blonde poker forum

Neil "Bad Beat" Channing will announce his selected brown belts exclusively live on The Poker Show tonight. Each of the successful 8 players will be flown to Vegas for the WSOP with a cool $20k in bank roll.

Neil will be calling the players individually to give them the news.

You can listen to the show from 8pm this evening at www.thepokershowlive.com

Is it gonna be x factorish where Neil says "I've made a decision...." then you get loads of music playing in the background maybe Kenny Rogers  "The Gambler" or Lady Gaga "Pokerface"

Also will they do some sort of build up where Persaud says "I think we've made a mistake" and change one of the brown belts last minute!!!

Trigg, you can send the $50 to either my FullTilt account or to tigmong on Stars.

Good variance to Dave Bland and Nick Wright.

Enjoying the show but does mr parkinson have to keep talking all the way through and wandering off topic..

whats with the music?

Big build up to the announcement.

well get on with it

Have any been announced yet?

James Keys
David Tighe
Richard Hawes

Announced yet?

see above

Shrewdies getting slaughtered ... Padraig thinks they will go bust on cab fares !!

I think Sida, Jerome and Adam Latimer are absolute locks, so two other spots up for grabs with about 10 people in with a realistic shot IMO.

I posted it at the same time other people were posting, you smart arse. Lol

]

lol, just posted this on the shrewdies thread..

Have any of these boys ever had a drink before?

lol, obv.

Shocking lightweights, went out with them once, some didnt make it to the end, most of them puking and they all got the train home a day early.

I agree with this^^^

haha i made the end in london, breakfast in the sheesh cafe, i sure made the main the next day though.

for failing a night out with dubai you cant be judged a lightweight though, theyre diff gear.

gg when you arrive in vegas. gr8game.

I've got the shrewdies over the brown belts in a drinking event.

They sound like they aren't old enough to have started shaving yet.

Lol someone rang up as me? I wouldnt even know the number to call. WTF

Email I think, didnt u email them?

Of course i didnt

LOL @ "You have dialled an incorrect number..."

Well LOL then......

someone shoot PP plz.

Who are the picks so far?

Who's ahead Dubai?

TFFT, i can turn it off now.

James Keys
David Tighe
Sida Yuen
Jerome Bradpiece
Kevin Allen
Jamie Roberts
Richard Hawes
Adam Latimer

ul Alex and all the other blondes that didnt get selected.

....and Good Luck to all those that did.

Gutted for the blondes.  Know how much ye wanted this.  Sigh.

I think Neil is owed some apologies.

As far as I know only one player who played for Neil prior to the grading got a brown belt.

His integrity was put into doubt and he has proven that the whole exercise was totally legit.

Ul Alex.. at least I still get a share when you win the main event now!

good post.

Ul all the Blondes involved

gl to all who got in, gogogo.

jesse asks neil a question pp answers    gl all who got in

june kev allen is so com! pleased for him gogoggogooo kev

wp kids, really chuffed for the guys that got it, esp Kevin, Keysie, Sida.

also, im gonna forgive the twisted fk that rang me b4 the 8th phonecall from a private number. Not particularly funny at the time after grinding for nearly 200 hours. But thanks, i find it pretty funny now :P

wd to those who got it and gl to those going for blue belts.

Dubai I think you got me by 1 pick

Congrats to Alex and Dino1980 on making Blue Belt, ul to MC, Blatch and any other blondes who took part

Thx Adam, really pleased with blue belt. Am gutted for those that missed out, v.surprised Blatch didn't ge a blue belt and MC turned it around after a bad start.

Time to book flights to Aberdeen.

Just puke that is all.

+1 +1 +1 +1

I do think BBP could have run this grading more humanely.

Pretty unfair to guys like James and Dave to play all this time and have a total let down tonight.

Perhaps a less brutal way of running it would be to drop players as they go.

Perhaps lose 10 a week until the final night when everyone was guaranteed a blue belt and from among those the brown belts are chosen.

Very well put.

Im i really that bad? maybe they needed a couple of idiots in it to make it seem like they were giving everyone a chance so they asked me to do it....and i can see why my bro Ben Vinson dropped out as he 100% was not going to get a brown belt when he obv is the best live comp player , well on a par probably with riverdave and jerome.

congrats everyone, might be joining you all in the next one we shall see :)

[ ] Am glad I decided not to play Heads UP STTs during the grading
[ ] Was told profit would be such a key factor and everything else would be essentially disregarded

Was it based mainly on profit?

is there a profit breakdown somewhere? would make good reading but probs isn't available lol

Then it would have to be run over a longer period than just a month, perhaps with the setting up of BBP and the WSOP starting maybe they didnt have enough time to do it that way.

