This past weekend saw the latest renewal of the 'blonde bash' in which blondeites meet, play a bit of poker, do a lot of partying and then I get to try and remember what happened afterwards! The venue this time was the lovely new Luton G Casino with its huge well appointed card-room which by 4pm on Saturday was a hive of activity as the competition got underway.However the weekend’s packed schedule had begun the night before with many blondes hitting the Luton nightspots and making the card-room buzz with impromptu Sit N Goes and cash games. Early the next morning around thirty intrepid souls awoke early to partake in the now traditional blonde bash football competition, ably organised by Luton’s Mourinho (in the belly) and consisting of a semi-Welsh team, the itb crew with a wide-load in goal and some Northern fellas with no clue whatsoever about the finest arts of the Great Game. After a couple of hours of strenuous activity the itb crew 'the Southern Softies' had defended their champions titles from bb’s 1,2 and 3 in a competition that was both closer and of a higher standard than previously.
So there the assembled throng awaits: 170 plus runners settling down with one intention. Don’t be the first one out! First however a bb4 innovation via the 'Bloscars' in which a secret judging panel consisting of some of blonde’s most talented judges of character (and Ironside) handed out awards to several deserving causes, as well as the undeserving Royal Flush (right). The winners were announced as follows:• The Shameless Self Promotion award went to Indestructable for 'Casino bloody casino'
• The Services to Psychiatrists award went to Matt 674 for 'believing he really is a monkey'
• The Gullibility award went to Adam M for the 'Move the Short-stack' thread and, in one of the least hotly contested categories, their being only one possible person to nominate:
• The Diplomacy, tract and Understanding award went to Royal Flush for his consistent and unwavering support of APAT. On all 369 APAT threads.
On a slightly more serious note a final presentation was given to the lovely Charmaine, who via her daily postings of Happy Birthday wishes to blondes has epitomised much of the community spirit that blonde bashes have come to celebrate.
The competition itself began, and the sound of laughter was soon to be heard across the room. Amazingly the honour of being first out did not fall to tikay, but to Cumbernauld’s Scottm who must have suffered an unprecedented bad-beat to exit that early as he normally doesn’t play a hand for the first three levels. The night wore on and a steady stream of exits reposed to the bar, into the Heads-Up competition and to sabotage the PokerWeek filming taking place at the end of the room.The final table line up contained one great story as thetank recovered from having one big blind left at the 100-200 to finish third, having moved in blind and turning over AA at the conclusion of the hand. Other finalists included Mel, byronkincaid’s much better half, playing in her first live tournament and assorted boyband northerners. It also included The Diceman. Most assuredly he is not a Northerner, or a boyband member but he does do a fine line as a Meatloaf tribute act. Allegedly.
The result was as follows, and congratulations to one and all as they took between them the £5,400 prize pool:
1 Chip Rich (Northerner, boy-bander, wins two years wages in one go)
2 Coca919 (Southerner, associate of Sunday8pm but surprisingly can play poker)
3 thetank (relieved from the responsibility of 27 SNGs that night, literally a new man)
4 The Diceman (much under-rated player, as he was keen to remind me!)
5 Jon MW (Cerebral, analytical and knocked me out. Git)
6 Andrew McGeachie ( Ringer. I think)
7 Celtic (striking one for the local Luton players)
8 Hartlepoolfan (Hartlepool promoted and a rare double for the boy)
9. Mel (It’s true, one member of the Kincaid family can play!)
Whilst this was taking place the indefatigable Ginger and Colchester Kev (she is indefatiguable, he is fatiguable but carries a clipboard well) had cajoled players and organised the Heads Up competition consisting of sixteen five man/girlie players fighting over the £20 per head entry on a knockout basis. Congratulations to the Gingers for organising this so successfully, such that it was completed before the casino closed. In a thrilling and popular result the victors were “Team Chorlton” consisting of
• A monkey (Matt674)
• A Leicester City fan (KeithyB)
• Two Scots (scottm and markpenn)
• A party animal (Claw75)
Who beat the modest, unassuming and frankly only modestly talented Team Value led by Mango99. As night became morning the festivities continued at the Days Inn where all present witnessed the remarkable sight of Alex Martin, who last ate a week previously, demolish the breakfast buffet in a sensory orgy of Mr Creosote proportions before a few hours later around sixty hardy souls re-emerged from their slumbers to take part in Sheriff “Tighty will not win” Fatman’s Quiz, the questions for which can now be found on the forum.
In a victory for Quantity over Quality renowned quiz genius Indestructable led a cast of thousands including Claw, a Polish lady whose name escapes me but not Flushy, 4Kingnutz, the ever-present Diceman and several others whose names still elude me as I well up in frustration reliving the experience, to a well deserved yet rather fortunate victory. All those present though will not be rushing to an evening of light hearted chat with the rather geeky quizmaster, a man clearly with a little bit too much knowledge of useless trivia even by the standards of previous quizmasters.
The weekend was drawing to a close, stragglers littered the bar areas of the casino on the Sunday afternoon and several played in the open-to-all £50 rebuy competition that night in the casino. Congratulations for 77dave for finishing second in this.
Many, many thanks to Dewi Cool (left), Ginger, Colchester Kev and many others who worked hard to make the weekend a success, and to everyone at the G Casino in Luton. You can catch coverage of the event on Poker Week (details to follow) shortly. Most of all thank you to all who attended and made the event what blonde bashes always are: great fun. At 4am on the Monday morning as I left the casino, blonde detritus in hand, I said my goodbyes to the last four blondes in attendance, amazingly only including two Scots, and immediately my thoughts turned to bb5. Watch this space…..