blonde poker forum

There's been some huffing & puffing about these recently, so I thought I'd set out what we designed them for, how, by whom, & when, & how we got where we are with them. And I'll include how YOU can help make them better, very simply, & address the criticisms that have been levelled recently during the Brighton & dt (http://www.dtdpoker.com/aff/BlonditesDownload)d (http://www.dtdpoker.com/aff/BlonditesDownload) Updates. And, I hope, I will let you know about the technical improvements we have in hand for the near future. But one things for sure, the irreverent style of the Updates is never - ever - gonna change, because that is exactly what I originally set out to achieve. My successors have all implemented that Policy, but 10 times better than I ever could, or dreamed we could. To them all, I doff my hat, for the hours & hours of pleasure & entertainment thay have given so many of us.

In two quite seperate Polls, the Live Updates were voted by blondes as the thing they most enjoy about blonde.

The story begins back in Copenhagen, in January 2005. I'll Post it in bite-size chunks, to aid readability & feedback.

I'd just been busted out of the EPT on Day One by Greg (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=561) Raymer (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=561) - I used to think EPT's were "value", & indeed I played two, & cashed in one, at Deauville a month later. These days, I don't see the value in them for a plodder like me, but that's another story.

So, what to do for the rest of the week?

blonde had been "on air" about a month, but our Forum only went Live that very day, as chance would have it.

I'd always found Live Updates on other Sites, as we knew them then, to be a tad dull. I used them to follow Thewy from time to time. They were not interactive, & I had this vision of an interactive, forum-based, Live Update, which was fun. blonde was a baby, & our motto was "Poker with a Smile", which, of course, exactly reflected my view on poker. It's just a game, & games are meant to be enjoyed.

Well, here was an opportunity. How best to seize it, I thought?.....

Downstairs at the Copenhagen Venue, there was an Internet Room, & I asked Rhow to show me how the blonde Forum worked - it had only started that day, or the day before, IIRC.

So I went onto one of the PC's - I had no Lappie - & started inputting Live Updates onto the Forum. (I expect it's still there now).

The PC cost €10 per 30 minutes (!), & after using it ten or twenty times, it started refusing my credit card. Given we were in Denmark, that was no surprise, the "security" systems thought it looked sussy.

So I rung AdamM - he was the first blonde Forum Member I think, & I knew him well from my Gala Notts days - & asked if he minded me texting him Updates. He obliged, until the early hours, when he had to get to bed.

Joe Beevers was there, & he was amazingly helpful to me, identifying players who I never knew - which was all of them. In return, I Posted the Updates on The Hendon Mob Forum, as well as blonde, fair's fair. Sadly, some tosser started spamming blonde on THM, & Joe was a bit cross with me, given how helpful he'd been. I denied all knowledge, & challenged him to check the IP Addy, try & trace the Poster, maybe that would prove something? Joe said he already had, & the Poster came from Derby. "Which is where you live, Tony" said Joe...Oops.

Anyway, Joe seemed to believe me, & set about tracing the IP addy further - my oh my, Joe Beevers is a magician with a computer, he can do unbelievable things -  & eventually, he traced the spammer. It was a William Hill addy - it appeared to be someone in a WH Shop in Derby. Well, I knew nothing of that, & luckily, Joe believed me. So began a lovely freiendship with Joe, & we have an unwritten rule never to mess with each others Fora, & to "look out" for shitty stuff on behalf of each other. I was a regular Poster on THM at the time, but I ceased after blonde began, as it seemed a bit spammy for me to Post across there, me being inexorably linked with blonde. THM was in a bit of turmoil at the time, one way & another, but they started to regulate & Moderate their Forum shortly after, & they soon became the Poker Forum Daddy again.

And so, that was our first ever Live Update, Credit cards, & texts, & a bit of a barney.

I must take a look at it one of these days. I do recall Thewy running deep, luckboxing everyone, Stu Fox duelling with Gus Hansen, &, if I'm not entirely mistaken, Bad Girl - sponsored by Wm Hill - going out in either 9th or 10th.

Our next Update was even more challenging....

It was at Walsall, & I don't recall how it came about, but I was there making the Pilot Show for what became Poker 425, & I decided to try & Update the Comp at the same time.

It was a corker. I well recall it was "Junior's" (Greg Hill) first Biggie - he'd won his seat I think, & he ran them ragged. Dave Colclough was in fine form, too, I recall him beating AK with Quad Eights, & we soon had an absolutely terrific Final.

I can remember some of the Finalists to this day - el blondie, Stu Fox, Greg Hill, Henning Gradstad, and Stu & DC clashed big time in a very odd hand, Stu calling with A-J or A-9 I think, & Dave had Nines. Eventually, it was Junior v el blondie, & they went at it hammer & tongs, before Dave, now chip Daddy - just - & Junior clashed in one of those two pairs v two bigger pairs affairs, with each ahead & then behind, & Dave took the Trophy, young Greg scoring over £37k.

I have no idea how this happened, but I updated the whole of the last two Tables by Text. To a friend - jbsc7769 - who lived in Greece! Simon - jbsc7769 - is a big suit st PokerStars these days, & he is a terrific guy, his lovely sister Justine was a great kid, too. My thumb ached for weeks after, & my Text Bill was obscene.

The Update got - for little, baby, blonde - great traffic, & the word began to spread, so I started Updating Events all over the place, most weekends. There was no other sites Updating, as THM had ceased by then, & AWOP had not started.