50 graders:

End of week 1: lose 10.. 40 left
End of week 2: lose 10.. 30 left
End of week 3: lose 10.. 20 left
End of week 4: 12 blue belts, 8 brown belts.

What is wrong with this model?

wiiiiiiiiiiii well done Kev son!

To all those who trialled and lost, mugs!

I think maybe you'd struggle to make a true decision about someone in a week - maybe they run bad, and maybe part of the selection process is seeing how people recover from and respond to this. Also from a business point of view I can think of some distinct financial reasons why this would not be as attractive a proposition

This.


Thats why I stated there wasnt enough time before the WSOP starting to extend the trial period, which I think you would need to use your model Keith. 1 week is definately not long enough to give you a true picture on what is going to be a long term investment

From what I can gather from reading the bbp grading board and this thread there is some serious annoyance and disgruntlement among the graders who have missed out altogether.

I wouldn't be suprised if a fair % of them would choose never to play on the bbp skin ever again.

In my model you would obviously lose alot of rake but keep the loyalty of more players. ie not killing the goose that laid the golden egg..

(Maybe start the grading at a higher level so you get the most rake from the 50?)

I dont think this grading was set up just to get people on there for the rake was it?
I guess a lot of this grading was a " suck it and see" and i think there will probably be changes for the next one.

What is main criticisms coming back from the graders? As the pre-selection theory has surely been put to bed.

I think players who thought they were locks for blue belt and had a shot at brown belt seem very disillusioned with the whole thing.

4 weeks grinding for nothing.

Tonight seemed a very brutal way of finishing it, must be a way of letting people down more gently then this.

Keith has it spot on.

I can't even sleep I'm so fucked off.

I've never gone at something so hard, and been so unrewarded

Unlucky James- I know Neil (Blatchley) was disappointed not to make blue either.

WTF!! How can riverdave get nothing and i quit after Day 1 and i make a belt!! Mut Be Rigged

White Belt FTW!!!!!!!

Cheers Rupinder,

It's taking the piss that I didn't get a blue. Admitedly I ballsed things up and didn't deserve a brown belt; but I travelled to London 5 times from Lincoln for this, I wrote blogs, articles, analysis, I was involved on the board, I did skype sessions, I played all my hours and even extra tables. I lost money cos I played the wrong games but from the outset they said profit was only a small factor.

The thing that really pisses me off was I nearly quit 2 weeks in cos I could see things were going badly and didn't think I had a shot at a brown belt so no point in continuing. But Neil told me if I stuck at it and kept contributing how I was, I was on for at least a blue belt, with a valid shot at a Brown belt.

Apologies for my rant, but when you put a month of your life into something (I was literally a recluse for the last 4 weeks), it's a real kick in the bollocks when they land this on you without any forewarning...

I talked to Jen and Neil since I found out but it obviously hasn't made me feel better. Disillusioned is a good word that Keith used. So is 'mug' as Flushy used.

Am I missing something - wouldn't the people who missed out be playing poker anyway so haven't 'lost' anything as such ?

Perhaps you don't realise how hard the grading was and the effort involved. I manage to play poker professionally without it taking over my whole life as it did the last month.

I gave up rake (http://blondepoker.com/redirect.php?id=1)back (http://blondepoker.com/redirect.php?id=1) (which on $4.5k rake is obviously considerable) and the steady money that I usually make.

Your post is misguided because it doesn't consider the people playing lower than their usual stakes aspect of the grading either...

No idea what you do but I assume that this opportunity to do what you've just done was +EV versus what you could have done.

Perhaps if I'd have shipped a bracelet!

2nd shot at hitting the hay, lets hope I don't come back and say more things I'll probably end up wishing I hadn't said 2moro!

weeeee for Kev Allen we'l have to have 'finding triggs tooth, vegas edition'

ul to Alex, Atkin + Penly, it must suck :(

:D

I know a few lads who were told they were definitely on course for Blue Belts and none got one so don't think it's just you that was a little misled James.

But wasn't that the gamble you were taking?
(i.e. you were all putting up your rake for the month with the winners prizes being (part?) funded by the proceeds).

