I arrived in Blackpool Friday afternoon , checked into my hotel then walked to the casino noting it took 10 minutes , i bought in for both the £100 Omaha that evening and the £1025 No Limit Freezeout the following day .

The tournament was due to start at 8pm but in my experience of Grosvenor casinos in London , Walsall , Luton and Southampton they rarely do as it takes time to seat all the players .

I said a few hellos then went for a walk along the Golden Mile to the tower and returned to my hotel . I hardly ever play any table games in casinos and never play cash before or during an event , sometimes after the last tournament , and therefore i usually turn up just before the start , i arrived at 8pm and two floorpersons were handing out the seat tickets , we started around 10 past which with 116 runners i thought was pretty good . After 1 hour of play they announced the main event was sold out at 140 , i was glad i had already bought in !

After 3 hours in the Omaha , having doubled up on the second hand with QQ J8ds i had only played two more hands , another QQds and finally a double up with KK 89 in the SB where i flopped a set and got paid , i was up to 17,000 , i then lost when i had Steve Vladar all in for 8,500 , he had AQ KT , i had AA 89 , Steve made 2 pair , by 1 am i was struggling with 6000 , average was 24,000 , we were down to 4 tables , i had asked what time they were going to play on till and was told 5.30am , with the main event starting at 6pm the same day i didn't want to survive miss the money and get to bed late so i decided to bluff Dave Colclough representing a straight on the turn and river , unfortunately he wouldn't lay down his set and i went out soon after.

I found out later they couldn't finish and ended up doing an 11 way split on chip count .

I was in bed by 1.30 and hoping to sleep till 9ish , around 7.30 i woke up as the curtains in my room allowed the light in , i dozed till 9 then after breakfast took a taxi into town and bought an eye mask , i noticed the wind was a lot worse than yesterday and decided tonight i would take a cab , i got back to the hotel and after a quick shower went back to sleep setting the alarm for 4.30pm .

I woke around 4 , then at 4.30 got up and went next door for some dinner , refreshed i was back in my room around 5.15 , i polished my shoes , laid out my clothes and had a shave , once ready i went to reception and called a taxi on the dedicated line , at 5.50 a taxi arrived , i went out and said i was going to the casino , the driver said i'm here for someone else , but it's only 5 minutes jump in and i'll come back for my fare , having got in as he was starting to reverse a lady came running up to claim the cab and i had to get out !

I went back in and called the taxi firm again , it was now 5.55 , they apologised and said they would be arriving any minute , at 6.02 a taxi arrived dropping off a fare , i went out and asked if he could drop me at the casino . no problem and at last i was on my way , i arrived at 6.07 , paid and ran into reception where they said i had better be quick as they were about to start , i was in the casino at 6.09 , i walked over to the top stairs of the card room and asked for my seat no , i was referred to the manager who was at the cash desk talking to a customer , i heard him apologising and assumed the poor guy had turned up today and discovered it was full .

You can imagine my face when he turned to the cashier and said " two players too late , can you refund their entries " I glanced up at the countdown clock which shows time left in each level , it was on 41 which meant they had been playing less than 4 minutes , when i enquired what the rules were , he said if your not in your seat when they commence dealing you can't play and that also they had checked to see if we were in the building before commencing , i had missed the start by no more than 2 minutes , when i commented that although i am obviously at fault i never thought for one minute i was going to be late as yesterday with 116 they were 10 minutes late and today they had 140 , the manager said we are annoyed we started 6 minutes late .

I had travelled 260 miles to play this event and now i had to watch as everyone else took their chance at the £40,000 first prize , oh well you live and learn , i won't make that mistake twice and i have to say kudos to the management at Blackpool for outperforming any Grosvenor i have ever played at re starting times . However they had started 10 minutes late the day before and i think they should allow players one round to join the event , this is one reason why we need a set of guidelines excepted worldwide , in the US for example you are blinded off , Phil Helmuth is famous for his late arrivals , next time i'll walk lol .

I missed out on an opportunity , my sponsors UK Betting.com have £1025 back in the kitty and i have written a diary from which all you readers can learn from but has left me feeling a bit of a plonker !