blonde poker forum

The Scotsman phoned me up today to ask my opinions on gambling. I'm a bit worried 'coz the reporter talked far more than I did. I suspect there will much more of her opinion in the article than mine. Anyway, I've asked for a cheeky plug for Blonde, here's hoping they put it in.

They sent round a photographer as well. I'm debating whether or not to tell my Mum I play poker before she sees the article.

Anyway it's in tomorrows paper if anyone fancies a laugh.

Could have saved a journey Suited Jock works there. :dontask:

I will pick up a copy tomorrow mate

Did you have a shave for it?

Cool, I'll be reading.

Hope you ain't misrepresented.

you must have a bit of a rep if they are calling you asking for your opinion. do you ever comment on other issues to the papers?

well done and ill have a look :)up

mad

Not for poker. I've been in plenty of fencing articles in the past though. It's a nice idea that I have a rep for being a highly important social commentator but actually, I just have a friend who's a journalist and she set it up.

And yes Eck, I did shave. Unfortunately, I stayed up all night playing poker so I expect to look somewhat bleary-eyed.

lol @ telling your mum :D

The multi screen set up will make her have kittens if she finds out :D

I am still in shock at the fact that we allow the colonials to have their own newspaper ..... They will be thinking they are a civilised country next ffs ;)

Oops, I couldn't imagine the article being any worse. I'm completely misquoted from start to finish. As I suspected, it's all the reporter's opinions that are put across and not mine but worse....she obviously wasn't evening listening to me. Except for maybe picking up on a few key words and making her own sentences from them.

I feel sick.

Cracking example.....I told her I make an average of $20 profit per hour online. This somehow got translated into "I now average a stake of about $20 per hour".

The title is "There's danger in in online gambling but I know how to stop when I need to..."

Yuck. Actually she said "What about the dangers of online gambling? Do you feel protected?" and I replied "I don't feel that I need any protection. I have enough self discipline to stop when I know I'm playing badly"

I just read it mate,  it is on the website for the paper

Do you have a link Sark?

http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/features.cfm?id=114572007


The poker part is near the end of the article 

I like the sponsored link to a casino site right next to the article psml

Yep fairly rough but at least not Grizzly Adams  :)up

Just been down to grab a coffee and read it and must admit I thought it was a very negative piece. Typical of the standards of journalism these days to focus on the worrying aspect to society instead of a balanced view.

Wished I had read it earlier though, came in pished last night and dumped a load  rotflmfao

Cheers Sark, I couldn't find it.

Mark - they've really done a number on you! Typical press - write what they want.

OK, I've calmed down a little bit.

I thought it might be fun to give you guys a full translation of the article, as per my memory of the conversation:

Title: "There's danger in online gambling but I know how to stop when I need to"

Actually, she asked "What about the dangers of online gambling? Do you feel protected?" and I replied "I don't feel that I need any protection. I have enough self discipline to stop when I know I'm playing badly"

"He's not a professional gambler" actually, I said "I consider myself to be semi-professional."

"I never used to gamble at all" actually..."The only poker I  had played before playing online was at school"

"I now average a stake of around $20 per hour" actually..... "I make an average of $20 profit per hour online."

"The first time I played I did find it very easy" To clarify, I was talking about learning how to play poker - not how to win.

"For the initial few weeks, I regularly lost quite badly" actually......"I took me about 3 1/2 months before I started making a profit" I didn't lose much because I only played very low stakes.

"You learn that what you lose one month you will make back in the next". Entirely her words. I was talking about the swings and that if you know you are a winning player you don't mind if you have a losing month because your profits will average out in the long run.

"I play by volume - perhaps 8 tables at a time...." this bit was correct. Then, "....so that if one hand goes badly, I have, quite literally spread my bets" Entirely made up. My intention is definitely not to spread my bets. I multi-table to make more per hour, it has nothing to do with risk.

"Mark has one golden rule when he plays poker online - never drink alcohol." OK, this one is a bit pedantic but I never said it was a golden rule. I suppose that I actually have several golden rules.

"There is potential danger in online gambling for those who are vulnerable to such an open forum" This is part of the made up title quote. I never said any of this but she ask me several times if I thought on-line gambling was dangerous. Eventually, I conceded that "perhaps it was dangerous to some people but I think everyone has to take responsibility for their own actions"

"If you really get into trouble you can only lose around £300 in one day" This is a more reasonable misunderstanding. We were talking about 'protection'  and I said that "you could only deposit around £300 in one day on any one site." Again though, it shows how little she was actually listening to me.

"I can't see a reason for me to ever stop playing online, unless the government legislate against it. But I do think it is an individual pursuit and should be left as a person choice"  F**k me! She got one right! OK, so these weren't my exact words but at least this time she got my meaning across accurately.

