From one big thing to another

The mesmerising bass lines pulsing through the brain like a perfectly orchestrated series of explosions. Searing guitar riffs chopping through the night air, delicate plucks turn into deafening crescendos of sound. Drums pound in a hypnotic rhythm as 82000 hands clap in time. A familiar voice echoes round the packed stadium…’Un, Dos, Tres……’ No-one can hear the music anymore as the chorus is sang by the crowd, drowning Bono’s voice into a whisper.

One week until I hit the biggest poker game in town, last night I was at the biggest rock concert in town. A visual and audio masterpiece it was too. Following a beautiful day’s sunshine the boys from Dublin proceeded to blow Croke park away in what the loyal ‘I went to all three’ fans were saying was easily the best performance of the weekend. ‘Big’ is probably the only similarity with what I will experience next week. Bono preaches about human rights, equality and sharing. Vegas is about ‘sin and win’. Winning is something the Irish have already started doing early into the green armies arrival in the real City of blinding lights. The omens for Mark McMahon are good as the first two interviewees of Antes up are already $17,000 richer after splitting a Bellagio tournament. Any one wishing to be added to the list of pending interviews please queue in line!

Another week of hardly any poker playing is facing me before I leave. I have a charity tournament to run on Wednesday at the Star and Crescent Pub in Drogheda. Everyone is welcome, the charity is ‘The Drogheda Rape Crisis Centre’, it is a €25 re-buy and depending on the number of entrants upto 50% of the pool is going to the charity. No money is take by the venue or promoters. The following night is Green Joker Poker’s €25 re-buy at the Europa Hotel. Things kick off at 9pm sharp, once again everyone is welcome.

Friday I am hoping to get down to the Fitz to play the €50 re-buy and accumulate some more Vegas bankroll. My final poker before I go will be the €20 re-buy on Sunday in the Fitz also.

I land in Vegas on Tuesday afternoon which is also my birthday (21 again!), it will be too late in the day to pick up my press credentials so I will have to settle for a few beers and maybe a little cash game or three. Wednesday is the Celeb/Media event which Tom and I will be playing in and then on Thursday it is the start of the ‘Big One’. With both of us covering this we should have updates posted every 15-20 minutes at least during play so make sure you check back regularly.