Cirque du Soleil: TOTEM @ Royal Albert Hall, London

Dinner at Brasa, Fulham

Amazing steaks and a really nice atmosphere at this new restaurant above the Broadway Bar & Grill in Fulham.

Dinner at Barbecoa, London

Jamie Olilver's new restaurant at New Change, St Pauls, London.

- Selection of Breads
- "Big Green Olives on Ice"
- Short Rib with Worcestershire Glaze, Irish Champ & Watercress
- Baked Cheesecake, with Chocolate & Gingersnap Crust, and Swiss Lime Meringue

Check out the food and dessert menus.  Yum!!

Dinner at Pearl Restaurant, London

Henry IV Part 1 at Shakespeare's Globe

Dinner at Hi Sushi, Soho, London

La bohème - The Royal Opera, London

Classic Puccini, fantastic sets. My first visit to the Royal Opera House in London.

8.5 / 10

Winter Wonderland, Hyde Park, London

Winter Wonderland - 01
Originally uploaded by adrianhind

Soaking up the northern hemisphere Christmas experience - Ice skating in Hyde Park, German Christmas Markets, Glühwein with bonus rum shots, and crazy fun fair entertainments.

Dim Sum at Lotus Floating Chinese Restaurant, Inner Millwall Dock, London

Dinner at The Kiwi Kitchen, Fulham, London

Watching the World Series of Poker Europe

The high-stakes poker world is centered on London at the moment, with most of the top name players in town for some big buy-in multi-day tournaments. I've been down to the Casino at the Empire Leicester Square a few times this week to watch the World Series of Poker Europe (WSOPE) Main Event, a £10000 buy-in no-limit holdem tournament with a star-studded field of 334 players.

The Casino at the Empire normally has a small poker room of half a dozen tables in a side room to the main casino, hosting £1/£2 cash games and £25 crapshoot afternoon tourneys, but for two weeks in Sept/Oct the entire casino is transformed into a high-stakes tourney poker venue, complete with ESPN TV crews and media a plenty.

Main Event tournaments are structured to allow the skill factor to really shine through. Deep stacks (30,000 starting chips). Long levels (90 minutes) with small increments in blinds. Determined players can play small pot poker and gradually chip up over the five days without having to take big gambles for their entire stack.

I went along for a few hours on Day 1b, Day 4, and to see the final four play down to a winner on Day 5. On the days where I wasn't able to get to Leicester Square I followed the progress of the tournament on the live blog at pokernews.com and by checking the regularly updated twitter posts of some of the big name players like 2007 WSOPE winner Annette Obrestad, Kid Poker Daniel Negreanu, Barry Greenstein, Joe Sebok, and Brandon Cantu.

Phil Ivey and Tom Dwan busted early on Day 1. They both have a habit of taking gambles early in tournaments in an attempt to build up a big stack or bust and return to the nose-bleed cash games online. Daniel Negreanu and Annette Obrestad played solid small-pot poker on the TV feature table, building up their stacks to 82450 and 51950 respectively by the end of the day.

On Day 2 and 3, internet MTT sensation Yevgeniy Timoshenko and PLO tournament star Jason Mercier built up massive stacks playing super aggressive poker. Yevgeniy Timoshenko had won over $1.5 million in the World Championship of Online Poker Main Event barely a week ago, and $2.1 million in the $25000 WPT Championship Event in April. Amazing results for a 21 year old!

Day 3 concluded with the burst of the money bubble, the honour going to 2007 runner-up John Tabatabai holding pocket Aces against Peter Goulds pocket sevens. All-in before the flop. Seven on the flop. Ouch!

36 players came back on Day 4 to play down to the final nine, amongst them California long-time pro Men Nguyen, CardPlayer magazine owner Barry Shulman, November Niners James Akenhead and Antoine Saout, Daniel Negreanu, UK poker identities Dave 'DevilFish' Ulliott and Ram Vaswani, online $2000/$4000 limit holdem phenom Matt Hawrilenko, Jason Mercier, Yevgeniy Timoshenko, and the legendary Doyle Brunson.

Nursing a short stack overnight, DevilFish was out in the first few minutes of the day. Yevgeniy Timoshenko floundered on a very very aggressive table (I saw one player re-raise all-in with Q6cc on a rag board only to get called by trip threes). Jason Mercier continued to build a massive massive stack. Daniel Negreanu slowly but surely chipped up, boosted at one point when he got Men Nguyen to commit all his chips with two pair against Daniel's trips. Doyle busted in 17th place. Eric Liu was the final table bubble boy. Just after midnight, the final nine had been decided. Twelve hour rest and they would be back at noon to play it out for the title.

In 2008 John Juanda won the title in an epic final table that ran for 22 hours. 2009's final table table was looking to match that with no player busting for the first five hours. The difference between 9th place prize money and 1st place prize money was £735,000, so the play was initially very cautious. Then in Level 27 as three short stacks were approaching ten to fifteen big blinds, the all-ins started to get called, and five players were knocked out in quick succession, four of them at the hands of Daniel Negreanu.