So I needed to find a fellow-updater, as I could not cope alone, it's way too much for two Updaters, never mind one, & it was killing me.

And it was then that I had a huge slice of luck......

Jen was recommended to me. I barely knew her - I'd seen her deal at Gutshot, but we'd never spoke. But I was in a hole, I needed help badly, & so she got the job, after we'd exchanged an e-Mail or two.

She came up to Walsall for her first ever Live Update, & the first few hours, until I got to know her "style", & way of doing things, was a bit awkward. You don't tell Jen what to do - ever - you simply tell her what the idea is, then leave her to it. I soon learned that.......

And she was just extraordinarily good at Updating, a born genuis.

The Update went fine, we'd been lucky to find a real gem, & so that was that, tyvm Jen.

I was busy rushing hither & thither, Poker 425 was in it's infancy, this was my first TV job, blonde was growing, & I was a bit overwhelmed by everything that was happening. Poker 425 were sending Rhow & me to Vegas, for the WSOP, & Dave & I decided, almost on a whim, that blonde would try Updating over there. As ever, I was totally disorganised, & on the Friday - as the WSOP began on Saturday, I rung Jen.

"How are you Jen, it's Tony. Would you like to Update for blonde in Vegas?".

"Of course, I'd love to. When do you want me there?"

"err....umm, well,....tomorrow?"

"Can't do tomorrow, I'll be there the day after - my Birthday".

Phew. I met her off the 'plane at McArrthur Airport, & she dropped her stuff off at The Orleans, & we started Updating from The Rio instantly, on a corking Omaha Final.

Now we needed money, & blonde had none. Dave paid for Jen's Hotel, & me for her fllight - or vice-versa, I can't recall - & I gave her some spending money - not much, $1,000 I think. And Wm Hill chipped in with the start of their blonde Forum Sponsorship, I think, about then. I had agreed to write Daily Reports for the Wm Hill's website, Update for 14 hours a day for 2 weeks, & do my TV stuff as well. Never again, I nearly killed myelf, & I recall falling asleep at my keyboard several times. But that was nothing compared to Jen, who worked like a Trojan, untul she dropped. We Updated fom the Rio Corridor, on a bench Seat - no Press Access in those days - & Jen often just fell asleep where she was. I recall Barry (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=42) Neville (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=42) ran well, & had his cap on backwards, & he had that exchange with Vinny Vihn after Vinny queried who this big ugly sod was. "I'm Big Bazza from Sheffield, WTF are you".....

Gutshot were there, too, & had proper Press Access, but we (blonde) did not, because organising it was down to me, & I just never got it sorted. Poker 425 had access though, & we eventually sneaked access into the Press Room. We only had one Press Pass, with my name on it, & Jen & I swapped it back & forth. She never once got caught, either.

And so began the Jen-blonde Live Update Story. Jen & I Updated from Vegas, Paris WPT (oh, what fun), & the Season One & Two EPT's, from Barca, London, Dublin, all over. The first ever Barca EPT was a shambles, with 10 players crammed onto little "heads-up" Tables, & no Press Access. Nowadays the Press Room is as big as a football pitch, with scores of Sites Updating. The EPT has grown superbly, fair play to Mr Duthie. My other committments made it impossible for me to cope, & it was then that our second huge slice of luck arrived, in the form of snoops. Jen & snoops were just made to Update together, & they were the blonde Dream Team for 2 years or more, & gave us so much credibility. I helped out from time to time, but it became too much for me, physically, to cope, & I had other stuff going off, too. I was Updating at Bolton with snoops one day, & I just sort of gave up, halfway through, & watched, in shame, as snoops carried on. I never Updated again, my time had passed.

snoops was - is - also the blonde Home Page Editor & Content Provider, & he works his socks off, & soon, we needed someone to "cover" for him.

Enter Floppy, another stunning piece of luck, & so the Team grew - Junglecat, Dana, Chili, Tighty now & then, Dingdell ditto, & others I'm sure I've forgotten. But all had the same style - Fun Updates were more important than just "dry as paint" CardPlayer type Updates. 

Eventually, Jen, who was "Update Boss" needed more time to concentrate on other things - her playing career for one, freelance writing for another - & so she asked to become just a regular Team-Member. Snoops is a workhorse, he runs for ever, but it was not fair on him, he had too much on his plate, so Floppy took over as Update Bosss, & that's where we are now.

In Update Terms, Poker News are the dogs bollocks, technically, these days, but they only Update very big Events, & I'm convinced there remains a market for blonde-style Live Updates. We introduced "At-A-Glance" Updates to satisfy those who wanted no interaction or humour, & they remain to this day.

Now, to Sponsors....

In the first half of year one, I paid for all the Live Updates I did out of my own pocket, & I've never claimed that money back. I also paid Jen when blonde did not have the readies, & a few others too, but that's all part of building a business. The Staff often had to wait for their greengages, & I'm grateful to all of them for thieir understanding, Their reward will come one day.

Poker 425 sponsored the Forum from mid 2005 until Channel 425 closed on October 2006.

Then Rob Yong recscued us, & gave us a handsome, 12 month deal, from January 2007. Never were we so grateful & we owe him a debt we won't renege on.

And over Christmas, we negotiated a 2008 deal with Wm Hill, big thanks to them, Thewy, & Tighty.

