In my life Ive done many a daft thing but ive been able to put these mistakes down to being young and stupid, or the more common young, drunk and stupid……..sadly im no longer young and rarely get drunk so the standard defence no longer works. Since Monday ive been in bed with man flu, not flu, not swine flu, not Asian flu, just good old late autumn man flu.  As a result ive been lying in bed feeling very sorry for myself as I sweat myself down to my lowest weight in years. It also meant that I cancelled all my mentoring sessions and went on “the sick”. I did manage to play a little poker here and there from my sick bed, but the overall result of zero was probably a fair reflection of my game. Nothing so stupid as of yet I hear you say. Well that all changed today. After another sleepless night of hot sweats and cold shivers I got out of bed for the first time in three days in a pitiful attempt to convince myself that I was in good enough shape to travel up to Blackpool and play in the £1000 GUKPT main event, the buy in was covered and the hotel was booked, all I had to do was get there. After 2-3 hours of constantly changing my mind I finally gave in to my real sickness, poker, and decided that if I could make it to Blackpool id be able to play nice and tight, bag up the chips at 02.00am tomorrow morning, get a good nights sleep at the Big blue then head of back home for more rest before returning to Blackpool on the Saturday for day two…..hmmmm ok. So I set of for Blackpool, a journey that usually takes 45 mins, but not if like me you stick to the slow lane doing an average speed of 50 mph, as the saying goes, better late in this life than early in the next. I get to the casino 2 mins before the start and collapse into my seat!!! Now I wish I could now start telling you how badly I played and how could I expect not to when not 100%, but the truth is I played pretty good, a little passive (for me) maybe, but over all I played ok……………and I say that after lasting 3 ½ hours!!!!!!!! Lets start with the first major hand, early position I limp 33, button calls big blind makes it 150, we both call. Flop 3 9 10 rainbow.  Checked to me I bet, BB re-raises, button folds I call. Turn is another 10, BB again bets out, I have a think, im putting him on a solid range, either big over pair, A10 or KQ, and call. River is a sickening 9. Hes checks to me, and I tell the table in my hoarse voice I hate that card and turn over my hand, no need to bet as I really cant see him paying with hands that I beat in his range, he quickly tells me “all the cards are bad ones for you” as he flipped over 10 10! Now I like that hand! Like I said, even on my sick bed I think I was playing pretty good. Down to about 8k but very happy to still be in, I soon find my next big moment. Again in early position I find another small pocket pair, this time 22, again I limp as do 4-5 others. The flop comes 2s 3s 5c. Now obviously this is a great flop, but In a multi way limped pot my hand is not as strong as it looks, and for this reason I want to find out where I am as quickly as I can, so I bet out, and I bet out close to pot. Its folded to the button, a solid quiet player who raises it back to me, everyone else folds. Now the thing that’s got me here is that hes raised from the button, obviously hes got position on me, so would he re-raise with a hand beating me? Truth is I don’t know, and the only way to find out is to 4 bet him, which I do. He then goes into the tank for a few minutes before moving all in. After much thought I fold, the only hand im beating is a flush draw, but ive played the hand so strong I cant imagine this player making that move, ive sold him my hand, hes got to know I have a set and thus I can only see him making this move with a made straight or a set of 5s. Down to 5k, and it’s the first break. I find the player in the smoking area and he tells me he had As6s, nuts flush draw with a belly buster straight draw, he also tells me he thought I could only call him with a set of 5s………..he was right!!! Again im happy with how I played the hand, bottom line is he got his money in first, and played his hand very well in doing so. The rest of the chips just leaked away, I had a number of nice starting hands, AK, AQs etc that I played in a number of ways, but either way they never caught and I met re-raises when I tried to force a hand through. The final hand I played the blinds where 100/200 and I was down to 2100, ive only got fold or all in as a play now, so when its folded to me on the cut off and I find Q9 (id sat for the last 15-20 hands folding rags) I couldn’t get my chips in quick enough, especially as the big blind belonged to the tightest player in the casino………I think the whole table where as shocked as me as he snap called with A5 ! No miracle and I exit, again VERY early at Blackpool.  Now that’s the cards part of the day out of the way, im not going to go into the details of me losing another few pounds in weight at the table as the cold sweats returned, or the cramp I kept getting in my legs due to the lack of water in my body………the bottom line is I played ok for sure, but I SHOULDN’T have been there, im ill, I was too ill to drive, I was too ill to play and my god I have far too much respect for money and the poker world to think I can afford to pay £1000 when on my sick bed an expect to make it to day 2 in a GUKPT event………..no today was without question one of the dumbest things ive done in a long time,  but hey we all make mistakes! Thankfully my sickness to play poker is far stronger than my sickness to have a few drinks with good company! As im leaving the Big Blue hotel to drive home I bump into my good friends Mr & Mrs Skalie, naturally the first words out of there mouths are something along the lines of “great to see you, lets go and get drunk!” An offer I don’t think ive ever turned down from them before in my life………….a hour or so later im back home writing this, sober, shivering and more than a few pounds lighter………….over a thousand to be precise!!! Idiot.