blonde poker forum

Some of you might be interested.................LOL

http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/showthread.php?t=185880

Pure Comedy Gold!

Sad to see they have the same Forum problem in the USA as we have in the UK - folks only state (what they consider) to be facts, never opinions.

Here's a taster - they are debating who the biggest Online players in the UK are......

Dave "Dubai" Shallow and Russ "Ariston" Cawley are the biggest UK online players, afaik.

Plenty more of that sort of stuff, it's as funny a thread as I've seen in a while. Shame they are being serious. "Spaz Tard" was nice, too.......

followed up by

'These two are terrible!!!!!!!' ;ifm;

Now obv this an NVG thread on 2p2 therefore should be not taken very seriously.

Though as i have said before the standard of UK poker is not something to be particularly proud of and there is some truth in that thread. Not that we should be particularly sad about this as the "value" when going to play live is massive.

bluescouse is one of the best from the UK apparenty......You read it here first. Well, second.

I'm waiting for TJ to get a mention.

i started this thread on 2p2 because i play msnl online cash poker for a living, and dont see hardly any brits doing the same. maybe there are, and maybe they disguise where they are from or keep a low profile as we brits do. myself included.

but there just are not many msnl and hsnl regs on the main sites from what i have seen. the ones i do bump into seem pretty bad with only a couple exceptions

What is msnl?


Also


lol

mid stakes no limit

Mid Stakes No Limit, abbreviation has come about mainly due to the way the forums are sorted out at 2p2. High stakes, mid stakes, small stakes and micro stacks.

thanks - couldn't get the msn - microsoft connection out of my head to work it out myself

Take that hat off.

I was hoping it was a new poker room launched by Microsoft  :D

Most American poker players really are quite deluded about their own skill level so this thread should be viewed for entertainment purposes only. We must appreciate that their education system is not as challenging as ours, I think the liberal use of the words 'spaz' and 'tard' highlight this, so intelligent comment will be hard to find.

Also, I find Americans can be rude when they play poker as well. Rude and arrogant. So they lag in the etiquette stakes as well.

Also, while I was watching the Calzaghe fight on Saturday I realised that Americans feel compelled to sing their National Anthem in a really weird high-pitched extravagant way. I find that annoying and really so pointless.

God save our Queen.

Pretty accurate really, very few good UK players, long may it stay that way!

Why?  Dont you want to improve ? ;D

Rob Akery is a good mention. 2nd in the Gala Final to Joe Beevers and won the Stars Million a couple of weeks back.

LOL I just spoke to Nick Hicks, who told me that a week or two before Rob Akery won it, Ozzy one of the Notts Gala regulars also won the sunday million outright, no deals. I was absolutely gobsmacked it has to be said, but well done to him, he did what most of us dream of............

one of the Luton kids won this last November.

who?

seb?

That thread just rocks. Sorry - "delivers" in current terminology.

Note also these kids chucking around the poker expressions of the moment - "crushed" & "nosebleed stakes" in so many Posts.

Two of them to be more accurate, I believe......

Who is dabeear?

Im watching the youtube link and this guy is pure class  :D

is rob akery YouGoMuck on ipoker and vegaLion on stars from bristol. if not he is from bristol and plays high NL cash and won the stars million recent. not read the 2+2 thread but yes there seem to be few UK players playing high, but those tht do tend to leave the tilt and stars games alone as there is little need 2 play in games where 90%of the players are overall winning 1s. games on these sites are void of fresh money (oh theVoid, mark tel - there's another HS cash player)

best of blonde.

Not true, he has a team of people playing that account for him - so he said at the WSOP last year

:hello:

cash not tourny you muppet

[/quote]

Not true, he has a team of people playing that account for him - so he said at the WSOP last year
[/quote]

if he does have a team on his ipoker account then they all play the same style. very unlikely IMO. i hvae played him many many times, and as there is a small pool of players @ 25 50 etc u get to know ppls games well. also as far as i am aware he has only started playing ipoker more recently (i didnt c him prior to last yrs wsop on ipoker under that name). this is just my experience but i do play quite a bit.

:D

Tim to his mates, please

Red or Black

hi m8, wondered where you were lurking m8

That post was pretty uninformed, but a lot of the rest of it seems pretty spot on. Where's the comedy value?