But to correct a frequent misunderstanding, Sponsors do NOT pay for Updates. They pay a monthly fee, for the right to Badge the Updates, which does not change from month to month. (The DTD deal was a bit different, they paid specifically to cover DTD Tour Events, as they were called, & they paid for plenty else besides. Rob, thank you).

Irrespective of whether we do one Update a month, or 10, we get the same fee from Sponsors It does not cover our costs, or even nearly so. Sending folks to Monte Carlo & Vegas, Dortmund & Barcelona, Helsinki & Paris, does not come cheap, even though the Updaters scrimp & save on Hotel Costs.

So, that's where we are, & how we got there.

Now, to address occasional concern with our Updates.....

I started a Thread a while back, along the lines of "Local, Domestic, UK, Updates, or Big Buck jobbies, all over Europe & elsewhere?"

The result was mixed, but most, if I read it correctly, plumped for Domestic Events as their Updates of choice, where they could follow players who they know. At the time, we were Updating an EPT from somewhere, full of names most of us did not recognize, & these, I'm afraid, don't do much for me - in fact, only the Updaters quirky humour makes the readable, to me, anyway. I barely recognize a name from this week's Dortmund EPT, but it's readable only thanks to Jen & 'Cats zany humour & brilliant prose.

And during the Bahamas Jobbie - & it don't get more expensive than that - the traffic from a scratch Update at DTD for a 60 runner £500 jobbie was more than double the daily totals fom the huge-runner Bahamas affair. Hard to argue with the facts.....

But we still needed EPT's & such-like, as it's from them that most new sign-Ups occur. And we need new sign-ups in the hope that they will migrate to the blonde Cardroom. To help pay for the Updates. It all goes round & round.....

Then it got solved for us, because the Wm Hill Deal requires us to Update from wheresoever Golden Boy Thewy goes. So there it is, job done, we continue with both Domestic & International Updates.

Do new sign-ups migrate to our, or our Sponsors, Cardrooms? Sadly, not really enough of them do. There is very low migration from Updates to blonde Cardroom, though we hope that plenty migrate to Wm Hill in 2008, for obvious reasons, but possibly, our (blonde) business model is flawed. But Live Updates are our Shop-Window, & I will defend them to the death. Which I've had to, quite reasonably too, with my fellow Shareholders, more times than enough. I'd just add that Richard & the current Team are highly supportive of them.

We were chuffed to bits when Wm Hill gave us the 2008 Deal, & in fact, it does not begin until Feb 1st, but we thought we may as well start it early, by way of a "thank you". And Thewy did his bit, by going on to win the thing, bless him. And the Wm Hill Big Suits, all of whom watched the whole Live Update, were mightily impressed. Until someone decided to let off steam, big time, & sour the entire Update, &, naturally, bring the wrath of the blonde community upon him. It's hardly a reaction which one could quarrel with. To say we were devestated would be an understatement, & I felt for Tighty, who'd worked so hard to cut the Deal. Never mind, we'll recover, & give them good value.

We did a DTD Update a few weeks back, & that caused some unrest too, & though originally, it began as well-intended, later, a whispering campaign began by PM, & it sort of simmered for a few weeks. The facts are we had to Staff it at very short notice, & whilst our Update Boss, Floppy, was over in the Bahamas, & thus not much able to help. Tighty came to the rescue, as did Bongo & Dingdell, & they did it voluntarily - that's for no money, just the care of blonde & it's Members.

It was our first ever DTD Update, & as such, we know the next will improve 500%. But a strange, new, Venue, full of local faces our crew did not know, is not the easiest way to do an Update. It was suggested we could have recruited - at 24 hours notice! - locals to help us. Good idea., If you know anyone local, who has the writing skills & humour of Jen, snoops, Flops, Dana, Cat, or Chili, who's available at 24 hours notice, & will work all weekend for free, just let us know.....!  Chili had hoped to do it, but was unavailable, & I know she was gutted that her local knowledge, which was unavoidably absent, could have saved Tighty & Bongo & Ding from all that criticism. Ah well, we'll do our best again this coming weekend, & with Flops & Kev on the keyboard, if anyone ain't happy, they can tell them. Rather you than me.....Constructive, objective, criticism, we'll take that all day. "You were hopeless" is hardly helpful, now is it?

Not one individual has complained to me personally, by the way. I don't bite, you know.

And I hope that now you can see why, when folks who contribute little or nothing to the blonde Cardroom, but see no irony in complaining about a Free Live Update, do tend to rub us up a tad.

The Updates are EXACTLY what I always wanted them to be. They ain't gonna change insofar as style is concerned, though we've got some lovely techno extras about to be added.

So how can you, or the players, help to make them better?

Well, that's easy peasy........

1) If you want an Update on any particular player, or want us to look out for him, just ask, on the Thread. Look at today's Dortmund Update, or any other Update, & you'll see how it works.

2) If we have not mentioned someone whom you are interested in him, ditto, just ask, on the Thread. At he time, not afterwards. It's that simple.

3) If you are playing the Event, & a hand goes off on your Table, please try & mention it to passing Updaters. I know it's a bit of a pain, but top players like el blondie, & Thewy do it, & even fish such as Flushy & Matt Tyler do....Please remember, Updating is not even half as simple as you might think. Only those that have done it know that. Or ask Ariston, who lasted one Level in Dublin. Easy, it's not.

4) If you ain't happy with the Update, tell us, but please be civil. I don't respond well to threats & insults, & I hope our Staff don't, either. A bit of civility goes a very long way in this world.

