Yorky Pud

In just four more sleeps I will be jetting off to Spain to work with the PokerNews Live Reporting team at EPT Barcelona. To say I am looking forward to it is an understatement and ditto on the nervousness!

Whilst I am not your typical little Englander, I am not very well travelled and the times I have travelled abroad I have either gone on a package holiday with family or friends or met someone at the other end that I knew. Just the thought of landing in Barcelona and having to find my way to the hotel is quite daunting if I am honest, though the hotel itself is pretty amazing in my book!

The work itself should come natural enough, and I think that seeing the chip stacks gradually build over the course of the tournament will mean they are much easier to count. When I had my trial at EPT London, there were only 14 players remaining and the stacks were, or at least seemed, huge. When you have gone from playing 99% online to trying to count a 1,600,000 stack it is quite difficult.

I am not bothered about recognising players as I have been a bit of a saddo and looked at some well known players' picture on various websites and some lesser-known players but are still regulars on the European Poker Tour. Plus I am usually really good with faces so once I spot a face and link their name to them I should be rocking and rolling.

To be honest, the hardest part is going to be the actual working away element of the trip. In the last three years I think myself and Mrs Pud have only been apart for more than a night on three occasions so it will be weird to say the least. I do think it will be good for us in the long run though, especially as I am working from home most of the time and we do get sick of seeing each other 24 hours a day! It'll be strange being away from the rug rats too, I have kind of got used to only seeing Pud Jr once a week over the years but I've literally been around my other two all the time.

With it being my first trip I really don't know how I am going to manage my time as I still have work to do for other clients. Plus I want to be able to see some of Barcelona other than the inside of a casino, otherwise what is the point in travelling abroad? The first couple of days will be hard as I'll be in the casino from 1030-1100 up until the early hours of the morning I would expect so it looks like I'll be getting up uber early most days so no partying with 20-odd year old millionaires for me then! Depending on the time I do have available I'll probably blog everyday I am there, though I have been toying with the idea of doing a video blog so you lot can see my fat face and listen to my dulcet tones! Anyway, we'll see how it goes.

Until next time, thanks for reading and best of luck at the tables!