Uninformed how? I just mentioned a few random names and included Bluescouse partially as a joke. Though I should point out he is a £130k+ lifetime winner from poker. Not sure where I mentioned thinking he was one of the best - the thread was simply asking if there are any full time internet cash pro's, bluescouse certainly qualifies. Next you'll be claiming the English football league isn't the strongest in the world....

Sorry, there were no smileys there ben, I took it seriously as did the rest of the posters I think? As for the Premiership, goes without saying obviously.

Goes without saying that it is the strongest certainly. All four of those players are internet pros who've made at least six figures from online poker so I don't see a need for smileys. Bluescouse was just a nice contrast against the others who are all grinders, while he is perceived (not entirely accurately) as a losing degenerate.

Andrew Feldman?-Royal-me always seems to be up a few buyins at £10/20 £25/50 on crypto when i have a look at the big games there

Hi Mr Shaft Sir,

I'm not clear if that's aimed at the Thread Title, or my Post, but,.....

Perhaps we have differing senses of humour - unsurprising really, as I'm something of an oddball, I confess, & OP Woodsey can be quirky, too.. And what's funny to one is dead serious to another. It was just my view that the thread was side-splittingly funny, mainly because some of the the assumptions - stated as facts, not opinions, in line with the current vogue on Fora -  were so bizarre. Here is my Post in full.

"Pure Comedy Gold!

Sad to see they have the same Forum problem in the USA as we have in the UK - folks only state (what they consider) to be facts, never opinions.

Here's a taster - they are debating who the biggest Online players in the UK are......

Dave "Dubai" Shallow and Russ "Ariston" Cawley are the biggest UK online players, afaik.

Plenty more of that sort of stuff, it's as funny a thread as I've seen in a while. Shame they are being serious. "Spaz Tard" was nice, too......."

I expect you know both those individuals, as do I. So you must realise they'd have found it as funny as I did.

Interesting to see the 2+2 "Style" at it's best though.

I've also been scratching my head about the extract below, Posted on blonde (we do quirky, too....), by the deservedly esteemed "Geeforce", a man who knows exactly what he's talking about, I'd say, certainly he moves at Levels I have never been good enough to even aspire to.

but those tht do tend to leave the tilt and stars games alone as there is little need 2 play in games where 90%of the players are overall winning 1s

I just have a (small?) mind that works in weird ways, but I'm really trying to come to terms with what that means - a Site where 90% of the players are overall winning. The other 10% must be doing a bomb......

Just ignore me & my warped sense of humour, but it did amuse me.

So in your opinions who are the biggest online players in the UK?

Tighty isn't the smallest.

I have not the faintest idea. Nor, I suspect, have a significant number of those who Posted "facts" on that 2+2 Thread, judging by some of the examples given.

I don't know who the biggest are, but I know who they are not!

Unlike "best", "biggest" is wholly meaningless, but I'm sure both Ariston & Dubai would be lolling at the suggestion that they are the biggest Online players in the UK. The "best" - well, that's different - that's a factual thing. And they may well be that, though I very much doubt it. Which is an opinion.

Chufty surely.

i dont know who the best player is but these guys will give you an idea of the 2nd best

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_6o4b0EpK7Y

note the semi-rubdown from mr martin and a drunk flushy.

lol fun times

lol why am i always in videos with you? The one on a world of poker is funnier imo.

Mr Kendall Sir,  ;)

It was more the thread title. As a group, the UK are pretty damned poor which was the main strand of the thread, which I'm sure you'd agree? Just look at how bad Sky, Betfair, and the now defunct Wagerworks network were for playing standards as a rough guide to our collective incompetence, or indeed just play a cash game in any UK casino.

Certainly if I'm surrounded by a table of Brits, I'm not logging off anytime soon, although in fairness, I'd be moving to the next table if it contained only Russians, French, Irish and Italians. I would have said Germans as well 3 months ago, but something is going badly wrong there, and they seem to be learning at a ridiculous rate.

Conversly, a table of Fins or Norwegians and you won't see me for dust.

Of course you can't call every player based on where they are from, but before I have evidence to the contrary, I'll assume they adhere to their national stereotype.

(this is just an opinion, not a fact ;))

Rofl.

link?

high steaks games != whole site imo

Thank you Mr Shaft for a splendid reply - may I call you Fat?