5) If you still don't like our Updates, well, that's too bad really. You don't have to read them, there are other Sites doing them. But I bet you do. ;)

OK, there it is, I hope that positions our Live Updates clearer in everyone's mind.

I'm very optimistic that we'll have a good Dortmund EPT Update, & that this weekend's DTD affair will be an absolute corker. If it's not, just tell me, directly, please. That's all we ask.

And thank you for bearing with me, whilst I waffled on.

Floppy is the boss????

  ;)

Thank you TK. From humble beginning blonde updates IMO are the best available and a guaranteed WINNER.

A super read as always Mr TK.

IMO no need to defend the updates.
The Brighton one was fine and even though Dortmund is full of names I'm not familiar with it still holds my interest.

Keep it exactly where it is IMO.

Long may the updates continue. So far Dortmund has been a great update and hugely looking forward to DTD in the knowledge that Kev is going to be in charge of the camera  ;)

Excellent post, Oh Old One.

With great age comes great wisdom ;)

PS AdamM was the second one to sign up for the forum  ;whistle;

I stumbled across blonde via an update a few years ago. They were hugely entertaining & informative then, today I'm still impressed at the quality & individuality all the updaters bring to their work. I've not been anywhere else since  ;hattip;

What he said.  It's a little sad that you felt you needed to go to the trouble of explaining it all, but it's a good bit of blonde history to have on the record.

If it weren't for posts like this or other recent posts I'd never have realised the extent of the difficulties updaters are often faced with - that's testimony to their professionalism.

Now, about DTD, I think I'd better take my own camera along to balance out the norkage pics..........

This is why you don't get enough sleep ::)

War and Peace TK, you know my view, BP Updates are FREE, if people don't like them, don't log on. Some people know absolutely bugger all about poker, put £0 into the poker community, but just happen to own a PC, BP doesn't need them, there are enough of us who log into this site every single day and don't put on any negative posts. Wherever I go in Europe, genuine poker people always ask me about Blondepoker, and they think the updates are great, fact.

Worst update explanation thread EVER!

For zero pounds I expect much more than this. Too many posts by old people.

I have never viewed an update on any other poker site, blonde rules.

Word!

I thrive on pressure ;)

FYP

Enjoyed reading this thanks.

On a side not even I got upset as the recent criticism the updates/updater's recieved (and they are nothing to do with me), I always thought if you don't like something it pays to try and be as polite and constructive as possible when airing your views.

It seems Blonde are open to feedback and suggestions so it baffles me that others look to be negative about it in a unproductive manner.

Long live Blonde!

Wonderfull read, M. Kendall.

It reminded me of how I got started myself, on a french website similar to BlondePoker, www.clubpoker.net.

We were the first to do live updates in French. My first gig was WPT in Paris, 2005 - where, incidentally, I had the chance to met Jen, who quickly became one of my most trusted friends on the tour.

For a long time, I never ever made money doing this, often having to cover for costs myself, scraping budget, abusing the generosity of people who would let me use spare beds in their hotel rooms. It was lots of fun and I don't regret the hard work one bit. All the good people I met along the way made it worthwile.

Godspeed to you Mr. Benjo

A fascinating read ... thanks for that Tikay  :-*

The blonde live updates are the only ones I read, and this is purely down to the individual yet blonde collective style of the updaters.  I do not go to live tournaments often (something I'm desparate to change) but on the one APAT event I went to I stood the side of the cardroom for four hours observing the comings and going of a big live event.  I had no idea what to expect, I had never even been inside a casino but the buzz was incredible (where's this going I hear you ask) ...

I will tell you ....

I discovered blonde through amcgrath (thank you that man  :)up) and was immediately struck at how informative blonde was yet in the most interesting and WELCOMING way .... other sites I have checked out although are also informative they do not hold my interest, it's akin to being bored of a subject, which could have happened to someone like me who only found poker per chance and wouldn't have got so "into" it if it wasn't for blonde.   I am not a big player, I have no weight anywhere, yet I feel very loyal to blonde .... if ever my situation changed and I was in a position to help fund in any way I wouldn't hesitate to do so.

All aspects of the forum have contributions from very intelligent and well articulated posters, it's a pleasure to read.  I used to love writing and loved expressing myself through prose but here, on the forum, I get more pleasure from reading.

So, I decided to go to an APAT event at Luton and just have a wee look around and try to see if i could match any blonde faces. Two groups of people stood out that day the blonde updaters and a group from Dagenham who were part of The Hendon Mob (oh and Tikay who worked the room beautifully - with the lasses that is  ;) ;D).  NoFlops was on the floor with his camera so much that i never actually saw his whole face for about an hour lol, another person in a blonde shirt was whizzing here and there and I never saw him stop - until he went for a cigarette - here was my chance to see the name on the shirt (being short sighted and wearing an old prescription can be a bitch sometimes).   It was Junglecat - and what a pleasant friendly chap.  He told me he was new to updating and the hardest part was trying to judge the chip count (I agreed wholeheartedly although at stage I had never even HELD a chip let alone tried to gauge someones stack  ;D).  It may seem like a little thing to some people but to me every person wearing a branded shirt whether it be in poker or whatever represents that company/business and  too many people these days have an aloof manner to others in civvies (so to speak) - it's surely the most off putting and business blunder attitude.  You judge a man by the company he keeps - likewise you can often judge a company by the attitudes of the people they employ - and blonde oozes a charisma that you just want to be a part of IMO.