I arrived at the Casino at the Empire at about 9:00pm on Day Five, just after the dinner break. The remaining players Daniel Negreanu, Jason Mercier, Praz Bansi, and Barry Shulman were all deep stacked, with Praz Bansi holding a very slight chip lead over Daniel Negreanu.

Jason Mercier made a big re-raise pre-flop and Daniel called for more than 50% of his stack with 99. Jason's 77 didn't hold up, and we were down to three.

Daniel and Praz were chipping away at Barry Shulman, and he eventually pushed with JT on the button for about 14 big blinds, only to get called by Daniel Negreanu with AQ. Ten on the flop. Ten on the turn. Jack on the river. Jeez.

Praz Bansi then made a big re-raise on a Kigh high flop with K8. Barry Shulman called with KJ, which held up, leaving Bansi crippled. He was knocked by Daniel a few hands later when he pushed with Q2 and was called by AQ which held up.

12:30am and we're down to heads up with Daniel Negreanu hold a 60/40 chip lead against Barry Shulman. Negreanu's guaranteed second place put him on the top of the all-time poker tournament earnings list, a position that while well earned, is very likely to be superseded by Phil Ivey next month at the final table of the WSOP Main Event.

An hour and a half into heads up play, Negreanu raised on the button, Shulman called. On a King high flop with two hearts, Shulman bet out, and Negreanu announced All-in. Shulman called instantly with an Ace high flush draw. Negreanu had pocket Aces and was a 65% favourite to win the tournament. Alas a heart came on the turn and Barry took a commanding chip lead.

Daniel clawed back over a couple of hours, re-raising all-in numerous times, forcing Barry to fold, and eventually regaining the chip lead.

Then, 17 hours into the final table, on a flop of 58J with two diamonds, Shulman bet out, Daniel raised, the Barry announced all-in. Daniel was amused and chatted with the rail, trying to figure out whether to call. He eventually called with QJ suspecting Barry might be on a flush draw again. Alas, Barry had pocket Aces this time. Daniel had five outs, plus a back-door flush draw. Turn .... Jack!! The crowd roared. Daniel was now 95% to take down the tournament. River .... Ace!! Wow! Barry spikes a two-outer and takes a monster chip lead.

A few hands later, all the money goes in pre-flop. Daniel's pocket Fours is no much for Barry's pocket Tens. Barry Shulman wins the World Series of Poker Europe Main Event, and a dejected Daniel Negreanu almost cries during the post tournament interview.

It's 5:30am, and time to go home.

Arsenal v Wigan @ Emirates Stadium

Arsenal v Wigan - 06
Originally uploaded by adrianhind

Jason took to me see Arsenal v Wigan at Emirates Stadium in North London, hoping to turn me into an Arsenal supporter "before you start supporting Chelsea or Fulham". Amazing stadium. 59000 Arsenal supporters and about 200 Wigan supporters.

Arsenal smashed Wigan 4-0. Great day!

Full set of photos up on Flickr

[smh] 'Putpockets' to secretly slip cash into bags and pockets

Ok, this is a bit weird. But I wouldn't say no to an extra 'fiver'.

Tour of Lord's - The Home of Cricket

Tour of Lord's
Originally uploaded by adrianhind

As a follow up to our day at the Ashes at Lord's, Andrew and I went on the MCC Tour of Lord's today, an opportunity to see inside the Long Room, the Players' Dressing Rooms, and to visit the Investec Media Centre.

Full set of photos in the Tour of Lord's set on Flickr.

Lunch at wahaca, Covent Garden, London, UK

Ashes at Lord's

Ashes at Lord's
Originally uploaded by adrianhind

I was fortunate enough to get tickets to the first day of the second Ashes test at Lord's.

England won the toss and elected to bat, getting off to a good start with a fantastic opening partnership between Strauss and Cook. Australia fought back after lunch, with England ending the day at 6 for 364.

England went on to win the test, their first against Australia at Lord's since 1934.

Full set of photos in the Ashes at Lord's set on Flickr.

ENO's Madam Butterfly at the London Coliseum

Drinks and dinner at The Cut Bar, London, UK

Late night dinner at The Wolseley, London, UK

Gin and tonic, at the bar



Deep fried Whitebait with tartare sauce

Medium rare Rib Eye Steak Frites

Gem heart salad

Minted peas



and a glass of The Wolseley Médoc 2004 Château Loudenne

Lunch at Petersham Nurseries, Richmond, UK

Lunch at Petersham Nurseries
Originally uploaded by adrianhind

Prosciutto with Smashed Peas & Mint on Bruschetta

Beef Skirt with Camone tomatoes, Chard & Anchovy Butter

Raspberry Sorbet

All in a gorgeous garden nursery setting.

Happy Birthday Kate!