Drawings, perceptions and poker players

Well it's been a VERY long time since I posted in this blog. Actually I had almost forgotten I even had it. A lot has changed in that time, I have resigned myself to occasional poker games with the realisation that I lack the pure aggression (other than perhaps one week a month) that is needed to be profitable at poker. Of course I still have a passion for all things poker and this has led me to the subject of today's posting. I have taken to regularly following the EPT and other broadcasts online. My story begins back in Sept 2012 when I came across WCOOP on Pokerstars Radio. They ran regular competitions to win Pokerstars goodies. The first one I came across was to draw a picture of Elky, you were given an entry date and it had almost expired. I quickly rustled up a green haired Elky on Paint and submitted it. Needless to say it was not even mentioned. The next time I was more prepared. Draw a picture of Celina Lin they said. I took to my sketch pad and (still quite quickly) drew my sketch. I had not sketched for many years so found it fun.

This time I got a mention but unfortunately no prize but a lovely reply from Celina on Twitter, not deterred I entered the next one which was a picture of Daniel Negreanu. Even more time was spent on this one and my OCD for detail kicked in.

No prize again but another lovely acknowledgement tweet from Daniel. I did finally win a competition with a witty tweet about sending naked pictures which Nick Wealthall found worthy of a t-shirt. I will leave my tales of sketching for the moment and now fast forward to attending the Irish Open where I entered into some Twitter banter with Kevin MacPhee and his pyramid chip stacks. I was there railing Ed as he had qualified online, we were both excited to see both Kevin and Steve O'Dwyer playing as we were fans after watching EPTs. I had recently followed Kevin on Twitter after he'd had a public meltdown over his breakup with Liv. I wasn't sure what to make of him but he turned out to be the loveliest guy and came over to chat briefly on the last day which I really appreciated. My hobby of poker celebrity had begun! Can I also add at this point that chats, pictures and (even serenades) from Devilfish and Neil Channing occurred that weekend too. Of course that was less of a surprise as they are well know as approachable poker celebrities. Fast forward again to another competition run by Pokerstars, this time on Instagram. (Folks there are so many ways to win Pokerstars merchandise out there). I re-used my previous drawings but needed another one to add to it so why not draw my most favourite poker player of all, Eugene Katchalov.

Eugene loved it and even posted it up on his own Instagram feed. Daniel Negreanu, being his cheeky self, pointed out it was 'fat' Eugene. This planted the seed of doing another sketch of the new worked out Eugene. This one was going to take time and I was going to send it to him. (I had already sent the first ones to both him and Daniel when they were playing EPT London, still waiting for Daniel to say if he got his) Lots of correspondence between myself and Eugene "why exactly do I have a moustache?" ensued until he was happy with the finished work of art. It now (hopefully) hangs in his dad's home.

Eugene has sent me a signed "We are 10 Seasons Prague" which is now one of my most precious possessions.

My conclusion to all of these interactions? You can never tell what people will really be like. Daniel, the chatterbox, isn't that interested (or too busy) in fan mail. Eugene, the quiet one, is an absolute star who will forever be my hero. And finally Kevin, the outspoken one, is a darling who has great taste in TV shows (Winter is coming....) Kevin, you are next on my list to sketch. :)