Australian Highlights.

The two tallest members of the group (Keys and Mongy) had some good sparring, Keys was brazen enough to mock the famed "Mongy GPS" and incredulous to discover Scott thought that Ivanhoe was an Australian state. Mongy was on form for the trip and is now a converted Lily Allen aficionado, rumour has it he's going to do a happy hardcore remix.

Rupert's forte, aside from organising the next holiday, was chatting to the taxi drivers. The pick of the bunch was when discovering that one particular chap had come over for work, was, "well it's better than walking in a call centre I suppose."

Steven managed to make us all feel rather mature and responsible as he indulged in night after night of baccarat session. Also jeered at Andy Murray with me whilst watching the final of Australian Open.

Sweir had a deep run in the 6max, although showed his real prowess at aiding Rupert with taxi driver baiting. "Is this a vomit shield?" followed by a mock demonstration was particularly memorable.

Not to be left out I had a few exchanges. After being pilloried with Tony Cascarino as a "Pommie" I commented, "Well I wouldn't want to ever steal a pot boys, you never know where you may get deported to" Tony Hachem seemed to enjoy that one. One particular mug (sunglasses/headphones etc) in the 6max was rather irate at me for looking at his chipstack:

Rolf: "Fuck you, eyeballing my stack".

Me: "I'll have to get a pair of sunglasses like you, so you can't see where I'm looking"

Rolf: "You should, you can probably afford them"

Me: "Not sure I can to be honest, am still saving up for a pair of those swish headphones"

Dealer Interjects...

Afternote: Poor little Steven was whining at being called immature, I guess he'll grow out of this phase, it is a little wearing. Apologies Steven I didn't mean to be condescending-that means patronising (it's when you talk down to people) ref Jimmy Carr. In fairness though his extensive knowledge of pirogies, snow cones, tiramisu, 5bet jamming ranges belies his modest years.

Game, set and Hats.

We headed to "The Rod Laver Arena" today in order to watch the tennis. It was once again ridiculously hot, we were all rather concerned that we may melt into our chairs. The first match started worrying as Serena Williams completely ran over Li Na for the first couple of games and it appeared that a bloodbath was on that cards...(On that tangent we sneaked out and checked up on Key's progress to find he had busted in the money) Na fought back and this led to a great match which Williams won 7/6 7/6. Henin destroyed another Chinese girl 6/1 6/0 in the next match.

Hadn't had a gambling fix all day so flipped Rupert for who had to purchase the other a Aussie Open hat. I lost the flip, I couldn't moan too much though as we were later heckled by Keys and Steven who were loitering in the VIP area. Keys did a good job of putting a brave face on losing 600ks worth of showdowns having been an overwhelming favourite on each occasion. We had a quick drink and a band entertained Mongy's request for an Oasis tune, then home for a BBQ.

Our Time is Running Out...

Headed to "Big Day Out" on Tuesday, it's a music festival which tours around Australia. Despite having to endure the toilets, thanfully it was a one day event so no camping was involved. Our expectations weren't especially high, another morose taxi driver deflated us by failing to let us provoke any response from him. At least the one we had tonight had the decency to pretend to be on his phone so he could ignore us.

Kasabian did little to instill confidence, they were dire. However, cometh the hour cometh the man. "A black man, purple man, martian man" would have done, Dizee rascal was more than equal to the task. Even cynics like us were waving our hands around and getting involved with the chants. We were then treated to Lily Allen, supposedly recovering from a bout of gastric interitus. She demurely informed to throbbing crowd "I've been shitting myself all week". The fiesty star managed to make a good portion of the audience "Smile" when she flashed her chest, all contextual of course. Poor lily is pretty cut up over her love life, no doubt is Jack Powell's fault. Seemed like she was pretty coked up, seems par for the course, "everyone's at it"

Muse were next, they were really great, the atmosphere was brilliant. They didn't really need to interact as much with the audience as the other performers, quite frankly they didn't need to, everyone appreciated them doing what they do best; banging out tune after tune. The lighting display was amazing, multi-coloured lasers scything through the night sky. A picture of us all below, with me sporting my freshly pilfered DC Tshirt:

Keys, keys, Keys.

Had a new arrival in the appartment today, a Canadian chap called Stephen. Seems like a good guy, didn't moan about jetlag despite his commute, so should fit in well. I was grinding cash last night at the Crown it went pretty well. I was sat next to Tony Cascarino, so was obviously already starstruck when who should wander over but Neil Channing. To my delight he uttered an ironic "marvelous" in one of his tales.

