blonde poker forum

Morning all,

Here is tonights line up.

1 Ram Vaswani
2 Sami Yusuf Qual
3 Ben Grundy
4 John Duthie
5 Shelley Mullett Qual
6 Antonio Esfandiari
7 J.P. Kelly
8 Keith Hawkins


A few poker legends, forum legends and forum poker legends too!!

I think there may be interesting comment about one hand in particular tonight.

I hope you enjoy it.

Cant wait, say it everytime but gonna be the best lineup yet!

Antonio and JP that is going to be interesting is that the seat numbers

I'm looking forward to this one  ;popcorn;

hard to say who has the best seat but i think ram with postion over 6 7 and 8 looks to have had a lucky draw

impressive display by antonio best player won

yep, certainly did.  Keith was unlucky

Seemed like another very strange to me!

Yep, he was different league

I must owe Vicky and Barny a few quid for the flattering things they said about my game.

The big hand was one of the most annoying hands I've ever played. Ben was obviously steaming from the AQ v A9 coup that's why I didn't reraise with jacks as I was worried he would push with any two and I wanted to play poker not race. I was sure he was going to bet the flop whatever came and I could make my decision then. On tv it didn't make it obvious that it was clear Sami wanted to call not reraise (in fact I think you can hear me saying take your bb back), the dealer was just being a jobsworth telling Thomas that he had to raise. Benny really had to either push or fold in his position because it was clear Sami didn't like his hand much.

If my 2/9 shot held up I would have been in good shape. It was clear already Antonio was trying to run over the table and I was planning on standing up to him. Thats why I raised on the 336 flop. If there hadn't been another 3 on the turn, the plan was to move in...

Poker is a stupid game.

However, I must say hats off to Hills for the tournament. It was superb. They put us up in a 5 star hotel, paid our expenses, added shed loads of money and gave us an excellent structure unlike the Matchroom crapshoots. I really hope I get the chance to play this year too if there is another event...

Hope you do too, played great poker! Wd mate

Well played chap, very unlucky with a couple of hands especially the pocket Jacks.
Never seen Ram as quiet as that. Thought there would be a lot more fireworks.

It's priceless to hear top players analysis of the game, thanks Keith!

Exit hand was a bit of a mess thanks to Sami, but been there done that etc. If you could have seen Grundy's cards I still think you would have called and just bad luck that the ace came especially as Sami had folded an ace already. Unlucky.
Not sure how much is edited but Ram and JP weren't really in this one, like brummie boy I was expecting more action.

 Another great show to watch.....I did think Shelly looked a bit out of her depth.....but hey, gives us all hope to try and qualify online next time !!

WP Keith

Quick question for you Keith. When holding  Td 8d against Duthies Aces, it looked like you were going to jump out of your seat when the flop hit you hard with  Tc Th 8d! Do you find yourself having to supress your physical tells when you flop a monster? What do you advise doing when trying to supress your emotions?

I am sure if John had been watching your reaction on the flop it may have been easier for him to lay the Aces do your river raise.

I went in with a bit of a game plan into this game and the idea was not to waste any chips in the middle stages and hopefully pick up some easy chips by way of hands if not I turn it up a notch or 2 at the 300/600 level. As long as I had my starting stack at this level I liked my chances.

The 10-2 hand where I raised, the play works over 95% of the time and I pick up 600 chips and move on. I was trying to play off my tight image but of course Mr Esfandiari saw right through that. I was almost certain Antonio had nothing as well and was really considering moving all in but the play is so high risk for the reward that it was probably not the best spot, also this was only the 2nd or 3rd hand Antonio had played and the small chance he had a monster made this the right fold. I also thought I might get a cheap double up later on as there had been some rather loose play.

I really enjoyed playing in this event and well done to William Hill in putting on a great poker tournament and giving me the chance to play. All the heats have been really enjoyable and it seems bar last week the most deserving player has gone though to the final.   

I'll let you into a secret... (hope JP and others aren't reading this...). I have played very little live poker for the last couple of years. When playing the UKPT at Walsall a couple of weeks ago I made a "routine" bluff at a pot. One I've made a million times. To my amazement I felt myself going red and shaking a little bit. Luckily the guy I was playing didn't notice and I got away with it.

It's all about repetition. The more you do something, the more natural it becomes and having played so little I found the unnatural act of trying "steal" made me nervous.. Similarly the hand with John, obviously my reaction was normal, if you get lucky in life, you react...and I reacted to hitting the flop so big.

I think there is something to be learned from this... when the flop comes, always watch your opponents not the board. There will be plenty of time to see the cards but only a split second to watch the reaction of your opponents seeing the flop...

Keith, Just watched the heat for a second time whilst down the gym, your clap check looks very effeminate on the TV,
also in your 10 8 hand versus John Duthie's Aces you physically rub your hands together with glee when he bets thr river.
It looks a similar reaction when the AJ goes all in against your jacks. Lol.
I can imagine it's very hard to stay expressionless in front of the camera's.

Well done again