blonde poker forum

The G-isation of the Grosvenor's continues, but of those I've visited, or played - only Manchester, Luton, or Blackpool - the recent addition to the Blackpool-G of a Monthly £200 Deep-Stack is the best initiative I've seen from any of them as yet.

It's a One-Day 15k starting stack affair, very well-structured, starting at 3pm on a Saturday, once a month. If it had running Antes - & these views are personal, of course - it might just qualify as the best-structured One-Dayer in the UK right now.

Not all of us enjoy or appreciate Running Antes, but it's the way Big Comps are played as a general rule, & I'm all in favour of Big-Comp Structures being made avbailable to everybody, not just the gifted or deep-pocketed few.

I have played the last two (only two?) & what a great comp they have turned out to be. Around 60 runners each of the last two months, but if they'd only Promote it, even just via the Poker Fora - I'm sure it would make 100 runners quite soon.

Here's the Deal - if Blackpool G remind us of what date this is going to happen every month, I'm sure the Poker Geeks on blonde & elswwhere will help large it yp, & get a few more runners.

It's a quite excellent comp, & I hope it prospers, & goes from strength to strength. All it needs is for Blackpool G to give us the Dates, & word-of-mouth will do the rest.

I'm now aware of three nice Monthly Comps for the lower to medium buy-in Brigade - this one, at Blackpool-G, the Equal Chance one, & the DTD 3-2-1 Weekend, & they are all very good.

We've never had it so good.

Maybe some sats on blonde for Blackpool? Or STT's like weve had in the past?

Also the £300 at Equal Chance is a 2 monthly comp I believe - and their next one clashes with 321 at DTD , I have asked Phil to try and make the comp 2nd week in the month from now on to avoid the clash

LOL at sats ... been there tried that .... in the middle of trying that ... my bald patch has grown twice the size and my stress levels are through the roof.

Maybe going a little off topic but agree Tikay-running antes are definately the way forward. All big comps should have them IMO

You know u love it ;)

Ask me when we fill tonights Luton sat with 30 runners ;)

phil has assured us that running antes will be coming in for this comp. Phil will listen to suggestions and is planning on promoting it from next month so I would expect a bigger field next month. Sorry couldn't make it on saturday Tikay, I had jakob so your £20 last longer money will have to wait for next month ;)

Last Saturday's renewal was surprisingly light on Blackpool regulars.

I understand Blackpool G Cardroom had a bit of a "dip", or lull, of late, but they have a new Cardroom Manager, & he seems bent on restoring Blackpool's glory as one of the Top Three UK Poker Venues.

Present & correct, or at least, recognizable to me, were Mick Fletcher (out very early), Nick Slade, Howard Plant, Ali Mallu (another early exiter), Alastair Findlay, Chili, blondeite DanMonkey (what a splendid young man, & most pleasant table company), &, well I'm sorry, I've forgotten most of the others, memory issues here.

I had an absolute hoot of a time, & I plan to play this Comp every time my diary permits.

I mangled Kings early doors, & got a severe rubdown for letting them go, but at the end of the day, it's one pair, & the Betting was sufficiently sussy to alert me to a problem, & I decided  that this structure left me enough playing time to fight my way back, despite dropping 6k on the hand, & I declined to call the last 6k Bet, thus leaving myself with 9k. I now believe my Pass here was wrong, as it happens, but at least I was still in, & you can't win from the Rail. Oddly, I had Kings 5 times, & lost with them 4 times.

That 9k sunk to 4.5k, but still, with this structure, I was sure I could get out of it.

Eventually, I clawed my way back up, 8k, 10k, & then cold-decked poor Danmonkey when he ran his Queens into my Kings, & after that, I just went on the ascendency, & was soon double average.

It's very rare for me to be double-average, due to my passive game, but I was determined not to donk them off this time, as I usually do, but I made a few (by my standard) decent calls, & the chips kept accumulating.

I limped in mid-pos with  4c 5c, & we saw a flop of....

 5h 6c 8c

...and suddenly, short-stacked BB (he had 10k, blinds were 300-600) moved all-in on me, ooh-er!

Well, this was a test. Was he on the flush draw, & if so, was my bottom pair good? Did he have top pair, no draw? I decided to go for it, & made the call, & he showed.....

 8h  9c

So, I prayed to the Poker Gods, give me a CLUB. And the Club duly turned. But, showing just how fickle we are, & perhaps explaining why the Poker Gods get so feisty with us at times, now I prayed NO club! And, phew, I got it home safely.

Chili, meanwhile, had run her 15k up to 27k early, with no hands, she just outplayed her opening table, but then had a setback, before 2xup again to 28k. But she made the right move, at the wrong time, with a gutshot draw, when her oppo was holding 8-8 on a flop of 8-4-2, & it's hard to get folks off top set, so that was that.....

Howard Plant had a mountain of chips, but he had a moment of madness, & bluffed the entire stack of in a single hand.

