter how many times I re-emphasised that DOYLE BRUNSON SAID “HI” TO ME I think it was somehow lost on them.

I was then treated to the funniest moment of the holiday. You might have guessed by now that my fiancé is not the biggest poker fan in the world so imagine my surprise when, whilst I was pointing out Doyle Brunson (did I mention he said “hi” to me) to the group, she pointed towards the rather tall guy who’d sat down next to him and said, “isn’t that Phil Hellmuth who just sat down next to him.” She failed to stop herself speaking before realising that she’d actually recognised a poker player by name and that, perhaps, the constant stream of TV poker, which she claims she isn’t watching with me, is actually catching her attention (admittedly Hellmuth is pretty hard to ignore on TV).

We spent about 30 minutes watching the play (they were already down to 30 players who were in the money at the start of play) before I optimistically suggested that perhaps the Mrs would like a bit of ‘quality shopping time’ with her folks. Incredibly this suggestion worked and all of a sudden I was inside the Bellagio poker room and asking what games were available. I got an immediate seat in a $4/8 game and settled down for what I expected to be a bonus hour’s play. 2 hours later I was rather surprised to be still sat in the game, once again with fewer chips than I’d started (I started with $200 and had subsequently rebought another $100 rack as this depleted). The main culprit had been a made straight running into a full house when the board paired on the river. Eventually I saw 3 familiar faces looking in at me and told them I’d just finish out the current orbit.

I called ‘future mother-in-law’ over to the table to try and better explain what I’d been running through at the WPT tables earlier. As she reached my shoulder I looked down at AKo (by far the best starting hand I’d seen that session) and fired in a raise which was called in about 3 or 4 spots. The board came down Ace high and I continued to lead out. The Jack on the turn put A-J-T-x on the board and, I feared the worst when I got check raised. Sure enough, I lost to KQ and the first sight my ‘pupil’ had of me at the table saw a big pile of my chips disappear in the other direction.

I turned round, explained that I’d run through things in more detail in a minute as it was unlikely I’d be playing the next hand and then looked down at two red Aces!!! Managing to hide both the ironic laughter and the fear of another big loss I fired out again and another big pot developed. Fortunately, the Aces held up and the stack suddenly looked a bit healthier. I explained to ‘mother-in-law’ that, since her arrival on my shoulder I’d been dealt two of the best hands available (including the very best hand) and was considering asking her to reside permanently there!

After being dealt rags in my final 3 hands (during which I gave the promised explanation of the action) I got up and cashed out (final result a $120 loss). At the cashier’s desk I queued behind Robert Williamson, who’d just been knocked out of the WPT event for an $18,000 payout so felt a bit depressed when my two racks of chips were briefly alongside his handful of about 5 or 6 chips worth 100 times as much! I rejoined the Mrs and her folks to discover that they'd managed to get one photo of me playing before getting shouted at by a member of staff! This, although blurry, is likely to be a collector's item given that its probably the last ever time 'mother-in-law' will be seen in a poker room!

We had a fun afternoon and evening in the Luxor shops, arcades and cinemas before heading back to the room to get ready for dinner. I had plans to head back to Binions that evening for my late night session but, ultimately, we never made it out of the room. Both of us managed to fall asleep (me whilst actually in the jacuzzi!) and we were both so tired that we didn’t even bother with dinner. I didn't feel too bad about this, particularly as Friday required a ridiculously early start for the Grand Canyon helicopter tour we'd booked. After all, I’d managed to add Bellagio to my list during the day so didn’t feel too upset as the Luxor bed once again claimed me as its victim!

Score to date: Tiredness/Mrs 4 Poker 6 (one point bonus for the Phil Hellmuth incident!)

Day 6 - Friday 22nd October

The day started with a 6.15am pickup for the Grand Canyon, which was an awesome experience. We got back to the room at about 9.45am and, having begged to be allowed to play just one tournament (all of which seem to start at either 10-12am or 7-8pm and which had, to date, been impossible to play) during our trip I made a failed attempt to get to the 10am Mandalay Bay tournament in time to register (although I suspected it had long been filled as it was already running when I got there at 9.55!) I went back to the Luxor and found that my last feasible chance was an Omaha Hi/Lo tournament at The Orleans starting at 12pm. This, I explained to my fiancé, was perfect as it was a game I’d played relatively little of so the chances were I’d be knocked out fairly early on. Permission having been granted we headed over there and I registered in good time, leaving us 30 minutes to kill in the casino.

The tournament got underway on time (great venue by the way, with a separate room specifically reserved for the tournaments) and I discovered it was another unusual structure. $40 bought you T300 chips but a $3 option, the money reserved for the dealers, gave an extra T50 (bit of a no-brainer, that one). There was then one re-buy allowed for $20 which then bought a further 400 or 500 chips IIRC (so for half the original cost you got more chips than you started with). The tournament was also a bounty event, which meant that you received $5 for every player you knocked out of it.