I went home and immediately logged on to read the updates as at the stage I had never read the updates section - and I did this because I wanted to read what JungleCat had written as it clearly came across that he had a terrific sense of humour in the short space of time that we had chatted. 

The updates were brilliant, they made me want to go back and read past updates which I did. None of this would have happened if it wasn't for that first initial impression of a blonde representative.

Over the months posters personalities came over and you get a real sense of a family - by that there are the times people band together, there are times when they argue - but ultimately the banter is always there - like a typical family, up and down but never losing that sight of what's really important at the end of the day.

So a Blonde Bash comes around and I just HAVE to go, there are people that I really want to meet as they have made me laugh so much on the forum (step up Kinboshi  ;D) and lol and behold who is the first person to say hello at the reception desk at the hotel but noneother than Kin lol.  Everyone I met was so friendly and funny - and Duke your stories were still funny even the third time round  ;)

So this brings me to Tikays comment about generating traffic to the blonde cardroom - and it makes me wonder why it's not a large as I would have thought, seeing as the forum side of things has all the ingredients to make blonde hugely successful.  Not knowing a great deal about poker, and not being a massive online player I probably don't know what makes other online cardrooms more appealing. So i thought I'd throw a few thoughts into the pot to the more regular players:

Is it the layout of the poker software?
Is it the structure of the tournaments?
Is it the buy-ins?

I'm not criticizing in any way shape or form, I'm am generally perplexed as to why blonde cardroom is not up there - as at the end of the day the updates and everything else entailed clearly cost money.  There was a comment the other day about blonde having posters on the forum that never use the cardroom - why is that? What is stopping (or putting people off) using blonde?

What are people's thoughts on this?

For my part, I use blonde on an irregular basis and I have asked myself tonight 'why is that?'.   Well, it's really silly things that put me off using it really which are, I think, software bound. I don't like the way you can only have one tournament lobby/info screen open at a time - I'm sure this is software related as this happens on a few other sites I have played on and likewise I only use them rarely. 

To a bigger bankrolled player this probably wouldn't be a priority, tourny payout structures might be what you look for??

Really curious now to see what blondes players look for in a cardroom and what aspects make them favour one over another.


Blimey, I orignally was only going to post what a great read Tikays OP was - but that's another great thing about this forum, it gets you thinking  ;D

Off to trawl the net to find an electrician now as halfway through this post my ceiling lights ring main has blown a fuse and it's an OLD OLD antiquated jobby with HUGE fuses lol. Have a feeling a complete overhaul is on the cards - gulp  (any electricians on blonde????)

Good post Hold. :)up

Of course, there are many reasons we play different sites,... even on the same network of ipoker.....ie. Blue Square has the GUKPT satellites where as Blonde doesn't/can't.

However as you say there is no reason why anyone who wants to contribute can't over a period of time.

One example of why people should play on Blonde is the recently finished Stanley Competition. Apart from great fun,the added value of a £500 seat in a live event was a FANTASTIC bonus for a the entry fee of a few pounds.

As far as I know Blonde is owned and run by a bunch of highly successful businessmen and er Kev :), the most success I've ever had businesswise was flogging penny sweets at school so WTF do I know about it. Clearly nothing whatsoever, but IMO what started off as a cool idea - do some updates, have a friendly forum with a lot of excellent content and hope that people will hang around and play at you poker site, is somehow turning into do some updates and have a forum which puts people (intentionally or not) on a guilt trip if they don't play on the poker site.

It's like if there was a street with tons of pubs on it and the Blonde owners decided that even with all this competition already there they were gonna try to set up a sucessful pub, obviously it's not all about the money, the pub gives them somewhere to hang out and have a laugh and they already being sucessful businessmen have plenty of other income streams, but it would be nice to have a fun business which makes them some more cash.

So they open their pub and the marketing idea is to have a friendly pub where everyone gets treated nicely, all the yobbo's and troublemakers are barred and everyone gets a free drink when they come in. Now our Blonde Pub owners are not stupid they know that some people will come in have a free drink and walk straight back out again, but that's not terrible as long as enough people stay and buy a few drinks the figures should work and everyone's happy.

And it works fine to start with, slowly but surely more people come in to have a free drink, find out what a friendly interesting pub it is and hang around and use it as their local. But those freeloaders keep coming in as well, grabbing their free vodka and red, reading the free newspapers that are lying around and then running out to drink somewhere else. So the owners quite reasonably decide to try to convert some of these freeloaders into paying customers by reminding them gently that they are free drinks and it would be nice if they actually bought one occasionally. Which works on a few of them but there are still people who come in every night and don't support the pub so they decide to put some posters up in the pub reminding people that they get a FREE drink everytime they come in, and everytime someone gets a free drink they are told by the usually friendly old barman "here's your FREE drink" and the regulars who happily spend their time and money in the pub start reminding everyone that the drinks are FREE and eventually they start standing outside like pickets with banners shouting at everyone who goes inside making them feel guilty about getting a free drink and then leaving straight after.

Which doesn't stop the hardcore freeloaders, they get their free drink every night and couldn't give a monkey's about the regulars shouting and moaning at them but the atmospher in the pub is slowly changing, it's still a fun and friendly place to be but ther is a strong pressure on everyone to buy more stuff and make the Blonde owners money. Which of course is pefectly fine and legal and it is entirely up to the owners to do whatever they wish in their own pub but some people I fear don't like being put on a guilt trip and decide either not to go into the Blonde pub anymore or it radicalises them even more into becoming proud freeloaders who will never pay for anything just because they get shouted at so much.

in my uninformed opinion

 Yes the Pub gives some free drinks, but like any business,it has to spend money running the place......and so has to generate some income!....just to break even!!
 If somebody wants to just take a free drink that fine....but don't be surprised or complain if one day it becomes a MacDonald's.