Incidentally I thought that Mr Channing was very impressive on the radio show last night.
One of those people who are very easy on the ear.

He was, but please god, will they invest some money on a sound engineer who could do the levels on the microphones so Jesse's laugh doesn't deafen everyone, and Padraigs mike needs turning up ... its a great format and I would listen a lot more than I do now if they could just sort the sound levels.

so when you get a belt, are you staked for the online cash or still just for live tournaments?



 

I guess that was the gamble involved, and I guess I'm just coming across as a whining little bitch cos it didn't pay off. I should probably have cooled down before I posted anything.

You just have to try and understand the effort this involved only to feel like you've been misled like Greeky said really sucks.

Neil is a really nice guy in general, and impressive when it comes to poker, I'm not suggesting otherwise.

Nevermind. Onwards and upwards...

(Staking is just for the live tournaments kinky)

Anybody think it's strange that they picked 2 blue belts that are involved with poker magazines!!!

No, these guys are quality players. I don't know much about Dave Bland, but Nick held down a full time job AND did the grading, he was certainly more than worthy of a blue belt. I still don't understand how he did that. Sick man.

no

Well i think they picked them so BBP got a good write up in these magazines and didnt write  what a waste of time it was doing this etc.....just like how the 7 green belts must feel at this time.

I think implying that Nick and Dan got their blue belts just because they write for magazines is a bit unfair. Yes it obviously helps there chances, but whatever benefit it has is greatly outweighed by the fact they both had to slog it out doing a full time job as well as the grading, not to mention neither of them are pro players and were gooseberries in that respect too. 

Nick told me what an average day was like for him and it sounded like hell to me, he still managed to get his normal job done and end the month in profit. I know everyone had different pressures upon them, but I think Nick and Dan were two of the underdogs for sure. Channing has already shown he wasn't going to pick his most high profile 8 mates from the start and if he really wanted a magazines input he probably would have made one of them a brown belt, so I believe Nick and Dan got there on merit.

Obv i am chuffed for Nick and David and they fully deserved it.

If Dave Bland is reading, sorry I keep calling you Dan, not sure where I got that from.

I also meant to call Nick 'Frodo'

Lol thx Bazza, at one of the workshops Sunny told me that he thought I looked a lot like Trigg, so maybe i should be called Nick 'not Rick' Wright.

what does a blue belt get?

James, I  feel for you tons mate, really unlucky. It must feel so gutting after putting all your energy into it for a month, and for the process to end in one crucial and instant decision.

I really think, try not to think of the time as completely wasted; although it has been neagtive compared to the norm financially, I think any work and discussion you put in on your game can only be a good thing.

Although it does seem unfair in the case of James, I think NC has put together a really good and fair selection procedure, and it's good to see that he stuck to his guns in regards to the name players, despite much doubt as to whether he would.

The process is always going to end in either a ridiculously big  reward, or a massive letdown. Although that means it is exciting, I think that this kind of idea is a bit unfair on aspiring players, as it creates alot of false hope. Any idea of being staked in poker is almost too good to be true, and has always seemed strange to me.

Unlucky again James (now it will be all the sweeter when you win the Main Event!). Good luck to all the brown belts.

"I have decided in the last week to not play $1/2. I am not sure where this decision really leaves me in the Grading, as it pretty much guarantees I won’t be able to dig myself out of the red. However, I have decided not to worry about this too much. I haven’t demonstrated that I can beat $0.25/0.50 or $0.50/1 (although admittedly only over a small sample of hands), and rather than incur more losses at $1/2, I think I am better situated grinding SNGs, and will hopefully make a dent on my losses there. Although I might be missing out on a last ditch chance to bag a Brown Belt, I feel that this is the most sensible decision"


James this is from one of your blogs. Basically you admit to not following the rules of the the grading and playing the stakes that you are graded on, do you not think this would be a massive factor mate? I mean its nearly on par with quitting?

Just a little comment on the grading from the view of one of the 'hacks'.

While it was obvious that by having two journos in there for the grading means they could get more coverage, it was also entirely obvious that our jobs meant Nick and I were *very* unlikely to get a brown belt. I never expected one as there are some quality players in that field, and so the battle for me was trying to secure the blue belt doing the grinding on top of my regular job (which got altered somewhat along the way, but that's another story). Just sitting in front of iPoker for 120 hours in four weeks means we should made saints, imo.

