As the USA flipped onto daylight savings time a few weeks ago and the UK don't put the clocks forward until next weekend, it's actually a 7 hour time difference right now rather than the usual 8, and I've felt a little less jet-lagged than usual.
Even so, after an early start for a bunch of pre-breakfast gambling and a long walk along the Strip all the way down to Sahara I was ready to crash pretty early last night and ended up flipping TV channels in bed until I came across Deal or No Deal.
The contestent, Mary Beth, was a self-proclaimed great poker player who had actually played in a live tournament one time and finished like 9th or something.
However her interest in poker actually came into play in one of the offers she was made. In addition to $138,000 in cash for her case, the banker added an extra special prize.
Look, it's Annie Duke!
We're reminded that this leading female player "won two million dollars in a televised poker tournament". But not that she only had to outlast nine other players - sucking out on most of them - to take down that freeroll.
So, take the deal now and the offer also includes admission to some women-only poker seminar thing, but the really special part is that it would also include a whopping four hours of private poker tuition from the special star guest.
Annie was really giving it the hard sell trying to get the contestent to take the deal, quoting impressive-sounding results from people she had mentored the past. She said she hardly ever gives personal lessons, so it's really a once-in-a-lifetime kind of thing. And a fast track to easy money, obviously.
Her efforts made perfect sense when we found out the reason that there might be a shortage of takers for her private tuition.
The value of this little package, Howie Mandel revealed, is $25,000.
Twenty five grand for four hours work.
No deal, apparently.