Meanwhile, I reached the part of the Comp where I always seem to labour, & my stack, suddenly, with Blinds at 1,5k-3k, & playing Short-Handed, (there were about 12 or 14 left), suddenly found myself sub-average, & I needed to make some action soon or I'd be in trouble.......

More soon.........

And so, 13 left I think, Blinds have 10 minutes left at 1.5k-3k., & I have 54k. Soon be time to dance methinks.

Nick Slade was two to my left, & accumulating chips beautifully. I've not shared many tables with Nick in the last year, as he's gone up-market, & I've downsized, but I was fascinated to see how his game had changed, & very much for the better, if I may make so bold about the European Open winner. He has refined his speech-play to great effect, there's now much less of it, & it's good, intelligent, probing stuff, & wholly non-offensive. Proper, grown-up speech-play, like. And he's always been very aware of the nuances of the table, perhaps more so than almost anyone I've ever played, he has great awareness of what's what.

And that was the background to my Exit, which, really, played itself for both of us, but the play Nick made was based solely on the fact that he had me on a move, as move time had clearly arrived for me, & he thought that by shoving, he could get me off all but a Premium Hand, as with 50k or so, I still had the ability to Pass.

And so, the dreaded Kings arrived again, on my Button to Nick's BB, so I'm OK with that, & make it 10k. Nick promptly shoves for 90k, happy days!, & I gleefully look him up, this gets me well over 100k. Assuming I win it.......Nick Tabled A-Q.

The Flop was fine - T-T-7, but you always fear the pesky Ace, & really, apart from a sigh & a shrug, it's no great shock if the A falls, it happens every day. But the Turn was the Q, phew, that's OK, too, just gotta dodge the Rivered A. And another Q fell!

And, the human mind being the weird thing it is, I'd have been fine if the A fell, but the 2nd Queen poleaxed me, completely, & I must confess, I was really disappointed, big-time, because otherwise, I'm in good shape for a top three finish after a bit of a thin week. An A woulda hurt MUCH less, for some odd reason.

Fair play to Nick, he was a perfect Gent about it, said all the right things, & won the hand with the urmost dignity, & Chili & I departed shortly thereafter, a warm handshake & a quick cuddle, though not respectively.......

Nick went on to win it, & I was delighted to hear that. He & I both have strong opinions, & are not shy at airing them, & we oftentimes spar quite vigorously with each other. He's also had a few setbacks in the last couple of years, with family health issues & other stuff.

He's back, & I'm very pleased for him.

It's subjective, but personally, I think they add a whiole new dimension to the game, & I'm all for them, providing they are of the right ratio to the Blinds. (The RA should NOT exceed the BB IMO).

Bring 'em on.

I agree, both Comps will suffer if these two continue to clash.

As to more Sats on blonde, well, we'd love to, but running Sats on blonde has been something of a disaster so far, & we need to go into the Tank to decide whether to continue with them. We were asked to do them, we did, but to be honest, it's been a complete waste of our time so far. They take a fair bit of setting up, & Kev can use his time to better effect in truth than to keep setting up dead Sats.

If the demand is there, we'll do them. If......

im really chuffed for the way Nicks running hot...ive only met him a few times but really enjoyed having a laugh with him on all occasions.
when he came down to DTD for the 300 a few months back i was going through a bit of a rough time and he gave me a bit of an insite into what he was dealing with and told me that things always get better...oh how right he was..i came 3rd for my biggest cash and he has gone on to have a great 2008 so far.

well done Nick,im glad i made my own mind up about you,lol.

Anyway, the point of the Thread was to say "well done Blackpool-G", & well done Nick.

The Comp ran very smooth & efficient, too, MUCH better than last month.

Ditto the Buffet, which was a bit Lidl-ish last month, but this month was piping hot Lasagne or Beef & Mushroom Pie, with red hot new potatoes & butter - superb!

The Breaks were kept exactly to the scheduled duration, & the Dealers were friendly throughout. The Dealers were all sat at the Tables, military style, Chips all laid out, at 5 minutes to starting time, (dare I say DTD-style?....) great stuff, though for some odd & very frustrating reason, we still started 10 minutes late.

This business of starting late is so odd - the Cardroom Staff mean well, by waiting for everyone to take their Seat (most had NOT sat down at start-time), but the way to get players to sit down is to start the Comp! You'd be amazed how quick they learn.....And it's a an improvememnt which costs NOTHING. Surely, Win-Win for all?

The only other black-mark was the Reception Staff. Surely Grosvenor could & should train them to do the very basics that any Receptionist should do - smile, say hello or hi, make Members feel welcome? Again, it's free. It's hardly Customer-friendly to be sullen, & not even say "hi".

But that's small beer compared to the overall effort - a great Comp, well-run, in a beautiful, & very spacious cardroom, with excellent Tables (The Mark 2 "G" Version, with passed Rail, far better than those at Luton), & comfy chairs.

Well done Blackpool-G.

Now publicise it!