Now it makes sense why i'm always drunk  :cheers:

Just in case there is any misunderstanding, I do not own any part of blonde, I have no shares in blonde.

I am paid a salary to run the cardroom and oversee all back office stuff such as reports,figures etc.

Believe it or not (and it has been said many many times before) the shareholders/owners of blonde dont take a penny piece from our revenue, everything that comes in goes back out on wages/updates etc.  The majority share holders dont even take a wage !

the aims of blonde are to bring in enough money to pay the bills without EVER having an overdraft or owing anyone money ... we are managing that at the moment, which means the shareholders do not have to keep digging into their own wallets to fund blonde.

Of course i get frustrated when cardroom figures are bad .. I get frustrated when we manage to negotiate added value for members through third party sites such as the recent freeroll, and all and sundry come out of the woodwork wanting the password... many of those have never participated in a blonde game, in fact many dont even have a blonde poker room account.

as said before, no one could seriously expect anyone to play 100% of their poker on blonde, unrealistic obviously.  But I dont think it would be seen as putting people under pressure to ask them to sign up, i think it would be more like good manners for them to do so.

We are lucky, we have a good community, with regular meet ups and events ... we strive to bring fun packed added value to our members, is it really too much or seem like putting too much pressure on people to ask them to do their bit and sign up to the card room and play a few comps a week or an hour of cash here and there ?

I really didnt think it was ... I still dont.

Guilty as charged.

I play very infrequently on Blondepoker for the very simple reason that I can make more money elsewhere.
But you are right - an hour or two every week wouldn't be a big problem.

Meassage received and understood, Captain! (But you may need to give me a push every few weeks to stop me slacking off).

no its not, but IMO people should have blonde account and played on it within some specific period of time when these comps come along, im sure people who dont contribute to the blonde funds would not complain, how can they?

Me too.......need to find a regular tourney that I fancy

good point...i might actually have half a chance of winning one of them things then as I'd only be up against 13 others ;)

I did play 2 tourneys I believe it was a while back, then if I remember rightly the software or something changed, and due to my location I am unable to deposit into a "real money" account. Otherwise I would willingly use the blonde poker room as my main place to play.

Never mind all the poker stuff - where's this free drink?

The Duke arrived........................................................end of. 

I think we've said elsewhere, but I'll repeat it..

from now on when we put a password protected added value comp on, on a third party site, for our members only we are only going to gove the password out if the member supplies their blondepoker card-room username.

The background is pretty clear here. blonde is not a cash cow for anyone. The shareholders have never taken dividends and most not a penny from it. We pay, currently, 5 staff. We pay some of them way below market rates for the job they are doing..something I would like to change. Some individuals are owed four figure sums because, when times have been tight, they have personally paid that month's server bill or the latest freebie merchandise order or whatever.

We have our own card-room. Aside from that we are able to offer added value from elsewhere to our members

To date these partners have included

Mansion
Virgin, via the very successful team challenge
Gala
Stanleys
dtd

the upside? these companies, and other potential partners, see the benefit in being associated with blonde and its members and would like to have access to you. They can offer added value to you. This is added value we could not offer if we went alone, as we don't have the funds to do it.

the downside for blonde? well of course most of these partners want sign ups to their own rooms, and want promotion on blonde/advertising on blonde as part of the deal that sees them offer the prizes they offer. This of course conflicts with us having our own card-room, as it can be seen to take blondes onto other sites. It can drive Kev mad, understandably! In the bigger picture though I structure things so that the revenue we gain from promotion and percentages of sign ups balances any loss of our own card-room revenue in addition to doing leagues on two sites etc etc.

The business models of other forums/sites can be different. Some have very public affiiliate deals with every card-room, and promote sign ups wherever they can get them. Others are associated with one site, on a super-affiliate basis. All, to a greater or lesser extent, seek third party advertising. Not many try to balance up the conflicting demands of having your own card-room and promoting other people's! To my mind, having inherited something, its a "wouldn't necessarily start from here if I had a blank sheet of paper" situation.

Finally, no matter where you play, I think that whether its just by using the forum or by benefitting from any of the promotions we run, we offer a range of opportunities to benefit from being a member. Yes, blonde is undoubtedly more commerical than it was in the early days. Its bigger, its more professional we hope. However I personally ensure that any commercialism is with one eye on the community. If blonde wasn't more commercial, its no exaggeration to say it would not exist today. The shareholder funding that kept blonde functioning in 2005-2006 was not a bottomless pit.

This is the background to why we promote, whatever we promote. 