I'm not convinced we are "poor" at poker as a Nation, but that's just a hunch really, I have no specific information one way or the other. I guess our poor record in the WSOP is a clue, though that's a pretty thin sample in the grand scheme of things, & these days the whole WSOP series has been debased by poor structures. I do - again just a hunch - fancy some of our Omaha players are up with the best, but again, it's just a gut feeling.

But the Debate was about "Online" really, or I think it was. Only a fool would accept Online Stats at face value. Some players have "records" which suggest they are well profitable, but I don't buy that at face value I'm afraid. Players operate under multiple aliases, & also "trade" Seats deep in Comps, as we both know, (a practice which Betfair seem to actively encourage). If - hypothetically - bluescouse's Online record suggests he's, say, $200,000 to the good, do we know that includes, perhaps, other aliases, or when he plays on Networks which do not have "tracking". He could be $1,000,000 up, or $500,000 down - there's just no way of knowing. I know of dozens of prominent Online players - huge names, some of them - who allow other players to use their account, & vice-versa.

You suggest, by way of evidence, that we only need to look at the standard of play on Sky Poker, amongst others. (Note I have vested interest here - I work for them). I don't think the standard of play on Sky Poker can be in any way used as evidence that UK players are not up to the mark Internationally. Why so? Because, at present, Sky Poker do not lay "nosebleed stakes", so I can't see the correlation. They are offering WSOP Packages though, & it'd throw the cat amongst the pigeons if one of them went deep, eh? And what would it prove if one did? - it might be a 'Stars player, attracted by the "assumed" value!

You mention Live Cash, & there I'm with you. The standard of play IS horrendous, but it's the same all over the world I think. Play Live Omaha Cash & you are confronted by many of the folks playing 4 card Hold 'Em, it's hilarious to watch. but luck being the massive factor it is in poker, & even more so in Omaha (short-term), they can be dangerous. We have good & bad Cash players in the UK, sure, but surely, so does everyone? Vegas is the proof of that.

I just don't see how we establish it beyond reasonable doubt. My gut feeling is that it's just plain wrong to assume a player is good or bad because he's, say British or German.

I am still tickled pink by that 2+2 thread though. Some of those guys live in another world. Which could, I suppose, equally apply to me.

Let's have more of your Posts on here - you debate good.

PS - Desperately tried to include the phrase "crushing the nosebleed stakes" somewhere in there, so I could be deemed down with the kids street-talk, but failed miserably. A spotty 12 year old threw it out in conversaton at my table in Manchester-G last night, & the coffee went spluttering everywhere. Completely whooshed Alan McLean & C T Law, too, who have amassed over $1,000,000 of winnings between them. But as with Online, so Live, & we know those two have "made" over $1,000,000, but we have no idea what they've lost, have we? The Poker Industry just has no way of measuring profit or loss properly. But the long-term survivors survive, & so they must be winners. Plenty of Brits can lay claim to surviving, but even more have disappeared, sunk without trace. It's the same everywhere I fancy.

Tikay, I won't quote you as it's a bit long. But your points also ring true. It's hard to tell which side is right. The =4 thread has sort of become a bit of everything now.

However, the point that does ring true, and I think also hides some of the big UK winners from view, is that we don't go around bragging about it like some do (another stereotype there), and this is partly because we're not American, and partly because many of the winners are a lot older than their American counterparts, and as I said on the =4 thread, we tend to get it quietly.


TY Sir. My posting has increased a little recently since I realised after all these years that I could change the default colour scheme, which I found hard to read.  ;noflopshomer;

With that, we are of one mind entirely.

Apologies if this seems rude, but we we know each other - "really" rather than virtually, I mean? I rarely get called "Mr Kendall" except by those who know me outside blonde, the quack at the Clinic, my Meals on Wheels Lady, or my Probation Officer at the YOI.

OK, off for my afternoon nap now. Sorry, Power-nap.

Well there is no way of knowing exactly how much he is up or down but Bluescouse blogs in detail about his wins and losses and all evidence suggests he's not making any of it up. The hands he blogs about are often witnessed by many people and I know for sure that he bought his house with poker winnings and has played several EPT events. At the end of 2007 he stated his aims for 2008 as "this year i want to win a £100k pot at some time as well as make more than i did this year (£155k or thereabouts)" so if you believe him, which I do, he made over £150k last year. The reason he had no bankroll left is he bought a £250k house with over half of it paid for outright and spent a lot furnishing it. Since then he lost the £25k he won late last year and around £20k borrowed money (quite likely to be money he won earlier and his parents kept safe for emergencies) and then won £10k in the last few days. At the start of 2007 he had a bankroll of £20k but had won a lot more than that overall. From all of this you can work out he's up way more than $200k.

the real comedy is the lack of convincing content in this thread that opposes the general view on 2p2~(mine included) that the general standard of poker in the uk is down right appalling.

 also most the folk commenting in that thread are uk players also

I don't think the UK standard of play is what was amusing, I think it was just the general level of uninformed comment.

