Stoke 2007 – the thrills and spills!
Well, my Stoke adventure started at about 4AM last Thursday morning with an early morning drive to pick up Evil from the airport! Got there at about 7:30, so had time to read the papers and grab a drink before heading down to arrivals. I missed her coming out of arrivals, but luckily she spotted me!
We loaded up the car and headed off to
Blackpool for the day, stopping in the ‘big blue’ hotel, which was pretty decent. After a trip to the pleasure beach, Evil fell asleep so I headed to the pub for the rest of the day, before going out for some food and a few drinks that night.
The next day, we left
Blackpool at about 1PM to rendezvous with all the other Wassers in Stoke! We got there at about 4, and were greeted by the site of a dozen or so members drinking (this was to be a common theme for the weekend) and smoking outside the hotel. After saying hello to everyone I headed off to check in. As I was sharing a room with Dan who had arrived earlier, I just picked a key up and headed up to the room. After about a half hour walk (that hotel was huge! Like the tardis) we got to the room, and I have to say I was pleasantly surprised to find we had a spa bath
After Liverpool, where we were lucky to have beds, this was the lap of luxury! However, there was no time, so I grabbed a quick shower and headed back downstairs to get a drink and have a chat.
After a while, Chris and Steve showed up, so we decided to get some food along with Dan, Cill and Evil before heading to the casino. Dan, who had turned up earlier, was positive that he had seen a restaurant not far away, led the way…30 minutes later we finally got there, after getting totally lost, and managed to order food. Our waitresses promise that Evils veggie dish would only be ‘5 minutes’ (whilst they microwaved it lol) turned to be a blatant lie, but, still, the food was good when it go there, and the fact that it came to £5 per head including all the drinks made it all the better!
Dinner finished, we headed back to the hotel in order to get changed and head to the casino (we had registered earlier in order to avoid the queue) and so were able to head straight in. We got our seats, and then headed to the bar for a few pre-game drinks and then a bit of roulette. After a mild scolding from Cill for leaving her and Evil to walk down to the casino on their own, Cill presented us with one of the nicest gifts we have ever received, a painting she has done of the WassOnline logo. It’s now hanging over my desk in the office – Ill add a picture later! Thanks Cill! Anyhow, once that was safely stored by the casino staff, the tables were drawn and the games began!
To be honest, I don’t remember much about the poker that night…my head is full of pounding music as the 3 stooges on the stage did their best to destroy all chance of conversation with their 60’s mix and shockingly loud feedback! The other reason I don’t remember much was I was busted out fairly early by Leafy when my A K failed to hold up against Ace 10. Thus ended my night of poker, but luckily enough I was in a casino so had lots of other things to waste time on
By the final table, there was only Dan left of the
'Nottingham crowd’. With the help of some lucky headgear, he finished in 3
rd place, another victim of Trixie, who went on to win just about everything that night!
After the casino, everyone started to drift back to the hotel, so we wandered back too…not too late, only about 4AM! Got to bed, and about 30 mins later my phone starts ringing…Cill? Pick it up…and she says ‘We need men’. Hmmm??! Apparently she had gone to get into bed and a few wasps had set up home under her pillows lol…so after a trip across the hotel with a rolled up newspaper, we finally managed to get to sleep at about 6AM, and thus ended the first day of Stoke!
The next day started later. We were woken up by MrWass banging on the door at about midday. A quick shower followed this rude awakening, and we headed downstairs to the bar.
We spent a few hours in the hotel bar playing a bit of poker (again, my performance was less than good) and having a few drinks and food. Then, it was time for a swim and a trip to the sauna! We headed to the local sports shop to pick up some trunks, and then hit the pool. After spending about half an hour in the Jacuzzi and pool with Sal, Gaz, Git, Mrs Git, Danny, Chickster, Rob, Dan and a few others, it was time to hit the steam room…Gorillas in the mist anyone? Well, Pastieman was in his steamy heaven here, but after about 10minutes it was time for me to get out and go for a swim to cool off! Before I knew it was pushing 4 o’clock, and we had to go and sort some food out and head to the casino.