I decided to be aggressive early on and got off to a shocking start when I ran into a wheel in the first few hands. I spent most of the first hour with a short stack. I had T275 chips by the time of the first break (before my obligatory re-buy) and announced to my fiancé that it was likely I’d soon be out.

The tournament then proceeded in a bizarre fashion for the next couple of hours where I remained short-stacked for almost the entire time, constantly waiting for an all-in hand (blinds were getting increasingly significant). However, each time I found such a hand, it managed to survive, and on more occasions than not actually scooped the pot! Over this period, I’d been regularly showing my fiancé (who was now sitting looking bored on one of the fruit machines outside the room - she wasn't playing, just watching) the pitiful stack of chips I had left but somehow I managed to keep surviving, each time with a mixed feeling of joy and guilt.

From a starting point of about 80 players (most of whom looked to be fairly old, local regulars) I eventually managed to survive to the last 12 players by which time I'd accumulated an average-sized stack. I then got involved in a hand with a fairly aggressive player to my immediate left where I’d raised with a reasonable starting hand which included an A2 which was called by him and the big blind. The flop paired the Ace and another card, and gave me a draw to the nut low as well as the nut flush and we went to the turn heads up after BB had called. I got called again on the turn and was then raised on the river, having missed both the flush and low draws. I couldn’t believe it when I was shown J-J-7-7 which gave him a winning set of trips and was left fuming at how he could cold call my preflop raise with what, to me, is a trash hand in this game.

I was now down to the felt once again with about T800 chips and blinds of 500 and 1000, so it was a case of looking for an all-in hand on the current orbit. It didn’t take long for me to find it - I looked down at AA22 double suited and called all-in to an early raiser. Both blinds came in too giving me good value and, once again, I scooped the pot. Two hands later I got another AA hand, this time with no low potential, and put in a risky pre-flop raise which effectively committed me to the pot hoping to take it down there and then. This didn't happen but I managed to take down the pot (no low came) and double through again. Aggressive play and good fortune also allowed me to win both my blind hands on the orbit and, suddenly, with the exception of the guy from the JJ77 hand, I was now the biggest stack at the table.

The table got broken up just after this and as we sat down at the final table the situation now looked rather comical. Two of us now had over 15,000 in chips whilst the rest of the table were pretty much in all-in or bust situation. Shortly after the table started, blinds went up to 1000/2000, so it pretty much became a strategy of waiting for everyone else to bust out and avoiding tangling with the other big stack. This pretty much worked to perfection and within about 45 minutes or so I knocked out the 3rd place player to bring us heads up.

At this point the opponent offered me a chop where he would take $700 and I would take $605 (the actual prize split was something like $830 and $475). At the time I was outchipped by about 2 to 1 and, much as I wanted to continue playing, I looked across at the Mrs, who had now been sat waiting for about 5.5 hours and decided enough was enough. We shook hands and I picked up the $605 plus another $15 in bounties which restored me back to overall profit for the week.

Unsurprisingly, the rest of the evening was spent with the Mrs and, after a great meal at the Top of the World restaurant in the Stratosphere, I abandoned my plan to finally make it to Binions and decided enough was enough as far as poker was concerned for the week.

Final score: Tiredness/Mrs 4 Poker 7.

The next day we flew down to Houston and then on to Galveston for a fabulous cruise. I’d hoped that someone would have a game going somewhere on the ship but didn’t find one and contented myself with a week of reading, sunbathing and sleeping! Within two days of returning to England we’d already booked to go back to Vegas for the New Year at which point I’ll fill in some of the gaps from this experience!

Final thoughts
Unsurprisingly I love Vegas and probably got as much play in as could reasonably be expected in the circumstances. I'd originally planned to take a shot at some higher limits than I actually played but, with such small windows of opportunity to play, I found that I was content to play whatever game was being offered quickly.

There are a few things I'd like to do when I return - one being to attend the 2+2 get-together (which clashed with the wedding this time around). I'd also intended to have a bash at 7-card stud (learning the live game in the UK would mean playing pot-limit as a total novice) but, in reality, I found very few games being offered. If anyone has any suggestions as to where the low-limit stud games are I'd like to know!

Another question I do have is for when I return is whether anyone knows of any graveyard-shift tournaments being run. I'd read (I think) in Holden's 'Big Deal' that he played in one of these (I think they were aimed at the dealers and casino employees) but I get the feeling they aren't run anymore. The most frustrating thing I found was being unable to play in more tournaments because they all run at times when it would be a bit selfish for me to play, while the good lady twiddles her thumbs.

Apologies for the length of the report. Hopefully anyone who made it this far enjoyed it!

Sheriff