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This year’s WSOP experience was a bit more stressful than the last. For starters I’d ensured I was there for it through an elaborate ruse – namely that I was producing a TV series on gambling. Which was fine until I got there and the workload suddenly seemed very daunting.

And things got worse before they got better when my press pass was taken from me by Harrah’s, owner of the WSOP, meaning I didn’t have access to the media rooms in the Rio. And before you ask, I still don’t know what I did to deserve it.

The upshot was that with half an hour to go before we were due to film in a suite at the Rio, with Hachem, Moneymaker and Raymer, we were scouring the Strip for new locations.

In the end I bundled the three bemused WSOP champs into a greasy diner at the local gas station, to conduct the first set of interviews. The ban actually turned out to be a blessing in disguise, as the other pros we were due to talk to – Negreanu, Hellmuth, Brunson – invited us over to their pads where, thrillingly, I got to sit in Doyle Brunson’s favourite chair.

Work aside, I played in Event 42 at the WSOP, where I knocked out Johnny Chan and cashed; hit a royal flush…on video poker; and last but not least, was escorted to the fi nest clubs by the perfect guide to Vegas, Antonio Esfandiari.

But let’s not forget the absolute lowlight, when Steve Hill dragged us to the most in-bred game in town, at the Aladdin… Never listen to HillyTheFish when he tells you he knows where the action is; he’s not a liar, he’s just simple.