Such as suggesting that the players that play on Sky Poker are representative of the country (and for that matter the suggestion that everyone in the UK plays on there).

That said, I didn't find it as amusing as I hoped it would be - but that was probably because of the lack of American input.

I happen to agree with you, my experience of playing online that if there is a player from the uk sat with me, he/she is likely to be clueless.

I think there are number of reasons this has come about pointed on the 2p2 thread:

1. The "getting it quietly" culture has an effect and there are some Uk players who are making a decent living online.

2. Alot of people in the uk think poker = other forms of gambling therefore its a game of pure luck and therefore play accordingly.

3. Those who have got beyond number 2, often seem unwilling to work on their games enough to improve to be big winners.

4. We as a nation seemed to like to stick our heads in the sand and get all defensive when someone criticises us. Instead of thinking hang on how can we improve. As evidenced in this thread.

5. Mediocrity breeds mediocrity, you only have to play down your local casino once a week and you will learn next to nothing in terms of poker strategy but will hear a lot of misguided waffle about the game.

6. 2p2 is the prime strat forum(s) on the internet alot of people on Blonde (we are mainly uk) seemed to be put off by 2p2's attitude towards newbies.

I could go on, but very few will be listening.

did somebody say something?

I'd class the biggest online players in the UK as milkybar kid, chufty, rayvon and maffews. the 150k Bluescouse won is peanuts compared to what the other 4 have won. I have witnessed daily swings of more than 100k for 3 of the 4 I have named.

does this make them the best? I class the best as the ones who do it consistanly. I certainly am not one of the best in the UK (not even one of the best in my street lol). My name was stuck in there for benno etc to take the mickey of and no other reason. As a MTT player though I don't think many UK players have had a higher pocket 5 world ranking than mine was a couple of years ago (when they counted satelitte wins into the equation). Being up there in the rankings meant nothing though as for every trip i won I had to make 10k or so expences money for the trip on top and I nearly always came back potless. Online poker however has been my living for the last  5 or 6 years and but for all the trips glory hunting I would be a lot better off. I managed to win a WSOP package last week and I now have 9 weeks to win another 10k to take out with me, pointless going with less- pressure's back on

Well no-one was claiming that Bluescouse is one of the biggest British winners, he's obviously not.

We've covered this already, but re:SKY - The point was that more or less everyone that plays there is from the UK, NOT that nearly everyone from the Uk plays there. Considering the software, it's a wonder anyone plays there

As such, then you've got a pretty significant sample size that would tell you that UK players are pretty poor, it's why I also mentioned Betfair and Wagerworks, both of those were/are dominated by British players, and like SKY, the standard is bleurgh.

ud think ud quietly go about ur buisness killing all the the mid stakes games there without a fuss?

Thank you for your lovely PM, I'll reply later, I'm off out shortly.

As to Sky Poker, & remembering of course I have vested nterest, & thus perhaps may have myopic vision in their case.....

I still can't accerpt that correlation between the standard of play on Sky Poker, & in the UK as a whole. Sky Poker stated up 14 months ago, and not on an existing  network, & so is in the very early stages of development. The early Phase of the Business model required a high volume of low-stakes players, which it's achieved with plenty to spare. (It's early graduation to profitability has startled the Industry). The low-limit players at Sky Poker are probably of much the same quality as low-stakes players on any other site. Sky Poker just don't happen to currently cater for (wait for it - here's my chance) "nosebleed stakes" players. When Sky Poker move up the Levels (Stakes), the quality of player on there will be much the same as on any other UK-only Site - because we will be comparing like-for-like.