I personally think Neil and Nik have done alright on this grading; they went with an idea which is untried and they should get some credit for having a go. Of course people will be disappointed, and for the likes of James (who impressed me) and Neil not to get blue I am genuinely gutted. They're both good players and will kick on. Nick thoroughly deserved his place as he's a solid player who works incredibly hard at his game. I'd like to think I am in the same boat - I am never going to be a world class player, I am just trying to push myself as hard as I can in a game I love as much as the other 49. All fifty of us knew what the sacrifices were when we joined up - the lack of social life, loss of rakeback and scrutiny that the whole process goes through. It was a tough four weeks and I can't imagine there's a single one of the graders who went through it without learning something.

Now, back to being one of those writer blokes.
Dan Bland ;)

You've got it wrong mate, I went to playing $50 SNGs instead which was one of the options...

Glad I impressed someone Dave ;)

Thanks as well Stu. I can definitely take away the stuff I've learnt which is a saving grace of the whole thing. I'll assume you're staking me for the main event based on your post :P

ah ok cool, nah was just thinking that from that blog you dug ur own grave lol

flushy and neil having a chat on the beach :)

YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iTF2Vd--yIw

Lol you're probs right mate, I guess this just shows how misinformed I was of the impact overall profit was gonna have. I really thought I'd done enough in all the other areas working my arse off to guarantee a blue belt.

Perhaps I thought the fact I'm a winning player generally would mean the fact I lost during the grading wasn't such a huge deal, but that was dumb I guess...

I think some people are showing a complete lack of dignity and respect for themselves,the rest of the graders and those involved in the selection process.

And perhaps proving the decision not to select them correct while doing so.

Welcome to the forum Murph

Thanks,in with a bang and all that  :redcard:

Hearing all these complaints about rake paid and rakeback missed out on baffled me a little. If you are relying on rakeback at the end of each month to make up a fair share of your profit, are you really a winning player?

Rakeback has to be part of the calculation. If it makes a profit, you're winning. The hourly rate is then the issue.

Congrats to all.who got the belts. There is certainly a culture in poker of people thinking they are better players than they actually are (which is just as well for everyone else). This usually doesn't become readily apparant due to selective results, variance and luckboxing. When put into the type of cauldron that Channing has designed, some of them are going to get found out.

Heads up for rollz?

wow, that's around $3600 an hour?  ;envious;

What would that prove?

I have to say I agree with AndrewT on this one.

I was only joking to be fair, I've never even seen Andrew play!

Just thought his comment was a bit harsh. I'm not better than I say I am. I don't claim to be an amazing player, but I am a decent winning player and yes I think rake (http://blondepoker.com/redirect.php?id=1)back (http://blondepoker.com/redirect.php?id=1) is important as it often equals £1k+ for me each month which is a lot of money.

It means I bring in at least £200 a month ;)

Pretty sure thats not accurate anymore. still, 9bb/100 for the year is pretty phenomenal. fwiw this guy was the most knowledgeable, thorough and proficient 6max player iv ever spoken to, barring scandies. Deffo the best of the graders imo.

Maybe Andrew was speaking in general rather than anyone in particular.

Perhaps, but I assumed he meant me since I'm the only one in the thread moaning and making themselves look like an idiot!

Yeah, imo Sida, Jerome and James Keys were the most impressive that I got to speak to, while I am sure David Tighe kills poker for fun. All solid pros and going to give BBP a chance of landing some big cashes at the WSOP.

Nah, your just frustrated and dissapointed which is understandable.
Unfortunately there was going to be the winners and those who lost out as is the nature of the beast, but you seem like a good guy so Good luck in future ventures.
 

What I don't understand is why many so called 'big winners' need backing in the first place? I struggle to make even a modest profit these days and no way I want to give up 50% of that to someone else.

Genuine question here.

If you can 15 table 5/10 like Sida is supposed to with a win rate like that why would you want to be staked in only $20k worth of tournies for only half your action but have to make up the whole lot?

Pretty sure Sida is BADBeatPanda on iPoker from what I have read. If so, incredible player.

+1^^

I'm really annoyed with myself, I didn't want to get into any kind of dispute, or make myself look like a fool, but am thinking I've managed to do that fairly successfully. Please understand it's all just borne out of frustration and disappointment, magnified because of the intensity of the last few weeks. Anyone that knows me will hopefully know this is out of character for me, and I'll stop being a knob now and move on...