 

 

Having recently converted to playing on Blonde Poker I can honestly say the range of different stake tournies is good as is the guarantees. Plenty of rebuys but still enough freezeouts for those who prefer them. I believe a lot of the smaller buyin tournies are exceptionally good value and the standard of play is not particulary good in these. For a bit of fun I like playing the $10 rebuy donkfest at 830pm - with a 35k guarantee it usually attracts anything from 1200 runners and pays from 150th place. It is actually easy enough to cash in this without playing anything other than premium hands. Haven't managed to final table in it yet but came close the other night in 19th place. I also like playing omaha and although the stakes are small for the tournies they are also good value since the standard is very poor imo. Obviously you still need the cards to fall right for you and need your hands to hold up but by playing ABC poker I believe its possible to play small value mtt on blonde and make it pay although not fortunes. Having said that a final table finish in one of the small buyin donkfests like the 830pm and you can show a tidy profit. Some of the higher value buyin tournies are good value as Red Dog attested to a week ago last Tuesday with the $100 rebuy. There appears to be a wide range of tournies to suit everyones pocket.
As for dislikes naturally there are a few:
1. Lobby is very slow to update - not good when nearing the bubble or an increment in prize money.
2. No hand for hand - coupled to the lobby being slow to update very frustrating and I dint know why Ipoker haven't introduced it.
3. Its nice to receive a loyalty bonus but it would be nice to have someway of checking how much is going to be paid - the $9 increments seem to appear for every 1000 poker points and personally I'd prefer them to appear as a lump sum at the end of the month.


Finally can I add that I decided to download Blonde Poker to try and help repay something back for the free updates. I didn't feel any pressure to do so and if the above 3 bugs could be fixed I think Blonde would become my favourite site to play poker on.

well i have been here since the start i dont post much but i remember the 1st update and i allways read them only reason i come to blonde and will allways come for them i prefer domstic ones where i know half the guys but my fav was the 2005 wsop udates

stu

they have freerolls as well    :)up

As Llevan mentioned, the $35k guaranteed is a good tourney to play.  I cash in it more often than not, and have finalled a few times.  I'm going to take it down one of these days, I can feel it in my water.  Now, if I feel I can take it down, I'm sure it would be a breeze for some of you!

Thats a great read TK! Great to find out how it all started! I first read about BP thru the BadBeat website which i think i saw a link or THM forum. The Live Updates was what brought me to this site as i'd been an occassionally poster on the badbeat forum and they had plugged your live updates to follow the likes of strummer et all! To be totally honest, i dont post enough on here and i find myself reading alot of the threads during the day but dont really contribute much at all and i'd like that to change! I have made a couple of small deposits on BP but have never really ever got it going so far on the poker front. Im simply not a huge fan of the software and i find everything quite slow. I'd love for this site to be my number 1 place to play poker, but quite simply - as has been said elsewhere, there is more money to be made playing on other sites.

Kev

Not the water that leaked from your bathroom down into the kitchen?

I quite like the blonde cardroom now, it has some great tourneys on there and I'm about to venture more into the cash games too.  More than happy to play on there.

Keep up the good work guys :)

Excellent post, sums it up perfectly.
Ironically the followups were all talking about it being free LOL!!

BTW it isn't "free" if you play in the cardroom or buy a book thru an affiliate or buy a blonde hat, you are subsidising the "free" updates etc.

I have no problem with it as such it just can become VERY tiresome to be constantly bombarded with spam, moderation boys............

Also i just don't get all the sky spam, why constantly push their cardroom?

Sky: We don't, formally

tikay posts (spams I suppose) about shows he is appearing on (his personal decision not a "blonde Ltd decision ) and, as its an open forum, any member can post about any comp or show they like, on any card-room

As it happens, you will have seen last year that Sky did give us advertising business ( and there is a joint venture being developed currently ) helping of course to make blonde financially more successful

Do Blonde sell vouchers?  :)

I have never had a complaint about the llive updates and I play on the cardroom whenever possible.  I even try and play in the leagues that Kev runs when I can personally I'd be in favour of more Blonde only tourneys if we could get them arranged say once a week somewhere between $20 - $100 freezeouts.

no more than £50 to you bandit :D

[/quote]



BTW it isn't "free" if you play in the cardroom or buy a book thru an affiliate or buy a blonde hat, you are subsidising the "free" updates etc.


[/quote]


I'm going to play online somewhere,......its all the same price to me!....so I'm pretty sure my updates are free. :)up

So if you don't, then it's free?

Quick question for Kev.. I'd love to playon Blonde...honest I would but I dunno I have some questions;


1; Does Blonde also do sattelites to events in...erm..say Ireland?

2; Does Blonde do sats to events like say the GSNPC?

3; Would a Blonde playing those sats get preferential treatment from whomever is pulling the lever?

Just a few questions obviously....eagerly awaiting your response.

Nope, they'll get you in the end!!

Is that a promise?  ;)

The updates i used to enjoy a lot but some of these EPT's just hold no interest for me, i look at the entrants and see all those consonants and give up.
Obviously i'm not the target market and that's fine, blonde want to be seen as a global entity and rightly so.
Those early updates were fantastic, so full of humour and fun to read, Tikay has the persona for it and giving up was the worst decision he ever made (well i can think of a few worse).
I had my first row on blonde on the walsall thread actually when Tikay regaled elblondie for his no deal stance and i said he had dealt, hehehe.
One question regarding updates, why was flush never invited for a return stint?
I think most folks would agree the best update ever was Monte Carlo with Flushy, Jon Raab and Snoppie, funny as hell and packed with norkage, a classic!
On the subject of norkage why stop all that? It was fun while it lasted but obviously a conscious decision was made to end it, nobody ever said why.
Anyway bedtime, i'm dying of man flu so need my 18 hours........

Probably because he will end up calling half of Europe donks, which I personally would find quite amusing, but probably would cause a bit of friction.