Spotted it.  You are playing the really obvious game again aren't you??

Does Cardiff Grosvenor not still run a monthly £300 (?) comp with 10,000 chips and 45 min levels?

That used to be a lovely Comp, & I was happy to take the near 3 hour drive every month for it, & the local's are a great bunch.

But I believe they diluted it - later start, shorter levels, & it became a common-or-garden regular crapshoot, & I can find them anywhere, they are two-a-penny, I don't need to go right down to Wales for one of those.

They may still do it, but like most Grosvenor's these days, they make little or no effiort to Promote it, except from those infuriatingly ineffective Texts we get now.

blonde spend more time & effort promoting Live Comps than the Casino Groups do, which is daft, if you think about it, half an hour & the Big Groups could cover all the Major Poker Fora. Another classic example of how disorganized Tournament Poker is in the UK. It will change soon, though, mark my words. ;)

Grosvenor cardiff are no longer able to staff afternoon comps

they also canned Friday night comps, as I found on my last Friday down there

down to cost cutting and the opening of a plush Aspers in Swansea with dealer dealt comps I believe.

That's a great shame.

Grosvenor have been the cornerstone of UK Tourney Poker ever since I've played the game, & it's so sad to see them, seemingly, giving up on some Venues, & failing to Promote what they still have.

We don't even get the Flyer for what used to be the best Scheduled Monthly 2 dayer ever - the Grosvenor Walsall £300-er - any more, & as a result, the numbers for that have plummeted dramatically. blonde could & would work with Grosvenor to help promote these, & I've even asked them if we can help out, but it fell on stony ground.

After watching Tikay kiss Michelle on tv last night I thought this post was about something else.  ;ashamed;

It was tough to fight her off.

She was in some discomfort all night, actually. The girls wear a sort of elasticated belt, under their dresses, upon which are hung the three battery packs we wear - 2 x Microphone Packs & one earpiece pack - & these are hung on the belt. Her belt last night was way too small, so there was something of an awkward moment during a 1 minute break when she had to lift up her dress in the studio & loosen the belt. Naturally, I did the Gentlemanly thing, & shielded her from prying eyes.

Don't be ridiculous - a man claiming he's found the g spot? As likely as the world being flat.  :dontask:  I think this thread was just an excuse for TJ to say the words g spot in public!

I found it, but I had to ask for directions.

I have a braille map if any ones interested..... ;angel;

cheers tony , really enjoyed the dayand nite , thanks for the kind words, its not easy starting out playing this game we all love and i rememeber my behaviour at brighton, which u pulled me for some 2 years ago , i was new to the game and left ashamed .

i have been playing poker now for 2 year and 4 months , seems like 10 years,    nice to see someone like tk(who has been around a longtime) pay a compliment to a relative rookie, lasting the course in poker is 75% of the battle .......im just glad im still playing , life and my own stupidity has dealt some pretty rough cards of late , but jane is in new york having some retail therapy with her sister and researching her condition and trying to find if the shermans have any  different treatment over the pond. and i won a tourney .
so if yer p1ssed off right now .......tommorows another day kid x


little miss c

x new you would do it that night ..........................there are certain characters that perform better when backed into a corner , presume thats why ima scorpio, youare just the same mate ..........always good to see you chuck , you always put a smile ommine and tiny tylers face.  x

I'm astonished you remember our "chat" 2 years ago Nick, & remember it well, too, as if it were yesterday. Though I thought it was in Stoke......memory issues here. 

It's not for me to judge how you behave, but I can comment as I see fit, & it was an absolute pleasure to share a table with you last week (QQ apart....) & that was not always the case. Poker is such a fun game when played in the right spirit. I can genuinely say I was delighted you went on to win it in Blackpool, though a bit cheesed off that Chili got a hug, & I only got a handshake. That's sexist, & I'm offended.

I do hope the New York trip works out well for Jane, & that looking after the kids on your own is not too taxing......

hug chilli i thought i shook her hand and hugged you.....................damn must remember you are the georgousssssssss looking one next time lol.


as for looking after the kids , they are running rings round me , first day consisted of me picking them up from school to take them home fortheir tea , it ended up with bowling aley, macdonalds then spidewick at the pictures and 4 of us in a double bed ,,,,,,,,,,,,


i cant remeber how it ended up that way but they rerereraised me and i fell for the bluff lol


see you again soon x

Gorgeous? In Blackpool, I was described as the short, grey, old bloke, if I recall correctly.....then my "fan" asked for my autograph!

I still havent been to Apsers in Swansea yet but my mate is a regualr and says its in a different league.

Im still loyal to Grosvenor cardiff coz thats where i first learnt to play live but its hard to argue with Aspers who seem to actually care about what poker players want and not just attracting punters to the pit games.

stoke circus does a £20 10,000 chips, i think they have antes and they have a long clock, sundays at 3 i think. Only 30 odd runners lately. if you want some proper play for small buy in thats the best you will get i think.