PKR Live 5 - Friday: Free Drinks At Tower Bridge

**For this trip report, I will refer to players by using their PKR username.**

Prior to the two days of poker that were lined up at The Fox Poker Club the good people at PKR had organised a social gathering with free drinks for all, for all the L5 qualifiers and their guests, at Tower Bridge. Now while this may sound pleasant and glamorous and no doubt would have cost a pretty penny, most players, it turned out, would much rather have been playing a little poker. Nevertheless, here is my report of the evening:

Being my first PKRLive, the amount of people I knew beforehand (apart from the handful I had met briefly at The Fox Club launch party) came to precisely zilch. After a very wet journey to Tower Bridge and a few lagers on the way to loosen up, I arrived at the entrance to the north west tower. Inside, there was a small foyer along with a few PKR representatives and promo girls. After confirming my name, it was up in the lift to the corridor at the top. There is a very Victorian feel to the place as you exit the lift but when you take a right you get to the corridor, lined with purple and blue lighting, which links the two western towers together. Not knowing anyone, I grabbed a couple of bottles and just slowly sauntered to the end of the corridor while trying to recognise some of the faces. As it turned out I recognised A LOT of the faces but was happy to sip my beer and take in the view of London.

As time ticked on I thought it might be a good idea to strike up a conversation and I soon got talking to a chap who goes by the name of Robublind. We chatted away about the main event but what struck me the most was this guy's resemblance to Mike Matusow. He could have been his twin brother for sure! Anyway, I then spotted my guest who goes by the username of MrDickie and grabbed his attention. (As a qualifier you are allowed to invite a guest and as none of my friends or relatives were up for this, I offered my guest ticket to anyone who wanted it from the PKR forums.) We chatted away for a short while and the subject turned to PKR players. On mentioning the fact that I had never met Chivalrousgent, he immediately introduced me to the man himself. Never mind Mike Matusow's twin brother - right there was Chivalrousgent's very own twin brother!! Anyway, among this group were SOTVandy (a previous winner of The Masters) and also a chap called Philip Conneller (username: escalope) who was the first winner of PKRL (L1) and the editor of Bluff Magazine.

Well, after I told him how much I enjoyed his magazine and that its articles were the meatiest and most informative out of the whole crop of poker mags you can buy (the truth by the way, this wasn't flattery), I did mention my view on their front covers. Namely, that they nearly always contain a picture of a "hunky" bloke or two and that they look like gay mags for gay men. Surprisingly, he told me that he was aware of this but then asked me what else you would put on the front to make it less gay. Unfortunately, I was not able to supply him with a satisfactory answer at the time. (Maybe have poker related stuff with no blokes on the cover or, at least, don't make them look like models or porn stars?) I also asked him, as he had won L1, why he wasn't a presence at the PKR tables anymore, but he was tight-lipped on this one. He did let out though, that PKR weren't too pleased that he kind of did a runner after that success.

Anyway, shortly after, I had a short chat with Mumbolungo (Elvis hairstyle/strong Scottish accent) about strategies for the main event and then said a quick hello and goodbye to vd12345 (rotund fellow and winner of L3). As I left, the lager was telling me it was still early days and that I should see what was going on at The Fox and I'm sorry to say, I didn't resist this temptation. On the way down in the lift I saw Brutusnr1 and told him I was a big fan of his. As I passed him on the street later, I just punched my fist in the air and yelled "Sweden!" He probably thought I was some sort of stalker because I did the same when I saw him later at The Fox.

So I'm at The Fox, I'm a bit tipsy and I buy £200 in chips for a cash game!! Luckily, these just slipped into my pocket and were never used again until I cashed them the next day - thank goodness. I then nip out to the smoker's area for some fresh air and see Brutusnr1 again with a serious looking chap who goes by the (almost spoonerismically vulgar) username of BUCKFASTer. This guy just looked seriously unhappy about something all the time. Anyway, before Brutusnr1 really takes me for a disturbed stalker I figure it's probably best to let him know my PKR username. Thankfully, he recognises it and we're merrily chatting away. He then introduces me to some more forum favourites and familiar names including Trymean77, Azurecoil and TheMightySwe.

By this time though, things have started to get very blurry. I recall saying a quick hello to the likes of petrafyde, Soxfan73, KKowboy and I remember chatting away with Oscartpot. Unfortunately, by about 1 o'clock, I'm flagging and I head for a bus for the long journey home. I get in at about 2 o'clock in the morning and the realisation dawns that this is probably the worst preparation you can have for the main event!!

Apologies for the lack of detail and just the roll of names at the end but this lack of attention to detail may just reflect my drunken state at the time. Nevertheless, in my upcoming posts, I'll write about how the main event went and give an insight into the table manner of some of the players who were sitting at my table.