I won't say any more on the matter, and I wish all the Brown & blue belts good luck, cos all the people I met through this were top guys, and v.good poker players.

(wrote this before the last few replies - thanks knowit, you're right - Woodsey it was definitely a toss up for the reasons you say, but the prospect of playing some big tourneys and learning from Neil and the other brown belts where why I originally decided to take a shot)

I wonder if the all regular 25c 50c players are pleased the BBP gradings over, so all the BBP graders will piss off and go back and play their usual stakes

Wasn't necessarily thinking of you mate, and I can understand why you would want a shot as I know your a small stakes grinder. Thinking more of those who are supposedly 'killing it', why on earth would they not want to use their own BR if of course they really have that much?

My comment wasn't aimed at anyone in particular - just anyone who signed up to this then whined when they didn't make it. Neil Channing has always struck me as a straight-up kind of guy and if he says you haven't cut it then that's good enough for me.

I don't know who MC is but if you analyse everything I'm sure you'll be able to find areas to improve in for next time should you want to give this another go.

If Sida is BadBeatPanda then, yeah, he knows his stuff.

fwiw James I don't think you came across like 'an idiot'.

A few people I know did the grading and were told similar things to yourself about 'being on course for the blue belt' or 'having an above 50% chance' to quote a couple. As well as being upset for having not made it, from the people I have spoken to it appears the anger comes more from having been misled slightly it seems.

I don't think the way in which it was all done on radio was right either. Obviously it's a great buzz for the selected 8 but it's probably pretty cruel to those who have grinded for a month to just miss out or miss out completely.

As long as your points are about the system/those in charge and you don't bring any players into it then I think you are well within your rights to air your views, especially as any criticism might help the guys from BBP for next time.

The one thing everyone seemed to be complaining about that surprised me was the playing 5 days a week 5/6 hours a day? Seems a piece of piss if you ask me.

I think its perfectly normal to go through a bit of a rollercoaster of emotions like MC is right now, he just spent a gruelling month and got nothing immediate out of it (I was gonna say the biggest grind of his life, but being as every other week he is doing a 'lets play 100,000 sng challenges' and rake races, it probably was a quiet month) I think I would have been livid too. You are just wearing your heart on your sleeve mate, nothing wrong with that.

The thing that really sticks out to me, and this is reflected quite a bit on the BBP website and grading wall, is how everyone seemed to assume they were all getting Blue Belts at least and everybody deserved one, there seems to be a general consensus that there should have been no losers and only winners, when I think it was made very clear from the outset that that wasn't the case even to us outsiders. A lot of the graders seem to have been oblivious to the fact that some people had to lose and are questioning the system, even though its what they agreed to.

Now, if Channing knew a player had no chance say after 2-3 weeks, I think he should let them go (or at least tell them they are pretty much fucked and need to pull something special out of their arse) rather than wait it out, the system might need to be looked at in the future.

Funnily enough, a few of the Blue Belts have declined their positions on the Grading wall (Mark McCluskey and Joe Whittaker) - should be interesting to see if the green belts get any of them.

Cheers lads for the kind words, (Rich, James, Alex, Dave) Hopefully I will be seeing you in Vegas. 

Dubai to be fair although Rich was sick that night he still continued getting smashed, and Dave was still about at 7am getting a kebab with us !!

I doubt it!  Certainly the good regs (got quite a few friends playing in exactly these games) were extremely happy to have some of these graders in their games!

Alex Martin, James Mitchell and James Atkin going to be on the Poker Show tonight..www.thepokershowlive.com

If you want to call and air any views re BlackBelt or any of the topics on the show, here's how..

Just add ThePokerShow to Skype or thepokershow@live.co.uk to MSN. You can also email in your comments, or simply send the info we need to contact you: chat@thepokershowlive.com. Give us a name and a number and we can call you!

You can also now call us direct on 0208 123 7820

Firstly, I'm really sorry to those who missed out and are disappointed.  We've been guinea pigs, and hopefully this grading has highlighted areas that will be improved upon next time.
  Also, good to hear James Atkins on the pokershow and you're sounding better.
Secondly:

Sida and myself are on full time university degrees.  Even if your ROIs and bb/100 are massive, you do not have time or the concentration to grind, and the 30 hours/week for the grading has been really tough.  I don't normally play that much.  I don't think people realize difficult it is until you do the grading.
  Even if he's pulling 6 figures per year, and i'm pretty close, neither of us has been grinding online long enough to build the roll nearly up to the 7 figures required to go on the $10k buyin events on the global poker circuit.  I've only been playing properly online since July last year.
  The WSOP main event stake is therefore still a big deal and what we're aiming to play full time in the long run.