"I factor in a failure rate of about 60%" What a little  ;flushy; I am! I was talking about variance and was explaining how tournaments work. Actually, I said "If I cash in 40% of my tournaments and lose in the other 60% then I make a good profit"

"...my gambling income..." Actually I don't consider myself to be a gambler and never described myself in that way. I win because other people gamble. That doesn't mean I have never gambled - it's just that I'm more professional in my attitude to playing poker.

So there we have it. Let this be a warning to any of you that might agree to do interviews in the future. Find out the agenda first. I was told by my friend that they wanted my opinions on gambling and I happily agreed. It is very evident to me now that my opinions didn't matter to them one jot. Instead the reporter got her opinions across using my name and photograph as a front.

If I ever do an interview in the future, I will be recording the conversation.

You should write a letter of complaint and see if they publish it. 

Good idea! I'll consider that. First, I need to speak to my friend and give her a bollocking. Then maybe she'll agree to ensuring that it does actually get published.

The only thing is....that I expect this is an extremely common scenario. And newspapers are likely not in the habit of publishing every complaint they get.

Does the Scotsman have a main rival? It would work better if you had recorded the interview, but might they be interested in such shoddy journalism by their competitor?

Edit: I was particularly thinking that something along the line of your translation above would work well in a newspaper article

I like your thinking!

always...and I mean ALWAYS record any interviews you do with the press in this country. Jesus, you live in the coutry of tabloids but still trust the media not to make stuff up? Reporters don't know the subject they are writing about 9 out of ten times.

BTW..there's nothing you can do about it without any proof. You could ask to see her notes (if she didn't make a recording) but that's it.

I've got some experience of being interviewed for press and radio regarding poker and without fail the paper/radio/tv always always misquote you to fit around their story.

The last one I was involved in was for a BBC radio station that wanted to interview Bad Girl and I about her success a female poker player in the 'cut and thrust' world of poker.


So, there we were on a conference call at 6.30 am when the introduction to the piece begins'poker is the new fashion but how many people are giving up their spare money and lifestyle and being dragged into this murky new world?'

Here we have a SINGLE MUM from Hemel to talk about her all night poker playing............his first question was then'whats the most you have ever lost in one game?'

Bad girl replied' a few thousand pounds but I have played in comps with bigger buy ins'...the guy goes of on one,'you play for thousand of pounds....yada yada yada... and whats the most you have ever won?' he asks in a sarcastic way.


'a quarter of a million Euro in a comp in Ireland' says Bad girl

Silence.........at that stage I got involved and asked them on air why they had asked us to come on the show to talk about a success story and then tried to make poker sound evil and why didnt this guy do some proper reasearch before he started talking rubbish to his listeners.......silence

The line then went dead as they cut the interview off and the researcher came on and said thanks for contributing and that was it, as soon as we said something that was against there general tone of 'gambling is bad' they didnt want us involved


I have never done a piece for anybody since that day and have advised everybody that gets asked to say no. It really isnt worth the hassle coz theremotives are never what they say.

Im sorry you have been stitched up Sword, I did worry when I read your post yesterday.

 :D

I've just had another phone call from a journalist at the Scotsman. Before I let rip, I figured I should hear what he has to say first.

He was just inquiring about a fencing lesson for his wife.  :D

Charge them lots - lots and lots and lots of money

Was there anything in the paper about MikkyT ? :)

do it for free...and sleep with her.

Whatever you charge him please make sure you misquote him!!

Make it short and snappy, with language as neutral and compromising as Ghandi, yet still firm and resolute.

Piece of piss.  :D

 :D

As a fellow journalist Boldie is correct, if the journalist wasn't using a dictaphone then she'd have been taking notes in shorthand (shorthand is a mandatory requirement for all newspaper reporters, you can't get a job without it). You're required to keep these notes for at least two years.  Shorthand can be used as evidence in court (and has been) whereas a dictaphone recording can't.

No harm in writing a letter of complaint, but don't be suprised if it does more good than bad. They'll probably print it and in the reply the editor/reporter will just make you look worse.

The media reporting on gambling in a negative light who'd have thunk it. I won't give any personal opinions on the article or misquotes etc but does anyone think that these articles and tv programs are all carbon copies of one another?? Who's gonna break the mould and say its actually ok to do so if you know what your doing?? meh

Oh someone asked earlier about the rival I'd say the glasgow Herald.

what I'm rather surprised about is that the subpoena of the HSBC guys in the states isn't big news here. I mean a MAJOR UK bank is subpoenad yet noone reports on it on BBC or C4 news? Especially after the arrests of the Netteller guys. Surely the story is big enough? Or did I just miss it?

If the reported had written a negative article about gambling and used what I said to give some balance to the article then I wouldn't have a problem with it.

It's the way she used her words and put quotation marks around them so that everyone would believe they were my words that has disgusted me. An accidental misquote is one thing but to deliberately misquote an entire interview, changing everything that I said, is another.