The software, of course, does not compare much with "traditional" downloadable Online Poker Rooms. That's because it's designed for purpose - so that players can play on the Red Button, via their Telly, which is the market Sky Poker specifically set out to create, grow, & then to dominate. (All achieved). It is a very, extremely, complex piece of kit, to enable Red Button play, by the bye. The next Software Upgrade will simply be the next step in the evolution of Sky Poker Software, & as these are installed, the money levels at which players play will grow. But they will never be the same as other Online rooms - that's the whole point - it's different, & perfectly fit for purpose, as the figures clearly demonstrate. And as 95% (I estimate, could be a bit more or less) of Online Poker is played at micro-Levels, maybe Sky Poker will remain in that niche, where most of the money is. If so, it will never be a suitable Site to compare UK players with other Nationalities.

So.....err, how did we get here?

Oh yes, UK players are not as good as Ameican players. I don't know the answer to that, but the case is certainly not proven. Not at all.

OK, I gotta go play some Omaha, at DTD. Have a good evening.

PS - There's  lot of Greeks & Asians at DTD - how do THEY compare in the Rankings? ;)

our paths have crossed many times online on stars mtts

see much of purr of aces matt, not seen him around for ages

not played much this last month but before that seen him very occasionally on stars and once on party. not like the good old days where you knew everyone on first name terms :D

Armo's started his own company up so doesnt get much chance to play.

how's cousin Merve? ;)

Posted by: Longy

If you play live you learn everything in terms of poker strategy. You learn a lot about human nature, how different types of people behave in different situations, and how to strategise for it. People do waffle shit at the tables and that's a lesson in itself.

Also, we shouldn't frown upon the majority of Friday-night recreational players because their vital place in the food chain fills the pockets of the minority who ARE willing to improve. But it has to be a minority or it doesn't work.

If the majority of UK casino players are very bad, I applaud them.

good m8, sold my bar last year, and played fulltime since.switched from sngs/mtts to cash as an experiment about 12 months ago and never came back. steep uphill learning curve but really enjoying it and making a fair packet to boot. u playing manchester this week?

The poster on 2+2 is one of my close friends and was just joking around btw.

Quite why Tikay finds it comedy gold I have no idea. Given that he is still in the Jurassic Age when it comes to poker believing the Rokachs of the world are getting the lot in live multis and that someone booking a £500 win in a dealers choice cash game represents a "Significant Win", then il take his opinion with a pinch of salt. If the thread was about kissing arse and attempting to befriend the entire poker world then maybe I would value his opinion, as it isnt I'l just laugh

lol, nice post.
Love the way you see through the smarm, so few of us left.

 ;popcorn;

i think u have misunderstood my point here. i didnt mean that 90% are beating 10 20, 25 50 etc ( and i realise that 90% is a figure i just plucked from thin air) but i was trying to emphasise that those games are fulll of regs that beat poker overall (tough players). money comes from lower games and filters upto the bigger games. this does happed on Euro sites but since the US ban there isnt the same amount of wreckless idiots turning up on stars and tilt (even those that are there are tend to be over aggressive rather than being stations of super passive). I find i get put in a lot more marginal spots on stars than on ipoker which increases varaince. the standard is therefore (obv IMO) much higher on the US sites.

i dont see many players with UK locations in those stars games, but i do see plenty of UK players on bigger ipoker games (i dont play betfair etc), i am sure these players could beat the games on stars but choose not to.

So you tell me your friend was joking, then query why I find it funny.........He clearly was joking. Which is maybe why I found it funny.

But I'm honoured to be considered to be in the Jurassic age. Most peeps date me earlier than that.

Ahh, I see what you meant now, my apologies. I'm a bit of a pedant with maths.

It'd be interesting to see the geographical split by Nationality on 'Stars. That may give us all some clues to the answer to this fascinating riddle. I mean, if, say, (hypothetically), 10% of all 'Stars players were UK-based, we'd have some sort of guide - because only 1 in 10 'Stars players were UK-ites. If we knew, again hypothetically, that 60% of 'Stars players were USA-based, that would enable us to better compare, especially when it's being said "not many UK players do well". It's relative..

Alot of UK players are poop imo but so are the yanks tbh. I sometimes wonder if its just my good self and the scandies that can play this beautiful game :-)

WTF difference does it make?

It's not supposed to be a fucking sport, It's poker FFS!!!

If you play for a living and turn a profit job done, end of.

 ;tightend;

Haha yeah i posted in that thread before I saw it posted here, it kinda made me laugh because some of it is true, the uk has terrible players as a whole.