When John Duthie told me about his idea to start up the European Poker Tour I wasn't particularly excited. It's no massive surprise. I was a high-staking professional sports gambler but I didn't open a Betfair account until they'd been going about two years. I have a natural scepticism and a slightly conservative attitude to change. We were living in the aftermath of Moneymaker, through a poker revolution. I was also someone who thought the launch of Full Tilt seemed a good way for some rich players to blow a lot of money. Good tax write-off.

"I feel like the late George Michael. He’s not dead. He’s just never on time." If you’re not following the Chris Olaafson story, get on the bus. I’ve been hearing rumors about this king of online players for years, but now he’s revealing himself. A legend of the virtual felt.

So I finally make it down to the Vic after going M.I.A for five weeks. Five weeks! Yikes, I’d like to see some of the, ahem, professionals I know go five days, no wait, make that five minutes, without playing poker – OK, I did play online, but for me it’s just not the same. Of course, the feeling of doing your bollocks remains the same, but in terms of this blog, writing, 'I played some six-max PLO for about 25 minutes and then had to sit out for a bit because the plumber came round,” is not exactly page- turning stuff, is it?

In past years I've rushed back from Vegas and got straight into playing.

I was going to write this on my last night in Vegas, but as I went to type my opening sentence, I suffered a rare migraine, so rare that I haven't fallen foul of one in 15 years. I wasn't sure what it was at first. I kept rubbing my eyes, thinking that I'd just looked at a light bulb head on and that the blurry blemish disrupting my view would soon vanish, but it didn't. Then when my arm and mouth started to go numb, I was slightly concerned and decided to go down to the casino floor just in case I fainted or something. As you likely already know, if you're feeling disorientated, hitting a Vegas casino is unlikely to aid the matter, and It didn't as I ended up walking around the casino in circles like a one-oared canoeist.

Paying $25,000 to play one poker tournament may seem quite crazy. A lot of people were saying that the six-max event would be the sickest (that's ‘toughest’ for the over 35s out there), line-up of the Series.

I think a salad saved my life. When you're stuck in the Amazon Room every day and short of time, your dietary options are limited, and what the Poker Kitchen has to offer soon becomes tiresome. The pizzas are stale, the Chinese is the worst I've tasted, and I've lost count of the players who have complained of a dicky stomach after consuming a burrito. Thankfully, they've added a create-your-own salad stall which actually tastes pretty good. For the first month I had a salad almost every day. It felt like the only option, but it was one that kept the engine running when I needed it the most.

I've learned my lesson. On one of the first EPTs I covered back in '06, I spent the whole day running back and forth to the toilet whilst trying to blog the Main Event. At one point, someone was explaining their exit to me and I vomited into the palm of my hand. Nothing with substance, mainly stale vodka that had been swirling viciously around my stomach. It was one of the worst experiences of my life and I think I even recall making a pact with God that I would never drink again if he made me feel better. I don't think I'm the only one guilty of that lie.

Paul Spillane asked me yesterday if I was burnt out yet. I didn't know it at the time, but I think the answer was yes. As soon as I woke up this morning, I knew I had just a few drops left in the tank. I was meant to be at the Rio at 12pm to check out the BBPers in Day 2a of the Main Event, but I was just so energy sapped that I ended up spending 90 minutes sitting in the shower before I managed to crawl my way out of the Hard Rock.

I used to think that the rich got richer in poker, but I was wrong. Some go broke, some get rich, then broke, some do the cycle for their whole life. What I do know is that the famous get more famous, especially if they were fortunate enough to garner their fame in 2003. It would certainly explain the line-up for the 2010 Tournament of Champions.

I used to sit at the table with Mike Ellis quite often. When he first started coming to the Vic I thought him a tremendous luckbox who obviously had too much money. He didn’t know it, but I’d decided that he was going to help with my plan to become rich. It was a plan I was hoping would reach fruition way more quickly than, up until then, it had been. I would always endeavour to get in big pots with him.

The first WSOP tournament I ever played was a $1,500 freezeout. Back then, it really was a donkament as you only received 1,500 chips. Since the introduction of triple stacks last year, these tournaments have become a lot more playable and people are starting to realise that they're actually better value than most deep stacks.

One of the things I often bang on about when talking to people about the WSOP is adapting. I have often noticed players who are very bad at playing the correct type of poker against the people on their table. I see a lot of very talented younger, Internet players making the same mistakes over and over. They describe situations as “standard” and attempt to play the game purely “by numbers”. They don’t see that in the live environment we are playing a different kind of poker and that the game is about people. Many of these players are not allowing their undoubted talent to shine through, and I see them losing their chips to way less talented players, because of a simple failure to adapt.

In the City of Sin, the Devil walks among us. He goes by the name of David, and wherever you go, he'll be there. You might not notice him at first, but, eventually, you'll begin to feel his presence. A glance over the shoulder and there he'll be, lurking, mysteriously, with his long black hair and bottomless eyes, his shoulders hunched as he surveys the immediate area. In some ways, he reminds me of the Tall Man from Phantasm.

I nearly fell off my seat when the seniors made the money. I’ve never heard a bunch of old folk make so much noise - it was like they’d just announced the return of Last of the Summer Wine to the BBC! Tournament director Charlie Ciresi urged the remaining 324 players to stand up before whittling them down to the oldest. Some of them didn’t have a clue what day it was and one guy remained standing throughout, despite looking about 60. In the end, it was a tie between three 80-year old gentleman, of whom received a rapturous round of applause for not being dead.

Cozied up in Denmark for the better part of the last few weeks. I’ve been doing a lot of watching: I’m watching the World Series of Poker, I’m watching Phil Laak, I’m watching baseball, and I’m watching the World Cup. Not a bad life, I must admit.

I’ve known Praz Bansi for a few years now, and, even during the rare spells where he isn’t making final tables for fun, I’ve always respected him as one of the UK’s top players. With 99 people left in Event #5, I was telling everyone Praz was about to win his second bracelet.

The 2010 World Series of Poker once again saw the return of the Ladies event, a highly controversial tournament in which the 1,054 field was "tainted" by the presence of several male entrants. At the start of the event, tournament director Jack Effel announced that men had been discouraged from participating, but that he was unable to prevent them from entering. There was clearly unrest in the Pavillion Room, and every time a male was eliminated, the field applauded, but when one lady was eliminated by a male participant, she broke down in tears. One male even took money out of the $948,600 prize pool, Bryce Daifuku finishing 103rd for $1,802. For the first time ever, the Ladies Event had been ambushed and was on the verge of becoming a farce.

I have to be careful what I say. There are certain things that I can't express an opinion on as they would jeopardise my role, but as someone who has been blogging for longer than most, I feel morally obliged to comment on the recent commotion regarding Daniel Negreanu's blog about the WSOP updates.

I'm going to have to eat my words. In my last blog entry I stated: "Perhaps the biggest difference between Brits and Americans can be seen on the rail," suggesting that English players are more reserved when it comes to offering their support. I did actually believe that. Then James Dempsey won Event #9.