MrWass, Dan, Cill, Evil and I got to the casino at about 5:15 expecting to be able to grab some food and then get straight on with the poker…but it was not to be. For some reason known only to them they served no food at all until 6PM…so it was off to Sainsbury’s to pick up some sandwiches to eat on a bench in the car park…welcome to the UK Cill and Evil!
After our delicious 4 course meal, we headed to the casino again for big game. As we got in people were just starting to take their seats so we jumped straight into the action!
This night, my poker playing ability was no different to the night before, and I was not playing for long…I went out 40
th or thereabouts… it was still pretty early but we got a Sit ‘n Go running to pass the time! This was a better game (Still didn’t do well…but it was an improvement) and it past the time until the final table was well underway!
The final table was an absolute pleasure to watch, with some great, and very entertaining poker being played. Everyone who made it should be thoroughly proud of themselves! Once the game was over, it was photo time, and we got a few pics courtesy of MrsGit
, most of which can be found all over the site. Once the pics were done, MrWass shot off to bed as he also had football in the morning at had to be up early.
I hung around the casino for a bit talking to the different members and playing a bit more on roulette etc (it was an expensive weekend
), before deciding that it was time to head back to the hotel, and hopefully find some food – the Sainsbury’s meal had not really been that filling.
Sadly, the only place open for food by that time was the local petrol station, so it was more sandwiches for us. However, it did the trick, and kept us going all night!
The Saturday night in the hotel lobby was brilliant. The bar kept serving until about 8AM when everyone went for breakfast (Hamish tucking into sausage egg and beer!
), but there were some great stories. The arm wrestling was fun to watch, but it would’ve been a whole lot better had the bikers joined in (they did the whole 24 hour thing too that night)! His story of breaking some ones arm in a wrestle put a damper on the whole thing, and the competitions changed to the much less dangerous art of the ‘thumb war’. I also think that Jayc and Sal are due a chess challenge at some point...Clash of the titans’ lol. Played a game of poker again…3
rd person to go out, so was dealer from that point onwards
. Was a great moment at about 7AM when Dan and Wass came trotting downstairs, saw everyone still up and you could just see on their faces…they were thinking…What the fuck – you lot are crazy! Also, another great moment was Gaz getting made over by Evil…wheres a camera when you need one?! And thanks to Cill again, who even at that time of the morning managed to rustle up some tea
Shortly after that it was breakfast time, and an intense debate about the ethics on the forum ensued
but it was good to get something to eat and drink after a long night…!
Breakfast done, I headed back to the room to pack, feeling a bit sad that the weekend was drawing to a close. It had been great to see everyone, but time had gone far too fast. I packed and loaded the car, and then sat with Jayc for a while whilst waiting for all of the lightweights who had gone to bed Saturday night to wake up and find their way downstairs
It got to about midday (I think – lost track of time) and it was time for goodbyes. Loaded Evils many suitcase into the car for the trip back to Notts, and then said goodbye to everyone. I think we were one of the last to leave, as we really didn’t want the weekend to end, but, eventually we hit the road, and took a slow drive back to Notts, stopping for food on the way, which was very nice…but made me sleepy for the rest of the journey!
Got back to Notts at about 4PM, and just fell asleep…I was aiming to wake up at about 9PM to get some food, but didn’t end up waking up till 2AM, by which point I just thought sod it and went back to sleep, ready for work the next morning!
With Evil stopping over, it’s been a pretty busy week, but good fun. The best news is that its currently 2-0 to me on the poker side of things, and I am looking to add number 3 tonight, as we have a home game to celebrate my birthday. MrBeale is playing along with Dan, Wass, and a few others, so Evil has her work cut out to win one of the toughest games ever…!
Anyhow…that’s my story so far…presuming that poker goes well tonight for me I will add to it…if it doesn’t, I am sure Evil will be more than happy to write about it!
Cheers
Doc
Docs Stoke Epic...a long time in the writing!
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