I hope that answers your question.

Which one are you? :D

Looking at the username, im guessing Adam Latimer.

Adam Latimer.  :P

Are you gonna have a nickname like the November Nine or the Shrewdies?

Channing's Challengers?

Persuad's Poker Prodigy's?

The Brown Belt Bad Boys?

The elusive 8?

bad session tonight george?

Hey guys,

Just want to say a big thank you to everyone for the kind words and support, and a big well done to all the graders who completed. I feel very sorry for alot of quality players who missed out on brown belt, and even more so for James Atkins who definately deserved at least a blue belt. Seems like some graders are left bitter and some felt cheated, but I guess it's all understandable.

Regarding the question why I might need backing:

The answer is, I don't really need backing. Without sounding like a complete douche, I can comfortably afford the tournament buy ins. However, Black Belt Poker is more than just a staking site. It's a site built around a strong community of top UK players, and I can really see this community growing. US have 2+2 and p5's, yet in the UK there still isnt a solid strategy based community/site. With BBP I feel it could be the first. I want to be part of this, and I think it'll be a good thing for UK poker.

Being backed also provides an extra security cushion for me, and I'm also looking forward to achieving the Black Belt goal to be able to play in 10k events on a regular basis, which I'm not rolled for. Hope this answers the question.


On a side note, I'm not BadBeatPanda. I was playing under the name 'grindondamind' for the ipoker grading, and I usually play on pokerstars normally. :)

weeeeeeeeeee cheers guys hopefully i'll bink some bracelets

Oh btw I'm Sida

Fair play dudes, well done on being selected and good luck to you..........

PS can I have some 6 max coaching because I'm crap ;booder;

which is your fave Cos?

What is your name on Stars?

Hey Cambo,

I was thankful to be awarded blue belt last night. In terms of live tournaments we get up to $1,500 worth of entries per month with the max we can spend on one tournament being £1k. In terms of mentoring i believe each brown belt will become a mentor to two blue belts. Also we'll have the chance (hopefully) to move up to brown belt based on some criteria which are not yet set in stone. To get access to all of this we'll obviously have to maintain our status each month, again how we do this is not set in stone, although it will likely be a combination of the four criteria which earned you your given belt colour in the first place.

This is more than reasonable in my opinion. We've been in a poker age for a while where (to butcher a Kennedy phrase) that attitude should be 'ask not what your sponsor/backer can do for you but what you can do for your sponsor/backer.'

Thanks Barry and Cos, your comments made me feel better about this whole thing...

Really appreciate you saying that Sida. They should have rung you first cos you were the biggest lock for a belt. Well done mate, thoroughly deserved...

Have you ever read 2+2 or p5's?

Because UK players are bad!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

have you ever read PHA?

I posted on PLO for a bit, was laughable. Gave up, posted my tracker and told them to do one

lol

Yea, I read 2+2 and post quite frequently, what is your point?

Grindondamind, you are now posting on a top notch strategy based community/site. Thanks for noticing.

Neither are a solid strategy based site.

You really think 2+2 isn't a solid strategy based site?

I guess what I meant was a strategy based discussion portal. Some might say 2+2 doesn't have much a community 'feel' to it, but I think it's certainly got lots of gems of wisdom, and it certainly helped with my game when I was posting and reading through the last 2-3 years.

Neither am I saying blondepoker isn't a solid site, I just thought it was based more about the news and media aspects of live tournament poker in the UK.

edit: sorry forget my ignorance, I just don't browse through UK forums much, and I don't know too much about blondepoker. I guess my main point is that I still feel BBP could be something big, and I want to be part of it.

some of the strat on 2+2 is pretty bad, and pocketfives is worse.  but the hands in the PHA board on this forum are leagues below.  2+2 definitely has some decent strat although perhaps the pokerroad red forums are the best right now for thorough hand analysis

I find 2+2 pretty decent for strat.

You've got to ignore a lot of pisch, but that's by the by. Like most other things in life, you get out what you put in.

This.

The trick with 2p2 is to know which people to ignore and which people to listen to. There are some very good posters there, that I have learn a lot from and this really varies depending on which strat forum you are using. Obv a lot of the forums on there are non strat and mainly have people who are terrible at poker.