I slept in today whilst the others headed to a Kickball game organised by Tony Dunst. Upon waking I called mongy, it's a testament to Bond's hospitality that Scott told me they were in a flat number that did not exist... The other boys were looking a bit pale, thankfully I chanced upon them leaving the building whilst loitering outside.

After eventually managing to ascertain the room number I headed up to see Mongy. Bond's joint was pretty swish with panoramic views across the city. My camera work didn't really do them justice:

After a rather weak, nondescript Victoria Bitter(It's not even an ale but a larger),LuckyChewy and KingDan arrived and we headed to a Japanese style restaurant. Rupert called just in time to rescue me from the pork dumpling starter, they were locked out of the apartment and not really in any fit state to get back into town. Shame really, am sure everyone would have been impressed by my chop stick prowess and extensive noodling knowledge. I did the noble thing, made my apologies and taxied back. N.B Trying to get any banter out of people in tertiary jobs is like trying to get blood out of a stone, obviously doesn't stop us trying though much to Mongy's displeasure and Sweir's delight.

Props to Sweir for making it all the way to the front door, Rupert only made it as far as the sofa in reception to get his 40 winks!

ElRupert busts 1st level of Cinnamon Challenge.

It's been a quiet day. Keys' work ethic continued to impress us, he resolved to grind single table sats at the Crown, and made it to the train station before changing his mind. Sweir lazed around in a pair of ridiculous shorts that Rupert was incredulous to discover had been purchased in the UK. Mongy recommenced his love affair with stts, and I've managed to go the whole day without a nap. Rupert livened things up by accepting the cinnamon challenge. Whilst waiting for the video to upload FTP have introduced new "Rush Poker" tables, looks like a gimmick also quite young, stay away imo!

Time to Plunder, down under...

I took the train down to London and stayed with James in soho. It appears the credit crunch has hit the area hard as the local dealers were trying to push weed rather than powder. Seemed to be a lot of people looking for "Charlie" though, no idea if they tracked him down. Met up with Mongy who was vocalising with some black fundamental Christians outside the tube station and helping them spread the Gospel.

The flights were not as bad as expected. I was planning on watching some poker videos, taking notes etc, however there wasn't that much space so had to rely on G&Ts for entertainment; until the tonic ran out that was...

Upon arrival we took a taxi to the appartment. The driver had a thick Russian accent, despite claiming to have lived here for 47 years. It took him less than 20 seconds to ask us if we wanted to go to a brothel. After having politely declined we arrived at the appartment. It suits us pretty well, it's around 20 minutes from the nearby train station to reach Melbourne City centre and from there not even the laziest of poker players could justify taking a taxi to the nearby Crown. Uploaded a snap of the view from the balcony.

Have played two donkaments so far. The $1100 was probably as soft as the $1.5ks at WSOP, it's a bit frustrating not to get the gold when the standard is so poor. Am here for a while though so fingers crossed for a nice score. Have been grinding online a bit with decent results which keeps morale up.

Went out for drinks last night and played some drinking games, it transpires that Rupert is unbelievably awful at "The Name Game" but is a complete Nazi on the implementation of International Drinking Rules. Met a couple of girls from Leamington Spa, some may say it's a small world, although it doesn't fell like it after the flights!

Happy New Year.

2009 went pretty swimmingly, I made it through the whole year without having a single curry or Chinese meal forced upon me. Highlights of the year were the trip to French Riviera and assorted Jimmyz outings. I passed my driving test too, which enabled me to make my way to Torquay casino. Poker wasn't bad either...

New Year's Eve consisted of the Edinburgh Street Party, Rupert, Gwen and JD all came up for the soiree. The event was hyped up and lived up to expectations, i.e getting ridiculously cold whilst being shunted from pillar to post by the marauding masses. Luckily we ventured to the pub afterwards and were treated to an attractive 30 something blonde dancing on the tables. Despite the Landlord admitting to being so drunk he couldn't remember a drinks order consisting of 5 beverages he had the presence of mind to bang on a striptease track The blonde duly obliged, although was soon dragged off by her husband.

Hope to work a lot harder on my poker game this year. Financially the cards have been lucrative, and whilst my game has improved I realise I can't rest on my laurels. Should start doing some more exercise too...Am also going to start keeping a spreadsheet to keep track of my spending, should at least enable me to analyse a few leaks, even if I do nothing to plug them!