My Mum's off the phone, she saw the Gutshot case on the telly. 'They're saying that it's a game of luck, not skill.' Months of hard work trying to convince...(bangs head off wall).

so what did you tell her? Mom, as long as you pass KK pre-flop..you're fine! ;)

Mate comes round to house...."see..produces print out of gutshot result...its all luck!"

Fine "get your cash out and lets see if you are lucky then".....  "errrrrrrrrr naw yer awright, but it's still all just yer luck"   ;frustrated; ;frustrated;

So I was called up by [name of journalist] and asked

"Can you teach my wife to sell stolen goods?"

Should just about do it...

Give her a lesson, then write up a newspaper article about learning to fence, in which she talks about 'Only stabbing 4 people during her first few attempts' and 'Most places where you fence will limit you to 8 major stabbings per week'.
See how they like it...

 rotflmfao. I did tell her I'm pretty tight but she just assumes I don't buy anyone a drink.
She grew up in the days of 'NO LIMIT' holdem, a friend went 'All In' with the house and car and lost the lot, so she's pretty scared for me. My explanation that the chips aren't often crossing the line is no consolation.
Might take up fencing...

Which is why Tony Benn records every interview he gives/has given (he has records going WAYYYY back).

on a subject unrelated to long record...Any one heard anything from MikkyT? ;)

#

Last I heard He was working for that British Bank, Hong Kong Shainghai Banking Corporation   ;whistle;

I don't get that, is it a gag?

glad I'm not the only one!  :blonde:

If cryptic Queen doesn't get it then I'm ok

 :D

oi!  you can't just get it and not explain it to us thickos!!!

Just kidding, I don't get it either. ;)

It's ok - I've got it now after reading the whole thread.  Had presumed it was some reference to the slammer!

Ya bastard

I think Mikky referred to HSBC as a British bank at some point.

What would your definition of a British Bank be?

You know you are in the Twilight Zone when Flushy is the fist person to get your point. lol

Yes indeed, Boldie referred to HSBC as a British Bank, I was just nitpicking.....pfft.

Dear Scotsman

Due to the staggering level of your reporters misquoting, quoting people out of context and just plain making stuff up to suit the story they'd already decided to write before they left the office, it occured to me that your paper could save a little money, and raise it's credibility at the same time. Just take all the cash you usually spend on travelling expenses, and instead, pay some models to pose topless like wot the Star does.

Regards

Misrepresented junkie.

THE TWO DOLLAR PISS...ffs there's your headline people.

Anything else is just hackery

Great News!

I've just had a phone call from my friend at the Scotsman. She has apologized on behalf on the newspaper and offered (subject to her editors approval) to run a 'corrections' article.

Apparently, it is normal practice for their journalists to e-mail a copy of the article to interviewees before it goes to print and this should have happened. So somebody is in trouble  :)

hehehe ooopppss lol

Nitpicking on whether HSBC is a British Bank? -  again, what definition of a Bank's nationality are you using?

Ohh nothing, Just the name gives the origins of the bank away I think, I could be wrong but Hong Kong Shanghai Banking Corporation  ::)  does not sound like a british Isles based bank.

But it was set up by a Scot, in a British Colony, and moved it's international headquarters to London before Hong Kong stopped being British. The most accurate description of any company that large would be International. But if you had to assign a company a single nationality it's usually where there international heaquarters are. :)

I stand corrected, Apologies all round.

Copied from THMF:

i have been asked to find a recreational responsible gambler who is scottish, plays online and live in casinos etc to take part in a debate on bbc scotland on tues - they would need to go to a bbc studio to take part
if anyone is interested please get in touch with me on ElizaB@PokerEuropa.co.uk

Get her onto GlasgowBandit and set your videos

rotflmfao rotflmfao rotflmfao

"Mr Bandit, we hear the terms LAG and TAG used a lot, what's the difference between them?"



Bandit "No idea but they're all F'ing lucky bastards..as by the way are Rangers who are completely shyte"

it would be some interview.

rotflmao

"Built up to £200 in first half hour then some wee ned fae Govan bingoed me on the river. Got it back double though, all in on a runner runner bingo special, get it up ye. "

I miss bandit, wtf is he?

damn...could have been well up for that. Dont suppose they would send a film crew to Alabama ?

 ;cheerleader; ;cheerleader;

Near pissed myself at that, the things that happen when i go missing.  Where was i anyway, anybody know?

You were gone or a couple of weeks..my guess would be skint after the mad Christmas/boxing day betting stuff :)

I think that may have been round the time i had a wee "accident" with the laptop after doing my bollox!  :)

lol

Yeah it was when you threw your laptop away when you didnt hit a 1 outer on the river

aha so your alive. we (the tims) thought you and Fergus8 had gone into hiding after that display other night.

5-4-1 at home, that was ambitious :)

Enjoy the UEFA cup.

No boba, I think he was watching porn on his laptop ! his B**** where that full it was like a damn bursting over his laptop. Not exactly a "wee accident" as he puts eh ? Weren't they alot of floods around the same time too ?   ;)

Did you ever get them to run a correction?