EPT London has been and gone and despite not really getting anything going in the two tournaments I played I did have a wonderful time hanging out with old friends and meeting some new ones too.

I made day 2 of the main event but got in a tricky spot with jacks where I ended up 3 bet/getting in vs a committing 4 bet but vs a backraise that was probably quite likely to be strong. Nevertheless he had AA and I can only mull over what I could have done differently. I also played the £1.1k side event which ended in tragedy when I 3 bet/called AQ and got the guy to do exactly what I wanted except on this occasion he had 44 and flopped a boat.

Due to some active anti-railing and keenness to try out all of Londons best culinary delights, Dominic managed to drag me out to the wonderful Hakkassan. It’s Asian cuisine with lots of silly cocktails and after a few pink Mojitos the conversation was flowing as nicely as the soft crab shell. There were a couple of post meal sweats, firstly it took well over an hour to get a taxi and several of us had to play the next day. Secondly, George declared that he got food poisoning from there the week before.

All was resolved though and the next night Melanie and David had me trottering over to go to L’atelier – a 2* French restaurant. I arrived a bit earlier than everyone else but was soon joined with the jovial Scott Seiver for a pre-dinner cocktail or two. Eventually everyone arrived with much blame being passed as to whos fault it was they were so late etc and we managed to tuck into some gorgeous langoustine ravioli and such like. Afterwards we headed to O bar in Soho which was/is presumably some sort of former/current gay bar. The music was good though and the drinks flowing nicely before eventually calling it a night around 3 and having no notable taxi issues.

Wednesday was the Pokerstars party at the awesome Kensington Roof Gardens. My last visit here was for Georges birthday and while this night wasn’t as good as that one I still had a fun time and the open bar never hurts, at least until the morning. I ended up going to some after party with David but it was a bit shit so turned it in just after arriving there much to the taxi drivers pleasure of taking £20 for a 2 minute taxi from me.

On Thursday Melanie sent me an urgent message just after lunch time declaring that I had to go to Billy Elliot. I made my excuses and bashed out a big gym workout before we headed to dinner with Dylan and Gloria too at the Square. The Square has a soft place in my heart as it’s where I had a wonderful family dinner for my mums birthday a few years ago. Once again we had the excellent tasting menu and the Square never fails to deliver. It was quite seafood geared and while I’m not a huge fan of it the Square does a very good job and the meal was absolutely delicious and I think we were all stuffed by the end determined to polish off the soufflé.

So all in all a pretty awesome week and it won’t surprise you to hear that I’m now thoroughly ill with an awful cough, sore throat, head ache and a touch of gout kicking in. It’s starting to become manageable now though and hopefully I’ll be in fighting fitness for both San Remo and my friends Craig and Klees wedding.