This has been the one that's really been bugging you, hasn't it?  :D

I went on a norkage run at the 2006 WSOP Main Event, with a whole host of piccies of various hotties. However, you didn't say a dickie bird, and I've yet to recover from that lack of praise.  :'(

That and it's too much like hard work.

you went on a norkage run at the 2006 wsop snoops? I seem to remember a few blonde members helping you out doing norkage shots back then ;)

I also remember spending a lot of time back in 05 with Jen on the bench at the end of the corrider and keep bringing them hotdogs/popcorn or whatever as they never stopped working. It was right next to that bench where Jenn Harman came out and burst into tears as she had her nut full house beat (and allegedly slowrolled) by a str8 flush in the first level or 2 as the updates were being posted. This was followed by Big Barry Nevilles Vinny Vihn showdown. Seems like a lifetime ago.

No decision like that was made. Every single live update (gladly)still involves "norkage"

And with Kev in charge of the camera at DTD this weekend we should be in for the best dosage of norkage in ages.

hey i thanked you what more you want?

Yes i like this place. But i  French and i want update of French Frogs. You give me this i come more here.




Oui?

Non  ;)

if we give Llevan Norkage, he will do the same ;)

Just give us the norkage and let the frogs make their own arrangements ta Kev  :)

If tomorrow is as good as tonight in here...there will be no poker, the update will be filled with norkage!

only half?

Misprint.  'Only' should have been 'at least'

Madam Spacefrog, have you been where? Why is it so long?

We not see you in many moon, but here you are here.

We love Lellouche, peruse Perrault, bravo Bruno, adore Aviation, him them are friends my all.

Hope to soon we see.

xx

You heard it here first.  I'm going to win this tonight - first time I've played since above post.  I'm below average and have less than 10bbs but have that feeling in my water.

Yeehah - go for it - I am the offical railer for all female blondes this week!

cheers - you know when you just get a good vibe?  I had an accident at 200/400 and was 324/329 with 4 bbs.  Every time I've won a tourney it's been a similar story.  I'm either going to henceforth be known as Claire Voyant or the world's best self bokker.  So far so good though - I've more than doubled up :D


ooops - looks like I've upset someone!  DaBeear is in the BB and I've just button raised to 24k and he's gone all in for 40ish.

DaBeear: i got a pair
DaBeear: ]
mudaxaces: 22?
mudaxaces: lol
DaBeear: wish me luck mate
LuckyCoolLoser: ouch
DaBeear: FFS
LuckyCoolLoser: ul
Claw75: unlucky
mudaxaces: 88?
mudaxaces: lol
DaBeear: u shudnt have called
spongey225: hl bear
mudaxaces: he bet 24k
DaBeear: hi spongey
DaBeear: got raped by poor call
mudaxaces: u think he had 66
spongey225: hl seen it
DaBeear: typical nuub
DaBeear: nothjing i can do
DaBeear: he gone on poor hand - not even suited
spongey225: wp though
DaBeear: and called for all thoise chips
DaBeear: lol
mudaxaces: u could have folded
spongey225: live to fite another day
DaBeear: i was ahead mate
DaBeear: i knew i was
DaBeear: i told HIM I was ahead
DaBeear: 50% of his stacxk
mudaxaces: u told him u had a pair
DaBeear: he risked on KQ unsuited
DaBeear: indeed
LuckyCoolLoser: ul buddy
mudaxaces: if u had big pair u wouldnt say
DaBeear: sooo that pair cud have been anything
LuckyCoolLoser: bad river for u
DaBeear: he still underdog
LuckyCoolLoser: was nice pot
DaBeear: shud not have called my all in
mudaxaces: ok run along
DaBeear: i will
DaBeear: gl all
spongey225: dont mind em bear
DaBeear: except claw
mudaxaces: lol
DaBeear: hope he burns in hell

:o  My favourite bit 'ok run along' :D

well fancy that - I was spot on!

lol well played Psycho Psychic Claire

my opinion on the live updates ........ for what it is worth.....

1. they are fantastic for bringing live poker into your living room

2. they are an invaluable service when you following your mates

3. it used to be a relative easy job when blonde where the only updaters , because when you are reading one source of info you take it as read that it is correct

4. other sites are now competing for information and position

5. fields are far larger and instead of blonde covering fields of 80 at a regular festivlal they now have 400 runner gkupt and epts to 500

6. therefore the information they get, can very rarerly  be first hand . ie they can only watch one table at a time

7. the tourments are 3/4 day events and they must get incredibly fatigued.



yes it can be frustrating when you follow someone and they dont get an update , but generally when you ask, they get a chip count ...... and there will  inevitable be times that they get information wrong , 
as some of you know i hit a bit of a problem SOME time AGO so i was following the boys on the updates , matt t , thewy (in everything) ash braddy and i only ever had one issue ...... it was a t broadway when they were all on the last 2 tables and it was impossible to cover ebry hand they were in...


but all in all they do a fantasic job in a very limited arena, if you have ever seen the places they have to set up then you will understand the problems they encounter. the epts they are well away form the cardrooms , sometimes 2 cardrooms , the gkupt they can be 3 flights of stairs away.



so when you think they arent covering you as a player then  DO AN EGO CHECK , THESE KIDS ARE WORKING IN A VERY DIFFICULT ENVIROMENT AND IF YOU DO WELL IN A TOURNEY AND THEY HAVENT COVERED YOU THEN IT IS USUSALLY BECAUSE NOBODY IS INTERESTED IN ASKING FOR AN UPDATE ON YOU ;)